 Section 7. Book 2. Part 3. Now Lewis, king and emperor of all Germany, of the provinces of Retia and of ancient Francea, of Saxony II and of Thuringia, of the provinces of Pannonia and of all northern nations, was of large build and handsome. His eyes sparkled like the stars. His voice was clear and manly. His wisdom was quite out of the common, and he added to it by constantly applying his singularly acute intellect to the study of the scriptures. He showed wonderful quickness, too, in anticipating or overcoming the plots of his enemies, in bringing to an end the quarrels of his subjects, and in procuring every kind of advantage for those who are loyal to him. More even than his ancestors he came to be a terror to all the heathen that stood round about his kingdom. And he deserved his good fortune, for he never defiled his tongue by condemning nor his hands by shedding Christian blood, except once only, and then upon the most absolute necessity. But I dare not tell that story until I see a little Lewis or a Charles standing by your side. After that one slaughter nothing could induce him to condemn anyone to death, but the measure of compulsion which he used against those who were accused of disloyalty or plots was merely this. He deprived them of office, and no new circumstance and no length of time could then soften his heart so as to restore them to the former rank. He surpassed all men in his zealous devotion to prayer, religious fasting, and the care of the service of God. And like St. Martin, whatever he was doing, he prayed to God as though he were face to face with him. On certain days he abstained from flesh and all pleasant food. At the time of litanies he used to follow the cross with unshod feet from his palace as far as the cathedral, or if he were at Regensburg as far as the church of St. Hemmerham. In other places he followed the customs of those whom he was with. He built new oratories of wonderful workmanship at Frankfurt and Regensburg. In the latter place, as stones were wanting to complete the immense fabric, he ordered the walls of the city to be pulled down. And in certain holes in the wall they found bones of men long dead, wrapped in so much gold that not only did it serve to decorate the cathedral, but also he was able to furnish certain books that were written on the subject with cases of the same material nearly a finger thick. No clerk could stay with him or even come into his presence unless he were able to read and chant. He despised monks who broke their vows and loved those who kept them. He was so full of sweet tempered mirth that, if anyone came to him in a morose mood, merely to see him in exchange a few words with him sent the visitor away with raised spirits. If anything evil or foolish was done in his presence, or if it happened that he were told of it, then a single glance of his eyes was enough to check everything so that what is written of the eternal judge who sees the hearts of men, that is to say, a king that sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes, might be fairly said to have begun in him beyond what is usually granted to mortals. All this I have written by way of digression, hoping that if life lasts and heaven is propitious I may in time to come write much more concerning him. But I must return to my subject. While Charles was detained for little at X by the arrival of many visitors, and the hostility of the unconquered Saxons and the robbery and piracy of the Northmen and Moors, and while the war against the Huns was being conducted by his son Pippin, the barbarous nations of the North attacked Norricum and Eastern Franklin and ravaged a great part of it. When he heard of this, he humiliated them in his own person, and he gave orders that all the boys and children of the invaders should be measured with the sword, and if any one exceeded that measurement he should be shortened by a head. This incident led to another, much greater and more important. For when your imperial majesty's most holy grandfather departed from life, certain giants, like to those whose scripture tells us were begotten by the sons of Seth from the daughters of Cain, blown up with the spirit of pride and doubtless like to those who said, What part have we in David and what inheritance in the son of Esau? These mighty men, I say, despised the most worthy children of Charles, and each tried to seize for himself the command in the kingdom and themselves to wear the crown. Then some of the middle class were moved by the inspiration of God to declare that, as the renowned emperor Charles had once measured the enemies of Christianity with the sword, so, as long as any of his progeny could be found of the length of a sword, he must rule over the Franks and over all Germany too. Thereupon that devilish group of conspirators was, as it were, struck with a thunderbolt and scattered in all directions. But after conquering the external foe, Charles was attacked at the hands of his own people in a remarkable but unavailing plot. For on his return from the Slavs into his own kingdom he was nearly captured and put to death by his son, whom a concubine had borne to him, and who had been called by his mother by the ill-omant name of the most glorious Pippin. The plot was found out in the following manner. This son of Charles had been plotting the death of the emperor with a gathering of nobles in the Church of St. Peter, and when their debate was over, fearful of every shadow, he ordered search to be made to see whether any one was hidden in the corners or under the altar, and behold, they found as they feared a clerk hidden under the altar. They seized him, and