FRANCE. 
660 
\ 
lad inftrudlions of their deceafed monarch, and afibciate, 
with his elder brother Louis, Carloman to the royal au¬ 
thority. The two princes were crowned amidft the joyful 
acclamations of the people, who had long demanded the 
authority of a fovereign. But the defigns of Bofon ex¬ 
tended not alone to the elevation of his daughter ; his 
ambition prompted him to aim at a folid edablidiment, 
and to fecure his fortune beyond the frown of kings; In 
a longadminidration of thefouthern provincesof France, 
he had redreffed the grievances of the people, foothed 
the intolerant fpirit of the clergy, and attached to his in- 
tered :t factious nobility. His ready attentions had con¬ 
ciliated the favour of the pope, who widied to difplay 
his gratitude by contributing to the completion of his 
afpiring hopes. Three archbidiops, twenty bifhops, and 
a number of counts, alfembled at Mante, deliberated on 
the melancholy date of their country. The expedient 
thfey propofed was to eredft a new kingdom ; and an in- 
flrurr.ent, fubfcribed by the ad'embly, offered Provence 
to the abfolute rule of Bofon. The propofal was readily 
accepted ; and the brows of Bofon were encircled with a 
royal diadem.- The countries which compofed this new 
principality, and which, from the feat of government 
have been denominated Arles, were Provence, Lyonnois, 
Dauphine, Savoy, Franche Compfe, and part of the 
kingdom of Burgundy, extending on one fide into Lan¬ 
guedoc, and on the other beyond the lake of Geneva. 
Thus the fons of Louis beheld theml'elves defpoiled of 
the faired part of their inheritance by the fword of a 
powerful neighbour, and the intrigues of a faithlefs kinf- 
man. Their throne indeed was lhaken on every fide ; 
and would pollibly have been fubverted, had it not been 
protected by the fidelity of Hugo the abbot. The fplen- 
did promifes of Godin had prevailed on Louis of Ger¬ 
many to violate the recent treaty, and again afpire to the 
crown of France : but the inclinations of the malcon¬ 
tents were overawed by the prudent difpofitions of Hugo; 
the Germans in vain penetrated into the heart of France ; 
and the hopes of Louis were chilled by the languid ope¬ 
rations of his partizaris. He confented to an interview 
with his youthful rivals ; and a fubfequent congrefs at 
Gondreville on the Meufe, at which all the defcendants 
of Charlemagne were prefent, ratified the fuccefiion of 
Louis and Carloman, and confirmed the polfefilon of Lor- 
rain to the king of Germany. 
The royal brothers, thus delivered from the terror 
of foreign invafion, prepared to chaftife the infolence of 
domeftic rebellion ; (Lengthened by their new alliances, 
they marched with a numerous army through Burgundy, 
and entered the revolted territories of their prefumptious 
vafial. The confederate forces, afiifted by thofe of 
Charles king of Italy, formed the fiege of Vienne, de¬ 
fended with lingular valour by Hermingard the confort 
of Bofon. But the princes were foon compelled to fepa- 
rate ; and while the continuance of the fiege w’as de¬ 
volved on Carloman, Chailes returned to Rome to. re¬ 
ceive the imperial crown ; and Louis, with a confiderable 
detachment, directed his march againft the Normans. 
Thefe hardy adventurers, in the month of December, 
furprifed the city of Tournay, and fpread their devafta- 
tions along the banks of the Scheld. At Saucour, in 
Picardy, the rovers of the north were encountered by 
Louis ; nine thonfand Normans, with their leader Guara- 
mond, expired on the field of battle; the remainder re¬ 
paired the Somme, and confulted their fafety by a bally 
retreat. But the inactivity of the conqueror betrays his 
own lofs ; and the prudence of Louis refpedled the de- 
fpair of a valiant though vanquilhed enemy. The vic¬ 
tory cf Saucour had dilplayed the courage, and the death 
of Louis of Germany proclaimed the moderation, of the 
youthful king of France ; he rejected with firmnefs the 
crown proffered by the inhabitants of Lorrain, and yielded 
to the fuperior pretenfions of the emperor, Charles the 
Fat. But the French were fuffered only a Ihort time to 
contemplate the riling virtues of their prince ; he ex. 
z 
pired at St. Denys, A.D. S8i, in the twenty-fecond year 
of his age ; and his premature death is ftrongly marked 
with the fufpicion of poifon. 
