Kings & rulers > History of the reign of the Emperor Charles V. > Volume 1

PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 35I
531, in tlie airembly of March, together with our no¬
bles, concerning fome atfairs, and we now pubhfh the
conciulion, thn it may come to the knowledge of all.”
Childeb. Decret. ap. Bouquet Recueil des Hiftor. tom. iv,
p. 3. We have agreed together with our vaflals, Ibid,
§ i. It is agreed in the aflembly in which we were all
united. Ibid. ^ 4. The Salic laws, the mod venerable
monument of French jurifprudence, were enatded in the
fame manner. Didlaverunt Salicam legem proceres
ipfius gentis, qui tunc temporis apud earn erant Redlo-
res. Sunt autem eledli de pluribus viri qua uor—qui
per tres Mallos convenientes, omnes caufarum origines
folicite difcurrendo, tra£Iantes de ftnguhs judicium de-
creverunt hoc modo. Prtef. Leg. Salic, ap. Bouquet,
Ibid. p. in. Hoc decretum ed apud regem & principes
ejus, & apud cunflum populum Chridianum, qui infra
regnum Merwingorum conlidunt. Ibid. p. U4. Nay,
even in their charters, the kings of the fird race are
careful to fpecify that they were granted with the con-
fent of their vaflals. Ego Childebertus Rex una cum
confenfu & voluntate Francorum, &c. A. D. $58. Bou¬
quet, ibid. 62’., Chlotharius III. una cum patribus
nodris epifcopis, optimatibus, caeterifque palatii nodri
minidris, A. D. 664. Ibid. 648. De confenfu fidelium
nodrorum. Mably Obferv. tom. i. p. 239. The hif-
torians hkewife defcribe the fundiions of the king in
the national aflemblies in fuch terms as imply that
his authority there was extremely fmall, and that every
thing depended on the court itfelf. Ipfe Rex (fays the
author of the Annales Francorum, fpeaking of the Field
of March) fedebat in fella regia, circumdante exercitu,
praecipiebatque is, die illo, quicquid a Francis decretum
erat. Bouquet Recueil tom. iL p. 647.
That the general affemblies exercifed fupreme jurif-
didlion over all perfons, and with refpeft to all caufes,
is fo evident as to dand in need of no proof. The
trial of Brunehaut, A. D. 61 t, how unjud foever the
fentence againd her may be, as related by Fredegarius,
Chron. cap. 42. Bouquet, ibid. 430, is in itfelf diffi¬
dent proof of this. The notorious violence and iniquity
H H a of