A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 18

"How often, since the death of our father, Lothair has pursued my brother and myself and tried to destroy us, is known to you all.

So, then, when neither brotherly love, nor Christian feeling, nor any reason whatever could bring about a peace between us upon fair conditions, we were at last compelled to bring the matter before G.o.d, determined to abide by whatever issue He might decree. And we, as you know, came off victorious;[201] our brother was beaten, and with his followers got away, each as best he could. Then we, moved by brotherly love and having compa.s.sion on our Christian people, were not willing to pursue and destroy them; but, still, as before, we begged that justice might be done to each. He, however, after all this, not content with the judgment of G.o.d, has not ceased to pursue me and my brother with hostile purpose, and to hara.s.s our peoples with fire, plunder, and murder. Wherefore we have been compelled to hold this meeting, and, since we feared that you might doubt whether our faith was fixed and our alliance secure, we have determined to make our oaths thereto in your presence. And we do this, not from any unfair greed, but in order that, if G.o.d, with your help, shall grant us peace, we may the better provide for the common welfare. But if, which G.o.d forbid, I shall dare to violate the oath which I shall swear to my brother, then I absolve each one of you from your allegiance and from the oath which you have sworn to me."

After Charles had made the same speech in the _lingua romana_, Louis, as the elder of the two, swore first to be faithful to his alliance:

[Sidenote: The oath of Louis]

_Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, dist di in avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvaraeio cist meon fradre Karlo et in adiudha et in cadhuna cosa, si c.u.m om per dreit son fradra salvar dist, in o quid il mi altresi fazet; et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai, qui meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in d.a.m.no sit._[202]

When Louis had taken this oath, Charles swore the same thing in the _lingua teudisca_:

[Sidenote: The oath of Charles]

_In G.o.des minna ind in thes christianes folches ind unser bedhero gealtnissi, fon thesemo dage frammordes, so fram so mir Got gewizci indi madh furgibit, so haldih tesan minan bruodher, soso man mit rehtu sinan bruodher scal, in thiu, thaz er mig sosoma duo; indi mit Ludheren in nohheiniu thing ne gegango, the minan willon imo ce scadhen werhen._

The oath which the subjects of the two kings then took, each [people] in its own language, reads thus in the _lingua romana_:

[Sidenote: The oath taken by the subjects of the two kings]

_Si Lodhwigs sagrament qua son fradre Karlo jurat, conservat, et Karlus meos sendra, de suo part, non lo stanit, si io returnar non lint pois, ne io ne neuls cui eo returnar int pois, in nulla aiudha contra Lodhuwig nun li iver._[203]

And in the _lingua teudisca_:

_Oba Karl then eid then, er sineno bruodher Ludhuwige gesuor, geleist.i.t, indi Ludhuwig min herro then er imo gesuor, forbrihchit, obih ina es irwenden ne mag, noh ih no thero nohhein then ih es irwended mag, widhar Karle imo ce foll.u.s.ti ne wirdhic._

25. The Treaty of Verdun (843)

After the meeting at Stra.s.sburg, Charles and Louis advanced against Lothair, who now abandoned Aachen and retreated southward past Chalons-sur-Marne toward Lyons. When the brothers had come into the vicinity of Chalons-sur-Saone, they were met by amba.s.sadors from Lothair who declared that he was weary of the struggle and was ready to make peace if only his imperial dignity should be properly recognized and the share of the kingdom awarded to him should be somewhat the largest of the three. Charles and Louis accepted their brother's overtures and June 15, 842, the three met on an island in the Saone and signed preliminary articles of peace. It was agreed that a board of a hundred and twenty prominent men should a.s.semble October 1 at Metz, on the Moselle, and make a definite division of the kingdom. This body, with the three royal brothers, met at the appointed time, but adjourned to Worms, and subsequently to Verdun, on the upper Meuse, in order to have the use of maps at the latter place. The treaty which resulted during the following year was one of the most important in all mediaeval times. Unfortunately the text of it has not survived, but all its more important provisions are well known from the writings of the chroniclers of the period. Two such accounts of the treaty, brief but valuable, are given below.

Louis had been the real sovereign of Bavaria for sixteen years and to his kingdom were now added all the German districts on the right bank of the Rhine (except Friesland), together with Mainz, Worms, and Speyer on the left bank, under the general name of _Francia Orientalis_. Charles retained the western countries--Aquitaine, Gascony, Septimania, the Spanish March, Burgundy west of the Saone, Neustria, Brittany, and Flanders--designated collectively as _Francia Occidentalis_.[204] The intervening belt of lands, including the two capitals Rome and Aachen, and extending from Terracina in Italy to the North Sea, went to Lothair.[205] With it went the more or less nominal imperial dignity. In general, Louis's portion represented the coming Germany and Charles's the future France. But that of Lothair was utterly lacking in either geographical or racial unity and was destined not long to be held together. Parts of it, particularly modern Alsace and Lorraine, have remained to this day a bone of contention between the states on the east and west. "The part.i.tion of 843," says Professor Emerton, "involved, so far as we know, nothing new in the relations of the three brothers to each other. The theory of the empire was preserved, but the meaning of it disappeared. There is no mention of any actual superiority of the Emperor (Lothair) over his brothers, and there is nothing to show that the imperial name was anything but an empty t.i.tle, a memory of something great which men could not quite let die, but which for a hundred years to come was to be powerless for good or evil."[206] The empire itself was never afterwards united under the rule of one man, except for two years (885-887) in the time of Charles the Fat.

