DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3825#0077
70 FRANCE.
patronized at the same courts; the princes of the
North allied themselves to the daughters of the South;
the English monarchs, the principal patrons of the
Norman literature, had possessions in both divisions,
and drew the singers of both to their courts; and one
common cause united them in the East.
The early intercourse between the two great di-
visions of France is not marked by expressions of
much kindness or conciliation. Robert king of France
about the year 1000 married Constance daughter of
William count of Provence or Aquitaine ; and the
courtiers who followed in her train are thus described:
—" Circa millessimum incarnati verbi annum, cum
Robertus accepisset sibi reginam Constantiam a par-
tibus Aquitanise in conjugium, cceperunt confluere,
gratia ejus reginse, in Franciam atque Burgundiam ab
Avernia et Aquitania, homines omni levitate vanissimi,
moribus et veste distorti, armis et equorum phaleris
incompositi, a medio capitis nudati, histrionum more
barbis tonsi, caligis et ocreis turpissimi, fidei et pacis
fccdere omnino vacui; quorum itaque nefanda ex-
emplaria, heu, proh dolor! tanta gens Francorum
(nuper omnium honestissima) ac Burgundionum siti-
bunda rapuit." (Glaber, p. 38, in Duchesne, Script.
Rer. Franc, t. iv.) A few years later, a Norman
(Radulph. Cadomens. in gestis Tancredi, ap. Mura-
tor.) describes an equally strong opposition of cha-
racter :—" Gentis hujus (Francorum) sublimis est
patronized at the same courts; the princes of the
North allied themselves to the daughters of the South;
the English monarchs, the principal patrons of the
Norman literature, had possessions in both divisions,
and drew the singers of both to their courts; and one
common cause united them in the East.
The early intercourse between the two great di-
visions of France is not marked by expressions of
much kindness or conciliation. Robert king of France
about the year 1000 married Constance daughter of
William count of Provence or Aquitaine ; and the
courtiers who followed in her train are thus described:
—" Circa millessimum incarnati verbi annum, cum
Robertus accepisset sibi reginam Constantiam a par-
tibus Aquitanise in conjugium, cceperunt confluere,
gratia ejus reginse, in Franciam atque Burgundiam ab
Avernia et Aquitania, homines omni levitate vanissimi,
moribus et veste distorti, armis et equorum phaleris
incompositi, a medio capitis nudati, histrionum more
barbis tonsi, caligis et ocreis turpissimi, fidei et pacis
fccdere omnino vacui; quorum itaque nefanda ex-
emplaria, heu, proh dolor! tanta gens Francorum
(nuper omnium honestissima) ac Burgundionum siti-
bunda rapuit." (Glaber, p. 38, in Duchesne, Script.
Rer. Franc, t. iv.) A few years later, a Norman
(Radulph. Cadomens. in gestis Tancredi, ap. Mura-
tor.) describes an equally strong opposition of cha-
racter :—" Gentis hujus (Francorum) sublimis est