page_title: Problem of two emperors
section_title: Imperial ideology
hierarchical_section_title: Problem of two emperors / Holy Roman–Byzantine dispute / Carolingian period / Imperial ideology
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Vorderseite eines silbernen Pfennings aus einer Münzstätte in Frankfurt am Main, zw. 804 und 814, heute: Cabinet des Médailles, Paris English: Obverse of a Charlemagne denier (a silver coin) coined in Frankfurt from 812 to 814, today at the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris. Français&#160;: Denier de Charlemagne frappé à Mayence (812-814). Aujourd'hui&#160;: Département des Monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
context_page_description: The problem of two emperors or two-emperors-problem is the historiographical term for the historical contradiction between the idea of the universal empire, that there was only ever one true emperor at any one given time, and the truth that there were often two individuals who claimed the position simultaneously. The term is mostly used in regards to medieval Europe, in particular, the long-lasting dispute between the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople and the Holy Roman emperors in modern-day Germany and Austria as to which emperor represented the legitimate Roman emperor.
  In the view of medieval Christians, the Roman Empire was indivisible and its emperor held a somewhat hegemonic position even over Christians who did not live within the formal borders of the empire. Since the collapse of the classical Roman Empire during Late antiquity, the Byzantine Empire had been recognized by itself, the Pope and the various new Christian kingdoms throughout Europe as the legitimate Roman Empire.
context_section_description: Though the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire itself never stopped referring to themselves as "Romans" (Rhomaioi), sources from Western Europe from the coronation of Charlemagne and onwards would deny the Roman legacy of the eastern empire by referring to its inhabitants as "Greeks". The idea behind this renaming was that Charlemagne's coronation did not represent a division (divisio imperii) of the Roman Empire into West and East nor a restoration (renovatio imperii) of the old Western Roman Empire. Rather, Charlemagne's coronation was the transfer (translatio imperii) of the imperium Romanum from the Greeks in the east to the Franks in the west. To contemporaries in Western Europe, Charlemagne's key legitimizing factor as emperor (other than papal approval) was the territories which he controlled. As he controlled formerly Roman lands in Gaul, Germany and Italy (including Rome itself), and acted as a true emperor in these lands, which the eastern emperor was seen as having had abandoned, he thus deserved to be called an emperor.
  Although crowned as an explicit refusal of the eastern emperor's claim to universal rule, Charlemagne himself does not appear to have been interested in confrontation with the Byzantine Empire or its rulers. When Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III, the title he was bestowed with was simply Imperator. When he wrote to Constantinople in 813, Charlemagne titled himself as the "Emperor and Augustus and also King of the Franks and of the Lombards", identifying the imperial title with his previous royal titles in regards to the Franks and Lombards, rather than to the Romans. As such, his imperial title could be seen as stemming from the fact that he was the king of more than one kingdom (equating the title of emperor with that of king of kings), rather than as an usurpation of Byzantine power.
  On his coins, the name and title used by Charlemagne is Karolus Imperator Augustus and in his own documents he used Imperator Augustus Romanum gubernans Imperium ("August Emperor, governing the Roman Empire") and serenissimus Augustus a Deo coronatus, magnus pacificus Imperator Romanorum gubernans Imperium ("most serene Augustus crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing the empire of the Romans"). The identification as an "emperor governing the Roman Empire" rather than a "Roman emperor" could be seen as an attempt at avoiding the dispute and issue over who was the true emperor and attempting to keep the perceived unity of the empire intact.
  In response to the Frankish adoption of the imperial title, the Byzantine emperors (which had previously simply used "Emperor" as a title) adopted the full title of "Emperor of the Romans" to make their supremacy clear. To the Byzantines, Charlemagne's coronation was a rejection of their perceived order of the world and an act of usurpation. Although Emperor Michael I eventually relented and recognized Charlemagne as an emperor and a "spiritual brother" of the eastern emperor, Charlemagne was not recognized as the Roman emperor and his imperium was seen as limited to his actual domains (as such not universal) and not as something that would outlive him (with his successors being referred to as "kings" rather than emperors in Byzantine sources).
  Following Charlemagne's coronation, the two empires engaged in diplomacy with each other. The exact terms discussed are unknown and negotiations were slow but it seems that Charlemagne proposed in 802 that the two rulers would marry and unite their empires. As such, the empire could have "reunited" without arguments as to which ruler was the legitimate one. This plan failed however, as the message only arrived in Constantinople after Irene had been deposed and exiled by a new emperor, Nikephoros I.
caption: Denarius of Frankish king Charlemagne, who was crowned as Roman Emperor Karolus Imperator Augustus in the year 800 by Pope Leo III due to, and in opposition to, the Roman Empire in the East being ruled by Irene, a woman. His coronation was strongly opposed by the Eastern Empire.
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