CHAPTER VI. CHARLEMAGNE IN SPAIN.
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ABIATHAR and il Ibn al Arrabi found Charlemagne at Paderborn, where heimmediately accorded them an audience.
"Sire," said Abiathar, "we come, accompanied by a hundred followers, todo homage and service to you. The report of your unrivalled glory hasreached even us, and we have arrived at the conclusion that he whoaccomplishes so many great things must be the favourite of Heaven. Wehave studied in secret the teachings of your faith, and we have found inthem the springs of truth and virtue. They have, in short, convinced us,and inspired us with an ardent wish to become Christians. We would thenstrive to make proselytes, and, trampling the crescent under foot, wouldraise the cross on high. Martyrdom in our case almost preceded baptism.Marsillus is in pursuit of us, and has commanded that when taken weshall be subjected to the most hideous tortures. But Heaven has been ouraid. We have escaped the executioners who were on our track, and herewe are at the feet of the most powerful monarch in the Christianworld, asking of him to baptise us!" These falsehoods made the greatestimpression on Charles.
"We come, moreover, sire," said Ibn al Arrabi, "to announce to you thatMarsillus is busily preparing a religious war, and is ready to invadeyour realms. We do not bring, it is true, the ordinary gifts ofenvoys--gold, jewels, and fine merchandise; but we do what is better, webring you Spain as a present. The chief people of Huesca, Valentia, andSaragossa are yours. These cities are devoted to us, and wait butour signal to tear down the crescent and erect the cross. We announceourselves from this moment to be vassals of the Crown of France, andwe undertake to show to you the only four practicable passes of thePyrenees which exist--those of Barcelona, Puycerda, Pampeluna, andToulouse. The Christians in Aragon, Castille, and Leon, are ripe forrevolt. At the first hint they will descend from the inaccessiblefastnesses in which they find shelter, to join your triumphant armies.In Asturia and Catalonia the standard of the cross is ready to bedisplayed. Call together, therefore, a large army, and hasten toanticipate the measures of those who wish to take you by surprise."
Charlemagne was so delighted that he clasped the two emirs in his arms,and kissed them on the cheek and chin. Subsequently he presented themto his peers, knights, and bishops, and invited a new recital of theintelligence they had brought him. They acceded to his request.
"It is St. James who has sent them," said the Emperor; adding, "he shallnot have to wait, I swear by Our Lady!"
The war had been resolved upon more than a month, when the two alcaldesarrived at Paderborn. They soon beheld the forces which Charles hadcalled together marching in from all quarters.
You must know, my young friends, that the nobles who held fiscalterritory--that is to say, belonging to the Crown lands--were bound tohold themselves always in readiness for warfare, to present themselvesat the first summons, with their contingents of men-at-arms, at theplace where the sovereign ordered them to assemble. Charlemagne hadnever made such gigantic preparations as he did for this Spanishexpedition. He called together the whole of his faithful vassalsof Neustria, Burgundy, Austrasia, Germany, Bavaria, Septimania, andProvence; he even summoned the Lombards, although they had only justbeen reduced to submission.
It was the beginning of spring, a time which the Emperor thoughtfavourable for commencing his campaign. He set out for his countryestate of Casseneuil, in Poitou, whence, after celebrating Easter, hemarched to Spain at the head of the most wonderful army he had ever led.
The two Saracens, who were present at the inspection of this vast force,were astounded at it. There passed before them two hundred thousandsoldiers, armed in a hundred different styles, according to the fashionof the country from which they came,--and they had come from every partof Europe. Then followed the machines of war--towers, balistae, onagri, *scorpions, and catapults. Next rode the paladins, the nobles and knightsof the realm, followed by the bishops, priests, and clerks of theChapel Royal. When Charlemagne appeared, clad in his panoply of war, theSaracens shook with terror.
* Onagri were machines which discharged large stones. Scorpions flung showers of arrows darts, and small missiles.
"All is over with Spain," said they, shedding abundant tears. "Whatpeople, what cities, what fortresses could resist such armies? An irontempest is about to burst over the heads of the children of the Prophet.What could we do in this world after that? Let us return and die in theland that gave us birth."
And the Saracens, without waiting to see the end of the spectacle, rodeoff at full gallop. At a later period they were recognised among theslain before the walls of Saragossa. The Emperor divided his army intotwo columns. One, consisting of the Lombards and Austrasians, marchedfrom narbonne under the command of Count Bernard, entered Spain atPerpignan, marched along the coast to Barcelona, and overran Cataloniaas far as the Ebro. The second column, composed of the flower of thearmy, knights and nobles, and commanded by the Emperor in person,crossed the Pyrenees from Gascony and Navarre, and sat down beforePampeluna, whither in his turn came Count Bernard.
The siege lasted three months, and was carried on, with great losseson both sides, until one day Charlemagne, being at prayers, petitionedHeaven to allow him, since he had entered Spain for the glory of theChristian faith and the destruction of the Saracen race, to take thisstronghold of the infidels, which he would purify, and where sacredchants should rise instead of incense offered up to false deities."Saint James," said the Emperor, "if it was really you who appeared tome--if I have rightly obeyed the orders you gave to me--intercede for methat I may win this city."
He rose, comforted in his mind, ordered an assault, and on that dayPampeluna fell. One hundred thousand Saracens received baptism; all whowished to persist in error were put to death.
The Franks marched along the banks of the Ebro and laid siege toSaragossa, which made as stout a resistance as it could; but it wasfated to fall, as Pampeluna had done. The Saracens, growing alarmed atCharlemagne's success, submitted. Alcaldes and emirs came in from allsides to render homage to the Frank monarch; even those who could notcome sent him hostages and tribute.
Charles overran the whole of the north of Spain with his victoriousarmy. From Catalonia to Galicia, and extending to the line of the Ebro,he was everywhere received by, rather than took possession of, citiesand fortresses. Arriving at Compostella, he paid a devout visit to thesepulchre of St. James, according to his promise, and had baptised therethose of the Galicians who had forsaken the faith of their forefathersfor the service of Mahomet. He established priests of the Holy Churchin all the chief towns of Spain, and assembled in the month of Julya council of sixty bishops and a parliament of peers, by whom it wasdecided that all the archbishops, bishops, kings, and princes of Spainand Galicia, present or future, should recognise the authority of theArchbishop of Compostella. The church was dedicated to St. James, Turpinofficiating. It was endowed by means of a tax of four deniers per annumimposed upon the innkeepers, and was released from all feudal service.The King also declared it to be his wish that all the bishops of thecountry should be ordained, and all the kings crowned, by the archbishopof the diocese.
In this way the King discharged his obligation to the saint. This done,he pursued his route to the southern extremity of Spain, now known asCape Finisterre. There, finding he could advance no further, he flunghis lance into the sea, and returned thanks to Heaven and St. James forhaving aided him to bring his expedition to a successful issue. The goldand silver which the Emperor brought back with him from Spain enabledhim to restore and found many churches--to wit, one to Our Lady atAix-la-Chapelle, and also of St. James; a second of St. James atBeziers; a third at Toulouse; a fourth in Gascony, between the villageof St. Jean de Sorgeat and Ax; and, finally, one at Paris, between theSeine and Montmartre, of which nothing remains but the lofty tower knownas the St. James's Shambles. The Emperor divided his new provinces intotwo Marches, called those of Septimania and Gascony. The first, whichconsisted of Catalonia proper, had its capital at Barcelona; the second,embracing Na
varre and Aragon, had Saragossa as its seat of government.To Louis of Aquitaine, Charlemagne's son, was committed the task ofkeeping the country in submission as far as the Ebro.
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