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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1498.txt b/1498.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ef0313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1498.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9612 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beacon Lights of History, Volume III, Part 1 +by John Lord + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Beacon Lights of History, Volume III, Part 1 + +Author: John Lord + +Release Date: October, 1998 [EBook #1498] +[Most recently updated: December 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, +VOLUME III, PART 1 *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com + + + + + + + +Editorial note: Project Gutenberg has a later version of this work, + which is titled Beacon Lights of History, Volume V: + The Middle Ages. See E-Book#10531, + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10531/10531.txt, + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10531/10531.zip + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10531/10531-8.txt + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10531/10531-8.zip + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10531/10531/10531-h.htm + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10531/10531-h.zip + The numbering of volumes in the earlier set reflected + the order in which the lectures were given. In the + later version, volumes were numbered to put the subjects + in historical sequence. + + + + +Beacon Lights of History + +by John Lord, LL.D. + + + + +Volume III. + +Part I--The Middle Ages. + + +CONTENTS. + + +MOHAMMED. + +SARACENIC CONQUESTS. + +Change of public opinion about Mohammed +Astonishing triumph of Mohammedanism +Old religious systems of Arabia +Polytheism succeeds the doctrines of the Magians +The necessity of reform +Early life of Mohammed +Cadijeh +Mohammed's meditations and dreams +His belief in a personal God +He preaches his new doctrines +The opposition and ridicule of his countrymen +The perseverance of Mohammed amid obstacles +His flight to Medina +The Koran and its doctrines +Change in Mohammed's mode of propagating his doctrines +Polygamy and a sensual paradise +Warlike means to convert Arabia +Mohammed accommodates his doctrines to the habits of his countrymen +Encourages martial fanaticism +Conquest of Arabia +Private life of Mohammed, after his success +Carlyle's apology for Mohammed +The conquest of Syria and Egypt +Conquest of Persia and India +Deductions in view of Saracenic conquests +Necessity of supernatural aid in the conversion of the world +Authorities. + + +CHARLEMAGNE. + +REVIVAL OF WESTERN EMPIRE. + +Ancestry and early life of Charlemagne +The Merovingian princes +Condition of Europe on the accession of Charlemagne +Necessity for such a hero to arise +His perils and struggles +Wars with the Saxons +The difficulties of the Saxon conquest +Forced conversion of the Saxons +The Norman pirates +Conquest of the Avares +Unsuccessful war with the Saracens +The Lombard wars +Coronation of Charlemagne at Rome +Imperialism and its influences +The dismemberment of Charlemagne's empire +Foundation of Feudalism +Charlemagne as a legislator +His alliance with the clergy +His administrative abilities +Reasons why he patronized the clergy +Results of Charlemagne's policy +Hallam's splendid eulogy +Authorities + + +HILDEBRAND. + +THE PAPAL EMPIRE. + +Wonderful government of the Papacy +Its vitality +Its contradictions +Its fascinations +The crimes of which it is accused +General character of the popes +Gregory VII. the most famous +His personal history +His autocratic ideas +His reign at the right time +Society in Europe in the eleventh century +Character of the clergy +The monks, and the need of reform +Character of the popes before Gregory VII. +Celibacy of the clergy +Alliance of the Papacy and Monasticism +Opposition to the reforms of Hildebrand +Terrible power of excommunication +Simony and its evils +Secularization of the clergy +Separation of spiritual from temporal power +Henry IV. of Germany +Approaching strife between Henry and Hildebrand +Their respective weapons +Henry summoned to Rome +Excommunication of Henry +Henry deserted and disarmed +Compelled to yield to Hildebrand +His great mistake +Renewed contest +Humiliation of the Pope +Moral effects of the contest +Speculations about the Papal power +Authorities + + +SAINT BERNARD. + +MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS + +Antiquity of Monastic life +Causes which led to it +Oriental asceticism +Religious contemplation +Insoluble questions +Self-expiations +Basil the founder of Monasticism +His interesting history +Gregory Nazianzen +Vows of the monks +Their antagonism to prevailing evils +Vow of Poverty opposed to money-making +That of Chastity a protest against prevailing impurity +Origin of celibacy +Its subsequent corruption +Necessity of the vow of Obedience +Benedict and the Monastery of Monte Casino +His rules generally adopted +Lofty and useful life of the early monks +Growth and wealth of Monastic institutions +Magnificence of Mediaeval convents +Privileges of the monks +Luxury of the Benedictines +Relaxation of discipline +Degeneracy of the monks +Compared with secular clergy +Benefits which Monasticism conferred +Learning of the monks +Their common life +Revival of Learning +Rise of Scholasticism +Saint Bernard +His early piety and great attainments. +His vast moral influence +His reforms and labors +Rise of Dominicans and Franciscans. +Zeal of the mendicant friars +General benefits of Monastic institutions +Authorities + + +SAINT ANSELM. + +MEDIAEVAL THEOLOGY. + +Birth and early life of Anselm +The Abbey of Bee +Scholarly life of Anselm +Visits of Anselm to England +Compared with Becket +Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury +Privileges of the Archbishop +Unwillingness of Anselm to be elevated +Lanfranc succeeded by Anselm +Quarrel between Anselm and William Rufus +Despotic character of William +Disputed claims of Popes Urban and Clement +Council of Rockingham +Royal efforts to depose Anselm +Firmness and heroism of Anselm +Duplicity of the king +His intrigues with the Pope +Pretended reconciliation with Anselm +Appeals to Rome +Inordinate claims of the Pope +Allegiance of Anselm to the Pope +Anselm at Rome +Death of William and Accession of Henry I. +Royal encroachments +Henry quarrels with Anselm +Results of the quarrel +Anselm as a theologian +Theology of the Middle Ages +Monks become philosophers +Gotschalk and predestination +John Scotus Erigena +Revived spirit of inquiry +Services of Anselm to theology +He brings philosophy to support theology +Combats Nominalism +His philosophical deductions +His devout Christian spirit +Authorities + + +THOMAS AQUINAS. + +THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY. + +Peter Abelard +Gives a new impulse to philosophy +Rationalistic tendency of his teachings +The hatreds he created +Peter Lombard +His "Book of Sentences" +Introduction of the writings of Aristotle into Europe +University of Paris +Character of the students +Their various studies +Aristotle's logic used +The method of the Schoolmen +The Dominicans and Franciscans +Innocent III. +Thomas Aquinas +His early life and studies +Albertus Magnus +Aquinas's first great work +Made Doctor of Theology +His "Summa Theologica" +Its vast learning +Parallel between Aquinas and Plato +Parallel between Plato and Aristotle +Influence of Scholasticism +Waste of intellectual life +Scholasticism attractive to the Middle Ages +To be admired like a cathedral +Authorities + + +THOMAS BECKET. + +PRELATICAL POWER. + +Becket a puzzle to historians +His early history +His gradual elevation +Friendship with Henry II. +Becket made Chancellor +Elevated to the See of Canterbury +Dignity of an archbishop of Canterbury +Lanfranc +Anselm +Theobald +Becket in contrast +His ascetic habits as priest +His high-church principles +Upholds the spiritual courts +Defends the privileges of his order +Conflict with the king +Constitutions of Clarendon +Persecution of Becket +He yields at first to the king +His repentance +Defection of the bishops +Becket escapes to the Continent +Supported by Louis VII. of France +Insincerity of the Pope +Becket at Pontigny in exile +His indignant rebuke of the Pope +Who excommunicates the Archbishop of York +Henry obliged to compromise +Hollow reconciliation with Becket +Return of Becket to Canterbury +His triumphal procession +Annoyance of Henry +Assassination of Becket +Consequences of the murder +Authorities + + +THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. + +Anarchies of the Merovingian period +Society on the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire +Allodial tenure +Origin of Feudalism +Dependence and protection the principles of Feudalism +Peasants and their masters +The sentiment of loyalty +Contentment of the peasantry +Evils that cannot be redressed +Submission to them a necessity +Division of Charlemagne's empire +Life of the nobles +Pleasures and habits of feudal barons +Aristocratic character of Feudalism +Slavery of the people +Indirect blessings of Feudalism +Slavery not an unmixed evil +Influence of chivalry +Devotion to woman +The lady of the baronial castle +Reasons why women were worshipped +Dignity of the baronial home +The Christian woman contrasted with the pagan +Glory and beauty of Chivalry +Authorities + + +THE CRUSADES. + +The Crusades the great external event of the Middle Ages +A semi-religious and semi-military movement +What gives interest to wars? +Wars the exponents of prevailing ideas +The overruling of all wars +The majesty of Providence seen in war +Origin of the Crusades +Pilgrimages to Jerusalem +Miseries and insults of the pilgrims +Intense hatred of Mohammedanism +Peter of Amiens +Council of Clermont +The First Crusade +Its miseries and mistakes +The Second Crusade +The Third Crusade +The Fourth, Children's, Fifth, and Sixth Crusades +The Seventh Crusade +All alike unsuccessful, and wasteful of life and energies +Peculiarities and immense mistakes of the Crusaders +The moral evils of the Crusades +Ultimate results of the Crusades +Barrier made against Mohammedan conquests +Political necessity of the Crusades +Their effect in weakening the Feudal system +Effect of the Crusades on the growth of cities +On commerce and art and literature +They scatter the germs of a new civilization +They centralize power +They ultimately elevate the European races +Authorities + + +WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. + +GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. + +Roman architecture +First form of a Christian church +The change to the Romanesque +Its peculiarities +Its connection with Monasticism +Gloomy aspect of the churches of the tenth and eleventh centuries +Effect of the Crusades on church architecture +Church architecture becomes cheerful +The Gothic churches of France and Germany +The English Mediaeval churches +Glories of the pointed arch +Effect of the Renaissance on architecture +Mongrel style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +Revival of the pure gothic +Churches should be adapted to their uses +Incongruity of Protestantism with ritualistic architecture +Protestantism demands a church for preaching +Gothic vaults unfavorable to oratory +Authorities + + +JOHN WYCLIF. + +DAWN OF THE REFORMATION. + +Harmony of Protestant and Mediaeval creeds +The Reformation a moral movement +The evils of Papal institutions +The evils of monastic life +Quarrels and dissoluteness of monks +Birth of Wyclif +His scholastic attainments and honors +His political influence +The powers who have ruled the world +Wyclif sent on a mission to Bruges +Protection of John of Gaunt +Wyclif summoned to an ecclesiastical council +His defenders and foes +Triumph of Wyclif +He openly denounces the Pope +His translation of the Bible +Opposition to it by the higher clergy +Hostility of Roman Catholicism to the right of private judgment +Hostility to the Bible in vernacular tongues +Spread of the Bible in English +Wyclif as a doctrinal reformer +He attacks Transubstantiation +Deserted by the Duke of Lancaster +But dies peaceably in his parish +Wyclif contrasted with Luther +His great services to the church +Reasons why he escaped martyrdom +Authorities + + + +MOHAMMED + +A. D. 570-632. + +SARACENIC CONQUESTS + + +The most extraordinary man who arose after the fall of the Roman +Empire was doubtless Mohammed;* and his posthumous influence has +been greater than that of any man since Christianity was declared, +if we take into account the number of those who have received his +doctrines. Even Christianity never had so rapid a spread. More +than a sixth part of the human race are the professed followers of +the Arabian prophet. + + +* Spelled also Mahomet, Mahommed; but I prefer Mohammed. + + +In regard to Mohammed himself, a great change has taken place in +the opinions of critics within fifty years. It was the fashion +half a century ago to speak of this man as a hypocrite, an +impostor, even as Antichrist. Now he is generally regarded as a +reformer; that is, as a man who introduced into Arabia a religion +and a morality superior to what previously existed, and he is +regarded as an impostor only so far as he was visionary. Few +critics doubt his sincerity. He was no hypocrite, since he himself +believed in his mission; and his mission was benevolent,--to turn +his countrymen from a gross polytheism to the worship of one God. +Although his religion cannot compare with Christianity in purity +and loftiness, yet it enforced a higher morality than the old +Arabian religions, and assimilated to Christianity in many +important respects. The chief fault we have to find in Mohammed +was, the propagation of his doctrines by the sword, and the use of +wicked means to bring about a good end. The truths he declared +have had an immense influence on Asiatic nations, and these have +given vitality to his system, if we accept the position that truth +alone has vitality. + +One remarkable fact stands out for the world to ponder,--that, for +more than fourteen hundred years, one hundred and eighty millions +(more than a sixth part of the human race) have adopted and +cherished the religion of Mohammed; that Christianity never had so +astonishing a triumph; and that even the adherents of Christianity, +in many countries, have not manifested the zeal of the Mohammedans +in most of the countries where it has been acknowledged. Now these +startling facts can be explained only on the ground that +Mohammedanism has great vital religious and moral truths underlying +its system which appeal to the consciousness of mankind, or else +that these truths are so blended with dangerous errors which appeal +to depraved passions and interests, that the religion spread in +consequence of these errors rather than of the truth itself. + +The question to be considered, then, is whether Mohammedanism +spread in consequence of its truths or in consequence of its +errors. + + +In order to appreciate the influence of the Arabian prophet, we are +first led into the inquiry whether his religion was really an +improvement on the old systems which previously prevailed in +Arabia. If it was, he must be regarded as a benefactor and +reformer, even if we admit the glaring evils of his system, when +measured by the purer religion of the Cross. And it then simply +becomes a question whether it is better to have a prevalent +corrupted system of religion containing many important truths, or a +system of downright paganism with few truths at all. + +In examining the religious systems of Arabia in the age preceding +the advent of the Prophet, it would seem that the most prominent of +them were the old doctrines of the Magians and Sabaeans, blended +with a gross idolatry and a senseless polytheism. Whatever may +have been the faith of the ancient Sabaean sages, who noted the +aspects of the stars, and supposed they were inhabited by angels +placed there by Almighty power to supervise and govern the +universe, yet history seems to record that this ancient faith was +practically subverted, and that the stars, where were supposed to +dwell deities to whom prayers were made, became themselves objects +of worship, and even graven images were made in honor of them. +Among the Arabs each tribe worshipped a particular star, and set up +its particular idol, so that a degrading polytheism was the +religion of the land. The object of greatest veneration was the +celebrated Black Stone, at Mecca, fabled to have fallen from heaven +at the same time with Adam. Over this stone was built the Kaabah, +a small oblong stone building, around which has been since built +the great mosque. It was ornamented with three hundred and sixty +idols. The guardianship of this pagan temple was intrusted to the +most ancient and honorable families of Mecca, and to it resorted +innumerable pilgrims bringing precious offerings. It was like the +shrine of Delphi, as a source of profit to its fortunate guardians. + +Thus before Mohammed appeared polytheism was the prevalent religion +of Arabia,--a degradation even from the ancient Sabaean faith. It +is true there were also other religions. There were many Jews at +Medina; and there was also a corrupted form of Christianity in many +places, split up into hostile and wrangling sects, with but little +of the spirit of the divine Founder, with innumerable errors and +superstitions, so that in no part of the world was Christianity so +feeble a light. But the great body of the people were pagans. A +marked reform was imperatively needed to restore the belief in the +unity of God and set up a higher standard of morality. + +It is claimed that Mohammed brought such a reform. He was born in +the year 570, of the family of Hashem and the tribe of Koreish, to +whom was intrusted the keeping of the Black Stone. He therefore +belonged to the highest Arabian aristocracy. Early left an orphan +and in poverty, he was reared in the family of one of his uncles, +under all the influences of idolatry. This uncle was a merchant, +and the youth made long journeys with him to distant fairs, +especially in Syria, where he probably became acquainted with the +Holy Scriptures, especially with the Old Testament. In his twenty- +fifth year he entered the service of Cadijeh, a very wealthy widow, +who sent to the fairs and towns great caravans, which Mohammed +accompanied in some humble capacity,--according to the tradition as +camel-driver. But his personal beauty, which was remarkable, and +probably also his intelligence and spirit, won the heart of this +powerful mistress, and she became his wife. + +He was now second to none in the capital of Arabia, and great +thoughts began to fill his soul. His wife perceived his greatness, +and, like Josephine and the wife of Disraeli, forwarded the +fortunes of her husband, for he became rich as well as intellectual +and noble, and thus had time and leisure to accomplish more easily +his work. From twenty-five to forty he led chiefly a contemplative +life, spending months together in a cave, absorbed in his grand +reflections,--at intervals issuing from his retreat, visiting the +marts of commerce, and gaining knowledge from learned men. It is +seldom that very great men lead either a life of perpetual +contemplation or of perpetual activity. Without occasional rest, +and leisure to mature knowledge, no man can arm himself with the +weapons of the gods. To be truly great, a man must blend a life of +activity with a life of study,--like Moses, who matured the +knowledge he had gained in Egypt amid the deserts of Midian. + +With all great men some leading idea rules the ordinary life. The +idea which took possession of the mind of Mohammed was the +degrading polytheism of his countrymen, the multitude of their +idols, the grossness of their worship, and the degrading morals +which usually accompany a false theology. He set himself to work +to produce a reform, but amid overwhelming obstacles. He talked +with his uncles, and they laughed at him. They would not even +admit the necessity of a reform. Only Cadijeh listened to him and +encouraged him and believed in him. And Mohammed was ever grateful +for this mark of confidence, and cherished the memory of his wife +in his subsequent apostasy,--if it be true that he fell, like +Solomon. Long afterwards, when she was dead, Ayesha, his young and +favorite wife, thus addressed him: "Am I not better than Cadijeh? +Do you not love me better than you did her? She was a widow, old +and ugly." "No, by Allah!" replied the Prophet; "she believed in +me when no one else did. In the whole world I had but one friend, +and she was that friend." No woman ever retained the affections of +a husband superior to herself, unless she had the spirit of +Cadijeh,--unless she proved herself his friend, and believed in +him. How miserable the life of Jane Carlyle would have been had +she not been proud of her husband! One reason why there is +frequent unhappiness in married life is because there is no mutual +appreciation. How often have we seen a noble, lofty, earnest man +fettered and chained by a frivolous woman who could not be made to +see the dignity and importance of the labors which gave to her +husband all his real power! Not so with the woman who assisted +Mohammed. Without her sympathy and faith he probably would have +failed. He told her, and her alone, his dreams, his ecstasies, his +visions; how that God at different times had sent prophets and +teachers to reveal new truths, by whom religion had been restored; +how this one God, who created the heavens and the earth, had never +left Himself without witnesses of His truth in the most degenerate +times; how that the universal recognition of this sovereign Power +and Providence was necessary to the salvation of society. He had +learned much from the study of the Talmud and the Jewish +Scriptures; he had reflected deeply in his isolated cave; he knew +that there was but one supreme God, and that there could be no +elevated morality without the sense of personal responsibility to +Him; that without the fear of this one God there could be neither +wisdom nor virtue. + +Hence his soul burned to tell his countrymen his earnest belief in a +supreme and personal God, to whom alone prayers should be made, and +who alone could rescue by His almighty power. He pondered day and +night on this single and simple truth. His perpetual meditations +and ascetic habits induced dreams and ecstasies, such as marked +primitive monks, and Loyala in his Manresan cave. He became a +visionary man, but most intensely earnest, for his convictions were +overwhelming. He fancied himself the ambassador of this God, as the +ancient Jewish prophets were; that he was even greater than they, +his mission being to remove idolatry,--to his mind the greatest evil +under the sun, since it was the root of all vices and follies. +Idolatry is either a defiance or a forgetfulness of God,--high +treason to the majesty of Heaven, entailing the direst calamities. + +At last, one day, in his fortieth year, after he had been shut up a +whole month in solitude, so that his soul was filled with ecstasy +and enthusiasm, he declared to Cadijeh that the night before, while +wrapped in his mantle, absorbed in reverie, a form of divine +beauty, in a flood of light, appeared to him, and, in the name of +the Almighty who created the heavens and the earth, thus spake: "O, +Mohammed! of a truth thou art the Prophet of God, and I am his +angel Gabriel." "This," says Carlyle, "is the soul of Islam. This +is what Mohammed felt and now declared to be of infinite moment, +that idols and formulas were nothing; that the jargon of +argumentative Greek sects, the vague traditions of Jews, the stupid +routine of Arab idolatry were a mockery and a delusion; that there +is but one God; that we must let idols alone and look to Him. He +alone is reality; He made us and sustains us. Our whole strength +lies in submission to Him. The thing He sends us, be it death +even, is good, is the best. We resign ourselves to Him." + +Such were the truths which Mohammed, with preternatural +earnestness, now declared,--doctrines which would revolutionize +Arabia. And why not? They are the