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RESTORATION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE BY CHARLEMAGNE.
Whilst the degenerate Emperors of the West were hastening to an
inglorious extinction, the Barbarians, who had spread themselves over the
continent of Europe, were engaged in the formation of new monarchies: and when
at last (A.D. 476) the sword of Odoacer won the crown of Italy, the kingdoms of
the Franks, Burgundians, Suevi, and Goths were
already established in Gaul and Spain. But the Burgundian kingdom was overwhelmed by the Franks (A. D. 532) : the Suevi were lost in the Gothic kingdom of Spain (A. D. 585); and that kingdom was itself
annihilated by the Saracens (A. D. 714).
(The Goths settled in Aquitaine, under their King Adolphus, in 411. The Burgundian kingdom was established in Gaul, under Gundicar, in 413; the Frank kingdom, under Theodomir, in 420. Euric established the Visigoth kingdom in Spain in 476. The Suevi were already settled there).
In Italy, the Goths were superseded by the Lombards; the Greek Emperors
were enabled to possess themselves of a portion of that kingdom, and the
imperial exarchs and governors ruled Ravenna, the Pentapolis, and the southern
provinces. Meanwhile the Frank monarchy grew in power and extent, and at length
produced a master-spirit, who was destined to reunite the shattered members of
the Empire, and to emulate the greatness of the Caesars.
Though Pepin, King of the Franks, the father of the great Charles, was
the first of his race who enjoyed the royal title, the family had long been
illustrious, and by degrees absorbed the whole of the sovereign authority.
Under them, the dominions of France had been secured and extended; and whilst
the feeble successors of Clovis retained the name of King, Europe was taught to
regard the Mayors of the Palace as the real monarchs of the kingdom.
The first distinguished member of the family appears to have been Pepin,
Mayor of Austrasia (under Dagobert I, King of the Franks), who died in 639. Doda, daughter of this Pepin, gave birth to another Pepin, distinguished
by the surname of Heristal. Having exchanged the
title of Mayor for that of Prince or Duke, the second Pepin governed the
province of Austrasia, and by a victory over Thierri III, King of Neustria (A.D. 690), gave the final blow to the authority of the
Merovingian kings. The power of both these Pepins had
been from time to time exerted in subduing the barbarous tribes of Frisons, Allemans, and Sclavonians, who had either revolted from the obedience
they reluctantly yielded to the Franks, or threatened the kingdom with
invasion. To the latter Pepin is to be attributed the revival of the annual assembly
of the Champ de Mars.
The glory of the family was still farther illustrated by Charles, the
natural son of Pepin d'Heristal. On his father’s
death in 714, Charles found little difficulty in assuming Pepin’s rank and
authority, and was even powerful enough to dispose of the crown of Austrasia to Clothaire IV (A.D. 717); and subsequently of the whole
monarchy of France to Thierri IV (A.D. 720). The
reign, indeed, of that feeble boy is little more than the history of
Charles. Like his ancestors, he repressed the insurgent nations beyond the
Rhine; he humbled the Frisons and Saxons; chastised
the Allemans, Bavarians, and other Germanic tribes;
and subdued Eudes, the powerful and rebellious duke
of Aquitaine. But it was on his exploits against the Moors or Saracens
that the military reputation of Charles was principally founded. Those
formidable invaders having overrun Spain soon turned their ravages upon France.
In the year 718, Zama, who governed Spain in the name of the Caliph Suliman, invaded Septimania, or Narbonnese Gaul, the last hold of the Visigoths; and
penetrating the territories of the duke of Aquitaine, laid siege to Toulouse;
where, however, he was utterly defeated and slain. Ambiza,
the successor of Zama, in 725 again led the Saracens into Septimania,
the greater portion of which, including the capital Narbonne, was subjected to
the invaders. Still more terrible incursions were carried on under the Governor
Abdurrahman; who advanced without opposition into the very heart of France. It
was now that the arms of Charles were turned against the invaders; and in a
great battle near Tours, or Poitiers (732), the Saracens were completely
defeated, and compelled to retreat upon their conquests in Septimania.
Abdurrahman perished in this memorable engagement; and on this occasion Charles
acquired his surname of Martel, or the Hammer, indicative of the weight and
certainty of his blows. He next laid siege to Narbonne; but the events of the
siege are shrouded in darkness; and whatever fortune then befell that city, the
final expulsion of the Saracens from Gaul was reserved for the son of Charles
Martel.
The death of Thierri in 737 left the throne
vacant; nor did Charles deem it necessary to obscure his own lustre by the shadow of a king. He himself made a peaceful
end in 741. Shortly before his death he received from Pope Gregory III, whose
territory was grievously harassed by the Lombards, a formal embassy, by which
the holy father presented him with the keys of the sepulchre of St. Peter, and exhorted him to fly to his succour;
promising to create him consul or patrician of Rome, and to transfer his
allegiance from the Emperor of the East to the Duke of France. But Charles was
not destined to extend his dominion into Italy ; and it remained for his
grandson to establish in Rome a new imperial dynasty.
Charles Martel at his death divided the kingdom the between his two
eldest sons, Carloman and Pepin : the former had Austrasia (east of the Meuse)
and Germanic France with its dependencies (that is, the territory beyond the
Rhine); the latter received Neustria (north of the Loire and west of the Meuse)
and Burgundy (east of the Rhone), both retaining the title of Dukes, or Mayors
of the Palace. To Grippo, the third son, a small
territory was assigned; of which, however, he was deprived by his brothers in
742. Pepin thought proper to raise Childeric III, a scion
of the royal family, to the regal state; but his own power was undiminished;
and his possessions were enlarged by the voluntary retirement of his
brother Carloman into a monastery. At length Pepin resolved to assume the
royal title. Pope Zachary, too glad to conciliate the ruler of France, readily
acquiesced in Childeric's deposition : Pepin was
proclaimed King in 752, and received at the hands of Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence,
the holy unction, “after the manner in which David had been anointed by Samuel”.
Two years afterwards Pope Stephen II being driven to seek succour in France against the inroads of the Lombards, Pepin received anew from that
Pope the royal unction, as did also his queen and his two sons Charles and
Carloman; and at the same time the Pontiff conferred upon the three princes, in
his own name and that of the Roman Republic, the title of Patricians of Rome,
to them and their posterity. In recompence for this
service Pepin undertook to march against the Lombards. He accordingly entered
Italy; besieged Pavia, the Lombard capital; and by a treaty with the King
Astolphus obtained possession of the Exarchate and the Pentapolis. The breach
of this peace chapter called Pepin a second time into Italy; a new siege of
Pavia diverted the Lombard King from Rome; a new peace was adjusted; and the
Exarchate and Pentapolis were left in charge of the Pope. But the conquests of
Pepin were not confined to Italy. Tassillo, Duke of
Bavaria, the rebellious nephew of the King, was compelled to renew his oath of
submission; the insurgent Saxons were reduced, and subjected to a new tribute
of three hundred horses; and the Frisons and Bretons
were in turn compelled to renounce their assumed independence. Pepin completed
the great work of his father, the expulsion of the Moors from France : By the
connivance of the Goths, Narbonne was delivered into his hands; and the whole of Septimania was at length rescued from the infidels.
