MEDIEVAL HISTORY
Einhard
The Life of Charlemagne
SINCE I have taken upon myself to narrate the public
and private life, and no small part of the deeds, of my
lord and foster-father, the most lent and most justly
renowned King Charles, I have condensed the matter into
as brief a form as possible. I have been careful not to
omit any facts that could come to my knowledge, but at
the same time not to offend by a prolix style those minds
that despise everything modern, if one can possibly avoid
offending by a new work men who seem to despise also the
masterpieces of antiquity, the works of most learned and
luminous writers. Very many of them, l have no doubt,
are men devoted to a life of literary leisure, who feel
that the affairs of the present generation ought not to
be passed by, and who do not consider everything done
today as unworthy of mention and deserving to be given
over to silence and oblivion, but are nevertheless seduced
by lust of immortality to celebrate the glorious deeds
of other times by some sort of composition rather than
to deprive posterity of the mention of their own names
by not writing at all.
Be this as it may, I see no reason why I should
refrain from entering upon a task of this kind, since
no man can write with more accuracy than I of events that
took place about me, and of facts concerning which I had
personal knowledge, ocular demonstration as the saying
goes, and I have no means of ascertaining whether or not
any one else has the subject in hand.
But there are still other reasons, neither unwarrantable
nor insufficient, in my opinion, that urge me to write
on this subject, namely, the care that King Charles bestowed
upon me in my childhood, and my constant friendship with
himself and his children after I took up my abode at court.
In this way he strongly endeared me to himself, and made
me greatly his debtor as well in death as in life, so
that were I unmindful of the benefits conferred upon me,
to keep silence concerning the most glorious and illustrious
deeds of a man who claims so much at my hands, and suffer
his life to lack due eulogy and written memorial, as if
he had never lived, I should deservedly appear ungrateful,
and be so considered, albeit my powers are feeble, scanty,
next to nothing indeed, and not at all adapted to write
and set forth a life that would tax the eloquence of a
Tully [note: Tully is Marcus Tullius Cicero].
I submit the book. It contains the history of a
very great and distinguished man; but there is nothing
in it to wonder at besides his deeds, except the fact
that I, who am a barbarian, and very little versed in
the Roman language, seem to suppose myself capable of
writing gracefully and respectably in Latin, and to carry
my presumption so far as to disdain the sentiment that
Cicero is said in the first book of the Tusculan Disputations to have expressed when
speaking of the Latin authors. His words are: "It
is an outrageous abuse both of time and literature for
a man to commit his thoughts to writing without having
the ability either to arrange them or elucidate them,
or attract readers by some charm of style." This
dictum of the famous orator might have deterred me from
writing if I had not made up my mind that it was better
to risk the opinions of the world, and put my little talents
for composition to the test, than to slight the memory
of so great a man for the sake of sparing myself. THE LIFE OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES
The Merovingian family, from which the Franks used
to choose their kings, is commonly said to have lasted
until the time of Childeric [III, 743-752] who was deposed, shaved, and thrust
into the cloister by command of the Roman Pontiff Stephen
[II (or III) 752-757]. But although, to all outward appearance,
it ended with him, it had long since been devoid of vital
strength, and conspicuous only from bearing the empty
epithet Royal; the real power and authority in the kingdom
lay in the hands of the chief officer of the court, the
so-called Mayor of the Palace, and he was at the head
of affairs. There was nothing left the King to do but
to be content with his name of King, his flowing hair,
and long beard, to sit on his throne and play the ruler,
to give ear to the ambassadors that came from all quarters,
and to dismiss them, as if on his own responsibility,
in words that were, in fact, suggested to him, or even
imposed upon him. He had nothing that he could call his
own beyond this vain title of King and the precarious
support allowed by the Mayor of the Palace in his discretion,
except a single country seat, that brought him but a very
small income. There was a dwelling house upon this, and
a small number of servants attached to it, sufficient
to perform the necessary offices. When he had to go abroad,
he used to ride in a cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen driven,
peasant-fashion, by a Ploughman; he rode in this way to
the palace and to the general assembly of the people,
that met once a year for the welfare of the kingdom, and
he returned him in like manner. The Mayor of the Palace
took charge of the government and of everything that had
to be planned or executed at home or abroad.
At the time of Childeric's deposition, Pepin, the father of King Charles, held this
office of Mayor of the Palace, one might almost say, by
hereditary right; for Pepin's father, Charles [Martel 715-41], had received it at the
hands of his father, Pepin, and filled it with distinction.
It was this Charles that crushed the tyrants who claimed
to rule the whole Frank land as their own, and that utterly
routed the Saracens, when they attempted the conquest
of Gaul, in - -two great battles-one in Aquitania, near
the town of Poitiers , and the other on the River Berre,
near Narbonne-and compelled them to return to Spain. This
honor was usually conferred by the people only upon men
eminent from their illustrious birth and ample wealth.
For some years, ostensibly under King the father of King
Charles, Childeric, Pepin, shared
the duties inherited from his father and grandfather most
amicably with his brother, Carloman.
The latter, then, for reasons unknown, renounced the heavy
cares of an earthly crown and retired to Rome [747]. Here
he exchanged his worldly garb for a cowl, and built a
monastery on Mt. Oreste, near
the Church of St. Sylvester, where he enjoyed for several
years the seclusion that he desired, in company with certain
others who had the same object in view. But so many distinguished
Franks made the pilgrimage to Rome to fulfill their vows,
and insisted upon paying their respects to him, as their
former lord, on the way, that the repose which he so much
loved was broken by these frequent visits, and he was
driven to change his abode. Accordingly when he found
that his plans were frustrated by his many visitors, he
abandoned the mountain, and withdrew to the Monastery
of St. Benedict, on Monte Cassino,
in the province of Samnium [in 754], and passed the rest
there in the exercise of religion.
Pepin, however, was raised by decree of the Roman
pontiff, from the rank of Mayor of the Palace to that
of King, and ruled alone over the Franks for fifteen years
or more [752-768]. He died of dropsy [Sept. 24, 768] in
Paris at the close of the Aquitanian War, which he had waged with William, Duke of Aquitania,
for nine successive years, and left his two sons, Charles
and Carloman, upon whim, by
the grace of God, the succession devolved.
It would be folly, I think, to write a word concerning
Charles' birth and infancy, or even his boyhood, for nothing
has ever been written on the subject, and there is no
one alive now who can give information on it. Accordingly,
I determined to pass that by as unknown, and to proceed
at once to treat of his character, his deed, and such
other facts of his life as are worth telling and setting
forth, and shall first give an account of his deed at
home and abroad, then of his character and pursuits, and
lastly of his administration and death, omitting nothing
worth knowing or necessary to know.
Aquitanian War
His first undertaking in a military way was the Aquitanian War, begun by his father but not brought to a close;
and because he thought that it could be readily carried
through, he took it up while his brother was yet alive,
calling upon him to render aid. The campaign once opened,
he conducted it with the greatest vigor, notwithstanding
his broth withheld the assistance that he had promised,
and did not desist or shrink from his self-imposed task
until, by his patience and firmness, he had completely
gained his ends. He compelled Hunold,
who had attempted to seize Aquitania after Waifar's death, and renew the war then almost concluded, to abandon
Aquitania and flee to Gascony. Even here he gave him no
rest, but crossed the River Garonne, built the castle
of Fronsac, and sent ambassadors
to Lupus, Duke of Gascony, to demand the surrender of
the fugitive, threatening to take him by force unless
he were promptly given up to him. Thereupon Lupus chose
the wiser course, and not only gave Hunold up, but submitted himself, with the province which he
ruled, to the King.
After bringing this war to an end and settling
matters in Aquitania (his associate in authority had meantime
departed this life), he was induced [in 773], by the prayers
and entreaties of Hadrian [I, 772-795], Bishop of the
city of Rome, to wage war on the Lombards.
His father before him had undertaken this task at the
request of Pope Stephen [II or III, 752-757], but under
great difficulties, for certain leading Franks, of whom
he usually took counsel, had so vehemently opposed his
design as to declare openly that they would leave the
King and go home. Nevertheless, the war against the Lombard
King Astolf had been taken up
and very quickly concluded [754]. Now, although Charles
seems to have had similar, or rather just the same grounds
for declaring war that his father had, the war itself
differed from the preceding one alike in its difficulties
and its issue. Pepin, to be sure, after besieging King Astolf a few days in Pavia,
had compelled him to give hostages, to restore to the
Romans the cities and castles that he had taken, and to
make oath that he would not attempt to seize them again:
but Charles did not cease, after declaring war, until
he had exhausted King Desiderius by a long siege [773], and forced him to surrender at
discretion; driven his son Adalgis, the last hope of the Lombards,
not only -from his kingdom, but from all Italy [774];
restored to the Romans all that they had lost; subdued Hruodgaus, Duke of Friuli [776],
who was plotting revolution; reduced all Italy to his
power, and set his son Pepin as king over it. [781]
At the conclusion of this struggle, the Saxon war,
that seems to have been only laid aside for the time ,
was taken up again. No war ever undertaken by the Frank
nation was carried on with such persistence and bitterness,
or cost so much labor, because the Saxons, like almost
all the tribes of Germany, were a fierce people, given
to the worship of devils, and hostile to our religion,
and did not consider it dishonorable to transgress and
violate all law, human and divine. Then there were peculiar
circumstances that tended to cause a breach of peace every
day. Except in a few places, where large forests or mountain
ridges intervened and made the bounds certain, the line
between ourselves and the Saxons passed almost in its
whole extent through an open country, so that there was
no end to the murders thefts and arsons on both sides.
