Austrasia Sentence Examples
Some - for instance, Otto, the mayor of the palace of Austrasia towards 640 - were devoted to the Crown.
It must be observed that from 639 there were generally separate mayors of Neustria, Austrasia and Burgundy, even when Austrasia and Burgundy formed a single kingdom; the mayor was a sign of the independence of the region.
Each mayor, however, sought to supplant the others; the Pippins and Charles Martel succeeded, and their victory was at the same time the victory of Austrasia over Neustria and Burgundy.
In the Merovingian period it formed a duchy attached to the kingdom of Austrasia, and was governed by the descendants of duke Eticho, one of whom was St Odilia.
Returning at Dagobert's death (639), he governed Austrasia in Sigebert's name, but died in the following year.
In Gregory of Tours this word is still used vaguely, but the sense of it is gradually defined, and finally the name of Austria or Austrasia was given to the easternmost part of the Frankish kingdom.
They have even tried to interpret the long struggle between Fredegond and Brunhilda as a rivalry between the two kings of Neustria and Austrasia.
When these two words are at last found in the texts in their precise signification, Austrasia is applied to that part of the Frankish kingdom which Clotaire II.
After the death of Dagobert, Austrasia and Neustria almost always had separate kings, with their own mayors of the palace, and then there arose a real rivalry between these two provinces, which ended in the triumph of Austrasia.
At the time of Charlemagne, the word Austrasia underwent a change of meaning and became synonymous with Francia orientalis, and was applied to the Frankish dominions beyond the Rhine (Franconia).
AdvertisementIntroduced by missionaries on the continent, they were re-copied, augmented and continued, especially in the kingdom of Austrasia.
In the middle of the 5th century the town was plundered by the Huns under Attila; subsequently it came into possession of the Franks, and was made the capital of Austrasia.
Under the Romans the district was included in the province of Belgica prima, afterwards forming part of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia and of the empire of Charlemagne.
The eldest, Hermannfried, eventually obtained sole possession by the help of Theuderich I., king of Austrasia, but having refused to pay the price he had promised for this assistance, was defeated by Theuderich in a series of battles and murdered by him in 531.
The northern portion of the kingdom was given to the Saxons who had joined him against Hermannfried; the southern part was added to Austrasia; and the name of Thuringia was confined to the district bounded by the Harz Mountains, the Werra, the Thuringian Forest and the Saale.
AdvertisementRadulf made himself practically independent of the Franks, in spite of an attack made on him by Sigebert III., king of Austrasia.
Charles was baptized by St Rigobert, bishop of Reims. At the death of his father in 714, Pippin's widow Plectrude claimed the government in Austrasia and Neustria in the name of her grandchildren, and had Charles thrown into prison.
In the general anarchy Charles succeeded in escaping, defeated the Neustrians at Ambleve, south of Liege, in 716, and at Vincy, near Cambrai, in 717, and forced them to come to terms. In Austrasia he wrested the power from Plectrude, and took the title of mayor of the palace, thus prejudicing the interests of his nephews.
According to the Frankish custom he proclaimed a king in Austrasia in the person of the young Clotaire IV., but in reality Charles was the sole master - the entry in the annals for the year 717 being "Carolus regnare coepit."
Once in possession of Austrasia, Charles sought to extend his dominion over Neustria also.
AdvertisementTo the elder, Carloman, he gave Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia, with suzerainty over Bavaria; the younger, Pippin, received Neustria, Burgundy and Provence.
The suggested origin of the name Antwerp from Hand-werpen (hand-throwing), because a mythical robber chief indulged in the practice of cutting off his prisoners' hands and throwing them into the Scheldt, appeared to Motley rather farfetched, but it is less reasonable to trace it, as he inclines to do, from an t werf (on the wharf), seeing that the form Andhunerbo existed in the 6th century on the separation of Austrasia and Neustria.
In 623 his father established him as king of the region east of the Ardennes, and in 626 revived for him the ancient kingdom of Austrasia, minus Aquitaine and Provence.
This was the first of the many partitions which effectually divided the kingdom of the Franks into an eastern and a western portion, that is to say, into divisions which eventually became Germany and France respectively, and the district ruled by Theuderich was almost identical with that which afterwards bore the name of Austrasia.