After a long struggle with Waifar, Duke of Aquitaine,
Pepin completely vanquished his enemy; and on the duke's assassination in 768,
the whole province became united to the crown. The King himself expired soon
after this event.
The surviving sons of Pepin were Charles and Carloman. Charles
(afterwards better known by the title of Charlemagne) was born at the castle of Ingelheim on the 26th of February 742; Carloman came
into the world nine years later. Both, we have seen, received the royal
title, with that of patrician of Rome, in their father’s life time ; and between
them, Pepin at his death divided his ample territory. But the brothers were
perpetually at variance; and France might have been afflicted by a civil war,
but for the premature death of Carloman, which took place towards the close of
the year 771. On this event, Charles, regardless of the rights of his brother’s
infant children, took possession of the whole kingdom; and the widow of
Carloman was driven to seek refuge at the court of her father Desiderius, King of
the Lombards. But though Charles had thus assumed the rule of all his paternal
dominions, he was denied the peaceful enjoyment of their possession. The territ0ry
to which he laid claim comprehended the whole country corresponding with
ancient Gaul, as comprised between the sea, the Rhine, the Alps, and the
Pyrenees; together with a considerable portion of country on the further side
of the Rhine. But throughout this extensive tract lay a multitude of tribes
varying in speech and manners, who for a moment were compelled to submit, yet
could scarcely be called the subjects of the French monarch. The Bretons in the
north of France, and the Gascons in the south, still
retained their distinction from the Franks. On the right of the Rhine the
various tribes of Saxons with their Frison and Sclavonian neighbours, harassed
their sovereign and one another; whilst on the south of the Danube the Allemans and Bavarians seemed ever ready to throw off the
yoke. In the remoter regions were the fierce Huns and Avars,
whose very name had once spread dismay through Gaul and Italy. In the life of
Charles, each of these people acts a part more or less conspicuous; and it
becomes important here to distinguish them, though time and civilization have
long since effaced their more prominent peculiarities.
I. The Bretons
As early as the fourth century, a colony from the island of Britain had
settled in that part of Gaul called Armorica; and in the next century a new
swarm of Bretons, driven out by the Saxon invasions, took shelter amongst their
expatriated countrymen, and continued to preserve their peculiar manners and
language. Their assumption of independence had drawn down upon them the
chastisement of Clovis; their King was degraded into a count; and they were
compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of the sovereign of the Franks. Their
territory occupied much of the modern Brittany; and their incursions beyond their
own limits excited the wrath of Pepin, who took their capital Vannes, and humbled their count into submission.
II: The Gascons
The Gascons were a people of Tarragonese Spain, who crossed the Pyrenees during the
reign of the grandsons of Clovis, and established themselves, under a duke, in
that district of Gaul situated between those mountains, the Garonne, and the
Ocean. In 630 Aribert, King of Toulouse, and brother
of Dagobert I reduced their country and united Gascony to his own possessions.
The Gascons, however, continued to exist as a people
distinct from the Franks,
III. The Frisons
East of the Rhine, the Frisons occupied the
country between that river and the Ems. Their reduction had been begun by Pepin d'Heristal in 689, who planted a body of missionaries
in the town of Utrecht, in order to the conversion of the barbarians. Their
final reduction was accomplished by Charles Martel.
IV. The Saxons.
The Saxons were settled between the rivers Ems, Eyder,
and Trave. They were divided into four tribes;
between the Ems and the Weser, were the Westphalians and Angrarians;
between the Weser and the Elbe, the Oestphalians; and
beyond the Elbe the Nordlingians. The Saxons had been
reduced by Charles Martel about 738, and in common with most of their neighbours were heathens.
V. The Abodrites
Nearer the Oder, lay two tribes of Sclavonian descent, the Abodrites and the Wilzes;
the former already tributary to France ; the latter hereafter to be taught
submission.
VI. VII. The Allemans and Bavarians
South of the Danube, in the ancient provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum, were
the Allemans and Bavarians. Both had been
conquered by Clovis in 496: but the
Bavarians were still permitted to choose their own duke, though the right of
approving his election was reserved to the king of the Franks.
Charles, being now sole monarch of the Franks, resolved to subdue the
turbulent spirit of his Saxon subjects. Having concerted measures in an assembly
held at Worms in 772, he crossed the Rhine and attacked the Saxons, who were
headed by a renowned chief named Witikind. After
signally defeating the rebels, he took possession of the strong fortress of Ehresburg in Westphalia, where was deposited the sacred
column, or Irmensaul,
the object of the heathens’ peculiar veneration. (The Irmensaul is by some supposed to
represent the Greek Mars, or Mercury, or Juno; it was more probably a memorial
of the destruction of the legions of Augustus by Arminius). The temple and the
idol were overthrown; and the Saxons reduced to despair sought and obtained peace,
for the maintenance of which they were compelled to give hostages to the
conqueror.
The following year (773) led Charles to a new conquest which greatly
extended his dominions, and paved the way to the most important event of his
life. Charles had taken for his second wife Gisella,
daughter of Desiderius, King of Lombardy, whom he soon afterwards thought fit
to repudiate; and the dishonoured princess was dismissed
to her father’s court, where she was joined by her sister Gerberga,
the fugitive widow of Carloman, in the following year. This injurious treatment
of his daughters naturally excited the wrath of the Lombard monarch; and his
wrath might have been fomented by a bitter enemy of Charles, then resident at
Pavia. (Aquitaine, comprising the country south of the Loire and west of the
Saone and Rhone, including Gascony and Septimania,
which last was united to France on the expulsion of the Saracens, was erected into
an hereditary dutchy in 637 in favour of Boggis by his uncle Dagobert I. Boggis was succeeded
by his son Eudes, who died in 734; Hunald, who abdicated 765; and Gaifre,
or Waifar, assassinated 768). Upon the death of Waifar, Duke of Aquitaine in 768, his father Hunald, who had some time before resigned his duchy to his
son and retired into a monastery, emerged from his religious confinement and
attempted to regain his former possessions. In the first year of his reign
Charles marched against Hunald, whom he defeated and
made prisoner; but who, after a short imprisonment, found means of escape, and
placed himself under the protection of the king of the Lombards.
The smouldering flame of discord soon found
occasion to burst forth. Desiderius, like his predecessors, had indulged in
aggressions on the territory of the bishop of Rome; not only had the conquests
of Pepin in Italy been regained by the Lombards, but
the Immortal City itself was once more threatened by the conquerors. To Charles
the holy father represented his danger; and as Pepin had listened to the
exhortation of Stephen, so the son of Pepin was easily persuaded to succour Adrian. Having collected his army he repaired to
Geneva; and dividing his forces, marched the one division over Mount Cenis, and
the other over the Great St. Bernard. Desiderius, unable to resist his new
adversary, suffered himself to be blockaded in Pavia; whilst Verona, which was
defended by his son Adalgiso, capitulated to the
Franks. The Lombard prince effected his escape to Constantinople and was
reserved for new adventures; but by the capture of Verona the widow and
children of Carloman fell into the hands of Charles; and having been removed
into France were involved in a fate open to that suspicion which ever attends
upon mystery.
