Misplaced Pages

#249750

84-507: Further to the southeast, the higher elevation and deep river valleys were covered by the even less penetrable ancient Arduenna Silva , the deeply folded Ardennes , which are still partly forested to this day. To the east, the forested zone was possibly considered to extend to the Rhine . It was there in Cologne in 388 CE that the magistri militum praesentalis Nannienus and Quintinus began

168-423: A synonym for agnatic succession, but the importance of Salic law extends beyond the rules of inheritance, as it is a direct ancestor of the systems of law in use in many parts of continental Europe today. Salic law regulates succession according to sex. "Agnatic succession" means succession to the throne or fief going to an agnate of the predecessor – for example, a brother, a son, or nearest male relative through

252-512: A committee appointed and empowered by the King of the Franks . Dozens of manuscripts dating from the sixth to eighth centuries and three emendations as late as the ninth century have survived. Salic law provided written codification of both civil law, such as the statutes governing inheritance , and criminal law , such as the punishment for murder . Although it was originally intended as the law of

336-597: A counter-attack against a Frankish incursion from across the Rhine, which was fought in the Silva Carbonaria. A great Roman road forming a "strategic axis" linked the Rhine crossing at Cologne with Maastricht , where it crossed the Maas at the head of navigation. Skirting the northern edges of the Silva Carbonaria, it passed through Tongeren , Kortrijk and Cambrai to reach the sea at Boulogne . The highway

420-648: A land title to pass (by marriage) "to a female's husband". Women rulers were anathema in the German states well into the modern era. In a similar way, the thrones of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg were separated in 1890, with the succession of Princess Wilhelmina as the first Queen regnant of the Netherlands. As a remnant of Salic law, the office of the reigning monarch of

504-528: A noble hunt. At the start of the nineteenth century the area of this remnant of the primeval forest still covered about 100 square kilometres, but due to timber cutting its area has diminished to its current protected area of 44.21 km². Ardennes The Ardennes ( French : Ardenne [aʁdɛn] ; Dutch : Ardennen [ɑrˈdɛnə(n)] ; German : Ardennen ; Walloon : Årdene [ɑːʀdɛn] ; Luxembourgish : Ardennen [ɑʁˈdænən] ), also known as

588-897: A popular tourist destination. The region takes its name from the vast ancient forest known as Arduenna Silva in the Roman Period . Arduenna probably derives from a Gaulish cognate of the Brythonic word ardu- as in the Welsh : ardd ("high") and the Latin arduus ("high", "steep"). The second element is less certain, but may be related to the Celtic element *windo- as in the Welsh wyn / wen ("fair", "blessed"), which tentatively suggests an original meaning of "forest of blessed/fair heights". The Ardennes likely shares this derivation with

672-530: A principle that remains in force to this day. The Salic law, at the time, was not yet invoked; the arguments put forward in favor of Philip V relied only on the degree of proximity of Philip V with Louis X. Philip had the support of the nobility and had the resources for his ambitions. Philip won over the Duke of Burgundy by giving him his daughter, also named Joan , in marriage, with the counties of Artois and Burgundy as her eventual inheritance. On March 27, 1317,

756-788: A rapid passage through the Ardennes to attack a relatively lightly defended part of France. The Ardennes became the site of three major battles during the world wars—the Battle of the Ardennes (August 1914) in World War I, and the Battle of France (1940) and the Battle of the Bulge (1944–1945) in World War II. Many of the towns of the region suffered severe damage during the two world wars. Allied generals in World War II believed that

840-444: A regent) and prepare for a possible succession to the throne. At this point, it had been accepted that women could not claim the crown of France (without any written rule stipulating it yet). Under the application of the agnatic principle, the following were excluded: The widow of Charles IV gave birth to a daughter. Isabella of France , sister of Charles IV, claimed the throne for her son, Edward III of England . The French rejected

924-619: A result, in 1839, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ceded the westernmost 63% of its territory (being also the main part of the Ardennes) to the new Kingdom of Belgium , which is now its Luxembourg Province . In the 20th century the Ardennes was widely thought by leading military strategists to be unsuitable for large-scale military operations, due to its difficult terrain and narrow lines of communications. However, in both World War I and World War II , Germany successfully gambled on making

