Pictorial history of France and Normandy, from the earliest period to the present time

Front matter

Class JL£l34-

t s a a t auu )

SMITHSOi\L\X DEPOSIT.

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

I. The Gauls 7

II. The Franks, from Clovis to Charlemagne 14

CHAPTER I. An Ancient Gaul

THE GAULS.

From Ister's icy stream a barbarous crowd In horrent furs, a herd promiscuous stood, Swift as their savage game, far wide they roam ; In tribes and nations ignorant of home*

Episoitiab.

1. The difficulties that impede our inquiries into the origin of nations are so many, and so various, that we must, in most cases, be contented with probability, since the most laborious researches fail to supply us with certain information. But as the Gauls were a conspicuous portion of that great Celtic family by which all the western continent of Europe and the British Isles were peopled, some brief sketch of their several migrations, as far as they have been ascertained, cannot fail to be interesting. The offspring of Japhet, we are told in Scripture, colonized " the isles of the Gentiles," as Europe is designated in the Old Testament ; of these the Cimmerians, or Cimbrians, who were descended from Gomer,* settled in the north and east of Europe, and gradually spread ihem-

A Romanized Gaul.

* The numerous descendants of Gomer are usually called the Celtic tribes ; but the names given to the Cushite warriors are as numerous as their conquests ; to them belong the Scythians, the Tartars, the Goths, the Scots, and almost all the tribes of wandering warriors who have at different periods effected the greatest revolutions in the Eastern and Western world.

THE GAULS. 9

selves westwards. 2. The descendants of Cush, known by the names of Scythians and Tartars, have, from the earliest ages, been the greatest wanderers and the most warlike of nations. A horde of these barbarians attacked the Cimmerian colonies, expelled the inhabitants, and gave their own name to the country they had subdued. The Cimmerians, driven from their former settlements, fled through the extensive forests of Germany, and took up their residence in Gaul, of which they appear to have been the first inhabitants.

3. The date of this migration is probably about the ninth or tenth century before the Christian era ; for Homer mentions the Cimmerians as the inhabitants of the countries bordering on the Don and Danube, but when Herodotus wrote, we find that they had been displaced by the Scythians. 4. The ofl^spring of Cush, who delighted in a wandering life, spread themselves over the German forests, every where driving the Cimbri before them, until at length the Rhine formed the boundary between the two nations. In the time of Julius Caesar the distinctions between the two nations were strongly marked, and that great warrior and historian more than once declares that the Germans must have been a nation differing in origin from the Gauls. 5. The southern part of Gaul was frequently visited by the Phoenician, Carthagenian and Grecian merchants, for the purpose of commerce, but the most important event connected with this part of the country was the foundation of Marseilles by the Pho- -og" cseans, who introduced a spirit of commercial enterprise, and taught the inhabitants the arts of social life. 6. Although the Gauls did not make such extensive conquests as the descendants of Cush, they sent out several hordes at various timts which spread ruin and devastation over the finest parts of Europe. About the time of the first Cimbrian migration, a body of these wanderers crossed the Alps and seized the Italian province, which, by a slight corruption of their name, was thence called Umbria. At a subsequent pe- g^g' riod a new horde seized the north of Italy, and gave it the name of Cisalpine Gaul. The rich productions of Italy, and especially its wines, continued to attract fresh warriors across the Alps, and Rome itself nearly fell a ooq' prey to these barbarians. Another equally numerous horde penetrated into Greece and laid siege to Delphi ; they were driven from this with great slaughter, but their numbers being increased by fresh recruits, they became formidable enemies to the successors of Alexander, they engaged in destructive civil wars. After a variety of adventures some of them settled in the north of Thrace, but the greater part, passing over the Hellespont, seized on a province of Asia Minor, which was thence called Gallatia or Gallo-Graecia.

7. The Gauls were always jealous of the people of Marseilles, whom they looked on as intruders, and the wars between the native Celts and the Grecian colonists afforded the first pretence to the Romans for invading their country. They did not resign their liberties without a desperate resistance, and Caesar resided ten years in their country before he had completed their subjugation.

