THE HISTORY of CHARLEMAGNE

BOOK IX.

FROM THE CONDEMNATION OF THE DUKE OF BAVARIA,

TO THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF FRANKFORT.

788 TO 794

The people who now prepared to attack the empire of Charlemagne, though called by most of the writers by the name of Huns, were not the same nation, which, under Attila, had menaced the existence of the Romans, and ravaged the territories both of the East and West. They sprang, however, in all probability, from the same origin, occupied nearly the same country, and comprised the remnant of many of those tribes which had once been united under the famous scourge of God.

When Attila, after his last successful invasion of the Roman state, retired before the bribes of the weak Valentinian, the eloquence of Leo the Great, and the diseases which affected his army, he met, in the bed of luxury, the death which he had escaped in a thousand battle fields. The various hordes which, consolidated under the dominion of the Huns, had fought and triumphed together, having been bound to each other by the talents of Attila alone, were separated the moment that his spirit had fled. The desire of dominion being no longer directed by one powerful mind against other nations, spread disunion amongst themselves; and the swords which had so long conquered their enemies, were now turned by the savage tribes against each other. The great battle of Netad, where they contended for sovereignty over each other, destroyed many, and dispersed the rest of the Hunnish confederates; and, scattered in different bodies over the north, they were insensibly amalgamated with other people. That tribe which remained perhaps the most distinct, turned its steps under the command of Irnac, one of the sons of Attila, towards the Lesser Scythia, where it was encountered, and probably afterwards subdued, by the other hordes, which wandered continually through the wide pasture grounds of the north; so that it, as well as the rest, becomes speedily lost to history. At the same time, the Gepids, who claimed, and perhaps had won, the hattle of Netad, took possession of Upper Hungary and Transylvania, and soon after possessed themselves of part of Panonia and Noricum, all of which territories were destined to be wrested from them by a new influx from the source which had given rise to themselves.

It is not my purpose to inquire here, which of the Tartar nations that poured, during many years, a barbarian torrent upon the West, gave origin to the tribe afterwards calling themselves Avars, nor to investigate whether the people which acquired that name in Europe, really formed a part of the original Avars, whose possessions extended to the most eastern point of Asia, or whether they belonged to the primary stock of the Huns themselves. Suffice it, that shortly after the dispersion of the hordes of Attila, a warlike and powerful people, calling themselves Avars, first approached the northern part of Europe, driven from their native country by the growing power of the Turks. At that time, the feeble empire of the East was in the habit of employing various barbarian nations in her wars; and the Avars sought and obtained service under the Emperor Justinian, who, in the weak craft of his dotage, loaded them with presents, in order that their arms might be turned against various other tribes, more inimical to the imperial crown. Success crowned their efforts, and increased their reputation and power; and, advancing on their way, they conquered almost the whole of European Scythia, and incorporated with themselves several of the scattered tribes which had formed the Hunnish confederation.

THE AVARS INVADE BAVARIA

At length, finding themselves strong, and the Eastern empire weak, they boldly threatened the nation they had proposed to serve; but the firmness of Justin, and the wisdom of his precautions, rendered them humbler in their expectations; and turning their arms against the northwest of Europe, they first attacked the Frankish monarchy on the confines of Germany. Defeated by Sigibert, King of Austrasia, they again tried the fortune of battle; and though the Frankish annalists claim victory for their monarch, he was obliged to purchase the absence and friendship of the invaders. They then leagued with Alboin, King of the Lombards, for the destruction of the Gepids, who were, by that time, the only remaining tribe of great importance, which had formed part of the empire of Attila. On this occasion, the Avars, with the most profound dissimulation, obtained from the necessity of the Lombards, a treaty, by virtue of which, all the country, and one-half of the spoils of the conquered people, were to be theirs, in the event of success.

