Book Thirty-One - A Theory of Feudal Laws among The Franks, In The Relation that they have with The Revolutions in their Monarchy

Summary

Chapter 1: Changes in the Offices and the Fiefs

In the beginning counts were only sent into their districts for one year; soon they purchased the continuation of their offices. One finds an example of this starting with the reign of Clovis's grandchildren. A certain Peonius was a count in the town of Auxerre (a); he sent his son Mummolus to carry the silver to Gontran in order to be retained in his post; the son gave the silver for himself and obtained his father's place. The kings had already begun to corrupt their own favors.

Though, by the kingdom's law, the fiefs were alienable, they nevertheless were neither given, not taken away in a capricious and arbitrary manner; and it was usually one of the main things that was bargained in the nation's assemblies. One may think that the corruption slipped in at this point, as it had slipped in at the other; and that they retained possession of fiefs for silver, as they retained possession of counties.

I will show, in what remains of this book (b), that independently of the gifts that princes made for a set time, there were others that they made permanently. It occurred that the court wished to revoke the gifts that had been made: that placed a general discontent in the nation, and they soon saw born that famous revolution in the history of France, the first stage of which was the astonishing spectacle of Brunhilda's punishment.

It initially seems extraordinary that this queen, daughter, sister, mother of so many kings, still famous today by some works worthy of a Roman aedile of proconsul, born with an admirable genius for public matters, endowed with qualities that had been respected for a long time, should come to be seen suddenly exposed to such long, shameful, and cruel punishments (c), by a king (d) whose authority was ill enough established in his nation, if she had not fallen, for some particular cause, into that nation's discrage. Clotaire blamed her for the deaths of ten kings (e); but there were two of those that he himself caused to die; death for some others was the crime of chance or the wickedness of another queen; and a nation that had permitted Fredegund to die in her bed, that even had opposed punishment for her frightful crimes (ff ), ought indeed to be cold about those of Brunhilda.