Charlemagne Is Crowned Emperor, Reviving Rome in the West
Einhard insists the king had no idea the pope planned to crown him that Christmas morning
Quick facts
- Date
- December 25, 800 CE
- Crowned by
- Pope Leo III
- Location
- St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
- Source
- Einhard, Life of Charlemagne
What happened
On Christmas Day, 800 CE, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor and Augustus during Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, reviving an imperial title in the West that had lapsed more than three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's own biographer and courtier, Einhard, insisted the king had such an aversion to the titles that he would not have entered the church that day, a great feast, had he foreseen the pope's plan, though Einhard's account, written to defend Charlemagne's reputation, is itself a source historians read with some caution. Whatever Charlemagne's real reaction, he went on to accept the title, later securing recognition from the Byzantine emperors in the east, whose own claim to the Roman imperial title Charlemagne's coronation directly challenged.
Why it matters
The coronation tied the Frankish monarchy's legitimacy directly to papal approval, establishing a precedent, invoked and contested for centuries afterward, that only the pope could confer the imperial crown, and it created the political entity that later became known as the Holy Roman Empire.
How we know
Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, written by someone who served at Charlemagne's own court, records the coronation directly, and the event is independently confirmed in modern historical scholarship on the period.
Sources
- Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University. Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne · Primary source (author-declared)sourcebooks.fordham.edu · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- HISTORY (A&E Networks). Charlemagne · Reputable sourcehistory.com · The domain "history.com" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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