General Notes

bk&q p 725 list of French kings [R36]
FIMA  pp xiv, 2, 14-18 "In the words of Abbot Abbo of Fleury to Hugh Cap
et and his son and associate in office, the future ROBERT II, their pow
er was 'royal, that is to say imperial'.
In 1023 this same Robert ('the Pious') had a formal meeting with anot
her king of the Franks, HENRY [III], king of Eastern Francia.  They decid
ed to work together for universal peace.  Their meeting took place clo
se to the river Meuse, which divided their lands.  For the land settl
ed by the Franks when their migration westward was complete (covering pa
rt of Gaul and Germania) had been divided into three inheritances by a tre
aty made at Verdun in 843.  Three of the sons of LOUIS the Pious had th
en each received an equal portion of the Empire:  Robert now held the west
ernmost portion, or West Francia.  Its eastern borders were largely defin
ed by the course of four rivers, the Scheldt, the Meuse, the Saone and t
he Rhone.  South of the Pyrenees it also included Catalonia, the 'march' (
or frontier province) on the Spanish border.
By the time Ralph Glaber was writing, the remaining territory of t
he former Carolingian Empire was concentrated in the hands of the Ottoni
an king of Germany, who claimed the title of Emperor.  His rule was acknow
ledged in Lorraine (the Frankish part of Gaul), but hardly at all in the e
cclesiastical provinces of Besancon, Vienne and Arles.  The fact that the
se areas had formerly been kingdoms was now no more than a distant memor
y.  In practical terms they had no king, and this was to have important co
nsequences for the future development of the French State.  Monarchy was s
trong in the north, however, on the one hand, in Germany and along the Rhi
ne; on the other, in France, along the rivers Loire and Seine.
For in contemporary minds 'Francia' was the land held by Robert, or W
estern Francia.  This was where the long wanderings of the Franks had co
me to an end.  This was the base for the future conquests.  This had be
en CLOVIS's kingdom; he had converted to Christianity at Rheims, and recei
ved the consular insignia from the Emperor at Tours in 508.  St. Martin h
ad been the object of Clovis's especial devotion, and he had declared h
im patron saint of the Franks.  He lived in Paris after his great victori
es and was buried there; he had summoned all the bishops of Gaul to Orlea
ns in 511.  Moreover, the memory of Charlemagne was also strongest in th
is area, preserved by the great monasteries there.  They prayed for his so
ul, and forged false charters in his name to support a variety of claim
s.  Manuscripts of Einhard's biography of the Emperor were to be fou
nd in monastic libraries.
Gradually Charlemagne came to be seen as king of the Franks.  By t
he year 1000, Frankish identity was firmly established in the west, whi
le in the east there was a process of dissociation for which Heinrich Fich
tenau coined the term 'defrancization'.  By this date the kingdom of Ea
st Francia was assumed to be that of the Teutons.  The expression "kingd
om of the Teutons" became increasingly widespread there, emphasizing an id
entity distinct from the "kingdom of the Franks" in the West.  For Franki
sh historians, this part of Gaul had become synonymous with France.
At the monastery of Fleury-sur-Loire (close to Orleans and in the hea
rtland of Francia), Aimon of Fleury worte a new history of the Frankish pe
ople for King Robert.  He added the legend of the holy ampulla to th
at of their Trojan origins.  He had found this story in the Life of St. Re
my written by Hincmar of Rheims in 878.  Hincmar expanded Gregory of Tour
s' account of the baptism of Clovis by St. Remy, seeing them as a second C
ONSTANTINE and Sylvester.  He relates how 'a dove whiter than snow' was se
en to descend from the sky carrying oil in an ampulla.  According to Aim
on of Fleury, this was miraculous oil which renewed itself constantly, bec
ause it was