Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79. | | | | Meissen | | The Land Salique | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
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YET their own authors faithfully affirm | |
| That the land Salique is in Germany, | |
| Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe; | |
| Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons, | |
| There left behind and settled certain French; | 5 |
| Who, holding in disdain the German women | |
| For some dishonest manners of their life, | |
| Establish’d then this law,—to wit, no female | |
| Should be inheritrix in Salique land: | |
| Which Salique, as I said, ’twixt Elbe and Sala, | 10 |
| Is at this day in Germany call’d Meisen. | |
| Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law | |
| Was not devised by the realm of France; | |
| Nor did the French possess the Salique land | |
| Until four hundred one-and-twenty years | 15 |
| After defunction of King Pharamond, | |
| Idly suppos’d the founder of this law; | |
| Who died within the year of our redemption | |
| Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great | |
| Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French | 20 |
| Beyond the river Sala, in the year | |
| Eight hundred five. | | | | |
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