HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 57 



After the treaty of Yerdun, the family of Charles the Bald, known by 

 the name of the Carolingians, occupied the French throne down to th(> 

 close of the tenth century. If we may judge from the surnames given to 

 the monarchs, as the Stammerer, the Simple, the Lazy, &c., the line does 

 not appear to have been remarkable for its virtues. Most of them met 

 violent deaths, and under their weak administration it excites no wonder that 

 the Normans attacked the country. This powerful and extensive people 

 inhabited at that time the coasts of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. 

 They devoted the trees of their noble forests to the construction of ships, 

 and as the Hmis are reported to have lived almost entirely on horseback, 

 so these hardy Northmen seemed contented only in their vessels, and their 

 immense fleets were met on every sea. They passed up the rivers to the 

 inland country, overwhelmed by their numbers the defenceless towns and 

 hamlets, and plundered and destroyed without restriction. They were a 

 savage race whom no sufferings daunted, and to whom death itself was only 

 the glorious road to the palaces of the gods. They agreed to a peace with 

 France, the conditions of wdiich assigned to them the province of 

 Normandy. They pm*sued their predatory incursions in Italy, England, 

 and German}', but b^^ mingling with the inhabitants, or settling down in 

 small communities, they at last lost their nationality, and disappeared as a 

 distinct tribe from history. 



PI. 21, figs. 22 and 23, king and queen of the Normans ; fig. 24, a 

 Norman dame ; figs. 25 and 26, Norman nobles ; fig. 27, Norman citizen ; 

 and^'^. 28, Norman laborers. 



The French kingdom suffered not less from internal troubles than from 

 the depredations of the Normans. The nobility of the empire availed 

 themselves of the weakness of their king, and appropriated to themselves 

 his power and rights. Every count and duke had his own court, and 

 heedless of the orders of his king, he relied on his own strength. To 

 appease the rapacity of these turbulent vassals, the government resorted 

 to the policy of allowing them great privileges and making them consider- 

 able donations ; and thus the royal domains gradually dwindled away, until, 

 in the time of Louis Y., the last of the Carolingian house, they embraced 

 only Laon and Rheims. 



At the death of Louis Y., in 987, the wealthy and popular Hugh Capet, 

 Count of Paris, took possession of the throne. Under him and his 

 successors the power of the arrogant nobles was gradually broken, and one 

 iief after another restored to tlie crown. The family of Capet existed until 

 modern times. 



PI. 21, fi,g. 15, Louis Y. in his tunic ; fig. 16, the queen in full costume ; 

 jigs. 17 and 18, princesses in domestic and state dresses; fig. 19, a 

 prebendary ; fig. 20, a nun ; fig. 21, citizens. 



In Germany the descendants of Charlemagne reigned only until 911, and 

 in general the princes were little superior to their relatives in France. By 

 the treaty of Yerdun, 843 A.D., Germany fell to Louis, who soon found 

 himself embarrassed by a jealous and powerful nobility, the Normans, and 

 his own rebellious children. All the states of Charlemagne were added to 



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