Page:Cambridge Medieval History Volume 3.pdf/56

Rh daughters that of Count Welf, a maiden of a very noble Swabian house, named Judith. Aegilwi, the new Empress's mother, belonged to one of the great Saxon families which had always shewn itself faithful to Louis. Contemporaries are unanimous in lauding not only the beauty of Judith, which seems to have had most weight in determining the Emperor's choice, but also her qualities of mind, her learning, her gentleness, her piety, and the charm of her conversation. She seems to have possessed great ascendancy over all who came in contact with her, especially over her husband. In 823 she bore him a son who received the name of Charles, and whom history knows as Charles the Bald. The ordinatio of 817 had contemplated no such contingency, nor had the confirmation of it which had been solemnly decreed at Nimeguen in 819. It was plain, nevertheless, that whether during his father's lifetime or after his death, the newborn prince would claim a share equal to that of his brothers. From this point onwards, the history of the reign of Louis the Pious becomes almost entirely that of the efforts made by him under the influence of Judith to secure to the latest-born his portion of the inheritance, and that of the counter-efforts of the three elder sons to maintain the integrity of their own shares in virtue of the settlement of 817, and of the principle of unity round which the partisans of Lothar rallied.

For some time events seemed to take the course provided for by the settlement of 817. Pepin was put in possession of Aquitaine on his marriage in 822 with Engeltrude, daughter of Theobert, Count of the pagus Madriacensis, near the lower Seine, and Louis the German was entrusted in 825 with the actual administration of his Bavarian kingdom soon after the assembly at Aix. But in 829, after the assembly of Worms, the Emperor, by an edict "issued of his own will" made a new arrangement by which his youngest son was given part of Alemannia with Alsace and Rhaetia and a portion of Burgundy, no doubt with the title only of duke. All these districts formed part of Lothar's portion, and he, though godfather of his young brother, could not fail to resent such measures. It appears probable that it was in order to remove him from court that at this juncture he was sent on a new mission into Italy. At the same time in signing charters he ceases to be designated by his title of Emperor. But it was necessary to provide a protector for young Charles, and for this office choice was made of Bernard of Septimania, who also held the Spanish March and received the title of Chamberlain. Son of a great man canonised by the Church, William of Gellone, friend of St Benedict of Aniane, great-grandson of Charles Martel, and defender of Barcelona at the time of the Saracenic invasion, Bernard was already in right of his birth and his valour as well as his position one of the chief personages of the Empire. Because he was chamberlain Bernard was entrusted with the administration of the palace and of the royal domains in general, and held "the next place