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Kings agreed that their Difference fhould be" "decided by the Judgment of the Franks, (in" Saloiffo caftro) in their Camp near the River Sala.

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CHA P. XII.

Of the Kingly Officers, commonly call d Mayors of the Palace.

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Efore we treat farther of the uninterrupted Authority of the Publick Council, we think it not improper to fay fomewhat of those Regal great Officers, which, during the Merovingian Race were called (Majores domus) Mafters, or Mayors of the Palace. Thefe having for fome time encroach'd upon the Kingly Power, finding at laft a fit opportunity, feiz'd upon it entirely as their own. Their Dignity near the Perfons of our Kings feems to have been much the fame with that of Præfecti Pretorio, or Generals of the Guards in the time of the Roman Emperors, who were fometimes alfo ftiled Aule Præfecti. They were ufually appointed in and by the fame Convention which chofe the Kings, and were wont to be Chiefs or Heads of the Publick Council. And upon this account we frequently meet with fuch-like Expreffions as thefe among our Hiftorians. - They elected fuch "and fuch a Man to the Dignity of Mayor of "the Palace. Herchinold, Mayor of the Palace, be"ing dead, the Franks conferr'd that Dignity c upon Ebroinus, and appointed him to be Ma

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yor in the King's Court. Alfo-They chose "Hilderick for their King, and Wolfold for Mayor

of the Palace. Which Quotations of ours might indeed have been made as properly in our foregoing Chapter, where we proved that the greater Employments were not usually given by the Kings, but appointed by the Yearly General Council, and conferred upon Men of the greatest Fidelity and Probity.

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But in this Magiftracy, the fame thing hapned, which Plutarch tells us (in his Life of Lyfander) came to pafs when Agefilaus was appointed by the Lacedemonians to be General of their Army, and Lyfander to be Legate or Lieutenant-General: "Even as in Stage-Plays, (fays he) the Actors who represent a Servant or Meffenger, have better Parts, and are more regarded than him that wears the "Crown and Scepter, who fcarce speaks a "Word in the whole Play So the chief Authority and Command was lodg'd in Lyfan"der, whilft with the King remained only a "naked and empty Title.--- Juft fo it fell out in our Francogallia; Fair Opportunities of increafing the Power of thefe Mayors of the Pallace, being offer'd by the Sloth and Negligence of our Kings; among whom we may reckon Dagobert, Clodoveus, Clotharius, Childeri cus, Theodoricus, &c. For the Author of the History of the Franks, often cited by Venericus Vercellenfis, tho' without naming him, writes, That during the Reign of Clotharius, Father of Dagobert, the Kingdom of the Franks began to be adminiftred and govern'd by fome which were called Provifores Regiæ, or Majores Domus. The fame fays Godf. Viterb. parte Chron. 16. Whereupon, whilft thofe Mayors of the Palace

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executed all the important Affairs of the Commonwealth, and commanded all the Armies in time of War; and the Kings (fpending their Days in Sloth and Idleness) tarried at Home, content with the bare Title of a King; Matters at last were brought to fuch a pafs, that during the Reign of Childerick the 18th King, Pipin, Mayor of the Palace, (who in the King's Name had waged great and long Wars, and had overcome and reduced the Saxons to Terms of Submiffion) finding a fit Occafion to affume the Regal Title which was offer'd him, did not let it flip: Efpecially feeing himself at. the head of a great and victorious Army, that, efpoused his Interefts. Of which we have the Teftimony of many Authors. Firft Otto Frifingius, Chron. 5. cap. 12. and his Tranfcriber Godf. Viterb. Part. 16. who write thus.

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Kings of France, before the Time of Pipin "the Great, (formerly Mayor of the Palace) tr were in a manner but Titular Princes, having very little to do with the Government "of the Realm. Sigibertus fays almoft the "fame thing fub Anno 662. ---- From this time, (fays he) the Kings of the Franks degenerating from their ancient Wisdom and Fortitude, enjoy'd little more than the bare Name "of King: They did indeed bear the Title according to Cuftom,as being of the ancient Re"gal Race; but neither acted, nor difpofed of any thing: The whole Administration and "Power of the Kingdom, was lodg'd in the "Hands of the Mayor of the Palace.

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Yet in reading fuch-like Authorities, we ought to take this Obfervation along with us. That fince Pipin and his Sons laboured (as 'tis probable they did) under a great Load of En

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vy, for having violently wrefted the Royal Dignity from King Childerick, they made it their Bufinefs to find out and employ plaufible ingenious Hiftorians, who magnified the Cowardlinefs of Childerick and his Predeceffors, upbraiding them with Sloath and Idlenefs, beyond what they deferv'd. And among fuch as these, we may reckon Eguinarthus, Chancellor to Charles the Great, and one that did him fpecial Service of this Nature; who in the beginning of his Book writes thus. ---- "The Family of the Merovingians, out of which the Franks ufed to Elect their Kings, is fuppofed to have lafted as long as to Hilderic; who by the Appointment of Pope Stephen, was depofed, fhaven, and thrust into a Monaftery. Now tho' it may be faid to have ended in him, yet in truth, for a long time before, it ceafed to have any Value or Excellency, bating the bare empty Title of King. For both the Riches and Power of the Kingdom, were at the Difpofition of the Prefects of the Palace, commonly called Majores Domus; with whom was alfo lodg'd the Authority of the Empire: Neither was there any thing left remaining to the King, but only that contenting himfelf with the Title, he fhould fit on a Throne, wearing his Hair and Beard very long, and reprefenting the Perfon of a Ruler; fometimes giving the firft and laft Audience to Ambafladors from Foreign Parts, and retur66 ning fuch Anfwers as were made for him, as if they procceded immediately from himself. But befides the unprofitable Name of a King, and a precarious Allowance for his private Expences, (which the Mayor of the Palace was pleafed out of Bounty to give him) he

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"had nothing that he could call his own, except one Village of very fmall Revenue, "where he had a little Houfe, and a few Servants, barely fufficient for his Neceffary Oc СС cafions, &c.

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Sigebertus, fub Anno 662. taking Eguinarthus. for his Pattern, inveighs against the former Kings in almoft the fame Contumelious Terms. "Whofe Cuftom (fays he) it was, indeed, to make an Appearance like a Prince, accorCC ding to what had been ufual to their Family; but neither to act, nor difpofe of any thing, cc only to tarry at Home, and to Eat and Drink "like Irrational Creatures. ---- As if the like Sloth and Cowardise ought to be imputed to all the former Kings,among whom we nevertheless find many brave Men, fuch as Clodoveus, who not only defeated a great Army of Germans, which had made an Irruption into France, in a great Battel near Tolbiacum; but alfo drove the remainder of the Romans out of the Confines of Gallia. What fhall we fay of Childebert and Clotharius, who rooted the Visigoths and Oftrogoths out of Provence and Aquitain, where they' had feated themselves? In the Hiftories of all which Princes, there is no mention made of any Mayor of the Palace, but curforily, and by the By, as one of the King's Servants. This we may fee in Gregorius, lib. 5. cap. 18. where he fpeaks of Gucilius. Lib. 6. cap. 9. and cap. 45. Lib. 7. cap. 49. And we find this Employ-. ment to have been not only in the King's Palace, but alfo in the Queen's; For the fame Gregorius, lib. 7. cap. 27. mentions one Waddo as Mayor of the Palace,in the Court of Queen Riguntha: And in very many other Places of their Hiftories, we find both Gregorius and Aimoinus making

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