104. The Franks under Clovis and His Successors Clovis, king of the Franks, 481511 A.D. Gaul, in a We have already met the Franks in their home on the lower Rhine, from which they pushed gradually into Roman territory. In 486 A.D., just ten years after the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the Franks went forth to conquer under Clovis,2 one of their chieftains. By overcoming the governor of Roman battle near Soissons, Clovis destroyed the last vestige of imperial rule in the West and extended the Frankish dominions to the river Loire. Clovis then turned against his German neighbors. East of the Franks, in the region now known as Alsace, lived the Alamanni, a people whose name still survives in the French name of Germany. The Alamanni were defeated in a great battle near Strassburg (496 A.D.), and much of their territory was added to that of the Franks. Clovis subsequently conquered the Visigothic possessions between the Loire and the Pyrenees, and compelled the Burgundians to pay tribute. Thus Clovis made himself supreme over nearly the whole of Gaul and even extended his authority to the other side of the Rhine. This great work entitles him to be called the founder of the French nation. Gallo Clovis reigned in western Europe as an independent king, but he acknowledged a sort of allegiance to the Roman emperor by accepting the title of honorary consul. Hence- The Franks forth to the Gallo-Romans he represented the and the distant ruler at Constantinople. The Roman inhabitants of Gaul were not oppressed; their cities were preserved; and their language and laws were undisturbed. Clovis, as a statesman, may be compared with his eminent contemporary, Theodoric the Ostrogoth. Romans The Franks were still a heathen people, when they began 1 See page 245. 2 His name is properly spelled Chlodweg, which later became Ludwig, and in French, Louis. Allemagne. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Gaul came to call their country France and themselves Français after their conquerors, the Germanic Franks. their career of conquest. Clovis, however, had married a Burgundian princess, Clotilda, who was a devout Catholic and an ardent advocate of Christianity. The story is told how, when Clovis was hard-pressed by the Alamanni at the battle of Strassburg, he vowed that if Clotilda's God gave him victory he would become a Christian. The Franks won, and Clovis, faithful to his Christianization of the Franks, 496 A.D. vow, had himself baptized by St. Remi, bishop of Reims. "Bow down thy head," spoke the bishop, as the Frankish king approached the font, "adore what thou hast burned, burn what thou has adored." 1 With Clovis were baptized on 'that same day three thousand of his warriors. The conversion of Clovis was an event of the first importance. He and his Franks naturally embraced the orthodox Catholic faith, which was that of his wife, instead of the Arian form of Christianity, which had been accepted by almost all the 1 Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, ii, 31. other Germanic invaders. Thus, by what seems the merest accident, Catholicism, instead of Arianism, became the religion of a large part of western Europe. More than Significance this, the conversion of Clovis gained for the of Clovis's Frankish king and his successors the support of the Roman Church. The friendship between the popes and the Franks afterwards ripened into a close alliance which greatly influenced European history. conversion The descendants of Clovis are called Merovingians. They occupied the throne of the Franks for nearly two hundred and fifty years. The annals of their reigns form an The earlier unpleasant catalogue of bloody wars, horrible Merovingian kings murders, and deeds of treachery without number. Nevertheless, the earlier Merovingians were strong men, under whose direction the Frankish territory continued to expand, until it included nearly all of what is now France, Belgium, and Holland, besides a considerable part of Germany. The Frankish conquests differed in two important respects from those of the other Germanic peoples. In the first place, the Franks did not cut themselves off completely Character of from their original homes. They kept permanently the Frankish their territory in Germany, drawing from it con conquests tinual reinforcements of fresh German blood. In the second place, the Franks steadily added new German lands to their possessions. They built up in this way what was the largest and the most permanent of all the barbarian states founded on the ruins of the Roman Empire. 105. The Franks under Charles Martel and Pepin the Short After the middle of the seventh century the Frankish rulers, worn out by violence and excesses, degenerated into weaklings, who reigned but did not rule. The actual manage- The later ment of the state passed into the hands of officers, Merovingian kings called "mayors of the palace." They left to the kings little more than their title, their long hair, the badge of royalty among the Franks, and a scanty allowance for their 1 From Merovech, grandfather of Clovis. support. The later Merovingians, accordingly, are often known as the "do-nothing kings." Charles The most illustrious of these mayors was Charles, surnamed Martel, "the Hammer," from the terrible defeat which he administered to the Mohammedans near Tours, in central France.1 Charles Martel was virtually a king, but he never ventured to set aside the Merovingian ruler and himself ascend the throne. This step was taken, however, by Charles's son, Pepin the Short. Pepin the Short be comes king of the Franks, 751 A.D. 2 Before dethroning the last feeble "do-nothing," Pepin sought the approval of the bishop of Rome. The pope, without hesitation, declared that it was only right that the man who had the real authority in the state should have the royal title also. Pepin, accordingly, caused himself to be crowned king of the Franks, thus founding the Carolingian dynasty (751 A.D.). Three years later Pope Stephen II came to Pepin's court and solemnly anointed the new ruler with holy oil, in accordance with ancient Jewish custom. The rite of anointing, something unknown to the Germans, gave to Pepin's coronation the sanction of the Roman Church. Henceforth the Frankish sovereigns called themselves "kings by the grace of God.” "Donation of Pepin was soon able to repay his great obligation to the Roman Church by becoming its protector against the Lombards. These barbarians, who were trying to extend their rule in Italy, threatened to capture Rome and the territory in the vicinity of that city, then under the control of the pope. Pepin twice entered Italy with his army, defeated the Lombards, and forced them to cede to Pope Stephen an extensive district lying between Rome and Ravenna. Pepin might have returned this district to the emperor at Constantinople, to whom it had belonged, but the Frankish king declared that he had not fought for the advantage of any man but for the welfare of his own soul. He decided, 1 See page 379. So called from Pepin's son, Charles the Great (in Latin, Carolus Magnus). The French form of his name is Charlemagne. therefore, to bestow his conquests on St. Peter's representative, the pope. Before this time the bishops of Rome had owned much land in Italy and had acted as virtual sovereigns in Rome and its neighborhood. Pepin's gift, known as the "Donation of Pepin," greatly increased their possessions, which came to be called the States of the Church. They remained in the hands of the popes until late in the nineteenth century.1 106. The Reign of Charlemagne, 768-814 A.D. Pepin was succeeded in 768 A.D. by his two sons, one of whom, Charlemagne, three years later became sole king of the Franks. Charlemagne reigned for nearly half a century, Charleand during this magne, the time he set his man stamp on all later European history. His character and personality are familiar to us from a brief biography, written by his secretary, Einhard. Charlemagne, we learn, was a tall, square-shouldered, strongly built man, with bright, keen eyes, and an expression at once cheerful and dignified. Riding, hunting, and swimming were his favorite sports. He was simple in his tastes and very temperate in both food and drink. Except when in Rome, he wore the old Frankish costume, with high-laced boots, linen tunic, blue cloak, and sword girt at his side. He was a clear, fluent speaker, used Latin as readily as his native tongue, and understood Greek CHARLEMAGNE Lateran Museum, Rome A mosaic picture, made during the lifetime of Charlemagne, and probably a fair likeness of him. In 1870 A.D. the States of the Church were added to the newly formed kingdom of Italy. |