Engern, on both sides of the Weser as far as the Leine; Eastphalia, as far as the Elbe; Northalbingia, N. of the lower Elbe to the Eider. The Saxon war was resolved upon in the assembly (May-field) at Worms (772). 772. Capture of the Eresburg, destruction of the Irminsul. 775. Capture of Sigiburg. Subjugation of the Saxons W. of the Elbe. The Saxons destroyed the Eresburg, but were subjugated anew. 776-777. First May-field in the land of the Saxons, at Paderborn. New insurrection of the Saxons upon receipt of the news of Charles's defeat in the Pyrenees, 778; subdued by the army of the east Franks and Alamanni. 779, Charles gained a victory at Bocholt on the Aa. 780, Submission of the Saxons; acceptance of Christianity. After a new and general revolt headed by Widukind or Wittekind, and a defeat of the Frankish army, Charles took the field in person with success. 782, Slaughter of 4500 Saxons on the Aller. 783, A new and terrible uprising, the result of this massacre. Charles victorious first at Detmold, then on the Hase. 785, After a two years' resistance Wittekind submitted and became a Christian. 778. Wars of Charles in Spain. Conquest of Saragossa. Return by Roncevaux, and defeat of the Frankish rearguard. Death of the hero Roland, margrave of the Breton coast, a pretended nephew of Charles, whose deeds are celebrated in a series of romances. The Spanish mark1 was of later foundation, and was strengthened by Ludwig, son of Charles (801). 788. Abolition of the duchy of the Bajuvariæ (Bavarians), after the second revolt of duke Tassilo. Wars with the Northmen (the common name of the Germans of the Scandinavian north), and with the Slavs. Charles defeated the Wiltzi and advanced to the Peene (789). 796. 791-799. War with the Avars (who had aided Tassilo, duke of Bavaria) conducted principally by Charles' son Pipin. Storm of the King's Ring (the chief camp of the Avars) between the Danube and the Theiss. The country between the Ems and the Raab was annexed to the Frankish empire and occupied by German colonists, especially by Bavarians. (Soon after, complete ruin of the kingdom of the Avars.) 800. Charles revived the office of Emperor of the West. Pope Leo III., ill-treated by the relatives of his predecessor in an insurrection, and expelled from the city (799), sought Charles' camp at Paderborn. Restored by Charles to Rome, he crowned him emperor on Christmas-day, 800. 793-804. New revolts among the Saxons particularly in the N., led to a war with the Danes, with whom the Saxons had taken refuge. Gottfried, king of Denmark, invaded the Frankish mark; his ships harassed the coasts of the German Ocean. 1 Mark a strip of land on the border of a country, where the military power was especially well kept up, under a Markgraf (border-count), who was responsible for the safety of the border. - TRANS. 808. The Danes, defeated by Charles, the eldest son of the retired beyond the Eider. emperor, 810. The emperor was obliged to take the field against Gottfried in person. The Danish king was murdered by his own servants. Peace with his successors. Saxony north of the Elbe remained a part of the Frankish kingdom. Boundaries of the kingdom: Ebro, Raab, Eider, Garigliano. The Wends were again subjugated. Charles resided in Aachen in Austrasia (Aix-la-Chapelle) principally on account of its warm springs, or in the County Palatine on the Rhine, at Ingelheim, or in Nymwegen. Capitularii, imperial rescripts. Assemblies composed of all men of rank, both churchmen and laymen ("in quo placito generalitas universorum maiorum, tam clericorum quam laicorum conveniebat "). Levy of troops (Heerban). Governors of counties (Gaugrafen), counts of the border districts (comites marchiæ, Markgrafen), imperial messengers (missi regis, Sendgrafen), who made periodical circuits in different parts of the empire, heard complaints and reported the same with other observations and suggestions to the emperor. The Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin, the Langobard Paul, son of Warnefrid (Paulus Diaconus), called to the imperial court, where intellectual pursuits were favored and shared by the emperor. Schools for the education of the clergy, at Tours and Paris. Einhard (Eginhard), the favorite secretary of Charles (author of the Vita Caroli Imperatoris). Charles the Great became the centre of the most important series of romances of the Middle Age. 786-809. In the East Charles found a friend and admirer in Haroun-al-Rashid, Caliph of Bagdad. His reign and that of his son Mamun cover the most fruitful period of science, art, and manufactures among the Arabs. The elder sons of Charles the Great, Charles and Pipin, dying before their father, he was succeeded by his youngest son, 814-840. Ludwig the Pious. (Louis le Débonnaire). Ludwig's nephew, Bernhard, Pipin's