Latest / The History of Germany: Kingdoms, War, and Rebuilding Europe — Fexingo History / Charlemagne's Coronation: The Birth of a German Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about how Germany came together through wars, trade, and constitutions, but today I want to go back to a single moment that arguably started it all — Charlemagne being crowned Emperor on Christmas Day, 800. Luna: Oh, that's a big one. But wasn't that more of a French thing? Lucas: That's the funny thing — Charlemagne was a Frank, and his realm covered much of what's now France and Germany, but that coronation in Rome is often seen as the founding moment of the Holy Roman Empire, which later became the First Reich in German history. So yeah, it's complicated. Lucas: But let's set the scene. In the late 8th century, the papacy was in a tough spot. The Byzantine Empire, which still claimed to be the Roman Empire, wasn't really protecting Rome from the Lombards anymore. So Pope Leo III, who had just been attacked and had to flee Rome, turned to the one guy with an army — Charles, King of the Franks. Luna: Wait, he was attacked? What happened? Lucas: Leo was accused of corruption and perjury by his political enemies in Rome. They actually seized him and tried to gouge his eyes out, but he escaped and made his way to Charlemagne's court. Charlemagne escorted him back to Rome and basically held a council to clear his name. Lucas: Then came Christmas Day, 800. Charlemagne is in St. Peter's Basilica for mass, and as he's kneeling at the altar, Pope Leo suddenly places a crown on his head and the crowd acclaims him 'Emperor of the Romans.' Now, Charlemagne later claimed he would never have set foot in the church that day if he'd known what was going to happen. Luna: Really? He played the reluctant emperor? Lucas: That's the official story, but historians are skeptical. I mean, come on — he was the most powerful man in Europe, and he'd been building alliances with the papacy for years. He even had his son anointed as co-king of the Franks back in 813. So the 'surprise' might have been a bit staged. Lucas: But here's the thing — the coronation wasn't just about Charlemagne. It was a deliberate move by the papacy to break free from Byzantine control. By crowning a Frank, the pope created a new Western Roman Empire that answered to Rome, not Constantinople. Luna: So it was like a political power play disguised as a religious ceremony. Lucas: Exactly. And it worked, at least for a while. The Byzantine Emperor at the time, Constantine VI, was actually a woman — Irene — and the papacy didn't recognize her as legitimate. So they conveniently considered the imperial throne vacant and gave it to Charlemagne. Lucas: Now, this created a long-running feud with the Byzantines. They never really accepted Charlemagne's title, and it wasn't until 812 that a compromise was reached where Charlemagne was recognized as 'Emperor' but not 'Emperor of the Romans' — that title stayed with the Byzantines. Luna: Hmm, so it was like an awkward shared custody of the Roman legacy. Lucas: Pretty much. But the real legacy for Germany is what came after. Charlemagne's empire didn't last long — his son Ludwig the Pious and then his grandsons split it up, and by 843, the Treaty of Verdun divided it into three parts. The eastern part, which became East Francia, is what eventually evolved into the Kingdom of Germany. Lucas: So you could say that without Charlemagne's imperial vision, there might not have been a powerful eastern kingdom that could later claim to be the successor to Rome. And that claim stuck around for over a thousand years — right up until Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Luna: Whoa, a thousand years is a long time. It's like the original EU, but with more wars and popes. Lucas: Ha, yeah, definitely more warlike. But that Carolingian idea of a unified Christian empire under one ruler really became a template for European unity — you can see echoes of it in the European Union. And that's one reason this episode is so fascinating. Lucas: You know, we're coming up on the quarter mark of this conversation, and I realize that many of you listen to us without ever hearing an ad. That's a choice we've made — this show is ad-free, and we'd like to keep it that way. If you value these deep dives into history, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep us going. Every bit helps. Lucas: So anyway, back to Charlemagne. He wasn't just a conqueror — he was also a reformer. He encouraged what we now call the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of learning, art, and culture. He brought scholars from all over Europe to his court, and he made sure monasteries kept libraries and copied ancient texts. Lucas: He also reformed writing. The script we use today, the lowercase letters, actually grew out of the Carolingian minuscule. So every time you read an email or a book, you have Charlemagne's scribes to thank for making it so easy to distinguish letters. Luna: That's a pretty subtle but huge legacy. I never thought about how we got our alphabet. Lucas: And then there's Aachen. Charlemagne made it his capital, and he built a magnificent palace chapel that's still standing today. He was so attached to it that he was buried there, and his marble throne is still there too. Aachen became the coronation site for German kings for centuries. Lucas: But the darker side of his reign is the Saxon Wars. For over thirty years, he campaigned against the Saxons in northern Germany, and he wasn't exactly gentle. He destroyed their sacred symbol, the Irminsul, and forced mass conversions. Thousands were executed, including at the Massacre of Verden in 782. Luna: That's brutal. So the 'Father of Europe' had a body count. Lucas: Yeah, and we should never whitewash that. But it's also how the German lands were forcibly knitted into a Christian, Frankish framework. So the empire was born in blood, and that's a theme that runs through so much of German history. Lucas: Now, there's a lot of legend around Charlemagne too. He became a figure of myth — in the medieval epic 'Chanson de Roland' and even in German folklore as Karl der Große. Some say he sleeps in a mountain and will return in Germany's hour of need. Luna: Wait, really? Like a German King Arthur? Lucas: Exactly that. And that legend survived for centuries. Napoleon actually used Charlemagne's imagery when he crowned himself emperor in 1804. So the Carolingian legacy kept being recycled for political purposes, which shows how powerful that idea was. Lucas: But let's go back to the coronation itself. Why did Leo crown him? There's the religious angle — a Christian emperor to protect the pope. But there was also a personal debt. Leo had just been dragged through the mud, and Charlemagne had restored him. So it was a quid pro quo. Lucas: And Charlemagne didn't just accept the title. He spent the rest of his reign trying to make it real — he issued laws for the whole empire, standardizing weights, measures, even the liturgy. He wanted to rule like a proper emperor, not just a tribal king. Luna: So he took the job seriously. Lucas: He did. And that's why the Holy Roman Empire, despite its messy structure, always looked back to Charlemagne as its founder. Even when it was just a patchwork of hundreds of small states, the crown carried that Carolingian weight. Lucas: But of course, the empire also became a source of conflict between popes and emperors — remember the Investiture Controversy we talked about with Henry IV and Canossa. So the very thing that started as a papal gift became a battleground for power. Luna: That's a good point. The same ceremony that gave the emperor legitimacy also made him dependent on the pope. Lucas: Precisely. And that tension defined medieval politics. So when we think about the birth of a German identity, Charlemagne's coronation is a mixed blessing — it gave a name and a mission, but also a permanent conflict with the papacy and with the Eastern Empire. Lucas: It also raises a question that's still relevant: what does it mean to be European? Charlemagne's empire was multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, but it was united by Christianity and a shared classical heritage. That's not a bad blueprint for modern Europe, except maybe the forced conversions part. Luna: Yeah, let's not bring that back. Lucas: Right. So, I think the takeaway is that Charlemagne isn't just a historical figure; he's a symbol. Whether it's the Aachen chapel, the Carolingian minuscule, or the legend of the sleeping emperor, his influence is woven into the fabric of German and European history. Lucas: And next time someone tells you Germany only became a nation in 1871, you can point to Charlemagne and say: the roots go much deeper.