the Franks. "The mother and
daughter had frequent quarrels, which sometimes ended in the most violent
encounters. Fredegonde said one day to Rigouthe, 'Why do you continually
trouble me? Here are the goods of your father, take them and do as you
like with them.' And conducting her to a room where she locked up her
treasures, she opened a large box filled with valuables. After having
pulled out a great number of jewels which she gave to her daughter, she
said, 'I am tired; put your own hands in the box, and take what you find.'
Rigouthe bent down to reach the objects placed at the bottom of the box;
upon which Fredegonde immediately lowered the lid on her daughter, and
pressed upon it with so much force that the eyes began to start out of the
princess's head. A maid began screaming, 'Help! my mistress is being
murdered by her mother!' and Rigouthe was saved from an untimely end." It
is further related that this was only one of the minor crimes attributed
by history to Fredegonde _the Terrible_, who always carried a dagger or
poison about with her.

Amongst the Franks, as amongst all barbaric populations, hunting was the
pastime preferred when war was not being waged. The Merovingian nobles
were therefore determined hunters, and it frequently happened that hunting
occupied whole weeks, and took them far from their homes and families. But
when the season or other circumstances prevented them from waging war
against men or beasts, they only cared for feasting and gambling. To these
occupations they gave themselves up, with a determination and wildness
well worthy of those semi-civilised times. It was the custom for invited
guests to appear armed at the feasts, which were the more frequent,
inasmuch as they were necessarily accompanied with religious ceremonies.
It often happened that these long repasts, followed by games of chance,
were stained with blood, either in private quarrels or in a general
_melee_. One can easily imagine the tumult which must have arisen in a
numerous assembly when the hot wine and other fermented drinks, such as
beer, &c., had excited every one to the highest pitch of unchecked
merriment.

[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Costumes of the Women of the Court from the Sixth
to the Tenth Centuries, from Documents collected by H. de Vielcastel, in
the great Libraries of Europe.]

Some of the Merovingian kings listened to the advice of the ministers of
the Catholic religion, and tried to reform these noisy e