What Was The Significance Of Charlemagne's Imperial Coronation

Research topic: What was the significance of Charlemagne's imperial coronation?

Thesis: The coronation of Charlemagne lead to the birth of a new western European identity, one that was separate from the old roman and Germanic ones that predated it. The coronation raised the Frankish kingdom to the level of the old Roman Empire. This gave Charlemagne’s rule greater legitimacy and allowed his reforms and policies to take root even after his empire’s fall. The coronation also alienated the Byzantine Empire from the papacy and Western Europe, which allowed Western Europe to develop independently from the Greek east. Supporting argument one: The elevation of the Frankish kingdom to a similar state to the previous Western empire. When the Western Roman Empire fell, a vacuum was left in the territories it once controlled. These lands rapidly conquered by various tribes of heretical Germanic barbarians. The one exception were the Franks, who adopted Catholicism and quickly began to annex neighbour territories. By the time of Charlemagne’s coronation, the Frankish kingdom controlled most of what is now Western Europe. Charlemagne’s

It was widely regarded as the legitimate Roman Empire and its culture was widely seen as superior to that of the Germanic successor states to the east. This often led the western princes and kings to imitate Greek culture. Even the papacy was influence by the Byzantine’s due to Rome’s proximity to byzantine Italy. The coronation of Charlemagne changed all that. Charlemagne’s rise to emperorship severed relations between the Eastern and Western Europe. This allowed the pope to pursue a path of greater political independence and secular power. It also cause the princes of Western Europe to look towards Charlemagne’s empire as a source of culture and knowledge, instead of the byzantine, cremating a new western