FOOTNOTES:[1]The author has in preparation, and hopes before long to complete and publish, a set of chronological tables which may be made to serve as a sort of skeleton history of mediæval Germany and Italy.[2]Reckoning the Anti-pope Felix (A.D. 356) as Felix II.[3]Crowned Emperor, but at Bologna, not at Rome.[4]According to the vicious financial system that prevailed, thecurialesin each city were required to collect the taxes, and when there was a deficit, to supply it from their own property.[5]See the eloquent passage of Claudian,In secundum consulatum Stilichonis, 129,sqq., from which the following lines are taken (150-60):—'Hæc est in gremio victos quæ sola recepit,Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit,Matris, non dominæ, ritu; civesque vocavitQuos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnesQuod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes:Quod sedem mutare licet: quod cernere ThulenLusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus:Quod bibimus passim Rhodanum, potamus Oronten,Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Nec terminus unquamRomanæ ditionis erit.'[6]In the Roman jurisprudence,ius sacrumis a branch ofius publicum.[7]Tertullian, writing circ.A.D.200, says:'Sed quid ego amplius de religione atque pietate Christiana in imperatorem quem necesse est suspiciamus ut eum quem Dominus noster elegerit. Et merito dixerim, noster est magis Cæsar, ut a nostro Deo constitutus.'—Apologet.cap. 34.[8]See the book of Optatus, bishop of Milevis,Contra Donatistas.'Non enim respublica est in ecclesia, sed ecclesia in republica, id est, in imperio Romano, cum super imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus:'(p. 999 of vol. ii. of Migne'sPatrologiæ Cursus completus.) The treatise of Optatus is full of interest, as shewing the growth of the idea of the visible Church, and of the primacy of Peter's chair, as constituting its centre and representing its unity.[9]'Addiderat consilium coercendi intra terminos imperii.'—Tac.Ann.i. 2.[10]Tac.Ann.ii. 9.[11]Stilicho, the bulwark of the Empire, seems to have been himself a Vandal by extraction.[12]Of course not the consulship itself, but theornamenta consularia.[13]Jornandes,De Rebus Geticis, cap. 28.[14]Tac.Hist.i. and iv.[15]'Vester quidem est populus meus sed me plus servire vobis quam illi præesse delectat. Traxit istud a proavis generis mei apud vos decessoresque vestros semper animo Romana devotio, ut illa nobis magis claritas putaretur, quam vestra per militiæ titulos porrigeret celsitudo: cunctisque auctoribus meis semper magis ambitum est quod a principibus sumerent quam quod a patribus attulissent. Cumque gentem nostram videamur regere, non aliud nos quam milites vestros credimus ordinari.... Per nos administratis remotarum spatia regionum: patria nostra vester orbis est. Tangit Galliam suam lumen orientis, et radius qui illis partibus oriri creditur, hic refulget. Dominationem vobis divinitus præstitam obex nulla concludit, nec ullis provinciarum terminis diffusio felicium sceptrorum limitatur. Salvo divinitatis honore sit dictum.'—Letter printed among the works of Avitus, Bishop of Vienne. (Migne'sPatrologia, vol. lix. p. 285.)This letter, as its style shews, is the composition not of Sigismund himself, but of Avitus, writing on Sigismund's behalf. But this makes it scarcely less valuable evidence of the feelings of the time.[16]'Referre solitus est (sc.Ataulphus) se in primis ardenter inhiasse: ut obliterato Romanorum nomine Romanum omne solum Gothorum imperium et faceret et vocaret: essetque, ut vulgariter loquar, Gothia quod Romania fuisset; fieretque nunc Ataulphus quod quondam Cæsar Augustus. At ubi multa experientia probavisset, neque Gothos ullo modo parere legibus posse propter effrenatam barbariem, neque reipublicæ interdici leges oportere sine quibus respublica non est respublica; elegisse se saltem, ut gloriam sibi de restituendo in integrum augendoque Romano nomine Gothorum viribus quæreret, habereturque apud posteros Romanæ restitutionis auctor postquam esse non potuerat immutator. Ob hoc abstinere a bello, ob hoc inhiare paci nitebatur.'—Orosius, vii. 43.[17]Athaulf formed only to abandon it.[18]See, among other passages, Varro,De lingua Latina, iv. 34; Cic.,Pro Domo, 33; and in theCorpus Iuris Civilis, Dig. i. 5, 17; l. 1, 33; xiv. 2, 9; quoted by Ægidi,Der Fürstenrath nach dem Luneviller Frieden. The phrase'urbs æterna'appears in a novel issued by Valentinian III.Tertullian speaks of Rome as'civitas sacrosancta.'[19]Lact.Divin. Instit.vii. 25:'Etiam res ipsa declarat lapsum ruinamque rerum brevi fore: nisi quod incolumi urbe Roma nihil istiusmodi videtur esse metuendum. At vero cum caput illud orbis occident, etῥύμηesse cœperit quod Sibyllæ fore aiunt, quis dubitet venisse iam finem rebus humanis, orbique terrarum? Illa, illa est civitas quæ adhuc sustentat omnia, precandusque nobis et adorandus est Deus cœli si tamen statuta eius et placita differri possunt, ne citius quam putemus tyrannus ille abominabilis veniat qui tantum facinus moliatur, ac lumen illud effodiat cuius interitu mundus ipse lapsurus est.'Cf. Tertull.Apolog.cap. xxxii:'Est et alia maior necessitas nobis orandi pro imperatoribus, etiam pro omni statu imperii rebusque Romanis, qui vim maximam universo orbi imminentem ipsamque clausulam sæculi acerbitates horrendas comminantem Romani imperii commeatu scimus retardari.'Also the same writer,Ad Scapulam, cap. ii:'Christianus sciens imperatorem a Deo suo constitui, necesse est ut ipsum diligat et revereatur et honoret et salvum velit cum toto Romano imperio quousque sæculum stabit: tamdiu enim stabit.'So too the author—now usually supposed to be Hilary the Deacon—of the Commentary on the Pauline Epistles ascribed to S. Ambrose:'Non prius veniet Dominus quam regni Romani defectio fiat, et appareat antichristus qui interficiet sanctos, reddita Romanis libertate, sub suo tamen nomine.'—Ad II Thess. ii. 4, 7.[20]For example, by the'restitutio natalium,'and the 'adrogatio per rescriptum principis,'or, as it is expressed,'per sacrum oraculum.'[21]Even the Christian Emperors took the title of Pontifex Maximus, till Gratian refused it:ἀθέμιστον εἶναι Χριστιάνῳ τὸ σχῆμα νομίσας.—Zosimus, lib. iv. cap. 36.[22]'Maiore formidine et callidiore timiditate Cæsarem observatis quam ipsum ex Olympo Iovem, et merito, si sciatis.... Citius denique apud vos per omnes Deos quam per unum genium Cæsaris peieratur.'—Tertull.Apolog.c. xxviii.Cf. Zos. v. 51:εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τετυχήκει διδόμενος ὅρκος, ἦν ἂν ὡς εἰκὸς παριδεῖν ἐνδίδοντας τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ συγγνώμην. ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ὀμωμόκεσαν κεφαλῆς, οὐκ εἶναι θεμιτὸν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὸν τοσοῦτον ὅρκον ἐξαμαρτεῖν.[23]Tac.Ann.i. 73; iii. 38, etc.[24]It is curious that this should have begun in the first years of the Empire. See, among other passages that might be cited from the Augustan poets, Virg.Georg.i. 42; iv. 462; Hor.Od.iii. 3, 11; Ovid,Epp. ex Ponto, iv. 9. 105.[25]Hence Vespasian's dying jest,'Ut puto, deus fio.'[26]ὅπου ἂν ὁ βασιλεὺς ᾖ, ἐκεῖ ἡ Ῥώμη.—Herodian.[27]If the accounts we find of the Armorican republic can be trusted.[28]Odoacer or Odovaker, as it seems his name ought to be written, is usually, but incorrectly, described as a King of the Heruli, who led his people into Italy and overthrew the Empire of the West; others call him King of the Rugii, or Skyrri, or Turcilingi. The truth seems to be that he was not a king at all, but the son of a Skyrrian chieftain (Edecon, known as one of the envoys whom Attila sent to Constantinople), whose personal merits made him chosen by the barbarian auxiliaries to be their leader. The Skyrri were a small tribe, apparently akin to the more powerful Heruli, whose name is often extended to them.[29]Αὔγουστος ὁ Ὀρέστου υἱὸς ἀκούσας Ζήνωνα πάλιν τὴν βασιλείαν ἀνακεκτῆσθαι τῆς ἕω ... ἠνάγκασε τὴν βουλὴν ἀποστεῖλαι πρεσβεῖαν Ζήνωνι σημαίνουσαν ὡς ἰδίας μὲν αὐτοῖς βασιλείας οὐ δέοι, κοινὸς δὲ ἀποχρήσει μόνος ὢν αὐτοκράτωρ ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς πέρασι. τὸν μέντοι Ὀδόαχον ὑπ' αὐτῶν προβεβλῆσθαι ἱκανὸν ὄντα σώζειν τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς πράγματα πολιτικὴν ἐχὼν νοῦν καὶ σύνεσιν ὁμοῦ καὶ μάχιμον. καὶ δεῖσθαι τοῦ Ζήνωνος πατρικίου τε αὐτῷ ἀποστεῖλαι ἀξίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἰτάλων τουτῷ ἐφεῖναι διοίκησιν.—Malchus ap. Photium inCorp. Hist. Byzant.[30]Not king of Italy, as is often said. The barbarian kings did not for several centuries employ territorial titles; the title 'king of France,' for instance, was first used by Henry IV. Jornandes tells us that Odoacer never so much as assumed the insignia of royalty.[31]Sismondi,Histoire de la Chute de l'Empire Occidentale.[32]'Nil deest nobis imperio vestro famulantibus.'—Theodoric to Zeno: Jornandes,De Rebus Geticis, cap. 57.[33]'Unde et pæne omnibus barbaris Gothi sapientiores exstiterunt Græcisque pæne consimiles.'—Jorn. cap. 5.[34]Theodoric (Thiodorich) seems to have resided usually at Ravenna, where he died and was buried; a remarkable building which tradition points out as his tomb stands a little way out of the town, near the railway station, but the porphyry sarcophagus, in which his body is supposed to have lain, has been removed thence, and may be seen built up into the wall of the building called his palace, situated close to the church of Sant' Apollinare, and not far from the tomb of Dante. There does not appear to be any sufficient authority for attributing this building to Ostrogothic times; it is very different from the representation of Theodoric's palace which we have in the contemporary mosaics of Sant' Apollinare in urbe.In the German legends, however, Theodoric is always the prince of Verona (Dietrich von Berne), no doubt because that city was better known to the Teutonic nations, and because it was thither that he moved his court when transalpine affairs required his attention. His castle there stood in the old town on the left bank of the Adige, on the height now occupied by the citadel; it is doubtful whether any traces of it remain, for the old foundations which we now see may have belonged to the fortress erected by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the fourteenth century.[35]'Igitur Chlodovechus ab imperatore Anastasio codicillos de consulatu accepit, et in basilica beati Martini tunica blatea indutus est et chlamyde, imponens vertici diadema ... et ab ea die tanquam consul aut (=et) Augustus est vocitatus.'—Gregory of Tours, ii. 58.[36]Sir F. Palgrave (English Commonwealth) considers this grant as equivalent to a formal ratification of Clovis' rule in Gaul. Hallam rates its importance lower (Middle Ages, note iii. to chap. i.). Taken in connection with the grant of south-eastern Gaul to Theodebert by Justinian, it may fairly be held to shew that the influence of the Empire was still felt in these distant provinces.[37]Even so early as the middle of the fifth century, S. Leo the Great could say to the Roman people,'Isti (sc. Petrus et Paulus) sunt qui te ad hanc gloriam provexerunt ut gens sancta, populus electus, civitas sacerdotalis et regia, per sacram B. Petri sedem caput orbis effecta latius præsideres religione divina quam dominatione terrena.'—Sermon on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul.(Opp.ap.Migne tom. i. p. 336.)[38]'Ius Romanum est adhuc in viridi observantia et eo iure præsumitur quilibet vivere nisi adversum probetur.'—Maranta, quoted by Marquard Freher.[39]'Denique gens Francorum multos et fœcundissimos fructus Domino attulit, non solum credendo, sed et alios salutifere convertendo,'says the emperor Lewis II inA.D.871.[40]Martin, as in earlier times Sylverius.[41]A singular account of the origin of the separation of the Greeks and Latins occurs in the treatise of Radulfus de Columna (Ralph Colonna, or, as some think, de Coloumelle),De translatione Imperii Romani(circ. 1300). 'The tyranny of Heraclius,' says he, 'provoked a revolt of the Eastern nations. They could not be reduced, because the Greeks at the same time began to disobey the Roman Pontiff, receding, like Jeroboam, from the true faith. Others among these schismatics (apparently with the view of strengthening their political revolt) carried their heresy further and founded Mohammedanism.' Similarly, the Franciscan Marsilius of Padua (circa 1324) says that Mohammed, 'a rich Persian,' invented his religion to keep the East from returning to allegiance to Rome. It is worth remarking that few, if any, of the earlier historians (from the tenth to the fifteenth century) refer to the Emperors of the West from Constantine to Augustulus: the very existence of this Western line seems to have been even in the eighth or ninth century altogether forgotten.[42]Anastasius,Vitæ Pontificum Romanorumi.ap.Muratori.[43]Letter inCodex Carolinus, in Muratori'sScriptores Rerum Italicarum, vol. iii. (part 2nd), addressed'Subregulo Carolo.'[44]Letter inCod. Carol.(Mur.R. S. I.iii. [2.] p. 96), a strange mixture of earnest adjurations, dexterous appeals to Frankish pride, and long scriptural quotations:'Declaratum quippe est quod super omnes gentes vestra Francorum gens prona mihi Apostolo Dei Petro exstitit, et ideo ecclesiam quam mihi Dominus tradidit vobis per manus Vicarii mei commendavi.'