THE
EIGHTEEN CHRISTIAN CENTURIES.
BY
THE REV. JAMES WHITE,
AUTHOR OF A "HISTORY OF FRAxCE,"
fith a &P'Tious  Otxut
FROM THE SECOND EDINBURGH EDITION.
NEW  YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COM"PANY,
346 & 348 BROADWAY.
M DCCC LX.








NOTE BY THE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS.
THIS valuable work, which has been received with
much favour in Great Britain, is reprinted without
abridgment from the second Edinburgh edition. The
lists of names of remarkable persons in the present
issue have been somewhat enlarged, and additional
dates appended, thereby increasing the value of the
book.
3








CONTENTS.
FIRST CENTURY.
PAGX
THE BAD EMPERORS...................................  9
SECOND CENTURY.
THE GOOD EMPERORS.................................................    o. 41
THIRD CENTURY.
ANARCHY AND CONFUSION-GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 65
FOURTH CENTURY.
THE REMOVAL TO CONSTANTINOPLE-ESTABLISHMENT Of CHRIS-,
TIANITY-APOSTASY OF JULIAN-SETTLEMENT OF THE GOTHS... 83
FIFTH CENTURY.
END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE-FORMATION OF MODERN STATES —
GROWTH OF ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY............................. 105
SIXTH CENTURY.
BELISARIUS AND NARSES IN ITALY-SETTLEMENT OF THE LOMIBARDS-LAWS OF JUSTINIAN-BIRTH OF MOHAMMED............. 123
5




6                       CONTENTS.
SEVENTH CENTURY.
]PA6S
POWER OF ROME SUPPORTED BY THE MONKS-CONQUESTS OF TIIE
MOHAMMEDANS.....  1................................................. J 41
EIGHTH CENTURY.
TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES-THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 171
NINTH CENTURY.
DISMEMBERMENT OF CHARLEMAGNE'S' EMPIRE-DANISH INVASION
OF ENGLAND-WEAKNESS OF FRANCE -REIGN OF ALFRED...... 193
TENTH CENTURY.
DARKNESS AND DESPAIR............................................. 219
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
IHE COMMENCEMENT OF IMPROVEMENT-GREGORY THE SEVENTHFIRST  CRUSADE......................................................... 241
TWELFTH CENTURY.
ELEVATIOXN:OF LEARNING-POWER OF THE CHURCH-THOMAS
A-BECKETT/,.................................................................  er  e 269
THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
FIRST CRUSADE AGAINST HERETICS-THE ALBIGENSES-MAGNA
CHARTA-EDWARD I...................................................  297
FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
ABOLITION OF THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLARS-RISE OF MODERN
LITERATURES-SCHISM OF THE CHURCH............................. 325




CONTENTS.                             7
FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
PAGE
1)ECLINE OF FEUDALISM —AGINCOURT-JOAN OF ARC-THE PRINTING-PRESS-DISCOVERY OF AMERICA................8............... 359
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
TIIE REFORMATION-THE JESUITS —POLICY OF ELIZABETH...... 401
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
ENGLISH REBELLION AND REVOLUTION —DESPOTISMI OF LOUIS THE
FOURTEENTH............................................................ 447
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
INDIA-AMERICA-FRANCE............................................ 491
INDEX......2....................................................................  527








FIRST CENTURY.
A.D.
AUGUSTUS C"ESAR.
14.   TIBERIUS.
37.   CAIUS CALIGULA.
41.   CLAUDIUS.
54.   NERO. First Persecution of the Christians,
68.   GALBA.
69.   OTO. 
69.   VITELLIUS.
69.   VESPASIAN.
79.   TITUS.
81.   DoMITIAN. Second Persecution of the Christians.
96.   NERVA.
98.   TRAJAN.
auttorg.
LIvy, OVID, TIBULLUS, STRABO, COLUMELLA, QUINTUS CURTIUS,
SENECA, LUCAN, PETRONIUS, SILIUS ITALICUS, PLINY TRD ELDER,
MARTIAL, QUINCTILIAN, TACITUS.
B A iStitt.Msatter O   aS, ATriteU.
BARNABAS, CLEMENT OF ROME, HERMAS, IGNATIUS, POLYCARP.








THE
EIGHTEEN CHRISTIAN CENTURIES.
THE FIRST CENTURY.
THE BAD EMPERORS.
NOBODY disputes the usefulness of History. Many
prefer it, even for interest and amusement, to the best
novels and romances. But the extent of time over which
it has stretched its range is appalling to the most laborious of readers. And as History is growing every day,
and every nation is engaged in the manufacture of
memorable events, it is pitiable to contemplate the fate
of the historic student a hundred years hence. He is
not allowed to cut off at one end, in proportion as he increases at the other. He is not allowed to forget Marlborough, in consideration of his accurate acquaintance
with Wellington. His knowledge of the career of
Napoleon is no excuse for ignorance of Julius Caesar.
All must be retained-victories, defeats —battles, sieges
-knights in armour, soldiers in red; the charge at
Marathon, the struggle at Inkermann-all these things,
a thousand other things, at first apparently of no importance, but growing larger and larger as time develops
their effects, till men look back in wonder that the acorn
escaped their notice which has produced.such a majestic
11




12                FIRST CENTURY.
oak,-a thousand other things still, for a moment rising
in apparently irresistible power, and dying off apparently
without cause, must be folded up in niches of the memory,
ready to be brought forth when needed, and yet room be
left for the future. And who can pretend to be qualified
for so great a work? Most of us confess to rather dim
recollections of things occurring in our own time,-in
our own country-in our own parish; and some, contemplating the vast expanse of human history, its innumerable windings and perplexing variations, are inclined to give it up in despair, and have a sulky sort of
gratification in determining to know nothing, since they
cannot know all. All kings, they say, are pretty much
alike, and whether he is called John in England, or Louis
in France, doesn't make much difference. Nobles also
are as similar as possible, and peoples are everywhere
the same. Now, this, you see, though it ambitiously
pretends to be ignorance, is, in fact, something infinitely
worse. It is false knowledge. It might be very injurious
to liberty, to honour, and to religion itself, if this wretched
idea were to become common, for where would be the
inducement to noble endeavour? to reform of abuses?
to purity of life? Kings and nobles and-peoples are not
everywhere the same. They are not even like each
other, or like themselves in the same land at different
periods. They are in a perpetual series, not only of
change, but of contrast. They are "variable as the sea,"
-calm and turblulent, brilliant and dark by turns. And
it is this which gives us the only chance of attaining
clearness and distinctness in our historic views. It is by
dissimilarities that things are individualized: now, how
pleasant it would be if we could simplify and strengthen
our recollections of different times, by getting personal portraits, as it were, of the various centuries, so as
to escape the danger of confounding their dress or fea



CENTURIES DISTINGUISHED.            13
tures. It would be impossible in that case to mistake
the Spanish hat and feather of the sixteenth century for
the steel helmet and closed vizor of the fourteenth.  TWe
should be able, in the same way, to distinguilsh between
the modes of thought and principles of action of the
early ages, and those of the present time. We should
be able to point out anachronisms of feeling and manners
if they occurred in the course of our reading, as well as
of dress and language. It is surely worth while, therefore, to make an attempt to individuaIize the centuries,
not by affixing to them any arbitrary marks of one's
own, but by taking notice of the distinguishing quality
they possess, and grouping round that, as a centre, the
incidents which either produce this characteristic or are
produced by it. What should we call the present century, for instance?  We should at once name it the
Century of Invention. The great war with- Napoleon
ending in 1815, exciting so many passions, and calling
forth such energy, was but the natural introduction to
the wider efforts and amazing progress of the succeeding
forty years. Battles and bulletins, alliances and quarrels,
ceased, but the intellect aroused by the struggle dashed
into other channels. Commerce spread its humanizing
influences over hitherto closed and unexplored regions;
the steamboat and railway began their wondrous career.
The lightning was trained to be our courier in the electric
telegraph, and the sun took our likenesses in the da.guerreotype. How changed this century is in all its attributes and tendencies from its predecessor, let any man
judge for himself, who compares the reigns of our first
Hanoverian kings with that of our gracious queen.
In nothing, indeed, is the course of European history
so remarkable as in the immense differences which intervals of a few years introduce. In the old monarchies
of Asia, time and the world seem almost to stand still.




14                FIRST CENTURY.
The Indian, the Arab, the Chinese of a thousand years
ago, wore the same clothes, thought the same thoughts,
and led the same life as his successor of to-day. But
with us the whole character of a people is changed in a
lifetime. In a few  ears we are whirled out of all our associations. l Names perhaps remain unaltered, but the
inner life is different; modes of living, states of education, religious sentiments, great national events, foreign
wars, or deep internal struggles-all leave such ineffaceable marks on the history of certain periods, that their
influence can be traced through all the particulars of the
time. The art of printing can be followed, on its first
introduction, into the recesses of private life, as well as
in the intercourse of nations. The Reformation of religion so entirely altered the relations which the states
of the world bore to each other, that it may be said to
have put a limit between old history and new, so that
human character itself received a new development; and
actions, both public and private, were regulated by
principles hitherto unknown.
In one respect all the past centuries are alike,-that
they have done their part towards the formation of this.'We bear the impress, at this hour, of the great thoughts
and high aspirations, the struggles, and even the crimes,
of our ancestral ages; and yet they have no greater resemblance to the present, except in the unchangeable
characteristics of human nature itself, than the remotest
forefathers in a long line of ancestry, whose likenesses
hang in the galleries of our hereditary nobles, bear to the
existing owner of title and estate. The ancestor who
fought in the wars of the Roses has a very different expression and dress from the other ancestor who cheated
and lied (politically, of course) in the days of the early
Georges. Yet from both the present proprietor is descended. He retains the somewhat rusty armour on an




CENTURIES DISTINGUISHED.          ] 
ostentatious nail in the hall, and the somewhat insincere
memoirs in a secret drawer in the library,'and we cannot deny that he is the joint production of the courage
of the warrior and the duplicity of the statesman;
anxious to defend what he believes to be the right, like
the supporter of York or Lancaster-but trammelled
by the ties of party, like the patriot of Sir Robert Walpole.
If we could affix to each century as characteristic a
presentment as those portraits do of the steel-clad hero
of Towton, or the be-wigged, be-buckled courtier of
George the Second, our object would be gained. We
should see a whole history in a glance at a century's
face. If it were peculiarly marked by nature or accident,
so much the more easy would it be to recognise the likeness. If the centurywas a warlike, quarrelsome century,
and had scars across its brow; if it was a learned, plodding century, and wore spectacles on nose; if it was a
frivolous, gay century, and simpered forever behind
bouquets of flowers, or tripped on fantastic toe with a
jewelled rapier at its side, there would be no mistaking
the resemblance; there would also be no chance of confusing the actions: the legal century would not fight, the
dancing century would not depose its king.
Taking our stand at the beginning of our era, there
are only eighteen centuries with which we have to do,
and how easily any of us get acquainted with the features
and expression of eighteen of our friends! Not that we
know every particular of their birth and education, ol
can enter into the minute parts of their character and
feelings; but we soon know enough of them to distinguish
them from each other. We soon can say of which of the
eighteen such or such an action or opinion is characteristic. We shall not mistake the bold deed or eloquent
statement of one as proceeding from another.




16                  FIRST CENTURY,.       -'6Boastful and rough, your first son is a squire.
The next a tradesman, meek, and much a liar:
Tom struts a soldier, open, bold, and brave:
Will sneaks a scrivener, an exceeding knave.
Is he a churchman? then he's fond of power:
A Quaker? sly: a. Presbyterian? sour:
A smart free-thinker? all things in an hour."
Now, though it is impossible to put the characteristics
of a whole century into such terse and powerful language
as this, it cannot be doubted that each century, or considerable period, has its prevailing Thought,-a thought
which it works out in almost all the ramifications of its
course;- which it receives from its predecessor in a totally
different shape, and passes on to its successor in a still
more altered form. Else why do we find the faith of -one
generation the ridicule and laughing-stock of the next?
How  did knighthood: rise into the heroic regions of
chivalry, and then sink in a:succeeding period into the
domain of burlesque? fHow did aristocracy in one age
concentrate into kingship in another? And in a third,
how did the golden ring of sovereignty lose its controlling power, and republics take their rise?  How did
the reverence of Europe settle at -one time on the sword
of Edward the Third, and at another on the periwig of
Louis the Fourteenth?  These and similar inquiries
will lead us to the real principles and motive forces of a
particular age, as they distinguished it from other ages.
We shall label the centuries, as it were, with their
characteristic marks, and  know  where to  look  for
thoughts and incidents of a particular class and type.
Let us look at the first century.
Throughout the civilized world there is nothing but
Rome.  Under whatever form  of government —under
consuls, or triumvirs, or dictators-that wonderful city
was mistress of the globe. Hier internal dissensions had
not weakened her power.  While  her streets were




BIRTH OF CHRIST.               17
running with the blood of her citizens, her eagles were
flying triumphant in Farther Asia and on the Rhine.
Her old constitution had finally died off almost without
a blow, and unconsciously the people, still talking of
Cato and Brutus, became accustomed to the yoke. For
seven-and-twenty years they had seen all the power of
the state concentrated in one man; but the names of the
offices of which their ancestors had been so proud were
retained; and when Octavius, the nephew of the conqueror Julius Coesar, placed himself above the law, it was
only by uniting in his own person all the authority.
which the law had created. He was consul, tribune,
prentor, pontifex, imperator, —whatever denomination
conferred dignity and power; and by the legal exercise
of all these trusts he had no' rival and no check.' He
was finally presented by the senate with the lofty title
of Augustus, which henceforth had a mysterious significance as the seal of imperial greatness, and his commands
were obeyed without a murmur from the Tigris to the
Tyne. But whilst in the enjoyment of this pre-eminence,
the Roman emperor was unconscious that in a village
of Judea, in the lowest rank of life, among the most
contemned tribe of his dominions, his Master was
A.D 1. born. By this event the whole current of the
world's history was changed. The great became small
and the small great.; Rome itself ceased to be the capital
of the world, for men's eyes and hearts, when the wonderful story came to be known, were turned to Jerusalem. From her, commissioned emissaries were to proceed with greater powers than those of Roman prietors
or governors. From her gates went forth Peter and
John to preach the gospel. Down her steep streets rode
Paul and his companions, breathing anger against the
Church, and ere they reached Damascus, behold, the
eyes of the persecutor are blinded with lightning, and




18                FIRST CENTURY.
his understanding illuminated with the same flash; and
henceforth he proceeds, in lowliness and humility, to
convey to others the glad tidings that had been revealed
to himself.. Away in all directions, but all radiating
from Jerusalem, travelled the messengers of the amazing dispensation. Everywhere-in all centuries-in all
regions, we shall encounter the results of their ministry;
and as we watch the swelling of the mighty tide, first
of Christian faith and then of priestly ambition, which
overspread the fairest portions of the globe, we shall
wonder more and more at the apparent powerlessness
of its source, and at the vast effects for good and evil
which it has produced upon mankind.
What were they doing at Rome during the thirtythree years of our Saviour's sojourn upon earth? For
the first fourteen of them Augustus was gathering
round him the wits, and poets, and sages, who have
AD14. made his reign immortal. After that date his
successor, Tiberius, built up by stealthy and slow
degrees the most dreadful tyranny the world had ever
seen, -a tyranny the results of which lasted long after
the founders of it had expired. For from this period
mankind had nothing to hope but from the bounty of
the emperor. It is humiliating to reflect that the history of the world for so long a period consists of the
deeds and dispositions of the successive rulers of Rome.
All men, wherever their country, or whatever their
position, were dependent, in greater or less degree, for
their happiness or misery on the good or bad temper of
an individual man. If he was cruel, as so many of them
were, he filled the patricians of Rome with fear, and
terrified the distant inhabitants of Thrace or Gaul. His
benevolence, on the other hand, was felt at the extremities of the earth. N6 wonder that every one was on
the watch for the first glimpse of a new emperor's




POWER OF THE EMPEROR.              IV
character and disposition. What rejoicings in Italy and
Greece and Africa, and all through Europe, when a trait
of goodness was reported! and what a sinking of the
heart when the old story was renewed, and a monster
of cruelty succeeded to a monster of deceit! [For the
fearfullest thing in all the descriptions of Tiberius is the
duplicity of his behaviour.: He withdrew to an island in
the sunniest part of the Mediterranean, and covered it
with gorgeous buildings, and supplied it with all the implements of luxury and enjoyment. From this magnificent retirement he uttered a whisper, or made a motion
with his hand, which displaced an Eastern.monarch
from his throne, or doomed a senator to death. He was
never seen. He lived in the dreadful privacy of some
fabled deity, and was only felt at the farthest ends of
his empire by the unhappiness he occasioned; by his
murders, and imprisonments, and every species of suffering, men's hearts and minds were bowed down beneath
this invisible and irresistible oppressor.  Self-respect
was at an end, and liberty was not even wished for. The
emperor had swallowed up the empire, and there was no
authority or influence beside. This is the main feature
of the first or Imperial Century, that, wherever we
look, we see but one,-one gorged and bloated brutalized
man, sitting on the throne of earthly power, and all the
rest of mankind at -his feet. Humanity at its flower had
culminated into a Tiberius; and when at last he was
slain, and the world began to breathe, the sorrow was.D 37. speedily deeper than before, for it was found that
the Imperial tree had blossomed again, and that
its fruit was a Caligula.
This was a person with much the same taste for blood
as his predecessor, but he was more open in the gratification of this propensity. Hie did not wait for trial
and sentence,-those dim mockeries of justice in which




20                FIRST CENTURY.
Tiberius sometimes indulged. He had a peculiar way
of nodding with his head or pointing with his finger,
and the executioner knew the sign. The man he nodded
to died.  for the more distinguished of the citizens he
kept a box,-not of snuff, like some monarchs of the
present day, but of some strong and instantaneous
poison. Whoever refused a pinch died as a traitor, and
whoever took one died of the fatal drug. Even the
degenerate Romans could not endure this long, and
a.D41. Chereas, an officer of his guard, put him  to
death, after a sanguinary reign of four years.
Still the hideous catalogue goes on. Claudius, a
nephew of Tiberius, is forced upon the unwilling senate
by the spoilt soldiers of the capital, the Praetorian
Guards. Colder, duller, more brutal than the rest,
Claudius perhaps increased the misery of his country by
the apathy and stupidity of his mind. The other tyrants
had some limit to their wickedness, for they kept all the
powers of the State in their own hands, but this man
enlisted a countless host of favourites and courtiers in
his crusade against the happiness of mankind. Badly
eminent among these was his wife, the infamous Messalina, whose name has become a symbol of all that is detestable in the female sex. Some people, indeed, in
reading the history of this period, shut the book with a
shudder, and will not believe it true. They prefer to
think that authors of all lands'and positions have agreed
to paint a fancy picture of depravity and horror, than
that such things were. But the facts are too well
proved to be doubted. We see a dull, unimpassioned,
moody despot; fond of blood, but too indolent to shed it
himself, unless at the dictation of his fiendish partner
and her friends; so brutalized that nothing amazed'or
disturbed him; so unobservant that, relying on his
blindness, she went through the ostentatious ceremony




CLAUDIUS.                  21
of a public marriage with one of her paramours during
the lifetime, almost under the eyes, of her husband; and
yet to this frightful combination of ferocity and stupidity
England owes its subjection to the Roman power, and
all the blessings which Roman civilization-bringing as
it did the lessons of Christianity in its train-was calculated to bestow. In the forty-fourth year of this century, and the third year of the reign of Claudius, Aulus
Plautius landed in Britain at the head of a powerful
army; and the tide of Victory and Settlement never
subsided till the whole country, as far north as the Solway, submitted to the Eagles. The contrast between
the central power at Rome, and the officials employed
at a distance, continued for a long time the most remarkable circumstance in the history of the empire.
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, vied with each other in exciting the terror and destroying the happiness of the
world; but in the remote extremities of their command,
their generals displayed the courage and virtue of an
earlier age. They improved as well as conquered.
They made roads, and built bridges, and cut down
woods. They established military stations, which soon
became centres of education and law. They deepened
the Thames, and commenced those enormous embankments of the river, to which, in fact, London owes its
existence, without being aware of the labour they bestowed upon the work. If by some misfortune a great
fissure took place-as has occurred on a small scale
once before-in these artificial dikes, it would task the
greatest skill of modern engineers to repair the damage.
They superseded the blood-stained ceremonies of the
Druids with the more refined worship of the heathen
deities, making Claudius himself a tutelary god, with
priest and temple, in the town of Colchester; and this,
though in our eyes the deification of one of the worst




22                FIRST CENTURY.
of men, was, perhaps, in the estimation of our predeces_.
sors, only the visible embodiment of settled government
and beneficent power. But murder and treachery, and
unspeakable iniquity, went their way as usual in the
city of the Cmesars.  Messalina was put to death, and
another disgrace to womanhood, in the person of Agrippina, took her place beside the phlegmatic tyrant.
Thirteen years had passed, when the boundary of human
patience was attained, and  Rome was startled one
morning with the joyful news that her master was no
more. The combined cares of his loving spouse and a
favourite physician had produced this happy result,-the
one presenting him with a dish of deadly mushrooms,
AD. 54 and the other painting his throat for a hoarseness
with a poisoned feather.
Is there no hope for Rome or for mankind? Is there
to be -a perpetual succession of monster after monster,
with no cessation in the- dreadful line? It would be
pleasant to conceal for a minute or two the name of the
next emperor, that we might point to the glorious prospect now opening on the world. But the name has
become so descriptive that deception is impossible.
When the word Nero is said, little more is required.
But it was not so at first; a brilliant sunrise never had
so terrible a course, or so dark a setting. We still see
in the earlier statues which remain of him the fine out'
line of his face, and can fancy what its expression must
have been before the qualities of his heart had stamped
their indelible impression on his features. For the first
five years of his reign the world seemed lost as much in
surprise as in admiration. Some of his actions were
generous; none of them were cruel or revengeful. He
was young, and seemed anxious to fulfil the duties of his
position. But power and flattery had their usual effect.
All that was good in him was turned into -evil.: He




NERO.   -3
tortured the noblest of the citizens; and degraded the
throne to such a degree -by the expositions he made of
himself; sometimes as a musician on the stage, sometimes as a charioteer in the arena, that if there had
been any Romans left they would have despised the
tyrant more than they. feared him.. But there were no
Romans left. The senators, the knights, the populace,
vied with each other: in submission to his power and
encouragement of his vices. The rage of the monster,
once excited, knew; no bounds. He burned. the city in
the mere wantonness of crime, and fixed the blame on
the unoffending Christians. These, regardless of age or
condition or sex, he destroyed. by every means in his
power. lie threw young maidens into the amphitheatre,
where the hungry tigers leapt out upon them; he exposed the aged professors of the. gospel to. fight in
single combat with the trained murderers of the circus,
called the Gladiators; and once, in ferocious mockery
of human suffering, he enclosed whole Christian families
in a coating of pitch and other inflammable materials,
and, setting fire to the covering, pursued his sport all
night by the light of these living flambeaux. Some of
his actions it is impossible to name. It will be sufficient to say that at the end of thirteen years the purple
he disgraced was again reddened with blood. Terrified
at the opposition that at last rose against him-deserted, of course, by the confederates of his wickedness
-shrinking with unmanly cowardice from a defence
which might have put off the evil day, he fled and hid
himself from his pursuers. Agonized with fear, howling
with repentant horror, he was indebted to one of his
attendants for the blow which his own cowardly hand
could not administer, and he died the basest, lowest, and
most pitiless of all the emperors. And all those hopes
he had disappointed, and all those iniquities he had per



24               FIRST CENTURY.
petrated, at the age of thirty-two. He was the last of
the line of Csesar; and if that conqueror had foreseen
that in so few years after his death the Senate of
Rome would have been so debased, and the people of
Rome so brutalized, he would have pardened to Brutus
the precautionary blow which was intended to prevent
so great a calamity.
A.D. 68. Galba was elected to fill his place, and was murdered in a few months.
The degraded praetorians then elevated one of' the
companions of Nero's guilty excesses to the throne in
the person of Otho, but resistance was made to their
AD 69.selection.  The forces in Germany nominated
Vitellius to the supreme authority; and Otho,
either a voluptuary tired of life, or a craven incapable
of exertion, committed suicide to save the miseries of
civil war. But this calamity was averted by a nobler
hand. Vitellius had only time to show that, in addition
to the usual vices of the throne, he was addicted to the
animal enjoyments of eating and drinking to an almost
incredible degree, when he heard a voice from the walls
of Jerusalem which hurled him from the seat.he had so
lately taken; for the legions engaged in that most
memorable of sieges had decided on giving the empire
of the world to the man who deserved it best, and had
proclaimed their general, Flavius Vespasian, Imperator
and Master of Rome.
Now we will pause, for we have come to the year
A.D. 7o. seventy of this century, and a fit breathing-time
to look round us and see what condition mankind
has fallen into within a hundred years of the end of the
Republic. We leave out of view the great empires of
the farther East, where battles were won, and dynasties
established on the plains of Hindostan, and within the
Chinese Wall. The extent of our knowledge of Oriental




SAVAGE TRIBES.                 25
affairs is limited to the circumference of the Roman power.
Following that vast circle, we see it on all sides surrounded by tribes and nations who derive their sole illumination from its light, for unless the Roman conquests
had extended to the confines of those barbaric states, we
should have known nothing of their existence. Beyond
that ring of fire it is almost matter of conjecture what
must have been going on. Yet we learn from the traditions of many peoples, and can guess with some accuracy from the occurrences of a later period, what was
the condition of those " outsiders," and what were their
feelings and intentions with regard to the civilized portions of the world. - Bend your eyes in any direction you
please, and what names, what thoughts, suggest themselves to our minds! We see swarms of wild adventurers with wives and cattle traversing with no definite
object the uncultivated districts beyond the Danube;
occasionally pitching their tents, or even forming more
permanent establishments, around the roots of Caucasus
and north of the Caspian Sea, where grass was more
plentiful, and hills or marshes formed an easily defended
barrier against enemies as uncivilized as themselves.
Coming from no certain region-that is, forgetting in a
few years of wandering the precise point from which
they set out, pushed forward by the advancing waves of
great national migrations in their rear-moving onward
across the upper fields of Europe, but keeping themselves
still cautiously from actual contact with the Roman limits,
from those hordes of homeless, lawless savages are derived the most polished and greatest nations of the present day. Forming into newer combinations, and taking
different names, their identity is scarcely to be recognised
when, three or four centuries after this, they come
into the daylight of history; but nobody can doubt that,
during these preliminary ages, they were gathering their
2




26               FIRST CENTURY.
power together, hereafter, under the impulse of fresh
additions, to be hurled like a dammed-up river upon the
prostrate realm, carrying ruin and destruction in their
course, but no less certainly than the overflowing Nile
leaving the germs of future fertility, and enriching with
newer vegetation the fields they had so ruthlessly submerged. And year by year the mighty mass goes on
accumulating. The northern plains become peopled no
one knows how. The vast forests eastward of the Rhine
receive new accessions of warriors, who rapidly assimilate with the old. United in one common object of retaining the wild freedom of their tribe, and the possession of the lands they have seized, they have opposed
the advance of the Roman legions into the uncultivated
districts they call their own; they have even succeeded
in destroying the military forces which guarded the
Rhine, and have with difficulty been restrained from
crossing the great river by a strong line of forts and
castles, of which the remains astonish the traveller of
the present day, as, with Murray's Guide-Book in his
hand, he gazes upon their ruins between Bingen and
Aix-la-Chapelle.
Repelled by these barriers, they cluster thicker than
ever in the woods and valleys, to which the Romans
have no means of penetrating. Southern Gaul submits,
and becomes a civilized outpost of the central power;
but far up in the wild regions of the north, and even to
the eastward of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, the
assemblage goes on. Scandinavia itself becomes overcrowded by the perpetual arrival of thousands of these
armed and expatriated families, and sends her teeming
populations to the east and south. 3But all these incidents,
I must remind you, are occurring in darkness. We only
know that the desert is becoming peopled with crowded
millions, and that among them all there floats a confused




VESPASIAN.                  27
notion of the greatness of the Roman power, the wealth
of the cities and plains of Italy; and that, clustering in
thicker swarms on the confines of civil government, the
watchful eyes of unnumbered savage warriors are fixed
on the territories lying rich and beautiful within the
protection of the Roman name. So the whole Roman
boundary gets gradually surrounded by barbaric hosts.
Their trampings may be heard as they marshal their
myriads and skirt the upper boundaries of Thrace; but
as yet no actual conflict has occurred. A commotion
may become observable among some of the farthest distant of' the half intimidated of the German tribes; or
an enterprising Roman settler beyond the frontier, or
travelling merchant, who has penetrated to the neighbourhood of the Baltic, may bring back amazing reports
of the fresh accumulations.of unknown hordes of strange
and threatening aspect; but the luxurious public in
Rome receive them merely as interesting anecdotes to
amuse their leisure or gratify their curiosity: they have
no apprehension of what may be the result of those multitudinous arrivals. They do not foresee the gradual
drawing closer to their outward defences-the struggle
to get within their guarded lines-the fight that is surely
coming between a sated, dull, degraded civilization on
the one side, and a hungry, bold, ambitious savagery on
the other. They trust every thing to the dignity of the
Eternal City, and the watchfulness of the Emperor: for
to this, his one idea of irresistible power equally for
good or evil, the heart of the Roman was sure to turn.
And for the eleven years of the reigns of Vespasian and
Titus, the Roman did not appeal for protection against
a foreign enemy in vain. Rome itself was compensated;by shows and buildings-'with a triumph and an archfor the degradation in which it was held. But praetor
and proconsul still pursued their course of oppressing




28               FIRST CENTURY.
the lands committed to their defence; and the subject,
stripped of his goods, and hopeless of getting his wrongs
redressed, had only the satisfaction of feeling that the
sword he trembled at was in the hand of a man and not
of an incarnate demon. A poor consolation this when
the blow was equally fatal. Vespasian, in fact, was
fonder of money than of blood, and the empire rejoiced
in having exchanged the agony of being murdered
AD. 9 for the luxury of being fleeced. With Titus, whom
the fond gratitude of' his subjects named the Delight of
the human race, a new age of happiness was about to
open on the world; but all the old horrors of the Caesars
were revived and magnified when he was succeeded,
after a reign of two years, by his brother, the
a.D. 81.
savage and cowardly Domitian. With the exception of the brief period between the years 70 and 81, the
whole century was spent in suffering and inflicting pain.
The worst excesses of' Nero and Caligula were now
imitated and surpassed. The bonds of society became
rapidly loosened. As in a shipwreck, the law of selfpreservation was the only rule. No man could rely
upon his neighbour, or his friend, or his nearest of kin.
There were spies in every house, and an executioner at
every door. An unconsidered word maliciously reported,
or an accusation entirely false, brought death to the rich
and great. To the unhappy class of men who in other
times are called the favourites of fortune, because they
are born to the possession of great ancestral names and
hereditary estates, there was no escape from the jealous
and avaricious hatred of the Emperor. If a patrician
of this description lived in the splendour befitting his rank
-he was currying favour with the mob! If he lived retired-he was trying to gain reputation by a pretence of
giving up the world! If he had great talents-he was
dangerous to the state! If he was dull and stupid —oh!




ITS DREADFUL CHARACTER.             29
don't believe it-he was only an imitative Brutus, con..
cealing his deep designs under the semblance of fatuity!
If a man of distinguished birth was rich, it was not a
fitting condition for a subject-if he was poor, he was
likely to be seduced into the wildest enterprises. So
the prisons were filled by calumny and suspicion, and
emptied by the executioner. A dreadful century thisthe worst that ever entered into tale or history; for the
memory of former glories and comparative freedom was
still recent. A man who was sixty years old, in the
midst of the,terrors of Tiberius, had associated in his
youth with the survivors of the Civil War, with men
who had embraced Brutus and Cassius; he had seen the
mild administration of Augustus, and perhaps had supped
with Virgil and Horace in the house of MIMecenas. And
now he was tortured till he named a slave or freedman
of the Emperor his heir, and then executed to expedite
the succession. There was a hideous jocularity in some
of these imperial proceedings, which, however, was no
laughing-matter at the time. When a senator was very
wealthy, it was no unusual thing for Tiberius and his
successors to create themselves the rich man's nearest
relations by a decree of the Senate. The person so
honoured by this graft upon his family tree seldom survived the operation many days. The emperor took
possession of the property as heir-at-law and next of
kin; and mourned for his uncle or brother-as the case
might be-with the most edifying decorum.
But besides giving the general likeness of a period, it
is necessary to individualize it still further by introducing,
in the background of the picture, some incident by which
it is peculiarly known, as we find Nelson generally represented with Trafalgar going on at the horizon; and Wellington sitting thoughtful on horseback in the foreground
of the fire of Waterloo.: Now, there cannot be a more




30               FIRST CENTURY.
distinguishing mark than a certain great military achieve.
ment which happened in the year 70 of this century, and
is brought home to us, not only as a great historical event
in itself, but as the commencement of a new era in human
affairs, and the completion of a long line of threats and
prophecies. This was the capture and destruction of
Jerusalem. The accounts given us of this siege transcend in horror all other records of human sorrow. It
was at the great annual feast of the Passover, when Jews
from all parts of the world flocked to the capital of their
nation to worship in the Temple, which to them was the
earthly dwelling-place of Jehovah. The time was come,
and they did not know it, when God was to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. More than a million
strangers were resident within the walls. There was no
room in house or hall for so vast a multitude; so they
bivouacked in the streets, and lay thick as leaves in the
courts of the holy place. Suddenly the Roman trumpets
blew. The Jews became inspired with fanatical hatred
of the enemy, and insane confidence that some miracle
would be wrought for their deliverence. They deliberated, and chose for their leaders the wildest and most
enthusiastic of the crowd. They refused the offers of
mercy and reconciliation made to them by Titus. They
sent back insulting messages to the Roman general, and
stood expectant on the walls to see the idolatrous legions
smitten by lightning or swallowed up by an earthquake.
But Titus advanced his forces and hemmed in the countless multitude of men, and women, and children-few
able to resist, but all requiring to be fed. Famine and
pestilence came on; but still the mad fanatics of the
Temple determined to persevere. They occasionally
opened d gate and rushed out with the cry of " The
sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" and were slaughtered
by the unpitying hatred of the Roman soldiers. Their




THE SIEGE.                   31
cruelty to their prisoners, when they succeeded in carrying off a few of their enemies, was great; but the patience of Titus at last gave way, and he soon bettered the
instruction they gave him in pitilessness and blood. He
drew a line of circumvallation closer round the city, and
intercepted every supply; when deserters came over, he
crucified them all round the trenches; when the wornout people came forth, imploring to be suffered to pass
through his ranks, he drove them back, that they might
increase the scarcity by their lives, or the pestilence by
adding to the heaps of unburied dead. Dissensions were
raging all -this time among the defenders themselves.
They fought in the streets, in the houses, and heaped
the floor and outcourts of the Temple with thousands of
the slain. There was no help either from heaven or
earth; eleven hundred thousand people had died of
plague and the sword; and the rest were doomed to
perish by more lingering torments. Nearest relations —
sisters, brothers, fathers, wives-all forgot the ties of
natural affection under this great necessity, and fought
for a handful of meal, or the possession of some reptile's
body if they were lucky enough to trace it to its hidingplace; and at last-the crown of all horrors-the
daughter of Eleazer killed her own child and converted
it into food. The measure of man's wrong and Heaven's
vengeance was now full. The daily sacrifice ceased to be
offered; voices were audible to the popular ear uttering
in the Holy of Holies, "Let us go hence."  The Romans
rushed on-climbed over the neglected walls-forced
their way into the upper Temple, and -the gore flowed
in streams so rapid and so deep that it seemed like a
purple river! Large conduits had been made for the
rapid conveyance away of the blood of bulls and goats
offered in sacrifice; they all became choked now with
the blood of the slaughtered people. At last the city




32               FIRST CENTURY.
was taken; the inhabitants were either dead or dying.
Many were crushed as they lay expiring in the great
tramplings of the triumphant Romans; many were recovered by food and shelter, and sold into slavery. The
Temple and walls were levelled with the ground, and
not one stone was left upon another. The plough passed
over where palace and tower had been, and the Jewish
dispensation was brought to a close.
History in ancient days was as exclusive as the court
newsman in ours, and never published the movements
of anybody below a senator or a consul. All the Browns
and Smiths were left out of consideration; and yet to
us who live in the days when those families-with the
Joneses and Robinsons-form the great majority both
in number and influence, it would be very interesting to
have any certain intelligence of their predecessors during
the first furies of the Empire. We have but faint descriptions even of the aristocracy, but what we hear of
them shows, more clearly than any thing else, the frightful effect on morals and manliness of so uncontrolled a
power as was vested in the Coesars, and teaches us that
the worst of despotisms is that which is established by
the unholy union of the dregs of the population and
the ruling power, against the peace and happiness and
security of the middle class. You see how this combination of tyrant and mob succeeded in crushing all the
layers of society which lay between them, till there were
left only two agencies in all the world-the Emperor on
his throne, and the millions fed by his bounty. The
hereditary nobility-the safest bulwark of a people and
least dangerous support of a throne-were extirpated
before the end of the century, and impartiality makes
us confess that they fell by their own fault: As if the
restraints of shame had been thrown off with the last
hope of liberty, the whole population broke forth into




STATE OF ROME.                33
the most incredible licentiousness. If the luxury of
Lucullus had offended the common sense of propriety
in the later days of the republic, there were numbers
now who looked back upon his feasts as paltry entertainments, and on the wealth of Crcesus as poverty.
The last of the Pompeys, in the time of Caligula, had
estates so vast, that navigable rivers larger than the
Thames performed the whole of their course from their
fountain-head to the sea without leaving his domain.
There were spendthrifts in the time of Tiberius who
lavished thousands of pounds upon a supper. The pillage of the world had fallen into the hands of a few
favoured families, and their example had introduced a
prodigality and ostentation unheard of before. No one
who regarded appearances travelled anywhere without
a troop of Numidian horsemen, and outriders to clear
the way. He was followed by a train of mules and
sumpter-horses loaded with his vases of crystal-his
richly-carved cups and dishes of silver and gold. But
this profusion had its natural result in debt and degradation. The patricians who had been rivals of the
imperial splendour became dependants on the imperial
gifts; and the grandson of the conqueror of a kingdom,
or the proconsul of the half of Asia, sold his ancestral
palace, lived for a while on the contemptuous bounty of
his master, and sank in the next generation into the
nameless mass. Others, more skilful, preserved or
improved their fortunes while they rioted in expense.
By threats or promises, they prevailed on the less
powerful to constitute them their heirs; they traded.
on the strength, or talents, or the beauty of their
slaves, and lent money at such usurious interest that
the borrower tried in vain to escape the shackles of
the law, and ended by becoming the bondsman of
C




34               FIRST CENTURY.
the kind-hearted gentleman who had induced him to
accept the loan.
If these were the habits of the rich, how were the
poor treated?'The free and penniless citizens of the
capital were degraded and gratified at the same time.
The wealthy vied with each other in buying the favour
of the mob by shows and other entertainments, by gifts
of money and donations of. food. But when these arts
failed, and popularity could no longer be obtained by
merely defraying the expense of a combat of gladiators,
the descendants of the old patricians-of the men who
had bought the land on which the Gauls were encamped outside the gates of Rome-went down into the
arena themselves and fought for the public entertainment. Laws. indeed were passed even in the reign of
Tiberius, and renewed at intervals after that time,
against this shameful degradation, and the stage was
interdicted to all who were not previously declared infamous by sentence of a court. But all was in vain.
Ladies of the highest rank, and the loftiest-born of the
nobility, actually petitioned for a decree of defamation,
that they might give themselves up undisturbed to their
favourito amusement. This perhaps added a zest to
their enjoyment, and rapturous applauses must have
hailed the entrance of the beautiful grandchild of
Anthony or Agrippa, in the character and drapery of a
warlike amazon-the louder the applause and greater
the admiration. Yet in order to gratify them with such
a sight, she had descended to the level of the convict,
and received the brand of qualifying disgrace from a
legal tribunal. But the faint barrier of this useless prohibition was thrown down by the policy and example
of Domitian. The emperor himself appeared in the
arena, and all restraint was at an end. Rather, there
wvas a fury of emulation to copy so great a model, and




TREATMENT OF SLAVES.              35
"Rome's proud dames, whose garments swept the
ground," forgot more than ever their rank and sex, and
were proud, like their lovers and brothers, not merely
to mount the stage in the lascivious costume of nymph
or dryad, but to descend into the blood-stained lists of
the Coliseum and murder each other with sword and
spear. There is something strangely horrible in this
transaction, when we read that it occurred for the first
time in celebration of the games of Flora-the goddess
of flowers and gardens, who, in old times, was worshipped under the blossomed apple-trees in the little
orchards surrounding each cottage within the walls,
and was propitiated with children's games and chaplets
hung upon the boughs. But now the loveliest of the
noble daughters of the city lay dead upon the trampled
sand. What was the effect upon the populace of these
extraordinary shows?
Always stern and cruel, the Roman was now never
satisfied unless with the spectacle of death. Sometimes
in the midst of a play or pantomime the fierce lust of
blood would seize him, and he would cry out for a
combat of gladiators or nobles, who instantly obeyed;
and after the fight was over, and the corpses removed,
the play would go on as if nothing had occurred. The
banners of the empire still continued to bear the initial
letters of the great words-the Senate and people of
Rome. We have now, in this rapid survey, seen what
both those great names have come to-the Senate crawling at the feet of the emperor, and the people living on
charity and shows. The slaves fared worst of all, for
they were despised by rich and poor. The sated voluptuary whose property they were sometimes found an
excitement to his jaded spirits by having them tortured
in his sight. They were allowed to die of starvation
when they grew old, unless they were turned to use, as




36                FIRST CENTURY.
was done by one of their possessors, Vidius Pollio, who
cast the fattest of his domestics into his fish-pond to feed
his lampreys. The only other classes were the actors
and musicians, the dwarfs and the philosophers. They
contributed by their wit, or their uncouth shape, or their
oracular sentences, to the amusement of their employers,
and were safe. They were licensed characters, and could
say what they chose, protected by the long-drawn countenance of the stoic, or the comic grimaces of the buffoon.
So early as the time of Nero, the people he tyrannized
and flattered were not less ruthless than himself. In
his cruelty-rin his vanity-in his frivolity, and his
entire devotion to the gratification of his passions-he
was a true representative of the men over whom he
ruled. Emperor and subject had even then become
fitted for each other, and flowers, we are credibly told
by the historians, were hung for many years upon his
tomb.
Humanity itself seemed to be sunk beyond the possibility of restoration; but we see now how necessary it
was that our nature should reach its lowest point of
depression to give full force to the great reaction which
Christianity introduced. Men were slavishly bending
at the footstool of a despot, trembling for life, bowed
down by fear and misery, when suddenly it was reported that a great teacher had appeared for a while
upon earth, and declared that all men were equal in the
sight of God, for that God was the Father of all. The
slave heard this in the intervals of his torture-the captive in his dungeon-the widow and the orphan. To
the poor the gospel, or good news, was preached. It
was this which made the trembling courtiers of the
worst of the emperors slip out noiselessly from the
palace, and hear from Paul of Tarsus or his disciples
the new prospect that was opening on mankind. It




TREATMENT OF SLAVES.             37
spread quickly among those oppressed and hopeless
multitudes. The subjection of the Roman empire-its
misery and degradation-were only a means to an end.
The harsher the laws of the tyrant, the more gracious
seemed the words of Christ. The two masters were
plainly set before them, which to choose. And who
could hesitate?  One said, "Tremble! suffer! die!"
The other said, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary
and heavy laden, and I will give you rest!"








SECOND CENTURY.
A.D,
TRAJAN-(conSinuUeC.) Third Persecution of the Christians.
117.   ADRIAN. Fourth Persecution of the Christians.
138.   ANTONINUS PIUS.
161.   MARCUS AURELIUS.
180.  CoMMODUS.
193.   PERTINAX-DIDIUS, and NIGER — Defeated by
193.   SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS.
PLINY THE YOUNGER, PLUTARCH, SUETONIUS, JUVENAL, ARRIAN,
]l LIAN, PTOLEMY, (Geographer,) APPIAN, EPICTETUS, PAUSANIAS,
GALEN, (Physician,) ATHENNEUS, TERTULLIAN, JUSTIN MARTYR,
TATIAN, IRENmEUS, ATHENAGORAS, THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH, CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, MARCION, (Heretic.)








THE SECOND CENTURY.
THE GOOD' EMPERORS.
IN looking at the second century, we see a total difference in the expression, though the main features continue unchanged. There is still the central power at
Rome, the same dependence everywhere else; but the
central power is beneficent and wise. As if tired of the
hereditary rule of succession which had ended in such a
monster as Domitian, the world took refuge in a new
system of appointing its chiefs, and perhaps thought it
a recommendation of each successive emperor that he
had no relationship to the last. We shall accordingly
find that, after this period, the hereditary principle is
excluded. It was remarked that, of the twelve first
C.esars, only two had died a natural death-for even in
the case of Augustus the arts of the poisoner were suspected-and those two were Vespasian and Titus, men
who had' no claim to such an elevation in right of lofty
birth. Birth, indeed, had ceased to be a recommendation.
All the great names of the Republic had been carefully
rooted out. Few people were inclined to boast of their
ancestry when the proof of their pedigree acted as a sentence of death; for there was no surer passport to destruction in the times of the early emperors than a connection
with the Julian line, or descent fromn a historic family.
No one, therefore, took the trouble to inquire into the.D. 96. genealogy of Nerva, the old and generous man
who succeeded the monster Domitian. His nomination to the empire elevated him at once out of the




42               SECOND CENTURY.
sphere of these inquiries, for already the same supersti.
tious reverence surrounded the name of Augustus
which spreads its inviolable sanctity on the throne of
Eastern monarchs. Whoever sits upon that, by wvhatever title, or however acquired, is the legitimate and
unquestioned king. No rival, therefore, started up to
contest the position either of Nerva himself, or of the
stranger he nominated to succeed him. BMen bent in
humble acquiescence when they knew, in the third year
o02 of this century, that their master was named. 102. Trajan, —that he was a Spaniard by birth, and
the best general of Rome. For eighty years after that
date the empire had rest. Life and property were comparatively secure, and society flowed on peaceably in
deep and well-ascertained channels. A man might have
been born at the end of the reign of Domitian,. and die
in extreme old age under the sway of the last of the
Antonines, and never have known of insecurity or oppression
"Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Could touch him farther!"
No wonder those agreeable years were considered by
the fond gratitude of the time, and the unavailing regrets of succeeding generations, the golden age of man.
Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus-these. are still great names, and are everywhere recognised as the most wonderful succession of
sovereigns the world has ever seen. They are still called
the "Good Emperors," the " Wise Rulers."
It is easy, indeed, to be good in comparison with Nero,
and wise in comparison with Claudius; but the effect
of the example of those infamous tyrants made it
doubly difficult to be either good or wise. The world
had become so accustomed to oppression, that it seemed
at first surprised at the change that had taken place.




HAPPINESS OF TIlE WORLD.            43
The emperors had to create a knowledge of justice before their just acts could be appreciated. The same
opposition other men have experienced in introducing
bad and cruel measures was roused by their introduction of wise and salutary laws. What! no more summary executions, nor forfeitures of fortunes, nor banishments to the Danube? All men equal before the dread
tribunal of the imperial judge? The world was surely
coming to an end, if the emperor did not now and then
poison a senator, or stab his brother, or throw half a
dozen courtiers to the beasts! It is likely enough that
some of the younger Romans at first lamented those
days of unlimited license and perpetual excitement;
but in the course of time those wilder spirits must have
died out, and the world gladly acquiesced in an existence of dull security and uninteresting peace. By the
end of the reign of Trajan the records of the miseries
of the last century must have been studied as curiosities
-as historical students now look back on the extravagances and horrors of the French Revolution. Fortunately, men could not look forward to the times, more pitiable still, when their descendants should fall into greater
sorrows than had been inflicted on mankind by the
worst of the Caesars, and they enjoyed their present
immunity from suffering without any. misgivings about
the future. But a government which does everything
for a people renders it unable to do any thing for itself.
The subject stood quietly by while the emperor filled all
the offices of the State-guarded him, fed him, clothed
him, treated him like a child, and reduced him at last
to childlike dependence. An unjust proconsul, instead
of being supported and encouraged in his exactions, was
dismissed from his employment and forced. to refund
his ill-got gains,-the population, relieved from their
oppressor, saw in his punishment the hand of an aveng



44              SECOND CENTURY.
ing Providence. The wakeful eye of the governor in
Rome saw the hostile preparations of a tribe of barbarians beyond the Danube; and the legions, crossing
the river, dispersed and subdued them before they had
time to devastate the Roman fields. The peaceful
colonist saw, in the suddenness of his deliverance, the
foresight and benevolence of a divinity. [No words were
powerful enough to convey the sentiments of admiration
awakened, by such vigour and goodness, in the breast
of a luxurious and effeminate people; and accordingly,
if we look a little closely into the personal attributes of
the five good emperors, we shall see that some part of
their glory is due to the exaggerations of love and gratitude.
Nerva reigned but sixteen months, and had no time
to do more than display his kindness of disposition, and
to name his successor. This was Trajan, a man who
was not even a Roman by birth, but who was thought
by his patron to have retained, in the distant province
of Spain where he was born, the virtueswhich had disappeared in the centre and capital of the empire. The
deficiency of Nerva's character had been its softness
and want of force. The stern yigilance of Trajan made
ample amends. He was the best-known soldier of his
time, and revived once more the terror of the Roman
arms. He conquered wherever he appeared; but his
warlike impetuosity led him too far. He trod in the
footsteps of Alexander the Great, and advanced farther
eastward than any of the Roman armies had previously.done. ZBut his victories were fruitless: he attached no
n:ew country permanently to the empire, and derives all
his glory now from the excellence of his internal administration. He began his government by declaring himself as subordinate to the laws as the meanest of the
people. His wife, Pompeia Plotina, was worthy of such




TRAJAN.                   46
a husband, and said, on mounting the. steps of the
palace, that she should descend them unaltered from
what she was. The emperor visited his friends on
terms of equality, and had the greatness of mind, generally deficient in absolute princes, to bestow his confidence on those who deserved it. Somebody, a member
perhaps of the old police who had made such fortunes
in the time of Domitian by alarming the tyrant with
stories of plots and assassinations, told Trajan one day
to beware of his minister, who intended to murder him
on the first opportunity. "Come again, and tell me
all particulars to-morrow," said the emperor. In the
mean time he went unbidden and supped with the
accused. Hie was shaved by his barber-was attended
for a mock illness by his surgeon-bathed in his bathand ate his meat and drank his wine. On the following
day the informer came. "Ah i" said Trajan, interrupting him in his accusation of Surenus, "if Surenus had
wished to kill me, he would have done it last night."
The emperor died when returning from a distant expeA.D. 11. dition in the East, and Pompeia declared that he
had long designatedAdrian as his successor. This
evidence was believed, and Adrian, also a Spaniard by
birth, and eminent as a military commander, began his
reign. Trajan had been a general-a conqueror; and
had extended for a time the boundaries of the Roman
power. But Adrian believed the empire was large
enough already. Hie withdrew the eagles from the halfsubdued provinces, and contented himself with the
natural limits which it was easy to defend. But within
those limits his activity was unexampled. Hie journeyed
from end to end of his immense domain, and for seventeen years never rested in one spot. News did not
travel east in those days-but the emperor did. Long
befar. the inhabitants of Syria and Egypt heard that




46              SECOND CENTURY.
he had left Rome on an expedition to Britain, he had
rushed through Gaul, crossed the Channel, inquired into
thi proceedings of the government officers at York,
given orders for a wall to keep out the Caledonians, (an
attempt which has proved utterly vain at all periods of
English history, down to the present day,) and suddenly
made his appearance among the bewildered dwellers in
Ephesus or Carthage, to call tax-gatherers to order and
to inspect the discipline of his troops. The master's
eye was everywhere, for nobody knew on what point it
was fixed. And such a master no kingdom has been
able to boast of since. His talents were universal. He
read every thing and forgot nothing. He was a musician, a poet, a philosopher. He studied medicine and
mineralogy, and plead causes like Cicero, and sang
like a singer at the opera. Perhaps it is difficult to
judge impartially of the qualities of a Roman emperor.
One day he found fault on a point of grammar with a
learned man of the name of Favorinus. Favorinus
could have defended himself and justified his language,
but continued silent. His friends said to him, "'Why
didn't you answer the emperor's objections?" "Do you
think," said the sensible grammarian, "I am going to
enter into disputes with a man who commands thirty
legions?" But the greatness of Adrian's character is,
that he did command those thirty legions. He was
severe and just; and Roman discipline was never more
exact. The result of this was shown on the grand scale
only once during this reign, and that was in the case of
the revolted Jews. We have seen the state to which
their Temple at Jerusalem was reduced by Titus. Fifty
years had now passed, and the passionate love of the
people for their native land had congregated them once
more within their renovated walls, and raised up another
temple on the site of the old. They still expected the




ADRIAN.                   47
Messiah, for the Messiah to them represented vengeance
upon the Romans and triumph over the world. An impostor of the name of Barcho-chebas led three hundred
thousand of them into the field. They were mad with
national hatred, and inspired with fanatical hope. It
took three years of desperate effort to quell this sedition; and then Adrian had his revenge. The country
was laid waste. Fifty towns and a thousand villages
were sacked and burned. The population, once more
nearly exhausted by war and famine, furnished slaves,
which were sold all over the East. Jerusalem itself felt
the conqueror's hatred most. Its name was blotted out
-it was called 2Elia Capitolina; and, with ferocious
mockery, over the gate of the new capital of Judea was
affixed the statue of the unclean beast, the abomination
of the Israelite. But nothing could keep the Jews from
visiting the land of so many promises and so much glory.
Whenever they had it in their power, they crept back
from all quarters, if it were only to weep and die amid
the ruins of their former power.
Trajan and Adyian had now made the world accustomed to justice in its rulers; and as far as regards their
public conduct, this character is not to be denied. Yet
in their private relations they were not so faultless.
Trajan the great and good was a drunkard. To such a
pitch did he carry this vice, that he gave orders that
after a certain hour of the day none of his commands
were to be obeyed. Adrian was worse: he was regardless of life; he put men to death for very small offences.
An architect was asked how he liked a certain series of
statues designed by the emperor and ranged in a sitting
attitude round a temple which he had built. The architect was a humourist, not a courtier. "If the goddesses," he said, "take it into their heads to rise, they
will never be able to get out at the door."  A poor




48                  SECOND CENTURY.
criticism, and not a good piece of wit, but not bad
enough to justify;his being beheaded; yet the answer
cost the poor man his life.  As Adrian grew olderj he
grew more reckless of the pain he gave. He had a
brother-in-law  ninety years of age, and there was a
grandson of the old man aged eighteen. He had them
both executed on proof or suspicion of a conspiracy.
The popular feeling was revolted by the sight of the
mingled blood of two sufferers so nearly related, at the
opposite extremities of life. The old man, just before
he died, protested his innocence, and uttered a revengeful prayer that Adrian- might wish to die and find death
impossible!  This imprecation was fulfilled.  The emperor was tortured with disease, and longed for deliverance in vain. He called round him his physicians, and
priests, and sorcerers, but they could give him no relief.
He begged his slaves to kill him, and stabbed himself
with a dagger; but in spite of all he could not die.
Lingering on, and with no cessation of his pain, he
must have had sad thoughts of the past, and no pleasant
anticipations of the future, if, as we learn from the verses
attributed to him, he believed in a future state. His lines
still remain, but are indebted to Pope, who paraphrased
them, for their Christian spirit and lofty aspiration:"Vital spark of heavenly flame!
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame!
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!
"Hark! they whisper! angels say,
Sister spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite,
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?




ANTONINUS.                    49
"The world recedes; it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
0 Death! where is thy sting?"
flis wish was at last achieved. He died aged sixtytwo, having reigned twenty-one years. In travelling
and building his whole time was spent. Temples, theatres,
bridges-wherever he went, these evidences of his wisdom
or magnificence remained. He persecuted the Christians,
but found persecution a useless proceeding against a sect
who gloried in martyrdom, and whose martyrdoms were
only followed by new conversions. He tried what an
opposite course of conduct would do, and is said to have
intended to erect a temple to Jesus Christ. "Take care
what you do," said one of his counsellors: "if you
permit an altar to the God of the Christians, those of
the other gods will be- deserted."
Butnow came to supreme authority the good and
wise Antoninus Pins, who was as blameless in
A.D. 138.
his private conduct-as-in his public acts. His
fame extended farther than the IRoman arms had ever
reached. Distant lkings, in lands of which the names
were scarcely-known in the Forum, took him as arbiter
of their differences. The decision of the great man in
Rome gave peace on the banks of the Indus. The barbarians themselves on the outskirts of his dominions
were restrained by respect for a character. so pure and
power so wisely used. An occasional revolt in Britain
was quelled by his lieutenants-an occasional conspiracy
against his authority was caused by the discontent
which turbulent spirits feel when  restrained by law.
The conspiracies were repressed, and on one occasion
two of the ringleaders were put to death. The Senate
was for making further inquiry into the plot. "Let us
3




50              SECOND CENTURY.
stop here," said the emperor. "I do not wish to find
out how many people I have displeased."  Some stories
are told of him, which show how little he affected the
state of a despotic ruler. A pedantic philosopher at
Smyrna, of the name of Polemo, returned from a
journey at a late hour, and found the proconsul of
Rome lodged in his house. This proconsul was Antonine, who at that time had been appointed to the office
by Adrian. Instead of being honoured by such a guest,
the philosopher stormed and raged, and made so much
noise, that in the middle of the night the sleepless proconsul left the house and found quarters elsewhere.
When years passed on, and Antonine was on the throne,
Polemo had the audacity to present himself as an old
acquaintance. "Ha! I remember him," said the emperor: "let him have a room in the palace, but don't let
him leave it night or day." The imprisonment was not
long, for we find the same Polemo hero of another anecdote during this visit to Rome. He hissed a performer in
the theatre, and stamped and screeched, and made such
a disturbance that the unfortunate actor had to leave
the stage. He complained of Polemo to the emperor.
"Polemo!" exclaimed Antonine; "he forced you off the
stage in the middle of the day, but he drove me from his
house in the middle of the night, and yet I never appealed." It would be pleasant if we could learn that
Polemo did not get off so easily. [But the twenty-two
years of this reign of mildness and probity were brought
to a close, and Marcus Aurelius succeeded in 161.
Marcus Aurelius did no dishonour to the discernment
A.D. 1  of his friend and adoptive father Antoninus Pius.
Studyingphilosophy andpractising self-command,
he emulated and surpassed the virtues of the self-denying
leaders of his sect, and only broke through the rule he
itnposed oin himself of clemency and mildness, when he




MARCUS AURELIUS.               51
found philosophy in danger of being counted a vain deceit, and the active duties of human brotherhood preferred to the theoretic rhapsodies on the same subject
with which his works were filled. Times began to
change. Men were dissatisfied with the unsubstantial
dream of Platonist and Stoic. There were symptoms
of an approaching alteration in human affairs, which
perplexed the thoughtful and gave promise of impunity
to the bad. Perhaps a man who, clothed in the imperial purple, bestowed so much study on the intellectual
niceties of the Sophists, and endeavoured to keep his
mind in a fit state for abstract speculation by scourging
and starving his body, was not so fitted for the approaching crisis as a rougher and less contemplative nature
would have been. Britain was in commotion, there were
tumults on the Rhine, and in Armenia the Parthians
cut the Roman legions to pieces. And scarcely were
those troubles settled and punished, when a worse
calamity befell the Roman empire. Its inviolability became a boast of the past. The fearful passions for conquest and rapine of the border-barbarians were roused.
Barbaric cohorts encamped on the fields of Italy, and
the hosts of wild men from the forests of the North pillaged the heaped-up treasures of the garden of the world.
The emperor flew to the scene of danger, but the fatal
word had been said. Italy was accessible from the Alps
and from the sea; and, though a bloody defeat at~Aquileia
flung back the invaders, disordered and dispirited, over
the mountains they had descended with such hopes, the
struggle was but begun. The barbarians felt their
power, and the old institutions of Rome were insufficient to resist future attacks. But to the aid of the old
Roman institutions a new institution came, an institution which was destined to repel the barbarians by over2oming barbarism itself, and. save the dignity of Romo




b2               SECOND CENTURY.
by giving it the protection of the Cross. But at present
-that is, during the reign of the philosophic Marcus
Aurelius —a persecution raged against the Christians
which seemed to render hopeless all chance of their
success. The mild laws of Trajan and Adrian, and the
favourable decrees of Antoninus Pius, were set aside by
the contemptuous enmity of this explorer of the mysterious heights of virtue, which occasionally carried him
out of sight of the lower but more important duties of
life. An unsocial tribe the Christians were, who rigorously shut their eyes to the beauties of abstract perfection, and preferred the plain orders of the gospel to the
most ambitious periods:of the emperor. But the persecution of a sect so small and so obscure as the Christian was at that time, is scarcely perceptible as a diminution of the sum of human happiness secured to the
world by the gentleness and equity which regulated all
his actions. Here is an example of the way in which he
treated rebels against his authority. An insurrection
broke out in Syria and the East, headed by a pretended
descendant of the patriot Cassius, who had'conspired
against Julius  Caesar. The emperor hurried to meet
him —some say to resign -the empire into his hands, to
prevent the effusion of blood; but the usurper died in
an obscure commotion, and nothing was left but to take
vengeance on his adherents. This is the letter the conqueror wrote to the Senate:-" I beseech you, conscript
Fathers! not to punish the guilty with too much rigour.
Let no Senator be put to death. Let the banished return to their country. I wish I could give back their
lives to those who have died in this quarrel. Revenge
is unworthy of an emperor. You will pardon, therefore,
the children of Cassius, his son-in-law, and his wife.
Pardon, did I say?  Ah! what crime have they comtaitted?  Let them live in safety, let them  retain all




DEATH OF MARCUS AURELIUS.          53
that Cassius possessed. Let them  live in whatever
place they choose, to be a monument of your clemency
and mine."
In such hands as these the fortune of mankind was
safe. A pity that the father's feelings got the better of
his judgment in the choice of his successor. It is the
one blot on his otherwise perfect disinterestedness. In
dying, with such a monster as Commodus ready to leap
into his seat, he must have felt how inexpressibly valuable his life would be to the Roman people. HIe perhaps
saw the danger to which he exposed the world; for he
committed his son to the care of his wisest counsellors,
and begged him to continue the same course of government he had pursued. Perhaps he was tired of life, perhaps he sought refuge in his self-denying philosophy from.
the prospect he saw before him of a state of perpetual
struggle and eventual overthrow. When the Tribune
came for the last time to ask the watchword of the day,
"Go to the rising sun," he said; "for me, I am just
going to set."
And here the history of the Second Century should
close. It is painful to go back again to the hideous
scenes of anarchy and crime from which we have been
delivered so long. What must the sage counsellors, the
chosen companions and equals in. age of the Antonines,
have thought when all at once the face of affairs, which
they must have believed eternal, was changed?-when
the noblest and wisest in the land were again thrown
heedlessly into the arena without trial?-when spies
watched every meal, and the ferocious murderer on the
throne seemed to gloat over the struggles of his victims?
Yet, if they had reflected on the inevitable course of
events, they must have seen that a government depending'on the character of one man could never be
relied on. Where, indeed, could any element'of security




54              SECOND CENTURY.
be found? The very ground-work of society was overthrown. There was no independent body erect amid
thee general prostration at the footstool of the emperor.
Local self-government had ceased except in name. All
the towns which hitherto had been subordinate to Rome,
but endowed at the same time with privileges which
were worth defending, had been absorbed into the great
whirlpool of imperial centralization, and were admitted
to the rights of Roman citizenship, —now of little value,
since it embraced every quarter of the empire. Jupiter
and Juno, and the herd of effete gods and goddesses,
if they had ever held any practical influence over the
minds of men, had long sunk into contempt, except in
so far as their rich establishments were defended by
persons interested in their maintenance, and the processions and gaudy display of a foul and meretricious worship were pleasing to the depraved taste of the mob.
But the religious principle, as a motive of action, or as
a point of combination, was at an end. Augurs were
still appointed, and laughed at the uselessness of their
office; oracles were still uttered, and ridiculed as the
offspring of ignorance and imposture; conflicting deities
fought for pre-eminence, or compromised their differences
by an amalgamation of their altars, and perhaps a division of their estates. It was against this state of society
the early Fathers directed their warnings and denunciations. The world did certainly lie in darkness, and it
was indispensable to warn the followers of Christ not
to be conformed to the fashion of that fleeting time.
Some, to escape the contagion of this miserable condition, when men were without hope, and without even
the wretched consolation which a belief in a false god
would have given them, fled to the wilds and caves.
Hiermits escaped equally the perils of sin and the hostility of the heathen. Believers were exhorted to flea




FORCES OF THE EMPIRE.            55
from contamination, and some took the words in their
literal meaning. But not all. Many remained, and
fought the good fight in the front of the battle, as
became the soldiers of the cross. In the midst of the
anarchy and degradation which characterized the last
years of the century, a society was surely and steadily
advancing towards its full development, bound by rules
in the midst of the helplessness of external law, and
combined by strong faith, in a world of utter unbelief-an
empire within an empire —soon to be the only specimen
left either of government or mutual obligation, and
finally to absorb into its fresh and still-spreading organization the withered and impotent authority which had
at first seen in it its enemy and destroyer, and found
it at last its refuge and support. Yet at this very time
the empire had never appeared so strong. By a stroke
of policy, which the event proved to be injudicious,
Marcus Aurelius, in the hope of diminishing the number
of his enemies, had converted many thousands of the
barbarians into his subjects. They had settlements
assigned them within the charmed ring. What they
had not been able to obtain by the sword was now
assured to them by treaty. But the unity of the Roman
empire by this means was destroyed. Men were admitted within the citadel who had no reverence implanted in them from their earliest years for the majesty
of the Roman name. They saw the riches contained in
the stronghold, and were only anxious to open the gates
to their countrymen who'were still outside the walls.
But before we enter on the downward course, and
since we are now arrived at the period of the greatest
apparent force and extent of the Roman empire, let us
see what it consisted of, and what was the real amount
of its power.
Viewed in comparison with some of the monarchies




56              SECOND CENTURY.
of the present day, neither its extent of territory, nor
amount of population, nor number of soldiers, is very
surprising. The Queen of England reigns over more
subjects, and commands far mightier fleets and armies,
than any of the Roman emperors. The empire of
Russia is more extensive, and yet the historians of a few
generations ago are lost in admiration of the power of
Rome. The whole military force of the empire amounted
to four hundred and fifty thousand men. The total
number of vessels did not exceed a thousand. But see
what were the advantages Rome possessed in the compactness of its territory and the unity of its government.
The great Mediterranean Sea, peopled and cultivated on
both its shores, was but a peaceful lake, on which the
Roman galley had no enemy to fear, and the merchantship dreaded nothing but the winds and waves. There
were no fortresses to be garrisoned on what are now the
boundaries of jealous or hostile kingdoms. If the great
circuit of the Roman State could be protected from barbarian inroads, the internal defence of all that vast enclosure could be left to the civil power. If the Black
Sea and the Sea of Azoff could be kept clear of piratical
adventurers, the broad highway of the Mediterranean
was safe. A squadron near Gibraltar, a squadron at the
Dardanelles, and the tribes which might possibly venture
in from the ocean-the tribes which, slipping down from
the Don or the Dnieper, might thread their way through
the lHellespont and emerge into the Egean-were caught
at their first appearance; and when the wisdom of the
Romans had guarded the mouths of the Danube from
the descent, in canoe or coracle, of the wild settlers on
its upper banks, the peace and commerce of the whole
empire were sectured. With modern ]Europe the case is
very different. There are boundaries to be guarded
which occupy more soldiers than the territories are




MODERN. FORCES.                57
worth. Lines are arbitrarily fixed across the centre of
a plain, or along the summit of a mountain, which it is
a case of war to pass. Belgium defends her fiats with a
hundred thousand men, and the marshes of Holland are
secured:by'sixty thousand Dutch. The State of Dessau,
in Germany,' threatens its neighbours with fifteen hundred soldiers, while IReuss guards its dignity and independence with three hundred infantry and fifty horse.
But the Great Powers, as they are called, take away
from the peaceable and remunerative employments of
trade or agriculture an amount of labour which would
be an incalculable increase to the riches and happiness
of the world. The aggregate soldiery of Europe is upwards of five millions of men,-just eleven times the
largest calculation of the Roman legions. The ships of
Europe-to the smaller of which the greatest galleys of
the ancient world would scarcely serve as tendersamount to 2113. The number of guns they carry, against
which there is nothing we can take as a measure of
value in ancient warfare, but which are now the greatest
and surest criterions of military power, amounts to
45,367. But this does not give so clear a view of the
alteration in relative power as is yielded by an inspection of some of the separate items. Gaul, included
within the Rhine, was kept in order by six or seven
legions. The French empire has on foot an army of six
hundred and fifty thousand men, and a fleet of four hundred sail. Britain, which was garrisoned by thirty
thousand men, had, in 1855, an army at home and abroad
of six hundred and sixty thousand men, and a fleet of
five hundred and ninety-one ships of war, with an armament of seventeen thousand guns. The disjointed States
which now constitute the Empire of Austria, and which
occupied eight legions in their defence, are now in possession of an army of six hundred thousand men; and




58                       SECOND CENTURY.
Prussia, whose, army exceeds half a million of soldiers,
was unheard of except in the discussions of geographers.*
With the death of the excellent Marcus Aurelius the
A.D. 181. golden age came to a close. Commodus sat on
the throne, and renewed the wildest atrocities
of the previous century. Nero was not more cruelii The following is a carefully compiled table of the forces of Europe in
the year 1854-55. Since that time the Russian fleet has been destroyed, but
the diminution has been more than counterbalanced by the increased navies
of the other powers.
MILITARY FORCES Or EUROPE IN 1855.
Men.         Ships.        Guns.
Austria......................... 650,000      102           752
Bavaria........................... 239,886......
Belgium........................... 100000......
Denmark............................  75,169    120           880
France........................  650,000        407        11,773
Germany............................. 452,473......
Great Britain.......................  265,000k  591       17,291
Greece..............................  10,226   25           143
Ionian Isles........................   3,000     4...
Modena and Parma..............   6,302......
Netherlands.........  58,647                    84         2,000
Papal States...................    11,274......
Portugal.........................  33,000       44           404
Prussia............................. 525,000    50           250
Russia.............................  699,000   207         9,000
Sardinia.....................  48,088          40           900
Sicilies............................... 106,264  29          444
Spain.................................   5,000  410        1,530
Sweden............................... 167,000......
Switzerland......................... 108,000......
Tuscany..............................  16,930......
Turkey...............................  310,970......
4,611,229      2113         45,3672
1 Indian army 250,000, and militia 145,000, not included; making a total of 6C0,000.
2 Taking an average of ten men to each gun, the sailors will be 459,670; which gives
a total of fighting-men, 5,064,899!!!




THE EMPIRE BOUGHT.              59
Domitian was not so reckless of human life. le fought
in the arena against weakly-armed adversaries, and
slew them without remorse. He polluted the whole city
with blood, and made money by selling permissions to
murder. Thirteen years exhausted the patience of the
world, and a justifiable assassination put an end to his life.
There was an old man of the name of Pertinax, originally
a nickname derived from his obstinate or pertinacious
disposition, who now made his appearance on the throne
and perished in three months. It chanced that a certain
rich man of the name of Didius was giving a supper the
night of the murder to some friends. The dishes were
rich, and the wine delicious. Inspired by the good cheer,
the guests said, " Why don't you buy the empire? The
soldiers have proclaimed that they will give it to the
highest bidder." Didius knew the amount of his treasure,
and was ambitious: he got up from table and hurried to
the Prstorian camp. On the way he met the mutilated
body of the murdered Pertinax, dragged through the
streets with savage exultation. Nothing daunted, he
arrived at the soldiers' tents. Another had been before
him-Sulpician, the father-in-law and friend of the late
emperor. A bribe had been offered to each soldier, so
large that they were about to conclude the bargain; but
Didius bade many sesterces more. The greedy soldiery
looked from one to the other, and shouted with delight,
as each new advance was made. At last Sulpician was
A. D 193. silent, and Didius had purchased the Roman world
at the price of upwards of ~200 to each soldier
of the Praetorian guard. He entered the palace in state,
and concluded the supper, which had been interrupted
at his own house, on the viands prepared for Pertinax.
But the excitement of the auction-room was too pleasant
to be left to the troops in Rome. Offers were mrade to
the legions in all the provinces, and Didius was threatened




60               SECOND CENTURY.
on every side. Even the distant garrisons of Britain
named a candidate for- the throne;: and Claudius Albinus
assumed the imperial purple, and crossed over into Gaul.
More irritated still, the army in Syria' elected its general,
Pescennius Niger, emperor, and he prepared to dispute
the prize; but quietly, steadily, with stern face and unrelenting heart, advancing from province to province,
keeping his forces in strict subjection, and laying claim
to supreme authority by the mere strength of his indomitable will, came forward Septimius Severus, and
both the pretenders saw that their fate. was sealed.
Illyria and Gaul recognised his title at once. Albinus
was happy to accept from him the subordinate title of
Cmsar, and to rule as his lieutenant. IDidius, whose bargain turned out rather ill, besought him to be content
with half the empire. Severus slew the messengers
who brought this proposition, and advanced in grim
silence.  The Senate assembled, and, by way of a
pleasant reception for the Illyrian:chief, requested
Didius to prepare for death. The executioners found
him clinging to life with unmanly tenacity, and killed
him when he had reigned but seventy days. One other
competitor remained, the general of the Syrian armythe closest friend of Severus, but. now, separated from
him by the great temptation of an empire in dispute.
This was Niger, from whom an obstinate resistancewas
expected, as he was equally famous for his courage and
his skill. But fortune was on the side of Severus. Niger
was conquered after a short struggle, and his head presented to the victor. Was Albinus still to live, and approach so near the throne as to have the rank of Cmesar?
Assassins were employed to murder him, bhit he escaped
their assault. The treachery of Severus brought many
supporters to his rival. The Roman armies were ranged
in hostile camps. Severus again was fortunate, and Al



SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS.              61
binus, dashing towards him to. engage in combat, was
slain before.- his eyes. lie'watched his dying, agonies
for sometime, and, then forced his horse to trample on
the corpse. A manl of harsh, implacable nature-not so
much cruel as impenetrable to human feelings, and perhaps forming a just estimate of the favourable'effect
upon his fortunes of a disposition so calm, and yet so
relentless. The Praetorians found they had appointed
their master, and put the sword into his hand. Ile used
it without remorse. He terrified the boldest with his
imperturbable stillness; he summoned the seditious
soldiery to wait on him at his camp. They were to
come without arms, without their military dress, almost
like suppliants, certainly not like the ferocious libertines they had been when they had sold the empire at
the highest price. "Whoever of you wishes to live,"
said Severus, frowning coldly, "will depart from this,
and never come within thirty leagues of Rome. Take
their horses," he added to the other troops who had
surrounded the Pruetorians, "f take. their.accoutrements,
and chase them  out of my sight."  Did the Senate
receive a milder treatment? On sending them the head
of Albinus, he had written to the Conscript Fathers
alarming them with the most dreadful threats. And
now the time of execution had come. lie made them
an oration in praise of the proscriptions of Marius and
Sylla, and forced them to deify the tyrant Commodus,
who had hated them all his life. He then gave a signal
to his train, and the streets ran with blood. All who
had borne high office, all who were of distinguished
birth, all who were famous for their wealth or popular
with the citizens, were put to death. He crossed over
to England and repressed a sedition there. His son
Caracalla accompanied him, and commenced his career
oi' warlike ardour and frightful ferocity, which can only




62              SECOND CENTURY.
be explained on the ground of his being mad. He tried
even to murder his father, in open day, in the sight of
the soldiers. He was stealing upon the old man, when
a cry from the legion made him turn round. His inflexible eye fell upon Caracalla-the sword dropped from
his unfilial hand-and dreadful anticipations of vengeance
filled the assembly. The son was pardoned, but his accomplices, whether truly or falsely accused, perished by
cruel deaths. At last the emperor felt his end approach.
He summoned his sons Caracalla and Geta into his presence, recommended them to live in unity, and ended by
the advice which has become the standing maxim of
military despots, "Be generous to the soldiers, and
trample on all beside."
With this hideous incarnation of unpitying firmness
on the throne-hopeless of the future, and with dangers
accumulating on every side, the Second Century came to
an end, leaving the amazing contrast between its miserable close and the long period of its prosperity by which
it will be remembered in all succeeding time.




THIRD CENTURY.
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS-(continued.) Fifth Persecution of
t.D.        the Christians.
211.   CARACALLA and GETA.
217.   MACRINUS.
218.   HEtLIOGABALUS.
222.   ALEXANDER SEVERUS.
235.   MAXIMIN. Sixth Persecution.
238.   MAXIMUS and BALBINUS.
238.   GORDIAN.
244.   PHILIP THE ARABIAN.
249.   DECIus. Seventh Persecution.
251.   VIBIUS.
251.   GALLUS.
254.   VALERIAN. Eighth Persecution.
260.   GALLIEN.
268.   CLAUDIUS THE SECOND.
270.   AURELIAN. Ninth Persecution.
275.   TACITUS.
276.   FLORIAN.
277.   PROBUS.
278.   CARUS.
278.   CARINUS and NUMERIAN.
284.   DIOCLETIAN and MAXIMIAN. Tenth and Last Persecution.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, DION CASSIUS, ORIGEN, CYPRIAN,.PLOTINUS, LONGINUS, HIPPOLITrSX PORTUENSIS, JULIUS AFRICANUS, CELSUS, ORIGEN.








TIHE THIRD CENTURY.
ANARCHY AND CONFUSION-GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN
CHURCH.
WE. are noW in the twelfth year of the Third Century.
Septimius Severus has died at York, and Caracalla is let
loose like a famished tiger upon Rome. IHe invites his
brother Geta to meet him to settle some family feud in
the apartment of their mother, and stabs him in her
arms. The rest of his reign is worthy of this beginning,
and it would be fatiguing and perplexing to the memory
to record his other acts. Fortunately it is not required;
nor is it necessary to follow minutely the course of his
successors. What we require is only a general view of
the proceedings of this century, and that can be gained
without wading through all the blood and horrors with
which the throne of the world is surrounded. Conclusive evidence was obtained in this century that the
organization of Roman government was defective in
securing the first necessities of civilized life. When we
talk of civilization, we are too apt to limit the meaning
of the word to its mere embellishments, such as arts and
sciences; but the true distinction between it and barbarism is, that the one presents a state of society under
the protection of just and well-administered law, and
the other is left to the chance government of brute force.
There was now great wealth in Rome-great luxury —
a high admiration of painting, poetry, and sculpturemuch learning, and probably infinite refinement of
manners and address. But it was not a civilized state.




66               THIRD CENTURY.
Life was of no value-property was not secure. A
series of madmen seized supreme authority, and overthrew all the distinctions between right and wrong.
Murder was legalized, and rapine openly encouraged.
It is a sort of satisfaction to perceive that few of those
atrocious malefactors escaped altogether the punishment
of their crimes. If Caracalla slays his brother and
orders a peaceable province to be destroyed, there is a
Macrinus at hand to put the monster to death. But
A.D. 218. Macrinus, relying on the goodness of his intentions, neglects the soldiery, and is supplanted by
a boy of seventeen-so handsome that lie won the admiration of the rudest of the legionaries, and so gentle
and captivating in his manners that he strengthened
the effect his beauty had produced. He wias priest of
the Temple of the Sun at Emesa in Phcenicia; and by
the arts of his grandmother, who was sister to one of
the former empresses, and the report that she cunningly spread abroad that he was the son of their
favourite Caracalla, the affection of the dissolute soldiery
knew no bounds. Macrinus was soon slaughtered, and
the long-haired priest of Baal seated on the throne of
the Csesars, under the name of Heliogabalus. As might
be expected, the sudden alteration in his fortunes was
fatal to his character. All the excesses of his predecessors were surpassed. His extravagance rapidly exhausted the resources of the empire. His floors were
spread with gold-dust. His dresses, jewels, and golden
ornaments were never worn twice, but went to his
slaves and parasites. He created his grandmother a
member of the Senate, with rank next after the consuls;
and established a rival Senate, composed of ladies, presided over by his mother. Their jurisdiction was not
very hurtful to the State, for it only extended to dresses
and precedence of ranks, and the etiquette to be observed




ALEXANDER SEVERUS.               67
in visiting each other. But the evil dispositions of the
emperor were shown in other ways. He had a cousin of
the name of Alexander, and entertained an unbounded
jealousy of his popularity with the soldiers. Attempts
at poison and direct assassination were resorted to in
vain. The public sympathy began to rise in his favour.
The Praetorians formally took him under their protection; and when Heliogabalus, reckless of their menaces,
again. attempted the life of Alexander, the troops revolted, proclaimed death to the infatuated emperor, and
slew him and his mother at the same time.
Alexander was now enthroned-a youth of sixteen;
D 222. gifted with higher qualities than the debased
century in which he lived could altogether appreciate. But the origin of his noblest sentiments is
traced to the teaching he had received from his mother,
in which the precepts of Christianity were not omitted.
When he appointed the governor of a province, he published his name some time before, and requested if any
one knew of a disqualification, to have it sent in for his
consideration. "It is thus the Christians appoint their
pastors," he said, "and I will do the same with my representatives."  When his justice, moderation, and equity
were fully recognised, the beauty of the quotation, which
was continually in his mouth, was admired by all,
even though they were ignorant of the book it came
from: "Do unto others as you would that they should
do unto you." He trusted the wisest of his counsellors,
the great legalists of the empire, with the introduction
of new laws to curb the wickedness of the time. But
the multiplicity of laws proves the decline of states.
In the ancient Rome of the kings and earlier consuls,
the statutes were contained in forty decisions, which
were afterwards enlarged into the laws of the Twelve
Tables, consisting of one hundred and fifty texts. The




68               THIRD CENTURY.
profligacy of some emperors, the vanity of others, had
loaded the statute-book with an innumerable mass of
edicts, senatus-consultums, prsetorial rescripts, and customary laws. It was impossible to extract order or
regularity from such a chaos of conflicting rules. The
great work was left for a later prince; at present we
can only praise the goodness of the emperor's intention.
But Alexander, justly called Severus, from the simplicity of his life and manners, has held the throne too
long. The Praetorians have been thirteen years without
the donation consequent on a new accession.
Among the favourite leaders selected by Alexander
for their military qualifications was one Maximin, a
Thracian peasant, of whose strength and stature incredible things are told. He was upwards of eight feet high,
could tire down a horse at the gallop on foot, could
break its leg by a blow of his hand, could overthrow
thirty wrestlers without drawing breath, and maintained
this prodigious force by eating forty pounds of meat,
and drinking an amphora and a half, or twelve quarts,
of wine. This giant had the bravery for which his
countrymen the Goths have always been celebrated.
He rose to high rank in the Roman service; and when
at last nothing seemed to stand between him and the
throne but his patron; and benefactor, ambition blinded
him to every thing but his own advancement. - He murdered the wise and generous Alexander, and presented
for the first time in history the spectacle of a barbarian
master of the Roman world. Other emperors had been
born in distant portions of the empire; an African had
trampled on Roman greatness in the person of Septimius Severus; a Phoenician priest had disgraced the
purple in the person of Heliogabalus; Africa, however,
was a Roman province, and Emesa a Roman town. But
here sat the colossal representative of the terrible Goths




MAXIMIN.                   69
of Thrace, speaking a language half Getic, half Latin,
which no one could easily understand; fierce, haughty,
and revengeful, and cherishing a ferocious hatred of the
subjects who trembled before him-a hatred probably
implanted in him in his childhood by the patriotic songs
with which the warriors of his tribe kept alive their
enmity and contempt for. the Roman name. The Roinan
name had indeed by this time lost all its authority. The
army, recruited from all parts of the empire, and including a great number of barbarians in its ranks, was
no longer a bulwark against foreign invasion. Maximin,
bestowing the chief commands on Pannonians and other
mercenaries, treated the empire as a conquered country.
He seized on all the wealth he could discover —melted
all the golden statues, as valuable fromn their artistic
beauty as for the metal of which they were composedand was threatening an approach to Rome to exterminate the Senate and sack the devoted town. In this
extremity the Senate resumed its long-forgotten power,
and named as emperors two men of the name of Gordian
-father and son-with instructions "to. resist the
enemy." But father and son perished in a few weeks,
and still the terrible Goth came on. His son, a giant
like himself, but beautiful as the colossal statue of a
young Apollo, shared in all the feelings of his father.
Terrified at its approaching doom, the Senate once more
nominated two men to the purple, Ilaximus and Balbinus: Balbinus, the favourite, perhaps, of the aristocracy, by the descent he. claimed from an illustrious
ancestry; while Maximus recommended himself to the
now perverted taste of the commonalty by having been
a carter. Neither was popular with the army; and, to
please the soldiers, a son or nephew;- of the younger
Gordian was associated with them on the throne. But
nothing could have resisted the infuriated legions of the




70               THIRD CENTURY.
gigantic Maximin; they were marching with wonderful
expedition towards their revenge. At Aquileia they
met an opposition; the town shut its gates and manned
its walls, for it knew what would be the fate of a city
given up to the tender mercies of the Goths. Meanwhile the approach of- the destroyer produced great
agitation in Rome. The people rose upon the Prmtorians, and enlisted the gladiators on their side. Many
thousands were slain, and at last a peace was made by
the intercession of the youthful Gordian. Glad of the
cessation of this civic tumult, the population of Rome
betook itself to the theatres and shows. Suddenly, while
the games were going on, it was announced'that the
army before Aquileia had mutinied and that both the
AD. 235. Maximins were slain. All at once the amnphitheatre was emptied; by an impulse of grateful
piety, the emperors and people hurried into the temples
of the gods, and offered up thanks for their deliverance.
The wretched people were premature in their rejoicing.
In less than three months the spoiled Prmetorians were
offended with the precaution taken by the emperors in
surrounding themselves with German guards. They
assaulted the palace, and put Maximus and Balbinus
to death. Gordian the Third was now sole emperor,
and the final struggle with the barbarians drew nearer
and nearer.
Constantly crossing the frontiers, and willingly received in the Roman ranks, the communities who had
been long settled on the Roman confines were not the
utterly uncultivated tribes which their name would seem
to denote. There was a conterminous civilization which
made the two peoples scarcely distinguishable at their
point of contact, but which died off as the distance
from the Roman line increased. Thus, an original settler
on the eastern bank of the Rhine was probably as cul



BARBARIANS.                 71
tivated and intelligent as a Roman colonist on the other
side; but farther up, at the Weser and the Elbe, the old
ferocity and roughness remained. Fresh importations
from the unknown East were continually taking place;
the dwellers in the plains of Pannonia, now habituated
to pasturage and trade, found safety from the hordes
which pressed upon them from their own original settlements beyond the Caucasus, by crossing the boundary
river; and by this means the banks were held by cognate
but hostile peoples, who could, however, easily be reconciled by a joint expedition against Rome. New combinations had taken place in the interior of the great
expanses not included in the Roman limits. The Germans were no longer the natural enemies of the empire.
They furnished many soldiers for its defence, and several
chiefs to command its forces. But all round the external
circuit of those half-conciliated tribes rose up vast confederacies of warlike nations. There were Cheruski, and
Sicambri, and Attuarians, and iBruttuarians, and Catti,
all regularly enrolled under the name of " Franks," or
the brave. The Sarmatians or Sclaves performed the
same part on the northeastern frontier; and we have
already seen that the irresistible Goths had found their
way, one by one,. across the boundary, and cleared the
path for their successors. The old enemies of Rome on
the extreme east, the Parthians, had fallen under the
power of a renovated mountain-race, and of a king, who
founded the great dynasty of the Sassanides, and claimed
the restoration of Egypt and Armenia as ancient dependencies of the Persian crown. To resist all these,
there was, in the year 241, only a gentle-tempered youth,
dressed in the purple which had so lost its original grandeur, and relying for his guidance on the wisdom of his
tutors, and for his life on the forbearance of the Proetorians. The tutors were wise and just, and victory at




72               THIRD CENTURY.
first gave some sort of dignity to the reign: of Gordian.
The Franks were conquered at Mayence; but Gordian,
AD. 244. three years after, was murdered in the East; and
Philip, an Arabian, whose father had been a
robber of tilhe desert, was acknowledged emperor by
senate and tarmy. Treachery, ambition, and murder
pursued their course. There was no succession to the
throne. Sometimes one general, luckier or wiser than
the rest, appeared the sole governor of the State. At
other times there were numberless rivals all claiming
the empire- and threatening vengeance on their opponents. Yet amidst this tumult of undistinguishable
pretenders, fortune placed at the head of, affairs some
of the best and greatest men whom the Roman world
ever produced. There was Valerian, w'hom all parties
A.D. 253. agreed in considering the most virtuous and enlightened man of his time. Scarcely any opposition was made to his promotion; and yet,. with all his
good qualities, he was the man to whom Rome owed the
greatest degradation it had: yet' sustained. He was
taken prisoner by Sapor, the Persian king, and condemned, with other captive monarchs, to draw the car
of his conqueror. No offers of ransom could deliver the
brave and unfortunate prince. He died amid his deriding enemies, who hung up his skin as an offering to
their gods. Then, after some years, in which there were
twenty emperors at one time, with army drawn up
against army, and cities delivered to massacre and rapine
by all parties in turn, there arose one of the strong
minds which make themselves felt throughout a whole
period, and arrest for a while the downward course of
AD. 276. states. The emperor Probus, son of a man who
had originally been a gardener, had distinguished
himself under Aurelian, the conqueror of Palmyra, and,
having survived all his competitors, had time to devote




PROBUS.                    73
himself to the restoration of discipline and the introduc.
tion of purer laws. His victories over the encroaching
barbarians were decided, but ineffectual. INew myriads
still pressed forward to take the place of the slain. On
one occasion he crossed the Rhine in pursuit of the revolted Germans, overtook them  at the Necker, and
killed in battle four hundred thousand men. Nir e kings
threw themselves at the emperor's feet. Many thousand
barbarians enlisted in the Roman army. Sixty great
cities were taken, and made offerings of golden crowns.
The whole country was laid waste. " There was nothing
left," he boasted to the Senate, "but bare fields, as if
they had never been cultivated."  So much the worse
for the Romans. The barbarians looked with keener
eyes across the river at the rich lands which had never
been ravaged, and sent messages to all the tribes in the
distant forests, that, having no occasion for pruninghooks, they had turned them into swords. But Probus
showed a still more doubtful policy in other quarters.
When he conquered the Vandals and Burgundians, he
sent their warriors to keep the Caledonians in subjection
on the Tyne. The Britons he transported to Mcesia or
Greece. What intermixtures of race may have arisen
from these transplantations it is impossible to say; but
the one feeling was common to all the barbarians, that
Rome was weak and they were strong. He settled a
large detachment of Franks on the shores of -the Black
Sea; and of these an almost incredible but well-authenticated story is told. They seized or built themselves
boats. They swept through the Dardanelles, and ravaged
the isles of Greece. They pursued their piratical career
down the Mediterranean, passed the pillars of l:ercules
into the Great Sea, and, rounding Spain and France, rowed
up the Elbe into the midst of their astonished countrymen, who had long given them up for dead. A fatal
4




74               THIRD CENTURY.
adventure this for the safety of the Roman shores; for
there were the wild fishermen of Friesland, and the
audacious Angles of Schleswig and Holstein, who heard
of this strange exploit, and saw that no coast was too
distant to be reached by their oar and sail. But if these
forced settlements of barbarians on Roman soil were impolitic, the generous Probus did not feel their bad effect.
His warlike qualities awed his foes, and his inflexible
justice was appreciated by the hardy warriors of the
North, who had not yet sunk under the debasing civilization of Rome. In Asia his arms were attended with
equal success. He subdued the Persians, and extended
his conquests into Ethiopia and the farthest regions of
the East, bringing back some of its conquered natives to
swell the triumph at Rome and terrify the citizens with
their strange and hideous appearance. But Probus himself must yield to the law which regulated the fate
of Roman emperors. He died by treachery and the
sword. All that the empire could do was to join in the
epitaph pronounced over him by the barbarians, " Here
lies the emperor Probus, whose life and actions corresponded to his name."
Three or four more fantastic figures, " which the likeness of a kingly crown have on," pass before our eyes,
and at last we observe the powerful and substantial form
of Diocletian, and feel once more we have to do
A.D. 284.
with a real man. A Druidess, we are told, had
prophesied that he should attain his highest wish if he
killed a wild boar. In all his hunting expeditions he
was constantly on the look-out, spear in hand, for an encounter with the long-tusked monster. Unluckily for a
man who had offended Diocletian before, and who had
basely murdered his predecessor, his name was Aper;
and unluckily, also, aper is Latin for a boar. This fact
will perhaps be thought to account for the prophecy. It




TWO EMPERORS.                 75
accounts, at all events, for its fulfilment; for, the wretched
Aper being led before the throne, Diocletian descended
the steps and plunged a dagger into his chest, exclaiming, "I have killed the wild boar of the prediction."
This is a painful example of how unlucky it is to have
a name that can be punned upon. Determined to secure
the support of what he thought the strongest body in
the State, he gratified the priests by the severest of all
the many persecutions to which the Christians' had been
exposed. By way of further showing his adhesion to
the old faith, he solemnly assumed the name of Jove,
and bestowed on his partner on the throne the inferior
title of Hercules. In spite of these truculent and absurd
proceedings, Diocletian was not altogether destitute of
the softer feelings. The friend he associated with him
on the throne-dividing the empire between them as too
large a burden for one to sustain-was called Maximian.
They had both originally been slaves, and had neither
of them received a liberal education. Yet they protected the arts, they encouraged literature, and were the
patrons of modest merit wherever it could be found.
They each adopted a Czesar, or lieutenant of the empire,
and hoped that, by a legal division of duties among four,
the ambition of their generals would be prevented. But
the limits of the empire were too extended even for the
vigilance of them all. In Britain, Carausius raised the
standard of revolt, giving it the noble name of national
independence; and, with the instinctive wisdom which
has been the safeguard of our island ever since, he
rested his whole chance of success upon his fleet. Invasion was rendered impossible by the care with which he
guarded the shore, and it is not inconceivable that even
at that early time the maritime career of Britain might
have been begun and maintained, if treason, as usual,
had not cut short the efforts of Carausius, who was soon




*7               THIRD CENTURY.
after murdered by his friend Allectus. The subdivision
of the empire was a successful experiment as regarded
its external safety, but within, it was the cause of bitter
complaining. There were four sumptuous courts to be
maintained, and four imperial armies to be paid. Taxes
rose, and allegiance waxed cold. The Caesars were
young, and looked probably with an evil eye on the two
old men who stood between them and the name of emperor. Hiowever it may be, after many victories and
much domestic trouble, Diocletian resolved to lay aside
the burden of empire and retire into private life. His
colleague Maximian felt, or affected to feel, the same
distaste for power, and on the same day they quitted the
purple; one at Nicomedia, the other at Milan. Diocletian
retired to Salona, a town in his native Dalmatia, and
occupied himself with rural pursuits. Hie was asked
after a while to reassume his authority, but he said to
the persons who made him the request, "I wish you
would come to Salona and see the cabbages I have
planted with my own hands, and after that you would
never wish me to remount the throne."
The characteristic of this century is its utter confusion
and want of order. There was no longer the unity even
of despotism at Rome to make a common centre round
which every thing revolved. There were tyrants and
competitors for power in every quarter of the empireno settled authority, no government or security, left. In
the midst of this relaxation of every rule of life, grew
surely, but unobserved, the Christian Church, which
drew strength from the very helplessness of the civil
state, and was forced, in self-defence, to establish a
regular organization in order to extend to its members
the inestimable benefits of regularity and law. Under
many of the emperors Christianity was proscribed; its
disciples were put to excruciating deaths, and their pro



THE EARLY CHURCH.                77
perty confiscated; but at that very time its inner de.
velopment increased and strengthened. The community
appointed its teachers, its deacons, its office-bearers of
every kind; it supported them in their endeavours-it
yielded to their directions; and in time a certain amount
of authority was considered to bhe inherent in the office
of pastor, which extended beyond the mere expounding
of the gospel or administration of the sacraments. The
chief pastor became the guide, perhaps the judge, of the
whole flock. While it is absurd, therefore, in those disastrous times of weakness and persecution to talk in
pompous terms of the succession of the Bishops of Rome,
and make out vain catalogues of lordly prelates who
sat on the throne of St. Peter, it is incontestable that,
firom the earliest period, the Christian converts held
their meetings-by stealth indeed, and under fear of
detection-and obeyed certain canons of their own constitution. These secret associations rapidly spread their
ramifications into every great city of the empire. When
by the friendship, or the fellowship, of the emperor, as
in the case of the Arabian Philip, a pause was given to
their fears and sufferings, certain buildings were set
apart for their religious exercises; and we read, during
this century, of basilicas, or churches, in Rome and other
towns. The subtlety of the Greek intellect had already
led to endless heresies and the wildest departures from
the simplicity of the gospel. The Western mind was
more calm, and better adapted to be the lawgiver of a
new order of society composed of elements so rough and
discordant as the barbarians, whose approach was now
inevitably foreseen. With its well-defined hierarchy —
its graduated ranks, and the fitness of the offices for the
purposes of their creation; with its array of martyrs
ready to suffer, and clear-headed leaders fitted to command, the Western Church could look calmly forward




78               THIRD CENTURY.
to the time when its organization would make it the
most powerful, or perhaps the only, body in the State;
and so early as the middle of this century the seeds of
worldly ambition developed themselves in a schism, not
on a point of doctrine, but on the possession of authority.
A double nomination had made the anomalous appointment of two chief pastors at the same time. Neither
would yield, and each had his supporters. All were
under the ban of the civil power. They had recourse
to spiritual weapons; and we read, for the first time in
ecclesiastical history, of mutual excommunications. Novatian-under his breath, however, for fear of being
thrown to the wild beasts for raising a disturbancethundered his anathemas against Cornelius as an intruder, while Cornelius retorted by proclaiming Novatian an impostor, as he had not the concurrence of the
people in his election. This gives us a convincing proof
of the popular form of appointing bishops or presbyters
in those early days, and prepares us for the energy with
which the electors supported the authority of their
favourite priests.
But, while this new internal element was spreading
life among the decayed institutions of the empire, we
have, in this century, the first appearance, in great
force, of the future conquerors and renovators of the
body politic from without. It is pleasant to think that
the centuries cast themselves more and more loose from
their connection with Rome after this date, and that the
barbarians can vindicate a separate place in history for
themselves. In the first century, the bad emperors
broke the strength of Rome by their cruelty and extrava.
gance. In the second century, the good emperors carried on the work of weakening the empire by the softening and enervating effects of their gentle and protective policy. The third century unites the evil qualities




BARBARIAN TRIBES.               79
of the other two, for the people were equally rendered
incapable of defending themselves by the unheard-of
atrocities of some of the tyrants who oppressed them,
and the mistaken measures of the more benevolent
rulers, in committing the guardianship of the citizens to
the swords of a foreign soldiery, leaving them but the
wretched alternative of being ravaged and massacred
by an irruption of savage tribes or pillaged and insulted
by those in the emperor's pay.
The empire had long been surrounded by its foes. It
will suffice to read the long list of captives who were
led in triumph behind the car of Aurelian when he re-.D 2 3. turned from foreign war, to see the fearful array
of harsh-sounding names which have afterwards
been softened into those of great and civilized nations.
It is in following the course of some of these that we
shall see how the present distribution of forces in Europe
took place, and escape from the polluted atmosphere of
Imperial Rome. In that memorable triumph appeared
Goths, Alans, Roxolans, Franks, Sarmatians, Vandals,
Allemans, Arabs, Indians, Bactrians, Iberians, Saracens,
Armenians, Persians, Palmyreans, Egyptians, and ten
Gothic women dressed in men's apparel and fully armed.
These were, perhaps, the representatives of a large body
of female warriors, and are a sign of the recent settlemnent of the tribe to which they belonged. They had
not yet given up the habits of their march, where all
were equally engaged in carrying the property and arms
of the nation, and where the females encouraged the
young men of the expedition by witnessing and sometimes sharing their exploits in battle.
The triumph of Probus, when only seven years had
passed, presents us with a list of the same peoples, often
conquered but never subdued. Their defeats, indeed,
had the double effect of showing to them their own




o0               THIRD CENTURY.
ability to recruit their forces, and of strengthening the
degraded people of Rome in the belief of their invincibility. After the loss of a battle, the Gothic or [Burgundian chief fell back upon the confederated tribes in his
rear; a portion of his army either visited Rome in the
character of captives, or enlisted in the ranks of the
conquerors. In either ease, the wealth of the great
city and the undefended state of the empire were permanently fixed in their minds; the populace, on the
other hand, had the luxury of a noble show and double
rations of bread-the more ambitious of the emperors
acting on the professed maxim that the citizen had no
duty but to enjoy the goods provided for him by the governing power, and that if he was fed by public doles, and
amused with public games, the purpose of his life was
attained. The idlest man was the safest subject. A
triumph was, therefore, more an instrument of degradation than an encouragement to patriotic exertion. The
name of Roman citizen was now extended to all the
inhabitants of the empire. The freeman of York was a
Roman citizen. IHad he any patriotic pride in keeping
the soil of Italy undivided?  The nation had become
too diffuse for the exercise of this local and combining
virtue. The love of country, which in the small states
of Greece secured the individual's affection to his native
city, and yet was powerful enough to extend over the
whole of the Hellenic territories, was lost altogether
when it was required to expand itself over a region as
wide as Europe. It is in this sense that empires fall to
pieces by their own weight. The Roman power broke
up from within. Its religion was a source of division,
not of union-its mixture of nations, and tongues, and
usages, lost their cohesion. And nothing was left at the
end of this century to preserve it from total dissolution,
but the personal qualities of some great rulers and the
memory of its former fame.




