Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/494

Rh Changes in Ger- many. Pranks. Sali : code. 476 century in search of new homes ; and the Burgundians soon conquered from the I-imans the whole of the valley of the Rhone, in which they thenceforth settled. The Vandals and the Suevi went on to Spain, the latter remaining there, but the former crossing over to Africa, where they main- tained an independent kingdom for upwards of a century. Me-:mv.'hile, in a pwtion of Rinetia a new confederation had been forming itself, the l‘»-avarians, who were probably in part descendants of the .[-arcomauni and also included some of the bands which had been driven westwards by the Huns. When the latter had settled themselves in the Gothic lands, the E_1st Goths continued subject to them; but the West Goths crossed the Danube into Roman terri- tory, and afterwards, under their bold chief Al-aric, pene- trated into Italy and seized Rome itself. In the 5th century they conquered the southern part of Gaul, and nearly the whole of Spain, shutting up the Suevi, who had preceded them, in the small part of the peninsula which new forms Portugal. In the great battle with Attila, in which the destinies of civilization were decided, they fought by the side of the Romans; and it was chiefly owing to their valour that he was forced to retreat. After his fall and the consequent disruption of his kingdom, Odoacer, the chief of the Heruli, became lord of Italy, and his authority was recognized beyond the Alps as far as Bavaria. Theo- doric, the East Goth, displaced him ; and to Theodoric, too, the BJ.V{1!‘l:1l]S yielded some kind of submission. N one of the German kings who planted themselves on Roman soil displayed higher statesmanship than this great sovereign ; but his kingdom was built on too narrow foundations, and after his death soon gave way. The Lombards, who suc- ceeded the East Goths in Italy, were not so brilliantly successful, but their power was more enduring. While these migrations were going on, great changes took place in the mother country. The Slavs, the last of the Aryan family to enter Europe, and at that time a listless and indolent race, having been stirred up by the terriﬁc onslaughts of the Huns, lnd followed the general impulse towards the west. Finding many German lands vacant, they took possession of them ; and so numerous were their incursions that in the 5th century the Elbe and the Saale became the eastern boundaries of Germany. Within Germany itself the confederations had greatly extended their lands. The Alemanni held both banks of the Rhine at the points where it is joined by the .Ioselle and the .Iain, and reached far into what is now Switzerland. The Thuringians had pushed down as far as the Danube, and penetrated northwards and westwards along the Elbe and towards the Weser. The basins of the Elbe and the Weser were in the hands of the Saxons, and the Bavarians steadily advanced in and around the valley of the Inn. More important than any of these groups were the Franks, whose destiny it was to found the German and the French kingdoms. They were remarkable for the compara- tively friendly terms on which they lived with the Romans, in whose armies many of them served, and by whose side they fought the Alemmui, the Vest Goths, and the Dur- gundians._ This alliance did not, however, prevent them from enriching themselves, whenever they had an oppor- tunity, at the expense of the Romans, who were repeatedly compelled to turn against them and drive them back. The Franks who lived to the east and the west of the Rhine were called Ripuarians; those at the mouth of the Rhine and along the western shores of the North Sea were known as Salians,—both of them names whose origin is still uncer- tain. One consequence of the relation of the Franks to the {omans was that the kingly authority soon became higher among them than among other Germans. The Salic code, G 1*] R M A N Y ' his state. He was not then elected, but inherited his rights; [lIIS'1‘OI:'. and the only nobility which existed was that belonging to his otlicers and followers. administer the laws emanating from him, and to execute the sentences of his tribunal. There were still, however, popular assemblies, without whose sanction the king could not undertake any national enterprise. 1'.'urI_I/ .l[ediu'vul Period. The first Salian king of whom we know anything is ' Chlodin, who reigned about the middle of the 5th century, and whose kingdom reached to the Somme. llis successor, Merwig, or hlerovzeus, who gave his name to the first great Frankish dynasty, fought beside the Romans and the 'est i Goths against Attila. Childeric 1., the son of Blerovzeus, offended his people, and appears to have fled from them and During his absence the Salians placed themselves under the Roman commander—in—chief, fligidius, not as the representative of taken refuge for a time among the Thuringians. Rome, but as a personal ruler in whom they had conﬁdence. to welcome Childeric back. in Paris. When he died in 48], his son and successor, spirit, daring and aggressive. From him, in 486, came, in {oman rule in Gaul. ful land. He turned also against men of his own race. battle of Ziilpich. according victory. an orthodox believer. As for the Alemanni, he would have annexed their whole territory, but Theodoric, the East Goth, who was interested in them, and whom he did not dare offend, warned him that he must not treat them with undue severity. He must, however, have taken the part of their territory in the neighbourhood of the Main and the Neckar, for it was henceforth known as Frauconia. At a somewhat later date the whole of Alcmannia was added to his kingdom. Being as unscrupulous as he was ambi- tious, he put to death all who had any claim to independent authority among the Franks ; so that he became their sole king, and they quickly acquired the proud feeling of being the centre of "a vast and growing state. Chlodwig died in Paris, his capital, in 511, leaving four sons. They did not destroy the unity of the kingdom, regarded as a single power. But each, as a king of the Franks, received a separate territory. The East or lthenish Franks, with the Alemanni subject to them, were placed under Theodoric, the eldest. lle was as valiant as his father, and not less deceitful and cruel. The great 'l‘huringian kingdom was in his time ruled by three brothers, llermanfried, Berthar, and Raderich. The former of these which probably belongs to the middle of the 5th century, l was married to a niece of Theodorie the East Goth, Amala- shows us the Salian king as in all respects the centre of I berga, a kind of Thuringian Lady Macbeth. Consumed by The state was divided into “ gaus," presided over by grafs or counts, whose duty was to His representative governed so badly that they were glad In a great battle Childeric overcame 1Egidius, and made himself master of Cologne and Treves; but afterwards he was reconciled to the Romans, and before his death he ruled in their name the battle of Soissons, the blow which made an end of In a few years he conquered the greater part of the country, and many of his warriors scattered themselves over it, seizing much of its most fruit- The Alemanni having made war on the Ripuarian Franks, the latter appealed for help to Chlodwig, who gladly re- sponded to their summons, and defeated the invaders in the It was in this battle that he vowed, to tradition, to become a member of the Catholic Church if the God of the Christians gave him the Whether or not the tale be true, it is certain that to his baptism he owed the greater part of his amazing success ; for the West Goths and the Burgundians were Arians, and the Gallic clergy, who exercised unlimited power over the popular mind, welcomed into their country Early Frankish kings. Chlodwig (Clovis) was a boy of fifteen, but a boy of high Chlod. wig. Division of Frank ish king- which in its relation to the outer world continued to be mm ..