THE LATER CAROLINGIANS AND THE EMPIRE

[Excerpted from Dana Carleton Munro, The Middle Ages, 395-1272 (New York: The Century Company, 1921), 112-125]

Empire Work of Charles. The western Empire had been the result of the work of Charles the Great as king of the Franks, who had brought to a successful conclusion the task begun by Charles Martel and Pippin. He had put down the rebellions of the subject-peoples and had kept his own officials under control, in spite of the great size of his dominions and the difficulties of communication. But it had been a hard task even for Charles. Einhard says that most of the counts and other officers were corrupt and dishonest; even the Missy could be depended upon only when a strict oversight was kept. The title of emperor added no real power to Charles and he had no strength as emperor except that which he possessed through his kingship over the various nations. To a like Charles the title of emperor gave prestige; for a weak ruler strong king like Charles the title of emperor gave prestige; for a weak ruler it would add little or nothing.

Causes of Weakness. When Charles died in 8I4 the imperial position was a very difficult one. The Franks, upon whom Charles had especially relied, were exhausted, because they had spent their lives and property so continuously in his campaigns. Many of the poor had been compelled to sink from their position as freemen into dependence upon the wealthier or upon the king's officials. The counts, dukes, bishops, and abbots were in a semi-independent relation to the emperor. Charles had made the head of each county or other division responsible for the men in his portion, to lead them to war and to see that they were properly equipped. As long as a sufficient number of troops came from the county and good order was preserved, Charles interfered comparatively little with the actions of his deputy; but naturally only a very strong ruler could afford to leave so much power in the hands of his subordinates This was the more true because the means of communication between the different parts of the Empire were so inadequate; it took weeks and sometimes months to get news from the frontier to the place where Charles happened to be holding court. Even when Charles was emperor and his subjects dreaded his displeasure, he had not been able to protect ambassadors from ill-treatment while they were journeying from Constantinople to his court. His own counts had maltreated them in order to extort money.

Principles of Division. The greatest source of danger to the Frankish Empire, however, arose from the German custom of treating a kingdom as if it were private property and consequently dividing it up among of all the legitimate sons. Fortunately this danger had been averted thus far; but this had been due mainly to chance. When Charles Martel died, his kingdom had been divided between his two sons; one of them had resigned the kingship in order to enter a monastery, and thus the unity of the Frankish realm had been preserved under Pippin. When Pippin died the kingdom had again been divided between two sons, Charles and Carloman, but the latter died very soon and again the disruption of the kingdom had been prevented. Charles the Great had planned to divide his empire among his three legitimate sons and the compact had been duly drawn up, but two of the sons died before their father. One left a son, Bernard, who was allowed to rule over his father's portion in northern Italy. Consequently when Charles died there was only one legitimate son still living and the Empire passed to him.

Lewis the Pious. This son was Lewis the Pious, or the Debonair, as he is usually called. There have been great differences of opinion with regard to his character; some historians have described him as weak and vacillating; others have laid stress upon the elements of strength which he possessed. The truth seems to be that Lewis would have made a good ruler in a position where less responsibility was laid upon him. As the king of Aquitaine, a position which he held while his father was still alive, he had succeeded admirably and had won praise from Charles for the excellence of his government. He was far better educated than his father had been; he was more pious, as he had been trained by Benedict of Aniane, one of the leading churchmen of the time. When he succeeded to the throne he dismissed all the councilors of his father who led corrupt lives; by doing this he alienated some of the strongest supporters of the throne and caused an opposition party to rise. The feeling against him was intensified by the fact that he had been in Aquitaine during so large a part of his life that he had little in common with the East Frankish nobles who had been so influential at his father's court. His great piety also led him into subserviency to the pope and to the church officials. During his father's lifetime he had crowned himself emperor, under his father's direction, taking the crown from the altar and placing it upon his own head; but after Charles' death the pope had made a journey to the court of Lewis and had re-crowned him emperor. By this act the pope established more firmly his theory that the imperial crown was bestowed by the church, while, in all proba bility, Charles had intended that Lewis, by crowning himself, should be free from all obligation to the papacy. On several occa-t sions during his reign the piety of Lewis led him into a position where he lost prestige and consequently power. Although he was comparatively able, he was easily influenced by those whom he loved and trusted; his amiability, which is commemorated by the epithet debonair, was very apparent.

