LETTER IX.

THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE, OR CHARLES THE GREAT, KING OF FRANCE AND EMPEROR OF THE WEST.

CHARLES and Carloman, the two sons of

Pepin, and his successors in the French monarchy, were men of very different dispositions. Charles was open and generous, Carloman dark and suspicious; A. D. 771. it was therefore happy for mankind, that Carloman died soon after his father, as perpetual wars must have been the consequence of the opposite tempers and interfering interest of the brothers. Now alone at the head of a powerful kingdom, Charles's great and ambitious genius soon gave birth to projects which will render his name immortal. A prosperous reign of forty-six years, abounding with military enterprises, political institutions, and literary foundations, offers to our view, in the midst of barbarism, a spectacle worthy of more polished ages.

But before we proceed to the history of this illustrious reign, I must say a few words of the state of Germany at that time.

Germany was anciently possessed by a number of free and independent nations, who bravely defended their liberties against the Romans, and were never totally subjected by them. On the decline of the Roman empire, many of those nations left their native country, as we have seen, and founded empires of their own; so that Germany, at the accession of Charlemagne to the crown of France, was principally occupied by the Saxons. Of their government I have already spoken. They were still Pagans. What was then considered as their territory comprehended a vast tract of country. It was bounded on the west by the

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the German ocean, by Bohemia on the east, on the north by the Baltic sea, and on the south by Germanic France, extending along the lower Rhine, and from Issel beyond Mentz. This extensive empire was governed by an infinite number of independent princes, and inhabited by a variety of tribes, under different names; who, by reason of their want of union, had become tributary to the French monarchs. But whenever the throne of France was vacated by death, or when the kings of France were engaged either in foreign or domestic wars, the Saxon princes threw off their allegiance, and entered the French territories'. Charles had occasion to quell one of those revolts immediately after the death of his brother; and the work was but imperfectly executed, when his arms were wanted in another quarter.

Charles and Carloman had married two daughters of Desiderius, king of the Lombards. Carloman left two sons by his wife Berta; but Charles had divorced his consort, under pretence that she was incapable of bearing children, and married Ildegarda, a princess of Suabia. Berta, the widow of Carloman, not thinking herself and her children safe in France after the death of her husband, fled to her father in Italy, and put herself and her two sons under his protection. Desiderius received them with joy, Highly incensed against Charles for divorcing his other daughter, he hoped by means of these refugees to raise such disturbances in France as might both gratify his revenge, and prevent the French monarch from intermeddling in the affairs of Italy, In this hope he was encouraged by his intimacy with pope Adrian I. to whom he proposed the crowning and anointing of Carloman's two sons. But Adrian, though sufficiently disposed to oblige him, refused to comply with the request; sensible that by so doing he must incur the displeasure of Charles, the natural ally of the church, and the only prince capable of protecting him against his

A. D. 772.

1. Eginhard, in Vit. Car. Mag.

ambitious

ambitious enemies. Enraged at a refusal, Desiderius ravaged the papal territories; or, as they were called, the patrimony of St. Peter, and threatened to lay siege to Rome itself. In order to avert the pressing danger Adrian resolved to have recourse to France, in imitation of his predecessors. He accordingly sent ambassadors privately to Charlemagne, not only imploring his assistance, but inviting him to the conquest of Italy, his friendship for Desiderius being now converted into the most rancorous hate. The French monarch, who waited only an oppor tunity to revenge himself on that prince for keeping his nephews, and still more for wanting to crown them, received the pope's invitation with incredible satisfaction. He immediately left Germany, concluding a kind of treas ty with the Saxons, and collected such an army as evidently shewed, that his object was nothing less than the extinction of the kingdom of the Lombards2.

Desiderius, informed of these preparations, put himself at the head of a great army, and sent several bodies of troops to guard the passes of the Alps. But Charlemagne, apprised of this precaution, sent a detachment under experienced guides to cross the mountains by a different route. The French completed their march; and falling unexpectedly upon the Lombards, who guarded the passes, struck them with such terror, that they fled in the utmost confusion. Charles now A. D. 773. entered Italy unmolested, and marched in quest of Desiderius. Finding himself unable to keep the field, the king of the Lombards retired to Pavia, his capital; sending his son Adalgisus, and his daughter Berta, the widow of Carloman, with her two sons, to Verona, a place not inferior in strength to Pavia.

As soon as Charlemagne understood that Desiderius had taken shelter in Pavia, he assembled his whole army and laid siege to that city, resolving not to withdraw his forces till it had submitted: but, as the Lom

2. Sigon. Reg. Lel. Anast. in Vit. Hadriani.

bards

bards made a gallant defence, he changed the siege into a blockade, and marched with part of his troops to invest Verona. Adalgisus defended the place, for a time, with great bravery, but finding himself, at last, reduced to extremities, and despairing of relief, he secretly withdrew and fled to Constantinople, where he was cordially received by the emperor. Verona now surrendered to Charles; who having got Berta, his brother's widow, and her two sons into his power, sent them immediately, under a strong guard, into France. What afterwards became of them, history has not told us. It is much to be feared, however, that their fate was little to the honour of the conqueror. Humanity was not the characteristic of those times.

The siege of Pavia was renewed, and pushed with fresh vigour. But the festival of Easter approaching, which Charles had resolved to spend at Rome, A. D. 774. he left the conduct of the siege once more to his uncle Bernard. The pope received his deliverer in the most pompous manner, the magistrates and judges walking before him with their banners, and the clergy repeating, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" After Charles had satisfied his curiosity, and confirmed the donation which his father Pepin had made to St. Peter, he returned to the camp before Pavia. The Lombards still continued to defend that city with obstinate valour, so that the siege was little, if at all advanced; but a plague breaking out among the besieged, the unfortunate Desiderius was obliged at last to surrender his capital, and deliver up himself, his wife, and his children, to Charles, who sent them all into France, where they either died a violent death, or languished out their days in obscurity, being never more heard of3.

Thus ended the kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, after it had subsisted two hundred and six years. They are represented by the monkish historians as a cruel

3. Leo Ostiens. Monarch. Engolism.

and

and barbarous people, because they opposed the ambitious views of the popes: but the many wholesome laws which they left behind them, and which devouring time has still spared, are convincing proofs of their justice, humanity, and wisdom.

A short account of the state of Italy at the time it was entered by Charlemagne will here be proper, and also of the new form of government introduced there by the

conqueror.

Italy was then shared by the Venetians, the Lombards, the popes, and the emperors of the East. The Venetians were become very considerable by their trade to the Levant, and bore no small sway in the affairs of Italy, though it does not appear that they had yet any town on the terra firma, or continent. The pope, by the generosity of Pepin and his son Charles, was now master of the exarchate and Pentapolis. The dukedom of Naples, and some cities in the two Calabrias, were still held by the emperors of the East. All the other provinces of Italy belonged to the Lombards; namely the dukedoms of Friula, Spoleto, and Benevento, together with the provinces of Liguria, Venetia, Tuscany, and the Alpes Cottie, which were properly called the kingdom of the Lombards. These Charles claimed by right of conquest, and caused himself, in imitation of them, to be crowned king of Italy, with an iron crown, which is still preserved in the little town of Monza.

The ceremony of coronation being over, the conqueror thought it necessary to settle the government of his new kingdom, before he left Italy; and, after consulting with the pope, who declared him patrician of Rome, and protector of the apostolic see, he agreed that the people should be permitted to live under their former laws, and that all things should remain as established by his predecessors. Accordingly he allowed the dukes of Friuli, Spoleto, and Benevento, the same authority which they

4. Eginhard, in Vit. Car. Mag.

had