Sources--(a) _Annales Bertiniani_ ["Annals of Saint Bertin"].

Translated from text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores_ (Pertz ed.), Vol. I., p. 440.

(b) _Rudolfi Fuldensis Annales_ ["Annals of Rudolph of Fulda"]. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores_ (Pertz ed.), Vol. I., p. 362.

[Sidenote: A statement from the annals of Saint Bertin]

(a)

Charles set out to find his brothers, and they met at Verdun. By the division there made Louis received for his share all the country beyond the Rhine,[207] and on this side Speyer, Worms, Mainz, and the territories belonging to these cities. Lothair received that which is between the Scheldt and the Rhine toward the sea, and that lying beyond Cambresis, Hainault, and the counties adjoining on this side of the Meuse, down to the confluence of the Saone and Rhone, and thence along the Rhone to the sea, together with the adjacent counties. Charles received all the remainder, extending to Spain. And when the oath was exchanged they went their several ways.

[Sidenote: Another from those of Rudolph of Fulda]

(b)

The realm had from early times been divided in three portions, and in the month of August the three kings, coming together at Verdun in Gaul, redivided it among themselves. Louis received the eastern part, Charles the western. Lothair, who was older than his brothers, received the middle portion. After peace was firmly established and oaths exchanged, each brother returned to his dominion to control and protect it. Charles, presuming to regard Aquitaine as belonging properly to his share, was given much trouble by his nephew Pepin,[208] who annoyed him by frequent incursions and caused great loss.

26. A Chronicle of the Frankish Kingdom in the Ninth Century

The following pa.s.sages from the Annals of Xanten are here given for two purposes--to show something of the character of the period of the Carolingian decline, and to ill.u.s.trate the peculiar features of the mediaeval chronicle. Numerous names, places, and events neither very clearly understood now, nor important if they were understood, occur in the text, and some of these it is not deemed worth while to attempt to explain in the foot-notes. The selection is valuable for the general impressions it gives rather than for the detailed facts which it contains, though some of the latter are interesting enough.

Annals as a type of historical writing first a.s.sumed considerable importance in western Europe in the time of Charles Martel and Charlemagne. Their origin, like that of most forms of mediaeval literary production, can be traced directly to the influence of the Church. The annals began as mere occasional notes jotted down by the monks upon the "Easter tables," which were circulated among the monasteries so that the sacred festival might not fail to be observed at the proper date. The Easter tables were really a sort of calendar, and as they were placed on parchment having a broad margin it was very natural that the monks should begin to write in the margin opposite the various years some of the things that had happened in those years.

An Easter table might pa.s.s through a considerable number of hands and so have events recorded upon it by a good many different men. All sorts of things were thus made note of--some important, some unimportant--and of course it is not necessary to suppose that everything written down was actually true. Many mistakes were possible, especially as the writer often had only his memory, or perhaps mere hearsay, to rely upon. And when, as frequently happened, these scattered Easter tables were brought together in some monastery and there revised, fitted together, and written out in one continuous chronicle, there were chances at every turn for serious errors to creep in. The compilers were sometimes guilty of wilful misrepresentation, but more often their fault was only their ignorance, credulity, and lack of critical discernment. In these annals there was no attempt to write history as we now understand it; that is, the chroniclers did not undertake to work out the causes and results and relations of things. They merely recorded year by year such happenings as caught their attention--the succession of a new pope, the death of a bishop, the coronation of a king, a battle, a hail-storm, an eclipse, the birth of a two-headed calf--all sorts of unimportant, and from our standpoint ridiculous, items being thrown in along with matters of world-wide moment. Heterogeneous as they are, however, the large collections of annals that have come down to us have been used by modern historians with the greatest profit, and but for them we should know far less than we do about the Middle Ages, and especially about the people and events of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries.

The Annals of Xanten here quoted are the work originally of a number of ninth century monks. The fragments from which they were ultimately compiled are thought to have been brought together at Cologne, or at least in that vicinity. They cover especially the years 831-873.

Source--_Annales Xantenses_ ["Annals of Xanten"]. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores_ (Pertz ed.), Vol.

II., p. 227. Adapted from translation in James H. Robinson, _Readings in European History_ (New York, 1904), Vol. I., pp.

158-162.

