The latter estates soon became, by conquest, so extensive and important, that the king gave the use of many of them for a term of years, or for life, to private individuals in return for military services. This was called the _Lehen_ (lien, or loan) system, to distinguish it from the _Allod_ (allotment), whereby a part of the conquered lands were divided by lot, and became the free property of those to whom they fell. The _Lehen_ gave rise to a new class, whose fortunes were immediately dependent on the favor of the king, and who consequently, when they appeared at the national assemblies, voted on his side. Such a "loaned" estate was also called _feod_, whence the term "_feudal_ system," which, gradually modified by time, grew from this basis. The importance of the Royal Steward in the kingdom is thus explained. The office, at first, had probably a mere business character. After Chlodwig's time, the civil wars by which the estates of the king and the people became subject to constant change, gave the steward a political power, which increased with each generation. He stood between the monarch and his subjects, with the best opportunity for acquiring an ascendency over the minds of both. At first, he was only elected for a year, and his reëlection depended on the honesty and ability with which he had discharged his duties. During the convulsions of the dynasty, he, in common with king and nobles, gained what rights the people lost: he began to retain his office for a longer time, then for life, and finally demanded that it should be hereditary in his family. [Sidenote: 638. THE "LEHEN" SYSTEM.] The Royal Stewards of Burgundy and Germany played an important part in the last struggle between Clotar II. and Brunhilde. When the successful king, in 622, found that the increasing difference of language and habits between the eastern and western portions of his realm required a separation of the government, and made his young son, Dagobert, ruler over the German half, he was compelled to recognize Pippin of Landen as his Steward, and to trust Dagobert entirely to his hands. The dividing line between "Austria" and "Neustria" was drawn along the chain of the Vosges, through the forest of Ardennes, and terminated near the mouth of the Schelde,--almost the same line which divides the German and French languages, at this day. Pippin was a Frank, born in the Netherlands, a man of energy and intelligence, but of little principle. He had, nevertheless, shrewdness enough to see the necessity of maintaining the unity and peace of the kingdom, and he endeavored, in conjunction with Bishop Arnulf of Metz, to make a good king of Dagobert. They made him, indeed, amiable and well-meaning, but they could not overcome the instability of his character. After Clotar II.'s death, in 628, Dagobert passed the remaining ten years of his life in France, under the control of others, and the actual government of Germany was exercised by Pippin. [Sidenote: 670.]