FRA 
peror of tlie Romans was fcarcely announced, before the 
French king, with a well-appointed army, appeared in 
Italy. His adlivity anticipated the defigns of his bro¬ 
ther Louis the German ; he was received at Rome with 
the applaufe of the inhabitants; and the Roman pontiff, 
in 875, placed the imperial crown on his head, and fa¬ 
inted him emperor of the Romans. With pointed indig¬ 
nation Louis beheld himfelf the dupe of his perfidious 
brother; he relented in arms this fltamelefs breach of 
faith, entered Champagne, and difcharged his fury on 
that defencelefs country. Though he retired on the ap¬ 
proach of Charles, he only fufpended his hoflile mea¬ 
sures; his preparations were continued with inceffant di¬ 
ligence ; and the new emperor had reafon to rejoice in 
the death of Louis the German in 876; who united in 
liis character the qualities of a datefman and a general, 
and who of all the descendants of Charlemagne, mod re- 
fembled him. His dominions were divided between his 
three fons : to Carloman he afligned Bavaria, Bohemia, 
• Carinthia, Sclavonia, Audria, and part of Hungary ; 
to Louis, Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, the lower Lor- 
rain, together with Cologne and the cities of the Rhine; 
to Charles was left the country between the Maine and 
the Alps. The news of his brother’s deceafe no fooner 
reached the emperor Charles, than his reftlefs ambition 
prompted him to defpoil his nephew Louis ; at the head 
of fifty thoufand men he advanced to feize that part 
which formerly had belonged to Lorraine; In the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Cologne he was encountered by his nephew, 
With inferior numbers, but with equal courage, and fupe- 
rior (kill; the army of the Franks was broken and de¬ 
feated by the German cavalry, and £harles was glad to 
efcape from the fatal carnage. 
A rapid fuccefiion of mortifications now overwhelmed 
the fortitude of Charles. Fainting beneath the effects 
of difeafe, he was fummoned by the importunities of the 
Roman pontiff, who claimed from him the protection of 
Italy. That country was ftill expofed to the defcents of 
the Saracens, and, in 876, the banners of Mahomet in- 
fulted the principal feat of the fucceffors of St. Peter. 
The exhauded frame of Charles might well excufe him 
from new labours ; and fome praife muft be granted to 
that vigour which could roufe him from the couch of 
ficknefs, to refume the weight of armour. With a l'mall 
train of followers he paffed the Alps; but he had fcarcely 
entered Pavia, to which city the Roman pontiff had ad¬ 
vanced to confer with him, when he was informed that 
Carloman, king of Bavaria, was already in Italy with a 
numerous army, and claimed by the will of his father the 
imperial title. The forces of Charles were ftill in 
France ; the generals to whofe fidelity he had entruded 
Shem, confpired againfl him ; and the foldiers, in tu¬ 
multuary exclamations, declared their refolution not to 
pafs the Alps. The indignant emperor, adoniflied and 
deferted, fct off on his return to France ; at the fame mo¬ 
ment that his competitor, Carloman, alarmed at the ru¬ 
mour of his approach, precipitately re-entered his Ger¬ 
man dominions. But the unfortunate Charles, in his 
pafTage over Mount Cenis, was poifoned by the hireling 
Sedecias, a Jew, in 877, and breathed his lad, in the fifty- 
fourth year of his age ; thirty-eight years from his 
stfcending the throne of France, and only two from his 
affuming the imperial dignity. 