First Division of Empire. In 8I7, Lewis, following the example of his father, divided his empire among his three sons. In his arrangement, however, he laid stress upon a new principle which was a departure from the German custom and marked a change in the attitude toward the Empire. Instead of dividing his dominions and placing all of his sons upon an equality, he gave to the eldest the title of emperor and the supremacy over his two brothers. Lothair was to sup port and to protect his younger brothers and to exercise authority over them; from this time on he was to be associated with his father in the rule of the Empire. This division entirely neglected the claims of Bernard, the nephew of Lewis, who had been ruling in Italy. The latter felt much aggrieved, and, supported by the opposition, attempted to set himself up as an independent king. The rebellion was quickly put down; Bernard and the chief lead ers were condemned to death, but in Bernard's case this penalty was changed to blinding. Although he had come to his uncle's court under a safe-conduct, the sentence was carried out, and so clumsily that Bernard died very soon from the shock.

Marriage with Judith. Lewis was filled with remorse as a consequence of this act, and when his wife died the following year he looked upon her death as a sign of the displeasure of heaven, because she had incited him to the punishment of his nephew. In sorrow for her death and afflicted by the knowledge of his own sins, he wished to with draw from the world to spend the rest of his life in a monastery. His subjects were very unwilling to have him carry out this de sire, as his sons were still too young to rule effectively. In order to prevent the emperor from resigning the duties of his office and entering on the monastic life, they urged him to marry again. He was somewhat averse to this, but finally yielded to the wishes of his councilors. The pretty girls of suitable rank throughout the Empire are said to have been gathered together, and Lewis was urged to choose a bride. He was attracted by the beauty and wit of Judith, daughter of Count Welf, and the marriage took place in 8I9. Judith had a strong character and was very seductive; in addition to her beauty she had many qualities " recalling the ancient Judith," as the contemporaries said. She was soon to become the leader in the Empire, controlling her husband, who yielded to all her wishes.

Penance of Attigny. Lewis never ceased to regret the death of Bernard, and felt that he had sinned grievously against him. In 822 he did public penance in his palace at Attigny, where he confessed that " he had shown himself so often guilty, in his life, his faith, and his duties, that it would be impossible to enumerate all the circum stances in which he had been at fault." This public humiliation testifies to Lewis's piety and also shows the difference between him and his father; it is impossible to imagine Charles the Great humbling himself before his subjects. And the act of Lewis made him despised by many nobles. While the emperor said that he was following "the example of the emperor Theodosius," his subjects thought the penance anything but a deed worthy of the ruler and head of the Empire.

Repeated Divisions of Empire. In the following year Charles, the only son of Judith and Lewis, was born. From this time Lewis was mainly concerned, under the influence of his wife, in preparing a suitable kingdom for his dearly beloved youngest son. The whole history of the last years of his reign was determined by his anxiety to satisfy Judith and to make her son equal in rank and power to the sons of the first marriage. At first he gained the consent of Lothair that Charles should receive whatever portion of the Empire Lewis might de cide. The opposition party soon influenced Lothair so that he retracted his consent; but in 829 Lewis made a new division and gave to Charles a considerable part of the territory which had formerly been assigned to his eldest brother, and the latter was sent into Italy to rule that kingdom; Lothair's name was no longer placed on the imperial documents and his disgrace was evi dent. The next ten years saw repeated division of the territory of the Franks; sometimes all three of the sons of his first mar riage were united against their father and he was forced to yield; at times he was held prisoner and his wife was compelled to re tire to a monastery. Again and again he succeeded in detaching the other sons from the party of Lothair and was triumphant. The strength of the nation was exhausted in civil strife; a con temporary wrote in sorrow: "The state is troubled and there is danger both within and without. The armies which ought to be sent against foreign nations to conquer them are employed in carrying on civil war. Where is the former grandeur of the Em pire of the Franks? If God does not intervene we shall soon be delivered defenseless to the attacks of the pagans." Finally in 838 Pippin died; Lewis the German, as he is usually called, was in disgrace and Lewis the Pious again turned to Lothair with the proposal that " if he would consent to become the guardian and protector of Charles he should be received into favor again; all his bad actions in the past should be pardoned, and he should have one-half the kingdom." Lothair accepted and the whole Frankish realm was again divided, but this time only into two portions: one-half was to go to Lothair and onehalf to Charles, later surnamed the Bald

