Chapter 23-28: The regal Ornaments among the Franks

Chapter 23: The regal Ornaments among the Franks

A people who do not cultivate the land have no idea of luxury.

We may see, in Tacitus, the admirable simplicity of the German nations:
They had no artificial elegancies of dress.
Their ornaments were derived from nature.
If the family of their chief was to be distinguished by any sign, it was no other than that which nature bestowed.
The kings of the Franks, of the Burgundians, and the Visigoths, wore their long hair for a diadem.

Chapter 24: The Marriages of the Kings of the Franks

I have already mentioned, that, with people who do not cultivate the earth, marriages are less fixed than with others, and that they generally take many wives.

“Of‡ all the barbarous nations the Germans were almost the only people who were satisfied with one wife, if we except∥, says Tacitus, some persons, who, not from a dissoluteness of manners, but because of their nobility, had many.”

This explains the reason why the kings of the first race had so great a number of wives.

These marriages were less a proof of incontinence than a consequence of dignity.
It would have wounded them in a tender point to have deprived them of such a prerogative§.
This also explains the reason why the example of the kings was not followed by the subjects.

Chapter 25: Childeric

“THE laws of matrimony, amongst the Germans, says Tacitus, are strictly observed.¶ Vice is not there a subject of ridicule.

To corrupt or be corrupted is not called fashion, or the custom of the age. There are few* examples, in this populous nation, of the violation of conjugal faith.”
This was the reason of the expulsion of Childeric: he shocked their rigid virtue, which conquest had not had time to corrupt.

Chapter 26: The Time when the Kings of the Franks became of Age

BARBARIANS, who do not cultivate the earth, have, strictly speaking, no jurisdiction and are, as we have already remembered, rather governed by the law of nations than by civil institutions.

They are, therefore, always armed. Thus Tacitus tells us, “that the Germans‡‡ undertook no affairs, either of a public or private nature, unarmed.”
They gave their† vote by the sound of their arms‡.
As soon as they could carry them, they were presented to the assembly; they put a javelin∥ into their hands, and from that moment they§ were out of their minority:
They had been a part of the family, now they became a part of the republic.

“The eagles, said¶ the king of the Ostrogoths, cease to feed their young ones as soon as their wings and talons are formed.

The latter have no need of their assistance when they are able themselves to seize their prey:
it would be a disgrace, if the young people in our armies were thought to be of an age unfit for managing their estates or regulating the conduct of their lives. It is virtue that constitutes full age among the Goths.”

Childebert II. was* 15 years old when Gontram, his uncle, declared that he was of age, and capable of governing by himself.

We find, in the Ripuarian laws, that the age of fifteen, the ability of bearing arms, and majority, went together.
It is there said,† “that, if a Ripuarian dies or is killed, and leaves a son behind him, that son can neither prosecute nor be prosecuted till he was 15 years old.
Then he may either answer for himself or choose a champion.”
It was necessary that his mind should be sufficiently formed to be able to defend himself in court, and that his body should have all the strength that was proper for his defence in single combat.
Amongst the Burgundians‡, who also made use of this combat in their judiciary proceedings, they were of age at 15.

Agathias tells us that the arms of the Franks were light: they might, therefore, be of age at fifteen. In succeeding times, the arms they made use of were heavy, and they were already greatly so in the time of Charlemagne, as appears by our capitularies and romances. Those who had∥ fiefs, and were consequently obliged to do military service, were not then of age till they were twenty-one years old.§

Chapter 27: The same Subject continued

WE have seen that the Germans did not appear in their assemblies before they were of age; they were a part of the family but not of the republic.

This was the reason that the children of Clodomir, king of Orleans, and conqueror of Burgundy, were not proclaimed kings, because they were of too tender an age to be present at the assembly.
They were not yet kings, but they had a right to the regal dignity as soon as they were able to bear arms; and, in the mean time, Clotildis, their grandmother, governed the state.*
But their uncles, Clotarius and Childebert, assassinated them, and divided their kingdom.
This was the cause that, in the following ages, princes in their minority were proclaimed kings immediately after the death of their fathers.
Thus duke Gondovald saved Childebert II. from the cruelty of Chilperic, and caused him to be proclaimed king† when he was only five years old.

But even in this change they followed the original spirit of the nation; for the public acts did not pass in the name of the young monarch.

So that the Franks had a double administration; the one which concerned the person of the infant king, and the other which regarded the kingdom; and in the fiefs there was a difference between the guardianship and the civil administration.

Chapter 28: Adoption among the Germans

The Germans became of age by the wielding of arms, so they were adopted by the same sign.

Thus Gontram wanted to:
- declare his nephew, Childebert, of age, and
- adopt him for his son.
  - He said:
    - “I have put‡ this javelin into thy hands as a token that I have given thee all my kingdom.”
    - Then, turning toward the assembly, he added, “You see that my son Childebert is grown a man; obey him.”
Theodoric was the king of the Ostrogoths.
- He intended to adopt the king of the Heruli and wrote to him:
  - “It is a noble cusstom of ours to be adopted by arms; for men of courage alone deserve to be our children.
  - Such is the efficacy of this act, that whoever is the object of it had rather die than submit to any thing ignominious.
  - Therefore, in compliance with the national usage, and because you are a man of courage, we adopt you for our son by these bucklers, these swords, these horses, which we send you as a present.”