The Holy Roman Empire (Empires in the Middle Ages)
people who would give it the kings of the Franks the strongest power north of the Alps In 754 Frankish king Pippin the Short invaded Italy and conquered the Lombard kingdom Two years later Pippin assigned the former Byzantine territory around Ravenna to the pope creating the Papal States of Italy which would endure until the unification of Italy in the nineteenth century The close cooperation between popes and the Frankish kings had far-reaching consequences It laid the basis for centuries of conflict between emperors and popes over who had the supreme authority in Europe According to the popes the empire was the political arm of the church The emperors however saw them selves as directly responsible to God and they relied solely on conquest and control for their power 8 the holy roman empire
CHARLEMAGNE’S EMPIRE There is little doubt that the popes hoped to become the successors of the emperors in the West Since this was politically impossible the next best solution was to assert religious control by means of political institutions On December 25 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor during a service at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome It had been expected that the pope would consecrate Charlemagne’s son as king but as Charlemagne him self rose from prayer Leo placed a crown on his head and the assembled Romans acclaimed him as emperor But the one thousand years of tumult in store for the Holy Roman Empire was almost cut to a fraction of that length In 806 Charlemagne made arrangements to divide his territories among his three sons One has to wonder whether the Holy Roman Empire would have survived even past Charlemagne’s lifetime if two of the emperor’s sons had not died before him leaving 9 Chapter 1
Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor on Christmas Day in 800 the undivided inheritance to his third son Louis I the Pious A PAPAL AGENDA It seems clear that Charlemagne’s coronation was the work of the papacy not of the Frankish king who is said to have been surprised and angry at it The imme diate beneficiary of the coronation was the pope whose position in the empire was secured Charlemagne was left to face the momentous consequences and to try to 10 the holy roman empire Caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK caption TK
Charlemagne became king of the Franks in 768 CE 11 Chapter title
