Download Why the Pope Crowned Charlemagne

Why the Pope Crowned Charlemagne
It wasn’t just the Lombards that the Pope needed protection from. It was also the Eastern Empire.
Remember the Eastern Empire? Well, the Germanic Tribes had not invaded the Eastern Empire
because the Eastern Empire had enough money to pay them off. At first, the Eastern Empire was
not able to help the Western Empire because it had used up its money already in paying off the
Germanic tribes. After the Germanic tribes invaded the Empire, the Eastern Empire were the ones
who were actually paying the Germanic tribes to fight in the Western Army. And since they were
the ones who were actually handing out the moola, they felt that they could tell the Western
Empire to do anything, and that they Western Empire should hop-to.
Let me tell you a story…The Eastern bishops (Patriarchs) were forever spreading some kind of
heresy or other. In the 700s (when the Muslims were surrounding the Continent, and when the
Lombards were attacking Italy) the big heresy on the block was iconoclasm (the belief that we
should destroy holy images because they are somehow idols). The Byzantine (Eastern) Emperor
would frequently ask the pope to accept these heresies. When the popes would not accept these
heresies, the Byzantines would come and (basically) steal the pope away!!!! They would then
give a replacement pope. So it became glaringly obvious that the popes needed to be protected
from the Byzantines, as well as from the Lombards. Oftentimes, the people of Rome would have
hide the pope so that the Byzantines would not take him away. The (Catholic) French inevitably
ended up coming to the rescue (as they did in the case of the Lombards) to defend the Pope. So
ultimately, it made perfect sense for Pope Leo III to crown Charlemagne as the new Western
Emperor in 800 AD. By choosing the French (Catholic) king as the Emperor of the West, the
pope separated himself from the Eastern Empire (of which he had been a political subject since
476) and claimed the protection of French.
As we said, the Eastern Empire was giving the money to the Western Emperor, who then paid the
Germanic tribes. So, the Eastern Empire kind of felt they owned the Western Empire—even
though the Germanic tribes held practical power. It’s like this, if the West Coast of America was
actually getting all of its money from Eastern Coast of America, the Eastern American
government would feel as if it owned the West Coast. But then when the Lombards conquered
much of Italy, the Lombards claimed that they owned Italy. The Lombards didn’t give a hoot
what the Eastern Empire thought. As far as they were concerned, THEY owned Italy, not some
stinking “Eastern Empire” (oooh aaahh, I’m shaking in my boots). And guess what the Eastern
Empire did about it? Yip…nothing. But then, when the Franks came in to Italy and conquered the
Lombards (twice, mind you!), they gave much of the land to the Pope (Papal States). So, guess
what the Eastern Empire thought about that? Exactly…they weren’t happy about it at all. In fact,
they were RIPPIN.
But the Pope had no other choice. Catholic Civilization needed a defender. The Eastern Empire
wasn’t helping (in fact, as we have seen, they made matters much worse). And the Muslims and
Lombards were everywhere. So, the Pope turned to Charlemagne for military help.
Questions
1. List 5 bad things that were happening to the Church during the 700s
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
2. What was the big heresy of the 700s?
3. Why did the Eastern Empire feel they could get the Western Empire to do whatever they
wanted?