FOURTH CENTURY.
ELtpet~ot0t.
A.D.
304. GALERIUS and CONSTANTIUS.
305. MAXIMIN.
306. CONSTANTINE.
337. CONSTANTINE II., CONSTANS and
CONSTANTIUS.
361. JULIAN THE APOSTATE.
363. JOVIAN.
A.D.    ]West.               A.D.   East.
364. VALENTINIAN.            364. VALENS.
367. GRATIAN.
375. VALENTINIAN II.         379. THEODOSIUS.
395. HONORIUS.               395. ARCADIUS.
mutiors.
DONATUS, EUTROPIUS, ST. ATHANASIUS, AUSONIUS, CLAUDIAN,
ARNOBIUS, (303,) LACTANTIUS, (306,) EUSEBIUS, (315,) ARIUS, (316,)
GREGORY NAZIANZEN, (320-389,) BASIL THE GREAT, Bishop of
Cesarea, (330-379,) AMBROSE, (340-397,) AUGUSTINE (353-429,)
THEODORET, (386-457,) MARTIN, Bishop of Tours.








THE FOURTH CENTURY.
THE REMOVAL TO CONSTANTINOPLE-ESTABLISHMENT OF
CHRISTIANITY-APOSTASY OF JULIAN-SETTLEMENT OF
THE GOTHS.
As the memory of the old liberties of Rome died out,
a nearer approach was made to the ostentatious despotisms of the East. Aurelian, in 270, was the first emperor who encircled his head with a diadem; and Diocletian, in 284, formed his court on the model of the
most gorgeous royalties of Asia. On admission into his
presence, the Roman Senator, formerly the equal of the
ruler, prostrated himself at his feet. Titles of the most
unmanly adulation were lavished on the fortunate slave
or herdsman who had risen to supreme power. Hie was
clothed in robes of purple and violet, and loaded with
an incalculable wealth of jewels and gold. It was froni
deep policy that Diocletian introduced this system.
Ceremony imposes on the vulgar, and makes intimacy
impossible. ]Etiquette is the refuge of failing power,
and compensates by external show for inherent weakness, as stiffness and formality are the refuge of dulness
and mediocrity in private life. There was now, therefore, seated on the throne, which was shaken by every
commotion, a personage assuming more majestic rank,
and affecting far loftier state and dignity, than Augustus
had ventured on while the strength of the old Republic
gave irresistible force to the new empire, or than the
Antonines had dreamt of when the prosperity of Rome
wvas apparently at its height. But there was still some




84               FOURTH CENTURY.
feeling, if not of self-respect, at least of resistance to
pretension, in the populace and Senators of the capital.
Diocletian visited Rome but once. He was attacked in
lampoons, and ridiculed in satirical songs. His colleague
established his residence in the military post of Milan.
We are not, therefore, to feel surprised that an Orientalized authority sought its natural seat in the land of
ancient despotisms, and that many of the emperors had
cast longing eyes on the beautiful towns of Asia Minor,
and even on the far-off cities of Mesopotamia, as more
congenial localities for their barbaric splendours. By a
sort of compromise between his European origin and
Asiatic tastes, the emperor Constantine, after many
struggles with his competitors, having attained the sole
authority, transferred the seat of empire from Rome to
a city he had built on the extreme limits of Europe, and
only divided from Asia by a narrow sea. All succeeding
ages have agreed in extolling the situation of this city,
called, after its founder, Constantinople, as the finest
that could have been chosen. All ages, from the day of
its erection till the hour in which we live, have agreed
that it is fitted, in the hands of a great and enterprising
power, to be the metropolis and arbiter of the world;
and Constantinople is, therefore, condemned to the
melancholy fate of being the useless and unappreciated
capital of a horde of irreclaimable barbarians. To this
magnificent city Constantine removed the throne in
329, and for nearly a thousand years after that, while
Rome was sacked in innumerable invasions, and all the
capitals of Europe were successively occupied by contending armies, Constantinople, safe in her two narrow
outlets, and rich in her command of the two continents,
continued unconquered, and even unassailed.
Rome was stripped, that Constantinople might be
filled. All the wealth of Italy was carried across the




CONSTANTINOPLE.                85
2Agean. The Roman Senator was invited to remove
with his establishment. He found, on arriving at his
new home, that by a complimentary attention of the
emperor, a fac-simile of his Roman palace had been
prepared for him on the Propontis. The seven hills of
the new capital responded to the seven hills of the old.
There were villas for retirement along the smiling
shores of the Dardanelles or of the Bosphorus, as fine in
climate, and perhaps equal in romantic beauty, to Baima
or'Brundusium. There was a capital, as noble a piece
of architecture as the one they had left, but without the
sanctity of its thousand years of existence, or the glory
of its unnumbered triumphs. One omission was the
subject of remark and lamentation. The temples were
nowhere to be seen. The images of the gods were left
at Rome in the solitude of their deserted shrines, for
Constantine had determined that Constantinople should,
from its very foundation, be the residence of a Christian
people. Churches were built, and a priesthood appointed. Yet, with the policy which characterized the
Church at that time, he made as little change as possible
in the external forms. There is still extant a transfer
of certain properties from the old establishment to the
new. There are contributions of wax for the candles,
of frankincense and myrrh for the censers, and vestures
for the officiating priests as before. Only the object of
worship is changed, and the images of the heathen gods
and heroes are replaced with statues of the apostles and
martyrs.
It is difficult to gather a true idea of this first of the
Christian emperors from the historians of after-times.
The accounts of him by contemporary writers are equally
conflicting. The favourers of the old superstition describe him as a monster of perfidy and cruelty. The
Church, raised to supremacy by his favour, sees nothing




8G              FOURTH CENTURY.
in him but the greatest of men-the seer of visions, the
visible favourite of the Almighty, and the predestined
overthrower of the powers of evil. The easy credulity
of an emancipated people believed whatever the flattery
of the courtiers invented. IIis mother Hielena made a
journey to Jerusalem, and was rewarded for the pious
pilgrimage by the discovery of the True Cross. Chapels
and altars were raised upon all the places famous in
Christian story; relics were collected from all quarters,
and we are early led to fear that the simplicity of the
gospel is endangered by its approach to the throne,
and that Constantine's object was rather to raise and
strengthen a hierarchy of ecclesiastical supporters than
to give full scope to the doctrine of truth. But not the
less wonderful, not the less by the divine appointment,
was this unhoped-for triumph of Christianity, that its
advancement formed part of the ambitious scheme of a
worldly and unprincipled conqueror. Rather it may be
taken as one among the thousand proofs with which
history presents us, that the greatest blessings to mankind are produced irrespective of the character or qualities of the apparent author. A warrior is raised in the
desert when required to be. let loose upon a worn-out
society as the scourge of God; a blood-stained soldier
is placed on the throne of the world when the time has
come for the earthly predominance of the gospel. But
neither is Attila to be blamed nor Constantine to be
praised.
It was the spirit of his. system of government to form
every society on a strictly monarchical model. There
was everywhere introduced a clearly-defined subordination of ranks and dignities. Diocletian, we saw, surrounded the throne with a state and ceremony which
kept the imperial person sacred from the common gaze.
Constantine perfected his work by establishing a. titled




NEW NOBILITY.-               87
nobility, who were to stand between the throne and the
people, giving dignity to the one, and impressing fresh
awe upon the other. In all previous ages it had been
the office that gave importance to the man. To be a
member of the Senate was a mark of distinction; a long
descent from a great historic name was looked on with
respect; and the heroic deeds of the thousand years of
Roman struggle had founded an aristocracy which owed
its high position either to personal actions or hereditary
claims. But now that the emperors had so long concentrated in themselves all the great offices of the State
-now that the bad rulers of the first century had degraded the Senate by filling it with their creatures, the
good rulers of the second century had made it merely
the recorder of their decrees, and the anarchy of the
third century had changed or obliterated its functions
altogether-there was no way left to the ambitious
Roman to distinguish himself except by the favour of
the emperor. The throne became, as it has since continued in all strictly monarchical countries, the fountain
of honour. It was not the people who could name a
man to the consulship or appoint him to the command
of an army. It was not even in the power of the
emperor to find offices of dignity for all whom he wished
to advance. So a method was discovered by which
vanity or friendship could be gratified, and employment
be reserved for the deserving at the same time. Instead
of endangering an expedition against the Parthians by
intrusting it to a rich and powerful courtier who desired
to have the rank of general, the emperor simply named
him  Nobilissimus, or Patricius, or Illustris, and the
gratified favourite, the "most noble," the "patrician,"
or the " illustrious," took place with the highest officers
of the State. A certain title gave him equal rank with
the Senator, the judge, or the consul. The diversity of




88              FOURTH CENTURY.
these honorary distinctions became very great. There
were the clarissirni-the perfectissimi-and the egregii
-bearing the same relative dignity in the court-guide
of the fourth century, as the dukes, marquises, earls,
and viscounts of the peerage-books of the present day.
But so much did all distinction flow from proximity to
the throne, that all these high-sounding names owed
their value to the fact of their being bestowed on the
associates of the sovereign. The word Count, which
is still the title borne by foreign nobles, comes from the
Latin word which means "companion."  There was a
Comes, or Companion, of the Sacred Couch, or lord
chamberlain-the Companion of the Imperial Service,
or lord high steward-a Companion of the Imperial
Stables, or lord high constable; through all these dignitaries, step above step, the glorious ascent extended, till
it ended in the Companion of Private Affairsj or confidential secretary. At the head of all, sacred and unapproachable, stood the embodied Power of the Roman
world, who, as he had given titles to all the magnates of
his court, heaped also a great many on himself. His
principal appellation, however, was not as in our degenerate days "Majesty," whether " Most Catholic,"' "Most
Christian," or "Most Orthodox," but consisted in the
rather ambitious attribute-eternity. "Your Eternity"
was the phrase addressed to some miserable individual
whose reign was ended in a month. It was proposed by
this division of the Roman aristocracy to furnish the
empire with a body for show and a body for use; the
latter consisting of the real generals of the armies and
administrators of the provinces. And with this view
the two were kept distinct; but military discipline
suffered by this partition. The generals became discontented when they saw wealth and dignities heaped upon
the titular nobles of the court; and to prevent the danger




TAXES.                   89
arising from ill will among the legions on the frontier.
the emperor withdrew the best of his soldiers from the
posts where they kept the barbarians in check, and
entirely destroyed their military spirit by separating
them into small bodies and stationing them in towns.
This exposed the empire to the foreign foes who still
menaced it from the other side of the boundary, and
gave fresh settlements in the heart of the country to the
thousands of barbarian youth who had taken service
with the eagles. In every legion there was a considerable proportion of this foreign element: in every district
of the empire,/therefore, there were now settled the advanced guards of the unavoidable invasion. Men with
barbaric names, which the Romans could not pronounce,
walked about Roman towns dressed in Roman uniforms
and clothed with Roman titles. There were consulars
and patricians in Ravenna and Naples, whose fathers
had danced the war-dance of defiance when beginning
their march from the Vistula and the Carpathian range.
All these troops must be supported —all these dignitaries maintained in luxury. How was this done?
The ordinary revenue of the empire in the time of Constantine has been computed at forty millions of out
money a year. Not a very large amount when you con.
sider the number of the population; but this is the sum
which reached the treasury. The gross amount must
have been far larger, and an ingenious machinery was invented by which the tax was rigorously collected; and
this machinery, by a ludicrous perversion of terms, was
made to include one of the most numerous classes of the
artificial nobility created by the imperial will. In all
the towns of the empire some little remains were still
to be found of the ancient municipal government, of
which practically they had long been deprived. There
were nominal magistrates still; and among these the




90               FOURTH CENTURY.
Cuials held a distinguished rank. They were the men
who, in the days of freedom, had filled the civic dignities
of their native city —the aldermen, we should perhaps
call them, or, more nearly, the justices of the peace.
They were now ranked with the peerage, but with certLain duties attached to their elevation which few can have
regarded in the light of privilege or favour. To qualify
them for rank, they were bound to be in possession of a
certain amount of land. They were, therefore, a territorial aristocracy, and never was any territorial aristocracy more constantly under the consideration of the
government. It was the duty of the curials to distribute the tax-papers in their district; but, in addition to
this, it was unfortunately their duty to see that the sum
assessed on the town and neighbourhood was paid up to
the last penny. When there was any deficiency, was
the emperor to suffer? Were the nobilissimi, the patricii, the egregii, to lose their salaries? Oh, no i As long
as the now ennobled curial retained an acre of his estate,
or could raise a mortgage on his house, the full amount
was extracted. The tax went up to Rome, and the
curial, if there had been a poor's house in those days,
would have gone into it-for he was stripped of all. His
farm was seized, his cattle were escheated; and when the
defalcation was very greats himself, his wife and children
were led into the market and sold as slaves. Nothing
so rapidly destroyed what might have been the germ of
a middle class as this legalized spoliation of the smaller
landholders. Below this rank there was absolutely
nothing left of the citizenship of ancient times. Artificers and workmen formed themselves into companies;
but the trades were exercised principally by slaves for
the benefit of their owners. These slaves formed now
by far the greatest part of the Roman population, and
though their lot had gradually become softened as their




CONDITION OF SLAVES.             91
numbers increased, and the domestic bondsman had
little to complain of except the greatest of all sorrows,
the loss of freedom, the position of the rural labourers
was still very bad. There were some of them slaves in
every sense of the word-mere chattels, which were not
so valuable as horse or dog. But the fate of others was
so far mitigated that they could not be sold separate
from their family-that they could not be sold except
along with the land; and at last glimpses appear of a
sort of rent paid for certain portions of the lord's estate
in full of all other requirements. But this process had
again to be gone through when many centuries had
elapsed, and a new state of society had been fully established, and it will be sufficient to remind you that in the
fourth century, to which we are now come, the Roman
world consisted of a monarchy where all the greatness
and magnificence of the empire were concentrated on
the emperor and his court; that the monarchical system
was rapidly pervading the Church; and that below
these two distinct but connected powers there was no
people, properly so called-the country was oppressed
and ruined, and the ancient dignity of Rome transplanted to new and foreign quarters, at the sacrifice of
all its oldest and most elevating associations. The halfdepopulated city of Romulus and the Kings-of the
Consuls and Augustus, looked with ill-disguised hatred
and contempt on the modern rival which denied her the
narhe of Capital, and while fresh from the builder's hand,
robbed her of the name of the Eternal City. We shall
see great events spring from this jealousy of the two
towns. In the mean time, we shall finish our view of
Constantine by recording the greatness of his military
skill, and. merely protest against the enrolment in the
list of saints of a man who filled his family circle with
blood —who murdered his wife, his son, and his nephew,




92              FOURTH CENTURY.
encouraged the contending factions of the now disputatious Church-gave a fallacious support to the orthodox
Athanasius, and died after a superstitious baptism at
A.D. 337 the hands of the heretical Arius. An unbiassed
judgment must pronounce him a great politician,
who played with both parties as his tools, a Christian
from expediency and not from conviction. It is a pity
that the subserviency of the Greek communion has
placed him in the number of its holy witnesses, for we
are told by a historian that when the emperor, after the
dreadful crimes he had perpetrated, applied at the
heathen shrines for expiatory rites, the priests of the
false gods had truly answered, "there are no purifications for such deeds as these."  But nothing could be
refused to the benefactor of the Church. The great
ecclesiastical council of this age, (325), consisting of
three hundred and eighteen bishops, and presided over
by Constantine in person, gave the Nicene Creed as the
result of their labours-a creed which is still the symbol
of Christendom, but which consists more of a condemnation of the heresies which were then in the ascendant,
than in the plain enunciation of the Christian faith. A
layman, we are told, an auditor of the learned debates
in this great assembly, a man of clear and simple common
sense, met some of the disputants, and addressed them
in these words:-"Arguers! Christ and his apostles delivered to us, not the art of disputation, nor empty
eloquence, but a plain and simple rule which-is maintained by faith and good works."  The disputants, we
are further told, were so struck with this undeniable
truth that they acknowledged their error at once.
But not yet firm and impregnable were the bulwarks
of Christianity. While dreaming anchorites in the deserts
of Thebais were repeating the results of fasting and insanity as the manifestation of divine favour, the world




JULIAN THE APOSTATE.              93.D. 360. was startled from its security by the appalling
discovery that the emperor himself, the young
and vigorous Julian, was a follower of the old philosophers, and a worshipper of the ancient gods. And a
dangerous antagonist he was, even independent of his
temporal power. His personal character was irreproachable, his learning and talent beyond dispute, afnd
his eloquence and dialectic skill sharpened and improved
by an education in Athens itself. Less than forty years
had elapsed since Constantine pronounced the sentence
of banishment on the heathen deities. It was not possible that the Christian truth was in every instance
received where the old falsehood was driven away.
We may therefore conclude, without the aid of historic
evidence, that there must have been innumerable districts-villages in far-off valleys, hidden places up among
the hills-where the name of Christ had not yet penetrated, and all that was known was, that the shrine of
the local gods was' overthrown, and the priests of the old
ceremonial proscribed. When we remember that the
heathen worship entered into almost all the changes of
the social and family life —that its sanction was necessary
at the w'edding-that its auguries were indispensable at
births-that it crowned the statue of the household god
with flowers-that it kept alive the fire upon the altar of
the emperor-and that it was the guardian of the tombs
of the departed, as it had been the principal consolation d-uring the funeral rites, —we shall perceive that,
irrespective of absolute faith in his system of belief, the
cessation of the priest's office must have been a serious
calamity. The heathen establishment had been enriched
by the piety or ostentation of many generations. There
must have been still alive many who had been turned
out of their comfortable temples, many who viewed the
assumption of Christianity into the State as a political




94               FOURTH CENTURY.
engine to strengthen the tyranny under which the
nations groaned. We may see that self-interest and
patriotism may easily have been combined in the effort
made by the old faith to regain the supremacy it had
lost. The Emperor Julian endeavoured to lift up the
fallen gods. He persecuted the Christians, not with
fire and sword, but with contempt. He scorned and
tolerated.  He preached moderation, self-d 3nial, and
purity of life, and practised all these virtues to an
extent unknown upon a throne, and even then unusual
in a bishop's palace.
How these Christian graces, giving. a charm and
dignity to the apostate emperor, must have received a
still higher authority from the painful contrast they
presented to the agitated condition and corrupted morals
of the Christian Church! Everywhere there was war
and treachery, and ambition and unbelief. Half the
great sees were held by Arians, who raved against the
orthodox; and the other half were held by Athanasius
and his followers, who accused their adversaries of being
" more cruel than the Scythians, and more irreconcilable
than tigers." At Rome itself there was an orthodox
bishop and an Arian rival. It is not surprising that
Julian, disgusted with the scenes presented to him by
the mutual rage of the Christian sects, thought the
surest method of restoring unity to the empire would
be to silence all the contending parties and reintroduce
the peaceful pageantries of the old Pantheon. If some
of the fanciful annotators of the new faith had allegorized the facts of Christianity till they ceased to be
facts at all, Julian performed the same office for the
heathen gods. Jupiter and the rest were embodiments
of the hidden powers of nature. Vulcan was the personification of human skill, and Venus the beautiful representative of connubial affection. But men's minds




PAGANISM RESTORED.               95
were now too sharpened with the contact they had had
with the real to be satisfied with such fallacies as these.
Eloquent teachers arose, who separated the eternal
truths of revelation from the accessories with which
they were temporarily combined. Ridicule was retorted
on the emperor, who had sneered at the Christian services. Who, indeed, who had caught the slightest view
of the spirituality of Christ's kingdom, could abstain
from laughing at the laborious heathenism of the master
of the world? He cut the wood for sacrifice, he slew
the goat or bull, and, falling down on his knees, puffed
with distended cheeks the sacred fire. iEe' marched to
the temple of Venus between two rows of dissolute and
drunken worshippers, striving in vain by face and attitude to repress the shouts of riotous exultation and the
jeers of the spectators. Then, wherever he went he
was surrounded by pythonesses, and augurs, and fortunetellers, magicians who could work miracles, and necromancers who could raise the dead. When he restored a
statue to its ancient niche, he was rewarded by a shake
of its head; when he hung up a picture of Thetis or
Amphitrite, she winked in sign of satisfaction. Where
miracles are not believed, the performance of them is
fatal. ZBut his expenditure of money in honouring the
gods was more real, and had clearer results. liHe nearly
exhausted the empire by the number of beasts he slew
Ite sent enormous offerings to the shrines of Dodona,
and Delos, and Delphi. Hie rebuilt the temples, which
time or Christian hatred had destroyed; and, by way
of giving life to his new polity, he condescended to
imitate the sect he despised, in its form of worship, in
its advocacy of charity, peace, and good will, and in its
institutions of celibacy and retirement, which, indeed,
had been a portion of heathen virtue before it was admitted into the Christian Church. But his affected con.




96              FOURTH CENTURY.
tempt soon degenerated into persecution. tHe would
have no soldiers who did not serve his gods. Many resigned their swords. He called the Christians "Galileans," and robbed them of their property and despitefully used them, to try the sincerity of their faith.
"Does not your law command you," he said, "to submit to injury, and to renounce your worldly goods?
Well, I take possession of your riches that your march
to heaven may be unencumbered." All moderation
was now thrown off on both sides. Resistance was
made by the Christians, -and extermination threatened
by the emperor. In the midst of these contentions he
was called eastward to resist the aggression of Sapor, the
Persian king. An arrow stretched Julian on his couch.
I{e called round him his chief philosophers and priests.
With them, in imitation of Socrates, he entered into
A. 363. deep discussions about the soul. Nothing more
heroic than his end, or more eloquent than his
parting discourse.  But death did not soften the animosity of his foes. The Christians boasted that the
arrow was sent by an angel, that visions had foretold
the persecutor's fall, and that so would perish all the
enemies of God. The adherents of the emperor in
return blamed the Galileans as his assassins, and boldly
pointed to Athanasius, the leader of the Christians, as the
culprit. Athanasius would certainly not have scrupled
to rid the world of such an Agag and Hiolofernes, but it
is more probable that the death occurred without either
a miracle or a murder. The successors of Julian were
enemies of the apostate. They speedily restored their
fellow-believers to the supremacy they had lost. A
ferocious hymn of exultation by Gregory of Nazianzen
was chanted far and wide. Cries of joy and execration
resounded in market-places, and churches, and theatres.
Trhe market-places had been closed against the Chris



GOTHS.                    97
tians, their churches had been interdicted, and the
theatres shut up, by the overstrained asceticism of the
deceased. Itwas perceived that Christianity had taken
deeper root than the apostate had believed, and henceforth no effort could be made to revivify the old superstition. After a nominal election of Jovian, the choice
of the soldiers fell on two of their favourite leaders,
Valentinian and Valens, brothers, and sufferers in the
late persecutions for their faith. Named emperors of
the Roman world, they came to an amicable division of
the empire into East and West.. Valens remained in
Constantinople to guard the frontiers of the Danube and
the Euphrates; while Valentinian, who saw great clouds
darkening over Italy and Gaul, fixed his imperial residence in the strong city of Milan. The separation took
place in 364, and henceforth the stream of history
flows in two distinct and gradually diverging channels.
This century has already been marked by the removal
of the seat of power to Constantinople; by the attempt
at the restoration of Paganism by Julian; and we have
now to dwell for a little on the third and greatest incident of all, the invasion of the Goths, and final settlement of hostile warriors on the Roman soil.
]Names that have retained their sound and established
themselves as household words in Europe now meet us
at every turn. Valentinian is engaged in resisting the
Saxons. The Britons, the Scots, the Germans, are
pushing their claims to independence; and in the farther
East, the persecutions and tyranny of the contemptible
Valens are suddenly suspended by the news that a people
hitherto unheard of had made their appearance within
an easy march of the boundary, and that universal terror
had taken possession of the soldiers of the empire. Who
were those soldiers? We have seen for many years that
the policy of the emperors had been to introduce the bar5




98              FOURTII: CENTURY.
barians into the military service of the State, and to
expose the wasted and helpless inhabitants to the rapacity of their tax-gatherers. This system had been
carried to such a pitch, that it is probable there were
none but mercenaries of the most varying interests in
the Roman ranks. Yet such is the effect of discipline,
and the pride of military combination, that all other
feelings gave way before it. The Gothic chief, now invested with command in the Roman armies, turned his
arms against his countrymen. The Albanian, the Saxon,
the Briton, elevated to the rank of duke or count, looked
back on Marius and Csesar as their lineal predecessors
in opposing and conquering the enemies of Rome. The
names of the generals and magistrates, accordingly,
which we encounter after this date, have a strangely
barbaric sound. There are Ricimer, and Marcomir, and
Arbogast-and finally, the name which overtopped and
outlived them all, the name of Alaric the Goth. Now,
the Goths, we have seen, had been settled for many
generations on the northern side of the Danube. Much
intercourse must have taken place between the inhabitants of the two banks. There must have been
trade, and love, and quarrellings, and rejoicings. At
shorter and shorter intervals the bravest of the tribes
must have passed over into the Roman territory and
joined the Legions. Occasionally a timid or despotic
emperor would suddenly order his armies across, and
carry fire and sword into the unsuspecting country.
But on the whole, the terms on which they lived were
not hostile, for the ties which united the two peoples
were numerous and strong. Even the languages in the
course of time must have come to be mutually intelligible, and we read of Gothic leaders who were excellent
judges of Homer and seldom travelled without a few
chosen books. This being the case, what was the con



HUNS.                    99
sternation of the almost civilized Goths in the fertile
levels of the present Wallachia and Moldavia to hear
that an innumerable horde of dreadful savages, calling
themselves Huns and Magyars, had appeared on the
western shore of the Black Sea, and spread over the
land, destroying, murdering, burning whatever lay in
their way! Cooped up for an unknown period, it appeared, on the northeastern side of the Palus Mceotis, now
better known to us as the Sea of Azof-living on fish
out of the Don, and on the cattle of the long steppes
which extend across the Volga, these sons of the Scythian desert ihad never been heard of either by the
Goths or Romans. A hideous people to behold, as the
perverted imagination of poet or painter could produce.
They were low in stature, but broad-shouldered and
strong. Their wide cheek-bones and small eyes gave
them a savage and cruel expression, which was increased
by their want of nose, for the only visible appearance
of that indispensable organ consisted of two holes sunk
into the square expanse of their faces. Fear is not a
flattering painter, but from these rude descriptions it is
easy to recognise the Calmuck countenance; and when
we add their small horses, long spears, and prodigious
lightness and activity, we shall see a very close resemblance between them  and their successors in the
same district, the Russian Cossacks of the Don. On, on,
came the torrent of these pitiless, fearless, ugly, dirty,
irresistible foes. The Goths, terrified at their aspect,
and bewildered with the accounts they heard of their
numbers and mode of warfare, petitioned the emperor
to give them an asylum on the Roman side. Their
prayer was granted on condition of depositing their
children and arms in Roman hands. They had no time
to squabble about terms. Every thing was agreed to.
Boats manned by Roman soldiers were busy day and




100             FOURTH CENTURY.
night in transporting the Gothiq exiles to the iRoman
side. Arms and jewels, and wives and children, the
furniture of their tents, and idols of their gods, all got
safely across the guarding river. The Huns, the Alans,
and the other unsightly hordes who had gathered in the
pursuit, came down to the bank, and shouted useless
defiance and threats of vengeance. The broad Danube
rolled between; and there rested that night on the
Roman soil a whole nation, different in interest, in
manners and religion, from the population they had
joined, numbering upwards of a million souls, bound
together by every thing that constitutes the unity of a
people. The avarice and injustice of the Roman authorities negatived the clause of the agreement that stipulated for the surrender of the Gothic arms. To redeem
their swords and spears, they parted with the silver and
gold they had amassed in their predatory incursions on
the Roman territory. They knew that once in possession of their weapons they could soon reclaim all they
gave —and in no long time the attempt was made. Fritigern, the leader of their name, led them against the
armies of Rome. Insulted at their audacity, the Emperor Valens, at the head of three hundred thousand
men, met them in the plain of Adrianople. The existAD. 379. ence of the Gothic people was at stake. They
fought with desperation and hatred. The emperor was defeated, leaving two-thirds of his army on
the field of battle. Seeking safety in a cottage at the
side of the road, he was burned by the inexorable pursuers, who, gathering up their broken lines, marched
steadily through the intervening levels and gazed with
enraptured eyes on the glittering towers and pinnacles
of Constantinople itself. But the walls were high and
strongly armed. The barbarians were inveigled into a
negotiation, and mastered by the unequal powers of lying,




HUNS.                    101
at all times characteristic of the Greeks. Fritigern consented to withdraw his troops: some were embodied in
the levies of the empire, and others dispersed in different
provinces. Those settled in Thrace were faithful to their
employers, and resisted their ancient enemies the Huns;
but the great body of the discontented conquerors were
ready for fresh assaults on the Roman land. Theodosius, called to the throne in 379, succeeded in staving
off the evil day; but when the final partition of the
empiro took place between his two sons —Eonorius and
D 394. Arcadius-there was nothing to oppose the
terrible onset of the Goths. At their head was
Alaric, the descendant of their original chiefs, and himself the bravest of his warriors. He broke into Greece,
forcing his way through Thermopylea, and devastated
the native seats of poetry and the arts with fire and
sword. The ruler at Constantinople heard of his advance with terror, and opposed to him the Vandal Stilicho, the greatest of his generals. But the wily Alaric
declined to fight, and out-manceuvred his enemies, escaping to the sure fastnesses of Epirus, and sat down
sullen and discontented, meditating further expeditions
into richer plains, and already seeing before him the
prostrate cities of Italy. The terror of Arcadius tried
in vain to soften his rage, or satisfy his ambition with
vain titles, among others, that of Count of the Illyrian
Border. The spirit of aggression was fairly roused. All1
the Gothic settlers in the Roman territory were ready to
join their countrymen in one great and combined attack;
-and with this position of the personages of the drama,
the curtain falls on the fourth century, while preparations for the great catastrophe are going on.








FIFTH CENTURY.
A.D.    West.'              A.D..East.
HoNoRIus-(cont.)            ARCADIUS-(Cont.)
424. VALENTINIAN III.       408. THEODOSIUS II.
455. PETRONIUS 1MvAXIMUS.    450. MARCIAN.
455. AVITUS.                457. LEO THE GREAT.
457. MAJORIANUS.            474. ZENO.
461. SEVERUS.               491. ANASTASIUS.
467. ANTIHEMIUS.
472. OLIBIUS.
473. GLYCERIUS.
474. JULIUS NEPOS.
475. AUGUSTULUS ROMULUS.
-ing of the jtranuks.           ting  f NtaIl.
481. CLOVIS.                489. THEODORIC.
CHRYSOSTOM, JEROME, AUGUSTINE, PELAGIUS, (405,) SIDONIUS
APOLLINARIS, PATRICIUS, MACROBIUS, VICENTIUS OF LERINS, (died
450,) CYRIL, BIsHoP OF ALEXANDRIA, (412-444.)








THE FIFTH CENTURY.
END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE-FORMATION OF MODERN
STATES-GROWTH OF ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY.
WE find the same actors on the stage when the curtain rises againl> but circumstances have greatly changed.
After his escape from Stilicho, Alaric had been "lifted
on the shield," the wild and picturesque way in which
the warlike Goths nominated their kings, and henceforth
was considered the monarch of a separate and independent people, no longer the mere leader of a band of
predatory barbarians. In this new character he entered
into treaties with the emperors of Constantinople or
Rome, and broke them, as if he had already been the
sovereign of a civilized state.
In 403 he broke up from his secure retreat on the
Adriatic, and burst into Italy, spreading fire and famine
wherever he went. Honorius, the Emperor of the West,
fled from Milan, and was besieged in Asti by the Goths.
Here would have ended the imperial dynasty, some
years before its time, if it had not been for the watchful
Stilicho. This Vandal chief flew to the rescue of Honorius, repulsed Alaric with great slaughter, and delivered
his master from his dangerous position. The grateful
emperor entered Rome in triumph, and for the last time
the Circus streamed with the blood of beasts and men.
He retired after this display to the inaccessible marshes
of Ravenna, at the mouths of the Po, and, secure in
that fortress, sent an order to have his preserver and
105




106              FIFTH CENTURY.
D. 408. benefactor murdered; Stilicho, the only hope of
Rome, was assassinated, and Alaric once more
saw all Italy within his grasp. It was not only the
Goths who followed Alaric's command. All the barbarians, of whatever name or race, who had been transplanted either as slaves or soldiers-Alans, Franks, and
Germans-rallied round the advancing king, for the impolitic Honorius had issued an order for the extermination of all the tribes. There were Britons, and Saxons,
and Suabians. It was an insurrection of all the manly
elements of society against the indescribable depravation of the inhabitants of the Peninsula. The wildest
barbarian blushed in the midst of his ignorance and
rudeness to hear of the manners of the highest and
most distinguished families in Rome. Nobody could
hold out a hand to avert the judgment that was about
to fall on the devoted city. Ambassadors indeed appeared, and bought a short delay at the price of many
thousand pounds' weight of gold and silver, and of large
quantities of silk; but these were only additional incitements to the cupidity of the invader. Tribe after tribe
rose up with fresh fury; warriors of every hue and
shape, and with every manner of equipment.  The
handsome Goth in his iron cuirass; the Alan with his
saddle covered with human skin; the German making a
hideous sound by shrieking on the sharp edge of his
shield; and the countryman of Alaric himself sounding
the "horn of battle," which terrified the Romans with
its ominous note-all started forward on the march. At
the head of each detachment rode a band, singing songs
of exultation and defiance; and the Romans, stupefied
with fear, saw these innumerable swarms defile towards
the Ililvian bridge and close up every access to the
town. There was no corn from Sicily or Africa; a pest
raged in every house, and hunger reduced the inhabit



FALL OF ROME.                107
ants to despair. The gates were thrown open, and all
the pent-up animosity of the desert was poured out upon
the mistress and corrupter of the world. For six days
the city was given up to remorseless slaughter and universal pillage. The wealth was incalculable. The captives were sold as slaves. The palaces were overthrown,
and the river choked with carcasses and the treasures
of art which the barbarians could not appreciate. " The
new Babylon," cries Bossuet, the great Bishop of Meaux,
" rival of the old, swelled out like her with her successes,
and, triumphing in her pleasures and riches, encountered
as great a fall." And no man lamented her fate.
Alaric, who had thus achieved a victory denied to
AD. 410. Hannibal and Pyrrhus, resolved to push his conquests to the end of Italy. But on his march
towards the Straits of Sicily, illness overtook him. His
life had been unlike that of other men, and his burial
was to excite the wonder of the Bruttians, among
whom he died. A large river was turned from  its
course, and in its channel a deep grave was dug and
ornamented with monumental stone. To this the body
of the barbaric king was carried, clothed in full armour,
and accompanied with some of the richest spoils of
Rome; and then the stream was turned on again  the
prisoners who had executed the works were slaughtered
to conceal the secret of the tomb, and nobody has ever
found out where the Gothic king reposes. But while
the Busentino flowed peaceably on, and guarded the
body of the conqueror from the revenge of the Romans,
new perils were gathering round the throne of the
Western emperor. As if the duration of the empire had
been inseparably connected with the capital, the reverence of mankind was never bestowed on Milan or Ravenna, in which the court was now established, as it
had been upon Rome. Britain had already thrown off




108              FIFrH CENTURY.
the distant yoke, and submitted to the Saxon invaders.
Spain had also peaceably accepted the rule of the three
kindred tribes of Sueves and Alans and Vandals. Gaul
itself had given its adhesion to the Burgundians (who
fixed their seat in the district which still bears their
name) and offered a feeble resistance to any fresh invader. Ataulf, the brother of Alaric, came to the rescue of the empire, and of course completed the destruction. 3He married the sister of Honorius, and retained
her as a hostage of the emperor's good faith. Hie promised to restore the revolted provinces to their former
master, and succeeded in overthrowing some competitors
who hadIstarted up to dispute with Rlavenna the wrecks
of former power. He then forced his way into Spain,
and the hopes of the degenerate Romans were high.
But murder, as usual, stopped the career of Ataulf, and
all was changed. The emperor ratified the possessions
AD. 5. which he could not dispute, and in the first
twenty years of this century three separate
kingdoms were established in Europe. This was soon
followed by a Vandal conquest of the shores of Africa,
which raised Carthage once more to commercial importance, united Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia to the newfounded state, and by the creation of a fleet gained the
command of the Mediterranean Sea, and threatened
Constantinople itself.
With so many provinces not only torn from  the
empire, but erected into hostile kingdoms, nothing was
wanting but some new irruption into the still dependent
territories to put a final end to the Roman name. And
a new incursion came. In the very involved relations
existing between the emperors of the East and West, it
is difficult to follow the course of events with any clearness. While the deluded populace of Constantinople
were rejoicing in the fall of their Italian rival, they




ATTILA.                  10'
heard with amazement, in 441, that a savage potentate,
who had pitched his tents in the plains of Pannonia and
Thrace, and kept round him, for defence or conquest,
seven hundred thousand of those hideous-featured Huns
who had spread devastation and terror all over the
populations of Asia, from the borders of China to the
Don, had determined on stretching his conquests over
the whole world, and merely hesitated with which of
the doomed empires to begin his career. His name was
Attila, or, according to its native pronunciation, Etzel;
and it soon resounded, louder and more terrifying than
that of Alari6 the Goth. The Emperor of the East sent
an embassy to this dreadful neighbour, a minute account
of which remains, and from which we learn the barbaric
pomp and ceremony of the leader of the ituns, and the
perfidy and debasement of the Greeks. An attempt
was made to poison the redoubtable chief, and he complained of the guilty ambassador to the very person
who had given him his instructions for the deed. Unsatisfied with the result, the Hunnish monarch advanced
his camp. Constantinople, anxious to ward off the blow
from itself, descanted to the savage king on the exposed
condition and ill-defended wealth of the Italian towns.
Treachery of another kind came to his aid. An offended
sister of the emperor sent to Attila her ringes a mark
of espousal, and he now claimed a portion of the empire
as the dowry of his bride. When this was refused, he
reiterated his old claim of satisfaction for the attempt
upon his life, and ravaged the fields of Belgium and
Gaul, in the double character of avenger of an insult
and claimant of an inheritance. It does not much
matter under what plea a barbarous chieftain, with six
hundred thousand warriors, makes a demand. It must
be answered sword in hand, or on the knees. The
newly-established Frankish  and  Burgundian kings




110               FIFTH CENTURY.
gathered their forces in defence of their Christian faith
and their recently-acquired dominions. Attila retired
from Orleans, of which he had commenced the siege,
and chose for the battle-field, which was to decide the
destiny of the world, a vast plain not far from Chalons,
on the Marne, where his cavalry would have room to
act, and waited the assault of all the forces that France
and Italy could collect. The Visigoths prepared for the
decisive engagement under their king, Theodoric; the
Franks of the Saal under Meroveg; the Ripuarian
A.D. 451. Franks, the Saxons, and the Burgundians were
under leaders of their own. It was a fight in
which were brought face to face the two conquering
races of the wdrld, and upon its result it depended
whether Europe was to be ruled by a dynasty of Calmucks or left to her free progress under her Gothic and
Teutonic kings.  Three hundred thousand corpses
marked the severity of the struggle, but victory rested
with the West. Attila retreated from Gaul, and wreaked
his vengeance on the Italian cities. He destroyed Aquileia, whose terrified inhabitants hid themselves in the
marshes and lagoons which afterwards bore the palaces
of Venice; Vicenza, Padua, and Verona were spoiled
and burned. Pavia and Milan submitted without resistance. On approaching Rome, the venerable bishop,
Saint Leo, met the devastating Hun, and by the gravity
of his appearance, the ransom he offered, and perhaps
the mystic dignity which still rested upon the city whose
cause he pleaded, prevailed on him to retire. Shortly
after, the chief of this brief and terrible visitation died
in his tent on the banks of the Danube, and left no
lasting memorial of his irruption except the depopulation his cruelty had caused, and the ruin he had spread
over some of the fairest regions of the earth.
But Rome, spared by the influence of the bishop from




THE VANDALS.                111
the ravage of the iHuns, could not escape the destroying
enmity of Genseric'and the Vandals. Dashing across
from Africa, these furious conquerors destroyed for destruction's sake, and affixed the name of Vandalism on
whatever is harsh and unrefined. For fourteen days the
spoilers were at work in Rome, and it is: only wonderful
that after so many plunderings any thing worth plundering remained. When the sated Vandals crossed to Carthage again, the Gothic and Suevic kings gave the
purple to whatever puppet they chose. Afraid still to invest themselves with the insignia of the Imperial power,
they bestowed them or took them away, and at last
rendered the throne and the crown so contemptible,
that when Odoacer was proclaimed King of Italy, the
phantom assembly which still called itself the. Roman
Senate sent back to Constantinople the tiara and purple
robe, in sign that the Western Empire had passed away.
Zeno, the Eastern ruler, retained the ornaments of the
departed sovereignty, and sent to the Herulean Odoacer
the title of " Patrician," sole emblem left of the greatness
and antiquity of the Roman name. It may be interesting to remember that the last who wore the Imperial
crown was a youth who would probably have escaped
the recognition of posterity altogether, if he had not,
by a sort of cruel mockery of his misfortunes, borne
the names of Romulus Augustulus-the former recalling
the great founder of the city, and the latter the first of
the Imperial line.
Thus, then, in 476, Rome came to her deserved and
terrible end; and before we trace the influence of this
great event upon the succeeding centuries, it will be
worth while to devote a few words to the cause of its
overthrow. These were evidently three-the ineradicable barbarity and selfishness of the Roman character,
the depravation of manners in the capital, and the want




112              FIFTH CENTURY.
of some combining influence to bind all the parts of the
various empire into a whole. From the earliest incidents in the history of Rome, we gather that she was
utterly regardless of human life or suffering. Her treatment of her vanquished enemies, and her laws upon
parental authority, upon slaves and debtors, show the
pitiless disposition of her people. Look at her citizens
at any period of her career-her populace or her consuls-in the field of battle or in the forum, you will
always find them the true descendants of those bloodstained refugees, who established their den of robbers
on the seven hills, and pretended they were led by a
man who had been suckled by a wolf. While conquest
was their object, this sanguinary disposition enabled
them to perform great exploits; but when victory had
secured to them the blessings of peace and safety, the
same thirst for excitement continued. They cried out
for blood in the amphitheatre, and had no pleasure in
any display which was not accompanied with pain. The
rival chief who had perilled their supremacy in the field
was led in ferocious triumph at the wheel of his conqueror, and beheaded or flogged to death at the gate of
the Capitol. The wounded gladiator looked round the
benches of the arena in hopes of seeing the thumbs of
the spectators turned down —the signal for his life being
spared; but matrons and maids, the high and the low,
looked with unmoved faces upon his agonies, and gave
the signal for his death without remorse. They were
the same people, even in their amusements, who gave
order for the destruction of:Numantium and Carthage.
But cruelty was not enough.  They sank into the
wildest vices of sensuality, and lost the dignity of manhood, and the last feelings of self-respect. Never was a
nation so easily habituated to slavery. They licked the
hand that struck them hardest. They hung garlands




HARSHNESS OF THE ROMANS.          113
for a long time on the tomb of Nero. They insisted on
being revenged on the murderers of Commodus, and
frequently slew more citizens in broils in the street and
quarrels in the theatre, than had fought at Cannm or
Zama. It might have been hoped that the cruelty
which characterized the days of their military aggression would be softened down when they had become
the acknowledged rulers of the world. Luxury itself,
it might be thought, would be inconsistent with the
sight of blood. But in this utterly detestable race the
two extremes of human society seemed to have the
same result. The brutal, half-clothed savage of an early
age conveyed his tastes as well as his conquests to the
enervated voluptuary of the empire. The virtues, such
as they were, of that former period-contempt of danger, unfaltering resolution, and a certain simplicity of
life-had departed, and all the bad features were exaggerated. Religion also had disappeared. Even a false
religion, if sincerely entertained, is a bond of union
among all who profess its faith. But between Rome
and its colonies, and between man and man, there was
soon no community of belief. The sweltering wretches
in the Forum sneered at the existence of Bacchus in
the midst of his mysteries, and imitated the actions of
their gods, while they laughed at the hypocrisy of
priests and augurs, who treated them as divine. A
cruel, depraved, godless people-these were the Romans
who had enslaved the world with their arms and corrupted it with their civilization. When their capital
fell, men felt relieved from a burden and shame. The
lessons of Christianity had been thrown away on a
population too gross and too truculent to receive them.
Some of gentler mould than others had received the
Saviour; but to the mass of Romans the language of
peace and justice, of forgiveness and brotherhood, was




114              FIFTH CENTURY.
unknown. It was to be the worthier recipients of a
pure and elevating faith, that the Goth was called from
his wilderness and the German from his forest.
But the faith had to be purified itself before it was
fitted for the reception of the new conquerors of the
world. The dissensions of the Christian Churches had
added only a fresh element of weakness to the empire
of Rome. There were heretics everywhere, supporting
their opinions with bigotry and violence-Arians, Sabellians, Montanists, and fifty names besides. Torn by
these parties, dishonoured by pretended conversions, the
result of flattery and ambition, the Christian Church
was further weakened by the effect of wealth and
luxury upon its chiefs. While contending with rival
sects upon some point of discipline or doctrine, they
made themselves so notorious for the desire of riches,
and the infamous arts they practised to get themselves
appointed heirs of the rich members of their congregations, that a law was passed making a conveyance in
favour of a priest invalid. And it is not from Pagan
enemies or heretical rivals we learn this-it is from the
letters still extant of the most honoured Fathers of the
Church. One of them tells us that the Prefect Prctextatus, alluding to the luxury of the Pontiffs, and to
the magnificence of their apparel, said to Pope Damasus,
"Make me Bishop of Rome, and I will turn Christian."
"Far, then," says a Roman Catholic historian of our
own day, "from strengthening the Roman world with
its virtues, the Christian society seemed to have adopted
the vices it was its office to overcome." [But the fall of
Roman power was the resurrection of Christianity. It
had a Resurrection, because it had had a Death, and a
new world was now prepared for its reception.  Its
everlasting truths, indeed, had been full of life and
vigour all through the sad period of Roman deprava



MONKS.                   115
tion, but the ground was unfitted for their growth; and
the great characteristic of this century is not the conquest of Rome by Alaric the Goth, or the dreadful
assault on Europe by Attila the Hun, or the final abolition of the old capital of the world by Odoacer the
Herulean, but rather the ecclesiastical chaos which
spread over the earth. The age of martyrs had passed
-the philosophers had begun their pestiferous tamperings with the facts of revelation-and over all rioted
and stormed an ambitious and worldly priesthood, who
hated their opponents with more bitterness than the
heathens had displayed against the Christians, and ran
wild in every species of lawlessness and vice. The
deserts and caves which used to give retreat to meditative worshippers or timid believers, now teemed with
thousands of furious and fanatical monksj who rushed
occasionally into the great cities of the empire, and filled
their streets with blood and rapine. Guided by no less
fanatical bishops, they spread murder and terror over
whole provinces. Alexandria stood in more fear of
these professed recluses than of an army of hostile
soldiers.  "There is a race," says Eunapius, "called
monks-men indeed in form, but hogs in life, who practise and allow abominable things. Whoever wears a
black robe, and is not ashamed of filthy garments, and
presents a dirty face to the public view, obtains a tyrannical authority."  False miracles, absurd prophecies,
and ludicrous visions were the instruments with which
these and other impostors established their power. Mad
enthusiasts imprisoned themselves in dungeons, or exposed themselves on the tops of pillars, naked, except
by the growth of their tangled hair, and the coating of
filth upon their persons,-and gained credit among the
ignorant for self-denial and abnegation of the world.
All the high offices of the Church were so lucra



116              FIFTH CENTURY.
tive and honourable as to be the object of universal
desire.
To be established archbishop of a diocese cost more
lives than the conquest of a province. When the Christian community needed support from without, they had
recourse to some rich or powerful individual, some
general of an army, or governor of a district, and begged
him to assume the pastoral staff in exchange for his
military sword. Sometimes the assembled crowd cried
out the name of a favourite who was not even known
to be a Christian, and the mitre was conveyed by acclamation to a person who had to undergo the ceremonies
of baptism and ordination before he could place it on
his head. Sometimes the exigencies of the congregation required a scholar or an orator for its head. It
applied to a philosopher to undertake its direction. He
objected that his philosophy had been declared inconsistent with the Christian faith, and his mode of life contrary to Christian precept. They forgave him his philo.
sophy, his horses and hounds, his wife and children,
and constituted him their chief. Age was of no consequence. A youth of eighteen has been saluted bishop
by a cry which seemed to the multitude the direct inspiration of Heaven, and seated in the chair of his dignity
almost without his knowledge. Once established on his
episcopal seat, he had no superier. The IRoman Bishop
had not yet asserted his supremacy over the Church.
Each prelate was sovereign Pontiff of his own see, and
his doctrines for a long time regulated the doctrines of
his flock. Under former bishops, Milan had been Arian,
under Ambrose it was orthodox, and with a change of
master might have been Arian again. The emperors had
occasionally interfered with their authoritative decisions,
but generally the dispute was left in divided dioceses
to be settled by argument, when the rivals' tempers




PERSECUTION.                 117
allowed such a mode of warfare, but more frequently
by armed bands of the retainers of the respective creeds,
and sometimes by an appeal to miracles. But with this
century a new spirit of bitterness was let loose upon
the Church. Councils were held, at which the doctrines
of the minority were declared dangerous to the State,
and the civil power was invoked to carry the sentence
into effect. In Africa, where the great name of Augustin
of iEippo admitted no opposition, the Donatists, though
represented by no less than two hundred and seventynine prelates;,,were condemned as heretics, and given
over to the persecuting sword. But in other quarters
the dissidents looked for support to the civil power, when
it happened to be of their opinion in Church affairs.
Rome chose Clovis, the politic and energetic Frank, for
its guardian and protector, and the Arians threw themselves in the same way on the support of the Visigoths
and Burgundians. A difference of faith became a pretext for war. Clovis, who envied his neighbours their
territories south of the Loire, led an expedition against
them, crying, "It is shameful to see those Arians in
possession of such goodly lands i" and everywhere a vast
activity was perceptible in the Church, because its
interests were now connected with those of kings and
peoples. In earlier times, discussions were carried on
on a great variety of doctrines which, though widely
spread, were not yet authoritatively declared to be
articles of faith. St. Jerome himself, and others, had
had to defend their opinions against the attacks of
various adversaries, who, without ceasing to be considered true members of the Church; wrote powerfully
against the worship of martyrs and their relics; against
the miracles professedly wrought at their tombs; against
fasting, austerities, and celibacy. No appeal was made
on those occasions either to the Bishop of Rome as




118:        FIFTH CENTURY.
head of the Church, or to the emperor as head of the
State. Now, however, the spirit of moderation was
banished, and the decrees of councils were considered
superior to private or even diocesan judgment. Life
and freedom of discussion were at an end under an
enforced and rigid uniformity. But the struggle lasted
through the century. It was the period of great convulsions in the State, and disputations, wranglings, and
struggle in the Church. How these, in a State tortured
by perpetual change, and a Church filled with energy
and fire, acted upon each other, may easily be supposed.
The doubtful and unsteady civil government had subordinated itself to the turbulent ardour of the perplexed
but highly-animated Church. After the conquest of
Rome, where was the barbaric conqueror to look for
any guide to internal unity, or any relic of the vanished
empire by which to connect himself with the past?
There was only the Church, which was now not only
the professed teacher of obedience, peace, and holiness,
but the only undestroyed institution of the State. The
old population of Rome had been wasted by the sword,
and famine, and deportation. The emperors of the West
had left the scene; the Roman Senate was no more.
There was but one authority which had any influence
on the wretched crowd who had returned to their
ancient capital, or sought refuge in its ruined palaces or
grass-grown streets from the pursuit of their foes; and
that was the Bishop of the Christian congregationwhose palace had been given to him by Constantinewho claimed already the inheritance of St. Peter-and
who carried to the new government either the support
of a willing people, or the enmity of a seditious mob.
D. 489.  A new hero came upon the scene in the person of Theodoric, the Ostrogoth. Odoacer tried
in vain to resist the two hundred thousand warriors of




THEODORIC.                 119
this tribe who poured upon Italy in 490, and, after a
long resistance in Ravenna, yielded the kingdom of
Italy to his rival. Theodoric, though an Arian, cultivated the good opinion of the orthodox, and gained the
favour of the Roman Bishop. Hie had almost a-superstitious veneration for the dignities of ancient Rome.
He treated with respect an assembly which called itself
the Senate, but did not allow his.love of antiquity to
blind him to the degeneracy of the present race. He
interdicted arms to all men of Roman blood, and tried
in vain to prevent his followers from using the appellation "Roman" as their bitterest form of contempt.
Lands were distributed to his followers, and they occupied and improved a full third of Italy. Equal laws
were provided for both populations, but he forbade the
toga and the schools to his countrymen, and left the
studies and refinements of life, and offices of civil dignity,
to the native race. The hand that holds the pen, he
said, becomes unfitted for the sword. But, barbarian
as he was called, he restored the prosperity which the
fairest region of the earth had lost under the emperors.
Bridges, aqueducts, theatres, baths, were repaired;
palaces and churches built. Agriculture was encouraged,
attempts were made to drain the Pontine Marshes; ironmines were worked in Dalmatia, and gold-mines in Bruttium. Large fleets protected the coasts of the Mediterranean from pirates and invaders. Population increased,
taxes were diminished; and a ruler who could neither
read nor write attracted to his court all the learned men
of his time. Already the energy of a new and enterprising people was felt to the extremities of his dominions. A new race, also, was established in Gaul. Klodwig, leader of the Franks, received baptism at the hands
of St. Remi in 496, and.began the great line of French
rulers, who, passing his name through the softened




120              FIFTHI CENTURY.
sound of Clovis, presented, in the different families who
succeeded him, eighteen kings of the name of Louis, as
if commemorative of the founder of the monarchy.
In England the petty kingdoms of the ileptarchy
were.in the course of formation, and though, when
viewed closely, we seemed a divided and even hostile
collection of individual tribes, the historian combines
the separate elements, and tells us that, before the fifth
century expired, another branch of the barbarians had
settled into form and order, and that the Anglo-Saxon
race had taken possession of its place.
With these newly-founded States rising with fresh
vigour from among the decayed and festering remains
of an older society, we look hopefully forward to what
the future years will show us.




SIXTH CENTURY.
Itingo of twe frantn,       impetorm  of tfe  Eagt
A.D.                         A.D.
CLOVIS.-(cont.)               ANASTASIUS.-(cont.)
511. CHILDEBERT, TEIEnRY, CLO- 518. JUSTIN.
TAIRE, CLODOMIR.
527. JUSTINIAN I.
559. CLOTAIRE (sole king).
565. JusTIN II.
562. CHARIBERT, GONTRAN, SI- 578. TIBERIUS.
GEBERT and CHILDERIC.
584. CLOTAIRE II., (of Soissons.).    RICE.
596. TRIERRY II., THEODOBERT,
(of Paris and Austrasia.)
B]ETHIUS, PROCOPIUS, GILDAS, GREGORY OF TOURS, COLUMBA,
(520-597,) PRISCIAN, COLUMBANUS, BENEDICT, EVAGRIUS, (SCHOLAS'
TICUS,) FULGENTIUS, GREGORY THE GREAT.








THE SIXTH CENTURY.
BELISARIUS AND NARSES IN ITALY-SETTLEMENT OF THE
LOMBARDS-LAWS OF JUSTINIAN —BIRTH OF MOHAMMED.
THEODORIC, though not laying claim  to universal
empire in right of his possession of Rome and Italy,
exercised a sort of supremacy over his contemporaries
by his wisdom and power. He also strengthened his
position by family alliances. His wife was sister of
Klodwig or Clovis, Kling of the Franks. He married
his own sister to Hunric, King of the Vandals, his niece
to the Thuringian king. One of his daughters he gave
to Sigismund, tKing of the [Burgundians, and the other
to Alaric the Second, King of the Visigoths. Relying
on the double influence which his relationship and reputation secured to him, he rebuked or praised the potentates of Europe as if they had been his children, and
gave them advice in the various exigencies of their
affairs, to which they implicitly submitted. He would
fain have kept alive what was left of the old Roman
civilization, and heaped honours on the Senator Cassiodorus, one of the last writers of Rome. "We send you
this man as ambassador," he said to the King of the
Burgundians, "that your people may no longer pretend
to be our equals when they perceive what manner of
men we have among us." But his rule, though generous, was strict. He imprisoned the Bishop of Rome
for disobedience of orders in a commission he had given
him, and repressed discontent and the quarrels of the
factions with an unsparing hand. But the death of this
123




124              SIXTH CENTURY.
great and wise sovereign showed on what unstable
foundations a barbaric power is built. Frightful tragedies were enacted in his family. His daughter was
murdered by her nephew, whom  she had associated
with her in the guardianship of her son. But vengeance overtook the wrong-doer, and a strange revolution
occurred in the history of the world. The emperor
reigning at Constantinople was the celebrated Justinian.
He saw into what a confused condition the affairs of the
new conquerors of Italy had fallen. Rallying round
him all the recollections of the past-giving command
of his armies to one of the great men who start up unexpectedly in the most hopeless periods of history,
whose name, Belisarius, still continues to be familiar to
our ears-and rousing the hostile nationalities to come
to his aid, he poured into the peninsula an army with
Roman discipline and the union which community of
AD. 535. interests affords. In a remarkably short space
of time, Belisarius achieved the conquest of
Italy. The opposing soldiers threw down their arms
at sight of the well-remembered eagles. The nations
threw off the supremacy of the Ostrogoths. Belisarius
had already overthrown the kingdom of the Vandals
and restored Africa to the empire of the East. He took
Naples, and put the inhabitants to the sword. He advanced upon Rome, which the Goths deserted at his
approach. The walls of the great city were restored,
and a victory over the fugitives at Perugia seemed to
secure the whole land to its ancient masters. But
Witig, the Ostrogoth, gathered courage from despair.
HIe besought assistance from the Franks, who had now
taken possession of Burgundy; and volunteers from all
quarters flocked to his standard, for he had promised
them the spoils of Milan. Milan was immensely rich,
aMnd had espoused the orthodox faith. The assailants




TOTILA.                   125
were Arians, and intent on plunder. Such destruction
had scarcely been seen since the memorable slaughter of
the Hluns at ChAlons on the Marne. The Ostrogoths and
Burgundian Franks broke into the town, and the streets
were piled up with the corpses of all the inhabitants.
There were three hundred thousand put to death, and
multitudes had died of famine and disease. The ferocity
was useless, and Belisarius was already on the march;
Witig was conquered, in open fight, while he was busy
besieging Rome; Ravenna itself, his capital, was taken,
and the Ostrogothic king was led in triumph along the
streets of Constantinople.
But the conqueror of the Ostrogoths fell into disfavour.D. 540.at court. H-e was summoned home, and a great
man, whom his presence in Italy had kept in
check, availed himself of his absence. Totila seemed
indeed worthy to succeed to the empire of his countryman Theodoric. lHe again peopled the utterly exhausted Rome; he restored its buildings, and lived
among the new-comrers himself, encouraging their efforts
to give it once more the appearance of the capital of the
world. But these efforts were in vain. There was no
possibility of reviving the old fiction of the identity of
the freshly-imported inhabitants and the countrymen of
Scipio and Coesar. Only one link was possible between
the old state of things and the new. It was strange
that it was left for the Christian Bishop to bridge over
the chasm that separated the Rome of the Consulship
and the Empire from the capital of the Goths. Yet so
it was. While the, short duration of the reigns of the
barbaric kings prevented the most sanguine from looking forward to the stability of any power for the future,
the immunity already granted to the clerical order, and
the sanctuary afforded, in the midst of the wildest excesses of siege and storm, by their shrines and churches,




126              SIXTH CENTURY.
had affixed a character of inviolability and permanence
to the influence of the ecclesiastical chief. At Constan.
tinople, the presence of the sovereign, who affected a
grandeur to which the pretensions to divinity of the
Roman emperors had been modesty and simplicity, kept
the dignity of -the Bishop in a very secondary place.
But at Rome there was no one left to dispute his rank.
His office claimed a duratidn of upwards of four hundred
years; and though at first his predecessors had been
fugitives and martyrs, and even now his power had no
foundation except in the willing obedience of the members of his flock, the necessity of his position had forced
him to extend his claims beyond the mere requirements
of his spiritual rule. During the ephemeral occupations
of the city by Yandals and Hiuns and Ostrogoths, and
all the tribes who successively took possession of the
great capital, he had been recognised as the representative of the most influential portion of the inhabitants.
As it naturally followed that the higher the rank of a
ruler or intercessor was, the more likely his success
would be, the Christians of the orthodox persuasion had
the wisdom to raise their Bishop as high as they could.
Hie had stood between the devoted city and the liuns;
he had promised obedience or threatened resistance to
the Goths, according to the conduct pursued with regard
to his flock by the conquerors. He had also lent to
Belisarius all the weight of his authority in restoring
the power of the emperors, and from this time the
Bishop of Rome became a great civil as well as ecclesiastical officer. All parties in turn united in trying to
win him over to their cause-the Arian kings, by kindness and forbearance to his adherents; and the orthodox,
by increasing the rights and privileges of his see. And
already the policy of the Roman Pontiffs began to take
the path it has never deserted since. They looked out




END OF THE OSTROGOTHS.            127
in all quarters for assistance in their schemes of ambition
and conquest. Emissaries were despatched into many
nations to convert them, not from heathenism to Christianity, but from independence to an acknowledgment
of their subjection to Rome. It was seen already that
a great spiritual empire might be founded upon the
ruins of the old Roman world, and spread itself over the
perplexed and unstable politics of the barbaric tribes.
No means, accordingly, were left untried to extend the
conquests of the spiritual Caesar. When Clovis the
Frank was converted by the entreaties of his wife from
Arianism to the creed of the Roman Church, the ortho
dox bishops of France considered it a victory over
their enemies, though these enemies were their countrymen and neighbours. And from henceforth we find the
different confessions of faith to have more influence in
the setting up or overthrowing of kingdoms than the
strength of armies or the skill of generals. Narses,
who was appointed the successor of Belisarius, was a
believer in the decrees of the Council of Nice. HIis orthodoxy won him the support of all the orthodox iuns
and Heruleans and Lombards, who formed an army of
infuriated missionaries rather than of soldiers, and
gained to his cause the majority of the Ostrogoths
whom it was his task to fight. Totila in vain tried to
bear up against this invasion. The heretical Ostrogoths,
expelled from the towns by their orthodox fello6w-citizens,
and ill supported by the inhabitants of the lands they
traversed, were defeated in several battles; and at last,
when the resisting forces were reduced to the paltry
number of seven thousand men, their spirits broken by
defeat, and a continuance in Italy made useless by the
hostile feelings of the population, they applied to Narses
for some means of saving their lives. He furnished them
with vessels, which carried them from the lands which,




128              SIXTH CENTURY.
sixty years before, had been assigned them by the great
Theodoric, and they found an obscure termination to so
strange and checkered a career, by being lost and mingled
in the crowded populations of Constantinople. This was
in 553. The Ostrogoths disappear from history. The
Visigoths have still a settlement at the southwest of France
and in the rich regions of Spain, but they are isolated by
their position, and are divided into different branches.
The Franks are a great and seemingly well-cemented
race between the Rhine and the sea. The Burgundians
have a form of government and code of laws which keep
them distinct and powerful. There are nations rising
into independence in Germany. In England, Christianity has formed a bond which practically gives firmness and unity to the kingdoms of the HTeptarchy; and
it might be expect+ed that, having seen so many tribes
of strange and varying aspect emerge from the unknown
regions of the East, we should have little to do but
watch the gradual enlightenment of those various races,
and see them assuming, by slow degrees, their present
respective places; but the undiscovered extremities of
the earth were again to pour forth a swarm of invaders,
who plunged Italy back into its old state of barbarism
and oppression, and established a new people in the
midst of its already confused and intermixed populations.
Somewhere up between the Aller and the Oder there
had been settled, from some unknown period, a people
of wild and uncultivated habits, who had occasionally
appeared in small detachments in the various gatherings
of barbarians who had forced their way into the South.
Following the irresistible impulse which seems to impel
all the settlers in the North, they traversed the regions
already occupied by the Heruleans and the Gepides, and
paused, as all previous invasions had done, on the outer
boundary of the Danube. These were the Longobards




IRRUPTION OF THE LOMBARDS.           129
or Lombards, so called from  the spears, bardi, with
which they were armed; and not long they.required to
wait till a favourable opportunity occurred for them to
cross the stream. In the hurried levies of [Narses some
of them had offered their services, and had been present
at the victory over Totila the Goth. They returned, in
all probability, to their companions, and soon the hearts
of the whole tribe were set upon the conquest of the
beautiful region their countrymen had seen. If they
hesitated to undertake so long an expedition, two incidents occurred which made it indispensable. Flying in
wild fury and dismay from the face of a pursuing enemy,
the Avars, themselves a ferocious Asiatic horde which
had terrified the Eastern [Empire, came and joined themselves to the Lombards. With united forces, all their
tents, and wives and children, their horses and cattle,
this dreadful alliance began their progress to Italy. The
other incident was, that in revenge for the injustice of
his master, and dreading his further malice, Narses himself invited their assistance. Alboin, the [Lombard
king, was chief of the expedition. Hie had been refused
the hand of Rosamund, the daughter of Cunimond,
chief of the Gepides. IHe poured the combined armies
of Lombards and Avars upon the unfortunate tribe,
slew the king with his own hand, and, according to the
inhuman fashion of his race, formed his drinking-cup
of his enemy's skull. He married Rosamund, and pursued his victorious career. iHe crossed the Julian Alps,
made himself master of Milan and the dependent territories, and was lifted on the shield as King of Italy. At
a festival in honour of his successes, he forced his
favourite wine-goblet into the hands of his wife. She
recognised the fearful vessel, and shuddered while she
put her lips to the brim. But hatred took possession of
her heart. She promised her hand and throne to Kil



130              SIXTH CENTURY.
mich, one of her attendants, if he would take vengeance
on the tyrant who had offered her so intolerable a
wrong. The attendant was won by the bride, and slew
Alboin.  B3ut justice pursued the murderers.  They
were discovered, and fled to Ravenna, where the Exarch
held his court. Saved thus from  human retribution,
IRosamund brought her fate upon herself. Captivated
with the prospect of marrying the Exarch, she presented
a poisoned cup to Iilmich, now become her husband, as
he came from the bath. The effect was immediate, and
the agonies he felt told him too surely the author of his
death. IIe just lived long enough to stab the wretched.D. 575 woman with his dagger, and this frightful domestic tragedy was brought to a close.
Alboin had divided his dominion into many little
states and d-Lukedoms. A kind of anarchy succeeded
the strong government of the remorseless and clearsighted king, and enemies began to arise in different
directions.  The Franks from  the south of France
began to cross the Alps. The Greek settlements began
to menace the Lombards from the South. Internal disunion was quelled by the public danger, and Antharis,
the son of Cleph, was nominated king. To strengthen
himself against the orthodox Franks, he professed himself a Christian and joined the Arian communion. With
the aid of his co-religionists he repelled the invaders,
and had time, in the intervals of their assaults, to extend his conquests to the south of the peninsula. There
he overthrew the settlements which owned the Empire
of the East; and coming to the extreme end of Italy,
the savage ruler pushed his war-horse into the water as
deep as it would go, and, standing up in his stirrups,
threw forward his javelin with all his strength, saying,
" That is the boundary of the Lombard power."  Unhappily for the unity of that distracted land, the war



LOMBARD POLITY.               131
rior's boast was unfounded, and it has continued ever
since a prey to discord and division. Another kingdom,
however, was added to the roll of European states; and
AD. 591. this was the last settlement permanently made
on the old Roman territory.
The Lombards were a less civilized horde than any
of their predecessors. The Ostrogoths had rapidly assimilated themselves to the people who surrounded
them, but the Lombards looked with haughty disdain
on.the population they had subdued. By portioning
the country among the chiefs of the expedition, theycommenced the first experiment on a great scale of
what afterwards expanded into the feudal system.
There were among them, as among the other northern
settlers, an elective king and an hereditary nobility,
owing suit and service to their chief, and exacting the
same from their dependants; and already we see the
working of this similarity of constitution in the diffusion
throughout the whole of Europe of the monarchical and
aristocratic principle, which is still the characteristic of
most of our modern states. From this century some
authors date the origin of what are called the "1 Middle
Ages," forming the great and obscure gulf between
ancient and modern times. Others, indeed, wish to fix
the commencement of the Middle Ages at a much
earlier date-even so far back as the reign of Constantine. They found this inclination on the fact that to
him we are indebted for the settlement of barbarians
within the empire, and the institution of a titled nobility
dependent on the crown. But many things were needed
besides these to constitute the state of manners and
polity which we recognise as those of the Middle Ages,
and above them all the establishment of the monarchical
principle in ecclesiastical government, and the recogni



'132              SIXTH CENTURIY.
tion of a sovereign priest. This was now close at hand,
and its approach was heralded by many appearances.
How, indeed, could the Church deprive itself of the
organization which it saw so powerful and so successful
in civil affairs? A machinery was all ready to produce
an exact copy of the forms of temporal administration.
There were bishops to be analogous to the great feucldataries of the crown; priests and rectors to represent the
smaller freeholders dependent on the greater barons;
but where was the monarch by whom the whole system
was to be combined and all the links of the great chain
held together by a point of central union? The want
of this had been so felt, that we might naturally have
expected a claim to universal superiority to have long
ere this been made by a Pope of Rome, the ancient seat
of the temporal power. B]ut with his residence perpetually a prey to fresh inroads, a heretical king merely
granting him toleration and protection, the pretension
would have been too absurd dulring the troubles of Italy,
and it was not advanced for several years. The necessity of the case, however, was such, that a voice was
heard from another quarter calling for universal obedience, and this was uttered by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Rome, we must remember, had by this time
lost a great portion of her ancient fame. It was reserved for this wonderful city to rise again into all her
former grandeur, by the restoration of learning and the
knowledge of what she had been. At this period all
that was known of her by the ignorant barbarians was,
that she was a fresh-repaired and half-peopled town,
which had been sacked and ruined five times within a
century, that her inhabitants were collected from all
parts of the world, and that she was liable to a repetition of her former misfortunes. They knew nothing
of the great men who had raised her to such pre-eminence.




GREGORY TIHE GREAT.              133
She had sunk even from being the capital of Italy, and
could therefore make no -intelligible claim to be considered the capital of the world. Constantinople, on
the other hand, which, by our system of education, we
are taught to look upon as a very modern creation
compared with the Rome of the old heroic ages of the
kings and consuls, was at that period a magnificent metropolis, which had been the seat of government for
three hundred years. The majesty of the Roman name
had transferred itself to that new locality, and nothing
was more natural than that the Patriarch of the city of
Constantine, wvhich had been imperial from its origin,
and had never been defiled by the presence of a Pagan
temple, should claim  for himself and his see a preeminence both in power and holiness. Accordingly, a
demand was made in 588 for the recognition throughout
the Christian world of the universal headship of the
bishopric of Constantinople. But at that time there
was a bishop of Rome, whom his successors have gratefully dignified with the epithet of Great, who stood up
in defence, not of his own see only, but of all the bishoprics in Europe. Gregory published, in answer to the
audacious claim of the Eastern patriarch, a vigorous
protest, in which these remarkable words occur:-" This
I declare with confidence, that whoso designates himself
Universal Priest, or, in the pride of his heart, consents
to be so named  he is the forerunner of Antichrist." It
was therefore to Rome, on the broad ground of the
Christian equality of all the chief pastors of the Church,
that we owe this solemn declaration against the pretensions of the ambitious John of Constantinople.
But Constantinople itself was about to fade from the
minds of men. Dissatisfied with the opposition to its
supremacy, the Eastern Church became separated in
interest and discipline and doctrine from its Western




13 4             SIXTH CENTURY.
branch. The intercourse between the two was hostile,
and in a short time nearly ceased. The empire also
was so deeply engaged in defending its boundaries
against the Persians and other enemies in Asia, that
it took small heed of the proceedings of its late depeldencies, the newly-founded kingdoms in Europe. It
is probable that the refined and ostentatious court of
Justinian, divided as it was into fanatical parties about
some of the deepest and some of the most unimportant
mysteries of the faith, and contending with equal bitterness about the charioteers of the amphitheatre according as their colours were green or blue, looked with profound contempt on the struggles after better government and greater enlightenment of the rabble of Franks,
and Lombards, and iBnrgundians, who had settled themselves in the distant lands of the West. The interior
regulations of Justinian formned a strange contrast with
the grandeur and success of his foreign policy. By his
lieutenants Belisarius and Narses, he had reconquered
the lost inheritance of his predecessors, and held in full
sovereignty for a while the fertile shores of Africa,
rescued from the debasing hold of the Vandals; he had
cleared Italy of Ostrogoths, Spain even had yielded an
unwilling obedience, and his name was reverenced in
the great confederacy of the Germanic peoples who
held the lands from the Atlantic eastward to Hungary,
and from Marseilles to the mouth of the Elbe. But his
home was the scene of every weakness and wickedness
that can disgrace the name of man. Kept in slavish
submission to his wife, he did not see, what all the rest
of the world saw, that she was the basest of her sex,
and a disgrace to the place he gave her. Beginning as
a dancer at the theatre, she passed through every grade
of infamy and vice, till the name of Theodora became a
synonym for every thing vile and shameless. Yet this




JUSTINIAN S LAW-REFORM.           135
man, successful in war and politic in action, though contemptible in private life, had the genius of a legislator,
and left a memorial of his abilities which extended its
influence through all the nations which succeeded to
any portion of the Roman dominion, and has shaped
and modified the jurisprudence of all succeeding times.
Ile was not so much a maker of new laws, as a restorer
and simplifier of the old; and as the efforts of Justinian
in this direction were one of the great features by which
the sixth century is distinguished, it will be useful to
devote a page or two to explain in what his work consisted.
The Roman laws had become so numerous and so
contradictory that the administration of justice was
impossible, even where the judges were upright and
intelligent. The mere word of an emperor had been
considered a decree, and legally binding for all future
time. No lapse of years seems to have brought a law
once promulgated into desuetude. The people, therefore, groaned under the uncertainty of the statutes,
which was further increased by the innumerable glosses
or interpretations put upon them by the lawyers. All
the decisions which had ever been given by the fifty-four
emperors, from Adrian to Justinian, were in full force.
All the commentaries made upon them by advocates
and judges, and all the sentences delivered in accordance with them, were contained in thousands of volumes;
and the result was, when Justinian came to the throne
in 526, that there was no point of law on which any
man could be sure. He employed the greatest juriscon.
sults of that time, Trebonian and others, to bring some
order into the chaos; and such was the diligence of the
commissioners, that in fourteen months they produced
527 the Justinian Code in twelve books, containing a
condensation of all previous constitutions. In




136              SIXTH CENTURY.
the course of seven years, two hundred laws and fifty
judgments were added by the emperor himself, and a
new edition of the Code was published in 534. Under
the name of Institutes appeared a new manual for the
A.D. 533. legal students in the great schools of Constantinople, Berytus, and Rome, where the principles
of Roman law are succinctly laid down. The third of
his great works was one for the completion of which he
gave Trebonian and his assessors ten years. It is called
the Digest or Pandects of Justinian, because in it were
digested, or put in order in a general collection, the best
decisions of the courts, and the opinions and treatises
of the ablest lawyers. All previous codes were ransacked, and two thousand volumes of legal argument
condensed; and in three years the indefatigable lawreformers published their work, wherein three million
leading judgments were reduced to a hundred and fifty
thousand. Future confusion wes guarded against by a
commandment of the emperor abolishing all previous
laws and making it penal to add note or comment to
the collection now completed. The sentences delivered
by the emperor, after the appearance of the Pandects,
were published under the name of the Novelle; and
with this great clearing-out of the Augean stable of
ancient law, the salutary labours of Trebonian came to
a close. In those laws are to be seen both the virtues
and the vices of their origin. They sprang from the
wise liberality of a despot, and handle the rights of subjects, in their relation to each other, with the equanimity and justice of a power immeasurably raised above
them all. But the unlimited supremacy of the ruler is
maintained as the sole foundation for the laws themselves. So we see in these collections, and in the spirit
which they have spread over all the codes which have
t:aken them for their model, a combination of humanity




MOHAMMED.                   1387
and probity in the civil law, with a tendency to exalt
to a ridiculous excess the authority of the governing
power.
This has been a century of wonderful revolutions.
We have seen the kingdom of the Ostrogoths take the
lead in Europe under the wise government of Theodoric
the Great. We have seen it overthrown by an army of
very small size, consisting of the very forces they had
so recently triumphed over in every battle; and finally,
after the victories over them of Belisarius and Narses,
we have seen the last small remnant of their name removed from Italy altogether and eradicated from history for all future time. But, strange as this reassertion
of the Greek supremacy was, the rapidity of its overthrow was stranger still. A new people came upon the
stage, and established the Lombard power. The empire
contracted itself within its former narrow bounds, and
kept up the phantom of its superiority merely by the
residence of an Exarch, or provincial governor, at
Ravenna. The fiction of its power was further maintained by the Emperor's official recognition of certain
rulers, and his ratification of the election of the Roman
bishops. But in all essentials the influence had departed
from Constantinople, and the Western monarchies were
separated from the East.
In the Northwest, the confederacy of the Franks,
which had consolidated into one immense and powerful
kingdom  under Clovis, became separated, weakened,
and converted into open enemies under his degenerate
successors.
But as the century drew to a close, a circumstance
occurred, far away from the scene of all these proceedings, which had a greater influence on human affairs
than the reconquest of Italy or the establishment of
France. This was the marriage of a young man in a




138              SIXTH CENTURY.
town of Arabia with the widow of his former master.
In 564 this young man was born in iMiecca, where his
family had long held the high office of custodiers and
guardians of the famous Caaba, which was popularly
believed to be the stone that covered the grave' of
Abraham. [But when he was still a child his father
died, and he was left to the care of his uncle. The
simplicity of the Arab character is shown in the way in
which the young noble was brought up. Abu Taleb
initiated him in the science of war and the mysteries of
commerce. He managed his horse and sword like an
accomplished cavalier, and followed the caravan as a
merchant through the desert. Gifted with a high poetical temperament, and soaring above the grovelling
superstitions of the people surrounding him, he used
to retire to meditate on the great questions of man's
relation to his Maker, which the inquiring mind can
never avoid. Meditation led to excitement. He saw
visions and dreamed dreams. He saw great things
before him, if he could become the leader and lawgiver
of his race. But he was poor and unknown. His mistress Cadijah saw the aspirations of her noble servant,
and offered him her hand. HEe was now at leisure to
mature the schemes of national regeneration and religious improvement which had occupied him so long,
and devoted himself more than ever to study and contemplation. This was Mohammed, the Prophet of
Islam, who retired in 594 to perfect his scheme, and
whose empire, before many years elapsed, extended from
India to Spain, and menaced Christianity and Europe
at the same time from the Pyrenees and the Danube.




SEVENTH CENTURY.
tugn   of tfle S:rautn.   Emperoms  of twe iEamt.
A.D.                         A.D.
THIERRY II. and THEODO-      MAURIcE —(cont.)
BERT II.-(cont.)      602. PHOCAS.
614. CLOTAIRE III. (sole king.) 611. HERACLIUS.
628. DAGOBERT and  CnARI- 641. CONSTANTINE, (and
BERT.                        others.)
638. SIGEBERT and CLOVIS II.  642. CONSTANS.
654. CHILDERIC II.           668. CONSTANTIUS V.
679. THIERRY IV.             685. JUSTINIAN II.
692. CLOVIS III.  (PEPIN,    695. LEONTIUS.
Mayor.)               697. TIBERIUS.
695. CHILDEBERT III. (do.)
NE.NNUS, (620,)BEDE, (674 —735,) ALDHELM, ADMNAltNUS.
NENNLUS, (620,) BEDE, (674-735,) ALDRELM, ADAMNANUS.








THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
POWER OF ROME SUPPORTED BY THE MONKS-CONQUESTS
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS.
THIS, then, is the century during which Mohammedanism and Christianity were marshalling their forces
-unknown, indeed, to each other, but preparing, according to their respective powers, for the period when they
were to be brought face to face. We shall go eastward,
and follow the triumphant march of the warriors of the
Crescent from Arabia to the shores of Africa; but first
we shall cast a desponding eye on the condition and,
prospects of the kingdoms of the West. Conquest,
spoliation, and insecurity had done their work. Wave
after wave had passed over the surface of the old Roman
State, and obliterated almost all the landmarks of the
ancient time. The towns, to be sure, still remained, but
stripped of their old magnificence, and thinly peopled by
the dispossessed inhabitants of the soil, who congregated together for mutual support. Trade was carried
on, but subject to the exactions, and sometimes the
open robberies, of the avaricious chieftains who bad
reared their fortresses on the neighbouring heights.
Large tracts of country lay waste and desolate, or were
left to the happy fertility of nature in the growth of
spontaneous woods. Marshes were formed over whole
districts, and the cattle picked up an uncertain existence by browsing over great expanses of poor and unenclosed land. These flocks and herds were guarded by
hordes of armed serfs, who camped beside them on the
141




142             SEVENTH CENTURY.
fields, and led a life not unlike that of their remote
ancestors on the steppes of Tartary. A man's wealth
was counted by his retainers, and there was no supreme
authority to. keep the dignitaries, even of the same
tribe, from warring on each' other and wasting their
rival's country with fire and sword. Agriculture, therefore, was in the lowest state, and famines, plagues, and
other concomitants of want were common in all parts
of Europe. One beautiful exception must be made to
this universal neglect of agriculture, in favour of the.
Benedictine monks, established in various parts of Italy
and Gaul in the course of the preceding century. Religious reverence was a surer safeguard to those lowly
men than castles or armour could have been.  No
marauder dared to trespass on lands which were under
the protection of priest and bishop. And these Western
recluses, far from imitating the slothful uselessness of
the Eastern monks, turned their whole attention to the
cultivation of the soil. In this they bestowed a double
benefit on their fellow-men, for, in addition to the positive improvement of the land, they rescued labour from
the opprobrium into which it had fallen, and raised it to
the dignity of a religious duty. Slavery, we have seen,
was universally practised in all the conquered territories,
and as only the slaves were compelled to the drudgeries
of the field, the work itself borrowed a large portion of
the degradation of the unhappy beings condemned to
it; and robbery, pillage, murder, and every crime, were
considered far less derogatory to the dignity of free
Frank or Burgundian than the slightest touch of the
mattock or spade.  How  surprised, then, were the
haughty countrymen and descendants of Clovis or
Alboin to see the revered hands from which they believed the highest blessings of Heaven to flow, employed
in the daily labour of digging, planting, sowing, reaping,




AGRICULTURE.                 143
thrashing, grinding, and baking! At first they looked
incredulously on. Even the monks were disposed to
consider it no part of their conventual duties. But the
founder of their institution wrote to them, " to beware
of idleness, as the greatest enemy of the soul," and not
to be uneasy if at any time the cares of the harvest
hindered them from their formal readings and regulated
prayers. "1No person is ever more usefully employed
than when working with his hands or following the
plough, providing food for the use of man." And the
effects of these exhortations were rapidly seen. Wherever a monastery was placed, there were soon fertile
fields all round it, and innumerable stacks of corn. Generally chosen with a view to agricultural pursuits, we
find sites of abbeys at the present day which are the
perfect ideal of a working farm; for long after the outburst of agricultural energy had expired among the
monks of St. Benedict, the choice of situation and knowledge of different soils descended to the other ecclesias-'
tical establishments, and skill in agriculture continued
at all times a characteristic of the religious orders. What
could be more enchanting than the position of their
monastic homes? Placed on the bank of some beautiful
river, surrounded on all sides by the low flat lands enriched by the neighbouring waters, and protected by
swelling hills where cattle are easily fed, we are too
much in the habit of attributing the selection of so
admirable a situation to the selfishness of the portly
abbot. When the traveller has admired the graces of
Melrose or of Tintern-the description applies equally
to almost all the foundations of an early date-and has
paid due attention to the chasteness of the architecture,
and beauty of "the long-resounding aisle and fretted
vault," he sometimes contemplates with a sneer the
matchless charm of the scenery, and exceeding richness




144             SEVENTH CENTURY.
of the haugh or strath in which the building stands.
"Ah," he says, "they were knowing old gentlemen,
those monks and priors. They had fish in the river, fat
beeves upon the meadow, red-deer on the hill, ripe corn
on the water-side, a full grange at Christmas, and snowy
sheep at midsummer." And so they had, and deserved
them all. The head of that great establishment was
not wallowing in the fat of the land to the exclusion of
envious baron or starving churl. He was, in fact, setting them an example which it would have been wise
in them to follow. He merely chose the situation most
fitted for his purpose, and bestowed his care on the
lands which most readily yielded him his reward. It
was not necessary for the monks in those days to seek
out some neglected corner, and to restore it to cultivation, as an exercise of their ingenuity and strength.
They were free to choose from one end of Europe to the
other, for the whole of it lay useless and comparatively
barren. But when these able-bodied recluses, if such
they may be called, had shown the results of patient
industry and skill, the peasants, who had seen their
labours, or occasionally been employed to assist them,
were able to convey to their lay proprietors or masters
the lessons they had received. And at last something
venerable was thought to reside in the act of farming
itself. It was so uniformly found an accompaniment of
the priestly character, that it acquired a portion of its
sanctity, and the rude Lombard or half-civilized Frank
looked with a kind of awe upon waving corn and rich
clover, as if they were the result of a higher intelligence and purer life than he possessed.  Even the
highest officers in the Church were expected to attend
to these agricultural conquests. In this century we
find, that when kings summoned bishops to a council, or
an archbishop called his brethren to a conference, care




ADVANTAGES OF THE CHURCH.           145
was taken to fix the time of meeting at a season which
did not interfere with the labours of the farm. Privileges naturally followed these beneficial labours. The
kings, in their wondering gratitude, surrounded the
monasteries with fresh defences against the envy or
enmity of the neighbouring chiefs. Their lands became
places of sanctuary, as the altar of the Church had been.
Freedmen-that is, persons manumitted from slavery,
but not yet endowed with property-were everywhere
put under the protection of the clergy. Immunities
were heaped upon them, and methods found out of
making them' a separate and superior race. At the
Council of Paris, in 613, it was decreed that the priest
who offended against the common law should be tried
by a mixed court of priests and laymen. But soon this
law, apparently so just, was not considered enough, and
the trial of ecclesiastics was given over to the ecclesiastical tribunals, without the admixture of the civil
element. Other advantages followed from time to time.
The Church was found in all the kingdoms to be so useful as the introducer of agriculture, and the preserver
of what learning had survived the Roman overthrow,
that the ambitious hierarchy profited by the royal and
popular favour. They were the most influential, or perhaps it would be more just to say they were the only,
order in the State. There was a nobility, but it was
jarring and disunited; there were citizens, but they
were powerless and depressed; there was a king, but he
was but the first of the peers, and stood in dignified isolation where he was not subordinate to a combination of
the others. The clergy, therefore, had no enemy or
rival to dread, for they had all the constituents of
power which the other portions of the population wanted.
Their property was more secure; their lands were
better cultivated; they were exempt from many of




146             SEVENTH CENTURY.
the dangers and burdens to which the lay barons were
exposed; they were not liable to the risks and losses of
private war; they had more intelligence than their
neighbours, and could summon assistance, either in
advice, or support, or money, from the farthest extremity of Europe. Nothing, indeed, added more, at
the commencement of this century, to the authority of
those great ecclesiastical chieftains, than the circumstance that their interests were supported, not only by
their neighbouring brethren, but by mitred abbot and
lordly bishop in distant lands. If a prior or his monks
found themselves ill used on the banks of the Seine,
their cause was taken up by all other monks and priors
wherever they were placed. And the rapidity of their
intercommunication was extraordinary. Each monastery seems to have had a number of active young
brethren who traversed the wildest regions with letters
or messages, and brought back replies, almost with the
speed and regularity of an established post. A convent
on Lebanon was informed in a very short time of what
had happened in Provence-the letter from the Western
abbot was read and deliberated on, and an answer intrusted to the messenger, who again travelled over the
immense tract lying between, receiving hospitality at
the different religious establishments that occurred upon
his way, and everywhere treated with the kindness of a
brother. Monasteries in this way became the centres
of news as well as of learning, and for many hundred
years the only people who knew any thing of the state
of feeling in foreign nations, or had a glimpse of the
mutual interests of distant kingdoms, were the cowled
and gowned individuals who were supposed to have
given up the world and to be totally immersed in penances and prayers. What could IHereweg of the strong
thand do against a bishop or abbot, who could tell at any




CORRUPTION.                 147
hour what were the political designs of conquerors or
kings in countries which the astonished warrior did not
know even by name; who retained by traditionary
transmission the politeness of manner and elegance of
accomplishment which had characterized the best period
of the Roman power, when Christianized noblemen, on
being promoted to an episcopal see, had retained the
delicacies of their former life, and wrote love-songs as
graceful as those of Catullus, and epigrams neither so
witty nor so coarse as those of ZMartial? Intelligence
asserted its superiority over brute force, and in this century the supremacy of the Church received its accomplishment in spite of the depravation of its principles.
It gained in power and sank in morals. A hundred
years of its beneficial action had made it so popular and
so powerful that it fell into temptations, from which
poverty or unpopularity would have kept it free. The
sixth century was the period of its silent services, its
lower officers endearing themselves by useful labour, and
its dignitaries distinguishing themselves by learning and
zeal. In the seventh century the fruit of all those virtues
was to be gathered by very different hands. Ambitious
contests began between the different orders composing
the gradually rising hierarchy, from the monk in his
cell to the Bishop of Rome or Constantinople on their
pontifical thrones. It is very sad, after the view we
have taken of the early benefits bestowed on many
nations by the labours and example of the priests and
monks, to see in the period we have reached the total
cessation of life and energy in the Church;-of life and
energy, we ought to say, in the fulfilment of its duties;
for there was no want of those qualities in the gratification of its ambition. Forgetful of what Gregory had
pronounced the chief sign of Antichrist, when he opposed the pretension of his rival metropolitan to call




148            SEVENTH CENTURY.
himself Universal Bishop, the Bishops of Rome were
deterred by no considerations of humility or religion
from establishing their temporal power. Up to this
time they had humbly received the ratification of their
election from the Emperors of the East, whose subjects
they still remained. But the seat of their empire was
far off, their power was a tradition of the past, and
great thoughts came into the hearts of the spiritual
chiefs, of inroads on the territory of the temporal rulers.
In this design they looked round for supporters and
allies, and with a still more watchful eye on the quarters
from which opposition was to be feared. The bishops as
a body had fallen not only into contempt but hatred.
One century had sufficed to extinguish the elegant
scholarship I have mentioned, at one time characteristic
of the Christian prelates. Ignorance had become the
badge of all the governors of the Church-ignorance
and debauchery, and a tyrannical oppression of their
inferiors. The wise old man in Rome saw what advantage he might derive from this, and took the monks
under his peculiar protection, relieved them from the
supervision of the local bishop, and made them immediately dependent on himself. By this one stroke he
gained the unflinching support of the most influential
body in Europe. Wherever they went they held folth
the Pope as the first of earthly powers, and began
already, in the enthusiasm of their gratitude, to speak
of him as something more than mortal. To this the
illiterate preachers and prelates had nothing to reply.
They were sunk either in the grossest darkness, or involved in the wildest schemes of ambition, bishoprics
being even held by laymen, and by both priest and laymen used as instruments of advancement and wealth.
From these the Pontiff on the Tiber, whose weaknesses
and vices were unknown, and who was held up for




GRANTS OF -LAND.              149
invidious contrast with the bishops of their acquaintance
by the libellous and grateful monks, had nothing to
fear. He looked to another quarter in the political sky,
and perceived with satisfaction that the kingly office also
had fallen into contempt. Ilaving lost the first impulse
which carried it triumphantly over the dismembered
Roman world, and made it a tower of strength in the
hands of warriors like Theodoric the Goth and Clovis the
Frank, it had forfeited its influence altogether in the pitiful
keeping of the bloodthirsty or do-nothing kings who had
submitted to the tutelage of the Mayors of the Palace.
One of the great supports of the royal influence was
the fiction of the law by which all lands were supposed
to hold of the Crown. As in ancient days, in the German or Scythian deserts, the ambitious chieftain had
presented his favourite with spear or war-horse in token
of approval, so in the early days of the conquest of
Gaul, the leader had presented his followers with tracts
of- land. The war-horse, under the old arrangement,
died, and the spear became rotten; but the land was
subject neither to death nor decay. What, then, was to
become of the warrior's holding when he died? On this
question, apparently so personal to the barbaric chiefs
of the time of Dagobert of Gaul, depended the whole
course of European history. The kings claimed the
power of re-entering on the lands in case of the demise
of the proprietor, or even in case of his rebellion or disobedience. The Leud, as he was called-or feudatory,
as he would have been named at a later time-disputed
this, and contended for the perpetuity and inalienability
of the gift. It is easy to perceive who were the winners
in this momentous struggle. From the success of the
leuds arose the feudal system, with limited monarchies
and national nobilities. The success of the kings would
have resulted in despotic thrones and enslaved popula



150             SEVENTH CENTURY.
tions. Foremost in the struggle for the royal supremacy
had been the famous and unprincipled Brunehild, a
woman more resembling the unnatural creation of a
romance than a real character. She had succeeded at
one time in subordinating the leuds, by exterminating
the recusants with remorseless cruelty; and her triumph
might have been final and irrevocable if she had not
had the bad luck or impolitic hardihood to offend the
Church. The Abbot Columba, a holy man from the fardistant island of Iona in the Hebrides of Scotland, had
ventured to upbraid her with her crimes. She banished
him from the Abbey of Luxeuil with circumstances of
peculiar harshness, and there was no hope for her more.
The leuds she might have overcome singly, for they
were disunited and scattered; but now there was not a
monastery in Europe which did not side with her foes.
Clotaire, her grandson, marched against her at the instigation of priests and lends combined. She was conquered and taken. She was tortured for three days
with all the ingenuity of hatred, and on the fourth was
tied to the tails of four wild horses and torn to pieces,
though the mother, sister, daughter, of kings, and now
more than eighty years of age. And this brings us to
the institution and use of the strange officers we have
already named Mayors of the Palace.
To aid them in their efforts against the royal assumptions, the lends long ago had elected one of themselves
to be domestic adviser of the king, and also to command
the armies in war. This soon became the recognised
right of the Mayor of the Palace; and as in that state
of society the wars were nearly perpetual, and bearers
of arms the only wielders of power, the person invested
with the command was in reality the supreme authority
in the State. When the king happened to be feeble
either in body or mind, the mayor supplied his place,




POPULAR GOVERNMENTS.              51
without even the appearance of inferiority; and when
Dagobert, the last active member of the MIerovingian
family, died in 638, his successors were merely the
nominal holders of the Crown. A new race rose into
importance, and it will not be very long before we meet
the hereditary Mayors of' the Palace as hereditary
Kings of the Franks. Here, then, was the whole of
Europe heaving with some inevitable change. It will
be interesting to look at the position of its different
parts before they settled into their new relations. The
constitutions of the various kingdoms were very nearly
alike at this time. There were popular assemblies in
every nation. In France they were called the " Fields
of MSay" or of "IVMarch," in England the "Wittenagemot," in Spain the " Council of Toledo."  These meetings consisted of the freemen and landholders and bishops.
But it was soon found inconvenient for the freemen and
smaller proprietors to attend,. in consequence of the
length of the journey and the miserable condition of the
roads; and the nobles and bishops were the sole persons
who represented the State. The nobles held a parallel
rank to each other in all countries, though called by
different names. In France, a person in possession of
any office connected with the court, or of lands presented by the Crown, was called a leud or entrustion,
a count or companion, or vassal. In England he was
called a royal thane. The lower order of freemen were
called herimans, or inferior thanes; in Latin liberi, or
more simply, boni homines, good men. Below these were
the Rodmans, or old inhabitants of the country; below
these, the serfs or bondmen attached to the soil; and far
down, below them all, out of all hope or consideration,
the slaves, who were the mere chattels of their lords.
This, then, was the constitution of European society
when the Arabian conquests began-at the head of the




152                    SEVENTH CENTURY.
nation the King, at the head of the people the Church;
the  nobles followed  according  to their birth or power;
the freemen, whether citizens engaged in the first infant
struggles of trade, or occupying a farm, came next; and
the  wretched  catalogue was  ended  by  the  despoiled
serf, from  whom  every thing, even his property in himself, had been  taken  away.   There  were  laws for the
protection or restraint of each of these orders, and we
may  gather an  idea of the ranks they  held in public
estimation by the following table of the price of blood:Sols.
For the murder of a freeman, companion, or leud of the king,
killed in his palace by an armed band............................. 1800
A duke-among the B3avarians, a bishop................................ 960
A relation of a duke..................................................  640
The king's lend, a count, a priest, a judge............................. 600
A   deacon.......................................................  500
A freeman, of the Salians or Ripuarians................................. 200
A freeman, of the other tribes......................................  160
The slave-a good workman in gold......................................  100
The man of middle station, a colon, or good workman in silver... 100
The freedman.....................................................................  80
The slave, if a barbarian-that is, of the conquering tribe.........  55
The slave, a workman in iron.........................................   50
The serf of the Church or the king.......................................  45
The  swineherd..................................................................  30
The slave, among the Bavarians...........................................   20
Distinctions of dress pointed out still more clearly the
difference of rank and station. The principal variety,
however, was the method of wearing the hair. The
chieftain among the Franks considered the length  and
profusion of his locks as the mark of his superiority.
His broad flowing tresses were divided up the middle
of his head, and floated over his shoulders. They were
curled  and  oiled-not with  common  butter, like  some
other nations, says an author quoted by Chateaubriand;
not twisted  in  little plaits, like those of the Goths, but




DIFFERENCES OF RANK.             153
carefully combed out to their full luxuriance.  The
common soldier, on the other hand, wore his hair long
in front, but trimmed close behind. They swore by
their hair as the most sacred of their oaths) and offered
a tress to the Church on returning from a successful
war. From this peculiar consideration given to the
hair arose the custom, still prevalent, of shaving the
heads of ecclesiastics. They were the serfs of God, and
sacrificed their locks in token that they were no longer
free. When a chief was dishonoured, when a king was
degraded, when a rival was to be rendered incapable of
opposition, he was not, as in barbarous countries, put to
death: he was merely made bald. No amount of popularity, no degree of right, could rouse the people in support of a person whose head was bare. When his hair
grew again, he might again become formidable; but the
scissors were always at hand. A tyrannical king clipped
his enemies' hair, instead of taking off their heads.
They were condemned to the barber instead of the executioner, and sometimes thought the punishment more
severe. The sons of Clothilde sent an emissary to her,
bearing in his hand a sword and a pair of scissors.
"O queen," he said, "your sons, our masters, wish to
know whether you will have your grandchildren slain
or clipped." The queen paused for a moment, and then
said, "If my grandchildren are doomed not to mount
the throne, I would rather have them dead than hairless."
Distinguished thus from the lower orders, the nobility
soon found that their interests differed from those of the
Church. The Church placed itself at the head of the democracy in opposition to the overweening pretensions
of the chiefs. It opened its ranks to the conquered
races, and invested even the converted serf with dignitics which placed him  above the level of Thane or




154             SEVENTH CENTURY.
Count. The head of the Western Church, now by
general consent recognisedl in the Bishop of Rome, was
not slow to see the advantage of his position as leader
of a combination in favour of the million. The doctrine
of the equality of all men in the sight of Ileaven was
easily commuted into a demand of universal submission
to the ioly See; and so wide was the range given to
this claim to obedience that it embraced the proudest
of the nobles and haughtiest of kings. It was a satisfaction to the slave in his dungeon to hear that the
great man in his castle had been forced to do homage to
the Church. There was one earthly power to which
the oppressed could look up with the certainty of support. It was this intimate persuasion in the minds of
the people which gave such undying vigour to the
counsels and pretensions of the ecclesiastical power. It
was a power sprung from the people, and exercised for
the benefit of the people. The Popes themselves were
generally selected from the lowest rank. But what did
it matter to the man who led the masses of the trampled
nations, and stood as a shield between them and their
tyrants, whether he claimed relationship with emperors
or slaves? What did it matter, on the other hand, to
those hoping and trusting multitudes, whether the object
of their confidence was personally a miracle of goodness
and virtue, or a monster of sin and cruelty?  It was his
office to trample on the necks of kings and nobles, and
bid the captive go free. While he continued true to the
people, the people were true to him. Monarchs who
governed mighty nations, and dukes who ruled in provinces the size of kingdoms, looked on with surprise at
the growth of a power supported apparently by no
worldly arms, but which penetrated to them through
their courts and armies. There was no great mind to
guide the opposition to its claims. The bishops were




TIHE IRISH CHURCH.             155
sunk in ignorance and sloth, and had lost the respect of
their countrymen. The populations everywhere were
divided. The succession to the throne was uncertain.
The Franks, the leading nation, were never for any
length of time under one head.  Neustria, or the
Western State, comprising all the land between the
Meuse, the Loire, and the MIediterranealn, Austrasia, or
the Eastern State, comprising the land between the
Rhine, the 1euse, and the Moselle, and Burgundy, extending from the Loire to the Alps, were at one time
united under a common head, and at another held by
hostile kings. The Visigoths were obscurely quarrelling
about points of divinity within their barrier of the Pyrenees. England was the battle-field of half a dozen
little chieftains who called themselves kings; Germany
was only civilized on its western border. Italy was cut
up into many States, Lombards looking with suspicion
on the Exarchate, which was still nominally attached to
the Eastern Empire, and Greeks established in the South,
sighing for the restoration of their power. Over all this
chaos of contending powers appeared the mitre and
crozier of the Pope; always at the head of the disaffected people, supported by the monks, who felt the
tyranny of the bishops as keenly as the commonalty
felt the injustice of their lords; always threatening
vengeance on overweening baron or refractory monarch
-enhancing his influence with the glory of new miracles
wrought in his support, and witnessed unblushingly by
preaching friars, who were the missionaries of papal
power; concentrating all authority in his hands, and
gradually laying the foundation for a trampling and
domination over mind and body such as the world had
never seen. From  this almost universal prostration
before the claims of Rome, it is curious to see that the
native Irish were totally free. With contemptuous in



156             SEVENTII CENTURY.
dependence, they for a long time rejected the arrogant
assumptions of the successor of St. Peter, and were firm
in their maintenance of the equality, of all the Sees. It
was from the newly-converted Anglo-Saxons that the
chief recruits in the campaign against the liberties of
the national churches were collected. Almost all the
names of missionaries on behalf of the Roman pontiff
in this century have the home-sound in our ears of
"Wighert," " Willibald," " Wernefried," or "Adalbert."
But there are no Gaelic patronymics from the Churches
of Ireland or Wales. They were sisters, they haughtily
said, not daughters of the Roman See, as the Anglo-Saxon
Church had been; and dwelt with pride on the antiquity
of their conversion before the pretensions of the Roman
Bishops had been heard of; and thus was added one
more to the elements of dissension which wasted the
strength of Europe at the very time when unanimity
was most required.
But towards the end of this period the rumours of
a new power in the East drew men's attention to the
defenceless state in which their internal disagreements
had left them. The monasteries were filled with exaggerated reports of the progress of this vast invasion,
which not only threatened the national existences of
Europe, but the Christian faith. It was a hostile creed
and a destroying enemy. What had the iuns been,
compared with this new swarm-not of savage warriors
turned aside with a bribe or won by a prayer, but enthusiasts in what they considered a holy cause, flushed
with victory, armed and disciplined in a style superior
to any thing the'West could show? We should try to
enter into the feelings of that distant time, when day
by day myriads of strange and hitherto unconquerable
enemies were reported to be on their march.
In the year 621 of the Christian era, Mlohammed




MOHAMMED.                  157
made his triumphant entry into Medina, a great city of
Arabia, having been expelled from Mecca by the enmity
of the Jews and the tribe of Koreish. This entry is
called the iegira or Flight, and forms the commencement of the Moslem chronology. All their records are
dated from this event. The persons who accompanied
him were few in number-his father-in-law, some of his
wives, and some of his warriors; but the procession was
increased by the numerous believers in his prophetship
who resided in the town. At this place began the public
worship inculcated by the leader. The worshippers
were sumnmonied by a voice sounding from the highest
pinnacle of the mosque or church, and pronouncing the
words which to this hour are heard from every minaret
in the East:-" God is great! God is great! There is no
God but God. Mohammed is the apostle of God. Come
to prayers, come to prayers 1" and when the invitation
is given at early dawn, the declaration is added, " Prayer
is better than sleep! prayer is better than sleep." These
exhortations were not without their intended effect.
Prayer was uttered by many lips, and sleep was banished
from many eyes; but the prayers were never thought
so effectual as when accompanied by sword and lance.
Courage and devotedness were now the great supports
of the faith. Ali, the husband of Fatima the favourite
daughter of the chief, fought and prayed with'the same
irresistible force. Hle conquered the unbelieving Jews
and Koreishites, cleaving armed men from the crown to
the chin with one blow, and wielding a city gate which
eight men could not lift, as a shield. Abou Beker,
whose daughter was one of the wives of Mohammed,
was little inferior to Ali; and Mohammed himself saw
visions which comforted and inspired his followers in
the midst of battle, and shouted, "On, on! Fight and
fear not! The gates of Paradise are under the shade




158      -       SEVENTH CENTURY.
of swords. He will assuredly find instant admission
who falls fighting for the faith!" It was impossible to
play the hypocrite in a religion where such strength of
arm and sharpness of blade were required. Prayers
might indeed be mechanical, or said for show, but the
fighting was a real thing;, and, as such, prevailed over
all the shams which were opposed to it. Looking forth
already beyond the narrow precincts of his power, Mohammed saw in the distance, across the desert, the
proud empires of Persia and Constantinople. To both
he wrote letters demanding their allegiance as God's
Prophet,;and threatening vengeance if they disobeyed.
Chosroes, the Persian, tore the letter to pieces. "Even
so," said Miohammed, "shall his kingdom  be torn."
HIeraclius the Greek was more respectful. He placed
the missive on his pillow, and very naturally fell asleep,
and thought of it no more. But his descendants were
not long of having their pillows quite so provocative of
repose. The city of MIedina grew too small to hold
the Prophet's followers, and they went forth conquering
and to conquer. There were Abou Beker the wise, and
Omar the faithful, and KIhaled the brave, and Ali the
sword of God. Mecca fell before them, and city after
city sent in its adhesion to the claims of a Prophet who
had such dreadful interpreters as these. The religion
he preached was comparatively true. He destroyed the
idols of the land, inculcated soberness, chastity, charity,
and, by some faint transmission of the precepts of the
Bible, inculcated brotherly love and forgiveness of
wrong. But the sword was the true gospel. Its light
was spread in Syria and all the adjoining territories.
People in apparently sheltered positions could never be
sure for an hour that the missionaries of the new faith
would not be.climbing over their walls with shouts of
conquest, and giving them the option of conversion or




HIS SUCCESSORS.               159
death. Power spread in gradually-widening circles, but
at the centre sad things were going on. Mohammed
was getting old. HIe lost his only son. He laid him in
the grave with tears and sighs, and made his farewell
pilgrimage to M3ecca. Had he no relentings at the
visible approach of the end? Was he to go to the grave
untouched by all the calamities he had brought upon
mankind? the blood he had shed, the multitudes he had
beguiled? He had no touch of remorse for any of these
things; rather he continued firmer in his course than
ever-seemed more persuaded of the genuineness of his
mission, and uttered prophecies of the universal extension of his faith. "W When the angels ask thee who thou
art," he said, as the body of his son was lowered into
the tomb, "say, God is my Lord, the Prophet of God
was my father, and nmy faith was Islam!" Islam continued his own faith till the last. IHe tottered to the
mosque where Abou Beker was engaged in leading the
prayers of the congregation, and addressed the people
for the last time. " Every thing happens," he said, "according to the will of God, and has its appointed time,
which is not to be hastened or avoided. 3My last command to you is that you remain united; that you love,
honour, and uphold each other; that you exhort each
other to faith and constancy in belief, and to the performance of pious deeds: by these alone men prosper;
all else leads to destruction."  A few days after this
there was grief and lamentation all over the faithful
lands.  He died on his sixty-third birthday, in the
eleventh year of the Hegira, which answers to our
year 632.
Great contentions arose among the chief disciples for
the succession to the leadership of the faithful. Abou
Beker was father-in-law of the Prophetj and his daughter
supported his cause. Omar was also father-in-law of the




160             SEVEiNTH CENTURY.
Prophet, and his daughter supported his cause. Othman
had married two of the daughters of the Prophet, but
both were dead, and they had left no living child. Ali,
the hero of the conquest, was cousin-german of the
Prophet, and husband of his only surviving daughter.
Already the practices of a court were perceptible in the
Emir's tent. The courtiers caballed and quarrelled; but
Ayesha, the daughter of Abou Beker, had been Mohammed's favourite wife, and her influence was the most
effectual. How this influence was exercised amid the
Oriental habits of the time, and the seclusion to which
the women were subjected, it is difficult to decide; but,
after a struggle between her and Hafya, the daughter
of Omar, the widowed Othman was found to have no
chance; and only Ali remained, still young and ardent,
and fittest, to all ordinary judgments, to be the leader
of the armies of Allah. While consulting with some
friends in the tent of Fatima, his rivals came to an
agreement. In a distant part of the town a meeting
had been called, and the claims of the different pretenders debated. Suddenly Omar walked across to
where Abou Beker stood, bent lowly before him, and
kissed his hand in token of submission, saying, " Thou
art the oldest companion and most secret friend of the
Prophet, and art therefore worthy to rule us in his
place."  The example was contagious, and Abou Beker
was installed as commander and chief of the believers.
A resolution was come to at the same time, that any
attempt at seizing the supremacy against the popular
will should be punished with death. Ali was constrained
to yield, but lived in haughty submission till Fatima
died. He then rose up in his place, and taking his two
sons with him, HEassan and Hossein, retired into the
inner district of Arabia, carrying thus from the camp
of the usurping caliph the only blood of the Prophet.




