History of Europe
In 395 Theodosius I, who had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, would be the last emperor to preside over a united Roman Empire. The empire was split into two halves: the Western Roman Empire centred in Ravenna, and the Eastern Roman Empire (later to be referred to as the Byzantine Empire) centred in Constantinople. The Roman Empire was repeatedly attacked by Hunnic, Germanic, Slavic and other “barbarian” tribes (see: Migration Period), and in 476 finally the Western part fell to the Heruli chieftain Odoacer.
Coronations in Europe
Since Charlemagne in 800, Holy Roman Emperors were crowned by the pope until 1530, when Charles V became the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, at Bologna. Thereafter, until the abolition of the empire in 1806, Imperial coronations were held in Frankfurt and were performed by the Spiritual Princes-Electors,the Archbishops of Cologne, Mainz and Trier. Later rulers simply proclaimed themselves "Electus Romanorum Imperator" or "Elected Emperor of the Romans", without the formality of a coronation by the Pontiff.