Karoling

The Karolings of this last period have little to distinguish or ennoble them; they slowly drift towards extinction; it is scarcely worth our while to trace their course.

Gaul, on the death of Charles III., becomes for just 100 years the object of contention between the last of the Karolings and the rising house of Capet, between the Imperial German-speaking city of Laon and the ducal French-speaking city of Paris.

The fall of the Karolings had doubtless been hastened by the suspicions which the great barons, whose lands had been at first benefices granted in return for services at court, entertained towards the dynasty whose privileges they had usurped, and which had the right to reclaim the estates.