THE

EVOLUTION OF AN EMPIRE

A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH OF

FRANCE

BY

MARY PARMELE

Author of "Evolution of Empire Series, Germany;"
"Who? When? What? Literature Chart."

NEW YORK
WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON,
59 FIFTH AVENUE
1894

PUBLISHED AND COPYRIGHTED, 1894,
BY
WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON,
59 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY.

ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY
THE PUBLISHERS' PRINTING COMPANY
182-186 WEST 14TH STREET
NEW YORK

PREFACE.

In an attempt to tell the story of a great nation in about 100 pages, it is needless to say there must be a rigid exclusion of all save essential facts. To those already familiar with the subject, this sketch is offered merely as a reminder of the sequence of conditions and events in the evolution of France; while to the student it is presented as a framework upon which may be placed, in orderly and comprehensible fashion, the results of future reading and research.

To the latter class I would suggest that a series of papers, written upon the most prominent themes found in the Table of Contents, will bear fruit in knowledge more real and vital than may be obtained from the writings of others, however eloquent and vivid the presentation.

M. P.
NEW YORK, July 23d, 1894.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

The Aryan Family of Nations—Keltic Race—Ancient Gaul—Gauls in Rome—Gauls in Greece and in Asia Minor

CHAPTER II.

Roman Conquest of Gaul—Julius Cæsar

CHAPTER III.

Birth of Christianity—Its Dissemination—Persecution at Lyons by order of Marcus Aurelius—The Roman Empire Espouses Christianity under Constantine

CHAPTER IV.

Gaul Overrun and Subjugated by Franks—Clovis King—Decay of the Merovingian Line—Maire du Palais King de facto—Charles Martel—Birth of Mohammedanism—Its Triumphs—Christendom Threatened—Pepin King—Charlemagne—Alliance with Pope—France, Italy, and Germany Emerge as Separate Nationalities

CHAPTER V.

The Northmen—Beginnings of Feudalism in France—Normandy Bestowed upon the Northmen—Conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy—Albigenses—Inquisition at Toulouse—The Crusades

CHAPTER VI.

Decline of Feudalism—Creation of the Commune—Charles VII.—Henry V. in France—Joan of Arc

CHAPTER VII.

Francis I.—Huguenots—Catharine de Medici—Francis II.

CHAPTER VIII.

Massacre of St. Bartholomew—Henry III.—Henry IV.

CHAPTER IX.

Edict of Nantes—Louis XIII.—Richelieu

CHAPTER X.

Louis XIV.—Revocation of the Edict of Nantes—Louis XV.—Age of Voltaire and Rousseau—The Gathering Storm

CHAPTER XI.

Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette—American Colonies Arrayed Against England—French Aid to America—Smouldering Fires of Discontent—Louis Convokes States-General—National Assembly Created by Commons—Bastille Attacked—Revolution—Execution of King

CHAPTER XII.

Napoleon Bonaparte—Toulon—Campaign in Italy—Empire Established—Europe Under the Feet of the Great Corsican—Marie Louise—Waterloo—Louis XVIII.—Charles X.—Louis Philippe—Second Republic—Louis Napoleon President—Second Empire—Napoleon III.—Franco-Prussian War—Sedan—Third Republic—Review of Present Conditions

EVOLUTION OF AN EMPIRE.

CHAPTER I.

One of the greatest achievements of modern research is the discovery of a key by which we may determine the kinship of nations. What we used to conjecture, we now know. An identity in the structural form of language establishes with scientific certitude that however diverse their character and civilizations, Russian, German, English, French, Spaniard, are all but branches from the same parent stem, are all alike children of the Asiatic Aryan.

So skilful are modern methods of questioning the past, and so determined the effort to find out its secrets, we may yet know the origin and history of this wonderful Asiatic people, and when and why they left their native continent and colonized upon the northern shores of the Mediterranean. Certain it is, however, that, more centuries before the Christian era than there have been since, they had peopled Western Europe.

This branch of the Aryan family is known as the Keltic, and was older brother to the Teuton and Slav, which at a much later period followed them from the ancestral home, and appropriated the middle and eastern portions of the European Continent.

The name of Gaul was given to the territory lying between the Ocean and the Mediterranean, and the Pyrenees and the Alps. And at a later period a portion of Northern Gaul, and the islands lying north of it, received from an invading chieftain and his tribe the name Brit or Britain (or Pryd or Prydain).

If the mind could be carried back on the