same substantially which Moses +declared, to those sensual and degraded slaves whom he led out of +Egypt,--yea, the doctrines of David and of Job. "Though He slay +me, yet will I trust in Him." What a grand and all-important truth +it is to impress upon people sunk in forgetfulness and sensuality +and pleasure-seeking and idle schemes of vanity and ambition, that +there is a supreme Intelligence who overrules, and whose laws +cannot be violated with impunity; from whom no one can escape, even +though he "take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost +parts of the sea." This is the one truth that Moses sought to +plant in the minds of the Jews,--a truth always forgotten when +there is slavery to epicurean pleasures or a false philosophy. + +Now I maintain that Mohammed, in seeking to impress his degenerate +countrymen with the idea of the one supreme God, amid a most +degrading and almost universal polytheism, was a great reformer. +In preaching this he was neither fanatic nor hypocrite; he was a +very great man, and thus far a good man. He does not make an +original revelation; he reproduces an old truth,--as old as the +patriarchs, as old as Job, as old as the primitive religions,--but +an exceedingly important one, lost sight of by his countrymen, +gradually lost sight of by all peoples when divine grace is +withheld; indeed practically by people in Christian lands in times +of great degeneracy. "The fool has said in his heart there is no +God;" or, Let there be no God, that we may eat and drink before we +die. Epicureanism, in its pleasures or in its speculations, is +virtually atheism. It was so in Greece. It is so with us. + +Mohammed was now at the mature age of forty, in the fulness of his +powers, in the prime of his life; and he began to preach everywhere +that there is but one God. Few, however, believed in him. Why not +acknowledge such a fundamental truth, appealing to the intellect as +well as the moral sense? But to confess there is a supreme God, +who rewards and punishes, and to whom all are responsible both for +words and actions, is to imply a confession of sinfulness and the +justice of retribution. Those degraded Arabians would not receive +willingly such a truth as this, even as the Israelites ever sought +to banish it from their hearts and minds, in spite of their +deliverance from slavery. The uncles and friends of Mohammed +treated his mission with scorn and derision. Nor do I read that +the common people heard him gladly, as they listened to the +teachings of Christ. Zealously he labored for three years with all +classes; and yet in three years of exalted labor, with all his +eloquence and fervor and sincerity, he converted only about +thirteen persons, one of whom was his slave. Think of such a man +declaring such a truth, and only gaining thirteen followers in +three years! How sickened must have been his enthusiastic soul! +His worldly relatives urged him to silence. Why attack idols; why +quarrel with his own interests; why destroy his popularity? Then +exclaimed that great hero: "If the sun stood on my right hand, and +the moon on my left, ordering me to hold my peace, I would still +declare there is but one God,"--a speech rivalled only by Luther at +the Diet of Worms. Why urge a great man to be silent on the very +thing which makes him great? He cannot be silent. His truth--from +which he cannot be separated--is greater than life or death, or +principalities or powers. + +Buffeted and ridiculed, still Mohammed persevered. He used at +first only moral means. He appealed only to the minds and hearts +of the people, encouraged by his few believers and sustained by the +fancied voice of that angel who appeared to him in his retreat. +But his earnest voice was drowned by discordant noises. He was +regarded as a lunatic, a demented man, because he professed to +believe in a personal God. The angry mob covered his clothes with +dust and ashes. They demanded miracles. But at this time he had +only truths to declare,--those saving truths which are perpetual +miracles. At last hostilities began. He was threatened and he was +persecuted. They laid plots to take his life. He sought shelter +in the castle of his uncle, Abu Taleh; but he died. Then +Mohammed's wife Cadijeh died. The priests of an idolatrous +religion became furious. He had laid his hands on their idols. He +was regarded as a disorganizer, an innovator, a most dangerous man. +His fortunes became darker and darker; he was hated, persecuted, +and alone. + +Thus thirteen years passed away in reproach, in persecution, in +fear. At last forty picked men swore to assassinate him. Should +he remain at Mecca and die, before his mission was accomplished, or +should he fly? He concluded to fly to Medina, where there were +Jews, and some nominal converts to Christianity,--a new ground. +This was in the year 622, and the flight is called the Hegira,-- +from which the East dates its era, in the fifty-third year of the +Prophet's life. In this city he was cordially welcomed, and he +soon found himself surrounded with enthusiastic followers. He +built a mosque, and openly performed the rites of the new religion. + +At this era a new phase appears in the Prophet's life and +teachings. Thus far, until his flight, it would seem that he +propagated his doctrines by moral force alone, and that these +doctrines, in the main, were elevated. He had earnestly declared +his great idea of the unity of God. He had pronounced the worship +of images to be idolatrous. He held idolatry of all kinds in +supreme abhorrence. He enjoined charity, justice, and forbearance. +He denounced all falsehood and all deception, especially in trade. +He declared that humility, benevolence, and self-abnegation were +the greatest virtues. He commanded his disciples to return good +for evil, to restrain the passions, to bridle the tongue, to be +patient under injuries, to be submissive to God. He enjoined +prayer, fastings, and meditation as a means of grace. He laid down +the necessity of rest on the seventh day. He copied the precepts +of the Bible in many of their essential features, and recognized +its greatest teachers as inspired prophets. + +It was during these thirteen years at Mecca, amid persecution and +ridicule, and with few outward successes, that he probably wrote +the Koran,--a book without beginning and without end, disjecta +membra, regardless of all rules of art, full of repetitions, and +yet full of lofty precepts and noble truths of morality evidently +borrowed from the Jewish Scriptures,--in which his great ideas +stand out with singular eloquence and impressiveness: the unity of +God, His divine sovereignty, the necessity of prayer, the soul's +immortality, future rewards and punishments. His own private life +had been blameless. It was plain and simple. For a whole month he +did not light a fire to cook his food. He swept his chamber +himself and mended his own clothes. His life was that of an +ascetic enthusiast, profoundly impressed with the greatness and +dignity of his mission. Thus far his greatest error and fault was +in the supposition that he was inspired in the same sense as the +ancient Jewish prophets were inspired,--to declare the will and the +truth of God. Any man leading such a life of contemplative +asceticism and retirement is prone to fall into the belief of +special divine illumination. It characterized George Fox, the +Anabaptists, Ignatius Loyola, Saint Theresa, and even, to some +extent, Oliver Cromwell himself. Mohammed's supreme error was that +he was the greatest as well as the last of the prophets. This was +fanaticism, but he was probably honest in the belief. His brain +was turned by dreams, ecstasies, and ascetic devotions. But with +all his visionary ideas of his call, his own morality and his +teachings had been lofty, and apparently unsuccessful. Possibly he +was discouraged with the small progress he had made,--disgusted, +irritated, fierce. + +Certainly, soon after he was established at Medina, a great change +took place in his mode of propagating his doctrines. His great +ideas remained the same, but he adopted a new way to spread them. +So that I can almost fancy that some Mephistopheles, some form of +Satanic agency, some lying Voice whispered to him in this wise: "O +Mohammed! of a truth thou art the Prophet of the living God. Thou +hast declared the grandest truths ever uttered in Arabia; but see +how powerless they are on the minds and hearts of thy countrymen, +with all thy eloquence, sincerity, and fervor. By moral means thou +hast effected comparatively nothing. Thou hast preached thirteen +years, and only made a few converts. Thy truths are too elevated +for a corrupt and wicked generation to accept. Even thine own life +is in danger. Thou hast been obliged to fly to these barren rocks +and sands. Thou hast failed. Why not pursue a new course, and +adapt thy doctrines to men as they are? Thy countrymen are wild, +fierce, and warlike: why not incite their martial passions in +defence of thy doctrines? They are an earnest people, and, +believing in the truths which thou now declarest, they will fight +for them and establish them by the sword, not merely in Arabia, but +throughout the East. They are a pleasure-loving and imaginative +people: why not promise the victors of thy faith a sensual bliss in +Paradise? They will not be subverters of your grand truths; they +will simply extend them, and jealously, if they have a reward in +what their passions crave. In short, use the proper means for a +great end. The end justifies the means." + +Whether influenced by such specious sophistries, or disheartened by +his former method, or corrupted in his own heart, as Solomon was, +by his numerous wives,--for Mohammed permitted polygamy and +practised it himself,--it is certain that he now was bent on +achieving more signal and rapid victories. He resolved to adapt +his religion to the depraved hearts of his followers. He would mix +up truth with error; he would make truth palatable; he would use +the means which secure success. It was success he wanted, and +success he thus far had not secured. He was ambitious; he would +become a mighty spiritual potentate. + +So he allowed polygamy,--the vice of Eastern nations from remote +periods; he promised a sensual Paradise to those who should die in +defence of his religion; he inflamed the imagination of the +Arabians with visions of sensual joys. He painted heaven as a land +whose soil was the finest wheaten flour, whose air was fragrant +with perfumes, whose streams were of crystal water or milk or wine +or honey, flowing over beds of musk and camphor,--a glorious garden +of fruits and flowers, whose inhabitants were clothed in garments +of gold, sparkling with rubies and diamonds, who reclined in +sumptuous palaces and silken pavilions, and on couches of +voluptuous ease, and who were served with viands which could be +eaten without satiety, and liquors which could be drunk without +inebriation; yea, where the blissful warrior for the faith should +enjoy an unending youth, and where he would be attended by houris, +with black and loving eyes, free from all defects, resplendent in +beauty and grace, and rejoicing in perpetual charms. + +Such were the views, it is maintained, with which he inflamed the +faithful. And, more, he encouraged them to take up arms, and +penetrate, as warlike missionaries, to the utmost bounds of the +habitable world, in order to convert men to the faith of the one +God, whose Prophet he claimed to be. Moreover, he made new and +extraordinary "revelations,"--that he had ascended into the seventh +heaven and held converse with Gabriel; and he now added to his +creed that old lie of Eastern theogonies, that base element of all +false religions,--that man can propitiate the Deity by works of +supererogation; that man can purchase by ascetic labors and +sacrifices his future salvation. This falsity enters largely into +Mohammedanism. I need not add how discrepant it is with the +cheerful teachings of the apostles, especially to the poor, as seen +in the deeds of penance, prayers in the corners of the streets, the +ablutions, the