Early lives of Charlemagne

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EARLY LIVES OF
CHARLEMAGNE

/ft.0iu-iJ

EARLY LIVES OF
CHARLEMAGNE by

EGINHARD & THE MONK
OF ST GALL: TRANSLATED
AND EDITED BY PROFESSOR
A. J. GRANT

CHATTO & WINDUS : LONDON
MCMXXII

A LUI FINIT LA DISSOLUTION DB l'aNCIEN
MONDE, X LUI COMMENCE L'£dIFICAT10N

du monde moderns.

Lavallee

INTRODUCTION
The two "Lives*' contrasted. — This volume

contains two lives of Charles the Great, or Charle-
magne (for both forms of the name will be used
indifferently in this introduction) ; both written
within a century after his death ; both full of admira-
tion for the hero of whom they treat ; both written
by ecclesiastics ; but resembling one another in hardly
any other particular. It is not merely the value
which each in its different way possesses, but also
the great contrast between them, that makes it seem
useful to present them together in a single volume.
Professor Bury remarked in his inaugural lecture
at Cambridge : " It would be a most fruitful investi-
gation to trace from the earliest ages the history of
public opinion in regard to the meaning of falsehood
and the obligation of veracity " ; and these two lives
would form an interesting text for the illustration
of such a treatise. The restrained, positive, well-

INTRODUCTION

arranged narrative of Eginhard seems to belong
to a different age from the garrulous, credulous,
and hopelessly jumbled story of the Monk of Saint
Gall. And yet the two narratives were divided
from one another by no long interval of time. It
is impossible to fix with any certainty the date of the
composition of Eginhard's life, but there are various
indications which make 820 a not impossible date.
An incident mentioned by the Monk of Saint Gall
makes the task of dating his work within limits
an easier one. The work was suggested to him,
he tells us, by Charles III. when he stayed for three
days at the Monastery of Saint Gall, and it is possible
to fix this event, with precision, to the year 883. We
may think, therefore, of the Monk's narrative as being
separated from that of Eginhard by more than sixty
years, and by about seventy from the death of its hero.
But in the ninth century the mist of legend and myth
steamed up rapidly from the grave of a well-known
figure ; there were few documents ready to the hand
of a monk writing in the cloister of Saint Gall to
assist him in writing an accurate narrative ; there was
no publicity of publication and no critical public
to detect the errors of his work ; above all, there
was not in his own conscience the slightest possibility
of reproach even if, with full consciousness of what he
vi

INTRODUCTION

was doing, he changed the facts of history or inter-
polated the dreams of fancy, provided it were done
in such a manner as " to point a moral or adorn
a tale."

And so it is that, whereas through Eginhard's
narrative we look at the life of the great Charles in
a clear white light, through a medium which, despite
a few inaccuracies, distorts the facts of history
wonderfully little, when we take up the narrative of
the Monk, on the other hand, we are at once among
the clouds of dreamland ; and only occasionally does
the unsubstantial fabric fade, and allow us to get a
glimpse of reality and actual occurrence. But now
each of these narratives demands a somewhat more
careful scrutiny.

Eginhard's Life of Charlemagne is a docu-
ment of the first importance for the study of the
epoch-making reign of his hero. Short as it is, we
have often to confess that in the chronicles of the
same period by other hands we can feel confidence
only in such parts as are corroborated or supported
by Eginhard. Its chief fault is that it is all too short
— a fault which biographers rarely allow their readers
to complain of. But when we consider how admir-
ably fitted Eginhard was for the task which he
undertook — by his close proximity to Charlemagne,

INTRODUCTION

by his intimate acquaintance with him, by his literary
studies and sober and well-balanced mind ; when we
remember that he lived in a brief period of literary
activity between two long stretches of darkness — it is
tantalising to find him complaining of the multiplicity
of books and restraining himself with a quotation from
Cicero from writing at greater length.

The Career of Eginhard. — A sketch of Egin-

hard's career will show how well qualified he was to
deal with his subject. He was born about 770, in
the eastern half of the territories belonging to the great
Charles, in a village situate on the lower course of
the river Main, His father Eginhard and his mother
Engilfrita were landowners of some importance, and
endowed by will the monastery of Fulda with lands
and gold. It was to this monastery that the young
Eginhard was sent for education. The monastery of
Fulda was founded under the influence of Boniface,
the great Englishman, whose zeal had driven him
from Crediton, in Devonshire, to co-operate with the
early Prankish kings in the conversion and conquest
of Germany, The monastic movement was strong
and vigorous in the eighth century, and nowhere
more so than in the eastern half of the Frankish
dominions, Eginhard was trained under the Abbot
Baugulfus, and showed himself so apt and promising

INTRODUCTION

a pupil that the Abbot recommended him for a post
at the Court of Charles (? 791).

The imperial crown was still nearly ten years
distant, but Charles was already the most glorious
and powerful of European rulers. In spite of all his
constant fighting and travelling his extraordinary
energy found place for interest in calmer subjects,
and he gathered round him in his Court at Aix
the best of what the age had to show in culture,
knowledge, and eloquence. In this circle the most
striking figure was Alcuin of York ; but Eginhard soon
made for himself a position of importance. Charles
lived familiarly and genially with the scholars and
writers of his palace, calling them by pet names and
nicknames, and receiving the like in return. The
King himself was David ; Alcuin, Flaccus ; Eginhard
is called Bezaleel, after the man of whom we are told
in Exodus, chapter xxxi., that he was " filled with the
spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in
knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to
devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver,
and in brass, and in cutting of stones, and in carving
of timber." As the allusion implies, Eginhard was
no mere book-learned scholar, but had brought from
his monastery school much technical and artistic
knowledge. He has been called an architect, and

INTRODUCTION

many great buildings have been ascribed to him, but
with more than doubtful probability. The minor
arts were rather Eginhard's forte, though it seems
impossible to define them. Contemporaries speak of
his carefully- wrought works, of the many tasks in
which he was useful to Charles, but without exact
specification. A contemporary document speaks of
him -as supervising the palace works at Aix ; or
rather, one Ansegisus is described as " the executant
of the royal works in the royal palace at Aix, under
the direction of the Abbot Eginhard, a man possessed
of every kind of learning."

He was of small stature, and this is often made
good-humoured fun of by his fellow-scholars. He
is called the dwarf, the midget, the mannikin.
Theodulf describes him as running about with the ac-
tivity of an ant, and his body is spoken of as a small
house with a great tenant. He married Imma, a
Prankish lady of good family. (It is merely a stupid
legend that makes of her a daughter of Charlemagne.)
He lived with her happily, and was inconsolable after
her death. Before his wife's death and without
putting her away from him, he had embraced the
monastic life — a proceeding which in no way scandal-
ised the ideas of that century. He was the abbot of
many monasteries, which he held, in spite of the

INTRODUCTION

canonical prohibition, at the same time. Saint Peter
of Ghent and Saint Wandrille, near Rouen, are those
with which he is specially associated. He was on
several occasions employed by Charles on important
embassies, but was for the most part rather his secre-
tary and confidant than his minister.

His great master died in 814, and Eginhard
survived him for twenty-nine years, having lived
long enough to see the mighty fabric of Charles's
empire show signs of the rapid ruin that was
soon to overtake it. He received from Lewis the
Pious further ecclesiastical promotion, but still
lived at the Court until 830. After that year his
devotion to the Church mastered all other interests.
He built a church at Mulinheim, and procured for
it with great pains the relics of Saint Peter and
Saint Marcellinus from Rome ; and it was at
Mulinheim, renamed Seligenstadt (the city of the
saints), far from the intrigues of courts, that he passed
most of the rest of his life. His wife Imma (" once
my faithful wife, and later my dear sister and com-
panion") died in 836, and Eginhard's deep sorrow
at her loss finds pathetic expression in letters still
extant. The political confusion and the utter
failure of Charlemagne's plans must have increased
Eginhard's distaste for public affairs. He died at

INTRODUCTION

Seligenstadt (probably in 844). His epitaph gave
as his two titles to fame his services to Charlemagne
and his acquisition of the precious relics.

The Writings of Eginhard that have come

down to us are — (i) the Life of Charlemagne ; (2) the
Annals ; (3) Letters ; (4) the History of the Trans-
lation of the Relics of Saint Peter and Saint Marcel-
linus ; (5) a short poem on the martyrdom of these
two saints. These writings are all, with the possible
exception of the last mentioned, of high value and
interest, but the Life of Charlemagne is by far the
most celebrated and important.

The Life of Charlemagne is the most striking

result of the Classical Renaissance so diligently fos-
tered at the Court of Charlemagne by the Emperor
himself. Its form is directly copied from the Lives
of the Caesars by Suetonius, and especially from the
Life of Augustus in that series. Phrases are con-
stantly borrowed, and in some cases whole sentences.
This imitation of Suetonius has its good and its bad
results. It necessarily removed Eginhard's work from
the category of mediaeval chronicles, with their gar-
rulity, their reckless inventions, their humour, their
desire to please, to amuse, and to glorify their hero,
their order, or their monastery. Eginhard's Life is
not without mistakes, some of which are pointed out
xii

INTRODUCTION

in the notes ; but it is an honest, direct record of
facts, and for these characteristics we are, doubtless,
largely indebted to Suetonius' influence. On the
other hand, it was the example of his classical model
that induced him to keep his work within such
narrow limits. Compression was forced upon the
Roman historian by the scope of his work, which
embraced the lives of twelve emperors ; and the life
and reign of Augustus had already been fully handled
by other historians. But Eginhard knew so much,
and so little of equal value is written about his hero
elsewhere, that his brevity is, for once, a quality
hardly pardonable. Along with Asser's Alfred and
Boccaccio's Dante it gives us an instance of a bio-
grapher who did not sufficiently magnify his office
and his subject.

No other account of the Life and Reign of Charle-
magne can find a place here. For some time English
readers had reason to complain that there was no good
and popular book dealing with the great Charles, for
Gibbon's chapter is admittedly not among the best
parts of his history. But of late this reproach has
been taken away. The two concluding volumes of
Dr Hodgkin's great work, entitled " Italy and her
Invaders," deal with Charles and his relations with
Italy (vols. vii. and viii. "The Prankish Invasions"
xiii

INTRODUCTION

and " The Prankish Empire "). Dr Hodgkin has
also written a general sketch of the whole of Charles's
career (" Charles the Great." Foreign Statesmen
Series. Macmillan). More recently, Mr Carless
Davis has written a "Life of Charlemagne" for the
Heroes of the Nations Series.

It is in works such as these (to mention no others)
and not in Eginhard that the real historical significance
of Charlemagne's life-work appears. Eginhard stood
too near to his hero, and had too little sense of his-
torical perspective to realise the abiding greatness of
what Charles accomplished. It is the lapse of lioo
years that has brought into increasing clearness the
importance of those years which lie like a great
watershed between the ancient and the mediaeval
world. Of him, as of most great rulers, it is true
that he " builded better than he knew." His empire
soon became a tradition, his intellectual revival was
eclipsed by a further plunge into the " Dark Ages,"
but all that he did was not swept away. With him
ends the ruin of the ancient world, and with him
begins the building up of the mediaeval and modern
world.

He did not find in Eginhard an entirely worthy
biographer ; but the " mannikin's " work has received
unstinted praise since the time when it was written.
xiv

INTRODUCTION

It was praised by a contemporary as recalling the
elegance of the classical authors ; its popularity
during the Middle Ages is attested to by the existence
of sixty manuscript copies ; and a French editor
has declared that we have to go on to the thirteenth
century, and to Joinville's Life of St Louis, before
we find a rival in importance to Eginhard's Life of
Charlemagne.

The Monk of Saint Gall, it seems, must remain
anonymous, for the attempt to identify him with
Notker rests on no better foundation than the fact,
or supposition, that both stammered. And this seems
to be supposition rather than fact. We are, indeed,
told on good authority that Notker stammered ; but
the view that the Monk of Saint Gall suffered from
the same defect rests only on a sentence in Chapter
XVII., where he contrasts the swift, direct glance of
others with his own slow and rambling narrative —
" Which I have been trying to unfold, though a
stammerer, and toothless " (" quae ego balbus et eden-
talus explicare tentavi"). It seems impossible to
think that the words here must be taken in their
literal sense. As the author is writing, not speaking,
any defect of voice or teeth would in no way hinder
his narrative : it is clear that the words are a piece
of conventional and metaphorical depreciation.

XV

INTRODUCTION

We know, then, nothing of the author beyond what
he tells us in his narrative ; and he tells us little, except
that he was a German, and a monk in the Monastery of
Saint Gall when Grimald and Hartmuth were abbots ;
that he had never himself been in Western Frankland,
but had seen the Emperor Charles III. during his
three days' stay in the monastery, and at his bidding
had written an account of Charles the Great, and
his deeds and ways.

The monastery in which he wrote has a special
interest for our islands ; for Saint Gall was an Irish-
man of noble family, and an inmate of a monastery
in County Down, which was at that time governed
by Saint Comgel. He was one of the twelve
monks who in 585 followed Saint Columban into
Frankland. Switzerland was the great scene of his
evangelical labours. The Catholic Church celebrates
his death on the l6th October; and tells in the
Lectiones of that day how he destroyed the idols of
the heathen ; how he turned many to Christianity, and,
even to the monastic life ; how he founded the
Monastery of Saint Gall in his eighty-fifth year, and
died at the age of ninety-five, having previously been
warned in a dream of the death of his master. Saint
Columban ; and how at once miracles declared that
a saint had passed away. His monastery for a

INTRODUCTION

century followed the rule of Saint Columban, and then,
in common with most monastic institutions of
Western Europe, adopted the rule of Saint Benedict.
It was in the famous abbey, that owed its founda-
tion to this Irish missionary, that this account of
the deeds of Charlemagne — the Gesta Karoli — was
written. The author is at more pains than we should
expect to tell us from what sources he derived his
information. The preface to the work is lost ; but
at the end of the first book he repeats some of the
information that he had inserted in it. It was his
intention, he informs us, to follow three authorities,
and three authorities only ; but of these three he
seems to mention two only — Werinbert, a monk of
Saint Gall, who died just as he was completing the
first part ; and Adalbert, the father of Werinbert, who
followed Kerold, the brother of Queen Hildigard,
in the wars that were fought, under Charlemagne's
banner, against the Huns and the Saxons and Slavs.
It is an amusing picture that he gives us, at the end
of the first book, of Adalbert's anxiety to tell
him of Charles's exploits and his own unwilling-
ness to hear. It is to be presumed that the stories
were often repeated, for not only facts but words seem
to have remained in the mind of the unwilling
listener. The third authority does not seem to be
E.G. xvii b

INTRODUCTION

mentioned, unless he means to imply that Kerold
himself (who was killed in an expedition against the
Avars in 799) is one of his sources of informa-
tion.

The whole of what the Monk of Saint Gall wrote
is not left to us. The preface, as we have seen, is
missing, and also, perhaps, a third book ; for in the
sixteenth chapter of the second book it seems that our
author promises us an account of the habits of Charles,
his cotidiana conversatio, when the story of his military
exploits has been finished. But this may easily be a
misunderstanding of his meaning ; or, rather, it may
be giving too great a precision to it. The good Monk
is so little able to follow out any line of thought,
or to maintain any arrangement, that it may well
be that the " daily conversation " of Charles never
received any separate treatment.

No attempt will be made here to estimate the
historical value of the narrative, though it would
be a matter of curious speculation to consider whether
the critical historian can employ any method whereby
a residuum of objective fact can be separated from
the mass of legend, saga, invention, and reckless
blundering of which the greater part of the book
is made up. But, apart from any value which it
may possess as a historical document, the Monk's story

INTRODUCTION

is of great interest for the light which it throws
on the methods and outlook of a monk of the early
Middle Ages, Charles has been dead not much more
than half-a-century ; the author has talked familiarly
with those who knew him and fought under him ;
and yet the Charlemagne legend has already begun.
Charles is already, if not inspired, at least super-
naturally wise ; if he does not work miracles, miracles
are wrought in his presence, and on his behalf; if
he does not yet lead the armies of Christendom
to Jerusalem, he is already the specially recognised
protector of the Holy City. There are passages too,
as, for instance, the account of the visit of the envoys
of the Greek Emperor, and Charles's " iron-march
to Pavia," where we seem to detect the existence
of a popular saga — a poem — underlying the prose
narrative. With the help of M. Gaston Paris's
** Histoire Poeiique de Charlemagne" we can trace
the further development of the legend. By the
eleventh century Charles was already a martyr for
the faith, and the Crusaders believed themselves to
be passing along his route to Jerusalem. "Turpin's"
chronicle, in the eleventh century, shows the vast
extension of the legend, which now loses all but
the vaguest relation to the actual events of history
and the real characteristics of Charles. In the twelfth

Xix ft 2

INTRODUCTION

century (1165) Charles was solemnly canonised ; and
thenceforward the story spread into all lands, and
received Its last stroke in the time of the Renaissance,
at the hands of Pulci, Boiardo, and Ariosto. These
poets chiefly concern themselves, however, with the
paladins of Charles ; and the King himself forms the
dimly-conceived centre, round whom the whole story
revolves, deciding disputes, besieging the Turks in
Paris, priest-like rather than royal In his main features,
and by Ariosto treated with some irony and banter.
These mediaeval legends of Charlemagne may well
be compared to those which deal with Virgil, whose
transformation Into a magician Is not less remarkable
than Charles's development into a saint. If the
Charlemagne legend ends with Ariosto, Dante may
be said to have given the last shape to the many
transformations of Virgil, when, more than two
centuries before Ariosto's " Orlando," Virgil acted as
guide to Dante through the " lost folk " of the
Inferno, and the toilsome ascent of Purgatory, until he
handed him over at last Into the keeping of Beatrice
at the gate of the earthly Paradise.

Story and myth naturally attach themselves only
to the greatest figures ; and the Monk of Saint
Gall's narrative becomes then, even by virtue of its
inventions and unrealities, a testimony to the effect

INTRODUCTION

produced on the mind of his century hj the career
of Charles.

Both the life of Eginhard and the Monk's narrative
have been translated from Jaffe's " Bibliotheca Rerum
Germanicarum " ; which, both in its reading and
arrangement, differs at times considerably from the
text given in Pertz's "Monumenta Gennaniae
Historica."

XXI

CONTENTS

PAGB

INTRODUCTION ix

EGINHARiyS LIFE OF CHARLEMAGNE . . xxxi
The Prologue of Walafrid . . . . i
The Preface of Eginharo ..... 4

EGINHARD'S BOOK BEGINS (Sec. i-^') . . i
Part I. (Sec. 5-17). His Exploits at Home and

Abroad . , . . . .13

Part II. (Sec. 18-33). Private Life and Character 32

MONK OF ST GALL'S LIFE OF CHARLE-

MAGNE

57

Book I. (Sec. 1-34). His Piety and Care of the

Church . .... 59

Book II. (Sec. 1-20). Wars and Exploits . . 105

NOTES i6i

INDEX 177

THE LIFE OF CHARLE-
MAGNE BY EGINHARD

THE PROLOGUE OF WALAFRID

THE following account of that most glorious
Emperor Charles was written, as is well known,
by Eginhard, who amongst all the palace officials of
that time had the highest praise not only for learning
but also for his generally high character ; and, as he
was himself present at nearly all the events that he
describes, his account has the further advantage of
the strictest accuracy.

He was born in eastern Frankland, in the district
that is called Moingewi, and it was in the monastery
of Fulda, in the school of Saint Boniface the Martyr,
that his boyhood received its first training. Thence
he was sent by Baugolf, the abbot of the monastery,
to the palace of Charles, rather on account of his
remarkable talents and intelligence, which even then
gave bright promise of his wisdom that was to be so
famous in later days, than because of any advantage
of birth. Now, Charles was beyond all kings most
eager in making search for wise men and in giving

B.C. I A

THE PROLOGUE

them such entertainment that they might pursue
philosophy in all comfort. Whereby, with the help of
God, he rendered his kingdom, which, when God
committed it to him, was dark and almost wholly
blind (if I may use such an expression), radiant with
the blaze of fresh learning, hitherto unknown to our
barbarism. But now once more men's interests are
turning in an opposite direction, and the light of
wisdom is less loved, and in most men is dying
out.

And so this little man — for he was mean of stature
— gained so much glory at the Court of the wisdom-
loving Charles by reason of his knowledge and high
character that among all the ministers of his royal
Majesty there was scarce anyone at that time with
whom that most powerful and wise King discussed
his private affairs more willingly. And, indeed, he
deserved such favour, for not only in the time of
Charles, but even more remarkably in the reign of
the Emperor Lewis, when the commonwealth of the
Franks was shaken with many and various troubles,
and in some parts was falling into ruin, he so wonder-
fully and providentially balanced his conduct, and,
with the protection of God, kept such a watch over
himself, that his reputation for cleverness, which many
had envied and many had mocked at, did tiot uu-

2

OF WALAFRID

timely desert him nor plunge him into irremediable

dangers.

This I have said that all men may read his words
without doubting, and may know that, while he has
given great glory to his great leader, he has also pro-
vided the curious reader with the most unsullied
truth.

I, Strabo, have inserted the headings and the
decorations as seemed well to my own judgement
that he who seeks for any point may the more easily
find what he desires.

Here ends the Prologue

THE

LIFE OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES

WRITTEN BY EGINHARD

HAVING made up my mind to write an account
of the life and conversation, and to a large
extent of the actions of my lord and patron King
Charles, of great and deservedly glorious memory,
I have compressed my task vi^ithin the narrowest
possible limits. My aim has been on the one hand
to insert everything of which I have been able to
find an account ; and on the other to avoid offend-
ing the fastidious by telling each new incident at
wearisome length. Above all, I have tried to avoid
offending in this new book those who look down
upon even the monuments of antiquity written by
learned and eloquent men.

There are, I do not doubt, many men of learning
and leisure who feel that the life of the present day
must not be utterly neglected, and that the doings of
4

EGINHARD'S PREFACE

our own time should not be devoted to silence and
forgetfulness as wholly unworthy of record ; who,
therefore, have such love of fame that they would
rather chronicle the great deeds of others in writings,
however poor, than, by abstaining from writing, allow
their name and reputation to perish from the memory
of mankind. But, even so, I have felt that I ought
not to hold my hand from the composition of this
book, for I knew that no one could write of these
events more truthfully than I could, since I was my-
self an actor in them, and, being present, knew them
from the testimony of my own eyes ; while I could
not certainly know whether anyone else would write
them or no. I thought it better, therefore, to join
with others in committing this story to writing for
the benefit of posterity rather than to allow the
shades of oblivion to blot out the life of this King,
the noblest and greatest of his age, and his famous
deeds, which the men of later times will scarcely be
able to imitate.

Another reason, and not, I think, a foolish one,
occurred to me, which even by itself would have been
strong enough to persuade me to write — the care, I
mean, that was taken with my upbringing, and the
unbroken friendship which I enjoyed with the King
himself and his children from the time when first I
5

THE PREFACE

began to live at his Court. For in this v/ay he has
so bound me to himself, and has made me his debtor
both in life and death, that I should most justly be
considered and condemned as ungrateful if I were to
forget all the benefits that he conferred upon me and
were to pass over in silence the great and glorious
deeds of a man who was so kind to me ; if I were
to allow his life to remain as unchronicled and un-
praised, as if he had never lived, when that life de-
serves not merely the efforts of my poor talents, which
are insignificant, small and almost non-existent, but all
the eloquence of a Cicero.

So here you have a book containing the life of
that great and glorious man. There is nothing for you
to wonder at or admire except his deeds ; unless, in-
deed, it be that I, a barbarian, and little versed in the
Roman tongue, have imagined that I could write
Latin inoffensively and usefully, and have become
so swollen with impudence as to despise Cicero's
words when, speaking about Latin writers in the
first book of the Tusculans, he says : " If a man
commits his thoughts to paper when he can neither
arrange them well nor write them agreeably, nor
furnish pleasure of any kind to the reader, he is
recklessly misusing both his leisure and his paper."
The great orator's opinion would, perhaps, have de-
6

OF EGINHARD

terred me from writing if I had not fortified myself
with the reflection that I ought to risk the con-
demnation of men, and bring my poor talents into
peril by writing, rather than spare my reputation
and neglect this great man's memory.

The Preface ends : the Book begins

THE race of the Merovlngs from which the
Franks were accustomed to choose their kings
is reckoned as lasting to King Hilderich, who, by the
order of Stephen, the Roman Pontiff, was deposed,
tonsured, and sent into a monastery. But this race,
though it may be regarded as finishing with him, had
long since lost all power, and no longer possessed any-
thing of importance except the empty royal title. For
the wealth and power of the kingdom was in the
hands of the Praefects of the Court, who were called
Mayors of the Palace, and exercised entire sovereignty.
The King, contented with the mere royal title, with
long hair and flowing beard, used to sit upon the
throne and act the part of a ruler, listening to am-
bassadors, whencesoever they came, and giving them
at their departure, as though of his own power,
answers which he had been instructed or commanded
to give. But this was the only function that he per-
formed, for besides the empty royal title and the
8

HILDERICH DEPOSED

precarious life income which the Praefect of the Court
allowed him at his pleasure he had nothing of his own
except one estate with a very small revenue, on
which he had his house, and from which he drew the
few servants who performed such services as were
necessary and made him a show of deference. Where-
ever he had to go he travelled in a waggon, drawn
in rustic style by a pair of oxen, and driven by a
cowherd. In this fashion he used to go to the palace
and to the general meetings of the people, which were
held yearly for the affairs of the kingdom ; in this
fashion he returned home. But the Prasfect of the
Court looked after the administration of the kingdom
and all that had to be done or arranged at home or
abroad.

2. When Hilderich was deposed Pippin, the father
of King Charles, was performing the duties of Mayor
of the Palace as if by hereditary right. For his father
Charles, who put down the tyrants who were claiming
dominion for themselves through all Frankland, and so
crushed the Saracens, when they were attempting to
conquer Gaul, in two great battles (the one in Aqui-
tania, near the city of Poitiers, the other near
Narbonne, on the river Birra), that he forced them
to return into Spain — his father Charles had nobly
administered the same office, and had inherited it from
9

CARLOMAN DEPOSED

his father Pippin. For the people did not usually
give this honour except to such as were distinguished
for the renown of their family and the extent of their
wealth.

