Franconia

“ The King rose a trifle wearily, regarding his councillors with that mixture of gentleness and pity which seemed to shut him from them, from every one, like a beautiful stiff hedge. “Our relation with Franconia is, truly, very delicate: the two most prominent world powers ... and then the peculiar situation in the Colonies ... yes, for the best interests of the State, I grant you, even, His Royal Highness{186} should make this alliance. But, milords,” his smile upon them was grave though very sweet, “there are things greater than the State.” ”

“ Hermengarde smiled at this excessive caution.
“As I have had the honour to remark to you once before to-day,” she said, “kings of Franconia sometimes do strange things. But I do not think I have ever heard of their doing a more extraordinary one than publicly pardoning an assassin, and at the same time inviting him to become their guest.” ”

“ Those brief, deliberate phrases, breaking one by one out of the silence, lift the soul higher than any smooth-flowing warble could possibly do. Worship has no gift of long-breathed fluency. If she speaks at all, it is in the way of ejaculation: “Therefore let thy words be few,” said the Preacher,—a text which is only a modern Hebrew version of what the hermit thrush has been saying here in the White Mountains for ten thousand years.
One of the principal glories of Franconia is the same in spring as in autumn,—the colors of the forest. ”

“ When the time came, the physician unclosed his lips and pronounced the fatal word. Then the king disappeared silently from view, and a new ruler took his place.
This was the new Vehmgericht.
Like the ancient Venetian doges, the kings of Franconia walked everywhere, surrounded by an atmosphere of mysterious dread. Secret eyes were upon them always. Oubliettes were prepared under their feet, into which they never knew the moment when they might not be cast. And from these oubliettes there was no chance of escape.
The dooms of science are more relentless than the dooms of superstition. ”

“ The duchy was nominally retained by the emperors in their own hands until 1115, when the emperor Henry V., wishing to curb the episcopal influence in this neighbourhood, appointed his nephew Conrad of Hohenstaufen as duke of Franconia. Conrad’s son Frederick took the title of duke of Rothenburg instead of duke of Franconia, but in 1196, on the death of Conrad of Hohenstaufen, son of the emperor Frederick I., the title fell into disuse. ”

“ It is a mountain region, occupied in the east by a portion of the Fichtelgebirge, and rich in gypsum, marble, gold, silver, lead, and iron. Agriculture and cattle raising are carried on with success. Capital, Baireuth. — Middle Franconia (Ger. Mittelfranken) comprises that portion of territory anciently known as the circle of Rezat, and includes the former margraviate of Anspach, the bishopric of Eichstädt, and part of Baireuth ”

“ Down in this glen, to the southwest of Bethlehem, is the village of Franconia, with numerous hotels and boarding-houses, while to the southwest of the glen rises Sugar Hill, another popular resort, with its great hotels set high on the hilltop, and having superb views of the Franconia and White Mountains to the eastward, and far away westward over the Connecticut Valley where the horizon is enclosed by the long line of the Green Mountains. It is a breezy and health-giving place. ”

“ Now we, the members of the Privy Council of Franconia, having received and considered the testimony of Herman Krauss, doctor of medicine, physician to his [301] said Majesty, and of her Royal Highness, Hermengarde of Schwerin-Strelitz, Princess of Franconia, aunt to his Majesty, and of the illustrious Count von Sigismark, Chancellor of Franconia, and of Herr Paul Moritz, Minister of the Interior, Herr Auguste Bernal, his Majesty’s intimate friend, Karl Fink, his Majesty’s confidential attendant, and divers others, do hereby pronounce his said Majesty to be incapable of governing ”

“ In the same room in the Castle of Seidlingen, from which its builder took his fatal plunge, Ernest V. of Franconia drags out his existence. Over him the Court physician and a number of attendants, chief of whom is Karl Fink, maintain a surveillance which is never broken. Twice in every year, he is visited by a grey-haired woman, who passes through the ranks of the servants closely veiled, but with a step which still retains some of the stateliness that once distinguished the Princess Hermengarde. ”

“ Very general was the feeling among the nobility, that the Roman Catholic nobles were better off, because they could more easily provide for their sons and daughters; whilst the Protestant princes had seized most of the foundations. With pride, therefore, did the so-called knights of the Empire in Franconia, Swabia, and on the Rhine, look down upon the landed nobility ”

“ Johann rose to his feet, looking much disturbed.
“I can appreciate the difficulties of your position, sir,” he observed respectfully, “and I quite see that it is hopeless to attempt to do anything with the Count von Sigismark. But why should we be in his hands? Surely it is possible to find some other Minister more [128] in sympathy with progressive ideas? You are the King of Franconia, and if these people find out that you mean to go forward there will soon be plenty of them to rally round you. Do not be discouraged because one old man is jealous at seeing his authority weakened.” ”

“ It has doubtless been as well to keep the matter quiet until we could learn that the suggestion would be welcomed by Franconia. Now that we are assured of that, however—well, you will make the informal announcement to-morrow night. You know, Richard, where John is concerned, you are apt to be over-lenient. And some one told me——”
“I understand you, Alix.” He understood, too, that when she said over-lenient, she meant weak; no one appreciated the fact that the Queen reigned, more intelligently than did the King. ”

“ France was known to the Greeks as Gallatia, and to the Romans as Gallia, afterwards modified into Gaul, because it was the territory of the Celtiæ, or Celts. The modern settlers of the country were the Franks, so called from the franca, a kind of javelin which they carried, who in the fifth century inhabited the German province of Franconia, and, travelling westwards, gradually accomplished the conquest of Gaul. France, therefore, signifies the country of the Franks, or, as the Germans call it, Frankreich, i.e., the Kingdom of the Franks. ”

