The Story of Switzerland Part 2

But it was the mild and sunny west which most attracted the foreigner, as it still does. Wealthy Romans settled in great numbers between Mount Jura and the Pennine ranges. Every nook and corner of the Canton Vaud bears even down to our days the stamp of Roman civilization. The sh.o.r.es and sunny slopes of Geneva lake were strewn with villas, and the woody strip of land between Villeneuve and Lausanne and Geneva was almost as much in request for country seats by the great amongst the Romans as that delightful stretch of coast on the Bay of Naples, from Posilippo to Pozzuoli and Baiae, where Cicero and Virgil, and many Romans of lesser mark, had their _villegiatures_.

But the most remarkable place, whether for art, learning, or opulence, was Aventic.u.m, the Helvetian capital. Of this town some mention has been made above, and, did s.p.a.ce permit, a full description might well be given of this truly magnificent and truly Roman city. Its theatre, academy, senate-house, courts, palaces, baths, triumphal arches, and private buildings were wonderful. Am. Marcellinus, the Roman writer, who saw Aventic.u.m shortly after its partial destruction by the Alamanni, greatly admired its palace's and temples, even in their semi-ruinous condition. The city next in beauty and size was Augusta Rauracorum (Basel Augst), where the ruins of a vast amphitheatre still command our wondering admiration.

But this period of grandeur was followed by the gradual downfall of the empire, which was already rotten at the core. The degenerate Romans of the later times were unable to stand against the attacks of the more vigorous Germans. The story is too long to tell in detail, but a few points may be briefly noted. In 264 A.D. the Alamanni swept through the country on their way to Gaul, levelling Augusta Rauracorum with the ground, and considerably injuring Aventic.u.m. At the end of the third century the Romans relinquished their rampart between the Rhine and the Danube, and fell back upon the old military frontier of the first century. Helvetia thus underwent a second military occupation. Yet the prestige of Rome was gone. In 305 A.D. the Alamanni again overran Helvetia, and completed the ruin of Aventic.u.m. Weaker and weaker grew the Roman power, and when the Goths pressed into Italy the imperial troops were entirely withdrawn from Helvetia. As for the Helvetians themselves, they were quite unable to offer any resistance, and when the Alamanni once more burst into the land (406 A.D.), they were able to secure entire possession of the eastern portions. The Burgundians, another German tribe, followed suit, and in 443 A.D. fixed themselves in West Helvetia. The inaccessible fastnesses of Graubunden alone remained untouched by the tide of German invasion, which effected such changes in the neighbouring districts.

At this period of worldly grandeur and internal decay, occurs another historical event of the greatest importance, the rise of Christianity, containing the vital elements necessary for bringing about the spiritual regeneration of the world. The social and political decomposition throughout the empire, the cruel tyranny of the sovereigns, the decrepitude of the state and its inst.i.tutions, the growing indifference to the national religion, which showed itself in the facile adoption of, or rather adaptation to, the Eastern forms of worship--the adoption of the deities Isis and Mithra, for example--all these and many other things unnecessary to mention, were unmistakable signs that Roman rule was drawing to its close, and they also prepared the way for the reception of the new doctrine. The belief in one G.o.d of mercy and love; of one Saviour, the Redeemer of the world; of a future life,--were startling but good tidings to the poor and oppressed, and made their influence felt also on the rich and cultivated, who saw in Christianity a tolerance, benevolence, human love, loftiness of principle and moral perfection which had not been attained by the creeds of antiquity. The pa.s.sionate ardour and force of conviction amongst the Christians was such that they faced suffering and death rather than abjure their tenets or desist from preaching them to others.

The accounts of the introduction of Christianity into Switzerland are mostly legendary, yet it is generally believed that it was not the work of special missionaries. It is more likely that the new faith came to the land as part and parcel of the Roman culture. Indeed this is now the opinion most generally received. The military operations of the empire required continual changes of locality on the part of the troops; thus we find Egyptian, Numidian, and Spanish soldiers quartered on the Rhine and the Danube, and such as they would most probably be the first to bring in the new faith.

