No More Learning

THE FOUNDATION OF THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND.
By William John CORBETT, M. A. , Fellow and Bursar of
King's College, Cambridge.
Death of Offa. Beorhtric of Wessex
340
Anarchy in Northumbria. Coenwulf of Mercia
341
Wales in the eighth century. Nennius.
ib.
Coenwulf and Archbishop Wulfred. Beornwulf
343
Ecgbert of Wessex. Conquest of Cornwall
344
Battle of Ellandun. Ecgbert conquers Kent.
345
Ecgbert overthrows Mercia. Wiglaf restored
346
Ecgbert and the Danes. Accession of Aethelwulf .
347
Character of the struggle with the Vikings
348
Aethelwulf's Donation. The Danes winter in England .
349
Wales under Rhodri. Scotland under Kenneth
ib,
Ingwar conquers Northumbria and East Anglia
350
Halfdene attacks Wessex. Accession of Alfred
352
Collapse of Mercia
353
Danes settle in Northumbria and the Five Boroughs
354
Guthrum renews the attack on Wessex.
355
Battle of Edington. West Mercia submits to Alfred
356
Alfred's reforms. The Boroughs of Wessex
357
Alfred's laws and literary activity.
358
Alfred and Guthrum's Peace. Hasting's raids
359
Death of Alfred. Edward the Elder
360
Edward attacks the Danelaw.
361
Edward's reforms. Battle of Tettenhall
362
Aethelfleda, the Lady of the Mercians
363


## p. xxxii (#38) ###########################################

Xxxii
Contents
East Anglia and East Mercia submit to Edward
Edward and the Danes of Yorkshire
Reign of Aethelstan. Battle of Brunanburh .
Aethelstan organises the midland shires -
Reign of Edmund. Archbishop Oda
Reorganisation of the dukedoms. The shire-reeves
Reign of Eadred. Final submission of the North .
PAGE
364
365
366
ib.
368
369
370
CHAPTER XV.
ENGLAND FROM a. ), 954 TO THE DEATH OF
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
371
372
ib.
375
ib.
376
377
378
379
380
382
ib.
384
By WILLIAM JOHN CORBETT, M. A.
Death of Eadred and accession of Eadwig
Accession of Edgar
Monastic Reform
Oswald's Land Loans
Drift towards feudalism
Edgar's administrative measures
Rise of ecclesiastical franchises
Reign of Edward the Martyr.
Minority of Aethelred the Unready
Renewal of Scandinavian invasions
The Massacre of St Brice's Day
Svein of Denmark.
Restoration of Aethelred
Edmund Ironside .
Accession of Knut
His domestic policy
His foreign policy
Harold Harefoot
Harthacnut.
Accession of Edward the Confessor
Edward's character
Predominance of Godwin of Wessex
Edward's foreign advisers
Exile of Godwin .
Return of Godwin.
Flight of the foreigners
Death of Godwin.
War with Scotland
Rivalry of Harold and Aelfgar
The succession problem
War with the Welsh
Captivity of Harold
Northumbrian revolt. Fall of Tostig
Death of Edward the Confessor
Economic conditions under Edward
Contrast between East and West.
The Rectitudines Singularum Personarum
The Tidenham evidence
The growth of seignorial courts; sake and soke
St Edmund's Liberty
ib.
386
ib.
387
389
ib.
390
ib.
391
392
393
394
ib.
395
ib.
396
397
ib.
398
ib.
399
ib.
400
401
404
405
408


## p. xxxiii (#39) ##########################################

Contents
xxxiii
.
.
.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WESTERN CALIPHATE.
By Dr RAFAEL ALTAMIRA, late Director-General of Primary Instruction
(Ministry of Public Instruction); Professor of American Institutions
in the University of Madrid; Senator.
PAGE
Asturias and Navarre
409
‘Abd-ar-Raḥmān I
411
The Umayyad Emirate .
412
Muslim factions
414
'Abd-ar-Raḥmān JI
415
Christians and Muslims .
416
Mahomet I
417
Muslim civil wars
418
'Abd-ar-Raḥmān III
420
The Caliphate of Cordova
421
Rise of Castile
422
Almanzor
424
Fall of the Caliphate
427
The Christian kingdoms
428
Muslim Spain
(1) races and classes
428
(2) administration and justice
429
(3) army and religion
431
(4) wealth and industry :
432
(5) language and education
433
(6) literature and science
434
(7) books and libraries
435
(8) the Arts.
436
Contact of civilisations
437
The Mozarabs
438
Government and classes in Leon and Castile .
ib.
Aragon and Navarre, Catalonia
441
.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CHURCH FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO SYLVESTER II.
By Professor Louis HALPHEN.
Louis the Pious and the Bishops
443
Aims of the Episcopate .
445
Hincmar in the State
447
The Forged Decretals
448
Pope Nicholas I
449
Divorce of Lothar II
ib.
Photius
450
Pope, King, and Prelate
451
Decline of the Papacy
453
Ecclesiastical anarchy
455
Legend of the year 1000 A. D.
456
Cluny and reform.
ib.
The Peace of God.
457
.
.


