Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/169

 m c /"* /-MI-I r- 1 Charlemagne 133 was completely subjugated; and so it would have been had not the fickleness of its faithless people soon changed all this, as usual. Trophies of victory were also brought which had been taken from Moorish robbers killed on the island of Majorca. The Saracen, Azan, governor of Oska, sent to the king the keys of that city, together with other gifts, and promised to give the town over to him whenever opportunity should offer. Moreover, a monk came from Jerusalem, bringing to the king the blessing of the Patriarch and certain relics from the place of the resurrection of our Lord. The king spent Christmas in his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle. When the monk desired to return home, he gave him, as a companion, Zacharias, a priest of his palace, and sent, besides, pious gifts to the holy places. A.D. 800 When spring came again, about the middle of March, the king left Aix-la-Chapelle and journeyed toward the coast of Gaul. Off this coast, which was being devastated by the piratical Northmen, he built and manned a fleet. Easter he celebrated in St. Riquier at the shrine of St. Richard. From here he traveled along the coast to the city of Rouen, where he crossed the Seine and betook himself to Tours in order to perform his devotions at the shrine of St. Martin. On account of the illness* of his wife, Luitgarda, who died and was buried here, he was forced to remain some days in this place; she died on the 4th of June. From here he re- turned, by way of Orleans and Paris, to Aix-la-Chapelle ; early in August he reached Mayence, where he held a diet and announced his intended journey to Italy. From Mayence he went with his army to Ravenna, where he stayed only seven days and whence he dispatched his son Pippin, with the army, into the country of Beneventum. He and his son left Ravenna together, but at Ancona they parted company and he betook himself to Rome. On the very day of his arrival Pope Leo went to meet him at Nomentum. He received the pope with great reverence,