<h2><SPAN name="chap38.4"></SPAN> Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part IV. </h2>
<p>Before the Austrasian army retreated from Auvergne, Theodoric exacted some
pledges of the future loyalty of a people, whose just hatred could be
restrained only by their fear. A select band of noble youths, the sons of
the principal senators, was delivered to the conqueror, as the hostages of
the faith of Childebert, and of their countrymen. On the first rumor of
war, or conspiracy, these guiltless youths were reduced to a state of
servitude; and one of them, Attalus, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.107"
name="linknoteref-38.107" id="linknoteref-38.107">107</SPAN> whose adventures
are more particularly related, kept his master’s horses in the diocese of
Treves. After a painful search, he was discovered, in this unworthy
occupation, by the emissaries of his grandfather, Gregory bishop of
Langres; but his offers of ransom were sternly rejected by the avarice of
the Barbarian, who required an exorbitant sum of ten pounds of gold for
the freedom of his noble captive. His deliverance was effected by the
hardy stratagem of Leo, a slave belonging to the kitchens of the bishop of
Langres. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.108" name="linknoteref-38.108" id="linknoteref-38.108">108</SPAN> An unknown agent easily introduced him into
the same family. The Barbarian purchased Leo for the price of twelve
pieces of gold; and was pleased to learn that he was deeply skilled in the
luxury of an episcopal table: “Next Sunday,” said the Frank, “I shall
invite my neighbors and kinsmen. Exert thy art, and force them to confess,
that they have never seen, or tasted, such an entertainment, even in the
king’s house.” Leo assured him, that if he would provide a sufficient
quantity of poultry, his wishes should be satisfied. The master who
already aspired to the merit of elegant hospitality, assumed, as his own,
the praise which the voracious guests unanimously bestowed on his cook;
and the dexterous Leo insensibly acquired the trust and management of his
household. After the patient expectation of a whole year, he cautiously
whispered his design to Attalus, and exhorted him to prepare for flight in
the ensuing night. At the hour of midnight, the intemperate guests retired
from the table; and the Frank’s son-in-law, whom Leo attended to his
apartment with a nocturnal potation, condescended to jest on the facility
with which he might betray his trust. The intrepid slave, after sustaining
this dangerous raillery, entered his master’s bedchamber; removed his
spear and shield; silently drew the fleetest horses from the stable;
unbarred the ponderous gates; and excited Attalus to save his life and
liberty by incessant diligence. Their apprehensions urged them to leave
their horses on the banks of the Meuse; <SPAN href="#linknote-38.109"
name="linknoteref-38.109" id="linknoteref-38.109">109</SPAN> they swam the
river, wandered three days in the adjacent forest, and subsisted only by
the accidental discovery of a wild plum-tree. As they lay concealed in a
dark thicket, they heard the noise of horses; they were terrified by the
angry countenance of their master, and they anxiously listened to his
declaration, that, if he could seize the guilty fugitives, one of them he
would cut in pieces with his sword, and would expose the other on a
gibbet. A length, Attalus and his faithful Leo reached the friendly
habitation of a presbyter of Rheims, who recruited their fainting strength
with bread and wine, concealed them from the search of their enemy, and
safely conducted them beyond the limits of the Austrasian kingdom, to the
episcopal palace of Langres. Gregory embraced his grandson with tears of
joy, gratefully delivered Leo, with his whole family, from the yoke of
servitude, and bestowed on him the property of a farm, where he might end
his days in happiness and freedom. Perhaps this singular adventure, which
is marked with so many circumstances of truth and nature, was related by
Attalus himself, to his cousin or nephew, the first historian of the
Franks. Gregory of Tours <SPAN href="#linknote-38.110" name="linknoteref-38.110" id="linknoteref-38.110">110</SPAN> was born about sixty years after the death
of Sidonius Apollinaris; and their situation was almost similar, since
each of them was a native of Auvergne, a senator, and a bishop. The
difference of their style and sentiments may, therefore, express the decay
of Gaul; and clearly ascertain how much, in so short a space, the human
mind had lost of its energy and refinement. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.111"
name="linknoteref-38.111" id="linknoteref-38.111">111</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.107" id="linknote-38.107">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
107 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.107">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The story of Attalus
is related by Gregory of Tours, (l. iii. c. 16, tom. ii. p. 193-195.) His
editor, the P. Ruinart, confounds this Attalus, who was a youth (puer) in
the year 532, with a friend of Silonius of the same name, who was count of
Autun, fifty or sixty years before. Such an error, which cannot be imputed
to ignorance, is excused, in some degree, by its own magnitude.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.108" id="linknote-38.108">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
108 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.108">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ This Gregory, the
great grandfather of Gregory of Tours, (in tom. ii. p. 197, 490,) lived
ninety-two years; of which he passed forty as count of Autun, and
thirty-two as bishop of Langres. According to the poet Fortunatus, he
displayed equal merit in these different stations. Nobilis antiqua
decurrens prole parentum, Nobilior gestis, nunc super astra manet. Arbiter
ante ferox, dein pius ipse sacerdos, Quos domuit judex, fovit amore
patris.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.109" id="linknote-38.109">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
109 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.109">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ As M. de Valois, and
the P. Ruinart, are determined to change the Mosella of the text into
Mosa, it becomes me to acquiesce in the alteration. Yet, after some
examination of the topography. I could defend the common reading.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.110" id="linknote-38.110">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
110 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.110">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The parents of
Gregory (Gregorius Florentius Georgius) were of noble extraction,
(natalibus... illustres,) and they possessed large estates (latifundia)
both in Auvergne and Burgundy. He was born in the year 539, was
consecrated bishop of Tours in 573, and died in 593 or 595, soon after he
had terminated his history. See his life by Odo, abbot of Clugny, (in tom.
