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Mary FORD2,13 was born on Apr 6, 1717 in Windham, Windham, Connecticut. She died on Mar 7, 1796 in Ashford, Windham, Ct.. She has Ancestral File Number 3VLK-Z3. Parents: Joseph FORD and Elizabeth HOVEY.
Nathaniel FORD2,13 was born on Mar 31, 1658 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Ma. He died on May 5, 1733 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Ma. He has Ancestral File Number 52L7-9N. Parents: Andrew FORD and Eleanor (Or Ellen) LOVELL.
Nathaniel FORD2,13 was born on Jun 3, 1710 in Windham, Windham, Connecticut. He died on Oct 25, 1779 in Windham, Windham, Connecticut. He has Ancestral File Number KNDS-J8. Parents: Joseph FORD and Elizabeth HOVEY.
Prudence FORD2,13 was born on Dec 22, 1663 in Weymouth, Norf., Ma. She died on Nov 26, 1695 in Hingham, Suffolk Co., Ma. She has Ancestral File Number 52L8-GN. Parents: Andrew FORD and Eleanor (Or Ellen) LOVELL.
Samuel FORD2,13 was born on Jul 13, 1656 in Weymouth, Norf., Ma. He died on Apr 6, 1711 in Woodbridge, New Jersey. He has Ancestral File Number 52L8-C5. Parents: Andrew FORD and Eleanor (Or Ellen) LOVELL.
Sarah FORD2,13 was born on May 28, 1672 in Weymouth, Norf., Ma. She died on Dec 3, 1734 in Weymouth, Norfolk Co., Mass.. She has Ancestral File Number 52L8-LC. Parents: Andrew FORD and Eleanor (Or Ellen) LOVELL.
Sarah FORD2,13 was born on Jan 18, 1711 in Windham, Windham, Ct. She was christened on Mar 18, 1711 in , Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts. She died in Sep 1713 in Windham, Windham, Ct. She has Ancestral File Number LNTZ-FS. Parents: Joseph FORD and Elizabeth HOVEY.
Sarah FORD2,13 was born on Dec 20, 1714 in Windham, Windham, Ct. She has Ancestral File Number LNVH-N6. Parents: Joseph FORD and Elizabeth HOVEY.
Silence FORD2,13 was born on Dec 13, 1661 in Weymouth, Norf., Ma. She has Ancestral File Number 52L8-FH. Parents: Andrew FORD and Eleanor (Or Ellen) LOVELL.
Eva FRANCE.
Spouse: John ROGERS.
GORDERT FRANK33 was born on Dec 15, 1906 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. He died on May 8, 1973 in Sandusky, MI. He was buried on May 11, 1973 in Luzerne, Big Creek Township, Oscoda County, Michigan, Luzerne Cemetery. GIVN (Frank) Joseph Francis
SURN Gordert
GIVN
SURN Frank
_MEDI Electronic File
ABBR GEDCOM File : 1826794.ged
TITL GEDCOM File : 1826794.ged
_PAREN Y
RELI
PLAC Roman Catholic
EVEN
TYPE Funeral Home
PLAC Larrison Funeral Home, Mio, MI.
EVEN
TYPE Funeral Site
PLAC St. Mary's, Mio, MI.
EVEN
TYPE Occupation
PLAC Furnace Repair MAN, Electrician
EVEN
TYPE Occupation
PLAC Ship's Captain
DATE 22 Apr 2002
TIME 09:30Frank was born in Detroit, Michigan to Charles an d LuLu
Gordert. His mother died in 1908 from pnuemonia. S he had given
birth to Frank's sister, Agnes, one month prev iously, who died two
days after she was born.
Frank was raised by his grandmother, Rachel Bell. He neve r knew his
father. He was told by his grandmother that hi s father had gone off
to St. Louis to join an army. We don 't know, and may never
know, the true story. Charles was back in Detroit, liste d in the
city directory in 1910. Rachel Bell, and husban d Austin are listed
at a different address every year in th e city directories. hing
she had left, LuLu's small son. It could be that Charle s could
never find Frank when he returned to Detroit. He s tayed in Detroit
for the rest of his life, but unfortunatel y and ironicly, the two
men never met, even though Frank owned a business in Detro it for
years.
Frank fell down a set of stairs when he was two years old , and broke
his right leg. The leg was never set properly , and he developed a
life-long limp.
Rachel Bell, Frank's grandmother who raised him, died whe n Frank was
eleven. We don't know why Austin didn't keep h im, but Frank was sent
to Pelee Island to live with his Gre at-aunt Mae. This
didn't work out, and he was out on his own when he was a v ery young
boy. He told his children that he used to slee p under the docks on
the Island.He also told us of travelin g to New York and
hanging out at the Bowrey. He is listed as a painter, an d also a
clerk in the 1913 Detroit city directory. As a ch ild, when he told
us these things, it seemed so long ago th at the concept of an
eleven year old, crippled child all alone on the streets d id not
have the same impact that it does to an adult mothe r today. The
effect that these things must have had on hi m was demonstrated by
the fact that two charities that he always contributed t o were the
Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children, and B oy's Town.
We can only imagine what he did to survive all alone. He g rew up
into a tough street-wise man. He also always trie d to control his
children, and keep us close to him. Thi s was not always met with
gentle compliance on the receiving end, but this too ha s a different
impact when looked at through adult eyes.
