father’s death, with the Aquitanians, who were the people living in
the south-west part of France. The brother-kings raised troops to
meet them, but Carloman through jealousy withdrew his forces, leaving
Charlemagne to carry on the war alone. He was victorious, and the
Aquitanians submitted. The queen-mother Bertrada now used her influence
to secure a permanent alliance between the Lombards and the Franks, and
persuaded Charlemagne to divorce his wife and marry Desiderata, the
daughter of Didier the Lombard king. This Charlemagne consented to do,
even against the advice of the Pope, and he suffered for his folly,
or wickedness; for so it was, even though his mother did sanction
it, for he was so unhappy with Desiderata, that in about a year he
put her away and married Hildegarde. In those days kings married and
divorced their wives as often as they pleased, and Charlemagne, with
all his greatness and his aid to Christianity, was in this particular
very culpable, and his domestic life was not at all in keeping with
the majesty, and goodness, and uprightness of his public life. After
the death of Hildegarde, he married two other wives. One Fastrada, an
Austrasian, was a very wicked woman, and caused him much trouble. The
last one, whom he loved the most, was named Luitgarda. She was kind and
gentle, and her influence over Charlemagne was very beneficial after
the wicked Fastrada had led him into so much trouble. The French have
an old legend, which relates that the evil influence which Fastrada
exercised over the strong mind of the great king, leading him to acts
of injustice and tyranny, which alienated the affections of his nobles,
was due to the magic spell of a ring which she wore. On her death, the
ring came into possession of a bishop, for whom Charlemagne immediately
showed such admiration, that the bishop found it unpleasant, and cast
the ring into a neighboring lake. Here it also exercised its magic
charm, and the king would sit for hours gazing into the waters of the
lake, as though spell-bound. But this legend cannot disguise the weak
side of Charlemagne’s character, and we can only turn from it and fix
our attention upon his great career.
He was one of the wisest and most powerful of kings. His life was one
of constant war. He fought the Saxons for thirty-three years, but
at last he conquered Witikind, the great Saxon leader, in 785, and
persuaded him to be baptized. Charlemagne made him Duke of Saxony, and
he lived in good faith to the new vows he had taken. Notwithstanding
this victory over the Saxons, Charlemagne foresaw the evils which
should come upon Europe through the formidable Northmen. The monk of
St. Gall relates this incident: “Charlemagne arrived unexpectedly in
a certain town of Narbonnese Gaul. Whilst he was at dinner, and was
as yet unrecognized of any, some corsairs of the Northmen came to ply
their piracies in the very port. When their vessels were descried, they
were supposed to be Jewish traders according to some, African according
to others, and British in the opinion of others; but the gifted monarch
perceiving by the build and lightness of the craft that they bare not
merchandise, but foes, said to his own folk, ‘These vessels be not
laden with merchandise, but manned with cruel foes.’ At these words,
all the Franks, in rivalry one with another, ran to their ships, but
uselessly, for the Northmen, indeed, hearing that yonder was he whom it
was still their wont to call Charles the Hammer, feared lest all their
fleet should be taken or destroyed in the port, and they avoided by a
flight of inconceivable rapidity not only the blows, but even the eyes
of those who were pursuing them.
“Pious Charles, however, a prey to well-grounded fear, rose up from
table, stationed himself at a window looking eastward, and there
remained a long while, and his eyes were filled with tears. As none
durst question him, this warlike prince explained to the grandees who
were about his person the cause of his movement and of his tears. ‘Know
ye, my lieges, wherefore I weep so bitterly? Of a surety I fear not
lest these fellows should succeed in injuring me by their miserable
piracies; but it grieveth me deeply that whilst I live, they should
have been nigh to touching at this shore, and I am a prey to violent
sorrow when I foresee what evils they will heap upon my descendants and
their people.’”
But during all the years of the Saxon wars, Charlemagne had been
carrying on various campaigns elsewhere. The Lombards were again at
war with the Popes, and the king of Lombards, Didier, whose daughter
Charlemagne had married and so soon divorced, had now become his bitter
foe. The new Pope, Adrian I., sought the aid of Charlemagne in this
war with the Lombards, and he prepared for this Italian expedition. He
raised two armies,—one to cross the Valais and descend upon Lombardy
by Mount St. Bernard, and the other, to be led by Charlemagne, was
to go by the way of Mount Cenis. Didier had with him a famous Dane,
named Ogier, who had quarrelled with Charlemagne and taken refuge in
Lombardy. One of the monks of that time thus describes Charlemagne’s
arrival before Pavia, where Didier and the Dane Ogier had shut
themselves up, as it was the strongest place in Lombardy.