made him swear that he would not reveal their conspiracy. To save his life he dared not refuse to take the oath which they dictated, but when they were gone he held his wicked oath of small account and at once hurried to the palace. With the greatest difficulty he passed through the seven bolted gates and coming at length to the emperor's chamber knocked upon the door. The most vigilant Charles fell into a great astonishment as to who it was that dared to disturb him at that time of night. He however ordered the women, who followed in his train to wait upon the queen and the princesses, to go out and see who was at the door and what he wanted. When they went out and found the wretched creature they bolted the door in his face and then bursting with laughter and stuffing their dresses into their mouths they tried to hide themselves in the corners of the apartments. But that most wise emperor, whose notice nothing under heaven could escape, asked straightly of the women who it was and what he wanted. When he was told that it was a smooth-faced, silly, half-mad knave dressed only in shirt and drawers, who demanded an audience without delay, Charles ordered him to be admitted. Then he fell at the emperor's feet and showed all that had happened. So all the conspirators, entirely unsuspicious of danger, were seized before the third hour of the day and most deservedly condemned to exile or some other form of punishment. Pippin himself, a dwarf and a hunchback, was cruelly scourged, tonsured, and sent for some time as a punishment to the monastery of St. Gall. The poorest it was judged and the straightest in all the emperor's broad dominions. A short time afterwards some of the Frankish nobles sought to do violence to their king. Charles was well aware of their intentions and yet did not wish to destroy them, because if only they were loyal they might be a great protection to all Christian men. So he sent messengers to this Pippin and asked him his advice in the matter. They found him in the monastery garden in the company of the elder brothers, for the younger ones were detained by their work. He was digging up nettles and other weeds with a hoe that the useful herbs might grow more vigorously. When they had explained to him the reason of their coming he sighed deeply from the very bottom of his heart and said in reply, if Charles thought my advice were of having he would not have treated me so harshly, I give him no advice. Go tell him what you found me doing. They were afraid to go back to the dreaded emperor without a definite answer and again asked him what message they should convey to their lord. Then at last he said in anger, I will send him no message except what I am doing. I am digging up the useless growths in order that the valuable herbs may be able to develop more freely. So they went away sorrowfully, thinking that they were bringing back a foolish answer. When the emperor asked them upon their arrival what answer they were bringing they answered sorrowfully that after all their labour and long journeying they could get no definite information at all. Then that most wise king asked them carefully where they had found Pippin, what he was doing, and what answer he had given them, and they said, We found him sitting on a rustic seat turning over the vegetable garden with a hoe. When we told him the cause of our journey we could extract no other reply than this, even by the greatest entreaties. I give no message except what I am doing. I am digging up the useless growths in order that the valuable herbs may be able to develop more freely. When he heard this, the emperor, not lacking in cunning and mighty in wisdom, rubbed his ears and blew out his nostrils and said, My good vassals, you have brought back a very reasonable answer. So while the messengers were fearing that they might be in peril of their lives, Charles was able to divine the real meaning of the words. He took all those plotters away from the land of the living, and so gave to his loyal subjects room to grow and spread, which had previously been occupied by those unprofitable servants. One of his enemies, who had chosen as his part of the spoil of the empire the highest hill in France and all that could be seen from it, was, by Charles's orders, hanged upon a high gallows on that very hill. But he bade his bastard son Pippin choose the manner of life that most pleased him. Upon this permission being given him he chose a post in a monastery, then most noble, but now destroyed. Who is there that does not know the manner of its destruction? But I will not tell the story of its fall until I see your little Bernard with a sword girded upon his thigh. The magnanimous Charles was often angry because he was urged to go out and fight against foreign nations when one of his nobles might have accomplished the task. I can prove this from the action of one of my own neighbors. There was a man of Thurgau of the name of Aisharae, who, as his name implies, was a great part of a terrible army, and so tall that you might have thought him sprung from the race of Anak, if they had not lived so long ago and so far away. Whenever he came to the river Dura and found it swollen and foaming with the torrents from the mountains, and could not force his huge charger to enter the stream, though stream I must not call it but hardly melted ice, then he would seize the reins and force his horse to swim through behind him, saying, Nay, by St. Gaul, you must come, whether you like it or not. Well, this man followed the emperor and mowed down the bohemians and wiltses and avars as a man might mow down hay, and spitted them on his spear like