---

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Chron. anni 577. After the Death of King Pipin, Lewis his Son (who had been prefent at his Father's Deceafe, and celebra"ted his Funerals) kept his Réfidence at Francfort, the principal Seat of the Eaftern Kingdom. Luitprandus Ticinenfis fays, lib. 1. cap. 6. "It was order'd that Wido fhou'd have for his fhare, that which Men call the Roman France, and Berengarius fhou'd have Italy. And a little after, When he had "march'd thro' the Territories of the Burgunt dians, he purpofed to enter Roman France, &C. Now it was call'd Roman France, firft, because the Franks had poffeffed themselves of that Gallia, which was under the Romans Obedience. Secondly, becaufe the Roman Language prevail'd in that Country, as we formerly told you: Whence arofe the Saying, Loqui Romanum, of fuch as used not the German or Frank, but the Latin Tongue. Otto Frifingius, chron. 4. cap. penult. fays, "It feems to me, that those "Franks who dwell in Gallia, borrowed the Language, which they make ufe of to this Day, from the Romans; for the others who ડ ftay'd about the Rhine, and in Germany, ufe "the Teutonick Tongue. ---And in Imitation of him, Godfridus, part. 17. cap. 1. "The "Franks (fays he ) feem to me to have learn'd "the Language which they make use of to "this Day, from the Romans, who formerly "dwelt in those parts From all these 'tis apparent, that the Reputation and Power of the Franks was extraordinary great; as 'twas fitting for fuch as were Mafters of a great part of Europe.

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Moreover we find, that thofe Germans which were tranfplanted by the Emperor Frederick

the

Rom

Fra

ed

to t

TS

the IId, into the Kingdoms of Naples and Si-
cily, and establifh'd there as a prefidiary Colo-
ny,
were called Franks. Petrus de Vineis,
lib. epift. 6. cap. 25.
"lowing (Say's be) the Law and

*

σε

Fol

Thefe are only bro

"Custom of the Franks, in this In-ken pieces of Sentences,

to prove
that the Ger-
mans (eftablifh'd in Na-

ples and Sicily) were
called and
and actually

were Franks.

ftance, that the Eldest Brother to
"the Exclufion of all the Younger
"Succeeds, even in the Camp it felf
Imp. Freder. 2. Neapol. conftit.
lib. 2. tit. 32. fpeaking of those wh
Franks, "who upon occafion trufted the fortune of
their Lives, and of all their Eftates, to the Event
of a Duel, or fingle Combat. And again,
---The aforefaid manner of Proof, which all who
obferve the Rites of the Franks made use of
Alfo lib. 2. tit. 23. “Which Law, our Will is,
fhall in all Caufes be common both to the Franks
"and Longobards.: odair

Matters being thus plain, 'tis ftrange that Gregory Bishop of Tours (who writ concerning the Original of the Franks 800 Years ago) fhou'd fay, in the firft part of his Hiftory, That altho' he had made diligent Enquiry about the Rife and Beginning of the Franks, he cou'd find nothing certain: notwithstanding he had feen an ancient Book of a certain Hiftorian of theirs, called, Sulpitius Alexander; who affirms nothing either of their firft Habitations, or the ormer Beginnings of their Domination.

lear

e of

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as

But we have found out, that these People ower originally came from that Country which lies between the Rhine and the Elb, and is bounded on the Weft by the Sea, almoft in the fame Tract where the greater and the leffer Chauci dwelt. A People (fays Tacitus)the moft noble among all the Germans, who founded their

"Greatnefs, and maintained it by Juftice. These were next Neighbours to the Batavians; for 'tis agreed en all Hands, that the Franks had their firft Seats near the Sea-fhore, in very marthy Grounds; and were the moft skilful People in Navigation, and Sea-fights, known at that time: Whereof we have the following Teftimonies. Firft, in Claudian, who congratulating Stilicon's Victory, writes thus ;

---Ut jam trans fluvium non indignante Chayco Pafcat Belga pecus, mediumque ingressa per Albin Gallica Francorum montes armenta pererrent.