The Lombard arms proved successful in battle against the Gepidae, whose country was immediately overrun by the Avars. What remained of the vanquished nation was incorporated with their conquerors, and the whole territory they had inhabited became the property of the wandering Scythians. Thus Hungary, now so called, was possessed by the Avars, who, joining with themselves a multitude of Hunnish tribes, accumulated the immense spoils which both they themselves and their equally barbarous predecessors had torn from the other nations of Europe.

From this period, the Avars, under their monarchs, called Chagans, pursued a long system of aggression and negotiation towards the empire of the East, which always ended to the advantage of the barbarians. They extended their limits towards Lombardy; and touched upon the very verge of Bavaria; and in the height of their power, they leagued with Chosroes the Persian, and advanced to the gates of Constantinople. Various changes afterwards took place in their state; and a fixed residence, the accumulation of an immensity of plunder, habits of luxury, and the desire of repose, gradually took from the Avars, or modern Huns, the first fierce necessity of warfare, which expulsion from their own country had occasioned, and which, while it lasted, produced strength and conquest. Much of their eastern frontier was now lost, almost without a struggle on their part, by the rise of other barbarous nations, especially the various tribes of Bulgarians, and we do not find them making any great military exertion, either to defend themselves, or to aggrandize their territory, till the year 662, when, at the instigation of Grimwald, King of Lombardy, they ravaged the dukedom of Friuli. From that time history is nearly silent concerning them, till, at the period of which I now write, we find Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, calling them to his aid in his ambitious, but impotent, struggles against his sovereign.

Before the arrest and condemnation of that unhappy prince, his negotiations with the Huns had been carried to a conclusion; and two armies of Scythians were already prepared; the one to pour into Lombardy, and divert the forces of Charlemagne to that quarter, and the other to enter Bavaria, and support the rebellion of the Duke. Whether the discovery of his treason, and the condemnation of Tassilo, were known in Hungary or not, when the Panonian armies began their march, we are not told; but, notwithstanding his fall, the Huns kept their engagements to the letter; and early in the year invaded both Friuli and Bavaria.

Their irruption into the first named province, was instantly repelled by the vigor and conduct of the Frankish governors and in a sharp conflict which took place on the occasion, the arms of the Christians were completely victorious. In Bavaria, where they probably calculated on more certain success, from their alliance with the Duke, they were equally unsuccessful. Tassilo no longer held the reins of government; and the inhabitants of the country, whose attachment to the monarch of the Francs have had occasion to notice, instantly prepared to resist the invaders. Two envoys from Charlemagne, also, named Grahamannus and Audacrus, were present with a small body of troops; and directed the movements of the Bavarian forces. The two armies encountered each other in the open country, near Ips, on the Danube, and the Huns were here defeated and driven back, with even greater loss than they had suffered in Friuli.

They must have become aware, by this time, that the original object of their expedition was now unattainable; and that the fate of their ally, the Duke of Bavaria, was sealed. But personal revenge supplied a motive for farther exertions, and a fresh army was immediately raised by the Avars, to avenge the loss of their countrymen, and wipe away the disgrace of defeat. Once more passing the Danube, the forces of the Huns entered Bavaria, but were encountered anew by the Francs and Bavarians; and, after a more severe and total defeat than before, were forced to fly in confusion, leaving an immense number of their companions dead upon the field of battle, and still more swallowed up in the waters of the Danube.

CHARLEMAGNE DEVOTES HIMSELF TO THE CIVILIZATION OF HIS TERRITORIES

To this active warfare between the Francs and the Huns, succeeded one of those cold suspensions of hostility, which augur anything but peace. On the one part, the Avars were alarmed and astonished at the event of the war—so different from that which a thousand traditions of success had taught them to expect—and ceased their irruptions in order to collect their forces, and measure the strength of their adversary. On the other hand, Charlemagne also paused, to consolidate his dominions, and to guard and regulate that territory, which the revolt and fall of his vassal Tassilo had brought more immediately under his own superintendence.