fasts, and the pilgrimages to which the faithful are +exhorted. And moreover he accommodated his fasts and feasts and +holidays and pilgrimages to the old customs of the people, thereby +teaching lessons of worldly wisdom. Astarte, the old object of +Sabaean idolatry, was particularly worshipped on a Friday; and this +day was made the Mohammedan Sabbath. Again, the month Rhamadan, +from time immemorial, had been set apart for fastings; this month +the Prophet adopted, declaring that in it he had received his first +revelations. Pilgrimages to the Black Stone were favorite forms of +penance; and this was perpetuated in the pilgrimages to Mecca. + +Thus it would appear that Mohammed, after his flight, accommodated +his doctrines to the customs and tastes of his countrymen,-- +blending with the sublime truths he declared subtile and pernicious +errors. The early missionaries did the same thing in China and +Japan, thinking more of the number of their converts than of the +truth itself. Expediency--the utterly fallacious principle of the +end justifying the means--is seen in almost everything in this +world which blazes with success. It is seen in politics, in +philanthropy, in ecclesiasticism, and in education. So the earlier +missionaries, disregarding their vows, made the cause to which they +were consecrated subservient to their personal gain. What do you +think of a man, wearing the livery of a gospel minister, devoting +all his energies to money-making, versed in the ways of the +"heathen Chinee,"--"ways that are dark, and tricks that are vain,"-- +all to succeed better in worldly thrift, using all means for that +single end,--is he not a traitor to his God, his Church, and his +fellowmen? "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the +throne." What would you think of a college which lowered the +standard of education in order to draw students, or selected, as +the guardians of its higher interests, those men who would +contribute the most money to its funds? + +This spirit of expediency Mohammed entertained and utilized, in +order to gain success. Most of what is false in Mohammedanism is +based on expediency. The end was not lost sight of,--the +conversion of his countrymen to the belief in the unity and +sovereignty of God, but it was sought by means which would make +them fanatics or pharisees. He was not such a miserable creature +as one who seeks to make money by trading on the religious capital +of the community; but he did adapt his religion to the passions and +habits of the people in order that they might more readily be led +to accept it. He listened to that same wicked Voice which +afterwards appeared in the guise of an angel of light to mediaeval +ritualists. And it is thus that Satan has contrived to pervert the +best institutions of the world. The moment good men look to +outward and superficial triumphs, to the disregard of inward +purity, that moment do they accept the seductive lie of all ages,-- +"The end justifies the means." + +But the worst thing which the Prophet did in order to gain his end +was to make use of the sword. For thirteen years he appealed to +conscience. Now he makes it an inducement for men to fight for his +great idea. "Different prophets," said he, in his memorable +manifesto, "have been sent by God to illustrate His different +attributes: Moses, His providence; Solomon, His wisdom; Christ, His +righteousness; but I, the last of the prophets, am sent with the +sword. Let those who promulgate my faith enter into no arguments +or discussions, but slay all who refuse obedience. Whoever fights +for the true faith, whether he fall or conquer, will assuredly +receive a glorious reward, for the sword is the key of heaven. All +who draw it in defence of the faith shall receive temporal and +future blessings. Every drop of their blood, every peril and +hardship, will be registered on high as more meritorious than +fasting or prayer. If they fall in battle their sins will be +washed away, and they shall be transported into Paradise, to revel +in eternal pleasures, and in the arms of black-eyed houris." Thus +did he stimulate the martial fanaticism of a warlike and heroic +people with the promise of future happiness. What a monstrous +expediency,--worse than all the combined usurpations of the popes! + +And what was the result? I need not point to the successive +conquests of the Saracens with such a mighty stimulus. They were +loyal to the truth for which they fought. They never afterwards +became idolaters; but their religion was built up on the miseries +of nations. To propagate the faith of Mohammed they overran the +world. Never were conquests more rapid and more terrible. + +At first Mohammed's followers in Medina sallied out and attacked +the caravans of Arabia, and especially all belonging to Mecca (the +city which had rejected him), until all the various tribes +acknowledged the religion of the Prophet, for they were easily +converted to a faith which flattered their predatory inclinations +and promised them future immunities. The first cavalcade which +entered Medina with spoils made Mussulmans of all the inhabitants, +and gave Mohammed the control of the city. The battle of Moat gave +him a triumphal entrance into Mecca. He soon found himself the +sovereign of all Arabia; and when he died, at the age of 63, in the +eleventh year after his Hegira, or flight from Mecca, he was the +most successful founder of a religion the world has known, next to +Buddha. A religion appealing to truth alone had made only a few +converts in thirteen years; a religion which appealed to the sword +had made converts of a great nation in eleven years. + +It is difficult to ascertain what the private life of the Prophet +was in these years of dazzling success. The authorities differ. +Some represent him as sunk in a miserable sensuality which +shortened his days. But I think this statement may be doubted. He +never lost the veneration of his countrymen,--and no veneration can +last for a man steeped in sensuality. Even Solomon lost his +prestige and popularity when he became vain and sensual. Those who +were nearest to the Prophet reverenced him most profoundly. With +his wife Ayesha he lived with great frugality. He was kindly, firm +in friendship, faithful and tender in his family, ready to forgive +enemies, just in decision. The caliphs who succeeded him, for some +time, were men of great simplicity, and sought to imitate his +virtues. He was doubtless warlike and fanatical, but conquests +such as he and his successors made are incompatible with luxury and +effeminacy. He stands arraigned at the bar of eternal justice for +perverting truth, for blending it with error, for making use of +wicked means to accomplish what he deemed a great end. + +I have no patience with Mr. Carlyle, great and venerable as is his +authority, for seeming to justify Mohammed in assuming the sword. +"I care little for the sword," says this sophistical writer. "I +will allow a thing to struggle for itself in this world, with any +sword or tongue or implement it has or can lay hold on. What is +better than itself it cannot put away, but only what is worse. In +this great life-duel Nature herself is umpire, and can do no +wrong." That is, might makes right; only evil perishes in the +conflict of principles; whatever prevails is just. In other words, +if Mohammedanism, by any means it may choose to use, proves itself +more formidable than other religions, then it ought to prevail. +Suppose that the victories of the Saracens had extended over +Europe, as well as Asia and Africa,--had not been arrested by +Charles Martel,--would Carlyle then have preferred Mohammedanism to +the Christianity of degenerate nations? Was Mohammedanism a better +religion than the Christianity which existed in Asia Minor and in +various parts of the Greek empire in the sixth and seventh +centuries? Was it a good thing to convert the church of Saint +Sophia into a Saracenic mosque, and the city of the later Christian +emperors into the capital of the Turks? Is a united Saracenic +empire better than a divided, wrangling Christian empire? + +But I will not enter upon that discussion. I confine myself to +facts. It is certain that Mohammedanism, by means of the sword, +spread with marvellous and unprecedented rapidity. The successors +of the Prophet carried their conquests even to India. Neither the +Syrians nor the Egyptians could cope with men who felt that the +sacrifice of life in battle would secure an eternity of bliss. The +armies of the Greek emperor melted away before the generals of the +caliph. The Cross waned before the Crescent. The banners of the +Moslems floated over the proudest battlements of ancient Roman +grandeur. + +In the fifth year of the caliph Omar, only seventeen years from the +Prophet's flight from Mecca, the conquest of Syria was completed. +The Christians were forbidden to build churches, or speak openly of +their religion, or sit in the presence of a Mohammedan, or to sell +wine, or bear arms, or use the saddle in riding, or have a domestic +who had been in the Mohammedan service. The utter prostration of +all civil and religious liberty took place in the old scenes of +Christian triumph. This was an instance in which persecution +proved successful; and because it was successful it is a proof, in +the eyes of Carlyle, that the persecuting religion was the better, +because it was outwardly the stronger. + +The conquest of Egypt rapidly followed that of Syria; and with the +fall of Alexandria perished the largest library of the world, the +thesaurus of all the intellectual treasures of antiquity. + +Then followed the conquest of Persia. A single battle, as in the +time of Alexander, decided its fate. The marvel is that the people +should have changed their religion; but then, it was Mohammedanism +or death. And a still greater marvel it is,--an utter mystery to +me,--why that Oriental country should have continued faithful to +the new religion. It must have had some elements of vitality +almost worth fighting for, and which we do not comprehend. + +Nor did Saracenic conquests end until the Arabs of the desert had +penetrated southward into India farther than had Alexander the +Great, and westward until they had subdued the northern kingdoms of +Africa, and carried their arms to the Pillars of Hercules; yea, to +the cities of the Goths in Spain, and were only finally arrested in +Europe by the heroism of Charles Martel. + +Such were the rapid conquests of the Saracens--and permanent +conquests also--in Asia and Africa, under the stimulus of religious +fanaticism, until they had reduced thirty-six thousand cities, +towns, and castles, and built fourteen thousand mosques. + +Now what are the deductions to be logically drawn from these +stupendous victories and the consolidation of the various religions +of the conquered into the creed of Mohammed,--not repudiated when +the pressure was removed, but apparently cherished by one hundred +and eighty millions of people for more than a thousand years? + +We must take the ground that the religion of Mohammed has +marvellous and powerful truths, which we have overlooked and do not +understand, which appeal to the heart and conscience, and excite a +great enthusiasm,--so great as to stimulate successive generations +with an almost unexampled ardor, and to defend which they were +ready to die; a religion which has bound diverse nations together +for nearly fourteen hundred years. If so, it cannot be abused, or +ridiculed, or sneered at, any more than can the dominion of the +popes in the Middle Ages, but remains august in impressive mystery +to us, and even to future ages. + +But if, in comparison with Christianity, it is a corrupt and false +religion, as many assume, then what deductions must we draw from +its amazing triumphs? For the fact stares us in the face that it +is rooted deeply in a large part of the Eastern world, or, at +least, has prevailed victorious for more than a thousand years. + +First, we must conclude that the external triumph of a religion, +especially among ignorant or wicked people, is not so much owing to +the purity and loftiness of