It was not until
the colloquy held at St Castor in Coblence on 1 June 860, in the presence
of a large number of bishops, Hincmar being among them, that Louis
and Charles succeeded in coming to terms.
the colloquy held at St Castor in Coblence on 1 June 860, in the presence
of a large number of bishops, Hincmar being among them, that Louis
and Charles succeeded in coming to terms.
Cambridge Medieval History - v3 - Germany and the Western Empire
30 (#76) ##############################################
30
“The system of concord”
assembly, as may be imagined, never came together, and the Archbishop
of Metz was forced to resign himself to a purely honorary vicariate.
Lothar met with no better success in his attempt to restore his ally,
Ebbo, to his archiepiscopal throne at Rheims, whence he had been ex-
pelled in 835 as a traitor to the Emperor Louis, though no successor had
yet been appointed. The Pope turned a deaf ear to all representations
on Ebbo's behalf, and the Council at Ver entreated Charles to provide
the Church of Rheims with a pastor without delay. This pastor proved
to be the celebrated Hincmar? who for nearly forty years was to be the
most strenuous and illustrious representative of the episcopate of Gaul.
Thus the attempts made by Lothar to obtain anything in the nature
of supremacy outside the borders of his own kingdom had met with no
success. They even had a tendency to bring about a renewal of hostilities
.
between him and his youngest brother. But the bishops surrounding
the three kings had a clear conception of the Treaty of Verdun as having
been made not only to settle the territorial problem, but also to secure
the continuance of peace and order. The magnates themselves were
weary of civil war, and had, besides, enemies from without to contend
against, Slavs, Saracens, Bretons and, above all, Northmen. They were of
one mind with the prelates in saying to the three brothers “ You must
abstain from secret machinations to one another's hurt, and you must
support and aid one another. ” Consequently a new system was established
called with perfect correctness“ the system of concord,” of concord secured
by frequent meetings between the three brothers.
The first of these interviews took place at Yütz, near Thionville, in
October 844, at the same time as a synod of the bishops of the three
kingdoms under the presidency of Drogo. Here the principles governing
.
the “ Carolingian fraternity ” were at once laid down. The kings, for
the future, are not to seek to injure one another, but on the contrary,
are to lend one another mutual aid and assistance against enemies from
outside.
The king most threatened at the time by enemies such as these was
Charles the Bald. In 842 the Northmen had pillaged the great com-
mercial mart of Quentovic near the river Canche. In the following
year they went up the Loire as far as Nantes which they plundered,
slaughtering the bishop during the celebration of divine service. The
Bretons, united under their leader Nomenoë, and not mueh impressed
by an expedition sent against them in 843, were invading Frankish
| Hincmar, who was born during the first years of the ninth century, was at this
time a monk at Saint-Denis and entrusted with the government of the Abbeys of
Notre-Dame by Compiègne and Saint-Germer de Flay. But Charles had already
employed him on various missions, and he seems for some years to have held an
important position among the king's counsellors.
2 Chapter XIII deals with the Vikings. They are therefore mentioned here
only so far as is necessary to an understanding of the general history of the Frankish
kingdoms.
## p. 31 (#77) ##############################################
Conflicts and invasions
31
territory. Lambert, one of the Counts of the March, created to keep them
in check, had risen in revolt and was making common cause with them.
On the other hand, the Aquitanians, faithful to Pepin II, the king they
had chosen, refused to recognise Charles. An expedition which the king
had sent against them in the spring of 844 had failed through a check
to the siege of Toulouse, and through the execution of Charles's former
protector, Count Bernard of Septimania, who was accused of treason.
The Frankish troops, beaten by the Aquitanians on the banks of the
river Agoût, had been forced to beat a retreat without accomplishing
any useful purpose. The kings, who had met at Yütz, addressed a joint
letter to Nomenoë, Lambert and Pepin II, threatening to unite and
march against them if they persisted in their rebellion. These threats,
however, were only partially effective. Pepin agreed to do homage to
Charles, who in exchange for this profession of obedience recognised his
possession of a restricted Aquitaine, without Poitou, the Angoumois or
Saintonge. But the Bretons, for their part, refused to submit. Charles
sent against them an expedition which ended in a lamentable defeat on
the plain of Ballon, not far from Redon (22 November 845).
During the following summer Charles was compelled to sign a treaty
with Nomenoë acknowledging the independence of Brittany, and to leave
the rebel Lambert in possession of the county of Maine. A body of
Scandinavian pirates went up the Seine in 845; the king was obliged to
buy their withdrawal with a sum of money. Other Danes, led by their
king, Horic, were ravaging the dominions of Louis the German, particu-
larly Saxony. In 845 their countrymen had got possession of Hamburg
and destroyed it. At the same time Louis had to keep back his Slav
neighbours, and to send expeditions against the rebellious Obotrites
(814) and the Moravians (846). Lothar, for his part, had in 845 to
contend with a revolt of his Provençal subjects led by Fulcrad, Count of
Arles. The friendly agreement proclaimed at Yütz between the three.
brothers was a necessity of the situation. It was nevertheless disturbed
by the action of a vassal of Charles the Bald, named Gilbert (Giselbert),
who carried off a daughter of Lothar I, taking her with him to Aquitaine
where he married her (846). Great was the Emperor's wrath against his
youngest brother, whom he accused, in spite of all his protests, of com-
plicity with the abductor. He renewed his intrigues at Rome on behalf
of Drogo and Ebbo, and even gave shelter in his dominions to Charles,
brother of Pepin, who had again rebelled. Besides this he allowed
certain of his adherents to lead expeditions into the Western Kingdom
which were, in fact, mere plundering raids. He consented, however, in
the beginning of 847 to meet Louis and Charles in a fresh conference
which took place at Meersen near Maestricht.
Again the principle of fraternity was proclaimed, and this time it was
extended beyond the sovereigns themselves to their subjects. Further,
for the first time a provision was made which chiefly interested Lothar,
CH. II.
## p. 32 (#78) ##############################################
32
Weakness of the concord
It was
a
>
who was already concerned about the succession to his crown.
decided to guarantee to the children of any one of the three brothers
who might happen to die, the peaceful possession of their father's
kingdom. Letters or ambassadors were also ordered to be sent to the
Northmen, the Bretons and the Aquitanians. But this latter resolu-
tion, save for an advance made to King Horic, remained nearly a dead
letter. Lothar, who still cherished anger against Gilbert's suzerain,
chose to leave him in the midst of the difficulties which pressed upon
him, and even sought an alliance against him with Louis the German,
his interviews with whom become very frequent during the next few
years.
Nevertheless the position of Charles improved. The magnates of
Aquitaine, ever inconstant, had abandoned Pepin II, almost to a
man, and Charles had, as it were,
,
set a seal
upon
his entrance
into actual possession of the whole of the states which the treaty of
843 had recognised as his, by having himself solemnly crowned and
anointed at Orleans on 6 June 848 by Ganelon (Wenilo), the Arch-
bishop of Sens. Again, Gilbert had left Aquitaine and taken refuge
at the court of Louis the German. There was no longer any obstacle to
the reconciliation of Lothar with his youngest brother, which took place
in a very cordial interview between the two sovereigns at Péronne
(January 849). A little later, Louis the German, in his turn, had a
meeting with Charles, at which the two kings mutually “ recommended”
their kingdoms and the guardianship of their children to one another,
in case of the death of either. The result of all these private interviews
was a general conference held at Meersen in the spring of 851 in order
to buttress the somewhat shaky edifice of the concordia fratrum. The
principles of brotherly amity and the duty of mutual help were again
proclaimed, supplemented by a pledge given by the three brothers to
forget their resentment for the past, and, in order to avoid any further
occasions of discord, to refuse entrance into any one kingdom to such as
had disturbed the peace of any other.
But these fair professions did little to alter the actual state of things,
and the sovereigns pursued their intrigues against one another. Lothar
tried to recommend himself to Charles by procuring for Hincmar the
grant of the pallium. Louis the German, on the contrary, displayed his
enmity to him by receiving into his dominions the disgraced Archbishop
Ebbo, to whom he even gave the bishopric of Hildesheim. Meanwhile
the Scandinavian invasions raged ever more fiercely in the Western
Kingdom. In 851 the Danish followers of the sea-king Oscar, having
devastated Aquitaine, pushed up the Seine as far as Rouen, pillaged
Jumièges and Saint-Wandrille, and from thence made their way into
the Beauvais country which they ravaged with fire and sword. Next
year another fleet desisted from pillaging Frisia to sail up the Seine.
Other hordes ascended the Loire, and in 853 burned Tours and its
## p. 33 (#79) ##############################################
Brittany and Aquitaine
33
collegiate church of St Martin, one of the most venerated sanctuaries of
Gaul. Some of the Northmen, quitting the river-banks, carried fire and
sword through the country to Angers and Poitiers. Next year Blois and
Orleans were ravaged, and a body of Danes wintered at the island of
Besse near Nantes, where they fortified themselves. On the other hand,
in 849, Nomenoë of Brittany, who was striving ever harder to make good
his position as an independent sovereign, and had just made an attempt
to set up a new ecclesiastical organisation in Brittany, withdrawing it
from the jurisdiction of the Frankish metropolitan at Tours', was again
in arms. He seized upon Rennes, and ravaged the country as far as
Le Mans. Death put an abrupt end to his successes (7 March 851), but
his son and successor, Erispoë, obtained from Charles, who had been dis-
couraged by a fruitless expedition, his recognition as king of Brittany,
now enlarged by the districts of Nantes, Retz and Rennes.
Finally, the affairs of Aquitaine only just failed to rekindle war
between the Eastern and Western kings. The authority of Charles, in
spite of Pepin's oath of fealty, and in spite of the apparent submission
of the magnates in 848, had never been placed, to the south of the Loire,
on really solid foundations. In 849 he had been obliged to despatch a
fresh expedition into Aquitaine, which had failed in taking Toulouse.
But afterwards in 852 the chance of a skirmish threw Pepin into the
hands of Sancho, Count of Gascony, who handed him over to Charles the
Bald. The king at once had the captive tonsured and interned in a
monastery. But this did little to secure the submission of Aquitaine.
The very next year the magnates of the country sent envoys to Louis
the German offering him the crown, either for himself or one of his
sons, and threatening, if he refused it, to have recourse to the heathen,
either Saracen or Northman. Louis the German agreed to send one of his
sons, Louis the Younger, whom they might put at their head. But
Charles the Bald had become aware of what was intended against him,
for he is at once found making closer alliance with Lothar, whom he met
twice, first at Valenciennes and then at Liège. In the course of the
interviews the two sovereigns guaranteed to each other the peaceful
possession of their lands for themselves and their heirs. When they
separated, Aquitaine was in full revolt. Charles hastened to collect his
1 The question of the Breton schism has given rise within the last few years to
keen discussion between M. M. R. Merlet (La Chronique de Nantes, Paris, 1896,
8vo, p. xxxix et sqq. ); R. de la Borderie (Histoire de la Bretagne, tome 11. p. 480
et sqq. ); Mgr. Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, tome 11. p. 256 et sqq. );
L Levillain (‘Les réformes ecclésiastiques de Nomenoë' in the Moyen Age, 1901, p. 201
et sqq. ) and F. Lot ('Le schisme breton du ixe siècle'in Mélanges d'histoire
bretonne, Paris, 1907, 8vo, p. 58 et sqq. ) especially with regard to the value of the
original narratives dealing with these facts. It seems certain that the Breton prince
set up a metropolitanate of Dol. But it is more doubtful whether he created bishoprics
at Tréguier and Saint-Brieuc, which continued as before to be abbeys the Abbots
of which held the rank of Bishops.
