No More Learning

But the most terrible scourge
of Germany was that of the Hungarian invasions. It was in 892 that
the Hungarians, a people of Finnish origin who had been driven from
their settlements between the Don and the Dnieper, made their first
appearance in Germany as the allies of Arnulf in a war against the
Moravians. A few years later they established themselves permanently
on the banks of the Theiss. In 900 a band of them, returning from


## p. 69 (#115) #############################################

Death of Louis the Child
69
a plundering expedition into Italy, made its way into Bavaria, ravaged
the country and carried off a rich booty. The defeat of another band
by the Margrave Liutpold and Bishop Richer of Passau, as well as the
construction of the fortress of Ensburg, intended to serve as a bulwark
against them, were insufficient to keep them in check. Thenceforth not
a year passed without some part of Louis's kingdom being visited by
these bold horsemen, skilled in escaping from the more heavily armed
German troops, before whom they were wont to retreat, galling them as they
went, with Alights of arrows, and at a little distance forming up again
and continuing their ravages. In 901 they devastated Carinthia. In 906
they twice ravaged Saxony. Next year they inflicted a heavy defeat on
the Bavarians, killing the Margrave Liutpold. In 908 it was the turn of
Saxony and Thuringia, in 909 that of Alemannia. On their return,
however, Duke Arnulf the Bad of Bavaria inflicted a reverse upon them
on the Rott, but in 910 they, in their turn, defeated near Augsburg the
numerous army collected by Louis the Child.
It was in the autumn of the following year (911) that the life of this
last representative of the Eastern Carolingians came to an end at the
age of barely eighteen. He was buried in the Church of St Emmeram
at Ratisbon. In the early days of November the Frankish, Saxon,
Alemannian, and Bavarian lords met at Forchheim and elected as king
Conrad, Duke of Franconia, a man of Frankish race, and noble birth,
renowned for his valour. This prince's reign was hardly more fortunate
than that of his predecessor. Three expeditions in succession (912–913)
directed against Charles the Simple did not avail to drive the Western
King out of Lorraine. Rodolph, King of Burgundy, even took advantage
of the opportunity to seize upon Basle. Besides this, the Hungarians,
in spite of their defeat on the Inn at the hands of Duke Arnulf of
Bavaria in 913, continued their ravages in Saxony, Thuringia and
Swabia. In 917 they traversed the whole of the southern part of the
kingdom of Germany, plundered Basle and even penetrated into Alsace.
On the other hand, domestic discords still went on, and the chiefs of the
nascent feudal principalities were in a state of perpetual war either with
one another or with the sovereign. One of the most powerful vassals
about the king, Erchanger, the Count Palatine, had in 913 raised the
standard of revolt. Restored to favour for a short time in consequence
of the energetic help he gave to Duke Arnulf in the struggle with the
Hungarians, he lost no time in giving fresh offence to Conrad by
attacking one of his most influential counsellors, Solomon, Bishop of
Constance, whom he even kept for some days a prisoner. The sentence
of banishment pronounced on him in consequence did not prevent him
from continuing to keep the field with the help of his brother Berthold
and Count Burchard, or from defeating the royal troops next year by
Wahlwies near Lake Constance. To get the better of himn Conrad was
obliged to have him arrested for treason at the assembly of Hohen Altheim
CH. III.


## p. 70 (#116) #############################################

70
Conrad I of Germany
1
in Swabia and executed a few weeks later with his brother Berthold
(21 January 917). But one of the rebels, Count Burchard, succeeded
in maintaining possession of Swabia. . Conrad was hardly more successful
with regard to his other great vassals. One of the most powerful, Henry
of Saxony, gave signs from the very beginning of the reign of a hostile
a
temper' towards the new sovereign which manifested itself in 915 by an
open rebellion, marked by the defeat of the expeditions led against the
rebel by the Margrave Everard, brother of Conrad, and by the king himself.
In Bavaria, Duke Arnulf had also revolted in 914. Temporarily
worsted, and obliged to take refuge with his former foes, the Hungarians,
he had re-appeared next year in his duchy. He was forced to submit
and to surrender Ratisbon, but he took up the struggle afresh a little
later (917) and again became master of the whole of Bavaria.
Conrad and the magnates both lay and ecclesiastical who had
remained loyal to him held a great assembly at Hohen Altheim in 916
“ to strengthen the royal power,” when the severest penalties were
threatened against any who should “conspire against the life of the
king, take part with his adversaries or attempt to deprive him of the
government of the kingdom. ” When Conrad ended his short reign
(23 December 918), recommending the magnates to choose as his successor
his former enemy, Henry of Saxony, he was in a position to testify that
the magnates had seldom done anything else than transgress the precepts
laid down at Hohen Altheim. To split up the realm into great feudal
principalities, handed down from father to son and owning little or no
obedience to a sovereign always in theory elective,-this was the con-
stantly increasing evil from which Germany was to suffer throughout the
whole of the Middle Ages.
The appearance of tribal dukes was not a mere outburst of disorder.
a
Local leaders undertook the defence neglected by the central power, and
,
so duchies, founded upon common race and memories, appeared and grew
apart in reaction against Frankish hegemony. In Saxony, left to itself,
the Liudolfing Bruno headed from 880 the warfare against Danes and
Wends. Bavaria, troubled by Hungarians, found a Duke in Arnulf
c c. 907. Franconia, less harassed and more loyal to the Carolingians,
lacked traditions of unity, but in Conrad, the future king, Conradins
of the west triumphed over Babenberger rivals in the east. In Lorraine,
the Carolingian homeland, even less united, Reginar (a grandson of the
Emperor Lothar I) became Duke. Swabia found, under King Conrad I,
a Duke in Burchard. Thus everywhere, as local unity met local needs,
ducal dynasties arose.
;
।
1 The chroniclers of a later period explain this by relating that Conrad had owed
his crown only to its refusal by Otto, father of Henry, but the fact is doubtful.
th
th


