Charlemagne applied himself to the reformation of these abuses. That illustrious monarch at all times displayed the most respectful deference for the clergy, from amongst whom he selected his principal ministers and most trusted councillors. Two-thirds of his Palatine Academy were ecclesiastics; the _missi dominici_, the official inspectors appointed to visit the provinces, the churches, the presbyteries, and the hospitals, to render justice upon appeal, to suspend or dismiss the fiscal agents, were all, or nearly all, bishops and priests. Royalty was looked upon by Charlemagne as a kind of priesthood, and his mission was to give the people greater facility for practising the Gospel, and to bring it within the reach of the idolatrous nations. The capitulars say, “The king must walk uprightly, as his name signifies (‘Rex a _recte_ agendo vocatur’). If he acts with piety, justice, and clemency, he deserves the name of king; otherwise he is not a king, but a tyrant. The special duty of royalty is to govern the people of God, but to govern them with equity and justice; for _the king is above all_ the defender of the churches, of the servants of God, of the widows, the other poor, and all who are in distress.” These rules, laid down in the time of Charlemagne, were adopted by all Europe. The king who did not observe them was to be deposed; his judges were the bishops, the councils, and the pope, as head of the Church (Charlemagne, in a capitular from Thionville, in 805, submitted his own sons to be judged by the bishops). If they refused obedience, they were condemned to be driven from their palaces, deprived of their dignities and goods, declared infamous, and sent into exile. This is why, during the unhappy dissensions that broke out between the sons of Louis the Good-natured, each one endeavoured to procure the deposition of his rival by sentence of the council. [Illustration: Fig. 230.--Bas-relief on the Tomb of Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, in the Church of St. Remigius in that city. Monument of the Tenth or Eleventh Century.--Hincmar, upon his knees, and followed by the Abbot of St. Remigius, is thanking Charles the Bald for his pious donations; the king holds in his hand a model of the church on which he bestowed his largesses.]