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"I rule not over beasts of burden
as are the effeminate nations of the East, nor over tradesmen
and traffickers, nor like the man-woman Nero, over slaves; but
I rule over Britons, little versed in craftiness and diplomacy,
it is true, but born and trained to war; men who in the cause
of liberty willingly risk their lives, their lands and property.
Queen of such a race, I implore your aid for freedom, for victory!
Never let a foreigner bear rule over me or my country-men! Never
let slavery reign in this island!"
Attacking their oppressors, they burned London,
Colchester and other cities. Some say her army increased to 230,000
men. Over 70,000 on each side were killed. These valiant Icenians
were finally defeated by the Romans under Sentonius Paulinus in
A.D. 62, and rather than fall into the hands of the invaders,
Boadicea took her own life with a poisoned dagger, and was buried
in Flintshire. Boadicea, in Latin
"Victoria," is described in the records as "cousin"
of Caradoc and his sister, Gladys.
Boadicea and Prasutagus had at least one daughter, whose name
has not been preserved.
Marius died in A.D. 125. His remarkably long ancestry has been preserved in the ancient Welsh records.
Charles Martel married (2) Suanhilde, daughter of Grimaldo II. and his wife Viletrude. They had a daughter, Landrade, who married Sigramine, Count of Hasbania. Their great granddaughter was Ermengarde, who married Louis I. the Debonaire. See below for this lineage.
Upon the death of Pepin, in 768, Charlemagne
and his younger brother Carloman succeeded to equal portions of
one of the most powerful of European kingdoms, bounded by the
Pyrenees, the Alps, Mediterranean, and the ocean. But this would
hardly enabled the monarchs, even had they been united, to resist
successfully the incursions of the barbarous tribes on the German
frontiers of France, which had commenced with the first establishment
of the Frankish dominion in Gaul; and which were kept alive by
the constant pouring forth of fresh hordes from the overpopulated
north. The situation of Charlemagne was rendered yet more perilous
by the massive enmity of his brother, and the rebellion of Hunald,
the turbulent Duke of Aquitaine. But fortunately Charlemagne
had a genius equal to the difficulties of his situation; though
his brother refused to aid him, he defeated Huald; and no less
illustrious by his clemency than by his valor and military skill,
he forgave the vanquished rebel.
Desiderius, the King of Lombardy, had made
large encroachments upon the states of the Roman Pontiff, whose
cause was taken up by Charlemagne. This led to feuds, which Bertha,
his mother, endeavored to appease by arranging a marriage
between her son and the daughter of the Lombard. But Charlemagne
soon took a disgust to the wife thus imposed upon him, and repudiated
her, that he might marry Hildegarde, the daughter of a noble family
in Swabia. Thus he married Hildegarde of Swabia (Linzgau), Countess,
born in 757/758, died April 30, 782/3.
In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne was
elected to the vacant throne, to the exclusion of his nephews,
whose extreme youth made then incapable of wearing the crown in
such troubled times. Gilberge, the widow of Carloman, immediately
fled, and sought refuse with Desiderius, the common retreat for
all who were hostile to the Frankish monarch.
From that time, sole ruler during a reign
of forty-three years, he waged incessant wars on all his borders,
subduing rebellions, extending his domains and at the same time
advancing Christianity. In 772 he began a thirty-year war with
the determined Saxons, after the successful opening of Charlemagne
was called to the assistance of Pope Hadrian I. against Desiderius,
King of the Lombards. Charlemagne marched two armies over the
Alps and conquered Lombardy in 774; returned and beat the Saxons
again and hastened into Spain, in 778, to help the Arabian rulers
of that country against the Osman Caliph of Cordova. It was in
this war that Roland, the hero of romance, fell in the pass of
Roncesvalles.
In 799 the Romans revolted against Pope Leo
III., and were again brought into subjection by Charlemagne.
In return, while he was praying on the steps of St. Peter's Church,
he was crowned by Leo with the iron crown of the Western Empire,
successor of the Roman Caesars, unexpectedly to him, as he pretended,
on Christmas Day, 800, amidst the popular acclamations, "Long
life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, great and
pacific Emperor of the Romans!"
The extensive domain of Charlemagne was rendered
secure only by ceaseless vigilance and warfare. The short intervals
of peace which ere allowed him, he employed in endeavoring to
educate and civilize his people. He made a tour through his dominions,
causing local and general improvement, reforming laws, advancing
knowledge, and building churches and monasteries. Christianity
being one of the chief means to which he trusted for the attainment
of his grand objects. In this he was no less successful than
he had before been in war. With exception of the Eastern empire,
France was now the most cultivated nation in Europe, even Rome
herself sending thither for skillful workmen, while commerce,
roads, and mechanics must have been much advanced, as we may infer
from the facility with which marble columns and immense stone
crosses were often carried through the whole extent of France
upon carriages of native construction. Luxury, too, with its
attendant arts had made considerable strides. Vases of gold and
silver richly carved, silver tables highly wrought, bracelets,
rings, and table cloths of fine linen, might be seen in the houses
of the nobles. The people must have been dexterous in working
iron, for their superiority in this respect is shown by the severe
laws forbidding the exportation of arms.