After his death in 548, however, the Frankish power in Germany sank to very minute proportions, a result due partly to the spirit of tribal independence which lingered among the German races, but principally to the paralysing effect of the unceasing rivalry between Austrasia and Neustria.
AdvertisementThe virtual independence of these German tribes lasted until the union of Austrasia and Neustria in 687, an achievement mainly due to the efforts of Pippin of Heristal, who soon became the actual, though not the nominal, ruler of the Frankish realm.
He then endeavoured to enlarge his estates at the expense of Childebert's sons, Theodebert, king of Austrasia, and Theuderich II., king of Burgundy; but after gaining a victory at Laffaux (597), he was defeated at Dormelles (600), and lost part of his kingdom.
After the war between Theodebert and Theuderich and their subsequent death, the nobles of Austrasia and Burgundy appealed to Clotaire, who, after putting Brunhilda to death, became master of the whole of the Frankish kingdom (613).
From this time on, she took the lead; in Austrasia she engaged in a desperate struggle against the nobles, who wished to govern in the name of her son Childebert II.; brit she was worsted in the conflict and for some time had to seek refuge in Burgundy.
She was expelled from Austrasia, and then stirred up Theuderich II.
The nobles of Austrasia and Burgundy, however, now summoned Clotaire II., son of Fredegond, and king of Neustria, to help them against the queen.
It formed part of the Caroling kingdom of Austrasia, and was divided into pagi or gauen, ruled by official counts (comites-graven).
In 656, at the moment of his accession to power, Sigebert III., the king of Austrasia, had just died, and the Austrasian mayor of the palace, Grimoald, was attempting to usurp the authority.
Chilperic retrieved his position, took from Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine, and fostered discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of Childebert II.
The wresting of Tours from Austrasia and the seizure of ecclesiastical property provoked the bitter hatred of Gregory of Tours, by whom Chilperic was stigmatized as the Nero and the Herod of his time.
In 657 he became the nominal ruler of the three Frankish kingdoms, but was deprived of Austrasia in 663, retaining Neustria and Burgundy until his death.
The kingdom of Chilperic was retrospectively given this name, and in contemporary usage it was given to the kingdom of Clovis II., as opposed to that of Sigebert III., the two sons of Dagobert; and after that, the princes reigning in the West were called kings of Neustria, and those reigning in the East, kings of Austrasia.
Under the new Carolingian dynasty, Pippin and Charlemagne restored the unity of the Frankish realm, and then the word Neustria was restricted to the district between the Loire and the Seine, together with part of the diocese of Rouen north of the Seine; while Austrasia comprised only the Frankish dominions beyond the Rhine, perhaps with the addition of the three cities of Mainz, Worms and Spires on the left bank.
The districts between Neustria and Austrasia were called Media Francia or simply Francia.
Austrasia was the name given to eastern Lombardy, and Neustria that given to western Lombardy, the part last occupied by the Lombards.
Orange was included in the kingdom of Austrasia, fell into the hands of the Saracens and was recovered by Charlemagne.
At that time Tours belonged to Austrasia, and King Sigebert hastened to confirm Gregory's election.
His devotion to Austrasia made him very bitter against, and perhaps unjust to, the sovereigns of Neustria, Chilperic and Fredegond.
After the death of Clotaire in 670 he became ruler of the three Frankish kingdoms, Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy, but soon quarrelled with some supporters in Neustria, and was assassinated whilst hunting.
These two men Clotaire took as his counsellors; and when he decided in 623 to confer the kingdom of Austrasia upon his son Dagobert, they were appointed mentors to the Austrasian king, Pippin with the title of mayor of the palace.
Towards the end of the 7th century Pippin II., called incorrectly Pippin of Heristal, secured a preponderant authority in Austrasia, marched at the head of the Austrasians against Neustria, and gained a decisive victory at Tertry, near St Quentin (687).
In Neustria Pippin gave the mayoralty of the palace to his son Grimoald, and afterwards to Grimoald's son Theodebald; the mayoralty in Austrasia he gave to his son Drogo, and subsequently to Drogo's children, Arnulf and Hugh.