## p. 71 (#117) #############################################

71
CHAPTER IV.
FRANCE, THE LAST CAROLINGIANS AND THE
ACCESSION OF HUGH CAPET. (888-987. )
DESERTED by Charles the Fat, on whom, through a strange illusion,
they had fixed all their hopes, the West-Franks in 887 again found
themselves as much at a loss to choose a king as they had been at the
death of Carloman in 884. The feeling of attachment to the Carolingian
house, whose exclusive right to the throne seemed to have been formerly
hallowed, as it were, by Pope Stephen II, was still so strong, especially
among the clergy, that the problem might well appear almost insoluble.
It was out of the question indeed, to view as a possible sovereign
the young Charles the Simple, the posthumous child of Louis II, the
Stammerer. Even Fulk, Archbishop of Rheims, who was later to be
his most faithful supporter, did not hesitate to admit that “ in the face
of the fearful dangers with which the Normans threatened the kingdom
it would have been imprudent to fix upon him then. ” Nor, at the first
moment, did anyone seem inclined towards Arnulf, illegitimate son of
Carloman and grandson of Louis the German, whom the East-Franks
had recently,ın November 887, put in the place of Charles the Fat.
In this cate of uncertainty, all eyes would naturally turn towards
Odo (Eudo), Count of Paris, whose distinguished conduct when, shortly
before, tá Normans had laid siege to his capital, seemed to mark him
out toil as the man best capable of defending the kingdom. ' Son of
Robe the Strong, Odo, then aged between twenty-five and thirty, had,
bye death of Hugh the Abbot (12 May 886), just entered into pos-
son of the March of Neustria which had been ruled by his father.
jeficiary of the rich abbeys of Saint-Martin of Tours, Cormery,
lleloin and Marmoutier, as well as Count of Anjou, Blois, Tours and
aris, and heir to the preponderating influence which Hugh the Abbot
ad acquired in the kingdom, in Odo the hour seemed to have brought
orth the man. He was proclaimed king by a strong party, consisting
ainly of Neustrians, and crowned at Compiègne on 29 February 888
, Walter, Archbishop of Sens.
Nevertheless, he was far from having gained the support of all sections.
1 the people of Francia it seemed a hardship to submit to this
cH. Tv.


## p. 72 (#118) #############################################

72
Accession of Odo
a
a
Neustrian, “a stranger to the royal race," whose interests differed widely
from theirs. The leading spirit in this party of opposition was, from
the outset, Fulk, Archbishop of Rheims.
From at least the time of Hincmar, the Archbishop of Rheims,
“primate among primates," had been one of the most conspicuous personages
in the kingdom. The personal ascendancy of Fulk, who came of a noble
family, was considerable; we find him openly rebuking Richilda, widow of
Charles the Bald, who was leading an irregular life, and it was he who in
885 acted as the spokesman of the nobles when Charles the Fat was
invited to enter the Western Kingdom ; again it was he who for the
next twelve years was to be the head of the Carolingian party in France.
Although on the deposition of Charles the Fat, Fulk had for a moment
played with the hope of raising to the throne his kinsman, Guy, Duke
of Spoleto, a member of a noble Austrasian family perhaps related to the
Carolingians', he now no longer hesitated to apply to Arnulf, just as
three years before he had applied to Charles the Fat. Accompanied by
two or three of his suffragans, he travelled to Worms (June 888) to
acquaint him with the position of affairs, the usurpation of Odo, the
youth of Charles the Simple, the dangers threatening the Western
Kingdom, and the claims which he (Arnulf) might make to the
succession. But Arnulf, hearing at this juncture that Odo “had just
covered himself with glory” by inflicting, at Montfaucon in the Argonne,
a severe defeat upon the Northmen (24 June 888), preferred negotiations
with the “usurper. ” To emphasise his own position of superiority, as
successor to the Emperor, he summoned him to Worms, where Odo
agreed to hold his crown of him. This was a fresh affirmation of the
unity of the Empire of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious without the
imperial title, but at the same time it gave a solemn sanction to the
kingship of Odo.
Even within his dominious, opposition to Odo gradually gave way.
Several of his opponents, among them Baldwin, Count of Flanders, had
submitted. But Fulk did not allow himself to be won over. Though
he had feigned to be reconciled (November 888), he was merely deferring
action till fortune should change sides. For this he had not long to
wait. The victory of Montfaucon proved to be a success which led to
nothing; the king was forced in 889 to purchase the retreat of a North-
man band ravaging the neighbourhood of Paris, and to allow another
to escape next year at Guerbigny near Noyon, and was finally surprised by
the pirates at Wallers, near Valenciennes, in 891 and routed in the
Vermandois. Several of the lords who had rallied to his cause were
beginning to abandon him: Baldwin, Count of Flanders, himself had
raised the standard of revolt (892). Fulk cleverly contrived to draw
together all the discontented and to rally them to the cause of Charles
1 Guy had even been crowned at Langres by its bishop, shortly before the
coronation of Odo, but had been obliged to beat a precipitate retreat.


## p. 73 (#119) #############################################

Carolingian Restoration
73
9
the Simple. The latter, only eight years old in 887, was now thirteen.
There were still nearly two years to wait for his majority which, in the
Carolingian family, was fixed at fifteen, but the Archbishop of Rheims
boldly pointed out “ that at least he had reached an age when he could
adopt the opinions of those who gave him good counsels. ” A plot was
set on foot, and on 28 January 893, while Odo was on an expedition
to Aquitaine, Charles was crowned in the basilica of Saint Remi at
Rheims.
Without loss of time, Fulk wrote to the Pope and to Arnulf to
put them in possession of the circumstances and to justify the course
he had taken. Arnulf was not hard to convince, when once his own
pre-eminence was recognised by the new king. But he avoided com-
promising himself by embracing too zealously the cause of either of the
candidates, and thought it better policy to pose as the sovereign arbiter
of their disputes. Before long, moreover, Charles, having reached the
end of his resources and being gradually forsaken by the majority of his
partisans, was reduced to negotiate, first on an equal footing, then as
a repentant rebel. At the beginning of 897, Qdo agreed to pardon
him, and Charles having presented himself to acknowledge him as king
and lord, " he gave him a part of the kingdom, and promised him even
more. ” These few enigmatic words convey all the information we have
as to the position created for Charles. What followed shewed at least
the meaning of his rival's promise. Odo having soon afterwards fallen
sick at La Fère, on the Oise, and feeling his end near, begged the lords
who were about him to recognise Charles as their king.
After his death, which took place on 1 January 898, the son of
Louis the Stammerer was in fact acclaimed on all hands; even Odo's
own brother, Robert, who had succeeded as Count of Paris, Anjou,
Blois, and Touraine, and ruled the whole of the March of Neustria,
declared for him.
It thus appeared that after what was practically an interregnum
peace might return to the French kingdom. But Charles was devoid of
the skill to conciliate his new subjects. His conduct, despite his
surname, the Simple, does not seem to have lacked energy or deter-
mination ; his faults were rather, it would seem, those of imprudence
and presumption.
The great event of his reign was the definitive establishment of the
Northmen in France, or rather, the placing of their settlement along the
lower Seine on a regular footing. One of their chiefs, the famous
Rollo, having been repulsed before Paris and again before Chartres,
Charles profited by the opportunity to enter into negotiations with him.
An interview took place in 911 at St-Clair-sur-Epte, on the highroad
from Paris to Rouen. Rollo made his submission, consented to accept
Christianity, and received as a fief the counties of Rouen, Lisieux and
Evreux with the country lying between the rivers Epte and Bresle and
CA. IV.


