Note 123 — Chapter VII · THEORY OF THE MEDIÆVAL EMPIRE.

So Leo III in a charter issued on the day of Charles's coronation: '... actum in præsentia gloriosi atque excellentissimi filii nostri Caroli quem auctore Deo in defensionem et provectionem sanctæ universalis ecclesiæ hodie Augustum sacravimus.'—Jaffé Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, ad ann. 800.

So, indeed, Theodulf of Orleans, a contemporary of Charles, ascribes to the Emperor an almost papal authority over the Church itself:—