Transcript

25 - Popular History of France from the Earliest Times by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot · Popular History of France from the Earliest Times

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Speaker 1: Section twenty five of Volume one of A Popular History
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Speaker 1: of France from the Earliest Times. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. From more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit librivoqux dot org. Volume
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Speaker 1: one of A Popular History of France from the Earliest
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Speaker 1: Times by Francois Guiseaux, translated by Robert Black, Chapter thirteen,
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Speaker 1: Feudal France and Hugh Capet, Part two. From the end
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Speaker 1: of the ninth to the end of the tenth century,
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Speaker 1: two families were in French history, the representatives and instruments
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Speaker 1: of the two systems thus confronted and conflicting at that epoch,
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Speaker 1: the imperial which was falling and the feudal which was rising.
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Speaker 1: After the death of Charlemagne, his descendants to the number
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Speaker 1: of ten, from Louis the Debonair to Louis the Sluggard,
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Speaker 1: strove obstinately but in vain to maintain the unity of
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Speaker 1: the empire and the unity of the central power in
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Speaker 1: four generations. On the other hand, the descendants of Robert
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Speaker 1: the strong clime to the head of feudal France. The former,
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Speaker 1: though German and race were imbued with the maxims, the
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Speaker 1: traditions and the pretensions of that Roman world which had
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Speaker 1: been for a while resuscitated by their glorious ancestor, and
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Speaker 1: they claimed it as their heritage. The latter preserved at
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Speaker 1: their settlement upon Gallo Roman territory Germanic sentiments, manners, and instincts,
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Speaker 1: and were occupied only with the idea of getting more
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Speaker 1: and more settled, and greater and greater in the new
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Speaker 1: society which was little by little being formed upon the
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Speaker 1: soil won by the barbarians. Their forefathers, Louis the Ultramarine
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Speaker 1: and Lothaire, were not, we may suppose, less personally brave
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Speaker 1: than Robert the Strong and his son Eudes. But when
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Speaker 1: the Northmen put the Frankish dominions in peril, it was
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Speaker 1: not to the descendants of Charlemagne, not to the Emperor
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Speaker 1: Charles the Fat, but to the local and feudal chieftain,
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Speaker 1: to Ude's count of Paris, that the population turned for salvation,
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Speaker 1: and Eudes it was who saved them. In this painful
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Speaker 1: parturation of French monarchy, one fact deserves to be remarked,
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Speaker 1: and that is the lasting respect attached in the minds
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Speaker 1: of the people to the name and the reminiscences of
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Speaker 1: the Calavnian rule, notwithstanding its decay. It was not alone
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Speaker 1: the luster of that name and of the memory of
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Speaker 1: Charlemagne which inspired and prolonged this respect. A certain instinctive
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Speaker 1: feeling about the worth of hereditary monarchy as an element
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Speaker 1: of stability and order already existed amongst the populations, and
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Speaker 1: glimpses thereof were visible amongst the rivals of the royal family.
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Speaker 1: In the hour of its dissolution, it had been consecrated
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Speaker 1: by religion. The title of anointed of the Most High
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Speaker 1: was united in its case to that of lawful air.
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Speaker 1: Why did Hugh, the Great Duke of France, in spite
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Speaker 1: of favorable opportunities and very palpable temptations, abstain perseveringly from
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Speaker 1: taking the crown and leave it tottering upon the heads
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Speaker 1: of Louis the Ultramarine and Lothaire. Why did his son
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Speaker 1: Hugh Capey himself wait for his election as king until
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Speaker 1: Louis the Sluggard was dead and the Caerlovingian line had
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Speaker 1: only a collateral and discredited representative. In these hesitations and
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Speaker 1: lingerings of the great feudal chieftains, there is a forecast
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Speaker 1: of the authority already vested in the principle of hereditary
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Speaker 1: monarchy at the very moment when it was about to
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Speaker 1: be violated, and of the great part which would be
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Speaker 1: played by that principle in the history of France. At last,
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Speaker 1: the day of decision arrived for Hugh Capey. There is
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Speaker 1: nothing to show that he had conspired to hasten it,
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Speaker 1: but he had foreseen the probability of it, And if
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Speaker 1: he had done nothing to pave the way for it,
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Speaker 1: he had held himself so far as he was concerned,
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Speaker 1: in readiness for it. During a trip which he made
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Speaker 1: to Rome in nine eighty one, he had entered into
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Speaker 1: kindly personal relations with the Emperor Otto, the second King
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Speaker 1: of Germany, the most important of France's neighbors and the
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Speaker 1: most disposed to meddle in her affairs in France. Hugh
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Speaker 1: Capet had formed a close friendship with Aldebaran, Archbishop of Rem,
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Speaker 1: the most notable and most able of the French prelates.