3
C. BIED, H. VOL. III. CH. II.
## p. 34 (#80) ##############################################
34
Death of the Emperor Lothar
army, cross the Loire and march against the rebels, ravaging the
country as he went, devastated as it already was by the troops which
Louis the Younger had brought from beyond the Rhine. The news of a
colloquy between Lothar and his brother of Germany excited the distrust
of Charles the Bald, and abruptly recalled him to the north of Gaul, where
he came to Attigny to renew the alliance previously made with the
Emperor. Then, with his army he again set out for Aquitaine. But
what was of more service to him than these warlike demonstrations was the
re-appearance, south of the Loire, of Pepin II, who had escaped from his
prison. At the sight of their old prince, the Aquitanians very generally
abandoned the cause of Louis the Younger, who found himself forced to
return to Bavaria. But it does not appear that Charles the Bald looked
upon Pepin's power as very firmly established, for next year he gave a king
to the Aquitanians in the person of his own son Charles (the Younger)
whom he caused to be solemnly anointed at Limoges.
A few weeks earlier, Lothar, after having arranged for the division
of his lands among the three sons whom the Empress Ermengarde had
borne him, retired to the Abbey of Prüm. Here it was that on the
night of 28–29 September 855, his restless life reached its end.
The partition which the Emperor Lothar I had thus made of his
territories divided into three truncated portions the long strip of country
which by the treaty of 843 had fallen to him as the lot of the eldest
son of Louis the Pious. To Louis II, the eldest of the dead man's sons,
was given the imperial title, which he had borne since April 850, to-
gether with Italy. To the next, Lothar II, were bequeathed the districts
from Frisia to the Alps and between the Rhine and the Scheldt which
were to preserve his own name, for they were called Lotharii regnum,
i. e. Lorraine. For the youngest son, Charles, a new kingdom was
formed by the union of Provence proper with the duchy of Lyons
(i. e. the Lyonnais and the Viennois). For the rest, the two elder were
discontented with their share, and in an interview which they had with
their younger brother at Orbe attempted to force him into retirement
in order to take possession of his kingdom. Only the intervention of
the Provençal magnates saved the young prince Charles, and Lothar II
and Louis II were forced to carry out the last directions of their
father. But the death of Lothar I, whose position both in theory and
in fact had fitted him to act as in some sort a mediator between his
two brothers, endangered the maintenance of peace and concord.
Charles, who was a feeble epileptic, had no weight in the “ Carolingian
concert. ” It was only the kind of regency entrusted to Gerard, Count
of Vienne, renowned in legendary epic as Girard of Roussillon, which
secured the continued existence of the little kingdom of Provence.
Louis II, whose attention was concentrated on the struggle with the
Saracens, had to content himself with the part of “ Emperor of the
Italians," as the Frank annalists, not without a touch of contempt,
9
## p. 35 (#81) ##############################################
Growing disorder in the Western Kingdom
35
describe him. Only Lothar II, as ruler of the country where the Frank
empire had been founded, and whence its aristocracy had largely sprung,
might, in virtue of his comparative strength and the geographical
situation of his kingdom, count for something in the relations between
his two uncles. Thus at the very beginning of his reign we find Louis
the German seeking to come into closer touch with him at an interview
at Coblence (February 857). Lothar, however, remained constant to the
alliance made by his father with Charles the Bald, which he solemnly
renewed at Saint-Quentin.
The Western Kingdom was still in a distracted state. The treaty
concluded at Louviers with King Erispoë (10 February 856) had for a
time secured peace with the Bretons. Prince Louis, who was about to
become Erispoë's son-in-law, was to be entrusted with the government
of the march created on the Breton frontier, and known as the Duchy of
Maine. But the Northmen were becoming ever more menacing. In the
same year, 856, in the month of August, the Viking Sidroc made his
way
up the Seine and established himself at Pitres. A few weeks later he
was joined by another Danish chief, Björn Ironside, and together they
ravaged the country from the Seine to the Loire. In vain Charles,
despite the systematic opposition of a party among the magnates who
refused to join the host, shewed laudable energy in resisting their
advance, and even succeeded in inflicting a check upon them. In the
end, they established themselves at Oscellum, an island in the Seine
opposite Jeufosse, near Mantes, twice ascending the river as far as Paris,
which they plundered, taking prisoner and holding to ransom Louis,
Abbot of Saint-Denis, one of the chief personages of the kingdom. On
the other hand, Maine, in spite of the presence of Prince Louis, remained
a hotbed of disaffection to Charles. The whole family of the Count
Gauzbert, who had been beheaded for treason some few years before, was
in rebellion, supported by the magnates of Aquitaine, where Pepin II
had again taken up arms and was carrying on a successful struggle
with Charles the Young. Even outside Aquitaine discontent was rife.
Family rivalry intensified every difficulty. The clan then most in favour
with Charles was that of the Welfs, who were related to the Empress
Judith, the most prominent members of it being her brother Conrad,
lay Abbot of Jumièges and of St Riquier, who was one of the most
influential of the king's counsellors, and his nephews Conrad, Count
of Auxerre, and Hugh, Abbot of St Germain in the same town. The
relations of Queen Ermentrude, who were thrust somewhat on one side,
Adalard, Odo, Count of Troyes, and Robert the Strong, the successor in
Maine of young Louis whom the magnates had driven out, attracted
the discontented round them.
Charles had reason to be uneasy. Already in 853, the Aquitanians
had appealed to the king of Germany. In 856 the disloyal among the
magnates had again asked help of him, and only the necessity of
CH. II.
3-2
## p. 36 (#82) ##############################################
36
Fraternal quarrels
preparing for a war with the Slavs had prevented him from complying
with their request. Charles the Bald attempted to provide against such
contingencies. At Verberie near Senlis (856), at Quierzy near Laon (857
and 858), at Brienne (858), he demanded of his magnates that they
should renew their oath of fealty. In 858 he thought he could
sufficiently depend on them to venture on a new expedition against
the Northmen, who had fortified themselves in the island of Oscellum.
Charles the Younger and Pepin II of Aquitaine had promised their
help. Lothar II himself came with a Lotharingian contingent to take a
share in the campaign (summer of 858). This was the moment which
Adalard and Odo chose for addressing a fresh appeal to Louis the
German. The latter, who was on the point of marching anew against
the Slavs, hesitated long, if we are to trust his chroniclers. Finally,
“strong in the purity of his intentions, he preferred to serve the interests
of the many rather than to submit to the tyranny of one man.
. . " Above
all, he considered the opportunity favourable. Lothar's absence left
the road across Alsace clear for him, and by 1 September 858 he
had established himself in the Western Kingdom, in the palace of Pon-
thion. Here he was joined by such of the magnates as had deserted
Charles the Bald before the fortified Northmen. Thence by way of
Châlons-sur-Marne, he reached first Sens, whither he was called by its
Archbishop Ganelon, and then Orleans, shewing plainly his intention of
holding out a hand to the rebels of Le Mans and Aquitaine.
Charles, for his part, on hearing of the invasion, had hastily raised
the siege of Oscellum, and was on the march for Lorraine. Louis, fearing
to have his retreat to Germany cut off, retraced his steps, whereupon
the armies of the two brothers found themselves face to face in the
neighbourhood of Brienne. But the Frankish counts, whose support
was essential for the final success of either party, had a deep and well-
founded distaste for pitched battles ; the question for them, was merely
the greater or less number of “ benefices” which they might hope to
obtain from one or the other adversary. Recourse was consequently had
to negotiation, when despite the numerous embassies sent by Charles to
Louis, the latter shewed himself the more skilful of the two. By dint of
promises, he succeeded in corrupting nearly all his brother's vassals.
Charles found himself constrained to throw up the game, and retire to
Burgundy, the one province where his supporters were still in a
majority. Louis, seeing nothing to be gained by pursuing him thither,
betook himself to the palace of Attigny, whence on 7 December he
issued a diploma as king of Western Francia, and where he spent his
time in dealing out honours and benefices to those who had come over
to his side. But in order to make his triumph secure, he still had to
.
be acknowledged and consecrated by the Church. The episcopate of
the Western Kingdom, however, remained faithful to Charles, whether
through attachment to the principles of peace and concord, or through
## p. 37 (#83) ##############################################
Faithless nobles
37
dread of a new system founded on the ambitions of the lay aristocracy,
who were ever ready to extort payment for their support out of the
estates of the ecclesiastical magnates. Only Ganelon of Sens, forgetting
that he owed his preferment to Charles's favour, had taken sides with the
new sovereign, thus leaving his name to become in tradition that of the
most notorious traitor of medieval epic. The bishops of the provinces
of Rheims and Rouen being summoned by Louis to attend a council at
Rheims, contrived under the skilful guidance of Hincmar to hinder the
meeting from being held ; protesting meanwhile their good intentions,
but declaring it necessary to summon a general assembly of the epis-
copate, and demanding guarantees for the safety of Church property.
The presence of Louis the German in the province of Rheims, where he
came to spend the Christmas season, and to take up his winter quarters,
made no difference in the Bishops' attitude.
However, Charles the Bald, with the help of the Abbot Hugh and
Count Conrad, had rallied all the supporters that remained to him at
Auxerre. On 9 January he suddenly left his retreat and marched against
his brother. Many of the German lords had set out to return to their own
country. The Western magnates, not seeing any sufficient advantage to
be gained under the new government, shewed no more hesitation in de-
serting it than they had in accepting it. At Jouy, near Soissons, where
the sudden appearance of his brother took Louis by surprise, the German
found himself left with so small a proportion of his quondam followers
that in his turn he was forced to retreat without striking a blow. By
the spring of 859 Charles had regained his authority. Naturally, he
made use of it to punish those who had betrayed him. Adalard lost his
Abbey of Saint-Bertin which was given to the Abbot Hugh, and Odo
lost his counties. What makes it plain that for the magnates the whole
affair was simply a question of material gain, is that in the negotiations
which Charles opened with Louis the point that he specially insisted on
was that the latter, in exchange for the renewal of their alliance, should
abandon to his discretion those magnates who had shared in the defection,
in order that he might deprive them of their estates. The negotiations,
moreover, proved long and thorny, despite the intervention of Lothar II.
Synods and embassies, even an interview between the two sovereigns, in
a boat midway across the Rhine, produced no results.
It was not until
the colloquy held at St Castor in Coblence on 1 June 860, in the presence
of a large number of bishops, Hincmar being among them, that Louis
and Charles succeeded in coming to terms. Charles the Bald promised
to leave his magnates in possession of the fiefs which they had received
from Louis the German, reserving his right to deprive them of those
which he himself had previously bestowed on them. The oaths of peace
and concord made in 851 at Meersen were again sworn to. Louis made
a declaration to this effect in the German tongue, denouncing the
severest penalties on all who should violate the agreement, a declaration
CH. 11.
## p. 38 (#84) ##############################################
38
The divorce of Lothar II
afterwards repeated by Charles in the Romance language, and even in
German as far as the more important passages were concerned.
Briefly, it was a return to the status quo as it had been before the
sudden stroke attempted by Louis. A fresh match was about to be
played, the stake this time being the kingdom of Lothar II.
From about 860 to 870 the whole policy of the Carolingian kings
turns mainly on the question of the king of Lorraine's divorce and the
possible succession to his crown. In 855, Lothar had been compelled by
his father to marry Theutberga, a maiden of noble family, sister of a
lord named Hubert whose estates were situated on the upper valley of
the Rhone, and who seems about this time to have been made by the
Emperor governor “of the duchy between the Jura and the Alps
corresponding roughly to French Switzerland of to-day. The marriage
was evidently arranged with the object of ensuring for the young king
the support of a powerful family. But before it took place, Lothar had
had a mistress named Waldrada, by whom he had children, and this
woman seems to have acquired over him an extraordinary ascendency,
which contemporaries, as a matter of course, attribute to the use of
magic. From the very beginning of his reign, Lothar bent all his
energy towards the single end of ridding himself, by any possible means,
of the consort chosen by his father, and raising his former mistress to the
title and rank of a legitimate wife. Theutberga had not borne an heir
to Lothar and seems to have been considered incapable of doing so,
although this was not used as a weapon against her by her adversaries.
