13 (return) [ The duke of Nivernois, a n_The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)

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 praefect, 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.

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.

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.]

A devouring host of one hundred and twenty thousand Germans had

formerly passed the Rhine under the command of Ariovistus. One

third part of the fertile lands of the Sequani was appropriated

to their use; and the conqueror soon repeated his oppressive

demand of another third, for the accommodation of a new colony of

twenty-four thousand Barbarians, whom he had invited to share the

rich harvest of Gaul. 85 At the distance of five hundred years,

the Visigoths and Burgundians, who revenged the defeat of

Ariovistus, usurped the same unequal proportion of two thirds of

the subject lands. But this distribution, instead of spreading

over the province, may be reasonably confined to the peculiar

districts where the victorious people had been planted by their

own choice, or by the policy of their leader. In these districts,

each Barbarian was connected by the ties of hospitality with some

Roman provincial. To this unwelcome guest, the proprietor was

compelled to abandon two thirds of his patrimony, but the German,

a shepherd and a hunter, might sometimes content himself with a

spacious range of wood and pasture, and resign the smallest,

though most valuable, portion, to the toil of the industrious

husbandman. 86 The silence of ancient and authentic testimony has

encouraged an opinion, that the rapine of the Franks was not

moderated, or disguised, by the forms of a legal division; that

they dispersed themselves over the provinces of Gaul, without

order or control; and that each victorious robber, according to

his wants, his avarice, and his strength, measured with his sword

the extent of his new inheritance. At a distance from their

sovereign, the Barbarians might indeed be tempted to exercise

such arbitrary depredation; but the firm and artful policy of

Clovis must curb a licentious spirit, which would aggravate the

misery of the vanquished, whilst it corrupted the union and

discipline of the conquerors. 861 The memorable vase of Soissons

is a monument and a pledge of the regular distribution of the

Gallic spoils. It was the duty and the interest of Clovis to

provide rewards for a successful army, settlements for a numerous

people; without inflicting any wanton or superfluous injuries on

the loyal Catholics of Gaul. The ample fund, which he might

lawfully acquire, of the Imperial patrimony, vacant lands, and

Gothic usurpations, would diminish the cruel necessity of seizure

and confiscation, and the humble provincials would more patiently

acquiesce in the equal and regular distribution of their loss. 87

85 (return) [ Caesar de Bell. Gall. l. i. c. 31, in tom. i. p.

213.]

86 (return) [ The obscure hints of a division of lands

occasionally scattered in the laws of the Burgundians, (tit. liv.

No. 1, 2, in tom. iv. p. 271, 272,) and Visigoths, (l. x. tit. i.

No. 8, 9, 16, in tom. iv. p. 428, 429, 430,) are skillfully

explained by the president Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx.

c. 7, 8, 9.) I shall only add, that among the Goths, the division

seems to have been ascertained by the judgment of the

neighborhood, that the Barbarians frequently usurped the

remaining third; and that the Romans might recover their right,

unless they were barred by a prescription of fifty years.]

861 (return) [ Sismondi (Hist des Francais, vol. i. p. 197)

observes, they were not a conquering people, who had emigrated

with their families, like the Goths or Burgundians. The women,

the children, the old, had not followed Clovis: they remained in

their ancient possessions on the Waal and the Rhine. The

adventurers alone had formed the invading force, and they always

considered themselves as an army, not as a colony. Hence their

laws retained no traces of the partition of the Roman properties.

It is curious to observe the recoil from the national vanity of

the French historians of the last century. M. Sismondi compares

the position of the Franks with regard to the conquered people

with that of the Dey of Algiers and his corsair troops to the

peaceful inhabitants of that province: M. Thierry (Lettres sur

l’Histoire de France, p. 117) with that of the Turks towards the

Raias or Phanariotes, the mass of the Greeks.—M.]

87 (return) [ It is singular enough that the president de

Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 7) and the Abbe de Mably

(Observations, tom i. p. 21, 22) agree in this strange

supposition of arbitrary and private rapine. The Count de

Boulainvilliers (Etat de la France, tom. i. p. 22, 23) shows a

strong understanding through a cloud of ignorance and prejudice.

Note: Sismondi supposes that the Barbarians, if a farm were

conveniently situated, would show no great respect for the laws

of property; but in general there would have been vacant land

enough for the lots assigned to old or worn-out warriors, (Hist.

des Francais, vol. i. p. 196.)—M.]

The wealth of the Merovingian princes consisted in their

extensive domain. After the conquest of Gaul, they still

delighted in the rustic simplicity of their ancestors; the cities

were abandoned to solitude and decay; and their coins, their

charters, and their synods, are still inscribed with the names of

the villas, or rural palaces, in which they successively resided.