Leaving his uncle Bernard to carry on the blockade of Pavia, Charles
descended to Rome, (774), where he was received with the utmost reverence by
the Pope and the Romans. To him as their Patrician they rendered all the honours once bestowed on the exarch of the eastern emperor;
and in return Charles assumed the right of investing the see of Rome with those
lands already assigned to the Pope by his father Pepin. His return to Pavia was
quickly followed by the surrender of that city (the Pavians,
reduced to the last stage of famine and disease, stoned to death Hunald, the former duke of Aquitaine, who opposed their
cries for surrender); and the title of King of Lombardy, for ever lost to the
Lombards, was assumed by the King of the Franks. But this conquest scarcely altered
the general state of Italy. The Lombards were permitted to retain their laws
and institutions. From the three great Duchies of Friuli, Spoleto, and
Benevento, no more was required than the fealty they had been accustomed to
yield to the Lombard kings; and the less important duchies were still confided
to their respective dukes. The Exarchate of Ravenna (with the exception of
Ferrara and Faenza), the Pentapolis, and the Dutchy of Rome, chapter were confirmed to the Pope, subject, however, to the sovereign
rights of Charles. The Greek possessions in the south were respected (the
Exarchate and Pentapolis, enclosed between the Apennines and the Adriatic,
extended from the Po to the south of Ancona. The Duchy, governed by a duke
subordinate to the exarch, extended from Viterbo to Terracina,
and from Narni to the mouth of the Tiber). The residue
of Italy, as Liguria, Aemilia, Venetia, Tuscany, and
the Cottian Alps, was appropriated to the conqueror; who subsequently entrusted
the limits, or marches, to the government of Marquises and the cities to Counts; over whom the royal
Commissaries were invested with an extraordinary authority for the good
government of the whole (these Missi were only created on occasion, and thus differed from
the Counts of the Palace, who were permanent judges attendant upon the Sovereign).
The cities were required to take the oath of fealty; upon them, as well as the
feudatories and ecclesiastical bodies, were imposed the tributes of Fodrum, Parata, and Mansionaticum, an
easy burthen, and only enforced whilst the sovereign sojourned in Italy. (The
terms Parata and Mansionaticum are frequently confounded; but the distinction seems to be, that the former
signified the expense which the host incurred in receiving his guest; the
latter, the money collected and paid to the guest to provide for his own maintenance). To
the general meetings of the nobles Charles added the ecclesiastical
authorities; and with him originated those legislative assemblies which were
afterwards accustomed to be held in the plain of Roncaglia.
Charles returned to France, carrying with him, as his captives,
Desiderius and his queen. But whatever submission the three great duchies had
affected to yield, it was soon manifest that they entertained no friendly
disposition towards their new sovereign. Scarcely had Charles crossed the
Revolt of Alps than Radagaiso, Duke of Friuli, threw off the mask, and sought
to restore Prince Adalgiso to the throne of his father.
Upon the tidings of insurrection Charles hastened back to Italy, and speedily completed
his vengeance. The duchy of Friuli was dismembered; and the Duke paid by decapitation
the penalty of his rashness. Awed by this terrible example, Hildebrand, Duke of
Spoleto, deemed it prudent to renew his declarations of obedience. But the more
distant duchy of Benevento maintained a doubtful position, and for the present evaded
any express submission.
During the absence of Charles at the siege of Pavia, the restless
Saxons, incited by their former second leader Witikind,
a second time revolted (775), and drew the King, on his first return from
Italy, to the banks of the Weser. Though beaten and apparently reduced,
they found occasion to surprise, by a midnight inroad, the slumbering camp of
Charles; and many of his soldiers perished ere the danger was discovered. They
were soon, however, repulsed; and the slaughter of their troops and the
desolation of their country once more reduced them to submission. But no
sooner had the King returned to Friuli than the Saxons were a third time in
revolt (776). The arrival of Charles at Worms for the third time damped
their rebellious spirit; and he now resolved to spare the insurgents on no
other terms than their consenting to embrace the Christian faith. In
compliance with their promises of submission and conversion, many appeared in
the following year in an assembly at Paderborn, and received baptism: but the
inexorable Witikind still disdained to submit; and
retiring into the more northern regions awaited a new occasion for revolt.
It was in this assembly that the thoughts of Charles were first invited
to the conquest of Spain. That country had been completely overrun by the Arabs
at the beginning of the eighth century: the Christians were subjected to the yoke
of the infidels, who exacted from them a moderate tribute, incorporated them
with their own people, and even permitted them to maintain the Christian
religion in the midst of their conquered cities. But in the fastnesses of the Asturias the spirit of independence was still kept alive by a small band
of fugitives; who, being headed by Pelayo a member of
the Gothic royal family, created him their King, and devoted themselves to the
arduous labour of reconquering Spain. In the
valley of Cangas the standard of liberty was
displayed; the Moorish force which was sent to overwhelm the little band of
heroes was miraculously annihilated; and Pelayo,
being joined by Alfonso a noble Spaniard at the head of a troop of Biscayans,
possessed himself of Gijon, and some other places in Asturia and Galicia. After a reign of nineteen years, Pelayo was succeeded by his son Favila (737), whose death
two years afterwards made room for the Catholic Alfonso (739). Under him
the conquests of the Spaniards were more widely spread. Having reduced the
greater part of Gallicia and the mountainous district
of Asturia, he extended his kingdom by many acquisitions
in Leon, Castile, and Biscay. Dying in 757, he was succeeded by his son Froila, who defeated the Moors in a pitched battle, and
built Oviedo, which he constituted as the capital of his kingdom; and there his
immediate successors continued to reign.
These conquests were not a little promoted by the fruitless expeditions
of the Moors across the mountains, which led to their great defeat by Charles
Martel, and their final expulsion from France by Pepin. But a still more
advantageous circumstance for the Christians was the disordered and factious
state of the Moorish government. Far distant from the newly-acquired
conquest, the caliph of the East committed the care of Spain to a governor
nominated by himself; or, upon urgent occasions, by his viceroy in Africa.
These governors were perpetually exposed to sedition and perfidy; and were at
length entirely extinguished by Abdurrahman (756), who restored the splendour of the Ommyade race;
and seating himself upon the throne of Cordoba, for ever renounced the dominion of the Abasside caliph.