8. The Gauls possessed all the characteristics of the Celtic race : they had a fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and loud voices ; their temper was lively and enthusiastic, but they were deficient in steadiness and perseverance. Their first attack in battle was almost irresistible, but if that was repelled, they did not sustain the fight with equal courage. They were ardent in their likings and dislikings, but so fickle as to pass from the extreme of affection to that of hatred on the most trivial grounds. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that a similar character is usually given to the modern French.

9. The rivers of ancient Gaul frequently overflowed the country, and the marshes thus formed divided it into three great districts, Aquitain in the south, the territory of the Celts in the middle, and that of the Belgae on the north. The inhabitants were divided into several tribes, each governed by their respective sovereign, and these were again subdivided into septs or clans, the head or chief of which possessed an almost absolute authority in his own domains. 10. These diflerent communities were held together by a federal union similar to that of the Amphictyonic council in Greece, but there was no regular time appointed for holding the grand council ; it was only summoned on occasions of great emergency, and consequently frequently met too late to avert the evil against which it was summoned to provide. The government of the Celts appears to have been every where a complete aristocracy, differing from that established in the feudal times by the absence of any gradations between absolute power and absolute slavery.

11. But the most remarkable feature in all the Celtic nations is their order of ecclesiastical nobility called Druids. This class of men enjoyed the highest honours, and the

THE GAULS.

greatest privileges ; they had the supreme control over all religious ceremonies, and appeal could be made to their tribunal in civil cases ; their persons were sacred, and they were exempted from all taxes and military service : in a word, they enjoyed so many immunities and distinctions, that princes were ambitious of being admitted into their societies. 12. They are divided into three classes, the Druids, properly so called, to whom the care of religion was entrusted; the Bards, who were the historical poets of the nation ; and the Euvates, who were a kind of religious poets, that pretended to inspiration and delivered oracles. There were also female Druids, who were held in high respect, and frequently called

Druids.

to assist at the council of the nation. The British Druids were the most celebrated, and the candidates for the priesthood were frequently sent from Gaul into Britain to complete their education. 13. The sun and fire were worshipped as the most forcible emblems of the Supreme Divinity; but they also adored the moon, and a host of inferior deities. The Druids exceeded ail other heathens in the extravagant cruelty of their sacrifices; they not only ofl^ered up human victims singly, but on some occasions they formed a huge colossal figure of a man, from osier twigs, and having filled it with human beings, surrounded it with hay, and reduced it, with all the miserable creatures it contained, to ashes. The great object of their reverence was the deru^ or oak, from which their name is derived ; and the misletoe, a parasitical plant, sometimes found growing on the oak, was especially venerated ; it was annually cut with great ceremony, and carefully preserved by the Arch-Druid, or chief of the priests.

14. The learning of the Druids was confined, in a great degree, to a smattering of astronomy and anatomy : the former they cultivated in consequence of their belief in the influence of the stars, the latter they learned from the dissection of their human victims ; but they seem never to have derived any practical advantage from either study. Like the priests of Egypt and Persia, they are said to have had two systems of religious belief, one for the vulgar, and one for the initiated ; to the latter they taught the unity of the Godhead, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the worthlessness of many practices required from the vulgar. The doctrine of the Metempsychosis which Pythagoras published to the Greeks appears to have prevailed amongst the Druids from the remotest antiquity.

15. The Druids were detested by the Romans because they stimulated the inhabitants to the most vigorous efforts for their independence ; when, therefore, Gaul became a Roman province, the Druids were discouraged and their numbers diminished. Early in the second century, Christianity was introduced into the country, and spread over it with surprising rapidity. Many superstitious observances derived from the Druids prevailed, however, for several centuries afterwards. 16. It is worthy of remark, that the Celts were the most easily converted, and the most devotedly attached to the church of all the nations of antiquity. The Gothic nations, after their conversion, for the most part fell into the Arian heresy, but the Gauls were always zealously attached to the Catholic doctrines.

17. After the subjugation of Gaul by the Romans, the vanquished adopted the language and customs of the conquerors ; the ferocity of the Gauls was abated, the arts of civilized life introduced, and the former national character almost effaced. But with their freedom the Gauls lost the military spirit by which their ancestors had been distinguished ; luxury destroyed their courage, and they fell an easy prey to the descendants of those barbarians, by whom their ancestors had been expelled from the east of Europe.

