[714-717 A.D.]
At the death of Pepin the storm which had long been gathering, and of which many forebodings had appeared in his lifetime, broke forth with tremendous fury. The bands of government were suddenly loosened, and the powers which Pepin had wielded with such strength and dexterity became the objects of a ferocious struggle. Plectrudis, his first wife, an ambitious and daring woman, had resolved to reign as the guardian of her grandchild, Theudwald, with whom she was at that time residing at Cologne. Theudwald had at least the advantage of being the only candidate for power installed by Pepin himself, and it was no doubt upon his quasi-hereditary claims that Plectrudis based her hopes. She manifested her foresight, discrimination, and energy, at the commencement of the contest which ensued by seizing the person of Charles, her stepson, and most formidable rival. But Charles and his party were not her only opponents. The Neustrians and Burgundians, whom their recollections of Brunehild and Fredegund by no means inclined to acquiesce in another female regency, refused obedience to her commands; and endeavoured to excite the puppet-monarch Dagobert to an independent exercise of his authority. Their zeal as Neustrians too was quickened by the desire of throwing off the Austrasian or German yoke, which they considered to have been fixed upon them by the victories and energetic rule of Pepin.
It was owing to this hostile feeling between the Romance and the German portions of the empire that many even of Pepin’s partisans took side with Theudwald and Plectrudis, although the latter held their chief incarcerated. The revolted Neustrians and the army of Plectrudis encountered each other in the forest of Guise, near Compiègne; and, as far as one can conjecture from the confused and contradictory accounts of the annalists, Plectrudis and Theudwald suffered a defeat. The Neustrians having obtained the mastery over the hated Germans in their own country, prepared to extend their authority to Austrasia itself. Having chosen Raginfrid as their major-domus, they suddenly marched into the Austrasian territory, and laid it waste with fire and sword as far as the river Maas. In spite of their Christian profession they sought further to strengthen themselves by an alliance with Ratbod, the heathen king of the Frisians, who at the death of Pepin had recovered his independence, and the greater portion of his territory.
THE BATTLE OF TOURS
In the meantime, the whole aspect of affairs was suddenly changed by the escape of Charles from custody. The defeated army of Plectrudis, and many of the Austrasian seigneurs, who were unwilling to support her cause even against the Neustrians, now rallied with the greatest alacrity around the youthful hero, and proclaimed him Dux Francorum by the title of his glorious father. In a very short time after the recovery of his freedom, Charles found himself at the head of a very efficient, though not numerous army. He was still, however, surrounded by dangers and difficulties, under which a man of less extraordinary powers must inevitably have sunk.
Dagobert III died soon after the battle of Compiègne; and the Neustrians, who had felt the disadvantage of his imbecility, neglected the claims of his son, and raised a priest called Daniel, a reputed son of Childeric, to the throne, with the title of Chilperic II. This monarch, who appears to have had a greater degree of energy than his immediate predecessors, formed a plan with the Frisian king for a combined attack upon Cologne, by which he hoped at once to bring the war to a successful issue. Ratbod, true to his engagements, advanced with a numerous fleet of vessels up the Rhine, while Chilperic and Raginfrid were marching towards Cologne through the forest of Ardennes. To prevent this well-planned junction, Charles determined to fall upon the Frisians before they reached Cologne. His position must have been rendered still more critical by the failure of this attack. We read that after both parties had suffered considerable loss in a hard-fought battle, they retreated on equal terms.
The short time which elapsed before the arrival of the Neustrians was spent by Charles in summoning his friends from every quarter, to assist him in the desperate struggle in which he was engaged. In the meantime Chilperic came up, and, encamping in the neighbourhood of Cologne, effected a junction with the Frisians. Contrary to expectation, however, no attack was made upon Plectrudis, who is said to have bribed the Frisians to retire. A better reason for the precipitate retreat of the Neustrians and Frisians (which now took place) was the danger which the former ran of having their retreat cut off by Charles, who had taken up a strong position in their rear, with continually increasing forces; as it was, they were not permitted to retire in safety. Charles attacked them at Amblava, near Stablo, in the Ardennes, and gave them a total defeat. This victory put him in possession of Cologne, and the person of Plectrudis, who restored to him his father’s treasures.
[717-720 A.D.]
In the following year, 717 A.D., Charles assumed the offensive, and, marching through the Silva Carbonaria, began to lay waste the Neustrian territory. Chilperic and Raginfrid advanced to meet him, doubtless with far less confidence than before; and both armies encamped at Vincy, in the territory of Cambray. Charles, with an hereditary moderation peculiarly admirable in a man of his warlike spirit, sent envoys to the Neustrian camp to offer conditions of peace; and to induce Chilperic to acknowledge his claim to the office of major-domus in Austrasia, “that the blood of so many noble Franks might not be shed.” Charles himself can have expected no other fruit from these overtures than the convincing of his own followers of the unreasonableness of their enemies. The Neustrian king and his evil adviser rejected the proffered terms with indignation, and declared their intention of taking from Charles even that portion of his inheritance which had already fallen into his hands. Both sides then prepared for battle; Charles, as we are expressly told, having first communicated to the chief men in his camp the haughty and threatening answer of the king. Chilperic relied on his great superiority in numbers, though his army was drawn, for the most part, from the dregs of the people: Charles prepared to meet him with a small but highly disciplined force of well-armed and skilful warriors. In the battle which ensued on the 21st of March, the Neustrians were routed with tremendous loss, and pursued by the victors to the very gates of Paris. But Charles was not yet in a condition to keep possession of Neustria, and he therefore led his army back to Cologne, and ascended the “throne of his kingdom,” as the annalist[t] already calls it, the dignissimus hæres of his mighty father.