SJXON TRIBUTE. 157 



Clotilde in the name of Clodowig, by the sou cVor and 

 the denier crargent, according to the Salic custom, and 

 after a plaid (court) held at Chalons, between the knights 

 of Burgundy and the French envoys. These last led 

 away Clotilde in a basterne, a covered chariot drawn by 

 oxen.' ' The same author describing the entry of the 

 young chief Sighismer into Lyons when about to marry 

 the daughter of the King of Burgundy, writes : ' His hair 

 resembled the gold of his vestments ; his complexion was 

 as dazzling as the scarlet of his dress ; his skin equalled 

 in whiteness the silk with which his robes were trimmed. 

 He came on foot, surrounded by a troop of chiefs of tribes 

 and a cortege of companions terrible to look upon, even 

 in time of peace. Their feet were covered by velvet 

 boots ; their limbs were naked, and their vestments were 

 so short and narrow that they scarcely reached the knee. 

 They wore gowns of green silk bordered with scarlet, 

 and carried glaives suspended from their shoulders by 

 rich baldricks, curved lances, throwing hatchets {haches 

 de Jet), and double bucklers of iron and copper beautifully 

 polished.'^ 



When the Prankish kings imposed tribute on the 

 Saxons, whom they had vanquished, the impost levied 

 was cows. ' In 632, the Saxon deputies took the oath on 

 their weapons, according to the custom of their nation, 

 to defend the Austrasian frontier until such time as the 

 king (Dagobert) should abolish the tribute imposed upon 

 them and their ancestors by the Prankish kings since the 

 reign of Clotaire I. ; then the army would be disbanded. 



' Hist, de France, vol. i. p. 416. 

 "^ Hist, de France, p. 406, note. 



