On Christmas Day a multitude had gathered together to celebrate the festival. As the King rose from prayer at the Confession of St. Peter the Pope placed the imperial diadem upon his head. The congregation, acting under one inspiration, joined spontaneously in the acclamation, used in former days in Rome, and still customary at the time at Constantinople,--“Life and Victory to Charles the Pius Augustus, crowned by God, the great and peace-bringing Emperor.” Three times the formula was repeated. After this proclamation the Pope reverenced the new Emperor, genuflecting, as was the Roman custom, and probably this act of homage was repeated by all who were present. On the same day the Emperor’s son, Karl, was anointed King by the Pope, just as his brothers, Pippin and Louis, had been elevated to the royal dignity twenty years before. A few days later the Emperor, sitting as supreme judge, condemned to death the Pope’s accusers, sentences which, at Leo’s request, were mitigated to deportation. The biographer of Charles represents the ceremony of the coronation as a surprise, prepared by the Pope without consulting Charles, and so done not only without his will, but contrary to his desire. The Emperor, indeed, is reported to have said that, if he had known of the Pope’s intention, he would not have visited the Basilica. These words may be interpreted as an expression of the usual formula of humility, frequent in ecclesiastical elections on the part of the successful candidate, or else they may mean that the Emperor objected to the way in which the dignity was bestowed. It will be noted that the act of placing the crown on his head preceded the acclamation of the people’s choice. The details of the ceremonial were copied from the one used at Constantinople, where it had long been the custom for the Emperor to be crowned by the Patriarch. But, according to the political theory of the time, the imperial dignity was not conferred by the receiving of the diadem, but by the election of the Roman people and army, and by the formal act of homage done at the time. The Pope, by his presence, added more solemnity to the occasion, but his intervention added nothing in the way of legal validity to it.