09. Descendants of Charlemagne
CHAPTER IX. Descendants of Charlemagne (814-843)
The new emperor gained the name of Louis le Débonnaire from his gentleness and piety. He was a good but a weak man. He was anxious to do good to all his subjects and improve their condition, and while his father lived he governed Aquitaine, a province in the south of France, wisely and well with the help of his wife. He could do nothing without the help of others; (he had many Churchmen about him,) and he himself was at one time anxious to be a monk. He had three sons, and his reign is remarkable chiefly for the quarrels he had with them, and they with each other.
After Louis had reigned for three years, he called together an assembly of the Franks, and told them the arrangement he had made for the division of the empire at his death. His eldest son was to be emperor, to have Italy, most of France, and a great part of Germany; his second son was to have a small part of France; the third a small part of Germany. The younger sons, although they were called kings, were to do nothing important without asking leave of their brother, the emperor. The younger sons were angry at this arrangement, as they had hoped that the empire would be equally divided, and that each would have complete power over his own share.
They did not dare, however, to rebel against their father, and all went well till the wife of Louis died about two years later. Louis, in his sorrow, again thought of becoming a monk, but his chiefs persuaded him to remain on the throne and to choose another wife. Search was made for the most beautiful lady in the kingdom, and at last one was chosen, called Judith, beautiful, clever, but so ambitious or fond of power, as to cause great trouble to the emperor. She soon had a son called Charles, of whom the three sons of Louis became jealous. The emperor made another division of his empire, by which he took away a small part of the country that was to have belonged to one of the others, to make a share for his fourth son Charles. The other brothers were angry at this, and rose up against their father.
The nobles, the clergy, the soldiers, joined the sons, all having some reason for disliking Louis or Judith, and the emperor was taken prisoner and shut up in a convent, while his eldest son reigned in his name. Soon, however, some of the Germans returned to the side of Louis, brought him out of the convent, and restored him to power. From this time to the end of his life the poor emperor had no more quiet. Sometimes one, sometimes another, sometimes two of his sons at once, rebelled against him. He had not many wars with enemies outside the kingdom, but he had wars with his own subjects and children, which was much worse. At last he died on his way back from making war against his second son.
One of the three elder sons had died, so that there were now only three altogether — Lothaire, Louis, and Charles. Lothaire tried to make himself emperor as his father had been, and called upon his brothers to submit to him. They refused, and a great battle was fought at a place called Fontanet between Lothaire on one side, Louis and Charles on the other. The question was whether Charlemagne's empire should remain one country and be governed by one man, the Kings of the different divisions being all less great than the emperor, and obliged to consult him in what they did; or whether the different countries of Europe should be entirely separate from one another, and the king of each should govern as he chose. The battle was a terrible one; it is said that 40,000 men were killed on each side. Louis and Charles were victorious, and drove Lothaire from the field. But still he would not yield; he collected more men, and again attacked his brothers, who were too strong for him, and drove him from one place to another. At last Lothaire yielded, and sent a message to his brothers, saying he would be content with a third part of the empire, if they would allow him a larger share than their own, as he was still to be called emperor. They agreed, and a treaty of peace was made. Charles had France, Louis Germany, Lothaire Italy and a strip of land between France and Germany, part of which is still called Lorraine from its old name Lotharingia, meaning the land of Lothaire. This is the strip of land for which the French and the Germans have so often fought with one another. Lothaire, King of Italy, was called Emperor, but had no power over the other two. One remarkable event happened while the war was going on between Lothaire and his brothers. After the battle of Fontanet, Louis and Charles determined to take an oath of fidelity to each other before their two armies — that is, to promise solemnly that they would always be friends and faithful to one another.
The soldiers were drawn up: Charles explained to his men, the Gallic Franks, and Louis to his followers, the Germans, what the oath was which they were going to take; then Charles took the oath in Frankish language, so that the Germans might understand, while Louis took it in the language spoken at that time in Charles's country, then called Francia, now known as France. The oaths were written down and kept, and that taken by Louis is the oldest piece of French writing that remains to us. It is like enough to the present French for people to be able to understand it now. It was a language which came from the mixing of the German spoken by the Franks when they first came into Gaul with the Latin which had been brought into the country and taught to the old Gauls by the Romans, but there was much more of the Latin than of the German. From this time we may begin to use the word France, which has been the name of the country since the time of King Charles.