During Prohibition, Frank ran booze across the Detroit Rive r for the
Purple Gang. He sold neck ties in New York to th e houses of ill
repute. He became a ship's captain, and ski ppered yauchts for
several people, including jeweler Sidney Crandall. He own ed his own
boat, which the family lived on in Florida one w inter.
His main occupation in later years was as an electrician, a nd furnace
repairman. He started Metropolitan Heating in D etroit. The family
lived on a beef farm in Rochester, an d later moved to a dairy
farm in Attica. In 1952 we moved to an old stage depot i n Metamora.
This was traded to a man named Walt Bretternut s in 1956 for a resort
in Luzerne, that Frank named Camp Be ar Paw. Frank built a
steak house onto the home a few years later. He was a ma n of
vision, but unfortunatly he was a few years ahead of h is time. It
was not a great profit maker then, but in th e year 2000 in Luzerne it
would be a gold mine. The restaurant was converted int o a home in
1963. We lived there until 1969 when his las t child graduated, and
he sold Bear Paw. He and mother mov ed to Lewiston for awhile.
Frank's health had begun to deteriorate by then. They sol d the
Lewiston house and moved to Port Sanilac. Frank ha d a stroke, and
later died of a heart attack while they liv ed there. Parents: Charles A Godert GORDERT and Louise Emeride BELL.
Spouse: Helen LOCKITT.
GORDERT FRANK and Helen LOCKITT were married on Oct 25, 1926 in Delaware County,
Pennsylvania. They were divorced. _PREF Y
_PREF Y
TYPE Divorced
_MEDI Electronic File
ABBR GEDCOM File : 1826794.ged
TITL GEDCOM File : 1826794.ged
_PAREN Y
_PREF Y
DATE 16 Jun 2002
TIME 00:26 Children were: Lula GORDERT.
Spouse:
BABE. GORDERT FRANK and BABE were married
on Jul 5, 1937 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. _PREF Y
_MEDI Electronic File
ABBR GEDCOM File : 1826794.ged
TITL GEDCOM File : 1826794.ged
_PAREN Y
_PREF Y
DATE 16 Jun 2002
TIME 00:26
Ade, Princess of FRANKS2 was born in 759 of Aachen, Rheinland, Prussia. She died on May 12. She has Ancestral File Number B6JN-FD. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Adelaide, Princess of FRANKS [A Nun]2 was born about 746 of Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. She died on May 12 in Dy. She was buried in St Arnoul Abbey, Metz, France. She has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-BM. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Carloman Prince of FRANKS [Abbot of Echter2 was born about 849 in , France. He died in 876 in Epternac, France. He has Ancestral File Number 9G62-05. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Carloman, Prince of FRANKS2 was born about 713 in , Austrasia, France. He died on Dec 4, 755 in Cassini Monaster. He has Ancestral File Number 9GCB-4G. Parents: Mayor Charles Martel of AUSTRASIA and Duchess Chrotude of AUSTRASIA.
King Charlemagne of the FRANKS Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was born on Apr 2, 742 in Ingelheim, Rheinhessen, Hesse-Darmstadt. He was christened in 754 in St Denis, Paris, Seine, France. He died on Jan 28, 814 in Aachen, Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. He was buried in Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. He has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-89. Charlemagne
(French for Carolus Magnus ("Charles the Great"); German Karl der GGrosse).
The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died at Aachen, 28 January, 814. Note, however, that the place of his birth (whether Aachen or Liège) has never been fully ascertained, while the traditional date has been set one or more years later by recent writers; if Alcuin is to be interpreted literally the year should be 745. At the time of Charles' birth, his father, Pepin the Short, Mayor of the Palace, of the line of Arnulf, was, theoretically, only the first subject of Childeric III, the last Merovinigian King of the Franks; but this modest title implied that real power, military, civil, and even ecclesiastical, of which Childeric's crown was only the symbol. It is not certain that Bertrada (or Bertha), the mother of Charlemagne, a daughter of Charibert, Count of Laon, was legally married to Pepin until some years later than either 742 or 745.
Charlemagne's career led to his acknowledgment by the Holy See as its chief protector and coadjutor in temporals, by Constantinople as at least Basileus of the West. This reign, which involved to a greater degree than that of any other historical personage the organic development, and still more, the consolidation of Christian Europe, will be sketched in this article in the successive periods into which it naturally divides. The period of Charlemagne was also an epoch of reform for the Church in Gaul, and of foundation for the Church in Germany, marked, moreover, by an efflorescence of learning which fructified in the great Christian schools of the twelfth and later centuries.
To the Fall of Pavia (742-774)
In 752, when Charles was a child of not more than ten years, Pepin the Short had appealed to Pope Zachary to recognize his actual rule with the kingly title and dignity. The practical effect of this appeal to the Holy See was the journey of Stephen III across the Alps two years later, for the purpose of anointing with the oil of kingship not only Pepin, but also his son Charles and a younger son, Carloman. The pope then laid upon the Christian Franks a precept, under the gravest spiritual penalties, never "to choose their kings from any other family". Primogeniture did not hold in the
Frankish law of succession; the monarchy was elective, though eligibility was limited to the male
members of the one privileged family. Thus, then, at St. Denis on the Seine, in the Kingdom of
Neustria, on the 28th of July, 754, the house of Arnulf was, by a solemn act of the supreme pontiff
established upon the throne until then nominally occupied by the house of Merowig (Merovingians).
