derisively, "Francones."[80] I said to him, "If you think them so
weak and languid that you can denigrate a name known and admired as
far away as the Indian Ocean, then tell me upon whom did Pope Urban
call for aid against the Turks? Wasn't it the French? Had they not
been present, attacking the barbarians everywhere, pouring their
sturdy energy and fearless strength into the battle, there would have
been no help for your Germans, whose reputation there amounted to
nothing." That is what I said to him. I say truly, and everyone
should believe it, that God reserved this nation for such a great
task. For we know certainly that, from the time that they received
the sign of faith that blessed Remigius brought to them until the
present time, they succumbed to none of the diseases of false faith
from which other nations have remained uncontaminated either with
great difficulty or not at all. They are the ones who, while still
laboring under the pagan error, when they triumphed on the
battlefield over the Gauls, who were Christians, did not punish or
kill any of them, because they believed in Christ. Instead, those
whom Roman severity had punished with sword and fire, native French
generosity encased in gold and silver, covered with gems and amber.
They strove to welcome with honor not only those who lived within
their own borders, but they also affectionately cared for people who
came from Spain, Italy, or anywhere else, so that love for the
martyrs and confessors, whom they constantly served and honored, made
them famous, finally driving them to the glorious victory at
Jerusalem. Because it has carried the yoke since the days of its
youth, it will sit in isolation,[81] a nation noble, wise, war-like,
generous, brilliant above all kinds of nations. Every nation borrows
the name as an honorific title; do we not see the Bretons, the
English, the Ligurians call men "Frank" if they behave well? But now
let us return to the subject.