The Saxons established near Bayeux,
the Taifali, whose name is found in the Poitivin district of Tiffauges,
were for long distinctly military colonies whose members took the field
at the first alarm of war.
the Taifali, whose name is found in the Poitivin district of Tiffauges,
were for long distinctly military colonies whose members took the field
at the first alarm of war.
Cambridge Medieval History - v2 - Rise of the Saracens and Foundation of the Western Empire
133 (#165) ############################################
Merovingian Royalty 133
Rhine were not fitted to meet the needs of a great State like the
Frankish kingdom. A more complicated machinery became necessary.
In point of fact the Merovingian institutions form a new system
composed of elements partly Roman, partly Germanic; and the powerful
influence of Christianity must not be left out of account. These
elements were combined in varying proportions according to circumstances,
and according to the needs and even the caprices of men. Moreover
we must be careful not to think of the institutions as fixed and
unchangeable. They are in a state of continual evolution, and those
which obtained in Gaul in the time of Charles Martel are strikingly
different from those which we find in the time of Clovis. It is the
business of the historian to observe and to explain these changes.
During the whole of the Merovingian period the State is ruled by
kings. The kingly office is hereditary and the sons succeed the father
by an undisputed right. Each son inherits equally, and the kingdom
is divided up into as many parts as there are sons. Daughters, who
were excluded from possessing land, could not succeed to the kingdom.
The people never interfered in the choice of the sovereign. It was only
in rare cases that the great men elevated the king, to whom they had
given their allegiance, on the shield and carried him round the camp.
This was done by the Ripuarians when they put themselves under the
rule of Clovis, after the assassination of their king; and again by the
nobles of Chilperic's kingdom when they acknowledged Sigebert as their
sovereign. In the case of an ordinary succession there was no special
ceremony at which the king was invested with authority. Anointing
was not practised in the Merovingian period. The kings merely adopted
the custom of making, on their accession, a progress through their
dominions and imposing an oath of fidelity upon their subjects. This
is called regnum circumire. Sons who were minors were placed under
the guardianship of their nearest relative. At twelve years old they
were declared, according to the provisions of the Salic law, to be of age,
and were thenceforth supposed to govern in their own name.
The king's official title was Rex Francorum, irrespective of the
particular part of the country which he ruled. Some epithet such as
gforiosus or vir inluster was usually added. The kings were distinguished
by their long hair, and the locks of a prince who was to be deprived of
his status were shorn. Chlotar I and Childebert I asked Clotilda whether
she would rather see the hair of her grandsons, the sons of Clodomir,
cut short, or see them put to death. The lance was also a royal
emblem. Guntram presented a lance to Childebert II in token that he
recognised him as heir to his dominions. Clovis wore a diadem. All
these kings surrounded themselves with great magnificence and sat
in state upon a golden throne. When they entered a town they
threw money among the crowd, and their subjects greeted them with
acclamations in various languages. The king ruled over Franks and
## p. 134 (#166) ############################################
134 The power of the King
Gallo-Romans alike. He ruled the former by right of birth, in virtue
of having sprung from the family to which this privilege appertained; he
ruled the latter, not, as has sometimes been suggested, by a delegated
authority conferred upon Clovis by the Emperor Anastasius, but by
right of conquest. Before long, too, all distinction between Franks
and Gallo-Romans disappeared, and the king ruled all his subjects by
hereditary right. The power of the king was almost absolute. He
caused the ancient customary law of the barbarian peoples to be
formulated or revised, as in the case of the Salic law and the laws
of the Hipuarians and the Alemans. He did not of course create
law; the customs which regulate the relations of men existed prior
to the law and it would be difficult to refuse to recognise them. But
the king ordered these customs to be formulated, and gave them,
when formulated, a new authority. Further, he amended these laws,
abrogating provisions which were contrary to the spirit of Christianity
or the advance of civilisation. Alongside of the laws peculiar to each
of the races he made edicts applicable to all his subjects without
exception. The capitularies begin long before the reign of Charles
the Great; we have some which go back to the Merovingian period.
The king who makes the law is also the supreme judge. He has his
own court of justice, and all other courts derive their authority from
him. He can even, in virtue of his absolute power, transgress the
ordinary rules of justice and order persons who appear to him to be
dangerous to be put to death without trial. Childebert II, for example,
once invited one of his great men, named Magnovald, to his palace at
Metz under the pretext of shewing him some animal hunted by a pack
of hounds, and while he was standing at a window enjoying this
spectacle the king had him struck down by one of his men with an
axe. Anyone who committed a crime by order of the king was declared
immune from penalty. The king made war and peace at will, levied
taxes at his pleasure, appointed all functionaries and confirmed the
election of bishops. All the forces of the State were in his hands.
All his orders—they were known as banni—must be obeyed; the
violation of any of them was punished with the extremely heavy fine
of 60 gold solidi. All persons belonging to the king's household were
protected by a xcergeld three times as great as ordinary persons of
the same class.
Against a despotic use of this power neither the great men nor the
people possessed any remedy save that of revolt; and such revolts are
frequent in the Merovingian period. No small number of these kings
perished by the assassin's knife. One day one of his subjects told king
Guntram, " We know where the axe is which cut off the heads of thy
brothers, and its edge is still keen; ere long it shall cleave thy skull. "
At Paris, on another occasion, Guntram assembled the people in a
church and addressed them thus: "I adjure you, men and women here
## p. 135 (#167) ############################################
The Campus Martius and Campus Madius 136
present, to remain faithful to me; slay me not as ye slew my brethren.
Suffer me to live yet three years that I may bring up my nephews. If
I die you will perish also, for you will have no king strong enough to
defend you. 11 The government was thus a despotism tempered by
assassination.
At the beginning of the Merovingian period there was no council
having the right to advise the king and set limits to his power. The
assemblies which Tacitus describes disappeared after the invasions.
From time to time the great men assembled for a military expedition,
and endeavoured to impose their will upon the king. In 556 Chlotar I
led an expedition against the Saxons. They tendered their submission,
offering him successively the half of their property, their flocks,
herds and garments, and finally all they possessed. The king was
willing to accept this offer, but his warriors forced their way into his
tent and threatened to kill him if he did not lead them against the
enemy. He was obliged to yield to their insistence and met with a
severe defeat. But that is a case of violent action on the part of an
army in revolt, not of advice given by an assembly regularly consulted.
Such assemblies do not appear until the close of the Merovingian period,
and then as a new creation. The bishops always made a practice of
meeting in council, and at these meetings they passed canons which
were authoritative for all Christians. During the civil wars the great
laymen also began to meet in order to confer upon their common
interests, and the bishops took part in these assemblies also. Each of
the three kingdoms—tria regno as they are called by the chroniclers—
had therefore its assemblies of this kind. The sovereign was obliged to
reckon with them, and consulted them on general matters. Subsequently
when the Carolingians had again united the kingdom, there was only
one assembly. It was summoned regularly in the month of March and
became known as the field of March—campus martins. The great
men came thither in arms, and if war was decided on they took the field
immediately against the enemy. Before long, however, as the cavalry
had great difficulty in finding fodder in March, the assembly was
transferred, about the middle of the seventh century, to the month of
May, when there was grass for the horses in the meadows, and the
campus martius became the campus madius. Those who were summoned
to this assembly brought to the king gifts in money or in kind,
which became the principal source of revenue of the State; they tried
persons accused of high treason, and before them were promulgated the
capitularies. The assembly was thus at once an army, a council and
a legal tribunal. The Carolingians made it the most important part
of the machinery of government.
The king was aided in the work of administration by numerous
officials who both held posts in the royal household and performed ad-
ministrative functions in the State. We may mention the Referendaries
## p. 136 (#168) ############################################
136 The Mayor of the Palace
who drew up and signed diplomas in the name of the king; the Counts
of the Palace, who directed the procedure before the royal tribunal; the
Cubicularies who had charge of the treasuries in which the wealth of the
king was laid up; the Seneschals, who managed (among other things)
the royal table; the Marshals, who had constables (comites stabuli) under
their orders, and were Masters of the Horse, etc. Among these officials
the foremost place was gradually taken by the Mayor of the Palace,
whose office was peculiar to the Merovingian courts. Landed proprietors
were in the habit of putting their various domains under the charge
of majores, mayors; and a major domus, placed over these various mayors,
supervised all the estates, and all the revenues from them were paid in
to him. The Mayor of the Palace was at first the overseer of all the
royal estates, and was also charged with maintaining discipline in the
royal household. Being always in close relation with the king, he soon
acquired political functions. If the king was a minor, it was his duty
as nutrkins to watch over his education. The dukes and counts, who
came from time to time to the palace, fell under his authority, and
before long he began to send them orders when they were in their
administrative districts; and he acquired an influence in their appoint-
ment. As the whole of the administration centred in the palace he
became in the end the head of the administration. He presided over
the royal court of justice and often commanded the army. In the
struggle of the great men against the royal house one of the points for
which they contended was the right to impose upon the sovereign a
mayor of the palace of their choice; and each division of Gaul (Neustria,
Burgundy and Austrasia) desired to have its own mayor. We have seen
that a single family, descended from Arnulf and Pepin I, succeeded in
getting the office of Mayor of the Palace into their own hands and
rendered it hereditary. From 687-751 the Mayors of this family
were the real rulers of the Frankish kingdom, and in 751 it was strong
enough to seize the crown.
The court was frequented by a considerable number of persons. The
young sons of the nobles were brought up there, being " commended"
to the care of one or other of the great officials of the palace. They
there served their apprenticeship to civil or military life, and might
look forward to receiving later some important post. The officials
engaged in local administration came frequently to the palace to receive
instructions. Other great men resided there in the hope of receiving
some favour. Besides these laymen, many ecclesiastics were there to be
met with, bishops coming from their dioceses, clergy of the royal chapel,
clergy in search of a benefice. All these persons were optimates of the
king, his faithful servants, his leudes, that is to say " his people" {leute).
A distinctive position among them was held by the autrustiones, who
were the descendants of the Germanic comites. They formed the king's
body-guard, and usually ate at the royal table. They took an oath to
## p. 137 (#169) ############################################
Local Administration 137
protect the king in all circumstances. They were often sent to defend
frontier fortresses, and thus formed a kind of small standing army.