Fontenay, 841. Lewis died in 840 and immediately war broke out between the three surviving brothers. Lothair did not keep the agreement which he had just made with his father, but claimed the Empire in accordance with the constitution of 8I7. Thereupon Lewis the German and Charles the Bald made common cause and " the war of the three brothers " began. The nobles in the Frankish Empire followed the party of one brother or another wholly in accordance with their own interest; each one making the best terms for himself that he could. Consequently at the battle of Fontenay in 84I all three met, and " the forces of the Franks were so diminished that they no longer sufficed to protect their own boundaries, far less to conquer other peoples." On that field of battle in the words of a contemporary, " the supremacy of the Franks perished." Each party claimed victory, but the contest was indecisive; ' a great carnage had been made, neither of the two parties had triumphed." It is said that forty thousand of the Franks perished in this action.

Oath of Strassburg. Soon after the battle at Fontenay Charles and Lewis separated but they soon found that they must make common cause if they did not wish to be conquered separately by Lothair. In February, 842, they met at Strassburg and swore a perpetual alliance. Each one took the oath in the language spoken by the followers of the other; that is, Lewis took the oath in the Romance tongue and Charles in the German, so that each might be understood by the brother's partizans. The oath ran as follows: "Out of love for God and for the good of the Christian people and our own salvation, I will in the future, from this day forth, as far as God gives to me wisdom and power, treat this my brother as one ought to treat his brother, on the condition that he does the same by me. And with Lothair I will not willingly enter into any agreement which may inJure this my brother." It is especially interesting to read the language used by each of the brothers. Lewis spoke the following words: "Pro Deo amur et pro Christian poblo et nostro common salvament dist di in avant in quant Dens savir et todtr me dunat si salvarai eo cist Peon fradre Karlo et in aSudlta et Ztl cadhuna cosa si cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dist in o quid it Pi altresi facet; et ab Ledger nut plaid nufinqt~~azn prindrai qui Peon vol cist Peon fradre Karle in damno sit.' Then Charles repeated the same oath in the German language: " In Godes minna ind in thes christanes folches ind unser bedhero gehaltnissi, Ton thesemo dage frammordes so fray so Sir Got gewizeiindi mahd furgibit so haldih thesan minan bruodher soso man Nit rehtu sinan bruodher scat in thin than er wig so sama duo indi Pit Ludheren in nohheinitt thing ne gegatzgo the Snag willon imo ce scadhen werden."

The Treaty of Verdun. This union of the two brothers forced Lothair to terms and in 843 the treaty of Verdun was concluded. By this Lothair received the long middle strip extending from the mouth of the Rhine to Rome and included between the Rhone and the Saone on the west and the Rhine on the east. The territory accordingly was almost a thousand miles in length and was exposed to attack on either side, it was especially vulnerable, as the boundaries were not very clearly marked out and were not protected by natural defenses. Lewis the German received practically all of the eastern part of the Empire beyond the Rhine with certain territones surrounded by his brother's possessions, including the bishoprics of Spires, Worms, and Mainz. Charles the Bald received all the western portion of the Empire, including most of what is now France. This treaty led the way to the formation of the modern nations, as France was clearly separated from Germany, and both from Italy. The long strip lying between the two, the kingdom of Lothair, was destined to have no unity and to be the battle ground between France and Germany.

