Why was Charlemagne important to Christianity?

A:Charlemagne was a pitiless tyrant who conquered large areas of northern Europe and forced the populations to convert to Christianity or die. Kathleen Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, said, "Charlemagne converted whole tribes by the sWord."

In the year 782, the Frankish king Charlemagne reputedly beheaded forty-five hundred Saxons who resisted his campaign of forced conversion to Christianity. In 800, the Pope crowned Charlemagne in Rome, as Holy Roman Emperor.