38 Germany. 



The first real king, who did not, however, assume the 

 title, was Clovis, a Duke of the Franks, who had occu- 

 pied the lower Ehine country. About 500 A. D., picking 

 a quarrel with his neighbors, the Allemanni, he subdued 

 them and aggrandized himself by taking their Mark. In 

 this way he laid the foundation for a kingdom which he 

 extended mainly to the westward by conquest, but also 

 to the eastward, the warlike tribes of Saxons and other 

 Germans conceding in a manner the leadership of the 

 Franks. 



A real kingdom, however, did not arise until Charle- 

 magne in 772 became the ruler, extending his govern- 

 ment far to the East. 



At times the Kingdom was divided into the western 

 Neustria, and the eastern Austria, and then again 

 united, but it was only when the dynasty of Charle- 

 magne became extinct with the death of Louis the 

 Child (911), that the final separation from France was 

 effected and Germany became a separate kingdom, the 

 eastern tribes between the Ehine and Elbe choosing their 

 own king, Conrad, Duke of Franeonia. There were then 

 five tribes or nations, each under its own Duke and its 

 own laws, comprising this new kingdom, namely the 

 Franks, Suabians, Bavarians, Saxons and Lorainers on 

 the left bank of the Ehine, while the country East of 

 the Elbe river was mostly occupied by Slovenians. 



With Clovis began the new order of things signalized 

 by the aggrandizement of kings, dukes and barons. 



In addition to the rule regarding unseated lands ■ftiere 

 develops, also under Eoman law doctrine, the concep- 

 tion of seignorial right, the power of the king to juris- 

 diction over his property. This right first claimed by 



