In the eighth century, the Franks wanted a legitimate power to reign the entire Frankish realm, and the Christian Church needed a force capable to defend them, and to fight off oppressive forces like the Lombard’s. Pope Zachary (r. 741-752), helped to establish that the title ‘King’ is granted to those with tremendous power, and his successor Pope Stephen II (r. 752-757), granted that title to Pepin, who was leader of the Franks at that time. Pepin was given the title ‘King’ by the Christian Church at the church of St. Denis, and in return he agreed to resist Lombard aggression and restore land previously ruled by them to the Church. This relationship not only helped the Franks, but it allowed the Church to grow into a powerful entity in the Falkland realm. This would become apparent after King Pepin’s death in 768, in which his son, Charles (Charlemagne), took charge as the new King and establish several reforms and anoint the Church with much gifts and monetary rewards.

King Charles understood his role as king because of his healthy relationship with many diplomats and leaders during his reign, and his relationship with the Christian Church. As Einhard points out in Charles biography in Rosenwein, Charlemagne as Roman emperor: Einhard, Life of Charlemagne (825-826?), Charlemagne was able to form strong friendships with foreign allies because of his good nature,
“He also increased the glory of his kingdom by winning over kings and peoples through friendly means. In this way he so completely won over Alfonso [II], the king of Galica and Asturias, that when he sent letters or emissaries to Charles, he ordered that in Charles’s presence he was only to be referred to as his subjects. By his generosity he had so impressed the Irish Kings with his goodwill, that they publicly declared that he was certainly their lord and they were his subjects and servants” (Rosenwein; 3.11, Ch. 16, p. 141).
Charlemagne knew his responsibilities with the Christian Church as well, providing them with much gifts to reward the continuing relationship with the Franks and the Church, as Einhard also illustrates in Rosenwein,
“Despite being so committed to increasing the size of the kingdom and to subduing foreign peoples and being so constantly preoccupied with business of this kind, [Charles] still took up many projects in different places to improve and beautify the kingdom. He achieved some of them, but not all. Probably the most outstanding of these [projects] are the Church of the Holy Mother God in Aachen, which is a remarkable edifice, and the bridge spanning the Rhine River at Mainz, which was half a mile long, the width of the river at that point” (Rosenwein; 3.11, Ch. 16, p. 141).
King Charles continuing relationship with the Christian Church not only helped him to increase the size of the Church, but his kingdom as whole. Helping the Church through monetary gain, and reforming it also helped Charles and the Church in a dramatic way. “The General Admonition” in 789 was a set of canons established by Charles the Great which directed the reform of priests and bishops, and Christian education. Reforming the education was a huge part of the General Admonition, because it established basic literary schools for clergymen, and texts to be collected and stored in libraries.

In Einhard’s biography on Charlemagne, he goes over how Charles the Great showered the Christian Church with treasures, gifts, etc., to expand the Christian faith across the Falkland realms. He also reformed the clergy so that they could perform missionary and pastoral duties without too much difficulty. He also established the General Admonition, which established an educational system for the Church and archives for ancient text re-created by very knowledgeable scribes. Charlemagne helped to create a Christian culture that was effective and efficient in the teachings of God in order to properly perform the Christian faith and please God. Since Einhard had a close relationship with King Charles (he was his biography and contemporary), it’s important to note that he wrote Charlemagne’s biography in a way that reflected upon his importance in history; his impact on Christianity to be specific. Einhard wrote the biography that illustrates Charles the Great as a great figure in history, and an icon to the Christian faith. Some facts were stretched in order to enhance the importance of King Charles, so the biography is an exaggeration of Charlemagne’s life.

Charlemagne not only showered the Christian Church with gifts and treasures, but he reformed the Christian Church into a well-organized faith with its own schools and libraries. Particularly with the General Admonition, this helped to define the Carolingian Renaissance, which saw great re-creations of ancient historic texts. King Charles’s actions during his reign seem to suggest that the Church was having some short-term issues that they couldn’t properly deal with before. Though they were a force to be reckon with, there were internal problems, like lack of literacy for their popes, lack of monetary funds to construct more churches, and bishops having their own views on Christianity (God evolving from a worm), were things only a monarch could fix. That’s exactly what King Charles did during his lifetime. He helped to organize the Church and fixing the issues they were having. He was able to fix the issues of liturgy, clergy, and folklore within its establishment.