On the other hand, Otto Frising. chron. 5. cap. 9. and God.  Viterb. tell us, That about the Year 630, when Lotharius the 7th King died, Dagobertus his Son reigned singly in France, and assigned to his Brother Heribert some Cities and Villages on the River Loire, for his Maintenance.  For from Clodoveus’s Time till now, the Kingdom of the Franks was confusedly subdivided among the Sons, and the Sons Sons, each of which reigned over the part allotted him.—­“The Extent of the Kingdom of the Franks reaching now from Spain, as far as to Hungary:  Dagobert being sole King of all the Franks, gave Laws to the Bavarians.”  So says Godefridus, not without good Grounds, as many wise Men have thought.  For, as Justin tells us, lib. 21. “That Kingdom will be much more potent, which remains under the Domination of one Person, than when ’tis divided among many Brothers.”

But after some Years, when the Kingdom of the Franks was excessively enlarged on all Sides, and King Pipin was dead, the General Council of the Gauls changed this Method again.  Which serves to confirm what we said before; viz. That the whole Power, relating to that Matter, was lodged in that Council. For Eguinarthus, in his Life of Charlemagn, writes thus, “—­After King Pipin’s Death, the Franks having assembled themselves in a solemn general Convention, did there appoint both his Sons to be their Kings, upon this Condition, that they shou’d equally divide the whole body of the Kingdom between them:  And that Charles shou’d reign over that part of it, which their Father Pipin enjoy’d; and Carloman over the other Part which their Uncle held.”

Also the Abbot of Ursperg says,—­“When Pipin was dead, his two Sons Charles and Carloman, by the Consent of all the Franks, were created Kings, upon Condition, that they shou’d divide the whole body of the Kingdom equally between them.—­” The same Method in dividing the Kingdom, was practised after the Death of Charlemagn, as ’tis manifest by his last Will and Testament, recorded by Johannes Nauclerus, and Eguinarthus’s History of his Life.  Wherein we find almost all Europe so divided among his three Sons, that nothing was assigned either as a Portion or Dower, to his Daughters; but the marrying and providing for them was entirely trusted to the Care and Prudence of their Brothers. Otto Frisingensis, chron. 6. cap. 6. and Rhegino in chron. anno 877. assure us, that the same Manner of dividing the Kingdom was practis’d in East-France, after the Death of King Lewis the Stammerer, in 874.  Again, some Years after, anno 880. after King Lewis the 23d King’s Death, the very same way of dividing the Kingdom was made use of; which