left nothing to his son reminded him that for"Yes, I forgive him!" condition that he should fulfil his engagements to the empress and her son Charles. His brother, the bishop of Mentz, observing that he had Lewis, then in arms against him, giveness at least, was his duty. cried the dying monarch with much emotion; "but tell him "from me, to seek forgiveness also of God, for bringing "my grey hairs in sorrow to the grave13." A bad son, my dear Philip, is not likely to make a good brother; for the natural feelings in the second relation are necessarily weaker than in the first: you must therefore expect to see the sons of Lewis the Debonnaire armed gainst each other. No sooner was Lothario informed of his father's death, than he considered himself as emperor in the most extensive sense of the word, and resolved to make himself master of the whole imperial do minions, regardless of his engagements with Judith and her son Charles the Bald, or the right of his brother Lewis to the kingdom of Bavaria. And he seemed likely to attain the object of his ambition. He was a prince of great. subtlety and address, could wear the complexion of the times, and was possessed of an extensive territory, beside the title of emperor, which was still much respected; he therefore assured himself of success against his brothers; Charles being only a youth of seventeen, under the tuition of his mother, and Lewis a prince of no high reputation. He was deceived, however, in his conjectures. These two princes, united by a sense of common interest, A. D. 841, gave him battle at Fontenai, in Burgundy, where fraternal hatred appeared in all its horrors. engagements have been so bloody. An hundred thousand men are said to have fallen on the spot. Lothario and his nephew Pepin (who had joined him to assert his right to the crown of Aquitaine) were totally defeated". Pepin fled to Aquitaine, and Lothario towards Italy, abandoning France to the victorious army. Few 13. Vit. Lud. Pä. 14. Nithard de Dissent. Lud. Pii. Nothing Nothing now remained for Lewis and Charles but to secure their conquests. For this purpose they applied to the clergy; and with hopes so much the better founded, that Lothario, in order to raise troops with more expedition, had promised the Saxons the liberty of renouncing Christianity; or in other words, liberty of conscience, a thing held in abhorrence by the church of Rome. Several bishops assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle; and, after examining the misconduct of the emperor, asked the two princes, whether they chose to follow his example, or govern according to the laws of God. Their answer may easily be imagined. "Receive then the kingdom by "the divine authority," added the prelates: we exhort you, we command you to receive it !15" This command would have taken effect in its most extensive meaning, if Lothario had respected it as much as his brothers. But that artful prince by A. D. 842. means of his indulgence to the Saxons, and other political expedients, was enabled to set on foot a new army. He became again formidable. The two victorious princes therefore thought it adviseable to negociate with him. By a new treaty of division, he was left in possession of the kingdom of Italy, with the imperial dignity, and the countries situated between the Rhone and the Alps, the Meuse and the Rhine. Charles retained Neustria and Aquitaine; and Lewis, afterwards styled the German, had all the provinces on the other side of the Rhine, and some cities on this side of it1. The extinction of the civil war made but one evil less in the empire of Charlemagne, ravaged in different parts by the Normans, and by the Saracens, who pillaged Italy. The turbulent independency of the nobles, accustomed during the last reign to despise the prince and the laws, the discontents of the clergy, and the ambitious projects of both, were the source of new troubles. Every. 15. Id. ibid. Annal. Metens. 16. Nithard. ubi sup. thing thing threatened the most fatal revolutions, every thing tended to anarchy. In order to lessen these evils, the three brothers entered into an association, the effect of weakness more than affection, by which the enemies of one were to be considered as the enemies of all, (so low was the empire of the great Charles?) and in an assembly held A. D. 847. at Mersen on the Meuse, they settled certain contitutions relative to the succession, and other public matters. By these it was established, That the children of the reigning prince, whether of age or under age, should succeed to his dominions, and owe nothing to the other princes of the monarchy but the respect due to the ties of blood; a regulation well calculated to prevent civil wars, though it proved ineffectual in those disorderly times. But other constitutions of the assembly at Mersen tended to enfeeble the royal authority, which had already but too much need of support. They provide, That the crown