This office, then, was handed down from his father
and his grandfather to Pippin, the father of King
Charles, and to his brother Carloman. He exercised
it for some years conjointly with his brother Carloman
on terms of the greatest harmony, still in nominal
subordination to the above-mentioned King Hilderich.
But then his brother Carloman, for some unknown
cause, but probably fired with love of the contem-
plative life, abandoned the toilsome administration of
a temporal kingdom and retired to Rome in search
of peace. There he changed his dress, and, becoming
a monk in the monastery upon Mount Soracte, built
near the church of the blessed Silvester, enjoyed for
some years the quiet that he desired, with many
brethren, who joined themselves to him for the same
purpose. But as many of the nobles of Frankland
came on pilgrimage to Rome to perform their vows,
and, unwilling to pass by one who had once been
their lord, interrupted the peace that he most desired
by frequent visits, he was compelled to change his
abode. For, seeing that the number of his visitors
interfered with his purpose, he left Mount Soracte

CHARLES SUCCEEDS

and retired to the monastery of Saint Benedict, situ-
ated in the camp of Mount Cassino, in the province
of Samnium. There he occupied what remained to
him of this temporal life in religious exercises.

3. But Pippin, after he was made King instead of
Mayor of the Palace by the authority of the Roman
Pontiff, exercised sole rule over the Franks for fifteen
years, or rather more. Then, after finishing the
Aquitanian war, which he had undertaken against
Waifar, Duke of Aquitania, and had carried on for
nine consecutive years, he died at Paris of the dropsy,
and left behind him two sons, Charles and Carloman,
to whom by divine will the succession of the king-
dom came. For the Franks called a solemn public
assembly, and elected both of them to be kings, on
the understanding that they should equally divide
the whole kingdom, but that Charles should receive
for his special administration that part which his
father Pippin had held, while Carloman received the
territories ruled by their uncle Carloman. The con-
ditions were accepted, and each received the share
of the kingdom that was allotted to him. Harmony
was maintained between the two brothers, though not
without difficulty ; for many partisans of Carloman
tried to break their alliance, and some even hoped to
engage them in war. But the course of events proved
II

SPREAD OF HIS POWER

that the danger to Charles was imaginary rather than
real. For, upon the death of Carloman, his wife
with her sons and some of the leading nobles fled to
Italy, and, for no obvious reason, passed over her hus-
band's brother, and placed herself and her children
under the protection of Desiderius, King of the
Lombards. Carloman, after ruling the kingdom for
two years conjointly with Charles, died of disease,
and Charles, upon the death of Carloman, was made
sole king with the consent of all the Franks.

4. It would be foolish of me to say anything about
his birth and infancy, or even about his boyhood, for
I can find nothing about these matters in writing, nor
does anyone survive who claims to have personal
knowledge of them. I have decided, therefore, to
pass on to describe and illustrate his acts and his
habits and the other divisions of his life without
lingering over the unknown. I shall describe first
his exploits both at home and abroad, then his habits
and interests, and lastly the administration of the
kingdom and the end of his reign, omitting nothing
that demands or deserves to be recorded.

12

PART I

HIS EXPLOITS AT HOME AND ABROAD

5. Of all the wars that he waged that in Aquitania,
begun, but not finished, by his father, was the first that
he undertook, because it seemed easy of accomplishment.
His brother was still alive, and was called upon for assist-
ance, and, though he failed to provide the help that
he promised, Charles prosecuted the enterprise that he
had undertaken with the utmost energy, and would
not desist or slacken in his task before, by perseverance
and continuous effort, he had completely reached the
end after which he strove. For he forced Hunold,
who after the death of Waifar had attempted to
occupy Aquitania and renew the almost finished war,
to abandon Aquitania and retire into Gascony, Even
there he did not allow him to remain, but crossed
the Garonne, and sent ambassadors to Lupus, Duke of
the Gascons, ordering him to surrender the fugitive,
13

EARLY WARS

and threatening him with war unless he did so at
once. Lupus, more wisely, not only surrendered
Hunold but also submitted himself and the province
over which he presided to the power of Charles.

6. When the Aquitanian trouble was settled and
the war finished, when, too, his partner in the
kingdom had withdrawn from the world's affairs,
he undertook a war against the Lombards, being
moved thereto by the entreaties and the prayers
of Hadrian, Bishop of the City of Rome. Now,
this war, too, had been undertaken by his father
at the supplication of Pope Stephen, under circum-
stances of great difficulty, inasmuch as certain of
the chiefs of the Franks, whose advice he was
accustomed to ask, so strongly resisted his wishes
that they openly declared that they would leave
their King to return home. But now Charles
undertook the war against King Haistulf, and most
swiftly brought it to an end. For, though his
reasons for undertaking the war were similar to,
and, indeed, the same as those of his father, he
plainly fought it out with a very different energy,
and brought it to a different end. For Pippin,
after a siege of a few days at Pavia, forced King
Haistulf to give hostages, and restore to the Romans
the towns and fortresses that he had taken from

PIPPIN AND CHARLES

them, and to give a solemn promise that he would
not attempt to regain what he had surrendered.
But King Charles, when once he had begun the
war, did not stop until he had received the sur-
render of King Desiderius, whom he had worn
down after a long siege ; until he had forced his
son Adalgis, in whom the hopes of his people
seemed to be centred, to fly not only from his
kingdom but from Italy ; until he had restored
to the Romans all that had been taken from them ;
until he had crushed Hruodgausus, Praefect of the
Duchy of Friuli, who was attempting a revol-
ution ; until, in fine, he had brought all Italy
under his rule, and placed his son Pippin as king
over the conquered country. I should describe
here the difficulties of the passage of the Alps and
the vast toil with which the Franks found their
way through the pathless mountain ridges, the
rocks that soared to heaven, and the sharply-pointed
cliffs, if it were not that my purpose in the present
work is rather to describe Charles's manner of life
than to chronicle the events of the wars that he
waged. The sum of this war was the conquest
of Italy, the transportation and perpetual exile of
King Desiderius, the expulsion of his son Adalgis
from Italy, power taken from the kings of the
IS

THE SAXON WAR

Lombards and restored to Hadrian, the Ruler of the
Roman Church.

7. When this war was ended the Saxon war, which
seemed dropped for a time, was taken up again.
Never was there a war more prolonged nor more
cruel than this, nor one that required greater eiForts
on the part of the Prankish peoples. For the Saxons,
like most of the races that inhabit Germany, are by
nature fierce, devoted to the worship of demons and
hostile to our religion, and they think it no dishonour
to confound and transgress the laws of God and
man. There were reasons, too, which might at any
time cause a disturbance of the peace. For our
boundaries and theirs touch almost everywhere on
the open plain, except where in a few places large
forests or ranges of mountains are interposed to
separate the territories of the two nations by a
definite frontier ; so that on both sides murder,
robbery, and arson were of constant occurrence.
The Franks were so irritated by these things that
they thought it was time no longer to be satisfied
with retaliation but to declare open war against
them.

So war was declared, and was fought for thirty
years continuously with the greatest fierceness on,
both sides, but with heavier loss to the Saxons than
16

SAXONS CHARGED WITH PERFIDY

the Franks. The end might have been reached
sooner had it not been for the perfidy of the Saxons.
It is hard to say how often they admitted themselves
beaten and surrendered as suppliants to King Charles ;
how often they promised to obey his orders, gave
without delay the required hostages, and received
the ambassadors that were sent to them. Sometimes
they were so cowed and broken that they promised
to abandon the worship of devils and willingly to
submit themselves to the Christian religion. But
though sometimes ready to bow to his commands
they were always eager to break their promise, so
that it is impossible to say which course seemed to
come more natural to them, for from the begin-
ning of the war there was scarcely a year in which
they did not both promise and fail to perform.

But the high courage of the King and the constancy
of his mind, which remained unshaken by prosperity
and adversity, could not be conquered by their
changes nor forced by weariness to desist from his
undertakings. He never allowed those who offended
in this way to go unpunished, but either led an
army himself, or sent one under the command of
his counts, to chastise their perfidy and inflict a
suitable penalty. So that at last, when all who had
resisted had been defeated and brought under his
E.c. 17 B

UNION OF SAXON AND FRANK

power, he took ten thousand of the inhabitants of
both banks of the Elbe, with their wives and children,
and planted them in many groups in various parts
of Germany and Gaul. And at last the war, pro-
tracted through so many years, was finished on condi-
tions proposed by the King and accepted by them ;
they were to abandon the worship of devils, to turn
from their national ceremonies, to receive the sacra-
ments of the Christian faith and religion, and then,
joined to the Franks, to make one people with
them,

8. In this war, despite its prolongation through
so many years, he did not himself meet the enemy
in battle more than twice — once near the mountain
called Osning, in the district of Detmold, and again
at the river Hasa — and both these battles were
fought in one month, with an interval of only a few
days. In these two battles the enemy were so beaten
and cowed that they never again ventured to challenge
the King nor to resist his attack unless they were
protected by some advantage of ground.

In this war many men of noble birth and high
office fell on the side both of the Franks and Saxons.
But at last it came to an end in the thirty-third year,
though in the meanwhile so many and such serious
wars broke out against the Franks in all parts of the
i8

CHARLES'S CONSTANCY

world, and were carried on with such skill by the
King, that an observer may reasonably doubt whether
his endurjince of toil or his good fortune deserves
the greater admiration. For the war in Italy began
two years before the Saxon war, and though it was
prosecuted without intermission no enterprise in any
part of the world was dropped, nor was there any-
where a truce in any struggle, however difficult.
For this King, the wisest and most high-minded
of all who in that age ruled over the nations of
the world, never refused to undertake or prosecute
any enterprise because of the labour involved, nor
withdrew from it through fear of its danger. He
understood the true character of each task that
he undertook or carried through, and thus was
neither broken by adversity nor misled by the false
flatteries of good fortune.

9. Whilst the war with the Saxons was being
prosecuted constantly and almost continuously he
placed garrisons at suitable places on the frontier, and
attacked Spain with the largest military expedition
that he could collect. He crossed the Pyrenees,
received the surrender of all the towns and fortresses
that he attacked, and returned with his army safe
and sound, except for a reverse which he experienced
through the treason of the Gascons on his return
19

HIS ONE REVERSE

through the passes of the Pyrenees. For while his
army was marching in a long line, suiting their
formation to the character of the ground and the
defiles, the Gascons placed an ambuscade on the top
of the mountain — where the density and extent of
the woods in the neighbourhood rendered it highly
suitable for such a purpose — and then rushing down
into the valley beneath threw into disorder the last
part of the baggage train and also the rearguard
which acted as a protection to those in advance.
In the battle which followed the Gascons slew their
opponents to the last man. Then they seized upon
the baggage, and under cover of the night, which
was already falling, they scattered with the utmost
rapidity in different directions. The Gascons were
assisted in this feat by the lightness of their armour
and the character of the ground where the affair took
place. In this battle Eggihard, the surveyor of the
royal table ; Anselm, the Count of the Palace ; and
Roland, Praefect of the Breton frontier, were killed
along with very many others. Nor could this assault
be punished at once, for when the deed had been
done the enemy so completely disappeared that they
left behind them not so much as a rumour of their
whereabouts.

lo, He conquered the Bretons, too, who dwelt in
20

MARCH ON CAPUA

the extreme west of France by the shores of the ocean.
They had been disobedient, and he, therefore, sent
against them an expedition, by which they were
compelled to give hostages and promise that they
would henceforth obey his orders.

Then later he himself entered Italy with an army,
and, passing through Rome, came to Capua, a city of
Campania. There he pitched his camp, and threatened
the men of Beneventum with war unless they sur-
rendered. But Aragis, Duke of that people, pre-
vented this war by sending his sons Rumold and
Grimold to meet the King with a large sum of money.
He asked the King to receive his children as hostages,
and promised that he and his people would obey all
the commands of the King, except only that he would
not come himself into the King's presence. Charles,
considering rather the advantage of the people than
their Duke's obstinacy, received the hostages who were
offered him, and as a great favour consented to forego
a personal interview. He kept the younger of the
two children as a hostage and sent back the elder one
to his father. Then he sent ambassadors to require
and receive oaths of fidelity from the Beneventans and
from Aragis, and so came back to Rome. There he
spent some days in the veneration of the holy places,
and then returned to Gaul.
21

BAVARIAN WAR

1 1 . Then the Bavarian war broke out suddenly, and
was swiftly ended. It was caused by the pride and
folly of Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria ; for upon the
instigation of his wife, who thought that she might
revenge through her husband the banishment of her
father Desiderius, King of the Lombards, he made an
alliance with the Huns, the eastern neighbours of the
Bavarians, and not only refused obedience to King
Charles but even dared to challenge him in war.
The high courage of the King could not bear his
overweening insolence, and he forthwith called a
general levy for an attack on Bavaria, and came in
person with a great army to the river Lech, which
separates Bavaria from Germany, He pitched his
camp upon the banks of the river, and determined to
make trial of the mind of the Duke before he entered
the province. But Duke Tassilo saw no profit either
for himself or his people in stubbornness, and threw
himself upon the King's mercy. He gave the hostages
who were demanded, his own son Theodo among the
number, and further promised upon oath that no one
should ever persuade him again to fall away from his
allegiance to the King. And thus a war which seemed
likely to grow into a very great one came to a most
swift ending. But Tassilo was subsequently summoned
into the King's presence, and was not allowed to

22

DUKE TASSILO SUBMITS

return, and the province that he ruled was for the
future committed to the administration not of dukes
but of counts.

12. When these troubles had been settled he
waged war against the Slavs, whom we are accustomed
to call Wilzi, but who properly — that is, in their own
tongue — are called Welatabi. Here the Saxons fought
along with the other allied nations who followed the
King's standards, though their loyalty was feigned and
far from sincere. The cause of the war was that the
Wilzi were constantly invading and attacking the
Abodriti, the former allies of the Franks, and refused
to obey the King's commands to desist from their
attacks. There is a gulf stretching from the western
sea towards the East, of undiscovered length, but
nowhere more than a hundred miles in breadth, and
often much narrower. Many nations occupy the
shores of this sea. The Danes and the Swedes, whom
we call the Northmen, hold its northern shore and all
the islands in it. The Slavs and the Aisti and various
other nations inhabit the eastern shore, amongst
whom the chief are these Welatabi against whom
then the King waged war. He so broke and subdued
them in a single campaign, conducted by himself, that
they thought it no longer wise to refuse to obey his
commands.

23

HUN OR AVAR WAR

13. The greatest of all his wars, next to the Saxon
war, followed this one — that, namely, which he under-
took against the Huns and the Avars. He prosecuted
this with more vigour than the rest and with a far
greater military preparation. However, he conducted
in person only one expedition into Pannonia, the
province then occupied by the Avars ; the manage-
ment of the rest he left to his son Pippin, and the
governors of the provinces, and in some cases to his
counts and lieutenants. These carried on the war
with the greatest energy, and finished it after eight
years of fighting. How many battles were fought
there and how much blood was shed is still shown
by the deserted and uninhabited condition of Pan-
nonia, and the district in which stood the palace of
the Kagan is so desolate that there is not so much
as a trace of human habitation. All the nobles of
the Huns were killed in this war, all their glory
passed away ; their money and all the treasures that
they had collected for so long were carried away.
Nor can the memory of man recall any war waged
against the Franks by which they were so much
enriched and their wealth so increased. Up to
this time they were regarded almost as a poor people,
but now so much gold and silver were found in the
palace, such precious spoils were seized by them in
24

THE "HUNNISH STORE"

their battles, that it might fairly be held that the
Franks had righteously taken from the Huns what
they unrighteously had taken from other nations. Only
two of the nobles of the Franks were killed in this
war. Eric, the Duke of Friuli, was caught in an
ambuscade laid by the townsmen of Tharsatica, a
maritime town of Liburnia. And Ceroid, the
Governor of Bavaria, when he was marshalling his
army to fight with the Huns in Pannonia, was
killed by an unknown hand, along with two others,
who accompanied him as he rode along the line
encouraging the soldiers by name. For the rest,
the war was almost bloodless so far as the Franks
were concerned, and most fortunate in its result
although so difficult and protracted.

14. After this the Saxon war ended in a settle-
ment as lasting as the struggle had been protracted.
The wars with Bohemia and Luneburg which fol-
lowed were soon over ; both of them were swiftly
settled under the command of the younger Charles.

The last war of all that Charles undertook was
against those Northmen, who are called Danes, who
first came as pirates, and then ravaged the coasts of
Gaul and Germany with a greater naval force. Their
King, Godofrid, was puffed up with the vain con-
fidence that he would make himself master of all
25

THE NORTHERN PERIL

Germany. He looked upon Frisia and Saxony as
his own provinces. He had already reduced his
neighbours the Abodriti to obedience, and had forced
them to pay him tribute. Now he boasted that he
would soon come to Aix, the seat of the King's
Court, with a mighty force. His boast, however idle,
found some to believe it ; it was thought that he
would certainly have made some such attempt if
he had not been prevented by a sudden death.
For he was killed by one of his own followers, and
so ended both his life and the war that he had
begun.

15. These, then, are the wars which this mighty
King waged during the course of forty-seven years —
for his reign extended over that period — in different
parts of the world with the utmost skill and success.
By these wars he so nobly increased the kingdom of
the Franks, which was great and strong when he in-
herited it from his father Pippin, that the additions
he made almost doubled it. For before his time
the power of the Frankish kingdom extended only
over that part of Gaul which is bounded by the
Rhine, the Loire, and the Balearic Sea ; and that
part of Germany which is inhabited by the so-called
eastern Franks, and which is bounded by Saxony, the
Danube, the Rhine, and the river Saal, which stream
26

EXPANSION

separates the Thuringians and the Sorabs ; and, further,
over the Alamanni and the Bavarians. But Charles,
by the wars that have been mentioned, conquered
and made tributary the following countries : — First,
Aquitania and Gascony, and the whole Pyrenean range,
and the country of Spain as far as the Ebro, which,
rising in Navarre and passing through the most
fertile territory of Spain, falls into the Balearic Sea,
beneath the walls of the city of Tortosa ; next, all
Italy from Augusta Prsetoria as far as lower Calabria,
where are the frontiers of the Greeks and Beneventans,
a thousand miles and more in length ; next. Saxony,
which is a considerable portion of Germany, and is
reckoned to be twice as broad and about as long as
that part of Germany which is inhabited by the
Franks ; then both provinces of Pannonia and Dacia,
on one side of the river Danube, and Histria and
Liburnia and Dalmatia, with the exception of the
maritime cities which he left to the Emperor of
Constantinople on account of their friendship and
the treaty made between them ; lastly, all the bar-
barous and fierce nations lying between the Rhine,
the Vistula, the Ocean, and the Danube, who speak
much the same language, but in character and dress
are very unlike. The chief of these last are the
Welatabi, the Sorabi, the Abodriti, and the Bohemians ;
27

ALLIES OF CHARLES

against these he waged war, but the others, and by
far the larger number, surrendered without a struggle.

1 6. The friendship, too, which he established with
certain kings and peoples increased the glory of
his reign.

Aldefonsus, King of Gallascia and Asturica, was
joined in so close an alliance with him that whenever
he sent letters or ambassadors to Charles he gave
instructions that he should be called " the man "
of the Prankish King.

Further, his rich gifts had so attached the kings
of the Scots to his favour that they always called him
their lord and themselves his submissive servants.
Letters are still in existence sent by them to Charles
in which those feelings towards him are clearly
shown.

With Aaron, the King of the Persians, who ruled
over all the East, with the exception of India, he
entertained so harmonious a friendship that the
Persian King valued his favour before the friendship of
all the kings and princes in the world, and held that
it alone deserved to be cultivated with presents and
titles. When, therefore, the ambassadors of Charles,
whom he had sent with offerings to the most holy
sepulchre of our Lord and Saviour and to the place of
His resurrection, came to the Persian King and pro-
28

HAROUN ALRASCHID

claimed the kindly feelings of their master, he not only
granted them all they asked but also allowed that
sacred place of our salvation to be reckoned as part of
the possessions of the Prankish King. He further sent
ambassadors of his own along with those of Charles
upon the return journey, and forwarded immense
presents to Charles — robes and spices, and the other
rich products of the East — and a few years earlier
he had sent him at his request an elephant, which
was then the only one he had.

The Emperors of Constantinople, Nicephorus,
Michael, and Leo, too, made overtures of friendship and
alliance with him, and sent many ambassadors. At first
Charles was regarded with much suspicion by them, be-
cause he had taken the imperial title, and thus seemed
to aim at taking from them their empire ; but in the end
a very definite treaty was made between them, and
every occasion of quarrel on either side thereby
avoided. For the Romans and the Greeks always
suspected the Prankish power ; hence there is a well-
known Greek proverb : " the Frank is a good friend
but a bad neighbour."

17. Though he was so successful in widening the

boundaries of his kingdom and subduing the foreign

nations he, nevertheless, put on foot many works for

the decoration and convenience of his kingdom, and

29

THE EASTERN EMPIRE

carried some to completion. The great church dedi-
cated to Mary, the holy Mother of God, at Aix, and
the bridge, five hundred feet in length, over the great
river Rhine near Mainz, may fairly be regarded as
the chief of his works. But the bridge was burnt
down a year before his death, and though he had
determined to rebuild it of stone instead of wood
it was not restored, because his death so speedily
followed. He began also to build palaces of splendid
workmanship — one not far from the city of Mainz,
near a town called Ingelheim ; another at Nime-
guen, on the river Waal, which flows along the south
of the Batavian island. And he gave special orders to
the bishops and priests who had charge of sacred
buildings that any throughout his realm which had
fallen into ruin through age should be restored, and
he instructed his agents to see that his orders were
carried out.

He built a fleet, too, for the war against the
Northmen, constructing ships for this purpose near
those rivers which flow out of Gaul and Germany
into the northern ocean. And because the Northmen
laid waste the coasts of Gaul and Germany by their
constant attacks he planted forts and garrisons in all
harbours and at the mouths of all navigable rivers, and
prevented in this way the passage of the enemy.
30

THE PRANKISH FLEET

He tcx)k the same measures in the South, on the shore
of Narbonne and Septimania, and also along all the
coasts of Italy as far as Rome, to hold in check the
Moors, who had lately begun to make piratical
excursions. And by reason of these precautions Italy
suffered no serious harm from the Moors, nor Gaul
and Germany from the Northmen, in the days of
Charles ; except that Centumcellse, a city of Etruria,
was betrayed into the hands of the Moors and
plundered, and in Frisia certain islands lying close
to Germany were ravaged by the Northmen.

31

PART II

PRIVATE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF
CHARLEMAGNE

18. I have shown, then, how Charles protected and
expanded his kingdom and also what splendour he
gave to it. I shall now go on to speak of his mental
endowments, of his steadiness of purpose under what-
ever circumstances of prosperity or adversity, and of
all that concerns his private and domestic life.

As long as, after the death of his father, he shared
the kingdom with his brother he bore so patiently
the quarrelling and restlessness of the latter as never
even to be provoked to wrath by him. Then, having
married at his mother's bidding the daughter of
Desiderius, King of the Lombards, he divorced her,
for some unknown reason, a year later. He took in
marriage Hildigard, of the Suabian race, a woman
of the highest nobility, and by her he had three sons
— viz. Charles and Pippin and Ludovicus, and three
32

THE FAMILY OF CHARLES

daughters — Hrotrud and Bertha and Gisla. He had
also three other daughters — Theoderada and Hiltrud
and Hruodhaid. Two of these were the children
of his wife Fastrada, a woman of the eastern Franks
or Germans ; the third was the daughter of a concubine,
whose name has escaped my memory. On the death
of Fastrada he married Liutgard, of the Alemannic
race, by whom he had no children. After her death
he had four concubines — namely, Madelgarda, who
bore him a daughter of the name of Ruothild ;
Gersuinda, of Saxon origin, by whom he had a
daughter of the name of Adolthrud ; Regina, who
bore him Drogot and Hugo ; and Adallinda, who
was the mother of Theoderic.

His mother Bertrada lived with him to old age
in great honour. He treated her with the utmost
reverence, so that no quarrel of any kind ever arose
between them — except in the matter of the divorce
of the daughter of King Desiderius, whom he had
married at her bidding. Bertrada died after the
death of Hildigard, having lived to see three grand-
sons and as many granddaughters in her son's house.
Charles had his mother buried with great honour
in the same great church of St Denys in which his
father lay.

He had only one sister, Gisla, who from childhood
E.c. 33 c

HIS CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

was dedicated to the religious life. He treated her
with the same affectionate respect as his mother.
She died a few years before Charles's own death in
the monastery in which she had passed her life.

19. In educating his children he determined to
train them, both sons and daughters, in those liberal
studies to which he himself paid great attention.
Further, he made his sons, as soon as their age per-
mitted it, learn to ride like true Franks, and prac-
tise the use of arms and hunting. He ordered his
daughters to learn wool work and devote attention
to the spindle and distaff, for the avoidance of idle-
ness and lethargy, and to be trained to the adoption
of high principles.

He lost two sons and one daughter before his death
— namely, Charles, his eldest ; Pippin, whom he made
King of Italy ; and Hruotrud, his eldest daughter, who
had been betrothed to Constantine, the Emperor of
the Greeks. Pippin left one son, Bernard, and five
daughters — Adalheid, Atula, Gundrada, Berthaid,
and Theoderada. In his treatment of them Charles
gave the strongest proof of his family affection, for
upon the death of his son he appointed his grandson
Bernard to succeed him, and had his granddaughters
brought up with his own daughters.

He bore the deaths of his two sons aii4 of bij
34

HIS CHOICE OF FRIENDS

daughters with less patience than might have been
expected from his usual stoutness of heart, for his
domestic affection, a quality for which he was as re-
markable as for courage, forced him to shed tears.
Moreover, when the death of Hadrian, the Roman
Pontiff, whom he reckoned as the chief of his friends,
was announced to him, he wept for him as though he
had lost a brother or a very dear son. For he showed a
very fine disposition in his friendships : he embraced
them readily and maintained them faithfully, and he
treated with the utmost respect all whom he had
admitted into the circle of his friends.

He had such care of the upbringing of his sons
and daughters that he never dined without them
when he was at home, and never travelled without
them. His sons rode along with him, and his
daughters followed in the rear. Some of his guards,
chosen for this very purpose, watched the end of the
line of march where his daughters travelled. They were
very beautiful, and much beloved by their father, and,
therefore, it is strange that he would give them in
marriage to no one, either among his own people or
of a foreign state. But up to his death he kept them
all at home, saying that he could not forego their
society. And hence the good fortune that followed
him in all other respects was here broken by the
35

PIPPIN'S CONSPIRACY

touch of scandal and failure. He shut his eyes, how-
ever, to everything, and acted as though no suspicion
of anything amiss had reached him, or as if the
rumour of it had been discredited.

20. He had by a concubine a son called Pippin —
whom I purposely did not mention along with the
others — handsome, indeed, but deformed. When
Charles, after the beginning of the war against the
Huns, was wintering in Bavaria, this Pippin pretended
illness, and formed a conspiracy against his father with
some of the leaders of the Franks, who had seduced him
by a vain promise of the kingdom. When the design
had been detected and the conspirators punished
Pippin was tonsured and sent to the monastery of
Prumia, there to practise the religious life, to which
in the end he was of his own will inclined.