its truths, as to its harmony with +prevailing errors and corruptions. When Mohammed preached his +sublimest doctrines, and appealed to reason and conscience, he +converted about a score of people in thirteen years. When he +invoked demoralizing passions, he converted all Arabia in eleven +years. And does not this startling conclusion seem to be confirmed +by the whole history of mankind? How slow the progress of +Christianity for two hundred years, except when assisted by direct +supernatural influences! How rapid its triumphs when it became +adapted to the rude barbaric mind, or to the degenerate people of +the Empire! How popular and prevalent and widespread are those +religions which we are accustomed to regard as most corrupt! +Buddhism and Brahmanism have had more adherents than even +Mohammedanism. How difficult it was for Moses and the prophets to +keep the Jews from idolatry! What caused the rapid eclipse of +faith in the antediluvian world? Why could not Noah establish and +perpetuate his doctrines among his own descendants before he was +dead? Why was the Socratic philosophy unpopular? Why were the +Epicureans so fashionable? Why was Christianity itself most +eagerly embraced when its light was obscured by fables and +superstitions? Why did the Roman Empire perish, with all the aid +of a magnificent civilization; why did this civilization itself +retrograde; why did its art and literature decline? Why did the +grand triumphs of Protestantism stop in half a century after Luther +delivered his message? What made the mediaeval popes so powerful? +What gave such ascendency to the Jesuits? Why is the simple faith +of the primitive Christians so obnoxious to the wise, the mighty, +and the noble? What makes the most insidious heresies so +acceptable to the learned? Why is modern literature, when +fashionable and popular, so antichristian in its tone and spirit? +Why have not the doctrines of Luther held their own in Germany, and +those of Calvin in Geneva, and those of Cranmer in England, and +those of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England? Is it because, as men +become advanced in learning and culture, they are theologically +wiser than Moses and Abraham and Isaiah? + +I do not cite the rapid decline of modern civilized society, in a +political or social view, in the most favored sections of +Christendom; I do not sing dirges over republican institutions; I +would not croak Jeremiads over the changes and developments of +mankind. I simply speak of the marvellous similarity which the +spread and triumph of Mohammedanism seem to bear to the spread and +triumph of what is corrupt and wicked in all institutions and +religions since the fall of man. Everywhere it is the frivolous, +the corrupt, the false, which seem to be most prevalent and most +popular. Do men love truth, or readily accept it, when it +conflicts with passions and interests? Is any truth popular which +is arrayed against the pride of reason? When has pure moral truth +ever been fashionable? When have its advocates not been reviled, +slandered, misrepresented, and persecuted, if it has interfered +with the domination of prevailing interests? The lower the scale +of pleasures the more eagerly are they sought by the great mass of +the people, even in Christian communities. You can best make +colleges thrive by turning them into schools of technology, with a +view of advancing utilitarian and material interests. You cannot +make a newspaper flourish unless you fill it with pictures and +scandals, or make it a vehicle of advertisements,--which are not +frivolous or corrupt, it is true, but which have to do with merely +material interests. Your libraries would never be visited, if you +took away their trash. Your Sabbath-school books would not be +read, unless you made them an insult to the human understanding. +Your salons would be deserted, if you entertained your guests with +instructive conversation. There would be no fashionable +gatherings, if it were not to display dresses and diamonds. Your +pulpits would be unoccupied, if you sought the profoundest men to +fill them. + +Everything, even in Christian communities, shows that vanities and +follies and falsehoods are the most sought, and that nothing is +more discouraging than appeals to high intelligence or virtue, even +in art. This is the uniform history of the race, everywhere and in +all ages. Is it darkness or light which the world loves? I never +read, and I never heard, of a great man with a great message to +deliver, who would not have sunk under disappointment or chagrin +but for his faith. Everywhere do you see the fascination of error, +so that it almost seems to be as vital as truth itself. When and +where have not lies and sophistries and hypocrisies reigned? I +appeal to history. I appeal to the observation and experience of +every thoughtful and candid mind. You cannot get around this +truth. It blazes and it burns like the fires of Sinai. Men left +to themselves will more and more retrograde in virtue. + +What, then, is the hope of the world? We are driven to this +deduction,--that if truth in itself is not all-conquering, the +divine assistance, given at times to truth itself, as in the early +Church, is the only reason why truth conquers. This divine grace, +promised in the Bible, has wrought wonders whenever it has pleased +the Almighty to bestow it, and only then. History teaches this as +impressively as revelation. Christianity itself, unaided, would +probably die out in this world. And hence the grand conclusion is, +that it is the mysterious, or, as some call it, the super-natural, +spirit of Almighty power which is, after all, the highest hope of +this world. This is not discrepant with the oldest traditions and +theogonies of the East,--the hidden wisdom of ancient Indian and +Persian and Egyptian sages, concealed from the vulgar, but really +embraced by the profoundest men, before corruptions perverted even +their wisdom. This certainly is the earliest revelation of the +Bible. This is the power which Moses recognized, and all the +prophets who succeeded him. This is the power which even Mohammed, +in the loftiness of his contemplations, more dimly saw, and +imperfectly taught to the idolaters around him, and which gives to +his system all that was really valuable. Ask not when and where +this power shall be most truly felt. It is around us, and above +us, and beneath us. It is the mystery and grandeur of the ages. +"It is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit," saith the +Lord; Man is nothing, his aspirations are nothing, the universe +itself is nothing, without the living, permeating force which comes +from this supernal Deity we adore, to interfere and save. Without +His special agency, giving to His truths vitality, this world would +soon become a hopeless and perpetual pandemonium. Take away the +necessity of this divine assistance as the one great condition of +all progress, as well as the highest boon which mortals seek,--then +prayer itself, recognized even by Mohammedans as the loftiest +aspiration and expression of a dependent soul, and regarded by +prophets and apostles and martyrs as their noblest privilege, +becomes a superstition, a puerility, a mockery, and a hopeless +dream. + + +AUTHORITIES. + +The Koran; Dean Prideaux's Life of Mohammed; Vie de Mahomet, by the +Comte de Boulainvilliers; Gagnier's Life of Mohammed; Ockley's +History of the Saracens; Gibbon, fiftieth chapter; Hallam's Middle +Ages; Milman's Latin Christianity; Dr. Weil's Mohammed der +Prophet, sein Leben und seine Lehre; Renan, Revue des Deux Mondes, +1851; Bustner's Pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca; Life of +Mahomet, by Washington Irving; Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes, par +A. P. Caussin de Perceval; Carlyle's Lectures on Heroes and Hero +Worship; E. A. Freeman's Lectures on the History of the Sararens; +Forster's Mahometanism Unveiled; Maurice on the Religions of the +World; Life and Religion of Mohammed., translated from the Persian, +by Rev. I. L. Merrick. + + + +CHARLEMAGNE. + +A. D. 742-814. + + +REVIVAL OF WESTERN EMPIRE. + + +The most illustrious monarch of the Middle Ages was doubtless +Charlemagne. Certainly he was the first great statesman, hero, and +organizer that looms up to view after the dissolution of the Roman +Empire. Therefore I present him as one with whom is associated an +epoch in civilization. To him we date the first memorable step +which Europe took out of the anarchies of the Merovingian age. His +dream was to revive the Empire that had fallen, he was the first to +labor, with giant strength, to restore what vice and violence had +destroyed. He did not succeed in realizing the great ends to which +he aspired, but his aspirations were lofty. It was not in the +power of any man to civilize semi-barbarians in a single reign; but +if he attempted impossibilities he did not live in vain, since he +bequeathed some permanent conquests and some great traditions. He +left a great legacy to civilization. His life has not dramatic +interest like that of Hildebrand, nor poetic interest like the +lives of the leaders of the Crusades; but it is very instructive. +He was the pride of his own generation, and the boast of succeeding +ages, "claimed," says Sismondi, "by the Church as a saint, by the +French as the greatest of their kings, by the Germans as their +countryman, and by the Italians as their emperor." + +His remote ancestors, it is said, were ecclesiastical magnates. +His grandfather was Charles Martel, who gained such signal +victories over the Mohammedan Saracens; his father was Pepin, who +was a renowned conqueror, and who subdued the southern part of +France, or Gaul. He did not rise, like Clovis, from the condition +of a chieftain of a tribe of barbarians; nor, like the founder of +his family, from a mayor of the palace, or minister of the +Merovingian kings. His early life was spent amid the turmoils and +dangers of camps, and as a young man he was distinguished for +precocity of talent, manly beauty, and gigantic physical strength. +He was a type of chivalry, before chivalry arose. He was born to +greatness, and early succeeded to a great inheritance. At the age +of twenty-six, in the year 768, he became the monarch of the +greater part of modern France, and of those provinces which border +on the Rhine. By unwearied activities this inheritance, greater +than that of any of the Merovingian kings, was not only kept +together and preserved, but was increased by successive conquests, +until no so great an empire has ever been ruled by any one man in +Europe, since the fall of the Roman Empire, from his day to ours. +Yet greater than the conquests of Charlemagne was the greatness of +his character. He preserved simplicity and gentleness amid all the +distractions attending his government. + +His reign affords a striking contrast to that of all his +predecessors of the Merovingian dynasty,--which reigned from the +immediate destruction of the Roman Empire. The Merovingian +princes, with the exception of Clovis and a few others, were mere +barbarians, although converted to a nominal Christianity. Some of +them were monsters, and others were idiots. Clotaire burned to +death his own son and wife and daughters. Fredegunde armed her +assassins with poisoned daggers. "Thirteen sovereigns reigned over +the Franks in one hundred and fourteen years, only two of whom +attained to man's estate, and not one to the full development of +intellectual powers. There was scarcely one who did not live in a +state of perpetual intoxication, or who did not rival Sardanapalus +in effeminacy, and Commodus in cruelty." As these sovereigns were +good churchmen, their iniquities were glossed over by Gregory of +Tours. In HIS annals they may pass for saints, but history +consigns them to an infamous immortality. + +It is difficult to conceive a more dreary and dismal state of +society than existed in France, and in fact over all Europe, when +Charlemagne began to reign. The Roman Empire was in ruins, except +in the East, where the Greek emperors reigned at Constantinople. +The western provinces