Christianity.—Part IV.
The Catholics, oppressed by royal and military force, were far
superior to their adversaries in numbers and learning. With the
same weapons which the Greek 112 and Latin fathers had already
provided for the Arian controversy, they repeatedly silenced, or
vanquished, the fierce and illiterate successors of Ulphilas. The
consciousness of their own superiority might have raised them
above the arts and passions of religious warfare. Yet, instead of
assuming such honorable pride, the orthodox theologians were
tempted, by the assurance of impunity, to compose fictions, which
must be stigmatized with the epithets of fraud and forgery. They
ascribed their own polemical works to the most venerable names of
Christian antiquity; the characters of Athanasius and Augustin
were awkwardly personated by Vigilius and his disciples; 113 and
the famous creed, which so clearly expounds the mysteries of the
Trinity and the Incarnation, is deduced, with strong probability,
from this African school. 114 Even the Scriptures themselves were
profaned by their rash and sacrilegious hands. The memorable
text, which asserts the unity of the three who bear witness in
heaven, 115 is condemned by the universal silence of the orthodox
fathers, ancient versions, and authentic manuscripts. 116 It was
first alleged by the Catholic bishops whom Hunneric summoned to
the conference of Carthage. 117 An allegorical interpretation, in
the form, perhaps, of a marginal note, invaded the text of the
Latin Bibles, which were renewed and corrected in a dark period
of ten centuries. 118 After the invention of printing, 119 the
editors of the Greek Testament yielded to their own prejudices,
or those of the times; 120 and the pious fraud, which was
embraced with equal zeal at Rome and at Geneva, has been
infinitely multiplied in every country and every language of
modern Europe.
112 (return) [ Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspae, in the Byzacene
province, was of a senatorial family, and had received a liberal
education. He could repeat all Homer and Menander before he was
allowed to study Latin his native tongue, (Vit. Fulgent. c. l.)
Many African bishops might understand Greek, and many Greek
theologians were translated into Latin.]
113 (return) [ Compare the two prefaces to the Dialogue of
Vigilius of Thapsus, (p. 118, 119, edit. Chiflet.) He might amuse
his learned reader with an innocent fiction; but the subject was
too grave, and the Africans were too ignorant.]
114 (return) [ The P. Quesnel started this opinion, which has
been favorably received. But the three following truths, however
surprising they may seem, are now universally acknowledged,
(Gerard Vossius, tom. vi. p. 516-522. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.
tom. viii. p. 667-671.) 1. St. Athanasius is not the author of
the creed which is so frequently read in our churches. 2. It does
not appear to have existed within a century after his death. 3.
It was originally composed in the Latin tongue, and, consequently
in the Western provinces. Gennadius patriarch of Constantinople,
was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition, that he
frankly pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. Petav.
Dogmat. Theologica, tom. ii. l. vii. c. 8, p. 687.]
115 (return) [ 1 John, v. 7. See Simon, Hist. Critique du Nouveau
Testament, part i. c. xviii. p. 203-218; and part ii. c. ix. p.
99-121; and the elaborate Prolegomena and Annotations of Dr. Mill
and Wetstein to their editions of the Greek Testament. In 1689,
the papist Simon strove to be free; in 1707, the Protestant Mill
wished to be a slave; in 1751, the Armenian Wetstein used the
liberty of his times, and of his sect. * Note: This controversy
has continued to be agitated, but with declining interest even in
the more religious part of the community; and may now be
considered to have terminated in an almost general acquiescence
of the learned to the conclusions of Porson in his Letters to
Travis. See the pamphlets of the late Bishop of Salisbury and of
Crito Cantabrigiensis, Dr. Turton of Cambridge.—M.]
116 (return) [ Of all the Mss. now extant, above fourscore in
number, some of which are more than 1200 years old, (Wetstein ad
loc.) The orthodox copies of the Vatican, of the Complutensian
editors, of Robert Stephens, are become invisible; and the two
Mss. of Dublin and Berlin are unworthy to form an exception. See
Emlyn’s Works, vol. ii. p 227-255, 269-299; and M. de Missy’s
four ingenious letters, in tom. viii. and ix. of the Journal
Britannique.]
117 (return) [ Or, more properly, by the four bishops who
composed and published the profession of faith in the name of
their brethren. They styled this text, luce clarius, (Victor
Vitensis de Persecut. Vandal. l. iii. c. 11, p. 54.) It is quoted
soon afterwards by the African polemics, Vigilius and
Fulgentius.]
118 (return) [ In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Bibles
were corrected by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and by
Nicholas, cardinal and librarian of the Roman church, secundum
orthodoxam fidem, (Wetstein, Prolegom. p. 84, 85.)
Notwithstanding these corrections, the passage is still wanting
in twenty-five Latin Mss., (Wetstein ad loc.,) the oldest and the
fairest; two qualities seldom united, except in manuscripts.]
119 (return) [ The art which the Germans had invented was applied
in Italy to the profane writers of Rome and Greece. The original
Greek of the New Testament was published about the same time
(A.D. 1514, 1516, 1520,) by the industry of Erasmus, and the
munificence of Cardinal Ximenes. The Complutensian Polyglot cost
the cardinal 50,000 ducats. See Mattaire, Annal. Typograph. tom.
ii. p. 2-8, 125-133; and Wetstein, Prolegomena, p. 116-127.]
120 (return) [ The three witnesses have been established in our
Greek Testaments by the prudence of Erasmus; the honest bigotry
of the Complutensian editors; the typographical fraud, or error,
of Robert Stephens, in the placing a crotchet; and the deliberate
falsehood, or strange misapprehension, of Theodore Beza.]
The example of fraud must excite suspicion: and the specious
miracles by which the African Catholics have defended the truth
and justice of their cause, may be ascribed, with more reason, to
their own industry, than to the visible protection of Heaven. Yet
the historian, who views this religious conflict with an
impartial eye, may condescend to mention one preternatural event,
which will edify the devout, and surprise the incredulous.
Tipasa, 121 a maritime colony of Mauritania, sixteen miles to the
east of Caesarea, had been distinguished, in every age, by the
orthodox zeal of its inhabitants. They had braved the fury of the
Donatists; 122 they resisted, or eluded, the tyranny of the
Arians. The town was deserted on the approach of an heretical
bishop: most of the inhabitants who could procure ships passed
over to the coast of Spain; and the unhappy remnant, refusing all
communion with the usurper, still presumed to hold their pious,
but illegal, assemblies. Their disobedience exasperated the
cruelty of Hunneric. A military count was despatched from
Carthage to Tipasa: he collected the Catholics in the Forum, and,
in the presence of the whole province, deprived the guilty of
their right hands and their tongues. But the holy confessors
continued to speak without tongues; and this miracle is attested
by Victor, an African bishop, who published a history of the
persecution within two years after the event. 123 “If any one,”
says Victor, “should doubt of the truth, let him repair to
Constantinople, and listen to the clear and perfect language of
Restitutus, the sub-deacon, one of these glorious sufferers, who
is now lodged in the palace of the emperor Zeno, and is respected
by the devout empress.” At Constantinople we are astonished to
find a cool, a learned, and unexceptionable witness, without
interest, and without passion. Aeneas of Gaza, a Platonic
philosopher, has accurately described his own observations on
these African sufferers. “I saw them myself: I heard them speak:
I diligently inquired by what means such an articulate voice
could be formed without any organ of speech: I used my eyes to
examine the report of my ears; I opened their mouth, and saw that
the whole tongue had been completely torn away by the roots; an
operation which the physicians generally suppose to be mortal.”
124 The testimony of Aeneas of Gaza might be confirmed by the
superfluous evidence of the emperor Justinian, in a perpetual
edict; of Count Marcellinus, in his Chronicle of the times; and
of Pope Gregory the First, who had resided at Constantinople, as
the minister of the Roman pontiff. 125 They all lived within the
compass of a century; and they all appeal to their personal
knowledge, or the public notoriety, for the truth of a miracle,
which was repeated in several instances, displayed on the
greatest theatre of the world, and submitted, during a series of
years, to the calm examination of the senses. This supernatural
gift of the African confessors, who spoke without tongues, will
command the assent of those, and of those only, who already
believe, that their language was pure and orthodox. But the
stubborn mind of an infidel, is guarded by secret, incurable
suspicion; and the Arian, or Socinian, who has seriously rejected
the doctrine of a Trinity, will not be shaken by the most
plausible evidence of an Athanasian miracle.
121 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natural. v. 1. Itinerar. Wesseling, p.
15. Cellanius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. part ii. p. 127. This
Tipasa (which must not be confounded with another in Numidia) was
a town of some note since Vespasian endowed it with the right of
Latium.]
122 (return) [ Optatus Milevitanus de Schism. Donatist. l. ii. p.
38.]
123 (return) [ Victor Vitensis, v. 6, p. 76. Ruinart, p.
483-487.]
124 (return) [ Aeneas Gazaeus in Theophrasto, in Biblioth.
Patrum, tom. viii. p. 664, 665. He was a Christian, and composed
this Dialogue (the Theophrastus) on the immortality of the soul,
and the resurrection of the body; besides twenty-five Epistles,
still extant. See Cave, (Hist. Litteraria, p. 297,) and
Fabricius, (Biblioth. Graec. tom. i. p. 422.)]
125 (return) [ Justinian. Codex. l. i. tit. xxvii. Marcellin. in
Chron. p. 45, in Thesaur. Temporum Scaliger. Procopius, de Bell.
Vandal. l. i. c. 7. p. 196. Gregor. Magnus, Dialog. iii. 32. None
of these witnesses have specified the number of the confessors,
which is fixed at sixty in an old menology, (apud Ruinart. p.
486.) Two of them lost their speech by fornication; but the
miracle is enhanced by the singular instance of a boy who had
never spoken before his tongue was cut out. ]
The Vandals and the Ostrogoths persevered in the profession of
Arianism till the final ruin of the kingdoms which they had
founded in Africa and Italy. The Barbarians of Gaul submitted to
the orthodox dominion of the Franks; and Spain was restored to
the Catholic church by the voluntary conversion of the Visigoths.
This salutary revolution 126 was hastened by the example of a
royal martyr, whom our calmer reason may style an ungrateful
rebel. Leovigild, the Gothic monarch of Spain, deserved the
respect of his enemies, and the love of his subjects; the
Catholics enjoyed a free toleration, and his Arian synods
attempted, without much success, to reconcile their scruples by
abolishing the unpopular rite of a second baptism. His eldest son
Hermenegild, who was invested by his father with the royal
diadem, and the fair principality of Boetica, contracted an
honorable and orthodox alliance with a Merovingian princess, the
daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, and of the famous
Brunechild. The beauteous Ingundis, who was no more than thirteen
years of age, was received, beloved, and persecuted, in the Arian
court of Toledo; and her religious constancy was alternately
assaulted with blandishments and violence by Goisvintha, the
Gothic queen, who abused the double claim of maternal authority.
127 Incensed by her resistance, Goisvintha seized the Catholic
princess by her long hair, inhumanly dashed her against the
ground, kicked her till she was covered with blood, and at last
gave orders that she should be stripped, and thrown into a basin,
or fish-pond. 128 Love and honor might excite Hermenegild to
resent this injurious treatment of his bride; and he was
gradually persuaded that Ingundis suffered for the cause of
divine truth. Her tender complaints, and the weighty arguments of
Leander, archbishop of Seville, accomplished his conversion and
the heir of the Gothic monarchy was initiated in the Nicene faith
by the solemn rites of confirmation. 129 The rash youth, inflamed
by zeal, and perhaps by ambition, was tempted to violate the
duties of a son and a subject; and the Catholics of Spain,
although they could not complain of persecution, applauded his
pious rebellion against an heretical father. The civil war was
protracted by the long and obstinate sieges of Merida, Cordova,
and Seville, which had strenuously espoused the party of
Hermenegild. He invited the orthodox Barbarians, the Seuvi, and
the Franks, to the destruction of his native land; he solicited
the dangerous aid of the Romans, who possessed Africa, and a part
of the Spanish coast; and his holy ambassador, the archbishop
Leander, effectually negotiated in person with the Byzantine
court. But the hopes of the Catholics were crushed by the active
diligence of the monarch who commanded the troops and treasures
of Spain; and the guilty Hermenegild, after his vain attempts to
resist or to escape, was compelled to surrender himself into the
hands of an incensed father. Leovigild was still mindful of that
sacred character; and the rebel, despoiled of the regal
ornaments, was still permitted, in a decent exile, to profess the
Catholic religion. His repeated and unsuccessful treasons at
length provoked the indignation of the Gothic king; and the
sentence of death, which he pronounced with apparent reluctance,
was privately executed in the tower of Seville. The inflexible
constancy with which he refused to accept the Arian communion, as
the price of his safety, may excuse the honors that have been
paid to the memory of St. Hermenegild. His wife and infant son
were detained by the Romans in ignominious captivity; and this
domestic misfortune tarnished the glories of Leovigild, and
imbittered the last moments of his life.
