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

LITERATURE.

The Franks. By Walter. C. Pvrry.

Longman.

Thi3 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 come

of the chief European nations, have left but few
traces in the annals of the past. Their's was an

age of strife and struggle, when historians and

minstrels were few, and little to be trusted from

;ho vehemence of oppoAng parties, and the pre-
udices which were then unsofcened by extended

knowledge and tolerant principle 3. They lived for
the present, not the future ; but the countrymen
_ _

of Carl Mattel, the predecessors of Charlemagne,
deserve some consideration even in our day. The
author of this work i 3 Doctor of Philosophy in the
University of Gottingen, and hal consequently
had aczess 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 accounls, has allowed for con-
flicting prejudices, and has formed a tho-
rough acquaintance with the subject. He com-

men-ces with describing the Frankish race,
their peculiarities, the traditions of their early
settlement in Germany and Gaul, and the division
of their lands. The two great divisions of Austrasia
and Neustria were of the most importance, 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 neces 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 element maintaining its pre-etnini.nce in
Austrasi!,_while in Neustria, it became absoibed

in the old'Roman characteristics. This ddference be-
tween the different races of the Franks themselves

renders the task of chronicling their peculiarities,
laws and customs, one of no ordinary difficul y.
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. The 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
faneans, 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.
The remarkable contrast between the Merovin-

giau and Carlovingian dynasties was proved
by the fact, that the successors of Clovis became
gradually weaker, and more incapable of governing,
while the successors of the first Pepin increased in,
power and skill. The fifth generation saw the
descendant of Pepin of Lauden ruling an empire
which embraced France, 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 Martel 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 :
" Carl 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
despitchee by the Frankish chroniclers in a few dry
w,.rds. His greatness, indeed, shines forth even from
their meagre notices ; but we feel, as we read them, that
had a Caiiar 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 Caesars,
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 hiring 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 ralult of a contest. He fought his way to the seat
of his mighty father. He defeated the Neustrians, and
coropeiled them to receive a sovereign at his hands.
He attacked and defeated, in rapid succession, the
warlike nations of the Flie.iane' and the Saxons ; be re-
fixed the Frankish yoke more firmly upon the necks of
the Swabians, the Bavarians, the Aquitanians, and
Gaseous ; ' and, above all, he- 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 active life he was
engaged in quelling the enless Geditions of the great
seigniors who were as impatient of 'control' from above
as of opposition from below.

" The great and important results of his actiiity were
the predominance of the German element in the Frankish
empire, the preservation of Europe from Mohammeda-
nisw, 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 ; be crushed all those who dared
to oppose him ; he coerced the stubborness of the inde—
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 degradei
being, a mere warrior. He never seems to hive sought
war for it, own sake, or to have del:ghted 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 tkeir efforts to convert the heathen,
and the sympathy he showed in their success, sufficiently
prove that he was not indifferent to religion ; and that
he could appreciate, not only the brave 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 faincans. The`
last of the dynasty of Clovis was shorn of his royal
locks and sent into a monastery. Pepin's elder
brother, Carl Jun) 3, had previously retired into one,
leaving the cares of State to his brother. Mr.
Perry says of him :
" With such 'high qualities, important trunsactions,
and glorious deeds, connected with his name, we might
wonder that the fame of Pepin is not greater, did we not
know the diminishing force of unfavourable contrast.
Unfortunately, for his renown at least, he bad a father
and a so,n still greater than himself. Such a mall
would have risen like an alp from the level plain of
ordinary kings : as it is, he forms but a link in a tong
chain of eminences, of which he is not the highest; and
thus it has came 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 time. 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, en
acquaintance indispensable to the knowledge of
the foundation of the European monarchies.