were ruled by independent barbaric kings. +There was no central authority, although there was an attempt of +the popes to revive it,--a spiritual rather than a temporal power; +a theocracy whose foundation was secured by Leo the Great when he +established the jus divinum principle,--that he was the successor +of Peter, to whom were given the keys of heaven and hell. If there +was an interesting feature in the times it was this spiritual +authority exercised by the bishops of Rome: the most useful and +beneficent considering the evils which prevailed,--the reign of +brute force. The barbaric chieftains yielded a partial homage to +this spiritual power, and it was some check on their rapacity of +violence. It is mournful to think that so little of the ancient +civilization remained in the eighth century. Its eclipse was +total. The shadows of a dark and long night of superstition and +ignorance spread over Europe. Law was silenced by the sword. +Justinian's glorious legacy was already forgotten. The old +mechanism which had kept society together in the fifth century was +worn out, broken, rejected. There was no literature, no +philosophy, no poetry, no history, and no art. Even the clergy had +become ignorant, superstitious, and idle. Forms had taken the +place of faith. No great theologians had arisen since Saint +Augustine. The piety of the age hid itself in monasteries; and +these monasteries were as funereal as society itself. Men +despaired of the world, and retreated from it to sing mournful +songs. The architecture of the age expressed the sentiments of the +age, and was heavy, gloomy, and monotonous. "The barbarians +ruthlessly marched over the ruins of cities and palaces, having no +regard for the treasures of the classic world, and unmoved by the +lessons of its past experience." Rome itself, repeatedly sacked, +was a heap of ruins. No reconstruction had taken place. Gardens +and villas were as desolate as the ruined palaces, which were the +abodes of owls and spiders. The immortal creations of the chisel +were used to prop up old crumbling walls. The costly monuments of +senatorial pride were broken to pieces in sport or in caprice, and +those structures which had excited the admiration of ages were +pulled down that their material might be used in erecting tasteless +edifices. Literature shared the general desolation. The valued +manuscripts of classical ages were mutilated, erased, or burned. +Ignorance finished the destruction which the barbarians began. +Ignorance as well as anarchy veiled Europe in darkness. The rust +of barbarism became harder and thicker. The last hope of man had +fled, and glory was succeeded by shame. Even slavery, the curse of +the Roman Empire, was continued by the barbarians; only, brute +force was not made subservient to intellect, but intellect to brute +force. The descendants of ancient patrician families were in +bondage to barbarians. The age was the jubilee of monsters. +Assassination was common, and was unavenged by law. Every man was +his own avenger of crime, and his bloody weapons were his only law. + +Nor were there seen among the barbaric chieftains the virtues of +ancient Pagan Rome and Greece, for Christianity was nominal. War +was universal; for the barbarians, having no longer the Romans to +fight, fought among themselves. There were incessant irruptions of +different tribes passing from one country to another, in search of +plunder and pillage. There was no security of life or property, +and therefore no ambition for acquisition. Men hid themselves in +morasses, in forests, on the tops of inaccessible hills, and amid +the recesses of valleys, for violence was the rule and not the +exception. Even feudalism was not then born, and still less +chivalry. We find no elevated sentiments. The only refuge for the +miserable was in the Church, and it was governed by men who shrank +from the world. A cry of despair went up to heaven among the +descendants of the old population. There was no commerce, no +travel, no industries, no money, no peace. The chastisement of +Almighty Power seems to have been sent on the old races and the new +alike. It was a desolation greater than that predicted by Jeremy +the prophet. The very end of the world seemed to be at hand. +Never in the old seats of civilization was there such a +disintegration; never such a combination of evils and miseries. +And there appeared to be no remedy: nothing but a long night of +horrors and sufferings could be predicted. Gaul, or France, was +the scene of turbulence, invasions, and anarchies; of murders, of +conflagrations, and of pillage by rival chieftains, who sought to +divide its territories among themselves. The people were utterly +trodden down. England was the battlefield of Danes, Saxons, and +Celts, invaded perpetually, and split up into petty Saxon kingdoms. +The roads were infested with robbers, and agriculture was rude. +The people lived in cabins, dressed themselves in skins, and fed on +the coarsest food. Spain was invaded by Saracens, and the Gothic +kingdoms succumbed to these fierce invaders. Italy was portioned +out among different tribes, Gothic and Slavonic. But the +prevailing races in Europe were Germanic (who had conquered both +the Celts and the Romans), the Goths in Spain, the Franks and +Burgundians in France, the Lombards in Italy, the Saxons in +England. + +What a commentary on the imperial government of the Caesars!--that +government which, with all its mechanisms and traditions, lasted +scarcely four hundred years. Was there ever, in the whole history +of the world, so sudden and mournful a change from civilization to +barbarism,--and this in spite of art, science, law, and +Christianity itself? Were there no conservative forces in that +imposing Empire? Why did society constantly decline for four +hundred years, with that civilization which was its boast and hope? +Oh, ye optimists, who talk so glibly about the natural and +necessary progress of humanity, why was the Roman Empire swept +away, with all its material glories, to give place to such a state +of society as I have just briefly described? + +And yet men should arise in due time, after the punishment of five +centuries of crime and violence, wretchedness and despair, to +reconstruct, not from the old Pagan materials of Greece and Rome, +but with the fresh energies of new races, aided and inspired by the +truths of the everlasting gospel. The infancy of the new races, +sprung however from the same old Aryan stock, passed into vigorous +youth when Charlemagne appeared. From him we date the first +decided impulse given to the Gothic civilization. He was the +morning star of European hopes and aspirations. + + +Let us now turn to his glorious deeds. What were the services he +rendered to Europe and Christian civilization? + +It was necessary that a truly great man should arise in the eighth +century, if the new forces of civilization were to be organized. +To show what he did for the new races, and how he did it, is the +historian's duty and task in describing the reign of Charlemagne,-- +sent, I think, as Moses was, for a providential mission, in the +fulness of time, after the slaveries of three hundred years, which +prepared the people for labor and industry. Better was it that +they should till the lands of allodial proprietors in misery and +sorrow, attacked and pillaged, than to wander like savages in +forests and morasses in quest of a precarious support, or in great +predatory hands, as they did in the fourth and fifth centuries, +when they ravaged the provinces of the falling Empire. Nothing was +wanted but their consolidation under central rule in order to repel +aggressors. And that is what Charlemagne attempted to do. + +He soon perceived the greatness of the struggle to which he was +destined, and he did not flinch from the contest which has given +him immortality. He comprehended the difficulties which surrounded +him and the dangers which menaced him. + +The great perils which threatened Europe were from unsubdued +barbarians, who sought to replunge it into the miseries which the +great irruptions had inflicted three hundred years before. He +therefore bent all the energies of his mind and all the resources +of his kingdom to arrest these fresh waves of inundation. And so +long was his contest with Saxons, Avares, Lombards, and other +tribes and races that he is chiefly to be contemplated as a man who +struggled against barbarism. And he fought them, not for +excitement, not for the love of fighting, not for useless +conquests, not for military fame, not for aggrandizement, but +because a stern necessity was laid upon him to protect his own +territories and the institutions he wished to conserve. + +Of these barbarians there was one nation peculiarly warlike and +ferocious, and which cherished an inextinguishable hatred not +merely of the Franks, but of civilization itself. They were +obstinately attached to their old superstitions, and had a great +repugnance to Christianity. They were barbarians, like the old +North American Indians, because they determined to be so; because +they loved their forests and the chase, indulged in amusements +which were uncertain and dangerous, and sought for nothing beyond +their immediate inclinations. They had no territorial divisions, +and abhorred cities as prisons of despotism. But, like all the +Germanic barbarians, they had interesting traits. They respected +women; they were brave and daring; they had a dogged perseverance, +and a noble passion for personal independence. But they were +nevertheless the enemies of civilization, of a regular and +industrious life, and sought plunder and revenge. The Franks and +Goths were once like them, before the time of Clovis; but they had +made settlements, they tilled the land, and built villages and +cities: they were partially civilized, and were converted to +Christianity. But these new barbarians could not be won by arts or +the ministers of religion. These people were the Saxons, and +inhabited those parts of Germany which were bounded by the Rhine, +the Oder, the North Sea, and the Thuringian forests. They were +fond of the sea, and of daring expeditions for plunder. They were +a kindred race to those Saxons who had conquered England, and had +the same elements of character. They were poor, and sought to live +by piracy and robbery. They were very dangerous enemies, but if +brought under subjection to law, and converted to Christianity, +might be turned into useful allies, for they had the materials of a +noble race. + +With such a people on his borders, and every day becoming more +formidable, what was Charlemagne's policy? What was he to do? The +only thing to the eye of that enlightened statesman was to conquer +them, if possible, and add their territories to the Frankish +Empire. If left to themselves, they might have conquered the +Franks. It was either anvil or hammer. There could be no lasting +peace in Europe while these barbarians were left to pursue their +depredations. A vigorous warfare was imperative, for, unless +subdued, a disadvantageous war would be carried on near the +frontiers, until some warrior would arise among them, unite the +various chieftains, and lead his followers to successful invasion. +Charlemagne knew that the difficult and unpleasant work of +subjugation must be done by somebody, and he was unwilling to leave +the work to enervated successors. The work was not child's play. +It took him the best part of his life to accomplish it, and amid +great discouragements. Of his fifty-three expeditions, eighteen +were against the Saxons. As soon as he had cut off one head of the +monster, another head appeared. How allegorical of human labor is +that old fable of the Hydra! Where do man's labors cease? +Charlemagne fought not only amid great difficulties, but perpetual +irritations. The Saxons cheated him; they broke their promises and +their oaths. When beaten, they sued for peace; but the moment his +back was turned, they broke out in new insurrections. The fame of +Caesar chiefly rests on his eight campaigns in Gaul. But Caesar +had the disciplined Legions of Rome to fight