FRANKS
241
FRANKS
caused to be slain by hired assassins (678). He after-
wards attaclted Austrasia, banished Wulfoald, and
had King Thierry III acknowledged. The opposition
shown Ebroin by the Austrasian nobles under the
leadership of Pepin II and Martin was broken at
Laffaux (Latofao), where Martin perished, and Pepin
disappeared for a while. Ebroin was then for some
years real sovereign of the Prankish monarchy and
exercised a degree of power that none save Clovis I
and Clotaire I had possessed. There are few characters
of whom it is as difficult to form a ju,st estimate as of
this powerful political genius who, without any legal
authority, and solely by dint of his indomitable will,
acquired supreme control of the Prankish monarchy
and warded off for a time the reforms of the aristoc-
racy. The friendship professed for Ebroin by Saint
Ouen, the great Bishop of Rouen, seems to indicate
that he was better than his reputation, which, like that
of Brunehilde, was intentionally blackened by chron-
iclers who sympathized with the Prankish nobles.
Ebroin's disappearance afforded full scope to the power of the family which was now called on to give a new dynasty to the Pranks. Porced to remain in ob- scurity for over twenty years, in consequence of Gri- raoald's crime and downfall, this family finally reap- peared at the head of Austrasia under Pepin II, inappropriately called Pepin of Heristal. There flowed in the veins of Pepin II, son of Adalgisil and of St. Begga, daughter of Pepin I, the blood of the two illus- trious men who, by the overthrow of Brunehilde, had established a moderate monarchy in Austrasia. De- spite the defeat inflicted on him by Ebroin, Pepin re- mained the leader and the hope of the Austrasians, and, after the death of his dreaded adversary, vigor- ously resumed the struggle against Neustria, ." king- dom which was then disturbed by the rivalry between Waratton, mayor of the palace, and his son Gislemar. Prom 681 to 6SG the functions of mayor were alter- nately discharged by Waratton and CHslemar, again by Waratton, and finally, at his death, by his son-in- law Berthar. Pepin, who seems to have had amicable relations with Waratton, would not acknowledge Ber- thar, whom he overthrew in the battle of Testri near Soissons (687); in this way Austrasia avenged the above-mentioned defeat at Laffaux. The death of Berthar, assassinated in 088, removed the last ob- stacle to the authority of Pepin in Neustria, who was thenceforth simultaneously mayor of the palace for all three kingdoms. So vast was his power that from that date history merely mentions the names of the Jlero- vingian kings whom he kept on the throne; Thierry III (d. 691), Clovis III (d. 695), Childebert III (d. 711), and Dagobert III (d. 715). Indeed, it is only through respect for a traditional fiction of history that Pepin II is not put down as the first sovereign of the Carlovingian dynasty. The direction of the destinies of the Prankish monarchy now passed from the hands of the Salian into those of the Ripuarian Pranks. These constituted the Germanic element of the nation which took the place of the Roman party in the government. Their policy was better adapted to the spirit of the times inasmuch as it abolished the tradi- tional absolutism of the Merovingians. Pinally the Carlovingians had the merit and the satisfaction (for it was both) of re-establishing unity in the Prankish monarchy which had been so frequently divided ; from 687 to 843, that is, for over a century and a half, all the Pranks were united imder the same government. But Pepin II did not confine himself to restoring Prankish unity; he extended the frontiers of the mon- archy by subduing the Prisians, his neighbours on the north. These restless barbarians, who occupied a large portion of the present Kingdom of the Netherlands, were fanatical pagans; Ratbod, their duke, was a bitter enemy of Christianity. Pepin forced him to surrender Western Frisia, which nearly corresponded to the present provinces of South and North Hol- VI.— 16
land, and obliged him to keep the peace for the rest of
his life.
Pepin could now consider the Kingdom of the Pranks as an hereditary patrimony, and he conferred the mayoralty of Neustria on his son Grimoald. At his death in 714, which was subsequent to that of his two sons Grimoald and Drogon, he bequeathed the entire monarchy, as a family heritage, to his grandson Theodoald, Grimoald's son, still a minor. This act was a political blunder suggested to the clear-minded Pepin on his death-bed by his wife Plectrude. Pepin had a son Charles by a mistress named Alpaide, who at his father's death was twenty-si.x years of age and quite capable, as events showed, of vigorously defend- ing the paternal inheritance. It cannot be said that the stigma of illegitimacy caused him to be put aside, for Theodoald was also a natm-al son, but the blood of the ambitious Plectrude coursed through the lat- ter's veins, and she reigned in his name. The people, however, would not now submit to the regency of a woman any more than in the time of Brunehilde. There was a universal uprising among the Neustrians, Aquitanians, and Frisians. Elsewhere may be found an account of these struggles. (See Charles Martei,.) Here it suffices to say that Plectrude was soon cast aside and Charles Martei, whom she had thrown into prison, escaped and placed himself at the head of the national Austrasian party. Defeated at first, but soon victorious over all his enemies, Charles reduced nearly all the rebellious tribes to obedience, not only those just named, but also the Bavarians and Alamanni. His greatest service to civilization was the glorious victory over the Arabs between Tours and Poitiers (732), which earned him the name of Martei, the ham- mer. This conquest saved Christianity and preserved Europe from the power of the Mussulmans. It was not, however, Charles's last encounter with the Arabs; he banished them from Provence and in 739 defeated them again on the banks of the Berre near Narbonne. This sovereign, whose exclusively military career con- sisted in restoring, by dint of force, an empire that was crumbling away, could not escape the accusation of having abetted violence in others and resorted to it himself. He has especially been charged with secular- izing many ecclesiastical estates, which he took from churches and abbeys and gave in fief to his warriors as a recompense for their services. This land actually remained the property of the ecclesiastical establish- ments in question, but its hereditary usufruct was assured to the new occupants. This expedient enabled Charles Martei to collect an army and secure faithful followers. Another no less censurable practice was that of conferring the highest ecclesiastical dignities upon unworthy persons whose only right was that they were loyal soldiers of Charles Martei. However, it must be remembered that these measures enabled him to muster the forces with which he saved Christian civilization at Tours. He also aided efficaciously St. Boniface in his project of spreading the Christian Faith throughout Germany. Such were the popular- ity and prestige of Charles that when, in 737, King Thierry IV died, he saw no necessity of providing a successor for him, and reigned alone. He died at Quierzy-sur-Oise 21 October, 741, after having divided the provinces between his two sons: Carloman re- ceived Austrasia with its Germanic dependencies, and Pepin, Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while Grifon, a natural son, was excluded from the succes- sion as Charles himself had been.
Pepin and Carloman reigned together until 747, supporting each other in their various enterprises and combating the same enemies. During the first years of their administration they had to sulHlue the revolts of the Aquitanians, the Saxons, the Alamanni, as well as those of their brother Grifon, and of Odilo, Duke of Bavaria. They conquered all the rebels, but left to Aquitaine and Bavaria their national dukes while they
