The Annals of Fulda (768-801)

Annals of Fulda. Part One, from the year 680 A.D. to the year 838 A.D. By Einhard

Acts of Some of the Kings of the Franks

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768. Pippin, as he was coming back, after Waiphair had been killed and all of the Aquitain subdued, died in Paris on the 8th of the Kalends of October, in the 54th year of his age, as his sons, Charles and Carloman took on the domains of the kingdom

(glose left of 768: "King Pippin died")

769. Charles, with his brother Carloman, captured Hunold who, as he had been won over, had undertook to rebell and to resist to the king's power

770. Bertha, the Queen, pushed an union by marriage with Italy, his son marrying the daughter of Desiderius, the King of the Lombards

771. King Carloman died on the 2nd of the nones of December, in the villa in Salmuntiaco, as he was interred in Reims. His spouse and his sons pass into Italy. Charles, as a meeting was held in Valentianas, vent to Corbanacum [or Cobanacum] where, as they came to him, he received all the bishops, abbotts, counts and dukes who were from the party of his brother, excepted those -who were few- who had left with Carloman's wife

772. Charles, motivated by the war in Saxony, took the castle of Eresburg and he destroys the Saxon idol which was called Irminsul. There, as the army was near to lack of water, it occurred that, in the middle of the day, in a miraculous way, under the form of an unexpected flow, waters were released in a considerable amount. Saxons, as they came to the King near the Visurgim River, and 12 hostages being given, they make peace with him. He received Adrian, the pontife of Rome

773. Charles, as he was invited by Pope Adrian to defend the wealth of St. Peter, left for Italy with the army. To that, Desiderius, endeavouring to oppose, came swiftly to block the Alps. The Franks, however, manage to take them and they besieged Desiderius who flees and close himself into Pavia. Charles goes to Rome, wanting to pray and, as he is received with honor by Adrian, he celebrates the holy day of Easter, with joy

774. The Lombards, weathered by the siege, get out of the city at the same time than King Desiderius, and they go to the king. On the second day, entering the city with hymns and lauds, the king's treasures having been found, he distribute them to the army and, all the kingdom of Italy being taken, he got back to France, taking Desiderius with him, along with his spouse. Desiderius' son, Adalgise, flees to Constantinople. The Saxons meanwhile, in Hesse, devastate the frontiers of the Franks. But, in that place which is called Frizlar, there was a basilica about which the holy martyr Boniface, as he was dedicating it, had forecast, with his prophetic mind, that it would never take fire. The pagans having, however, begun to put fire to it, they were struck by a divine terror and they chose to flee. Two younsters indeed were defending the basilica against fire which, to the Christians as well as to the Barbarians, to get back due to the divine Providence. One of the hosts however, his knees having bent, and as the wood and the fire were pressing, he was struck and he was found dead. It is also in those times that the basilica of the saint martyr Nazarius was dedicated in Lorsch ['Laureshaim'] et that his bones were transfered into there

775. Charles, as he wished to take revenge against the treason of the Saxons, he wrought wreckage into all their territories through iron and fire! He takes the castle of Sigeburg and he re-builds the castle of Eresburg. He wins the Saxons through two battles, one near Brunesberg as they try to defend the banks of the Visurgis River, the second in Lidbech where a great multitude of them is killed. In Italie, he gives the kingdom to the Lombard Chrodegaud

776. Charles, having marched against Hruodgaud in Italy, he killed him. In Saxony, the castle of Eresburg is given back to the Saxons. The one in Sigisburg is besieged by them but he was not taken

777. Saxons, as they had been afflicted by numerous carnages and various wars which had been led at length by the Christians, are subdued to the power of the Franks. And, a meeting being formed in a place called Padrabrunn, there came near the King Ibinalarabi, a Sarracene, prefect of Caesarea Augusta. There, the Saxons are baptized and according to the international law, they abdicate all of their properites and liberties, as they give them to the King but, from this day onwards and after, they disavow their Christianity and their faith to the king and his sons