Charles, anointed to the kingly office while yet a mere child, learned the rudiments of war while still
many years short of manhood, accompanying his father in several campaigns. This early experience
is worth noting chiefly because it developed in the boy those military virtues which, joined with his
extraordinary physical strength and intense nationalism, made him a popular hero of the Franks long
before he became their rightful ruler. At length, in September, 768, Pepin the Short, foreseeing his
end, made a partition of his dominions between his two sons. Not many days later the old king
passed away.
To better comprehend the effect of the act of partition under which Charles and Carloman inherited
their father's dominions, as well as the whole subsequent history of Charles' reign, it is to be
observed that those dominions comprised:
first, Frankland (Frankreich) proper;
secondly, as many as seven more or less self-governing dependencies, peopled by races of
various origins and obeying various codes of law.
Of these two divisions, the former extended, roughly speaking, from the boundaries of Thuringia, on
the east, to what is now the Belgian and Norman coastline, on the west; it bordered to the north on
Saxony, and included both banks of the Rhine from Cologne (the ancient Colonia Agrippina) to the
North Sea; its southern neighbours were the Bavarians, the Alemanni, and the Burgundians. The
dependent states were: the fundamentally Gaulish Neustria (including within its borders Paris), which
was, nevertheless, well leavened with a dominant Frankish element; to the southwest of Neustria,
Brittany, formerly Armorica, with a British and Gallo-Roman population; to the south of Neustria the
Duchy of Aquitaine, lying, for the most part, between the Loire and the Garonne, with a decidedly
Gallo-Roman population; and east of Aquitaine, along the valley of the Rhone, the Burgundians, a
people of much the same mixed origin as those of Aquitaine, though with a large infusion of Teutonic
blood. These States, with perhaps the exception of Brittany, recognized the Theodosian Code as
their law. The German dependencies of the Frankish kingdom were Thuringia, in the valley of the
Main, Bavaria, and Alemannia (corresponding to what was later known as Swabia). These last, at
the time of Pepin's death, had but recently been won to Christianity, mainly through the preaching of
St. Boniface. The share which fell to Charles consisted of all Austrasia (the original Frankland), most
of Neustria, and all of Aquitaine except the southeast corner. In this way the possessions of the elder
brother surrounded the younger on two sides, but on the other hand the distribution of mm under
their respective rules was such as to preclude any risk of discord arising out of the national
sentiments of their various subjects.
In spite of this provident arrangement, Carloman contrived to quarrel with his brother. Hunald,
formerly Duke of Aquitaine, vanquished by Pepin the Short, broke from the cloister, where he had
lived as a monk for twenty years, and stirred up a revolt in the western part of the duchy. By
Frankish custom Carloman should have aided Charles; the younger brother himself held part of
Aquitaine; but he pretended that, as his dominion were unaffected by this revolt, it was no business
of his. Hunald, however, was vanquished by Charles single-handed; he was betrayed by a nephew
with whom he had sought refuge, was sent to Rome to answer for the violation of his monastic vows,
and at last, after once more breaking cloister, was stoned to death by the Lombards of Pavia. For
Charles the true importance of this Aquitanian episode was in its manifestation his brother's unkindly
feeling in his regard, and against this danger he lost no time in taking precautions, chiefly by winning
over to himself the friends whom he judged likely to be most valuable; first and foremost of these
was his mother, Bertha, who had striven both earnestly and prudently to make peace between her
sons, but who, when it became necessary to take sides with one or the other could not hesitate in her
devotion to the elder. Charles was an affectionate son; it also appears that, in general, he was helped
to power by his extraordinary gift of personal attractiveness.
Carloman died soon after this (4 December, 771), and a certain letter from "the Monk Cathwulph",
quoted by Bouquet (Recueil. hist., V, 634), in enumerating the special blessings for which the king
was in duty bound to be grateful, says,
Third . . . God has preserved you from the wiles of your brother . . . . Fifth, and not the
least, that God has removed your brother from this earthly kingdom.
Carloman may not have been quite so malignant as the enthusiastic partisans of Charles made him
out, but the division of Pepin's dominions was in itself an impediment to the growth of a strong
Frankish realm such as Charles needed for the unification of the Christian Continent. Although
Carloman had left two sons by his wife, Gerberga, the Frankish law of inheritance gave no
preference to sons as against brother; left to their own choice, the Frankish lieges, whether from love
of Charles or for the fear which his name already inspired, gladly accepted him for their king.
Gerberga and her children fled to the Lombard court of Pavia. In the mean while complications had
arisen in Charles' foreign policy which made his newly established supremacy at home doubly
opportune.
From his father Charles had inherited the title "Patricius Romanus" which carried with it a special
obligation to protect the temporal rights of the Holy See. The nearest and most menacing neighbour
of St. Peter's Patrimony was Desidarius (Didier), King of the Lombards, and it was with this
potentate that the dowager Bertha had arranged a matrimonial alliance for her elder son. The pope
had solid temporal reasons for objecting to this arrangement. Moreover, Charles was already, in
foro conscientiae, if not in Frankish law, wedded to Himiltrude. In defiance of the pope's protest
(PL 98:250), Charles married Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius (770), three years later he
repudiated her and married Hildegarde, the beautiful Swabian. Naturally, Desiderius was furious at
this insult, and the dominions of the Holy See bore the first brunt of his wrath.