SECTION 10

#1732764727250

1008-702: A starting point near Nijmegen until they pressed into the more populated and Romanized areas in the Silva Carbonaria and near the Maas. The Romanized population came to be known as *walhōz or "strangers" to the Germanic Franks—continued speaking a Late Latin , whose name survives in Walloon . In the past the Romance-Germanic linguistic division that marks Belgium to this day has been perhaps too facilely linked to these geographic parameters. For

1092-678: A time in the sixth century, the Silva Carbonaria formed a barrier between the West Frankish kingdom of Clovis and the East Frankish kingdom of Sigebert the Lame , centred on Cologne, until he was assassinated in the forest of Buchaw by his son some time after 507, and Clovis joined the two kingdoms. The Liber Historiae Francorum mentions that the Neustrian army invaded Austrasia in the succession battle of Pepin of Herstal and

1176-476: A treaty was signed at Laon between the Duke of Burgundy and Philip V, wherein Joan renounced her right to the throne of France. Philip, too, died without a son, and his brother Charles succeeded him as Charles IV unopposed. Charles, too, died without a son, but also left his wife pregnant. It was another succession crisis, the same as that in 1316; it was necessary both to prepare for a possible regency (and choose

1260-464: A unique set of errors, corrections, content, and organization. The laws are called "titles", as each one has its own name, generally preceded by de , "of", "concerning". Different sections of titles acquired individual names, which revealed something about their provenances. Some of these dozens of names have been adopted for specific reference, often given the same designation as the overall work, lex . The recension of Hendrik Kern organizes all of

1344-431: A written code was desirable for monarchs and their administrations. For the next 300 years, the code was copied by hand, and was amended as required to add newly enacted laws, revise laws that had been amended, and delete laws that had been repealed. In contrast with printing, hand copying is an individual act by an individual copyist with ideas and a style of his own. Each of the several dozen surviving manuscripts features

1428-403: Is clearly the result of a law code reform by Charlemagne. By that time, Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire comprised most of Western Europe. He added laws of choice (free will) taken from the earlier law codes of Germanic peoples not originally part of Francia. These are numbered into the laws that were there, but they have their own, quasisectional title. All the Franks of Francia were subject to

1512-529: Is divided between brothers, and if it is intended to govern succession, it can be interpreted to mandate agnatic seniority, not direct primogeniture. In its use by continental hereditary monarchies since the 15th century, aiming at agnatic succession, the Salic law is regarded as excluding all females from the succession, and prohibiting the transfer of succession rights through any woman. At least two systems of hereditary succession are direct and full applications of

1596-534: Is important in the history of Wallonia because this former mountain is at the origin of the economy, the history, and the geography of Wallonia. "Wallonia presents a wide range of rocks of various ages. Some geological stages internationally recognized were defined from rock sites located in Wallonia: e.g., Frasnian ( Frasnes-lez-Couvin ), Famennian ( Famenne ), Tournaisian ( Tournai ), Visean ( Visé ), Dinantian ( Dinant ), and Namurian ( Namur )". Except for

1680-413: Is likely the earliest surviving full sentence in the language: This sentence is also given as the following: These laws and their interpretations give an insight into Frankish society. The criminal laws established damages to be paid and fines levied in recompense for injuries to persons and damage to goods, theft , and unprovoked insults. One-third of the fine paid court costs. Judicial interpretation

1764-710: Is mentioned in the Salic Law of the Franks, where it marked "the boundary of the territories occupied by the Frankish people". The Liber Historiae Francorum mentions that the war of succession after the death of Pepin of Herstal started when the Neustrian army, under the command of Ragenfrid (mayor of the palace), traversed the Silva Carbonaria Extensive tracts of the untamed woodlands belonged to monasteries. The Benedictine Abbey of Lobbes lay in

SECTION 20

#1732764727250

1848-561: Is succeeded by a son of his daughter, when the daughter in question is still alive. Or an uncle, with no children of his own, is succeeded by a son of his sister, when the sister in question is still alive. This fulfils the Salic condition of "no land comes to a woman, but the land comes to the male sex". This can be called a "quasi-Salic" system of succession and it should be classified as primogenitural, cognatic, and male-preferred. The Merovingian kings divided their realm equally among all living sons, leading to much conflict and fratricide among

1932-573: The Ardennes department and the former Champagne-Ardenne region ) and geologically into the Eifel (the eastern extension of the Ardennes Forest into Bitburg-Prüm , Germany); most of it is in the southeast of Wallonia , the southern and more rural part of Belgium (away from the coastal plain but encompassing more than half of the country's total area). The eastern part of the Ardennes forms