Weakness of the Empire. The internal wars between the brothers and their father and the later strife had exhausted the strength of the Franks to a very great degree. The resources which formerly had been so large had been wasted for many years. When Lothair had been fleeing from his brother he had been compelled to pay his fol lowers with fragments from a large silver globe. This had been the pride of Charles the Great, for on it " were represented the divisions of the world and the constellations of heaven and the courses of the planets." The sacrifice of this precious object illustrates the poverty of the emperor, and the other kings were no more fortunate; they were weak in both men and money, while their needs were greater than before, as all three kingdoms were threatened by dangerous invaders. Wholly absorbed in their strife against one another, they had done little to check the pirati cal inroads, and in fact Lothair after the battle of Fontenay had actually sought aid from the Northmen against his brothers. The clergy fully understood the position and were the only ones who acted f or the general good. Throughout the troubled period which ensued it was the church which constantly stood for unit and in 844 the leading bishops of the Frankish realm induced the three brothers to come together. At the prayers of the clergy they consented, or pretended to consent, to an agreement that they would refrain from injuring one another and would support one another against any foreign foe.

Northmen. The need of such unity svas very great, as all of the kingdoms but especially the realm of Charles the Bald, were being harassed by the pirate Northmen, a name which then included all the inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula and of Denmark. Because of the nature of their home these peoples were good sailors and accustomed to making much of their living on the sea. They were a hardy and vigorous race, of Teutonic stock, tall in stature fierce in disposition, and intensely averse to any form of subjugation As the population in their lands had increased, some of the chieftains had attempted to establish order and to make themselves powerful. Those who were dissatisfied and defeated had to leave the country, and as vikings in small open boats the sailed away from home in the search of adventure and wealth The Swedes for the most part harried Russia; the Norwegians made descents upon Scotland and Ireland and founded colonies along the coasts; the Danes attacked England and Gaul. During the reign of Charles the Great they had made at least one descent upon the coast; but while this great warrior was alive they had found it more profitable to carry on their depredations elsewhere

Their Devastations. During the reign of Lewis the Pious they made occasional attacks on the Frankish realm and obtained considerable booty. After his death, in 84I, the Northmen pillaged the city of Rouen and put it to sack with fire and sword. As they were still pagans they paid no heed to the sanctitv of the churches and convents but massacred or enslaved the monks and plundered the monasteries. In 843 they sacked Nantes, murdered the bishop before the very altar, and carried away many captives. About this time finding it more convenient for their " summer harvest," they made their headquarters on islands at the mouths of the rivers, so that these bands soon came to be known as " the pirates of the Seine," or " the pirates of the Loire," or by some similar name according to their winter quarters. In 845 many Northmen joined together under the leadership of Ragnar Lodbrok and captured Paris whence they departed only after receiving an enormous ransom and plundering as far as Toulouse sacked Bordeaux. From this time on, for a number of years it is a dreary tale; the Northmen sacked Tours, Orleans, Paris, and very many other cities; they withdrew from a district only when there was nothing more to glean. The annals of the writers at this time recount how the Northmen, " according to their custom," plundered the villages " before the eyes of Lothair," and carried off immense booty; or, again, how they pillaged Orleans without opposition, plundered all the monasteries in the vicinity, and then unattacked passed the winter.

Charles the Bald. Charles the Bald,who was king of the western Frankish kingdom has usually been represented as weak. The disasters of his reign lend only too much color to this point of view; but it seems somewhat unjust to him. He was ambitious and active, but not usually successful. He had been well educated by his mother and knew both the sacred and the profane literature much more extensively than was usual at that time. His court was the home of many scholars, whose studies he encouraged, for he loved to be known as a patron of learning; he had what was then a large library and was very fond of his manuscripts. He was especially well versed in the laws of his ancestors and attempted to carry out the policy of his grandfather. But he was not strong enough to maintain order, and two sections of his kingdom, Brittany and Aquitaine, were usually in revolt against him. In the f ormer there was a revolt which he attempted to suppress in 845, but he met with a disastrous defeat, and Nomenoe, the chief noble in Brittany, attempted to have himself crowned king. The bishops, who were the great defenders of the principle of Frankish unity, refused to crown him, but he succeeded in obtaining the crown after three years of strife in which he had expelled the bishops who were not subservient. Until the death of Noménoé, Charles was unable to conquer the land; and he was obliged to recognize a new king on condition that the latter should become his man. In Aquitaine also there were constant rebellions and the people frequently summoned to their aid, against Charles, Lewis the German or any one else who would espouse their cause. Finally, Aquitaine was made into a vassal kingdom. It would seem that with the revolts in Brittany and Aquitaine and the constant invasions by the Northmen, Charles would have been fully occupied and would have had no time for external wars; but when his brother Lothair died in 855 and left his kingdom to his three sons, Charles was anxious to take advantage of the opportunity to secure additional territory for himself.

