[1: In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the
Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, Paris, 1738 -
1767, in eleven volumes in folio. By the labor of Dom Bouquet,
and the other Benedictines, all the original testimonies, as far
as A.D. 1060, are disposed in chronological order, and
illustrated with learned notes. Such a national work, which will
be continued to the year 1500, might provoke our emulation.]
[2: Tacit. Hist. iv. 73, 74, in tom. i. p. 445. To
abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous; but I may select
the general ideas which he applies to the present state and
future revelations of Gaul.]
[3: Eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias
libido atque avaritiae et mutandae sedis amor; ut relictis
paludibus et solitudinibus, suis, fecundissimum hoc solum vosque
ipsos possiderent .... Nam pulsis Romanis quid aliud quam bella
omnium inter se gentium exsistent?]
[4: Sidonius Apollinaris ridicules, with affected wit
and pleasantry, the hardships of his situation, (Carm. xii. in
tom. i. p. 811.)]
[5: See Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 12, in tom.
ii. p. 81. The character of Grotius inclines me to believe, that
he has not substituted the Rhine for the Rhone (Hist. Gothorum,
p. 175) without the authority of some Ms.]
[6: Sidonius, l. viii. epist. 3, 9, in tom. i. p. 800.
Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 47 p. 680) justifies, in some
measure, this portrait of the Gothic hero.]
[7: I use the familiar appellation of Clovis, from the
Latin Chlodovechus, or Chlodovoeus. But the Ch expresses only
the German aspiration, and the true name is not different from
Lewis, (Mem. de 'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 68.)]
[8: Greg. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. i. p. 168. Basina speaks
the language of nature; the Franks, who had seen her in their
youth, might converse with Gregory in their old age; and the
bishop of Tours could not wish to defame the mother of the first
Christian king.]
[9: The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique de l'Etablissement de
la Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 630 - 650) has
the merit of defining the primitive kingdom of Clovis, and of
ascertaining the genuine number of his subjects.]
[10: Ecclesiam incultam ac negligentia civium Paganorum
praetermis sam, veprium densitate oppletam, &c. Vit. St. Vedasti,
in tom. iii. p. 372. This description supposes that Arras was
possessed by the Pagans many years before the baptism of Clovis.]
[11: Gregory of Tours (l v. c. i. tom. ii. p. 232)
contrasts the poverty of Clovis with the wealth of his grandsons.
Yet Remigius (in tom. iv. p. 52) mentions his paternas opes, as
sufficient for the redemption of captives.]
[12: See Gregory, (l. ii. c. 27, 37, in tom. ii. p. 175,
181, 182.) The famous story of the vase of Soissons explains both
the power and the character of Clovis. As a point of
controversy, it has been strangely tortured by Boulainvilliers
Dubos, and the other political antiquarians.]
[13: The duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has
managed weighty and delicate negotiations, ingeniously
illustrates (Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 147 -
184) the political system of Clovis.]
[14: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[21: 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: 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: 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: 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.)]
[25: 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: 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: 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: Hincmar, one of the succesors 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: 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 (Memoires de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 619 - 633) has
undermined, with profound respect and consummate dexterity.]
[30: Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod
incendisti, incende quod adorasti. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 31, in
tom. ii. p. 177.]
[31: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[35: 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: 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.]
[37: 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: 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: 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, (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique,
tom. v. p. 5 - 10.)]
[40: 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: 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: 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.]
[43: 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: 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 Bibliotheque Raisonnee (tom.
xxxvi. p. 435 - 438) the curious remarks of a learned librarian
of Geneva.]
[45: 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.]
[46: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[51: 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 Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xix. p. 287 - 310]
[52: 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.]
[53: Angouleme 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: 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: 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: 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.)]
[57: 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.)]
[58: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[63: 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: In the space of [about] thirty years (1728-1765)
this interesting subject has been agitated by the free spirit of
the count de Boulainvilliers, (Memoires 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.)]
[65: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[A: The most complete collection of these codes is in
the "Barbarorum leges antiquae," by P. Canciani, 5 vols. folio,
Venice, 1781-9. - M.]
[70: 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: 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.]
[72: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[77: 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: 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: 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.]
[80: 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: 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: 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: "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: 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.]
[85: Caesar de Bell. Gall. l. i. c. 31, in tom. i. p. 213.]
[86: 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.]
[B: 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: 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.]
[88: 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.]
[C: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[92: 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: Heinec. Element. Jur. German. l. ii. p. 1, No. 8.]
[94: 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: 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.]
[96: 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: 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: 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: 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.]
[100: 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: 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: 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: 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; 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: 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: 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.]
[107: 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: 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: 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: 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 Memoires de
l'Academie, &c., tom. xxvi. p. 598 - 637.]
[111: 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]
[112: 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: 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: 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 100,000l. sterling.]
[115: See Fleury, Discours iii. sur l'Histoire
Ecclesiastique.]
[116: 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: 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: 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.]
[119: Ce beau systeme a ete trouve dans les bois.
Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xi. c. 6.]
[120: 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: 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.]
[D: This remarkable passage was published in 1779 - M.]