Many years in pious seclusion she lived; at length Alcidor again appeared to her in a dream, and said, “Thy time of probation is ended; follow me now to the regions of eternal bliss!” She inclined her head and died. They laid her, as she had requested, with Alcidor.
In many points of view this legend is curious and interesting; perhaps, could we tear the veil from history, we might find that these Merovingians were not so black as they are painted, or, at any rate, that it was owing to some redeeming points that they lived thus in their subjects’ hearts. Curious especially is this legend, inasmuch as in all probability it may have incited Joan of Arc to perform her deeds, the similarity of the two stories being remarkable; and there can be but little doubt that this legend was rife at Joan’s day in this district, near which she lived: in any case, the legend is touchingly simple and beautiful; it is given at great length in “Traditions of the Countries of the Rhine,” by Dr. Aloys Schreiber.
The Bishops of Metz early played an important part in history. Arnulph, who flourished about 622, was almost a king in power, and from him descended Charles Martel, whose son Pepin became in name, as his father had long been in fact, King of France.
Pepin’s son Charlemagne, we are told, held his court at Thionville (about twenty miles lower down the Moselle). Here he was accompanied by his seven beautiful daughters; all taught to work in wool, to ride, and to hunt, in order that they might not be corrupted by idleness: they all supped with him, and when he journeyed rode after him on horseback.
Charlemagne was said to have been seven feet high, and his arm was as mighty as his genius; wisdom and dignity sat on his brow; his seal was the handle of his sword, and he was wont to say, “With my sword I maintain all to which I affix my seal.” He died in 814, and was buried sitting upright as on a throne, and clothed in his imperial robes.
His successor, Louis, convoked the States at Thionville in 835; no less than eight Archbishops and thirty-five Bishops attended on this occasion, so numerous had become the Christian prelates. In 869 Charles the Bald was crowned at Metz, the Bishops of Metz and Toul being especially mentioned; and in his grandson’s reign we find a Bishop Wala, of Metz, killed before the gates of that city, while fighting bravely in its defence against the Norsemen, who at this period made frequent incursions into France and the adjoining countries. Bishops had ceased to be pastors, and become warriors and temporal princes.
The Bishops of Metz were long able to maintain their authority in the city, though often the citizens disputed it. In Henry the Fowler’s reign, Metz became a free imperial city; and in the twelfth century a Maître Echevin, with twelve councillors, was established, and for centuries this form of government was adhered to: thus the Bishops were superseded by a Republic. They still, however, enjoyed considerable power, being the principal parties in the election of the Maître and his council.
A curious legend of Metz is handed down to us from the beginning of the thirteenth century.