ment entered into between us; but we have delayed doing so until now, in order that we might not announce to you other than the known and unchanged state of things. In the first place, you shall understand, that on the day of the Assumption of the blessed Mary, at Mansan, where were assembled the archbishop of Auch and nearly all the bishops and grandees of Gascony, we, in the presence of all, assailed the viscount du Gabardin for having with his people attacked and despoiled the lands of the lord king, and besieged the city of Dax, the property of the said king; and we then had read in the presence of all, and fully explained, the letters of the lord pope, whereby the said viscount and all his people are excommunicated, unless they desist for the future from disquieting the king's lands. The viscount and his people seemed to think the sentence very severe, and were moreover greatly displeased that these things should be set forth concerning them in public. We did not fully attain the end we wished, but, after considerable difficulty, we effected this arrangement—that, on a day to be named, the affair shall be thoroughly investigated, and the case we have put forward on the part of the lord pope and the lord king judged. We know not what the said viscount may do thereupon, but it is said he will not long withstand the sentence, if it be carried into effect rigorously. It is, therefore, necessary that the lord pope should renew the order for his sentence to be rigorously executed, and with even additional severity; for there are people who, though they tremble, will not yield at a first summons. The other great men seem, by the grace of God, better disposed than is their wont to consult the good and peace of the country. Martin, who was entrusted with the custody of the tower of Bordeaux, has recently gone the way of all flesh. The tower, on being returned to our possession, we find, on the report of persons we have sent to inspect it, to be altogether destitute of munition and victual. Martin represented that he had faithfully and justly expended, in furnishing the tower with necessaries, and supplying the wants of himself and his men, the fourteen livres that were

given him last year. But now that he is dead, those who remain behind him seem ill fitted for executing his charge. It were well, therefore, since the government and the care of the kingdom rest upon you and upon count Raoul,—whom we

pray you to salute in our name, and to inform of this matter,it were well for you two, desiring as you do to preserve the lands of the king, forthwith and diligently to occupy yourselves with furnishing forth the tower with valorous and competent keepers, and with a good purveyor, supplied with all the things they need. As to the officers established by the king in Aquitaine, and those who are set over them, brother N- the bearer of these presents, will inform you touching them and other matters, with which he is well acquainted. We pray you to give him full credit as to ourself; and, indeed, you already know him for a man full of truth, faithful and devoted to the utmost of his power to the interests of the king. By him you can communicate to us that which you desire we should hear."1

Notwithstanding all his efforts, Suger succeeded but very imperfectly in maintaining order and in defending the domains and the rights of the king. He was accordingly always urging his sovereign to return. Among other letters of his, in 1149, is the following:

66

Suger to Louis, king of the French.

... Disturbers of the public tranquillity have returned in numbers, while you, whose duty it is to protect your subjects, remain, as it were, a captive in a foreign land. What can induce you, my lord, to leave the sheep intrusted to you thus at the mercy of pitiless wolves? No, sire, it is not permissible that you remain any longer remote from us. We therefore supplicate your highness, we exhort your piety, we invoke the goodness of your heart, we conjure you by the faith which reciprocally binds together the prince and his subjects, not to prolong your stay in Syria beyond the festiva. of Easter, least a longer delay render you guilty, in the eyes of the Lord, of having violated the oath you took on receiving the crown. You have reason, I think, to be satisfied with our conduct. We have delivered into the hands of the Knights Templars the money we had arranged to send to you. We have also repaid the count de Vermandois the three thousand livres he had lent us for your service. Your lands and your men are, for the present, in the enjoyment of entire pesce. We keep for you on your return the reliefs paid upon fiofs

Hist. de France, xv. 515

held of you, and the taxes of various kinds received from your lands. You will find your houses and palaces in excellent condition, owing to the care we have taken to keep them in repair. I am in the decline of life, in point of age, but the occupations in which I have been engaged from love of God and out of attachment to your person, have, I hesitate not to say, materially contributed to make me older than I am in mere years. As to the queen your wife, I am of opinion that it were best for you to conceal the dissatisfaction she occasions you until you are once more in your kingdom, where you may deliberate at leisure upon that and other matters.”1

