Galeswinthe . Galaswintha or Galasvintha

1. 14. surtout plus soumis , &c. The Goths were still Arians, but their morals were far better than those of the Franks. The clergy had the chief share in législation.

PREMIER RÉCIT. NOTES

1. 19. Goïswinthe. Goisvintha, wife of Athanagild and afterwards of Leovigild the last Arian King of Spain.

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1. 2. ses ennemis naturels . Septimania was a constant object of Frank attacks.

1. 16. morghen-gabe , morgane-ghiba — in modem German, morgengabe , or morning-gift.

“Among the Aryan communities as a whole, we find the earliest traces of the separate property of women in the widely diffused ancient institution known as the Bride-Price. Part of this price, which was paid by the bridegroom either at the wedding or the day after it, went to the bride’s father as compensation for the Patriarchal or Family authority which was transferred to the husband, but another part went to the bride herself”. — Maine, Early History of Institutions, p. 324.

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1. 33. Hilaire , Martin et Polyeucte. St Hilary (Hilarius) was Bishop of Poitiers and died 368 A. D. He was zealous against Arianism, and wrote many theological works (commentaries on the Psalms, a work on the Trinity &c.).

St Martin (316 — 396 A.D.) was at first a soldier, then a monk (in 360), and in 371 Bishop of Tours. He was the patron saint of Tours, and almost the only saint whom the Merovingian kings feared. Polyeuctus according to legend was a Roman officer, who having become a Christian was martyred under Decius. His story forms the groundwork of Corneille’s famous tragedy Polyeucte .

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1. 31. les victoires de Chlodowig le Grand — already alluded to, see note to p. 3, 1. 8.

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1. 6. la confusion qui régnait. This confusion between ownership, jurisdiction and military command over a district lies at the root of feudalism.

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1. 13. Tolede. Toledo (Toletum) was the capital of the Visigothic Kings of Spain.

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1. 31. ils tirèrent tous à la fois , &c., a custom of many warlike nations. The Hungarians retained it till late, as we see in the famous scene at the crowning of Maria Theresa.

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1. 32. suivant la loi salique . The forms of marriage ‘according to the Salie law’ are not in the text of that law. The term here means the customary , not the codified law of the Salian Franks.

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