The first elephant known to have been in northern Europe was Abul-Abbas, an Asian elephant that Emperor Charlemagne received as a gift from the caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, in 798. Abul -Abbas was a white elephant, an impressive and unusual gift. Abul-Abbas's journey from the Abbasid Caliphate (or Empire) to Europe began on a journey through the Mediterranean Sea on a ship that landed at Portovenere, Italy, in October, 801. The elephant and its mahout (a person who drives the elephant), a North African Jew named Isaac, spent the winter in Vercelli, and in the spring they began their march through the Alps, to the Emperor's residence in Aachen, Germany. first of July of 802.
In 804 King Godofredo I of Denmark attacked the town of Reric (now Lübeck), a commercial village near Denmark, and caused the people to go to the new commercial village of Hedeby; its goal was to secure the Danish quota in the trade of the countries of the north. Charlemagne mobilized his troops against the Danes and sent his elephant to join the battle.
In 810, when he was 4 decades or a little older, Abul-Abbas died of pneumonia, probably after swimming on the Rhine.
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