CHA P. valour and recent zeal, applauded the generous defign of XXXVIII. their monarch; expreffed their refolution to conquer or die, 'fince death and conqueft would be equally profitable; and folemnly protested that they would never shave their beards, till victory fhould abfolve them from that inconvenient vow. The enterprife was promoted by the public, or private, exhortations of Clotilda. She reminded her hufband, how effectually fome pious foundation would propitiate the Deity, and his fervants: and the Christian hero, darting his battle-axe with a skilful and nervous hand, "There "(faid he), on that spot where my Francifca (47) shall fall, "will I erect a church in honour of the holy apoftles." This oftentatious piety confirmed and justified the attachment of the Catholics, with whom he fecretly correfponded; and their devout wifhes were gradually ripened into a formidable confpiracy. The people of Aquitain was alarmed by the indifcreet reproaches of their Gothic tyrants, who justly accufed them of preferring the dominion of the Franks; and their zealous adherent Quintianus, bishop of Rodez (48), preached more forcibly in his exile than in his diocefe. To refift these foreign and domestic enemies, who were fortified by the alliance of the Burgundians, Alaric collected his troops, far more numerous than the military powers of Clovis. The Vifigoths refumed the exercise of arms, which they had neglected in a long and luxurious peace (49): a select band of valiant and robutt flaves attended their masters to the

field

but perfuafive fpeech of Clovis. Valde molefte fero, quòd hi Ariani partem teneant Galliarum (the author of the Gefta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 553. adds the precious epithet of optimam), eamus cum Dei adjutorio, et, fuperatis fis, redigamus terram in ditionem noftram.

(47) Tunc rex projecit a se in directum Bipennem fuam quod eft Franrifca, &c. (Gefta Franc. in tom. ii. p. 554.). The form, and use, of this weapon, are clearly described by Procopius (in tom. ii. P, 37.). Examples of its national appellation in Latin and French, may be found in the Gloffary of Ducange, and the large Dictionnaire de Trevoux.

(48) It is fingular enough, that fome important and authentic facts should be found in a life of Quintianus, compofed in rhyme in the old Patois of Rouergue (Dubos Hift, Critique, &c. tom. ii. p, 179.).

(49) Quamvis fortitudini veftræ confidentiam tribuat parentum veftrorum innumerabilis multitudo; quamvis Attilam potentem reminifcamini Vifigotharum viribus inclinatum : tamen quia populorum ferocia corda longâ pace mollefcunt, cavete fubito in aleam mittere, quos conftat tantis tempori. bus exercitia non habere. Such was the falutary, but fruitless, advice of peace, of reason, and of Theodoric (Caffiodor, 1. iii, ep. 2.)..

field (50); and the cities of Gaul were compelled to furnish C H A P. their doubtful and reluctant aid. Theodoric, king of the XXXVIII. Oftrogoths, who reigned in Italy, had laboured to maintain the tranquillity of Gaul; and he affumed, or affected for that purpose, the impartial character of a mediator. But the fagacious monarch dreaded the rifing empire of Clovis, and he was firmly engaged to support the national and religious cause of the Goths.

A. D.

507.

The accidental, or artificial, prodigies which adorned the victory of expedition of Clovis, were accepted by a fuperftitious age, Clovis, as the manifeft declaration of the Divine favour. He marched from Paris; and as he proceeded with decent reverence through the holy diocefe of Tours, his anxiety tempted him to confult the fhrine of St. Martin, the fanctuary, and the oracle of Gaul. His meffengers were inftructed to remark the words of the Pfalm, which should happen to be chanted at the precife moment when they entered the church. Those words most fortunately expreffed the valour and victory of the champions of Heaven, and the application was easily transferred to the new Jofhua, the new Gideon, who went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord (51). Orleans fecured to the Franks a bridge on the Loire; but, at the diftance of forty miles from Poitiers, their progress was intercepted by an extraordinary swell of the river Vigenna, or Vienne; and the oppofite banks were covered by the encampment of the Visigoths. Delay must be always dangerous to Barbarians, who confume the country through which they march; and had Clovis poffeffed leifure and materials, it might have been impracticable to construct a bridge, or to force a paffage, in the face of a fuperior enemy. But the affectionate peasants who were impatient to welcome their deliverer, could easily betray fome unknown, or unguarded, ford: the merit of the discovery was enhanc

ed

(50) Montesquieu (Efprit des Loix, l. xv. c. 14.) mentions and approves the law of the Vifigoths (I. ix. tit. 2. in tòm, iv. p. 425.), which obliged all masters to arm, and fend, or lead, into the field, a tenth of their flaves.

