The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

-.OP-

Tha Franks. By Walter C. Perry. Longman.
This volume is on a subject of considerable histori-
cal importance, though the knowledge of it is neither
correct nor general. The Franks, though a
mighty and warlike people, the founders of some
of the chief European nations, have left but few
traces in tha annals of the past. lbeies was an
age of strife and struggle, when historians and
minstrels were few, and little to be trusted from
the vehemence of opposing parties, and the pre-
judices which were then unsoftened by extended

knowledge and tolerant principle?. They lived for
the present, not the future ; but the countrymen
of Carl Martel, the predecessors of Charlemagne,
deserve some consideration even. in our day. The
author of this work is Doctor of Philosophy in the
University of Gottingen, and has consequently
had ac .ess to the chief sources of Frankish his.

tory. He has evidently devoted much care and
labour to the prosecution of his task, has com-
pared opposing accounts, has allowed for con-
flicting prejudices, and has formed a tho-
rough acquaintance with the subject. He com-
mences with describing the Frankish race,
their peculiarities, the traditions of their early
settlement in G, rmany and Gaul, and the division
of their lands. The two great divisions of Austrasia
and Neustria were of the most important?, and
these are clearly explained for the assistance of the
students. Austrasia being the name of the original
seat of the Franks on the right bank of the Rhine,
and Neustria being the title of their settlements in
Gaul. It is scarcely necos ary to remind the reader
that they were divided into the kingdoms of Ger-
many and France by the treaty of Verdun. The
distinction between them was always great, the
Frankish elehient maintaining is pre-eminence in
Austrasia►, while in Neustria it became absorbed
in the old Roman characteristics. This d.fference be-
tween the different races of the Franks themselves
renders the task of chronicling their peculiarities,
laws and customs, one of no ordinary difficulty.
That the writer has succeeded in his task and at
the same time in producing an interesting volume,

out of comparatively unattractive materials, will,
we think, be readily admitted. Trio opening in-
deed has little interest, the early struggles of the
rival kings and chiefs differing little from one ano-
ther. The long line of the Merovingian rois
funeans, whose indolence and incapacity have be-
come a proverb, furnish but a tedious catalogue.
The reader who will persevere, however, through
this necessary introduction, will find his reward in
arriving at the histories of their great successors.
Tire remarkable contrast between the Merovin-
gian and Carlovingian dynasties was proved
by the fact, that the successors of Clovis became
gradually weaker, and wore incapable of governing,
while the successors of the first Pepin increased in
power and skill. The fifth generation saw the
descendant of Pepin of Lauder' ruling an empire
which embraced Fr ance, Germany, and Italy. It
is true that the glory of the race paused at that
epoch, and the son of Charlemagne had few of his
ancestor's qualities, but the succession of the three
Pepins and Carl artel in one family was sufficient
to secure the supremacy of the Carlovingian race.
The following extract gives a picture of the charac-
ter of Carl Martel, the son of one eminent Pepin,
the father of another, and the grandfather of
Charlemagne :
" cad Martel may be reckoned in the number of those
great men who have been deprived of more than half the
glory due to them, because they want the sacred poet.'
Deeds which, in the full light of history, would have ap-
peared sufficient to make a dozen warriors immortal, are
despatches by the Frankish chroniclers in a few dry
words. His greatness, indeed, shines forth even from
their meagre notices ; but we feel, as we read them, that
had a Caaiar or a Livy unfolded his character and de-
scribed his exploits,—instead of a poor pedantic monk
like Fredegar,—a rival might be found for the Camaro,
the Scipios, and the Hannibals.
"We have seen that he inherited little from his father
but the hereditary vigour of his race. He began life as
the prisoner of an envious stepmother. When he
escaped from his prison at Cologne, he was surrounded
by powerful enemies ; nor could he consider himelf safe
until, with a force which voluntarily joined his standard,
he had defeated three armies larger than his owu. His
subsequent career was in accordance with the deeds of
his early life. Every step in his onward progress was
the result of a contest. He fought his way to the seat
of his mighty father. He defeated the Neustriane, and
compelled them to receive a sovereign at his hands.
He attacked and defeated, in rapid succession, the
warlike nations of the Frisiens' and the Saxons ; he re-
fced the Frankish yoke more firmly upon the necks of
the Swabians, the Bavarians, the Aquitanians, and
Garcons ; and, above all, tie stemmed the mighty tide of
Moilemism which threatened to engulf the world.
" Nor was it with external enemies alone that he bad
to contend. To the last days of his ac ive life he was
engaged in quelling the enless seditious of the great
seigniors who were as impatient of control from above
as of opposition from below.
4

" The great and important results of his activity were
the predominance of the German element in the Frankish
empire, the preservation of Europe from Mohammeda-
nism, and the union of the principal German tribes into
one powerful State. And all these mighty objects he
effected, as far as we are able to judge, chiefly, though
not entirely by the sword. He beat down everything
which barred his course ; he crushed all those who dared
to oppose him ; he coerced the stubborness of the hide-
pendent German tribes, and welded them together by
terrific and repeated blows. Our prevailing idea of him,
therefore, is that of force—irresistible energy ; and his
popular surname of Martel, or the Hammer, appears a
particularly happy one.
"His lot was cast in the battle-field, but the part
which he there performed was useful as well as brilliant.
Though evidently a warrior of the highest class—great in
the council as in the field—he was not that degraded
being, a mere warrior. He never seems to heve sought
war for its own sake, or to have deUlited in bloodshed.
He was willing to negotiate with an enemy, even when
he fat himself the stronger; and was placable and
generous to his bitterest foes. The aid he afforded to
Boniface and others in their efforts to convert the heathen,
and the sympathy he showed iu their success, sufficiently
prove that he was not indifferent to religion ; and that
he could appreciate, not only the brava exploits of the
gal ant soldier, but the self-sacrificing labours of the
zsalous missionary.
Pepin the Short, the son of Carl Martel, was an-
other eminent ruler. It was he who first assumed
the crown instead of leaving the nominal authority
in the hands of the Merovingian faineans. The
last of the dynasty of Clovis was shorn of his royal
locks aged sent into a monastery. Pepin's elder
t,rother, Cartnnan, had previously retired into one,
le.tving the cares of State to his brother. Mr.
Perry says of him :
" With such high qualities, important transactions,
and glorious deeds, connected with his name, we might
wonder that the fame of Pepin is not greater, we not
know the diminishing force of unfavourable contrast.
Unfortunately, for his renown at least, he had a father
and a son still greater than himself. Such a man
would have risen like an alp from the level plain of
ordinary kings : as it is, he forms but a link in a long
chain of eminences, of which he is not the highest; and
thus it has come to pass that the tomb of One who ruled
a mighty empire for twenty-five years with invariable
success, who founded a new dynasty of kings, and estab-
lished the Popes on their temporal throne, is inscribed
with the name of his still more glorious successor ; and
all his high qualities and glorious deeds appear to be
forgotten in the fact that he was 'Pater Caroli Magni:"
With Pepin the Short, the present history ends,
though the author gives us a conditional promise
of a work on the life of Charlemagne, to which
this volume will form a useful introduction. The
concluding chapters are devoted to the state of the
laws, religion, &c., and show a careful study of
those confused and stormy times. We trust the
author will fulfil his promise of another work, and
in the meantime commend the present careful and
interesting record to all who would form an ac-
quaintance with the early Frankish history., an
acquaintance indispensable to the knowledge of
the foundation of the European monarchies.