Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1842-11-10

committed. Neither did John absolute
" refuse to appear before the court to
take his trial; but sent bis Ambassador,
his herald, to demand a safe conduct.
lie NAV come hther in peace and
safety said the French King.
| But may he also zetu'a? asked the
courteous herald.
THAT replied Philip, will depend
on the sentence ei his peers
It was not likely. whatever might be
the strict doctrine Of reudalism, that John
would put himself completely in the
hands Of his adversary !: nor would his
English counseIors have allowed their
king. 10 his capacity Of Duke of Norman,
dy, to be thus entirely converted into a
subject Of France. GA his not appear
ing. the peers fund him guilty of the
murder; bis fiefs were falieited by the
! felony; they rc-invested in the lord par
amount, and Philip proceeded to execute
the sentence IF the cont.
These twelve great peers of france
are worth notice. They were at this
time traced to Charlcmaene, and tcliev-
ed to be an institution of that emperor.
They were, in fact an invention Of the
romance writers-as pune inventions as
Prince Arthur's knights Of the Round
Table-and they had been limited to
twelve, to preserve some lanciful- analo.
gy with the twelve apostles. But I:isto-
ny and romance in those days were east
ly conlounded: and though mere fiction
in its orisi1, il tecame an institution of
the kingdom by reason nf the belief that
it had b-ca. 1t was thus tcanspIanted
from the region OF romance to the sober
territory of constitutional law; a curious
instance of a merely fabulous Institution
working out for itself, in process of time,
a vertabie existence-of that which be-
gan in romance ending in history.
There occurred, in the reign Of Phil
ip, another event. which promoted the
power of the throne even more, perhaps,
than the acquisition of Normandy and
other provinces from John. This was
the
CRUSADE AGAINST THE ALBIG EsISEs.
This event Al. Nlchelet has put in d
new light, deriving from it favorable
consequence, which saves US the pain Of
seeing nothing but evil in what certainly
is one of the blacklist pages of history
His narrative, too. is full Of spirit. We
shall endeavor, within few paragraphs,
to compress the most striking points of
it.
The south of France, the country Dor
derlng Oh the Pyrenees and the Nletitet-
ranean, possessed about this time Ian
guage and literature Of its own: it was
much in advance Of the France in Paris
and the Seine in ciyiliZ ition; it. looked
with contempt. not unmingled, however,
with some fear. upon the north. "hich
was Drawer aud more warlike, in the
same proportion as it had less cultivated
the arts of peace. During the existence
ct the Roman empire, the south Of Gaul
I was one of the weaIthiest and most env-
able ct all its provinces; and for many
centuries after the invasion of the barba-
rlans, it still retained something of its
former celebrity. Its fleets still! cruised
over the Mediterranean; its towns were
still gay with the wealth Of commerce and
the Intercourse Of the stranger; it had
refined its language and its manrers---the
list Of which had grown lax as well as
I polished; it had not only cultivated poet
ry, but had made advancement in the
art of government, as the free constitu-
ton of Toulous would bear Witness
But the cold wind of the north was to
sweep over,this fair region; it.bIew, in
deed, a perfect hurlicane--it swept away
its civilization. its language and its gov
ernment; and the south Of France was
thereatter:t9 receive a language, lItera-
ture and government from the forth.
There was strange medley in this
south of France. in this Languedoc and
Provence, which somewhat battles the
, imagination. Here was the seat of the
courts Of love-courts where fair count
ess could gravely decide and promuls gate
| with all the due formality of Judicial
sentence, that between married people,
whatever good understanding might en-
ist, there could be no such thing as Lue
'The bond forbade it. IF, indeed, d.
vorce should take place between the par
ties, and the lady should marry again, it
was, after learned argument, and by ano-
Their fair oultess, decided, that the
quoadm husband might then be admitted
as lover. 1t was his only chance, al
ter having once entered the pale of mat
rimony. Bad law, fair countesses. Tho
we have not practiced in the courts Of
love, we pronounce your decisions to he
bad law. For that tender sentiment of
which question is here made, involves, at
all events, the intention of constancy -
of, indeed, an eternal constancy; so that
the bond of marriage cannot be ini'nical to
it, though love may possibly die out in
matrimony.
Heresies of every shade seem to have
crept into this beautiful region. Some
had been impol ted from the east, some
had grown up from native boldness of
inquiry. There was the Gnostic herery,
and the Manichaan-and there were the
Vaudois, who mainly assembled the Re-