Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/168

 132 Readings in European History of sacrilege, took him into his charge and carried him to Spoleto. When the king [Charlemagne] received news of this occur- rence, he gave orders that the Roman pope, the successor of St. Peter, should be brought to him, with all due honor. He did not, however, give up on this account the expedition into Saxony which he had undertaken. He held a general assem- bly at a place called Lippeham, on the Rhine ; he then crossed the river and pushed on with his entire army to Paderborn, where he set up his camp and awaited the pope. In the meantime he sent his son Charles, with a part of the army, to the Elbe to settle certain matters with the Wilzer and Abodrites and to receive into his charge certain of the North Saxons. While he was awaiting his son's return, the pope arrived, was honorably received, and remained several days with him. After he had laid before the king all the reasons for his coming, he was accompanied back to Rome by the king's ambassadors and reinstated in his authority there. After the pope's departure, the king remained several days longer and finished his business with Daniel, ambassador of the Patrician Michael of Sicily. He received also the sad news of the undoing of Gerold and Eric ; the one, Gerold, governor of Bavaria, lost his life in a battle with the Huns and was buried in Reichenau; the other, Eric, after many battles and brilliant victories, met his death through the treachery of the inhabitants of Tersat, 1 a town of Liburnia. When affairs in Saxony had been as well ordered as time would permit, the king returned again to Francia. In the winter, which was spent in Aix-la-Chapelle, came Count Wido, count and governor of the border land of Brittany, who, during this year, and in alliance with other counts, had traversed the whole territory of the Bretons, and now brought to the king the arms of the dukes who had submitted themselves, with their several names inscribed thereon. It appeared at that time as if that whole country 1 Near Fiume.