Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part I

Reign And Conversion Of Clovis.—His Victories Over The Alemanni,
Burgundians, And Visigoths.—Establishment Of The French Monarchy
In Gaul.—Laws Of The Barbarians.—State Of The Romans.—The
Visigoths Of Spain.—Conquest Of Britain By The Saxons.

The Gauls, 1 who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, received a
memorable lesson from one of the lieutenants of Vespasian, whose
weighty sense has been refined and expressed by the genius of
Tacitus. 2 “The protection of the republic has delivered Gaul
from internal discord and foreign invasions. By the loss of
national independence, you have acquired the name and privileges
of Roman citizens. You enjoy, in common with yourselves, the
permanent benefits of civil government; and your remote situation
is less exposed to the accidental mischiefs of tyranny. Instead
of exercising the rights of conquest, we have been contented to
impose such tributes as are requisite for your own preservation.
Peace cannot be secured without armies; and armies must be
supported at the expense of the people. It is for your sake, not
for our own, that we guard the barrier of the Rhine against the
ferocious Germans, who have so often attempted, and who will
always desire, to exchange the solitude of their woods and
morasses for the wealth and fertility of Gaul. The fall of Rome
would be fatal to the provinces; and you would be buried in the
ruins of that mighty fabric, which has been raised by the valor
and wisdom of eight hundred years. Your imaginary freedom would
be insulted and oppressed by a savage master; and the expulsion
of the Romans would be succeeded by the eternal hostilities of
the Barbarian conquerors.” 3 This salutary advice was accepted,
and this strange prediction was accomplished. In the space of
four hundred years, the hardy Gauls, who had encountered the arms
of Caesar, were imperceptibly melted into the general mass of
citizens and subjects: the Western empire was dissolved; and the
Germans, who had passed the Rhine, fiercely contended for the
possession of Gaul, and excited the contempt, or abhorrence, of
its peaceful and polished inhabitants. With that conscious pride
which the preeminence of knowledge and luxury seldom fails to
inspire, they derided the hairy and gigantic savages of the
North; their rustic manners, dissonant joy, voracious appetite,
and their horrid appearance, equally disgusting to the sight and
to the smell. The liberal studies were still cultivated in the
schools of Autun and Bordeaux; and the language of Cicero and
Virgil was familiar to the Gallic youth. Their ears were
astonished by the harsh and unknown sounds of the Germanic
dialect, and they ingeniously lamented that the trembling muses
fled from the harmony of a Burgundian lyre. The Gauls were
endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they
wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned to
obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose
clemency they held their precarious fortunes and their lives. 4

1 (return) [ In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the
Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, Paris,
1738-1767, in eleven volumes in folio. By the labor of Dom
Bouquet, and the other Benedictines, all the original
testimonies, as far as A.D. 1060, are disposed in chronological
order, and illustrated with learned notes. Such a national work,
which will be continued to the year 1500, might provoke our
emulation.]

2 (return) [ Tacit. Hist. iv. 73, 74, in tom. i. p. 445. To
abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous; but I may select
the general ideas which he applies to the present state and
future revelations of Gaul.]

3 (return) [ Eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias
libido atque avaritiae et mutandae sedis amor; ut relictis
paludibus et solitudinibus, suis, fecundissimum hoc solum vosque
ipsos possiderent.... Nam pulsis Romanis quid aliud quam bella
omnium inter se gentium exsistent?]

4 (return) [ Sidonius Apollinaris ridicules, with affected wit
and pleasantry, the hardships of his situation, (Carm. xii. in
tom. i. p. 811.)]