Another dangerous conspiracy had been formed
against him in Germany at an earlier date. The
plotters were some of them blinded and some of
them maimed, and all subsequently transported into
exile. Not more than three lost their lives, and
these resisted capture with drawn swords, and in
defending themselves killed some of their opponents.
Hence, as they could not be restrained in any other
way, they were cut down.

The cruelty of Queen Fastrada is believed to be
36

THE PERSON OF CHARLES

the cause and origin of these conspiracies. Both
were caused by the belief that, upon the persuasion
of his cruel wife, he had swerved widely from his
natural kindness and customary leniency. Otherwise
his whole life long he so won the love and favour
of all men both at home and abroad that never was
the slightest charge of unjust severity brought against
him by anyone.

21. He had a great love for foreigners, and took
such pains to entertain them that their numbers were
justly reckoned to be a burden not only to the palace
but to the kingdom at large. But, with his usual
loftiness of spirit, he took little note of such charges,
for he found in the reputation of generosity and in
the good fame that followed such actions a com-
pensation even for grave inconveniences.

22. His body was large and strong ; his stature
tall but not ungainly, for the measure of his height
was seven times the length of his own feet. The top
of his head was round ; his eyes were very large and
piercing. His nose was rather larger than is usual ;
he had beautiful white hair ; and his expression was
brisk and cheerful ; so that, whether sitting or stand-
ing, his appearance was dignified and impressive.
Although his neck was rather thick and short and he
was somewhat corpulent this was not noticed owing

37

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

to the good proportions of the rest of his body. His
step was firm and the whole carriage of his body
manly ; his voice was clear, but hardly so strong as
you would have expected. He had good health, but
for four years before his death was frequently attacked
by fevers, and at last was lame of one foot. Even then
he followed his own opinion rather than the advice
of his doctors, whom he almost hated, because they
advised him to give up the roast meat to which he was
accustomed, and eat boiled instead. He constantly
took exercise both by riding and hunting. This was
a national habit ; for there is hardly any race on the
earth that can be placed on equality with the Franks
in this respect. He took delight in the vapour of
naturally hot waters, and constantly practised swimming,
in which he was so proficient that no one could be
fairly regarded as his superior. Partly for this reason
he built his palace at Aix, and lived there continu-
ously during the last years of his life up to the time
of his death. He used to invite not only his sons to
the bath but also his nobles and friends, and at times
even a great number of his followers and bodyguards.
23. He wore the national — that is to say, the
Prankish dress. His shirts and drawers were of linen,
then came a tunic with a silken fringe, and hose. His
legs were cross-gartered and his feet enclosed in shoes.
38

DRESS

In winter-time he defended his shoulders and chest
with a jerkin made of the skins of otters and ermine.
He was clad in a blue cloak, and always wore a sword,
with the hilt and belt of either gold or silver. Occasion-
ally, too, he used a jewelled sword, but this was only
on the great festivals or when he received ambassadors
from foreign nations. He disliked foreign garments,
however beautiful, and would never consent to wear
them, except once at Rome on the request of Pope
Hadrian, and once again upon the entreaty of his
successor, Pope Leo, when he wore a long tunic and
cloak, and put on shoes made after the Roman fashion.
On festal days he walked in procession in a garment
of gold cloth, with jewelled boots and a golden girdle
to his cloak, and distinguished further by a diadem of
gold and precious stones. But on other days his
dress differed little from that of the common people.
24. He was temperate in eating and drinking, but
especially so in drinking ; for he had a fierce hatred
of drunkenness in any man, and especially in himself
or in his friends. He could not abstain so easily
from food, and used often to complain that fasting
was injurious to his health. He rarely gave large
banquets, and only on the high festivals, but then
he invited a large number of guests. His daily meal
was served in four courses only, exclusive of the roast,
39

PERSONAL HABITS

which the hunters used to bring in on spits, and
which he ate with more pleasure than any other
food. During the meal there was either singing or
a reader for him to listen to. Histories and the
great deeds of men of old were read to him. He
took delight also in the books of Saint Augustine, and
especially in those which are entitled the City of
God. He was so temperate in the use of wine and
drink of any kind that he rarely drank oftener than
thrice during dinner.

In summer, after his midday meal, he took some
fruit and a single draught, and then, taking off his
clothes and boots, just as he was accustomed to do at
night, he would rest for two or three hours. At
night he slept so lightly that he would wake, and
even rise, four or five times during the night.

When he was putting on his boots and clothes he
not only admitted his friends, but if the Count of the
Palace told him there was any dispute which could
not be settled without his decision he would have
the litigants at once brought in, and hear the case,
and pronounce on it just as if he were sitting on
the tribunal. He would, moreover, at the same time
transact any business that had to be done that day or
give any orders to his servants.

25. In speech he was fluent and ready, and could
40

CULT OF THE LIBERAL ARTS

express with the greatest clearness whatever he wished.
He was not merely content with his native tongue
but took the trouble to learn foreign languages. He
learnt Latin so well that he could speak it as well
as his native tongue ; but he could understand Greek
better than he could speak it. His fluency of speech
was so great that he even seemed sometimes a little
garrulous.

He paid the greatest attention to the liberal arts,
and showed the greatest respect and bestowed high
honours upon those who taught them. For his
lessons in grammar he listened to the instruction of
Deacon Peter of Pisa, an old man ; but for all other
subjects Albinus, called Alcuin, also a deacon, was
his teacher — a man from Britain, of the Saxon race,
and the most learned man of his time. Charles spent
much time and labour in learning rhetoric and
dialectic, and especially astronomy, from Alcuin. He
learnt, too, the art of reckoning, and with close
application scrutinised most carefully the course of
the stars. He tried also to learn to write, and for
this purpose used to carry with him and keep under
the pillow of his couch tablets and writing-sheets that
he might in his spare moments accustom himself to
the formation of letters. But he made little advance
in this strange task, which was begun too late in life.
41

CARE FOR RELIGION

26. He paid the most devout and pious regard to
the Christian religion, in which he had been brought
up from infancy. And, therefore, he built the great
and most beautiful church at Aix, and decorated
it with gold and silver and candelabras and with
wicket-gates and doors of solid brass. And, since he
could not procure marble columns elsewhere for the
building of it, he had them brought from Rome and
Ravenna. As long as his health permitted it he used
diligently to attend the church both in the morning
and evening, and during the night, and at the time of
the Sacrifice. He took the greatest care to have all
the services of the church performed with the utmost
dignity, and constantly warned the keepers of the
building not to allow anything improper or dirty
either to be brought into or to remain in the building.
He provided so great a quantity of gold and silver
vessels, and so large a supply of priestly vestments,
that at the religious services not even the door-
keepers, who form the lowest ecclesiastical order, had
to officiate in their ordinary dress. He carefully
reformed the manner of reading and singing ; for he
was thoroughly instructed in both, though he never
read publicly himself, nor sang except in a low voice,
and with the rest of the congregation.

27. He was most devout in relieving the poor and

42

REVERENCE FOR ST PETER'S

in those free gifts which the Greeks call alms. For
he gave it his attention not only in his own countr/
and in his own kingdom, but he also used to send
money across the sea to Syria, to Egypt, to Africa — to
Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage — in compassion
for the poverty of any Christians whose miserable
condition in those countries came to his ears. It was
for this reason chiefly that he cultivated the friendship
of kings beyond the sea, hoping thereby to win for
the Christians living beneath their sway some succour
and relief

Beyond all other sacred and venerable places he
loved the church of the holy Apostle Peter at Rome,
and he poured into its treasury great wealth in silver
and gold and precious stones. He sent innumerable
gifts to the Pope ; and during the whole course of
his reign he strove with all his might (and, indeed, no
object was nearer to his heart than this) to restore to
the city of Rome her ancient authority, and not
merely to defend the church of Saint Peter but to
decorate and enrich it out of his resources above all
other churches. But although he valued Rome so
much, still, during all the forty-seven years that he
reigned, he only went there four times to pay his
vows and offer up his prayers.

28. But such were not the only objects of his last
43

HOW CHARLES BECAME EMPEROR

visit ; for the Romans had grievously outraged Pope
Leo, had torn out his eyes and cut off his tongue, and
thus forced him to throw himself upon the protection
of the King. He, therefore came to Rome to restore
the condition of the church, which was terribly dis-
turbed, and spent the whole of the winter there. It
was then that he received the title of Emperor and
Augustus, which he so disliked at first that he
affirmed that he would not have entered the church
on that day — though it was the chief festival of the
church — if he could have foreseen the design of the
Pope. But when he had taken the title he bore very
quietly the hostility that it caused and the indignation
of the Roman emperors. He conquered their ill-
feeling by his magnanimity, in which, doubtless, he
far excelled them, and sent frequent embassies to them,
and called them his brothers.

29. When he had taken the Imperial title he
noticed many defects in the legal systems of his
people ; for the Franks have two legal systems, differing
in many points very widely from one another, and he,
therefore, determined to add what was lacking, to
reconcile the differences, and to amend anything that
was wrong or wrongly expressed. He completed
nothing of all his designs beyond adding a few
capitularies, and those unfinished. But he gave orders
44

RE-NAMING OF THE MONTHS

that the laws and rules of all nations comprised within
his dominions which were not already written out
should be collected and committed to writing.

He also wrote out the barbarous and ancient songs,
in which the acts of the kings and their wars were
sung, and committed them to memory. He also began
a grammar of his native language.

He gave the months names in his own tongue, for
before his time they were called by the Franks partly
by Latin and partly by barbarous names. He also
gave names to the twelve winds, whereas before not
more than four, and perhaps not so many, had names
of their own. Of the months, he called January
Winter-month, February Mud-month, March Spring-
month, April Easter-month, May Joy-month, June
Plough-month, July Hay-month, August Harvest-
month, September Wind-month, October Vintage-
month, November Autumn-month, December Holy-
month. The following are the names which he gave
to the winds : — The Subsolanus (east) he called East
Wind ; the Eurus (east by south) East-South Wind ;
the Euroauster (south by east) South-East Wind ;
the Auster (south) South Wind ; the Austro-Afric
(south by west) South- West Wind ; the Afric (west
by south) West-South Wind ; the Zephyr (west)
West Wind ; the Corus (west by north) West-North
45

APPOINTS HIS HEIR

Wind ; the Circius (north by west) North- West
Wind ; the Septentrion (north) North Wind ; the
Aquilon (north by east) North-East Wind ; the
Vulturnus (east by north) East-North Wind.

30. At the very end of his life, when already he
was feeling the pressure of old age and sickness, he
summoned his own son Lewis, King of Aquitania,
the only surviving son of Hildigard, and then solemnly
called together the Prankish nobles of his whole king-
dom ; and then, with the consent of all, made
Lewis partner in the whole kingdom and heir to
the imperial title. After that, putting the diadem on
his head, he ordered them to salute him " Imperator "
and Augustus. This decision of his was received by
all present with the greatest favour, for it seemed to
them a divine inspiration for the welfare of the realm.
It added to his dignity at home and increased the
terror of his name abroad.

He then sent his son back to Aquitania, and him-
self, though broken with old age, proceeded to hunt,
as his custom was, not far from the palace of Aix,
and after spending the rest of the autumn in this
pursuit he came back to Aix about the beginning
of November. Whilst he was spending the winter
there he was attacked by a sharp fever, and took
to his bed. Then, following his usual habit, he
46

HIS ILLNESS AND DEATH

determined to abstain from food, thinking that hy
such self-discipline he would be able either to cure
or alleviate the disease. But the fever was compli-
cated by a pain in the side which the Greeks call
pleurisy ; and, as Charles still persisted in fasting,
and only very rarely drank something to sustain his
strength, seven days after he had taken to his bed
he received holy communion, and died, in the seventy-
second year of his life and in the forty-seventh year
of his reign, on the fifth day before the Kalends of
February, at the third hour of the day.

31. His body was washed and treated with the
usual ceremonies, and then, amidst the greatest grief
of the whole people, taken to the church and buried.
At first there was some doubt as to where he should
rest, since he had given no instructions during his
lifetime. But at length all were agreed that he
could be buried nowhere more honourably than in
the great church which he had built at his own
expense in the same towni, for the love of our Lord
God Jesus Christ and the honour of His holy and
ever-virgin Mother. There he was buried on the
same day on which he died. A gilded arch was
raised above the tomb, with his statue, and an inscrip-
tion. The inscription ran as follows : —

47

HIS DEATH FORETOLD

** Beneath this tomb lies the body of Charles, the
great and orthodox Emperor, who nobly expanded
the kingdom of the Franks and reigned prosperously
for forty-seven years. He departed this life, more
than seventy years of age, in the eight hundred and
fourteenth year of our Lord, in the seventh indiction,
on the fifth day before the Kalends of February."

32. There were many prodigies to show that his
end drew near, and he as well as others understood
the meaning of their warnings. During all the three
last years of his life there were constant eclipses of
sun and moon, and a black coloured spot appeared
in the sun for the space of seven days. The gallery
which he had built, of great size and strength,
between the palace and the church, suddenly, on
Ascension Day, fell in ruins down even to the
foundations. Also, the wooden bridge over the
Rhine near Mainz, which he had built with won-
derful skill, and the labour of ten years, so that
it seemed as though it would last for ever, was
accidentally set on fire, and in three hours burnt
so far that not a plank remained except those that
were covered by the water. Further, when he
was making his last expedition in Saxony against
Godofrid, King of the Danes, as he was moving
48

VARIOUS PORTENTS

out of camp and beginning his march before sun-
rise, he suddenly saw a meteor rush across the
heavens with a great blaze and pass from right to
left through the clear sky. Whilst all were won-
dering what this sign meant, suddenly the horse
that he was riding fell head foremost, and threw
him so violently to the ground that the girdle of
his cloak was broken, and his sword belt slipped
from it. When his attendants ran up to help him
they found him disarmed and disrobed. His
javelin, too, which he was holding in his hand at
the time of his fall, fell twenty paces and more
away from him. Moreover, the palace at Aix
was frequently shaken, and in houses where he
lived there was a constant creaking in the fretted
ceilings. The church in which he was afterwards
buried was struck by lightning, and the golden
apple that adorned the summit of the roof was
thrown down by a thunder-stroke, and fell upon the
Bishop's house, which adjoined the church. In the
same church an inscription was written on the edge
of the circular space which ran round the inside
of the church between the upper and lower arches,
saying by whom the sacred edifice had been built.
And in the last line occurred the words : " Carolus
Trinceps." Some noticed that in the very year in
E.c. 49 D

CHARLEMAGNE'S WILL

which Charles died, and a few months before his
death, the letters of the word " princeps " were
so destroyed as to be quite invisible. But he either
refused to notice or despised all these omens as
though they had no connection at all with any-
thing that concerned him.

33. He had determined to draw out wills in
order to make his daughters and the sons whom his
concubines had borne to him heirs to some part
of his property ; but he took up this design too
late, and could not carry it out. But some three
years before he died he divided his treasures, his money
and his robes, and all his other moveable property,
in presence of his friends and ministers, and appealed
to them to ratify and maintain by their support
this division after his death. He also stated in a
document how he wished to have the property which
he had divided disposed of. The text and purport
of the document ran as follows : —

In the name of the Lord God Almighty, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. This is the description and
division which was made by the most glorious and
pious lord Charles, the august Emperor, in the eight
hundred and eleventh year from the incarnation of
our Lord Jesus Christ ; in the forty-third year of his
50

DIVISION OF HIS POSSESSIONS

reign in Frankland ; in the thirty-sixth year of his
reign in Italy ; in the eleventh year of his Empire
and in the fourth indiction : which division he made
for wise and religious reasons of his treasures and of
the money which on that day was found in the
treasury. Wherein his great aim was : in the first
place to ensure that the distribution of alms, which
Christians religiously make from their possessions,
should be duly and properly made on his account
from his wealth ; and also that his heirs may clearly
know without any possibility of doubt what ought
to belong to them, and may therefore (without con-
test or dissension) divide his goods among themselves
in their proper proportion. Therefore with this
intention and object he first divided into three parts
all his property and moveable goods ; which, whether
consisting of gold, silver, jewels, or royal apparel,
could be found on the afore-mentioned day in
his treasur)'. Then, by a further distribution, he
divided two of those three parts into twenty-one
parts, and kept the third part undivided.

The distribution of the two parts into twent)'-one
is to be carried out in the following way. As there
are known to be twenty-one metropolitan cities in his
realm, one of those twenty-one parts is to be handed
over to each metropolitan city by his heirs and
51

CHARITABLE BEQUESTS

friends for the purpose of almsgiving. The Arch-
bishop who at the time of his death is ruling the
metropolitan sees shall receive that part for his
church and divide it among his suffragans ; one-
third going to his own church and two - thirds
being divided among his suffragans.

Each of these divisions — which, as already mentioned,
are made out of the first two-thirds, and are twenty-
one in number, according to the number of the
metropolitan sees — is separated from the rest and
put away by itself in a repository of its own with
the title of the city attached to which it is to be
given. The names of the metropolitan sees, to
which this alms or largess is to be given, are Rome,
Ravenna, Milan, Fr^jus, Grado, Cologne, Mainz,
Juvavum which is also called Salsburg, Treves, Sens,
Besanfon, Lyons, Rouen, Rheims, Aries, Vienne,
Darantasia, Embrun, Bordeaux, Tours, Bourges.

The following disposition shall be made of the
one part hitherto left undivided. When the first
two parts have been distributed into the before-
mentioned divisions, and have been put away under
seal, this third part shall be employed for daily uses,
as not being alienated by any bond or promise of
the owner ; and it shall be so used as long as he him-
self remains in the flesh or judges its employment to

5*

ALMS FOR THE POOR

be necessary to him. But after his death or his vol-
untary retirement from the affairs of the world that
part shall be divided into four subdivisions. Of these
subdivisions one shall be added to the before-mentioned
twenty-one parts ; the second shall be taken by his
sons and daughters, and by the sons and daughters
of his sons, and shall be divided among them in
just and reasonable proportion ; the third shall be
devoted to the use of the poor in the manner usual
among Christians ; the fourth part shall similarly be
divided for alms and go to the support of the ser-
vants, both men and women, who attend to the
needs of the palaces.

He desired further that there should be added to
this third part of the total sum, which like the other
parts consists of gold and silver, all vessels and utensils
of brass, iron or other metals, with arms, clothes and
all other moveable articles, whether of value or not,
which are . employed for various purposes ; as for
instance curtains, coverlets, tapestries, woollen-cloths,
dressed-skins, harnesses, and whatever else is found at
that date in his store chamber or wardrobe : so
that in this way the subdivisions of that part may
be larger, and the distribution of alms find its way
to a larger number.

He desired that the chapel — that is, the materials
53

DISPERSION OF HIS LIBRARY

for the service of the church, both those which
he himself gave and collected and those which came
to him by inheritance from his father — should remain
entire and suffer no division of any kind. But if any
vessel or books or other ornaments are found, which
have certainly not been given by him to the afore-
mentioned chapel, these may be bought and possessed
by anyone who wants them, at a price fixed by a
reasonable valuation. He similarly determined that
the books, of which he had collected a great quantity
in his library, should be sold at a reasonable price
to anyone who wanted them and the money handed
over to the poor. Amongst his treasures there are
three tables of silver and one of gold of remarkable
size and weight. Concerning these he determined
and decided as follows. One of them, square in
shape, containing a map of the city of Constantinople,
shall be sent to Rome for the cathedral of the holy
Apostle Peter, along with the other gifts which are set
aside for that purpose. The second, round in shape,
inscribed with a picture of the city of Rome, shall
be given to the Bishopric of the Church of Ravenna.
The third, which is far superior to the others both in
beauty of workmanship and in weight, which is made
of three circles, and contains a map of the whole
world, skilfully and minutely drawn, shall go to
54

THE GUARANTORS OF HIS WILL

increase that third part which is to be divided among
his heirs and given in alms.

This disposition and arrangement he made and
drew up in presence of the bishops, abbots and counts,
who could then be present and whose names are here
written out.

Bishops

Hildibald

John

Richolf

Theodolf

Arno

Jesse

Wolphar

Heito

Bernoin

Waltgaud

Laidrad

Abbots

Fridugisius

Engilbert

Adalung

Irmin

Counts

Walatho

Rihwin

Meginher

Edo

Otolf

Ercangar

Stephen

Ceroid

Unruoc

Bero

Barchard

Hildigem

Meginhard

Roccolf

Hatto

55

HIS WILL EXECUTED

His son Lewis, who by the designs of Providence
succeeded him, inspected the aforesaid document, and
carried out these arrangements with the greatest
devotion immediately after his death.

56

THE LIFE OF CHARLEMAGNE
BY THE MONK OF ST GALL

BOOK I

CONCERNING THE PIETY OF CHARLES
AND HIS CARE OF THE CHURCH

AFTER the omnipotent ruler of the world, who
orders alike the fate of kingdoms and the course
of time, had broken the feet of iron and clay in one
noble statue, to wit the Romans, he raised by the
hands of the illustrious Charles the golden head of
another, not less admirable, among the Franks. Now
it happened, when he had begun to reign alone in
the western parts of the world, and the pursuit of
learning had been almost forgotten throughout all his
realm, and the worship of the true Godhead was
faint and weak, that two Scots came from Ireland to
the coast of Gaul along with certain traders of Britain.
These Scotchmen were unrivalled for their skill in
sacred and secular learning : and day by day, when
the crowd gathered round them for traffic, they ex-
hibited no wares for sale, but cried out and said,
59

WISDOM FOR SALE

" Ho, everyone that desires wisdom, let him draw
near and take it at our hands ; for it is wisdom that
we have for sale."

Now they declared that they had wisdom for sale
because they said that the people cared not for what
was given freely but only for what was sold, hoping
that thus they might be incited to purchase wisdom
along with other wares ; and also perhaps hoping that
by this announcement they themselves might become
a wonder and a marvel to men : which indeed turned
out to be the case. For so long did they make their
proclamation that in the end those who wondered at
these men, or perhaps thought them insane, brought
the matter to the ears of King Charles, who always
loved and sought after wisdom. Wherefore he ordered
them to come with all speed into his presence and
asked them whether it were true, as fame reported
of them, that they had brought wisdom with them.
They answered, " We both possess it and are ready to
give it, in the name of God, to those who seek it
worthily." Again he asked them what price they
asked for it ; and they answered, " We ask no price,
O king ; but we ask only for a fit place for teaching
and quick minds to teach ; and besides food to eat
and raiment to put on, for without these we cannot
accomplish our pilgrimage."
60

ALCUIN

This answer filled the king with a great joy, and
first he kept both of them with him for a short time.
But soon, when he must needs go to war, he made
one of them named Clement reside in Gaul, and to
him he sent many boys both of noble, middle and
humble birth, and he ordered as much food to be
given them as they required, and he set aside for
them buildings suitable for study. But he sent the
second scholar into Italy and gave him the monastery
of Saint Augustine near Pavia, that all who wished
might gather there to learn from him.

2. But when Albinus (Alcuin), an Englishman,
heard that that most religious Emperor Charles gladly
entertained wise men, he entered into a ship and
came to him. Now Albinus was skilled in all learn-
ing beyond all others of our times, for he was the
disciple of that most learned priest Bede, who next to
Saint Gregory was the most skilful interpreter of the
scriptures. And Charles received Albinus kindly and
kept him at his side to the end of his life, except
when he marched with his armies to his vast wars :
nay, Charles would even call himself Albinus's
disciple ; and Albinus he would call his master. He
appointed him to rule over the abbey of Saint
Martin, near to the city of Tours : so that, when
he himself was absent, Albinus might rest there and
6i

CHARLES PRAISES STUDY

teach those who had recourse to him. And his
teaching bore such fruit among his pupils that the
modern Gauls or Franks came to equal the ancient
Romans or Athenians.

3. Then when Charles came back, after a long
absence, crowned with victory, into Gaul, he ordered
the boys whom he had entrusted to Clement to come
before him and present to him letters and verses of
their own composition. Now the boys of middle
or low birth presented him with writings garnished
with the sweet savours of wisdom beyond all that he
could have hoped, while those of the children of
noble parents were silly and tasteless. Then the
most wise Charles, imitating the judgment of the
eternal Judge, gathered together those who had done
well upon his right hand and addressed them in these
words : ** My children, you have found much favour
with me because you have tried with all your strength
to carry out my orders and win advantage for your-
selves. Wherefore now study to attain to perfection ;
and I will give you bishoprics and splendid monas-
teries, and you shall be always honourable in my
eyes." Then he turned severely to those who were
gathered on his left, and, smiting their consciences
with the fire of his eyes, he flung at them in scorn
these terrible words, which seemed thunder rather
62

AND BLAMES IDLENESS

than human speech, " You nobles, you sons of my
chiefs, you superfine dandies, you have trusted to
your birth and your possessions and have set at naught
my orders to your own advancement : you have neg-
lected the pursuit of learning and you have given
yourselves over to luxury and sport, to idleness and
profitless pastimes." Then solemnly he raised his
august head and his unconquered right hand to the
heavens and thus thundered against them, " By the
King of Heaven, I take no account of your noble
birth and your fine looks, though others may admire
you for them. Know this for certain, that unless you
make up for your former sloth by vigorous study, you
will never get any favour from Charles."

4. Charles used to pick out all the best writers and
readers from among the poor boys that I have spoken
of and transferred them to his chapel ; for that was
the name that the kings of the Franks gave to their
private oratory, taking the word from the cope of St
Martin, which they always took with them in war
for a defence against their enemies. Now one day
it was announced to this most wary King Charles that
a certain bishop was dead ; and, when the king asked
whether the dead bishop had made any bequests for
the good of his soul, the messenger replied, " Sire, he
has bequeathed no more than two pounds of silver."
63

APPOINTMENT OF A BISHOP

Thereupon one of his chaplains, sighing, and no
longer able to keep the thoughts of his mind within
his breast, spake in the hearing of the king these
words : " That is a small provision for a long, a
never-ending journey."

Then Charles, the mildest of men, deliberated a
space, and said to the young man, " Do you think
then, if you were to get the bishopric, you would
care to make more provision for that same long
journey ? " These cautious words fell upon the
chaplain as ripe grapes into the mouth of one who
stands agape for them, and he threw himself at the
feet of Charles and said, " Sire, the matter rests upon
the will of God and your own power." Said the
king, " Stand behind the curtain, that hangs behind
me, and mark what kind of help you would receive
if you were raised to that honour."

