S54 ~ FRANCE. 



anno 481 ; and was baptized, and introduced Christianity, in the year 

 496. The mind of Clovis had been affected by the pathetic tale of 

 the passion and the~ death of Christ; and, insensible of the beneficial 

 consequences of the mysterious sacrifice, he exclaimed, with reli- 

 gious fervour, " Had I been present with my valiant Franks, I would 

 have revenged his injuries I" But though he publicly professed to ac- 

 knowledge the truth of the gospel, its divine precepts were but lit- 

 tle respected. From this period the French history exhibits a se- 

 ries of great events ; and we find them generally engaged in domes- 

 tic broils, or foreign wars. The first race of their kings, prior to 

 Charlemagne, found a cruel enemy in the Saracens, who then overran 

 Europe, and retaliated the barbarities of the Goths and Vandals up- 

 on their posterity. In the year 800, Charlemagne, king of France, 

 the glory of those dark ages, became master of Germany, Spain, and 

 part of Italy, and was crowned king of the Romans by the pope. He 

 divided his empire, by will, among his sons ; which proved fatal to 

 his family and posterity. Soon after this, the Normans, a fierce war- 

 like people from Norway, Denmark, and other parts of Scandinavia, 

 ravaged the kingdom of France ; and, about the year 900, obliged 

 the French to yield Normandy and Bretagne to Rollo, their leader, 

 ■who married the king's daughter, and was persuaded to profess him- 

 self a Christian. This laid the foundation of the Norman power in 

 France, which afterwards gave a king to England, in the person of 

 William duke of Normandy, who subdued Harold, the last Saxon 

 king, in the year 1066. This event proved unfortunate and ruinous 

 to France, as it engaged that nation in almost perpetual wars with 

 England, for whiGh it was not an equal match, notwithstanding its 

 numbers, ancFthe assistance it received from Scotland. 



The rage of crusading, which broke out at this time, was of infi- 

 nite service to the French crown, in two respects : in the first place, 

 it carried off many thousands of its turbulent subjects, and their 

 leaders, who were almost independent of the king; in the next, the 

 king succeeded to the estates of many of the nobility, who died 

 abroad without heirs. 



But passing over the dark ages of the crusades, the expedition to 

 the Holy Land, and war with England, which have already been men- 

 tioned, we shall prqceed to that period when the French began to 

 extend their influence over Europe, in the reign of Francis I, con- 

 temporary with Henry VIII, of England. This prince, though he 

 was brave to excess in his own person, and had defeatedthe Swiss, 

 who till then were deemed invincible, was an unfortunate warrior. 

 He had great abilities and great defects. He was a candidate for the 

 empire of Germany, but lost the imperial crown ; Charles V, of the 

 house of Austria, and king of Spain, being chosen. In the year 

 1520, Francis having invited Henry VIII, of England, to an inter- 

 view, the two kings met in an open plain, near Calais ; where they 

 and their attendants displayed their magnificence, with such emula- 

 tion and profuse expense, as gave it the name of the Field of the 

 Cloth of Gold. Feats of chivalry, parties of gallantry, together with 

 such exercises and pastimes as were in that age reckoned manly or 

 elegant, rather than serious business, occupied both courts during 

 eighteen days that they continued together.* Francis made some 



* The French and English historians describe the pomp of this interview, and 

 the various spectacles, with great minuteness. One circumstance mentioned by 