## p. 74 (#120) #############################################

74
Charles the Simple in Lorraine
the sea.
a
It was an ingenious method of putting an end to the Scandi-
navian incursions from that quarter'.
But it was especially on the eastern frontier of the kingdom that
Charles was able to give free scope to his enterprising spirit. The
subjects of Zwentibold, King of Lorraine, an illegitimate son of the
Emperor Arnulf, had in 898 revolted against him. Charles, called in
by a party among them, obtained some successes, but before long had
beaten a retreat. But when in September 911 Louis the Child, King of
the Germans, who in 900 had succeeded in getting possession of the
kingdom of Lorraine, died leaving no children, Charles saw that the
moment had come for more decisive interference. Conrad, Duke of
Franconia, Louis's successor in Germany, belonged to a family unpopular
in Lorraine ; Charles, on the contrary, as a Carolingian, could count
upon general sympathy. As early as November he was recognised by
the Lorrainers as king, and as soon as peace was secured on his western
border he was able, without encountering any difficulties, to come and
take possession of his new kingdom. We find him already there by
1 January 912, and thenceforward he seems to shew a marked preference
for dwelling there. He defended the country against two attacks by
Conrad, King of the Germans, and forced his successor, Henry I, to
recognise the rightfulness of his authority in an interview which he
had with him on a raft midway in the Rhine at Bonn on 7 November
921. His power, both in France and Lorraine, seemed to be firmly
established.
This was an illusion. For some time already discontent had been
secretly fermenting in the western part of France; the Neustrians were
doubtless irritated at seeing the king's exclusive preference for the lords
of Lorraine. What fanned their resentment to fury was seeing him
take as his confidential adviser a Lorrainer of undistinguished birth
named Hagano. In the first place, between 917 and 919, they re-
fused to join the royal ost to repel a Hungarian invasion, and in 922, as
Hagano continued to grow in favour, and great benefices and rich
abbeys were still heaped upon him, they broke into open revolt. Robert,
Marquess of Neustria, brother of the late king, Odo, was at the head of
the insurgents, and on Sunday, 30 June 922, he was crowned at
Rheims by Walter, Archbishop of Sens.
As a crowning misfortune, Charles, at that moment, lost his most
faithful supporter. Hervé, Archbishop of Rheims, who had succeeded
Fulk in 900 and had boldly undertaken his king's defence against the
revolted lords, died on 2 July 922, and King Robert contrived to secure
the archbishopric of Rheims, nominating to it one of his creatures, the
archdeacon Seulf. Charles gathered an army composed chiefly of
Lorrainers, and on 15 June 923 offered battle to his rival near Soissons.
jogh
i For a detailed account see infra, chap. XIII.


## p. 75 (#121) #############################################

Raoril's usurpation
75
Robert fell in the fight, but Charles was put to the rout, and attempted
in vain to win back a section of the insurgents to his side. The Duke
of Burgundy, Raoul (Radulf), son-in-law of King Robert, and, next
to the Marquess of Neustria, one of the most powerful nobles in the
kingdom, was crowned king on Sunday, 13 July 923, at the Church of
St Médard at Soissons by the same Archbishop Walter of Sens who
had already officiated at the coronations of Odo and of Robert'.
Charles's position was most serious. Still it was far from being
desperate; besides the kingdom of Lorraine which still held to him, he
could count upon the fidelity of Duke Rollo's Normans and of the
Aquitanians. He completed his own ruin by falling into the trap set
for him by King Raoul's brother-in-law, Herbert, Count of Vermandois.
The latter gave him to understand that he had left the Carolingian
party against his will, but that an opportunity now offered to repair his
fault and that Charles should join him as quickly as possible with only
a small escort so as to avoid arousing suspicion. His envoys vouched on
oath for his good faith. Charles went unsuspiciously to the place of
meeting and was made prisoner, being immured first in the fortress of
Château-Thierry, then in that of Péronne.
But the agreement between the new king and the nobles did not
last long. Herbert of Vermandois, who in making Charles prisoner
seems to have mainly intended to supply himself with a weapon which
could be used against Raoul, began by laying hands on the archbishopric
of Rheims, causing his little son Hugh, aged five, to be elected successor
to Seulf (925); he then attempted to secure the county of Laon for
another of his sons, Odo (927). As Raoul protested, he took Charles
from his prison and caused William Longsword, son of Rollo, Duke of
Normandy, to do him homage; then to keep up the odious farce, he
brought the Carolingian to Rheims, whence he vigorously pressed his
prisoner's claims upon the Pope. Finally, in 928, he got possession of
Laon.
1 For the sake of clearness in the narrative we give here the genealogy of the
descendants of Robert the Strong, down to Hugh Capet :
Robert the Strong,
Marquess of Neustria
d. 866
Odo
Robert
Marquess of Neustria
Marquess of Neustria
King of France 888-898
King of France 922-923
Hugh the Great
Emma=Raoul
dau. =Herbert II
Duke of the Franks
Duke of Burgundy Ct. of Vermandois
d. 956
King of France 923–936
Hugh Capet
ike of the Franks
ig of France 987-996
Otto
Duke of Burgundy
960–965
Odo (surnamed Henry)
a priest, then Duke of Burgundy
965-1002
cH. I.


