Rene Poupardin - Louis the Pious and the Carolingian Kingdoms

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IT WAS AT HIS WINTER home at Dou, early in February 814, that Louis of Aquitaine received the news of his fathers death, which had been immediately sent to him by his sisters and the magnates who had espoused his cause. It is a difficult matter to discern through the self-interested encomiums of biographers and the calumnies set afloat by political opponents, the real character of the man who had now taken over the burdensome heritage left by the Emperor Charles. Louis, who was at this time thirty-six years old, was, in form and manners, a tall, handsome man, broad-shouldered, with a strong voice, skilled in bodily exercises, fond, as his ancestors were, of the chase, but less easily led away by the seductions of passion and good cheer. With regard to his mental qualities, he was a learned man, well acquainted with Latin, and able even to compose verses in that language, having some knowledge of Greek, and in particular, well versed in moral theology. He was modest and unassuming, of a usually gentle temper, and he constantly showed himself capable of generosity and compassion even towards his enemies. His piety, to which he owes the surname by which history has known him from his own century to ours, appears to have been deep and genuine. It was shown not only by his zealous observance of fast and festival and his prayerful habits, but by his sustained interest in the affairs of the Church. During the time he spent in Aquitaine the reform of the Septimanian monasteries by Benedict of Aniane had engaged a large share of his attention. Throughout his reign his capitularies are filled with measures dealing with the churches and monasteries. It must not be forgotten, however, that in that age Church and State were so closely connected that provisions of this description were absolutely necessary to good administration, and that it would thus be a mistake to look upon Louis as a mere crowned monk. A king in Aquitaine from 781, and associated in the Empire in 813, he had become accustomed to the prospect of his eventual succession. Though the news of Charless death took him by surprise, the new sovereign seems promptly to have made such arrangements as the circumstances required, for after having shown all the signs of the deepest grief and ordered fitting prayer to be made for the repose of the soul of the dead, he set out on his journey for Aix-la-Chapelle in company with his wife and children and the chief lords of his party. He was doubtless uneasy as to what measures were being taken there by his fathers former ministers, among them Wala, the grandson of Charles Martel, who had wielded so great an influence at the late Emperors court. Such fears, however, were groundless, for hardly had Louis reached the banks of the Loire than the lords of France, hastening to meet him and take the oath of fealty to him, gave him an enthusiastic welcome. The famous Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans, having received timely notice, had even found leisure to compose certain poems for the occasion, hailing the dawn of the new reign. Wala himself came to meet his cousin at Herstall, before the Emperor, who was going by Paris in order to visit the celebrated sanctuaries of Saint-Denis and Saint-Germain-des-Prs, had entered France. Most of the magnates hastened to follow his example.

First Measures

At Herstall the new Emperor made some stay. There was at the palace of Aix a clique of the discontented who relied, perhaps, on the support of Charless daughters, and whose chief offence in the eyes of Louis seems to have been their disposition to pursue the dissolute way of life which had been customary at the court of the late Emperor. Wala, Lambert, Count of Nantes, and Count Gamier were sent on in advance to secure order in the palace and to seize upon any from whom resistance was to be feared. They were obliged to use force in carrying out their mission, and some lives were lost.

After Louis, on 27 February, had made his solemn entry into Aix-la-Chapelle amidst the shouts of the people, and had taken over the government, he continued the same course, taking measures to put an end to the scandals, real or alleged, which for the last few years had dishonored the court. His sisters, whose lapses from virtue, however, dated many years back, were the first to be assailed. After dividing among them the property due to them under Charless will, he sent them into banishment at various convents. Nothing is known of the fate of Gisela and Bertha, but Theodrada was obliged to retire to her abbey of Argenteuil, and Rothaid to Faremoutier. The Jewish and Christian merchants also, who were found established in the palace, were summoned to depart from it, as well as the superfluous women not required for the service of the court. At the same time Louis kept with him his illegitimate brothers, Hugh, Drogo and Theodoric. But the arrangements made in the name of good morals were followed up at once by measures directed against the descendants of Charles Martel. In spite of the loyalty just shown by Wala, his brother Adalard, Abbot of Corbie, was exiled to the island of Noirmoutier, while another brother, Bernier, was confined at Lerins, and their sister, Gundrada, at St Radegund of Poitiers. Wala himself, fearing a like fate, chose to retire to Corbie.

Division of Territory

Apparently it was also a zeal for reform which inspired Louis at the first general placitum held at Aix in August 814 to decide on sending out to all parts of the kingdom missi charged with the duty of making inquiry into the slightest actions of the counts and judges and even of the missi previously dispatched from the palace, in order to reform what they found to have been unjustly done, and bring it into conformity with justice, to restore their patrimony to the oppressed, and freedom to those who had been unjustly reduced to servitude. It was a like anxiety which impelled him next year for the protection of the native inhabitants of the Spanish March, molested as they were by the Frankish Counts, to take those measures which are to be found among the provisions of certain of his capitularies.

At this placitum of Aix appeared the young king of Italy, Bernard, who came to make oath of loyalty to his uncle. The Emperor received him kindly, bestowed rich gifts on him, and sent him back to Italy, having confirmed him in his title of king while reserving to himself the imperial sovereignty, as is shown by the fact that even in Italy all legislative acts emanate exclusively from the Emperor. He it is also who, during Bernards life, grants the confirmation of the privileges of the great Italian abbeys. At the same time Louis assigned as kingdoms to his two elder sons with much the same terms of dependence on himself two portions of the Frankish Empire which still retained a certain degree of autonomy, Bavaria to Lothar and Aquitaine to Pepin. Both were, however, too young to exercise real power. Louis therefore placed about each of them Frankish officials entrusted with the duty of governing the country in their names. As to the Emperors latest-born son, Louis, he was too young to be put in even nominal charge of a kingdom so that he remained under his fathers care.