One hundred and sixty of these palaces, a title which need not

excite any unseasonable ideas of art or luxury, were scattered

through the provinces of their kingdom; and if some might claim

the honors of a fortress, the far greater part could be esteemed

only in the light of profitable farms. The mansion of the

long-haired kings was surrounded with convenient yards and

stables, for the cattle and the poultry; the garden was planted

with useful vegetables; the various trades, the labors of

agriculture, and even the arts of hunting and fishing, were

exercised by servile hands for the emolument of the sovereign;

his magazines were filled with corn and wine, either for sale or

consumption; and the whole administration was conducted by the

strictest maxims of private economy. 88 This ample patrimony was

appropriated to supply the hospitable plenty of Clovis and his

successors; and to reward the fidelity of their brave companions

who, both in peace and war, were devoted to their personal

service. Instead of a horse, or a suit of armor, each companion,

according to his rank, or merit, or favor, was invested with a

benefice, the primitive name, and most simple form, of the feudal

possessions. These gifts might be resumed at the pleasure of the

sovereign; and his feeble prerogative derived some support from

the influence of his liberality. 881 But this dependent tenure

was gradually abolished 89 by the independent and rapacious

nobles of France, who established the perpetual property, and

hereditary succession, of their benefices; a revolution salutary

to the earth, which had been injured, or neglected, by its

precarious masters. 90 Besides these royal and beneficiary

estates, a large proportion had been assigned, in the division of

Gaul, of allodial and Salic lands: they were exempt from tribute,

and the Salic lands were equally shared among the male

descendants of the Franks. 91

88 (return) [ See the rustic edict, or rather code, of

Charlemagne, which contains seventy distinct and minute

regulations of that great monarch (in tom. v. p. 652-657.) He

requires an account of the horns and skins of the goats, allows

his fish to be sold, and carefully directs, that the larger

villas (Capitaneoe) shall maintain one hundred hens and thirty

geese; and the smaller (Mansionales) fifty hens and twelve geese.

Mabillon (de Re Diplomatica) has investigated the names, the

number, and the situation of the Merovingian villas.]

881 (return) [ The resumption of benefices at the pleasure of the

sovereign, (the general theory down to his time,) is ably

contested by Mr. Hallam; “for this resumption some delinquency

must be imputed to the vassal.” Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 162. The

reader will be interested by the singular analogies with the

beneficial and feudal system of Europe in a remote part of the

world, indicated by Col. Tod in his splendid work on Raja’sthan,

vol. ii p. 129, &c.—M.]

89 (return) [ From a passage of the Burgundian law (tit. i. No.

4, in tom. iv. p. 257) it is evident, that a deserving son might

expect to hold the lands which his father had received from the

royal bounty of Gundobald. The Burgundians would firmly maintain

their privilege, and their example might encourage the

Beneficiaries of France.]

90 (return) [ The revolutions of the benefices and fiefs are

clearly fixed by the Abbe de Mably. His accurate distinction of

times gives him a merit to which even Montesquieu is a stranger.]

91 (return) [ See the Salic law, (tit. lxii. in tom. iv. p. 156.)

The origin and nature of these Salic lands, which, in times of

ignorance, were perfectly understood, now perplex our most

learned and sagacious critics. * Note: No solution seems more

probable, than that the ancient lawgivers of the Salic Franks

prohibited females from inheriting the lands assigned to the

nation, upon its conquest of Gaul, both in compliance with their

ancient usages, and in order to secure the military service of

every proprietor. But lands subsequently acquired by purchase or

other means, though equally bound to the public defence, were

relieved from the severity of this rule, and presumed not to

belong to the class of Sallic. Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. i. p.

145. Compare Sismondi, vol. i. p. 196.—M.]

In the bloody discord and silent decay of the Merovingian line, a

new order of tyrants arose in the provinces, who, under the

appellation of Seniors, or Lords, usurped a right to govern, and

a license to oppress, the subjects of their peculiar territory.

Their ambition might be checked by the hostile resistance of an

equal: but the laws were extinguished; and the sacrilegious

Barbarians, who dared to provoke the vengeance of a saint or

bishop, 92 would seldom respect the landmarks of a profane and

defenceless neighbor. The common or public rights of nature, such

as they had always been deemed by the Roman jurisprudence, 93

were severely restrained by the German conquerors, whose

amusement, or rather passion, was the exercise of hunting. The

vague dominion which Man has assumed over the wild inhabitants of

the earth, the air, and the waters, was confined to some

fortunate individuals of the human species. Gaul was again

overspread with woods; and the animals, who were reserved for the

use or pleasure of the lord, might ravage with impunity the

fields of his industrious vassals. The chase was the sacred

privilege of the nobles and their domestic servants. Plebeian

transgressors were legally chastised with stripes and

imprisonment; 94 but in an age which admitted a slight

composition for the life of a citizen, it was a capital crime to

destroy a stag or a wild bull within the precincts of the royal

forests. 95

92 (return) [ Many of the two hundred and six miracles of St.