## p. 76 (#122) #############################################

76
Hugh the Great
a
The death of Charles the Simple in his prison at Péronne (7 Oct.
929) deprived Herbert of a formidable weapon always at hand, and
Raoul having shortly afterwards won a brilliant victory at Limoges over
the Normans of the Loire, seemed stronger than ever.
The Aquitanian nobles recognised Raoul as king, and on the death
of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, his son and successor, William Long-
sword, came and did homage to him, while for a time his authority was
acknowledged even in the Lyonnais and the Viennois, both at that period
forming part theoretically of the kingdom of Burgundy. Herbert of
Vermandois still held out, but Raoul got the better of him ; entering
Rheims by the strong hand he promoted to the archepiscopal throne
the monk Artaud (Artald) in place of young Hugh (931), and with
the help of his brother-in-law Hugh the Great, son of the late King
Robert, he waged an unrelenting war against Herbert, burning his
strongholds, and besieging him in Château-Thierry (933-934).
Just, however, as a peace had been concluded between the king and
his powerful vassal, Raoul suddenly fell sick (autumn of 935). A few
months later he died (14 or 15 January 936).
66
The disappearance of Raoul, who died childless, once more imposed
upon the nobles the obligation of choosing a king. The most powerful
of their number was, without question, the Marquess of Neustria, Hugh
the Great, son of King Robert, nephew of King Odo and brother-in-
law of the prince who had just died. Heir to the whole of the former
March,” once entrusted to Robert the Strong, consisting of all the
counties lying between Normandy and Brittany, the Loire and the
Seine, Hugh was recognised throughout these districts if not as the
direct lord, at least as a suzerain who was respected and obeyed. The
petty local counts and viscounts, the future rulers of Angers, Blois,
Chartres or Le Mans, who were beginning on all hands to consolidate
their power, were his very submissive vassals. The numerous domains
which Hugh had reserved for himself, his titles as Abbot of St Martin
of Tours, of Marmoutier, and perhaps also of St Aignan of Orleans,
gave him, besides, opportunities of acting directly over the whole extent
of the Neustrian March. He was also Count of Paris, had possessions
in the district of Meaux, was titular Abbot of St Denis, of Morienval,
of St Valery, and of St Riquier and St Germain at Auxerre, and finally,
in addition to all this, bearing the somewhat vague, but imposing title
of “Duke of the Franks,” Hugh the Great was a person of the highest
importance.
But however great was the ascendancy of the “Duke of the Franks” |
he did not fail to meet with formidable opposition, the chief of ift
coming from the other brother-in-law of the late King Raoul, Herberiet,
Count of Vermandois. A direct descendant of Charlemagne, thrc jugh
his grandfather, Bernard, King of Italy (the same prince whose eyes


## p. 77 (#123) #############################################

Louis d'Outremer
77
had been put out by Louis the Pious in 818), Herbert also held sway
over extensive domains. Besides Vermandois, he possessed in all
probability the counties of Melun and Château-Thierry, and perhaps
even that of Meaux, to which, a few months later, he was to add those
of Sens and Troyes. His tortuous policy had, as we have seen, made
him for several years in King Raoul's reign the arbiter of the situation.
Ambitious, astute, and devoid of scruples, Herbert was a dangerous
opponent, and was evidently little inclined to further the elevation to
the throne of the powerful duke of the Franks in whom he had found
a persistent adversary.
Such being the situation, the sentiment of loyalty to the Carolingians
once more gained an easy triumph. It was conveniently remembered
that when Charles the Simple had fallen into captivity, his wife, Queen
Eadgifu, had fled to the court of her father, Edward the Elder, King of
the English, taking with her Louis her son who was still a child'.
Educated at his grandfather's court, then under his uncle Aethelstan,
who had succeeded Edward in 926, Louis, whose surname “d'Outremer
("from beyond the sea") recalls his early years, was now about fifteen.
There was a general agreement to offer him the crown. Hugh the
Great seems from the outset very dexterously to have taken his claims
under his patronage, and when Louis landed a few weeks later at
Boulogne he was one of the first to go and greet him. On Sunday
19 June 936, Louis was solemnly crowned at Laon by Artaud, the Arch-
bishop of Rheims.
From the very beginning, Hugh the Great sought to get exclusive
possession of the young king. First he brought him with him to dispute
possession of Burgundy with its duke, Hugh the Black, brother of the
79
>
/
1 The French Carolingians :
Charles the Bald
King of France and Emperor, 840–877
1
Ansgarde=Louis II the Stammerer= Adelaide
King of France 877-9
Louis III
Carloman
Charles III the Simple
King of France King of France
King of France d. 929
879-882
879-884
Louis IV d'Outremer
King of France 936–954
Lothair, King of France 954-986
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine
d. 993 (circa)
Louis V, King of France
986-987
Charles
Otto, Duke of Lower Lorraine Louis
d. 1012 (circa)
Gerberga
= Lambert
of Louvain
d. 1015
C. I.


## p. 78 (#124) #############################################

78
Feudal Rebellions
late King Raoul : then he drew him in his wake to Paris. But Louis
proved to have the same high and independent spirit, the same energetic
temper as his father. He shewed this markedly by reviving Charles the
Simple's claims to Lorraine, which, in the reign of Raoul, had been re-
taken by the king of Germany (925) and reduced to a duchy. Louis
invaded it in 938 at the request of its duke, Gilbert (Giselbert). But
the results of this firm and decided course were the same as in the case
of Charles the Simple. The party of opposition gathered again around
Hugh the Great and Herbert of Vermandois, whom a common hostility
drew together. The Carolingian's chief support lay in Artaud, Arch-
bishop of Rheims.
The rebels marched straight upon Rheims. The place made but
a faint resistance, Hugh the Great and Herbert entering it after brief
delay. Artaud was driven from his see and sent to the monastery
of St Basle, while Herbert procured the consecration in his stead of his
own son Hugh, the same candidate whom a few years earlier King
Raoul had replaced by Artaud. The rebels proceeded to besiege Laon.
Louis defended himself vigorously. In company with Artaud, who had
fled from his monastery, he advanced to raise the blockade of Laon.
But his bold attempt upon Lorraine had resulted in drawing Otto, the
new King of Germany, towards Hugh the Great and Herbert. At their
request he entered France, stopping at the palace of Attigny to receive
their homage, and for a short time even pitching his camp on the banks
of the Seine (940).
Defeated in the Ardennes by Hugh and Herbert, forced to flee into
the kingdom of Burgundy, cut off from Artaud (who had been deposed
in a synod held at Rheims, and again shut up in the monastery of
St Basle, while his rival Hugh obtained the confirmation of his dignity
from the Holy See), King Louis seemed to be in a desperate position
(941). But at this moment came one of those sudden reversals of policy
which so frequently occur in the history of the tenth century. From
the moment when he seemed likely to prevail, Hugh the Great was
deserted by Otto, who had every interest in maintaining the actual state
of instability and uncertainty in France. Louis and Otto had an
interview at Visé on the Meuse, in the month of November 942, at
which their reconciliation was sealed. Simultaneously, Pope Stephen VIII
raised his voice in favour of the Carolingian, ordering all the inhabitants
of the kingdom to recognise Louis afresh as king, and declaring that
“if they did not attend to his warnings and continued to pursue the
king in arms, he would pronounce them excommunicate. ” Hugh the
Great consented to make his submission. Soon afterwards the death
of Herbert of Vermandois was to rid Louis of one of his most dangerous
enemies (943).
An accident very nearly caused the settlement to fall through.
Louis, like his father, was taken in an ambush in Normandy and handed


