The Age of Charlemagne

George James

• Publisher: Jovian Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781537809151
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

One of the noblest possessions of the Roman Empire was the province of ancient Gaul. Much blood and treasure had been expended in its conquest; infinite wisdom, moderation, and vigour had been displayed in the means taken to attach it to the dominion of the Caesars; and the passing of several centuries had strongly cemented the union, and incorporated the conquered with their conquerors. Unwieldy bulk, enfeebling luxury, intestine divisions, and universal corruption soon, however, began to draw down the impending destruction upon the head of the imperial city. Attack after attack, invasion following invasion, left her still weaker under each succeeding monarch; province after province was wrested from her sway, till at length Odoacer, chief of the Scyrri, raised his standard in Italy; Romulus Augustulus yielded the empty symbols of an authority he did not possess; and the Roman Empire was no more...

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

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ONE OF THE NOBLEST POSSESSIONS of the Roman Empire was the province of ancient Gaul. Much blood and treasure had been expended in its conquest; infinite wisdom, moderation, and vigour had been displayed in the means taken to attach it to the dominion of the Caesars; and the passing of several centuries had strongly cemented the union, and incorporated the conquered with their conquerors. Unwieldy bulk, enfeebling luxury, intestine divisions, and universal corruption soon, however, began to draw down the impending destruction upon the head of the imperial city. Attack after attack, invasion following invasion, left her still weaker under each succeeding monarch; province after province was wrested from her sway, till at length Odoacer, chief of the Scyrri, raised his standard in Italy; Romulus Augustulus yielded the empty symbols of an authority he did not possess; and the Roman Empire was no more.

Previous to this period, however, Gaul had been in fact, though not in name, separated from the falling monarchy, and portioned out among a thousand barbarous tribes. The country between the Rhone and the Alps had long been possessed by the Burgundians; the Goths held the whole territories situated between the Loire and the Pyrenees; Brittany, or Armorica, was divided between fresh colonies of Saxons and the remains of the aborigines; great part of the east of Belgium was in the hands of the Franks; and the Roman legions that were still left to maintain the almost nominal possession of Gaul, cooped up in a narrow space, and threatened daily by active and warlike enemies, thought of nothing but casting off the control of their enfeebled country, and finding strength in independence.

In the meantime the larger cities were filled with a mixed population, consisting partly of the Roman colonists, partly of the ancient Gauls, partly of their savage conquerors. Some few, indeed, either by accident or courageous resistance, had escaped the fury of the invaders and remained free, while all around them had been subdued; some had been sacked and left desolate; and some, having been ceded by the falling emperors themselves to the Goths, or to any other of the tribes in temporary alliance with Rome, had passed more mildly under the sway of the barbarians, and enjoyed as much protection as could be afforded in times so disastrous.

Such was the general aspect of the province a little previous to the final overthrow of the Roman Empire. But those were days of change, when nothing was fixed; and the nation which ruled today, tomorrow had passed away, and was unknown; and all that continued with unaltered force was ravage, disorder, and destruction.

Each of the savage tribes of the north, in its passage to more fertile regions, had expended its first fury on the plains of Gaul, and had contributed to sweep away letters, and institutions, and arts.

“Innumerable nations of barbarians”, says St. Jerome, in his letter to Aggerunchia, “took possession of the whole of Gaul. The Quadi, the Vandals, the Sarmatians, the Alani, the Gepidae, the Herculi, Saxons, Burgundians, Germans, and Pannonians—horrible republic!—ravaged the whole country between the Alps, the Pyrenees, the ocean, and the Rhine. Assur was with them. Mayence, formerly a famous city, was taken and sacked, and thousands of its inhabitants massacred. Worms was ruined by a long siege; the people of the powerful cities of Rheims, Amiens, and Arras, the Morini, situated in the far parts of Belgium, and the inhabitants of Tournay, Spires, and Strasburg, were transported into Germany. Aquitaine, the Lyonaise, and the Narbonaise were entirely devastated, except some few of the towns; and these the steel smote without, while famine desolated them within”.

The Goths, the Vandals, and the Huns added, one after the other, a fresh load to the mountain of calamities piled up on unhappy Gaul; and often left scattered colonies behind, still to devour the land, and to carry on the work of barbarism so signally begun.

With such a picture before our eyes, it is scarcely possible to conceive the existence of anything like a state of society regulated, even in the slightest degree, by fixed principles. In what relationship, could man live with man, when all ties were broken, and when the discordant elements of the population offered a chaos of different nations, languages, manners, and ideas, precluding the possibility even of that simple form of government common among savage nations? In the fields and plains, then, it is probable that the whole was chaotic confusion, and that for a long time all rule was at an end, except that rule which it is the object of every law to correct,—the rule of the strong over the weak.

