Charlemagne Crowned King (800 A.D.)
On Christmas Day, December 25, 800 A.D., Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne king of the Holy Roman Empire in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
In 799, Pope Leo III was mistreated and tortured by the Romans. Pope Leo III then escaped from the Romans and fled to Charlemagne for his intervention. Charlemagne agreed to meet the pope in Rome in December 800 A.D where the two discussed the direction of Rome, the Catholic Church, and other issues.
It is uncertain what the pope’s true intentions were when he met Charlemagne. However, many historians agree that Pope Leo III saw his meeting with Charlemagne as an opportunity to unit the East and West of Rome under the rule of a single emperor. If this was true, in effect, the pope was establishing a new “Holy” Roman Empire.
On this Christmas Day, December 25, 800 A.D., Pope Leo III placed a crown on the head of Charlemagne as he knelt at the altar to pray. And in doing so, the pope declared him “Imperator Romanorum,” i.e. Emperor of the Romans, in Saint Peter's Basilica.
Historians somewhat disagree as to whether Charlemagne knew the pope’s intention prior to the mass, and whether he actually wanted to be crowned king of the Roman Empire. Regardless of this fact, many historians regard Charlemagne as the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charlemagne continued to amass more land and wealth through his military conquests and the Roman Catholic Church grew as well.
The act of crowning Charlemagne as king of the Holy Roman Empire had great historical impact on the rest of Europe into the Middle-Ages. For example, Germany and France traced their allegiances to Charlemagne.