Now, when the officers of the palace, who were
always on the watch for deaths or accidents, heard
that the bishop was dead, one and all of them, im-
patient of delay and jealous of each other, began to
make suit for the bishopric through the friends of the
emperor. But Charles still persisted unmoved in his
design ; he refused everyone, and said that he would
not disappoint his young friend. At last Queen
Hildigard sent some of the nobles of the realm, and
64

QUEEN HILDIGARD'S APPEAL

at last came in person, to beg the bishopric for a
certain clerk of her own. The emperor received
her petition very graciously and said that he would
not and could not deny her anything ; but that
he thought it shame to deceive his little chaplain.
But still the queen, woman-like, thought that a
woman's opinion and wish ought to outweigh the
decrees of men ; and so she concealed the passion that
was rising in her heart ; she sank her strong voice
almost to a whisper ; and with caressing gestures
tried to soften the emperor's unspoken mind. " My
sire and king," she said, " what does it matter if that
boy does lose the bishopric ? Nay, I beseech you,
sweet sire, my glory and my refuge, give it to your
faithful servant, my clerk." Then that young man,
who had heard the petitions from behind the curtain
close to the king's chair where he had been placed,
embraced the king through the curtain and cried,
** Sir king, stand fast and do not let anyone take from
you the power that has been given you by God."

Then that strict lover of truth bade him come out,
and said, " I intend you to have the bishopric ; but
you must be very careful to spend more and make
fuller provision for that same long and unreturning
journey both for yourself and for me."

5. Now there was at the king's court a certain
E.G. 65 E

A SELF-INDULGENT BISHOP

mean and humble clerk, very deficient also in a
knowledge of letters. The most pious Charles pitied
his poverty, and, though everyone hated him and
tried to drive him from the court, he could never
be persuaded to turn him away or dismiss him there-
from. Now it happened that, on the eve of Saint
Martin, the death of a certain bishop was an-
nounced to the emperor. He summoned one of his
clerks, a man of high birth and great learning, and
gave him the bishopric. The new bishop, thereupon,
bursting with joy, invited to his house many of the
palace attendants, and also received with great pomp
many who came from the diocese to greet him : and
to all he gave a superb banquet.

It happened then that, loaded with food, drenched
with liquor and buried in wine, he failed to go to
the evening service on that most solemn eve. Now it
was the custom for the chief of the choir to assign the
day before to everyone the responsory or responsories
which they were to chant at night. The response :
Lord, if still I am useful to Thy people, had fallen to
the lot of this man, who had the bishopric, as it
were, in his grasp. Well, he was absent ; and after
the lesson a long pause followed, and each man urged
his neighbour to take up the responsory, and each man
answered that he was bound to chant only what had
66

THE MEAN CLERK'S OPPORTUNITY

been assigned to him. At last the emperor said :
" Come, one of you must chant it." Then this mean
clerk, strengthened by some divine inspiration, and
encouraged by the command, took upon himself the
responsory. The kindly king thinking that he would
not be able to chant the whole of it ordered the
others to help him and all began at once to chant.
But from none of them could the poor creature learn
the words, and, when the response was finished, he
began to chant the Lord's Prayer with the proper
intonation. Then everyone wished to stop him ;
but the most wise Charles wanted to see where he
would get to, and forbade anyone to interfere with
him. He finished with Thy Kingdom come and the
rest, willy-willy, had to take it up and say Thy will he
done.

When the early lauds were finished, the king went
back to his palace, or rather to his bedroom, to warm
himself and dress for the coming festal ceremony.
He ordered that miserable servant and unpractised
chanter to come into his presence. " Who told you to
chant that responsory ? " he asked. ** Sire, you ordered
someone to sing," said the other. "Well," said the
king (the emperor was called king at first), " who
told you to begin in that particular responsory ? "
Then the poor creature, inspired as it is thought by
67

THE NEW BISHOP

God, spoke as follows, in the fashion which inferiors
then used to superiors, whether for honour, appeal, or
flattery : — " Blessed lord, and blessing-bestowing king,
as I could not find out the right verse from anyone,
I said to myself that I should incur the anger of your
majesty if I introduced anything strange. So I deter-
mined to intone something the latter part of which
usually came at the end of the responsories."

The kindly emperor smiled gently upon him and
thus spoke before all his nobles. " That proud man,
who neither feared nor honoured God or his king
who had befriended him, enough to refrain one night
from dissipation and be in his place to chant the
response which I am told fell to his share, is by
God's decree and mine deprived of his bishopric.
You shall take it, for God gives it you, and I allow
it ; and be sure to administer it according to canoni-
cal and apostolic rules,"

6, When another prince of the Church died, the
emperor appointed a young man in his place. When
the bishop designate came out of the palace to take his
departure, his servants, with all the decorum that was
due to a bishop, brought forward a horse and steps to
mount it : but he took it amiss that they should treat
him as though he were decrepit ; and leaped from the
ground on to the horse's back with such violence that
68

RULES AS TO READING

he nearly fell ofF on the other side. The king looked
on from the steps of the palace and had him sum-
moned and thus addressed him : " My good sir, you
are nimble and quick, agile and headstrong. You
know yourself that the calm of our empire is dis-
turbed on all sides by the tempests of many wars.
Wherefore I want a priest like you at my court.
Remain therefore as an associate in my labours as
long as you can mount your horse with such agility."
7. While I was speaking about the arrangement of
the responses I forgot to speak about the rules for
reading and I must devote a few words to that subject
here. In the palace of the most learned Charles
there was no one to apportion to each reader the
passages that were to be read ; no one put a seal at
the end of the passage or made ever such a little mark
with his finger-nail. But all had to make themselves
so well acquainted with the passage, which was set
down for reading, that if they were suddenly called
on to read they could perform their duty without
incurring his censure. He indicated whom he wished
to read by pointing his finger or his staff, or by sending
some one of those who were sitting close by him to
those at a distance. He marked the end of the reading
by a guttural sound. And all watched so intently for
this mark that whether it came at the end of a sentence
69

THE MONK'S DILEMMA

or in the middle of a clause or a sub-clause, none dared
go on for an instant, however strange the beginning or
the end might seem. And thus it came to pass that
all in the palace were excellent readers, even if they
did not understand what they read. No foreigner
and no celebrity dared enter his choir unless he could
read and chant.

8. When Charles one day came in his journeyings
to a certain palace, a certain clerk from among the
wandering monks entered the choir and being com-
pletely ignorant of these rules was soon forced to
remain stupid and silent among the singers. There-
upon the choirmaster raised his wand and threatened
to strike him unless he went on singing. Then the
poor clerk, not knowing what to do or where to turn,
and not daring to go out, twisted his neck into the
shape of a bow and with open mouth and distended
cheeks did his utmost to imitate the appearance of a
singer. All the rest could not restrain their laughter,
but the most valiant emperor, whose mind was never
shaken from its firm base even by great events, seemed
not to notice his mockery of singing and waited in due
order until the end of the mass. But then he called
the poor wretch before him and pitying his struggles
and his anxiety soothed his fears with these words : —
" Many thanks, good clerk, for your singing and your
70

ALCUIN'S PUPILS

efForts." Then he ordered a pound of silver to be
given him to relieve his poverty.

9. But I must not seem to forget or to neglect
Alcuin ; and will therefore make this true statement
about his energy and his deserts : all his pupils with-
out exception distinguished themselves by becoming
either holy abbots or bishops. My master Grimald
studied the literal arts under him, first in Gaul and
then in Italy. But those who are learned in these
matters may charge me with falsehood for saying
" all his pupils without exception " ; when the fact
is that there were in his schools two young men, sons
of a miller in the service of the monastery of Saint
Columban, who did not seem fit and proper persons
for promotion to the command of bishoprics or
monasteries ; but even these men were, by the in-
fluence probably of their teacher, advanced one after
the other to the office of minister in the monastery of
Bobbio, in which they displayed the greatest energy.

So the most glorious Charles saw the study of
letters flourishing throughout his whole realm, but
still he was grieved to find that it did not reach the
ripeness of the earlier fathers ; and so, after super-
human labours, he broke out one day with this ex-
pression of his sorrow : " Would that I had twelve
clerks so learned in all wisdom and so perfectly trained
71

CHARLES'S CARE FOR SINGING

as were Jerome and Augustine." Then the learned
Alcuin, feeling himself ignorant indeed in comparison
with these great names, rose to a height of daring,
that no man else attained to in the presence of the
terrible Charles, and said, with deep indignation in
his mind but none in his countenance, " The Maker
of heaven and earth has not many like to those men
and do you expect to have twelve ? "

lo. Here I must report something which the men
of our time will find it difficult to believe ; for I
myself who write it could hardly believe it, so great
is the difference between our method of chanting and
the Roman, were it not that we must trust rather the
accuracy of our fathers than the false suggestions of
modern sloth. Well then, Charles, that never-wearied
lover of the service of God, when he could con-
gratulate himself that all possible progress had been
made in the knowledge of letters, was grieved to
observe how widely the different provinces — nay, not
the provinces only but districts and cities — differed in
the praise of God, that is to say in their method of
chanting. He therefore asked of Pope Stephen of
blessed memory — the same who, after Hilderich
King of the Franks had been deposed and tonsured,
had anointed Charles to be ruler of the kingdom
after the ancestral custom of the people — he asked
72

ROMAN SINGING CLERKS

of Pope Stephen, I say, that he should provide him
with twelve clerks deeply learned in divine song.
The Pope yielded assent to his virtuous wish and his
divinely inspired design and sent to him in Frankland
from the apostolic see clerks skilled in divine song, and
twelve in number, according to the number of the
twelve apostles.

Now, when I said Frankland just above, I meant
all the provinces north of the Alps ; for as it is
written : " In those days ten men shall take hold out
of all the languages of the nations, shall even take
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew," so at that
time, by reason of the glory of Charles, Gauls,
Aquitanians, ^Eduans, Spaniards, Germans, and
Bavarians thought that no small honour was paid to
them, if they were thought worthy to be called the
servants of the Franks.

Now when the aforementioned clerks were depart-
ing from Rome, being, like all Greeks and Romans,
torn with envy of the glory of the Franks, they
took counsel among themselves, and determined so
to vary their method of singing that his kingdom
and dominion should never have cause to rejoice in
unity and agreement. So when they came to Charles
they were received most honourably and despatched
to the chief places. And thereupon each in his
73

CHARLES EXPOSES THE CLERKS

allotted place began to chant as differently as possible,
and to teach others to sing in like fashion, and in as
false a manner as they could invent. But as the most
cunning Charles celebrated one year the feast of the
Birth and Coming of Christ at Treves or Metz, and
most carefully and cleverly grasped and understood
the style of the singing ; and then the next year
passed the same solemn season at Paris or Tours, but
found that the singing was wholly different from
what he had heard in the preceding year ; as more-
over he found that those whom he had sent into
different places were also at variance with one
another ; he reported the whole matter to Pope Leo,
of holy memory, who had succeeded Stephen. The
Pope summoned the clerks back to Rome and con-
demned them to exile or perpetual imprisonment,
and then said to Charles : " If I send you others
they will be blinded with the same malice as their
predecessors and will not fail to cheat you. But I
think I can satisfy your wishes in this way. Send me
two of the cleverest clerks that you have by you, in
such a way that those who are with me may not
know that they belong to you, and, with God's help,
they shall attain to as perfect a knowledge of those
things as you desire." So said, so done. Soon the
Pope sent them back excellently trained to Charles.
74

THE MONASTERY OF ST GALL

One of them he kept at his own court : the other
upon the petition of his son Drogo, Bishop of Metz,
he sent to that cathedral. And not only did his
energy show itself powerful in that city, but it soon
spread so widely throughout all Frankland, that now
all in these regions who use the Latin tongue call the
ecclesiastical chant Metensian ; or, if they use the
Teutonic or Teuthiscan tongue, they call it Mette ;
or if the Greek form is used it is called Mettisc.
The most pious emperor also ordered Peter, the
singer who had come to reside with him, to reside for
a while in the monastery of St Gall. There too Charles
established the chanting as it is to-day, with an
authentic song-book, and gave most careful instruc-
tions, being always a warm champion of Saint Gall,
that the Roman method of singing should be both
taught and learnt. He gave to the monastery also
much money and many lands : he gave too relics,
contained in a reliquary made of solid gold and gems,
which is called the Shrine of Charles.

II. It was the habit of the most religious and
temperate Charles to take food during Lent at the
seventh hour of the day after having been present at
the celebration of mass and evening lauds : and in so
doing he was not violating the fast for he was
following the Lord's command in taking food at an
75

CHARLES IN LENT

earlier hour than usual. Now a certain bishop, who
ofFended against the precept of Solomon in being
just but foolish, took him unwisely to task for this.
Whereupon the most wise Charles concealed his
wrath, and received the bishop's admonition in all
humility, saying, " Good sir bishop, your admonition
is good ; and now my advice to you is that you
should take no food until the very humblest of my
servants, who stand in my court, have been fed."
Now while Charles was eating he was waited upon
by dukes and rulers and kings of various peoples ; and
when his banquet was ended then those who served
him fed and they were served by counts and praefects
and nobles of different ranks. And when these last
had made an end of eating then came the military
officers and the scholars of the palace : then the chiefs
of the various departments of the palace ; then their
subordinates, then the servants of those servants. So
that the last comers did not get a mouthful of food
before the middle of the night. When therefore
Lent was nearly ended, and the bishop in question
had endured this punishment all the time, the most
merciful Charles said to him : " Now, sir bishop, I
think you have found out that it is not lack of self-
restraint but care for others which makes me dine in
Lent before the hour of evening."
76

HIS CAREFUL APPOINTMENTS

1 2. Once he asked a bishop for his blessing and
he thereupon, after blessing the bread, partook of it
first himself and then wanted to give it to the most
honourable Charles : who, however, said to him :
" You may keep all the bread for yourself" ; and
much to the bishop's confusion he refused to receive
his blessing.

13. The most careful Charles would never give
more than one county to any of his counts unless
they happened to live on the borders or marches
of the barbarians ; nor would he ever give a bishop
any abbacy or church that was in the royal gift unless
there were very special reasons for doing it. When
his councillors or friends asked him the reason for
this he would answer : " With that revenue or that
estate, with that little abbey or that church I can
secure the fidelity of some vassal, as good a man
as any bishop or count, and perhaps better." But
when there were special reasons he would give several
benefices to one man ; as he did for instance to
Udalric, brother of the great Hildigard, the mother
of kings and emperors. Now Udalric, after Hildi-
gard's death, was deprived of his honours for a certain
offence ; and a buffoon thereupon said in the hearing
of the most merciful Charles : " Now has Udalric,
by the death of his sister, lost all his honours both

77

HOSPITALITY REWARDED

in east and west." Charles was touched by these
words and restored to him at once all his former
honours. He opened his hands, most widely and
liberally, when justice bade him, to certain holy
places, as will appear in the sequel.

14. There was a certain bishopric which lay full
in Charles's path when he journeyed, and which
indeed he could hardly avoid : and the bishop of
this place, always anxious to give satisfaction, put
everything that he had at Charles's disposal. But
once the emperor came quite unexpectedly and
the bishop in great anxiety had to fly hither and
thither like a swallow, and had not only the palaces
and houses but also the courts and squares swept
and cleaned : and then, tired and irritated, came
to meet him. The most pious Charles noticed this,
and after examining all the various details, he said
to the bishop : " My kind host, you always have
everything splendidly cleaned for my arrival." Then
the Bishop, as if divinely inspired, bowed his head
and grasped the king's never-conquered right hand,
and hiding his irritation, kissed it and said : " It
is but right, my lord, that, wherever you come, all
things should be thoroughly cleansed." Then Charles,
of all kings the wisest, understanding the state of
affairs said to him : " If I empty I can also fill." And
78

THE BISHOP'S CHEESES

he added : " You may have that estate which lies
close to your bishopric, and all your successors may
have it until the end of time."

15. In the same journey too he came to a bishop
who lived in a place through which he must needs
pass. Now on that day, being the sixth day of the
week, he was not willing to eat the flesh of beast
or bird ; and the bishop, being by reason of the
nature of the place unable to procure fish upon
the sudden, ordered some excellent cheese, rich and
creamy, to be placed before him. And the most
self-restrained Charles, with the readiness which he
showed everywhere and on all occasions, spared the
blushes of the bishop and required no better fare :
but taking up his knife cut off the skin, which he
thought unsavoury, and fell to on the white of the
cheese. Thereupon the bishop, who was standing
near like a servant, drew closer and said, " Why do
you do that, lord emperor ? You are throwing away
the very best part." Then Charles, who deceived
no one, and did not believe that anyone would
deceive him, on the persuasion of the bishop put
a piece of the skin in his mouth, and slowly ate it
and swallowed it like butter. Then approving of
the advice of the bishop, he said : " Very true, my
good host," and he added : " Be sure to send me
79

A NOVEL TRIBUTE

every year to Aix two cart-loads of just such cheeses."
The bishop was alarmed at the impossibility of the
task and, fearful of losing both his rank and his
office, he rejoined : — " My lord, I can procure the
cheeses, but I cannot tell which are of this quality
and which of another. Much I fear lest I fall under
your censure." Then Charles from whose penetra-
tion and skill nothing could escape, however new
or strange it might be, spoke thus to the bishop,
who from childhood had known such cheeses and
yet could not test them. " Cut them in two," he
said, " then fasten together with a skewer those
that you find to be of the right quality and keep
them in your cellar for a time and then send them
to me. The rest you may keep for yourself and
your clergy and your family." This was done for
two years and the king ordered the present of
cheeses to be taken in without remark : then in
the third year the bishop brought in person his
laboriously collected cheeses. But the most just
Charles pitied his labour and anxiety and added to the
bishopric an excellent estate whence he and his suc-
cessors might provide themselves with corn and wine.
1 6. As we have shown how the most wise Charles
exalted the humble, let us now show how he brought
low the proud. There was a bishop who sought
80

THE JEW AND THE BISHOP

above measure vanities and the fame of men. The
most cunning Charles heard of this and told a certain
Jewish merchant, whose custom it was to go to the
land of promise and bring from thence rare and
wonderful things to the countries beyond the sea, to
deceive or cheat this bishop in whatever way he could.
So the Jew caught an ordinary household mouse
and stuffed it with various spices, and then offered it
for sale to the bishop, saying that he had brought this
most precious never-before-seen animal from Judea.
The bishop was delighted with what he thought a
stroke of luck, and offered the Jew three pounds of
silver for the precious ware. Then said the Jew,
**A fine price indeed for so precious an article ! I
had rather throw it into the sea than let any man
have it at so cheap and shameful a price." So the
bishop, who had much wealth and never gave any-
thing to the poor, offered him ten pounds of silver for
the incomparable treasure. But the cunning rascal,
with pretended indignation, replied : " The God of
Abraham forbid that I should thus lose the fruit of
my labour and journeyings." Then our avaricious
bishop, all eager for the prize, offered twenty pounds.
But the Jew in high dudgeon wrapped up the mouse
in the most costly silk and made as if he would depart.
Then the bishop, as thoroughly taken in as he deserved

E.C. 81 F

THE PAINTED MOUSE

to be, offered a full measure of silver for the pricelcds
object. And so at last our trader yielded to his
entreaties with much show of reluctance : and, taking
the money, went to the emperor and told him every-
thing. A few days later the king called together all
the bishops and chief men of the province to hold
discourse with him ; and, after many other matters
had been considered, he ordered all that measure of
silver to be brought and placed in the middle of
the palace. Then thus he spoke and said : — " Fathers
and guardians, bishops of our Church, you ought to
minister to the poor, or rather to Christ in them, and
not to seek after vanities. But now you act quite
contrary to this ; and are vainglorious and avaricious
beyond all other men." Then he added : " One of
you has given a Jew all this silver for a painted mouse."
Then the bishop, who had been so wickedly deceived,
threw himself at Charles's feet and begged pardon for
his sin. Charles upbraided him in suitable words and
then allowed him to depart in confusion.

17. This same bishop was left to take care of Hildi-
gard, when the most warlike Charles was engaged in
campaigns against the Huns. He was so puffed up
by his intimacy with her that he had the audacity to
ask her to allow him to use the golden sceptre of the
incomparable Charles on festal days instead of his
82

THE SCEPTRE AS CROZIER

episcopal stafF. She deceived him cleverly, and said
that she dare not give it to anyone, but that she would
carry his request faithfully to the king. So, w^hen
Charles came back, she jestingly told him of the mad
request of the bishop. He kindly promised to do
what she wished and even more. So, when all
Europe, so to speak, had come together to greet
Charles after his victory over so mighty a people, he
pronounced these words in the hearing of small and
great : " Bishops should despise this world and in-
spire others by their example to seek after heavenly
things. But now they are misled by ambition beyond
all the rest of mankind ; and one of them not content
with holding the first episcopal see in Germany has
dared without my approval to claim my golden sceptre,
which I carry to signify my royal will, in order that
he might use it as his pastoral staff." The guilty man
acknowledged his sin, received pardon and retired.

1 8. Now, my Lord Emperor Charles, I much fear
that through my desire to obey your orders I may
incur the enmity of all who have taken vows and
especially of the highest clergy of all. But for all
this I do not greatly care, if only I be not deprived of
your protection.

Once that most religious Emperor Charles gave
orders that all bishops throughout his wide domains
83

PREACHING ENJOINED ON BISHOPS

should preach in the nave of their cathedral before a
certain day, which he appointed, under penalty of
being deprived of the episcopal dignity, if they
failed to comply with the order. — But why do I say
" dignity " when the apostle protests : " He that desires
a bishopric desires a good work " ? But in truth, most
serene of kings, I must confess to you that there is
great "dignity" in the office, but not the slightest
" good work " is required. Well, the aforementioned
bishop was at first alarmed at this command, because
gluttony and pride were all his learning, and he feared
that if he lost his bishopric he would lose at the same
time his soft living. So he invited two of the chiefs
of the palace on the festal day, and after the reading
of the lesson mounted the pulpit as though he were
going to address the people. All the people ran
together in wonder at so unexpected an occurrence,
except one poor red-headed fellow, who had his head
covered with clouts, because he had no hat, and was
foolishly ashamed of his red hair. Then the bishop
— bishop in name but not in deed — called to his
doorkeeper or rather his scario (whose dignity and
duties went by the name of the aedileship among the
ancient Romans) and said : " Bring me that man in
the hat who is standing there near the door of the
church." The doorkeeper made haste to obey,
84

THE RED-HEADED BOOR

seized the poor man and began to drag him towards
the bishop. But he feared some heavy penalty for
daring to stand in the house of God with covered
head, and struggled with all his might to avoid being
brought before the tribunal of the terrible judge. But
the bishop, looking from his perch, now addressing
his vassals and now chiding the poor knave, bawled
out and preached as follows: — "Here with him!
don't let him slip ! Willy-nilly you've got to come."
When at last force or fear brought him near, the
bishop cried : " Come forward ; nay, you must come
quite close." Then he snatched the head-covering
from his captive and cried to the people : — " Lo and
behold all ye people ; the boor is red-headed." Then
he returned to the altar and performed the ceremony,
or pretended to perform it.

When the mass was thus scrambled through his
guests passed into his hall, which was decorated with
many-coloured carpets, and cloths of all kinds ; and
there a magnificent banquet, served in gold and silver
and jewelled cups, was provided, calculated to tickle
the appetite of the fastidious or the well-fed. The
bishop himself sat on the softest of cushions, clad in
precious silks and wearing the imperial purple, so that
he seemed a king except for the sceptre and the title.
He was surrounded by troops of rich knights, in com-
85

THE BISHOP'S BANQUET

parison with whom the officers of the palace (nobles
though they were) of the unconquered Charles seemed
to themselves most mean. When they asked leave
to depart after this wonderful and more than royal
banquet he, desiring to show still more plainly his
magnificence and his glory, ordered skilled musicians
to come forward, the sound of whose voices could
soften the hardest hearts or turn to ice the swiftly
flowing waters of the Rhine. And at the same time
every kind of choice drink, subtly and variously com-
pounded, was offered them in bowls of gold and gems,
whose sheen was mixed with that of the flowers and
leaves with which they were crowned : but their
stomachs could contain no more so that the glasses
lay idle in their hands. Meanwhile pastry cooks and
sausage makers, servers and dressers offered preparations
of exquisite art to stimulate their appetite, though
their stomachs could contain no more : it was a
banquet such as was never offered even to the great
Charles himself.

When morning came and the bishop returned some
way towards soberness, he thought with fear of the
luxury that he had paraded before the servants of the
emperor. So he called them into his presence, loaded
them with presents worthy of a king, and implored
them to speak to the terrible Charles of the goodness
86

THE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT

and simplicity of his life ; and above all to tell him
how he had preached publicly before them in his
cathedral.

Upon their return Charles asked them why the
bishop had invited them. Thereupon they fell at
his feet and said : " Master, it was that he might
honour us as your representatives, far beyond our
humble deserts." " He is," they went on, " in every
way the best and the most faithful of bishops and
most worthy of the highest rank in the Church.
For, if you will trust our poor judgment, we profess
to your sublime majesty that we heard him preach in
his church in the most stirring fashion." Then the
emperor who knew the bishop's lack of skill pressed
them further as to the manner of his preaching ; and
they, perforce, revealed all. Then the emperor saw
that he had made an effort to say something rather
than disobey the imperial order ; and he allowed
him, in spite of his unworthiness, to retain the
bishopric.

19. Shortly after a young man, a relation of the
emperor's, sang, on the occasion of some festival, the
Allelulia admirably : and the Emperor turned to this
same bishop and said : " My clerk is singing very
well." But the stupid man, thought that he was
jesting and did not know that the clerk was the
87

POPE LEO AND THE ROMANS

emperor's relation ; and so he answered : " Any
clowTi in our countryside drones as well as that to
his oxen at their ploughing." At this vulgar answer
the emperor turned on him the lightning of his
flashing eyes and dashed him terror-stricken to the
very ground.

26. But though the rest of mankind may be
deceived by the wiles of the devil and his angels,
it is pleasant to consider the word of our Lord, who
in recognition of the bold confession of Saint Peter
said : — " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I
build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." Wherefore even in these times of
great peril and wickedness he has allowed the Church
to remain unshaken and unmoved.

