Coronation of Charles the Great - Charlemagne - 25th December 800 - By Pope Leo III - Rome.

Charlemagne (2 April 742/747/748 – 28 January 814), also known as Charles the Great (Latin: Carolus or Karolus Magnus) or Charles I (Frankish: *Karl), was King of the Franks. He united most of Western Europe during the early Middle Ages and laid the foundations for modern France, Germany and the Low Countries. He took the Frankish throne in 768 and became King of Italy in 774. From 800, he became the first Holy Roman Emperor — the first recognized emperor in Western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. Charlemagne already ruled his kingdom without the help of the Pope, but recognition from the pontiff granted him divine legitimacy in the eyes of his contemporaries. www.OrderofCharlemagne.com