## p. 79 (#125) #############################################

Death of Louis d'Outremer
79
79
over to Hugh the Great (945). But the latter quickly realised that an
attempt at revolution would only end in disappointment, and thought it
better policy to obtain from the king the surrender of his capital, Laon.
As soon as he was set at liberty, Louis appealed to Otto. The
kings joined in re-taking Rheims, drove out the Archbishop, Hugh of
Vermandois, and restored Artaud (946). Then in June 948 a solemn
council assembled on German soil at Ingelheim, under the presidency of
the Pope's legate, to consider the situation. The kings, Louis and
Otto, appeared there side by side. Hugh of Vermandois was excom-
municated. Louis himself made a speech, and recalled how “ he had
been summoned from regions beyond the sea by the envoys of Duke
Hugh and the other lords of France, to receive the kingdom, the
inheritance of his fathers; how he had been raised to the royal dignity
and consecrated by the universal desire and amid the acclamations of
the magnates and warriors of the Franks; how then, after that he had
been driven from his throne by the same Hugh, traitorously attacked,
made prisoner and detained by him under a strong guard for a whole
year ; how at last in order to recover his liberty he had been compelled
to abandon to him the town of Laon, the only one of all the royal
residences which the queen, Gerberga, and his faithful subjects had
been able to preserve. "
In conclusion he added that “if anyone would
maintain that these evils endured by him since he had obtained the
crown had come upon him by his own fault, he would purge himself of
that accusation according to the judgment of the Synod and the
decision of King Otto, and that he was even prepared to make good
his right in single combat. ” Touched by this remonstrance, the Fathers
of the Council replied by the following decision: “For the future, let
none dare to assail the royal power, nor traitorously to dishonour it by
a perfidious attack. We decide, in consequence, according to the decree
of the Council of Toledo, that Hugh, the invader and despoiler of the
kingdom of Louis, be smitten with sword of excommunication, unless,
within the interval fixed, he shall present himself before the Council, and
unless he amends his ways, giving satisfaction for his signal perversity. "
And, in fact, Hugh the Great, who had not feared even further to expel
the Bishop of Laon from his see, was summoned under pain of ex-
communication to appear at a forthcoming council which was to meet at
Trèves in the ensuing month of September. He did not appear and
was excommunicated. Not long after, a lucky stroke made Louis again
master of Laon (949) and Hugh, again solemnly excommunicated by
the Pope “until he should give satisfaction to King Louis," was soon
constrained to come and renew his submission (950).
Everything considered, the power of Louis seemed to have been
greatly strengthened, when he died suddenly on 10 September 954, as a
result of a fall from his horse. This explains why the nobles, Duke
Hugh foremost among them, without raising any difficulties chose his
ca. IV.


## p. 80 (#126) #############################################

80
Lothair and Otto II
eldest son Lothair (Lothar) to succeed him. The latter, then aged
about fourteen, was crowned at Rheims on 12 November 954.
Delivered ere long from the embarrassing patronage of Hugh
the Great, whom death removed on 17 June 956, Lothair, a few
years later, thought himself strong enough to resume the policy of his
father and grandfather in Lorraine. He gave secret encouragement to
the nobles of that country who were in revolt against Otto II, the new
King of Germany, and in 978 attempted by a sudden stroke to recover
the ground lost in that direction since the days of Raoul. He secretly
raised an army and marched upon Aix-la-Chapelle, where he counted on
surprising Otto. The stroke miscarried. Otto, warned in time, had
been able to escape. Lothair entered Aix, installed himself in the old
Carolingian palace, and by way of a threat, turned round to the east the
brazen eagle with outspread wings which stood on the top of the palace.
But provisions failed, and three days afterwards he was obliged to beat
a retreat. Otto, in revenge, threw himself upon the French kingdom,
destroyed Compiègne and Attigny, took Laon and pitched his camp
upon the heights of Montmartre, He was only able to burn the
suburbs of Paris, and then after having a victorious Alleluia chanted by
his priests he fell back upon the Aisne (November 978). Lothair only just
failed to cut off his passage across the river, and even succeeded in
massacring his camp-followers and taking his baggage. This barren
struggle was not, on the whole, of advantage to either sovereign. An
agreement took place ; in July 980 Lothair and Otto met at Margut
on the Chiers on the frontier of the two kingdoms, when they embraced
and swore mutual friendship.
It was a reconciliation in appearance only, and a few months later
Otto eagerly welcomed the overtures of Hugh the Great's son, Hugh
Capet, Duke of the Franks. The death of Otto on 7 December 983
deferred the final rupture. But dark intrigues, of which the Arch-
bishopric of Rheims was the centre, were soon to be woven round the
unfortunate Carolingian,
The Archbishop of Rheims, Adalbero, belonged to one of the most
important families of Lorraine. One of his brothers was Count of
Verdun and of the Luxembourg district. Talented, learned, alert and
ambitious, his sympathies as well as his family interests bound him to
the Ottonian house. In the same way Gerbert the scholasticus, the
future Pope Sylvester II, whom a close friendship united to Adalbero,
owed the foundation of his fortune and his success in life to Otto I and
Otto II. As he had long been a vassal of Otto II, from whom he had
received the rich abbey of Bobbio, his devotion was assured in advance
to young Otto III who had just succeeded, and to his mother, the
Empress Theophano. Lothair having thought well to form an alliance
with Henry, Duke of Bavaria', young Otto's rival, Adalbero and Gerbert
1 See infra, p. 210.