Now since envy always rages among the envious so
it is customary and regular with the Romans to oppose
or rather to fight against all strong Popes, who are from
time to time raised to the apostolic see. Whence it
came to pass that certain of the Romans, themselves
blinded with envy, charged the above-mentioned
Pope Leo of holy memory with a deadly crime and
tried to blind him. But they were frightened and
held back by some divine impulse, and after trying in
vain to gouge out his eyes, they slashed them across
88

THE POPE'S APPEAL TO CHARLES

the middle with knives. The Pope had news of this
carried secretly by his servants to Michael, Emperor
of Constantinople ; but he refused all assistance say-
ing : " The Pope has an independent kingdom and
one higher than mine ; so he must act his own
revenge upon his enemies." Thereupon the holy
Leo invited the unconquered Charles to come to
Rome ; following in this the ordinance of God, that,
as Charles was already in very deed ruler and emperor
over many nations, so also by the authority of the
apostolic see he might have now the name of Em-
peror, Cassar and Augustus. Now Charles, being
always ready to march and in warlike array, though
he knew nothing at all of the cause of the summons,
came at once with his attendants and his vassals ;
himself the head of the world he came to the city
that had once been the head of the world. And
when the abandoned people heard of his sudden
coming, at once, as sparrows hide themselves when
they hear the voice of their master, so they fled and
hid in various hiding-places, cellars, and dens. No-
where however under heaven could they escape from
his energy and penetration ; and soon they were
captured and brought in chains to the Cathedral of
St Peter. Then the undaunted Father Leo took the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and held it over his
89

THE APPEAL TO ST PANCRAS

head, and then in the presence of Charles and his
knights, in presence also of his persecutors, he swore
in the following words : — " So on the day of the great
judgment may I partake in the promises, as I am
innocent of the charge that is falsely laid against me."
Then many of the prisoners asked to be allowed to
swear upon the tomb of St Peter that they also were
innocent of the charge laid against them. But the
Pope knew their falseness and said to Charles : " Do
not, I pray you, unconquered servant of God, give
assent to their cflnning ; for well they know that
Saint Peter is always ready to forgive. But seek
among the tombs of the martyrs the stone upon which
is written the name of St Pancras, that boy of thirteen
years ; and if they will swear to you in his name you
may know that you have them fast." It was done
as the Pope ordered. And when many people drew
near to take the oath upon this tomb, straightway
some fell back dead and some were seized by the
devil and went mad. Then the terrible Charles
said to his servants : " Take care that none of them
escapes." Then he condemned all who had been
taken prisoner either to some kind of death or to
perpetual imprisonment.

As Charles stayed in Rome for a few days, the
bishop of the apostolic see called together all who
90

CHARLES DECLARED EMPEROR

would come from the neighbouring districts and then,
in their presence and in the presence of all the knights
of the unconquered Charles, he declared him to be
Emperor and Defender of the Roman Church. Now
Charles had no guess of what was coming ; and,
though he could not refuse what seemed to have
been divinely preordained for him, nevertheless he
received his new title with no show of thankfulness.
For first he thought that the Greeks would be fired
by greater envy than ever and would plan some
harm against the kingdom of the Franks ; or at least
would take greater precautions against a possible
sudden attack of Charles to subdue their kingdom,
and add it to his own empire. And further the
magnanimous Charles recalled how ambassadors
from the King of Constantinople had come to
him and had told him that their master wished
to be his loyal friend ; and that, if they became
nearer neighbours, he had determined to treat him
as his son and relieve the poverty of Charles from
bis resources : and how, upon hearing this, Charles
was unable to contain any longer the fiery ardour
of his heart and had exclaimed : " Oh, would that
pool were not between us ; for then we would either
divide between us the wealth of the east, or we
would hold it in common."
91

POPE LEO CURED

But the Lord, who is both the giver and the
restorer of health, so showed his favour to the inno-
cency of the blessed Leo that he restored his eyes
to be brighter than they were before that wicked
and cruel cutting ; except only that, in token of
his virtue, a bright scar (like a very fine thread)
marked his eyelids.

27, The foolish may accuse me of folly because
just now I made Charles say that the sea, which
that mighty emperor called playfully a little pool,
lay between us and the Greeks ; but I must tell my
critics that at that date the Bulgarians and the Huns
and many other powerful races barred the way to
Greece with forces yet unattacked and unbroken.
Soon afterwards, it is true, the most warlike Charles
either hurled them to the ground, as he did the
Slavs and the Bulgars ; or else utterly destroyed them,
as was the case with the Huns, that race of iron
and adamant. And I will go on to speak of these
exploits as soon as I have given a very slight account
of the wonderful buildings which Charles (Emperor,
Augustus and Caesar), following the example of the
all-wise Solomon, built at Aix, either for God, or
for himself, or for the bishops, abbots, counts and
all guests that came to him from all quarters of
the world.

92

THE CATHEDRAL OF AIX

28. When the most energetic Emperor Charles
could rest awhile he sought not sluggish case, but
laboured in the service of God. He desired there-
fore to build upon his native soil a cathedral finer
even than the works of the Romans, and soon his
purpose was realised. For the building thereof he
summoned architects and skilled workmen from all
lands beyond the seas ; and above all he placed a
certain knavish abbot whose competence for the
execution of such tasks he knew, though he knew
not his character. When the august emperor had
gone on a certain journey, this abbot allowed anyone
to depart home who would pay sufficient money :
and those who could noe purchase their discharge,
or were not allowed to return by their masters,
he burdened with unending labours, as the Egyptians
once afflicted the people of God. By such knavish
tricks he gathered together a great mass of gold
and silver and silken robes ; and, exhibiting in his
chamber only the least precious articles, he concealed
in boxes and chests all the richest treasures. Well,
one day there was brought to him on a sudden the
news that his house was on fire. He ran, in great
excitement, and pushed his way through the bursting
flames into the strong room where his boxes, stuffed
with gold, were kept : he was not satisfied to take
93

TANCHO, THE BELL-FOUNDER

one away, but would only leave after he had loaded
his servants with a box a piece. And as he was
going out a huge beam, dislodged by the fire, fell
on the top of him ; and then his body was burnt by
temporal and his soul by eternal flames. Thus did
the judgment of God keep watch for the most re-
ligious Emperor Charles, when his attention was
withdrawn by the business of his kingdom.

29. There was another workman, the most skilled
of all in the working of brass and glass. Now this
man (his name was Tancho and he was at one time
a monk of St Gall) made a fine bell and the emperor
was delighted with its tone. Then said that most
distinguished, but most unfortunate worker in brass :
**Lord emperor, give orders that a great weight of
copper be brought to me that I may refine it ; and
instead of tin give me as much silver as I shall need —
a hundred pounds at least ; and I will cast such a bell
for you that this will seem dumb in comparison to
it." Then Charles, the most liberal of monarchs,
who " if riches abounded set not his heart upon
them " readily gave the necessary orders, to the great
delight of the knavish monk. He smelted and re-
fined the brass ; but he used, not silver, but the purest
sort of tin, and soon he made a bell, much better
than the one that the emperor had formerly admired,
94

TANCHO'S PUNISHMENT

and, when he had tested it, he took it to the emperor,
who admired its exquisite shape and ordered the
clapper to be inserted and the bell to be hung in
the bell-tower. That was soon done ; and then the
warden of the church, the attendants and even the
boys of the place tried, one after the other, to make
the bell sound. But all was in vain ; and so at last
the knavish maker of the bell came up, seized the
rope, and pulled at the bell. When, lo and behold !
down from on high came the brazen mass ; fell on
the very head of the cheating brass-founder ; killed
him on the spot ; and passed straight through his
carcass and crashed to the ground carrying his bowels
with it. When the aforementioned weight of silver
was found, the most righteous Charles ordered it to
be distributed among the poorest servants of the
palace.

30. Now it was a rule at that time that if the
imperial mandate had gone out that any task was to
be accomplished, whether it was the making of
bridges, or ships or causeways, or the cleansing or
paving or filling up of muddy roads, the counts might
execute the less important work by the agency of
their deputies or servants ; but for the greater enter-
prises, and especially such as were of an original kind,
no duke or count, no bishop or abbot could possibly
95

THE BUILDINGS AT AIX

get himself excused. The arches of the great bridge
at Mainz bear witness to this ; for all Europe, so to
speak, laboured at this work in orderly co-operation,
and then the knavery of a few rascals, who wanted to
steal merchandise from the ships that passed under-
neath, destroyed it.

If any churches, within the royal domain, wanted
decorating with carved ceilings or wall paintings, the
neighbouring bishops and abbots had to take charge
of the task ; but if new churches had to be built then
all bishops, dukes and counts, all abbots and heads of
royal churches and all who were in occupation of any
public office had to work at it with never-ceasing
labour from its foundations to its roof. You may see
the proof of the emperor's skill in the cathedral at
Aix, which seems a work half human and half divine ;
you may see it in the mansions of the various
dignitaries which, by Charles's device, were built
round his own palace in such a way that from the
windows of his chamber he could see all who went
out or came in, and what they were doing, while
they believed themselves free from observation ; you
may see it in all the houses of his nobles, which were
lifted on high from the ground in such a fashion that
beneath them the retainers of his nobles and the
servants of those retainers and every class of man
96

A KNAVISH STEWARD

could be protected from rain or snow, from cold or
heat, while at the same time they were not concealed
from the eyes of the most vigilant Charles. But I
am a prisoner within my monastery walls and your
ministers are free ; and I will therefore leave to them
the task of describing the cathedral, while I return to
speak of how the judgment of God was made mani-
fest in the building of it.

31. The most careful Charles ordered certain
nobles of the neighbourhood to support with all their
power the workmen whom he had set to their task,
and to supply everything that they required for it.
Those workmen who came from a distance he gave
in charge to a certain Liutfrid, the steward of his
palace, telling him to feed and clothe them and also
most carefully to provide anything that was wanting
for the building. The steward obeyed these com-
mands for the short time that Charles remained in
that place ; but after his departure neglected them
altogether, and by cruel tortures collected such a mass
of money from the poor workmen that Dis and Pluto
would require a camel to carry his ill-gotten gains to
hell. Now this was found out in the following way.

The most glorious Charles used to go to lauds at
night in a long and flowing cloak, which is now
neither used nor known : then when the morning
E.C. 97 G

THE CLERK'S DREAM

chant was over he would go back to his chamber and
dress himself in his imperial robes. All the clerks used
to come ready dressed to the nightly office, and then
they would wait for the emperor's arrival, and for the
celebration of mass either in the church or in the
porch which then was called the outer court. Some-
times they would remain awake, or if anyone had
need of sleep he would lean his head on his com-
panion's breast. Now one poor clerk, who used
often to go to Liutfrid's house to get his clothes (rags
I ought to call them) washed and mended, was
sleeping with his head on a friend's knees, when he
saw in a vision a giant, taller than the adversary of
Saint Anthony, come from the king's court and hurry
over the bridge, that spanned a little stream, to the
house of the steward ; and he led with him an
enormous camel, burdened with baggage of inestim-
able value. He was, in his dream, struck with
amazement and he asked the giant who he was and
whither he wished to go. And the giant made
answer : " I come from the house of the king and
I go to the house of Liutfrid ; and I shall place
Liutfrid on these packages and I shall take him and
them down with me to hell."

Thereupon the clerk woke up, in a fright lest
Charles should find him sleeping. He lifted up
98

LIUTFRID'S DEATH

his head and urged the others to wakefulness and
cried : " Hear, I pray you, my dream. I seemed to
see another Polyphemus, who walked on the earth
and yet touched the stars, and passed through the
Ionian Sea without wetting his sides. I saw him
hasten from the royal court to the house of Liutfrid
with a laden camel. And when I asked the cause
of his journey, he said : * I am going to put Liutfrid
on the top of the load, and then take him to hell.' "

The story was hardly finished when there came
from that house, which they all knew so well, a girl
who fell at their feet and asked them to remember
her friend Liutfrid in their prayers. And, when
they asked the reason for her words, she said : " My
lord, he went out but now in good health, and, as
he stayed a long time, we went in search of him,
and found him dead."

When the emperor heard of his sudden death, and
was informed by the workmen and his servants of his
grasping avarice, he ordered his treasures to be ex-
amined. They were found to be of priceless worth,
and when the emperor, after God the greatest of
judges, found by what wickedness they had been
collected he gave this public judgment : ** Nothing
of that which was gained by fraud must go to
the liberation of his soul from purgatory. Let his
99

STRANGE DEATH OF A DEACON

wealth be divided among th« workmen of this our
building, and the poorer servants of our palace."

32. Now I must speak of two things which
happened in that same place. There was a deacon
who followed the Italian custom and resisted the
course of nature. For he went to the baths and
had himself closely shaved, polished his skin, cleaned
his nails, and had his hair cut as short as if it had been
done by a lathe. Then he put on linen and a white
robe, and then, because he must not miss his turn,
or rather desiring to make a fine show, he proceeded
to read the gospel before God and His holy angels,
and in presence of the most watchful king ; his heart
in the meantime being unclean, as events were to show.
For while he was reading, a spider came down from
the ceiling by a thread, hooked itself on to the
deacon's head, and then ran up again. The most
observant Charles saw this happen a second and a
third time, but pretended not to notice it, and the
clerk, because of the emperor's presence, dare not
keep off the spider with his hand, and moreover did
not know that it was a spider attacking him, but
thought that it was merely the tickling of a fly.
So he finished the reading of the gospel, and also
went through the rest of the office. But when he
left the cathedral he soon began to swell up, and
100

THE AUTHOR'S LEARNING

died within an hour. But the most scrupulous
Charles, inasmuch as he had seen his danger and had
not prevented it, thought himself guilty of man-
slaughter arid did public penance.

33. Now the most glorious Charles had in his
suite a certain clerk who was unsurpassed in every
respect. And of him that was said which was never
said of any other mortal man : for it was said that
he excelled all mankind in knowledge of both sacred
and profane literature ; in song whether ecclesiastical
or festive ; in the composition and rendering of
poems and in the sweet fulness of his voice and
in the incredible pleasure which he gave. [Other
men have had drawbacks to compensate for their
excellences] : for Moses, the lawgiver filled with
wisdom by the teaching of God, complains neverthe-
less that " he is not eloquent " but slow of speech,
and " of a slow tongue," and sent therefore Joshua to
take counsel with Eleasar, the high priest, who by
the authority of the God, who dwelt within him,
commanded even the heavenly bodies : and our
Master Christ did not allow John the Baptist to
work any miracle while in the body, though he bare
witness that " among them that are born of women
there hath not arisen a greater " than he : and He
bade Peter revere the wisdom of Paul, though Peter

lOI

A CLERK'S DISAPPEARANCE

by the revelation of the Father recognised Him and
received from Him the keys of the kingdom of
heaven : and He allovv'ed John His best-loved disciple
to fall into so great a terror that he did not dare to
come to the place of His sepulchre, though weak
women paid many visits to it.

But as the scriptures say : " To him that hath shall be
given" ; and those, who know from whom they have
the little which they possess, succeed ; while he who
knows not the giver of his possessions, or, if he knows
it, gives not due thanks to the Giver, loses all.
For, while this wonderful clerk was standing in
friendly fashion near the most glorious emperor,
suddenly he disappeared. The unconquered Em-
peror Charles was dumfoundercd at so unheard of
and incredible an occurrence : but, after he had
made the sign of the cross, he found in the place
where the clerk had stood something that seemed to
be a foul-smelling coal, which had just ceased to
burn.

34. The mention of the trailing garment that the
emperor wore at night has diverted us from his
military array. Now the dress and equipment of
the old Franks was as follows : — Their boots were
gilt on the outside and decorated with laces three
cubits long. The thongs round the legs were red,
and under them they wore upon their legs and thighs
102

DRESS OF THE FRANKS

linen of the same colour, artistically embroidered.
The laces stretched above these linen garments and
above the crossed thongs, sometimes under them and
sometimes over them, now in front of the leg
and now behind. Then came a rich linen shirt
and then a buckled sword-belt. The great sword
was surrounded first with a sheath, then with a
covering of leather, and lastly with a linen wrap
hardened with shining wax.

The last part of their dress was a white or blue
cloak in the shape of a double square ; so that when
it was placed upon the shoulders it touched the feet
in front and behind, but at the side hardly came
down to the knees. In the right hand was carried
a stick of apple-wood, with regular knots, strong and
terrible ; a handle of gold or silver decorated with
figures was fastened to it. I myself am lazy and
slower than a tortoise, and so never got into Frankland ;
but I saw the King of the Franks in the monastery of
Saint Gall, glittering in the dress that I have described.

But the habits of man change ; and when the
Franks, in their wars with the Gauls, saw the latter
proudly wearing little striped cloaks, they dropped
their national customs and began to imitate the Gauls.
At first the strictest of emperors did not forbid the
new habit, because it seemed more suitable for war :
but, when he found that the Frisians were abusing
103

THE MONK'S AUTHORITIES

his permission, and were selling these little cloaks at
the same price as the old large ones, he gave orders
that no one should buy from them, at the usual price,
anything but the old cloaks, broad, wide and long :
and he added : " What is the good of those little
napkins ? I cannot cover myself with them in bed
and when I am on horseback I cannot shield myself
with them against wind and rain."

In the preface to this little work I said I would
follow three authorities only. But as the chief of
these, Werinbert, died seven days ago and to-day
(the thirteenth of May) we, his bereaved sons and
disciples, are going to pay solemn honour to his
memory, here I will bring this book to an end,
concerning the piety of Lord Charles and his care
of the Church, which has been taken from the lips
of this same clerk, Werinbert.

The next book which deals with the wars of the
most fierce Charles is founded on the narrative of
Werinbert's father, Adalbert. He followed his master
Kerold in the Hunnish, Saxon and Slavic wars,
and when I was quite a child, and he a very old
man, I lived in his house and he used often to tell
me the story of these events. I was most unwilling
to listen and would often run away ; but in the
end by sheer force he made me hear.
104

BOOK II

CONCERNING THE WARS AND MILITARY
EXPLOITS OF CHARLES

As I am going to found this narrative on the story
told by a man of the world, who had little skill in
letters, I think it will be well that I should first
recount something of earlier history on the credit
of written books. When Julian, whom God hated,
vw? slain in the Persian war by a blow from heaven,
not only did the transmarine provinces fall away
from the Roman Empire, but also the neighbouring
provinces of Pannonia, Noricum, Rhaetia, or in other
words the Germans and the Franks or Gauls. Then
too the kings of the Franks (or Gauls) began to
decay in power because they had slain Saint Didier,
Bishop of Vienna, and had expelled those most holy
visitors, Columban and Gall. Whereupon the race
of the Huns, who had already often ravaged Francia
105

THE HUNNISH RINGS

and Aquitania (that is to say the Gauls and the
Spains), now poured out with all their forces, de-
vastated the whole land like a wide-sweeping con-
flagration, and then carried off all their spoils to
a very safe hiding-place. Now Adalbert, whom I
have already mentioned, used to explain the nature
of this hiding-place as follows : — " The land of the
Huns," he would say, " was surrounded by nine
rings." I could not think of any rings except
our ordinary wicker rings for sheepfolds ; and so
I asked : " What, in the name of wonder, do you
mean, sire ? " " Well," he said, " it was fortified
by nine hedges." I could not think of any hedges
except those that protect our cornfields, so again
I asked and he answered : " One ring was as wide,
that is, it contained as much within it, as all the
country between Tours and Constance. It was
fashioned with logs of oak and ash and yew and
was twenty feet wide and the same in height. All
the space within was filled with hard stones and bind-
ing clay ; and the surface of these great ramparts was
covered with sods and grass. Within the limits of
the ring shrubs were planted of such a kind that,
when lopped and bent down, they still threw out
twigs and leaves. Then between these ramparts
hamlets and houses were so arranged that a man's
1 06

DESTRUCTION OF THE HUNS

voice could be made to reach from one to the other.
And opposite to the houses, at intervals in those
unconquerable walls, were constructed doors of no
great size ; and through these doors the inhabitants
from far and near would pour out on marauding
expeditions. The second ring was like the first
and was distant twenty Teutonic miles (or forty
Italian) from the third ring : and so on to the
ninth : though of course the successive rings were
each much narrower than the preceding one. But
in all the circles the estates and houses were every-
where so arranged that the peal of the trumpet
would carry the news of any event from one to the
other."

For two hundred years and more the Huns had
swept the wealth of the western states within these
fortifications, and as the Goths and Vandals were
disturbing the repose of the world at the same time
the western world was almost turned into a desert.
But the most unconquerable Charles so subdued them
in eight years that he allowed scarcely any traces
of them to remain. He withdrew his hand from
the Bulgarians, because after the destruction of
the Huns they did not seem likely to do any
harm to the kingdom of the Franks. All the
booty of the Huns, which he found in Pannonia,
107

SLEEPY GUARDS

he divided most liberally among the bishoprics
and the monasteries.

2. In the Saxon war in which he was engaged
in person for some considerable time, two private
men (whose names I know, but modesty forbids
me to give them) organised a storming party, and
destroyed with great courage the walls of a very
strong city and fortification. When the most just
Charles saw this he made one of them, with the
consent of his master Kerold, commander of the
country between the Rhine and the Italian Alps
and the other he enriched with gifts of land.

3. At the same time there were the sons of two
nobles whose duty it was to watch at the door of the
king's tent. But one night they lay as dead, soaked
in liquor ; while Charles, wakeful as usual, went the
round of the camp, and came back to his tent without
anyone having noticed him. When morning came
he called to him the chiefs of his kingdom, and asked
them what punishment seemed due to those who
betrayed the King of the Franks into the hands ot
the enemy. Then these nobles, quite ignorant of
what had occurred, declared that such a man was
worthy of death. But Charles merely upbraided
them bitterly and let them go unharmed.

4. There were also with him two bastards, the

108

EMBASSY TO CONSTANTINOPLE

children of a concubine. As they had fought in
battle most bravely, the emperor asked them whose
children they were, and where they were born.
When he was informed of the facts, he called them
to his tent at midday and said : "My good fellows,
I want you to serve me, and me only." They ex-
claimed that they were there for no other purpose
than to take even the lowest place in his service.
"Well then," said Charles, "you must serve in my
chamber." They concealed their indignation and
said they would be glad to do so ; but soon they
seized the moment when the emperor had begun to
sleep soundly, and then rushed out to the camp of
the enemy and, in the fray that followed, wiped out
the taint of servitude in their own blood and that of
the enemy.

5. But occupations such as these did not prevent
the high-souled emperor from sending frequent mes-
sengers, carrying letters and presents, to the kings of
the most distant regions ; and they .sent him in turn
whatever honours their lands could bestow. From
the theatre of the Saxon war he sent messengers
to the King of Constantinople ; who asked them
whether the kingdom of " his son Charles " was at peace
or was being invaded by the neighbouring peoples.
Then the leader of the embassy made answer that
109

A CHURLISH BISHOP

peace reigned everywhere, except only that a certain
race called the Saxons were disturbing the territories
of the Franks by frequent raids. Whereupon the
sluggish and unwarlike Greek king answered :
" Pooh ! why should my son take so much trouble
about a petty enemy that possesses neither fame nor
valour ? I will give you the Saxon race and all that
belong to it." When the envoy on his return gave
this message to the most warlike Charles, he smiled
and said : " The king would have shown greater
kindness to you if he had given you a leg-wrap for
your long journey."

6. I must not conceal the wise answer which the
same envoy gave during his embassy to Greece.
He came with his companions to one of the royal
towns in the autumn ; the party was divided for
entertainment, and the envoy of whom I speak was
quartered on a certain bishop. This bishop was
given up to fasting and prayer, and left the envoy to
perish of almost continuous hunger : but, with the
first smile of spring, he presented the envoy to the
king. The king asked him his opinion of the
bishop. Then the envoy sighed from the very
bottom of his heart and said : " That bishop of yours
reaches the highest point of holiness that can be
attained to without God." The king was amazed,
no

GREEKS OUTWITTED

and said : " What ! can a man be holy without
God ? " Then said the envoy : " It is written, * God
is love,' and in that grace he is entirely lacking."

Thereupon the King of Constantinople invited him
to his banquet and placed him among his nobles.
Now these had a law that no guest at the king's
table, whether a native or a foreigner, should turn
over any animal or part of an animal : he must eat
only the upper part of whatever was placed before
him. Now, a river fish, covered with spice, was
brought and placed on the dish before him. He
knew nothing of the custom and turned the fish over
whereupon all the nobles rose up and cried : " Master,
you are dishonoured, as no king ever was before you."
Then the king groaned and said to our envoy : " I
cannot resist them : you must be put to death at
once : but ask me any other favour you like and I
will grant it." He thought awhile and then in the
hearing of all pronounced these words : " I pray you,
lord emperor, that in accordance with your promise
you will grant me one small petition." And the
king said : "Ask what you will, and you shall have
it : except only that I may not give you your life,
for that is against the law of the Greeks." Then
said the envoy : " With my dying breath I ask one
&vour ; let everj'one who saw me turn that fish over
III

DUKE HUGO

be deprived of his eyes." The king was amazed at
the stipulation, and swore, by Christ, that he had seen
nothing, but had only trusted the word of others.
Then the queen began to excuse herself: "By the
beneficent Mother of God, the Holy Mary, I noticed
nothing." Then the other nobles, in their desire to
escape from the danger, swore, one by the keeper of
the keys of heaven, and another by the apostle of the
Gentiles, and all the rest by the virtue of the angels
and the companies of the saints, that they were be-
yond the reach of the stipulation. And so the clever
Frank beat the empty-headed Greeks in their own
land and came home safe and sound.

A few years later the unwearied Charles sent to
Greece a certain bishop remarkable both for his
physical and mental gifts, and with him the most
noble Duke Hugo. After a long delay they were at
last brought into the presence of the king and then
sent about to all manner of places. But at last they
got their dismissal and returned, after paying heavily
for their journey by sea and land.

Soon afterwards the Greek king sent his envoy to
the most glorious Charles. It so happened that the
bishop and the duke whom I have mentioned were
just then with the emperor. When it was announced
that the envoys were coming they advised the most

112

GREEK ENVOYS AND CHARLES

wise Charles to have them led round through moun-
tains and deserts, so that they should only come into
the emperor's presence when their clothes had been
worn and wasted, and their money was entirely
spent.

