Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/170

134 Readings in European History and they dined together. Then he remained behind while the pope returned to the city in order that he might be waiting to receive him the next morning on the steps of St. Peter's, together with the bishops and all the clergy. When he appeared and dismounted from his horse, the pope received him with gratitude and thanksgiving and con- ducted him into the church, while all the people glorified God in hymns of praise. This was on the 24th day of November. Seven days later, the king publicly proclaimed, in an assembly which he had called together, all the reasons why he had come to Rome, and thenceforth he labored daily to carry out all that he had come to do. He began with the most serious and difficult matter, namely, the investigation into the offenses of which the pope had been accused. But since no one could be found who was willing to substantiate the charges, the pope, carrying the Gospels in his hand, mounted the pulpit in St. Peter's and before all the people, and in the name of the Holy Trinity, took an oath to clear himself from the crimes imputed to him. On the same day Zacharias, the priest whom the king had dispatched to Jerusalem, arrived at Rome with two monks sent to the king by the Patriarch. By way of a blessing, they brought with them the keys to the sepulcher of our Lord and to the place of Calvary, together with an ensign. The king received them graciously, ke.pt them as his guests for some days, and when they were ready to return, dismissed them with gifts. A.D. 801 On the most holy day of the birth of our Lord, the king went to mass at St. Peter's, and as he knelt in prayer before the altar Pope Leo set a crown upon his head, while all the Roman populace cried aloud, " Long life and victory to the mighty Charles, the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans, crowned of God ! "' After he had been thus acclaimed, the pope did homage to him, as had been the custom with the early rulers, and henceforth he dropped the title of Patrician and was called Emperor and Augustus. . . .