126 (return) [ See the two general historians of Spain, Mariana
(Hist. de Rebus Hispaniae, tom. i. l. v. c. 12-15, p. 182-194)
and Ferreras, (French translation, tom. ii. p. 206-247.) Mariana
almost forgets that he is a Jesuit, to assume the style and
spirit of a Roman classic. Ferreras, an industrious compiler,
reviews his facts, and rectifies his chronology.]
127 (return) [ Goisvintha successively married two kings of the
Visigoths: Athanigild, to whom she bore Brunechild, the mother of
Ingundis; and Leovigild, whose two sons, Hermenegild and Recared,
were the issue of a former marriage.]
128 (return) [ Iracundiae furore succensa, adprehensam per comam
capitis puellam in terram conlidit, et diu calcibus verberatam,
ac sanguins cruentatam, jussit exspoliari, et piscinae immergi.
Greg. Turon. l. v. c. 39. in tom. ii. p. 255. Gregory is one of
our best originals for this portion of history.]
129 (return) [ The Catholics who admitted the baptism of heretics
repeated the rite, or, as it was afterwards styled, the
sacrament, of confirmation, to which they ascribed many mystic
and marvellous prerogatives both visible and invisible. See
Chardon. Hist. des Sacremens, tom. 1. p. 405-552.]
His son and successor, Recared, the first Catholic king of Spain,
had imbibed the faith of his unfortunate brother, which he
supported with more prudence and success. Instead of revolting
against his father, Recared patiently expected the hour of his
death. Instead of condemning his memory, he piously supposed,
that the dying monarch had abjured the errors of Arianism, and
recommended to his son the conversion of the Gothic nation. To
accomplish that salutary end, Recared convened an assembly of the
Arian clergy and nobles, declared himself a Catholic, and
exhorted them to imitate the example of their prince. The
laborious interpretation of doubtful texts, or the curious
pursuit of metaphysical arguments, would have excited an endless
controversy; and the monarch discreetly proposed to his
illiterate audience two substantial and visible arguments,—the
testimony of Earth, and of Heaven. The Earth had submitted to the
Nicene synod: the Romans, the Barbarians, and the inhabitants of
Spain, unanimously professed the same orthodox creed; and the
Visigoths resisted, almost alone, the consent of the Christian
world. A superstitious age was prepared to reverence, as the
testimony of Heaven, the preternatural cures, which were
performed by the skill or virtue of the Catholic clergy; the
baptismal fonts of Osset in Boetica, 130 which were spontaneously
replenished every year, on the vigil of Easter; 131 and the
miraculous shrine of St. Martin of Tours, which had already
converted the Suevic prince and people of Gallicia. 132 The
Catholic king encountered some difficulties on this important
change of the national religion. A conspiracy, secretly fomented
by the queen-dowager, was formed against his life; and two counts
excited a dangerous revolt in the Narbonnese Gaul. But Recared
disarmed the conspirators, defeated the rebels, and executed
severe justice; which the Arians, in their turn, might brand with
the reproach of persecution. Eight bishops, whose names betray
their Barbaric origin, abjured their errors; and all the books of
Arian theology were reduced to ashes, with the house in which
they had been purposely collected. The whole body of the
Visigoths and Suevi were allured or driven into the pale of the
Catholic communion; the faith, at least of the rising generation,
was fervent and sincere: and the devout liberality of the
Barbarians enriched the churches and monasteries of Spain.
Seventy bishops, assembled in the council of Toledo, received the
submission of their conquerors; and the zeal of the Spaniards
improved the Nicene creed, by declaring the procession of the
Holy Ghost from the Son, as well as from the Father; a weighty
point of doctrine, which produced, long afterwards, the schism of
the Greek and Latin churches. 133 The royal proselyte immediately
saluted and consulted Pope Gregory, surnamed the Great, a learned
and holy prelate, whose reign was distinguished by the conversion
of heretics and infidels. The ambassadors of Recared respectfully
offered on the threshold of the Vatican his rich presents of gold
and gems; they accepted, as a lucrative exchange, the hairs of
St. John the Baptist; a cross, which enclosed a small piece of
the true wood; and a key, that contained some particles of iron
which had been scraped from the chains of St. Peter. 134
130 (return) [ Osset, or Julia Constantia, was opposite to
Seville, on the northern side of the Boetis, (Plin. Hist. Natur.
iii. 3:) and the authentic reference of Gregory of Tours (Hist.
Francor. l. vi. c. 43, p. 288) deserves more credit than the name
of Lusitania, (de Gloria Martyr. c. 24,) which has been eagerly
embraced by the vain and superstitious Portuguese, (Ferreras,
Hist. d’Espagne, tom. ii. p. 166.)]
131 (return) [ This miracle was skilfully performed. An Arian
king sealed the doors, and dug a deep trench round the church,
without being able to intercept the Easter supply of baptismal
water.]
132 (return) [ Ferreras (tom. ii. p. 168-175, A.D. 550) has
illustrated the difficulties which regard the time and
circumstances of the conversion of the Suevi. They had been
recently united by Leovigild to the Gothic monarchy of Spain.]
133 (return) [ This addition to the Nicene, or rather the
Constantinopolitan creed, was first made in the eighth council of
Toledo, A.D. 653; but it was expressive of the popular doctrine,
(Gerard Vossius, tom. vi. p. 527, de tribus Symbolis.)]
134 (return) [ See Gregor. Magn. l. vii. epist. 126, apud
Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 559, No. 25, 26.]
The same Gregory, the spiritual conqueror of Britain, encouraged
the pious Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, to propagate the
Nicene faith among the victorious savages, whose recent
Christianity was polluted by the Arian heresy. Her devout labors
still left room for the industry and success of future
missionaries; and many cities of Italy were still disputed by
hostile bishops. But the cause of Arianism was gradually
suppressed by the weight of truth, of interest, and of example;
and the controversy, which Egypt had derived from the Platonic
school, was terminated, after a war of three hundred years, by
the final conversion of the Lombards of Italy. 135
135 (return) [ Paul Warnefrid (de Gestis Langobard. l. iv. c. 44,
p. 153, edit Grot.) allows that Arianism still prevailed under
the reign of Rotharis, (A.D. 636-652.) The pious deacon does not
attempt to mark the precise era of the national conversion, which
was accomplished, however, before the end of the seventh
century.]
The first missionaries who preached the gospel to the Barbarians,
appealed to the evidence of reason, and claimed the benefit of
toleration. 136 But no sooner had they established their
spiritual dominion, than they exhorted the Christian kings to
extirpate, without mercy, the remains of Roman or Barbaric
superstition. The successors of Clovis inflicted one hundred
lashes on the peasants who refused to destroy their idols; the
crime of sacrificing to the demons was punished by the
Anglo-Saxon laws with the heavier penalties of imprisonment and
confiscation; and even the wise Alfred adopted, as an
indispensable duty, the extreme rigor of the Mosaic institutions.
137 But the punishment and the crime were gradually abolished
among a Christian people; the theological disputes of the schools
were suspended by propitious ignorance; and the intolerant spirit
which could find neither idolaters nor heretics, was reduced to
the persecution of the Jews. That exiled nation had founded some
synagogues in the cities of Gaul; but Spain, since the time of
Hadrian, was filled with their numerous colonies. 138 The wealth
which they accumulated by trade, and the management of the
finances, invited the pious avarice of their masters; and they
might be oppressed without danger, as they had lost the use, and
even the remembrance, of arms. Sisebut, a Gothic king, who
reigned in the beginning of the seventh century, proceeded at
once to the last extremes of persecution. 139 Ninety thousand
Jews were compelled to receive the sacrament of baptism; the
fortunes of the obstinate infidels were confiscated, their bodies
were tortured; and it seems doubtful whether they were permitted
to abandon their native country. The excessive zeal of the
Catholic king was moderated, even by the clergy of Spain, who
solemnly pronounced an inconsistent sentence: that the sacraments
should not be forcibly imposed; but that the Jews who had been
baptized should be constrained, for the honor of the church, to
persevere in the external practice of a religion which they
disbelieved and detested. Their frequent relapses provoked one of
the successors of Sisebut to banish the whole nation from his
dominions; and a council of Toledo published a decree, that every
Gothic king should swear to maintain this salutary edict. But the
tyrants were unwilling to dismiss the victims, whom they
delighted to torture, or to deprive themselves of the industrious
slaves, over whom they might exercise a lucrative oppression. The
Jews still continued in Spain, under the weight of the civil and
ecclesiastical laws, which in the same country have been
faithfully transcribed in the Code of the Inquisition. The Gothic
kings and bishops at length discovered, that injuries will
produce hatred, and that hatred will find the opportunity of
revenge. A nation, the secret or professed enemies of
Christianity, still multiplied in servitude and distress; and the
intrigues of the Jews promoted the rapid success of the Arabian
conquerors. 140
136 (return) [ Quorum fidei et conversioni ita congratulatus esse
rex perhibetur, ut nullum tamen cogeret ad Christianismum....
Didiceret enim a doctoribus auctoribusque suae salutis, servitium
Christi voluntarium non coactitium esse debere. Bedae Hist.
Ecclesiastic. l. i. c. 26, p. 62, edit. Smith.]
137 (return) [ See the Historians of France, tom. iv. p. 114; and
Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, p. 11, 31. Siquis sacrificium
immolaverit praeter Deo soli morte moriatur.]
138 (return) [ The Jews pretend that they were introduced into
Spain by the fleets of Solomon, and the arms of Nebuchadnezzar;
that Hadrian transported forty thousand families of the tribe of
Judah, and ten thousand of the tribe of Benjamin, &c. Basnage,
Hist. des Juifs, tom. vii. c. 9, p. 240-256.]
139 (return) [ Isidore, at that time archbishop of Seville,
mentions, disapproves and congratulates, the zeal of Sisebut
(Chron. Goth. p. 728.) Barosins (A.D. 614, No. 41) assigns the
number of the evidence of Almoin, (l. iv. c. 22;) but the
evidence is weak, and I have not been able to verify the
quotation, (Historians of France, tom. iii. p. 127.)]
140 (return) [ Basnage (tom. viii. c. 13, p. 388-400) faithfully
represents the state of the Jews; but he might have added from
the canons of the Spanish councils, and the laws of the
Visigoths, many curious circumstances, essential to his subject,
though they are foreign to mine. * Note: Compare Milman, Hist. of
Jews iii. 256—M]
As soon as the Barbarians withdrew their powerful support, the
unpopular heresy of Arius sunk into contempt and oblivion. But
the Greeks still retained their subtle and loquacious
disposition: the establishment of an obscure doctrine suggested
new questions, and new disputes; and it was always in the power
of an ambitious prelate, or a fanatic monk, to violate the peace
of the church, and, perhaps, of the empire. The historian of the
empire may overlook those disputes which were confined to the
obscurity of schools and synods. The Manichæans, who labored to
reconcile the religions of Christ and of Zoroaster, had secretly
introduced themselves into the provinces: but these foreign
sectaries were involved in the common disgrace of the Gnostics,
and the Imperial laws were executed by the public hatred. The
rational opinions of the Pelagians were propagated from Britain
to Rome, Africa, and Palestine, and silently expired in a
superstitious age. But the East was distracted by the Nestorian
and Eutychian controversies; which attempted to explain the
mystery of the incarnation, and hastened the ruin of Christianity
in her native land. These controversies were first agitated under
the reign of the younger Theodosius: but their important
consequences extend far beyond the limits of the present volume.
The metaphysical chain of argument, the contests of
ecclesiastical ambition, and their political influence on the
decline of the Byzantine empire, may afford an interesting and
instructive series of history, from the general councils of
Ephesus and Chalcedon, to the conquest of the East by the
successors of Mahomet.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part I.
Reign And Conversion Of Clovis.—His Victories Over The Alemanni,
Burgundians, And Visigoths.—Establishment Of The French Monarchy
In Gaul.—Laws Of The Barbarians.—State Of The Romans.—The
Visigoths Of Spain.—Conquest Of Britain By The Saxons.
The Gauls, 1 who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, received a
memorable lesson from one of the lieutenants of Vespasian, whose
weighty sense has been refined and expressed by the genius of
Tacitus. 2 “The protection of the republic has delivered Gaul
from internal discord and foreign invasions. By the loss of
national independence, you have acquired the name and privileges
of Roman citizens. You enjoy, in common with yourselves, the
permanent benefits of civil government; and your remote situation
is less exposed to the accidental mischiefs of tyranny. Instead
of exercising the rights of conquest, we have been contented to
impose such tributes as are requisite for your own preservation.