In this way the Franks became so embittered that they
at last resolved to make reprisals no longer, but to come
to open war with the Saxons [772]. Accordingly war was
begun against them, and was waged for thirty-three successive
years with great fury; more, however, to the disadvantage
of the Saxons than of the Franks. It could doubtless have
been brought to an end sooner, had it not been for the
faithlessness of the Saxons. It is hard to say how often
they were conquered, and, humbly submitting to the King,
promised to do what was enjoined upon them, without hesitation
the required hostages, gave and received the officers
sent them from the King. They were sometimes so much weakened
and reduced that they promised to renounce the worship
of devils, and to adopt Christianity, but they were no
less ready to violate these terms than prompt to accept
them, so that it is impossible to tell which came easier
to them to do; scarcely a year passed from the beginning
of the war without such changes on their part. But the
King did not suffer his high purpose and steadfastness
- firm alike in good and evil fortune - to be wearied
by any fickleness on their part, or to be turned from
the task that he had undertaken, on the contrary, he never
allowed their faithless behavior to go unpunished, but
either took the field against them in person, or sent
his counts with an army to wreak vengeance and exact righteous
satisfaction. At last, after conquering and subduing all
who had offered resistance, he took ten thousand of those
that lived on the banks of the Elbe, and settled them,
with their wives and children, in many different bodies
here and there in Gaul and Germany [804]. The war that
had lasted so many years was at length ended by their
acceding to the terms offered by the King; which were
renunciation of their national religious customs and the
worship of devils, acceptance of the sacraments of the
Christian faith and religion, and union with the Franks
to form one people.
Charles himself fought but two pitched battles
in this war, although it was long protracted one on Mount Osning [783], at the place called
Detmold, and again on the bank of the river Hase, both in the space of little more than a month. The enemy
were so routed and overthrown in these two battles that
they never afterwards ventured to take the offensive or
to resist the attacks of the King, unless they were protected
by a strong position. A great many of the Frank as well
as of the Saxon nobility, men occupying the highest posts
of honor, perished in this war, which only came to an
end after the lapse of thirty-two years [804]. So many
and grievous were the wars that were declared against
the Franks in the meantime, and skillfully conducted by
the King, that one may reasonably question whether his
fortitude or his good fortune is to be more admired. The
Saxon war began two years [772] before the Italian war
[773]; but although it went on without interruption, business
elsewhere was not neglected, nor was t ere any shrinking
from other equally arduous contests. The King, who excelled
all the princes of his time in wisdom and greatness of
soul, did not suffer difficulty to deter him or danger
to daunt him from anything that had to be taken up or
carried through, for he-had trained himself to bear and
endure whatever came, without yielding in adversity, or
trusting to the deceitful favors of fortune in prosperity.
In the midst of this vigorous and almost uninterrupted
struggle with the Saxons, he covered the frontier by garrisons
at the proper points, and marched over the Pyrenees into
Spain at the head of all the forces that he could muster.
All the towns and castles that he attacked surrendered.
and up to the time of his homeward march he sustained
no loss whatever; but on his return through the Pyrenees
he had cause to rue the treachery of the Gascons.
That region is well adapted for ambuscades by reason of
the thick forests that cover it; and as the army was advancing
in the long line of march necessitated by the narrowness
of the road, the Gascons, who
lay in ambush [778] on the top of a very high mountain,
attacked the rear of the baggage train and the rear guard
in charge of it, and hurled them down to the very bottom
of the valley [at Roncevalles,
later celebrated in the Song of Roland]. In the
struggle that ensued they cut them off to a man; they
then plundered the baggage, and dispersed with all speed
in every direction under cover of approaching night. The
lightness of their armor and the nature of the battle
ground stood the Gascons in
good stead on this occasion, whereas the Franks fought
at a disadvantage in every respect, because of the weight
of their armor and the unevenness of the ground. Eggihard, the King's steward; Anselm, Count Palatine; and
Roland, Governor of the March of Brittany, with very many
others, fell in this engagement. This ill turn could not be avenged for the nonce, because the enemy
scattered so widely after carrying out their plan that
not the least clue could be had to their whereabouts.
Submission of the Bretons and Beneventans
Charles also subdued the Bretons [786], who live
on the sea coast, in the extreme western part of Gaul.
When they refused to obey him, he sent an army against
them, and compelled them to give hostages, and to promise
to do his bidding. He afterwards entered Italy in person
with his army [787], and passed through Rome to Capua,
a city in Campania, where he pitched his camp and threatened
the Beneventans with hostilities
unless they should submit themselves to him. Their duke, Aragis, escaped the danger by sending his two sons, Rumold and Grimold, with a great
sum of money to meet the King, begging him to accept them
as hostages, and promising for himself and his people
compliance with all the King's commands, on the single
condition that his personal attendance should not be required.
The King took the welfare of the people into account rather
than the stubborn disposition of the Duke, accepted the
proffered hostages, and released him from the obligation
to appear before him in consideration of his handsome
gift. He retained the younger son only as hostage, and
sent the elder back to his father, and returned to Rome,
leaving commissioners with Aragis to exact the oath of allegiance, and administer it to
the Beneventans. He stayed in
Rome several days in order to pay his devotions at the
holy places, and then came back to Gaul [787].
Tassilo and the Bavarian Campaign
At this time, on a sudden, the Bavarian war broke
out, but came to a speedy end. It was due to the arrogance
and folly of Duke Tassilo. His
wife [Liutberga], a daughter
of King Desiderius, was desirous
of avenging her father's banishment through the agency
of her husband, and accordingly induced him to make a
treaty with the Huns, the neighbors of the Bavarians on
the east, and not only to leave the King's commands unfulfilled,
but to challenge him to war. Charles' high spirit could
not brook Tassilo's insubordination, for it seemed to him to pass all
bounds; accordingly he straightway summoned his troops
from all sides for a campaign against Bavaria and appeared
in person with a great army on the river Lech , which
forms the boundary between the Bavarians and the Alemanni. After Pitching his camp upon its banks, he determined
to put the Duke's disposition to the test by an embassy
before entering the province. Tassilo did not think that it was for his own or his people's
good to persist, so he surrendered himself to the King,
gave the hostages demanded, among them his own son Theodo, and promised by oath not to give ear to any one who should attempt to turn him from his allegiance;
so this war, which bade fair to be very grievous, came
very quickly to an end. Tassilo, however, was afterward summoned to the King's presence
[788], and not suffered to depart, and the government
of the province that he had had in charge was no longer intrusted to a duke, but to
counts.
After these uprisings had been thus quelled, war was declared against the Slavs who are commonly known among us as Wilzi, but properly, that is to say in their own tongue, are called Welatabians. The Saxons served in this campaign as auxiliaries among the tribes that followed the King's standard at his summons, but their obedience lacked sincerity and devotion. War was declared because the Slavs kept harassing the Abodriti, old allies of the Franks, by continual raids, in spite of all commands to the contrary. A gulf [ie the Baltic Sea] of unknown length, but nowhere more than a hundred miles wide, and in many parts narrower, stretches off towards the east from the Western Ocean. Many tribes have settlements on its shores; the Danes and Swedes, whom we call Northmen, on the northern shore and all the adjacent islands; but the southern shore is inhabited by the Slava and the Aïsti [from whom derive the modern name of "Estonia"]; and various other tribes. The Welatabians, against whom the King now made war, were the chief of these; but in a single campaign [789], which he conducted in person, he so crushed and subdued them that they did not think it advisable thereafter to refuse obedience to his commands. The war against the Avars,
or Huns, followed [791], and, except the Saxon war, was
the greatest that he waged; he took it up with more spirit
than any of his other wars, and made far greater preparations
for it. He conducted one campaign in person in Pannonia,
of which the Huns then had possession. He entrusted all
subsequent operations to his son, Pepin, and the governors
of the provinces, to counts even, and lieutenants. Although
they most vigorously prosecuted the war, it only came
to a conclusion after a seven years' struggle. The utter
depopulation of Pannonia, and the site of the Khan's palace,
now a desert, where not a trace of human habitation is
visible bear witness how many battles were fought in those
years, and how much blood was shed. The entire body of
the Hun nobility perished in this contest, and all its
glory with it. All the money and treasure that had been
years amassing was seized, and no war in which the Franks
have ever engaged within the memory of man brought them
such riches and such booty. Up to that time the Huns had
passed for, a poor people, but so much gold and silver
was found in the Khan's palace, and so much valuable spoil
taken in battle, that one may well think that the Franks
took justly from the Huns what the Huns had formerly taken
unjustly from other nations. Only two of the chief men
of the Franks fell in this war - Eric, Duke of Friuli,
who was killed in Tarsatch [799], a town on the coast of Liburnia by the treachery of the inhabitants; and Gerold,Governor of Bavaria, who met his death in Pannonia, slain [799],
with two men that were accompanying him, by an unknown
hand while he was marshaling his forces for battle against
the Huns, and riding up and down the line encouraging
his men. This war was otherwise almost a bloodless one
so far as the Franks were concerned, and ended most satisfactorily,
although by reason of its magnitude it was long protracted.
Extent of Charlemagne's Conquests
Such are the wars, most skillfully planned and
successfully fought, which this most powerful king waged
during the forty-seven years of his reign. He so largely
increased the Frank kingdom, which was already great and
strong when he received it at his father's hands, that
more than double its former territory was added to it.
The authority of the Franks was formerly confined to that
part of Gaul included between the Rhine and the Loire,
the Ocean and the Balearic Sea; to that part of Germany
which is inhabited by the so-called Eastern Franks, and
is bounded by Saxony and the Danube, the Rhine and the
Saale-this stream separates the Thuringians from the Sorabians; and to the country of the Alemanni and Bavarians. By the wars above mentioned he first made
tributary Aquitania, Gascony, and the whole of the region
of the Pyrenees as far as the River Ebro, which rises
in the land of the Navarrese, flows through the most fertile
districts of Spain, and empties into the Balearic Sea,
beneath the walls of the city of Tortosa.
He next reduced and made tributary all Italy from Aosta to Lower Calabria, where the boundary line runs between
the Beneventans and the Greeks,
a territory more than a thousand miles" long; then
Saxony, which constitutes no small part of Germany, and
is reckoned to be twice as wide as the country inhabited
by the Franks, while about equal to it in length; in addition,
both Pannonias, Dacia beyond
the Danube, and Istria, Liburnia,
and Dalmatia, except the cities on the coast, which he
left to the Greek Emperor for friendship's sake, and because
of the treaty that he had made with him. In fine, he vanquished
and made tributary all the wild and barbarous tribes dwelling
in Germany between the Rhine and the Vistula, the Ocean
and the Danube, all of which speak very much the same
language, but differ widely from one another in customs
and dress. The chief among them are the Welatabians,
the Sorabians, the Abodriti, and the
Bohemians, and he had to make war upon these; but the
rest, by far the larger number, submitted to him of their
own accord.