(51) This mode of divination, by accepting as an omen the first facred words, which in particular circumftances fhould be prefented to the eye or ear, was derived from the Pagans; and the Pfalter or Bible, was fubftituted to the poems of Homer and Virgil. From the fourth to the fourteenth century, thefe fortes fanétorum, as they are ftiled, were repeatedly condemned by the decrees of councils, and repeatedly practised by kings, bishops, and saints. See a curious differtation of the Abbé du Refnci, in the Mémoires de l'Académie, tom. xix. p. 287–319.

CHAP, ed by the ufeful interpofition of fraud or fiction; and
XXXVIII. a white hart, of fingular fize and beauty, appeared to

guide and animate the march of the Catholic army. The
counfels of the Vifigoths were irrefolute and distracted. A
crowd of impatient warriors, prefumptuous in their strength,
and difdaining to fly before the robbers of Germany, excited
Alaric to affert in arms the name and blood of the conqueror
of Rome. The advice of the graver chieftains preffed him
to elude the first ardour of the Franks; and to expect, in
the fouthern provinces of Gaul, the veteran and victorious
Oftrogoths, whom the king of Italy had already fent to his
affiftance. The decifive moments were wafted in idle de-
liberation; the Goths too haftily abandoned, perhaps, an
advantageous post; and the opportunity of a secure retreat
was loft by their flow and diforderly motions. After Clovis
had paffed the ford, as it is ftill named, of the Hart, he
advanced with bold and hasty steps to prevent the escape of
the enemy. His nocturnal march was directed by a flaming
meteor, fufpended in the air above the cathedral of Poitiers;
and this fignal, which might be previously concerted with
the orthodox fucceffor of St. Hilary, was compared to the
column of fire that guided the Ifraelites in the defert.
the third hour of the day, about ten miles beyond Poitiers,
Clovis overtook, and inftantly attacked, the Gothic army;
whofe defeat was already prepared by terror and confufion.
Yet they rallied in their extreme diftrefs, and the martial
youths, who had clamorouíly demanded the battle, refused
to furvive the ignominy of flight. The two kings encoun-
tered each other in fingle combat. Alaric fell by the hand
of his rival; and the victorious Frank was faved by the
goodness of his cuirafs, and the vigour of his horse, from
the fpears of two defperate Goths, who furioufly rode against
him, to revenge the death of their fovereign. The vague
expreffion of a mountain of the flain, ferves to indicate a
cruel, though indefinite, flaughter; but Gregory has care-
fully obferved, that his valiant countryman Apollinaris, the
fon of Sidonius, loft his life at the head of the nobles of
Auvergne. Perhaps thefe fufpected Catholics had been ma-
liciously expofed to the blind affault of the enemy; and per-
haps the influence of religion was fuperfeded by perfonal at-
tachment, or military honour (52).

Such

(52) After correcting the text, or excufing the mistake, of Procopius,

wha

Such is the empire of Fortune (if we may ftill disguise our C H A P. ignorance under that popular name), that it is almost equally XXXVIII. difficult to foresee the events of war, or to explain their variConqueft of ous confequences. A bloody and complete victory has fome- Aquitain times yielded no more than the poffeffion of the field; and by the the lofs of ten thousand men has fometimes been fufficient to Franks, A. D. 508. destroy, in a fingle day, the work of ages. The decifive battle of Poitiers was followed by the conqueft of Aquitain. Alaric had left behind him an infant fon, a baftard competitor, factious nobles, and a difloyal people; and the remaining forces of the Goths were oppreffed by the general consternation, or opposed to each other in civil difcord. The victorious king of the Franks proceeded without delay to the fiege of Angoulême. At the found of his trumpets the walls of the city imitated the example of Jericho, and instantly fell to the ground; a splendid miracle, which may be reduced to the fuppofition, that fome clerical engineers had fecretly undermined the foundations of the rampart (53). At Bourdeaux, which had fubmitted without resistance, Clovis established his winter-quarters; and his prudent œconomy transported from Thoulouse the royal treasures, which were depofited in the capital of the monarchy. The conqueror penetrated as far as the confines of Spain (54); restored the honours of the Catholic church; fixed in Aquitain a colony of Franks (55); and delegated to his lieutenants the easy

tafk

who places the defeat of Alaric near Carcaffone, we may conclude from the evidence of Gregory, Fortunatus, and the author of Gefta Francorum, that the battle was fought in campo Vocladenfi, on the banks of the Clain, about ten miles to the fouth of Poitiers. Clovis overtook and attacked the Vifigoths near Vivonne, and the victory was decided near a village still named Champagné St. Hilaire. See the Differtations of the Abbé le Bœuf, tom. i. P. 304-331,

(53) Angoulême is the Gregory delays the fiege, I order of history, than that

road from Poitiers to Bourdeaux; and although
can more readily believe that he confounded the
Clovis neglected the rules of war.