## p. 81 (#127) #############################################

The last Carolingian
81
a
did not hesitate to plot his ruin. A whole series of obscure letters,
with a hidden meaning, often written on a system agreed upon beforehand,
were exchanged between Adalberd and Gerbert and the party of Otto III.
Hugh Capet was won over to the imperial cause, and a skilful system of
espionage was organised around Lothair.
The latter, nevertheless, defended himself with remarkable courage
and firmness. He contrived to recruit followers even among the vassals
of Hugh Capet, threw himself upon Verdun, surprised the place, and
so took captive several Lorraine nobles of Adalbero's kindred who had
shut themselves up there. Finally he summoned Adalbero on a charge
of high treason before the general assembly to be held at Compiègne
on 11 May 985. Unfortunately, all these exertions were in vain;
Hugh Capet came up with an army and dispersed the assembly at
Compiègne. Not long after the king took a chill and died suddenly on
2 March 986.
Lothair had taken the precaution, as early as 979, to have his son
Louis V acknowledged and crowned king. The latter, who was nineteen
years of age, succeeded him without opposition. He was about to take
up his father's policy with some vigour, and had just issued a fresh
summons to Adalbero to appear before an assembly which was to meet
at Compiègne, when a sudden fall proved fatal (21 or 22 May 987).
Louis left no children. There remained, however, one Carolingian
who might have a legitimate claim to the crown, Charles, brother of the
late King Lothair. After a quarrel with his brother, Charles, in 977,
had taken service with the Emperor, who had given him the duchy of
Lower Lorraine. From that time Charles had taken up the position
of a rival to Lothair ; in 978 he had accompanied Otto II on his
expedition to Paris and perhaps had even tried to get himself recognised
as king. But soon there was a complete change; Charles had become
reconciled to his brother in order to plot against Otto III. At the same
time he had fallen out with Adalbero, and when the succession to the French
crown was suddenly thrown open in 987, his prospects of obtaining it
seemed from the first to be gravely compromised.
The truth was that for a century past political conceptions had
gradually been transformed. Although the kingship had never ceased,
even in Charlemagne's day, to be considered as in theory elective, it
seemed, up to the time when Odo was called to the throne, that only
a Carolingian could aspire to the title of king. The theory of the
incapacity of any other family to receive the crown
was still
brilliantly sustained during the last years of the ninth century by Fulk,
Archbishop of Rheims. In a very curious letter of self-justification,
which he wrote in 893, he laid it down that Odo, being a stranger to the
royal race, was a mere usurper; that the King of Germany, Arnulf, having
refused to accept the crown which he himself and his supporters offered
C. MED. H. VOL. III. CH. IV.
6


## p. 82 (#128) #############################################

82
Theories of kingship
him, they had been forced to wait until Charles the Simple,“ with
Arnulf, the only remaining member of the royal house,” should be of an
age to ascend the throne, which his brothers, Louis III and Carloman, had
occupied. He added that by conferring power on him they had merely
observed the principle almost universally known, by virtue of which
royalty, among the Franks, had not ceased to be hereditary. Con-
sequently he entreated King Arnulf to interfere for the maintenance of
this principle, and not to permit that usurpers should prevail against
“those to whom the royal power was due by reason of their birth. ”
In 987 these principles were far from being forgotten. Adalbero,
Hugh Capet himself, according to a contemporary historian, Richer,
monk of St Remi at Rheims, declared that "if Louis of divine memory,
son of Lothair, had left children, it would have been fitting that they
should have succeeded him. ” Nor shall we find the rights of Charles of
Lorraine, brother of King Lothair, denied in principle, and in order to
eliminate them it was necessary to have recourse to the argument that
Charles by his conduct had rendered himself unworthy to reign.
Another principle had indeed been gradually developing, to the
prejudice of hereditary right, namely, that the king, having as his
function to defend the kingdom against enemies from without, and to
preserve peace and concord within it, ought to be chosen by reason of
his capacity. We have seen' that Archbishop Fulk himself had de-
liberately set aside Charles the Simple in 888, “ because he was still too
young both in body and mind, and consequently unfit to govern. " In
the same way, the historian Richer makes Adalbero
say
" that only a
man distinguished for valour, wisdom and honour should be put at the
head of the kingdom. " And in fact, since the death of Charles the
”
Fat, the Carolingians had more than once been supplanted by kings
unconnected with their house.
Now even before the succession fell vacant, there was a personage in the
kingdom who, as Gerbert wrote in 985, although under the nominal king
was in fact the real king. This personage was the Duke of the Franks,
Hugh Capet, son of Hugh the Great. With singular skill and per-
severance, Hugh the Great, and afterwards Hugh Capet had never in
fact ceased to extend through the kingdom, if not their direct domination,
at least their preponderating influence. We have seen how, at the
accession of Louis IV, Hugh the Great had attempted to act the part
of regent of the kingdom. In a charter of the year 936 Louis himself
declares that he acts" by the counsel of his well-beloved Hugh, duke
of the Franks, who in all our kingdoms holds the first place after me. ”
This guardianship had soon become burdensome to the young king who
had freed himself from it, but Hugh had none the less manoeuvred very
adroitly to increase his prestige. Having lost his wife, Eadhild, sister
i See supra, p. 71.