## p. xxxiv (#40) ###########################################

xxxiv
Contents
CHAPTER XVIII.
FEUDALISM.
By Sir PAUL VINOGRADOFF, Hon. LL. D. , F. B. A. , Corpus Professor
of Jurisprudence in the University of Oxford.
PAGE
The feudal contract
458
Feudal reciprocity
460
Duties of vassals
461
Ministeriales; dominium
462
Subinfeudation; reliefs .
463
The feudal nexus in politics
464
Private war and its remedies .
465
Growth of franchises and immunities
466
Ecclesiastical advocates .
467
Counsel and aid
468
Fendal Courts
469
Appeal of judgment
470
Feudal legislation.
ib.
The manor
472
The village community
473
Common fields
474
The demesne
475
Week work and boonwork
476
The villeins
477
Freeholders
479
Officers of the lord
481
Local administration
482
Survey of Europe .
483
Precedence of England .
484
.
CHAPTER XIX.
LEARNING AND LITERATURE TILL THE DEATH OF BEDE.
By MONTAGUE RHODES JAMEs, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Provost of Eton
College, late Provost of King's College, Cambridge.
Boethius
485
Cassiodorus
ib.
St Gregory the Great
487
Africa
488
Spain
489
Martin of Bracara.
ib.
Isidore of Seville
490
Julian of Toledo
493
St Valerius.
494
Venantius Fortunatus
495
.
.


## p. xxxv (#41) ############################################

Contents
XXXV
Gregory of Tours and the decay of Latin
Virgilius Maro Grammaticus .
Irish learning
Greek in Ireland
Adamnan
Early British learning
Theodore of Tarsus; Hadrian
Benedict Biscop
Bede
Wanderings of manuscripts
Virgilius of Salzburg
PAGE
495
497
501
502
507
508
510
ib.
511
512
ib.
.
CHAPTER XX.
LEARNING AND LITERATURE TILL POPE SYLVESTER II.
.
By MONTAGUE RHODES JAMEs, Litt. D. , F. B. A.
Destruction of English learning
Paul the Deacon
Alcuin.
The Carolingian minuscule
Einhard
Theodulf
Angilbert
Agobard; Raban Maur.
Monastic libraries .
Walafrid Strabo
Classical knowledge; Spain
John the Scot
Sedulius Scottus
Glossaries
The Irish circle; mythographers
Anastasius the Librarian
Gottschalk
Notker; School of St Gall
Ekkehard; Gesta Berengarii; Hrotsvitha
Theology; Libri Carolini
Radbert and Ratramn; Hagiography
History
Geography and science
Gerbert (Sylvester II)
Books in vernacular
Destruction of libraries .
514
ib.
515
517
ib.
518
519
520
521
ib.
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
ib.
537
538


## p. xxxvi (#42) ###########################################

xxxvi
Contents
CHAPTER XXI.
BYZANTINE AND ROMANESQUE ARTS.
By W. R. LETHABY, Professor of Design, Royal College of Art.
Early building
Domes :
Early churches
St Sophia
Other churches of the period
Italian Byzantesque
Early art in books; mosaics and paintings
Roman art and its influence .
The Barbaric element
The English crosses
Irish art
Beginnings of Romanesque
Sta Maria Antiqua
Romanesque among the Teutons
Architecture after Charlemagne
Beginnings of Gothic
Glass
Imagery and colour
Mosaics and painting
PAGE
539
540
542
544
546
548
549
551
554
555
556
ib.
558
559
560
564
565
566
567
.
.
.