Amongst those Emirs who had been deprived of their local governments by
this revolution, was Eben-al-Arabi,
governor of Saragossa. At the same assembly in which Charles assisted at the
conversion of his Saxon subjects, he listened to the voice of the infidel Al-arabi, who had journeyed as far as Paderborn to implore the
aid of the Christians against the usurper Abdurrahman. Charles readily
undertook to march into Spain; and entering Navarre at the head of a
considerable army, laid siege to the capital Pampluna. That
city immediately surrendered; and Charles crossing the Ebro (778), advanced
upon Saragossa, which soon fell into his hands. Other Saracen cities
hastened to place themselves under the protection of the conqueror: Huesca, Barcelona, and Girona swore fealty to the French
king; and Charles, having spread his authority from the Pyrenees to the Ebro,
established the march of Spain, which he committed to the government of a newly-created
count of Barcelona. It was upon the occasion of his return into France that a
conflict took place between the rear of the French army and the treacherous Gascons, who had formed an ambush amidst the mountains. The
valley of Roncesvalles has been marked by tradition as the theatre of Charles's
disgrace. After the main body of the army had been suffered to advance in
security, the rear was suddenly attacked and cut to pieces, the baggage seized
and plundered, and many principal officers numbered among the slain. Of these,
the names of three only appear in any accredited narration; Eghart,
Steward of the royal table; Anselm, Count of the palace; and Rutland, Roland,
or Orlando, Governor of the march of Bretainy. The
names of Orlando and Roncesvalles cannot fail to conjure up the dreams of
chivalry and enchantment; but the dry annals of that age refuse to realize
these splendid visions. The death of Orlando first announces that he ever
existed; and the gorgeous meteors of Poetry and Romance are scarcely visible
through the dense atmosphere of History.
Not long after this expedition, a fourth revolt (779) of the Saxons
called for the presence of Charles in Germany. Witikind had again returned from the north, and led his countrymen to the massacre of
the Franks who occupied the eastern bank of the Rhine. On the borders of the
Eider the rebels received a complete overthrow; nor was the wrath of the
avenger appeased until multitudes of the barbarians had fallen. Resolved to
tame their insurgent spirit by the spread of Christianity, Charles not only
distributed among them a number of missionaries, but enacted laws by which the
infraction of the smallest ordinance of the Church was made punishable with
death. The callous Witikind once more sought refuge
in the regions of the north.
In the ensuing year Charles deemed it expedient again to visit Italy (781). He
had too much reason to suspect the intentions of Arechis,
or Aregiso, Duke, of Benevento, who was in
correspondence with the Lombard prince Adalgiso, then
resident at Constantinople; and had even entered into a negotiation with the
imperial court. Taking with him his queen Hildegarde (whom he married immediately after repudiating his Lombard consort), and his two
youngest sons Carloman and Lewis, Charles crossed the Alps and arrived at Rome
early in the year 781. His presence hushed all clamours; every thing breathed peace and conciliation. At
his desire, Adrian I invested the two young princes each with a kingly crown. Carloman,
then little more than seven years old, was baptized by the name of Pepin and
crowned King of Italy by the Pope; and Lewis, then about three, received the
crown of Aquitaine. Nearly at the same time, Charles was gratified by a
proposal from the Empress Irene which promised to dispel all fears on the side
of Constantinople. This was no other than an offer to contract in marriage
the young Emperor Constantine with Rotrude, Princess
of France; an union which, though only prospective from the present youth of
the royal couple, was readily assented to by Charles; and the intended empress
was forthwith instructed in the Greek language.
If the mild precepts of the gospel failed to produce their due effect upon
the unquiet Saxons, perhaps the pageantry of their new form of worship might
have consoled them for the loss of their idols. But Witikind once more appeared amongst them, and the pious, or politic, labours of Charles were again frustrated (782). The ministers of his religion were
barbarously massacred; two of his generals, whom he had despatched against the rebels, received a disgraceful defeat; and the royal presence again
chapter became necessary in Saxony. The moment Charles appeared there, order and submission were
restored; and Witikind hastily retreated beyond sea.
But a dreadful retribution awaited the wretched people who had been deluded or
encouraged by his rebellion. Charles summoned before him at Verden the principal persons of the nation; nor was his
vengeance satiated until four thousand five hundred of the rebels had been
butchered in his presence. This ferocious act of carnage defeated its own
object: a general insurrection immediately followed; and Witikind and his brother Alboin were quickly at the head of the Saxons. But the
arms of Charles were too potent for resistence; two
signal victories broke the Saxon spirit; and either party seemed weary of the
war. Witikind and Alboin, who had braved the
conqueror’s fury, were softened by his pacific offers; both submitted and were
baptized; and a longer interval of peace (785) ensued than Charles had yet
experienced from this rebellious people. From the Saxons, the attention of
Charles was called towards the western extremity of his kingdom. The Bretons,
who had learned from Pepin the dangers of insubordination, now ventured to renounce
the authority of his son; and Charles resolved to complete the work which his
father had begun, and dissipate this illusion of independence. His very
menaces seem to have had the desired effect without forcing him to a conflict. At
an assembly at Worms he received their oath, whereby they acknowledged themselves
vassals of the French; in token of which they submitted to the galling terms of
hostages and a tribute.
To one who aimed at universal dominion it was against but reasonable
that repose should be denied. The duke of Benevento had perpetually been an
object of suspicion to Charles. His connexion with
Desiderius, the last Lombard king (for he had married Adelburga daughter of the monarch), and the natural rancour of
his duchess at the injuries and misfortunes of her dearest relations, were too
strong incentives to rebellion, had not prudence whispered respect for the vigour and promptitude of the French King. At length,
however, Arechis summoned courage openly to renounce
the authority of Charles; and, in assertion of his independence, ventured to
assume the title of Prince of Benevento. But this bold step was hardly taken,
ere the self-created prince learnt with consternation that the rapid march of
the King had already brought him as far as Rome; and terrified at this sudden
and unlooked for vicinity he now sought to avert the ruin he had heedlessly
drawn down upon him. He immediately despatched an
embassy to Charles with protestations of repentance and submission, which met
the King at Capua, and induced him to pardon his penitent vassal, and receive
the children of Arechis as pledges for his future
obedience. The dark fate of their cousins might have justified alarm for the
young Grimbald and Adelgisa;
but they had no reason to complain of the rigours of
captivity. Adelgisa was suffered to return to the
duke at Salerno; and Grimbald, though compelled to
accompany Charles into France, was treated with conciliatory kindness.
Another victim was to be offered at the shrine of universal
dominion. Tassillo, Duke of Bavaria, was closely
connected with Charles by both blood and marriage. Odilo,
the father of Tassillo, had married Hiltrude the daughter of Charles Martel; and Tassillo himself espoused Liutberge,
daughter of Desiderius, and sister of the repudiated wife of Charles. Tassillo had already in the reign of Pepin incurred
suspicions of disaffection; and Charles on more than one occasion found it
necessary to admonish and overawe his refractory kinsman. On the first
news of the Beneventine defection, the wife of Tassillo prevailed upon him to take part in the rebellion;
but ere any blow had been struck, the Bavarian was summoned by his sovereign to
vindicate himself, before his peers, at the Assizes of Ingelheim. Tassillo was in no condition to disobey the call. His subjects had learned, from the
fate of the Saxons, a lesson which made them anxious to separate their cause
from that of their chief. They even appeared as his accusers, and the
convicted traitor was doomed to death. Charles, however, vouchsafed to spare
his life, but upon no light conditions. The duchy of Bavaria was abolished and
divided into counties; and the duke, his wife, and his children were immured in
different monasteries.
