The Carlovingian Coins; Or, The Daughters of Charlemagne

notes

1

"The daughters of the Emperor Charles always accompanied him on his trips into the interior of Gaul. They were handsome beauties; he loved them passionately; he never allowed them to marry, and kept them all with him till his death. Although happy in everything else, Charles experienced in them the malignity of adverse fortune; but he buried his chagrin, and behaved towards them as if they had never given cause for evil suspicions, and as if rumor had never been busy with their names." —Chronicles of Eginhard, p. 145, Collected History of France.

2

For Amael's story, see "The Abbatial Crosier," the preceding book of the series.

3

"The Gallic woman equalled her husband in courage and strength. She sat in his councils of war with him. Her eyes were more furious when she was angered, and she swung her arms, as white as snow, and dealt blows as heavy as if they came from an engine of war." – Ammienus Marcellinus, Notes of the Martyrs, vol. XVIII, book IX.

4

"The heart of Louis the Pious (Charlemagne's son) was, naturally, long indignant at the conduct indulged in by his sisters under the paternal roof, the only blot upon its name. Desiring, then, to amend these disorders, he sent before him Walla, Warnaire, Lambert and Ingobert, with the order to watch carefully, as soon as they should arrive at Aix-la-Chapelle, that no new scandal should occur; and to put under heavy guard those who had soiled the majesty of the empire with a criminal commerce (with the daughters of the Emperor). Certain ones, guilty of these crimes, came before Louis the Pious to obtain pardon, which they received. Audoin alone resisted. He smote Warnaire that he died, wounded Lambert in the thigh, and slew himself with one blow of his sword… Whereupon Louis the Pious decided to drive out of the palace all that multitude of women which occupied it in the time of his father." – L'Astronome, Life of Louis the Pious, pp. 345-346, Collected History of France.

5

See "The Casque's Lark."