[45]The exact date when Pipin received the title cannot be made out. Pope Stephen's next letter (p. 96 of Mur. iii.) is addressed'Pipino, Carolo et Carolomanno patriciis.'And so theChronicon Casinense(Mur. iv. 273) says it was first given to Pipin. Gibbon can hardly be right in attributing it to Charles Martel, although one or two documents may be quoted in which it is used of him. As one of these is a letter of Pope Gregory II's, the explanation may be that the title was offered or intended to be offered to him, although never accepted by him.[46]The title of Patrician appears even in the remote West: it stands in a charter of Ina the West Saxon king, and in one given by Richard of Normandy inA.D.1015. Ducange,s.v.[47]After thetranslatio ad FrancosofA.D.800, the two Empires corresponded exactly to the two Khalifates of Bagdad and Cordova.[48]'Plaudentem cerne senatumEt Byzantinos proceres, Graiosque Quirites.'In Eutrop.ii. 135.[49]Several Emperors during this period had been patrons of images, as was Irene at the moment of which I write: the stain nevertheless adhered to their government as a whole.[50]I should not have thought it necessary to explain that the sentence in the text is meant simply to state what were (so far as can be made out) the sentiments and notions of the ninth century, if a writer in theTablet(reviewing a former edition) had not understood it as an expression of the author's own belief.To a modern eye there is of course no necessary connection between the Roman Empire and a catholic and apostolic Church; in fact, the two things seem rather, such has been the impression made on us by the long struggle of church and state, in their nature mutually antagonistic. The interest of history lies not least in this, that it shews us how men have at different times entertained wholly different notions respecting the relation to one another of the same ideas or the same institutions.[51]Monachus Sangallensis,De Gestis Karoli; in Pertz,Monumenta Germaniæ Historica.[52]Monachus Sangallensis;ut supra. So Pope Gregory the Great two centuries earlier:'Quanto cæteros homines regia dignitas antecedit, tanto cæterarum gentium regna regni Francorum culmen excellit.'Ep. v. 6.[53]Alciatus,De Formula imperii Romani.[54]Or rather, according to the then prevailing practice of beginning the year from Christmas-day,A.D.801.[55]An elaborate description of old St. Peter's may be found in Bunsen's and Platner'sBeschreibung der Stadt Rom; with which compare Bunsen's work on the Basilicas of Rome.[56]The primitive custom was for the bishop to sit in the centre of the apse, at the central point of the east end of the church (or, as it would be more correct to say, the end furthest from the door) just as the judge had done in those law courts on the model of which the first basilicas were constructed. This arrangement may still be seen in some of the churches of Rome, as well as elsewhere in Italy; nowhere better than in the churches of Ravenna, particularly the beautiful one of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, and in the cathedral of Torcello, near Venice.[57]On this chair were represented the labours of Hercules and the signs of the zodiac. It is believed at Rome to be the veritable chair of the Apostle himself, and whatever may be thought of such an antiquity as this, it can be satisfactorily traced back to the third or fourth century of Christianity. (The story that it is inscribed with verses from the Koran is, I believe, without foundation.) It is now enclosed in a gorgeous casing of gilded wood (some say, of bronze), and placed aloft at the extremity of St. Peter's, just over the spot where a bishop's chair would in the old arrangement of the basilica have stood. The sarcophagus in which Charles himself lay, till the French scattered his bones abroad, had carved on it the rape of Proserpine. It may still be seen in the gallery of the basilica at Aachen.[58]Eginhard,Vita Karoli.[59]The coronation scene is described in all the annals of the time, to which it is therefore needless to refer more particularly.[60]Before the end of the tenth century we find the monk Benedict of Soracte ascribing to Charles an expedition to Palestine, and other marvellous exploits. The romance which passes under the name of Archbishop Turpin is well known. All the best stories about Charles—and some of them are very good—may be found in the book of the Monk of St. Gall. Many refer to his dealings with the bishops, towards whom he is described as acting like a good-humoured schoolmaster.[61]Baronius,Ann., ad ann. 800; Bellarminus,De translatione imperii Romani adversus Illyricum; Spanhemius,De ficta translatione imperii; Conringius,De imperio Romano Germanico.[62]See especially Greenwood,Cathedra Petri, vol. iii. p. 109.[63]Ann. Lauresb. ap.Pertz,M. G. H.i.[64]ApudPertz,M. G. H.i.[65]Vitæ Pontif.in Mur.S. R. I.Anastasius in reporting the shout of the people omits the word'Romanorum,'which the other annalists insert after'imperatori.'The balance of probability is certainly in his favour.[66]Lorentz,Leben Alcuins. And cf. Döllinger,Das Kaiserthum Karls des Grossen und seiner Nachfolger.[67]See a very learned and interesting tract entitledDas Kaiserthum Karls des Grossen und seiner Nachfolger, recently published by Dr. v. Döllinger of Munich.[68]Ἀποκρισιάριοι παρὰ Καρούλλου καὶ Λέοντος αἰτούμενοι ζευχθῆναι αὐτὴν τῷ Καρούλλῳ πρὸς γάμον καὶ ἑνῶσαι τὰ Ἑωὰ καὶ τὰ Ἑσπερία.—Theoph.Chron.inCorp. Scriptt. Hist. Byz.[69]Their ambassadors at last saluted him by the desired title'Laudes ei dixerunt imperatorem eum et basileum appellantes.'Eginh.Ann., ad ann. 812.[70]Harun er Rashid; Eginh.Vita Karoli, c. 16.[71]So Pope John VIII in a document quoted by Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungs-geschichte, iii.[72]Pertz,M. G. H.iii. (legg. I.)[73]Pütter,Historical Development of the German Constitution; so too Conring, and esp. David Blondel,Adv. Chiffletium.[74]'Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit,'is repeated in this conquest of the Teuton by the Roman.[75]The notion that once prevailed that the Irminsûl was the 'pillar of Hermann,' set up on the spot of the defeat of Varus, is now generally discredited. Some German antiquaries take the pillar to be a rude figure of the native god Irmin; but nothing seems to be known of this alleged deity: and it is more probable that the name Irmin is after all merely an altered form of the Keltic word which appears in Welsh as Hir Vaen, the long stone (Maen, a stone). Thus the pillar, so far from being the monument of the great Teutonic victory, would commemorate a pre-Teutonic race, whose name for it the invading tribes adopted. The Rev. Dr. Scott, of Westminster, to whose kindness I am indebted for this explanation, informs me that a rude ditty recording the destruction of the pillar by Charles was current on the spot a few years ago. It ran thus:—'Irmin slad IrminSla Pfeifen sla TrommenDer Kaiser wird kommenMit Hammer und StangenWird Irmin uphangen.'