778. Charles goes, with the army, in Spain, down to Casesarea Augusta and he destroys the city of Pampluna. He accepts hostages from the part of the Sarracene prefects Ibinalarabi and Abitauro. Journeying through the land of the Wascons and through Navarra, as they had been submitted, he came back in France. Saxons, meanwhile, as Widuking was endeavouring to tyranny, bring devastation, down to the Rhine river, through iron and fire, to the frontiers of the Franks but they did not came back unpunished from there as the larger part of them was killed by the army of the king, which the latter he had sent against them, in a place called Liesi, along the Adarna river. In the same time, the monks of the monastery at Fulda, fearing the Saxons, taking with tem the relics of the holy martyr Boniface, fled the monastery by a thousand feet almost

779. Charles, according to his habits, took himself revenge against the Saxons' perfidy in a place called Hohholz as, hostages having been taken, he gives some rest to his army in a place called Medofull. Hildebrand, the duke of the Spoletans, comes near Charles. Sturmius, the abbot of the monastery at Fulda dies. He is succeeded by Baugulf, a monk of this same monastery

780. Charles, a meeting being held in Saxony, does submit that country again. The affairs there and by the Slavs too being settled, he goes to Rome to pray

781. Pippin, Charles' son, is baptized in Rome by Pope Adrian, who, at the same time, anoints him, along with his brother Louis, king. Tassilon, the duke of the Bavarians, in Worms, by oath and hostages, gives faith for his submission, as then he is sent back honorably home. In those times, numerous signs appeared, among them one saw very often a sign of cross upon the clothes of men. One tells too that blood driped from the Earth and the sky

782. Charles held a meeting, in a place whence the Lippe river flows, with all the nobility of the Saxons, excepted with Widukind -this rebel- and those who were with him. There came to him the envoys of Sigifrid, the King of the Danes, namely Halbdan with his allies, and too the envoys of the Huns, Cagan and Iugur and . As he received them, then dismissed them, the King came back in France. The Saxon rebels, further, as they had been advised once more by Widukind, as a battle had taken place in a place one calls Sundtal, they killed, not without any great disaster among them too, Adalgise and Gailon, who were the envoys of the king to the Slavs. One tells that death took a toll of 4,500 men, by decapitation

783. Queen Hildegarde died on the 2nd of the Kalends of May and Bertha, the king's mother, died too, on the 4th of the ides of July. Charles vainquished the Saxons through two large battles, one in Thiotmellie, the other near the Hasa river, a immense multitude of them being killed. The king, that very year, took Fastrada like a spouse

784. The younger Charles is sent in Saxony by his father with the army. He wins over and vainquishes the Westphalians in one battle

785. The Saxon Widukind came into Attigny to give his faith to Charles as he is baptized and Saxony is subdued. A plot by the eastern Franks -who are called the Hartrati- was arisen agains the King as it was swiftly repressed

786. Charles, an army being sent, and commanded by the senechal Autulf, won over the Brittons as he himself, the things settled, leaves, through Italy, to Rome, to pray. Lull, bishop of Mogontiacens, having died, he is succeeded by Richolf. Those who took part into a plot against the king are condemned, for some part, to the death penalty, for the other part to be blinded and exiled

(glose, left of 786: 'Lull died']

787. There was a solar eclipse on the 15th of the Kalends of October. Charles, as he had left with the army to Benevento, came to Capua. He accepted like a hostage Grimalt, the son of Aragise, duke of the Beneventans. Hruodtrude, the king's daughter, is engaged with Emperor Constantine

788. Tassilo, the duke of the Bavarians, as he came near Charles, in the palace at Ingelheim, is revoked due to his numerous perjures and wantings to his faith. The army of the Greeks is defeated in a battle by the Franks, the Lombards, and the Beneventines. And, in the same manner, the Avars, in the mark of Bavaria and the one of Italy, are vainquished by the king's armies and they fled

