The Abbatial Crosier; or Bonaik and Septimine. A Tale of a Medieval Abbess

  Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book wasproduced from scanned images of public domain materialfrom the Google Print project.)

  THE ABBATIAL CROSIER

  THE FULL SERIES OF

  The Mysteries of the People

  OR

  History of a Proletarian Family

  Across the Ages

  By EUGENE SUE

  _Consisting of the Following Works_:

  THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_. THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_. THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustine and Syomara_. THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_. THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_. THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_. THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_. THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_. THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_. THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_. THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_. THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_. THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_. THE IRON TREVET; or _Jocelyn the Champion_. THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_. THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_. THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_. THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_. THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_.

  Published Uniform With This Volume By

  THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.

  28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY

  THE

  ABBATIAL CROSIER

  OR

  BONAIK AND SEPTIMINE

  A Tale of a Medieval Abbess

  By EUGENE SUE

  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY

  DANIEL DE LEON

  NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1908

  Copyright 1908, by the

  NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.

  INDEX

  TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE v

  PROLOGUE.

  CHAPTER.

  I. NARBONNE 3

  II. ABD-EL-KADER AND ROSEN-AER 6

  PART I--THE CONVENT OF ST. SATURNINE.

  I. THE LAST OF THE MEROVINGIANS 15

  II. CHARLES MARTEL 23

  III. FATHER CLEMENT'S REFECTORY 33

  IV. MORDECAI THE SLAVE-DEALER 40

  PART II--THE ABBEY OF MERIADEK.

  I. ELOI THE GOLDSMITH 47

  II. THE INTENDANT RICARIK 57

  III. THE ABBESS MEROFLEDE 62

  IV. IN SIGHT OF THE ABBEY 69

  V. ASYLUM 78

  VI. WARRIOR AND ABBESS 83

  VII. THE MOUSE-TRAP 89

  VIII. THE MIRACLE OF ST. LOUP'S TEETH 94

  IX. BRENN--KARNAK 102

  X. MISTRESS AND MAN 117

  XI. THE FLIGHT 122

  XII. MOTHER AND SON 129

  TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

  The turbulent epoch that rocked the cradle of the Carlovingian dynasty,the dynasty from which issued the colossal historic figure ofCharlemagne, is the epoch of this touching story--the eighth of theseries of Eugene Sue's historic novels known collectively under thetitle "_The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian FamilyAcross the Ages_." From the seething caldron of the valleys of thewestern Rhine, inundated by the Arabs from the south, the Frisians fromthe north, the Saxons from the west, and in which the chants of Moslems,of Christians and of barbarians mixed into the one common cry ofdesolating war, the feudal social system, previously introduced byClovis, and now threatened to be engulfed, emerged from the chaos as asocial institution. Many a characteristic of feudalism would be missedif this, a crucial period of its existence, is not properly apprehended.As in all the others of this series of Eugene Sue's stories, theinformation is imparted without the reader's knowledge. What may betermed the plot seizes and keeps the interest from start to finish,steadily enriching the mind with knowledge historically inestimable,besides connecting with the era described in the previous story--_TheBranding Needle; or, The Monastery of Charolles_--and preparing theground for the thrilling events that are the subject of the succeedingnarrative--_The Carlovingian Coins; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne_.

  DANIEL DE LEON.

  New York, 1904.

  PROLOGUE