[76]Eginhard,Ann.[77]Most probably the Scots of Ireland—Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 16.[78]Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 23.[79]Aix-la-Chapelle. See the lines in Pertz (M. G. H.ii.), beginning,—'Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis,Sedes regni principalis,Prima regum curia.'This city is commonly called Aken in English books of the seventeenth century, and probably that ought to be taken as its proper English name. That name has, however, fallen so entirely into disuse that I do not venture to use it; and as the employment of the French name Aix-la-Chapelle seems inevitably to produce the belief that the place is and was, even in Charles's time, a French town, there is nothing for it but to fall back upon the comparatively unfamiliar German name.[80]Engilenheim, or Ingelheim, lies near the left shore of the Rhine between Mentz and Bingen.[81]Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 29.[82]Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 17.[83]It is not a little curious that of the three whom the modern French have taken to be their national heroes all should have been foreigners, and two foreign conquerors.[84]This basilica was built upon the model of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and as it was the first church of any size that had been erected in those regions for centuries past, it excited extraordinary interest among the Franks and Gauls. In many of its features it greatly resembles the beautiful church of San Vitale, at Ravenna (also modelled upon that of the Holy Sepulchre) which was begun by Theodoric, and completed under Justinian. Probably San Vitale was used as a pattern by Charles's architects: we know that he caused marble columns to be brought from Ravenna to deck the church at Aachen. Over the tomb of Charles, below the central dome (to which the Gothic choir we now see was added some centuries later), there hangs a huge chandelier, the gift of Frederick Barbarossa.[85]'Romuleum Francis præstitit imperium.'—Elegy of Ermoldus Nigellus, in Pertz;M. G. H., t. i. So too Florus the Deacon,—'Huic etenim cessit etiam gens Romula genti,Regnorumque simul mater Roma inclyta cessit:Huius ibi princeps regni diademata sumpsitMunere apostolico, Christi munimine fretus.'[86]Usage has established this translation of'Hludowicus Pius,'but 'gentle' or 'kind-hearted' would better express the meaning of the epithet.[87]Von Ranke discovers in this early traces of the aversion of the Germans to the pretensions of the spiritual power.—History of Germany during the Reformation: Introduction.[88]Singularly enough, when one thinks of modern claims, the dynasty of France (Francia occidentalis) had the least share of it. Charles the Bald was the only West Frankish Emperor, and reigned a very short time.[89]Tac.Hist.i. 4.[90]For an account of the various applications of the name Burgundy, seeAppendix, Note A.[91]The accession of Boso took place inA.D.877, eleven years before Charles the Fat's death. But the new kingdom could not be considered legally settled until the latter date, and its establishment is at any rate a part of that general break-up of the great Carolingian empire whereofA.D.888 marks the crisis. SeeAppendix Aat the end.It is a curious mark of the reverence paid to the Carolingian blood, that Boso, a powerful and ambitious prince, seems to have chiefly rested his claims on the fact that he was husband of Irmingard, daughter of the Emperor Lewis II. Baron de Gingins la Sarraz quotes a charter of his (drawn up when he seems to have doubted whether to call himself king) which begins,'Ego Boso Dei gratia id quod sum, et coniux mea Irmingardis proles imperialis.'[92]Lewis had been surprised by Berengar at Verona, blinded, and forced to take refuge in his own kingdom of Provence.[93]Alberic is called variously senator, consul, patrician, and prince of the Romans.[94]Adelheid was daughter of Rudolf, king of Trans-Jurane Burgundy. She was at this time in her nineteenth year.[95]Chron. Moiss., in Pertz;M. G. H.i. 305.[96]See especially the poem of Florus the Deacon (printed in the Benedictine collection and in Migne), a bitter lament over the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. It is too long for quotation. I give four lines here:—
[1]The author has in preparation, and hopes before long to complete and publish, a set of chronological tables which may be made to serve as a sort of skeleton history of mediæval Germany and Italy.
[2]Reckoning the Anti-pope Felix (A.D. 356) as Felix II.
[3]Crowned Emperor, but at Bologna, not at Rome.
[4]According to the vicious financial system that prevailed, thecurialesin each city were required to collect the taxes, and when there was a deficit, to supply it from their own property.
[5]See the eloquent passage of Claudian,In secundum consulatum Stilichonis, 129,sqq., from which the following lines are taken (150-60):—
'Hæc est in gremio victos quæ sola recepit,Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit,Matris, non dominæ, ritu; civesque vocavitQuos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnesQuod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes:Quod sedem mutare licet: quod cernere ThulenLusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus:Quod bibimus passim Rhodanum, potamus Oronten,Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Nec terminus unquamRomanæ ditionis erit.'
'Hæc est in gremio victos quæ sola recepit,Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit,Matris, non dominæ, ritu; civesque vocavitQuos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnesQuod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes:Quod sedem mutare licet: quod cernere ThulenLusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus:Quod bibimus passim Rhodanum, potamus Oronten,Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Nec terminus unquamRomanæ ditionis erit.'
'Hæc est in gremio victos quæ sola recepit,Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit,Matris, non dominæ, ritu; civesque vocavitQuos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnesQuod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes:Quod sedem mutare licet: quod cernere ThulenLusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus:Quod bibimus passim Rhodanum, potamus Oronten,Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Nec terminus unquamRomanæ ditionis erit.'
