To him we date the first memorable step which Europe took out of the anarchies of the Merovingian age.

He did not rise, like Clovis, from the condition of a chieftain of a tribe of barbarians; nor, like the founder of his family, from a mayor of the palace, or minister of the Merovingian kings.

By unwearied activities this inheritance, greater than that of any of the Merovingian kings, was not only kept together and preserved, but was increased by successive conquests, until no so great an empire has ever been ruled by any one man in Europe, since the fall of the Roman Empire, from his day to ours.

His reign affords a striking contrast to that of all his predecessors of the Merovingian dynasty,which reigned from the immediate destruction of the Roman Empire.

The Merovingian princes, with the exception of Clovis and a few others, were mere barbarians, although converted to a nominal Christianity.

Society in Europe, in the eleventh century, was nearly as dark and degraded as it was on the fall of the Merovingian dynasty.

Private Life in the Castles, the Towns, and the Rural Districts The Merovingian Castles.

Money Exactions of the Merovingian Kings.

To the comites, who, according to Tacitus, attached themselves to the fortunes of the Germanic chiefs, succeeded the Merovingian leudes, whose assembly formed the King's Council.

The Merovingian Castles.

Augustin Thierry, taking Gregory of Tours, the Merovingian Herodotus, as an authority, thus describes a royal domain under the first royal dynasty of France: "This dwelling in no way possessed the military aspect of the château of the Middle Ages; it was a large building surrounded with porticos of Roman architecture, sometimes built of carefully polished and sculptured wood, which in no way was wanting in elegance.

It is clear, however, that as early as the beginning of the Merovingian race, there was much more luxury and comfort among the upper classes than is generally supposed.

] Some of the Merovingian kings listened to the advice of the ministers of the Catholic religion, and tried to reform these noisy excesses, and themselves abandoned the evil custom.

We have had to treat elsewhere of the rules and regulations of the repasts under the Merovingian and Carlovingian kings.

As early as the first dynasty of Merovingian kings, temporary and periodical markets of this kind existed; but, except at St. Denis, articles of local consumption only were brought to them.

Money Exactions of the Merovingian Kings.

The custom of numbering the population, such as was carried on in Rome through the censors, appears to have been observed under the Merovingian kings.

Unfortunately, the names of places on Merovingian coins to the number of about nine hundred, have rarely been studied by coin collectors, expert both as geographers and linguists.

[Illustration: Merovingian Gold Coins, Struck by St. Eloy, Moneyer to Dagobert I. (628-638).

Long before the commencement of the Merovingian era, the family, whose sphere of action had at first been an isolated and individual one, became incorporated into one great national association, which held official meetings at stated periods on the Malberg (Parliament hill).

In resuming their places in the French constitution, the Merovingian kings, who had been deprived both of influence and authority, were compelled by the Germanic institutions to return to the passive position which their predecessors had held in the forests of Germany, but they no longer had, like the latter, the prestige of military authority to enable them to keep the position of judges or arbitrators.

During the whole of the Merovingian epoch, the mahl (mallus), the general and regular assembly of the nation, was held in the month of March.

Athens at her fairest, Rome at her grandest, the glorious savagery of Merovingian Courts, the kingdom of Frederick II., the Moors in Spain, the magic of Renaissance Italyto become a citizen of any one age means a lifetime of endeavour.

CARLOVINGIANS, or KARLINGS, the name of the second dynasty of Frankish kings, in succession to the Merovingian, which had become fainéant; bore sway from 762 to 987, Pepin le Bref the first, and Louis V. the last; Charlemagne was the greatest of the race, and gave name to the dynasty.

C. III., son of the preceding, last of the Merovingian kings, from 743 to 752; was deposed by Pepin le Bref; died in the monastery of St. Omer in 755. CHILDERMAS, a festival to commemorate the massacre of the children by Herod.