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128 a valuable auxiliary in the Anglo-Saxon Willibrord. Born on the banks of the Humber, Willibrord had gone to Rome to have his mission sanctioned by Pope Sergius I; for the Anglo-Saxons, who had been converted to Christianity by the missionaries of Pope Gregory I, shewed their gratitude by attaching to the papal see the barbarian peoples whom they evangelised. Willibrord founded the see of Utrecht and pointed out the way which Boniface was to follow later on. Pepin also wished to make the Germans on the right bank of the Rhine, who during the recent period of anarchy had cast off their allegiance, recognise again the suzerainty of the Franks. He subjugated the Alemans, and he established once more a member of the noble family of the Agilolfings in the duchy of Bavaria. It was at this period that the church of Salzburg was founded by St Rupert; and about the same time Kilian preached the Gospel in Franconia on the banks of the Main. Pepin protected all these missionaries and cherished the project of assembling councils to reform the Church. From 687 till his death in 714 Pepin II was undisputed master of the whole of Gaul, with the exception of Aquitaine, which alone maintained an independent position.

Pepin II had appointed one grandson (Theodebald) as Mayor of the Palace in Neustria, two others (Arnulf and Hugo) — all under the regency of his widow Plectrude — in Austrasia. But the great men refused to fall in with this arrangement and there ensued a period of anarchy. Charles, an illegitimate son of Pepin, restored order, and was the real executor of his father's policy. His name signifies valiant, bold, and as the continuator of Fredegar remarks, the name fitted the man. He wrested the power from Plectrude and took the title of Mayor of the Palace in his nephew's stead. He defeated the Neustrians at Amblève near Liége (716), at Vincy near Cambrai (717), and again at Soissons, in 719, and forced them to recognise his authority. He made himself master of Burgundy also, and appointed his own leudes to the countships and bishoprics of that country. In Aquitaine the duke, Eudo, who had his seat at Toulouse, exercised an independent authority; but Charles obliged him in 719 to acknowledge, at least in name, the suzerainty of the northern Franks. Charles had thus acquired great power, and during some years he even governed without a king. His official title remained the same. Mayor of the Palace, but he was already called, even by his contemporaries, princeps or subregulus. He presided over the royal court of justice, issued decrees in his own name and had the disposal of every appointment, lay and ecclesiastical; he summoned the assembly of the great men of the kingdom, decided questions of peace and war and held the command of the army. He was king in fact if not in name.

Charles was now to save from a serious danger the realm which he had reunited. The Arabs had conquered Spain in 711; in 720 they had crossed the Pyrenees and seized Septimania, which was a