Fastrada, redeemed?

Recently a coin came to light that throws new light on Fastrada, Charlemagne’s third wife from 783 – 794. To unpack this discovery let’s first look at the coin itself. Then a quick refresher on Fastrada, before we move onto why this discovery is significant. With your indulgence I’ll end with a completely unsupported idea of how to square the seemingly irreconcilable views of Fastrada in the source material.

Earlier this year the Centre Charlemagne in Aachen acquired a coin, a single silver denier.1.I have not been able to find the who, what, why, and how behind this acquisition, but suffice it to say that somebody either gave or sold the coin to the Centre. A denier is a silver penny, the closest thing to a standard medium of exchange in an otherwise barter-based economy. Charles worked hard to standardize his coinage, and the denier is one result.2.Look for a coinage post soon.

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This is the coin in question. “The obverse (‘heads’ side) reads +CARoLVSREXFR[ancorum], ‘Charles, king of the Franks’, and the reverse +FASTRADA REGIN[a], ‘Queen Fastrada’, around the usual monogram of Charlemagne (KAROLVS).”3.Archeology.wiki, retrieved June 26, 2023.

Much of what follows is taken from Simon Coupland’s article about this coin in the journal Early Medieval Europe. He is a Cambridge professor who, on his Twitter page, lists “Carolingian coinage” as the first of his loves.4.He does admit that his loves may not be in the correct order.

https://www.archaeology.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/emed12640-fig-0001-m.jpg

Charlemagne appears to have drawn inspiration for this coin from his contemporary, King Offa of Britain.5.Reigned 757 until his death in 796. Francia and Britain enjoyed a brisk trade in various goods, and English coins have been found in Francia, and vice versa. In the mid-780s some British coins began to feature Offa’s Queen Cynethryth, not only naming her but even including her image. This would have been unheard of in Francia, where coinage bore the king’s name and no one else.6.Only in the early ninth century did Charles permit a portrait of himself on his coins.

No doubt Charles, who exchanged letters with Offa and came close to marrying at least one son to a daughter of Offa7.Offa came back with a counter-offer, in which one of his sons would also marry another daughter of Charles – that set off a trade war. I’ll see about putting all that together some time. must have seen these new coins. Coupland believes that Charles introduced the Fastrada coin in 793, while she was still among the living.8.He notes a numismatic controversy that Carolingian coins that named anyone besides the king were a form of posthumous commemoration, but he doesn’t buy it.

Why did the king of the Franks chose this queen, one of four in total, to immortalize on his coinage? Perhaps an anniversary present, or a gift from a grateful husband for bringing another healthy child into the world. Whatever the reason, the queen did not have long to enjoy her new-found numismatic fame, for she died in 794.9.Her brief time as a queen with a coin might explain why there is only this single example, while, per Coupland, there are more than 50 of the Cynethryth coins.

We’ve looked at Fastrada’s life, as well as her (alleged) relationship to two minor rebellions against Charlemagne. Going by the most prominent sources, Einhard and the Royal Annals, Fastrada contributed nothing but trouble to the kingdom. Janet Nelson, however, has contributed a more nuanced portrait, and dives deep to present Fastrada as a powerful queen and woman in her own right. These include those (non-disparaging) mentions in the Royal Annals and a letter from Charles to his wife. The seemingly indecent speed with which Charles wed Fastrada after the death of his second wife Hildegarde is put down to the fact that his mother Bertrada had also passed recently, and his children needed a mother. Fair enough.

Coupland reiterates much of Nelson’s case for the exceptional nature of Fastrada as a wife and queen. Like Offa and Cynethryth, the Fastrada coin “is surely further proof of Charlemagne’s feelings towards his wife.” No doubt. Yet the accusations of cruelty in two separate, otherwise well-regarded, sources still stand. What to make of this?

