The first record of the Lifebands was during the eighth century. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, received the original bands on Christmas day, 774AD. Thus, they have often been referred to as the Armbands of Charlemagne. The story goes that the Lifebands were placed on his wrists by a dying angel. The original bands were about the width of a bracelet and appeared to be made of a blend of wood and ivory. As time past the Lifebands 'grew' additional rings. These additional rings were smaller and had no trace of the wood-like substance in the original bands. Instead they contained a silvery substance that alchemists claimed was pure mercury. The process of forming new bands remains a mystery, but Charlemagne thought that the new bands formed when soldiers close to him lost their lives in battle. He mentioned several times that he could occasionally feel their presence while wearing the Lifebands.

These armbands bestowed a holy blessing on Charlemagne in many of his dealings, most notably in his battles. He wore the Lifebands nearly all the time, but modestly attempted to use the blessings sparingly.

It is possible that Charlemagne was able to remove the new rings from the Lifebands and give them to others. For instance, it has been suggested that when his daughter Cresia (it is unknown whether she was illegitimate or the daughter of Charlemagne's second wife, Desideria) found herself unable to conceive, Charlemagne split off three rings from each of his Lifebands and gave them to Cresia telling her to wear them when making love. Cresia gave birth a year later to the day. There is no record of other such gifts of Lifeband rings, but many suspect Charlemagne split off rings from the Lifebands several times. The new rings may also be able to 'grow' rings.

By the time of his death in 814AD the armbands included 22 additional rings that spanned his entire forearm like a vambrace. The Lifebands were gathered with many other relics when Charlemagne was canonized and his body moved to Aachen Cathedral. These relics have been wrapped in silks and stored in the Charlemagne Shrine there. They are put on display once every seven years, the next exhibition occurring in the year 2000.

The Lifebands are reliquaries able to store one point of essesnce per ring.