They were also charged with important missions.
The kingdom was divided into districts known as pagi. In earlier
times the pagi corresponded to the former Gallo-Roman "cities," but
in the northern part of the kingdom their number was increased. At
the head of the pagus was the count, comes—in Teutonic graf. The
king appointed the counts at his own pleasure, and could choose them
from any class of society, sometimes naming a mere freedman. Leu-
dastes, the Count of Tours who quarrelled so violently with Bishop
Gregory, had been born on an estate belonging to the royal treasury
in the island of Rhe, and had been employed as a slave first in the
kitchen, and afterwards in the bakery of King Charibert. Having run
away several times he had been marked by having his ears clipped.
Chariberfs wife had only lately freed him when the king appointed him
Count of Tours. The counts were chosen not only from all classes
of society, but from the various races of the kingdom. Among those
who are known to us there are more Gallo-Romans than Franks.
Within his district the count exercised almost every kind of authority.
He policed it, and arrested criminals; he held a court of justice, he
levied taxes and made disbursements for public purposes, paying over
the residue each year into the royal treasury; he executed all the king's
commands, and took under his protection the widow and the orphan.
He was all-powerful alike for good and ill, and unfortunately the
Merovingian counts, greedy of gain and ill-supervised, did chiefly evil:
Leudastes of Tours was no isolated exception among them. To assist
them in their numerous duties the counts appointed "vicars. " The
vicar represented the count during his frequent absences; in some cases
he administered a part of the district, while the count administered the
remainder. Before long there were several vicars to each county and
it was regularly subdivided into districts called vicariates. The
"hundred-man" (centenarius) or thunginus of the Salic law was
identified with the vicar and the terms became synonymous.
Often it was necessary to concentrate in the hands of a single ad-
ministrator authority over several counties. In this case the king placed
over the counts a duke. The duke was principally a military leader; he
commanded the army, and the counts within his jurisdiction had to
march under his orders. The duchy did not form a permanent administra-
tive district like the county; it usually disappeared along with the
circumstances that gave rise to the appointment. In certain districts
however, in Champagne, in Alsace and beyond the Jura on the shores of
the Lake of Neuchatel, there were permanent duchies. In the kingdom
of Burgundy we find the title patricius as that of an official who
governed the part of Provence which was attached to Burgundy, and
also appears to have held the chief military command in that kingdom
## p. 138 (#170) ############################################
138 Barbarian Law
The official who held the command in that part of Provence, which was
a dependency of Austrasia, bore the title of rector. These titles were
doubtless borrowed from the Ostrogoths, who were the masters of
Provence from 508 to 536.
It remains to notice the organisation of justice, finance and the army.
The races of Merovingian Gaul were not all under one law. Each race
had its own ; the principle was that the system of law varied according to
the race of the persons who were to be judged. The Gallo-Romans
continued to be judged according to the Roman law, especially the
compilation made among the Visigoths and known under the name of
the Breviarium Alarici. As it was in the region south of the Loire
that the Gallo-Romans were least mixed with barbarian elements,
it was in Aquitaine that the Roman law longest maintained its
hold. The Burgundians and the Visigoths had already their own
systems of law at the time when their kingdoms were overthrown by
the Franks, and the men of these races continued to be judged by these
laws throughout the whole of the Merovingian period. The Merovingian
kings caused the customary laws of the other barbarian peoples to be
preserved in writing. In all probability the earliest redaction of the
Salic law goes back to Clovis, and is doubtless to be placed in the last
years of his reign, after his victory over the Visigoths, 507-511. We
cannot place it earlier, for the following reasons. The Germanic peoples
did not use the Latin language until after they had become mixed with
the Gallo-Roman population; in the scale of fines the monetary system
of solidi is used, which only makes its appearance in the Merovingian
period; further, the Salic law contains imitations of the Visigothic laws
of Euric (466-484); finally, it is evident that the Franks are masters
of the Visigoths, since they provide for the case of men dwelling beyond
the Loire—trans Ligerivi—being cited before the tribunals. On the
other hand, it is not possible to place the redaction much later, since
the law is not yet leavened with the Christian spirit; only in later redac-
tions does Christian influence appear. Similarly, there are incorporated in
these later redactions capitularies emanating from the immediate successors
of Clovis. The law of the Ripuarians, even in its most ancient portions,
is later than the reign of Clovis; that of the Alemans does not appear
to be earlier than the commencement of the eighth century, or that
of the Bavarians earlier than 744-748. Other laws, like those of the
Saxons and Thuringians, were not reduced to writing until the time of
Charles the Great. These collections of laws must not be regarded as
codes. ) The subjects are not co-ordinated; there are few rules of civil
law; they are chiefly occupied with scales of fines and rules of procedure.
Justice was administered in the smaller cases by the centeniers
or vicars, in the more important by the counts. Both classes of
officials held regular courts called in Latin placita, in Germanic mall or
malberg. The sittings of these courts took place at fixed periods and
## p. 139 (#171) ############################################
Justice 139
the dates were known beforehand. The vicars and counts were assisted by
freemen known as rachimburgi or boni homines who sat with the officials,
assisted them with their counsels, and intervened in the debates, and
it was they who fixed the amount of the fines to be paid by the guilty
party. At first the rachimburgi varied in number, before long however
the presence of seven of them was requisite in order that a judgment
might be valid. The rachimburgi were notables who gave a portion of
their time to the public service; Charles the Great made a far-reaching
reform when he substituted for them regular officials trained in legal
knowledge, known as scabini. The counts also made progresses through
their districts, received petitions from their subjects and gave immediate
judgment without observing the strict rules of procedure. Above the
count's court of justice was the king's. It was held in one of the royal
villae and presided over by the king, or, later on, by the Mayor of the
Palace. The president of the court was assisted by "auditors,'" more or
less numerous according to the importance of the case; these were
bishops, counts or other great personages present at the palace. The
king could call up before his court any cases that he pleased. He judged
regularly the high officials, men placed under his mundium, cases of
treason and cases in which the royal treasury was interested. He
received appeals from the sentences delivered in the count's court. The
king's court also exercised jurisdiction in certain matters of beneficence;
before it the slave was freed by the ceremony of manumission known
as per denarium, and manned persons made mutual donation of goods.
In addition to his regular jurisdiction the king made a practice of
travelling through his realm, hearing the complaints of his subjects,
and redressing their grievances without waiting for all the delays of
legal procedure. The Merovingian legal tribunals endeavoured to
introduce some degree of order into a state of society in which
crimes were rife, and to substitute the regular action of law for private
vengeance and family feud. Unfortunately they did not succeed.
Under the Merovingian kings the system of taxation established by
the Romans gradually fell into disuse. This is not difficult to explain
when we remember that this fiscal system was extremely complicated,
and that the kings had really very little to provide for in the way
of disbursements. The officials received no salaries, but had the
enjoyment of the revenues of certain villae belonging to the royal
treasury. When they went on circuit in the service of the king,
private persons were obliged to furnish them with food, lodging and
means of transport. The army cost the king nothing, for his warriors
had to provide their own equipment. The administration of justice
was a source of revenue to the king in the shape of the confiscations
and fines imposed by the courts. His expenses were limited to the
maintenance of his court and the donations made to the great men
and the churches, and these expenses were covered by his different
## p. 140 (#172) ############################################
140 Taxation
revenues, which came chiefly from the royal domains. The kings became
possessed of numerous viUae scattered over the various districts of Gaul,
and these properties were constantly augmented by purchases, donations
and advantageous exchanges. It is true that at the close of the
Merovingian epoch the kings, in order to conciliate the great men,
distributed among them a large number of these royal estates, and the
treasury became impoverished.
In the second place, the kings levied, at least at the beginning
of the period, a number of taxes direct and indirect, which were
adaptations of the former Roman imposts. They raised customs dues
(telonea) on the goods which passed through certain towns, others on
goods passing along the high-roads, by a public bridge, or trans-
ported by river, and on goods exposed for sale in markets. But these
dues were often made over to the churches, abbeys or private persons.
Sometimes also the king levied a tax on men who were not of free
condition. This was the old capitatio humana. Those who were liable
to it were inscribed in a public register known as the polyptychum. But
this impost gradually lost its importance. The queen Bathildis, who
lived at the period when Ebroin was Mayor of the Palace, and was
herself a former Breton slave, forbade the levying of this tax, because
parents killed their children rather than pay for them. The tax became
a customary due, of which the incidence was limited to certain persons;
traces of it are found in the time of Charles the Great. Similarly the
land tax, capitatio terrena, brought in less and less. Smitten by fear of
the divine wrath Chilperic himself burned the registers in order to win
back the favour of God. The capitatio terrena came to be limited to
certain lands, as the capitatio humana was to certain persons. At the
end of the Merovingian period it became necessary to create new imposts,
and then the warriors were required to bring to the spring assembly
gifts nominally voluntary, which soon became compulsory. The minting
of coinage was in the earlier part of the period another source of
revenue. For a long time the Prankish kings confined themselves to
imitating the imperial currency; Theodebert was the first to place his
name and effigy on the gold solidi. But his example was little followed.
Down to the seventh century coinage was minted in Gaul bearing the
names of former Emperors like Anastasius, Justin and Justinian, whose
types became permanent, or of contemporary Emperors like Heraclius
(610-641). From the middle of the seventh century onward we find
no coins bearing an effigy. On one side we find simply a man's name
—that of the monetarius—on the other that of the locality. More
than 800 local names are found on the Merovingian coins. Evidently
coining had become almost entirely free again; minters, provided with
a royal authorisation, went from place to place, converting ingots
into specie. Charles the Great however resumed the exclusive right of
coining.
## p. 141 (#173) ############################################
The Army 141
The composition of the army varied during the Merovingian period.
The army of Clovis with which he conquered Gaul was an army of
barbarians, to which some Roman soldiers, encamped in the country, had
joined themselves. These Roman troops long preserved their name,
their accoutrements, their insignia. Later it seems clear that certain of
the barbarian tribes were liable to special military obligations, and in
case of military expeditions were the first to take the field. The armies
which descended from Gaul upon Italy in the sixth century were principally
composed of Burgundian warriors.
