Death, _Lewis_ his Son administred the Kingdom upon the same Terms and Conditions. For the _Appendix_ to _Aimoinus_, lib. 5. cap. 10. tells us, that when _Charles_ was dead, _Lewis_ the Emperor, thro' a certain Kind of Foreknowledge, summon'd the general Council of his People to meet at _Doue_, near the _Loire_. And again, _cap._ 38. where he makes Mention of the Articles of Peace, concluded between King _Lewis_ and his Cousin _Lewis_, "--They summoned, says he, a PLACITUM, and in that PLACITUM, by the Advice and Consent of their faithful Subjects, they agreed to observe and keep the Articles which follow. In which _Placitum_ it was also by common Consent found convenient, that both Kings should return with a Guard [_redirent cum scara_] _&c._" Also _cap._ 41. where he speaks of _Carloman_ the Son of _Lewis the Stammerer_,--"And so (says he) he departed from the _Normans_, and returned to _Wormes_, where he was on the Kalends of _November_ to _hold his Placitum_." Also in the following Chapter, where he speaks of _Charles_ the Simple,--"Whose Youth (says he) the great Men of _France_ thinking unfit for the Administration of the Government, they held a _Council_ concerning the State of the Nation." But it would be an infinite Labour, and indeed a superfluous one, to quote all the Instances which might be given of this Matter: From what we have already produced, I think 'tis apparent to every man, that till _Charles_ the _Simple_'s Reign, that is, for more than 550 Years, the Judgment and Determination of all the weighty Affairs of the Commonwealth, belonged to the _great Assembly_ of the _People_, or (as we now call it) to the _Convention of the Estates_: And that this Institution of our Ancestors was esteemed _sacred_ and _inviolable_ during so many Ages. So that I cannot forbear admiring the Confidence of some Modern Authors, who have had the Face to publish in their Writings, That King _Pipin_ was the first to whom the Institution of the _Publick Council_ is owing. Since _Eguinarthus_, _Charles_ the _Great_'s own _Chancellor_, has most clearly proved, that it was the constant Practice of the whole _Merovingian Line_, to hold every Year the _Publick Convention_ of the People on the _Kalends_ of _May_; and that the _Kings_ were carried to that Assembly in a Chariot or Waggon drawn by Oxen.