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

Chapter II. The Franks— From The Reign Of Clovis To The Accession Of Charlemagne

How easy 'tis when destiny proves kind, With full-spread sails to run before the wind.

Drtdett.

1. The Romans continued undisturbed masters of Gaul during two entire centuries ; but about the year 260, various barbarous tribes began to make incursions into it; the emperors, sunk in debauchery, neglected the care of the provinces, and this beautiful country became the prey of its ferocious invaders. In the year 414, the Burgundians and Visigoths, two Germanic tribes, obtained from the emperor Honorius settlements in the southern provinces of Gaul, while the northern parts were seized on by the Franks, a fierce tribe, who had assumed their name from their firm determination to

THE FRANKS.

remain free. These people invaded Belgic Gaul, and, after a struggle which continued more than a century, succeeded in making themselves masters of a considerable tract, of which they made Treves the capital.

Inauguration of a King of tlie Franks.

2. Before the accession of Clovis, several kings ruled over the Franks, of whom the most celebrated ' / M^as Pharamond ; he, as well as king Arthur, is a favourite hero of romance ; his dynasty is usually called the Merovingian, from Meroveus their supposed ancestor. 3. On the accession of Clovis, who was inaugurated in the usual manner of kings of the Franks by raising him on the shield, Gaul was divided into five states ; that of the Burgundians and Visigoths in the south, that of the Franks in the north-east, the independent republic of Armorica, which occupied the place of the present province of Brittany, and a small part of Belgic Gaul, which still remained subject to the Romans. 4. The first enterprise of Clovis was an attack on the Roman province where Syagrius, the provincial governor, was aiming at royal power ; Clovis, at the early age of nineteen, completely defeated Syagrius near Soissons, drove out the Romans, and thus laid the foundation of the future greatness of the French monarchy. It was after this battle, and the sacking of the city of the Soissons, that an

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

incident occurred, showing the little authority possessed by the kings of the Franks over their subjects. Saint Remi, the Bishop of Rheims, demanded of Clovis a sacred vase, which he had seen among the spoils of the city. Willing to propitiate the priests, and if possible gain them to his interests, Clovis was about to take up the vase and present it to the bishop, when a soldier, springing forward, struck it a violent blow with his battle-axe, which broke it into many pieces, declaring that he would not let the king take any thing belonging to his part of the booty. Clovis for a time restrained his anger ; but about a year afterwards, seizing the opportunity of a review of his troops, he struck the battle-axe from the hands of the soldier, and while he stooped to pick it up he killed him with a blow of his own axe, saying, Remember the vase of Soissons.

■4,

The Vase of Soissons.

5. The Gauls detested the Roman yoke, and were strongly attached to Christianity. Clovis won their affections by treating them with mildness, respecting their religion, and favouring their bishops. His marriage with Clotilda, niece of Gondebald, king of Burgundy, made his new subjects enter-

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

tain hopes that he would abjure idolatry for the Christian faith ; to which he was gradually reconciled by the exhortations of that pious princess ; but he hesitated to make an immediate change on account of the attachment of the Franks to their ancient faith, 6. At length, having defeated the Alemanni at Tolbiac, and attributing that victory ^' ^' to the God of Clotilda, whom he had invoked in the

ClQvis at the Battle of Tolbiac.

crisis' of the engagement, he caused himself to be baptized by St. Remi, bishop of Rheims, and the greater part of his subjects followed his example. After this event, having the support of the bishops, Clovis greatly enlarged his dominions. He extended his conquests to the Loire ; and the battle of Voille, near Tours, gained against the Visigoths, enabled the victorious Franks to carry their banners from Toulouse to Bourdeaux, across the whole of Aquitania. On his return from the conquest Clovis entered in triumph the '^' city of Tours. 7. The crimes of Gondebald afforded Clovis a pretext for attacking the Burgundians ; he was joined in this war by Theodoric the Great, king of Italy ; but after having completed the conquest, Clovis found that he had more cause to dread his ally than his enemy, he therefore made peace with Gondebald and restored him to his dominions.