## p. xxxvii (#43) ##########################################

xxxyii
LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES.
CHAPS.
PAGES
Abbreviations
569_571
572-582
.
583—586
587-588
589_591
592-593
594603
604-606
607-608
609-611
General Bibliography for Volume III
I, II, III. Louis the Pious and the Carolingian Kingdoms
IV. France, the last Carolingians and the accession
of Hugh Capet .
V. France in the eleventh century
VI. The Kingdom of Burgundy
VII. Italy in the tenth century
VIII. Germany: Henry I and Otto the Great.
IX. Germany: Otto II and Otto III
X.
The Emperor Henry II.
XI. The Emperor Conrad II
XII. The Emperor Henry III
XIII. The Vikings
XIV, XV. England from a. d. 796 to the death of Edward
the Confessor
XVI. The Western Caliphate
XVII. The Church from Charlemagne to Sylvester II
XVIII. Feudalism
XIX, XX. Learning and Literature
XXI. Byzantine and Romanesque Arts
612-614
615–617
618-624
625-630
631-635
636-638
639—641
.
642643
644645
.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF LEADING EVENTS
646—650
INDEX
651–700


## p. xxxviii (#44) #########################################

Xxxviii
LIST OF MAPS.
VOLUME III.
(See separate portfolio. )
28 a. The Western Empire 843.
28 b. The Western Empire 870.
29. France in 987.
30. North-Western France in the eleventh century.
Inset: Environs of Paris.
31. Burgundy at the beginning of the eleventh century.
32. Italy at close of the tenth century.
Inset: Rome, approximate plan before A. D. 1084.
33.
Germany in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
34. Eastern neighbours of Germany in the eleventh century.
35. The Vikings.
Inset: Ireland.
36. England circa A. D. 900.
37. Spain to illustrate the era of the Umayyads.
Inset: Spain at the death of Alfonso I.


## p. xxxix (#45) ###########################################

xxxix
CORRECTIONS IN MAPS
As the maps were partly executed before the war, some changes are required ;
these, with a few others, are given in the following list.
MAP 28 a. THE WESTERN EMPIRE 843
For Aachen read Aix-la-Chapelle
For Trier read Trèves
The shading of the dominions of Lothar should be extended over and be-
yond the Papal Lands so as to include the whole of the name ITALIA
MAP 28 B. THE WESTERN EMPIRE 870
For Aachen read Aix-la-Chapelle
For Trier read Trèves
MAP 29. FRANCE in 987
For DUCHY OF FRANCE [between Brittany and R. Seine) read MARCH OF
NEUSTRIA
For Ribagoree read Ribagorza
MAP 31. BURGUNDY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY
For Bellay read Belley
MAP 32. ITALY AT CLOSE OF THE TENTA CENTURY
For Aquilea read Aquileia
For Caesena read Cesena
The shading of Apulia should be extended so as to include the coastland
of Lucania and the whole of Calabria.
Map 33. GERMANY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES
For Aachen read Aix-la-Chapelle
For Lyutizi read Lyutitzi
For Mainz read Mayence
For MISNIA read MEISSEN
For Regensburg read Ratisbon
For Strasburg read Strasbourg
For Trier read Trèves
MAP 34. EASTERN NEIGHBOURS OF GERMANY
For Lyutizi read Lyutitzi
MAP 35. THE VIKINGS
For Durstede read Dorestad
MAP 37. SPAIN
For Cerdagne read Cerdaña
For Ribagorze read Ribagorza


## p. xl (#46) ##############################################

5
。


## p. 1 (#47) ###############################################

CHAPTER I.
LOUIS THE PIOUS.
It was at his winter home at Doué, early in February 814, that Louis
of Aquitaine received the news of his father's death, which had been
immediately sent to him by his sisters and the magnates who had
espoused his cause. It is a difficult matter to discern through the
self-interested encomiums of biographers and the calumnies set afloat by
political opponents, the real character of the man who had now taken
over the burdensome heritage left by the Emperor Charles. Louis, who
was at this time thirty-six years old, was, in form and manners, a tall,
handsome man, broad-shouldered, with a strong voice, skilled in bodily
exercises, fond, as his ancestors were, of the chase, but less easily led
away by the seductions of passion and good cheer. With regard to his
mental qualities, he was a learned man, well acquainted with Latin, and
able even to compose verses in that language, having some knowledge of
Greek, and in particular, well versed in moral theology. He was modest
and unassuming, of a usually gentle temper, and he constantly shewed
himself capable of generosity and compassion even towards his enemies.
His piety, to which he owes the surname by which history has known
him from his own century to ours, appears to have been deep and
genuine. It was shewn not only by his zealous observance of fast and
festival and his prayerful habits, but by his sustained interest in the
affairs of the Church. During the time he spent in Aquitaine the reform
of the Septimanian monasteries by Benedict of Aniane had engaged a
large share of his attention. Throughout his reign his capitularies are
,
filled with measures dealing with the churches and monasteries. It must
not be forgotten, however, that in that age Church and State were so
closely connected that provisions of this description were absolutely
necessary to good administration, and that it would thus be a mistake to
look upon Louis as a mere “crowned monk. ” A king in Aquitaine from
781, and associated in the Empire in 813, he had become accustomed
to the prospect of his eventual succession. Though the news of Charles's
death took him by surprise, the new sovereign seems promptly to have
made such arrangements as the circumstances required, for after having
shewn all the signs of the deepest grief and ordered fitting prayer to be
C. MED, H. VOL. III. CH. I.
1