vassals shall no longer be obliged to follow the king, unless in general wars, occasioned by foreign invasions; and that every freeman shall be at liberty to chuse, whether he will be the vassal of the king or of a subject. The first of these regulations increased the independency of the crown vassals, and the second their power, by augmenting the number of their retainers; for many persons chose rather to depend upon some neighbouring nobleman, whose immediate protection they might claim (at a time when protection was necessary, independent of the laws) than on the sovereign, whose attention they had less reason to expect, and whose aid Iwas more distant or doubtful. Lothario some years after, took the habit of a monk, that according to the language of those times, he might atone for his crimes: and though he had lived a tyrant, die a saint. In this pious disguise he expired before he had worn it quite a week. He had divided his domini 17. Annal. Bertiniani. 18. Ibid. on's ons among his children: and by virtue of the treaty of Mersen, they quietly succeeded A. D. 855. to their allotments. Lewis had Italy, with the title of emperor; Lothario the provinces between the Rhone, the Soan, the Meuse, the Escaut, and the Rhine, called from his own name the kingdom of Lotharingia, and by corruption Lorrain. Charles had Provence, Dauphine, and part of Burgundy. He took the title of king of ProOne might have imagined there were now kings enough in this monarchy; yet Charles the Bald declared his infant son king of Aquitaine19. vence. Thus was the empire of Charlemagne, split by continual subdivisions, the source of perpetual wars, till it became, to use the language of Shakespeare, only " as 66 stage to feed contention on." Foreign invasions conspired with civil dissensions to spread terror and disorder in every quarter; but more especially through the dominions of Charles the Bald, a prince as weak as his father, and restless as his mother. The Normans carried fire and sword into the heart of his kingdom; to Rouen, and even to the gates of Paris. Young Pepin, son of the last king of Aquitaine, joined the invaders, and ravaged that country over which he had been born to reign. Nomenoe, duke of Bretagne, usurped the title of king, which Charles was obliged to confirm to his son Herispee, by whom he had been totally defeated. The spirit of revolt became every day more general. Some factious nobles invited Lewis the German to usurp his brother's kingdom. He came at the head of a powerful army, and received the homage of the principal nobility. Venilon, archbishop of Sens, and other prelates of Lewis's party, at the same time declared that Charles had forfeited his dignity by mal-administration and crowned his brother the German20. A. D. 858. Charles, however, recovered his kingdom as quickly as he had lost it. The prelates of his party excommu 19. Annal. Fuldens. 20. Annal. Bertiniani. Concil. Gal. tom. ii. nicated nicated those who had dethroned him, which brought the rebels into contempt, and even abhorrence. Lewis sent back his army into Germany, that he might not give umbrage to the French, and he was afterwards obliged to take the same route himself". Charles no sooner appeared than he was universally acknowledged; his restoration did not cost a single blow. The most terrible anathemas were now denounced against Lewis the Ger man by the French clergy, unless he submitted to the rigours of the church, among which were included pe. nance; and he was weak enough to reply, that he must first consult the bishops of his own kingdom3. The weakness of Charles the Bald was still more extraordinary. Having assembled a council to judge the traitor Venilon, he presented a memorial against. him, in which is the following singular passage: " I "ought not to have been deposed; or at least not before "I had been judged by the bishops who gave me the royal "authority! I have always submitted to their correction, "and am ready now to submit to it!" Venilon escaped punishment, by making his peace with the prince: and the bishops of the council bound themselves by a canon to remain united, "for the correction of kings, the no"bility and the people23 !” A variety of circumstances shew, that the clergy now aspired at the right of disposing of crowns, which they founded on the custom of anointing kings. They employed fictions and sophisms to render themselves independent: they refused the oath of fealty, "because "sacred hands could not, without abomination, submit "to hands impure"!" One usurpation led to another; abuse constituted right, a quibble appeared a divine law. Ignorance sanctified every thing: and we may safely conclude from the abject language of Charles, in publicly acknowledging the right of the bishops to depose him, and other examples of a like nature, that the usur 21. Annal. Bertin, 22. Ibid. 23. Concil. Galat. tom ii. Fleury, Hist. Eccles. 24. Hist. de l'Eglise Galic. pations |