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

8. Clovis next resolved to seize on the territories of Alaric, king of the Visigoths ; he covered his designs under the mask of religion, continually exclaiming against the horrid impiety of suffering Arians to reign in Gaul, for the Visigoths had adopted that heresy. Though Alaric vv^as no persecutor, the Catholic clergy in his dominions favoured the enterprise of Clovis, and afforded one of the earliest instances of ecclesiastical interference in the affairs of nations. At the battle of Vouille, near Poictiers, Clovis crowned the vi'ishes of his party by a decisive victory, in which the Visigoths were totally overthrown and their sovereign Alaric slain. 9. Theodoric, alarmed at the progress of the Gauls, sent an army across the Alps, which checked the victorious career of Clovis, and inflicted on him a severe defeat near Aries. In consequence of this, Provence and part of Aqultain became subject to the Gothic monarchs of Italy.

A. D.

Clovis.

10. Clovis dishonoured the latter part of his reign by atrocious acts of treachery and cruelty to his own relations, whom he stripped of their possessions. At the same time he built churches and monasteries ; doubtless from a persuasion that the Divine laws, like those of the barbarians, admitted a pecuniary compensation for every crime.

A. D.

THE FRANKS.

11. On the death of Clovis his dominions were shared among his four sons, Thierry, Clodomir, Childebert, and Clotaire ; and the monarchy was unhappily dismembered into four kingdoms ; Austrasia or Metz, Orleans, Paris, and Soissons. This division of necessity produced the most bloody civil wars ; the brothers became bitter enemies, and perpetrated the most savage enormities. Clotaire and Childebert wrested their dominions from the sons of Clodomir, two of whom Clotaire stabbed with his own hand. They afterwards united in an invasion of Burgundy, in which they were completely successful.

A. D.

Clotaire I.

12. After a series of ruinous wars, Clotaire I. became the sole monarch of France ; but deriving no advantage from experience of the calamities that had been caused by the former dismemberment of the kingdom, he too divided the monarchy between his four sons, and thus bequeathed another halfcentury of civil war to his unfortunate country.

13. The evils of this calamitous period were greatly aggravated by the sanguinary ambition of two women, who rather deserved the epithet of furies than the title of queens. These were Brunehaut and Fredegonde. The former, a princess of Spain, had married Sigebert, king of Austrasia ,

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

the latter, at first mistress of Chilperic, king of Soissons, had prevailed on him to espouse her after divorcing his wife. Their mutual hatred and uncontrolled influence over their husbands, gave birth to numerous crimes equally fatal to the people and the royal family. Sigebert was murdered by Fredegonde's emissaries while he was besieging Chilperic in Tournay. She afterwards sacrificed the children of her husband by his former marriage to secure for her own son the

Brunehaut.

right of succession. Brunehaut, on her part breathing vengeance, armed the princes, and fanned the flames of civil war ; but at last, falling into the hands of Clotaire, the son of Fredegonde, she was condemned to the most horrid torments, as guilty of the murders of ten kings or children of kings.

There was an old German custom, according to which, the chief of a troop of warriors was expected to grant them, from time to time, some mark of his favour, generally an ornamented battle-axe, or a fine war-horse. When the Franks were established in Gaul, and the chief had become the king, instead of arms and horses, he preferred to distribute among them a part of his domains. Originally, these henejices were only temporary, being reunited to the royal domain after the death of the chief to whom they had been granted, or even

THE FRANKS.

during his life, in case of forfeiture or of treason. Thus the king's favours seldom lessened his means ; but, when he consented to alienate for ever portions more or less considerable of his domain, he soon found it impossible to repair his prodigalities. When the leudes could obtain no more from the king, they began to desert him •, an independent aristocracy vi^as formed, which daily increased in power as the royal authority became less. It was the Austrasian leudes who first obtained this right by the treaty of Andelot : the Neustrian and Burgundian leudes were not slow in demanding and obtaining it also.

