Part 8 (1/2)
To which _Zacharias_ return'd this Answer,--”That he thought the _Person who governed_ the Commonwealth, ought rather to have also the _t.i.tle_ of King: Whereupon the _Franks_, after the Return of the Amba.s.sadors, cast out _Childeric_, who then had the t.i.tle of King; and by the _Advice_ of the _Amba.s.sadors_, and of Pope _Zacharias, Elected Pipin_, and made him King.”
Besides the above Proofs, we have _Aimoinus's_ Testimony to the same Purpose, _lib. 4. cap. 61._ where he concludes thus.--”This Year _Pipin_ got the Appellation of King of the _Franks_, and according to their ancient Customs was elevated to the Royal Throne in the City of _Soissons_, &c.” Nay, even _G.o.dfrey of Viterbo_ himself; _Chron. part.
17. cap. 4._ ”_Pipin_ (says he) was made King by Pope _Zacharias_, (_ex electione Francorum_) through the _Election_ of the _Franks_, _Hilderic_ their slothful King being, by the _Franks_, thrust into a Monastery.”
In like Manner _Sigebertus_, sub Anno 752.--The Authors of the _Miscellany History_, lib. 22.--_Otto Frising._ lib. 5. Cap. 21, 22, 23. And the Author of the Book int.i.tuled _Fasciculus temporum_, do all clearly agree in the Account given of this Transaction. From which we may easily gather, that altho' the _Franks_ did _consult_ the _Pope_ before they created _Pipin_ King, yet it cannot therefore be any Ways inferr'd from thence, that he was made King by the _Pope's Authority_; for 'tis one Thing to make a King, and another to give Advice touching the making him: 'Tis one Thing to have a Right of Creation, and another that of only giving Advice; nay; no Man has a Right of so much as giving Advice in Matters of this Nature, but he whose Advice is first ask'd.
Lastly, no Man has more clearly explain'd this whole Matter than _Marsilius Patavinus_; who during the Reign of _Lewis_ of _Bavaria_, writ a Book--_de translatione imperii_, in which, _Cap. 6._ he has these Words.--”_Pipin_, a very valiant Man, and Son of _Charles Martel_, was (as we read) raised to the Dignity of being King of the _Franks_, by _pope Zacharias_. But _Aimoinus_ more truly informs us, in his History of the _franks_, that _Pipin_ was _legally elected_ King by the _Franks_ themselves, and by the n.o.bility of the Kingdom was placed in the Throne.
At the same Time _Childeric_, a dissolute Prince, who contenting himself with the bare t.i.tle of a King, wasted both his Time and Body in Wantonness, was by them shaven for a Monk: So that _Zacharias_ had no Hand in the deposing him, but consented (as some say) to those that did.
For such deposing of a King for just Causes, and electing of another, does not belong to any Bishop or Ecclesiastick, nor to any College of Clergymen; but to the _whole Body of citizens_ [ad universitatem civium]
inhabiting that Region, and to the n.o.bles of it, or to the Majority of them both.” Therefore those Pretences of the _Popes_, to a Power of _creating_ or _abdicating_ Kings, are apparently false to every Body.
