The Imperial Title and the Legacy of Rome

A consideration of the medieval ideology of empire has first to confront the im­mediate and somewhat unsavory politics of the initial coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in St.

Charles, because he held Rome, as well as Italy, Gaul and Germany which the Caesars had also held, and because the name of emperor (nomen imperatoris) was at that time lacking among the Greeks and they had female rule (femineum imperium), the name of emperor should be conferred upon Charles himself... [Charlemagne is then presented as being] unwilling to deny this request of theirs.^[1333]

Einhard, writing after Charlemagne’s death, provides the familiar narrative of the pope's difficulties.

All these Frankish narrative sources create the common impression of a lack of foreknowledge or preparation on the Franks’ part for the precise outcome of the events of 799-800. Even in ideological terms, and despite the Latin classical and Christian education of Charlemagne’ s advisers, there is little to support any suppo­sition that there was much Roman imperial thinking in Carolingian Francia before the events in Rome in 800 altered the Franks’ ideological horizons.^[1335] The principal comparisons made for Charlemagne before 800 were with such ancient biblical rulers as David, Solomon, and Josiah. There are also many instances of contact with Rome, the pope, and St. Peter’s on the part of both Pippin III and Charlemagne before Leo III sought Charlemagne’s political support. These links are reflected not least in the famous volume of papal letters to the Carolingian rulers—Charles Martel, Pippin III, Carloman, and Charlemagne—compiled in 791, that is, the Codex Carolinus, still extant in a unique late ninth-century manuscript in Vienna.^[1336] It is significant in this respect that Einhard introduces his narrative of the events that culminated in the imperial coronation with a description of Charlemagne’s religious devotion to St. Peter’s Basilica and the great quantity of material gifts Charlemagne had bestowed on the popes to help restore “the ancient glory of the city of Rome.”^[1337]

The early ninth-century Life of Leo III in the Liber Pontificalis, the principal papal record for this period, reinforces the impression that Charlemagne’s coronation was a result of papal initiative and Roman politics.^[1338] Certainly thereafter, one distinctive aspect of the medieval empire was the relationship with the papacy and Italy, how­ever much this relationship changed as individual emperors and popes attempted to define it.

Perceptions of both the territorial entity and the function of the imperial title are reflected in provisions made for the succession, for it is inseparable from the dynastic political system outlined earlier. Charlemagne’s plan for his heirs in 806 did not in­clude the continuance of the imperial title. By 813, when all his legitimate sons save one had predeceased him, he himself conferred the imperial title and crown on his son Louis the Pious. During the reign of Louis the Pious a highly sophisticated un­derstanding of empire and the political and symbolic importance of imperial unity developed.^[1339] The Ordinatio imperii of 817 granted Louis’ eldest son the title of co­emperor, and envisaged the emperor acting as both king with full royal authority in his own regnum or portion of the empire, while being simultaneously overlord over all his similarly autonomous royal brothers in the other Carolingian sub-kingdoms. Even more significantly, Lothar’s own kingdom included Italy. Once the imperial title had been conferred, however, the Franks were also quick to capitalize on the symbolic resonances of the empire and the imperial title, though the realization of its theoretical possibilities was a cumulative and slow process. It is generally accepted that the full expression of the medieval empire was the achievement of the theorists of the German Empire under the Staufen rulers in the twelfth century.^[1340]

The Italian connection and obligation of protection of the see of St. Peter remained a fundamental element of the office of emperor, just as the actual territory of Italy and control thereof was also crucial. The imperial title became an honor for the ruler of Italy, or at least those who aspired to political control in Italy, and was a prize that many popes were able to offer members of the Carolingian family in an attempt to secure political support, even to the coronation of the last Carolingian emperor, Berengar of Friuli, in 915.^[1341]

For a few decades only, the emperorship was in abeyance.

Direct Carolingian relations with Byzantium, as with many other polities, had been largely in the form of embassies conveying courtesies, not the least of which was the visit of the Byzantine legate in 812 who hailed Charlemagne as basileus and impe­rator. The Ottonians, however, took their position vis a vis the Byzantines even more seriously than the Carolingian rulers had done. One practical reason for this was the clash of interests and claims concerning territory in southern Italy and rivalry in the conversion of eastern Bavaria, Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, Hungary, Russia, and Bulgaria.^[1342] They were also successful is securing a Byzantine bride, Theophanu, even though she was not quite the porhyrogenita^[1343]’ for whom they had hoped.^[1344] The the­oretical underpinning for all this political maneuvering was actually rather nebu­lous, but this did not prevent grandiloquent claims being made on the basis of these precedents for centuries to come.