Revolt Against Charles. For the time being he could accomplish nothing, as many of his own nobles were in revolt against him and had summoned Lewis the German to their aid. In 858, while Charles was busy in the siege of the chief stronghold of the Northmen, he had been abandoned by many of his followers. They affirmed that they could no longer support the tyranny of Charles; that the little property which remained after the pillage by the pagans was taken from them by the king; and accordingly they deserted him for his brother Lewis the German. The latter was successful in his invasions and secured possession of the West Frankish realm after a single battle. In December, 858, he was able to date a diploma in "the twentieth year of my reign over the East Frankish kingdom and the first of my reign over the West Frankish kingdom." The bishops, however, remained loyal to Charles and induced his followers to attempt to drive out Lewis, on account of " the abominable cruelties which his troops had committed in crossing the dioceses." Within a very few weeks Lewis was obliged to retire and his attempted conquest led to no result except the further weakness of both kingdoms.

Robert the Strong. The ravages of the Northmen still continued. The only Frankish leader of this period who had achieved any great success against them was Robert the Strong, the ancestor of the Capetian line. He may have been German by birth and may have come from the eastern Frankish kingdom, but this is not certain, as his origin is very obscure. In 852 he was the rector, or guardian, of the abbey of Marmoutier near Tours, and from this time he seems to have been an important man in the West Frankish kingdom. In 858 he was one of the leaders against Charles the Bald; later he returned to his allegiance and was made duke of the country between the Loire and Seine, where he fought successfully against the Bretons and also against the Northmen. In 865 he is said to have killed more than six hundred of the pirates and to have received as a reward from the king two counties, but in 866 he was killed while fighting against the Northmen. After his death there was no one left who could cope with the pirates and Robert the Strong was long remembered as the great hero of the national defense; his son inherited much of his father's prestige and the deeds of Robert were influential in bringing about the establishment of the Capetian line.

Edict of Pistres. Meanwhile Charles the Bald was doing all in his power to check the Northmen. In 864 he made the edict of Pistres, which showed real understanding of the difficulties. The Northmen always had attacked places suddenly, and generally had succeeded in escaping with their prisoners and booty before any troops could be gathered against them. Their sacks of the cities had been due to a great extent, to the lack of fortifications; few of the towns had walls and there were almost no castles. In the edict of Pistres, Charles attempted to substitute cavalry for the foot-soldiers who formed the Frankish army; he ordered that all of the Franks who had horses or were able to have horses should serve as cavalry. By this means he hoped to acquire forces which could be moved more swiftly and might check the invasions. In order to protect the country better from the Northmen, in this same edict Charles ordered that all the towns on the rivers should construct bridges with fortified bridge-heads, so that the Northmen would not be able to pass by them on the rivers. The Seine, in particular, was protected, both at Pistres itself and also at Paris, where two strongly fortified bridges were built from the opposite banks to the island on which was the city. This defense for Paris proved very efficacious during the next siege.

