The Dane, commissioned for this purpose, full of indignation
at the order, and despising so unwarlike a prince, caught Charles by the
foot, and pretending to carry it to his mouth, that he might kiss it,
overthrew him before all his courtiers. The French, sensible of their
present weakness, found it prudent to overlook this insult.[*]
[* Gul. Gemet. lib. ii. cap. 17.]
Rollo, who was now in the decline of life, and was tired of wars and
depredations, applied himself, with mature counsels to the settlement of
his new-acquired territory, which was thenceforth called Normandy; and
he parcelled it out among his captains and followers. He followed,
in this partition, the customs of the feudal law, which was then
universally established in the southern countries of Europe, and which
suited the peculiar circumstances of that age. He treated the French
subjects, who submitted to him, with mildness and justice; he reclaimed
his ancient followers from their ferocious violence; he established law
and order throughout his state; and after a life spent in tumults and
ravages, he died peaceably in a good old age, and left his dominions to
his posterity.
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