In the course of a reign of forty-five years, Charlemagne extended the
limits of his empire beyond the Danube; subdued Dacia, Dalmatia, and
Istria, conquered and subjected all the barbarous tribes to the banks of
the Vistula, and successfully encountered the arms of the Saracens, the
Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Saxons. His war with the Saxons was of more
than thirty years duration, and their final conquest was not achieved
without an inhuman waste of blood, through what has been considered a
mistaken zeal for the propagation of Christianity, by measures which that
religion can not be said to sanction or approve. All these wars were very
nearly finished in the year 800. Charlemagne then found himself master
of France, of Germany, of three-quarters of Italy, and a part of Spain.
He had increased by more than a third the extent of territory which his
father had left him. These vast possessions were no longer a kingdom, but
an empire. He thought he had done enough to be authorized to seat himself
on the throne of the West; and, as his father had required at the hands
of the Pope his regal crown, so it was from the Pope that he demanded his
imperial diadem. He was, therefore, with great ceremony, created Emperor
of the West in St. Peter’s, at Rome, by Pope Leo III., on Christmas day
800. It was a great event, for that imperial title which had remained
buried under the ruins wrought by the barbarians, was drawn thence by the
Roman pontiff, and shown to scattered nations and enemies as a rallying
sign.
The crown which he received was destined to be for one thousand and six
years the symbol of German unity, whilst the assembled people shouted,
“Long life and victory to Carolus Augustus, the great and peace-bringing
Roman Emperor, whom God hath crowned!” Thus, 324 years after the
imperial dignity had disappeared, it was renewed by Charles. In this
coronation act Pope Leo III. had fulfilled a function like St. Remy did
in consecrating Clovis. His successors constituted it a privilege, and
the pontiffs considered themselves the dispensers of crowns. During the
whole of the middle ages the imperial consecration could only be given at
Rome, and from the hands of the Holy Father. More than one war arose out
of this prerogative.[F]