ii. p. 129-135,) and a new Life in the Mémoires de l’Academie, &c.,
tom. xxvi. p. 598-637.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.111" id="linknote-38.111">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
111 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.111">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Decedente atque immo
potius pereunte ab urbibus Gallicanis liberalium cultura literarum, &c.,
(in praefat. in tom. ii. p. 137,) is the complaint of Gregory himself,
which he fully verifies by his own work. His style is equally devoid of
elegance and simplicity. In a conspicuous station, he still remained a
stranger to his own age and country; and in a prolific work (the five last
books contain ten years) he has omitted almost every thing that posterity
desires to learn. I have tediously acquired, by a painful perusal, the
right of pronouncing this unfavorable sentence]</p>
<p>We are now qualified to despise the opposite, and, perhaps, artful,
misrepresentations, which have softened, or exaggerated, the oppression of
the Romans of Gaul under the reign of the Merovingians. The conquerors
never promulgated any universal edict of servitude, or confiscation; but a
degenerate people, who excused their weakness by the specious names of
politeness and peace, was exposed to the arms and laws of the ferocious
Barbarians, who contemptuously insulted their possessions, their freedom,
and their safety. Their personal injuries were partial and irregular; but
the great body of the Romans survived the revolution, and still preserved
the property, and privileges, of citizens. A large portion of their lands
was exacted for the use of the Franks: but they enjoyed the remainder,
exempt from tribute; <SPAN href="#linknote-38.112" name="linknoteref-38.112" id="linknoteref-38.112">112</SPAN> and the same irresistible violence which
swept away the arts and manufactures of Gaul, destroyed the elaborate and
expensive system of Imperial despotism. The Provincials must frequently
deplore the savage jurisprudence of the Salic or Ripuarian laws; but their
private life, in the important concerns of marriage, testaments, or
inheritance, was still regulated by the Theodosian Code; and a
discontented Roman might freely aspire, or descend, to the title and
character of a Barbarian. The honors of the state were accessible to his
ambition: the education and temper of the Romans more peculiarly qualified
them for the offices of civil government; and, as soon as emulation had
rekindled their military ardor, they were permitted to march in the ranks,
or even at the head, of the victorious Germans. I shall not attempt to
enumerate the generals and magistrates, whose names <SPAN href="#linknote-38.113" name="linknoteref-38.113" id="linknoteref-38.113">113</SPAN>
attest the liberal policy of the Merovingians. The supreme command of
Burgundy, with the title of Patrician, was successively intrusted to three
Romans; and the last, and most powerful, Mummolus, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.114" name="linknoteref-38.114" id="linknoteref-38.114">114</SPAN>
who alternately saved and disturbed the monarchy, had supplanted his
father in the station of count of Autun, and left a treasury of thirty
talents of gold, and two hundred and fifty talents of silver. The fierce
and illiterate Barbarians were excluded, during several generations, from
the dignities, and even from the orders, of the church. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.115" name="linknoteref-38.115" id="linknoteref-38.115">115</SPAN>
The clergy of Gaul consisted almost entirely of native provincials; the
haughty Franks fell at the feet of their subjects, who were dignified with
the episcopal character: and the power and riches which had been lost in
war, were insensibly recovered by superstition. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.116"
name="linknoteref-38.116" id="linknoteref-38.116">116</SPAN> In all temporal
affairs, the Theodosian Code was the universal law of the clergy; but the
Barbaric jurisprudence had liberally provided for their personal safety; a
sub-deacon was equivalent to two Franks; the antrustion, and priest, were
held in similar estimation: and the life of a bishop was appreciated far
above the common standard, at the price of nine hundred pieces of gold. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.117" name="linknoteref-38.117" id="linknoteref-38.117">117</SPAN>
The Romans communicated to their conquerors the use of the Christian
religion and Latin language; <SPAN href="#linknote-38.118"
name="linknoteref-38.118" id="linknoteref-38.118">118</SPAN> but their language
and their religion had alike degenerated from the simple purity of the
Augustan, and Apostolic age. The progress of superstition and Barbarism
was rapid and universal: the worship of the saints concealed from vulgar
eyes the God of the Christians; and the rustic dialect of peasants and
soldiers was corrupted by a Teutonic idiom and pronunciation. Yet such
intercourse of sacred and social communion eradicated the distinctions of
birth and victory; and the nations of Gaul were gradually confounded under
the name and government of the Franks.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.112" id="linknote-38.112">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
112 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.112">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The Abbe de Mably
(tom. p. i. 247-267) has diligently confirmed this opinion of the
President de Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 13.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.113" id="linknote-38.113">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
113 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.113">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Dubos, Hist.