PROGiRES OF ISLAM.              161
chief which flowed in human veins. l Yet the spirit of
the Prophet animated the whole mass. Energy equal to
Ali's was exhibited in Khaled. Omar was earnest in the
collection of all the separated portions of the Koran.
Othman was burning to spread the new empire over the
whole earth; and in this combination of courage, ambition, and fanaticism all Arabia found its interest to join,
and ere a year had elapsed from the death of the Prophet, the whole of that peninsula, and all the swart
warriors who travelled its sandy steppes, had accepted
the great watchword of his religion —" There is no God
but God, and Mohammed is the Prophet of God." Ere
another year had elapsed the desert had sent forth its
swarms. The plains of Asia were overflowed. The
battle-cry of Zeyd, the general of the army, was heard
in the great commercial cities of the East, and in the
lands where the gospel of peace had first been uttered,
Emasa and Damascus, and on the banks of Jordan. It
was natural that the first effort of the false should be
directed against the true. But not indiscriminate was
the wrath of Abou Beker against the professors of Christianity. The claims of that dispensation were ever
treated with respect, but the depraved priesthood were
held up to contempt. "Destroy not fruit-tree nor fertile
field on your path," these were the instructions of the
Caliph to the leaders of the host. "Be just, and spare
the feelings of the vanquished. Respect all religious
persons who live in hermitages or convents, and spare
their edifices. But should you meet with a class of unbelievers of a different kind, who go about with shaven
crowns, and belong to the synagogue of Satan, be sure
you cleave their skulls, unless they embrace the true
faith or render tribute."
Gentle and merciful, therefore, to the peaceful inhabitants, respectful to the gloomy anchorite and in



162             SEVENTH CENTURY.
dustrious monk, but breathing death and disgrace
against the proud bishop and ambitious presbyter, the
mighty horde moved on. Syria fell; the Persian monarchy was menaced, and its western provinces seized;
a Christian kingdom called Hira, situated on the con.
fines of Babylonia, was made tributary to Medina; and
Khaled stood triumphant on the banks of the [Euphrates,
and sent a message to the Great King, commanding him
either to receive the faith, or atone for his incredulity
with half his wealth. The despot's ears were unaccustomed to such words, and the fiery deluge went on. At
the end of the third year, Abou Beker died, and Omar
was the successor appointed by his will. This was
already a departure from the law of popular election,
but Islam was busy with its conquests far from  its
central home, and accepted the nomination. Khaled's
course continued westward and eastward, forcing his
resistless wedge between the exhausted but still majestic
empires of the Greeks and Persians. Blow after blow
resounded as the great march went on. Constantinople,
and Mladayn upon the Tigris, the capitals of Christianity
and Slithrism, were equally alarmed and equally powerless. Omar, the Caliph —the word means the Successor
of the Apostle-determined to join the army which was
encamped against the walls of Jerusalem, and added
fresh vigour to the assailants by the knowledge that
they fought under his eye.
Heraclius, the degenerate inheritor of the throne of
Constantine, and Yezdegird, the successor of Darius and
Xerxes, if they had moved towards the seat of war,
would have been surrounded by all the pomp of theii
exalted stations. Battalions of guards would have encompassed their persons, and countless officers of their
courts attended their progress.
Omar, who saw already the world at his feet, journeyed




PROGRESS OF ISLAM.             163.
by slow stages on a wretched camel, carrying his provisions hanging from his saddle-bow, and slept at night
under the shelter of some tree, or on the margin of
some well. He had but one suit, and that of worsted
material, and yet his word was law to all those breathless listeners, and wherever he placed his foot from
that moment became holy ground.  Jerusalem  and
Aleppo yielded; Antioch, the chief seat of Grecian
government, fell into his hands; Tyre and Tripoli submitted to his power; and the Satacenic hosts only
paused when they reached the border of the sea, which
they knew -mashed the fairest shores of Africa and
Europe. It did not much matter who was in nominal
command. Khaled died; Amru took his place; and yet
the tide went on. The great city of Alexandria, which
disputed with Constantinople the title of Capital of the
World, with its almost fabulous wealth, its four thousand palaces, and five thousand baths, and four hundred
theatres, was twice taken, and brought on the submission and conversion of the whole of Egypt. Amlru in
his hours of leisure was devoted to the cultivation of
taste and genius. In John the Grammarian, a Christian student, he found a congenial spirit. Poetry, philosophy, and rhetoric were treated of in the conversations of the Arabic conqueror and the monkish scholar.
At last, in reliance on his literary taste, the priest confided to the Moslem that in a certain building in the
town there was a library so vast that it had no equal on
earth either for number or value of the manuscripts it
contained. This was too important a treasure to be
dealt with without the express sanction of the Caliph.
So the Christian legend is, that Omar replied to the
announcement of his general, "Either what those books
contain is in the Koran, or it is not. If it is, these
volumes are useless; if it is not, they are wicked. Burn




164             SEVENTtH CENTURY.
them." The skins and parchments heated the baths of
Alexandria for many months, irrecoverable monuments
of the past, and an everlasting disgrace to the Saracen
name. Yet the story has been doubted; at least, the
extent of the destruction. Rather, it has been supposed,
the ignorant fanaticism  of the illiterate monks, in
covering with the legends of saints the obliterated lines
of the classic authors, has been more destructive to the
literary treasures of those ancient times than the furious
zeal of Amru or thd bigotry of Omar.
If this great overflow from the desert of Arabia had
consisted of nothing but armed warriors or destructive
fanatics, its course would have been as transient as it
was terrible. The Gothic invaders who had desolated
Europe fortunately possessed the flexibility and adaptiveness of mind which fitted them for the reception of
the purer faith and more refined manners of the vanquished races. They mixed with the people who submitted to their power, and in a short time adopted their
habits and religion. Whatever faith they professed in
their original seats, seems to have worn out in the long
course of their immigration.  The powers they had
worshipped in their native wilds were local, and dependent on clime and soil. An easy opening, therefore,
was left for Christianity into hearts where no hostile
deity guarded the portal of approach. But with the
Saracens the case was reversed. Incapable of assimilation with any rival belief-jealously exclusive of the
commonest intercourse with the nations they subdued
-unbending, contemptuous to others, and carried on
by burning enthusiasm in their own cause, and confidence in the Prophet they served, there was no possibility of softening or elevating them from without. The
pomps of religious worship, which so awed the wonder



HABITS OF THE CALIPHS.           165
ing tribes of Franks and Lombards, were lost on a
people who considered all pomp offensive both to God
and man. They saw the sublimity of simple plainness
both in word and life. Their caliph lived on rice, and
saddled his camel with his own hands. Hie ordered a
palace to be burned, which Seyd, who had conquered for
him the capital of Persia, had built for his occupation.
Unsocial, bigoted, austere, drinking no wine, accumulating no personal wealth, how was the mind of this
warrior of the wilderness to be trained to the habits of
civilized society, or turned aside from the rude instincts
of destructiveness and domination? But the Arab intellect was subtle and active. Mohammedanism, indeed,
armed the multitude in an exciting cause, and sent them
forth like a destroying fire; but there was wisdom,
policy, refinement, among the chiefs. While they devasted the worn-out territories of the Persian, and laid
waste his ostentatious cities, which had been purposely
built in useless places to show the power of the king,
they founded great towns on sites so adapted for the
purposes of trade and protection that they continue to
the present time the emporiums and fortresses of their
lands. Balsorah, at the top of the Persian Gulf, at the
jiunction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, was as wisely
selected for the commercial wants of that period as
Constantinople itself. Bagdad was encouraged, Cufa
built and peopled in exchange for the gorgeous but unwholesome Madayn, from which Yezdegird was driven.
Many other towns rose under the protection of the
Crescent; and by the same impulse which made the
Saracens anxious to raise new centres of wealth and
enterprise in the East, they were excited to the most:amazing efforts to make themselves masters of the
greatest city in the world, the seat of arts, of literature,




166             SEVENTII CENTURY.
and religion; and they pushed forward from river to
river, from plain to plain, till, in the year 672, they
raised their victorious standard in front of the walls of
Constantinople. Here, however, a new enemy came to
the encounter, and for the first time scattered dismay
among the Moslem ranks. From the towers and turrets came down a shower of fire, burning, scorching,
destroying, wherever it touched. Projected to great
distances, and wrapping in a nioment ship after ship
in unextinguishable flames, these discharges appeared
to the warriors of the Crescent a supernatural interference against them. This was the famous Greek fire,
of which the components are not now knowfn, but it was
destructive beyond gunpowder itself. Water could not
quench it, nor length of time weaken its power. For
five successive years the assault was renewed by fresh
battalions of the Saracens, but always with the same
result. So, giving up at last their attempts against a
place guarded by lightning and by the unmoved courage
of the Greek population, they poured their thousands
along the northern shores of Africa. Cyrene, the once
glorious capital of the Pentapolis, in which Carthage
saw her rival and Athens her superior, yielded to their
power. Everywhere high-peaked mosques, rising where
a short time before the shore had been unoccupied or in
cities where the Basilicas of Christian worship had been
thrown down, marked the course of conquest. Carthage received its -new lords. iHippo, the bishopric of
the best of ancient saints, the holy Augustine, saw its
church supplanted by the temples of the Arabian impostor. A check was sustained at Tchuda, where their
course was interrupted by a combined assault of Christian Greeks and the indigenous Berbers.  Internal
troubles also arrested their career, for there were dis



POWER OF ISLAM.                167
putes for the succession, and court intrigues and open
murders, and all the usual accompaniments of a contest
for an elective throne. One after another, the Caliphs
had been murdered, or had died of broken hearts. The
old race-the "Companions," as they were called, because they had been the contemporaries and friends of
Mohammed-had died out. Ali, after three disappointments, had at last been chosen. His sons Hassan and
IHossein had been put to death; and it was only in the
time of the eighth successor, when Abdelmalek had
overcome all competition, that the unity of the Moslem
Empire was restored, and the word given for conquest
as before. This was in the 77th year of the Hegira,
(698 of our era,) and an army was let loose upon the
great.city of Carthage, at the same time that movements were again ordered across the limits of the
Grecian Empire, in Asia, and advances made towards
Constantinople. Carthage fell-Tripoli was occupiedand now, with their territories stretching in unbroken'line from Syria along the two thousand miles of the
southern shore of the great Mediterranean Sea., the conquerors rested from their labours for a while, and pre-'pared themselves for a dash across the narrow channel,
from which the hills of Atlas and the summits of Gibraltar are seen at the same time. What has Europe, with
its divided peoples, its worn-out kings, its indolent
Church, and exhausted fields, to oppose to this compact
phalanx of united blood, burning with fanatical faith,
submissive to one rule, and supported by all the wealth
of Asia and Africa; whose fleets sweep the sea, and
whose myriads are every day increased by the accession of fresh nations of Berbers, 3Mauritanians, and the
nameless children of the desert?
This is the hopeless century. Manhood, patriotism,




168             SEVENTH CENTURY.
Christianity itself, are all at the lowest ebb. But let
us turn to the next, and see how good is worked out of
evil, and acknowledge, as in so many instances the historian is obliged to do, that man can form no estimate
of the future from the plainest present appearances, but
that all things are in the hands of a higher intelligence
than ours.




EIGHTH CENTURY.
tinig  of tle Brannd..mpermot    of t1e East.
A.D..             A.D.
CHILDEBERT III.-(cont.)     TIBERIUS. —(cont.)
711. DAGOBERT III.) CHARLES 711. PHILIPPICUS BARDANES.
716. CHILDERIC.    MARTEL 713. ANASTASIUS II.
720. THIERRY.      Mayor.  714. THEODOSIUS III.
742. CHILDERIC III.         716. LEO THE ISAURIAN.
741. CONSTANTINE COPRONYMUS.
Carelovingian Line.   775. LEO IV.
751. PEPIN THE SHORT.       781. CONSTANTINE PORPHYROGE768. CHARLEMAGNE.                NITUS.
802. NICEPHOORUS.
ALCUIN, (735-804,) BEDE, (674-735,) EGBERT, CLEMENS, DUNGAL, ACCA, JOHN DAMASCANUS.








THE EIGHTHI  CENTURY.
TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES —TE EMIPIRE OF CIIARLEMAGNE.
TIns is indeed a great century, which has [Pepin of
Heristhal at its commencement and Charlemagne at its
end. In this "period we shall see the course of the dissolution of manners and government arrested throughout the greater part of Europe, and a new form given
to its ruling powers. We must remember that up to this
time the progress of what we now call civilization was
very slow; or we may perhaps almost say that the
extent of civilized territory was smaller than it had
been at the final breaking up of the Roman Empire four
hundred years before. England had lost the elevating
influences which the residence of Roman generals and
the presence of disciplined forces had spread from the
seats of their government. Every occupied position
had been a centre of life and learning; and we see still,
from the discoveries which the antiquaries of the present
day are continually making, that the dwellings of the
Prietors and military commanders were constructed in
a style of luxury and refinement which argues a high
state of culture and art. All round the circumference
of the Romanized portion of Britain these head-quarters
of order and improvement were fixed; outside, of it lay
the obscure and tumultuous populations of Wales and
Scotland; and if we trace the situations of the towns
with terminations derived from castra, (a camp,) we shall
see, by stretching a line from Winchester in the south
171




t72              EIGHTHI CENTURY.
to Ilchester, thence up to Gloucester, Worcester, tWrox.
eter, and Chester, how carefully the Western Gael were
prevented from ravaging the peaceful and orderly inhabitants; and, as the same precautions were taken to
the North.against the Picts and Scots, we shall easily
be able to estimate the effect of those numerous schools
of life and manners on the country-districts in which
they were placed. All these establishments had been
removed. Barbarism had reasserted her ancient reign;
and at the century we have now reached, the institution
which alone could compete in its elevating effect with
the old imperial subordination, the Christian Church,
had not yet established its authority except for the
benefit of ambitious bishops; and the same anarchy
reigned in the ecclesiastical body as in the civil orders.
The eight or nine kingdoms spread over the land were
sufficiently powerful in their separate nationalities to
prevent any unity of feeling among the subjects of the
different crowns. A prelate of the court of Deiria had
no point of union with a prelate protected by the kings
of Wessex. And it was this very incapacity of combination at home;, from the multiplicity of kings, which
led to the astonishing spectacle in this century of the
efforts of the Anglo-Saxon clergy in behalf of the Bishop
of Rome in distant countries. In this great struggle to
extend the power of the Popes, the regular orders particularly distinguished themselves. The fact of submitting to convent-rules, of giving up the stormy pleasures of independence for the safe placidity of unreasoning obedience, is a proof of the desire in many human
minds of having something to which they can look up,
something to obey, in obeying which their self-respect
may be preserved, even in the act of offering up their
self-will-a desire which, in civil actions and the atmosphere of a court, leads to slavery and every vice, but in




ENGLISH MONKS.                173
a monastery conducts to the noblest sacrifices, and fills
the pages of history with saints and martyrs. The
Anglo-Saxon, looking out of his convent, saw nothing
round him which could give him hope or comfort. Laws
were unsettled, the various little principalities were
either hostile or unconnected, there was no great combining authority from which orders could be issued with
the certainty of being obeyed; and even the — clergy,
thinly scattered, and dependent on the capricious favour
or exposed to the ign6rant animosity of their respective
sovereigns, were torn into factions, and practically without a chief. But theoretically there was the noblest
chiefship that ever was dreamed of by ambition. The
lowly heritage of Peter had expanded into the universal
government of the Church. In France this claim had
not yet been urged; in the East it had been contemptuously rejected; in Italy the Lombard kings were hostile; in Spain the Visigoths were heretic, and at war
among themselves; in Germany the gospel had not yet
been heard; in Ireland the Church was a rival bitterly
defensive of its independence; but in England, among
the earnest, thoughtful Anglo-Saxons, the majestic idea
of a great family of all the Christian Churches, wherever
placed, presided over by the Vicar of Christ. and receiving laws from his hallowed lips, had impressed itself
beyond the possibility of being effaced. Rome was to
them  the residence of God's vicegerent upon earth;
obedience to him was worship, and resistance to his
slightest wish presumption and impiety. So at the
beginning of this century holy men left their monasteries
in Essex, and Warwickshire, and Devon, and knelt at
the footstool of the Pope, and swore fealty and submission to the Holy See.
It has often been observed that the Papacy differs
from other powers in the continued vitality of its mem




174             EIGHTH CENTURY.
bers long after the life has left it at the heart. Rome
was weak at the centre, but strong at the extremity of
its domain. The Emperor of Constantinople looked on
the Pope as his representative in Church-affairs, ratified
his election, and exacted tribute on his appointment.
The Exarch of Ravenna, representing as he did the civil
majesty of the successor of the Cmesars, looked down on
him as his subordinate. There was also a duke in Rome
whose office it was to superintend the proceedings of the
bishop, and another officer resident in the Grecian court
to whom the bishop was responsible for the management of his delegated powers. But outside of all this
depression and subordination, among tribes of half-barbaric blood, among dreamy enthusiasts contemnplating
what seemed to them the simple and natural scheme of
an earthly judge infallible in wisdom and divinely inspired; among bewildered and trampled ecclesiastics,
looking forth into the night, and seeing, far above all
the storms and darkness that surrounded them in their
own distracted land, a star by which they might steer
their course, undimmed and unalterable-the Pope of
Rome was the highest and holiest of created men. No
thought is worth any thing that continues in barren
speculation.  Honour, then, to the brave monks of
England who went forth the missionaries of the Papal
kings! Better the struggles and dangers of a plunge
among the untamed savages of Friesland, and the bloodstained forests of the farthest Germany, in fulfilment of
the office to which they felt. themselves called, than the
lazy, slumbering way of life which had already begun to
be considered the fulfilment of conventual vows. Soldiers of the Cross were they, though fighting for the
advancement of an ambitious commander more than the
success of the larger cause; and we may well exult in
the virtues which their undoubting faith in the supremacy




DESCENDANTS OF CLOVIS.           175
of the pontiff called forth, since it contrasts so nobly
with the apathy and indifference to all high and selfdenying co-operation which characterized the rest of the
world. We shall see the monk Winifried penetrate, as
the Pope's minister, into-the darkness beyond the Rhine,
and emerge, with crozier and mitre, as Boniface the
Archbishop of Mayence, and converter to the Christian
faith of great and populous nations which were long the
most earnest supporters of the rights and pro-eminence
of Rome. This is one strong characteristic of. this century, the increased vigour of the Papacy by the efforts
of the Anglo-Saxons on its behalf; and now we are going
to another still stronger characteristic, the further increase of its influence by the part it played in the change
of dynasty in France.
A strange fortune, which in the old Greek mythologies would have been looked on as a fate, overshadowing
the blood-stained house of Clovis, had befallen his descendants through all their generations for more than a
hundred years. Feeble in mind, and even degenerated
in body, the kings of that royal line had been a sight of
grief and humiliation to their nominal subjects. Married
at fifteen, they had all sunk into premature old age, or
died before they were thirty. Too listless for work,
and too ignorant for council, they had accepted the restricted sphere within which their duties were confined,
and showed themselves, on solemn occasions, at the
festivals of the Church, and other great anniversaries,
bearing, like their ancestors, the long flowing locks
which were the natural sign of their crowned supremacy,
seated in a wagon drawn by oxen, and driven by a
wagoner with a goad-a primitive relic of vanished
times, and as much out of place in Paris in the eighth
century as the state carriage of the Queen or the LordMayor's coach of the present day among ourselves.




176             EIGHTH CENTURY.
Strange thoughts must have passed through the minds
of the spectators as they saw the successors of the rough
leader of the Franks degraded to this condition; but the
change had been gradual; the public:: sentiment had
become reconciled to the apparent uselessness of the
highest offices of the State; for under another title, and
with much inferior rank, there was a man who held the
reins of government with a hand of:iron, and whose
power was perhaps strengthened by the fiction which
called him the servant and minister of thefaine'ant or
do-nothing king. A succession of men arose in the
family of the mayors of the palace, as remarkable for
policy and talent as the representatives of the royal line
were for the want of these qualities. The origin of
their office was conveniently forgotten, or converted by
the flattery of their dependants into an equality with
the monarchs. Chosen, they said, by the same elective
body which nominated the king, they were as much entitled to the command of the army and the administration of the law as their nominal masters to the possession of the palace and royal name. And when for a
long period this claim was allowed, who was there to
stand up in opposition, either legal or forcible, to a man
who appointed all the judges and commanded all the
troops? The office at last became hereditary. The
successive mayors left their dignity to their sons by
will; and time might have been slow in bringing power
and title into harmony with each by giving the name
of king to the man who already exercised all the kingly
power and fulfilled all the kingly duties, if Charles Martel, the mayor, had not, in 732, established such claims
to the gratitude of Europe by his defeat of the Saracens,
who were about to overrun the whole of Christendom,
that it was impossible to refuse either to himself or
his successor the highest dignity which Europe had to




CHARLES MARTEL.               177
bestow. When other rulers and princes were willing to
acknowledge his superiority, not only in power, but in
rank and dignity, it was necessary that their submission
should be offered, not to a mere Major-domo, or chief
domestic of a court, but to a free sovereign and anointed
king. The two mnost amazing. fictions, therefore, which
ever flourished on the contempltuous forbearance of mankind, were both about to expire beneath the breath of
reality at this time-the kingship of the descendants of
Clovis, and the pretensions of the successors of Constantine. The Saracens appeared upon the scene; and those
gibbering and' unsubstantial ghosts, as if they scented
the morning air, immediately disappeared. The Emperors of the East, by a self-deluding process, which preserved their dignity and flattered their pride, professed
still to consider themselves the lords of the Roman
Empire, and took particular pains to acknowledge the
kings and potentates, who established themselves in the
various portions of it, as their representatives and lieutenants. They lost no time in sending the title of Patrician and the ensigns of royal rank to the successful
founders of a new dynasty, and had gained their object
if they received the new ruler's thanks in return. At
Rome, as we have said, they protected the bishop, and
gave him the investiture of his office. They retained
also the territories called the Exarchate of Ravenna,
but with no power of vindicating their authority if it
was disputed, or of exacting revenue, except what the
gratitude of the bishop or the Exarch might induce
them to present to their patron on their nomination or
instalment. A long-haired, sad-countenanced, decrepit
young man in a wagon drawn by oxen, and a vain
voluptuary, wrapped in Oriental splendour, without influence or wealth, were the representatives at this time
of the irresistible power of the Frankish warriors, and




178              EIGHTH CENTUPY.
the glories of Julius and Augustus. But the present haa
its representatives as well as the past. Charles Martel
had still the Frankish sword at his command; the
Roman Pontiff had thousands ready to believe and support his claims to be the spiritual ruler of the world.
Something was required to unite them in one vast effort
at unity and independence, and this opportunity was
afforded them  by the common danger to which the
Saracenic invasion exposed equally the civil and ecclesiastical power.  Africa, we have seen, was fringed
along the whole of the Mediterranean border with
the followers of the Prophet. In one generation the
blood of the Arabian and Mauritanian deserts became
so blended, that no distinction whatever existed between
the men of MBecca and Medina and the native tribes.
Where Carthaginian and RIoman civilization had never
penetrated, the faith of Mohammed was accepted as an
indigenous growth.  Fanaticism  and ambition sailed
across the Channel; and early in this century the hot
breath of iohammnedanism had dried up the promise
of Spain; countless warriors crossed to Gibraltar; their
losses were supplied by the inexhaustible populations
from the interior, (the ancestors of the Abd-el Kaders
and Ben Muzas of modern times,) and, elate with hopes
of universal conquest, the crowded tents of the Moslem
army-were seen on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees,
and presently all the plains of Languedoc, and the central fields of France as far up as the ILoire, were inundated by horse and man. Incredible accounts are
given of the number and activity of the desert steeds
bestrode by these turbaned apostles. A march of a
hundred miles-a village set on fire, and all the males
extirpated-strange-looking visages, and wild arrays
of galloping battalions seen by terrified watchers from
the walls of Paris itself; then, in the twinkling of an




BATTLE OF TOURS.              179
eye, nothing visible but the distant dust raised up in
their almost unperceived retreat,-these were the peculiarities of this new and unheard-of warfare. And
while these dashes were made from the centre of the
invasion, alarming the inhabitants at the extremities
of the kingdom, the host steadily moved on, secured
the ground behind it before any fresh advance, and
united in this way the steadiness of European settlement with the wild fury of the original mode of attack.
Already the provinces abutting on the Pyrenees had
owned their power. Gascony up to the Garonne, and
the NarbolnLais nearly to the Rhine, had submitted to
the conquerors; but when the dispossessed proprietors
of Novempopulania and Septimania, as those districts
were then called, and the powerful IDuke of Aquitaine,
also fled before the advancing armies; when all the
churches were filled with prayer, and all the towns
were in momentary expectation of seeing the irresistible horsemen before their walls, patriotism  and religion combined to call upon all the Franks and all the
Christians to expel the infidel invader. So Charles, the
son of Pepin, whose exploits against the Frisons and
other barbaric peoples in the North had already acquired for him the complimentary name of Martel, or
the IIammer, put himself at the head of the military
forces of the land, and encountered the Saracenic myriads on the great plain round Tours. The East and
West were brought front to front-Christianity and
iMohammedanism stood face to face for the first time;
and it is startling to consider for a moment what the
result of an Asiatic victory might have been. If ever
there was a case in which the intervention of Divine
Providence may be claimed without presumption on the
conquering side, it must be here, Where the truths of
revelation and the progress of society were dependent




180              EIGHTH CENTURY.
on the issue. The two faiths, according to all human
calculation, had rested their supremacy on their respective champions. If Charles and his Franks and Germans were defeated, there was nothing to resist the
march of the perpetually-increasing numbers of the Saracens till they had planted their standards on the pinnacles
of Rome. The first glow of Christian belief had been
exchanged, we have seen, for ambitious disputes, or died
off in many of the practices of superstition. The very
man in whom the Christian hope was placed was suspected of leaning to the Wodenism of his Northern ancestors, and was scarcely bought over to the defence of
the Church's faith by a permission to pillage the Church's
wealth. Mohammedanism, on the other hand, was fresh
and young. Its promises were clear and tempting-its
course triumphant, and its doctrines satisfactory equally
to the pride and the indolence of the human heart. But
in the former, though unperceived by the warriors at
Tours and the prelates at Rome, lay the germ of countless blessings-elevating the mind by the discovery of
its strength at the same moment in which it is abased
by the feeling of its weakness, and gifted above all with
the power of expansion and universality; themselves
proofs of its divine original, to which no false religion
can lay the slightest claim. Cultivate the Christian
mind to the highest-fill it with all knowledge-place
round it the miracles of science and art-station it in
the snows of Iceland or the heats of India —Christianity, like the all-girding horizon of the sky, widens
its circle so as to include the loftiest, and contain within
its embrace the utmost diversities of human life and
speculation. But with the Mohammedan, as with other
impostures, the range is limited. When intellect expands,
it bursts the cerement in which it has been involved;
and with Buddhism, and M{ithrism, and Hindooism, it




DEFEAT OF THE SARACENS.            181
will be as it was with Druidism, and the more elegant
hcathendom of Greece and Rome: there will be no
safety for them but in the ignorance and barbarism of
their disciples. On the result of that great day at Tours
in the year 732, therefore, depended the intellectual improvement and civil freedom of the human race. Few
particulars are preserved of this momentous battle; but
the result showed that the light cavalry, in which the
Saracens excelled, were no match for the firm line of
the Franks. When confusion once began among the
swarthy cavaliers of Abderachman, there was no restoration possible. In wild confusion the mnlee was continued; and all that can be said is, that the slaughter of
upwards of three hundred thousand of these impulsive
pilgrims of the desert so weakened the Saracenic power
in Europe, that in no long time their hosts were withdrawn from the soil of Gaul, and guarded with difficulty the conquest they had made behind the barrier of
the Pyrenees. Could the gratitude of Church or State
be too generous to the man who preserved both from the
sword of the destroyer?  If Charles pillaged a monastery or seized the revenues of a bishopric, nobody found
any fault. It was almost just that he should have the
wealth of the cathedral from which he had driven away
the mufti and imuezzin. But monasteries and bishops
were still powerful, and did not look on the proceedings
of Charles the Hammer with the equanimity of the
unconcerned spectators. They perhaps thought the
battle of Tours had only given them a choice of spoilers,
instead of protection from spoliation. In a short time,
however, the policy of the sagacious leader led him to
see the necessity of gaining over the only lunited body
in the State. -He became a benefactor of the Church,
and a staunch ally of the Roman bishop. Both had an
object to obtain.  What the phantom  king was to




182              EIGHTH CENTURY.
Charles, the phantom emperor was to the Pope. If
there was unison between the two dependants, it would
be easy to get rid of the two superiors. Presents and
compliments were interchanged, and moral support
trafficked for material aid. Wherever the one sent
missionaries with the Cross, the other sent warriors to
their support. The Pontiff bestowed on the Mayor the
keys of the sepulchre of St. Peter, and the title of Consul
and Patrician, and begged him to come to his assistance
against Luitprand, the Lombard king. But this was far
too great an exploit to be expected by a simple Bishop,
and performed by a simple Mayor of the Palace. So
the next great thing we meet with in this century is the
investiture of the MIayor with the title of king, and of
the Bishop with the sovereignty of Rolne and Ravenna.
This happened in 752. Pepin the Short, as he was unflatteringly called by his subjects, succeeded Charles in
the government of the Franks. The king was Childeric the Third, who lived in complete seclusion and
cherished his long hair as the only evidence of monarchy
left to the sons of Clovis. Wars in various regions established the reputation of Pepin as the worthy successor
of Charles; and by a refinement of policy, the crown,
the consummation of all his hopes, was reached in a
manner which deprived it of the appearance of injustice,
for it was given to him by the hands of saints and popes,
and ratified by the council of the nation. He had
already asked Pope Zachariah, " who had the best right
to the name of king?-he who had merely the title, or
he who had the power?" And in answer to this, which
was rather a puzzling question, our countryman Winifried, in his new character of Boniface and archbishop,
placed upon his head the golden'round, and Might and
Right were restored to their original combination. But
St. Boniface was not enough. In two years the Pope




THE PCPE A SOVEREIGN.             183
himself clambered over the Alps and anointed the new
monarch with holy oil; and by the same act stripped
the long hair from the head of the Mierovingian puppet,
and condemned him and his descendants to the privacy
of a cloister.
Now then that Pepin is king, let Luitprand, or any
other potentate, beware how he does injury to the Pope
of Rome. Twice the Frank armies are moved into
Italy in defence of the Hloly See; and at last the Exarchate is torn from the hands of its Lombard oppressor,
and handed over in sovereignty to the Spiritual Power.
Rome itself i's declared at the same time the property of
the Bishop, and free forever from the suzerainty of the
Emperors of the East. No wonder the gratitude of the
Popes has made them call the kings of France the eldest
sons of the Church. Their donations raised the bishopric to the rank of a royal state; yet it has been remarked that the generosity of the French monarchs
has always been limited to the gift of other people's
lands. They were extremely liberal in bestowing large
tracts of country belonging to the Lombard kings or
the Byzantine Csesars; but they kept a very watchful
eye on the possessions of pope and bishop within their
own domain. They reserved to themselves the usufruct
of vacant benefices, and the presentations to church and
abbey. At almost all periods, indeed, of their history,
they have seemed to retain a very clear remembrance
of the position which they held towards the Papacy
from the beginning, and, while encouraging its arrogance against other principalities and powers, have held
a very contemptuous language towards it themselves.
This, then, is the great characteristic of the present
century, the restoration of the monarchical principle in
the State, and its' establishment in the Church. During
all these wretched centuries, from the fall of the Roman




184              EIGHTH CENTURY.
Empire, the progress has been towards diffusion and
separation. Kings rose up here and there, but their
kingships were local, and, moreover, so recent, that
they were little more than the first officer or representative of the warriors whose leaders they had been. A
longing for some higher and remoter influence than this
had taken possession of the chiefs of all the early invasions, and we have seen them (even while engaged in
wresting whole districts from the sway of the old Ronman
Empire) accepting with gratitude the ensigns of Roman
authority. We have seen Gothic kings glorying in the
name of Senator, and Hunnish savages pacified and contented by the title of Prsetor or Consul. The world
had been accustomed to the oneness of Consular no less
than Imperial Rome for more than a thousand years;
for, however the parties might be divided at home, the
great name of the Eternal City was the sole sound
heard in foreign lands. The magic letters, the initials
of the Senate and People, had been the ornament of
their banners from the earliest times, and a division of
power was an idea to which the minds of mankind found
it difficult to become accustomed. It was better, therefore, to have only a fragment of this immemorial unity
than the freshness of a new authority, however extensive or unquestionable. Vague traditions must have
come down-magnified by distance and softened by
rereet-of the great days before the purple was torn
in two by the transference of the seat of power to Constantinople.  There were nearly five hundred  years
lying between the periods; and all the poetic spirits of
the new populations had cast longing, lingering looks
behind at the image of earthly supremacy presented to
them by the existence of an acknowledged master of
the world.. A pedantic sophist, speaking Greek —the.anigiuage of slaves and scholars-wearing the loftiest




DEFENCE OF IMAGES.              185
titles, and yet hemmed in within the narrow limits of a
single district, assumed to be the representative of the
universal "Lord of human kind," and called himself
Emperor of the East and West. The common sense
of Goth and Saxon, of Frank and Lombard, rebelled
against this claim, when they saw it urged by a person
unable to support it by fleets and armies. When, in
addition to this want of power, they perceived -in this
century a want of orthodox belief, or even what they
considered an impious profanity, in the successor of
Augustus andl Constantine, they were still more disinclined to grant even a titular supremacy to the ByzanLine ruler. Leo, at that time wearing the purple, and
zealous for the purity of the faith, issued an order forthe destruction of the marble representations of saints
and martyrs which had been used in worship; and
within the limits of his personal authority his mandate
was obeyed. But when it reached the West, a furious
opposition was made to his command. The Pope stood
forward as champion of the religious veneration of
"storied urn and animated bust."  The emperor was
branded with the name of Iconoclast, or the Imagebreaker, and the eloquence of all the monks in Europe
was let loose upon the sacrilegious C.esar. Interest, it
is to be feared, added fresh energy to their conscientious
denunciations, for the monks had attracted to themselves a complete monopoly of the manufacture of these
aids to devotion-and obedience to YLeo's order would
have impoverished the monasteries all over the land.
A Western emperor, it was at once perceived, would
not have been so blind to the uses of those holy sculptures, and soon an intense desire was manifested throughout the Western nations for an emperor of their own.
Already they were in possession of a spiritual chief,
who claimed the inheritance of the Prince of the Apos



186             EIGHTH CENTURY.
ties, and looked down on the Patriarchs of Constanti.
nople as bishops subordinate to his throne. Why should
not they also have a temporal ruler who should renew
the old glories of the vanished Empire, and exercise
supremacy over all the governors of the earth? Why,
indeed, should not the first of those authorities exert
his more than human powers in the production of the
other? - e had converted a Mayor of the Palace into
a King of the Franks. Could he not go a step further,
and convert a King of the Franks into an Emperor of
the West?  With this hope, not yet perhaps expressed,
but alive in the minds of Pepin and the prelates of
France, no attempt was made to check the Roman pontiffs in the extravagance of their pretensions. Lords
of wide domains, rich already in the possession of large
tracts of country and wealthy establishments in other
lands, they were raised above all competition in rank
and influence with any other ecclesiastic; and relying
on spiritual privileges, and their exemption from active
enmity, they were more powerful than many of the
greatest princes of the time. Everywhere the mystic
dignity of their office was dwelt upon by their supporters. For a long time, as we have seen, their omnipotence was acknowledged by the two classes who
saw in the use of that spiritual dominion a counterpoise
to the worldly sceptres by which they were crushed.
But now the worldly sceptres came to the support of the
spiritual dominion. Its limit was enlarged, and made to
include the regulation of all human affairs. It was its
AD. D. office to subdue kings and bind nobles in links of
iron; and when the son of Pepin, Charles, justly
called the Great, though travestied by French vanity
into the name of Charlemagne, sat on the throne of
the Franks, and carried his arms and influence into the
remotest States, it was felt that the hour and the man




TENDENCY TO IMPERIALISM.            18
were come; and the Western Empire was formally renewed.
The curious thing is, that this longing for a restoration of the Roman Empire, and dwelling on its usefulness and grandeur, were dominant, and productive of
great events, in populations which had no drop of
Roman blood in their veins. The last emperor resident
in Rome had never heard the names of the hordes of
savages whose descendants had now seized the plains
of France and Italy. Yet it seemed as if, with the territory of the Roman Empire, they had inherited its
traditions and hopes. They might be Saxons, or Franks,
or Burgundians, or Lombards, by national descent, but
by residence they were Romans as compared with the
Greeks in the East,-and by religion they were Romans
as compared with the Sclaves and Saracens, who pressed
on them on the North and South. It would not be difficult in this country to find the grandchildren of French
refugees boasting with patriotic pride of the English
triumphs at Cressy and Agincourt-or the sons of
Scottish parents rejoicing in their ancestors' victory
under Cromwell at Dunbar; and here, in the eighth
century, the descendants of Alaric and Clovis were
patriotically loyal to the memory of the old Empire,
and were reminded by the victories of Charlemagne of
the trophies of Scipio and Marius.  These victories,
indeed, were not, as is so often found to be the case, the
mere efforts of genius and ambition, with no higher
object than to augment the conqueror's power or repmutation. They were systematically pursued with a view
to an end. In one advancing tide, all things tended to
the Imperial throne. Whatever nation felt the force of
Charlemagne's sword felt also a portion of its humiliation lightened when its submission was perceived to be
only an advancement towards the restoration of the old




188  EIGHTH CENTURY.
dominion. It might have been degrading to acknow
ledge the superiority of the son of Pepin-but who
could offer resistance to the successor of Augustus?
So, after thirty years of uninterrupted war, with campaigns succeeding each in the most distant regions, and
all crowned with conquest; after subduing the Saxons
beyond the Weser, the Lombards as far as Treviso, the
Arabs under the walls of Saragossa, the Bavarians in
the neighbourhood of Augsburg, the Sclaves on the
Elbe and Oder, the iuns and Avars on the Raab and
Danube, and the Greeks themselves on the coast of Dalmatia; when he looked around and saw no rebellion
against his authority, but throughout the greater part
of his domains a willing submission to the centralizing
power which rallied all Christian states for the defence
of Christianity, and all civilized nations for the defence
of civilization,-nothing more was required than the
mere expression in definite words of the great thing
that had already taken place, and Charlemagne, at the
extreme end of this century, bent before the successor
of St. Peter at Rome, and stood up crowned Emperor
of the West, and champion and chief of Christendom.
The period of Charlemagne is a great date in history;
A.D. 86-14. for it is the legal and formal -termination of
an antiquated state of society. It was also
the introduction to another, totally distinct from itself
and from its predecessor. It was not barbarism; it was
not feudalism; but it was the bridge which- united the
two. By barbarism is meant the uneasy state of governments and peoples, where the tribe still predominated
over the nation; where the Frank or Lombard continued an encamped warrior, without reference to the
soil; and where his patriotism consisted in fidelity to
the traditions of his descent, and not to the greatness or
independence of the land he occupied. In the reign of




CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE.           189
Charlemagne, the land of the Frank became practically,
and even territorially, France; the district occupied by
the Lombards became Lombardy. The feeling of property in the soil was added to the ties of race and
kindred; and at the very time that all the nations of
the Invasion yielded to the supremacy of one man as
emperor, the different populations asserted their separate independence of each other, as distinct and selfsufficing kingdoms-kingdoms, that is to say, without
the kings, but in all respects prepared for those individialized expressions of their national life. For though
Charlemagne, seated in his great hall at Aix-la-Chapelle,
gave laws to the whole of his vast domains, in each
country he had assumed to himself nothing more than
the monarchic power. To the whole empire he was
emperor, but to each separate people, such as Franks
and I;ombards, he was simply king. Under him there
were dukes, counts, viscounts, and other dignitaries, but
each limited, in function and influence, to the territory
to which he belonged. A French duke had no preeminence in Lombardy, and a Bavarian graf had no
rank in Italy. Other machinery was at times employed
by the central power, in the shape of temporary messengers, or even of emissaries with a longer tenure of
office; but these persons were sent for some special purpose, and were more like commissioners appointed by
the Crown, than possessors of authority inherent in themselves. The term of their ambassadorship expired, their
salary, or the lands they had provisionally held in lieu
of salary, reverted to the monarch, and they returned
to court with no further pretension to power or influence
than an ambassador in our days when he returns from the
country to which he is accredited. But when the great
local nobility found their authority indissolubly connected with their possessions, and that ducal or princely




190             EIGHTII CENTURY.
privileges were hereditary accompaniments of their
lands, the foundations of modern feudalism were already
laid, and the path to national kingship made easy and
unavoidable. When Charlemagne's empire broke into
pieces at his death, we still find, in the next century,
that each piece was a kingdom. Modern Europe took
its rise from these fragmentary though complete portions; and whereas the breaking-up of the first empire
left the world a prey to barbaric hordes, and desolation
and misery spread over the fairest lands, the disruption
of the latter empire of Charlemagne left Europe united
as one whole against Saracen and savage, but separated
in itself into many well-defined states, regulated in
their intercourse by international law, and listening
with the docility of children to the promises or threatenings of the Father of the Universal Church. For with
the empire of Charlemagne the empire of the Papacy
had grown. The temporal power was a collection of
forces dependent on the life of one man; the spiritual
power is a principle which is independent of individual
aid. So over the fragments, as we have said, of the
broken empire, rose higher than ever the unshaken
majesty of Rome. Civil authority had shrunk up within
local bounds; but the Papacy had expanded beyond the
limits of time and space, and shook the dreadful keys
and clenched the two-edged sword which typified its
dominion over both earth and heaven.




NINTH CENTURY.
iEmpteror~.
A.D.        West.           A.D.         East.
800. CHARLEMAGNE, (crowned       NICEPHORus-(cont.)
by the Pope.)         811. MICHAEL.
814. LouIs THE DEBONNAIRE.  813. LEO THE ARMENIAN.
840. CHARLES THE BALD.      821. MICHAEL TEE STAMMERER.
877. LouIS THE STAMMERER.   829. THEOPIHILUS.
879. Louis III. and CARLO- 842. MICHAEL III.
MAN.                  886. LEO THE PHILOSOPHER.
884. CHARLES THE FAT.
887. ARNOLD.
899. Louis IV.
~ins  o~f.Fattcn.
887. EUDES, (Count of Paris.) 898. CHARLES TIIE SIMPLE.
tingn $f i)nXganb.
827. EGBERT.                860. ETHELBERT.
837. ETHELWOLP.             866. ETHELRED.
857. ETHELBALD.             872. ALFRED THE GREAT.
JOHN SCOTUS, (ERIGENA,) HINxMAR, HERIC, (preceded Dos
Cartes in philosophical investigation,) MACARIUS.








THE NINTH CENTURY.
DISMEMBERMENT OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE —DANISH INVASION OF ENGLAND-WEAKNESS OF FRANCE-REIGN OF
ALFRED.
THE first year of this century found Charlemagne
with the crown of the old- Empire upon his head, and
the most distant parts of the world filled with his reputation. As in the case of the first Napoleon, we find
his antechambers crowded with the fallen rulers of the
conquered territories, and even with sovereigns of neighbouring countries. Among others, two of our AngloSaxon princes found their way to the great man's court
at Aix-la-Chapelle. Eardulf of Northumberland pleaded
his cause so wellwith Charlemagne and the Pope, that
by their good offices he was restored to his states. But
a greater man than Eardulf was also a visitor and careful
student of the vanquisher and lawgiver of the Western
world. Originally a Prince of Kent, he had been expelled by the superior power or arts of Beortrick, King
of the West Saxons, and had betaken himself for protection, if not for restoration, to the most powerful ruler
of the time. Whether Egbert joined in his expeditions
or shared his councils, we do not know, but the history
of the Anglo-Saxon monarchies at this date (800 to 830)
shows us the exact counterpart, on our own island, of
the actions of Charlemagne on the wider stage of continental Europe. Egbert, on the death of Beortrick, obtained possession of Wessex, and one by one the separate states of the British IHeptarchy were subdued;
9                                  193




194              NINTH CENTURY.
same reduced to entire subjection, others only to subordinate rank and the payment of tribute, till, when all
things were prepared for the change, Egbert proclaimed
the unity of Southern Britain by assuming the title of
Bretwalda, in the..same way as his prototype had restored the unity of the empire by taking the dignity of
Emperor. It is pleasant to pause over the period of
Charlemagne's reign, for it is an isthmus connecting two
dark and unsatisfactory states of society,-a past of
disunion, barbarity, and violence, and a future of ignorance, selfishness, and crime. The present was not,
indeed, exempt from some or all of these characteristics.
There must have been quarrellings and brutal animosities
on the outskirts of his domain, where half-converted
Franks carried fire and sword, in the name of religion,
among the still heathen Saxons; there must have been
insolence and cruelty among the bishops and priests,
whose education, in the majority of instances, was
limited to learning the services of the Church by heart.
Many laymen, indeed, had seized on the temporalities
of the sees; and, in return, many bishops had arrogated
to themselves the warlike privileges and authority of
the counts and viscounts. -But within the radius of
Charlemagne's own influence, in his family apartments,
or in the great Hall of Audience at Aix-la-Chapelle, the
astonishing sight was presented of a man refreshing himself, after the fatigues of policy and war, by converting his
house into a college for the advancement of learning
and science. From all quarters came the scholars, and
grammarians, and philosophers of the time. Chief of
these was our countryman, the Anglo-Saxon monk
Alcuin, and from what remains of his writings we can
only regret that, in the infancy of that new civilization,
his genius, which was undoubtedly great, was devoted
to trifles of no real importance. Others came to fill up




CHARLEMAGNE'S COURT.             195
that noble company; and it is surely a great relief from
the bloody records with which we have so long been
familiar, to see Charlemagne at home, surrounded by
sons and daughters, listening to.readings and translations
from IRoman authors; entering himself into disquisitions on philosophy and antiquities, and acting as president of a select society of earnest searchers after information. To put his companions more at their ease, he
hid the terrors of his crown under an assumed name,
and only accepted so much of his royal state as his
friends assigned to him by giving him the name of King
David. The best versifier was known as Virgil. Alcuin
himself was Horace; and Angelbert, who cultivated
Greek, assumed the proud name of Homer. These
literary discussions, however, would have had no better
effect than refining the court, and making the days pass
pleasantly; but Charlemagne's object was higher and
more liberal than this. Whatever monastery he founded
or endowed was forced to maintain a school as part of
its establishment. Alcuin was presented with the great
Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, which possessed on its
domain twenty thousand serfs, and therefore made him
one of the richest land-owners in France. There, at full
leisure from worldly cares, he composed a vast number
of books, of very poor philosophy and very incorrect
astronomy, and perhaps looked down from his lofty
eminence of wealth and fame on the humble labours of
young Eginhart, the secretary of Charlemagne, who has
left us a Life of his master, infinitely more interesting
and useful than all the dissertations of the sage. From
this great Life we learn many delightful characteristics
of the great man, his good-heartedness, his love of justice, and blind affection for his children. But it is with
his public works, as acting on this century, that we have
now to do.' Throughout the whole extent of his empire




196              NINTH CENTURY.
he founded Academies, both for learning and for useful
occupations. Hle encouraged the study and practice of
agriculture and trade. The fine arts found him a munificent patron; and though the objects on which the artist's
skill was exercised were not more exalted than the
carving of wooden tables, the moulding of metal cups,
and the casting of bells, the circumstances of the time
are to be taken into consideration, and these efforts may
be found as advanced, for the ninth century, as the
works of the sculptors and metallurgists of our own
day. It is painful to observe that the practice of what
is now called adulteration was not unknown at that
early period. There was a monk of the name of Tancho,
in the monastery of St. Gall, who produced the first bell.
Its sound was so sweet and solemn, that it was at once
adopted as an indispensable portion of the ornament of
church and chapel, and soon after that, of the religious
services themselves. Charlemagne, hearing it, and perhaps believing that an increased value in the metal
would produce a richer tone, sent -him  a sufficient
quantity of silver to form a second bell. The monk,
tempted by the facility of turning the treasure to his
own use, brought forward another specimen of his skill,
but of a mixed and very inferior material. What the
just and severe emperor might have done, on the discovery of the fraud, is not known; but the story ended
tragically without the intervention of the legal sword.
At the first swing of the clapper it broke the skull of
the dishonest founder, who had apparently gone too
near to witness the action of the tongue; and the bell
was thenceforth looked on with veneration, as the
discoverer and punisher of the unjust manufacturer.
The monks, indeed, seem to have been the most refractory of subjects, perhaps because they were already
exempted from the ordinary punishments. In order to




PSALMODY.                  197
produce uniformity in the services and chants of the
Church, the emperor sent to Rome for twelve monkish
musicians, and distributed them in the twelve principal
bishoprics of his dominions. The twelve musicians
would not consent to be musical according to order, and
made the confusion greater than ever, for each of them
taught different tunes and a different method. The disappointed emperor could only complain to the Pope, and
the Pope put the recusant psalmodists in prison. But it
appears the fate of Charlemagne, as of all persons in
advance of their age, to be worthy of congratulation
only for his attempts. The:success of many of his
undertakings was not adequate to the pains bestowed
upon them. Hie held many assemblages, both lay and
ecclesiastical, during his lengtlhened reign; he published
many excellent laws, which soon fell into disuse; he
tried many reforms of churches and monasteries, which
shared the same fortune; he held the Popes of Rome
and the dignitaries of his empire in perfect submission,
but professed so much respect for the office of Pontiff
and Bishop, that, when his own overwhelming superiority was withdrawn, the Church rebelled against the
State, and claimed dominion over it. tis sense of justice, as well as the custom of the time, led him to divide
his states among his sons, which not only insured enmity
between them, but enfeebled the whole of Christendom.
Clouds, indeed, began to gather over him  some time
before his reign was ended. One day he was at a city
of Narbonese Gaul, looking out upon the Mediterranean
Sea. He saw some vessels appear before the port
"These," said the courtiers, "must be ships from the
coast of Africa, Jewish merchantmen, or British traders."
13ut Charlemagne, who had leaned a long time against
the wall of the room in a passion of tears, said, "No!
these are not the ships of commerce; I know by their




198              NINTH CENTURY.
lightness of movement. They are the galleys of the.Norsemen; and, though I know such miserable pirates
can do me no harm, I cannot help weeping when I think
of the miseries they will inflict on my descendants and
the lands they shall rule." A true speech, and just occasion for grief, for the descents of these Scandinavian
rovers are the great characteristic of this century, by
which a new power was introduced into Europe, and
great changes took place in the career of France and
England.
It would perhaps be more correct to say that, by this
new mixture of race and language, France and England
were called into existence. England, up to this date,
had been a collection of contending states; France, a
tributary portion of a great Germanic empire. Slowly
stretching northward, the Roman language, modified,
of course, by local pronunciation, had pushed its way
among the original Franks. Latin had been for many
years the language of Divine Service, and of history,
and of law. All westward of the Rhine had yielded to
these influences, and the old Teutonic tongue which
Clovis had brought with him from Germany had long
disappeared, from the Alps up to the Channel. When
A.D. 84 the death of Charlemagne, in 814, had relaxed
the hold which held all his subordinate states
together, the diversity of the language of Frenchman
and German pointed out, almost as clearly as geographical boundaries could have done, the limits of the respective nations. From henceforward, identity of speech
was to be considered a more enduring bond of union
than the mere inhabiting of the same soil. But other
circumstances occurred to favour the idea of a separation into well-defined communities; and among these
the principal was a very long experience of the disadvantages of an encumbered and too extensive empire.




LOUIS THE DEBONNAIRE.           199
Even while the sword was held by the strong hand of
Charlemagne, each portion of his dominions saw with
dissatisfaction that it depended for its peace and prosperity on the peace and prosperity of all the rest, and
yet in this peace and prosperity it had neither voice nor
influence. The inhabitants of the banks of the ILoire
were, therefore, naturally discontented when they found
their provisions enhanced in price, and their sons called
to arms, on account of disturbances on the Elbe, or hostilities in the south of Italy. These evils of their position were further increased when, towards the end of
Charlemagne's reign, the outer circuit of enemies became
more combined and powerful. In proportion as he had
extended his dominion, he had come into contact with
tribes and states with whom it was impossible to be on
friendly terms. To the East, he touched upon the irreclaimable Sclaves and Avars —in the South, he came on
the settlements of the Italian Greeks-in Spain, he
rested upon the Saracens of Cordova. It was hard for
the secure centre of the empire to be destroyed and
ruined by the struggles of the frontier populations, with
which it had no more sympathy in blood and language
than with the people with whom they fought. Already,
also, we have seen how local their government had
become. They had their own dukes and counts, their
own bishops and priests to refer to. The empire was, in
fact, a name, and the land they inhabited the only
reality with which they were concerned. We shall not
be surprised, therefore, when we find that universal rebellion took place when Louis the Debonnaire, the just
and saint-like successor of Charlemagne, endeavoured
to carry on his father's system. Even his reforms served
only to show his own unselfishness, and to irritate the
grasping and avaricious offenders whom it was his object
to amend. Bishops were stripped of their lay lordships




200              NINTH CENTURY.
-prevented from wearing sword and arms, and even
deprived of the military ornament of glittering spurs to
their heels. The monks and nuns, who had almost universally fallen into evil courses, were forcibly reformed
by the laws of a second St. Benedict, whose regulations
were harsh towards the regular orders, but useless to
the community at large-a sad contrast to the agricultural and manly exhortations of the first conventual
legislator of that name. Nothing turned out well with
this simplest and most generous of the Carlovingian
kings. His virtues, inextricably interlaced as they
were with the weaknesses of his character, were more
injurious to himself and his kingdom than less amiable
qualities would have been. Priest and noble were equally
ignorant of the real characteristics of a Christian life.
When he refunded the exactions of his father, and restored the conquests which he considered illegally acquired, the universal feeling of astonishment was only
lost in the stronger sentiment of disdain. An excellent
monk in a cell, or judge in a court of law, Louis the
Debonnaire was the most unfit man of his time to keep
discordant nationalities in awe.: His children were as
unnatural as those of Lear, whom he resembled in some
other respects: for he found what little reverence waits
upon a discrowned king; and personal indignities of the
most degrading kind were heaped upon him by those
whose duty it was to maintain and honour him. Superstition was set to work on his enfeebled mind, and twice
he did public penance for crimes of which he'was not
guilty; and on the last occasion, stripped of his military
baldric —the lowest indignity to which a Frankish monarch could be subjected-clothed in a hair shirt by the
hands of an ungrateful bishop, he was led by his triA.D. 33. umphant son, Lothaire, through the streets of
Aix-la-Chapelle.  But natural feeling was not




DEATHI OF LOUIS.              201
extinguished in the hearts of the staring populace.
They saw in the meek.emperor's lowly behaviour, and
patient endurance of pain and insult, an image of that
other and holier King who carried his cross up the
steeps of Jerusalem. They saw him denuded. of the
symbols of earthly power and of military rank, oppressed, and wronged-and recognised in that downtrodden man a representation of themselves. This sentiment spread with the magic force of sympathy and remorse. All the world, we are told, left the unnatural
son solitary' and friendless in the very hour of his success; and Louis, too pure-minded himself to perceive
that it was the virtue of his character which made him
hated, persisted in pushing on his amendments as if he
had the power to carry them into: effect. lIe ordered all
lands and other goods which the nobles had seized from
the Church to be restored-a tenderness of conscience
utterly inexplicable to the marauding baron, who had
succeeded by open force, and in a fair field, in despoiling
the marauding bishop of land and tower. It was arming
his rival, he thought, with a two-edged sword, this
silence as to the inroads of the churchman on the property of the nobles, and prevention of their just reprisals
on the property of the prelate, by placing it under the
safeguard of religion. The rugged warrior kept firm
hold of the bishopric or abbey he had secured, and the
belted bishop reimbursed himself by appropriating the
wealth of his weaker neighbours.'But ILouis was as unfortunate in his testamentary
arrangement as in all the other regulations of his life.
Lothaire was to retain the eastern portion of the empire;
Charles, his favourite, had France as far as the Rhine;
while Louis was limited to the distant region of Bavaria.
And having made this disposition of his power,
the meek and useless Louis descended into the




202               NINTH CENTURY.
tomb-a striking example, the French historians tell
us, of the great historic truth renewed at such distant
dates, that the villanies and cruelties of a race of kings
bring misery on the most virtuous of their descendants.
All the crimes of the three preceding reigns-rthe violence
and disregard of life exhibited by Charlemagne himself
-found their victim and expiation in his meek and
gentle-minded son. The harshness'of Henry VIII. of
England, they add, lind the despotic claims of James,
were visited on the personally just and amiable Charles;
and they point to the parallel case of their own Louis
XVI., and see in the sad fortune of that mild and guileless sovereign the final doom of the murderous Charles
IX., and the voluptuous and hypocritical Louis XIV.
But these kings are still far off in the darkness of the
coming centuries. It is a strange sight, in the middle
of the ninth century, to see the successor of the great
Emperor stealing through the confused and chaotic
events of that wretched period, stripped as it were of
sword and crown, but everywhere displaying the beauty
of pure and simple goodness. I:e refused to condemn
his enemies to death. He was only inexorable towards
his own offences, and sometimes humbled himself for
imaginary sins. A protector of the Church, a zealous
supporter of Rome, it would give additional dignity to
the act of canonization if the name of Louis the Debonnaire were added to the list of Saints.
But we have left the empire which it had taken so
long to consolidate, now legally divided into three.
There is a Charles in possession of the western division;
a Louis in the farther Germany; and Lothaire, the unfilial triumpher at Aix-la-Chapelle, invested with the
remainder of the Roman world. But ILothaire was not
to be satisfied with remainders. Once in power, he was
determined to recover the empire in its undivided state.




FRANCE LOSES TIlE RHINE.         203
lie was KIing of Italy; master of Rome and of the
Pope; he was eldest grandson of Charlemagne, and.D 842. defied the opposition of his brothers. A battle
was fought at Fontenay in 842, in which these
pretensions were overthrown; and the final severance
took place in the following year between the French
and German populations.  The treaty between the
brothers still remains. It is written in duplicate-one
in a tongue still intelligible to German ears, and the
other in a Romanized speech, which is nearer the French
of the present day than the English of Alfred, or even
of Edward the Confessor, is to ours.
France, which had hitherto attained that title in right
of its predominant race, held it henceforth on
the double ground of language and territory,
But there is a curious circumstance connected with the
partition of the empire, which it may be interesting to
remember. France, in gaining its name and language,
lost its natural boundary of the Rhine. Up to this time,
the limit of ancient Gaul had continued to define the
territory of the Western Franks. In rude times, indeed,
there can be no other divisions than those supplied by
nature; but now that a tongue was considered a bond
of nationality, the French were contented to surrender
to Lotlhaire the Emperor a long strip of territory,
running the whole way up from Italy to the North Sea,
including both-banks of the Rhine, and acting as a wall
of partition between them and the German-speaking
people on the other side,-a great price to pay, even for
the easiest and -most widely-spread language in Europe.
Yet the most ambitious of Frenchmen would pause
before he undid the bargain and reacquired the " exulting and abounding river" at the sacrifice of his inimitable
tongue.
Very confused and uncertain are all the events for a




204              NINTH CENTURY.
long time after this date. We see perpetual attempts
made to restore the reality as well as the name of the
Empire. These battles and competitions of the line of
Charlemagne are the subject of chronicles and treaties,
and might impose upon us by the grandeur of their appearance, if we did not see, from the incidental facts
which come to the surface, how unavailing all efforts
must be to arrest the dissociation of state from state.
The principle of dissolution was at work everywhere.
Kingship itself had fallen into contempt, for the great
proprietors had been encouraged to exert a kind of personal power in the reign of Charlemagne, which contributed to the strength of his well-consolidated crown;
but when the same individual influence was exercised
under the nominal supremacy of Louis the Debonnaire
or Charles the Bald, it proved a humiliating and dangerous contrast to the weakness of the throne. A combination of provincial dignitaries could at any time outweigh the authority of the king, and sometimes, even
singly, the owners of extensive estates threw off the
very name of subject. They claimed their lands as not
only hereditary possessions, but endowed with all the
rights and privileges which their personal offices had
bestowed. If their commission from the emperor had
given them authority to judge causes, to raise faxes, or
to collect troops, they maintained from henceforth that
those. high powers were inherent in their lands. The
dukes, therefore, invested their estates with ducal
rights, independent of the Crown, and left to the holder
of the kingly name no real authority except in his own
domains. Brittany, and Aquitaine, and Septimania,
withdrew their allegiance from the poor King of France.
He could not compel the ambitious owners of those
duchies to recognise his power, and condescended even
to treat them as rival and acknowledged kings. Then




FORGED DONATIONS.              205
there were other magnates who were not to be left mere
subjects when dukes had risen to such rank. So the
Marquises of Toulouse and Gothia, a district of Languedoc, and Auvergne, were treated more as equals than as
appointed deputies recallable at pleasure. But worse
enemies of kingly dignity than duke or marquis were
the ambitious bishops, who looked with uneasy eyes on
the rapid rise of their rivals the lay nobility. Already
the hereditary title of those territorial potentates was an
accomplished fact; the son of the count inherited his
father's county. [But the general celibacy of the clergy
fortunately prevented the hereditary transmission of
bishopric and abbey. To make up for the want of this
advantage, they boldly determined to assert far higher
claims as inherent in their rank than marquis or count
could aim at. Starting from the universally-conceded
ground of their right to reprimand and punish any
Christian who committed sin, they logically carried
their pretension to the right of deposing kings if they
offended the Church. More than fifty years had passed
since Charlemagne had received the imperial crown from
the hands of the Pope of Rome. Dates are liable to fall
into confusion in ignorant times and places, and it was
easy to spread a belief that the popes had always exercised the power of bestowing the diadem upon kings.
To support these astounding claims with some certain
guarantee, and give them the advantage of prescriptive
right by a long and legitimate possession, certain documents were spread abroad at this time, purporting to be
a collection by Isidore, a saint of the sixth century, of
the decretals or judicial sentences of the popes from a
very early period, asserting the unquestioned spiritual
supremacy of the Roman See at a date when it was in
reality but one of many feeble seats of Christian authority; and to equalize its earthly grandeur with its re



206              NINTH CENTURY.
ligious pretension, the new edition of Isidore contained
a donation by Constantine himself, in the beginning of
the fourth century, of the city of Rome and enormous
territories in Italy, to be held in sovereignty by the
successors of St. Peter. These are now universally
acknowledged to be forgeries and impostures of the
grossest kind, but at the time they appeared they served
the purpose for which they were intended, and gave a
sanction to the Papal assumptions far superior to the
rights of any existing crown.
Charles the Bald was a true son of Louis the Debonnaire in his dev6tion to the Church. When the
A.D. 859.
bishops of his own kingdom, with Wenilon of
Sens as their leader, offended with some remissness he
had temporarily shown in advancing their worldly interests, determined to depose him from the throne, and
called Louis the German to take his place, Charles fled
and threw himself on the protection of the Pope. And
when by submission and promises he had been permitted
to re-enter France, he complained of the conduct of the
prelates in language which ratified all their claims.
"' Elected by Wenilon and the other bishops, as well as
by the lieges of our kingdom, who expressed their consent by their acclamations, Wenilon consecrated me
king according to ecclesiastic tradition, in his own diocese, in the Church of the Holy Cross at Orleans. He
anointed me with the holy oil; he gave me the diadem
and royal sceptre, and seated me on the throne. After
that consecration I could not be removed from the
throne, or supplanted by any one, at least without being
heard and judged by the bishops, by whose ministry I
was consecrated king. It is they who are as the thrones
of the Divinity. God reposes upon them, and by them
he gives forth his judgments. At all times I have been
ready to submit to their fatherly corrections, to their




BELIEF AND INQUIRY.               907
just castigations, and am ready to do so still."  What
more could the Church require?  Its wealth was the
least of its advantages, though the abbacies and bishoprics were richer than dukedoms all over the land. Their
temporal power was supported by the terrors of their
spiritual authority; and kings, princes, and people appeared so prone to the grossest excesses of credulity and
superstition, that it needed little to throw Europe itself
at the feet of the priesthood, and place sword and sceptre
permanently in subordination to the crozier. Blindly
secure of their position, rioting in the riches of the subject land, the bishops probably disregarded, as below
their notice, the two antagonistic principles which were
at work at this time in the midst of their own bodythe principle of absolute submission to authority in
articles of faith, and the principle of free inquiry into all
religious doctrine. The first gave birth to the great
mystery of transubstantiation, which now first made its
appearance as an indispensable belief, and was hailed by
the laity and inferior clergy as a crowning proof of the
miraculous powers inherent in the Church. The second
was equally busy, but was not productive of such permanent effects. At the court of Charles the Bald there
was a society of learned and ingenious men, presided
over by the celebrated John Scot Erigena, (or native of
Ireland,) who had studied the early Fathers and the
Platonic philosophy, and were inclined to admit human
reason to some participation in the reception of Christian truths. There were therefore discussions on the
real presence, and free-will, and predestination, which
had the usual unsatisfactory termination of all questions
transcending man's understanding, and only embittered
their respective adherents without advancing the settlement on either side. While these exercitations of talent
and dialectic quickness were carried on, filling the different




208              NINTII CENTURY.
dioceses with wonder and perplexity, the great body of
the people in various countries of Europe were recalled
to the practical business of life by disputes of a far more
serious character than the wordy wars of Scotus and his
foes. Michelet, the most picturesque of the recent historians of France, has given us an amazing view of the
state of affairs at this time. It is the darkest period
of the human mind; it is also the most unsettled period
of human society. Outside of the narrowing limits of
peopled Christendom, enemies are pressing upon every
side. Saxons on the East are laying their hands in
reverence on the manes of horses, and swearing in the
name of Odin; Saracens, in the South and West, are
gathering once more for the triumph of the Prophet;
and suddenly France, Germany, Italy, and England, are
awakened to the presence and possible supremacy of a
more dreaded invader than either, for the Vikinger, or
Norsemen, were abroad upon the sea, and all Christendom was exposed to their ravages. Wherever a river
poured its waters into the ocean, on the coast of Narbonne, or Yorkshire, or Calabria, or Friesland, boats,
small in size, but countless in number, penetrated into
the inland towns, and disembarked wild and fearless
warriors, who seemed inspired by the mad fanaticism
of some inhuman faith, which made charity and mercy
a sin. Starting from the islands and rugged mainland
of the present Denmark and Norway, they swept across
the stormy North Sea, shouting their hideous songs of
glory and defiance, and springing to land when they
reached their destination with the agility and bloodthirstiness of famished wolves. Their business was to
carry slaughter and destruction wherever they went.
They looked with contempt on the lazy occupations of
the inhabitants of town or farm, and, above all, were
filled with hatred and disdain of the monks and priests.




THE NORSEMEN.                 209
Their leaders were warriors and poets. Gliding up
noiseless streams, they intoned their battle-cry and
shouted the great deeds of their ancestors when they
reached, the walls of some secluded monastery, and
rejoiced in wrapping all its terrified inmates in flames.
Bards, soldiers, pirates, buccaneers, and heathens, destitute of fear, or pity, or remorse, amorous of danger,
and skilful in management of ship and weapon, these
were the most ferocious visitants which Southern Europe
had ever seen. No storm was sufficient to be a protection, against their approach. On the crest of the highest
waves those lfrail barks were seen by the affrighted
dwellers on the shore, careering with all sail set, and
steering right into their port. All the people on the
coast, from the Rhine to Bayonne, and from Toulouse
to the Grecian Isles, fled for protection to the great proprietors of the lands. But the great proprietors of the
-lands were the peaceful priors of stately abbeys, and
bishops of wealthy sees. Their pretensions had been
submitted to by kings and nobles; they were the real
rulers of France; and even in England their authority
was very great. Excommunications had been their
arms against recusant baron and refractory count; but
the Danish Northmen did not care for bell, book, and
candle. The courtly circle of scholars and divines could
give no aid to the dishoused villagers and trembling
cities, however ingenious the logic might be which reconciled Plato to St. Paul; and Charles the Bald, surprised, no doubt, at the inefficacy of prayers and processions, was forced to replace the influence in the hands,
not which carried the crozier and cross, but which
curbed the horse and couched the spear. The invasion
of the Danes was, in fact, the resuscitation of the.courage
and manliness of the nationalities they attacked. D)readful as the suffering was at the time, it was not given to




210              NINTH CENTURY.
any man then alive to see the future benefits contained
in the present woe. We, with a calmer view, look back
upon the whole series of those events, and in the inter
mixture of the new race perceive the elements of great.
ness and power. Priest-ridden, down-trodden populations received a fresh impulse from those untamed
children of the North; and in the forcible relegation of
ecclesiastics to the more peaceable offices of their calling,
we see the first beginning of the gradation of ranks, and
separation of employments, which gave honourable occupation to the respective leaders in Church and State;
which limited the clergyman to the unostentatious discharge of his professional duties, and left the baron to
command his warriors and give armed protection to all
the dwellers in the land. For feudalism, as understood
in the Middle Ages, was the inevitable result of the relative positions of priest and noble at the time of. the
Norsemen's forays. It was found that the possession
of great domains had its duties as well as its rights, and
the duty of defence was the most imperative of all.
Men held their grounds, therefore, on the obligation of
keeping their vassals uninjured by the pirates; the
bishops were found unable to perform this work, and the
territory passed away from their keeping. Vast estates,
no doubt, still remained in their possession, but they
were placed in the guardianship of the neighbouring
chateaux; and though at intervals, in the succeeding
centuries, we shall see the prelate dressing himself in a
coat of mail, and rendering in person the military service entailed upon his lands, the public feeling rapidly
revolted against the incongruity of the deed. The steelclad bishop was looked on with slender respect, and was
soon found to do more damage to his order, by the contrast between his conduct and his profession, than he
could possibly gain for it by his prowess or skill in war.




DEVELOPMENT OF FEUDALISM.          211
Feudalism, indeed, or the reciprocal obligation of pro.
tection and submission, reached its full development by
the formal deposition of a descendant of Charlemagne,
on the express ground of his inability to defend his
A.D. 879. people from the enemies by which they were
surrounded. A congress of six archbishops, and
seventeen bishops, was held in the town of 3Iantela, near
Vienne; and after consultation with the nobility, they
came to the following resolution:-" That whereas the
great qualities of the old mayors of the palace were
their only rights to the throne, and Charlemagne,
whom all willingly obeyed, did not transmit his talents,
along with his crown, to his posterity, it was right to
leave that house."  They therefore sent an offer of the
throne of Burgundy to Boso, Count of the Ardennes,
with the conditions "that he should be a true patron
and defender of high and low, accessible and friendly to
all, humble before God, liberal to the Church, and true
to his word."
By this abnegation of temporal weapons, and dependence on the armed warrior for their defence, the prelates put themselves at the head of the unarmed peoples
at the same moment that they exercised their spiritual
authority over all classes alike. It was useless for them
to draw the sword themselves, when they regulated
every motion of the hand by which the sword was held.
While this is the state of affairs on the Continentwhile the great Empire of Charlemagne is falling to
pieces, and the kingly office is practically reduced to a
mere equality with the other dignities of the land-while
this disunion in nations and weakness in sovereigns is
exposing the fairest lands in Europe to the aggressions
of enemies on every side-let us cast our eyes for a
moment on England, and see in what condition our
ancestors are placed at the middle of this century. A




212              NINTH CENTURY.
most dreadful and alarming condition as ever OldEngland
was in. For many years before this, a pirate's boat or
two from the North would run upon the sand, and send
the crews to burn and rob a village on the coast of Berwick or Northumberland.  Pirates we superciliously
call them, but that is from a misconception of their
point of honour, and of the very different estimate they
themselves formed of their pursuits and character. They
were gentleman, perhaps, "of small estate" in some outlying district of Denmark or Norway, but endowed
with stout arms and a great wish to distinguish themselves-if the distinction could be accompanied with an
increase of their worldly goods. They considered the
sea their own domain, and whatever was found on it as
theirs by right of possession. They were, therefore,
lords of the manor, looking after their rights, their
waifs and strays, their flotsams and jetsams.  They
were also persons of a strong religious turn, and united
the spirit of the missionary to the courage of the warrior
and the avidity of the conqueror. Odin was still their
god, the doors of the Walhalla were still open to them
after death, and the skulls of their enemies were foaming with intoxicating mead.. The English were renegades from the true faith, a set of drivelling wretches
who believed in a heaven where there was -no beer, and
worshipped a god who bade them pray for their enemies
and bless the very people who used them ill. The remaining similarity in the language of the two peoples
must have added a bitterness to the contemptuous feelings of the unreclaimed rovers of the deep; and probably, on their return, these enterprising warriors were
as proud of the number of priests they had slain, as of
the more valuable trophies they carried home. Denmark itself, up to this time, had been distracted with
internal wars. It was only the more active spirits who




DANISH INVASION OF ENGLAND.         213
had rushed across from the Sound, and solaced themselves, in the intervals of their own campaigns, with an
onslaught upon an English town. But now the scene
was to change. The inroads of separate crews were to.D 838. be exchanged for national invasions. Harold of
the Fair Hair was seated on an undisputed throne,
and repressed the outrages of these adventurous warriors
by a strong and determined will. He stretched his
sceptre over all the Scandinavian world, and neither the
North Sea nor the Baltic were safe places for piracy
and spoil. One of his countrymen had founded the royal
line of Russia, and from his capital of Kieff or Novgorod
was civilizing, with whip and battle-axe, the original
hordes which now form the Empire of the Czars. Already, from their lurking-places on the shores of the
Black Sea, the Norwegian predecessors of the men of
Odessa and Sebastopol were threatening a dash upon
Constantinople; while sea-kings and jarls, compelled to
be quiet and peaceable at home, but backed by all the
wild populations of the lNorth, anxious for glory, and
greedy of gold and corn, resolved to reduce England
to their obedience, and collected an enormous fleet in the
quiet recesses of the Baltic, withdrawn from the observation of Harold. It seems fated that France is always,
in some sort or other, to set the fashion to her neighbours.
We have seen, at the beginning of this century, how
England followed the example of the Frankish peoples
in consolidating itself into one dominion. Charlemagne
was recognised chief potentate of many states, and
Egbert was sovereign of all the Saxon lands, from Cornwall to the gates of Edinburgh. But the model was
copied no less closely in the splitting-up of the central
authority than in its consolidation. While Louis the
Debonnaire and Charles the Bald were weakening the
throne of Charlemagne, the states of Egbert became




214             NINTH CENTURY.
parcelled out in the same way between the descendants
of the English king. Ethelwolf was the counterpart of
Louis, and carried the sceptre in too gentle a hand. He
still further diminished his authority by yielding to the
dissensions of his court. Like the" Frankish ruler, also,
he left portions of his territory to his four sons; of
whom it will be sufficient for us to remember that the
youngest was the great Alfred-the foremost name in
all medieval history; and by an injudicious marriage
with the daughter of Charles the Bald, and his unjust
divorce of the mother of all his sons, he offended the
feelings of the nation, and raised the animosity of his
children. Ethelbald his son completed the popular di'scontent by marrying his father's widow, the French
princess, who had been the cause of so much disagreement; and while the people were thus alienated, and the
guiding hand of a true ruler of men was withdrawn,
A.D. 39. the terrible invasion of Danes. and Jutlanders
went on. They sailed up the Thames and pillaged ]London. Wilchester was given to the flames.
The whole isle of Thanet was seized and permanently
occupied. The magic standard, a raven, embroidered
by the daughters of the famous Regner Lodbrog, (who
had been stung to death by serpents in a dungeon into
which he was thrown by Ella, King of Northumberland,)
was carried from point to point, and was thought to be
the symbol of victory and revenge. The offending
Northumbrian now felt the wrath of the sons of Lodbrog. They landed with a great army, and after a
battle, in which the chiefs of the English were slain,
took the Northumbrian kingdom. Nottingham was
soon after captured and destroyed. It was no longer a
mere incursion. The nobles and great families of Denmark came over to their new conquest, and stationed
themselves in strong fortresses, commanding large cir



ALFRED AND TI-E DANES.            215
cles of country, and lived under their Danish regulations. The land, to be sure, was not populous at thattime, and probably the Danish settlements were accomplished without the removal of any original occupiers.
But the castles they built, and the towns which rapidly_
grew around them, acted as outposts against the remaining British kingdoms; and at last, when fleet after fleet
A.D. 860 disembarked their thousands of warlike colonists
-when Leicester, Lincoln, Stamford, York, and
Chester, were all in Danish hands, and stretched a line
of intrenchments round the lands they considered their
ownl-the divided Anglo-Saxons were glad to purchase a
cessation of hostilities by guaranteeing to them forever
the places and territories they had secured. And there
was now a Danish kingdom enclosed by the fragments
of the English empire;. there were Danish laws and
customs, a Danish mode of pronunciation, and for a
good while a still broader gulf of demarcation established
872 between the peoples by their diversity in religious
faith. But when Alfred attained the supreme
power-and although respecting the treaties between
the Danes and English, yet evidently able to defend his
countrymen from the aggressions of their foreign neighbour-the pacified pirate, tired of the sea, and softened
by the richer soil and milder climate of his new home,
began to perceive the very unsatisfactory nature of his
ancient belief, and rapidly gave his adhesion to the
lessons of the gospel. Guthrum, the Danish chieftain,
became a zealous Christian according to his lights, and
was baptized with all his subjects. Alfred acted as godfather to the neophyte, and restrained the wildest of his
followers within due bounds. Perhaps, even,. he was
assisted by his Christianized allies in the great and final
struggle against iHastings and a new swarm of Scandinavian rovers, whose defeat is the concluding act of this




216              NINTH CENTURY.
tumultuous century. Alfred drew up near London, and
-met the advancing hosts on the banks of the river Lea,
about twenty miles from town. The patient angler in
that suburban river seldom thinks what great events
occurred upon its shore. Great ships-all things are
comparative-were floating upon its waters, filled with
armed Danes. Alfred cut certain openings in the banks
and lowered the stream, so that the hostile navy stranded.
Out sprang the Danes, astonished at the interruption to
their course, and retreated across the country, nor
stopped till they had placed themselves in inaccessible
positions on the Severn. But the century came to a
close. Opening with the great days of Charlemagne, it
is right that it should close with the far more glorious
reign of Alfred the patriot and sage;-.a century illuminated at its two extremes, but in its middle period dark
with disunion and ignorance, and not unlikely, unless
controlled to higher uses, to give birth to a state of more
hopeless barbarism than that from which the nations of
Europe had so recently emerged.




