the spirit of modern history and civilization. The Vatican Palace is the richest museum of classical
and mediaeval curiosities, and the pope himself, the infallible oracle of two hundred millions of
souls, is by far the greatest curiosity in it.
On the other hand Charles, although devotedly attached to the church and the pope, was
too absolute a monarch to recognize a sovereignty within his sovereignty. He derived his idea of
the theocracy from the Old Testament, and the relation between Moses and Aaron. He understood
and exercised his imperial dignity pretty much in the same way as Constantine the Great and
Theodosius the Great had done in the Byzantine empire, which was caesaro-papal in principle and
practice, and so is its successor, the Russian empire. Charles believed that he was the divinely
appointed protector of the church and the regulator of all her external and to some extent also the
internal affairs. He called the synods of his empire without asking the pope. He presided at the
Council of Frankfort (794), which legislated on matters of doctrine and discipline, condemned the
Adoption heresy, agreeably to the pope, and rejected the image worship against the decision of the
second oecumenical Council of Nicaea (787) and the declared views of several popes.^253 He
appointed bishops and abbots as well as counts, and if a vacancy in the papacy, had occurred during
the remainder of his life, he would probably have filled it as well as the ordinary bishoprics. The
first act after his coronation was to summon and condemn to death for treason those who had
attempted to depose the pope. He thus acted as judge in the case. A Council at Mayence in 813
called him in an official document "the pious ruler of the holy church."^254
Charles regarded the royal and imperial dignity as the hereditary possession of his house
and people, and crowned his son, Louis the Pious, at Aix-la-Chapelle in 813, without consulting
the pope or the Romans.^255 He himself as a Teuton represented both France and Germany. But with
the political separation of the two countries under his successors, the imperial dignity was attached
to the German crown. Hence also the designation: the holy German Roman empire.
§ 58. Survey of the History of the Holy Roman Empire.
The readiness with which the Romans responded to the crowning act of Leo proves that the
re-establishment of the Western empire was timely. The Holy Roman Empire seemed to be the
necessary counterpart of the Holy Roman Church. For many, centuries the nations of Europe had
been used to the concentration of all secular power in one head. It is true, several Roman emperors
from Nero to Diocletian had persecuted Christianity by fire and sword, but Constantine and his
(^253) Milman (II. 497): "The Council of Frankfort displays most fully the power assumed by Charlemagne over the hierarchy
as well as the nobility of the realm, the mingled character, the all-embracing comprehensiveness of his legislation. The assembly
at Frankfort was at once a Diet or Parliament of the realm and an ecclesiastical Council. It took cognizance alternately of matters
purely ecclesiastical and of matters as clearly, secular. Charlemagne was present and presided in the Council of Frankfort. The
canons as well as the other statutes were issued chiefly in his name."
(^254) Sanctae Ecclesiae tam pium ac devotum in servitio Dei rectorem. Also, in his own language, Devotus Ecclesiae
defensor atque adjutor in omnibus apostolicae sedis. Rettberg I. 425, 439 sqq.
(^25555) Ann. Einhardi, ad. ann. 813 (in Migne’s Patrol. Tom. 104, p. 478): Evocatum ad se apud Aquasgrani filium suum
Illudovicum Aquitaniae regem, coronam illi imposuit et imperialis nominis sibi consortem fecit.’ When Stephen IV. visited
Louis in 816, he bestowed on him simply spiritual consecration. In the same manner Louis appointed his son Lothair emperor
who was afterwards crowned by the pope in Rome (823).