“When Didier and Ogger (for so the monk calls him) heard that the dread
monarch was coming, they ascended a tower of vast height, whence they
could watch his arrival from afar off and from every quarter. They
saw, first of all, engines of wars, such as must have been necessary
for the armies of Darius or Julius Cæsar. ‘Is not Charles,’ asked
Didier of Ogger, ‘with this great army?’ But the other answered, ‘No.’
The Lombard, seeing afterwards an immense body of soldiery gathered
from all quarters of the vast empire, said to Ogger, ‘Certes, Charles
advanceth in triumph in the midst of this throng.’ ‘No, not yet; he
will not appear so soon,’ was the answer. ‘What should we do, then,’
rejoined Didier, who began to be perturbed, ‘should he come accompanied
by a larger band of warriors?’ ‘You will see what he is when he comes,’
replied Ogger; ‘but as to what will become of us I know nothing.’ As
they were thus parleying appeared the body of guards that knew no
repose, and at this sight the Lombard, overcome with dread, cried,
‘This time ’tis surely Charles.’ ‘No,’ answered Ogger, ‘not yet.’ In
their wake came the bishops, the abbots, the ordinaries of the chapels
royal, and the counts; and then Didier, no longer able to bear the
light of day or to face death, cried out with groans, ‘Let us descend
and hide ourselves in the bowels of the earth, far from the face and
the fury of so terrible a foe.’ Trembling the while, Ogger, who knew
by experience what were the power and might of Charles, and who had
learned the lesson by long usage in better days, then said, ‘When ye
shall behold the crops shaking for fear in the fields, and the gloomy
Po and the Ticino overflowing the walls of the city with their waves
blackened with steel (iron), then may ye think that Charles is coming.’
He had not ended these words when there began to be seen in the west,
as it were, a black cloud, raised by the north-west wind or by Boreas,
which turned the brightest day into awful shadows. But as the emperor
drew nearer and nearer, the gleam of arms caused to shine on the people
shut up within the city a day more gloomy than any kind of night. And
then appeared Charles himself, that man of steel, with his head encased
in a helmet of steel, his hands garnished with gauntlets of steel,
his heart of steel and his shoulders of marble protected by a cuirass
of steel, and his left hand armed with a lance of steel which he held
aloft in the air, for as to his right hand, he kept that continually on
the hilt of his invincible sword. The outside of his thighs, which the
rest for their greater ease in mounting a horseback were wont to leave
unshackled even by straps, he wore encircled by plates of steel. What
shall I say concerning his boots? All the army were wont to have them
invariably of steel; on his buckler there was nought to be seen but
steel; his horse was of the color and the strength of steel. All those
who went before the monarch, all those who marched at his side, all
those who followed after, even the whole mass of the army, had armor of
the like sort, so far as the means of each permitted. The fields and
the highways were covered with steel; the points of steel reflected
the rays of the sun; and this steel, so hard, was borne by a people
with hearts still harder. The flash of steel spread terror throughout
the streets of the city. ‘What steel! alack, what steel!’ Such were
the bewildered cries the citizens raised. The firmness of manhood and
of youth gave way at sight of the steel, and the steel paralyzed the
wisdom of the gray beards. That which I, poor tale-teller, mumbling
and toothless, have attempted to depict in a long description, Ogger
perceived at one rapid glance, and said to Didier, ‘Here is what ye
have so anxiously sought’; and whilst uttering these words he fell down
almost lifeless.”
But notwithstanding all King Didier’s fear, he and the Lombards evinced
such resistance, that Charlemagne was obliged to settle down before
Pavia in a long siege. His camp without the city became a town, so
that he sent for his wife, Queen Hildegarde, and her court, also his
children and their attendants, and said to the chiefs of his army, “Let
us begin by doing something memorable.” So men were at once set to
work to build a basilica, and within a week it was completed, with its
walls, roofs, and painted ceilings, which would seemingly have required
a year to erect.
