Even had the Saxons endangered the national aims of Germany by their enterprise, and had Ludwig therefore had just claims to be held blameless on that account for trying to put down the movement, yet it must never be forgotten that the Saxons had been provoked by the most abominable regulations, tithes, and other burdens unknown until that day, and that they had been most cruelly wounded in all that they considered holy. As, in addition, the Saxon freemen and villeins had been instigated to rebel by a monarch who called himself emperor, and who according to existing state treaties was to exercise lordship over his brothers, justice imperiously demanded that the people who had been thus misled should be treated with leniency; and that their resentment should be by degrees allayed by relieving the burdens imposed upon them and by just treatment. Instead of proceeding thus humanely, Ludwig made use of his power like a cowardly despot, in order to inflict indescribable tortures on the wretched Saxons. One hundred and forty men were beheaded, fourteen hanged on the gallows, and others, according to ancient custom of the Romans, were mutilated to render them incapable of fighting again. The inhumanity was carried to such a pitch, so the chroniclers affirm, that the number of mutilated Saxons was so great they could not be counted. In this way was quiet restored in Saxony, but it was the quiet of the grave and of silent execration which followed the callous destroyer, a true grandson of the “great” Charles.
THE TREATY OF VERDUN (843 A.D.)
[843 A.D.]
In the meanwhile the time had come when, according to the Treaty of Ansilla, the court of arbitration was to decide on the partition of the empire. Charles and Ludwig therefore set forth at the beginning of October to meet Lothair at Metz. Neither, however, trusted the other, wherefore Ludwig and Charles kept an army in readiness near Worms, while Lothair brought his to within eight hours of Metz. This caused a renewed tension between the brothers; at last it was decided that the arbitrators of both factions, for whose safety Ludwig and Charles feared on account of the proximity of the hostile army, should meet in Coblenz. The preliminaries for the partition were at once begun there; but it soon became evident that the arbitrators hardly knew the geographical position of the countries they had to divide, much less their relative sizes and the characteristics of their internal conditions. There arose, therefore, on both sides recriminations and complaints, then anger, fury, and a fresh rupture. The discord assumed such proportions that it was feared the negotiations would be broken off and war become inevitable. The condition of the people was so wretched that public opinion, that of the nobles at least, began gradually emphatically to demand patching up of these unholy quarrels. Gaul had been devastated by military campaigns, and as a natural consequence was overrun with bands of robbers. To add to the misery, scarcity of crops had caused a food famine, and finally news came that the stellinga in Saxony, rendered desperate by Ludwig’s cruelty, had taken up arms again after his departure. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, the most distinguished men of all factions declared resolutely and by common consent to the kings that the conclusion of a definite lasting peace was of the most urgent necessity, and that if the negotiations were again broken off they would not participate in any new war.
At the same time it was proposed, in order to overcome all obstacles to the partition, that the authorised representatives or arbitrators should immediately travel over the length and breadth of the empire, in order to acquire the necessary knowledge for the division of the same; and also that an armistice of suitable duration should be concluded to facilitate the preparations for the real conclusion of peace. The force of circumstances obliged the kings to yield; the proposed commission was undertaken in common, the armistice was extended till July, 843, and another meeting for the conclusion of peace was fixed for that year.
While the arbitrators were journeying through the countries that were to be divided, Ludwig returned once again to Saxony, in order to subdue the renewed rising. The stellinga made a brave resistance, but the superior might of the king was bound to conquer, and callous cruelty again disgraced the weapons of the blood-thirsty despot.
Charles the Bald
(From a French print of 1832)
In July 843 representatives of the three brothers met at last at Verdun, in order to negotiate for peace. And it was there that the final treaty was really signed in August of the same year. Its chief provisions were: (1) Charles the Bald received Gaul and a part of Germany, which lies between the mouth of the Schelde and its source on the left bank, and thence to the Maas. The boundary of his kingdom stretched thence to the Saône, and along the Rhone to its embouchure in the Mediterranean. (2) Ludwig received all the German countries on the right bank of the Rhine and on the left Speier, Worms, and Mainz, with the districts appertaining thereto. (3) Lothair remained in possession of the title of emperor and of all lands outside Italy which lie between the realms of Charles the Bald and Ludwig. That was the essence of the famous Treaty of Verdun, which was the foundation of the final establishment of the pure German nation and of the unity of the empire.