The Saxons established near Bayeux,
the Taifali, whose name is found in the Poitivin district of Tiffauges,
were for long distinctly military colonies whose members took the field
at the first alarm of war. But soon the Gallo-Romans, too, find a place
in the armies. Some of them doubtless asked leave to join an expedition
which was likely to bring back spoil; thenceforward their descendants
were under obligation to render military service. Others were obliged
by the count or the duke to equip themselves, and in this way a precedent
was created which bound their descendants. Thus certain free persons,
whether Gallo-Romans or barbarians, are subject to the obligation
of military service, just as certain persons are subject to the capitatio
humana and certain lands to the capitatio terrena. These persons were
obliged to arm themselves and march whenever the king summoned
them to do so. But they were rarely all summoned at one time; the
king first called on those who lived in the neighbourhood of the scene
of war. If it was for an expedition against Germany he summoned the
fighting-men of Austrasia, for a war against Brittany he summoned the
men of Tours, Poitiers, Bayeux, Le Mans and Angers. All the men
thus mustered served at their own expense, and remained on campaign
all summer; in winter they returned to their homes, to be recalled,
if need were, the following spring. Charles the Great made a great re-
form in the military organisation. He based the obligation to military
service upon property, the principle being that everyone who possessed
a certain number of mansi was obliged to serve. The number varied
from year to year according to the number of fighting-men required.
We thus see how these institutions were incessantly transformed by
the influence of circumstances and by human action. Roman and
Germanic elements were combined in them in various proportions, and
new elements were added to them. The Merovingian institutions thus
came to form a new system; and from them arise by a series of transfor-
mations the institutions of Charles the Great.
Only the Church, which connects itself with the Gallo-Roman Church,
presents an appearance of greater fixity, since the Church claims to hold
always the same dogmas and to be founded on stable principles. Never-
theless even the Church underwent an evolution along with the society
which it endeavoured to guide. We shall give our attention successively
to the secular Church and the religious Orders.
## p. 142 (#174) ############################################
142 Organisation of the Church
No one could become a member of the secular clergy without the
permission of the king. Anyone who desired the clerical office must also
give certain guarantees of his moral fitness. His conduct must be
upright and pure, and he must possess a certain amount of education.
To have married a second time, or to have married a widow, debarred
a man from the clerical office, and those who were married must break
off all relations with their wives. Clerics were distinguished from laymen
by their tonsure, they wore a special costume, the habitus clericalis, and
they were judged according to the Roman Law. Each cleric was
attached to a special church, which he ought not to leave without the
written permission of his bishop; the councils impose the severest
penalties upon priests wandering at large (gyrovagi).
The chief of the clergy was the bishop, who was placed over a
diocese—parochia, as it was called in the Merovingian period. Theoreti-
cally there were as many bishops as there had been civitates in Roman
Gaul, but the principle was not rigorously carried out. A number of
the small cities mentioned in the Notitia Galliarum had no bishop in
the Merovingian period, for their territory was united to that of a
neighbouring city. This was the case in regard to the civitas Rigo-
magensium (Thorame) and the civitas Scdinensium (Castellane) in the
province of the Alpes Maritimae. On the other hand some of the
cities were divided up. St Remigius established a bishopric at Laon
which was not a Gallo-Roman city. Similarly a bishopric was created
at Nevers. Out of the civitas of Nimes were carved the bishoprics of
Uzes, Agde and Maguelonne; out of Narbonne that of Carcassonne;
out of Nyons that of Belley. This creation of new bishoprics was due
to the progress of Christianity. Certain bishoprics which the Mero-
vingian kings created in order to make the boundaries of the dioceses
coincide with those of their share of the kingdom—such as that of
Melun, formed out of that of Sens, and of Chateaudun, formed out of
that of Chartres—had only a transient existence.
Theoretically the bishops were elected by the clergy and people of the
city. The election took place in the cathedral, under the presidency of
the metropolitan or of a bishop of the province; the faithful acclaimed
the candidate of their choice, who immediately took possession of the
episcopal chair. But under the Merovingians it is observable that the
kings acquire little by little an influence in the elections. The sovereign
made known his choice to the electors; in many cases he directly
designated the prelate. He might, of course, choose the man most
worthy of the post, but usually he was content to be bribed. "At this
time," says Gregory of Tours, "that seed of iniquity began to bear fruit
that the episcopal office was sold by the kings or bought by the clerics. '1
In face of these pretentions of the monarchy the first councils of the
Merovingian period, those of 533 and 538, did not fail to assert the
ancient canonical rights. Before long however the bishops saw that they
## p. 143 (#175) ############################################
Appointment of Bishops 143
must take things as they were and make the best of them. They were
prepared to recognise the intervention of the king as legitimate, while
insisting that the king should not sell the episcopate and should observe
the canonical regulations. "None shall buy the episcopal dignity for
money," runs the pronouncement of the Fifth Council of Orleans, of 549;
"the bishop shall, with the king's consent and according to the choice of
the clergy and the people, be consecrated by the metropolitan and the
other bishops of the province. 11 These principles were recalled at the
famous council of 614, but without the mention of the king: "On the
decease of a bishop there shall be appointed in his place whoever shall
have been elected by the metropolitan, the bishops of the province, and
the clergy and people of the city, without hindrance and without gift of
money. 11 Chlotar II in the edict confirming these canons modified the
tenor of this article. While recognising the right of election of the
persons interested, he maintained the right of intervention of the prince.
"If the elected person is worthy, he shall be consecrated, upon the order
of the prince. 11 From that time forward the established procedure was
as follows. On the death of a prelate the citizens and the people of the
civitas assemble, under the presidency of the metropolitan and the other
bishops of the province. They choose the successor and make known to
the king the act of election—consensus civium pro episcopatu. If the
king approves, he transmits to the metropolitan the order to consecrate
the bishop-elect, and invites the other bishops of the province to be
present at the ceremony. If he is dissatisfied with the election, he
requests the electors to choose another candidate, and sometimes he
himself nominates him.
The power of the bishop was very great. All the clergy of the
diocese were under his control, and in the episcopal city a certain
number of clerics lived in the bishop's house and ate at his table.
Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, laid down about the middle of the eighth
century a very strict rule for these clergy, requiring them to live as
a community: this was the origin of secular canons. Throughout
the whole diocese the bishop reserved to himself certain religious
functions. He alone had power to consecrate altars and churches,
to bless the holy oils, to confirm the young and to ordain clergy.
All other functions he delegated to the archpriests, whose appoint-
ment was either made or sanctioned by him. Only these archpriests
had the right to baptise, and at the great festivals they alone had
the right to say mass. The district under the authority of the
archpriest soon came to be considered as a smaller parochia within
the larger parochia. The archpriests were generally placed in the
vici, the large country-towns. Under them were the clerics who served
the oratories of the villae; these clerics were presented by the proprietors
of the villae for institution by the bishop. The bishop was assisted in
his work by an archdeacon who exercised oversight among the clergy
## p. 144 (#176) ############################################
144 Power of the Bishop
and judged contentions arising among them. It was the bishop, too,
who administered Church property, and this property was of large
extent. Never were donations to the Church more abundant than in
the Merovingian period. The benefactors of the Church were, first,
the bishops themselves: Bertramn of Mans left to his see thirty-five
estates. Then there were the kings, who hoped to atone for their
crimes by pious donations, and rich laymen who to provide for the
salvation of their souls despoiled their heirs. All property acquired
by the Church was, according to the canons of the councils, inalienable.
The Church always received and never gave back. In addition to
landed property, the Church received from the kings certain financial
privileges, such as exemption from customs-dues and market-tax. Often,
too, the sovereign made over to the Church the right to levy dues
at specified places. Further, since Moses had granted to the tribe of
Levi, that is to say to the priests, the right of levying tithes upon
the fruits of the earth and the increase of the cattle, the Merovingian
Church claimed a similar contribution, and threatened with excom-
munication anyone who should fail to pay it. The tithe was generally
paid by the faithful, but it was not made obligatory by the State. It
only acquired that character in the time of Charles the Great. All this
property was theoretically in the charge of the bishop of the diocese.
He was required to divide it into four parts, one for the maintenance
of the bishop and his household, one for the payment of the clergy
of his diocese, one for the poor, and one for the building and repair
of churches. Little by little, however, property became attached to
secondary parishes and even to mere oratories.
The bishop had great influence within his city as well as in the
State. In the city he acted as an administrator and carried out works
of public utility. Sidonius of Mainz built an embankment along
the Rhine, Felix of Nantes straightened the course of the Loire, Didier
of Cahors constructed aqueducts. The bishop thus took the place of
the former municipal magistrates, whose office had died out; he received
the town to govern (ad gubernandurn); by the end of the Merovingian
period certain cities are already episcopal cities. The bishop maintains
the cause of his parishioners before the officials of the State, and even
before the king himself; he obtains for them alleviation of imposts and
all kinds of favours. The bishops1 protection was especially extended
to a class of persons who formed as it were their clientage—widows,
orphans, the poor, slaves, and captives. The poor of the city were
formed into a regularly organised body, their names were inscribed on
the registers of the Church, and they were known as the matriculnrii.
The bishops and the clergy in general enjoyed important legal
privileges. From 614 onwards the clergy could only be judged on
criminal charges by their bishops; the bishops themselves could only
be cited before councils of the Church. But, still more important,
## p. 145 (#177) ############################################
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 145
laymen were glad to make the bishop the arbiter of their differences;
they knew that they would find in him a judge more just and better
instructed than the count. The Church could also give protection to
malefactors; the criminal, once he had crossed the sacred threshold,
could not be torn thence; it was commonly believed that frightful
chastisements had smitten those who attempted to violate the rights of
sanctuary.
It would be easy to shew how grossly immoral was the Frankish
race—the history of Gregory of Tours is filled with the record of
horrible crimes—but at the same time they were profoundly credulous
and superstitious. On Sundays, at the sound of the bells, they rushed
in crowds to the churches. They frequently received the communion,
and it was a terrible punishment to be deprived of it. Apart from
the Church services the Franks were constantly at prayer. They
believed not only in God but in the saints, whom they continually
invoked, and they believed in their intervention in the affairs of this
world. They were eager to procure relics, which had healing power.
