[67] 'Ann. Fuld.,' 867 (Pertz i., 380). 'Ruodbertus Karoli Regis Comes apud Ligerim fluvium contra Nordmannos fortiter dimicans occiditur, alter quodammodo nostris temporibus Machabæus, cujus prœlia quæ cum Brittonibus et Nordmannis gessit, si per omnia scripta fuissent, Machabæi gestis æquiparari potuissent.' See the details in Regino, 867. Hincmar, Ann. 866. The battle of Brissarthe is well described in M. Mourin's 'Comtes de Paris,' a book whose name we have placed at the head of this article. The volume forms a careful and spirited history of the rise of the Parisian Kingdom; but it is strongly coloured by Parisian dreams about the frontier of the Rhine.
[68] Odo did not succeed at once. On account of his youth, and, that of his brother Robert, the Duchy was granted to Hugh the Abbot. Ann. Met. 867. (See Kalckstein, p. 109.) Odo did not succeed to the whole Duchy till the death of Hugh in 887 in the middle of the siege, 'Ducatus quem [Hugo] tenuerat et strenue rexerat Odoni filio Rodberti ab Imperatore traditur, qui eâ tempestate Parisiorum Comes erat.' (Regius, 887.) We are not told what was the exact extent of the county.
[69] See especially the entries in the 'Annales Vedastini' (Pertz, ii. 200), under 874 and several following years. Take, above all, the general picture under 884. 'Nortmanni vero non cessant captivari atque interfici populum Christianum, atque ecclesias subrui, destructis moeniis et villis crematis. Per omnes enim plateas jacebant cadavera clericorum, laicorum, nobilium atque aliorum, mulierum, juvenum, et lactentium: non enim erat via vel locus quo non jacerent mortui; et erat tribulatio omnibus et dolor, videntes populum Christianum usque ad internecionem devastari.'
[70] The Ludwigslied is printed in Max Müller's German Classics, also in the second volume of Schilter's Thesaurus.
[71] A full account of the battle is given in the Annales Vedastini, 881.
[72] Annales Vedastini, 882. 'Australes Franci (that is, Eastern, Austrasian, not Southern) congregant exercitum contra Nortmannos, sed statim terga vertunt, ibique Walo, Mettensis episcopus, corruit, Dani vero famosissimum Aquisgrani palatium igne cremant et monasteria atque civitates, Treveris nobilissimam et Coloniam Agrippinam, palatia quoque regum et villas, cum habitatoribus terræ interfectis, igne cremaverunt.'
[73] Annales Fuldenses (Pertz, i. 390), 876. 'Karolus vero, Hludowici morte compertâ, regnum illius, cupiditate ductus, invasit, et suæ ditioni subjugare studuit; existimans se, ut fama vulgabat, non solum partem regni Hlotharii, quam Hludowicus tenuit et filiis suis utendam dereliquit, per tyrannidem posse obtinere, verum etiam cunctas civitates regni Hludowici in occidentali litore Rheni fluminis positas suo regno addere, id est Mogontiam, Wormatiam, et Nemetum, filiosque fratris per potentiam opprimere, ita ut nullus ei resistere vel contradicere auderet.' One is inclined to ask whether there may not be something prophetic under the first entry under the next year; 'Hludowicus rex mense Januario, generali conventa habito apud Franconofurt, quos de regno Karoli tenuit captivos remisit in Galliam.'
[74] Ann. Fuld. 876. The way in which Charles' Imperial dignity is recorded is remarkable. After a satirical description of the Imperial costume, the Annal goes on, 'Omnem enim consuetudinem regum Francorum contemnens, Græcas glorias optimas arbitrabatur, et ut majorem suæ mentis elationem ostenderet, ablato Regis nomine, se Imperatorem et Augustum omnium regum cis mare consistentium appellare præcepit.' The phrase 'cis mare' is remarkable, when we think of the English claims to Empire, and of the constant use of the word 'transmarinus' to express England and English things. The common name for diaries in these Annals is 'Galliæ Tyrannus.'
[75] Abbo, i. 48 (Pertz, ii. 780),—
Urbs mandata fuit Karolo nobis basileo,