TENTH CENTURY.
Emapevtro   of Getmanu.   Entpertot  of t1e East.
A.D.                        A.D.
Louis IV. —(cont.)          LEo.-(cont.)
911. CONRAD.                911. CONSTANTINE IX.
920. HENRY THE FOWLER.      915. CONSTANTINE and ROMANUS.
936. OTHO THE GREAT.        959. ROMANUS II.
973. OTHO II.               963. NICEPHORUS PHOCAS.
983. OTHO III.              969. JOHN ZIMISCES.
975. BASILIUS and CONSTANTINE X.
itingg of FStance.         Utfingo of ingIant.
CHARLES THE SIMPLE.-        ALFRED.-(cont.)
(cont.)               901. EDWARD THE ELDER.
923. RODOLPH.               925. ATHELSTANE.
936. Louis IV., (d'Outremer.) 941. EDMUND I.
954. LOTHAIRE.              948. ELDRED.
986. LOUis V., (le Fain6ant.)  955. EDWY.
987. HUGH CAPET, (new dy-  959. EDGAR.
nasty.)               976. EDWARD XI.
996. ROBERT THE WISE.       978. ETHELRED II.
aRUtorts,
SUIDAS, (Lexicographer), GERBERT, ODO, DUNSTAN.
10








THE TENTI CENTURY.
DARKNESS AND DESPAIR.
THE tenth century is always to be remembered as the
darkest and most debased of all the periods of modern
history. It was the midnight of the human mind, far
out of reach of the faint evening twilight left by Roman
culture, and further still from the morning brightness of
the new and higher civilization. If we try to catch any
hope of the future, we must turn from the oppressed
and enervated populations of France and Italy to the
wild wanderers from the North. By following the
latter detachment of Norsemen who made their settlements on the Seine, we shall see that what seemed the
wedge by which the compactness of an organized kingdom was to be split up turned out to be the strengthening beam by which the whole machinery of legal government had been kept together. Romanized Gauls,
effeminated Franks, Goths, and Burgundians, were found
unfitted for the duties either of subjects or rulers. They
were too ambitious to obey, and too ignorant to command. Religion itself had lost its efficacy, for the populations had been so fed with false legends, that they had
no relish for the truths of the gospel, which, indeed, as
an instrument of instruction, had fallen into complete
disuse. Ship-loads of false relics, and army-rolls of
imaginary saints, were poured out for the general veneration. The higher dignitaries of the Church were
looked on with very different feelings, according to the
point of view taken of them. When regarded merely
219




220              TENTH CENTURY.
as possessors of lands and houses, they were loved or
hated according to the -use they made of their power;
but at the very time when cruelties and vices made them
personally the objects of detestation or contempt, the
sacredness of their official characters remained. IPetitions were sent to the kings against the prelates being
allowed to lead their retainers into battle, not entirely
from a scruple as to the unlawfulness of such a proceeding. but from the more serious consideration that their
death or capture would be taken as a sign of the vengeance of Heaven, and damp the ardour of the party they
supported. Churches and cathedrals were filled with
processionary spectacles, and their altars covered with
the offerings of the faithful; and yet so brutal were the
manners of the times, and so small the respect entertained for the individual priest, that laymen of the
highest rank thought nothing of knocking down the
dignitaries of the Church with a blow on the head, even
while solemnly engaged in the offices of devotion. The
Roman pontiffs, we have seen, did not scruple-to avail
themselves of the forgeries of their enthusiastic supporters to establish their authority on the basis of antiquity, and at the middle of this century we should find,
if we inquired into it, that the sacred city and chair of
St. Peter were a prey to the most violent passions.
Many devout Roman Catholics have been, at various
periods, so horrified with the condition of their chiefs,
and of the perverted religion which had arisen from
tradition and imposture, that they have claimed the
mere continued existence of the Papacy as a proof of
its Divine institution, and a fulfilment of the prophecy
that "the gates of hell should not prevail against it."
Yet even in the midst of this corruption and ignorance,
there were not wanting some redeeming qualities, which
soften our feelings towards the ecclesiastic power. It




CONVENTS.                  221
was at all times, in its theory, a protest against the
excesses of mere strength and violence. The doctrines
it professed to teach were those of kindness and charity;
and in the great idea of-the throned fisherman at Rome,
the poorest saw a kingdom which was not of this world,
and yet to which all the kingdoms of this world must
bow.  Temporal ranks were obliterated when the descendants of kings and emperors were seen paying
homage to the sons of serfs and workmen. The immunity, also, from spoil and slaughter, which to a certain
extent still adhered to episcopal and abbatial lands, reflected a portion of their sanctity on the person of the
bishop and abbot.  Mysterious reverence still hung
round the convents, within which such ceaseless prayers
were said and so many relics exposed, and whither it
was also known that all the learning and scholarship of
the land had fled for refuge. The doles at monasterydoors, however objected to by political economists, as
encouragements of mendicancy and idleness, were viewed
in a very different light by the starving crowds, who,
besides being qualified by destitution and hunger for tlhe
reception of charitable food, had an incontestable right,
under the founder's will, to be supported by the establishment on whose lands they lived. The abbot who neglected tofeed the poor was not only an unchristian contemner of the precepts of the faith, but ran counter to the
legal obligations of his place. He was administrator of
certain properties left for the benefit of persons about
whose claims there was no doubt; and when the rapacious methods of maintaining their adherents, which
were adopted by the count and baron, were compared
with the baskets of broken victuals, and the jugs of
foaming beer, which were distributed at the buttery of
the abbey, the decision was greatly in favour of the
spiritual chief. His ambling mule, and swift hound, and




222               TENTH CENTURY.
hooded hawks, were not grudged, nor his less defensible
occupations seriously inquired into, as long as the beef
and mutton were not stinted, and the liquor flowed in
reasonable streams. As to his theological tenets, or
knowledge of history, either sacred or profane, the
highest ecclesiastic was on the same level of utter ignorance and indifference with the lowest of his serfs.
There were no books of controversial divinity in all this
century. There were no studies exacted from priest or
prelate. All that was required was an inordinate zeal
in the discovery of holy relics, and an acquaintance with
the unnumbered ceremonies performed in the celebration of the service. Morals were in as low a state as
learning. Debauchery, drunkenness, and uncleanness
were the universal characteristics both of monk and
secular. So it is a satisfaction to turn from the wretched
spectacle of the decaying and corrupt condition of an
old society, to the hardier vices of a new and undegenerated people. Better the unreasoning vigour of the
Normans, and their wild trust in Thor and Odin-their
spirit of personal independence and pride in the manly
exercises-than the creeping submission of an uneducated population, trampled on by their brutal lay superiors, and cheated out of money and labour by the
artifices of their priests.
IRollo, the Norman chief, had pushed his unresisted
galleys up the Seine, and strongly intrenched himself
in Rouen, in the first year of this century. From this
citadel, so admirably selected for his purposes, whether
of defence or conquest, he spread his expeditions on
every side. The boats were so light that no shallowness
of water hindered their progress even to the great
valleys where the river was still a brook. When impediments were encountered on the way, in the form of
waterfall, or, more rarely, of bridge or weir, the adven



NORSE SETTLEMENTS.              223
turers sprang to shore and carried their vessels along
the land. When greater booty tempted them, they
even crossed long tracts of country, hauling their boats
along with them, and launching them in some peaceful
vale far away from the sea. Every islet in the rivers
was seized and fortified; so that, dotted about over all
the beautiful lands between the Seine and the borders
of Flanders, were stout Norman colonies, with all the
pillage they had obtained securely guarded in those unassailable retreats, and ready to carry their maritime
depredations wherever a canoe could swim.  Their
rapidity of locomotion was equal to that of the Saracenic
hordes who had poured down from the Pyrenees in the
days of Charles the Hammer. But the Norsemen were
of sterner stuff than the light chivalry of Abderachmnan. Where they stopped they took root. They found
it impossible to carry off all the treasure they had
seized, and therefore determined to stay beside it.
Rouen was at first about to be laid waste, but the policy
of the bishop preserved it from destruction, while the
wisdom of the rovers converted it into a fortress of the
greatest strength. Strong walls were reared all round.
The beautiful river was guarded night and day by their
innumerable fleet, and in a short time it was recognised
equally by friend and foe as the capital and headquarters
of a new race. Nor were the Normans left entirely to
Scandinavia for recruits. The glowing reports of their
success, which successively arrived at their ancient
homes, of course inspired the ambitious listeners with
an irresistible desire to launch forth and share their
fortune; but there were not wanting thousands of volunteers near at hand. King and duke, bishop and baron,
were all unable to give protection to the cultivator of
the soil and shepherd of the flock. These humble sufferers saw their cabins fired, and all their victuals de



224              TENTH CENTURY.
stroyed. Rollo was too politic to make it a war of
extermination against the unresisting inhabitants, and
easily opened his ranks for their reception. The result
was that, in those disastrous excursions, shouting the
war-cry of Norway, and brandishing the pirate's axe,
were many of the original Franks and Gauls, allured by
the double inducement of escaping further injury themselves and taking vengeance on their former oppressors.
Religious scruples did not stand in their way. They
gave in their adhesion to the gods of the North, and
proved themselves true converts to Thor and Odin, by
eating the flesh of a horse that had been slain in sacrifice. It is perhaps this heathen association with horseflesh as an article of food, which has banished it from
Christian consumption for so long a time. But an effort
is now made in France to rescue the fattened and roasted
steed from the obloquy of its first introduction; and the
success of the movement would be complete if there
were no other difficulty to contend against than the
stigma of its idolatrous origin. Yet the recruits were
not all on one side, for we read of certain sea-kings who
have grown tired of their wandering life, and taken service under the kings of France. Of these the most
famous was Hastings, whom we saw defeated at the end
of the last century, on the banks of the river Lea. He is
old now, and so far forgetful of -his Scandinavian origin
that some French annalists claim him as a countryman
of their own, and maintain that he was the son of a
husbandman near Troyes. He is now a great landed
lord, Count of Chartres, and in high favour with the
French king. When Rollo had established his forces on
the banks of the Eure, one of the tributaries of the
Seine, the ancient pirate went at the head of an embassy
to see what the new-comer required. Standing on the
farther bank of the little river, he raised his voice, and




ROLLO.                   225
in good Norwegian demanded who they were, and who
was their lord. "We have no lord-!" they said: "we
are all equal." "And why do you come into this land,
and what are you going to do?" "We are going to
chase away the inhabitants, and make the country our
home. But who are you, who speak our language so
well?" The count replied, "Did you never hear of
Hastings the famous pirate, who had so many ships
upon the sea, and did such evil to this realrhi?" "Of
course," replied the Norsemen: "Hastings began well,
but has ended poorly."  "Have you no wish, then,"
said Hastings, " to submit yourselves to King Charles,
who offers you land and honours on condition of fealty
and service?" "Off! off!-we will submit ourselves to
no man; and all we can take we shall keep, without
dependence on any one. Go and tell the king so, if you
like." Hastings returned from his unsuccessful embassy,
and the attempt at compromise was soon after followed
by a victory of Rollo, which decided the fate of the kingdomz. The conquerors mounted the Seine, and laid siege
to Paris; but failing in this, they retraced their course to
Rouen, and made themselves masters of Bayeux, and of
other places. Rollo was now raised to supreme command by the voices of his followers, and took rank as an
independent chief. But he was too sagacious a leader to
rely entirely on the favour or success of his countrymen.
IIe protected the native population, and reconciled them
to the absence of their ancient masters, by the increased
security in life and property which his firmness produced. He is said to have hung a bracelet of gold in an
exposed situation, with no defence but the terror of his
justice, and no one tried to remove it. He saw, also, that
however much his power might be dreaded, and his
family feared, by the great nobility of France with whom
he was brought into contact, his position as a heathen and




226              TENTH CENTURY.
isolated settler placed him in an inferior situation. The
Archbishop of Rouen, who had been his ally in the
peaceable occupation of the city, was beside him, with
many arguments in favour of the Christian faith. The
time during which the populations had been intermixed
had smoothed many difficulties on either side. The
worship of Thor and Odin was felt to be out of place in
the midst of great cathedrals and wealthy monasteries,
and it created no surprise when, in a few years, the
ambitious Rollo descended from his proud independence,
A.D. 911. did suit and service to his feeble adversary
Charles the Simple, and retained all his conquests in full property as Duke of Normandy and Peer
of France.
Already the divinity that hedged a king placed the
crown, even when destitute of real authority, at an imimeasurable height above the loftiest of the nobles; and
it will be well to preserve this in our memory; for to
the belief in this mystical dignity of the sovereign, the
monarchical principle was indebted for its triumph in
all the states of Europe. No matter how powerless the
anointed ruler might be-no matter how greatly a combination of vassals, or a single vassal, might excel him
in men and money-the ineffable supremacy of the
sacred head was never denied. This strange and ennobling sentiment had not yet penetrated the mind of
Rollo and his followers, at the great ceremonial of his
reception as a feudatory of the Crown. Hie declined to
bend the knee before his suzerain, but gave him his oath
of obedience and faith, standing at his full height.
When a stickler for court etiquette insisted on the final
ceremony of kissing the foot of the feudal superior, the
duke made a sign to one of his piratical attendants to
go through the form instead of him. Forth stalked the
Norseman towards the overjoyed Charles, and without




FEUDALISM.                 227
stooping his body laid hold of the royal boot, and, lifting
it with all his strength up to his mouth, upset the unfortunate and short-legged monarch on his back, to the
great consternation of his courtiers, and the hilarious
enjoyment of his new subjects. But there was henceforth a new element in French society. The wanderers
were unanimously converted to Christianity, and the
shores of the whole kingdom perpetually guarded from
piratical invaders by the contented and warlike countrymen of Hastings and Rollo. Normandy and Brittany
were the appanage of the new duke, and perhaps they
were more useful to the French monarch, as the well.
governed territories of a powerful vassal, than if he had
held them in full sovereignty in their former disorganized and helpless state.- Language soon began to exert
its combining influence on the peoples thus brought into
contact, and in a few years the rough-Norse gave place
to the iRomanized idiom of the rest of the kingdomi, and
the descendants of Rollo in the next generation required
an interpreter if any of their relatives came to visit
them from Denmark.
But the true characteristic event of this century was
the first establishment of real feudalism. The hereditary
nature of lands and tenements had long been recognised; the original granter had long surrendered his
right to reclaim the property on the death of the first
possessor. Gradually also, and by sufferance, the offices
to which, in the stronger periods of royalty, the favoured
subjects had been promoted for life or a definite time
were considered to belong to the descendant of the
holder. But it was only now, in the weak administration of a series of nominal kings, that the rights and
privileges of a titular nobility were legally recognised,
and large portions of the monarchy forever conveyed
away from the control of the Crown. There is a sort




228              TENTH CENTURY.
of natural feudalism which must always exist where
there are degrees of power and influence, and which is
as potent at this moment as in the time we are describing. _A man who expects a favour owes and performs
suit and service to the man who has the power of bestowing it. A man with land to let, with. money to
lend, with patronage to exert, is in a sort of way the
" superior" of him who wants to take the farm, or borrow the money, or get the advancement. The obligations of these positions are mutual; and only very advanced philosophers in the theory of disunion and ingratitude would object to the reciprocal feelings of kindness and attachment they naturally produce. In a less
settled state of society, such as that now existing, or
which lately existed, at the Cape of Good Hope and in
New Zealand, the feudal principle is fresh and vigorous,
though not recognised under that name, for the peaceful
or weak are glad to pay deference and respect to the
wielder of the protective sword. In the tenth century
there were customs, but no laws, for laws presuppose
some external power able to enforce them, and the decay
of the kingly authority had left the only practical
government in the hands of the great and powerful.
They gave protection in return for obedience. But
when more closely inquired into, this assumption of'
authority by a nobility or upper class is found to have
been purely defensive on the part of the lay proprietors,
against the advancing tide of a spiritual Democracy,
which threatened to submerge the whole of Europe.
Already the bishops and abbots had got possession of
nearly half the realm of France, and in other countries
they were equally well provided. Those great officers
were the leaders of innumerable priests and monks, and
owed their dignities to the popular will. The Pope
himself-a sovereign prince when once placed in the




RESISTANCE TO THE CHURCH.          229
chair of St. Peter-was indebted for his exaltation to a
plurality of votes of the clergy and people of Rome.
Election was, in fact, the universal form of constituting
the rule under which men were to live. But who were
the electors? The appointment was still nominally in
the people, but the people were almost entirely under
the influence of the clerical orders. Mechanics and
labourers were the serfs or dependants of the rich
monasteries, and tillers of the episcopal lands. The
citizens had not yet risen into wealth or intelligence,
and, though subject in their persons to the baron whose
castle commanded their walls, they were still under the
guidance of their priests. No middle class existed to
hold the balance even between the nobility and the
Church; and the masses of the population were naturally
disposed to throw power into the hands of persons who
sprang, in most instances, from families no better than
their own, and recommended themselves to popular
favour by opposition (often just, but always domineering)
to the proceedings of the lay aristocracy. The labouring serfs, who gave the vote, were not much inferior in
education or refinement to the ordained serfs who canvassed for their favour. Abbacies, priories, bishoprics,
parochial incumbencies, and all cathedral dignities, were
held by a body distinct from the feudal gentry, and
elevated, mediately or immediately, by universal suffrage. If some stop had not been put to the aggressions
of the priesthood, all the lands in Christendom would
have been absorbed by its insatiable greed-all the
offices of the State would have been conveyed to sacerdotal holders; all kings would have been nominated by
the clerical voice alone, and freedom and progress would
never have had their birth. The monarchs-though it
is almost mockery to call them so in England-were
waging an unsuccessful war with the pretensions of St.




230              TENTE CENTURY.
Dunstan, who was an embodiment of the pitiless harshness and blind ambition of a zealot for ecclesiastic
supremacy. In France a succession of imbecile rulers,
whose characters are clearly enough to be guessed from
the descriptive epithets which the old chroniclers have
attached to their names, had left the Crown a prey to
all its enemies. What was to be expected from a
series of governors whose mark in history is made by
such nicknames as "The Bald," "The Stammerer,"
"The Fat," and finally, without circumlocution, " The
Fool"? Everybody tried to get as much out of the
royal plunder as he could. Bishops got lands and
churches.  Foreign pirates, we have seen, got wholo
counties at a time, and in self-defence the nobility wero
forced to join in the universal spoil. Counties as large
as Normandy were retained as rightful inheritances, independent of all but nominal adhesion to the throne.
Smaller properties were kept fast hold of, on the same
pretence. And by this one step the noble was placed
in a position of advantage over his rival the encroaching
bishop. His power was not the mere creation of a vote
or the possession of a lifetime. His family had foundations on which to build through a long succession of
generations. Marriage, conquest, gift, and purchase, all
tended to the consolidation of his influence; and the result was, that, instead of one feeble and decaying potentate in the peison of the king, to resist the aggressions
of an absorbing and levelling Church, there were hundreds all over the land, democratic enough in regard to
their dislike of the supremacy of the sovereign, but
burning with a deep-seated aristocratic hatred of the
territorial aggrandizement of the dissolute and low-born
clergy. Europe was either in this century to be ruled
by mailed barons or surpliced priests. Sometimes they
played into each other's hands. Sometimes the warrior




HUGH CAPET.                231
overwhelmed an adversary by enlisting on his side the
sympathies of the Church. Sometimes the Church, in
its controversies with the Crown, cast itself on the protection of the warrior, but more frequently it threw its
weight into the scale of the vacillating monarch, who
could reward it with such munificent donations. But
those munificent donations were equivalent to aggressions
on the nobles. There was no use in their trying to check
the aggrandizement of the clerical power, if the Crown
continued its gifts of territory and offices to the priests
and churches. And at last, when the strong-handed
barons of France were tired out with the fatuity of their
effete kings, they gave the last proof of the supremacy
they had attained, by departing from the line of Charle.
magne and placing one of themselves upon the throne.
Hugh Capet, the chief of the feudal nobles, was chosen
to wear the crown as delegate and representative of the
rest. The old Mayors of the Palace had been revived
in his family for some generations; and when Louis the
son of Lothaire died, after a twelvemonth's permissive
reign, in 987, the warriors and land-owners turned instinctively to the strongest and most distinguished
member of their body to be the guardian of the privileges they had already secured. This was an aristocratic movement against the lineal supremacy of the Crown,
and in reply to the democratic policy of the Church.
But the Pope was too clear-sighted to lose the chance of
attaching another champion to the papal chair. IIe
made haste to ratify the new nomination to the
throne, and pronounced Hugh Capet "Kling of
France in right of his great deeds."
Hugh Capet had been first of the feudal nobility; but
from thenceforth he laboured to be "every inch a king."
Hie tried to please both parties, and to humble them at
the same time. He did not lavish crown-lands or lofty




232              TENTH CENTURY.
employments on the clergy; he took a new and very
economical way of attaching them to his cause. He
procured his election, it is not related by what means,
to the highest dignities in the Church, and, although not
in holy orders, was invested with the abbacies of St.
Denis and St. Martin's and St. Germain's. The clergy
were delighted with the increase to the respectability
of their order, which had thus a king among its officebearers. The Pope, we have seen, was first to declare
his legitimacy; the bishops gave him their support, as
they felt sure that, as a threefold abbot, he must have
interests. identical with their Own. He was fortunate,
also, in gaining still more venerated supporters; for
while he was building a splendid tomb at St. Valery,
the saint of that name appeared to him and said, with
larger promise than the witches to Banquo,' "Thou and
thy descendants shall be kings to the remotest generations."
With the nobles he proceeded in a different manner.
HIis task, you will remember, was to regain the universal
submission of the nation; and success at first seemed
almost hopeless, for his real power, like that of the
weakest of his immediate predecessors, extended no
further than his personal holdings. In his fiefs of
France proper (the small district including Paris) and
Burgundy he was all-powerful; but in the other principalities and dukedoms he was looked on merely as a
neighbouring potentate with some shadowy claims of
suzerainty, with no right of interference in their internal administration. The other feudatories under the
old monarchy, but who were in reality independent sovereigns under the new, were the Dukes of Normandy and
Flanders, and Aquitaine and Toulouse. These made the
six lay peerages of the kingdom, and, with the six ecclesiastical chief rulers, made the Twelve Peers of France.




CORONATION OF CAPET.            233
Of the lay peerages it will be seen that Hugh was in
possession of two-the best situated and most populous
of all. The extent of his possessions and the influence
of his name were excellent starting-points in his efforts
to restore the power of the Crown; but other things
were required, and the first thing he aimed at was to
place his newly-acquired dignity on the same vantageground of hereditary succession as his dukedoms had
long been. With great pomp and solemnity he himself
was anointed with the holy oil by the hands of the
Pope; and he took advantage of the self-satisfied secuA.D. 989. rity of the other nobles to have the ceremony of
a coronation performed on his son during his
lifetime, and by this arrangement the appearance of
election was avoided at his death. Its due weight must
be given to the universal superstition of the time, when
we attribute such importance to the formal consecration
of a king. Externals, in that age, were all in all.
Something mystic and divine, as we have said before,
was supposed to reside in the very fact of having the
crown placed on the head with the sanction and prayers
of the Church. Opposition to the wearer became not
only treason, but impiety; and when the same policy
was pursued by many generations of Hugh's successors,
in always procuring the coronation of their heirs before
their demise, and thus obliterating the remembrance of
the elective process to which they owed their position,
the royal power had the vast advantage of hereditary
descent added to its unsubstantial but never-abandoned
claim of paramount authority. The effects of this momentous change in the dynasty of one of the great
European nations were felt in all succeeding centuries.
The family connection between the house of France
and the Empire was dissolved; and the struggle between
the old condition of society and the rising intelligence




TENTH CENTURY.
of the peoples-which is the great characteristic of the
Middle Ages-took a more defined form than before:
aristocracy assumed its perfected shape of king and
nobility combined for mutual defence on one side, and
on the other the towns and great masses of the nations
striving for freedom and privilege under the leadership
of the sympathizing and democratic Church; for the
Church was essentially democratic, in spite of the arrogance and grasping spirit of some of its principal leaders.
From hereditary aristocracy and hereditary royalty it
was equally excluded; and the celibacy of the clergy
has had this good effect, if no other: Its members were
recruited from the people, and derived all their influence
from popular support. In Germany the same process
was going on, though without the crowning consummation of making the empire non-elective. Otho, however
-worthier of the name of Great than many who have
borne that ambitious title-succeeded in limiting that
highest of European dignities to the possessors of the
962 German crown, and commenced the connection
between Upper Italy and the Emperors which
still subsists (so uneasily for both parties) under the
house of Austria.
In England the misery of the population had reached
its maximum. The immigration of the Norsemen had
been succeeded by numberless invasions, accompanied
with all the horrors of barbarism and religious hatred;
for the Danes who devastated the shores in this age
were as remorselessly savage, and as bitterly heathen,
as their predecessors a hundred years before. No place
was safe for the unhappy Christianized Saxons. Their
sufferings were of the same kind as those of the inhabitants of Normandy when Rollo began his ravages.
Their priest-ridden kings and impoverished nobles could
give them no protection. Bribes were paid to the assail



GENERAL DEMORALIZATION.            235
ants, and only brought over increasing and hungrier
hordes. The land was a prey to wretchedness of every
kind, and it was slender consolation to the starving and
trampled multitudes that all the world was suffering to
almost the same extent. Saracens were devastating the
coasts of Italy, and a wild tribe of Sclaves trying to
burst through the Hungarian frontier. At Rome itself,
the capital of intellect and religion, such iniquities were
perpetrated on every side that Protestant authors themselves consent to draw a veil over them for the sake of
human nature; and in these sketches we require to do
nothing more than allude to the crimes and wickedness
of the papal court as one of the features by which the
century was marked. Women of high rank and infamous character placed the companions of their vices
in the highest offices of the Church, and seated their
sons or paramours on the papal throne. Spiritual pretensions rose almost in proportion to personal immorality,
and the curious spectacle was presented of a power losing
all respect at home by conduct which the heathen emperors of the first century scarcely equalled; of popes
alternately dethroning and imprisoning each othersometimes of two popes at a time-always dependent
for life or influence on the will of the emperor, or whoever else might be dominant in Italy-and yet successfully claiming the submission and reverence of distant
nations as "Bishop of all the world" and lineal "successors of the Prince of the Apostles." This claim had
never been expressly made before, and is perhaps the
most conclusive proof of the darkness and ignorance of
this period. }len were too besotted to observe the incongruity between the life and profession of those blemishes
of the Church, even when by travelling to the seat of
government they had the opportunity of seeing the
Roman pontiff and his satellites and patrons. The rest




236              TENTH CENTURY.
Of the world had no means of learning the real state of
affairs.  Education had almost died out among the
clergy themselves. Nobody else could write or read.
Travelling monks gave perverted versions, we may believe, of every thing likely to be injurious to the interests
of the Church; and the result was, that everywhere
beyond the city-walls the thunder of a Boniface the
Seventh, or a John the Twelfth, was considered as good
thunder as if it had issued from the virtuous indignation
of St. Paul.
But just as this century drew to a close, various circumstances concurred to produce a change in men's
minds. It was a universally-diffused belief that the
world would come to an end when a thousand years
from the Saviour's birth were expired. The year 999
was therefore looked upon as the last which any one
would see. And if ever signs of approaching dissolution were shown in heaven and earth, the people of this
century might be pardoned for believing that they were
made visible to them. Even the breaking up of morals
and law, and the wide deluge of sin which overspread
all lands, might be taken as a token that mankind were
deemed unfit to occupy the earth any more. In addition to these appalling symptoms, famines were renewed
from year to year in still increasing intensity and brought
plague and pestilence in their train. The land was left
untilled, the house unrepaired, the right unvindicated;
for who could take the useless trouble of ploughing or
building, or quarrelling about a property, when so few
months were to put an end to all terrestrial interests?
Yet even for the few remaining days the multitudes
must be fed. Robbers frequented every road, entered
even into walled towns; and there was no authority left
to protect the weak, or bring the wrong-doer to punishment. Corn and cattle were at length exhausted; and




FAMINE AND DESPAIR.             237
in a great part of the Continent the most frightful extremities were endured; and when endurance could go
no further, the last desperate expedient was resorted to,
and human flesh was commonly consumed. One man
went so far as to expose it for sale in a populous markettown. The horror of this open confession of their needs
was so great, that the man was burned, but more for
the publicity of his conduct than for its inherent guilt.
Despair gave a loose to all the passions. Nothing was
sacred-nothing safe. Even when food might have been
had, the vitiated taste made bravado of its depravation,
and women and children were killed and roasted in the
madness of the universal fear. Meantime the gentler
natures were driven to the wildest excesses of fanaticism
to find a retreat from the impending judgment. IKings
and emperors begged at monastery-doors to be admitted
brethren of the Order. Henry of Germany and Robert
of France were saints according to the notions of the
time, and even now deserve the respect of mankind for
the simplicity and benevolence of their characters.
Henry the Emperor succeeded in being admitted as a
monk, and swore obedience on the hands of the gentle
abbot who had failed in turning him from his purpose.
4" Sire," he said at last, "since you are under my orders,
and have sworn to obey me, I command you to go
forth and fulfil the duties of the state to which God has
called you. Go forth, a monk of the Abbey of St. Vanne,
but Emperor of the West." Robert of France, the son
of Hugh Capet, placed himself, robed and crowned,
among the choristers of St. Denis, and led the musicians
in singing hymns and psalms of his own composition.
Lower men were satisfied with sacrificing the marks of
their knightly and seignorial rank, and placed baldrics
and swords on the altars and before the images of saints.
Some manumitted their serfs, and bestowed large sums




238              TENTH CENTURY.
upon charitable trusts, commencing their disposition
with words implying the approaching end of all
Crowds of the common people would sleep nowhere
but in the porches, or at any rate within the shadow, of
the churches and other holy buildings; and as the day
of doom drew nearer and nearer, greater efforts were
made to appease the wrath of Heaven. Peace was proclaimed between all classes of men. From Wednesday
night till Monday evening of each week there was to be
no violence or enmity or war in all the land. It was to
be a Truce of God; and at last, all their strivings after
a better state, acknowledgments of a depraved condition, and heartfelt longings for something better, purer,
nobler, received their consummation, when, in the place
of the unprincipled men who had disgraced Christianity
by carrying vice and incredulity into the papal chair,
there was appointed to the highest of ecclesiastical dignities a man worthy of his exaltation; and the good and
holy Gerbert, the tutor, guide, and friend of Robert of
France, was appointed Pope in 998, and took the name
of Sylvester the Second.




ELEVENTH CENTURY.
IEmperorc   of  ezrmanp.    Empeotrs  of the Bhant.
A.D.                          A.D.
OTHO 0II.-(cont.)            BASILIUS.-(cont.)
1002. HENRY OF BAVARIA.      1028. ROMANUS III.
1024. CONRAD II.              1042. EMPRESS ZOE and THEO1039. HIENRY III.                     DORA.
1056. HENRY IV.               1056. MICHAEL VI.
1057. ISAAC COMNENUS.
1059. CONSTANTINE X.,(DUCAS.)
ifnB{i  of  fnr lano.   1067. EUDOXIA and CONSTANTINE XI.
ETHELRED II.-(cont.)
1013. SWEYN.                  1068. ROMANUSIV., (DIOGENES.)
1071. MICHAEL.
1015. CANUTE THE GREAT.       1071. MICHAEL.
1017. EDMUND II.         0   1078.  Two Princes of the
House of the Com1039. HAROLD and HARDI-       1081.
neni.
CANUTE.
1081. ALEXIS I.
1042. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
1066. HAROLD, (son of God-         ipg  of jIFrnance.
win.)                       ROBERT THE WISE.1066. WILLIAM  THE CONQUER-           (cont.)
OR.                   1031. HENRY I.
1087. WILLIAM RUFUS.          1060. PHILIP I.
1096. THE FIRST CRUSADE.
utt~ot~~.
ANSELM, (1003-1079,) ABELARD, (1079-1142,) BERENGARIUS,
ROSCELIN, LANFRANC, THEOPHYLACT, (1077.)








THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
THE COMMENCEMENT OF IMPROVEMENT —GREGORY THE
SEVENTH —FIRST CRUSADE.
AND now came the dreaded or hoped-for year. The
awful Thousand had at last commenced, and men held
their breath to watch what would be the result of its
arrival. " And he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for
a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit,
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should
deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled:: and after that he must be loosed a
little season." (Revelation xx. 2, 3.) With this text
all the pulpits in Christendom had been ringing for a
whole generation. And not the pulpits only, but the refection-halls of convents, and the cottages of the starving
peasantry. Into the castle also of the noble, we have
seen, it had penetrated; and the most abject terror pervaded the superstitious, while despair, as in shipwrecked
vessels, displayed itself amid the masses of the population in rioting and insubordination. The spirit of evil
for a little season was to be let loose upon a sinful
world; and when. the observer looked round at the real
condition of the people in all parts of Europe-at the
ignorance and degradation of the multitude, the cruelty
of the lords, and the unchristian ambition and unrestrained passions of the clergy —it must have puzzled
him how to imagine a worse state of things even when
the chain was loosened from "that old serpent," and
11                                241




242            ELEYENTH CENTURY.
the world placed unresistingly in his folds. Yet, as if
men's minds had now reached their lowest point, there
was a perpetual rise from the beginning of this date.
When the first day of the thousand-and-first year shone
upon the world, it seemed that in all nations the torpor
of the past was to be thrown off. There were strivings
everywhere after a new order of things. Coming events
cast their shadows a long way before; for in the very
beginning of this century, when it was reported that
Jerusalem had been taken by the Saracens, Sylvester
uttered the memorable words, " Soldiers of Christ, arise
and fight for Zion." By a combination of all Christian
powers for one object, he no doubt hoped to put an end
to the party quarrels by which Europe was torn in
pieces. And this great thought must have been germinating in the popular heart ever since the speech was
spoken; for we shall see at the end of the period we are
describing how instantaneously the cry for a crusade
was responded to in all lands. In the mean time, the
first joy of their deliverance from the expected destruction impelled all classes of society in a more honourable
and useful path than they had ever hitherto trod. As
if by universal consent, the first attention was paid to
the maintenance of the churches, those holy buildings
by whose virtues the wrath of ieaven had been turned
away. In France, and Italy, and Germany, the fabrics
had in many places been allowed to fall into ruin. They
were now renovated and ornamented with the costliest
materials, and with an architectural skill which, if it
previously existed, had had no room for its. display.
Stately cathedrals took the place of the humble buildings
in which the services had been conducted before. Every
thing was projected on a gigantic scale, with the idea
of permanence prominently brought forward, now that
the threatened end of all things was seen to be post



BUILDINGS.                 243
poned. The foundations were broad and deep, the walls
of immense thickness, roofs steep and high to keep off
the rain and snow, and square buttressed towers to sustain the church and furnish it at the same time with
military defence. It was a holy occupation, and the
clergy took a prominent part in the new movement.
Bishops and monks were the principal members of a
confraternity who devoted themselves to the science of
architecture and founded all their works on the exact
rules of symmetry and fitness. Artists from  Italy,
where Roman models were everywhere seen, and enthusiastic students from the south of France, where the
great works of the Empire must have exercised an ennobling influence on their taste and fancy, brought their
tribute of memory or invention to the design. Tall
pillars supported the elevated vault, instead of the flat
roof of former days; and gradually an approach was
made to what, in after-periods, was recognised as the
pure Gothic. Here, then, was at last a real science, the
offspring of the highest aspirations of the human mind.
Churches rising in rich profusion in all parts of the
country were the centres of architectural taste. The
castle of the noble was no longer to be a mere mass of
stones huddled on each other, to protect its inmates
from outward attack. The skill of the learned builder
was called in, and on picturesque heights, safe from hostile assault by the difficulty of approach, rose turret and
bartizan, arched gateway and square-flanked towers, to
add new features to the landscape, and help the march
of civilization, by showing to that allegorizing age the
result, both for strength and beauty, of regularity and
proportion. lFor at this time allegory, which gave an
inner meaning to outward things, was in full force.
There was no portion of the parish church which had
not its mystical significance; and noo doubt, at the end




244             ELEVENTH CENTURY.
of this century, the architectural meaning of the external alteration of the structure was perceived, when the
great square tower, which typified resistance to worldly
aggression, was exchanged for the tall and graceful spire
which pointed encouragingly to heaven. Occasions were
eagerly sought for to give employment to the ruling
passion. Building went on in all quarters. The beginning of this century found eleven hundred and eight
monasteries in France alone. In the course of a few
years she was put in possession of three hundred and
AD. 1035, twenty-six more. The magnificent Abbey of
Fontenelle was restored in 1035 by William of
Normandy; and this same William, whom  we shall
afterwards see in the somewhat different character of
Conqueror and devastator of England, was the founder
and patron of more abbeys and monasteries than any
other man. Many of them are still erect, to attest the
solidity of his work; the ruins of the others raise our
surprise that they are not yet entire-so vast in their
extent and gigantic in their materials. But the same
character of permanence extended to all the works of
this great builder's* hands-the systems of government
no less than the fabrics of churches. The remains of his
feudalism in our country, no less than the fragments of
his masonry at Bayeux, Fecamp, and St. Michael's,
attest the cyclopean scale on which his superstructures
were reared. Nor were these great architectural efforts
which characterize this period made only on behalf of
the clergy. It gives a very narrow notion, as Michelet
has observed, of the uses and purposes of those enormous buildings, to view them merely as places for public
worship and the other offices of religion. The church
in a district was, in those days, what a hundred other
Ie was called Le Grand Batisseur.




CHURCHES.                  245
buildings are required to make up in the present. It
was the- town-hall, the market-place, the concert-room,
the theatre, the school, the news-room, and the vestry,
all in one. We are to remember that poverty was
almost universal. The cottages in which the serfs and
even the freemen resided were wretched hovels. They
had no windows, they were damp and airless, and were
merely considered the human kennels into which the
peasantry retired to sleep. In contrast to this miserable
den there arose a building vast and beautiful, consecrated by religion, ornamented with carving and colour,
large enough to enable the whole population to wander
in its aisles, with darker recesses under the shade of
pillars, to give opportunity for familiar conversation or
the enjoyment of the family meal. The church was the
poor man's palace, where he felt -that all the building
belonged to him and was erected for his use. It was
also his castle, where no enemy could reach him, and
the love and pride which filled his heart in contemplating the massive proportions and splendid elevation of
the glorious fane overflowed towards the officers of the
church. The priest became glorified in his eyes as the
officiating servant in that greatest of earthly buildings,
and the bishop far outshone the dignity of kings when
it was known that he had plenary authority over many
such majestic fabrics. Ascending from the known to
the unknown, the Pope of Rome, the Bishop of Bishops,
shone upon the bewildered mind of the peasant with a
light reflected from the object round which all his veneration had gathered from his earliest days-the scene
of all the incidents of his life-the hallowed sanctuary
into which he had been admitted as an infant, and
whose vaults should echo to the funeral service when he
should have died.
But this century was distinguished for an upheaving




246             ELEVENTH CENTURY.
of the human mind, which found its development in
other things besides the bursting forth of architectural
skill. It seemed that the chance of continued endurance, vouchsafed to mankind by the rising of the sun on
the first morning,of the eleventh century, gave an impulse to long-pent-up thoughts in all the directions of
inquiry.  The dulness of unquestioning  undiscriminating belief was disturbed by the freshening breezes of
dissidence and discussion. The Pope himself, the venerable Sylvester the Second, had acquired all the wisdom
of the Arabians by attending the Mohammedan schools
in the royal city of Cordova. There he had learned the
mysteries of the secret sciences, and the more useful.
knowledge-which he imported into the Christian world
-of the Arabic numerals. The Saracenic barbarism
had long yielded to the blandishments of the climate
and soil of Spain; and emirs and sultans, in their
splendid gardens on the Guadalquivir, had been discussing the most abstruse or subtle points of philosophy
while the professed teachers of Christendom were sunk
in the depths of ignorance and credulity. Sylvester had
made such progress in the unlawful learning accessible
at the head-quarters of the unbelievers, that his simple
contemporaries could only account for it by supposing
he had sold himself to the enemy of mankind in exchange for such prodigious information. He was accused of the unholy arts of magic and necromancy; and
all that orthodoxy could do to assert her superiority
over such acquirements was to spread the report, which
was very generally credited, that when the years of the
compact were expired, the paltering fiend appeared in
person and carried off his debtor from the midst of the
aftrighted congregation, after a severe logical discussion,
in which the father of lies had the best of the argument.
This was a conclusive proof of the danger of all logical




SCHOLARSHIP.                247
acquirements. But as time passed on, and the darkness
of the tenth century was more and more left behind,
there arose a race of men who were not terrified by
the fate of the philosophic Sylvester from cultivating
their understandings to the highest pitch. Among
those there were two who particularly left their marks
on the genius of the time, and who had the strange fortune also of succeeding each other as Archbishops of
Canterbury. These were Lanfrane and Anselm. When
Lanfrane was still a monk at Caen, he had attracted
to his prelections more than four thousand
A.D. 1042.
scholars; and Anselm, while in the same humble
rank, raised the schools of Bec in Normandy to a great
reputation. From  these two men, both Italians by
birth, the Scholastic Philosophy took its rise. The old
unreasoning assent to the doctrines of Christianity had
now new life breathed into it by the permitted application of intellect and reason to the support of truth. In
the darkness and misery of the previous century, the
deep and mysterious dogma of Transubstantiation had
made its first authoritative appearance in the Church.
Acquiesced in by the docile multitude, and accepted by
the enthusiastic and imaginative as an inexpressible gift
of fresh grace to mankind, and a fitting crown and consummation of the daily-recurring miracles with which
the Mother and Witness of the truth proved and maintained her mission, it had been attacked by Berenger of
Tours, who used all the resources of reason and ingenuity
to demonstrate its unsoundness. But Lanfranc came to
the rescue, and by the exercise of a more vigorous dialectic, and the support of the great majority of the
clergy, confuted all that Berenger advanced, had him
stripped of his archdeaconry of Angers and other preferments, and left him in such destitution and disfavour
that the discomfited opponent of the Real Presence was




248            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
forced to read his retractation at Rome, and
A.D. 1059,
only expiated the enormity of his fault by the
rigorous seclusion of the remainder of his life. The
hopeful feature in this discussion was, that though the
influence of ecclesiastic power was not left dormant, in
the shape of temporal ruin and spiritual threats, the
exercise of those usual weapons of authority was accompanied with attempts at argument and conviction.
Lanfranc, indeed, in the very writings in which he used
his talents to conffute the heretic, made such use of his
reasoning and inductive faculties that he nearly fell
under the ban of heresy himself. He had the boldness
to imagine a man left to the exercise of his natural
powers alone, and bringing observation, argument, and
ratiocination to the discovery of the Christian dogmas;
but he was glad to purchase his complete rehabilitation,
as champion of' the Church, by a work in which he
admits reason to the subordinate position of a supporter
or commentator, but by no means a foundation or inseparable constituent of an article of the faith. Any
thing was better than the blindness and ignorance of
the previous age; and questions of the purest metaphysics were debated with a fire and animosity which
could scarcely have been excited by the greatest worldly
interests. The Nominalists and Realists began their
wordy and unprofitable war, which after occasional
truces may at any moment break out, as it has often
done before, though it would now be confined to the
professorial chairs in our universities, and not exercise
a preponderating influence on the course of human
affairs. The dispute (as the names of the disputants
imnport) arose upon the question as to whether universal
ideas were things or only the names of things, and on
this the internecine contest went on. All the subtlety
of the old Greek philosophies was introduced into the




GREGORY THE SEVENTH.             249
scholasticisms and word-splittings of those useless
arguers; and vast reputations, which have not yet decayed, were built on this very unsubstantial foundation.
It shows how immeasurably the efforts of the intellect,
even when misapplied, transcend the greatest triumphs
of military skill, when we perceive that in this age,
which was illustrated by the Conquest of England, first
by the Danes, and then by William, by the marvellous
rise and triumphant progress of the sons of Tancred of
Hauteville, and by the startling incidents of the First
Crusade,-the central figure is a meagre, hard-featured
monk, whorises from rank to rank, till he governs and
tramples on the world under the name of Gregory the
Seventh. It may seem to some people, who look at the
present condition of the Romish Church, that too prominent a place is assigned in these early centuries to
the growth and aggrandizement of the ecclesiastical
power; but as the object of these pages is to point out
what seems the main distinguishing feature of each of
the periods selected for separate notice, it would be unpardonable to pass over the Papacy, varying in extent
of power and pretension at every period when it comes
into view, and always impressing a distinct and individualizing character on the affairs with which it is concerned. It is the most stable, and at the same time the
most flexible, of powers. Kingdoms and dynasties
flourish and decay, and make no permanent mark on
the succeeding age. The authority of a ruler like
Charlemagne or Otho rises in a full tide, and, having
reached its limits, yields to the irresistible ebb. But
Roman influence knows no retrocession. Even when its
pretensions are defeated and its assaults repulsed, it
claims as de jure what it has lost de facto, and, though it
were reduced to the possession of a single church,
would continue to issue its orders to the habitable globe.




250            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
Like the last descendant of the Great Mogul, who
professed to rule over lindostan while his power was
limited to the walls of his palace at Delhi, the bearer of
the Tiara abates no jot of his state and dignity when
every vestige of his influence has disappeared. While
ridiculed as a puppet or pitied as a sufferer at home, he
arrogates more than royal power in regions which have
long thrown off his authority, and announces his will by
the voice of blustering and brazen heralds to a deaf and
rebellious generation, which looks on him with no more
respect than the grotesquely-dressed conjurers before a
tent-door at a fair. But the herald's voice would have
been listened to with respect and obedience if it had
been heard at the Pope's gate in 1073. There had never
been such a pope before, and never has been such a
pope since. Others have been arrogant and ambitious,
but no one has ever equalled Hlildebrand in arrogance
and ambition. Strength of will, also, has been the
ruling character of many of the pontiffs, but no one has
ever equalled iHildebrand in the undying tenacity with
which he pursued his object. He was like Roland, the
hero of Roncesvalles, who even in defeat knew how to
keep his enemies at a distance by blowing upon his
horn. When Durandal foiled the vanquished Gregory,
he spent his last breath in defiant blasts upon his Olifant.
But there were many circumstances which not only
rendered the rise of such a person possible, but made
his progress easy and almost unavoidable. First of all,
the crusading spirit which commenced with this century
had introduced a great change in the principles and
practice of the higher clergy. It is a mistake to suppose
that the expedition to Jerusalem, under the preaching
of Peter the Hermit, which took place in 1094, was the
earliest manifestation of the aggressive spirit of the
Christian, as such, against the unbeliever. A holy war




WARLIKE BISHOPS.              251
was proclaimed against the Saracens of Italy at an early
date. An armed assault upon the Jews, as descendants
of the murderers of Christ, had taken place in 1080.
Even the Norman descent on England was considered
by the more devout of the Papist followers in the light
of a crusade against the enemies of the Cross, as the
Anglo-Saxons were not sufficiently submissive to the
commands of Rome. Bishops, we saw, were held in a
former century to derogate from the sanctity of their
characters when they fought in person like the other
occupants of fiefs. But the sacred character which expeditions like those against Sicily and Salerno gave to
the struggle made a great difference in the popular estimate of a prelate's sphere of action. He was now held
to be strictly in the exercise of his duty when he was
slaying an infidel with the edge of the sword. He was
not considered to be more in his place at the head of a
procession in honour of a saint than at the head of an
army of cavaliers destroying the enemies of the faith.
Warlike skill and personal courage became indispensable
in a bishop of the Church; and in Germany these qualities were so highly prized, that the inhabitants of a diocese in the empire, presided over by a man of peace and
holiness, succeeded in getting him deposed by the Pope
on the express ground of his being "placable and far
from valiant."  The epitaph of a popular bishop was,
that he was "good priest and brave chevalier."  The
manners and feelings of the camp soon became disseminated among the reverend divines, who inculcated
Christianity with a battle-axe in their hands. They
quarrelled with neighbouring barons for portions of
land. They seized the incomes of churches and abbeys.
Bishop and baron strove with each other who could get
most for himself out of the property of the Church. The
hiyman forced his serfs to elect his infant son to an




252             ELEVENTH CENTURY.
abbacy or bishopric, and then pillaged the estate and
stripped the lower clergy in the minor's name. Other
abuses followed; and though the strictness of the rule
against the open marriage of priests had long ceased, and
in some places the superiority of wedded incumbents had
been so recognised that the appointment of a pastor
was objected -to unless he was accompanied by a wifestill, the letter of the Church-law, enjoining celibacy on
all orders of the clergy, had never been so generally
neglected as at the present time. No attempt was
made to conceal the almost universal infraction of the
rule. Bishops themselves brought forward their wives
on occasions of state and ceremony, who disputed the
place of honour with the wives of counts and barons.
When strictly inquired into, however, these alliances
were not allowed to have the effect of regular matrimony. They were looked upon merely as a sort of
licensed and not dishonourable concubinage, and the
children resulting from them were deprived of the rights
of legitimacy. Yet the wealth and influence of their
parents made their exclusion from  the succession to
land of little consequence. They were enriched sufficiently with the spoil of the diocese to be independent of
the rights of heirship. This must have led, however, to
many cases of hardship, when the feudal baron, tempted
by the riches of the neighbouring see, had laid violent
hands on the property, and by bribery or force procured
his own nomination as bishop. The children of any
marriage contracted after that time lost their inheritance of the barony by the episcopal incapacity of their
father, and must have added to the general feeling of
discontent caused by the junction of the two characters.
For when the tyrannical lord became a prelate, it only
added the weapons of ecclesiastic domination to the
baronial armory of cruelty and extortion. He could




NORMANS.                 253
now withhold all the blessings of the Church, as bishop,
unless the last farthing were yielded up to his demands
as landlord. An appalling state of things, when the refractory vassal, who had escaped the sword, could be
knocked into submission by the crozier, both wielded by
the same man. The Church, therefore, in its highest
offices, had become as mundane and ambitious as the
nobility. And it must have been evident to a far dimmer
sight than Hildebrand's, that, as the power and independence of the barons had been gained at the expense
of the Crown, the wealth and possessions of the bishops
would weaken their allegiance to the Pope. Sprung
from the lowest ranks of the people, the grim-hearted
monk never for a moment was false to his order. He
looked on lords and kings as tyrants and oppressors, on
bishops themselves as lording it over God's heritage and
requiring to be held down beneath the foot of some
levelling and irresistible power, which would show them
the nothingness of rank and station; and for this end
he dreamed of a popedom, universal in its claims, domineering equally over all conditions of men-an incarnation of the fiercest democracy, trampling on the people,
and of the bitterest republicanism, aiming at more than
monarchical power. H- e had the wrath of generations
of serfdom rankling in his heart, and took a satisfaction,
sweetened by revenge, in bringing low the haughty
looks of the proud. And in these strainings after the
elevation of the Papacy he was assisted by several
powers on which he could securely rely.
The Normans, who by a wonderful fortune had made
themselves masters of England under the guidance of
William, were grateful to the Pope for the assistance he
had given them by prohibiting all opposition to their
conquest on the part of the English Church. Another
branch of Normans were still more useful in their sup



254            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
port of the papal chair. A body of pilgrims to Jeru
salem, amounting to only forty men, had started from
Scandinavia in 1006, and, having landed at Salerno,
were turned aside from completing their journey by the
equally meritorious occupation of resisting the Saracens
who were besieging the town. They defeated them
with great slaughter, and were amply rewarded for
their prowess with goods and gear. News of their
gallantry and of their reward reached their friends and
relations at home. In a few years they were followed
by swarms of their countrymen, who disposed of their
acquisitions in Upper Italy to the highest bidder, and
were remunerated by grants of land in [Naples for
their exertion on behalf of Sergius the king. But in
1037 a fresh body of adventurers proceeded from the
neighbourhood of Coutances in Normandy, under the
command of three brothers of the family of HIauteville,
to the assistance of the same monarch, and, with the
usual prudence of the Norman race, when they had
chased the enemy from the endangered territory, made
no scruple of keeping it for themselves. Robert, called
Guiscard, or the Wise, was the third brother, and succeeded to the newly-acquired sovereignty in 1057. In
a short time he alarmed the Pope with the prospect of
so unscrupulous and so powerful a neighbour. 1iis
Holiness, therefore, demanded the assistance of the
German Emperor, and boldly took the field. The Normans were no whit daunted with the opposition of the
Father of Christendom, and dashed through all obstacles
till they succeeded in taking him prisoner. Instead of
treating him with harshness, and exacting exorbitant
ransom, as would have been the action of a less sagacious politician, the Norman threw himself on his knees
before the captive pontiff, bewailed his hard case in
being forced to appear so contumacious to his spiritual




COUNTESS MATILDA.               255
lord and master, and humbly besought him to pardon
his transgression, and accept the suzerainty of all the
lands he possessed and of all he should hereA.D. 1059.
after subdue. It was a delightful surprise to
the Pope, who immediately ratified all the proceedings of his repentant son, and in a short time was rewarded by seeing Apulia and the great island of Sicily
held in homage as fiefs of St. Peter's chair. From
thenceforth the Italian Normans were the bulwarks of
the papal throne. But, more powerful than the Normlans of England, and more devoted personally to the
popes thant the greedy adventurers of Apulia, the
Countess Matilda was the greatest support of all the
pretensions of the Holy See. Young and beautiful, the
holder of the greatest territories in Italy, this lady was
the most zealous of all the followers of the Pope.
Though twice married, she on both occasions separated
fiom her husband to throw herself with more undivided
energy into the interests of the Church. With men
and money, and all the influence that her position as a
princess and her charms as a woman could give, the
sovereign pontiff had no enemy to fear as long as he
retained the friendship of his enthusiastic daughter.
Hildebrand was the ruling spirit of the papal court,
A.D 060. and was laying his plans for future action,
while the world was still scarcely aware of his
existence. IIe began, while only Archdeacon of Rome,
by a forcible reformation of some of the irregularities
which had crept into the practice of the clergy, as a
preparatory step to making the clergy dominant over
all the other orders in the State. IIe gave orders, in
the name of Stephen the Tenth, for every married priest
to be displaced and to be separated from his wife. For
this end he stirred up the ignorant fanaticism of the
people, and encouraged them  in outrages upon the




256i           EIEVENTH CENTURY.
offending clergy, which frequently ended in death. The
virtues of the cloister had still a great hold on the popular veneration, in spite of the notorious vices of the
monastic establishments, both male and female; and
Hildebrand's invectives on the wickedness of marriage,
and his praises of the sanctity of a single life, were
listened to with equal admiration. The secular clergy
were forced to adopt the unsocial and demoralizing
principles of their monkish rivals; and when all family
affections were made sinful, and the feelings of the
pastor concentrated on the interests of his profession,
the popes had secured, in the whole body of the Church,
the unlimited obedience and blind support which had
hitherto been the characteristic of the monastic orders.
With the assistance of the warlike Normans, the wealth
and influence of the Countess Matilda, the adhesion of
the Church to his schemes of aggrandizement, he felt it
time to assume in public the power he had exercised so
long in the subordinate position of counsellor of the
popes; and the monk seated himself on what he considered the highest of earthly thrones, and immediately
A. 1073. the contest between the temporal and spiritual
powers began. The King of France (Philip the
First) and the Emperor of Germany (Henry the Fourth)
were both of disreputable life, and offered an easy mark
for the assaults of the fiery pontiff. IHe threatened
and reprimanded them for simony and disobedience,
proclaimed his authority over kings and princes as a
fact which no man could dispute without impiety, and
had the inward pleasure of seeing the proudest of the
nobles, and finally the most powerful of the sovereigns, of Europe, forced to obey his mandates. The
pent-up hatred of his race and profession was gratified
by the abasement of birth and power.
The struggle with the Empire was on the subject of




STRUGGLE BETWEEN POPE AND EMPEROR.   257
investiture. The successors of Charlemagne had always
retained a voice in the appointment of the bishops and
Church dignitaries in their states; they had even frequently nominated to the See of Rome, as to the other
bishoprics in their dominions. The present wearer of
the iron crown had displaced three contending popes,
who were disturbing the peace of the city by their
ferocious quarrels, and had appointed others in their
room. There wras no murmur of opposition to their
appointment. They were pious and venerable men;
and of each of them the inscrutable Hildebrand had
managed to'make himself the confidential adviser, and
in reality the guide and master. Even in his own case
he waited patiently till he had secured the emperor's
legal ratification of his election, and then, armed with
legitimacy, and burning with smothered indignation, he
kicked down the ladder by which he had risen, and
wrote an insulting letter to the emperor, commanding
him to abstain from simony, and to renounce the right
of investiture by the ring and cross. These, he maintained, were the signs of spiritual dignity, and their
oestowal was inherent in the Pope. The time for the
message was admirably chosen; for Henry was engaged
in a hard struggle for life and crown with the Saxons
and Thuringians, who were in open revolt.  Henry
promised obedience to the pontiff's wish, but when his
enemies were defeated he withdrew his concession.
The Pope thundered a sentence of excommunication
against him, released his subjects from their oath of
fealty, and pronounced him deprived of the throne.
The emperor was not to be left behind in the race of
AD. 106. objurgation. He summoned his nobles and prelates to a council at Worms, and pronounced
sentence of deprivation on the Pope. Then arose such
a storm against the unfortunate Henry as only religious




258            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
differences can create. His subjects had been oppressed,
his nobility insulted, his clergy impoverished, and all
classes of his people were glad of the opportunity of
hiding their hatred of his oppressions under the cloakl
of regard for the interests of religion. He was forced
to yield; and, crossing the Alps in the middle of winter,
he presented himself at the castle of Canossa. Here
the Pope displayed the humbleness and generosity of
his Christian character, by leaving the wretched man
three days and nights in the outer court, shivering with
cold and barefoot, while His Holiness and the Countess
Matilda were comfortably closeted within. And after
this unheard-of degradation, all that could be wrung
from the hatred of the inexorable monk was a promise
that the suppliant should be tried with justice,.and that,
if he succeeded in proving his innocence, he should be
reinstated on his throne; but if he were found guilty,
he should be punished with the utmost rigour of ecclesiastical law.
Common sense and good feeling were revolted by this
unexampled insolence. Friends gathered round Henry
when the terms of his sentence were heard. The
Romans themselves, who had hitherto been blindly submissive, were indignant at the presumption of their
bishop. None continued faithful except the imperturbable Countess Matilda. Hie was still to her the
representative of divine goodness and superhuman
power. But her troops were beaten and her money
was exhausted in the holy quarrel. Robert Guiscard,
indeed, came to the rescue, and rewarded himself for
delivering the Pope by sacking the city of Rome. Ilalf
the houses were burned, and half the population killed
or sold as slaves. It was from amidst the desolation
his ambition had caused that the still-unsubdued IHildebrand was guarded by the Normans to the citadel of




DEATH OF HILDEBRAND.             259
Salerno, and there he died, issuing his orders and curses
to his latest hour, and boasting with his last breath that
"he had loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and
aD. 1085. that therefore he expired in exile." After this
man's throwing off the mask' of moderation
under which his predecessors had veiled their claims,
the world was no longer left in doubt of the aims and
objects of the spiritual power. There seems almost a
taint of insanity in the extravagance of his demands.
In the published collection of his maxims we see the full
extent of the theological tyranny he had in view.
" There is but one name in the world," we read; " and
that is the Pope's. He only can use the ornaments of
empire. All princes ought to kiss his feet. lie alone
can nominate or displace bishops and assemble or dissolve councils.  Nobody can judge him.  His mere
election constitutes him a saint. He has never erred,
and never shall err in time to come. He can depose
princes and release subjects from their oaths of fidelity."
Yet, in spite of the wildness of this language, the ignorance of the period was so great, and the relations of,
European nations so hostile, that the most daring of
these assumptions found supporters either in the super:
stitious veneration of the peoples or the enmity and
interests of the princes. The propounder of those
amazing propositions was apparently defeated, and died
disgraced and hated; but his successors were careful
not to withdraw the most untenable of his claims,, even
while they did not bring them into exercise. They
lay in an armory, carefully stored and guarded, to be
brought out according to the exigencies either of the
papal chair itself, or of the king or emperor who for the
moment was in possession of the person- of the Pope.
None of the great potentates of Europe, therefore, was
anxious to diminish a power which might be employed




260            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
for his own advantage, and all of them by turns encouraged the aggressions of the Papacy, with a shortsighted wisdom, to be an instrument of offence against
their enemies. Little encouragement, indeed, was offered at this time to opposition to the spiritual despot.
Though HCildebrand had died a refugee, it was remarked
with pious awe that Henry the Fourth, his rival and
opponent, was punished in a manner which showed the
highest displeasure of Heaven. His children, at the
instigation of the Pope, rebelled against him. He was
conquered in battle and taken prisoner by his youngest
son. He was stripped of all his possessions, and at last
so destitute and forsaken that he begged for a subchanter's place in a village church for the sake of its
A.D. 1106. wretched salary, and died in such extremity of
want and desolation that hunger shortened his
days. For five years his body was left without the
decencies of interment in a cellar in the town of Spires.
But an immense movement was now to take place in
the European mind, which had the greatest influence
on the authority of Rome. A crusade against the
1095. enemies of the faith was proclaimed in the year
1095, and from all parts of Europe a great cry
of. approval was uttered in all tongues, for it hit the
right chord in the ferocious and superstitious heart of
the world; and it was felt that the great battle of the
Cross and the Crescent was most fitly to be decided forever on the soil of the Holy Land.
From the very beginning of this century the thought
of armed intervention in the affairs of Palestine had
been present in the general mind. Religious difference
had long been ready to take the form of open war.
As the Church strengthened and settled into more dogmatic unity, the desire to convert by force and retain
within the fold by penalty and proscription had increased. As yet some reluctance was felt to put a pro



PETER THE HERMIT.              261
fessing Christian to death on merely a difference of
doctrine, but with the open gainsayers of the faith no
parley could be held. Thousands, in addition to their
religious animosities, had personal injuries to avenge;
for pilgrimage to Jerusalem was already in full favour,
and the weary wayfarers had to complain of the hostility of the turbaned possessors of the Holy Sepulchre,
and the indignities and peril to which they were exposed the moment they came within the infidel's domain. Why should the unbelievers be allowed any
longer to retain the custody of such inherently Christian territories as the Mount of Olives and the Garden
of Gethsemane? Why should the unbaptized followers
of [Mohammed, those children of.perdition, pollute with
hostile feet the sacred ground which had been the witness of so many miracles and still furnished so many
relics which manifested superhuman power? Besides,
what was the wealth of other cities-their gold and
precious jewels-to the store of incalculable riches contained in the very stones and woodwork of the metropolis and cradle of the faith? Bones of martyrsgarments of saints-nails of the cross-thorns of the
crown-were all lying ready to be gathered up by the
faithful priesthood who would lead the expedition.
Anid who could be held responsible, in this world or the
next, for any sins, however grievous, who had washed
them out by purifying the floors of Zion with the blood
of slaughtered Saracens and saying prayers and kneeling in contemplation within sight of the Sepulchre itself?
So Peter the Hermit, an enthusiast who preached a holy
war, was listened to as if he spake with the tongues of
angels. The ravings of his lunacy had a prodigious
effect on all classes and in all lands; and suddenly there
was gathered together a confused rabble of pilgrims,
armed in every variety of fashion-princes and beggars, robbers and adventurers-the scum of great cities




262            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
and the simple-hearted peasantry from distant farmsupwards of three hundred thousand in number, all
pouring down towards the seaports and anxious to
cross over to the land where so many high hopes were
placed. Vast numbers of this multitude found their
way from France through Italy; and luckily for Urban
the Second —the fifth in succession from Gregory —
they took the opportunity of paying a visit to the city
of Rome, scarcely less venerable in their eyes than Jerusalem itself. They were the soldiers of the Cross, and
in that character felt bound to pay a more immediate
submission to the Chief of Christianity than to their
native kings. They found the city divided between
two rivals for the tiara, and, having decided in favour
of Urban, chased away the anti-pope Wvho was appointed by the Imperial choice. Terrified at the accession of such powerful supporters, the Germans were
withdrawn from Italy, and Urban felt that the claims
of Hildebrand were not incapable of realization if he
could get quit of unruly barons and obstinate monarchs
by engaging them in a distant and ruinous expedition.
It needed little to spread the flame of fanaticism over
the whole of Christendom. The accounts given of this
first Crusade transcend the wildest imaginings of romance. An indiscriminate multitude of all nations and
tongues seemed impelled by some irresistible impulse
towards the East. Ostensibly engaged in a religious
service, enriched with promises and absolutions from
the Pope, giving up all their earthly possessions, and
filled with the one idea of liberating the Holy Land, it
might have been expected that the sobriety and order
of their march would have been characteristic of such
elevating aspirations. But the infamy of their behaviour,
their debauchery, irregularity, and dishonesty, have
never been equalled by the basest and most degraded of
mankind. lilre a flood they poured through the lands




SECOND CRUSADE.              263
of Italy, Bohemia, and Germany, polluting the cities
with their riotous lives, and poisoning the air with the
festering corruption of their innumerable dead. They
at last found shipping from the ports, and presented
themselves, drunk with fanatical pride, and maddened
with the sufferings they had undergone, before the
astonished people of Constantinople. That enervated
and over-civilized population looked with disgust on the
unruly mass. Of the vast multitudes who had started
under the guidance of Peter the Hermit, not more than
20,000 survived; and of these none found their way to
the object of their search. The Turks, who had by
this time obtained the mastery of Asia, cut them in
pieces when they had left the shelter of Constantinople,
and Alexis Comnenus, the Grecian emperor, had little
hope of aid against the Mohammedan invaders from the
unruly levies of Europe.
But in the following year a new detachment made
their appearance in his states. This was the second
ban, or crusade of the knights and barons. Better regulated in its military organization than the other, it
presented the same astonishing scenes of debauchery
and vice; and dividing, for the sake of sustenance, into
four armies, and taking four different routes, they at
length, in greatly-diminished numbers, but with unablted hope and energy, presented themselves before
the walls of Constantinople. This was no mob like
their famished and fainting predecessors. All the gallant
lords of Europe were here, inspired by knightly courage
and national rivalries to distinguish themselves in fight
and council. Of these the best-known were Godfrey of
Bouillon, Baldwyn of Flanders, Robert of Normandy,
(William the Conqueror's eldest son,) Hugh the Great,
Count of Vermandois, and Raymond of St. Gilles. Six
hundred thousand men had left their homes, with innumnerable attendants-women, and jugglers, and servants,




264            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
and workmen of all kinds. Tens of thousands perished
by the way; others established themselves in the cities
on their route to keep up the communication; and at
last the Genoese and Pisan vessels conveyed to the
Golden Horn the strength of all Europe, the hardy survivors of all the perils of that unexampled march-few
indeed in number, but burning with zeal and bravery.
Alexis lost no time in diverting their dangerous strength
from his own realms. Hie let them loose upon Nicea,
and when it yielded to their valour he had the cleverness to outwit the Christian warriors, and claimed the
city as his possession. On pursuing their course, they
found themselves, after a victory over the Turks at
Dorylseum, in the great Plain of Phrygia. Hunger,
thirst, the extremity of heat, and the difficulty of the
march, brought confusion and dismay into their ranks.
All the horses died. Knights and chevaliers were seen
mounted on asses, and even upon oxen; and the baggage
was packed upon goats, and not unfrequently on swine
and dogs. Thirst was fatal to five hundred in a single
day. Quarrels between the nationalities added to these
calamities. Lorrains and Italians, the men of Normandy
and of Provence, were at open feud. And yet, in spite
of these drawbacks, the great procession advanced.
Baldwyn and Tancred succeeded in getting possession
of the town of Edessa, on the Euphrates, and opened a
AD. 1098. communication with the Christians of Armenia.
The siege of Antioch was their next operation,
and the luxuries of the soil and climate were more fatal
to the Crusaders than want and pain had been. On the
rich banks of the Orontes, and in the groves of Daphne,
they lost the remains of discipline and self-command
and gave themselves up to the Wildest excesses. But
with the winter their enjoyment came to an end. Their
camp was flooded; they suffered the extremities of
famine; and when there were no more horses and im



ANTIOCH TAKEN.               268
pure animals to eat, they satiated their hunger on the
bodies of their slaughtered enemies. IHelp, however,
was at hand, or they must have perished to the last
man. Bohemund corrupted the fidelity of a renegade
officer in Antioch, and, availing themselves of a dark
and stormy night, they scaled the walls with ladders,
and rushed into the devoted city, shouting the Crusaders'
war-cry:-" It is the will of God!" and Antioch became
a Christian princedom. But not without difficulty was
this new possession retained. The Turks, under the
orders of Kerboga, surrounded it with two hundred
thousand men. There was neither entrance nor exit
possible, and the worst of their previous sufferings
began to be renewed. But Heaven came to the rescue.
A monk of the name of Peter Bartholomew dreamt
that under the great altar of the church would be found
the spear which pierced the Saviour on the cross. The
precious weapon rewarded their toil in digging, and
armed with this the Christian charge was irresistible,
and the Turks were cut in pieces or dispersed. Instead
of making straight for Jerusalem, they lingered six
months longer in Antioch, suffering from plague and the
fatigues they had undergone. When at last the forward
order was given, a remnant, consisting of fifty thousand
men out of all the original force, began the march. As
they got nearer the object of their search, and recognised the places commemorated in Holy Writ, their enthusiasm knew no bounds. The last elevation was at
length surmounted, and Jerusalem lay in full view. "O
blessed Jesus," cries a monk who was present, "when
thy Holy City was seen, what tears fell from our eyes!"
ILoud shouts were raised of "Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
God wills it! God wills it!"  They stretched out their
hands, fell upon their knees, and embraced the consecrated ground. But Jerusalem was yet in the hands of
12




266            ELEVENTH CENTURY.
the Saracens, and the sword must open their way into
its sacred bounds. The governor had offered to admit
the pilgrims within the walls, but in their peaceful dress
and merely as visitors. This they refused, and determined to wrest it from its unbelieving lords. On the
15th of July, 1099, they found that their situation was
no longer tenable, and that they must conquer or give
up the siege. The brook Kedron was dried up, the sun
poured upon them with unendurable heat, their provisions were exhausted, arrd in agonies of despair as
well as of military ardour they gave the final assault.
The struggle was long and doubtful. At length the
Crusaders triumphed. Tancred and Godfrey were the
first to leap into the devoted town. Their soldiers followed, and filled every street with slaughter. The Mosque of Omar was vigorously defended, and an indiscriminate massacre of Mussulmans and Jews filled the
whole place with blood. In the mosque itself the stream
of gore was up to the saddle-girths of a horse. The onslaught was occasionally suspended for a while, to allow
the pious conquerors to go barefoot and unarmed to
kneel at the Holy Sepulchre; and, this act of worship
done, they returned to their ruthless occupation, and'continued the work of extermination for a whole week.
The depopulated and reeking town was added to the
domains of Christendom, and the kingdom of Jerusalem
was offered to Godfrey of Bouillon. With a modesty
befitting the most Christian and noble-hearted of the
Crusaders, Godfrey contented himself with the humbler
name of Baron of the Holy Sepulchre; and with three
hundred knights-which were all that remained to him
when that crowning victory had set the other survivors
at liberty to revisit their native lands-he established a
standing garrison in the captured city, and anxiously
awaited reinforcements from the warlike spirits they
1had left at home.




TWELFTH CENTURY.
Empermos  of   ermnanp,  iEmperort   of the  gast.
AD.                          A.D.
HENRY IV. —(ont.)            ALEXIS I.-(cont.)
1106. HENRY V.               1118. JOHN.
1143. MANUEL.
House of &Suabia.    1183. ANDRONICUS I.
1138. CONRAD III.            1185. ISAAC II., (the Angel.)
1152. FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 1195. ALEXIS III.
1190. HENRY VI.
1198. PHILIP and OTIO IV., (of            oting   f jftarnne.
Brunswick.)                PHILIP I.-(cont.)
1108. Louis VI.
1137. Louis VII.
1.100. HENRY I.              1180. PHILIP AUGUSTUS.
1135. STEPHEN.
1154. HENRY II.
1189. RICHARD 1.
~1199. JOHN.         1165. WILLIAM.
1199. JOHN.
1147. SECOND CRUSADE, led by Louis VII. of France.
1189. THIRD CRUSADE, led by Frederick Barbarossa, Philip
Augustus, and Richard of England.
BERNARD, (1091-1153,) BECKET, (1119-1170,) EUSTATHIUS,
THEoDORaUS, BALSAMON, PETER LOMBARD, WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY, (1096-1143.)








THE TWELFTII CENTURY.
ELEVATION OF LEARNING-POWER OF THE CHURCH —THOMAS X-BECKETT.
THE effect of the first Crusade had been so prodigious
that Europe was forced to pause to recover from its exhaustion. MVore than half a million had left their homes
in 1095; ten thousand are supposed to have returned;
three hundred were left with Godfrey in the Christian
city of Jerusalem; and what had become of all the
rest? Their bones were whitening all the roads that led
to the Holy Land; small parties of them must have
settled in despair or weariness in towns and villages on
their way; many were sold into slavery by the rapacity
of the feudal lords whose lands they traversed; and
when the madness of the time had originated a Crusade
of Children, and ninety thousand boys of ten or twelve
years of age had commenced their journey, singing
hymns and anthems, and hoping to conquer the infidels
with the spiritual arms of innocence and prayer, the
whole band melted away before they reached the coast.
Barons, and counts, and bishops, and dukes, all swooped
down upon the devoted march, and before many weeks'
journeying was achieved the Crusade was brought to a
close. Most of the children had died of fatigue or starvation, and the survivors had been seized as legitimate
prey and sold as slaves.
Meantime the brave and heroic Godfrey-the true
hero of the expedition, for he elevated the ordinary
virtues of knighthood and feudalism into the nobler
269




270            TWELFTH CENTURY.
feelings of generosity and romance-gained the object
of his earthly ambition. Having prayed at the sepulchre, and cleansed the temple from the pollution of the
unbelievers' presence, wearied with all his labours, and
A.D. 1100. feeling that his task was done, he sank into deep
despondency and died. Volunteers in small
numbers had occasionally gone eastward to support the
Cross. Ambition, thoughtlessness, guilt, and fanaticism
sent their representatives to aid the conqueror of Judea;
and his successors found themselves strong enough to
bid defiance to the Turkish power. They carried all
their Western ideas along with them. They had their
feudal holdings and knightly quarrels. The most venerated names in Holy Writ were desecrated by unseemly
disputes or the most frivolous associations. The combination, indeed, of their native habits and their new
acquisitions might have moved them to laughter, if the
men of the twelfth century had been awake to the ridiculous. There was a Prince of Galilee, a Marquis of
Joppa, a Baron of Sidon, a Marquis of Tyre. Our own
generation has renewed the strange juxtaposition of the
East and West by the language employed in steamboats
and railways. Trains will soon cross the Desert with
warning whistles and loud jets of steam and all the
phraseology of an English line. For many years the
waters of the mysterious Red Sea have been dashed
into foam by paddles made in Liverpool or Glasgow.
But these are visitors of a very different kind from Bohemund and Baldwyn. Baldwyn, indeed, seemed less inclined than his companions to carry his European training to its full extent. He Orientalized himself in a small
way, perhaps in imitation of Alexander the Great; and,
dressed in the long flowing robes of the country, he
made his attendants serve him with prostrations, and
almost with worship. He married a daughter of the




MOHAMMEDAN FAIT-H.              271
land, and in other respects endeavoured to ingratiate
himself with the Saracens by treating them with kindness and consideration. The bravery of those warriors
of the Desert endeared them to the rough-handed barons
of the West. It was impossible to believe that men
with that one pre-eminent virtue could be so utterly
hateful as they had been represented; and when the intercourse between the races became more unrestrained,
even the religious asperities of the Crusaders became
mitigated, they found so many points of resemblance
between their faiths. There was not an honour which
the Christian paid to the Virgin which was not yielded
by the Mohammedan to Fatima. All the doctrines of
the Christian creed found their counterparts in the professions of the followers of the Law. Allah was an incarnation of the Deity; and even the mystery of the
Trinity was not indistinctly seen in the legend of the
three rays which darted from the idea of Mohammed in
the mind of the Creator. While this community of
sentiment softened the animosity of the crusading
leaders towards their enemies, a still greater community
of suffering and danger softened their feelings towards
their followers and retainers. In that scarcity of
knights and barons, the value of a serfs arm or a
mechanic's skill was gratefully acknowledged. There
had been many mtltual kindnesses between the two
classes all through those tedious and blood-stained
journeys and desperate fights. A peasant had brought
water to a wounded lord when he lay fainting on the
burning soil; a workman had had the revelation of the
true crown: they were no longer the property and
slaves of the noble, who considered them beings of a
different blood, but fellow-soldiers, fellow-sufferers, fellow-Christians. They were not spoken of in the insult.
ing language of the West, and called " our thralls," "our




272            TWELFTH CENTURY.
slaves," "our bondsmen;" at the worst they were called
"our poor," and lifted by that word into the quality of
brothers and men. The precepts of the gospel in favour
of the humble and suffering were felt for the first time
to have an application to the men who had toiled on
their lands and laboured in their workshops, but who
were now their support in the shock of battle, and companions when the victory was won. Only they were
poor; they had no lands; they had no arms upon their
shields. So Baldwyn gave them large tracts of country;
and they became'vassals and feudatories for fertile fields
near Jericho and rich farms on the Jordan. They were
gentlemen by the strength of their own right hands, as
the fathers of their lords and suzerains had been.
- But the amalgamation of race and condition was not
carried on in the East more surely or more extensively
than in the West. The expenses of preparing for the
pilgrimage had impoverished the richest of the lords of
the soil. They had been forced to borrow money and
to mortgage their estates to the burghers of the great
commercial towns, which, quietly and unobserved, had
spread themselves in many parts of France and Italy.
Genoa had already attained such a height of prosperity
that she could furnish vessels for the conveyance of half
the army of the Crusade. In return for her cargoes of
knights and fighting-men, she brought back the wealth
of the East,-silks, and precious stones, and spices, and
vessels of gold and silver. The necessities of the time
made the money-holder powerful, and the men who
swung the hammer, and shaped the sword, and embroidered the banner, and wove the tapestry, indispensable. And what hold, except kindness, and privilege, and grants of land, had the baron on the skilful
smith or the ingenious weaver who could carry his skill
and energy wherever he chose? Besides, the multitudes




GAIN OF THE TOWNS.             278
who had been carried away from the pursuits of industry to fall at the siege of Antioch or perish by thirst in
the Desert had given a greatly-increased value to their
fellow-labourers left at home. While the castle became
deserted, and all the pomp of feudalism retreated from
its crumbling walls, the village which had grown in
safety under its protection flourished as much as everflourished, indeed, so much that it rapidly became a
town, and boasted of rich citizens who could help to pay
off their suzerain's encumbrances and yresent him with
an offering on his return. The impoverished and grateful noble could do no less, in gratitude for gift and contribution, than secure them in the enjoyment of greater
franchises and privileges than they had possessed before.
The Church also gained by the diminished number and
power of the lords, who had seized upon tithe and offering and had looked with disdain and hostility on the
aggressions of the lower clergy. True to its origin, the
Church still continued the leader of the people, in opposition to the pretensions of the feudal chiefs. It was
still a democratic organization for the protection of the
weak against the powerful; and though we have seen
that the bishops and other dignitaries frequently assumed the state and practised the cruelties of the grasping and illiterate baron, public opinion, especially in the
North of Europe, was not revolted against these instances of priestly domination, for whatever was gained
by the crozier was lost to the sword. It was even a
consolation to the injured serf to see the truculent landlord who had oppressed him oppressed in his turn by a
still more truculent bishop, especially when that bishop
had sprung from the dregs of the people, and-crown
and consummation of all-when the Pope, God's vicegerent upon earth, who dethroned emperors and made
kings hold his stirrup as he mounted his mule, was de



2 7i4           TWELFTH CENTURY.
scended from no more distinguished a family than himn
self. It was the effort of the Church, therefore, in all
this century, to lower the noble and to elevate the poor.
To gain popularity, all arts were resorted to. The
clergy were the showmen and play-actors of the time.
The only amusement the labourer could aim at was
found for him, in rich processions and gorgeous ceremony, by the priest. tHow could any fault of the abbot
or prelate turn away the affection of the peasant from
the Church, which was in a peculiar manner his own
establishment?  Never had the drunkenness, the debauchery and personal indulgences of the upper ecclesiastics reached such a pitch before. The gluttony of
friars and monks became proverbial. The community
of certain monasteries complained of the austerity of
their abbots in reducing their ordinary dinners from
sixteen dishes to thirteen. The great St. Bernard describes many of the rulers of the Church as keeping sixty
horses in their stables, and having so many wines upon
their board that it was impossible to taste one-half of them.
Yet nothing shook the attachment of the uneducated
commons. Their priest got up dances and concerts and
miracles for their edification, and had a right to enjoy all
the luxuries of life. Once freed, therefore, from the watch.
ful enmity of lord and king, the Church was well aware
that its power would be irresistible. The people were de.
voted to it as their earthly defender against their earthly
oppressors, the caterer of all their amusements, and as
their guide in the path to heaven. Gratitude and credulity, therefore, were equally engaged in its behalf. And
new influences came to its support. Romance and wonder gathered round the champions of the Faith fighting
in the distant regions of the East. Every thing became
magnified when seen through the medium of ignorance
and fanaticism. The tales, therefore, strange enough in




NEWS FROM PALESTINE.            275
themselves, which were related by pilgrims returning
from the Holy Land, and amplified a hundredfold by
the natural exaggeration of the vulgar, raised higher
than ever the glory of the Church. The fastings and
self-inflicted scourginigs of holy men, it was believed,
effected more than the courage of Godfrey or Bohemund; and even of Godfrey it was said that his ascetic
life and painful penances caused more losses to the
enemy than his matchless strength and military skill.
It would be delightful if we could place ourselves in
the position of the breathless crowds at that time listening for the news from Palestine. No telegraphic despatch from the Crimea or iHindostan was ever waited
for with such impatience or received with such emotion.
The baron summoned the palmer into his hall, and
heard the strange history of the march to Jerusalem,
and the crowning of a Christian king, and the creation
of a feudal court, with a pang, perhaps, of regret that
he had not joined the pilgrimage, which might have made
him Duke of Bethlehem or monarch of Tiberias. But
the peasants in their workshops, or the whole village
assembled in the long aisles of their church, lent far
more attentive ears to the wayfaring monk who had escaped from the prison of the Saracen, and told them of
the marvels accomplished by the bones of martyrs and
apostles which had been revealed to holy pilgrims in
their dream on the Mount of Olives. Footprints on the
heights of Calvary, and portions of the manger in
Bethlehem, were described in awe-struck voice; and
when it was announced that in the belt of the narrator,
enwrapped in a silken scarf,-itself a fabric of incalou.
lable worth,-was a hair of an apostle's head, (which
their lord had purchased for a large sum,) to be deposited upon their altar, they must have thought the
sacrifices and losses of the Crusade amply repaid. And




276             TWELFTH CENTURY.
no amount of these sacred articles seemed in the least
to diminish their importance. The demand was always
greatly in advance of the supply, however vast it
might be. And as the mines of California and Australia have hitherto deceived the prophets of evil, by
having no perceptible effect on the price of the precious
metals, the incalculable importation of saints' teeth, and
holy personages' clothes, and fragments of the true
Cross, and prickles of the real Crown of Thorns, had no
depressing effect on the market-value of similar commodities with which all Christian [Europe was inundated.
Faith seemed to expand in proportion as relics became
plentiful, as credit expands on the security of a supply
of gold. And as many of those articles were actually
of as clearly-recognised a pecuniary value as houses or
lands, and represented in any market or banking-house
a definite and very considerable sum, it is not too much
to say that the capital of the West was greatly increased by these acquisitions from the East. The cup
of onyx, carved in one stone, which was believed to
iave been that in which the wine of the Last Supper
was held when our Saviour instituted the Communion,
was pledged by its owner for an enormous sum, andwhat is perhaps more strange-was redeemed when the
term of the loan expired by the repayment of principal
and interest. The intercourse, therefore, between power
and money showed that each was indispensable to the
other. The baron relaxed his severity, and the citizen
opened his purse-strings; the Church inculcated the
equality of all men in presence of the altar; and when the
kings perceived what merchandise might be made of privileges and exemptions accorded to their subjects, and how
at one great blow the townsman's squeezable riches would
be increased and the baron's local influence diminished,
there was a struggle between all the crowned heads as to




RISE OF CITIES.              277
which should be most favourable to the commons. It was
in this century, owing to the Crusades, which made the
commonalty indispensable and the nobility weak, which
strengthened the Crown and the Church and made it
their joint interest to restrain the exactions of the feudal
proprietors, that the liberties of Europe took their rise
in the establishment of the third estate. In the county
of Flanders, the great towns had already made themselves so wealthy and independent that it scarcely
needed a legal ratification of their franchise to make
them free cities. But in Italy a step further had been
made, and the great word Republic, which had been
silent for so many years, had again been heard, and had
taken possession of the general mind. In spite of the
opposition and the military successes of Roger, the Norman king of Sicily, the spirit which animated those
great trading communities was never subdued. In
Venice itself-the greatest and most illustrious of those
republics, the first founded and last overthrown-the
original municipal form of government had never been
abolished. At all times its liberties had been preserved
and its laws administered by officers of its own choice,
and from it proceeded at this time a feeling of social
equality and an example of commercial prosperity
which had a strong effect on the nascent freedom of the
lower and industrious classes over all the world. Genoa
was not inferior either in liberty or enterprise to any of
its rivals. Its fleets traversed the Mediterranean, and,
being equally ready to fight or to trade, brought wealth
and glory home from the coasts of Greece and Asia. It
is to be observed that the first reappearance of selfgovernment was presented in the towns upon the coast,
whose situation enabled them to compensate for smallness of territory by the command of the sea. The
shores of Italy and the south of France, and the in



278            TWELFTH CENTURY.
dented sea-line of Flanders, followed in this respect the
example set in former ages by Greece, and Tyre, and
Pentapolis, and Carthage. There can be no doubt that
the sight of these powerful communities, governed by
their consuls and legislated for by their parliamentary
assemblies, must have put new thoughts into the heads
of the serfs and labourers returning, in vessels furnished
by citizens like themselves, from the conquest of Cyprus
and Jerusalem, where the whole harvest of wealth and
glory had been reaped by their lords. Encouraged by
these examples, and by the protection of the King of
France anid Emperor of Germany, the towns in Central
and Western Europe exerted themselves to emulate the
republican cities of the South. The nearest approach
they could hope to the independence they had seen in
Pisa or Venice was the possession of the right of electing their own magistrates and making their own laws.
These privileges, we have seen, were insured to them by
the helplessness and impoverishment of the feudal aristocracy and the countenance of the Church.
But the Church towards the middle of this century
found that the countenance she had given to liberty in
other places was used as an argument against herself in
the central seat of her power. Rome, the city of consuls and tribunes, was carried away by the great idea;
and under the guidance of Arnold of Brescia, a monk
who believed himself a Brutus, the standard was again
hoisted on the Capitol, displaying the magic letters S.
P. Q. R., (Senatus Populus que Romanus.) The Pope
was expelled by the population, the freedom of the city
proclaimed, the separation of the spiritual and temporal
powers pronounced by the unanimous voice, the government of priests abolished, and measures taken to maintain the authority the citizens had assumed. The
banished Pope had died while these things were going




WEALTH OF TRADESMEN.              279
on, and his successor was hunted down the steps of the
Capitol, and the revolution was accomplished. "Throughout the peninsula," says a German historian, "except in
the kingdom of Naples, from Rome to the smallest city,
the republican form prevailed." [Every thing had concurred to this result,-the force of arms, the rise of commerce, and the glorious remembrance of the past. St.
Bernard. himself acquiesced in the position now occupied
by the Pope, and he wrote to his scholar Eugenius the
Third, to " leave the Romans alone, and to exchange the
city against, the world," (" urbem pro orbe mutatam.")
But the effervescence of the popular will was soon at an
end. The fear of republicanism made common cause
between the Pope and [Emperor. Frederick Barbarossa
revenged the indignities cast on the chair of St. Peter
by burning the rebellious Arnold and re-establishing the
ancient form of government by force. Yet the spirit
of equality which was thus repressed by violence fermented in secret; nor was equality all that was aimed
at amid some of the swarming seats of population and
commerce. We find indeed, from this time, that in a
great number of instances the original relations between
the town and baron were reversed: the noble put himself under the protection of the municipality, and received its guarantee against the assaults or injuries of
the prouder and less politic members of his class. It was
a strange thing to see a feudal lord receive his orders
from the municipal officers of a country town, and still
stranger to perceive the low opinion which the courageous and high-fed burghers entertained of the. pomp and
circumstance of the mailed knights of whom they had
been accustomed to stand in awe. Their ramparts were
strong, their granaries well filled, their companions
stoutly armed; and they used to lean over the wall,
when a hostile champion summoned them to submit to




280             TWELFTH CENTURY.
the exactions of a great proprietor, and watch the
clumsy charger staggering under his heavy armour,
with shouts of derision. Men.,who had thus thrown off
their hereditary veneration for the lords of the soil, and
contentedly saw the deposition of the Roman Pope by
a Roman Senate and People, were not likely to pay a
blind submission to the spiritual dictation of their
priests. In the towns, accordingly, a spirit of free inquiry into the mysteries of the faith began; and, while
country districts still heard with awe the impossible
wonders of the monkish legends, there were rash and
daring sdholars in several countries, who threw doubt
upon the plainest statements of Revelation. Of these
the best-known is the still famous Abelard, whose exertions as a religious inquirer have been thrown into the
shade by his more interesting character -of the hero of
a love-story. The letters of Eloisa, and the unfortunate
issue of their affection, have kept their names from the
oblivion which has fallen upon their metaphysical
triumphs. And yet during their lives the glory of Abelard did not depend on the passionate eloquence of his
pupil, but arose from the unequalled sharpness of his
intellect and his skill in argumentation. Of noble
family, the handsomest man of his time, wonderfully
gifted with talent and accomplishment, he was the first
instance of a man professing the science of theology
without being a priest. Wherever he went, thousands
of enthusiastic scholars surrounded his chair. His
eloquence was so fascinating that the listener found
himself irresistibly carried away by the stream; and if
an opponent was hardy enough to stand up against him,
the acuteness of his logic was as infallible as the torrent
of his oratory had been, and in every combat he carried
away the prize. He doubted about original sin, and
by implication about the atonement, and many other




REASONING.                 281
articles of the Christian belief. The power and constitution of the Church were endangered by the same
weapons which assailed the groundworks of the faith;
and yet in all Europe no sufficient champion for truth
and orthodoxy could be found. Abelard was triumphant
over all his gainsayers, till at length Bernard of Clairvaux, who even in his lifetime was looked on with the
veneration due to a saint, who refused an archbishopric,
and the popedom itself, took up the gauntlet thrown
down by the lover of Eloisa, and reduced him to silence
by the superiority of his reasonings and the threats of
a general cofincil. It is sufficient to remark the appearance of Abelard in this century, as the commencement
of a reaction against the dogmatic authority of the
Church. It was henceforth possible to reason and to
inquire; and there can be no doubt that Protestantism
even in this modified and isolated form had a beneficial
effect on the establishment it assailed. A new armory
was required to meet the assaults of dialectic and scholarship. Dialecticians and scholars were therefore, henceforth, as much valued in the Church as self-flagellating
friars and miracle-performing saints. The faith was
now guarded by a noble array of highly-polished intellects, and the very dogma of the total abnegation of the
understanding at the bidding of the priest was supported
by a show of reasoning which few other questions
had called forth. With the enlargement of the clerical
sphere of knowledge, refinement in taste and sentiment
took place. And at this time, as philosophic discussion
took its rise with Abelard, the ennobling and idealiza.
tion of woman took its birth contemporaneously with
the sufferings of Eloisa. Up to this period the Church
had avowedly looked with disdain on woman, as inheriting in a peculiar degree the curse of our first parents,
because she had been the first to break the law,




282             TWELFTH CENTURY.
Knightly gallantry, indeed, had thought proper to ele.
vate the feminine ideal and clothe with imaginary virtues the heroines of its fictitious idolatry. It made her
the aim and arbiter of all its achievements. The principal seat in hall and festival was reserved for the softer
sex, which hitherto had been considered scarcely worthy
of reverence or companionship. Perhaps this courtesy
to the ladies on the part of knights and nobles began in
an opposition to the wife-secluding habits of the Orientals against whom they fought, as at an earlier date the
worship of images was certainly maintained by Rome
as a protest against the unadorned worship of the Saracens. Perhaps it arose from the gradual expansion of
wealth and the security of life and property, which left
time and opportunity for the cultivation of the female
character. Ladies were constituted chiefs of societies
of nuns, and were obeyed with implicit submission.
Large communities of young maidens were presided
over by widows who were still in the bloom of youth;
and so holy and pure were these sisterhoods considered,
that brotherhoods and monks were allowed to occupy
the same house, and the sexes were only separated from
each other, even at night, by an aged abbot sleeping on
the floor between them. Though this experiment failed,
the fact of its being tried proved the confidence inspired by the spotlessness of the female character.
Other things conspired to give a greater dignity to whathad been called the inferior sex. The death of whole
families in the Crusade had left the daughters heiresses
of immense possessions. In every country but France
the Crown itself was open to female succession, and it
was henceforth impossible to affect a superiority over a
person merely because she was corporeally weak and
beautiful, who was lady of strong castles and could summon a thousand retainers beneath the banners of -her




GREAT FEATURES OF THE CENTURY.       283
house. The very elevation of the women with whom
they were surrounded-the peeresses, and princesses,
and even the ladies of lower rank, to whom the voice
of the troubadours attributed all the virtues under
heaven-necessitated in the mind of the clergy a corresponding elevation in the character of the queen and
representative of the female sex, whom they had already
worshipped as personally without sin and endowed with
superhuman power. At this time the immaculate conception of the Holy Virgin was first broached as an
article of belief,-a doctrine which, after being dormant
at intervals;and occasionally blossoming into declaration, has finally received its full ratification by theauthority of the present Pope,-Pius the Ninth. In the
twelfth century it was acknowledged and propagated as
a fresh increase to the glory of the mother of God; but
it is now fixed forever as indispensable to the salvation
of every Christian.
Such, then, are the great features by which to mark
this century,-the combination of rank with rank caused
by the mutual danger of lord and serf in the Crusade,
the rise of freedom by the commercial activity imparted
by the same cause to the towns, the elevation of the
idea of woman, without which no true civilization can
take place. These are the leading and general characteristics: add to them what we have slightly alluded to,
-the first specimens of the joyous lays and love-sonnets
of the young knights returning from Palestine and
pouring forth their admiration of birth and beauty in
the soft language of Italy or Languedoc,-the intercourse between distant nations, which was indispensable
in the combined expeditions against the common foe, so
that the rough German cavalier gathered lessons in
manner or accomplishment from the more polished
princes of Anjou or Aquitaine,-and it will be seen that




284             TWELFTH CENTURY.
this was the century of awakening mind and softening
influences. There were scholars like Abelard, introducing the hitherto unknown treasures of the Greek
and Iebrew tongues, and yet presenting the finest
specimens of gay and accomplished gentlemen, unmatched in sweetness of voice and mastery of the harp;
and there were at the other side of the picture saints
like Bernard of Clairvaux, not relying any longer on
visions and the traditionary marvels of the past, but
displaying the power of an acute diplomatist and wideminded politician in the midst of the most extraordinary
self-denial and the exercises of a rigorous asceticism,
which in former ages had been limited to the fanatical
and insane. To this man's influence was owing the.D. 114. Second Crusade, which occurred in 1147. Different from the first, which had been the result
of popular enthusiasm and dependent for its success on
undisciplined numbers and religious fury, this was a
great European and Christian movement, concerted
between the sovereigns and ratified by the peoples.
IKings took the command, and whole nations bestowed
their wealth and influence on the holy cause. Louis the
Seventh of France led all the paladins of his land; and
Conrad, the German Emperor, collected all the forces of
the West to give the finishing-blow to the power of the
Mohammedans and restore the struggling kingdom
of Jerusalem. Seventy thousand horsemen and two
hundred and fifty thousand foot-soldiers were the
smallest part of the array. Whole districts were depopulated by the multitudes of artificers, shopmen,
women, children, buffoons, mimics, priests, and conjurers
who accompanied the march. It looked like one of the
great movements which convulsed the Roman Empire
when Goths or Burgundians poured into the land. But
the results were nearly the same as in the days of God



THIRD CRUSADE.              285
frey and Bohemund. Valour and discipline, national
emulation and knightly skill, were of no avail against
climate and disease. Again the West astonished the
Turks with the impetuosity of its courage and the display of its hosts, but lay weakened and exhausted when
the convulsive effort was past. A million perished in
the useless struggle. Forty years scarcely sufficed to
restore the nobility to sufficient power to undertake
1191 another suicidal attempt. But in 1191 the
Third Crusade departed under the conduct of
Richard of England, and earned the same glory and unsuccess. The century was weakened by those wretched
but not fruitless expeditions, which, in round numbers,
cost two millions of lives, and produced such memorable
effects on the general state of iEurope; yet it will be
better remembered by us if we direct our attention to
some of the incidents which have a more direct bearing
on our own country. Of these the most remarkable is
the commencement of the long-continued enmity between France and England, of the wars which lasted so
many years, which made our most eminent politicians
at one time believe that the countries were natural
enemies, incapable of permanent union or even of mutual
respect; and these took their rise, as most great wars
have done, from the paltriest causes, and were continued
on the most unfounded pretences.
Henry the Pirst was the son of William the Conqueror. On the death of his brother William Rufus he
seized the English crown, though the eldest of the family,
Robert, was still alive. Robert was fond of fighting
without the responsibility of command, and delighted
to be religious without the troubles of a religious life.
He therefore joined the First Crusade to gratify this
double desire, and mortgaged his dukedom of Normandy to Henry to supply him with horses and arms




286             TWELFTH CENTURY.
and enable him to support his dignity as a Christian
prince at Jerusalem. His dukedom he never could recover, for his extravagances prevented him from repayment of the loan. He tried to reconquer it by force,
but was defeated at the battle of Tinchebray, and was
guarded by the zealous affection of his brother all the
rest of his life in the Tower of London. tHe left a son,
who was used as an instrument of assault against Henry
by the Suzerain of Normandy, Louis the Sixth, King of
France. Orders were issued to the usurping feudatory
to resign his possessions into the hands of the rightful
heir; but, however obedient the Duke of Normandy
might profess to be to his liege lord the King of France,
the King of England held a very different language,
AD. 1153. and took a different estimate of his position.
And in the time of the second Henry a change
took place in their respective situations which seemed
to justify the assumptions of the [English king. That
grandson of Henry the First had opposed his liege lord
of France by arms and arts, and at last by one great
master-stroke turned his own arms upon his rival and
strengthened himself on his spoils. In the Second
Crusade the scrupulous delicacy of Louis the Seventh
of France had been revolted by the indiscreet or guilty
conduct of Eleanor his wife. He repudiated her as unworthy of his throne; and Henry, who had no delicacies
of conscience when they interfered with his interest,
offered the rejected Eleanor his hand; for she continued
the undoubted mistress of Poitou and Guienne. No
stain derived from her principles or conduct was reflected in the eyes of the ambitious Henry on those
noble provinces, and from henceforth his Continental
possessions far exceeded those of his suzerain. The
other feudatories, encouraged by this example, owned a
very modified submission to their nominal head; and




THE PLANTAGENETS.             287
the inheritors of the throne of the Capets were again
reduced to the comparative weakness of their predecessors of the Carlovingian line.  Yet there was one
element of vitality of which the feudal barons had not
deprived the king. A fief, when it lapsed for want of
heirs, was reattached to the Crown; and in the turmoil
and adventure of those unsettled times the extinction
of a line of warriors and pilgrims was not an uncommon
event. Even while a family was numerous and healthy
the uncertain nature of their possession deprived it of
half its value, for at the end of that gallant line of
knights and cavaliers, slain as they might be in battle,
carried off by the pestilences which were usual at that
period, or wasted away in journeys to the Holy Land
and sieges in the heats of Palestine, stood the feudal
king, ready to enter into undisputed possession of the
dukedoms or counties which it had cost them so much
time and danger to make independent and strong. In
the case of Normandy or Guienne themselves, Louis
might have looked without much uneasiness on the
building of castles and draining of marshes, when he
reflected that but a life or two lay between him and the
enriched and strengthened fief; and when those lives
were such desperadoes as Richard and such cowards as
John, the prospect did not seem hopeless of an immediate succession. But the French kings were still more
fortunate in being opposed to such unamiable rivals as the
coarse and worldly descendants of the Conqueror. The
personal characters of those men, however their energy
and courage might benefit them in actual war, made
them  feared and hated wherever they were known.
They were sensual, cruel, and unprincipled to a degree
unusual even in those ages of rude manners and undeveloped conscience. Their personal appearance itself
was an index of the ungovernable passions within.