Critique de la Monarchie Francoise, tom. ii. l. vi. c. 9, 10. The French
antiquarians establish as a principle, that the Romans and Barbarians may
be distinguished by their names. Their names undoubtedly form a reasonable
presumption; yet in reading Gregory of Tours, I have observed Gondulphus,
of Senatorian, or Roman, extraction, (l. vi. c. 11, in tom. ii. p. 273,)
and Claudius, a Barbarian, (l. vii. c. 29, p. 303.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.114" id="linknote-38.114">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
114 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.114">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Eunius Mummolus is
repeatedly mentioned by Gregory of Tours, from the fourth (c. 42, p. 224)
to the seventh (c. 40, p. 310) book. The computation by talents is
singular enough; but if Gregory attached any meaning to that obsolete
word, the treasures of Mummolus must have exceeded 100,000 L. sterling.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.115" id="linknote-38.115">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
115 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.115">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Fleury, Discours
iii. sur l’Histoire Ecclesiastique.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.116" id="linknote-38.116">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
116 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.116">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The bishop of Tours
himself has recorded the complaint of Chilperic, the grandson of Clovis.
Ecce pauper remansit Fiscus noster; ecce divitiae nostrae ad ecclesias
sunt translatae; nulli penitus nisi soli Episcopi regnant, (l. vi. c. 46,
in tom. ii. p. 291.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.117" id="linknote-38.117">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
117 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.117">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Ripuarian
Code, (tit. xxxvi in tom. iv. p. 241.) The Salic law does not provide for
the safety of the clergy; and we might suppose, on the behalf of the more
civilized tribe, that they had not foreseen such an impious act as the
murder of a priest. Yet Praetextatus, archbishop of Rouen, was
assassinated by the order of Queen Fredegundis before the altar, (Greg.
Turon. l. viii. c. 31, in tom. ii. p. 326.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.118" id="linknote-38.118">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
118 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.118">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ M. Bonamy (Mem. de
l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxiv. p. 582-670) has ascertained the
Lingua Romana Rustica, which, through the medium of the Romance, has
gradually been polished into the actual form of the French language. Under
the Carlovingian race, the kings and nobles of France still understood the
dialect of their German ancestors.]</p>
<p>The Franks, after they mingled with their Gallic subjects, might have
imparted the most valuable of human gifts, a spirit and system of
constitutional liberty. Under a king, hereditary, but limited, the chiefs
and counsellors might have debated at Paris, in the palace of the Caesars:
the adjacent field, where the emperors reviewed their mercenary legions,
would have admitted the legislative assembly of freemen and warriors; and
the rude model, which had been sketched in the woods of Germany, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.119" name="linknoteref-38.119" id="linknoteref-38.119">119</SPAN>
might have been polished and improved by the civil wisdom of the Romans.
But the careless Barbarians, secure of their personal independence,
disdained the labor of government: the annual assemblies of the month of
March were silently abolished; and the nation was separated, and almost
dissolved, by the conquest of Gaul. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.120"
name="linknoteref-38.120" id="linknoteref-38.120">120</SPAN> The monarchy was
left without any regular establishment of justice, of arms, or of revenue.
The successors of Clovis wanted resolution to assume, or strength to
exercise, the legislative and executive powers, which the people had
abdicated: the royal prerogative was distinguished only by a more ample
privilege of rapine and murder; and the love of freedom, so often
invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among the
licentious Franks, to the contempt of order, and the desire of impunity.
Seventy-five years after the death of Clovis, his grandson, Gontran, king
of Burgundy, sent an army to invade the Gothic possessions of Septimania,
or Languedoc. The troops of Burgundy, Berry, Auvergne, and the adjacent
territories, were excited by the hopes of spoil. They marched, without
discipline, under the banners of German, or Gallic, counts: their attack
was feeble and unsuccessful; but the friendly and hostile provinces were
desolated with indiscriminate rage. The cornfields, the villages, the
churches themselves, were consumed by fire: the inhabitants were
massacred, or dragged into captivity; and, in the disorderly retreat, five
thousand of these inhuman savages were destroyed by hunger or intestine
discord. When the pious Gontran reproached the guilt or neglect of their
leaders, and threatened to inflict, not a legal sentence, but instant and
arbitrary execution, they accused the universal and incurable corruption
of the people. “No one,” they said, “any longer fears or respects his
king, his duke, or his count. Each man loves to do evil, and freely
indulges his criminal inclinations. The most gentle correction provokes an
immediate tumult, and the rash magistrate, who presumes to censure or
restrain his seditious subjects, seldom escapes alive from their revenge.”
<SPAN href="#linknote-38.121" name="linknoteref-38.121" id="linknoteref-38.121">121</SPAN>
It has been reserved for the same nation to expose, by their intemperate
vices, the most odious abuse of freedom; and to supply its loss by the
spirit of honor and humanity, which now alleviates and dignifies their
obedience to an absolute sovereign. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1211"
name="linknoteref-38.1211" id="linknoteref-38.1211">1211</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.119" id="linknote-38.119">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
119 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.119">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Ce beau systeme a ete
trouve dans les bois. Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xi. c. 6.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.120" id="linknote-38.120">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
120 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.120">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Abbe de
Mably. Observations, &c., tom. i. p. 34-56. It should seem that the
institution of national assemblies, which are with the French nation, has
never been congenial to its temper.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.121" id="linknote-38.121">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
121 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.121">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Gregory of Tours (l.