But Charles had to defend his own borders against the heathen as well as to protect Rome against
the Lombard. To the north of Austrasia lay Frisia, which seems to have been in some equivocal way
a dependency, and to the east of Frisia, from the left bank of the Ems (about the present
Holland-Westphalia frontier), across the valley of the Weser and Aller, and still eastward to the left
bank of the Elbe, extended the country of the Saxons, who in no fashion whatever acknowledged
any allegiance to the Frankish kings. In 772 these Saxons were a horde of aggressive pagans offering
to Christian missionaries no hope but that of martyrdom; bound together, normally, by no political
organization, and constantly engaged in predatory incursions into the lands of the Franks. Their
language seems to have been very like that spoken by the Egberts and Ethelreds of Britain, but the
work of their Christian cousin, St. Boniface, had not affected them as yet; they worshipped the gods
of Walhalla, united in solemn sacrifice -- sometimes human -- to Irminsul (Igdrasail), the sacred tree
which stood at Eresburg, and were still slaying Christian missionaries when their kinsmen in Britain
were holding church synods and building cathedrals. Charles could brook neither their predatory
habits nor their heathenish intolerance; it was impossible, moreover, to make permanent peace with
them while they followed the old Teutonic life of free village communities. He made his first
expedition into their country in July, 772, took Eresburg by storm, and burned Irminsul. It was in
January of this same year that Pope Stephen III died, and Adrian I, an opponent of Desiderius, was
elected. The new pope was almost immediately assailed by the Lombard king, who seized three
minor cities of the Patrimony of St. Peter, threatened Ravenna itself, and set about organizing a plot
within the Curia. Paul Afiarta, the papal chamberlain, detected acting as the Lombard's secret agent,
was seized and put to death. The Lombard army advanced against Rome, but quailed before the
spiritual weapons of the Church, while Adrian sent a legate into Gaul to claim the aid of of the
Patrician.
Thus it was that Charles, resting at Thionville after his Saxon campaign, was urgently reminded of the
rough work that awaited his hand south of the Alps. Desiderius' embassy reached him soon after
Adrian's. He did not take it for granted that the right was all upon Adrian's side; besides, he may
have seen here an opportunity make some amends for his repudiation of the Lombard princess.
Before taking up arms for the Holy See, therefore, he sent commissioners into Italy to make
enquiries and when Desiderius pretended that the seizure of the papal cities was in effect only the
legal foreclosure of a mortgage, Charles promptly offered to redeem them by a money payment. But
Desiderius refused the money, and as Charles' commissioners reported in favour of Adrian, the only
course left was war.
In the spring of 773 Charles summoned the whole military strength of the Franks for a great invasion
of Lombardy. He was slow to strike, but he meant to strike hard. Data for any approximate estimate
of his numerical strength are lacking, but it is certain that the army, in order to make the descent
more swiftly, crossed the Alps by two passes: Mont Cenis and the Great St. Bernard. Einhard, who
accompanied the king over Mont Cenis (the St. Bernard column was led by Duke Bernhard),
speaks feelingly of the marvels and perils of the passage. The invaders found Desiderius waiting for
them, entrenched at Susa; they turned his flank and put the Lombard army to utter rout. Leaving all
the cities of the plains to their fate, Desiderius rallied part of his forces in Pavia, his walled capital,
while his son Adalghis, with the rest, occupied Verona. Charles, having been joined by Duke
Bernhard, took the forsaken cities on his way and then completely invested Pavia (September, 773),
whence Otger, the faithful attendant of Gerberga, could look with trembling upon the array of his
countrymen. Soon after Christmas Charles withdrew from the siege a portion of the army which he
employed in the capture of Verona. Here he found Gerberga and her children; as to what became of
them, history is silent; they probably entered the cloister.
What history does record with vivid eloquence is the first visit of Charles to the Eternal City. There
everything was done to give his entry as much as possible the air of a triumph in ancient Rome. The
judges met him thirty miles from the city; the militia laid at the feet of their great patrician the banner
of Rome and hailed him as their imperator. Charles himself forgot pagan Rome and prostrated
himself to kiss the threshold of the Apostles, and then spent seven days in conference with the
successor of Peter. It was then that he undoubtedly formed many great designs for the glory of God
and the exaltation of Holy Church, which, in spite of human weaknesses and, still more, ignorance,
he afterwards did his best to realize. His coronation as the successor of Constantine did not take
place until twenty-six years later, but his consecration as first champion of the Catholic Church took
place at Easter, 774. Soon after this (June, 774) Pavia fell, Desiderius was banished, Adalghis
became a fugitive at the Byzantine court, and Charles, assuming the crown of Lombardy, renewed to
Adrian the donation of of territory made by Pepin the Short after his defeat of Aistulph. (This
donation is now generally admitted, as well as the original gift of Pepin at Kiersy in 752. The
so-called "Privilegium Hadriani pro Carolo" granting him full right to nominate the pope and to invest
all bishops is a forgery.)
To the Baptism of Wittekind (774-785)
The next twenty years of Charles' life may be considered as one long warfare. They are filled with an
astounding series of rapid marches from end to end of a continent intersected by mountains,
morasses, and forests, and scantily provided with roads. It would seem that the key to his long series
of victories, won almost as much by moral ascendancy as by physical or mental superiority, is to be
found in the inspiration communicated to his Frankish champion by Pope Adrian I. Weiss
(Weltgesch., 11, 549) enumerates fifty-three distinct campaigns of Charlemagne; of these it is
possible to point to only twelve or fourteen which were not undertaken principally or entirely in
execution of his mission as the soldier and protector of the Church. In his eighteen campaigns against
the Saxons Charles was more or less actuated by the desire to extinguish what he and his people
regarded as a form of devil-worship, no less odious to them than the fetishism of Central Africa is to
us.