The Church had in its control sacraments, religion, healing virtue,
and the* bishop held the first place in the Church; he was felt to be
invested with supernatural power, and the faithful held him in awe.
Above the bishop was the metropolitan. With a few rare excep-
tions, the metropolitan had his seat at the chief town of the Roman
province. In the course of the fifth century, the province of Vienne
was cut in two: there was one metropolitan at Vienne, another at
Aries. The latter annexed to his jurisdiction the provinces of the
Alpes Maritimae (Embrun) and of Narbonensis II (Aix). Thence-
forward twelve metropolitan sees were distinguished: Vienne, Aries,
Treves, Rheims, Lyons (to which was united Besancon), Rouen, Tours,
Sens, Bourges, Bordeaux, Eauze and Narbonne. The metropolitan
had the right to convoke provincial councils, and presided at them.
He exercised a certain oversight over the bishops of the province, and
it was to him that it naturally fell to act as judge among them.
His title was simply that of bishop: the title archbishop does not
appear until quite the end of the Merovingian period. The authority
of the metropolitans was subordinate to that of the Frankish Church as
a whole, which had as its organs the national councils. These councils
were always convoked by the king, who exercised much influence in
their deliberations. We have the canons of numerous councils held
between 511 and 614, which give us a mass of information regarding
ecclesiastical organisation and discipline. These canons are not much
concerned with doctrine; they recall the clergy to their duties, safe-
guard the property of the churches against the covetousness of laymen,
and censure pagan customs such as augury and sortes sanctorum.
The Frankish Church honoured the Papacy and regarded the bishop
of Rome as the successor of St Peter, but the Papacy had no
C. MED. H. VOL. II. CH. V. 10
## p. 146 (#178) ############################################
146 Relations with the Papacy
effective power over this Church, except perhaps in the province of
Aries. Reading the work of Gregory of Tours, which is so full of life
and reflects so exactly the passions and ideas of the time, we do not find
that the Pope plays any part in the narrative. The bishops are ap-
pointed without his intervention and they govern their churches without
entering into relations with him. At the end of the sixth century, as
we saw earlier, Gregory the Great maintained an active correspondence
with Brunhild. He gives her advice, and his advice was, without
doubt, listened to with respect. The pope takes no direct action, but
he urges the queen to act. It is not difficult to see however that he
was quite ready to supersede Brunhild in the task of directing the
Frankish Church; he would like to make Candidus, who was the
administrator of the papal patrimony in Provence, a kind of legate
beyond the Alps. There can be no doubt that Gregory I, had he lived,
would have succeeded by his able policy in re-establishing in Gaul the
papal authority as it had been exercised by Leo I before the fall of the
Empire. But after the death of Gregory in 604 relations between
Rome and the Franks became very rare for more than a century.
There are only one or two instances of such relations to which we can
point. Pope Martin I (649-655), for example, requested the sons of
Dagobert to assemble councils in order to combat the Monothelete
heresy, which was supported by the Byzantine Emperors. Relations
were not effectively resumed until the eighth century, but they were then
to have an immense influence upon general history.
We have already seen how, in their opposition to the Emperors of
Constantinople, the popes sought the aid of the Mayors of the Palace,
and how this alliance was concluded. We have also noticed, in passing,
how Boniface brought under the authority of the Holy See the Germanic
races whom he converted to the Christian faith. But, besides this, with
the aid of Carloman and Pepin (after 739), Boniface accomplished another
task. After the death of Dagobert the Frankish Church had fallen
into profound decadence, and Charles Martel had sunk it still lower by
conferring bishoprics and abbeys on rude and ignorant laymen. These
bishops and abbots never wore clerical vestments, but always sword
and baldric. They dissipated the property of the Church and sought
to bequeath their offices to their bastards. For eighty years no
council was called. Every vestige of education and civilisation was in
danger of being swamped. A complete reform of the Church was
necessary in the interests of society itself. To Carloman and Pepin
belongs the merit of having perceived this, and they entrusted this great
work to Boniface. Once more a series of councils was held, in the
dominions of Carloman as well as in those of Pepin; there was even a
general council of the whole kingdom in March 745 at Estinnes in
Hainault. The ecclesiastical hierarchy was restored, measures were
taken against priests of scandalous life; the clergy were encouraged to
## p. 147 (#179) ############################################
Monasteries 147
become better educated. Above all, this reformed clergy was placed
under the authority of the Papacy; the road to Rome became familiar
to them. On the one hand there was a political alliance between the
popes and the Mayors of the Palace; on the other relations were renewed
between the clergy of what had been Gaul and the Papacy. Thus was
recovered the idea of Christian unity in one sole Church under the
authority of the Pope, as the successor of the apostle Peter.
We have hitherto spoken chiefly of the secular Church, but in even
a summary account of the Church of the Merovingian period a place
must be found for the monasteries. As early as the fifth century, before
the conquest of Clovis, famous abbeys had arisen upon Gallic soil.
Such were Liguge near Poitiers, Marmoutier and St Martin in the
territory of Tours, St Honorat on one of the islands of Lerins, St
Victor at Marseilles. In the time of Clovis Caesarius founded in the
town of Aries one monastery for men and another for women. Under
Clovis and his successors monasteries rapidly increased in number.
Childebert I founded that of St Vincent, close to the gates of Paris,
afterwards to be known as St Germain-des-Pres; Chlotar I founded
St Medard of Soissons, while Radegund, the Thuringian wife whom
he had repudiated, built Ste Croix of Poitiers. To Guntram is due
the foundation of St Marcel of Chalon-sur-Saone, and the extension
of St Benignus of Dijon. Private persons followed the example of
the kings. Aridius, a friend of Gregory of Tours, founded on one
of his estates the monastery which from his name was known as
St Yrieix. All these monasteries were placed under the charge of
the bishop, who visited them and if necessary recalled the monks to
their duty. At the head of the household was placed an abbot,
generally chosen by the founder or his descendants, but in some cases
elected by the community, subject to the bishop's confirmation. Each
monastery was independent of the rest, and had a rule—regula—of its
own, based upon principles borrowed from the early monks in Egypt,
from Pachomius, Basil and the writings of Cassian and Caesarius of
Aries. The abbeys did not as yet form congregations obeying the same
rule. Since they confined themselves to serving as a refuge for souls
wounded in the battle of life, they had no influence on the outside world.
They were not centres of the religious life radiating an influence beyond
the walls of the cloister and exercising a direct action upon the Church.
This type of monastic life was the creation of an Irish monk, Colum-
banus, who landed on the Continent about the year 585. He settled in
the kingdom of Guntram, and established, in the neighbourhood of the
Vosges, three monasteries, Annegray, Luxeuil (known in Roman times
for its medicinal baths), and Fontaines. These three houses were under
his direction and he gave them a common rule, which was distinguished
by its extreme severity. Obedience was required of the monk "even
unto death," according to the example of Christ, who was faithful to
ch. v. 10—2
## p. 148 (#180) ############################################
148 Columbanus and his Disciples
His Father even unto the death of the cross. The smallest peccadillo,
the least negligence in service, was punished with strokes of the rod.
The monk must have no possessions; he must never even use the word
"my. " This rule became common to all the other abbeys which were
founded subsequently by Columbanus himself or his disciples. For
Columbanus did not remain undisturbed within the walls of Luxeuil.
Twice he was torn from his refuge by Brunhild, whose orders he
refused to obey. He wandered through Champagne, and under his
influence a monastery arose at Rebais and convents for women at
Faremoutiers and Jouarre. Later he found his way to the shores of the
Lake of Constance in Alemannia where his disciple Callus founded the
monastery which bore his name, St Gall. He ended his days on
23 November 615 in Italy, where the monastery of Bobbio claims him
as its founder. Loyal disciples of his had reformed or founded in Gaul
a large number of monasteries; in no similar period were so many
founded as between the years 610 and 650. We can mention only the
most famous—Echternach, Prlim, Etival, Senones, Moyenmoutier, St
Mihiel-sur-Meuse, Malmedy and Stavelot. Many of these monasteries
received from one hundred to two hundred monks.
All these abbeys obeyed the same rule and were animated by the
same spirit; they formed a sort of congregation. In general they
declared themselves independent of the bishop—ad modum Luxoven-
sium. They chose their abbots and administered their property freely.
Moreover these monks did not confine themselves within the walls
of their monasteries; they desired to play a part in the Church.
St Wandrille claimed that the monks should not merely be allowed to
count the years which they spent in the cloister, but those also in which
they travelled in the service of God. The disciples of Columbanus
were preachers like himself; they proclaimed the necessity of penance,
the expiation of every mistake according to a fixed scale, as in the rule of
the monastery, and at this time penitentials began to be widely circulated.
The sense of sin became very keen among the people, and they multiplied
gifts to the Church in order to atone for their transgressions. The monks
also became missionaries; each abbey was, so to speak, the head-quarters
of a mission. St Gall completed the conversion of the Alemans, Eustasius
abbot of Luxeuil converted the heretical Warasci in the neighbourhood
of Besancon and went to preach the Gospel in Bavaria. But the very
number of these monasteries caused the defects of the rule of Colum-
banus to be quickly perceived. This rule did not provide for the
administration of the monastery; it did not prescribe, hour by hour,
the employments of the day; then, again, it was too severe, too crush-
ing, and often reduced men to despair. Now, about a hundred years
earlier (c. 529), Benedict of Nursia had given to the monastery of Monte
Cassino an admirable rule; this rule was not known in France until
after the death of Columbanus and the remarkable growth of monasteries
## p. 149 (#181) ############################################
Spread of the Benedictine Rule 149
connected with him, but once known its advantages were soon recognised.
All the questions which Columbanus had left unsettled here received a
practical solution. It regulated the relations of the abbot with the
monks and of the monks with one another; it prescribed the employ-
ments of the day and the hours to be divided between prayer, manual
work and study. Mystical speculations are left aside; there is something
of the legal spirit of ancient Rome in these clearly-drawn precepts.
The rule of St Benedict at first appeared as a rival alongside of that of
St Columbanus; but after the great ecclesiastical reform associated with
the name of Boniface it reigned alone; and a little later Louis the
son of Charles the Great imposed it (817) upon all the monasteries of
his realm. The impetuous torrent which Columbanus had let loose
was thus turned into a wide channel, in which its waters could flow
calmly.