On the other hand, it was the consideration which determined the
attitude of the other sovereigns and helped to make the question of the
Lorraine divorce, it may almost be said, an international one. If
Lothar were to die childless, it would mean the partition of his in-
heritance among his relations, practically between his two uncles, for
his brother Charles, epileptic and near his end, was in no position to
interfere, while Louis II, himself without an heir, was too much occupied
in Southern Italy to be a very serious competitor.
Hostile measures against Theutberga had been taken almost at the
very beginning of the new king's reign. He hurled at his wife a charge
of incest with her brother Hubert. But a champion nominated by the
queen submitted himself on her behalf to the Judgment of God by the
ordeal of boiling water. The result was the solemn proclamation of
Theutberga's innocence, and Lothar II was obliged to yield to the
wishes of his nobles and take back his wife. Hubert, for his part, had
revolted, and under the pretext of defending his sister was indulging in
acts of brigandage in the upper valley of the Rhone. An expedition
sent against him by the king of Lorraine had produced no results.
Thus the cession made (859) by Lothar to his brother Louis II of the
three dioceses of Geneva, Lausanne and Sion had been designed, quite as
much to rid the kingdom of Lorraine of a turbulent noble as to conciliate
a
## p. 39 (#85) ##############################################
Hincmar intervenes
39
a
the good will of the Emperor. In the same way, Lothar had, the year
before, attempted to win over Charles of Provence, by ceding to him
the two dioceses of Belley and Tarentaise, in exchange, indeed, for a
treaty securing to him the inheritance of his young brother, in the
event, which seemed not unlikely, of the latter's dying childless. The
conflict of 858–9 had displayed Lothar's anxiety to keep on good terms
with both of his uncles by abstaining from interference on behalf of
either. At the same time an active campaign was being kept up against
Theutberga, organised by two prelates devoted to the king of Lorraine,
Theutgaud, Archbishop of Trèves, and Gunther, Archbishop of Cologne.
The latter even, with skilful treachery, contrived to become confessor to
the persecuted queen. In January 860, Lothar thought himself sure
enough of his position to convoke a council at Aix-la-Chapelle before
which he appeared, declaring that his wife herself acknowledged her
guilt, and petitioned to be allowed to take the veil. The bishops did
not profess themselves convinced, and demanded that a fresh assembly
should be held, to which were summoned foreign bishops and in par-
ticular Hincmar. But the latter did not respond to the invitation, and
it was at a synod composed exclusively of Lorrainers, and again held at
Aix, that Theutberga herself was present and read a confession, evidently
drawn up by Gunther and his accomplices, in which she acknowledged
herself guilty of the crimes imputed to her. On this occasion the
bishops were obliged to accept as valid the declaration thus made by the
queen and to condemn her. But they avoided coming to a decision on
the point which lay nearest to Lothar's heart, viz. the possibility of
his contracting another marriage. He was forced to content himself
with the imprisonment of Theutberga without advancing any further
towards the execution of his plans.
Some months later the dispute was re-opened. Hincmar stepped
into the lists by putting forth his voluminous treatise De divortio
Lotharii, in which he shewed clearly the weakness of the arguments used
against Theutberga, and pronounced confessions extorted by constraint
and violence null, while demanding that the question should be examined
in a general council of the bishops of the Franks. The treatise of the
Archbishop of Rheims was of exceptional importance, due not only
to the reputation which he enjoyed in the ecclesiastical world as a
theologian and canonist, but also to his political prominence in the
Western Kingdom as the adviser of Charles the Bald. The latter thus
took his place among the declared opponents of Lothar II's matrimonial
policy. He gave further proof of this attitude by affording shelter in his
kingdom to Hubert, who was forced to quit Lorraine, and to Theutberga,
who had succeeded in making her escape. Lothar, indeed, retorted
by offering a refuge to Judith, Charles's daughter, the widow of the
old English king Aethelwulf; she had just arranged to be carried off by
Baldwin Iron-arm, first Count of Flanders, son of Odoacer, whom she
CH. II.
## p. 40 (#86) ##############################################
40
Charles the Bald and his ambitions
a
married in spite of her father's opposition. And Charles at the same time
met with a check in Provence. Called in by a party of the magnates of
the country, he had imagined himself in a position to lay hands on his
nephew's kingdom. But Gerard of Roussillon was mounting guard over
the young prince, and in the face of his energetic opposition, Charles was
obliged to beat a retreat after having advanced as far as Burgundy
(861). At the same time Lothar was making advances to his other
uncle, Louis the German, whose friendship he endeavoured to make sure
of by ceding to him Alsace, or at least the prospect of possessing it
whenever the king of Lorraine should die. Lothar now thought himself
strong enough to convoke at Aix a fresh council, which this time
declared the marriage contracted with Theutberga null and void, and
consequently pronounced the king free to form a fresh union. Lothar,
before long, made use of this permission by marrying Waldrada and
having her solemnly crowned. But Theutberga, for her part, appealed
to the Pope to quash the sentences pronounced against her. Lothar
retorted by petitioning the sovereign pontiff to confirm the judgments
which had been given. At the same time, in concert with Louis the
German, he complained to the Pope of the conduct of Charles the Bald,
“who, without any show of right, was seeking to lay hands on the
inheritance of his nephews. ”
Meanwhile Charles was gaining power in his own kingdom. He had
just defeated the Bretons under their King Solomon, and suppressed a
revolt of his own son Louis the Stammerer, while the magnates who had
risen against him in 858–859 were one by one making their submission
to him. The invasions by the Northmen indeed were still going on.
Paris had again been pillaged in 861. The hordes of the viking
Weland, whom Charles had hoped to hire for money and employ
against their compatriots in the island of Oscellum, had made common
cause with the latter and had ravaged the Seine valley as far as Melun.
Charles had discovered a method of resisting them, and from the time
of the assembly at Pitres (862) began to put it into practice. It was to
have fortified works constructed along the rivers which the Normans
ascended, particularly bridges, which should bar the way to the invaders.
This new departure in tactics produced fairly good results during the
years that followed. In 862, Charles, in this way, cut off the retreat of
the bands which had forced their way into the Meaux country, and
compelled them to promise to give up the prisoners they had made and
to quit the kingdom. During the succeeding years, we find the king
taking measures to complete the defences of the valleys of the Seine and
Oise. It is true that these precautions did not hinder the Northmen
from again burning Paris in 865, and from penetrating as far as Melun
in 866. This time Charles could only rid himself of them by paying
them ransom. But on the other hand, the Marquess Robert the Strong
defeated the Northmen of the Loire on several occasions, and up to his
## p. 41 (#87) ##############################################
Death of Charles of Provence
41
death in the fight at Brissarthe (866) the valour of “the Maccabaeus of
France” opposed substantial resistance to the invaders of Anjou and
Maine.
In the affair of Lothar, neither Charles nor Hincmar would give way.
The king of Western Francia had shewn himself determined strenuously
to maintain the fight on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage, and
declared that he would hold no further intercourse with his nephew until
he should take back Theutberga. He repeated this resolution at the
interview which he had with his brother Louis at Savonnières near
Toul (November 862), to which Lothar had sent as his representatives
several of the bishops of his kingdom. Charles accused his nephew of
being a cause of double scandal to the Christian Church by the favour he
had shewn to the guilty connexion between Baldwin and Judith, and by
marrying Waldrada without waiting for the opinion of the Pope. He
called for the assembling of a general council to pronounce definitively on
both these questions. In the end, Lothar agreed, so far as Judith's case
was concerned, but in the matter of the divorce he declared that he
would await the decision of the Pope. Charles was obliged to be content
with this reply, and to take leave of his brother, having done nothing
more than renew the treaty of peace and alliance concluded in 860 at
Coblence.
The death of Charles of Provence (25 January 863) made little
change in the respective positions of the sovereigns. The dead man left
no children; his heirs therefore were his two brothers, for Louis II does
not appear to have recognised the treaty concluded in 858 between
Charles and Lothar II, by which the latter was to succeed to the whole of
the inheritance. Therefore the two rivals hastened to reach Provence,
each being eager to win over the magnates of the country to his own side.
The seemingly inevitable conflict was warded off, thanks to an agreement
which gave Provence, strictly so-called, as far as the Durance to the
Emperor, and to the king of Lorraine the Lyonnais and the Viennois,
that is to say the Duchy of Lyons, of which Gerard of Roussillon was
governor.
But the question of Theutberga was still not definitely settled, and
for the years that followed, it remained the subject of difficult negotia-
tions, on the one hand between the different Frankish sovereigns, and on
the other between these sovereigns and the Pope. The situation was
eminently favourable to a Pope of the character of Nicholas I, who, in
858 had taken the place of Benedict III on the papal throne. Being
petitioned to intervene at once by Theutberga, Lothar, and the
opponents of Lothar, he could take up the position of the arbiter of the
Christian world. Meanwhile, without deciding the question himself, he
resolved to hand over the settlement of it to a great council to be
held at Metz at which not only the bishops of Lorraine should be
present, but two representatives of the episcopate in each of the
ch. II.
## p. 42 (#88) ##############################################
42
Pope Nicholas I
kingdoms of France, Germany and Provence. The assembly was to be
presided over by two envoys from the Holy See, John, Bishop of Cervia,
and Radoald, Bishop of Porto. But Lothar's partisans were on the
alert, and were working to gain time. The papal letters carried by the
.
two legates were stolen from them by skilful thieves and they were forced
to apply for new ones. While they were waiting, and while, on the
other hand, Lothar's absence in Provence to take up the inheritance of
his brother delayed the calling of the Council, the emissaries of Gunther
and Theutgaud succeeded in bribing Radoald and his colleague. The
legates failed to convoke the foreign bishops, and the purely Lothar-
ingian synod held at Metz was a tool in the hands of Gunther. It
therefore confirmed the decisions of the assembly of Aix, basing them
on the ground of an alleged marriage between Lothar and Waldrada,
previous to his union with Theutberga (June 863).
This statement, improbable as being now produced for the first time,
did not suffice to appease the righteous anger of Nicholas I when he
learned by what methods the case had been conducted. He did not
hesitate to quash the decisions of the Council, to condemn Radoald and
John, and, irregular as the proceeding was, to depose Gunther and
Theutgaud by the exercise of his own authority. On the other hand,
Louis II, who had shewn some disposition, at first, to support the
Lotharingian bishops, now abandoned his brother, in spite of the
interview which he had just had with him at Orbe. Louis the German
and Charles the Bald, on the contrary, drew closer together. In February
865, they had an interview at Tusey, where, under colour of renewing
their mutual oaths of peace and concord, and of reprehending their
nephew, they arranged a treaty for the eventual partition of his lands.
The Lotharingian bishops became restive, and drew up a protest to
their brethren in Gaul and Provence, in which they declared themselves
ready to support their sovereign “ calumniated by the malignant. "
.
Lothar, equally alarmed, dreading an armed collision with his uncles,
and dreading no less that the Pope should pronounce him excommuni-
cate, thought it advisable to have recourse himself to the Holy
See, and by the mediation of the Emperor to announce to the
Pope that he was prepared to submit to his decision, provided that
a guarantee was given him that the integrity of his kingdom should be
respected.
