GERMANY FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD

PART VI

CHARLEMAGNE

 

XCVII. The Austrasian Mayors of the Palace

 

The degenerate Merovingians, alike unworthy and incapable of ruling, weakened by family dissensions, by their effeminacy, and by the system of monkish education, gradually sank beneath the sway of the mayors of the palace, who, as the hereditary representatives of the vassals of the crown, from whose number they had originally been chosen, and whose interests they consequently forwarded, found means to usurp the control of the state in time of peace as well as of war, and, by craftily surrounding the kings with the pomp and external show of the power they wielded in their stead, by freeing them from the burden of government, and by favouring their love of idleness and pleasure, rendered themselves ever necessary to and generally beloved by their nominal sovereigns. Forbearing to place the crown on their own heads, from a fear of becoming obnoxious to the majority of the people, and of the security of their position being endangered by the vassals, their jealous adherents, whom such a step would inevitably change into ambitious rivals, it was not until the mayoralty had been gradually and firmly established, by dint of good fortune and of great talent, as a hereditary dignity, that they ventured by slow and sure means to prepare for its seizure. By countenancing the disputes for the succession to the throne, and the murderous and treacherous propensities of the Merovingians, whom they corrupted and weakened from their early childhood, both mentally and physically, indulgence and religious superstitions, they succeeded in rendering them contemptible to their subjects, while they removed every suspicion of the existence of their ambitious projects by their apparent submission to their puppet sovereigns, and gained the hearts of the nation by flattering the vassals, by their impartial administration of justice, by their warlike deeds, the glory of which redounded to the honour of France, by their extension of the limits of the state, and by their promotion of the public weal.

The supremacy of the Austrasians was closely bound up with that of the mayors; both rising at the same time, and mutually assisting each other. The true-born German Rhenish Franks, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians, with whom the Burgundians at first coalesced, presented a vivid contrast, under the general denomination of Austrasians, to the more Romanized Neustrians, who consisted of the West Franks, Romans, Goths, Basques, and Bretons. The Austrasians, gifted with all the energy of the genuine German character, and endowed with the valour and strength of their ancestors, whose customs and language they faithfully retained, despised and gradually became estranged from the Neustrians on account of their weakness, licentiousness, and treachery, and as the difference between their character and language became more marked, a reciprocal and bitter hatred arose between them. The Austrasians, happily governed by able monarchs, covered themselves with glory and increased their skill in warfare in their contests with the other nations of Germany. It was also their mayors of the palace who seized the supreme authority, which they alone held through the favour of their countrymen.

 

XCVIII. Pipin von Landen

 

In 622, Chlotar the Second made his son, Dagobert, king of Austrasia, and the brave Pipin von Landen, the first of the vassals who had rebelled against Queen Brunehilda, became his mayor of the palace. Pipin, whose family came from the Netherlands, was the founder of the powerful race of subsequent mayors, which two centuries later mounted the imperial throne of Germany, and assumed the name of Carolingian, from Charlemagne, his most illustrious descendant. Chlotar was still alive when a war broke out between Dagobert and the Saxons, whose duke, Bertoald, is said to have wounded him in battle in the head, upon which he sent one of his blood-stained locks to his father, who instantly marched into Saxony and took a moat fearful vengeance. Duke Bertoald fell in battle, and every prisoner who wag taller than the length of Chlotar's sword was put to death. Peace was at length concluded on condition of their paying a tribute of five hundred stallions. The Saxons were also much disturbed by the Normans. Sifrit, the Saxon duke, while solemnizing his marriage with Giritta, a beauti­ful Dane, was suddenly attacked and slain, and the bride carried off by the pirate Haldan, a Swedish sea-king.

On the death of Chlotar, Dagobert became king of the whole of France, AD. 628. The wound he had received in the Saxon war had disgusted him with warfare, and he lived in voluptuous and splendid indolence at Paris, surrounded by his three queens and numerous concubines; a mode of life he attempted to palliate by alleging the example of King Solomon, and by lavishing wealth and favours on the clergy. Among the numerous churches built by this king, that of St. Denis, whom he elected as the patron saint of his kingdom, is most remarkable. The incessant pilgrimages to the shrine of St. Denis soon attracted commerce, and a large market, the chief emporium of Europe, was erected in its vicinity. About this time, Samo, a Frankish merchant, who had gained great popularity among the Slavian Wendi, was elected their king, and succeeding in uniting them be­neath his rule, repulsed the Avari. Some Frankish merchants happening to be killed while passing through his territory, Dagobert seized that occurrence as a pretext for attacking the new Slavian kingdom, and declared war against him; but Samo offering a brave and determined resistance and defeating the Franks in a great battle, near Wodgatisburg, which lasted three days, gained so much renown that the Slavian Sorbi and their king, Dorwan, voluntarily submitted to him, AD 630. Pipin, who, until now, had not taken part in the contest, proffered his services in this moment of necessity, and wisely releasing the Saxons from their tribute, besides yielding to the request of the Thuringians, to place Radulf, their fellow countryman and a pagan, at their head,united the heathen and Christian Germans in a national war against the Slavi, in which he was victorious. Samo's kingdom fell as rapidly as it had been raised, and the Slavi were henceforward necessitated to seek assistance from the Germans against the Avari.

Dagobert died, AD 638, and the kingdom was again divided among his sons; Sigebert the Third reigning over Austrasia, and Chlodwig the Second over Neustria. On the death of Pipin, AD 639, who during these changes had retained his mayoralty in Austrasia, his son, Grimoald, was removed from his office (the influence possessed by his fam­ily having already alarmed the jealousy of the king), and Otto was created mayor in his stead; upon this, the old party of Pipin, and the dukes, Radulf of Thuringia and Fara of Bavaria, asserted their independence, and Otto, marching against them with Sigebert, slew Fara, but, being compelled by Radulf to retreat, lost his ascendency over the vassals, and Grimoald was recalled. No sooner was Sigebert dead than Grimoald, regardless of the warnings of an aged monk, ventured to place his son Childebert on the throne; but it was still too early; the mutual jealousies of the Merovingians and Carolingians still presented too many advantages to the clergy and the vassals, and Grimoald fell, with his un­fortunate son, beneath the poniards of the rivals his ambition had evoked.

 

XCIX. Pipin von Heristal

 

Dagobert the Second, the eon of Sigebert, had been con­fined by Grimoald in an Irish monastery, where he was allowed to remain; the clergy and the vassals agreeing to reunite the whole of France under Chlodwig the Second, who had been driven out of his senses by remorse for having broken off the arm of St Dionysius, in order to carry it about with him as a relic; an action he was afterward induced to regard as a deadly sin. Nanthilda, his mother, who governed in his name under the direction of Floachat, the mayor of the palace, swore to maintain all the clergy and the vassals (who were already powerful enough to carry on their machinations openly and in defiance of the people) in their dignities and lands during her lifetime. The death of Chlodwig, AD 656, occasioned fresh disturbances, the kingdom being again divided among his sons. Chlotar the Second was placed on the throne of Neustria, where Ebroin, the mayor of the place, afterward raised himself to great power. Chlotar died early. Childerich, who became king of Austrasia, infringed the liberties of the people by causing a freeman, of the name of Badillo, to be whipped, and was murdered by his exasperated subjects, AD 673. Theodorich the Third, who had been destined for the cloister, inherited his brothers' kingdoms, over which Ebroin ruled in his name. The Austrasians rebelled against him, and draw­ing Dagobert the Second from his seclusion, attempted to place him on the throne, to which two Merovingians, both of whom were monks, disputed the succession. Ebroin was at first unsuccessful, but escaping from a monastery in which he had been imprisoned, was again victorious, and caused Dagobert to be put to death. Pipin von Heristal, the grand­son of one of the daughters of Pipin von Landen, now placed himself at the head of the Austrasians, and Ebroin was defeated and killed. He was succeeded in the mayoralty by the brave Berchar, who had in his camp Theodorich, the legitimate sovereign, and the only remaining descendant of the house of Merowig, against whom Pipin and the Austrasians were arrayed in open rebellion, in which they were countenanced by the people, who, weary of intestine feuds, and indifferent to legitimacy, were inclined to side with the party that gave proof of greater bravery and capacity, which explains the remarkable battle of Testri, in which victory sided with the Carolingians, AD 687. Pipin won this battle by stratagem. Setting fire to his own camp, he suddenly fell upon the Neustrians, who had hastened to pillage it un­der the impression of his having retired, and put them so completely to rout that no further opposition was raised. Although universally recognized as the only man capable of reforming the state, he merely compelled Theodorich to acknowledge him as mayor of the whole of France, and, warned by the fate of Grimoald and Ebroin, permitted him to retain the shadow of royalty while he held the substance. Dating from this period, the Merovingians no longer intermeddled with the government. The monarch, a mere cipher, shut up in his palace, contented himself with frivolous amuse­ments, and showed himself occasionally to the people on the Marzfeld, where, sumptuously attired and wearing his long golden hair, he graciously received the gifts of his subjects, or nodded approbation to the transactions conducted by the mayor of the palace. Pipin survived two Merovingian kings, the successors of Theodorich, whose death did not lessen his power. His first care was the regulation of the interior economy of the state, and he again regulated the Marzfelder, or annual general state assemblies, which had been for some time neglected or irregularly held, and in which the ancient democracy (the freemen) was now completely overruled by the new aristocracy formed by the clergy and the vassals. The piety of the Bavarian Plectrudis, the wife of Pipin, secured to him the favour of the church. The period had also now arrived for confirming the external security of the state. The Franks, rendered powerful by their union, no longer deigned to tolerate the insolence of their neighbours and that of the rebellious tribes, and the consequent insurrections of the Basques, Goths, and Bretons in France were easily quelled by Pipin. The war on the frontier of Austrasia proved more difficult; particularly that carried on in Friesland against Rathod, the pagan king, who was vainly besieged in his impregnable peninsulas and islands, the capital of which was Heligoland, at that time a large island, now reduced by the encroaching waves to a sea-girt rock. At the close of the sixth century, St. Faro and the two Ewalds, and in the seventh century, Suibert, vainly endeavoured to convert the Saxons. The Thuringians also obstinately resisted the introduction of Christianity by the Franks. Hetan, the son of Radulf, had married St. Bilihilda, but his son, Gozbert, was induced to apostatize by Gailana, his brother's widow, whom by the ecclesiastical law he was prohibited to marry. This circumstance occasioned the martyrdom of St. Kilian, who was then preaching in Thuringia. An insurrection, secretly incited by Pipin, broke out against Gozbert, who was killed and his whole race exterminated.

Bavaria had been Christianized by Regintrudis, the Frankish wife of the duke, Theodo, and by the saints, Rupert and Emmeram, the former of whom destroyed the heathen altars at Altotting, where the seven deities or planets were worshiped, and founded the celebrated bishopric of Salzburg. At first the wild mountaineers would not listen to him, and said that the God of the Christians was poor, or he would not let his worshipers suffer so much from want, and jealous, as he would not tolerate any other god besides himself; but they speedily altered their opinion when they saw the mines and salt-works progressing under the direction of the saint. It is related of St. Emmeram, who founded the bishopric of Ratisbon, that, being accused by Uta, the daughter of Theodo, as her seducer, in order to save the life of the real criminal, he meekly suffered the punishment from motives of Christian charity, and that his innocence was proved by a miracle after his death.