Meanwhile (788) Charles received from Adrian an of the intimation which
convinced him of the insincerity of his Beneventine vassal, and of the hostile views of the court of Constantinople towards himself
and the Pope. The return of the King to France had emboldened Arechis to renew his negotiations with Irene and Adalgiso. The friendly relations between the Empress and
the King were already dissolved; the concerted match between their children was
broken off; and Irene, jealous of the still increasing power of Charles, lent
herself to the attempts of Adalgiso to regain the
crown of Lombardy. But before their schemes were ripe for execution, death
surprised the prince of Benevento, and the decease of his eldest son Romoald left Grimbald heir to the
principality. That youth had been won by the kind offices of Charles, and still
resided at his court; and the Beneventines now
eagerly desired that he might be permitted to return amongst them. To this the
King assented; but upon two conditions; the one calculated to perpetuate his own
supremacy; the other to abolish a peculiar chapter mark of distinction, which
seemed too national to be retained by a portion of the subjects of one great
monarchy: the coin and public acts were to bear the name of Charles, and the
Lombards were to trim their beards after the Frank fashion. The young duke’s
fidelity was speedily put to the test; Adalgiso,
supported by a Greek force, landed on the coast of Italy, and Charles despatched an army from France to repel the invaders. This
army was immediately joined by Grimbald and
Hildebrand, Duke of Spoleto; and the united forces obtained a complete victory
near Benevento. The Greek general falling into the hands of the Lombards was
cruelly put to death; and Adalgiso escaping to Constantinople
ended his days in obscurity.
The following year (789) extended the dominions of Charles as far as the
shores of the Baltic. We have already noticed the two tribes of Abodrites and Wilzes, situated
between the Elbe and the Oder; the former professing submission to Charles; the
latter disdaining obedience, and manifesting their love of liberty by continued
attacks upon their more pacific neighbours. The cries
of his Abodrite subjects drew Charles into the more
northern district of Germany; and the ravages and prowess of the Franks threw
the Wilzes into astonishment and consternation. They
lost no time in appeasing this new enemy; they at once surrendered their lands
to the invader; agreed to hold them as his vassals; and delivered over to him a
band of hostages.
A more important foe was next to be subdued, and a new kingdom added to
the French monarchy. After a year’s repose, Charles resolved again to enjoy the
excitement of war; and an expedition (791) was concerted against the Huns or Avars, who looked with jealousy on the dismemberment of
Bavaria, and even ventured to attack the French possessions in Lombardy and
Germany. The chastisement of these incursions was entrusted by the King to his
generals; and three signal victories abated the ferocious ardour of the Huns. They even condescended to despatch ambassadors to Worms to settle with Charles the boundaries of his new Bavarian
acquisitions. But the negotiation proved abortive; and Charles resolved to put
himself at the head of his army and proceed to the reduction of his heathen neighbours. This savage people had spread themselves over
the ancient Pannonia as far as the river Ens, and
occupied the modern Bohemia and Austria, with much of the more distant country.
Their towns, or rather villages, were fortified by strong fences which protected
their homes, whilst they sallied forth into the surrounding countries, and
returned laden with wealth which their uncivilized state rendered superfluous. The
invading army of Charles exceeded any that he had hitherto commanded. His
entry into the territory of the Huns was preceded by fasting and prayer, by
masses and processions, and by all the ingenious expedients for propitiating
heaven which the darkness of that age encouraged. But the overwhelming
multitude of the invaders might have secured success without the special
interference of Providence. The Huns in vain endeavoured to stem the torrent; and after fighting with the utmost bravery were driven
back in all directions. Town after town fell rapidly into the hands of the
conquerors: Vienna and other strong fortresses were plundered and dismantled;
an immense booty was secured; and Charles now pushed the limits of his
territory from the banks of the Ens to the junction
of the Danube with the Drave. After this important conquest, he took up his
winter quarters at Ratisbon.
But whilst Charles thus carried his victorious arms through foreign
regions, he was threatened by domestic danger; and on his return from the Hunnic war (792) had nearly perished by the daggers of
conspirators, amongst whom was his own son. The King had now been four times
married. The issue of the first marriage (if marriage it really were) was Pepin. The mother, Himiltrude, had been cast off when Charles found it
convenient to espouse the daughter of the king of Lombardy. After his divorce
from Gisella, her place was quickly supplied by Hildegarde, a lady of Swabia, who gave him three sons,
Charles, Carloman, and Lewis. Hildegarde, whose
virtues gained her the esteem of her husband and his people, died in 783; and
the disconsolate widower shortly afterward solaced himself by a fourth marriage
with Fastrade, daughter of a German count. In the
appropriation and division of conquered territory, the eldest son Pepin had
been entirely overlooked. His very existence seemed forgotten when at the
baptismal font his name was conferred on Carloman his brother. Pepin was
deficient neither in courage nor understanding, but his person was deformed and
forbidding; and whilst he was neglected by his father, he was doomed to endure
the injurious treatment of his new step-mother, who in no wise resembled the mild
and virtuous Hildegarde. Incensed by this usage, the
gloomy youth brooded over his wrongs till his mind engendered the black design
of destroying his king and father. Congenial spirits were not wanting to
participate in his dark purpose, and the King’s sojourn at Ratisbon was chosen
for executing the murderous intention. Shortly before the time appointed for
striking the blow, the conspirators assembled to take their last council in a
church, and in the eagerness of their discussion overlooked the person of a
Lombard priest, who reposed in an obscure corner of the building. The intruder
was already in possession of their secret, when they discovered their error;
and even then they were content to spare his life on his swearing to preserve
silence. But no sooner was the priest liberated from his mortal danger than he
hastened to the King and laid open all he had discovered. The conspirators were
immediately seized; the greater number were condemned to death; and Pepin himself
was saved from the last punishment by the lenity of his father, who caused him
to be immured for life within the walls of a monastery. The priest was rewarded
with the Abbey of St. Denys. Fastrade, whose excesses
had assisted to provoke this tragedy, did not long survive its completion; and
Charles by a fifth marriage raised to the throne Liutgarde of Swabia.
The retreat of Charles to Ratisbon had enabled the fugitive Huns to
return to their deserted territories, to repair their dismantled towns, and put
themselves in a position to repel a new invasion. For the present the
disordered state of Charles’s dominions was their best protection. Italy,
Saxony, and Spain were filled with revolt and confusion. In the first, Grimbald, Duke of Benevento, once the strict ally of the
King, gradually relinquished his allegiance; and having espoused Uvantia, niece of the Greek Emperor, openly rejected the
dominion of France (793). Against him Pepin, King of Lombardy, and Lewis,
King of Aquitaine, were despatched, and a desultory
and fruitless war was commenced in Benevento. In Saxony, the restless
infidels had surprised the French garrison, massacred the missionaries,
burnt the churches, and once more set up their idols. In Spain the Moors had
attacked and captured Barcelona, and even overleaped the Pyrenees and
carried their ravages to the gates of Narbonne. Fortunately their war with
Alfonso II King of Leon, diverted them from further prosecuting their invasion;
and the caliph Hissem was compelled to strengthen his
forces in Spain by the recall of his troops from Languedoc. Charles therefore
resolved in the first instance to chastise the rebellious Saxons, and to make
their reduction the prelude to his attack upon the Huns. With a view of
facilitating this latter conquest he formed the design of uniting the rivers
Rhine and Danube. This project, which has extorted the admiration of his historians,
would scarcely deserve notice in an age of more advanced civilization. The Mayne, which flows into the Rhine, forms a junction with
the Retnitz near Bamberg, whose source is near Weissenburg in Franconia. Near Weissenburg also rises the Altmuhl, which flows into the Danube by Kelheim in Bavaria. To connect the Retnitz with the Altmuhl is, therefore,
to connect the Rhine with the Danube; the German Ocean with the Euxine Sea.
