CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



Saxons, &c. The Slavonians, the ancestors of 

 the modern Russians, Poles, and others, had their 

 seats further east, and took less share in the events 

 of medieval history. In the destruction which 

 preceded the resurrection of modern European 

 society, it was chiefly the western or Latin half 

 of the Roman Empire that was involved, and the 

 destruction was effected by the irruption chiefly 

 of German nations, among whom the Goths were 

 most prominent. The Gothic tribes were located, 

 at the period when the movement began, in the 

 extensive tract between the Vistula, the Danube, 

 the Black Sea, and the Don, and were divided 

 into Visigoths or Western Goths, and Ostrogoths 

 or Eastern Goths. 



The determining cause of the precipitation of 

 the German races on the Latin Empire was, it is 

 well known, the sudden invasion of Europe (375 

 A.D.) by the Mongolian or Kalmuck nation of the 

 Huns. Subduing the Slavonic region of Europe, 

 and establishing there a Hunnish Empire, which 

 superseded that of its previous conquerors the 

 r.oths, these fearful Asiatic invaders produced a 

 violent agitation among the Germanic peoples, 

 and pressed them westward, as it were, in a mass 

 Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Suevi, Alemanni, 

 Franks, Angles, and Saxons, all together. The 

 detailed narration of these agitations produced in 

 Europe by the Huns, and of the consequent 

 irruptions, protracted over a whole century, of 

 the Germanic nations, sometimes in confederacy, 

 and sometimes singly, into the provinces of the 

 Western Empire, belongs to Roman history. It 

 will be sufficient here to mention generally that 

 the diocese of Gaul was overrun chiefly by 

 Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks ; Spain, by 

 Vandals, Suevi, and Visigoths ; Africa, by Vandals 

 crossing over from Spain ; in Italy, successive 

 invasions had left a deposit among the feeble 

 native Italians, of Visigoths, Vandals, Huns, &c. ; 

 Britain, abandoned by its Roman garrison as 

 early as 410, had become a prey to the Angles and 

 Saxons. 



As soon as this intermixture of the two societies 

 the Roman or civilised, and the Germanic or 

 barbarian had taken place, they began to act 

 upon each other. Modern society, in short, is the 

 perfected result of the incorporation of Roman 

 with barbaric society ; and it derives ingredients 

 from both. From the barbarians were derived 

 the love of personal liberty, and the sense of 

 individual independence. From the Romans, on 

 the other hand, were derived the forms of a 

 regular and long-established civilisation. But 

 more efficient still, as a means of acting on the 

 barbarian conquerors, was the great institute of 

 the Christian Church. No sooner were the 

 invasions over, than the Roman clergy on 

 whom, in the state of civil disorganisation then 

 prevailing, the duty of conducting negotiations 

 between the conquered and the conquerors almost 

 wholly devolved exerted themselves to the utmost 

 to obtain influence over the rude minds of the 

 new lords of the soil. Their efforts were very 

 successful. The barbarians regarded the clergy 

 of their vassals with superstitious awe, and soon 

 became enthusiastic converts. 



The history of the reconstruction of civil society 

 in the West may be divided into three periods 

 the Prankish Period, the Feudal Period, and the 

 114 



Period of National Monarchies. Our space pre- 

 vents anything beyond a bare outline of the lead- 

 ing events. 



L THE PRANKISH PERIOD: 410-888 A.D. 

 The Franks, the Lombards, the Arabs, and the Greeks. 



The Franks, a confederation of Low- German 

 tribes, originally inhabiting the countries between 

 the Lower Rhine and the Elbe, had, as early as 

 440, made conquests on the left bank of the 

 Rhine. In 486 their leader, Clovis, or Ludwig 

 (Louis) who had been left by his father in posses- 

 sion of Tournay, in Belgium, and who was the 

 true type of a young German warrior, brave, 

 ardent, ferocious, and with long flaxen hair flowing 

 down his back made himself master of all Roman 

 Gaul by one great victory gained over the Gallo- 

 Romans at Soissons. He was then but nineteen 

 years of age, but he seems to have already con- 

 ceived the design of a Frankish monarchy. As 

 a step to this end, though still a pagan himself, 

 he obtained in marriage the Christian princess 

 Clotilda, of the royal house of the Burgundians 

 (493). Clotilda did her best to convert her 

 heathen husband to her own faith. But though 

 he yielded so far as to let the sons he had by her 

 be baptised, he could not be persuaded to abandon 

 his own gods. At length, while opposing (496) a 

 host of new German adventurers, at a moment 

 when the battle seemed to be going against him, 

 Clovis vowed that if he obtained the victory, he 

 would give up his idols, and worship the God of 

 Clotilda. Accordingly, having repelled and sub- 

 dued the invaders, he made open profession of 

 the Christian faith, and caused himself to be 

 publicly baptised, along with 3000 of his Frankish 

 warriors, by Remigius, archbishop of Rheims. 



After a series of wars and intrigues, Clovis over- 

 came the Burgundians, who occupied the south- 

 east of Gaul, and the Visigoths, who had estab- 

 lished themselves in the south, and secured the 

 supremacy of Gaul. In the year 507, he removed 

 his capital from Soissons to Paris ; and from that 

 year may be dated the commencement of the 

 Frankish monarchy. 



The conquering Franks, comparatively a mere 

 handful, dispersing themselves over the country, 

 and seizing the best lands, constituted a class of 

 landed proprietors. The Gallo-Romans were still 

 permitted to be governed by the Roman laws ; 

 the Franks, Burgundians, and Visigoths had each 

 their own code. 



On the death of Clovis (511), his dominions were 

 divided among his four sons ; but after fifty years 

 of quarrels and wars, the Frank Empire was again 

 united (558) under Clotaire. A like division, fol- 

 lowed by wars, poisonings, and other violent 

 means, ending again in reunion, took place on 

 the death of Clotaire, and was continually repeated 

 throughout the bewildering history of the first 

 Frankish dynasty called the Merovingian kings, 

 after Merowig, the supposed grandfather of Clovis. 

 In the meantime, each monarch was becoming 

 more cruel and debauched, and at the same time 

 more weak and imbecile than his predecessor ; 

 and the real authority came to be wielded by an 

 officer styled Mayor of the Palace, who was a sort 

 of leader of the aristocracy attached to the court. 

 At last, one of these, Pepin d'Heristal, attained 

 such power as to be the virtual king ; and the 