'Hæc est in gremio victos quæ sola recepit,
Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit,
Matris, non dominæ, ritu; civesque vocavit
Quos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.
Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnes
Quod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes:
Quod sedem mutare licet: quod cernere Thulen
Lusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus:
Quod bibimus passim Rhodanum, potamus Oronten,
Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Nec terminus unquam
Romanæ ditionis erit.'
[6]In the Roman jurisprudence,ius sacrumis a branch ofius publicum.
[7]Tertullian, writing circ.A.D.200, says:'Sed quid ego amplius de religione atque pietate Christiana in imperatorem quem necesse est suspiciamus ut eum quem Dominus noster elegerit. Et merito dixerim, noster est magis Cæsar, ut a nostro Deo constitutus.'—Apologet.cap. 34.
[8]See the book of Optatus, bishop of Milevis,Contra Donatistas.'Non enim respublica est in ecclesia, sed ecclesia in republica, id est, in imperio Romano, cum super imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus:'(p. 999 of vol. ii. of Migne'sPatrologiæ Cursus completus.) The treatise of Optatus is full of interest, as shewing the growth of the idea of the visible Church, and of the primacy of Peter's chair, as constituting its centre and representing its unity.
[9]'Addiderat consilium coercendi intra terminos imperii.'—Tac.Ann.i. 2.
[10]Tac.Ann.ii. 9.
[11]Stilicho, the bulwark of the Empire, seems to have been himself a Vandal by extraction.
[12]Of course not the consulship itself, but theornamenta consularia.
[13]Jornandes,De Rebus Geticis, cap. 28.
[14]Tac.Hist.i. and iv.
[15]'Vester quidem est populus meus sed me plus servire vobis quam illi præesse delectat. Traxit istud a proavis generis mei apud vos decessoresque vestros semper animo Romana devotio, ut illa nobis magis claritas putaretur, quam vestra per militiæ titulos porrigeret celsitudo: cunctisque auctoribus meis semper magis ambitum est quod a principibus sumerent quam quod a patribus attulissent. Cumque gentem nostram videamur regere, non aliud nos quam milites vestros credimus ordinari.... Per nos administratis remotarum spatia regionum: patria nostra vester orbis est. Tangit Galliam suam lumen orientis, et radius qui illis partibus oriri creditur, hic refulget. Dominationem vobis divinitus præstitam obex nulla concludit, nec ullis provinciarum terminis diffusio felicium sceptrorum limitatur. Salvo divinitatis honore sit dictum.'—Letter printed among the works of Avitus, Bishop of Vienne. (Migne'sPatrologia, vol. lix. p. 285.)
This letter, as its style shews, is the composition not of Sigismund himself, but of Avitus, writing on Sigismund's behalf. But this makes it scarcely less valuable evidence of the feelings of the time.
[16]'Referre solitus est (sc.Ataulphus) se in primis ardenter inhiasse: ut obliterato Romanorum nomine Romanum omne solum Gothorum imperium et faceret et vocaret: essetque, ut vulgariter loquar, Gothia quod Romania fuisset; fieretque nunc Ataulphus quod quondam Cæsar Augustus. At ubi multa experientia probavisset, neque Gothos ullo modo parere legibus posse propter effrenatam barbariem, neque reipublicæ interdici leges oportere sine quibus respublica non est respublica; elegisse se saltem, ut gloriam sibi de restituendo in integrum augendoque Romano nomine Gothorum viribus quæreret, habereturque apud posteros Romanæ restitutionis auctor postquam esse non potuerat immutator. Ob hoc abstinere a bello, ob hoc inhiare paci nitebatur.'—Orosius, vii. 43.
[17]Athaulf formed only to abandon it.
[18]See, among other passages, Varro,De lingua Latina, iv. 34; Cic.,Pro Domo, 33; and in theCorpus Iuris Civilis, Dig. i. 5, 17; l. 1, 33; xiv. 2, 9; quoted by Ægidi,Der Fürstenrath nach dem Luneviller Frieden. The phrase'urbs æterna'appears in a novel issued by Valentinian III.
Tertullian speaks of Rome as'civitas sacrosancta.'
[19]Lact.Divin. Instit.vii. 25:'Etiam res ipsa declarat lapsum ruinamque rerum brevi fore: nisi quod incolumi urbe Roma nihil istiusmodi videtur esse metuendum. At vero cum caput illud orbis occident, etῥύμηesse cœperit quod Sibyllæ fore aiunt, quis dubitet venisse iam finem rebus humanis, orbique terrarum? Illa, illa est civitas quæ adhuc sustentat omnia, precandusque nobis et adorandus est Deus cœli si tamen statuta eius et placita differri possunt, ne citius quam putemus tyrannus ille abominabilis veniat qui tantum facinus moliatur, ac lumen illud effodiat cuius interitu mundus ipse lapsurus est.'
Cf. Tertull.Apolog.cap. xxxii:'Est et alia maior necessitas nobis orandi pro imperatoribus, etiam pro omni statu imperii rebusque Romanis, qui vim maximam universo orbi imminentem ipsamque clausulam sæculi acerbitates horrendas comminantem Romani imperii commeatu scimus retardari.'Also the same writer,Ad Scapulam, cap. ii:'Christianus sciens imperatorem a Deo suo constitui, necesse est ut ipsum diligat et revereatur et honoret et salvum velit cum toto Romano imperio quousque sæculum stabit: tamdiu enim stabit.'So too the author—now usually supposed to be Hilary the Deacon—of the Commentary on the Pauline Epistles ascribed to S. Ambrose:'Non prius veniet Dominus quam regni Romani defectio fiat, et appareat antichristus qui interficiet sanctos, reddita Romanis libertate, sub suo tamen nomine.'—Ad II Thess. ii. 4, 7.
[20]For example, by the'restitutio natalium,'and the 'adrogatio per rescriptum principis,'or, as it is expressed,'per sacrum oraculum.'
[21]Even the Christian Emperors took the title of Pontifex Maximus, till Gratian refused it:ἀθέμιστον εἶναι Χριστιάνῳ τὸ σχῆμα νομίσας.—Zosimus, lib. iv. cap. 36.
[22]'Maiore formidine et callidiore timiditate Cæsarem observatis quam ipsum ex Olympo Iovem, et merito, si sciatis.... Citius denique apud vos per omnes Deos quam per unum genium Cæsaris peieratur.'—Tertull.Apolog.c. xxviii.