But besides this fabulous Device, which is a sufficient Instance of their Wickedness and Malice, I think it worth my while to add a remarkable Letter of Pope _Stephen_, adapted to the foregoing Fable; by which we may make a judgment of the Madness and folly of that old crafty Knave. This Letter is extant in _Rhegino_, a Benedictine Monk, and Abbot of _Prunay_, [Footnote: _Abbot Pruniacensis_] an irrefragable Testimony in an Affair of this Nature; 'tis in _Chron. anni_ 753.--”_Stephen_ the Bishop, Servant of the Servants of G.o.d, &c. As no Man ought to boast of his Merits, so neither ought the wonderful Works of G.o.d which are wrought upon his Saints without their Desert, to be buried in Silence, but published abroad as the Angel admonished _Tobias_. I being constrained thro' the Oppression of the holy Church, by that most wicked, blasphemous, and not worthy to be named Wretch, _Aistolphus_, to fly for Refuge to that _excellent and faithful Votary of St._ Peter, _Lord_ Pipin, the most _Christian_ King, took my Journey into _France_; where I fell into a mortal Distemper and remained some Time in the District of _Paris_, in the venerable Monastery of St. _Denis_ the Martyr. And being now past Hopes of Recovery, methought I was one Day at Prayers in the Church of the same blessed Martyr, in a Place under the Bells: And that I saw standing before the great Altar our Master _Peter_; and that great Master of the _Gentiles_, our Master _Paul_; whom I knew very well by their Vestments. And a little after, I saw the blessed _Lord Denis_, a tall and slender Man, standing at the Right Hand of our Lord _Peter_. And then that good Pastor the Lord _Peter_ said--This good Brother of ours asks for Health. Then reply'd the blessed _Paul_--He shall be healed presently. And thereupon approaching to our Lord _Denis_, he amicably put his Hand upon his Breast, and look'd back upon our Lord _Peter_, and Lord _Peter_ with a chearful Countenance said to our Lord _Denis_, His Health shall be your particular Act of Favour. Then presently Lord _Denis_ taking a Censer full of Incense, and holding a Branch of Palm-tree in his Hand, accompanied with a Presbyter and Deacon, who a.s.sisted him, came near to me, and said, Peace be with thee, Brother, be not afraid, thou shalt not die until thou return in Prosperity to thy own See. Rise and be healed, and dedicate this Altar to the Honour of G.o.d, and the Apostles St.
_Peter_ and St. _Paul_, whom thou seest standing before thee, with Ma.s.ses of Thanksgiving. Whereupon I was presently made whole. And being about to accomplish that which I was commanded to do, they that were present said I was mad. So I related all that I had seen, to them, to the King, and all his People, and how I had been cured; and I fulfilled all that I was bid to do. These Things happen'd in the 753d Year, from the Incarnation of our Lord on the Ides of _August_; at which Time being strengthned by the Power of _Christ_, between the Celebration of the Consecration of the above-mention'd Altar, and the Oblation of the Sacrifice, I anointed King _Pipin_ and his two Sons, _Charles_ and _Carloman_, Kings of the _Franks_. Moreover, I laid Hands upon, and blessed _Bertranda_ the King's Wife, cloathed with her Royal Mantle, and the Grace of the Sevenfold Holy Spirit: And the n.o.bles of the _Franks_ being sanctified by the Apostolical Benediction, and the Authority delivered by _Christ_ to St. _Peter_, obliged themselves solemnly, and protested, That neither they, nor any of their Posterity, wou'd at any Time hereafter, presume to const.i.tute any Person, as King over them, but only such as were of the Race of King _Pipin_.”
CHAP. XIV.
_Of the_ Constable, _and_ Peers _of_ France.
Besides the great Office of _Mayor_ of the _Palace_ before spoken of, there was another which we must take Notice of; because it seems, in the Memory of our Forefathers, to have succeeded in Place of the former: And that was the Office of _Count_ of the _King's Stable_; called at first, _Comes stabuli_; and by Corruption at last, _Connestabuli_. Now all those who enjoy'd any extraordinary Honours or Employments in the King's Court, and a.s.sisted in the Administration of the Commonwealth, were commonly called _Comites, Counts_; which was likewise the Custom of the Ancients, as I have in some other of my Works demonstrated. So _Cicero_, in many Places, calls _Callisthenes, Comitem Alexandri magni_. This _Comes stabuli_ was in a Manner the same with the _Magister Equitum_ among the _Romans_, that is, _General_ of the _Horse_; to whom were subject those Keepers of the Horses commonly called _Querries_. _Greg.
