Charles the Simple
(From a French cut of 1832)
[887-892 A.D.]
The Anti-Carlovingian party was partly successful. The French made choice of Eudes, count of Paris, as successor to the crown, whilst the lower Burgundians in the Nether-Rhone-land (Arles) elected Boson, the son of Ludwig, and the upper Burgundians in the Western Alps, Count Rudolf, a descendant of the Welfi. In Italy the dukes Guido of Spoleto and Berengar of Friuli made themselves so independent, that they even set themselves up as competitors, through the favour of the pope, for the imperial crown. The Germans alone remained faithful to the Carlovingian house, and elected, to the exclusion of Charles the Simple, who was still alive, Arnulf, the young and energetic, but illegitimate son of Carloman, a brother of Charles the Fat, who had greatly distinguished himself as duke of Bavaria against the Slavs. The consideration in which he was held was so great, that Eudes came to Worms to do homage to him as emperor, a ceremony with which Arnulf contented himself, the Northmen and Slavs affording him no opportunity for recalling his rebellious subjects to their allegiance.
Fresh hostilities instantly broke out on the part of the Northmen, who made an irruption into Lorraine, and after a bloody engagement defeated the Germans near Maestricht, where the archbishop of Mainz, who had marched against them at the head of his vassals, fell. Arnulf now took the field in person, and a dreadful battle ensued near Lyons, where the Northmen had encamped, in which Arnulf, perceiving that the German cavalry were unable to cope with the Norse foot-soldiers, who fought with unexampled dexterity, was the first to spring from his saddle; all the nobles of the arrierban followed his example, and the contest became a thick fray, in which the combatants strove hand to hand. Victory sided with the Germans. Siegfrid and Godefrid fell on the field of battle, with several thousands of their followers, whose bodies also choked up the course of the Dyle, across which they had attempted to escape. Arnulf, in gratitude for this deliverance, made a great pilgrimage, and ordained that this day, St. Gilgentag, the 1st of September, should be kept as an annual festival. The Northmen, panic-struck by this fearful catastrophe, henceforward avoided the Rhine, but made much more frequent inroads into the west of France.
Arnulf had also fresh struggles to sustain against the Slavs; the Abodriti crossed the frontiers and laid the country waste. The loyalty of Poppo and of the house of Babenberg, who had been in such close alliance with Charles the Fat, and who now found themselves neglected, became more than doubtful, and Arnulf was constrained to remove the former from his government. Engelschalk the Younger also proved faithless, seduced one of Arnulf’s daughters, and then took refuge in Moravia. He was subsequently pardoned, and appointed to guard the Austrian frontier.
As a means of securing the eastern frontier of his empire, Arnulf made peace and entered into an alliance with Suatopluk, prince of Moravia, who was a Christian, in the hope that the foundation of a great Christian Slavian kingdom might eventually prove an effectual bulwark against the irruptions of their heathen brethren in that quarter. The Slavian Maharanen or Moravians had been converted to Christianity by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who had visited them from Greece. Borziuoi, prince of Bohemia, being also induced to receive baptism by Suatopluk, his pagan subjects drove him from the throne, and he placed himself (with his wife, St. Ludmilla) under the protection of Suatopluk and Arnulf. Arnulf now gave Suatopluk Bohemia to hold in fee, and unlimited command on the eastern frontier. As a proof of their amity, Suatopluk became sponsor to Arnulf’s son, to whom he gave his name, Suatopluk, or Zwentibold; their friendship proved, nevertheless, of but short duration. The Moravian, perceiving that he could not retain his authority over the Slavs so long as he preserved his amicable relations with Germany, yielded to the national hatred, whilst at the same time he gave fresh assurances of amity to the emperor (892 A.D.). He was also supported in his projects by a great conspiracy among the Germans. The thankless Engelschalk again plotted treason, in which he was upheld by Hildegarde, the maiden daughter of Louis the German, the last of the legitimate descendants of Charlemagne, whilst the Italians, who dreaded Arnulf’s threatened presence in their country, were not slow in their endeavours to incite the Moravian to open rebellion. Arnulf, however, discovered the conspiracy, caused Engelschalk to be deprived of sight, and imprisoned Hildegarde at Chiemsee, but afterwards restored, her to liberty.
[892-894 A.D.]
An unexpected ally now came to Arnulf’s assistance against Suatopluk. At that period there appeared in ancient Pannonia, first peopled by the Lombards, and at a later date by the Avars, a nation named in their own language Magyars, or Hungarians (strangers), from whom the country derived its name, or Huns, as they were at that time termed by the Germans, who imagined that they again beheld in them the Huns of former times. They were pagans, wild and savage in their habits, and extraordinary riders. Leo, the Grecian emperor, had called them to his assistance against the Bulgarians, and they at first settled under seven leaders (among whom the most distinguished was one named Arpad), each of whom erected a fort or burg, in the country known from that circumstance as Siebenburgen, but not long after turned westward and threatened Moravia. Arnulf formed an alliance with them, but never, as he has been accused, invited them into Germany, and Suatopluk, perceiving himself pressed on both sides, gladly remained at peace (894 A.D.).