Note 66 — BOOK I CONCERNING THE PIETY OF CHARLES AND HIS CARE OF THE CHURCH
A. J. (Arthur James) Grant translation
Our author here again handles events of the most general notoriety in a spirit completely independent of historical accuracy. Leo III. was, it is true, the Pope to whose assistance Charlemagne came; but no Michael was ruling at that time in Constantinople. Michael II. reigned from 820–829, and Michael III. from 842–867. Thus the name was associated, in the mind of the Monk of St Gall, with the imperial throne of the east—and that was more than enough. The sentiment attributed to the Emperor is as impossible as his name is inaccurate.