CHAP. influence of these degrading circumstances. I. 42. Franks. The inhabi tants of Gaul were considered by the northern nations, in the sixth century, as combining all the vices of human nature the cruelty of barbarism with the cowardice of opulence the cringing of slaves with the arrogance of tyrants the falsehood of civilised with the brutality of savage life. They could apply no stronger epithet of contumely to an enemy than to call him a Roman. When the barbarians, at the close of the fourth century, Their con- broke in on all sides upon the Western Empire, they quest by the found the whole land in the hands of a few great families, who cultivated their ample possessions by means of slaves. The province of Gaul was no exception to this deplorable state, the natural and miserable issue of corrupted opulence. Their barbarian conquerors, however, did not at once seize the whole of the vanquished lands: the Burgundians and Visigoths took two-thirds of their respective conquests; and although the proportion seized by the Franks is not distinctly mentioned, it is evident that they occupied the largest portion of the lands of Gaul. The estates left in the hands of the Roman proprietors were termed allodial, which, for a considerable time, were distinguishable from the military estates by which they were surrounded; but the depressed condition of the ancient inhabitants is abundantly proved by the fact, that the fine for the death of a common Frank was fixed at 200 solidi, and that of a Roman proprietor at 100. By degrees the distinction between barbarian and Roman 144, 147, became still more marked; the allodial properties were Leges Sali- gradually either seized by the military chieftains in their 1 Hallam, i. 149, 168. cæ, c. 58. Sism. France, 82, 83. Gib. v. 263. Guizot, Hist. de France, 72, 100. neighbourhood, or ranked, for the sake of security, under their protection; the feeble inhabitants of the corrupted empire yielded to the energetic efforts of barbarian independence, and by the eleventh century the revolution in the landed property was complete, except in the southern provinces, and the name of Gaul merged in that of France.1 The military followers of Clovis, like all the other Ger I. Indepen of the man tribes, were strongly attached to the principles of CHAP. freedom. They respected the military talents of their great leader, and willingly followed his victorious standard; 43. but they considered themselves as his equals rather than dent spirit his subjects, and were not afraid to dare his resentment Franks. when the period of military command was over. When the spoil of the neighbouring Roman provinces was divided at Soissons, Clovis begged that a particular vase might be set aside for his use. The army having expressed their acquiescence, a single soldier exclaimed, " You shall have nothing here but what falls to your share by lot," and struck the precious vessel to pieces with his battleaxe. The conquest of Gaul spread these independent warriors, who did not exceed many thousands in number, over the ample provinces of that extensive country; and their annual assemblies in spring gave rise to the celebrated meetings of the Champs-de-Mai, long revered as the rudimental institution of French liberty. But the difficulty of collecting a body so widely dispersed was soon severely felt; the new proprietors early became occupied by the interests of their separate estates, and disliked the 1 Du Bos, Hist. Critiq. burdensome attendance at the convocations; the monarchs ii. 301. Hal lam, i. 153, ceased to summon their unwilling followers; and the 155. successors of Clovis gradually freed themselves from all dependence on the ancient founders of the monarchy.1 The power of the monarch, however, in barbarous ages, can be rendered permanent only by the possession Rois Fainéof great military qualities: the ease and luxury of a court early corrapidly extinguish the vigour which is requisite for its maintenance. The premature enjoyments of luxury debased the minds of the early French monarchs, while they enervated their bodies; and the kings of the Merovingian race dwindled into a succession of full-grown children, scarce one of whom was five feet high. By degrees the mayors of the palace usurped the royal authority; and a succession of sovereigns, distinguished by the emphatic name of Rois Fainéants, rendered the 44. ants, and ruption of the empire of Charle magne. I. CHAP. crown contemptible even in the eyes of a degenerate people. The victories of Charles Martel, the genius of Charlemagne, for a time averted the degradation of the throne; but with the termination of their rule the royal authority declined: the great proprietors every where usurped the prerogatives of the crown; and France was divided into a number of separate principalities, each in a great measure independent of its neighbour, and waging war and administering justice on its own authority. Nothing, indeed, is more remarkable than the rapid and early degeneracy of conquering savage or pastoral states. No sooner are they settled on the vanquished lands, than they adopt the vices, and sink into the effeminacy, of their subjects; the energy of the barbarian character is lost with the necessity which created it; and the descendants of the conquerors cannot, in a few generations, be distinguished from those of the vanquished people. The human mind requires several generations to bear, even with tolerable