In this chapel, Charlemagne, and his family, court, and warriors,
celebrated the festival of Christmas, 773. But just before Easter,
774, Charlemagne determined to leave his lieutenants to continue the
siege, and attended by a numerous and brilliant retinue, he set off for
Rome. On Holy Saturday, when Charlemagne was about three miles from
Rome, the magistrates and citizens and pupils of the schools came forth
to meet him, bearing palm-branches and singing hymns. At the gate of
the city, Charlemagne dismounted before the cross, and entered Rome
on foot, and having ascended the steps of the ancient basilica of St.
Peter, he was received at the top by the Pope himself. Then a chant was
sung by the people all around him: “Blessed be he that cometh in the
name of the Lord.”
According to the custom of pilgrims, Charlemagne visited all the
basilicas in Rome. He confirmed his father’s gift to the former Pope,
and added new gifts of his own. The Pope gave to Charlemagne a book
containing a collection of the canons written by the pontiffs from the
origin of the church. This he dedicated to Charlemagne, and wrote in
it, “Pope Adrian, to his most excellent son Charlemagne, king.”
Charlemagne then returned to his camp before Pavia, and having
captured the city, received the submission of all the Lombards. In 778
Charlemagne had a war with the Arabs in Spain. He crossed the Pyrenees
and went as far as the Ebro, but the Arabs gave him large gifts of gold
and jewels, and persuaded him to spare their fine cities. As he was
returning over the mountains, his army was attacked by a wild people
called the Basques; and several of his bravest leaders were killed,
among them the famous Roland, concerning whom various stories are told,
one being that he blew a blast on his bugle with his last breath, to
warn Charlemagne, who was far in the front, of this unexpected danger.
Another legend makes him to have possessed herculean strength, in
token of which a great cleft is shown in the Pyrenean Hills, said to
have been made by one stroke of his sword, and it bears the name of the
“La Brèche de Roland.” Pfalgraf, or Count of the Palace, was the name
given to some of the bravest Frank lords, and in old romances Roland
and others are called the Paladins.
[Illustration: DEATH OF ROLAND.]
Charlemagne had three sons, Carl, Pepin, and Lodwig, afterwards called
Louis le Débonnaire. In 781 Charlemagne took his two younger sons,
Pepin, aged four, and Louis, only three years of age, to Rome, where
they were anointed by Pope Adrian I.,—Pepin as king of Italy, and Louis
as king of Aquitaine. On returning from Rome, Charlemagne sent the baby
Louis at once to take formal possession of his kingdom. He was carried
to Orleans in a cradle, and then the little prince was clad in a tiny
suit of armor, and attendants held him up on horseback as he entered
his kingdom of Aquitaine. He was accompanied by many officers and men
of state who were to form his council of guardians. Afterwards the poor
baby king was taken back to his father’s palace to be educated.
Charlemagne founded Aix-la-Chapelle and made it his favorite winter
residence. He went out to fight each summer, and came back to his
kingdom in the winter. He was very seldom defeated in war, for he was
wise and energetic, and moved his army about so quickly that he was
a match for much larger forces than his own. He held a council of
war every Easter when all his chiefs assembled, and Charlemagne made
known to them his plans for his coming campaign. He made improvements
in the armor and weapons of his soldiers. Their helmets were provided
with visors which could be brought down to protect their faces in
battle, and their shields were long and large, instead of the small
round skin-covered bucklers of the early Gauls. His soldiers fought
with sharp-pointed, two-handed swords, and they employed also heavy
clubs covered with iron knobs, which were most formidable weapons.
Charlemagne’s forces were mounted on strong fleet horses from the
Rhine, and so great was his knowledge of all the surrounding countries,
that he could despatch an army to any part of his kingdom at short
notice, and with perfect accuracy as to route.
On the 23d of November, 800, Charlemagne arrived at Rome, where he was
met by Pope Leo III., whom he had several times aided in conflicts with
his enemies, at one time receiving Leo into his own palace for a year,
when conspirators at Rome were seeking the Pope’s life. In return for
these favors, and to secure the help of so mighty a warrior, Pope Leo
crowned Charlemagne Emperor of Rome. The ceremony was performed on
Christmas day, 800. Eginhard thus described the scene: “The king came
into the basilica of the blessed St. Peter, apostle, to attend the
celebration of mass. At the moment when in his place before the altar
he was bowing down to pray, Pope Leo placed upon his head a crown,
and all the Roman people shouted, ‘Long life and victory to Charles
Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific emperor of the Romans!’