Peace cannot be secured without armies; and armies must be
supported at the expense of the people. It is for your sake, not
for our own, that we guard the barrier of the Rhine against the
ferocious Germans, who have so often attempted, and who will
always desire, to exchange the solitude of their woods and
morasses for the wealth and fertility of Gaul. The fall of Rome
would be fatal to the provinces; and you would be buried in the
ruins of that mighty fabric, which has been raised by the valor
and wisdom of eight hundred years. Your imaginary freedom would
be insulted and oppressed by a savage master; and the expulsion
of the Romans would be succeeded by the eternal hostilities of
the Barbarian conquerors.” 3 This salutary advice was accepted,
and this strange prediction was accomplished. In the space of
four hundred years, the hardy Gauls, who had encountered the arms
of Caesar, were imperceptibly melted into the general mass of
citizens and subjects: the Western empire was dissolved; and the
Germans, who had passed the Rhine, fiercely contended for the
possession of Gaul, and excited the contempt, or abhorrence, of
its peaceful and polished inhabitants. With that conscious pride
which the preeminence of knowledge and luxury seldom fails to
inspire, they derided the hairy and gigantic savages of the
North; their rustic manners, dissonant joy, voracious appetite,
and their horrid appearance, equally disgusting to the sight and
to the smell. The liberal studies were still cultivated in the
schools of Autun and Bordeaux; and the language of Cicero and
Virgil was familiar to the Gallic youth. Their ears were
astonished by the harsh and unknown sounds of the Germanic
dialect, and they ingeniously lamented that the trembling muses
fled from the harmony of a Burgundian lyre. The Gauls were
endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they
wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned to
obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose
clemency they held their precarious fortunes and their lives. 4
1 (return) [ In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the
Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, Paris,
1738-1767, in eleven volumes in folio. By the labor of Dom
Bouquet, and the other Benedictines, all the original
testimonies, as far as A.D. 1060, are disposed in chronological
order, and illustrated with learned notes. Such a national work,
which will be continued to the year 1500, might provoke our
emulation.]
2 (return) [ Tacit. Hist. iv. 73, 74, in tom. i. p. 445. To
abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous; but I may select
the general ideas which he applies to the present state and
future revelations of Gaul.]
3 (return) [ Eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias
libido atque avaritiae et mutandae sedis amor; ut relictis
paludibus et solitudinibus, suis, fecundissimum hoc solum vosque
ipsos possiderent.... Nam pulsis Romanis quid aliud quam bella
omnium inter se gentium exsistent?]
4 (return) [ Sidonius Apollinaris ridicules, with affected wit
and pleasantry, the hardships of his situation, (Carm. xii. in
tom. i. p. 811.)]
As soon as Odoacer had extinguished the Western empire, he sought
the friendship of the most powerful of the Barbarians. The new
sovereign of Italy resigned to Euric, king of the Visigoths, all
the Roman conquests beyond the Alps, as far as the Rhine and the
Ocean: 5 and the senate might confirm this liberal gift with some
ostentation of power, and without any real loss of revenue and
dominion. The lawful pretensions of Euric were justified by
ambition and success; and the Gothic nation might aspire, under
his command, to the monarchy of Spain and Gaul. Arles and
Marseilles surrendered to his arms: he oppressed the freedom of
Auvergne; and the bishop condescended to purchase his recall from
exile by a tribute of just, but reluctant praise. Sidonius waited
before the gates of the palace among a crowd of ambassadors and
suppliants; and their various business at the court of Bordeaux
attested the power, and the renown, of the king of the Visigoths.
The Heruli of the distant ocean, who painted their naked bodies
with its coerulean color, implored his protection; and the Saxons
respected the maritime provinces of a prince, who was destitute
of any naval force. The tall Burgundians submitted to his
authority; nor did he restore the captive Franks, till he had
imposed on that fierce nation the terms of an unequal peace. The
Vandals of Africa cultivated his useful friendship; and the
Ostrogoths of Pannonia were supported by his powerful aid against
the oppression of the neighboring Huns. The North (such are the
lofty strains of the poet) was agitated or appeased by the nod of
Euric; the great king of Persia consulted the oracle of the West;
and the aged god of the Tyber was protected by the swelling
genius of the Garonne. 6 The fortune of nations has often
depended on accidents; and France may ascribe her greatness to
the premature death of the Gothic king, at a time when his son
Alaric was a helpless infant, and his adversary Clovis 7 an
ambitious and valiant youth.
5 (return) [ See Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 12, in tom.
ii. p. 81. The character of Grotius inclines me to believe, that
he has not substituted the Rhine for the Rhone (Hist. Gothorum,
p. 175) without the authority of some Ms.]
6 (return) [ Sidonius, l. viii. epist. 3, 9, in tom. i. p. 800.
Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 47 p. 680) justifies, in some
measure, this portrait of the Gothic hero.]
7 (return) [ I use the familiar appellation of Clovis, from the
Latin Chlodovechus, or Chlodovoeus. But the Ch expresses only the
German aspiration, and the true name is not different from Lewis,
(Mem. de ‘Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 68.)]
While Childeric, the father of Clovis, lived an exile in Germany,
he was hospitably entertained by the queen, as well as by the
king, of the Thuringians. After his restoration, Basina escaped
from her husband’s bed to the arms of her lover; freely
declaring, that if she had known a man wiser, stronger, or more
beautiful, than Childeric, that man should have been the object
of her preference. 8 9 Clovis was the offspring of this voluntary
union; and, when he was no more than fifteen years of age, he
succeeded, by his father’s death, to the command of the Salian
tribe. The narrow limits of his kingdom were confined to the
island of the Batavians, with the ancient dioceses of Tournay and
Arras; 10 and at the baptism of Clovis the number of his warriors
could not exceed five thousand. The kindred tribes of the Franks,
who had seated themselves along the Belgic rivers, the Scheld,
the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine, were governed by their
independent kings, of the Merovingian race; the equals, the
allies, and sometimes the enemies of the Salic prince. But the
Germans, who obeyed, in peace, the hereditary jurisdiction of
their chiefs, were free to follow the standard of a popular and
victorious general; and the superior merit of Clovis attracted
the respect and allegiance of the national confederacy. When he
first took the field, he had neither gold and silver in his
coffers, nor wine and corn in his magazine; 11 but he imitated
the example of Caesar, who, in the same country, had acquired
wealth by the sword, and purchased soldiers with the fruits of
conquest. After each successful battle or expedition, the spoils
were accumulated in one common mass; every warrior received his
proportionable share; and the royal prerogative submitted to the
equal regulations of military law. The untamed spirit of the
Barbarians was taught to acknowledge the advantages of regular
discipline. 12 At the annual review of the month of March, their
arms were diligently inspected; and when they traversed a
peaceful territory, they were prohibited from touching a blade of
grass. The justice of Clovis was inexorable; and his careless or
disobedient soldiers were punished with instant death. It would
be superfluous to praise the valor of a Frank; but the valor of
Clovis was directed by cool and consummate prudence. 13 In all
his transactions with mankind, he calculated the weight of
interest, of passion, and of opinion; and his measures were
sometimes adapted to the sanguinary manners of the Germans, and
sometimes moderated by the milder genius of Rome, and
Christianity. He was intercepted in the career of victory, since
he died in the forty-fifth year of his age: but he had already
accomplished, in a reign of thirty years, the establishment of
the French monarchy in Gaul.
8 (return) [ Greg. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. i. p. 168. Basina speaks
the language of nature; the Franks, who had seen her in their
youth, might converse with Gregory in their old age; and the
bishop of Tours could not wish to defame the mother of the first
Christian king.]
9 (return) [ The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique de l’Etablissement de
la Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 630-650) has
the merit of defining the primitive kingdom of Clovis, and of
ascertaining the genuine number of his subjects.]
10 (return) [ Ecclesiam incultam ac negligentia civium Paganorum
praetermis sam, veprium densitate oppletam, &c. Vit. St. Vedasti,
in tom. iii. p. 372. This description supposes that Arras was
possessed by the Pagans many years before the baptism of Clovis.]
11 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l v. c. i. tom. ii. p. 232)
contrasts the poverty of Clovis with the wealth of his grandsons.
Yet Remigius (in tom. iv. p. 52) mentions his paternas opes, as
sufficient for the redemption of captives.]
12 (return) [ See Gregory, (l. ii. c. 27, 37, in tom. ii. p. 175,
181, 182.) The famous story of the vase of Soissons explains both
the power and the character of Clovis. As a point of controversy,
it has been strangely tortured by Boulainvilliers Dubos, and the
other political antiquarians.]
13 (return) [ The duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has
managed weighty and delicate negotiations, ingeniously
illustrates (Mem. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p.
147-184) the political system of Clovis.]
The first exploit of Clovis was the defeat of Syagrius, the son
of Aegidius; and the public quarrel might, on this occasion, be
inflamed by private resentment. The glory of the father still
insulted the Merovingian race; the power of the son might excite
the jealous ambition of the king of the Franks. Syagrius
inherited, as a patrimonial estate, the city and diocese of
Soissons: the desolate remnant of the second Belgic, Rheims and
Troyes, Beauvais and Amiens, would naturally submit to the count
or patrician: 14 and after the dissolution of the Western empire,
he might reign with the title, or at least with the authority, of
king of the Romans. 15 As a Roman, he had been educated in the
liberal studies of rhetoric and jurisprudence; but he was engaged
by accident and policy in the familiar use of the Germanic idiom.
The independent Barbarians resorted to the tribunal of a
stranger, who possessed the singular talent of explaining, in
their native tongue, the dictates of reason and equity. The
diligence and affability of their judge rendered him popular, the
impartial wisdom of his decrees obtained their voluntary
obedience, and the reign of Syagrius over the Franks and
Burgundians seemed to revive the original institution of civil
society. 16 In the midst of these peaceful occupations, Syagrius
received, and boldly accepted, the hostile defiance of Clovis;
who challenged his rival in the spirit, and almost in the
language, of chivalry, to appoint the day and the field 17 of
battle. In the time of Caesar Soissons would have poured forth a
body of fifty thousand horse and such an army might have been
plentifully supplied with shields, cuirasses, and military
engines, from the three arsenals or manufactures of the city. 18
But the courage and numbers of the Gallic youth were long since
exhausted; and the loose bands of volunteers, or mercenaries, who
marched under the standard of Syagrius, were incapable of
contending with the national valor of the Franks. It would be
ungenerous without some more accurate knowledge of his strength
and resources, to condemn the rapid flight of Syagrius, who
escaped, after the loss of a battle, to the distant court of
Thoulouse. The feeble minority of Alaric could not assist or
protect an unfortunate fugitive; the pusillanimous 19 Goths were
intimidated by the menaces of Clovis; and the Roman king, after a
short confinement, was delivered into the hands of the
executioner. The Belgic cities surrendered to the king of the
Franks; and his dominions were enlarged towards the East by the
ample diocese of Tongres 20 which Clovis subdued in the tenth
year of his reign.
14 (return) [ M. Biet (in a Dissertation which deserved the prize
of the Academy of Soissons, p. 178-226,) has accurately defined
the nature and extent of the kingdom of Syagrius and his father;
but he too readily allows the slight evidence of Dubos (tom. ii.
p. 54-57) to deprive him of Beauvais and Amiens.]
15 (return) [ I may observe that Fredegarius, in his epitome of
Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. p. 398,) has prudently substituted
the name of Patricius for the incredible title of Rex Romanorum.]
16 (return) [ Sidonius, (l. v. Epist. 5, in tom. i. p. 794,) who
styles him the Solon, the Amphion, of the Barbarians, addresses
this imaginary king in the tone of friendship and equality. From
such offices of arbitration, the crafty Dejoces had raised
himself to the throne of the Medes, (Herodot. l. i. c. 96-100.)]
17 (return) [ Campum sibi praeparari jussit. M. Biet (p. 226-251)
has diligently ascertained this field of battle, at Nogent, a
Benedictine abbey, about ten miles to the north of Soissons. The
ground was marked by a circle of Pagan sepulchres; and Clovis
bestowed the adjacent lands of Leully and Coucy on the church of
Rheims.]
18 (return) [ See Caesar. Comment. de Bell. Gallic. ii. 4, in
tom. i. p. 220, and the Notitiae, tom. i. p. 126. The three
Fabricae of Soissons were, Seutaria, Balistaria, and Clinabaria.
The last supplied the complete armor of the heavy cuirassiers.]
19 (return) [ The epithet must be confined to the circumstances;
and history cannot justify the French prejudice of Gregory, (l.
ii. c. 27, in tom. ii. p. 175,) ut Gothorum pavere mos est.]