What if all of the sources are true, but simply reflect different facets of the truth? Consider Charles in 783 – his wife and mother have died within months of each other, and he needs to find a woman who can assume the roles of wife, mother to his children, and queen. He has also realized, at perhaps forty-two years of age, that the book of his youth is now concluded. While not a topic of state, his sexual appetites are well known and no doubt were a consideration.10.A poem from around 826 by Walahfrid Strabo describes the vision of a monk named Wettini, in which a damned Charles suffers from a ferocious beast “tearing at his genitals.” Poetry, p. 215. This next wife would be the first in which his mother, the formidable Bertrada, did not have a chance to meet. Was the great king seduced by a desirable woman, who kept him on a string? While the strong man and the beguiling woman is a literary trope, no doubt many of us have watched similar relationships unfold.

Think of Fastrada as an agent, an instigator, not a direct actor. She could be delightful, as in 787 when king and queen met in Worms, “where they rejoiced and were happy in each other’s company.”11.Royal Annals, 787, p. 85. In 791, the honeymoon well over, his letter to her remarks that, “we have been surprised that no missus or letter has reached us from you since we set out from Regensburg. As to which, it is our desire that should notify us more frequently concerning your health and any other matters, as you should decide. And once again we send you abundant greetings in the Lord.”12.Letters, no. 3, p. 310. The very next year his son Pippin led a rebellion, “because they could not endure, so they declared, the cruelty of the queen Fastrada.”13.Revised Royal Annals, 792, p. 124.

Einhard takes a somewhat different slant, and does not accuse Fastrada of direct cruelty to those who rebelled against Charles. Rather that her behavior led him, “in giving in to the cruelty of his wife,”14.Einhard, Vita, ch. 20, p. 40. to generate such ill-will that others could no longer endure his rule. Maybe his underlings felt the verbal lash of the good king when another mailbag contained no letters from home.

All pure speculation, of course. We’ll never know what kind of person was Fastrada, nor the nature of the relationship between she and her husband. But it is fun to speculate!

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 I have not been able to find the who, what, why, and how behind this acquisition, but suffice it to say that somebody either gave or sold the coin to the Centre.
2 Look for a coinage post soon.
3 Archeology.wiki, retrieved June 26, 2023.
4 He does admit that his loves may not be in the correct order.
5 Reigned 757 until his death in 796.
6 Only in the early ninth century did Charles permit a portrait of himself on his coins.
7 Offa came back with a counter-offer, in which one of his sons would also marry another daughter of Charles – that set off a trade war. I’ll see about putting all that together some time.
8 He notes a numismatic controversy that Carolingian coins that named anyone besides the king were a form of posthumous commemoration, but he doesn’t buy it.
9 Her brief time as a queen with a coin might explain why there is only this single example, while, per Coupland, there are more than 50 of the Cynethryth coins.
10 A poem from around 826 by Walahfrid Strabo describes the vision of a monk named Wettini, in which a damned Charles suffers from a ferocious beast “tearing at his genitals.” Poetry, p. 215.
11 Royal Annals, 787, p. 85.
12 Letters, no. 3, p. 310.
13 Revised Royal Annals, 792, p. 124.
14 Einhard, Vita, ch. 20, p. 40.

Who is this Pepin?

Besides having a blog named after him, who was Pepin le Bref?

As with others from the period, we have to clear away some naming confusion. Due to differences in source material and translations, his name is variously rendered Pepin, Pipin, and Pippin. I chose Pepin simply because Tolkien used Pippin (his was a deliberate selection, perhaps because hobbits are short). The nickname “le Bref” is usually translated as “the Short,” but I think it could mean other things, such as short-tempered (as we’ll see), of few words, short haired,1.Unlike the “long-haired” Merovingian kings. or something else. But there’s no way to know one way or another.

Pepin is usually considered a middling figure, sandwiched between the legendary Charles Martel, and the timeless Charlemagne. While there is no dispute with the stature history has afforded Charles the Great, his grandfather’s claim to fame has come under greater scrutiny. Personally I see Martel and Pepin as great figures in an age when only the strongest and most resolute rulers could stay on top, which Pepin did for for twenty-five years.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Unlike the “long-haired” Merovingian kings.

