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52 for his cause, and then set out himself for Metz, Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne. But Louis the Younger, on his side, had raised an army in Saxony and Thuringia, and sent deputies, although vainly, to call upon his uncle to respect his rights. He himself had recourse to the judgment of God, and when the ordeal proved favourable to his champions, he crossed the Rhine at Andernach. In the meanwhile, fresh envoys bearing proposals of peace sought Charles the Bald on his behalf. His uncle feigned willingness to enter into negotiations. But during the night of 7-8 October, he suddenly struck his camp and began a forward march, hoping to surprise his sleeping enemies in the early dawn. The season, however, was inclement, the roads were soaked with rain, and the cavalry, which was the principal arm of Carolingian forces, could only advance with difficulty. Besides this, a faithful adherent of Louis the Younger in Charles's own camp, had succeeded in warning his master of the coup-de-main about to be attempted against him. Thus the imperial army, fatigued by the night march, found the enemy, whom they had thought to surprise, on his guard. The result was a disastrous defeat of the troops of Charles. Numerous prisoners and rich spoil fell to the victor. But it would appear that Louis was not in a position to profit by his advantage, for almost immediately we find him falling back on Aix and Frankfort. Charles, for his part, made no second attempt against him, and shortly afterwards, without any formal treaty having been concluded, peace was restored between the two kings, marked by the liberation of the prisoners taken at Andernach.

Charles the Bald was, besides, absorbed by other anxieties. If his election had been the act of John VIII, the reason was that the Pope needed his help in Italy against the Saracens. Not satisfied with promises of troops and missi, he unceasingly demanded Charles's presence in Italy. Two papal legates again approached Charles at Compiègne at the beginning of 877, and finally drew from him a pledge that he would cross the Alps in the course of the summer. The moment, however, was not favourable, for the Northmen were shewing increased activity. In 876 a hundred of their ships had gone up the Seine and threatened the rich abbey of St-Denis, driving the monks to flee to a safer retreat on the banks of the Aisne. Charles the Bald decided to negotiate with them once more, and on 7 May 877 he ordered the collection of a special impost, a tributum Normannicum, destined to produce the five thousand pounds of silver needed to purchase the withdrawal of the Northmen from the Seine. On 14 June he assembled the magnates at Quierzy (Kiersy), where he promulgated a celebrated capitulary which has been too long held to be the charter constituting the feudal system, a legislative measure establishing the hereditary nature of fiefs, the deliberate completion of a process of evolution which had been going on from 847, the date at which the Capitulary of Meersen ordered every free man to choose a lord for himself. In 847 what was really in question was a measure to