charles the great of france, better known as charlemagne. on christmas day in the year 800, pope leo iii calls charlemagne to rome where he grants him holy roman emperor. charlemagne took on himself the role of defender of the faith. the moment that leo iii cr n crowned charlemagne is important, because it puts the church back together with the empire. if you have the pope crowning a king, that means the pope is giving that earthly king temperal and divine power. pope leo iii s decision to crown charlemagne as holy roman emperor marks the pivot away from the eastern church. the relations between rome and eastern christians had not been good for a while. charlemagne, in his view, he