A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

Clotar II. possessed, at least, energy enough to preserve a sway which was based on a long succession of the worst crimes that disgrace humanity. In 622, six years before his death, he made his oldest son, Dagobert, a boy of sixteen, king of the German half of his realm, but was obliged, immediately afterwards, to assist him against the Saxons. He entered their territory, seized the people, massacred all who proved to be taller than his own two-handed sword, and then returned to France without having subdued the spirit or received the allegiance of the bold race. Nothing of importance occurred during the remainder of his reign; he died in 628, leaving his kingdom to his two sons, Dagobert and Charibert. The former easily possessed himself of the lion's share, giving his younger brother only a small strip of territory along the river Loire. Charibert, however, drove the last remnant of the Visigoths into Spain, and added the country between the Garonne and the Pyrenees to his little kingdom. The name of Aquitaine was given to this region, and Charibert's descendants became its Dukes, subject to the kings of the Franks.

628.

Dagobert had been carefully educated by Pippin of Landen, the Royal Steward of Clotar II., and by Arnulf, the Bishop of Metz. He had no quality of greatness, but he promised to be, at least, a good and just sovereign. He became at once popular with the masses, who began to long for peace, and for the restoration of rights which had been partly lost during the civil wars. The nobles, however, who had drawn the greatest advantage from those wars, during which their support was purchased by one side or the other, grew dissatisfied. They cunningly aroused in Dagobert the love of luxury and the sensual vices which had ruined his ancestors, and thus postponed the reign of law and justice to which the people were looking forward.

In fact, that system of freedom and equality which the Germanic races had so long possessed, was already shaken to its very base. During the long and bloody feuds of the Merovingian kings, many changes had been made in the details of government, all tending to increase the power of the nobles, the civil officers and the dignitaries of the Church. Wealth—the bribes paid for their support—had accumulated in the hands of these classes, while the farmers, mechanics and tradesmen, plundered in turn by both parties, had constantly grown poorer. Although the external signs of civilization had increased, the race had already lost much of its moral character, and some of the best features of its political system.

There are few chronicles which inform us of the affairs of Germany during this period. The Avars, after their treaty of peace with Sigbert, directed their incursions against the Bavarians, but without gaining any permanent advantage. On the other hand, the Slavonic tribes, especially the Bohemians, united under the rule of a renegade Frank, whose name was Samo, and who acquired a part of Thuringia, after defeating the Frank army which was sent against him. The Saxons and Thuringians then took the war into their own hands, and drove back Samo and his Slavonic hordes. By this victory the Saxons released themselves from the payment of an annual tribute to the Frank kings, and the Thuringians became strong enough to organize themselves again as a people and elect their own Duke. The Franks endeavored to suppress this new organization, but they were defeated by the Duke, Radulf, nearly on the same spot where, just one hundred years before, Theuderich, the son of Chlodwig, had crushed the Thuringian kingdom. From that time, Thuringia was placed on the same footing as Bavaria, tributary to the Franks, but locally independent.

638. END OF THE MEROVINGIAN POWER.

King Dagobert, weak, swayed by whatever influence was nearest, and voluptuous rather than cruel, died in 638, before he had time to do much evil. He was the last of the Merovingian line who exercised any actual power. The dynasty existed for a century longer, but its monarchs were merely puppets in the hands of stronger men. Its history, from the beginning, is well illustrated by a tradition current among the people, concerning the mother of Chlodwig. They relate that soon after her marriage she had a vision, in which she gave birth to a lion (Chlodwig), whose descendants were wolves and bears, and their descendants, in turn, frisky dogs.

Before the death of Dagobert—in fact, during the life of Clotar II.—a new power had grown up within the kingdom of the Franks, which gradually pushed the Merovingian dynasty out of its place. The history of this power, after 638, becomes the history of the realm, and we now turn from the bloody kings to trace its origin, rise and final triumph.

CHAPTER X.

THE DYNASTY OF THE ROYAL STEWARDS.