Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/391

 FRANCE 379 yielding to the entreaties of his wife Clotilda, consented to be baptized, and henceforth all the Catholic bishops of Gaul were enlisted in his cause. Their powerful influence helped him greatly in consolidating his authority among the Gallic population, and carrying his conquests southward. A single victory won in 507 at Vouille over the Visigoths, who were Arians, gave him the possession of nearly all Aquita- nia. On his death in 511 his kingdom extend- ed from the banks of the Rhine to the Pyre- nees, thus including the whole of Gaul, with the exception of the province occupied by the Burgundians, the Mediterranean shore, which had been retained by the Visigoths through the aid of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, and the peninsula of Brittany. This kingdom, al- though partitioned among the four sons of Clovis, was soon increased by the conquest of Burgundy (about 534) ; and Khlother or Clo- taire I., the youngest of those princes, sur- viving his brothers and nephews, could for a while (558-561) boast of possessing a larger empire than his sire. A new division among his own sons brought on long civil wars be- tween the eastern Franks or Austrasians, be- tween the Rhine and the Meuse, and the west- ern Franks or Neustrians, who lived W. of the latter river. The Burgundians, who under their new masters had preserved their name, sided alternately with the one or the other; while the Aquitanians, taking no interest in a conflict among their barbarian conquerors, were little affected by it. This bloody period, in which two women, Brunehaut and Frede- gonda, figured conspicuously, extended over the latter part of the 6th century and the be- ginning of the 7th (567-613). It ended with the defeat of the Austrasians; and Clotaire II., who at its close ruled over the conquer- ing nation, during the latter part of his reign held the whole of the Frankish dominion under his sceptre. So did his son Dagobert (628-638), who had a taste for magnificence, and took as his principal minister Eligius or filoi, the most celebrated silversmith of his time, who was canonized as a saint. His suc- cessors were mere phantoms of royalty, and have been styled "lazy kings " (rois faineants). They still preserved the royal title, while the power was wielded by the mayors of the palace, who, from the condition of private officers of the king's household, had by help of the aristocracy risen to the rank of prime ministers in each of the three kingdoms, Aus- trasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, of which the Frankish dominion consisted. Through their rivalry the old contest between the Austra- sians and the Neustrians revived ; and not- withstanding the political talents displayed by Ebroin, mayor to the sons of Clovis II. (660-681), the Neustrians were at length con- trolled by the mayors of Austrasia, who soon took the title of dukes, and finally acquired absolute possession of the Frankish kingdoms. Pepinof Heristal, the most illustrious among these nominal ministers and real monarchs, governed them in the name of several succes- sive kings. After his death (714), his natural son Karl, celebrated under the name of Charles Martel, seized and wielded with an iron hand a still more extensive power. He especially sig- nalized his reign by defeating the Saracenic in- vaders of France between Tours and Poitiers in 732. Twenty years later (752) his son Pepin the Short confined the last of the Merovingians, Childeric III., within the walls of a convent, and, with the consent of the clergy and the approval of the pope, assumed the title of king. His father and himself, the first two princes of the Carlovingian dynasty, raised the Frankish power to its highest pitch. Pepin (752-768), firmly establishing his authority all over Gaul, forced into complete submission Aquitania, which during the reign of the rois faineants had succeeded in maintaining its independence, and conquered Septimania, a province along the Mediterranean shore, which had been held by the Arabs of Spain. He made his influence also felt in Italy, where the Lombards became his tributaries, while his liberality toward the pope brought to his side the agency of religion. His son, Karl the Great or Charlemagne, fol- lowing the same policy, showed himself the most faithful protector of the holy see, over- threw the Lombard monarchy, and placed the iron crown upon his own head in 774 ; waged for 32 years (772-804) a merciless war against the Saxons, who were finally subdued and com- pelled to embrace Christianity ; destroyed the last remnants of the barbarous Avars who had settled in Hungary ; and tried his arms against the Moslems of Spain. He thus made himself the master of an empire which included not only Gaul, but also Germany to the Saale, the largest part of Italy, and N. E. Spain. He styled his dominion the "new empire of the West," and was crowned emperor by the pope at Rome in 800. He aimed indeed at a com- plete restoration of the ancient Roman empire by marrying the Byzantine empress Irene ; but this was prevented by revolutions at Constan- tinople. He greatly advanced the civilization of his realm by establishing schools and patron- izing science and literature, and gave his court a world-wide fame throughout his reign. His son, Louis le D6bonnaire (814-840), a weak and superstitious prince, was peculiarly unfitted for the heavy task which devolved upon him ; and the selfish ambition of Louis's successors hast- ened the national and social disruption. Less than 30 years after Charlemagne's death his empire was divided into three kingdoms by the treaty of Verdun (843), and 45 years later (888), through the imbecility of his great-grand- son, Charles the Fat, it had entirely fallen to pieces. From its fragments were formed the kingdoms of France, Italy, and Germany, with the secondary states of Lorraine, Bur- gundy (for a time known as the kingdom of Arelate or Aries), and Navarre. Amid the convulsions which led to this consummation.