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Speaker 1: The events showed the value of such a friend. On
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Speaker 1: the twenty first of May nine eighty seven, King Louis
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Speaker 1: the Fifth died without issue, and after his obsequies the
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Speaker 1: grandees of the Kingdom met together at Senley's. We will
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Speaker 1: here borrow the text of a contemporary witness, Riker, the
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Speaker 1: only one of the chroniclers of that age who deserves
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Speaker 1: the name of historian, whether for the authenticity of his
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Speaker 1: testimony or the extent and clearness of his narrative. The Bishop,
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Speaker 1: he says, took his place together with the Duke in
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Speaker 1: the midst of the assembly, and said to them, I
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Speaker 1: come and sit down amongst you to treat of the
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Speaker 1: affairs of the state. Far from me be any design
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Speaker 1: of saying anything but what has for aim the advantage
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Speaker 1: of the common weal. As I do not see here
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Speaker 1: all the princes whose wisdom and energy might be useful
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Speaker 1: in the government of the kingdom. It seems to me
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Speaker 1: that the choice of a king shall be put off
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Speaker 1: for some time, in order that at a period fixed upon,
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Speaker 1: all may be able to meet in assembly, and that
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Speaker 1: every opinion, having been discussed and set forth in the
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Speaker 1: face of day, may thus produce its full effect. May
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Speaker 1: it please you, then, all of ye who are here assembled,
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Speaker 1: to deliberate, to bind yourselves in conjunction with me by
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Speaker 1: oath to this illustrious Duke, and to promise between his hands,
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Speaker 1: not to engage yourselves in any way in the election
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Speaker 1: of a head, and not to do anything to this
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Speaker 1: end until we be reassembled here to deliberate upon that choice.
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Speaker 1: This opinion was well received and approved of by all.
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Speaker 1: Oath was taken between the hands of the Duke, and
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Speaker 1: the time was fixed at which the meeting should assemble again.
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Speaker 1: Before the day fixed for reassembling, the last of the
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Speaker 1: descendants of Charlemagne, Charles, Duke of lor Lorraine, brother of
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Speaker 1: the late King Lothair and paternal uncle of the late
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Speaker 1: King Louis, went to rem in quest of the Archbishop,
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Speaker 1: and thus spake to him about his rights to the throne.
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Speaker 1: All the world knoweth Venerable Father, that by hereditary right
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Speaker 1: I ought to succeed my brother and my nephew. I
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Speaker 1: am wanting nought that should be required before all from
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Speaker 1: the those who ought to reign to wit birth and
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Speaker 1: courage to dare. Wherefore am I thrust out from the
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Speaker 1: territory which all the world knows to have been possessed
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Speaker 1: by my ancestors. To whom could I better address myself
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Speaker 1: than to you, When all the supports of my race
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Speaker 1: have disappeared to whom bereft. As I am of honorable protection,
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Speaker 1: should I have recourse but to you by whom, if
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Speaker 1: not by you, should I be restored to the honors
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Speaker 1: of my fathers. Please, God, things turn out favorably for me,
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Speaker 1: and from my fortunes rejected, what can become of me
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Speaker 1: save to be exhibited as a spectacle to all who
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Speaker 1: look on me. Suffer yourself to be moved by some
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Speaker 1: feeling of humanity. Be compassionate towards a man who has
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Speaker 1: been tried by so many reverses. Such language was more
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Speaker 1: calculated to inspire contempt than compassion. The Metropolitan firm, in
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Speaker 1: his resolution, gave for answer these few words. Thou hast
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Speaker 1: ever been associated with the perjured, the sacrilegious, and the
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Speaker 1: wicked of every sort, And now thou art still unwilling
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Speaker 1: to separate from them. How canst thou, in company with
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Speaker 1: such men, and by means of such men, seek to
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Speaker 1: attain the sovereign power? And when Charles replied that he
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Speaker 1: must not abandon his friends, but rather gain over others,
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Speaker 1: the bishop said to himself, now that he possesses no
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Speaker 1: position of dignity, he hath allied himself with the wicked,
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Speaker 1: whose companionship he will not in any way give up,
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Speaker 1: what misfortune it would be for the good if he
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Speaker 1: were elected to the throne. To Charles, however, he made
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Speaker 1: answer that he would do not without the consent of
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Speaker 1: the princes, and so left him. At the time fixed
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Speaker 1: probably the twenty ninth or thirtieth of June nine eighty seven,
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Speaker 1: the grandees of Frankish Gaul, who had bound themselves by oath,
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Speaker 1: reassembled at Senlis. Hugh Capey was present with his brother
