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 came
the familiar proverb, "If youth but knew, and age could do! "We see the
maxims of the Roman empire and reminiscences of Charlemagne in Louis's
habit of considering justice to emanate from the king as fountain head,
and of believing in his right to import it everywhere. And what
conclusion of a reign could be more Christian-like than his when,
"exhausted by the long enfeeblement of his wasted body, but disdaining to
die ignobly or unpreparedly, he called about him pious men, bishops,
abbots, and many priests of holy Church; and then, scorning all false
shame, he demanded to make his confession devoutly before them all, and
to fortify himself against death by the comfortable sacrament of the body
and blood of Christ! Whilst everything is being arranged, the king on a
sudden rises, of himself, dresses himself, issues, fully clad, from his
chamber, to the wonderment of all, advances to meet the body of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and prostrates himself in reverence. Thereupon, in the
presence of all, cleric and laic, he lays aside his kingship, deposes
himself from the government of the state, confesses the sin of having
ordered it ill, hands to his son Louis the king's ring, and binds him to
promise, on oath, to protect the Church of God, the poor, and the orphan,