viii. c. 30, in tom. ii. p. 325, 326) relates, with much indifference, the
crimes, the reproof, and the apology. Nullus Regem metuit, nullus Ducem,
nullus Comitem reveretur; et si fortassis alicui ista displicent, et ea,
pro longaevitate vitae vestrae, emendare conatur, statim seditio in
populo, statim tumultus exoritur, et in tantum unusquisque contra seniorem
saeva intentione grassatur, ut vix se credat evadere, si tandem silere
nequiverit.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1211" id="linknote-38.1211">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1211 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1211">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ This remarkable
passage was published in 1779—M.]</p>
<p>The Visigoths had resigned to Clovis the greatest part of their Gallic
possessions; but their loss was amply compensated by the easy conquest,
and secure enjoyment, of the provinces of Spain. From the monarchy of the
Goths, which soon involved the Suevic kingdom of Gallicia, the modern
Spaniards still derive some national vanity; but the historian of the
Roman empire is neither invited, nor compelled, to pursue the obscure and
barren series of their annals. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.122"
name="linknoteref-38.122" id="linknoteref-38.122">122</SPAN> The Goths of Spain
were separated from the rest of mankind by the lofty ridge of the
Pyrenaean mountains: their manners and institutions, as far as they were
common to the Germanic tribes, have been already explained. I have
anticipated, in the preceding chapter, the most important of their
ecclesiastical events, the fall of Arianism, and the persecution of the
Jews; and it only remains to observe some interesting circumstances which
relate to the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the Spanish
kingdom.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.122" id="linknote-38.122">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
122 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.122">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Spain, in these dark
ages, has been peculiarly unfortunate. The Franks had a Gregory of Tours;
the Saxons, or Angles, a Bede; the Lombards, a Paul Warnefrid, &c. But
the history of the Visigoths is contained in the short and imperfect
Chronicles of Isidore of Seville and John of Biclar]</p>
<p>After their conversion from idolatry or heresy, the Frank and the
Visigoths were disposed to embrace, with equal submission, the inherent
evils and the accidental benefits, of superstition. But the prelates of
France, long before the extinction of the Merovingian race, had
degenerated into fighting and hunting Barbarians. They disdained the use
of synods; forgot the laws of temperance and chastity; and preferred the
indulgence of private ambition and luxury to the general interest of the
sacerdotal profession. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.123" name="linknoteref-38.123" id="linknoteref-38.123">123</SPAN> The bishops of Spain respected themselves,
and were respected by the public: their indissoluble union disguised their
vices, and confirmed their authority; and the regular discipline of the
church introduced peace, order, and stability, into the government of the
state. From the reign of Recared, the first Catholic king, to that of
Witiza, the immediate predecessor of the unfortunate Roderic, sixteen
national councils were successively convened. The six metropolitans,
Toledo, Seville, Merida, Braga, Tarragona, and Narbonne, presided
according to their respective seniority; the assembly was composed of
their suffragan bishops, who appeared in person, or by their proxies; and
a place was assigned to the most holy, or opulent, of the Spanish abbots.
During the first three days of the convocation, as long as they agitated
the ecclesiastical question of doctrine and discipline, the profane laity
was excluded from their debates; which were conducted, however, with
decent solemnity. But, on the morning of the fourth day, the doors were
thrown open for the entrance of the great officers of the palace, the
dukes and counts of the provinces, the judges of the cities, and the
Gothic nobles, and the decrees of Heaven were ratified by the consent of
the people.</p>
<p>The same rules were observed in the provincial assemblies, the annual
synods, which were empowered to hear complaints, and to redress
grievances; and a legal government was supported by the prevailing
influence of the Spanish clergy. The bishops, who, in each revolution,
were prepared to flatter the victorious, and to insult the prostrate
labored, with diligence and success, to kindle the flames of persecution,
and to exalt the mitre above the crown. Yet the national councils of
Toledo, in which the free spirit of the Barbarians was tempered and guided
by episcopal policy, have established some prudent laws for the common
benefit of the king and people. The vacancy of the throne was supplied by
the choice of the bishops and palatines; and after the failure of the line
of Alaric, the regal dignity was still limited to the pure and noble blood
of the Goths. The clergy, who anointed their lawful prince, always
recommended, and sometimes practised, the duty of allegiance; and the
spiritual censures were denounced on the heads of the impious subjects,
who should resist his authority, conspire against his life, or violate, by
an indecent union, the chastity even of his widow. But the monarch
himself, when he ascended the throne, was bound by a reciprocal oath to
God and his people, that he would faithfully execute this important trust.
The real or imaginary faults of his administration were subject to the
control of a powerful aristocracy; and the bishops and palatines were
guarded by a fundamental privilege, that they should not be degraded,
imprisoned, tortured, nor punished with death, exile, or confiscation,
unless by the free and public judgment of their peers. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.124" name="linknoteref-38.124" id="linknoteref-38.124">124</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.123" id="linknote-38.123">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
123 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.123">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Such are the
complaints of St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, and the reformer of
Gaul, (in tom. iv. p. 94.) The fourscore years, which he deplores, of
license and corruption, would seem to insinuate that the Barbarians were
admitted into the clergy about the year 660.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.124" id="linknote-38.124">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
124 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.124">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The acts of the
councils of Toledo are still the most authentic records of the church and
constitution of Spain. The following passages are particularly important,
(iii. 17, 18; iv. 75; v. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8; vi. 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18; vii.
