bâtiments d'exploitation, ‘farm-buildings

1. 17. masures ...cabanes. ?nasure, now used as an expression of contempt, originally signified a small tenement (“ ...por héritages et por masures " — Beaumanoir, xxiv. 19, from the L. maneo ) ; and therefore was perfectly applicable as meaning the dwelling-place of agriculturists; whereas cabanes , as M. Littré says, means “quelque chose de chétif et de misérable. La cabane est la maison du pauvre ”.

1. 20. aux villages de l'ancienne Germanie. The village or viens described by Tacitus in the Ger mania, c. 16, was the unit of Teutonic local government and society, as the city was among Greeks and Romans.

1. 26. Chlother , otherwise called Chlothar , Clotaire , Chlothachar , &c. The name afterwards appears as Lothar. He was the youngest son of Chlodowig or Chlodovech (Clovis), the conqueror of Gaul, and at the

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death of his father, in 511 A.D., received the older Frank lands between Seine and Scheldt. He became king of ail the Frank dominions by the death of his last brother Childebert I. in 558.

1. 33. les évêques . The bishops of Gaul were among the most important men of the time. In the general disorder and ignorance they usually had considérable, though indefinite, political power as representing their cities.

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1. 7. les Saxons. The league of the Saxons was the most formidable enemy of the Franks in the N. E. and was only subdued by Charlemagne after a long struggle. The Saxons inhabited N. Germany between the Rhine and the Oder.

les Bretons . Brittany (Armorica) was nominally subject to the Franks, but in reality almost independent under chiefs called Kings or Counts by historians. It was to the Franks what Wales was to the English.

1. 8. les Goths de la Septimanie. These were the Visigoths of Spain. Their empire had once extended to the Loire, with Toulouse as its capital ; but after their defeat by Chlodowig on the Campus Vogladensis (Voullon or Vouillé near Poitiers) in 507 A.D., they only retained, N. of the Pyrenees, Septimania , the district between the Rhône, the Cevennes, the Pyrenees and the sea.

1. 10. Attigny , Compiegne, Verberie are small towns not far from Soissons.