To these legendary times belong St. Ottilia and St. Goar; the former of whom was the daughter of Eticho, count of Alsace, who, being born blind, received sight at her baptism, and lived as a saint on the mountain near Strassburg, called after her, the Ottilienberg. St. Goar, toward the close of the sixth century,' built a hut beneath the frightful rocks of the Lurlei, in the narrowest part of the Rhine, in order to save the shipwrecked, and to feed the starving wanderer. Pipin's eventful life closed in 714, and in the same year his son, Grimoald, was murdered in a church at Liege, at the instigation of some of the jealous nobles.

 

C. Charles Martell

 

The deaths of Pipin and of Grimoald occasioned fresh confusion in France. Plectrudis, the widow of Pipin, who had found means to usurp the chief authority, being anxious to retain the mayoralty for her grandson, Theudoald, the son of Grimoald, kept Charles, a natural son of Pipin, in prison, fearing lest he might prove a dangerous opponent to her designs. The Neustrians, who had unwillingly brooked the authority of Pipin, now seized the favourable moment.

Theodorich the Third was succeeded by Chlodwig the Third, Childebert, and Dagobert the Third, AD 715, who was succeeded by Chilperich the Second in Neustria, where the nobles elected, in his name, Raganfried, as their mayor, and instantly attacked Austrasia. The youthful Theudoald was defeated, and shortly afterward died; and the Neustrians, the better to secure their victory, entered into an alliance with Rathod of Friesland. The harassed Austrasians now bethought themselves of the imprisoned Charles, who was no sooner set at liberty than he marched at their head against the Frisii, but owing to the numerical insufficiency of his troops suffered a defeat, AD 716. The winter was spent by him in inspiriting the Austrasians, and in collecting a fresh and powerful army, with which in the ensu­ing spring he defeated the Neustrians at Cambray, by making use of a curious stratagem. A single Austrasian rushing into the enemy's camp, ran straight through it calling them to arms, and while the astonished Neustrians were engaged in running after him, Charles fell unexpectedly on their rear. After the battle he hastened to Cologne, where, after depriving his proud stepmother of his father's treasure, he sent her back to Bavaria, her native country. Having secured the country to the rear, he now returned to Neustria, where he set Chlotar the Fourth, a descendant of a side-branch of the Merovingian family, up as king. Chilperich fled to Eudo, duke of Aquitania, whose Basques and Goths, stimulated by their ancient and hereditary enmity, marched in great numbers against the Franks, AD 719, but, being completely beaten at Soissons, concluded peace with Charles, to whom Eudo delivered Chilperich, whose life speedily drew to its close when in the power of his victor. Charles, nevertheless, remained true to the policy of his family, and deprived the jealous nobles of every pretext for revolt, by placing Theodorich the Fourth, a son of Dagobert the Third, on the throne. Thus were the hapless Merovingians raised and deposed at will.—The Bavarians revolted against Charles, who was again victorious, and married the beautiful Sunichilda, the daughter of Grimoald, their duke, who, being killed by his own people, he made her brother, Huebert, duke. Freising was at this period founded by St. Corbinian.

An immense army of the fanatical and hitherto invincible Moors, led by the brave Abderrahman, after destroying the Visigothic kingdom in Spain, poured across the Pyrenees into France; a far more dangerous foe than Attila and his Huns, who, merely greedy of conquest, sought not to enslave minds, like the enthusiastic children of the South, who, the sword in one hand, the Koran in the other, Allah and Mahomet their war-cry, their aim the reduction of Europe and the extirpation of Christianity, marched beneath the Crescent, the standard of their prophet, against the hardy sons of the North.

The frontiers of Spain were at that time guarded by Eudo, duke of Aquitania, who had long aspired to independence. Neustria and Austrasia were at feud. France, torn by internal dissensions, seemed on the point of sharing the fate of Spain, when the destruction with which Europe and Christianity were threatened was warded off by the intrepid Charles. Eudo, who had at first hoped to make use of the Moors in forwarding his designs against him, had given his daughter in marriage to Munuz, one of their princes. Abderrahman, struck with her beauty, indignantly asked Munuz, "how he had presumed to keep such a treasure for himself, instead of sending her to the caliph," struck off his head for having ventured to profane such beauty, and sent the noble lady to the caliph's harem at Damascus. Eudo at­tempted to revenge this insult, but was defeated on the Garonne, and compelled to fly for protection to Charles, beneath whose standard the whole arrier-ban of Austrasia, the Netherlands, the Rhine, Thuringia, Swabia, and Bavaria had assembled, while Luitprand, at the head of his Lom­bards, crossed the Alps to aid in the defense of endangered Christendom. A battle took place between Tours and Poitiers, AD 732, in which the true-born German Austrasians, the flower of the Worth, who by their weight bore down the impetuous Moors, distinguished themselves by their unyielding valour. Abderrahman was slain, and 375,000 of his followers were left on the field. Europe was saved, and the Crescent driven beyond the Pyrenees. Charles, who at the head of his Austrasians had slain numbers of the enemy, striking them on the head like an iron hammer, was henceforward revered as the hero and defender of Christianity, and received the surname of Martell, or hammer, in memory of his prowess. Six years after this event the ruinous con­test was recommenced by the jealous Neustrians. Gothic Provence attempted to assert its independence under Maurontius, who called the Arabs to his aid against Martell, by whom their power was again, and so completely, crushed at Narbonne, AD 738, that they never again ventured across the fatal Pyrenees, and Charles secured that frontier by incorporating the remaining Visigoths into his kingdom. While he was thus engaged in the South, the heathen Frisii and Saxons invaded the northern frontier, but were defeated, and Rathod was at length reduced to submission and compelled to embrace Christianity. Not long before this event, he had caused St. Wigbert to be put to death for having slaughtered some sacred oxen. Charles Martell now sent to him St. Wolfram, by whom he was at length persuaded to undergo the ceremony of baptism. A bath was accord­ingly prepared, and Rathod, plunging one foot into the water, was about to immerse his whole body, when, turning to the saint, he inquired whether his ancestors were in heaven, and being answered, "No, in hell, for they were heathens," withdrew his foot and declared that he preferred remaining with them. It is related of another of the Frisii that he had himself several times baptized for the sake of the gift bestowed, on the occasion, by the clergy on the convert. Religion must be ever and unavoidably desecrated when used as a political engine. Poppo, the successor of Rathod, fell opposing the Christians; all attempts to extirpate paganism in Friesland proved, nevertheless, unavailing.

Charles Martell, although the saviour of Christendom, was by no means remarkable for piety. The contempt to which his illegitimate birth had subjected him during his youth, ever inclined him, as if from a spirit of defiance, to side with bastards and younger sons, against rightful heirs and elder brothers. He formed them into a bodyguard, made them his boon companions, and enriched them not only with temporal feofs, but also with gifts of bishoprics and abbeys. Before the commencement of the great war with the Moors, he had forced the clergy, under pain of forfeiting their possessions, to appear in person in the field (in those times every man without distinction of rank or profession was bound to carry arms), so that the clergy, enrolled in his service, were already habituated to the license of a camp, and to the pleasures of the chase. The feudal vassals and the clergy consequently intermingled and formed one body. To these rough times belongs the touching legend of St. Genoveva of Brabant, the wife of Graf Siegfried, the lord of Andernach, who, when marching against the invading Moors, intrusted her to the care of Golo, his favourite. Inflamed by her beauty, and enraged at the failure of his attempts upon her virtue, Golo accused her of infidelity, and she was condemned to death. The executioners, moved to compassion, spared her life and that of her child, and she lived for a long time concealed in a forest, in nakedness and solitude. The child was suckled by a doe, and her life was miraculously sustained, until Siegfried, one day, when following the chase, discovered her in her grotto, and her innocence was proved. She is still honoured as a saint at Andernach.

 

CI. Pipin the Little

 

Charles Martell died in 741, leaving two sons, Carlmann and Pipin, and a daughter, Chiltruda, by his first wife; and by his second, the Bavarian Sunichilda, a son named Grippo, who was deprived of his share in the inheritance and imprisoned by his elder brothers. Sunichilda took refuge in a convent, and Chiltruda, influenced by affection for her stepmother, escaped from her brothers to Bavaria, where she married Odilo, the duke of that country, who, with Hunoald of Aquitania, the Alemanni under Theudewald, and the Saxons under Theodorich, simultaneously attacked the brave sons of Martell. They were defeated both collectively and separately, Hunoald in 742, Odilo on the Lech, by the Franks, who crossed the river and attacked him during the night, in 743, the Saxons in 745, and the Alemanni in 746. Their duke, Theudewald, and many other prisoners of note were executed by order of Carlmann, who passed sentence upon them at Cannstadt, but was subsequently haunted by such deep remorse for his cruelty that, withdrawing to a monastery, he resigned the whole authority to his younger brother Pipin, surnamed the Little, onaccount of the shortness of his stature. His strength was so prodigious that on one occasion he cut off a lion's head with a single stroke of his sword. His first act, on the attainment of undivided power, was the liberation of Grippo, who, taking refuge among the Saxons and Frisii, induced them to take up arms against his brother. Finding himself unable to keep the field, he sought the protection of Thassilo, the son of Odilo, who was then reigning in Bavaria, under the tutelage of his mother, Chiltruda. Lanfried, duke of Alemannia, and Suitzo, another powerful Alemannian, lent him their aid, but they were all defeated and taken prisoners by Pipin, who again pardoned his brother. Grippo, discontented and restless, fled anew to Waisar, the son of Hunoald, of Aquitania, who refused to receive him, and he attempted to escape into Lombardy, but was intercepted in the Alps by Frederick, the Graf of the French frontier, and striving to force his way, fell, after a desperate struggle, with the whole of his followers, AD 750. Pipin was, at the time of this occurrence, engaged in a second campaign against the Saxons, on whom he again imposed an annual tribute of three hundred horses.

No less prudent in his policy than fortunate in the field, Pipin now saw that the time had at length arrived for putting the long-cherished projects of his ancestors into execution. Four generations of the Merovingians, degraded by sloth, despised, neglected, and almost forgotten, had passed away, while the Carolingians possessed the real authority and the popular esteem, and it became daily more evident which of the two families was the more fitted for the throne. Pipin, whose ancestors had consolidated their power by making common cause with the vassals, now secured success by gaining over the pope and the clergy. The pope, Zacharias, at that time hard pressed by Aistulf, king of Lombardy, willingly countenanced plans that favoured his own interest, while Pipin, in order the more deeply to impress upon him the value of his support, designedly delayed his much wished-for assistance, and, sending an ambassador to Rome, proposed this question to the pontiff, "Whether he was king who sat carelessly at home, or he who bore the burden of government?" The pope instantly replied, "that the latter alone merited the crown." Upon this, Pipin called a general state assembly at Soissons, and the whole nation assenting to the pope's verdict, Childerich, the last of the Merovingians, was torn from the throne of his fathers, consigned, with shaven head, to the cloister, and Pipin was unanimously proclaimed king. St. Bonifacius placed the crown on his head, and anointed him, according to ancient custom, like his predecessor Chlodwig, with the sacred oil. At the same time the general state assembly, held in March, was transferred to May, AD 753, a change by which Bonifacius hoped to obliterate every remembrance of paganism, and Pipin, that of the Merovingians.

