Aussi a-t-on. Compare note to p

80. — 27. l'empire français. The Empire of Napoleon I (1804-1815).

81. — 17. l'influence du sol, du climat, de la race, a cédé à l'action sociale et politique. This is the kernel of the selection; the influence of the soil, climate and race is of great importance, but it yields to the social and political influence.

84. — 5. L'armée d'Othon avait bien vu le soleil en défaillance, etc. Michelet's authority for this statement and his chief authority for this selection is Raoul Glaber, a Burgundian Latin chronicler, who died about 1050; his chronicles cover the period from 900 to 1046.

85. — 12. n'importe. The omission of a subject-pronoun was the rule in Latin (except for emphasis), it is expressed in Modern French; the Old French occupies an intermediate position, and the omission, frequent in the older language, now occurs only in a few phrases that are relics of the older usage {n'importe, qu'importe ? plût à Dieu, reste à savoir, qu'à cela ne tienne, peu s'en faut, que vous en semble? etc.). For the omission of pas see note to p. 90, 1. 4.

87. — 16. la peste de Limoges. Glaber says that within seventy-three years, partly before and partly after 1000, there were forty-eight famines and epidemics.

23. la paix, plus tard la trêve de Dieu. The clergy attempted, by means of ex-communication, to enforce in the tenth century the peace of God (no fighting whatsoever). This was impossible, so the truce of God (no fighting from Wednesday evening to Monday morning) was proposed about 1030 to 1050; this was somewhat more successful.