150 BOOK CXL. Burgun dians and the power of the devil, the persecuted priest and their persecuted partisans were unable to resist the zeal and knowledge of the new proselytes. Half a century had hardly elapsed, when the Roman Visigoths. power was divided into the western and eastern empires, when Roman provinces were dismembered by the barbarous nations, that had been too long oppressed by the rulers of the world. The Burgundians and other people of the same origin, known by the name of Visigoths, founded about the beginning of the fifth century two contiguous kingdoms in the heart of Gaul. The former besides a part of Switzerland and Savoy, possessed Franche-Comté, Bresse, Dauphiny, Lyonnais, the greater portion of Nivernais, and the adjoining country which from these inhabitants has been called Burgundy. The banks of the Loire were the northern limits of the Visigoths; they ruled over the centre and the south of France, including Provence, the county of Nice, and even a part of Spain.* Numerous hordes that issued from Germany, settled in the Netherlands; they founded some years afterwards, under the command of Pharamond, a petty kingdom, of which the southern limit may be represented by a line drawn from the mouth of the Somme by Amiens and Rethel, enclosing Treves with part of its territory, and terminating on the left bank of the Rhine a short way below Mayence. Sixty years afterwards, the same Franks, under the conduct of king Clodovech or Clovis, destroyed the remains of Roman power in Gaul, and made themselves masters of all the country between the last mentioned boundary and the limits of the Visigothic and Burgundian kingdoms. At a later period, they crossed the Rhine, extended their conquests into Germany, and left colonists in that part of the country which has been since called Franconia. Franks. Gaul was thus divided during twenty years; a third part of the surface was occupied by the Franks, rather the protectors than the oppressors of the Gauls, who were con The kingdom of the Visigoths was founded by Ataulphus in 411, and that of the Burgundians by Gundicar in 413. It is generally admitted that the kingdom of the Franks was founded in the year 420. founded with the Romans, because they had adopted their manners and laws. The victors were distinguished by their appearance, their language and dress. The Franks wore short boots, the arms and the rest of the leg were bare; the body was covered with a narrow short tunic bound by a girdle; their long and fair hair descended below their shoulders. Their weapons were a long sword, a francisca or two-edged hatchet, a javelin divided near the extremity into three branches, representing what the French have since termed a fleur de lys, and lastly, a small buckler which they used with great address. The chiefs had formerly abolished most of the imposts; they allowed the ancient inhabitants to retain their customs and magistrates, reserving to themselves the right of appointing dukes over the provinces, counts over the towns, and viscounts over the burghs and villages; but, in the councils of the prince, the Gauls preserved that credit and ascendancy, which are the consequences of superior knowledge. The proprietors were compelled to share their land with the invaders, but the peasants and the working classes remained in a state of slavery. The slaves of the king were distinguished from the slaves of the Franks and the Gauls; among the latter, many possessed slaves, because the Gallic nobility had been preserved. The Burgundians and the Goths, more barbarous than the Franks, clothed themselves with the skins of wild beasts. The first might be discovered by a round visage, small and sunk eyes, broad shoulders and a deep chest. The second were distinguished by a darker complexion, lively eyes and long plaited hair. Their barbarity or rudeness rendered the Gauls impatient of the yoke, and the same cause contributed in a great degree to the destruction of their monarchies. The ambition of Clovis reduced the Visigoths to the necessity of migrating into Spain; but, after the death of that prince, his sons divided France into four kingdoms, of which Paris, Orleans, Soissons and Metz were the capitals. Additional territory was acquired by succession, conquests, usurpation, Sidonius Appollinaris, Book IV epistle 20. + Gregory of Tours. Books III. VI. VII. VIII, and IX. BOOK CXL. BOOK CXL. France un der Charle or in consequence of murders and other crimes; but the different parts of France and the kingdom of Burgundy were united in the seventh century under a single head. A century afterwards, France was governed during some years by Charlemagne and his brother Carloman, but the first became sole master, and rendered it powerful by his conquests. France has never been so powerful as it was under Charmagne. lemagne; it was then divided into two parts, the western and the eastern. The first comprehended Provence Gothia or Septimania, now Languedoc, Vasconia or Gascogny, Aquitaine, Burgundia or Burgundy, Neustria, including Brittany, Normandy and Flanders, lastly Austrasia, formed by all the country situated between the Rhine and Jura. The countries on the south and on the north of the Alps, the territory extending from the right bank of the Rhine to the mountains of Bohemia, and the banks of the Elbe, made up eastern France. In other words Charlemagne reigned over the greater part of Italy, over Switzerland, Bavaria, Hesse Saxony and Friesland. In the countries between the Drave and the Danube, several nations were tributary to the monarch. France un der Hugh Capet and bis succes sors. The weight of such an empire was too great for his successor. Lewis