Home    World History    Medieval Times for Teachers   Medieval Europe for Kids 

Pope Leo Gets Even: Pope Leo pretended to be grateful to Charlemagne for coming to his rescue. On Christmas Day, in the year 800 CE, Pope Leo and Charlemagne knelt together to worship. While Charlemagne had his eyes closed in prayer, Pope Leo shot to his feet and placed a crown he had made on Charlemagne's head. In a loud and carrying voice, the pope quickly declared Charlemagne to be the first Holy Roman Emperor. The people went wild. They knew Charlemagne had saved Leo. They thought this was Leo's way of thanking him. In the face of the thunderous cheers that greeted Leo's announcement, there was no way that Charlemagne could refuse the honor. He was stuck with a title he did not want. 

Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor: Charlemagne was no fool. He knew his new title gave him no additional power. Instead, it took power away. His title, Holy Roman Emperor, clearly tied church and state and placed the church in power. What the church gave they could also take away, and that included titles. Two days earlier, when Charlemagne had accompanied Leo to Rome, Charlemagne was in charge. On Christmas day in the year 800 CE, a mere two days later, when Charlemagne left Rome, the church was in charge. 

Charlemagne quickly realized his new title might cause other problems, huge problems. Charlemagne was sure it would lead to war with the Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Empire). He knew Byzantine would not accept him as the ruler of all Christians. In an attempt to avoid war, Charlemagne never called himself Holy Roman Emperor. He called himself Emperor, King of the Franks and Lombards, to emphasize the areas over which he ruled - areas that did not include the Byzantine Empire. It was a clever attempt, but it did not work. Two years later, war broke out between the Frankish and Byzantine Empires. It took about 8 years for these two world powers to make peace.

A New Friend: One good thing resulted from Leo's actions. Charlemagne made an unusual friend because he was crowned emperor. At this time in history, Charlemagne was the most powerful Christian king in the world. Harun al-Rashid was the most powerful Muslim king in the world. These two men sent messengers and presents back and forth as early as 801 CE. They never sent troops to help each other, but the thought that they might stopped many a war before it started.