After the death of Zacharias, Pipin still retarded the promised aid against the Lombards, in order to render Stephen, the new pontiff, as tractable as his predecessor. The pope at length, urged by necessity, crossed the Alps in person, and prostrating himself at the feet of the French monarch, humbly solicited his protection. Pipin, satisfied with this act of humility, marched, accompanied by the pope, into Italy, and forced Aistulf to accept the most dis­graceful terms of peace, AD 754. The Lombards, however, fully alive to the danger with which they were threatened by the increasing power of the pope, and by his alliance with France, resolved to struggle to the last, and Aistulf, break­ing the treaty, again besieged Rome. Pipin again marched to the relief of the city, AD 756, and the Lombards, after suffering a complete defeat, were reduced to submission. Aistulf was killed by the falling of his horse. Desiderius, a court official, became king of Lombardy through French influence. His son Adelgis married a French princess, and his daughter Desiderata was wedded to the youthful Charles, afterward Charlemagne. Pipin, anxious to erect a strong power, in opposition to that of the Lombards, in Italy itself, gave the then existing exarchate of Ravenna and Rome in fief to the pope, who, in return, named him patrician and guardian of Rome.

Thus commenced the temporal power of the pope, whose spiritual authority was, at the same time, subservient to that of the monarch; an alliance whose influence could not be long resisted by any of the states independent of the empire, or by any power still possessed by the people. Pipin was also successful in his wars against the Saxons, whom he again rendered tributary, and in that undertaken against Waisar, duke of Aquitania, whom he pursued so long and unremittingly in the Pyrenees that his subjects, the Basques, at length put him to death for the sake of peace. Thassilo, the youthful duke of Bavaria, impatient of the yoke imposed by Pipin, refused to render feudal service in the field against Waisar; a conduct which Pipin prudently overlooked. Pipin died, shortly afterward, in 768.

 

CII. St. Bonifacius

 

The cooperative policy of the Frankish rulers and the Roman bishops laid the foundation to what may be termed the body of the church, while her spirituality was solely fostered by the independent, free, and pure zeal of the Anglo-Saxon and Irish monks. In the British isles, far beyond the influence of the Roman hierarchy and of the feudal aristocracy of France, Christianity had taken a democratic form, and, unpolluted by the new spirit of political conquest and of feudal tyranny, had blended with the ancient spirit of popular freedom. Here were no imperious and covetous feudal churchmen, too fully occupied with the pastime of the chase, with war and politics, to be interested in the promulgation of the gospel, but humble, pious teachers of brotherly love, who, instead of shutting themselves within their abbey walls, instead of accumulating wealth or seeking to extend their temporal power, went forth, like the first apostles, to guide their erring brethren, and to enlighten the yet unconverted heathen to whom, far from imposing Christianity upon them with the bigoted zeal of conquering despots, they preached the doctrine of eternal peace, compelling no one to embrace the mild religion of Jesus, but gently persuading them by precept and example of its truth and beauty. The first Anglo-Saxon apostles strongly reprobated the political corruption of the Frankish church, and the arrogant pretensions of the pope, against which St. Columban wrote, and consequently fell into disgrace with the Frankish court. The mayors of the palace, however, perceived at length that the pious, disinterested Anglo-Saxons were calculated, far better than the Franks, to succeed in converting the heathen inhabitants of eastern Germany, on account of their enthusiastic zeal and superior religious knowledge, added to the circumstance of their being, in their character of foreigners, less obnoxious to the Frisii, Saxons, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians, who regarded the Franks in the light of oppressors and deceivers; they therefore countenanced the foreign monks, and repeatedly invited them into the country.

During the seventh century, St. Fridolin founded the monastery of Seckingen on the Upper Rhine; St. Columban destroyed the pagan images at Bregenz on the Bodensee; St. Gallus founded a hermitage, afterward the celebrated monastery of St. Gall, in the depths of the forests, where he was served by a bear; St. Amandus destroyed the image of Odin at Ghent; St. Eligius converted the Saxon prisoners; the saints, Wigbert, Wolfram, Willebrand (the first bishop of Utrecht, AD 799), preached among the Frisii; the saints, Suidbert and Sturmio (a Bavarian by birth, and first abbot of the great monastery of Fulda), among the Hessians; St. Magnoald founded Fiissen in Swabia; St. Theodore, Kempten; St. Offo, Offonszell; St. Landolin (who, for cutting down a sacred fir tree and forming a cross out of it, was murdered by the heathen Alemanni), Ettenheimmunster; and St. Pirmin, Reichenau. Besides these, in Thuringian East Franconia and in Bavaria, St. Kilian suffered martyrdom at Wurzburg; St. Sebaldus (according to tradition, a Danish prince who fled on his wedding night and abandoned earthly for heavenly love), died at Nuremberg; St. Corbinian founded Freising; St. Emmeram, Ratisbon; and St. Rupert, Salzburg. The foundation of the celebrated monaste­ries in Alsace, Altaich, Benedictbeuren, Tegemsee, Prum, and Lorsch also date during the eighth century.

Winfried, an Anglo-Saxon, better known by his monkish surname of St. Bonifacius, distinguished himself above all these apostles, by his energy, zeal, and success. Zealously imagining that the temporal and spiritual rule of the church ought to be universal, and that the power of the Romish Frankish church might consistently blend with the Christian zeal and brotherly love of the Anglo-Saxon monks, he no longer contented himself, like his predecessors, with converting the heathen and with founding hermitages in the forest solitudes, but aiming at the reformation of the existing Frankish church, intermeddled with the proceedings of the bishops and with the policy of the state. Pipin, who had just concluded his alliance with the pope, AD 755, with the intention of placing the Carolingian dynasty on the throne of Merowig, found a strenuous supporter in Bonifacius, the enemy of schism under whatever form. The unity of the kingdom of God upon earth, the fraternization of all man­kind gathered beneath the care of one shepherd, the pope, Christ's vicar upon earth, was his visionary scheme, and, in his enthusiasm, entirely overlooking the diversity of nations and languages, he sought to obviate that difficulty by rendering the Latin tongue the only one authorized by the church. This new and unnatural tyranny met with vehement opposition. Virgilius, bishop of Salzburg, the most enlightened man of the age, who had gained great and merited fame by the peaceable conversion of the Slavi, in the mountains of Carinthia and Carniola, and who on account of his scientific and astronomical knowledge was denounced as asorcerer by the pope and his confederate, Bonifacius, AD, inquired mockingly of the latter, "whether the senseless form made use of in baptism by a German priest ignorant of the Latin tongue, was efficacious?" and was answered, "Yes, because faith ought to be blind!" In Thuringia, Dortwin, Berthar, Tanbrecht, and Hunred, and in Bavaria, Ariowulf, Adalbert, and Clemens, distinguished themselves in opposition to, Bonifacius, who condemned them as heretics, and, supported by Pipin and the pope, succeeded in his hierarchical schemes.

Bonifacius, moreover, zealously applied himself to the conversion of the heathen, which was formally organized by a synod, held at Lestines, ( 743 ), and a form of abjuration was drawn up, by which the German pagan renounced his former religion and the specified superstitious customs. He went personally among the heathen, preaching and converting with the energy and zeal that rendered him so famous. He it was who cut down the great Donnereiche (oak of thun­der) at Geismar, in Hesse. Zealously upholding the institutions of his predecessors, he sent fresh preachers to the flocks abandoned by their pastors. With the intent of especially promoting the conversion of the women, he sent for pious nuns from England; among others, St. Thecla, the foundress of Kitzingen; St. Lioba, that of Bischofsheim; and St. Walpurgis, that of Heidenheim. The bishoprics of Wurzburg, Freising, Eichstadt, Salzburg, and Ratisbon, were organized under his direction, he being, as archbishop of Mayence, the head of the German church. In his seventieth year, being anxious to convert the pagans of Friesland, he visited that country, where the Frisii, who viewed him as a deceitful Frank, put him to death, ( 755 ).

 

CIII. Charlemagne

 

Pipin left two sons, Carloman and Charles, the former of whom inherited Neustria, the latter Austrasia. Charles had already distinguished himself in the last wars of Pipin, and the legends record the most extraordinary proofs of his wonderful strength of mind and body when still a child. Pipin, unwilling to allow the pope the supremacy in Italy, upheld the now powerless Lombards, and gave the daughter of Desiderius in marriage to Charles, in defiance of the anger of Pope Stephen, who had said, "That the noble Frank should not defile himself with the unclean Lombard." Charles, not finding Desiderata to his taste, divorced her. His brother Carloman being accidentally killed, he seized Neustria, and Gilberga, the widow of Carloman, and her two sons sought refuge at the court of Desiderius, who was highly offended at the treatment of his daughter. By this act of treachery to his nephews, Charles became in 771 master of the whole of France. Urged by uncontrollable ambition, he burst through every barrier that opposed his entrance into the great and brilliant course he was destined to run; his fame, like the sun at early mom, obscured by rolling clouds, shone forth again with undimmed luster. His energetic and creative intellect, ever actively and simultaneously employed in conducting his wars abroad and in improving the internal condition of his empire, changed, during the forty-three years of his reign, the aspect of affairs, not only throughout Germany, but throughout the whole of Europe, and laid the foundation, as will be seen in the course of this history, to a new and important era. With him the history of ancient Germany closes. All the ancient free German states and kingdoms were united within the limits of his immense empire, whose erection impressed a new character on the different nations of Germany. Antiquity sank into oblivion, and the middle age commenced with the grand and brilliant reign of Charlemagne by which, however, we must not allow ourselves to be blinded to the fault he committed in failing to secure the national freedom as well as the external grandeur of Germany. True to his father's policy, he rooted the imperial power in the feudal system, and increased the privileges of the nobility and clergy at the expense of those of the people. His policy might possibly have taken an opposite bias had he met with firm support from the people, but at that period the nations of Germany were still at enmity with each other; the Goths, Lombards, Alemanni, Bavarians, and Thuringians, hated the French as their tyrants, and the pagan Saxons were struggling, as if for life, against French dominion and the imposition of Christianity. The unity of the empire could therefore only be achieved in despite of the people, and Charles found his sole support in the vassals, attracted by his victories and largesses, and in the bishops and monks, who by representing the unity of the empire, to the refractory nations, as a necessary consequence of the unity of the church, and as one of the intentions of the Christian religion, rendered themselves indispensable. Had the people been more advanced in knowledge, had they been able to comprehend the idea of unity, Charles probably would not have given so great a preponderance to the vassal lords and clergy, a preponderance which was only too soon and too severely felt by his successors on the imperial throne. Without having recourse to violent measures, he could never have succeeded in uniting the nations of Germany, in guaranteeing the empire from the attacks of its foreign foes, the Moors, Slavi, Norsemen, Avari, and Hungarians, or in extirpating the barbarous customs of heathen antiquity. The different German nations, at feud with one another, partly pagan, partly Christian, would in course of time have exterminated each other, while the Hungarians, aided by the pagan Saxons, would probably have renewed the savage times of Attila. The unity of the empire was a boon required by the exigency of the times, and that by means of it Charlemagne preserved Christendom from the encroachments paganism at that time still prevailing in the East, and from those of Mohammedanism equally power­ful in the South, besides refining the barbarous manners of the age by the introduction of the arts of civilization and of scholastic learning, forms his great and all-sufficing exculpation. The Anglo-Saxons in England certainly attained to a considerable degree of cultivation without sacrificing their freedom, but, inclosed within the narrow limits of their fortunate island, they had fewer difficulties to encounter than Charles, who, placed in the midst of the broad continent, was surrounded by open enemies and doubtful friends.

