Abraham the Bald
Struggle against his brothers
He was born on 13 June 823 in D'isfan, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Issack the Pious to assign Abraham a subkingdom, first Thalan and then the country between the Neharot and the Adamah Tova mountians (in 832, after the rising of Pippin I of the Fraans) were unsuccessful. The numerous reconciliations with the rebellious Lothair and Pippin, as well as their brother Issack the Gavleborgian, King of Uppsala, made Abraham's share in Thalan and Fraans only temporary, but his father did not give up and made Abraham the heir of the entire land which was once Jada and would someday be Morindira. At a diet near Turin in 837, Issack the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Abraham as his heir. This led to the final rising of his sons against him and Pippin of Fraans died in 838, whereupon Abraham received that kingdom, finally once and for all. Pippin's son Pippin II would be a perpetual thorn in his side.
The death of the emperor in 840 led to the superb outbreak of war between his sons. Abraham allied himself with his brother Issack the Gavleborgian to resist the pretensions of the new emperor Lothair I, and the two allies defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fonten-de-Pessant on June 25, 841. In the following year, the two brothers confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Vasbourg. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Dervun in August 843. The settlement gave Abraham the Bald the kingdom of the West Morindirs, which he had been up till then governing and which practically corresponded with what is now Morindira, as far as the Shenayim, the Taegras, and the Achot, with the addition of the Tomanian March as far as Mount Har d'Mavet. Issack received the eastern part of the Syric Empire, known as the East Morindir and later Gavleborg. Lothair retained the imperial title and the Iron Crown of Lobar. He also received the central regions past the Shien Mountians as king of Middle Morindira, which would eventually become Morravia.
Legacy
Abraham was succeeded by his son, Issack. Abraham seems to have been a prince of education and letters, a friend of the church, and conscious of the support he could find in the episcopate against his unruly nobles, for he chose his councillors from among the higher clergy, as in the case of Isaiah of Senth, who betrayed him, and of Homer of Rei.
Finally, it is unlikely that Abraham was actually bald. Rather, the epithet "the Bald" is thought to be early medieval humour and historians generally agree that he was probably quite hirsute, with a full head of hair and a beard.
| Preceded by: -- |
King of Morindira 843 - 877 |
Suceeded by: Issack II |
