Why were the people of the Byzantine Empire upset when the pope crowned Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor?

Answer 1

Charlemagne was not prepared for his coronation and may not have wanted to be crowned by the Pope. If the Pope had the power to crown Charlemagne king, the Pope might also have the right to remove the crown.

Answer 2

Most simply put, the problem was that it looked to many people like the pope was claiming that the Byzantine Empire belonged to Charlemagne.

At that time, the terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Holy Roman Empire" were not in use. The Byzantine Empire was officially called the "Roman Empire." Nevertheless, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor, he called the empire of which Charlemagne was made monarch the "Roman Empire."

We cannot know why Leo did this. It happens that the Byzantine Empire of the time was ruled by Empress Irene, and some people took the pope's action to indicate he regarded the rule by a woman as not legitimate. Other people have claimed that Charlemagne's empire was intended to be a renewal of the West Roman Empire. There might be some motive no one has guessed at.

There are some relevant background facts that might help a person understand this:

• The Roman Empire was divided into to administrative halves in the 3rd century. The thing that happened in the 5th century was not the fall of the Roman Empire, but the fall of the western half, or the West Roman Empire.
• The East Roman Empire picked up the pieces as best it could, and continued to call itself the Roman Empire. It was also called by this name by people of the time.
• With the passing of time, people of Western Europe came more and more to call the Byzantine Empire the Empire of the Greeks, which was not an official name. (A thought: maybe Pope Leo III always called it by this name and did not know the official name was the Roman Empire.)
• Charlemagne's Empire was called the Roman Empire, for reasons we do not know. It was, in fact, nearly the size of the West Roman Empire, and had the city of Rome under its protection.
• The current term today for Charlemagne's Empire is the Carolingian Empire, and it is regarded as having existed from 800 to 888. After 888, the title of emperor still existed until 924, when the last person to claim it died.
• Today we regard the Holy Roman Empire as having been founded in 962. It was called the Roman Empire at the time, and was not called the Holy Roman Empire until 1157.
• The Byzantine Empire continued to call itself the Roman Empire until it was destroyed in 1453. The term Byzantine Empire was introduced in 1557.

Much of the modern terminology is used because it avoids certain causes of confusion. Nevertheless, it obscures the relationship between the ancient Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. The term Carolingian Empire has come into use to clarify the relationship between Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, but it might separate the two excessively.

Answer 3

he thought it was a devine tittle