Nicholas I was now become the mediator between kings and the
supreme judge of Christendom. He immediately despatched a legate,
Arsenius, Bishop of Orta, with orders to convey to the three sovereigns
the expression of the Pope's will. After an interview with Louis the
German at Frankfort, Arsenius reached Lothar's court at Gondreville
by the month of July 865, and in the Pope's name, called upon him
to take back Theutberga on pain of excommunication. Lothar was
obliged to promise obedience. Arsenius then betook himself to Attigny
## p. 43 (#89) ##############################################
Triumph of Nicholas I
43
to present to Charles the Bald letters from the Pope, exhorting him
to respect his nephew's territory. From thence he went back to Lor-
raine, bringing with him Theutberga whom he restored to her husband.
On 15 August he celebrated a solemn High Mass before the royal
pair who were invested with the insignia of sovereignty, before he began
his return journey to Rome, on which he was accompanied by Waldrada,
who, in her turn, was to answer for her actions before the Pope. The
legation had resulted in a triumph for Nicholas. In the presence of the
Pope's clearly expressed requirements, peace had been restored between
the kings, and Theutberga had regained her rank as queen. Thanks to
his own firmness and skill, the Pope had acted as supreme arbiter; not
only Lothar, but Charles the Bald and Louis the German had been
obliged to bow before him.
Nevertheless, in the succeeding years, it would appear that Lothar
conceived some hope of being able to re-open the divorce question and
attain his desired object. Waldrada had hardly arrived at Pavia, when
without the formality of a farewell, she succeeded in eluding the legate
and in returning to Lorraine, where she remained, in spite of the excom-
munication launched against her by Nicholas I. Besides this, Charles
the Bald's attitude towards his nephew became somewhat less uncom-
promising, doubtless on account of the temporary disgrace of Hincmar,
the most faithful champion of the cause of the indissolubility of mar-
riage. The king of the Western Franks even had a meeting with
Lothar at Ortivineas, perhaps Orvignes near Bar-le-Duc, when the two
princes agreed to take up the divorce question afresh by sending an
embassy to Rome under the direction of Egilo, the metropolitan of Sens.
But the Pope refused point-blank to fall in with their views, and replied
by addressing the bitterest reproaches to Charles, and above all to
Lothar, whom he forbade ever to dream of renewing his relations with
Waldrada. The death of Nicholas I (13 November 867) gave a new
aspect to affairs. His successor, Hadrian II, was a man of much less firm-
ness and consistency, almost of a timorous disposition, and much under
the influence of Louis II, that is, of Lothar's brother and ally. Thus,
while refusing to receive Theutberga, whom Lothar had thought of
compelling to accuse herself before the Pope, and while congratulating
Hincmar on his attitude throughout the affair, and again proclaiming
the principle of the indissolubility of marriage, the new Pope soon
relieved Waldrada from her sentence of excommunication. Lothar
resolved to go and plead his cause in person
Hadrian con-
sented to his taking this step, which Nicholas I had always refused to
sanction. The only consideration which could arouse Lothar's uneasiness
was the attitude of his uncles. The latter, indeed, despite a recent
letter from the Pope taking up the position of the defender of the
integrity of the kingdoms, had just come to an agreement at St Arnulf's
of Metz, that “in case God should bestow on them the kingdoms of
at Rome.
CH. II.
## p. 44 (#90) ##############################################
44
Death of Lothar II
215
!
1
а
their nephews, they would proceed to a fair and amitable division of
them” (867 or 868)'.
However, in the spring of 869, having extracted from Charles and
Louis some vague assurances that they would undertake nothing against
his kingdom during his absence, even if he married Waldrada, Lothar
set out on his journey with the intention of visiting the Emperor in order
to obtain his support at the papal court. Louis II was then at
Benevento, warring against the Saracens. At first he shewed himself
little disposed to interfere, but his wife, Engilberga, proved willing to
play the part of mediator, and, in the end, an interview took place at
Monte Cassino between Hadrian and Lothar. The latter received the
Eucharist from the hands of the Pope, less, perhaps, as the pledge of
pardon than as a kind of judgment of God.
« Receive this com-
munion,” the Pope is reported to have said to Lothar, “if thou art
innocent of the adultery condemned by Nicholas. If, on the contrary,
thy conscience accuse thee of guilt, or if thou art minded to fall back
into sin, refrain; otherwise by this Sacrament thou shalt be judged and
condemned. ” A dramatic colouring may have been thrown over the
incident, but when he left Monte Cassino, Lothar bore with him the
promise that the question should again be submitted to a Council. This,
for him, meant the hope of undoing the sentence of Nicholas I. Death,
which surprised him on his way back, at Piacenza, on 8 August 869,
put an end to his plans.
His successor, by right of inheritance, was, strictly speaking, the
Emperor Louis. But he was little known outside his Italian kingdom,
and appears not to have had many supporters in Lorraine, unless
perhaps in the duchy of Lyons, which was close to his Provençal pos-
sessions. In Lorraine proper, on the contrary, there were two opposed
parties, a German party and a French party, each supporting one of the
uncles of the dead king. But Louis the German was detained at Ratis-
bon by sickness.
Thus circumstances favoured Charles the Bald, who hastened to take
advantage of them by entering Lorraine. An embassy from the magnates,
which came to meet him at Attigny to remind him of the respect due
to the treaty which he had made with his brother at Metz, produced no
result. By way of Verdun he reached Metz, where in the presence of
the French and Lotharingian nobles, and of several prelates, among
them the Bishops of Toul, Liège, and Verdun, Charles was solemnly
crowned king of Lorraine in the cathedral of St Stephen on 9 September
869. When, a little later, he heard of the death of his wife Queen
Ermentrude (6 October), Charles sought to strengthen his position in the
country by taking first as his mistress and afterwards as his lawful wife
1 The date 867 is generally accepted. On the other hand, M. Calmette, in La
diplomatie carolingienne, pp. 195, 399, gives arguments of some force in favour
of 868.
1
5
3
## p. 45 (#91) ##############################################
Contest for Lorraine
45
(22 January 870) a noble lady named Richilda, a relation of Theutberga,
the former queen, belonging to one of the most important families in
Lorraine; on her brother Boso Charles heaped honours and benefices.
Neither Louis the German nor Louis II could do more than protest
against the annexation of Lorraine to the Western Kingdom, the former
in virtue of the Treaty of Metz, the latter in right of his near relation-
ship to the dead king. To the envoys of both, Charles the Bald had
returned evasive answers, while he was convoking the magnates of his
new kingdom at Gondreville to obtain from them the oath of fealty.
But those who attended the assembly were few in number. Louis the
German's party was recovering strength. Charles was made aware of it
when he attempted to substitute for the deposed Gunther in the see of
Cologne, a French candidate, Hilduin. The Archbishop of Mayence,
Liutbert, a faithful supporter of the king of Germany, set up in
opposition a certain Willibert who ultimately won the day. On the
other hand, Charles was more successful at Trèves, where he was able to
instal the candidate of his choice.
Meanwhile, Louis the German, having recovered, had collected an
army, and, calling on his brother to evacuate his conquest, marched in
his turn upon Lorraine, where his partisans came round him to do him
homage (spring 870). An armed struggle seemed imminent, but the
Carolingians had little love for fighting. Brisk negotiations began, in
which the principal part was taken by Liutbert, Archbishop of Mayence,
representing Louis, and Odo, Bishop of Beauvais, on behalf of Charles.
In the end, the diplomatists came to an agreement based on the partition
of Lorraine. The task of carrying it into effect was at first entrusted
to a commission of magnates, but difficulties were not long in arising.
It was decided that the two kings should meet. But the interview was
delayed by an accident which happened to Louis the German, through
a foor giving way, and only took place on 8 August at Meersen on the
banks of the Meuse. Here the manner of the division of Lothar II's former
dominions was definitely settled. The Divisio regni, the text of which
has been preserved in the Annals of Hincmar, shews that no atten-
tion was paid to natural boundaries, to language or even to existing
divisions, whether ecclesiastical or civil, since certain counties were cut
in two, e. g. the Ornois. An endeavour was made to divide between the
two sovereigns, as equally as possible, the sources of revenue, i. e. the
counties, bishoprics and abbeys. Louis received the bishoprics of
Cologne, Trèves, Metz, Strasbourg and Basle, with a portion of those of
Toul and Liège. Charles, besides a large share of the two last, was
given that of Cambrai, together with the metropolitan see of Besançon,
and the counties of Lyons and Vienne with the Vivarais, that is to say
the lands which Lothar had acquired after the death of Charles of
Provence. Without entering into details as to the division of the pagi
in the north part of the kingdom of Lorraine, from the mouths of the
CH. II.
## p. 46 (#92) ##############################################
46
Partition of Meersen
Rhine to Toul, it is substantially true to say that the course of the
Meuse and a part of that of the Moselle formed the border line between
the two kingdoms. Thence the frontier ran to the Saône valley, and the
limits thus fixed, although not lasting, had distinct influence later in
the Middle Ages.
Hardly was the treaty of Meersen concluded, when the brother-kings
of Gaul and Germany were confronted by deputies from the Pope and
the Emperor, protesting, in the name of the latter, against the conduct
of his uncles in thus robbing him of the inheritance which was his by
right. Hincmar replied by endeavouring to justify his master, and by
dwelling on the necessity of preserving peace in Lorraine; Charles, for
his part, bestowed fair words and rich gifts on the Pope. As to Louis
the German, he professed himself ready to make over what he had
acquired of Lothar's lands to Louis II. These assurances, however, were
not followed by any practical result, and Charles spent the latter part of
the year in completing the subjection of the southern part of his newly-
acquired dominions. Lyons was occupied without a struggle. Only
Vienne, which was defended by Bertha, wife of Gerard of Roussillon, who
was himself ensconced in a castle in the neighbourhood, made some
resistance, surrendering, however, in the end (24 December 870).
Charles was recalled to Francia by the rebellion of his son Carloman, who
had forsaken his father's expedition in order to collect bands of partisans
and ravage his kingdom. Louis the German was at the same time
engaged in a struggle with his two sons who had risen against him.
Charles confided the government of the Viennois and Provence to his
brother-in-law Boso as duke, and turned homewards.
In the meanwhile, a report spread through Gaul and Germany that
the Emperor Louis II had been taken prisoner and put to death by
Adelchis, Prince of Benevento. In reality the latter had merely subjected
his sovereign to a few days' captivity (August 871). But Louis the
German and Charles the Bald had lost no time in shewing that each
intended to appropriate for himself the inheritance left by the deceased ;
Louis by sending his son Charles the Fat beyond the Alps, in order to
gather adherents, and Charles by setting out himself at the head of an
army. However, he went no farther than Besançon, when the two com-
petitors were stopped by the news that the Emperor was still alive. But
during the three following years we find both brothers bent on eventually
securing the heritage of the king of Italy; Louis the German being
supported, it would seem, by the Empress Engilberga, while Charles the
Bald, who had rid himself of his rebellious son Carloman, whom he had
succeeded in making prisoner and whose eyes he had put out, was trying
to form a party among the Roman nobles and those surrounding the new
Pope, John VIII, who in December 872 had taken the place of Hadrian.
The death of Louis II at Brescia (12 August 875) led to an open
struggle between the two rivals.
## p. 47 (#93) ##############################################
The Emperor Louis II in Italy
47
For a long time the kingdom of Italy had stood considerably apart
from the other Carolingian states. Louis the Pious and Lothar had
already placed it in a somewhat special position by sending as their re-
presentatives there each his eldest son, already associated in the Empire,
and bearing the title of king. Since 855 the Emperor had been restricted
to the possession of Italy, where he had already received the royal title
in 844, and where his coronation as joint-Emperor had taken place
(Rome, April 850). Apart from matters concerning the inheritance of
his brothers, it does not seem that Louis II held that his office imposed
on him the duty of interfering in affairs beyond the Alps. The Emperor
had been obliged to devote his chief attention to his duties as king of
Italy, and the defence of the country entrusted to him against the attacks
of its enemies, particularly the Saracens. But circumstances were too
strong for him, and in spite of his activity and energy, Louis II was
fated to wear himself out in a struggle of thirty years, and yet neither
to leave undisputed authority to his successor, nor finally to expel the
Muslims from Italian soil. The royal power had never been very great
in the peninsula.
