irons of Cologne, Calais, Cambrai, even beyond the Seine and
as far as Le Mans, on the confines of the Britons. . . . The two
principal Frankish tribes were those of the Salian Franks and the
Ripuarian Franks, settled, the latter in the east of Belgica, on the
banks of the Moselle and the Rhine; the former toward the West,
between the Meuse, the ocean, and the Somme. Meroveus, whose
name was perpetuated in his line, was one of the principal
chieftains of the Salian Franks; and his son Childeric, who resided
in Tournay, where his tomb was discovered in 1655, was the father
of Clovis, who succeeded him in 481, and with whom really
commenced the kingdom and history of France." -- Guizot. 301
3. As late as A. D. 486 there was a small portion of Gaul,
embracing the cities of Rheims, Troyes, Beauvais, Amiens, and the
city and diocese of Soissons, which was still fairly Roman, and was
ruled by Syagrius, a Roman, under the title of Patrician, or, as
some give it, king of the Romans. "The first exploit of Clovis was
the defeat of Syagrius," in A. D. 486, and the reduction of the
country which had acknowledged his authority. By this victory all
the country of Gaul north of the Moselle, clear to the Seine, was
possessed by the Franks. "The Belgic cities surrendered to the king
of the Franks; and his dominions were enlarged
20
toward the east by the ample diocese of Tongres, which Clovis
subdued in the tenth year of his reign." -- Gibbon. 312
4. Until this time the Franks and the Alemanni had made almost
equal progress in Gaul, and had made their conquests in that
province, apparently in perfect national friendliness. But now both
nations had become so powerful that it was impossible that two
such fierce and warlike nations should subsist side by side without
an appeal to arms for the decision of the question as to which
should have the supremacy.
5. "From the source of the Rhine to its conflux with the Main
and the Moselle, the formidable swarms of the Alemanni
commanded either side of the river by the right of ancient
possession, or recent victory. They had spread themselves into
Gaul, over the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine; and their