Martin (Greg Turon. in Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xi. p.

896-932) were repeatedly performed to punish sacrilege. Audite

haec omnes (exclaims the bishop of Tours) protestatem habentes,

after relating, how some horses ran mad, that had been turned

into a sacred meadow.]

93 (return) [ Heinec. Element. Jur. German. l. ii. p. 1, No. 8.]

94 (return) [ Jonas, bishop of Orleans, (A.D. 821-826. Cave,

Hist. Litteraria, p. 443,) censures the legal tyranny of the

nobles. Pro feris, quas cura hominum non aluit, sed Deus in

commune mortalibus ad utendum concessit, pauperes a potentioribus

spoliantur, flagellantur, ergastulis detruduntur, et multa alia

patiuntur. Hoc enim qui faciunt, lege mundi se facere juste posse

contendant. De Institutione Laicorum, l. ii. c. 23, apud

Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1348.]

95 (return) [ On a mere suspicion, Chundo, a chamberlain of

Gontram, king of Burgundy, was stoned to death, (Greg. Turon. l.

x. c. 10, in tom. ii. p. 369.) John of Salisbury (Policrat. l. i.

c. 4) asserts the rights of nature, and exposes the cruel

practice of the twelfth century. See Heineccius, Elem. Jur. Germ.

l. ii. p. 1, No. 51-57.]

According to the maxims of ancient war, the conqueror became the

lawful master of the enemy whom he had subdued and spared: 96 and

the fruitful cause of personal slavery, which had been almost

suppressed by the peaceful sovereignty of Rome, was again revived

and multiplied by the perpetual hostilities of the independent

Barbarians. The Goth, the Burgundian, or the Frank, who returned

from a successful expedition, dragged after him a long train of

sheep, of oxen, and of human captives, whom he treated with the

same brutal contempt. The youths of an elegant form and an

ingenuous aspect were set apart for the domestic service; a

doubtful situation, which alternately exposed them to the

favorable or cruel impulse of passion. The useful mechanics and

servants (smiths, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, cooks,

gardeners, dyers, and workmen in gold and silver, &c.) employed

their skill for the use, or profit, of their master. But the

Roman captives, who were destitute of art, but capable of labor,

were condemned, without regard to their former rank, to tend the

cattle and cultivate the lands of the Barbarians. The number of

the hereditary bondsmen, who were attached to the Gallic estates,

was continually increased by new supplies; and the servile

people, according to the situation and temper of their lords, was

sometimes raised by precarious indulgence, and more frequently

depressed by capricious despotism. 97 An absolute power of life

and death was exercised by these lords; and when they married

their daughters, a train of useful servants, chained on the

wagons to prevent their escape, was sent as a nuptial present

into a distant country. 98 The majesty of the Roman laws

protected the liberty of each citizen, against the rash effects

of his own distress or despair. But the subjects of the

Merovingian kings might alienate their personal freedom; and this

act of legal suicide, which was familiarly practised, is

expressed in terms most disgraceful and afflicting to the dignity

of human nature. 99 The example of the poor, who purchased life

by the sacrifice of all that can render life desirable, was

gradually imitated by the feeble and the devout, who, in times of

public disorder, pusillanimously crowded to shelter themselves

under the battlements of a powerful chief, and around the shrine

of a popular saint. Their submission was accepted by these

temporal or spiritual patrons; and the hasty transaction

irrecoverably fixed their own condition, and that of their latest

posterity. From the reign of Clovis, during five successive

centuries, the laws and manners of Gaul uniformly tended to

promote the increase, and to confirm the duration, of personal

servitude. Time and violence almost obliterated the intermediate

ranks of society; and left an obscure and narrow interval between

the noble and the slave. This arbitrary and recent division has

been transformed by pride and prejudice into a national

distinction, universally established by the arms and the laws of

the Merovingians. The nobles, who claimed their genuine or

fabulous descent from the independent and victorious Franks, have

asserted and abused the indefeasible right of conquest over a

prostrate crowd of slaves and plebeians, to whom they imputed the

imaginary disgrace of Gallic or Roman extraction.

96 (return) [ The custom of enslaving prisoners of war was

totally extinguished in the thirteenth century, by the prevailing

influence of Christianity; but it might be proved, from frequent

passages of Gregory of Tours, &c., that it was practised, without

censure, under the Merovingian race; and even Grotius himself,

(de Jure Belli et Pacis l. iii. c. 7,) as well as his commentator

Barbeyrac, have labored to reconcile it with the laws of nature

and reason.]

97 (return) [ The state, professions, &c., of the German,

Italian, and Gallic slaves, during the middle ages, are explained

by Heineccius, (Element Jur. Germ. l. i. No. 28-47,) Muratori,

(Dissertat. xiv. xv.,) Ducange, (Gloss. sub voce Servi,) and the

Abbe de Mably, (Observations, tom. ii. p. 3, &c., p. 237, &c.)

