France . d, through the riseof the great Carolingian family, in restoring the royalauthority and in founding a new dynasty. From the death of Sigebert the line of Merovingianslost vigour and authority. The name of Dagobert merits some mention, for he was a King who atleast knew how to attempt to check the dismembermentof the Frankish kingdom by policy and arms, and whoby his victories, administration of justice, legislation, andpatronage of the Church, if not by his private life, earned,in contrast with his predecessors and successors, much ofthe praise which has been showered upon him
France . d, through the riseof the great Carolingian family, in restoring the royalauthority and in founding a new dynasty. From the death of Sigebert the line of Merovingianslost vigour and authority. The name of Dagobert merits some mention, for he was a King who atleast knew how to attempt to check the dismembermentof the Frankish kingdom by policy and arms, and whoby his victories, administration of justice, legislation, andpatronage of the Church, if not by his private life, earned,in contrast with his predecessors and successors, much ofthe praise which has been showered upon him (died 639).For the rest, premature marriage and precocious de-bauchery quickly sapped the vitality of the Merovingians. PUPPET-KINGS 29 King after King descended to the grave, dying of old ageat twenty-five, and leaving sons begotten at fifteen tosucceed them. They became mere figureheads, retain-ing by virtue of the long hair and flowing beards, whichwere the insignia of the Frankish monarchy, something. MAP OF GAUL. Showing the new divisions—Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Brittany—which, under the Franks, took the place of the Roman provinces. of a sacrosanct character, as the personified Luck of theState, whilst the power which slipped from the handsof these sluggard or puppet Kings—Bois Faineants—passed to the Mayors of the Palace (Major Domus). All the resources and power of administration of the 30 FRANCE kingdom were lodged in these oflficers of the royalhousehold. Thej-acted as the Representatives, then theGovernors, at length almost as the Regents, of these feeblemonarchs in Neustria,Burg\mdy, and Austrasia. They werealso the chiefs of the new nobility. Once a year the King,clothed in royal robes, with his long fair hair streamingdown his shoulders, like Absalom, might arrive in achariot drawn by oxen to preside over the annualassembly of his people upon the Champ de Mars, andthere, seated upon a golden throne, speak a few wordsto his subjects. But for the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1913