Within the larger cities, however, two or three principles of security still existed. In those towns which had resisted the barbarians, it seems that the institutions of Rome yet remained almost entire; and that, though the inhabitants were cut off from the source of their laws, the necessity of combination for the general defence maintained at least some internal regularity and order. The extent to which the Roman law was preserved during the middle ages is a question of great difficulty, and one on which I am not called to enter at large in this place, more especially as the subject has been argued ably elsewhere. That it was preserved in a considerable degree is evident from the continual reference made to it by all the barbarian codes; and the cause of the permanence of the municipal institutions of Rome, while all other principles of government were swept away, may probably be discovered in the popular and independent character of the civic constitution throughout the whole empire.

This independent civic constitution originated in Italy itself; but being extended more or less to all the provinces by the emperors, it was especially perfected in Gaul; and it is worthwhile to examine what was really the municipal government of a Gallic city under the sway of Rome, in order to form some opinion of the conservative influence which those institutions still exercised in the midst of the convulsions which rent the empire at its fall.

The model of each provincial city was Rome itself; and as the institutions of the great capital varied by the progress of time, so the forms of local administration changed. The general assemblies of the people were the original source of power; in them the laws were at first enacted, and a popular council or senate chosen, which gradually took the whole authority into its own hands. The name of this municipal council was, in the early days of the empire, Ordo Decurionum; but at length it was termed simply Curia; and its members were called decurions, or curiales. Sometimes, also, they received the name of senators, although this would seem to have been an appellation of courtesy.

The internal management of the affairs of the city, combining both the legislative and the executive authority, was the chief function of the Curia; but, in Italy itself, the magisterial jurisdiction was intrusted to an officer sometimes called duumvir, sometimes quatuorvir, or magistratus, who was chosen by the decurions from their own body, though the imperial governors, and often the retiring magistrate, exercised great influence in the election. In the provinces, however, no such magistrate existed, except in a few cases; and the presidency of the council was intrusted to the eldest decurion, while the magisterial functions were exercised by the whole as a body. Thus, at the time of the barbarian invasions, a popular power and an individual government was found in each of the cities, independent of the state. Its conservative influence was great while suffered to exist, and it was easily renewable when casually overturned by any passing torrent of barbarians.

These, in general, contented themselves with plunder and massacre, and neither strove for nor desired a lengthened possession of the places they captured. Even those cities which were taken by the Vandals and the Huns were generally abandoned by them as soon as they were pillaged; so that such of the inhabitants as had effected their escape to any place of refuge came back when the desolating force had passed by, and possibly resumed their habits as well as their dwellings.

Such was the case when the city of Rheims was besieged and taken by the barbarians. Satisfied with their plunder, and by no means disposed to remain stationary in any one spot, the body of Vandals by which it had been subdued speedily left the city, which afforded them no further object for their rapacity; and the inhabitants who had fled to the mountains returned, taking care to ascribe their deliverance from their cruel enemies to a miraculous interposition of Heaven.

There was another power also which acted to preserve the seeds of order in the cities, to bind at least a portion of the population together by strong and indissoluble ties, and to maintain one species of authority while every other authority was at an end,—I mean the Christian religion, and the power cast into the hands of the church by an influencing feeling totally apart from the frail and falling institutions of humanity whereby it was surrounded.

Christianity had then been long preached in Gaul; and, in spite of the barbarous ignorance which obscured it, and the dark superstitions with which it was mingled, its innate principles of union, benevolence, and peace were felt where every other good feeling was overwhelmed, and tended potently to preserve order in the midst of a thousand causes of disorganization. Perhaps even the very blind and enthusiastic superstition of the Christians of that age, the multitude of miracles which they supposed themselves capable of performing, and the many wonderful interpositions of Heaven which they reported in their own favour, was not without its use, both in commanding respect for the only chastening principle that yet remained, and in preparing the minds of the semi-barbarous Romans, and of the deeper savages with whom they were now mingled, for a religion the least superstitious in its own nature of any doctrine that ever was promulgated on earth.