This King, who showed himself so great in extending
his empire and subduing foreign nations, and was constantly
occupied with plans to that end, undertook also very many
works calculated to adorn and benefit his kingdom, and
brought several of them to completion. Among these, the
most deserving of mention are the basilica of the Holy
Mother of God at Aix-la-Chapelle, built in the most admirable
manner, and a bridge over the Rhine at Mayence,
half a mile long, the breadth of the river at this point.
This bridge was destroyed by fire [May, 813] the year
before Charles died, but, owing to his death so soon after,
could not be repaired, although he had intended to rebuild
it in stone. He began two palaces of beautiful workmanship
- one near his manor called Ingelheim,
not far from Mayence; the other
at Nimeguen, on the Waal, the stream that washes the south side
of the island of the Batavians. But, above all, sacred
edifices were the object of his care throughout his whole
kingdom; and whenever he found them falling to ruin from
age, he commanded the priests and fathers who had charge
of them to repair them , and made sure by commissioners
that his instructions were obeyed. He also fitted out
a fleet for the war with the Northmen; the vessels required
for this purpose were built on the rivers that flow from
Gaul and Germany into the Northern Ocean. Moreover, since
the Northmen continually overran and laid waste the Gallic
and German coasts, he caused watch and ward to be kept
in all the harbors, and at the mouths of rivers large
enough to admit the entrance of vessels, to prevent the
enemy from disembarking; and in the South, in Narbonensis and Septimania, and along the
whole coast of Italy as far as Rome, he took the same
precautions against the Moors, who had recently begun
their piratical practices. Hence, Italy suffered no great
harm in his time at the hands of the Moors, nor Gaul and
Germany from the Northmen, save that the Moors got possession
of the Etruscan town of Civita Vecchia by treachery, and sacked
it, and the Northmen harried some of the islands in Frisia
off the German coast.
After his father's death, while sharing the kingdom with his brother, he bore his unfriendliness and jealousy most patiently, and, to the wonder of all, could not be provoked to be angry with him. Later he married a daughter of of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, at the instance of his mother; but he repudiated her at the end of a year for some reason unknown, and married Hildegard, a woman of high birth, of Suabian origin. He had three sons by her - Charles, Pepin and Louis -and as many daughters - Hruodrud, Bertha, and and Gisela. He had three other daughters besides these- Theoderada, Hiltrud, and Ruodhaid - two by his third wife, Fastrada, a woman of East Frankish (that is to say, of German) origin, and the third by a concubine, whose name for the moment escapes me. At the death of Fastrada [794], he married Liutgard, an Alemannic woman, who bore him no children. After her death [Jun4 4, 800] he had three concubines - Gersuinda, a Saxon by whom he had Adaltrud; Regina, who was the mother of Drogo and Hugh; and Ethelind, by whom he lead Theodoric. Charles' mother, Berthrada, passed her old age with him in great honor; he entertained the greatest veneration for her; and there was never any disagreement between them except when he divorced the daughter of King Desiderius, whom he had married to please her. She died soon after Hildegard, after living to three grandsons and as many granddaughters in her son's house, and he buried her with great pomp in the Basilica of St. Denis, where his father lay. He had an only sister, Gisela, who had consecrated herself to a religious life from girlhood, and he cherished as much affection for her as for his mother. She also died a few years before him in the nunnery where she passed her life. [Charles and the Education of His Children]
Conspiracies Against Charlemagne
By one of his concubines he had a son, handsome
in face, but hunchbacked, named Pepin, whom I omitted
to mention in the list of his children. When Charles was
at war with the Huns, and was wintering in Bavaria [792],
this Pepin shammed sickness, and plotted against his father
in company with some of the leading Franks, who seduced
him with vain promises of the royal authority. When his
deceit was discovered, and the conspirators were punished,
his head was shaved, and he was suffered, in accordance
with his wishes, to devote himself to a religious life
in the monastery of Prüm. A formidable conspiracy against Charles had previously
been set on foot in Germany, but all the traitors were
banished, some of them without mutilation, others after
their eyes had been put out. Three of them only lost their
lives; they drew their swords and resisted arrest, and,
after killing several men, were cut down, because they
could not be otherwise overpowered. It is supposed that
the cruelty of Queen Fastrada was the primary cause of these plots, and they were
both due to Charles' apparent acquiescence in his wife's
cruel conduct, and deviation from the usual kindness and
gentleness of his disposition. All the rest of his life
he was regarded by everyone with the utmost love and affection,
so much so that not the least accusation of unjust rigor
was ever made against him.
Charlemagne's Treatment of Foreigners
He liked foreigners, and was at great pains to
take them under his protection. There were often so many
of them, both in the palace and the kingdom, that they
might reasonably have been considered a nuisance; but
he, with his broad humanity, was very little disturbed
by such annoyances, because he felt himself compensated
for these great inconveniences by the praises of his generosity
and the reward of high renown.
Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature,
though not disproportionately tall (his height is well
known to have been seven times the length of his foot);
the upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large
and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face
laughing and merry. Thus his appearance was always stately
and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although
his neck was thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather
prominent; but the symmetry of the rest of his body concealed
these defects. His gait was firm, his whole carriage manly,
and his voice clear, but not so strong as his size led
one to expect. His health was excellent, except during
the four years preceding his death, when he was subject
to frequent fevers; at the last he even limped a little
with one foot. Even in those years he consulted rather
his own inclinations than the advice of physicians, who
were almost hateful to him, because they wanted him to
give up roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat
boiled meat instead. In accordance with the national custom,
he took frequent exercise on horseback and in the chase,
accomplishments in which scarcely any people in the world
can equal the Franks. He enjoyed the exhalations from
natural warm springs, and often practised swimming, in which he was such an adept that none could
surpass him; and hence it was that he built his palace
at Aixla-Chapelle, and lived
there constantly during his latter years until his death. He used not only to invite his
sons to his bath, but his nobles and friends, and now
and then a troop of his retinue or body guard, so that
a hundred or more persons sometimes bathed with him.
He used to wear the national, that is to say, the
Frank, dress-next his skin a linen shirt and linen breeches,
and above these a tunic fringed with silk; while hose
fastened by bands covered his lower limbs, and shoes his
feet, and he protected his shoulders and chest in winter
by a close-fitting coat of otter or marten skins. Over
all he flung a blue cloak, and he always had a sword girt
about him, usually one with a gold or silver hilt and
belt; he sometimes carried a jewelled sword, but only on great feast-days or at the reception
of ambassadors from foreign nations. He despised foreign
costumes, however handsome, and never allowed himself
to be robed in them, except twice in Rome, when he donned
the Roman tunic, chlamys, and
shoes; the first time at the request of Pope Hadrian,
the second to gratify Leo, Hadrian's successor. On great
feast-days he made use of embroidered clothes, and shoes
bedecked with precious stones; his cloak was fastened
by a golden buckle, and he appeared crowned with a diadem
of gold and gems: but on other days his dress varied little
from the common dress of the people.
Charles was temperate in eating, and particularly
so in drinking, for he abominated drunkenness in anybody,
much more in himself and those of his household; but he
could not easily abstain from food, and often complained
that fasts injured his health. He very rarely gave entertainments,
only on great feast-days, and then to large numbers of
people. His meals ordinarily consisted of four courses,
not counting the roast, which his huntsmen used to bring
in on the spit; he was more fond of this than of any other
dish. While at table, he listened to reading or music.
The subjects of the readings were the stories and deeds
of olden time: he was fond, too, of St. Augustine's books,
and especially of the one entitled "The City of God."
He was so moderate in the use of wine and all sorts
of drink that he rarely allowed himself more than three
cups in the course of a meal. In summer after the midday
meal, he would eat some fruit, drain a single cup, put
off his clothes and shoes, just as he did for the night,
and rest for two or three hours. He was in the habit of
awaking and rising from bed four or five times during
the night. While he was dressing and putting on his shoes,
he not only gave audience to his friends, but if the Count
of the Palace told him of any suit in which his judgment
was necessary, he had the parties brought before him forthwith,
took cognizance of the case, and gave his decision, just
as if he were sitting on the Judgment-seat. This was not
the only business that he transacted at this time, but
he performed any duty of the day whatever, whether he
had to attend to the matter himself, or to give commands
concerning it to his officers.
Charles had the gift of ready and fluent speech,
and could express whatever he had to say with the utmost
clearness. He was not satisfied with command of his native
language merely, but gave attention to the study of foreign
ones, and in particular was such a master of Latin that
he could speak it as well as his native tongue; but he
could understand Greek better than he could speak it.
He was so eloquent, indeed, that he might have passed
for a teacher of eloquence. He most zealously cultivated
the liberal arts, held those who taught them in great
esteem, and conferred great honors upon them. He took
lessons in grammar of the deacon Peter of Pisa, at that
time an aged man. Another deacon, Albin of Britain, surnamed Alcuin, a man of Saxon extraction,
who was the greatest scholar of the day, was his teacher
in other branches of learning. The King spent much time
and labour with him studying
rhetoric, dialectics, and especially astronomy; he learned
to reckon, and used to investigate the motions of the
heavenly bodies most curiously, with an intelligent scrutiny.
He also tried to write, and used to keep tablets and blanks
in bed under his pillow, that at leisure hours he might
accustom his hand to form the letters; however, as he
did not begin his efforts in due season, but late in life,
they met with ill success.
Generosity [Charles and the Roman Church]
He was very forward in succoring the poor, and
in that gratuitous generosity which the Greeks call alms,
so much so that he not only made a point of giving in
his own country and his own kingdom, but when he discovered
that there were Christians living in poverty in Syria,
Egypt, and Africa, at Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage,
he had compassion on their wants, and used to send money
over the seas to them. The reason that he zealously strove
to make friends with the kings beyond seas was that he
might get help and relief to the Christians living under
their rule.
