A.C. when Louis the Stammerer expressed a wish to be crowned by his hand, which his Holiness performed, not as emperor, according to the generally-received opinion, but only as king. 879 Louis le Begue, or Stämmerer, died at Compiegne, on the 10th of April, after reigning two years, and was buried in the abbey of Saint Corneille. Louis the Third and Carloman his son took possession of Western Flanders, and defeated Boson, count of Provence, brother of Richard the Justicier, duke of Burgundy, who had assumed the regal authority at Arles, by the hands of the archbishop of Lyon, when that kingdom commenced. They were not, however, able to bring him to subjection. Two years after, Charles the Fat repaired to Rome, where he was crowned emperor of the West on Christmas-day. The Normans, who had ravaged Picardy and Neustria, advanced as far as Tours; Louis the Third and his brother Carloman, supported by the emperor Charles the Fat, completely defeated them at Sancourt, in Ponthieu. 880 Alfred having completely conquered the Danes, under prince Guthrum, whose life he spared, the latter with 30 of his nobles became a convert to Christianity, upon which occasion Alfred answered for him at the baptismal font, and received him as his adopted son, giving him the name of Athelstan. Alfred then established a regular militia throughout England, as well as a naval force, thus enabling his subjects to repel foreign invasions. This measure soon after proved efficacious, as the Danes, under their chieftain Hastings, who assailed the coast with 330 vessels of various descriptions, were compelled to put again to sea. 882 883 Louis the Third expired at St. Denis, in the month of August, and left his brother Carloman in possession of the kingdom of France. Two years after the latter was wounded by a wild boar, that pursued him when at the chase, of which he died. According to the law of the realm, Charles, his brother, a posthumous son of Louis the Stammerer, should have succeeded, but he was then in England with his mother Alix, and no one espoused his right. Charles the Fat, therefore, grandson of Louis the Debonnaire, took possession of all the territories of Carloman. Martinus the Second mounted the papal chair. 884 Stephen the Fifth succeeded to the papacy. 886 Basilius, emperor of the East, died on the first of March, after reigning 17 years, and was succeeded by Leo the Fifth, surnamed the Philosopher. At this period, scarcely a layman throughout Britain A.C. could read English, nor was there a priest who understood ~ Latin. During the following year, the Normans laid siege to Paris; when Eudes, who was their count, and Gosselin, bishop of that city, animated the besieged both by their example and harangues. Charles the Fat, who was at that period commanding a powerful army, purchased peace of the Normans, and assigned them Burgundy, which territory they were to possess until the sum stipulated by the treaty should be liquidated. The emperor Charles, attacked by a kind of ulcer in the head, was compelled to submit to various incisions being made, in consequence of which he ultimately became deranged. His German subjects, in consequence, abandoned him, and appointed in his place Arnoul, or Arnold, natural son of his brother Carloman. Charles assembled some forces to oppose the pretensions of Arnoul; but he was not only abandoned by his army but by his principal partisans, and would have been reduced to want even the common necessaries of life, had it not been for the assistance afforded him by Luitprand, archbishop of Mayence. Alfred founded the university of Oxford, whose care for the encouragement of learning did not a little contribute to improve the morals and restrain the barbarous habits of his people. He established schools and seminaries for instruction throughout his dominions, and particularly encouraged learning by that example of constant assiduity with which he employed himself in the pursuit of knowledge. During a life of no very extraordinary length, this incomparable hero of England, who had fought 65 battles in person, was enabled by a rigid distribution of his time, to acquire more knowledge, and even compose more books than the generality of studious men blessed with the greatest leisure. Many of his works are extant to the present day. Fully aware that his illiterate subjects were not very susceptible of speculative instruction, he conveyed his precepts by parables, couched in poesy, as he was the best Saxon poet living: having translated Orosius and Bede's Histories and Esop's Fables from the Greek. Alfred invited industrious foreigners from all quarters to repeople his territories; he introduced and encouraged manufactures, nor did any inventor or improver of an art go unrewarded. Added to this, he prompted men of activity to study navigation and extend commercial intercourse to the most remote territories. The emperor Charles the Fat died on the 13th of January, 888 A.C. after governing for 7 years an empire almost as extensive as that of Charlemaine; he was buried in the monastery of Recheneau, near the village of Constance, when his possessions were divided into five kingdoms. 889 1st-Germany was given to Arnoul, natural son of Carloman; in consequence of which he became emperor of the West, to the prejudice of Charles the Simple, who was totally excluded from governing on account of his tender years. 2d-Western France and Aquitaine were awarded to Eudes, son of Robert the Strong, who was killed in defending Paris against the Normans. 3d-The kingdom of Arles and Provence fell to Louis, son of Boson. 4th-That part of Burgundy beyond Mount Jura, with Switzerland and Savoy, became the portion of Rodolphus, son of young Conrad, duke of Franconia. 