Merovingian society was composed of remarkably definite gradations,
each man having his fixed price, so to speak, marked by the wergeld.
Merovingian Royalty 133
Rhine were not fitted to meet the needs of a great State like the
Frankish kingdom. A more complicated machinery became necessary.
In point of fact the Merovingian institutions form a new system
composed of elements partly Roman, partly Germanic; and the powerful
influence of Christianity must not be left out of account. These
elements were combined in varying proportions according to circumstances,
and according to the needs and even the caprices of men. Moreover
we must be careful not to think of the institutions as fixed and
unchangeable. They are in a state of continual evolution, and those
which obtained in Gaul in the time of Charles Martel are strikingly
different from those which we find in the time of Clovis. It is the
business of the historian to observe and to explain these changes.
During the whole of the Merovingian period the State is ruled by
kings. The kingly office is hereditary and the sons succeed the father
by an undisputed right. Each son inherits equally, and the kingdom
is divided up into as many parts as there are sons. Daughters, who
were excluded from possessing land, could not succeed to the kingdom.
The people never interfered in the choice of the sovereign. It was only
in rare cases that the great men elevated the king, to whom they had
given their allegiance, on the shield and carried him round the camp.
This was done by the Ripuarians when they put themselves under the
rule of Clovis, after the assassination of their king; and again by the
nobles of Chilperic's kingdom when they acknowledged Sigebert as their
sovereign. In the case of an ordinary succession there was no special
ceremony at which the king was invested with authority. Anointing
was not practised in the Merovingian period. The kings merely adopted
the custom of making, on their accession, a progress through their
dominions and imposing an oath of fidelity upon their subjects. This
is called regnum circumire. Sons who were minors were placed under
the guardianship of their nearest relative. At twelve years old they
were declared, according to the provisions of the Salic law, to be of age,
and were thenceforth supposed to govern in their own name.
The king's official title was Rex Francorum, irrespective of the
particular part of the country which he ruled. Some epithet such as
gforiosus or vir inluster was usually added. The kings were distinguished
by their long hair, and the locks of a prince who was to be deprived of
his status were shorn. Chlotar I and Childebert I asked Clotilda whether
she would rather see the hair of her grandsons, the sons of Clodomir,
cut short, or see them put to death. The lance was also a royal
emblem. Guntram presented a lance to Childebert II in token that he
recognised him as heir to his dominions. Clovis wore a diadem. All
these kings surrounded themselves with great magnificence and sat
in state upon a golden throne. When they entered a town they
threw money among the crowd, and their subjects greeted them with
acclamations in various languages. The king ruled over Franks and
## p. 134 (#166) ############################################
134 The power of the King
Gallo-Romans alike. He ruled the former by right of birth, in virtue
of having sprung from the family to which this privilege appertained; he
ruled the latter, not, as has sometimes been suggested, by a delegated
authority conferred upon Clovis by the Emperor Anastasius, but by
right of conquest. Before long, too, all distinction between Franks
and Gallo-Romans disappeared, and the king ruled all his subjects by
hereditary right. The power of the king was almost absolute. He
caused the ancient customary law of the barbarian peoples to be
formulated or revised, as in the case of the Salic law and the laws
of the Hipuarians and the Alemans. He did not of course create
law; the customs which regulate the relations of men existed prior
to the law and it would be difficult to refuse to recognise them. But
the king ordered these customs to be formulated, and gave them,
when formulated, a new authority. Further, he amended these laws,
abrogating provisions which were contrary to the spirit of Christianity
or the advance of civilisation. Alongside of the laws peculiar to each
of the races he made edicts applicable to all his subjects without
exception. The capitularies begin long before the reign of Charles
the Great; we have some which go back to the Merovingian period.
The king who makes the law is also the supreme judge. He has his
own court of justice, and all other courts derive their authority from
him. He can even, in virtue of his absolute power, transgress the
ordinary rules of justice and order persons who appear to him to be
dangerous to be put to death without trial. Childebert II, for example,
once invited one of his great men, named Magnovald, to his palace at
Metz under the pretext of shewing him some animal hunted by a pack
of hounds, and while he was standing at a window enjoying this
spectacle the king had him struck down by one of his men with an
axe. Anyone who committed a crime by order of the king was declared
immune from penalty. The king made war and peace at will, levied
taxes at his pleasure, appointed all functionaries and confirmed the
election of bishops. All the forces of the State were in his hands.
All his orders—they were known as banni—must be obeyed; the
violation of any of them was punished with the extremely heavy fine
of 60 gold solidi. All persons belonging to the king's household were
protected by a xcergeld three times as great as ordinary persons of
the same class.
Against a despotic use of this power neither the great men nor the
people possessed any remedy save that of revolt; and such revolts are
frequent in the Merovingian period. No small number of these kings
perished by the assassin's knife. One day one of his subjects told king
Guntram, " We know where the axe is which cut off the heads of thy
brothers, and its edge is still keen; ere long it shall cleave thy skull. "
At Paris, on another occasion, Guntram assembled the people in a
church and addressed them thus: "I adjure you, men and women here
## p. 135 (#167) ############################################
The Campus Martius and Campus Madius 136
present, to remain faithful to me; slay me not as ye slew my brethren.
Suffer me to live yet three years that I may bring up my nephews. If
I die you will perish also, for you will have no king strong enough to
defend you. 11 The government was thus a despotism tempered by
assassination.
At the beginning of the Merovingian period there was no council
having the right to advise the king and set limits to his power. The
assemblies which Tacitus describes disappeared after the invasions.
From time to time the great men assembled for a military expedition,
and endeavoured to impose their will upon the king. In 556 Chlotar I
led an expedition against the Saxons. They tendered their submission,
offering him successively the half of their property, their flocks,
herds and garments, and finally all they possessed. The king was
willing to accept this offer, but his warriors forced their way into his
tent and threatened to kill him if he did not lead them against the
enemy. He was obliged to yield to their insistence and met with a
severe defeat. But that is a case of violent action on the part of an
army in revolt, not of advice given by an assembly regularly consulted.
Such assemblies do not appear until the close of the Merovingian period,
and then as a new creation. The bishops always made a practice of
meeting in council, and at these meetings they passed canons which
were authoritative for all Christians. During the civil wars the great
laymen also began to meet in order to confer upon their common
interests, and the bishops took part in these assemblies also. Each of
the three kingdoms—tria regno as they are called by the chroniclers—
had therefore its assemblies of this kind. The sovereign was obliged to
reckon with them, and consulted them on general matters. Subsequently
when the Carolingians had again united the kingdom, there was only
one assembly. It was summoned regularly in the month of March and
became known as the field of March—campus martins. The great
men came thither in arms, and if war was decided on they took the field
immediately against the enemy. Before long, however, as the cavalry
had great difficulty in finding fodder in March, the assembly was
transferred, about the middle of the seventh century, to the month of
May, when there was grass for the horses in the meadows, and the
campus martius became the campus madius. Those who were summoned
to this assembly brought to the king gifts in money or in kind,
which became the principal source of revenue of the State; they tried
persons accused of high treason, and before them were promulgated the
capitularies. The assembly was thus at once an army, a council and
a legal tribunal. The Carolingians made it the most important part
of the machinery of government.
The king was aided in the work of administration by numerous
officials who both held posts in the royal household and performed ad-
ministrative functions in the State. We may mention the Referendaries
## p. 136 (#168) ############################################
136 The Mayor of the Palace
who drew up and signed diplomas in the name of the king; the Counts
of the Palace, who directed the procedure before the royal tribunal; the
Cubicularies who had charge of the treasuries in which the wealth of the
king was laid up; the Seneschals, who managed (among other things)
the royal table; the Marshals, who had constables (comites stabuli) under
their orders, and were Masters of the Horse, etc. Among these officials
the foremost place was gradually taken by the Mayor of the Palace,
whose office was peculiar to the Merovingian courts. Landed proprietors
were in the habit of putting their various domains under the charge
of majores, mayors; and a major domus, placed over these various mayors,
supervised all the estates, and all the revenues from them were paid in
to him. The Mayor of the Palace was at first the overseer of all the
royal estates, and was also charged with maintaining discipline in the
royal household. Being always in close relation with the king, he soon
acquired political functions. If the king was a minor, it was his duty
as nutrkins to watch over his education. The dukes and counts, who
came from time to time to the palace, fell under his authority, and
before long he began to send them orders when they were in their
administrative districts; and he acquired an influence in their appoint-
ment. As the whole of the administration centred in the palace he
became in the end the head of the administration. He presided over
the royal court of justice and often commanded the army. In the
struggle of the great men against the royal house one of the points for
which they contended was the right to impose upon the sovereign a
mayor of the palace of their choice; and each division of Gaul (Neustria,
Burgundy and Austrasia) desired to have its own mayor. We have seen
that a single family, descended from Arnulf and Pepin I, succeeded in
getting the office of Mayor of the Palace into their own hands and
rendered it hereditary. From 687-751 the Mayors of this family
were the real rulers of the Frankish kingdom, and in 751 it was strong
enough to seize the crown.
The court was frequented by a considerable number of persons. The
young sons of the nobles were brought up there, being " commended"
to the care of one or other of the great officials of the palace. They
there served their apprenticeship to civil or military life, and might
look forward to receiving later some important post. The officials
engaged in local administration came frequently to the palace to receive
instructions. Other great men resided there in the hope of receiving
some favour. Besides these laymen, many ecclesiastics were there to be
met with, bishops coming from their dioceses, clergy of the royal chapel,
clergy in search of a benefice. All these persons were optimates of the
king, his faithful servants, his leudes, that is to say " his people" {leute).
A distinctive position among them was held by the autrustiones, who
were the descendants of the Germanic comites. They formed the king's
body-guard, and usually ate at the royal table. They took an oath to
## p. 137 (#169) ############################################
Local Administration 137
protect the king in all circumstances. They were often sent to defend
frontier fortresses, and thus formed a kind of small standing army.
They were also charged with important missions.
