Caveat Imperator

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Caveat Imperator: What if Charlemagne was never Holy Roman Emperor?
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I: The Siege of Pavia
Our story begins with the death of King Charles I of the Franks, otherwise known in OTL as Charlemagne. But in order to become Charles the Great, he had to conquer most of western Europe and be crowned the Roman Emperor.

From the "Annales Europaeus" by historian Savinus, chronicler to the King of Italy

In May of 774 AD, Charles and his Uncle Bernard were amidst a siege against the capital of Lombardy: Pavia. The Pope, Hadrian I, had expelled all Lombard officials from the Papal State and in response, the Lombard King Desiderius had invaded. Charles, who saw himself as the protector of the Pope, was asked to invade Lombardy. Charles was a strong general, and along side his uncle saw no reason not to defend the lands of the faithful (and conquer Italy for himself). During this siege, epidemic typhoid struck the Frankish camp and the city... and it claimed the life of the King. Bernard, being a shrewd tactician, called off the siege. The sickly army returned to France, knowing that the Lombards had suffered too much of a defeat to continue harassing the Pope. Pope Hadrian, still fearing that the Lombards will regain strength, sought to Crown Bernard as King, since Charles' three sons were much too young to succeed him and the risk of Frankish political turmoil was too high. The Bishop of Reims agreed, and Bernard was crowned king of the Franks.

Desiderius had suffered so much loss at the hands of the invading army. They torched his fields, slaughtered his people, and declaimed him to the faithful. Lombards were not allowed in the court of the Pope, and so Desiderius denounced the pope as illegitimate. Six years prior he had attempted to raise an anti-pope, but his efforts were fruitless. The Pope, however, had another rival: Emperor Constantine V of Byzantium. in September of 774, Desiderius sought an alliance with Constantine, to which he agreed on partial terms: He would come to Desiderius' aid should his realm be invaded again, and that the Holy See would be placed under Byzantine control should Hadrian be dethroned. Whilst the agreement was being formalized, Constantine died of his wounds returning from a war against the Bulgars. His son Leo IV had another demand: Formally sever ties with the Church.
 
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II: An Unorthodox Christmas
By late 774, the severance from the Church began. Desiderius decreed that from then on his people would not celebrate the birth of Christ in Roman Churchs .Many of his god fearing subjects continued to go to Roman Churchs where the priests would preach about the foulness of the royal family. The nobles and merchant class were upset with the church as well since they were barred from entering Papal lands. On the night of Christmas, an organized group of peasants overtook the mayoral palace of Milan in an act of protest. The peasants held the palace for a week before a sizable army could be mustered nearby, at which point they were captured and hanged. Meanwhile, Bernard had be coronated at Reims and proclaimed sole ruler of the Franks to which many of the Frankish nobles rejoice, but a faction arises that would rather see Bernard as a regent to Charles' sons.
 
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I’m pretty sure that the Catholic and Orthodox churches didn’t exist as separate entities by this point, and the single church still used the Julian calendar since the Gregorian wouldn’t be created for several centuries.
 
I’m pretty sure that the Catholic and Orthodox churches didn’t exist as separate entities by this point, and the single church still used the Julian calendar since the Gregorian wouldn’t be created for several centuries.
Your absolutely right about that. I was pretty tired when I wrote this one so I better fix it. Much appreciated
 
The differences between the eastern and western churches were still evolving at this point. One might simply decree that the pope is not the head of the church, but simply one of the pentarchs who tried to assume supreme power over all christians. Also, with several seats of the pentarchy in mahometan hands, Alexandria might be stripped of it's status, with the grandest city in northern Italy getting the honour of being the seat of a new pentarch, one who is subservient to the Lombards (and treats the patriarch of Constantinople as the first among equals). Any priests who dispute this can be replaced - what's papal investiture?
 
One might simply decree that the pope is not the head of the church, but simply one of the pentarchs who tried to assume supreme power over all christians
Thats not strictly true, St.Peter (and thereby his inheritors) was given a certain pride of place in the bible.

18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

So at the very least, the Patriarch of Rome is first among equals, which was the position of the church for a long time
 
Thats not strictly true, St.Peter (and thereby his inheritors) was given a certain pride of place in the bible.

18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

So at the very least, the Patriarch of Rome is first among equals, which was the position of the church for a long time

This was the situation basically forever since the foundation of the papacy, although from 537 to 752 the popes were chosen only from Byzantine subjects and had to be approved by the Emperor which very few people questioned. They were still afforded that "first among equals" privilege, but the equal under the emperor part is important and will be important in the future of this timeline.
 
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III: Matters of the Throne
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To the Frankish people, Bernard's coronation was a joyous occasion that symbolized the unity of a nation. To the Frankish nobles it symbolized a progress away from the traditions of the realm, and of course away from their power. Under Frankish law Charles' sons should have divided the kingdom into three realms, and the nobles would have been given the privileges of regency over large amounts of land in the time of the boys' minority. When the Pope decreed Bernard as the new king the nobles were tasked with the choice of their church and king or themselves, and many chose themselves. Two factions arose among the noble class of France: The Castellans, so named for their refusal to leave their castles to attend Bernard's coronation, and the Loyalists, supporters of Bernard, though they numbered relatively few. The Castellans held their fortresses and refused to pay royal taxes until Bernard ceded the throne to his grand-nephews. A reign of terror begun on the fringes of the realm as lords fought and subjugated those who supported the king.

For Desiderius in Italy, matters of the throne remained much easier. The Lombard nobles felt slighted by the Roman Church and wished for vengeance. The Italian nobles refused merchants from Rome and punished their subjects for paying tithe to churches affiliated with the Bishop of Rome, yet Rome did not retaliate yet. Desiderius saw good relations with Leo in this time, and with the Bishop of Constantinople Niketas despite the fact that he was unpopular, due to his beliefs in iconoclasm. Desiderius frequently attended Leo's events in Constantinople and the alliance was strengthened by Desiderius' re-baptism by Niketas. This act was seen as treasonous by Pope, who of course claimed religious authority over all of the former western Roman Empire.
 
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IV: Friends, Romans, Countrymen

By 780, Leo IV had seen numerous victories over the Abbasid Caliphate in Anatolia and Syria. His military prowess had been tried and tested against the greatest enemy of Christendom, but not Christendom itself. In early 780 the Pope declared war against Desiderius, as a traitor to the Holy See of Rome. Pope Hadrian expected the retribution to be quick, and that Desiderius would submit to the authority of Rome once again, however he was wrong. The war was swift with the Lombard army holding the armies of Rome in the north as the Byzantine army attacked from the south of Italy. Byzantium took Benevento in early 780 and laid siege to Rome by the middle of year. During the siege, Leo was faced with Tuberculosis. The siege was successful thanks to the much larger Byzantine army and the battles occupying the Pope's soldiers in in the north. Leo died from his tuberculosis in September of 780, being succeeded by his son Constantine VI, only age 9. Before his death however, he marched his army through Rome to depose the Pope, now seen as the heretic. Leo's soldiers recount how he sat on the Papal throne as the Pope was arrested and dragged away. When Desiderius arrived to Rome, shortly before Leo's death, he was welcomed openly by the Byzantine occupiers but much less so by the Roman citizens. In a public decree on the Palatine Hill, Leo made Desiderius and his heirs the de facto rulers of the Popes lands. He awarded Desiderius with the title Exarch of Italy, in return for recognizing de jure Byzantine rule of the peninsula
 
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