asures of
the Avars, which were distributed by the king with lavish generosity to
churches, courtiers and friends. A conspiracy against Charles, which his
friend and biographer Einhard alleges was provoked by the cruelties of
Queen Fastrada, was suppressed without difficulty in 792, and its
leader, the king's illegitimate son Pippin, was confined in a monastery
till his death in 811. Fastrada died in August 794, when Charles took
for his fourth wife an Alamannian lady named Liutgarde.

The continuous interest taken by the king in ecclesiastical affairs was
shown at the synod of Frankfort, over which he presided in 794. It was
on his initiative that this synod condemned the heresy of _adoptianism_
and the worship of images, which had been restored in 787 by the second
council of Nicaea; and at the same time that council was declared to
have been superfluous. This policy caused a further breach with Pope
Adrian; but when Adrian died in December 795, his successor, Leo III.,
in notifying his elevation to the king, sent him the keys of St Peter's
grave and the banner of the city, and asked Charles to send an envoy to
receive his oath of fidelity. There is no doubt that Leo recognized
Charles as sovereign of Rome. He was the first pope to date his acts
according to the years of the Frankish monarchy, and a mosaic of the
time in the Lateran palace represents St Peter bestowing the banners
upon Charles as a token of temporal supremacy, while the coinage issued
by the pope bears witness to the same idea. Leo soon had occasion to
invoke the aid of his protector. In 799, after he had been attacked and
maltreated in the streets of Rome during a procession, he escaped to the
king at Paderborn, and Charles sent him back to Italy escorted by some
of his most trusted servants. Taking the same journey himself shortly
afterwards, the king reached Rome in 800 for the purpose (as he
declared) of restoring discipline in the church. His authority was
undisputed; and after Leo had cleared himself by an oath of certain
charges made against him, Charles restored the pope and banished his
leading opponents.

The great event of this visit took place on the succeeding Christmas
Day, when Charles on rising from prayer in St Peter's was crowned by Leo
and proclaimed emperor and _augustus_ amid the acclamations of the
crowd. This act can hardly have been unpremeditated, and some doubt has
been cast upon the statement which Einhard attributes to Cha