The Church in Germany Author:S. Baring-Gould Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. THE FRANKS AND CHRISTIANITY. The Condition of the GalloRomans under the Franks—The Character of the Franks—Childerich's Treatment of the Church—The Marr... more »iage of Chlodovech—His Conversion— His Conduct after Baptism—The General Consequences of his Baptism—Law against Heathen Practices—The Reverence of the first Frank Kings for the Bishops—Lavish Bounty shown to the Church—Loyalty of the Bishops to the Kings—Causes which tended to enrich the Church— The Activity of the Church. In the Isle of Batavia and in Toxandria the Franks met with no Christians, or very few; but it was otherwise when they captured Cologne. The first letter of Salvian shows us how they behaved towards the conquered city. They did not expel the Roman inhabitants, but they deprived them of most of their possessions. A widow, a kinswoman of Salvian, who had been in comfortable circumstances, was now forced to earn her bread by daily toil. Such of the inhabitants as could, escaped, but the majority remained. Gregory of Tours names a Severinus as Bishop of Cologne about this time, and probably he remained and gathered round him and consoled the Christians who suffered and continued to reside in the town. At Tongern, also, the episcopal see remained occupied without interruption. Gregory of Tours names Aravatius as the bishop at the timewhen the Huns burst over the Netherlands. Before them the bishopric was swept down, and ceased to exist. In Tournai, Arras; and Cambrai all traces of Christianity disappeared before the Franks. But as they spread further, their dealings with the Romanised inhabitants became more forbearing. Treves was treated with more consideration than Cologne. The bishops entered into communication with the Prankish chiefs: they were men to inspire respect, and the rude Germans had ever in...« less