In 774 the Roman Bishop Hadrian I made an agreement with the Frankish King Charles. This gave protection to the church against the Eastern emperor and the other European groups who were trying to gain control over Italy. Charles wanted to restore the glory of Rome. He rebuilt an empire that stretched far into northern Germany. In 800 Pope Leo III crowned him as the first Holy Roman Emperor. He was known as Charles the Great or Charlemagne. He built huge churches, and started a great programme of copying manuscripts. He tried to remodel society on Christian lines and reformed the church’s liturgy.

The Split between East and West

Charlemagne was also at the centre of the great debate between the Eastern and Western churches which eventually led to them splitting. After the Council of Constantinople in 381 the text of the Nicene Creed said that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. Augustine of Hippo influenced the western church to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (the Latin word was filioque).  In 589 the Spanish church added this to their version of the creed and then after 800 Charles used it in his private chapel. The Eastern church was angry at this addition to the creed. The Roman church added it to their version of the creed in the 11th century, and after negotiations between the bishop of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople finally broke down, the Pope and the Patriarch excommunicated each other in 1054. The mutual excommunication was only rescinded in 1965.