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The Vision of Charles.

§ 111. "In the name of God most high, the King of kings! As I Charles, by the free gift of God emperor, king of the Germans, and patrician of the Romans, and emperor of the Franks, on the sacred night of the Lord's day, after duly performing the holy service of the nocturns, went to the bed of rest, and sought the sleep of quietude, there came a voice to me, tremendously saying, Charles, thy spirit shall shortly depart from thee for a considerable time.' Immediately I was rapt in the spirit, and he who carried me away in the spirit was most glorious to behold; and in his hand he held a clue of thread emitting a beam of purest light, such as comets shed when they appear. And he began to unwind it, and said to me, Take the thread of this brilliant clue, and bind and tie it firmly on the thumb of thy right hand, for thou shalt be led by it through the inextricable punishments of the infernal regions.' Saying this, he went before me, quickly unrolling the thread of the brilliant clue, and led me into very deep and fiery valleys, which · were full of pits boiling with pitch, and brimstone, and lead, and wax, and grease. There I found the bishops of my father and of my uncles and when I had asked them, in my terror, why they were suffering such dreadful torments? they replied, 'We were the bishops of your father and of your uncles; and instead of preaching, and admonishing them and their people to cultivate peace and concord, as was our duty, we were the sowers of discord and the fomenters of evil. On this account we are now burning in these infernal torments, together with other lovers of slaughter and of rapine; and hither also will your bishops and ministers come, who now delight to act as we did.' While I was fearfully listening to this, behold the blackest demons came flying about me, with fiery claws endeavouring to snatch away the thread of light which I held in my hand, and to draw it to them; but, repelled by the rays of the clue, they were unable to touch it. Next running behind me, they tried to gripe me in their claws, and cast me headlong into those sulphureous pits; but my conductor, who carried the clue, threw a thread of the clue over my shoulders, and doubling it, drew me strongly after him; and in this manner we ascended lofty fiery mountains, from which arose lakes, and burning rivers, and all kinds of metals seething, wherein I found immersed innumerable souls of the vassals and princes of my father and brothers, some up to the hair, others to the chin, and others to the middle, who mournfully cried out to me, While we were living, we were, together with you and your father, and brothers and uncles, fond

1 The vision of Charles le Gros is copied by Malmesbury, verbatim, from Hariulfe's Chronicle, iii. 21 (tom. ii. Spicilegii, p. 323, fol. Paris. 1723). Alberic de Trois Fontaines gives the substance of it, and refers to Malmesbury:— "Sequitur mirabilis visio quæ facta est hoc anno 889 (rectius 886) eidem Karolo, secundum Willelmum Malmesbiriensem." The Annals improperly ascribed to Asser, sub an. 886, also recite the vision of Charles le Gros. (Gale, iii. 169.) In the French chronicles of St. Denis, and in some Latin MSS. the vision is erroneously attributed to Charles le Chauve. (Bouquet, ix. 60.)

of battle, and slaughter, and plunder, through lust of earthly things: wherefore we now undergo punishment in these boiling rivers, and in various kinds of metal.' While I was with the greatest alarm attending to these, I heard some souls behind me crying out, The great will undergo still greater torment.' I looked back, and behold on the banks of the boiling river, furnaces of pitch and brimstone, filled with great dragons, and scorpions, and different kinds of serpents, where I also saw some of my father's nobles, some of my own, and of those of my brothers and of my uncles, who said, Alas, Charles, you see what dreadful torments we undergo on account of our malice and pride, and the evil counsel which we gave to our kings and to you, for lust's sake.' When I could not help groaning mournfully at this, the dragons ran at me with open jaws filled with fire, and brimstone, and pitch, and tried to swallow me up: but my conductor tripled the thread of the clue around me, which by the splendour of its rays overcame their fiery throats, and drew me along more firmly. And we descended into a valley, which was in one part dark and burning like a fiery furnace, but in another so extremely enchanting and glorious, that I cannot describe it. I turned myself to the dark part which emitted flames, and there I saw some kings of my race in extreme torture; whereupon being beyond measure distressed, I expected that I should be immediately thrown into these torments by some very black giants, who made the valley blaze with every kind of flame. Trembling very much, the thread of the clue of light assisting my eyes, I saw, on the side of the valley, the light somewhat brightening, and two fountains flowing out thence: one was extremely hot, the other clear and just warm; two large casks were there besides. When, guided by the thread of light, I proceeded thither, I looked into the vessel containing boiling water, and saw my father Lewis' standing therein up to his thighs. Dreadfully oppressed with pain and agony, he said to me, 'Fear not, my lord Charles, I know that your spirit will again return into your body; and God hath permitted you to come hither, that you might see for what crimes myself and all whom you have beheld, undergo these torments. One day I am bathed in the boiling cask; next I pass into that other delightful water; which is effected by the prayers of St. Peter and St. Remigius,' under whose patronage our royal race has hitherto reigned. But if you, and my faithful bishops and abbots, and the whole ecclesiastical order, will quickly assist me with masses, offerings, psalms, vigils, and alms, I shall shortly be released from this cask of boiling water: for my brother Lothaire and his son Lewis have had these punishments remitted by the prayers of St. Peter and St. Remigius, and have now entered into the joy of God's paradise.' He then said to me, 'Look on your left hand;' and when I had done so, I saw two very deep casks boiling. 'These,' said he, are being prepared for you, if you do not amend and

