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his predecessors, and his own politic marriage,^[1] he found himself at the head of a state that had been gradually transformed from a feudal league into a true monarchy. The strength of this kingdom he determined to employ in some enterprise beyond the limits of France. With a standing army, created by Charles VII. during the latter years of the war with England,^[2] at his command, he invaded Italy, intent on the conquest of Naples,—to which he laid claim on the strength of some old bequest,—proposing, with that state subdued, to lead a crusade to the East against the Turks. He reached Naples in triumph, but was soon forced, with heavy losses, to retreat into France.

This enterprise of Charles is noteworthy not only because it marks the commencement of a long series of brilliant yet disastrous campaigns carried on by the French in Italy, but also on account of Charles' army having been made up largely of paid troops instead of feudal retainers, which fact assures us that the Feudal System in France, as a governmental organization, had come to an end.

Beginnings of French Literature.

The Troubadours.—The contact of the old Latin speech in Gaul with that of the Teutonic invaders gave rise there to two very distinct dialects. These were the Langue d' Oc, or Provençal, the tongue of the South of France and of the adjoining regions of Spain and Italy; and the Langue d'Oil, or French proper, the language of the North.^[3]

1. He married Anne of Brittany, and thus brought that large province, which had hitherto constituted an almost independent state, under the authority of the French crown.
2. The paid force of infantry and cavalry created by Charles VII. in 1448, was the first standing army in Europe, and the beginning of that vast military system which now burdens the great nations of that continent with the support of several millions of soldiers constantly under arms.
3. The terms Langue d' Oc and Langue d' Oil arose from the use of different words for yes, which in the tongue of the South was oc, and in that of the North oil.