Carloman was (till before Vienne when he received the 
unexpected intelligence of the death of his brother, and 
his own fuccefiion to the undivided crown of France. 
He left the blockade of that place to his principal offi¬ 
cers ; and at the head of the army aftembled by the de- 
ceafed prince, moved towards the Meufe to repel the 
northern pirates. Thefe retired at the approach of the 
monarch ; but their return foon fummoned him again to 
arms. His profpeCts of victory were blafted by the in¬ 
tractable fpirit of his own fubjeCts ; he was compelled to 
(heath the fword, and by a lavifh donation to obtain a 
Ihort and precarious truce. The difappointment was but 
ill compenfated by the capitulation of Vienne, which 
permitted Hermiitgard to retire to her confort at Autun ; 
and while Carloman endeavoured to difiipate his chagrin 
by the exercifes of the chace, a javelin, aimed at the boar 
by one of his attendants, in 884, pierced his thigh, 
and in a few days deprived him of his crown and life ; 
yet his lad moments intereft us in his premature fate ; 
and we cannot but admire the philanthropy of a prince, 
who endeavoured to fereen from the refentment of the 
public his unfortunate domeftic, by imputing his wound 
to the rage of the animal he purfued. 
It was now natural to fuppofe that the principal nobi¬ 
lity would have concurred in placing the crown on the 
infant brows of Charles the Simple, fon of Louis the 
Stammerer by his queen Adelaide : yet Hugo the abbot 
in vain zealoufly and ftrenuoufiy efpoufed the caufe of 
til at young prince ; and Charles, furnamed the Fat, the 
emperor of the Romans, was invited to afeend the va¬ 
cant throne of France. A new invafion of the Normans, 
perhaps, determined the French to veft the feeptre in the 
hands of the moft powerful branch of the Carlovingian 
race ; and the dominions of Charles promifed an eftedtual 
fuccour, while his limited capacity removed any appre- 
henfions they might entertain from his increafe of terri¬ 
tory. Godfrey, king of the Normans, had been trea- 
cheroully aftaflinated ; and to avenge his death, a hoftile 
fleet of (even hundred fail entered the Seine, and fpread. 
their devaftations as far as the gates of Paris. But the 
capital was defended by the prudence of Godin, its bi- 
ftiop, united with the valour of Eudes, fon of Robert 
the Strong. In three attacks, the Normans were re- 
pulfed with cruel (laughter ; but ip a fourth they proved 
l'uccefsful. A clofe blockade now precluded all fuccour, 
when the fainting fpirits of the Parifians were relieved 
by the appearance of Charles, who, with an army from 
Germany, prefled forwards to their relief, and emcamped 
within fight of the capital. Yet Sigefroy, the Norman 
leader, beheld the German ftandards with an undaunted 
countenance, and ftedfaftly maintained his ftution before 
the gates of the city. The emperor was (hamefully 
awed by the firmnefs of an enemy whom he might have 
overwhelmed ; and lie bafely confented to purchafe a 
peace, which he might have commanded on his own 
terms. As his treafnres were inadequate to the fum fti- 
pulated, part of Burgundy was abandoned to the avarice 
and plunder of the Normans. The fortitude of Godin 
could not fupport him under the accumulated misfortunes 
of the times; and he expired while the city was afflidled 
by the defolating hand of the Normans. Eudes, his 
companion in toil, furvived to receive the applaufe of his 
country, and the reward of a grateful fovereign. The 
death of Hugo the abbot had deprived both Charles and 
his fubjedts of a faithful minifter and a (teady patriot 5 
and his title of count of Paris was with general approba¬ 
tion bellowed upon Eudes, whofe gallantry borrowed ad. 
ditional luftre from the pulillanimous condudtof die em¬ 
peror. The health of that prince now began rapidly to 
decline ; his faculties were vilibly impaired ; and he had 
no fooner returned into Germany, than he difplayed ma- 
nifeft l'ymptoms of a diliempered imagination. In a diet 
held 