birds. When he came home the sluggards asked him how he had got on in the country of the Winnities, and he, contemptuous of some and angry with others, replied, Why should I have been bothered with those tadpoles? I use sometimes to spit seven or eight or nine of them on my spear and carry them about with me, squealing in their gibberish. My Lord King and I ought never to have been asked to weary ourselves in fighting against worms like those. Now, about the same time that the emperor was putting the finishing touch to the war with the Huns, and had received the surrender of the races that I have just mentioned, the Northmen left their homes and disquieted greatly the Gauls and the Franks. Then the un conquered Charles returned and tried to attack them by land in their own homes, by a march through difficult and unknown country. But whether it was that the providence of God prevented it in order that, as the scripture says, he might make trial of Israel, or whether it was that our sin stood in the way, all his efforts came to nothing. One night, to the serious discomfort of the whole army, it was calculated that fifty yoke of oxen belonging to one abbey had died of a sudden disease. Afterwards, when Charles was making a prolonged journey through his vast empire, Goatfrid, king of the Northmen, encouraged by his absence, invaded the territory of the Frankish kingdom and chose the district of the Moselle for his home. But Goatfrid's own son, whose mother he had just put away and taken to himself a new wife, caught him, while he was pulling off his hawk from a heron, and cut him through the middle with his sword. Then, as happened of old when Holophenes was slain, none of the Northmen dared trust any longer in his courage or his arms, but all sought safety in flight. And thus the Franks were freed without their own effort that they might not after the fashion of Israel boast themselves against God. Then Charles, the unconquered and the invincible, glorified God for his judgment, but complained bitterly that any of the Northmen had escaped because of his absence. Ah, woe is me, he said, that I was not thought worthy to see my Christian hands dabbling in the blood of those dog-headed fiends. End of Section 7. Section 8 of the Life of Charlemagne. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Life of Charlemagne by Nattger the Stammerer. Translated by Arthur James Grant. Book 2. Part 4. It happened, too, that on his wanderings Charles once came unexpectedly to a certain maritime city of Narbonencian Gaul. When he was dining quietly in the harbor of this town, it happened that some Norman scouts made a piratical raid. When the ships came in sight, some thought them Jews, some African or British merchants, but the most wise Charles, by the build of the ships and their speed, knew them to be not merchants, but enemies, and said to his companions, These ships are not filled with merchandise, but crowded with our fiercest enemies. When they heard this, in eager rivalry, they hurried in haste to the ships. But all was in vain. For when the Northmen heard that Charles the Hammer, as they used to call him, was there, fearing lest their fleet should be beaten back or even smashed in pieces, they withdrew themselves, by a marvelously rapid flight, not only from the swords, but even from the eyes of those who followed them. The most religious, just and devout Charles had risen from the table and was standing at an eastern window. For a long time he poured down tears beyond price, and none dared speak a word to him. But at last he explained his actions and his tears to his nobles in these words. Do you know why I weep so bitterly, my true servants? I have no fear of those worthless rascals doing any harm to me, but I am sad at heart to think that even during my lifetime they have dared to touch this shore. And I am torn by a great sorrow, because I foresee what evil things they will do to my descendants and their subjects. May the protection of our Master Christ prevent the accomplishment of this prophecy. May your sword, tempered already in the blood of the Nord-Astrani, resist it. The sword of your brother, Carleman, will help, which now lies idle and rusted, not for want of spirit, but for want of funds and because of the narrowness of the lands of your most faithful servant Arnolf. If your might wills it, if your might orders it, it will easily be made bright and sharp again. These in the little chute of Bernard form the only branch that is left of the once prolific root of Lewis to flourish under the wonderful growth of your protection. Let me insert here, therefore, in the history of your namesake Charles, an incident in the life of your great-great-grandfather Pippin, which perhaps some future little Charles or Lewis may read and imitate. When the Lombards and other enemies of the Romans were attacking them, they sent ambassadors to this same Pippin and asked him for the love of Saint Peter to condescend to come with all speed to their help. As soon as he had conquered his enemies he came victoriously to Rome, and this was the song of praise with which the citizens received him. The fellow citizens of the apostles and the servants of God have come today bringing peace and making their native land glorious to give peace to the heathen and to set free the people of the Lord. Many people ignorant of the meaning and origin of this song have been accustomed to sing it on the birthdays of the apostles. Pippin feared the envy of the people of Rome, or more truly of Constantinople, and soon returned to Frankland. When he found that the nobles of his army were accustomed in secret to speak contemptuously