of Germany, Henry V.,
in 1124, appeared, at the first blush, a more serious matter. The
emperor had raised a numerous army of Lorrainers, Allemannians,
Bavarians, Suabians, and Saxons, and was threatening the very city of
Rheims with instant attack. Louis hastened to put himself in position;
he went and took solemnly, at the altar of St. Denis, the banner of that
patron of the kingdom, and flew with a mere handful of men to confront
the enemy, and parry the first blow, calling on the whole of France to
follow him. France summoned the flower of her chivalry; and when the
army had assembled from every quarter of the kingdom at Rheims, there was
seen, says Suger, "so great a host of knights and men a-foot, that they
might have been compared to swarms of grasshoppers covering the face of
the earth, not only on the banks of the rivers, but on the mountains and
over the plains." This multitude was formed in three divisions. The
third division was composed of Orleanese, Parisians, the people of
Etampes, and those of St. Denis; and at their head was the king in
person: "With them," said he, "I shall fight bravely and with good
assurance; besides being protected by the saint, my liege lord, I have
here of my country-men those who nurtured me with peculiar affection, and
who, of a surety, will back me living, or carry me off dead, and save my
body." At news of this mighty host, and the ardor with which they were
animated, the Emperor Henry V. advanced no farther, and, before long,
"marching, under some pretext, towards other places, he preferred the
shame of retreating like a coward to the risk of exposing his empire and
himself to certain destruction. After this victory, which was more than
as great as a triumph on the field of battle, the French returned, every
one, to their homes."

The three elements which contributed to the formation and character of
the kingship in France,--the German element, the Roman element, and the
Christian element,--appear in con-junction in the reign of Louis the Fat.
We have still the warrior-chief of a feudal society founded by conquest
in him who, in spite of his moderation and discretion, cried many a time,
says Suger, "What a pitiable state is this of ours, to never have
knowledge and strength both together! In my youth had knowledge, and in
my old age had strength been mine, I might have conquered many kingdoms;
"and probably from this exclamation of a king in the twelfth century cam