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Speaker 1: Henry of Burgundy and his brother in law, Richard, the Fearless,
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Speaker 1: Duke of Normandy. The majority of the direct vassals of
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Speaker 1: the crown were also there, Ful Quisnera, the Black, Count
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Speaker 1: of Anjou, Oudas, Count of Blois, chart and Tour Bluchards,
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Speaker 1: Count of Vontemix, and Courbill Gautier, Count of Vexine, and Hugh,
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Speaker 1: Count of Maine. Few counts came from beyond the Loire,
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Speaker 1: and some of the lords in the north. Amongst others, Arnulf,
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Speaker 1: the second Count of Flanders and the Lords of Vermandois
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Speaker 1: were likewise missing. When those present were in regular assembly,
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Speaker 1: Archbishop Adelheran, with the assent of Duke hu thus spake
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Speaker 1: unto them, Louis of blessed memory. Having been taken from
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Speaker 1: us without leaving issue, it hath become necessary to engage
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Speaker 1: seriously in seeking who may take his place upon the throne,
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Speaker 1: to the end that the common weal remain not in peril,
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Speaker 1: neglected and without a head. That is why, on the
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Speaker 1: last occasion we deemed it useful to put off this matter,
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Speaker 1: in order that each of ye might come hither and
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Speaker 1: submit to the assembly the opinion with which God should
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Speaker 1: have inspired him, and that from all those sentiments might
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Speaker 1: be drawn what is the general will? Here be we assembled.
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Speaker 1: Let us then be guided by our wisdom and our
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Speaker 1: good faith to act in such sort that hatreds stifle
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Speaker 1: not reason, and affection distort not truth. We be not
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Speaker 1: ignorant that Charles hath his partisans who maintain that he
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Speaker 1: ought to come to the throne transmitted to him by
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Speaker 1: his relatives. But if we examined this question, the throne
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Speaker 1: is not acquired by hereditary right, and we be bound
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Speaker 1: to place at the head of the kingdom none but
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Speaker 1: him who hath not only the distinction of corporeal nobility,
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Speaker 1: but hath honor to recommend him and magnanimity to rest upon.
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Speaker 1: We read in the Annals that to emperors of illustrious race,
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Speaker 1: whom their own latches caused to fall from power, succeeded
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Speaker 1: others at one time, similar at another different. But what
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Speaker 1: dignity could we confer on Charles, who hath not honor
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Speaker 1: for his guide, who is enfeebled by lethargy, and who
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Speaker 1: finally hath lost head so far that he hath no
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Speaker 1: shame in serving a foreign king, and in misuniting himself
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Speaker 1: to a woman taken from the rank of the knights
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Speaker 1: his vassals. How could the poussint Duke brook that a
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Speaker 1: woman issuing from a family of his vassals should become
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Speaker 1: queen and have dominion over him? How could he walk
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Speaker 1: behind her, whose equals and even superiors bend the knee
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Speaker 1: before him and place their hands beneath his feet. Examine
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Speaker 1: carefully into the matter, and consider that Charles hath been
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Speaker 1: rejected more through his own fault than that of others. Decide, ye,
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Speaker 1: rather for the good than the ill of the commonweal,
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Speaker 1: if ye wish it make Charles sovereign, if ye hold
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Speaker 1: to its prosperity, Crown Hugh the illustrious Duke. Let attachment
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Speaker 1: to Charles seduce nobody, and let hatred towards the Duke
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Speaker 1: distract nobody from the common interest. Give us, then, for
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Speaker 1: our head the Duke, who has deeds nobility, and troops
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Speaker 1: to recommend him, the Duke, in whom you will find
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Speaker 1: a defender not only of the commonweal, but also of
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Speaker 1: your private interests. Thanks to his benevolence, ye will have
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Speaker 1: in him a father who hath had recourse to him,
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Speaker 1: and hath not found protection, who that hath been torn
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Speaker 1: from the care of home, hath not been restored there
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Speaker 1: too by him. This opinion having been proclaimed and well received,
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Speaker 1: Duke Hugh was unanimously raised to the throne, crowned on
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Speaker 1: the first of July by the Metropolitan and the other bishops,
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Speaker 1: and recognized as king by the Gauls, the Britons, the Normans,
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Speaker 1: the Aquitanians, the Goths, the Spaniards and the Gascons. Surrounded
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Speaker 1: by the grandees of the kingdom, he passed decrees and
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Speaker 1: promulgated laws according to royal custom, regulating successfully in disposing
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Speaker 1: of all matters, that he might deserve so much good fortune,
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Speaker 1: and under the inspiration of so many prosperous circumstances, he
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Speaker 1: gave himself up to deep piety. Wishing to have a
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Speaker 1: certainty of leaving after his death and heir to the throne.