Cf. Zos. v. 51:εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τετυχήκει διδόμενος ὅρκος, ἦν ἂν ὡς εἰκὸς παριδεῖν ἐνδίδοντας τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ συγγνώμην. ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ὀμωμόκεσαν κεφαλῆς, οὐκ εἶναι θεμιτὸν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὸν τοσοῦτον ὅρκον ἐξαμαρτεῖν.
[23]Tac.Ann.i. 73; iii. 38, etc.
[24]It is curious that this should have begun in the first years of the Empire. See, among other passages that might be cited from the Augustan poets, Virg.Georg.i. 42; iv. 462; Hor.Od.iii. 3, 11; Ovid,Epp. ex Ponto, iv. 9. 105.
[25]Hence Vespasian's dying jest,'Ut puto, deus fio.'
[26]ὅπου ἂν ὁ βασιλεὺς ᾖ, ἐκεῖ ἡ Ῥώμη.—Herodian.
[27]If the accounts we find of the Armorican republic can be trusted.
[28]Odoacer or Odovaker, as it seems his name ought to be written, is usually, but incorrectly, described as a King of the Heruli, who led his people into Italy and overthrew the Empire of the West; others call him King of the Rugii, or Skyrri, or Turcilingi. The truth seems to be that he was not a king at all, but the son of a Skyrrian chieftain (Edecon, known as one of the envoys whom Attila sent to Constantinople), whose personal merits made him chosen by the barbarian auxiliaries to be their leader. The Skyrri were a small tribe, apparently akin to the more powerful Heruli, whose name is often extended to them.
[29]Αὔγουστος ὁ Ὀρέστου υἱὸς ἀκούσας Ζήνωνα πάλιν τὴν βασιλείαν ἀνακεκτῆσθαι τῆς ἕω ... ἠνάγκασε τὴν βουλὴν ἀποστεῖλαι πρεσβεῖαν Ζήνωνι σημαίνουσαν ὡς ἰδίας μὲν αὐτοῖς βασιλείας οὐ δέοι, κοινὸς δὲ ἀποχρήσει μόνος ὢν αὐτοκράτωρ ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς πέρασι. τὸν μέντοι Ὀδόαχον ὑπ' αὐτῶν προβεβλῆσθαι ἱκανὸν ὄντα σώζειν τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς πράγματα πολιτικὴν ἐχὼν νοῦν καὶ σύνεσιν ὁμοῦ καὶ μάχιμον. καὶ δεῖσθαι τοῦ Ζήνωνος πατρικίου τε αὐτῷ ἀποστεῖλαι ἀξίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἰτάλων τουτῷ ἐφεῖναι διοίκησιν.—Malchus ap. Photium inCorp. Hist. Byzant.
[30]Not king of Italy, as is often said. The barbarian kings did not for several centuries employ territorial titles; the title 'king of France,' for instance, was first used by Henry IV. Jornandes tells us that Odoacer never so much as assumed the insignia of royalty.
[31]Sismondi,Histoire de la Chute de l'Empire Occidentale.
[32]'Nil deest nobis imperio vestro famulantibus.'—Theodoric to Zeno: Jornandes,De Rebus Geticis, cap. 57.
[33]'Unde et pæne omnibus barbaris Gothi sapientiores exstiterunt Græcisque pæne consimiles.'—Jorn. cap. 5.
[34]Theodoric (Thiodorich) seems to have resided usually at Ravenna, where he died and was buried; a remarkable building which tradition points out as his tomb stands a little way out of the town, near the railway station, but the porphyry sarcophagus, in which his body is supposed to have lain, has been removed thence, and may be seen built up into the wall of the building called his palace, situated close to the church of Sant' Apollinare, and not far from the tomb of Dante. There does not appear to be any sufficient authority for attributing this building to Ostrogothic times; it is very different from the representation of Theodoric's palace which we have in the contemporary mosaics of Sant' Apollinare in urbe.
In the German legends, however, Theodoric is always the prince of Verona (Dietrich von Berne), no doubt because that city was better known to the Teutonic nations, and because it was thither that he moved his court when transalpine affairs required his attention. His castle there stood in the old town on the left bank of the Adige, on the height now occupied by the citadel; it is doubtful whether any traces of it remain, for the old foundations which we now see may have belonged to the fortress erected by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the fourteenth century.
[35]'Igitur Chlodovechus ab imperatore Anastasio codicillos de consulatu accepit, et in basilica beati Martini tunica blatea indutus est et chlamyde, imponens vertici diadema ... et ab ea die tanquam consul aut (=et) Augustus est vocitatus.'—Gregory of Tours, ii. 58.
[36]Sir F. Palgrave (English Commonwealth) considers this grant as equivalent to a formal ratification of Clovis' rule in Gaul. Hallam rates its importance lower (Middle Ages, note iii. to chap. i.). Taken in connection with the grant of south-eastern Gaul to Theodebert by Justinian, it may fairly be held to shew that the influence of the Empire was still felt in these distant provinces.
[37]Even so early as the middle of the fifth century, S. Leo the Great could say to the Roman people,'Isti (sc. Petrus et Paulus) sunt qui te ad hanc gloriam provexerunt ut gens sancta, populus electus, civitas sacerdotalis et regia, per sacram B. Petri sedem caput orbis effecta latius præsideres religione divina quam dominatione terrena.'—Sermon on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul.(Opp.ap.Migne tom. i. p. 336.)
[38]'Ius Romanum est adhuc in viridi observantia et eo iure præsumitur quilibet vivere nisi adversum probetur.'—Maranta, quoted by Marquard Freher.
[39]'Denique gens Francorum multos et fœcundissimos fructus Domino attulit, non solum credendo, sed et alios salutifere convertendo,'says the emperor Lewis II inA.D.871.
[40]Martin, as in earlier times Sylverius.
[41]A singular account of the origin of the separation of the Greeks and Latins occurs in the treatise of Radulfus de Columna (Ralph Colonna, or, as some think, de Coloumelle),De translatione Imperii Romani(circ. 1300). 'The tyranny of Heraclius,' says he, 'provoked a revolt of the Eastern nations. They could not be reduced, because the Greeks at the same time began to disobey the Roman Pontiff, receding, like Jeroboam, from the true faith. Others among these schismatics (apparently with the view of strengthening their political revolt) carried their heresy further and founded Mohammedanism.' Similarly, the Franciscan Marsilius of Padua (circa 1324) says that Mohammed, 'a rich Persian,' invented his religion to keep the East from returning to allegiance to Rome. It is worth remarking that few, if any, of the earlier historians (from the tenth to the fifteenth century) refer to the Emperors of the West from Constantine to Augustulus: the very existence of this Western line seems to have been even in the eighth or ninth century altogether forgotten.
