In fact, there was not left one vestige of kingly authority, and Carlovingian rulers were almost as insignificant as their Merovingian predecessors.

France had, instead of one great sovereign, one hundred and fifty petty ones! In A.D.911 the Northmen were offered the province henceforth known as Normandy, upon condition of their acceptance of the religion and submission to the laws of the realm.

Rollo, the disreputable robber-chief, took the oath of fealty to the King of France, his suzerain, and Christian baptism transformed him into respectable, law-abiding Robert, Duke of Normandy.
So, the enemy had become a vassal.

The pirate of the North Sea had taken his place among the Christian chivalry of Europe, as one of the twelve peers of France.

It was less than a century since the death of Charlemagne, and the office of king had grown almost as helpless as in the period of the _Rois Faineants_.