20 (return) [ Dubos has satisfied me (tom. i. p. 277-286) that
Gregory of Tours, his transcribers, or his readers, have
repeatedly confounded the German kingdom of Thuringia, beyond the
Rhine, and the Gallic city of Tongria, on the Meuse, which was
more anciently the country of the Eburones, and more recently the
diocese of Liege.]
The name of the Alemanni has been absurdly derived from their
imaginary settlement on the banks of the Leman Lake. 21 That
fortunate district, from the lake to the Avenche, and Mount Jura,
was occupied by the Burgundians. 22 The northern parts of
Helvetia had indeed been subdued by the ferocious Alemanni, who
destroyed with their own hands the fruits of their conquest. A
province, improved and adorned by the arts of Rome, was again
reduced to a savage wilderness; and some vestige of the stately
Vindonissa may still be discovered in the fertile and populous
valley of the Aar. 23 From the source of the Rhine to its conflux
with the Mein and the Moselle, the formidable swarms of the
Alemanni commanded either side of the river, by the right of
ancient possession, or recent victory. They had spread themselves
into Gaul, over the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine; and
their bold invasion of the kingdom of Cologne summoned the Salic
prince to the defence of his Ripuarian allies.
Clovis encountered the invaders of Gaul in the plain of Tolbiac,
about twenty-four miles from Cologne; and the two fiercest
nations of Germany were mutually animated by the memory of past
exploits, and the prospect of future greatness. The Franks, after
an obstinate struggle, gave way; and the Alemanni, raising a
shout of victory, impetuously pressed their retreat. But the
battle was restored by the valor, and the conduct, and perhaps by
the piety, of Clovis; and the event of the bloody day decided
forever the alternative of empire or servitude. The last king of
the Alemanni was slain in the field, and his people were
slaughtered or pursued, till they threw down their arms, and
yielded to the mercy of the conqueror. Without discipline it was
impossible for them to rally: they had contemptuously demolished
the walls and fortifications which might have protected their
distress; and they were followed into the heart of their forests
by an enemy not less active, or intrepid, than themselves. The
great Theodoric congratulated the victory of Clovis, whose sister
Albofleda the king of Italy had lately married; but he mildly
interceded with his brother in favor of the suppliants and
fugitives, who had implored his protection. The Gallic
territories, which were possessed by the Alemanni, became the
prize of their conqueror; and the haughty nation, invincible, or
rebellious, to the arms of Rome, acknowledged the sovereignty of
the Merovingian kings, who graciously permitted them to enjoy
their peculiar manners and institutions, under the government of
official, and, at length, of hereditary, dukes. After the
conquest of the Western provinces, the Franks alone maintained
their ancient habitations beyond the Rhine. They gradually
subdued, and civilized, the exhausted countries, as far as the
Elbe, and the mountains of Bohemia; and the peace of Europe was
secured by the obedience of Germany. 24
21 (return) [ Populi habitantes juxta Lemannum lacum, Alemanni
dicuntur. Servius, ad Virgil. Georgic. iv. 278. Don Bouquet (tom.
i. p. 817) has only alleged the more recent and corrupt text of
Isidore of Seville.]
22 (return) [ Gregory of Tours sends St. Lupicinus inter illa
Jurensis deserti secreta, quae, inter Burgundiam Alamanniamque
sita, Aventicae adja cent civitati, in tom. i. p. 648. M. de
Watteville (Hist. de la Confederation Helvetique, tom. i. p. 9,
10) has accurately defined the Helvetian limits of the Duchy of
Alemannia, and the Transjurane Burgundy. They were commensurate
with the dioceses of Constance and Avenche, or Lausanne, and are
still discriminated, in modern Switzerland, by the use of the
German, or French, language.]
23 (return) [ See Guilliman de Rebus Helveticis, l i. c. 3, p.
11, 12. Within the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of
Hapsburgh, the abbey of Konigsfield, and the town of Bruck, have
successively risen. The philosophic traveller may compare the
monuments of Roman conquest of feudal or Austrian tyranny, of
monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly
a philosopher, he will applaud the merit and happiness of his own
times.]
24 (return) [ Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. 30, 37, in tom. ii. p.
176, 177, 182,) the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 551,) and
the epistle of Theodoric, (Cassiodor. Variar. l. ii. c. 41, in
tom. iv. p. 4,) represent the defeat of the Alemanni. Some of
their tribes settled in Rhaetia, under the protection of
Theodoric; whose successors ceded the colony and their country to
the grandson of Clovis. The state of the Alemanni under the
Merovingian kings may be seen in Mascou (Hist. of the Ancient
Germans, xi. 8, &c. Annotation xxxvi.) and Guilliman, (de Reb.
Helvet. l. ii. c. 10-12, p. 72-80.)]
Till the thirtieth year of his age, Clovis continued to worship
the gods of his ancestors. 25 His disbelief, or rather disregard,
of Christianity, might encourage him to pillage with less remorse
the churches of a hostile territory: but his subjects of Gaul
enjoyed the free exercise of religious worship; and the bishops
entertained a more favorable hope of the idolater, than of the
heretics. The Merovingian prince had contracted a fortunate
alliance with the fair Clotilda, the niece of the king of
Burgundy, who, in the midst of an Arian court, was educated in
the profession of the Catholic faith. It was her interest, as
well as her duty, to achieve the conversion 26 of a Pagan
husband; and Clovis insensibly listened to the voice of love and
religion. He consented (perhaps such terms had been previously
stipulated) to the baptism of his eldest son; and though the
sudden death of the infant excited some superstitious fears, he
was persuaded, a second time, to repeat the dangerous experiment.
In the distress of the battle of Tolbiac, Clovis loudly invoked
the God of Clotilda and the Christians; and victory disposed him
to hear, with respectful gratitude, the eloquent 27 Remigius, 28
bishop of Rheims, who forcibly displayed the temporal and
spiritual advantages of his conversion. The king declared himself
satisfied of the truth of the Catholic faith; and the political
reasons which might have suspended his public profession, were
removed by the devout or loyal acclamations of the Franks, who
showed themselves alike prepared to follow their heroic leader to
the field of battle, or to the baptismal font. The important
ceremony was performed in the cathedral of Rheims, with every
circumstance of magnificence and solemnity that could impress an
awful sense of religion on the minds of its rude proselytes. 29
The new Constantine was immediately baptized, with three thousand
of his warlike subjects; and their example was imitated by the
remainder of the gentle Barbarians, who, in obedience to the
victorious prelate, adored the cross which they had burnt, and
burnt the idols which they had formerly adored. 30 The mind of
Clovis was susceptible of transient fervor: he was exasperated by
the pathetic tale of the passion and death of Christ; and,
instead of weighing the salutary consequences of that mysterious
sacrifice, he exclaimed, with indiscreet fury, “Had I been
present at the head of my valiant Franks, I would have revenged
his injuries.” 31 But the savage conqueror of Gaul was incapable
of examining the proofs of a religion, which depends on the
laborious investigation of historic evidence and speculative
theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild
influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart
of a genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual
violation of moral and Christian duties: his hands were stained
with blood in peace as well as in war; and, as soon as Clovis had
dismissed a synod of the Gallican church, he calmly assassinated
all the princes of the Merovingian race. 32 Yet the king of the
Franks might sincerely worship the Christian God, as a Being more
excellent and powerful than his national deities; and the signal
deliverance and victory of Tolbiac encouraged Clovis to confide
in the future protection of the Lord of Hosts. Martin, the most
popular of the saints, had filled the Western world with the fame
of those miracles which were incessantly performed at his holy
sepulchre of Tours. His visible or invisible aid promoted the
cause of a liberal and orthodox prince; and the profane remark of
Clovis himself, that St.Martin was an expensive friend, 33 need
not be interpreted as the symptom of any permanent or rational
scepticism. But earth, as well as heaven, rejoiced in the
conversion of the Franks. On the memorable day when Clovis
ascended from the baptismal font, he alone, in the Christian
world, deserved the name and prerogatives of a Catholic king. The
emperor Anastasius entertained some dangerous errors concerning
the nature of the divine incarnation; and the Barbarians of
Italy, Africa, Spain, and Gaul, were involved in the Arian
heresy. The eldest, or rather the only, son of the church, was
acknowledged by the clergy as their lawful sovereign, or glorious
deliverer; and the armies of Clovis were strenuously supported by
the zeal and fervor of the Catholic faction. 34
25 (return) [ Clotilda, or rather Gregory, supposes that Clovis
worshipped the gods of Greece and Rome. The fact is incredible,
and the mistake only shows how completely, in less than a
century, the national religion of the Franks had been abolished
and even forgotten]
26 (return) [ Gregory of Tours relates the marriage and
conversion of Clovis, (l. ii. c. 28-31, in tom. ii. p. 175-178.)
Even Fredegarius, or the nameless Epitomizer, (in tom. ii. p.
398-400,) the author of the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p.
548-552,) and Aimoin himself, (l. i. c. 13, in tom. iii. p.
37-40,) may be heard without disdain. Tradition might long
preserve some curious circumstances of these important
transactions.]
27 (return) [ A traveller, who returned from Rheims to Auvergne,
had stolen a copy of his declamations from the secretary or
bookseller of the modest archbishop, (Sidonius Apollinar. l. ix.
epist. 7.) Four epistles of Remigius, which are still extant, (in
tom. iv. p. 51, 52, 53,) do not correspond with the splendid
praise of Sidonius.]
28 (return) [ Hincmar, one of the successors of Remigius, (A.D.
845-882,) had composed his life, (in tom. iii. p. 373-380.) The
authority of ancient MSS. of the church of Rheims might inspire
some confidence, which is destroyed, however, by the selfish and
audacious fictions of Hincmar. It is remarkable enough, that
Remigius, who was consecrated at the age of twenty-two, (A.D.
457,) filled the episcopal chair seventy-four years, (Pagi
Critica, in Baron tom. ii. p. 384, 572.)]
29 (return) [ A phial (the Sainte Ampoulle of holy, or rather
celestial, oil,) was brought down by a white dove, for the
baptism of Clovis; and it is still used and renewed, in the
coronation of the kings of France. Hincmar (he aspired to the
primacy of Gaul) is the first author of this fable, (in tom. iii.
p. 377,) whose slight foundations the Abbe de Vertot (Mémoires de
l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 619-633) has undermined,
with profound respect and consummate dexterity.]
30 (return) [ Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod
incendisti, incende quod adorasti. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 31, in
tom. ii. p. 177.]
31 (return) [ Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias
ejus vindicassem. This rash expression, which Gregory has
prudently concealed, is celebrated by Fredegarius, (Epitom. c.
21, in tom. ii. p. 400,) Ai moin, (l. i. c. 16, in tom. iii. p.
40,) and the Chroniques de St. Denys, (l. i. c. 20, in tom. iii.
p. 171,) as an admirable effusion of Christian zeal.]
32 (return) [ Gregory, (l. ii. c. 40-43, in tom. ii. p. 183-185,)
after coolly relating the repeated crimes, and affected remorse,
of Clovis, concludes, perhaps undesignedly, with a lesson, which
ambition will never hear. “His ita transactis obiit.”]
33 (return) [ After the Gothic victory, Clovis made rich
offerings to St. Martin of Tours. He wished to redeem his
war-horse by the gift of one hundred pieces of gold, but the
enchanted steed could not remove from the stable till the price
of his redemption had been doubled. This miracle provoked the
king to exclaim, Vere B. Martinus est bonus in auxilio, sed carus
in negotio. (Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 554, 555.)]
34 (return) [ See the epistle from Pope Anastasius to the royal
convert, (in Com. iv. p. 50, 51.) Avitus, bishop of Vienna,
addressed Clovis on the same subject, (p. 49;) and many of the
Latin bishops would assure him of their joy and attachment.]