But the popes, thoroughly irritated and alarmed, and hopeless of aid from the East, turned to the family which was rising into power among the Franks of the West, the mayors of the palace of Austrasia.
During the civil war which broke out between the kings of Neustria and Austrasia, his policy was to try to maintain a state of equilibrium.
The danger to the Frankish realm caused by the expedition of Gundobald (585), and the anxiety which was caused him by the revolts of the great lords in Austrasia finally decided him in favour of Childebert.
From this time on he ceased to play a prominent part in the affairs of Austrasia.
About the close of the 5th century this territory was conquered by Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, was afterwards incorporated with the kingdom of Austrasia, and at a later period came under the rule of Charlemagne.
Taking refuge at the church of Notre Dame at Paris, she appealed to King Guntram of Burgundy, who took Clotaire under his protection and defended him against his other nephew, Childebert II., king of Austrasia.
Recognized, in fact, already as separate provinces were Austrasia, or the eastern kingdom, Neustria, or north-west Gaul and Burgundy; Aquitaine alone was as yet undifferentiated.
He declared himself the protector of Fredegond, but his death in 593 delivered up Burgundy and Neustria to Brunhildas son Childebert, king of Austrasia, in consequence of the treaty of Andelot, made in 587.
Strife began again in 613 in consequence of Theuderichs desire to join Austrasia to Neustria, but his death delivered the kingdoms into the hands of Clotaire II.
This weak king leant for support upon the nobles of Burgundy and Austrasia, impatient as they were of obedience to a woman and the representative of Rome.
The first struggle began on the accession of Clotaire II., when Austrasia, having had a king of her own ever since 561,
Burgundy followed the example of Austrasia, demanded the abolition of the mayoralty, and in 627 succeeded in obtaining her independence of Neustria and Austrasia and direct relations with the king.
Moreover, the countries formerly subdued by the Franks availed themselves of this opportunity to loosen the yoke; Thuringia was lost by Sigebert in 641, and the revolt of Alamannia in 643 set back the frontier of the kingdom from the Elbe to Austrasia.
But EbroIn was assassinated next year in the midst of his triumph, having like Fredegond been unable to do more than postpone for a quarter of a century the victory of the nobles and of Austrasia; for his successor, Berthar, was unfitted to carry on his work, having neither his gifts and energy nor the powerful personality of Pippin.
For forty years (6f5655) the office of mayor of Austrasia had gone down in his family almost continuously in direct descent from father to son.
The death of Grimoald had caused, the loss of this post, yet Ansegisus (Ansegisel), Arnulfs son and Pippins son-in-law, had continued to hold high office in the Austrasian palace; and about 680 his son, Pippin II., became master of Austrasia, although he had held no previous office in the palace.
A son of the Church, a protector of bishops, a president of councils, a collector of relics, devoted to Boniface (whom he invited, as papal legate, to reform the clergy of Austrasia), he astutely accepted the new claims of the vicar of St Peter to the headship of the Church, perceiving the value of an alliance with this rising power.
Feudalism had gained ground in the 8th century; feudalism it was which had raised the first Carohingian to the throne as being the richest and most powerful person in Austrasia; and Charlemagne with all his power had been as utterly unable as the Merovingians to revive the idea of an abstract and impersonal state.
At the partition treaty of Verdun (843) Frisia became part of Lotharingia or Lorraine; at the treaty of Mersen (870) it was divided between the kingdoms of the East Franks (Austrasia) and the West Franks (Westrasia); in 880 the whole country was united to Austrasia; in 911 it fell under the dominion of Charles the Simple, king of the West Franks, but the districts of East Frisia asserted their independence and for a long time governed themselves after a very simple democratic fashion.
She forced him into war against Austrasia, in the course of which she procured the assassination of the victorious king Sigebert (575); she carried on a malignant struggle against Chilperic's sons by his first wife, Theodebert, Merwich and Clovis, who all died tragic deaths; and she per sistently endeavoured to secure the throne for her own children.
After the death of Childebert in 595 she resolved to augment the kingdom of Neustria at the expense of Austrasia, and to this end seized some cities near Paris and defeated Theodebert at the battle of Laffaux, near Soissons.