Accordingly, as soon as he found that his presence in the centre of his dominions was no longer necessary for the protection of the whole, he proceeded through Bavaria in person, fixing the government as he intended it to remain for the future, and fortifying the frontier against any new aggression. When this necessary duty was completed, the monarch returned to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he spent the winter in regulating the affairs of the church, and the internal police of his kingdom. We cannot, of course, trace the whole of the monarch's efforts for the perfect establishment of order and tranquillity, in realms which for centuries had been torn by anarchy and strife. Nor can we always discover the motives for various laws, originating in a state of society, with the general situation of which we may be fully acquainted, and yet be ignorant of many of the inferior details. It is but fair, however, under such circumstances, to look upon those laws with a favourable eye; and where it is necessary to have recourse to indirect conclusions to consider the general character of Charlemagne's designs, and to suppose the same motives which we discover in the rest of his actions, to have influenced those where no other cause is apparent.

The regulation of the church, and the preservation of its purity, both in doctrinal points and in the lives of its servants, was always a great object with a monarch, one of whose chief engines of civilization was the Christian religion; and the principal acts which we find attributed to him in the present year, have chiefly this tendency. Such was the composition, by his command, of a book of homilies by the famous Lombard historian, called Paul the Deacon, and the order for these homilies to be read in all the churches. A general council was also held at Aix-la-Chapelle, for the purpose of reforming abuses in the Gallican church; and a capitulary was issued, in which, as well as various regulations respecting the clergy, are to be found many useful and many curious laws. Amongst the last, are prohibitions against divination, either by dipping into the Evangelists, and applying the first passage met with as a prophecy,—a mode then common,—or by any other method; against the practice of baptizing bells; and against the custom of keeping hounds, falcons, or jesters by bishops, abbots, or abbesses. The more peaceful occupations of Charlemagne, however, were never suffered to continue very long, and, indeed, could seldom be protracted beyond that season of the year, when the severity of the weather, and the scantiness of forage, kept his armies from the field. A new cause of warfare soon called the attention of the monarch, both from the internal regulations in which he was engaged, and from the unconcluded hostilities which he had been carrying on against the Huns.

WAR AGAINST THE WELETABES

The more immediate aggression of a Slavonian tribe, called Weletabes, or Wiltzes, inhabiting the northern part of Germany, near Brandenburgh and Pomerania, from the Elbe to the Baltic, induced the French King to march at once against them. This aggression, it is true, was rather directed against the allies and tributaries of the Francs, than against the Francs themselves; but it is not unworthy of observation, that, with wise zeal, Charlemagne strove to make his friendship valuable to the nations round about, by the promptitude and certainty of his efforts to protect them, and on all occasions showed more active vigor in defending a friend or an ally, than even in repelling an irruption upon his own territory, or avenging an insult to his own crown. Many personal causes, in the present instance, contributed to render it imperatively necessary for Charlemagne to act vigorously against the Weletabes. Their contempt of his power had been displayed in a quarter where his authority had not yet been confirmed by time. The Saxons were the daily witnesses of their incursions upon the Abrodites, and other tribes dependent upon France; and the French monarch soon found, that the insolence of a petty people whom he contemned, might, if unpunished, produce the insurrection of a country from which he had much to apprehend.

In the spring of 789, he accordingly made every preparation for an early and active campaign. He called together a considerable army of Francs, mingled with these more trustworthy forces, a large band of Saxons, and commanded the Frisons to ascend the Elbe in their small vessels, while the Abrodites, and other nations who had suffered from the aggressions of the people he was about to punish, made great efforts to second his design with all their power. As soon as these arrangements were completed, Charlemagne passed the Rhine at Cologne, and, traversing the whole of Saxony, reached the banks of the Elbe. Here, however, he paused. The country before him was wild and unexplored, the inhabitants warlike and active, while in the rear of his army lay a nation—extending over a space of several hundred miles—whose subjection was forced, whose hatred he had little reason to doubt, and whose perfidy was known by long experience.