## p. 83 (#129) #############################################

Hugh Capet
83
of the English King Aethelstan, he had married, about 937, a sister
of Otto I, King of Germany. Soon after, in 943, he had obtained from
Louis IV the suzerainty of Burgundy, thus interposing himself between the
sovereign and a whole class of his greatest vassals ; a little later he had
succeeded in usurping the overlordship of Normandy, and finally in 954
he had attempted to add to it that of Aquitaine. The new King, Lothair,
having allowed this fresh grant to be extorted from him, had even been
obliged to go with the duke to lay siege to Poitiers (955). The attempt,
however, had failed, but in 956 on the death of Gilbert, Duke of Burgundy,
Hugh directly appropriated his inheritance. Owner of numerous abbeys
and estates dispersed here and there through the kingdom, in Berry, in
the Autun district, in that of Meaux and in Picardy, he really did
appear as the “Duke of the Gauls” as, some thirty years later, the
historian Richer styles him, and his power throwing that of the king
into the shade, he had publicly held almost royal courts (placita) to
which bishops, abbots and counts resorted in crowds.
His son, Hugh Capet, had been obliged to give up Burgundy to his
brother Otto, and had tried in vain to secure the Duchy of Aquitaine, of
which he had obtained a fresh grant from King Lothair in 960. But at
the same time he saw the power of his rivals much more seriously
diminished. The possessions of Herbert II of Vermandois, who died in
943, had been divided among his sons, and in 987 neither Albert I,
titulary of the little county of Vermandois, nor even the Count of
Troyes, Meaux and Provins, Herbert the Young, although his territorial
power was beginning to be somewhat of a menace, was of sufficient im-
portance to compete in influence with the Duke of the Franks. But if the
duke's authority, when closely examined, might seem to be undermined
by the growing independence of several of his vassals, it was none the
less very imposing; suzerain, if not immediate holder of all Neustria,
including Normandy, of an important part of Francia, and titulary of
several rich abbeys, the Duke of the Franks, who had on his side the
support of Adalbero and Gerbert, might well seem expressly marked
ööt to succeed to the inheritance suddenly left vacant by the death
of Louis V.
And this, indeed, was what took place. The assembly which Louis V
at the time of his death had summoned to meet at Compiègne to judge
n Archbishop Adalbero's case, was held under the presidency of Duke
Hugh. As was to be expected, it decided that the charges against the
prelate were groundless, and, at his suggestion, resolved to meet again a
little later at Senlis on the territory of the Duke of the Franks and to
proceed to the election of a king. Adalbero there explained without
circumlocution that it was impossible to think of entrusting the crown
to Charles, Duke of Lorraine. “How can we bestow any dignity” he
exclaimed (according to the report of the historian Richer who was
doubtless present in the assembly)“ upon Charles, who is in nowise guided
7
H. IV.
6-2


## p. 84 (#130) #############################################

84
The Capetian dynasty
by honour, who is enervated by lethargy, who, in a word, has so lost his
judgment as no longer to feel shame at serving a foreign king, and at
mismatching himself with a woman of birth inferior to his own, the
daughter of a mere knight'? How could the powerful duke suffer that
a woman, coming from the family of one of his vassals, should become
queen and rule over him ? How could he walk behind one whose equals
and even whose superiors bend the knee before him ? Examine the
situation carefully, and reflect that Charles has been rejected more by
his own fault than by that of others. Let your decision be rather for
the good than for the misfortune of the State. If you value its pros-
perity, crown Hugh, the illustrious duke. Let no man be led away by
attachment to Charles, let no man through hatred of the duke be drawn
away from what is useful to all. For if you have faults to find in the
good man, how can you praise the wicked ? If you commend the wicked
man, how can you condemn the good ? Remember the threatenings of
God who says ; 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ;
that put darkness for light and light for darkness ! ' Take then as your
master the duke, who has made himself illustrious by his actions, his
nobility, and his resourcefulness, and in whom you will find a protector,
not only of the public weal, but also of your private interests. His
benevolence will make him a father to you. Where is the man, indeed,
who has appealed to him without finding protection ? Who is he who,
being deprived of the help of his own people, has not by him been
restored to them? These reasons seemed conclusive, no doubt, to an
assembly which asked nothing better than to be convinced. Hugh
Capet was proclaimed and crowned at Noyon on Sunday, 3 July 987.
Such were the circumstances attending what is called, improperly
enough, the Capetian Revolution. To speak correctly, there was no
more a revolution in 987 than there had been a century before when
Odo was chosen. In one case as in the other the Carolingian had been
set aside because he was considered, or there was a determination to
consider him, unfit to govern. If in after years the event of 987 has
seemed to mark an epoch in the history of France, it is because Hugh
Capet was able enough to hand on his heritage to his son, and because
the house of Capet succeeded in retaining power for many long centuries,
But this was in some sort an accident, the after-effect of which on the
constitution of the State is hardly traceable. It is quite impossiblo
to say in any sense that the kingship became by this event a feudal
kingship; neither in this respect nor in any other was the occurrence of
987 of a subversive character; the position of the monarchy in France
was to prove itself on the morrow of Hugh Capet's election exactly what
it had been in the time of his predecessors.
99
1 Charles had married the daughter of an unknown knight, the under-vassal of
Hugh Capet.


## p. 85 (#131) #############################################

The king defends order and liberty
85
The fact was that since the end of the ninth century, monarchy in
France had been steadily losing ground. More and more, the sovereign
had found himself incapable of fulfilling the social tasks assigned him,
especially, what was most important in the eyes of contemporaries, upon
whom lawlessness and disorder pressed intolerably, his task of defending
and protecting order and security.
It was the height of the peril from the Northmen that Odo was chosen
by the barons, who acclaimed in him the hero of the siege of Paris, the
one man capable of making head against the pirates. And indeed it
seemed just at first as though he would not fall short of the hopes
entertained of him. In June 888 he surprised a whole band of Northmen
at Montfaucon in the Argonne district. He had a thousand horsemen
at most with him, while the Northmen were ten times as numerous. The
impetuous onset of his troops overthrew the enemy; he himself fought in
the foremost rank and in the thick of the mêlée received a blow from an
axe which thrust his helmet back upon his shoulders. Instantly he ran
his daring assailant through with his sword, and remained master of the
field of battle. But the Northmen returned to the charge. A few weeks
later they seized Meaux and threatened Paris. Again Odo hurried up
with an army and covered the town. None the less, the Northmen
wintered on the banks of the Loing, and in 889 again threatened Paris,
when Odo found himself forced to purchase their withdrawal, just as
Charles the Fat had done. In November 890 as the Northmen, after
ravaging Brittany and the Cotentin, crossed the Seine and marched
towards the valley of the Oise, Odo again hastened up to bar their way.
He overtook them in the neighbourhood of Guerbigny, not far from
Noyon. But the Northmen had a marsh and a brook between them and
the king, and the latter was helpless to stay their course. At least he
remained with his army on the banks of the Oise to protect the surround-
ing country. Strongly entrenched in their camp to the south of Noyon,
the Northmen spread their ravages far to the north. In the early part
of 891 Odo attempted to intercept a band of them returning, laden
with booty from Arnulf's kingdom. He hoped to surprise them at
Wallers, a few miles from Valenciennes, but once again they escaped
him and broke away through the forests, leaving only their spoil in his
hands.
Further to the west another contingent might be seen, settled at
Amiens, under the leadership of the famous Hasting, in their turn
pillaging the country and pushing their ravages as far as Artois. The
king's energy shewed signs of slackening ; after another failure near
Amiens, he allowed himself to be surprised by the enemy in Vermandois
where his army was put to fight (end of 891). In 896 he makes no
more attempt at resistance, a handful of pirates ravage the banks of the
Seine below Paris with impunity, and, ascending the Oise, take up their
winter quarters. near Compiègne, in the royal “villa” of Choisy-au-Bac.
CHIV.


