Eyck shows how the Germanic peoples, through their ability to assimilate ancient cultures were able to act as a link between classical and medieval civilization, and how the popes in the mid-eighth century chose the Germanic Franks as protectors against their Italian enemies, resulting in the coronation of Charlemagne as Roman emperor by the pope in 800 A. D. Performed by the pious emperor Henry III, the strengthened papacy was no longer prepared to accept a subordinate status to the emperor and insisted on its independence: thus close cooperation turned into bitter conflict. The papacy increasingly turned to France only to find the price was a greater subservience than to the Teutonic emperors. The advent of Luther brought the Germanic kingdom once more into the center of the stage. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation, however, brought religious division.