After this proclamation the pontiff prostrated himself before him, and
paid him adoration according to the custom established in the days of
the old emperors; and thenceforward Charles, giving up the title of
patrician, bore that of emperor and Augustus.” Charlemagne had now
become emperor of France, of Germany, and of Italy.
But it is not only as a great warrior that Charlemagne is famous. His
government was a model for those times, and he held his subjects, so
diverse as to nationality and education, under a most wise and powerful
authority; and out of a chaos of different nations—the wild anarchy of
ruined Rome, and the ill-regulated force of barbaric hordes—he founded
a monarchy strong in him alone, and though it fell at his death, each
piece of his great empire possessed enough of the vitalizing force,
which his mind and wisdom had given to it, to enable it to rise an
empire by itself. So, though Charlemagne’s kingdom could not be
preserved by his successors, from that great power rose the separate
empires of France, Germany, and Italy. One of Charlemagne’s humane acts
was his care for the slaves in Gaul. At that time all the chiefs were
warriors, while their lands were tilled by serfs, or slaves, who went
with the land as part of the property, whether bought or captured. He
made laws to protect the slaves as far as possible against unjust and
cruel masters.
Charlemagne was also fond of study. He learned Latin and Greek, and
improved his native German language by inventing German words for the
months and the winds. He paid great attention to astronomy and music,
and in theological studies evinced a strong interest. He caused to be
commenced the first Germanic grammar. But with all his learning there
was one thing he could not accomplish, which was to write a good hand,
though he zealously practiced the art, even putting his little tablets
under his pillow that he might catch at any odd moments day or night
to perfect his imperfect writing. At whatever palace Charlemagne was
residing, he always formed there a school called the School of the
Palace, where many learned men were gathered together, and where
members of the royal family, including Charlemagne himself, and his
children, took lessons in the different sciences, grammar, rhetoric,
and theology. Two names are famous among these wise men, who became
the particular advisers and confidants of Charlemagne, Alcuin and
Eginhard, who afterwards became the biographer of Charlemagne, and the
adviser of his son Louis le Débonnaire. It was the custom for members
of this school to assume other names than their own: thus Charlemagne
was called David; Alcuin, Flaccus; Angilbert, Homer; and Eginhard,
Bezaleel,—that nephew of Moses to whom God had granted the gift of
knowing how to work skilfully in wood and all materials needed for
the ark and tabernacle. All of these scholars afterwards became great
dignitaries in the church. Charlemagne was of a cheerful disposition,
and fond of hunting and other sports. He was especially expert in
swimming. He sometimes played jokes upon his chiefs and nobles, and the
old monks of his time tell several stories regarding his sly humor.
At one time when he thought his courtiers were too much given to fine
clothes, he commanded a party of them when decked out in their finest
trappings, to follow him in the chase through the rain, mud, and
brambles. He was of a tall figure, and though his dress was rich and
gorgeous when the occasion demanded it, he was not fond of finery. His
appearance is thus described by Eginhard:—
“Charlemagne was large and robust in person, his stature was lofty,
though it did not exceed just proportion, for his height was not more
than seven times the length of his foot. The summit of his head was
round, his eyes large and bright, his nose a little long, beautiful
white hair, and a smiling and pleasant expression. There reigned
in his whole person, whether standing or seated, an air of grandeur
and dignity; and though his neck was thick and short, and his body
corpulent, yet he was in other respects so well proportioned that these
defects were not noticed. His walk was firm, and his whole appearance
manly, but his clear voice did not quite harmonize with his appearance.
His health was always good, except during the four years which preceded
his death. He then had frequent attacks of fever, and was lame of one
foot. In this time of suffering he treated himself more accordingly
to his own fancies than by the advice of the physicians, whom he had
come to dislike because they would have had him abstain from the roast
meats he was accustomed to, and would have restricted him to boiled
meats. His dress was that of his nation; that is to say, of the Franks.
He wore a shirt and drawers of linen, over them a tunic bordered with
silken fringe, stockings fastened with narrow bands, and shoes. In
winter, a coat of otter or martin fur covered his shoulders and breast.
Over all he wore a long blue mantle.”
