d who was the author of the _Salic Law_!"

In the various plans for raising money, it was important that the taxes
should be levied so that the burden would fall upon those who could,
and who would, pay. This meant the dwellers in the towns and cities;
the bourgeoisie. They were the capitalists. But what if they should
refuse? In order to secure the success of the measure, it was
considered wise to obtain their consent in advance.

When King John asked permission of the States-General to tax them, a
critical line was passed. That body for the first time realized its
power. It might make its own terms. It demanded that the moneys
collected, and their expenditure, should be under the direction of its
officers. Then, growing bolder, it demanded reforms: Private wars must
cease; the meetings of the States-General must be at appointed
intervals, without being summoned by the king.

These meetings at Paris grew stormy. Gradually re-enforced with a
vicious element, they were soon led by demagogues, became violent and
revolutionary, and finally red caps and barricades, characteristic of
Parisian mobs of a later period, brought the whole movement into the
hands of the agents of "Charles the Bad," evil genius of his time, who
saw his opportunity to use it in his own ambitious designs upon the
throne. But France was to hear from the _Tiers Etat_ again!

In 1356, Edward's son, the Black Prince, won a still greater victory
than Crecy, at _Poitiers_, in which king John was captured and carried
to London.

But Edward found that, while victories were comparatively easy,
conquest was difficult. A generation had passed since the war began.
So in 1360 both kingdoms were ready to consider terms of peace. By the
treaty of Bretigny, Edward renounced the claim to the French throne,
and received in full sovereignty the great inheritance Queen Eleanor
had brought to Henry II. King John was to be released and his son held
as hostage until the enormous ransom was paid. Of course the money
could not be paid by impoverished France, for such a doubtful benefit,
at least; and so the son and hostage made his escape. Then King John,
faithful to his chivalrous creed, returned to London and captivity,
dying in 1364.

The dauphin, who had now become Charles V., came to the throne with the
determination of restoring France to herself. His attention had been
drawn to the military talents of a Breton youth--Bertrand du Guesclin.
Poor,