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Speaker 1: He conferred with his grandees, and after holding council with them,
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Speaker 1: he first sent a deputation to the Metropolitan of Rim,
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Speaker 1: who was then at Orleans, and subsequently went himself to
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Speaker 1: see him, touching the association of his son Robert with
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Speaker 1: himself upon the throne. The archbishop having told him that
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Speaker 1: two kings could not be regularly created in one and
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Speaker 1: the same year, he immediately showed a letter sent by Burrell,
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Speaker 1: Duke of Inner Spain, proving that the Duke requested help
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Speaker 1: against the barbarians. The Metropolitan, seeing advantage was likely to result,
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Speaker 1: ultimately yielded to the king's reasons, and when the Grandees
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Speaker 1: were assembled at the Festival of Our Lord's Nativity to
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Speaker 1: celebrate the coronation, Hugh assumed the purple and he crowned
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Speaker 1: solemnly in the Basilica of Saint Croix his son Robert
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Speaker 1: amidst the acclamations of the French. Thus was founded the
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Speaker 1: dynasty of the Capitians under the Double influence of German
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Speaker 1: manners and feudal connections amongst the ancient Germans. Royal airship
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Speaker 1: was generally confined to one in the same family, but
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Speaker 1: election was often joined with airship and had more than
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Speaker 1: once thrust the latter aside. Hugh Capet was head of
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Speaker 1: the family which was the most illustrious in his time
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Speaker 1: and closest to the throne on which the personal merits
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Speaker 1: of Counts Eudes and Robert had already twice seated it.
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Speaker 1: He was also one of the greatest chieftains of feudal society,
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Speaker 1: Duke of the country which was already called France, and
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Speaker 1: Count of Paris, of that city which Clovis, after his victories,
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Speaker 1: had chosen as the center of his dominions. In view
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Speaker 1: of the Roman rather than Germanic pretensions of the Carlovingian
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Speaker 1: heirs and of their admitted decay, the rise of Hugh
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Speaker 1: cape was the natural consequence of the principal feats as
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Speaker 1: well as of the manners of the period, and the
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Speaker 1: crowning manifestation of the new social conditions in France, that is, feudalism. Accordingly,
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Speaker 1: the event reached completion and confirmation without any great obstacle.
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Speaker 1: The Carlovingian Charles of Lorraine vainly attempted to assert his rights,
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Speaker 1: but after some gleans of success, he died in nine
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Speaker 1: ninety two, and his descendants fell, if not into obscurity,
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Speaker 1: at least into political insignificance. In vain. Again did certain
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Speaker 1: feudal lords, especially in southern France, refuse for some time
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Speaker 1: their adhesion to Hugh cape One of them, Adalbert, Count
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Speaker 1: of Paragoord, has remained almost famous for having made to
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Speaker 1: Hugh Capey's question who made thee count the proud? Answer,
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Speaker 1: who made thee king the pride? However, if Count Adelbert
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Speaker 1: had more bark than bite, Hugh possessed intelligence and patient moderation, which,
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Speaker 1: when a position is once acquired, is the best pledge
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Speaker 1: of continuance. Several facts indicate that he did not underestimate
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Speaker 1: the worth and range of his title of king, at
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Speaker 1: the same time that by getting his son Robert crowned
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Speaker 1: with him, he secured for his line the next succession.
