(714-768)
[Illustration: Charles Martel at Tours.]
Charles Martel, as we have seen, was never king of the Franks, and his
sons were too politic to assume the title on his death. Griffo, the
third son, may be dismissed from our notice at once, as he was from
the government of the kingdom, his brothers, Carloman and Pepin,
taking advantage of his weakness to dispossess him. After this act of
supremacy they were for some time content to act as Mayors of the
Palace, in the districts of Neustria and Austrasia respectively, under
the nominal sovereignty of Childeric III., the last of the _faineant_
kings, whom they set up as a puppet. Carloman distinguished himself by
attacking the Saxons and other tribes which threatened aggression;
and in 744 Pepin severely punished a revolt of his father's old enemy
(Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine), who, as already stated, had been compelled
to do homage to the Frankish crown. Pepin soon had no sharer in his
power or fame. Carloman was not made for a soldier, and, under the
sudden impulse of devotional feeling, resigned his office in 747, and
retired into a Roman monastery.
[Illustration: Ox carriage in a forest. [TN]]
Pepin, thus left sole lord of France, did not hastily attempt to cut
prejudice against the grain. Feeling his way gradually, he sounded
popular opinion for three years, on the subject of changing the royal
dynasty, and placing the crown on the head of one who had a good right
arm to defend it. Finding himself strong enough at last to take
decided measures, he quietly dethroned Childeric III.; and shaving off
his long hair, the symbol of royalty among the early Frankish kings,
sent him to one monastery at St. Omer, and his son Thierry to another
at Fontenelle. This accomplished, Pepin proceeded to obtain
justification for his acts from the Pope. This was a novel step; for
although the bishops of Rome had great spiritual influence over
Christendom, in virtue of their alleged descent from St. Peter, their
temporal authority was by no means admitted out of their own diocese.
Pepin was a wise man in his generation, though short-sighted as far as
posterity was concerned. He saw clearly enough that no sanction which
he could obtain for his acts was likely to be so binding upon the
minds of his subjects, and the world at large, as that pronounced by a
power which had already fastened its yoke on the soul and conscience.
The Pope, Zachariah, was not insensible to the importance of the
Frankish monarchy, being at the time of Pepin's accession especially
in need of help against Astolpho, king of the Lombards, who threatened
to seize on the Eternal City itself. When, therefore, Pepin's envoys
arrived at Rome, and conveyed their master's application, the pontiff
did not hesitate to answer that it was truly fitting for one to be
king in name who was king in deed. Thus fortified against opposition,
Pepin proceeded to fulfil all the ceremonies attaching to the kingly
dignity. He and his queen, Bertha, were duly crowned and consecrated
by Boniface, the "Apostle of Germany," and Bishop of Mainz. This rite
was performed at Soissons, in 752, with all the pomp that the Jewish
kings had been wont to employ on such occasions. The national assembly
was summoned; and in presence of the great Frank nobles Boniface
produced a phial of oil, announcing it as that which had fallen from
heaven on the day when the first king of the Franks (Clovis) had
received baptism. The sacred oil was then poured upon the head of
Pepin, and amid the acclamations of nobles, soldiers, and peasants, he
was crowned their king.
He was a man, like his father, well fitted to rule over a warlike and
rude people. What was most admired in a king at that period was
personal courage, and, what was most needed, strength of will. Pepin
had both; but he had one defect which, though to us it may seem a
trifle, to men who prized the body far more than soul or mind, was a
serious matter. He was of small stature, and acquired the name of "the
Short" in consequence. Fully conscious that this was a disadvantage to
him, and, indeed, hearing his name once derided by his courtiers,
Pepin took a speedy opportunity of proving that what he lacked in
height he more than made up in strength and bravery. It was common in
those days to exhibit animal fights at the Frankish court, as indeed,
to her shame be it spoken, is common in Spain to this day. On one of
these occasions a lion and a bull were engaged in a savage and mortal
struggle. Pepin and his courtiers were seated round the arena looking
on, when suddenly the king started up, and cried: "Who will dare to
separate those beasts?" There was a dead silence. The attempt was
madness--certain destruction. Unsheathing his sword, and glancing
scornfully round upon his courtiers, Pepin leapt into the arena, and
drew the attention of the combatants upon himself. Raging with fury,
they turned to attack him; but with cool and measured steps he evaded
their onset, and by a succession of well-aimed blows struck off, one
after the other, the heads of lion and bull. Then, throwing down his
streaming sword, he accosted the astonished courtiers: "Am I worthy to
be your king?" A deafening shout was the reply, and the name of "Pepin
the Short" was no longer a term of derision but of honor.