Far is it from my object to countenance deceit, or even policy, in any matter of religion—a matter which neither requires nor admits of prop or guidance from mortal man. But still, it is the business of the historian not only to state events but to examine their causes, and to trace their effects; and it appears to me an indisputable fact, that the superstition with which the vivid imagination of a barbarous people clothed the simplest and purest of doctrines served to assimilate it to their own minds, and to ensure easier reception to principles calculated in the end to elevate, to purify, and to correct. In a worldly point of view it did much more: it added an imaginary dignity in the eyes of the people to the real dignity of devotion and a holy life; and by making the clergy respected and reverenced, it called those who were great and powerful, not only to embrace the faith, but, on interested motives, to solicit those stations in the church which added to their consideration with their countrymen, in an age when the multitude of followers and adherents was the only means of safety. Thus we find the various bishoprics of Gaul as strenuously solicited and intrigued for in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries as any mundane honour of our latter days, and the writers of those ages, in general, state ail the great dignitaries of their church to have sprung from families which they qualify as possessing senatorial rank, or great wealth and possessions.

It is true, that to counterbalance in the eyes of the worldly any advantages which the higher stations of the church might possess, there were to be thrown into the opposite scale frequent persecutions, tortures, and even martyrdom; but it must be remembered that such a fate rarely fell on any but the more zealous, who made themselves prominent by their enthusiasm, and like elevated points in a thunder-storm, drew down the fire upon themselves by their very pre-eminence. To these, however, their zeal was a sufficient support. They coveted the name of martyr; and it is probable that the heroic constancy with which they bore the most excruciating suffering did more to strengthen and confirm the faithful, and to convert all who possessed that nobler fire of the mind which is so easily exalted into enthusiasm, than the prospect even of honours, dignity, and power did to attract the worldly and interested.

Thus spread the Christian religion through a great part of Gaul; and the power given by it to the bishops, the remains of the municipal senates established by the Romans, together with the few and simple laws of the barbarians, formed the whole guarantee of order, of property, and of life, in that day,—a frail tenure by which to hold both existence and tranquillity, it is true; but still it was some check upon man’s unruly passions—some barrier in the way of absolute anarchy.

The laws of the barbarians just mentioned were of course very different, according to the habits and degree of civilization of the various nations which had formed them. In most cases they were simply traditionary, and frequently depended in all points on the will of the chief by whom the tribe was led. An exception, however, to this want of regular written institutions is to be found in the case of the Burgundians, who seem to have been influenced by more settled habits than the rest of the invaders of Gaul. They first set the example of establishing written laws. This undertaking—one of the greatest steps in the progress of civilization—was begun, if not completed, by Gondebald, King of Burgundy, who, somewhere about the year 500, caused to be published part of the loi Gombette, as it is now called, about a century after the compilation of the Theodosian, and about thirty years prior to the Justinian code.

Remarkable in itself as the first of the barbarous codes of law, this composition is still more so in two other points of view. In the first place, the very cause of its institution, as stated by Gregory of Tours, shows, in a melancholy degree, to what a pitch of degradation the great overthrower of all dynasties had already reduced the mighty Romans,—the conquerors and oppressors of the world.

“Gondibert”, says the historian, “having recovered his dominion over all that part of the country now called Burgundy, he therein instituted milder laws, that the Romans might not be oppressed!”. Two centuries before, who had dared to oppress a Roman? In the second place, this code is not a little curious as fixing the origin of judicial combats; for here do we find, for the first time, that barbarous and unjust mode of judgment authorized as a law. Among a people whose manners, wishes, arts, and knowledge were all referable in some way to the idea of attack and defence, whose acquisitions had been made by the sword, and by the sword alone could be maintained, it was not wonderful that strength and courage should have been ranked as virtues, and weakness and cowardice should have been in themselves looked upon as crimes; but when to this was added a firm belief in the immediate and apparent interposition of Heaven in all human affairs, the trial by battle was the natural result both of national feelings and religious impressions.

Long before the fall of the western empire, as I have already stated, the doctrines of Christianity had been promulgated in Gaul, and had obtained many and powerful followers in each of the large cities. Nevertheless, over the face of the country in general, religious opinions were as various as the various nations who possessed the soil. The grand division was of course between the idolaters and the Christians; but even among the Christians themselves existed a vast and distressing schism, which neutralized the efforts of zeal, and wasted the powers which should have been applied solely to promote the great objects of Christianity, in profane contests, and most unchristian persecutions.

It is not my purpose here to examine, even cursorily, the tenets of Arius, or to trace the extension of his doctrine. Suffice it, that, though condemned by the ecumenical council of Nice, and attacked by the whole powers of the Roman church, the followers of the Arian heresy in Gaul were far superior in numbers, if not in zeal and talent, to those who adhered to the Nicene Creed. The Goths, possessing the country from the Loire to the Pyrenees, and the Burgundians, on the other side of the Rhone, were almost universally Arians, while the rest of the population of France was divided between Catholics of the Roman church, the remains of the ancient tribes of heathen Gaul, and the various nations of idolatrous Franks, who were now rapidly extending their dominions in the northern and eastern parts of Flanders.

