In the _Chronicle of Theophanes_ a
still more conclusive text is found: he calls Carloman [Greek:
Karoullomagnos]; _Scr. fr._ v. 187. The two brothers must have
borne the same name. In the 10th century, Charles the Bald was
dignified, though most undeservedly, with the same title of
Great, through the ignorance of the Latin monks.--_Epitaph. ap
Scrip. fr_. vii. 322.
... Nomen qui nomine duxit
De Magni Magnus, de Caroli Carolus.
A similar kind of blunder was made by the Greek
writers in the name Elagabal, which they transformed
into Heliogabal, from "[Greek: Helios], the sun."
With regard to Charles Martel, Michelet does not allude to M. Collin de
Plaucy's explanation, and adopts the old version--
"Son surnom paien de Marteau me ferait volontiers douter s'il
etait chretien. On sait que le marteau est l'attribut de Thor, le
signe de l'association paicune, celui de la propriete de la
conquete barbare."--Vide Michelet's _Origines du Droit Francais_.
Charles was notoriously at variance with the Church. I should consider
Michelet a much better authority than M. Collin de Plaucy, who, to judge
from his preface to another work, _Le Dictionnaire Infernal_, slavishly
submits his critical acuteness to the dicta of his Church.
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