Neustria and Austrasia; their geographical division. Early predominance of Neustria. Fredegonde and Brunehaut. Elevation of the _Mayors of the Palace_. True character of their power. The Pepin family. Charles Martel. Fall of the Merovingians. Lecture XI--Page 94 General character of events under the Carlovingian Empire. Reign of Pepin the Short. Reign of Charlemagne. Epoch of transition. Reigns of Louis the Débonnair and Charles the Bald. Norman invasions. The last Carlovingians. Accession of Hugh Capet. Lecture XII.--Page 103 Ancient institutions of the Franks. They are more difficult of study than those of the Anglo-Saxons. Three kinds of landed property; allodial, beneficiary, and tributary lands. Origin of allodial lands. Meaning of the word allodium. Salic land amongst the Franks. Essential characteristics of the allods. Lecture XIII.--Page 109 Origin of military service; its cause and limits. It was made a general obligation by Charlemagne. Allodial lands were originally exempt from taxation. Origin of benefices. Change in the position of the German chiefs in consequence of their territorial settlement. Their wealth. No public treasury. The _œrarium_ and _fiscus_ of the old Roman republic. Formation of the private domain of the kings of France. Character of benefices. Error of Montesquieu on this subject. {xii} Lecture XIV.--Page 116 Proofs of the co-existence of various modes of conferring benefices, from the fifth to the tenth century. Of benefices that were absolutely and arbitrarily revocable. Of benefices conceded for a limited time; the_precaria_. Of benefices granted for life. Of benefices granted hereditarily. General character of the concession of benefices. Their tendency to become hereditary. Its prevalence under Charles the Bald. Military service. Judicial and domestic service. Origin, meaning, and vicissitudes of the fidelity due by the vassal to his lord. Lecture XV.--Page 124 Of benefices conceded by great landowners to men dependent upon them: _First_, benefices conceded for all kinds of services, and as a mode of paying salary; _Secondly_, larger proprietors usurp the lands adjoining their own, and bestow them as benefices on their subordinates; _Thirdly_, the conversion of a great number of allodial lands into benefices, by the practice of _recommendation_. Origin and meaning of this practice. Permanence of freeholds, especially in certain parts of the Frankish monarchy. Tributary lands. Their origin and nature. Their rapid extension: its causes. General view of the condition of territorial property, from the sixth to the eleventh century: _First_, different conditions of territorial property;