The kingdom was divided into districts known as pagi. In earlier
times the pagi corresponded to the former Gallo-Roman "cities," but
in the northern part of the kingdom their number was increased. At
the head of the pagus was the count, comes—in Teutonic graf. The
king appointed the counts at his own pleasure, and could choose them
from any class of society, sometimes naming a mere freedman. Leu-
dastes, the Count of Tours who quarrelled so violently with Bishop
Gregory, had been born on an estate belonging to the royal treasury
in the island of Rhe, and had been employed as a slave first in the
kitchen, and afterwards in the bakery of King Charibert. Having run
away several times he had been marked by having his ears clipped.
Chariberfs wife had only lately freed him when the king appointed him
Count of Tours. The counts were chosen not only from all classes
of society, but from the various races of the kingdom. Among those
who are known to us there are more Gallo-Romans than Franks.
Within his district the count exercised almost every kind of authority.
He policed it, and arrested criminals; he held a court of justice, he
levied taxes and made disbursements for public purposes, paying over
the residue each year into the royal treasury; he executed all the king's
commands, and took under his protection the widow and the orphan.
He was all-powerful alike for good and ill, and unfortunately the
Merovingian counts, greedy of gain and ill-supervised, did chiefly evil:
Leudastes of Tours was no isolated exception among them. To assist
them in their numerous duties the counts appointed "vicars. " The
vicar represented the count during his frequent absences; in some cases
he administered a part of the district, while the count administered the
remainder. Before long there were several vicars to each county and
it was regularly subdivided into districts called vicariates. The
"hundred-man" (centenarius) or thunginus of the Salic law was
identified with the vicar and the terms became synonymous.
Often it was necessary to concentrate in the hands of a single ad-
ministrator authority over several counties. In this case the king placed
over the counts a duke. The duke was principally a military leader; he
commanded the army, and the counts within his jurisdiction had to
march under his orders. The duchy did not form a permanent administra-
tive district like the county; it usually disappeared along with the
circumstances that gave rise to the appointment. In certain districts
however, in Champagne, in Alsace and beyond the Jura on the shores of
the Lake of Neuchatel, there were permanent duchies. In the kingdom
of Burgundy we find the title patricius as that of an official who
governed the part of Provence which was attached to Burgundy, and
also appears to have held the chief military command in that kingdom
## p. 138 (#170) ############################################
138 Barbarian Law
The official who held the command in that part of Provence, which was
a dependency of Austrasia, bore the title of rector. These titles were
doubtless borrowed from the Ostrogoths, who were the masters of
Provence from 508 to 536.
It remains to notice the organisation of justice, finance and the army.
The races of Merovingian Gaul were not all under one law. Each race
had its own ; the principle was that the system of law varied according to
the race of the persons who were to be judged. The Gallo-Romans
continued to be judged according to the Roman law, especially the
compilation made among the Visigoths and known under the name of
the Breviarium Alarici. As it was in the region south of the Loire
that the Gallo-Romans were least mixed with barbarian elements,
it was in Aquitaine that the Roman law longest maintained its
hold. The Burgundians and the Visigoths had already their own
systems of law at the time when their kingdoms were overthrown by
the Franks, and the men of these races continued to be judged by these
laws throughout the whole of the Merovingian period. The Merovingian
kings caused the customary laws of the other barbarian peoples to be
preserved in writing. In all probability the earliest redaction of the
Salic law goes back to Clovis, and is doubtless to be placed in the last
years of his reign, after his victory over the Visigoths, 507-511. We
cannot place it earlier, for the following reasons. The Germanic peoples
did not use the Latin language until after they had become mixed with
the Gallo-Roman population; in the scale of fines the monetary system
of solidi is used, which only makes its appearance in the Merovingian
period; further, the Salic law contains imitations of the Visigothic laws
of Euric (466-484); finally, it is evident that the Franks are masters
of the Visigoths, since they provide for the case of men dwelling beyond
the Loire—trans Ligerivi—being cited before the tribunals. On the
other hand, it is not possible to place the redaction much later, since
the law is not yet leavened with the Christian spirit; only in later redac-
tions does Christian influence appear. Similarly, there are incorporated in
these later redactions capitularies emanating from the immediate successors
of Clovis. The law of the Ripuarians, even in its most ancient portions,
is later than the reign of Clovis; that of the Alemans does not appear
to be earlier than the commencement of the eighth century, or that
of the Bavarians earlier than 744-748. Other laws, like those of the
Saxons and Thuringians, were not reduced to writing until the time of
Charles the Great. These collections of laws must not be regarded as
codes. ) The subjects are not co-ordinated; there are few rules of civil
law; they are chiefly occupied with scales of fines and rules of procedure.
Justice was administered in the smaller cases by the centeniers
or vicars, in the more important by the counts. Both classes of
officials held regular courts called in Latin placita, in Germanic mall or
malberg. The sittings of these courts took place at fixed periods and
## p. 139 (#171) ############################################
Justice 139
the dates were known beforehand. The vicars and counts were assisted by
freemen known as rachimburgi or boni homines who sat with the officials,
assisted them with their counsels, and intervened in the debates, and
it was they who fixed the amount of the fines to be paid by the guilty
party. At first the rachimburgi varied in number, before long however
the presence of seven of them was requisite in order that a judgment
might be valid. The rachimburgi were notables who gave a portion of
their time to the public service; Charles the Great made a far-reaching
reform when he substituted for them regular officials trained in legal
knowledge, known as scabini. The counts also made progresses through
their districts, received petitions from their subjects and gave immediate
judgment without observing the strict rules of procedure. Above the
count's court of justice was the king's. It was held in one of the royal
villae and presided over by the king, or, later on, by the Mayor of the
Palace. The president of the court was assisted by "auditors,'" more or
less numerous according to the importance of the case; these were
bishops, counts or other great personages present at the palace. The
king could call up before his court any cases that he pleased. He judged
regularly the high officials, men placed under his mundium, cases of
treason and cases in which the royal treasury was interested. He
received appeals from the sentences delivered in the count's court. The
king's court also exercised jurisdiction in certain matters of beneficence;
before it the slave was freed by the ceremony of manumission known
as per denarium, and manned persons made mutual donation of goods.
In addition to his regular jurisdiction the king made a practice of
travelling through his realm, hearing the complaints of his subjects,
and redressing their grievances without waiting for all the delays of
legal procedure. The Merovingian legal tribunals endeavoured to
introduce some degree of order into a state of society in which
crimes were rife, and to substitute the regular action of law for private
vengeance and family feud. Unfortunately they did not succeed.
Under the Merovingian kings the system of taxation established by
the Romans gradually fell into disuse. This is not difficult to explain
when we remember that this fiscal system was extremely complicated,
and that the kings had really very little to provide for in the way
of disbursements. The officials received no salaries, but had the
enjoyment of the revenues of certain villae belonging to the royal
treasury. When they went on circuit in the service of the king,
private persons were obliged to furnish them with food, lodging and
means of transport. The army cost the king nothing, for his warriors
had to provide their own equipment. The administration of justice
was a source of revenue to the king in the shape of the confiscations
and fines imposed by the courts. His expenses were limited to the
maintenance of his court and the donations made to the great men
and the churches, and these expenses were covered by his different
## p. 140 (#172) ############################################
140 Taxation
revenues, which came chiefly from the royal domains. The kings became
possessed of numerous viUae scattered over the various districts of Gaul,
and these properties were constantly augmented by purchases, donations
and advantageous exchanges. It is true that at the close of the
Merovingian epoch the kings, in order to conciliate the great men,
distributed among them a large number of these royal estates, and the
treasury became impoverished.
In the second place, the kings levied, at least at the beginning
of the period, a number of taxes direct and indirect, which were
adaptations of the former Roman imposts. They raised customs dues
(telonea) on the goods which passed through certain towns, others on
goods passing along the high-roads, by a public bridge, or trans-
ported by river, and on goods exposed for sale in markets. But these
dues were often made over to the churches, abbeys or private persons.
Sometimes also the king levied a tax on men who were not of free
condition. This was the old capitatio humana. Those who were liable
to it were inscribed in a public register known as the polyptychum. But
this impost gradually lost its importance. The queen Bathildis, who
lived at the period when Ebroin was Mayor of the Palace, and was
herself a former Breton slave, forbade the levying of this tax, because
parents killed their children rather than pay for them. The tax became
a customary due, of which the incidence was limited to certain persons;
traces of it are found in the time of Charles the Great. Similarly the
land tax, capitatio terrena, brought in less and less. Smitten by fear of
the divine wrath Chilperic himself burned the registers in order to win
back the favour of God. The capitatio terrena came to be limited to
certain lands, as the capitatio humana was to certain persons. At the
end of the Merovingian period it became necessary to create new imposts,
and then the warriors were required to bring to the spring assembly
gifts nominally voluntary, which soon became compulsory. The minting
of coinage was in the earlier part of the period another source of
revenue. For a long time the Prankish kings confined themselves to
imitating the imperial currency; Theodebert was the first to place his
name and effigy on the gold solidi. But his example was little followed.
Down to the seventh century coinage was minted in Gaul bearing the
names of former Emperors like Anastasius, Justin and Justinian, whose
types became permanent, or of contemporary Emperors like Heraclius
(610-641). From the middle of the seventh century onward we find
no coins bearing an effigy. On one side we find simply a man's name
—that of the monetarius—on the other that of the locality. More
than 800 local names are found on the Merovingian coins. Evidently
coining had become almost entirely free again; minters, provided with
a royal authorisation, went from place to place, converting ingots
into specie. Charles the Great however resumed the exclusive right of
coining.
## p. 141 (#173) ############################################
The Army 141
The composition of the army varied during the Merovingian period.
The army of Clovis with which he conquered Gaul was an army of
barbarians, to which some Roman soldiers, encamped in the country, had
joined themselves. These Roman troops long preserved their name,
their accoutrements, their insignia. Later it seems clear that certain of
the barbarian tribes were liable to special military obligations, and in
case of military expeditions were the first to take the field. The armies
which descended from Gaul upon Italy in the sixth century were principally
composed of Burgundian warriors.
