332 THE HOUSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



horses went to the most valiant son. But by the time when the 

 laws of the Thuringians had taken the shape in which they were 

 ratified by Charlemagne the hauberk goes along with the land, 

 though we hear nothing about the horses. Yet already when 

 Vegetius was writing (circ. 380 A.D.) the Thuringian shared 

 with the Burgundian the place of honour amongst all war- 

 horses next after the Hunnish. But as the hauberk was 

 essentially the equipment of a horseman, we have now reached 

 the period when the possession of land, of a hauberk, and of 

 horses entailed certain obligations. Here then already well 

 developed is the great system of chivalry which dominated 

 medieval Europe, and has left its imprint on the national life 

 of most European countries down to this very hour. The 

 principle that he who possessed a certain amount of land must 

 serve as a warrior, wearing a coat of mail and mounted on a 

 horse, had evidently been fully developed by the Teutonic tribes 

 at least a century (and probably much earlier) before the time of 

 Charlemagne. And well was it for the world that this was so, 

 for in the seventh century had arisen the most terrible enemy 

 that Europe had ever known. Muhammad had founded a new 

 religion, and the conquering bands of Arabia had rapidly overrun 

 a great part of Asia, conquered Egypt, and become masters of 

 North Africa west of the Nile (A.D. 647709). Here, as we 

 have seen, they became possessed of the splendid horses of 

 Libya, and soon they crossed into Spain to bear northwards the 

 Crescent (A.D. 710). By the beginning of the eighth century 

 the Saracens had become firmly established in Spain, and had 

 begun to advance into Gaul, and even to threaten the great 

 empire of the Franks. The torrent poured over the Pyrenees 

 and down upon Septimania. Narbonne fell at once, and its 

 fall settled the fate of the surrounding region, arid at once 

 the Saracen domination superseded that of the Visigoths as it 

 had done in Spain. The Saracens soon threatened Aquitania, 

 then ruled by Eudes, formerly Duke of Toulouse, and who 

 had been the rebellious vassal of the three weak Merovingian 

 kings, whom Charles, the mayor of the palace, had crowned. 

 Eudes vanquished the Saracens on the field of Toulouse, 

 and for a brief season their progress was checked. But soon 