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Speaker 1: He also performed several acts which went beyond the limits
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Speaker 1: of his feudal domains, and proclaimed to all the kingdom
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Speaker 1: the presence of the king. But those acts were temperate
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Speaker 1: and wise, and they paved the way for the future
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Speaker 1: without anticipating it. Hugh Capey confined himself carefully to the
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Speaker 1: sphere of his recognized rights as well as of his
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Speaker 1: effective strength, and his government remained faithful to the character
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Speaker 1: of the revolution which had raised him to the throne,
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Speaker 1: at the same time that it gave warning of the
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Speaker 1: future progress of royalty independently of and over the head
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Speaker 1: of feudalism. When he died on the twenty fourth of
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Speaker 1: October nine ninety six, the crown which he hesitated, they say,
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Speaker 1: to wear on his own head, passed without obstacle to
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Speaker 1: his son Robert, and the course which was to be
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Speaker 1: followed for eight centuries under the government of his descendants
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Speaker 1: by civilization in France began to develop itself. It has
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Speaker 1: already been pointed out in the case of Adelbaran, Archbishop
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Speaker 1: of Rem what part was taken by the clergy in
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Speaker 1: this second change of dynasty. But the part played by
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Speaker 1: it was so important and novel that we must make
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Speaker 1: a somewhat more detailed acquaintance with the real character of
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Speaker 1: it and the principal actor in it. When in seven
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Speaker 1: fifty one Pepin the Short became King in the place
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Speaker 1: of the last Merovingian. It was, as we have seen,
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Speaker 1: Pope Zachary who decided that it was better to give
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Speaker 1: the title of king to him who really exercised the
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Speaker 1: sovereign power than to him who bore only its name.
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Speaker 1: Three years later, in seven fifty four, it was Pope
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Speaker 1: Stephen the Second who came over to France to anoint
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Speaker 1: King Pepin, and forty six years afterward, in eight hundred,
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Speaker 1: it was Popeli of the third who proclaimed Charlemagne Emperor
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Speaker 1: of the West from the papacy. Then on the accession
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Speaker 1: of the Carlovingians, came the principal decision and steps, their
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Speaker 1: reciprocal services rendered one to the other by the two powers,
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Speaker 1: and still more, perhaps the similarity of their maxims as
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Speaker 1: to the unity of the empire established between the papacy
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Speaker 1: and the Carlovinian's strong ties of gratitude and policy. And accordingly,
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Speaker 1: when the Carlovinian dynasty was in danger, the court of
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Speaker 1: Rome was grieved and troubled. It was hard for her
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Speaker 1: to see the fall of a dynasty for which she
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Speaker 1: had done so much, and which had done so much
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Speaker 1: for her. Far then from aiding the accession of the
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Speaker 1: new dynasty. She showed herself favorable to the old and
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Speaker 1: tried to save it without herself becoming too deeply compromised.
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Speaker 1: Such was from nine eighty five to nine ninety six
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Speaker 1: the attitude of Pope John the sixteenth at the crisis
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Speaker 1: which placed Hugh Capet upon the three. In spite of
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Speaker 1: this policy on the part of the papacy, the French
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Speaker 1: Church took the initiative in the event and supported the
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Speaker 1: new king. The Archbishop of Rem affirmed the right of
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Speaker 1: the people to accomplish a change of dynasty and anointed
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Speaker 1: Hugh cape and his son Robert. The accession of the
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Speaker 1: Capecians was a work independent of all foreign influence and
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Speaker 1: strictly national. In church as well as state, the authority
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Speaker 1: of Adelbaran was of great weight in the matter. As archbishop,
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Speaker 1: he was full of zeal and at the same time
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Speaker 1: of wisdom and ecclesiastical administration. Engaging in politics, he showed
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Speaker 1: boldness in attempting a great change in the state, and
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Speaker 1: ability in carrying it out without precipitation as well as
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Speaker 1: without hesitation. He had for his secretary and teacher a
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Speaker 1: simple priest of Auverne, who exercised over this enterprise, an
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Speaker 1: influence more continuous and still more effectual than that of
17:51
Speaker 1: his archbishop Jerbert, born at Arelac and brought up in
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Speaker 1: the monastery of Saint gerro Had, when he was summoned
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Speaker 1: to the directorate of the u S School at REM's,
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Speaker 1: already made a trip to Spain, visited Rome, and won
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Speaker 1: the esteem of Pope John the thirteenth and of the
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Speaker 1: Emperor Otto the second, and had thus a close view
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Speaker 1: of the great personages and great questions ecclesiastical and secular
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Speaker 1: of his time. On his establishment at Rem, he pursued
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Speaker 1: a double course with a double end. He was fond
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Speaker 1: of study, science and the investigation of truth, but he
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Speaker 1: also had a taste for the sphere of politics and
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Speaker 1: of the world. He excelled in the art of instructing,
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Speaker 1: but also in the art of pleasing, and the address
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Speaker 1: of the courtier was in him united with the learning
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Speaker 1: of the doctor. His was a mind lofty, broad searching, prolific,
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Speaker 1: open to conviction, and yet inclined to give way, either
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Speaker 1: from calculation or attraction to contrary ideas, but certain to recur,
18:47
Speaker 1: under favorable circumstances to its original purpose. There was in
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Speaker 1: him almost as much changeableness as zeal for the cause
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Speaker 1: he embraced, He espoused and energetically supported the elevation of
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Speaker 1: a new dynasty and then the independence of the Roman Church.