of him, he ordered one day a huge and ferocious bull to be brought out, and then a savage lion to be let loose upon him. The lion rushed with tremendous fury on the bull, seized him by the neck, and cast him on the ground. Then the king said to those who stood round him, now, drag off the lion from the bull, or kill the one on top of the other. They looked on one another with a chill at their hearts, and could hardly utter these words amidst their sobs, Lord, what man is there under heaven who dare attempt it? Then Pippin rose confidently from his throne, drew his sword, and at one blow cut through the neck of the lion, and severed the head of the bull from his shoulders. Then he put back his sword into its sheath, and sat again upon his throne, and said, Well, do you think I am fit to be your Lord? Have you not heard what the little David did to the giant Goliath, or what the child Alexander did to his nobles? They fell to the ground, as though a thunderbolt had struck them and cried, Who but a madman would deny your right to rule over all mankind? Not only was his courage shone against beasts and men, but he also fought an incredible contest against evil spirits. The hot baths at Ex had not yet been built, but hot and healing waters bubbled from the ground. He ordered his chamberlain to see that the water was clean, and that no unknown person was allowed to enter into them. This was done, and the king took his sword, and, dressed only in linen gown and slippers, hurried off to the bath. When low, the old enemy met him, and attacked him as though he would slay him. But the king, strengthened with the sign of the cross, made bare his sword, and, noticing a shape in human form, struck his unconquerable sword, threw it into the ground so far that he could only drag it out again after a long struggle. But the shape was so far material that it denied all those waters with blood and gore and hurried slime. But even this did not upset the unconquerable pippin. He said to his chamberlain, Do not mind this little affair. Let the defiled water run for a while, and then, when it flows clear again, I will take my bath without delay. I had intended most noble emperor to weave my little narrative only around your great-grandfather, Charles, all of whose deeds you know well. But since the occasion arose which made it necessary to mention your most glorious father, Louis, called the illustrious, and your most religious grandfather, Louis, called the pious, and your most warlike, great-great grandfather, Pippin the Younger, I thought it would be wrong to pass over their deeds in silence, for the sloth of modern writers has left them almost untold. There is no need to speak of the elder pippin, for the most learned bead in his ecclesiastical history has devoted nearly a whole volume to him. But now that I have recounted all these things by way of digression, I must swim, swan-like, back to your illustrious namesake, Charles. But if I do not curtail somewhat his feats in war, I shall never come to consider his daily habits of life. Now I will give with all possible brevity the incidents that occur to me. When, after the death of the ever-victorious pippin, the Lombards were again attacking Rome, the unconquered Charles, though he was fully occupied with business to the north of the Alps, marched swiftly into Italy. He received the Lombards into his service after they had been humbled in a war that was almost bloodless, or one might say, after they had surrendered of their own free will. And to prevent them from ever again revolting from the Frankish kingdom, or doing any injury to the territories of St. Peter, he married the daughter of Desiderius, chief of the Lombards. But no long time afterwards, because she was an invalid and little likely to give issue to Charles, she was, by the council of the holiest of the clergy, put aside, even as though she were dead. Whereupon her father and wrath bound his subjects to him by oath, and shutting himself up within the walls of Pavia, he prepared to give battle to the invincible Charles, who, when he had received certain news of the revolt, hurried to Italy with all speed. Now it happened that some years before one of the first nobles, called Otger, had incurred the wrath of the most terrible emperor, and had fled for refuge to Desiderius. When the near approach of the dreaded Charles was known, these two went up into a very high tower, from which they could see any one approaching at a very great distance. When therefore the baggage wagons appeared, which moved more swiftly than those used by Darius or Julius, Desiderius said to Otger, Is Charles in that vast army? And Otger answered, Not yet. Then when he saw the vast force of the nations gathered together from all parts of his empire, he said with confidence to Otger, Surely Charles moves in pride among those forces? But Otger answered, Not yet, not yet. Then Desiderius fell into a great alarm and said, What shall we do if a yet greater force comes with him? And Otger said, You will see what he is like when he comes. What will happen to us? I cannot say. And behold, while they were thus talking, there came in sight Charles' personal attendance, who never rested from their labours, and Desiderius saw them, and cried in amazement, There is Charles! And Otger answered, Not yet, not yet. Then they saw the bishops and the abbots and the clerks of his chapel with their attendance. When he saw them, he hated the light and longed for death, and sobbed and stammered, Let us go down to hide ourselves in the earth from the face of an enemy so terrible! And Otger answered, trembling, For once in happier days he