Saxon Wars 3: The war is over! Right?

At the close of 782 Charles had been waging war in Saxony for almost a decade. The king had been following a pattern of invasion, conquest, law-giving, and the establishment of Frankish governmental and religious institutions in order to pacify the Saxons, and then integrate them into the Frankish kingdom. No measure was too extreme, including the execution of 4500 rebels in a single day. But the Germans were not done yet.

Charles went through a lot of personal turmoil in 783. His wife Hildegard died, and then his mother Bertrada.1.Royal Annals, year 783, King, p. 82. Even though Charles already had children, including, as we shall see, a son (a post on Charles’ family life is on my list), he immediately married a girl named Fastrada. But the king’s concerns that year were not only domestic, as he “undertook an expedition to Saxony, since the Saxons were in rebellion again…” According to the Revised Annals, this latest revolt “enraged” him. His rage must have been great, for this expedition was one which he led in person, a rare event.

Although this war dragged on for a very long time, he himself joined battle with the enemy no more than twice, in a single month with only a few intervening days, once near the mountain that is called Osning in a place called Detmold and again on the River Haase. In these two battles the enemy were so crushed and conquered that subsequently they did not dare to provoke the king or to resist his approach unless they were protected by some fortification.2.Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, in Noble, ch. 8, p. 29.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Royal Annals, year 783, King, p. 82.
2 Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, in Noble, ch. 8, p. 29.

Brothers, kings – and enemies

In December of 771 the Frankish king Carloman died. He was the second son of King Pepin and younger brother of Charles (known to us as Charlemagne). He was not yet twenty-one. Charles probably did not grieve. The two brothers had been in conflict and contention for years, and tensions had been so high that they had almost come to war just a year or two earlier. Their mother Bertrada, widow of the late king Pepin, at some point decided that her older son was the greater man and threw her considerable diplomatic talents behind Charles. While no one has ever suggested foul play in the death of Carloman, his demise was a great convenience for Charles and his mother. Let’s see if we can untangle this twisted family tale.

At some point in the mid-740’s Pepin and his consort Bertrada had a son, whom they named Charles, after his grandfather Charles Martel. The date of this birth is a subject of some dispute, but we’ll settle on the year 747 for the purposes of this post. While to modern eyes this uncertain state of marriage between the parents would automatically render Charles illegitimate, Germanic concepts of marriage were more fluid in early medieval times. Charles was just as legitimate as Pepin and the nobles of the land wanted him to be. At any rate Pepin and Bertrada tied the knot in a formal public ceremony a few years after his birth. Then in 751 they had a second son, Carloman, named after his uncle, Pepin’s brother, who had also been a co-king. Perhaps the choice of name was unfortunate, for the elder Carloman had led a troubled life, and died in somewhat mysterious circumstances.

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766 and 767: The beginning of the end

After two years of rebuilding and rearming (which is my opinion, remember, completely unbuttressed by anything in the sources) Pepin was ready to push the Aquitanian war to its conclusion. “[H]e summoned to Orleans the whole host of the Franks and the other peoples that dwelt in his kingdom.”1.Fredegar, ch.48, p.116. Then he again surged across the Loire and into Aquitaine.

The Royal Frankish Annals say that Pepin went as far as the fortress of Argenton, roughly midway between Poitiers and Bourges. Fredegar says he went all the way to Agen, which is much farther south, on the road between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Perhaps both are true, and the king stopped at Argenton to rebuild the castle there that Waifar had ordered destroyed in 763. Having put that work in motion he led the rest of the army more than two hundred miles south to Agen (probably close to 300 miles if he took the roads, which skirt the Massif Central of France) as he “laid waste the whole region” during the trek.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Fredegar, ch.48, p.116.