At first the Roman authorities looked upon Christians as state rebels, and fierce persecutions followed. The oldest Christian legend of this country tells of such a conflict between the state officials and the Christians, and no doubt contains some admixture of truth, as many of these stories do. A legion levied at Thebes in Egypt--hence called the _Thebade_--was sent to Cologne to take the place of troops required to quell a rising in Britain. Coming to the Valais, they were required by the Emperor Maximian to sacrifice to the heathen G.o.ds (A.D. 280-300), but being mostly Christians they refused, and were ma.s.sacred with their chief, Mauritius. Some, however, escaped for the time, but were called upon to receive the martyr's crown later on, and in other places. Two such, Ursus and Victor, came to Soleure with sixty-six companions, and were put to death by order of Hirtaeus, the Roman governor. Two others, Felix and his sister Regula, reached Zurich, where their successful conversions irritated Decius, who put them to the rack, and then beheaded them. Yet, wonderful to tell, the legend goes on, they seized their heads that had fallen, and, walking with them to the top of a hill close by, buried themselves, bodies and heads too. This wonderful feat was an exact counterpart of that reported to have been performed also by Ursus and Victor at Soleure. Felix and Regula became the patron saints of Zurich, and play a conspicuous part in its local history. Tradition says that Charlemagne himself in later days erected a minster on their burial spot. Thus, as ever, the blood of martyrs became the seed of the Church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOLD COIN OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY (ST. FELIX, ST.

REGULA-SANCTUS CAROLUS). (_By Dr. Imhoof, Winterthur._)]

The Roman towns Geneva, St Maurice, Augusta Rauracorum, Aventic.u.m, Vindonissa, and Curia had been episcopal sees since the third century, though some of these sees were in process of time removed to other places. Thus, Augusta, Vindonissa, and St. Maurice were removed to Basel, Constance, and Sion respectively.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] We know little of them, most likely they were but _vici_ (village settlements). Aquae alone we know from Tacitus was a city-like watering-place; Kloten had handsome villas, but what it was we do not know.

IV.

THE ANCESTORS OF THE SWISS NATION.

_THE ALAMANNI; BURGUNDIANS; FRANKS; MEROVINGIANS._

The fifth century was remarkable for what may be called the dislocation of the peoples of Europe--the migrations of the Germans into the Roman Empire, and, mightiest movement of all, the irruption of the Huns under their terrible king Attila, the "Scourge of G.o.d." The mere sight of the hideous Asiatics filled men with horror. Never afoot, but ever on their ill-shaped but rapid steeds, to whose backs they seemed as if they were glued, and on which they lived well-nigh day and night, it seemed as if man and horse had grown into one being. Their large heads ill-matched their meagre bodies; their tawny faces with deep-set eyes and high, protruding cheek-bones made them resemble rough-cut figures in stone rather than human beings. The Goths regarded them as the offspring of spirits of the desert and of witches. These ma.s.ses of Asiatic barbarism, which had burst into Europe, stayed for awhile in Hungary, but soon rolled towards the West, dislodging all the peoples with whom they came in contact. Marching to the Rhine, they drove the Burgundians from their settlements in the district of Worms, a land so rich in song and saga, and entered Gaul to found a new kingdom. But the doom of the Huns was at hand, for Aetius the Roman general, and the last defender of the empire, defeated them, A.D. 451, in a truly gigantic battle on the Catalaunian Plain, in the Champagne country. The slaughter was so terrible that the saying went abroad that the river ran high with the blood of 300,000 men.

But it was clear that the tottering empire could not defend itself against a whole world in commotion. The time had come when Rome was to leave the stage of history. The great German nation was forming. It would be tedious and profitless to mention all the German tribes beyond the Rhine and Danube, a well-nigh endless list of names, impossible to remember. Besides, the petty tribes and clans gradually formed alliances with each other for greater security, and, dropping their ancient names, took collective ones more familiar to our ears--Saxons, Franks, Thuringi, Burgundians, Alamanni, and Bavarians.

