Coronation of Charlemagne
At Christmas Mass in St Peter’s, Pope Leo III crowned the King of the Franks and Lombards Emperor of the Romans — the first emperor in the West since 476 and a challenge to Constantinople.
- Date
- 25 December 800exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Old St. Peter’s Basilicatoday: St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Charlemagne, Pope Leo III, Carolingian Empire, Francia (Frankish realm), Papal States
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Imperial coronation of Charlemagne; Императорская коронация Карла Великого; Christmas 800
In April 799 Leo III was attacked by his Roman opponents and fled to Charlemagne at Paderborn. The king restored him, came to Rome in November 800 and presided over an assembly at which, on 23 December, the pope cleared himself by oath of the charges against him. Two days later, as Charlemagne rose from prayer in St Peter’s, Leo placed a crown on his head, and the Romans acclaimed him emperor. Einhard claims that Charles would not have entered the church had he known the pope’s intention; many historians think the coronation had been prepared in advance.
In Constantinople the throne was then held by a woman, Empress Irene, which allowed the Franks to regard it as vacant. Byzantium refused to recognize the new emperor until 812, when Michael I’s envoys acknowledged Charlemagne as basileus in return for concessions on the Adriatic. The coronation founded the idea of a Western empire bound to the papacy, which Otto I would renew in 962.
Connections
Related events
- Deposition of Romulus Augustulus4 September 476 · Western and Central EuropeThe first emperor in the West since the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476
- Donation of PepinApril 754 – 756 · Western and Central EuropeThe alliance of the popes and the Carolingian kings, begun by Pepin
- Treaty of VerdunAugust 843 · Western and Central EuropeThe partition of the empire created by Charlemagne
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962 · Western and Central EuropeOtto consciously followed the example of Charlemagne’s coronation
Same participants
- Saxon Wars772–804 · Western and Central Europevia Charlemagne
Same place
- Great Fire of Rome19 July 64 – c. 27 July 64 · Western and Central Europe
- Inauguration of the Colosseum80 · Western and Central Europe
- Antonine Plague165–180 · Western and Central Europe
- Constitutio Antoniniana212 · Western and Central Europe
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284 · Western and Central Europe
- Aurelian Walls271–275 · Western and Central Europe
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410 · Western and Central Europe
- Vandal sack of Rome2–16 June 455 · Western and Central Europe
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554 · Western and Central Europe
- Fourth Council of the Lateran11–30 November 1215 · Western and Central Europe
- “Summa Theologica” by Thomas Aquinas1265–1274 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome (1527)6 May 1527 · Western and Central Europe
Adjacent events in the thread
- Viking raid on Lindisfarne8 June 793 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Eastern Europe
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861
Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Council of Nicaea24 September – 23 October 787
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Charlemagne
- Wikipedia (English): Carolingian Empire
- Wikipedia (Russian): Карл Великий
- Wikipedia (Russian): Каролингская империя
- Fried J. Charlemagne. — Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press, 2016.
- Wikidata: Q65534609