As soon as Odoacer had extinguished the Western empire, he sought
the friendship of the most powerful of the Barbarians. The new
sovereign of Italy resigned to Euric, king of the Visigoths, all
the Roman conquests beyond the Alps, as far as the Rhine and the
Ocean: 5 and the senate might confirm this liberal gift with some
ostentation of power, and without any real loss of revenue and
dominion. The lawful pretensions of Euric were justified by
ambition and success; and the Gothic nation might aspire, under
his command, to the monarchy of Spain and Gaul. Arles and
Marseilles surrendered to his arms: he oppressed the freedom of
Auvergne; and the bishop condescended to purchase his recall from
exile by a tribute of just, but reluctant praise. Sidonius waited
before the gates of the palace among a crowd of ambassadors and
suppliants; and their various business at the court of Bordeaux
attested the power, and the renown, of the king of the Visigoths.
The Heruli of the distant ocean, who painted their naked bodies
with its coerulean color, implored his protection; and the Saxons
respected the maritime provinces of a prince, who was destitute
of any naval force. The tall Burgundians submitted to his
authority; nor did he restore the captive Franks, till he had
imposed on that fierce nation the terms of an unequal peace. The
Vandals of Africa cultivated his useful friendship; and the
Ostrogoths of Pannonia were supported by his powerful aid against
the oppression of the neighboring Huns. The North (such are the
lofty strains of the poet) was agitated or appeased by the nod of
Euric; the great king of Persia consulted the oracle of the West;
and the aged god of the Tyber was protected by the swelling
genius of the Garonne. 6 The fortune of nations has often
depended on accidents; and France may ascribe her greatness to
the premature death of the Gothic king, at a time when his son
Alaric was a helpless infant, and his adversary Clovis 7 an
ambitious and valiant youth.

5 (return) [ See Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 12, in tom.
ii. p. 81. The character of Grotius inclines me to believe, that
he has not substituted the Rhine for the Rhone (Hist. Gothorum,
p. 175) without the authority of some Ms.]

6 (return) [ Sidonius, l. viii. epist. 3, 9, in tom. i. p. 800.
Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 47 p. 680) justifies, in some
measure, this portrait of the Gothic hero.]

7 (return) [ I use the familiar appellation of Clovis, from the
Latin Chlodovechus, or Chlodovoeus. But the Ch expresses only the
German aspiration, and the true name is not different from Lewis,
(Mem. de ‘Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 68.)]

While Childeric, the father of Clovis, lived an exile in Germany,
he was hospitably entertained by the queen, as well as by the
king, of the Thuringians. After his restoration, Basina escaped
from her husband’s bed to the arms of her lover; freely
declaring, that if she had known a man wiser, stronger, or more
beautiful, than Childeric, that man should have been the object
of her preference. 8 9 Clovis was the offspring of this voluntary
union; and, when he was no more than fifteen years of age, he
succeeded, by his father’s death, to the command of the Salian
tribe. The narrow limits of his kingdom were confined to the
island of the Batavians, with the ancient dioceses of Tournay and
Arras; 10 and at the baptism of Clovis the number of his warriors
could not exceed five thousand. The kindred tribes of the Franks,
who had seated themselves along the Belgic rivers, the Scheld,
the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine, were governed by their
independent kings, of the Merovingian race; the equals, the
allies, and sometimes the enemies of the Salic prince. But the
Germans, who obeyed, in peace, the hereditary jurisdiction of
their chiefs, were free to follow the standard of a popular and
victorious general; and the superior merit of Clovis attracted
the respect and allegiance of the national confederacy. When he
first took the field, he had neither gold and silver in his
coffers, nor wine and corn in his magazine; 11 but he imitated
the example of Caesar, who, in the same country, had acquired
wealth by the sword, and purchased soldiers with the fruits of
conquest. After each successful battle or expedition, the spoils
were accumulated in one common mass; every warrior received his
proportionable share; and the royal prerogative submitted to the
equal regulations of military law. The untamed spirit of the
Barbarians was taught to acknowledge the advantages of regular
discipline. 12 At the annual review of the month of March, their
arms were diligently inspected; and when they traversed a
peaceful territory, they were prohibited from touching a blade of
grass. The justice of Clovis was inexorable; and his careless or
disobedient soldiers were punished with instant death. It would
be superfluous to praise the valor of a Frank; but the valor of
Clovis was directed by cool and consummate prudence. 13 In all
his transactions with mankind, he calculated the weight of
interest, of passion, and of opinion; and his measures were
sometimes adapted to the sanguinary manners of the Germans, and
sometimes moderated by the milder genius of Rome, and
Christianity. He was intercepted in the career of victory, since
he died in the forty-fifth year of his age: but he had already
accomplished, in a reign of thirty years, the establishment of
the French monarchy in Gaul.

