Other Medieval Empires

Abstract

The imperial coronation of Charlemagne was of course a challenge to the imperial status of the East Roman or Byzantine ruler. Were there now two empires? The implication of the papal theory of the translatio imperii was that there was only one unity that could be called empire, the one designated as the defender and protector of the papacy. A contemporary observer might have expected that the East Roman emperor would have issued a condemnation of Charlemagne’s imperial coronation. The East Roman Empire, however, seems not to have paid any attention to the events of 800 except for the observation of one chronicler: ‘In this year in the month of December, Charles, the king of the Franks, was crowned by Pope Leo.’3 The chronicler provided no explanation for the coronation. His words suggest, however, that he saw the papal coronation only as some form of royal ceremony, not an imperial one, perhaps only providing papal approbation for Charlemagne’s activities and certainly no threat to the East Roman imperial title.4 On the other hand, Einhard declared that Charlemagne ‘endured with great patience the jealousy of the so-called Roman Emperors, who were most indignant at what had happened’, an observation that suggested significant East Roman interest in the events taking place in the West. Both observations also suggest that there was only one empire, although there was obviously disagreement about what and where it was and who actually ruled it.