Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/566

530 FRANCE [HISTORY. 511-567 A.D. Parti tion of the Frank kingdom. .Neustria. Second parti tion of Frankish kingdom. ence and fortunes of the church entirely in Gallo -Roman hands, Before Hlodowig died (511) lie had destroyed all the old chieftains and knights who ruled in Gaul. He took the place of Roman and Goth ; the Visigoth shrank away south ward; the Burgundian became tributary; the Frank was recognized as undisputed master of all the country; the northern barrier lines between Gaul and Germany perished; as fresh bands of Franks poured into northern France from time to time, the Austrasian princes renewed the Germanic influence over Gaul ; and for five centuries the history of France must be regarded as in most respects subordinate to that of Germany. Germanic use prevailed in the new kingdom, and when Hlodowig was gone, his four sons all became kings, each representing one of the divisions of the original invasion. Theodorik, the eldest, took the north-eastern part, and be came king of what ere long began to be called Austrasia : he lay on both banks of the Rhine, and was almost entirely German, with his capital at Metz. Hildebert, eldest son of Hlotehild, had the central district, the country round Paris, with Paris as his capital. Hlodomir, the next, was king of Orleans, and had western Gaul along the Loire. The youngest, Hlothar, was king over the old Salian land, the north-western corner of Gaul, with his capital at Soissons. The partition was a division of estates rather than of governments ; the four kings regarded the country north of the Loire as their home, and divided out all beyond that river at will by arbitrary lines. As yet a king was little more than a leader in war, and his free men, his " leudes," looked to him to give them plentiful employment in that way, even compelling him at times to go on expeditious against his own better judgment. Thus it fell out that this first partition did not weaken the Franks; they attacked their neighbours on every hand. In one of these wars (in 524) Hlodomir, king of Orleans, was killed; his brothers seized his inheritance, and on Hildebert s death (558) Hlothar of Soissons became sole king of the Franks ; in 555 he had taken possession of Austrasia. Hlothar s rule brings the name of Neustria into prominence. The two branches of the Frankish power become clearly distinguish able, the German Austrasians coming down to Lorraine, and including the eastern part of Champagne, as these dis tricts were later called, and the Gallic Neustria covering almost all modern France. And Neustria settled quickly into a monarchy of more modern type. Round Hlothar were grouped his reeves or counts ; the clergy made their court to him ; the " leudes" now become the king s " trusty men"; not a few Gallo-Romans also held office under him. On Hlothar s death (561) the Frankish kingdom was once more divided into four parts Austrasia, Paris, Sois sons, and Burgundy, the eldest son, Sigebert (as in the earlier partition), taking the north-eastern country. When Haribert, king of Paris, died in 567, Hilperik, his brother, king of Soissons, seized his share, and became king of Neustria. And now the three Frankish kingdoms of Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy take definite forms. Speaking generally, Austrasia lay between the Meuse and the Rhine, Neustria between the Meuse and the Loire, though Austrasia trenched somewhat on Neustria on one hand, and stretched far up and even beyond the Rhine on the other side. Burgundy included the upper waters of these rivers, and of the Saone as well. The rivalry lay be tween the Austrasians and the Neustrians; theBurgundians, being the weakest and most peaceful of the three, sided sometimes with the one, sometimes with the other. This rivalry finds its expression in the half-legendary strife be tween the haughty high-born Brunhild, wife of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, and Fredegond, the low-born mistress of Hilperik, king of Neustria. Before the end of the 6th century we discern a new 56? power rising into distinctness, the power of the mayor of ^ the palace, an officer, as his name denoted, having great ma- authority in the king s court, elected by the chiefs, and oft acting almost independently of his master. In Neustria pal: we usually find the mayor of the palace siding with the royal power; in Austrasia, where the nobility were much stronger, he checks and overshadows the king ; in Burgundy he is only an insignificant person, being of inferior import ance to the patrician, whose office, as the name tells us, was a relic of past Roman days. Another, and a far more beneficial influence, also appeared at this time ; the Benedictines came across from Italy, and spreading through out France, formed many centres of fresh life in the con fusion of the land. They revived the faith in industry, well-nigh destroyed by the Franks ; they did something to rescue the older inhabitants from misery, and culture and letters, thanks to their well-directed energies, again raised their heads. At the end of the century the two queens, Brunhild and Fredegond, were the two rulers of all the country; for Brunhild had charge of her two grandsons, Theodebert II., king of Austrasia, and Theodoric II., king of Burgundy, while Fredegond governed Neustria for the youthful Hlothar II. So early does the extraordinary prominence of regency appear in French history. After Fredegond s death in 598, Brunhild seized on almost the whole of Neustria, and for a while seemed once more to unite the Merwing lordship under her rule. Her chief aim was the establishment of a solid monarchy in Austrasia, which should curb the power of the nobles ; they, in opposition to her, placed at their head two brothers, Arnulf bishop of Metz, and Pippin of Landen, the ancestor of that great family under the auspices of which modern society laid its founda tions in both Germany and France, the great Karling or Carolingian dynasty. Led by the.se two men, heads of the lay and spiritual aristocracies, the Austrasian nobles met the aged queen ; her army deserted her, leaving her with her four great-grandchildren in the hands of Hlothar II., the nominal chief. He put the children to death at once, and after shameful indignities, the queen, it i.s said, was tied to the heels of a wild horse and so dashed to pieces. Her death was a triumph of aristocracy over monarchy. Hlothar II., now sole king of Franks, was entirely in the hands of the mayor of the palace, who became a real power in the state, representing the interests of the nobles as against the cen tralizing tendencies of the kings. This victory of Neustria, though it paved the way for the eventual domination of the Carolings, was in itself " the triumph of weakness over strength, of the Gallo-Romans and the priests" (Sismondi). The victorious nobles endea voured to secure their supremacy. The bishops, who were now found sitting in the assembly of the " leudes," drew up a new ordinance, a " perpetual constitution," a first attempt to substitute ideas of justice in the place of custom based on force. This, however, in the nature of things, could not check the growing power of the nobles, especially in Aus* trasia; though for a time royalty, under Dagobert (628-638) showed a good front in Neustria. In him the Merwing monarchy reached its highest point ; his splendid couit at Paris laid the foundations, not altogether sound ones, of the civilization of France. At his death his monarchy crumbled away. Children were kings in both Austrasia and Neustria ; we reach the days of the " do-naught " princes, the rois faineants, and of the struggle between the mayora of Austrasia and Neustria. Ebroin, the Neustrian, for a time held out against his rivals ; but the Austrasians placed at their head the representatives of the Caroliug family, 1 Martin and Pippin, grandsons of Pippin of Landen ; and, | * Ebroin having been assassinated, Neustria had nothing