26 December 800 A.D. Charlemagne—Europe
Wakes Up After Christmas Day with New Emperor
When the people of western
Europe awoke on this day, December 26, 800, they had
an emperor again. On Christmas Day, as King Charles of France knelt in prayer
before the altar of the church of St. Peter's in Rome, Pope Leo III suddenly
placed a golden crown on his head.
The Roman people shouted three
times, "To Charles Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific emperor
of the Romans, life and victory!" Charles was reverenced by the pope and
called Emperor and Augustus, after the manner of the leaders of ancient Rome.
What led up to this dramatic
event? Three hundred years and more had passed since the collapse of the Roman
Empire in western Europe. Many elements were at work. For one thing, the popes
owed the Franks a great debt for their preservation in recent years. Charles
Martel had turned back the Muslim invasion of Europe and Peppin had subdued the
Lombards. Another reason for the pope to crown Charles was to show Rome's
independence from the Greek Empire in Constantinople. Since the days of
Constantine in the fourth century, the eastern part of the Roman Empire had
increased in authority and power. In Charles, King of the Franks, the pope had
found a new Constantine to head a revived western empire.
To be sure, Charles was an
empire-builder. He had become master of the French kingdom in 768 and used his
military might to forcibly bring the German tribes under his authority, forcing
them to accept baptism and become Christians. His cruelty has
been blamed for the Viking invasions which troubled Europe for over a century.
His dominion stretched from the Baltic Sea to the British Channel to Rome
itself. Charles worked diligently to provide a good, unified organization for
his vast empire.
When King Charles returned to
France after being crowned emperor, he forced his subjects to take an oath to
him as Caesar. He re-established the Roman Empire on a Teutonic base.
The coronation of Charles
sparked much debate during the middle ages. At issue was what relationship of
church to state. Did the act of crowning the emperor show the pope's superior
authority as giver of the empire to King Charles? Charles didn't think so. He
continued to rule as the divinely appointed protector of the church, appointing
bishops as well as counts to office.
He was not only the first, but
possibly the greatest of the emperors from the eighth through the nineteenth
century. He restored education, improved law, supported the church, backed
Alcuin's attempts to produce an accurate Bible and in many other ways did much
that was good. In France, his name was blended with his greatness, and he is
known as Charlemagne.
Bibliography:
Bell, Mrs. Arthur. Saints in Christian Art.
London: George Bell, 1901 - 1904. Source of the image.
Einhard and Nokter the Stammerer. Two Lives of
Charlemagne. Penguin, 1969.
Winston, Richard. Charlemagne; from the hammer to
the cross. New York: Vintage, 1954.
Various encyclopedia articles.
Last updated July,
2007
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