## p. 2 (#48) ###############################################

2
First Measures
made for the repose of the soul of the dead, he set out on his journey for
Aix-la-Chapelle in company with his wife and children and the chief
lords of his party. He was doubtless uneasy as to what measures were
being taken there by his father's former ministers, among them Wala,
the grandson of Charles Martel, who had wielded so great an influence
at the late Emperor's court. Such fears, however, were groundless, for
hardly had Louis reached the banks of the Loire than the lords of
Francia, hastening to meet him and take the oath of fealty to him, gave
him an enthusiastic welcome. The famous Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans,
having received timely notice, had even found leisure to compose certain
poems for the occasion, hailing the dawn of the new reign. Wala
himself came to meet his cousin at Herstall, before the Emperor, who
was going by Paris in order to visit the celebrated sanctuaries of
Saint-Denis and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, had entered Francia. Most of
the magnates hastened to follow his example.
At Herstall the new Emperor made some stay. There was at the
palace of Aix a clique of the discontented who relied, perhaps, on the
support of Charles's daughters, and whose chief offence in the eyes of
Louis seems to have been their disposition to pursue the dissolute way
of life which had been customary at the court of the late Emperor.
Wala, Lambert, Count of Nantes, and Count Garnier were sent on in
advance to secure order in the palace and to seize upon any from whom
resistance was to be feared. They were obliged to use force in carrying
out their mission, and some lives were lost. After Louis, on 27 Feb-
ruary, had made his solemn entry into Aix-la-Chapelle amidst the shouts
of the people, and had taken over the government, he continued the
same course, taking measures to put an end to the scandals, real or
alleged, which for the last few years had dishonoured the court. His
sisters, whose lapses from virtue, however, dated many years back, were
the first to be assailed. After dividing among them the property due
to them under Charles's will, he sent them into banishment at various
convents. Nothing is known of the fate of Gisela and Bertha, but
Theodrada was obliged to retire to her abbey of Argenteuil, and
Rothaid to Faremoutier. The Jewish and Christian merchants also,
who were found established in the palace, were summoned to depart
from it, as well as the superfluous women not required for the service
of the court. At the same time Louis kept with him his illegitimate
brothers, Hugh, Drogo and Theodoric. But the arrangements made
.
in the name of good morals were followed up at once by measures
directed against the descendants of Charles Martel. In spite of the
loyalty just shewn by Wala, his brother Adalard, Abbot of Corbie,
was exiled to the island of Noirmoutier, while another brother, Ber-
nier, was confined at Lérins, and their sister, Gundrada, at St, Rade-
gund of Poitiers. Wala himself, fearing a like fate, chose to retire to
Corbie.


