FATHER
LIAM SAYS: Many of us will remember from our school books what took place
on Christmas Day 800 AD in the City of Rome.
The event was the Coronation of Charlemagne. Europe had been in a chaotic state for
centuries. The Emperor Constantine had
left Rome in 330 AD and set up his capital in Byzantium, which he named
Constantinople – the City of Constantine.
Western Europe continued to decline and was buffeted by Germanic peoples
breaking into the Roman Empire. Rome had
a system of written law and ordered administration with cities and great
estates. These tribes, such as the
Ostrogoths and the Visigoths, the Vandals and the Huns were bound by the
customs of an oral unwritten law and worshipped gods who protected farmers –
gods like Wotan and Thor and fertility goddesses like Freyja – who gave their
names to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and were very different from the
Graeco-Roman gods worshipped with elaborate rituals and splendid temples.
But
the King of the Franks, Charles I, had begun to restore law and order to his
land. He had subdued the Lombards, the
traditional enemies of the Romans. The
Pagan Saxons were mercilessly dealt with by Charles as were the Moors in Spain. His only military defeat was in 778 AD when
he had to retreat from Spain. He had a
palace in Paderborn and Pope Leo III came there in 799 AD asking for protection
as he had been driven out of Rome. It
seems likely that in return for this help there would be something in it for
Charles as well. Certainly Charles came
to Leo’s aid and entered Rome with his forces and restored Papal Rule in the
City and surrounding Papal Territories.
During
Mass on Christmas Day the Pope placed a gold circlet – to represent an imperial
crown – on the head of Charles and acknowledged him as the new Emperor. It does not seem that Charles was taken by
surprise as he had chosen to wear the ancient Roman tunic and mantle for the
occasion. These symbolised his
acceptance of the imperial title. But
Charles did not flaunt his ‘crown’. He
knew that the coronation would anger the Greek emperors of Byzantium who
considered themselves the true heirs to the ancient Roman title. The Byzantine Empire at the time was ruled by
an Empress, Irene. There were suggestions
that Charlemagne should marry Irene but that was not to be – Irene was deposed.
He
soon became known as Charlemagne – from his title of Carolus Magnus, Charles
the Great. But at the time of his
crowning he pretended to know nothing of Leo’s plan and to be mildly displeased
that it happened. The legal emperor was
still in Constantinople but Charlemagne’s title did reflect the true
situation. The Byzantine Emperor was far
away and was always suspicious of Rome so he was no protection to the
Pope. Charlemagne was able and eager to
help him – but the title Holy Roman Empire was not used until later.
The
capital of this new empire set up by Charlemagne was Aachen as he liked to
relax in its hot sulphur springs.
Thirteen years later Charlemagne decided that he – not the Pope – should
crown his son Louis as co-emperor and eventual successor and that the
coronation would take place in Aachen and not in Rome. Charlemagne was succeeded by his son Louis
the Pious in 814 AD.
But
the unity built up by Charlemagne did not last long and his empire
disintegrated after his death. The
quarrels between Louis’ three sons resulted in the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD
which has hugely influenced Europe and world history ever since. There was a threefold division of the empire
of Charlemagne. The Eastern division
comprised the German territories and the West was based on the French
ones. In the middle was a separate
Kingdom extending from what is now Belgium and Holland and including Alsace and
Lorraine, through Burgundy and down to Northern Italy. The history of France and Germany can be said
to start at Verdun. The conflicts
between France and Germany have been about control of the land of that Middle
Kingdom. Over a thousand years later in
1916 Verdun would also be the site of the terrible and prolonged battle caused
by that contest.