1 This was Louis of Bavaria.

2 St. Remigius, "the apostle of the Franks," archbishop of Rheims, is supposed to have baptized Clovis. The commencement of his episcopate is commonly referred to the year 459, and his death to A. D. 533. See Gall. Christ. ix 10.

repent of your atrocious crimes.' I then began to be dreadfully afraid. And when my conductor saw my spirit thus terrified, he said to me, Follow me to the right of that most resplendent valley of paradise.' As we proceeded, I beheld my uncle Lothaire sitting in excessive brightness, in company with glorious kings, on a topaz-stone of uncommon size, crowned with a precious diadem; and nigh him, his son Lewis crowned in like manner. Seeing me near at hand, he called me to him in a kind voice, saying, 'Come to me, Charles, now my third' successor in the empire of the Romans. I know that you have passed through the place of punishment where your father, my brother, is placed in the baths appointed for him; but, by the mercy of God he will be shortly liberated from those punishments, as we have been, by the merits of St. Peter and the prayers of St. Remigius, to whom God hath given a special charge over the kings and people of the Franks; and unless he shall continue to favour and assist the dregs of our family, our race must shortly cease both from reign and empire: know, moreover, that the rule of the empire will be shortly taken out of your hand, nor will you long survive.' Then Lewis, turning to me, said, The empire which you have hitherto held belongs by hereditary right to Lewis, the son of my daughter.' So saying, there seemed immediately to appear before me a little child; and Lothaire his grandfather, looking upon him, said to me, 'This infant seems to be such an one as that which the Lord set in the midst of the disciples, and said, 'Of such is the kingdom of God; I say unto you, that their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.' [Matt. xviii. 10.] But do you bestow on him the empire by that thread of the clue which you hold in your hand. Untying, then, the thread from the thumb of my right hand, I gave him the whole monarchy of the empire by that thread; and immediately the entire clue, like a brilliant sunbeam, became rolled up in his hand. Thus, after this wonderful transaction, my spirit, extremely wearied and affrighted, returned into my body. Therefore let all persons know, willingly or unwillingly, forasmuch as, according to the will of God, the whole empire of the Romans will revert into his hands, and that I cannot prevail against him, compelled by the conditions of this my calling, that God who is the Ruler of the living and the dead will both complete and establish this, whose eternal kingdom remains for ever and Amen."

ever.

3

§ 112. The vision itself, and the partition of the kingdoms, I have here inserted in the very words in which I found them. This Charles, then, had scarcely discharged the united duties of the

1 The emperor Lothaire was succeeded by his son Louis II. followed by Charles le Chauve, whom his son Louis III., called Le Bègue, succeeded; Charles le Gros was, therefore, fourth in succession from Lothaire.

2 Louis, surnamed l'Aveugle, son of Boso, king of Provence, and Hermengarde, daughter of the emperor Louis II. Louis was living after the 6th of January, 923, having granted a diploma of that date in the 23d year of his empire. He died about the year 929.

3 The emperor Lothaire was great-grandfather of Louis l'Aveugle.

empire and kingdom for two years,' when Charles, the son of Lewis who died at Compeigne, succeeded him. This is the Charles who married the daughter of Edward king of England, and gave Normandy to Rollo with his daughter Gisla, who was the surety of peace and pledge of the treaty. To this, Charles, in the empire, succeeded king Arnulf, of the imperial line, tutor of that young Lewis of whom the vision above-recited speaks. Arnulf dying after fifteen years,' this Lewis' succeeded him, at whose death one Conrad, king of the Teutonians, obtained the sovereignty. His son Henry," who succeeded him, sent to Athelstan, king of the Angles, for his two sisters, Aldgitha and Edgitha, the latter of whom he married to his son Otho," the former to a certain duke near the Alps." Thus the empire of the Romans and the kingdom of the Franks being then and now severed from their ancient union, the one is governed by emperors, and the other by kings. But as I have wandered wide from my purpose, whilst indulging in tracing the descent of the illustrious kings of the Franks, I will now return to the course I had begun, and to Athelwulf.

§ 113. On his return after his year's peregrination, and his marriage with the daughter of Charles the Bald," he found the dispositions of some persons contrary to his expectations: for Ethel

1 Charles did not survive two years, and died on the 12th or 13th January, A. D. 888.

2 Charles, called Le Simple, posthumous son of Louis le Bègue, was crowned king of France at Rheims, 27th Jan. 893. He married Eadgiva, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England, A. D. 919; and had by her a son, afterwards Louis IV. king of France, called d'Outremer. He died in prison at Peronne, on the 7th Oct. A.D. 929.

