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Pearsall Surname Project
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Surname
History and Genealogy
of the Pearsall Family in England
and America:
Volume I
Front Cover
Inside Front Cover
The Motive
Thanks
Illustrations
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Appendix I
Volume II
Volume III
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vaded
the south of France by the Garonne, and the bishops in that quarter wrote
to pope Anastasius that they were unable to
journey to Rome, on account of the great roads being infested by the
Normans and Saracens. Rollo laid siege to the city of Chartres, which was defended by a
fortress on the top of the hill. In a grotto, situated in the side of
this hill, where the Druids had formerly celebrated their mysteries, the
inhabitants of Chartres
preserved with religious veneration an ancient image of St. Mary. They
also possessed a tunic, formerly belonging to the Virgin, which was
brought from Constantinople, and
presented by Charles the Bald to their cathedral. At the approach of the
invaders, the bishop sent to solicit aid from Richard duke of Burgundy, Robert
Count of Paris, the brother of Eudes, and other
great crown vassals, who assembled a corps of Franks and Burgundians, and came to the assistance of the good
and brave prelate. The Normans
were attacked by these troops, and the bishop at the same time exhorted
the burghers to sally forth upon the enemy. He assembled the people in
the cathedral, mounted the sacred pulpit, and preached to them "how
the Normans
were Saracens, and enemies of God, and that all
who were slain in fighting against them should surely be saved." He
then gave them absolution, and celebrated mass. The people flew to arms,
and the bishop sallied forth at their head in his pontificals,
preceded by a crucifix, and bearing upon the point of his lance the tunic
of the Virgin. All his clergy followed chanting hymns to the Queen of
Heaven. The Normans, thus attacked in front and rear by a formidable
force inflamed with patriotic resentment and religious enthusiasm, were
unable to make an effectual resistance. They sustained a great loss, and
Rollo fled quite to Rouen,
pursued by the victorious Franks, whilst another band of his country-men
retired and took up a strong position on a neighboring mountain.
Rollo
soon recovered from the effects of his rout at Chartres, and once more commenced his
ravaging incursions into the interior of the kingdom. Duke Richard
marched against him, accompanied by the warlike bishop of Auxerre, who distinguished himself by his courage and
enterprise in the partisan warfare carried on against the scattered bands
of the Normans.
The expiring energy of the nation could not be rekindled by a few
solitary examples of patriotic spirit like these, among the great crown
vassals, which constituted exceptions to their general want of public
spirit and union among themselves. The people, who had supported with
exemplary patience the heavy burdens imposed upon them by the great, as
well as the cruelties and robberies inflicted by the barbarian invaders,
at last burst forth in loud and bitter complaints at the conduct of their
rulers.. Charles had received the most solemn
representations from the prelates and barons, assembled in a parliament
or plaid, entreating him to take pity upon the sufferings of the wretched
people in a desolated country, where the land no longer yielded rent to
the lord, the fields and vineyards were laid waste, the peasantry
scattered abroad, and the highways deserted by pilgrim and merchant. To
these representations the king answered: "You should have counseled
and aided me to expel the Normans; what could I do alone against these
ferocious enemies? Charles sent archbishop Francon
with propositions to Rollo, offering to him the cession of Neustria,
and his natural daughter Gisele in marriage, provided
he would become a Christian, and live in peace with the Franks.
Rollo accepted
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