When he made his last journey thither, he also
had other ends in view. The Romans had inflicted many
injuries upon the Pontiff Leo, tearing out his eyes and
cutting out his tongue, so that he had been comp lied
to call upon the King for help [Nov 24, 800]. Charles
accordingly went to Rome, to set in order the affairs
of the Church, which were in great confusion, and passed
the whole winter there. It was then that he received the
titles of Emperor and Augustus [Dec 25, 800], to which
he at first had such an aversion that he declared that
he would not have set foot in the Church the day that
they were conferred, although it was a great feast-day,
if he could have foreseen the design of the Pope. He bore
very patiently with the jealousy which the Roman emperors
showed upon his assuming these titles, for they took this
step very ill; and by dint of frequent embassies and letters,
in which he addressed them as brothers, he made their
haughtiness yield to his magnanimity, a quality in which
he was unquestionably much their superior.
It was after he had received the imperial name
that, finding the laws of his people very defective (the
Franks have two sets of laws, very different in many particulars),
he determined to add what was wanting, to reconcile the
discrepancies, and to correct what was vicious and wrongly
cited in them. However, he went no further in this matter
than to supplement the laws by a few capitularies, and
those imperfect ones; but he caused the unwritten laws
of all the tribes that came under his rule to be compiled
and reduced to writing . He also had the old rude songs
that celeate the deeds and wars of the ancient kings written out
for transmission to posterity. He began a grammar of his
native language. He gave the months names in his own tongue,
in place of the Latin and barbarous names by which they
were formerly known among the Franks. He likewise designated
the winds by twelve appropriate names; there were hardly
more than four distinctive ones in use before. He called
January, Wintarmanoth; February, Hornung; March, Lentzinmanoth;
April, Ostarmanoth; May, Winnemanoth;
June, Brachmanoth; July, Heuvimanoth;
August, Aranmanoth; September, Witumanoth; October, Windumemanoth; Novemher, Herbistmanoth;
December, Heilagmanoth. He styled
the winds as follows; Subsolanus, Ostroniwint; Eurus, Ostsundroni-, Euroauster, Sundostroni; Auster, Sundroni; Austro-Africus, Sundwestroni; Africus, Westsundroni; Zephyrus, Westroni; Caurus, Westnordroni; Circius, Nordwestroni; Septentrio, Nordroni; Aquilo, Nordostroni; Vulturnus, Ostnordroni.
Coronation of Louis - Charlemagne's Death
Toward the close of his life [813], when he was
broken by ill-health and old age, he summoned Louis, Kigi of Aquitania, his onlv surviving
son by Hildegard, and gathered together all the chief
men of the whole kingdom of the Franks in a solemn assembly.
He appointed Louis, with their unanimous consent, to rule
with himself over the whole kingdom and constituted him
heir to the imperial name; then, placing the diadem upon
his son's head, he bade him be proclaimed Emperor and
is step was hailed by all present favor, for it really
seemed as if God had prompted him to it for the kingdom's
good; it increased the King's dignity, and struck no little
terror into foreign nations. After sending his son son back to Aquitania, although weak from age he set out to
hunt, as usual, near his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, and
passed the rest of the autumn in the chase, returning
thither about the first of November [813]. While wintering
there, he was seized, in the month of January, with a
high fever Jan 22 814], and took to his bed. As soon as
he was taken sick, he prescribed for himself abstinence
from food, as he always used to do in case of fever, thinking
that the disease could be driven off , or at least mitigated,
by fasting. Besides the fever, he suffered from a pain
in the side, which the Greeks call pleurisy; but he still
persisted in fasting, and in keeping up his strength only
by draughts taken at very long intervals. He died January
twenty-eighth, the seventh day from the time that he took
to his bed, at nine o'clock in the morning, after partaking
of the holy communion, in the seventy-second year of his
age and the forty-seventh of his reign [Jan 28, 814].
His body was washed and cared for in the usual
manner, and was then carried to the church, and interred
amid the greatest lamentations of all the people. There
was some question at first where to lay him, because in
his lifetime he had given no directions as to his burial;
but at length all agreed that he could nowhere be more
honorably entombed than in the very basilica that he had
built in the town at his own expense, for love of God
and our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor of the Holy and
Eternal Virgin, His Mother. He was buried there the same
day that he died, and a gilded arch was erected above
his tomb with his image and an inscription. The words
of the inscription were as follows: "In this tomb
lies the body of Charles, the Great and Orthodox Emperor,
who gloriously extended the kingdom of the Franks, and
reigned prosperously for forty-seven years. He died at
the age of seventy, in the year of our Lord 814, the 7th Indiction, on the 28th day of
January."
Very many omens had portended his approaching end,
a fact that he had recognized as well as others. Eclipses
both of the sun and moon were very frequent during the
last three years of his life, and a black spot was visible
on the sun for the space of seven days. The gallery between
the basilica and the palace, which he had built at great
pains and labor, fell in sudden ruin to the ground on
the day of the Ascension of our Lord. The wooden bridge
over the Rhine at Mayence, which
he had caused to be constructed with admirable skill,
at the cost of ten years' hard work, so that it seemed
as if it might last forever, was so completely consumed
in three hours by an accidental fire that not a single
splinter of it was left, except what was under water.
Moreover, one day in his last campaign into Saxony against Godfred, King of the Danes,
Charles himself saw a ball of fire fall suddenly from
the heavens with a great light, just as he was leaving
camp before sunrise to set out on the march. It rushed
across the clear sky from right to left, and everybody
was wondering what was the meaning of the sign, when the
horse which he was riding gave a sudden plunge, head foremost,
and fell, and threw him to the ground so heavily that
his cloak buckle was broken and his sword belt shattered;
and after his servants had hastened to him and relieved
him of his arms, he could not rise without their assistance.
He happened to have a javelin in his hand when he was
thrown, and this was struck from his grasp with such force
that it was found lying at a distance of twenty feet or
more from the spot. Again, the palace at Aix-la-Chapelle
frequently trembled, the roofs of whatever buildings he
tarried in kept up a continual crackling noise, the basilica
in which he was afterwards buried was struck by lightning,
and the gilded ball that adorned the pinnacle of the roof
was shattered by the thunderbolt and hurled upon the bishop's
house adjoining. In this same basilica, on the margin
of the cornice that ran around the interior, between the
upper and lower tiers of arches, a legend was inscribed
in red letters, stating who was the builder of the temple,
the last words of which were Karolus Princeps. The year that he died it was remarked by some,
a few months before his decease, that the letters of the
word Princeps were so effaced as to be no longer decipherable.
But Charles despised, or affected to despise, all these
omens, as having no reference whatever to him.
It had been his intention to make a will, that
he might give some share in the inheritance to his daughters
and the children of his concubines; but it was begun too
late and could not be finished. Three years before his
death, however, he made a division of his treasures, money,
clothes, and other movable goods in the presence of his
friends and servants, and called them to witness it, that
their voices might insure the ratification of the disposition
thus made. He had a summary drawn up of his wishes regarding
this distribution o his property, the terms and text of
which are as follows:
"In the name of the Lord God, the Almighty
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is the inventory and
division dictated by the most glorious and most pious
Lord Charles, Emperor Augustus, in the 811th year of the
Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 43d year
of his reign in France and 37th in Italy, the 11th of
his empire, and the 4th Indiction, which considerations of piety and prudence have
determined him, and the favor of God enabled him, to make
of his treasures and money ascertained this day to be
in his treasure chamber. In this division he is especially
desirous to provide not only that the largess of alms
which Christians usually make of their possessions shall
be made for himself in due course and order out of his
wealth, but also that his heirs shall be free from all
doubt, and know clearly what belongs to them, and be able
to share their property by suitable partition without
litigation or strife. With this intention and to this
end he has first divided all his substance and movable
goods ascertained to be in his treasure chamber on the
day aforesaid in gold, silver, precious stones, and royal
ornaments into three lots and has subdivided and set off
two of the said lots into twenty-one parts, keeping the
third entire. The first two lots have been thus subdivided
into twenty one parts because there are in his kingdom
twenty-one" recognized metropolitan cities, and in
order that each archbishopric may receive by way of alms,
at the hands of his heirs and friends, one of the said
parts, and that the archbishop who shall then administer
its affairs shall take the part given to it, and share
the same with his suffragans in such manner that one third
shall go to the Church, and the remaining two thirds be
divided among the suffragans. The twenty-one parts into
which the first two lots are to be distributed, according
to the number of recognized metropolitan cities, have
been set apart one from another, and each has been put
aside by itself in a box labeled with the name of the
city for which it is destined. The names of the cities
to which this alms or largess is to be sent are as follows:
Rome, Ravenna, Milan, Friuli, Grado, Cologne, Mayence, Salzburg,
Treves, Sens, Besançon,
Lyons, Rouen, Rheims, Arles, Vienne, Moutiers-en-Tarantaise, Embrun, Bordeaux, Tours,
and Bourges. The third lot, which he wishes to be kept
entire, is to be bestowed as follows: While the first
two lots are to be divided into the parts aforesaid, and
set aside under seal, the third lot shall be employed
for the owner's daily needs, as property which he shall
be under no obligation to part with in order to the fulfillment
of any vow, and this as long as he shall be in the flesh,
or consider it necessary for his use. But upon his death,
or voluntary-renunciation of the affairs of this world,
this said lot shall be divided into four parts, and one
thereof shall be added to the aforesaid twenty-one parts;
the second shall be assigned to his sons and daughters,
and to the sons and daughters of his sons, to be distributed
among them in just and equal partition; the third, in
accordance with the custom common among Christians, shall
be devoted to the poor; and the fourth shall go to the
support of the men servants and maid servants on duty
in the palace. It is his wish that to this said third
lot of the whole amount, which consists, as well as the
rest, of gold and silver shall be added all the vessels
and utensils of brass iron and other metals together with
the arms, clothing, and other movable goods, costly and
cheap, adapted to divers uses, as hangings, coverlets,
carpets, woolen stuffs leathern articles, pack-saddles,
and whatsoever shall be found in his treasure chamber
and wardrobe at that time, in order that thus the parts
of the said lot may be augmented,
and the alms distributed reach more persons. He ordains
that his chapel-that is to say, its church property, as
well that which he has provided and collected as that
which came to him by inheritance from his father shall
remain entire, and not be dissevered by any partition
whatever. If, however, any vessels, books or other articles
be found therein which are certainly known not to have
been given by him to the said chapel, whoever wants them
shall have them on paying their value at a fair estimation.