1; xiii. 2 3 6.) I have found Mascou (Hist. of the Ancient Germans, xv.
29, and Annotations, xxvi. and xxxiii.) and Ferreras (Hist. Generale de
l’Espagne, tom. ii.) very useful and accurate guides.]</p>
<p>One of these legislative councils of Toledo examined and ratified the code
of laws which had been compiled by a succession of Gothic kings, from the
fierce Euric, to the devout Egica. As long as the Visigoths themselves
were satisfied with the rude customs of their ancestors, they indulged
their subjects of Aquitain and Spain in the enjoyment of the Roman law.
Their gradual improvement in arts, in policy, and at length in religion,
encouraged them to imitate, and to supersede, these foreign institutions;
and to compose a code of civil and criminal jurisprudence, for the use of
a great and united people. The same obligations, and the same privileges,
were communicated to the nations of the Spanish monarchy; and the
conquerors, insensibly renouncing the Teutonic idiom, submitted to the
restraints of equity, and exalted the Romans to the participation of
freedom. The merit of this impartial policy was enhanced by the situation
of Spain under the reign of the Visigoths. The provincials were long
separated from their Arian masters by the irreconcilable difference of
religion. After the conversion of Recared had removed the prejudices of
the Catholics, the coasts, both of the Ocean and Mediterranean, were still
possessed by the Eastern emperors; who secretly excited a discontented
people to reject the yoke of the Barbarians, and to assert the name and
dignity of Roman citizens. The allegiance of doubtful subjects is indeed
most effectually secured by their own persuasion, that they hazard more in
a revolt, than they can hope to obtain by a revolution; but it has
appeared so natural to oppress those whom we hate and fear, that the
contrary system well deserves the praise of wisdom and moderation. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.125" name="linknoteref-38.125" id="linknoteref-38.125">125</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.125" id="linknote-38.125">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
125 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.125">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The Code of the
Visigoths, regularly divided into twelve books, has been correctly
published by Dom Bouquet, (in tom. iv. p. 273-460.) It has been treated by
the President de Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 1) with
excessive severity. I dislike the style; I detest the superstition; but I
shall presume to think, that the civil jurisprudence displays a more
civilized and enlightened state of society, than that of the Burgundians,
or even of the Lombards.]</p>
<p>While the kingdom of the Franks and Visigoths were established in Gaul and
Spain, the Saxons achieved the conquest of Britain, the third great
diocese of the Praefecture of the West. Since Britain was already
separated from the Roman empire, I might, without reproach, decline a
story familiar to the most illiterate, and obscure to the most learned, of
my readers. The Saxons, who excelled in the use of the oar, or the
battle-axe, were ignorant of the art which could alone perpetuate the fame
of their exploits; the Provincials, relapsing into barbarism, neglected to
describe the ruin of their country; and the doubtful tradition was almost
extinguished, before the missionaries of Rome restored the light of
science and Christianity. The declamations of Gildas, the fragments, or
fables, of Nennius, the obscure hints of the Saxon laws and chronicles,
and the ecclesiastical tales of the venerable Bede, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.126" name="linknoteref-38.126" id="linknoteref-38.126">126</SPAN>
have been illustrated by the diligence, and sometimes embellished by the
fancy, of succeeding writers, whose works I am not ambitious either to
censure or to transcribe. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.127"
name="linknoteref-38.127" id="linknoteref-38.127">127</SPAN> Yet the historian
of the empire may be tempted to pursue the revolutions of a Roman
province, till it vanishes from his sight; and an Englishman may curiously
trace the establishment of the Barbarians, from whom he derives his name,
his laws, and perhaps his origin.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.126" id="linknote-38.126">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
126 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.126">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Gildas de Excidio
Britanniae, c. 11-25, p. 4-9, edit. Gale. Nennius, Hist. Britonum, c. 28,
35-65, p. 105-115, edit. Gale. Bede, Hist. Ecclesiast. Gentis Angloruml.
i. c. 12-16, p. 49-53. c. 22, p. 58, edit. Smith. Chron. Saxonicum, p.
11-23, &c., edit. Gibson. The Anglo-Saxon laws were published by
Wilkins, London, 1731, in folio; and the Leges Wallicae, by Wotton and
Clarke, London, 1730, in folio.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.127" id="linknote-38.127">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
127 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.127">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The laborious Mr.
Carte, and the ingenious Mr. Whitaker, are the two modern writers to whom
I am principally indebted. The particular historian of Manchester
embraces, under that obscure title, a subject almost as extensive as the
general history of England. * Note: Add the Anglo-Saxon History of Mr. S.
Turner; and Sir F. Palgrave Sketch of the “Early History of England.”—M.]</p>
<p>About forty years after the dissolution of the Roman government, Vortigern
appears to have obtained the supreme, though precarious command of the
princes and cities of Britain. That unfortunate monarch has been almost
unanimously condemned for the weak and mischievous policy of inviting <SPAN href="#linknote-38.128" name="linknoteref-38.128" id="linknoteref-38.128">128</SPAN>
a formidable stranger, to repel the vexatious inroads of a domestic foe.
