From The Book of Emperors and Kings (Der keiser und der kunige buoch). Trans. Henry A. Myers from text published as Die Kaiserchronik eines Regensburger Geistlichen, ed. Eduward
Schröder, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Deutsche Chroniken (Hannover: Hahn, 1892), vol. 1, pp. 339–53, passim.
The Empire remained without a head. The lords of Rome set the crown on Saint Peter’s Altar. Meeting all together, they swore before the people that never again would they choose a king—nor judge, nor anyone else to rule them— from the kin of the preceding house, which had proven unable to maintain faith and honor with them. They wanted kings from other lands. . . .
from all over the Empire were raised and instructed with great care at the court in Rome. The Romans gave them the sword of knighthood when the time came. . . ., sending the young heirs back to their homelands. This helped keep all the dominions mindful of serving Rome.
It came to pass that Pippin, a mighty king of Karlin- gen,1had two fine sons. One of them named Leo came to hold Saint Peter’s throne after being raised in Rome, while Charles, the other, stayed home.
One night when Charles fell asleep, a voice called out to him three times: “Arise, beloved Charles, and hurry to Rome! Your brother Leo needs you!” And quickly Charles made ready, saying nothing to anyone about what he intended to do until he asked leave of the King to go. . . .
When the young Prince asked for leave, his father granted it to him gladly and bestowed gifts upon his son in a manner worthy of a mighty king. . . .
Charles really undertook his journey more for [the chance to pray at the tombs of] the divine Apostles than for his brother’s sake. Early and late in the day his thoughts, which he revealed to no one, were filled with love of God. . . .
When Charles arrived in Rome, he was given a fine reception by old and young. . . . Pope Leo sang a mass then in honor of the Holy Ghost and to strengthen the Prince’s spirit. Then he received God’s Body. All who were there praised God, finding Charles so worthy and to their liking that the law should make him their ruler.
Charles did not listen to what was being said: He had made his journey for the sake of prayer, and he let no commotion distract him. He entered churches barefoot and, imploring God’s mercy, he prayed for his soul. This stead- fast devotion brought him every worldly honor, too. . . .
Thus he spent four weeks so wrapped in prayer and meditation that no one could approach him to speak, until once his brother, Pope Leo, and all the people fell at his feet. Charles pointed out to God in Heaven that if he were to prove unworthy he never should have made his journey. Then he received the royal emblems, and they set a magnif- icent crown on his head. All those there in Rome rejoiced that day, and all said, “Amen.”
Then the King sat in judgment, and the Pope made complaint before him that church properties and the collec- tion of tithes, entrusted to him by his predecessors for his use in the saving of souls, were being granted away from his jurisdiction, and that his benefices had been taken from him. His complaint angered a number of the nobles.
Then Charles spoke these true ruler’s words: “Never in this world, I feel sure, did anyone make a gift to honor God in order that another might take it. That would clearly be robbery. . . . Whoever would take anything away from
gifts bestowed on God’s houses, through which God’s work is furthered, would be despised of God and could not remain a good Christian. . . .” Then those nobles departed, full of resentment. Charles also had no desire to remain there any longer.
Charles returned to Ripuaria.2 The Romans realized very well that he was their rightful judge, but stupid men among them ridiculed the others for ever having proclaimed him ruler. . . . In Saint Peter’s Cathedral they caught the Pope and pushed his eyes out of their sockets..., and sent him blind to the King in Ripuaria.
Nothing remained for the Pope to do but set out on the journey in his hapless condition. He rode on a donkey and took with him two of his chaplains, desiring no other escort. . . .
The Pope arrived in Ingelheim with his two chaplains and rode into the King’s courtyard. When the King saw him coming, he said to one of his men: “Someone has attacked this pilgrim, and we shall do justice in his cause if we can. He seems badly injured. Someone must have robbed him. . . .”
The King strode quickly across the courtyard... and said: “Good pilgrim, if you wish to stay here with me, I will gladly take you in. Tell me if your misfortune is such that I can help you with it. Why don’t you dismount?”
The noble Pope wanted to draw closer to the King. His head hung at a strange angle, and his eyes stared askew. “That God should have granted me your presence!” he began. . . . “It has not been long since I sang a mass for you at Rome, when I could still see.” As he spoke these words, the noble King recognized him and was so shocked that he could neither see nor hear. . . . His body went limp and he could not speak. . . .
When the Emperor had recovered, the Pope told him sorrowfully: “I have come here that you may take pity on me. It was because of you that I lost my eyes: they blinded me to get even with you. Still, Brother, you must pull your- self together, and weep no more. . . .”
The Emperor himself lifted him down and carried him across the courtyard into his private chamber. There they sat together, and Charles told his men to go outside. “Brother,” he said, “how did this happen to you? Let me hear your complaint, and then my forces of justice will right the wrong.”
