In the 7th century the Roman government saw its disappearance. The Catholic church also noticed the lack therefore of Roman governmental support. No longer having a backing support and security blanket in the Roman government, the church had to find a new means of protection from unjust actions. At the same time, The Franks, who were a group of germanic speaking people who somewhat roamed between the top of modern day France and Italy territory, needed a backing from a notable source for their legitimacy of being kings of the Frankish Land. Both groups were at a standpoint where both needed something that the other could satisfy. The church bonded in union with the Franks in order to have protection and someone who could fight in war for them as well as reclaim land that was seen as unjustly taken from them. The Franks received a sacred and rightful recognition to their legitimacy as a kingdom by the recognition of the bishop of Rome which led to the sacralization of secular office by the anointment of Pepin.

     Son of Pepin III and new next King of the Frankish dynasty was Charlemagne. As Christian king of his people, Charlemagne saw his role as one to both expand his territory and to protect Christianity. He also wanted to reach out to people and convert non-believers to Christianity. Although he wanted to convert others to Christianity, his methods were not very Gospel centered, as he slaughtered more than four thousand saxons and force the survivors to convert in 782. He not only went after the Saxons, but also the Bavarians, Lombards, and the northern Spain community made him master of practically all the Christian West. Charlemagne also presented a full blown and successful attempt of educational reform.

     Charlemagne took his practice as a religious christian very seriously. He expressed his Christian piety, or ability to honor God through regulated rules in multiple ways. According to his biography written by Einhard, who was a Frankish scholar and courtier as well as a dedicated servant to Charlemagne, he was constantly worshipping in the church. Charlemagne would not only attend mass but also continue to come in during his own time. He was very focused on keeping anything improper or unclean from being brought into the building. He would also constantly be giving gifts of gold and silver. He was constantly trying to improve the church in whatever way he could. We should however take all these statements with a grain of salt and deliberate on them due to the relationship between Einhard and Charlemagne. Einhard being a dedicated servant to Charlemagne would likely not want to ruin Charlemagne’s image in anyway so he could potentially present him in a flawless manner or in the best light possible.

     Charlemagne’s methods of advancing Christianity mainly by force and violent persuasion was a testament to how weak the church was at the current time. The clergy of the church did not have very many requirements at the time. There was no required education, one simply had to be a free man to be ordained. The liturgy was also mainly left up to the priest. Although there was a lot of structure within the church mass, the duties were mainly between seemingly the preacher and God. And the time had a folkloristic culture to it. Simply a community of lukewarm believers practicing mainly in a secular/social sense opposed to a deep spiritual practice. But this however was in a way Charlemagne’s plan the whole time was it not? to have everyone be practicing christians? although their faith may not be strong their piety seemed to be since it was more a social practice.