8 (return) [ Greg. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. i. p. 168. Basina speaks
the language of nature; the Franks, who had seen her in their
youth, might converse with Gregory in their old age; and the
bishop of Tours could not wish to defame the mother of the first
Christian king.]

9 (return) [ The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique de l’Etablissement de
la Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 630-650) has
the merit of defining the primitive kingdom of Clovis, and of
ascertaining the genuine number of his subjects.]

10 (return) [ Ecclesiam incultam ac negligentia civium Paganorum
praetermis sam, veprium densitate oppletam, &c. Vit. St. Vedasti,
in tom. iii. p. 372. This description supposes that Arras was
possessed by the Pagans many years before the baptism of Clovis.]

11 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l v. c. i. tom. ii. p. 232)
contrasts the poverty of Clovis with the wealth of his grandsons.
Yet Remigius (in tom. iv. p. 52) mentions his paternas opes, as
sufficient for the redemption of captives.]

12 (return) [ See Gregory, (l. ii. c. 27, 37, in tom. ii. p. 175,
181, 182.) The famous story of the vase of Soissons explains both
the power and the character of Clovis. As a point of controversy,
it has been strangely tortured by Boulainvilliers Dubos, and the
other political antiquarians.]

13 (return) [ The duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has
managed weighty and delicate negotiations, ingeniously
illustrates (Mem. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p.
147-184) the political system of Clovis.]

The first exploit of Clovis was the defeat of Syagrius, the son
of Aegidius; and the public quarrel might, on this occasion, be
inflamed by private resentment. The glory of the father still
insulted the Merovingian race; the power of the son might excite
the jealous ambition of the king of the Franks. Syagrius
inherited, as a patrimonial estate, the city and diocese of
Soissons: the desolate remnant of the second Belgic, Rheims and
Troyes, Beauvais and Amiens, would naturally submit to the count
or patrician: 14 and after the dissolution of the Western empire,
he might reign with the title, or at least with the authority, of
king of the Romans. 15 As a Roman, he had been educated in the
liberal studies of rhetoric and jurisprudence; but he was engaged
by accident and policy in the familiar use of the Germanic idiom.
The independent Barbarians resorted to the tribunal of a
stranger, who possessed the singular talent of explaining, in
their native tongue, the dictates of reason and equity. The
diligence and affability of their judge rendered him popular, the
impartial wisdom of his decrees obtained their voluntary
obedience, and the reign of Syagrius over the Franks and
Burgundians seemed to revive the original institution of civil
society. 16 In the midst of these peaceful occupations, Syagrius
received, and boldly accepted, the hostile defiance of Clovis;
who challenged his rival in the spirit, and almost in the
language, of chivalry, to appoint the day and the field 17 of
battle. In the time of Caesar Soissons would have poured forth a
body of fifty thousand horse and such an army might have been
plentifully supplied with shields, cuirasses, and military
engines, from the three arsenals or manufactures of the city. 18
But the courage and numbers of the Gallic youth were long since
exhausted; and the loose bands of volunteers, or mercenaries, who
marched under the standard of Syagrius, were incapable of
contending with the national valor of the Franks. It would be
ungenerous without some more accurate knowledge of his strength
and resources, to condemn the rapid flight of Syagrius, who
escaped, after the loss of a battle, to the distant court of
Thoulouse. The feeble minority of Alaric could not assist or
protect an unfortunate fugitive; the pusillanimous 19 Goths were
intimidated by the menaces of Clovis; and the Roman king, after a
short confinement, was delivered into the hands of the
executioner. The Belgic cities surrendered to the king of the
Franks; and his dominions were enlarged towards the East by the
ample diocese of Tongres 20 which Clovis subdued in the tenth
year of his reign.