Pope Leo answered the King: “Brother, after you left Rome, the Romans very soon betrayed their loyalty to me in a conspiracy. They caught me in the Cathedral and committed this terrible crime upon me. Brother, we must bear this patiently: I seek vengeance only in Heaven, and you must not injure any of them for this.”
“It would be doing God a dishonor to spare those murderers!” the noble King replied. “Ah! How sorely that
1“Karlingen,” the name given by several medieval German writers to the
domain of Charlemagne and his ancestors, is probably a derivation by analogy on the assumption that the name of the great Charles (Karl) was given to his whole family domain. Similarly, his grandson Lothar’s name was applied to Lorraine (Lotharingen).
2Territorial home of one historic group of the Franks on the Rhine River;
for the author, this location is sometimes synonymous with “Karlingen,” sometimes one of its provinces.
would injure Christendom. I am called ‘Judge’ and ‘Ruler’: and this means I have the duty of judging over the peoples. . . . I must defend Christendom with the sword. You will have them sorely regret their crime against you. I will avenge your eyes, or I will renounce my sword.”
Then he dispatched messengers to King Pippin to tell him of his great need and let the nobles of Karlingen know that if they ever wanted to render God a loving service they should hurry to him. And there were none in Karlingen but who proclaimed all with one voice: “Woe to the fatal hour that Rome was ever founded!”...
The messengers galloped ceaselessly from land to land and from lord to vassal: all men were willing to come to the cause of Charles. Farmers and merchants, too—no one could hold them back. They left all their belongings and set out to join Charles. The mourning and grief over the news traveled through Christendom from people to people, and the streams of warriors converged like clouds over the Great Saint Bernard Pass. . . . The book does not give a number for the total army, but it was the greatest military expedition that ever descended on Rome.
When the army had advanced to within sight of the Aventine Hill in Rome, the worthy King asked three days and nights for himself. This annoyed his great lords, who went to him to say that it ill became his office to pause there, now that they had come so close that they could see the city which had aggrieved them.
“First we must pray to God, for we must gain His leave to carry through,” answered the King. “Then we shall fight with ease. . . .”
Early one morning the voice of God spoke to him: “God in Heaven commands you, King, to remain here no longer. Ride on to Rome: God has rendered judgment, and just vengeance shall overtake them.”
And so the King’s banner was raised, and Charles let word pass through his whole army that when the knights were prepared for battle they should keep their eyes upon the banner and ride in close formation. Hearts swelling with high spirits, Charles’s men swarmed over the hill. . . . Owî, what an army this was that besieged Rome and the Lateran for seven days and seven nights, so menacingly that no one would fight against it! On the eighth day—this is the truth I am telling you—the Romans ordered the city gates opened and offered to let the King enter with this condition: that any man who could prove himself innocent of committing, aiding, or advising the crime would remain in the King’s favor, while the King would deal with the guilty ones after deciding on a just sentence. . . .
As the Emperor sat in judgment and the document naming the guilty men was read, the accused all fervently denied their guilt when they were called forward. The King ordered them to submit to trial by combat for their unwill- ingness to confess. But then the Romans objected that this was not according to their law, and that no Emperor had ever forced such treatment on them before; instead, they should prove their innocence by swearing with their two fingers.
Then King Charles spoke: “I doubt that any crime so great was ever committed before. Don’t be overhasty now: I imagine my brother saw at the time who did it.” Still, when so very many of the accused offered their oaths in the Cathedral, the King said: I will not deprive you of recourse to your own law any longer; however, I know of a youth here named Pancras. If you are willing to swear an oath at his grave and if he tolerates it, then I will be willing to believe you.”
Icy fear seized the Romans at the mention of this test. As they came to the place sacred to Saint Pancras and were supposed to hold up their fingers and to keep asserting their innocence under oath, one man was overcome, and panic gripped all the rest. They retreated in fear and fled back over the bridge although a fair number went back to Saint Peter’s Cathedral.
Charles hesitated no longer but rode after them angrily. For three days, he and his men struck them down, and for three days they carried them out. Then they washed down the floor stones. . . . Charles fell on his knees before Saint Peter’s tomb and made his plea to Christ: “Lord God in Heaven, how can I be any good to You as King when You let such shame befall me? Sinner that I may be, I do make every attempt to judge the people in a manner worthy of You. The Romans swore allegiance to a Pope, and You granted him a portion of Your power that he might loose the people from their sins and bind them. I [ask]... that you give the evil people of Rome something to recognize Your hidden power by: then they will know for certain that You are a true God. Grant me this, Holy Christ!”
