legal
fief, or a simple favor, an obligation, (we want the word bienfait.)
(See Schmidt, Hist. des Allemands, tom. iii. p. 393-408. Pfeffel,
Abrege Chronologique, tom. i. p. 229, 296, 317, 324, 420, 430, 500, 505,
509, &c.)]

In the revival of the empire of empire of Rome, neither the bishop nor
the people could bestow on Charlemagne or Otho the provinces which were
lost, as they had been won, by the chance of arms. But the Romans were
free to choose a master for themselves; and the powers which had been
delegated to the patrician, were irrevocably granted to the French
and Saxon emperors of the West. The broken records of the times [135]
preserve some remembrance of their palace, their mint, their tribunal,
their edicts, and the sword of justice, which, as late as the thirteenth
century, was derived from Caesar to the praefect of the city. [136]
Between the arts of the popes and the violence of the people, this
supremacy was crushed and annihilated. Content with the titles of
emperor and Augustus, the successors of Charlemagne neglected to assert
this local jurisdiction. In the hour of prosperity, their ambition was
diverted by more alluring objects; and in the decay and division of
the empire, they were oppressed by the defence of their hereditary
provinces. Amidst the ruins of Italy, the famous Marozia invited one
of the usurpers to assume the character of her third husband; and Hugh,
king of Burgundy was introduced by her faction into the mole of Hadrian
or Castle of St. Angelo, which commands the principal bridge and
entrance of Rome. Her son by the first marriage, Alberic, was compelled
to attend at the nuptial banquet; but his reluctant and ungraceful
service was chastised with a blow by his new father. The blow was
productive of a revolution. "Romans," exclaimed the youth, "once you
were the masters of the world, and these Burgundians the most abject of
your slaves. They now reign, these voracious and brutal savages, and
my injury is the commencement of your servitude." [137] The alarum bell
rang to arms in every quarter of the city: the Burgundians retreated
with haste and shame; Marozia was imprisoned by her victorious son, and
his brother, Pope John XI., was reduced to the exercise of his spiritual
functions. With the title of prince, Alberic possessed above twenty
years the government of Rome; and he is said to have gratified the
popular prejudice, by restoring the office, or at least the title,
of consuls