There was in the Place one _Anselmus_, Bishop of the City. _Capet_ found Means to corrupt this Man by great Gifts and Promises, and to induce him to betray both the Town and the King into his Hands; which was accordingly done. And thus having obtained both the City and the Victory, he sent _Charles_ and his Wife Prisoners to _Orleans_, where he set strict Guards over them. The King having been two Years in Prison, had two Sons born to him there, _Lewis_ and _Charles_; but not long after they all died. So that _Capet_ being now Master of the whole Kingdom of _France_ without Dispute or Trouble, associated his Son _Robert_ with him in the Throne, and took care to get him declared his Successor. Thus the Dignity and Memory of the _Carlovingian_ Family came to an End, the 237th Year after the first Beginning of their Reign. And this History is recorded by _Sigebert_ in _Chron._ Ann. 987. as well as the _Appendix_, lib. 5. cap. 45. We must not omit making Mention of the _cunning Device_ made use of by _Hugh Capet_, for establishing himself in his new Dominion: For whereas all the Magistracies and Honours of the Kingdom, such as _Dukedoms, Earldoms_, &c. had been hitherto from ancient Times conferr'd upon select and deserving Persons in the General _Conventions_ of the _People_, and were held only during good _behaviour_; whereof (as the Lawyers express it) they were but _Beneficiaries_; _Hugh Capet_, in order to secure to himself the Affections of the Great Men, was the first that made those _Honours perpetual_, which formerly were but _temporary_; and ordained, that such as obtained them shou'd have a hereditary Right in them, and might leave them to their Children and Posterity in like Manner as their other Estates. Of this, see _Franciscus Conanus_ the Civilian, _Comment. 2. Cap. 9._ By which notorious fact, 'tis plain, that a great Branch of the _Publick Council's_ Authority was torn away; which however (to any Man who seriously considers the Circumstances of those Times) seems impossible to have been affected by him alone, without the Consent of that _Great Council_ it self. * * * * * CHAP. XVII. _Of the uninterrupted Authority of the_ Publick Council _during the_ Capevingian _Race_. We may learn, out of _Froissard, Monstrellet, Gaguinus, Commines, Gillius_, and all the other Historians who have written concerning these Times, that the Authority of the Publick Council was little or nothing less in the Time of the _Capevingian_ Family than it had been during the two former Races. But because it would be too troublesome, and almost an infinite Labour to quote every Instance of this Nature, we shall only chose some few of the most remarkable Examples out of a vast Number which we might produce.