Louis at length returned, and in the course of this same year, while on his way back to France, he wrote to Suger:

"We cannot express on this paper the ardour of heart with which we desire the presence of your Dilection. But several causes have delayed our progress. On landing in Calabria, we waited there three days for the queen, who had not yet arrived. When she came, we directed our course to the palace of Roger, king of Apulia, who would needs keep us three days with him. Just as we were about to depart, the queen fell ill: on her recovery, we proceeded to visit the pope, with whom we remained two days, and in the city of Rome one; we are on our return to you at our utmost speed, safe and well; we order you to come and meet us secretly, a day before our other friends see us. We have heard certain rumours touching our kingdom, the truth of which we know not, and we should be glad to learn from you in what manner to comport ourselves towards various officers of our state and others. Let this be so secret, that none but yourself know of it."2

The king, on his arrival in Paris, resumed the government, to which his presence was more detrimental than his absence had been. In the course of the next year, 1150, I find the following letter addressed to him by Suger, who was now living in almost complete retirement in his abbey of St. Denis. It is the last I shall cite in the present lecture:

"We earnestly intreat your majesty's royal highness, in whom we have ever been accustomed to confide, not to throw yourself without reflection and without the counsel of

1 Rec. des Historiens de France, xv. 500.

2 Ibid. 518

your archbishops, bishops, and great men, into the war against the duke of Anjou, whom you have created duke of Normandy. If you were to attack him inconsiderately, you could afterwards neither draw back with honour, nor proceed without great difficulty and embarrassment. Therefore, not

withstanding that you have convoked your men for this purpose, we counsel you and intreat you to pause for awhile, till you have collected the opinions of your faithful, that is to say, of your bishops and great men, who then, according to the faith they owe to you and the crown, will aid you with all their force to accomplish what they shall have advised.”

Thus, whether Suger writes or is written to, whether he addresses the king or the king's subjects, in all these documents royalty appears under the same aspect. It is evidently no longer either the imperial royalty contemplated by Charlemagne, nor the ecclesiastical royalty aimed at by the priests; it is a public power of undefined origin and extent, but essentially different from the feudal powers, and which undertakes to superintend them, to keep them within certain limits dictated by the public interest, to protect the weak against them; a sort of universal justice of the peace for France, as I said on a former occasion. It is the rise and development of this fact which communicates to the reigns of Louis le Gros and Louis le Jeune the character of an epoch in our political history. From that period modern royalty dates its real existence; from that period it has played its established part in our society.

In the next lecture we shall see its progress under Philip Augustus, and the manner in which that monarch availed himself of the new instrument bequeathed to him by his predecessors, to advance further than they, royalty, and to reconstitute that which they had not left him, the kingdom.

' Rec. des Historiens de France, xv. 522.

THIRTEENTH LECTURE.

Condition and various characteristics of royalty at the accession of Philip Augustus-State of the kingdom in point of territory-Possessions of the kings of England in France-Relations of Philip Augustus with Henry II., Richard Coeur-de-Lion, and John Lackland-Territorial acquisitions of Philip Augustus-Provostries of the king-Progress of the monarchical power-Efforts of Philip Augustus to rally round him the great vassals, and to constitute of them a means of government-He applies himself, at the same time, to separate royalty from feudalism— The crown emancipates itself from the empire of the clergy-Legislative labours of Philip Augustus-His efforts to advance material and moral legislation-Effect of his reign on the mind of the people-Royalty becomes national-Manifestation of this result after the battle of Bovines, and at the coronation of Louis VIII.

I HAVE described the condition of royalty from Hugh Capet to Louis le Gros, the causes which first plunged and then kept it in an apathy and insignificance, real, though exaggerated by historians; and then its revival at the commencement of the 12th century under Louis le Gros.

tus.

I have now to examine its progress under Philip AugusBut in the first place I should wish to recal to you the point at which we are now arrived, what royalty actually was at the accession of that prince, and to describe its new characteristics in somewhat of detail.

The first of these characteristics, as I have already stated, was, that royalty had now become a power foreign to the feudal regime, distinct from suzerainty, unconnected with territorial property; a power, sui generis, standing apart from the hierarchy of feudal powers, a power really and purely political, with no other title, no other mission than government.