Charlemagne drove back the Arabs, reduced
the Huns, and effectually protected his long line of coast from
the attempted invasion of the Northmen. It is said, that upon
one occasion he arrived at a certain port just as the pirates
were preparing to land; but the moment they learned of the presence
of the monarch, they immediately fled in great terror at the mere
mention of his name.
It was always an object of first importance
with Charlemagne to support the papal authority, as holding
out the only means of spreading Christianity, which he justly
considered the most effectual instrument he could employ to enlighten
and civilize the world.
Charlemagne securely laid the foundations of his empire. He was
vigilant, judicious, and energetic, both as a ruler and commander.
He fostered agriculture, trade, arts, and letters with untiring
zeal, clearing forests, draining swamps, founding monasteries
and schools, building cities, constructing splendid palaces, as
at Aix, Worms, and Ingelheim, and drawing to his court scholars
and poets from all nations, being himself proficient in science,
as well as all hardy accomplishments.
Charlemagne was tall and a commanding presence, and could speak
and write Latin as well as his native German. He fostered all
learning and the fine arts, studying rhetoric and astronomy.
He reigned over France, half of Germany, and four-fifths of Italy.
The Caliph Haroun-al-Rashid sent an embassy to the court of Charlemagne
with gifts in token of good will.
Attacked with pleurisy he died after a short
illness, in the seventy-second year of age, and the forty-seventh
of his reign, on January 28, 814. Some years later Charlemagne
was canonized by the church.
He and his wife, Hildegarde, had several children
as follows:
Charlemagne married (2) Regina, born circa
770. They had a son:
Louis I. married (2) Judith,
daughter of Guelph (Gelf), Count of
Andech and Bavaria, and his wife, Edith of Saxony.
From this marriage there were at least two children:
See continuation of this lineage under the
Counts of Anjou in Volume I.
Returning to the second marriage of Louis
I., the Debonaire, with Judith. From this marriage there were
at least two children:
Charles II., the Bald, also married (2) Richardis, sister of Boso of Provence. Charles II. was the last Carolingian king to have truly reigned.
Louis II. married (2) Adelheide (Adelheid), daughter
of Ludolph, Duke of Saxony. From the
second marriage, there was one son as follows:
See the continuation of the lineage from Burke elsewhere in Volume
II.
Returning to Gisela, the second child of Louis
I., the Debonaire.
30. Gisela, married Eberhard, Count of Burgundy, son of Henrok, Duke of Frioul. They had a daughter Hedwige. Details are not available of each generation of descendants but it is recorded that she was also the grandmother of Duke Burkhardt, who died in 911, from whom descended Ulrich von Uerikon, Swiss knight, born in 1259. She was also the ancestress of Amicia Meullent, daughter of William Muellent, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, wife of Richard de Clare, the Surety. See this lineage elsewhere in Volume II. Gisela and Eberhard also had a son, Berengar I., King of Italy, 888, Emperor, 915, died in 924.
31. Hedwige, married Ludolph, Duke of Saxony, died in 864. They had a son, Otto.
32. Otto the Great of Saxony, reigned from 880 to 912. He married Hedwige and they had a son, Henry.
33. Henry I. of Germany, born in 876, died in 936, Emperor (918-936). He married Matilda. They had a daughter, Hedwige.
34. Hedwige (Hedwig), married as his second
wife Hugh Magnus, the Great,
Duke of France, who died in 956, son
of Robert I., Marquess of Neustria, King, 922-923; nephew of Eudes,
Marquess of Neustria, King, 887-898; and grandson of Robert the
Strong, Marquess of Neustria, who died in 866.
They had the following children:
Hugh Magnus married originally (1) Eadhild, daughter of Edward, King of England.
See continuation of this lineage elsewhere
in Volume I.
We next examine the descent from Lady Berthe,
Charlemagne's seventh child:
29. Lady Berthe, born 779, died 853, married Angilbert, Governor of Ponthieu and Abbe of St. Richaire. They were the parents of Nithard.
30. Nithard, Governor of Ponthieu in 814, father of Helgaud.
31. Helgaud, Governor of Ponthieu, who had Herluin.
32. Herluin, Governor of Ponthieu in 864, whose son was Helgaud II.
33. Helgaud II, Governor of Ponthieu, died 925/926. His son was Herluin II.
34. Herluin II, 1st Count of Montreuil, who died in 945, leaving a son, Rotgaire.
35. Rotgaire, 2nd Count of Montreuil, died 957, who had William I.
36. William I, 3rd Count of Montreuil.
He was the father of the following two children:
See the continuation of this lineage in the
Clare Line in Vol II.