ed by Charles in 776. In 777 the king was
visited at Paderborn by three Saracen chiefs who implored his aid
against Abd-ar-Rahman, the caliph of Cordova, and promised some Spanish
cities in return for help. Seizing this opportunity to extend his
influence Charles marched into Spain in 778 and took Pampeluna, but
meeting with some checks decided to return. As the Frankish forces were
defiling through the passes of the Pyrenees they were attacked by the
Wascones (probably Basques), and the rear-guard of the army was almost
annihilated. It was useless to attempt to avenge this disaster, which
occurred on the 15th of August 778, for the enemy disappeared as quickly
as he came; the incident has passed from the domain of history into that
of legend and romance, being associated by tradition with the pass of
Roncesvalles. Among the slain was one Hruodland, or Roland, margrave of
the Breton march, whose death gave rise to the _Chanson de Roland_ (see
ROLAND, LEGEND OF).

Charles now sought to increase his authority in Italy, where Frankish
counts were set over various districts, and where Hildebrand, duke of
Spoleto, appears to have recognized his overlordship. In 780 he was
again in the peninsula, and at Mantua issued an important _capitulary_
which increased the authority of the Lombard bishops, relieved freemen
who under stress of famine had sold themselves into servitude, and
condemned abuses of the system of vassalage. At the same time commerce
was encouraged by the abolition of unauthorized tolls and by an
improvement of the coinage; while the sale of arms to hostile peoples,
and the trade in Christian slaves were forbidden. Proceeding to Rome,
the king appears to have come to some arrangement with Adrian about the
donation of 774. At Easter 781, Carloman, his second son by Hildegarde,
was renamed Pippin and crowned king of Italy by Pope Adrian, and his
youngest son Louis was crowned king of Aquitaine; but no mention was
made at the time of his eldest son Charles, who was doubtless intended
to be king of the Franks. In 783 the king, having lost his wife
Hildegarde, married Fastrada, the daughter of a Frankish count named
Radolf; and in the same year his mother Bertha died. The emperor
Constantine VI. was at this time exhibiting some interest in Italian
affairs, and Adalgis the Lombard was still residing at his court; so
Charles sought to avert danger from this quarter by consenting in 781 to
a marriage between Constantine