789. Charles, as he makes its way into Saxony, reaches the Elbe river, having in his army Franks, Saxons, Sorabes, and Abodrites -the prince of who was Witzan- and Frisons are coming too by boats through the Habola river. Two briges being built, which, each, on each of their sides, are provided with a fortress, the river being crossed, he entered the land of the Slavs, the name of who is the Wilzis, he won over them trough large battles and he subdued them to its power

790. That year, that Charles spent in Worms, was free of the turbulences of wars

791. The Worms palace was comsumed by fire. Charles, due to the numerous ills, destructions and murders committed by the Huns against the people of God, as he felt challenged, the army having been convened in Bavaria near the Anisa river, fasts and public prayers having been celebrated during three days, he divided the army. He himself, with the Franks, the Alamans and the Bavarians journeying from the southern part of the Danube river, through Cummiberg, the Saxons and the Thuringians, avec une partie des Francs, going throught the North of the river, the Frisons, moreover, which had been ordered to the naval part of the operations, advancing through the river itself, he entered Pannonia and the Huns, scared and fleeing, he devastates, by iron and fire, all their regions down to the Raba river

792. The Felician heresy, as his proper author disavowed it, was condemned a first time in Regensburg. Felix, moreover, having come back to it, as he had been brought by Abbot Engilbert to the Pope Adrian, the latter condemned it again. The plot by Pippin against his father, as it had been done in Bavaria, was swiftly discovered and repressed, the group of its authors being condemned, partly to the death penalty, and partly to be blinded. A pontoons bridge was built over the Danube river

793. A chanel was ditched by the king between the Radantia and Alcmona rivers. A battle occurred betwen the Sarracenes and the Franks in Gothia, by which major Sarracenes were exterminated. Saxons, as they had come accustomed to it, entered a revolt

794. A synod was held in Frankfurt, during which the Felician heresy, facing the bishops of the Germans, the Gallics and the Italians, the great prince Charles being present, as were too Bishops Theophylactus and Stephen, the envoys of Pope Adrian, was condemned a third time as the verdict was reinforced by a definitive pledge. Queen Fastrade died, as she was interred with honor at Mongotiacus, near St. Alban. A pseudo-council was held by the Greeks about the fact of worshiping pictures and, this seventh council falsely ordered, the cult was condemned by bishops. Saxons were convened in Sinitfeld by Charles as they were subdued and each third man transported. Alcuin, the deacon, in those times -his surname was Albin- became famed for his sanctity and his teachings

795. Charles, with a might army, as he massacres the population of Saxony, gets to a place they call Hliuni, where Witzan, the duke of the Adobrites, as he wished to go near the King, is killed by the Saxons. In that place, Tudun, who had a great power among the Huns promised, through his envoys, that he would give his land and the people he was commanding and that he would have him baptized. The King, then, as the Saxons had been afflicted and as he had taken hostages, he comes back into France

796. Pope Adrian having die, Pope Leo succeeded to him. Cagan and Iugur, the princes of the Huns, having been killed by theirs through a civil war and an internal disaster, their territory, which they call the Ring, is approached and taken by, first, Eheric, the duke of Frioul, then by Pippin, the son of the King. And, as all the wealth and the treasures of the Huns taken, they went to Charles in the palace of Aachen. Tudun, according to his promise, as he came to the King with his people, he is baptized and then he is sent back with honor. Saxony is again devastated by the king

797. The city of Barcinona [Barcelona?], in Spain, which, long ago, had been taken by the Franks, is rendered to Charles by Zatum, a Sarracene, who was their prefect. The emperor Constantine is blinded by the Greeks. Charles, as an expedition had been organized, crossed all of Saxony up to Hadaloha which is located on the ocean's shore and, as he accepted the submission of the Saxons through hostages, he came back to Aachen, where he received Abdellam, a Sarracene, son of King Ibin-Mauge, who, having been defeated by his brother, had flew in exile and was coming to recommend himself to the King. There too, the legate of the prefect of Sicilia Niceta, as he was named Theoctistus, came with a letter of the emperor, which the king accepted with magnificence and then he freed him and he allowed him to leave

