Book 6

Chapter XL.

About these times Petronax, a citizen of the city of Brexia (Brescia) spurred by the love of God, came to Rome and then by the exhortation of Pope Gregory of the Apostolic See, proceeded to this fortress of Cassinum; [1] and when he came to the holy remains of the blessed father Benedict he began to dwell there with certain honest men who were already living there before. And they appointed this same venerable man Petronax as their superior, and not long afterwards, with the aid of Divine Mercy and through favor of the merits of the blessed father Benedict, after the lapse of about a hundred and ten years from the time when that place had become destitute of the habitation of men, he became there the father of many monks of high and low degree who gathered around him, and he began to live, when the dwellings were repaired, under the restraint of the Holy Rule of the Order and the institutions of the blessed Benedict, and he put this sacred monastery in the condition in which it is now seen. At a subsequent time Zacharias, Chief of Priests and Pontiff beloved by God, bestowed many useful things upon this venerable man Petronax, namely the books of Holy Scripture and all sorts of other things that relate to the service of a monastery and moreover he gave him with fatherly piety the Rule of the Order which the blessed father Benedict had written with his own holy hands.[2] The monastery indeed of the blessed martyr Vincent, which is situated near the source of the river Vulturnus and is now celebrated for its great community of monks, was then already founded by three noble brothers, that is, Tato, Taso and Paldo, as the writings of the very learned Autpert, abbot of this monastery show, in the volume which he composed on this subject. While the blessed Pope Gregory indeed [3] of the Roman See was still living, the fortress of Cumae was taken by the Langobards of Beneventum, but when night came on, certain of the Langobards were captured and others were killed by the duke of Naples; also the fortress itself was re-taken by the Romans. For the ransom of this fortress the Pontiff gave seventy pounds of gold as he had promised in the first place. [4]

[1] Paul wrote this at Monte Cassino.
[2] Afterwards burned A. D. 896 (Waltz).
[3] Gregory II.
[4] A.D. 717. The recapture of this place did not occur at once as Paul's account seems to indicate, but the duke of Naples was urged to the act by the Pope who promised and paid him the socalled ransom (Hodgkin, VI, 442).


Chapter XLI.

Meanwhile the emperor Theodosius, who had ruled the empire only one year, having died, [1] Leo was substituted as emperor in his place.[2]

[1] An error. Theodosius did not die but was deposed (Waitz).
[2] Leo the Isaurian, the great iconoclastic emperor, born about 670, was appointed to a place in the life-guards of Justinian II, and was afterwards sent on a desperate mission to the Alans in the Caucasus where he showed great courage and ingenuity. Anastasius, the successor of Justinian appointed him general of the forces of Anatolia in Asia Minor where he kept the Saracens at bay. Theodosius III who succeeded Anastasius was considered incompetent to defend Constantinople against the Saracens and in 716 Leo was raised to the throne (Hodgkin, VI, 425, 426).


Chapter XLII.

Among the people of the Franks, after Pipin had been released from life, his son Charles [1] of whom we have spoken took the sovereignty from the hand of Raginfrid only by means of many wars and struggles. For when he was held in prison he was set free by God's command and escaped and at first he began two or three times a struggle against Raginfrid with a few men and at last overcame him in a great battle at Vinciacum (Vincy). [2] Nevertheless he gave him one city to dwell in, that is, Andegavi (Angers) [3] while he himself undertook the government of the whole nation of the Franks.[4]

[1] Charles Martel.
[2] Near Cambray.
[3] In this statement Paul is not supported by other authorities and he is not well informed in Frankish history (Jacobi, 43).
[4] His title was not that of king but mayor of the palace; during the latter part of his life however there was no king. He was the real founder of the Arnulfing or Carolingian dynasty, and his son Pipin assumed the title of king (Hodgkin, VI, 421, 422).


Chapter XLIII.

At this time king Liutprand confirmed to the Roman Church the gift of the patrimony of the Cottian Alps, and not long afterwards the same ruler took in marriage Guntrut, the daughter of Teutpert, duke of the Bavarians [1] with whom he had lived in exile, and from her he begot one daughter only.

