Charles Bémont

“ He aimed a further blow at Fustel’s system by showing that the Frankish kings had never borne the Roman title of vir inluster, and that they could not therefore be considered as being in the first place Roman magistrates; and that in the royal diplomas the king issued his commands as rex Francorum and addressed his functionaries as viri inlustres. His attention having been drawn to questions of authenticity by the forgeries of Vrain Lucas, he devoted himself to tracing the spurious documents that encumbered and perverted Merovingian and Carolingian history. ”

“ Each new work increased his reputation, in Germany as well as France. At the Bibliothèque Nationale, where he obtained a post, he rendered great service by his wide knowledge of foreign languages, and read voraciously everything that related, however remotely, to his favourite studies. ”