Event #2285: Signs in the sun and the moon and in the stars appear before the death of Charles Martel

Text #3168

In this year Duke Pippin raised an army and set out for Burgundy with his uncle, Duke Childebrand, and many noblemen and a great company of followers; and they took over control of that land. But meanwhile, it grieves me deeply to relate, there appeared harbingers of misfortune, signs in the sun, and the moon and in the stars¹, and the date of the most holy order of celebration of Easter was the subject of debate. Sure enough, Prince Charles, having bestowed rich gifts on the church of the blessed martyr Denis at Paris, fell ill of a fever on arriving at the palace of Quierzy on the Oise²; and there he died in the piece of Holy Church. His dominion was over all the lands round about, and he had ruled³ over the two kindoms for twenty-five and one-half years. He died on 22 October⁴ and was buried at Paris in the church of the blessed martyr Denis.

1. 740; cf. Luke xxi. 25 [OF] ↩

2. Aisne [OF] ↩

3. Not in the technical sense; but there had been no king since the death of Theuderic IV in 737. [OF] ↩

4. 741, but possibly on 15 October. (cf. Levinson, Aus Rheinischer und Fränkischer Frühzeit, p. 343. [OF] ↩