His ambassadors are despatched, by the gravest historians, to the coast of
Germany: they address a pathetic oration to the general assembly of the
Saxons, and those warlike Barbarians resolve to assist with a fleet and
army the suppliants of a distant and unknown island. If Britain had indeed
been unknown to the Saxons, the measure of its calamities would have been
less complete. But the strength of the Roman government could not always
guard the maritime province against the pirates of Germany; the
independent and divided states were exposed to their attacks; and the
Saxons might sometimes join the Scots and the Picts, in a tacit, or
express, confederacy of rapine and destruction. Vortigern could only
balance the various perils, which assaulted on every side his throne and
his people; and his policy may deserve either praise or excuse, if he
preferred the alliance of those Barbarians, whose naval power rendered
them the most dangerous enemies and the most serviceable allies. Hengist
and Horsa, as they ranged along the Eastern coast with three ships, were
engaged, by the promise of an ample stipend, to embrace the defence of
Britain; and their intrepid valor soon delivered the country from the
Caledonian invaders. The Isle of Thanet, a secure and fertile district,
was allotted for the residence of these German auxiliaries, and they were
supplied, according to the treaty, with a plentiful allowance of clothing
and provisions. This favorable reception encouraged five thousand warriors
to embark with their families in seventeen vessels, and the infant power
of Hengist was fortified by this strong and seasonable reenforcement. The
crafty Barbarian suggested to Vortigern the obvious advantage of fixing,
in the neighborhood of the Picts, a colony of faithful allies: a third
fleet of forty ships, under the command of his son and nephew, sailed from
Germany, ravaged the Orkneys, and disembarked a new army on the coast of
Northumberland, or Lothian, at the opposite extremity of the devoted land.
It was easy to foresee, but it was impossible to prevent, the impending
evils. The two nations were soon divided and exasperated by mutual
jealousies. The Saxons magnified all that they had done and suffered in
the cause of an ungrateful people; while the Britons regretted the liberal
rewards which could not satisfy the avarice of those haughty mercenaries.
The causes of fear and hatred were inflamed into an irreconcilable
quarrel. The Saxons flew to arms; and if they perpetrated a treacherous
massacre during the security of a feast, they destroyed the reciprocal
confidence which sustains the intercourse of peace and war. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.129" name="linknoteref-38.129" id="linknoteref-38.129">129</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.128" id="linknote-38.128">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
128 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.128">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ This invitation,
which may derive some countenance from the loose expressions of Gildas and
Bede, is framed into a regular story by Witikind, a Saxon monk of the
tenth century, (see Cousin, Hist. de l’Empire d’Occident, tom. ii. p.
356.) Rapin, and even Hume, have too freely used this suspicious evidence,
without regarding the precise and probable testimony of Tennius: Iterea
venerunt tres Chinlae a exilio pulsoe, in quibus erant Hors et Hengist.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.129" id="linknote-38.129">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
129 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.129">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Nennius imputes to
the Saxons the murder of three hundred British chiefs; a crime not
unsuitable to their savage manners. But we are not obliged to believe (see
Jeffrey of Monmouth, l. viii. c. 9-12) that Stonehenge is their monument,
which the giants had formerly transported from Africa to Ireland, and
which was removed to Britain by the order of Ambrosius, and the art of
Merlin. * Note: Sir f. Palgrave (Hist. of England, p. 36) is inclined to
resolve the whole of these stories, as Niebuhr the older Roman history,
into poetry. To the editor they appeared, in early youth, so essentially
poetic, as to justify the rash attempt to embody them in an Epic Poem,
called Samor, commenced at Eton, and finished before he had arrived at the
maturer taste of manhood.—M.]</p>
<p>Hengist, who boldly aspired to the conquest of Britain, exhorted his
countrymen to embrace the glorious opportunity: he painted in lively
colors the fertility of the soil, the wealth of the cities, the
pusillanimous temper of the natives, and the convenient situation of a
spacious solitary island, accessible on all sides to the Saxon fleets. The
successive colonies which issued, in the period of a century, from the
mouths of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Rhine, were principally composed of
three valiant tribes or nations of Germany; the Jutes, the old Saxons, and
the Angles. The Jutes, who fought under the peculiar banner of Hengist,
assumed the merit of leading their countrymen in the paths of glory, and
of erecting, in Kent, the first independent kingdom. The fame of the
enterprise was attributed to the primitive Saxons; and the common laws and
language of the conquerors are described by the national appellation of a
people, which, at the end of four hundred years, produced the first
monarchs of South Britain. The Angles were distinguished by their numbers
and their success; and they claimed the honor of fixing a perpetual name
on the country, of which they occupied the most ample portion. The
Barbarians, who followed the hopes of rapine either on the land or sea,
were insensibly blended with this triple confederacy; the Frisians, who
had been tempted by their vicinity to the British shores, might balance,
during a short space, the strength and reputation of the native Saxons;
the Danes, the Prussians, the Rugians, are faintly described; and some
adventurous Huns, who had wandered as far as the Baltic, might embark on
board the German vessels, for the conquest of a new world. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.130" name="linknoteref-38.130" id="linknoteref-38.130">130</SPAN>
But this arduous achievement was not prepared or executed by the union of
national powers. Each intrepid chieftain, according to the measure of his
fame and fortunes, assembled his followers; equipped a fleet of three, or
perhaps of sixty, vessels; chose the place of the attack; and conducted
his subsequent operations according to the events of the war, and the
dictates of his private interest. In the invasion of Britain many heroes
vanquished and fell; but only seven victorious leaders assumed, or at
least maintained, the title of kings. Seven independent thrones, the Saxon
Heptarchy, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1301" name="linknoteref-38.1301" id="linknoteref-38.1301">1301</SPAN> were founded by the conquerors, and seven
families, one of which has been continued, by female succession, to our
present sovereign, derived their equal and sacred lineage from Woden, the
god of war. It has been pretended, that this republic of kings was
moderated by a general council and a supreme magistrate. But such an
artificial scheme of policy is repugnant to the rude and turbulent spirit
of the Saxons: their laws are silent; and their imperfect annals afford
only a dark and bloody prospect of intestine discord. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.131" name="linknoteref-38.131" id="linknoteref-38.131">131</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.130" id="linknote-38.130">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
130 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.130">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ All these tribes are
expressly enumerated by Bede, (l. i. c. 15, p. 52, l. v. c. 9, p. 190;)
and though I have considered Mr. Whitaker’s remarks, (Hist. of Manchester,
vol. ii. p. 538-543,) I do not perceive the absurdity of supposing that
the Frisians, &c., were mingled with the Anglo-Saxons.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1301" id="linknote-38.1301">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1301 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1301">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ This term (the
Heptarchy) must be rejected because an idea is conveyed thereby which is
substantially wrong. At no one period were there ever seven kingdoms
independent of each other. Palgrave, vol. i. p. 46. Mr. Sharon Turner has
the merit of having first confuted the popular notion on this subject.