Having thus established his reputation for those qualities which were
most essential to his influence, Pepin took measures to render it
permanent by acts of wisdom and liberality. He frequently called
together the national assemblies, and included in the summons bishops
as well as chieftains. Consulting with them as to the most prudent
course of action, he preserved their affection to his person and
obedience to his orders. He especially courted the favor of the
Church, and showed his gratitude for the sanction which Pope Zachariah
had given to his accession, by assisting the next Pope, Stephen III.,
in a serious contest which broke out in 753 with the Lombards. Their
king, Astolpho, took an active part in the great religious quarrel
which then agitated Christendom, with respect to the worship of
images, espousing the cause of the image-breakers, while Pope Stephen
supported the opposite side. Threatened with invasion, the Pope flew
to the court of Pepin, who received him with much reverence, and in
return was crowned king for the second time. Stephen even pronounced
sentence of excommunication against all who should dare to choose a
king of France from any other than Pepin's family. At the Pope's
request the king assembled an army, and marched against Astolpho. The
war lasted for two years, but eventually terminated in the success of
Pepin, who compelled Astolpho to yield up to the Pope the exarchate of
Ravenna, the last relic of the great Roman empire in Italy, and of
which the Lombards had deprived the Eastern emperors.
[Illustration: Pepin after the murder of Duke Waifre.]
Pepin, however, had in view a more national war than this. The duchy
of Aquitaine was perpetually in a state of resistance to the authority
of the Frankish kings. This was owing, in some measure, to the
difference of language and civilization which prevailed between the
people of the duchy and those of the kingdom. A spirit of hostility
was also fostered by the increase of population which Aquitaine
obtained from the Gascons, a tribe from the Pyrenees, not subject to
the Franks. After a long period of uncertain warfare, Pepin determined
to decide the struggle by active operations. He accordingly, in 759,
took advantage of a rising of the people of Septimania against their
Arabian rulers. He made himself master of Narbonne and other towns,
and freed the Septimanians. Then turning upon Waifre, Duke of
Aquitaine, he summoned him to disgorge the spoils which he had seized
from the Aquitanian lands of certain churches of France. Waifre
replied in defiant terms, and for nine years resisted the attempts of
Pepin to reduce him to submission. It was a sanguinary and desolating
war. The fairest districts of Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry, were laid
waste and burnt by Pepin; and in the Frankish territories Waifre
levied an equally terrible retribution. He was murdered at last by
some of his own subjects, at the instigation of the Frankish king.
This is the one instance of actual crime which we find recorded
against Pepin; and legend tells that its shadow rested heavily upon
his mind. Aquitaine was annexed to the kingdom.
It was Pepin's last achievement. He did not, as we might have expected
he would, die in harness on the battle-field, but of dropsy, at the
age of fifty-four. This event occurred in 768, at St. Denis. Long
before his death he had obtained the coronation of his two sons,
Charles and Carloman, jointly with his own, and directed his
territories to be divided between them.
To be the successful founder of a new dynasty demands a genius which
we may justly entitle heroic, expressive as that word is of strength
of character merely, without regard to moral worth. Pepin, however,
was not devoid of the latter, to a limited extent, and has left a
memory which, if not remarkable for virtue, is at least not disfigured
by vice.