He likewise commands that the books which he has collected
in his library in great numbers shall be sold for fair
prices to such as want them, and the money received therefrom given to the poor. it is well known that among his other
property and treasures are three silver tables, and one
very large and massive golden one. He directs and commands
that the square silver table, upon which there is a representation
of the city of Constantinople, shall be sent to the Basilica
of St. Peter the Apostle at Rome, with the other gifts
destined therefor; that the
round one, adorned with a delineation of the city of Rome,
shall be given to the Episcopal Church at Ravenna; that
the third, which far surpasses the other two in weight
and in beauty of workmanship, and is made in three circles,
showing the plan of the whole universe, drawn with skill
and delicacy, shall go, together with the golden table,
fourthly above mentioned, to increase that lot which is
to be devoted to his heirs and to alms.
This deed, and the dispositions thereof, he has
made and appointed in the presence of the bishops, abbots,
and counts able to be present, whose names are hereto
subscribed: Bishops - Hildebald, Ricolf, Arno, Wolfar, Bernoin, Laidrad, John, Theodulf, Jesse, Heito, Waltgaud. Abbots - Fredugis, Adalung, Angilbert, Irmino. Counts Walacho, Meginher, Otulf, Stephen, Unruoch Burchard Meginhard, Hatto, Rihwin, Edo, Ercangar, Gerold, Bero, Hildiger, Rocculf."
Concerning the Piety of Charles and His Care of the Church
1. After the omnipotent ruler of the world, who orders alike the fate of
kingdoms and the course of time, had broken the feet of
iron and clay in one noble statue, to wit the Romans,
he raised by the hands of the illustrious Charles the
golden head of another, not less admirable, among the
Franks. Now it happened, when he had begun to reign alone
in the western parts of the world, and the pursuit of
learning had been almost forgotten throughout all his
realm, and the worship of the true Godhead was faint and
weak, that two Scots came from Ireland to the coast of
Gaul along with certain traders of Britain. These Scotchmen
were unrivalled for their skill in sacred and secular
learning: and day by day, when the crowd gathered round
them for traffic, they exhibited no wares for sale, but
cried out and said: "Ho, everyone that desires wisdom,
let him draw near and take it at our hands; for it is
wisdom that we have for sale".
Now they declared that they had wisdom for sale because they said that
the people cared not for what was given freely but only
for what was sold, hoping that thus they might be incited
to purchase wisdom along with other wares; and also perhaps
hoping that by this announcement they themselves might
become a wonder and a marvel to men: which indeed turned
out to be the case. For so long did they make their proclamation
that in the end those who wondered at these men, or perhaps
thought them insane, brought the matter to the ears of
King Charles, who always loved and sought after wisdom.
Wherefore he ordered them to come with all speed into
his presence and asked them whether it were true, as fame
reported of them, that they had brought wisdom with them.
They answered: "We both possess it and are ready
to give it, in the name of God, to those who seek it worthily".
Again he asked them what price they asked for it; and
they answered: "We ask no price, O king; but we ask
only for a fit place for teaching and quick minds to teach;
and besides food to eat and raiment to put on, for without
these we cannot accomplish our pilgrimage".
3. But when Albinus (Alcuin), an Englishman, heard that the most religious
Emperor Charles gladly entertained wise men, he entered
into a ship and came to him. Now Albinus was skilled in
all learning beyond all others of our times, for he was
the disciple of that most learned priest Bede, who next
to Saint Gregory was the most skillful interpreter of
the scriptures. And Charles received Albinus kindly and
kept him at his side to the end of his life, except when
he marched with his armies to his vast wars: nay, Charles
would even call himself Albinus's disciple; and Albinus
he would call his master. He appointed him to rule over
the abbey of Saint Martin, near to the city of Tours:
so that, when he himself was absent, Albinus might rest
there and teach those who had recourse to him. And his
teaching bore such fruit among his pupils that the modern
Gauls or Franks came to equal the ancient Romans or Athenians.
3. Then when Charles came back, after a long absence, crowned with victory,
into Gaul, he ordered the boys whom he had entrusted to
Clement to come before him and present to him letters
and verses of their own composition. Now the boys of middle
or low birth presented him with writings garnished with
the sweet savors of wisdom beyond all that he could have
hoped, while those of the children of noble parents were
silly and tasteless. Then the most wise Charles, imitating
the judgment of the eternal Judge, gathered together those
who had done well upon his right hand and addressed them
in these words: "My children, you have found much
favor with me because you have tried with all your strength
to carry out my orders and win advantage for yourselves.
Wherefore now study to attain to perfection; and I will
give you bishoprics and splendid monasteries, and you
shall be always honorable in my eyes". Then he turned
severely to those who were gathered on his left, and,
smiting their consciences with the fire of his eyes, he
flung at them in scorn these terrible words, which seemed
thunder rather than human speech: "You nobles, you
sons of my chiefs, you superfine dandies, you have trusted
to your birth and your possessions and have set at naught
my orders to your own advancement: you have neglected
the pursuit of learning and you have given yourselves
over to luxury and sport, to idleness and profitless pastimes".
Then solemnly he raised his august head and his unconquered
right hand to the heavens and thus thundered against them:
"By the King of Heaven, I take no account of your
noble birth and your fine looks, though others may admire
you for them. Know this for certain, that unless you make
up for your former sloth by vigorous study, you will never
get any favor from Charles".
4. Charles used to pick out all the best writers and readers from among
the poor boys that I have spoken of and transferred them
to his chapel; for that was the name that the kings of
the Franks gave to their private oratory, taking the word
from the cope of St. Martin, which they always took with
them in war for a defense against their enemies. Now one
day it was announced to this most wary King Charles that
a certain bishop was dead; and, when the king asked whether
the dead bishop had made any bequests for the good of
his soul, the messenger replied: "Sire, he has bequeathed
no more than two pounds of silver". thereupon one
of his chaplains, sighing, and no longer able to keep
the thoughts of his mind within his breast, spoke in the
hearing of the king these words: "That is small provision
for a long, a never-ending journey".
Then Charles, the mildest of men, deliberated a space, and said to the
young man: "Do you think then, if you were to get
the bishopric, you would care to make more provision for
that same long journey?" These cautious words fell
upon the chaplain as ripe grapes into the mouth of one
who stands agape for them, and he threw himself at the
feet of Charles and said: "Sire, the matter rests
upon the will of God and your own power". Said the
king: "Stand behind the curtain, that hangs behind
me, and mark what kind of help you would receive if you
were raised to that honor".
Now, when the officers of the palace, who were always on the watch for
deaths or accidents, heard that the bishop was dead, one
and all of them, impatient of delay and jealous of each
other, began to make suit for the bishopric through the
friends of the emperor. But Charles still persisted unmoved
in his design; he refused everyone, and said that he would
not disappoint his young friend. At last Queen Hildegard
sent some of the nobles of the realm, and at last came
in person, to beg the bishopric for a certain clerk of
her own. The emperor received her petition very graciously
and said that he would not and could not deny her anything;
but that he thought it shame to deceive his little chaplain.
But still the queen, woman-like, thought that a woman's
opinion and wish ought to outweigh the decrees of men;
and so she concealed the passion that was rising in her
heart; she sank her strong voice almost to a whisper;
and with caressing gestures tried to soften the emperor's
unspoken mind. "My sire and king," she said,
"what does it matter if that boy does lose the bishopric?
Nay, I beseech you, sweet sire, my glory and my refuge,
give it to your faithful servant, my clerk". Then
that young man, who had heard the petitions from behind
the curtain close to the king's chair where he had been
placed, embraced the king through the curtain and cried:
"Sir king, stand fast and do not let anyone take
from you the power that has been given you by God".
Then that strict lover of truth bade him come out, and said: "I intend
you to have the bishopric; but you must be very careful
to spend more and make fuller provision for that same
long and unreturning journey both for yourself and for
me".
5. Now there was at the king's court a certain mean and humble clerk, very
deficient also in a knowledge of letters. The most pious
Charles pitied his poverty, and, though everyone hated
him and tried to drive him from the court, he could never
be persuaded to turn him away or dismiss him there from.
Now it happened that, on the eve of Saint Martin, the
death of a certain bishop was announced to the emperor.
He summoned one of his clerks, a man of high birth and
great learning, and gave him the bishopric. The new bishop,
thereupon, bursting with joy, invited to his house many
of the palace attendants, and also received with great
pomp many who came from the diocese to greet him: and
to all he gave a superb banquet.
It happened then that, loaded with food, drenched with liquor and buried
in wine, he failed to go to the evening service on that
most solemn eve. Now it was the custom for the chief of
the choir to assign the day before to everyone the responsory
or responsories which they were to chant at night. The
response: Lord, if still I am useful to Thy people, had
fallen to the lot of this man, who had the bishopric,
as it were, in his grasp. Well, he was absent; and after
the lesson a long pause followed, and each man urged his
neighbor to take up the responsory, and each man answered
that he was bound to chant only what had been assigned
to him. At last the emperor said: "Come, one of you
must chant it." Then this mean clerk, strengthened
by some divine inspiration, and encouraged by the command,
took upon himself the responsory. The kindly king thinking
that he would not be able to chant the whole of it ordered
the others to help him and all began at once to chant.
But from none of them could the poor creature learn the
words, and, when the response was finished, he began to
chant the Lord's Prayer with the proper intonation. Then
everyone wished to stop him; but the most wise Charles
wanted to see where he would get to, and forbade anyone
to interfere with him. He finished with Thy Kingdom come
and the rest, willy-nilly, had to take it up and say Thy
will be done.
When the early lauds were finished, the king went back to his palace, or
rather to his bedroom, to warm himself and dress for the
coming festal ceremony. He ordered that miserable servant
and unpracticed chanter to come into his presence. "Who
told you to chant that?" he asked. "Sire, you
ordered someone to sing", said the other. "Well",
said the king (the emperor was called king at first),
"who told you to begin in that particular responsory?"
Then the poor creature, inspired as it is thought by God,
spoke as follows, in the fashion which inferiors then
used to superiors, whether for honour, appeal, or flattery:
"Blessed lord, and blessing-bestowing king, as I
could not find out the right verse from anyone, I said
to myself that I should incur the anger of your majesty
if I introduced anything strange. So I determined to intone
something the latter part of which usually came at the
end of the responsories".
