The vicissitudes of these times furnish a most extraordinary spectacle. The most vital issues at stake; the possession and the government of the empire; the rights of clergy and laity, and the future of the realm in both regards. But those persons principally and actively concerned, the father and his sons, do not display any fixed purpose; they move in opposite directions—the emperor Louis, resolute in the assertion of his rights in general, but at every moment ready to give way in minor details; Lothair, not unmindful of filial duty, but tempted by the unexpected success of his revolt to aspire to despotic power; Ludwig, surnamed the German, as on previous occasions, so also now, not without sympathy for his father, yet all the time scheming how best to maintain and increase the inheritance of which he had taken possession; Pepin, in whose favour the whole movement had been undertaken, not minded to await the course of events, or to renounce direct participation in the sovereign power: he continued to date his documents according to the years of his father’s reign, whilst his brother Ludwig was satisfied with mentioning his father in his documents as the augustus and imperator.
In situations such as these, events become more powerful than men; that is to say, general movements become more powerful than individual intentions. At first it became evident that the two younger brothers were not minded to submit to the elder’s dictation; they demanded from him better treatment for their father. Lothair intimated to his brothers that it was through them that their father had lost his authority; that he himself was not to be blamed for exercising the rights of seniority; and that his keeping his father, whose misfortunes deeply touched him, a prisoner, was a course of action justified by the judgment of the episcopate. All the formal reasons which were urged by him were not however able to dispel the impression that the father’s power had actually been usurped by the son. The whole civilised world became uneasy and disquieted at the sight; and when Pepin and Ludwig began warlike preparations, which could only be intended against Lothair, they were able to count upon the support of the magnates and the people. Not minded to be surprised in Aachen, Lothair collected his forces at Paris (the Roman Lutetia Parisiorum), a city which even at that time was the centre of all political and intellectual movements in the West Frankish Empire, and where the first revolt against Louis had been prepared and organised. But even while on his way thither Lothair perceived himself to be threatened by the opposition on the part of one or another magnate; and becoming aware that he would not be able to stand his ground in Paris against the hosts of enemies who were advancing upon him from all sides, and convinced that only in Burgundy would he find a secure citadel, he proceeded thither with his faithful adherents, leaving his father behind him in the monastery of St. Denis.
But meanwhile divergent opinions had spread abroad in Paris. As Louis scrupled to follow the invitation to resume the imperial sway, so long as he was under the ban of the church, it was an act of the highest significance that all the bishops who were present in the capital repaired to St. Denis to pronounce his absolution. They restored him his arms and the imperial insignia.
Absolved by the ecclesiastics, and supported by the sympathy of the nation, Louis again took possession of the imperial throne; he cordially welcomed his two younger sons who returned to him with their followers, and proceeded to Aachen, where Judith, who in spite of a safe-conduct had had a perilous journey from Italy, joined him. Her son Charles was also there. The emperor lived, as formerly, for the pleasures of the chase and his own private affairs, and all external matters were once more allowed to drift in the same old beaten track. But Lothair was still in the field. He had gained no little prestige from the fact that his relative, Hugo of Matfrid, who had been joined by Lantbert, count of Nantes, had stood his ground when attacked by an imperial force of greater numbers. As Nithard expresses it, they were forced, owing to their small numbers and the danger threatening them, to hold together and defend themselves with the utmost valour. Châlons-sur-Saône, held by Lothair’s bitterest enemies, was likewise attacked and taken after a short siege. How powerfully old animosities were aroused may be seen in the fact that Lothair caused the sister of Bernhard of Septimania, who lived in a convent there, to be seized and drowned in the Saône; he wreaked vengeance on the sister for the brother’s enmity.
This double victory once more aroused Lothair’s hopes of subduing the whole empire. But in view of the danger, the emperor gathered together all his forces to take the field against him. In Langres he once more received the offerings which it was customary to make to the emperor. His son Ludwig joined him with the whole trans-Rhenish army. Pepin also appeared with his array. A numerous and devoted force advanced against Lothair, who, on his side, did not hesitate to move forward against his father and two brothers. The armies met face to face at Calviacus, near Blois. A great and decisive battle appeared to be imminent. But the feeling of comradeship among the troops of both armies, who could not forget that they formed one cohesive force—the “Heerbann”—prevented the collision. The soldiers felt a natural repugnance to fight against each other. It was chiefly this feeling of comradeship that had caused the soldiery at Colmar to pass over from the side of the emperor to that of his sons. But in their hearts they had always felt a certain sense of shame at their conduct; they had forsaken their emperor to whom before all others they owed allegiance; they would not again take this burden of guilt upon their shoulders.
All Lothair’s attempts to persuade them to a second desertion signally failed. The consciousness that it was the “Heerbann” upon which the power of the empire depended, and that a battle could not fail to be disastrous to the common weal, was in reality the controlling factor which here, in a most dangerous crisis, led to a settlement. Lothair, who could not hope for victory without the help of the “Heerbann,” decided to accept the conditions offered, chief of which was that he should retire to Italy, and leave the remainder of the realm to his father, and interfere no longer. A meeting in the imperial camp was arranged, and Louis, sitting between his two younger sons, received Lothair’s allegiance.
This event was decisive; for in order to bind the two younger sons to himself, the father had to make them a secure settlement for their future; but at the same time they had to submit to an arrangement being made with the youngest son, which they had until then most vehemently opposed. One plan has been preserved to us, according to which a tripartite division of the non-Italian territories of the empire between Pepin, Charles, and Ludwig was projected, and in which the fact strikes us that closely following the arrangement made by Charlemagne, Ludwig was promised the Germanic territories, with however the saving clause that it should be in the emperor’s power either to increase or diminish their extent according to the measure of obedience paid him.
LAST YEARS OF LOUIS
[834-837 A.D.]
For the moment it was of paramount importance that the authority of the emperor, which had been sorely shaken by the attitude of the clergy, should be restored by a formal agreement with the latter. In a general diet of the empire held at Thionville, the act of excommunication was revoked in due form, and the decree pronounced that Louis should henceforth be faithfully and obediently recognised as emperor. All the ecclesiastics signed this declaration and afterwards proceeded to Metz, where Drogo, the natural brother of the emperor, was bishop, and where the emperor had spent the preceding Christmas, in order to proclaim the renewal of allegiance. Ebbo was also present; he likewise had signed the protocol and was one of the most conspicuous among those who promulgated it. This done, the whole company returned to Thionville and everything seemed to be arranged, when the emperor levelled an indictment against Ebbo himself and new difficulties of general importance arose. The emperor accused Ebbo of having wrested his arms from him by false accusations, of having thrust him out of the church, and deprived him of his realm. Ebbo hesitated to reply to these charges in the emperor’s presence, though not from deference or shame; he had to consider his hierarchical status; such a proceeding would run counter to the just claims of a bishop to be judged only by an ecclesiastical tribunal. Moreover, some of the other bishops advised him to avoid further controversy, since it could not fail to be prejudicial to the episcopate and afford occasion for calumny. With their assistance Ebbo drew up a conciliatory document, which he signed and handed to the assembly.