The loss of a battle, scarcity of provisions, or a thousand other emergencies, might compel him to retreat with precipitation; and no deep political sagacity was required to show, that the Saxons would rise on the slightest misfortune which might befal him, and endeavor to obstruct, or prevent entirely, the repassage of the Elbe. To guard against this danger, Charlemagne paused on the banks of the river, and employed his army during several days in constructing two bridges across it, one of which he fortified strongly at either extremity with a fort of wood and earth, which, being sufficiently garrisoned, secured a retreat in case of discomfiture. The monarch then advanced into the heart of the enemy's territory, and a long and desultory warfare succeeded, in which no general battle was fought, and the subjection of the country effected, rather by persevering efforts than by any one decisive blow.

The chiefs of the various tribes composing the nation of the Weletabes, yielded to the superior discipline of the Francs, and, one after another, sacrificed their independence, by taking the oath of homage prescribed by the victor. Hostages of their faith were demanded and given, and, whether from soon learning to appreciate the benefits of a civilized government, or from having at once felt the impossibility of successful resistance, the Weletabes adhered firmly to their vow, and never attempted to shake off the yoke which had been imposed upon them, till moved by the influence of a greater power.

Having thus terminated with ease an expedition which had appeared fraught with dangers and dificulties, Charlemagne repassed the Elbe, and returned to Worms, where he entered the year 790, celebrated as a year of peace. It is probable, however, that the twelve months which succeeded would not have passed so tranquilly if the Chagan of the Huns, or Avars, had not made the first advances towards a termination of the differences between France and Hungary, by sending ambassadors to the court of the French monarch, with the ostensible purpose of settling the respective boundaries of the two kingdoms on the Bavarian frontier. Whether the object of the Chagan was solely to amuse the King of France, till Hungary was again prepared for warfare, or whether the enchantments of self-interest on both sides, blinded the eyes of the two monarchs to simple justice, and created those unreasonable exactions which too often obstruct the arrangement of the simplest claims, cannot now be told, from the want of all minute information in the writings of contemporaries. The general facts, however, are clear. The ambassadors of the Chagan did not accomplish the purpose of their mission, if it was really a peaceful one, and retired from the court of the French monarch without any definitive determination of the points which they had been sent to discuss. After their departure, Charlemagne, in return, despatched messengers to the court of Hungary, but this mission proved not more fruitful than the other, and soon terminated, leaving all parties more disposed to hostility than ever.

PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT OF FRANCS IN THE USEFUL ARTS

While these transactions were taking place, Charlemagne, as if to enjoy to the full the year of tranquility which he had snatched like a flower from amidst the thorns of war, visited various parts of his dominions, and inspected personally several of the buildings which were proceeding by his command throughout the empire. His first visit of the kind was to a new palace which he was raising at Seltz, and round which the infant stream of the Sale murmured amidst some of the most beautiful scenery in Germany. The church and monastery of St Ritharius also, were this year completed, under his especial care and direction; and we are told, that skilful artificers in wood and stone, in glass and marble, were sent by the monarch for the decoration of the building, while an immense number of extremely strong vehicles were dispatched to Rome, for the purpose of procuring materials from the ruins of the glorious past. Descriptions of the construction of a great many ecclesiastical buildings, begun about this time, have come down to us; and on no part of his general scheme for improving his dominions, does Charlemagne seem to have bestowed more pains, than on the cultivation of architectural science. Although, of that science, Rome now possessed scarcely any vestige, she still offered the choicest models and materials that France could procure; and the various journeys, both of Charlemagne himself, and of the workmen he at different times sent to Italy, greatly contributed to the improvement of art in his native country.

The advance of society in Gaul had been very great since the fall of the Merovingian dynasty; and the year of peace which now intervened, was in no degree lost to the people of Charlemagne. They had, indeed, much need of some pause in the gratification of their natural propensity to war, in order to permit the growth of those milder arts, which the monarch was so anxious to cultivate, notwithstanding the warlike character of his own mind. It is not, however, to be supposed, although each year had been almost uniformly passed by the Francs in hostile expeditions, that the useful branches of knowledge had hitherto made little advance during the reign of Charlemagne. On the contrary, we find, that their progress had been rapid and continual.