Treaty of Merson, 870. When Lothair had died, in 855, his empire had been divided, as stated above. His oldest son had been given the imperial title with the kingdom of Italy; a second son, Lothair, had received as his kingdom the territory which soon took from him the name Lotharingia, or Lorraine; the third son received the southern por tion, Burgundy, or Provence, with some of the territory lying north of it. The fortunes of Lothair will be touched upon in another connection; here it is important, however, to notice his death, in 869, because of its connection with the history of Charles the Bald. Lothair II had left no legitimate heir; consequently, under the lead of Hincmar, the most powerful bishop

in the Frankish realm, Charles was summoned by the leading nobles to Lotharingia and received the crown. But Lewis the German was determined to have his share of the spoils, and the emperor Lewis the brother of Lothair II, also claimed a part. At this time the emperor was fully occupied in Italy fighting against Saracen invaders; but Lewis the German was so powerful that Charles had to negotiate, and by the treaty of Mersen, in Treatyor 870, the kingdom of Lothair was divided between his two uncles, Charles receiving the western portion including Lyons, Vienne, Besançon, Verdun, Liege, and other important towns; while Lewis secured Aachen the old capital, Cologne, Strassburg, and other important Rhenish cities. This treaty prevented fighting for a few years, but both brothers were so greedy for land, although they could not defend what they already had, that no lasting peace was possible between them. While the Northmen were continuing their ravages and the people said in the Litany, " from the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us," each Caroline gian ruler was attempting to aggrandize himself at the expense of his relatives. Except for the church, there would have been no unity throughout this period; but the leading clergy, with Hincmar, bishop of Reims, at their head, did all in their power to preserve peace and concord.

Charles the Bald, Emperor. In 873 Charles succeeded in winning a great victory over some Northmen, whose chiefs surrendered, paid him money, thus returning some of what they had received f rom him, and gave hostages for their good behavior. They promised not to pillage the kingdom again and asked only that they might have an island in the Loire where those who should be baptized and should be true Christians might live. This success freed the kingdom of Charles from the fury of the Northmen for several years and so enhanced his reputation that when the emperor Lewis II died, two years later, the pope was eager to crown Charles emperor. He hoped that Charles would be strong enough to protect him against the Saracens, who for many years had been ravaging the peninsula of Italy. Although Lewis the German also wanted the imperial title, Charles was able to reach Rome first and was crowned on Christmas day, 875. It was the anniversary of the coronation of his grandfather, but the ceremony meant something very different in the latter case. Charles the Bald had very little power and sought the title only for the prestige; after receiving the crown of the kingdom of Italy he returned home and left the pope to his fate.

Death of Charles. In 877 Charles died. His career has been related at some length because of its importance for the history of the Empire and of western Europe. From the time of his birth he had been an influential factor, as it was the desire to secure a kingdom for him that had led his father Lewis the Pious to change the division which he had made and to precipitate war. For this reason Charles has often been treated very unfairly. He was greedy of power, but no more so than his brothers; he was unsuccessful in managing his kingdom, but again not more so than his brothers. During his reign feudal conditions were taking shape very rapidly, the church had great power, the nobles were frequently in rebellion, the Northmen were plundering the country, but it seems unfair to hold Charles responsible for all these conditions and mishaps. Charles had done what he could; in particular he had made excellent laws, which he was unable to enforce. On the whole, he was neither better nor worse than his leading contemporaries, and it is unhistorical to single him out as the scapegoat and to make him responsible for all the evils which may have resulted from the intrigues of his clever mother

All of the later generations of the Carolingians were shortlived. Charles the Bald had had four sons, but only one, Lewis, called the Stammerer, had survived him. Lewis was an able man, loving peace and justice, and not misled by the ambitious designs of his race. Yet he was able to obtain the crown by election only after he had bribed many of the nobles. In spite of the long succession of hereditary rulers the hereditary principle was by no means established; both in the case of Lewis the Stammerer and in that of his sons the nobles hindered the election in order to extort concessions before they recognized the heir as king. Lewis lived only two years and was succeeded by his sons Lewis III and LewbIII Carloman, whose succession to the throne was assured only through the exertions of the clergy. These kings were so weak at first that a part of their former possessions in Burgundy and Provence was detached and made into a separate kingdom. Lewis III, however, was a man of real ability, and he found his opportunity in the contest against the Northmen. The latter had been for some years fully engaged in England, but Alfred the Great had restored peace there and the unruly vikings sought other places to ravage. They again were harassing all northern France and had occupied the city of Amiens, where Lewis and his brother rushed to meet them. At Saucourt, on August 3, 88I, Lewis gave battle to the Northmen and won a notable victory; more than eight thousand of the invaders were left dead upon the field and the remaining Northmen withdrew from France. They devoted themselves to plundering Lorraine until after the death of Lewis III, the following year, when they returned to France.