288            TWELFTH CENTURY.
Fat, broad-shouldered, low-statured, red-haired, loud
voiced, they were frightful to look upon even in their
calmest moods; but when the Conqueror stormed, no
feeling of ruth or reverence stood in his way. When
he was refused the daughter of the Count of Boulogne,
he forced his way into the chamber of the countess,
seized her by the hair of her head, dragged her round
the room, and stamped on her with his feet. Robert
his son was of the same uninviting exterior. William
Rufus was little and very stout. Henry the Second was
gluttonous and debauched. Richard the Lion-Heart
was cruel as the animal that gave him name; and John
was the most debased and contemptible of mankind. A
race of gentle and truthful men, on the other hand,
ennobled the crown of France. The kings, from Louis
the Debonnaire to Louis the Seventh, or Young, were
favourites of the Church and champions of the people.
The harsh and violent nobility despised them, but they
were venerated in the huts where poor men lie. Th6
very scruple which induced Louis to divorce his wife,
whose conduct had stained the purity of the Crusade,
almost repaid the loss of her great estates by the increased love and respect of his subjects. And when the
line of pure and honourable rulers was for a while inA.D. 1180. terrupted by the appearance, upon a throne so
long established in equity, of an armed warrior
in the person of Philip Augustus, it was felt that the
sword was at last in the hands of an avenger, who was
to execute the decrees of Heaven upon the enemies
whom the moderation, justice, and mercy of his predecessors had failed to move.
But before we come to the personal relations of the
French and English kings we must take a rapid view
of one of the great incidents by which this century is
marked,-an incident which for a long time attracted




A-BECKETT.                289
the notice of all Europe, and was productive of very important consequences within our own country. Hitherto
England had played the part of a satellite to the Court
of Rome. Previous to the quarrels with France, indeed,
one great tie between her and the Continental nations
was the community of their submission to the Pope.
Foreigners have at all times found wealth and kind
treatment here. Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, any
one who could make interest with the patrons of large
livings, held rank and honours in the English Church.
Little enough, it was felt, was all that could be done in
A.D. 1154 behalf of foreign ecclesiastics to repay them for
-1159. the condescension they showed in elevating
Nicholas Breakspear, an Anglo-Saxon of St. Alban's, to
the papal chair. But Nicholas, in taking another name,
lost his English heart. As Adrian the Fourth, he preferred Rome to England, and maintained his authority
with as high a hand as any of his predecessors. Knights
and nobles, and even the higher orders of the clergy,
were at length discontented with the continual exactions
of the Holy See; and in 1162 the same battle which had
agitated the world between Henry the Fourth of Germany and'Gregory the Seventh was fought out in a still
bitterer spirit between Henry the Second of England
and Thomas'a-Beckett. All the story-books of English
history have told us the romantic incidents of the birth
of the ambitious priest. It is possible the' obscurity of
his origin was concealed by his contemporaries under
the interesting legend, which must have been a very
early subject for the fancy of the poet and troubadour,
of a love between a Red-Cross pilgrim and a Saracen
emir's daughter. It shows a remarkable softening of
the ancient hatred to the infidels, that the votaress of
Mohanmmed should have been chosen as the mother of a
saint. But whatever doubt there may arise about the
13




290             TWELFTH CENTURY.
reality of the deserted maiden's journey in search of her
admirer, and her discovery of his abode by the mere
reiteration of his name, which is beautifully said to be
the only word of English she remembered, there is no
doubt of the early favour which the young Anglo-Saracen attained with the king, or of the desire the sagacious
Henry entertained to avail himself of the great talents
which made his favourite delightful as a companion and
indispensable as a chancellor, in the higher position still
of Archbishop of Canterbury and Comptroller of the
English Church. For high pretensions were put forward
by the clergy: they insisted upon the introduction of the
canon laws; they claimed exemption from trial by civil
process; they were to be placed beyond the reach of the
ordinary tribunals, and were to be under their own
separate rulers, and directly subject in life and property
to the decrees of Rome.
Henry knew but one man in his dominions able to
contend in talent and acuteness with the advocates of
the Church, and that was his chancellor and friend, the
gay and generous and affectionate A-Beckett. So one
day, without giving him much time for preparation, he
persuaded him to be made a priest, and at" the same
moment named him Archbishop of Canterbury and
Primate of all England. Now, he thought, we have a
champion who will do battle in our cause and stand unp
for the liberties of his native land. But'a-Beckett had
dressed himself in a hair shirt and flogged himself with
an iron scourge. He had invited the holiest of the
priests to favour him with their advice, and had thrown
himself on his knees on the approach of the most ascetic
of the monks and friars. All his fine establishments
were broken up; his horses were sent away; his silver
table-services sold; and the new archbishop fasted on
bread and water and lay on the hard floor. Henry was




FAILURE OF THE KING.             291
astonished and uneasy; and he had soon very good
cause for his uneasiness, for his favourite orator, his
boon-companion, his gallant chancellor, from whom he
had expected support and victory, turned against him
with the most ruthless animosity, and pushed the pretensions of Rome to a pitch they had never reached
before. Nobody, however he may blame the doubledealing or the ambition of a-Beckett, can deny him the
praise of personal courage in making opposition to the
king. The Norman blood was as hot in him as in any
of his predecessors. When he got into a passion, we
are told by a contemporary chronicler, his blue eyes
became filled with blood. In a fit of rage he bit a page's
shoulder. A favourite servant having contradicted him,
he rushed after the man on the stair, and, not being
able to catch him, gnawed the straw upon the boards.
We may therefore guess with what feelings the injured
Plantagenet received the behaviour of his newly-created
primate. He stormed and raged, terrified the other
prelates to join him in his measures for curbing the
power of the Church, chafed himself for several years
against the unconquerable firmness of the arrogant archbishop, and finally failed in every object he had aimed
at. The violence of the king was met with the affected
resignation of the sufferer; and at last, when the impatience of Henry gave encouragement to his followers
to put the refractory priest to death, the quarrel was
lifted out of the ordinary category of a dispute between
the crown and the crozier: it became a combat between
a wilful and irreligious tyrant and a martyred saint. It
requires us to enter into the feelings of the twelfth century to be able to understand the issue of this great conflict. In our own day the assumptions of a-Beckett, and
his claims of exemption from the ordinary laws, have
no sympathizers among the lovers of progress or




292             TWELFTH CENTURY.
freedom. But in the time of the second Henry the only
chance of either, in England, was found under the
shelter of the Church. That great establishment was
still the only protection against the lawless violence of
the king and nobles. The Norman possessors of the
land were still an army encamped on hostile soil and
levying contributions by the law of the strong hand.
Disunion had not yet arisen between the sovereign and
his lords, except as to the division of the spoil. The
Crusades had not depopulated England to the same extent as some of the other countries in- Europe; and the
wars of:the troubled days of Stephen and Matilda,
though fatal to the prosperity of the land, and destructive of many of the nobles on either side, had attracted
an immense number of high-born and strong-handed
adventurers, who amply supplied their place. The
clergy had been forced to retain their original position
as leaders of the popular mind, superintendents of the
interests of their flocks, and teachers and comforters of
the oppressed:' a-Beckett, therefore, was not in their
eyes an ambitious priest, sacrificing every thing for the
elevation of his order. He was a champion fighting the
battles of the poor against the rich,-a ransomer of at
least one powerful body in the State from the capricious
cruelty of Henry and the grasping avarice of the Norman spoliation. The down-trodden Saxons received
with the transports of gratified revenge any humiliation inflicted on the proud aristocracy which had thriven
on the ruin of their ancestors. The date of the Con.
quest was not yet so distant as to hinder the feeling of
personal wrong from mingling in the conflict between
the races. A man of sixty remembered the story told
him by his father of his dispossession of holt and field,
on which the old manor-house had stood since Alfred's
days, and which now had been converted- into a crene



SYMPATHY WITH X-BECKETT.            293
lated tower by the foreign conqueror. Nor are we to
forget, in the midst of the idea of antiquity conveyed
at the present time by the fact of a person's ancestor
having " come in with William," that the bitterness of
dispossession was increased in the eyes of the long-descended Saxon franklin by the lowness of his dispossessor's birth. Hlalf the roll-call of the Norman army was
made up of the humblest names,-barbers and smiths,
and tailors and valets, and handicraftsmen of all descriptions. And yet, seated in his fortified keep, supported
by the sixty thousand companions of his success, enriched by the fertile harvests of his new domain, this
upstart adventurer filled the wretched cottages of the
land with a distressed and starving peasantry; and
where were those friendless and helpless outcasts to
look for succour and consolation? They found them in
the Church. Their countrymen generally filled the
lower offices, speaking in good Saxon, and feeling as
good Saxons should; while the lordly abbot or luxurious
bishop kept high state in his monastery or palace, and
gave orders in Norman French with feelings as foreign
as his tongue.  But A-Beckett was an Englishman;
a-B.eckett was Archbishop of Canterbury, and chief of
all the churchmen in the land. To honour a-Beckett
was to protest against the Conquest; and when the
crowning glory came, and the crimes of  enry. against
themselves attained their full consummation in the murder of the prelate at the altar,-the patriot in his resistance to oppression,-the enthusiasm of the country knew
no bounds. The penitential pilgrimage which the proudest of the Plantagenets made to the tomb of his victim
was but small compensation for so enormous. wickedness, and for ages the name of a-Beckett was a household word at the hearths of the English peasantry, as
their great representative and deliverer,-only complet



294             TWELFTH CENTURY.
ing the care he t ok of their temporal interests while
on earth by the superintendence he bestowed on their
spiritual benefit now that he was a saint in heaven.
Curses fell upon the head and heart of the royal murderer, as if by a visible retribution. His children rebelled and died; the survivors were false and hostile.
Richard, who had the one sole virtue of animal courage,'
was incited by his mother to resist his father, and was
joined in his unnatural rebellion by his brother John,
who had no virtue at all. His mind, before he died, had
lost the energy which kept the sceptre steady; and the
century went down upon the glory of England, which
lay like a wreck upon the water, and was stripped
gradually, and one by one, of all the possessions which
had made it great, and even the traditions of military
power which had made it feared. John was on the
throne, and the nation in discontent.




THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
Empearov  of Gcrman,. irnpecrov  of (onitantinople.
A.D.                          A.D.
OTHO, (of Brunswick.)-  1203. ISAAC.
(cont.)               1204. ALEXIS IV.
1212. FREDERICK II.           1204. DUCAS, (Usurper,)  de1247. WILLIAM, (of Holland.)          throned by warriors
1257. RICHARD;, (of Cornwall.)        of Fourth Crusade.
1257. ALPHONSO, (of Castile.)         Latin Empire.
1273. RODOLP1r, (of Hapsburg.) 1204. BALDWYN, (Of Flanders.)
1291. ADOLPH, (of Nassau.)    1206. HENRY, (his brother.)
1298. ALBERT I., (of Austria.)  1216. PETER, (of Courtney.)
lttninn o1 f J0Ltane.    1219. ROBERT, (his son.)
PHILIP AUGUSTUS.-(Cont.) 1228. JOHN, (of Brienne.)
1223. Louis VIII.             1231. BALDWYN.
1226. Louis IX., (the Fat.)       Greek Empire of Niccece.
1270. PHILIP III., (the Hardy.) 1222. JOHN DUCAS.
1285. PHILIP IV., (the Hand- 1255. TaEODORUS II,
some.)                1261. JOHN LASCARIS —retakes
Constantinople.
irngi i1f,totlan,.    1261. MICHAEL.
WILLIAM. —(COnt.)       1282. ANDRONICUS II.
1214. ALEXANDER II.
1249. ALEXANDER III.       -      i.tng   of 0  Englanl.
1286. MARGARET.                     JOHN. —(cont.)
1291. JOHN BALIOL, deposed   1216. HENRY III.
1296.                 1276. EDWARD I.
1201. FOURTH CRUSADE.  -  1248. SEVENTH CRUSADE.
1217. FIFTH CRUSADE.       1270. EIGHTH AND LAST CRUSADE,
1228. SIXTH CRUSADE.              by St. Louis against Tunis.
Ifautbot0.
ROGER BACON, /MATTIIEW PARIS, ALEXANDER HALES, (Irrefragable Doctor,) THOMAs AQUINAS, (the Angelic Doctor.)








TIIE TIHiIRTEENTH CENTURY.
FIRST CRUSADE AGAINST HERETICS-THE ALBIGENSESMAGNA CHARTA-EDWARD I.
THE progress and enlightenment of Europe proceed
from this period at a constantly-increasing rate. The
rise of commercial cities, the weakening of the feudal
aristocracy, the introduction of the learning of the Saracenic schools, and the growth of universities for the
cultivation of science and language, contributed greatly
to the result. Another cause used to be assigned for
this satisfactory advance, in the discovery which had
been made in the last century at Amalfi, of a copy of
the long-forgotten Pandects of Justinian, and the reintroduction of the Roman laws, in displacement of the
conflicting customs and barbarous enactments of the
various states; but the fact of the continued existence
of the Roman Institutes is not now denied, though it is
probable that the discovery of the Amalfi manuscript
may have given a fresh impulse to the improvement of
the local codes. But an increase of mental activity had
at first its usual regretable accompaniment in the contemporaneous rise of dangerous and unfounded opinions.
Philosophy, which began with an admiration of the skill
and learning of Aristotle, ended by enthroning him as
the uncontrolled master of human reason. Wherever
he was studied, all previous standards of faith and argument were overthrown. The cleverest intellects of the,
time could find themselves no higher task than to re
concile the Christian Scriptures with the decrees of the
297




298           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
Stagyrite, for it was felt that in the case of an irreconcilable divergence between the teaching of Christ and
of Aristotle the scholars of Christendom would have
pronounced in favour of the Greek.  A formulary,
indeed, was found, out for the joint reception of both;
many statements were declared to be "true in philosophy though false in religion," so that the most orthodox
of Churchmen could receive the doctrines of the Church
by an act of belief, while he gave his whole affection to
Aristotle by an act of the understanding. When teachers
and preachers tamper with the human conscience, the
common feelings of honour and fair play revolt at the
degrading attempt. Men of simple minds, who did not
profess to understand Aristotle and could not be blinded
by the subtleties of logic, endeavoured to discover "the
more excellent way" for themselves, but were bewildered
by the novelty of their search for Truth. There were
mystic dreamers who saw God everywhere and in every
thing, and counted human nature itself a portion of the
Deity, or maintained that it was possible for man to
attain a share of the divine by the practice of virtue.
This Pantheism gave rise to numerous displays of popular ignorance and impressibility. Messiahs appeared in
many parts of Europe, and were followed by great multi.tudes. Some enthusiasts taught that a new dispensation was opening upon man; that God was the Governor of the world during the Old Testament period;
that Christ had reigned till now, but that the reign of
the Holy Spirit was about to commence, and all things
would be renewed. Others, more hardy, declared their
adhesion to the Persian principle of a duality of persons
in heaven, and revived the old Manichean heresy that
the spirit of HIatred was represented in the Jewish
Scriptures and the spirit of [Love in the Christian; that
the Good god had created the soul, and the Evil god




ALBIGENSES.                 299
the body,-on which were justified the sufferings they
volantarily inflicted on the workmanship of Satan, and
the starvings and flagellations required to bring it into
subjection. This belief found few followers, and would
have died out as rapidly as it had arisen; but the malig.
nity of the enemies of any change found it convenient
to identify those wild enthusiasts with a very different
class of persons who at this time rose into prominent
notice. The rich counties of the South of France were
always distinguished from the rest of the nation by the
possession of greater elegance and freedom. The old
Roman civilization had never entirely deserted the
shores of the Mediterranean or the valleys of Languedoe and Provence. In Languedoc a sect of strange
thinkers had given voice to some startling doctrines,
which at once obtained the general consent. Toulouse
was the chief encourager of these new beliefs, and in its
hostility to Rome was supported byits reigning sovereign,
Count Raymond VI. This potentate, from the position
of his States,-abutting upon Barcelona, where the
Spaniards, who remembered their recent emancipation
from  the M.ohammedan yoke, were famous for their
tolerance of religious dissent,-and deriving the greater
portion of his wealth from the trade and industry of the
Jews and Arabs established in his seaport towns, saw
no great evil in the principles professed by his people.
fhose principles, indeed, when stripped of the malicious
additions of his enemies, were not different from the
creed of Protestantism at the present time. They consisted merely of a complete denial of the sovereignty
of the Pope, the power of the priesthood, the efficacy
of prayers for the dead, and the existence of purgatory.
The other princes of the South looked on religion as a
mere instrument for the advancement of their own interests, and wrould have imitated the greater sovereigns




800           THIRTEENTH CEN TURY.
of Europe, several of whom for a very slender consideration would have gone openly over to the standard of
Mohammed. The inhabitants, therefore, of those opulent regions, by the favour of Raymond and the indifference of the rest, were left for a long time to their
own devices, and gave intimation of a strong desire to
break off their connection with the hierarchy of Rome.
And no wonder they were tired of their dependence on
so grasping and unprincipled a power as the Church had
proved to them. More depraved and more exacting in
this district than in any other part of Europe, the clergy
had contrived to alienate the hearts of the common
people without gaining the friendship of the nobility.
Equally hated by both,-despised for their sensuality,
and no longer feared for their spiritual power,-the
priests could offer no resistance to the progress of the
new opinions. Those opinions were in fact as much due
to the vices of the clergy as to the convictions of the
congregations. Any thing hostile to Rome was welcomed by the people. A musical and graceful language
had grown up in Languedoc, which was universally
recognised as the fittest vehicle for descriptions of
beauty and declarations of love, and had been found
equally adapted for the declamations of political hatred
and denunciations of injustice. But now the whole
guild of troubadours, ceasing to dedicate their muses to
ladies' charms or the quarrels of princes, poured forth
their indignation in innumerable songs on their clerical
oppressors. The infamies of the whole order-the monks
black and white, the deacons, the abbots, the bishops,
the ordinary priests —were now married to immortal
verse. Their spoiling of orphans, their swindling of
widows and wards, their gluttony and drunkenness,
were chronicled in every township, and were incapable
of denial. Their dishonesty became proverbial. The




DOMINIC.                   301
simplest peasant, on hearing of a scandalous action, was
in the habit of saying, "I would rather be a priest than
be guilty of such a deed."  But there were two men
then alive exactly adapted to meet the exigencies of the
time. One was a noble Castilian of the name of Dominie
Guzman, who had become disgusted with the world, and
had taken refuge from temptations and strife among the
brethren of a reformed cathedral in Spain. But temptations and strife forced their way into the cells of Asma,
and the eloquent friar was torn away from his prayers
and penances and brought prominently forward by the
backslidings:of the men of lIanguedoc. The saturnine
and self-sacrificing Spaniard had no sympathy with the
joyous proceedings of the princes and merchants of the
South. He saw sin in their enjoyment even of the gifts
of nature, —their gracious air and beautiful scenery.
How much more when the gayety of their meetings
was enlivened by interludes throwing ridicule on the
pretensions of the bishops, by hootings at iny ecclesiastic
who presented himself in the street, and by sneers and
loud laughter at the predictions and miracles with which
the Church resisted their attack!  The unbelieving
populace did not spare the personal dignity of the missionary himself. They pelted him with mud, and fixed
long tails of straw at the back of his robe; they outraged all the feelings of his heart, his Castilian pride,
his Christian belief, his clerical obedience. There is no
denying the energy with which he exerted himself to
recall those wandering sheep to the true fold. His
biographer tells us of the successes of his eloquence,
and of the irresistible effect of the inexhaustible fountain of tears with which he inundated his face till they
formed a river down to his robes. His writings, we are
assured, being found unanswerable by the heretics,
were submitted to the ordeal of fire. Twice they re



302.         THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
sisted the hottest flames which could be raised by wood
and brimstone, and still without converting the incredulous subjects of Count Raymond. His miracles, which
were numerous and undeniable, also had no effect.
Even his prayers, which seem to have moved houses
and walls, had no efficacy in moving the obdurate
hearts of the unbelievers; and at last, tired out with
their recalcitrancy, the dreadful word was spoken. lie
cursed the men of Languedoc, the inhabitants of its
towns, the knights and gentlemen who received his
oratory with insult, and in addition to his own anathemas
called in the spiritual thunder of the Pope.
This was the other man peculiarly fitted for the work he
had to do. His cruelty would have done no dishonour
to the blood-stained scutcheon of Nero, and his ambition
transcended that of Gregory the Seventh. His name was
A20. Innocent the Third. For one-half of the crimes
alleged against those heretics, who, from their
principal seat in the diocese of Albi, were known as Albigenses, he would have turned the whole of France into a
desert; and when, with greedy ear, be heard the denunciations of Dominic, he declared war on the devoted peasants, —war on the consenting princes; a holy war-more
meritorious than a Crusade against the Turks and infidels
-where no life was to be spared, and where houses and
lands were to be the reward of the assailants. All the wild
spirits of the age were wakened by the call. It was a pilgrimage where all expenses were paid, without the danger
of the voyage to the East or the sword of the Saracen.
Foremost among those who hurried to this mingled harvest of money and blood, of religious absolution and military fame, was the notorious Simon de IMontfort, a man
fitted for the commission of any wickedness requiring a
powerful arm and unrelenting heart. Forward from all
quarters of Europe rushed the exterminating emissaries




DE MONTFORT.                303
of the Pope and soldiers of Dominic. "You shall ravage
every field; you shall slay every human being: strike,
and spare not. The measure of their iniquity is full, and
the blessing of the Church is on your heads." These
words, sung in sweet chorus by the Pope and the Monk,
were the instructions on which De Montfort was prepared to act; and what, could the sunny Languedoc,
the land of song and dance, of olive-yard and vineyard,
do to repel this hostile inroad? Suddenly all the music
of the troubadours was hushed in dreadful expectation.
Raymond was alarmed, and tried to temporize. Promises were made and explanations given, but without
any offer of submission to the yoke of Rome: so the
AD. 1208. infuriated warriors came on, burning, slaying,
ravaging, in terms of their commission, till
Dominic himself grew ashamed of such blood-stained
missionaries; and when their slaughters went on, when
they had murdered half the population in cold blood,
and ridden down the peasantry whom despair had summoned to the defence of their houses and properties, the
saintly-minded Spaniard could no longer honour their
hideous butcheries with his presence. ile contented
himself with retiring to a church and praying for the
good cause with such zeal and animation that De Montfort and eleven hundred of his ruffians put to flight a
hundred thousand of the armed soldiers of the South,
who felt themselves overthrown and scattered by an invisible power. Yet not even the prayers of Dominic
could keep the outraged people in unresisting acquiescence. Simon de Montfort was expelled from the territories he had usurped, and found a mysterious death
under the walls of Toulouse in 1218.
The old family was restored in the person of Ray-.D. 1223. mond the Seventh, and preparations made for
defence. But Louis the Eighth of France came




30           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
to the aid of the infuriated Pope. Two hundred thousand men followed in the holy campaign. All the
atrocities of the former time were renewed and surpassed. Town after town yielded, for all the defenders
had died. Pestilence broke out in the invading force,
and Louis himself was carried off by fever. Champions,
however, were ready in all quarters to carry on the
glorious cause. Louis the Ninth was now King of
France, and under the government of his mother,
Blanche of Castile, the work commenced by her countryman was completed. The final victory of the crusaders
and punishment of the rebellious were celebrated by the
introduction of the Inquisition, of which the ferocious
Dominic was the presiding spirit. The fire of persecution under his holy stirrings burnt up what the sword
of the destroyer had left, and from that time the voice
of rejoicing was heard no more in Languedoc: her freedom of thought and elegance of sentiment were equally
crushed into silence by the heel of persecution. The
"gay science" perished utterly; the very language in
which the sonnets of knight and troubadour had been
composed died away from the literatures of the earth;
and Rome rejoiced:in the destruction of poetry and the
restoration of obedience. This is a very mark-worthy
incident in the thirteenth century, as it is the first ex.
periment, on a great scale, which th.e Church made to
retain her supremacy by force of arms. The pagan and
infidel, the denier of Christ and the enemies of his
teaching, had hitherto been the objects of the wrath of
Christendom. This is the first instance in which a dif.
ference of opinion between Christians themselves had
been the ground for wholesale extermination; for those
unfortunate Albigenses acknowledged the divinity of
the Saviour and professed to be his disciples. It is the
crowning proof of the totally-secularized nature of the es



PEACE OF LANGUEDOC.             305
tablished faith. Its weapons were no longer argument and
proof, or even persuasion and promise. The horse up to
his fetlocks in blood, the sword waved in the air, the trampling of marshalled thousands, were henceforth the supports of the religion of love and charity; and fires
glowing in every market-place and dungeons gaping in
every episcopal castle were henceforth the true expositors of the truth as it is in Jesus. Fires, indeed, and
dungeons, were required to compensate for the incompleteness, as it appeared to the truly orthodox, of the
vengeance inflicted on the rebels.  The Abbot of
Citeaux, who gave his spiritual and corporeal aid to the
assault on Beziers, was for a moment made uneasy by
the difficulty his men experienced in distinguishing between the heretics and believers at the storm of the
town. At last he got out of the difficulty by saying,
"Slay them all! The Lord will know his own."  The
same benevolent dignitary, when he wrote an account
of his achievement to the Pope, lamented that he had
only been able to cut: the throats of twenty thousand.
And Gregory the Ninth would have been better pleased
if it had been twice the number. "His vast revenge
had stomach for them all," and already a quarter of a
million of the population were the victims of his anger.
Every thing had prospered to his hand. Raymond was
despoiled of the greater portion of his estates, the voice
of opposition was hushed, the castles of the nobles confiscated to the Church; and yet, when the treaty of
ilMeaux, in 1229, by which the war was concluded, came
to be considered, it was perceived that the pacification
of Languedoc turned not so much to the profit of Rome
as of the rapidly-coalescing monarchy of France.
Long before this, in 1204, Philip Augustus had found
little difficulty in tearing the continental possessions of
the English crown, except Guienne, from the trembling




306           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
hands of John. The possession of Normandy had already
made France a maritime power; and now, by the acquisition of the Narbonnais and Maguelonne from Raymond
the Seventh, she not only extended her limits to the
Mediterranean, but, by the extinction of two such vassals as the Count'of Toulouse and the Duke of Normandy, incalculably strengthened the royal crown. Extinguished, indeed, was the power of Toulouse; for by
the same treaty the unfortunate Raymond bought his
peace with Rome by bestowing the county of Venaissin
and half of Avignon on the Holy See. These sacrifices
relieved, him from the sentence of excommunication,
and made him the best-loved son of the Church, and the
poorest prince in Christendom.
While monarchy was making such strides in France,
a counterbalancing power was formed in England by
the combination of the nobility and the rise of the
HIouse of Commons. The story of Magna Charta is so
well known that it will be sufficient to recall some of its
principal incidents, which could not with propriety be
omitted in an account of the important events of the
thirteenth century. No event, indeed, of equal importance occurred in any other country of Europe. However more startling a crusade or a victory might be at
the time, the results of no single incident have ever been
so enduring or so wide-spread as those of the meeting
of the barons at Runnymede and the summoning of the
burgesses to Parliament.
The whole reign of John (1199-1216) is a tale of
wickedness and degradation.  Richard of the LionHeart had been cruel and unprincipled; but the sharpness of his sword threw a sort of respectability over the
worst portions of his character. His practical talents,
also, and the romantic incidents of his life, his confinement, and even of his death, lifted him out of the ordi.




JOHN OF ENGLAND.              307
nary category of brutal and selfish kings and converted
a very ferocious warrior into a popular hero. But John
was hateful and contemptible in an equal degree. He
deserted his father, he deceived his brother, he murdered
his nephew, he oppressed his people. He had the pride
that made enemies, and wanted the courage to fight
them. A knight without truth, a king without justice,
a Christian without faith,-all classes rebelled against
him. Innocent the Third scented from afar the advantage he might obtain from a monarch whose nobility
despised him and who was hated by his people. And
when John got up a quarrel about the nomination of an
archbishop to Canterbury, the Pope soon saw that
though Langton was no a-Beckett, still less was John
a Henry the Second. A sentence of excommunication
was launched at the coward's head, and the crown of
England offered to Philip Augustus of France. Philip
Augustus had the modesty to refuse the splendid bribe,
and contented himself with aiding to weaken a throne
he did not feel inclined to fill. It is characteristic of
John, that in the agonies of his fear, and of his desire
to gain support against his people, he hesitated between
invoking the assistance of the Miramolin of Morocco
and the Pope of Rome. As good Mussulman with the
one as Christian with the other, he finally decided on
Innocent, and signed a solemn declaration of submission,
making public resignation of the crowns of England
and Ireland "to the Apostles Peter and Paul, to Innocent and his legitimate successors;" and, aided by the
blessings of these new masters, and by the enforced
neutrality of France, he was enabled to defeat his indignant nobles, and force them for two years to wear
the same chains of submission to Rome which weighed
upon himself. But in 1215 the patience of noble and
peasant, of bishop and priest, was utterly exhausted.




308            THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
John fled on the first outburst of the collected storm,.D. 1215. and thought himself fortunate in StOpping its
violence by signing the Great Charter, the
written ratification of the liberties which had been conferred by some, of his predecessors, but whose chief
authority was in the traditions and customs of the land.
This was not an overthrow of an old constitution and
the substitution of a new and different code, but merely
a formal recognition of the great and fundamental
principles on which only government can be carried
on, —security of person and property, and the just administration of equitable laws. All orders in the State
were comprehended in this national agreement. The
Church was delivered from the exactions of the king,
and left to an undisturbed intercourse on spiritual
matters with her spiritual head. She was to have perfect freedom of election to vacant benefices, and the
king's rapacity was guarded against by a clause reducing any fine he might impose on an ecclesiastic to an
accordance with his professional income, and not with
the extent of his lay possessions. The barons, of course,
took equal care of their own interests as they had
shown for those of the Church. They corrected many
abuses from which they suffered, in respect to their feudal obligations. They regulated the fines and quit-rents
on succession to their fiefs, the management of crown
wards, and the marriage of heiresses and widows. They
insisted also on the assemblage of. a council of the great
and lesser barons, to consult for the general weal, and
put some check on the disposal of their lands by their
tenants, in order to keep their vassals from impoverishment and their military organization unimpaired. But
when church and aristocracy were thus protected from
the tyranny of the king, were the interests of the great
mass of the people neglected? This has sometimes




MAGNA CIIARTA.                309
been arged against the legislators of Runnymede, but
very unjustly; for as much attention was paid to the
liberties and immunities of the municipal corporations
and of ordinary subjects as to those of the prelates and
lords. Every person had the right to dispose of his
property by will. No arbitrary tolls could be exacted
of merchants. All men might enter or leave the kingdom without restraint. The courts of law were no
longer to be stationary at Westminster, to which complainants from Northumberland or Cornwall never could
make their. way, but were to travel about, bringing justice to every man's door. They were to be open to
every one, and justice was to be neither "sold, refused,
nor delayed." Circuits were to be held every year. No
man was to be put on his trial from mere rumour, but
on the evidence of lawful witnesses. No sentence could
be passed on a freeman except by his peers in jury assembled.:No fine could be imposed so exorbitant as to
ruin the culprit. -But the bishops and clergy, the nobility
and their vassals, the corporations and freemen, were
not the main bodies of the State; and the framers of
Magna Charta have been blamed for neglecting the great
majority of the population, which consisted of serfs or
villeins. This accusation is, however, not true, even
with respect to the words of the Charter; for it is expressly provided that the carts and working-implements
of that class of the people shall not be seizable in satisfaction of a fine; and in its intention the accusation is
more untenable still; for although the reformers of 1215
had no design of granting new privileges to any hithertounprivileged order and their work was limited to the
legal re-establishment of privileges which John had attempted to overthrow, the large and liberal spirit of
their declarations is shown by the notice they take of
the hitherto-unconsidered classes. For the protection




.310          THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
accorded to their ploughs and carts, which are specifically named in the Charter, ratified at once their right
to hold property,-the first condition of personal freedom and independence,-and, by an analogy of reasoning, restrained their more immediate masters from
tyranny and injustice. It could not be long before a
man secured by the national voice in the possession of
one species of property extended his rights over every
thing else. If the law guaranteed him the plough he
held, the cart he drove, the spade he plied, why not the
house he occupied, the little field he cultivated? And
if the poorest freeman walked abroad in the pride of independence, because the baron could no longer insult
him, or the priest oppress him, or the king himself strip
him of land and gear, how could he deny the same
blessings to his neighbour, the rustic labourer, who was
already master of cart and plough and was probably
richer and better fed than himself?
But a firmer barrier against the encroachments of
kings and nobles than the written words of Magna
Charta was still required, and people were not long in
seeing how little to be trusted are legal forms when the
contracting parties are disposed to evade their obligations. John indeed attempted, in the very year that
saw his signature to the Charter, to expunge his name
from the obligatory deed by the plenary power of the
Pope. Innocent had no scruple in giving permission to
his English vassal to break the oath and swerve from
his engagement. But the English spirit was not so
broken as the king's, and the barons took the management of the country into their own hands. When the
experience of a few years of Henry the Third had
shown them that there was no improvement on the
personal character of his predecessor, they took effectual
measures for the protection of all classes of the people,




SAINT LOUIS.               311
Henry began his inglorious reign in 1216, and ended it
in 1272. In those fifty-six years great changes took
place, but all in an upward direction, out of the darkness and unimpressionable stolidity of previous ages.
The dawn of a more intellectual period seemed at hand,
and already the ghosts of ignorance and oppression
began to scent the morning air. In 1264 an example
was set by England which it would have been well if all
the other Western lands had followed, for by the institution of a true House of Commons it laid the foundation for the only possible liberal and improvable government,-the only government which can derive its
strength from the consent of the governed legitimately
expressed, and vary in its action and spirit with the
changes in the general mind. In cases of error or temporary delusion, there is always left the most admirable
machinery for retracing its steps and rectifying what is
wrong. In cases of universal approval and unanimous
exertion, there is no power, however skilfully wielded
by autocrats or despots, which can compare" with the
combined energy of a whole and undivided people.
The contemporary of this Henry on the throne of
A.D. 1226 France was the gentle and honest Lonis the
-1270. Ninth. If those epithets do not sound so high
as the usual phraseology applied to kings, we are to
consider how rare are the examples either of honesty or
gentleness among the rulers of that time, and how difficult it was to possess or exercise those virtues. But
this gentle and honest king, who was scarcely raised in
rank when the Church had canonized him as a saint,
achieved as great successes by the mere strength of his
character as other monarchs had done by fire and sword.
His love of justice enabled him to extend the royal
power over his contending vassals, who chose him as
umpire of their quarrels and continued to submit to him




312           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
as their chief. He heard the complaints of the lower
orders of his people in person, sitting, like the kings of
the East, under the shade of a tree, and delivering
judgment solely on the merits of the case. His undoubted zeal on behalf of his religion permitted him,
without the accusation of heresy, to put boundaries to
the aggressions of the Church. He resisted its more
violent claims, and gave liberty to ecclesiastics as well
as laymen, who were equally interested in the curtailment of the Papal power.. He granted a great number
of municipal charters, and published certain Establish-.
ments, as they were called, which were improvements
on the old customs of the realm and were in a great
measure founded on the Roman law. The spirit of the
time was popular progress; and both in France and
England great advances were made; deliberative national
assemblies took their rise,-in France, under the conscientious monarch, with the full aid and influence of
the royal authority, in England, under the feeble and
selfish Henry, by the necessity of gaining the aid of the
Commons against the Crown to the outraged and insulted nobility. In both nations these assemblies bore
for a long time very distinguishable marks of their
origin. The Parliaments of France, sprung from the
royal will, were little else than the recorders of the decrees
of the monarch; while the Parliaments of England, remembering. their popular origin, have always had a
feeling of independence, and a tendency to make rather
hard bargains with our kings. Even before this time
the Great Council had occasionally opposed the exactions
of the Crown; but when the falsehood and avarice of
Henry'III. had excited the popular odium, the barons
of 1263, in noble emulation of their predecessors of
1215, had risen in defence of the nation's liberties, and
the last hand was put to the building up of our present




PAPAL TRIUMPHS.                313
constitution, by the summoning, "to consult on public
affairs," of certain burgesses from the towns, in addition
to the prelates, knights, and freeholders who had hitherto
constituted the parliamentary body. But those barons
and tenants-in-chief attended in their own right, and
were altogether independent of the principle of election.D.1265. and representation. The summons issued by
Simon de Montfort (son of the truculent hero
of the Albigensian crusade, and brother-in-law of Henry)
invested with new privileges the already-enfranchised
boroughs. From this time the representatives of the
Commons are - always mentioned in the history of parliaments; and although this proceeding of De Montfort
was only intended to strengthen his hands against his
enemies, and, after his temporary object was gained,
was not designed to have any further effect on the constitutional progress oft our country, still, the principle
had been adopted, the example was set, and the right to
be represented in Parliament became one of the most
valued privileges of the enfranchised commons.
It is observable that this increase of civil freedom in
the various countries of Europe was almost in exact
proportion to the diminution of ecclesiastical power. It
is equally observable that the weakening of the priestly
influence rapidly followed the infamous excesses into
which its intolerance and pride had hurried the princes
and other supporters of its claims. Never, indeed, had
it appeared in so palmy and flourishing a state as in the
course of this century; and yet the downward journey
was begun. The devastation it carried into Languedoc,
and the depoptulation of all those sunny regions near the
IM/editerranean Sea -the crusades against the Saracens
in Asia, to which it sent the strength of Europe, and
against the Moors in Africa, to which it impelled the
most obedient, and also, when his religious passions
14




314            THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
were roused, the most relentless, of the Church's sons, no
other than St. Louis-and the submission of the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Alexandria to the Romish
See-these and other victories of the Church were succeeded, before the century closed, by a manifest though
silent insurrection against its spiritual domination.
There were many reasons for this. The inferior though
still dignified clergy in the different nations were alienated by the excessive exactions of their foreign head.
In France the submissive St. Louis was forced to become the guardian of the privileges and income of the
Gallican -Church. In England the number of Italian incumbents exceeded that of the English-born; and in a
few years the Pope managed to draw from the Church
and State an amount equal to fifteen millions of our
present coin. In Scotland, poorer and more proud, the
king united himself to his clergy and nobles, and would
not permit the IRomish exactors to enter his dominions.
The avarice and venality of Rome were repulsive equally
to priest and layman. The strong support, also, which
hitherto had arisen to the Holy See from the innumerable
monks and friars, could no longer be furnished by the
depressed and vitiated communities whom the coarsest
of the common people despised for their sensuality
and vice. In earlier times the worldly pretensions of
the secular clergy were put to shame by the poverty
and self-denial of the regular orders. Their ascetic retirement, and fastings, and scourgings, had recommended
them to the peasantry round their monasteries, by the
contrast their peaceful lives presented to the pomp and
self-indulgence of bishops and priests. But now;the
character of the two classes was greatly changed. The
parson of the parish, when he was not an Italian absentee, was an English clergyman, whose interests and
feelings were all in unison with those of his flock; the




WEAKENING OF THE PRIESTLY INFLUENCE.  315
monks were an army of mercenary marauders in the
service of a foreign prince, advocating his most unpopular demands and living in the ostentatious disregard of all their vows. Even the lowest class of all,
the thralls and villeins, were not so much as before in
favour of their tonsured brothers, who had escaped the
labours of the field by taking refuge in the abbey; for
Magna Charta had given the same protection against
oppression to themselves, and the enfranchisement of
the boroughs had put power into the hands of citizens
and freemen, who would not be so apt to abuse it as the
martial baron or mitred prelate had been. The same
principles were at work in France; and when the newlyestablished Franciscans and Dominicans were pointed to
as restoring the purity and abnegation of the monks of
old, the time for belief in those virtues being inherent,
or even possible, in a cloister, was past, and little effect
was produced in favour of Rome by the bloodthirsty
brotherhood of the ferocious St. Dominic or the more
amiable professions of the half-witted St. Francis of
Asisi. The tide, indeed, had so completely turned after
12A2.the commencement of the reign of Edward the
First, that the Churchmen, both in England and
France, preferred being taxed by their own Sovereign
to being subjected to the arbitrary exactions of the Pope.
Edward gave them no exemption from the obligation to
support the expenses of the State in common with all
the other holders of property, and pressed, indeed,
rather more heavily upon the prelates and rich clergy
than on the rest of the contributors, as if to drive to a
decision the question, to which of the potentates-the
Pope or the sovereign-tribute was lawfully due.
When this object was gained, a bull was let loose upon
the sacrilegious monarch by Boniface the Eighth, which
positively forbids any member of the priesthood to con



816           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
tribute to the national exchequer on any occasion or
emergency whatever. But the king made very light of
the papal authority when it stood between him and the
revenues of his crown, and the national clergy submitted to be taxed like other men. In France the same
discussion led to the same result. The Gallican and
English Churches asserted their liberties in a way which
must have been peculiarly gratifying to the kings,namely, by subsidies to the Crown, and disobedience to
the fulminations of the Pope.
But no surer proof of the increased wisdom of mankind can be given than the termination of the Crusades.
Perhaps, indeed, it was found that religious excitement
could be combined with warlike distinction by assaults
on the unbelieving or disobedient at home. There
seemed little use in traversing the sea and toiling
through the deserts of Syria, when the same heavenly
rewards were held out for a campaign against the inhabitants of Languedoc and the valleys of the Alps.
Clearer views also of the political effect of those distant
expeditions in strengthening the hands of the Pope,
who, as spiritual head of Christendom, was ex officio
commander of the crusading armies, must no doubt
have occurred to the various potentiates who found
themselves compelled to aid the very authority from
whose arrogance they suffered so much. The exhaustion of riches and decrease of population were equally
strong reasons for repose. But none of all these considerations had the least effect on the simple and credulous mind of Louis the Ninth. Resisting as he did the
interference of the Pope in his character of King of
France, no one could yield more devoted submission to
the commands of the Holy:Father when uttered to him
in his character of Christian knight. At an early age
he vowed himself to the sacred cause, and in the year




END OF THE CRUSADES.           317
1248 the seventh and last crusade to the loly Land
took its way from Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles, under
the guidance of the youthful King and the Princes of
France. Disastrous to a more pitiful degree than any
of its predecessors, this expedition began its course in
Egypt by the conquest of Damietta, and from thenceforth sank from misery to misery, till the army, surprised
by the inundations of the Nile, and hemmed in by the
triumphant Mussulmans, surrendered its arms, and the
nobility of France, with its king at its head, found itself
the prisoner of Almohadam. An insurrection in a short
time deprived their conqueror of life and crown, and a
treaty for the payment of a great ransom set the captives free. Ashamed, perhaps, to return to his own
country, sighing for the crown of martyrdom, zealous at
all events for the privileges of a pilgrim, Louis betook
himself to Palestine, and, as he was bound by the convention not to attack Jerusalem, he wasted four years
in uselessly rebuilding the fortifications of Ptolemais,
and Sidon, and Jaffa, and only embarked on his homeward voyage when the death of his mother and the discontent of his subjects necessitated his return. After an
absence of six years, the enfeebled and exhausted king
sat once more in the chair of judgment, and
gained all hearts by his generosity and truth.
Yet the old fire was not extinct. His oath was binding
still, and in 1270, girt with many a baron bold, and ac,
companied by his brother, Charles of Anjou, and the
gay Prince Edward of England, he fixed the red cross
upon his shoulder and led his army to the sea-shore.
The ships were all ready, but the destination of the war
was changed. A new power had established itself at
Tunis, more hostile to Christianity than the Moslem of
Egypt, and nearer at hand. In an evil hour the King
was persuaded to attack the Tunisian Caliph. He




318           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
landed at Carthage, and besieged the capital of the new
dominion. But Tunis witnessed the death of its besieger,
for Louis, worn out with fatigue and broken with disappointment, was stricken by a contagious malady, and
expired with the courage of a hero and the pious resignation of a Christian. With him the crusading spirit
vanished from every heart. All the Christian armies
were withdrawn. The Knights-Ilospitallers, the Templars, the Teutonic Order, passed over to Cyprus, and
left the hallowed spots of sacred story to be profaned
by the footsteps of the Infidel. Asia and Europe henceforth pursued their separate courses; and it was left to
the present day to startle the nations of both quarters
of the world with the spectacle of a war about the possession of the Holy Places.
The century which has the slaughter of the Albigenses, the Mlagna Charta, the rise of the Commons, the
termination of the Crusades, to distinguish it, will not
need other features to be pointed out in order to abide
in our memories. Yet the reign of Edward the First,
the greatest of our early kings, must be dwelt on a little
longer, as it would not be fair to omit the personal merits
of a man who united the virtues of a legislator to those
of a warrior. Whether it was the prompting of ambition, or a far-sighted policy, which led him to attempt
the conquest of Scotland, we need not stop to inquire.
It might have satisfied the longings both of policy and
ambition if he had succeeded in creating a compact and
irresistible Great Britain out of England harassed and
Scotland insecure. And if, contented with his undivided kingdom, he had devoted himself uninterruptedly
to the introduction and consolidation of excellent laws,
and had extended the ameliorations he introduced in
England to the northern portion of his dominions, he
would have earned a wider fame than the sword has




JOHN BALIOL.               319
given him, and would have been received with blessings
as the Justinian of the whole island, instead of establishing a rankling hatred in the bosoms of one of the
cognate peoples which it took many centuries to allay,
if, indeed, it is altogether obliterated at the present
time; for there are not wanting enthusiastic Scotchmen
who show considerable wrath when treating of his assumptions of superiority over their country and his interference with their national affairs.
Edward's sister had been the wife of Alexander the
Third of Scotland. Two sons of that marriage had
died, and the only other child, a daughter, had married
Eric the Norwegian. In Margaret, the daughter of
this king, the Scottish succession lay, and when her
grandfather died in 1290, the Scottish states sent a
squadron to bring the young queen home, and great
preparations were made for the reception of the "Maid
of Norway." But the Maid of Norway was weak in
health; the voyage was tempestuous and long; and
weary and exhausted she landed on one of the Orkney
Islands, and in a short time a rumour went round the
land that the hope of Scotland was dead. Edward was
among the first to learn the melancholy news. Eie determined to assert his rights, and began by trying to
extend the feudal homage which several of the Scottish
kings had rendered for lands held in England, over the
Scottish crown itself. When the various competitors
for the vacant throne submitted their pretensions to his
decision he made their acknowledgment of his supremacy an indispensable condition. Out of the three chief
candidates he fixed bn John Baliol, who, in addition to
the most legal title, had perhaps the equal recommendation of being the feeblest personal character. Robert
Bruce and Hastings, the other candidates, submitted to
their disappointment, and ZBaliol became the mere vice



320           THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
roy of the English king. He obeyed a summons to Westminster as a vassal of Edward, to answer for his conduct,
D 1293. and was treated with disdain. But the Scottish
barons had more spirit than their king. They
forced him to resist the pretensions of his overbearing
patron, and for the first time, in 1295, began the long
connection between Franch and Scotland by a treaty
concluded between the French monarch and the twelve
Guardians of Scotland, to whom B3aliol had delegated
his authority before retiring forever to more peaceful
scenes. From this time we find that, whenever war was
declared by France on England, Scotland was let loose
on it to distract its attention, in the same way as, whenever war was declared upon France, the hostility of
Flanders was roused against its neighbour. But the
benefits bestowed by England on her Low Country ally
were far greater than any advantage which France
could offer to Scotland. Facilities of trade and favourable tariffs bound the men of Ghent and Bruges to the
interests of Edward. But the friendship of France was
limited to a few bribes and the loan of a few soldiers.
Scotland, therefore, became impoverished by her alliance,
while Flanders grew fat on the liberality of her powerful friend. England itself derived no small benefit both
from the hostility of Scotland and the alliance of the
Flemings. When the Northern army was strong, and
the King was hard pressed by the great Wallace, the
sagacious Parliament exacted concessions and immunities from its imperious lord before it came liberally to
his aid; and whenever we read in one page of a check
to the arms of -Edward, we read ihf the next of an enlargement of the popular rights. When the first glow
of the apparent conquest of Scotland was past, and the
nation was seen rising under the Knight of [Elderslie
after it had been deserted by its natural leaders, the




KINGLY CONCESSIONS TO PARLIAMENT.    321
lords and barons,-and, later, when in 1297 he gained
a great victory over the  English at Stirling,-the
English Parliament lost no time in availing themselves
of the defeat, and sent over to the king, who was at the
moment in Flanders menacing the flanks of France, a
parchment for his signature, containing the most ample
ratification of their power of granting or withholding
the supplies. It was on the 10th of October, 1297, that
this important document was signed; and, satisfied with
this assurance of their privileges, the "nobles, knights
of the shire, and burgesses of England in parliament assembled" voted the necessary funds to enable their sovereign lord to punish his rebels in Scotland. Perhaps
these contests between the sister countries deepened the
patriotic feeling of each, and prepared them, at a later
day, to throw their separate and even hostile triumphs
into the united stock, so that, as Charles Knight says
in his admirable "Popular iHistory," "the:Englishman
who now reads of the deeds of Wallace and Bruce, or
hears the stirring words of one of the noblest lyrics of
any tongue, feels that the call to'lay the proud usurper
low' is one which stirs his blood as much as that of the
born Scotsman; for the small distinctions of locality
have vanished, and the great universal sympathies for
the brave and the oppressed stay not to ask whether
the battle for freedom was fought on the banks of the
Thames or of the Forth. The mightiest schemes of
despotism speedily perish. The union of nations is accomplished only by a slow but secure establishment of
mutual interests and equal rights."








FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
Emperotr   of OermanV.   Emperort   of the iEast.
A.D.                         A.D.
ALBERT. —(Co0nl.)            ANDRONICUS II.-(cont.)
1308. HENRY VII., (of Luxem- 1332. ANDRONICUS III.
burg.)                1341. JOHN PALEOLOGUS.
1314. Louis IV., (of         1347. JOHN CANTACUZENUS.
Bavaria.)      Rival  1355. JOHN  PALAIOLOGUS, (re1314. FREDERICKIII., Empe-          stored.)
(of Austria,)  rors.   1391. MANUEL PAL2EOLOGUS.
died 1330.
1347. CHARLES IV., (of Luxemburg.)                    Ringo of iEngIanb.
1378. WENCESLAS, (of Bohe-         EDWARD I.-(cont.)
meia.)                 1307. EDWARD II.
t{ing; of  trance.    1327. EDWARD III.
PHILIP IV.-(cont.)     1377. RICHARD II.
1314. Louis X., (Hutin.)     1399. HENRY IV.
1316. PHILIP V., (the Long.)
1322. CHARLES IV., (the Hand-    1tingo of.otfanb,
some.)
1328. PHILIP VI.
1350. JoUN II., (the Good.)   1329. DAVID II.
1364. CHARLES V., (the Wise.) 1371. ROBERT II.
1380. CHAERLES VI., (the Be-  1390. ROBERT III.
loved.)
1311. Suppression of the Knights Templars.
1343. Cannon first used.
1370. John Huss born.
1383. Bible first translated into a vulgar tongue, (Wickliff's.)
DANTE, PETRARCI, BOCCACCIO, CHAUCER, FROISSART, JOHN DUNS
SCOTUS, BRADWARDINE, WILLIAM OCCAM, WICKLIFF.








THIE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
ABOLITION OF THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLARS-RISE OF
MODERN LITERATURES-SCHISM OF TIIE CHURCH.
IN the year 1300 a jubilee was celebrated at Rome,
when remission of sins and other spiritual indulgences
were offered to all visitors by the liberal hand of -Pope
Boniface. the Eighth. And for the thirty days of the
solemn ceremonial, the crowds who poured in from all
parts of Europe, and pursued their way from church to
church and kissed with reverential lips the relics of the
saints and martyrs, gave an appearance of strength and
universality to the Roman Church which had long departed from it. Yet the downward course had been so
slow, and each defection or defeat had been so covered
from observation in a cloud of magnificent boasts, that
the real weakness of the Papacy was only known
to the wise and politic. Even in the splendours and
apparent triumph of the jubilee processions it was perceived by the eyes of hostile statesmen that the day of
faith was past.
Dante, the great poet of Italy, was there, piercing
with his Ithuriel spear the false forms under which the
spiritual tyranny concealed itself. Countless multitudes
deployed before him without blinding him for a moment
to the unreality of all he saw. Others were there, not
deriving their conclusions, like Dante, from the intuitive
insight into truth with which the highest imaginations
are gifted, but from the calmer premises of reason and
observation. Even while the pmans were loudest and
325




326           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
the triumph at its height, thoughts were entering into
many hearts which had never been harboured before,
but which in no long space bore their fruits, not only in
opposition to the actual proceedings of Rome, but in
undisguised contempt and ridicule of all its claims.
Boniface himself, however, was ignorant of all these
secret feelings. He was now past eighty years of age,
and burning with a wilder personal ambition and more
presumptuous ostentation than would have been pardonable at twenty. He appeared in the processions of the
jubilee, dressed in the robes of the Empire, with two
swords, and the globe of sovereignty carried before him.
A herald cried, at the same time, "Peter, behold thy
successor! Christ, behold thy vicar upon earth 1" But
the high looks of the proud were soon to be brofught
low. The King of France at that time was Philip the
Handsome, the most unprincipled and obstinate of men,
who stuck at no baseness or atrocity to gain his ends,who debased the Crown, pillaged the Church, oppressed
the people, tortured the Jews, and impoverished the nobility,-a self-willed, strong-handed, evil-hearted despot,
and glowing with an intense desire to humble and spoil
the Holy Father himself. If he could get the Pope to be
his tax-gatherer, and, instead of emptying the land of
all its wealth for the benefit of the Roman exchequer,
pour Roman, German, English, European contributions
into his private treasury, the object of his life would be
gained. His coffers would be overflowing, and his principal opponent disgraced. A wonderful and apparently
impossible scheme, but which nevertheless succeeded.
The combatants at first seemed very equally matched.
When Boniface made an extravagant demand, Philip
sent him a contemptuous reply. When Boniface turned
for alliances to the Emperor or to England, Philip threw
himself on the sympathy of his lords and the inhabit



BONIFACE.                 327
ants of the towns; for the parts formerly played by
Pope and King were now reversed. The Papacy, instead
of recurring to the people and strengthening itself by
contact with the masses who had looked to the Church
as their natural guard from the aggressions of their
lords, now had recourse to the more dangerous expedient
of exciting one sovereign against another, and weakened its power as much by concessions to its friends as
by the hostility of its foes. The king, on the other hand,
flung himself on the support of his subjects, including
both the Chur'h and Parliament, and thus raised a feeling of national independence which was more fatal to
Roman preponderance than the most active personal
enmity could have been. Accordingly, we find Boniface
offending the population of France by his intemperate
attacks on the worst of kings, and that worst of kings
attracting the admiration of his people by standing up
for the dignity of the Crown against the presumption
of the Pope. The fact of this national spirit is shown
by the very curious circumstance that while Philip and
his advisers, in their quarrels with B3oniface, kept within
the bounds of respectful language in the letters they
actually sent to Rome, other answers were disseminated
among the people as having been forwarded to the
Pope, outraging all the feelings of courtesy and respect.
It was like the conduct of the Chinese mandarins, who
publish vainglorious and triumphant bulletins among
their people, while they write in very different language
to the enemy at their gates. Thus, in reply to a very
insulting brief of Boniface, beginning, " Ausculta, fili,"
(Listen, son,) and containing a catalogue of all his complaints against the French king, Philip published a
version of it, omitting all the verbiage in which the
insolent meaning was involved, and accompanied it in
the same way with a copy of the unadorned eloquence




328           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
which constituted his reply. In this he descended to
very plain speaking. "Philip," he says, "by the grace
of God, King of the French, to Boniface, calling himself
Pope, little or no salutation. Be it known to your
Fatuity that we are subject in temporals to no man
alive; that the collation of churches and vacant prebends is inherent in our Crown; that their'fruits' belong to us; that all presentations made or to be made
by us are valid; that we will maintain our presentees in
possession of them with all our power; and that we
hold for fools and idiots whosoever believes otherwise."
This strange address received the support of the great
majority of the nation, and was meant as a translation
into the vulgar tongue of the real intentions of the irritated monarch, which were concealed in the letter really
despatched in a mist of polite circumlocutions. Boniface perceived the animus of his foe, but bore himself as
loftily as ever. When a meeting of the barons, held in
the LJouvre, had appealed to a General Council and had
passed a vote of condemnation against the Pope as
guilty of many crimes, not exclusive of heresy itself,
he answered, haughtily, that the summoning of a council
was a prerogative of the Pope, and that already the
King had incurred the danger of excommunication for
the steps he had taken against the Holy Chair. To
prevent the publication of the sentence, which might
have been made a powerful weapon against France in
the hands of Albert of Germany or Edward of England,
it was necessary to give notice of an appeal to a
General Council into the hands of the Pope in person.
He had retired to Anagni, his native town, where he
found himself more secure among his friends and relations than in the capital of his See. Colonna, a discontented Roman and sworn enemy of Boniface, and
Supino, a military adventurer, whom Philip bought




ARREST OF THE POPE.              329
over with a bribe of ten thousand florins, introduced
Nogaret, the French chancellor and chief adviser of the
king, into Anagni, with cries from their armed attendants of "Death to the Pope!"  "ILong live the King
of France!" The cardinals fled in dismay. The inhabitants, not being able to prevent their visitors from pilt
laging the shops, joined them in that occupation, and
every thing was in confusion. The Pope was in despair.
His own nephew had abandoned his cause and made
terms for himself. -Accounts vary as to his behaviour
in these extremities. Perhaps they are all true at different periods of the scene. At first, overwhelmed with
the treachery of his friends, he is said to have burst
into tears. Then he gathered his ancient courage, and,
when commanded to abdicate, offered his neck to the
assailants; and at last, to strike them with awe, or at
least to die with dignity, he bore on his shoulders the
mantle of St. Peter, placed the crown of Constantine on
his head, and grasped the keys and cross in his hands.
Colonna, they say, struck him on the cheek with his
iron gauntlet till the blood came. Ilet us hope that this
is an invention of the enemy; for the Pope was eightysix years old, and Colonna was a Roman soldier. There
is always a tendency to elevate the sufferer in the cause
we favour, by the introduction of ennobling circumstances. In this and other instances of the same kind
there is the further temptation in orthodox historians to
make the most they can of the martyrdom of one of
their chiefs, and in a peculiar manner to glorify the
wrongs of their hero by their resemblance to the sufferings of Christ. But the rest of the story is melancholy enough without the aggravation of personal pain.
The pontiff abstained from food for three whole days.
He consumed his grief in secret, and was only relieved
alt last from fears of the dagger or poison by an insur



330           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
rection of the people. They fell upon the French escort
when they perceived how weak it was, and carried the
Pope into the market-place. Hle said, "Good people,
you have seen how our enemies have spoiled me of my
goods. Behold meas poor as Job. I tell you truly, I have
nothing to eat or drink. If there is any good woman
who will charitably bestow on me a little bread and
wine, or even a little water, I will give her God's blessing and mine. Whoever will bring me the smallest
thing in this my necessity, I will give him remission of
all his sins." All the people cried, "Long live the Hloly
Father I" They ran and brought him bread and wine,
and any thing they had. Everybody would enter and
speak to him, just as to any other of the poor. In a
short time after this he proceeded to Rome, and felt
once more in safety. But his heart was tortured by
anger and a thirst for vengeance. Hle became insane;
and when he tried to escape from. the restraints his state
demanded, and found his way barred by the Orsini, his
insanity became madness. He foamed at the mouth and
ground his teeth when he was spoken to. He repelled
the offers of his friends with curses and violence, and
died without the sacraments or consolations of the.D. 1303. Church. The people remembered the prophecy
made of him by his predecessor Celestin:- "You
mounted like a fox; you will reign like a lion; you will
die like a dog."
But the degradation of the papal chair was not yet
complete, and Philip was far from satisfied. Merely to
have harassed to death an old man of eighty-six was not
sufficient for a monarch who wanted a servant in the
Pope more than a victim. To try his power over Benedict the Eleventh, the successor of Boniface, he began a
process in the Roman court against the memory of his
late antagonist. Benedict replied by an anathema in




PHILIP'S BARGAIN.            331
general terms on the murderers of Boniface, and all
Philip's crimes and schemings seemed of no avail. But
one day the sister of a religious order presented His
Holiness with a basket of figs, and in a short time the
pontifical throne was vacant.
Now was the time for the triumph of the king. He
had devoted much time and money to win over a number of cardinals to his cause, and obtained a promise
under their hands and seals that they would vote for
whatever candidate he chose to name. He was not long
in fixing on a certain Bernard de Goth, Archbishop of
Bordeaux, the "most greedy and unprincipled of the prelates of France, and appointed a meeting with him to
settle the terms of a bargain. They met in a forest
they heard mass together, and took mutual oaths of secrecy, and then the business began. "See, archbishop,"
said the king: "I have it in my power to make you
Pope if I choose; and if you promise me six favours
which I will ask of you, I will assure you that dignity,
and give you evidence of the truth of what I say." So
saying, he showed the letters and delegation of both the
electoral colleges. The archbishop, filled with covetousness, and seeing at once how entirely the popedom depended on the king, threw himself trembling with joy
at Philip's feet. " My lord," he said, " I now perceive
you love me more than any man alive, and that you
render me good for evil. It is for you to command,for me to obey; and I shall always be ready to do so."
The king lifted him up, kissed him on the mouth, and
said to him, "The six special favours I have to ask of
you are these. First, that you will reconcile me entirely
with the Church, and get me pardoned for my misdeed
in arresting Pope Boniface. Second, that you will give
the communion to me and all my supporters. Thi:rd,
that you will give me tithes of the clergy of my realm




332           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
for five years, to supply the expenses of the war in
Flanders. Fourth, that you will destroy and annul the
memory of Boniface the Eighth. Fifth, that you will
give the dignity of Cardinal to Messer Jacopo, and
MIesser Piero de la Colonna, along with certain others
of my friends. As for the sixth favour and promise, I
reserve it for the proper time and place, for it is a great
and secret thing." The archbishop promised all by oath
on the Corpus Domini, and gave his brother and two
nephews as hostages. The king, on the other hand,
made oath to have him elected Pope.
His Holiness Clement the Fifth was therefore the
AD. 1305. thrall and servant of Philip le Bel. No office
was too lowly, or sacrifice too large, for the
grateful pontiff. He carried his subserviency so far as
to cross the Alps and receive the wages of his obedience,
the papal tiara, at Lyons. lHe became in fact a citizen
of France, and subject of the crown. He delivered over
the clergy to the relentless hands of the king. He gave
him tithes of all their livings; and as the Count of
lFlanders owed money to Philip which he had no
means of paying, the generosity of the Pope came to
the rescue, and he gave the tithes of the Flemish clergy
to the bankrupt count in order to enable him to pay his
debt to the exacting monarch. But the gift of these
taxes was not a transfer from the Pope to the king or
count: H[is Holiness did not reduce his own demands in
consideration of the subsidies given to those powers.
He completed, indeed, the ruin the royal tax-gatherers
began; for he travelled in more than imperial state from
end to end of France, and ate bishop and abbot, and
prior and prebendary, out of house and home. Wherever he rested for a night or two, the land became impoverished; and all this wealth was poured into the lap
of a certain Brunissende de Perigord, who cost the




EXTINCTION OF KNIGHTIIOOD.         333
Church, it was popularly said, more than the Holy
Land. But the capacity of Christian contribution was
soon exhausted; and yet the interminable avarice of
Pope and King went on. The honourable pair hit upon
an excellent expedient, and the Jews were offered as a
fresh pasture for the unimpaired appetite of the Father
of Christendom  and the eldest son of the Church.
Philip hated their religion, but seems to have had a
great respect for the accuracy of their proceedings in
trade. So, to gratify the first, he stripped them of all
they had, and, to prove the second, confiscated the money
he found entered in their books as lent on interest to
Christians. He was found to be a far more difficult
creditor to deal with than the original lenders had been,
and many a baron and needy knight had to refund to
Philip the sums, with interest at twenty per cent.,
which they might have held indefinitely from the sons
of Abraham and repudiated in an access of religious
fervour at last.
But worse calamities were hanging over the heads of
knights and barons than the avarice of Philip and the
dishonesty of Clement. Knighthood itself, and feudalism, were about to die, —knighthood, which had offered
at all events an ideal of nobleness and virtue, and feudalism, which had replaced the expiring civilization of
Rome founded on the centralization of power in one
man's hands, and the degradation of all the rest, with a
new form of society which derived its vitality from independent action and individual self-respect.! It was by
a still wider expansion of power and influence that feudalism was to be superseded. Other elements besides
the possession of land were to come into the constitution of the new state of human affairs. The man hence.
forth was not to be the here representative of so many:
acres of ground. HIi'- individuality was to beo still




334           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
further defined, and learning, wealth, knowledge, arts,
and sciences were from this time forth to have as much
weight in the commonwealth as the hoisted pennon and
strong-armed followers of the steel-clad warrior.
"The old order changeth, giving place to new,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
We have already seen the prosperity of the towns,
and have even heard the contemptuous laughter with
which the high-fed burghers of Ghent or Bruges received
the caracollings of their ponderous suzerain as, armed
cap-d-pied, he rode up to their impregnable walls. Not
less barricaded than the contemptuous city behind the
steel fortifications with which he protected his person,
the knight had nothing to fear so long as he bestrode
his war-horse and managed to get breath enough
through the openings of his cross-barred visor. lHe
was as safe in his iron coating as a turtle in its shell;
but he was nearly as unwieldy as he was safe. When,
galloping forward against a line of infantry, nothing
could resist his weight. With heavy mace or sweeping
sword he cleared his ground on either side, and the unarmoured adversary had no means of repelling his
assault. A hundred knights, therefore, we may readily
believe, very often have put their thousands or tens
of thousands to flight. We read, indeed, of immense
slaughters of the common people, accompanied with the
loss of one single knight; and this must be attributed to
the perfection which the armourer's art had attained, by
which no opening for arrow or spear-point was left in
the whole suit. But military instruments had for some
time been invented, which, by projecting large stones
with enormous force, flattened the solid cuirass or
crushed the glittering helm. Once get the stunned or
wounded warrior on the ground, there was no further
danger to be apprehended. Hie lay in his iron prison




COURTRAI.                 335
unable to get up, unable to breathe, and with the additional misfortune of being so admirably protected that
his enemies had difficulty in putting him out of his pain.
This, however, was counterbalanced by the ample time
he possessed, during their futile efforts to reach a vital
part, to bargain for his- life; and this was another
element in the safety of knightly war.. A ransom
could at all times preserve his throat, whereas the disabled foot-soldier was pierced with relentless point or
trodden down by the infuriated horse. The knight's
position, therefore, was more like that of a fighter
behind walls, only that he carried his wall with him
wherever he went, and even when a breach was made
could stop up the gap with a sum of money. Nobody
had ever believed it possible for footmen to stand up
against a charge of cavalry. No manceuvres were
learned like the hollow squares of modern times, which,
at Waterloo and elsewhere, have stood unmoved against
the best swordsmen of the world. But once, at the
beginning of this century, in 1302, a dreadful event
happened, which gave a different view of the capabilities of determined infantry in making head against
their assailants, and commenced the lesson of the resistibility of mounted warriors which was completed
by Bannockburn in Scotland, and Crecy and Poictiers.
The dreadful event was the entire overthrow of the
knights and gentlemen of France by the citizens of a
Flemish manufacturing town at the battle of Courtrai.
Impetuous valour, and — contempt for smiths and weavers,
blinded the fiery nobles. Thev rushed forward with
loose bridles, and, as they had disdained to reconnoitre
the scene of the display, they fell headlong, one after
another, horse and plume, sword and spur, into one
enormous ditch which lay between them and their
enemies.  On they came, an avalanche of steel and




3886          FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
horseflesh, and floundered into the muddy hole. Hiundreds, thousands, unable to check their steeds, or afraid
to appear irresolute, or goggling in vain through the
deep holes left for their eyes, fell, struggled, writhed,
and choked, till the ditch was filled with trampled
knights and tumbling horses, and the burghers on the
opposite bank beat in the helmets of those who tried to
climb up, with jagged clubs, and hacked their naked
heads. And when the whole army was annihilated, and
the spoils were gathered, it was found there were princes
and lords in almost incredible numbers, and four thousand golden spurs to mark the extent of the knightly
slaughter and give name to the engagement. It is
called the Battle of the Spurs,-for a nobler cause than
another engagement of the same name, which we shall
meet with in a future century, and which derived its
appellation from the fact that spurs were more in requisition than swords,
Philip was at this moment in the middle of his quarrel
with Boniface. He determined to compensate himself
for the loss he had sustained in military fame at Courtrai by fiercer exactions on his clergy and bitterer
enmity to the Pope. We have seen how he pursued
the wretched Boniface to the grave, and persisted in
trying to force the obsequious Clement to blacken his
memory after he was dead. Clement was unwilling'to
expose the vices and crimes of his predecessor, and yet
he had given a promise in that strange meeting in the
forest to work his master's will; he was also resident in
France, and knew how unscrupulous his protector was.
Philip availed himself of the discredit brought on
knighthood by the loss of all those golden spurs, and
compounded for leaving the deceased pontiff alone, by
exacting the consent of Clement to his assault on the
order of the Templars, the wealthiest institution in the




THE TEMPLARS.                337
world, who held thousands of the best manors in France,
and whose spoils would make him the richest king in
Christendom. Yet the Templars were no contemptible
foes. In number they were but fourteen thousand, but
their castles were over, all the land; they were every
one of them of noble blood, and strong in the relationship of all the great houses in Europe. If they had
united with their brethren, the Knights IHospitallers, no
sovereign could have resisted their demands; but, fortunately for Philip, they were rivals to the death, and
gave no assistance to each other when oppressed. Both,
in fact, had outlived the causes of their institution, and
had forfeited the respect of the masses of the people by
their ostentatious abnegation of all the rules by which
they professed to be bound. Poverty, chastity, and
brotherly kindness were the sworn duties of the most
rich, sensual, and unpitying society which ever lived.
When lRichard of England vwas dying, -he made an
imaginary will, and said, "I leave my avarice to the
Citeaux, my luxury to the Grey Friars, and my pride to
the Templars."  And the Templars took possession of
the bequest. When driven from the Holy Land, they
settled in all the Christian kingdoms from Denmark to
the south of Italy, and everywhere presented the same
spectacle of selfishness and debauchery.. In Paris they
hAd got possession of a tract of ground equal to onethird of the whole city, and had covered it with towers
and battlements, and within the unapproachable fortress
lived a life of the most luxurious self-indulgence. Strange
rumours got abroad of the unholy rites with which their
initiations were accompanied. Their receptions into the
order were so mysterious and sacred that an interloper
(if it had been the King of France) would have been put
to death for his intrusion. Frightful stories were told
of their blasphemies and hideous cerenmonials. Reports
15




338           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
came even fiom over the sea, that while in Jerusalem
they had conformed to the Mohammedan faith and had
exchanged visits and friendly offices with the chiefs of
the unbelievers. Against so dark and haughty an association it was easy to stir up the popular dislike. Nobody could take their part, they lived so entirely to
themselves and shunned sympathy and society with so
cold a disdain. They were men of religious vows without the humility of that condition, so they were hated
by the nobles, who looked' on priests as their natural inferiors; they were nobles without the individual riches
of the barons and counts, and they were hated by the
priests, who were at all times the foes of the aristocracy.
Hated, therefore, by priest and noble, their policy would
have been to make friends of the lower orders, rising
citizens, and the great masses of the people. But they
saw no necessity for altering their lofty course. They
bore right onward in their haughty disregard of all the
rest of the world, and were condemned by the universal
feeling before any definite accusation was raised against
them.
Clement yielded a faint consent to the proceedings of
Philip, and that honourable champion of the faith gave
full loose to his covetousness and hatred. First of all he
prayed meekly for admission as a brother of the order.
He would wear the red cross upon his shoulder and
obey their godly laws. If he had obtained his object,
he would have procured the grand-mastership for himself and disposed of their wealth at his own discretion.
The order might have survived, but their possessions
would have been Philip's. They perhaps perceived his
aim, and declined to admit him into their ranks. A rejected candidate soon changes his opinion of the former
object of his ambition. Hle now reversed his plan, and
declared they were unworthy, not only to wallow in the




ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE TEMPLARS.    339
wealth and splendour of their commanderies, but to live
in a Christian land. He said they were guilty of all the
crimes and enormities by which human nature was ever
disgraced. James de Miolay, the grand-master, and all
the knights of the order throughout France, were seized
and thrown into prison. Letters were written to all
other kings and princes, inciting them to similar conduct, and denouncing the doomed fraternity in the
harshest terms. The promise of the spoil was tempting
to the European sovereigns, but all of them resisted the
inducement, or at least took gentler methods of attaining
the same end. But Philip was as much pleased with
the pursuit as with the catching of the game. He summoned a council of the realm, and obtained at the same
time a commission of inquiry from  the Pope. With
these two courts to back him, it was impossible to fail.
Thle knights were kept in noisome dungeons. They
were scantily fed, and tormented with alternate pronmises and threats. When physically weak and mentally
depressed, they were tortured in their secret cells, and
under the pressure of fear and desperation confessed to
whatever was laid to their charge. Relieved from their
torments for a moment, they retracted their confessions;
but the written words remained. And in one day, before
AD. 1312. the public had been prepared for such extremity
of wrong, fifty-four of these Christian soldiersnow old, and fallen from their high estate-were publicly burned in the place of execution, and no further
limit was placed to the rapacity of the king. Still the
odious process crept on with the appearance of law, for
already the forms of perverted justice were found safer
and more certain than either sword or fagot; and at
last, in 1314, the ruined brotherhood were allowed to
join themselves to other fraternities. The name of
Templar was blotted out from the knightly roll-call of




340           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
all Europe; and in every nation, in England and Scotland particularly, the order was despoiled of all its possessions. Clement, however, was furious at seeing the
moderation of rulers like Edward II., who merely
stripped the Templars of their houses and lands, and
did not dabble, as his patron Philip had done, in their
blood, and rebuked them in angry missives for their
coldness in the cause of religion.
Now, early in this century, a Pope had been personally ill used, and his successor had become the pensioner and prisoner of one of the basest of kings; a
glorious brotherhood of Christian knights had been
shamelessly and bloodily destroyed. Was there no outcry from outraged piety?-no burst of indignation against
the perpetrator of so foul a wrong?  Pity was at last
excited by the sufferings and humiliations of the brothers
of the Temple; but pity is not a feeling on which knighthood can depend for vitality or strength. Perhaps,
indeed, the sympathy raised for the sad ending of that'
once-dreaded institution was more fatal to its revival,
and more injurious to the credit of all surviving chivalry,
than the greatest amount of odium would have been.
Speculative discussions were held about the guilt or innocence of the Templars, but the worst of their crimes,
was the crime of being weak. If-they had continued
united and strong, nobody would have heard of the excesses laid to their charge. Passing over the impossible
accusations brought against them by ignorance and
hatred, the offence they were charged with which
raised the greatest indignation, and was least capable
of disproof, was that in their reception into the order
they spat upon the crucifix and trampled on the sign
of our salvation. Nothing can be plainer than that this,
at the first formation of the order, had been a symbol,
which in the course of years had lost its significance.




CHANGES IN SOCIETY.             341
At first introduced as an emblem of Peter's denial and
of worldly disbelief, to be exchanged, when once they
were clothed with the Crusader's mantle, for unflinching
service and undoubting Faith,-a passage from death
unto life,-it had been retained long after its intention
had been forgotten; and nothing is so striking as the
confession of some of the younger knights, of the reluctance, the shame and trembling, with which, at the
request of their superiorj they had gone through the repulsive ceremony. This is one of the dangers of a symbolic service. The symbol supersedes the fact. The
imitation of Peter becomes a falling away from Christ.
But a century:before this time, who can doubt that all
Christendom would have rushed to the rescue of the
Pope if he had been seized in his own city and maltreated as Boniface had been, and that every gentleman
in Europe would have drawn sword in behalf of the
noble Templars?
But papacy, feudalism, and knighthood, as they had
risen and flourished together, were enveloped in the
same fall. The society of the IDark Ages had been perfect in its symmetry and compactness. Kings were but
feudal leaders and chiefs in their own domains. Knighthood was but the countenance which feudalism turned
to its enemies, while hospitality, protection, and alliance
were its offerings to its friends. Over all, representative
of the heavenly power which cared for the helpless multitudes, the serfs and villeins, those who had no other
friend,-the Church extended its sheltering arms to the
lowest of the low. Feudalism could take care of itself;
knighthood made itself feared; but the multitudes could
only listen and be obedient. All, therefore, who had no
sword, and no broad acres, were natural subjects of the
Pope. But with the rise of the masses the relations
between them and the Church became changed. It was




342;    FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
found that during the last two hundred years, since the
awakening of mercantile enterprise by the Crusades
and the commingling of the population in those wild and
yet elevating expeditions, by the progress of the arts,
by the privileges wrung from king and noble by flourishing towns or purchased from them with sterling coin,
by the deterioration in the morals of priest and baron,
and the rise in personal importance of burghers, who
could fight like those of Courtrai or raise armies like
those of Pisa and Genoa, —that the state of society had
gradually been changed; that the commons were well
able to'-defend their own interest; that the feudal proprietor had lost his relative rank; that the knight was no
longer irresistible as a warrior; and that the Pope had
become one of the most worldly and least scrupulous of
rulers. Far from being the friend of the unprotected,
the Church was the subject of all the ballads of every
nation, wherein its exactions and debaucheries were
sung at village fairs and conned over in chimneycorners. Cannon were first used in this century at the
siege of Algesiras in 1343; and with the first discharge
knighthood fell forever from the saddle. The Bible was
first translated into a national tongtue,* and Popery fell
forever from its unopposed dominion. How, indeed,
even without this incident, could the Papacy have retained its power? From 1305 till 1376 the wearers of
the tiara were the mere puppets of the Kings of France.
They lived in a nominal freedom at Avignon, but the
college of electors was in the pay of the French
sovereign, and the Pope was the creature of his hands.
This was fatal to the notion of his independence. But
a heavier blow was struck at the unity of the papal
power when a double election, in 1378, established two
~Wickliff's English Bible, 1383.




DECLINE OF THE PAPACY.           343
supreme chiefs, one exacting the obedience of the faithful from his palace on the banks of the Rhone, and the
other advancing the same claim from the banks of the
Tiber. From this time the choice of the chief pontiff
became a political struggle between the principal kings.
There were French and German, and even English,
parties in the conclave, and bribes were as freely administered as at a contested election or on a dubious
question in the time of Sir Robert Walpole. Family
interest also, from this time, had more effect on the
policy of the Popes than the ambition to extend their
spiritual authority. They sacrificed some portion of
their claims to insure the elevation of their relations.
Alliances were made, not for the benefit of the IRoman
chair, but fior some kinsman's establishment in a principality. Dukedoms became appanages of the papal
name, and every new Pope left the mark of his beneficence in the riches and influence of the favourite
nephew whom he had invested with sovereign rank.
Italy became filled with new dynasties created by these
means, and the politics of the papal court became complicated by this diversity of motive and influence. Yet
feudalism - struggled on in spite of cannon and the rise
of the middle orders; and Popery struggled on in spite
of the spread of information and the diffusion of wealth
and freedom. For some time, indeed, the decline of
both those institutions was hidden by a factitious brilliancy reflected on them by other causes. The increase
of refinement gave rise to feelings of romance, which
were unknown in the days of darkness and suffering
through which Europe had passed. A reverence for
antiquity softened the harsher features by which they
had been actually distinguished, and knighthood became
subtilized into chivalry. As the hard and uninviting
reality, retreated into the past, the imagination clothed




344           FOURTEENTII CENTURY.
it in enchanting hues; and at the very time when the
bowmen and yeomanry of England had shown at Crecy
how unfounded were the "boast of heraldry, the pomp
of power," Edward III. had instituted the Order of the
A.D. 1350. Garter, a transmutation as it were of the rude
shocks of knighthood into carpet pacings in the
gilded halls of a palace; as in a former age the returned
Crusaders had supplied the want of the pride and circumstance of the real charge against the Saracen by introducing the bloodless imitation of it afforded by the
tournament. In the game way the personal disqualification of the Pope was supplied by an elevation of the
ideal of his place and office. Religion became poetry
and sentiment; and though henceforth the reigning pontiff was treated with the harshness and sometimes the
contempt his personal character deserved, his. throne
was still acknowledged as the loftiest-of earthly thrones.
The plaything of the present was nevertheless an idol
and representative of the past; and kings who drove
him from his home, or locked him up in their prisons,
pretended to tremble at his anger, and received his
letters on their knees.
It must have been evident to any far-seeing observer
that some great change was in progress during the
whole of this century, not so much from the results of
Courtrai, or Crecy, or Poictiers, or the migration of the
Pope to Avignon, or the increasing riches of the trading
and manufacturing towns, as from the great uprising of
the human mind which was shown by the almost simultaneous appearance of such stars of literature as Dante,
and Petrarch, and ]3occaccio, and our English Chaucer.
I suppose no single century since has been in possession
of four such men. Great geniuses, indeed, and great
discoveries, seem to come in crops, as if a certain period
had been fixed for their bursting into flower; and we




LITERARY DEVELOPMENT.             345
find the same grand ideas engaging the intellects of men
widely dispersed, so that a novelty in art or science is
generally disputed between contending nations. But
this synchronous development of power is symptomatic
of some wide-spread tendency, which alters the ordinary
course of affairs; and we see in the Canterbury Tales
the dawning of the Reformation; in Shakspeare and
Bacon the inauguration of a new order of government
and manners; in Lockle and Milton a still further liberation from the chains of a worn-out philosophy; in Watt,
and Fulton, and Cartwright, we see the spread of civilization and power. In Walter Scott and Wordsworth,
and the wonderful galaxy of literary stars who illuminated the beginning of this century, we see Waterloo
and Peace, a widening of national sympathies, and the
opening of a great future career to all the nations of the
world. For nothing is so true an index of the state and
prospects of a people as the healthfulness and honest
taste of its literature. It was in this sense that Fletcher of Saltoun said, (or quoted,) "Give me the making
of the ballads of a people, and I don't care who makes
the laws."  While we have such pure and wholesome
literature as is furnished us by Hallam, and MIlacaulay,
and Alison, by Tennyson, Diclkens, Thackeray, and the
rest, philosophy like Hamilton's, and science like Herschel's and Faraday's, we have no cause to look forward
with doubt or apprehension.
"Naught shall make us rue
If England to herself do rest but true."
But those pioneers of the Fourteenth Century had
dangers and difficulties to encounter from which their
successors have been free. It is a very different thing
for authors to write for the applause of an appreciating
public, and for them to create an appreciating public for
themselves. Their audience must at first have been




346           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
hostile. First, the critical and scholarly part of the
world was offended with the bad taste of writing in the
modern languages at all. Secondly, the pitch at which
they struck the national note was too high for the ears
of the vulgar. A correct and dignified use of the
spoken tongue, the conveyance, in ordinary and familiar
words, of lofty or poetical thoughts, filled both those
classes with surprise. To the scholar it seemed good
materials enveloped in a very unworthy covering. To
"the general" it seemed an attempt to deprive them of
their vernacular phrases and bring bad grammar and
coarse expressions into disrepute.  Petrarch was so
conscious of this that he speaks apologetically of his
sonnets in Italian, and founds his hope of future fame
on his ILatin verses. But more important than the
poems of Dante and Chaucer, or the prose of Boccaccio,
was the introduction of the new literature represented
by Froissart. Hitherto chronicles had for the most part
consisted of the record of such wandering rumours as
reached a monastery or were gathered in the religious
pilgrimages of holy men. Mingled, even the best of
them, with the credulity of inexperienced and simple
minds, their effect was lost onl the contemporary generation by the isolation of the writers. Nobody beyond
the convent-walls knew what the learned historians of
the establishment had been doing. Their writings were
not brought out into the light of universal day, and a
knowledge of European society gathered point by point,
by comparing, analyzing, and contrasting the various
statements contained in those dispersed repositories.
But at this time there came into notice the most inquiring, enterprising, picturesque, and entertaining chronicler that had ever appeared since Ilerodotus read the
result of his personal travels and sagacious inquiries to
the assembled multitudes of Greece.




FROISSART.                347
John Froissart, called by the courtesy of the time Sif
John, in honour of his being priest and chaplain, devoted a long life to the collection of the fullest and most
trustworthy accounts of all the events and personages
characteristic of his time. From 1326, when his labours
commenced, to 1400, when his active pen stood still,
nothing happened in any part of Europe that the Paul
Pry of the period did not rush off to verify on the spot.
If he heard of an assemblage of knights going on at the
extremities of France or in the centre of Germany, of
a tournament at Bordeaux, a court gala in Scotland, or
a marriage festival at Milan, his travels began, —whether
in the humble guise of a solitary horseman with his
portmanteau behind his saddle and a single greyhound
at his heels, as he jogged wearily across the Border, till
he finally arrived in Edinburgh, or in his grander style
of equipment, gallant steed, with hackney led beside
him, and four dogs of high race gambolling round his
horse, as he made his dignified journey from Ferrara to
Rome. Wherever life was to be seen and painted, the
indefatigable Froissart was to be found. Whatever he
had gathered up on former expeditions, whatever he
learned on his present tour, down it went in his own
exquisite language, with his own poetical impression of
the pomps and pageantries he beheld; and when at the
end of his journey he reached the court of prince or
potentate, no higher treat could be offered to the "noble
lords and ladies bright" than to form a glittering circle
round the enchanting chronicler and listen to what he
had written. From  palace to palace, from  castle to
castle, the unwearied "picker-up of unconsidered trifles"
(which, however, were neither trifles nor unconsidered,
when their true value became known, as giving life and
reality to the annals of a whole period) pursued his
happy way, certain of a friendly reception when he




348          PFOURTEENTH CENTURY.
arrived, and certain of not losing his time by negligence
or blindness on the road. If he overtakes a stately cavalier, attended by squires and men-at-arms, he enters into
conversation, drawing out the experiences of the venerable warrior by relating to him all he knew of things
and persons in which he took an interest. And when
they put up at some hostelry on the road, and while
the gallant knight was sound asleep on his straw-stuffed
couch, and his followers were wallowing amid the rushes
on the parlour floor, Froissart was busy with pen and
note-book, scoring down all the old gentleman had told
him, all the fights he had been present at, and the secret
history (if any) of the councils of priests and kings. In
this way knights in distant parts of the world became
known to each other. The same voice which described
to Douglas at Dalkeith the exploits of the Prince of
Wales sounded the praises of Douglas in the ears of the
Black Prince at Bordeaux. A community of sentiment
was produced between the upper ranks of all nations by
this common register of their acts and feelings; and
knighthood received its most ennobling consummation
in these imperishable descriptions, at the very time when
its political and military influence came to a close.
Froissart's Chronicles are the epitaph of feudalism,
written indeed while it was yet alive, but while its
strength was only the convulsive energy of approaching
death. The standard of knightly virtue became raised
in proportion as knightly power decayed. In the same
way as the increased civilization and elevating influences
of the time clothed the Church in colours borrowed
from the past, while its real influence was seriously impaired, the expiring embers of knighthood occasionally
flashed up into something higher; and in this century
we read of Du Guesclin of France, Walter M1anny and
Edward the Third of England, and many others, who




CHIVALRY.                   349
illustrated the order with qualifications it had never
possessed in its palmiest state.
Courtrai was fought and Amadis de Gaul written
almost at tlle same time. Let us therefore mark, as a
characteristic of the period we have reached, the decay
of knighthood, or feudalism in its armour of proof, and
the growth at the same time of a sense of honour and
generosity, which contrasted strangely in its softened
and sentimentalized refinement with the harshness and
cruelty which still clung to the ordinary affairs of life.
Thus the young conqueror of Poictiers led his captive
John into London with the respectful attention of a
grateful subject to a crowned king. He waited on him
at table, and made him forget the humiliation of defeat
and the griefs of imprisonment in the sympathy and
reverence with which he was everywhere surrounded.
This same prince was regardless of human life or suffering where the theatrical show of magnanimity was not
within his reach, bloodthirsty and tyrannical, and is declared by the chronicler himself to be of " a high, overbearing spirit, and cruel in his hatred." It shows, however, what an advance had already been made in the
influence of public opinion, when we read how generally
the treatment of the noble captive, John of France, was
appreciated. In former ages, and even at present in
nations of a lower state of feelings, the kind treatment
of a fallen enemy, or the sparing of a helpless population, would be attributed to weakness or fear. Chivalry,
which was an attempt to amalgamate the Christian
virtues with the rougher requirements of the feudal code,
taught the: duty of being pitiful as well as brave. And
though at this period that feeling only existed between
knight and knight, and was not yet extended to their
treatment of the common herd, the principle was
asserted that war could be carried on without personal




350           FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
animosity, and that courage, endurance, and the other
knightly qualities were to be admired as much in an
enemy as a friend.
There was, however, another reason for this besides
the natural admiration which great deeds are sure to
call forth in natures capable of performing them; and
that was, that Europe was divided into petty sovereignties, too weak to maintain their independence without foreign aid, too proud to submit to another government, and trusting to the support their money or influence could procure. In all countries, therefore, there
existed bodies of mercenary soldiers-or Free ILances,
as they were called-claiming the dignity and rank of
knights and noblemen, who never knew whether the
men they were fighting to-day might not be their comrades and followers to-morrow.  In Italy, always a
country of divisions and enmities, there were armed combatants secured on either side. Unconnected with the
country they defended by any ties of kindred or allegiance, they found themselves opposed to a body, perhaps
of their countrymen, certainly of their former c6inpanions; and, except so much as was required to earn
their pay and preserve their reputation, they did nothing
that might be injurious to their tempprary foes. Battles
accordingly were fought where feats of hqrsemanship
and dexterity at their weapons were shown; where rushes
were made into the vacant space between the armies
by contending warriors, and horse and man acquitted
themselves with the acclamations, and almost with the
safety, of a charge in the amphitheatre at Astley's.
But no blood was spilt, no life was taken; and a long
summer day has seen a confused mel8e  going on between the hired combatants of two cities or principalities, without a single casualty more serious than a cavalier thrown from his horse and unable to rise from the




GREAT EVENTS OF THE CENTURY.         351
weight and tightness of his armour. Fightsa of this
kind could scarcely be considered in earnest, and we are
not surprised to find that the burden and heat of an
engagement was thrown upon the light-armed foot: we
gather, indeed, towards the end of Froissart's Chronicles,
that while the cavaliers persisted in endeavouring to
distinguish their individual prowess, as at the battle of
Navareta in Spain, and got into confusion in their
eagerness of assault, "the sharpness of the English
arrows began to be felt," and the fate of the battle depended on the unflinching line and impregnable solidity
of the archers and foot-soldiers. These latter took a
deeper interest in tile result than the more showy performlers, and were not carried away by the vanities of
personal display.
Look at the year 1300, with the jubilee of Boniface
going on. Look at 1400, with the death of Chaucer and
Froissart, and the enthroning of Henry the Fourth, and
what an amount of incident, of change and improveRment, has been crowded into the space! The rise of
national literatures, the softening of feudalism, the decline of Church power,-these-illustrated by Dante and
Chaucer, by the alteration in the art of war, and above
all, perhaps, by the translation of the Bible into the
vulgar tongue —were not only the fruits gained for the
present, but the promise of greater things to come
There will be occasional backslidings after this time,
but the onward progress is steady and irresistible: the
regressions are but the reflux waves in an advancing
tide, caused by the very force and vitality of the great
sea beyond. And after this view of some of the main
features of the century, we shall take a very cursory
glance at some of the principal events on which the portraiture is founded.
It is a bad sign of the early part of this period that
our great landmarks are still battles and invasions.




3.52          FOURTEENTIH CENTURY.
After Courtrai in 1302, where the nobility rushed blind.
fold into a natural ditch, we come upon Bannockburn in
AD. 1314. 1314, where Edward the Second, not comprehending the aim of his more politic father,whose object was to counterpoise the growing power of
the- French monarchy by consolidating his influence at
hole, —had marched rather to revenge his outraged
dignity than to establish his denied authority, and waa
signally defeated by Robert Bruce. Is it not possible
that the stratagem by which the English chivalry
suffered so much by means of the pits dug for their re
ception in the space in front of the Scottish lines wah
borrowed from. Courtrai, —art supplying in that dry
plain near Stirling what nature had furnished to the
marshy Brabant? iHowever this may be, the same fatal
result ensued. Pennon and standard, waving plume
and flashing sword, disappeared in those yawning gulfs,
and at the present hour very rusty spurs and fragments
of broken helmets are dug from beneath the soil to mark
the greatness and the quality of the slaughter. Meantime, in compact phalanx-protected by the knights and
gentlemen on the flanks, but left to its own free action
-the Scottish array bore on. Strong spear and sharp
sword did the rest, and the English army, shorn of its
cavalry, disheartened by the loss of its leaders, and
finally deserted by its pusillanimous king, retreated in
confusion, and all hope of retaining the country by the
i'ight of conquest was forever laid aside. Poor Edward
had, in appalling consciousness of his own imperfections,
applied to the Pope for permission to rub himself with
an ointment that would make him brave. Either the
Pope refused his consent or the ointment failed of its
purpose. Nothing could rouse a'brave thought in the
heart of the fallen Plantagenet. Sir Giles de Argentine
might have been more effectual than all the unguents in
the world. He led the king by the bridle till he saw




DEFEAT OF THE FLEMINGS.            33o
him in a place of safety. lie then stopped his horse
and said, " It has never been my custom to fly, and here
I must take my fortune."  Saying this, he put spurs to
his horse, and, crying out, "An Argentine!" charged the
squadron of Edwarid Bruce, and was borne down by the
force of the Scottish spears. The fugitive king galloped
in terror to the castle of Dunbar, and shipped off by sea
to;Berwick.
The next battle is so strongly corroborative of the
failing supremacy of heavy armour, and the rising importance of the well-trained citizens, that it is worth
mention, although at first sight it seems to controvert
both these statements; for it was a fight in which certain courageous burghers were mercilessly exterminated
by gorgeously-caparisonled knights. The townsmen of
Bruges and Ypres had grown so proud and pugnacious
A.D. 1328. that in 1328 they advanced to Cassel to do
battle with the young King of France, Philip
of Valois, at the head of all his chivalry. There was a
vast amount of mutual contempt in the two armies.
The leader of the bold Flemings, who was known as
Little Jack, entered the enemy's camp in disguise, and
found young lords in splendid gowns proceeding from
point to point, gossiping, visiting, and interchanging
their invitations. Making his way back, he ordered a
charge at once. The rush was nearly successful, and
was only checked within a few yards of the royal tent.
But the check was tremendous. The bloated burghers,
filled with pride and gorged with wealth, had thought
proper to ensconce their unwieldy persons in cuirasses
as brilliant and embarrassing as the armour of the
knights. The knights, however, were on horseback,
and the embattled townsfolk were on foot. Great was
the slaughter, useless the attempt to escape, and thirteen thousand were overborne and smothered. Ten




354           FOURTEENTtH CENTIURY.
thousand more were executed by some form of law,
and the Bourgeoisie taugh taught to rely for its safety on its
agility and compactness, and not on " helm or hauberk's
twisted fmail."
The crop of battles grows rich' and plentiful, for
Edward the Third and Philip of Valois are rival kings
and warriors, and may be taken as the representatives
of the two states of society which were brought at this
time face to face. For Edward, though as true a knight
as Amadlis himself in his own person, in policy was a
favourer of the new ideas. When the war broke out,
Philip behaved as if no change had taken place in the
seat of power and the world had still continued divided
between the lords and their armed retainers. Hie threw
himself for support on the military service of his tenants
and the aristocratic spirit of his nobles. Edward, wiser
but less romantic, turned for assistance to the Commons
of England,-bought over their good will and copious
contributions by privileges granted to their trades,-invited skilled workmen over from Flanders, which, with
the freest spirit in Europe, was under the least improved
of the feudal governments,-and established woollenworks at York, fustian-works at Norwich, serges at Colchester, and kerseys in Devonshire. Mills were whirling
round in all the counties, and ships coming in untaxed
at every harbour. Fortunately, as is always the case in
this country, it was seen that the success of one class
of the people was beneficial to every other class. The
baron got more rent for his land and better cloth for his
apparel by the prosperity of his manufacturing neighbours. Money was voted readily in support of a king
who entered into alliance with their best customers, the
men of Ghent and Bruges; and' at the head of all the
levies which the parliament's liberality enabled him to
raise were the knights and gentlemen of England, totally
freed now from any bias towards the French or prejudice




VICTORY OF IIELVOET SLUYS.          35G
against the Saxon; for they spoke the English tongue,
dressed in }English broadcloth, sang English ballads, and
astonished the men of Gascony and Guienne with the
vehemence of their unmistakably English oaths. Yet
some of them  held lands in feudal subjection to the
French king. Flanders itself confessed the same sovereignty; and men of delicate consciences might feel uneasy if they lifted the sword against their liege lord. To
soothe their scruples, James Van Arteveldt, the Brewer
of Ghent, suggested to. Edward the propriety of his assulning the title of King of France. The rebellious freeholders would then be in their duty in supporting their
liege's claims. So Edward, founding upon the birth of
his mother, the daughter of the last King, Philip le
Bel,-who was excluded by the Salic law, or at least by
French custom, from the throne, — made claim to the
crown of St. Louis, and transmitted the barren title to
all his successors till the reign of George the Fourth.
As if in right of his property on both sides of the Channel, Edward converted it into his exclusive domain.
He so entirely exterminated the navy of France, and.D. 1310. impressed that chivalrous nation with the danger of the seas by the victory of IHelvoet Sluys,
that for several centuries the command of the strait was
left undisputed to England. Philip had endeavoured to
obtain the mastery of it with a fleet of a hundred and
fifty ships, mounted by forty thousand men. The Genoese had furnished an auxiliary squadron, and also a
commander-in-chief, of the name of Barbavara. But
the French admiral was a civilian of the name of Bahuchet, who thought the safest plan was the best, and kept
his whole force huddled up in the commodious harbour.
Edward collected a fleet of scarcely inferior strength,
and fell upon the enemy as they lay within the port. It
was in fact a fight on the land, for they ranged so close
that they almost touched each other, and the gallant




356            FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
Bahtchet preserved himself from  sea-sickness at the
expense of all their lives. For the [English archers made
an incredible havoc on their crowded decks, and the
pike-men boarded with irresistible power.  Twenty
thousand were slain in that fearful mele'e; and Edward,
to show how sincere he was in his claim upon the throne
of France, hanged the unfortunate iBahuchet as a traitor.
The man deserved his fate as a coward: so we need not
waste much sympathy on the manner of his death. This
success with his ships was soon followed by the betterknown victory of Crecy, 1346, and the capture of Calais.
AD. 1356. In ten years afterwards, the crowning triumph
of Poictiers completed the destruction of the
military power of France, by a slaughter nearly as great
as that at Sluys and Crecy. In addition to the loss of
lives in these three engagements, amounting to upwards
of ninety thousand men, we are to consider the impoverishment of the country by the exorbitant ransoms
claimed for the release of prisoners. John, the French
king, was valued at three million crowns of gold,-an
immense sum, which it would have exhausted the kingdom to raise; and, in addition to those destructive fights
and crushing exactions, France was further weakened
by the insurrection of the peasantry and the frightful
massacres by which it was put down. If to these
causes of weakness we add the depopulation produced
by the unequalled pestilence, called the Plague of
Florence, which spread all over the world, and in the
space of a year carried off nearly a third of the inhabitants of Europe, we shall be justified in believing that
France was reduced to the lowest condition she has ever
reached, and that only the dotage of Edward, the death
of the Black Prince, and the accession of a king like
Richard II., saved that noble country from being, for a
while at least, tributary and subordinate to her islandconqueror.




FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
im wperors of @eamnanp.   Emperor  of t e Eait.
A.D.                          A.D.
1400. RUPERT.                       MANUEL PALAEOLOGUS. —
1410. Jossus.                         (cont.)
1425. JOHN PALAOLOGUS II.
1410. SIGISMUND.
1448. CONSTANTINE XIII., (PAHouse of Austria.              LAOLOGUS.)
1438. ALBERT II.              1453. Capture of Constantino1440. FREDERICK IV.                   pie by the Turks, and
close of the Eastern
1493. M/[AXIMILIAN I.
Empire.
Vin~gl of ingaIan,.          ~ultan  of Iurkelt2.
1399. HENRY IV.               1451. MOHAMMED II.
1413. HENRY V.                1481. BAJAZET II.
1422. HENRY VI.
1461. EDWARD IV.                  Rtngg  of fcancs.
1483. EDWARD V.                     CHARLES VI. —(ont.)
1483. RICHARD III.            1422. CHARLES VII.
1461. Louis XI.
1485. HENRY VII.
1483. CHARLES VIII.
tinglo of Zcoftanb.       1498. Louis XII.
ROBERT III.-(cont.)
1406. JAMES I.                     Wtingw  of Spain.
1437. JAMES II.               1479. Union of the Kingdom
1460. JAMES III.                      under FERDINAND and
1488. JAMES IV.                       ISABELLA.
1452. INVENTION OF PRINTING.
1455. WARS OF THE ROSES BEGIN.
1.483. LUTHER BORN.       1492. DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
rininlnt oaern.
JOHN Huss, (1370-1415,) XIMINES.