30
“The system of concord”
assembly, as may be imagined, never came together, and the Archbishop
of Metz was forced to resign himself to a purely honorary vicariate.
Lothar met with no better success in his attempt to restore his ally,
Ebbo, to his archiepiscopal throne at Rheims, whence he had been ex-
pelled in 835 as a traitor to the Emperor Louis, though no successor had
yet been appointed. The Pope turned a deaf ear to all representations
on Ebbo's behalf, and the Council at Ver entreated Charles to provide
the Church of Rheims with a pastor without delay. This pastor proved
to be the celebrated Hincmar? who for nearly forty years was to be the
most strenuous and illustrious representative of the episcopate of Gaul.
Thus the attempts made by Lothar to obtain anything in the nature
of supremacy outside the borders of his own kingdom had met with no
success. They even had a tendency to bring about a renewal of hostilities
.
between him and his youngest brother. But the bishops surrounding
the three kings had a clear conception of the Treaty of Verdun as having
been made not only to settle the territorial problem, but also to secure
the continuance of peace and order. The magnates themselves were
weary of civil war, and had, besides, enemies from without to contend
against, Slavs, Saracens, Bretons and, above all, Northmen. They were of
one mind with the prelates in saying to the three brothers “ You must
abstain from secret machinations to one another's hurt, and you must
support and aid one another. ” Consequently a new system was established
called with perfect correctness“ the system of concord,” of concord secured
by frequent meetings between the three brothers.
The first of these interviews took place at Yütz, near Thionville, in
October 844, at the same time as a synod of the bishops of the three
kingdoms under the presidency of Drogo. Here the principles governing
.
the “ Carolingian fraternity ” were at once laid down. The kings, for
the future, are not to seek to injure one another, but on the contrary,
are to lend one another mutual aid and assistance against enemies from
outside.
The king most threatened at the time by enemies such as these was
Charles the Bald. In 842 the Northmen had pillaged the great com-
mercial mart of Quentovic near the river Canche. In the following
year they went up the Loire as far as Nantes which they plundered,
slaughtering the bishop during the celebration of divine service. The
Bretons, united under their leader Nomenoë, and not mueh impressed
by an expedition sent against them in 843, were invading Frankish
| Hincmar, who was born during the first years of the ninth century, was at this
time a monk at Saint-Denis and entrusted with the government of the Abbeys of
Notre-Dame by Compiègne and Saint-Germer de Flay. But Charles had already
employed him on various missions, and he seems for some years to have held an
important position among the king's counsellors.
2 Chapter XIII deals with the Vikings. They are therefore mentioned here
only so far as is necessary to an understanding of the general history of the Frankish
kingdoms.
## p. 31 (#77) ##############################################
Conflicts and invasions
31
territory. Lambert, one of the Counts of the March, created to keep them
in check, had risen in revolt and was making common cause with them.
On the other hand, the Aquitanians, faithful to Pepin II, the king they
had chosen, refused to recognise Charles. An expedition which the king
had sent against them in the spring of 844 had failed through a check
to the siege of Toulouse, and through the execution of Charles's former
protector, Count Bernard of Septimania, who was accused of treason.
The Frankish troops, beaten by the Aquitanians on the banks of the
river Agoût, had been forced to beat a retreat without accomplishing
any useful purpose. The kings, who had met at Yütz, addressed a joint
letter to Nomenoë, Lambert and Pepin II, threatening to unite and
march against them if they persisted in their rebellion. These threats,
however, were only partially effective. Pepin agreed to do homage to
Charles, who in exchange for this profession of obedience recognised his
possession of a restricted Aquitaine, without Poitou, the Angoumois or
Saintonge. But the Bretons, for their part, refused to submit. Charles
sent against them an expedition which ended in a lamentable defeat on
the plain of Ballon, not far from Redon (22 November 845).
During the following summer Charles was compelled to sign a treaty
with Nomenoë acknowledging the independence of Brittany, and to leave
the rebel Lambert in possession of the county of Maine. A body of
Scandinavian pirates went up the Seine in 845; the king was obliged to
buy their withdrawal with a sum of money. Other Danes, led by their
king, Horic, were ravaging the dominions of Louis the German, particu-
larly Saxony. In 845 their countrymen had got possession of Hamburg
and destroyed it. At the same time Louis had to keep back his Slav
neighbours, and to send expeditions against the rebellious Obotrites
(814) and the Moravians (846). Lothar, for his part, had in 845 to
contend with a revolt of his Provençal subjects led by Fulcrad, Count of
Arles. The friendly agreement proclaimed at Yütz between the three.
brothers was a necessity of the situation. It was nevertheless disturbed
by the action of a vassal of Charles the Bald, named Gilbert (Giselbert),
who carried off a daughter of Lothar I, taking her with him to Aquitaine
where he married her (846). Great was the Emperor's wrath against his
youngest brother, whom he accused, in spite of all his protests, of com-
plicity with the abductor. He renewed his intrigues at Rome on behalf
of Drogo and Ebbo, and even gave shelter in his dominions to Charles,
brother of Pepin, who had again rebelled. Besides this he allowed
certain of his adherents to lead expeditions into the Western Kingdom
which were, in fact, mere plundering raids. He consented, however, in
the beginning of 847 to meet Louis and Charles in a fresh conference
which took place at Meersen near Maestricht.
Again the principle of fraternity was proclaimed, and this time it was
extended beyond the sovereigns themselves to their subjects. Further,
for the first time a provision was made which chiefly interested Lothar,
CH. II.
## p. 32 (#78) ##############################################
32
Weakness of the concord
It was
a
>
who was already concerned about the succession to his crown.
decided to guarantee to the children of any one of the three brothers
who might happen to die, the peaceful possession of their father's
kingdom. Letters or ambassadors were also ordered to be sent to the
Northmen, the Bretons and the Aquitanians. But this latter resolu-
tion, save for an advance made to King Horic, remained nearly a dead
letter. Lothar, who still cherished anger against Gilbert's suzerain,
chose to leave him in the midst of the difficulties which pressed upon
him, and even sought an alliance against him with Louis the German,
his interviews with whom become very frequent during the next few
years.
Nevertheless the position of Charles improved. The magnates of
Aquitaine, ever inconstant, had abandoned Pepin II, almost to a
man, and Charles had, as it were,
,
set a seal
upon
his entrance
into actual possession of the whole of the states which the treaty of
843 had recognised as his, by having himself solemnly crowned and
anointed at Orleans on 6 June 848 by Ganelon (Wenilo), the Arch-
bishop of Sens. Again, Gilbert had left Aquitaine and taken refuge
at the court of Louis the German. There was no longer any obstacle to
the reconciliation of Lothar with his youngest brother, which took place
in a very cordial interview between the two sovereigns at Péronne
(January 849). A little later, Louis the German, in his turn, had a
meeting with Charles, at which the two kings mutually “ recommended”
their kingdoms and the guardianship of their children to one another,
in case of the death of either. The result of all these private interviews
was a general conference held at Meersen in the spring of 851 in order
to buttress the somewhat shaky edifice of the concordia fratrum. The
principles of brotherly amity and the duty of mutual help were again
proclaimed, supplemented by a pledge given by the three brothers to
forget their resentment for the past, and, in order to avoid any further
occasions of discord, to refuse entrance into any one kingdom to such as
had disturbed the peace of any other.
But these fair professions did little to alter the actual state of things,
and the sovereigns pursued their intrigues against one another. Lothar
tried to recommend himself to Charles by procuring for Hincmar the
grant of the pallium. Louis the German, on the contrary, displayed his
enmity to him by receiving into his dominions the disgraced Archbishop
Ebbo, to whom he even gave the bishopric of Hildesheim. Meanwhile
the Scandinavian invasions raged ever more fiercely in the Western
Kingdom. In 851 the Danish followers of the sea-king Oscar, having
devastated Aquitaine, pushed up the Seine as far as Rouen, pillaged
Jumièges and Saint-Wandrille, and from thence made their way into
the Beauvais country which they ravaged with fire and sword. Next
year another fleet desisted from pillaging Frisia to sail up the Seine.
Other hordes ascended the Loire, and in 853 burned Tours and its
## p. 33 (#79) ##############################################
Brittany and Aquitaine
33
collegiate church of St Martin, one of the most venerated sanctuaries of
Gaul. Some of the Northmen, quitting the river-banks, carried fire and
sword through the country to Angers and Poitiers. Next year Blois and
Orleans were ravaged, and a body of Danes wintered at the island of
Besse near Nantes, where they fortified themselves. On the other hand,
in 849, Nomenoë of Brittany, who was striving ever harder to make good
his position as an independent sovereign, and had just made an attempt
to set up a new ecclesiastical organisation in Brittany, withdrawing it
from the jurisdiction of the Frankish metropolitan at Tours', was again
in arms. He seized upon Rennes, and ravaged the country as far as
Le Mans. Death put an abrupt end to his successes (7 March 851), but
his son and successor, Erispoë, obtained from Charles, who had been dis-
couraged by a fruitless expedition, his recognition as king of Brittany,
now enlarged by the districts of Nantes, Retz and Rennes.
Finally, the affairs of Aquitaine only just failed to rekindle war
between the Eastern and Western kings. The authority of Charles, in
spite of Pepin's oath of fealty, and in spite of the apparent submission
of the magnates in 848, had never been placed, to the south of the Loire,
on really solid foundations. In 849 he had been obliged to despatch a
fresh expedition into Aquitaine, which had failed in taking Toulouse.
But afterwards in 852 the chance of a skirmish threw Pepin into the
hands of Sancho, Count of Gascony, who handed him over to Charles the
Bald. The king at once had the captive tonsured and interned in a
monastery. But this did little to secure the submission of Aquitaine.
The very next year the magnates of the country sent envoys to Louis
the German offering him the crown, either for himself or one of his
sons, and threatening, if he refused it, to have recourse to the heathen,
either Saracen or Northman. Louis the German agreed to send one of his
sons, Louis the Younger, whom they might put at their head. But
Charles the Bald had become aware of what was intended against him,
for he is at once found making closer alliance with Lothar, whom he met
twice, first at Valenciennes and then at Liège. In the course of the
interviews the two sovereigns guaranteed to each other the peaceful
possession of their lands for themselves and their heirs. When they
separated, Aquitaine was in full revolt. Charles hastened to collect his
1 The question of the Breton schism has given rise within the last few years to
keen discussion between M. M. R. Merlet (La Chronique de Nantes, Paris, 1896,
8vo, p. xxxix et sqq. ); R. de la Borderie (Histoire de la Bretagne, tome 11. p. 480
et sqq. ); Mgr. Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, tome 11. p. 256 et sqq. );
L Levillain (‘Les réformes ecclésiastiques de Nomenoë' in the Moyen Age, 1901, p. 201
et sqq. ) and F. Lot ('Le schisme breton du ixe siècle'in Mélanges d'histoire
bretonne, Paris, 1907, 8vo, p. 58 et sqq. ) especially with regard to the value of the
original narratives dealing with these facts. It seems certain that the Breton prince
set up a metropolitanate of Dol. But it is more doubtful whether he created bishoprics
at Tréguier and Saint-Brieuc, which continued as before to be abbeys the Abbots
of which held the rank of Bishops.