had thorough and constant knowledge of the policy and preparations of the unconquerable Charles. When you see an iron harvest bristling in the fields, and the Poe and the Ticino pouring against the walls of the city like the waves of the sea gleaming black with a glint of iron, then know that Charles is at hand. Hardly were these words finished when there came from the west a black cloud which turned the bright day to horrid gloom, but as the emperor drew nearer the gleam of the arms turned the darkness into day, a day darker than any night to that beleaguered garrison. Then could be seen the iron Charles, helmeted with an iron helmet, his hands clad in iron gauntlets, his iron breast and broad shoulders protected with an iron breastplate, an iron spear was raised on high in his left hand, his right always rested on his unconquered iron falchion. The thighs which with most men are uncovered that they may the more easily ride on horseback were in his case clad with plates of iron. I need make no special mention of his grieves for the grieves of all the army were of iron. His shield was all of iron, his charger was iron colored, and iron hearted. All who went before him, all who marched by his side, all who followed after him and the whole equipment of the army imitated him as closely as possible. The fields and open places were filled with iron, the rays of the sun were thrown back by the gleam of iron, a people harder than iron, paid universal honor to the hardness of iron. The horror of the dungeon seemed less than the bright gleam of iron. Oh, the iron, woe for the iron! was the confused cry that rose from the citizens. The strong walls shook at the sight of the iron. The resolution of young and old fell before the iron. Now when the truthful Otker saw in one swift glance all this, which I, with stammering tongue and the voice of a child, have been clumsily explaining with rambling words, he said to Desiderius, There is the Charles that you so much desired to see. And when he had said this, he fell to the ground half dead. But as the inhabitants of the city, either through madness or because they entertained some hope of resistance, refused to let Charles enter on that day, the most inventive emperor said to his men, Let us build to-day some memorial so that we may not be charged with passing the day in idleness. Let us make haste to build for ourselves a little house of prayer, where we may give due attention to the service of God if they do not soon throw open the city to us. No sooner had he said it than his men flew off in every direction, collected lime and stones, wood and paint, and brought them to the skilled workmen who always accompanied him. And between the fourth hour of the day and the twelfth, they built, with the help of the young nobles and the soldiers, such a cathedral, so provided with walls and roofs, with fretted ceilings and frescoes, that none who saw it could believe that it had taken less than a year to build. But how on the next day some of the citizens wanted to throw open the gate, and some wanted to fight against him, even without hope of victory, or rather to fortify themselves against him. And how easily he conquered, took, and occupied the city without the shedding of blood, and merely by the exercise of skill. All this I must leave others to tell, who follow your highness not for love, but in the hope of gain. Then the most religious Charles marched on, and came to the city of Friuli, which the pedants call Forum Yuli. Now it happened just at this time that the bishop of that city, or to use a modern word, the patriarch, was drawing near to the end of his life. Charles made haste to visit him, in order that he might designate his successor by name. But the bishop, with remarkable piety, sighed from the bottom of his heart, and said, Sir, I have held this bishopric for a long time without any use or profit. And now I leave it to the judgment of God and your disposal, for I do not wish, at the point of death, to add anything to the mountain of sin that I have heaped together during my life, for which I shall have to make answer to the inevitable and incorruptible judge. The most wise Charles was so pleased with these words, that he rightly thought him the equal in virtue of the ancient fathers. End of Section 8. Section 9 of the Life of Charlemagne. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater. The Life of Charlemagne by Notker the Stammerer, translated by Arthur James Grant. Section 9, Book 2, Part 5. After Charles, of all the energetic Franks, the most energetic, had stayed in that country for a short time, while he was appointing a worthy successor to the deceased bishop, one festal day after the celebration of mass, he said to his retinue, We must not let leisure lead us into slothful habits. Let us go hunting and kill something, and let us all go in the very clothes that we are wearing at this moment. Now the day was cold and rainy, and Charles was wearing a sheepskin, not much more costly than the cloak which St. Martyn wore, when, with bare arms, he offered to God a sacrifice that received divine approval. But the others, for it was a holiday and they had just come from Pavia, whether the Venetians had carried all the wealth of the east from their territories beyond the sea, the others, I say, strutted in robes made of pheasant skins and silk, or of the necks, backs, and tails of peacocks in their first plumage. Some were decorated with purple and lemon-coloured ribbons, some were wrapped round with blankets, and some in ermine robes. They scoured the thickets, they were torn by branches of trees, thorns, and briars. They were