14 (return) [ M. Biet (in a Dissertation which deserved the prize
of the Academy of Soissons, p. 178-226,) has accurately defined
the nature and extent of the kingdom of Syagrius and his father;
but he too readily allows the slight evidence of Dubos (tom. ii.
p. 54-57) to deprive him of Beauvais and Amiens.]

15 (return) [ I may observe that Fredegarius, in his epitome of
Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. p. 398,) has prudently substituted
the name of Patricius for the incredible title of Rex Romanorum.]

16 (return) [ Sidonius, (l. v. Epist. 5, in tom. i. p. 794,) who
styles him the Solon, the Amphion, of the Barbarians, addresses
this imaginary king in the tone of friendship and equality. From
such offices of arbitration, the crafty Dejoces had raised
himself to the throne of the Medes, (Herodot. l. i. c. 96-100.)]

17 (return) [ Campum sibi praeparari jussit. M. Biet (p. 226-251)
has diligently ascertained this field of battle, at Nogent, a
Benedictine abbey, about ten miles to the north of Soissons. The
ground was marked by a circle of Pagan sepulchres; and Clovis
bestowed the adjacent lands of Leully and Coucy on the church of
Rheims.]

18 (return) [ See Caesar. Comment. de Bell. Gallic. ii. 4, in
tom. i. p. 220, and the Notitiae, tom. i. p. 126. The three
Fabricae of Soissons were, Seutaria, Balistaria, and Clinabaria.
The last supplied the complete armor of the heavy cuirassiers.]

19 (return) [ The epithet must be confined to the circumstances;
and history cannot justify the French prejudice of Gregory, (l.
ii. c. 27, in tom. ii. p. 175,) ut Gothorum pavere mos est.]

20 (return) [ Dubos has satisfied me (tom. i. p. 277-286) that
Gregory of Tours, his transcribers, or his readers, have
repeatedly confounded the German kingdom of Thuringia, beyond the
Rhine, and the Gallic city of Tongria, on the Meuse, which was
more anciently the country of the Eburones, and more recently the
diocese of Liege.]

The name of the Alemanni has been absurdly derived from their
imaginary settlement on the banks of the Leman Lake. 21 That
fortunate district, from the lake to the Avenche, and Mount Jura,
was occupied by the Burgundians. 22 The northern parts of
Helvetia had indeed been subdued by the ferocious Alemanni, who
destroyed with their own hands the fruits of their conquest. A
province, improved and adorned by the arts of Rome, was again
reduced to a savage wilderness; and some vestige of the stately
Vindonissa may still be discovered in the fertile and populous
valley of the Aar. 23 From the source of the Rhine to its conflux
with the Mein and the Moselle, the formidable swarms of the
Alemanni commanded either side of the river, by the right of
ancient possession, or recent victory. They had spread themselves
into Gaul, over the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine; and
their bold invasion of the kingdom of Cologne summoned the Salic
prince to the defence of his Ripuarian allies.

Clovis encountered the invaders of Gaul in the plain of Tolbiac,
about twenty-four miles from Cologne; and the two fiercest
nations of Germany were mutually animated by the memory of past
exploits, and the prospect of future greatness. The Franks, after
an obstinate struggle, gave way; and the Alemanni, raising a
shout of victory, impetuously pressed their retreat. But the
battle was restored by the valor, and the conduct, and perhaps by
the piety, of Clovis; and the event of the bloody day decided
forever the alternative of empire or servitude. The last king of
the Alemanni was slain in the field, and his people were
slaughtered or pursued, till they threw down their arms, and
yielded to the mercy of the conqueror. Without discipline it was
impossible for them to rally: they had contemptuously demolished
the walls and fortifications which might have protected their
distress; and they were followed into the heart of their forests
by an enemy not less active, or intrepid, than themselves. The
great Theodoric congratulated the victory of Clovis, whose sister
Albofleda the king of Italy had lately married; but he mildly
interceded with his brother in favor of the suppliants and
fugitives, who had implored his protection. The Gallic
territories, which were possessed by the Alemanni, became the
prize of their conqueror; and the haughty nation, invincible, or
rebellious, to the arms of Rome, acknowledged the sovereignty of
the Merovingian kings, who graciously permitted them to enjoy
their peculiar manners and institutions, under the government of
official, and, at length, of hereditary, dukes. After the
conquest of the Western provinces, the Franks alone maintained
their ancient habitations beyond the Rhine. They gradually
subdued, and civilized, the exhausted countries, as far as the
Elbe, and the mountains of Bohemia; and the peace of Europe was
secured by the obedience of Germany. 24