Charles resolved to accomplish this desirable object by means of a canal. The
distance to be cut through was scarcely two leagues, and the work was actually
commenced. But the mechanical arts of the eighth
century were unable to execute the suggestions of Charles’s genius, and the
great project was never accomplished. In the midst of his warlike preparations,
the King found time to hold a Council at Frankfort (794), where were
promulgated his strenuous, though tolerant, censures on the worship of images,
and the condemnation of the doctrines of Nestorius, then newly revived by Felix,
the heretical bishop of Urgel.
From Frankfort, Charles proceeded to the castigation of the Saxons. He
divided his forces into two bodies, commanding one in person, and entrusting
the other to his eldest son, Charles, Duke of Maine. The very presence of the
King disarmed the barbarians; their submission was received on two conditions;
first, that they should receive a new body of missionaries; secondly, that one
third of those who had taken up arms should be delivered over to the conqueror.
With a policy not remarkable for sagacity, Charles caused these prisoners to be
distributed through the remotest provinces of his kingdom; they were cut off,
indeed, from their country, but they carried with them the spirit of rebellion;
and when afterwards the Flemish subjects broke out into that insubordination
which they learned from the Saxon settlers, it was quaintly said, that instead
of one devil, Charles had now raised up two. Nor did this measure tame the
obdurate residue. Wiltzan, the ally of Charles
and king of the Abodrites, was surprised and slain;
and the annals of the five succeeding years are marked by new revolt, new
chastisement, new submission, and new dispersion of the rebels into other
territories.
This succession of revolts afforded Charles no time to visit the Huns in
person: his arms were nevertheless irresistible. Under the command of Henry,
Duke of Friuli, and of Pepin, King of Italy, the Huns were repeatedly defeated;
their Khan was slain; and the limits
of the French monarchy were now extended as far as the river Saave. An immense booty rewarded the bravery of the army;
the Huns were compelled to receive Christianity and the heavier yoke of
Charles, whose dominions were enlarged by the junction of Pannonia (796).
Whilst his brother was thus engaged in overthrowing the Huns, Lewis,
King of Aquitaine, was sent into the south to curb the insolence of the Saracens.
The exploits of this prince have scarcely been thought worthy of relation, a
sure sign of their insignificance. But the troops of Charles were soon
after enabled to rescue the Balearic Islands from the descents of the infidels
(799); and the grateful inhabitants of those isles voluntarily surrendered
themselves into the protecting hands of the king of the Franks.
In the midst of these wars, Charles lost a sincere and zealous friend by
the death of Pope Adrian I, who expired at Rome in the year 795. But his
successor Leo III was no less friendly, and the views of the King and Pope were
exceedingly well suited for their mutual advantage. Immediately after his
election, Leo transmitted to the royal residence at Aix-la-Chapelle, the
standard of Rome with other gifts; and exhorted Charles to delegate one of his
nobles, who might receive, in his name, the oath of fealty from the Roman
people. In compliance with this agreeable request, the Abbot Angelbert was despatched to Rome;
and the present of a portion of the Hunnic spoils was
at the same time transmitted to the Pope. The proffered oath was pronounced;
the equivocal title of Patrician was
explained by that of Lord; the
allegiance due to the eastern Empire was entirely forgotten; and thenceforth
the Commissaries of the King of France administered justice in the capital of
the west. Happy indeed was it for Leo that he had secured so powerful an
ally and protector. In the fifth year of his pontificate, a fearful
conspiracy burst out in Rome; the person of the Pope was cruelly lacerated, and
with difficulty his life was preserved from the violence of his
aggressors. To Charles he flew for refuge; at Paderborn he was kindly
received by the monarch, who sympathized with his sufferings, and listened with
complacency to his protestations of innocence of the charges which his enemies
had promulgated against him. Justice, however, required that both parties
should be heard; and with a view to a full investigation, the Pope was
conducted back to Rome under a magnificent escort of bishops and nobles, at
once his protectors and judges. The hearing of the cause terminated in the
acquittal of the Pope and the confusion of his accusers; and the authors of the
revolt were transmitted to the King to be punished according to his pleasure.
But Charles had meanwhile resolved to visit Italy in person. The stillness
which reigned in Saxony and Pannonia permitted his absence from Germany; the
protracted war in Benevento, the wrongs of the Pope, and perhaps some secret
understanding with the holy father, were sufficient motives for this
expedition; and on the 24th of November, 800, Charles I King of the Franks
arrived in Rome. Assisted by the spiritual and temporal lords of Italy and
France, Charles immediately proceeded to the judgment of the Pope. But Leo’s
accusers were already silenced; and the absence of accusation ensured his
acquittal. The Pope thus absolved deemed it prudent to be fortified by the
judgment of God; and mounting the pulpit solemnly swore his innocence on the
Holy Gospels. This gratuitous appeal entirely convinced the applauding
multitude.
The benefits which Leo had received from Charles called for
remuneration, and a cheap remuneration lay in the hand of the Pope. The
bond which connected Rome with the eastern Empire was already loosened; the
conqueror of Europe was now Patrician or Lord of Rome; and the name of Emperor
seemed only wanting to fill up the measure of his greatness. Accordingly
on the anniversary of the birth of Christ, when multitudes of every nation
thronged the church of St. Peter, whilst Charles was immersed in prayer at the
foot of the apostolic sepulchre, the Pope drew near
him with a golden crown and imperial mantle. No sooner had Charles risen
from his devotions than Leo, placing the crown upon the monarch’s head,
exclaimed aloud, “To Charles, Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific
Emperor of the Romans, life and victory”. Acclamations re-echoed
throughout the assembly; and the Senate, the Romans, and the strangers
simultaneously repeated the important sentence which once more gave an Emperor
to the western world. At length the joyous sounds being hushed, the Pope
proceeded to anoint the new Emperor with the sacred unction, and invested him
with the imperial mantle. All present paid their homage to their sovereign, and
Charles swore to protect the holy church of Rome to the utmost of his power.