the Debonnaire, a weak father and a weak prince, spent his time in contending against his revolted. children, and died after having divided amongst them a crown which he was unworthy to wear. France was governed during a century by the princes of the same race, but the kingly power was weakened by the abuses of the feudal system; and when Hugh Capet took possession of the throne in the year 987, he was merely the first baron in the kingdom, and reigned only over Picardy, the Isle de France and Orleanais. The policy of that prince and his successsors was to increase the power of the crown by humbling and degrading the nobility. Berry was purchased in 1100 by Philip the First from the viscount Eudes Arpin; and king John erected it into a dutchy, which became the appanage of the sons of France. Lewis the Gros made no acquisitions or conquests, but by liberating the towns, he raised a barrier against the encroachments of the feudal lords. In 1202, Philip Augustus seized Tourraine from John SansTerre, who had succeeded to it as the descendant of its counts; and in the following year, the same Philip made himself master of Normandy, which from the time of Charles the Simple, had been ceded in perpetuity to Rollo and his Norwegians. Amaury of Montfort gave up Languedoc to Lewis the Eighth, and the cession was ratified in a treaty made with St. Lewis in 1228. Jane of Navarre, at her marriage with Philip the Fair in 1284, united the county of Champagne, which she had received as her dowry, to the dominions of her husband. In 1307, the inhabitants of Lyonnais having gained their freedom, compelled their archbishop to acknowledge the authority of the same king. BOOK CXL. France un and his Dauphiny, which derived its name from Guy the Eighth, State of the bravest of its princes, surnamed the Dauphin, because der Philip he wore on his helmet the figure of a dolphin, was ceded to of Valois Philip of Valois in 1349, on condition that the eldest sons successors. of the French kings should assume the title of Dauphins, and also that the country should form a separate sovereignty, and never be incorporated with the kingdom. Charles the Fifth took Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge and Limousin from the English. Charles the Seventh in consequence of his victories over the English, added to his dominions the greater part of Guyenne and Gascony. Lewis the Eleventh humbled the power of the great, and had the good fortune to acquire Maine and Anjou by inheritance, conquests made by Philip Augustus, but more than once detached from the crown, and conferred on princes of the blood. The same monarch seized the dutchy of Burgundy, declaring himself the lawful heir, although there existed at the time a duke of Burgundy, Nevers and Rethel. It was stated however in letters patent, that the dutchy had been united to France with the free will of the states on the following conditions, -the people were not to be deprived of their natural judges, and no subsidy was to be imposed without the consent of the three orders; at the same time the taxes which the people had hitherto paid on wine and the other products of the province, were abolished. The same king took possession of Provence, having proved by several witnesses that Charles of Anjou had made him his heir. The inhabitants received BOOK CXL. the same privileges as those which had been granted to Burgundy. Since that period the French kings have on several occasions styled themselves counts of Provence. Francis the First availed himself of the rights which he had acquired by the revolt of the Constable Bourbon, and in 1527 obtained Auvergne, Bourbonnais and La Marche, which belonged to the prince. Some years afterwards, Brittany, of which the inheritance had devolved on his son Francis, was united to the kingdom. In consequence of this junction, Brittany was exempt under his successors from most taxes, being merely subject to a voluntary impost voted by its states. The same gallant and chivalrous king was a poet and the friend of the fine arts; flattery has designated him the protector of letters, although he established the censorship; he was not considered cruel, although by his presence he added the weight of his authority to the punishments of the inquisition. In the same reign the assemblies of notables or influential men were substituted for the statesgeneral, but the crown derived little advantage from the change, for notions of civil and religious liberty were then gaining force; they proved the harbingers of political commotions, or served as instruments for the ambitious and discontented to excite the people. The corruption of the court and nobility under Henry the Second, Francis the Second and Charles the Ninth, were favourable to the reformation. The principles of the new religion accorded well with the growing desire for knowledge, but the question became a political one, and princes confounded the reformers and their partisans with the opponents of kingly power. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, considered an act of political wisdom by Catharine of Medicis and her son, was devised and executed to rid royalty of its enemies. But the designs of the League assumed a very different appearance during the reign of Henry the Third, for it appeared to be the chief object of the party to put the crown of France on the head of a Spanish prince. France un- Henry the Fourth, whom the catholic chiefs held in exethe Fourth. cration, ascended the throne, and added to the kingdom the dominions of his fathers, or the county of Lewis the Foix and part of Gascogny. France during the reign of der Henry Under the reign of Thirteenth. |