[42]Anastasius,Vitæ Pontificum Romanorumi.ap.Muratori.
[43]Letter inCodex Carolinus, in Muratori'sScriptores Rerum Italicarum, vol. iii. (part 2nd), addressed'Subregulo Carolo.'
[44]Letter inCod. Carol.(Mur.R. S. I.iii. [2.] p. 96), a strange mixture of earnest adjurations, dexterous appeals to Frankish pride, and long scriptural quotations:'Declaratum quippe est quod super omnes gentes vestra Francorum gens prona mihi Apostolo Dei Petro exstitit, et ideo ecclesiam quam mihi Dominus tradidit vobis per manus Vicarii mei commendavi.'
[45]The exact date when Pipin received the title cannot be made out. Pope Stephen's next letter (p. 96 of Mur. iii.) is addressed'Pipino, Carolo et Carolomanno patriciis.'And so theChronicon Casinense(Mur. iv. 273) says it was first given to Pipin. Gibbon can hardly be right in attributing it to Charles Martel, although one or two documents may be quoted in which it is used of him. As one of these is a letter of Pope Gregory II's, the explanation may be that the title was offered or intended to be offered to him, although never accepted by him.
[46]The title of Patrician appears even in the remote West: it stands in a charter of Ina the West Saxon king, and in one given by Richard of Normandy inA.D.1015. Ducange,s.v.
[47]After thetranslatio ad FrancosofA.D.800, the two Empires corresponded exactly to the two Khalifates of Bagdad and Cordova.
[48]
'Plaudentem cerne senatumEt Byzantinos proceres, Graiosque Quirites.'In Eutrop.ii. 135.
'Plaudentem cerne senatumEt Byzantinos proceres, Graiosque Quirites.'In Eutrop.ii. 135.
'Plaudentem cerne senatumEt Byzantinos proceres, Graiosque Quirites.'In Eutrop.ii. 135.
'Plaudentem cerne senatum
Et Byzantinos proceres, Graiosque Quirites.'
In Eutrop.ii. 135.
[49]Several Emperors during this period had been patrons of images, as was Irene at the moment of which I write: the stain nevertheless adhered to their government as a whole.
[50]I should not have thought it necessary to explain that the sentence in the text is meant simply to state what were (so far as can be made out) the sentiments and notions of the ninth century, if a writer in theTablet(reviewing a former edition) had not understood it as an expression of the author's own belief.
To a modern eye there is of course no necessary connection between the Roman Empire and a catholic and apostolic Church; in fact, the two things seem rather, such has been the impression made on us by the long struggle of church and state, in their nature mutually antagonistic. The interest of history lies not least in this, that it shews us how men have at different times entertained wholly different notions respecting the relation to one another of the same ideas or the same institutions.
[51]Monachus Sangallensis,De Gestis Karoli; in Pertz,Monumenta Germaniæ Historica.
[52]Monachus Sangallensis;ut supra. So Pope Gregory the Great two centuries earlier:'Quanto cæteros homines regia dignitas antecedit, tanto cæterarum gentium regna regni Francorum culmen excellit.'Ep. v. 6.
[53]Alciatus,De Formula imperii Romani.
[54]Or rather, according to the then prevailing practice of beginning the year from Christmas-day,A.D.801.
[55]An elaborate description of old St. Peter's may be found in Bunsen's and Platner'sBeschreibung der Stadt Rom; with which compare Bunsen's work on the Basilicas of Rome.
[56]The primitive custom was for the bishop to sit in the centre of the apse, at the central point of the east end of the church (or, as it would be more correct to say, the end furthest from the door) just as the judge had done in those law courts on the model of which the first basilicas were constructed. This arrangement may still be seen in some of the churches of Rome, as well as elsewhere in Italy; nowhere better than in the churches of Ravenna, particularly the beautiful one of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, and in the cathedral of Torcello, near Venice.
[57]On this chair were represented the labours of Hercules and the signs of the zodiac. It is believed at Rome to be the veritable chair of the Apostle himself, and whatever may be thought of such an antiquity as this, it can be satisfactorily traced back to the third or fourth century of Christianity. (The story that it is inscribed with verses from the Koran is, I believe, without foundation.) It is now enclosed in a gorgeous casing of gilded wood (some say, of bronze), and placed aloft at the extremity of St. Peter's, just over the spot where a bishop's chair would in the old arrangement of the basilica have stood. The sarcophagus in which Charles himself lay, till the French scattered his bones abroad, had carved on it the rape of Proserpine. It may still be seen in the gallery of the basilica at Aachen.
[58]Eginhard,Vita Karoli.
[59]The coronation scene is described in all the annals of the time, to which it is therefore needless to refer more particularly.
[60]Before the end of the tenth century we find the monk Benedict of Soracte ascribing to Charles an expedition to Palestine, and other marvellous exploits. The romance which passes under the name of Archbishop Turpin is well known. All the best stories about Charles—and some of them are very good—may be found in the book of the Monk of St. Gall. Many refer to his dealings with the bishops, towards whom he is described as acting like a good-humoured schoolmaster.
[61]Baronius,Ann., ad ann. 800; Bellarminus,De translatione imperii Romani adversus Illyricum; Spanhemius,De ficta translatione imperii; Conringius,De imperio Romano Germanico.
[62]See especially Greenwood,Cathedra Petri, vol. iii. p. 109.
[63]Ann. Lauresb. ap.Pertz,M. G. H.i.
[64]ApudPertz,M. G. H.i.
[65]Vitæ Pontif.in Mur.S. R. I.Anastasius in reporting the shout of the people omits the word'Romanorum,'which the other annalists insert after'imperatori.'The balance of probability is certainly in his favour.
[66]Lorentz,Leben Alcuins. And cf. Döllinger,Das Kaiserthum Karls des Grossen und seiner Nachfolger.
[67]See a very learned and interesting tract entitledDas Kaiserthum Karls des Grossen und seiner Nachfolger, recently published by Dr. v. Döllinger of Munich.
[68]Ἀποκρισιάριοι παρὰ Καρούλλου καὶ Λέοντος αἰτούμενοι ζευχθῆναι αὐτὴν τῷ Καρούλλῳ πρὸς γάμον καὶ ἑνῶσαι τὰ Ἑωὰ καὶ τὰ Ἑσπερία.—Theoph.Chron.inCorp. Scriptt. Hist. Byz.
