s of Louis the Fat and of Philip Augustus were consolidated
by Louis the Ninth--Saint Louis, as succeeding generations were wont to
style him--an upright monarch, who scrupled to accept new territory
without remunerating the former owners, and even alienated the affection
of provinces which he might with apparent justice have retained, by
ceding them to the English, in the vain hope of cementing a lasting
peace between the rival states.[5]

[Sidenote: France the foremost kingdom of Christendom.]

The same pursuit of territorial aggrandizement under successive kings
extended the domain of the crown, in spite of disaster and temporary
losses, until in the sixteenth century France was second to no other
country in Europe for power and material resources. United under a
single head, and no longer disturbed by the insubordination of the
turbulent nobles, lately humbled by the craft of Louis the Eleventh,
this kingdom awakened the warm admiration of political judges so shrewd
as the diplomatic envoys of the Venetian Republic. "All these
provinces," exclaimed one of these agents, in a report made to the Doge
and Senate soon after his return, "are so well situated, so liberally
provided with river-courses, harbors, and mountain ranges, that it may
with safety be asserted that this realm is not only the most noble in
Christendom, rivalling in antiquity our own most illustrious
commonwealth, but excels all other states in natural advantages and
security."[6] Another of the same distinguished school of statesmen,
taking a more deliberate survey of the country, gives utterance to the
universal estimate of his age, when averring that France is to be
regarded as the foremost kingdom of Christendom, whether viewed in
respect to its dignity and power, or the rank of the prince who governs
it.[7] In proof of the first of these claims he alleges the fact that,
whereas England had once been, and Naples was at that moment dependent
upon the Church, and Bohemia and Poland sustained similar relations to
the Empire, France had always been a sovereign state. "It is also the
oldest of European kingdoms, and the first that was converted to
Christianity," remarks the same writer; adding, with a touch of
patriotic pride, the proviso, "if we except the Pope, who is the
universal head of religion, and the State of Venice, which, as it first
sprang into existence a Christian commonwealth, has always continued
such."[8]

[Sidenote: France contraste