The Saxons established near Bayeux,
the Taifali, whose name is found in the Poitivin district of Tiffauges,
were for long distinctly military colonies whose members took the field
at the first alarm of war. But soon the Gallo-Romans, too, find a place
in the armies. Some of them doubtless asked leave to join an expedition
which was likely to bring back spoil; thenceforward their descendants
were under obligation to render military service. Others were obliged
by the count or the duke to equip themselves, and in this way a precedent
was created which bound their descendants. Thus certain free persons,
whether Gallo-Romans or barbarians, are subject to the obligation
of military service, just as certain persons are subject to the capitatio
humana and certain lands to the capitatio terrena. These persons were
obliged to arm themselves and march whenever the king summoned
them to do so. But they were rarely all summoned at one time; the
king first called on those who lived in the neighbourhood of the scene
of war. If it was for an expedition against Germany he summoned the
fighting-men of Austrasia, for a war against Brittany he summoned the
men of Tours, Poitiers, Bayeux, Le Mans and Angers. All the men
thus mustered served at their own expense, and remained on campaign
all summer; in winter they returned to their homes, to be recalled,
if need were, the following spring. Charles the Great made a great re-
form in the military organisation. He based the obligation to military
service upon property, the principle being that everyone who possessed
a certain number of mansi was obliged to serve. The number varied
from year to year according to the number of fighting-men required.
We thus see how these institutions were incessantly transformed by
the influence of circumstances and by human action. Roman and
Germanic elements were combined in them in various proportions, and
new elements were added to them. The Merovingian institutions thus
came to form a new system; and from them arise by a series of transfor-
mations the institutions of Charles the Great.
Only the Church, which connects itself with the Gallo-Roman Church,
presents an appearance of greater fixity, since the Church claims to hold
always the same dogmas and to be founded on stable principles. Never-
theless even the Church underwent an evolution along with the society
which it endeavoured to guide. We shall give our attention successively
to the secular Church and the religious Orders.
## p. 142 (#174) ############################################
142 Organisation of the Church
No one could become a member of the secular clergy without the
permission of the king. Anyone who desired the clerical office must also
give certain guarantees of his moral fitness. His conduct must be
upright and pure, and he must possess a certain amount of education.
To have married a second time, or to have married a widow, debarred
a man from the clerical office, and those who were married must break
off all relations with their wives. Clerics were distinguished from laymen
by their tonsure, they wore a special costume, the habitus clericalis, and
they were judged according to the Roman Law. Each cleric was
attached to a special church, which he ought not to leave without the
written permission of his bishop; the councils impose the severest
penalties upon priests wandering at large (gyrovagi).
The chief of the clergy was the bishop, who was placed over a
diocese—parochia, as it was called in the Merovingian period. Theoreti-
cally there were as many bishops as there had been civitates in Roman
Gaul, but the principle was not rigorously carried out. A number of
the small cities mentioned in the Notitia Galliarum had no bishop in
the Merovingian period, for their territory was united to that of a
neighbouring city. This was the case in regard to the civitas Rigo-
magensium (Thorame) and the civitas Scdinensium (Castellane) in the
province of the Alpes Maritimae. On the other hand some of the
cities were divided up. St Remigius established a bishopric at Laon
which was not a Gallo-Roman city. Similarly a bishopric was created
at Nevers. Out of the civitas of Nimes were carved the bishoprics of
Uzes, Agde and Maguelonne; out of Narbonne that of Carcassonne;
out of Nyons that of Belley. This creation of new bishoprics was due
to the progress of Christianity. Certain bishoprics which the Mero-
vingian kings created in order to make the boundaries of the dioceses
coincide with those of their share of the kingdom—such as that of
Melun, formed out of that of Sens, and of Chateaudun, formed out of
that of Chartres—had only a transient existence.
Theoretically the bishops were elected by the clergy and people of the
city. The election took place in the cathedral, under the presidency of
the metropolitan or of a bishop of the province; the faithful acclaimed
the candidate of their choice, who immediately took possession of the
episcopal chair. But under the Merovingians it is observable that the
kings acquire little by little an influence in the elections. The sovereign
made known his choice to the electors; in many cases he directly
designated the prelate. He might, of course, choose the man most
worthy of the post, but usually he was content to be bribed. "At this
time," says Gregory of Tours, "that seed of iniquity began to bear fruit
that the episcopal office was sold by the kings or bought by the clerics. '1
In face of these pretentions of the monarchy the first councils of the
Merovingian period, those of 533 and 538, did not fail to assert the
ancient canonical rights. Before long however the bishops saw that they
## p. 143 (#175) ############################################
Appointment of Bishops 143
must take things as they were and make the best of them. They were
prepared to recognise the intervention of the king as legitimate, while
insisting that the king should not sell the episcopate and should observe
the canonical regulations. "None shall buy the episcopal dignity for
money," runs the pronouncement of the Fifth Council of Orleans, of 549;
"the bishop shall, with the king's consent and according to the choice of
the clergy and the people, be consecrated by the metropolitan and the
other bishops of the province. 11 These principles were recalled at the
famous council of 614, but without the mention of the king: "On the
decease of a bishop there shall be appointed in his place whoever shall
have been elected by the metropolitan, the bishops of the province, and
the clergy and people of the city, without hindrance and without gift of
money. 11 Chlotar II in the edict confirming these canons modified the
tenor of this article. While recognising the right of election of the
persons interested, he maintained the right of intervention of the prince.
"If the elected person is worthy, he shall be consecrated, upon the order
of the prince. 11 From that time forward the established procedure was
as follows. On the death of a prelate the citizens and the people of the
civitas assemble, under the presidency of the metropolitan and the other
bishops of the province. They choose the successor and make known to
the king the act of election—consensus civium pro episcopatu. If the
king approves, he transmits to the metropolitan the order to consecrate
the bishop-elect, and invites the other bishops of the province to be
present at the ceremony. If he is dissatisfied with the election, he
requests the electors to choose another candidate, and sometimes he
himself nominates him.
The power of the bishop was very great. All the clergy of the
diocese were under his control, and in the episcopal city a certain
number of clerics lived in the bishop's house and ate at his table.
Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, laid down about the middle of the eighth
century a very strict rule for these clergy, requiring them to live as
a community: this was the origin of secular canons. Throughout
the whole diocese the bishop reserved to himself certain religious
functions. He alone had power to consecrate altars and churches,
to bless the holy oils, to confirm the young and to ordain clergy.
All other functions he delegated to the archpriests, whose appoint-
ment was either made or sanctioned by him. Only these archpriests
had the right to baptise, and at the great festivals they alone had
the right to say mass. The district under the authority of the
archpriest soon came to be considered as a smaller parochia within
the larger parochia. The archpriests were generally placed in the
vici, the large country-towns. Under them were the clerics who served
the oratories of the villae; these clerics were presented by the proprietors
of the villae for institution by the bishop. The bishop was assisted in
his work by an archdeacon who exercised oversight among the clergy
## p. 144 (#176) ############################################
144 Power of the Bishop
and judged contentions arising among them. It was the bishop, too,
who administered Church property, and this property was of large
extent. Never were donations to the Church more abundant than in
the Merovingian period. The benefactors of the Church were, first,
the bishops themselves: Bertramn of Mans left to his see thirty-five
estates. Then there were the kings, who hoped to atone for their
crimes by pious donations, and rich laymen who to provide for the
salvation of their souls despoiled their heirs. All property acquired
by the Church was, according to the canons of the councils, inalienable.
The Church always received and never gave back. In addition to
landed property, the Church received from the kings certain financial
privileges, such as exemption from customs-dues and market-tax. Often,
too, the sovereign made over to the Church the right to levy dues
at specified places. Further, since Moses had granted to the tribe of
Levi, that is to say to the priests, the right of levying tithes upon
the fruits of the earth and the increase of the cattle, the Merovingian
Church claimed a similar contribution, and threatened with excom-
munication anyone who should fail to pay it. The tithe was generally
paid by the faithful, but it was not made obligatory by the State. It
only acquired that character in the time of Charles the Great. All this
property was theoretically in the charge of the bishop of the diocese.
He was required to divide it into four parts, one for the maintenance
of the bishop and his household, one for the payment of the clergy
of his diocese, one for the poor, and one for the building and repair
of churches. Little by little, however, property became attached to
secondary parishes and even to mere oratories.
The bishop had great influence within his city as well as in the
State. In the city he acted as an administrator and carried out works
of public utility. Sidonius of Mainz built an embankment along
the Rhine, Felix of Nantes straightened the course of the Loire, Didier
of Cahors constructed aqueducts. The bishop thus took the place of
the former municipal magistrates, whose office had died out; he received
the town to govern (ad gubernandurn); by the end of the Merovingian
period certain cities are already episcopal cities. The bishop maintains
the cause of his parishioners before the officials of the State, and even
before the king himself; he obtains for them alleviation of imposts and
all kinds of favours. The bishops1 protection was especially extended
to a class of persons who formed as it were their clientage—widows,
orphans, the poor, slaves, and captives. The poor of the city were
formed into a regularly organised body, their names were inscribed on
the registers of the Church, and they were known as the matriculnrii.
The bishops and the clergy in general enjoyed important legal
privileges. From 614 onwards the clergy could only be judged on
criminal charges by their bishops; the bishops themselves could only
be cited before councils of the Church. But, still more important,
## p. 145 (#177) ############################################
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 145
laymen were glad to make the bishop the arbiter of their differences;
they knew that they would find in him a judge more just and better
instructed than the count. The Church could also give protection to
malefactors; the criminal, once he had crossed the sacred threshold,
could not be torn thence; it was commonly believed that frightful
chastisements had smitten those who attempted to violate the rights of
sanctuary.
It would be easy to shew how grossly immoral was the Frankish
race—the history of Gregory of Tours is filled with the record of
horrible crimes—but at the same time they were profoundly credulous
and superstitious. On Sundays, at the sound of the bells, they rushed
in crowds to the churches. They frequently received the communion,
and it was a terrible punishment to be deprived of it. Apart from
the Church services the Franks were constantly at prayer. They
believed not only in God but in the saints, whom they continually
invoked, and they believed in their intervention in the affairs of this
world. They were eager to procure relics, which had healing power.
The Church had in its control sacraments, religion, healing virtue,
and the* bishop held the first place in the Church; he was felt to be
invested with supernatural power, and the faithful held him in awe.
