Charlemagne's reign was full of wars and invasions. Charlemagne became king of half of the Frankish Empire while the other half was given to his brother Carloman. When Pepin died, there was a void to fill and Charles and his brother were both made kings by the Frankish people. This division was not peaceful and the reign was marked by the struggle of each brother for the land and power of the other. When Carloman died and his wife Gerberga fled to Italy, Charlemagne became king of both halves of the Frankish kingdom. Charles overnight became the most powerful ruler in Western Europe, and once he had control of both halves of the kingdom, he quickly sprang into action, implementing a plan to dominate many lands in all directions. This new reign was full of wars at first as Charlemagne began to dominate many different places at the same time. He fought with the Lombards and Saxons while simultaneously leading expeditions into Spain to capture lands and castles. He fought wars with the Huns, a series of Slavic wars and the Danish War. All these exploits of Charlemagne made him a very powerful ruler, but he neglected the lands he already ruled and famine and uprising were occurring. Charlemagne faced these problems and continued to prosper as a ruler. During the reign of Charlemagne, the Church of Rome was going through difficult times with a series of hated popes and problems with the Byzantine Church. After the death of Pope Adrian I, his predecessor Pope Leo III relied on Charlemagne to be the protector of the Holy See. Charlemagne also, just as Pepin had done, made the same gift of giving to Saint Peter and his successors, Charlemagne actually did more, he added to what had been done in the past..... . middle of paper.... ..ary actually results from the debates that Charlemagne and his advisors had during and after a large assembly assembled to discuss a program of imperial government over Church and State in the empire. By crowning Charlemagne, the papacy tacitly admitted its need for political support. in order to provide adequate pastorate to Western Europe. Before the coronation, the papacy was in no way dependent on the authority or influence of Charlemagne to maintain its rule over the regions surrounding the Papal States. The church was no longer the same as it had been in previous centuries and it was falling into a corner because of the rest of the world pushing it around. For centuries to come, the relative independence that Charlemagne conferred on the papacy gave the bishops of Rome an immense and vast capacity for influence and authority unlike any other pastor in Christian history...