On the Cité dwelt the merchants, too, for the right bank of the river had not yet become the business section of Paris, although the Grève always was busy with the loading and unloading of boats. The shops in the Cité held stocks of rich stuffs and of gold and silver vessels and ornaments, chiefly of home manufacture, for the trade that had grown up in Gallo-Roman days was rapidly dying out in the unsympathetic atmosphere of constant strife. Back from the river on the right bank were monasteries in whose great size the papal visitor must have delighted as he did in the establishment dedicated to the patron saint of Paris on the hill now called by her name, the Mont Sainte Geneviève, and in the abbey of Saint Germain-des-Prés, rich in lands and serfs and so gorgeous with Spanish booty that its church was called Saint Germain-le-Doré--The Gilded. Charlemagne (768-814), son of Pépin le Bref, saw a splendid vision of a united Gaul, but his plan was not suited to a period when the German belief in the might of the strong-armed individual was laying the foundations of the feudal system. He himself was German and established his capital not at Paris, but nearer the German boundary, where he felt more at home. He visited Paris, however, lending the splendor of his presence to the services of dedication which marked the completion of the church of Saint Denis. Under the emperor’s direction his adviser, Alcuin of York, established in Paris the first of those schools which have made the city through the centuries one of the chief educational centers of the world. Charlemagne himself never learned to write, it is said, but his intelligence appreciated the value of learning and he first offered to the students of Europe the hospitality which Paris has given them with the utmost generosity ever since. To-day foreign students are admitted to the University of France on exactly the same terms as native students. An equestrian statue of the Emperor, his horse led by Roland and Oliver, stands before the cathedral of Notre Dame. Not only was Charlemagne’s kingdom divided after his death, but his strength as well seemed to have shared the shattering. His descendants were men of small force. Louis le Débonnaire, (814-840) succeeded the great king. Louis’ three sons, Lothair, Louis, and Charles the Bald divided the vast possessions into three parts. The oath by which Louis pledged himself to support Charles against Lothair has an especial interest for scholars because it is the oldest known example of the Romance tongue which succeeded the Low Latin of the Gallo-Romans. The oath was given at Strasburg, the armies of Louis and Charles witnessing, in March, 842.