This was done ; and, when at last they arrived, the
bishop and his comrade bade the count of the stables
take his seat on a high throne in the midst of his
underlings, so that it was impossible to believe him
anyone lower than the emperor. When the envoys
saw him they fell upon the ground and wanted to
worship him. But they were prevented by the
ministers and forced to go farther. Then they saw
the count of the palace presiding over a gathering of
the nobles and again they thought it was the emperor
and flung themselves to earth. But those who were
present drove them forward with blows and said :
" That is not the emperor." Next they saw the
master of the royal table surrounded by his noble
band of servants ; and again they fell to the ground
thinking that it was the emperor. Driven thence
they found the chamberlains of the emperor and
their chief in council together ; and then they did
not doubt but that they were in the presence of the
first of living men. But this man too denied that he
was what they took him for ; and yet he promised

E.C. 113 H

CHARLES'S SPLENDOUR

that he would use his influence with the nobles of
the palace, so that if possible the envoys might come
into the presence of the most august emperor. Then
there came servants from the imperial presence to
introduce them with full honours. Now Charles,
the most gracious of kings, was standing by an open
window leaning upon Bishop Heitto, for that was the
name of the bishop who had been sent to Constan-
tinople. The emperor was clad in gems and gold
and glittered like the sun at its rising : and round
about him stood, as it were the chivalry of heaven,
three young men, his sons, who have since been
made partners in the kingdom ; his daughters and
their mother decorated with wisdom and beauty as
well as with pearls ; leaders of the Church, unsur-
passed in dignity and virtue ; abbots distinguished
for their high birth and their sanctity ; nobles, like
Joshua when he appeared in the camp of Gilgal ;
and an army like that which drove back the Syrians
and Assyrians out of Samaria. So that if David had
been there he might well have sung : " Kings of the
earth and all people ; princes and all judges of the
earth ; both young men and maidens ; old men
and children let them praise the name of the Lord."
Then the envoys of the Greeks were astonished ;
their spirit left them and their courage failed ;
114

THE ENVOYS' TERROR

speechless and lifeless they fell upon the ground.
But the most kindly emperor raised them, and tried
to cheer them with encouraging words. At last life
returned to them ; but when they saw Heitto, whom
they had once despised and rejected, now in so great
honour, again they grovelled on the ground in terror ;
until the king swore to them by the King of Heaven
that he would do them no harm. They took heart
at this promise and began to act with a little more
confidence ; and so home they went and never came
back again.

7. And here I must repeat that the most illustrious
Charles had men of the greatest cleverness in all
offices. When the morning lauds had been cele-
brated before the emperor on the octave of the
Epiphany, the Greeks proceeded privately to sing to
God in their own language psalms with the same
melody and the same subject matter as " Feterem
hominem " and the following words in our missal.
Thereupon the emperor ordered one of his chaplains,
who understood the Greek tongue, to adopt that
psalm in Latin to the same melody, and to take
special care that a separate syllable corresponded to
every separate note, so that the Latin and Greek
should resemble one another as far as the nature
of the two languages allowed. So it came to pass

A GREEK ORGAN

that all of them have been written in the same
rhythm, and in one of them conteruit has been sub-
stituted for "conirivit"

These same Greek envoys brought with them every
kind of organ, as well as other instruments of various
kinds. All of these were covertly inspected by the
workmen of the most wise Charles, and then exactly
reproduced. The chief of these was that musicians'
organ, wherein the great chests were made of brass :
and bellows of ox-hide blew through pipes of brass,
and the bass was like the roaring of the thunder,
and in sweetness it equalled the tinkling of lyre or
cymbal. But I must not, here and now, speak of
where it was set up, and how long it lasted, and
how it perished at the same time as other losses fell
upon the state.

8. About the same time also envoys of the Persians
were sent to him. They knew not where Frank-
land lay ; but because of the fame of Rome, over
which they knew that Charles had rule, they thought
it a great thing when they were able to reach the
coast of Italy. They explained the reason of their
journey to the Bishops of Campania and Tuscany,
of Emilia and Liguria, of Burgundy and Gaul and
to the abbots and counts of those regions ; but by
all they were either deceitfully handled or else
ii6

THE PERSIAN ENVOYS

actually driven off; so that a whole year had gone
round before, weary and footsore with their long
journey, they reached Aix at last and saw Charles,
the most renowned of kings by reason of his virtues.
They arrived in the last week of Lent, and, on their
arrival being made known to the emperor, he post-
poned their presentation until Easter Eve. Then
when that incomparable monarch was dressed with
incomparable magnificence for the chief of festivals,
he ordered the introduction of the envoys of that
race that had once held the whole world in awe.
But they were so terrified at the sight of the
most magnificent Charles that one might think they
had never seen king or emperor before. He received
them however most kindly, and granted them this
privilege — that they might go wherever they had a
mind to, even as one of his own children, and
examine everything and ask what questions and
make what inquiries they chose. They jumped
with joy at this favour, and valued the privilege of
clinging close to Charles, of gazing upon him, of
admiring him, more than all the wealth of the
east.

They went up into the ambulatory that runs
round the nave of the cathedral and looked down
upon the clergy and the nobles ; then they re-
117

"HERE ARE MEN OF GOLD"

turned to the emperor, and, by reason of the great-
ness of their joy, they could not refrain from laughing
aloud ; and they clapped their hands and said : —
" We have seen only men of clay before : here are
men of gold." Then they went to the nobles,
one by one, and gazed with wonder upon arms
and clothes that were strange to them ; and then
came back to the emperor, whom they regarded
with wonder still greater. They passed that night
and the next Sunday continuously in church ; and,
upon the most holy day itself, they were invited
by the most munificent Charles to a splendid
banquet, along with the nobles of Frankland and
Europe. There they were so struck with amaze-
ment at the strangeness of everything that they
had hardly eaten anything at the end of the
banquet.

" But when the Morn, leaving Tithonus' bed,
Illumined all the land with Phcebus' torch "

then Charles, who would never endure idleness and
sloth, went out to the woods to hunt the bison
and the urochs ; and made preparations to take the
Persian envoys with him. But when they saw the
immense animals they were stricken with a mighty
fear and turned and fled. But the undaunted hero
ii8

A HUNTING SCENE

Charles, riding on a high-mettled charger, drew
near to one of these animals and drawing his
sword tried to cut through its neck. But he
missed his aim, and the monstrous beast ripped
the boot and leg-thongs of the emperor ; and,
slightly wounding his calf with the tip of its horn,
made him limp slightly : after that, furious at the
failure of its stroke, it fled to the shelter of a valley,
which was thickly covered with stones and trees.
Nearly all his servants wanted to take off their own
hose to give to Charles, but he forbade it saying :
"I mean to go in this fashion to Hildigard."' Then
Isambard, the son of Warin (the same Warin that
persecuted your patron Saint Othmar), ran after the
beast and not daring to approach him more closely,
threw his lance and pierced him to the heart between
the shoulder and the wind-pipe, and brought the
beast yet warm to the emperor. He seemed to
pay no attention to. the incident ; but gave the
carcass to his companions and went home. But
then he called the queen and showed her how
his leg-coverings were torn, and said : " What does
the man deserve who freed me from the enemy
that did this to me ? " She made answer : " He
deserves the highest boon." Then the emperor
told the whole story and produced the enormoui
119

PERSIAN PRESENTS

horns of the beast in witness of his truth : so that
the empress sighed and wept and beat her breast.
But when she heard that it was Isambard, who had
saved him from this terrible enemy, Isambard, who
was in ill favour with the emperor and who had
been deprived of all his offices — she threw herself
at his feet and induced him to restore all that had
been taken from him ; and a largess was given
to him besides.

These same Persian envoys brought the emperor
an elephant, monkeys, balsam, nard, unguents of
various kinds, spices, scents and many kinds of drugs :
in such profusion that it seemed as if the east had
been left bare that the west might be filled. They
came by-and-by to stand on very familiar terms
with the emperor ; and one day, when they were
in a specially merry mood and a little heated with
strong beer, they spoke in jest as follows : — " Sir
emperor, your power is indeed great ; but much
less than the report of it which is spread through
all the kingdoms of the east." When he heard this
he concealed his deep displeasure and asked jestingly
of them : " Why do you say that, my children ?
How did that idea get into your heads ? " Then
they went back to the beginning and told him every-
thing that had happened to them in the lands beyond

I20

TREATMENT OF THE ENVOYS

the sea ; and they said : — " We Persians and the
Medes, Armenians, Indians, Parthians, Elamites,
and all the inhabitants of the east fear you much
more than our own ruler Haroun. And the Mace-
donians and all the Greeks (how shall we express it ?)
they are beginning to fear your overwhelming great-
ness more than the waves of the Ionian Sea. And
the inhabitants of all the islands through which we
passed were as ready to obey you, and as much
devoted to your service, as if they had been reared
in your palace and loaded with your favours. But
the nobles of your own kingdom, it seems to us,
care very little about you except in your presence :
for when we came as strangers to them, and begged
them to show us some kindness for the love of you,
to whom we desired to make our way, they gave
no heed to us and sent us away empty-handed."
Then the emperor deposed all counts and abbots,
through whose territories those envoys had come,
from all the offices that they held ; and fined the
bishops in a huge sum of money. Then he ordered
the envoys to be taken back to their own country
with all care and honour.

9. There came to him also envoys from the King
of the Africans, bringing a Marmorian lion and a
Numidian bear, with, Spanish iron and Tyrian
121

FOREIGN RELATIONS

purple, and other noteworthy products of those
regions. The most munificent Charles knew that
the king and all the inhabitants of Africa were
oppressed by constant poverty ; and so, not only
on this occasion but all through his life, he made
them presents of the wealth of Europe, corn and
wine and oil, and gave them liberal support ; and
thus he kept them constantly loyal and obedient
to himself, and received from them a considerable
tribute.

Soon after the unwearied emperor sent to the
emperor of the Persians horses and mules from
Spain ; Frisian robes, white, grey, red and blue ;
which in Persia, he was told, were rarely seen and
highly prized. Dogs too he sent him of remarkable
swiftness and fierceness, such as the King of Persia
had desired, for the hunting and catching of lions
and tigers. The King of Persia cast a careless eye
over the other presents, but asked the envoys what
wild beasts or animals these dogs were accustomed
to fight with. He was told that they would pull
down quickly anything they were set on to.
"Well," he said, "experience will test that." Next
day the shepherds were heard crying loudly as they
fled from a lion. When the noise came to the
palace of the king, he said to the envoys ; " Now,

132

HAROUN PRAISES CHARLES

my friends of Frankland, mount your horses and
follow me." Then they eagerly followed after
the king as though they had never known toil or
weariness. When they came in sight of the lion,
though he was yet at a distance, the satrap of the
satraps said to them : " Now set your dogs on to
the lion." They obeyed and eagerly galloped
forward ; the German dogs caught the Persian lion,
and the envoys slew him with swords of northern
metal, which had already been tempered in the blood
of the Saxons.

At this sight Haroun, the bravest inheritor of that
name, understood the superior might of Charles from
very small indications, and thus broke out in his
praise : — " Now I know that what I heard of my
brother Charles is true : how that by the frequent
practice of hunting, and by the unwearied training
of his body and mind, he has acquired the habit
of subduing all that is beneath the heavens. How
can I make worthy recompense for the honours which
he has bestowed upon me ? If I give him the land
which was promised to Abraham and shown to
Joshua, it is so far away that he could not defend it
from the barbarians : or if, like the high-souled king
that he is, he tried to defend it I fear that the pro-
vinces which lie upon the frontiers of the Prankish
123

JERUSALEM GIVEN TO CHARLES

kingdom would revolt from his empire. But in this
way I will try to show my gratitude for his gener-
osity. I will give that land into his power ; and I
will rule over it as his representative. Whenever he
likes or whenever there is a good opportunity he
shall send me envoys ; and he will find me a faith-
ful manager of the revenue of that province."

Thus was brought to pass what the poet spoke of
as an impossibility : —

" The Parthian's eyes the Arar's stream shall greet
And Tigris' waves shall lave the German's feet " :

for through the energy of the most vigorous Charles
it was found not merely possible but quite easy for
his envoys to go and return ; and the messengers of
Haroun, whether young or old, passed easily from
Parthia into Germany and returned from Germany
to Parthia. (And the poet's words are true, what-
ever interpretation the grammarians put on " the
river Arar," whether they think it an affluent of
the Rhone or the Rhine ; for they have fallen into
confusion on this point through their ignorance of
the locality). I could call on Germany to bear
witness to my words ; for in the time of your
glorious father Lewis the land was compelled to
pay a penny for every acre of land held under the
124

LEWIS OF BAVARIA

law towards the redemption of Christian captives in
the Holy Land ; and they made their wretched appeal
in the name of the dominion anciently held over that
land by your great-grandfather Charles and your
grandfather Lewis.

lo. Now as the occasion has arisen to make honour-
able mention of your never-sufficiently-praised father,
I should like to recall some prophetic words which
the most wise Charles is known to have uttered about
him. When he was six years old and had been most
carefully reared in the house of his father, he was
thought (and justly) to be wiser than men sixty years
of age. His father then, hardly thinking it possible
that he could bring him to see his grandfather,
nevertheless took him from his mother, who had
reared him with the most tender care, and began
to instruct him how to conduct himself with pro-
priety and modesty in the presence of the emperor ;
and how if he were asked a question he was to make
answer and show in all things deference to his father.
Thereafter he took him to the palace ; and, on the
first or second day, the emperor noted him with in-
terest standing among the rest of the courtiers. " Who
is that little fellow ? " he said to his son ; and he had
for answer : " He is mine, sire ; and yours if you
deign to have him." So he said : " Give him to
125

CHARLES PROPHESIES

me"; and, when that was done, he took the little
fellow and kissed him and sent him back to the
place where he had formerly stood. But now he
knew his own rank ; and thought it shame to stand
lower than any one who was lower in rank than the
emperor ; so with perfect composure of mind and
body he took his place on terms of equality with
his father. The most prophetic Charles noticed this ;
and, calling his son Lewis, told him to find out
the name of the boy ; and why he acted in this way ;
and what it was that made him bold enough to claim
equality with his father. The answer that Lewis got was
founded on good reason : " When I was your vassal,"
he said, " I stood behind you and among soldiers
of my own rank, as I was bound to do : but now
I am your ally and comrade in arms, and so I rightly
claim equality with you." When Lewis reported
this to the emperor, the latter gave utterance to
words something like these : — " If that little fellow
lives he will be something great." (I have borrowed
these words from the Life of Saint Ambrose, because
the actual words that Charles used cannot be trans-
lated directly into Latin. And it seems fair to apply
the prophecy which was made of Saint Ambrose to
Lewis ; for Lewis closely resembled the saint, ex-
cept in such points as are necessary to an earthly
126

LEWIS DEFENDS ST GALL

commonwealth, as for instance marriage and the use
of arms ; and in the power of his kingdom and his
zeal for religion, Lewis was, if I may say so, superior
to Saint Ambrose. He was a Catholic in faith,
devoted to the worship of God, and the unwearied
ally, protector, and defender of the servants of Christ.
Here is an instance of this. When our faithful
Abbot Hartmuth — who is now your hermit — reported
to him that the little endowment of Saint Gall,
which was due not to royal munificence but to the
petty oiFerings of private people, was not defended
by any special charter such as other monasteries
have, nor even by the laws that are common to all
people, and so was unable to procure any defender
or advocate, King Lewis himself resisted all our
opponents, and was not ashamed to proclaim himself
the champion of our weakness in the presence of all
his nobles. At the same time too he wrote a letter
to your genius directing that we should have licence
to make petition, after taking a special vote, for
whatever we would through your authority. But
alas, what a stupid creature I am ! I have been
probably drawn aside by my personal gratitude for
the special kindness he showed us, away from his
general and indescribable goodness and greatness and
nobleness.)

127

LEWIS THE PIOUS

1 1 . Now Lewis, King and Emperor of all Ger-
many, of the provinces of Rhaetia and of ancient
Francia, of Saxony too and of Thuringia, of the
provinces of Pannonia and of all northern nations,
was of large build and handsome ; his eyes sparkled
like the stars, his voice was clear and manly. His
wisdom was quite out of the common, and he added
to it by constantly applying his singularly acute
Intellect to the study of the scriptures. He showed
wonderful quickness too in anticipating or over-
coming the plots of his enemies, in bringing to an
end the quarrels of his subjects, and in procuring
every kind of advantage for those who were loyal to
him. More even than his ancestors he came to be
a terror to all the heathen that stood round about
his kingdom. And he deserved his good fortune ;
for he never defiled his tongue by condemning, nor
his hands by shedding Christian blood : except once
only, and then upon the most absolute necessity.
But I dare not tell that story until I see a little
Lewis or a Charles standing by your side. After
that one slaughter, nothing could induce him to
condemn anyone to death. But the measure of
compulsion which he used against those who were
accused of disloyalty or plots was merely this : he
deprived them of office, and no new circumstance
128

LEWIS'S PIETY

and no length of time could then soften his heart
so as to restore them to the former rank. He sur-
passed all men in his zealous devotion to prayer,
religious fasting and the care of the service of God ;
and like Saint Martin, whatever he w^as doing, he
prayed to God as though he were face to face with
Him. On certain days he abstained from flesh and
all pleasant food. At the time of litanies he used
to follow the cross with unshod feet from his palace
as far as the cathedral ; or if he were at Regensburg
as far as the church of Saint Hemmeramm. In
other places he followed the customs of those whom
he was with. He built new oratories of wonderful
workmanship at Frankfurt and Regensburg. In the
latter place, as stones were wanting to complete the
immense fabric, he ordered the walls of the city
to be pulled down ; and in certain holes in the
wall they found bones of men long dead, wrapped
in «o much gold, that not only did it serve to
decorate the cathedral, but also he was able to furnish
certain books that were written on the subject with
cases of the same material nearly a finger thick. No
clerk could stay with him, or even come into his
presence, unless he were able to read and chant.
He despised monks who broke their vows, and loved
those who kept them. He was so full of sweet-
S.C. 129 I

THE NORTHMEN

tempered mirth, that, if anyone came to him in a
morose mood, merely to see him and exchange a few
words with him sent the visitor away with raised spirits.
If anything evil or foolish was done in his presence,
or if it happened that he were told of it, then a
single glance of his eyes was enough to check every-
thing, so that what is written of the eternal Judge
who sees the hearts of men (viz. " A King that sitteth
on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil
with His eyes ") might be fairly said to have begun
in him, beyond what is usually granted to mortals.

All this I have written by way of digression,
hoping that, if life lasts and Heaven is propitious, I
may in time to come write much more concerning
him.

12. But I must return to my subject. While
Charles was detained for a little at Aix by the arrival
of many visitors and the hostility of the unconquered
Saxons and the robbery and piracy of the North-
men and Moors, and while the war against the Huns
was being conducted by his son Pippin, the barbarous
nations of the north attacked Noricum and eastern
Frankland and ravaged a great part of it. When he
heard of this he humiliated them in his own person ;
and he gave orders that all the boys and children of
the invaders should be "measured with {h,^ sword" ;
130

MEASURED WITH THE SWORD

and if anyone exceeded that measurement he should
be shortened by a head.

This incident led to another much greater and
more important. For, when your imperial majesty's
most holy grandfather departed from life, certain
giants (like to those who. Scripture tells us, were
begotten by the sons of Seth from the daughters of
Cain), blown up with the spirit of pride and doubtless
like to those who said, " What part have we in David
and what inheritance in the son of Esau ?" — these
mighty men, I say, despised the most worthy children
of Charles, and each tried to seize for himself the
command in the kingdom and themselves to wear the
crown. Then some of the middle class were moved
by the inspiration of God to declare that, as the re-
nowned Emperor Charles had once measured the
enemies of Christianity with the sword, so, as long as
any of his progeny could be found of the length of
a sword, he must rule over the Franks and over all
Germany too : thereupon that devilish group of con-
spirators was as it were struck with a thunderbolt, and
scattered in all directions.

But, after conquering the external foe, Charles was
attacked at the hands of his own people in a remark-
able but unavailing plot. For on his return from the
Slavs into his own kingdom he was nearly captured
»3i

PIPPIN'S CONSPIRACY

and put to death by his son, whom a concubine had
borne to him and who had been called by his mother
by the ill-omened name of the most glorious Pippin.
The plot was found out in the following manner.
This son of Charles had been plotting the death of
the emperor with a gathering of nobles, in the church
of Saint Peter ; and when their debate was over, fearful
of every shadow, he ordered search to be made, to see
whether anyone was hidden in the corners or under
the altar. And behold they found, as they feared,
a clerk hidden under the altar. They seized him
and made him swear that he would not reveal their
conspiracy. To save his life, he dared not refuse
to take the oath which they dictated : but, when
they were gone, he held his wicked oath of small
account and at once hurried to the palace. With the
greatest difficulty he passed through the seven bolted
gates, and coming at length to the emperor's chamber
knocked upon the door. The most vigilant Charles
fell into a great astonishment, as to who it was that dared
to disturb him at that time of night. He however
ordered the women (who followed in his train to
wait upon the queen and the princesses) to go out
and see who was at the door and what he wanted.
When they went out and found the wretched creature,
they bolted the door in his face and then, bursting
132

THE PLOT REVEALED

with laughter and stuffing their dresses into their
mouths, they tried to hide themselves in the corners
of the apartments. But that most wise emperor,
whose notice nothing under heaven could escape,
asked straitly of the women who it was and what he
wanted. When he was told that it was a smooth-
faced, silly, half-mad knave, dressed only in shirt and
drawers, who demanded an audience without delay,
Charles ordered him to be admitted. Then he fell
at the emperor's feet and showed all that had hap-
pened. So all the conspirators, entirely unsuspicious
of danger, were seized before the third hour of the
day and most deservedly condemned to exile or some
other form of punishment. Pippin himself, a dwarf
and a hunchback, was cruelly scourged, tonsured, and
sent for some time as a punishment to the monastery
of Saint Gall ; the poorest, it was judged, and the
straitest in all the emperor's broad dominions.

A short time afterwards some of the Frankish
nobles sought to do violence to their king. Charles
was well aware of their intentions, and yet did not wish
to destroy them ; because, if only they were loyal,
they might be a great protection to all Christian men.
So he sent messengers to this Pippin and asked him
his advice in the matter.

They found him in the monastery garden, in the

PIPPIN'S ADVICE

companjr of the elder brothers, for the younger ones
were detained by their work. He was digging up
nettles and other weeds with a hoe, that the useful
herbs might grow more vigorously. When they had
explained to him the reason of their coming he
sighed deeply, from the very bottom of his heart, and
said in reply : — " If Charles thought my advice worth
having he would not have treated me so harshly. I
give him no advice. Go, tell him what you found
me doing." They were afraid to go back to the
dreaded emperor without a definite answer, and again
and again asked him what message they should convey
to their lord. Then at last he said in anger : — " I
will send him no message except — what I am doing !
I am digging up the useless growths in order that the
raluable herbs may be able to develop more freely."

So they went away sorrowfully thinking that they
were bringing back a foolish answer. When the
emperor asked them upon their arrival what answer
they were bringing, they answered sorrowfully that
after all their labour and long journeying they could
get no definite information at all. Then that
most wise king asked them carefully where they
had found Pippin, what he was doing, and what
answer he had given them ; and they said : " We
found him sitting on a rustic seat turning over the
134

CHARLES INTERPRETS

vegetable garden with a hoe. When we told him
the cause of our journey we could extract no other
reply than this, even by the greatest entreaties : * I
give no message, except — what I am doing ! I am
digging up the useless growths in order that the
valuable herbs may be able to develop more freely.' "
When he heard this the emperor, not lacking in
cunning and mighty in wisdom, rubbed his ears and
blew out his nostrils and said : " My good vassals,
you have brought back a very reasonable answer."
So while the messengers were fearing that they might
be in peril of their lives, Charles was able to divine
the real meaning of the words. He took all those
plotters away from the land of the living ; and so
gave to his loyal subjects room to grow and spread,
which had previously been occupied by those unpro-
fitable servants. One of his enemies, who had chosen
as his part of the spoil of the empire the highest hill
in France and all that could be seen from it, was,
by Charles's orders, hanged upon a high gallows on
that very hill. But he bade his bastard son Pippin
choose the manner of life that most pleased him.
Upon this permission being given him, he chose a
post in a monastery then most noble but now de-
stroyed. (Who is there that does not know the
manner of its destruction ! But I will not tell the

»35

EISHERE OF THURGAU

story of its fall until I see your little Bernard with a
sword girt upon his thigh.)

The magnanimous Charles was often angry because
he was urged to go out and fight against foreign
nations, when one of his nobles might have accom-
plished the task, I can prove this from the action of
one of my own neighbours. There was a man of
Thurgau, of the name of Eishere, who as his name
implies was " a great part of a terrible army " and so
tall that you might have thought him sprung from
the race of Anak, if they had not lived so long ago
and so far away. Whenever he came to the river
Dura and found it swollen and foaming with the
torrents from the mountains, and could not force his
huge charger to enter the stream (though stream I
must not call it, but hardly melted ice), then he
would seize the reins and force his horse to swim
through behind him, saying : " Nay, by Saint Gall,
you must come, whether you like it or not ! "

Well, this man followed the emperor and mowed
down the Bohemians and Wiltzes and Avars as a
man might mow down hay ; and spitted them on his
spear like birds. When he came home the sluggards
asked him how he had got on in the country of the
Winides ; and he, contemptuous of some and angry
with others, replied : "Why should I have been
136

THE NORTHMEN AGAIN

bothered with those tadpoles ? I used sometimes
to spit seven or eight or nine of them on my spear
and carry them about with me squealing in their
gibberish. My lord king and I ought never to
have been asked to weary ourselves in fighting against
worms like those."

13. Now about the same time that the emperor
was putting the finishing touch to the war with the
Huns, and had received the surrender of the races
that I have just mentioned, the Northmen left their
homes and disquieted greatly the Gauls and the Franks.
Then the unconquered Charles returned and tried to
attack them by land in their own homes, by a march
through difficult and unknown country. But, whether
it was that the providence of God prevented it in order
that, as the Scripture says. He might make trial of
Israel, or whether it was that our sins stood in the
way, all his efforts came to nothing. One night, to
the serious discomfort of the whole army, it was
calculated that fifty yoke of oxen belonging to one
abbey had died of a sudden disease. Afterwards
when Charles was making a prolonged journey
through his vast empire, Gotefrid, king of the
Northmen, encouraged by his absence, invaded the
territory of the Frankish kingdom and chose the
district of the Moselle for his home. But Gotefrid's
»37

DEATH OF GOTEFRID

own son (whose mother he had just put awaj^
and taken to himself a new wife) caught him, while
he was pulling off his hawk from a heron, and cut
him through the middle with his sword. Then, as
happened of old when Holofernes was slain, none of
the Northmen dare trust any longer in his courage
or his arms ; but all sought safety in flight. And
thus the Franks were freed without their own effort,
that they might not after the fashion of Israel boast
themselves against God. Then Charles, the uncon-
quered and the invincible, glorified God for His
judgment ; but complained bitterly that any of the
Northmen had escaped because of his absence. " Ah,
woe is me ! " he said, " that I was not thought worthy
to see my Christian hands dabbling in the blood of
those dog-headed fiends."