with. Charlemagne had +no such disciplined troops. Yet he had as many difficulties to +surmount as Caesar,--rugged forests to penetrate, rapid rivers to +cross, morasses to avoid, and mountains to climb. It is a very +difficult thing to subdue even savages who are desperate, +determined, and united. + +Charlemagne fought the Saxons for thirty-three years. Though he +never lost a battle, they still held out. At first he was generous +and forgiving, for he was more magnanimous than Caesar; but they +could not be won by kindness. He was obliged to change his course, +and at last was as summary as Oliver Cromwell in Ireland. He is +even accused of cruelties. But war in the hands of masters has no +quarter to give, and no tears to shed. It was necessary to conquer +the Saxons, and Charlemagne used the requisite means. Sometimes +the harshest measures will most speedily effect the end. Did our +fathers ever dream of compromise with treacherous and hostile +Indians? War has a horrid maxim,--that "nothing is so successful +as success." Charlemagne, at last, was successful. The Saxons +were so completely subdued at the end of thirty-three years, that +they never molested civilized Europe again. They became civilized, +like the once invading Celts and Goths; and they even embraced the +religion of the conquerors. They became ultimately the best people +in Europe,--earnest, honest, and brave. They formed great kingdoms +and states, and became new barriers against fresh inundations from +the North and East. The Saxons formed the nucleus of the great +German Empire (or were incorporated with it) which arose in the +Middle Ages, and which to-day is the most powerful in Europe, and +the least corrupted by the vices of a luxurious life. The +descendants of those Saxons are among the most industrious and +useful settlers in the New World. + +There was one mistake which Charlemagne made in reference to them. +He forced their conversion to a nominal Christianity. He immersed +them in the rivers of Saxony, whether they would or no. He would +make them Christians in his way. But then, who does not seek to +make converts in his way, whether enlightened or not? When have +the principles of religious toleration been understood? Did the +Puritans understand them, with all their professions? Do we +tolerate, in our hearts, those who differ from us? Do not men look +daggers, though they dare not use them? If we had the power, would +we not seek to produce conformity with our notions, like Queen +Elizabeth, or Oliver Cromwell, or Archbishop Laud? There is not +perhaps a village in America where a true catholicism reigns. +There is not a spot upon the globe where there is not some form of +religious persecution. Nor is there any thing more sincere than +religious bigotry. And where people have not fundamental +principles to fight about, they will fight about technicalities and +matters of no account, and all the more bitterly sometimes when the +objects of contention are not worth fighting about at all,--as in +forms of worship, or baptism. Such is the weakness of human +nature. Charlemagne was no exception to the race. But if he +wished to make Christians in his way, he was, on the whole, +enlightened. He caused the young Saxons, whom he baptized and +marked with the sign of the Cross, to be educated. He built +monasteries and churches in the conquered territories. He +recognized this,--that Christianity, whatever it be, is the +mightiest power of the world; and he bore his testimony in behalf +of the intellectual dignity of the clergy in comparison with other +classes. He encouraged missions as well as schools. + +There was another Germanic tribe at that time which he held in +great alarm, but which he did not attack, since they were not +immediately dangerous. This tribe or race was the Norman, just +then beginning their ravages,--pirates in open boats. They had +dared to enter a port in Narbonensis Gaul for purposes of plunder. +Some took them for Africans, and others for British merchants. +Nay, said Charlemagne, they are not merchants, but cruel enemies; +and he covered his face with his iron hands and wept like a child. +He did not fear these barbarians, but he wept when he foresaw the +evil they would do when he was dead. "I weep," said he, "that they +should dare almost to land on my shores, in my lifetime." These +Normans escaped him. They conquered and they founded kingdoms. +But they did not replunge Europe in darkness. A barrier had been +made against their inundation. The Saxon conquest was that +barrier. Moreover, the Normans were the noblest race of barbarians +which then roamed through the forests of Germany, or skirted the +shores of Scandinavia. They had grand natural traits of character. +They were poetic, brave, and adventurous. They were superior to +the Saxons and the Franks. When converted, they were the great +allies of the Pope, and early became civilized. To them we trace +the noblest development of Gothic architecture. They became great +scholars and statesmen. They were more refined by nature than the +Saxons, and avoided their gluttonous habits. In after times they +composed the flower of European chivalry. It was providential that +they were not subdued,--that they became the leading race in +Northern Europe. To them we trace the mercantile greatness of +England, for they were born sailors. They never lost their natural +heroism, or love of power. + +The next important conquest of Charlemagne was that of the Avares,-- +a tribe of the Huns, of Slavonic origin. They are represented as +very hideous barbarians, and only thought of plunder. They never +sought to reconstruct. There seemed to be no end of their +invasions from the time of Attila. They were more formidable for +their numbers and destructive ravages than for their military +skill. There was a time, however, when they threatened the +combined forces of Germany and Rome; but Europe was delivered by +the battle of Poictiers,--the bloodiest battle on record,--when +they seemed to be annihilated. But they sprang up again, in new +invasions, in the ninth century. Had they conquered, civilization +would have been crushed out. But Charlemagne was successful +against them, and from that time to this they were shut out from +western Europe. They would be formidable now, for the Russians are +the descendants of these people, were it not for the barrier raised +against them by the Germans. The necessities of Europe still +require the vast military strength and organization of Germany, not +to fight France, but to awe Russia. Napoleon predicted that Europe +would become either French or Cossack; but there is little +probability of Russian aggressions in Europe, so long as Russia is +held in check by Germany. + +Charlemagne had now delivered France and Germany from external +enemies. He then turned his arms against the Saracens of Spain. +This was the great mistake of his life. Yet every one makes +mistakes, however great his genius. Alexander made the mistake of +pushing his arms into India; and Napoleon made a great blunder in +invading Russia. Even Caesar died at the right time for his +military fame, for he was on the point of attempting the conquest +of Parthia, where, like Crassus, he would probably have perished, +or have lost his army. Needless conquests seem to be impossible in +the moral government of God, who rules the fate of war. Conquests +are only possible when civilization seems to require them. In +seeking to invade Spain, Charlemagne warred against a race from +whom Europe had nothing more to fear. His grandfather, Charles +Martel, had arrested the conquests of the Saracens; and they were +quiet in their settlements in Spain, and had made considerable +attainments in science and literature. Their schools of medicine +and their arts were in advance of the rest of Europe. They were +the translators of Aristotle, who reigned in the rising +universities during the Middle Ages. As this war was unnecessary, +Providence seemed to rebuke Charlemagne. His defeat at +Roncesvalles was one of the most memorable events in his military +history. Prodigies of valor were wrought by him and his gallant +Paladins. The early heroic poetry of the Middle Ages has +commemorated his exploits, as well as those of his nephew Roland, +to whom some writers have ascribed the origin of Chivalry. But the +Frankish forces were signally defeated amid the passes of the +Pyrenees; and it was not until after several centuries that the +Gothic princes of Spain shook off the yoke of their Saracenic +conquerors, and drove them from Europe. + +The Lombard wars of Charlemagne are the last to which I allude. +These were undertaken in defence of the Church, to rescue his ally +the Pope. The Lombards belonged to the great Germanic family, but +they were unfriendly to the Pope and to the Church. They stood out +against the Empire, which was then the chief hope of Europe and of +civilization. They would have reduced the Pope to insignificance +and seized his territories, without uniting Italy. So Charlemagne, +like his father Pepin, lent his powerful aid to the Roman bishop, +and the Lombards were easily subdued. This conquest, although the +easiest which he ever made, most flattered his pride. Lombardy was +not only joined to his Empire, but he received unparalleled honors +from the Pope, being crowned by him Emperor of the West. + +It was a proud day when, in the ancient metropolis of the world, +and in the fulness of his fame, Pope Leo III. placed the crown of +Augustus upon Charlemagne's brow, and gave to him, amid the +festivities of Christmas, his apostolic benediction. His dominions +now extended from Catalonia to the Bohemian forests, embracing +Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, and the Spanish main,--the +largest empire which any one man has possessed since the fall of +the Roman Empire. What more natural than for Charlemagne to feel +that he had restored the Western Empire? What more natural than +that he should have taken the title, still claimed by the Austrian +emperor, in one sense his legitimate successor,--Kaiser, or Caesar? +In the possession of such enormous power, he naturally dreamed of +establishing a new universal military monarchy like that of the +Romans,--as Charles V. dreamed, and Napoleon after him. But this +is a dream that Providence has rebuked among all successive +conquerors. There may have been need of the universal monarchy of +the Caesars, that Christianity might spread in peace, and be +protected by a reign of law and order. This at least is one of the +platitudes of historians. Froude himself harps on it in his life +of Caesar. Historians are fond of exalting the glories of +imperialism, and everybody is dazzled by the splendor and power of +ancient Roman emperors. They do not, I think, sufficiently +consider the blasting influence of imperialism on the life of +nations, how it dries up the sources of renovation, how it +necessarily withers literature and philosophy, how nothing can +thrive under it but pomp and material glories, how it paralyzes all +virtuous impulses, how it kills all enthusiasm, how it crushes out +all hope and lofty aspirations, how it makes slaves of its best +subjects, how it fills the earth with fear, how it drains national +resources to support standing armies, how it mocks all enterprises +which do not receive imperial approbation, how everything is +concentrated to reflect the glory of one man or family; how +impossible, under its withering shade, is manly independence, or +the free expression of opinions or healthy growth; how it buries +up, under its armies, discontents and aspirations alike, and +creates nothing but machinery which must ultimately wear out and +leave a world in ruins, with nothing stable to take its place. Law +and order are good things, the preservation of property is +desirable, the punishment of crime is necessary; but there are +other things which are valuable also. Nothing is so valuable as +the preservation of national life; nothing is so healthy as scope +for energies; nothing is so contemptible and degrading as universal +sycophancy to official rule. There are no tyrants more