Bishops, priests, and monks were, in their personal lives and in the councils of the Church, the first propagators of God's peace or truce, and in more than one locality they induced the laic lords to follow their lead.

In 1164, Hugh II., count of Rodez, in concert with his brother Hugh, bishop of Rodez, and the notables of the district, established the peace in the diocese of Rodez; "and this it is," said the learned Benedictines of the eighteenth century, in the Art of Verifying Dates, "which gave rise to the toll of _commune paix_ or _pesade,_ which is still collected in Rouergue." King Robert always showed himself favorable to this pacific work; and he is the first amongst the five kings of France, in other respects very different,--himself, St.Louis, Louis XII, Henry IV., and Louis XVI.,-- who were particularly distinguished for sympathetic kindness and anxiety for the popular welfare.

Robert had a kindly feeling for the weak and poor; not only did he protect them, on occasion, against the powerful, but he took pains to conceal their defaults, and, in his church and at his table, he suffered himself to be robbed without complaint, that he might not have to denounce and punish the robbers.

"Wherefore at his death," says his biographer Helgaud, "there were great mourning and intolerable grief; a countless number of widows and orphans sorrowed for the many benefits received from him; they did beat their breasts and went to and from his tomb, crying, 'Whilst Robert was king and ordered all, we lived in peace, we had nought to fear.

May the soul of that pious father, that father of the senate, that father of all good, be blest and saved! May it mount up and dwell forever with Jesus Christ, the King of kings!" [Illustration: Robert had a Kindly Feeling for the Weak and Poor----313] Though not so pious or so good as Robert, his son, Henry I., and his grandson, Philip I., were neither more energetic nor more glorious kings.
During their long reigns (the former from 1031 to 1060, and the latter from 1060 to 1108) no important and well-prosecuted design distinguished their government.