3
C. BIED, H. VOL. III. CH. II.
## p. 34 (#80) ##############################################
34
Death of the Emperor Lothar
army, cross the Loire and march against the rebels, ravaging the
country as he went, devastated as it already was by the troops which
Louis the Younger had brought from beyond the Rhine. The news of a
colloquy between Lothar and his brother of Germany excited the distrust
of Charles the Bald, and abruptly recalled him to the north of Gaul, where
he came to Attigny to renew the alliance previously made with the
Emperor. Then, with his army he again set out for Aquitaine. But
what was of more service to him than these warlike demonstrations was the
re-appearance, south of the Loire, of Pepin II, who had escaped from his
prison. At the sight of their old prince, the Aquitanians very generally
abandoned the cause of Louis the Younger, who found himself forced to
return to Bavaria. But it does not appear that Charles the Bald looked
upon Pepin's power as very firmly established, for next year he gave a king
to the Aquitanians in the person of his own son Charles (the Younger)
whom he caused to be solemnly anointed at Limoges.
A few weeks earlier, Lothar, after having arranged for the division
of his lands among the three sons whom the Empress Ermengarde had
borne him, retired to the Abbey of Prüm. Here it was that on the
night of 28–29 September 855, his restless life reached its end.
The partition which the Emperor Lothar I had thus made of his
territories divided into three truncated portions the long strip of country
which by the treaty of 843 had fallen to him as the lot of the eldest
son of Louis the Pious. To Louis II, the eldest of the dead man's sons,
was given the imperial title, which he had borne since April 850, to-
gether with Italy. To the next, Lothar II, were bequeathed the districts
from Frisia to the Alps and between the Rhine and the Scheldt which
were to preserve his own name, for they were called Lotharii regnum,
i. e. Lorraine. For the youngest son, Charles, a new kingdom was
formed by the union of Provence proper with the duchy of Lyons
(i. e. the Lyonnais and the Viennois). For the rest, the two elder were
discontented with their share, and in an interview which they had with
their younger brother at Orbe attempted to force him into retirement
in order to take possession of his kingdom. Only the intervention of
the Provençal magnates saved the young prince Charles, and Lothar II
and Louis II were forced to carry out the last directions of their
father. But the death of Lothar I, whose position both in theory and
in fact had fitted him to act as in some sort a mediator between his
two brothers, endangered the maintenance of peace and concord.
Charles, who was a feeble epileptic, had no weight in the “ Carolingian
concert. ” It was only the kind of regency entrusted to Gerard, Count
of Vienne, renowned in legendary epic as Girard of Roussillon, which
secured the continued existence of the little kingdom of Provence.
Louis II, whose attention was concentrated on the struggle with the
Saracens, had to content himself with the part of “ Emperor of the
Italians," as the Frank annalists, not without a touch of contempt,
9
## p. 35 (#81) ##############################################
Growing disorder in the Western Kingdom
35
describe him. Only Lothar II, as ruler of the country where the Frank
empire had been founded, and whence its aristocracy had largely sprung,
might, in virtue of his comparative strength and the geographical
situation of his kingdom, count for something in the relations between
his two uncles. Thus at the very beginning of his reign we find Louis
the German seeking to come into closer touch with him at an interview
at Coblence (February 857). Lothar, however, remained constant to the
alliance made by his father with Charles the Bald, which he solemnly
renewed at Saint-Quentin.
The Western Kingdom was still in a distracted state. The treaty
concluded at Louviers with King Erispoë (10 February 856) had for a
time secured peace with the Bretons. Prince Louis, who was about to
become Erispoë's son-in-law, was to be entrusted with the government
of the march created on the Breton frontier, and known as the Duchy of
Maine. But the Northmen were becoming ever more menacing. In the
same year, 856, in the month of August, the Viking Sidroc made his
way
up the Seine and established himself at Pitres. A few weeks later he
was joined by another Danish chief, Björn Ironside, and together they
ravaged the country from the Seine to the Loire. In vain Charles,
despite the systematic opposition of a party among the magnates who
refused to join the host, shewed laudable energy in resisting their
advance, and even succeeded in inflicting a check upon them. In the
end, they established themselves at Oscellum, an island in the Seine
opposite Jeufosse, near Mantes, twice ascending the river as far as Paris,
which they plundered, taking prisoner and holding to ransom Louis,
Abbot of Saint-Denis, one of the chief personages of the kingdom. On
the other hand, Maine, in spite of the presence of Prince Louis, remained
a hotbed of disaffection to Charles. The whole family of the Count
Gauzbert, who had been beheaded for treason some few years before, was
in rebellion, supported by the magnates of Aquitaine, where Pepin II
had again taken up arms and was carrying on a successful struggle
with Charles the Young. Even outside Aquitaine discontent was rife.
Family rivalry intensified every difficulty. The clan then most in favour
with Charles was that of the Welfs, who were related to the Empress
Judith, the most prominent members of it being her brother Conrad,
lay Abbot of Jumièges and of St Riquier, who was one of the most
influential of the king's counsellors, and his nephews Conrad, Count
of Auxerre, and Hugh, Abbot of St Germain in the same town. The
relations of Queen Ermentrude, who were thrust somewhat on one side,
Adalard, Odo, Count of Troyes, and Robert the Strong, the successor in
Maine of young Louis whom the magnates had driven out, attracted
the discontented round them.
Charles had reason to be uneasy. Already in 853, the Aquitanians
had appealed to the king of Germany. In 856 the disloyal among the
magnates had again asked help of him, and only the necessity of
CH. II.
3-2
## p. 36 (#82) ##############################################
36
Fraternal quarrels
preparing for a war with the Slavs had prevented him from complying
with their request. Charles the Bald attempted to provide against such
contingencies. At Verberie near Senlis (856), at Quierzy near Laon (857
and 858), at Brienne (858), he demanded of his magnates that they
should renew their oath of fealty. In 858 he thought he could
sufficiently depend on them to venture on a new expedition against
the Northmen, who had fortified themselves in the island of Oscellum.
Charles the Younger and Pepin II of Aquitaine had promised their
help. Lothar II himself came with a Lotharingian contingent to take a
share in the campaign (summer of 858). This was the moment which
Adalard and Odo chose for addressing a fresh appeal to Louis the
German. The latter, who was on the point of marching anew against
the Slavs, hesitated long, if we are to trust his chroniclers. Finally,
“strong in the purity of his intentions, he preferred to serve the interests
of the many rather than to submit to the tyranny of one man.
. . " Above
all, he considered the opportunity favourable. Lothar's absence left
the road across Alsace clear for him, and by 1 September 858 he
had established himself in the Western Kingdom, in the palace of Pon-
thion. Here he was joined by such of the magnates as had deserted
Charles the Bald before the fortified Northmen. Thence by way of
Châlons-sur-Marne, he reached first Sens, whither he was called by its
Archbishop Ganelon, and then Orleans, shewing plainly his intention of
holding out a hand to the rebels of Le Mans and Aquitaine.
Charles, for his part, on hearing of the invasion, had hastily raised
the siege of Oscellum, and was on the march for Lorraine. Louis, fearing
to have his retreat to Germany cut off, retraced his steps, whereupon
the armies of the two brothers found themselves face to face in the
neighbourhood of Brienne. But the Frankish counts, whose support
was essential for the final success of either party, had a deep and well-
founded distaste for pitched battles ; the question for them, was merely
the greater or less number of “ benefices” which they might hope to
obtain from one or the other adversary. Recourse was consequently had
to negotiation, when despite the numerous embassies sent by Charles to
Louis, the latter shewed himself the more skilful of the two. By dint of
promises, he succeeded in corrupting nearly all his brother's vassals.
Charles found himself constrained to throw up the game, and retire to
Burgundy, the one province where his supporters were still in a
majority. Louis, seeing nothing to be gained by pursuing him thither,
betook himself to the palace of Attigny, whence on 7 December he
issued a diploma as king of Western Francia, and where he spent his
time in dealing out honours and benefices to those who had come over
to his side. But in order to make his triumph secure, he still had to
.
be acknowledged and consecrated by the Church. The episcopate of
the Western Kingdom, however, remained faithful to Charles, whether
through attachment to the principles of peace and concord, or through
## p. 37 (#83) ##############################################
Faithless nobles
37
dread of a new system founded on the ambitions of the lay aristocracy,
who were ever ready to extort payment for their support out of the
estates of the ecclesiastical magnates. Only Ganelon of Sens, forgetting
that he owed his preferment to Charles's favour, had taken sides with the
new sovereign, thus leaving his name to become in tradition that of the
most notorious traitor of medieval epic. The bishops of the provinces
of Rheims and Rouen being summoned by Louis to attend a council at
Rheims, contrived under the skilful guidance of Hincmar to hinder the
meeting from being held ; protesting meanwhile their good intentions,
but declaring it necessary to summon a general assembly of the epis-
copate, and demanding guarantees for the safety of Church property.
The presence of Louis the German in the province of Rheims, where he
came to spend the Christmas season, and to take up his winter quarters,
made no difference in the Bishops' attitude.
However, Charles the Bald, with the help of the Abbot Hugh and
Count Conrad, had rallied all the supporters that remained to him at
Auxerre. On 9 January he suddenly left his retreat and marched against
his brother. Many of the German lords had set out to return to their own
country. The Western magnates, not seeing any sufficient advantage to
be gained under the new government, shewed no more hesitation in de-
serting it than they had in accepting it. At Jouy, near Soissons, where
the sudden appearance of his brother took Louis by surprise, the German
found himself left with so small a proportion of his quondam followers
that in his turn he was forced to retreat without striking a blow. By
the spring of 859 Charles had regained his authority. Naturally, he
made use of it to punish those who had betrayed him. Adalard lost his
Abbey of Saint-Bertin which was given to the Abbot Hugh, and Odo
lost his counties. What makes it plain that for the magnates the whole
affair was simply a question of material gain, is that in the negotiations
which Charles opened with Louis the point that he specially insisted on
was that the latter, in exchange for the renewal of their alliance, should
abandon to his discretion those magnates who had shared in the defection,
in order that he might deprive them of their estates. The negotiations,
moreover, proved long and thorny, despite the intervention of Lothar II.
Synods and embassies, even an interview between the two sovereigns, in
a boat midway across the Rhine, produced no results.
It was not until
the colloquy held at St Castor in Coblence on 1 June 860, in the presence
of a large number of bishops, Hincmar being among them, that Louis
and Charles succeeded in coming to terms. Charles the Bald promised
to leave his magnates in possession of the fiefs which they had received
from Louis the German, reserving his right to deprive them of those
which he himself had previously bestowed on them. The oaths of peace
and concord made in 851 at Meersen were again sworn to. Louis made
a declaration to this effect in the German tongue, denouncing the
severest penalties on all who should violate the agreement, a declaration
CH. 11.
## p. 38 (#84) ##############################################
38
The divorce of Lothar II
afterwards repeated by Charles in the Romance language, and even in
German as far as the more important passages were concerned.
Briefly, it was a return to the status quo as it had been before the
sudden stroke attempted by Louis. A fresh match was about to be
played, the stake this time being the kingdom of Lothar II.
From about 860 to 870 the whole policy of the Carolingian kings
turns mainly on the question of the king of Lorraine's divorce and the
possible succession to his crown. In 855, Lothar had been compelled by
his father to marry Theutberga, a maiden of noble family, sister of a
lord named Hubert whose estates were situated on the upper valley of
the Rhone, and who seems about this time to have been made by the
Emperor governor “of the duchy between the Jura and the Alps
corresponding roughly to French Switzerland of to-day. The marriage
was evidently arranged with the object of ensuring for the young king
the support of a powerful family. But before it took place, Lothar had
had a mistress named Waldrada, by whom he had children, and this
woman seems to have acquired over him an extraordinary ascendency,
which contemporaries, as a matter of course, attribute to the use of
magic. From the very beginning of his reign, Lothar bent all his
energy towards the single end of ridding himself, by any possible means,
of the consort chosen by his father, and raising his former mistress to the
title and rank of a legitimate wife. Theutberga had not borne an heir
to Lothar and seems to have been considered incapable of doing so,
although this was not used as a weapon against her by her adversaries.
