A History of the Germanic Empire

The conduct of Pepin was not unworthy of the confidence which had been reposed in him. Like his immediate predecessor, he triumphed over the hostile Frisians and Saxons, and he quelled the insurrections of the Germanic dukes. To the pope he proved that he could be grateful for his elevation to a throne. Being honoured by a personal visit from Stephen III., and informed of the extremity to which the Roman possessions were reduced, he first remonstrated with Astolfus of Lombardy; and when that prince still marched on Rome, he hastened into Italy, and forced him to restore the exarchate of Ravenna, not indeed to the Greek emperor, but to the pope. In his testament, which he took care to see confirmed in a public diet, the year before his death, he left his two sons, Charles and Carloman, joint heirs of his states. To the one he left the West, from Frisia to the Pyrenees; to the other, the Germanic provinces, part of Austrasia, Alsace, Switzerland, Burgundy, and Provence. To us, whom history has presented with a wide field of experience, it often seems surprising that such impolitic measures could be adopted by men distinguished for considerable powers of judgment,—for such, assuredly, were Charles Martel and Pepin. Its ruinous effects were before the eyes of both; yet neither they nor any other sovereign of these ages ever thought of deviating from it. It is indeed probable, that to one of the sons,—generally the eldest,—a superiority was awarded over the others; but it was merely feudal,—consequently nominal. The most obvious cause of this policy must be traced to that natural affection, and to those natural feelings of justice, which lay in the paternal breast; yet a more enlightened affection would have shrunk from placing sons in a position where they must inevitably become hostile to one another,—where troubles must, of necessity, agitate both them and their people. But the equality of rights among the children of the same family, the total absence of primogenital advantages, distinguished all the Teutonic, all the Sclavonic nations; and custom was too powerful to be eradicated by policy, until it was found, by that most effectual, though most melancholy of teachers, experience, that where primogeniture is not adopted, society will be disorganised. In the present instance, indeed, no serious mischief followed the partition. A civil war was preparing by both brothers, when Carloman died, and though he left children, their claims were disregarded by Charles, who seized the whole inheritance...