Of these the Alamanni and the Burgundians are those from whom the Swiss are descended, and thus Switzerland, like England, has to look back to Germany as its ancestral home. The tall, fair-haired, true-hearted Alamanni for whom Caracalla had such an admiration that to be like them he wore a red wig, are said to have been descendants of the Semnones, who had migrated from Lusatia on the Spree (in Silesia) to the Main. The name Alamanni is generally held by the learned to be derived from _alah_, a temple-grove, and implies a combination of various tribes, "the people of the Divine grove." The Suevi, of whom the Semnones were the most conspicuous tribe, had a sacred grove in the district of the Spree, where they met for worship. In the fifth century we find the Alamanni occupying the district from the Main to the Black Forest, East Helvetia, and Alsatia as far as the Vosges.

When this formidable horde took possession of Eastern Helvetia they found but little trouble from the Celto-Roman population, who, thinned by previous invasions, and unaccustomed to fighting, could offer no serious resistance, and sank into slaves and servants. The towns were laid in ruins, the country ravaged, and all culture trodden under foot.

It seemed as if "the hand on the dial of history had been put back by centuries,"[11] and civilization had once more to begin her work. They outnumbered the natives, and were not absorbed by them, but on the contrary on the half-decayed stock of the Roman province the Alamanni were grafted as a true German people, retaining their old language, inst.i.tutions, and mode of living.

The Alamanni did not at once develop into a civilized and cultivated people, but retained their fondness for war and hunting, and other characteristics of their ancient life. Their grand and majestic woods had stamped themselves on the intrepid, dauntless spirits, whose deep subjectiveness and truthful natures contrasts strongly with the polished artfulness of the Romans. For the mighty aspects of nature--forest, mountain, sea--play their part in moulding the character of a nation.

And their impenetrable woods had influenced the destinies of the Germans in the early periods of their history--had saved them from the Roman yoke, the labyrinths of swamp and river, defying even the forces of the well-nigh all-powerful empire. Then, too, when hard fighting was afoot, and men had burnt their homesteads before the advance of the foe, the vast forest formed a safe retreat for women and children. The original house, by the way, was a mere wooden tent on four posts, and could be carried off on carts that fitted underneath. The next stage was a hut in the style of the Swiss mountain-shed, but it was still movable--was, in fact, a chattel the more to be taken along on their wanderings.[12]

Their mode of settling in their new country was curious enough, though the early settlement of England was very similar in character. Disliking walled towns of the Roman fashion, the Germans felt their freedom of movement impeded and their minds oppressed by living within the prison-like fortifications of strong cities. But loving seclusion and independence, nevertheless, they built extensive farmsteads, where each man was his own master. To the homestead were added fields, meadows, and an extensive farmyard; the whole hedged about so as to keep the owner aloof from his neighbours. Each farmer pitched his tent wherever "spring or mead, or sylvan wood tempted him," reports Tacitus. This liking for seclusion on the part of the Germans is well shown in the case of Zurich, for at one time the canton had three thousand farm homesteads, as against a hundred hamlets and twelve villages.

The mode of part.i.tioning the land shows democratic features. It was divided amongst the community according to the size of families and herds of cattle, but one large plot was left for the common use. The large _Allmend_, or common, supplied wood for the community, and there, too, might feed every man's flocks and herds. The n.o.bleman as such had no domains specially set apart for him, his position and privileges were honorary. He might be chosen as a high officer of a district, or even a duke, or leader of the army, in time of war. Payment for such services was unknown. Money was scarce, and indeed its use was mainly taught them by the Romans. Not only did flocks and herds form their chief wealth, but were the standard of value, each article being estimated as worth so much in cattle.