## p. 3 (#49) ###############################################

Division of Territory
3
Apparently it was also a zeal for reform which inspired Louis at the
first general placitum held at Aix in August 814 to decide on sending
out to all parts of the kingdom missi charged with the duty of making
inquiry into “ the slightest actions of the counts and judges and even of
the missi previously despatched from the palace, in order to reform what
they found to have been unjustly done, and bring it into conformity
with justice, to restore their patrimony to the oppressed, and freedom to
those who had been unjustly reduced to servitude. ” It was a like
anxiety which impelled him next year for the protection of the native
inhabitants of the Spanish March, molested as they were by the Frankish
Counts, to take those measures which are to be found among the pro-
visions of certain of his capitularies.
At this placitum of Aix appeared the young king of Italy, Bernard,
who came to make oath of fealty to his uncle. The Emperor received
him kindly, bestowed rich gifts on him, and sent him back to Italy,
having confirmed him in his title of king while reserving to himself the
imperial sovereignty, as is shewn by the fact that even in Italy all
legislative acts emanate exclusively from the Emperor. He it is also
who, during Bernard's life, grants the confirmation of the privileges of
the great Italian abbeys. At the same time Louis assigned as kingdoms
to his two elder sons with much the same terms of dependence on
himself two portions of the Frankish Empire which still retained a
certain degree of autonomy, Bavaria to Lothar and Aquitaine to Pepin.
Both were, however, too young to exercise real power. Louis therefore
placed about each of them Frankish officials entrusted with the duty of
governing the country in their names. As to the Emperor's latest-born
son, Louis, he was too young to be put in even nominal charge of a
kingdom so that he remained under his father's care.
In spite, however, of the “cleansing” of the imperial palace, Louis
retained around him a certain number of his father's old servants and
advisers, such as Adalard the Count Palatine, and Hildebold, Archbishop
of Cologne. Some also who had been among his most faithful counsellors
in Aquitaine followed him to Francia. Bego, the husband of his daughter
Alpaïs, one of the companions of his youth, seems to have become
Count of Paris. Louis also retained as Chancellor Elisachar, the chief
of his Aquitanian clerks, a learned man and a patron of letters, to whom
perhaps may be owing the remarkable improvement traceable at this
time in the drawing up of the imperial diplomas. But the man who
seems to have played the chief part during the early years of the reign
was the Goth Witiza, St Benedict of Aniane, the reformer of the
Aquitanian monasteries. The Emperor had lost no time in summoning
him to his side at Aix,, and a large number of the diplomas issued
at this time from the imperial chancery were granted at his request.
Benedict had at first been installed as Abbot at Maursmünster in Alsace,
but the Emperor, evidently feeling that he was still too far away, had
CH. I.
1-2


## p. 4 (#50) ###############################################

4
Empire and Papacy
a
tha
hastened to build the monastery of Inden in the woods around Aix-la-
Chapelle and to set him at its head.
It was, no doubt, to the influence of the Abbot of Inden that the
measures were due which were taken a few years later (817) to establish
one uniform rule, that of St Benedict of Nursia, in all monasteries
throughout the Frankish Empire. Other regulations were to be applied
to the canons of cathedral churches, in order to complete the work
formerly begun by St Chrodegang; and in a long capitulary, de rebus
ecclesiasticis, the rights and duties of bishops and clerks were defined
with the special object of preserving them from the secularisation of
their property which had too often befallen them at the hands of the
lay power, since the days of Charles Martel.
The Emperor's care for the interests of the Church, and the im-
portance he attached to its good administration, were in harmony both
with the traditions set up by Charles and also with the universal con-
ception of an empire in which the civil and ecclesiastical powers were
intimately connected, although the imperial authority could not be
said to be subjected to that of the Church. As early as the first year of
his reign, Louis had had occasion to shew that he intended in this matter
to maintain his rights inviolate even against the Pope himself. A con-
spiracy among the Roman nobility against Leo III had been discovered
and punished by that Pope. The culprits had been put to death
without consulting the Emperor or his representative. Louis, con-
ceiving that his rights had been infringed by these indications of
independence, directed Bernard of Italy and Gerold, Count of the
Eastern March, to hold an inquiry into the affair. Two envoys from
the Holy See were obliged to accompany them to the Emperor bearing
the excuses and explanations of the Pope (815). In the same year a
revolt of the inhabitants of the Campagna against the papal authority
was by order of Bernard suppressed by Winichis, the Duke of Spoleto.
Leo III died on 12 June 816 and the Romans chose as his successor
in the Chair of Peter Stephen IV, a man of noble family who seems
to have been as much devoted to the Frankish monarchy as his pre-
decessor had been hostile to it. His first care was to exact from the
Romans an oath of fealty to the Emperor. At the same time he sent
an embassy to Louis with orders to announce the election to him, but
also to request an interview at a place suited to the Emperor's convenience.
Louis gladly consented and sent an invitation to Stephen to come to
meet him in France escorted by Bernard of Italy. It was at Rheims,
where Charlemagne had formerly had a meeting with Leo III, that the
Emperor awaited the Sovereign Pontiff. When Stephen drew near,
Louis went a mile out of the city to meet him, in his robes of state,
helped him to dismount from his horse, and led him in great pomp as
far as the Abbey of Saint-Remi a little beyond the city. On the
morrow he gave him a solemn reception in Rheims itself, and after several
>
а