Under the Roman empire, the wealth and jurisdiction of the
bishops, their sacred character, and perpetual office, their
numerous dependants, popular eloquence, and provincial
assemblies, had rendered them always respectable, and sometimes
dangerous. Their influence was augmented with the progress of
superstition; and the establishment of the French monarchy may,
in some degree, be ascribed to the firm alliance of a hundred
prelates, who reigned in the discontented, or independent, cities
of Gaul. The slight foundations of the Armorican republic had
been repeatedly shaken, or overthrown; but the same people still
guarded their domestic freedom; asserted the dignity of the Roman
name; and bravely resisted the predatory inroads, and regular
attacks, of Clovis, who labored to extend his conquests from the
Seine to the Loire. Their successful opposition introduced an
equal and honorable union. The Franks esteemed the valor of the
Armoricans 35 and the Armoricans were reconciled by the religion
of the Franks. The military force which had been stationed for
the defence of Gaul, consisted of one hundred different bands of
cavalry or infantry; and these troops, while they assumed the
title and privileges of Roman soldiers, were renewed by an
incessant supply of the Barbarian youth. The extreme
fortifications, and scattered fragments of the empire, were still
defended by their hopeless courage. But their retreat was
intercepted, and their communication was impracticable: they were
abandoned by the Greek princes of Constantinople, and they
piously disclaimed all connection with the Arian usurpers of
Gaul. They accepted, without shame or reluctance, the generous
capitulation, which was proposed by a Catholic hero; and this
spurious, or legitimate, progeny of the Roman legions, was
distinguished in the succeeding age by their arms, their ensigns,
and their peculiar dress and institutions. But the national
strength was increased by these powerful and voluntary
accessions; and the neighboring kingdoms dreaded the numbers, as
well as the spirit, of the Franks. The reduction of the Northern
provinces of Gaul, instead of being decided by the chance of a
single battle, appears to have been slowly effected by the
gradual operation of war and treaty and Clovis acquired each
object of his ambition, by such efforts, or such concessions, as
were adequate to its real value. His savage character, and the
virtues of Henry IV., suggest the most opposite ideas of human
nature; yet some resemblance may be found in the situation of two
princes, who conquered France by their valor, their policy, and
the merits of a seasonable conversion. 36
35 (return) [ Instead of an unknown people, who now appear on the
text of Procopious, Hadrian de Valois has restored the proper
name of the easy correction has been almost universally approved.
Yet an unprejudiced reader would naturally suppose, that
Procopius means to describe a tribe of Germans in the alliance of
Rome; and not a confederacy of Gallic cities, which had revolted
from the empire. * Note: Compare Hallam’s Europe during the
Middle Ages, vol i. p. 2, Daru, Hist. de Bretagne vol. i. p.
129—M.]
36 (return) [ This important digression of Procopius (de Bell.
Gothic. l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 29-36) illustrates the origin
of the French monarchy. Yet I must observe, 1. That the Greek
historian betrays an inexcusable ignorance of the geography of
the West. 2. That these treaties and privileges, which should
leave some lasting traces, are totally invisible in Gregory of
Tours, the Salic laws, &c.]
The kingdom of the Burgundians, which was defined by the course
of two Gallic rivers, the Saone and the Rhone, extended from the
forest of Vosges to the Alps and the sea of Marscilles. 37 The
sceptre was in the hands of Gundobald. That valiant and ambitious
prince had reduced the number of royal candidates by the death of
two brothers, one of whom was the father of Clotilda; 38 but his
imperfect prudence still permitted Godegisel, the youngest of his
brothers, to possess the dependent principality of Geneva. The
Arian monarch was justly alarmed by the satisfaction, and the
hopes, which seemed to animate his clergy and people after the
conversion of Clovis; and Gundobald convened at Lyons an assembly
of his bishops, to reconcile, if it were possible, their
religious and political discontents. A vain conference was
agitated between the two factions. The Arians upbraided the
Catholics with the worship of three Gods: the Catholics defended
their cause by theological distinctions; and the usual arguments,
objections, and replies were reverberated with obstinate clamor;
till the king revealed his secret apprehensions, by an abrupt but
decisive question, which he addressed to the orthodox bishops.
“If you truly profess the Christian religion, why do you not
restrain the king of the Franks? He has declared war against me,
and forms alliances with my enemies for my destruction. A
sanguinary and covetous mind is not the symptom of a sincere
conversion: let him show his faith by his works.” The answer of
Avitus, bishop of Vienna, who spoke in the name of his brethren,
was delivered with the voice and countenance of an angel. “We are
ignorant of the motives and intentions of the king of the Franks:
but we are taught by Scripture, that the kingdoms which abandon
the divine law are frequently subverted; and that enemies will
arise on every side against those who have made God their enemy.
Return, with thy people, to the law of God, and he will give
peace and security to thy dominions.” The king of Burgundy, who
was not prepared to accept the condition which the Catholics
considered as essential to the treaty, delayed and dismissed the
ecclesiastical conference; after reproaching his bishops, that
Clovis, their friend and proselyte, had privately tempted the
allegiance of his brother. 39
37 (return) [ Regnum circa Rhodanum aut Ararim cum provincia
Massiliensi retinebant. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 32, in tom. ii. p.
178. The province of Marseilles, as far as the Durance, was
afterwards ceded to the Ostrogoths; and the signatures of
twenty-five bishops are supposed to represent the kingdom of
Burgundy, A.D. 519. (Concil. Epaon, in tom. iv. p. 104, 105.) Yet
I would except Vindonissa. The bishop, who lived under the Pagan
Alemanni, would naturally resort to the synods of the next
Christian kingdom. Mascou (in his four first annotations) has
explained many circumstances relative to the Burgundian
monarchy.]
38 (return) [ Mascou, (Hist. of the Germans, xi. 10,) who very
reasonably distracts the testimony of Gregory of Tours, has
produced a passage from Avitus (epist. v.) to prove that
Gundobald affected to deplore the tragic event, which his
subjects affected to applaud.]
39 (return) [ See the original conference, (in tom. iv. p.
99-102.) Avitus, the principal actor, and probably the secretary
of the meeting, was bishop of Vienna. A short account of his
person and works may be fouud in Dupin, (Bibliothèque
Ecclesiastique, tom. v. p. 5-10.)]
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part II.
The allegiance of his brother was already seduced; and the
obedience of Godegisel, who joined the royal standard with the
troops of Geneva, more effectually promoted the success of the
conspiracy. While the Franks and Burgundians contended with equal
valor, his seasonable desertion decided the event of the battle;
and as Gundobald was faintly supported by the disaffected Gauls,
he yielded to the arms of Clovis, and hastily retreated from the
field, which appears to have been situate between Langres and
Dijon. He distrusted the strength of Dijon, a quadrangular
fortress, encompassed by two rivers, and by a wall thirty feet
high, and fifteen thick, with four gates, and thirty-three
towers: 40 he abandoned to the pursuit of Clovis the important
cities of Lyons and Vienna; and Gundobald still fled with
precipitation, till he had reached Avignon, at the distance of
two hundred and fifty miles from the field of battle.
A long siege and an artful negotiation, admonished the king of
the Franks of the danger and difficulty of his enterprise. He
imposed a tribute on the Burgundian prince, compelled him to
pardon and reward his brother’s treachery, and proudly returned
to his own dominions, with the spoils and captives of the
southern provinces. This splendid triumph was soon clouded by the
intelligence, that Gundobald had violated his recent obligations,
and that the unfortunate Godegisel, who was left at Vienna with a
garrison of five thousand Franks, 41 had been besieged,
surprised, and massacred by his inhuman brother. Such an outrage
might have exasperated the patience of the most peaceful
sovereign; yet the conqueror of Gaul dissembled the injury,
released the tribute, and accepted the alliance, and military
service, of the king of Burgundy. Clovis no longer possessed
those advantages which had assured the success of the preceding
war; and his rival, instructed by adversity, had found new
resources in the affections of his people. The Gauls or Romans
applauded the mild and impartial laws of Gundobald, which almost
raised them to the same level with their conquerors. The bishops
were reconciled, and flattered, by the hopes, which he artfully
suggested, of his approaching conversion; and though he eluded
their accomplishment to the last moment of his life, his
moderation secured the peace, and suspended the ruin, of the
kingdom of Burgundy. 42
40 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. iii. c. 19, in tom. ii. p.
197) indulges his genius, or rather describes some more eloquent
writer, in the description of Dijon; a castle, which already
deserved the title of a city. It depended on the bishops of
Langres till the twelfth century, and afterwards became the
capital of the dukes of Burgundy Longuerue Description de la
France, part i. p. 280.]
41 (return) [ The Epitomizer of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p.
401) has supplied this number of Franks; but he rashly supposes
that they were cut in pieces by Gundobald. The prudent Burgundian
spared the soldiers of Clovis, and sent these captives to the
king of the Visigoths, who settled them in the territory of
Thoulouse.]
42 (return) [ In this Burgundian war I have followed Gregory of
Tours, (l. ii. c. 32, 33, in tom. ii. p. 178, 179,) whose
narrative appears so incompatible with that of Procopius, (de
Bell. Goth. l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 31, 32,) that some
critics have supposed two different wars. The Abbe Dubos (Hist.
Critique, &c., tom. ii. p. 126-162) has distinctly represented
the causes and the events.]
I am impatient to pursue the final ruin of that kingdom, which
was accomplished under the reign of Sigismond, the son of
Gundobald. The Catholic Sigismond has acquired the honors of a
saint and martyr; 43 but the hands of the royal saint were
stained with the blood of his innocent son, whom he inhumanly
sacrificed to the pride and resentment of a step-mother. He soon
discovered his error, and bewailed the irreparable loss. While
Sigismond embraced the corpse of the unfortunate youth, he
received a severe admonition from one of his attendants: “It is
not his situation, O king! it is thine which deserves pity and
lamentation.” The reproaches of a guilty conscience were
alleviated, however, by his liberal donations to the monastery of
Agaunum, or St. Maurice, in Vallais; which he himself had founded
in honor of the imaginary martyrs of the Thebaean legion. 44 A
full chorus of perpetual psalmody was instituted by the pious
king; he assiduously practised the austere devotion of the monks;
and it was his humble prayer, that Heaven would inflict in this
world the punishment of his sins. His prayer was heard: the
avengers were at hand: and the provinces of Burgundy were
overwhelmed by an army of victorious Franks. After the event of
an unsuccessful battle, Sigismond, who wished to protract his
life that he might prolong his penance, concealed himself in the
desert in a religious habit, till he was discovered and betrayed
by his subjects, who solicited the favor of their new masters.
The captive monarch, with his wife and two children, was
transported to Orleans, and buried alive in a deep well, by the
stern command of the sons of Clovis; whose cruelty might derive
some excuse from the maxims and examples of their barbarous age.
Their ambition, which urged them to achieve the conquest of
Burgundy, was inflamed, or disguised, by filial piety: and
Clotilda, whose sanctity did not consist in the forgiveness of
injuries, pressed them to revenge her father’s death on the
family of his assassin. The rebellious Burgundians (for they
attempted to break their chains) were still permitted to enjoy
their national laws under the obligation of tribute and military
service; and the Merovingian princes peaceably reigned over a
kingdom, whose glory and greatness had been first overthrown by
the arms of Clovis. 45
43 (return) [ See his life or legend, (in tom. iii. p. 402.) A
martyr! how strangely has that word been distorted from its
original sense of a common witness. St. Sigismond was remarkable
for the cure of fevers]
44 (return) [ Before the end of the fifth century, the church of
St. Maurice, and his Thebaean legion, had rendered Agaunum a
place of devout pilgrimage. A promiscuous community of both sexes
had introduced some deeds of darkness, which were abolished (A.D.
515) by the regular monastery of Sigismond. Within fifty years,
his angels of light made a nocturnal sally to murder their
bishop, and his clergy. See in the Bibliothèque Raisonnée (tom.
xxxvi. p. 435-438) the curious remarks of a learned librarian of
Geneva.]
45 (return) [ Marius, bishop of Avenche, (Chron. in tom. ii. p.
15,) has marked the authentic dates, and Gregory of Tours (l.
iii. c. 5, 6, in tom. ii. p. 188, 189) has expressed the
principal facts, of the life of Sigismond, and the conquest of
Burgundy. Procopius (in tom. ii. p. 34) and Agathias (in tom. ii.
p. 49) show their remote and imperfect knowledge.]
The first victory of Clovis had insulted the honor of the Goths.
They viewed his rapid progress with jealousy and terror; and the
youthful fame of Alaric was oppressed by the more potent genius
of his rival. Some disputes inevitably arose on the edge of their
contiguous dominions; and after the delays of fruitless
negotiation, a personal interview of the two kings was proposed
and accepted. The conference of Clovis and Alaric was held in a
small island of the Loire, near Amboise. They embraced,
familiarly conversed, and feasted together; and separated with
the warmest professions of peace and brotherly love. But their
apparent confidence concealed a dark suspicion of hostile and
treacherous designs; and their mutual complaints solicited,
eluded, and disclaimed, a final arbitration. At Paris, which he
already considered as his royal seat, Clovis declared to an
assembly of the princes and warriors, the pretence, and the
motive, of a Gothic war. “It grieves me to see that the Arians
still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against
them with the aid of God; and, having vanquished the heretics, we
will possess and divide their fertile provinces.” 46 The Franks,
who were inspired by hereditary valor and recent zeal, applauded
the generous design of their monarch; expressed their resolution
to conquer or die, since death and conquest would be equally
profitable; and solemnly protested that they would never shave
their beards till victory should absolve them from that
inconvenient vow. The enterprise was promoted by the public or
private exhortations of Clotilda. She reminded her husband how
effectually some pious foundation would propitiate the Deity, and
his servants: and the Christian hero, darting his battle-axe with
a skilful and nervous band, “There, (said he,) on that spot where
my Francisca, 47 shall fall, will I erect a church in honor of
the holy apostles.” This ostentatious piety confirmed and
justified the attachment of the Catholics, with whom he secretly
corresponded; and their devout wishes were gradually ripened into
a formidable conspiracy. The people of Aquitain were alarmed by
the indiscreet reproaches of their Gothic tyrants, who justly
accused them of preferring the dominion of the Franks: and their
zealous adherent Quintianus, bishop of Rodez, 48 preached more
forcibly in his exile than in his diocese. To resist these
foreign and domestic enemies, who were fortified by the alliance
of the Burgundians, Alaric collected his troops, far more
numerous than the military powers of Clovis. The Visigoths
resumed the exercise of arms, which they had neglected in a long
and luxurious peace; 49 a select band of valiant and robust
slaves attended their masters to the field; 50 and the cities of
Gaul were compelled to furnish their doubtful and reluctant aid.
