Throwing but a single glance at the corpse of his wife, Charlemagne left the chamber, and, even as he went, agreed to the archbishop's arrangements for her burial.
The grave so secretly made ready was unnecessary, however, for the body was borne to Mayence, where a tomb raised to the memory of Frastrade is still to be seen.
At the archbishop's desire Charlemagne once more took his seat in the Council of State, and once more the Empire was put in order.
The courtiers resented the advent of the churchman into the favour of the Emperor, who at length, when the court was sitting at Aix-la-Chapelle, determined to rid himself of the mystic jewel. Choosing a dark night, he[{282}] sought a deep pool near the centre of a morass as being suitable for concealing the gem, which he had determined no man should ever see. Coming upon the spot, and holding the bauble in his hand above the waters, he dropped it and saw it sink, as though the pit were bottomless. But the brilliancy of the gem was inextinguishable.
Next morning the court was pleased to note that the archbishop's influence over the Emperor was quite gone.
As the Emperor was strolling about the city, he fell upon the pool which held the gem. There he would sit by the hour, gazing upon the still waters, near which he afterward built himself a home, known to-day, though in ruins, as the castle of Frankenberg.
A few years after the death of his wife, Charlemagne built La Chapelle, that great octagonal church which gives the city its French name. The tomb of Charlemagne is there, inscribed only Carolo Magno. He died at Aix-la-Chapelle in 814, and was buried with great pomp. Victor Hugo gives Aix-la-Chapelle as the place of his birth, which is manifestly an error.
Charlemagne's body was placed in the tomb in a sitting posture, and three centuries later[{283}] was exhumed by Frederick Barbarossa that he might sit in the same place, and afterward the German Emperors used the seat as a sort of throne of state at their coronations.
The sword and sceptre and all that was mortal of the great Charlemagne are gone, but his memory still lives in an enduring monument in the cathedral.