customs, and, unlike the Gauls, did not suffer themselves to become enervated by the refinements of their masters. They were rather their allies than their subjects; dreaded, but often useful, they were employed successfully by the Romans against other barbarians, when their armies were no longer sufficient for the defence of their frontiers.

From the year of our Lord 310, the Franks endeavoured to cross the Rhine and occupy some of the Roman provinces of Gaul. Constantine repulsed them, and made two of their kings, Assuric and Ragaise, prisoners, and had them thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre of Trèves.

Somewhat later, when several competitors disputed the imperial purple, the confederation of the Franks became much more powerful; they obtained from the weakness of the emperors considerable grants of land, and they formed and sustained at their own charge the best corps of the imperial army.

One of their chiefs, Melloband, powerfully contributed to the victory which the emperor Gratian gained in Gaul over a numerous force of the Germans. This Melloband became the favourite of this prince, and when fortune proved unfavourable, shared his lot.

Further instances might be cited of the influence of the Franks during the reigns of the Emperors Valentinian and Theodosius; it is, however, sufficient to say that they were virtually masters of the empire of the west before they conquered it by force of arms; and although opposing a feeble resistance to the Visigoths, Vandals, and other barbarous tribes in the great invasion of 406, their force was insufficient against so many

confederates, and they were obliged to rest satisfied with the portion of the country allotted them.

While the Visigoths established themselves in the south-west, and the Burgundians in the east of Gaul, the Franks, who became in the end masters of the whole country, made a firm but slow progress. Though the existence of Pharamond has been doubted, and he seems to have been little known by the early writers, he is nevertheless considered the first King of France, though in reality no more than a chief of a tribe, and a prince of the Salien Franks: he reigned between the years 420 and 428, A. D.

After the death of Pharamond, his son Clodion succeeded to the command of the same tribe; he was surnamed "Le Chevelu," or long-haired; this being a distinctive mark amongst the Franks of princes of the royal blood, who were incapable of reigning when shorn of that ornament. He was twice beaten by the Romans under Ætius, but in a third attempt came off victorious. He sent spies into Cambray, and having been informed by them of a favourable opportunity for an attack, he passed the Rhine with his warriors, took the city of Tournay, and pushing onward captured Cambray itself, putting to death all the Romans he found there. Clodion was recognised without difficulty in the government of the territory which the Romans had abandoned in their retreat, but notwithstanding his desire to preserve these conquests for the Saliens, he was compelled to divide them with the other tribes ; the Saliens retaining Tournay, at that period a powerful city of Belgium, and thenceforth the cradle of the power of the Franks. Clodion, according to con

temporary history, is the first of the kings of that race who was permanently settled in Gaul; he afterwards subdued the country between the Rhine and the Somme, but died at Amiens of grief at the loss of his son, who was slain at the siege of Soissons.

It is uncertain whether Merovée was a son of Clodion, whom he succeeded, or only one of the same family. He was the first of the Merovingian race of kings. The terrible invasion of the Huns took place at this period. The redoubtable Attila headed an army of seven thousand men, and after devastating the country between the Don and the Danube, and laying the emperor of the east under contribution, he arrived on the borders of the Rhine and threw himself into Gaul. The ravages committed by this borderer extended far and wide: Paris and Orleans were only saved as by a miracle: all previous animosities were forgotten at the approach of this common danger, and the different tribes united themselves under the Roman general Ætius, and a battle was fought on the plains of Châlons sur Marne, 451 B.C. Merovée greatly contributed to this victory, and remained afterwards with the Gauls. Attila withdrew his army but was not pursued, and the country was thus delivered from the Tartar invasion.

After the death of Merovée in the year 458, his son Childeric was recognised as king. It seems that this chief resided at Tournay, another tribe occupying the duchy of Cambray. From some cause he excited the hatred of his soldiers, who dethroned him, and even meditated his death; but the timely information of a Frank, named Viadàme, enabled him to escape into Thuringia. Having confided his retreat to this devoted

friend, it was agreed that he should send to him the half of a piece of gold which Childeric broke and left with him at parting, should the minds of his people be more favourably disposed towards their king.

The Franks in the meanwhile elected Egidius, who had succeeded Etius in the command of the imperial militia. At the death of Egidius, Viàdame, faithful to his promise, sent the message agreed upon to Childeric, who instantly returned, and the Franks, having forgotten their resentment, restored his authority. Master of Paris, he pushed his conquests to the river Oise, and overcame the Germans who disputed this territory with him. Childeric was endowed with qualities very attractive to a barbarous people. Basine, queen of Thuringia (part of the kingdom of Prussia), to whom he had become known in his exile, sought him in his camp, and after extolling his skill and courage, offered herself to him in marriage. Childeric espoused the queen, who brought him, besides other children, a son called Clovis, who succeeded him after his death at Tournay in A.D. 481.

CHAP. III.

CLOVIS I. - CONFLICT WITH SYAGRIUS.

CLOVIS.

CLOTILDE.

CONVERSION OF THE

BATTLE WITH

OF
KING. CONQUEST OF BURGUNDY.
ALARIC. · SUBSEQUENT CONDUCT OF CLOVIS.
DEATH..

SALIC LAW.

CLOVIS, the first son of Childeric and Basine, who may be regarded as the founder of the French monarchy, was but fifteen years old when he succeeded his father in the government of the Salien Franks established at Tournay. Syagrius, son of Egedius, chief of the imperial militia, whom the Saliens placed at their head during the exile of their king, Childeric, commanded at Soissons. Syagrius was the last and only representative of the Roman dominion in Gaul, where he had made himself independent. Clovis, whose force numbered scarcely 3000 warriors, united with Ragnacaire, king of the Franks, at Cambray, and challenged Syagrius to combat. The troops of the Roman general were routed: he himself sought an asylum with Alaric, king of the Visigoths, the counsellors of which prince, then an infant, had the baseness to give him up to Clovis, who caused him to be imprisoned and put to death.

The victorious Franks gathered a considerable booty in the provinces which submitted to them, and, being at that time pagans, they did not spare the