Unfortunately the state of commerce and industry at that remote period can only be learned from the vague mention of facts and events, to be found occasionally in the midst of an immense extent of desultory and irrelevant writing. Nevertheless, it is evident, even from these casual notices, that France had been rendered by this time the most cultivated country in Europe, (with the exception of the Eastern empire,) as far, at least, as regarded trade and manufacture. The stores of ancient learning, and the remains of ancient magnificence, were still the ruined inheritance of prodigal Rome; but even prior to the year of which I now write, we find Rome herself applying to the monarch of the Francs for skilful workmen and overseers, to superintend those architectural labors for which Italy had been once renowned, and demanding those materials for the construction and reparation of her buildings which the commerce of France could alone supply. Various collateral proofs of the extent of this commerce are derived from the letters and annals of the day, amongst which proofs one of the most convincing is, the fact of the great facility with which pondercous and unwieldy objects were transported for considerable distances. Thus we learn that entire marble columns, and immense stone crosses, were sent overland through the whole extent of France on many occasions, and were uniformly carried in vehicles of French construction. A regular system of port duties also was established, the collector-general of which we find distinctly mentioned; and it would appear, from the same authority, that the right of trading to France was considered of great importance to the neighbouring countries, —so much so, indeed, that Charlemagne is reported to have threatened to prohibit the commerce between England and France as the severest punishment he could inflict on Offa, sovereign of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, who had given him cause for anger. These facts, as well as the laws concerning mercantile transactions, in which various articles of luxury are expressly mentioned as in common use, and as ordinary matters of traffic, tend to show that art had reached a greater height amongst the Francs at this time, than has been generally supposed. The vases and cups of gold and silver, carved and embossed with a thousand complicated figures—the silver tables, richly chased, representing cities and countries—the bracelets, rings, and ornamented belts—together with the praises bestowed on the workmanship,—prove that the arts of luxury, which always follow far behind those of necessity, were known, cultivated, and esteemed at this period.

In addition to this, the fact of tablecloths of fine linen having been then in use, shows the perfection to which a branch of industry had been carried that always speaks a considerable degree of refinement in the nation by which it is practised. The skilful manufacture of iron, also, and the strict and severe laws which forbade the exportation of arms, aflford another instance of the superiority of the Francs at that time to the nations round about them; and a thousand other circumstances might be adduced to show, that—however much literature and taste were still inferior to what they appeared in some of the ages which preceded, and in some which followed—yet the necessary and the convenient arts were carried to a height which we do not usually attribute to the eighth century. The advantages to be derived by states from the promotion of industry, and the cultivation of every species of knowledge, was never lost to the sight of Charlemagne; and he snatched each interval of repose, to secure all those facilities to commerce and manufacture, by which alone they can be brought to flourish and increase.

To afford to all the efforts of labor, by clear and comprehensive laws, both instant protection and adequate return, was one great purpose of his legislation; and we find a large proportion of all his capitularies dedicated to the object of guarding merchants from unjust exactions, as well as that of enforcing the performance of bargains, and ensuring justice in all mercantile transactions.

From his capitularies, also, we derive many small points of information, which, though seemingly unimportant, and sometimes even ridiculous, tend greatly to show the state of society in France at that time; and while the general scope and tendency of these laws offer the best representation of the monarch's mind, the minute particulars often furnish a more curious and interesting portrait of the manners of his country, and his age, than circumstances of far greater apparent importance could supply.

Where there exist many facilities for a traveler to procure refreshment and repose, we may generally conclude that the traffic of the country is great, and the state of civilization considerable. In this point of view, the fact that, in the reign of Charlemagne, taverns, where both meat and drink were to be procured, existed throughout France, is not insignificant; and the number of laws in regard to watching the bridges, and the highways, and guarding against those who were likely either to injure individuals, or to destroy public works, presents a singular picture of the struggle between the premature civilization of the sovereign's mind, and the lingering barbarism of his people.