A second time Charles, the noble King, fell to the ground and said: “Hail noble Saint Peter! You are really a divine stalwart of God, a watchman of Christendom. Think now, my lord, what I am going through! You are a summoner of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just look at your Pope! I left him sound of body in your care. Blinded was how I found him, and if you do not heal the blind man today I shall destroy your Cathedral and ruin the buildings and grounds donated to you, and then I shall leave him for you blind as he is, and go back again to Ripuaria.”
Quickly the noble Pope Leo made himself ready and said his confession. As he spoke the last word, he saw a heavenly light with both his eyes. Great are hidden powers of God.
The Pope turned around and spoke to the multitude: “My dearest children gathered from afar, be glad of heart, for the Kingdom of God is drawing near to you. God has heard you and because of your holy prayer has turned His face toward you. Here, at this very place, you are called to be public witnesses that a great miracle has happened. . . . I can see with both eyes better than I ever saw in this world.”. . .
The Pope consecrated him as Emperor and granted absolution to all his comrades in arms. Owî, what joy there was in Rome then! The whole people rejoiced then and sang: “Gloria in excelsis Deo.”
Then Charles laid down the Imperial Law, as an angel recited the true words of God to him. . . . And so the
mighty Emperor left us many good laws, which God caused to be spoken before him. . . .
The very first laws the Emperor established dealt with what seemed to him to be the most exalted matters, those concerning bishops and priests, for the Imperial Law of Constantine had been sadly neglected. At the same time, he established laws governing tithes and gifts of property to the Church. . . .
Now I shall tell you about what the peasant is to wear according to the Imperial Law: his clothes may be black or gray, and he is allowed no other. . . . He is to have shoes of cow leather only and seven yards of towcloth for his shirt and breeches. He is to spend six days at the plow and doing plenty of other work; on Sunday he is to go to Church, carrying his animal goad openly in his hand. If a sword is found on a peasant, he is to be led bound to the churchyard fence, where he is to be tied and his skin and hair are to be flayed. If he is threatened by enemies, however, let him defend himself with a pitchfork. This law King Charles established for his peasants. . . .
Emperor Charles besieged a walled city called Arles [France], which actually took him more than seven years. The inhabitants had considered him unworthy of his office. By way of an underground canal, wine was conveyed to them in plentiful supply, but finally Charles’s cunning succeeded in cutting off their source. When the inhabitants could not hold out any longer, they threw open the city gates and fought fiercely, offering no terms at all. So many were slain on both sides that there is no man who can tell another how many of either the Christians or the heathens were lying there dead after the battle. No one could tell the dead apart until the Emperor solved the problem with God’s help: He found the Christians lying separately in well adorned coffins. Now that is a wonder really worth telling about. . . .
The Emperor and his men turned toward Galicia [in Spain], where the king of the heathens inflicted great losses upon them. The Christian soldiers were all slain, and Charles barely escaped from the battle. Today the stone stays wet on which Charles sat afterwards, weeping passionately as he lamented his sins, saying: “Hail to You, God sublime! Grant me mercy for my poor soul. Take me out of this world, so that my people will no longer be punished because of me. I can never be consoled again.”
Then an angel comforted him, saying: “Charles, beloved of God, your joy will come to you quickly. Bid your messengers make haste to summon virgin women—leave the married ones at home—for God will reveal His power through them. If you will fear and love God, the maidens will win your honor back again for you.”
The messengers made haste and thoroughly searched through all the lands. They gathered together the maidens and brought them together . . . where the Emperor was waiting for them. Many a young maid came to join the host, fifty-three thousand—I am telling you this as a fact— and sixty-six more. . . .
When all the maidens arrived in a valley since named for Charles, they readied themselves for battle in forma- tions just like men. . . .
Each heathen sentry was struck by wonder as to who this people could be, for it all seemed very strange to them. They hurried back, and one of them said to their king: “Sire, even though we slew the old ones, we must tell you for a fact that the young ones have followed them here. I have the feeling they want to slake their thirst for vengeance. They are big around the chest. Sire, if you fight with them, it will not come to any good end. Their hair is long, and their gait is very graceful: They are fine knights indeed. They are a terrifying lot. . . . No force could ever be assembled on this earth to defeat them. . . .”
At the advice of his experienced counsellors, their king turned over hostages to the Emperor. The king then had himself baptized—how well he suddenly believed in God!—and all his people with him. . . . Thus God made Charles victorious without the thrust of a spear or the blow of a sword, and the maidens well realized that God in Heaven was with them.
Charles and his heroines returned to their own homes back in the Empire. On the way, the worthy maidens came to a green meadow. Tired from the expedition, the heroines stuck their spearshafts into the ground and stretched out their arms in the form of a cross, sleeping on the ground