=844.= Pope Gregory departed this world and Pope Sergius followed in his place.[209] Count Bernhard was killed by Charles. Pepin, king of Aquitaine, together with his son and the son of Bernhard, routed the army of Charles,[210] and there fell the abbot Hugo. At the same time King Louis advanced with his army against the Wends,[211] one of whose kings, Gestimus by name, was killed; the rest came to Louis and pledged him their fidelity, which, however, they broke as soon as he was gone. Thereafter Lothair, Louis, and Charles came together for council in Diedenhofen, and after a conference they went their several ways in peace.

[Sidenote: The Northmen in Frisia and Gaul]

=845.= Twice in the canton of Worms there was an earthquake; the first in the night following Palm Sunday, the second in the holy night of Christ's Resurrection. In the same year the heathen[212]

broke in upon the Christians at many points, but more than twelve thousand of them were killed by the Frisians. Another party of invaders devastated Gaul; of these more than six hundred men perished. Yet, owing to his indolence, Charles agreed to give them many thousand pounds of gold and silver if they would leave Gaul, and this they did. Nevertheless the cloisters of most of the saints were destroyed and many of the Christians were led away captive.

After this had taken place King Louis once more led a force against the Wends. When the heathen had learned this they sent amba.s.sadors, as well as gifts and hostages, to Saxony, and asked for peace.

Louis then granted peace and returned home from Saxony. Thereafter the robbers were afflicted by a terrible pestilence, during which the chief sinner among them, by the name of Reginheri, who had plundered the Christians and the holy places, was struck down by the hand of G.o.d. They then took counsel and threw lots to determine from which of their G.o.ds they should seek safety; but the lots did not fall out happily, and on the advice of one of their Christian prisoners that they should cast their lot before the G.o.d of the Christians, they did so, and the lot fell happily. Then their king, by the name of Rorik, together with all the heathen people, refrained from meat and drink for fourteen days, when the plague ceased, and they sent back all their Christian prisoners to their country.

[Sidenote: The Northmen again in Frisia]

=846.= According to their custom, the Northmen plundered eastern and western Frisia and burned the town of Dordrecht, with two other villages, before the eyes of Lothair, who was then in the castle of Nimwegen, but could not punish the crime. The Northmen, with their boats filled with immense booty, including both men and goods, returned to their own country.

In the same year Louis sent an expedition from Saxony against the Wends across the Elbe. He personally, however, went with his army against the Bohemians, whom we call Beuwinitha, but with great risk.... Charles advanced against the Britons, but accomplished nothing.

[Sidenote: Rome attacked by the Saracens]

At this same time, as no one can mention or hear without great sadness, the mother of all churches, the basilica of the apostle Peter, was taken and plundered by the Moors, or Saracens, who had already occupied the region of Beneventum.[213] The Saracens, moreover, slaughtered all the Christians whom they found outside the walls of Rome, either within or without this church. They also carried men and women away prisoners. They tore down, among many others, the altar of the blessed Peter, and their crimes from day to day bring sorrow to Christians. Pope Sergius departed life this year.

=847.= After the death of Sergius no mention of the apostolic see has come in any way to our ears. Raba.n.u.s [Maurus], master and abbot of Fulda,[214] was solemnly chosen archbishop as the successor of Bishop Otger, who had died. Moreover, the Northmen here and there plundered the Christians and engaged in a battle with the counts Sigir and Liuthar. They continued up the Rhine as far as Dordrecht, and nine miles farther to Meginhard, when they turned back, having taken their booty.

[Sidenote: An outbreak of heresy repressed]

=848.= On the fourth of February, towards evening, it lightened and there was thunder heard. The heathen, as was their custom, inflicted injury on the Christians. In the same year King Louis held an a.s.sembly of the people near Mainz. At this synod a heresy was brought forward by a few monks in regard to predestination.

These were convicted and beaten, to their shame, before all the people. They were sent back to Gaul whence they had come, and, thanks be to G.o.d, the condition of the Church remained uninjured.

=849.= While King Louis was ill, his army of Bavaria took its way against the Bohemians. Many of these were killed and the remainder withdrew, much humiliated, into their own country. The heathen from the North wrought havoc in Christendom as usual and grew greater in strength; but it is painful to say more of this matter.

[Sidenote: Further ravages by the Northmen and the Saracens]

=850.= On January 1st of that season, in the octave of the Lord,[215] towards evening, a great deal of thunder was heard and a mighty flash of lightning seen; and an overflow of water afflicted the human race during this winter. In the following summer an all too great heat of the sun burned the earth. Leo, pope of the apostolic see, an extraordinary man, built a fortification around the church of St. Peter the apostle. The Moors, however, devastated here and there the coast towns in Italy. The Norman Rorik, brother of the above-mentioned younger Heriold, who earlier had fled dishonored from Lothair, again took Dordrecht and did much evil treacherously to the Christians. In the same year so great a peace existed between the two brothers--Emperor Lothair and King Louis--that they spent many days together in Osning [Westphalia]

and there hunted, so that many were astonished thereat; and they went each his way in peace.

[Sidenote: The Northmen again in Frisia and Saxony]