[69]Their ambassadors at last saluted him by the desired title'Laudes ei dixerunt imperatorem eum et basileum appellantes.'Eginh.Ann., ad ann. 812.
[70]Harun er Rashid; Eginh.Vita Karoli, c. 16.
[71]So Pope John VIII in a document quoted by Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungs-geschichte, iii.
[72]Pertz,M. G. H.iii. (legg. I.)
[73]Pütter,Historical Development of the German Constitution; so too Conring, and esp. David Blondel,Adv. Chiffletium.
[74]'Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit,'is repeated in this conquest of the Teuton by the Roman.
[75]The notion that once prevailed that the Irminsûl was the 'pillar of Hermann,' set up on the spot of the defeat of Varus, is now generally discredited. Some German antiquaries take the pillar to be a rude figure of the native god Irmin; but nothing seems to be known of this alleged deity: and it is more probable that the name Irmin is after all merely an altered form of the Keltic word which appears in Welsh as Hir Vaen, the long stone (Maen, a stone). Thus the pillar, so far from being the monument of the great Teutonic victory, would commemorate a pre-Teutonic race, whose name for it the invading tribes adopted. The Rev. Dr. Scott, of Westminster, to whose kindness I am indebted for this explanation, informs me that a rude ditty recording the destruction of the pillar by Charles was current on the spot a few years ago. It ran thus:—
'Irmin slad IrminSla Pfeifen sla TrommenDer Kaiser wird kommenMit Hammer und StangenWird Irmin uphangen.'
'Irmin slad IrminSla Pfeifen sla TrommenDer Kaiser wird kommenMit Hammer und StangenWird Irmin uphangen.'
'Irmin slad IrminSla Pfeifen sla TrommenDer Kaiser wird kommenMit Hammer und StangenWird Irmin uphangen.'
'Irmin slad Irmin
Sla Pfeifen sla Trommen
Der Kaiser wird kommen
Mit Hammer und Stangen
Wird Irmin uphangen.'
[76]Eginhard,Ann.
[77]Most probably the Scots of Ireland—Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 16.
[78]Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 23.
[79]Aix-la-Chapelle. See the lines in Pertz (M. G. H.ii.), beginning,—
'Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis,Sedes regni principalis,Prima regum curia.'
'Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis,Sedes regni principalis,Prima regum curia.'
'Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis,Sedes regni principalis,Prima regum curia.'
'Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis,
Sedes regni principalis,
Prima regum curia.'
This city is commonly called Aken in English books of the seventeenth century, and probably that ought to be taken as its proper English name. That name has, however, fallen so entirely into disuse that I do not venture to use it; and as the employment of the French name Aix-la-Chapelle seems inevitably to produce the belief that the place is and was, even in Charles's time, a French town, there is nothing for it but to fall back upon the comparatively unfamiliar German name.
[80]Engilenheim, or Ingelheim, lies near the left shore of the Rhine between Mentz and Bingen.
[81]Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 29.
[82]Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 17.
[83]It is not a little curious that of the three whom the modern French have taken to be their national heroes all should have been foreigners, and two foreign conquerors.
[84]This basilica was built upon the model of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and as it was the first church of any size that had been erected in those regions for centuries past, it excited extraordinary interest among the Franks and Gauls. In many of its features it greatly resembles the beautiful church of San Vitale, at Ravenna (also modelled upon that of the Holy Sepulchre) which was begun by Theodoric, and completed under Justinian. Probably San Vitale was used as a pattern by Charles's architects: we know that he caused marble columns to be brought from Ravenna to deck the church at Aachen. Over the tomb of Charles, below the central dome (to which the Gothic choir we now see was added some centuries later), there hangs a huge chandelier, the gift of Frederick Barbarossa.
[85]'Romuleum Francis præstitit imperium.'—Elegy of Ermoldus Nigellus, in Pertz;M. G. H., t. i. So too Florus the Deacon,—
'Huic etenim cessit etiam gens Romula genti,Regnorumque simul mater Roma inclyta cessit:Huius ibi princeps regni diademata sumpsitMunere apostolico, Christi munimine fretus.'
'Huic etenim cessit etiam gens Romula genti,Regnorumque simul mater Roma inclyta cessit:Huius ibi princeps regni diademata sumpsitMunere apostolico, Christi munimine fretus.'
'Huic etenim cessit etiam gens Romula genti,Regnorumque simul mater Roma inclyta cessit:Huius ibi princeps regni diademata sumpsitMunere apostolico, Christi munimine fretus.'
'Huic etenim cessit etiam gens Romula genti,
Regnorumque simul mater Roma inclyta cessit:
Huius ibi princeps regni diademata sumpsit
Munere apostolico, Christi munimine fretus.'
[86]Usage has established this translation of'Hludowicus Pius,'but 'gentle' or 'kind-hearted' would better express the meaning of the epithet.
[87]Von Ranke discovers in this early traces of the aversion of the Germans to the pretensions of the spiritual power.—History of Germany during the Reformation: Introduction.
[88]Singularly enough, when one thinks of modern claims, the dynasty of France (Francia occidentalis) had the least share of it. Charles the Bald was the only West Frankish Emperor, and reigned a very short time.
[89]Tac.Hist.i. 4.
[90]For an account of the various applications of the name Burgundy, seeAppendix, Note A.
[91]The accession of Boso took place inA.D.877, eleven years before Charles the Fat's death. But the new kingdom could not be considered legally settled until the latter date, and its establishment is at any rate a part of that general break-up of the great Carolingian empire whereofA.D.888 marks the crisis. SeeAppendix Aat the end.
It is a curious mark of the reverence paid to the Carolingian blood, that Boso, a powerful and ambitious prince, seems to have chiefly rested his claims on the fact that he was husband of Irmingard, daughter of the Emperor Lewis II. Baron de Gingins la Sarraz quotes a charter of his (drawn up when he seems to have doubted whether to call himself king) which begins,'Ego Boso Dei gratia id quod sum, et coniux mea Irmingardis proles imperialis.'
[92]Lewis had been surprised by Berengar at Verona, blinded, and forced to take refuge in his own kingdom of Provence.
[93]Alberic is called variously senator, consul, patrician, and prince of the Romans.
[94]Adelheid was daughter of Rudolf, king of Trans-Jurane Burgundy. She was at this time in her nineteenth year.
[95]Chron. Moiss., in Pertz;M. G. H.i. 305.
[96]See especially the poem of Florus the Deacon (printed in the Benedictine collection and in Migne), a bitter lament over the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. It is too long for quotation. I give four lines here:—