FRANCS. 



FRANCE. 



In September 1853 France took formal poeMsaion of New 

 donia, * group of UUnd* that lies east of Haw South Wales, in about 

 28' & Ut, 165* E. long. 



//irfory. -dollia, or M we tore Englished it, Gaul, WM the general 

 term by which thin country wu designated by the Roman*, Little 

 WM known of it till the time of Cnsar, who found in it the three 

 races of Aquitani, Celts, and Beige, with an intermixture of some 

 Germans, Ligurians, and Greeks : of theae the Behrn occupied the 

 north and nnrth-east, the CelU the weetern, central, and south, the 

 Aquitani the south-western part. The CelU, who were probably the 

 oldss> race, muit hare settled in Onul at an early period, an the wan In 

 of an increasing population led them, in the reign of the elder 

 Tarquin of Rom*, about B.C. 600, to vend ont two vast emigrating 

 bodies, one into Italy, the northern part of which waa subdued and 

 peopled by them, and the other eaitward, into Germany and Hun- 

 gary. The part of Gaul with which the Greeks formed the earliest 

 acquaintance wan the Mediterranean coast, on which they established 

 colonies. Toe earliest and most important of those colonies was 

 MamAM, or Macsilia (now Marseille), founded by the people of 

 PhocM (itaelf a Greek colony of Asia Minor), B.C. 600, and augmented 

 by the emigration of the mnin body of the Pbocaans when they 

 ought refuge, B.C. 646, from the pressure of the Persian monarchy. 

 The power or influence of Massilm extended over the neighbouring 

 districts, and several colonies were founded on the coasts of Gaul, 

 Italy, Spain, or Corsica, by its inhabitants, such as Agatha (Agde), 

 Antipol" ( Antibes), Nictea (Nice), *c. 



At the commencement of the second Punic war Hannibal marched 

 through Gaul in his route from Spain into Italy; and Scipio, the 

 Roman consul, who had conveyed his army by sea to Massilia to 

 intercept him, sent a small body of cavalry up the banks of the Kho- 

 danns (Rhone) to reconnoitre, and these had a smart skirmish with a 

 body of Hannibal's Nnmidians. Hannibal however marched onward 

 into Italy, to which country Scipio also returned, sending his army 

 forward under his brother Cnrcus into Spain. 



After the close of the Punic wars the Romans gradually extended 

 their power in Gaul Fulvius Flaccus and his successor, Soxtiua 

 Calvinus, conquered the Salyes, Vocontii, and some other tribes. The 

 coast of the Mediterranean was now secured by the foundation of the 

 Roman colony of Aqnie Sextto (Aix), B.C. 122 ; and that portion of 

 Transalpine Gaul which the Romans bad subdued was shortly after 

 formed into a praetorian province (B.C. 118), of which Narbo Martins 

 (Narbonne), colonised the following year (B.C. 117), became the 

 capital Masailia, nominally in alliance with, but really in subjection 

 to Rome, was within the province. In the migratory invasion of the 

 Cimbri, Teutones, and Ambrones, the Roman province of Gaul was 

 for several years the seat of war : the Roman armies were repeatedly 

 defeated ; in one dreadful battle (B.C. 104) they are said to have lost 

 80,000 men. The province was however rescued from the invaders by 

 the great victory obtained by Marius (B.C. 101) over the Teutonea and 

 Ambronea near Aix. The Cimbri had marched into Italy. 



The conquests of Cnsar nearly reduced the whole country between 

 the Rhenus (Rhine), the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees, and 

 the Ocean, into subjection to Rome. The Aquitani and the tribes 

 who inhabited the Alps were not subdued till afterwards ; the former 

 <]uered by Memala : some of the Alpine tribes retained their 



independence till the time of Nero. 



Under Augustus Gaul was divided into four provinces Narbonenais, 

 Celtics, or Lugdunensis, from the colony of Lugdunum (Lyon), 

 Belgica, and Aquitania : the limits of the last extended beyond the 

 limits of the country of the Aquitani, being augmented by the addi- 

 tion of the country between the Garumna (the Garonne) and the Ligerls 

 (the Loire). Shortly afterwards the province of Belgica was dismem- 

 bered by two provinces being formed out of the districts along tlio 

 KhrniM (Rhine), to which the names of provinces of Germania I'rima 

 and Germania Secunda, or of the First and Second Germany, were 

 given : and at a subsequent period the number of provinces reached, 

 by successive dismemberments of the larger provinces, its maximum, 

 Ten teen* 



In the decline of the Roman power Gaul was ravaged by the Franks, 

 the Burgundians, and the Lygians (who had been all driven out by 

 Probus, A.D. 277) ; again by the Franks and the Allcm.ins, who were 

 repulsed by the emperors Julian (A.D. 355 to 361) and Valentinian 

 (A.D. 365 to 376), and by the piratical Saxons who ravaged the coasts. 

 The Roman power still sufficed to keep these barbarians from settling 

 in Gaul ; it could not however abate the constant preesure on the 

 frontier. 



The Franks (namely, the freemen) were a confederacy of German 

 nations, the Salians, the Bructerans, the Ripuarians, the Cauci, the 

 Cherusd, the Chamavi, the Catti, the Tencteri, and the Angrivarions. 

 These tribes preserved their independence while confederated, and 

 each had it* king. Like the Saxon chieftains who professed all to 

 derive their lineage from Woden, the Prankish princes claimed a 

 common ancestor, Meroveui (Meer Wig, Warrior of the Sea), from 

 whom they bore the title Merovingians. The era of Mcroreui is not 

 asorrteinable. In the fourth century the Franks were settled on the 

 right bank of the Rhine from the junction of the Mein, or Mayn, to 

 the sea, and in the latter part of that century and during a consider- 

 able pert of the nest appear to have been ill alliance with the empire. 