798. Charles, with the army, wintered in Haristal Saxonica. Hadofuns [Alphonso?], king of Galicia and of Asturia, sent, through his legate Flora, a tent of an amazing beauty. The Transalbian Saxons, as a rebellion had moved them, they arrest the King's legates who were among them to render justice. Some were killed immediately, some kept for a ransom -of them some did escape- and the others were freed against a ransom. As he learns that, the King, swiftly taking off their weapons from the rebels, cross the whole of Saxony between Elbe and Visurge rivers, as the depopulates it, he defeats the Transalbians in a battle led by his legate Eburis and Trasuchon, the Duke of the Adobrites, and as four soldiers only killed in the place of the fight, the others ask for peace. Hostages having been accepted from those, and as the king had come back to Aachen, he receives a letter which impress Irena, the son of who, Constantine, had been blinded in the previous year, had sent to him, from Constantinople, throught the patrice of Phrygia, Michahel and the priest Theophylus, by which she asks for peace. As he sends them back, he sends back too with them Sisinn, the brother of Tarasus, the bishop of Constantinople, who had been made a prisoner lately in a battle in Italy. Hadofons [Alphonso?], about whom we said above that he was king, having taken Olisippona, a city in Spain, he sends, through his legates Froia and Basiliscus, the badges of his victory, the armours, the mules and the Moorish prisoners. The Moors are beginning their operations of piracy

800. As he received him, the King sent back the monk of Jerusalem, as he sent with him, from his palace, the priest Zacharia, who was bringing king's gifts for that holy place. The King himself went into the country of the Turones, to the tumb of St Martin, to pray, as he came back along the shores of the Gallic Ocean, which was infested by pirats and that he settled, at regular intervals there, troops. It's in Tours that Hildegarde, the king's wife, died and was interred. As he came back from there, he left for Rome, about the case of Pope Leo, and he wintered there. And he ordered the army and his son Pippin, to go and plunder the lands of the Beneventans. Pope Leo, after that he had asked for it, and that no one had wish to be the judge of the crimes he was accused of, he climbed into the chair in the basilica of St. Peter, and, as he put the Scriptures above his head, and having invoked, against all the people, the name of the Holy Trinity, he purgated himself, by oath, of the crimes one wished to ascribe to him

801. On the day of the Nativity of the Lord, in front of the confession of the Blessed Apostle Peter, as the King was standing up from his prayer, Pope Leo set a crown on his head and he was acclaimed by all the people of Rome: 'Life and victory to Charles, Augustus, great and peaceful emperor of the Romans, crowned by God!' And after the praises, the prince was adored according the antique customs, and, as the name of patrice had been removed from him, he was called emperor and Augustus. But, after some days, he ordered to those who had deposited the pope, the previous year, to appear before him and, after he questioned them, he condemned them, by judgment, according to the laws of the Romans, to the death penalty. The pope however, by love, intervened to the emperor, for some of them. Hence they were conceded their life and the integrity of their limbs, as they were exiled, in any case, due to the gravity of their crime! There was a earthquake on the 2nd of the Kalends of May in the whole of Italy as it was violent to the point that, in some places, the towns and the mountains collapsed and that the roof of the basilica of the Blessed Apostle Paul, in Rome, fell, for its most part, along with its timber. Some places were shaken too near the Rhine river, and in Gaul and in Germania. The city of Barcinone [Barcelona?], in Spain and Teate, in Italy, were taken. Their prefect, namely Zatun and Roselme, respectively, having been arrested and having been presentend to the king at the same time, were condemned to exile

(glose left of 801: 'Charles is called emperor and Augustus')

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