THiE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
DECLINE OF FEUDALISM-AGINCOURT-JOAN OF ARC-THE
PRINTING-PRESS-DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
THE whole period from the twelfth to the fifteenth
century has generally been considered so unvarying in
its details, one century so like another, that it has been
thought sufficient to class them all under the general
name of the Middle Ages. Old Monteil, indeed, the
author of " The French People of Various Conditions,"
declines to individualize any age during that lengthened
epoch, for "feudalism," he says, "is as little capable of
change as the castles with which it studded the land."
But a closer inspection does by no means justify this
declaration. From time to time we have seen what
great changes have taken place. The external walls of
the baronial residence may continue the same, but vast
alterations have occurred within. The rooms have got
a more modern air; the moat has begun to be dried up,
and turned into a bowling-green; the tilt-yard is occasionally converted into a garden; and, in short, in all
the civilized countries of Europe the life of society has
accumulated at the heart. Power is diffused from the
courts of kings; and instead of the spirit of independence and opposition to the royal authority which
characterized former centuries, we find the courtiers' arts
more prevalent now than the pride of local grandeur.
The great vassals of the Crown are no longer the rivals
of their nominal superior, but submissively receive his
359




360            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
awards, or endeavour to obtain the sanction of his name
to exactions which they would formerly have practised
in their own. Monarchy, in fact, becomes the spirit of
the age, and nobility sinks willingly into the subordinate
rank. This itself was a great blow to the feudal system,
for the essence of that organized society was equality
among its members, united to subordination of conventional rank,-a strange and beautiful style of feeling
between the highest and the lowest of that manly brotherhood, which made the simple chevalier equal to the
king as touching their common knighthood,-of which
we have at the present time the modernized form in the
feeling which makes the loftiest in the land recognise
an equal and a friend in the person of an untitled gentleman. But this latter was to be the result of the
equalizing effect of education and character. In the fifteenth century, feudalism, represented by the great proprietors, was about to expire, as it had already perished
in the decay of its armed and mailed representatives in
the field of battle. By no lower hand than its own
could the nobility be overthrown either in France or
England. The accident of a feeble king in both countries was the occasion of an internecine struggle,-not,
as it would have been in the tenth century, for the possession of the crown, but for the custody of the wearer
of it. - The insanity of Charles VI. almost exterminated
the lords of France; the weakness of Henry VI. and
the Wars of the'Roses produced the same result in
England. It seemed as if in both countries an epidemic
madness had burst out among the nobility, which drove
them  to their destruction. Wildly contending with
each other, neglecting and oppressing the common
people, the lords and barons were unconscious of the
silent advances of a power which was about to overshadow them all. And, as if to drive away from them




DECLINE OF NOBILITY.            361
the sympathy which their fathers had known how to
excite among the lower classes by their kindness and
protection, they seemed determined to obliterate every
vestige of respect which might cling to their ancient
possessions and historic names, by the most unheardof cruelty and falsehood in their treatment of each
other.
The leader of one of the parties which divided.France
was John, son of Philip the Hardy, prince of the blood
royal and Duke of Burgundy. The leader of the other
party was Louis of Orleans, brother of the demented
king, and the gayest cavalier and most accomplished
gentleman of his time. The Burgundian had many
advantages in his contest for the reins of government.
The wealth and population of the Low Countries made
him as powerful as any of the princes of Europe, and
he could at all times secure the alliance of England to
the most nefarious of his schemes by the bribe of a
treaty of trade and navigation. He accordingly brought
his great possessions in Flanders to the aid of his French
ambition, and secured the almost equally important
assistance of the University of Paris, by giving in his
adhesion to the Pope it had chosen and denying the
authority of the Pope of his rival Orleans. Orleans had
also offended the irritable population of Paris by making
his vows, on some solemn occasion, by the bones of St.
Denis which adorned the shrine of the town called after
his name,-whereas it was well known to every Parisian
that the real bones of the patron of France were those
which were so religiously preserved in the treasury of
Notre Dame. The clergy of the two altars took up
the quarrel, and as much hostility was created by the
rival relics of St. Denis and Paris as by the rival pontiffs
of Avignon and Rome. Thus the Church, which in
earlier times had been a bond of unity, was one of the
16




'362           FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
chief causes of dissension; and the result in a few years
wras seen in the attempt made by France to shake off,
as much as possible, the supremacy of both the divided
Popes, as it managed to shake off entirely the yoke of
the divided nobility.
Quarrels and reconciliations among the princes, feasts
and festivals among the peerage, and the most relentless
treatment of the citizens, were the distinguishing marks
of the opening of this century. Isabella of Bavaria,
the shameless wife of the hapless Charles, added a great
feature of infamy to the state of manners at the time,
by the openness of her profligacy, and her neglect of all
the duties of wife and queen. Rioting with the thoughtless Orleans, while her husband was left to the misery
of his situation, unwashed, unshorn, and clothed in rags
and filth, the abandoned woman roused every manly
heart in all the land against the cause she aided. Rely-;ing on this national disgust, the wily Burgundian waited
his opportunity, and revenged his private wrongs by
what he afterwards called the patriotic dagger of an
AD. 1407. assassin. On the night of the 23d of December,
1407, the gay and handsome Louis was lured by
a false message from the queen's quarters to a distant
part of the town, and was walking in his satin mantle,
twirling his glove in his hand, and humming the burden
of a song, when he was set on by ten or twelve of the
adherents of his enemy, stabbed, and beaten long after
he lay dead on the pavement, and was then left motionless and uncared-for under the shade of the high housewalls of the Vieille Rue du Temple.
Public conscience was not very acute at that time;
and, although no man for a moment doubted the hand
that had guided the blow, the Duke of Burgundy was
allowed to attend the funeral of his murdered cousin,
and to hold the pall in the procession, and to weep




JEAN SANS-PEUR.              363
louder than any as the coffin was lowered into the vault
But the common feelings of humanity were roused at
last. People remembered the handsome, kindly, merryhearted Orleans thus suddenly struck low, and the
ominous looks of the Parisians warned the powerful
Burgundy that it was time to take his hypocrisy and
his tears out of the sight of honest men. iHe slipped
out of the city, and betook himself to his Flemish
states. But the helm was now without a steersman;
and, while all were looking for a guide out of the confusion into which the appalling incident had brought
the realm, the guilty duke himself, armed ccap-d-pie, and
surrounded by a body-guard which silenced all opposition, made his solemn entry into the town, and fixed on
the door of his hotel the emblematic ornament of two
spears, one sharp at the point as if for immediate battle,
and one blunted and guarded as if for a friendly joust.
Eloquence is never long absent when power is in want
of an oration. A great meeting was held, in which, by
many brilliant arguments and incontrovertible examples
from holy writ and other histories, John Petit proved, to
the entire satisfaction of everybody who did not wish
to be slaughtered on the spot, that the doing to death
of the Duke of Orleans was a good deed, and that the
doer was entitled to the thanks of a grateful country.
The thanks were accordingly given, and the m'urderer
was at the height of his ambition. As a warning to
the worthy citizens of what they had to expect if they
rebelled against his authority, he took the opportunity
of hurrying northward to his states, where the men of
Liege were in revolt, and, having broken their ill-formed
squares, committed such slaughter upon them as only
the madness of fear and hatred could have suggested.
Dripping with the blood of twenty-four thousand artisauls, he returned to Paris, where the citizens were




364            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
hushed into silence, and perhaps admiration, by the
terrors of his appearance. They called him John the
Fearless,-a noble title, most inadequately acquired;
but, in spite of their flattery and their submission, he
did not feel secure without the presence of his faithful
subjects. He therefore summoned his Flemings and
Burgundians to share his triumphs, and a loose was
given to all their desires. They pillaged, burned, and
destroyed as if in an enemy's country, encamping outside the walls, and giving evident indications of an intention to force their way into the streets. But the sight
of gore, though terrifying at first, sets the tamest of
animals wild. The Parisians smelt the bloody odour
and made ready for the fray. The formidable incorporation of the Butchers rose knife in hand, and at the
command of their governor prepared to preserve the
peace of the city. Burgundians and Orleanistis were
equally to be feared, and by a curious coincidence both
those parties were at the gate; for the Count of Armagnac, father-in-law of the orphan Duke of Orleans, had
assumed the leadership of the party, and had come up
to Paris at the head of his infuriated Gascons and the
men of languedoc.  North and South were again
ranged in hostile ranks, and inside the walls there was a
reign of terror and an amount of misery never equalled
till that second reign of terror which is still the darkest
spot in the memory of old men yet alive. No man
could put faith in his neighbour. The murder of the
Duke of Orleans had dissolved all confidence in the
word of princes. One half of France was ready to
draw against the other. -Each half was anxious for
support, from whatever quarter it came, and to gain the
destruction of their rivals would sacrifice the interests
of the nation.
But the same spirit of disunion and extirpation of




FIRST LAW AGAINST HERETICS.        365
ancient landmarks was at work in England. The accession of Htenry the Fourth was not effected without the
opposition of the adherents of the former king and of7
the supporters, on general principles, of the legitimate
line. There were treasons, and plots, and pitiless executions. The feudal chiefs were no longer the compact
body which could give laws both to King and Parliament, but ranged themselves in opposite camps and
waited for the spoils of the vanquished side.  The
clergy unanimously came to the aid of the usurper on
his faithful promise to exempt them from taxation; and,
by thus throwing their own proportion of the public
burdens on the body of the people, they sundered the
alliance which had always hitherto subsisted between
the Church and the lower class. Another bribe was
held out to the clerical order for its support to the.D 1401. unlineal crown by the surrender to their vengeance of any heretics they could discover. In
the second year of this reign, accordingly, we find a law
enabling the priests to burn, "on some high and conspicuous piece of ground," any who dissented from their
faith. This is the first legal sanction in England to the
logic of flame and fagot. How dreadfully this permission was used, we shall see ere many years elapse. In
the mean time, it is worth while to remark that in proportion as the Church lost in popularity and affection it
gained in legal privilege. While it was strong it did
not need to be cruel; and if it had continued its care of
the poor and helpless, it would have been able to leave
Wickliff to his dissertations on its doctrinal errors undisturbed. A Church which is found to be nationally
beneficial, and which endears itself to its adherents by
the practical graces of Christianity, will never be overthrown, or even weakened, by any theoretical defects in
its creeds or formularies. It was perhaps, therefore, a




366            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
fortunate circumstance' that the Church of Rome had
departed as much by this time from the path of honesty
and usefulness as from the simplicity of gospel truth.
The Bible might have been looked at in vain, even in
Wickliff's translation, if its meanings had not been
rendered plain by the lives and principles of the clergy.
Henry the Fifth, feeling the same necessity of clerical
support which had thrown his father into the hands of
the Church, left nothing untried to attach it to his cause.
All the opposition which had been offered to its claims
had hitherto been confined to men of low rank, and
generally to members of its own body. Wickliff himself had been but a country vicar, and bad been unnoticed and despised in his small parsonage at Lutterworth. But three-and-twenty years after he was dead,
his name was celebrated far and wide as the enemy of
constituted authority and a heretic of the most dangerous kind. His guilt consisted in nothing whatever
but in having translated the Bible into English; but the
fact of his having done so was patent to all. No witnesses were required. The bones of the old man were
dug up from their resting-place in the quiet churchyard
in Leicestershire, carried ignominiously to Oxford, and
burned amid the howls and acclamations of an infuriated
mob of priests and doctors. This was in 1409. But, in
his character of heretic and unbeliever, Wickliff had
high associates in this same year; for the General
Council sitting at Pisa declared the two Popes-of
Avignon and Rome —who still continued to divide the
Christian world, to be "heretics, perjurers, and schismatics."
Europe, indeed, was ripe for change in almost all the
relations both of Church and State. There would seem
no close connection between Bohemia and ]England; yet
in a very short time the doctrines of Wickliff penetrated




LORD COBHAM BURNT.              367
to Prague. There HIuss and Jerome preached against
the enormities and contradictions of the Romish system,
and bitterly paid for their presumption in the fires of
Constance before many years had passed.  But in
England the effects of the new revelation of the hidden
gospel had been stronger than even at Prague. Public
opinion, however, divided itself into two very different
channels; and while the whole nation listened with open
ear to the denunciations rising everywhere against the
corruption, pride, and sensuality of the priesthood, it
rushed at the same time into the wildest excesses of
cruelty against the opponents of any of the doctrinal
errors or superstitious beliefs in which it had been
brought up. In the same year in which several persons
were burnt in Smithfield as supporters of Wickliff and
the Bible, the Parliament sent up addresses to the
Crown, advising the king to seize the temporalities of
the Church, and to apply the riches wasted on luxurious
monks and nuns to the payment of his soldiers. Henry
the Fifth adroitly availed himself of the double direction
in which the popular feeling ran. He gained over the
priesthood by exterminating the opponents of their
ceremonies and faith, and rewarded himself by occasionally confiscating the revenues of a dozen or two of the
more notorious monasteries. In 1417 a heavier sacrifice
was demanded of him than his mere presence at the
burning of a plebeian heretic like John Badby, whose
execution he had attended at- Smithfield in 1410. He
was required to give up into the hands of the Church
the great and noble Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. The
Church, as if to mark its triumph, did not examine the
accused on any point connected with civil or political
affairs. It questioned him solely on his religious beliefs;
and as it found him unconvinced of the necessity of con.
fession to a priest, of pilgrimages to the shrines of saints,




368            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
of the worship of images, and of the doctrine of transubstantiation, it delivered him over to the secular arm, and
the stout old soldier was taken to St. Giles's-in-the-Fields,
and suspended, by an iron chain round his body, above a
fire, to die by the slowest and most painful of deaths.
But, in this yielding up of a nobleman to the vengeance
of the priesthood, ilenry had a double motive: he terrified the proudest of the barons, and attached to himself
the other bodies in the State. The people were still
profoundly ignorant, and looked on the innovators as
the enemies both of God and man. And nothing but
this can account for the astonishing spectacle presented
by Europe at this date. The Church torn by contending
factions-three Popes at one time-and council arrayed
against council; every nation disgusted with its own
priesthood, and enthusiasm bursting out in the general
confusion into the wildest excesses of fanaticism  and
vice,-and yet a total incapacity in any country of devising means of amendment. Great efforts were made,
by wise and holy men within the Church itself, to shake
off the impediments to its development and increase.
Reclamations were made, more in sorrow than in angeragainst the universal depravation of morals and beliefs.
The Popes were not unmoved with these complaints,
and gave credence to the forebodings of evil which rose
from every heart. Yet the network of custom, the
authority of tradition, and the unchangeableness of
Roman policy marred every effort at self-reformation.
An opening was apparently made for the introduction
of improvement, by the declaration of the supremacy
of general councils, and the cessation of the great schism
AD. 1429. of the West on the nomination of Martin the
Fifth to the undisputed chair. But the force of
circumstances was irresistible. Cardinals who approved
of the declaration while members of the council repu



BORGIA.                  369
diated its acts when, by good fortune, they succeeded to
the tiara; and one of them even ventured the astounding statement that in his character of Eneas Sylvius,
and approver of the decree of Basle, he was guilty of
damnable sin, but was possessed of immaculate virtue in
the character of Paul the Second. It was obvious that
this unnatural state of things could not last. An establishment conscious of its defects, but unable to throw
them off, and finally forced to the awful necessity of defending them by the foulest and most unpardonable
means, might have read the inevitable result in every
page of history. But worse remained behind. There
sat upon the chair of St. Peter, in the year 1492, the
most depraved and wicked of mankind. No earthly
ruler had equalled him in profligacy and the coarser
vices of cruelty and oppression since the death of the
Roman Nero. This was a man of the name of Borgia,
who fixed his infamous mark on the annals of the
Papacy as Alexander the Sixth. While this bloodthirsty
ruffian was at the summit of sacerdotal power —this
poisoner of his friends, this polluter of his family circle
with unimaginable crimes-as the visible representative
upon earth of the Church of Christ, what hope could
there be of amendment in the lower orders of the clergy,
or continuance of men's belief in the popish claims?
Long before this, in 1442, the falsehood of the pretended
donation of Constantine, on which the Popes founded
their territorial rights, was triumphantly proved by the
learned Falla; and at the end of the century the reverence of mankind for the successor of the Prince of the
Apostles was exposed to a trial which the authenticity
of all the documents in the world could not have successfully stood, in the personal conduct of the Pope and
his familiars.
While this was the general state of Europe in the




370            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
fifteenth century as regards the position of the clergy,
high and low, the Church, in all countries, threw itself
on the protection of the kings. By the middle, or
towards the end, of this period, there was no other
patronage to which they could have recourse. The
nobility in France and England were practically eradicated. All confidence between baron and baron was at
an end, and all belief in knightly faith and honour in
the other classes of the people. As if the time for a new
state of society was arrived, and instruments were required to clear the way for the approaching form, the
nobilityf and gentry of England first were effectual in
overthrowing their noble brethren in France, and then,
with infuriate bitterness, turned their swords upon each
other. The most rememberable general characteristic
of this century is the consolidation of royal power. The
king becomes despotic because the great nobility is
overthrown and the Church stripped of its authority.
Tired of hoping for aid from their ancient protector, the
lowest classes cast their eyes of helplessness to the
throne instead of to the crozier. They see in the reigning sovereign an ideal of personified Power. All other
ideals with which the masses of the people have deluded
themselves have passed away. The Church is stripped
of the charm which its lofty claims and former kindness
gave it. It is detected for the thing it is,-a corporation for the grinding of the poor and the support of
tyranny.and wrong. The nobility is stripped also of the
glitter which covered its harsh outlines with the glow
of Christian qualifications. It is found to be selfish,
faithless, untrustworthy, and divided against itself. To
the king, then, as the last refuge of the unfortunate, as
the embodied State, a combination, in his own person,
of the manly virtues of the knight with the Christian
tenderness of the priest, the public transfers all the




SUDDEN ENLIGHTENMEN T.           371.romantic confidence it had lavished on the other two.
And, as if to prove that this idea came to its completeness without reference to the actual holder of sovereign
authority, we find that in France the first really despotic
king was Louis the Eleventh, and in England the first
king by divine right was Henry the Seventh.  Two
more unchivalrous personages never disgraced the threelegged stool of a scrivener. Yet they sat almost simultaneously on two of earth's proudest thrones.
No century had ever witnessed so great a change in
manners and position as this. In others we have seen
a gradual widening-out of thought and tendencies, all,
however, subdued by the universal'shadow in which
every thing was carried on. But in this the progress
was by a sudden leap from darkness into light. In
ancient times Europe was held together by certain
communities of interest and feeling, of which the chief
undoubtedly was the centralization of the spiritual
power in Rome. At the Papal Court all the nations
were represented, and Stockholm and Saragossa were
brought into contact by their common dependence on
the successor of St. Peter. The courtly festivals which
invited a knight of Scotland to cross blunted spears in
a glittering tournament with a knight of Sicily in the
court of an emperor of Germany was another bond of
union between remotest regions; and in the fourteenth
century the indefatigable Froissart, as we remarked,
conveyed a knowledge of one nation to another in the
entertaining chapters with which he delighted the
listeners in the different palaces where he set up his
rest. But all these lights, it will be observed, illumined
only the hill-tops, and left the valleys still obscure.
Ambitious Churchmen encountered their brethren of all
kindreds and tongues in the court of the Vatican; tiltings were only for the high-born and rich, and Froissart




372            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
himself poured forth his treasures only for the delight
of lords and ladies. The ballads of the common people,
on the other hand, had had a strongly disuniting effect.
The songs which charmed the peasant were directed
against the exacting priest and oppressive noble. In
England they were generally pointed against the Norman baron, with whose harshness and pride were contrasted the kindness and liberality of Robin Hood and
his peers. The French ballads were hostile to the
English invader; the Scottish poems were commemorative of the heroism of Wallace and the cruelties of the
Southern, hordes. Literatures were thus condemned to
be hostile, because they were not lofty enough to overlook the boundaries of the narrow circles in which they
moved. By slow and toilsome process books were multiplied, —carefully copied in. legible hand, and then
chained up, like inestimable jewels, in monastery or
palace, as too valuable to be left at large. A king's
library was talked of as a wonder when it contained
six or seven hundred volumes. The writings of controversialists were passed from hand to hand, and the publication of a volume was generally achieved by its being
read aloud at the refectory-table of the college and then
discussed, in angry disputations, in the University Hall.
Not one man in five hundred could read, if the book had
been written in the plainest text; and at length the
running hand was so indistinct as to be not much plainer
than hieroglyphics. The discoveries, therefore, of one
age had all to be discovered over again in the next.
Roger Bacon, the English monk, in the eleventh century, was acquainted with gunpowder, and had clear intimations of many of the other inventions of more recent
times. But what was the use of all his genius?  He
could only write down his triumph in a book; the book
vas carefully arranged on the shelf of his monastery;




DISCOVERY OF PRINTING.           37,3
clever men of his own society may have carried the
report of his doings to the neighbouring establishments;
but time passed on, those clever men died out, the book
on the monastery-shelf was gradually covered with dust,
and Roger Bacon became a conjurer in popular estimation, who foretold future events and took counsel from
a supernatural brazen head. But in this century the
art of printing was discovered and perfected. A thousand copies now darted off in all directions, cheap
enough to be bought by the classes below the highest;
portable enough to be carried about the person to the
most distant lands, and in a type so large and clear that
a very little instruction would enable the most illiterate
to master its contents. Here was the lever that lifted
the century at its first appearance into the light of
modern civilization. And it came at the very nick of
time. lIen's minds were disturbed on many subjects;
for old unreasoning obedience to authority had passed
away. Who was to guide them in their future voyage?
Isolated works would no longer be of any use. Great
scholars and acute dialecticians had been tried and
found wanting. They only acted on the highly-educated
class; and now it was the people in mass-the worker,
the shopkeeper, the farmer, the merchant —who were
anxious to be informed; and what could a monk in a
cell, or even Chaucer with his harp in hand, do for the
edification of such a countless host? People would no
longer be fed on the dry crust of Aristotelianism or be
satisfied with the intellectual jugglery of the Schoolmen.
[Rome had lost its guiding hand, and its restraining sword
was also found of no avail. Some rest was to be found
for the minds which had felt the old foundation slip
away from them; and in this century, thus pining for
light, thus thrusting forward eager hands to be warmed




374             FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
at the first ray of a new-risen sun, there were terrible
displays of the aberrations of zeal without knowledge.
Almost within hearing of the first motion of the press,
incalculable numbers of enthusiasts revived the exploded
sect of the Flagellants of former centuries, and perambulated Europe, plying the whip upon their naked backs
and declaring that the whole of religionl consisted in the
use of the scourge. Others, more crazy still, pronounced
the use of clothes to be evidence of an unconverted
nature, and returned to the nakedness of our first
parents as proof of their restoration to a state of innocence. Mortality lost all its terrors in this earnest
search for something more than the ordinary mninistrations of the faith could bestow; and in France and
England the hideous spectacles called the Dance of
Death were frequent. In these, under the banner of a
grinning skeleton, the population danced with frantic
violence, shouting, shrieking, in the exultation of the
time,-a scene where the joyous appearance of the occupation contrasted shockingly with the awful place in
which the orgies were held, for the catacombs of Paris,
filled with the bones and carcasses of many generations,
were the chosen site for these frightful exhibitions. Like
the unnatural gayety that reigned in the same city
when the guillotine had filled every family with terror
or grief, they were but an abnormal development of the
sentiment of despair. People danced the Dance of
Death, because life had lost its charm. ILife had lost its
security in the two most powerful nations of the time.
England was shaken with contending factions, and
France exhausted and hopeless of restoration. The
4.. 151. peasantry in both were trampled on without remorse.' Jack Cade led up his famishing thousands to lay their sufferings before the throne. They
asked for nothing but a slight relaxation of the burdens




UNSETTLED STATE OF EUROPE.         375
that oppressed theml, and were condemned without
mercy to the sword and gallows. The French " Jacques:Bonhomme" was even in a worse condition. There was
no controlling power on the throne to guard him from
the tyrannies of a hundred petty superiors. The Church
of his country was as much conquered by the Church
of England as its soil by the English arms. A cardinal,
bloated and bloody, dominated both London and Paris,
and sent his commands from the Palace at Winchester,
which were obeyed by both nations. And all this on
the very eve of the introduction of the perA.D. 1452. fected printing-press, the birth of Luther, and
A.D. 1483.
the discovery of America!  From the beginning
A.D. 1492.
of the century till government became assured
by the accession of Henry VII. and Louis XI., the whole
of Europe was unsettled and apparently on the verge
of dissolution. In the absence of the controlling power
of the Sovereign, each little baron asserted his own
right -and privileges, and aimed -perhaps. at the restoration of his feudal independence, when the spirit of feudalismn had passed away. The nobility, even if it had
been united, was not now numerous enough to present
a ruling body to the State. It became despised as soon
as it was seen to be powerless; and at last, in sheer exhaustion, the people,. the churches, and the peerage of
the two proudest nations in the world lay down helpless and unresisting at the footstool of the only authority
likely to protect them from each other or themselves.
When we think of the fifteenth century, let us remember
it as the period when mankind grew tired of the establishments of all former ages, when feudalism resigned
its sword into the hands of monarchy, and when the
last days of the expiring state of society were distinguished by the withdrawal of the death-grasp by France
and England from each other's throats, and the esta.




376            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
blishment of respectful if not friendly sentiments between them. By the year 1451, there was not one of
all the conquests of the Edwards and Henrys left to the
English except Calais. If that miserable relic had also
been restored, it would have prevented many a heartburning between the nations, and advanced, perhaps by
centuries, the happy time when each can look across
the narrow channel which divides them without a wish
save for the glory and prosperity of the other.
It is like going back to the time of the Crusades to
turn our eyes from the end of this century to the
beginning, so great and essential is the change that has
taken place. Yet it is necessary, having given the
general view of the condition of affairs, to descend to
certain particulars by which the progress of the history
may be more vividly defined. And of these the principal are the battle of Agincourt, the relief of Orleans,
the invention of Guttenberg, and the achievement of
Columbus. These are fixed on, not for their own intrinsic merits, but for the great results they produced.
Agincourt unfeudalized France; Joan of Arc restored
man's faith in human virtue and divine superintendence;
printing preserved forever the conquests of the human
intellect; and the discovery of America opened a new
world to the energies of mankind.
We must return to the state of France when the Duke
of Orleans was so treacherously slain by the ferocious
Duke of Burgundy in 1407. For a time the crime was
successful in establishing the murderer's power, and the
Burgundians were strengthened by obtaining the custody
of the imbecile king, Charles the Sixth, and the support
of his infamous consort, Isabean of Bavaria. But authority so obtained could not be kept without plunging into
greater excesses. So the populace were let loose,, and
no man's life was safe. In self-defence-burning with




CONDITION OF FRANCE.           377
hatred of the slayer of his son-in-law and betrayer of
his country-the Count of Armagnac denounced the
AD. 1411. dominant party. Burgundy threw himself into
the arms of England, and was only outbidden
in his offers of submission by the Armagnacs in the following year. Each party in turn promised to support
the English king in all his claims, and before he set foot
in France he already found himself in possession of the
A.D. 1413. kingdom. Many strong places in the South
were surrendered to him  as pledges of the
fidelity of his supporters. The whole land was the prey
of faction and party hate. The Church had repudiated
both Pope and Council; the towns were in insurrection
in every street; and Henry the Fifth was only twentysix years of age, full of courage and ambition, supported
by the love and gratitude of the national Church, and
anxious to glorify the' usurpation of his family by a restoration of the triumphs of Cressy and Poictiers. He
therefore sent an embassy to France, demanding his recognition by all the States as king, though he modestly
waived the royal title till its present holder should be
no more. He declared also that he would not be content
without the hand of Catharine, the French king's daughter, with Normandy and other counties for her dowry;
and when these reasonable conditions, as he had anticipated, were rejected, and all his preparations were
completed, he threw off the mask of negotiation, and
sailed from Southampton with an army of six thousand
men-at-arms and twenty-four thousand archers. A
beautiful sight it must have been that day in September, 1415, when the enormous convoy sailed or rowed
down the placid Southampton water. Sails of various
colours, and streamers waving from every mast, must
have given it the appearance of an immense regatta;
and while all France was on the watch for the point of




3 7 8          FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
attack, and Calais was universally regarded as the
natural landing-place for an English army, the great
flotilla pursued its course past the Isle of Wight, and
struck out for the opposite coast, filling up the mouth
of the Seine with innumerable vessels, and casting
anchor off the town of HIarfleur. Prayers for its success ascended from every parish in England; for the
clergy looked on the youthful king as their champion
against all their enemies,-against the Pope, who claimed
their tithes; against the itinerant monks, who denied
and resisted their authority, and against the nobles,
who envied them their wealth and territories. And no
wonder; for at this time the ecclesiastical possessions
included more than the half of England. Of fifty-three
thousand knightly holdings on the national register,
twenty-eight thousand belonged to mother Church!
Prayers also for its success were uttered in the workshops and markets. People were tired of the long inaction of Richard the Second's time, and longed for the
stirring incidents they had heard their fathers speak of
when the Black Prince was making the "Mounseers"
fly. For by this time a stout feeling of mutual hatred
had given vigour to the quarrel between the nations.
Parliament had voted unexampled supplies, and " all the
youth of England was afire."
Meantime the siege of Hlarfleur dragged its slow
length along. Succours were expected by the gallant
garrison, but succour never came. Proclamations had
indeed been issued,' summoning the ban and arriere ban
of France, and knights were assembling from all quarters to take part in the unavoidable engagement. But
the counsels at head-quarters were divided. The masses
of the people were not hearty in the cause, and the
men of HIarfleur, at the end of the fifth week of their
resistance, sent to say they would surrender "if they




CAPTURE OF HARFLEUR.            379
were not relieved by a great army in two days." "Take
four," said Henry, wishing nothing more than a decisive
action under the very walls. But the time rapidly
passed, and Harfleur was once more an English town.
Henry might look round and triumph in the possession
of streets and houses; but that was all, for his usual
barbarity had banished the inhabitants. The richer
citizens were put to ransom; all the rest were driven
from the place,-not quite naked, nor quite penniless,
for one petticoat was left to each woman, and one
farthing in ready money. Generosity to the vulgar
vanquished was not yet understood, either as a Christian duty or a stroke of policy. But courage, not unmixed with braggadocio, was still the character of the
time. The English had lost many men from sickness
during the siege. No blow had been boldly struck in
open field, and a war without a battle, however successful in its results, would have been thought no better
than a tournament. All the remaining chivalry of
France was now collected under its chiefs and princes,
and Henry determined to try what mettle-they were of.
He published a proclamation that he and his English
would march across the country from Harfleur to Calais
in spite of all opposition; and, as the expedition would
occupy eight days at least, he felt sure that some -attempt
would be made to revenge so cutting an insult. He
might easily have sent his forces, in detachments, by
sea, for there was not a French flag upon all the Channel;
but trumpets were sounded one day, swords drawn,
cheers no doubt heartily uttered, by an enthusiastic
array of fifteen thousand men, and the dangerous march
began. It was the month of October, the time of the
vintage: there was plenty of wine; and a French author
makes the characteristic remark, "with plenty of wine
the English soldier could go to the end of the world."




380            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
When the ~English soldier, on this occasion, had got
through the eight days' provisions with which he started,
instead of finding himself at Calais, he was only advanced as far as Amiens, with the worst part of the
journey before him. The fords of the Somme were
said to be guarded; spies came over in the disguise of
deserters, and told the king that all the land was up in
arms, that the princes were all united, and that two
hundred thousand men were hemming them hopelessly
round. In the midst of these bad news, however, a ray
of light broke in. A villager pointed out a marsh, by
crossing which they could reach a ford in the stream.
They traversed the marsh without hesitation, waded
with difficulty through morass and water, and, behold!
they were safe on the other side. The road was now
clear, they thought, for Calais; and they pushed cheerily
on. But, more dangerous than the marsh, more impassable than the river, the vast army of France blocked
up their way. Closing across a narrow valley which
lay between the castle of Agincourt and the village of
Tramecourt, sixty thousand knights, gentlemen, and
men-at-arms stood like a wall of steel. There were all
the great names there of all the provinces,-Dukes of
Lorraine, and Bar, and Bourbon, Princes of Orleans
and Berri, and many more. Henry by this time had
but twelve thousand men. tHe found he had miscalculated his movements, and was unwilling to sacrifice his
army to the point of honour. He offered to resign the title
of King of France and to surrender his recent conquest
at Harfienr. But the princes were resolved not to negotiate, but to revenge. Henry then said to the prisoners
he was leading in his train, "Gentlemen, go till this
affair is settled. If your captors survive, present yourselves at Calais." His forces were soon arranged.
Archers had ceased to be the mere appendages to a line




AGINCOURT.                 381
of battle: they now constituted almost all the English
army. All the night before they had been busy in preparation. They had furbished up their arms, and put
new cords to their bows, and sharpened the stakes they
carried to ward off the attack of cavalry. At early
dawn they had confessed to the priest; and all the time
no noise had been heard. Henry had ordered silence
throughout the camp on pain of the severest penalties,
A.D. 1415. -loss of his horse to a gentleman, and of his
right ear to a common soldier. The 23d of October was the great, the important day. Henry put a
noble helmet on his head, surmounted by a golden
crown, sprang on his little gray hackney, encouraged
his men with a few manly words, reminding them of Old
England and how constantly they had conquered the
French, and led them to a field where the grass was
still green, and which the rains had not converted into
mud; for the weather had long been unpropitious.
And here the heroic little army expected the attack.
But the enemy were in no condition to make an advance. Seated all night on their enormous war-horses,
the heavy-armed cavaliers had sunk the unfortunate
animals up to their knees in the adhesive soil. Old
Thomas of Erpingham, seeing the decisive moment,
completed the marshalling of the English as soon as
possible, and, throwing his baton in the air, cried,
"Now, Strike i" A great hurrah was the answer to this
order; but still the French line continued unmoved.
If it had been turned into stone it could not have been
more inactive. Ranged thirty-two deep, and fixed to
the spot they stood on, buried up in armour, and
crowded in the narrow space, the knights could offer
no resistance to the attack of their nimble and lightlyarmed foes. A flight of ten thousand arrows poured
upon the vast mass, and saddles became empty with



382            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
out a blow. There came, indeed, two great charges of
horse from the flank of the French array; but the in,
evitable shaft found entrance through their coats of
mail, and very few survived. Of these the greater
part rushed, blind and wounded, back among their
own men, crashing upon the still spell-bound line and
throwing it into inextricable confusion. Horse and man
rolled over in the dirt, struggling and shrieking in an
undistinguishable mass. Meanwhile the archers, throwing aside their stakes and seizing the hatchets hanging
round their necks, advanced at a run,-poured blows
without'cessation on casque and shield, completing the
destruction among the crowded multitudes which their
own disorder had begun; and, as the same cause which
hindered their advance prevented their retreat, they
sat the hopeless victims of a false position, and were
slaughtered without an attempt made to resist or fly.
The fate of the second line was nearly the same. Henry,
forcing his way with sword and axe through the living
barrier of horse and cavalier, led his compact array to
the glittering body beyond. There the merle'e became
more animated, and prowess was shown upon either
side. But the rear-guard, warned by previous experience, took flight before the middle lines were pierced,
and Henry saw himself victor with very trifling loss,
and only encumbered with the number of the slain, and
still more with the multitude of prisoners. Almost all
the surviving noblemen had surrendered their swords.
They knew too well the fate of wounded or disarmed
gentlemen even among their countrymen, and trusted
rather to the generosity of the conqueror than the
mercy of their own people. Alas that we must again
confess that Henry was ignorant of the name of generosity! Alarmed for a moment at the threatening aspect of some of the fugitives who had resumed their




SLAUGHTER OF THE FRENCH NOBILITY.    383
ranks, he gave the pitiless word that every prisoner was
to be slain. Not a soldier would lift his hand against
his captive, —from the double motive of tenderness and
cupidity. To tell an "archer good" to murder a great
baron, the captive of his bow and spear, was to tell him
to resign a ransom which would make hi'n rich for life.
But Henry was not to be balked. He appointed two
hundred men to be executioners of his command; and
thousands of the young and gay were slaughtered in cold
blood. Was it hideous policy which thus led Henry to
weaken his enemy's cause by diminishing the number
of its knightly defenders, or was it really the result of
the fear of being overcome? Whichever it was, the
effect was the same. Ten thousand of the gentlemen of
France were the sufferers on that day,-a whole generation of the rich and high-born swept away at one
blow! It would have taken a long time in the course
of nature to supply their place; but nature was not
allowed to have her way. Wars and dissensions interfered with her restorative efforts. Six-and-thirty years
were yet to be spent in mutual destruction, or in struggles against the English name; and when France was
again left free from foreign occupation, when French
chivalry again wished to assume the chief rule in human
affairs, it was found that chivalry was out of place; a
new state of things had arisen in Europe; the greatest
exploitwhich had been known in their national annals
had been performed by a woman; and knighthood had
so lost its manliness that, when prosperity and population had again made France a powerful kingdom, the
silk-clad courtiers of an unwarlike monarch thought it
good taste to sneer at the relief of Orleans and the
mission of Joan of Are!
Six years after Agincourt, the English conqueror and
the wretched phantom of kingship called Charles the




384            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
A.D. 1421. Sixth descended to their graves.  Military
honour and patriotism seemed utterly at an end
among the French population, and our Henry the Sixth,
the son of the man of Agincourt, succeeded in the great
object of ZEnglish ambition and was recognised from
the Channel to the Loire as King of France. In the
Southern provinces a spark of the old French gallantry
was still unextinguished, but it showed itself in the gay
unconcern with which the Dauphin, now Charles the
Seventh, bore all the reverses of fortune, and consoled
himself for the loss of the noblest crown in Europe by
the enjoyments of love and festivity. Perhaps he saw
that the whirligig of time would bring about its revenges, and that the curse of envious faction would vex
the councils of the conquerors as it had ruined the
fortunes of the subdued. The warriors of Henry still
remained, but, without the controlling hand, they could
direct their efforts to no common object. The uncles of
the youthful king speedily quarrelled. The gallant
Bedford was opposed by the treacherous Glo'ster, and
both were dominated and supplanted by the haughty
prelate, the Cardinal Bishop of Winchester. Offence was
soon taken at the presumption of the English soldiery.
Religious animosities supervened. The Churches of
England and France had both made successful endeavours
to establish a considerable amount of national independence, and the French bishops, who had withdrawn
themselves from the absolutism of Rome, were little inclined to become subordinate to Winchester and Canterbury. A court gradually gathered round the Dauphin,
which inspired him with more manly thoughts. His
feasts and tournaments were suspended, and, with his
hand on the hilt of his sword, he watched the proceedings of the English. These proceedings were uniformly
successful when restricted to the operations of war.




SIEGE OF ORLEANS.              385
They defeated the men of Gascony and the reinforcements sent over by the Scotch. They held a firm grasp
of Paris and all the strong places of the North, and
cast down the gauntlet to the rest of France by laying
A.D. 1428. siege to the beautiful city of Orleans in the
winter of 1428. Once in possession of the Loire,
they would be able at their leisure to extend their conquests southward; and all the loyal throughout the
country took up the challenge and resolved on the
defence of the beleaguered town. The English must have
begun by this time to despise their enemy; for, in spite
of the greatness of the stake, they undertook the siege
with a force of less than three thousand men. To make
up for the deficiency in numbers, they raised twelve
large bastions all round the walls, exhausting the troops
by the labour and finding it impossible to garrison
them adequately when they were finished. It seems
that Sebastopol was not the first occasion on which our
soldiers were overworked. To surround a city of several
thousand inhabitants, strongly garrisoned, and with an
open country at its back for the supply of provisions,
would have required a large and well-directed force.
But the moral effects of Agincourt, and even of Cressy
and Poictiers, were not yet obliterated. Public spirit
was dead, and very few entertained a hope of saving
the doomed place. Statesmen, politicians, and warriors,
all calculated the chances of success and decided against
the cause of France. But in the true heart of the
common people far better feelings survived. They were
neither statesmen, nor politicians, nor warriors; but
they were loyal and devoted Frenchmen, and put their
trust in God.
A peasant-girl, eighteen years of age, born and bred
in a little village called Domremy, in Lorraine, was
famlous for her religious faith and simplicity of charac17




886            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
ter. Her name was Joan d'Arc, —a dreamy enthusiast,
believing with full heart all the legends of saints and
miracles with which the neighbourhood was full. She
rested, also, with a sort of romantic interest on the personal fortunes;of the young discrowned king, who had
been unjustly excluded by foreigners from his rights
and was now about to lose the best of his remaining
possessions. She walked in the woods and heard voices
telling her to be up and doing. She-went to pray in the
dim old church, and had glorious visions of angels who
smiled upon her. One time she saw a presence with a
countenance like the sun, and wings upon his shoulders,
who said, " Go, Joan, to the help of the King of France."
But she answered, "({My lord, I cannot ride, nor command men-at-arms."  The voice replied, "Go to M. de
Baudricourt at Vaucouleurs: he will take thee to the
king. Saint Catharine and Saint Marguerite will come
to thy assistance." There was no voluntary deception
here. The girl lived in a world of her own, and peopled
it out of the fulness of her heart. She went to ~aucouleurs: she saw M. de Baudricourt. He took her to
Poictiers, where the Dauphin resided, and when she
was led into the glittering ring an attempt was made
to deceive her by representing another as the prince;
but she went straight up to the Dauphin and said to
him, " Gentle Dauphin, my name is Joan the Maid. The
King of Heaven sends to you, through me, that you
shall be anointed and crowned at Rheims, and you shall
be lieutenant of the King of Heaven, who is King of
France." All the court was moved,-the more pureminded, with sympathy for the girl, the more experienced, with the use that might be made of her enthusiasm to rouse the nation. Both parties conspired to
aid Joan in her design; and, clothed in white armour,
mounted on a war-horse, holding the banner of France




JOAN OF ARC.                387
in her hand, and waited on by knights and pages, she
set forth on her way to Orleans. It was like a religious
procession all the way. She prayed at all the shrines,
and was blest by the clergy, and held on her path undismayed with all the dangers that occurred at every
step. At length, on the 30th of April, she made her
entry into Orleans. Her corning had long been expected; and, now that it had really happened, people
looked back at the difficulties of the route and thought
the whole march a miracle. Meantime Joan knelt and
gave thanks in the great church, and the true defence
of Orleans began. Into the hard-pressed city had
gathered all the surviving chivalry of France, —Dunois,
the bastard of Orleans, La Hire, Saintrailles, rough and
dissolute soldiers, yet all held in awe by the purity and
innocence of the Maid. With Joan at the head of the
column of assault, the English intrenchments fell one
after another. In spite of wounds and hardships, the
peasant-girl pushed fearlessly on; the knights and gentlemen could not decline to follow where she led the
way; and ten days after her arrival old Talbot and Falstaff gathered up the fragments of their troops and
made a precipitate retreat from the scene of their discomfiture. But there was not yet rest for the dreamer
of Domremy. She hurried off to the Dauphin. "Gentle
Dauphin," she said, "till you are crowned with the old
crown and bedewed with the holy oil, you can never
be King of France. Come with me to Rheims. There
shall no enemy hurt you on the way." The country
through which they had to pass was bristling with
English castles and swarming with wandering troops.
Yet the counsel which appeared so hardy was in fact
the wisest that could be given. The faith in the sanctity of coronations was still strong. Whoever wasq first
crowned would in the eye of faith be true king. Win



388            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
chester was bringing over the English claimant. All
France would be startled at the news that the descendant of St. Louis was beforehand with his rival;
and the march was successfully made. "Gentle king,"
fuly 17, said Joan, kneeling after the ceremony, and
1429. calling him for the first time King, —" Gentle
King, Orleans is saved, the true king is crowned. My
task is done. Farewell."  But they would not let her
leave them so soon., The people crowded round her and
blest her wherever she appeared. " Oh, the good people
of Rheims!" she cried: "when I die I should like to be
buried here." "When do you think you shall die?" inquired the archbishop,-perhaps with a sneer upon his
lips. "That I know not," she replied: "whenever it
pleases God. But, for my own part, I wish to go back
and keep the sheep with my sister and brothers. They
will be so glad to see me again!" But this was not
to be.
If Talbot and Suffolk had been foiled and vanquished
by Dunois and La Hire, they would have accepted their
defeat as one of the mischances of war. A knightly
hand ennobles the blow it gives. But to be humbled by
a woman, a peasant, a prophetess, an impostor,-this
was too much for the proud stomachs of our steel-clad
countrymen. But far worse was it in the eyes of our
stole-clad ecclesiastics. Apparitions of saints and angels
vouchsafed to the recalcitrant Church of France! —
voices heard from heaven denouncing the claims of the
English king!-visible glories hanging round the head
of a simple shepherdess i It was evident to every clergyman and monk and bishop in England that the woman
was a witch or a deceiver. And almost all the clergymen in France thought the same; and after a while,
when the exploit was looked back upon with calmness,
almost all the soldiers on both sides were of the same




JOAN SENTENCED FOR HERESY.         389
opinion. Nobody could believe in the exaltation of a
pure and enthusiastic mind, making its own visions, and
performing its own miracles, without a tincture of deceit.
It was easier and more orthodox to believe in the liquefaction of the holy oil and the wonders wrought by the
bones of St. Denis: so, with a nearly universal assent
of both the parties, the humbled English and delivered
French, the most heroic and most feminine of women
was handed over to the Church tribunals, and Joan's
fate was sealed. Unmanly priests, whose law prevented
them from having wives, unloving bishops, whose law
prevented them  from  having daughters, —how were
they to judge of the loving heart and trusting tenderness of a girl not twenty years of age, standing before
them, with modesty not shown in blushes but in unabated simplicity of behaviour, telling the tale of all
her actions as if she were pouring it into the ears of
father and mother in her own old cottage at home, unconscious, or at least regardless, of scowling looks, and
misleading questions, directed to her by those predetermined murderers? No one tried to save her. Charles
the Seventh, with the oil of Rheims scarcely dried upon
his head, made no attempt to get her from the hands of
her enemies. The process took place at Rouen. Magic
and heresy were the crimes laid to her charge; and as
generosity was magic in the eyes of those narrow-souled
inquisitors, and trust in God was heresy, there was no
defence possible.  Her whole life was a confession.
First, she was condemned to perpetual imprisonment,
and to resume the dress of her sex. Then she was exposed to every obloquy and insult which hatred and
superstition could pour upon her. A gallant "Lord"
accompanied the Count de Ligny in a visit to her cell.
She was chained to a plank by both feet, and kept in
this attitude night and day. The noble Englishman did




390            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
honour to his rank and country. When Joan said, "I
know the English will procure my death, in hopes of
getting the realm of France; but they could not do it,
no, if they had a hundred thousand Goddams more than
they have to-day;" the gallant visitor was so enraged
by those depreciating remarks, and perhaps at the nickname thus early indicative of the national oath, that he
drew his dagger, and would, have struck her, if he had
not been hindered by Lord Warwick. Another gentleman, on being admitted to her prison, insulted her by
the grossness of his behaviour, and then overwhelmed
her with blows. It was time for Joan to escape her tormentors. She put on once more:the male apparel
which she had thrown off, and sentence of death was
passed. On the 30th of May, 1431, in the old fishmarket
of Rouen, the great crime was consummated. The
flames mounted very slowly;,and when at last they enveloped her from the crowd,;she was still heard calling.D. 1431. on Jesus, and declaring, "The voices I heard
were of God! -the voices I heard were of
God!" The age of chivalry was indeed past, and the
age of Church-domination was also about to expire.
The peasant-girl of Domremy wrote the dishonoured
epitaph of the first in the flame of Rouen, and a citizen
of Mentz was about to give the other its death-blow
with the printing-press.
This is one of the inventions apparently unimportant,
by which incalculable results have been produced. At
first it was intended merely to simplify the process of
copying the books which were already well known.
And, if we may trust'some of the stories told of the
earliest specimens of the art, we shall see that there
was some slight portion of dishonesty mingled with the
talent of the Fathers of printing. These were Guttenberg of Mentz, and his apprentice or partner Faust. The




PRINTING.                 391
first of their productions was a Latin Bible; and the
letters of this impression were such an exact
A.D. 1455.
imitation of the works of the amanuensis that
they passed it off as an exquisite specimen of the copyist's
art. Faust sold a copy to the King of France for seven
hundred crowns, and another to the Archbishop of Paris
for four hundred. The prelate, enchanted with his bargain, (for the usual price was several hundred crowns
above what he had given,) showed it in triumph to the
king. The king compared the two, and was filled with
astonishment. They were identical in every stroke and
dot. Htow was it possible for any two scribes, or even
for the same scribe, to produce so undeniable a facsimile of his work? The capital letters of the edition
were of red ink. They inquired still further, and found
that many other copies had been sold, all precisely alike
in form and pressure. They came to the conclusion- that
Faust was a wizard and had sold himself to the devil,
and that the initials were of blood. The Church and
State, in this case united in the persons of king and archbishop, had the magician apprehended. To save himself
from the flames, the unhappy Faust had to confess the
deceit, and also to discover the secret of the art. The
whole mystery consisted in cutting letters upon movable
metal types, and, after rubbing them with ink when
they were correctly set, imprinting them upon paper
by means of a screw. A simple expedient, as it appeared to everybody when the secret was spread abroad;
for there had been seals stamping impressions on wax
for many generations. Medals and coins had been
poured forth from the dies of every nation from the
dawn of history. In' England, playing-cards had been
produced for several years, with the figures impressed
on them from wooden blocks; and in 1423 a stamped
book, with wood engravings, had made its appearance,




392            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
which now, with many treasures of typography, is in
the library of Lord Spencer. Even in Nineveh, we
learn from recent discovery, the dried bricks, while in a
soft state, had been stamped with those curious-looking
inscriptions, by a board in which the unsightly letters
were set in high relief. Wooden letters had also long
been known; and yet it was not till 1440 that Guttenberg bethought him of the process of printing, and only
after ten or twelve years' labour that he brought his experiments to perfection and with one crush of the completed press opened new hopes and prospects to the
whole family of mankind. But things apparently unconnected are brought together for good when the great
turning-points of human history are attained. There are
always pebbles of the brook within reach when the
warrior-shepherd has taken the sling in his hand.
Shortly before the invention of printing, a discovery
was made without which Guttenberg's skill would have
been of no avail. This was the applicability of linen
rags to the manufacture of paper. Parchment, and preparations of straw and papyrus, had sufficed for the
transcriber and author of those unliterary times, but
would have been inadequate to supply the demand of
the new process; and therefore we may say that, as
gunpowder was essential to the use of artillery, and
steam-power for the railway-train, linen paper was indispensable to the development of the press. And tha:
development was rapid beyond all imagination. In the
remaining portion of the century, eight thousand five
hundred and nine books were published, of which the
English Caxton and his followers supplied one hundred
and forty-two,-a small contribution in actual numbers,
but valuable for the insight it gives us into the favourite
literature of the time. Among those volumes there are




PRINTING.                  393
"Songs of war for gallant knight,
Lays of love for lady bright;"
"The Tale of Troy divine," for scholars; " Tullie, of old
age," and "of Friendship," and "' Virgil's.Eneid," for the
classical; "Lives of Our Ladie and divers Saints," for
the religious; and "The Consolation of Boethius," for
the afflicted. But several editions prove the popularity
of the Father of English poetry; and we find the " Tales
of Cauntyrburrie," and the," Book of Fame,/' and
" Troylus and Cresyde, made by Geoffrey Chaucer," the
great and fitting representatives of the native English
muse.
We ought to remember, in judging of the paucity of
books produced in England, that the Wars of the Roses
broke out at the very time when Guttenberg's labours
began. In such a season of struggle and unrest as the
thirty years of civil strife-for though Mr. Knight, in
his very interesting sketch of this date,* has shown that
the period of actual and open war was very short, the
state of uneasiness and expectation must have endured
the whole time-there was small encouragement to the
peaceful triumphs of art or literature. And, moreover,
the pride of station was revolted by the prospect of the
spread of information among the classes to whom it had
not yet reached. The noble could afford to acknowledge
his inferiority in learning and research to the priest or
monk, for it was their trade to be wise and learned, and
their scholarship was even considered a badge of the
lowness of their birth, which had given them the primer
and psalter instead of the horse and sword. But those
high-hearted cavaliers' could ill brook the notion of educated clowns and peasants. And, strange to say, the
sentiment was shared and exaggerated by the peasants
-' Popular History-Henry VI.




394            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
and clowns themselves. Jack Cade is represented, by
an anachronism of date but with perfect truth of character, as profoundly irritated at the invention of printing, and the building of a paper-mill, and the introduction of such heathenish words as nominatives and adverbs: so that the press began its career opposed by the
two greatest parties of the State. Yet truth is mighty
and will prevail. No nobility in Europe gives such contributions to the general stock of high and healthy
thought as the descendants of the men of Towton and
Bosworth, and no peasantry values more deeply, or would
defend more gallantly, the gifts poured upon it by a free
and sympathizing press. Warwick the King-maker, if
he had lived just now, would have made speeches in
Parliament and had them reported in the Times, and
Jack Cade would have been sent to the reformatory and
taught to read and write.
But, with the peerages of Europe greatly: thinned,
with mounted feudalism overthrown, with the press rejoicing as a giant to run its course, something also was
needed in order to make a wider theatre for the introduction of the new life of men. Another world lay
beyond the great waters of the Atlantic. Whispers had
been going round the circle of earnest inquirers, which
gradually grew louder and louder till they reached the
ears of kings, that great things lay hidden in the awful
and mysterious solitudes of the ocean; that westward,
to balance the preponderance of our used-up continent,
must be solid land, equal in weight and size, so that the
uninterrupted waters would conduct the adventurous
mariner to the farther India by a nearer route than.D. 14. Bartholomew Diaz, the Portuguese, had just discovered. This man sailed to the southern extremity of Africa, passed round to the east without
being aware of his achievement, and penetrated as far




COLUMBUS.                 395
as Lagoa Bay. But the crew became discontented, and
the navigator retraced his steps. Alarmed at the commotion of the vast waves of the Southern Ocean pouring its floods against the Table Mountain, he had retired
from further research, and called the southern point of
his pilgrimage the Cape of Storms. It is now known to
us by a happier augury as the Cape of Good Hope. But,
whether perpetually haunted by tempests or not, the
truth was discovered that the land ceased at that promontory and left an unexplored sea beyond. This was
cherished in many a heart; for in this century maritime
discovery kept pace with the other triumphs of mental
power. Wherever ship could swim man could venture.
The Azores had been discovered in 1439 and colonized
by the Portuguese in 1440. Already in possession of
Cape Verd, Madeira, and the Canaries, Portugal looked
forward to greater discoveries, for these were the nurseries of gallant and skilful mariners. But the glory was
left for another nation,-though, by a strange caprice of
fortune, the chance of it had been offered to nearly all.
The life of Columbus is more wonderful than a romance. He hawked about his notion of the way to
India at all the courts of Europe. By birth a Genoese,
he considered the great ocean the patrimony of any
person able to seize it. When his services, therefore,
were rejected by his own country, he offered them successively to Portugal, to Spain, and to England. Henry
the Seventh was inclined to venture a small sum in the
lottery of chances; but, while still in negotiation with
the brother of Columbus, the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, closed with the navigator's terms,
and on the 3d of August, 1492, the squadron of discovery,
consisting of a vessel of some size, and two small pinnaces, with a crew at most of a hundred persons in all
the three, sailed from the port of Palos, in Andalusia.




396            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
Three weeks' constant progress to the westward took
them far beyond all previous navigation. The men became disheartened, discontented, and finally rebellious.
Against all, Columbus bore up with the self-relying
energy of a great mind, but was driven to the compromise of promising, if they confided in him for three days
longer,, he would return, if the object of his voyage was
yet unattained. But by this time his sagacious observation had assured hiln of success. Strange appearances began to be perceived from the ship's decks. A
carved piece of wood floated past, then a reed newly
cut, andd;tbest sign of all, a branch with red berries still
fresh. "From  all these symptoms, Columbus was so
confident of being near land, that on the evening of
the 11th of October, after public prayers for success, he
ordered the sails to be furled, and the ships to lie to,
keeping strict watch, lest they should be driven ashore
in the night. During this interval of suspense and expectation no man shut his eyes: all kept upon deck,
gazing intently towards that quarter where they expected to discover the land, which had been so long the
object of their wishes. About two hours before midnight, Columbus, standing on the forecastle, observed a
light at a distance, and privately pointed it out to Pedro
Guttierez, a page of the queen's wardrobe. Guttierez
perceiving it, and calling to Salcedo, comptroller of the
fleet, all three saw it in motion, as if it were carried
from place to place. A little after midnight the joyful
sound of'Land! land!' was heard from  the Pinta,
which kept always ahead of the other ships. But,
having been so often deceived by fallacious appearances,
every man was now become slow of belief, and waited
in all the anguish of uncertainty and impatience for the
return of day. As soon as morning dawned, all doubts
and fears were dispelled. From every ship an island




DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.           397
was seen about two leagues to the north, whose flat and
verdant fields, well stored with wood, and watered with
many rivulets, presented the aspect of a delightful
country. The crew of the Pinta instantly began the
Te Deum as a hymn of thanksgiving to God, and were
joined by those of the other ships, with tears of joy
and transports of congratulation. This office of gratitude to Heaven was followed by an act -of justice to
their commander. They threw themselves at the feet
of Columbus, with feelings of self-condemnation mingled
with reverence. They implored him to pardon their
ignorance, incredulity, and insolence, which had created
him so much unceasing disquiet and had so often obstructed the prosecution of his well-concerted plan; and,
passing in the warmth of their admiration from one
extreme to another, they now pronounced the man
whom they had so lately reviled and threatened to be a
person inspired by Heaven with sagacity and fortitude
more than human, in order to accomplish a design so
far beyond the ideas and conception of all former ages."
Many excellent writers have described this wondrous
incident, but none so well as the historian of America,
Dr. Robertson, whose eloquent account is borrowed in
the preceding lines. The great event occurred on Friday, the 12th of October, 1492, and the connection between the two worlds began. The place he first landed
at was San Salvador, one of the Bahamas; and after
attaching Cuba and H-ispaniola to the Spanish crown,
and going through imminent perils by land and sea, he
achieved his glorious return to Palos on the 15th of.March, 1493. He brought with him some of the natives
of the different islands he had discovered, and their
strange appearance and manners were vouchers for the
facts he stated. The whole town, when he came into
the harbour, was in an uproar of delight. "The bells




398            FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
were rung, the cannon fired, Columbus was received at
landing with royal honours, and all the people, in solemn
procession, accompanied him and his crew to the church,
where they returned thanks to Heaven, which had so
wonderfully conducted, and crowned with success, a
voyage of greater length, and of more importance,
than had been attempted in any former age."*
~ Dr. Robertson.




SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
imnpeworv  of Eermann t. {ingi 0 of Ftanc.
A.D.                         AD.
MAXIMILIAN I.-(cont.)        Louis XII.-(cont.)
1519. CHARLES V., (lstofSpain.) 1515. FRANCIS I.
1558. FERDINAND I.           1547. HENRY Ii.
1564. MAXIMILIAN II.         1559. FRANCIS II.
1576. RODOLPH II.            1560. CHARLES IX.
Uting  of Muglantb.    1574. HENRY III.
HENRY VII.-(cont.)            (The Bourbons.)
1509. HENRY VIII.            1589. HENRY IV.
1547. EDWARD VI.
1553. MARY.                       ting'   of,pain.
1558. ELIZABETH.             1512. FERDINAND V., (the
Catholic.)
f        fingp  lot'cotlanb.    1516. CHARLES I., (Emperor of
JAMES IV.-(cont.)              Germany.)
1513. JAMES V.
1556. PHILIP II.
1542. 3fA~RY.
1542. MAR.  1598. PHILIP III.
1567. JAMES VI.
otttinguibeb    Jaen.
LEONARDO DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, RAFFAELLE, CORREGGIO,
TITIAN, (Painters,) SIR PHILIP SYDNEY, RALEIGH, SPENSER,
SHAKSPEARE, (1564-1616,) ARIOSTo, TASso, LOPE DE VEGA, CALDERON, CERVANTES, SCALIGER, (1484-1558,) COPERNICUS, (1473-1543,)
KNOX, (1505-1572,) CALVIN, (1509-1564,) BEZA, (1519-1605,)
BELLARMINE, (1542-1621,) TYCHO BRAHE, (1546-1601.)








THE SIXTEENTHI CENTIURY.
THE REFORMATION-THIE JESUITS-POLICY OF ELIZABETII
IN the last two years of the preceding century the
course of maritime discovery had been accelerated by
fresh success. To balance the glories of Columbus in
the West, the "regions of the rising sun" had been explored by Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese. This great
navigator sailed back into the harbour of Lisbon on the
16th of September, 1499, with the astonishing news that
he had doubled the Cape of Storms, which had so alarmed
Bartholomew Diaz, and established relations of amity
and commerce with the vast continent of India, having
traded with a civilized and industrious people at Calicut,
a great city on the coast of Malabar. Under these reiterated widenings of men's knowledge of the globe,
the human mind itself expanded. Familiar names meet
us from henceforth in the most distant quarters of the
world. All national or domestic history becomes mixed
up with elements hitherto unknown. The balance of
power, which is the new constitution of the European
States, depends on circumstances and places of the most
heterogeneous character. A treaty between France
and Spain, or between England and either, is regulated
by events occurring on the Amazon or Ganges. The
whole world gets more closely connected than ever it
was before, and we can look back on the proceedings of
previous ages as filling a very narrow theatre, and regulated by very contracted interests, when compared with
the universal policies on which public affairs have now
401




402            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
to rest. At first, however, the great results of these
stupendous discoveries were naturally not observed.
Contemporaries are justly accused of magnifying the
small affairs of life of which they are witnesses; but
this observation does not hold good with respect to the
really momentous incidents of human history. A man
who saw Columbus return from his voyage, or Guttenberg pulling at his press, could not rise to the contemplation of the prodigious consequences of these two
events. He thought, perhaps, a quarrel between two
neighbouring potentates, or a battle between France
and Spain, the greatest incident of his time. His son
forgot all about the quarrel; his grandson had no recollection of the battle; but widening in a still increasing
circle, expanding into still more wonderful proportions,
were the Discovery of America and the Art of Printing,
-showing themselves in combinations of events and
changes of circumstances where they were never expected to appear,-the one threatening to overthrow
the freedom of every State in Europe by the supremacy
of the Spanish crown, the other in reality preventing
the chance of that consummation by raising up the
indomitable spirit of spiritual liberty. For there now
came to the aid of national independence the far more
elevating feelings of religious emancipation. Protestantism was not limited in this century to denial of the
spiritual authority of popes, but embodied itself also in
resistance to the political ambition of kings. America
might have enabled Charles the Fifth to conquer all
Europe, if the Reformation had not strengthened men's
minds with a determination to stand up against oppression.
But the commencement of this century gave no intimation of its tempestuous course. The first few years;aw the peaceable accession to the thrones of Spain and




SPAIN.                  403
France and England of the three sovereigns whose contemporaneous reigns, and also whose personal characters,
had the most preponderating influence on the succeeding
current of events. We have left Spain for a long time
out of these general views of a century's condition and
special notices of individual incidents which affected
the condition of the world; for Spain for a long time
lay obscurely between the ocean and the Pyrenees and
carried on wars and policies which were limited by its
territorial bounds. But, if we take a hurried retrospect of the last few years, we shall see that the different
nations contained in the Peninsula had amalgamated
into one mighty and strongly-cemented State. Ferdi-.D. 497. nand of Aragon, by marriage with Isabella
of Castile, united the various nationalities
under one homogeneous government, and by wisdom
and magnanimity-the wisdom being the man's and
the magnanimity the woman's-had rendered forever
famous the joint reign of husband and wife, had reconciled the jarring factions of their respective subjects,
and seen with the triumphant faith of believers and the
satisfaction of sagacious rulers the reunion of the last
Mohammedan State to the dominion of the Cross and
of the crown. They watched the long, slow march of
the Moorish king and his cavaliers as they took their
way in poverty and despair from the towers and
meadows of Granada, which a possession of seven
hundred years had failed to make their own. Thisthe conquest of Granada-took place in 1491; and 1516
saw the supreme power over all united Spain descend
on the head of the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella,
-inheriting, along with their royal dignity, the cautious
wisdom of the one and the wider intelligence of the
other. In three years from that time-it will be easy
to remember that Charles's age is the same as the cen



404            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
tury,'s-he was elected to the Imperial crown, so that
the greatest dominion ever held by one man since the
days of Charlemagne now fell to the rule of a youth of
nineteen years of age.  Germany, the Netherlands,
Naples, Sicily, and Spain, more than equalled the extent
and power of Charlemagne's empire. But ere Charles
was a year older, vaster dominions than Charlemagne
had ever dreamt of acknowledged his royal sway; for.D.1520. Montezuma, the Emperor of Mexico, whose
realm was without appreciable limit either in
size or wealth, professed himself the subject and servant
of the Spanish king.
Henry the Eighth of England had also succeeded at
an early age, being but eighteen in 1509, when the
death of his father, the politic and successful founder of
the Tudor dynasty, left him with a people silent if not
quite satisfied, and an exchequer overflowing with what
would now' amount to ten or twelve millions of gold.
This treasure had been accumulated by the infamous
exactions of the late sovereign, who was aided in the
ignoble service by two men of the names of SEmpson
and Dudley. These were spies and informers, not, as
in other climes and countries, about the religious or
political sentiments of the people, but about their titles
to their estates, the fines they were disposed to pay, or
the bribes they would advance to the royal extortioner
to avoid litigation and injustice. Henry had an admirable opportunity of showing his hatred of these practices, and availed himself of it at once. Before he had
been four months on the throne, Empson and Dudley
were ignominiously hanged; and with safe conscience,
after this sacrifice at the shrine of legality, he entered
into possession of the pilfered store. The people applauded the rapid decision of his character in both these
instances, and scarcely grudged him the money when




FRANCE.                  405
the subordinates were given up to their revenge. They
could not, indeed, grudge their young king any thing;
his manners were so open and sincere, his laugh so
ready, and his teeth so white; for we are not to forget,
in compliment to wha:tJ is facetiously called the dignity
of history, the immense advantages a ruler gains by
the fact of being good-looking. Nobody feels inclined
to find fault with a lad of eighteen, if moderately endowed with health and features; but when that lad is
eminently handsome, rioting in strength and spirits,
open in disposition, and, above all, a king, you need not
wonder at the universal inclination to overlook his
faults, to exaggerate his virtues, and even, after an
interval of two hundred and fifty years, to hear the
greatest tyrant of our history, and the worst man
perhaps of his time, talked of by the ordinary title of
Bluff King Hal. If he had been as ugly and humpbacked as his grand-uncle Richard the Third, he would
have been detested from the first.
But in the neighbouring land of France there reigned
at the same time a prince almost as handsome as Henry,
and nearly as popular with his people, with as little
real cause. In 1515, Francis the First was twenty
years of age, a perfect specimen of manly strength,accomplished in all knightly exercises,-generous and
magnificent in his intercourse with his nobility,-and
the greatest roue' and debauchee in all the kingdom of
France. Here, then, at the beginning of the age we
have now to examine, were the three mightiest sove-.
reigns of [Europe, all arriving at their crowns before at.
taining their majority; and with so many years before
them, and such powerful nations obeying their commands, great prospects for good or evil were opening on
the world. But in the early years of the century no
human eye perceived in what direction the future was




406            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
going to pursue its course. People were all watching
for the first indication of what was to come, and kept
their eyes on the'courts of Paris and ILondon and
Madrid;. but: nobody suspected that the real champions
of the time were already marshalling their forces in far
different situations. There was a thoughtful monk in a
convent in Germany, and a Spanish soldier before the walls
of Pampeluna. These were the true movers of men's
minds, of the great thoughts by which events are created;
and their names were soon to sound louder than those of
Henry or Charles or Francis; for one was Martin Luther,
the hero of the Reformation, and the other was Ignatius
ILoyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Take note of them
here as mere accessories to the march of general history:
we shall return to them again as characteristics of the
century on which they placed their indelible mark. At
this time, in the gay young days of the three crowned
striplings, these future combatants are totally unknown.
Brother Martin is singing charming hymns to the Virgin,
in a voice which it was delightful to hear; and Don
Ignacio is also singing to his guitar the praises of one
of the beautiful maidens of his native land. Public
opinion was still stagnant with regard to home-affairs,
in spite of the efforts of the infant press. People, bowed
down by the claims of implicit obedience exacted from
them by the Church, accepted with wondering submission the pontificate of such an atrocious murderer as
Alexander the Sixth; and some even ingeniously founded
an argument of the divine institution of the Papacy
upon its having survived the eleven years' desecration
of that monster of cruelty and unbelief. Yet now it
happened by a strange coincidence that the chair of St.
Peter was to be filled by a gayer and more accomplished
ruler than any of the earthly thrones we have mentioned. In 1513, Leo the Tenth, the most celebrated of




VENICE.                   407
the- family of the Medicis of Florence, put on the tiara
at the age of thirty-six, a period of life which was considered as youthful for the father of Christendom as
even the boyish years of the temporal kings. And Leo
did not belie the promise of his juvenility. None of the
dulness of age, or even the caution of maturity, was
perceived in his public or private conduct. He was a
patron of arts and sciences, and buffoonery, and infidelity; and it is curious to observe how the pretensions
of Rome were more shaken by the frivolous magnificence of a good-hearted, graceful voluptuary than they
had been by the crimes of his two immediate predecessors, the truculent Borgia and the warlike Julius the
Second.
This latter pontiff was intended by nature for a leader
of Free Lances, to live forever in " the joy of battle,"
and must have felt a little out of his element as the head
of the Christian Church. However, he rapidly discovered that he was a secular prince as well as a
spiritual teacher, and cast his eyes in the former capacity with ominous ill will on the industrious Republic
of Venice. The fishermen and fugitives of many centuries before, who had settled among the Adriatic
lagoons, had risen into the position of princes and
treasurers of Europe. By their possessions in the East,
and their trading-factories established along the whole.route from India to the Mediterranean, they had made
themselves the intermediaries between the barbaric
pearls and gold, the silks and spices, of the Oriental
regions, and the requirements of the West. Their galleys were daily bringing them the commodities of the
Levant, which they distributed at an exorbitant profit
among- the nations beyond the Straits of Gibraltar.
Mercantile wealth and maritime enterprise elevated the
taste and confidence of those Venetian traffickers, till




408            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
their whole territory, amid the lifeless waters of their
canals, was covered with stately palaces, and their fleets
assumed the dominion of the inland seas. On the mainland they had stretched their power over Dalmatia and
Trieste, and in their own peninsula over Rimini and
Ferrara and a great part of the IRomagna. Two ruling
passions agitated the soul of Julius the Second: one was
to recover whatever territory or influence had once
belonged to the iHoly See; the other was to expel the
hated barbarian, whether Frenchman, or Swiss, or
Austrian, from the soil of Italy. To achieve this last
object he would sacrifice any thing except the first;
and to unite the two was difficult. He made his approaches to Venice in a gentle manner at first. He
asked her to restore the lands she had lately won,
which he claimed as appendages of his chair, because
they had been torn unjustly from the original holders
by Caesar Borgia, the son of Alexander the Infamous;
and if she had agreed to this he would no doubt have
proceeded with his further scheme of banishing all
ultramontane invaders. ]3ut as the commercial council
of the great emporium hesitated at giving up what they
had entered in their books as fairly their own, he altered
his note in a moment, put on the insignia of his holy
office, and, denouncing the astonished republic as rebellious and ungrateful to Mother Church, he called in the
aid of the very French whom he was so anxious to get
quit of, to execute his judgment upon the offending
State. Venice was rich, and France at that time was
poor and at all times is greedy. So preparations were
made for an assault with the readiness and glee with
which a party of freebooters would make a descent on
the Bank of England. The temptation also was too
great to be resisted by other kings and princes, who
were as hungry for spoil and as attached to religion as




LEAGUE OF CAMBRAI.             409
the French. So in an incredibly short space of time the
league of Cambrai was joined by Maximilian, the Empe.
ror of Germany, and Ferdinand of Spain, and dukes
and marquesses of less note. There were few of the
Southern potentates, indeed, who had not some cause.D. 150. Of complaint against the haughty Venetians.
Some (as the German Maximilian) they had
humbled by defeat; others they had insulted by their
purse-proud insolence; others, again, by superiority in
commercial skill; and all, by the fact of being wealthy
and, as they fancied, weak.
Louis the Twelfth of France was first in the field. He
conquered at Agnadello, and, forcing his way to the
shore, alarmed the marble halls of the Venetians with
the sound of his harmless cannonade. The Pope was
next, and took possession of the towns he wanted. The
Duke of Ferrara laid hold of some loose articles in the
confusion, and the Marquis of Mantua got back some
villages which his grandfather had lost. Maximilian
was disconsolate at not being in time for the general
pillage, and had to content himself with Padua and
Vicenza and Verona. Maximilian was a gentleman in
difficulties, who has the- misfortune to be known in history as Max the Penniless. The Venetians sent to tell
him they were ready to acknowledge his suzerainty as
emperor, and to pay him a tribute of fifty thousand
ducats. The man would have forgiven them a hundred
times their offences for half the money, and was anxious
to close with their offer. But they had made no similar
proposition to the French king, nor to Ferdinand, nor
even of a ten-pound note to the Mantuan Marquis or
the Magnifico of Ferrara. Wherefore they all began to
hate the emperor. Louis declined to give him any more
assistance. Julius sent a secret message to the Venetians that Holy Church was not inexorable; and Venice,
18




410            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
relying on the placability of Rome, hung out her flag
against her secular foes in prouder defiance than ever.
She knelt at the feet of the Pope, and allowed him to
retain his acquisitions in IRomagna and elsewhere; and
as his first object, the enrichment of his domain, was
accomplished, he lost no time in carrying out the
second. By the fortunate possession of an unlimited
A.D. 1510. power of loosing mankind from unpleasant oaths
and obligations, he astonished his late confederates by publishing a sentence releasing the Venetians
from the censures of the Church and the Allies from the
covenants of the Treaty of Cambrai.  He then joined
the pontifical forces to the troops of Venice, and in hot
haste made a rush upon the French. He bought over
Ferdinand of Spain to the cause by giving him the investiture of Naples, hired a multitude of Swiss mercenaries, and, drawing the sword like a stout man-at-arms
as he was; h4;laid siege to Mirandola. In spite of his
great aged,-    was now past seventy,-he performed all
the offices of an active general, visited the trenches, encouraged his army, and after a two months' bombardment disdained i:;:eter the city by the opened gate,
but was triumphaitly i arried in military pomp through
a breach in the shattered wall. His perfidy as a statesman and audacity as a soldier were too much for the. 1511. Emperor and the King of France. They collected as many troops as they could, and threatened to summon a general council; for what excommunication as an instrument of offence was to the popes,
a general council was to the civil power.'The French
clergy met at Tours, and supported the Crown against
Julius. The German emperor was still more indignant.
He published a paper of accusations, in which the bitterness of his penniless condition is not concealed. "The
enormous sums daily extracted from Germany," he




MAXIMILIAN.                 411
says, "are perverted to the purposes of luxury or
worldly views, instead of being employed for the service
of God or against the Infidels. So extensive a territory
has been alienated for the benefit of the Pope that
scarcely a florin of revenue remains to the Emperor in
Italy." Louis and the French appeared triumphant in
the field; but their triumphs threw them into dismay,
for their protean adversary, when defeated as temporal
prince, thundered against them as successor of St. Peter,
and taught them that their victories were impiety and
their acquisitions sacrilege. A hard case for Louis,
where if he retreated his territories were seized, and if
he advanced his soul was in danger. The war, which
had begun as a combination against Venice, was now
converted into a holy league in defence of Rome.
Spaniards came to the rescue; and Henry, the youthful
champion of England, and all who either thought they
loved religion or who really hated France, were inspired.. 512.as if for a crusade. And Maximilian himself,
poor and friendless,-how was it possible for
him to continue obstinately to reject the overtures of
the Pope, the purse of the Venetians, or the far more
tempting whisperings of Ferdinand of Aragon, who said
to him, " Julius is very old. Would it not be possible
to win over the cardinals to make your majesty his successor?" Such a golden dream had never suggested itself to the pauperized emperor before. IHe swallowed
the bait at once. He determined to bribe the Sacred
College, and, to raise the necessary funds, pawned the
archducal mantle of Austria to the rich merchants, the
Fuggers of Antwerp, for a large sum, and wrote to his
daughter Margaret, "To-morrow I shall send a bishop
to the Pope, to conclude an agreement with him that I
may be appointed his coadjutor and on his death succeed
to the Papacy, that you may be bound to worship me,



412            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
of which I shall be very proud." This may appear a
rather jocular announcement of so serious a design; but
there is no doubt that the project was entertained.
Matters, however, advanced at too rapid a pace for the
slow calculations of politicians. The French, by a noble
victory at Ravenna, established their fame as warriors,
and roused the fear of all the other powers. Maximilian grasped at last the Venetian ducats which' had
been offered him so long before, and turned suddenly
against his ally. Ferdinand and Henry pressed forward on France itself on the side of the Pyrenees.
Foot by foot the land of Italy was set free from the
French invaders, and Julius the Second, dying before
the emperor's plans were matured, left the tangled web
of European politics to be unravelled by a younger
hand.
We have dwelt on this strange contest, where many
sovereign states combined to overthrow a colony of
traders, and failed in all their attempts, because it is the
last great appearance that Venite has made in the
general history of the world. From this time her power
rapidly decayed. Her galleys lay rotting at their
wharves, and the marriage of her Doge to the Sea was
a symbol without a meaning. The discovery of a passage to India by the Cape, which we saw announced to
Europe by Vasco da Gama in the last year of the late
century, was a sentence of death to the carriers of the
Adriatic. Commerce sought other channels and enriched other lands. Wherever the merchant-vessels
crowded the harbour, whether with the commodities of
the East or West, the war-ship was sure to follow, and
the treasures gained in traffic to be guarded by a navy.
All the ports of Spain became rallying-places of wealth
and power in this century. Portugal covered every sea
with her guns and galleons; Holland rose to dignity




TENDENCY TO CONSOLIDATION.          413
and freedom by her heavy-armed marine; and England
began the career of enterprise and liberty which is still
typified and assured by the preponderance of her commercial and royal fleets. Questions are asked-which
the younger among us, who may live to see the answer,
may amuse themselves by considering-as to the chance
of Venice recovering her ancient commerce if the pathway of Eastern trade be again traced down the Mediterranean, when the Isthmus of Suez shall be cut
through by a canal or curtailed by a railway. In
former times the whole civilized world lay like a golden
fringe round the shores of that one sea, and the nation
which predominated there, either in wealth or arms,
was mistress of the globe. But the case is altered now.
If the Gates of Hercules were permanently closed, the
commerce of the world would still go on; and, so far from
a Mediterranean supremacy indicating a universal preeminence, it is perhaps worthy of remark that the only
Mediterranean nations which have in later times been
recognised as of first-rate rank in Europe have had
their principal ports upon the Atlantic and in the
Channel.
There is a circumstance which we may observe as
characteristic of many of the European states at this
time,-the desire of combination and consolidation at
home even more than of foreign conquest. In Spain
the cessation of the oligarchy of kingships had established a national crown. The hopes of recasting the
separated and mutilated limbs of ancient Latium into a
gigantic Italy were rife in that sunny land of high resolves and futile acts. In Germany, the official supremacy of the emperor was insufficient to prevent the
strong definement of the corporate nationalities. Holland secured its individuality by unheard-of efforts; and
in England the great thought took possession of the




414            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
political mind of a union of the whole island. Visions
already floated before the statesmen on both sides of
the Tweed of a Great Britain freed from intestine disturbance and guarded by undisputed seas. [But the
general intelligence was not yet sufficiently far advanced. The Scotch were too Scotch and the English
too English to sink their national differences.; and we
can only pay homage to the wisdom which by a marriage between the royal houses-James the Fourth,.D. 1502. and Margaret of England-planted the promise
which came afterwards to maturity in the junction of the crowns in 1603, and the indissoluble union
of the countries in 1707.
Mieantime, the wooing was of the harshest. The
last great battle, Flodden, that marked the enmity of
the kingdoms, was decided in this century, and has left
a deep and sorrowful impression even to our own times.
There is not a cottage in Scotland where "The Fight of
Flodden" is not remembered yet. And its effects were
so desolating and dispiriting that it may be considered
the death-bed to the feeling of equality which had
hitherto ennobled the weaker nation. From this. time
[England held the position of a virtual superior, regulating her conduct without much regard to the dignity
or self-respect of her neighbour, and employing the arts
of diplomacy, and the meaner tricks of bribery and corruption, only because they were more easy and less'expensive than the open method of invasion and conquest.
" Scotland's shield" was indeed broken at Flodden, but
her character for courage and honour remained. It
was the treachery of Solway Moss, and the venality of
most of the surviving nobility, that were the real causes
of her weakness, and of the subordinate place which at
this time she held in Europe.
Thus the object which in other nations had been




CONDITION OF SCOTLAND.           415
gained by a union of crowns was attained also in our
island by the absence of opposition between the peoples.
Flodden and Pinkie may therefore be looked upon with
kindlier eyes if they are regarded as steps to the formation of so great a realm. No nation retained its feudal
organization so long as Scotland, or so completely departed from the original spirit of feudalism. Instead of
being leaders and protectors of their dependants, and attached vassals of the kings, the barons of the North were
an oligarchy of armed conspirators both against the
crown and the people. Few of the earlier Stuarts died
in peaceful bed; for even those of them who escaped
the dagger of the assassin were hunted to death by the
opposition and falsehood of the chiefs. Perpetually
engaged in plots against the throne or forays against
each other, the Scottish nobility weakened their country
both at home and abroad. Law could have no authority
where mailed warriors settled every thing by the sword,
and no resistance could be offered to a foreign enemy by
men so divided among themselves. Down to a period
when the other nations of Europe were under the rule
of legal tribunals, the High Street of Edinburgh was
the scene of violence and bloodshed between rival lords
who were too powerful for control by the civil authority.
A succession of foolishly rash or unwisely lenient sovereigns left this ferocity and independence unchecked;
and though poetry and patriotism now combine to cast
a melancholy grace on the defeat at Flodden, from the
Roman spirit with which the intelligence was received
by the population of the capital, the unbiassed inquirer
must confess that, with the exception of the single
virtue of personal courage, the Scottish array was ennobled by no quality which would have justified its success.
It was ill commanded, ill disciplined, and ill combined.
The nobility, as usual, were disaffected to the king and




416            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
averse to the war. But the crown-tenants and comrn
monalty of the Lowlands were always ready for an
affray with England; and James the Fourth, the most
chivalrous of that line of chivalrous and unfortunate
princes, merrily crossed the Border and prepared for
A.D. 1513. feats of arms as if at a tournament. The cautious Earl of Surrey, the leader of the English
army, availed himself of the knightly prepossessions of
his enemy, and sent a herald, in all the frippery of
tabard and cross, to challenge him to battle on a set
day, when Lord Thomas Howard would run a tilt with
him at the head of the English van. James fell into the
snare, and regulated his movements, in fact, by the
direction of his opponent.  When, in a momentary
glimpse of common sense, he established his quarters
on the side of a hill, from which it would have been impossible to dislodge him, Surrey relied on the absurd
generosity of his character, and sent a message to complain that he had placed himself on ground " more like
a fortress or a camp than an ordinary battle-field."
James pretended to despise the taunt, and even to refuse
admission to the herald; but it worked on his susceptible
and fearless nature; for we find that he allowed the
English to pass through difficult and narrow ways,
which were commanded by his guns, and when they
were fairly marshalled on level ground he set fire to his
tents and actually descended the hill to place himself on
equal terms with the foe. Such a beginning had the
only possible close. Stroug arms and sharp swords are.
excellent supports of generalship, but cannot always be
a substitute for it.  Never did the love of fight so inherent in the Scottish character display itself more
gallantly than on this day. Again and again the Scottish earls dashed forward against the English squares.
These were'composed of the steadiest of the pikemen,




FLODDEN.                  417
flanked by the wondrous archers who had turned so
many a tide of battle. Fain would the veteran warriors
have kept their men in check; fain would the conmmanders of the French auxiliaries have restrained the
Scottish advance. IBut the Northern blood was up.
Onward they went, in spite of generalship and all the
rules of discipline, and with a great crash burst upon
the wall of steel. It was magnificent, as the Frenchmen
said at Balaklava, but it was not war. Repelled by the
recoil of their own impetuous charge, they fell into
fragments and encumbered the gory plain. Very few
fled, very few had the opportunity of flying; for the
cloth-yard shaft never missed its aim. There was no
crying. for quarter or sparing of the flashing blade.
Both sides were irritated to madness. James pushed
on, shouting and waving his bloody sword, and was
wounded by an arrow and gashed with a ponderous
battle-axe when he had forced himself within a few
paces of Surrey. Darkness was now closing in. The
king's death was rapidly known, but still the struggle
went on. At length the wearied armies ceased to kill.
The Scotch retreated, and in the dawn of the next
morning a compact body of them was seen still threatening on the side of a distant hill. But the day was lost
and won. The chivalry of Scotland received a blow
from which it never recovered. What Courtrai had
been to the French, and Granson and Nanci to the Burgundians, and Towton and Tewkesbury to the English,
the 9th of September, 1513, was to the peerage of the
North. Thirteen earls were killed, fifteen barons, and
chiefs and members of all the gentle houses in the land.
Some were stripped utterly desolate by this appalling
slaughter; and from many a hall, as well as from humble
shieling, rose the burden of the tearful ballad, "The
Rowers o' the forest are a' wedd awa'."  There were ten




418            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
thousand slain in the field, the gallant James cut off in
the prime of strength and manhood, and the sceptre
which required the grasp of an Edward the First left to
be the prize of an unprincipled queen-mother, or any
ambitious cabal which could conspire to seize it. James
the Fifth was but a year or two old, and the country
discouraged and demoralized.
But Henry the Eighth was destined to some other
triumphs in this fortunate year. First there was the
victory which his forces won at Guinegate, near Calais,
where the French chivalry fled in the most ignominious
manner,and struck their rowels into their horses' flanks,
without remembering that they carried swords in their
hands. This is known in history as the second. Battle
of the Spurs,-not, as at Courtrai, for the number of
those knightly emblems taken off the heels of the dead,
but for the amazing activity they displayed on the heels
of the living. And, secondly, he could boast that the
foremost man in Christendom wore his livery and
pocketed his pay; for Maximilian the Penniless, successor of Charlemagne and Constantine and Augustus,
enlisted and did good service as an English trooper at
a hundred crowns a day. Let Henry rejoice in these
achievements while he may; for the time is drawing
near when the old sovereigns of Europe are to be moved
out of the way and France and Spain are to be governed
by younger men and more ambitious politicians than
himself. Evil times indeed were at hand, when it
required the strength of youth and wisdom of policy to
guide the bark not only of separate states, but of settled
law and Christian, civilization. For, however pleasant
it may be to trace Henry through his home-career and
Francis and Charles in their national rivalries, we are
not to forget that the real interest of this century is
that it is the century of the Reformation,-a movement




STATE OF THE CHURCH.            419
before whose overwhelming importance the efforts of
the greatest individuals sink into insignificance,-an
upheaving of hidden powers and principles, which in
truth so altered all former relations between man and
man that it found the most influential personage in
Europe, not in the Apostolic Emperor, or the Christian
King, or the Defender of the Faith, but in a burly friar
at Wittenberg, whose name had never been heard
before.
Let us see what was the general condition of the Romish
Chair before the outburst of its enemies at this time. One
thing is very observable: that its claims to supremacy and
obedience were, ostensibly at least, almost universally
acquiesced in. From Norway to Calabria the theory
of a Universal Church, divinely founded and divinely
sustained, in possession of superhuman power and uncommunicated knowledge, governed by an infallible
chief, and administered by an uninterrupted line of
priests and bishops, who had given up the vanities of
the world, satisfier of doubts, and sole instrument of
salvation,-this seemed so perfect and so natural an
organization that it had been accepted from time immemorial as incapable of denial. If a voice was heard
here and there in an Alpine valley or in a scholastic
debating-room impugning these arrangements or asking
proof from history or revelation, the civil power was
let loose upon the gainsayer, with the general consent
of orthodox men, and the Vaudois were murdered with
sword and spear and the inquiring student chained in
his monkish cell. The theory and organization of the
Universal Church were, in fact, never so well defined as
at the moment when its reign was drawing to a close.
Nobody doubted that a general Father, clothed in infallible wisdom, and armed with powers directly committed to him for the guidance or punishment of man



420            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
kind, was the Heaven-sent arbiter of differences, the
rewarder of faithful kings, the corrector of unruly
nations; and yet the spectacle was presented, to the
believers in this ideal, of a series of wicked and abandoned rulers sitting in Peter's chair, and only imitating
the apostle in his furiousness and his denial; cardinals
depraved and worldly beyond the example of temporal
princes; a priesthood steeped, for the most part, in
ignorance and vice, and monks and nuns the opprobria
of all nations where they were found. Never were
claims and performances brought into such startling
contrastixbefore. The Pope was the representative upon
earth of the Saviour of men; and he poisoned his guests,
like [Borgia, slew his opponents, like Julius, or led the
life of an intellectual epicure, like Leo the Tenth. In
former times the contrariety between doctrine and
practice would have been slightly known or easily reconciled. Few comparatively visited ]Rome; cardinals
were seldom seen; priests were not more ignorant than
their parishioners, and monks not more wicked than
their admirers. All believed in the miraculous efficacy
of the wares in which even the lower order of the
clergy dealt, and their rule in country places was so lax,
their penances so easily performed or commuted, their
relations with their people so friendly and on such equal
terms, that in the rural districts the voice of complaint
was either unheard or neglected. In Italy, the headquarters of the faith, the excesses of priestly rule were
the most glaring and wide-spread. Rome itself was
always the seat of turbulence and disaffection. The
lives of professedly holy men were known, and the vices
of popes and prelates pressed heavily on the people, who
were the first victims of their avarice or cruelty. But
the utmost extent of their indignation never reached to
a questioning of the foundation of the power from which




RELIGION OF THE ITALIAN.           421
they suffered. An Italian crushed to the earth by the
extortion of his Church, irritated perhaps by the personal wickedness of his director, sought no escape from
such inflictions in disbelieving either the temporal or
spiritual authority of his oppressor. Rather he would
have looked with savage satisfaction on the fagot-fire of
any one who hinted that the principles of his Church
required the slightest amendment; that the absolution
of his sensual confessor was not altogether indispensable; that the image he bowed down to was common
wood, or that the relics he worshipped were merely
dead men's bones. Perhaps, indeed, in those luxurious
regions, a bare and unadorned worship would not seem
to be worship at all. With his impassioned mind and
glowing fancy, the Spaniard or Italian must pour out
his whole being on the object of his adoration. He
loves his patron saint with the warmth of an earthly
affection, and -thinks he undervalues her virtues or her
claims if he does not heap her shrine with his offerings
and address her image with rapture. He must make
external demonstration of his inward feelings, or nobody will believe in their existence. The crouchings
and kneelings, therefore, which our colder natures stigmatize as idolatry, are to him nothing more than the
outward manifestation of affection and thankfulness.
He does the same to his master or his benefactor without degradation in the eyes of his countrymen. Without these bowings and genuflections his conduct would
be thought ungrateful and disrespectful. That this
amount of warm-hearted sincerity is wasted upon such
unworthy objects as his saints and relics is greatly to be
deplored; but wide allowances must be made for peculiarities of situation and disposition; and we should remember that whereas in the North a religion of forms
and ceremonies would be a body without a soul, because




422            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
there would be no inward exaltation answering to the
outward manifestation, the Southern heart sees a meaning where there is none to us, is conscious of a sense of
trust and reverence where we only see slavishness and
imposture, and a feeling of divine consolation and hope
in services which to us are histrionic and absurd. Religious belief, in the sense of a true and undivided faith
in the doctrines of Christianity, had no recognised
existence at the period we have reached. But this absence of religious belief was combined, however strange
the statement may appear, with-a most implicit trust in
the directions and authority of the Church. Sunny
skies might have shone forever over the political abasement and slightly Christianized paganism of the inhabitants o'f the two peninsulas and the Southeast of Europe,
but a cloud was about to rise in the North which dimimed
them for a time, but which, after it burst in purifying
thunder, has refreshed and cleared the atmosphere of
the whole world.
The first book that Guttenberg published in 1451 was
the Holy Bible,-in the Latin language, to be sure, and
after the Vulgate edition, but still containing, to those
who could gather it, the manna of the Word. Two years
after that, in 1453, the capture of Constantinople by the
Turks had scattered the learning of the Greeks among
all the nations of the West. The universities were soon
supplied with professors, who displayed the hithertounexplored treasures of the language of Pericles and
Demosthenes. Everywhere a spirit of inquiry began to
reawaken, but limited as yet to subjects of philosophy
and antiquity. Christianity, indeed, had so lost its hold
on the minds of scholars that it was not considered
worth inquiring into. It was looked on as a fable, and
only profitable as an instrument of policy. Erasmus
was alarmed at the state of feeling in 1516, and ex



LUTHER.                  423
pressed his belief that, if those Grecian studies were
pursued, the ancient deities would resume their sway.
But the Bible was already reaping its appointed harvest.
Its voice, lost in the din of speculative philosophies and
the dissipation of courts, was heard in obscure places,
where it never had penetrated before. In 1505, Luther
was twenty-two years of age. He had made himself a
scholar by attendance at schools where his poverty
almost debarred him from appearing. At Eisenach he
gained his bread by singing at the richer inhabitants'
doors. Afterwards he had gone to ]Erfurt, and, tired or
afraid of the world, anxious for opportunities of selfexamination, and dissatisfied with his spiritual state, he
entered the convent of the Augustines, and in two years
more, in 1507, became priest and monk. There was an
amazing amount of goodness and simplicity of life
among the brotherhood of this community. Learning
and devout meditation were encouraged, holy ascetic
lives were led, the body was kept under with fastings
and stripes. A Bible was open to them all, but chained
to its place in the chapel, and only to be studied by
standing before the desk on which it lay. All these
things were insufficient, and Brother Martin was miserable. 1His companions pitied and respected him. Staupitz, a man of great rank in the Church, a sort of inspector-general of a large district, visited the convent,
and in a moment was attracted by the youthful monk.
He conversed with him, soothed his agitated mind, not
with anodynes from the pharmacopceia of the Church,
but from the fountain-head of the faith. He painted
God as the forgiver of sinners, the Father of all men;
and Luther took some comfort. But, on going away,
the kind-hearted Staupitz gave the young man a Bible,
-a Bible all to himself, his own property, to carry in
his bosom, to study in his cell. His vocation was at




424            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
once fixed. The Reformer felt his future allfbefore him,
like Achilles when he grasped the sword and rejected
the feminine toys. The books he had taken with him
into the monastery were Plautus and Virgil; but he
studied plays and epics no more. Augustin and the
Bible supplied their place. Hungering for better things
than the works of the law,-abstinence, prayer-repetitions, scourgings, and all the wearisome routine of
mechanical devotion,- he dashed boldly into the other
extreme, and preached free grace,-grace without
merit, the great doctrine which is called, theologically,
"justification by faith alone." This had been the main
theme of his master Augustin, and Luther now gave it
practical shape. In 1510 he was sent on some business
of his convent to Rome,-to Rome, the head-quarters of
the Church, the earthly residence of the infallible!
How holy will be its dwellings, how gracious the words
of its inhabitants! The German monk saw nothing but
sin and infidelity. In high places as in low, the taint
of corruption was polluting all the air. In terror and
dismay, he left the city of iniquity within a fortnight of
his arrival, and hurried back to the peacefulness of his
convent. "I would not for a hundred thousand florins
have missed seeing Rome," he said, long afterwards.' I should always have felt an uneasy doubt whether I
was not, after all, doing injustice to the Pope. As it is,
I am quite satisfied on the point." The Pope was Julius
the Second, whose career we followed in the League of
Cambrai; and we may enter into the surprise of Luther
at seeing the Father of the Faithful breathing blood and
ruin to his rival neighbours. But the force of early
education was still unimpaired. The Pope was. Pope,
and the devout German thought of him on his knees.
But in the year 1517 a man of the name of Tetzel, a
Dominican of the rudest manners and most brazen




PAPAL INDULGENCES.            425
audacity, appeared in the market-place of Wittenberg,
ringing a bell, and hawking indulgences from the Holy
See to be sold to all the faithful. A new Pope was on
the throne,-the voluptuous Leo the Tenth. He had
resolved to carry on the building of the great Church
of St. Peter, and, having exhausted his funds in riotous
living, he sent round his emissaries to collect fresh
treasures by the sale of these pardons for human sin.
"Pour in your money," cried Tetzel, "'and whatever
crimes you have committed, or may commit, are forgiven! Pour in your coin, and the souls of your friends
and relations will fly out of purgatory the moment they
hear the chink of your dollars at the bottom of the box."
Luther was Doctor of Divinity, Professor in the IUniversity, and pastoral visitor of two provinces of the empire.
He felt it was his duty to interfere. He learned for the
first time himself how far indulgences were supposed to
go, and shuddered at the profanity of the notion of
their being of any value whatever. On the festival of
All Saints, in November, 1517, he read a series of propositions against them in the great church, and startled
all Germany like a thunderbolt with a printed sermon
on the same subject. The press began its work, and
people no longer fought in darkness.  Nationalities
were at an end when so wide-embracing a subject was
treated by so universal an agent. The monk's voice
was heard in all lands, even in the walls of Rome, and
crossed the sea, and came in due time to England.
"Tush, tush!'tis a quarrel of monks," said Leo the
Tenth; and, with an affectation of candour, he remarked, "This Luther writes well: he is a man of fine
genius."
Gallant young Henry the Eighth thought it a good
opportunity to show his talent, and meditated an
assault on the heretic,-a curious duel between a pale




426            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
recluse and the gayest prince in Christendom. But the
recluse was none the worse when the book was published,
and the prince earned from the gratitude of the Pope the
name "Defender of the Faith," which is still one of the
titles of the English crown. Penniless Maximilian looked
on well pleased,,and wrote to a Saxon counsellor, "All
the popes I- have had any thing to do with have been
rogues and cheats. The game with the priests is beginning. What your monk is doing is not to be despised:
take care of him. It may happen that we shall have
need of him." Luther's own prince, the Elector of
Saxony, was his firm friend, and on one side or other
all Europe was on the gaze. Leo at last perceived
the danger, and summoned the monk to Rome. He
might as well have yielded in the struggle at once,
for from Rome he never could have returned alive.
He consented, however, to appear before the Legate
at Augsburg, attended by a strong body-guard furnished by the Elector, and held his ground against
the threats and promises of the Cardinal of Cajeta. But
Maximilian carried his poverty and disappointment to
the grave in 1519; and when Leo saw the safe accession
of his successor Charles the Fifth, the faithful servant
of St. Peter, he pushed matters with a higher hand
against the daring innovator. Brother Martin, however, was unmoved. He would not retreat; he even advanced in his course, and wrote to the Pope himself an
account of the iniquities of Rome. "You have three or
four cardinals," he says, "of learning and- faith; but
what are these three or four in so vast a crowd of infidels and reprobates? The days of Rome are numbered,
and the anger of God has been breathed forth upon her.
She hates councils, she dreads reforms, and will not
hear of a check being placed on her desperate impiety."
This was a dangerous man to meet with such devices as




DIET OF WORMS.               427
balls and interdicts. Charles determined to try harsher
measures, and summoned him to appear at a Diet of the
States held in Worms. The emperor was now twentyone years old. His sceptre stretched over the half df
Europe, and across the great sea to the golden realm of
{Mexico. Martin begged a new gown from the not very
lavish Elector, and went in a sort of chariot to the appointed city, —serene and confident, for he had a safeconduct from the emperor and various princes, and
A.1521. trusted in the goodness of his cause. Such
a scene never occurred in any age of the world
as was presented when the assemblage met. All the
peers and potentates of the German Empire, presided
over by the most powerful ruler that ever had been
known in Europe, were gathered to hear the trial and
condemnation of a thin, wan-visaged young man, dressed
in a monk~s gown and hood and worn with the fatigues
and hazards of his recent life. " Yet prophet-like that
lone one stood, with dauntless words and high," and
answered all questions with force and modesty. But
answers were not what the Diet required, and retractation was far from Luther's mind. So the Chancellor of
Treves came to him and said, "Martin, thou art disobedient to his Imperial Majesty: wherefore depart
hence under the safe-conduct he has given thee." And
the monk departed. As he was nearing his destination,
and was passing through a wood alone, some horsemen
seized his person, dressed him in military garb, and put
on him a false beard. They then mounted him on a led
horse and rode rapidly away. Hits friends were anxious
about his fate, for a dreadful sentence had been uttered
against him by the emperor on the day when his safeconduct expired, forbidding any one to sustain or shelter him, and ordering all persons to arrest and bring
him into prison to await the judgment he deserved.




