Discuss the influence of Christianity during the rise and fall of the Essay

Discuss the influence of Christianity during the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. OR Discuss the importance of Christianity during the Carolingian era - Essay Example His laws were based on Christianity and the dogma preached by the church would be seen as little more than Draconian today but in the Carolingian era the church saw Charlemagne as a hero for the faith (Story 15). His objectives for conquest could have been to encourage the growth of Christianity but power and repute certainly came with the conquests made by Charlemagne. These conquests were certainly beneficial to his standing in the eyes of other rulers around him who saw him as a competitor and those who saw him as a friend. It was this repute as a conqueror which led Pope Leo III to seek his assistance when the pope was removed from power and wished to regain his seat. The support of the pope meant a great deal to Charlemagne since it gave him the legitimacy as a king as well as a spiritual leader for his followers. This support was firmly established with Christian ideals when Charlemagne was made the Emperor of the Romans (Rogers 27). The coronation of Charlemagne was done by Pope Leo III and it took place a few days after Charlemagne had agreed to help the Pope regain his throne. The coronation was unannounced and is supposed to have happened when Charlemagne was leaning on the Altar to pray on Christmas day and the pope took the Iron Crown and placed it on Charlemagne’s head. The pope then announced that Charlemagne was Imperator Romanorum i.e. Emperor of the Romans. While it has been suggested that Charlemagne did not want this, West (345) and Bullough (352) imply that this was certainly wanted by Charlemagne since Christianity was an important aspect of his politics. Such a coronation gave him the blessings of the established church to do what he wanted to when the Pope was restored to power. This was called by Story as a â€Å"defining event that epitomizes the spirit of the age (Story 2)†. Of course this was not the first instance that