Europe now beheld once more two emperors. But how different their
situations! In the East, Constantine, the legitimate successor of his father
Leo, lay blind and captive; whilst his ambitious mother Irene wielded the sceptre she had wrung from the hand of her son, and
governed the still decreasing territories of the empire. In the West, shone
forth Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, the hereditary lord of a regal
dominion, the conqueror of nations, and the founder of a new dynasty. Ill as
the proud Irene might brook this assumption of the imperial title, her weakness
compelled her to dissemble. Her throne was shaken by internal discord; the favourable moment for her destruction was eagerly watched;
and she opened a negotiation with Charlemagne, which included a proposal of her
marriage with that monarch and the consequent union of the ancient and modern
empires (802). But in the midst of these negociations Irene was dethroned and exiled, and Nicephorus ascended the throne. A friendly
intercourse was soon afterwards established between the two emperors: to
Nicephorus were guaranteed Sicily, the Greek cities of Calabria, and the
sovereign rights over Naples, Gaieta, and Amalfi; whilst Rome and the residue of Italy, with Istria,
Croatia, and Dalmatia (excepting the maritime cities) were surrendered to
Charlemagne. Nor was Nicephorus the only eastern sovereign who recognized the
title of the western Emperor. On the throne of Bagdad sat the renowned caliph Haroun-al-raschid. Twice after
the coronation of Charlemagne the ambassadors of Haroun visited the imperial court; and amongst other magnificent presents conferred
upon the Emperor, the pious beheld with delight the keys of the city of
Jerusalem.
But whilst Charlemagne was thus securing the friendship of distant
princes, the disquietude of his own subjects called for the interference of his
arms. The Saxons were for the twelfth time in rebellion (803); the
treacherous governor of Barcelona had betrayed his trust; the new subjects in
Pannonia were harassed by the Sclavonians of Bohemia;
and the undaunted duke of Benevento still refused to succumb. Against the
Saxons the Emperor headed his army in person; little resistance appears to
have been offered; and in pursuance of his former policy he thinned the numbers
of the insurgents by transplanting ten thousand families into distant regions.
At a Diet at Saltze in Franconia (804) he
subsequently received the capitulation of the whole Saxon nation. Their laws
and liberties were preserved to them; they were released from tribute and other
burthens and admitted to the privileges of the Franks, though the nomination of
their governors and judges was reserved to the Emperor. But the same measure of
indulgence was denied them in matters of religion; the Christian faith was
imposed upon them; the former bloody decrees were renewed and extended; and the
punishment of death awaited the transgression of the minutest religious
institution. Little applause could be claimed by the politic prince who taught
the best of religions by the most unchristian means, merely as a curb to his
unruly subjects. Idolaters by education or choice, they became hypocrites by
compulsion; and the double stain was only to be effaced by the gradual course
of time.
The reduction of Barcelona, Bohemia, and Benevento was entrusted to the
sons of the Emperor. The youngest, Lewis King of Aquitaine, marched into
Catalonia, and quickly overwhelmed Zaddo the rebel
governor, who vainly looked for assistance from the court of Cordoba. The
arms of the eldest, Charles Duke of Maine, were no less prevalent in Bohemia:
the Sclavonians were defeated, their chief perished
in battle; and Bohemia, Lusatia, and Misnia were
added to the imperial dominions. But to Pepin, King of Italy, a harder task had
been assigned. During the life of Prince Grimbald the
arms of that king reaped but little harvest: continued incursions into the Beneventine territory left the Lombards still unbroken; nor
was it until after the deaths both of Grimbald and
Pepin that the duchy became tributary to the Empire. The pacific disposition of
the successor of Grimbald, rather than the arms of
the Franks, effected the long-desired object; and after a war of nearly
eighteen years, Grimbald II purchased peace by the payment
of a moderate tribute (811).
At the mature age of sixty-four Charlemagne made his Will, which, having
been approved of by the States, was sent to Rome to be confirmed and signed by
the Pope. He divided his dominions between his three sons, Charles, Pepin,
and Lewis; and gave liberty to his subjects, after the death of those princes,
to choose their own sovereign, provided the person elected were of the royal
house. One other clause in this instrument is too remarkable to be omitted. The
sons of Charles were forbidden to put to death, or to mutilate, or blind, or
consign to a cloister, any one of his grandsons, upon any pretext whatsoever.
Perhaps in dictating this extraordinary prohibition the remembrance of the
children of his brother Carloman might have oppressed the soul of the Emperor.
That the prohibition would itself be ineffective he might easily anticipate;
that it was not wholly superfluous or inconsistent with the feeling of the
times, the sequel of the Carolingian history will sufficiently testify.
Charlemagne might now abandon himself to that repose which his age
required; and for his personal exploits his reign might here be closed. But his
sons were active and warlike: new aggressors were to be repulsed; and new
conquests to be achieved. About the year 808 the shores of France and Germany
were for the first time visited by a ferocious band of strangers, afterwards
but too well known to the rest of Europe. The northern boundary of the
dominions of Charlemagne was the ocean, excepting only where the river Eyder (then the Daene) divides
the extreme regions of the north from the mainland: there this river placed a
limit to the Empire. Beyond this limit, in the narrow isthmus which parts the
Baltic from the German Ocean, were settled the Danes or Normans, who had
already infested the shores of Britain. The incursions of these people
across the Eyder were checked by the imperial troops;
but in their navy the Normans possessed the means of surprise and devastation
against which the Franks were very inadequately provided. The Emperor was
not remiss upon this occasion; he caused watch-towers to be built upon the
coast; a number of new vessels to be constructed; and by such expedients he
diminished a grievance which he was unable wholly to remedy. The Normans continued
their periodical incursions; and finally obtained a footing in one of the
fairest provinces of France.
The last days of Charlemagne were cruelly embittered by domestic
loss. Scarcely had the afflicted father closed the grave over the princess Rotrude ere the news of the death of Pepin, King of
Italy, again demanded the paternal tears; and the succeeding year he was
bereaved of his eldest son Charles, whom he had destined to succeed him in the
largest share of his dominions. Lewis was now his only surviving son; but
Pepin left a bastard named Bernard, on whom Charlemagne conferred the crown of
Italy. To secure the residue of his dominions to Lewis, the Emperor
resolved to associate him in the Empire; and having assembled the States at
Aix-la-Chapelle (813), he obtained their approbation of his design. On the
appointed day, Lewis attended his father to the holy altar, on which had been placed
a second imperial crown. By the old Emperor’s command, the Emperor elect raised
the diadem and placed it on his own brow;—the first, though not the last,
example of a self-crowned Emperor. Charlemagne did not long survived this
ceremony. He expired at Aix early in the year 814, in the
seventy-second of his age, forty-sixth of his reign.
In person, Charlemagne was lofty and majestic; in manner and
disposition, courteous and affable; and in spite of the sequestration of his
nephews, and the coldblooded butchery of his prisoners, panegyric has declared
him just and merciful. His enterprizing spirit, his
active bravery, his persevering energy need no other record than the simple
statement of his life. History appears content to charge him but with one
fault—incontinence. The censure of this constitutional error he seems willing
to have avoided, since in lawful wedlock he was the husband of five
consecutive wives; and the loss of the one, repudiated or dead, was immediately
replaced by another. At the decline, however, of his life after the death of
his last queen we are informed that he solaced himself with four successive
concubines; and a numerous illegitimate progeny bore evidence that the trammels
of wedlock were insufficient for the confinement of his passions. Scandal has
even converted his paternal affection for his daughters into too intense a
sentiment. He loved them at least too well to suffer their separation by
marriage; and they were sedulously instructed under his own eye in the laudable
pursuits of housewifery and embroidery.