 

CIV. Fall of the Kingdom of Lombardy

 

The attempt made by Desiderius to force the pope to anoint the two sons of Carloman kings of France, served as a pretext for Charles to cross the Alps and to annex the whole of Italy to the empire. He accordingly crossed by Mount Cenis, and his uncle, Bernard, by Mons Cevis, which, from this circumstance, received the name of the great St. Bernard; Desiderius, meanwhile, closely guarded the Alpine passes, and checked the advance of the invading army: at length a secret path that led into Lombardy was discovered to Charles by a traitor, who, it is recorded, was permitted, in reward, to sound a horn, and to each passer-by who replied in the affirmative to his demand of whether he had heard it, to give a box on the ear, in sign of vassalage. The mountain passes were no sooner forced than opposition ceased. Charlemagne's presence insured victory. The common herd, awed by the greatness of his fame, were rendered powerless, before the contest commenced, by their belief in his invincible prowess, which worked more wonders in favour of his cause than that prowess itself. The Lombards trembled at the mere aspect of the hero, whose achievements lay yet concealed within the bosom of futurity. Numbers deserted to the Franks, and Desiderius, shut up in Pavia, his capital, was driven by famine to capitulate, after a siege of seven months’ duration. An ancient relates that Desiderius, when gazing from the battlements upon the French squadrons, in expectation of perceiving Charles as each advanced, and at length beholding him ride forward armed cap-a-pie, conspicuous by his stature amid the surrounding multitude, and mounted on an iron-clad charger, was struck with such amazement at his awful aspect that he mournfully exclaimed to those around him, "Let us descend and hide ourselves beneath the earth from the angry glance of such a powerful enemy," and forthwith yielded the city to his opponent, who, judging him unworthy of a throne he was unable to defend, secluded him in the monastery of Corvey. His son, Adalgis, a brave man worthy of a better fate, fled to Constantinople, and Charles placed the ancient iron crown of Lombardy himself on his own head. The people were permitted to retain their national privileges. The same year, 774, he visited the pope at Rome, confirmed him in the possession of the gifts of Pipin, received like him the title of patrician, and renewed the alliance that had already been formed by his father with the pontifical chair. Meanwhile the free-spirited Lombards revolted against the severe yoke imposed upon them, and Adalgis, returning, made another but fruitless attempt to regain his throne, AD 775. Paul Warnefried (Paulus Diaconus), the celebrated historian of Lombardy, laboured zealously in his cause, and having on that account been sentenced to lose his eyes and hands, Charles indignantly exclaimed, "Where shall we again find hands able to record the events of history so beautifully as his?"

Two subsequent insurrections in Lombardy, AD 786, excited by the dukes of Friuli and of Benevento, were successively quelled by Charles, who, although engaged in a winter campaign in Saxony, suddenly quitted that country and fell upon Radogund, duke of Friuli, in the high mountains at Tarvis, where he was celebrating the Easter festival. Aregis, duke of Benevento, Charles's brother-in-law (his wife, Amalberga, being daughter to Desiderius), was compelled to deliver up hid sons as hostages. The only article in the treaty of peace that lie insisted upon was, "that he should not be forced to see his hated relative." On his death Charles sent his son, Grimoald, back to his native country, and gave him the dukedom of Benevento to hold in fee. Grimoald opposed the Greeks in Lower Italy. The empire extended to the south as far as the island of Sardinia, which had been conquered by Graf Burkhard. Pipin, the son of Charlemagne, was compelled to relinquish his attempts upon Venice, and the island city proudly maintained her liberty.

 

CV. The Saxon Wars

 

In earlier times the Romans had incessantly attempted the subjugation of their free neighbours, the Germans, by whom their empire was threatened from without, while it was at the same time endangered within by the contrast between their free constitution and the despotism of the Roman government. The Franks, equally despotic with their ancient masters, were also ceaseless in their endeavours to crush the Saxons, who still retained their ancestral independence, and the breach was still further widened by the national hatred, which from time immemorial had been cherished between Frank and Saxon, and which in later times had been strengthened by difference of religion, the Frank in his proselyting zeal attempting to enforce the conversion of the Saxon to Christianity, while the Saxon, who naturally regarded the new religion as subversive of freedom, remained the more obstinately attached to that of his fathers. Continual feuds had deluged the banks of the Rhine with the blood of the contending nations under the Merovingians. A short peace took place under Dagobert, but the war was kindled afresh, and its extinction baffled the most strenuous exertions of Bonifacius. The physical strength, great endurance, and enthusiastic valour of the Saxons, who were inspirited by the love of their liberty, their country, and their religion, aided by the dissensions that convulsed France, had up to this period rendered the issue of their ancient struggle doubtful.

The Saxons, although often constrained by the warlike mayors of the palace to pay a dishonourable tribute, had never been more than temporarily subdued. Affairs bore this aspect on the accession of Charles, who speedily turned his chief attention to the subjection of his warlike neighbours, the first necessary step in the furtherance of his plans for the future protection of France against their aggressions, for the union of all the nations of Germany, for checking the progress of the Slavi in the East, and for the erection oi one vast empire in the heart of Europe, whence civilization and Christianity were to radiate as from one bright center, and, calling the whole physical strength of his kingdom to the aid of his genius, undeterred by the obstinacy with which he was opposed, by the dread of obscuring his fame by the commission of monstrous acts of cruelty, by the numerous wars in which he was constantly engaged, or by his paternal concern for the internal welfare of the state, he was at length rewarded, in his old age, with success, after a murderous and unremitting war of two and thirty years, in which his perseverance, power, exalted genius, and noble aim cast into shade the heroic fortitude of the Saxons, who, worthy of their ancestral fame, valiantly struggled, during more than a quarter of a century, in defense of their ancient liberty and religion, and crowned their very fall with glory. Wittekind, duke of Westphalia, the brave Saxon leader, may not unfelicitously be compared with Armin. Animated by a kindred spirit, he fought on the same ground for a similar object and with equal glory. His followers, inspirited by his enthu­siasm, were ever ready for fresh revolt, after each bloody defeat and" each extorted treaty; success attended their attempts for freedom during the absence of Charles, whose return ever reimposed a yet more galling chain, until at length, humbled by the protracted struggle, they voluntarily submitted and embraced Christianity.

 

CVI. The Progress of the Saxon Wars

 

In 772, Charles convoked a general state assembly at Worms, in which the war with Saxony was unanimously voted. Religion served as a pretext. The urbanity and eloquence of St. Lebuin, who had previously been commissioned to preach to the Saxons during their great national festival at Marklo, having proved ineffectual, fire and sword were the next means resorted to for their conversion. This decision had been purposely committed to the nation by Charles, who sought, by giving the war a national and religious character, to render it popular. At the head of the great arrier-ban of the French, Charles crossed the Rhine and marched victoriously as far as the Weser. His greatest achievement, during this campaign, was the capture of the Eresburg, where he destroyed the sacred column of Irmin.

Charles's absence in Italy, necessitated by the revolt of Rotgaudus, the Lombard duke of Friuli, whom he reduced to obedience, was instantly turned to advantage by the Saxons, who broke into open insurrection, headed by Wittekind of Westphalia, the soul of the war, whose activity was emulated by that of Alboin, duke of Eastphalia, AD 773. A second invasion of Saxony ensued, and the triple alliance of the two Phalias and of Enger was successively defeated by Charles. The coasts alone remained unsubdued. No sooner, however, was his presence again required in Italy by a fresh revolt of the duke of Friuli, than Wittekind recommenced the struggle; a general levy took place, whole forests were thrown down in order to form abatis throughout the country, and every man stood to arms. Charles reappeared, and all again yielded before him. He remained encamped in the heart of the country until a royal residence was erected at Paderborn, whither he summoned the vassals of the crown and the ambassadors from foreign states, among whom appeared a number of Moorish princes from Spain, who had thrown off their allegiance to their mother-country, and came to implore the aid of the mighty sovereign of France. The Saxons also sent delegates to Paderborn, promised peace and submission, and resigned their Allods and their freedom to their conqueror. Wittekind alone, despising the favour of the monarch, fled to Denmark, where, protected by Siegfried, the pagan king, he awaited an opportunity to recommence the struggle for liberty; accordingly, Charles had no sooner led his arrier-ban across the Pyrenees in order to awe the Moors than Wittekind returned, and the Saxons, forgetful of their newly-imposed allegiance, again rebelled and laid the country waste up to the walls of Duits and Cologne, AD 778. Charles returned, and the following year directed his whole force against them. Two great battles took place on the Eller and in the Buchholz, in which the Saxons were worsted, and Charles, fixing himself in the country, erected numerous fortresses on the Elbe, in which he placed strong garrisons of the French, and endeavoured at the same time to gain over the people, more especially the nobility, by kindness, affability, and promises. The hostages taken from the Saxons during his previous campaigns had been purposely educated in monasteries, and, on their return to their native country, they peaceably forwarded the work of conversion. Affairs seemed to prosper, and Charles deemed himself as securely master of Saxony as Varus had formerly done in the same country and under precisely similar circumstances. But he was equally deceived. Enforced subjection ever produces dissimulation, and the Saxon, still mindful of his ancient freedom, beheld with secret rage the fortresses he had been compelled to aid in erecting, and which he merely awaited an opportunity to destroy. Taught hypocrisy by necessity and injured pride, he lulled his conqueror to repose, in order to take a surer and more deadly aim. Whoever conscientiously embraced Christianity was secretly branded as a traitor, and destruction to the Frank was vowed in the silent depths of the forest, in the name of the ancient deities of Germany.