In the choice between those who differed with them on certain doctrinal points, and those who rejected their religion altogether, the followers of the council of Nice, of course, hesitated not a moment. The universal weakness of human nature on such subjects made them look with an infinitely more favourable eye upon heathens than they did upon heretics; and consequently the progress of the Franks was hailed with gladness by all the Catholic clergy of Gaul. Cabals and intrigues of every kind were carried on to facilitate their conquests; and their coming was anticipated with joy, even in the very dominions of the Goths.

As it is to be my task, henceforward, to trace the course of the Franks, I must be permitted for a moment to look back upon their prior history as far as I find it clear and uninvolved, without, however, entering upon any of those long and laborious discussions concerning the origin of nations, which rarely do aught but exercise the writer’s imagination, without proving either pleasing or instructive to the reader.

The nation of the Franks was evidently composed of many distinct tribes, and originally inhabited some district of Germany, probably not far from the Rhine. Their first settlements in Gaul took place during the military government of the Emperor Julian; but in that age they presented themselves on the Roman territory, not so much as conquerors or aggressors, as refugees, driven from their native land by a more powerful tribe.

The vigorous mind of Julian was at that time occupied in endeavouring, by every earthly means, to uphold the vast but decaying fabric of the Roman Empire, to restore to it its pristine lustre, and to renew its ancient force. The advantages of mingling with the corrupted legionaries of Rome fresh troops, whose savage strength and wild courage had not yet been in the least degree affected by the enfeebling power of luxury, did not escape him; and he permitted the tribe of Franks who had been compelled to seek refuge in the Roman territory, to settle quietly in Brabant. More prudent, however, than his successors, he took care that the barbarians whom he admitted should be too few in number to prove dangerous; and thus, though he received that tribe called the Salii, who had been driven across the Rhine by their enemies—though he attacked and slaughtered the Quadi, who pursued them —though he assigned the emigrants lands, and granted them every hospitable privilege—, he drove back the Chamavi, another tribe of the same nation, who followed, expelled the rest of the savage hordes who had already passed the Rhine, and closed the boundaries of the Roman empire against any further influx of barbarians.

After this period, we continually find the Salii serving in the Roman infantry, and remarkable for their activity as foot soldiers. Everything, indeed, leads us to suppose, that as long as the Empire existed, they were distinguished by the Romans from the other tribes of Franks, with whom the imperial generals waged a continual and devastating warfare on the confines of Gaul and Germany. It is certain, also, that on their settlement at Tessander Lo, in Brabant, the tribe of the Salii were assigned certain districts; and, as we afterward find them fighting conspicuously among the forces of the empire, it is more than probable that these lands were granted on th...

Table of contents

• HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
• FROM THE BIRTH OF CHARLEMAGNE TO HIS ACCESSION.
• FROM THE ACCESSION OF CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS BROTHER, TO THE DEATH OF CARLOMAN AND THE REUNION OF THE KINGDOM.
• FROM THE DEATH OF CARLOMAN TO THE CAPTURE OF PAVIA.
• FROM THE CONQUEST OF LOMBARDY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SPANISH WAR.
• FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SPANISH WAR, TO THE INCORPORATION OF SAXONY WITH THE FRENCH DOMINIONS.
• FROM THE INCORPORATION OF SAXONY, TO THE HOMAGE OF THE DUKE OF BAVARIA.
• FROM THE SUBMISSION OF THE DUKE OF BAVARIA TO THE BAPTISM OF WITIKIND, AND THE SUPPRESSION OF THE REVOLT OF BRITANNY.
• FROM THE PACIFICATION OF SAXONY, TOTHE DEFEAT OF ADALGISUS AND THE GREEKS IN ITALY.
• FROM THE CONDEMNATION OF THE DUKE OF BAVARIA, TO THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF FRANKFORT.
• FROM THE CONSPIRACY OF PEPIN THE HUNCHBACK, TO THE FINAL SUBJUGATION OF THE SAXONS.
• FROM THE RENEWAL OF THE HUNGARIAN WAR, TO THE ELECTION OF LEO III
• FROM THE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES IN THE SPANISH MARCH, TO THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN LUIDGARDE.
• FROM CHARLEMAGNE’S LAST VISIT TO ROME TO HIS DEATH