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Speaker 1: He was very active in the cause of Hugh Cape,
19:05
Speaker 1: but he was more than once on the point of
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Speaker 1: going over to King Lothair or to the pretender Charles
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Speaker 1: of Lorraine. He was, in his time even more resolutely
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Speaker 1: than Bousset in the seventeenth century, the defender and practicer
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Speaker 1: of what have been called the liberties of the Gallican Church,
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Speaker 1: and in nine ninety two he became on this ground
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Speaker 1: Archbishop of rem But after having been interdicted in nine
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Speaker 1: ninety five by Pope John the sixteenth from the exercise
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Speaker 1: of this episcopal functions in France, he obtained in nine
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Speaker 1: ninety eight from Pope Gregory the fifth the archbishopric of
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Speaker 1: Ravenna in Italy, and the favor of Otto the Third
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Speaker 1: was not unconnected in nine ninety nine with his elevation
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Speaker 1: to the Holy See, which he occupied for four years
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Speaker 1: with the title of Sylvester the Second, whilst putting in
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Speaker 1: practice but with moderation and dignity maxims very different from
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Speaker 1: those which he had supported fifteen years before as a
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Speaker 1: French bishop. He became at this later period of his
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Speaker 1: life so much more estranged from France in that he
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Speaker 1: was embroiled with eugh Cape's son and successor, King Robert,
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Speaker 1: whose quandum preceptor he had been, and of whose marriage
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Speaker 1: with Queen Bertha, widow of Eude's, Count of Blois he
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Speaker 1: had honestly disapproved. In nine ninety five, just when he
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Speaker 1: had been interdicted by Pope John the sixteenth from his
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Speaker 1: functions as Archbishop of rem Jerbert wrote to the abbot
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Speaker 1: and brethren of the Monastery of Saint Gerrou, where he
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Speaker 1: had been brought up, and now farewell to your holy community.
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Speaker 1: Farewell to those whom I knew in old times or
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Speaker 1: who were connected with me by blood, if there still
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Speaker 1: survive any whose names, if not their features, have remained
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Speaker 1: upon my memory. Not that I have forgotten them through pride,
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Speaker 1: but I am broken down and, if it must be said,
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Speaker 1: changed by the ferocity of barbarians. What I learned in
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Speaker 1: my boyhood I forgot in my youth. What I desired
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Speaker 1: in my youth I despised in my old age. Such
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Speaker 1: are the fruits thou hast borne for me o pleasure.
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Speaker 1: Such are the joys afforded by the honors of the world,
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Speaker 1: believe my experience of it. The higher the grade are
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Speaker 1: outwardly raised by glory, the more cruel is their inward
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Speaker 1: anguish length of life brings in the soul of the
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Speaker 1: ambitious days of hardy undeception, but it does not discourage
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Speaker 1: them from their course of ambition. Jerbert was amongst the
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Speaker 1: ambitious at the same time one of the most exalted
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Speaker 1: in point of intellect, and one of the most persistent,
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Speaker 1: as well as restless in attachment to the affairs of
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Speaker 1: the world. End of Chapter thirteen.