The kindly emperor smiled gently upon him and thus spoke before all his
nobles. "That proud man, who neither feared nor honoured
God or his king who had befriended him, enough to refrain
one night from dissipation and be in his place to chant
the response which I am told fell to his share, is by
God's decree and mine deprived of his bishopric. You shall
take it, for God gives it you, and I allow it; and be
sure to administer it according to canonical and apostolic
rules."
7. While I was speaking about the arrangement of the responses I forgot
to speak about the rules for reading and I must devote
a few words to that subject here. In the palace of the
most learned Charles there was no one to apportion to
each reader the passages that were to be read; no one
put a seal at the end of the passage or made ever such
a little mark with his finger-nail. But all had to make
themselves so well acquainted with the passage, which
was set down for reading, that if they were suddenly called
on to read they could perform their duty without incurring
his censure. He indicated whom he wished to read by pointing
his finger or his staff, or by sending some one of those
who were sitting close by him to those at a distance.
He marked the end of the reading by a guttural sound.
And all watched so intently for this mark that whether
it came at the end of a sentence or in the middle of a
clause of a sub-clause, none dared go on for an instant,
however strange the beginning or the end might seem. And
thus it came to pass that all in the palace were excellent
readers, even if they did not understand what they read.
No foreigner and no celebrity dared enter his choir unless
he could read and chant.
8. When Charles one day came in his journeying to a certain palace, a certain
clerk from among the wandering monks entered the choir
and being completely ignorant of these rules was soon
forced to remain stupid and silent among the singers.
Thereupon the choirmaster raised his wand and threatened
to strike him unless he went on singing. Then the poor
clerk, now knowing what to do or where to turn, and not
daring to go out, twisted his neck into the shape of a
bow and with open mouth and distended cheeks did his utmost
to imitate the appearance of a singer. All the rest could
not restrain their laughter, but the most valiant emperor,
whose mind was never shaken from its firm base even by
great events, seemed not to notice his mockery of singing
and waited in due order until the end of the mass. But
then he called the poor wretch before him and pitying
his struggles and his anxiety soothed his fears with these
words: "Many thanks, good clerk, for your singing
and your efforts." Then he ordered a pound of silver
to be given him to relieve his poverty.
9. But I must not seem to forget or to neglect Alcuin; and will therefore
make this true statement about his energy and his deserts:
all his pupils without exception distinguished themselves
by becoming either holy abbots or bishops. My master Grimald
(Abbot of St. Gall from 841 to 872)studied the literal
arts under him, first in Gaul and then in Italy. But those
who are learned in these matters may charge me with falsehood
for saying "all his pupils without exception";
when the fact is that there were in his schools two young
men, sons of a miller in the service of the monastery
of Saint Columban, who did not seem fit and proper persons
for promotion to the command of bishoprics or monasteries;
but even these men were, by the influence probably of
their teacher, advanced one after the other to the office
of minister in the monastery of Bobbio, in which they
displayed the greatest energy.
So the most glorious Charles saw the study of letters flourishing throughout
this whole realm, but still he was grieved to find that
it did not reach the ripeness of the earlier fathers;
and so, after super-human labours, he broke out one day
with this expression of his sorrow: quot; Would that I
had twelve clerks so learned in all wisdom and so perfectly
trained as were Jerome and Augustine." Then the learned
Alcuin, feeling himself ignorant indeed in comparison
with these great names, rose to a height of daring, that
no man else attained to in the presence of the terrible
Charles, and said, with deep indignation in his mind but
none in his countenance: "The Maker of heaven and
earth has not many like to those men and do you expect
to have twelve?"
10. Here I must report something which the men of our time will find it
difficult to believe; for I myself who write it could
hardly believe it, so great is the difference between
our method of chanting and the Roman, were it not that
we must trust rather the accuracy of our fathers than
the false suggestions of modern sloth. Well then, Charles,
that never-wearied lover of the service of God, when he
could congratulate himself that all possible progress
had been made in the knowledge of letters, was grieved
to observe how widely the different provinces - nay, not
the provinces only but districts and cities - differed
in the praise of God, that is to say in their method of
chanting. He therefore asked of Pope Stephen of blessed
memory - the same who, after Hilderich King of the Franks
had been deposed and tonsured, had anointed Charles to
be ruler of the kingdom after the ancestral custom of
the people - he asked of Pope Stephen, I say, that he
should provide him with twelve clerks deeply learned in
divine song. The Pope yielded assent to his virtuous wish
and his divinely inspired design and sent to him in Frankland
from the apostolic see clerks skilled in divine song,
and twelve in number, according to the number of the twelve
apostles.
Now, when I said Frankland just above, I meant all the provinces north
of the Alps; for as it is written: "In those days
ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the
nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that
is a Jew", so at that time, by reason of the glory
of Charles, Gauls, Aquitanians, Æduans, Spaniards, Germans,
and Bavarians thought that no small honor was paid to
them, if they were thought worthy to be called the servants
of the Franks.
Now when the aforementioned clerks were departing from Rome, being, like
all Greeks and Romans, torn with envy of the glory of
the Franks, they took counsel among themselves, and determined
so to vary their method of singing that his kingdom and
dominion should never have cause to rejoice in unity and
agreement. So when they came to Charles they were received
most honourably and despatched to the chief places. And
thereupon each in his allotted place began to chant as
differently as possible, and to teach others to sing in
like fashion, and in as false a manner as they could invent.
But as the most cunning Charles celebrated one year the
feast of the Birth and Coming of Christ at Trèves or Metz,
and most carefully and cleverly grasped and understood
the style of the singing; and then the next year passed
the same solemn season at Paris or Tours, but found that
the singing was wholly different from what he had heard
in the preceding year; as moreover he found that those
whom he had sent into different places were also a variance
with one another; he reported the whole matter to Pope
Leo, of holy memory, who had succeeded Stephen. The Pope
summoned the clerks back to Rome and condemned them to
exile or perpetual imprisonment, and then said to Charles:
"If I send you others they will be blinded with the
same malice as their predecessors and will not fail to
cheat you. But I think I can satisfy your wishes in this
way. Send me two of the cleverest clerks that you have
by you, in such a way that those who are with me may not
know that they belong to you, and, with God's help, they
shall attain to as perfect a knowledge of those things
as you desire". So said, so done. Soon the Pope sent
them back excellently trained to Charles. One of them
he kept at his own court: the other upon the petition
of his son Drogo, Bishop of Metz, he sent to that cathedral.
And not only did his energy show itself powerful in that
city, but it soon spread so widely throughout all Frankland,
that now all in these regions who use the Latin tongue
called the ecclesiastical chant Metensian; or, if they
use the Teutonic or Teuthiscan tongue, they call it Mette;
or if the Greek form is used it is called Mettisc. The
most pious emperor also ordered Peter, the singer who
had come to reside with him, to reside for a while in
the monastery of St. Gall. There too Charles established
the chanting as it is today, with an authentic song-book,
and gave most careful instructions, being always a warm
champion of Saint Gall, that the Roman method of singing
should be both taught and learnt. He gave to the monastery
also much money and many lands: he gave too relics, contained
in a reliquary made of solid gold and gems, which is called
the Shrine of Charles.
11. It was the habit of the most religious and temperate Charles to take
food during Lent at the seventh hour of the day after
having been present at the celebration of mass and evening
lauds: and in so doing he was not violating the fast for
he was following the Lord's command in taking food at
an earlier hour than usual. Now a certain bishop, who
offended against the precept of Solomon in being just
but foolish, took him unwisely to task for this. Whereupon
the most wise Charles concealed his wrath, and received
the bishop's admonition in all humility, saying: "Good
sir bishop, your admonition is good; and now my advice
to you is that you should take no food until the very
humblest of my servants, who stand in my court, have been
fed". Now while Charles was eating he was waited
upon by dukes and rulers and kings of various peoples;
and when his banquet was ended then those who served him
fed and they were served by counts and prefects and nobles
of different ranks. And when these last had made an end
of eating then came the military officers and the scholars
of the palace: then the chiefs of the various departments
of the palace; then their subordinates, then the servants
of those servants. So that the last comers did not get
a mouthful of food before the middle of the night. When
therefore Lent was nearly ended, and the bishop in question
had endured this punishment all the time, the most merciful
Charles said to him: "Now, sir bishop, I think you
have found out that it is not lack of self-restraint but
care for others which makes me dine in Lent before the
hour of evening".
12. Once he asked a bishop for his blessing and he thereupon, after blessing
the bread, partook of it first himself and then wanted
to give it to the most honourable Charles: who, however,
said to him: "You may keep all the bread for yourself";
and much to the bishop's confusion he refused to receive
his blessing.
13. The most careful Charles would never give more than one county to any
of his counts unless they happened to live on the borders
or marches of the barbarians; now would he ever give a
bishop any abbacy or church that was in the royal gift
unless there were very special reasons for doing it. When
his councilors of friends asked him the reason for this
he would answer: "With that revenue or that estate,
with that little abbey or that church I can secure the
fidelity of some vassal, as good a man as any bishop or
count, and perhaps better." But when there were special
reasons he would give several benefices to one man; as
he did for instance to Udalric, brother of the great Hildigard,
the mother of kings and emperors. Now Udalric, after Hildigard's
death, was deprived of his honours for a certain offence;
and a buffoon thereupon said in the hearing of the most
merciful Charles: "Now has Udalric, by the death
of his sister, lost all his honours both in east and west".
Charles was touched by these words and restored to him
at once all his former honors. He opened his hands, most
widely and liberally, when justice bade him, to certain
holy places, as will appear in the sequel.
14. There was a certain bishopric which lay full in Charles's path when
he journeyed, and which indeed he could hardly avoid:
and the bishop of this place, always anxious to give satisfaction,
put everything that he had at Charles's disposal. But
once the emperor came quite unexpectedly and the bishop
in great anxiety had to fly hither and thither like a
swallow, and had not only the palaces and houses but also
the courts and squares swept and cleaned: and then, tired
and irritated, came to meet him. The most pious Charles
noticed this, and after examining all the various details,
he said to the bishop: "My kind host, you always
have everything splendidly cleaned for my arrival".