Note: Compare Hallam, vol. i. p. 216.—M.]

98 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. vi. c. 45, in tom. ii. p. 289)

relates a memorable example, in which Chilperic only abused the

private rights of a master. Many families which belonged to his

domus fiscales in the neighborhood of Paris, were forcibly sent

away into Spain.]

99 (return) [ Licentiam habeatis mihi qualemcunque volueritis

disciplinam ponere; vel venumdare, aut quod vobis placuerit de me

facere Marculf. Formul. l. ii. 28, in tom. iv. p. 497. The

Formula of Lindenbrogius, (p. 559,) and that of Anjou, (p. 565,)

are to the same effect Gregory of Tours (l. vii. c. 45, in tom.

ii. p. 311) speak of many person who sold themselves for bread,

in a great famine.]

The general state and revolutions of France, a name which was

imposed by the conquerors, may be illustrated by the particular

example of a province, a diocese, or a senatorial family.

Auvergne had formerly maintained a just preeminence among the

independent states and cities of Gaul. The brave and numerous

inhabitants displayed a singular trophy; the sword of Caesar

himself, which he had lost when he was repulsed before the walls

of Gergovia. 100 As the common offspring of Troy, they claimed a

fraternal alliance with the Romans; 101 and if each province had

imitated the courage and loyalty of Auvergne, the fall of the

Western empire might have been prevented or delayed. They firmly

maintained the fidelity which they had reluctantly sworn to the

Visigoths, out when their bravest nobles had fallen in the battle

of Poitiers, they accepted, without resistance, a victorious and

Catholic sovereign. This easy and valuable conquest was achieved

and possessed by Theodoric, the eldest son of Clovis: but the

remote province was separated from his Austrasian dominions, by

the intermediate kingdoms of Soissons, Paris, and Orleans, which

formed, after their father’s death, the inheritance of his three

brothers. The king of Paris, Childebert, was tempted by the

neighborhood and beauty of Auvergne. 102 The Upper country, which

rises towards the south into the mountains of the Cevennes,

presented a rich and various prospect of woods and pastures; the

sides of the hills were clothed with vines; and each eminence was

crowned with a villa or castle. In the Lower Auvergne, the River

Allier flows through the fair and spacious plain of Limagne; and

the inexhaustible fertility of the soil supplied, and still

supplies, without any interval of repose, the constant repetition

of the same harvests. 103 On the false report, that their lawful

sovereign had been slain in Germany, the city and diocese of

Auvergne were betrayed by the grandson of Sidonius Apollinaris.

Childebert enjoyed this clandestine victory; and the free

subjects of Theodoric threatened to desert his standard, if he

indulged his private resentment, while the nation was engaged in

the Burgundian war. But the Franks of Austrasia soon yielded to

the persuasive eloquence of their king. “Follow me,” said

Theodoric, “into Auvergne; I will lead you into a province, where

you may acquire gold, silver, slaves, cattle, and precious

apparel, to the full extent of your wishes. I repeat my promise;

I give you the people and their wealth as your prey; and you may

transport them at pleasure into your own country.” By the

execution of this promise, Theodoric justly forfeited the

allegiance of a people whom he devoted to destruction. His

troops, reenforced by the fiercest Barbarians of Germany, 104

spread desolation over the fruitful face of Auvergne; and two

places only, a strong castle and a holy shrine, were saved or

redeemed from their licentious fury. The castle of Meroliac 105

was seated on a lofty rock, which rose a hundred feet above the

surface of the plain; and a large reservoir of fresh water was

enclosed, with some arable lands, within the circle of its

fortifications. The Franks beheld with envy and despair this

impregnable fortress; but they surprised a party of fifty

stragglers; and, as they were oppressed by the number of their

captives, they fixed, at a trifling ransom, the alternative of

life or death for these wretched victims, whom the cruel

Barbarians were prepared to massacre on the refusal of the

garrison. Another detachment penetrated as far as Brivas, or

Brioude, where the inhabitants, with their valuable effects, had

taken refuge in the sanctuary of St. Julian. The doors of the

church resisted the assault; but a daring soldier entered through

a window of the choir, and opened a passage to his companions.

The clergy and people, the sacred and the profane spoils, were

rudely torn from the altar; and the sacrilegious division was

made at a small distance from the town of Brioude. But this act

of impiety was severely chastised by the devout son of Clovis. He

punished with death the most atrocious offenders; left their

secret accomplices to the vengeance of St. Julian; released the

captives; restored the plunder; and extended the rights of

sanctuary five miles round the sepulchre of the holy martyr. 106

100 (return) [ When Caesar saw it, he laughed, (Plutarch. in

Caesar. in tom. i. p. 409:) yet he relates his unsuccessful siege

of Gergovia with less frankness than we might expect from a great

man to whom victory was familiar. He acknowledges, however, that

in one attack he lost forty-six centurions and seven hundred men,

(de Bell. Gallico, l. vi. c. 44-53, in tom. i. p. 270-272.)]