21 (return) [ Populi habitantes juxta Lemannum lacum, Alemanni
dicuntur. Servius, ad Virgil. Georgic. iv. 278. Don Bouquet (tom.
i. p. 817) has only alleged the more recent and corrupt text of
Isidore of Seville.]

22 (return) [ Gregory of Tours sends St. Lupicinus inter illa
Jurensis deserti secreta, quae, inter Burgundiam Alamanniamque
sita, Aventicae adja cent civitati, in tom. i. p. 648. M. de
Watteville (Hist. de la Confederation Helvetique, tom. i. p. 9,
10) has accurately defined the Helvetian limits of the Duchy of
Alemannia, and the Transjurane Burgundy. They were commensurate
with the dioceses of Constance and Avenche, or Lausanne, and are
still discriminated, in modern Switzerland, by the use of the
German, or French, language.]

23 (return) [ See Guilliman de Rebus Helveticis, l i. c. 3, p.
11, 12. Within the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of
Hapsburgh, the abbey of Konigsfield, and the town of Bruck, have
successively risen. The philosophic traveller may compare the
monuments of Roman conquest of feudal or Austrian tyranny, of
monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly
a philosopher, he will applaud the merit and happiness of his own
times.]

24 (return) [ Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. 30, 37, in tom. ii. p.
176, 177, 182,) the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 551,) and
the epistle of Theodoric, (Cassiodor. Variar. l. ii. c. 41, in
tom. iv. p. 4,) represent the defeat of the Alemanni. Some of
their tribes settled in Rhaetia, under the protection of
Theodoric; whose successors ceded the colony and their country to
the grandson of Clovis. The state of the Alemanni under the
Merovingian kings may be seen in Mascou (Hist. of the Ancient
Germans, xi. 8, &c. Annotation xxxvi.) and Guilliman, (de Reb.
Helvet. l. ii. c. 10-12, p. 72-80.)]

