Sentence:  Whether it be some Visigothic chieftain raised on a shield above the shoulders of his shouting warriors, some <WSD>"Roi Fainéant</WSD>" of the Merovingian race, a listless, pallid, long-haired kingling, dragged languidly through the streets in a painted wagon by sleek oxen, ... it seems clear to me that we must have some sort of a show, and a pageant, and a ‘barbaric pomp' of procession. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Any of the later French kings of the Merovingian dynasty, considered to have played a merely ceremonial role.