About the year 912, the Normans settled in Neustria, and Charles bestowed his daughter Gisle, or Giselle, upon Rollo, first duke of Normandy, upon condition of his embracing Christianity.

In allusion seemingly to the name of Charles's daughter Gisle, i. e. "pledge." Arnoul, the natural son of Carloman, king of Bavaria, was consecrated emperor by pope Formosus before 4th April, A. D. 896.

Louis received the imperial crown from the pope in the year 901.

7 It is not apparent from what period these fifteen years are to be computed. The emperor Arnoul died 29th Nov. A. D. 899, in the fifth year of his empire, having just completed the twelfth of his reign.

his

Louis IV. son of Arnoul, is here confounded with Louis, son of Boson; it was the former who was chosen emperor by the princes of Germany, upon father's death in 899. Though he was never recognised as emperor, upon his death Conrad was elected, and reigned in Germany till his death, 23d Dec. A. D. 918. The emperor Louis, son of Boson, survived Conrad king of Germany several years.

Upon the death of Louis IV., Conrad count of Franconia, son-in-law of the emperor Arnoul, was chosen emperor of Germany A. D. 912.

10 Henry emperor of Germany, called L'Oiseleur, was son of Otho duke of Saxony, by Liutgarde, daughter of the emperor Arnoul. See § 68, where a similar mistake occurs in calling Otho the great-grandson of Conrad. Henry died 2d July, A. D. 936; and his son Otho succeeded by election.

Eadgitha, daughter of Edward the Elder, was married A. D. 930 to Otho, afterwards king, and subsequently emperor of Germany. She died 26th Jan, See the Preface to Ethelwerd, and the Pedigree which follows it. 12 Consult the Preface to Ethelwerd upon this point.

A. D. 947.

13 Judith was betrothed to Ethelwulf in the month of July, and married 1st Oct. 856. (Bouquet, vii. 72.) She must at that time have been scarce thirteen years of age, for Charles was not married to Hermengarde until 12th Dec. 842.

bald his son, and Alstan bishop of Shireburn, and Enulf earl of Somerset, conspiring against him,' endeavoured to eject him from the sovereignty; but through the intervention of maturer counsel, the kingdom was divided between the father and his son. This partition was an unjust one; for malignity was so far successful that the western portion, which was the better, was allotted to the son, the eastern, which was the worse, fell to the father. He, however, with incredible forbearance, dreading "a worse than civil war," calmly gave way to his son, restraining, by a conciliatory harangue, the people who had assembled for the purpose of asserting his dignity. And though all this quarrel arose on account of his foreign wife, yet he held her in the highest estimation, and used to place her on the throne near himself, contrary to the West Saxon custom; for that people never suffered the king's consort either to be seated by the king, or to be honoured with the appellation of queen, on account of the depravity of Edburga,' daughter of Offa, king of the Mercians. She, as we have before mentioned, being married to Brihtric, king of the West Saxons, used to persuade him (a tender-hearted man, as they report) to the destruction of the innocent, and would herself take off by poison those against whom her accusations failed. This was exemplified in the case of a youth much beloved by the king, whom she poisoned in this manner; and immediately afterwards Brihtric fell sick and died, from having previously drank of the same potion, unknown to the the queen. The rumour of this crime getting abroad, drove the poisoner from the kingdom. Proceeding to Charles the Great, she happened to find him standing with one of his sons; and after offering him presents, the emperor in a playful, jocose manner, commanded her to choose whom she liked best, himself or his son. Edburga choosing the young man for his blooming beauty, Charles replied with some emotion, "Had you chosen me, you should have had my son; but since you have chosen him, you shall have neither." He then placed her in a monastery, where she might have passed her life in splendour; but soon after, finding her guilty of incontinence, he expelled her. Struck with this instance of depravity, the Saxons framed the regulation I have alluded to, though Ethelwulf weakened it by his affectionate kindness. He made his will' a few months before he died, in which, after the division of the kingdom between his sons Ethelbald and Ethelbirht, he set out the dowry of his daughter, and ordered that, till the end of time, one poor person should be clothed and fed from every tenth hide of his inheritance, and that every year three hundred mancas of gold should be sent to Rome, of which one hundred should be given to St. Peter, another to St. Paul for lamps, and the other to the pope for distribution. Dying two years after he came from Rome, he was buried at Winchester in the cathedral. But that I may return from my digression to my proposed series, I shall here

6

2 Id. p. 447.

3 See § 43.

1 See Asser, p. 446. 4 Eadburh died in a miserable state in Pavia, where she was seen by many with whom Asser had conversed, begging a daily subsistence. See that authority, p. 448. See antea, note 5, § 109. He died A. D. 857.