We have already seen the extent of his paternal dominions and watched
the progress of their increase. At his death he was lord of Gaul, including the
modern states of France, the Netherlands, Holland, Switzerland, and Savoy; of
the county of Barcelona, including the greater portion of the north of Spain
between the Pyrenees and the Ebro; of the most part of modern Germany from the Eyder to the Alps, and from the Rhine to the Oder; of the
modern Bohemia; of much of the modern Hungary as far south as the Saave; of Istria, Croatia, and Dalmatia; of Italy, except the
southern possessions of the Greek Empire; of Corsica and the Balearic
Islands. Even the Saxon kings of Britain acknowledged
his sovereign authority; and he was sufficiently influential to restore Ardulph to the kingdom of Northumberland.
In the government of his dominions, Charlemagne consigned the
administration of the palace to the great officers of state. The Grand Almoner
presided over spiritual matters; the Palatine count was the minister of justice
within the court itself. Two great assemblies were annually convened;— at the Field of May, the lay and spiritual
magnates were bound, under penalty, to attend and assist in the deliberation of
the national affairs; and all other freemen were permitted to be present and ratify
by their voices the enactments of their superiors. Into the autumnal meeting
the nobles were alone admitted, and by them were imposed the taxes and other
contributions. At these meetings, the clergy were divided from the nobles; and
the nobles were again divided from the third estate. In the administration of
the laws, Charlemagne exercised great liberality. The conquered nations were
allowed to retain their own institutions; and thus the Salic, the Ripuarian, the Saxon, the Bavarian, and the Lombard laws
were concurrently administered in the Empire. But the choice of the ministers
of Justice was, in general, reserved to the Emperor himself; and on extraordinary
occasions, his Commissaries were despatched into the
provinces to hear and determine. For the government of France, Charlemagne from
time to time promulgated his Ordinances or Capitularies, which bound the Franks
alone, unless when other nations were specially designated. These capitularies
extended from the highest to the minutest objects; by some the great Fiefs of
the nation were regulated; by others the private economy of the imperial
household was provided for, even to the sale of superfluous eggs and vegetables.
The Coinage and the weights and measures of the Kingdom were reformed; and to
Charlemagne is attributed the division of money into Livres,
Sous, and Deniers.
The nobles of Charlemagne were rich and powerful; but he prudently endeavoured to prevent their independence; and, to guard
against their acquiring too great influence over his people, continually
insisted on their attendance in his expeditions. The possessions of many were
hereditary; but in the bestowing of new Benefices (and he was by no means
sparing in his bounty) he usually reserved to himself the right of resumption;
and by prohibiting the alienation of lands by his feudatories repressed the
increase of allodial estates, and the consequent
curtailment of the crown possessions.
To the affairs of Religion, Charlemagne delighted to apply himself. But
it was the vice of his policy or zeal to propagate
the mildest of Religions by the edge of the sword; and never were the doctrines
of Mahommed written in more bloody characters, than
was the faith of Christ in the eighth century. He frequently summoned Councils
at which he himself presided; and points of doctrine the most subtle were
discussed in his presence. He hazarded a breach with Pope Adrian by denouncing
the adoration of images; and even attempted to grasp the perplexing question of
the procession of the Holy Ghost. Nor did the difficulties of this delicate
matter embarrass the conqueror of nations; he decided for the double procession,
though he was willing to obtain the confirmation of the Pope. An evasive answer
by Leo appears to have satisfied the conscience of the Emperor, and France was
still permitted to believe in the procession from the Son as well as the
Father. He diligently advanced the wealth and power of the clergy: made laws
for the good government of the Church; and enforced the payment of tithes. He founded
several Bishoprics; and increased the episcopal authority, by investing the
Bishops with judicial powers; admitting them into the national Council; and
entirely exempting them from secular jurisdiction.
In the various revolutions of Europe from the fall of the Western Empire to the accession of
Charlemagne, literature and the arts had been well nigh extinguished. Under the Gothic Kings of Italy, learning had obtained some
protection, and the structures of the Goths might be entitled to admiration. But
throughout the rest of Europe was darkness; and in the eighth century Italy herself
could boast but a scanty catalogue of learned names ; amongst whom Paul the
Deacon, Peter of Pisa, Paolino of Aquileia, and Dungalo of Pavia, were the most conspicuous. Patrons were
wanting to excite emulation; and the scarcity and dearness of books damped the
energies of the most ardent. The toilsome mode by which copies were to be
multiplied, the expensive materials upon which they were to be written,110 and
the almost general ignorance of the language in which they were composed,
restricted their circulation; for even those who occupied the most conspicuous
posts in the Church could lay claim to but small proficiency in the Latin
language, though that language still continued to be used in all public
documents. In the various incursions of the barbarians, a multitude of strange
dialects had spread themselves over Europe. In Italy the Greek tongue was not
wholly extinguished; whilst the Latin was dishonoured and enriched by an admixture of Gothic and Lombard. In Germany the Teutonic
overwhelmed the Latin; in France the corruption of pure Latinity produced a
bastard dialect called the Roman, entirely distinct from the Teutonic of the Franks,
and the Celtic of the Bretons. In Spain, the Roman seems early to have taken
root; but easily permitted engrafting the language of its Saracen conquerors.
No wonder then if the age of the first Carolingian sovereign could produce but
one historian, and a puny band of ecclesiastical casuists and Latin versifiers.
It was the merit of Charlemagne to dispel this chaotic darkness; and by calling
the small and scattered particles of learning into action to produce collision
and vivification. To his native tongue, Charlemagne united a competent
knowledge of the Latin and some acquaintance with the Greek. He eagerly sought
out the few who in the general ignorance were comparatively learned; and
Britain may be proud in having supplied one of the most erudite men of the day.
He collected around him those capable of imparting knowledge, founded schools,
purchased books, and became himself a student. His sons were no less carefully
imbued with the reviving taste for literature; and whilst they were trained in
the favourite military exercises, were taught to
value the less dazzling acquisitions of peace. Knowledge was with him the
sure path to preferment both in Church and State. Nor will the fame of
Charlemagne as the reviver of learning be seriously injured, if we admit that
he himself was unable to write.
The arts are also indebted to this Monarch for his cheering regard to
their forlorn condition. At Aix-la-Chapelle, which he made his capital, he
raised a Cathedral and a Palace; he drew out from obscurity the mosaics and
precious relics of antiquity; and under his auspices the service of religion
was rendered more solemn and imposing by music worthy its celebration. If
little were done under his reign, his anxiety for improvement deserves
approbation: and it is surely no small praise to Charlemagne that his voice was
the first to call the slumbering artist into action.
These strenuous exertions in favour of
civilization may fairly entitle this prince to the surname of “The Great”. Born
at a time when idolatry and superstition usurped the place of religion; when
the sciences of government and legislation were a mystery; when literature and
art were neglected and unknown; this renowned emperor, soared above the cloud
which covered the face of Europe, and became himself the luminary from which
others derived their light. But to his unjustifiable and successful
aggressions upon the neighbouring nations he probably
owed his honourable appellation; and in the eyes of
his barbarous contemporaries the blood-stained conqueror of the Saxons was an
object of higher estimation than the reviver and encourager of the peaceful
arts.
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