drenched with rain, they were defiled with the blood of wild beasts of the filth of the skins, and in this plight they returned home. Then the most crafty Charles said, no one of us must take off his dress of skins before he goes to bed. They will dry better upon our bodies. Then everyone, more anxious about his body than his dress, made search for fire and tried to warm himself. Then they returned and remained in attendance upon Charles far into the night before they were dismissed to their apartments. Then when they began to draw off their dresses of skins and their slender belts, the creased and shrunken garments could be heard even from a distance cracking like sticks broken when they are dry, and the courtiers sighed and groaned and lamented that they had lost so much money on a single day. They had received, however, a command from the emperor to appear before him next day in the same skin garments. When they came, it was no longer the splendid show of yesterday, for they looked dirty and squalid in their discoloured and rent clothes. Then Charlie, full of guile, said to his chamberlain, give my sheepskin a rub and bring it to me. It came quite white and perfectly sound, and Charles took it and showed it to all those who were there and spoke as follows. Most foolish of mortal men, which of these dresses is the most valuable and the most useful, this one of mine which was bought for a piece of silver or those of yours which you bought for pounds, nay for many talents. Their eyes sank to the ground, for they could not bear his most terrible censure. Your most religious father imitated this example of the great Charles all through his life, for he never allowed anyone who seemed to him worthy of his notice or his teaching to wear anything when on campaign against the enemy except the military accoutrements and garments of wool and linen. If any of his servants, ignorant of this rule, happened to meet him with silk or silver or gold upon his person, he would receive a reprimand of the following kind, and would depart a better and wiser man. Here's a blaze of gold and silver and scarlet, why you wretched fellow, can't you be satisfied with perishing yourself in battle if fate so decides, must you also give your wealth into the hands of the enemy, which might have gone to ransom your soul, but now will decorate the temples of the heathen. But now, though you know it better than I do, I will tell again how, from early youth up to his 70th year, the unconquered Lewis delighted in iron, and what an exhibition of his fondness for iron he made in the presence of the legates of the Northmen. When the kings of the Northmen sent gold and silver as witness of their loyalty, and their swords as a mark of their perpetual subjection and surrender, the king gave orders that the precious metals should be thrown upon the floor, and should be looked upon by all with contempt, and be trampled upon by all as though they were dirt. But as he sat upon his lofty throne, he ordered the swords to be brought to him that he might make trial of them. Then the ambassadors, anxious to avoid the possibility of any suspicion of an evil design, took the swords by the very point as servants hand knives to their masters, and thus gave them to the emperor at their own risk. He took one by the hilt, and tried to bend the tip of the blade right back to the base, but the blade snapped between his hands, which were stronger than the iron itself. Then one of the envoys drew his own sword from its sheath and offered it, like a servant to the emperor's service, saying, I think you will find this sword as flexible and as strong as your all-conquering right hand could desire. Then the emperor, a true emperor he, as the prophet Isaiah says in his prophecy, considered the rock whence he were hewn. For he, out of all the vast population of Germany, by the single favour of God, rose to the level of the strength and courage of an earlier generation. The emperor, I say, bent it like a vine twig from the extreme point back to the hilt, and then let it gradually straighten itself again. Then the envoys gazed upon one another and said in amazement, Would that our kings held gold and silver so cheap and iron so precious? As I have mentioned the Northman, I will show by an incident drawn from the reign of your grandfather in what slight estimation they hold faith and baptism, just as after the death of the warrior King David, the neighbouring peoples whom his strong hand had subdued for a long time paid their tribute to his peaceful son, Solomon. Even so the terrible race of the Northman still loyally paid to Lewis the tribute which through terror they had paid to his father the most august emperor Charles. Once the most religious emperor Lewis took pity on their envoys and asked them if they would be willing to receive the Christian religion. And when they answered that always and everywhere and in everything they were ready to obey him he ordered them to be baptised in the name of him, of whom the most learned Augustine says, If there were no trinity the truth would never have said, Go and teach all peoples baptising them in the name of the father, son and holy ghost. The nobles of the palace adopted them almost as children and each received from the emperor's chamber a white robe and from their sponsors a full Frankish attire of costly robes and arms and other decorations. This was often done and from year to year they came in increasing numbers not for the sake of Christ but for earthly advantage. They made haste to come not as envoys any longer but as loyal vassals on Easter Eve to put themselves at the disposal of the emperor and