Charlemagne’s coronation as ‘Roman Emperor’ on 25 December 800 established a new political norm in Europe that would last for over a thousand years. One of his flattering courtiers described him as ‘Father of Europe’; in his reign, for the first time ‘Europe’ was identified with lands under Christian rulership. Even today, a prize in his name rewards those who have done the most ‘in the service of European unification’ since Charlemagne (not counting Napoleon and Hitler). Myths about him abound. But what was the reality? Was he an autocrat? What were his ideals and goals, and how far, in the context of early medieval reality, was it possible for him to meet them?