o one body, had strictly defined duties towards
one another; thus one antrustion was forbidden to bear witness against
another under penalty of 15 _solidi_ compensation.

The antrustions seem to have played an important part at the time of
Clovis. It was they, apparently, who formed the army which conquered the
land, an army composed chiefly of Franks, and of a few Gallo-Romans who
had taken the side of Clovis. After the conquest, the role of the
antrustions became less important. For each of their expeditions, the
kings raised an army of citizens in which the Gallo-Romans mingled more
and more with the Franks; they only kept one small permanent body which
acted as their bodyguard (_trustis dominica_), some members of which
were from time to time told off for other tasks, such as that of forming
garrisons in the frontier towns. The institution seems to have
disappeared during the anarchy with which the 8th century opened. It has
wrongly been held to be the origin of vassalage. Only the king had
antrustions; every lord could have vassals. The antrustions were a
military institution; vassalage was a social institution, the origins of
which are very complex.

All historians of Merovingian institutions and law have treated of the
antrustions, and each one has his different system. The principal
authorities are:--Waitz, _Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte_, 3rd ed.
vol. ii. pp. 335 et seq.; Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, vol.
ii. p. 97 et seq.; Fustel de Coulanges, _La Monarchie franque_, p. 80
et seq.; Maxirne Deloche, _La Trustis et Vantrustion royal sous les
deux premieres races_ (Paris, 1873), collecting and discussing the
principal texts; Guilhermoz, _Les Origines de la noblesse_ (Paris,
1902), suggesting a system which is new in part. (C. Pf.)

ANTWERP, the most northern of the nine provinces of Belgium. It is
conterminous with the Dutch frontier on the north. Malines, Lierre and
Turnhout are among the towns of the province. Its importance, however,
is derived from the fact that it contains the commercial metropolis of
Belgium. It is divided into three administrative districts
(_arrondissements_), viz. Antwerp, Malines and Turnhout. These are
subdivided into 25 cantons and 152 communes. The area is 707,932 acres
or 1106 sq. m. Pop. (1904) 888,980, showing an average of 804
inhabitants to the square mile.

ANTWERP (Fr. _Anvers_), capital of the above province, an important city
o