Charlemagne (2 April 742 - 28 January 814), also known as Charles the Great or Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, King of Italy from 774, and the first emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, becoming the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800. In 802, following his marriage to Irene of Athens, he became the Emperor of the Byzantines, though he never referred to himself as such until 807 when Irene died.