4. Was the Eastern Empire happy that the Pope now owned the land they once owned?
Explain
5. Why was it necessary for the pope to crown Charlemagne?
6. Which pope crowned Charlemagne?
Lesson 15: After Charlemagne
After the death of Charlemagne, the Western Empire suffered. First of all, Charlemagne’s empire
was divided among his three sons. His sons divided it amongst their sons and so on. Soon, the
empire was to be split into many small kingdoms. So, over the years, the centralized government
that was there in Charlemagne’s day, got replaced by many very small kingdoms, or dukedoms,
and these dukedoms were not too powerful, in and of themselves. Meanwhile, these small
dukedoms claimed alliegance to the King of France (but that was just for the sake of it). The
“system,” (if you can call it that) that developed because of the breakdown of the Holy Roman
Empire is known as the feudal system. Under this system, the poor people would seek protection
from their local Lord in return for working on the land. This feudal system became concretized
under Charlemagne. There are different systems of government
The dividing up of the Holy Roman Empire into many dukedoms made the empire very weak and
prone to attack. Soon enough, the Vikings swooped down on the Western Empire after
Charlemagne’s death. The Vikings arrival in Europe can be compared to the “migration of the
nations.” These Vikings plundered where they went. As a result, people now relied on the feudal
system all the more…and feudal was the way to go.
But during this Feudal period, the Catholic Church became corrupted from the inside. For
example, many kings during this time claimed the right to INVEST new bishops. Whereas it was
safe for the Pope to allow Charlemagne to choose who would be bishop, these kings (after
Charlemagne’s death) cared nothing about holiness. This means that they would choose BAD
candidates to be the next bishop. This abuse was called Lay Investiture. More often then not,
these kings would invest cousins, sons and other relatives into the office of bishop. During this
time then, many unspiritual persons were raised to the Episcopal (“of the bishop”) office. Other
times, people would buy their way into the episcopacy (the Episcopal office). This was known as
Simony. Since there were many unspiritual bishops who didn’t care about the Faith, there were
also many unspiritual priests – since the bishops would ordain the priests. These unspiritual
priests, caring nothing for the laws of the Church, would among other things, become married –
Clerical Incontinence.
By the end of the 900s it was glaringly obvious to everyone that the Catholic Church was in a
terrible state and that it was in need of thorough reform.
Even though the European Church became quite corrupt during the period after Charlemagne’s
death, that period (800-1000) was still a period of growth. While lay investiture, simony and
clerical incontinence were going on, there were some saints who did their best to spread the Faith
to lands who had never heard of Jesus before. For example, there was Margaret of Scotland (to
the Scottish), and Sts. Cyril and Methodius (late 800s, to the Slavs).
In the late 900s, the Benedictine monastery at Cluny had begun to strive to be holy again. Since
the death of Charlemagne, the Church had become corrupted. But here at Cluny, southern France,
the monks truly lived lives of holiness. They became a great inspiration to the other monasteries
in Europe and it became fashionable to try to emulate Cluny. This one monastery revived the
interest in holiness and gave the Church a new and positive direction.
One monk who came from the monastery at Cluny was Hildebrand. This man went on to become
Pope Gregory VII. This pope was determined to clean up the Church from the inside out. But to
do this he had to root out all Lay Investiture. This would not be an easy task, because to do this,
the pope would have to stand up to all the kings and to the Emperor himself, Henry IV. Gregory
VII and Henry IV did have a major confrontation in which the pope excommunicated the
emperor. Finally, the emperor came back and performed public penance while barefoot in the
snow (for 3 days). Due to the work of Gregory VII, the Church made leaps and bounds in the way
of holiness.
Lesson 16 After Charlemagne
The act of the Pope crowning Charlemagne, was a powerful symbol of the fact that the Pope has
more authority. The Pope’ authority is spiritual, whereas Charlemagne’s authority was temporal
(time-bound) or secular (worldly). Charlemagne was a great Catholic leader. His was so dedicated
to the Catholic Church that he encouraged a thoroughly Catholic culture in the Western
Empire. That’s why it is called the Holy Roman Empire—it was so Catholic. He really cared
about the Church. It has been said that Charlemagne brought about a mini-renaissance. He
invited the greatest scholar in his Holy Roman Empire, Alcuin, to his home, to teach him Church
matters. That way, when Charlemagne would write laws for his empire, he would make sure that
they wee good, holy laws. It was good to have Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor,
because the pope could trust him not to be abusing his authority, which the pope had given him.
Charlemagne worked closely with the pope and they were a great tag-team.