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who reigned in Italy, had
labored to maintain the tranquillity of Gaul; and he assumed, or
affected, for that purpose, the impartial character of a
mediator. But the sagacious monarch dreaded the rising empire of
Clovis, and he was firmly engaged to support the national and
religious cause of the Goths.
46 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. 37, in tom. ii. p. 181)
inserts the short but persuasive speech of Clovis. Valde moleste
fero, quod hi Ariani partem teneant Galliarum, (the author of the
Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 553, adds the precious epithet of
optimam,) camus cum Dei adjutorio, et, superatis eis, redigamus
terram in ditionem nostram.]
47 (return) [ Tunc rex projecit a se in directum Bipennem suam
quod est Francisca, &c. (Gesta Franc. in tom. ii. p. 554.) The
form and use of this weapon are clearly described by Procopius,
(in tom. ii. p. 37.) Examples of its national appellation in
Latin and French may be found in the Glossary of Ducange, and the
large Dictionnaire de Trevoux.]
48 (return) [ It is singular enough that some important and
authentic facts should be found in a Life of Quintianus, composed
in rhyme in the old Patois of Rouergue, (Dubos, Hist. Critique,
&c., tom. ii. p. 179.)]
49 (return) [ Quamvis fortitudini vestrae confidentiam tribuat
parentum ves trorum innumerabilis multitudo; quamvis Attilam
potentem reminiscamini Visigotharum viribus inclinatum; tamen
quia populorum ferocia corda longa pace mollescunt, cavete subito
in alean aleam mittere, quos constat tantis temporibus exercitia
non habere. Such was the salutary, but fruitless, advice of peace
of reason, and of Theodoric, (Cassiodor. l. iii. ep. 2.)]
50 (return) [ Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xv. c. 14)
mentions and approves the law of the Visigoths, (l. ix. tit. 2,
in tom. iv. p. 425,) which obliged all masters to arm, and send,
or lead, into the field a tenth of their slaves.]
The accidental, or artificial, prodigies which adorned the
expedition of Clovis, were accepted by a superstitious age, as
the manifest declaration of the divine favor. He marched from
Paris; and as he proceeded with decent reverence through the holy
diocese of Tours, his anxiety tempted him to consult the shrine
of St. Martin, the sanctuary and the oracle of Gaul. His
messengers were instructed to remark the words of the Psalm which
should happen to be chanted at the precise moment when they
entered the church. Those words most fortunately expressed the
valor and victory of the champions of Heaven, and the application
was easily transferred to the new Joshua, the new Gideon, who
went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord. 51 Orleans
secured to the Franks a bridge on the Loire; but, at the distance
of forty miles from Poitiers, their progress was intercepted by
an extraordinary swell of the River Vigenna or Vienne; and the
opposite banks were covered by the encampment of the Visigoths.
Delay must be always dangerous to Barbarians, who consume the
country through which they march; and had Clovis possessed
leisure and materials, it might have been impracticable to
construct a bridge, or to force a passage, in the face of a
superior enemy. But the affectionate peasants who were impatient
to welcome their deliverer, could easily betray some unknown or
unguarded ford: the merit of the discovery was enhanced by the
useful interposition of fraud or fiction; and a white hart, of
singular size and beauty, appeared to guide and animate the march
of the Catholic army. The counsels of the Visigoths were
irresolute and distracted. A crowd of impatient warriors,
presumptuous in their strength, and disdaining to fly before the
robbers of Germany, excited Alaric to assert in arms the name and
blood of the conquerors of Rome. The advice of the graver
chieftains pressed him to elude the first ardor of the Franks;
and to expect, in the southern provinces of Gaul, the veteran and
victorious Ostrogoths, whom the king of Italy had already sent to
his assistance. The decisive moments were wasted in idle
deliberation the Goths too hastily abandoned, perhaps, an
advantageous post; and the opportunity of a secure retreat was
lost by their slow and disorderly motions. After Clovis had
passed the ford, as it is still named, of the Hart, he advanced
with bold and hasty steps to prevent the escape of the enemy. His
nocturnal march was directed by a flaming meteor, suspended in
the air above the cathedral of Poitiers; and this signal, which
might be previously concerted with the orthodox successor of St.
Hilary, was compared to the column of fire that guided the
Israelites in the desert. At the third hour of the day, about ten
miles beyond Poitiers, Clovis overtook, and instantly attacked,
the Gothic army; whose defeat was already prepared by terror and
confusion. Yet they rallied in their extreme distress, and the
martial youths, who had clamorously demanded the battle, refused
to survive the ignominy of flight. The two kings encountered each
other in single combat. Alaric fell by the hand of his rival; and
the victorious Frank was saved by the goodness of his cuirass,
and the vigor of his horse, from the spears of two desperate
Goths, who furiously rode against him to revenge the death of
their sovereign. The vague expression of a mountain of the slain,
serves to indicate a cruel though indefinite slaughter; but
Gregory has carefully observed, that his valiant countryman
Apollinaris, the son of Sidonius, lost his life at the head of
the nobles of Auvergne. Perhaps these suspected Catholics had
been maliciously exposed to the blind assault of the enemy; and
perhaps the influence of religion was superseded by personal
attachment or military honor. 52
51 (return) [ This mode of divination, by accepting as an omen
the first sacred words, which in particular circumstances should
be presented to the eye or ear, was derived from the Pagans; and
the Psalter, or Bible, was substituted to the poems of Homer and
Virgil. From the fourth to the fourteenth century, these sortes
sanctorum, as they are styled, were repeatedly condemned by the
decrees of councils, and repeatedly practised by kings, bishops,
and saints. See a curious dissertation of the Abbe du Resnel, in
the Mémoires de l’Academie, tom. xix. p. 287-310]
52 (return) [ After correcting the text, or excusing the mistake,
of Procopius, who places the defeat of Alaric near Carcassone, we
may conclude, from the evidence of Gregory, Fortunatus, and the
author of the Gesta Francorum, that the battle was fought in
campo Vocladensi, on the banks of the Clain, about ten miles to
the south of Poitiers. Clovis overtook and attacked the Visigoths
near Vivonne, and the victory was decided near a village still
named Champagne St. Hilaire. See the Dissertations of the Abbe le
Boeuf, tom. i. p. 304-331.]
Such is the empire of Fortune, (if we may still disguise our
ignorance under that popular name,) that it is almost equally
difficult to foresee the events of war, or to explain their
various consequences. A bloody and complete victory has sometimes
yielded no more than the possession of the field; and the loss of
ten thousand men has sometimes been sufficient to destroy, in a
single day, the work of ages. The decisive battle of Poitiers was
followed by the conquest of Aquitain. Alaric had left behind him
an infant son, a bastard competitor, factious nobles, and a
disloyal people; and the remaining forces of the Goths were
oppressed by the general consternation, or opposed to each other
in civil discord. The victorious king of the Franks proceeded
without delay to the siege of Angoulême. At the sound of his
trumpets the walls of the city imitated the example of Jericho,
and instantly fell to the ground; a splendid miracle, which may
be reduced to the supposition, that some clerical engineers had
secretly undermined the foundations of the rampart. 53 At
Bordeaux, which had submitted without resistance, Clovis
established his winter quarters; and his prudent economy
transported from Thoulouse the royal treasures, which were
deposited in the capital of the monarchy. The conqueror
penetrated as far as the confines of Spain; 54 restored the
honors of the Catholic church; fixed in Aquitain a colony of
Franks; 55 and delegated to his lieutenants the easy task of
subduing, or extirpating, the nation of the Visigoths. But the
Visigoths were protected by the wise and powerful monarch of
Italy. While the balance was still equal, Theodoric had perhaps
delayed the march of the Ostrogoths; but their strenuous efforts
successfully resisted the ambition of Clovis; and the army of the
Franks, and their Burgundian allies, was compelled to raise the
siege of Arles, with the loss, as it is said, of thirty thousand
men. These vicissitudes inclined the fierce spirit of Clovis to
acquiesce in an advantageous treaty of peace. The Visigoths were
suffered to retain the possession of Septimania, a narrow tract
of sea-coast, from the Rhone to the Pyrenees; but the ample
province of Aquitain, from those mountains to the Loire, was
indissolubly united to the kingdom of France. 56
53 (return) [ Angoulême is in the road from Poitiers to Bordeaux;
and although Gregory delays the siege, I can more readily believe
that he confounded the order of history, than that Clovis
neglected the rules of war.]
54 (return) [ Pyrenaeos montes usque Perpinianum subjecit, is the
expression of Rorico, which betrays his recent date; since
Perpignan did not exist before the tenth century, (Marca
Hispanica, p. 458.) This florid and fabulous writer (perhaps a
monk of Amiens—see the Abbe le Boeuf, Mem. de l’Academie, tom.
xvii. p. 228-245) relates, in the allegorical character of a
shepherd, the general history of his countrymen the Franks; but
his narrative ends with the death of Clovis.]
55 (return) [ The author of the Gesta Francorum positively
affirms, that Clovis fixed a body of Franks in the Saintonge and
Bourdelois: and he is not injudiciously followed by Rorico,
electos milites, atque fortissimos, cum parvulis, atque
mulieribus. Yet it should seem that they soon mingled with the
Romans of Aquitain, till Charlemagne introduced a more numerous
and powerful colony, (Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. ii. p. 215.)]
56 (return) [ In the composition of the Gothic war, I have used
the following materials, with due regard to their unequal value.
Four epistles from Theodoric, king of Italy, (Cassiodor l. iii.
epist. 1-4. in tom. iv p. 3-5;) Procopius, (de Bell. Goth. l. i.
c 12, in tom. ii. p. 32, 33;) Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 35,
36, 37, in tom. ii. p. 181-183;) Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c.
58, in tom. ii. p. 28;) Fortunatas, (in Vit. St. Hilarii, in tom.
iii. p. 380;) Isidore, (in Chron. Goth. in tom. ii. p. 702;) the
Epitome of Gregory of Tours, (in tom. ii. p. 401;) the author of
the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 553-555;) the Fragments of
Fredegarius, (in tom. ii. p. 463;) Aimoin, (l. i. c. 20, in tom.
iii. p. 41, 42,) and Rorico, (l. iv. in tom. iii. p. 14-19.)]
After the success of the Gothic war, Clovis accepted the honors
of the Roman consulship. The emperor Anastasius ambitiously
bestowed on the most powerful rival of Theodoric the title and
ensigns of that eminent dignity; yet, from some unknown cause,
the name of Clovis has not been inscribed in the Fasti either of
the East or West. 57 On the solemn day, the monarch of Gaul,
placing a diadem on his head, was invested, in the church of St.
Martin, with a purple tunic and mantle. From thence he proceeded
on horseback to the cathedral of Tours; and, as he passed through
the streets, profusely scattered, with his own hand, a donative
of gold and silver to the joyful multitude, who incessantly
repeated their acclamations of Consul and Augustus. The actual or
legal authority of Clovis could not receive any new accessions
from the consular dignity. It was a name, a shadow, an empty
pageant; and if the conqueror had been instructed to claim the
ancient prerogatives of that high office, they must have expired
with the period of its annual duration. But the Romans were
disposed to revere, in the person of their master, that antique
title which the emperors condescended to assume: the Barbarian
himself seemed to contract a sacred obligation to respect the
majesty of the republic; and the successors of Theodosius, by
soliciting his friendship, tacitly forgave, and almost ratified,
the usurpation of Gaul.
57 (return) [ The Fasti of Italy would naturally reject a consul,
the enemy of their sovereign; but any ingenious hypothesis that
might explain the silence of Constantinople and Egypt, (the
Chronicle of Marcellinus, and the Paschal,) is overturned by the
similar silence of Marius, bishop of Avenche, who composed his
Fasti in the kingdom of Burgundy. If the evidence of Gregory of
Tours were less weighty and positive, (l. ii. c. 38, in tom. ii.
p. 183,) I could believe that Clovis, like Odoacer, received the
lasting title and honors of Patrician, (Pagi Critica, tom. ii. p.