Anglo-Saxon History, vol. i. p. 302.—M.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.131" id="linknote-38.131">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
131 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.131">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Bede has enumerated
seven kings, two Saxons, a Jute, and four Angles, who successively
acquired in the heptarchy an indefinite supremacy of power and renown. But
their reign was the effect, not of law, but of conquest; and he observes,
in similar terms, that one of them subdued the Isles of Man and Anglesey;
and that another imposed a tribute on the Scots and Picts. (Hist. Eccles.
l. ii. c. 5, p. 83.)]</p>
<p>A monk, who, in the profound ignorance of human life, has presumed to
exercise the office of historian, strangely disfigures the state of
Britain at the time of its separation from the Western empire. Gildas <SPAN href="#linknote-38.132" name="linknoteref-38.132" id="linknoteref-38.132">132</SPAN>
describes in florid language the improvements of agriculture, the foreign
trade which flowed with every tide into the Thames and the Severn the
solid and lofty construction of public and private edifices; he accuses
the sinful luxury of the British people; of a people, according to the
same writer, ignorant of the most simple arts, and incapable, without the
aid of the Romans, of providing walls of stone, or weapons of iron, for
the defence of their native land. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.133"
name="linknoteref-38.133" id="linknoteref-38.133">133</SPAN> Under the long
dominion of the emperors, Britain had been insensibly moulded into the
elegant and servile form of a Roman province, whose safety was intrusted
to a foreign power. The subjects of Honorius contemplated their new
freedom with surprise and terror; they were left destitute of any civil or
military constitution; and their uncertain rulers wanted either skill, or
courage, or authority, to direct the public force against the common
enemy. The introduction of the Saxons betrayed their internal weakness,
and degraded the character both of the prince and people. Their
consternation magnified the danger; the want of union diminished their
resources; and the madness of civil factions was more solicitous to
accuse, than to remedy, the evils, which they imputed to the misconduct of
their adversaries.</p>
<p>Yet the Britons were not ignorant, they could not be ignorant, of the
manufacture or the use of arms; the successive and disorderly attacks of
the Saxons allowed them to recover from their amazement, and the
prosperous or adverse events of the war added discipline and experience to
their native valor.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.132" id="linknote-38.132">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
132 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.132">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Gildas de Excidio
Britanniae, c. i. p. l. edit. Gale.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.133" id="linknote-38.133">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
133 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.133">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Mr. Whitaker (Hist.
of Manchester, vol. ii. p. 503, 516) has smartly exposed this glaring
absurdity, which had passed unnoticed by the general historians, as they
were hastening to more interesting and important events]</p>
<p>While the continent of Europe and Africa yielded, without resistance, to
the Barbarians, the British island, alone and unaided, maintained a long,
a vigorous, though an unsuccessful, struggle, against the formidable
pirates, who, almost at the same instant, assaulted the Northern, the
Eastern, and the Southern coasts. The cities which had been fortified with
skill, were defended with resolution; the advantages of ground, hills,
forests, and morasses, were diligently improved by the inhabitants; the
conquest of each district was purchased with blood; and the defeats of the
Saxons are strongly attested by the discreet silence of their annalist.
Hengist might hope to achieve the conquest of Britain; but his ambition,
in an active reign of thirty-five years, was confined to the possession of
Kent; and the numerous colony which he had planted in the North, was
extirpated by the sword of the Britons. The monarchy of the West Saxons
was laboriously founded by the persevering efforts of three martial
generations. The life of Cerdic, one of the bravest of the children of
Woden, was consumed in the conquest of Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight;
and the loss which he sustained in the battle of Mount Badon, reduced him
to a state of inglorious repose. Kenric, his valiant son, advanced into
Wiltshire; besieged Salisbury, at that time seated on a commanding
eminence; and vanquished an army which advanced to the relief of the city.