14. It happened too that on his wanderings
Charles once came unexpectedly to a certain mari-
time city of Narbonensian Gaul. When he was
dining quietly in the harbour of this town, it
happened that some Norman scouts made a piratical
raid. When the ships came in sight some thought
them Jews, some African or British merchants, but
the most wise Charles, by the build of the ships and
their speed, knew them to be not merchants but
enemies, and said to his companions : " These ships
138

CHARLES'S PREMONITIONS

are not filled with merchandise, but crowded with our
fiercest enemies." When they heard this, in eager
rivalry, they hurried in haste to the ships. But all
was in vain, for when the Northmen heard that
Charles, the Hammer, as they used to call him, was
there, fearing lest their fleet should be beaten back or
even smashed in pieces, they withdrew themselves, by
a marvellously rapid flight, not only from the swords
but even from the eyes of those who followed them.
The most religious, just and devout Charles had risen
from the table and was standing at an eastern window.
For a long time he poured down tears beyond price,
and none dared speak a word to him ; but at last he
explained his actions and his tears to his nobles in
these words : — " Do you know why I weep so bitterly,
my true servants ? I have no fear of those worthless
rascals doing any harm to me ; but I am sad at heart
to think that even during my lifetime they have
dared to touch this shore ; and I am torn by a great
sorrow because I foresee what evil things they will do
to my descendants and their subjects."

May the protection of our Master Christ prevent
the accomplishment of this prophecy ; may your
sword, tempered already in the blood of the Nordos-
trani, resist it ! The sword of your brother Carloman
will help, which now lies idle and rusted, not for
139

PIPPIN, FATHER OF CHARLES

want of spirit, but for want of funds, and because
of the narrowness of the lands of your most faithful
servant Arnulf. If your might wills it, if your might
orders it, it will easily be made bright and sharp
again. These and the little shoot of Bernard form
the only branch that is left of the once prolific
root of Lewis, to flourish under the wonderful
growth of your protection. Let me insert here
therefore in the history of your namesake Charles
an incident in the life of your great-great-grand-
father Pippin : which perhaps some future little
Charles or Lewis may read and imitate.

15. When the Lombards and other enemies of
the Romans were attacking them, they sent am-
bassadors to this same Pippin, and asked him for
the love of Saint Peter to condescend to come with
all speed to their help. As soon as he had conquered
his enemies he came victoriously to Rome, and this
was the song of praise with which the citizens re-
ceived him. " The fellow-citizens of the apostles
and the servants of God have come to-day bringing
peace, and making their native land glorious, to
give peace to the heathen and to set free the people of
the Lord." (Many people, ignorant of the meaning
and origin of this song, have been accustomed to sing
it on the birthdays of the apostles.) Pippin feared
140

HIS PROWESS

the envy of the people of Rome (or, more truly, ox
Constantinople) and soon returned to Frankland.

When he found that the nobles of his army were
accustomed in secret to speak contemptuously of
him, he ordered one day a huge and ferocious bull
to be brought out ; and then a savage lion to be
let loose upon him. The lion rushed with tre-
mendous fury on the bull, seized him by the neck
and cast him on the ground. Then the king said
to those who stood round him : " Now, drag off the
lion from the bull, or kill the one on the top of the
other." They looked on one another, with a chill at
their hearts, and could hardly utter these words amidst
their sobs : — " Lord, what man is there under heaven,
who dare attempt it ? " Then Pippin rose confidently
from his throne, drew his sword, and at one blow
cut through the neck of the lion and severed the head
of the bull from his shoulders. Then he put back his
sword into its sheath and sat again upon his throne
and said : " Well, do you think I am fit to be
your lord ? Have you not heard what the little
David did to the giant Goliath, or what the
child Alexander did to his nobles ? " They fell
to the ground, as though a thunderbolt had struck
them, and cried : " Who but a madman would deny
your right to rule over all mankind ? "
141

PIPPIN ENCOUNTERS THE DEVIL

Not only was his courage shown against beasts
and men ; but he also fought an incredible contest
against evil spirits. The hot baths at Aix had not
yet been built ; but hot and healing waters bubbled
from the ground. He ordered his chamberlain to
see that the water was clean and that no unknown
person was allowed to enter into them. This was
done ; and the king took his sword and, dressed
only in linen gown and slippers, hurried off to
the bath ; when lo ! the Old Enemy met him, and
attacked him as though he would slay him. But
the king, strengthened with the sign of the cross,
made bare his sword ; and, noticing a shape in
human form, struck his unconquerable sword through
it into the ground so far, that he could only drag
it out again after a long struggle. But the shape
was so far material that it defiled all those waters
with blood and gore and horrid slime. But even
this did not upset the unconquerable Pippin. He
said to his chamberlain : " Do not mind this little
affair. Let the defiled water run for a while ; and
then, when it flows clear again, I will take my bath
without delay."

1 6. I had intended, most noble emperor, to
weave my little narrative only round your great-
grandfather Charles, all of whose deeds you know
142

CHARLES AND THE LOMBARDS

well. But since the occasion arose which made it
necessary to mention your most glorious father Lewis,
called the illustrious, and your most religious grand-
father Lewis, called the pious, and your most warlike
great-great-grandfather Pippin the younger, I thought
it would be wrong to pass over their deeds in silence,
for the sloth of modern writers has left them almost
untold. There is no need to speak of the elder
Pippin, for the most learned Bede in his ecclesiastical
history has devoted nearly a whole volume to him.
But now that I have recounted all these things by
way of digression I must swim swan-like back to
your illustrious namesake Charles. But, if I do not
curtail somewhat his feats in war, I shall never come
to consider his daily habits of life. Now I will give
with all possible brevity the incidents that occur to
me.

17. When after the death of the ever-victorious
Pippin the Lombards were again attacking Rome,
the unconquered Charles, though he was fully
occupied with business to the north of the Alps,
marched swiftly into Italy. He received the Lom-
bards into his service after they had been humbled
in a war that was almost bloodless, or (one might
say), after they had surrendered of their own free
will ; and to prevent them from ever again revolting

THE LOMBARDS

from the Prankish kingdom or doing any injury
to the territories of Saint Peter, he married the
daughter of Desiderius, chief of the Lombards. But
no long time afterwards, because she was an invalid
and little likely to give issue to Charles, she was, by
the counsel of the holiest of the clergy, put aside,
even as though she were dead : whereupon her
father in wrath bound his subjects to him by oath,
and shutting himself up within the walls of Pavia,
he prepared to give battle to the invincible Charles,
who, when he had received certain news of the
revolt, hurried to Italy with all speed.

Now it happened that some years before one of the
first nobles, called Otker, had incurred the wrath of
the most terrible emperor, and had fled for refuge to
Desiderius. When the near approach of the dreaded
Charles was known, these two went up into a very
high tower, from which they could see anyone ap-
proaching at a very great distance. When there-
fore the baggage-waggons appeared, which moved
more swiftly than those used by Darius or Julius,
Desiderius said to Otker : " Is Charles in that vast
army ? " And Otker answered : " Not yet." Then
when he saw the vast force of the nations gathered
together from all parts of his empire, he said with
confidence to Otker : " Surely Charles moves in pride
144

THE IRON HOST

among those forces." But Otker answered : " Not
yet, not yet." Then Desiderius fell into great alarm
and said, "What shall we do if a yet greater force
comes with him ?" And Otker said, "You will see
what he is like when he comes. What will happen
to us I cannot say." And, behold, while they were
thus talking, there came in sight Charles's personal
attendants, who never rested from their labours ; and
Desiderius saw them and cried in amazement, " There
is Charles." And Otker answered : " Not yet, not
yet." Then they saw the bishops and the abbots
and the clerks of his chapel with their attendants.
When he saw them he hated the light and longed
for death, and sobbed and stammered, " Let us go
down to hide ourselves in the earth from the face of
an enemy so terrible." And Otker answered trem-
bling, for once, in happier days, he had had thorough
and constant knowledge of the policy and preparation*
of the unconquerable Charles : " When you see an
iron harvest bristling in the fields ; and the Po and the
Ticino pouring against the walls of the city like the
waves of the sea, gleaming black with glint of iron,
then know that Charles is at hand." Hardly were
these words finished when there came from the west
a black cloud, which turned the bright day to horrid
gloom. But as the emperor drew nearer the gleam

B*C. 145 K

THE IRON TERROR

of the arms turned the darkness into day, a day darker
than any night to that beleaguered garrison. Then
could be seen the iron Charles, helmeted with an iron
helmet, his hands clad in iron gauntlets, his iron breast
and broad shoulders protected with an iron breast-
plate : an iron spear was raised on high in his left
hand ; his right always rested on his unconquered iron
falchion. The thighs, which with most men are
uncovered that they may the more easily ride on
horseback, were in his case clad with plates of iron : I
need make no special mention of his greaves, for the
greaves of all the army were of iron. His shield was
all of iron : his charger was iron-coloured and iron-
hearted. All who went before him, all who marched
by his side, all who followed after him and the whole
equipment of the army imitated him as closely as
possible. The fields and open places were filled with
iron ; the rays of the sun were thrown back by the
gleam of iron ; a people harder than iron paid
universal honour to the hardness of iron. The horror
of the dungeon seemed less than the bright gleam of
iron. " Oh the iron ! Woe for the iron ! " was the
confused cry that rose from the citizens. The strong
walls shook at the sight of the iron ; the resolution of
young and old fell before the iron. Now when the
truthful Otker saw in one swift glance all this which
146

THE SIEGE OF PAVIA

I, with stammering tongue and the voice of a child,
have been clumsily explaining with rambling words,
he said to Desiderius : " There is the Charles that
you so much desired to see " : and when he had said
this he fell to the ground half dead.

But as the inhabitants of the city, either through
madness or because they entertained some hope of
resistance, refused to let Charles enter on that day,
the most inventive emperor said to his men : "Let
us build to-day some memorial, so that we may not
be charged with passing the day in idleness. Let us
make haste to build for ourselves a little house of
prayer, where we may give due attention to the
service of God, if they do not soon throw open the
city to us." No sooner had he said it than his men
flew off in every direction, collected lime and stones,
wood and paint, and brought them to the skilled work-
men who always accompanied him. And between
the fourth hour of the day and the twelfth they
built, with the help of the young nobles and the
soldiers, such a cathedral, so provided with walls and
roofs, with fretted ceilings and frescoes, that none who
saw it could believe that it had taken less than a year
to build. But, how on the next day some of the
citizens wanted to throw open the gate ; and some
wanted to fight against him, even without hope of
H7

THE BISHOP OF FRIULI

victory, or rather to fortify themselves against him ;
and how easily he conquered, took and occupied the
city, without the shedding of blood, and merely by
the exercise of skill ; — all this I must leave others to
tell, who follow your highness not for love, but in
the hope of gain.

Then the most religious Charles marched on and
came to the city of Friuli, which the pedants call
Forum Julii. Now it happened just at this time that
the bishop of that city (or, to use a modern word,
the patriarch) was drawing near to the end of his
life. Charles made haste to visit him, in order that
he might designate his successor by name. But the
bishop, with remarkable piety, sighed from the
bottom of his heart and said : " Sire, I have held
this bishopric for a long time without any use or
profit ; and now I leave it to the judgment of God
and your disposal. For I do not wish, at the point
of death, to add anything to the mountain of sin that
I have heaped together during my life, for which I
shall have to make answer to the inevitable and in-
corruptible Judge." The most wise Charles was so
pleased with these words, that he rightly thought
him the equal in virtue of the ancient fathers.

After Charles, of all the energetic Franks the most
energetic, had stayed in that country for a short time,
148

A HUNTING PARTY

while he was appointing a worthy successor to the
deceased bishop, one festal day after the celebration
of mass he said to his retinue : ** We must not let
leisure lead us into slothful habits : let us go hunting
and kill something ; and let us all go in the very
clothes that we are wearing at this moment." Now
the day was cold and rainy and Charles was wearing
a sheepskin, not much more costly than the cloak
which Saint Martin wore when with bare arms he
offered to God a sacrifice that received divine approval.
But the others — for it was a holiday and they had just
come from Pavia, whither the Venetians had carried
all the wealth of the east from their territories beyond
the sea — the others, I say, strutted in robes made of
pheasant-skins and silk ; or of the necks, backs and tails
of peacocks in their first plumage. Some were decor-
ated with purple and lemon-coloured ribbons ; some
were wrapped round with blankets and some in ermine
robes. They scoured the thickets ; they were torn
by branches of trees, thorns, and briars ; they were
drenched with rain ; they were defiled with the blood
of wild beasts and the filth of the skins ; and in this
plight they returned home. Then the most crafty
Charles said : " No one of us must take off his dress
of skins before he goes to bed ; they will dry better
upon our bodies." Then evcrj'one, more anxious
H9

LUXURY REPROVED

about his body than his dress, made search for fire
and tried to warm himself. Then they returned and
remained in attendance upon Charles far into the
night before they were dismissed to their apartments.
Then when they began to draw off their dresses of
skins and their slender belts, the creased and shrunken
garments could be heard even from a distance crack-
ing like sticks broken when they are dry : and the
courtiers sighed and groaned and lamented that they
had lost so much money on a single day. They had
received however a command from the emperor to
appear before him next day in the same skin-garments.
When they came it was no longer the splendid show
of yesterday ; for they looked dirty and squalid in
their discoloured and rent clothes. Then Charles^,
full of guile, said to his chamberlain : " Give my
sheepskin a rub and bring it to me." It came quite
white and perfectly sound and Charles took it and
showed it to all those who were there and spoke as
follows : — " Most foolish of mortal men ! which of
these dresses is the most valuable and the most
useful, this one of mine which was bought for a
piece of silver, or those of yours which you bought
for pounds, nay for many talents ? " Their eyes sank
to the ground for they could not bear his most terrible
censure.

150

LEWIS OF BAVARIA

Your most religious father imitated this example of
the Great Charles all through his life, for he never
allowed anyone, who seemed to him worthy of his
notice or his teaching, to wear anything when on
campaign against the enemy except the military
accoutrements, and garments of wool and linen. If
any of his servants, ignorant of this rule, happened to
meet him with silk or silver or gold upon his person,
he would receive a reprimand of the following kind
and would depart a better and a wiser man. " Here's
a blaze of gold and silver and scarlet ! Why, you
wretched fellow, can't you be satisfied with perishing
yourself in battle if Fate so decides ? Must you also
give your wealth into the hands of the enemy ; which
might have gone to ransom your soul, but now will
decorate the temples of the heathen ? "

But now, though you know it better than I do,
I will tell again how, from early youth up to his
seventieth year, the unconquered Lewis delighted
in iron ; and what an exhibition of his fondness for
iron he made in the presence of the legates of the
Northmen !

18. When the kings of the Northmen sent gold

and silver as witness of their loyalty and their swords

as a mark of their perpetual subjection and surrender,

the king gave orders that the precious metals should be

»5i

THE ENVOYS OF THE NORTHMEN

thrown upon the floor, and should be looked upon by all
with contempt, and be trampled upon by all as though
they were dirt. But, as he sat upon his lofty throne,
he ordered the swords to be brought to him that he
might make trial of them. Then the ambassadors,
anxious to avoid the possibility of any suspicion of
an evil design, took the swords by the very point (as
servants hand knives to their masters) and thus gave
them to the emperor at their own risk. He took
one by the hilt and tried to bend the tip of the
blade right back to the base ; but the blade snapped
between his hands which were stronger than the iron
itself. Then one of the envoys drew his own sword
from its sheath and offered it, like a servant, to the
emperor's service, saying : " I think you will find this
sword as flexible and as strong as your all-conquer-
ing right hand could desire." Then the emperor
(a true emperor he I As the Prophet Isaiah says
in his prophecy, ** Consider the rock whence ye
were hewn " : for he out of all the vast population of
Germany, by the singular favour of God, rose to the
level of the strength and courage of an earlier genera-
tion)— the emperor, I say, bent it like a vine-twig
from the extreme point back to the hilt, and then let
it gradually straighten itself again. Then the envoys
gazed upon one another and said in amazement :
152

BEFORE LEWIS THE PIOUS

" Would that our kings held gold and silver so cheap
and iron so precious."

19. As I have mentioned the Northmen I will
show by an incident dravirn from the reign of your
grandfather in what slight estimation they hold faith
and baptism. Just as after the death of the warrior
King David, the neighbouring peoples, whom his
strong hand had subdued, for a long time paid their
tribute to his peaceful son Solomon : even so the
terrible race of the Northmen still loyally paid to
Lewis the tribute which through terror they had
paid to his father, the most august Emperor Charles.
Once the most religious Emperor Lewis took pity
on their envoys, and asked them if they would be
willing to receive the Christian religion ; and, when
they answered that always and everywhere and in
everything they were ready to obey him, he ordered
them to be baptised in the name of Him, of whom
the most learned Augustine says : " If there were no
Trinity, the Truth would never have said : * Go and
teach all peoples, baptising them in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.' " The nobles of the
palace adopted them almost as children, and each
received from the emperor's chamber a white robe
and from their sponsors a full Prankish attire, of costly
robes and arms and other decorations.
»53

FEIGNED CONVERSIONS

This was often done and from year to year they
came in increasing numbers, not for the sake of Christ
but for earthly advantage. They made haste to come,
not as envoys any longer but as loyal vassals, on Easter
Eve to put themselves at the disposal of the emperor ;
and it happened that on a certain occasion they came
to the number of fifty. The emperor asked them
whether they wished to be baptised, and when they
had confessed he bade them forthwith be sprinkled
with holy water. As linen garments were not ready
in sufficient numbers he ordered shirts to be cut up
and sewn together into the fashion of wraps. One
of these was forthwith clapped upon the shoulders
of one of the elder men ; and when he had looked all
over it for a minute, he conceived fierce anger in his
mind, and said to the emperor : " I have gone through
this washing business here twenty times already, and I
have been dressed in excellent clothes of perfect white-
ness ; but a sack like this is more fit for clodhoppers
than for soldiers. If I were not afraid of my naked-
ness, for you have taken away my own clothes and
have given me no new ones, I would soon leave your
wrap and your Christ as well."

Ah ! how little do the enemies of Christ value the
words of the Apostle of Christ where he says : — " All
ye that are baptised in Christ, put on Christ " ; and
154

THE CHARACTER OF LEWIS

again : " Ye that are baptised in Christ are baptised
in His death " ; or that passage which is aimed es-
pecially at those who despise the faith and violate the
sacraments : ** Crucifying the Son of God afresh and
putting Him to an open shame ! " Oh ! would that
this were the case only with the heathen ; and not
also among those who are called by the name of
Christ !

20. Now I must tell a story about the goodness of
the first Lewis, and then I shall come back to
Charles. That most peaceable emperor Lewis,
being free from the incursions of the enemy, gave
all his care to works of religion, as, for instance, to
prayer, to works of charity, to the hearing and just
determinations of trials at law. His talents and his
experience had made him very skilful in this latter
business ; and when one day there came to him one,
who was considered a very Achitophel by all, and
tried to deceive him he gave him this answer follow-
ing, with courteous mien and kindly voice, though
with some little agitation of mind. " Most wise
Anselm," he said, " if I may be allowed to say so, I
would venture to observe that you are deviating from
the path of rectitude." From that day the reputation
of that legal luminary sank to nothing in the eyes of
all the world.

»55

HIS CARE FOR THE POOR

21. Moreover the most merciful Lewis was so
intent on works of charity that he liked not merely
to have them done in his sight, but even to do them
with his own hand. Even when he was away he
made special arrangements for the trial of cases in
which the poor were concerned. He chose one of
their own number, a man of small bodily strength,
but apparently more courageous than the rest, and
gave orders that he should decide offences committed
by them ; and should see to the restoration of stolen
property, the requital of injuries and wounds, and in
cases of greater crimes to the infliction of mutilation,
decapitation, and the exposure of the bodies on the
gallows. This man established dukes, tribunes, cen-
turions and their representatives, and performed his
task with energy.

Moreover the most merciful emperor, worshipping
Christ in the persons of all the poor, was never weary
of giving them food and clothing : and he did so
especially on the day when Christ, having put off
His mortal body, was preparing to take to Himself an
incorruptible one. On that day it was his practice
to make presents to each and every one of those who
served in the palace or did duty in the royal court.
He would order belts, leg coverings and precious
garments brought from all parts of his vast empire
156

HIS CHARITY

to be given to some of his nobles ; the lower orders
would get Frisian cloaks of various colours ; his
grooms, cooks and kitchen-attendants got clothes of
linen and wool and knives according to their needs.
Then, when according to the Acts of the Apostles
there was no one that was in need of anything, there
was a universal feeling of gratitude. The ragged
poor, now decently clad, raised their voices to heaven
with the cry of " * Kyrie Eleison * to the blessed
Lewis" through all the wide courts and the smaller
openings of Aix (which the Latins usually call porches);
and all the knights who could embraced the feet of the
emperor ; and those who could not get to him wor-
shipped him afar off as he made his way to church.
On one of these occasions one of the fools said in jest :
" O happy Lewis, who on one day hast been able to
clothe so many people. By Christ, I think that no
one in Europe has clothed more than you this day
except Atto." When the emperor asked him how it
was possible that Atto should have clothed more, the
jester, pleased to have secured the attention of the
emperor, said with a grin : "He has distributed
to-day a vast number of new clothes." The em-
peror, with the sweetest possible expression on his
face, took this for the silly joke it was, and entered
the church in humble devotion, and there behaved
157

STRACHOLF IN PERIL

himself so reverently that he seemed to have our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself before his bodily eyes.

It was his habit to go to the baths every Saturday,
not for any need there was of it, but because it gave
him an opportunity of making presents ; for he used
to give everything that he took off, except his sword
and belt, to his attendants. His liberality reached
even to the lowest grades : insomuch that he once
ordered all his attire to be given to one Stracholf, a
glazier, and a servant of Saint Gall. When the
servants of the barons heard of this, they laid an
ambuscade for him on the road and tried to rob him.
Then he cried out : " What are you doing ? You are
using violence to the glazier of the emperor ! " They
answered : " You can keep your office but . . ."

[Here the MS. endsy and the further adventures of
Stracholf are left to conjecture^

158

NOTES

1, I. Walafridus Strabo was abbot of a Frankish monas-
tery from 842 to 849.

2, 20. The Emperor Lewis I. (Lewis the Pious, 814-
840) was the son and successor of Charles the Great. His
weakness and pietism did much to wreck the imperial
structure of Charles.

3, 9. Neither the headings nor the decorations (incisiones)
are given in the present translation. The decorations
necessarily disappear, and the various headings to the para-
graphs, not being the work of Eginhard, are not usually-
printed with the text. But Walafridus Strabo was person-
ally known to Eginhard, and his Preface seems, therefore,
to deserve reproduction.

5, 7. That is, though there are many who would be
ready to write Charles's life, Eginhard thinks that he has
peculiar qualifications for the task which make it obligatory
on him to do so.

6, 17. The Latin of Eginhard's Life is much superior to
the general monkish Latin of his period. See Introduction.

8, 3. This is King Childeric III., who was deposed in 751
by a National Council, with the approval of the Pope.
Pippin the Short was then elected king, and crowned by
Boniface. With Childeric the Merovingian dynasty ends,
and gives place to the curiously-named Carolingian, olF
which Charlemagne was the greatest representative.

8,4. Eginhard here makes a mistake. The Pope was not

E.C. 161 L

Stephen, who held the Papal See from 752 to 757, but
Zacharias, who was Pope from 741 to 752. Eginhard's
mistake is, perhaps, due to the fact that the decision of
Zacharias was confirmed by his successor.

9, 15. Mr Carless Davis remarks on this passage: " Egin-
hard errs in representing this as an indignity. Religious
usage demanded that the king of the race should make his
progresses in this primitive vehicle. The Merovingians were
a national priesthood. Here also we have the explanation
of their flowing locks and beard. The touch of steel — a
metal unknown to the Prankish nation in its infancy — would
have profaned their persons. Similarly the priesthood of
ancient Rome were forbidden to remove the hair from their
faces except with bronze tweezers. " ( " Life of Charlemagne,"
p. 28.)

9, 19. This is Charles Martel — Charles the Hammer —
who " reigned" as Mayor of the Palace from 715 to 741. His
great victory (variously known as the Battle of Poitiers, or
the Battle of Tours, though the former is the more accurate
title) was fought in 732, and is regarded as the " Salamis of
Western Europe." It was the first serious blow that the
Mohammedan advance had received, and its effects were de-
cisive. The second battle, fought near Narbonne, completed
the work of the first.

10, I. Pippin, father of Charles Martel, and grandfather
of Pippin the Short, was Mayor ot the Palace from 687 to 714.

11, 7. Pippin's reign really lasted for rather more than
sixteen years — from 751 to 768.

1 1 , 20. This statement, as is clear from other sources, does
not correspond with the facts. Charles took Austrasia, and
the greater part of Neustria, with the lands lying between
the Loire and the Garonne. Burgundy, Provence, Alsace,
Alemannia, and the south-eastern part of Aquitaine fell to
Carloman.

12,9. Carloman died in December 771. His death removed
from the path of Charles one of the most serious obstacles.
The custom of the Prankish monarchy was equal inherit-
ance of all the sons. It was this which contributed 90

}6i

much to the disruption of the Prankish power on the
death of Charles ; but for the death of Carloman the
"Empire" would never have been founded, or founded
only after bitter civil war. Eginhard again malces a mis-
take in dates. The two brothers had administered the
realm in common for more than three years.

12, II. This reticence of Eginhard's about his hero's
early life, about which it would have been quite easy to
procure information, has seemed to many to lend colour to
a report that Charles was born before the Church had
sanctioned the marriage of his parents.

13, 10. Hunold was the father of Waifar, and had for
twenty years lived as a monk in the Island of Rhe, but
upon the death of his son he left his monastic retreat in
the hope of re-establishing the fortunes of his family in
Aquitaine.

16, 3. TheSaxonwar — the greatest task of Charles's whole
reign — lasted with some intermissions for more than thirty
years (from 772 to 804). By his conquest and conversion
of the fierce and heathen Saxons — who occupied the lands
in the valleys of the Ems and the Weser and reached as
far as the Elbe — he laid the foundations of medizval and
modern Germany.

16, 12. For an account of the religious beliefs and prac-
tices of the Saxons, tet Davis's "Charlemagne," p. 95.

17, 10. The " conversion " of Saxony by Charles was of the
most forcible kind. No Mohammedan ever offered the choice
between the Koran and the edge of the sword more clearly
than Charles put death or baptism before the Saxons. The
"Saxon Poet," who in the next century wrote in honour
of the King who had destroyed the independence of his
land, tells how Charles used the whole force of his army
to drag the Saxons from the devil's power; and remarks,
as a matter of course, that persuasion and argument are not
sufficient to turn the heathen from their faith.

18, 16. The river Hasa is near Osnabriick.

