POLITICAL HEADS CHIEFS, KINGS, ETC. 355 



tinuously-inherited malformation. Europe of the Merovin 

 gian period yields an example. In pagan times the king s 

 race had an alleged divine origin ; but in Christian times, 

 says Waitz, when they could no longer mount back to the 

 gods, a more than natural origin was alleged : &quot; a sea-monster 

 ravished the wife of Chlogio as she sat by the sea-shore, 

 and from this embrace Merovech sprang.&quot; Later clays show 

 us the gradual acquisition of a sacred or semi-supernatural 

 character, where it did not originally exist. Divine assent to 

 their supremacy was asserted by the Carolingian kings. 

 During the later feudal age, rare exceptions apart, kings 

 &quot; were not far removed from believing themselves near rela 

 tives of the masters of heaven. Kings and gods were col 

 leagues.&quot; In the 17th century this belief was endorsed by 

 divines. &quot; Kings,&quot; says Bossuet, &quot; are gods, and share in a 

 manner the divine independence.&quot; 



So that the headship of a compound group, arising tempo 

 rarily during war, then becoming, with frequent cooperation 

 of the groups, settled for life by election, passing presently 

 into the hereditary form, and gaining permanence as fast as 

 the law of succession grows well-defined and undisputed, 

 acquires its greatest stability only when the king is regarded 

 as a deputy god, or when, if he is not supposed to inherit a 

 divine nature, he is supposed to have a divine commission. 



479. Ascribed divine nature, or divine descent, or divine 

 commission, naturally, gives to the political head unlimited 

 sway. In theory, and often to a large extent in practice, he 

 is owner of his subjects and of the territory they occupy. 



Where militancy is pronounced, and the claims of a con 

 queror unqualified, it is indeed to a considerable degree thus 

 with those uncivilized peoples who do not ascribe super 

 natural characters to their rulers. Among the Zulu Kaffirs 

 the chief &quot;exercises supreme power over the lives of his 

 people ;&quot; the Bheel chiefs &quot; have a power over the lives and 

 property of their own subjects ;&quot; and in Fiji the subject is 