On the other hand, it was the consideration which determined the
attitude of the other sovereigns and helped to make the question of the
Lorraine divorce, it may almost be said, an international one. If
Lothar were to die childless, it would mean the partition of his in-
heritance among his relations, practically between his two uncles, for
his brother Charles, epileptic and near his end, was in no position to
interfere, while Louis II, himself without an heir, was too much occupied
in Southern Italy to be a very serious competitor.
Hostile measures against Theutberga had been taken almost at the
very beginning of the new king's reign. He hurled at his wife a charge
of incest with her brother Hubert. But a champion nominated by the
queen submitted himself on her behalf to the Judgment of God by the
ordeal of boiling water. The result was the solemn proclamation of
Theutberga's innocence, and Lothar II was obliged to yield to the
wishes of his nobles and take back his wife. Hubert, for his part, had
revolted, and under the pretext of defending his sister was indulging in
acts of brigandage in the upper valley of the Rhone. An expedition
sent against him by the king of Lorraine had produced no results.
Thus the cession made (859) by Lothar to his brother Louis II of the
three dioceses of Geneva, Lausanne and Sion had been designed, quite as
much to rid the kingdom of Lorraine of a turbulent noble as to conciliate
a
## p. 39 (#85) ##############################################
Hincmar intervenes
39
a
the good will of the Emperor. In the same way, Lothar had, the year
before, attempted to win over Charles of Provence, by ceding to him
the two dioceses of Belley and Tarentaise, in exchange, indeed, for a
treaty securing to him the inheritance of his young brother, in the
event, which seemed not unlikely, of the latter's dying childless. The
conflict of 858–9 had displayed Lothar's anxiety to keep on good terms
with both of his uncles by abstaining from interference on behalf of
either. At the same time an active campaign was being kept up against
Theutberga, organised by two prelates devoted to the king of Lorraine,
Theutgaud, Archbishop of Trèves, and Gunther, Archbishop of Cologne.
The latter even, with skilful treachery, contrived to become confessor to
the persecuted queen. In January 860, Lothar thought himself sure
enough of his position to convoke a council at Aix-la-Chapelle before
which he appeared, declaring that his wife herself acknowledged her
guilt, and petitioned to be allowed to take the veil. The bishops did
not profess themselves convinced, and demanded that a fresh assembly
should be held, to which were summoned foreign bishops and in par-
ticular Hincmar. But the latter did not respond to the invitation, and
it was at a synod composed exclusively of Lorrainers, and again held at
Aix, that Theutberga herself was present and read a confession, evidently
drawn up by Gunther and his accomplices, in which she acknowledged
herself guilty of the crimes imputed to her. On this occasion the
bishops were obliged to accept as valid the declaration thus made by the
queen and to condemn her. But they avoided coming to a decision on
the point which lay nearest to Lothar's heart, viz. the possibility of
his contracting another marriage. He was forced to content himself
with the imprisonment of Theutberga without advancing any further
towards the execution of his plans.
Some months later the dispute was re-opened. Hincmar stepped
into the lists by putting forth his voluminous treatise De divortio
Lotharii, in which he shewed clearly the weakness of the arguments used
against Theutberga, and pronounced confessions extorted by constraint
and violence null, while demanding that the question should be examined
in a general council of the bishops of the Franks. The treatise of the
Archbishop of Rheims was of exceptional importance, due not only
to the reputation which he enjoyed in the ecclesiastical world as a
theologian and canonist, but also to his political prominence in the
Western Kingdom as the adviser of Charles the Bald. The latter thus
took his place among the declared opponents of Lothar II's matrimonial
policy. He gave further proof of this attitude by affording shelter in his
kingdom to Hubert, who was forced to quit Lorraine, and to Theutberga,
who had succeeded in making her escape. Lothar, indeed, retorted
by offering a refuge to Judith, Charles's daughter, the widow of the
old English king Aethelwulf; she had just arranged to be carried off by
Baldwin Iron-arm, first Count of Flanders, son of Odoacer, whom she
CH. II.
## p. 40 (#86) ##############################################
40
Charles the Bald and his ambitions
a
married in spite of her father's opposition. And Charles at the same time
met with a check in Provence. Called in by a party of the magnates of
the country, he had imagined himself in a position to lay hands on his
nephew's kingdom. But Gerard of Roussillon was mounting guard over
the young prince, and in the face of his energetic opposition, Charles was
obliged to beat a retreat after having advanced as far as Burgundy
(861). At the same time Lothar was making advances to his other
uncle, Louis the German, whose friendship he endeavoured to make sure
of by ceding to him Alsace, or at least the prospect of possessing it
whenever the king of Lorraine should die. Lothar now thought himself
strong enough to convoke at Aix a fresh council, which this time
declared the marriage contracted with Theutberga null and void, and
consequently pronounced the king free to form a fresh union. Lothar,
before long, made use of this permission by marrying Waldrada and
having her solemnly crowned. But Theutberga, for her part, appealed
to the Pope to quash the sentences pronounced against her. Lothar
retorted by petitioning the sovereign pontiff to confirm the judgments
which had been given. At the same time, in concert with Louis the
German, he complained to the Pope of the conduct of Charles the Bald,
“who, without any show of right, was seeking to lay hands on the
inheritance of his nephews. ”
Meanwhile Charles was gaining power in his own kingdom. He had
just defeated the Bretons under their King Solomon, and suppressed a
revolt of his own son Louis the Stammerer, while the magnates who had
risen against him in 858–859 were one by one making their submission
to him. The invasions by the Northmen indeed were still going on.
Paris had again been pillaged in 861. The hordes of the viking
Weland, whom Charles had hoped to hire for money and employ
against their compatriots in the island of Oscellum, had made common
cause with the latter and had ravaged the Seine valley as far as Melun.
Charles had discovered a method of resisting them, and from the time
of the assembly at Pitres (862) began to put it into practice. It was to
have fortified works constructed along the rivers which the Normans
ascended, particularly bridges, which should bar the way to the invaders.
This new departure in tactics produced fairly good results during the
years that followed. In 862, Charles, in this way, cut off the retreat of
the bands which had forced their way into the Meaux country, and
compelled them to promise to give up the prisoners they had made and
to quit the kingdom. During the succeeding years, we find the king
taking measures to complete the defences of the valleys of the Seine and
Oise. It is true that these precautions did not hinder the Northmen
from again burning Paris in 865, and from penetrating as far as Melun
in 866. This time Charles could only rid himself of them by paying
them ransom. But on the other hand, the Marquess Robert the Strong
defeated the Northmen of the Loire on several occasions, and up to his
## p. 41 (#87) ##############################################
Death of Charles of Provence
41
death in the fight at Brissarthe (866) the valour of “the Maccabaeus of
France” opposed substantial resistance to the invaders of Anjou and
Maine.
In the affair of Lothar, neither Charles nor Hincmar would give way.
The king of Western Francia had shewn himself determined strenuously
to maintain the fight on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage, and
declared that he would hold no further intercourse with his nephew until
he should take back Theutberga. He repeated this resolution at the
interview which he had with his brother Louis at Savonnières near
Toul (November 862), to which Lothar had sent as his representatives
several of the bishops of his kingdom. Charles accused his nephew of
being a cause of double scandal to the Christian Church by the favour he
had shewn to the guilty connexion between Baldwin and Judith, and by
marrying Waldrada without waiting for the opinion of the Pope. He
called for the assembling of a general council to pronounce definitively on
both these questions. In the end, Lothar agreed, so far as Judith's case
was concerned, but in the matter of the divorce he declared that he
would await the decision of the Pope. Charles was obliged to be content
with this reply, and to take leave of his brother, having done nothing
more than renew the treaty of peace and alliance concluded in 860 at
Coblence.
The death of Charles of Provence (25 January 863) made little
change in the respective positions of the sovereigns. The dead man left
no children; his heirs therefore were his two brothers, for Louis II does
not appear to have recognised the treaty concluded in 858 between
Charles and Lothar II, by which the latter was to succeed to the whole of
the inheritance. Therefore the two rivals hastened to reach Provence,
each being eager to win over the magnates of the country to his own side.
The seemingly inevitable conflict was warded off, thanks to an agreement
which gave Provence, strictly so-called, as far as the Durance to the
Emperor, and to the king of Lorraine the Lyonnais and the Viennois,
that is to say the Duchy of Lyons, of which Gerard of Roussillon was
governor.
But the question of Theutberga was still not definitely settled, and
for the years that followed, it remained the subject of difficult negotia-
tions, on the one hand between the different Frankish sovereigns, and on
the other between these sovereigns and the Pope. The situation was
eminently favourable to a Pope of the character of Nicholas I, who, in
858 had taken the place of Benedict III on the papal throne. Being
petitioned to intervene at once by Theutberga, Lothar, and the
opponents of Lothar, he could take up the position of the arbiter of the
Christian world. Meanwhile, without deciding the question himself, he
resolved to hand over the settlement of it to a great council to be
held at Metz at which not only the bishops of Lorraine should be
present, but two representatives of the episcopate in each of the
ch. II.
## p. 42 (#88) ##############################################
42
Pope Nicholas I
kingdoms of France, Germany and Provence. The assembly was to be
presided over by two envoys from the Holy See, John, Bishop of Cervia,
and Radoald, Bishop of Porto. But Lothar's partisans were on the
alert, and were working to gain time. The papal letters carried by the
.
two legates were stolen from them by skilful thieves and they were forced
to apply for new ones. While they were waiting, and while, on the
other hand, Lothar's absence in Provence to take up the inheritance of
his brother delayed the calling of the Council, the emissaries of Gunther
and Theutgaud succeeded in bribing Radoald and his colleague. The
legates failed to convoke the foreign bishops, and the purely Lothar-
ingian synod held at Metz was a tool in the hands of Gunther. It
therefore confirmed the decisions of the assembly of Aix, basing them
on the ground of an alleged marriage between Lothar and Waldrada,
previous to his union with Theutberga (June 863).
This statement, improbable as being now produced for the first time,
did not suffice to appease the righteous anger of Nicholas I when he
learned by what methods the case had been conducted. He did not
hesitate to quash the decisions of the Council, to condemn Radoald and
John, and, irregular as the proceeding was, to depose Gunther and
Theutgaud by the exercise of his own authority. On the other hand,
Louis II, who had shewn some disposition, at first, to support the
Lotharingian bishops, now abandoned his brother, in spite of the
interview which he had just had with him at Orbe. Louis the German
and Charles the Bald, on the contrary, drew closer together. In February
865, they had an interview at Tusey, where, under colour of renewing
their mutual oaths of peace and concord, and of reprehending their
nephew, they arranged a treaty for the eventual partition of his lands.
The Lotharingian bishops became restive, and drew up a protest to
their brethren in Gaul and Provence, in which they declared themselves
ready to support their sovereign “ calumniated by the malignant. "
.
Lothar, equally alarmed, dreading an armed collision with his uncles,
and dreading no less that the Pope should pronounce him excommuni-
cate, thought it advisable to have recourse himself to the Holy
See, and by the mediation of the Emperor to announce to the
Pope that he was prepared to submit to his decision, provided that
a guarantee was given him that the integrity of his kingdom should be
respected.
Nicholas I was now become the mediator between kings and the
supreme judge of Christendom. He immediately despatched a legate,
Arsenius, Bishop of Orta, with orders to convey to the three sovereigns
the expression of the Pope's will. After an interview with Louis the
German at Frankfort, Arsenius reached Lothar's court at Gondreville
by the month of July 865, and in the Pope's name, called upon him
to take back Theutberga on pain of excommunication. Lothar was
obliged to promise obedience. Arsenius then betook himself to Attigny
## p. 43 (#89) ##############################################
Triumph of Nicholas I
43
to present to Charles the Bald letters from the Pope, exhorting him
to respect his nephew's territory. From thence he went back to Lor-
raine, bringing with him Theutberga whom he restored to her husband.
