Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/192

 156 Readings in European History stead. For men say the dying emperor had designated him as the one who should hold after him the helm of the state, and had sent him the royal insignia the scepter of the Empire and the crown. Lothaire's brothers did not agree, however, to this arrange- ment, and they made ready to rebel against him. He went with his army to the precincts of Mayence, and there his brother Louis marched to meet him with a strong follow- ing of East Franks. They, however, agreed together to postpone decisive action until another time ; and Lothaire marched northward to meet Charles [the Bald]. Meantime Louis bound to his cause by an oath of fidelity the East Franks, the Alemannians, the Saxons, and the Thuringians. (841) Meanwhile Lothaire placed garrisons along the Rhine and prepared to secure the east bank against an inva- sion from the west. He heard, through a messenger, of Louis' hostile measures, and, giving up pursuing Charles, he turned about, and at the beginning of the month of April crossed the Rhine secretly at Worms with all his army. Louis was betrayed by some of his followers and, almost surrounded by the army of Lothaire, he was forced to retreat to Bavaria. The emperor placed guards whom he believed he could trust in those regions, and then turned his energy and his forces once more against Charles, who had already planned to establish a camp beyond the Maas. Louis was sum- moned to aid Charles and came by way of Alemannia. There the counts to whom Lothaire had intrusted the de- fense of that region met Louis with an army. They gave battle on the thirteenth of May. Count Adalbert, who had stirred up the strife, was killed ; and with him a countless number of men were laid low. Battle of Louis, victor in this encounter, crossed the Rhine and Fontenay hastened toward Gaul to aid his brother Charles. The three brothers met in Auxerre, near Fontenay. They could not agree to divide the Empire because Lothaire, who wished to be sole monarch, was opposed to it. So they agreed that