2016-785: The Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes , is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg , extending into Germany and France . Geologically, the range is a western extension of the Eifel ; both were raised during the Givetian age of the Devonian (382.7 to 387.7 million years ago), as were several other named ranges of the same greater range. The Ardennes proper stretches well into Germany and France (lending its name to

2100-640: The Duchy of Brittany . In this they were supported by the King of England, while their rivals who claimed the traditional female succession in Brittany were supported by the King of France. The Montforts eventually won the duchy by warfare, but had to recognize the suzerainty of the King of France. This law was by no means intended to cover all matters of inheritance – for example, not the inheritance of movables — only to lands considered "Salic" – and debate remains as to

2184-802: The Huguenot candidate Henry of Navarre from becoming king. Philip's agents were instructed to "insinuate cleverly" that the Salic law was a "pure invention". Even if the "Salic law" did not really apply to the throne of France, though, the very principle of agnatic succession had become a cornerstone of the French royal succession; they had upheld it in the Hundred Years' War with the English, and it had produced their kings for more than two centuries. The eventual recognition of Henry of Navarre as King Henry IV of France following his conversion to Catholicism,

2268-564: The Invasion of France . The forest's great size could conceal the armored divisions , and because the French did not suspect that the Germans would make such a risky move, they did not consider a breakthrough there, or considered that it would take at least 15 days for an army to pass through the forest. German forces, primarily under the command of Erich von Manstein , carried out the plan in two days, and managed to slip numerous divisions past

2352-628: The Kingdom of Holland , and under Napoleonic influence, Sweden under the House of Bernadotte . Several military conflicts in European history have stemmed from the application of, or disregard for, Salic law. The Carlist Wars occurred in Spain over the question of whether the heir to the throne should be a female or a male relative. The War of the Austrian Succession was triggered by

2436-582: The Maginot Line to attack France from the north, and rout the French forces. In May 1940 the German army crossed the Meuse , despite the resistance of the French Army . Under the command of General Heinz Guderian , the German armoured divisions crossed the river at Dinant and at Sedan, France . This was a crucial step in the push towards Paris, and France fell on 25 June 1940 . At the other end of

2520-600: The Netherlands is always formally known as "King", though her title may be "Queen". Luxembourg passed to the House of Orange-Nassau 's distantly related agnates, the House of Nassau-Weilburg , but that house also faced extinction in the male line less than two decades later. With no other male-line agnates in the remaining branches of the House of Nassau, Grand Duke William IV adopted a quasi-Salic law of succession to allow him to be succeeded by his daughters. The hostess,

2604-522: The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , in which Charles VI of Austria , who himself had inherited the Austrian patrimony over his nieces as a result of Salic law, attempted to ensure the inheritance directly to his own daughter Maria Theresa of Austria , which was an example of an operation of quasi-Salic law. In the modern Kingdom of Italy , under the House of Savoy , succession to the throne

Silva Carbonaria - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-534: The Schleswig-Holstein Question and played a day-to-day role in the inheritance and marriage decisions of common princedoms of the German states , such as Saxe-Weimar , to cite a representative example. European nobility would have confronted Salic issues at every turn in the practice of diplomacy, particularly when they negotiated marriages, since the entire male line had to be extinguished for

2772-708: The Ardennes and is part of the same geological formation, although they are conventionally regarded as being two distinct areas. The Ardennes are the remnants of a mountain range formed during the Hercynian orogeny ; in France similar formations are the Armorican Massif , the Massif Central , and the Vosges . The low interior of such former mountains often contains coal, plus iron, zinc and other metals in

2856-724: The Ardennes formed part of the Duchy (since 1815, the Grand Duchy) of Luxembourg, a member state of the Holy Roman Empire, which changed hands numerous times between the powerful dynasties of Europe. In 1793 revolutionary France annexed the whole area, together with all other territories west of the Rhine river. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna , which dealt with the political aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars , restored

2940-458: The Capetian dynasty in 987 until the death of Louis X in 1316, the eldest living son of the King of France succeeded to the throne upon his demise. No prior occasion existed to demonstrate whether or not females were excluded from the succession to the crown. Louis X died without a son, but left his wife pregnant. The king's brother, Philip, Count of Poitiers , became regent. Philip prepared for

