ter an obstinate struggle, gave way;
and the Alemanni, raising a shout of victory, impetuously pressed their
retreat. But the battle was restored by the valor, and the conduct, and
perhaps by the piety, of Clovis; and the event of the bloody day decided
forever the alternative of empire or servitude. The last king of the
Alemanni was slain in the field, and his people were slaughtered or
pursued, till they threw down their arms, and yielded to the mercy of
the conqueror. Without discipline it was impossible for them to rally:
they had contemptuously demolished the walls and fortifications which
might have protected their distress; and they were followed into the
heart of their forests by an enemy not less active, or intrepid, than
themselves. The great Theodoric congratulated the victory of Clovis,
whose sister Albofleda the king of Italy had lately married; but he
mildly interceded with his brother in favor of the suppliants and
fugitives, who had implored his protection. The Gallic territories,
which were possessed by the Alemanni, became the prize of their
conqueror; and the haughty nation, invincible, or rebellious, to the
arms of Rome, acknowledged the sovereignty of the Merovingian kings,
who graciously permitted them to enjoy their peculiar manners and
institutions, under the government of official, and, at length, of
hereditary, dukes. After the conquest of the Western provinces, the
Franks alone maintained their ancient habitations beyond the Rhine. They
gradually subdued, and civilized, the exhausted countries, as far as the
Elbe, and the mountains of Bohemia; and the peace of Europe was secured
by the obedience of Germany. [24]

[Footnote 21: Populi habitantes juxta Lemannum lacum, Alemanni dicuntur.
Servius, ad Virgil. Georgic. iv. 278. Don Bouquet (tom. i. p. 817) has
only alleged the more recent and corrupt text of Isidore of Seville.]

[Footnote 22: Gregory of Tours sends St. Lupicinus inter illa Jurensis
deserti secreta, quae, inter Burgundiam Alamanniamque sita, Aventicae
adja cent civitati, in tom. i. p. 648. M. de Watteville (Hist. de la
Confederation Helvetique, tom. i. p. 9, 10) has accurately defined
the Helvetian limits of the Duchy of Alemannia, and the Transjurane
Burgundy. They were commensurate with the dioceses of Constance
and Avenche, or Lausanne, and are still discriminated, in modern
Switzerland, by the use of the German, or French, language.]

[Footnote 23: See Guilliman de Rebus Helve