Till the thirtieth year of his age, Clovis continued to worship
the gods of his ancestors. 25 His disbelief, or rather disregard,
of Christianity, might encourage him to pillage with less remorse
the churches of a hostile territory: but his subjects of Gaul
enjoyed the free exercise of religious worship; and the bishops
entertained a more favorable hope of the idolater, than of the
heretics. The Merovingian prince had contracted a fortunate
alliance with the fair Clotilda, the niece of the king of
Burgundy, who, in the midst of an Arian court, was educated in
the profession of the Catholic faith. It was her interest, as
well as her duty, to achieve the conversion 26 of a Pagan
husband; and Clovis insensibly listened to the voice of love and
religion. He consented (perhaps such terms had been previously
stipulated) to the baptism of his eldest son; and though the
sudden death of the infant excited some superstitious fears, he
was persuaded, a second time, to repeat the dangerous experiment.
In the distress of the battle of Tolbiac, Clovis loudly invoked
the God of Clotilda and the Christians; and victory disposed him
to hear, with respectful gratitude, the eloquent 27 Remigius, 28
bishop of Rheims, who forcibly displayed the temporal and
spiritual advantages of his conversion. The king declared himself
satisfied of the truth of the Catholic faith; and the political
reasons which might have suspended his public profession, were
removed by the devout or loyal acclamations of the Franks, who
showed themselves alike prepared to follow their heroic leader to
the field of battle, or to the baptismal font. The important
ceremony was performed in the cathedral of Rheims, with every
circumstance of magnificence and solemnity that could impress an
awful sense of religion on the minds of its rude proselytes. 29
The new Constantine was immediately baptized, with three thousand
of his warlike subjects; and their example was imitated by the
remainder of the gentle Barbarians, who, in obedience to the
victorious prelate, adored the cross which they had burnt, and
burnt the idols which they had formerly adored. 30 The mind of
Clovis was susceptible of transient fervor: he was exasperated by
the pathetic tale of the passion and death of Christ; and,
instead of weighing the salutary consequences of that mysterious
sacrifice, he exclaimed, with indiscreet fury, “Had I been
present at the head of my valiant Franks, I would have revenged
his injuries.” 31 But the savage conqueror of Gaul was incapable
of examining the proofs of a religion, which depends on the
laborious investigation of historic evidence and speculative
theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild
influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart
of a genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual
violation of moral and Christian duties: his hands were stained
with blood in peace as well as in war; and, as soon as Clovis had
dismissed a synod of the Gallican church, he calmly assassinated
all the princes of the Merovingian race. 32 Yet the king of the
Franks might sincerely worship the Christian God, as a Being more
excellent and powerful than his national deities; and the signal
deliverance and victory of Tolbiac encouraged Clovis to confide
in the future protection of the Lord of Hosts. Martin, the most
popular of the saints, had filled the Western world with the fame
of those miracles which were incessantly performed at his holy
sepulchre of Tours. His visible or invisible aid promoted the
cause of a liberal and orthodox prince; and the profane remark of
Clovis himself, that St.Martin was an expensive friend, 33 need
not be interpreted as the symptom of any permanent or rational
scepticism. But earth, as well as heaven, rejoiced in the
conversion of the Franks. On the memorable day when Clovis
ascended from the baptismal font, he alone, in the Christian
world, deserved the name and prerogatives of a Catholic king. The
emperor Anastasius entertained some dangerous errors concerning
the nature of the divine incarnation; and the Barbarians of
Italy, Africa, Spain, and Gaul, were involved in the Arian
heresy. The eldest, or rather the only, son of the church, was
acknowledged by the clergy as their lawful sovereign, or glorious
deliverer; and the armies of Clovis were strenuously supported by
the zeal and fervor of the Catholic faction. 34

25 (return) [ Clotilda, or rather Gregory, supposes that Clovis
worshipped the gods of Greece and Rome. The fact is incredible,
and the mistake only shows how completely, in less than a
century, the national religion of the Franks had been abolished
and even forgotten]

26 (return) [ Gregory of Tours relates the marriage and
conversion of Clovis, (l. ii. c. 28-31, in tom. ii. p. 175-178.)
Even Fredegarius, or the nameless Epitomizer, (in tom. ii. p.
398-400,) the author of the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p.
548-552,) and Aimoin himself, (l. i. c. 13, in tom. iii. p.
37-40,) may be heard without disdain. Tradition might long
preserve some curious circumstances of these important
transactions.]

27 (return) [ A traveller, who returned from Rheims to Auvergne,
had stolen a copy of his declamations from the secretary or
bookseller of the modest archbishop, (Sidonius Apollinar. l. ix.
epist. 7.) Four epistles of Remigius, which are still extant, (in
tom. iv. p. 51, 52, 53,) do not correspond with the splendid
praise of Sidonius.]

28 (return) [ Hincmar, one of the successors of Remigius, (A.D.
845-882,) had composed his life, (in tom. iii. p. 373-380.) The
authority of ancient MSS. of the church of Rheims might inspire
some confidence, which is destroyed, however, by the selfish and
audacious fictions of Hincmar. It is remarkable enough, that
Remigius, who was consecrated at the age of twenty-two, (A.D.
457,) filled the episcopal chair seventy-four years, (Pagi
Critica, in Baron tom. ii. p. 384, 572.)]

