Western Europe: 774 AD | Charles had become the sole ruler of the Franks since his brother Carloman had died, and that was in 771. He had earlier just divorced his new wife, the daughter of the Lombard king, which naturally upset him. But what can he do about Charles' marriage with an Alemanni girl named Hildegard?
Charles spent much of his first year fighting the German Saxons north of the Rhine. He had wrecked their pagan wooden pillar to show that his religion (Roman Christianity) had conquered the pagan Saxons' religion.
Last year, King Charles of the Franks crossed the Alps with his loyal soldiers and prepared to fight the Lombards. So the former allies meet in the north of Italy. But then the Franks bested the Lombards, and after a year of siege, Desiderius, king of the Lombards, submitted. Charles sent him to a monastery up north in Frankish territory.
This year, he claims the Lombard crown, which is made of gold and precious stones, and has an iron band that—as tradition affirms—was beaten from one of the nails used in Jesus' crucifixion centuries ago. Now the Lombards are no longer independent. They evaporate from the map.
Four years from now, Charles would try to make accords with the Muslims in Spain, but it would end in catastrophe and would result in some of his intimate friends getting killed—one of which would get a French song some centuries from now, the popular Song of Roland.
+
789 AD | Charles calls for reform in education throughout his realm. Learning in literature, the arts, and grammar advances. He reforms the liturgy. Now secular and church officials can write Latin better. Charles himself knows Latin, Greek, and the current build of French.
It appears he's trying to restore the glories of the old Roman Empire. And indeed, he has done some contributions to the Rome-ruled lands. Some.
+
Eastern Frankish Camp: 799 AD | Charles, king of the Franks, opposes drunkenness... and hates icons. Despite the Bishop of Rome guaranteeing that icons are not "graven images", Charles is not convinced. So the fact that in Constantinople there's a usurper on the Emperor's throne—and a woman, no less—but also venerates icons upsets him further.
The present Pope is a certain Leo III, who was elected in 795, and "Charles the Great" sent him congratulations and some treasures, and he pledged to protect the Pope.
Now, the year being 799, Charlemagne obtains news from Rome. Now Pope Leo III is in danger, and Charlemagne has the chance to make good his promise.
Leo is unpopular, not being an aristocrat. On April 25, he was on a procession in a religious cortege when suddenly armed men assailed him, knocking him down. His enemies accuse him of adultery, of making false oaths, and of falsehood in selling indulgences—religious "quick-way-to-heaven" tokens that ensure the one who buys them would evade either the eternal hell or the temporary purgatory.[There is no Scriptural evidence for the existence of purgatory (at least for the Jewish canon of the Old Testament). Catholicism adjusted this out of their logic: people who sinned and confessed should pay for those sins (penance). If they did not settle for all their sins by the time of death, then they pay for it in purgatory. Later they would go to heaven. Protestants reject this doctrine as not biblical.]
The Pope nearly got his eyes and tongues cut out, but he was rescued and sent to Charlemagne, who is currently in a camp up north of Italy. The Frankish king receives him with high honor. Pope Leo III asks for his foes to be driven from Rome.
Charlemagne takes his time to think about whether this would be politically correct. Some of his officials, after all, do not believe the Pope is guiltless of these charges. But eventually, he rules that the position of the Pope has to be ironclad. Besides, the king is now the only protector of the Church at this time, for the Byzantines are ruled by a corrupt woman.
+
Rome: December 23, 800 AD | Pope Leo III had already returned to Rome with an armed escort. Last month, Charlemagne himself arrived in Rome.
Now, two days before Christ's Mass, he and his soldiers arrive at Saint Peter's Church and stand by the Pope as the latter puts his hand on a copy of the Four Gospels. Before everyone present, he swears to his innocence of the crimes levied against him. With that, the Pope's accusers are exiled from Rome. The mutiny is over.
+
December 25, 800 AD | It's Christ's Mass, in which pretty-much all Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. Inside Saint Peter's Church, Leo III does the expected mass. Charlemagne now kneels at the altar to pray.
The Nicene Creed reads in part: "And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets."
And yet the prevailing belief in Western Christianity is that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God the Father and God the Son. So in the sixth century, some Latin Christians inserted "and from the Son" into the Nicene Creed:
"And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father AND FROM THE SON, who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets."
This statement caused issues with the Eastern Church, which refuse that concept. They first objected with the late Pope Martin I approving of it—which might also be why he was exiled a time ago.
But Pope Leo III does not want trouble. In fact, the Nicene Creed without the Filioque Clause is written over the entrance of Saint Peter's Church, in both Greek and Latin. So Charlemagne (who accepts this inserted clause) would have seen that as he entered the Church, as a constant reminder that he and the Pope do not always agree.
