942-954 behind them, to receive their lodging in the prison of Rouen. 946-947 Flight of the Ger The German army was now entirely broken. mans-ex. up; no halt, no resistance ;-"sauve qui peut" -was the universal sentiment, if not the outcry. posed to the inces sant war Normans. fare of the The Normans continued hanging on their rear, constant skirmishing and some hard fighting. In Normandy and through Normandy and beyond Normandy, the trail of the Germans could be tracked by their corpses; nor did the "Rout of Rouen" terminate until the last encounter ensued not far from Amiens, on the Beauvoisine road. So great was the massacre in this final scuffling fight, that, according to tradition, the Rougemare" received the designation, which, commemorating the bloodshed, is retained by the locality at the present day. Thus ended the "Rout of Rouen,"-when the Norman troops returned triumphant from the most, perhaps the only, justifiable warfare which a Christian nation can wage. Richard came forward to meet Normandy's defenders, two thousand citizens following in his train. Strange were the events and vicissitudes chronicled by that Porte Beauvoisine-few so satisfactory as the present, which ensured a long period of internal tranquillity. As for Arnoul, he returned safely to his own country, resumed his government with wisdom and energy, and improved the opportunity of displaying his activity by . recovering Herlouin's long-contested County of 942-954 Ponthieu. § 62. History may be resolved into a series of interwoven or perhaps cyclical epics. The poets obeyed the teaching manifested by the Almighty's dealings in the world,—human destiny, aided and guided, by Divine wisdom and power, to a definite end; our attention being always directed to the one man, through whom each several concatenation of events is to be completed. The first lines of the Eneid point out the course into which, whether we will or no, all history falls. 946-947 ness of bearing up misfor tunes. The main action of our tale now reverts Strenuousto Louis and his antagonist Hugh-le-Grand. Louis-his Hugh, his strength vastly encreased by his Nor- against his man alliance, Louis determined to assert his ancestorial rights, his spirit wholly unconquered. The transactions through which he had lost his liberty, and still more the extortions to which he submitted, and the concessions he made for the purpose of regaining it, seemed to proclaim the nullity of the royal power. Normandy, that Normandy which the Battle of the Rescue had reconquered for the Crown of France, was now, not merely an independent State, but a rival. He had been shamed equally by his subjects and by his enemies. His reputation, whether as a general or a statesman, tarnished. his head, except a stranger's. No roof over 946-947 942-954 stantly oppressed by the indwelling disease, and that now encreasing; and the Normans rejoicing in the belief, that the vexation he had sustained by the failures before Rouen, and the fatigue of the retreat, had exacerbated the infirmity. And yet thus troubled, thus desolate, thus borne down, he was girding himself for the fight. If the much abused, nay, mischievous epithet of "Hero" ever truly appertained to a Sovereign, surely, unfortunate as he may have been, none could more justly claim the honour than Louis d'Outremer. influence Scarcely less conspicuous, however, in the annals of France than Louis, was the Saxon Otho, ere long to be denominated "the Great." Editha had left him only one male heir, the young Liudolph, a youth apparently of excellent disposition, and upon him, the Porphyrogenitus, all the father's affections were concentrated. Otho's en Otho's attention had been much directed tocreasing power his wards Italy, where the contests between the Kings and Princes of Lombardy, and the miserable calamities of the Apostolic See, invited the intervention of more efficient authority. But, as yet, Otho had never crossed the Alpine ranges. Full employment had he found in restraining the Sclavonians, and, great as were the attractions of Italy, the Imperial Eagle on the summit of his palace looking to the West, never allowed him to forget his claims. Otho over France. 947-948 was tacitly seeking to vindicate the supremacy 942-954 which Charlemagne had enjoyed; Lorraine was yielding to Otho's influence; and, in France, the prestige of his authority, notwithstanding all occasional retrocessions, had been gaining ground ever since the homage performed by Hugh-le-Grand and the Nobles at Attigny; a transaction equally important and obscure. Although the conduct pursued by Otho manifested his desire of exercising an influence approaching to superiority over France, Louis did not manifest any jealousy. The pretensions might be warranted by Otho's near connexion with the family; and Louis, ceasing to regard his brother-in-law as a rival, might view in him a guardian of the young Lothaire.-Valiantly as Louis continued the struggle, it was scarcely possible that he could be unconscious that his decaying health would probably occasion his early demise. the support against Grand. But more instant was the need of support Louis needs against the great antagonist. Whatever sem- of Otho blances of amity between Hugh-le-Grand and Hugh-leLouis accompanied the King's restoration, they must be included in the copious category of the conventional deceptions required by society's decencies, analogous to the perplexing cases which constitute the delights of casuistry. Many a Ductor dubitantium might be tempted to decide that, humanly speaking, it was hardly n Louis, rgic fint Lous should be righteous. einpries he had received and still less than the injuries, the insults he had endured. Would Louis have been is for a King, had he been gifted with the grace and forbearance enabling him to forgive such an enemy? Historvai 1 63. The exemplary digence of French e na historians might be well employed upon a monoen the grach devoted to the running contest between the rival Archbishops of Rheims, which has accompanied us since the days of Charles-leSimple, so worrying, so wearying:-commencing by murder, and, exhibiting in succession, samples of every abuse arising through the usurpations of the State and the heated passions of unscrupulous and unconscious competitors. At this juncture, Saint Rémy's patrimony afforded the only refuge remaining to Louis throughout his dominions. Therefore it was of the greatest importance to him, that Artaldus should be protected in his See, both materially and morally, whilst the two Hughs, — Duke Hugh and Hugh the Parvulus,—were equally impatient to avail themselves of the King's political depression, in order that they might now ffect the Carlovingian Prelate's final expulsion. hibaut-le-Tricheur most willingly combined ith them, and they all alacriously renewed |