29 (return) [ A phial (the Sainte Ampoulle of holy, or rather
celestial, oil,) was brought down by a white dove, for the
baptism of Clovis; and it is still used and renewed, in the
coronation of the kings of France. Hincmar (he aspired to the
primacy of Gaul) is the first author of this fable, (in tom. iii.
p. 377,) whose slight foundations the Abbe de Vertot (Mémoires de
l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 619-633) has undermined,
with profound respect and consummate dexterity.]

30 (return) [ Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod
incendisti, incende quod adorasti. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 31, in
tom. ii. p. 177.]

31 (return) [ Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias
ejus vindicassem. This rash expression, which Gregory has
prudently concealed, is celebrated by Fredegarius, (Epitom. c.
21, in tom. ii. p. 400,) Ai moin, (l. i. c. 16, in tom. iii. p.
40,) and the Chroniques de St. Denys, (l. i. c. 20, in tom. iii.
p. 171,) as an admirable effusion of Christian zeal.]

32 (return) [ Gregory, (l. ii. c. 40-43, in tom. ii. p. 183-185,)
after coolly relating the repeated crimes, and affected remorse,
of Clovis, concludes, perhaps undesignedly, with a lesson, which
ambition will never hear. “His ita transactis obiit.”]

33 (return) [ After the Gothic victory, Clovis made rich
offerings to St. Martin of Tours. He wished to redeem his
war-horse by the gift of one hundred pieces of gold, but the
enchanted steed could not remove from the stable till the price
of his redemption had been doubled. This miracle provoked the
king to exclaim, Vere B. Martinus est bonus in auxilio, sed carus
in negotio. (Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 554, 555.)]

34 (return) [ See the epistle from Pope Anastasius to the royal
convert, (in Com. iv. p. 50, 51.) Avitus, bishop of Vienna,
addressed Clovis on the same subject, (p. 49;) and many of the
Latin bishops would assure him of their joy and attachment.]

Under the Roman empire, the wealth and jurisdiction of the
bishops, their sacred character, and perpetual office, their
numerous dependants, popular eloquence, and provincial
assemblies, had rendered them always respectable, and sometimes
dangerous. Their influence was augmented with the progress of
superstition; and the establishment of the French monarchy may,
in some degree, be ascribed to the firm alliance of a hundred
prelates, who reigned in the discontented, or independent, cities
of Gaul. The slight foundations of the Armorican republic had
been repeatedly shaken, or overthrown; but the same people still
guarded their domestic freedom; asserted the dignity of the Roman
name; and bravely resisted the predatory inroads, and regular
attacks, of Clovis, who labored to extend his conquests from the
Seine to the Loire. Their successful opposition introduced an
equal and honorable union. The Franks esteemed the valor of the
Armoricans 35 and the Armoricans were reconciled by the religion
of the Franks. The military force which had been stationed for
the defence of Gaul, consisted of one hundred different bands of
cavalry or infantry; and these troops, while they assumed the
title and privileges of Roman soldiers, were renewed by an
incessant supply of the Barbarian youth. The extreme
fortifications, and scattered fragments of the empire, were still
defended by their hopeless courage. But their retreat was
intercepted, and their communication was impracticable: they were
abandoned by the Greek princes of Constantinople, and they
piously disclaimed all connection with the Arian usurpers of
Gaul. They accepted, without shame or reluctance, the generous
capitulation, which was proposed by a Catholic hero; and this
spurious, or legitimate, progeny of the Roman legions, was
distinguished in the succeeding age by their arms, their ensigns,
and their peculiar dress and institutions. But the national
strength was increased by these powerful and voluntary
accessions; and the neighboring kingdoms dreaded the numbers, as
well as the spirit, of the Franks. The reduction of the Northern
provinces of Gaul, instead of being decided by the chance of a
single battle, appears to have been slowly effected by the
gradual operation of war and treaty and Clovis acquired each
object of his ambition, by such efforts, or such concessions, as
were adequate to its real value. His savage character, and the
virtues of Henry IV., suggest the most opposite ideas of human
nature; yet some resemblance may be found in the situation of two
princes, who conquered France by their valor, their policy, and
the merits of a seasonable conversion. 36

35 (return) [ Instead of an unknown people, who now appear on the
text of Procopious, Hadrian de Valois has restored the proper
name of the easy correction has been almost universally approved.
Yet an unprejudiced reader would naturally suppose, that
Procopius means to describe a tribe of Germans in the alliance of
Rome; and not a confederacy of Gallic cities, which had revolted
from the empire. * Note: Compare Hallam’s Europe during the
Middle Ages, vol i. p. 2, Daru, Hist. de Bretagne vol. i. p.
129—M.]