it happened that on a certain occasion they came to the number of fifty. The emperor asked them whether they wished to be baptised and when they had confessed he bathed them for with be sprinkled with holy water. As linen garments were not ready in sufficient numbers he ordered shirts to be cut up and sewn together into the fashion of wraps. One of these was forthwith clapped upon the shoulders of one of the elder men and when he had looked all over it for a minute he conceived fierce anger in his mind and said to the emperor I have gone through this washing business here twenty times already and I have been dressed in excellent clothes of perfect whiteness but a sack like this is more fit for Claude hoppers than for soldiers if I were not afraid of my nakedness for you have taken away my own clothes and have given me no new ones I would soon leave your wrap and your Christ as well. Ah how little do the enemies of Christ value the words of the apostle of Christ where he says all ye that are baptised in Christ put on Christ and again ye that are baptised in Christ are baptised in his death or that passage which is aimed especially at those who despise the faith and violate the sacraments crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame oh would that this were the case only with the heathen and not also among those who are called by the name of Christ now I must tell a story about the goodness of the first Lewis and then I shall come back to Charles that most peaceable Emperor Lewis being free from the incursions of the enemy gave all his care to the works of religion as for instance to prayer to works of charity to the hearing and just determinations of trials at law his talents and his experience had made him very skillful in this latter business and when one day there came to him one who was considered a very acutiful by all and tried to deceive him he gave him this answer following with courteous mean and kindly voice though is some little agitation of mind most wise and Selma he said if I may be allowed to say so I would venture to observe that you are deviating from the path of rectitude from that day the reputation of that legal luminary sank to nothing in the eyes of all the world moreover the most merciful Lewis was so intent on works of charity that he liked not merely to have things done in his sight but even to do them with his own hand even when he was away he made special arrangements for the trial of cases in which the poor were concerned he chose one of their own number a man of small bodily strength but apparently more courageous than the rest and gave orders that he should decide offenses committed by them and should see to the restoration of stolen property the requital of injuries and wounds and in cases of greater crimes to the inflection of mutilation decapitation and the exposure of the bodies on the gallows this man established dukes tribunes centurions and their representatives and performed his task with energy moreover the most merciful emperor worshipping Christ in the persons of all the poor was never weary of giving them food and clothing and he did so especially on the day when Christ having put off his mortal body was preparing to take to himself an incorruptible one on that day it was his practice to make presence to each and every one of those who served in the palace or did duty in the royal court he would order belts leg coverings and precious garments brought from all parts of his vast empire to be given to some of his nobles the lower orders would get frisian cloaks of various colors his grooms cooks and kitchen attendants got clothes of linen and wool and knives according to their needs then when according to the act of the apostles there was no one that was in need of anything there was a universal feeling of gratitude the ragged poor now decently clad raised their voices to heaven with a cry of Kiria Elason to the blessed Lewis through all the wide courts and the smaller openings of a which the latins usually call porches and all the nights who could embrace the feet of the emperor and those who could not get to him worshiped him afar off as he made his way to church on one of these occasions one of the fools said ingest oh happy Lewis who on one day has been able to close so many people by Christ I think that no one in Europe has closed more than you this day except at all when the emperor asked him how it was possible that at all should have closed more the gesture please to have secured the attention of the emperor said with a grin he has distributed today a vast number of new clothes the emperor with the sweetest possible expression on his face took this for the silly joke it was and entered the church in humble devotion and there behaved himself so reverently that he seemed to have our Lord Jesus Christ himself before his bodily eyes it was his habit to go to the baths every Saturday not for any need there was a bit but because it gave him an opportunity of making presents for he used to give everything that he took off except his sword and belt to his attendance his liberality reached even to the lowest grades in so much that he once ordered all his attire to be given to one stracholf a glacier and a servant of st. Gaul when the servants of the barons heard of this they laid an ambuscade for him on the road and try to rob him then he cried out what are you doing you are using violence to the glacier of the emperor they answered you can keep your office but here the manuscript ends and the further adventures of strachulf are left to conjecture end of book 2 end of section 9 end of the life of Charlemagne by not Kerr the stammerer