The ambition of Charles the Bald had continually dif- 
turbed the repofe of his fubjefts with the fcourge of 
war, which led him to an unbounded increafe of knight’s 
fees, and other feodal tenures ; and now the feeble coun- 
fels of his fon and fucceffor Louis, furnamed, from an im¬ 
pediment in his fpeech, the Stammerer, expofed the king¬ 
dom to the fatal confequences of a weak and divided ad- 
miniftration. He afcended the throne of France in 878 ; 
and to fecure the attachment of the nobles, he alfo pro- 
fufely lavi;hed the honours and edates of the crown ; 
and the power of the lovereign was, during his improvi¬ 
dent reign, reduced to an empty (hadow. The difcon- 
N C E. 650 
tented chiefs were drengthened by the influence of 
Richilde, tlie widow of the late emperor, and the dep- 
mother of Louis; who furrendered with reluctance the 
enfigns of royalty, entruded to her by her hatband, into 
the hands of the fon of Hermantrude. Bernard, marquis 
of Languedoc, was among the firll to eredt the (landard 
of revolt; and, equally indifferent to the temporal me¬ 
naces of the king and the fpiritual cenfures of the church, 
maintained an haughty and fallen independence. As the 
monarch advanced at the head of a royal army, to chadife 
the difobedience and infolence of his fubjefts, he was 
feized at Troyes with a diforder which foon proclaimed 
his approaching dilfolution. Senllble of his danger, he 
defired that his fword and crown might be delivered to 
his fon Louis; and after a fliort reign of about eighteen 
months, he was preferved by death, in 879, from behold¬ 
ing the impending calamities of his country. 
France was now to undergo a date of anarchy and con- 
fufion. Louis and Carloman, the ilfue of the fird mar¬ 
riage of the late king, were oppreffed by a fadtious nobi¬ 
lity ; and Adelaide, his fecond wife, was pregnant of a 
fon, afterwards baptifed by the name of Charles, and 
didinguiflted by the epithet of Simple. Of the nobles 
who, as intereft dictated or caprice fuggeded, propped or 
affailed the throne of their prince, the fil'd place was due 
to the rank and connections of duke Bofon. His fpirit, 
naturally haughty, was inflated by his marriage with the 
daughter of Louis II. emperor of the Romans, and the 
crown itfelf appeared not too great for his merits, or too 
high for his pretenfions. The furname of Hugo the Abbot 9 
proclaims his early defignation to the church ; but, bold 
and afpiring, he foon embraced the more enterprifing pro- 
feffion of arms, and relinquiflied the mitre and the crofs 
for the helmet and the fword. To his valour and abili¬ 
ties was entruded the government of the country between 
the Seine and the Loire ; and the rovers of the north 
found in Hugo an antagonid who left them little reafon 
to exult in the death of Robert the Strong. Thierri had* 
in the reign of the late king, been promoted to the pod: 
of chamberlain ; and the favours he had received ought 
inviolably to have attached him to the family of his 
benefadtor. Bernard count of Auvergne had been ap¬ 
pointed by Charles the Bald, with Bofon and Hugo, ta 
command the troops dedined for the late Italian expedi¬ 
tion ; and was, with thofe nobles, fufpedted of having 
been concerned in poifoning the king. Such were the 
four chiefs to whofe protection Louis had committed the 
care of his fons ; and their influence was oppofed by the 
abbe Godin, who had been the principal minider of 
Charles the Bald, by the name of Conrad count of Paris. 
The defigns of Godin were veiled by an apparent con¬ 
cern for the profperity of France, and an ardent zeal for 
the family of Charlemagne. Thefe were united in fet- 
ting afide the children of Louis the Stammerer, and in¬ 
viting the mature age of Louis of Germany to afeend the 
throne of France: that monarch readily lidened to the 
flattering propofal ; and while the guardians of the young 
princes, affembled at Meaux, difputed with each other 
the fpoils of the crown, they were alarmed by the intel¬ 
ligence that an army of Germans was rapidly advancing 
to the frontiers of the kingdom. Defpair immediately 
fucceeded to ill-grounded confidence; and a difgraceful 
acquiefcence in the claims of the invader was only 
averted by the prudent counfels of Hugo. The impend¬ 
ing danger and didrefs lanftioned the facrifice ; and he 
confeated to purchafe the retreat of Louis by the ceflion 
of that part of Lorrain which had been allotted to 
Charles tlie'Bald. The offer was accepted ; the king of 
Germany, with a confiderable territory in the Low Coun¬ 
tries, acquired Toul, Metz, and Verdun ; and the abbe 
Godin, with his affociates, indulged their rel’entment by 
reproaching the perfidy of their ally. 
Carloman, the fecond of the fons of Louis, had efpoufed 
the daughter of duke Bofon ; and that powerful noble 
prevailed on the uffembly held at Meaux to difregard the 
lad 
