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 whatever
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,[38] a year later. He
took in marriage Hildigard,[39] 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 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,[40] 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
grandsons 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 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 permitted it,
learn to ride like true Franks, and practise 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 idleness 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.[41] 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 and of his 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
remarkable 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 touch of scandal and failure.[42] He shut his eyes, however, 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.[43] 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 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 compensation 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 standing, his appearance was dignified and impressive.
Although his neck was rather thick and short and he was somewhat
corpulent this was not noticed owing 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
continuously 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 Frankish 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. 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.
Occasionally, 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, 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.[44]
25. In speech he was fluent and ready, and could 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.[45]
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,[46] 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.[47]
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 doorkeepers, 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 in those free gifts
which the Greeks call alms. For he gave it his attention not only in his
own country 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 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 disturbed, and spent the whole of the winter there.
It was then that he received the title of Emperor and Augustus,[48]
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.[49] 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,[50]
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 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.[51]
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.[52] 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 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 Frankish nobles of his whole kingdom; 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 himself, 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 determined to abstain from food,
thinking that by such self-discipline he would be able either to cure or
alleviate the disease. But the fever was complicated 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 town, 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.[53] A gilded arch was raised above the tomb, with his statue, and
an inscription. The inscription ran as follows:--
"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 wonderful 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 out of camp and beginning his march
before sunrise, 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 wondering 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 Princeps." Some noticed that in
the very year in 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 anything 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 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 contest 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
treasury. 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 twenty-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 friends for the purpose of almsgiving. The
Archbishop 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, Frejus, Grado,
Cologne, Mainz, Juvavum which is also called Salsburg, Treves,
Sens, Besancon, Lyons, Rouen, Rheims, Arles, 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 himself remains in the flesh or
judges its employment to be necessary to him. But after his
death or his voluntary 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 servants, 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 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 aforementioned
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 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
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Abbots
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Fridugisius Engilbert
Adalung Irmin
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Counts
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Walatho Rihwin
Meginher Edo
Otolf Ercangar
Stephen Gerold
Unruoc Bero
Barchard Hildigern
Meginhard Roccolf
Hatto
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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.
THE LIFE OF CHARLEMAGNE BY THE MONK OF ST GALL