son, according to Charles' decree, king of Italy under the supremacy of his uncle, rebelled against the latter, was defeated, captured, and killed. Ludwig had 4 sons: Lothar, Pipin, Ludwig, Charles the Bald (the latter by Judith, his second wife, of the noble Alamannian family of the Welfs). In 829 Ludwig substituted a new division of the empire, whereby his youngest son, Karl, received Alamannia and the royal title for the division made in 817, under which Lothar held the larger part of the empire and the imperial crown, Pipin had Aquitania, and Ludwig, Bavaria. The three elder sons at once revolted, and civil war broke out. On the Field of Lies, near Colmar in Alsace, Ludwig, the father, was deserted by his troops (833). He was taken prisoner (public penance in the church at Soissons), but soon released by his repentant son Ludwig, and replaced upon the throne (834). Pipin died in 838, and his share of the empire was divided between Lothar and Charles, which caused a new rebellion on the part of Ludwig. In 840 Ludwig the Pious died on an island in the Rhine, near Ingelheim. Ludwig and Charles in alliance defeated Lothar at Fontanetum (Fontenaille or Fontenay?) in 841. Bi-lingual oath of Strassburg (842). 843. Treaty of Verdun. Division of the empire among Aug. the brothers as follows: 1. Lothar Centre of the Frankish lands, i. e. Austrasia, Friesland, the Alamannian lands on the left bank of the Rhine, the greater part of Burgundy, Provence, a part of Languedoc; in general, a region bounded by the Schelde, Meuse, Saône, Rhône, in the west, by the Rhine and Alps in the east, and Frankish Italy. 2. Ludwig the German: The eastern part of the Frankish lands, i. e. all those parts of the empire lying on the right bank of the Rhine, except Friesland; the diocese of Mainz, Worms, and Speier on the left bank (in general a region lying between the Rhine and the Elbe). 3. Charles the Bald: The western part of the Frankish lands, i. e. Neustria, Aquitania, the northern part of Burgundy, Septimania, the Spanish Mark. Lothar retained the imperial dignity which his father had given him. His kingdom, which lacked natural boundaries and comprised various nationalities, contained within itself the germ of rapid dissolution. The Treaty of Verdun was originally merely a family contract, made without regard to national differences. In Ludwig's kingdom, however, the German element was in the majority; in that of Charles the Romance element prevailed. Thus there developed, in the course of the following centuries, from the East Frankish element the German, from the West Frankish the French nationality. The East Franks called their language, in contrast to the Latin used by the educated clergy, the deutsche, i. e. the language of the people, and gradually (since Henry I.?) those who spoke Deutsche came to be called Deutsche.1 § 6. NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE OF THE SASSANIDE.2 Aryan. 226-641. 226-240. Artaxerxes I. (Artahshatr), son, not of Sasan, but of Papak, probably king of Persia proper, revolted against Artabanus, the last king of Parthia (p. 30), whom he defeated and slew in the battle of Hormuz. Contest of Artaxerxes with the Arsacid kings of Bactria and Armenia. The claim preferred by Artaxerxes to all Asia as far as the Ægean involved him in a war with Rome. Defeat of Alexander Severus, followed by peace. Subjugation of Armenia. Restoration of the religion of Zoroaster. Collection of the text of the Zend Avesta. Artaxerxes was succeeded by his son, 240-271. Sapor I. (Shahpuhri). Wars with Rome. I. (241-244.) The Romans were suc◄ 1 V. Giesebrecht, Gesch. d. deutschen Kaiserzeit, I. 4th ed. p. 149. 2 Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy. cessful under Gordianus, but his successor, Philippus, concluded peace with Sapor, leaving Armenia in his hands, but retaining Mesopotamia. II. (258-260.) A glorious war for Persia. Nisibis, Edessa, Antioch fell into their hands, and the Roman emperor Valerianus was captured and remained a prisoner until his death (265 or 266). Defeat of Persians by Odenathus of Palmyra (p. 157). Erection of many buildings and engineering works in Persia. Mani, or Manes, a teacher of a new form of religion compounded of Christianity and Zoroasterianism (Manicheism), expelled from Persia. Sapor was succeeded by his son, Hormisdas I. (Auhrmazdi), who reigned one year and ten days (271-272) and was followed by his brother, Varahran I. (272-275). Execution of Mani. Aid sent to Zenobia (p. 157). The murder of Aurelianus (275) put an end to his expedition against Varahran, who was succeeded in the same year by his son Varahran II. (275–292?). His reign is marked chiefly by the war with Rome (283), which was closed by the mysterious death of Carus (283-284). Revolt of Tiridates of Armenia, aided by Rome. Varahran III., son of Varahran II., reigned four months, and was followed by his brother, 292-301. Narses, who after defeating his brother and rival, Hormisdas, drove Tiridates from Armenia (296). War with Rome. Galerius, at first unsuccessful in Mesopotamia, finally defeated Narses. Peace (297): 1. Persia ceded five provinces beyond the Tigris to Rome. 2. The Tigris recognized as the general boundary between Persia and Rome.1 3. Cession of a large part of Media to Armenia. 