A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

Karl Martel was recalled to the opposite end of the kingdom by a fresh invasion of the Saxons. When this had been repelled, and the northern frontier in Germany strengthened against the hostile race, the Burgundian nobles in Provence sought a fresh alliance with the Saracens, and compelled him to return instantly from the Weser to the shores of the Mediterranean. He suppressed the rebellion, but was obliged to leave the Saracens in possession of a part of the coast, between the Rhone and the Pyrenees. During his stay in the south of France, the Pope, Gregory II., entreated him to come to Italy and relieve Rome from the oppression of Luitprand, king of the Longobards. He did not accept the invitation, but it appears that, as mediator, he assisted in concluding a treaty between the Pope and king, which arranged their differences for a time.

741.

Worn out by his life of marches and battles, Karl Martel became prematurely old, and died in 741, at the age of fifty, after a reign of twenty-seven years. He inherited the activity, the ability, and also the easy principles of his father, Pippin of Heristall. But his authority was greatly increased, and he used it to lessen the remnant of their original freedom which the people still retained. The free Germanic Franks were accustomed to meet every year, in the month of March (as on the Champ de Mars, or March-field, at Paris), and discuss all national matters. In Chlodwig's time the royal dependents were added to the free citizens and allowed an equal voice, which threw an additional power into the hands of the monarch. Karl Martel convoked the national assembly, declared war or made peace, without asking the people's consent; while, by adding the priesthood and the nobles, with their dependents, to the number of those entitled to vote, he broke down the ancient power of the state and laid the foundation of a more absolute system.

Shortly before his death, Karl Martel summoned a council of the princes and nobles of his realm, and obtained their consent that his eldest son, Karloman, should succeed him as Royal Steward of Germany, and his second son, Pippin, surnamed the Short, as Royal Steward of France and Burgundy. The Merovingian throne had already been vacant for four years, but the monarch had become so insignificant that this circumstance was scarcely noticed. On his death-bed, however, Karl Martel was persuaded by Swanhilde, one of his wives, to bequeath a part of his dominions to her son, Grifo. This gave rise to great discontent among the people, and furnished the subject Dukes of Bavaria, Alemannia and Aquitaine with another opportunity for endeavoring to regain their lost independence.

752. PIPPIN THE SHORT MADE KING.

Karloman and Pippin, in order to strengthen their cause, sought for a descendant of the Merovingian line, and, having found him, they proclaimed him king, under the name of Childeric III. This step secured to them the allegiance of the Franks, but the conflict with the refractory Dukedoms lasted several years. Battles were fought on the Loire, on the Lech, in Bavaria, and then again on the Saxon frontier: finally Aquitaine was subdued, Alemannia lost its Duke and became a Frank province, and Bavaria agreed to a truce. In this struggle, Karloman and Pippin received important support from Bonifacius, a part of whose aim it was to bring all the Christian communities to acknowledge the Pope of Rome as the sole head of the Church. They gave him their support in return, and thus the Franks were drawn into closer relations with the ecclesiastical power.

In the year 747, Karloman resigned his power, went to Rome, and was made a monk by Pope Zacharias. Soon afterwards Grifo, the son of Karl Martel and Swanhilde, made a second attempt to conquer his rights, with the aid of the Saxons. Pippin the Short allied himself with the Wends, a Slavonic race settled in Prussia, and ravaged the Saxon land, forcing a part of the inhabitants, at the point of the sword, to be baptized as Christians. Grifo fled to Bavaria, where the Duke, Tassilo, espoused his cause, but Pippin the Short followed close upon his heels with so strong a force that resistance was no longer possible. A treaty was made whereby Grifo was consigned to private life, the hereditary rights of the Bavarian Dukes recognized by the Franks, and the sovereignty of the Franks accepted by the Bavarians.

Pippin the Short had found, through his own experience as well as that of his ancestors, that the pretence of a Merovingian king only worked confusion in the realm of the Franks, since it furnished to the subordinate races and principalities a constant pretext for revolt. When, therefore, Pope Zacharias found himself threatened by Aistulf, the successor of Luitprand as king of the Longobards, and sent an embassy to Pippin the Short appealing for his assistance, the latter returned to him this question: "Does the kingdom belong to him who exercises the power, without the name, or to him who bears the name, without possessing the power?" The answer was what he expected: a general assembly was called together in 752, Pippin was anointed King by the Archbishop Bonifacius, then lifted on a shield according to the ancient custom and accepted by the nobles and people. The shadowy Merovingian king, Childeric III., was shorn of his long hair, the sign of royalty, and sent into a monastery, where he disappeared from the world. Pippin now possessed sole and unlimited sway over the kingdom of the Franks, and named himself "King by the Grace of God,"—an example which has been followed by most monarchs, down to our day. On the other hand, the decision of Zacharias was a great step gained by the Papal power, which thenceforth began to exalt its prerogatives over those of the rulers of nations.

755.

Pippin's first duty, as king, was to repel a new invasion of the Saxons. His power was so much increased by his title that he was able, at once, to lead against them such a force that they were compelled to pay a tribute of 300 horses annually, and to allow Christian missionaries to reside among them. The latter condition was undoubtedly the suggestion of Bonifacius, who determined to carry the cross to the North Sea, and complete the conversion of Germany. He himself undertook a mission to Friesland, where he had failed as a young monk, and there, in 755, at the age of seventy-five, he was slain by the fierce pagans. He died like a martyr; refusing to defend himself, and was enrolled among the number of Saints.