3024-804: The Franks, it has had a formative influence on the tradition of statute law that extended to modern history in much of Europe, especially in the German states and Austria-Hungary in Central Europe , the Low Countries in Western Europe , Balkan kingdoms in Southeastern Europe , and parts of Italy and Spain in Southern Europe . Its use of agnatic succession governed the succession of kings in kingdoms such as France and Italy . The original edition of

3108-488: The Salic Law: agnatic seniority and agnatic primogeniture . The so-called Semi-Salic version of succession order stipulates that firstly all-male descendance is applied, including all collateral male lines, but if all such lines are extinct, then the closest female agnate (such as a daughter) of the last male holder of the property inherits, and after her, her own male heirs according to the Salic order. In other words,

3192-651: The Salic law must have served as a palliative. Charlemagne goes back even earlier to the Lex Suauorum , the ancient code of the Suebi preceding the Alemanni. The Salic law code contains the Malberg glosses (German Malbergische Glossen or malbergische Glossen ; despite the name, they aren't glosses in the proper sense ), several deformed Old Frankish, or for some Dutch scholars Old Dutch, words and what

3276-518: The Silva Carbonaria and that of Saint Foillan , in the present-day Sonian Forest (Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud) not far from Nivelles . From the 8th century onwards, parts of the Silva Carbonaria were cleared for agriculture, eventually subdividing it in several smaller isolated forests like the Sonian forest today. The charcoal —which gave the forest its name and into which the once seeming inexhaustible woods were slowly converted—was required to fuel

3360-493: The Tournaisian, all these rocks are within the Ardennes geological area. The Ardennes includes the greatest part of Belgium's Luxembourg Province (not to be confused with the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), the south of Namur Province , and Liège Province , plus a very small part of Hainaut Province , as well as the northernmost third of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, called " Éislek " ( German : Oesling ) and

3444-532: The basis of Salic law's inheritance rules, leading to the Battle of Agincourt . In fact, the conflict between Salic and English law was a justification for many overlapping claims between the French and English monarchs over the French throne. More than a century later, during the French wars of religion , Philip II of Spain attempted to claim the French crown for his daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia , born of his third wife, Elisabeth of Valois in order to prevent

Silva Carbonaria - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-685: The boggy moors of the High Fens region of south-eastern Belgium . The region is typified by steep-sided valleys carved by swift-flowing rivers, the most prominent of which is the Meuse . Its most populous cities are Verviers in Belgium and Charleville-Mézières in France, both exceeding 50,000 inhabitants. The Ardennes is otherwise relatively sparsely populated, with few of the towns exceeding 10,000 inhabitants. (Exceptions include Belgium's Eupen and Bastogne .) The Eifel range in Germany adjoins

3612-522: The bourgeois of Paris, and doctors of the university, known as the Estates-General of 1317, gathered in February. Philip V asked them to write an argument justifying his right to the throne of France. These "general statements" agreed in declaring that "Women do not succeed in the kingdom of France", formalizing Philip's usurpation and the impossibility for a woman to ascend the throne of France,

3696-469: The claim, noting that "Women cannot transmit a right which they do not possess", a corollary to the succession principle in 1316. The regent, Philip of Valois, became Philip VI of France in 1328. Philip became king without serious opposition, until his attempt to confiscate Gascony in 1337 made Edward III press his claim to the French throne. As far as can be ascertained, Salic law was not explicitly mentioned either in 1316 or 1328. It had been forgotten in

3780-485: The code was commissioned by the first king of all the Franks, Clovis I (c. 466–511), and published sometime between 507 and 511. He appointed four commissioners to research customary law that, until the publication of the Salic law, had been recorded only in the minds of designated elders, who would meet in council when their knowledge was required. Transmission was entirely oral. Salic law, therefore, reflects ancient usages and practices. To govern more effectively, having

3864-427: The contingencies with Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy , maternal uncle of Louis X's daughter and prospective heiress, Joan . If the unborn child were male, he would succeed to the French throne as king; if female, Philip would maintain the regency until the daughters of Louis X reached their majority. The opportunity remained for either daughter to succeed to the French throne. The unborn child proved to be male, John I , to

3948-411: The east and the Nervii to the west. This boundary continued to be used into the Middle ages as the boundary between the bishoprics of Liège and Cambrai . With the collapse of central Roman administration in the fourth century, Germanic Franks living along the Rhine border established kingdoms within the empire, and settled in less populated areas. The Salian Franks expanded their settlements from