Then the bishop, as if divinely inspired, bowed his head
and grasped the king's never-conquered right hand, and
hiding his irritation, kissed it and said: "It is
but right, my lord, that, wherever you come, all things
should be thoroughly cleansed". Then Charles, of
all kings the wisest, understanding the state of affairs
said to him: "If I empty I can also fill." And
he added: "You may have that estate which lies close
to your bishopric, and all your successors may have it
until the end of time."
15. In the same journey too he came to a bishop who lived in a place through
which he must needs pass. Now on that day, being the sixth
day of the week, he was not willing to eat the flesh of
beast or bird; and the bishop, being by reason of the
nature of the place unable to procure fish upon the sudden,
ordered some excellent cheese, rich and creamy, to be
placed before him. And the most self-restrained Charles,
with the readiness which he showed everywhere and on all
occasions, spared the blushes of the bishop and required
no better fare: but taking up his knife cut off the skin,
which he thought unsavory, and fell to on the white of
the cheese. Thereupon the bishop, who was standing near
like a servant, drew closer and said: "Why do you
do that, lord emperor? You are throwing away the very
best part". Then Charles, who deceived no one, and
did not believe that anyone would deceive him, on the
persuasion of the bishop put a piece of the skin in his
mouth, and slowly ate it and swallowed it like butter.
Then approving of the advice of the bishop, he said: "Very
true, my good host," and he added: "Be sure
to send me every year to Aix two cart-loads of just such
cheeses". The bishop was alarmed at the impossibility
of the task and, fearful of losing both his rank and his
office, he rejoined: "My lord, I can procure the
cheeses, but I cannot tell which are of this quality and
which of another. Much I fear lest I fall under your censure."
Then Charles from whose penetration and skill nothing
could escape, however new or strange it might be, spoke
thus to the bishop, who from childhood had known such
cheeses and yet could not test them. "Cut them in
two," he said, "then fasten together with a
skewer those that you find to be of the right quality
and keep them in your cellar for a time and then send
them to me. The rest you may keep for yourself and your
clergy and your family." This was done for two years
and the king ordered the present of cheeses to be taken
in without remark: then in the third year the bishop brought
in person his laboriously collected cheeses. But the most
just Charles pitied his labor and anxiety and added to
the bishopric an excellent estate whence he and his successors
might provide themselves with corn and wine.
16. As we have shown how the most wise Charles exalted the humble, let
us now show how he brought low the proud. There was a
bishop who sought above measure vanities and the fame
of men. The most cunning Charles heard of this and told
a certain Jewish merchant, whose custom it was to go to
the land of promise and bring from thence rare and wonderful
things to the countries beyond the sea, to deceive or
cheat this bishop in whatever way he could. So the Jew
caught an ordinary household mouse and stuffed it with
various spices, and then offered it for sale to the bishop,
saying that he had brought this most precious never-before-seen
animal from Judea. The bishop was delighted with what
he thought a stroke of luck, and offered the Jew three
pounds of silver for the precious ware. Then said the
Jew, "A fine price indeed for so precious an article!
I had rather throw it into the sea than let any man have
it at so cheap and shameful a price." So the bishop,
who had much wealth and never gave anything to the poor,
offered him ten pounds of silver for the incomparable
treasure. But the cunning rascal, with pretended indignation,
replied: "The God of Abraham forbid that I should
thus lose the fruit of my labor and journeyings."
Then our avaricious bishop, all eager for the prize, offered
twenty pounds. But the Jew in high dudgeon wrapped up
the mouse in the most costly silk and made as if he would
depart. Then the bishop, as thoroughly taken in as he
deserved to be, offered a full measure of silver for the
priceless object. And so at last our trader yielded to
his entreaties with much show of reluctance: and, taking
the money, went to the emperor and told him everything.
A few days later the king called together all the bishops
and chief men of the province to hold discourse with him;
and, after many other matters had been considered, he
ordered all that measure of silver to be brought and placed
in the middle of the palace. Then thus he spoke and said:
"Fathers and guardians, bishops of our Church, you
ought to minister to the poor, or rather to Christ in
them, and not to seek after vanities. But now you act
quite contrary to this; and are vainglorious and avaricious
beyond all other men." Then he added: "One of
you has given a Jew all this silver for a painted mouse."
Then the bishop, who had been so wickedly deceived, threw
himself at Charles's feet and begged pardon for his sin.
Charles upbraided him in suitable words and then allowed
him to depart in confusion.
17. This same bishop was left to take care of Hildegard, when the most
warlike Charles was engaged in campaigns against the Huns.
He was so puffed up by his intimacy with her that he had
the audacity to ask her to allow him to use the golden
scepter of the incomparable Charles on festal days instead
of his episcopal staff. She deceived him cleverly, and
said that she dare not give it to anyone, but that she
would carry his request faithfully to the king. So, when
Charles came back, she jestingly told him of the mad request
of the bishop. He kindly promised to do what she wished
and even more. So, when all Europe, so to speak, had come
together to greet Charles after his victory over so mighty
a people, he pronounced these words in the hearing of
small and great: "Bishops should despise this world
and inspire others by their example to seek after heavenly
things. But now they are misled by ambition beyond all
the rest of mankind; and one of them not content withholding
the first episcopal see in Germany has dared without my
approval to claim my golden scepter, which I carry to
signify my royal will, in order that he might use it as
his pastoral staff." The guilty man acknowledged
his sin, received pardon and retired.
18. Now, my Lord Emperor Charles, I much fear that through my desire to
obey your orders I may incur the enmity of all who have
taken vows and especially of the highest clergy of all.
But for all this I do not greatly care, if only I be not
deprived of your protection.
When the mass was thus scrambled through his guests passed into his hall,
which was decorated with many-colored carpets, and cloths
of all kinds; and there a magnificent banquet, served
in gold and silver and jeweled cups, was provided, calculated
to tickle the appetite of the fastidious or the well-fed.
The bishop himself sat on the softest of cushions, clad
in precious silks and wearing the imperial purple, so
that he seemed a king except for the scepter and the title.
He was surround by troops of rich knights, in comparison
with whom the officers of the palace (nobles though they
were) of the unconquered Charles seemed to themselves
most mean. When they asked leave to depart after this
wonderful and more than royal banquet he, desiring to
show still more plainly his magnificence and his glory,
ordered skilled musicians to come forward, the sound of
whose voices could soften the hardest hearts or turn to
ice the swiftly flowing waters of the Rhine. And at the
same time every kind of choice drink, subtly and variously
compounded, was offered them in bowls of gold and gems,
whose sheen was mixed with that of the flowers and leaves
with which they were crowned: but their stomachs could
contain no more so that the glasses lay idle in their
hands. Meanwhile pastry cooks and sausage makers, servers
and dressers offered preparations of exquisite art to
stimulate their appetite, though their stomachs could
contain no more: it was a banquet such as was never offered
even to the great Charles himself.
When morning came and the bishop returned some way towards soberness, he
thought with fear of the luxury that he had paraded before
the servants of the emperor. So he called them into his
presence, loaded them with presents worthy of a king,
and implored them to speak to the terrible Charles of
the goodness and simplicity of his life; and above all
to tell him how he had preached publicly before them in
his cathedral.
Upon their return Charles asked them why the bishop had invited them. Thereupon
they fell at his feet and said: "Master, it was that
he might honor us as your representatives, far beyond
our humble deserts." "He is," they went
on, "in every way the best and the most faithful
of bishops and most worthy of the highest rank in the
Church. For, if you will trust our poor judgment, we profess
to your sublime majesty that we heard him preach in his
church in the most stirring fashion." Then the emperor
who knew the bishop's lack of skill pressed them further
as to the manner of his preaching; and they, perforce,
revealed all. Then the emperor saw that he had made an
effort to say something rather than disobey the imperial
order; and he allowed him, in spite of his unworthiness,
to retain the bishopric.
19. Shortly after a young man, a relation of the emperor's, sang, on the
occasion of some festival, the Alleluia admirably: and
the Emperor turned to this same bishop and said: "My
clerk is singing very well." But the stupid man,
thought that he was jesting and did not know that the
clerk was the emperor's relation; and so he answered:
"Any clown in our countryside drones as well as that
to his oxen at their ploughing." At this vulgar answer
the emperor turned on him the lightning of his flashing
eyes and dashed him terror-stricken to the very ground.
27. The foolish may accuse me of folly because just now I made Charles
say that the sea, which that mighty emperor called playfully
a little pool, lay between us and the Greeks; but I must
tell my critics that at that date the Bulgarians and the
Huns and many other powerful races barred the way to Greece
with forces yet unattacked and unbroken. Soon afterwards,
it is true, the most warlike Charles either hurled them
to the ground, as he did the Slavs and the Bulgars; or
else utterly destroyed them, as was the case with the
Huns, that race of iron and adamant. And I will go on
to speak of these exploits as soon as I have given a very
slight account of the wonderful buildings which Charles
(Emperor, Augustus, and Cæsar), following the example
of the all-wise Solomon, built at Aix, either for God,
or for himself, or for the bishops, abbots, counts and
all guests that came to him from all quarters of the world.
28. When the most energetic Emperor Charles could rest awhile he sought
not sluggish ease, but labored in the service of God.
