VIII,] POWER OF THE CROWN. 135 1648, the Thirty Years War was ended by the Peace oj West/alia. France nc ^ received all the towns, districts, and rights of every kind belonging to the House of Austria in Elsass. This gave her a large isolated territory in the middle of the Empire. It gave her the Rhine frontier for a considerable space, and she even received Breisach on the right bank of the Rhine. But Strassburg and the other towns and districts in Elsass which had not belonged to the House of Austria remained independent members of the Empire. At the same time the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which had been held by France for nearly one hundred years, were formally ceded by the Empire. Thus France now had a most confused frontier towards Germany. There were pieces of French territory surrounded by the Empire, and pieces of the Empire sur- rounded by the new French territory. Such a frontier was sure to lead to further conquests, but they did not come on this side just yet. Savoy was included in the treaty, but Spain refused, though the war only languished in the Low Countries. 9. The Fronde, 1647. — France was far from peace at home. She was full of jarring elements, which had been kept down by Richelievi's mighty hand, but which could not fail to break forth under a successor who was not only hated, but despised, and only upheld by the queen. The struggle was begun by the Parliament of Paris, in 1647, before the war was over. It must be remembered that the French parliaments were not legislativeassemblies, but courts of justice. In the parliament of Paris the spiritual and lay peers of the original French dominion had a right to sit ; but the working members were lawyers, most of whom held their offices by purchased right of hereditary succession. The king's edicts became valid on their registry by the parliament. But the parliament itself could originate no laws, and it was an open question whether it could invalidate an edict by refusing to register it. Whenever there had been the shghtest opposition, the king had always overruled it by coming in person and demanding its registration, which was called holding a bed of justice. The point was at last brought to issue, for the three wars, together with the numerous court pensions, meant to keep the nobles quiet, led to constant calls for money. Tax followed tax, till, on the 15th of January, 1648, the parliament took the great step of refusing to register five newly-devised imposts. At the same time
