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Rh should be banished from the memory of men, and be for ever deprived the light of the sun and of the beams of morning," as the poet Angilbert says, adding that "the garments of the slain Frankish warriors whitened the plain as the birds usually do in autumn." At the end of the ninth century, the Lotharingian chronicler, Regino of Prüm, echoes the tradition according to which the battle of Fontenoy decimated the Frankish nobility and left the Empire defenceless against the ravages of the Northmen.

In reality, the battle had not been decisive. Louis and Charles might see the Divine judgment in the issue of the fight, and cause the bishops of their faction to declare that the Almighty had given sentence in their favour, yet, as the annalist of Lobbes put it, "great carnage had taken place, but neither of the two adversaries had triumphed." Lothar, who was stationed at Aix-la-Chapelle, was ready to carry on the struggle, and was seeking fresh partisans, even making appeal to the Danish pirates whom he settled in the island of Walcheren, while at the same time he was sending emissaries into Saxony, to stir up insurrections among the free or semi-free populations there (the frilingi and lazzi) against the nobility who were of Frankish origin. His two brothers having again separated, he attempted to re-open the struggle by marching in the first instance against Louis. He occupied Mayence, and awaited the attack of the Saxon army. But on learning that Charles, on his side, had collected troops and was marching upon Aix, Lothar quitted Mayence and fell back upon Worms. Then, in his turn, he took the offensive against his youngest brother and compelled him to give back as far as the banks of the Seine. But Charles took up a strong position in the neighbourhood of Paris and Saint-Denis. Lothar dared not bring on a battle, so he fell back slowly upon Aix, which he had regained by the beginning of February, 842.

Meanwhile his two brothers drew their alliance closer, and Charles, with this object, had made an appeal to Louis. The latter went to Strasbourg, and there on 14 February, the two kings, surrounded by their men, had a memorable interview. After having addressed their followers gathered together in the palace of Strasbourg, and recalled to them the crimes of Lothar, who had not consented to recognise the judgment of God after his defeat at Fontenoy, but had persisted in causing confusion in the Christian world, they swore mutual friendship and loyal assistance to one another. Louis, as the elder, was the first to take the following oath in the Romance tongue, so as to be understood by his brother's subjects: "For the love of God and for the Christian people, and our common salvation, so far as God gives me knowledge and power, I will defend my brother Charles with my aid and in everything, as one's duty is in right to defend one's brother, on condition that he shall do as much for me, and I will make no agreement with my brother Lothar which shall, with my consent, be