Imperial Coronation and Activities
On 18 July 880, Pope John VIII sent a letter to Guy II of Spoleto to seek peace, but the duke ignored him and invaded the Papal States. John responded by begging the aid of Charles in his capacity as King of Italy. In gratefulness, he crowned him Emperor on 12 February 881. His rise to power was accompanied by hopes of a general revival in western Europe, but he proved unequal to the task. Charles did little to help against Guy, however. Papal letters as late as November were still petitioning Charles for action.
As emperor, Charles began the construction of a palace at Sélestat in Alsace. He modelled it after the Palace at Aachen which Charlemagne, whom he consciously sought to emulate, as indicated by the Gesta Karoli Magni of Notker the Stammerer, had built. As Aachen was in the kingdom of his brother, it was necessary for Charles to build a new palace for his court in his own power base of western Alemannia. Sélestat was also more central to the Empire than Aachen.
In February 882, Charles convoked a diet in Ravenna. The duke, emperor, and pope made peace and Guy and his uncle, Guy of Camerino, vowed to restore stolen papal lands. In a March letter to Charles, John claimed that the vows went unfulfilled. In 883, Guy, now Duke of Spoleto, was accused of treason at an imperial synod held at Nonantula late in May. He returned to Spoleto and made an alliance with the Saracens. Charles sent Berengar, equipped with an army, to deprive Guy of Spoleto. Berengar was initially successful until an epidemic of disease, which ravaged all Italy, affecting the emperor and his entourage as well as Berengar's army, forced him to retire.
In 883, Charles signed a treaty with Giovanni II Participazio, Doge of Venice, granting that any assassin of a doge who fled to the territory of the empire would be fined 100 lbs of gold and banished.
Read more about this topic: Charles The Fat
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