The Allemans dwelt on the same bank of the Rhine from the Mayn 

 upwards. 



Upon the downfall of the Roman empire Gaul became a prey to the 

 barbarous nations by which the empire was dismembered. There 

 was no revival of national independence as in Britain. The nationality 

 of the Gauls had been lost, when the extension of the right uf Human 

 citizenship to all the natives of the provinces by CaracaUa, A.I>. - i ., 

 merged the distinction previously maintained between the conquerors 

 of the world and their subjects; and the national religion, Drui.lUin, 

 had sunk beneath the edicts of the emperors and the growing influence 

 of Christianity. 



On the last day of the year 406 the Rhine was crossed by a host of 

 barbarians who never repaaeed that frontier stream. They consisted 

 of Vandals, Alans, Suevians, Burgundians, and other nations. The 

 Vandals, who first reached the bank, were defeated by the Franks who 

 defended, a* the allies of the empire, the approach to the fr<> 

 but on the arrival of the Alans, the Franks in their turn were over- 

 come, and the passage was effected. Annorica (the present Bretagne), 

 into which the settlement of the British soldiers who had followed 

 Maximus the usurper into Gaul [UKKTAUNKJ had infused a military 

 spirit, assumed and established its independence ; but the rest of Until 

 became a prey. The Suevians, the Alan*, and the Vandals crossed 

 the Pyrenees into Spain : the liurguudiaus settled, with the KII 

 of the Roman government, in the east of Gaul, on both M'!<-- <>i tlm 

 Juni, and on the west bank of the Rhine, from the Lake of Geneva to 

 the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle ; and the Visigoths, who 

 had been long ravaging both the Eastern and Western empires, were 

 induced, just before the settlement of the Uurgundiana (A.D. 412 to 

 414), to accept the cession of that part of Gaul which lies to the 

 south and west of the Loire. Toulouse was their capital I'uth 

 Rurguudians and Visigoths took the name of Romans, and professed 

 subjection, which was however merely nominal, to the emperor of the 

 West. Hostilities were before long renewed between the troops of 

 the empire and these new-settled nations; but their sett I 

 opportunely supplied Gaul with the means of defence against a 

 invasion. In A.D. 451, Attila, king of the Huns, with an immense 

 host of barbarians, passed the Rhine at or near the confluence of the 

 Neckar, destroyed Divoduruin, or Mediomatrici (Metz), and Atuatuca, 

 or Tungri (Tongres), and besieged Genabum, or Aureliani (Orleans). 

 Etius, the Roman general, supported by the Visigoths and the Bur- 

 guinlians. and numbering in his ranks Franks, Saxons, Alans, and 

 other barbarians, advanced against Attila and obliged him to raise the 

 siege and retire towards the frontier. At Durocatalaunum, or Cata- 

 launi (Chalons-siir-Marue), a battle was fought in which victory was 

 doubtful, but which was attended with a dreadful slaughter of his 

 forces, and induced Attila to evacuate Gaul 



During these events the Franks had attracted little notice ; tin ir 

 subdivision into tribes weakened their power, and perhaps their 

 fidelity to the empire restrained them from pressing it with th> ir 

 attacks. They retained their possessions on the right bank of the 

 Rhine ; but had obtained by concession or conquest some settlements 

 on the loft bank or along the banks of the Kscaut, or Schelde, and 

 the Mouse. 



It was not until the reign of Clovin, who commenced his career as 

 king of the Saliang, one of the Frankixli tribes settled at Tout-nay, 

 about A.D. 481, that the Franks assumed a commanding position. 

 The empire of the West had now fallen, and Italy was under the 

 government of the Ostrogoths ; but a relic of the empire remained in 

 Gaul ; and the territory in which the patricians -Kgiciim and his son 

 Syagrius upheld the name of Rome was between the possession, <>f 

 the Visigoths and Burgundiaus and the settlements of the Franks. 

 This territory was among the early conqueots of C'lovis (A.D. 4S6). 

 He then defeated the people of Tongres and (A.D. 4V6) subdued a 

 portion of the Allemans, who had made an inroad into Uaul : the 

 conquered people recognised Clovis as their king; his opportune 

 conversion to Christianity advanced his popularity and his power iu 

 Gaul, as well as his profession of the faith in what was deemed an 

 orthodox form, while all the other princes who shared among them 

 the once extensive territories of the empire were the supporters of 

 Arianism or some other form of doctrine that was looked upou as 

 heretical. 



The sway of Clovis extended from the banks of the Lower Rhino, 

 the cradle of his power, to the Loire, the Rhone, and the Ocean, for 

 Annorica had submitted to him. He now determined, on the pretext 

 of uprooting Ariauuin, to attack Alariu II., king uf the. Visigoths, 

 whom he defeated and slew at Vougld in Poitou. The Burgundians 

 hoping to shore in the spoils of the conquered nation supported 

 Clovis ; but the Ostrogoths of Italy supported the Visigoths and 

 prevented their entire subjection. A large part of their territory, 

 including Bordeaux and Toulouse, and extending perhaps to the foot 

 of the Pyrenees, fell into the hands of Clovis ; but the Visjfotbj pro- 

 served the coast of the Mediterranean, together with Spain, which 

 they bad conquered : the Ostrogoths had Provence, and their king 

 Theodorio held the sovereignty of the Visigoths also as guardian of 

 their king, his grandson Ajnalric. The assassination of tlio various 

 Prankish kings by Clovis rendered him undisputed head uf the tribes 

 of his own nation, and his sovereignty extended over Gaul, with tlm 

 exception of the parts retained by the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and 