## p. 5 (#51) ###############################################

Constitutio Romana
5
a
days spent in conferring about the interests of the Church, the ceremony
of the imperial coronation took place in the cathedral of Notre-Dame.
The Pope significantly set on Louis's head a diadem which he had brought
with him from Rome and anointed him with the holy oil. The Empress
Ermengarde was also crowned and anointed, and a few days later
Stephen, accompanied by the imperial missi, again turned towards Rome,
perhaps bearing with him the diplomas by which Louis confirmed the
Roman Church in its privileges and possessions. Thus once more a
seal was set upon the alliance between the Papacy and the Empire.
At the same time, the subsequent relations of Louis the Pious with
the Holy See shew the Emperor's constant anxiety for the observance
of the twofold principle that the Emperor is the protector of the Pope,
but that in return for his protection he has the right to exercise his
sovereign authority throughout Italy, even in Rome itself, and, in
particular, to give his assent to the election of a new pontiff. On the
death of Stephen IV (24 January 817) Paschal I hastened to inform
Louis of his election and to renew with him the agreement arrived at
with his predecessors. The sending of Lothar to Italy as king with
the special mission of governing the country, and his coronation in 823
at the hands of Paschal I, were a further guarantee of the imperial
authority. Hence, no doubt, arose a certain discontent among the
Roman nobles and even among the Pope's entourage which shewed itself
in the execution of the primicerius Theodore and his son-in-law, the
nomenclator Leo, who were first blinded and then beheaded in the Lateran
palace, as guilty of having shewn themselves in all things too faithful to
the party of the young Emperor Lothar. Paschal was accused of
having allowed or even ordered this double execution, and two missi were
sent to Rome to hold an inquiry into the matter, an inquest which,
however, led to no result, for the Pope sent ambassadors of his own
to Louis, with instructions to clear their master by oath from the
accusations levelled against him.
On the death of Paschal I (824), as soon as the election of his suc-
cessor, Eugenius II, had been announced to Louis, then at Compiègne,
he sent Lothar to Italy to settle with the new Pope measures securing
the right exercise of the imperial jurisdiction in the papal state. This
mission of Lothar's led to the promulgation of the Constitutio Romana
of 824, intended to safeguard the rights “ of all living under the pro-
tection of the Emperor and the Pope. ” Missi sent by both authorities
were to superintend the administration of true justice. The Roman
judges were to continue their functions, but were to be subject to
imperial control. The Roman people were given leave to choose under
what law they would live, but were required to take an oath of fealty
to the Emperor. The measures thus taken and the settlement agreed
upon were confirmed in writing by the Pope, who pledged himself to
observe them. On his death, and after the brief pontificate of Valentine,
CH. I.


## p. 6 (#52) ###############################################

6
Neighbours of the Empire
Gregory IV was not, in fact, consecrated until the Emperor had signified
his approval of the election.
Outside his own dominions, if Louis appears to have made no
attempt to extend his power beyond the limits fixed by Charlemagne,
he did at least exert himself to maintain his supremacy over the
semi-vassal nations dwelling on all the frontiers of the Empire. For
the most part, however, these races seem to have sought to preserve
good relations with their powerful neighbour. The respect which, for
the first few years of the reign, they entertained for the successor of
Charlemagne is proved by the presence at all the great assemblies
of ambassadors from different nations bearing pacific messages. At
Compiègne, in 816, Slovenes and Obotrites appeared, and again at
Herstall (818) and at Frankfort (823); Bulgarian envoys on several
occasions; and in 823 two leaders who, among the Wiltzi, were con-
tending for power, begged the Emperor to act as arbitrator. Danes
were present at Paderborn (815), at Aix-la-Chapelle (817), at Compiègne
(823) and at Thionville (831). Louis even received Sardinians in 815
and Arabs in 816. As to the Eastern Empire, the Basileis seem always
to have shewn anxiety to keep on good terms with Louis. On various
occasions their ambassadors appeared at the great assemblies held by
him; at Aix (817) to settle a question concerning frontiers in Dalmatia ;
at Rouen in 824 to discuss what measures should be taken in the matter
of the controversy concerning images ; at Compiègne in 827 to renew
their professions of amity. It may be added that it was a Greek, the
priest George, who built for Louis the Pious the first hydraulic organ
ever used in Gaul.
Even from a military point of view, the reign of Louis the Pious
bore at first the appearance of being in some sort a continuation of that
of Charles, under a prince capable of repelling the attacks of his enemies.
In the north, the Danish race were at this time fairly easily held in awe.
One of the rivals then disputing for power, Harold, having been driven
out by his cousins, the sons of Godefrid, came in 814 to take shelter at
the court of Aix. In 815 the Saxon troops with the Obotrite“ friendlies”
made an attempt to restore this ally of the Franks to the throne, under
the leadership of the missus Baldric. Promises of submission were made
by the Danes, and hostages were handed over, but this was the only
result obtained. It was not until about 819 that a revolution recalled
Harold to the throne, whence his rivals had just been driven. He
retained it until a fresh revulsion of feeling forced him again to take
refuge at the court of Louis. On the other hand, in concert with Pope
Paschal, Louis had been endeavouring to convert the Danes to Christianity.
Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims, was sent on this mission. Setting out in
company with Halitgar, Bishop of Cambrai, he united his labours with
those of Anskar and his companions who were already at work spreading
the Christian Faith in the district around the mouth of the Elbe, where