Charles, far from suspecting the true state of affairs, again quitted Saxony, and, with perfect confidence, commissioned his generals, Geil and Adalgis, to strengthen the army under their command by an immense levy of Saxon troops destined for the invasion of the territory of the Slavi on the other side of the Elbe and Saal, who then threatened France. The Saxons obeyed the call with great alacrity, and soon outnumbered the French troops, who, in the commencement of the campaign, AD 782, while carelessly cross­ing the Sundel Mountain on the Weser (Hausberg between Minden and Rinteln), were unexpectedly attacked by their companions, by whom the slaughter in the Teutoburg forest was renewed—Geil and Adalgis, with the greater part of their troops, being left on the field.

When the news of this terrible catastrophe, by which his plans upon Slavonia and Saxony were at once rendered null, reached Charles, he vowed to wreak a fearful revenge on the rebels, and to regain by cruelty and severity the kingdom his mildness had lost. Crossing the Rhine, he laid waste the country by fire and sword, and exterminated all who refused to embrace Christianity. Thousands were driven into the rivers to be baptized or drowned. On the Eller at Verden 4,500 Saxons, taken in arms, were beheaded. Destruction marched in the van. Desolation, carnage and flames marked the path of the conqueror. Undismayed by the danger, the Saxons rose to a man in defense of their national liberties.

Every deed of cruelty was doubly repaid, and victory began to waver. At Detmold, Wittekind headed the enthusiastic patriots against Charles's superior forces, and a dreadful battle was fought, in which the victory remained undecided. In petty warfare, the Saxons proved invincible, and it was not until they again hazarded a general engagement on the Hase that Charles's superior tactics prevailed against them. When at length he was once more securely fixed in the interior of the country, prudence counselled milder measures, and while he still devastated the northern districts, his subjects in the Binnenland were treated with a gentleness which, seconded by the exhaustion consequent on their numerous defeats, at length induced a general submission. Wittekind and Alboin, the stanch defenders of their country's rights, with implicit confidence in the honour of their conqueror, came to Attigny in France, and were there voluntarily baptized, AD 785. According to the legendary account, Wittekind went, disguised as a beggar, into the church at Wolmirstadt (so called from Charles's once exclaiming, "Wohl mir!" Good luck to me! when victorious there over the Saxons), where a shining white child appeared to him in the host, and convinced him of the truth of Christianity.

 

CVII. Termination of the Saxon Wars

 

Even this peace proved but of short duration; and that nation must be justly deemed worthy of admiration which, after such experience in suffering, still retained sufficient courage and pride to persevere in the struggle for the preservation of their ancient liberties and honour, and to prefer misery, nay, annihilation, to the stain of subserviency. Charles, deeming the North submissive, turned his attention southward, and while he was engaged in forcing the powerful Avari to retreat into Hungary, and in preserving a communication between the Adriatic and the Danube, his fertile genius conceived the project of bringing the whole of southern and northern Germany into yet more direct communication, by cutting through the country lying between the Rednitz, whose waters flow through the Maine into the Rhine, and the Altmuhl, which falls into the Danube. Had this canal been completed, a communication by water would have been opened throughout Germany, which must not only have greatly facilitated the internal traffic of the different provinces, but also have given a powerful impulse to general commerce, by opening a line of communication between the Black Sea and the Baltic. A canal 300 feet broad had already been carried some distance, when the work was destroyed by violent storms of rain, and the war with Saxony again breaking out caused it to be entirely abandoned; nor was it undertaken again until our times, a thousand years later. The Saxons, in the hope of receiving support from the Avari, suddenly rose in arms in every part of the coun­try, but, hearing of Charles's approach at the head of a formidable army, and the Avari remaining quiet, they as suddenly disbanded, and Charles, on his arrival, finding the country tranquil and being unable to discover the authors of the revolt, contented himself with taking hostages from them, and with establishing his seat of government at Aix-la-Chapelle, AD 794. For the future, however, he kept a vigilant watch over their movements, and caused the country to be continually patrolled by his troops. The Nord-Albinger, northward of the Elbe (modem Holstein), alone obstinately refused to submit, and incessantly harassed the troops sent to inspect the country. Many thousand Saxons were torn from their homes and transplanted into Brabant and Flanders as well as to Sachsenhausen, now a suburb of Frankfort on the Maine. The remainder still defended them­selves in their fastnesses on the coast, and again roused the anger of the emperor, by putting his ambassadors to the Danish court to death, when passing through their country. Anxious to insure their complete subjection, Charles entered into alliance with the Slavian Obotrites, a Vendian race, at Mecklenburg, whose prince, Thraico, aided by the Franks attacked the northern Saxons, four thousand of whom were slain at Suintana, AD 798. Submission wag now inevitable, and Charles, in order to confirm his conquest, made use of the nobles, whose Wergeld he trebled, and whom he loaded with favours, against the Frilings and Lazzi; by which means he created an aristocracy similar to that of the grand feudatories of France, which acted as a sure check upon the people. In commemoration of this victory, a magnificent palace was erected at Paderborn, AD 799, whither flocked all the great vassals of the crown and many a ladye fayre. The beautiful daughters of Charle­magne daily graced the chase. Pope Leo came from Rome to supphcate for aid against his rival Hadrian and the Anti- frank party. The pope and the emperor embraced each other near a spring once sacred to a heathen deity, in the sight of the astonished and enraged Saxons. A monk from Jerusalem brought holy relics. The great caliph of the East, Haroun-al-Raschid, Charlemagne's worthy contemporary, whom dislike of the petty Moorish usurpers of Spain had rendered his ally, presented him with a costly tent, a curious clock, fine cloth the produce of the Eastern loom, spices, and an elephant. Four years later, after Charles's coronation at Rome, he revisited Saxony, and finally regulated the affairs of that country by the treaty of Selz (Konigshofen on the Saal), AD 803, by which he ratified the ancient laws, the privileges of the nobles, and declared the Saxons on an equal­ity with the Franks.

Wittekind was killed in a border fray by Count Gerold of Swabia, AD 807, a proof of the insincerity of the conciliation. The murder might, possibly, have been politically designed, Charles's aim being to deprive Saxony of her temporal rulers, and to place her beneath the pastoral staff of the church.

 

CVIII. The Wars in Spain

 

Dissension was rife among the Moors in Spain. The last descendant of the caliphs of the house of the Omayyades fled from Africa to that country, where the Moors still adhered to him, and there founded the kingdom of Cordova. Some of the emirs, however, who aimed at asserting their own independence, refused their allegiance, and, uniting with Ibnalarabi, lord of Saragossa, opposed his authority and im­plored the assistance of Charlemagne, who, finding the opportunity favourable for another display of the superiority of France, for annihilating the power of the Mahometans by dissolving their union, for irremeably averting the danger with which the empire might be threatened from that quarter, and for extending the boundary of his dominions, speed­ily led his arrier-ban across the Pyrenees, AD 778. The legends that refer to this war are replete with strange adventure, and recount the glorious deeds of the famous Roland, who was first in command under Charlemagne. The emperor had reinstated Ibnalarabi at Saragossa, had erected Catalonia, with its metropolis, Barcelona, into a dukedom (that province being included within the French boundary), and had received the oath of fealty from Alonzo, a petty Gothic king, who dwelt in the mountains of Galicia and Asturia, when the revolt in Saxony again required his pres­ence in Germany, and compelled him to relinquish his projects upon Spain. While recrossing the Pyrenees, the Basques, faithful to their ancient enmity against the Franks, fell upon his rear, and a great slaughter took place in the narrow-mountain passes near Ronceval, where Roland the Brave was slain; his death was avenged by that of Lupus, the Basque duke, who was executed by order of Charlemagne. Roland has been celebrated by the poets of both olden and modem times, and appears to have been the favourite hero of the Franks, who long retained the custom of singing the famous song of Roland, now unfortunately lost when marching to battle. The so-called pillars of Roland seen in different towns are falsely supposed to refer to him.

In 799, Charlemagne undertook a naval expedition against the Moors and deprived them of the Balearic Islands, Majorca and Minorca. He might possibly have succeeded in driving them out of Spain, had he not been called away by the affairs of Saxony.

 

CIX. Thassilo

 

The ancient Agilofingian dynasty enjoyed considerable eminence, and retained the ducal dignity in Bavaria until the reign of Thassilo, who, cowardly, false, and base, justly incurred the contempt of his subjects, and caused the downfall of his house, by his unworthy conduct. Although the husband of Luitberga, a daughter of Desiderius, and, even in the time of Pipin, the avowed enemy of the Carolingians, he deserted the Lombards at the most critical mo­ment, and only ventured to attack Charles when he had suffered defeat in Saxony. After refusing to perform feudal service in the field, he declared himself independent and slew the French count, Chrodbert, who was sent to oppose him. Charles, upon this, taking advantage of the first moment of tranquillity in Saxony, marched into Bavaria and surrounded him in the valley of the Lech. The cowardly duke, instead of defending himself with spirit, basely took a false oath of fealty to the conqueror, and expressly recommended to his subjects beforehand, "while they were swearing allegiance to think the contrary". Charles pardoned his treachery, took one of his sons as a hostage, and permitted him to retain the ducal throne, AD 787. The following year he plotted with the Avari, aided by whom he hoped to surprise Charles, but having delayed openly to declare hostilities, on account of the emperor being then at peace and holding a great diet at Ingelheim, at which he had the audacity to appear, his plans were detected, and he was tried in full court and condemned to death. The sentence was com­muted by Charles to imprisonment in a monastery. His fate was shared by his son, and Bavaria was subsequently governed by French counts, to whom the Bavarians, who had not even pretended to take part with the ruler they despised, and who had remained firm in their allegiance to the emperor, quietly submitted.

 

CX. The Wars with the Slavi

 

The country eastward of the Elbe and Saal, abandoned by the Gothic tribes, had been repeopled by the Slavi, one of whose most noted tribes, the Wendi, took possession of northern Germany, where they first endured a severe struggle with the Saxons, and afterward with the Franks. This tribe comprised the Obotrites, who lay generally to the west in Mecklenburg, and the Wilz, who lay generally to the east on the coasts of Pomerania. The latter already possessed large commercial towns, one of which, on the mouth of the Oder, the wealthy Wineta, the Venice of the North, was de­stroyed as early as the eighth century, partly by the ravages of the Norsemen, partly by those of the sea, and was replaced by Julin (Wollia). The sacred towns of Arcona on Rugen and Rhetra on the Priegnitz were celebrated among these northern nations.

