Charlemagne's Imperial Coronation: The Enigma of Sources and Use to Historians

The Problem of Two Emperors: The Coronation of Charlemagne and the "Otherness" of Byzantium

2021

On December 25th, 800 CE, Charlemagne entered St. Peter’s Basilica as King of the Franks and Lombards and left the church bestowed the titles of “Holy Roman Emperor” (basileus) and “Augustus”; two designations guarded by the Byzantine emperor, who was generally recognized as the largest holder of temporal power in Europe seated in Constantinople. The coronation of Charlemagne served as a watershed event that permanently transformed the socio-political relationship between Eastern and Western Europe. As the Roman Empire expeditiously fragmented in the third and fourth centuries, it transferred its inheritance directly and indirectly to its Eastern and Western counterparts, respectively. “Barbaric” kingdoms in the West filled the power vacuum left behind by the newly transplanted capital, frequently looking to the East for political legitimacy and guidance. The interactions between Byzantium and the Latin West were intimately connected to practically all the major events and developments which shaped the medieval world in the Middle Ages. As these polities developed parallel to one another an identity of “otherness” was transcribed onto Byzantium by Western Europe in which they were denigrated as effeminate, Oriental, despotic, superstitious, decadent, and culturally stagnant. While most historians identify the point of “otherness” during the largest, and most direct, points of intersection between the Latin West and Byzantium beginning in 1095 with the start of the Crusades, I believe the propagation of “otherness” actually occurred earlier, both preceding and continuing beyond the coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas day, 800 CE. After this central event in medieval history, there was a distinct polarization in the way the Frankish and Roman sources described each other, both presenting their respective groups and sovereigns as the true leading protagonists.

"Charlemagne, a new Constantine?"

The Life and Legacy of Constantine, Traditions through the Ages, 2017

Should we see Charlemagne’s crowning as emperor in Rome at St. Peter’s on Christmas Day 800 by Pope Leo III as the culmination of Frankish royal political pretensions during the eighth century? Did the great Frankish king and his father, Pippin III, work to promote their roles as somehow similar to that of a Roman emperor? When Pope Hadrian proclaimed Charlemagne a new Constantine in 778, did he magnify the Frankish king in a way his audience expected and assented to? In this essay I argue that Pippin III may well have played with such ideas, but that his son, Charlemagne, certainly did not. Rather than present himself as an “emperor,” Charlemagne sought instead during the 770s, 780s, and 790s to model his rule upon that of the Old Testament kings, especially David and Josiah, with an emphasis upon his (I would say even para-episcopal) pastoral role. His crowning as emperor in 800 ***interrupted*** a much developed pastoral-political Frankish rhetoric of rule, opening a new chapter altogether.

The legend of Charlemagne in the Middle Ages : power, faith, and crusade

Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, 2008

Updated 1/22/16 2 ARTICLES "Introduction," in The Cultural History of Western Empires in the Middle Ages, ed. Matthew Gabriele (Bloomsbury), in preparation. "Historiography and Apocalyptic Reform in the Monasteries of the Eleventh-Century West," in Apocalypse and Reform in the Early Middle Ages, ed. James T. Palmer and Matthew Gabriele (Routledge), forthcoming.

The Legend of Charlemagne in the Middle Ages

2008

Updated 1/22/16 2 ARTICLES "Introduction," in The Cultural History of Western Empires in the Middle Ages, ed. Matthew Gabriele (Bloomsbury), in preparation. "Historiography and Apocalyptic Reform in the Monasteries of the Eleventh-Century West," in Apocalypse and Reform in the Early Middle Ages, ed. James T. Palmer and Matthew Gabriele (Routledge), forthcoming.

Charlemagne – Emperor and Reformer. On the 1200th Death Anniversary

Biuletyn Historii Wychowania

The purpose of this paper is to present the role of Charlemagne (768−814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans (from 800) in the process of recovering the school organisation that was considerably weakened in the period from the 5th to the 7th century as well as the participation of the ruler in the reforms of education, science and the school system, referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance. In his reforms of the legal system, the monetary system, administration and education, Charles consistently implemented the political program announced in the Act of 789. The emperor's actions reveal a clearly utilitarian goal. The command of Latin and the introduction of readable writing enabled the clergy to better understand the words of the Holy Scripture and, in turn, increased the general level of religious education among believers. The numerous scriptoria across the empire contributed to the ongoing work on defining the uniform text of all the books. The rebirth of Latin was driven by the works of the late Roman grammarians, Donatus and Priscian, and many works by ancient authors were also copied in scriptoria.