Turen_ lib. 5. cap. 39. says,--”The Treasurer of _Clodoveus_ being taken out of the City of _Bourges_, by _Cuppan_, _Count_ of the _Stable_, was sent in Bonds to the Queen, &c.” And again, _cap._ 48. where he speaks of _Leudastes_,--”She took him (says he) into Favour, rais'd him, and made him Keeper of the best Horses; which so filled him with Pride and Vanity, that he put in for the _Constables.h.i.+p_; [_Comitatum Stabuloram_]
and having got it, began to despise and undervalue every Body.” From these Quotations it appears, that tho' the Custody of the Horses was a very honourable Employment, yet 'twas much inferior to that of _Constable_. _Aimoinus_, lib. 3. cap. 43. gives the same Account of this _Leudastes_.--”Being grown very intimate with the Queen, he was first made Keeper of the Horse; and afterwards obtaining the Constables.h.i.+p above the rest of the Keepers, he was (after the Queen's Death) made by King _Charibert_, _Count_ of _Tours_.” And _cap._ 70. ”_Leudegesilus_, Praefect of the King's Horses, whom they commonly call _Constable_, being made General of that Expedition by the King, order'd the Engines to be drawn down &c.” Also _lib._ 4. _cap_, 95. where he speaks of _Charles_ the Great,--”The same Year (says he) he sent _Burchard, Comitem Stabuli sui_, which we corruptly call _Constabulum_, with a Fleet against _Corsica_”--. The Appendix to _Gregory_ calls him, _Comestabulum, lib._ II. _Brunechildis_ (says he) was brought out of the Village, _ab exporre Comestabulo_.
This being so, _Albertus Krantzius_, lib. Suet. 5. cap. 41. ventures to affirm, that this _Constable_ was the same with what the _Germans_ call _Mareschal_. ”They named (says he) a _Governor_, one of the best Soldiers, who might have the Power of Convocating the _a.s.sembly_ of the Kingdom, and of acting in all Matters like the _Prince_. Our _Countrymen_ call him a _Mareschal_, the French call him _Constable_, &c.” This seems the more probable, because I do not remember any Mention to have been made in ancient Times, of a _Mareschal_ in our _Francogallia_; so that 'tis very likely to have been an Inst.i.tution of our latter Kings, accommodated to the Custom of the _Germans_.
That this _Comitatus Stabulorum_, a _Constables.h.i.+p_, had its Rise from the Inst.i.tution of the _Roman Emperors_, I do not at all question; altho' it grew by Degrees among us from slender Beginnings, to the Heighth of chief _Governor_ of the _Palace_. In former Times that Dignity was a Sort of _Tribunatus Militaris. Ammia.n.u.s_, lib. 26. has this Expression where he speaks of _Valentinian_ the Emperor,--”Having fixed his Stages, or Days Journeys, he at last entred into _Nicomedia_; and about the Kalends of _March_, appointed his Brother _Valens_ to be Governor of his Stables, _c.u.m tribunatus dignitate_, with _tribunitial Dignity_.” What Kind of Dignity that was, we may find in the Code of _Justinian_, lib. 1. Cod. _de comitibus & tribunis Schol._ Where 'tis reckoned as a great Honour for them to preside over the Emperor's Banquets, when they might adore his Purple. Also in _lib. 3. Cod.
Theodos. de annon. & tribut, perpensa, 29. Cod. Theod. de equorum Collatione & lib. 1. Cod. Theod._ wherein we may find a Power allowed them, of exacting Contribution to a certain Value from the Provincials who were to furnish War-Horses for the Emperor's Service.
It now remains that we discourse a little of those Magistrates, which were commonly called _Peers_ of _France_; whereof we can find no Records or Monuments, tho' our Endeavours have not been wanting. For among so great a Number of Books, as are called Chronicles and Annals of _Francogallia_, not one affords us any probable Account of this Inst.i.tution. For what _Gaguinus_, and _Paulus aemilius_ (who was not so much an Historian of _French_ Affairs, as of the _Pope's_) and other common Writers do affirm, to wit, That those Magistrates were inst.i.tuted by _Pipin_ or _Charlemagn_, appears plainly to be absurd; because not one of all the _German_ Historians, who wrote during the Reigns of those Kings, or for some Time after, makes the least Mention of those Magistrates. _Aimoinus_ himself who wrote a History of the Military Atchievements and Inst.i.tutions of the _Franks_, down to the Reign of _Lewis the Pious_, and the _Appendix_, which reaches as far as the Time of _Lewis the Younger_, being the 37th King, speak not one Word of these _Peers_ in any Place of their Histories; so that till I am better inform'd, I must concur in Opinion with _Gervase_ of _Tilbury_, who (as _Gaguinus_ says in the Book which he wrote to the Emperor _Otho_ the IVth, _de otiis imperialibus_) affirms. That this Inst.i.tution is first owing to King _Arthur_ of _Britain_, who ruled some time in Part of _France_.