While he was still in Italy the Saxons, irritated but not subdued by the fate of Eresburg and of
Irminsul had risen in arms, harried the country of the Hessian Franks, and burned many churches;
that of St. Boniface at Fritzlar, being of stone, had defeated their efforts. Returning to the north,
Charles sent a preliminary column of cavalry into the enemy's country while he held a council of the
realm at Kiersy (Quercy) in September, 774, at which it was decided that the Saxons (Westfali,
Ostfali, and Angrarii) must be presented with the alternative of baptism or death. The northeastern
campaigns of the next seven years had for their object a conquest so decisive as to make the
execution of this policy feasible. The year 775 saw the first of a series of Frankish military colonies,
on the ancient Roman plan established at Sigeburg among the Westfali. Charles next subdued,
temporarily at least, the Ostali, whose chieftain, Hessi, having accepted baptism, ended his life in the
monastery of Fulda (see BONIFACE, SAINT; FULDA). Then, a Frankish camp at Lübbecke on
the Weser having been surprised by the Saxons, and its garrison slaughtered, Charles turned again
westward, once more routed the Westfali, and received their oaths of submission.
At this stage (776) the affairs of Lombardy interrupted the Saxon crusade. Areghis of Beneventum,
son-in-law of the vanquished Desiderius, had formed a plan with his brother-in-law Adalghis
(Adelchis), then an exile at Constantinople, by which the latter was to make a descent upon Italy,
backed by the Eastern emperor; Adrian was at the same time involved in a quarrel with the three
Lombard dukes, Reginald of Clusium, Rotgaud of Friuli, and Hildebrand of Spoleto. The archbishop
of Ravenna, who called himself "primate" and "exarch of Italy", was also attempting to found an
independent principality at the expense of the papal state but was finally subdued in 776, and his
successor compelled to be content with the title of "Vicar" or representative of the pope. The
junction of the aforesaid powers, all inimical to the pope and the Franks, while Charles was
occupied in Westphalia, was only prevented by the death of Constantine Copronymus in September,
775 (see BYZANTINE EMPIRE). After winning over Hildebrand and Reginald by diplomacy,
Charles descended into Lombardy by the Brenner Pass (spring of 776), defeated Rotgaud, and
leaving garrisons and governors, or counts (comites), as they were termed, in the reconquered cities
of the Duchy of Friuli, hastened back to Saxony. There the Frankish garrison had been forced to
evacuate Eresburg, while the siege of Sigeburg was so unexpectedly broken up as to give occasion
later to a legend of angelic intervention in favour of the Christians. As usual, the almost incredible
suddenness of the king's reappearance and the moral effect of his presence quieted the ragings of the
heathen. Charles then divided the Saxon territory into Missionary districts. At the great spring hosting
(champ de Mai) of Paderborn, in 777, many Saxon converts were baptized; Wittekind (Widukind),
however, already the leader and afterwards the popular hero of the Saxons, had fled to his
brother-in-law, Sigfrid the Dane.
The episode of the invasion of Spain comes next in chronological order. The condition of the
venerable Iberian Church, still suffering under Moslem domination, appealed strongly to the king's
sympathy. In 777 there came to Paderborn three Moorish emirs, enemies of the Ommeyad
Abderrahman, the Moorish King of Cordova. These emirs did homage to Charles and proposed to
him an invasion of Northern Spain; one of the, Ibn-el-Arabi, promised to bring to the invaders'
assistance a force of Berber auxiliaries from Africa; the other two promised to exert their powerful
influence at Barcelona and elsewhere north of the Ebro. Accordingly, in the spring of 778, Charles,
with a host of crusaders, speaking many tongues, and which numbered among its constituents even a
quota of Lombards, moved towards the Pyrenees. His trusted lieutenant, Duke Bernhard. with one
division, entered Spain by the coast. Charles himself marched through the mountain passes straight to
Pampelona. But Ibn-el-Arabi, who had prematurely brought on his army of Berbers, was
assassinated by the emissary of Abderrahman, and though Pampelona was razed, and Barcelona
and other cities fell, Saragossa held out. Apart from the moral effect of this campaign upon the
Moslem rulers of Spain, its result was insignificant, though the famous ambuscade in which perished
Roland, the great Paladin, at the Pass of Roncesvalles, furnished to the medieval world the material
for its most glorious and influential epic, the "Chanson de Roland".