4032-415: The female closest to the last incumbent is "regarded as a male" for the purposes of inheritance and succession. This has the effect of following the closest extant blood line (at least in the first instance) and not involving any more distant relatives. The closest female relative might be a child of a relatively junior branch of the whole dynasty, but still inherits due to her position in the male line, due to

4116-407: The feudal era, and the assertion that the French crown can only be transmitted to and through males made it unique and exalted in the eyes of the French. In 1358 the monk Richard Lescot invoked it to dispute the claim of Charles II of Navarre to the French crown, an argument that would later be echoed by other jurists in defence of the Valois dynasty. In its origin, therefore, the agnatic principle

4200-431: The first Frankish King , Clovis . The written text is in Late Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Dutch . It remained the basis of Frankish law throughout the early Medieval period , and influenced future European legal systems . The best-known tenet of the old law is the principle of exclusion of women from inheritance of thrones, fiefs, and other property. The Salic laws were arbitrated by

4284-411: The first comprised 33 manuscripts; the second, one manuscript. They are characterized by the internal assignment of Latin names to various sections of different provenances. Two of the sections are dated to 768 and 778, but the emendation is believed to be dated to 798, late in the reign of Charlemagne . This edition calls itself the Lex Salica Emendata , or the Lex Reformata , or the Lex Emendata , and

SECTION 50

#1732764727250

4368-407: The first of the Bourbon kings, further solidified the agnatic principle in France. Although no reference was made to the Salic law, the imperial constitutions of the Bonapartist First French Empire and Second French Empire continued to exclude women from the succession to the throne. In the lands that Napoleon Bonaparte conquered, Salic law was adopted, including the Kingdom of Westphalia ,

4452-416: The glosses, but also "bears traces of attempts to make the language more concise". A statement gives the provenance: "in the 13th year of the reign of our most glorious king of the Franks, Pipin". Some of the internal documents were composed after the reign of Pepin the Short , but it is considered to be an emendation initiated by Pepin, so is termed the Pipina Recensio . Family IV also has two divisions –

4536-470: The harsh climate of the Ardennes limits the scope for agriculture ; arable and dairy farming in cleared areas form the mainstay of the agricultural economy. The region is rich in timber and minerals, and Liège and the city of Namur are both major industrial centres. The extensive forests have an abundant population of wild game . The scenic beauty of the region and its wide variety of outdoor activities, including hunting, cycling, walking and canoeing, make it

4620-464: The inheritance shall come to a woman: but the whole inheritance of the land shall come to the male sex. or, another transcript: [C]oncerning terra Salica, no portion or inheritance is for a woman, but all the land belongs to members of the male sex who are brothers. The law merely prohibited women from inheriting ancestral "Salic land"; this prohibition did not apply to other property (such as personal property ); and under Chilperic I sometime around

4704-401: The inheritance, the younger sons of the Capetian kings received an appanage , which is a feudal territory under the suzerainty of the king. Feudal law allowed the transmission of fiefs to daughters in default of sons, which was also the case for the early appanages. Whether feudal law also applied to the French throne, no one knew, until 1316. For a remarkably long period, from the inception of

4788-403: The legal definition of this word, although it is generally accepted to refer to lands in the royal fisc . Only several hundred years later, under the direct Capetian kings of France and their English contemporaries who held lands in France, did Salic law become a rationale for enforcing or debating succession. Shakespeare says that Charles VI rejected Henry V 's claim to the French throne on

4872-418: The longevity of her own branch ; any existing senior female lines come behind that of the closest female. From the Middle Ages, another system of succession, known as cognatic male primogeniture, actually fulfills apparent stipulations of the original Salic law; succession is allowed also through female lines, but excludes the females themselves in favour of their sons. For example, a grandfather, without sons,

4956-429: The magic bay horse which, according to legend, jumped from the top of the rock to the other bank of the Meuse. On their pillaging raids in the years 881 and 882 , the Vikings used the old Roman roads in the Ardennes and attacked the abbeys of Malmedy and Stavelot and destroyed Prüm Abbey in the Eifel . The strategic position of the Ardennes has made it a battleground for European powers for many centuries. Much of

5040-414: The main part of the French Ardennes department . Before the 19th century industrialization, the first furnaces in these four Belgian provinces (all in the Wallonia region) and in the French Ardennes used charcoal for fuel, made from harvesting the Ardennes forest. This industry was also in the extreme south of present-day Luxembourg Province (which until 1839 was part of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), in