The principal domestic occurrence attributed to this year of Charlemagne's life, is the provision of a distinct jurisdiction for his eldest son. Some time previous to this period, he had apportioned to the two younger brothers, Pepin and Louis, separate territories, the government of which, under his own eye, educated them to the use of authority, and accustomed them to the responsibility of command. His eldest son, Charles, had remained at his father's court unportioned; and, though the dominions to which he was to succeed, were sufficiently vast to gratify even an ambitious mind, yet Charlemagne this year bestowed upon him the duchy of Maine, one of the richest and most beautiful provinces of France, as a foretaste of the sovereignty which he was afterwards to enjoy.

The conflagration of his palace at Worms, and the continual news of warlike preparation on the part of the Huns, were the only events which disturbed Charlemagne's tranquillity during the year 790. But the first of these evils was not so complete as to oblige him to change his residence; and against the latter, he took those prompt measures of precaution, which he always employed with success, in averting or repelling attack. Finding that the Chagan of the Avars still continued to claim a part of Bavaria, and that the subjects of that prince made frequent predatory excursions upon the frontiers of the country, the monarch of the Francs, as winter approached, despatched a considerable force towards the scene of contention.

INVASION Of HUNGARY

Whether he had at this time absolutely determined to carry the war into Hungary itself, or whether the measure was merely, as I have said, one of precaution, in order to guard his territory from attack, till the negotiations which were still pending should be terminated, does not clearly appear. It is probable, however, that, towards Charlemagne, the Avars, or Huns, made use of the same mixture of cunning and insolence, which they had displayed successfully in their conduct towards the empire of the East, on their first entrance into Europe; and it is evident that the discussions were protracted for a great length of time, and were not broken off till the end of the year. But Charlemagne was not to be turned from his purpose; and the moment the spring arrived, he was once more at the head of his armies, prepared to pursue the war with more than usual vigor. He well knew the great resources of the country he was about to invade, its natural and its artificial defences, and the courage and resolution of its inhabitants; and, though he both contemned the arrogance, which we find from all historians that the Avars displayed, and felt that confidence of victory which is often both a presage, and a means, of success, he prepared for a war of a more serious character, than any which he had hitherto undertaken, and had recourse to measures and precautions, which he had previously neglected to employ.

These precautions were to be taken for the security of the territories which he left behind him, as well as for the conquest of those which he invaded. The paths of conquerors are always on volcanoes, and each step may be shaken by an earthquake; for, in most instances, it requires a longer space of time than the life of one man, so far to amalgamate a subdued people with their victors, as to render any one footfall of ambition secure, in the whole march of hostile aggrandizement. Many have been the means employed, to assimilate nations more rapidly; and the most rational, as well as the most successful, has been that practised by Charlemagne, of endeavoring to overcome national prejudices and the bitter memory of subjection, by a community of interest, and a participation of endeavor and reward. This plan had produced the most happy consequences in regard to the Lombards, who, fighting side by side with the Francs, had become identified with them in victory and glory; and Charlemagne hoped, by the same measures, to bend the Saxons in the same degree.

