s, the terror of the oppressor, the darling of the poor. The
great king was fond of Paris and established himself there when not
scouring his kingdom to administer justice or to crush his enemies. He
was the second founder of the monastery of St. Denis, which he rebuilt
and endowed with great magnificence, and to which he gave much
importance by the establishment there of a great fair, which soon drew
merchants from all parts of Europe. He was a patron of the arts and
employed St. Eloy to make reliquaries[27] for St. Denis and the
churches in Paris, of such richness and beauty that they were admired
of the whole of France.

[Footnote 27: The works of art traditionally ascribed to St. Eloy are
many. He is reported to have made a golden throne set with stones (or
rather two thrones, for he used his material so honestly and
economically). He was made master of the mint, and thirteen pieces of
money are known which bear his name. He decorated the tombs of St.
Martin and St. Denis, and constructed reliquaries for St. Germain,
Notre Dame, and other churches.]

The monkish scribes who wrote the Chronicles of St. Denis were not
ungrateful to the memory of good King Dagobert, for it is there
related that one day, as a holy anchorite lay sleeping on his stony
couch on an island, being heavy with years, a venerable, white-haired
man appeared to him and bade him rise and pray for the soul of King
Dagobert of France. As he arose he beheld out at sea a crowd of devils
bearing the king away in a little boat towards Vulcan's Cauldron,
beating and tormenting him cruelly, who called unceasingly on St.
Denis of France, on St. Martin and St. Maurice. Then thunder and
tempest rolled down from heaven, and the three glorious saints
appeared to him, arrayed in white garments. He was much affrighted,
and on asking who they were, was answered: "We be they whom Dagobert
hath called, and are come to snatch him from the hands of the devils
and bear him to Abraham's bosom." The saints then vanished from before
him and sped against the devils and reft the soul from them, which
they were tormenting with threats and buffetings, and bare it to the
joys perdurable of Paradise, chanting the words of the Psalmist
_Beatus quem eligisti_.

CHAPTER III

_The Carlovingians--The Great Siege of Paris by the Normans--The Germs
of Feudalism_

Chaos and misery followed the brilliant reign of Dagobert. In half a
century his race had faded into the fee