474, 492.)]
Twenty-five years after the death of Clovis this important
concession was more formally declared, in a treaty between his
sons and the emperor Justinian. The Ostrogoths of Italy, unable
to defend their distant acquisitions, had resigned to the Franks
the cities of Arles and Marseilles; of Arles, still adorned with
the seat of a Prætorian præfect, and of Marseilles, enriched by
the advantages of trade and navigation. 58 This transaction was
confirmed by the Imperial authority; and Justinian, generously
yielding to the Franks the sovereignty of the countries beyond
the Alps, which they already possessed, absolved the provincials
from their allegiance; and established on a more lawful, though
not more solid, foundation, the throne of the Merovingians. 59
From that era they enjoyed the right of celebrating at Arles the
games of the circus; and by a singular privilege, which was
denied even to the Persian monarch, the gold coin, impressed with
their name and image, obtained a legal currency in the empire. 60
A Greek historian of that age has praised the private and public
virtues of the Franks, with a partial enthusiasm, which cannot be
sufficiently justified by their domestic annals. 61 He celebrates
their politeness and urbanity, their regular government, and
orthodox religion; and boldly asserts, that these Barbarians
could be distinguished only by their dress and language from the
subjects of Rome. Perhaps the Franks already displayed the social
disposition, and lively graces, which, in every age, have
disguised their vices, and sometimes concealed their intrinsic
merit. Perhaps Agathias, and the Greeks, were dazzled by the
rapid progress of their arms, and the splendor of their empire.
Since the conquest of Burgundy, Gaul, except the Gothic province
of Septimania, was subject, in its whole extent, to the sons of
Clovis. They had extinguished the German kingdom of Thuringia,
and their vague dominion penetrated beyond the Rhine, into the
heart of their native forests. The Alemanni, and Bavarians, who
had occupied the Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum, to the
south of the Danube, confessed themselves the humble vassals of
the Franks; and the feeble barrier of the Alps was incapable of
resisting their ambition. When the last survivor of the sons of
Clovis united the inheritance and conquests of the Merovingians,
his kingdom extended far beyond the limits of modern France. Yet
modern France, such has been the progress of arts and policy, far
surpasses, in wealth, populousness, and power, the spacious but
savage realms of Clotaire or Dagobert. 62
58 (return) [ Under the Merovingian kings, Marseilles still
imported from the East paper, wine, oil, linen, silk, precious
stones, spices, &c. The Gauls, or Franks, traded to Syria, and
the Syrians were established in Gaul. See M. de Guignes, Mem. de
l’Academie, tom. xxxvii. p. 471-475.]
59 (return) [ This strong declaration of Procopius (de Bell.
Gothic. l. iii. cap. 33, in tom. ii. p. 41) would almost suffice
to justify the Abbe Dubos.]
60 (return) [ The Franks, who probably used the mints of Treves,
Lyons, and Arles, imitated the coinage of the Roman emperors of
seventy-two solidi, or pieces, to the pound of gold. But as the
Franks established only a decuple proportion of gold and silver,
ten shillings will be a sufficient valuation of their solidus of
gold. It was the common standard of the Barbaric fines, and
contained forty denarii, or silver three pences. Twelve of these
denarii made a solidus, or shilling, the twentieth part of the
ponderal and numeral livre, or pound of silver, which has been so
strangely reduced in modern France. See La Blanc, Traite
Historique des Monnoyes de France, p. 36-43, &c.]
61 (return) [ Agathias, in tom. ii. p. 47. Gregory of Tours
exhibits a very different picture. Perhaps it would not be easy,
within the same historical space, to find more vice and less
virtue. We are continually shocked by the union of savage and
corrupt manners.]
62 (return) [ M. de Foncemagne has traced, in a correct and
elegant dissertation, (Mem. de l’Academie, tom. viii. p.
505-528,) the extent and limits of the French monarchy.]
The Franks, or French, are the only people of Europe who can
deduce a perpetual succession from the conquerors of the Western
empire. But their conquest of Gaul was followed by ten centuries
of anarchy and ignorance. On the revival of learning, the
students, who had been formed in the schools of Athens and Rome,
disdained their Barbarian ancestors; and a long period elapsed
before patient labor could provide the requisite materials to
satisfy, or rather to excite, the curiosity of more enlightened
times. 63 At length the eye of criticism and philosophy was
directed to the antiquities of France; but even philosophers have
been tainted by the contagion of prejudice and passion. The most
extreme and exclusive systems, of the personal servitude of the
Gauls, or of their voluntary and equal alliance with the Franks,
have been rashly conceived, and obstinately defended; and the
intemperate disputants have accused each other of conspiring
against the prerogative of the crown, the dignity of the nobles,
or the freedom of the people. Yet the sharp conflict has usefully
exercised the adverse powers of learning and genius; and each
antagonist, alternately vanquished and victorious has extirpated
some ancient errors, and established some interesting truths. An
impartial stranger, instructed by their discoveries, their
disputes, and even their faults, may describe, from the same
original materials, the state of the Roman provincials, after
Gaul had submitted to the arms and laws of the Merovingian kings.
64
63 (return) [ The Abbe Dubos (Histoire Critique, tom. i. p.
29-36) has truly and agreeably represented the slow progress of
these studies; and he observes, that Gregory of Tours was only
once printed before the year 1560. According to the complaint of
Heineccius, (Opera, tom. iii. Sylloge, iii. p. 248, &c.,) Germany
received with indifference and contempt the codes of Barbaric
laws, which were published by Heroldus, Lindenbrogius, &c. At
present those laws, (as far as they relate to Gaul,) the history
of Gregory of Tours, and all the monuments of the Merovingian
race, appear in a pure and perfect state, in the first four
volumes of the Historians of France.]
64 (return) [ In the space of [about] thirty years (1728-1765)
this interesting subject has been agitated by the free spirit of
the count de Boulainvilliers, (Mémoires Historiques sur l’Etat de
la France, particularly tom. i. p. 15-49;) the learned ingenuity
of the Abbe Dubos, (Histoire Critique de l’Etablissement de la
Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, 2 vols. in 4to;) the
comprehensive genius of the president de Montesquieu, (Esprit des
Loix, particularly l. xxviii. xxx. xxxi.;) and the good sense and
diligence of the Abbe de Mably, (Observations sur l’Histoire de
France, 2 vols. 12mo.)]
The rudest, or the most servile, condition of human society, is
regulated, however, by some fixed and general rules. When Tacitus
surveyed the primitive simplicity of the Germans, he discovered
some permanent maxims, or customs, of public and private life,
which were preserved by faithful tradition till the introduction
of the art of writing, and of the Latin tongue. 65 Before the
election of the Merovingian kings, the most powerful tribe, or
nation, of the Franks, appointed four venerable chieftains to
compose the Salic laws; 66 and their labors were examined and
approved in three successive assemblies of the people. After the
baptism of Clovis, he reformed several articles that appeared
incompatible with Christianity: the Salic law was again amended
by his sons; and at length, under the reign of Dagobert, the code
was revised and promulgated in its actual form, one hundred years
after the establishment of the French monarchy. Within the same
period, the customs of the Ripuarians were transcribed and
published; and Charlemagne himself, the legislator of his age and
country, had accurately studied the two national laws, which
still prevailed among the Franks. 67 The same care was extended
to their vassals; and the rude institutions of the Alemanni and
Bavarians were diligently compiled and ratified by the supreme
authority of the Merovingian kings. The Visigoths and
Burgundians, whose conquests in Gaul preceded those of the
Franks, showed less impatience to attain one of the principal
benefits of civilized society. Euric was the first of the Gothic
princes who expressed, in writing, the manners and customs of his
people; and the composition of the Burgundian laws was a measure
of policy rather than of justice; to alleviate the yoke, and
regain the affections, of their Gallic subjects. 68 Thus, by a
singular coincidence, the Germans framed their artless
institutions, at a time when the elaborate system of Roman
jurisprudence was finally consummated. In the Salic laws, and the
Pandects of Justinian, we may compare the first rudiments, and
the full maturity, of civil wisdom; and whatever prejudices may
be suggested in favor of Barbarism, our calmer reflections will
ascribe to the Romans the superior advantages, not only of
science and reason, but of humanity and justice. Yet the laws 681
of the Barbarians were adapted to their wants and desires, their
occupations and their capacity; and they all contributed to
preserve the peace, and promote the improvement, of the society
for whose use they were originally established. The Merovingians,
instead of imposing a uniform rule of conduct on their various
subjects, permitted each people, and each family, of their
empire, freely to enjoy their domestic institutions; 69 nor were
the Romans excluded from the common benefits of this legal
toleration. 70 The children embraced the law of their parents,
the wife that of her husband, the freedman that of his patron;
and in all causes where the parties were of different nations,
the plaintiff or accuser was obliged to follow the tribunal of
the defendant, who may always plead a judicial presumption of
right, or innocence. A more ample latitude was allowed, if every
citizen, in the presence of the judge, might declare the law
under which he desired to live, and the national society to which
he chose to belong. Such an indulgence would abolish the partial
distinctions of victory: and the Roman provincials might
patiently acquiesce in the hardships of their condition; since it
depended on themselves to assume the privilege, if they dared to
assert the character, of free and warlike Barbarians. 71
65 (return) [ I have derived much instruction from two learned
works of Heineccius, the History, and the Elements, of the
Germanic law. In a judicious preface to the Elements, he
considers, and tries to excuse the defects of that barbarous
jurisprudence.]
66 (return) [ Latin appears to have been the original language of
the Salic law. It was probably composed in the beginning of the
fifth century, before the era (A.D. 421) of the real or fabulous
Pharamond. The preface mentions the four cantons which produced
the four legislators; and many provinces, Franconia, Saxony,
Hanover, Brabant, &c., have claimed them as their own. See an
excellent Dissertation of Heinecties de Lege Salica, tom. iii.
Sylloge iii. p. 247-267. * Note: The relative antiquity of the
two copies of the Salic law has been contested with great
learning and ingenuity. The work of M. Wiarda, History and
Explanation of the Salic Law, Bremen, 1808, asserts that what is
called the Lex Antiqua, or Vetustior in which many German words
are mingled with the Latin, has no claim to superior antiquity,
and may be suspected to be more modern. M. Wiarda has been
opposed by M. Fuer bach, who maintains the higher age of the
“ancient” Code, which has been greatly corrupted by the
transcribers. See Guizot, Cours de l’Histoire Moderne, vol. i.
sect. 9: and the preface to the useful republication of five of
the different texts of the Salic law, with that of the Ripuarian
in parallel columns. By E. A. I. Laspeyres, Halle, 1833.—M.]
67 (return) [ Eginhard, in Vit. Caroli Magni, c. 29, in tom. v.
p. 100. By these two laws, most critics understand the Salic and
the Ripuarian. The former extended from the Carbonarian forest to
the Loire, (tom. iv. p. 151,) and the latter might be obeyed from
the same forest to the Rhine, (tom. iv. p. 222.)]
68 (return) [ Consult the ancient and modern prefaces of the
several codes, in the fourth volume of the Historians of France.
The original prologue to the Salic law expresses (though in a
foreign dialect) the genuine spirit of the Franks more forcibly
than the ten books of Gregory of Tours.]
69 (return) [ The Ripuarian law declares, and defines, this
indulgence in favor of the plaintiff, (tit. xxxi. in tom. iv. p.
240;) and the same toleration is understood, or expressed, in all
the codes, except that of the Visigoths of Spain. Tanta
diversitas legum (says Agobard in the ninth century) quanta non
solum in regionibus, aut civitatibus, sed etiam in multis domibus
habetur. Nam plerumque contingit ut simul eant aut sedeant
quinque homines, et nullus eorum communem legem cum altero
habeat, (in tom. vi. p. 356.) He foolishly proposes to introduce
a uniformity of law, as well as of faith. * Note: It is the
object of the important work of M. Savigny, Geschichte des
Romisches Rechts in Mittelalter, to show the perpetuity of the
Roman law from the 5th to the 12th century.—M.]
681 (return) [ The most complete collection of these codes is in
the “Barbarorum leges antiquae,” by P. Canciani, 5 vols. folio,
Venice, 1781-9.—M.]
70 (return) [ Inter Romanos negotia causarum Romanis legibus
praecipimus terminari. Such are the words of a general
constitution promulgated by Clotaire, the son of Clovis, the sole
monarch of the Franks (in tom. iv. p. 116) about the year 560.]
