Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/454

 446 REVIEWS OF BOOKS July without. Germany certainly benefited the church in Lorraine through Leo IX and the reforming popes, while the Avignon popes assisted French influence by placing Frenchmen in the three bishoprics. From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries Metz had only three bishops of German origin, Toul only one, and Verdun none, while nearly all the archbishops of Treves were from the German Rhine district. During the great schism German Lorraine was Urbanite, and French Lorraine Clemen- tine. It would be difficult to maintain that in ecclesiastical matters either German or French influence was superior in quality or extent. When Lutheranism came from Germany it gained no footing in Lorraine, apart from a small and much persecuted society in Metz. It was the alliance of Lutheran princes that enabled Henry II of France to occupy Metz, Toul, and Verdun in 1552. As regards political institutions M. Parisot says that the states-general distinguished the duchies of Lorraine and Bar from the Valois monarchy, where the royal power tended to become absolute. But were not the Lorraine assemblies to some extent at least based on the ' l^tats Provin- ciaux ' of France ? They were weak because the clergy were represented only by abbots and priors, the peasants only by their lords, while the bur- gesses included no one from the three cities. Municipal institutions in these cities are worth study, particularly those of Metz. M. Parisot thinks that originally the whole community took part in the city government, and that the exclusive powers of the paraiges developed out of the natural influence exercised by wealthy families. A paraige, which he derives from parentula, was a body of friends and clients grouped round a rich house, but later became a kind of political curia. There were five of these paraiges, and a sixth was known as the paraige of the commonalty, but became a closed group in the fifteenth century. The paraiges ousted the bishop and chapter from the city government, and nominated both the executive council of thirteen and the great council. The secular power was supreme in the episcopal city : canons and men of the church were not exempt from taxation, clerks were justiciable in lay tribunals, and the council even issued edicts limiting the number of religious in each convent and re- forming the Benedictine abbeys of Metz. Metz was the great trade centre, and its commercial relations with Germany were as close as with France. It was a French-speaking city, but contained a German colony. Dukes of Lorraine and bishops of Metz occasionally issued charters in German, and a ducal regulation of 1518 laid down that his justiciar in judging miners must have eight assessors, four of them speaking German. It should be noted that ' Henry of Winchester ' who became bishop of Verdun in 1117 (p. 206) was not Henry of Blois, but an archdeacon of Winchester who accompanied Matilda to the court of Henry V (Bouquet, xiii. 634). In summarized history it is difficult to keep names and persons clear, and the ' brothers of Cunegonde ' (p. 194) will be a stumbling-block to many, but M. Parisot is for the most part very successful in giving interesting detail without any sacrifice of order and clearness. His book is an admirable proof of how provincial history can be made significant and valuable. Walfobd D. Green.