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The Historians' History of the World 07 [The History of the Later Roman Empire]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1905
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: История
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THE POPE VISITS PEPIN
[753-754 A.D.]
With this view the holy father, seeing that all his entreaties “for the fold which had been entrusted to him (Rome), and the lost sheep” (Istria and the exarchate of Ravenna), were fruitless, started from Rome on the 14th of October, 753, in company with the abbot Droctigang and Duke Autchar, whom Pepin had previously sent to Stephen with general promises of support. He was also followed by a considerable number of the Roman clergy and nobility. On his journey northwards he passed through the city of Pavia, where Aistulf then was; and though the latter had forbidden him to say a word about restoration of territory, he once more endeavoured, by rich presents and earnest entreaties, to induce the king to give up his conquests and forego his hostile purposes. He was warmly seconded by Pepin’s envoys, and another epistle from the Greek emperor; but the mind of the fierce Lombard remained unchanged. It is evident, indeed, that he would have prevented Stephen by force from continuing his journey but for the threats of the Frankish ambassadors. As it was he endeavoured to intimidate the pope in the presence of Droctigang into a denial of his wish to proceed to the court of Pepin; and only then dismissed him when he saw that Stephen would yield to nothing but actual violence.
Pepin
(From a French print of 1830)
Pepin was still at his palace at Dietenhofen, when the intelligence reached him that the pope, with a splendid retinue, had passed the Great St. Bernard, and was hastening, according to agreement, to the monastery of St. Maurice at Agaunum. It had been expected that the king himself would be there to receive the illustrious fugitive; but Stephen on his arrival found in his stead the abbot Fulrad and the duke Rothard, who received the holy father with every mark of joy and reverence, and conducted him to the palace of Ponthion, near Châlons, where he arrived on the 6th of January, 754. As a still further mark of veneration, the young prince Charles was sent forward to welcome Stephen at a distance of about seventy miles from Ponthion;[129] and Pepin himself is said to have gone out three miles on foot to meet him, and to have acted as his marshal, walking by the side of his palfrey. The extraordinary honours paid by Pepin to the aged exile proceeded partly, no doubt, from the reverence and sympathy which his character and circumstances called forth. But his conduct might also result from a wise regard to his own interests, and a desire of inspiring his subjects with a mysterious awe for the spiritual potentate at whose behest he had himself assumed the crown.
The decisive conference between Pepin and Stephen took place at Ponthion on the 16th of January. The pope appeared before the Frankish monarch in the garb and posture of a suppliant, and received a promise of protection, and the restoration of all the territory of which the Lombards deprived him.
[754-755 A.D.]
The winter, during which no military operations could be undertaken, was spent by Stephen at the monastery of St. Denis at Paris. The spectacle of the harmony and friendship subsisting between the Roman pontiff and King Pepin was calculated to produce a good effect on the Romance subjects of the latter; who, on account of his German origin and tendencies, was regarded with less attachment in Neustria and Burgundy than in his Austrasian dominions.
This effect was increased by Stephen’s celebrating in person that solemn act of consecration which he had already performed by proxy. At the second coronation of Pepin, which took place with great solemnity and pomp in the church of St. Denis on the 28th of July, 754, his queen, Bertrada, and her two sons, Charles and Carloman, were also anointed with the holy oil, and the two last were declared the rightful heirs of their father’s empire. That nothing might be wanting on the part of the church to set apart the Carlovingian family as the chosen of God, Stephen laid a solemn obligation on the Franks, that “throughout all future ages neither they nor their posterity should ever presume to appoint a king over themselves from any other family.”
The title of Patricius Romanorum, which had first been worn by Clovis, was bestowed by the pope upon the king and his sons. It is difficult to understand how this dignity could at this period be imparted to any one without the authority of the Byzantine emperor. Constantine (nicknamed Copronymus) may indeed have taken the opportunity of the pope’s journey to offer the patriciate to Pepin; but it is more consistent with the circumstances we have described to suppose that Stephen was acting irregularly and without authority in conferring a Roman title on the Frankish king; and that he intended at the same time to give a palpable proof of his independence of the emperor who had neglected to aid him, and to point out Pepin as his future ally and protector.
On the 1st of March, 755,[130] Pepin summoned his council of state at Bernacum (Braine), where the war against the Lombards was agreed to, provided no other means could be found to reinstate the pope. In the meantime ambassadors were despatched to Aistulf, with terms which show that the Franks were by no means eager for the expedition. King Pepin on this occasion styles himself “defender of the holy Roman church by divine appointment,” and demands that the territories and towns should be restored—not to the Byzantine emperor, to whom they at any rate nominally belonged, but “to the blessed St. Peter and the church and commonwealth of the Romans.”
It is at this crisis of affairs that Carloman, the brother of Pepin, once more appears upon the stage, and in a singular character, viz., as opponent of the pope. Aistulf, by what influence we are not informed, prevailed upon him to make a journey to the Frankish court, for the purpose of counteracting the effect of Stephen’s representations. He met of course with no success, and was sent by Pepin and Stephen into a monastery at Vienne, where he died in the same year.
PEPIN INVADES ITALY (755 A.D.)
[755 A.D.]
Aistulf on his part was equally determined, and war became inevitable. He would make no promise concerning the conquered territory, but would grant a safe conduct to Stephen back to his own diocese. The lateness of the season allowed of no lengthened negotiations. Immediately after the receipt of Aistulf’s answer Pepin began his march towards Italy, accompanied by Stephen; and having sent forward a detachment to occupy the passes of the Alps, he followed it with the whole force of the empire. Passing through Lyons and Vienne, he made his way to Maurienne, with the intention of crossing the Alps by the valley of Susa, at the foot of Mont Cenis. This important pass, however, had been occupied by Aistulf, who had pitched his camp there and was prepared to dispute the passage. According to the chroniclers, he endeavoured to strengthen his position by the same warlike machines which he had “wickedly designed for the destruction of the Roman state and the apostolic chair.” The onward march of the Franks was effectually checked for the moment.
Pepin pitched his camp on the river Arc. In a short time, however, a few of his more adventurous soldiers made their way through the mountains into the valley of Susa, where Aistulf lay. Their inferior numbers emboldened the Lombards, who immediately attacked them. “The Franks,” says Fredegarius,d “seeing that their own strength and resources could not save them, invoked the aid of God and the holy apostle Peter; whereupon the engagement began, and both sides fought bravely. But when King Aistulf beheld the loss which his men were suffering, he betook himself to flight, after having lost nearly the whole of his army, with the dukes, counts, and chief men of the Lombards.” The main body of Pepin’s army then passed the Alps without resistance, and spread themselves over the plains of Italy as far as Pavia, in which the Lombard king had taken refuge.