Much more important to posterity were the next succeeding events which continued and decided the
long struggle in Saxony. During the Spanish crusade Wittekind had returned from his exile, bringing
with him Danish allies, and was now ravaging Hesse; the Rhine valley from Deutz to Andenach was a
prey to the Saxon "devil-worshipers"; the Christian missionaries were scattered or in hiding. Charles
gathered his hosts at Düren, in June, 779, and stormed Wittekind's entrenched camp at Bocholt,
after which campaign he seems to have considered Saxony a fairly subdued country. At any rate, the
"Saxon Capitulary" (see CAPITULARIES) of 781 obliged all Saxons not only to accept baptism
(and this on the pain of death) but also to pay tithes, as the Franks did for the support of the Church;
moreover it confiscated a large amount of property for the benefit of the missions. This was
Wittekind's last opportunity to restore the national independence and paganism; his people,
exasperated against the Franks and their God, eagerly rushed to arms. At Suntal on the Weser,
Charles being absent, they defeated a Frankish army killing two royal legates and five Counts. But
Wittekind committed the error of enlisting as allies the non-Teutonic Sorbs from beyond the Saale;
race-antagonism soon weakened his forces, and the Saxon hosts melted away. Of the so-called
"Massacre of Verdun" (783) it is fair to say that the 4500 Saxons who perished were not prisoners
of war; legally, they were ringleaders in a rebellion, selected as such from a number of their fellow
rebels. Wittekind himself escaped beyond the Elbe. It was not until after another defeat of the
Saxons at Detmold, and again at Osnabrück, on the "Hill of Slaughter", that Wittekind
acknowledged the God of Charles the stronger than Odin. In 785 Wittekind received baptism at
Attigny, and Charles stood godfather.
Last Steps to the Imperial Throne (785-800)
The summer of 783 began a new period in the life of Charles, in which signs begin to appear of his
less amiable traits. It was in this year, signalized, according to the chroniclers, by unexampled heat
and a pestilence, that the two queens died, Bertha, the king's mother, and Hildegarde, his second (or
his third) wife. Both of these women, the former in particular, had exercised over him a strong
influence for good. Within a few months the king married Fastrada, daughter of an Austrasian count.
The succeeding years were, comparatively speaking, years of harvest after the stupendous period of
ploughing and sowing that had gone before; and Charles' nature was of a type that appears to best
advantage in storm and stress. What was to be the Western Empire of the Middle Ages was already
hewn out in the rough when Wittekind received baptism. From that date until the coronation of
Charles at Rome, in 800, his military work was chiefly in suppressing risings of the newly conquered
or quelling the discontents of jealous subject princes. Thrice in these fifteen years did the Saxons rise,
only to be defeated. Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, had been a more or less rebellious vassal ever since
the beginning of his reign, and Charles now made use of the pope's influence, exercised through the
powerful bishops of Freising, Salzburg, and Regensburg (Ratisbon), to bring him to terms. In 786 a
Thuringian revolt was quelled by the timely death, blinding, and banishment of its leaders. Next year
the Lombard prince, Areghis, having fortified himself at Salerno, had actually been crowned King of
the Lombards when Charles descended upon him at Beneventum, received his submission, and took
his son Grimwald as a hostage, after which, finding that Tassilo had been secretly associated with the
conspiracy of the Lombards, he invaded Bavaria from three sides with three armies drawn from at
least five nationalities. Once more the influence of the Holy See settled the Bavarian question in
Charles' favour; Adrian threatened Tassilo with excommunication if he persisted in rebellion, and as
the Duke's own subjects refused to follow him to the field, he personally made submission, did
homage, and in return received from Charles a new lease of his duchy (October, 787).
During this period the national discontent with Fastrada culminated in a plot in which Pepin the
Hunchback, Charles' son by Himiltrude, was implicated, and though his life was spared through his
father
Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Spouse: Hildegard, Countess of VINZGAU. King Charlemagne of the FRANKS Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and Hildegard, Countess of VINZGAU were married about 772 in Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. Children were: Charles, Emperor of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, King Pippin (Carloman) of ITALY, Adelheid, Princess of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, Rotrud, Princess of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, Bertha, Princess of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, Lothaire, Prince of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, Gisele, Princess of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, Hildegard, Princess of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, Lewis, King of AQUITAINE.
Charles "The Bald" FRANKS was born on May 15, 823 in Frankfurt, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia. He died on Oct 6, 877 in Brios, France. He was buried in St Denis, Paris, Seine, France. He has Ancestral File Number 9G61-L4. Parents: Lewis, King of AQUITAINE and Judith, Princess of BAVARIA.
Spouse: Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS. Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS were married on Dec 14, 842 in , Crecy, France. Children were: Judith Princess of FRANKS Queen of England, Louis II King FRANKS "The Stammerer", Charles King of AQUITAINE, Lothaire Prince of FRANKS "The Lame", Carloman Prince of FRANKS [Abbot of Echter, Rotrude Princess of FRANKS [Abbesstradegond, Ermentrud Princess of FRANKS, Hildegarde Princess of FRANKS, Gisele Princess of FRANKS.
Ermentrud Princess of FRANKS2 was born in 854 in of, France. She has Ancestral File Number B67L-JP. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS was born in 825 in , Orleans, Loiret, France. She died on Oct 6, 869. She was buried in St Denis, Aude, France. She has Ancestral File Number 9G61-VH. Parents: Edes Count of ORLEANS and Ingeltrude.
Spouse: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS. Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS were married on Dec 14, 842 in , Crecy, France. Children were: Judith Princess of FRANKS Queen of England, Louis II King FRANKS "The Stammerer", Charles King of AQUITAINE, Lothaire Prince of FRANKS "The Lame", Carloman Prince of FRANKS [Abbot of Echter, Rotrude Princess of FRANKS [Abbesstradegond, Ermentrud Princess of FRANKS, Hildegarde Princess of FRANKS, Gisele Princess of FRANKS.
