The year Louis the Pious was born – 778 – was the year Charlemagne had to acknowledge that his realm had become too big for one person to handle. With the Saxons stirring up trouble in the north-east, and the Basques having destroyed a sizable Carolingian army as it crossed the Pyrenees, Charlemagne set about organizing his realm and making sure it was in order.1 One of the most immediate r…