A large body of that people was accordingly incorporated with his army, and destined to march against the Huns, probably with the double view of employing a number of fierce and active men, at a distance from their own country, and in a situation where they could not revolt, and of habituating them to the customs, the religion, and the discipline of the Francs. His whole forces were then disposed in three great divisions; and, having taken measures to ensure a regular supply of all things necessary for the expedition, he marched towards the frontier of the enemy. The plan of his campaign was one well calculated to secure success. The army which had been previously sent forward to Bavaria, together with the troops raised in that country, were commanded to descend the Danube in boats, which contained also abundant military stores and provisions. He himself marched forward with a large force, on the southern side of the river; and his generals, Theoderic and Meginfried, led the third division, composed of Saxons and Oriental Francs, along the northern bank of the stream. Although these dispositions would, in all probability, have determined the event of the opening war, Charlemagne omitted nothing which might procure a speedy and fortunate issue to his enterprise; and, before entering Hungary, he despatched messengers to his son, Pepin, King of Italy, requiring him to march with the Duke of Friuli and the Lombard forces, upon the frontier of the Avars, and co-operate with the other troops, which he was leading against that nation from the West. Much of the success of an invasion, of course, depends upon the nature of the invaded country; and the territory of the Huns was defended in so peculiar a manner, that it may be well to consider for a moment the difficulties which opposed the progress of the French monarch. A more distinct account of the Hungarian dominions in that day, has come down to us, than the old annalists often furnish on any subject. But that account is so extraordinary in itself, that each writer who has since touched upon the history of Charlemagne, has endeavored to explain, according to his own ideas, the description furnished by the Monk of St Gall, from the words of an eye witness. Some have magnified, and some have softened, the particulars of this account; but the fact, of the country of the Avars having been guarded by fortifications of a very ingenious and perfectly singular nature, is admitted by all. The whole country, we are told, was surrounded by nine circles of double palisading, formed of trunks of trees, twenty feet in height. The interstice of the double palisade was twenty feet in width, which was filled with stone and compact lime, while the top of the whole, covered with vegetable earth, was planted with living shrubs. At the distance of twenty Teutonic, or forty Italian, miles from the first circle, or hegin, as it is called, was a second internal one, fortified in the same manner, and thus the country presented fortress after fortress, from the outer palisade to the small inner circle, or ring, as the writers of that day term it, within which the accumulated wealth of ages was guarded by the Avars. The space between the various ramparts was filled by a woody country, so thronged with towns and villages, that a trumpet could be heard from the one to the other; and the means of egress from the inner to the external circles, or from the extreme boundary to the neighbouring countries, consisted alone in very narrow sally ports, practised in various parts of the palisades.

Such is the description given by a person who wrote within a century of the events he narrates; who received his account from one of the officers of the monarch; and who addresses his work to an immediate descendant of Charlemagne. But, when we remember, that other parts of his work are full of errors and absurdities, and find that, amongst the annalists of the time, his statement is confirmed by little but vague allusions to extensive fortifications, and the still more vague traditions of after years, we shall feel inclined to reject the particulars as hyperbolical, if not totally false, while we admit the general fact, of the country having been carefully secured by strong artificial defences of a singular kind.

In addition to these obstacles to the progress of a conqueror, the people of Hungary were known to be a hardy, bold, and persevering race, so that it required the exertion of all his vast resources to ensure the success of Charlemagne's enterprise. The preparations necessary for carrying on the war upon the extensive scale which these circumstances demanded, delayed the French monarch so long, that the month of September had commenced before he reached the banks of the river Ens, which at that time formed the boundary of Bavaria. From that moment, however, no time was lost ere he proceeded to put in execution the plan he had formed for his campaign. He immediately entered the country of the Avars; and no resistance in the open field seems to have preceded fis attack of the fortresses which lay in his way. Three of these were immediately taken by the monarch, sword in hand, and he then marched onward with his usual rapid advance, laying waste he country, till he reached the banks of the Raab, which he crossed, and, following the course of that river, only halted at its junction with the Danube.

Here Charlemagne encamped for some days, and received the news of the success of his son Pepin, who, with the Duke of Friuli, had entered the territories of the Huns, and, encountering their army almost immediately, had totally defeated them, with immense slaughter. Every promise of success, therefore, had hitherto attended the expedition of the French monarch; but at this time one of the most terrible scourges which could afflict an army, almost entirely composed of cavalry, fell upon that of Charlemagne : A pestilential disease broke out amongst the horses with such violence, that before the sovereign could effect his retreat into Bavaria, nine-tenths of those which he had brought with him had perished.

Notwithstanding this disaster, the retreat of the Francs was not followed by any of those terrible consequences which might have taken place, had the Avars awoke from the panic, into which the rapid motions and immense forces of the French monarch had thrown them, in time to take advantage of the opportunity which accident produced in their favor. The Francs were suffered to retire unmolested, and carried with them an immense quantity of booty, as well as an innumerable multitude of prisoners. Thus far successful, it would seem that Charlemagne, at the time of his return, was fully determined to pursue the war he had commenced, to the utter subversion of the power of the Huns; but circumstance, that mighty disappointer of the best laid designs, intervened, and the monarch of the Francs never more set his foot within the confines of Panonia as a warrior.