14. Clotaire II., son of Chilperic and Fredegonde, again united France under a single monarch, after '' massacring a multitude of princes. He restored tranquillity, and gained the confidence of his subjects, but by increasing the power of the nobility, and confiding the administration of government to the mayors of the palace, he opened a way for the revolution which expelled his family from the throne.

Fredesonde.

15. Clotaire II. left the kingdom between his two sons, but Dagobert, by the murder of his brother, obtained possession of the entire. He is the most celebrated of the Merovingian princes, and though he was guilty

A. D.

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

oi" many atrocious crimes, he is deservedly praised for his impartial administration of justice, which was publicly sold by his predecessors. On the other hand, he loaded the people with severe impositions, both to supply his debaucheries, and according to the custom of the period, to expiate his crimes by profuse donations to the church.

A. D.

Throne of Dagobert, in the Museum at Paris.

16. After the death of Dagobert the monarchy fell ■t' ^' into the possession of a series of monarchs who followed each other in rapid succession, and whose reigns present an almost perfect blank. They are commonly called Les Rois Fain^ans^ or the sluggard kings, and appear to have well merited the disgraceful appellation. 17. The entire power of the state was possessed by the mayors of the palace, who left to the monarch little more than the shadow of royalty ; of these the most illustrious was Pepin d'Heristal, who ruled the province of Austrasia for twenty-seven years with equal prudence and courage. During the greater part of this period Pepin was virtually the sovereign of France, and kept the rightful monarch a prisoner in the palace, permitting him only to show himself annually to the people at the assemblies in the Champ de Mars.

18. Pepin was succeeded by his illegitimate son, Charles Martel, one of the greatest generals that '^' •France has ever produced. 19. The Saracens, who had previously subdued the greater part of Spain, crossed the Pyrennees with an overwhelming force, and directing their course to Aquitain, defeated the governor, and subdued the

Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours.

greater part "of the province. Charles Martel hasted to meet them, a battle was fought near Tours, and the '' Saracens were defeated with incredible slaughter. By this victory France was saved from becoming a Mohammedan country, and a check was given to the progress of a power which threatened the subjugation of Europe. 20. Thenceforward Martel employed himself in consolidating the strength of France, and introducing order into a kingdom which had been so long distracted. After having conferred these great blessings on his country he died, bequeathing the _^ , ' inheritance of his office to his sons Pepin and Carloman.

21. After having obtained some successes in Germany, 3

Carloman became disgusted with the world, and retired into a monastery; thus the whole authority of the state devolved

on Pepin, who resolved to add the title to the power _■ * of sovereign. 22. At a time when the Papal power

was assailed by the Greeks and Lombards, and when the support of an active partizan was likely to be well rewarded, Pepin laid before the Pope the following case of conscience, " Who ought to bear the title of king, a prince incapable of governing, or a minister already invested with the royal authority, which he administered with honour.?" The Pope decided as Pepin wished, the clergy of France embraced his cause with zeal, the nobility respected his abilities, and the nation in general willingly agreed to remove a race of obscure inactive kings, who were scarcely known, even by name. 23. Childeric, the nominal monarch, was degraded, and, together with his son, shut up in a monastery ; Pepin was, without resistance, raised to the throne, and solemnly anointed at Soissons by St. Boniface, Bishop of Mentz, who had been long one of his most vigorous supporters. Pepin repaid the Pope by leading an army into Italy against the opponents of the Holy See : this expedition was very successful, Pepin conquered the Lombards and the Greeks in every engagement, and wrested from them several provinces, all of which he gave to the Pope. 24. The remainder of Pepin's reign was glorious and fortunate : he subjected the Saxons and Sclavonians to tribute, obliged the duke of Bavaria to take an oath of fidelity, and reunited the province of Aqui-

tain to the French crown. He died in the seventeenth _,' ■ year of his reign, equally respected at home and abroad.

By consent of his nobility he divided his dominions between his two sons, Charles and Carloman, the reign of the former of v/hom forms a great epoch in history.