5124-436: The male line, including collateral agnate branches, for example very distant cousins. Chief forms are agnatic seniority and agnatic primogeniture . The latter, which has been the most usual, means succession going to the eldest son of the monarch; if the monarch had no sons, the throne would pass to the nearest male relative in the male line. Concerning the inheritance of land, Salic law said: But of Salic land no portion of

SECTION 60

#1732764727250

5208-434: The manuscripts into five families according to similarity and relative chronological sequence, judged by content and dateable material in the text. Family I is the oldest, containing four manuscripts dated to the eighth and ninth centuries, but containing 65 titles believed to be copies of originals published in the sixth century. In addition, they feature the Malbergse Glossen , " Malberg Glosses ", marginal glosses stating

5292-542: The native court word for some Latin words. These are named from native malbergo , "language of the court". Kern's Family II, represented by two manuscripts, is the same as Family I, except that it contains "interpolations or numerous additions, which point to a later period". Family III is split into two divisions. The first, comprising three manuscripts, dated to the eighth–ninth centuries, presents an expanded text of 99 or 100 titles. The Malberg Glosses are retained. The second division, with four manuscripts, not only drops

5376-426: The northernmost third of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, also called " Éislek " ( German : Oesling ). On the southeast the Eifel region continues into the German state of the Rhineland-Palatinate . The trees and rivers of the Ardennes provided the charcoal industry assets that enabled the great industrial period of Wallonia in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was arguably the second great industrial region of

5460-409: The numerous Arden place names in Britain, including the Forest of Arden . The modern Ardennes region covers a greatly diminished area from the forest recorded in Roman times. A song about Charlemagne, the Old French 12th-century chanson de geste Quatre Fils Aymon , mentions many of Wallonia's rivers, villages and other places. In Dinant the rock named Bayard takes its name for Bayard ,

5544-451: The postwar period, the Ardennes has become a weekend retreat that is popular among both Belgians and the neighboring countries. The tourist industry is extensive and varied in range of activities and type of accommodations. Salic Law The Salic law ( / ˈ s æ l ɪ k / or / ˈ s eɪ l ɪ k / ; Latin : Lex salica ), also called the Salian law , was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by

5628-425: The previous geographical situation, with most of the Ardennes becoming part of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After the revolution of 1830 , which resulted in the establishment of the Kingdom of Belgium, the political future of the Ardennes became a matter of much dispute between Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, as well as involving the contemporary great powers of France , Prussia , and Great Britain . As

5712-448: The region called Gaume . The most important part of the Walloon steel industry, using coal, was built around the coal mines, mainly in the region around the cities of Liège , Charleroi, La Louvière , the Borinage , and further in the Walloon Brabant (in Tubize ). Wallonia became the second industrial power area of the world (after Great Britain) in proportion to its territory and to its population (see further). The rugged terrain and

5796-443: The region was impenetrable to massed vehicular traffic and especially armor, so the area was effectively "all but undefended" during the war. The German Army twice used this region to invade northern France and southern Belgium, via Luxembourg in the Battle of France and the later Battle of the Bulge . The military strategists of Nazi Germany in 1939 and 1940 selected the forest as the primary route of their mechanized forces in

5880-464: The relief of the kingdom, but the infant lived for only a few days. Philip saw his chance and broke the agreement with the Duke of Burgundy by having himself anointed at Reims in January 1317 as Philip V of France . Agnes of France , daughter of Louis IX , mother of the Duke of Burgundy, and maternal grandmother of the Princess Joan, considered it a usurpation and demanded an assembly of the peers, which Philip V accepted. An assembly of prelates, lords,

5964-431: The rival heirs. The Carolingians did likewise, but they also possessed the imperial dignity, which was indivisible and passed to only one person at a time. Primogeniture, or the preference for the eldest line in the transmission of inheritance, eventually emerged in France, under the Capetian kings. The early Capetians had only one heir, the eldest son, whom they crowned during their lifetimes . Instead of an equal portion of

6048-443: The river Sambre; Liège Province along the river Meuse. The region the Ardennes are part of has been uplifted further in the last few hundred thousand years by a mantle plume , as measured from the present elevation of old river terraces, with the largest amount of uplift concentrated in the east, where the Ardennes connect with the Eifel, where the same mantle plume is also responsible for volcanic activity. This geological region