He would not adopt the short mantle worn by the later Franks, but
preferred the long cloak of the ancient Franks, which made him a
distinguished and royal-looking person amidst his short-cloaked
courtiers. He was always girded with his sword, which became so famous
that it received the name of Joyeuse, whose hilt was of gold and
silver, his girdle being also of gold. Upon solemn festive occasions
this sword was replaced by one enriched with precious stones. After
he became Emperor he sometimes wore the long tunic, the chlamys, and
the sandals of the Romans. At great feasts or festivals his dress was
embroidered with gold, and his shoes adorned with precious stones. His
mantle was fastened with a brooch of gold, and he wore upon his head
a glistening diadem of gold and gems; but his usual dress was simple.
He avoided all excesses at the table, particularly that of drinking,
for he abhorred drunkenness. While he was dining he liked to have
histories or poems read to him. He took great pleasure in the works of
St. Augustine. He was endowed with a natural eloquence which rendered
his speech delightful. His chosen name of David was not inappropriate,
for he was a founder and benefactor of the church, and was very
devout in the outward observances of the Christian religion; but his
domestic life was an irretrievable blot upon his character, which no
plea of the laxity of those times can remove. It is true that the same
fault mars the greatness of Alexander, Julius Cæsar, and other famous
rulers; but Alexander and Cæsar were not Christians, while Charlemagne
stands forth as the great champion and upholder of the religion of the
spotless Christ. Charlemagne caused to be erected at Aix-la-Chapelle a
magnificent basilica, or chapel, which he adorned with gold and silver,
and with screens and gates of brass from Rome, and marbles and columns
from Ravenna. He always attended service here night and morning,
and often arose to assist at some especial worship in the night. He
introduced great improvements in the lessons and the psalmody, and
is said to have composed several hymns, among them the “Veni Creator
Spiritus,” that invocation of the Holy Spirit which is sung at
ordinations. Charlemagne was always ready to help poor Christians, not
only in his own kingdom, but in Syria, Egypt, in Africa, at Jerusalem,
Alexandria, Carthage, and elsewhere. Of all the holy places he had
most veneration for the Church of St. Peter at Rome. He sent rich
gifts of gold and silver and precious stones to that cathedral, for
he desired to make it surpass all other churches in its decorations
and riches. But he was only able to go four times during his reign
of forty-seven years, to visit that cherished place. Toward the end
of his vigorous life and magnificent career, the Emperor Charlemagne
met with severe family losses. In less than two years his sister,
daughter, and his sons, the two Pepins, one of whom was a hunchback,
died; and lastly his son Charles, whom he intended should be crowned
emperor, also died, leaving only Louis and several daughters. But
Louis was the worthiest of all the sons of Charlemagne to succeed his
illustrious father. In the year 813 Charlemagne, fearing that his end
was drawing near, assembled all his chief men at Aix-la-Chapelle, and
in a grand ceremonial in the chapel he caused his son to be declared
emperor, bidding him take the diadem himself from the altar, and place
it on his own head, whereupon Charlemagne exclaimed, “Blessed be the
Lord, who hath granted me to see my son sitting on my throne!” But he
did not at that time resign the crown. Louis went back to his kingdom
in Aquitaine; and Charlemagne, in spite of his growing infirmities,
continued through the autumn his usual hunting excursions, returning
to Aix in November. In January Charlemagne was seized with a fever,
but he determined to doctor himself, as was his usual method, which
was to “starve” the fever. But pleurisy set in, and still refusing to
be ministered to by physicians, on the seventh day after he had taken
to his bed, having received communion, he expired about nine o’clock
in the morning on the 28th of January, 814, in the seventy-first year
of his age, and the forty-seventh year of his reign. He was buried
with unusual grandeur. A large and beautifully carved sarcophagus of
classical workmanship, was lying empty in the basilica of Aix. But
they placed Charlemagne in a large marble chair in the crypt beneath
the dome of his great basilica. The chair was ornamented with gold,
and Charlemagne was clad in his royal robes with his sparkling crown
upon his head, and his royal sceptre in his hand, and the good sword
Joyeuse, which had served him in so many famous battles, was girded to
his side, while his pilgrim’s pouch was suspended from his girdle, and
a copy of the Gospels was laid upon his knees. Thus was he seated on
the throne chair, with his feet resting in the carved sarcophagus, as
though the great emperor was not to be shut up in a coffin like common
mortals, but even in death still sat upon his throne in royal state.
Beneath the dome, on the stone which closed the entrance to the tomb,
was carved the following epitaph in Latin:—