Of course, Charlemagne had already given a lot of land to the Pope, which made the Pope a sort
of “king,” or “sovereign” in his own right. Therefore, we could say that while the pope gave
Charlemagne some elbow room to intervene in spiritual matters, Charlemagne gave a lot of
secular (worldly) authority to the pope. So, the pope and Charlemagne were an awesome tagteam. Church and state, you could say were one. However, by giving a lot of political power to
the Pope, it was assumed that the pope “owed” Charlemagne some favors. After Charlemagne’s
death, the Frankish kings would start assuming that they too could meddle in church affairs, just
because the pope “owed them.”
After the death of Charlemagne, the Western Empire suffered a great deal. First of all,
Charlemagne’s empire was divided among his three sons. His sons divided it amongst their
sons and so on. Soon, the empire was to be split into many small kingdoms. So, over the years,
the centralized government that was there in Charlemagne’s day, got replaced by many very
small kingdoms, or dukedoms, and these dukedoms were not too powerful, in and of
themselves. Meanwhile, these small dukedoms claimed allegiance to the King of France (but that
was just for the sake of it). When the Muslims heard that the Holy Roman Empire had become
weakened after the death of Charlemagne, they were ready to attack. There were also Vikings
from Scandinavia in the North. The Holy Roman Empire went from experiencing a minirenaissance with Charlemagne, to being attacked from the South by the Muslims and the north by
Vikings.
The ordinary people who lived in the Holy Roman empire were afraid for their lives so they went
to their local lord (who owned land) and asked if he would protect them in return for working on
the land. The “system,” (if you can call it that) that developed is known as the feudal system.
Under this system, the poor people would seek protection from their local Lord in return for
working on the land.
But the ordinary people weren’t the only ones who needed their local lords to protect them. The
priests and bishops also needed protection. However, when the local lords gave protection to the
priests and bishops, what could the priests and bishops to in return? Did the priests and bishops
work the land like the farmers? No. So, what did the priests and bishops do for the local lords?
Basically, they would say Mass, like usual, but besides that they (unfortunately) promised to
make the local lord’s son into a bishop. The position of bishop was a really sought after position,
because people really respected the bishop. The problem however, was that the new bishops were
not always good. In fact, many of them turned out to be really bad. And eventually, these bishops
would invest new bishops, and so on. These new bishops would not care about holiness. They just
wanted the prestige that went along with being a bishop. So, during this Feudal period, the
Catholic Church became corrupted from the inside.
Many kings during this time claimed the right to INVEST new bishops. Whereas it was safe for
the Pope to allow Charlemagne to choose who would be bishop, these kings (after Charlemagne’s
death) cared nothing about holiness. This means that they would choose BAD candidates to be the
next bishop. This abuse was called Lay Investiture (because lay people were investing
bishops). More often then not, these kings would invest cousins, sons and other relatives into the
office of bishop. During this time then, many unspiritual persons were raised to the Episcopal (“of
the bishop”) office. Other times, people would buy their way into the episcopacy (the Episcopal
office). Buying spiritual favors from the Church was known as Simony. Since there were many
unspiritual bishops who didn’t care about the Faith, there were also many unspiritual priests –
since the bishops would ordain the priests. These unspiritual priests, caring nothing for the laws
of the Church, would among other things, become married – Clerical Incontinence.
By the end of the 900s it was glaringly obvious to everyone that the Catholic Church was in a
terrible state and that it was in need of thorough reform.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The popes used to crown kings. What does this tell us about the pope’s authority?
Why was Charlemagne’s empire called the Holy Roman Empire?
Who did Charlemagne invite to his home and why?
What was the relationship between the Church and state during the Holy Roman Empire
of Charlemagne?
Who was ready to attack the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagne’s death?
Today, the system of government in the US is democracy. What was the system of the
Holy Roman Empire?
Why did the kings of the Holy Roman Empire start getting to say who would be bishop?
Name the 3 Church abuses that came into play after Charlemagne died.