Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/436

 370 Outlines of Europe aji History Pope brought about a revolution in the ideas of kingship. The kings of the German tribes had hitherto usually been successful warriors who held their office with the consent of the people, or at least of the nobles. Their election was not a matter that concerned the Church at all. But when, after asking the Pope's opinion. Pippin had the holy oil poured on his head, — in ac- cordance with an ancient religious custom of the Jews, — first by Bishop Boniface and later by the Pope himself, he seemed to ask the Church to approve his usurpation. As the historian Gib- bon puts it, "A German chieftain was transformed into the Lord's anointed." The Pope threatened with God's anger any one who should attempt to supplant the consecrated family of Pippin. It thus became a religious duty to obey the king and his succes- sors. He came to be regarded by the Church, when he had received its approval, as God's representative on earth. Here we have the beginning of the later theory of kings " by the grace of God," against whom it was a sin to revolt, however bad they might be. We shall see presently how Pippin's famous son Charlemagne received his crown from the hands of the Pope. Charlemagne, who became king of all the Prankish realms in 771, is the first historical personage among the German peoples of whom we have any satisfactory knowledge.^ Compared with 1 " Charlemagne " is the French form for the Latin Carolus Magnus (Charles the Great). We must never forget, however, that Charlemagne was a Ge7'ma}i, that he talked a German language, namely Prankish, and that his favorite palaces at Aix-la-Chapelle, Ingelheim, and Nimwegen were in German regions. Fig. 148. Charlemagne This bronze figure of Charle- magne on horseback was made in his time, and the artist may have succeeded in reproducing the general appearance of the Emperor