In which place he makes ufe of a Poetical Licenfe, and calls thofe People Chayei, which the Geographers call Chauci. Now that they were feated near the Sea, that Panegyrical Oration made to Constantine the Great, is a Teftimony: "Quid loquar rurfus, &c. What should I speak “. more of those remote Nations of the Franks, transplanted not from places which the Romans of old invaded; but plucked from their very original Habitations, and their fartheft Barbarous Shores, to be planted in the waft "Places of Gallia; where with their Husbandry, they may help the Roman Empire in "time of Peace; and with their Bodies, fup

ply its Armies in time of War---. And in another Panegyrick, by Eumenius the Rhetorician, we find this Paffage, "Aut hæc ipfa, &c. "Or this Country, which was once overspread

with the Fierceness of the Franks, more "than if the Waters of their Rivers, or their

Sea, had cover'd it; but now ceases to be barbarous, and is civilized. To the fame Purpofe is Procopius's Teftimony, in his first Book

of

1

On

of the Gothick War; For where he defcribes the place where the Rhine falls into the Ocean; In thefe parts (fays he) there are great Marshes, where of old the Germans dwelt; 66 a barbarous People, and at that time of fmall Reputation, which now are called Franks---. And Zonarus, in the 3d Tome of his Annals, quotes this very Paffage of Procopius. Also Flavius Vopifcus, in his Life of Probus, tells us, That the Franks were discomfited by Probus in their inacceffible Marfhes. Teftes funt Franci inviis ftrati paludibus. Alfo Sidonius Apollinaris fays thus;

--

"Francorum & penitiffimas paludes,

cc Intrares venerantibus Sicambris.

Now what we have faid concerning the Neighbourhood of the Franks to the Chauci, may be plainly proved by comparing of Places, and the Defcriptions of their particular Seats. Thofe of the Chauci are defcribed by Pliny, lib, 16. cap. 1. Thofe of the Franks by the Rhe torician Panegyrift, above-mentioned: For Pliny fays thus, We have seen in the Northern parts the Nations of the Chauci, called Majores & Minores, where twice every 24 Hours the Ocean is forcibly driven in a great way over the Land, thro' a vaft Paffage which is there, making it a perpetual Controverfy of Nature; and a Doubt, CC whether it ought to be reckon'd part of the CC Land or of the Sea.

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The Panegyrift fpeaks in these Terms,
-Quanquam illa Regio, &c. When thy noble
Expeditions, O Cafar, have proceeded fo
far, as to clear and conquer that Country,

which

"which the Rhine runs through, with his cun KC: ning Mæanders or Windings, [Meatibus calliCC dis, for fo it must be read, and not Scaldis, .cc. as in fome Copies, ] and embraces in his Arms a Region, which I can scarce call Land; 'tis fo foak'd with Water, that not only the Marfhy part of it gives way, but even that which feems more firm, fhakes when trod upon, and trembles at a distance "under the weight of the foot. A

We think therefore we have made it plain from what Seats the Nation of the Franks first came into Gallia; that is to fay, from that marfhy Country which lies upon the Ocean, between the Rivers Elb and Rhine: which may be further confirm'd by this Argument. That the Franks were very well skill'd in maritime affairs, and fail'd far and near all about thofe Coafts: For fo fays Eutropius, lib. 9. where he gives a fhort Hiftory of the Emperor Galienus.“ After this time, when Caraufius had in charge to fcour the Sea-coafts of Belgia and Armorica, then infefted by the Franks and Saxons, &c. The very fame thing Paulus Orofius mentions, lib. 7. Alfo what the Panegyrift, before cited, 7: fays in a certain place, has reference to this.--The Franks (fays he) are cruel above all others; the tide of whofe warlike fury furmounting that of their very Ocean it felf, carried them to the Sea-coafts of Spain, which they very much infefted with their Depreda"tions. And therefore the Emperor Juftinian, when he explains to the General Governor of Affrick the duty of his Office, makes mention of thofe Franks which were feated in a certain part of Gallia, bordering upon Spain.

But