Society was from the very first sharply and clearly divided into two great cla.s.ses--the landowners and the bondsmen--the "free and the unfree." The former cla.s.s was again split into "lesser men," "middle men," and "first men," or Athelinge (Adelige), these last named being of n.o.ble blood, and owners of most land and the greatest number of slaves and cattle. The "unfree" were either _h.o.e.rige_ that belonged to the estate they tilled, and might be sold with it, or slaves who could call nothing their own, for whatever they saved fell to their lord at their death, if he so willed. A shire or large district was subdivided into hundreds. The whole of the free men met on some hallowed spot, under some sacred tree, with their priests and leaders. Here, besides performing religious exercises, they discussed war and peace, dispensed justice, chose their officers of state, and their leader if war was imminent. War and jurisdiction were the whole, or well-nigh the whole, of public life at that early stage. The popular a.s.semblies, done away with by the feudal system, revived later on in the form of the famous "Landsgemeinde" of the forest district, which are still in use in some of the cantons. Blood money, or _wergild_, was exacted from wrong-doers as in Saxon times in England. The tariff drawn up for bodily injuries reveals the mercenary and brawling temper of a semi-civilized people.

At the time they settled in Switzerland the Alamanni were heathens, and worshipped nature-deities--in groves, near springs, or mountains--the names of some of which we still trace in the names of the days of the week. Their religion, which was that common to all Germany, reveals the German mind--full of reverie, deep thoughtfulness, and wild romantic fancy that leads to a tragical issue. Like most heathen people the Alamanni clothed their G.o.ds in their own flesh and blood. Woden and his attendant deities, shield-maidens--Freyr and Freya, the king and queen of the elves--dwarfs, giants, spirits--all these are well known to us, and are indeed the charm of the fairy tales of our youth. The bright spirits, the _Asen_, war against the spirit of darkness, the giants, and lose ground, for they have broken the treaties made with them. The Asen are the benevolent powers of nature, spring sunshine, and fertilizing rain, and live in bright palaces, in Walhalla, and receive the dead; the evil spirits are the sterile rock, the icy winter, the raging sea, the destructive fire. Thor destroys the rocks with his Hammer, pounding them to earth that man may grow corn. The giants scale the sky to defy the G.o.ds for a.s.sisting mankind, but Heimdallr stands watching on the rainbow-bridge that leads to Asgard--the garden of the _Asen_--and prevents their entrance. But the G.o.ds themselves are stained with guilt, and in a fight with the Giants before the gates of Walhalla, they utterly destroy each other. The columns of heaven and the rainbow-bridge break down, the universe is destroyed and the downfall of the G.o.ds is complete. But the heathen Germans could not bear the notion of entire annihilation, so in a sort of epilogue the great tragedy is followed by the dawn of brighter and better times, the G.o.ds recover their former innocence, when they used to play with golden dice without knowing the value of gold.[13] The _Gotterdammerung_, the Divine Dawn, has broken, and a new epoch has set in for G.o.ds and men. One of Wagner's musical dramas is, as is well known, founded on these myths. . To turn to the Burgundians. They became the neighbours of the Alamanni in Helvetia about 443 A.D., after a severe defeat by the Huns. This great battle is pictured with great power in the "Nibelungenlied." The Burgundians play a conspicuous part in that grand old epic. A wonderful blending it is of heroic myth, beautiful romance, and historic sagas attaching to the great heroes of the early Middle Ages--Theodoric the Great, Gunther of Burgundy, Attila, King of the Huns. If s.p.a.ce permitted, the whole story might well be told, but in this place let one feat be cited as an example. Siegfried, the Dragon-slayer, a demiG.o.d, invulnerable, like Achilles, except in one place, and who could make himself invisible, woos the sweet and lovely maid of Worms. As "invisible champion," he a.s.sists her brother Gunther in his combat with the warlike Brunhilde, Queen of the North, whom Gunther wishes to obtain to wife. After years of happy married life the Queen of Worms fell to a quarrel with the Queen of Xanten on a question of precedence, and the gallant Siegfried falls a victim to Brunhilde's hatred, and her intrigue with Hagen. To avenge his death, the disconsolate widow marries the powerful Attila, and engages in a terrible battle with the Burgundians. In this battle she and her own kindred were slain. Attila and Dietrich of Verona (Theodoric the Great) are saved, however.