In accordance with his intention, however, of re-entering Hungary early in the spring, he proceeded no farther on his return towards France than Ratisbon, where he employed the winter in constructing a bridge of boats across the Danube, and in examining a new heresy which had arisen in the church. As this investigation tended not alone to the refutation of an idle schismatic, but brought on discussions attended with more important historical consequences, we must pause upon the subject longer than would have been otherwise necessary.

THE FELICIAN HERESY

Some short time before the precise period of which I write, Felix, who had been established Bishop of Urgel, a city within the limits of the Spanish march, had declared his belief, that Christ was merely the Son of God by adoption, and maintained his nature to have been human. This doctrine was first promulgated by him in a letter addressed to the Bishop of Toledo; but, not contented with the simple assertion of his own opinions, he endeavored to propagate them by various writings; and was, in consequence, brought before Charlemagne at Ratisbon. A council was immediately called by the King, consisting of such French prelates as happened to be in the neighborhood at the time. By these, the opinions of Felix were condemned as heretical, and he himself was sent to Rome for the judgment of Pope Adrian, to whom he confessed his error, and from whose hands he received absolution.

His doctrine, however, had gained ground : many of the Spanish bishops had embraced the Felician heresy; and it was found necessary to hold a more full and general synod at Frankfort, to consider the subject with greater solemnity and deliberation. In this assembly, Alcuin pleaded against the errors of Felix; and a solemn condemnation of the opinions of that prelate was again pronounced, and generally promulgated, together with Charlemagne's profession of faith. Disputations on points of doctrine almost always lead to the examination of new subjects, and the excitation of new disputes. It is probable, that had the Felician heresy never been examined, the council of Frankfort might never have been held; but, as it was, after deciding upon the first question, the assembled bishops proceeded to discuss the famous Nicene Council, (the second of Nice,) by the authority of which, the Empress Irene had restored the worship of images.

Either sufficient folly, superstition, or civilization, was wanting in the Frankish assembly, to adopt the pure idolatry of the Greek church; and the Council of Nice was, consequently, declared by the Council of Frankfort to be useless and invalid, and its decrees were unanimously rejected. On this last occasion two legates were present on the part of the Pope, who had previously disavowed the messengers which had appeared in his name at the Council of Nice. Nevertheless, it can hardly be supposed, that the Roman pontiffs, whose separation from Greece had for its motive and justification the abolition of idol worship at Constantinople, would willingly countenance the rejection of the same idolatry in France.

No sooner had the Council of Frankfort decided upon this question, than the priests and learned men, who were gathered together by the patronage of Charlemagne for very different purposes, united to compose a long and studious refutation of the doctrines of the Nicene Council. The book, or rather books, thus produced, (called the Libri Carolini), though somewhat scurrilous, and not very argumentative, received the sanction of Charlemagne, were honored with his name, and were sent, together with an epistle, to the Roman pontifft by the hands of Angelbert, one of the ministers of the monarch.

The Pope replied to the French sovereign's letter, but not to his book; and, quietly allowing the subject to drop, left time and superstition to do their work, and lead the Francs from the toleration of images as useful memorials of faith, to their adoration as visible intercessors. Not long after this period appeared the false decretals, on which so much of the assumed authority of the Roman church has been founded; and it is not at all improbable, that the manufacture of these antedated decrees was first suggested to the policy of the Lateran by the bold tone of the Council of Frankfort. Undoubtedly, to put down such synods, or rather to command them, was the great object of those decretals; and it appears certain, that they were published between 794 and 800. Thus it is probable that Adrian attempted, without answering the arguments of the Gallic scribes, to annihilate such assemblies as that which had prompted them to write.