Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/232

 9 6 Readings in European History country, choose Charles ; if you wish to see it prosperous, make Hugh, the glorious duke, king. Do not let yourselves be misled by your sympathy for Charles, nor blinded to the common good by hatred of the duke. For if you blame the good, how can you praise the bad ? If you praise the bad, how despise the good ? Remember the words of the Scrip- ture : * Woe unto, them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.' Choose the duke, therefore ; he is the most illustrious among us all by reason of his exploits, his nobility, and his military fol- lowing. Not only the state, but every individual interest, will find in him a protector. His great-heartedness will render him a father to you all. Who has ever fled to him for aid and been disappointed? Who that has been left in the lurch by his friends has he ever failed to restore to his rights?" This discourse was received with universal applause, and by unanimous consent the duke was raised to the throne. He was crowned at Noyon on the first of June, by the arch- bishop and the other bishops, as king of the Gauls, the Bretons, the Danes [Normans?], the Aquitanians, the Goths, the Spaniards, and the Gascons. Surrounded by the nobles of the kingdom, he issued decrees and made laws according to royal custom, judging and disposing of all matters with success. 92. King Robert, Hugh's son (996- 1031), and his troubles with his vassals. (From Raoul Qlaber, a contempo- rary.*) II. KING ROBERT AND HIS UNRULY VASSALS King Robert, to whom the kingdom of the Franks then fell, was frequently subjected to the outrages of certain of his insolent subjects, especially of those whom Hugh, his father, and Hugh, his grandfather, or he himself, had, in spite of their base origin, raised from a humble condition to the highest dignities. At their head stood Eudes, the son of Thibaut of Chartres, known as the Trickster, who, with a great number of other less dangerous lords, seemed to revolt with 1 See below, p. 220.