The empire, which, in prejudice to the branch of Charles
the Bald had been already given to the bastard line of Louis, King of
Germany,
[199]
was transferred to a foreign house by the election of
Conrad, Duke of Franconia, in 912. The reigning branch in France, being
hardly able to contest a few villages, was much less in a situation to
contest the empire. We have an agreement entered into between Charles
the Simple and the Emperor Henry I, who had succeeded to Conrad, It is
called the Compact of Bonn.
[200]
These two princes met in a vessel which
had been placed in the middle of the Rhine, and swore eternal
friendship. They used on this occasion an excellent middle term. Charles
took the title of King of West France, and Henry that of King of East
France. Charles contracted with the King of Germany, and not with the
Emperor.
