While he was speaking, the bodyguards appeared, at sight of whom the panic-stricken Desiderius cried out, “There comes Charlemagne.” Ottocar again assured him he was not there.
Then came bishops, abbés, the clergy of the royal chapel, and the grandees. Desiderius exclaimed with a groan, “Let us hide ourselves in the bowels of the earth, far away from the sight of this terrible enemy!”
Hardly had he uttered these words when they saw something in the west like a black cloud driven by the northeast wind. The glimmer of weapons foretold a day for the doomed city as dark as night. Then Charlemagne himself appeared—that man of iron, iron-helmeted and gauntleted, his breast and shoulders in coat of iron mail, with lance uplifted in his right hand, his left grasping his sword-hilt.
Famine and pestilence forced the surrender of the city. Desiderius was deposed and his throne declared forfeited, and he was sent first to Luttich and thence to the monastery of Corvey,[24] where he was compelled to spend his remaining days in the exercise of penance. His son, Adalgis, escaped a like fate by flight. After the surrender the Archbishop of Milan crowned Charlemagne with the Iron Crown, so called because a nail from the Cross, said to have been brought by the Empress Hélène from Jerusalem, was set among its jewels.
Immediately after the coronation, Paulus Diaconus,[25] famous as a historian, tried to incite revolt. He was arrested, brought before the military court, and sentenced to a shameful death. Charlemagne, however, did not execute the penalty. He admired the man for his patriotism and gave him his freedom. He established a constitution and laws for the Lombards, and after settling the affairs of their kingdom, received news of the Saxon uprising.
Chapter IV
The First Eleven Years of the Saxon War
We must now consider the longest and most desperate of Charlemagne’s wars—that waged against the Saxons, which began before his campaign against Desiderius and lasted not less than thirty-three years.
A bitter race antagonism had long prevailed between the Franks and the Saxons. As already related, the latter had been subjugated by Charlemagne’s predecessors and forced to pay tribute. Saxony extended along both sides of the Weser, westerly to the vicinity of the lower Rhine, southwesterly to the Harz[26] and the Unstrut,[27] and northerly to the ocean, except the country occupied by the Frisians. Four races inhabited Saxony—the Westphalians, living between the Weser and the Issel; the Eastphalians, on the right bank of the Weser to the Elbe; the Eugen, between both these; and the Northmen, or Nordalbingi,[28] who lived on both sides of the Elbe. “Phalen” or “Falen” means a great plain, and one of these names (Westphalia) is in use to-day.
The Saxons were not far advanced in civilization. The hatred which they entertained against the Germans, who had been converted to Christianity by Boniface[29] and other missionaries, had caused them to break off friendly intercourse with their ancestral associates. They worshipped Odin and other heathen divinities in their forests, as of old. Charlemagne conducted his campaign against them, not so much in the interest of religion as to overthrow the power of a dangerous neighbor, before he went to Italy to subjugate Desiderius. He invaded Saxony and occupied Eresburg, in the vicinity of which was Irminsul, the mystic idol revered by the Saxons.[30] Its significance is still doubtful. Some maintain that it typified the world-ash tree “Ygdrasil,” whose trunk, the Germans believed, was rooted in the underworld and whose branches shadowed Odin’s palace, Walhalla. Others contend that it was a memorial of Arminius who freed Germany from the Roman yoke. The Irminsul was demolished by the Franks. The Saxons at last sued for peace, which Charlemagne granted after they had given him twelve hostages. Then he retired with his army.
After this opening success over the Saxons, Charlemagne began his campaign against Desiderius; but hardly had he deposed the Lombardian King before he received the news that the Saxons, in violation of their promise to remain peaceable, had invaded Hesse and were laying it waste. He appeared among them so suddenly and in such force that they were again easily overcome. Once more they submitted, sent him hostages, and were pardoned. It was not his good fortune, however, to enjoy the fruits of victory long. An uprising in Italy, led by Adalgis, son of Desiderius, who had previously escaped, as has been related, next confronted him. Adalgis betook himself to the court of the Greek Emperor to seek his assistance, and made an alliance with his brother-in-law Arighis, Duke of Benevento,[31] who had married the rejected Desiderata. By this alliance he secured the help of the other Italian nobles, who had been left undisturbed upon condition of remaining loyal. The landing of Adalgis with his Greek auxiliaries was the signal for an uprising. Upon receipt of the news of his enemy’s designs from the Pope, Charlemagne hastened to Italy. Only one of the nobles, however, Duke Rotgund in Friaul, had ventured to take up arms, and he was quickly defeated, taken prisoner, and made to do penance the rest of his life. The remaining nobles were stripped of their possessions and the country was divided into earldoms, governed by Frankish nobles.