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

354 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
obferved during a confiderable fpace of time. The pof-
terity of Pepin kept pofletiion of the throne ; but with
refpedt to the manner of dividing their dominions among
their children, princes were obliged to confult the general
afTembly of the nation. Thus Pepin himfelf, A. D 768,
appointed his two fons, Charles and Carloraannus, to
reign as joint fovereigns; but he did this, una cum con-
fenfu Francorum et procerum fuorum feu & epifcoporum,
before whom he laid the matter in their general alTembly.
Conventus apud fandtum Dionyfium, Capitular, vol. i.
p. 187. This dettination the French confirmed in a
fubfequont afiembly, which was called upon the death
of Pepin : for, as Eginhart relates, they not only appoint¬
ed them kings, but by their authority they regulated the
limits of their refpedfive territories. Vita Car. Magni
ap. Bouquet Recueil, tom. v. p. yo. In the fame man¬
ner, it was by the authority of the fupreme afTemblies
that any difpute which arofe among the defcendants of
the royal family was determined. Charlemagne recog¬
nizes this important part of their jurifdidlion, and con.
firms it in his charter concerning the partition pf his do¬
minions ; for he appoints, that, in cafe of any uncertainty
with rtfpedf to the right of the feveral competitors, he
whom the people (hall chufe, (hall fucceed to the crown.
Capitular, vol. i. 442-
Under the fecond race of kings the afTembly of the na¬
tion, diflinguifhed by the name of Conventus, Mali!,
Placita, were regularly afTembled once a year at leaf!,
and frequently twice in the year. One ot the molf va¬
luable monuments of the hiliory of France is the trealife
of Hincmarus, archbifhcp of Rheirns, de ordine Palatii.
He died A. D. 882, only fixty-eiglu years after Charle¬
magne, and he relates in that fltort drfcourfe the fadfs
which were communicated to him by Adalhardus, a mi-
nifter and confident of Charlemagne. From him we learn,
that this great monarch never failed to hold the general
afTembly of his fubjedls every year. In quo placito ge-
neralitas univerforum majorum tarn clericorum quart!
laicorum conveniebat. Hincm. oper. edit. Sirmondi,
vol. ii. e. 29. 211. In thefe affemblies, matters which
related