428            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
People thought he had been waylaid and killed, or at all
events sent into a dungeon. Meantime he was living
peaceably and comfortably in the castle of Wartburg,
to which he had been conveyed in this mysterious
manner by his friend the Elector,-safe from the machinations of his enemies, and busily engaged in his immortal translation of the Bible.
The movement thus communicated by Luther knew
no pause nor end. It soon ceased to be a merely
national excitement caused by local circumstances, and
became the one great overwhelming question of the
time. Every thing was brought into its vortex: however distant might be its starting-point, to this great
central idea it was sure to attach itself at last. Involuntarily, unconsciously, unwillingly, every government
found that the Reformation formed part of its scheme
and policy. One nation, and one only, had the clear
eye and firm hand to make it ostensibly, and of its deliberate choice, the guide and landmark in its dangerous
and finally triumphant career. This was England, —
not when under the degrading domination of its Henry
or the heavy hand of its Mary, but under the skilfal
piloting of the great Elizabeth, the first of rulers who
seems to have perceived that submission to a foreign
priest is a political error on the part both of kings and
subjects, and that occupation by a foreign army is not
more subversive of freedom and independence than the
supremacy of a foreign Church. Hitherto England had
been nearly divided from the whole world, and was
merely one of the distant satellites that revolved on the
outside of the European system, the centre of which
was Rome. She was now to burn with light of her
own. The Continent, indeed, at the commencement of
the Reformation, seemed almost in a state of dissolution. In 1529 disunion had attained such a pitch in the




LEAGUE OF S1MALCALDE.            429
Empire that the different princes were ranged on hostile
sides. At the Diet of Spires, in this year, the name of
Protestant had been assumed by the opponents of the
excesses and errors of the Church of iRome. At the
same time that the religious unity was thus finally
thrown off, the Turks were thundering at the Eastern
gates of Europe, and Solyman of Constantinople laid
siege to Vienna. France was exhausted with her internal troubles. Spain came to the rescue of the outraged faith, and made heresy punishable with death
throughout alL her dominions. While the Netherlands,
against which this was directed, was groaning under
this new infliction, disorder seemed to extend over the
solid earth itself. There were earthquakes and great
storms in many lands. Lisbon was shaken into ruins,
with a loss of thirty thousand inhabitants; and the
dykes of Holland were overwhelmed by a prodigious
rising of the sea, and four hundred thousand people
were drowned.
Preparations were made in all quarters for a great
and momentous struggle: nobody could tell where it
would break forth or where it would end. And ever
and anon Luther's rallying-cry was heard in answer to
the furious denunciations of cardinals and popes. Interests get parcelled out in so many separate portions
that it is impossible to unravel the state of affairs with
any clearness. We shall only notice that, in 1531, the
famous league of Smalcalde first embodied Protestantism
in its national and lay constitution by the banding together of nine of the sovereign princes of Germany, and
eleven free cities, in armed defence, if needed, of their
religious belief. Where is the fiery Henry of England,
with his pen or sword?  A very changed man from
what we saw him only thirteen years ago. He has no
pen now, and his sword is kept for his discontented sub



430            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
jects at home. In 1534, King and Lords and Commons,
in Parliament assembled, threw off the supremacy of
iRome, and Henry is at last a king, for his courts hold
cognizance of all causes within the realm, whether
ecclesiastical or civil. Everybody knows the steps by
which this embodied selfishness achieved his emancipation from a dominant Church. It little concerns us
now, except as a question ef historic curiosity, what his
motives were. Judging from the analogy of all his
other actions, we should say they were bad; but by
some means or other the evil deeds of this man were
generally productive of benefit to his country. He cast
off the Pope that he might be freed from a disagreeable
wife; but as the Pope whom he rejected was the servant
of Charles, (the nephew of the repudiated queen,) he
found that he had freed his kingdom at the same time
from its degrading vassalage to the puppet of a rival
monarch. He dissolved the monasteries in England for
the purpose of grasping their wealth; but the country
found he had at the same time delivered it from a swarm
of idle and mischievous corporations, which in no long
time would have swallowed up the land. Their revenues
were immense, and the extent of their domains almost
incredible. Before people had recovered from their
disgust at the hateful motives of their tyrant's behaviour, the results of it became apparent in the elevation
of the finest class of the English population; for the
"bold peasantry, their country's pride," began to establish their independent holdings on the parcelled-out
territories of the monks and nuns. Vast tracts of
ground were thrown open to the competition of lay proprietors. Even the poorest was not without hope of
becoming an owner of the soil; nay, the released estates
were so plentiful that in Elizabeth's reign an act was
passed making it illegal for a man to build a cottage




CHANGED ASPECT OF EUROPE.           431
"unless he laid four acres of land thereto.,"  The cottager, therefore, became a small farmer; and small
-farmers were the defence of England; and the defence
of England was the safety of freedom and religion
throughout the world. There were some hundred thousands of those landed cottagers and smaller gentry and
great proprietors established by this most respectable
sacrilege of Henry the Eighth, and for the sake of these
excellent consequences we forgive him his pride and
cruelty and all his faults. But Henry's work was done,
and in January, 1547, he died. The rivals with whom
he started on the race of life were still alive; but life
was getting dark and dreary with both of them.
Francis was no longer the hero of "The Field of the
Cloth-of-Gold," conqueror of Marignano, the gallant
captive of Pavia, or the winner of all hearts. He was
worn out with a life of great vicissitudes, and heard
with ominous foreboding the news of Henry's death.
A fate seemed to unite them  in all those years of
revelry and hate and friendship, and in a few weeks the
March ll, most chivalrous and generous of the Valois
1547. followed the most tyrannical of the Tudors to
the tomb. A year before this, the Monk of Wittenberg,
now the renowned and married Dr. Martin Luther, had
left a  place vacant which no man could fill; and now
of all those combatants Charles was the sole survivor.
Selfish as Henry, dissolute as Francis, obstinate as Martin, his race also was drawing to a close. But the play
was played out before these chief performers withdrew
All Europe had changed its aspect. The England, the
France, the Empire, of five-and-twenty years before
had utterly passed away. New objects were filling
men's minds, new principles of policy were regulating
states. Protestantism was an established fact, and the
Treaty of Passau in 1552 gave liberty and equality to




4832           SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
the professors of the new faith. Charles was sagacious
though heartless as a ruler, but an unredeemed bigot as
an individual man. The necessities of his condition, by
which he was forced to give toleration to the enemies
of the Church, weighed upon his heart. A younger
hand and bloodier disposition, he thought, were needed
to regain the ground he had been obliged to yield; and
in Philip his son he perceived all these requirements
fulfilled. When be looked round, he saw nothing to
give him comfort in his declining years. War was
going on in Hungary against the still advancing Turks;
war was- raging in LJorraine between his forces and the
French; Italy, the land of volcanoes, was on the eve of
outbreak and anarchy; and, thundering out defiance of
the Imperial power and the Christian Cross, the guns
of the Ottoman fleet were heard around the shores of
Sicily and up to the Bay of Naples. The emperor was
faint and weary: his armies were scattered and dispiritsd; his fleets were unequal to their enemy: so in 1556
he resigned his pompous title of monarch of Spain and
the Indies, with all their dependencies, to his son, and
the empire to his brother Ferdinand, who was already
King of Hungary and Bohemia and hereditary Duke of
Austria; and then, with the appearance of resignation,
out his soul embittered by anger and disappointment,
he retired to the Convent of St. Just, where he gorged
himself into insanity with gluttonies which would have
disgraced Vitellius, and amused himself by interfering
in state affairs which he had forsworn, and making
watches which he could not regulate, and going through
the revolting farce of a rehearsal of his funeral, with his
body in the coffin and the monks of the monastery for
mourners. Those theatrical lamentations were probably
as sincere as those which followed his real demise in
1558; for when he surrendered the power which made




TIHE REFORMATION.              433
him respected he gave evidence only of the qualities
which made him disliked.
The Reformation, you remember, is the characteristic
of this century. We have traced it in Germany to its
recognition as a separate and liberated faith. In England
we are going to see Protestantism established and triumphant. But not yet; for we have first to notice a
period when Protestantism seems at its last hour, when
3Mary, wife of the bigot Philip, and true and honourable
daughter of the Church, is determined to restore her
nation to the;Romish chair, or die in the holy attempt.
We are not going into the minutime of this dreadful time,
or to excite your feelings with the accounts of the burnings and torturings of the dissenters from the queen's
belief. None of us are ignorant of the cruelty of those
proceedings, or have read unmoved the sad recital of
the martyrdom of the bishops and of such men as the
joyous and innocent Rowland Taylor of Hadleigh.
Mhen's hearts did not become hardened by these sights.
Rather they melted with compassion towards the dauntless sufferers; and, though the hush of terror kept the
masses of the people silent, great thoughts were rising
in the general mind, and toleration ripened even under
the heat of the Smithfield fires. Attempts have been
made to blacken iMary beyond her demerits and to
whiten her beyond her deservings. Protestants have
denied her the virtues she unquestionably possessed,truthfulness, firmness, conscientiousness, and unimpeachable morals. Her panegyrists take higher ground,
and claim  for her the noblest qualifications both as
queen and woman,-patriotism, love of her people, fulfilment of all her duties, and exquisite tenderness of disposition. It will be sufficient for us to look at her
actions, and we will leave her secret sentiments alone.
We shall only say that it is very doubtful whether the
19




4$34           SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
plea of conscientiousness is admissible in such a case.
If perverted reasoning or previous education has made
a Thug feel it a point of conscience to put his throttling
instrument under a quiet traveller's throat, the conscientious belief of the performer that his act is for the
good of the sufferer's soul will scarcely save him from
the gallows. On the contrary, a conscientious persistence in what is manifestly wrong should be an aggravation of the crime, for it gives'an appearance of respectability to atrocity, and, when punishment overtakes the
wrong-doers, makes the Thug an honoured martyr to
his opinions, instead of a convicted felon for his misdeeds. Let us hope that the rights of conscience will
never be pleaded in defence of cruelty or persecution.
The restoration -of England to the obedience of the
Church, the marriage of Mary, the warmest partisan of.D. 1554. Popery, with Philip, the fanatical oppressor of
the reformed,-these must have raised the hopes
of Rome to an extraordinary pitch. But greater as a
support, and more reliable than queens or kings, was the
Society of the Jesuits, which at this time demonstrated
its attachment to the Holy See, and devoted itself
blindly, remorselessly, unquestioning, to the defence of
the old faith. Having sketched the rise of Luther, a
companion-picture is required of the fortunes of Ignatius Loyola. WVe hinted that a Biscayan soldier,
wounded at the siege of Pampeluna in Spain, divided
the notice of Europe with the poor Austin Friar of
Wittenberg. Enthusiasm, rising almost into madness,
was no bar, in the case of this wonderful Spaniard, to
the possession of faculties for government and organization which have never been surpassed. Shut out by the
lameness resulting from his wound from the struggles
of worldly and soldierly ambition, he gave full way to
the mystic exaltation of his Southern disposition. He




THE JESUITS.                 43b
devoted himself as knight and champion to the Virgin,
heard with contempt and horror of the efforts made to
deny the omnipotence of the Chair of Rome, and swore
to be its defender. Others of similar sentiments joined
him in his crusade against innovation. A company of
self-denying, self-sacrificing men began, and, adding to
the previous laws of their order a vow of unqualified
submission to the Pope, they were recognised by a bull,.D. 1540. and the Society of Jesus became the strongest
and most remarkable institution of modern
times. Through all varieties of fortune, in exile and
imprisonment, and even in dissolution, their oath of uninquiring, unhesitating obedience to the papal command
has never been broken. With Protean variety of appearance, but unvarying identity of intention, these
soldiers of St. Peter are as relentless to others, and as
regardless of themselves, as the body-guard of the old
Assassins. No degradation is too servile, no place too
distant, no action too revolting, for these unreasoning
instruments of power. Wilfully surrendering the right
of judgment and the feelings of conscience into the
hands of their superior, there is no method by law or
argument of regulating their conduct. The one prin.
ciple of submission has swallowed up all the rest, and
fulfilment of that duty ennobles the iniquitous deeds by
which it is shown. Other societies put a clause, either
by words or implication, in their promise of obedience,
limiting it to things which are just and proper. This
limit is ostentatiously abrogated by the followers of
Loyola. The merit of obeying an order to slay an
enemy of the Church more than compensates for the
guilt of the murder. In other orders a homicide is
looked upon with horror; in this, a Jesuit who kills a
heretical king by command of his chiefs is venerated as
a saint. Against practices and feelings like these you




436            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
can neither reason nor-be on your guard. In all kingdoms, accordingly, at some time or other, the existence
of the order has been found inconsistent with the safety
of the State, and it has been dissolved by the civil power.
The moment, however, the Church regains its hold, the
Jesuits are sure to be restored. The alliance, indeed, is
indispensable, and the mutual aid of the Order and of
the Papacy a necessity of their existence. Incorporated
in 1540, the brothers of the Company of Jesus considered the defections of the Reformation in a fair way of
being compensated when the death of our little, coldhearted, self-willed Edward the Sixth-a Henry the
Eighth in the bud-left the throne in 1553 to Mary, a
Henry the Eighth full blown. When nearly five years
of conscientious truculence had shown the earnestness
AD. 1558. of this unhappy woman's belief, the accession
of Elizabeth inaugurated a new system in this
country, from which it has never departed since without
a perceptible loss both of happiness and power. A
strictly home and national policy was immediately established by this most remarkable of our sovereigns, and
pursued through good report and evil report, sometimes
at the expense of her feelings —if she was so little of a
Tudor as to have any —of tenderness and compassion,
sometimes at the expense-and here she was Tudor
enough to have very acute sensations indeed-rof her
personal and official dignity, but always with the one
object of establishing a great united and irresistible bulwark against foreign oppression and domestic disunion.
It shows how powerful was her impression upon the
course of European history, that her character is as
fiercely canvassed at this day as in the speech of her
contemporaries.  Nobody feels as if Elizabeth was a
personage removed from us by three hundred years
We discuss her actions, and even argue about her looks




ELIZABETH.                437
and manners, as if she had lived in our own time. And
this is the reason why such divergent judgments are
pronounced on a person who, more than any other
ruler, united the opinions of her subjects during the
whole of her long and agitated life. H1er acts remain,
but her judges are different. If we could throw ourselves with the reality of circumstance as well as the
vividness of feeling into the period in which she moved
and governed, we should come to truer decisions on the
points submitted to our view. But if we look with the
refinements of the present time, and the speculative
niceties permissible in questions which have no direct
bearing on our prosperity and safety, we shall see much
to disapprove of, which escaped the notice, or even excited
the admiiration, of the people who saw what tremendous
arbitraments were on the scale. If we were told that a
cold-blooded individual had placed on one occasion some
murderous weapons on a height, and then requested a
number of his friends to stand before them, while some
unsuspecting persons came up in that direction, and
then, suddenly telling his companions to stand on one
side, had sent bullets hissing and crashing through the
gentlemen advancing to him, you would shudder with
disgust at such atrocious cruelty, till you were told that
the cold-blooded individual was the ]Duke of Wellington,
and the advancing gentlemen the French Old Guard at
W5aterloo. And in the same way, if we read of lElizabeth interfering in Scotland, domineering at home, and
bellicose abroad, let us inquire, before we condemn,
whether she was in her duty during those operations, —
whether, in fact, she was resisting an assault, or capri
ciously and unjustifiably opening her batteries on the
innocent and unprepared. Fiery-hearted, strong-handed
Scotchmen are ready to fight at this time for the inmaculate purity and sinless martyrdom of their beau



438            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
tiful l ary, and sturdy Englishmen start up with as bold
a countenance in defence of good Queen Bess. It is
not to be doubted that a roll-call as numerous as that of
Bannockburn or Flodden could be mustered on this
quarrel of three centuries ago; but the fight is needless.
The points of view are so different that a verdict can
never be given on the merits of the two personages
principally engaged; but we think an unprejudiced
examination of the course of Elizabeth's policy in Scotland, and her treatment of her rival, will establish
certain facts which neither party can gainsay.
ist. From this it will result, that, to keep reformed
England secure, it was indispensable to have reformed
Scotland on her side.
2d. That, in order to have Scotland either reformed
or on her side, it was indispensable to render powerless
a popish queen,-a queen who was supported as legitimate inheritor of England by the Pope and Philip of
Spain, and the [King and princes of France.
3d. That Elizabeth had a right, by all the laws of selfpreservation, to sustain by every legal arid peaceable
means that party in Scotland which was de facto the
government of the country, and which promised to be
most useful to the objects she had in view. Those objects have already been named,-peace and security for
the Protestant religion, and the honour and independence of the whole British realm.
To gain these ends, who denies that she bribed and
bullied and deceived?-that she degraded the Scottish
nobles by alternate promises and threats, and weakened
the Scottish crown by encouraging its enemies, both
ecclesiastical and civil? In prudishly finding fault with
these proceedings, we forget the Scotch, French, Spanish,
popish, emissaries who were let loose upon England; the
plots at home, the scowling messages from abroad; the




MARY OF SCOTLAND.             439
excommunications uttered from Rome; the massacre of
the Protestants gloried in in France, and the vast navies
and immense armies gathering against the devoted Isle
from all the coasts and provinces of Spain.
In 1568, after the defeat of the queen's party at
Langside, Mary threw herself on the pity and protection of Elizabeth, and was kept in honourable safety
for many years. She did not allow her to collect partisans for the recovery of her kingdom, nor to cabal
against the government which had expelled her. To
do so would not have been to shelter a fugitive, but to
declare war on Scotland. In 1848, Louis Philippe,
chased by the revolutionists of Paris, came over to
England. Hie was kept in honourable retirement. He
was not allowed to cabal against his former subjects,
nor to threaten their policy. To do so would not have
been to shelter a fugitive, but to declare war on France.
Even in the case of the earlier Bourbons, we permitted
no gatherings of forces on their behalf, and did not encourage their followers to molest the settled government,-no, not when the throne of France was filled by
an enemy and we were at deadly war with Napoleon.
But Mary was put to death. A sad story, and very
melancholy to read in quiet drawing-rooms with Britannia ruling the waves and keeping all danger from
our coasts. But in 1804, if Louis the Eighteenth or
Charles the Tenth, instead of eating the bread of charity
in peace, had been detected in conspiracy with our
enemies, in corresponding with foreign emissaries, when
a thousand flat-bottomed boats were marshalling for
our invasion at Boulogne, and Brest and Cherbourg and
Toulon were crowded with ships and sailors to protect
the flotilla, it needs no great knowledge of character to
pronounce that English William  Pitt and Scottish
Harry Dundas would have had the royal Bourbon's




440            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
head on a block, or his body on Tyburn-tree, in spite of
all the romance and eloquence in the world.
VMary's guilt or innocence of the charges brought
against her in her relations with Darnley and Bothwell
has nothing to do with the treatment she received
from Elizabeth. She was not amenable to English law
for any thing she did in Scotland,. nor was she condemned for any thing but treasonable practices which
it was impossible to deny. She certainly owned submission and allegiance to the English crown while she lived
under its protection. Let us indulge our chivalrous
generosity, and enjoy delightful poems in defence of
an unfortunate and beautiful sovereign, by believing
that the blots upon her fame were the aspersions of
malignity and political baseness: the great fact remains,
that it was an indispensable incident to the security of
both the kingdoms that she should be deprived of
authority, and finally, as the storm darkened, and derived all its perils from  her conspiracies against the
State and breaches of the law, that she should be deprived of life. Far more sweeping measures were pursued and defended by the enemies of Elizabeth abroad.
Present forever, like a skeleton at a feast, must have
been the massacre of St. Bartholomew in the thoughts
of every Protestant in Europe, and most vividly of all
in those of the English queen. That great blow was
meant to be a warning to heretics wherever they were
found, and in olden times and more revengeful dispositions might have been an excuse for similar atrocity on
the other side. The Bartholomew massacre and the
Armada are the two great features of the latter part of
this century; and they are both so well known that it
will be sufficient to recall them in a very few words.
This massacre was no chance-sprung event, like an
ordinary popular rising, but had been matured for many




ST. BARTHIOLOMEW.              4,1
years. The Council of Trent, which met in 1545 and
continued its sittings till 1563, had devoted those eighteen
years to codifying the laws of the Catholic Church. A
definite, clear, consistent system was established, and
acknowledged as the religious and ecclesiastical faith of
Christendom.  Men were not now left to a painful
gathering of the sentiments and rescripts of popes and
doctors out of varying and scattered writings. Here
were the statutes at large, minutely indexed and easy
of reference. From these many texts could be gathered
which justified any method of diffusing the true belief
or exterminating the false. And accordingly, a short
time after the close of the Council, an interview took
place between two personages, of very sinister augury
for the Protestant cause. Catherine de Medicis and the
Duke of Alva met at Bayonne in 1565. In this consultation great things were discussed; and it was decided
by the wickedest woman and harshest man in Europe
that government could not be safe nor religion honoured
unless by the introduction of the Inquisition and a
general massacre of heretics in every land. A few
months later saw the ferocious Alva beginning his
bloodthirsty career in the Netherlands, in which he
boasted he had put eighteen thousand ilollanders to
death on the scaffold in five years. Catherine also pondered his lessons in her heart, and when seven years
had passed, and the H[uguenots were still unsubdued,
she persuaded her son Charles the Ninth that the time
was come to establish his kingdom in righteousness by
the indiscriminate murder of all the Protestants. An
occasion was found in 1572, when the marriage of Henry
of Navarre, afterwards the best-loved king of France,
with the Princess Margaret de Valois, held out a prospect of soothing the religious troubles, and also (which
suited her designs better) of attracting all the heads of




442            SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
the Huguenot cause to Paris. Every thing turned out
as she hoped. There had been feasts and gayeties, and
suspicion had been thoroughly disarmed. Suddenly the
tocsin was sounded, and the murderers let loose over all
the town. No plea was received in extenuation of the
deadly crime of favouring the new opinions. IHospitality, friendship, relationship, youth, sex, all were disregarded. The streets were red with blood, and the
river choked with mutilated bodies. Upwards of seventy
thousand were butchered in Paris alone, and the metropolitan example was followed in other places. The deed
was so awful that for a while it silenced the whole of
Europe. Some doubted, some, shuddered; but Rome
sprang. up with a shout of joy when the news was confirrmed, and uttered prayers of thanksgiving for so great
a victory. If it could have been possible to put every
gainsayer to death everywhere, the triumph would have
been complete; but there were countries where Catherine's dagger could not reach; and whenever her name
was heard, and the terrible details of the massacre were
known, undying hatred of the Church which encouraged
such iniquity mingled with the feelings of pity and
alarm. For no one henceforth could feel safe. The
Huguenots were under the highest protection known to
the heart of man. They were guests, and they were
taken unawares in the midst of the rejoicings of a
marriage. Rome lost more by the massacre than the
Protestants. People looked round and saw the butcheries in the Netherlands, the slaughters in Paris, the
tortures in the Inquisition, and over all, rioting in hopes
of recovered dominion, supported by his priests and
Dominicans, a Pope who plainly threatened a repetition
of such scenes wherever his power was acknowledged.
Germany, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, and the
Northern nations, were lost to the Church of Rome




-MARY EXECUTED.               44Z
more surely by the scaffold and crimes which professed
to bring her aid, than by any other cause. Elizabeth
was now the accepted champion and leader of the Protestants, and on her all the malice of the baffled Romanists
was turned. To weaken, to dethrone-or murder the
English heretic was the praiseworthiest of deeds.
But one great means of distracting England from her
onward course was now removed. In former days
Scotland would have been let loose upon her unguarded
flanks; but by this time the genius of Knox, running
parallel with the efforts of the Southern reformers, had
raised a religious feeling which responded to the English
call. Scotland, freed from an oppressive priesthood, did
manful battle at the side of her former enemy. Elizabeth was kept safe by the joint hatred the nations entertained to Rome, and, as regarded foreigners, the Union
had already taken place. On one sure ground, however,
those foreigners could still build their hopes. Mary,
conscientious in her religion, and embittered in her dislike, was still alive, to be the rallying-point for every
discontented cry and to represent the old causes,-the
legitimate descent and the true faith. The greatest
circumspection would have been required to keep her
conduct from suspicion in these embarrassing circumstances. But she was still as thoughtless as in her
happier days, and exposed herself to legal inquiries by
the unguardedness of her behaviour. The wise counsellors of Elizabeth saw but one way to put an end to all
those fears and expectations; and Mary, after due trial,
AD. 15was condemned and executed. Hope was now
at an end; but revenge remained, and the great
Colossus of the Papacy bestirred himself to punish the
sacrilegious usurper. Philip the Second was still the
most Catholic of kings. More stern and bigoted than
when he had tried to restrain the burning zeal of Mary




444            SIXTEENTH'CENTURY.
of England, he was resolved to restore by force a revolted people to the Chair of St. Peter and exact vengeance for the slights and scorns which had rankled in his
heart from the date of his ill-omened visit. He prepared all his forces for the glorious attempt. Nothing
could have been devised more calculated to bring all
English hearts more closely to their queen. Every
report of a fresh squadron joining the fleets already
assembled for the invasion called forth more zeal in behalf of the reformed Church and the undaunted Elizabeth. Scotland also held some vessels ready to assist
her sister in this great extremity, and lined.her shores
with Presbyterian spearmen. Community of danger
showed more clearly than ever that safety lay in combination. Chains, we know, were brought over in those
missionary galleys, and all the apparatus of torture,
with smiths to set them to work. But the smiths and
the chains never made good their landing on British
ground. The ships covered all the narrow sea; but the
wind blew, and they were scattered. It was perhaps
better, as a warning and a lessonj that the principal
cause of the Spaniard's disaster was a storm. If it
had been fairly inflicted on them in open battle, the
superior seamanship or numbers or discipline of the
enemy might have been pleaded. But there must have
mingled something more depressing than the mere
sorrow of defeat when Philip received his discomfited
admiral with the words, "We cannot blame you for
what has happened: we cannot struggle against the
will of God."




SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
timge  of France.   fin   of  nxIganb anb Iotlan~.
A.D.                    A.D.
IIENRY IV. —(cont.)      ELIZABETH. —(cont.)
1610. LouIS XIII.              (House of Stuart.)
1643. Louis XIV.
1603. JAM:ES I.
Emperor; of 6sermanpt. 1625. CHARLES I.
1649. Commonwealth.
RODOLPH II. -(cont.) 1660. CHARLES II.
1612. MATTHIAS.
1685. JAMES II.
1619. FERDINAND II.
1619. FERDINAND     1689. WILLIAM III. and MARY.
1637. FERDINAND III.
1658. LEOPOLD I..        Ring   of spain,
PHILIP III.-(cont.)
1621. PHILIP IV.
1665. CHARLES II.
MotiliguiobeO  Den.
BACON, MILTON, LOCKE, CORNEILLE, RACINE, MOLIERE, KEPLER,
(1571-1630,) BOYLE, (1627-1691,) BOSSUET, (1627-1704,) NEWTON, (1642-1727,) BURNET, (1643-1715,) BAYLE, (1647-1706,)
CONDE, TURENNE, (1611-1675,) MARLBOROUGH, (1650-1722.)








THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
ENGLISH REBELLION AND REVOLUTION —DESPOTISM OF
LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH.
WE are apt to suppose that progress and innovation
are so peculiarly the features of these latter times that
it is only in them that a man of more than ordinary
length of life has witnessed any remarkable change.
We meet with men still alive who were acquainted with
Franklin and Voltaire, who have been presented at the
court. of Louis the Sixteenth and have visited President
Pierce at the White House. But the period we have
now to examine is quite as varied in the contrasts presented by the duration of a lifetime as in any other age
of the world. Of this we shall take a French chronicler
as an example,-a man who was as greedy of news, and
as garrulous in relating it, as Froissart himself, but who
must take a very inferior rank to that prose minstrel
of "gentle blood," as he limited his researches principally to the scandals which characterized his time.
WVe mean the truth-speaking libeller Brant6me. This
AD. 1616. man died within a year or two of Shakspeare,
and yet had accompanied lMary to Scotland,
and given that poetical account of the voyage from
Calais, when she sat in the stern of the vessel with her
eyes fixed on the receding shore, and said, "Adieu,
France, adieu i I shall never see you more;" and again,
on the following morning, bending her looks across the
water when land was no longer to be seen, and exclaiming, "Adieu, France! -I shall never see you more." The
441




448           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
mere comparison of these two things-the return of
liary to her native kingdom, torn at that, time with all
the struggles of anarchy and distress, and the death of
the greatest of earth's poets, rich and honoured, in
his well-built house at Stratford-on-Avon-suggests a
strange contrast between the beginning of Brantome's
literary career and its close: the events filling up the
interval are like the scarcely-cliscernible heavings in a
dark and tumultuous sea,-a storm perpetually raging,
and waves breaking upon every shore. In his own
country, cruelty and demoralization had infected all
orders in the State, till murder, and the wildest profligacy of manners, were looked on without a shudder.
Brantome attended the scanty and unregretted funeral
of ilenry the Third, the last of the house of Yalois,
who was stabbed by the monk Jacques Clement for
faltering in his allegiance to the Church. A sentence
had been pronounced at Rome against the miserable
king, and the fanatic's dagger was ready. Sixtus the
Fifth, in full consistory, declared that the regicide was
"comparable, as regards the salvation of the world, to
the incarnation and the resurrection, and that the
courage of the youthful Jacobin surpassed that of
Eleazar and Judith."  "That Pope," says Chateaubriand, the Catholic historian of France, "had too little
political conviction, and too much genius, to be sincere
in these sacrilegious comparisons; but it was of importance to him to encourage the fanatics who were ready
to murder kings in the name of the papal power."
Brantome had seen the issuing of a bull containing the
sarr e penalties against Elizabeth, the death of Mary on
the scaffold, and the failure of the Armada. After the
horrors of the religious wars, from the conspiracy of
Amboise in 1560 to the publication of the edict of toleration given at Nantes in 1598, he had seen the com



EAST INDIA COMPANY.              449
paratively peaceful days of Ilenry the Fourth, till fanaticism again awoke a suspicion of a return to his original
Protestant leanings, as shown in his opposition to the
house of Austria, and Ravaillac renewed the meritorious
work of Clement in 1610. Last of all, the spectator of
all these changes saw ]England and Scotland forevel
united under one crown, and the first rise of the master
of the modern policy of Europe, for in the year of
Brantbme's death a young priest was appointed Secretary of State in France, whom men soon gazed on with
fear and wonder as the great Cardinal Richelieu.
In England the alterations were as great and striking.
After the troubled years from Elizabeth's accession to
the Armada, a period of rest and progress came. Interests became spread over the whole nation, and did
not depend so exclusively on the throne. Wisdom and
good feeling made Elizabeth's crown, in fact, what laws
and compacts have made her successors',-a constitutional sovereign's. She ascertained the sentiments of
her people almost without the intervention of Parliament, and was more a carrier-through of the national
will than the originator of absolute decrees.  The
moral battles of a nation in pursuit of some momentous
object like religious or political. freedom  bring forth
great future crops, as fields are enriched on which
mighty armies have been engaged.  The fertilizing
influence extends in every direction, far and near. If,
therefore, the intellectual harvest that followed the
final rejection of the Pope and crowning defeat of the
Spaniard included Shakspeare and Bacon, and a host of
lesser but still majestic names, we may venture also to
remark, on the duller and more prosaic side of the question, that in the first year of the seventeenth century a
patent was issued by which a commercial speculation
attained a substantive existence, for the East India




450          SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Company was founded, with a stock of seventy-two
thousand pounds, and a fleet of four vessels took their
way from the English harbours, on their first voyage to
the realm where hereafter their employers, who thus
began as merchant adventurers, were to rule as kings.
The example set by these enterprising men was followed
by high and low. During the previous century people
had been too busy with their domestic and religious disputes to pay much attention to foreign exploration.
They were occupied with securing their liberties from
the tyranny of Hienry the Eighth and their lives from
the truculence of Mary. Then the plots perpetually
formed against Elizabeth, by domestic treason and
foreign levy, kept their attention exclusively on homeaffairs. But when the State was settled and religion
secure, the long-pent-up activity of the national mind
found vent in distant expeditions. A chivalrous contempt of danger, and poetic longing for new adventure,
mingled with the baser attractions of those maritime
wanderings. The families of gentle blood in England,
instead of sending their sons to waste their lives in pursuit of knightly fame in the service of foreign states,
equipped them for far higher enterprises, and sent them
forth to gather the riches of unknown lands beyond the
sea. Romantic rumours were rife in every manorhouse of the strange sights and inexhaustible wealth to
be gained by undaunted seamanship and judicious treatment of the natives of yet-unexplored dominions. Spain
and Portugal had their kingdoms, but the extent of
America was great enough for all. Islands were everywhere to be found untouched as yet by the foot of
European; and many a winter's night was spent in
talking over the possible results of sailing up some of
the vast rivers that came down like bursting oceans
from the far-inland regions to which nobody had as yet




EXPEDITIONS.                451
ascended,-the people and cities that lay upon their
banks, the gold and jewels that paved the common soil.
Towards the end of Elizabeth's reign, these imaginings
had grown into sufficing motives of action, and gentlemen were ready from all the ports of the kingdom to
sail on their adventurous voyages. In addition to the
chance those gallant mariners had of realizing their
day-dreams by the tedious methods of discovery and
exploration, there was always the prospect of making
prize of a galleon of Spain; for at all times, however
friendly the nations might be in the European waters, a
war was carried on beyond the Azores. Not altogether
lost, therefore, was the old knightly spirit of peril-seeking and adventure in those commercial and geographical
speculations. There were articles of merchandise in
the hold, gaudy-coloured cloths, and bead ornaments,
and wretched looking-glasses, besides brass and iron;
but all round the captain's cabin were arranged swords
and pistols, boarding-pikes, and. other implements of
fight. Guns also of larger size peeped out of the portholes, and the crew were chosen as much with a view
to warlike operations as to the ordinary duties of the
ship. The Spaniards had made their way into the
Pacific, and had established large settlements on the
shores of Chili and Peru. Scenes which have been
reacted at the diggings in modern timnes took place
where the Europeans fixed their seat, and ships loaded
with the precious metals found their way home, exposed
to all the perils of storm and war. Drake had pounced
upon several of their galleys and despoiled them of their
precious cargo. Cavendish, a gentleman of good estate
in Suffolk, had followed in his wake, and, after forcing
his way through the Straits of Magellan, had reached
the shores of California itself and there captured a
Spanish vessel freighted with a vast amount of gold.




452           SEVENTEENTI-I CENTURY.
All these adventures of the expiring sixteenth century
became traditions and ballads of the young seventeenth.
Raleigh, the most accomplished gentleman of his time,
gave the glory of his example to the maritime career,
and all the oceans were alive with British ships. While
Raleigh and others of the upper class were carrying on
a sort of cultivated crusade against the monopoly of the
Spaniards, others of a less aristocratic position were
busied in the more regular paths of commerce. We
have seen the formation of the India Company in 1600.
Our competitors, the Dutch, fitted out fleets on a larger
scale, afid established relations of trade and friendship
with the natives of Polynesia and New Holland, and
even of Java and India. But the zeal of the public in
trading-speculations was not only shown in those wellconducted expeditions to lands easily accessible and
already known: a company was established for the purpose of opening. out the African trade, and a commercial voyage was undertaken to no less a place than
Timbuctoo by a gallant pair of seamen of the names of
Thomson and Jobson. It was not long before these
efforts at honest international communication, and even
the exploits of the Drakes and Cavendishes, who acted
under commissions from the queen, degenerated into
lawless piracy and the golden age of the.Buccaneers.
The policy of Spain was complete monopoly in her own
hands, and a refusal of foreign intercourse worthy of
the potentates of China and Japan. All access was prohibited to the flags of foreign nations, and the natural result followed. Adventurous voyagers made their appearance with no flag at all, dr with the hideous emblem of a
death's head emblazoned on their standard, determined to
trade peaceably if possible, but to trade whether peaceably
or not. The Spanish colonists were not indisposed to
exchange their commodities with those of the new



EMIGRATION.                 463
comners, but the law was imperative. The Buccaneers,
therefore, proceeded to help themselves to what they
wanted by force, and at length came to consider themselves an organized estate, governed by their own laws,
and qualified to make treaties like any other established
and recognised power. Cuba had been nearly depopulated by the cruelties and fanaticism of its Spanish
masters, and was seized on by the Buccaneers. From
this rich and beautiful island the pirate-barks dashed
out upon any Spanish sail which might be leaving the
mainland. Commanding the Gulf of Mexico, and with
the power of crossing the Isthmus of Panama by a
rapid march, those redoubtable bandits held the treasurelands of the Spaniards in terrible subjection. And up
to the commencement even of the eighteenth century
the frightful spectacle was presented of a powerful confederacy of the wildest and most dissolute villains in
Europe domineering over the most'frequented seas in
the world, and filling peaceful voyagers, and even wellarmed men-of-war, with alarm  by their unsparing
cruelty, and atrocities which it curdles the blood to
think of.
Eastward as far as China, westward to the islands
and shores of the great Pacific, up the rivers of Africa,
and even among the forests of }New  olland and Tasmania, the swarms of European adventurers succeeded
each other without cessation. The marvel is, that, with
such ceaseless activity, any islands, however remote or
small, were left for the discovery of after-times. 7But
the tide of English emigration rolled towards the mainland of North America with a steadier flow than to any
other quarter. The idea of a northwest passage to
India had taken possession of men's minds, and hardy
seamen had already braved the horrors of a polar
Wvinter, and set examples of fortitude and patience




454           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
which their successors, from Behrens to Kane, have
so nobly followed. But the fertile plains of Virginia,
and the navigable streams of the eastern shore, were
more alluring to the peaceful and unenterprising settlers,
whose object was to find a new home and carry on a
lucrative trade with the native Indians. In 1607, a
colony, properly so called,-for it had made provision
for permanent settlement, and consisted of a hundred
and ten persons, male and female,-arrived at the mouth
of the Chesapeake. The river Powhatan was eagerly
explored; and at a point'sufficiently far up to be secure
from sudden attack from the sea, and on an isthmus
easily defended from native assault, they pitched their
tents on a spot which was hereafter known as Jamestown and is still honoured as the earliest of the
American settlements.  Our neighbour Holland was
not behindhand either in trade or colonization, and
equally with England was excited to fresh efforts by its
recovered liberty and independence. In all directions
of intellectual and physical employment those two
States went boundingly forward at the head of the movement. The absolute monarchies lay lazily by, and
relied on the inertness of their mass for their defence
against those active competitors; and Spain, an unwieldy bulk, showed the intimate connection there will
always exist between liberal institutions at home and
active progress abroad. The sun never set on the
dominions of the Spanish crown, but the life of the
people was crushed out of them by the weight of the Inquisition and despotism. The United Provinces and combined Great Britain had shaken off both those petrifying institutions, and Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Dutchmen were ploughing up every sea, presenting themselves at the courts of strange-coloured potentates, in
regions whose existence had been unknown a few years




MERRY ENGLAND.                455
before, and gradually accustoming the wealth and commerce of the world to find their way to London and
Amsterdam.
To go from these views of hardihood an.d enterprise,
from the wild heaving of unruly vigour which animated
the traffickers and tyrants of the main, to the peaceful
and pedantic domestic reign of James the First, shows
the two extremes of European character at this time.
The ]English people were not more than four millions in
number, but they were the happiest and most favoured
of all the nations. This was indeed the time,
"Ere England's woes began,
When every rood of land maintain'd its man;"
for we have seen how the division of the great monastic
properties had created a new order in the State.; All
accounts concur in describing the opening of this century as the period of the greatest physical prosperity
of the body of the people. A great deal of dulness
and unrefinement there must still have been in the
boroughs, where such: sage officials as Dogberry displayed their pomp and ignorance,-a great deal of
clownishness and coarseness in country-places, where
Audreys and Autolycuses were to be found; but among
townsmen and peasantry there was none of the grinding poverty which a more unequal distribution of
national wealth creates. There were great Whitsun
ales, and dancings round the Maypole; feasts on village
greens, and a spirit of rude and personal independence,
which became mellowed into manly self-respect when
treated with deference by the higher ranks, the old
hereditary gentry and the retired statesmen of Queen
Bess, but bristled up in insolence and rebellion wheni
the governing power thwarted its wishes, or fanaticism
soured it with the bitter waters of polemic strife. The
sturdy Englishman who doffed his hat to the squire, and




456           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
joined his young lord in sports upon the green, in the
beginning of James's reign, was the same stout-hearted,
strong-willed individual who stiffened into Puritanism
and contempt of all earthly authorities in the unlovely,
unloving days of the Rump and Cromwell. Nor should
we miss the great truth which lies hidden under the rigid
forms of that period,-that the same noble qualities which
characterized the happy yeoman and jocund squire of
1620-their earnestness, energy, and intensity of home
affections —were no less existent in their ascetic shorthaired descendants of 1650.  The brimfulness of life
which overflowed into expeditions against the Spaniards
in Peru, and unravellings of the tangled rivers of Africa,
and trackings of the wild bears among the ice-floes of
Htudson's Bay, took a new direction when the century
reached the middle of its course, and developed itself in
the stormy discussions of the contending sects and the
blood and misery of so many battle-fields. How was this
great change worked on the English mind? How was it
that the long-surviving soldier, courtier, landholder, of
Queen Elizabeth saw his grandson grow up into the hardfeatured, heavy-browed, keen-sworded Ironside of Oliver?
A squire who ruined himself in loyal entertainments to
King James on his larder-and-cellar-emptying journey
from Edinburgh to London in 1603 may have lived to
see his son, and son's son, rejoicing with unholy triumph
over the victory of Naseby in 1644 and the death of
Charles in 1649.
Great causes must have been at work to produce this
astonishing change, and some of them it will not be
difficult to point out. Perhaps, indeed, the prosperity
we have described may itself have contributed to the
alteration in the English ways of thought. While the
nation was trampled on by HIenry the Eighth, with
property and life insecure and poverty universally dif



CHURCH OF ENGLAND.             457
fused, or even while it was guided by the strong hand
of Elizabeth, it had neither power nor inclination to
examine into its rights. The rights of a starving and
oppressed population are not very great, even in its own
eyes.  It is the well-fed, law-protected, enterprising
citizen who sees the value of just and settled government, because the blessings he enjoys depend upon its
continuance. The mind of the nation had been pauperized along with its body by the life of charitable dependence it had led at the doors of church and monastery in the olden time. It little mattered to a gaping
crowd expecting the accustomed dole whether the great
man in London was a tyrannical king or not. They did
not care whether he dismissed his Parliaments or cut
off the heads of his nobility. They still found their
"bit and sup," and saw the King, and Parliament, and
nobility, united in obedience to the Church. But when
this debasing charity was discontinued, independence
came on. The idle hanger-on of the religious house
became a cottager, and worked on his own land; by
industry he got capital enough to take some additional
acres; and the man of the next generation had forgotten
the low condition he sprang from, and had so sharpened his mind by the theological quarrels of the time
that he began to be able to comprehend the question of
general politics. Hie saw, as every population and potentate in Europe saw with equal clearness, that the
question of civil freedom was indissolubly connected
with the relation between Church and State; he perceived that the extent of divergence from the old faith
regulated in a great measure the spirit, and even the
constitution, of government where it took place, —that
adhesion to Rome meant absolutism  and dependence,
that Calvinism had a strong bias towards the republican
form, and that the Church he had helped to establish
20




458           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
was calculated to fill up the ground between those two
extremes, and be the religious representative of a State
as liberal as Geneva by its attention to the interests of
all, and as monarchical as Spain by its loyalty to an
hereditary crown. Now, the middle ground in great
and agitating affairs is always the most difficult to
maintain. Both sides make it their battle-field, and try
to win it to themselves; and according as one assailant
seems on the point of carrying his object, the defender
of that disputed territory has to lean towards the other.
Both parties are offended at the apparent inconsistency;
and we are therefore not to be surprised if we find the
Church accused of looking to both the hostile camps in
turn.
James was a fatal personage to every cause he undertook to defend. He had neither the strength of will of
iHenry, nor the proud consistency of Elizabeth; but he
had the arrogance and presumption of both. Questions
which the wise queen was afraid to touch, and left to the
ripening influence of time, this blustering arguer dragged
into premature discussion, stripped them of all their
dignity by the frivolousness of the treatment he gave
them, and disgusted all parties by the harshness and
rapidity of his partial decisions. Every step he took in
the quelling of religious dissension by declarations in
favour of proscription and authority which would have
endeared him to Gregory the Seventh, he accompanied
with some frightful display of his absolutist tendencies
in civil affairs. The same man who roared down the
modest claims of a thousand of the clergy who wished
some further modification of the Book of Common
Prayer threw  recusant members of Parliament into
prison, persecuted personal enemies to death, with
scarcely a form of law, punished refractory towns with
loss of franchises and privileges, and made open declara



JAMES I.                  459
tion of his unlimited power over the lives and properties
of all his subjects. People saw this unvarying alliance
between his polemics and his politics, and began to consider seriously whether the comforts their trade and industry had given them could be safe under a Church
calling itself reformed, but protected by such a king.
If he was only suspected in England, in his own country
he was fully known. Dearer to James would have been
a hundred bishops and cardinals seated in conclave in
Holyrood than a Presbyterian Synod praying against
his policy in the High Kirk. He had even written to
the Pope with offers of accommodation and reconcilement, and made no secret of his individual and official
disgust at the levelling ideas of those grave followers of
Knox and Calvin. Those grave followers of Knox and
Calvin, however, were not unknown on the south side
of the Tweed. The intercourse between the countries
was not limited to the hungry gentry who followed
James on his accession. A community of interest and
feeling united the more serious of the Reformers, and
visits and correspondence were common between them.
But, while a regard for their personal freedom and the
security of their wealth attracted the attention of the
English middle class to the proceedings of King James,
events were going on in foreign lands which had an
immense effect on the development of the anti-monarchic, anti-episcopal spirit at home. These events
have not been sufficiently considered in this relation,
and we have been too much in the habit of looking at
our English doings in those momentous years,-from the
end of James's reign to the Restoration,-as if Britain
had continued as isolated from her Continental neighbours as before the Norman Conquest. But a careful
comparison of dates and actions will show how intimate
the connection had become between the European States,




460          SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
and how instantaneously the striking of a chord at
Prague or Vienna thrilled through the general heart in
Edinburgh and London.
The Reformation, after achieving its independence
and equality at the Treaty of Augsburg in 1555, had
made great though silent progress. Broken off in Germany into two parties, the Lutheran and the Calvinist,
who hated each other, as usual, in exact proportion to
the smallness of their difference, the union was still
kept up between them as regarded their antagonism to
the Papists. With all three denominations, the religious
part of the question had fallen into terrible abeyance.
It was now looked on by the leaders entirely as a matter
of personal advancement and political rule. In this.pursuit the fanaticism which is generally limited to
theology took the direction of men's political conduct;
and there were enthusiasts among all the sects, who saw
visions, and dreamed dreams, about the succession to
thrones and the raising of armies, as used to happen in
more ancient times about the bones of martyrs and the
beatification of saints. The great object of Protestants
and Catholics was to obtain a majority in the college of
the Prince Electors by whom the Empire was bestowed.
This consisted of the seven chief potentates of Germany, of whom four were secular,-the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of
Saxony, and the Marquis of Brandenburg; and three
ecclesiastic,-the Archbishops of MIentz, Treves, and
Cologne. The majority was naturally secured to the
Rlomanists by the official adhesion of these last. But
it chanced that the Elector of Cologne fell violently in
love with Agnes of IMlansfeldt, a canoness of Gerrestein;
and having of course studied the history of our Henry
the Eighth and Anne Boleyn, he determined to follow his
example, and offered the fair canoness his hand. He




DIVISION AMONG THE PROTESTANTS.       461
was unwilling, however, to offer his hand without the
Electoral crozier, and, by the advice of his friends, and
with the promised support of many of the Protestant
rulers, he retained his ecclesiastical dignity and made
the beautiful Agnes his wife. This would not have been
of much consequence in a lower rank, for many of the
cathedral dignitaries in Cologne and other places had
retained their offices after changing their faith; but all
Germany was awake to the momentous nature of this
transaction, for it would have conveyed a majority of
the Electoral voices to the Protestants and opened the
throne of the empire itself to a Protestant prince. Such,
however, was the strength at that time of the opposition
to Rome, that all the efforts of the Catholics would have
been ineffectual to prevent this ruinous arrangement
but for a circumstance which threw division into the
Protestant camp. Gebhard had adhered to the Calvinistic branch of the Reformation, and the Lutherans
hated him with a deadlier hatred than the Pope himself.
With delight they saw him outlawed by the Emperor
and excommunicated by Rome, his place supplied by a
Prince of -Bavaria, who was elected by the Chapter of
Cologne to protect them from their apostate archbishop,
and the head of the house of Austria strengthened by
the consolidation of his Electoral allies and the unappeasable dissensions of his enemies. While petty interests and the narrowest quarrels of sectarianism
divided the Protestants, and while the Electors and
other princes who had adopted their theological opinions
were doubtful of the political results of religious freedom, and many had waxed cold, and others were discontented with the small extent of the liberation from
ancient trammels they had yet obtained, a very different
spectacle was presented on the other side. Popes and
Jesuits were heartily and unhesitatingly at work. "No




462           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
cold, faint-hearted doubtings teased them.." Their obh.
ject was incommoded by no refinements or verbal differ.
ences; they were determined to assert their old supremacy,-to trample out every vestige of resistance to
their power; and they entered upon the task without
scruple or remorse. Ferdinand the Emperor, the prop
and champion of the Romish cause, was as sincere and
as unpitying as Dominic. When he had been nominated King Elect of Bohemia, in 1598, while yet in his
twentieth year, his first thought was the future use he
might make of his authority in the extermination of the
Protestatt faith. The Jesuits, by whom he was trained
from his earliest years, never turned out a more hopeful
pupil. His ambition would have been, if he had had it
in his power, to become a follower of Iloyola himself;
but, as he was condemned by fate to the lower office of
the first of secular princes, he determined to employ all
its power at the dictation of his teachers. Hle went a
pilgrimage to Loretto, and, bowing before the miraculous
image of the Virgin, promised to reinstate the true
Church in its unquestioned supremacy, and bent all his
thoughts to the fulfilment of his vow. Two-thirds of
his subjects in his hereditary states were Protestant, but
he risked all to attain his object. He displaced their
clergy, and banished all who would not conform. He
introduced Catholics from foreign countries to supply
the waste of population, and sent armed men to destroy
the newly-erected schools and churches of the hateful
heretics. This man was crowned King of Bohemia in
1618, and [Emperor of Germany in the following year.
The attention of the British public had been particularly directed to German interests for the six years preceding this date, by the marriage of Frederick, Elector
Palatine of the Rhine, with Elizabeth, the graceful and
accomplished daughter of King James. Frederick was




BEHAVIOUR OF JAMES I.            463
young and ambitious, and was endeared to the English
people as leader of the Protestant cause against the
overweening pretensions of the house of Austria. That
house was still the most powerful in Europe; for though
the Spanish monarchy was held by another branch, for
all the purposes of despotism and religion its weight
was thrown into the same scale. Spanish soldiers, and
all the treasures of America, were still at the command
of the Empire; and perhaps Catholicism was rather
strengthened than weakened by the adherence of two
of the greatest sovereigns in the world, instead of
having the personal influence of only one, as in the
reign of Charles the Fifth. All the Elector's movements
were followed with affectionate interest by the subjects
of his father-in-law; but James himself disapproved of
opposition being offered to the wildest excesses of royal
prerogative either in himself or any other anointed
ruler. Besides this, he was particularly hostile to the
young champion's religious principles, for the latter was
attached to the Calvinistic or unepiscopal party. James
declined to give him any aid in maintaining his right to
the crown of Bohemia, to which he was elected by the
Protestant majority of that kingdom on the accession
AD. 1619 of Ferdinand to the Empire, and managed to
show his feelings in the most offensive jnanner,
by oppressing such of Frederick's co-religionists as he
found in any part of his dominions. The advocates of
peace at any price have praised the behaviour of the
king in this emergency; but it may be doubted whether
an energetic display of English power at this time
might not have prevented the great and cruel reaction
against freedom and Protestantism which the victory
of the bigoted Ferdinand over his neglected competitor
introduced. A riot, accompanied with violence against
the Catholic authorities, was the beginning of the




464           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
troubles in Bohemia; and Ferdinand, as if to explain
his conduct to the satisfaction of James, published a
manifesto, which might almost be believed to have been
the production of that Solomon of the North. "If
sovereign power," he says, " emanates from God, these
atrocious deeds must proceed from the devil, and therefore must draw down divine punishment."  This logic
was unanswerable at Whitehall, and the work of extermination went on. Feeble efforts were forced upon the
unwilling father-in-law; for all the chivalry of England
was wild with sympathy and admiration of the Bohemian queen. Hundreds of gallant gentlemen passed
over to swell the Protestant ranks; and when they returned and told the tale of all the horrors they had
-seen, the remorseless vengeance of the triumphant
Church, and all the threatenings with which Rome and
the Empire endeavoured to terrify the nations which
had rebelled against their yoke, Puritanism, or resistance to the slightest approach towards Popery either in
essentials or externals, became patriotism  and self'
defence; and at this very time, while men's minds were
inflamed with the descriptions of the torturings and
executions which followed the battle of Prague in 1620,
and the devastation and depopulation of Bohemia,
James took the opportunity of forcing the Episcopal
form of government on the Scottish Presbyterians.
1" The greatest matter," he says, in an address to the
prelates of the reluctant dioceses,-" the greatest matter
the Puritans had to object against the Church government was, that your proceedings were warranted by no
law, which now by this last Parliament is cutted short.
The sword is now put in your hands. Go on, therefore,
to use it, and let it rest no longer till ye have perfected
the service trusted to you; or otherwise we must use it
both against you and them." WAhile the people of both




CONDUCT OF CHARLES I.           465
nations were willing to sink their polemic differences of
Calvinist and Anglican in one great attempt to deliver
the Protestants in Germany from the power of the house
of Austria,-while for this purpose they would have
voted taxes and raised armies with the heartiest good
will,-the king's whole attention was bestowed on a set
of manceuvres for the obtaining a Spanish-Austrian
bride for his son. To gain this he would have humbled
himself to the lowest acts. At a whisper from Madrid,
he interfered with the German war, to the detriment of
his own daughter; and England perceived that his
ineradicable love of power and hatred of fre3edom had
blinded him to national interests and natural affections.
If we follow the whole career of James, and a great
portion of his successor's, we shall see the same remarkable coincidence between the events in England and
abroad,-unpopularity of the king, produced by his
apparent lukewarrmnaess in the general Protestant cause
as much as by his arbitrary acts at home. Whatever
the nation desired, the king opposed. When Gustavus
Adolphus, the Lion of the North, began his triumphant
career in 1630, and re-established the fallen fortunes of
Protestantism, Charles concluded a dishonourable peace
with Spain, without a single provision in favour of the
Protestants of the German States, and allowed the
Popish Cardinal Richelieu first to consolidate his forces
by an unsparing oppression of the Hnguenots in France,
and then to almost compensate for his harshness by a
gallant support of the Swedish hero in his struggle
against the Austrian power.
There was no longer the same content and happiness
in the towns and country districts as there had been at
the commencement of the century. Men had looked
with contempt and dislike on the proceedings of James's
court,-his coarse buffoonery, and disgraceful patronage




466           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
of a succession of worthless favourites; and they continued to look, not indeed with contempt, but with
increased dislike and suspicion, on the far purer court
and dignified manners of his unfortunate son.  A
French prineess, though the daughter of Henry the
Fourth, was regarded as an evil omen for the continuance of good government or religious progress. Her
attendants, lay and clerical, were not unjustly considered spies, and advisers with interests hostile to the
popular tendencies. And all this time went on the
unlucky coincidences which distinguished this reign,of Catholic cruelties in foreign lands, and approaches to
the Catholic ceremonial in the reformed Church. While
Tilly, the remorseless general of the Emperor, was
letting loose the most ferocious army which ever served
under a national standard upon the inhabitants of
Mlagdeburg, heaping into the history of that miserable
assault all the sufferings that " horror e'er conceived or
fancy feigned,"-and while the echo of that awful
butchery, which has not yet died out of the German
heart, was making sorrowful every fireside in what was
once merry England,-the king's advisers pursued their
blind way, torturing their opponents with knife and
burning-brand upon the pillory, flogging gentlemen
nearly to death upon the streets, and consecrating
churches with an array of surplice, and censer, and
processions, and organ-blowings, which would have done
honour to St. Peter's at IRome. People saw a lamentable
connection between the excesses of Catholic cruelty and
the tendency in our sober establishment to Catholic
traditions, and became fanatical in their detestation of
the simplest forms.
In ordinary times the wise man considers mere forms
as almost below his notice; but there are periods when
-he emblem is of as much importance as the thing it




POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS PARTIES.      467
typifies. Church ceremonies, and gorgeous robes, and
magnificent worship, were accepted by both parties as
the touchstone of their political and religious opinions.
Laud pushed aside the Archbishop of Glasgow, who
stood at Charles's right hand on his visit to Scotland in
1633, on the express ground that he had not the orthodox fringe upon his habit,-a ridiculous ground for so
open an insult, if it had not had an inner sense. The
Archbishop of Glasgow professed himself a moderate
Churchman by the plainness of his dress, and Laud
accepted it as a defiance. Meanwhile the essential insignificance of the symbol threw an air of ridicule over
the importance attached to it. Dull-minded men, who
had not the faculty of seeing how deep a question may
lie in a simple exposition of it, or frivolous men, who
could not rise to the real earnestness which enveloped
those discussions, were scandalized at the persistency of
Laaud in enforcing his fancies, and the obstinacy of a
great portion of the clergy and people in resisting them.
But the Puritans, with clearer eyes, saw that a dance,
according to proclamation, on the village green on Sunday, meant not a mere desecration of the Sabbath, but
a crusade against the rights of conscience and an assertion of arbitrary power. Altars instead of communiontables in churches meant not merely a restoration of the
Popish belief in the real sacrifice of the mass, but a
placing of the king above the law, and the abrogation
of all liberty. They could not at this time persuade the
nation of these things. The nation, for the most part,
saw nothing more than met their bodily eyes; and, in
despair of escaping the slavery which they saw the
success of Ferdinand in Germany was likely to spread
over Europe, they began the long train of voyages to
the Western World, which times of suffering and uncertainty have continued at intervals to the present day.




468           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
It is said that a vessel was stopped by royal warrant
when it was on the point of sailing from the Thames
with emigrants to America in 1637. On board were
various persons whose names would probably never
have been heard of if they had been allowed in peace
and safety to pursue their way to Boston, but with
which in a few years "all England rang from side to
side."  They were Oliver Cromwell, and Hampden, and
IIaselrig, Lord Brook, and Lord Saye.
Affairs had now reached such a crisis that they could
no longer continue undecided. A  Parliament was
called in:1640, after an unexampled interval of eleven
years, and, after a few days' session, was angrily dissolved. Another, however, was indispensable in the
same year, and on the 3d of November the Long Parliament met.  The long-repressed indignation of the
Commons broke forth at once. Laud and Wentworth,
the principal advisers of the king, were tried and executed, and precautions taken, by stringent acts, to
prevent a recurrence of arbitrary government. Everywhere there seemed a rally in favour of the Protestant
or liberal cause. The death of Richelieu, the destroyer
of French freedom, opened a prospect of recovered independence to the iHuguenots; the victories of Torstenson
the Swede, worthy successor of Gustavus Adolphus,
brought down the pride of the Austrian Catholics; and
Puritans, Independents, and other outraged sects and
parties, by the restoration of the Parliament, got a terrible instrument of vengeance against their oppressors.
A dreadful time, when on both sides the forms of law
were perverted to the most lawless purposes; when
peacefully-inclined citizens must have been tormented
with sad misgivings by the contending claims of Parliament and King, —a Parliament correctly constituted
and in the exercise of its recognised authority, a King




PROTESTANT VICTORIES.            469
with no flaw to his title, and professing his willingness
to limit himself to the undoubted prerogatives of his
place. It was probably a relief to the undecided when
the arbitrament was removed from the court
A.D. 1642.
of argument to the field of battle. All the
time of that miserable civil war, the other states of
]Europe were in nearly as great confusion as ourselves.
France was torn to pieces by factions which contended
for the mantle of the departed cardinal; Germany was
traversed from end to end by alternately retreating and
advancing armies. But still the simultaneousness of
events abroad and at home is worthy of remark. The
great fights which decided the quarrel in England were
answered by victories of the Protestant arms in Germany and the apparent triumph of the discontented in
France. The young king, Louis the Fourteenth, carried from town to town, and disputed between the
parties, gave little augury of the despotism and injustice
of his future throne. There were barricades in Paris,
and insurrections all over the land. But at last, and
at the same time, all the combatants in England, and
France, and Germany-Hfuguenot, Puritan, Calvinist,
Protestant, and Papist-were tired out with the length
and bitterness of the struggle. So in 1648 the long
Thirty Years' War was brought to a close by the Peace
of Westphalia. Kingly power in France was curtailed,
the house of Austria was humbled; and Charles was
carried prisoner to Windsor. The Protestants of Ger.
many, by the terms of the peace, were replaced in their
ancient possessions. They had freedom of worship and
equality of civil rights secured. A general law pre.
served them from the injustice or aggressions of their
local masters; and the compromise guaranteed by so
many divergent interests, and guarded by such equallydivided numbers, has endured to the present time. The




47  0        SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
English conquerors would be contented with no less
than their foreign friends had obtained. But the blot
upon their conduct, the blood of the misguided and
blumbled Charles, hindered the result of their wisest
deliberations. Moderate men were revolted by the vioJence of the act, and old English loyalty, delivered from
the fear of foreign or domestic oppression, was awakened
AD. 1649. by the sad end of a crowned and anointed
King. Nothing compensates in an old hereditary monarchy for the want of high descent in its
ruler. Not all Cromwell's vigour and genius, his glory
abroad and energetic government at home, attracted
the veneration of English squires, whose forefathers
had fought at Crecy, to the grandson of a city knight,
or, at most, to the descendant of a minister of Henry
the Eighth. Charles the Second rose before them with
the transmitted dignity of a hundred kings. He counted
back to Scottish monarchs before the Norman Conquest,
and traced by his mother's side his lineal ancestry up to
Charlemagne and Clovis. English history presents no
instance of the intrusion of an unroyal usurper in her
list of sovereigns. Cromwell stands forth the solitary
instance of a man of the people virtually seizing the
crown; and the ballads and pamphlets of the time
show how the comparative humility of his birth excited
the scorn of his contemporaries. And this feeling was
not limited to ancient lords and belted cavaliers: it
permeated the common mind. There was something
ennobling for the humblest peasant to die for King and
Cause; but, however our traditions and the lapse of two
hundred years may have elevated the conqueror at
Worcester and Dunbar, we are not to forget that, in the
estimnation of those who had drunk his beer at Huntingdon or listened to his tedious harangues in Parlia.
ment, there would be neither patriotism nor honour in




DECLINE OF PURITANISM.           471
dying for bluff Old Noll. But there were mlore dangerous enemies to bluff Old INloll than the newness of his
name. The same cause which had made the nation dis.
satisfied with the arbitrary pretensions of James and
Charles was at work in making it intolerant of the rule
of the usurpers.
The great soldier and politician, who had overthrown
an ancient dynasty and crushed the seditions of the
sects, had increased the commercial prosperity of the
three kingdoms. Wealth poured in at all the ports, and
was rapidly diffused over the land; internal improvements kept pace with foreign enterprise; and the England which long ago had been too rich to be arbitrarily
governed was now again too rich to be kept in durance
by the sour-faced hypocrisies of the Puritans. Those
lank-haired gentlemen, whose conduct had not quite
answered to the self-denying proclamations with which
they had begun, were no longer able to persuade the
well-to-do citizen, and the high-waged mechanic, and
the prosperous farmer, that religion consisted in speaking through the nose and forswearing all innocent enjoyment. The great battle had been fought, and the
fruits of it, they thought, were secure. Were people to
be debarred from social meetings and merry-makings at
Christmas, and junketings at fairs, by act of Parliament? Acts of Parliament would first have been required strong enough to do away with youth and health,
and the power of admiring beauty, and the hopes of
A.D. 1641 marriage. The troubles had lasted seven or
-49. eight years; and all through that period, and
for some time before, while the thick cloud was gathering, all gayety had disappeared from the land. But by
the middle of Cromwell's time there was a new generation, in the first flush of youth,-lads and lasses who
had been too young to know any thing of the dark




47  2         SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
days of Laud and Wentworth.  They were twenty
years of age now. VWere they to have no cakes and ale
because their elders were so prodigiously virtuous?
They had many years of weary restraint and formalism
to make up for, and in 1660 the accumulated tide of
joyousness and dielight burst all barriers. A flood of
dancing and revelry, and utter abandonment to happi.
ness, spread over the whole country;- and merriest of
the dancers, loudest of the revellers, happiest of the
emancipated, was'the young and brilliant king. Never
since the old times of the Feasts of Fools and the
gaudy processions of the Carnival had there been such
a riotous jubilee as inaugurated the Restoration. The
reaction against Puritanism carried the nation almost
beyond Christianity and landed it in heathenism again.
The saturnalia of Rome were renewed in the banquetings of St. James's. Nothing in those first days of
relaxation seemed real. King and courtiers and cavaliers in courtly palaces, and enthusiastic townsfolk and
madly loyal husbandmen, seemed like mummers at a
play; and it was not till the candles were burned out,
and the scenes grew dingy, and daylight poured upon
that ghastly imitation of enjoyment, that England came
to its sober senses again. Then it saw how false was
the parody it had been playing. It had not been
happy; it had only been drunk; and already, while
Charles was in the gloss of his recovered crown, the
second reaction began. Cromwell became respectable
by comparison with the sensual debauchee who sold the
dignity of his country for a little present enjoyment
and soothed the reproaches of his people with a joke.
Give us a MIan to rule over us, the English said, and not
a sayer of witty sayings and a juggler with such sleight
of hand. And yet the example of the court was so contagious, and the fashion of enjoyment so wide-spread,




ENGLAND DEGRADED.               473
that on the surface every thing appeared prosperous
and happy. The stern realities of the first recusants
had been so travestied by the exaggerated imitation of
their successors that no faith was placed in the serious
earnestness of man or woman. Frivolity was therefore
adopted as a mark of sense; and if the popular literature of a period is to be' accepted as a mirror held up to
show the time its image, the old English character had
undergone a perfect change. Thousands flocked every
day to the playhouses to listen to dialogues, and watch
the evolvement of plots, where all the laws of decency
and honour were held up to ridicule. Comus and his
crew, which long ago had held their poetic festival in
the pure pages of M]ilton, were let loose, without the
purity or the poetry, in every family circle. And the
worst and most disgusting feature of the picture is that
those wassailers who were thus the missionaries of vice
were persecutors for religion. While one royal brother
was leading the revels at Whitehall, surrounded by
luxury and immorality as by an atmosphere without
which he could not live, the other, as luxurious, but
more moodily depraved, listened to the groans of tortured Covenanters at iHolyrood House. Charles and
James were like the two executioners of Louis the
Eleventh: one laughed, and the other groaned, but both
were pitilessly cruel. A recurrence to the dark days of
the Sects, the godly wrestlings in prayer of illiterate
horsemen, and the sincere fanaticism of the Fifth-Monarchy men, would have been a change for the better
from the filth and foulness of the reign of the Merry
MNonarch and the blood and misery of that of the gloomy
bigot.
But happier times were almost within view, though
still hid behind the glare of those orgies of the unclean.
From 1660 to 1688 does not seem a very long time in




474          SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
the annals of a nation, nor even in the life of one of
ourselves. Twenty-eight years have elapsed since the
Revolution in Paris which placed Louis Philippe upon
the throne; and the young man of twenty at that time
is not very old yet. But when men or nations are
cheated in the object of their hopes, it does not take
long to turn disappointment into hatred. The Restoration of 1660 was to bring back the golden age of the
first years of James,-the prosperity without the
tyranny, the old hereditary rule without its high pretensions, the manliness of the English yeoman without
his tendency to fanatical innovation. And instead of
this Arcadia there was nothing to be seen but a kingdom without dignity, a king without honesty, and a
people without independence. England was no longer
the arbiter of European differences, as in the earlier
reigns, nor dominator of all the nations, as when the
heavy sword of Cromwell was uneasy in its sheath. It
was not even a second-rate power: its capital had been
insulted by the Dutch; its monarch was pensioned by
the French; its religion was threatened by the Pope;
the old animosities between England and Scotland were
unarranged; and the point to be remembered in your
review of the Seventeenth Century is that in the years
from the Restoration to the Revolution we had touched
the basest string of humility. We were neither united
at home nor respected abroad. We had few ships, little
commerce, and no public spirit. France revenged Crecy
and Poictiers and Agincourt, by dressing our kings in
her livery; and the degraded monarchs pocketed their
wages without feeling their humiliation. Therefore, as
the highest point we have hitherto stood upon was when
Elizabeth saw the destruction of the Armada, the lowest
was undoubtedly that when we submitted to the buf.
foonery of Charles and the bloodthirstiness of James.




LOUIS THE FOURTEEINTHI.           475
But far more remarkable, as a characteristic of this
century, than the lowering of the rank of Eng~land in
relation to foreign states, is the rise, for the first time
in Europe, of a figure hitherto unknown, —a true, unshackled, and absolute king, and that in the least likely
of all positions and in the person of the least likely
man. This was the appearance on the throne of France
of Iouis the Fourteenth. Other monarchs, both in
England and France, had attained supreme power,supreme, but not independent. No one had hitherto
been irresponsible to some other portions of the State.
The strongest of the feudal kings was held in check by
his nobility,-the greatest of the Tudors by Parliament
and people. Declarations, indeed, had frequently been
made that God's anointed were answerable to God
alone. But of the two loudest of these declaimers,
John, who said,"What earthly power to interrogatory
Can tax the free breath of a Christian king?"
had shortly after this magnificent oration surrendered
his crown to the Pope; and James the First, who blustered more fiercely (if possible) about his superiority to
human law, was glad to bend before his Lords and
Commons in anticipation of a subsidy, and eat his leek
in peace.
But this phenomenon of a king above all other
authority occurred, we have observed, in the most
unlikely country to present so strange a sight; for nowhere was a European throne so weak and unstable as
the throne of the house of Bourbon after the murder of
IHenry the Fourth. The moment that strong hand was
withdrawn from the government, all classes broke loose.
The nobles conspired against the queen, Marie de Medicis, who relied upon foreign favourites and irritated the
nation to madness. Paris rose in insurrection, and tore




476           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
the wretched Concini, her counsellor, whom  she had
created Marshal D'Ancre, to pieces; and, to glut their
vengeance still more, the judges condemned his innocent wife to be burned as a sorceress. Louis the Thirteenth, the unworthy son of the great Henry, rejoiced
in these atrocities, which he thought freed him from all
restraint. But he found it impossible to quell the wild
passions by which he profited for a while. Civil war
raged between the court and country factions, and soon
A.D. 122. became embittered into religious animosities.
The sight of a king marching at the head of a
Catholic army against a portion of his Reformed subjects was looked upon by the rapidly-increasing malcontents in Englandl with anxious curiosity. For year
by year the strange spectacle was unrolled before their
eyes of what might yet be their fate at home. Perhaps,
indeed, the success of the- royal arms, and the policy of
strength and firmness introduced by Cardinal. Richelieu,
may have contributed in no slight degree to the measures
pursued by Wentworth and Laaud in their treatment of
the English recusants. With an anticipative interest in
our Hull and Exeter, the Puritans of England looked on
the resistance made by Rochelle; and we can therefore
easily imagine with what feelings the future soldiers of
Marston Moor received the tidings that the Popish
cardinal had humbled the capital of the Huguenots by
the help of fleets furnished to them by Holland and
England! Richelieu, indeed, knew how to make his
enemies weaken each other throughout his whole career.
AD. 1. Those enemies were the nobility of France, the
house of Austria, and the Reformed Faith. When
IRochelle was attacked the second time, and England
pretended to arm for its defence, he contrived to win
Buckingham, the chief of the expedition, to his cause,
and procured a letter from King Charles, placing the




RICHELIEU.                  477
fleet, which apparently went to the support of the
Huguenots, at the service of the KIing of France!
After a year's siege, and the most heroic resistance,
Rochelle fell at last, in 1628. And, now that the Huguenots were destroyed as a dangerous party, the eyes of
the great minister were turned against his other foes.
He divided the nobles into hostile ranks, degraded them'by petty annoyances,. terrified them by unpitying executions of the chiefs of the oldest families, showed.their
weakness by arresting marshals at the head of their
armies, and during the remaining years of his authority
monopolized all the powers of the state. To weaken
Spain and Austria, we have seen how he assisted the
Protestants in the- Thirty Years' War; to weaken England, which was only great when it assumed its place as
bulwark and champion of the Protestant faith, he encouraged the court in its suicidal policy and the
oppressed population in resistance. Ever stirring lup
trouble abroad, and ever busy in repressing liberty at
home, the ministry of Richelieu is the triumph of unprincipled skill. But when he died, in 1643, there was
no man left to lift up the burden he threw off. The
king himself, Louis the Thirteenth, as much a puppet
as the old descendants of Clovis under their Mayors of
the Palace, left the throne he had nominally filled,
vacant in the same year; and the heir to the dishonoured crown and exhausted country was a boy of
five years of age, under the tutelage of an unprincipled
mother, and with the old hereditary counsellors and
props of his throne decimated by the scaffold or impoverished by confiscation. The tyranny of Richelieu
had at least attained something noble by the high-handed
insolence of all his acts. If people were to be trampled
on, it was a kind of consolation to them that their oppressor was feared by others as well as themselves.




47,8          SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
But the oppression of the doomed French nation was to
be continued by a more ignoble hand. The Cardinal
Mazarin brought every thing into greater confusion
than ever. In twenty millions of men there will always
be great and overmastering spirits, if only an opportunity is found for their development; but civil commotion is not the element in which greatness lives. All
sense of honour disappears when conduct is regulated
A.. 1648 by the shifting motives of party politics. The
-1654. dissensions of the Fronde, accordingly, produced
no champion to whom either side could look with unmingled respect. The Great Conde and the famous
Turenne showed military talent of the highest order,
but a want of principle and a flighty frivolity of character counterbalanced all their virtues. The scenes of'those six years are like a series of dissolving views, or
the changing combinations of a kaleidoscope: Conde and
Turenne, always on opposite sides,-for each changed
his party as often as the other; battles prepared for by
masquerades and theatricals, and celebrated on both
sides with epigrams and songs; the wildest excesses of
debauchery and vice practised by both sexes and all
ranks in the State; archbishops fighting like gladiators
and intriguing like the vulgarest conspirators; princes
imprisoned with a jest, and executions attended with
cheers and laughter; and over all an Italian ecclesiastic,
grinning with satisfaction at the increase of his wealth,
— caballing, cheating, and lying, but keeping a firm
grasp of power:-no country was ever so split into
faction or so denuded of great men.
It seemed, indeed, like a demoniacal caricature of our
British troubles: no sternness, no reality; love-letters
and witty verses supplying the place of the Biblical lan.
guage and awful earnestness of the words and deeds of
the Covenanters and Independents; the gentlemen of




DESPOTISM OF LOUIS XIV.            479
France utterly debased and frivolized; religion ridiculed; nothing left of the old landmarks; and no Cromwell possible. But, while all these elements of confusion were heaving and tumbling in what seemed an
inextricable chaos, Mlazarin, the vainest and most selfish
of charlatans, died, and the young king, whom he had
kept in distressing dependence and the profoundest
political inactivity, found himself delivered from a
master and free to choose his path. This was in 1661.
Charles and Louis were equally on their recovered
thrones; for what exile had been to the one, Mazarin
A.D 1641 had been to the other. Charles had had the
-1660. experience of nineteen years and of various
fortunes to- guide him. Ite had seen many men and
cities, and he deceived every expectation. Louis had
been studiously brought up by his mother and her
Italian favourite in the abasement of every lofty aspiration. Hie was only encouraged in luxury and vice, and
kept in such painful vassalage that his shyness and
awkwardness revealed the absence of self-respect to the
very pages of his court; and he, no less than Charles,
deceived all the expectations that had been formed
of his career. He found out, as if by intuition, how
brightly the monarchical principle still burned in the
heart of all the French. Even in their fights and quarrellings there was a deep reverence entertained for the
ideal of the throne. The KIing's name was a tower of
strength; and when the nation, in the course of the
miserable years from 1610 to 1661, saw the extinction
of nobility, religion, law, and almost of civilized society,
it caught the first sound that told it it still had a king,
as an echo from the past assuring it of its future. It
forgot Louis the Thirteenth and Anne of Austria, and
only remembered that its monarch was the grandson of
Jienry the Fourth. Nobody remembered that circum



480           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
stance so vividly as Louis himself; but he remembered
also that his line went upwards from the Bourbons, and
included the Saint Louis of the thirteenth century and
the renewer of the Roman Empire of the ninth. Hie
let the world know, therefore, that his title was Mlost
Christian King as well as foremost of European powers.
He forced Spain to yield him precedence, and, for the
first time in history, exacted a humiliating apology from
the Pope. The world is always apt to take a man at
his own valuation. Louis, swelling with pride, ambitious
of fame, and madly fond of power, declared himself the
greatesti wisest, and most magnificent of men; and
everybody believed him. Every thing was soon changed
throughout the land. Ministers had been more powerful
thhn the crown, and had held unlimited authority in
right of their appointment. A minister was -nothing
more to Louis than a valet-de-chambre. lie gave him
certain work to do, and rewarded him if he did it; if
he neglected it, he discharged him. At first the few
relics of the historic names of France, the descendants
of the great vassals, who carried their heads as lofty as
the Capets or Valois, looked on with surprise at the
new arrangements in camp and court. But the people
were too happy to escape the oligarchic confederacy of
those hereditary oppressors to encourage them in their
haughty disaffection. Before Louis had been three
years on the unovershadowed throne, the struggle had
been fairly entered on by all the orders of the State,
which should be most slavish in its submission. Rank,
talent, beauty, science, and military fame all vied with
each other in their devotion to the king. Hie would
have been more than mortal if he had retained his
senses unimpaired amid the intoxicating fumes of such
incense. Success in more important affairs came to the
support of his personal assumptions. Victories followed




CARES OF ROYALTY.              481
his standards everywhere. Generals, engineers, and administrators, of abilities hitherto unmatched in Europe,
sprang up whenever his requirements called them forth.
Colbert doubled his income without increasing the
burdens on his people. Turenne, Conde, Luxembourg,
and twenty others, led his armies. Vauban strengthened
his fortifications or conducted his sieges, and the dockyards of Toulon and Brest filled the Mediterranean and
the Atlantic with his fleets. Poets like Moliere, Corneille, and Racine ennobled his stage; while the genius
of Bossuet and Fen6lon inaugurated the restoration of
religion. For eight-and-twenty years his fortunes knew
no ebb. He was the object of all men's hopes and fears,
and almost of their prayers. Nothing was too great or
too minute for his decision. He was called on to arbitrate (with the authority of a master) between sovereign States, and to regulate a point of precedence between the duchesses of his court. Oh, the weary days
and nights of that uneasy splendour at Versailles! when
his steps were watched by hungry courtiers, and his
bed itself surrounded by applicants for place and favour.
No galley-slave ever toiled harder at his oar than this
monarch of all he surveyed at the management of his
unruly family. It was the day of etiquette and form.
The rights of princesses to arm-chairs or chairs with
only a back were contested with a vigour which might
have settled the succession to a throne. The rank
which entitled to a seat in the king's coach or an invi.
tation to Marly was disputed almost with bloodshed,
and certainly with scandal and bitterness. The depth
of the bows exacted by a prince of the blood, the
number of attendants necessary for a legitimated son
of La Valliere or Montespan, put the whole court into
a turmoil of angry parties; and all these important
points, and fifty more of equalt magnitude, were formally
21




482           SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
submitted to the king and decided with a gravity befit.
ting a weightier cause. Nothing is more remarkable in
the midst of these absurd inanities than the great fund
of good common sense that is found in all the king's
judgments. He meditates, and temporizes, and reasons;
and only on great occasions, such as a quarrel about dignity between the wife of the dauphin and the Duchess
of Maine, does he put on the terrors of his kingly frown
and interpose his irresistible command. It would have
been some consolation to the foreign potentates he
bullied or protected-the Austrian and Spaniard, or
Charles' in Whitehall-if they had known what a
wretched and undignified life their enslaver and insulter
lived at home. It was whispered, indeed, that he was
tremendously hen-pecked by Madame de Maintenon,
whom he married without having the courage to elevate
her to the throne; but none of them knew the pettinesses, the degradations, and the miseries of his inner
circle. They thought, perhaps, he was planning some
innovation in the order of affairs in Europe,-the destruction of a kingdom, or the change of a dynasty.
He was devoting his deepest cogitations to the arrangement of a quarrel between his sons and his daughters-inlaw, the invitations to a little supper-party in his private
room, or the number of steps it was necessary to advance at the reception of a petty Italian sovereign. The
quarrels between his children became more bitter; the
little supper-parties became more dull. Death came into
the gilded chambers, and he was growing old and desolate. Still the torturing wheel of ceremony went round,
and the father, with breaking heart, had to leave the
chamber of his deceased son, and act the part of a
great king, and go through the same tedious forms of
grandeur and routine which he had done before the
calamity caviee. Fancy has never drawn a personage




EDICT OF NANTES REPEALED.         483
more truly pitiable than Louis growing feeble and friendless in the midst of all that magnificence and all that
heartless crowd. You pardon him for retiring for consolation and sympathy to the quiet apartment where
Madame de Maintenon received him without formality
and continued her needlework or her reading while he
was engaged in council with his ministers. He must
have known that to all but her he was an Office and not
a Man. He yearned for somebody that he could trust
in and consult with, as entering into his thoughts and interests; and that calm-blooded, meek-mannered, narrowhearted woman persuaded him that in her he had found
all that his heart thirsted for in the desert of his royalty.
But in that little apartment he was now to find refuge
from more serious calamities than the falsehood of
courtiers or the quarrels of women. Even French
loyalty was worn out at last. Victories had glorified
the monarch, but brought poverty and loss to the population. Complaints arose in all parts of the country of
the excess of taxation, the grasping dishonesty of the
collectors, the extravagance of the court, and even-but
this was not openly whispered-the selfishness of the
king. He had lavished ten millions sterling on the
palace and gardens of Versailles; he had enriched his
sycophants with pensions on the Treasury; he had
gratified the Church with gorgeous donations, and with
the far more fatal gift of vengeance upon its opponents.
The Huguenots were in the peaceful enjoyment of the
rights secured to them by the Edict of Nantes, granted
by Henry the Fourth in 1598. But those rights included the right of worshipping God in a different
manner from the Church, and denying the distinguishing doctrines of the Holy Catholic faith. The Eldict of
AD. 1685ss. Toleration was repealed as a blot on the purity
of the throne of the Most Christian King.




484          SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Thousands of the best workmen in France'were banished by this impolitic proceeding, and Louis thought he
had shown his attachment to his religion by sending the
ingenuity and wealth, and glowing animosity, of the most
valuable portion of his subjects into other lands. Germany calculated that the depopulation caused by his
wars was more than compensated by the immigration.
England could forgive him his contemptuous behaviour to
her king and Parliament when she saw the silk-mills of
Spitalfields supplied by the skilled workmen of Lyons.
Eight hundred thousand people left their homes in consequence, of this proscription of their religion, and Germany and Switzerland grew rich with the stream of
fugitives. It is said that only five thousand found their
way to this country,-enough to set the example of
peaceful industry and to introduce new methods of
manufacture.
But the full benefit of the measures of Louis and
Miaintenon was denied us, by the distrust with which
the Protestant exiles looked on the accession to our
throne of a narrower despot and more bigoted persecutor than Louis; for in this same year James the Second
succeeded Charles. Relying on each other's support,
and gratified with the formal approval of the repeal of
the Edict of Nantes pronounced by the Pope, the two
champions of Christendom pursued their way,-dismissals from office, exclusion from promotion, proscription from worship in France, and assaults on the Church,
and bloody assizes, in England,-till all the nations felt
that a great crisis was reached in the fortunes both of
England and France, and Protestant and Romanist
alike looked on in expectation of the winding-up of so
strange a history. Judicial blindness was equally —n
the eyes of the two potentates chiefly interested. James
remained inactive while William Prince of Orange, the




ABDICATION OF JAMES II.           485
avowed chief of the new opinions, was getting ready
his ships and army, and congratulated himself on the
silence of his people, which he thought was the sign of
their acquiescence instead of the hush of expectation.
All the other powers-the Papal -Chair included-were
not sorry to see a counterpoise to the predominance of
France; and when William appeared in England as the
A D. 18 deliverer from Popery and oppression, the battle
was decided without a blow. James was a
fugitive in his turn, and found his way to Versailles.
It is difficult to believe that any of the blood of Scotland or Navarre flowed in the veins of the pusillanimous
king. ie begged his protector, through whose councils
he had lost his kingdom, to give it him back again; and
the opportunity of a theatrical display of grandeur and
magnanimity was too tempting to be thrown away.
Louis promised to restore him his crown, as if it were
a broken toy. It was a strange sight, during tYhe remainder of their lives, to see those two monarchs keeping up the dignity of their rank by exaggerations of
their former state. No mimic stage ever presented a
more piteous spectacle of poverty and tinsel than the
royal pair. Punctilios were observed at their meetings
and separations, as if a bow more or less were of as
much consequence as the bestowal or recovery of Great
Britain; and in the estimation of those professors of
manners and deportment a breach of etiquette would
have been more serious than La ilogue or the Boyne.
In that wondrous palace of Versailles all things had
long ceased to be real. Speeches were made for effect,
and dresses and decorations had become a part of the
art of governing, and for some years the system seemed
to succeed. When the king required to show that he
was still a conqueror like Alexander the Great, preparations were made for his reception at the seat of war,




486          SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
and a pre-arranged victory was attached to his arrival,
as Cleopatra wished to fix a broiled fish to Anthony's
hook. He entered the town of Mons in triumph when
Luxembourg had secured its fall. He appeared also
with unbounded applause at the first siege of Namur,
and carried in person the news of his achievement to
Versailles. Every daycame couriers hot and tired with
intelligence of fresh successes. Luxembourg conquered
at Fleurus, 1690; Catinat conquered Savoy, 1691; Luxembourg again, in 1692, had gained the great day of
Steinkirk, and Nerwinde in 1693. But the tide now
turned. William the Third was the representative at
that time of the stubbornness of his new subjects'
character, who have always found it difficult to see that
they were defeated. lie was generally forced to retire
after a vigorously-contested fight; but he was always
ready to fight again next day, always calm and determined, and as confident as ever in the firmness of his
men. Reports very different from the glorious bulletins
of the earlier years of the Great Monarch now came
pouring in. Namur was retaken, Dieppe and  iavre
bombarded, all the French establishments in India
seized by the Dutch, their colony at St. Domingo captured by the English, Luxembourg dead, and the whole
land again, for the second time, exhausted of men and
money. It was another opportunity for the display of
his absolute power. France prayed him to grant peace
to Europe, and the earthly divinity granted France's;
prayer. Europe itself, which had rebelled against him,
accepted the pacification it had won by its battles and
combinations, as if it were a gift from a superior being.
He surrendered his conquests with such grandeur, and
looked so dignified while he withdrew his pretensions,
acknowledging the Prince of Orange to be King of
England, and the King of England to have no claim on




DEPRESSION OF FRANCE.            487
the crown he had promised to restore to him, that it
A.D. 19. took some time to perceive that the terms of the
Peace of Ryswlck were proofs of weakness and
not of magnanimity. But the.object of his life had
been gained. He had abased every order in the State
for the aggrandizement of the Crown, and, for the first
time since the termination of the Roman Empire, had
concentrated the whole power of a nation into the will
of an individual. And this strange spectacle of a possessor of unlimited authority over the lives and fortunes
of all his subjects was presented in an age that had
seen Charles the First of England brought to the block
and James the Second driven into exile! The chance
of France's peacefully rising again from this state of depression into liberty would have been greater if Louis,
in displacing the other authorities, had not disgraced
them. Hte dissolved his Parliament, not with a file of
soldiers, like Cromwell or Napoleon, but with a ridingwhip in his hand. He degraded the nobility by making
them the satellites of his throne and creatures of his
favour. lie humbled the Church by secularizing its
leaders; so that [Bossuet, bishop and orator as he was,
was proud to undertake the office of peacemaker between
him and Madame de Montespan in one of their lovers'
quarrels. And the Frenchmen of the next century
looked in vain for some rallying-point from which to
begin their forward course towards constitutional improvement. They found nothing but parliaments contemned, nobles dishonoured, and priests unchristianized.








EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Winmg  of JOrance.  Utingfiof Englanb anb cotlanV.
A.D.                       A.D.
Louis XIV.-(cont.)       WILLIAM III. and MARY. —.
1715. Louis XV.                   (cont.)
1774. Louis XVI.          1702. ANNE.
1793. Louis XVII.                (Great Britain, 1707.)
EJIlmpcvo: of!1ervmanj. 1714. GEORGE I.   House of
1727. GEORGE II.
LEOPOLD I.-(cont.)                      Hanover
1760. GEORGE III. 
1705. JOSEPH I.
1711. CHARLES VI..                      Ongo of  Spain,
1740. MARIA-THERESA.      1700. PHILIP V.
1742. CHARLES VII.        1724. Louis I.
1745. FRANCIS I.          1724. PHILIP V. again.
1765. JOSEPH II.          1745. FERDINAND VI.
1790. LEOPOLD II.         1759. CHARLES III.
1792. FRANCIS II.         1788. CHARLES IV.
initinguitbeb  alen.
ADDISON, STEELE, SWIFT, POPE, ROBERTSON, HUME, GIBBON,
VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU, LESAGE, MARMONTEL, MONTESQUIEU, FRANKLIN, (1706-1790,) JOHNSON, (1709-1784,) GOLDSMITH, (1728-1774,)
WOLFE, (1726-1759,) WASHINGTON, (1732-1799.)








THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
INDIA-AMERICA-FRANCE.
THE characteristic feature of this period is constant
change on the greatest scale. Hitherto changes have
occurred in the internal government of nations: the
monarchic or popular feeling has found its expression in
the alternate elevation of the Kingly or Parliamentary
power. But in this most momentous of the centuries,
nations themselves come into  being or disappear.
Russia and Prussia for the first time play conspicuous
parts in the great drama of human affairs. France,
which begins the century with the despotic Louis the
Fourteenth at its head, leaves it as a vigorous Republic,
with Napoleon Buonaparte as its First Consul. The
foundations of a British empire were laid in India,
which before the end of the period more than compensated for the loss of that other empire in the West,
which is now the United States of America. It was the
century of the breaking of old traditions, and of the
introduction of new systems in life and government, —
more complete in its transformations than the splitting
up into hitherto unheard-of nationalities of the old
Roman world had been; for what Goth and Vandal,
and Frank and Lombard, were to the political geography of Europe in the earlier time, new modes of
thought, both religious and political, were to the moral
constitution of that later date. The barbarous invasions of the early centuries were the overflowing of
rivers by the breaking down of the embankments; the
491




492           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
revolutionary madness of France was the sudden detachment of an avalanche which had been growing
unobserved, but which at last a voice or a footstep was
sufficient to set in motion. In all nations it was a period
of doubt and uneasiness. Something was aboutto happen,
but nobody could say what. The political sleight-of-hand
men, who considered the safety of the world to depend
on the balance of power, where a weight must be cast
into one scale, exactly sufficient, and not more than sufficient, to keep the other in equilibrio, were never so much
puzzled since the science of balancing began. A vast
country, hitherto omitted from their calculations, or
only considered as a make-weight against Sweden or
Denmark, suddenly came forward to be a check, and
sometimes an over-weight, to half the states in Europe.
Something had therefore to be found to be a counterpoise to the twenty millions of men and illimitable
dominions of the Russian Czars. This was close at the
conjurer's hand in Prussia and her Austrian neighbour.
Counties were added,-populations fitted in,-Silesia
given to the one, Gallicia added to the other; and at
last the whole of Poland, which had ceased to be of any
importance in its separate existence, was cut up into
such portions as might be required, with here a fragment and there a fragment, till the scales stood pretty
even, and the three contiguous kingdoms were satisfied
with their respective shares of infamy and plunder. If
you hear, therefore, of robberies upon a gigantic scale,no longer the buccaneering exploits of a few isolated
adventurers in the Western seas; but of kingdoms deliberately stolen, or imperiously taken hold of by the right
of the strong hand; of the same Titanic magnitude
distinguishing almost all other transactions; colonies
throwing off their allegiance, and swelling out into
hostile empires, instead of the.usual discontent and




NATIONAL DEBT.               493
occasional quarrellings between the mother-country and
her children; of whole nations breaking forth into
anarchy, instead of the former local efforts at reformation ending in temporary civil strife; of commercial
speculations reaching the sublime of swindling and
credulity, and involving whole populations in ruin; and
of commercial establishments, on the other hand, vaster
even in their territorial acquisitions than all the conquests of Alexander, —you are to remember that these
things can only have happened in the Eighteenth Century; the century when the trammels of all former
experiences were thrown off, and when wealth, power,
energy, and mental aspirations were pushed to an unexampled excess. This exaggerated action of the age is
shown in the one great statement which nearly comprehends all the rest. The Debt of this country, which
at the beginning of this century was sixteen millions
and a half and tormented our forefathers with fears of
bankruptcy, had risen at the end of it, in the heroic
madness of conquest and national pride, to the sum of
three hundred and eighty millions, without a doubt of
our perfect competency to sustain the burden.
If the tendency of affairs on the other side of our
encircling sea was to pull down, to destroy, to modify,
and to redistribute, the tendency at home was to build
up and consolidate; so that in almost exact proportion
to the wild experiments and frantic strugglings of other
nations after something new —new principles of government, new theories of society-there arose in this
country a dogged spirit of resistance to all alterations,
and a persistence in old paths and old opinions. The
charms which constitution-mongers saw  in untried
novelties and philosophic systems existed for John Bull
only in what had stood the wear and tear of hundreds
of: years. The Prussians, Austrians, Americans, and




494           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
finally the French, were groping after vague abstractions; and Frederick the Soldier, and Joseph the Philanthropist, and Citizen lFranklin, and Lafayette and iMirabeau, were each in their own way carried away with
the delusion of a golden age; but the [English statesmen
clung rigidly to'the realities of life,-declared the
universal fraternity of nations to be a cry of knaves or
hypocrites,-and answered all exclamations about the
dignity of humanity and the sovereignty of the people
with "Rule Britannia," and " God save the King."
How deeply this sentiment of loyalty and traditionary
Toryism is seated in the national mind is proved by
nothing so much as by the dreadful ordeal it had to go
through in the days of the first two Georges. It certainly was a faith altogether independent of external
circumstances, which saw the divinity that hedges
kings in such vulgar, gossiping, and undignified individuals. And yet through all the troubled years of their
reigns the great British heart beat true with loyalty to
the throne, though it was grieved with the proceedings
of the sovereigns; and when the third George gave it a
man to rally round-as truly native-born as the most
indigenous of the people, as stubborn, as strong-willed,
and as determined to resist innovation as the most consistent of the squires and most anti-foreign of the citizens-the nation attained a point of union which had
never been known in all their previous history, and
looked across the Channel, at the insanity of the perplexed populations and the threats of their furious
leaders, with a growl of contempt and hatred which
warned their democrats and incendiaries of the fate
that awaited them here. There are times in all national
annals when the narrowest prejudices have an amazing
resemblance to the noblest virtues. When Hannibal
was encamped at the gates of Rome, the bigoted old




MILITARY GLORY.               495
Patricians in the forum carried on their courts of law
as usual, and would not deduct a farthing from the value
of the lands they set up for sale, though the besieger
was encamped upon them. When a king of Sicily
offered a great army and fleet for the defence of Greece
against the Persians, the Athenian ambassador said,
"HIeaven forefend that a man of Athens should serve
under a foreign admiral "  The Lacedemonian ambassador said the Spartans would put him to death if he
proposed any man but a Spartan to command their
troops; and those very prejudiced and narrow-minded
patriots were reduced to the necessity of exterminating
the invaders by themselves. Great Britain, in the year
1800, was also of opinion that she was equal to all the
world,-that she could hold her own whatever powers
might be gathered against her, —and would not have
exchanged her Hood, and Jervis, and Nelson, for the
assistance of all the fleets of Europe.
Nothing seems to die out so rapidly as the memory
of martial achievements. The military glory of this
country is a thing of fits and starts. Cressy and Poictiers left us at a pitch of reputation which you might
have supposed would have lasted for a long time. ZBut
in a very few years after those victories the IEnglish
name was a byword of reproach. All the conquests
of the Edwards were wrenched away, and it needed
only the short period of the reign of Richard the
Second to sink the recollection of the imperturbable
line and inevitable shaft. Henry the Fifth and Agincourt for a moment brought the previous triumphs into
very vivid remembrance. But civil dissensions between
York and Lancaster blunted the- English sword upon
kindred helmbets, and peaceful Henry the Seventh loaded
the subject with intolerable taxes, and his son wasted
his treasures in feasts and tournaments. The long reigns




496           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
of Elizabeth and James were undistinguished by British
armies performing any separate achievements on the
Continent; and again civil war lavished on domestic
fields an amount of courage and conduct which would
have eclipsed all, previous actions if exhibited on a
wider scene. We need not, therefore, be surprised, if,
after the astonishing course of Louis the Fourteenth's
arms, the discomfiture of his adversaries, the constant
repulses of the English contingent which fought under
William in Flanders, and at last the quiet, looking so
like exhaustion, which ushered in the Eighteenth Century, the ]British forces were despised, and we were confessed, in the ludicrous cant which at intervals becomes
fashionable still, to be not a military nation. How this
astounding proposition agrees with the fact that we
have met in battle every single nation, and tribe, and
kindred, and tongue, on the face of the whole earth, in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and have beaten
them all; how it further agrees with the fact that no
civilized power was ever engaged in such constant and
multitudinous wars, so that there is no month or week
in the history of the last two hundred years in which it
can be said we were not interchanging shot or sabrestroke somewhere or other on the surface of the globe;
how, further still, the statement is to be reconciled with
the fact, perceptible to all mankind, that the result of
these engagements is an unexampled growth of influence and empire, -the acquisition of kingdoms defended
by millions of warriors in Iindostan, of colonies ten
times the extent of the conqueror's realm, defended by
Mlontcalm and the armies of France,-rwe must leave to
the individuals who make it: the truth being that the
British people is not only the most military nation the
world has ever seen, not excepting the Roman, but the
most warlike. It is impossible to say when these pages




SPANISH SUCCESSION.            497
may meet the reader's eye; but, at whatever time it may
be, he has only to look at the "Times" newspaper of that
morning, and he will see that either in the [East or the
West, in China or the Cape, or the Persian Gulf, or on
the Indus, or the Irrawaddy, the meteor flag is waved
in bloody advance. And this seems an indispensable
part of the British position. She is so ludicrously
small upon the map, and so absorbed in speculation, so
padded with cotton, and so sunk in coal-pits, that it is
only constant experience of her prowess that keeps the
world aware of her power.. The other great nations
can repose upon their size, and their armies of six or
seven hundred thousand men. Nobody would think
France or Russia weak because they were inactive.
But with us the case is different: we must fight or fall.
Twice in the century we are now engaged on, we
rose to be first of the military states in Europe, and
twice, by mere inaction, we sank to the rank of Portugal
or Naples.
Charles the Second of Spain died in November, 1700,a person so feeble in health and intellect that in a lower
state of life he would have been put in charge of guardians and debarred from the management of his affairs.
As he was a king, these duties were performed on his
behalf by the priests, and the wretched young man-he
succeeded at three years old-was nothing but the slave
and plaything of his confessor. Yet, though his existence was of no importance, his decease set all Europe
in turmoil. By his testament, obtained from him on his
death-bed, he appointed the grandson -of Louis the
Fourteenth his heir. A previous will had nominated
Charles of Austria. A previous treaty between Louis
and William of England and the States of Holland had
arranged a partition of the Spanish monarchy for the
benefit of the contracting parties and the maintenance




498           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
of the balance of power. *But now, when a choice was
to be made between the wills and the treaty, between
the balance of power and his personal ambition, the
temptation was too great for the cupidity of the G-rand
Monarque. He accepted the throne of Spain and the
Indies for his grandson Philip of Anjou, and sent him
over the Pyrenees to take possession of his dignity. The
stroke was so sudden that people were silent from surprise. A French prince at Madrid, at Milan, and Naples,
was only the lieutenant in those capitals for the French
king. The preponderance of the house of Bourbon was
dangerous to the liberties of Europe, and when the
house of Bourbon was represented by the haughtiest,
and vainest, and most insulting of men, the dignity of
the remaining sovereigns was offended by his ostentatious superiority; and the house of Austria, which in
the previous century had been the terror of statesmen
and princes, was turned to as a shelter from its successful rival, and all the world prepared to defend the cause
of the Austrian Charles. The affairs of Europe, which
were disturbed by the death of an imbecile king in
Spain, were further complicated by the death of a still
more imbecile king at St. Germain's. James the Second
brought his strange life to a close in 1701; and, though
the advisers of Louis pointed out the consequence of
offending England at-that particular time by recognising
the Prince of Wales as inheritor of the English crown,
the vanity of the old man who could not forego the
luxury of having a crowned king among his attendants
prevailed over his better knowledge, and one day, to the
amazement of courtiers and council, he gave the royal
reception to James the Third, and threw down the
gauntlet to William and England, which they were not
slow to take up. William of Orange was not popular
among his new subjects, and was always looked on as a




MARLBOROUGH.                 499
foreigner. Perhaps the memory of Ruyter and Van
Tromp was still fresh enough to make him additionally
disliked because he was a Dutchman. But when it was
known over the country that the bigoted and insulting
despot in Paris had nominated a King of England, while
the man the nation had chosen was still alive in Whitehall, the indignation of all classes was roused, and found
its expression in loyalty and attachment to their deliverer from Popery and persecution. Great exertions
were made to conduct the war on a scale befitting the
importance of the interests at stake. Addresses poured
in, with declarations of devotion to the throne; troops
were raised, and taxes voted; and in the midst of these
preparations, the King, prematurely old, in the fiftythird year of his age, died of a fall from his horse at
Kensington, in March, 1702, and the powers of Europe
felt that the best soldier they possessed was lost to the
cause. Rather it was a fortunate thing for the confederated princes that William died at this time; for he never
rose to the rank of a first-rate commander, and was so
ambitious of glory and power that he would not have
left the way clear for a greater than himself.
This was found in Marlborough. Military science was
the characteristic of this illustrious general; and no one
before his time had ever possessed in an equal degree
the power of attaching an army to its chief, or of regulating his strategic movements by the higher consideration of policy and statesmanship. For the first time, in
English history at least, a march was equivalent to a
battle. A change of his camp, or even a temporary retreat, was as effectual as a victory; and it was seen by
the clearer observers of the time that a campaign was
a game of skill, and not of the mere dash and intrepidity
which appeal to the vulgar passions of our nature. Not
so, however, the general public: their idea of war was




500           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
a succession of hard knocks, with enormous lists of the
killed and wounded. A manceuvre, without a charge
of bayonets at the end of it, was little better than cowardice; and complaints were loud and common against
the inactivity of a man who, by dint of long-prepared
combinations, compelled the enemy to retreat by a mere
shift of position and cleared the Low Countries of its
invaders without requiring to strike a blow. "Let them
see how we can fight," cried all the.corporations in the
realm: " anybody can march and pitch his camp." And
it is not impossible that the foreign populations who had
never seen the red-coats, or, at most, who had only
known them acting as auxiliaries to the Dutch and
often compelled to retire before the numbers and impetuosity of the French, had no expectation of success
when they should be fairly brought opposite. their former
antagonists. Friends and foes alike were prepared for
a renewal of the days of Luxembourg and Turenne.
In this they were not disappointed; for a pupil of
Turenne renewed, in a very remarkable manner, the
glories of his master. 3Marlborough had served under
that great commander, and profited by his lessons.:He
had fifty thousand British soldiers under his undivided
command; and, to please the grumblers at home and
the doubters abroad, he made the reign of Anne the
most glorious in the English military annals by thickcoming fights, still unforgotten, though dimmed by the
exploits of the more illustrious Wellington. The first
of these was Blenheim, against the French and Bavao
rians, in 1704. How- different this was from the handto-hand thrust and parry of ancient times is shown by
the fate of a strong body of French, who were so posted
on this occasion that the duke saw they were in his
power without requiring to fire a gun. He sent his aidde-camp, Lord Orkney, to them to point out the hope



PEACE OF UTRECHT.             50J
lessness of their position; and when he rode up, accomnpanied by a French officer, to act, perhaps, as his
interpreter, a shout of gratulation broke from the unsuspecting Frenchmen. "Is it a prisoner you have brought
us?" they asked their countryman. "Alas! no," he
replies: "Lord Orkney has come from Marlborough to
tell you you are his prisoners. His lordship offers you
your lives." A glance at the contending armies confirmed the truth of this appalling communication, and
the brigade laid down its arms. The tide of victory,
once begun, knew no ebb till the grandeur of Louis
the Fourteenth was overwhelmed. Disgraces followed
quickly one upon the other,-marshals beaten, towns
taken, conquests lost, his wealth exhausted, his people
discontented, and the bravest of his generals hopeless
of success. Prince Eugene of Savoy, equal to Ilarlborough in military genius, was more embittered against
the French monarch, to whom he had offered his services, and who had had the folly to reject them. France,
on the side of Germany and the Low Countries, was
pressed upon by the triumphant invaders. In Spain,
the affairs of the new king were more desperate still.
Gibraltar was taken in 1704. Lord Peterborough, a wiser
Quixote, of whose victories it is difficult to say whether
they were the result of madness or skill, marched
through the kingdom at the head of six or seven thousand English and conquered wherever he went.
When the war had lasted eight or nine years, the
reputation of Marlborough and the British arms was at
its height. Our fleets were masters of the sea, and the
Grand Monarque sent humble petitions to the opposing
powers for peace upon any terms. People tell us that
Marlborough rejected all overtures which might have
deprived him of the immense emoluments he received
for carrying on the war. Perhaps, also, he was inspired




502            EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
by the love of fame; but, whether meanness or ambition
was his motive, his warlike propensities were finally
A.D. 1711. overcome,-for his wife; the imperious duchess,
quarrelled with Queen Anne,-the ministry was
changed, and the jealousies of Whitehall interfered with
the campaigns in Flanders. Marlborough was displaced,
and a peace patched up, which, under the name of the
1713. Peace of Utrecht, is quoted as showing what
small fruits British diplomacy sometimes derives
from British valour. Louis the Fourteenth, conquered
at all points, his kingdom exhausted, and all his reputation gone, saw his grandson in possession of the crown
which had been the original cause of the war, and Great
Britain rewarded for all her struggles by the empty glory
of filling up the harbour of Dunkirk, and the scarcely
more substantial advantage, as many considered it at
the time, of retaining Gibraltar, a barren rock, and Minorca, a useless island. After this, we find a long period
of inaction on the continent produce its usual effect.
When thirty years had passed without the foreign populations having sight of the British grenadiers, they either
forgot their existence altogether, or had persuaded themA.D. 1743. selves that the new generation had greatly deA.D- 1745. teriorated from the old. It needed the victory of
Dettingen, and the more glorious repulse of Fontenoy,
to recall the soldiers of Oudenarde and Malplaquet.
In the interval, amazing things had been going on.
Even while the career of:Marlborough was attended
with such glory in arms, a peaceful achievement was
accomplished of far more importance than all his victories. An Act of Union between the two peoples who
occupied the Isle was passed by both their Parliaments
in 1707, and England and Scotland disappeared in their
separate nationalities, to receive the more dignified appellation of the Kingdom of Great Britain. This was a




THE PRETENDER.                503
statesman'"s triumph; for the popular feeling on both
sides of the Tweed was against it. Scotland considered
herself sold; and England thought she was cheated.
Clauses were introduced to preserve, as far as possible,
the distinctions which each thought it for its honour to
keep up. National peculiarities exaggerated themselves
to prevent the chance of being obliterated; and Scotchmen were never so Scotch, nor Englishmen ever so
English, as at the time when these denominations were
about to cease. As neighbours, with the mere tie between them of being subjects of the same crown, they
were on amicable and respectful terms. But when the
alliance was proposed to be more intimate, their interests
to be considered identical and the Parliaments to be
merged in one, both parties took the alarm. "The preponderating number of English members would scarcely
be affected by the miserable forty-five votes reserved for
the Scotch representatives," said Caledonia, stern and
wild. " The compact phalanx of forty-five determined
Scotchmen will give them the decision of every question
brought before Parliament,"' replied England, with equal
fear, —and equal misapprehension, as it happily turned
out. When eight years had elapsed after this great
event in our domestic history, with just sufficient experience of the new machinery to find out some of its defects,
it was put to the proof by an incident which might have
been fatal to a far longer established system of government. This was a rebellion in favour of the exiled
Stuarts. James the Third, whom we saw recognised by
Louis the Fourteenth on the death of his father in 1701,
made his appearance among the Highlanders' of the
North in 1714, and summoned them to support his
family claims.
But the memory of his ancestors was too recent.
Men of middle age remembered James the Second in




604            EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
his tyrannical supremacy at Elolyrood. The time was
not sufficiently remote for romance to have gathered
round the harsh reality and hidden its repulsive outlines. A few months showed the Pretender the hopelessness of his attempt; and the tranquillity of the
country was considered to be re-established when the
adherents of the losing cause were visited with the
harshest penalties. The real result of these vindictive
punishments was, that they added the spirit of revenge
for private wrong to the spirit of loyalty to the banished
line. Many circumstances concurred to favour the defeated candidate, who seemed to require to do nothing
but bide his time. The throne was no longer held, even
under legalized usurpation, as the discontented expressed
it, by one of the ancient blood. A foreigner, old and
A.D. 1714. stupid, had come over from Hanover and claimed
the Parliamentary crown, and the few remaininig links of attachment which kept the high-prerogative
men and the Roman Catholics inactive in the reign of
Queen Anne, the daughter of their rightful king, lost all
their power over them on the advent of George the
First, who had to trace up through mother and grandmother till he struck into the royal pedigree in the reign
of James the First. It was thought hard that descent
from that champion of monarchic authority and hereditary right should be pleaded as a title to a crown dependent on the popular choice. As years passed on, the
number of the discontented was of course increased.
Whoever considered himself neglected by the intrusive
government'turned instinctively to the rival house. A
courtier offended by the brutal manners of the Hanoverian rulers looked longingly across the sea to the descendant of his lineal kings. The foreign predilections, and
still more foreign English, of the coarse-minded Georges,
made them unpopular with the weak or inconsiderate,




SOUTH-SEA BUBBLE.               505
who did not see that a very inelegant pronunciation
might be united with a true regard for the interests of
their country.
The commercial passions of the nations succeeded to
the military enthusiasm of the past age, and brought
their usual fruits of selfish competition and social degradation. Money became the most powerful principle of
public and private life: Sir Robert Walpole, a man of
perfect honesty himself, founded his ministry on the
avowed disbelief of personal honesty among all classes
AD 12o.  of the people; and there were many things
which appeared to justify his incredulity. There
was the South-Sea Bubble, a swindling speculation, to
which our own railway-mania is the only parallel, where
lords and ladies, high ecclesiastics and dignified officebearers, the highest and the lowest, rushed into the
wildest excesses of gambling and false play, and which
caused a greater loss of character and moral integrity
than even of money to its dupes and framers. There
was the acknowledged system of rewarding a ministerial
vote with notes for five hundred or a thousand pounds.
There were the party libels of the time, all imputing the
greatest iniquities to the object of their vituperation,
and left uncontradicted except by savage proceedings
at law or by similar insinuations against the other side.
There were philosophers like Bolingbroke and clergymen like Swift. But let us distinguish between the performers on the great scenes of life, the place-hunter at
St. James's, and the great body of the English and Scottish gentry, and their still undepraved friends and neighbours, whom it is the fashion to involve in the same condemnation of recklessness and dishonour. We are to
remember that the dregs of the former society were not
yet cleared away. The generation had been brought up
at the feet of the professors of morality and religion as
22




606  -         EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
they were practised in the days of Charles and James,
with Congreve and Wycherly for their exponents on the
stage and Dryden for their poet-laureate.
It seems a characteristic of literature that it becomes
pure in proportion as it becomes powerful. While it is
the mere vehicle for amusement or the exercise of wit
and fancy, it does not care in what degrading quarters
its materials are found. But when it feels that its voice
is influential and its lessons attended to by a wider audience, it rises to the height of the great office to which it
is called, and is dignified because it is conscious of its
authority. In the incontestable amendment visible in
the writings of the period of Anne and the Georges, we
find a proof that the vices of the busy politicians and
gambling speculators were not shared by the general
public.  The papers of the Spectator and Tatler, the
writings of Pope and Arbuthnot, were not addressed to
a depraved or sensualized people, as the works of Rochester and Sedley had been. When we talk, therefore,
of the Augustan age of Anne, we are to remember that
its freedom from grossness and immorality is still more
remarkable than its advance in literary merit, and we
are to look on the conduct of intriguing directors and
bribed members of Parliament as the relics of a time
about to pass away and to give place to truer ideas of
commercial honesty and public duty. The country, in
spite of coarseness of manners and language, was still
sound at heart. The jolly squire swore at inconvenient
seasons and drank beyond what was right, but he kept
open house to friend and tenant, administered justice to
the best of his ability, had his children Christianly and
virtuously brought up, and was a connecting link in his
own neighbourhood between the great nobles who affected
almost a princely state, and the snug merchant in the
country town, or retired Citizen from London, whom he




THE PRETENDER.               -507
met at the weekly club. The glimpses we get of the
social status of the country gentlemen of Queen Anne
make us enamoured of their simple ways and patriarchal
position. For the argument to be drawn from the character andct friends of Sir Roger de Coverly and the delightful Lady Lizard and her daughters, is that the great
British nation was still the home of the domestic affections, that the behaviour was pure though the grammar
was a little faulty, and the ideas modest and becoming
though the expression might be somewhat unadorned.
Hence it was that, when the trial came, the heart of all
the people turned to the uninviting but honest man who
filled the British throne. George the Second became a
hero, because the country was healthy at the core.
A son of the old Pretender, relying on the lax morality
of the statesmen and the venality of the courtiers, forgot
the unshaken firmness and dogged love of the right
which was yet a living principle among the populations
of both the nations, and landed in the ~North of Scotland
in 1745, to recover the kingdom of his ancestors by force
of arms. The kingdoms, however, had got entirely out
of the habit of being recovered by any such means. The
law had become so powerful, and was so guarded by forms
and precedents, that Prince Charles Edward would have
had a better chance of obtaining his object by an action
of ejectment, or a suit of recovery, than by the aid of
sword and bayonet. Everybody knows the main incidents of this romantic campaign,-the successful battles
which gave the insurgents the apparent command of the
Lowlands, —the advance into England,-the retreat from
Derby,-the disasters of the rebel army, and its final extinction at Culloden. But, although to us it appears a
very serious state of affairs, —a crown placed on the arbitrament of war, battles in open field, surprise on the part
of the Hanoverians, and loud talking on the part of their




508           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
rivals,-the tranquillity of all ranks and in all quarters
is the most inexplicable thing in the whole proceeding.
When the landing was first announced, alarm was of
course felt, as at a fair when it is reported that a tiger
has broken loose from the menagerie. But in a little time
every thing resumed its ordinary appearance. George
himself cried, " Pooh i pooh! Don't talk to me of such
nonsense." His ministers, who probably knew the state
of public feeling, were equally unconcerned.  A few
troops were brought over from the Continent, to show
that force was not wanting if the application of it was
required. But in other respects no one appeared to believe that the assumed fears of the disaffected, and the
no less assumed exultation of the Jacobites, had any
foundation in fact. Trade, law, buying and selling,
writing and publishing, went on exactly as before. The
march of the Pretender was little attended to, except
perhaps in the political circles in London. In the great
towns it passed almost unheeded. Quiet families within
a few, miles of the invaders' march posted or walked
across to see the uncouth battalions pass. Their strange
appearance furnished subjects of conversation for a
month; but nowhere does there seem to have been the
terror of a real state of war, —the anxious waiting for
intelligence, " the pang, the agony, the doubt:" no one
felt uneasy as to the result. England had determined
to have no more Stuart kings, and Scotland was beginning to feel the benefit of the Union, and left the defence
of the true inheritor to the uninformed, discontented,
disunited inhabitants of the hills.  When the. tribes
emerged from their mountains, they seemed to melt like
their winter snows. No squadrons of stout-armed cavaliers came to join them from holt and farm, as in the
days of the Great Rebellion, when the royal flag was
raised at Nottingham. Puritans and Independents took




CULLODEN.                  509
no heed, and cried no cries about "the sword of the Lord
and of Gideon."  They had turned cutlers at Sheffield
and fustian-makers at Manchester. The Prince found
not only that he created no enthusiasm, but no alarm, —
a most painful thing for an invading chief; and, in fact,
when they had reached the great central plains of England they felt lost in the immensity of the solitude that
surrounded them.' If they had met enemies they would
have fought; if they had found friends they would have
hoped; but they positively wasted away for lack of either
confederate or opponent. The expedition disappeared
like a small river in sand. What was the use of going
on? If they reached London itself, they would be swallowed up in the vastness of the population, and, instead
of meeting an army, they would be in danger of being
taken up by the police. So they reversed their steps.
Donald had stolen considerably in the course of the foray,
and was anxious to go and invest his fortune in his native vale. An English guinea-a coin hitherto as fabulous as the Bodach glas-would pay the rent of his holding for twenty years; five pounds would make him a
cousin of the Laird. But Donald never got back to dis
play the spoils of Carlisle or Derby. He loitered by the
road, and was stripped of all his booty. He was imprisoned, and hanged, and starved, and beaten, and
A. 146. finally, after the strange tragi-comedy of his
fight at Falkirk, had the good fortune, on that
bare expanse of Drummossie Moor, to hide some of the
ludicrous features of his retreat in the glory of a warrior's death. Justice became revenge by its severity
after the insurrection was quelled. The followers of the
Prince were punished as traitors; but treason means
rebellion against an acknowledged government, which
extends to its subjects the securities of law. These did
not exist in the Highlands. All those distant popula



510           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
tions knew of law was the edge of its sword, not the
balance of its scales. They saw their chiefs depressed,
they remembered the dismal massacre of Glencoe in
William's time, and the legal massacres of George the
First's. They spoke another language, were different in
blood, and manners, and religion, and should have been
treated as prisoners of war fighting under a legal banner,
and not drawn and quartered as revolted subjects. It is
doubtful if one man in the hundred knew the name of
the king he was trying to displace, or the position of the
prince who summoned him to his camp. Poor, gallant,
warm-hearted, ignorant, trusting Gael!  His chieftain
told him to follow and slay the Saxons, and he required
no further instruction. He was not cruel or bloodthirsty
in his strange advance. He had no personal enmity to
Scot or Englishman, and, with the simple awe of childhood, soon looked with reverence on the proofs of wealth
and skill which met him in the crowded cities and cultivated plains. He was subdued by the solemn cathedrals
and grand old gentlemen's seats that studded all the
road, as some of his ancestors, the ancient Gauls, had
been at the sight of the Roman civilization. And, for all
these causes, the incursion of the Jacobites left no lasting bitterness among the British peoples. Pity began
before long to take the place of opposition; and when
all was quite secure, and the Highlanders were fairly
subdued, and the Pretender himself was sunk in sloth
and drunkenness, a sort of morbid sympathy with the
gallant adventurers arose among the new generation.
Tender and romantic ballads, purporting to be "Laments for Charlie," and declarations of attachment to
the " Young Chevalier," were composed by comfortable
ladies and gentlemen, and sung in polished drawingrooms in Edinburgh and London with immense applause.
Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," or Aytoun's "Lays




LITERATURE.                 611
of the Scottish Cavaliers," have as much right to be
called the contemporary expression of the sacrifice of
Virginia or the burial of Dundee as the Jacobite songs
to be the living voice of the Forty-Five. Who was there
in the Forty-Five, or Forty-Six, or for many years after
that date, to write such charming verses? The Highlanders themselves knew not a word of English; the
blue bonnets in Scotland were not addicted to the graces
of poetry and music. The citizens of [England were too
busy, the gentlemen of England too little concerned in
the rising, to immortalize the landing at Kinloch-Moidart
or the procession to Holyrood. The earliest song which
commemorates the Pretender's arrival, or laments his
fall, was not written within twenty years of his attempt.
By that time George the Third was on the safest throne
in Europe, and Great Britain was mistress of the trade
of India and the illimitable regions of America. It was
easy to sing about having our "rightful King," when
we were in undisputed possession of the Ganges and the
Hudson and had just planted the British colours on
Quebec and Montreal.
This rebellion of Forty-Five, therefore, is remarkable
as a feature in this century, not for the greatness of the
interest it excited, but for the small effect it had upon
either government or people. It showed on what firm
foundations the liberties and religion of the nations
rested, that the appearance of armed enemies upon our
soil never shook our justly-balanced state. The courts
sat at Westminster, and the bells rang for church.
People read Thomson's "Seasons," and wondered at
Garrick in " Hamlet" at Drury Lane.
Meantime, a great contest was going on abroad, which,
after being hushed for a while by the peace of 1748, broke
A.D. 1756 out with fiercer vehemence than ever in what
-1763. is called the Seven Years' War. The military




512           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
hero of this period was Frederick the Second of Prussia,
by whose genius and skill the kingdom he succeeded
to-a match for Saxony or IBavaria-rapidly assumed
its position as a first-rate power. A combination of
all the old despotisms was formed against him,-not,
however, without cause; for a more unprincipled remover of his neighbour's landmarks, and despiser of
generosity and justice, never appeared in history. But
when he was pressed on one side by Russia and Austria,
and on the other by France, and all the little German
potentates were on the watch to pounce on the unprotected State and get their respective shares in the general pillage, Frederick placed his life upon the cast, and
stood the hazard of the die in many tremendous combats,
crushed the belligerents one by one, made forced marches
which caught them unawares, and, though often defeated,
conducted his retreats so that they yielded him all the
fruits of victory. In his extremity he sought and found
alliances in the most unlikely quarters. Though a selfwilled despot in his own domains, he won the earnest
support and liberal subsidies of the freedom-loving English; and though a philosopher of the most amazing
powers of unbelief, he awakened the sympathy of all the
religious Protestants in our land. All his faults were
forgiven-his unchivalrous treatment of the heroic KEing
of Hungary, Maria-Theresa, the Empress-Queen, his assaults upon her territory, and general faithlessness and
ambition-on the one strong ground that he opposed
Catholics and tyrants, and, though irreligious and even
scoffing himself, was at the head of a true-hearted Protestant people.
It is not unlikely the instincts of a free nation led us
at that time to throw our moral weight, if nothing more,
into the scale against the intrusion of a new and untried
power which began to take part ifi the conflicts of Eu



WILLIAM PITT.                513
rope; for at this period we find the ill-omened announcement that the Russians have issued from their deserts a
hundred thousand strong, and made themselves masters
of most of the Prussian provinces. Though defeated in
A. 1755. the great battle of Zorndorf, they never lost the
hope of renewing the march they had made
eleven years before, when thirty-five thousand of them
had rested on the Rhine. But Britain was not blind
either to the past or future. At the head of our affairs
was a man whose fame continues as fresh at the present
hour as in the day of his greatness. Williamu Pitt had
been a cornet of horse, and even in his youth had attracted
the admiration and hatred of old Sir Robert Walpole
by an eloquence and a character which the world has
agreed in honouring with the epithet of majestic; and
when war was again perplexing the nations, and Britain,
as usual, had sunk to the lowest point in the military
estimate of the Continent, the Great Commoner, as he
was called, took the government into his hands, and the
glories of the noblest periods of our annals were immediately renewed or cast into the shade. Wherever the
Great Commoner pointed with his finger, success was
certain. His fleets swept the seas. Howe and Hawke
and Boscawen executed his plans. In the East he was
answered by the congenial energy of Clive, and in the
West by the heroic bravery of Wolfe. For, though the
war in which we were now engaged had commenced
nominally for European interests, the crash of arms between France and England extended to all quarters of
the world. In India and America equally their troops
and policies were opposed, and, in fact, the battle of the
two nations was fought out in those distant realms.
Our triumph at Plassey and on the Heights of Abraham
had an immense reaction on both the peoples at home.
And a very cursory glance at those regions, fromu the




514           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
middle of the century, will be a fitting introduction to
the crowning event of the period we have now reached,
-namely, the French Revolution of 1789. The rise of
the British Empire in the East, no less than -the loss of
our dominion in the West, will be found to contribute to
that grand catastrophe, of which the results for good
and evil will be felt "to the last syllable of recorded
time."
The first commercial adventure to India was in the
bold days of Elizabeth, in 1591. In the course of a
hundred years from that time various companies bad
been established by royal charter, and a regular trade
had sprung up. In 1702 all previous charters were consolidated into one, and the East India Company began
its career. Its beginning was very quiet and humble.
It was a trader, and nothing more; but when it saw a
convenient harbour, a favourable landing-place, and an
industrious population, it bent as lowly as any Oriental
slave at the footstool of the unsuspecting Rajah, and
obtained permission to build a storehouse, to widen the
wharf, and, finally, to erect a small tower, merely for
the defence of its property from the dangerous inhabitants of the town. The storehouses became barracks,
the towers became citadels; and by the year 1750 the
recognised possessions of the inoffensive and unambitious merchants comprised mighty states, and were
dotted at intervals along the coast from Surat and  Bombay on the west to Madras and Calcutta on the east and
far north. The French also had not been idle, and
looked out ill pleased, from  their domains at Pondicherry and Chandernagore, on the widely-diffused settlements and stealthy progress of their silent rivals.
They might have made as rapid progress, and secured
as extensive settlements, if they had imitated their
rivals' stealthiness and silence. But power is nothing




CLIVE.                   515
in the estimation of a Frenchman unless he can wear it
like a court suit and display it to all the world. The
governors, therefore, of their factories, obtained honours
and ornaments from the native prindes. One went so
far as to forge a gift of almost regal power from the
Great Mogul, and sat on a musnud, and was addressed
with prostration by his countrymen and the workmen
in the warerooms. Wherever the British wormed their
way, the French put obstacles in their path. Whether
there was peace between Paris and London or not,
made no difference to the rival companies on the Coromandel shore. They were always at war, and only
cloaked their national hatred under the guise of supporters bf opposite pretenders to some Indian throne.
Great men arose on both sides. The climate or policies
of Hiindostan, which weaken the native inhabitant,
only call forth the energies and manly virtues of the
intrusive settler. No kingdom has such a bead-roll of
illustrious names as the British occupation. That one
century of " work and will" has called forth more selfreliant heroism and statesmanlike sagacity than any
period of three times the extent since the Norman Conquest.  From Clive, the first of the line, to the Lawrences and IHavelocks of the present day, there has
been no pause in the patriotic and chivalrous procession.
Clive came just at the proper time. A born general,
though sent out in an humble mercantile situation, he
retrieved the affairs of his employers and laid the foundation of a new empire for the British crown. Calcutta
had been seized by a native ruler, instigated by the
French, in 1756. The British residents, to the number
of one hundred and forty-six, were packed in a frightful
dungeon without a sufficiency of light or air, and, after
a night which transcends all nights of suffering and
despair, when the prison-doors were thrown open, but




516           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
twenty-two of the whole number survived. But these
were twenty-two living witnesses to the tyranny and
cruelty of Surajah Dowlat. Clive was on his track ere
many months had passed.  Calcutta was recovered,
other places were taken, and the battle of. Plassey
fought. In this unparalleled exploit, Clive, with three
thousand soldiers, principally Sepoys, revenged the
victims of the [Black Hole, by defeating their murderer
at the head of sixty thousand men. This was on the
23d of June, 1757; and when in that same year the
news of the great European war between the nations
came thundering up the Ganges, the victors enlarged
their plans. They determined to expel the French
from all their possessions, in the East; and'Admiral
Pococke and Colonel Coote were worthy rivals of the
gallant Clive. Great fleets encountered in the Indian
seas, and victorycwas always with the British flag.
Battles took place by land, and uniformly with the
same result. Closer and closer the invading lines converged upon the French; and at last, in 1761, Pondicherry, the last remaining of all their establishments,
was taken, after a vigorous defence, and the French
influence was at an end in India. These four years,
from 1757 to 1761, had been scarcely less prolific of
distinguished men on the French side than our own.
The last known of these was Lally Tollendal, a man of
a furious courage and headstrong disposition, against
whom his enemies at home had no ground of accusation except his want of success and savageness of manner.
Yet when he returned, after the loss of Pondicherry
and a long imprisonment in England, he was attacked
with all the vehemence of personal hatred. He was
tried for betraying the interests of the king, tortured,
and executed. The prosecution lasted many years, and
the public rage seemed rather to increase. Long after




CONQUEST OF CANADA.             517
peace was concluded between France and England,
A. 1D66. the tragedy of the French expulsion from India
received its final scene in the death of the lnfortunate Count Lally.
Quebec and its dependencies, during the same glorious
administration, were conquered and annexed by Wolfe;
and already the throes of the great Revolution were
felt, though the causes remained obscure. Cut off from
the money-making regions of Hindostan and the patriarchal settlements of Canada, the Frenchman, oppressed
at home, had no outlet either for his ambition or discontent. The feeling of his misery was further aggravated by the sight of British prosperity. The race of
men called Nabobs, mercantile adventurers who had
gone out to India poor and came back loaded with
almost incredible wealth, brought the ostentatious habits
of their Oriental experience with them to Europe, and
offended French and English alike by the tasteless profusion of their expense. Money wrung by extortion from
native princes was lavished without enjoyment by the denationalized parvenu. A French duke found himself outglittered by the equipage of the over-enriched clove-dealer,
-an-d hated him for his presumption. The Frenchman
of lower rank must have looked on him as the lucky and
dishonourable rival who had usurped his place, and
hated him for the opportunity he had possessed of winning all that wealth. Ground to the earth by taxes and
toil, without a chance of rising in the social scale or of
escaping from the ever-growing burden of his griefs,
the French peasant and small farmer must have listened
with indignation to the accounts of British families of
their own rank emerging from a twenty years' residence in Madras or Calcutta with more riches than
half the hereditary nobles. It was therefore with a
feeling of unanimous satisfaction that all classes of




518            EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Frenchmen heard, in 1773, that the old English colonies
in America were filled with disaffection, —that Boston
had risen in insurrection, and that a spirit of resistance
to the mother-country was rife in all the provinces.
The quarrel came to a crisis between the Crown and
the colonies within fourteen years of the conquest of
Canada. It seemed as if the British had provided themselves with a new territory to compensate for the approaching loss of the old; and bitter must have been
the reflection of the French when they perceived that
the loyalty of that recent acquisition remained undisturbed throughout the succeeding troubles. Taxation,
the root of all strength and the cause of all weakness,
had been pushed to excess, not in the amount of its
exaction, but in the principle of its imposition; and the
British blood had not been so colonialized as to submit
to what struck the inhabitants of all the towns as an
unjustifiable exercise of power. The cry at first, therefore, was, No tax without representation; but the cry
waxed louder and took other forms of expression. The
cry was despised, whether gentle or loud,-then listened
to,-then resented.  The passions of both countries
became raised. America would not submit to dictation;
Britain would not be silenced by threats. Feelings
which would have found vent at home in angry speeches
in Parliament, and riots at a new election, took a far
more serious shape when existing between populations
separated indeed by a wide ocean, but identical in most
of their qualities and aspirations. The king has been
blamed. " George the Third lost us the colonies by his
obstinacy: he would not yield an inch of his royal
dignity, and behold the United States our rivals and
enemies,-perhaps some day our conquerors and oppressors 1" Now, we should remember that the Great
Britain of 1774 was a very narrow-minded, self-opinion



AMERICAN REVOLUTION.            519
ated, pig-headed Great Britain, compared to the cosmopolitan, philanthropical, and altogether disinterested
Great Britain we call it now. If the king had bated
his breath for a moment, or even spoken respectfully
and kindly of the traitors and rebels who were firing
upon his flags, he would have been the most unpopular
man in his dominions. Many, no doubt, held aloof, and
found excuses for the colonists' behaviour; but the influence of those meditative spirits was small; their voice
was drowned in the chorus of indignation at what
appeared revolt and mutiny more than resistance to
injustice. And when other elements came into the
question,-when the French monarch, ostensibly at
peace with Britain, permitted his nobles and generals
and soldiers to volunteer in the patriot cause,-the sentiments of this nation became embittered with its.hereditary dislike to its ancient foe. We turned them out
of India: were they going to turn us out of America?
We had taken Canada: are they going to take New
York?  We might have offered terms to our own
countrymen, made concessions, granted exemptions from
imperial burdens, or even a share in imperial legislation;
but with Lafayette haranguing about abstract freedom,
and all the young counts and marquises of his expediA.D. 1778 tion declaring against the House of Lords, the
-1780. thing was impossible. War was declared upon
France, and upon Spain, and upon Holland. We fought
everywhere, and lavished blood arid treasure in this
great' quarrel. And yet the nation had gradually accustomed itself to the new view of American wrongs.
The Ministry, by going so far in their efforts at accommodation, had confessed the original injustice of their
cause. So we fought with a blunted sword, and hailed
even our victories with misgivings as to our right to
win them. But it was the season of vast changes in




520           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
the political distribution of all the world. Prussia was
a foremost kingdom. Russia was a European Empire.
India had risen into a compact dominion under the
shield of Britain. Why should not America take a
substantive place in the great family of nations, and
play a part hereafter in the old game of statesmen,
called the Balance of Power?  In 1783 this opinion
prevailed. France, Spain, and Holland sheathed their
swords. The Independence of the United States was
acknowledged at the Peace of Versailles, and everybody believed that the struggle against established
governments was over.
France seemed elevated by the results of the American
War, and Great Britain humiliated. Prophecies were
frequent about our rapid fall and final extinction. Our
own orators were, as usual, the loudest in confessions
of our powerlessness and decay. Our institutions were
held up to dislike; and if you had believed the speeches
and pamphlets of discontented patriots, you would have
thought we were the most spiritless and down-trodden,
the most unmerciful and dishonest, nation in the world.
The whole land was in a fury of self-abasement at the
degradation brought upon our name and standing by the
treachery and iniquities of Warren Hastings in India;
our European glory was crushed by the surrender at
Paris. It must be satisfactory to all lovers of their
country to know that John Bull has no such satisfaction as in proving that he is utterly exhausted,-always
deceived by his friends, always overreached by his enemies, always disappointed in his aims. In this selfdepreciating spirit he conducts all his wars and all his
treaties; yet somehow it always happens that he gets
what he wanted, and the overreaching and deceiving
antagonist gives it up. His power is over a sixth of the
human race, and he began a hundred years ago with a




BRITISH PROGRESS.              521
population of less than fourteen millions; and all the
time he has been singing the most doleful ditties of the
ill success that always attends him, —of his ruinous losses
and heart-breaking disappointments. The men at the
head of affairs in the trying years from the Peace of
Versailles to 1793 were therefore quite right not to be
taken in by the querulous lamentations of the nation.
We had lost three millions of colonists, and gained three
million independent customers.  We were trading to
India, and building up and putting down the oldest
dynasties of Hindostan. Ships and commerce increased
in a remarkable degree; the losses of the war were comnpensated by the gains of those peaceful pursuits in a
very few years; and we were contented to leave to Paris
the reputation of the gayest city in the world, and to
the French the reputation of the happiest and best-ruled
people. But Paris was the wretchedest of towns, and
the French the most miserable of peoples. When anybody asks us in future what was the cause of the French
Revolution, we need not waste time to discuss the
writings of Voltaire, or the unbelief of the clergy, or
the immorality of the nobles. We must answer at once
by naming the one great cause by which all revolutions
are produced,- over-taxation. The French peasant, sighing for liberty, had no higher object than an escape from
the intolerable burden of his payments. He cared no
more for the rights of man, or the happiness of the
human race, than for the quarrels of Achilles and Agamemnon. He wanted to get rid of the "taille," the
" corvee," and twenty other imposts which robbed him
of his last penny. If he had had a chicken in his pot,
and could do as he liked with his own spade and pickaxe, he never would have troubled his head about codes
and constitutions. But life had become a burden to him.
Everybody had turned against him.  The grand old




522           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
feudal noble, who would have protected and cherished
him under the shadow of his castle-wall, was a lordchamberlain at court. The kind old priest, who would
have attended to his wants and fed him, if required, at
the church-door, was dancing attendance in the antechamber of a great lady in Paris, or singing improper
songs at a jolly supper-party at Versailles. There were
intendants and commissaries visiting his wretched hovel
at rapidly-decreasing intervals of time, to collect his
contributions to the revenue. These men farmed the
taxes, and squeezed out the last farthing like a Turkish
pasha. But while the small land-owner-and they were
already immensely numerous-and the serf-for he was
no better-were oppressed by these exactions, the gentry
were exempt. The seigneur visited his castle for a month
or two in the year, but it was to embitter the countryman's lot by the contrast.  uHis property had many
rights, but no duties. In ancient times in France, and
at all times in England, those two qualities went together.
Our upper classes lived among their tenants and dependants. They had no alleviation of burdens in consequence
of their wealth, but they took care that their poorer
neighbours should have alleviation in consequence of
their poverty. Cottages had no window-tax. The pressure of the public burdens increased with the power to
bear them. But in France the reverse was the case.
Poverty paid the money, and wealth and luxury spent
it. The evil was too deep-rooted to be remedied without pulling up the tree. The wretched millions were
starving, toiling, despairing, and the thousands were
rioting in extravagance and show. The same thing oc
curred in 1789 as had occurred in the last glimmer of
the Roman civilization in the time of Clovis.  The
Roman Emperor issued edicts for the collection of his
revenue. Commissioners spiread over the land; the




FRENCH DISCONTENT.              523
miserable Gaul saw the last sheaf of his corn torn away,
and the last lamb of his flock. But when the last property of the poorest was taken away, the imperial exchequer could not remain unfilled. You remember the
unhappy men called Curials,-holders of small estates
in the vicinity of towns. They were also endowed with
rank, and appointed to office. Their office was to make
up from their own resources, or by extra severity among
their neighbours, for any deficiency in the sum assessed.
Peasant, land-owner, curial,-all sank into hopeless
misery by the crushing of this gold-producing machinery. They looked across the Rhine to Clovis and
the Franks, and hailed the ferocious warriors as their
deliverers from an intolerable woe. They could not be
worse off by the sword of the stranger than by the
ledger of the tax-collector. In 1789 the system of the
old Roman extortion was revived. The village or district was made a curial, and became responsible in its
aggregate character for the individual payments. If the
number of payers diminished, the increase fell upon the
few who were not yet stripped. The Clovis of the present day who was to do away with their oppressors,
though perhaps to immolate themselves, was a Revolution,-a levelling of all distinctions, ranks, rights, exemp.
tions, privileges. This was the "liberty, equality, fraternity" that were to overflow the worn-out world and
fertilize it as the Nile does Egypt.
Great pity has naturally been expressed for the nobility (or gentry) and clergy of France; but, properly
considered, France had at that time neither a nobility
nor a clergy. A nobility with no status independent of
the king —with no connection with its estates beyond
the reception of their rents —with no weight in the
legislature; with ridiculously exaggerated rank, and
ridiculously contracted inifluence; with no interest in




EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
local expenditure or voice in public management; a
gentry, in short, debarred from active life, except as
officers of the army-shut out by monarchic jealousy
from interference in affairs, and by the pride of birth
from the pursuits of commerce-is not a gentry at all.
A clergy, in the same way, is a priesthood only in right
of its belief in the doctrines it professes to hold, and the
attention it bestows on its parishioners. Except in some
few instances, the Christianity both of faith and practice
had disappeared from France. It was time, therefore,
that nobility and clergy should also disappear.  The
excesses of the Revolution which broke out in 1789, and
reached their climax in the murder of the king in 1793,
showed the excesses of the misgovernment of former
years. If there had been one redeeming feature of the
ancient system, it would have produced its fruits in the
milder treatment of the victims of the reaction. In one
or two provinces, indeed, we are told that hereditary
attachment still bound the people to their superiors, and
in those provinces, the philosophic chronicler of the fact
informs us, the centralizing system had not completed
its authority. The gentry still performed some of the
duties of their station, and the priests, of their profession. Everywhere else blind hatred, unreasoning hope,
and bloody revenge. The century, which began with
the vainglorious egotism of Louis the Fourteenth and
the war of the Spanish Succession, —which progressed
through the British masterdom of India and the selfsustaining republicanism of America,-died out in the
convulsive strugglings of thirty-one millions of souls on
the soil of France to breathe a purer political air and
shake off the trammels which had gradually been riveted
upon them for three hundred years. Great Britain had
preceded them by a century, and has ever since shown
the bloodless and legal origin of her freedom by the




CLOSE OF THE CENTURY.            b25
bloodless and legal use she has made of it. We emerged
from the darkness of 1688 with all the great landmarks
of our country not only erect, but strengthened. We
had king, lords, and commons, and a respect for law,
and veneration for precedents, which led the great Duke
of Wellington to say, in answer to some question about
the chance of a British revolution, that "no man could
foresee whether such a thing might occur or not, but.
when it did, he was sure it would be done by Act of
Parliament."
War with France began in 1793. Our military repu.
tation was at the lowest, for Wolfe and Clive had had
time to be forgotten; and even our navy was looked on
without dismay, for the laurels of Howe and Boscawen
were sere from age. But in the remaining years of the
century great things were done, and Britannia had the
trident firmly in her hand. Jervis, and Duncan, and
Nelson, were answering with victories at sea the
triumphs of Napoleon in Italy. And while fame was
blowing the names of those champions far and wide, a
blast came across also from India, where Wellesley had
begun his wondrous career. Equally matched the belligerents, and equally favoured with mighty men of
valour to conduct their forces, the feverish energy of
the newly-emancipated France being met by the healthD. 198. ful vigour of the matured and self-respecting
Britain, the world was uncertain how the great
drama would close. But the last year of the century
seemed to incline the scale to the British side. NaA.D. 1799. poleon, after a dash at Egypt, had been checked
by the guns of Nelson in the great battle of the
Nile. lHe secretly withdrew from his dispirited army,
and made his appearance in Paris as much in the character of a fugitive as of a candidate for power. But all
the fruits of his former battles had been torn from his




526           EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
countrymen in his absence. Italy was delivered from
their grasp; Russia was pouring her hordes into the
South; confusion was reigning everywhere, and the
fleets of Great Britain were blocking up every harbour
in France.
Napoleon was created First Consul, and the Century
went down upon the final preparations of the embittered
rivals. Both parties felt now that the struggle was for
life or death, and "the boldest held his breath for a
time," when he thought of what awful events the Nineteenth Century would be the scene.




INDEX.
ABDELMALEX, the caliph, 167.            America, the discovery of, 396-growing
A-Beckett, the elevation and career of,  importance of its discovery, 402-pro290 et seg.                             gress of British power in, 517.
Abelard, rise of free inquhirywith, 280.    Amru, the Saracen conqueror, 163.
Abou Belker, the exploits, &c. of, 157, 158 Anagni, the arrest of Boniface VIII. at,
-chosen Mohammed's successor, 160-    329.
his exploits, 161.                    Anglican Church, the, under Henry II.,
Absolutism, rise of, in France under Louis   289 et seq.
XIV., 475 et seq.                     Anglo-Saxons, establishment of the, 120.
Abu Taleb, uncle of Mohammed, 138.      Anne, the literature of the reign of, 506.
Academies, establishment of, by Charle- Anselm, learning, &c. of, 247.
magne, 196.                           Antharis, conquest of Italy by, 130.
Adrian, the emperor, accession and reign Antioch, the capture of, by the Crusaders,
of, 45 et seq. —his death, 48.          264-the battle of, 265.
Adrian IV., Pope, 289.                  Antoninus Pius, the emperor, his character
Africa, progress of the Saracens in, 166-   and reign, 49.
trading-company to, 452.              Aquileia, siege of, by Maximin, 70-taken
Agincourt, battle of, 381.                by Attila, 110.
Agriculture, state of, in seventh century, Aquitaine, power of the Dukes of, 204, 232.
142.                                  Arcadius, the emperor, 101.
Agrippina, the empress, 22.             Architecture, advancement of, during the
Alans, the, 100.                          eleventh century, 242, 243.
Alaric the Goth, first appearance of, 98-  Argentine, Sir Giles d', death of, 353.
hostilities with, 101-sack of Rome, 106 Arians, enmity between, and the orthodox,
-his death and burial, 107.             94-quarrels between, and the AthanaAlbigenses, tenets, &c. of the, 299-the cru-   sians, 117.
sade against them, 302 et seq.        Aristocracy, the Roman, their decay, 32 et
Albinus, a candidate for the empire, 60.  seq.
Alboin, King of the Lombards, 129.      Aristotle, supremacy given to, 297.
Alcuin at the court of Charlemagne, 194- Armagnac, the Count of, 364-struggle beas Abbot of Tours, 195.                 tween, and Burgundy, 377.
Aleppo taken by the Saracens, 163.      Armies, the modern, of Europe, 57.
Alexander VI., character, &c. of, 369, 406.  Arnold of Brescia, the revolt of, 278-his
Alexandria, the monks of, 115-taken by   death, 279.
the Saracens, and destruction of the Arteveldt, James Van, 355.
library, 163.                         Asia, stationary condition of, 14.
Alexis, the emperor, and the Crusaders, Asti, siege of, by Alaric, 105.
263.                                  Ataulf the Goth, career of, 108.
Alfred, rise and exploits of, 215.      Athanasians, division between the, and the
All becomes caliph, 167-the exploits, &c.   Arians, 117.
of, 157, 158, 160.                    Attila the Hun, career of, 109 et seq.
Alva, the Duke of, the St. Bartholomew  Augustin, influence of, on Luther, 424.
massacre planned with, 441-his cruel- Augustus, the supremacy of, 17-his reign,
ties in the Netherlands, 441.           18.
Amadis de Gaul, the romance of, 349.    Aulus Plautius, landing of. in England, 21.




528                                INDEX.
Aurelian, the emperor, 72-his triumph, Bruce, the victory of, at Bannockburn, 352.
79.                                    Bruges, defeat of the townsmen of, at CasAustrasia, kingdom of, 155.                sel, 353.
Austria, the power of, in the seventeenth  Brunehild, cruelties and career of, 150century, 463-the seven years' war, 512.   her death, 150.
Auvergne, the Marquises of; 205.         Brunissende de Perigord, mistress of CleAvars, junction of the Lombards with the,   ment V., 332.
129.                                   Buccaneers, rise of the, 452.
Avignon, acquired by the Pope, 306-the Burghers, increasing importance of the,
residence of the Popes at, 342.          279.
Azores, discovery of the, 395.           Burgundians, conquest of Gaul by the, 108.
Burgundy, kingdom of, 155.
Bacon, Roger, gunpowder known to, 372.  Busentino, burial of Alaric in the, 107.
Badby, John, martyrdom of, 367.
Bahuchet, a French admiral, 355.         Cade, the insurrection of, 374.
Balbinus, appointment of, 69-his death, Cadijah, wife of Mohammed, 138.
70.                                    Calais, taken by Edward III., 356.
Baldwyn, Count of Flanders, 263 —habits Caligula, the character, &c. of, 19.
of, in the East, 270.                  Caliphs, habits of -the, 165.
Baliol, maintained by Edward I., 319.    Calvinists and Lutherans, hatred between.
Ballads, influence of, on the common peo-   460.
pie, 372.                              Cambrai, the league of, 409 et seq.
Bannockburn, the battle of, 352.         Canada, the conquest of, by the British, 517.
Barbarians, first appearance of the, 25- Cannon, first employment of, 342.
their increased incursions, 51-their con- Capetian line, commencement of the, 231.
tinued progress, 71-their increasing  Caracalla, character of, 62-his accession
strength, 79 et seq.                     and reign, 65.
Barbavara, a Genoese admiral, 355.       Carausius, the revolt of, 75.
Barcho-chebas, the rebellion of the Jews Carlovingian line, close of the, 231.
under, 47.                             Carthage, subdued by the Saracens, 166.
Bedford, the Duke of, in France, 384.    Cassel, the battle of, 353.
Belisarius, exploits of, 124-disgraced, 125. Cassius, the rebellion of, 52.
Bells, the invention of, 196.            Cathedrals, building of, during the eleventh
Benedict. See St. Benedict.                century, 242.
Benedict XI. poisoned, 331.              Catherine de Medicis, the massacre of St.
Benedictine monks, industry, &c. of the,   Bartholomew planned by, 441.
142.                                   Catholicism, resemblances between, and
Berenger, transubstantiation assailed by,   Mohammedanism, 271.
247.                                   Cavendish, the naval exploits of, 451.
Bernard de Goth, elevated to the papacy Caxton, books printed by, 393.
as Clement V., 331 et seq.             Celibacy, priestly, neglect of, during the
Beziers, massacre of Albigenses in, 305.   eleventh century, 252-enforced by HilBible, Wickliff's translation of the, 342-   debrand, 256.
the first book printed by Guttenberg, Centuries, characters of different, 13,15, et
422.                                     seq.
Bishops, increasing alarm of the, in the Chvereas, assassination of Caligula by, 20.
ninth  century, 205 —warlike, of the Chalons, the battle of, 110.
eleventh century, 251.                 Change, prevalence of, during eighteenth
Black Hole of Calcutta, the tragedy of the,   century, 491.
515.                                   Charlemagne, accession and reign of, 186
Blanche, mother of Louis IX., urges the   et seq.-his conquests, 187-crowned Empersecution of the Albigenses, 304.      peror of the West, 188-his era, 188 et seq.
Blenheim, the battle of, 500.              -his polity, &c., 189-his court, &c.,
Boccaccio, the works of, 344.              193, 194 et seq.-his encouragement of
Bohemund, the Crusader, 265.               literature, &c., 195 et seq.-his death,
Boniface VII., Pope, 236.                  and disruption of his empire, 198, 201 et
Boniface VIII., bull against Edward I. by,   seq.
315-jubilee celebrated by, 325-contest Charles, son of Louis the Debonnaire, 201
with Philip le Bel, 326 et seq.-his arrest,   -character and reign of, 206.
329 et seq.-his death, 330.            Charles the Simple and Rollo the Norman,
Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence, 175.      225, 226, 227.
Books, early value of, 372-multiplied by Charles VI., decline of the French nobility
printing, 373.                           under, 360 et seq.-death of, 384.
Borgia, elevation of, to the Papacy, 369.   Charles VII., accession of, 384-the Maid
lJrantame, the memoirs of, 447.            of Orleans, 386 et seq.-his desertion of
Briblery, prevalence of, under Walpole, 505.   her, 389;
Brittany, power of the Dukes of, 204-ac- Charles IX., the massacre of St. Bartholo.
quired by IRollo the Norman, 226.        mew, 442.




INDEX.                                  629
Charles V., the emperor, extent of his do-   during the twelfth century, 274-charac.
minions, 404-and Luther, 427-close of   ter of, in Provence, 300-taxed in Enghis career, 431, 432.                    land by Edward I., 315-support Henry
Charles I., unpopularity of, 465-the exe-   IV. in England, 365-the French at the.- cution of, 470.                        time of the Revolution, 523.
Charles II., England under, 472 et seq.  Clive, the exploits of, 515.
Charles II. of Spain, death of, and his will, Clotaire, overthrow of Brunehild by, 150.
497.                                   Clothilde, anecdote of, 153.
Charles Edward, the rising under, 507.    Clovis, accession of, in France, 119-the
Charles Martel, the defeat of the Saracens   descendants of, 175-set aside, 182.
by, 176, 179, et seq.                  Cobham, Lord, martyrdom of, 367.
Chatham, the ministry of, 513.           Colonies, the first English and Dutch, 454.
Chaucer, the works of, 344.              Colonna, the arrest of Boniface VIII. by,
Childeric III., the last of the Merovingians,   329.
182.                                   Columbus, the career of, and his discovery
Chivalry, rise of the orders of, 344-prin-   of America, 395.
ciples inculcated by, 349.             Commerce, progress of, in England under
Chosroes, King of Persia, 158.             Elizabeth, 449 et seq.
Christ, the birth of, and its influence, 17.  Commodus, accession and character of, 58
Christian Church, progressive development   et seq.
of the, 76-its organization, 78-corrup- Commons, rise of the, in England, 306tion of the, 114-divisions in it, 116 —  House of, first constituted in England,
persecutions, 118.                       311.
Christians, persecution of the, by Nero, 23 Condd, the Great, 478, 481.
-policy of Adrian towards, 49.         Conrad, the emperor, heads the second
Christianity, influence of, 17-the first   Crusade, 284.
effects of, 36-progress of, 55 —establish- Conservatism, strength of, in England durment of, by Constantine, 85-commenc-   ing eighteenth century, 494.
ing struggle of, with Mohammedanism, Constantine, accession of, and removal to
141.                                     Constantinople, 84 —his character, 85Church, the privileges conferred on, and    establishes Christianity, 85-his system
its advantages, 145-corruptions, 147,   of government, 86-nobility founded by
148-at variance with the nobility, 153-    him, 87 —his system of taxation, 89its unity, 155-state of, in England dur-   death, 92.
ing eighth century, 172, 173-monarchi- Constantinople, removal of the seat of emcal principle established in the, 183-    pire to, 84-subordination of the Bishop
effects of the Crusades on, 273-increas-   of, 125-supremacy claimed for the Biing pretensions and power of, 206, 207-    shop of, 132, 133-assailed by the Sarapossessions, &c. of, in France in the tenth   cens, 166-early subordination of the
century, 228-resistance to it, 230-policy    Popes to, 174-pretensions of the emof Hugh Capet, 231-state of, during the   perors, 176, 177-the Crusaders at, 262,
tenth century, 219-during the eleventh   263-diffusion of learning by capture of,
century, 253-in England under Henry   422.
II., 292 et seq.-conditions of Magna Convents, state of the, during the tenth
Charta regarding, 308 —changed position    century, 221.
of, 342-state of, in the fifteenth century, Coote, Sir Eyre, 516.
368 et seq.-before the Reformation, 419  Cornelius and Novatian, the schism  beet seq.                                  tween, 78.
Church of England, the, and its influence  Council of Toledo, the, 151.
and tendencies, 457.                   Count, origin of the title of, 88.
Churches, schism between the Eastern and  Courtrai, the battle of, 335.
Western, 133-rebuilding, &c. of the, in  Covenanters, persecutions of the, in Scotthe eleventh century, 242-their objects,  land, 473.
&c., 244 et seq.                       Crecy, battle of, 356.
Churchmen, warlike, during the eleventh  Cromwell, the rise &c. of, 470-Elngland
century, 251.                            under, 471.
Citeaux, the Abbot of, 305.              Crown, position of the, in England and
Claudius, reign and character of, 20 —his    France during the tenth century, 230death, 22.                               new position given to the, under Hugh
Clement V., election of, 331, 332-his ra-   Capet, 233 et seq.-its increasing power,
pacity, &c., 332-the persecution of the   359 et seq.
Temnplars, 337 et seq.                 Crusades, first suggestion of the, 242 —the
Clergy, the, privileges conferred on, 145-    first, 260 et seq.-losses in it, and its
corruption of the higher, 148-increasing    effects on Europe, 269-of children, 269
claims of, in the nihth century, 204 et   -the second, 284-the third, 285 —influseq.-claims of, in the tenth century, and    enco of, on the distribution of wealth,
resistance to them, 229 —policy of I-Iugh    &c., 272-end of, 316.
Capet, 232 —the 1higher. character of, Crusading spirit, first rise of the, 250.
23




aoO                                INDEX.
Cuba, the buccaneers at, 453.             Reformation, 428-the policy and meaCulloden, the battle of, 507, 509.        sures of, and their results, 436 et seq.Cunimond, defeat and death of, 129.       the Armada, 441 —papal bull against,
Curials, the, under the Roman emperors,   448-changes in England under, 449.
90, 523.                              Elizabeth, daughter of James I., married
Cyrene, conquest of, by the Saracens, 166.  to the Elector' of Palatine, 462.
Ella, King of Northumberland, 214.
Dagobert, King, 151.                    Eloisa, influence of, 282.
Dance of Death, the, 374.               Empire of the West, restoration of, under
Danes, the invasions of the, 209, 210-their   Charlemagne, 188.
invasions of England, 212 et seq.-their Empson, the creature of Henry VII., 404.
settlements, 214, 215-continued incur- England, conquest of, by the Romans, and
sions into England, 234.                its effects, 21-severance of, from  the
Dante, the works of, 325, 344.            Roman Empire, 107-formation of the
Democracy, early alliance of the Church    Heptarchy in, 120-state of, in the sixth
with, 154.                              centr'y, 128-divided state of, 155Dettingen, the battle of, 502.            state of, in the eighth century, 171-the
Diaz, Bartholomew, discovery of the Cape   Church and clergy, 172, 173-union of,
of Good Hope by, 395.                   under Egbert, 193, 194-state of, in the
Didius, purchase of the empire by, 59-his   ninth century, 211 et seq.-the invasions
death, 60.                              of the Danes, 212-its divided state, 213,
Diocletian, accession and reign of, 74-   214-settlements of the Danes, 215-rise
abdicates, 76-systemintroduced by him,   and career of Alfred, 215-the Church
83.                                     and the Crown in, during the tenth cenDominic, originates the crusade against  tury, 229-state of, during the tenth
the Albigenses, 301 et seq.-establish-   century, 234-origin of the wars with
ment of the Inquisition under, 304.     France, 285 et seq.-subservience to the
Domitian, the reign of, 28, 34.           papacy in, 289-position of the Church,
Dorylseum, the battle of, 264.            and feeling towards the Normans, 292
Drake, the expeditions of, 451.           -state of, under John, 294-rise of the
Dress, distinctions from, among the Franks,   Commons, &c. in, 306-Magna Charta
152.                                    and its effects, 308 et seq.-reign of Henry
Dudley, the informer, 404.                III., 311-supremacy of the papacy in,
Duncan, the victories of, 525.            314-independence of the Church, 316Dunois, bastard of Orleans, 387.          the reign of Edward I. in, 318-the
Dutch, the maritime settlements of the,   battle of Bannockburn, 352-the policy
452.                                    of Edward III., 354-decline of the nobility in, 360-divided state of, on accesEast India Company, founding of the,   sion of Henry IV., 365-the ballads of,
450.                                    372-state of, during fifteenth century
Eastern Church, schism of the, 133.       374-loss of her French possessions,.376
Eastern empire, falling supremacy of the,   -conquests of Henry V. in France, 378
185.                                    et seq.-accession of Henry VIII., 404Ecclesiastical power, decay of, in the thir-   increasing commerce of, 413 -first idea
teenth century, 313.                    of union with Scotland, 414 —battle of
Edessa, the Crusaders at, 264.            Flodden, 414-the reformation in, 428Education, measures of Charlemagne for,  the reign of Mary in, 433-the policy of
195.                                    Elizabeth and its results, 436 —progress
Edward I., taxation of the clergy by, 315   of, under Elizabeth, 450-the coloniza-character of the reign of, 318-his at-  tion of America by, 451-under James
tempts on Scotland, 319 et seq.         I., 455 et seq.-state of parties, &c. on
Edward II., the defeat of, at Bannockburn,   accession of Charles I., 465 et seq.-politi352.                                    cal and religious parties, 466-the great
Edward III.,the Garter instituted by, 344-    rebellion, 468-the reaction against Puripolicy of, his alliance with Flanders, &c.,  tanism in, 472-under Charles II., 472354 et seq.-war with France, 355 et seq.  its degraded position, 473-ingress of
-battles of Helvoet Sluys and Crecy,   French Protestants into, 484-reign of
355-of Poictiers, 356.                  James II., 484-William III., 486-state,
Edward the Black Prince, his treatment of   &c. of, during eighteenth century, 493John, 349-his character, 349-his vic-   state of, under the Georges, 494 —is she
tory at Poitiers, 356.                  a military nation? 496-the w.ar of the
Egbert, subjugation of the Heptarchy by,   succession, 498 ei seq.-the peace of
193, 194.                               Utrecht, 502-the ministry of Walpole,
Eginhart, the life of Charlemagne by,   &c., 505-the Pretender in, 509-sup195.                                    ports Frederick the Great, 519 —the rise
Egypt, surrender of Louis IX. in, 317.    of her Indian empire, 514 et seq.-the
Eleanor, wife of Louis VII., 286.         revolt of the United States, 518 et seq.EIlizabetl, policy of, with regard to the   her progress, 520, 521-her revolution




INDEX.                                  531
and freedom  contrasted with those of   et seq.-the kings of, contrasted with the
France, 525.                            Plantagenets, 288-acquisitions of, in
Episcopacy, James's attempt to force, on   Languedoc, &c., 305-reign of Louis IX.
Scotland, 464.                          in, 311 et seq.-the parliaments of, 312
Ethelbald, the reign of, 214.             -supremacy of the papacy in, 314-deEthelwolf, the reign of, 214.             geneiacy,of the clergy, 315-indepenEtiquette, supremacy of, under Louis XIV.,  dence of the church, 316-subserviency
481.                                    of the Popes to, 342-title of King of,
Eugene, Prince, 501.                      assumed by Edward III., 355-depressed
Eugenius III., Pope, 279.                 state of, at close of fourteenth century,
Eunapius, character of the early monks   356-decline of the nobility in, 360by, 115.                                state of, during fifteenth century, 374,
Europe, modern, compared with ancient   375-expulsion of the English from,
Rome, 56 et seq.-state of, in the seventh   376-its history during the century, 376
century, 167-in the eighth, 171-rise   -career of Joan ofArc, 386-accession of
of the modern kingdoms of, 190-state   Francis I., 405-a party to the league of
of, during the tenth century, 219-effects   Cambrai, 409-the massacre of St. Barof the first Crusade on, 269-progressive   tholomew in, 442-changes witnessed by
advances of, 297-state of, during fif-   Brantbme in, 448-rise of absolutism
teenth century, 375-changed aspect of,   under Louis XIV. in, 475 et seq.-policy
in sixteenth century, 431-sensation   of Richelieu and reign of Louis XIII.,
caused by massacre of St. Bartholomew,   476 et seq.-the revocation of the Edict
442-changes in, during eighteenth cen-   of Nantes, 483-changes  in, during
tury, 491, 492-the seven years' war,   eighteenth  century, 491-contests in
512.                                    India and America with,. 513-the policy
and overthrow of, in India, 514 et seq.Famines, frequency of, during the tenth   depression and discontent before the
century, 236.                           Revolution, 517-aids the North AmeriFaust and the invention of printing, 391.    can colonies, 519-causes of the RevoluFavorinus the Grammarian, anecdote of,  tion, 522 —general discontent, 523-the
46.                                     Revolution, 524 et seq.
Ferdinand of Spain, a party to the league Francis I., accession and character of, 405
of Cambrai, 409-declares war against   -death of, 431.
France, 412.                          Franks, tribes composing the, 71-state of
Ferdinand, the emperor, character and   the, in the sixth century, 128-institupolicy of, 462.                         tions, &c. of the, 151-divisions of their
Ferdinand and Isabella, union of Spain   kingdom, 155.
under, 403.                           Frederick the Great, the career of, 512.
Feudal organization, long retention of, in Frederick, Elector Palatine, marriage of,
Scotland, 415.                          to Elizabeth of England, 462.
Feudal system, origin of the, 149.      Frederick Barbarossa, capture, &c. of Rome
Feudalism, progress of, in the ninth cen-   by, 279.
tury, 210-full establishment of, 279-  Free lances, the rise, &c. of the, 350 et seq.
decay of, 333, 341-continued decline of, Freedom, rise of, in England, 306 et seq.
359.                                  French ballads, the early, 372.
Fields of May or March in France, the, French Revolution, the, 524 et'seq.
151.                                  Fritigern, defeat of Valens by, 100.
Fine arts, encouragement of, by Charle- Froissart, the writings of, and their infinmtagne, 196.                            ence, 347.
Flagellants, tenets, &c. of the, 374.   Fronde, the wars of the, 478.
Flanders, power of the Dukes of, 232-rise
of the towns of, 277-the alliance of Ed- Galba, the emperor, 24.
ward III. with, 354.                  Garter, institution of order of, 344.
Flodden, battle of, and its effects, 414, 415, Gaul, severance of, from the Roman emet seq.                                 pire, 108.
Fontenelle, the abbey of, 244.          Gebhard, Elector of Cologne, 460.
Fontenoy; the battle of, 502.           Genoa, prosperity of, during the Crusades,
France, accession of Clovis in, 119-acces-   272-greatness of, 277.
sion of Pepin to crQwn of, 183-position Genseric, sack of Rome by, 111.
of, under Charlemagne, 198-loses the George I. and II., characters of, 494.
boundary of the Rhine, 203-power of George III., loyalty to, in England, 494the great nobles, 204-state of, during   the alleged loss of the United States by
the tenth century, 219-settlement of   his obstinacy, 518.
Rollo in, 222 et seq.-possessions of the Georges, England under the, 494.
clergy in, 228-accession of Hugh Capet, Germans, defeat of the, by Probus, 73.
231-his policy, 232 et seq.-its separa- Germany, state of, in the sixth century,
tion from the empire, 233-monasteries   128-divided state of, 155-separation
in, 244 —origin of the English wars, 285   between France and the Empire, and




632                                 INDEX.
reign of Otho the Great, 234-progress,   with Luther, 426-throws off the papal
&c. of the Reformation in, 460-ingress    supremacy, 430-death of, 431.
of French Huguenots into, 484.          Henry III. of France, the murder of, 448.
Geta, murder of, 65.                       Henry, the emperor, 237.
Gibraltar, cession of, to England, 501.   Henry IV. of Germany, attacks of HildeGladiatorial shows, passion of the Romans   brand on, 256-the struggle  between
for, 34 et seq.                           them, 257 et seq.-the death of, 260.
Glo'ster, the Duke of, uncle of Henry VI., Heptarchy, the, 120-subjugation of the,
384.                                      by Egbert, 193, 194.
Godfrey of Bouillon, 263 —chosen King of Heraclius, Emperor of the East, 158.
Jerusalem, 266-his death, 270.          Heresies, various, of the thirteenth cenGood Hope, Cape of, discovered, 395.         tury, 298.
Gordian, appointed emperor, 69-his reign, Heretics, first crusade against the, 302 et
70-his death, 72.                         seq.-first law against, in England, 365.
Goths, first appearance of the, 98-ad- Highlanders, the, in the Forty-Five, 510.
mitted within the empire, 99.           IIildebrand, the career, &c. of, 249 et seq.,
Gothia, the Marquises of, 205.               255 et seq.-his struggle with the emGranada, loss of, by the Moors, 403.         peror, 257 et seq.-his death, 259.
Great Britain, the union of, 502. See Eng- Hippo subdued by the Saracens, 166.
land.                                   HIira subjugated by the Mohammedans,
Great Rebellion, origin and history of the,   162.
467 et seq.                       -     History, uses of, and difficulties of studyGreek fire, the, 166.                        ing it from its extent, 11.
Gregory the Great, Pope, 133.              Holland, increasing commerce of, 412-the
Gregory VII., (Hildebrand,) career, &c. of,   colonies of, 454.
249 et seq., 255 et seq. See Hildebrand.   Holy Land, the first Crusade to the, 262Gregory IX., persecution of the Albigenses    and last, 317.
under, 605.                             Honorius, the emperor, 101-besieged by
Guienne, how acquired by England, 286.       Alaric, 105-murders Stilicho, 106.
Guinegate, the battle of, 418.             Hugh Capet, accession of, to the French
Gunpowder, influence of discovery of, 342.   throne, 231-his policy, 232.
Guthrum,.alliance of, with Alfred, 215.    Hugh the Great, Count of Vermandois,
Guttenberg, the invention of printing by,   263.
390-printing of the Bible by, 422.      IHuguenots, the, the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes, 483.
Hadrian.,See Adrian.                      Huns, first appearance of the, 99.
HIair, distinction from  the, among the  Huss, the martyrdom of, 367.
Franks, 152.
Harfleur, siege of, by Henry V., 378.     Iconoclast emperor, the, 185.
Harold of the Fair Hair, the reign of, 213. Images, defence, &c. of, 185 et seq.
Hastings the Dane, defeated by Alfred, 216 Immaculate conception, dogma of the, 283.
-enters the service of France, 224.     India, Vasco da Gama's voyage to, 401Heathenism, Julian's attempt to restore,   effect of the new route to, on Venice,
95 et seq.                                 412-rise of the British power in, 491,
Hegira, the, 157.                            514 et seq.
Helena, the mother of Constantine, 86.    Indulgences, protest of Luther against, 425.
Ileliogabalus, the reign of, 66.           Innocent III., originates  the crusade
IIelvoet Sluys, battle of, 355.              against the Albigenses, 302 et seq.-exHIenrietta Maria, unpopularity of, 466.      communication of John by, 307, 310.
Henry I., acquisition of Normandy by, 285. Innovation, general tendency to, during
Henry II., claims of, on France, 286-   eighteenth century, 493 et seq.
character of, 288-and A-Beckett, 289 et Inquiry, commencement'of, with Scotus
seq.-his death, 294.                       Erigena, 207-rise of, with the Crusades,
Henry III., reign of, in England, 311.       280.
Henry IV., divided state of England under, Inquisition, the, established  inder Do365.                                       minic, 304.
Henry  V., persecution of the Lollards Intellect, direction of, in the present cenunder, 365, 366-invasion of France by,   tury, 13.
377-captures Harfler, 378-battle of Invention, the present century  distinAgincourt, 381-his death, 384.             guished by, 13.
HIenry VI. recognised as King of France, Investiture, claims of Hildebrand regard384.                                       ing, 257 et seq.
Henry VII., character, &c. of, 371- Irish Church, the early, its state, &c., 156.
treasure accumulated  by, and  how, Isabella, queen of Charles VI., profligacy
404.                                      of, 362.
Henry VIII., accession and character of, Italy, ravaged by Attila, 110-irruption
404-declares war against France, 412-    of the Lombards into, 129-state of, in
triumphs of, in 1513,418-controversy of,   seventh century, 141-divided state of,




INDEX.                                   533
3155-state of, during the tenth century, Kilmich, murder of Alboin by, 130.
235-conquests of the lNormans in, 254 Kingdoms, modern, rise of, 190.
-rise of the republics of, 277-state of, Klodwig or Clovis, accession of, in France,
before the Reformation, 420.             119. See Clovis.
Knight, position, &c. of the, 334, 335.
Jacobite songs, the, 510.                Knighthood, decay of, 333, 341.
Jacques de Molay, death of, 339.
James I., England under, 455-influence Lally, Count, the execution of, 516.
of his character, &c., 458-his conduct Land, grants of, and system these origitowards the Elector Palatine, 464 —his    nate, 149.
attempt to introduce Episcopacy into Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 247Scotland, 464.                           defends transubstantiation, 247.
James II., persecution of the Covenanters Languedoc, the Albigenses in, 299-extirby, 473-accession of, in England, and    pation of the Albigenses in, 304-peace
his dethronement, 485-death of, 498.     of, 305.
James III., the rebellion in favour of, 503. Laud, Archbishop, 467-execution of, 468.
James IV. of Scotland married to Margaret Law, the reform of, by Justinian, 135.
of England, 414 —the  battle of Flodden, Laws, great increase of, in Rome, 67.
416.                                   Lea, defeat of the Danes at the, 216.
Jamestown, the first English settlement in  Learning, advancement of, during the
America, 454.                            eleventh century, 246 et seq.
Jerome, the martyrdom of, 367.           Leo the Iconoclast, 185.
Jerusalem, importance given by Chris- Leo. Pope, Rome saved from Attila by, 110.
tianity to, 17-the capture -and destruc- Leo X., character of, 407-influlence of, on
tion of, 30 et seq.-named AElia Capi-  the Reformation, 425.
tolina by Adrian, 47-taken by the Lends or <Feudatories, the, 149 —their
Saracens, 162-commencement of pil-   struggle with the crown, 150 et seq.
grimage to, 260-the capture of, by the Libraries, early, 372.
Crusaders, 266-the kingdom of, 266.    Liege, massacre at, by John the Fearless,
Jervis, the victories of, 525.             363.
Jesuits, institution and influence of the, Literature, revival of, with Dante, &c.,
435.                                     344-the modern, of England, 345-slow
Jews, the dispersion of the, 30 et seq.-   diffusion of, before printing, 372 —French,
their rebellion against Adrian, 46-cru-   under Louis XIV., 481- English, during
sade against the, 251-spoliation of, by    the eighteenth century, 506.
Philip le Bel, 333.                    Lombards, or Longobards, irruption of the,
Joan of Arc, history of, 386 et seq.-her   129 et seq.-character and polity of the,
death, 390.                              131 et seq.
John, (of England,) character of, 288-  Long Parliament, the, 468.
state of England under, 294-excommu- Lothaire, son of Louis the Debonnaire,
nication, &c. of, 307-signs  Magna   201, 202, 203-emperor, 204.
Charta, 308-his attempt to evade the Louis, origin of name of, 120.
charter, 310.                          Louis the Debonnaire, reign of, 200.
John, (of France,) the treatment of, by Ed- Louis, son of Louis the Debonnaire, 201.
ward the Black Prince, 349-his capture Louis VII. heads the second Crusade, 284at Poictiers and ransom, 356.            divorces his wife, 286.
John XII.; Pope, 236.                    Louis VIII., crusade against the AlbiJohn, Duke of Burgundy, 361 —murders   genses under, 304.
Louis of Orleans, 362-assumes the re- Louis IX., crusade against the Albigenses
gency, 363-rule of, in France, 376.      under, 304-character and reign of, 311
John, Bishop of Constantinople, supremacy   et seq.-seventh Crusade under, 317-priclaimed by, 133.                         soner and ransomed, 317 -his death, 318.
Jovian, the emperor, 97.                 Louis XI. first despotic King of France,
Jubilee, the, in 1300, 325.                371.
Julian the Apostate, reign and character of, Louis XII., a party to the league of Cam93 et seq.       -                       brai, 409-war with the Pope, 411-exJulius II., character of, 408-acquisitions   pelled from Italy, 412.
from Venice, 410-declares war against Louis XIII., reign of, in France, 476.
France, &c., 410-impression made on Louis XIV., accession of, 469-rise of, as
Luther by, 424.                          the absolute king, 475 et seq. —the accesJustinian, efforts of, to recover Italy, 124   sion, policy, and reign of, 479-private
-internal government of, 134-his law-   life of, 482-the revocation of the Edict
reforms, 135 et seq.-re-introduction of   of Nantes, 483-his reception,'&c. of
code of, 297.                            James II., 485, 486-his successes in
war, 486-peace of Ryswick, 487-the
Khaled, the lieutenant of Mohammed, 158   war of the Succession, 498 et seq.-the
-his exploits, 162-and death, 163.       peace of Utrecht, 502.
Kieff, the kingdom of, 213.              Louis XVI., the execution of, 524.




534                                INDEX.
Louis of Orleans, struggle of, with John of Mohammed, birth and career of, 138Burgundy, 361-his murder, 362.           death of, 159-his successors, 159 et seq.
Lower classes, how regarded by the Cru- Mohammedanism, commencing struggle
saders, 271.                             of, with Christianity, 141-progress of,
Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, 406   157 et seq.-first arrested by battle of
-character of, and institution of the   Tours, 179-resemblances between, and
Jesuits by, 434.                         Catholicism, 271.
Luitprand, King of Lombardy, 182, 183.   Monarchical principle, restoration of the,
Luther, early life of, 406-the rise and   with Pepin, 183.
career of, 423 et seq.-death of, 431.  Monasteries, influence of, on agriculture,
Lutherans and Calvinists, hatred between,   143-their intelligence, &c., 146-com460.                                     mencement of corruption, 147-the early
Luxembourg, the marshal, 481-the vic-   English, 173-reformation of, by  St.
tories of, 486.                          Benedict, 200-state of the, during the
tenth century, 221 —number of, in France,
Macrinus, the emperor, 66.                 244-dissolution of the, in England, 430.
Magdeburg, the sack of, 466.             Monks, the early, 115-industry, &c. of,
Magna Charta, effects of, 306, 308-its con-   142 et seq.-the early English, 172, 173
ditions, 308 et seq.                     -gluttony, &c. of the, 274-degeneracy
Magyars, first appearance of the, 99.      of in the thirteenth century, 314.
Mahomet. See Mohammed.                   Moors, final loss of Spain by the, 403.
Maid of Norway, the, 319.                Municipalities, rise of the, 277-their growIlaintenon, Madame de, married to Louis   ing importance, 279.
XIV., 482.                             Murder, fines for, among the Franks, 152.
Marcus Aurelius, accession and reign of, Music, encouragement of, by Charlemagne,
50 et seq.                               197.
Marlborough, the victories of, 499 et seq.
Martin V., Pope, 368.                    Nantes, edict of, its revocation, 483.
Mary, the reign of, in England, 433.     Napoleon, the rise, &c. of, 525.
Mary of Scotland, policy of Elizabeth to- Narses, exploits of, in Italy, 127.
ward, 437 et seq.-defence of her execu- National debt, the English, its growth, 493.
tion, 439, 443.                        Navareta, the battle of, 351.
Mary de Medicis, position of, in France, Navies of Modern Europe, the, 57 et seq.
475.                                   Nelson, the victories of, 525.
Matilda, the countess, 255, 258.         Netherlands, Alva's cruelties in the, 441.
Maximilian, the emperor, a party to the Nero, character and reign of, 22.
league of Cambrai, 409-hostilities with  Nerva, the emperor, 42, 44.
the Pope, 411-proposed as his successor, Neustria, kingdom of, 155.
411-turns against  the French, 412-in  Nice, the Council of, 92.
the pay of Henry VIII., 418-and Luther, Nicea taken by the Crusaders, 264.
426.                                   Nicene creed, the, 92.
Maximian, the emperor, 75-abdicates, 76. Nicholas Breakspear becomes pope, 289.
Maximin, the accession and reign of, 68.   Niger, a candidate for the empire, 60.
Maximus, appointment of, 69-his death, Nobility, new, originated by Colistantine,
70.                                      87-collision between, and the Church,
Mayors of the palace, origin of the, 150-    153-policy of Hugh Capet towards the,
powers, &c. of the, 176.                 232-effects of the Crusades on the, 276Mazarin, the cardinal, the policy, &c. of,   conditions of Magna Charta regarding
478-his death, 479.                      the, 308-decline of the, 359 et seq.Mecca, capture of, by Mohammed, 158.       policy of Richelieu against the, 476 et
Mediterranean, supremacy of Rome over   seq.-the French, at the time of the Revothe, 56-diminished importance of the,   lution, 523.
413.                                   Nogaret, Chancellor of France, 329.
Meroveg, King of the Franks, 110.        Nominalists, rise of the, 248.
Messalina, the empress, 20 —her death, 22. Normans, the conquest of England by the,
Mexico, conquest of, by the Spaniards, 404.   253-feeling against the, in England,
MIichelet, picture of France in the ninth   292.
century by, 208.                       Norman kings, character of the, 288.
Middle Ages, commencement of the, 131.  Normandy, settlement of the Normans in,
Middle class, destruction of the, under the   222 et seq.-power of the dukes, 232.
Roman emperors, 90.                    Norsemen, Charlemagne's prescience reMilan, sack of, by the Franks, &c., 124.   garding the, 197-progress of the, in
Military spirit, strength of the, in Eng-   the ninth century, 208-their invasions
land, 496.                               of England, 212 et seq. —results of the
Military strength, the, of ancient Rome   settlements of the, in France, 219-setand modern Europe, 56 et seq.            tlement under Rollo, 222 et seq.
Minorca ceded to England, 502.           North America, the English colonization
Mirandola, Julius II. at siege of, 410.    of, 454.




INDEX.                                   635
Novelloe of Justinian, the, 136.         Philip, the emperor, 72.
Novatian and Cornelius, the schism  be- Philip I. of France, attacks of IHildebrand
tween, 78.                               on, 256.
Novgorod, the kingdom of, 213.           Philip le Bel, struggle of, with Boniface
Nunneries, reformation of, by St. Benedict,   VIII., 326 et seq. —arrests the latter, 329
200-of the twelfth century, the, 283.    et seq.-poisons Benedict XI., 331-secures election of Bernard de Goth, 331
Odoacer, King of Italy, Ill —overthrow of,   -the persecution of the, Templars, 337
118.                                     et seq.
Omar, the lieutenant of Mohammed, 158, Philip VI., war with ZEdward III., 355.
160-chosen caliph, 162-destruction of Philip II., accession of, 432-the Spanish
the Alexandrian library, 164-his habits,   Armada, 444.
163, 165.                              Philip of Valois, the victory of, at Cassel,
Orleans, the siege of, 385-relieved by Joan    353.
of Arc, 387 et seq.                    Philip Augustus, conquest of the English
Ostrogoths, overthrow  of the, in Italy,   possessions by, 305.
127.                                   Pinkie, the battle of, 415.
Otho, the emperor, 24.                   Pitt, (Lord Chatham,) the ministry of,
Otho the Great, the emperor, 234.          513.
Plague of Florence, the, 356.
Padua, destroyed by Attila, 110.         Plantagenets, character of the, 288.
Palos, the return of Columbus to, 397.    Plassey, the battle of, 513, 516.
Palestine, eagerness for news froom, during Pococke, Admiral, exploits of, in the East,
the Crusades, 275.                       516.
Pandects of Justinian, the, 136.         Poictiers, thebattle of, 356.
Pantheism, form of, in the thirteenth cen- Poitou, how acquired by England, 286.
tury, 295.                             Poland, the partition of, 492.
Papacy, the, state of, during the tenth cen- Poletoo, a philosopher, anecdote of, 50.
tury, 220, 235-supremacy of, under Hil- Poiupeia Plotina, wife of Trajan, 45.
debrand, 250 et seq.-general subjection  Pondicherry, the capture of, by the Engto, 289-triumphs of, in the thirteenth   lish, 516.
century, 314-diminished consideration Poor, relations of the Church to the, 274.
of, 325-struggle of Philip the Handsome Pope, the claims to supremacy of, 132 et
with, 326 et seqg.-the schism in, 342-   seq.-efforts of the early English monks
state of, in the fifteenth century, 369.  on behalf of, 172, 17.3-his position in
Papal supremacy, the, abjured by Eng-   the eighth century, 174, 175-alliance,
land, 430.                                ec. between Charles Martel and, 182Paper, first manufacture of, from  rags,   crowns Pepin, 183 —supremacy of, after
392.                  - tIildebrand, 259-the revolt of Arnold of
Paris, state of, under John the Fearless,   Brescia against, 278-his supremacy de364-the massacre of St. Bartholomew    nied by the Albigenses, 299-position,
in, 442.                                 &c. of, before the Reformation, 420.
Parliament, first summoned in England, Popes, the, the claims of supremacy by,
313-concessions wrung from Edward I.   148-increasing supremacy of, 133-inby, 320.                                 creasing pretensions of, 186, 190-subserParliaments, the French, what, 312.        vience of, to France, 342-the rival, 342.
Party libels, prevalence of, under Walpole, Popular assemblies, early, 151.
505.                                   Portugal, maritime discoveries of, 395-inPassau, the treaty of, 431.                creasing naval power of, 412.
Peasantry, the, insurrection of, during Prsetorian Guards, sale of the empire by
fourteenth century, 356-state of, dur-  the, 59.
ing fifteenth century, 374 et seq.-the Printing, influences of, 14 —discovery of,
French, before the Revolution, 521.      and its effects, 373, 391-growing imPeople, state of the, under the early em-   portance of discovery of, 402.
perors, 34 et seq.-conditions of Magna Probus, the emperor, 72-his conquests
Charta regarding the, 309.               and policy, 73.
Pepin, accession of, 182-crowned king, Protestantism, influence of, 402-establish183.                                     ment of, by treaty of Passau, 431-estaPersia, new monarchy of. 71-subdued by   blished in England under Elizabeth, 436
the Mohammedans, 165.                    et seq.
Pertinax, accession and murder of, 59.    Protestants, the, expelled from  France,
Pestilence, frequency of, during the tenth   484.
century, 236.                          Provenqal dialect, disappearance of the,
Peter the Hermit, preaches the first Cru-   304.
sade, 262.                             Prussia, rise of, during eighteenth cenPeterborough, Lord, the victories of, in   tury, 491, 492-the seven years' war,
Spain, 501.                              512.
Petrarch, the works of, 344, 346.       Puritanism, origin, &c. of, in England,




636                                INDEX.
456 et seq., 464-growing tendency to,   of, during the tenth century, 235-.
466.                                     sack  of, by the Normans, 258-the
Crusaders at, 262-Arnold of Brescia in,
Quebec, the battle of, 513.               278-jubilee at, 1300, 325 —state of, before the Reformation, 420-Luther at,
Raleigh, the naval exploits of, 452.       424.
Ravenna, the Exarch of, 137-the exarchate Romish Church, influence of the Jesuits
of, 177-transferred to the Pope, 183.    on, 434 et seq.-rejoicings of, on massacre
Raymond of Toulouse, the leader of the   of St. Bartholomew, 442.
Albigenses, 299.                       Romulus Augustulus, the emperor, 111.
Raymond VII., Count of Toulouse, 303-  Rosamund, wife of Alboin, 129.
deprived of his possessions, 306.      Roses, the wars of the, 393-effects of, on
Realists, rise of the, 248.                the nobility, 360.
Rebellion of 1715, the, 501 —and of 1745, Rouen, occupied by the Normans, 222507.                                     execution of Joan of Arc at, 390.
Reformation, influences of the, 14 —su- Royal power, general consolidation of, in
preme importance of, 419-state of the   the fifteenth century, 370.
Church before it, 419 et seq.-the rise of Russia, the Danes in, 213-rise of, during
the, 422 et seq.                         eighteenth century, 491, 492-the seven
Regner Lodbrog, 214.                       years' war, 512.
Relics, the system of, 262-passion for,
during the Crusades, 276.              St. Bartholomew, the massacre of, 442-its
Religion, state of, during the tenth cen-   effects, 442.
tury, 219-in the thirteenth century, St. Benedict, industry, &c. inculcated by,
298-before the Reformation, 422.        142, 143-the second, 200.
Republics, the Italian, rise of, 277.    St. Bernard on the luxury, &c. of the
Revolution of 1688, the, 485.              clergy, 274-discussions of, with Abelard,
Rheims, coronation of Charles VII. at,   281-the second Crusade originated by,
388.                                     284.
Richard Coeur de Lion, character of, 288- St. Boniface, coronation of Pepin by, 183.
heads the third Crusade, 285.          St. Columba, and Brunehild, 150.
Richelieu, Cardinal, 449-the policy of, St. Dominic. See Dominic.
and its results, 476 et seq.-the death of, St. Francis of Assisi, 315.
468.                                   St. Louis. See Louis IX.
Robert of Normandy, the Crusader, 263- St. Remi, Clovis baptized by, 119.
loss of Normandy by, 285-a prisoner in  Sapor, the capture of Valerian by, 72England, 286.                            death of Julian in war with, 96.
Robert, son of Hugh Capet, 237.          Saracens, the, the conquests of, 162 et seq.Robert Guiscard, conquests of, in Italy,   their defeat by Charles Martel, 176, 179
254-sack of Rome by, 258.               et seq.-in Spain, 246-crusade against,
Rochelle, the capture of, from the IIugue-   in Italy, 251-in Palestine, 270, 271.
nots, 476, 477.                        Sarmatians, the, 71.
Rois fain6ants, the, 175, 176.           Sassanides, dynasty of, 71.
Rollo, settlement of, in Normandy, 222 et Saxons, feeling of the, towards the Norseq.-created Duke of Normandy, 225 et   mans in England, 292.
seq.                                   Saxony, the Elector of, and Luther, 426.
Romans, the conquest of Enlcand by, and   428.
its effects, 21-passion of, for gladiatorial Scholastic philosophy, rise of the, 247.
shows, 34.                             Schools, establishment of, under CharleRoman empire, first broken in on by the   magne, 195.
barbarians, 51-its extent and forces, 56 Scotland, state of, in the eighth century,
-compared with modern Europe, 57 et   171, 172-resistance to the papacy in, 314
seq.-divided into East and West, 97.    — Edward I.'s attempt on, 319 et seq.-the
Roman law, reintroduction of, in Europe,   battle of Bannockburn, 352-the ballads
297.                                     of, 372-effects of battle of Flodden in,
Rome, the supremacy of, the characteristic   414, 418-its subsequent state, 415 et seq.
of the first century, 16-power of the   -the policy of Elizabeth in, 437 et seq.emperor, 20-state of, during the first   James's attempt to force Episcopacy on,
century, 35-increasing weakness of, 79   464-persecution of the Covenanters in,
et seq.-removal of the seat of empire   473-the Union Act, 502-the rebellion
from,  84 —the sack of, by Alaric, 106-    of 1715, 504-and of 1745, 507.
sacked by the Vandals, 111-causes of Scotus Erigena, career, &c. of, 207.
her fill, 111 et seq.-recovered by Belisa- Septimania, power of the Dukes of, 204.
rius, 124 —taken, &c. by Totila, 125- Serfs, conditions of Magna Charta regardsupremacy of the Bishop of, 126 et seq.-   ing the, 309.
fallen state of, in the sixth century, 133 Seven years' war, the, 512.
-the Bishops of, claim supremacy, 148 Severus, Alexander,`accession and reign of,
-influence of the unity of, 184-state   67.




INDEX.                                    637
Severus, Septimius,accession and reign of, Titus, the reign of, 28-the siege and cap60 et seq.                                ture of Jerusalem, 30 et seq.
Sicily, conquest of, by the Normans, 255.  Torstenson, the victories of, 468.
Simon de Miontfort, the crusade against Totila, King of the Goths, 125, 127.
the Albigenses under, 302-his death, Toulouse, the Marquises of, 205-power of
303.                                      the Dukes of, 232-the Albigenses in, 299.
Simon de Montfort, summoning of parlia- Tours, the battle of, 179 et seq.
ment by, 313.                           Towns, effect of the Crusades on the, 273,
Sixtus V., approval of the murder of. 277-increasing power of the, in the fourHenry III. by, 448.                       teenth century, 334.
Slaves, state of the, under the Romans, 35, Trajan, the accession and reign of, 42, 44 et
90.                                       seq.
Smalcalde, the Protestant league of, 429.   Transubstantiation, doctrine of, 247.
Society, state of, under James I., 455.   Trebonian, the Justinian code drawn up
Solway Moss, the battle of, 414.            by, 136.
South Sea bubble, the, 505.               Tripoli, conquered by the Saracens, 167.
Spain, severance of, front the Roman em- Troubadours, attacks on the clergy by the,
pire, 108-the Saracens in, 246-threat-   300.
ened predominance of, in sixteenth cen- Truce of God, the, 238.
tury, 402-its increasing importance, 403 Tunis, crusade of Louis IX. against, 318.
-increasing naval power of, 412-con- Turenne, the victories of, 478, 481.
solidation of, in the sixteenth century,
413-continued hostilities with, at sea, Union Act, passing of the, 502.
451-the attacks of the buccaneers on United States, the revolt of the, 518 et seq.
her colonies, &c., 452.                 Universal church, belief in a, before the
Spanish Armada, the, and its defeat, 444.    Reformation, 419.
Spanish Succession, the war of the, 498 et Urban II. and the first Crusaders, 262.
seq.                                    Utrecht, the peace of, 502.
Spurs, the battle of the, at Courtrai, 336at Guinegate, 418.                      Yalens, the emperor, 97-his defeat and
Staupitz, connection of, with Luther, 423.   death, 100.
Stephen, the wars of, in England, 292.    Valentinian, the emperor, 97.
Stilicho, opposed to Alaric, 101, 105-his Valerian, the emperor, 72.
murder, 106.                            Vandals, conquest of Africa by the, 108Strafford, execution of, 468.               sack of Rome by the, 111-overthrow of
Succession, the war of the, 498 et seq.     the, by Belisarius, 124.
Sulpician, a candidate for the empire, 59.  Vasco da Gama, the discovery of the route
Supino, betrayal of Anagni by, 328.         to India by, 401.
Surenus, minister of Trajan, 45.          Venaissin, acquisition of, by the Pope, 306.
Surrey, the Earl of, at Flodden, 416.     Venice, rise of, 277-power, &c. of, 407Switzerland, ingress of French Protestants   attacked by Julius II., 408-league of
into, 484.                                Cambrai, 409-decay of the power of, 412.
Sylvester II., Pope, 238, 242-his charac- Verona destroyed by Attila, 110.
ter, &c., 246.                          Versailles, Louis XIV. at, 481-its cost,
Syria, progress of Mohammedanism  in,   483-the peace of, 520.
158, 161.                               Vespasian, accession of, 24.
Vicenza, taken by Attila, 110.
Talbot, raises the siege of Orleans, 387.    Vidius Pollio, anecdote of, 36.
Tancho, the invention of bells by, 196.   Vikinger, the, 208.
Taxes, system of collecting, under Constan- Virginia, settlement of, by the Enghlsh,
tine, 89.                                  454.
Taylor, Rowland, the martyr, 433.         VisigAoths, settlements of the, in Spain, &c.,
Tchuda, check of the Saracens at, 166.       128.
Templars, the destruction of the, 337 et Vitellius, the emperor, 24.
seq.-the charges against them, 340.
Tetzel, the sale of indulgences by, 425.    Wales, early state of, 171, 172.
Theodora, wife of Justinian, 134.         Wallace, the victories, &c. of, 320.
Theodoric the Goth, at the battle of Cha- Walpole, Sir R., the ministry of, 505.
ions, 110.                              Wartburg, seclusion of Luther at, 428.
Theodoric, the reign of, 119-his supre- Wealth, influence of the Crusades on, 272.
macy, 123-his death, 123.               Wellington, the victories of, in India, 525.
Theodosius, the emperor, 101.              Wenilon, Bishop of Sens, 206.
Tiberius, the reign of, 18-his character, Wentworth, execution of, 468.
19.                                     Western Church, severance of the Eastern
Tilly, the sack of M.agdeburg by, 466.       from, 133.
Timbuctoo, expedition by Englishmen to, Wickliff, his translation of the Bible, 3-12.
452.                                    Wickliffites, persecution of the, 365.
Tinchebray, the battle of, 286.            William   of Normandy, churches, &c.




538                               INDEX.
erected by, 244-the conquest of Eng- Wittenagemot, the, 151.
land by, 253-character of, 288.       Wolfe, the conquest of Canada by, 517.
William Rufus, character of, 288.       Woman, increased respect paid to, 283.
William  III., accession of, in England, Worms, the Diet of, Luther before, 427
485-his reign, 486-the death of, 499.
Winchester, the Bishop of, 384.         Yeomanry, rise of, in England, 431.
Winifried, the monk, 175.               Yezdegard, King of Persia, 162, 165.
Witig, King of the Ostrogoths, 124-his
overthrow, 125.                       Zorndorf, the battle of, 513.
THE END.




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D. Appleton & Comopany's Publications.
18 C0 RISTIAN CENTUIIES.
BY
THE REV. JAMES WHITE,
AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF FRANCE.
1 Vol. 12mo. Cloth. 638 pages. $1 25.
CONTENTS.
I. Cent.-The Bad Emperors.-II. The Good Emperors.-III. Anarchy and Confusion.-Growth of the Christian Church.-IV. The Removal
to Constantinople.-Establishment of Christianity.-Apostasy of Julian.Settlement of the Goths.-V. End of the Roman Empire.-Formation of
Modern States.-Growth of Ecclesiastical Authority.-VI. Belisarius and
Narses in Italy-Settlement of the Lomlbards.-Laws of Justinian.-Birth
of Mohammed.-VII. Power of Rome supported by the Monks.-Conquests of the Mohammedans.-VIII. Temporal Power of the Popes. —The
Empire of Charlemagne.-IX.-Dismemberment of Charlemagne's Empire.-Danish Invasion of England.-Weakness of France. —Reign of
Alfred.-X. Darkness and Despair.-XI. The Commencement of Improvement.-Gregory the Seventh.-First Crusade.-XII. Elevation of Learning.-Power of the Church.-Thomas i Becket.-XIII. First Crusade
against Heretics.-The Albigenses.-Magna Charta.-Edward I.-XIV.
Abolition of the Order of Templars.-Rise of Modern Literature.-Schism
of the Church.-XV. Decline of Feudalismn.-Agincourt.-Joan of Arc.The Printing Press.-Discovery of America.-XVI. The Reformation.The Jesuits.-Policy of Elizabeth. —XVII. English Rebellion and Revolution.-Despotism of Louis the Fourteenth.-XVIII. India.-America.France.-Index.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Mr. White possesses in a high degree the power of epitomizing-that
faculty which enables him to'distil the essence from a mass of facts, and to
condense it in description; a battle, siege, or other remarkable event,
which, without his skill, might occupy a chapter, is compressed within
the compass of a page or two, and this without the sacrifice of any feature
essential or significant.-CENTURY.
Mr. White has been very happy in touching upon the salient points in
the history of each century in the Christian era, and yet has avoided making his work a mere bald analysis or chronological table.-PRov. JOURNAL.
In no single volume of English literature can so satisfying and clear an
idea of the historical character of these eighteen centuries be obtained.-IOME JOURNAL.
In this volume we have THE BESTEPITOME OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY EXTANT. This is high praise, but at the same time JUFST. The author's peculiar success is in making the great points and facts of history stand out in
sharp relief. His style may be said to be STEREOSCorIc, and the effect is exceedingly impressive.-PRovIDENCE PREss.