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Eastern Frontiers
7
Saxons and Scandinavians came into contact with one another. The
monastery of Corvey or New Corbie (822) and the bishopric of Ham-
burg (831) were founded to safeguard Christianity in the country thus
evangelised. When in 826 the Danish prince Harold came to be
baptised at Mayence with several hundreds of his followers, the
ceremony was made the opportunity for splendid entertainments at
which the whole court was present, and was looked upon by the circle
surrounding the Emperor as a triumph. But attacks by way of the sea
were already beginning against the Frankish Empire. In 820 a band of
pirates had attempted to land, first in Frisia, and then on the shores of
the lower Seine, but being beaten off by the inhabitants they had been
forced to content themselves with retiring to pillage the island of Bouin
off the coast of La Vendée. In 829 a Scandinavian invasion of Saxony
had momentarily alarmed Louis, but had led to nothing. In short, it
may be said that for the first part of the reign Louis's dominions had
been exempt from the ravages of the Vikings, but the tempest which was
to rage so furiously a few years later was already seen to be gathering.
The Slavonic populations which bordered Frankish Germany on the
east were also kept within due bounds. In 816 the heorbann of the
Saxons and East Franks, called out against the rebellious Sorbs,
compelled them to renew their oaths of submission. Next year the
Frankish counts in charge of the frontier successfully beat off an attack
by Slavomir, the prince of the Obotrites, who, being made prisoner a
little later and accused before the Emperor by his own subjects, was
deposed, his place being given to his rival Ceadrag (818). The new
prince, however, before long deserted his former allies, joined forces
with the Danes, and unsuccessfully renewed the struggle with the
Franks. The latter found a more formidable opponent in the person of
Liudevit, a prince who had succeeded in reducing to his obedience part
of the population of Pannonia and was menacing the Frankish frontier
between the Drave and the Save. An expedition sent against him
under the Marquess of Friuli, Cadolah, was not successful. Cadolah died
during the campaign, and the Slovenes invaded the imperial territory
(820). It was only through an alliance with one of Liudevit's foes,
Bozna, the Grand Župan of the Croats, that the Franks in their turn
were enabled to spread destruction through the enemy's country, and to
force the tribes of Carniola and Carinthia, who had thrown off their
allegiance, to submit afresh. Liudevit himself made his submission next
year, and peace was maintained upon the eastern frontier till 827-8,
when an irruption of the Bulgarians into Pannonia necessitated another
Frankish expedition, headed this time by the Emperor's son Louis the
German. By way of compensation, unbroken peace reigned on the
extreme southern frontier of the dominions of Louis. The Lombard
populations of the south of Italy continued to be practically independent
of Frankish rule. Louis made no attempt to exert any effective
CH. I.