5th-Italy became the subject of a war between Guy the Thirteenth, duke of Spoletto, and Berenger, duke of Frioul. Eudes, who had declared before the assembly of the bishops and nobles held at Compiegne, that he would only accept the crown as tutor of Charles the Simple, signalized himself by obtaining many victories over the Normans, and in particular by that obtained at Montfaucon, where he left upwards of 20,000 men dead upon the field, on the 25th of June. 890 Alfred the Great composed his famous code of laws, and divided England into counties, hundreds, and tythings, and so exact was his police, that historians affirm he hung up, by way of a bravado, golden bracelets near the highways, which no man dared to touch. A memorable sentiment also preserved in the will of that great monarch was, "that it is just the English should for ever remain as free as their own thoughts!" 891 Guy having acquired the ascendancy in Italy, was crowned at Rome on the 21st of February, by Pope Stephen the Fifth, having associated his son Lambert with himself in the government, who was also crowned the ensuing year. Formosus was elected pope. Leo the Fifth, emperor of the East, while proceeding to the church on the festival of Whitsunday, received on the head a blow from a bludgeon, levelled with such force, that he was struck to the earth. The assassin was seized and punished with death, without naming any one as an accomplice, after which the emperor was restored to health. The Normans landed an army of 90,000 men between the A.C. Meuse and the Rhine, and ravaged the Low Countries; upon which the emperor Arnoul marched against and defeated them. Notwithstanding the promises made by Eudes, that he 893 would yield up his authority to Charles the Simple, he could not make up his mind to dispossess himself of the power he had been accustomed to exert. The nobles of Neustria, however, devoted to their legitimate king, repaired to fetch over their monarch Charles the Simple from England, whom they caused to be crowned at Rheims, by the hands of Foulques, archbishop of that city. The ensuing year, Eudes marched against the young king, and obliged him to retire to Worms, to the court of Arnoul; when, after combating and negotiating, an arrangement was ultimately agreed upon, whereby Eudes was recognised for monarch of all the territory situated between the Seine and the Pyrenees, and Charles, king of the country extending from the Seine to the Meuse. The following year, Guy of Italy, calling himself emperor, died, and was succeeded by his son Lambert. The emperor Arnoul laid siege to Rome, when he was 896 vigorously opposed by the Romans; it is affirmed that a hare having entered the camp of Arnoul, and wishing to escape, directed its course towards the city, when the soldiers following with loud shouts, the alarm was raised throughout Rome, upon which the troops who defended the ramparts retired and disbanded; of which Arnoul being informed, commanded his army to advance, which appeared as if desirous of commencing the assault, when the city opened her gates. Boniface the Sixth was raised to the papacy. Arnoul so closely pursued Lambert, that he could not have secured his escape, if Algetrude, mother of the fugitive, who had bought over the valet of Arnoul, had not administered a potion which caused him to sleep during three days, at the expiration of which he found himself attacked by a kind of paralysis which incapacitated him from acting. Stephen the Sixth was raised to the popedom. 897 Eudes died at the age of 40, having reigned 10 years, and 898 was buried at St. Denis, when Charles the Third, or the Simple, became monarch of all France. Lambert, king of Italy, also died, when Berenger remained sovereign of southern Italy. The emperors of the East were the powerful lords of southern Italy, which was governed by the dukes of Beneventum, Naples, &c. A.C. 801 806 825 828 835 840 848 858 865 870 877 The following year, the emperor Arnoul died, at Ottingen, after a reign of Il years; when his son Louis the Fourth was proclaimed emperor and king of Germany. IN THIS CENTURY FLOURISHED, Charlemaine, author of an excellent code of laws, known under the title of Capitularies. Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople, author of an abridged universal history. Almamon, son of Haroun, caliph of the Saracens, author of astronomical tables. Mesue, the Arabian physician. Alfraganus, the famous Arabian astronomer, who was one of the principal sages employed by Almamon. Rumalde, architect of Louis the Debonnaire, who superintended the works at the building of the cathedral church of Rheims. Johannes Scotus, a writer. Albumasar, a celebrated Arabian mathematician and as tronomer. Achmet, a writer on astronomy. Nennius, a British historian, whose Historia Britonum is inserted in Gale's His. Brit. Scrip. 1691. Anastasius Bibliothecarius, a Greek, who had the care of the Vatican library; his chief work was Liber Pontificalis. Cernuus Abbo, a Gallic monk, author of an historical Latin poem on the siege of Paris by the Normans. Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mentz, who studied under Alcuinus of Tours. Godescalchus, a writer. Photius, patriarch of Constantinople, who wrote a work called Bibliotheca, which contains the substance of 300 ancient writers, together with other valuable productions. Alfred the Great, king of England, who wrote in the Eginhard, author of the life of Charlemaine. 878 Ado, archbishop of Vienne, in Dauphiny, author of a chronicle from the creation of the world to the year 875 after Christ. 880 Albategni, an Arabian chief, who wrote a work entitled Science of the Stars. |