The political power of the bishops was founded in Gaul at the beginning of the sixth century (Fig. 225), and down to the end of the first dynasty they were the real organizers of the French monarchy. Converted to Christianity after the battle of Tolbiac, and baptized by St. Remigius, Clovis became the protector of the Gallo-Roman Church. The Clergy then enjoyed a legitimate influence, as is justly remarked by a grave historian: “The barbarians, accustomed to carry all before them by the weight of arms, could not be subdued by a force or civilised by a literature which they despised or failed to understand; but the clergy, surrounded by that pomp which has so great an influence over uncultivated imaginations, combated them with simple and plain doctrines, with a vigorous and united hierarchy, and with a faith which, needing no subtle reasonings, imposes only the duty of belief, and leans for support upon a morality the sanctity of which they could not but feel, even while violating it. Was it not most fortunate that there should have been an order capable of arresting the universal disorder? Unarmed priests mingled with these savage hordes and inspired them, by means of baptism, with some notions of humanity; they taught them to hold their hands, showing them that they whom they were about to strike was a brother. [Illustration: Fig. 225.--The Legend of St. Martin.--From a piece of tapestry of the Thirteenth Century, in the Louvre (No. 1117).--1. St. Martin sharing his cloak with a poor man.--2. He sees in a dream Jesus Christ clad with this half of his cloak.--3. The saint’s baptism, the priest sprinkling him with water, and God blessing him.--4. He brings to life a catechumen, who had died without being baptized, in his monastery at Ligugé, near Poitiers.--5. At the same place he recalls to life a slave, who is first represented as hung from a gibbet, and afterwards standing on the ground and giving him thanks.--6. St. Martin consecrated Bishop of Tours in 371.--7. He evokes the spectre of a pretended martyr, held in veneration about Tours, and when it appears and avows that it had been executed for its crimes, the chapel is demolished.--8. He gives his tunic to a poor man.--9. He brings to life the son of a peasant in a heathen village near Chartres.--10. He drives out the evil spirit from the body of a mad cow.--11. Seeing on the banks of a river some birds watching to catch fish, he bids them fly away, saying, “Here we see the type of the enemies of our salvation, always on the watch to seize our souls.”--12. Death of St. Martin. His soul, in the form of a child, is being borne off to heaven by two angels.]