101 (return) [ Audebant se quondam fatres Latio dicere, et

sanguine ab Iliaco populos computare, (Sidon. Apollinar. l. vii.

epist. 7, in tom i. p. 799.) I am not informed of the degrees and

circumstances of this fabulous pedigree.]

102 (return) [ Either the first, or second, partition among the

sons of Clovis, had given Berry to Childebert, (Greg. Turon. l.

iii. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 192.) Velim (said he) Arvernam

Lemanem, quae tanta jocunditatis gratia refulgere dicitur, oculis

cernere, (l. iii. c. p. 191.) The face of the country was

concealed by a thick fog, when the king of Paris made his entry

into Clermen.]

103 (return) [ For the description of Auvergne, see Sidonius, (l.

iv. epist. 21, in tom. i. p. 703,) with the notes of Savaron and

Sirmond, (p. 279, and 51, of their respective editions.)

Boulainvilliers, (Etat de la France, tom. ii. p. 242-268,) and

the Abbe de la Longuerue, (Description de la France, part i. p.

132-139.)]

104 (return) [Furorem gentium, quae de ulteriore Rheni amnis

parte venerant, superare non poterat, (Greg. Turon. l. iv. c. 50,

in tom. ii. 229.) was the excuse of another king of Austrasia

(A.D. 574) for the ravages which his troops committed in the

neighborhood of Paris.]

105 (return) [ From the name and situation, the Benedictine

editors of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p. 192) have fixed this

fortress at a place named Castel Merliac, two miles from Mauriac,

in the Upper Auvergne. In this description, I translate infra as

if I read intra; the two are perpetually confounded by Gregory,

or his transcribed and the sense must always decide.]

106 (return) [ See these revolutions, and wars, of Auvergne, in

Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 37, in tom. ii. p. 183, and l. iii.

c. 9, 12, 13, p. 191, 192, de Miraculis St. Julian. c. 13, in

tom. ii. p. 466.) He frequently betrays his extraordinary

attention to his native country.]

Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part IV.

Before the Austrasian army retreated from Auvergne, Theodoric

exacted some pledges of the future loyalty of a people, whose

just hatred could be restrained only by their fear. A select band

of noble youths, the sons of the principal senators, was

delivered to the conqueror, as the hostages of the faith of

Childebert, and of their countrymen. On the first rumor of war,

or conspiracy, these guiltless youths were reduced to a state of

servitude; and one of them, Attalus, 107 whose adventures are

more particularly related, kept his master’s horses in the

diocese of Treves. After a painful search, he was discovered, in

this unworthy occupation, by the emissaries of his grandfather,

Gregory bishop of Langres; but his offers of ransom were sternly

rejected by the avarice of the Barbarian, who required an

exorbitant sum of ten pounds of gold for the freedom of his noble

captive. His deliverance was effected by the hardy stratagem of

Leo, a slave belonging to the kitchens of the bishop of Langres.

