WI: Charlemagne marries the Empress Irene

[Zek Sora]

Like it says on the tin: What if Charlemagne was not crowned Emperor by the Pope, and married the Byzantine Empress Irene? Would he have a more "solid" claim to the throne? Could the Franks have beaten off the Bulgars and kept a larger ERE? Tell me your thoughts!

 

[MusuMankata]

Like it says on the tin: What if Charlemagne was not crowned Emperor by the Pope, and married the Byzantine Empress Irene? Would he have a more "solid" claim to the throne? Could the Franks have beaten off the Bulgars and kept a larger ERE? Tell me your thoughts!

I seriously doubt that Charlemange would have been able to marry Empress Irene before becoming Emperor. Or, at least, without doing the acts that broguth him to his coronation as Holy Roman Empereor.

So, Charlemange leaves the Pope alone to deal with the Langobards, then the likehood of this marriage is very low (why marry a nobody in France, if you can marry somebody more important and closer?)

If he DOES still become important, this may mean that the ERE briefly extends to France... which sounds like an headache to administer, so, more spending in bureaucracy, less in the military etc.

In short, the Bulgars will still take the Byzantiines by the nose, maybe even logner than OTL.

 

[Zek Sora]

I seriously doubt that Charlemange would have been able to marry Empress Irene before becoming Emperor. Or, at least, without doing the acts that broguth him to his coronation as Holy Roman Empereor.

I was more specifically referring to the period of time just before the Pope declared him Emperor, but after the bulk of his conquests.