Aetius gave to the Burgundians as a settlement Sabaudia (Savoy), on condition that they should protect Gaul and Italy from the incursions of the Alamanni. One-third of the lands and homesteads were made over to them by the Romans, and later two-thirds were yielded. Gradually the Burgundians advanced in the interior of Helvetia, Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg, and into Southern Gaul. They occupied indeed all the territory from the Vosges to the Alps and the Mediterranean. They lived on friendly terms with the previous settlers, differing considerably in character from the Alamanni. Less numerous, less vigorous, and more pliant, they were unable to Germanize the West, as the Alamanni did the East, yet were strong enough to infuse new vital force into the enervated Roman populations. A readily cultivable race the Burgundians availed themselves of the Roman civilization and advancement, and gradually blended with the previous settlers--chiefly of Latin origin--to form a new people. Thus through Roman influence and German grafting--with two distinct German grafts--two nationalities sprang up in Switzerland, and we find, as in our own day, the Germans in the north-east, and the French in the south-west.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EIGER IN THE BERNESE OBERLAND.]

The Roman influence over the Burgundians was greatly increased by the policy of King Gundobad (A.D. 500). He had visited Italy, and had been greatly taken with Roman inst.i.tutions. There is still extant a letter of his in which he begs of Theodoric the Great a sun- or water-dial which he had seen at his Court. Gundobad's code of laws was a blending of Roman legislation with German jurisdiction. He introduced the Latin speech and chronology officially, and gave the Romans equal rights and an equal standing with the German population. Religious differences arising--the Burgundians were Arians--and conflicts ensuing between king and people, the Franks took advantage of the turmoils to bring the subjects of Gundobad under their sway.

There was no love lost between the Alamanni and their neighbours, the Burgundians; indeed the national antipathy for each other was great, but the Frankish domination did more than anything else towards bringing about a union between the hostile peoples. The reports they have left as to the character of the Franks are not flattering. They said that the Franks were capable of breaking an oath with a smiling face, and a saying ran, "Take a Frank for a friend, but never for a neighbour."

Clovis, the Frankish king, had waded to the throne through the blood of his own kin. He was, however, the first to take more extended views in politics, and planned a united German kingdom after the type of the Roman Empire. To his vast scheme the Alamanni fell the first victims. A great battle was fought in which they suffered defeat. Clovis had vowed that he would embrace Christianity if he should prevail against the Alamannic Odin. Victory falling to his side, Clovis and his n.o.bles were baptized. His conversion was a great triumph for the Church, and furnished the Merovingian kings with a pretext for the conquest of the Arian Germans, who had been led astray from the orthodox faith. To crown the work and enhance his greatness in the eyes of his Roman and German subjects, the imperial purple, and the t.i.tle of Roman Patricius was bestowed on Clovis by the Greek emperor.

The subjection of Burgundy was brought about in the following reign, under Sigismund, who had been guilty of the murder of his son by the desire of the stepmother. He fled to St. Maurice, which he endowed so richly that it gave shelter to upwards of five hundred monks. However, his piety did not bring him victory, for the Burgundians were defeated by the Franks at Autun in 532, and Sigismund and his family were hurled down a well.

In the same year Chur-Rhaetia was yielded to the Franks by the Goths, who required their help against the East. Rhaetia, which had escaped the German invasion, had fallen to the share of the Goths of Italy, and had enjoyed the protection and munificence of their glorious king, Theodoric the Great. He defended her against her neighbours as a forepost of Italy, but left intact the Roman inst.i.tutions.

