74. The 'Antrustiones, qui in truste Dominica sunt, leudi,
fideles', undoubtedly represent the first order of Franks;
but it is a question whether their rank was personal or
hereditary. The Abbe de Mably (tom. i. p. 334-347) is not
displeased to mortify the pride of birth (The Spirit of
Laws, l. xxx. c. 25) by dating the origin of French nobility
from the reign of Clotaire II (A.D. 615).