(54) Pyrenæos montes ufque Perpinianum fubjecit; is the expreffion of Rorico, which betrays his recent date; fince Perpignan did not exist before the tenth century (Marca Hifpanica, p. 458.). This florid and fabulous writer (perhaps a monk of Amiens. See the Abbé le Bœuf, Mem. de l'Académie, tom. xvii. p. 228-245.) relates, in the allegorical character of a fhepherd, the general history of his countrymen the Franks; but his narrative ends with the death of Clovis.

(55) The author of the Gefta Francorum pofitively affirms, that Clovis fixed a body of Franks in the Saintonge and Bourdelois: and he is not injudiciously followed by Rorico, electos milites, atque fortiffimos, cum par

vulis

CHA P. task of fubduing, or extirpating, the nation of the Vifigoths. XXXVIII. But the Vifigoths were protected by the wife and powerful

A. D. 510.

monarch of Italy. While the balance was ftill equal, Theodoric had perhaps delayed the march of the Oftrogoths; but their ftrenuous efforts fuccefsfully refifted the ambition of Clovis; and the army of the Franks, and their Burgundian allies, was compelled to raise the fiege of Arles, with the lofs, it is faid, of thirty thoufand men. These viciffitudes inclined the fierce fpirit of Clovis to acquiefce in an advantageous treaty of peace. The Vifigoths were suffered to retain the poffeffion of Septimania, a narrow track of seacoaft, from the Rhone to the Pyrenees; but the ample province of Aquitain, from thofe mountains to the Loire, was indiffolubly united to the kingdom of France (56).

Confulfhip After the fuccefs of the Gothic war, Clovis accepted the of Clovis, honours of the Roman confulfhip. The emperor Anaftafius ambitiously beftowed on the moft powerful rival of Theodoric, the title and enfigns of that eminent dignity; yet, from fome unknown caufe, the name of Clovis has not been infcribed in the Fafli either of the East or Weft (57). On the folemn day, the monarch of Gaul, placing a diadem on his head, was invefted, in the church of St. Martin, with a purple tunic and mantle. From thence he proceeded on horfeback to the cathedral of Tours; and, as he paffed through the streets, profufely fcattered with his own hand, a donative of gold and filver to the joyful multitude, who inceffantly

vulis, atque mulieribus. Yet it fhould feem that they foon mingled with the Romans of Aquitain, till Charlemagne introduced a more numerous and powerful colony (Dubos Hift. Critique, tom. ii. p. 215.).

(56) In the compofition of the Gothic war, I have used the following materials, with due regard to their unequal value. Four epiftles from Thecdoric king of Italy (Caffiodor. 1. iii, epift. 1-4. in tom. iv. p. 3-5.), Procopius (de Bell, Goth. 1. i. c. 12. in tom. ii. p. 32, 33.), Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. 35, 36, 37. in com. ii. p. 181-183.), Jornandes (de Reb. Geticis, c. 58. in tom. ii. p. 28.), Fortunatus (in Vit. St. Hilarii, in tom. iii. p. 380.), Ifidore (in Chron. Goth. in. tom. ii. p. 702.), the Epitome of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p. 401.), the author of the Gesta Francorum (in tom. ii. P. 553-555.), the Fragments of Fredegarius (in tom. ii. p. 463.), Aimoin (1. i. c. 20. in tom. iii. p. 41, 42.), and Rorico (1. iv. in tom. iii. p. 14—19.). (57) The Fafti of Italy would naturally reject a conful, the enemy of their fovereign; but any ingenious hypothefis that might explain the filence of Conftantinople and Egypt (the Chronicle of Marcellinus, and the Paschal), is overturned by the fimilar filence of Marius, bishop of Avenche, who composed his Fafti in the kingdom of Burgundy. If the evidence of Gregory of Tours were lefs weighty and pofitive (l. ii. c. 38. in tom, ii. p. 183.), I could believe that Clovis, like Odoacer, received the lasting title and honours of Patrician (Pagi Critica, tom. ii. p. 474. 492.).