108 An unknown agent easily introduced him into the same family.

The Barbarian purchased Leo for the price of twelve pieces of

gold; and was pleased to learn that he was deeply skilled in the

luxury of an episcopal table: “Next Sunday,” said the Frank, “I

shall invite my neighbors and kinsmen. Exert thy art, and force

them to confess, that they have never seen, or tasted, such an

entertainment, even in the king’s house.” Leo assured him, that

if he would provide a sufficient quantity of poultry, his wishes

should be satisfied. The master who already aspired to the merit

of elegant hospitality, assumed, as his own, the praise which the

voracious guests unanimously bestowed on his cook; and the

dexterous Leo insensibly acquired the trust and management of his

household. After the patient expectation of a whole year, he

cautiously whispered his design to Attalus, and exhorted him to

prepare for flight in the ensuing night. At the hour of midnight,

the intemperate guests retired from the table; and the Frank’s

son-in-law, whom Leo attended to his apartment with a nocturnal

potation, condescended to jest on the facility with which he

might betray his trust. The intrepid slave, after sustaining this

dangerous raillery, entered his master’s bedchamber; removed his

spear and shield; silently drew the fleetest horses from the

stable; unbarred the ponderous gates; and excited Attalus to save

his life and liberty by incessant diligence. Their apprehensions

urged them to leave their horses on the banks of the Meuse; 109

they swam the river, wandered three days in the adjacent forest,

and subsisted only by the accidental discovery of a wild

plum-tree. As they lay concealed in a dark thicket, they heard

the noise of horses; they were terrified by the angry countenance

of their master, and they anxiously listened to his declaration,

that, if he could seize the guilty fugitives, one of them he

would cut in pieces with his sword, and would expose the other on

a gibbet. A length, Attalus and his faithful Leo reached the

friendly habitation of a presbyter of Rheims, who recruited their

fainting strength with bread and wine, concealed them from the

search of their enemy, and safely conducted them beyond the

limits of the Austrasian kingdom, to the episcopal palace of

Langres. Gregory embraced his grandson with tears of joy,

gratefully delivered Leo, with his whole family, from the yoke of

servitude, and bestowed on him the property of a farm, where he

might end his days in happiness and freedom. Perhaps this

singular adventure, which is marked with so many circumstances of

truth and nature, was related by Attalus himself, to his cousin

or nephew, the first historian of the Franks. Gregory of Tours

110 was born about sixty years after the death of Sidonius

Apollinaris; and their situation was almost similar, since each

of them was a native of Auvergne, a senator, and a bishop. The

difference of their style and sentiments may, therefore, express

the decay of Gaul; and clearly ascertain how much, in so short a

space, the human mind had lost of its energy and refinement. 111

107 (return) [ The story of Attalus is related by Gregory of

Tours, (l. iii. c. 16, tom. ii. p. 193-195.) His editor, the P.

Ruinart, confounds this Attalus, who was a youth (puer) in the

year 532, with a friend of Silonius of the same name, who was

count of Autun, fifty or sixty years before. Such an error, which

cannot be imputed to ignorance, is excused, in some degree, by

its own magnitude.]

108 (return) [ This Gregory, the great grandfather of Gregory of

Tours, (in tom. ii. p. 197, 490,) lived ninety-two years; of

which he passed forty as count of Autun, and thirty-two as bishop

of Langres. According to the poet Fortunatus, he displayed equal

merit in these different stations. Nobilis antiqua decurrens

prole parentum, Nobilior gestis, nunc super astra manet. Arbiter

ante ferox, dein pius ipse sacerdos, Quos domuit judex, fovit

amore patris.]

109 (return) [ As M. de Valois, and the P. Ruinart, are

determined to change the Mosella of the text into Mosa, it

becomes me to acquiesce in the alteration. Yet, after some

examination of the topography. I could defend the common

reading.]

110 (return) [ The parents of Gregory (Gregorius Florentius

Georgius) were of noble extraction, (natalibus... illustres,) and

they possessed large estates (latifundia) both in Auvergne and

Burgundy. He was born in the year 539, was consecrated bishop of

Tours in 573, and died in 593 or 595, soon after he had

terminated his history. See his life by Odo, abbot of Clugny, (in

tom. ii. p. 129-135,) and a new Life in the Mémoires de

l’Academie, &c., tom. xxvi. p. 598-637.]

111 (return) [ Decedente atque immo potius pereunte ab urbibus

Gallicanis liberalium cultura literarum, &c., (in praefat. in

tom. ii. p. 137,) is the complaint of Gregory himself, which he

fully verifies by his own work. His style is equally devoid of

elegance and simplicity. In a conspicuous station, he still

remained a stranger to his own age and country; and in a prolific

work (the five last books contain ten years) he has omitted

almost every thing that posterity desires to learn. I have

tediously acquired, by a painful perusal, the right of

pronouncing this unfavorable sentence]

We are now qualified to despise the opposite, and, perhaps,

artful, misrepresentations, which have softened, or exaggerated,

the oppression of the Romans of Gaul under the reign of the

Merovingians. The conquerors never promulgated any universal

edict of servitude, or confiscation; but a degenerate people, who

excused their weakness by the specious names of politeness and

peace, was exposed to the arms and laws of the ferocious

Barbarians, who contemptuously insulted their possessions, their

freedom, and their safety. Their personal injuries were partial

and irregular; but the great body of the Romans survived the

revolution, and still preserved the property, and privileges, of

citizens. A large portion of their lands was exacted for the use

of the Franks: but they enjoyed the remainder, exempt from

tribute; 112 and the same irresistible violence which swept away

the arts and manufactures of Gaul, destroyed the elaborate and

expensive system of Imperial despotism. The Provincials must

frequently deplore the savage jurisprudence of the Salic or

Ripuarian laws; but their private life, in the important concerns

of marriage, testaments, or inheritance, was still regulated by

the Theodosian Code; and a discontented Roman might freely

aspire, or descend, to the title and character of a Barbarian.

The honors of the state were accessible to his ambition: the

education and temper of the Romans more peculiarly qualified them

for the offices of civil government; and, as soon as emulation

had rekindled their military ardor, they were permitted to march

in the ranks, or even at the head, of the victorious Germans. I

shall not attempt to enumerate the generals and magistrates,

whose names 113 attest the liberal policy of the Merovingians.