Charles of the Franks is starting to stand up now, his prayers done. Then the Pope approaches him, holding a golden crown. When the Pope sets the crown on Charles' head, the people cheer: "Long life and victory to Charles, most pious Augustus, the great peace-loving Emperor, crowned by God!" Then the Pope himself kneels.
Does Charlemagne expect the coronation? Historians will debate this issue. But now, the king of the Franks is now Imperator et Augustus, two titles that the Emperor of Rome used to bear. The Pope had now fully rejected the Byzantines, as proven by this crowning of the Franks.
The Byzantines would not consider valid this crowning, but they couldn't object because of their sick state. When times get better years later, the Franks and the Byzantines would make an agreement, but Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I would call himself emperor, and not refer to Charlemagne as emperor.
Charlemagne would also call on the monasteries to get into reading and writing!
+
Jerusalem: 807 AD | The Abbasid Caliph, a certain Harun al-Rashid, is actually okay with Charlemagne—if only because of trading opportunities. His name means "Aaron the Righteous", for he made it clear he kept the Five Pillars of Islam. He dealt peacefully with the Europeans and the Tang dynasty in China—which is soon to fall apart and get into another civil war. At 802, al-Rashid gave Charlemagne a water-driven clock and spices, amid other things.
The Byzantine Emperor refused to pay tribute to the Caliph, to the point that the latter called the Emperor, "Nikephoros, dog of the Romans".
So yes, the polygamist Abbasid Caliph likes Charlemagne more; so much so that this year, the year 807, he makes a decree that would protect the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Pilgrims could visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolorosa, both sites associated with Jesus' martyrdom—or, as Muslims call him: Isa. Naturally, this decree should be sent to Pope Leo III, but Harun passed the Pope by and directed the pledge to Charlemagne. Special treatment is promised for Frankish pilgrims in particular!
And if that isn't enough to make the Pope feel left out, the bishop of Jerusalem also sent two monks to present Charlemagne—not the Pope!—with the key to the very Church that was said to be built atop Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified.
Now, the Caliph had already established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. This will lead to the Golden Age of Islam, in which advancements would come for the Muslims—cultural, monetary, and scientific flourishing! Islamic scholars translate classic knowledge works into Arabic and Syriac, as do members of the Church of the East, a church independent of Rome and its Pope in the period between 424 and 431 AD. Instead of contributing to the Roman Church, this church contributes to the Muslims in science and philosophy! This century, they will be the first non-Chinese to adapt paper. They will establish algebra and geometry.
Harun al-Rashid has become legendary and rich as the years go by, and tales about him would spread into a collection of sagas: Arabian Nights. He would die in 809.
+
813 AD | In a fight with the pagan Bulgarian khan, Krum, in the summer of 811, the Byzantine Emperor got killed. Krum "the Fearful" beheaded his corpse and (rumor has it) lined it in silver so he could use it as a drinking cup as if he were a Chinese! Krum is a wild barbarian, and the later Emperor of the Byzantines now allies with Charlemagne. Sore, Krum lays siege to Constantinople at 813, and carries out a demon-summoning sacrifice right before the Golden Gate of the city! Little wonder that he would be nicknamed "the new Sennacherib", named after the Assyrian monarch who defied the people of God by attacking Jerusalem.[See 2 Kings 18-19. The Judean king then, Hezekiah, prayed to God for deliverance, and the prophet Isaiah promised this. The cruel Sennacherib's army got mostly wiped out by an angel, forcing the proud king to return to Nineveh, where his sons later assassinated him.]
Krum, however, suddenly retreats; he would die in April of the following year. His pagan kingdom would be left alone for a century, slowly adapting Eastern Christianity and finally making it the original religion in 864.
+
The tall Charlemagne, normally healthy, is now 66 years old and is now hauling a leg. His biographer would pen this about him:
"[H]e stubbornly did what he wanted and refused to listen to doctors, indeed he detested them, because they wanted to persuade him to stop eating roast meat, as was his wont, and to be content with boiled meat."
Charlemagne looks back at his life. He had launched an era of learning in art, which he hopes his successor would advance. He wanted to divide his empire into three sons, but two had died. Only one is left.
The white-haired Emperor now calls the court nobles together and crowns 35-year-old Louis "the Pious" as the following Emperor.
Early the next year, Charlemagne—titled "Charles, serene Augustus governing the Roman Empire, at the same time king of the Franks and of the Lombards"—would die, the guardian of civilization and the defender of the Pope in Rome.
As for Pope Leo III, he would outlive Charlemagne for three years. Then the new Pope would be Pope Stephen IV, who would confirm Louis the Pious as the Emperor. Louis keeps his father's wishes and advances the so-called "Carolingian Renaissance" since only the important people are affected by this "re-birth".
Later, Charlemagne's large realm would split apart. The western portion would be France, and the eastern portion would be the so-called "Holy Roman Empire."