For I suppose the Original of that Inst.i.tution to be this; that as in the _Feudal_ Law such are called, _Pares curie beneficiari_, i. e. _equal Tenants by Homage of the Court_, or _Clientes [Greek: omotimoi], Clients of like holding_, or _Conva.s.silli, Fellow Va.s.sals_, who hold their _Fiefs_ and _Benefices_ from one and the same _Lord_ and _Patron_; and upon that Account are bound to him in _Fealty_ and Obedience: just so King _Arthur_ having acquired a new Princ.i.p.ality, selected _twelve great Men_, to whom he distributed the several Parts and _Satrapies_ of his Kingdom, whole a.s.sistance and Advice he made use of in the Administration of the Government. For I cannot approve of their Judgment, who write, that they were called _Peers_, because they were _Pares Regi_, the _King's Equals_; since their Parity his no Relation to the _Regal Dignity_, but only to that Authority and Dignity they had agreed should be common among them. Their Names were these, the _Dukes of Burgundy, Normandy_, and _Aquitain_; the _Counts_ of _Flanders, Tholouse_, and _Champagne_; the _Archbishops_ of _Rheims, Laon_, and _Langres_; the _Bishops_ of _Beauvais, Noyon_, and _Chalons_.
And as the _Pares Curtis_, or _Curie_, in the _Feudal_ Law, can neither be created, but by the Consent of the Fraternity; nor _abdicated_, but by Tryal before their Colleagues; nor _impeach'd_ before any other Court of Judicature; so these _Peers_ were not bound by any judgment or Sentence, but that of the _Parliament_, that is, of this imaginary Council; nor could be _elected_ into the _Society_, or _ejected_ out of it, but by their _Fellows in Collegio_.
Now altho' this Magistracy might owe its Original to a foreign Prince; yet when he was driven out, the succeeding Kings finding it accommodated to their own Ends and Conveniences, ('tis most probable) continued and made use of it. The first mention I find made of these _Peers_, was at the Inauguration of _Philip the Fair_, by whom also (as many affirm) the Six _Ecclestastical Peers_ were first created.
But _Budaeus_, an extraordinary Learned Man, calls these _Peers_ by the Name of _Patritians_; and is of Opinion that they were inst.i.tuted by one of our Kings, who was at the same Time _Emperor_ of _Germany_; because, _Justinian_ says, those _Patres_ were chosen by the _Emperor_, _quasi Reipub. patronos tutoresque_, as it were _Patrons_ and _Tutors_ of the Commonwealth. I do not reject this Opinion of that Learned Person; such a Thing being very agreeable to the Dignity of these _Peers_. For in the Times of the later _Roman Emperors_, we find the _Patritian_ Dignity not to have been very unlike that of the _Peers_; because (as _Suidas_ a.s.sures us,) they were (partly) the _Fathers of the_ Republick, and were of _Council_ with the Emperor in all weighty Concerns, and made use of the same Ensigns of Authority with the _Consuls_; and had greater Honour and Power than the _Praefectus Praetorio_, tho' less than the _Consul_; as we may learn _ex Justiniani Novellis_; from _Sidon. Apollin.
Claudian_; and _Ca.s.siadorus_ especially.
But when the _Empire_ was transferr'd to the _Germans_, we do not believe this Honour was in use among them. Neither is it likely, that none of the _German_ Historians should have made the least Mention of it, if any _Patritians_ of that Kind had been inst.i.tuted by a _German_ Emperor, who at the same Time was King of _Francogallia_.