South of the Wendi, on the Saal and the Upper Elbe, dwelt the Sorbi, of which the Daleminzii were the chief tribe. The name coincides with that of the Serbii, who dwelt in the vicinity of the Bulgarians, in the north of Greece. Tet the Slavi in the Austrian mountains were known from Trient to Venice as Wendi; hence Venice or the Windian boundary. The names of Croatia and Carinthia were merely provincial. The ancient name of the Vindelicii possibly reappears in that of these southern Wendi, in the same manner that the Bohemians took their name from the ancient Boii (Bojenheim), although they are named in their own language Tschechen. To the rear of the Wendi reigned in Bohemia. His daughter, Libussa, a prophetess, having, as the legends relate, to make choice of a husband, commanded search to be made for a man eating off an iron table, and Przmisl, a peasant, being found eating bread on a plow, became her husband and king of Bohemia. He founded the city of Prague. After Libussa's death, her maid-servants, instigated by Wlasta, rebelled, built the city of Diewin (Magdeburg), and put every man who fell into their hands to death. After a desperate struggle they were finally subdued by Przmisl. This war of the Bohemian maidens is detailed at greater length in some of the finest of the ancient legends. History is silent on the subject, and merely records that the wars, commenced at an earlier period against the Slavi who dwelt to the east of Germany, were continued by Charlemagne and increased in animosity after the subjection of Saxony, which brought the whole eastern frontier of the French empire everywhere in close contact with the confines of the Slavian territory, where the want of union among the Slavian tribes rendered their numbers powerless against the collective force of the whole German empire, wielded by a single arm.

The Saxon war for some time delayed the execution of the emperor's projects against the Slavi, and it was not until AD 789 that he invaded their territory and defeated the Obotrites and Wilzi, who, being only momentarily intimidated, did not long remain in a state of submission. Their destruction, however, was speedily caused by their disunion. The Obotrites, who lay nearest to the frontier, were disliked by the other tribes, and Charles, sensible of the advantages offered by their position for the furtherance of bis designs, entered into close alliance with them, and loaded them with favours. He also made use of them against Saxony, and re­warded their services with its eastern districts, the ancient country of the Angli, now Mecklenburg. In 805 and 806, he marched against the Sorbi, defeated their kings, Samela and Misito, rendered them tributary, and laid the first stones of the towns, of Halle, and Magdeburg, which latter place is supposed to have received its name from the circumstance of his having there destroyed the images of the goddess of love and her attendant nymphs. At this period, he also subdued the Bohemians, on whom he imposed a tribute of one hun­dred and twenty fatted oxen, and the Poles, whose king, Lecho, is said to have fallen in battle.

 

CXI. The Wars with the Avari

 

The Avari, a wild Tartar race, had followed the Longobardi, and had settled in Hungary and Austria as far as the Enns. They were incessantly at war with the Slavian Bohemians and with the dukes of Friuli. Thassilo, uniting with them against France, invaded and laid waste that country, AD 789. In 791, the emperor descended the Danube with a fleet and a powerful army, defeated them, drowned ten thousand men in the river, and devastated their country as far as the Raab. At the same time, his son, Pipin, made a successful inroad from Friuli into Hungary. Charlemagne, not venturing to advance, now merely sought to retain his newly-acquired domain, and, true to his maxim of ever watching over a dubious possession in person, besides anxious to impress the people with awe by a display of his power and magnificence, held a synod at Ratisbon, AD 792, in which he caused the doctrine of Felix, the Span­ish bishop, to be condemned as heretical. Close upon the frontier of Bohemia, and not far from that of Hungary, was he thus pleased to show himself as the defender of Christianity, in order to impose upon his dangerous enemies by the united pomp of church and state.

Soon after this, the war with the Avari broke out anew. Dissensions arose between their princes or khans. Tudun, one of their number, visited Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle, and there received baptism. The rest bade him defiance, but were, in the midst of their broils, attacked by young Pipin and by Erich, the brave duke of Friuli, assisted by the Slavi. In Hungary, the Avari had erected circular fortifications, one within the other, which they deemed impregnable, but which after a long and indecisive struggle were, at length, carried by storm by Duke Erich, AD 796. The enormous booty found by the Franks, heaped up within them, was car­ried to Aix-la-Chapelle by order of Charlemagne, who presented a moiety of it to the pope. In this war, Graf Gerold and his Swabians distinguished themselves so greatly as to gain from the emperor the honourable distinction of marching first in order in every war for the future undertaken by the state. Among these Swabians was a man from Thurgau, who spitted seven Avari at once on his enormous lance, and who, on account of his gigantic strength, was named Einheer, one of the Einherier or companions of Odin in Walhalla, according to the yet unforgotten pagan belief. The Avari, however, remained still unsubdued, and vigorously carried on the war. Tudun deserted the imperial cause. Gerold was killed in battle, and Tudun was captured and put to death. At length, weakened by continual disaster, the Avari submitted, AD 799, some of them to the Germans, the rest to their neighbours the Slavi.

Had Charlemagne been less continually occupied with Saxony, he would have extended his dominions by the conquest of the Avari beyond the Raab, and might possibly have reached Constantinople. A communication between the West and the East, by the already-mentioned union of the Maine with the Danube, might then have been carried into execution. For the present, he contented himself with making Croatia, the country recently torn from the Slavi, the eastern boundary of the empire, and with settling several Swabian and Bavarian colonies in modern Austria, whence the name, Bavarian frontier, or Astarrichi. The inhabitants of these boundaries were in an extremely peculiar position in regard to each other; the Slavi had long found themselves perplexed between Avari and Bavarians, heathens and Christians; at length the nobles sided with the former, and the people with the latter; the war carried on with their enemies abroad was consequently accompanied by revolutions at home. The peaceful conversion of the Slavian peasantry was at first due to the humane exertions of Virgilius, bishop of Salzburg, in the eighth century. Graf Gerold, already mentioned as one of the ablest servants of Charlemagne, afterward undertook the regulation of these mountainous districts, aided the peasants in exterminating the pagan nobility, granted them great privileges, and planted fresh German colonies among them. Only one, probably a Gothic tribe, the Gotscheer, had preserved its independence among the Slavi, in the mountains of Croatia.

The celebrated ceremony which attended the election of the duke in Carinthia, and was observed for centuries, dates from this period. The Furstenstein, or prince's stone, is still to be seen at Karnburg near Clagenfurt. A peasant, seating himself upon this stone, commanded the newly-elected duke to be brought before him: "Who is he that so proudly prances along?" asked the peasant, and the people shouted in reply, "Our country's prince." "Is he also a righteous judge, an increaser of the land, a defender of Christianity, of widows, and orphans?" again asked the peasant, and the people replied, "He is and will be!". The peasant then bade the duke assume his dignity, and giving him a box on the ear yielded his seat to him. This privilege was obtained by the peasantry, when they first embraced Christianity, and, after driving away their own nobility, accepted German rulers.

 

CXII. The Wars with the Norsemen

 

Norsemen, or men of the North, was the general term for all Scandinavians who quitted their native country to seek for adventure, or to plunder by sea or by land. In ancient times all the German nations had migrated for these purposes. Christianity put an end to the migrations in the South, and the Scandinavians, the last of the pagan German tribes, alone retained this ancient custom. Until now, Saxony had proved a sufficient bulwark against the Norsemen, but that country was no sooner conquered by Charlemagne than the robbers and warriors of the North threatened France herself. The Danes, the allies of the Saxons, afforded Wittekind both shelter and support. Their king, Gottfried, attacked the Obotrites, and was, with difficulty, repulsed by the Franks. As a security against invasion, he separated the Danish peninsula from Germany by a great wall and moat, called the Danewirk, that had only one outlet. In 810, he sailed with 200 ships to Friesland, where he landed and threatened Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of the empire. The arrier-ban was instantly summoned, and the emperor took the field against the invading horde, but learning, on his march, that they had slain their king for his arrogance and tyranny, and had retreated to Denmark, he concluded peace with Hemming, Gottfried's successor, and made the Eyder the northern boundary of the empire. Graf Odo, in Itzehoe or Hamburg, and the Waldgraf Liderich, in Flanders, guarded the northern coasts, but Charlemagne, being un­possessed of a fleet, was unable to keep the bold Norsemen in check at sea—probably from his unwillingness to trust the Saxons with so much power—and these northern pirates even infested the Mediterranean. The sight of their vessels, as they crossed on the ocean, is said to have drawn tears from the eyes of this great emperor, as he sat watching their movements from his castle at Narbonne, in the south of France, and foretold their future devastation of his empire.

 

CXIII. Charlemagne the First of the German Caesars

 

Suh were the warlike achievements of the greatest of the Frankish monarchs, whose empire extended from the Ebro to the Raab, from Benevento to the Eyder. Every German race, except the English and the Scandinavians, were, for the first time, united under one sovereign; all the western Romans, with part of the Slavi and Avari, owned the same allegiance. The discordant component parts of this gigantic empire, held together by a social compact whose strength was doubled by the pressure from without, were scarcely influenced by the distinction that certainly still existed between the Romans and the Germans, the conquered and the conqueror, the adherents of royalty and the advo­cates for the ancient democracy. The exclusive sway of the Catholic religion, now that of the state, the enthusiasm of its votaries, its spiritual power, its character, well adapted to impress the minds of the illiterate, and its well-regulated papal government, all tended to promote concord, while the danger with which Mohammedanism threatened Christendom from the South, united Romans and Germans in one common cause, nay, even caused the ancient hereditary feuds among the latter to be forgotten amid the general enthusiasm, which rendered them equally zealous, whether arrayed in opposition to the Grecian empire or to the pagan Slavi and Norsemen. England, naturally and politically insulated, alone stood aloof, but manifested her sympathy by sending forth her missionaries to aid in the work of conversion carried on by the Franks in the East.

The distinctive peculiarities of the different tribes of Germany, who were thus suddenly and for the first time united, became gradually and naturally less prominent, while a similarity in their national characters began to develop. Their common hatred of the Moors, the Greeks, and the Slavi, added another link to their bond of union. A state exclusively German was also by no means the idea of the times, the Romans having kept pace with the Germans, and the church, far from being satisfied to rule within the narrow limits of a German empire, aspired to universal dominion; still it must be conceded that the spirit of fraternization that at this period prevailed throughout Germany, chiefly conduced to the internal harmony of the state, the extension of whose limits, the wars and conquests, naturally recalled the ancient Roman empire to remembrance, whose still unforgotten splendour kindled anew a desire for pomp and pageantry, and swelled alike the heart of the ruler and the subject with the proud consciousness of power. The resemblance of the new empire with that which had passed away and the ancient reverence attached to the name of Rome, facilitated their connection, and the new empire received the name of Roman. This combination of circumstances produced the idea of an empire whose temporal power and mode of formation should be a vivid image of that of ancient Rome, and whose spiritual power should extend over the whole world, and fraternize all nations, by uniting them in one faith and under one sovereign. Thus originated the Holy Roman Empire, which contained within itself two separate powers, the church and the state, each of which owned a visible head, the representative of God upon earth; the spiritual head being the pope, and the temporal head the emperor. "God," it was said, "had given two swords wherewith to govern the world, the one to the pope, the other to the emperor." The spirit of the times favoured this transformation in the affairs of Europe. Charlemagne was in fact but the outward and visible instrument destined to carry into effect the gradual and hidden work of centuries. His greatness solely consisted in his having comprehended and acted up to the spirit of the times, by forcibly producing a union whence sprang a new spirit, a new life, to which he gave free scope. For the sake of unity, he certainly sacrificed the ancient liberties of the people, which, until his time, had been upheld by the independence of the several petty tribes and states. He gave them unity, but deprived them of freedom; but Germany was not then fitted for the simultaneous enjoyment of these two great advantages.

