Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Shaped Medieval Europe

Vicious family feuds, destabilizing coups, and brutal violence were the reigning values of the ninth-century Frankish Empire, according to this intricate account. Historians Gabriele and Perry, coauthors of The Bright Ages, begin with Pepin the Short, who seized power in what they suggest, contrary to anodyne royal annals, was a bloody coup. They move on to Pepin’s storied son Charlemagne, who snuffed out another coup plot led by his son Pepin the Hunchback. Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious ruled next, and the bulk of the narrative deals with rebellions that his sons Lothar, Pepin of Aquitaine, and Louis the German launched over their status as subordinate kings and their antagonism toward their stepmother, Judith. Lothar inherited the throne after his father’s death but faced yet more family-backed rebellions (Louis the German again, plus a son of Judith’s), which eventually led to the breaking up of the empire. Through subtle readings of biased chronicles and documents, Gabriele and Perry dispel the romantic aura of the Carolingian era, depicting it as an entertaining but gruesome medieval picaresque of power-hungry plots, murders, and—stomach-churningly—blindings. The authors also shrewdly explore the Franks’ genuine belief in the sacredness of kingship—and especially of royal oaths—that kept such a violent system in motion. The result is an enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset. (Dec.)