Before it’s established why Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Empire, it is necessary to understand the position the Romans were in as well as Charlemagne’s past and current (at the time) accomplishments.
There were 2 parts of the Roman Empire: The Eastern Empire and The Western Empire. The Eastern Empire was run by the Byzantines. The Western Roman, mostly run by the Romans but they were being invaded left and right, so they were disintegrating. The idea of the Roman Empire was there, but the government running it was falling apart. The reason for that was a series of invasions from what the Romans considered Barbarians: The Ostrogoths, Visogoths, Huns, Lombards, and Franks. Charlemagne was the king of one of these barbaric groups: The
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The papacy didn’t know what to do so they turned to Charlemagne. Charlemagne, the real power figure in the Roman Empire, then released the pope.
In 800, Charlemagne is crowned by Pope Leo III as the Holy Roman Emperor.
One may ask: “Isn’t the pope losing power by crowning Charlemagne?” The answer to that question is no. Pope Leo III never really was powerful in the Roman Empire compared to previous popes. The pope and Charlemagne had a reciprocal relationship. By crowning Charlemagne, the pope is getting the Romans protection and Charlemagne is getting legitimacy.
During his ruling, Charlemagne reestablished the Roman Empire by looking about 500 years in the past when the empire was ruled under Constantine. He, being a deeply religious man, wanted to establish a Christian Empire. He knew he needed to do so by organizing and educating the empire.
Charlemagne wanted people to know the right teaching of Christianity, because there were so many versions of the bible and of stories flying around, it made Christianity seem inconsistent. Charlemagne educated priests on Latin Catholicism which they would then take that knowledge and teach it to