Rhine were not fitted to meet the needs of a great State like the Frankish kingdom. A more complicated machinery became necessary. In point of fact the Merovingian institutions form a new system composed of elements partly Roman, partly Germanic; and the powerful influence of Christianity must not be left out of account. These elements were combined in varying proportions according to circumstances, and according to the needs and even the caprices of men. Moreover we must be careful not to think of the institutions as fixed and unchangeable. They are in a state of continual evolution, and those which obtained in Gaul in the time of Charles Martel are strikingly different from those which we find in the time of Clovis. It is the business of the historian to observe and to explain these changes.
During the whole of the Merovingian period the State is ruled by kings. The kingly office is hereditary and the sons succeed the father by an undisputed right. Each son inherits equally, and the kingdom is divided up into as many parts as there are sons. Daughters, who were excluded from possessing land, could not succeed to the kingdom. The people never interfered in the choice of the sovereign. It was only in rare cases that the great men elevated the king, to whom they had given their allegiance, on the shield and carried him round the camp. This was done by the Ripuarians when they put themselves under the rule of Clovis, after the assassination of their king; and again by the nobles of Chilperic's kingdom when they acknowledged Sigebert as their sovereign. In the case of an ordinary succession there was no special ceremony at which the king was invested with authority. Anointing was not practised in the Merovingian period. The kings merely adopted the custom of making, on their accession, a progress through their dominions and imposing an oath of fidelity upon their subjects. This is called regnum circumire. Sons who were minors were placed under the guardianship of their nearest relative. At twelve years old they were declared, according to the provisions of the Salic law, to be of age, and were thenceforth supposed to govern in their own name.
The king's official title was Rex Francorum, irrespective of the particular part of the country which he ruled. Some epithet such as gloriosus or vir inluster was usually added. The kings were distinguished by their long hair, and the locks of a prince who was to be deprived of his status were shorn. Chlotar I and Childebert I asked Clotilda whether she would rather see the hair of her grandsons, the sons of Clodomir, cut short, or see them put to death. The lance was also a royal emblem. Guntram presented a lance to Childebert II in token that he recognised him as heir to his dominions. Clovis wore a diadem. All these kings surrounded themselves with great magnificence and sat in state upon a golden throne. When they entered a town they threw money among the crowd, and their subjects greeted them with acclamations in various languages. The king ruled over Franks and