The supreme command of Burgundy, with the title of Patrician, was

successively intrusted to three Romans; and the last, and most

powerful, Mummolus, 114 who alternately saved and disturbed the

monarchy, had supplanted his father in the station of count of

Autun, and left a treasury of thirty talents of gold, and two

hundred and fifty talents of silver. The fierce and illiterate

Barbarians were excluded, during several generations, from the

dignities, and even from the orders, of the church. 115 The

clergy of Gaul consisted almost entirely of native provincials;

the haughty Franks fell at the feet of their subjects, who were

dignified with the episcopal character: and the power and riches

which had been lost in war, were insensibly recovered by

superstition. 116 In all temporal affairs, the Theodosian Code

was the universal law of the clergy; but the Barbaric

jurisprudence had liberally provided for their personal safety; a

sub-deacon was equivalent to two Franks; the antrustion, and

priest, were held in similar estimation: and the life of a bishop

was appreciated far above the common standard, at the price of

nine hundred pieces of gold. 117 The Romans communicated to their

conquerors the use of the Christian religion and Latin language;

118 but their language and their religion had alike degenerated

from the simple purity of the Augustan, and Apostolic age. The

progress of superstition and Barbarism was rapid and universal:

the worship of the saints concealed from vulgar eyes the God of

the Christians; and the rustic dialect of peasants and soldiers

was corrupted by a Teutonic idiom and pronunciation. Yet such

intercourse of sacred and social communion eradicated the

distinctions of birth and victory; and the nations of Gaul were

gradually confounded under the name and government of the Franks.

112 (return) [ The Abbe de Mably (tom. p. i. 247-267) has

diligently confirmed this opinion of the President de

Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 13.)]

113 (return) [ See Dubos, Hist. Critique de la Monarchie

Francoise, tom. ii. l. vi. c. 9, 10. The French antiquarians

establish as a principle, that the Romans and Barbarians may be

distinguished by their names. Their names undoubtedly form a

reasonable presumption; yet in reading Gregory of Tours, I have

observed Gondulphus, of Senatorian, or Roman, extraction, (l. vi.

c. 11, in tom. ii. p. 273,) and Claudius, a Barbarian, (l. vii.

c. 29, p. 303.)]

114 (return) [ Eunius Mummolus is repeatedly mentioned by Gregory

of Tours, from the fourth (c. 42, p. 224) to the seventh (c. 40,

p. 310) book. The computation by talents is singular enough; but

if Gregory attached any meaning to that obsolete word, the

treasures of Mummolus must have exceeded 100,000 L. sterling.]

115 (return) [ See Fleury, Discours iii. sur l’Histoire

Ecclesiastique.]

116 (return) [ The bishop of Tours himself has recorded the

complaint of Chilperic, the grandson of Clovis. Ecce pauper

remansit Fiscus noster; ecce divitiae nostrae ad ecclesias sunt

translatae; nulli penitus nisi soli Episcopi regnant, (l. vi. c.

46, in tom. ii. p. 291.)]

117 (return) [ See the Ripuarian Code, (tit. xxxvi in tom. iv. p.

241.) The Salic law does not provide for the safety of the

clergy; and we might suppose, on the behalf of the more civilized

tribe, that they had not foreseen such an impious act as the

murder of a priest. Yet Praetextatus, archbishop of Rouen, was

assassinated by the order of Queen Fredegundis before the altar,

(Greg. Turon. l. viii. c. 31, in tom. ii. p. 326.)]

118 (return) [ M. Bonamy (Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions,

tom. xxiv. p. 582-670) has ascertained the Lingua Romana Rustica,

which, through the medium of the Romance, has gradually been

polished into the actual form of the French language. Under the

Carlovingian race, the kings and nobles of France still

understood the dialect of their German ancestors.]

The Franks, after they mingled with their Gallic subjects, might

have imparted the most valuable of human gifts, a spirit and

system of constitutional liberty. Under a king, hereditary, but

limited, the chiefs and counsellors might have debated at Paris,

in the palace of the Caesars: the adjacent field, where the

emperors reviewed their mercenary legions, would have admitted

the legislative assembly of freemen and warriors; and the rude

model, which had been sketched in the woods of Germany, 119 might

have been polished and improved by the civil wisdom of the

Romans. But the careless Barbarians, secure of their personal

independence, disdained the labor of government: the annual

assemblies of the month of March were silently abolished; and the

nation was separated, and almost dissolved, by the conquest of

Gaul. 120 The monarchy was left without any regular establishment

of justice, of arms, or of revenue. The successors of Clovis

wanted resolution to assume, or strength to exercise, the

legislative and executive powers, which the people had abdicated:

