The remainder of Ludwig's reign might have been untroubled, but for a family difficulty. The Empress Judith demanded that her son, Karl, should also have a kingdom, like his three step-brothers. An Imperial Diet was therefore called together at Worms, in 829, and, in spite of fierce opposition, a new kingdom was formed out of parts of Burgundy, Switzerland and Suabia. The three sons, Lothar, Pippin and Ludwig, acquiesced at first; but when a Spanish count, Bernard, was appointed regent during Karl's minority, the two former began secretly to conspire against their father. They took him captive in France, and endeavored, but in vain, to force him to retire into a monastery. The sympathies of the people were with him, and by their help he was able, the following year, to regain his authority, and force his sons to submit.
833.
Ludwig, however, manifested his preference for his last son, Karl, so openly that in 833 his three other sons united against him, and a war ensued which lasted nearly five years. Finally, when the two armies stood face to face, on a plain near Colmar, in Alsatia, and a bloody battle between father and sons seemed imminent, the Pope, Gregory IV., suddenly made his appearance. He offered his services as a mediator, went to and fro, and at last treacherously carried all the Emperor's chief supporters over to the camp of the sons. Ludwig, then sixty years old and broken in strength and spirit, was forced to surrender. The people gave the name of "The Field of Lies" to the scene of this event.
The old Emperor was compelled by his sons to give up his sword, to appear as a penitent in Church, and to undergo such other degradations, that the sympathies of the people were again aroused in his favor. They rallied to his support from all sides: his authority was restored, Lothar, the leader of the rebellion, fled to Italy, Pippin had died shortly before, and Ludwig proffered his submission. The old man now had a prospect of quiet; but the machinations of the Empress Judith on behalf of her son, Karl, disturbed his last years. His son Ludwig was marching against him for the second time, when he died, in 840, on an island in the Rhine, near Ingelheim.
The death of Ludwig the Pious was the signal for a succession of fratricidal wars. His youngest son, Karl the Bald, first united his interests with those of his eldest step-brother, Lothar, but he soon went over to Ludwig's side, while Lothar allied himself with the sons of Pippin, in Aquitaine. A terrific battle was fought near Auxerre, in France, in the summer of 841. Lothar was defeated, and Ludwig and Karl then determined to divide the Empire between them. The following winter they came together, with their nobles and armies, near Strasburg, and vowed to keep faith with each other thenceforth. The language of France and Germany, even among the descendants of the original Franks, was no longer the same, and the oath which was drawn up for the occasion was pronounced by Karl in German to the army of Ludwig, and by Ludwig in French to the army of Karl. The text of it has been preserved, and it is a very interesting illustration of the two languages, as they were spoken a thousand years ago. We will quote the opening phrases:
EMPIRE of CHARLEMAGNE, (with the Treaty of Verdun, A. D. 843.)
Ludwig (French). Pro Deo amur et (pro) Christian poblo
Karl (German). In Godes minna ind (in thes) Christianes folches
English. In God's love and (that of the) Christian folk
Ludwig. et nostro comun salvament,— dist di in avant,
Karl. ind unser bedhero gehaltnissi,—fon thesemo dage framordes,
English. and our mutual preservation,—from this day forth,
Ludwig.— in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, &c.
Karl. — so fram so mir God gewiczi ind mahd furgibit, &c.
English. —as long as to me God knowledge and might gives, &c.
843.
It is very easy to see, from this slight specimen, how much the language of the Franks had been modified by the Gallic-Latin, and how much of the original tongue (taking the Gothic Bible of Ulfila as an evidence of its character) has been retained in German and English. About the same time there was written in the Low-German, or Saxon dialect, a Gospel narrative in verse, called the Heliand ("Saviour"), many lines of which are almost identical with early English; as the following: