“The Frenchman, easy, debonair, and brisk,
Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk,
Is always happy, reign whoever may,
And laughs the sense of mis'ry far away.”
- William Cowper¹⁶

France, one of the earliest nations and thus filled with cultural variety and continuity. The economic and politically influential France of today has come a long way through the wars, revolutions, and religious conflicts, when it was only a tribe of Franks in Gaul. Or has it? It is hard to imagine a time when the Eiffel Tower, along with Paris itself were non existent. Yet the history of France can still be strongly felt in Paris, “You can't escape the past in Paris, and yet what's so wonderful about it is that the past and present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn't seem to burden.” (Allen Ginsberg)¹⁹. A key to understanding the endless burden of French history, is to see how France as a feudal state has served to shape present day France.

While Julius Caesar was governor of Gaul (the area of southern France) he raised his own army, against orders from the Senate, and beat back the Germanic tribes over the course of eight years before storming Rome with his dictatorship. This action was formed the turning point which changed the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

During the slow collapse of Rome, the Germanic tribe of the Franks grew in strength along the middle and lower Rhine River.¹ By 253 the Franks began to appear in some Roman provinces which resulted in two groups of Franks, the Salian and Ripuarian. The Roman Empire in Gaul was suffering from many problems such as political instability, shrinking supply of slaves, and plague. On top of those issues there was a lot of pressure from Germanic tribes which eventually led to "a general breakdown of law and order".² The Church struggled to explain Rome's decline even after Rome began promoting Christianity in the fourth century. The slow and steady conversions of the Franks with their lingering “warlike temperament” continued to challenge the Church.

By the mid fifth century the region was further weakened by Attila the Hun until Pope Leo begged Attila for mercy as the Huns threatened to attack Rome, "God’s City"⁶. The Huns departed and Christianity advanced. The Salian Franks, who had been temporarily conquered by the Romans, converted to Christianity in 497 while under the leadership of Clovis I who founded the Merovingian dynasty. Clovis led the conquest of the remaining Romans which resulted in a strong Frankish kingdom until his death caused the division of the kingdom among his sons. The kings following Clovis were rather “do-nothing kings” and were very weak.⁵ A century after Clovis, the kingdom was reunified in 613 by Clotaire II and Dagobert I.²

A century after the unification, aggressive Islam had expanded to the doorstep the Franks. Charles Martel, the first leader of the Carolingian dynasty³, was able to rally a Frankish army and turn back the Muslim invasion in 732. (Ironically, France and Islam have slowly become partners nearly a millinium later due to the enticements and consequences of colonialism in Algeria.}

Probably one of the greatest known and most significant leaders in French history was Charlemagne (742-814). He was an able military leader and expanded the Frankish kingdom with the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church. From different military campaigns to advancements in education and the arts,³ Charlemagne’s reign definitely had a definitive impact on the Frankish kingdom. Charlemagne remained the sole ruler of the Franks for more than four decades!² Like Clovis, after Charlemagne’s rule the empire was divided between his sons. The disintegration of the empire he had worked so hard to build¹² allowed Feudalism and serfdom to take over France.

Christianity and the Church are themes running through almost every aspect of early medieval political, social, and of course, religious history.”⁵ The Church supported the conversion of the barbarian Franks which served to influence the evolution of the Franks into a feudal state. An interesting thing to note is that the Franks were the first barbarians to take on Roman Christianity instead of Arian Christianity.⁷ With the formation of the feudal state of France, the Church’s involvement would bring France to call itself “Christian”.

Disunity continued to plague the Frankish kingdoms and throughout the centuries of Feudalism. This theme seems to have continued with few exceptions, such as the unity inspired by Joan of Arc in the seemingly endless struggle between France and England. This is perhaps why they relied on the artificial authority of the Roman Catholic until it was overthrown by the French Revolution. It is hard for any nation to be truly unified unless God is at the center, providing the guidance a nation needs (Proverbs 11:14).¹¹

To understand the effects of feudalism one needs to understand the basic structure of the feudal system which looked something like this. It was a system that was based on the giving of land in return for a service, whether it be a military service or just a form of loyalty to the king. They way it generally worked was that the king would give land to some of his noblemen, who would then promise loyalty to the king in times of war when he would need help. These nobles would then divide their land between a group of lower lords, or knights who would in turn promise their loyalty to the nobles. Peasants had the lowest spot in society and they had basically no rights, and no vassals.⁴ Now, what this system looked like in France was quite different than what it looked like in other countries such as England. France became a "loose collection of feudal lordships"¹² which were always disputing with each other. Since the division between the weak lords was so great, the centralized power a king was needed.⁸

Ever since the Pope crowned Charlemagne in 800 AD, Kings claimed a divine right to power as parelleled by the Papal claims to divine spiritual authority. Both earthly powers claimed to speak for the heavenly king who is the “King of all the earth”.¹³ This presumptuous usurpation of divine authority antagonized the feudal system of jealous counts and dukes. Ultimately, feudalism served to further the disunity of France.

France went so far as to "rescue" a Pope and hold his administration in Avignon from 1304 - 1377 during what was known as the "Babylonian Captivity". In doing so, France was able to confinscate the riches of the knights templar and participate in the power, wealth, and corruption of Roman Catholicism while concurrent popes competed for control.

The self-proclaimed "Sun King", Louis XIV, and his frivolous wife, Marie Antoinette, were the last abuse of a church-based absolute monarchy and the result was the French Revolution (1789). The “unprivileged” French population spoke out against the “privileged” and started the French Revolution. They ridiculed Christianity for the centuries of abuse and trampled morality as seen in the Robensper's Reign of Terror. One verse that would probably have helped the French government to know is Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” The disgrace of the Revolution allowed Napoleon Bonaparte to ravage the continent until 1815.

France, in denying Christianity at the on set of the French Revolution, returned to it barbarian roots. They became "noble savages" in the words of Rousseau whose ideas had given a philosophical base to the revolt. The resulting post-Christian vacuum was filled by antagonistic atheism and a de facto toleration of Islam. France turned her back on a Christianity (albeit unbiblical) and is "worse off at the end than they were at the beginning... As a dog returns to its vomit" (2 Peter 2:20-22). Eventually, France will see that Christ alone is worthy and all that they tried to accomplish in the course of history is meaningless as “all nations will come and worship” God! Even France's leaders have not had much hope for a nation with such a repetitious history, “I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French." (Charles de Gaulle)¹⁸. Will the Frenchman continue to laugh "the sense of mis'ry far away" or will he acknowledge his historical roots of Roman Catholic follies and political suicide?

Endnotes/Bibliography:

1 “Franks,” Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

2 “History,” Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

3 “French History Timeline”
www.uncg.edu/rom/courses/dafein/civ/timeline.htm

4 “The Feudal System”
www.themiddleages.tripod.com/feudal_system.htm

5 Early Middle Ages (475-1000)
©1999-2003 SparkNotes LLC, All Rights Reserved
Part of the Barnes & Noble Learning Network
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/middle1/christianity1.html

6 “Arthur and the fall of Rome” By Vincent Bridges
San Graal Library
http://www.sangraal.com/library/arthur3.htm

7 Early Middle Ages – Western Europe
http://www.wpunj.edu/~history/study/ws1/set6a.htm

8 France
http://www.trussel.com/saint-ex/stamps/country/france.htm

10 MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE IDEAS OF NATION
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv3-41

11 “For lack of guidance a nation falls…” Proverbs 11:14
The Christian Growth Study Bible, New International Version®
Copyright © 1997 by the Zondervan Corporation
All Rights Reserved

12 “Chapter 26. Feudalism”
www.vernonjohns.org/vernjohns/rnfeudlm.html

13 “For God is the king of all the earth…” Psalm 47:7a
The Christian Growth Study Bible, New International Version®
Copyright © 1997 by the Zondervan Corporation
All Rights Reserved

14 “French Revolution,” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001
www.bartleby.com/65/fr/FrenchRe.html

15 “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34
The Christian Growth Study Bible, New International Version®
Copyright © 1997 by the Zondervan Corporation
All Rights Reserved

16 “The Frenchman, easy, debonair, and brisk, Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk,
Is always happy, reign whoever may, And laughs the sense of mis'ry far away.”
- William Cowper, Table Talk (l. 237)
http://www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/quotes2/qutopfrancex001.htm

17 “…all nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 15:4b
The Christian Growth Study Bible, New International Version®
Copyright © 1997 by the Zondervan Corporation
All Rights Reserved

18 “I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French." (Charles de Gaulle).
http://gofrance.about.com/cs/funquizes/a/quotes.htm

19“You can't escape the past in Paris, and yet what's so wonderful about it is that the past and present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn't seem to burden.” (Allen Ginsberg)
http://gofrance.about.com/cs/funquizes/a/quotes.htm

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