Thus had Helvetia been formed into a Frankish dependency; not a vestige was left of the very name Helvetia. Yet the Frankish rule was more nominal than real. Counts were appointed to govern shires and hundreds, and, being royal governors, were elected by, and dependent on, the Frankish kings. Jurisdiction, military command, summoning to war, raising of taxes--fishing, hunting, coinage, had become royal prerogatives--and the farmers kicked against the impositions--these were the functions of the governing counts. None the less the Burgundians retained their king or patricius, and the Alamanni remained under the sway of their own duke, to whom alone they gave allegiance. Chur-Rhaetia was particularly privileged. It was ruled by a royal governor, who was supreme judge, count, and _praeses_, and the dignity remained for one hundred and fifty years in one powerful and wealthy native family called the Victoriden, who held likewise the ecclesiastical livings. On its extinction in 766, Bishop Tello, the last of the family, bestowed the immense wealth on the religious-houses of Disentis and Chur.

The promotion of Christianity, and the staunch support given by the Merovingian kings to the Church, were perhaps the greatest benefits resulting from the Frankish rule. Knowing the Church to be the sole means by which in that benighted age culture could be spread and civilization extended, those monarchs availed themselves of her services, and bestowed upon her in return great wealth and high prerogatives. Churches and religious-houses sprang up one could hardly tell how. In French Switzerland there were founded the bishoprics of Geneva, Lausanne, and Sion; and in the eastern half of the country those of Basel, Vindonissa (removed to Constance in the sixth century), and Chur. St. Maurice, benefited, as we have seen, by Sigismund, was a flourishing abbey town. Yet many of the Alamanni held tenaciously to their old G.o.ds, and their holy shrines and idols stood side by side with the Cross; even Christians invoked Woden, for fear he should be offended by their neglect.

The further amalgamation of heathenism and Christianity was most effectually stopped by--curious to say--a caravan of Irish monks. In fact, later tradition attributed to these monks the foundation of religious-houses, to a number which modern investigation has shown to have been greatly exaggerated. Ireland, which had so far escaped the struggle with the great Teutonic race, had given all her energies to the promotion of the new faith, and ever since the fourth century Christianity had wonderfully flourished in the island. Filled with missionary ardour, the Irish Columban conceived an intense desire to conquer Gaul and Germany, and in 610 set out on his wanderings with a staff of twelve companions. Equipped with "knotty sticks," a leather vial, a travelling pouch, a relic case, and with a spare pair of boots hung round the neck, "tatooed," wearing long waving hair,[14] the adventurous band arrived in Gaul, and founded monasteries in the Vosges district. However, they offended Queen Brunhilde by their frankness, and had to depart. Proceeding to Eastern Helvetia, they arrived at Zurich, but at length finding nothing more to do there, as we may suppose, they proceeded to Tuggen, on the Upper Zurich lake. Here they saw people engaged in an oblation of beer to the national G.o.ds. Moved with holy anger, the monks upset the vessel, and flung the idols into the lake, and won many to Christianity. We cannot here follow them in their devoted labours. Columban pa.s.sed on into Italy, but left his disciple Gallus in the neighbourhood of Lake Constance. Hence sprang up the famous monastery bearing his name.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Green's "Smaller History of England," p. 42.

[12] Dahn, "Urgeschichte der Romanish-germanischen Volker."

[13] Dahn

[14] Professor Rahn.

V.

THE CAROLINGIANS--CHARLEMAGNE.

Under the last Merovingian kings, whose character is sufficiently attested by the name of _Faineants_--sluggards--Alamannia and Burgundy struggled to shake off the Frankish yoke. Now the wealth and power of those weak kings were pa.s.sing from them to their "Mayors of the Palace."

Charles Martel, one of these "Mayors," defeated the Alamanni in a great battle (A.D. 730), and Carlomann, Charlemagne's brother, had a number of Alamannic grandees put to the sword, and their lands confiscated (A.D.

746).

Charles Martel remained simple "Mayor of the Palace," but Pepin le Bref had himself crowned king, at St. Denis, by Stephen II., in 751, rewarding the Pope for this great service by the gift of a tract of land around the Holy City. By this _coup d'etat_ were established both the Carolingian dynasty and the temporal power of the Pope--well-nigh convertible terms. The new dynasty greatly fostered religion, and furthered the work begun by the Irish and Anglo-Saxon monks. St. Gall's cell became an abbey church and monastic school; St. Leodegar's at Lucerne was incorporated with the abbey of Murbach in Alsatia; and on the bank of the Limmat at Zurich arose a college of prebends.