71 (return) [ This liberty of choice has been aptly deduced
(Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. 2) from the constitution of Lothaire
I. (Leg. Langobard. l. ii. tit. lvii. in Codex Lindenbrog. p.
664;) though the example is too recent and partial. From a
various reading in the Salic law, (tit. xliv. not. xlv.) the Abbe
de Mably (tom. i. p. 290-293) has conjectured, that, at first, a
Barbarian only, and afterwards any man, (consequently a Roman,)
might live according to the law of the Franks. I am sorry to
offend this ingenious conjecture by observing, that the stricter
sense (Barbarum) is expressed in the reformed copy of
Charlemagne; which is confirmed by the Royal and Wolfenbuttle
MSS. The looser interpretation (hominem) is authorized only by
the MS. of Fulda, from from whence Heroldus published his
edition. See the four original texts of the Salic law in tom. iv.
p. 147, 173, 196, 220. * Note: Gibbon appears to have doubted the
evidence on which this “liberty of choice” rested. His doubts
have been confirmed by the researches of M. Savigny, who has not
only confuted but traced with convincing sagacity the origin and
progress of this error. As a general principle, though liable to
some exceptions, each lived according to his native law. Romische
Recht. vol. i. p. 123-138—M. * Note: This constitution of
Lothaire at first related only to the duchy of Rome; it
afterwards found its way into the Lombard code. Savigny. p.
138.—M.]
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part III.
When justice inexorably requires the death of a murderer, each
private citizen is fortified by the assurance, that the laws, the
magistrate, and the whole community, are the guardians of his
personal safety. But in the loose society of the Germans, revenge
was always honorable, and often meritorious: the independent
warrior chastised, or vindicated, with his own hand, the injuries
which he had offered or received; and he had only to dread the
resentment of the sons and kinsmen of the enemy, whom he had
sacrificed to his selfish or angry passions. The magistrate,
conscious of his weakness, interposed, not to punish, but to
reconcile; and he was satisfied if he could persuade or compel
the contending parties to pay and to accept the moderate fine
which had been ascertained as the price of blood. 72 The fierce
spirit of the Franks would have opposed a more rigorous sentence;
the same fierceness despised these ineffectual restraints; and,
when their simple manners had been corrupted by the wealth of
Gaul, the public peace was continually violated by acts of hasty
or deliberate guilt. In every just government the same penalty is
inflicted, or at least is imposed, for the murder of a peasant or
a prince. But the national inequality established by the Franks,
in their criminal proceedings, was the last insult and abuse of
conquest. 73 In the calm moments of legislation, they solemnly
pronounced, that the life of a Roman was of smaller value than
that of a Barbarian. The Antrustion, 74 a name expressive of the
most illustrious birth or dignity among the Franks, was
appreciated at the sum of six hundred pieces of gold; while the
noble provincial, who was admitted to the king’s table, might be
legally murdered at the expense of three hundred pieces.
Two hundred were deemed sufficient for a Frank of ordinary
condition; but the meaner Romans were exposed to disgrace and
danger by a trifling compensation of one hundred, or even fifty,
pieces of gold. Had these laws been regulated by any principle of
equity or reason, the public protection should have supplied, in
just proportion, the want of personal strength. But the
legislator had weighed in the scale, not of justice, but of
policy, the loss of a soldier against that of a slave: the head
of an insolent and rapacious Barbarian was guarded by a heavy
fine; and the slightest aid was afforded to the most defenceless
subjects. Time insensibly abated the pride of the conquerors and
the patience of the vanquished; and the boldest citizen was
taught, by experience, that he might suffer more injuries than he
could inflict. As the manners of the Franks became less
ferocious, their laws were rendered more severe; and the
Merovingian kings attempted to imitate the impartial rigor of the
Visigoths and Burgundians. 75 Under the empire of Charlemagne,
murder was universally punished with death; and the use of
capital punishments has been liberally multiplied in the
jurisprudence of modern Europe. 76
72 (return) [ In the heroic times of Greece, the guilt of murder
was expiated by a pecuniary satisfaction to the family of the
deceased, (Feithius Antiquitat. Homeric. l. ii. c. 8.)
Heineccius, in his preface to the Elements of Germanic Law,
favorably suggests, that at Rome and Athens homicide was only
punished with exile. It is true: but exile was a capital
punishment for a citizen of Rome or Athens.]
73 (return) [ This proportion is fixed by the Salic (tit. xliv.
in tom. iv. p. 147) and the Ripuarian (tit. vii. xi. xxxvi. in
tom. iv. p. 237, 241) laws: but the latter does not distinguish
any difference of Romans. Yet the orders of the clergy are placed
above the Franks themselves, and the Burgundians and Alemanni
between the Franks and the Romans.]
74 (return) [ The Antrustiones, qui in truste Dominica sunt,
leudi, fideles, undoubtedly represent the first order of Franks;
but it is a question whether their rank was personal or
hereditary. The Abbe de Mably (tom. i. p. 334-347) is not
displeased to mortify the pride of birth (Esprit, l. xxx. c. 25)
by dating the origin of the French nobility from the reign
Clotaire II. (A.D. 615.)]
75 (return) [ See the Burgundian laws, (tit. ii. in tom. iv. p.
257,) the code of the Visigoths, (l. vi. tit. v. in tom. p. 384,)
and the constitution of Childebert, not of Paris, but most
evidently of Austrasia, (in tom. iv. p. 112.) Their premature
severity was sometimes rash, and excessive. Childebert condemned
not only murderers but robbers; quomodo sine lege involavit, sine
lege moriatur; and even the negligent judge was involved in the
same sentence. The Visigoths abandoned an unsuccessful surgeon to
the family of his deceased patient, ut quod de eo facere
voluerint habeant potestatem, (l. xi. tit. i. in tom. iv. p.
435.)]
76 (return) [ See, in the sixth volume of the works of
Heineccius, the Elementa Juris Germanici, l. ii. p. 2, No. 261,
262, 280-283. Yet some vestiges of these pecuniary compositions
for murder have been traced in Germany as late as the sixteenth
century.]
The civil and military professions, which had been separated by
Constantine, were again united by the Barbarians. The harsh sound
of the Teutonic appellations was mollified into the Latin titles
of Duke, of Count, or of Praefect; and the same officer assumed,
within his district, the command of the troops, and the
administration of justice. 77 But the fierce and illiterate
chieftain was seldom qualified to discharge the duties of a
judge, which required all the faculties of a philosophic mind,
laboriously cultivated by experience and study; and his rude
ignorance was compelled to embrace some simple, and visible,
methods of ascertaining the cause of justice. In every religion,
the Deity has been invoked to confirm the truth, or to punish the
falsehood of human testimony; but this powerful instrument was
misapplied and abused by the simplicity of the German
legislators. The party accused might justify his innocence, by
producing before their tribunal a number of friendly witnesses,
who solemnly declared their belief, or assurance, that he was not
guilty. According to the weight of the charge, this legal number
of compurgators was multiplied; seventy-two voices were required
to absolve an incendiary or assassin: and when the chastity of a
queen of France was suspected, three hundred gallant nobles
swore, without hesitation, that the infant prince had been
actually begotten by her deceased husband. 78 The sin and scandal
of manifest and frequent perjuries engaged the magistrates to
remove these dangerous temptations; and to supply the defects of
human testimony by the famous experiments of fire and water.
These extraordinary trials were so capriciously contrived, that,
in some cases, guilt, and innocence in others, could not be
proved without the interposition of a miracle. Such miracles were
really provided by fraud and credulity; the most intricate causes
were determined by this easy and infallible method, and the
turbulent Barbarians, who might have disdained the sentence of
the magistrate, submissively acquiesced in the judgment of God.
79
77 (return) [ The whole subject of the Germanic judges, and their
jurisdiction, is copiously treated by Heineccius, (Element. Jur.
Germ. l. iii. No. 1-72.) I cannot find any proof that, under the
Merovingian race, the scabini, or assessors, were chosen by the
people. * Note: The question of the scabini is treated at
considerable length by Savigny. He questions the existence of the
scabini anterior to Charlemagne. Before this time the decision
was by an open court of the freemen, the boni Romische Recht,
vol. i. p. 195. et seq.—M.]
78 (return) [ Gregor. Turon. l. viii. c. 9, in tom. ii. p. 316.
Montesquieu observes, (Esprit des Loix. l. xxviii. c. 13,) that
the Salic law did not admit these negative proofs so universally
established in the Barbaric codes. Yet this obscure concubine
(Fredegundis,) who became the wife of the grandson of Clovis,
must have followed the Salic law.]
79 (return) [ Muratori, in the Antiquities of Italy, has given
two Dissertations (xxxvii. xxxix.) on the judgments of God. It
was expected that fire would not burn the innocent; and that the
pure element of water would not allow the guilty to sink into its
bosom.]
But the trials by single combat gradually obtained superior
credit and authority, among a warlike people, who could not
believe that a brave man deserved to suffer, or that a coward
deserved to live. 80 Both in civil and criminal proceedings, the
plaintiff, or accuser, the defendant, or even the witness, were
exposed to mortal challenge from the antagonist who was destitute
of legal proofs; and it was incumbent on them either to desert
their cause, or publicly to maintain their honor, in the lists of
battle. They fought either on foot, or on horseback, according to
the custom of their nation; 81 and the decision of the sword, or
lance, was ratified by the sanction of Heaven, of the judge, and
of the people. This sanguinary law was introduced into Gaul by
the Burgundians; and their legislator Gundobald 82 condescended
to answer the complaints and objections of his subject Avitus.
“Is it not true,” said the king of Burgundy to the bishop, “that
the event of national wars, and private combats, is directed by
the judgment of God; and that his providence awards the victory
to the juster cause?” By such prevailing arguments, the absurd
and cruel practice of judicial duels, which had been peculiar to
some tribes of Germany, was propagated and established in all the
monarchies of Europe, from Sicily to the Baltic. At the end of
ten centuries, the reign of legal violence was not totally
extinguished; and the ineffectual censures of saints, of popes,
and of synods, may seem to prove, that the influence of
superstition is weakened by its unnatural alliance with reason
and humanity. The tribunals were stained with the blood, perhaps,
of innocent and respectable citizens; the law, which now favors
the rich, then yielded to the strong; and the old, the feeble,
and the infirm, were condemned, either to renounce their fairest
claims and possessions, to sustain the dangers of an unequal
conflict, 83 or to trust the doubtful aid of a mercenary
champion. This oppressive jurisprudence was imposed on the
provincials of Gaul, who complained of any injuries in their
persons and property. Whatever might be the strength, or courage,
of individuals, the victorious Barbarians excelled in the love
and exercise of arms; and the vanquished Roman was unjustly
summoned to repeat, in his own person, the bloody contest which
had been already decided against his country. 84
80 (return) [ Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 17) has
condescended to explain and excuse “la maniere de penser de nos
peres,” on the subject of judicial combats. He follows this
strange institution from the age of Gundobald to that of St.
Lewis; and the philosopher is some times lost in the legal
antiquarian.]
81 (return) [ In a memorable duel at Aix-la-Chapelle, (A.D. 820,)
before the emperor Lewis the Pious, his biographer observes,
secundum legem propriam, utpote quia uterque Gothus erat,
equestri pugna est, (Vit. Lud. Pii, c. 33, in tom. vi. p. 103.)
Ermoldus Nigellus, (l. iii. 543-628, in tom. vi. p. 48-50,) who
describes the duel, admires the ars nova of fighting on
horseback, which was unknown to the Franks.]
82 (return) [ In his original edict, published at Lyons, (A.D.
501,) establishes and justifies the use of judicial combat, (Les
Burgund. tit. xlv. in tom. ii. p. 267, 268.) Three hundred years
afterwards, Agobard, bishop of Lyons, solicited Lewis the Pious
to abolish the law of an Arian tyrant, (in tom. vi. p. 356-358.)
He relates the conversation of Gundobald and Avitus.]
83 (return) [ “Accidit, (says Agobard,) ut non solum valentes
viribus, sed etiam infirmi et senes lacessantur ad pugnam, etiam
pro vilissimis rebus. Quibus foralibus certaminibus contingunt
homicidia injusta; et crudeles ac perversi eventus judiciorum.”
Like a prudent rhetorician, he suppresses the legal privilege of
hiring champions.]
84 (return) [ Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, xxviii. c. 14,) who
understands why the judicial combat was admitted by the
Burgundians, Ripuarians, Alemanni, Bavarians, Lombards,
Thuringians, Frisons, and Saxons, is satisfied (and Agobard seems
to countenance the assertion) that it was not allowed by the
Salic law. Yet the same custom, at least in case of treason, is
mentioned by Ermoldus, Nigellus (l. iii. 543, in tom. vi. p. 48,)
and the anonymous biographer of Lewis the Pious, (c. 46, in tom.
vi. p. 112,) as the “mos antiquus Francorum, more Francis
solito,” &c., expressions too general to exclude the noblest of
their tribes.]