December 25, AD 800

Coronation of Charlemagne

Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor in Rome

Christmas Mass produced two crowned rulers that day: an emperor, and moments later his son as king.

Christmas Day 800, at St Peter's

During Christmas Mass in St Peter's Basilica in Rome on 25 December 800, Pope Leo III placed a crown on Charlemagne's head. The assembled Romans acclaimed him as the divinely crowned, great and peace-bringing emperor of the Romans.

The papal account says the acclamation was repeated three times.

Immediately afterward Leo anointed Charlemagne's son Charles the Younger as king — the second coronation of that day, and the one usually left out of the story.

Why Charlemagne was in Rome at all

Leo had been violently attacked by Roman opponents in 799 and had appealed to Charlemagne, who arrived in Rome in November 800 and presided over a December assembly addressing accusations against the pope.

Einhard later claimed Charlemagne would have avoided the church had he known what Leo intended. Historians dispute whether that reports genuine surprise or performs imperial humility.

What the title was, and was not

Charlemagne left with the titles Emperor and Augustus, added to his existing Frankish and Lombard kingships. No new territory and no "Frankish Empire" came into existence that day.

"Holy Roman Emperor" is a convenient later label. The ceremony's own sources call him Emperor, or Emperor of the Romans.

No response from Constantinople is documented that day; Byzantine recognition came in 812, under Emperor Michael I.

Sources

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date and central ceremonial facts are secure in contemporary or near-contemporary sources.
Einhard later claimed Charlemagne would have avoided the church had he known Leo’s plan. Historians dispute whether this describes genuine surprise or is a literary display of imperial humility.
Sources and scholars differ over the precise political meaning of the title and the relative agency of Charlemagne, Leo and the Roman congregation.
Byzantine recognition came in 812, under Emperor Michael I, not from Irene on coronation day.