随着西罗马帝国于476年灭亡,在意大利和拜占庭的历史文献以及其他文献中,就开始出现关于西罗马帝国灭亡的论述。774年查理曼称意大利王之后,这一观念直接传入到查理曼的官廷之中。在意大利以外的西部帝国,历史作品普遍地忽略了这一历史现象,而是认为罗马帝国一直存在,以东部皇帝为嫡传。直到8世纪初,诺森伯利亚王国的修士比德率先引入了西部帝国灭亡的历史认识,并通过阿尔昆影响到查理曼。西罗马帝国灭亡的观念与罗马帝国一直存在的观念,互相斗争,对公元800年查理曼加冕称帝造成了直接的影响。 As the Western Roman Empire perished in 476, expositions of the fall of the Western Roman Empire began in the historical literature of Italy and the Byzantines, among other documents. After Charlemagne called the King of Italy in 774, this notion was directly transmitted to Charlemagne’s court. In the western empire outside Italy, historical works generally ignore this historical phenomenon, but think that the Roman Empire has always existed, with the eastern emperor as a preacher. It was not until the early eighth century that Beirut, the priest of the Kingdom of Northumberland, took the lead in introducing a historical understanding of the demise of the Western Empire and affecting Charlemagne through Arquen. The concept of the demise of the Western Roman Empire struggles with the notion that the Roman Empire has always existed and has a direct impact on the emperor of Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor 800 AD.