The character of Pepin may be best gathered from his acts. He was ambitious and remorseless ; but not wantonly cruel. His prudence has passed into a proverb ; and his superstition was never perhaps exceeded. In his civil administration it was his policy to appear to give the reins to the national assemblies ; but in reality he exercised absolute power by bribing the most influential of the nobles and clergy, and by intimidating the rest. To him papacy was indebted for its temporal power, and for its pretensions to universal sovereignty — the authority to exalt and dethrone princes, and to dispose of kingdoms and people at a word.

THE FRANKS.

In person, Pepin was short, insomuch that he was called Le Bref; but he was stout, vigorous, and hardy — a warrior fit for the rough times in which he lived. An anecdote related of him shows at least the opinion entertained of his muscular power and courage ; and affords at the same time an idea of the popular sports during his reign. At a public exhibition, while a strong lion held a furious bull by the throat almost strangled, the king proposed that some of the company should go forward and rescue the animal. No one, however, durst attempt the act, till Pepin, rising from his seat, leaped into the arena, and with a single stroke of his sword cut of the head of the bull. Then, turning to the spectators he said, " David who slew Goliah was a little man ; and Alexander also was short of stature, yet he had more strength and courage than many of his officers who were taller and handsomer than himself."

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

Charlemagne, from a Mosaic, made by order of Pope Leo HE.

Chapter III. The Reign Of Charlemagne

A. D.

All was prepared — the fire, the sword, the men

To wield them in their terrible array; The army, like a lion from his den,

March'd forth with nerves and sinews bent to slay. A human Hydra issuing from his fen

To breathe destruction on its winding way.

Btroit.

1. The French monarchy was divided between «' 'j'" Charles, called afterwards Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, and his brother Carloman. A civil war which was on the point of breaking out between the rival brothers was prevented by the death of the latter, and Charlemagne became the sole monarch of France. Having secured his accession he married the daughter of Didier, king of the Lombards, but soon after divorced her without assigning any cause. Didier, enraged at this affront, afforded an asylum to Carloman's widow and her two sons, who had been deprived

THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE. 29

of their inheritance by Charles, and attempted to gain over pope Adrian 1. to his side. 2. But the pope was far from wishing to gratify the Lombard prince ; on the contrary, he entered into a closer alliance with the French king, on which Didier ravaged the territories that Pepin had given to the church, and which were now called the patrimony of St. Peter. Upon the news of these events Charlemagne passed the Alps with a numerous army, and by forced marches arriving at Verona before his approach was suspected, captured the town, and made his sister-in-law with her two children prisoners. He next laid siege to Pavia, and by its capture put an end to the kingdom of the Lombards, „!,, ' which had subsisted two hundred and six years. Didier died in a monastery, but history is silent as to the fate of Charlemagne's nephews.

3. During the siege of Pavia Charlemagne paid a visit to Rome, where he was met by the whole body of the clergy, with banners in their hands : Adrian received him with great pomp in the church of St. Peter, and the people sung " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LordP Charlemagne is said to have ratified the gift made to the church by Pepin ; but as neither the original nor any copy of such an important deed has been ever produced, the truth of this event appears very questionable.

4. Almanzor, the king of the Saracens in Spain, was one of the greatest and wisest monarchs in Europe ; he had completely subdued the Christian princes in the Peninsula, and compelled them to pay him tribute ; the rulers of Saragossa and Arragon however revolted, and called in '' Charlemagne, whom they acknowledged as their sovereign. The French monarch passed the Pyrennees and subdued the whole country as far as the Ebro, but on his return the rear of his army was attacked at Roncesvalles by the duke of Gascony, and his gallant nephew Roland slain. This trifling engagement has furnished the theme of an immense number of romances.

5. During all this period the war with the Saxons continued : Pepin had compelled them to pay tribute, and besides forced them to receive missionaries, but they could neither bear to pay the one nor embrace the religion of the other, the pacific spirit of which was so contradictory to the human passions. Having massacred several of the missionaries, and committed several other outrages, they provoked Charlemagne

3* to wage war against them, and so strenuously were they attached to liberty, that they held out against his power ^'q^' for thirty years. 6. In one of these battles Witikind, the Saxon general, inflicted a severe defeat on the French, which Charlemagne cruelly revenged by the massacre of Verden, where four thousand five hundred of the principal Saxons were beheaded. 7. At length Witikind, after being