A. D. 500-800 entered the city, having been received by Leo III "with CHAP. II great humility" some fourteen miles from the city gates. On December 1 a convocation of the higher clergy and the Frankish nobility was called, to meet in St. Peter's Church; and on December 23, Leo III, with great solemnity, holding the Holy Gospel in his hands, in the presence of the assembly, declared with an oath his innocence of the charges brought against him. Two days after his acquittal, on Christmas day, when the Church of St. Peter was thronged with worshippers celebrating the festival, Leo silently approached the King, who was kneeling before the high altar in the act of prayer, and placed upon his bowed head an imperial crown, while the Roman people acclaimed: "To Charles, the Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific Emperor of the Romans, life and victory!" 1 Not only the court and the clergy within, but the Frankish soldiers without the walls, took up the cry; while the Pope, performing the act of "adoration," reverently knelt to touch and kiss the garment of the praying monarch.2 As if by a sudden inspiration, he had, with a single touch, crystallized the greatest memories of the past and the deepest aspirations of his time into the most conspicuous institution of the Middle Ages. The two figures before the high altar of St. Peter's on that Christmas day form a symbolical picture of the whole course of history since the time of the Caesars. The Roman and the German, the overshadowing past and the potential present, the universal and the individual, the majesty of law and 1 The Latin formula, Augusto a deo coronato magno et pacifico imperatori Romanorum vita et victoria, used by the Roman people in acclaiming Charles the Great, was part of an ancient hymn of salutation well known and often used at Rome, with slight modifications. See W. Ohr, Die Kaiserkrönung Karls des Grossen, pp. 63, 72. 2 The act of "adoration" is explained in Godofred's note to the Codex Theodosianus, VI, 8. It merely implied the honor due to an emperor, and was not in any sense a sign of vassalage. The corona tion of Charles as Emperor CHAP. II A. D. 500-800 the vigor of liberty, the world of the spirit and the world of actuality, imperial right and barbarian energy, - all these are present, and all are henceforth to be combined as if swallowed up in one new creation. But it is the German who kneels in pious devotion, the present which humbles itself before the past, the individual who feels the power of the universal, the vigor of liberty which yields to the majesty of law, the actual which seeks strength from the spiritual, and the barbarian who has been conquered by the Empire. It is the Roman who bestows the crown, the Roman who speaks in the name of the divinity, the Roman whose transfigured republic is to profit by Rome's latest conquest; for after centuries of suffering, toil, and tragedy, it is the triumph of Rome's work which is before us. Documents AUTHORITIES In addition to works already named, the following are to be mentioned for the present chapter: Jaffé, Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, Berlin, 1864-1873, of which volume IV, Monumenta Carolina, contains the Codex Carolinus and the Letters of St. Boniface. The correspondence of Charles the Great and Pope Leo III is included in the Codex Carolinus. See also Jaffé, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, Berlin, 1888, from the foundation of the Church to 1198. Cenni, Monumenta Dominationis Pontificiae, Rome, 1761-1764; and Theiner, Codex Diplomaticus Dominii Temporalis Sanctae Sedis, Rome, 18611862, contain the chief data and documents regarding the establishment of the temporal power of the Papacy. The Liber Pontificalis, Vignoli's edition, Rome, 1724-1755, and Duchesne's edition, Paris, 1884, contains biographies of the popes. Troya, Codice Diplomatico Longobardo dal 568 al 774, Naples, 1852-1855, has collected the documents relating to the Lombards; and his Storia d'Italia nel medio ero, Naples, 1839-1859, presents minute analyses of them. Muratori, Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, Milan, 1723-1751, is the great collection of Italian writers from 500 to 1500. A new edition is in course of publication. The Annali d'Italia, Lucca, 1761-1770, is a valuable digest. Böhmer-Mühlbacher, Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (751-918), Innsbruck, 1899, gives a catalogue of the acts of the Carlovingians. The Jahrbücher des fränkischen Reichs include the work of Bonnell on the beginnings of the Carlovingian rule, Berlin, 1866; of Breysig on Charles Martel, Leipzig, 1869; of Hahn on the Frankish kingdom, Berlin, 1863; and of Abel and Simson on Charles the Great, Leipzig, 1883. Richter, Annalen der deutschen Geschichte im Mittelalter, Halle, 1873-1898, is an admirable digest of the period 200-1137, with citations from the text of original authorities, commentaries, and bibliography. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, London, 1892, contains translations of certain documents into English. CHAP. II A. D. 500-800 The history of the city of Rome is found in Gregorovius, Geschichte Literature der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, Stuttgart, 1859-1873; Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, Berlin, 1867-1870, vol. II (476–1420); and Grisar, Geschichte Roms und der Päpste im Mittelalter, Freiburg, 1898, still in course of publication. The conversion and work of Clovis are treated by Junghans, Die Geschichte der fränkischen Könige Childerich und Chlodovech, Göttingen, 1857. On the early growth of the Papacy and the work of St. Boniface, see Pingaud, La politique de St. Grégoire le Grand, Paris, 1874; Bede, Ecclesiastical History of England, London, 1847. Ozanam, La civilisation chrétienne chez les Francs, Paris, 1849; the biographies of St. Boniface by Buss, Gratz, 1880; Fischer, Leipzig, 1881; and Kuhlmann, Paderborn, 1895. On the development of the Frankish monarchy, see Dubos, Histoire critique de l'établissement de la monarchie française dans les Gaules, Paris, 1734; Fustel de Coulanges, La monarchie franque, Paris, 1889 ; Waitz, as already cited under chapter I; Viollet, Histoire des institutions politiques et administratives de la France, Paris, 1895, vol. I; Richter, Annalen, I Abteilung, pp. 108, 150. The Byzantine administration of Italy is discussed in Diehl, Études sur l'administration byzantine dans l'exarchate de Ravenne (568-751), Paris, 1888. The policy of the popes toward the Empire is considered by Gregorovius, cited above; by Baxmann, Die Politik der Päpste von Gregor I bis Gregor VII, Elberfeld, 1868; and by Duchesne, Les premiers temps de l'état pontifical, Paris, 1898. These and the following discuss also the diplomatic relations of the Papacy with the Franks: W. Sickel, Kirchenstaat und Karolinger, in the Historische Zeitschrift, Neue Folge, Bd. XLVIII, drittes Heft, 1900, pp. 386, 409; Bayet, Le voyage d'Étienne III en France, in the Revue Historique, t. XX, 1882, pp. 88, 105; Brunengo, Le origini della sovranità temporale dei papi, Prato, 1862, third edition, 1889; Brunengo, I primi papi-re l'ultimo dei re longobardi, Rome, 1864; W. Sickel, Die Verträge der Päpste mit den Karolingern, in the Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, Bd. XI, pp. 302, 351, and Bd. XII, pp. 1, 43, 1894-1895; W. Martens, СНАР. ІІ A. D. 500-800 Beleuchtung der neuesten Kontroversen über die römische Frage, Munich, 1898. The popular traditions of the Empire are discussed by Graf, Roma nella memoria e nelle immaginazioni del medio evo, Turin, 1882-1883. On the relations of Charles the Great to the Papacy, see also Brunengo, Il patriziato romano di Carlomagno, Prato, 1893. CHAPTER III THE EMPIRE UNDER THE CARLOVINGIANS WHAT HAT men think of events is often as important to history as the events themselves. Certainly, this was true of the imperial coronation of Charles the Great. From one point of view, the act of Leo seems to have been simply the spontaneous expression of personal gratitude to a benefactor for deliverance from his enemies. Regarded from another, it appears as the inevitable consummation of great historic movements spanning centuries of time. It is, however, only by an attentive study of the circumstances preceding and surrounding the spectacular scene in St. Peter's that we can understand its real causes or appreciate its full significance. I. THE GENESIS AND THEORY OF THE CARLOVINGIAN EMPIRE Charles The act of coronation, according to the contemporary The views of biographer of Charles the Great, was received by him with a shock of surprise. Had he known of what was intended, he is reported to have said, he would not have entered the basilica on that day. This declaration does not imply that Charles had never considered or desired the imperial honor, nor that he was opposed to receiving it. Still less does it warrant the assumption that his statement was a fiction, 1 The words of Einhard are: Quo tempore imperatoris et augusti nomen accepit. Quod primo in tantum aversatus est, ut adfirmaret se eo die ecclesiam non intraturum, si pontificis consilium praescire potuisset. See Vita Caroli, c. 28, in Jaffé, Monumenta Carolina, and in Mon. Germ. Hist., Scriptores, II, p. 458. |