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8
The Saracens
sovereignty over them. He contented himself with receiving from Prince
Grimoald of Benevento in 814 a promise to pay tribute and assurances
of submission, vague engagements which his successor Sico renewed
more than once without causing any change in the actual situation.
On the south-western frontier of the Empire a state of war, or at
least of perpetual skirmishing, went on between the Franks and either
the Saracens of Spain or the half-subdued inhabitants of the Pyrenees.
In 815 hostilities had broken out anew with the Emir Hakam I,
whom the Frankish historians call Abulaz. The following year the recall
of Séguin (Sigiwin), Duke of Gascony, led to a revolt of the Basques,
but the native chief whom the rebels had placed at their head was de-
feated and killed by the counts in the service of Louis the Pious. Two
years later (818) the Emperor felt himself strong enough to banish
Lupus son of Centullus, the national Duke of the Gascons, and in 819
an expedition under Pepin of Aquitaine resulted in an apparent and
temporary pacification of the province. On the other hand, at the
assembly at Quierzy in 820 it was decided to renew the war with the
Saracens of Spain. But the Frankish annalists mention only a plundering
raid beyond the Segre river (822), and in 824 the defeat of two Frankish
counts in the valley of Roncesvalles, as they were returning from an
expedition against Pampeluna. In 826 the revolt in the Spanish March
of a chief of Gothic extraction gave Louis the Pious graver cause for
disquiet. An army led by the Abbot Elisachar checked the rebels
for the moment, but they appealed to the Emir ‘Abd-ar-Raḥmān, and
the Muslim troops sent under the command of Abū-Marwān penetrated
as far as the walls of Saragossa. At the Compiègne assembly held in
the summer of 827, the Emperor decided on sending a new Frankish
army beyond the Pyrenees, but its leaders, Matfrid, Count of Orleans,
and Hugh, Count of Tours, shewed such an entire lack of zeal and
interposed so many delays, that Abū-Marwān was able to ravage the
districts of Barcelona and Gerona with impunity. The progress of the
invaders was only checked by the energetic resistance of Barcelona, under
Count Bernard of Septimania, but they were able, nevertheless, to with-
draw unhindered with their booty. In 828, in another quarter of the
Frankish Empire, Boniface, Marquess of Tuscany, was taking the offensive.
After having, at the head of his little flotilla, destroyed the pirate
Muslim ships in the neighbourhood of Corsica and Sardinia, he landed
in Africa and ravaged the country round Carthage.
To the extreme west of the Empire, the Bretons, whom even the
great Charles had never been able to subdue completely, continued from
time to time to send out pillaging expeditions into Frankish territory,
chiefly in the direction of Vannes. These were mere raids, up to the
time when their union under the leadership of a chief named Morvan
(Murmannus), to whom they gave the title of king, so far emboldened
the Bretons that they refused to pay homage or the annual tribute to


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The Bretons
9
which they had heretofore been subject. Louis, having attempted in
vain to negotiate with the rebels, made up his mind to act, and
summoned the host of Francia, Burgundy, and even of Saxony and
Alemannia, to gather at Vannes in August 818. The Frankish troops
pushed their way into the enemy's territory without having to fight a
regular battle, as the Bretons, following their customary tactics, preferred
to disappear from sight and merely harass their enemy. The latter
could do no more than ravage the country, but Morvan was killed in a
skirmish. His countrymen then abandoned the struggle, and at the
end of a month the Emperor re-entered Angers, having exacted promises
of submission from the more powerful of the Breton chiefs. Their sub-
mission, however, did not last long. In 822, a certain Wihomarch
repeated Morvan's attempt. The expeditions led against him by the
Frankish counts of the march of Brittany or by the Emperor himself were
marked only by the wasting of the country, and produced no permanent
results. Not until 826 did a new system ensure a measure of tranquillity.
Louis then recognised the authority over the Bretons of a chief of their
own race, Nomenoë, to whom he gave the title of missus and who in
return did homage to him and took the oath of fealty. But the union
of Brittany under a single head was a dangerous measure.
Louis was
blind to its disadvantages, but they were destined to have disastrous
results in the reign of his successor.
Events within the realm were to begin the disorganisation of Louis's
government and ultimately bring about the disruption of the empire
founded by Charlemagne. In July 817 at the assembly of Aix-la-
Chapelle, the Emperor had decided to take measures to establish the
succession, or rather to cause the arrangements already made by himself
and a few of his confidential advisers to be ratified by the lay and
ecclesiastical magnates jointly. The Frankish principle by which the
dominions of a deceased sovereign were divided among his sons, was still
too living a thing (it lasted, indeed, as long as the Carolingian dynasty
itself) to allow of the exclusion of any one of Louis's sons from the suc-
cession. The principle had already been applied in 806, and Louis had
in some sort recognised it afresh by entrusting two of his sons with the
government of two of his kingdoms, while at the same time leaving a third
in the hands of Bernard of Italy. But on the other hand, the Emperor
and his chief advisers were no less firmly attached to the principle of the
unity of the Empire, “by ignoring which we should introduce confusion
into the Church, and offend Him in Whose Hands are the rights of all
kingdoms. ” “Would God, the Almighty,” wrote one of the most
illustrious of the thinkers upholding the system of the unity of the
Empire, Archbishop Agobard of Lyons, “that all men, united under a
single king, were governed by a single law! This would be the best
method of maintaining peace in the City of God and equity among
the nations. " And the wisest and most influential of the clergy in
a
CH. 1.


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