The CHURCH and the STATE - The FIRST The coronation of
Charlemagne on Christmas Day 800 AD must be seen as a formal
recognition that the Church's unity and the political unity of
the State were indivisible. One could not imagine religious
unity apart from the secular interests of government.
Consequently we see that the Carolingian age marks the
establishment of the Church as a focal point in the conduct of
everyday political, religious and economic life. When Pope
Stephen II made an alliance with the new Carolingian king Pepin
in 752 AD, he inexorably tied the Church to the political and
military power of a secular ruler, although one may suggest that
the papal goal was to direct and guide that ruler to follow the
views of the Church. In the preceding seven centuries the Church
had relied on the patronage, support and blessings of its
secular benefactors, and this included educational concerns. In
789 Charlemagne decreed that every monastery must have a school
for the education of boys in "singing, arithmeti