On 15 August he celebrated a solemn High Mass before the royal
pair who were invested with the insignia of sovereignty, before he began
his return journey to Rome, on which he was accompanied by Waldrada,
who, in her turn, was to answer for her actions before the Pope. The
legation had resulted in a triumph for Nicholas. In the presence of the
Pope's clearly expressed requirements, peace had been restored between
the kings, and Theutberga had regained her rank as queen. Thanks to
his own firmness and skill, the Pope had acted as supreme arbiter; not
only Lothar, but Charles the Bald and Louis the German had been
obliged to bow before him.
Nevertheless, in the succeeding years, it would appear that Lothar
conceived some hope of being able to re-open the divorce question and
attain his desired object. Waldrada had hardly arrived at Pavia, when
without the formality of a farewell, she succeeded in eluding the legate
and in returning to Lorraine, where she remained, in spite of the excom-
munication launched against her by Nicholas I. Besides this, Charles
the Bald's attitude towards his nephew became somewhat less uncom-
promising, doubtless on account of the temporary disgrace of Hincmar,
the most faithful champion of the cause of the indissolubility of mar-
riage. The king of the Western Franks even had a meeting with
Lothar at Ortivineas, perhaps Orvignes near Bar-le-Duc, when the two
princes agreed to take up the divorce question afresh by sending an
embassy to Rome under the direction of Egilo, the metropolitan of Sens.
But the Pope refused point-blank to fall in with their views, and replied
by addressing the bitterest reproaches to Charles, and above all to
Lothar, whom he forbade ever to dream of renewing his relations with
Waldrada. The death of Nicholas I (13 November 867) gave a new
aspect to affairs. His successor, Hadrian II, was a man of much less firm-
ness and consistency, almost of a timorous disposition, and much under
the influence of Louis II, that is, of Lothar's brother and ally. Thus,
while refusing to receive Theutberga, whom Lothar had thought of
compelling to accuse herself before the Pope, and while congratulating
Hincmar on his attitude throughout the affair, and again proclaiming
the principle of the indissolubility of marriage, the new Pope soon
relieved Waldrada from her sentence of excommunication. Lothar
resolved to go and plead his cause in person
Hadrian con-
sented to his taking this step, which Nicholas I had always refused to
sanction. The only consideration which could arouse Lothar's uneasiness
was the attitude of his uncles. The latter, indeed, despite a recent
letter from the Pope taking up the position of the defender of the
integrity of the kingdoms, had just come to an agreement at St Arnulf's
of Metz, that “in case God should bestow on them the kingdoms of
at Rome.
CH. II.
## p. 44 (#90) ##############################################
44
Death of Lothar II
215
!
1
а
their nephews, they would proceed to a fair and amitable division of
them” (867 or 868)'.
However, in the spring of 869, having extracted from Charles and
Louis some vague assurances that they would undertake nothing against
his kingdom during his absence, even if he married Waldrada, Lothar
set out on his journey with the intention of visiting the Emperor in order
to obtain his support at the papal court. Louis II was then at
Benevento, warring against the Saracens. At first he shewed himself
little disposed to interfere, but his wife, Engilberga, proved willing to
play the part of mediator, and, in the end, an interview took place at
Monte Cassino between Hadrian and Lothar. The latter received the
Eucharist from the hands of the Pope, less, perhaps, as the pledge of
pardon than as a kind of judgment of God.
« Receive this com-
munion,” the Pope is reported to have said to Lothar, “if thou art
innocent of the adultery condemned by Nicholas. If, on the contrary,
thy conscience accuse thee of guilt, or if thou art minded to fall back
into sin, refrain; otherwise by this Sacrament thou shalt be judged and
condemned. ” A dramatic colouring may have been thrown over the
incident, but when he left Monte Cassino, Lothar bore with him the
promise that the question should again be submitted to a Council. This,
for him, meant the hope of undoing the sentence of Nicholas I. Death,
which surprised him on his way back, at Piacenza, on 8 August 869,
put an end to his plans.
His successor, by right of inheritance, was, strictly speaking, the
Emperor Louis. But he was little known outside his Italian kingdom,
and appears not to have had many supporters in Lorraine, unless
perhaps in the duchy of Lyons, which was close to his Provençal pos-
sessions. In Lorraine proper, on the contrary, there were two opposed
parties, a German party and a French party, each supporting one of the
uncles of the dead king. But Louis the German was detained at Ratis-
bon by sickness.
Thus circumstances favoured Charles the Bald, who hastened to take
advantage of them by entering Lorraine. An embassy from the magnates,
which came to meet him at Attigny to remind him of the respect due
to the treaty which he had made with his brother at Metz, produced no
result. By way of Verdun he reached Metz, where in the presence of
the French and Lotharingian nobles, and of several prelates, among
them the Bishops of Toul, Liège, and Verdun, Charles was solemnly
crowned king of Lorraine in the cathedral of St Stephen on 9 September
869. When, a little later, he heard of the death of his wife Queen
Ermentrude (6 October), Charles sought to strengthen his position in the
country by taking first as his mistress and afterwards as his lawful wife
1 The date 867 is generally accepted. On the other hand, M. Calmette, in La
diplomatie carolingienne, pp. 195, 399, gives arguments of some force in favour
of 868.
1
5
3
## p. 45 (#91) ##############################################
Contest for Lorraine
45
(22 January 870) a noble lady named Richilda, a relation of Theutberga,
the former queen, belonging to one of the most important families in
Lorraine; on her brother Boso Charles heaped honours and benefices.
Neither Louis the German nor Louis II could do more than protest
against the annexation of Lorraine to the Western Kingdom, the former
in virtue of the Treaty of Metz, the latter in right of his near relation-
ship to the dead king. To the envoys of both, Charles the Bald had
returned evasive answers, while he was convoking the magnates of his
new kingdom at Gondreville to obtain from them the oath of fealty.
But those who attended the assembly were few in number. Louis the
German's party was recovering strength. Charles was made aware of it
when he attempted to substitute for the deposed Gunther in the see of
Cologne, a French candidate, Hilduin. The Archbishop of Mayence,
Liutbert, a faithful supporter of the king of Germany, set up in
opposition a certain Willibert who ultimately won the day. On the
other hand, Charles was more successful at Trèves, where he was able to
instal the candidate of his choice.
Meanwhile, Louis the German, having recovered, had collected an
army, and, calling on his brother to evacuate his conquest, marched in
his turn upon Lorraine, where his partisans came round him to do him
homage (spring 870). An armed struggle seemed imminent, but the
Carolingians had little love for fighting. Brisk negotiations began, in
which the principal part was taken by Liutbert, Archbishop of Mayence,
representing Louis, and Odo, Bishop of Beauvais, on behalf of Charles.
In the end, the diplomatists came to an agreement based on the partition
of Lorraine. The task of carrying it into effect was at first entrusted
to a commission of magnates, but difficulties were not long in arising.
It was decided that the two kings should meet. But the interview was
delayed by an accident which happened to Louis the German, through
a foor giving way, and only took place on 8 August at Meersen on the
banks of the Meuse. Here the manner of the division of Lothar II's former
dominions was definitely settled. The Divisio regni, the text of which
has been preserved in the Annals of Hincmar, shews that no atten-
tion was paid to natural boundaries, to language or even to existing
divisions, whether ecclesiastical or civil, since certain counties were cut
in two, e. g. the Ornois. An endeavour was made to divide between the
two sovereigns, as equally as possible, the sources of revenue, i. e. the
counties, bishoprics and abbeys. Louis received the bishoprics of
Cologne, Trèves, Metz, Strasbourg and Basle, with a portion of those of
Toul and Liège. Charles, besides a large share of the two last, was
given that of Cambrai, together with the metropolitan see of Besançon,
and the counties of Lyons and Vienne with the Vivarais, that is to say
the lands which Lothar had acquired after the death of Charles of
Provence. Without entering into details as to the division of the pagi
in the north part of the kingdom of Lorraine, from the mouths of the
CH. II.
## p. 46 (#92) ##############################################
46
Partition of Meersen
Rhine to Toul, it is substantially true to say that the course of the
Meuse and a part of that of the Moselle formed the border line between
the two kingdoms. Thence the frontier ran to the Saône valley, and the
limits thus fixed, although not lasting, had distinct influence later in
the Middle Ages.
Hardly was the treaty of Meersen concluded, when the brother-kings
of Gaul and Germany were confronted by deputies from the Pope and
the Emperor, protesting, in the name of the latter, against the conduct
of his uncles in thus robbing him of the inheritance which was his by
right. Hincmar replied by endeavouring to justify his master, and by
dwelling on the necessity of preserving peace in Lorraine; Charles, for
his part, bestowed fair words and rich gifts on the Pope. As to Louis
the German, he professed himself ready to make over what he had
acquired of Lothar's lands to Louis II. These assurances, however, were
not followed by any practical result, and Charles spent the latter part of
the year in completing the subjection of the southern part of his newly-
acquired dominions. Lyons was occupied without a struggle. Only
Vienne, which was defended by Bertha, wife of Gerard of Roussillon, who
was himself ensconced in a castle in the neighbourhood, made some
resistance, surrendering, however, in the end (24 December 870).
Charles was recalled to Francia by the rebellion of his son Carloman, who
had forsaken his father's expedition in order to collect bands of partisans
and ravage his kingdom. Louis the German was at the same time
engaged in a struggle with his two sons who had risen against him.
Charles confided the government of the Viennois and Provence to his
brother-in-law Boso as duke, and turned homewards.
In the meanwhile, a report spread through Gaul and Germany that
the Emperor Louis II had been taken prisoner and put to death by
Adelchis, Prince of Benevento. In reality the latter had merely subjected
his sovereign to a few days' captivity (August 871). But Louis the
German and Charles the Bald had lost no time in shewing that each
intended to appropriate for himself the inheritance left by the deceased ;
Louis by sending his son Charles the Fat beyond the Alps, in order to
gather adherents, and Charles by setting out himself at the head of an
army. However, he went no farther than Besançon, when the two com-
petitors were stopped by the news that the Emperor was still alive. But
during the three following years we find both brothers bent on eventually
securing the heritage of the king of Italy; Louis the German being
supported, it would seem, by the Empress Engilberga, while Charles the
Bald, who had rid himself of his rebellious son Carloman, whom he had
succeeded in making prisoner and whose eyes he had put out, was trying
to form a party among the Roman nobles and those surrounding the new
Pope, John VIII, who in December 872 had taken the place of Hadrian.
The death of Louis II at Brescia (12 August 875) led to an open
struggle between the two rivals.
## p. 47 (#93) ##############################################
The Emperor Louis II in Italy
47
For a long time the kingdom of Italy had stood considerably apart
from the other Carolingian states. Louis the Pious and Lothar had
already placed it in a somewhat special position by sending as their re-
presentatives there each his eldest son, already associated in the Empire,
and bearing the title of king. Since 855 the Emperor had been restricted
to the possession of Italy, where he had already received the royal title
in 844, and where his coronation as joint-Emperor had taken place
(Rome, April 850). Apart from matters concerning the inheritance of
his brothers, it does not seem that Louis II held that his office imposed
on him the duty of interfering in affairs beyond the Alps. The Emperor
had been obliged to devote his chief attention to his duties as king of
Italy, and the defence of the country entrusted to him against the attacks
of its enemies, particularly the Saracens. But circumstances were too
strong for him, and in spite of his activity and energy, Louis II was
fated to wear himself out in a struggle of thirty years, and yet neither
to leave undisputed authority to his successor, nor finally to expel the
Muslims from Italian soil. The royal power had never been very great
in the peninsula.