Pepin le Bref was succeeded by his son, Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, as he is usually called (768-814). For nearly half a century this talented, powerful, and lofty-minded sovereign swayed the destinies of Europe with unflagging zeal, ever bearing in mind the responsibilities of his exalted position. He ruled over a vast domain, stretching from the Ebro in Spain to the Theiss in Hungary, and from Denmark to the Tiber. Saxons, Sclavonians, Avars, Lombards, and Arabs, were subject to his rule. His Court was a great intellectual centre, whence enlightenment spread to every part of his dominions. Charlemagne was great as a general, as a statesman, as a politician; he was a painstaking economist, and his humanity, and his other virtues secured for him the n.o.ble t.i.tle of "Father of Europe." A brilliant figure in a benighted age, which shed its light on after times. No wonder mediaeval fancy lingered fondly on his memory; and around his name gathered song and saga and legend. Charlemagne is a special favourite with the Swiss; indeed, of all the German rulers who have held sway over them, he is the one whose memory is most dear; and Switzerland has done at least her share in helping to swell the ma.s.s of legend and fiction respecting him.

The impulse he gave to education in this country was alone sufficient to endear his memory to the Swiss. Basel, Geneva, Chur, and Sion, benefited by his wise administration, and Zurich quite particularly exalts him, calling him the "Fountain of her intellectual life," during the Middle Ages. It is impossible as it is unnecessary to give at length in this volume, the history of this long and brilliant reign. A few points may suffice to indicate the character of Charlemagne, and to throw some light on the times, and the condition of the country.

The ambition of the Franks to found an empire after the fashion of Rome was practically realized when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West by Hadrian in A.D. 800. Yet Charles aimed less at mere outward grandeur than at the establishment of a spiritual kingdom on earth, and a kingdom that should embrace all his people in one Christian Church, upheld by a strong and well-organized state-commonwealth. The union of Church and State, yet giving the preponderance to the latter, was Charlemagne's leading idea, and well-nigh summed up his religious and political creed. The strong religious bent of this "priestly king" was revealed at the very beginning of his reign, when he took upon himself the mission of "Defender of the Holy Church, and _Coadjutor of the Apostolic See_"[15] thus claiming, with the concurrence of the Primate, the spiritual guidance of his realm. Hadrian's congenial nature and tendencies helped to bring about this union. Yet in this matter Charles but conformed to the policy of his ancestors, and to the spirit of the age, an age remarkable for acts of piety and devotion. And the history of Switzerland is for that period rather a history of the religious movements of the time than a political chronicle. For in those early stages the Church was proportionally far more important than in our own times. _Then_ she was the sole, or almost the sole, centre of intellect, of art, of letters, and represented the ideal side of life in an illiterate age. Despite her defects the Church was a blessing to mankind.

Helvetian lands had entirely lost their political independence. During this reign, the vigorous government of the monarch frustrated every attempt at insurrection, and in the end both Alamanni and Burgundians began to feel the benefits arising from the existence of a wise and firm administration. To curb their power the sovereign abolished the dignities of the mighty dukes, and parcelled out the land into smaller shires (than the old county divisions), and placed over these counts as royal governors with judicial power. The people no longer appeared _in corpore_ at the shire-motes, but were represented at the lesser court by _Schoeffen_, or reeves. These reeves had to bring in the verdict; if they could not agree, trial-by-ordeal was resorted to. Twice a year Charles a.s.sembled his n.o.bles and bishops to receive their reports, and to frame laws, which were, however, submitted to the people, that is, the "freeholders" at the "real thing," when they met in May. For the control of the shire administration, and to give the people a means of appealing more directly to the king's justice, he appointed a special commission of spiritual and temporal officers (_missi dominici_).