equanimity, the seductions of riches. At once thrown into a rude and illiterate people, they prove, like ardent spirits to the Red man of America, utterly fatal. This truth was signally exemplified in the early history of the French monarchy. Even during the reign of Charlemagne, the inherent weakness of a barbarous age was perceptible all the splendour of his talents, all the experience of his armies, could only throw a temporary lustre over his empire; the efforts of a few thousand freemen were lost amidst the degradation of many millions of slaves; and the conqueror of the Western World had the mortification, before his death, of perceiving in rapid progress the decay which was so soon destined to prostrate his empire. It is public freedom and general intelligence alone which can enable the human race to 400, 401; ii. withstand the influence of too rapid prosperity; which can long continue in ages of civilisation the energy and courage of barbarous times; and, by providing for the incessant elevation of those classes who have been trained 1 Sism. France, i. 279. Condé, ii. 125. Hallam, i. 31, 156. I. under the discipline of adversity, furnish a more durable CHAP. antidote to the growing depravity of prosperous times. tion. 45. The weakness of the empire at once appeared upon the death of the victorious monarch. Instantly, as if by Its dissoluenchantment, the fabric fell to pieces: separated into detached dominions, all means of mutual support were lost, and pusillanimous millions yielded almost without a struggle to the ravages of a few thousand hardy and rapacious enemies. The Normans, the Huns, the Saracens, assailed the different frontiers; a swarm of savage barbarians overspread the plains of Germany, and threatened the total extirpation of the inhabitants; the Northmen ascended every navigable stream, and from their light boats spread flames and devastation through the interior of France. Rich and poor were alike incapable of exerting themselves to avert the common calamity; villages were burned, captives carried off, castles destroyed in every province, without the slightest effort at resistance: and while 1 Hallam, the unconquered tribes of Germany boldly united, under 25. Sism. Otho, to drive back the terrible scourge of the Hungarian 123, 168, horse, the degenerate inhabitants of the Roman provinces 276. were unable to repel the detached inroads of the northern pirates.1 iii. 96, 97, 170, 255, the inhabi restored by the private wars of the nobles. The first circumstance which restored the military cou- 46. rage of the inhabitants of France, after the decline of the Courage of dynasty of Charlemagne, was the private wars of the tants first nobles, and the consequent universal fortification of the castles, a result of the weakness of the throne. It is thus that the greatest human evils correct themselves, and that the excess of misery ultimately induces its alleviation. Deprived of any thing like support from the government, and driven to their own resources for protection, the landed proprietors were compelled to arm their followers, and strengthen their castles, now become their only refuge. Military skill was restored with the use of arms, rendered necessary from the universality of the danger; courage revived from confidence in its defences; a race of men CHAP. I. arose inured to war from their infancy, and strong in the consciousness of superior prowess. In the interior of the castles, arms were the only employment, and the recounting of military exploits the sole amusement of the age; the words chivalry and courtesy still attest the virtues which were learned by the mounted knights, and which were considered peculiar to those who had been bred up in the courts of the barons. The wretchedness and suffering of those ages have produced the most dignified features of modern manners. From the degraded followers of the Carlovingian kings have sprung the heroic nobility of France; from centuries of war and rapine, the generous courage of modern warfare; from the dissolution of regal authority, the pride and independence of feudal nobility. But it was only the nobles or landed proprietors who were renovated by these intestine divisions; the serfs who cultivated the ground, the burgesses who frequented the towns, were retained in the most degraded and abject state. The Franks lived in their castles, surrounded by their armed followers, in solitary independence; the Gauls, unarmed and unprotected, toiled in the fields, alike exposed to rapine and incapable of resistance. The jealousy of their superiors denied them the use of arms; the fatal superiority of the knights, in actual warfare, rendered revolt hopeless. Frequently, during the eleventh century, the miseries of the peasantry drove them 1 Thierry, i. to extremities, and led to bloody contests with the nobles; 170. Sism. but in no one instance were they successful, and they returned to their ploughs, depressed by suffering, and disheartened by defeat.1 161, 169, France, iii. 375, 451. 47. boroughs. The first ray which broke in upon the gloom of the Rise of the middle ages, on the continent of Europe, came from the boroughs," an execrable institution," says the old historian, "by which slaves are encouraged to become free, and forget the allegiance they owe to their masters." first corporation in France arose about half a century after the English conquest, and these institutions were brought The |