Christoph and Sergius succeeded in electing a Roman as Pope, who took the name of Stephen the Third; but as he did not manage affairs to please them, they determined to depose him by force. Realizing the danger which threatened him, Stephen appealed to Desiderius, who again showed himself ready for any service which should inure to his own advantage. The most friendly assurances were extended, and Stephen, in letters to Charlemagne and his mother, could hardly find words to sound the praises of Desiderius, who was doing so much for Rome. Christoph and Sergius, who had mustered a considerable force, were attacked by Desiderius and defeated, and both were made prisoners and blinded.
Stephen now was at the mercy of Desiderius, who used every means in his power to compel him to surrender voluntarily to him the possessions which Pepin had restored to the Church. This proved a fresh source of resentment on Charlemagne’s part against Desiderius. He only waited for Stephen to appeal to him for help, and held himself in readiness to lend it; but his plans were frustrated by a new move which he could not resist. His mother, who had gone to Italy, interposed and wrote letters to him which led to anything rather than a warlike view of the situation. Although she had no doubt of the lion-hearted nature of her son, or of the valor of his army, she could not view the dangers arising from a conflict between the Franks and the Lombards without the gravest solicitude. She was sufficiently shrewd and experienced to appreciate the situation. She reflected that the Bavarian Duke Thassilo, her dead husband’s nephew, without whose consent Charlemagne could not have attained to sovereignty, was as inimical to him as Desiderius was. Thassilo had proved disloyal to Pepin in refusing him the assistance he was in duty bound to furnish in the war against Waisar, Wolf’s predecessor. Bertha knew that death alone prevented her husband from punishing his perfidy. As Thassilo and Desiderius were now on good terms she feared that if Charlemagne should attack the one, the other would come to his help. Besides this, the Saxons to the north of the Frankish kingdom were in arms again. She also feared in case of war that the West-Frankish dukedom would rise again. Lastly, she knew that Desiderius had promised the widow and sons of Carloman to provoke an uprising in their favor in the Frankish kingdom.
To avert these dangers Bertha planned to bring Desiderius, Thassilo, and Charlemagne into a tri-partite relationship, and thus establish friendly conditions. She proposed that Charlemagne and Thassilo should marry daughters of Desiderius and that Adalgis, Desiderius’s only son, should marry Gisela, Charlemagne’s sister. The plan was accepted by all concerned except the fair Gisela, who chose to go to a convent and engage in its pious duties, rather than wear a crown.[20] She is honored in the Catholic Church to-day under the name of Itisberg.
The daughter of Desiderius selected by Bertha as the spouse of her son was named Desiderata. She is described as a princess of beautiful face and stately mien. Bertha presented her to Charlemagne, who, in the meantime, had separated from his first wife, the daughter of a Frankish nobleman. At that time marital separations and remarriages were not uncommon among the upper classes, and some of the very highest class had several wives. Bertha had managed this business secretly, and the Pope did not hear of her plans until Desiderata had gone to the Frankish country. It is not strange that the news caused him the greatest anxiety, for he clearly foresaw that if Charlemagne became the son-in-law of Desiderius, he could no longer look to the Franks for the protection of the territory which Pepin had taken from the Lombards and given to the Church. He wrote an urgent letter to Charlemagne, imploring him to break off marriage with Desiderata, even going so far as to declare that the Lombards, notwithstanding they had been living with the Roman people, were still little better than carrion, and the descendants of lepers. He closed with these words:
“We have sent you this our appeal, from the grave of Saint Peter, and with our tears. Should you—which we cannot believe—defy the authority of Peter, our master, the ban will be imposed upon you. You will be banished from God’s Kingdom eternally to consort with the devil and the wicked in the everlasting fires of hell.”
When Charlemagne received this letter the wedding festivities were already over. The warning had come too late. Whether of itself it would have thwarted the plans of Bertha is uncertain, but in any event it strengthened the prejudice of Charlemagne against Desiderata which he had had from the first. It was not long before she became so unbearable to him that he sent her back to her father. The conciliatory work of his mother, well intended as it had been, was ruined.
Desiderius, enraged to the extreme both against Charlemagne and the Pope, held the latter principally responsible for the affront put upon his daughter, and resolved to wreak vengeance at once. He demanded that the Pope should crown the son of Carloman as King of the Franks, intending after that to incite an uprising in that country in his favor. The time seemed auspicious, as Charlemagne was now at war with the Saxons. While the Pope was hesitating, and just as Desiderius was about to use force, Stephen died and was succeeded by Hadrian.
Hadrian could not be induced to crown the young prince, either by flattery or by threats. Desiderius thereupon began harrying the Papal territory and advanced to lay siege to Rome. As he occupied all land communications, Hadrian sent messengers to Marseilles and thence to Diedenbofen[21] the seat of Charlemagne’s court at that time. In his letter Hadrian informed the King of Desiderius’s demand and his threatening movement, and implored him not to let him fall into Desiderius’s hands. Immediately after the receipt of this letter Charlemagne received one from Desiderius, in which the latter, to gain time for carrying out his designs against Rome, assured him he had given up everything to the Pope which belonged to him.
Charlemagne, however, was not deceived. The favor which Desiderius had shown to the son of Carloman clearly revealed his hostility to himself. He decided upon war with the Lombards at once, and the campaign was begun in the autumn of the year 773.
Charlemagne mustered his forces at Geneva. Their equipment was essentially different from that formerly used by the Franks. They were armed with the longer Roman spear as well as the larger shield, the latter furnishing better protection for the body than the round Frankish shield. In place of the old leathern head-covering they wore the brazen helmet and visor. The body was also protected by a coat of mail. Many of the soldiers carried heavy clubs in place of the long swords. These formidable weapons were made of knotted oak, cased in iron, and sometimes made entirely of that metal.