PART II
DE PIPPINI REGIS VICTORIA AVARICA [..., p. 100-]
KING PIPPIN’S VICTORY OVER THE AVARS
O Christ, son of God, you, who made all peoples,
lands, springs, rivers and mountains, and formed man,
have converted the Avars [1] in the recent past.
They have done many evil deeds for a very long time;
they destroyed shrines of God, monasteries,
consecrated vessels of gold, silver items, and pottery. [2]
They polluted the holy trappings of the most sacred altars
and the linen vestments of the deacons and the nuns,
and, on the demon’s advice, gave them to their wives.
God sent Saint Peter, the prince of the apostles,
in aid of Pippin, the great king’s son, [3]
to accompany him and the army of the Franks.
King Pippin, a catholic king, girded with God’s power,
pitched his camp near the white river Danube,
placing lookout posts against the enemy everywhere.
Unguimer of the Avar people, greatly frightened by that,
said to his king very loudly: «Oh Cacan, [4] you have lost!»,
and to the woman Catuna, [5] his accursed wife:
1. The Avars were a nomadic people, who settled in Pannonia, an area corresponding approximately to present-day Hungary, in the second hall’of the sixth century after the Lombards left that region to move to Italy. For a general overview of the Avars, see Pohl, Die Awaren.
2. Cf. 2 Tim. 2: 20.
3. Pippin (t 810) was Charlemagne’s son.
4. The rulers of the Avars held the title of kliagan. Pohl, Die Awaren, pp. 293-300. Like many early medieval authors, the poet used Cacan as if it were a name and for this reason 1 have preferred to leave the term Cacan in the translation.
5. The wife of the khagan had the title of katun. Pohl, Die Awaren, pp. 305-306. In this case too, the author seems to employ this term as if it were a name.
101
«Your kingdoms are finished; you will reign no more.
Your kingdoms will he destroyed by the catholic prince Pippin
and will be given lo the Christians for a very long time.
King Pippin approaches with a strong army
in order to take possession of your territories, to sweep away your people
and to place his garrisons on your mountains, forests and hills.
Rise up quickly and take many gifts with you;
pay homage to the scepter of the king so that you might live a little longer.
Offer him gold and gems so that he does not deliver you to death.»
Hearing this, King Cacan was completely terrified.
He immediately mounted on a she-mule and, with the noble Tarcans, [6]
went to pay homage to the king and to placate him with gifts.
He said to the king; «Greetings, prince! Be our lord!
With these branches and leaves, [7] I hand over to you my kingdom,
forests, mountains, and hills, with everything that springs forth from them.
Take our children with you; let them offer their allegiance to you;
do not spare the nobles; turn back with your army;
We will hand over to your authority our necks and our children.»
We, faithful Christians, give thanks to God,
who established the kingdom of our king over the kingdom of the Huns [8]
and bestowed upon him the victory over the pagan peoples.
6. Tarcan was a title held by the most important Avars. Pohl, Die Awaren, pp. 301-302.
7. This seems to be a reference to a common medieval practice according to which any transfer of land was symbolized by the gift of a small branch by the old to new owner.
8. Many medieval authors called Huns the Avars.
103
May King Pippin live, live in fear of the Lord,
may he grow old and reign on in old age and beget sons,
who will preserve his palaces in his lifetime and after his death.
He created a great, wide, and most powerful kingdom,
something that the kingdoms of the earth were not able to do up to this day;
neither Caesar nor the pagans did this, but the grace of God did this.
Eternal glory be to the father and glory to the son.