Gertrude, Princess of FRANKS2 was born about 748 of Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. She has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-CS. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Gilles, Prince of FRANKS2 was born about 755 of Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. He has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-GB. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Gisele Princess of FRANKS2 was born about 858 in , France. She has Ancestral File Number 9G62-3N. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Gisele, Princess of FRANKS [A Nun]2 was born in 757 of Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. She died in 811. She has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-HH. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Hildegarde Princess of FRANKS2 was born about 856 in of, France. She has Ancestral File Number 9G62-2H. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Judith Princess of FRANKS Queen of England was born in 844 in , France. She died after 870. She has Ancestral File Number 9G61-WN. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Spouse: Baldwin I Count FLANDERS. Baldwin I Count FLANDERS and Judith Princess of FRANKS Queen of England were married. Children were: Bauduoin II of FLANDERS Count of Flanders, Widnille of FLANDERS, Rudolf Raoul Count CAMBRAY.
Lothaire Prince of FRANKS "The Lame"2 was born about 847 in of, France. He died in 865. He has Ancestral File Number 9G62-1B. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Louis II King FRANKS "The Stammerer"2 was born on Nov 1, 846 in , France. He died on Apr 10, 879 in , Compiegne, Oise, France. He has Ancestral File Number 9G61-XT. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS was born in 714 in Austrasia, Austrasia, France. He died on Sep 24, 768 in St Denis, Paris, Seine, France. He has Ancestral File Number 9GCB-5M. Pepin the Short
Mayor of the Palace of the whole Frankish kingdom (both Austrasia and Neustria), and later King of the Franks; born 714; died at St. Denis, 24 September, 768. He was the son of Charles Martel.
Pepin and his older brother Carloman were taught by the monks of St. Denis, and the impressions received during their monastic education had a controlling influence upon the relations of both princes to the Church. When the father died in 741 the two brothers began to reign jointly but not without strong opposition, for Griffon, the son of Charles Martel and the Bavarian Sonnichilde, demanded a share in the government. Moreover, the Duke of the Aquitanians and the Duke of the Alamannians thought this a favourable opportunity to throw off the Frankish supremacy. The young kings were repeatedly involved in war, but all their opponents, including the Bavarians and Saxons, were defeated and the unity of the kingdom re-established. As early as 741 Carloman had entered upon his epoch-making relations with St. Boniface, to whom was now opened a new field of labour, the reformation of the Frankish Church. On 21 April, 742, Boniface was present at a Frankish synod presided over by Carloman at which important reforms were decreed. As in the Frankish realm the unity of the kingdom was essentially connected with the person of the king, Carloman to secure this unity raised the Merovingian Childeric to the throne (743). In 747 he resolved to enter a monastery.
When Stephen II had a conference with King Pepin at
Ponthion in January, 754, the pope implored his assistance against his oppressor the Lombard King
Aistulf, and begged for the same protection for the prerogatives of St. Peter which the Byzantine
exarchs had extended to them, to which the king agreed, and in the charter establishing the States of
the Church, soon after given at Quiercy, he promised to restore these prerogatives. The Frankish
king received the title of the former representative of the Byzantine Empire in Italy, i.e. "Patricius",
and was also assigned the duty of protecting the privileges of the Holy See.
When Stephen II performed the ceremony of anointing Pepin and his son at St. Denis, it was St.
Peter who was regarded as the mystical giver of the secular power, but the emphasis thus laid upon
the religious character of political law left vague the legal relations between pope and king. After the
acknowledgment of his territorial claims the pope was in reality a ruling sovereign, but he had placed
himself under the protection of the Frankish ruler and had sworn that he and his people would be
true to the king. Thus his sovereignty was limited from the very start as regards what was external to
his domain. The connection between Rome and the Frankish kingdom involved Pepin during the
years 754-56 in war with the Lombard King Aistulf, who was forced to return to the Church the
territory he had illegally held. Pepin's commanding position in the world of his time was permanently
secured when he took Septimania from the Arabs. Another particularly important act was his
renewed overthrow of the rebellion in Aquitaine which was once more made a part of the kingdom.
He was not so fortunate in his campaigns against the Saxons and Bavarians. He could do no more
than repeatedly attempt to protect the boundaries of the kingdom against the incessantly restless
Saxons. Bavaria remained an entirely independent State and advanced in civilization under Duke
Tassilo. Pepin's activity in war was accompanied by a widely extended activity in the internal affairs
of the Frankish kingdom, his main object being the reform of legislation and internal affairs, especially
of ecclesiastical conditions. He continued the ecclesiastical reforms commenced by St. Boniface. In
doing this Pepin demanded an unlimited authority over the Church. He himself wished to be the
leader of the reforms. However, although St. Boniface changed nothing by his reformatory labours in
the ecclesiastico-political relations that had developed in the Frankish kingdom upon the basis of the
Germanic conception of the State, nevertheless he had placed the purified and united Frankish
Church more definitely under the control of the papal see than had hitherto been the case. From the
time of St. Boniface the Church was more generally acknowledged by the Franks to be the mystical
power appointed by God. When he deposed the last of the Merovingians Pepin was also obliged to
acknowledge the increased authority of the Church by calling upon it for moral support.
Consequently the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Frankish king over the Church of his country
remained externally undiminished. Nevertheless by his life-work Pepin had powerfully aided the
authority of the Church and with it the conception of ecclesiastical unity. He was buried at St. Denis
where he died. He preserved the empire created by Clovis from the destruction that menaced it; he
was able to overcome the great danger arising from social conditions that threatened the Frankish
kingdom, by opposing to the unruly lay nobility the ecclesiastical aristocracy that had been
strengthened by the general reform. When he died the means had been created by which his greater
son could solve the problems of the empire. Pepin's policy marked out the tasks to which
Charlemagne devoted himself: quieting the Saxons, the subjection of the duchies and lastly, the
regulation of the ecclesiastical question and with it that of Italy.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI
Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company Parents: Mayor Charles Martel of AUSTRASIA and Duchess Chrotude of AUSTRASIA.
