Events

The base, craven, heretical Maurontus

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One of the interesting bits that caught my eye while researching the post on Islam in Francia was the story of Duke Maurontus, and how he “invited” the Arabs of Narbonne to occupy his city of Avignon. That a duke of Christendom would voluntarily surrender his fortified city to the dread Saracens seemed incredible, so naturally I wanted to take a closer look.

Avignon is part of Provence, a region with long ties to the Mediterranean, and one that had an uneasy relationship with the Franks to the north. In the first few decades of the eighth century two great families dominated Provence: the first family was led by a bishop named Abbo, and they controlled the passes into Lombardy; the second family was led by Duke Maurontus, and they controlled the coast, including Avignon and the mouth of the Rhone river. Bishop Abbo allied himself with Charles Martel, which proved to be a deciding factor in the struggle for Provence, and a smart decision by Abbo.

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Early (very early) Islam

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Christianity wasn’t the only religion in western Europe in the eighth century. It was certainly the dominant religion on the continent, but it was Islam that covered the southern Mediterranean, and, as we will see, even extended into modern France. A movement, a religion, and a military force that powerful deserves our exploration. But let’s not get bogged down in the movement’s first flowering in Arabia. If you are interested here are plenty of histories to chose from. Rather, let’s survey the state of Islam at the opening of the eighth century, and then trace developments from that point.

The Islamic world in the year 700 was ruled out of Damascus by the Umayyad dynasty.1.Arabic transliterations are all over the place with proper names. Even among academics you will find various spellings of important persons. For simplicity I will use the most common spelling found on Wikipedia. In the east the Islamic empire had spread out of Arabia and encompassed the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, to the eastern tip of the Black Sea. To the south the faith had spread across north Africa. In the year 661 the Umayyads came to power and continued the pattern of conquest. By 702 they could see the northern Pillar of Hercules (Gibraltar, to those of us living in a less legendary age) from the shore of Tangier in modern-day Morocco.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Arabic transliterations are all over the place with proper names. Even among academics you will find various spellings of important persons. For simplicity I will use the most common spelling found on Wikipedia.

Battles of a troubled soul, part 3

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When Carloman decided to lay down his worldly cares and take up the contemplative life, he wasn’t able to simply pick up and walk to Rome. He was a duke of the Franks, one of the two Mayors of the Palace that ruled the realm, as well as a father. He, even more than most of us today, had many affairs to put in order first. We should remember that he probably felt that he was leaving in a pretty strong position.

There is a brief, shadowy indication that Carloman, as the older of the two brothers, wielded more power than Pepin. Paul Fouracre quotes a charter from 744 (the year after Childeric III was raised to the throne), in which “Childeric addressed Carloman as the one ‘who placed us upon the throne of the kingdom.’ “1.Fouracre, The Long Shadow of the Merovingians, p.14, in Charlemagne: Empire and Society, ed. Joanna Story. In addition he had demography on his side. Carloman had a son, Drogo, who was probably of age in 747. Pepin was married, but had no children. Their half-brother Grifo was still alive, and we can say, based on later events, that he commanded some significant amount of political support in the kingdom, despite being under a virtual house arrest in Austrasia.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Fouracre, The Long Shadow of the Merovingians, p.14, in Charlemagne: Empire and Society, ed. Joanna Story.

Battles of a troubled soul, part 2

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To the picture I drew last week of Carloman the pious purifier of the eastern Frankish church, we must add Carloman the triumphant, at times bloodthirsty, conqueror. After deposing and disposing of his half-brother Grifo in 741 (while Pepin dealt with their step-mother Swanahild), and supervising the first of the eastern church synods, Carloman must have had his horse waiting for him. In the spring of 742 he and Pepin undertook the first of several joint military operations to crush regional insurrections. “Aquitanians, Bretons, Frisians, Saxons, Alemannians, and Bavarians were a constant source of trouble for Pepin and Carlomann…. The survival of the Frankish kingdom itself was very much an open issue throughout the 740s.”1.Noble, Republic of St. Peter, pp.65-66. But the first to rise was the first to be crushed.

Meanwhile the Gascons of Aquitaine rose in rebellion under Duke Chunoald, son of the late Eudo. Thereupon the princely brothers Carloman and Pippin united their forces and crossed the Loire at the city of Orleans. Overwhelming the Romans they made for Bourges, the outskirts of which they set on fire; and as they pursued the fleeing Duke Chunoald they laid waste as they went. Their next objective, the stronghold of Loches, fell and was razed to the ground, the garrison being taken prisoner. Their victory was complete. Then they divied out the booty among themselves and took off the local inhabitants to captivity.2.Fredegar, Continuations, ch.25, p.98.

Not only did the brothers swiftly crush the rebellious Aquitanians, but “On this campaign they divided the kingdom of the Franks among themselves at Vieux Poitiers.”3.Royal Annals, year 742, p.37. This probably formalized whatever agreement their father had arranged with them, prior to Swanahild’s insertion of Grifo into the inheritance. To recap, over the past twelve months their father had died, they had neutralized their half-brother, called a church synod, suppressed an incipient revolt, and agreed to a division of the kingdom more to their liking. Time to head home? Not even close.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Noble, Republic of St. Peter, pp.65-66.
↑2 Fredegar, Continuations, ch.25, p.98.
↑3 Royal Annals, year 742, p.37.

Battles of a troubled soul, part 1

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Pepin le Bref was a man with a conflicted soul. He yearned for God, but was forced to do terrible things in the name of order. When he did retire from worldly concerns he thought he would be done with politics and combat, but before the end he was dragged back into the fray, betrayed by family, and died far from his spiritual home. His story is one of the great epics of the 8th century.

On the death of his father Pepin was one of three sons to inherit the Frankish kingdom. He was immediately faced with two things he had to get done, and one thing he really wanted to get done. He performed all three duties very well, and then, at the peak of power, he put his affairs in order, rejected the secular, and became a monk. How he went about achieving what he did illustrates the man, and opens a window on why he made that last decision.

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