Charlemagne, while engaged in these bloody wars, pre­served a strict friendship with the pope, Hadrian, whom he supported in his measures for the government of the church, and who, in return, assisted his schemes by converting the heathen, and by placing his wild followers under spiritual subjection. When the threats of the sovereign were disregarded, the eloquence of the churchman often prevailed Hadrian did, and his relatives, conspiring against his successor, Leo the Third, ill-treated him in a tumult, upon which he fled to emperor for aid, AD 799. The restoration of the Roman empire was there concerted between them, and, in the ensuing year, Charlemagne appeared with a numerous retinue in Rome, where, on Christmas eve, the crown, which for one thousand and six years after represented the union and supremacy of Germany, was placed upon his head by the pope, while the assembled multitude shouted, "Charles Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific Caesar! Life and victory to the Roman emperor!" AD 800.

Charlemagne's ambition soared still higher. In the hope of gaining possession of the imperial throne of Greece, he sent the bishops, Hatto of Basle and Hugo of Tours, to Constantinople, to sue for the hand of Irene, the empress widow, who, meanwhile, was deprived of the throne by Nicephorus. This usurper, enraged at the ill-timed embassy, ill-treated the bishops, a disgrace that was repaid by the contempt with which his embassadors were treated at Selz, where Charlemagne finally concluded peace with Saxony; at least so says the loquacious monk of St. Gall.

 

CXIV. The Empire under Charlemagne

 

The feudal system, which was first planned by Chlodwig, who raised the armed adherents, immediately attached to his person, above the freeborn Franks, was perfected by Charlemagne, whose whole power rested upon it. The authority of the mayors of the palace of the Carolingian dynasty was founded on the favour of the vassals, and their policy chiefly consisted in converting freehold property into fiefs and in rendering the fiefs heritable. The feudal system had by this means already become so general as materially to lessen the numbers and weaken the influence of the Frilings, and Charlemagne was consequently enabled without difficulty to bring it to full maturity, and, after his coronation as emperor, ta exact from every subject within his empire, without distinction, an oath of allegiance, similar to that by which the vassal (homo, Leut, vasall, servitor) bound himself to his lord. By this step, he declared himself universal sovereign, whom every vassal of the empire was bound to serve in person, and also possessor of the land and universal liege. Whoever still remained free and retained possession of an Allod was at least bound to appertain, both person and property, to the empire, to be subject to the supremacy of the emperor and to the authority of the counts (Grafen), whose election now rested with the crown instead of with the people, and who were now exclusively termed comites, or royal followers. The Frilings became Frilings of the empire, over whom the protection of the emperor was as compulsory as his feudal right over his vassal. The treatment these Frilings received was, however, such as to lead them to prefer feudality to freedom; they were, in fact, so arbitrarily oppressed by the Grafs, and the already powerful vassals of the crown, that Louis the Pious, Charlemagne's successor, visited the different parts of his empire for the especial purpose of checking this injustice, but in vain. Many of the Frilings were compelled to convert their Allods into fiefs, while others did so voluntarily, in order to free themselves from the arrier-ban, in which they were obliged to serve as long as they retained their freedom. According to the old custom, the Frilings were forced to join the arrier-ban whenever war broke out, and as Charlemagne was perpetually in the field, those who remained at the conclusion of the war were ruined by the neglect into which their property had fallen, while the vassals in the personal service of some great lord, or in that of the church, were either not summoned, or were indemnified for their service by their spiritual or temporal lieges; such oppressive freedom was naturally often gladly exchanged for the more agreeable species of servitude. Still, in the interior of Germany, many of the Frilings proudly maintained their independence, and in Saxony and among the Alemanni there were whole districts or tithings of free peasants of the empire. These Frilings refused to serve in the field under the customary Graf, on account of his ever attempting to usurp feudal power in his district, and demanded a Sendgraf, a Graf specially commissioned on extraordinary occasions for a short period, immediately from the emperor. Partly in order to replace the deficiency in the arrier-ban, and partly to provide for the better security of his person by the formation of a body-guard, Charlemagne raised the Scaren, so called from Schaaren, troops, bands of mercenaries, paid from his private revenues, and clothed in red, whence the word "scarlet"—Schar, a troop, and Lack or Laken, cloth.

The new method of administering justice was an addi­tional fetter upon ancient popular freedom. The Germans were no longer permitted to appear armed before the tribunal; and the judiciary power, formerly exercised by the as­sembled community, now rested solely with the Grafs elected by the crown. The numerous new laws, or Capitularies of Charlemagne, compiled in Latin, being, independent of the unknown language in which they were written, of too circumstantial a nature for the people to be able to retain them, like their ancient laws, in their memories, rendered necessary the formation, in each community, of a species of guild, composed of men who had made the law their chief study, and who, under the title of aldermen (scabini), were always present, and sat next to the Graf, during the administration of justice. Charlemagne had permitted the Franks, Goths, Longobardi, Burgundians, Alemanni, Thuringians, Bava­rians, Saxons, and Frisii, to retain part of their national laws, after expunging those that referred to their ancient liberties, and adding new feudal and ecclesiastical ordonnances, which also contained the separate contracts, dona­tions, and privileges of each bishopric, monastery, and tem­poral fief, and thereby produced a mass and a perplexing variety of laws, which being too intricate for the comprehensions of the commonalty, consequently caused their total exclusion from the administration of justice. Popular freedom, nevertheless, received its death-blow from Catholicism, more especially in the interior of Germany, where the new religion had taken firm roots before the introduction of the feudal system, which the Frankish lords did not venture to enforce among the Swabians and Saxons, among whom monasteries and bishoprics had met with an easy reception. Never did the Germans voluntarily bend the knee to any save to their God, in their zeal for whose service they bound themselves as vassals to, and held their lands in fief from, the church; ere long, richly-endowed houses of God inthralled the free community, and even the Frilings, who refused vassalage to the church, were by law compelled, under pain of death, to pay tithes.

The ancient liberties of the people and the insolence of the nobles, who like Thassilo aspired to independence, were equally suppressed by Charlemagne, who, putting an end to the dukedoms, governed the empire by means of Grafs, who, being less powerful, less endangered its unity, and by Sendgrafs (missi dominici), traveling envoys, who were charged with the inspection of the provinces. Foreseeing that the assemblies of the nobles might frustrate his projects, he separated that body, by holding especial ecclesiastical synods and special assemblies of the vassals (Hoflager—placita), by which aristocratic two-chamber system the third class or commoners were totally excluded from any share in the government, and it was only at the Field of May, or great original assembly of the states, that the Frilings were admitted, when their votes merely confirmed decisions already determined upon. He also took the precautionary measure of holding any extraordinary meeting of the bishops and vassals at different places and seasons, by which means he was apparently ever present, and hindered conspiracies being laid in unguarded parts of the country. His Capitularies frequently mention the conjurations, conspiracies, or fraterni­ties, and their severe punishment; among them, the secret confederacies of the Saxons are most particularly pointed out, whose prevention, requiring his presence in the country or in its vicinity, caused him generally to convoke thither the assemblies of the vassals.

 

CXV. The Church under Charlemagne

 

Charlemagne, habituated to command, was no less absolute in ecclesiastical than in temporal matters, and never again has the church, since her assumption of authority, been so completely under the control of a temporal sovereign. In order to guard equally against the convocation of general ecclesiastical assemblies independent of the laity, and the union of the clergy and the people against the crown, he presided as a layman at all ecclesiastical meetings, which he convoked separately from the Fields of May and the Placita. He consequently arbitrarily governed their decisions, in which the voice of the people was necessarily unheard. In the ecclesiastical assemblies, held in 792, at Ratisbon, in 794, at Frankfurt, and in 815, at Mayence, he laid down new regulations for the internal management of the church. His word was law. Pope and clergy bent submissively before him, and his rules of moral discipline were strictly enforced among the monks and secular priests. As a check upon the disorder introduced by Charles Martell, and left unremedied by Bonifacius, he forbade the clergy to carry arms, to keep falcons, dogs, or fools, but, aware of their invincible predilection for the chase, permitted them to retain this amusement on condition of their converting the skins of the animals they killed into binding for books, which he hoped by these means to render more general. Moderation, decency, and gravity of demeanour were enjoined upon all priests, and the monks were obliged to find employment in the fields and schools. He also interfered in doctrinal matters. It was not the pope, but the emperor, who con­demned Bishop Felix and his sect of Adoptians, AD 793, who simply confessed the existence of two natures in the Godhead, and regarded Christ as a man adopted by God as his son. It was the emperor who, in opposition to the pope, condemned the worship of images and pictures, AD 794, and interdicted, throughout his empire, the adoration of the saints.

The interest of the church, moreover, induced her to submit to the decisions of the crown. Charlemagne, although in name merely a layman, acting in reality as if he were himself pope, and only intent upon her welfare, immeasurably added to the power of that dignitary and to her unity. The dangerous influence of the Lombards was forever destroyed; the donations of Pipin were confirmed, and secured to the pope by the power of the empire, while the esteem in which he was held by the emperor, the closeness of their alliance, his influence over the numerous clergy spread throughout the empire, and the recognition of his sanctity, which empowered him to bestow the crown and a new title, in the name of God, on the emperor, at once raised him next in rank to that sovereign, to whose temporal power his spiritual power alone ceded, nay, his authority ere long rose so high, as, during succeeding centuries, to render it questionable whether precedence was not his due. Charlemagne also widely extended the influence of the church, by the conversion of several million heathen to Christianity, and by the erection of powerful bishoprics in the interior of Germany; among others, that of Paderborn, one of his favourite places of residence, and Bremen, distinguished as the outpost by which Christendom was guarded against the pagan North.

The jealousy that existed between the conquered Saxons, Thuringians, Hessians, Bavarians, and Swabians, and, in fact, between all the Germans and the Franks, cautioned Charlemagne against placing Frankish Grafs over these provinces, and he, accordingly, set over them bishops, whose spiritual and apparently gentle rule bound them in fetters stronger than those imposed by force. Upon these spiritual lords he conferred the greatest possible temporal prerogatives and power, in order to render their authority equal to that of the Grafs, and to enable them to act as a check upon the native Grafs, whose allegiance appeared doubtful. Penal judicature, the power of life or death within their dioceses, was, for these reasons, one of their prerogatives; it was even exercised by abbots, as, for instance, those of Fulda and St. Gall, who thus united in their persons not only the authority of the ancient judges of peace, but, in their capacity of feudatory lords over their armed vassals, that of the ancient dukes. These measures, calculated to meet the exigency of the times, at a later period greatly endangered the empire, by giving a preponderance of wealth, prerogative and power to the church.

Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon monk, Charlemagne's spiritual guide, a man of comprehensive intellect and deep learning, was his agent in the most important ecclesiastical affairs, and particularly in the management of the academies, whose foundation gave a fresh impulse to German civilization.