[1] The policy of the Bavarian dynasty, as to friendly relations with the Catholic church and with the neighboring Bavarians was continued by Liutprand. This marriage however afterwards led to other complications. After Teutpert's death, his brother Grimoald attempted to rob his son Hucbert of the sovereignty. Charles Martel, who had established his dominion over the Frankish kingdom, now seized the opportunity to restore his own suzerainty over the Bavarian dukedom, while Liutprand (probably about 725) invaded the Bavarian territories and pushed forward the boundaries of the Langobard kingdom up to Magias or Mais, by Meran. Charles also married Suanahild, a Bavarian princess, and thus became the brother-in-law of Liutprand, and the friendship between these sovereigns was firmly established (IJartmann, II, 2, 125).


Chapter XLIV.

During these times Faroald, duke of the Spoletans, attacked Classis, a city of the Ravenna people, but by command of king Liutprand it was restored to these same Romans. Against this duke Faroald his own son Transamund revolted and usurped his place and made him a churchman. [1] In these days Teudo, duke of the nation of the Bavarians came for the purpose of devotion to Rome to the foot steps of the holy apostles. [2]

[1] A.D. 724(Waitz; Pabst, 469, note 2).
[2] A.D. 716 (Waitz). He had divided his dominion among his four sons. One of his granddaughters had married Liutprand and another Charles Martel (Hodgkin, VI, 440).


Chapter XLV.

When then at Forum Julii (Cividale) the patriarch Screnus had been taken away from human affairs, Calixtus, a distinguished man who was archdeacon of the church of Tarvisium (Treviso) received through the efforts of king Liutprand the government of the church of Aquileia. At this time as we said, Pemmo ruled the Langobards of Forum Julii. When he had now brought to the age of early manhood those sons of the nobles whom he had reared with his own children, suddenly a messenger came to him to say that an immense multitude of Slavs was approaching the place which is called Lauriana. [1] With those young men, he fell upon the Slavs for the third time, and overthrew them with a great slaughter, nor did any one else fall on the part of the Langobards than Sicuald, who was already mature in age. For he had lost two sons in a former battle, which occured under Ferdulf, and when he had avenged himself upon the Slavs a first and a second time according to his desire, the third time, although both the duke and the other Langobards forbade it, he could not be restrained but thus answered them: " I have already revenged sufficiently," he says, " the death of my sons and now if it shall happen, I will gladly receive my own death." And it so happened, and in that fight he only was killed. Pemmo, indeed, when he had overthrown many of his enemies, fearing lest he should lose in battle any one more of his own, entered into a treaty of peace with those Slavs in that place. And from that time the Slavs began more to dread the arms of the Friulans.

[1] Supposed to be the village of Spital near Villach (Waitz) on the Urave in Carinthia (Waitz). This seems quite uncertain.


Chapter XLVI.

At that time the nation of the Saracens, passing over from Africa in the place which is called Septem (Ceuta), invaded all Spain. [1] Then after ten years they came with their wives and children and entered the province of Aquitaine in Gaul so as to inhabit it. Charles, [2] indeed, had then a quarrel with Eudo, prince of Aquitaine, but they joined together and fought by common consent against those Saracens. The Franks attacked them and killed three hundred and seventy-five thousand of the Saracens, while on the side of the Franks only fifteen hundred fell there. Eudo also with his followers fell upon their camp and in like manner killed many and ravaged everything. [3]

[1] The first invasion of Spain by Tank was in the year 711, before Ansprand returned from his exile in Bavaria. It was in 721, nine years after the accession of Liutprand, that having conquered Spain, the Saracens were defeated by Eudo of Aquitaine at Toulouse (Hodgkin, VI, 418, 419).
[2] Charles Martel.
[3] Jacobi (43) believes that Paul has here combined two battles in one, the victory of Eudo over the Saracens at Toulouse in 721 and the battle of Poictiers in 732. The latter battle, however, appears to be indicated, for Eudo, after his victory at Toulouse, had been vanquished by the Saracens, and it would seem that the remnant of his troops shared with those of Charles Martel the victory of Poictiers (Hodgkin, VI, 419, 420).