CHAPTER FOUR

THE UNWANTED WAR

The chronology of ’s return to the Frankish kingdom in the wake of his successes in the western reaches of the Saxon region makes it obvious that he left the army while it was returning home and traveled back across the Rhine more quickly. Undoubtedly, he delegated the com- mand of the forces that had campaigned against the Saxons to one or another of his magnates, perhaps his uncle Bernard, who would be a prominent commander in Carolingian military operations during the next two years. Charlemagne, however, did not rest when he reached Austrasian territory. Rather, he moved with considerable speed, likely accompanied by a relatively small unit of his military household, southward into Alemannia. By 5 July, he was ensconced in the royal palatium at Brumath in the upper reaches of the Rhineland, the home territory of the extended maternal lineage of his concubine Hildegarde.1 While moving through his kingdom, Charlemagne surely was given as full a briefing as possible regarding the highly fluid diplomatic situation in . Also, he almost certainly received intelligence regarding the failure of his wife Gerperga to become pregnant, as well as the progress of Hildegarde’s pregnancy. At this point, therefore, some of Charlemagne’s domestic and foreign problems were becoming intertwined. If Gerperga did not produce a male heir, or at least a child, to demonstrate that she was not barren, Charlemagne would be hard pressed to keep her as his wife. However, if he repudiated Gerperga, this act would have the potential to play a negative role in his relations with her father, King Desiderius. As a result, the future of the tripartite alliance, which was keeping the peace in Italy, possibly could be compromised. In addition, both Bertranda, who had arranged the marriage, and Charlemagne’s cousin Adalhard, who had

1 DK. no. 69; and cf. Böhmer and Mühlbacher, Regesta Imperii, no. 149. N.b. Charlemagne was at Brumath, on the upper course of the Rhine some 500 kilometers from Herstelle on the Weser, by 5 July 772. This could not have been accomplished if he had traveled with the army. the unwanted war 247 given it his vigorous support in the spring of 771, regarded the marriage to Gerperga and the Lombard alliance as being of great importance.2 Pope Hadrian, however, was very much interested in undermining what would still appear to have been Charlemange’s good relations with Desiderius. The pope wanted to destroy the tripartite alliance and gain Charlemagne’s vigorous support for the return of papal territories that the held. In this regard, Hadrian had the option to raise the specter of weakening Charlemagne’s position in the regnum Francorum by enter- taining the possibility of supporting Carloman’s sons, and perhaps even by anointing them as Frankish kings.3 Prior to being overtaken by events and his subsequent affirmation of the tripartite alliance, Pope Stephen III, as seen above, had contemplated using Carloman as a counter to Char­ lemagne. If Charlemagne found it necessary to put aside Gerperga, with the potential for serious negative consequences in regard to his relations with Desiderius, Pope Hadrian would likely be accommodating in lending his support to an annulment of the Lombard marriage and in recognizing the legitimacy of the Frankish ruler’s liaison with Hildegarde. Queen Gerberga, Carloman’s widow, and her party likely had arrived at Rome either late in 771 or early in 772. At this time, Pope Stephen III may have been ill or very soon may have begun to manifest a decline in health that would end in death on 3 February 772.4 The papal biographies are silent as to whether Stephen personally baptized young Pippin, Carloman’s son, and became his co-father as he had promised, but it is likely that he did, or had it done in his name. As a sick man perhaps even contemplating his own death, it is highly unlikely that Pope Stephen would have reneged on a promise of such importance. Depending upon Stephen’s personal piety, the fact that the promise had been made in writing may have been

2 This information is provided by Paschasius Radbertus, V. Adalardi, ch. 7. See the dis- cussion by Janet Nelson, “Aachen as a place of power,” in Topographies of Power in the , ed. Mayke de Jong and Frans Theuws with Carine van Rhijn (Leiden-Boston- Cologne, 2001), 231, with the literature cited in n. 68; and cf. McKitterick, Charlemagne, pp. 87–88. 3 Traditionally, it is assumed that Gerberga fled directly to the court of the Lombard king Desiderius. See Hallenbeck, and Rome, pp. 137–141, with the literature cited there. This view depends upon the assumption that by 4 December 771, when Carloman died, Charlemagne had already repudiated Gerperga and, as a consequence, Desiderius had been alienated, and would be very willing to have the widow and her children at his court in order to make trouble for the Frankish ruler. As will be seen below, however, it is clear that both rulers, Charlemagne and Desiderius, were still working together to preserve the tripartite alliance more than a year and a half after Carloman’s death. 4 Regarding the chronology, see David S. Sefton, “Pope Hadrian I and the Fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards,” Catholic Historical Review, 65 (1979), 206–207.