_Kings of France, of the Merovingian Line._
LXXV. The cause of the translation of the Crown of France, from the
Merovingian to the Carlovingian line, was, for a long time, and without
the least contradiction, believed to have proceeded from the incapacity
of the princes of the first race to govern; and this was the motive
assigned by various authors and chronologers for the transaction; but
it having been afterwards found out, that they all copied this story
from Eginardus, who was antecedent to these writers; and it having been
also discovered that there was reason for suspecting the authority of
Eginardus in this respect, and that it was probable he was warped by
motives of favour and partiality; people began to doubt, and these
doubts were succeeded by an absolute denial, in some of the most eminent
modern French authors, of the truth of what he had asserted. Eginardus
was secretary of state to, and a great favourite with Charles the Fifth;
and it was the interest of this prince, that it should not seem as
if the Crown, which devolved to him as heir to his father Pepin, was
an usurpation, in which light the thing must have appeared, provided
Childeric had been unjustly deposed; and, besides the disgrace of his
father’s having committed an act of perfidy, he would have remained
without a legitimate title to the crown; for there was no other mode
of putting an honest face upon the coronation of Pepin, but that of
declaring Childeric and all the princes of his race incapable of reigning.
LXVI. Eginardus then, as a minister in whom Charles placed the greatest
confidence, could not divest himself of being partial to the interests
of his master; nor could he avoid, on this account, drawing upon him
the suspicion of his having been biased by motives of prejudice in his
favour. We may add to this, that in his narrative of the transaction,
he has mixed some false and incredible circumstances. He says, that
Childeric was deposed, and Pepin crowned, by the authority and direction
of Pope Estephanus the Third; which could not possibly be, for the
election of this pope was either some days posterior to the coronation
of Pepin, or happened within a day or two of that era. For this reason,
others, in order to vindicate the coronation, without violating
chronology, bring the authority of pope Zacharias to justify it, who was
the immediate predecessor of Estephanus. What Eginardus tells us of the
state of indolence and abasement in which the kings of the Merovingian
line lived, is totally incredible. He relates, that they used to appear
in public, and take their journies in a cart or waggon, drawn by oxen,
which was driven by a person who was habited like, and had in all
respects the appearance of a common carter; but who can believe such an
extravagance? He says further, that they were allowed no other income
to subsist on than the rent of a small farm; and that all the rest was
disposed of according to the will and pleasure of the steward and other
officers of the houshold. But how can this be reconciled, or rendered
compatible with the building of various monasteries, which were erected
and endowed by the kings of the Merovingian line, and with the grand
donations which were made by them to many others?