“ Even the peasants had acquired during the long peace a certain degree of opulence. The number of villages in Franconia and Thuringia was somewhat greater than now; they were not entirely without defences, and were often surrounded by broad ditches and palisades, or clay and stone walls; it was forbidden to form entrances in them, but at the end of the main streets were gates which were closed at night The churchyard was usually defended by particularly strong walls, and more than once it was used as the citadel and last refuge of the inhabitants. ”

“ This combination of deep feeling with the lightness of youth added an enchanting grace at this moment to Francesca’s charms. This is the key to her character; she laughs and she is touched; she becomes enthusiastic, and returns to arch raillery with a readiness, a facility, which makes her the charming and exquisite creature she is, and for which her reputation is known outside Italy. Under the graces of a woman she conceals vast learning, thanks to the excessively monotonous and almost monastic life she led in the castle of the old Colonnas. ”

“ They used occasionally to go with her to one or other of her vine-gardens without the walls, to take exercise in the pure open air. Francesca's gentle gaiety on these occasions increased their enjoyment; and the labour of gathering wood and grass, of making up faggots, and carrying away their spoil on their heads at night, was a part of their amusement. The conversation that was carried on between them the while was as merry as it was innocent. These young persons, born in palaces and bred in luxury, worked like peasants, with more than a peasant's lightness of heart. ”

“ The Franks chased the fleeing pagans fiercely, killing everyone they came upon, more in slaughter than in battle, through the streets, squares, and crossroads, until they reached what was called the Temple of Solomon. So much human blood flowed that a wave of damp gore almost covered the ankles of the advancing men. That was the nature of their success that day.
Raymond, the Count of Saint-Gilles, moved his army from the southern flank and had a very large machine on wheels brought to the wall, but between the machine, which was called the Castle, and the wall, was a very deep pit. ”

“ Page 61 CLOVIS KING FROM 481-511 A.D.
I
While the power of the Roman Empire was declining there dwelt on the banks of the River Rhine a number of savage Teuton tribes called Franks. The word Frank means free, and those tribes took pride in being known as Franks or freemen.
The Franks occupied the east bank of the Rhine for about two hundred years. Then many of the tribes crossed the river in search of new homes. The region west of the river was at that time called Gaul. Here the Franks established themselves and became a powerful people. ”

“ The land which was specially Provincia, the first Roman possession in Transalpine Gaul, the coast from the Rhone to the Alps, formed part of the East-Gothic dominions of Theodoric. An invasion of Italy during the long wars between the Goths and Romans failed to establish a Frankish dominion on the Italian side of the Alps. But as the Franks, by their conquest of Burgundy, were now neighbours of Italy, it led to a further enlargement of their Gaulish dominions, and to their first acquisition of a Mediterranean sea-board. ”

“ The Frankish nobility.
A new danger, however, threatened the unity of the Frankish kingdom, namely, the aspirations of the powerful nobles. In the earliest accounts which we have of the Germans there appear to have been certain families who enjoyed a recognized preëminence over their companions. In the course of the various conquests there was a chance for the skillful leader to raise himself in the favor of the king. It was only natural that those upon whom the king relied to control distant parts of the realm should become dangerously ambitious and independent. ”

“ It will not be safe to conclude that the Franks were protectors of civilization in Gaul, and did not lay destroying hands upon it. We shall presently see that it sank to a very darkened state under their rule, though the eclipse may have been less complete than in some other of the barbarized provinces of Rome. Rise of the Carolingians. The division in the Frankish dominion which finally marked itself deeply and became permanent was that which separated the East Kingdom, or Austrasia, from the West Kingdom, or Neustria. ”

“ For the Romans and the Greeks always suspected the Frankish power; hence there is a well-known Greek proverb: “the Frank is a good friend but a bad neighbour.”
17. Though he was so successful in widening the boundaries of his kingdom and subduing the foreign nations he, nevertheless, put on foot many works for the decoration and convenience of his kingdom, and carried some to completion. The great church dedicated to Mary, the holy Mother of God, at Aix, and the bridge, five hundred feet in length, over the great river Rhine near Mainz, may fairly be regarded as the chief of his works. ”

“ The details of the history of the Merovingian period of Frankish history are extraordinarily complicated; happily, it is not at all necessary for our purpose to follow them. ... In the earlier years after the conquest, all ranks of the clergy were filled by Gallo-Romans. The Franks were the dominant race, and were Christian, but they were new converts from a rude heathenism, and it would take some generations to raise up a 'native ministry' among them. ”

“ For Franga the warlock was kneeling in his chapel, and to see Franga on his knees was like watching the devil recite a paternoster. But it was no holy altar before which the wizard bent. The black stone of it bulked huge in this tiny, bare room echoing still with the thunder of battle, and in the split-second between the door's fall and Jirel's crashing entry through its ruins Franga had crouched in a last desperate effort at—at what? His bony shoulders beneath their rich black robe heaved with frantic motion as he fingered the small jet bosses that girdled the altar's block. ”

“ Franks, the name given in the 3rd century to a confederation of Germanic tribes, who subsequently grouped themselves into two main bodies called the Salians and the Ripuarians, the former dwelling on the Upper Rhine, and the latter on the Middle Rhine. Under their king, Clovis, the Salians overran Central Gaul, subjugating the Ripuarians, and extending their territory from the Scheldt to the Loire, whence in course of time there generally developed the kingdom of France. The Franks were of a tall and martial bearing, and thoroughly democratic in their political instincts. ”

“ If we could regard the Franks and Gallo-Romans as if they were alien to us, living, let us say, on an island of the southern Pacific, and believing and practising a religion adapted to their general situation, the task of understanding the History of the Franks would become easier. It is really a primitive society with a primitive interpretation of life and the universe with which we have to deal. ”