6132-646: The same law code, which retained the overall title of Lex Salica . These integrated sections borrowed from other Germanic codes are the Lex Ribuariorum , later Lex Ribuaria , laws adopted from the Ripuarian Franks , who, before Clovis, had been independent. The Lex Alamannorum took laws from the Alamanni , then subject to the Franks. Under the Franks, they were governed by Frankish law, not their own. The inclusion of some of their law as part of

6216-685: The scattered smelting furnaces that forged the plentiful iron found in outcroppings laid bare by riverside erosion. Even before the Romans arrived, iron weapons forged in the Silva Carbonaria were traded by the Belgae to their cousins in the southeast of Britain . In the High Middle Ages further woodlands were cleared. Today the most significant remnant of the Silva Carbonaria is the Sonian Forest , preserved because it had been set aside as

6300-636: The sub-soil. This geologic fact explains the greatest part of the geography of Wallonia and its history. In the North and West of the Ardennes lie the valleys of the Sambre and Meuse rivers, forming an arc ( Sillon industriel ) going across the most industrial provinces of Wallonia , for example Hainaut Province , along the river Haine (the etymology of Hainaut); the Borinage , the Centre and Charleroi along

6384-561: The war started when Ragenfrid and his army traversed the Silva Carbonaria. The Annales Mettenses Priores note that the wealth of Pepin of Herstal's family was their vast territories between the Silva Carbonaria and the river Meuse. Throughout the rule of the Merovingian dynasty , founded by Clovis, the Silva Carbonaria thus became the boundary between their two kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria . The Silva Carbonaria

6468-536: The war, the Ardennes area came to prominence again during the Battle of the Bulge . The German Army, which had been forced to retreat for some time, launched a surprise attack in December 1944 in an attempt to recapture Antwerp and to drive a wedge between the advancing British and American forces in northern France. After a fierce battle the Allied forces blocked the German advance on the river Meuse at Dinant. In

6552-470: The world. The greater region maintained an industrial eminence into the 20th century, after coal replaced charcoal in metallurgy . The strategic position of the Ardennes has made it a battleground for European powers for centuries; it was the site of major battles during both World Wars. Much of the Ardennes is covered in dense forests, with the hills averaging around 350–400 m (1,150–1,310 ft) in height but rising to over 694 m (2,277 ft) in

6636-419: The year 570, the law was actually amended to permit inheritance of land by a daughter if a man had no surviving sons (This amendment, depending on how it is applied and interpreted, offers the basis for either Semi-Salic succession or male-preferred primogeniture , or both). The wording of the law, as well as common usage in those days and centuries afterwards, seems to support an interpretation that inheritance

6720-467: Was by a jury of peers . The civil law establishes that an individual person is legally unprotected if he or she does not belong to a family . The rights of family members were defined; for example, the equal division of land among all living male heirs, in contrast to primogeniture . One tenet of the civil law is agnatic succession , explicitly excluding females from the inheritance of a throne or fief . Indeed, "Salic law" has often been used simply as

6804-573: Was completed in a single night with the devil's aid. There are signs that the Silva Carbonaria represented the boundary between the Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior . In the Middle Ages , these provinces were still represented by the church dioceses of Reims and Cologne . On a smaller level, the forest served as a boundary between the Roman civitates of the Tungri to

6888-595: Was limited to the succession to the crown of France. Prior to the Valois succession, Capetian kings granted appanages to their younger sons and brothers, which could pass to male and female heirs. The appanages given to the Valois princes, though, in imitation of the succession law of the monarchy that gave them, limited their transmission to males. Another Capetian lineage, the Montfort of Brittany , claimed male succession in

6972-643: Was regulated by Salic law. The British and the Hanoverian thrones separated after the death of King William IV of the United Kingdom and of Hanover in 1837 because Hanover practiced quasi-Salic law, unlike Britain. King William's niece, Victoria , ascended to the British throne, but the Hanover throne went to William's brother Ernest, Duke of Cumberland . Salic law was also an important issue in

7056-653: Was the main east–west route in a landscape where the river valleys, tributaries of the Meuse and the Scheldt , tended southwest to northeast. It remained viable through the Early Middle Ages as the chaussée Brunehaut , the "Road of Brunehaut". As a public work its scale had become unimaginable in the Middle Ages: the chronicler Jean d'Outremeuse solemnly related in 1398 that Brunehaut , wife of Sigebert I , had built this wide paved road in 526, and that it

#249750