He desired therefore to build upon his native soil a cathedral
finer even than the works of the Romans, and soon his
purpose was realized. For the building thereof he summoned
architects and skilled workmen from all lands beyond the
seas; and above all he placed a certain knavish abbot
whose competence for the execution of such tasks he knew,
though he knew not his character. When the August emperor
had gone on a certain journey, this abbot allowed anyone
to depart home who would pay sufficient money: and those
who could not purchase their discharge, or were not allowed
to return by their masters, he burdened with unending
labors, as the Egyptians once afflicted the people of
God. By such knavish tricks he gathered together a great
mass of gold and silver and silken robes; and exhibiting
in his chamber only the least precious articles, he concealed
in boxes and chests all the richest treasures. Well, one
day there was brought to him on a sudden the news that
his house was on fire. He ran, in great excitement, and
pushed his way through the bursting flames into the strong
room where his boxes, stuffed with gold, were kept: he
was not satisfied to take one away, but would only leave
after he had loaded his servants with a box apiece. And
as he was going out a huge beam, dislodged by the fire,
fell on the top of him; and then his body was burnt by
temporal and his soul by eternal flames. Thus did the
judgment of God keep watch for the most religious Emperor
Charles, when his attention was withdrawn by the business
of his kingdom
29. There was another workman, the most skilled of all in the working of
brass and glass. Now this man (his name was Tancho and
he was at one time a monk of St. Gall) made a fine bell
and the emperor was delighted with its tone. Then said
that most distinguished, but most unfortunate worker in
brass: "Lord emperor, give orders that a great weight
of copper be brought to me that I may refine it; and instead
of tin give me as much silver as I shall need - a hundred
pounds at least; and I will cast such a bell for you that
this will seem dumb in comparison to it." Then Charles,
the most liberal of monarchs, who "if riches abounded
set not his heart upon them" readily gave the necessary
orders, to the great delight of the knavish monk. He smelted
and refined the brass; but he used, not silver, but the
purest sort of tin, and soon he made a bell, much better
than the one that the emperor had formerly admired, and,
when he had tested it, he took it to the emperor, who
admired its exquisite shape and ordered the clapper to
be inserted and the bell to be hung in the bell-tower.
That was soon done; and then the warden of the church,
the attendants and even the boys of the place tried, one
after the other, to make the bell sound. But all was in
vain; and so at last the knavish maker of the bell came
up, seized the rope, and pulled at the bell. When, lo
and behold! down from on high came the brazen mass; fell
on the very head of the cheating brass founder; killed
him on the spot; and passed straight through his carcass
and crashed to the ground carrying his bowels with it.
When the aforementioned weight of silver was found, the
most righteous Charles ordered it to be distributed among
the poorest servants of the palace.
30. Now it was a rule at that time that if the imperial mandate had gone
out that any task was to be accomplished, whether it was
the making of bridges, or ships or causeways, or the cleansing
or paving or filling up of muddy roads, the counts might
execute the less important work by the agency of their
deputies or servants; but for the greater enterprises,
and especially such as were of an original kind, no duke
or count, no bishop or abbot could possibly get himself
excused. The arches of the great bridge at Mainz bear
witness to this; for all Europe, so to speak, labored
at this work in orderly co-operation, and then the knavery
of a few rascals, who wanted to steal merchandise from
the ships that passed underneath, destroyed it.
If any churches, with the royal domain, wanted decorating with carved ceilings
or wall paintings, the neighboring bishops and abbots
had to take charge of the task; but if new churches had
to be built then all bishops, dukes and counts, all abbots
and heads of royal churches and all who were in occupation
of any public office had to work at it with never-ceasing
labor from its foundations to its roof. You may see the
proof of the emperor's skill in the cathedral at Aix,
which seems a work half human and half divine; you may
see it in the mansions of the various dignitaries which,
by Charles's device, were built round his own palace in
such a way that from the windows of his chamber he could
see all who went out or came in, and what they were doing,
while they believed themselves free from observation;
you may see it in all the houses of his nobles, which
were lifted on high from the ground in such a fashion
that beneath them the retainers of his nobles and the
servants of those retainers and every class of man could
be protected from rain or snow, from cold or heat, while
at the same time they were not concealed from the eyes
of the most vigilant Charles. But I am a prisoner within
my monastery walls and your ministers are free; and I
will therefore leave to them the task of describing the
cathedral, while I return to speak of how the judgment
of God was made manifest in the building of it.
31. The most careful Charles ordered certain nobles of the neighborhood
to support with all their power the workmen whom he had
set to their task, and to supply everything that they
required for it. Those workmen who came from a distance
he gave in charge to a certain Liutfrid, the steward of
his palace, telling him to feed and clothe them and also
most carefully to provide anything that was wanting for
the building. The steward obeyed these commands for the
short time that Charles remained in that place; but after
his departure neglected them altogether, and by cruel
tortures collected such a mass of money from the poor
workmen that Dis and Pluto would require a camel to carry
his ill-gotten gains to hell. Now this was found out in
the following way.
The most glorious Charles used to go to lauds at night in a long and flowing
cloak, which is now neither used nor known: then when
the morning was over he would go back to his chamber and
dress himself in his imperial robes. All the clerks used
to come ready dressed to the nightly office, and then
they would wait for the emperor's arrival, and for the
celebration of mass either in the church or in the porch
which then was called the outer court. Sometimes they
would remain awake, or if anyone had need of sleep he
would lean his head on his companion's breast. Now one
poor clerk, who used often to go to Liutfrid's house to
get his clothes (rags I ought to call them) washed and
mended, was sleeping with his head on a friend's knees,
when he saw in a vision a giant, taller than the adversary
of Saint Anthony, come from the king's court and hurry
over the bridge, that spanned a little stream, to the
house of the steward; and he led with him an enormous
camel, burdened with baggage of inestimable value. He
was, in his dream, struck with amazement and he asked
the giant who he was and whither he wished to go. And
the giant made answer: "I come from the house of
the king and I go to the house of Liutfrid; and I shall
place Liutfrid on these packages and I shall take him
and them down with me to hell."
Thereupon the clerk woke up, in a fright lest Charles should find him sleeping.
He lifted up his head and urged the others to wakefulness
and cried: "Hear, I pray you, my dream. I seemed
to see another Polyphemus, who walked on the earth and
yet touched the stars, and passed through the Ionian Sea
without wetting his sides. I saw him hasten from the royal
court to the house of Liutfrid with a laden camel. And
when I asked the cause of his journey, he said: 'I am
going to put Liutfrid on the top of the load, and then
take him to hell.'"
The story was hardly finished when there came from that house, which they
all knew so well, a girl who fell at their feet and asked
them to remember her friend Liutfrid in their prayers.
And, when they asked the reason for her words, she said:
"My lord, he went out but now in good health, and,
as he stayed a long time, we went in search of him, and
found him dead." When the emperor heard of his sudden
death, and was informed by the workmen and his servants
of his grasping avarice, he ordered his treasures to be
examined. They were found to be of priceless worth, and
when the emperor, after God the greatest of judges, found
by what wickedness they had been collected he gave this
public judgment: "Nothing of that which was gained
by fraud must go to the liberation of his soul from purgatory.
Let his wealth be divided among the workmen of this our
building, and the poorer servants of our palace."
32. Now I must speak of two things which happened in that same place. There
was a deacon who followed the Italian custom and resisted
the course of nature. For he went to the baths and had
himself closely shaved, polished his skin, cleaned his
nails, and had his hair cut as short as if it had been
done by a lathe. Then he put on linen and a white robe,
and then, because he must not miss his turn, or rather
desiring to make a fine show, he proceeded to read the
gospel before God and His holy angels, and in the presence
of the most watchful king; his hear in the meantime being
unclean, as events were to show. For while he was reading,
a spider came down from the ceiling by a thread, hooked
itself on to the deacon's head, and then ran up again.
The most observant Charles saw this happen a second and
a third time, but pretended not to notice it, and the
clerk, because of the emperor's presence, dare not keep
of the spider with his hand, and moreover did not know
that it was a spider attacking him, but thought that it
was merely the tickling of a fly. So he finished the reading
of the gospel, and also went through the rest of the office.
But when he left the cathedral he soon began to swell
up, and died within an hour. But the most scrupulous Charles,
inasmuch as he had seen his danger and had not prevented
it, thought himself guilty of manslaughter and did public
penance.
33. Now the most glorious Charles had in his suite a certain clerk who
was unsurpassed in every respect. And of him that was
said which was never said of any other mortal man: for
it was said that he excelled all mankind in knowledge
of both sacred and profane literature; in song whether
ecclesiastical or festive; in the composition and rendering
of poems and in the sweet fullness of his voice and in
the incredible pleasure which he gave [Other men have
had drawbacks to compensate for their excellences]: for
Moses the lawgiver filled with wisdom by the teaching
of God, complains nevertheless that "he is not eloquent"
but slow of speech, and "of a slow tongue,"
and sent therefore Joshua to take counsel with Eleasar,
the high priest, who by the authority of the God, who
dwelt within him, commanded even the heavenly bodies:
and our Master Christ did not allow John the Baptist to
work any miracle while in the body, though he bare witness
that "among them that are born of women there hath
not arisen a greater" than he: and He bade Peter
revere the wisdom of Paul, though Peter by the revelation
of the Father recognized Him and received from Him the
keys of the kingdom of heaven: and He allowed John His
best-loved disciple to fall into so great a terror that
he did not dare to come to the place of His sepulcher,
though weak women paid many visits to it.
But as the scriptures say: "To him that hath shall be give";
and those, who know from whom they have the little which
they possess, succeed; while he who knows not the giver
of his possessions, or, if he knows it, gives not due
thanks to the Giver, loses all. For, while this wonderful
clerk was standing in friendly fashion near the most glorious
emperor, suddenly he disappeared. The unconquered Emperor
Charles was dumfoundered at so unheard of and incredible
an occurrence: but, after he had made the sign of the
cross, he found in the place where the clerk had stood
something that seemed to be a foul-smelling coal, which
had just ceased to burn.
The last part of their dress was a white or blue cloak in the shape of
a double square; so that when it was placed upon the shoulders
it touched the feet in front and behind, but at the side
hardly came down to the knees. In the right hand was carried
a stick of apple-wood, with regular knots, strong and
terrible; a handle of gold or silver decorated with figures
was fastened to it. I myself am lazy and slower than a
tortoise, and so never got into Frankland; but I saw the
King of the Franks in the monastery of Saint Gall, glittering
in the dress that I have described.
But the habits of man change; and when the Franks, in their wars with the
Gauls, saw the latter proudly wearing little striped cloaks,
they dropped their national customs and began to imitate
the Gauls. At first the strictest of emperors did not
forbid the new habit, because it seemed more suitable
for war: but, when he found that the Frisians were abusing
his permission, and were selling these little cloaks at
the same price as the old large ones, he gave orders that
no one should buy from the, at the usual price, anything
but the old cloaks, broad, wide and long: and he added:
"What is the good of those little napkins? I cannot
cover myself with them in bed and when I am on horseback
I cannot shield myself with them against wind and rain."
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