36 (return) [ This important digression of Procopius (de Bell.
Gothic. l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 29-36) illustrates the origin
of the French monarchy. Yet I must observe, 1. That the Greek
historian betrays an inexcusable ignorance of the geography of
the West. 2. That these treaties and privileges, which should
leave some lasting traces, are totally invisible in Gregory of
Tours, the Salic laws, &c.]

The kingdom of the Burgundians, which was defined by the course
of two Gallic rivers, the Saone and the Rhone, extended from the
forest of Vosges to the Alps and the sea of Marscilles. 37 The
sceptre was in the hands of Gundobald. That valiant and ambitious
prince had reduced the number of royal candidates by the death of
two brothers, one of whom was the father of Clotilda; 38 but his
imperfect prudence still permitted Godegisel, the youngest of his
brothers, to possess the dependent principality of Geneva. The
Arian monarch was justly alarmed by the satisfaction, and the
hopes, which seemed to animate his clergy and people after the
conversion of Clovis; and Gundobald convened at Lyons an assembly
of his bishops, to reconcile, if it were possible, their
religious and political discontents. A vain conference was
agitated between the two factions. The Arians upbraided the
Catholics with the worship of three Gods: the Catholics defended
their cause by theological distinctions; and the usual arguments,
objections, and replies were reverberated with obstinate clamor;
till the king revealed his secret apprehensions, by an abrupt but
decisive question, which he addressed to the orthodox bishops.
“If you truly profess the Christian religion, why do you not
restrain the king of the Franks? He has declared war against me,
and forms alliances with my enemies for my destruction. A
sanguinary and covetous mind is not the symptom of a sincere
conversion: let him show his faith by his works.” The answer of
Avitus, bishop of Vienna, who spoke in the name of his brethren,
was delivered with the voice and countenance of an angel. “We are
ignorant of the motives and intentions of the king of the Franks:
but we are taught by Scripture, that the kingdoms which abandon
the divine law are frequently subverted; and that enemies will
arise on every side against those who have made God their enemy.
Return, with thy people, to the law of God, and he will give
peace and security to thy dominions.” The king of Burgundy, who
was not prepared to accept the condition which the Catholics
considered as essential to the treaty, delayed and dismissed the
ecclesiastical conference; after reproaching his bishops, that
Clovis, their friend and proselyte, had privately tempted the
allegiance of his brother. 39

37 (return) [ Regnum circa Rhodanum aut Ararim cum provincia
Massiliensi retinebant. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 32, in tom. ii. p.
178. The province of Marseilles, as far as the Durance, was
afterwards ceded to the Ostrogoths; and the signatures of
twenty-five bishops are supposed to represent the kingdom of
Burgundy, A.D. 519. (Concil. Epaon, in tom. iv. p. 104, 105.) Yet
I would except Vindonissa. The bishop, who lived under the Pagan
Alemanni, would naturally resort to the synods of the next
Christian kingdom. Mascou (in his four first annotations) has
explained many circumstances relative to the Burgundian
monarchy.]

38 (return) [ Mascou, (Hist. of the Germans, xi. 10,) who very
reasonably distracts the testimony of Gregory of Tours, has
produced a passage from Avitus (epist. v.) to prove that
Gundobald affected to deplore the tragic event, which his
subjects affected to applaud.]

39 (return) [ See the original conference, (in tom. iv. p.
99-102.) Avitus, the principal actor, and probably the secretary
of the meeting, was bishop of Vienna. A short account of his
person and works may be fouud in Dupin, (Bibliothèque
Ecclesiastique, tom. v. p. 5-10.)]