the royal prerogative was distinguished only by a more ample

privilege of rapine and murder; and the love of freedom, so often

invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among

the licentious Franks, to the contempt of order, and the desire

of impunity. Seventy-five years after the death of Clovis, his

grandson, Gontran, king of Burgundy, sent an army to invade the

Gothic possessions of Septimania, or Languedoc. The troops of

Burgundy, Berry, Auvergne, and the adjacent territories, were

excited by the hopes of spoil. They marched, without discipline,

under the banners of German, or Gallic, counts: their attack was

feeble and unsuccessful; but the friendly and hostile provinces

were desolated with indiscriminate rage. The cornfields, the

villages, the churches themselves, were consumed by fire: the

inhabitants were massacred, or dragged into captivity; and, in

the disorderly retreat, five thousand of these inhuman savages

were destroyed by hunger or intestine discord. When the pious

Gontran reproached the guilt or neglect of their leaders, and

threatened to inflict, not a legal sentence, but instant and

arbitrary execution, they accused the universal and incurable

corruption of the people. “No one,” they said, “any longer fears

or respects his king, his duke, or his count. Each man loves to

do evil, and freely indulges his criminal inclinations. The most

gentle correction provokes an immediate tumult, and the rash

magistrate, who presumes to censure or restrain his seditious

subjects, seldom escapes alive from their revenge.” 121 It has

been reserved for the same nation to expose, by their intemperate

vices, the most odious abuse of freedom; and to supply its loss

by the spirit of honor and humanity, which now alleviates and

dignifies their obedience to an absolute sovereign. 1211

119 (return) [ Ce beau systeme a ete trouve dans les bois.

Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xi. c. 6.]

120 (return) [ See the Abbe de Mably. Observations, &c., tom. i.

p. 34-56. It should seem that the institution of national

assemblies, which are with the French nation, has never been

congenial to its temper.]

121 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. viii. c. 30, in tom. ii. p.

325, 326) relates, with much indifference, the crimes, the

reproof, and the apology. Nullus Regem metuit, nullus Ducem,

nullus Comitem reveretur; et si fortassis alicui ista displicent,

et ea, pro longaevitate vitae vestrae, emendare conatur, statim

seditio in populo, statim tumultus exoritur, et in tantum

unusquisque contra seniorem saeva intentione grassatur, ut vix se

credat evadere, si tandem silere nequiverit.]

1211 (return) [ This remarkable passage was published in 1779—M.]

The Visigoths had resigned to Clovis the greatest part of their

Gallic possessions; but their loss was amply compensated by the

easy conquest, and secure enjoyment, of the provinces of Spain.

From the monarchy of the Goths, which soon involved the Suevic

kingdom of Gallicia, the modern Spaniards still derive some

national vanity; but the historian of the Roman empire is neither

invited, nor compelled, to pursue the obscure and barren series

of their annals. 122 The Goths of Spain were separated from the

rest of mankind by the lofty ridge of the Pyrenaean mountains:

their manners and institutions, as far as they were common to the

Germanic tribes, have been already explained. I have anticipated,

in the preceding chapter, the most important of their

ecclesiastical events, the fall of Arianism, and the persecution

of the Jews; and it only remains to observe some interesting

circumstances which relate to the civil and ecclesiastical

constitution of the Spanish kingdom.

122 (return) [ Spain, in these dark ages, has been peculiarly

unfortunate. The Franks had a Gregory of Tours; the Saxons, or

Angles, a Bede; the Lombards, a Paul Warnefrid, &c. But the

history of the Visigoths is contained in the short and imperfect

Chronicles of Isidore of Seville and John of Biclar]

After their conversion from idolatry or heresy, the Frank and the

Visigoths were disposed to embrace, with equal submission, the

inherent evils and the accidental benefits, of superstition. But

the prelates of France, long before the extinction of the

Merovingian race, had degenerated into fighting and hunting

Barbarians. They disdained the use of synods; forgot the laws of

temperance and chastity; and preferred the indulgence of private

ambition and luxury to the general interest of the sacerdotal

profession. 123 The bishops of Spain respected themselves, and

were respected by the public: their indissoluble union disguised

their vices, and confirmed their authority; and the regular

discipline of the church introduced peace, order, and stability,

into the government of the state. From the reign of Recared, the

first Catholic king, to that of Witiza, the immediate predecessor

of the unfortunate Roderic, sixteen national councils were

successively convened. The six metropolitans, Toledo, Seville,

Merida, Braga, Tarragona, and Narbonne, presided according to

their respective seniority; the assembly was composed of their

suffragan bishops, who appeared in person, or by their proxies;

and a place was assigned to the most holy, or opulent, of the

Spanish abbots. During the first three days of the convocation,

as long as they agitated the ecclesiastical question of doctrine

and discipline, the profane laity was excluded from their

debates; which were conducted, however, with decent solemnity.

But, on the morning of the fourth day, the doors were thrown open

for the entrance of the great officers of the palace, the dukes

and counts of the provinces, the judges of the cities, and the

Gothic nobles, and the decrees of Heaven were ratified by the

consent of the people.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) · 第 40 / 79 章

13 (return) [ The duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has