immediate vengeance by
hanging Duke Lupus of Aquitaine, whose treason had brought down this
mishap, and by reducing his two sons, Adalric and Sancho, to a more
feeble and precarious condition; but he resolved to treat Aquitaine as
he had but lately treated Italy, that is to say, to make of it,
according to the correct definition of M. Fauriel, "a special kingdom,
an integral portion, indeed, of the Frankish empire, but with an
especial destination, which was that of resisting the invasions of the
Andalusian Arabs, and confining them as much as possible to the soil of
the peninsula." This was, in some sort, giving back to the country its
primary task as an independent duchy; and it was the most natural and
most certain way of making the Aquitanians useful subjects, by giving
play to their national vanity, to their pretensions of forming a
separate people, and to their hopes of once more becoming, sooner or
later, an independent nation. Queen Hildegarde, during her husband's
sojourn at Casseneuil, in 778, had borne him a son whom he called Louis,
and who was afterward Louis the Debonair. Charlemagne, summoned a second
time to Rome, in 781, by the quarrels of Pope Adrian I with the imperial
court of Constantinople, brought with him his two sons, Pepin, aged only
four years, and Louis, only three years, and had them anointed by the
Pope--the former King of Italy, and the latter King of Aquitaine. On
returning from Rome to Austrasia, Charlemagne sent Louis at once to take
possession of his kingdom. From the banks of the Meuse to Orleans the
little prince was carried in his cradle; but once on the Loire, this
manner of travelling beseemed him no longer; his conductors would that
his entry into his dominions should have a manly and warrior-like
appearance; they clad him in arms proportioned to his height and age;
they put him and held him on horseback; and it was in such guise that he
entered Aquitaine. He came thither accompanied by the officers who were
to form his council of guardians, men chosen by Charlemagne, with care,
among the Frankish _Leudes_, distinguished not only for bravery and
firmness, but also for adroitness, and such as they should be to be
neither deceived nor scared by the cunning, fickle, and turbulent
populations with whom they would have to deal. From this period to the
death of Charlemagne, and by his sovereign influence, though all the
while under his son's name, the government of Aquitaine was a serie