Above the bishop was the metropolitan. With a few rare excep-
tions, the metropolitan had his seat at the chief town of the Roman
province. In the course of the fifth century, the province of Vienne
was cut in two: there was one metropolitan at Vienne, another at
Aries. The latter annexed to his jurisdiction the provinces of the
Alpes Maritimae (Embrun) and of Narbonensis II (Aix). Thence-
forward twelve metropolitan sees were distinguished: Vienne, Aries,
Treves, Rheims, Lyons (to which was united Besancon), Rouen, Tours,
Sens, Bourges, Bordeaux, Eauze and Narbonne. The metropolitan
had the right to convoke provincial councils, and presided at them.
He exercised a certain oversight over the bishops of the province, and
it was to him that it naturally fell to act as judge among them.
His title was simply that of bishop: the title archbishop does not
appear until quite the end of the Merovingian period. The authority
of the metropolitans was subordinate to that of the Frankish Church as
a whole, which had as its organs the national councils. These councils
were always convoked by the king, who exercised much influence in
their deliberations. We have the canons of numerous councils held
between 511 and 614, which give us a mass of information regarding
ecclesiastical organisation and discipline. These canons are not much
concerned with doctrine; they recall the clergy to their duties, safe-
guard the property of the churches against the covetousness of laymen,
and censure pagan customs such as augury and sortes sanctorum.
The Frankish Church honoured the Papacy and regarded the bishop
of Rome as the successor of St Peter, but the Papacy had no
C. MED. H. VOL. II. CH. V. 10
## p. 146 (#178) ############################################
146 Relations with the Papacy
effective power over this Church, except perhaps in the province of
Aries. Reading the work of Gregory of Tours, which is so full of life
and reflects so exactly the passions and ideas of the time, we do not find
that the Pope plays any part in the narrative. The bishops are ap-
pointed without his intervention and they govern their churches without
entering into relations with him. At the end of the sixth century, as
we saw earlier, Gregory the Great maintained an active correspondence
with Brunhild. He gives her advice, and his advice was, without
doubt, listened to with respect. The pope takes no direct action, but
he urges the queen to act. It is not difficult to see however that he
was quite ready to supersede Brunhild in the task of directing the
Frankish Church; he would like to make Candidus, who was the
administrator of the papal patrimony in Provence, a kind of legate
beyond the Alps. There can be no doubt that Gregory I, had he lived,
would have succeeded by his able policy in re-establishing in Gaul the
papal authority as it had been exercised by Leo I before the fall of the
Empire. But after the death of Gregory in 604 relations between
Rome and the Franks became very rare for more than a century.
There are only one or two instances of such relations to which we can
point. Pope Martin I (649-655), for example, requested the sons of
Dagobert to assemble councils in order to combat the Monothelete
heresy, which was supported by the Byzantine Emperors. Relations
were not effectively resumed until the eighth century, but they were then
to have an immense influence upon general history.
We have already seen how, in their opposition to the Emperors of
Constantinople, the popes sought the aid of the Mayors of the Palace,
and how this alliance was concluded. We have also noticed, in passing,
how Boniface brought under the authority of the Holy See the Germanic
races whom he converted to the Christian faith. But, besides this, with
the aid of Carloman and Pepin (after 739), Boniface accomplished another
task. After the death of Dagobert the Frankish Church had fallen
into profound decadence, and Charles Martel had sunk it still lower by
conferring bishoprics and abbeys on rude and ignorant laymen. These
bishops and abbots never wore clerical vestments, but always sword
and baldric. They dissipated the property of the Church and sought
to bequeath their offices to their bastards. For eighty years no
council was called. Every vestige of education and civilisation was in
danger of being swamped. A complete reform of the Church was
necessary in the interests of society itself. To Carloman and Pepin
belongs the merit of having perceived this, and they entrusted this great
work to Boniface. Once more a series of councils was held, in the
dominions of Carloman as well as in those of Pepin; there was even a
general council of the whole kingdom in March 745 at Estinnes in
Hainault. The ecclesiastical hierarchy was restored, measures were
taken against priests of scandalous life; the clergy were encouraged to
## p. 147 (#179) ############################################
Monasteries 147
become better educated. Above all, this reformed clergy was placed
under the authority of the Papacy; the road to Rome became familiar
to them. On the one hand there was a political alliance between the
popes and the Mayors of the Palace; on the other relations were renewed
between the clergy of what had been Gaul and the Papacy. Thus was
recovered the idea of Christian unity in one sole Church under the
authority of the Pope, as the successor of the apostle Peter.
We have hitherto spoken chiefly of the secular Church, but in even
a summary account of the Church of the Merovingian period a place
must be found for the monasteries. As early as the fifth century, before
the conquest of Clovis, famous abbeys had arisen upon Gallic soil.
Such were Liguge near Poitiers, Marmoutier and St Martin in the
territory of Tours, St Honorat on one of the islands of Lerins, St
Victor at Marseilles. In the time of Clovis Caesarius founded in the
town of Aries one monastery for men and another for women. Under
Clovis and his successors monasteries rapidly increased in number.
Childebert I founded that of St Vincent, close to the gates of Paris,
afterwards to be known as St Germain-des-Pres; Chlotar I founded
St Medard of Soissons, while Radegund, the Thuringian wife whom
he had repudiated, built Ste Croix of Poitiers. To Guntram is due
the foundation of St Marcel of Chalon-sur-Saone, and the extension
of St Benignus of Dijon. Private persons followed the example of
the kings. Aridius, a friend of Gregory of Tours, founded on one
of his estates the monastery which from his name was known as
St Yrieix. All these monasteries were placed under the charge of
the bishop, who visited them and if necessary recalled the monks to
their duty. At the head of the household was placed an abbot,
generally chosen by the founder or his descendants, but in some cases
elected by the community, subject to the bishop's confirmation. Each
monastery was independent of the rest, and had a rule—regula—of its
own, based upon principles borrowed from the early monks in Egypt,
from Pachomius, Basil and the writings of Cassian and Caesarius of
Aries. The abbeys did not as yet form congregations obeying the same
rule. Since they confined themselves to serving as a refuge for souls
wounded in the battle of life, they had no influence on the outside world.
They were not centres of the religious life radiating an influence beyond
the walls of the cloister and exercising a direct action upon the Church.
This type of monastic life was the creation of an Irish monk, Colum-
banus, who landed on the Continent about the year 585. He settled in
the kingdom of Guntram, and established, in the neighbourhood of the
Vosges, three monasteries, Annegray, Luxeuil (known in Roman times
for its medicinal baths), and Fontaines. These three houses were under
his direction and he gave them a common rule, which was distinguished
by its extreme severity. Obedience was required of the monk "even
unto death," according to the example of Christ, who was faithful to
ch. v. 10—2
## p. 148 (#180) ############################################
148 Columbanus and his Disciples
His Father even unto the death of the cross. The smallest peccadillo,
the least negligence in service, was punished with strokes of the rod.
The monk must have no possessions; he must never even use the word
"my. " This rule became common to all the other abbeys which were
founded subsequently by Columbanus himself or his disciples. For
Columbanus did not remain undisturbed within the walls of Luxeuil.
Twice he was torn from his refuge by Brunhild, whose orders he
refused to obey. He wandered through Champagne, and under his
influence a monastery arose at Rebais and convents for women at
Faremoutiers and Jouarre. Later he found his way to the shores of the
Lake of Constance in Alemannia where his disciple Callus founded the
monastery which bore his name, St Gall. He ended his days on
23 November 615 in Italy, where the monastery of Bobbio claims him
as its founder. Loyal disciples of his had reformed or founded in Gaul
a large number of monasteries; in no similar period were so many
founded as between the years 610 and 650. We can mention only the
most famous—Echternach, Prlim, Etival, Senones, Moyenmoutier, St
Mihiel-sur-Meuse, Malmedy and Stavelot. Many of these monasteries
received from one hundred to two hundred monks.
All these abbeys obeyed the same rule and were animated by the
same spirit; they formed a sort of congregation. In general they
declared themselves independent of the bishop—ad modum Luxoven-
sium. They chose their abbots and administered their property freely.
Moreover these monks did not confine themselves within the walls
of their monasteries; they desired to play a part in the Church.
St Wandrille claimed that the monks should not merely be allowed to
count the years which they spent in the cloister, but those also in which
they travelled in the service of God. The disciples of Columbanus
were preachers like himself; they proclaimed the necessity of penance,
the expiation of every mistake according to a fixed scale, as in the rule of
the monastery, and at this time penitentials began to be widely circulated.
The sense of sin became very keen among the people, and they multiplied
gifts to the Church in order to atone for their transgressions. The monks
also became missionaries; each abbey was, so to speak, the head-quarters
of a mission. St Gall completed the conversion of the Alemans, Eustasius
abbot of Luxeuil converted the heretical Warasci in the neighbourhood
of Besancon and went to preach the Gospel in Bavaria. But the very
number of these monasteries caused the defects of the rule of Colum-
banus to be quickly perceived. This rule did not provide for the
administration of the monastery; it did not prescribe, hour by hour,
the employments of the day; then, again, it was too severe, too crush-
ing, and often reduced men to despair. Now, about a hundred years
earlier (c. 529), Benedict of Nursia had given to the monastery of Monte
Cassino an admirable rule; this rule was not known in France until
after the death of Columbanus and the remarkable growth of monasteries
## p. 149 (#181) ############################################
Spread of the Benedictine Rule 149
connected with him, but once known its advantages were soon recognised.
All the questions which Columbanus had left unsettled here received a
practical solution. It regulated the relations of the abbot with the
monks and of the monks with one another; it prescribed the employ-
ments of the day and the hours to be divided between prayer, manual
work and study. Mystical speculations are left aside; there is something
of the legal spirit of ancient Rome in these clearly-drawn precepts.
The rule of St Benedict at first appeared as a rival alongside of that of
St Columbanus; but after the great ecclesiastical reform associated with
the name of Boniface it reigned alone; and a little later Louis the
son of Charles the Great imposed it (817) upon all the monasteries of
his realm. The impetuous torrent which Columbanus had let loose
was thus turned into a wide channel, in which its waters could flow
calmly.
Merovingian society was composed of remarkably definite gradations,
each man having his fixed price, so to speak, marked by the wergeld.