Later Carolingian Rulers. An evil fortune seemed to pursue these later Carolingians Lewis had won this great victory which had freed his land from the terror caused by the pirates and everything seemed propitious; but " it chanced one day that in sport he chased a certain damsel, the daughter of Germund. She fled into her father's gate and the king followed her laughing. But he forgot to stoop sufficiently at the portal, and was crushed between the roof and the high pommel of his saddle so that he died within a few days." Two years later his brother Carloman was accidentally killed while boar-hunting, and left no heir except a young brother, a child of five, who was later known as Charles the Simple. The Caro lingian line was now almost extinct. In Germany only one son of Lewis the German was still living, Charles III, later called the Fat, who had inherited from his father and his brothers all of the kingdom and had been crowned emperor at Rome in 88I. The nobles and bishops of France, when they met together to de liberate on the fate of the kingdom, decided in favor of the fully grown man, Charles III, rather than the child, Charles the Simple; accordingly the former was crowned king. He was praised as "a very Christian prince, fearing God, with all his heart keeping His commandments, very devoutly obeying the orders of the Church, generous in alms-giving, practising unceasingly prayer and song, always intent upon celebrating the praises of God." This catalogue of virtues is discreetly silent concerning Charles' ability and valor, and he seems to have been cowardly and unable to take any vigorous action. When the Northmen attacked his kingdom he was entirely incompetent, and in every peril or time of need he showed his unfitness for his position.

Abdication of Charles the Fat. The great event during his reign was the siege of Paris by the Northmen. In November, 885, several hundred viking-ships assembled below the city it is said that they covered the Seine for the distance of two Leagues. Eudes, the son of Robert the Strong, was in the city and managed its defense, which was greatly facilitated by the towers and bridge-heads on the bridges at either side. In September of the following year, Charles the Fat with an enormous army arrived at Montmartre, which was then well outside the city of Paris, but did not dare to engage in battle and " did nothing worthy of the royal majesty." Toward the end of October, after the Northmen had besieged the city for eleven months, he made a peace in which they agreed to leave and go into the district of Sens, where the people did not recognize his authority; in addition, the next spring the Northmen received seven hundred pounds of silver, on condition that they would leave France and go home. His subjects were very much disgusted, and a powerful party rose in opposition to him, so that Charles was compelled to abdicate. He died within three months, in January, 888. It is eloquent of the condition of the time that a later generation should have made a hero of Charles the Fat and should have looked back to his days as the good old times. In fact, the difficulties were increasing, and the people were to suffer so many evils that the last Carolingian who united almost all of the Frankish realm under his power was to become a theme of legend; Charles the Fat was represented as having retired to a cave where he waited for the opportunity to deliver his people. A more sorry hero or one more comical in some respects than was he, was never chosen by a national legend. The condition of the Empire immediately after his death was thus described by the contemporary Regino: " The kingdoms which obeyed him, de prived of a legitimate heir, quarreled and separated from one another; each one chose a king from its own inhabitants, paying nc heed to the natural heir. Great wars followed, not because there were lacking Frankish princes worthy by their nobility, courage, and wisdom of commanding the kingdom; but because they were all equal to one another in race, dignity, and power; the distrust was augmented, and no one was so preeminent that the others were willing to submit to his domination." Germany, Italy, Lorraine, Burgundy, and Provence became kingdoms, and were for a time almost entirely independent of one another or of France.

Fate of Imperial Title. After the death of Charles the Fat the imperial title attracted a few ambitious men, and five rulers were successively invested with the title of emperor of the Roman Empire; all but one owed the advancement entirely to the pope and the title carried with it little prestige and no power. Finally the office was left vacant for more than a generation until the coronation of Otto the Great.