4. Persia surrendered to Rome her supremacy over Iberia (Georgia). Abdication of Narses and accession of his son, Hormisdas II. (301-309), whose reign covers little of importance. At his death the nobles set aside his son Hormisdas, and conferred the crown upon his unborn child. A boy was born, who received the name 309-379 (?). Sapor II. During his minority the country suffered from invasions of the Arabs, but on arriving at his seventeenth year Sapor assumed the government, and inflicted a terrible punishment on Arabia. Persecution of Christians (about 325). First war with Rome (337-350). Defeat of Constantius at Singara (348). Nisibis in Mesopotamia thrice besieged by Sapor in vain (338, 340, 350). War of Sapor with Tatar tribes in the E. (351-359) and extension of Persian power in this direction. Armenia went over to Rome. Second war with Rome (359-363). Invasion of Syria. Capture of Amida after a desperate resistance. Julianus, emperor of Rome, invaded Persia, and defeated the Persians before Ctesiphon (362), but immediately began a retreat, in the course of which he died. His successor, Jovian, concluded peace with Sapor for thirty years (363): 1. Restoration of the five provinces ceded by Narses. 2. Surrender of Nisibis and Singara to Persia. 3. Rome to give up all connection with Armenia. Conquest of Armenia by Sapor. Third war with Rome (371–376), carried on without energy and concluded by an obscure peace. 1 Rawlinson, Seventh Monarchy, 128 foll., discusses the conditions. The brilliant reign of Sapor was followed by a time of quiet. Artaxerxes II. (379–383.) Sapor III. (383-388.) Division of Armenia between Persia and Rome, Persia receiving the larger part. Varahran IV. (388-399) deposed Chosroës, king of Persian Armenia, and placed his own brother on the throne (391). Varahran was murdered during a mutiny, and succeeded by his son Isdigerd I. (Izdikerti) (399-419 [420]), whose peaceful reign is remarkable for little, except a persecution of the Christians in Persia and Armenia. He was succeeded by his son, 419 (420)-440. Varahran V., who, having put down Chosroës, a pretender to the throne, renewed the persecution of the Christians, and began war with Rome. Meeting with no success, he concluded peace (422), and agreed to stop the persecution. (Charity of Acacius, bishop of Amida, who ransomed 7000 Persian captives.) Beginning of Persia's wars with the Ephthialites (Pers. Haithal), a people dwelling beyond the Oxus, and probably of "Thibetic or Turkish stock" (not Huns). Surprise, defeat, and death of the invading Khan. The Persians crossed the Oxus and chastised the Tatars in their own territory. Varahran was succeeded by his son, 440-457. Isdigerd II., who at once declared war upon Rome, but as hastily concluded peace. Nine years' war with the Epthialites, ending with their defeat in their own country. The attempt of Isdigerd to convert Armenia to Zoroastrianism brought on a religious war, wherein the Christians were defeated (455 or 456). Forcible conversion of Armenia. Toward the close of his reign Isdigerd was defeated by the Ephthialites. After his death civil war between his sons Perozes and Hormisdas, ending in the victory of 459-483 (?). Perozes. Great famine in the seventh year of his reign (?). Unsuccessful war and disgraceful peace with the Ephthialites (464-465). Revolt of Armenia under Vahan, which was still unsubdued when Perozes again attacked the Ephthialites, at whose hands he suffered a severe defeat, falling in the battle. He was succeeded by his brother (?) 483(?)-487. Balas (Pers. Valakhesh or Volgases), under whom Persia probably paid tribute to Khush-newaz, the Ephthialite Khan. Pacification of Armenia. Edict of toleration. Destruction of fire-altars. Balas was succeeded by 487(?)-498. Kobad, (first reign) son of Perozes, who had been in hiding among the Ephthialites. Successful war with the Khazars, a people of uncertain race (Turkish or Caucasian?), dwelling between the Volga and the Don. Communistic and ascetic doctrines of Mazdak, a high priest of Zoroaster, to which many converts were made, the king being of the number. Consequent disturbances in Persia and Armenia resulting in the deposition of Kobad and the accession of his brother, 498-501. Zamasp. Kobad, however, soon escaped to the Ephthialites and returned |