Spouse: Bertrada, Countess of LAON. Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON were married about 740. Children were: Rothaide, Princess of FRANKS, Adelaide, Princess of FRANKS [A Nun], Gertrude, Princess of FRANKS, Carloman, King of BURGUNDY, Gilles, Prince of FRANKS, Pepin, Prince of FRANKS, Gisele, Princess of FRANKS [A Nun], Ade, Princess of FRANKS, King Charlemagne of the FRANKS Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Pepin, Prince of FRANKS2 was born in 756 of Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. He died about 761. He has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-F5. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Rothaide, Princess of FRANKS2 was born about 744 in of, Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. She died in Dy, Austrasia, France. She was buried in St Arnoul Abbey, Metz, France. She has Ancestral File Number 9GCC-9G. Parents: Pepin "The Short" of the FRANKS and Bertrada, Countess of LAON.
Rotrude Princess of FRANKS [Abbesstradegond2 was born in 852 in , France. She died before 912. She has Ancestral File Number 9G62-4T. Parents: Charles "The Bald" FRANKS and Ermentrude Queen of FRANKS.
Jack FRASER.
Spouse: Sarah Lorene KUNZMAN.
FREDELL.
Spouse: Betsy Wanton HAYES. FREDELL and Betsy Wanton HAYES were married.
Adam FRIEDGEN was born in Concord, Middlesex, Mass. Parents: Jeffery Edward FRIEDGEN and Elizabeth Ann TURNER.
Debra Marie FRIEDGEN was born in Binghamton, Broome Co., N.Y.. Parents: James Everett FRIEDGEN and Joyce Arlette ENGLISH.
Spouse: David Warren HARTWELL. David Warren HARTWELL and Debra Marie FRIEDGEN were married in Littleton, Middlesex Co., Mass.. Children were: Ryan David HARTWELL, Jeremy James HARTWELL, Cassandra Joy HARTWELL.
James Everett FRIEDGEN was born in Binghamton, Broome Co., N.Y..
Spouse: Joyce Arlette ENGLISH. James Everett FRIEDGEN and Joyce Arlette ENGLISH were married in Binghamton, Broome Co., N.Y.. They were divorced. They were divorced. Children were: Debra Marie FRIEDGEN, Kimberly Ellen FRIEDGEN, Jeffery Edward FRIEDGEN.
Jeffery Edward FRIEDGEN was born in Binghamton, Broome Co., N.Y.. Parents: James Everett FRIEDGEN and Joyce Arlette ENGLISH.
Spouse: Elizabeth Ann TURNER. Jeffery Edward FRIEDGEN and Elizabeth Ann TURNER were married in Acton, Middlesex, Mass. Children were: Adam FRIEDGEN, Lauren Elizabeth FRIEDGEN.
Kimberly Ellen FRIEDGEN was born in Binghamton, Broome Co., N.Y.. Parents: James Everett FRIEDGEN and Joyce Arlette ENGLISH.
Lauren Elizabeth FRIEDGEN was born in Concord, Middlesex, Mass. Parents: Jeffery Edward FRIEDGEN and Elizabeth Ann TURNER.
FRY.
Spouse: Audrey VETTERLEIN. FRY and Audrey VETTERLEIN were married. Children were: Brenda FRY.
Brenda FRY was born. Parents: FRY and Audrey VETTERLEIN.
Catherine FRY.
Spouse: Thomas RODMAN. Children were: Patience RODMAN.
Mary FRY28 was born about 1580 in Weymouth, Devonshire, England. She died on Jan 24, 1655/56 in Dorcester, Massachusetts. Parents: William FRY and Sarah HILL.
Spouse: Walter HARRIS. Walter HARRIS and Mary FRY were married about 1602 in Weymouth, Devonshire, England.29 Children were: Gabriel HARRIS.
William FRY28 was born before 1562. He died after 1580.
Spouse: Sarah HILL. William FRY and Sarah HILL were married before 1580. Children were: Mary FRY.
Alice FULLER was born about 1547 in Redenhall, Norfolk, England. Parents: John FULLER and Ann.
Elizabeth FULLER2,13 was born on May 31, 1652 in Cambridge Village (now Newton), Middlesex, Massachusetts. She died on Nov 28, 1685 in Cambridge Village (now Newton), Middlesex, Massachusetts. She was buried in 1715 in Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut. She has Ancestral File Number 1ZTC-4S. Parents: John FULLER and Elizabeth EMERSON.
James FULLER2,13 was born in 1647 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts. He died on Jun 21, 1725 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts. He has Ancestral File Number HRFW-R4. Parents: John FULLER and Elizabeth EMERSON.
John FULLER was born about 1460 of Reden Hall, Norfolk, England. He died in May 1511 in Reden Hall, Norfolk, England. Parents: William FULLER.
Spouse: Alice. Children were: William FULLER.
John FULLER was born in 1510 in Redden Hall, Norfolk, England. He died on Feb 9, 1559 in Reden Hall, Norfolk, England. Parents: William FULLER and Cicely.
Spouse: Ann. John FULLER and Ann were married about 1533. Children were: Robert FULLER, Alice FULLER, John FULLER.