## p. 86 (#132) #############################################

86
Royal impotence against the Northmen
Throughout the summer of 897 they continued their ravages along the
banks of the Seine, while Odo does not appear at all. Finally he was
roused from his inaction, but only to negotiate, to “redeem his kingdom. ”
He actually left the Northmen free to go and winter on the Loire! Thus
gradually even Odo had shewn himself incapable of bridling them; at
first he had successfully resisted them, then, though watching them
narrowly, he had been unable to surprise them, and had suffered himself
to be defeated by them; finally, he looked on indifferently at their
plunderings, and confined himself to bribing them to depart, and
diverting them to other parts of the kingdom.
Such was the situation when Odo died, and Charles the Simple was
universally recognised as king. The Northmen pillaged Aquitaine and
pillaged Neustria, but Charles remained unmoved. Another party went
up the Somme, and this was a direct menace to the Carolingian's own
possessions. He therefore gathered an army and repulsed the pirates,
who fell back into Brittany (898). At the end of that year they invaded
Burgundy, burning the monasteries and slaughtering the inhabitants.
Charles made no sign, but left it to the Duke of Burgundy, Richard,
to rid himself of them as best he might. Richard, indeed, put them
to flight, but allowed them to carry their ravages elsewhere. In 903
other Northern bands, led by Eric and Baret, ascended the Loire as far as
Tours and burnt the suburbs of the town; in 910 they pillaged Berry
and killed the Archbishop of Bourges ; in 911 they besieged Chartres,
the king still paying no attention. These facts are significant; evidently
the king gives up the idea of defending the kingdom as a whole, and
leaves it to each individual to cope with his difficulties as he may.
When the region where he exercises direct authority is endangered, he
intervenes, but as soon as he has diverted the fury of the pirates upon
another part of the kingdom, his conscience is satisfied, and his example
is followed on all hands.
In 911 Charles entered into negotiations with Rollo, and, as we have
seen, the result was that a great part of the Norman bands established
themselves permanently in the districts of Rouen, Lisieux and Evreux,
but the character which the negotiations assumed and the share that
the king took in them are uncertain. In any case, the chief object of
the convention of St-Clair-sur-Epte was to put a stop to the incursions
by way of the Seine and the Oise; as to the other Norman bands, or
the Northmen of the Loire, the king does not concern himself with them,
and we shall find them in 924 vociferously demanding a settlement like
that of Rollo.
For the rest, the so-called Treaty of St-Clair-sur-Epte however bene-
ficial it may have been, was far from bringing about peace even in the
northern part of the kingdom. Though for the most part converted to
Christianity, the companions of Rollo were not tamed and civilised in
a day. Increased in numbers by the fresh recruits who came in from


## p. 87 (#133) #############################################

Royal impotence against the Hungarians
87
the north, they more than once resumed their raids for plunder, often
in concert with the Northmen of the Loire. And at the same time a new
scourge fell upon the country. Troops of Hungarians, having de-
vastated South Germany, Lorraine and Alsace, advanced in 917 into
French Burgundy and threatened the very heart of the kingdom.
Confronted with this danger, Charles endeavoured to exert himself.
But it was now that the utter weakness of the monarchy was made
manifest; the barons, ill-pleased with their sovereign, with one accord
refused to join the ost. Only the Archbishop of Rheims appeared
with his vassals, and upon him alone the safety of the kingdom was left
to depend.
Thenceforward the Northmen in the north and west, and the
Hungarians in the East, harry the country with frenzied pillaging and
burning. As long as the king was not directly threatened he remained
indifferent and supine: not only did he allow the Normans to devastate
Brittany from one end to the other, indeed he had officially permitted
them to pillage it in 911, but he allowed them also to go up the Loire,
fix themselves at Nantes, burn Angers and Tours, and besiege Orleans
(919). The only resistance the spoilers met with in that quarter came,
not from the king, but from the Marquess of Neustria, Robert, who in
921 succeeded in driving them out of his duchy at the cost of leaving
them at full liberty to settle in the Nantes district. In 923 they
plundered Aquitaine and Auvergne, the Duke of Aquitaine and the
Count of Auvergne being left to deal with them on their own account.
In the same year King Charles himself summoned the Northmen to the
north of the kingdom in order to resist Raoul, whom the magnates had
just set up in his stead as king. From the Loire and from Rouen the
pirates burst forth upon Francia; they again went up the Oise and
pillaged Artois and the Beauvaisis, so that at the beginning of 924 the
threatened lords of Francia were forced to club together to bribe them
into retiring. Even then the Normans of Rouen would not depart
until they had extorted the cession of the whole of the Bayeux district,
and doubtless of that of Séez also.
Still the devastastions went on. The Northmen of the Loire, led by
Rögnvald also demanded a fief in their turn, and committed fresh
ravages
in Neustria. Here were the domains of Hugh the Great, King
Raoul consequently made no movement. In December 924 the robbers
invaded Burgundy, and being repulsed after a determined and bloody
struggle, came and fixed themselves on the Seine near Melun. Much
alarmed, King Raoul found in Francia a mere handful of barons
prepared to follow him, Church vassals from Rheims and Soissons, and
the Count of Vermandois. These could not suffice. He set off at once
for Burgundy to try to recruit additional troops. Duke Hugh the
Great, fearing for his own dominions, came and took up a post of
observation near the Northmen's entrenchments. But while the king was
CH. I.


## p. 88 (#134) #############################################

88
The provinces provide their own defence
a
in Burgundy with difficulty collecting an army, the Northmen decamped
without the slightest effort on Hugh's part to pursue them.
The Northmen of Rouen thereupon resumed operations more fiercely
than ever; they burned Amiens, Arras and the suburbs of Noyon.
Once again directly threatened, the king hurried back from Burgundy
and convoked the inhabitants of the district to the ost. This time the
lords felt the necessity for union, and responded to the king's appeal ;
all took up arms, the Count of Vermandois and the Count of Flanders
among others, and getting possession of Eu they slaughtered a whole
band of pirates.