In the subsequent battle of Marlborough, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.134"
name="linknoteref-38.134" id="linknoteref-38.134">134</SPAN> his British
enemies displayed their military science. Their troops were formed in
three lines; each line consisted of three distinct bodies, and the
cavalry, the archers, and the pikemen, were distributed according to the
principles of Roman tactics. The Saxons charged in one weighty column,
boldly encountered with their shord swords the long lances of the Britons,
and maintained an equal conflict till the approach of night. Two decisive
victories, the death of three British kings, and the reduction of
Cirencester, Bath, and Gloucester, established the fame and power of
Ceaulin, the grandson of Cerdic, who carried his victorious arms to the
banks of the Severn.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.134" id="linknote-38.134">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
134 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.134">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ At Beran-birig, or
Barbury-castle, near Marlborough. The Saxon chronicle assigns the name and
date. Camden (Britannia, vol. i. p. 128) ascertains the place; and Henry
of Huntingdon (Scriptores pest Bedam, p. 314) relates the circumstances of
this battle. They are probable and characteristic; and the historians of
the twelfth century might consult some materials that no longer exist.]
After a war of a hundred years, the independent Britons still occupied the
whole extent of the Western coast, from the wall of Antoninus to the
extreme promontory of Cornwall; and the principal cities of the inland
country still opposed the arms of the Barbarians. Resistance became more
languid, as the number and boldness of the assailants continually
increased. Winning their way by slow and painful efforts, the Saxons, the
Angles, and their various confederates, advanced from the North, from the
East, and from the South, till their victorious banners were united in the
centre of the island. Beyond the Severn the Britons still asserted their
national freedom, which survived the heptarchy, and even the monarchy, of
the Saxons. The bravest warriors, who preferred exile to slavery, found a
secure refuge in the mountains of Wales: the reluctant submission of
Cornwall was delayed for some ages; <SPAN href="#linknote-38.135"
name="linknoteref-38.135" id="linknoteref-38.135">135</SPAN> and a band of
fugitives acquired a settlement in Gaul, by their own valor, or the
liberality of the Merovingian kings. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.136"
name="linknoteref-38.136" id="linknoteref-38.136">136</SPAN> The Western angle
of Armorica acquired the new appellations of Cornwall, and the Lesser
Britain; and the vacant lands of the Osismii were filled by a strange
people, who, under the authority of their counts and bishops, preserved
the laws and language of their ancestors. To the feeble descendants of
Clovis and Charlemagne, the Britons of Armorica refused the customary
tribute, subdued the neighboring dioceses of Vannes, Rennes, and Nantes,
and formed a powerful, though vassal, state, which has been united to the
crown of France. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.137" name="linknoteref-38.137" id="linknoteref-38.137">137</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.135" id="linknote-38.135">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
135 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.135">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Cornwall was finally
subdued by Athelstan, (A.D. 927-941,) who planted an English colony at
Exeter, and confined the Britons beyond the River Tamar. See William of
Malmsbury, l. ii., in the Scriptores post Bedam, p. 50. The spirit of the
Cornish knights was degraded by servitude: and it should seem, from the
Romance of Sir Tristram, that their cowardice was almost proverbial.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.136" id="linknote-38.136">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
136 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.136">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The establishment of
the Britons in Gaul is proved in the sixth century, by Procopius, Gregory
of Tours, the second council of Tours, (A.D. 567,) and the least
suspicious of their chronicles and lives of saints. The subscription of a
bishop of the Britons to the first council of Tours, (A.D. 461, or rather
481,) the army of Riothamus, and the loose declamation of Gildas, (alii
transmarinas petebant regiones, c. 25, p. 8,) may countenance an
emigration as early as the middle of the fifth century. Beyond that era,
the Britons of Armorica can be found only in romance; and I am surprised
that Mr. Whitaker (Genuine History of the Britons, p. 214-221) should so
faithfully transcribe the gross ignorance of Carte, whose venial errors he
has so rigorously chastised.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.137" id="linknote-38.137">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
137 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.137">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The antiquities of
Bretagne, which have been the subject even of political controversy, are
illustrated by Hadrian Valesius, (Notitia Galliarum, sub voce Britannia
Cismarina, p. 98-100.) M. D’Anville, (Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule,
Corisopiti, Curiosolites, Osismii, Vorganium, p. 248, 258, 508, 720, and
Etats de l’Europe, p. 76-80,) Longuerue, (Description de la France, tom.
i. p. 84-94,) and the Abbe de Vertot, (Hist. Critique de l’Etablissement
des Bretons dans les Gaules, 2 vols. in 12 mo., Paris, 1720.) I may assume
the merit of examining the original evidence which they have produced. *
Note: Compare Gallet, Mémoires sur la Bretagne, and Daru, Histoire de
Bretagne. These authors appear to me to establish the point of the
independence of Bretagne at the time that the insular Britons took refuge
in their country, and that the greater part landed as fugitives rather
than as conquerors. I observe that M. Lappenberg (Geschichte von England,
vol. i. p. 56) supposes the settlement of a military colony formed of
British soldiers, (Milites limitanei, laeti,) during the usurpation of
Maximus, (381, 388,) who gave their name and peculiar civilization to
Bretagne. M. Lappenberg expresses his surprise that Gibbon here rejects
the authority which he follows elsewhere.—M.]</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />