Note 10 — Chapter I · LAND AND PEOPLE; AND GOTHIC SWAY

See Marianaq and above all, Masdeu,r who base their defence on the praises bestowed on the princess by her contemporaries, as Gregory of Tours,n and on the silence of contemporary writers as to the crimes reported to have been committed by her. Both charity and chivalry would induce us to take part with the Spanish historians in favour of a lady, did they not attempt to conceal her real frailties (of crimes she was probably guiltless), and raise a weak, in some respects an imprudent woman into a saint. That she was undeserving the severe censures of Baroniusx is more than probable; but we must agree with Montesquieuf that the queen, daughter, sister, and mother of so many kings would never have been permitted to sustain the torments she did, had she not forfeited, in some way or other, the favour of a whole nation.