 

CXVI. The State of Learning under Charlemagne

 

The academies founded beneath the despotic rule of Charlemagne in aid of the church were the means of raising Germany from her ancient barbarous state. A kind of academy, composed of the most learned and talented men of the age, was established at the imperial court; among the number were: Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon, whose numerous letters and other writings are still extant; Paul Warnefried, the celebrated historian of Lombardy; Angilbert, Peter of Pisa, Paulinus of Aquileia, Theodorus, the pious bishop Turpin, and young Eginhart, the two biographers of Charlemagne, Riculf, Theodulf, Adelhard, Wala, Wigo, Arno, Sigulf, Fredegis, and Richbod. Alcuin generally resided at Tours, where he founded a classical academy, which produced most of the above-mentioned scholars, and, at a later period, many more. The society of these men was the favourite relaxation of the emperor, whenever a pause occurred in war. Each branch of science became, in turn, the theme of conversation; etiquette was thrown aside, and each of the academicians was distinguished by a name taken from the Bible or from the Greek and Roman classics, which at that time were carefully collected and diligently studied. Charlemagne was named King David; Wala, Jeremiah; Fredegis, Nathaniel; Alcuin, Horace; Angilbert, Homer; Theodulf, Pindar; Eginhart, Calliopius, etc. Refinement and learning long distinguished the family of the emperor, one of whose grandsons, Nithard, became celebrated as a historian. Charlemagne was also the patron of poetry. By his direction, a number of the ancient legends and ballads of Germany were collected and committed to writing, some of which were probably retouched at a later period, and are those that have reached our times—in fact, are all that remain of ancient legendary lore; the Gothic legends, for instance, particularly those of Dietrich, and those of the Burgundians, of Etzel and Gonthachar, which, in the Nibelungenlied, were connected with those of the Franks and of the North. The deeds of Charlemagne became the theme of many later German and French poets.

Charlemagne also founded several monastic schools for the diffusion of useful knowledge among the commonalty, and more especially among the clergy. The most celebrated were those of Fulda, Mayence, St. Gall, Reichenau, and Weissenburg, which produced a crowd of distinguished scholars. The emperor sometimes assisted in person at these academies, and one day, perceiving the superior intelligence and industry of the commoners over the nobles, vehemently expostulated with the latter, possibly foreseeing in this circumstance the future downfall of the class for whose establishment he had so zealously laboured. Masters for writing, arithmetic, singing, and music, were brought from Italy, where Latinity and art had been preserved by the clergy. At Paris, a concert was given by the emperor, which decided the superiority of the Italian over the French singers. A grammar of the German language was composed. The first bell was cast at St. Gall by a monk named Tancho, who is said to have received a hundredweight of silver from the emperor, for the purpose of founding a second one, but who kept the silver for his own use, and made a bell of common metal, at whose first peal, by the decree of Heaven, he fell dead.

Charlemagne, besides being a distinguished patron of learning, was, for the times in which he lived, a great promoter of agriculture, trade, and commerce. He improved the calendar, and his Capitularies contained separate regulations for each class. Notwithstanding the disinclination of the Germans for commercial pursuits, he attempted to encourage them by granting extraordinary privileges to merchants. The Jews, who, after the destruction of Jerusalem, had been carried away captive by the Romans, and scattered over the face of the earth, had, since Rome had fallen under the dominion of Germany, busied themselves exclusively with commerce, and Charlemagne, uninfluenced by the prejudices of the Christians, rewarded their skill and industry by granting them every privilege demanded by humanity and consistent with the advantage of the state. Roads were built, and traveling merchants were protected by severe laws. An alliance was formed with the commercial towns of the Slavi on the Baltic, and with the Greeks, the former of which carried on a traffic in slaves and furs, the latter in precious stones, rich stuffs, and fruits. New markets, open to foreign merchants, were erected in the interior of Germany, at Bardewyk, Magdeburg, Erfurt, Forchheim, Ratisbon, and Lorch. The imperial palaces, more particularly Aix-la-Chapelle, Heristal, Nimwegen, Diedenhofen, Rense, Andemach, Prum, Ingelheim, Worms, Tribur, Paderborn, and Salzburg, whose gardens, fields, vineyards, arable lands, and forests were cultivated and managed by the emperor's servants under his own superintendence, afforded proof of his acquaintance with husbandry, by serving as models to the whole empire for economy and good management. It was here that he carried into practice the knowledge he had acquired from the Romans and the Slavi, who were far in advance of the Germans in the arts of husbandry, that he cultivated the fruits and reared the animals of foreign countries, and made experiments for the improvement of agriculture. To the inhabitants of these demesnes he gave a particular law, the Capitulare de Villis, which contained a complete set of rules for the agriculturist, and served as a manual for the rest of his subjects.

The only artificers at this period were women and servants. The daughters of Charlemagne and the daughters of the peasants were equally engaged in weaving, embroidery and housekeeping. The Capitularies prescribed rules to the artisans, and were an evidence of the zeal with which Charlemagne endeavoured to introduce the refinements of the South into Germany, and the variety of trades, from that of the jeweller to that of the shoemaker, mentioned in them, prove how greatly he had already contributed to the comfort and elegance of domestic life. The use of richly-worked and embroidered dresses, gay coats and flags, devices, carved wainscoting, ornamental furniture in gold and silver, sculptured drinking cups, splendid arms and coats of mail, glass windows and musical instruments, ere long gave indication of a love of splendour and of a higher degree of civilization and social intercourse. Architecture was still neglected, owing to the dislike of the Germans to the erection of cities or even castles. The emperor's palaces at Aix-la-Chapelle were considered so wonderful in the North that the people compared them to the papal residence, and named them "Little Rome." At Ingelheim, on the Rhine, stood another palace, the remains of whose ruins fell not many years ago. Some of the elegant columns that once formed part of it may still be seen near the old well in the court of the castle of Heidelberg. Among other treasures, Charlemagne is said to have possessed one golden and three silver tables, the latter of which bore representations of ancient Rome, modern Rome, and the globe.

 

CXVII.  Charlemagne

 

Charlemagne is said to have been seven feet in height. His crown, preserved at Vienna, is of gigantic size. Strong and active in his person, he was a perfect adept in the tournament and in the use of weapons. His arm was as irresistible as his commanding genius. The ponderous iron lance was wielded like a toy in his powerful grasp. In swimming he was unequalled. By never indulging in excess or luxury, his strength, maintained by daily exercise, endured to extreme old age. Warlike and majestic in his deportment, every heart throbbed higher, every head bent with deference and awe, at his presence. Wisdom and nobility sat enthroned on his broad, open brow; every eye sank beneath his piercing and commanding glance. His dress, generally simple and warlike, consisted of a doublet composed of the fur of the otter. When his courtiers first began to wear sumptuous silken dresses, he led them one day mockingly into the heavy rain, which quickly spoiled their gay attire. On public and solemn occasions, he wore a short golden gown, fastened with a girdle; gay-coloured ribbons placed crosswise over his trousers and stockings, uncut diamonds on his shoes, and a mantle, generally either white or green. The handle of his enormous sword bore his seal, and he was wont to say, "With my sword I maintain all, to which I affix my seal."

He was married five times, and had five concubines. Beauty and virtue guided his choice of a wife more than high birth. It is related of Hildegarde, the Swabian, whom he wedded shortly after his divorce from the Lombard princess, that a servant, named Taland, enraged at the contempt with which she treated his criminal advances, accused her of infidelity to the emperor, who divorced her also; upon which she retired to Rome, where for some time she led a life of great sanctity, and devoted herself to the care of the sick until happening to meet with Taland, wandering about blind, she restored him to sight, and the wretched man, struck with remorse, confessed his crime and led her back to her husband. The legends also mention the beautiful daughters of Charlemagne, who sometimes accompanied him to the field of battle. His secretary, young Eginhart, became deeply enamoured of his daughter Emma, and the youthful lovers, fearing his anger should he discover their affection, only met at night. It happened that one night, while Eginhart was in the princess's apartment, a fall of snow took place. To return across the palace court must lead to inevitable discovery by the traces of his footsteps. The moment called for resolution; woman's wit came to the assistance of the perplexed lover, and the faithful and prudent Emma, taking her lover on her back, bore him across the court. The emperor, who chanced to be gazing from his window, beheld this strange sight by the clear moonlight, and the next morning sent for the young couple, who stood before him in expectation of being sentenced to death, when the generous father bestowed upon Eginhart his daughter's hand, and the Odenwald in fief. The tomb of Eginhart and Emma is still to be seen at Erbach. The counts of Erbach claim from them their descent. Eginhart became a celebrated historian, and it was chiefly through the medium of his pen that the deeds of his great father-in-law were handed down to posterity. Bertha, the second daughter, carried on a similar intrigue with young Engelbert, and, without being formally married, became the mother of Nithart, who distinguished himself as a historian. Odoin the brave is named as the lover of the third daughter. Louis, Charlemagne's successor, no sooner mounted the throne, than he imprisoned his sisters in a convent and persecuted their lovers. Odoin, too proud to flee, stood firm and fought bravely to the last against his assassins. The lenity with which Charlemagne treated his daughters and their lovers unquestionably arose from a political motive. Had he wedded them to men of distinction belonging to the old ducal families, the empire must ere long have been partitioned between his sons-in-law. In order to avoid this, and to preserve the unity of the state, by rendering rivalry impossible, he consequently refused his daughters any share in the heritage or legal marriages.

Charlemagne had three sons: Charles, who died early. Pipin, a young man of talent, who, after serving in several campaigns, particularly in those against the Avari and the Lombards, rebelled against his father and died in prison. His history is extremely obscure. Louis, the third son, unfortunately of weaker parts than his brethren, was the only one who survived him.

This great emperor died in 814. He lies, or, more properly speaking, sits, buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, where, on his tomb being opened by the emperor Otto the Third, he was found sitting upright as on a throne, attired in his imperial robes. So great was his renown, so great were the love and veneration he inspired, that he was canonized, and pilgrimages were made to his grave. The effect of his genius, far from ceasing with his life, shed a lustre over succeeding centuries. Radiant with majesty and sanctity, the founder of the new empire stood, as it were, on the threshold of that great and brilliant era, his creation, the middle age, then opening on the world. His fame, unsurpassed and unequalled by that of succeeding emperors, dazzled posterity, and the memory of his glory bestowed imperishable dignity on the imperial crown, though subsequently placed on such unworthy brows. Hence the great emperor, his warriors, his sages, and their mighty exploits, naturally formed the inexhaustible subject of the poetry of the Middle Ages, and his reign has been immortalized by German, French and Spanish poets, in whose productions the great events of later times, and the results of more modern civilization, are ascribed to it as the concentrating point of all that is sublime, glorious, great, and beautiful. The Capitularies and letters of Charlemagne himself, the numerous writings of Alcuin, the historical work of Eginhart, a manuscript chronicle at Paris, and the romantic account of the monk oft St. Gall, are the only sources of information concerning this emperor now extant. The romance of Turpin and the Weaver are mere fables.