is commonly
called Charlemagne (or Charles the Great). Under Charles the connexion
between the Franks and the Popes became still closer than before; and
when Charles put down the Lombard kingdom in Italy (A.D. 774), the popes
came in for part of the spoil.

But the most remarkable effect of this connexion was at a later time,
when Pope Leo III. had been attacked in a Roman street by some
conspirators, who tried to blind him and to cut out his tongue. But they
were not able to do their work thoroughly, and Leo recovered the use
both of his tongue and of his eyes. He then went into Germany to ask
Charles to help him against his enemies; and on his return to Rome he
was followed by Charles. There, on Christmas Day, A.D. 800, when a vast
congregation was assembled in the great church of St. Peter, the pope
suddenly placed a golden crown on the king's head, while the people
shouted, "Long life and victory to our emperor, Charles!" So now, after
a long time, an emperor was set up again in the West; and, although
these new emperors were German, they all styled themselves emperors of
the Romans. The popes afterwards pretended that they had a right to
bestow the empire as they liked, and that Leo had taken it from the
Greeks, and given it to the Germans. But this was quite untrue. Charles
seems to have made up his mind to be emperor, but he was very angry with
the pope for giving him the crown by surprise, instead of letting him
take his own way about it; and, if he had been left to himself, he would
have taken care to manage the matter so that the pope should not appear
to do anything more than to crown him in form after he had been chosen
by the Roman people.

PART II.

Charles was really a great man, although he had very serious faults, and
did many blameable things. He carried his conquests so far that the
Greeks had a proverb, "Have the Frank for thy friend, but not for thy
neighbour,"--meaning that the Franks were likely to try to make their
neighbours' lands their own. He thought it his duty to spread the
Christian faith by force, if it could not be done in a gentler way; and
thus, when he had conquered the Saxons in Germany, he made them be
baptized and pay tithes to the Church. But I need hardly say that
people's belief is not to be forced in this way; and many of those who
submitted to be baptized at the conqueror's command had no belief in the
Gospel, and no understanding of it. There is a story told of some who