20, 20. This is the famous defeat of Roncesvalles, where
later legends affirmed that "Charlemagne with all his peerage

163

fell at Fontarabia," and where Roland wound his horn,
whose sound is still heard in the verse of Milton. By a
strange chance this incident becomes one of the most famous
in the cycle of mediseval Charlemagne legends ; and Roland,
evermore transfigured from the historical warden of the
Breton march, becomes, after long wanderings, the Orlando
of the " Orlando Furioso " of Ariosto. But the historical
Roland seems mentioned here, and here only.

21, 9. The Duchy of Beneventum embraced a large part
of the Italian peninsula south of Rome. It had been
for a long time connected, in loose feudal dependence, with
the Lombard monarchy of North Italy, and, since that had
been overwhelmed and annexed by Charles, was now re-
garded as a dependency of the Carolingian monarchy.

22, 3. Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, had offended Charles by
claiming independent sovereignty and refusing to recognise
Charles in any way as his overlord. From the beginning
of Charles's reign there had been friction between tliem, but
for some time a hollow truce had existed. War came in
787, in spite of the efforts of the Papacy at mediation, and
ended swiftly, as described in the text, owing to the over-
whelming strength of the armies brought against Tassilo
by Charles. But the past of Bavaria was too great to allow
its Duke to accept the position of inferiority, and in the next
year Tassilo was deposed, tonsured, and imprisoned in a
monastery.

23, 3. It was part of Charles's general policy to displace
the dukes of his realm, with their undefined and dangerous
powers, and to administer his dominions by a large number
of counts, who were to begin with quite dependent officials
executing the orders of the King over a limited area.
"Count" was not yet the great title of nobility which it
became later.

23, II. The Wiltzes lived on the shores of the Baltic be-
tween the Elbe and the Oder.

23, 14. This " gulf" of Eginhard's presents geographical
difficulties. The direction indicated and the approximate
measurements suggested make it impossible to apply his

164

words to the whole of the Baltic Gulf. The south-eastern part
of the Baltic will correspond fairly well to the description.

24, 3. The war against the Avars was due to the alliance
which had existed between them and Tassilo, Duke of
Bavaria. The Avars, though allied in race to the ancient
Huns and the modern Magyars, were, nevertheless, a dis-
tinct people. Charles's war entirely broke their power,
and removed a great danger from western Europe.

24. "The Monk of St Gall" (II. i.) gives an inter-
esting description of the vast concentric earthworks by
which the power of the Kagan was defended, and his ac-
count rests on better authority than much of his strange
chronicle. See also Dr Hodgkin's " Life of Charles the
Great," p. 155.

24, 12. The vast treasure of the Avars had an important
influence on the course of Charles's career. This great
influx of the precious metals into Germany depreciated
the value of the coinage and raised the price of com-
modities.

25, 6. This is Tersatz, a town of Istria.

25, 22. These Northmen (or Danes, as they are usually
called when they appear in English history) proved them-
selves the most terrible enemies of civilisation during the
next century. "The Monk of St Gall" makes Charles
prophesy the ruin that would come eventually on his
Empire from these northern sea-rovers. The attacks of
the Northmen were among the most direct causes of the
subsequent disruption of the Empire of Charles.

26, 20. This is an exaggeration of Eginhard's. Charles
did, indeed, greatly extend the Prankish dominions ; but
he strengthened them still more decisively by the im-
provements which he introduced into the internal order
and administration.

26, 23. The Balearic Sea is the western Mediterranean.

28, 10. " Non aliter quam proprium suum." Feudalism
in any strict sense of the word was not yet established ; but
Alfonso was, in effect, " commending" himself to a feudal
superior.

16s

ii, i6. The spelling of the original is retained; but the
"Aaron" of Eginhard is the great Caliph Harun-al-Raschid,
the Abassid Caliph of Bagdad, whose actions play so large
a part in fiction as well as in history.

29, 4. It is strange, in view of the friendly relations of
Charles with the Mohammedan ruler of the East, that later
legend so persistently represented Charles as a Crusader,
driving the Paynim from the Holy City. The height of
unreality is reached when, as in Ariosto, we find Charle-
magne relieving the city of Paris, which is being besieged
by the Mohammedans.

29, 9. This elephant caused a great sensation in Europe.
His arrival, life, and death are carefully noted by the
chroniclers.

29, 26. The exact meaning of the original is far from
clear (ne qua hostis exire potuisset). The ingress rather
than the egress is what Charles must have wished to pre-
vent, but there teems no doubt about the reading.

32, 12. "The Monk of St Gall" says that the cause of
this repudiation was the constant illness of his wife, and
her incapacity to bear him children.

32, 14. This Hildigard was only thirteen years of age at
the time of her marriage with Charles. Besides the children
mentioned by Eginhard she bore to Charles three others —
Lothaire, Adelais, and Hildigard.

33, 4. Fastrada is regarded by Eginhard elsewhere as the
evil influence on Charles's life, urging him against the
natural bent of his character to acts of cruelty and violence.
Dr Hodgkin, however, points out that the most cruel act of
his reign — the massacre of 4500 Saxons — took place before
his marriage with Fastrada.

34, 17. The betrothal of Hruotrud to the Eastern Em-
peror, and the rupture of the marriage contract, is a some-
what obscure thread in the diplomacy of the reign of Charles.
Note that the betrothal took place in 781, during the resi-
dence of Charles at Rome, but nineteen years before he had
assumed the imperial title. Religious difference and political
jealousies probably both played their part in the rupture.

166

Both Prankish and Greek chroniclers are anxious to main-
tain that the repudiation came from their side.

36, I. If scandal is to be believed, the Court of Charles,
in spite of his devotion to the Church and his anxiety to
maintain a high standard of morals, was the scene of much
licence and disorder.

36, 5. This conspiracy of Pippin took place in the years
785 and 786.

40, 17. We have here the natural and simple beginnings
of the ceremony that afterwards reached such great propor-
tions in the Imer and coucher of the French kings.

41, 5. This reference to Greek at the Court of Charle-
magne is interesting in view of the exaggerated views
sometimes held on the disappearance of Greek in the Middle
Ages.

41, 14. This is Alcuin of York, one of the greatest of
Englishmen, undoubtedly, as Eginhard says, the most learned
man of his time. His letters form a valuable source of in-
formation for the inner life of Charlemagne and his Court.

41, 21. This passage has been closely scrutinised and com-
mented on. Do Eginhard's words imply that Charlemagne
could not write at all ? This seems a very improbable in-
terpretation of them. Parum suecessit would rather mean
that " he made but little headway." It may well be that
the King was able to write roughly and in an ordinary way
but failed to acquire the elegant and delicate caligraphy that
was aimed at by the scribes of the time

44, 8. Eginhard passes very lightly over these epoch,
making events of Christmas Day in the year 800, when
the imperial title was again assumed by a ruler of the
West, and the Mediaeval Empire was launched with all its
vast consequences, both for the theory and practice of the
Middle Ages.

Charlemagne's expressed regret for what occurred (of
which we hear from other sources) has been variously in-
terpreted. It can hardly refer to the imperial title al-
together; for this certainly was not unexpected, nor was
it due merely to the decision of the Pope. Charles had

167

himself decided to adopt it : it was the coping-stone to all
his policy and his whole career, for in power Charles was
Emperor before the consecration of that famous Christmas
Day. The regret expressed by Charles more probably re-
fers to the method in which the title was bestowed : it
came to him too much as a grant from the Papacy, too
little as the result of his own power and will. His heart
may well have foreboded something of the long struggle
between Empire and Papacy, which agitated the eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, which caused so much
bloodshed on both sides of the Alps, and which in the
end ruined the power of both Emperor and Pope: for
this struggle had its roots in the indefinite basis of the im-
perial title. The regrets of Charlemagne are probably in
close relation to the wars of Henry IV., of Frederick Bar-
barossa, and of Frederick II. Had the Papacy the right
to give or to withhold the imperial title ? That was the
great underlying problem of the imperial position.

44, 14. The Roman Emperors are the Emperors at Con-
stantinople.

44, 20. That is to say, the legal systems of the Salian and
Ripuarian Franks.

45, 4. Nothing in all the policy of Charles gives such an
impression of enlightenment as the actions alluded to here.
A collection of German sagas, and a grammar of the German
language as it was in the year 800 — what would not pos-
terity give for these? The disappearance of the former is
due to the policy of his son and successor Lewis the Pious,
whose piety had little in common with the robust and
broad views of his father. The biographer of Lewis tells
us that Lewis " rejected the national poems, which he had
learnt in his youth, and would not have them read or re-
cited or taught."

45. 8, Their names (in the original) are as follows : —
Wintarmanoth, Hornung, Lentzinmanoth, Ostarmanoth,
Winnemanoth, Brachmanoth, Hewimanoth, Aranmanoth,
Witumanoth, Windumemanoth, Herbistmanoth, Heilig-
manoth.

168

47> 21. This curt and definite statement of Eginhard dis-
poses at once of the well-known story of Otto III.'s visit to
Charlemagne's grave in the year looo, and his remarkable
discovery there. But the story is so famous that it may
be given in the words of the chronicler of Novalese, who
is our chief authority for it.

'< After the passage of many years the Emperor Otto III.
came into the district where the body of Charles was lying
duly buried. He descended into the place of burial with
two bishops and Otto, Count of Lomello ; the Emperor
himself completed the party of four. Now, the Count gave
his version of what happened much as follows : — ' We
came then to Charles. He was not lying down, as is usual
with the bodies of the dead, but sat on a sort of seat, as
though he were alive. He was crowned with a golden
crown ; he held his sceptre in his hands, and his hands
were covered with gloves, through which his nails had
forced a passage. Round him there was a sort of vault
built, strongly made of mortar and marble. When we came
to the grave we broke a hole into it and entered, and
entering, were aware of a very strong odour. At once we
fell upon our knees and worshipped him, and the Emperor
Otto clothed him with white garments, cut his nails, and
restored whatever was lacking in him. But corruption had
not yet taken anything away from his limbs ; only a little
was lacking to the very tip of his nose. Otto had this re-
stored in gold ; he then took a single tooth from his mouth,
and so built up the vault, and departed."'

59, 3. The reference is to the Book of Daniel ii. 33.

60, 26. The pilgrimage is, of course, life.

61, 12. The visit of Albinus (or Alcuin) of York to the
court of King Charles is alluded to in Eginhard's Life of
Charles, Ch. xxv. His arrival in Frankland occurred in 781,
and was of the utmost importance in stimulating and
guiding the intellectual renascence of Charles's reign.

169

66, 20. «'Lord, if I am still useful to thy people I will
willingly take on n-.yself this labour on their behalf. Thy
will be done" is the full versicle, which comes on the
nth November (St Martin's Day). The story in the text
is made intelligible when we find that more than one of
the responses that follow end with the words "Thy will
be done." The poor clerk knew that, and started off,
therefore, on the Lord's Prayer, which he knew would
bring him to the right ending.

71, 7. Grimald was Abbot of St Gall from 841 to 872.
It will be noticed all through the piece that the narrative
becomes more full and definite, though not necessarily more
truthful, when it touches on the writer's own monastery.

72, 22. The whole of this statement is a tissue of absurdi-
ties, which are, however, worth a moment's attention, as
giving some indication of the value that is to be attached to
the Monk of St Gall's testimony. The Pope Stephen here
alluded to must be Stephen II., who occupied the Papal
throne from 752 to 757. He it was who crowned Pippin
King of the Franks in 754. He can have had nothing to do
with Charlemagne, who did not reign until 768 ; but the
words of the text (/<r ad gubemacula regni perunxif) can only
refer to Charles. It must have been Pope Stephen III. (768-
772) to whom Charlemagne appealed if there is any truth
in the story at all ; and Pope Stephen III. can, of course,
have had nothing to do with Hilderich.

74, 13. Pope Leo III. did not succeed Pope Stephen until
after an interval of twenty-three years. Pope Leo III.'s
date is 795-816.

75, 2. For Drogo see Eginhard's Life, Ch. xv. But again
the unhistorical character of the narrative is shown by the
fact that Drogo was made Bishop of Metz, after the death of
Charles, and against his own will.

75,9. A curious display of trivial learning! But it is in-
teresting to note the mention of Greek as of a language not
wholly unknown to a monk of the ninth century.

75, 22. See Eginhard's Life, Ch. xxiv., for the difficulties
found by Charles in observing the fasts of Lent.

170

82, 21. Here is another notorious error. Hildigard died
in 783. Fastrada was queen when, in 791, Charles advanced
to the war against the Avars.

88, 6. The next six chapters are omitted, because in
them the Monk of St Gall is led away, by his desire to
tell a good and edifying story, into matter that has no con-
nection of any kind with Charlemagne, and is sometimes
offensive to modern taste. The stories are for the most part
to the discredit of the Episcopal order. A single phrase in
Chapter xxv. may be noted, as indicating the theocratic view
of Charles which the writer takes throughout: "the most
religious Charles " is called ep'ucoput ef'ucoporum^ '< the bishop
of bishops."

88, 22. Our author here again handles events of the most
general notoriety in a spirit completely independent of
historical accuracy. Leo III. was, it is true, the Pope to
whose assistance Charlemagne came; but no Michael was
ruling at that time in Constantinople. Michael II. reigned
from 820-829, ^^^ Michael III. from 842-867. Thus the
name was associated, in the mind of the Monk of St Gall,
with the imperial throne of the east — and that was more
than enough. The sentiment attributed to the Emperor is
as impossible as his name is inaccurate.

90, 14. St Pancras is one of the saints given by the
persecution of the Emperor Diocletian to the calendar of
the Church He is said to have been executed in his four-
teenth year in the year 295. The following extract from
the Golden Legend will explain the reference in the text: —
" Of him said Gregory of Tours, Doctor : That if there be a
man that will make a false oath in the place of his sepulchre,
tofore or he came to the chancel of the quire he shall be
travailed with an evil spirit and out of mind, or he shall
fall on the pavement all dead. It happed on a time that
there was a great altercation between two men, and the
judge wist not who had wrong. And, for the jealousy of
justice that he had, he brought them both unto the altar of
Saint Peter for to swear, praying the apostle that he would
declare who had right. And when he that had wrong had

171

sworn and had none harm the judge who knew the malice
of him said all on high : This old Peter here is either over-
merciful, or he is propitious to this young man, but let us
go to Pancrace and demand we of him the truth ; and when
they came to the sepulchre, he that was culpable swore and
stretched forth his hand, but he might not withdraw his hand
again to him, and anon after he died there, and therefore unto
this day, of much people it is used that for great and notable
causes men make their oaths upon the relics of S. Pancrace."

91, 4. This celebrated coronation took place on Christmas
Day of the year 800, and marks the foundation of the
MedisEval Empire. Charles is known to have expressed
regret either at the fact or the manner of the presentation
of the imperial crown ; and the Monk of St Gall it not
so wide of the point as usual in the account he gives of the
causes of his hesitation.

98, 14. Giants figure largely in the stories which are told
of St Antony's temptation. The Golden Legend says:
*' S. Anthony recordeth of himself that he had seen a man so
great and so high that he vaunted himself to be the virtue
and the providence of God and said to me: 'Demand of me
what thou wilt, and I shall give it to thee.' And I spit in
the midst of his visage, and anon I armed me with the
sign of the cross, and ran upon him, and anon he vanished
away. And after this the devil appeared to him in so
great stature that he touched the heaven, etc." Gigantic
appearances figure, too, elsewhere in the story of St
Antony's trials.

100, 3. Two motives are to be detected in most of these
stories beyond the general purpose of moral and religious
edification. There is the jealousy of the bishops, so usually
felt by the monks, and there is the scorn felt by the northern
peoples for the refinements of the Italian population.

loi, 13. I have inserted the passage in brackets, which
seems necessary to give meaning to the following instances.

103, 19. This King of the Franks is, of course, not
Charlemagne, but Charles the Third, called the Fat, who
in 883 spent three days in the Monastery of St Gall.

172

105, 5" Julian's death took place in 367. It need scarcely
be pointed out that the Monk's historical narrative is here
of the very wildest description.

105, 15. It is unnecessary to disentangle the Monk's
strange perversion of history ; but it may be noted that he
identifies the Avars, whom Charlemagne subdued, with the
Huns who followed Attila. But the Huns and the Avars,
though allied in race, were two quite distinct nationalities.

106, 9. It would be an interesting inquiry whether arch-
*ological or historical research corroborates in any way this
interesting account which Adalbert gives of the Hunnish
fortifications.

1 14, 12. These three sons are — Charles, who died in 811;
Pippin, who died in 810; and Lewis, who succeeded to the
undivided dominions of Charlemagne, and is usually known
as Lewis the Pious.

117, II. The Persians of the ninth century are by the
Monk identified with the Persians of the period of Marathon
and Salamis.

119, 13. It must be remembered that the whole of the
Monk's narrative is nominally addressed to Charles the Fat,
great-grandson of Charlemagne.

121, 4. This is the famous Haroun al Raschid already
mentioned in Eginhard's Life of Charlemagne.

124, 18. There is really no doubt about the identification
of the Arar. It is the Saone, the most important of the
tributaries of the Rhone.

125, 7. This is Lewis of Bavaria, who was King of Ger-
many from 843-876, the son of Lewis the Pious, and the
father of Charles the Fat,

126, 20. The Monk's method here is not difficult to
understand. The words of St Ambrose and the parallel be-
tw^een the Saint and Charles are clearly introduced to give
evidence of the writer's wide learning.

128, 21. Charles the Fat had no children ; but he had a
brother, Carloman, King of Bavaria, and another, Lewis,
King of Saxony.

129, II. St Hemmenunm (or Enuneran, as the name is

173

now usually written) was first a bishop in some Prankish see
(possibly Poitiers) who about 649 went as a missionary to
the idolaters of Bavaria. He was assassinated in 652 near
Munich, on his road to Rome. A church in Regensburg ii
still called by his name.

131, 25. This conspiracy is given in Eginhard'j Life,
Chap. XX., but without the Monic's picturesque details, and
with the substitution of Prumia (in the Moselle country) for
the Monastery of St Gall. Eginhard's authority must, of
course, be preferred, and we have, therefore, a striking in-
stance of the monkish chronicler's desire to turn everything
to the honour of his own cloister.

134, 2. This story has a long history. It is first told of
Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus ; it was then adapted by
Livy (1-54) to Tarquin, King of Rome, with slight altera-
tions. The same story, which is here told somewhat clumsily,
and applied to Charlemagne, is given by Ekkehard as be-
longing to the reign of Charles III.

135, 25. The reference is to the Monastery of Prumia,
which was destroyed by the Northmen in 882.

136, 8. Thurgau is in Switzerland.

136, 9. ''Eis," meaning terrible; and "here" an army.

137, 25. No Northman made any permanent settlement on
the Moselle either in the reign of Charles or at any other
time. At most this can refer only to the boast, or design, of
some such chief as Gotefrid.

140, 3. The allusion to the Nordostrani fixes this refer-
ence to the year 882, when the Northmen were a terrible
and increasing danger to all Frankland The Arnulf here
mentioned was the son of Charles the Fat, and, later,
Emperor.

140, 18. This story of King Pippin's visit to Rome is en-
tirely legendary. It is repeated by later chroniclers, but is
certainly without basis of any kind.

157, 19. I confess myself unable to make anything out
pf the jester's references to Atto.

174

INDEX

Aaron, King of Persia, 28. See

also Haroun.
Abodriti, 23 ; reduced by North-
men, 26.
Adalbert, xxi. ; 104, 106.
Adalgis, 15.

Africans, envoys to Charles, 121.
Aix, Charles's palace at, 38;

cathedral at, 4a ; buildings

of, 92.
Albinus. See Alcuin.
Alcuin of York, xiii. ; 41, 61 ;

success of his pupils, 71, 72.
Aldefonsus of Gallaecia, 28.
Aquitania, war in, 13.
Aragis, Duke of Beneventum, 21.
Ariosto, xxiv.
Atio, 157.
Avars, war against, 24; seizure

of their store, 25, 107 ; their

rings, 106.

Baugulfus, Abbot, xii.

Bavarian war, 22.

Beneventum, 21.

Bertrada, mother of Charles, 33.

Bishops, how appointed by
Charles, 64, 66 ; luxury of, 66 ;
folly of, 76 ; arrogance of,
77 ; cleanliness rewarded, 78 ;
the bishop's cheeses, 79 ;
pride rebuked, 80; the ad-
venture of the painted mouse,
82 ; vanity reprimanded, 83 ;
preaching enjoined on, 84 ;

luxury of, 86 ; churlishness io

Greece, no.
Bobbio, monastery of, 71.
Boniface, xii.
Bretons, conquest of, 20.

Carloman, brother of Pippin, 10 ;
retires to Monte Ca^sino, ii.

Carloman, brother of Charles, ii ;
dies, 12.

Centuracellse, 31.

Chanting, Charles's care for, j2.

Charlemagne. See Charles the
Great ; the legend of his
life, xxiii.

Charles the Great, xvii. ; sole
king, 12 ; extent of his con-
quests, 26 ; buildings, 30 ;
fleet, 30 ; private life of, 32,
etc. ; family of, 33 ; treatment
of his daughters, 35 ; love of
foreigners, 37 ; personal ap-
pearance, 37 ; dress, 38 ;
knowledgeof La tin and Greek,
41 ; fails to learn to write, 41 ;
reforms reading and singing,
<2 ; fondness for Rome, 43 ;
becomes Emperor, 44, 91 ; re-
forms the legal system of the
Franks, 44 ; changes the
names of winds and months,
45 ; death, 47 ; burial, 47
{see also 169) ; will, 50.

Charles, Martel, 9.

Cicero, 6.

E.C.

177

Clement the Scot, 6i, 62.

Constantinople, Emperors of, tg ',
embassy to, log ; strange ban-
queting laws, III.

Dante, xxiv.

Deacon " who followed the Italian
custom," strange death of,

lOO.

Desiderius, King of the Lombards ,
12, 15, 22, 144; alarm at the
iron host of Charles, 145.

Eginhard, xii. ; _ career, _ xiii. ;
writings, xvi. ; his life of
Charlemagne, xvi. ; birth
and education, i ; motives for
writing, 4.

Drogo, Bishop of Metz, 75.

Eishere of Thurgau, 136.
Eric, Duke of Friuli, 25.

Fasting, Charles's difficulty with,

39. 76- „
Fastrada, wife of Charles, 33 ;

cruelty of, 36.
Franks, national dress of, 38, 102.
Frisian garments, 103.
Friuli, the Bishop of, 148 ; hunting

party at, 149.

Gascons defeat Charles, ig.
Ceroid, Governor of Bavaria, 25.
Godofrid the Dane, 25 ; killed,

26j 48, 137-
Gotefrid. See Godofrid.
Greek, knowledge of, 41, 75.
Greeks jealous of Charles, 91 ;

outwitted by Franks, in;

envoys at Charles's court, 113;

terror of, 113; music of, 115;

envy of, 141.
Grimald, Abbot of St Gall, 71.

Hadrian, Pope, 14, 16 ; Charles's

sorrow at death of, 35, 39.
Haistulf, King of Lomhards, 14.

liaroun al Raschid, 28 ; cedes the
holy places to Charles, 29, 121 ;
Charles's presents to, 122;
praises Charles, 123 ; gives
the Holy Land to Charles,
124.

Hartmuth, Abbot of St Gall,
127.

Hasa, battle of, 18.

Heitto, Bishop, 114.

Hilderich the Merovingian, 8,

. z^-

Hildigard, 32, 64, 77, 82, 119.
Holy places, the, given to Charles,

29, 12^.
Hugo, Duke, 112.
Hunold, 13.
Huns, war against, 34. See

Avars.

Imperial title assumed by Charles,

29, 44, 91.
Isambard, 119, 120.

Julian, 105.

Kerold, xxi. ; 108.

Leo, Pope, 39 ; outrage upon, 44,
88, 74. "

Lewis of Bavaria, 125, 126 ; re-
primands luxury, 151.

Lewis the Pious, 2 ; dec'ared
Emperor by Charles, 46, 56,
126, 128 ; his conversion of the
Northmen, 153, 15^ ; his care
for the poor, 156 ; his universal
charity,

Liutfrid, the knavish steward, 97.

Liutgard, wife of Charles, 33.

Lombards, war with, 14.

Lupus, Duke of the Gascons, 13.

Mainz, the great bridge of, 48, 96
Mayors of the Palace, 8.
Merovingian kings, 8.
Michael, Emperor of Constantin-
ople, 89.
Miracles, 9S, 100, 102, 1^3,

178

Monies, Ignorance of, 701.
Moors, jjrecautions against, 31.
Mulinbeim, xv.

Northmen, 23, 25 ; Charles's
measures against, 30 ; rigor-
ous punishment of, 151;
Charles prophesies concerning
them, 139 ; they send envoys to
Lewis of Bavaria, 152 ; accept
conversion from Lewis the
Pious, 153 ; their deceit, 154.

Organ, the Greek, 116.
Osning, battle of, 18.
Otker at Pavia, 144, 146.

Paris, Gaston, xxiiL

Pavia, siege cf, 144, 147, 148.

Persians, envoys of, 116; hunting
party provided for them, 118.

Peter of Pisa, 41.

Pippin the younger, g ; death, 11 ;
war against Lombards, 14 ;
legend of his march on Rome,
140; slays a bull and a lion,
141 ; his encounter with the
devil, 142.

Pippin, son of Charles, 15; fights
against Avars, 24, 32.

Pippin, Charles's illegitimate son,
conspires against him, 36, 132;
sent to the monastery of St
Gall, 133 ; gives advice to
Charles, 134 ; moves to an-
other monastery, 135.

Pluralists, Charles's dislike of, 77.

Portents foretelling Charles's
death, 48.

Prumia, monastery of, 36,

Reading,how practised at Charles's

court, 69.
Regensburg, Lewis's buildings at

129.
Roland, Praefect of the Breton

frontier, 20.
Rome, Charles's fondness for, 43 ;

Roman jealousy of the Franks,

73-

St Augustine, 40.

St Columban, xx.

St Gall, XX.

St Gall,_Monk of, xix. ; character

of his narrative, xxiL
St Gall, monastery of, 75, 127.
St Pancras, 90 (and note).
St Peter of Ghent, xv.
St Wandrille, xv.
Saxons, war with, 16, 108 ; perfidy

of, 17 ; transplantation of, 18 ;

end of war, 18 ; opinion of the

Emperor of Constantinople,

no.
Scotch and Charles, 28 ; visit

Frankland, 59.
Slavs, war with, 23.
Spain, expedition to, 19.
Stephen, Pope, 8, 72.
Stracholf of St Gall, 158.

Tancho, the bell-founder, 94.
Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, 22.
Tours, 61.

Waifar, Duke of Aquitania, 11
Walafrid, i.
Welatabi, 23.
Werinbert, xzL ; 104.
Wiki, 23.

179

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