FRANCE 



2301 



FRANCE 



History of France 



Early France, or Gaul. The Romans had 

 always felt a keen interest in the land beyond 

 the Alps, which they called Gaul, and more 

 than one general had attempted invasions, but 

 not until the time of Caesar was the territory 

 really conquered. He led his armies across 

 the Alps in 58 B. c., and for eight years was en- 

 gaged in struggle with the brave peoples he 

 found there; and it was his Gallic Wars which 

 gave to the Romans their first definite ideas 

 of Gaul. "All Gaul is divided into three 

 parts" was the introduction of the ancient 

 Roman, as it is of the modern schoolboy, to 

 the history of Gaul (see GAUL). 



The Celts or, as the Romans called them, 

 Gauls, proved apt pupils, and the four prov- 

 inces into which the land was divided became 

 thoroughly Romanized. Savage customs died 

 out; Roman dress, Roman gods and Roman 

 customs were adopted, and a form of the 

 "rustic Latin" replaced the old Celtic dialects. 

 Especially noteworthy was the growth of cities 

 cities of which the Roman Empire itself ne'ed 

 not have been ashamed. Christianity was in- 

 troduced, and it is not too much to say that by 

 the fourth century A. D. all Gaul had adopted 

 the new doctrines, in name at least. 



Enter, the Franks. This peaceful devel- 

 opment was not allowed to go on indefinitely. 

 As the Empire became more and more feeble, 

 fierce German tribes began to cross the Rhine 

 and settle in various parts of Gaul. In the 

 fifth century the Visigoths, the Burgundians 

 and the Franks made homes for themselves, 

 and gradually the last-named tribe began to 

 stand out most prominently (see FRANKS). 

 Their young king, Clovis, in the latter part 

 of the fifth century, defeated the Roman gov- 

 ernor, and some years later overthrew the 

 Visigothic power, thus gaining control of al- 

 most all of Gaul. Through the entreaties of 

 his wife Clotilda he became a Christian, and 

 his warriors crowded about him and were bap- 

 tized with him just as they would have 

 crowded about him in battle and died with 

 him. The Christian Gauls accepted him as 

 they could never have accepted a heathen 

 conqueror, and gradually the territory became 

 a Frankish realm, or to put it differently, 

 France came into being. 



Clovis, founder of the Merovingian dynasty, 

 as it is called from Meroveus, grandfather of 

 Clovis, died in 511, and his possessions were 

 divided among his four sons, according to the 



Germanic custom, instead of being given to the 

 eldest, in the Roman way; and though they 

 were reunited in 558 they were again divided 

 three years later, and a period of civil wars 

 ensued. The Austrasians, or Eastern Franks, 

 and the Neustrians, or Western Franks, kept 

 up a constant struggle for dominance, during 

 which the kings became mere royal figure- 

 heads "do-nothing kings" they were called 

 and the mayors-of-the-palace, or prime min- 

 isters in the different divisions, became the 

 real rulers. 



A New, Strong Dynasty. Finally, in the 

 late seventh century, Pippin of Heristal, Aus- 

 trasian mayor-of-the-palace, succeeded in get- 

 ting into his own hands control of practically 

 all the Frankish realm, though he never took 

 the name of king. Neither did his son, Charles 

 Martel, the famous conqueror of the Saracens 

 in the Battle of Tours in 732 (see FIFTEEN DE- 

 CISIVE BATTLES ; TOURS) ; but Pippin the Short, 

 Charles's son, shut the weak Merovingian king 

 up in his palace and had himself declared king 

 in 751. He was a strong ruler and did much 

 to consolidate the kingdom for his celebrated 

 son, Charlemagne, who made himself master 

 of a realm much wider than ancient Gaul or 

 modern France (see CHARLEMAGNE). His am- 

 bition was the restoration of the old Empire 

 of Rome, and he called his kingdom the New 

 Empire of the West. In no sense, however, 

 was this great realm France, for it was in ef- 

 fect a German empire; and so it continued 

 through the periods of division that followed 

 Charlemagne's death, though it was during this 

 time that the division into the modern king- 

 doms of France, Italy and Germany began. 

 Many of the rulers during this troubled period 

 were feeble, and it was during the reign of 

 such a one that the Norsemen, or Normans, 

 landed in Northern France and had to be 

 bought off from their depredations by the sur- 

 render of that province which has ever since 

 borne their name. 



The Real France. Meanwhile the great 

 nobles had been increasing their power at the 

 expense of that of the king, which grew more 

 and more shadowy, and in 987 one of the 

 dukes, Hugh Capet, was able to drive from 

 the throne the king of that western region 

 which had begun to be called France, and to 

 make himself king instead. He founded what 

 is known as the Capetian Dynasty, which in 

 some of its branches reigned in direct male 