oppressive +than the tools of absolute power. See in what a state imperialism +left the Roman Empire when it fell. There were no rallying forces; +there was no resurrection of heroes. Vitality had fled. Where +would Turkey be to-day without the European powers, if the Sultan's +authority were to fall? It would be in the state of ancient +Babylon or Persia when those empires fell. + +There is another side to imperialism besides dreaded anarchies. +Moreover, the whole progress of civilization has been counter to +it. The fiats of eternal justice have pronounced against it, +because it is antagonistic to the dignity of man and the triumphs +of reason. I would not fall in with the cant of the dignity of +man, because there is no dignity to man without aid from God +Almighty through His spirit and the message he has sent in +Christianity. But there is dignity in man with the aid of a +regenerating gospel. Some people talk of the triumphs of +Christianity under the Roman emperors; but see how rapidly it was +corrupted by them when they sought the aid of its institutions to +bolster up their power. The power of Christianity is in its +truths; in its religion, and not in its forms and institutions, in +its inventions to uphold the arms of despotism and the tools of +despotism. It is, and it was, and it will be through all the ages +the great power of the world, against which it is vain to rebel. +And that government is really the best which unfetters its +spiritual influence, and encourages it; and not that government +which seeks to perpetuate its corrupt and worldly institutions. +The Roman emperors made Christianity an institution, and obscured +its truths. And perhaps that is one reason why Providence +permitted their despotism to pass away,--preferring the rude +anarchy of the Germanic nations to the dead mechanism of a lifeless +Church and imperial rottenness. Imperialism must ever end in +rottenness. And that is one reason why the heart of Christendom--I +mean the people of Europe, in its enlightened and virtuous sections +has ever opposed imperialism. The progress has been slow, but +marked, towards representative governments,--not the reign of the +people directly, but of those whom they select to represent them. +The victory has been nearly gained in England. In France the +progress has been uniform since the Revolution. Napoleon revived, +or sought to revive, the imperialism of Rome. He failed. There is +nothing which the French now so cordially detest, since their eyes +have been opened to the character and ends of that usurper, as his +imperialism. It cannot be revived any more easily than the oracles +of Dodona. Even in Germany there are dreadful discontents in view +of the imperialism which Bismarck, by the force of successful wars, +has seemingly revived. The awful standing armies are a menace to +all liberty and progress and national development. In Italy itself +there is the commencement of constitutional authority, although it +is united under a king. The great standing warfare of modern times +is constitutional authority against the absolute power of kings and +emperors. And the progress has been on the side of liberty +everywhere, with occasional drawbacks, such as when Louis Napoleon +revived the accursed despotism of his uncle, and by the same +means,--a standing army and promises of military glory. + +Hence, in the order of Providence, the dream of Charlemagne as to +unbounded military aggrandizement could not be realized. He could +not revive the imperialism of Rome or Persia. No man will ever +arise in Europe who can re-establish it, except for a brief period. +It will be rebuked by the superintending Power, because it is fatal +to the highest development of nations, because all its glories are +delusory, because it sows the seeds of ruin. It produces that very +egotism, materialism, and sensuality, that inglorious rest and +pleasure, which, as everybody concedes, prepared the way for +violence. + +And hence Charlemagne's empire went to pieces as soon as he was +dead. There was nothing permanent in his conquests, except those +made against barbarism. He was raised up to erect barriers against +fresh inroads of barbarians. His whole empire was finally split up +into petty sovereignties. In one sense he founded States, "since +he founded the States which sprang up from the dismemberment of his +empire. The kingdoms of Germany, Italy, France, Burgundy, +Lorraine, Navarre, all date to his memorable reign." But these +mediaeval kingdoms were feudal; the power of the kings was nominal. +Government passed from imperialism into the hands of nobles. The +government of Europe in the Middle Ages was a military aristocracy, +only powerful as the interests of the people were considered. +Kings and princes did not make much show, except in the trappings +of royalty,--in gorgeous dresses of purple and gold, to suit a +barbaric taste,--in the insignia of power without its reality. The +power was among the aristocracy, who, it must be confessed, ground +down the people by a hard feudal rule, but who did not grind the +souls out of them, like the imperialism of absolute monarchies, +with their standing armies. Under them the feudal nobles of Europe +at length recuperated. Virtues were born everywhere,--in England, +in France, in Germany, in Holland,--which were a savor of life unto +life: loyalty, self-respect, fidelity to covenants, chivalry, +sympathy with human misery, love of home, rural sports, a glorious +rural life, which gave stamina to character,--a material which +Christianity could work upon, and kindle the latent fires of +freedom, and the impulses of a generous enthusiasm. It was under +the fostering influences of small, independent chieftains that +manly strength and organized social institutions arose once more,-- +the reserved power of unconquerable nations. Nobody hates +feudalism--in its corruptions, in its oppressions--more than I do. +But it was the transition stage from the anarchy which the collapse +of imperialism produced to the constitutional governments of our +times, if we could forget the absolute monarchies which flourished +on the breaking up of feudalism, when it became a tyranny and a +mockery, but which absolute monarchies flourished only one or two +hundred years,--a sort of necessity in the development of nations +to check the insolence and overgrown power of nobles, but after all +essentially different from the imperialism of Caesar or Napoleon, +since they relied on the support of nobles and municipalities more +than on a standing army; yea, on votes and grants from parliaments +to raise money to support the army,--certainly in England, as in +the time of Elizabeth. The Bourbons, indeed, reigned without +grants from the people or the nobility, and what was the logical +result?--a French Revolution! Would a French Revolution have been +possible under the Roman Caesars? + +But I will not pursue this gradual development of constitutional +government from the anarchies which arose out of the fall of the +Roman Empire,--just the reverse of what happened in the history of +Rome; I say no more of the imperialism which Charlemagne sought to +restore, but was not permitted by Providence, and which, after all, +was the dream of his latter days, when, like Napoleon, he was +intoxicated by power and brilliant conquests; and I turn to +consider briefly his direct effects in civilization, which showed +his great and enlightened mind, and on which his fame in no small +degree rests. + + +Charlemagne was no insignificant legislator. His Capitularies may +not be equal to the laws of Justinian in natural justice, but were +adapted to his times and circumstances. He collected the scattered +codes, so far as laws were codified, of the various Germanic +nations, and modified them. He introduced a great Christian +element into his jurisprudence. He made use of the canons of the +Church. His code is more ecclesiastical than that of Theodosius +even, the last great Christian emperor. But in his day the clergy +wielded great power, and their ordinances and decisions were +directed to society as it was. The clergy were the great jurists +of their day. The spiritual courts decided matters of great +importance, and took cognizance of cases which were out of the +jurisdiction of temporal courts. Charlemagne recognized the value +of these spiritual courts, and aided them. He had no quarrels with +ecclesiastics, nor was he jealous of their power. He allied +himself with it. He was a friend of the clergy. One of the +peculiarities of all the Germanic laws, seen especially in those of +Ina and Alfred, was pecuniary compensation for crime: fifty +shillings, in England, would pay for the loss of a foot, and twenty +for a nose and four for a tooth; thus recognizing a principle seen +in our times in railroad accidents, though not recognized in our +civil laws in reference to crimes. This system of compensation +Charlemagne retained, which perhaps answered for his day. + +He was also a great administrator. Nothing escaped his vigilance. +I do not read that he made many roads, or effected important +internal improvements. The age was too barbarous for the +development of national industries,--one of the main things which +occupy modern statesmen and governments. But whatever he did was +wise and enlightened. He rewarded merit; he made an alliance with +learned men; he sought out the right men for important posts; he +made the learned Alcuin his teacher and counsellor; he established +libraries and schools; he built convents and monasteries; he gave +encouragement to men of great attainments; he loved to surround +himself with learned men; the scholars of all countries sought his +protection and patronage, and found him a friend. Alcuin became +one of the richest men in his dominions, and Englebert received one +of his daughters in marriage. Napoleon professed a great +admiration for Charlemagne, although Frederic II. was his model +sovereign. But how differently Napoleon acted in this respect! +Napoleon was jealous of literary genius. He hated literary men. +He rarely invited them to his table, and was constrained in their +presence. He drove them out of the kingdom even. He wanted +nothing but homage,--and literary genius has no sympathy with brute +force, or machinery, or military exploits. But Charlemagne, like +Peter the Great, delighted in the society of all who could teach +him anything. He was a tolerably learned man himself, considering +his life of activity. He spoke Latin as fluently as his native +German, and it is said that he understood Greek. He liked to visit +schools, and witness the performances of the boys; and, provided +they made proficiency in their studies, he cared little for their +noble birth. He was no respecter of persons. With wrath he +reproved the idle. He promised rewards to merit and industry. + +The most marked feature of his reign, outside his wars, was his +sympathy with the clergy. Here, too, he differed from Napoleon and +Frederic II. Mr. Hallam considers his alliance with the Church the +great error of his reign; but I believe it built up his throne. In +his time the clergy were the most influential people of the Empire +and the most enlightened; but at that time the great contest of the +Middle Ages between spiritual and temporal authority had not begun. +Ambrose, indeed, had rebuked Theodosius, and set in defiance the +empress when she interfered with his spiritual functions; and Leo +had firmly established the Papacy by emphasizing a divine right to +his decrees. But a Hildebrand and a Becket had not arisen to usurp +the prerogatives of their monarchs. Least of all did popes then +dream of subjecting the temporal powers and raising the spiritual +over them, so as to lead to issues with kings. That was a later +development in the history of the papacy. The popes of the eighth +and ninth centuries sought to heal disorder, to punish turbulent +chieftains, to sustain law and order, to establish a tribunal of +justice to which the discontented might appeal. They sought to +conserve the peace of the world. They sought to rule the Church, +rather than the world. They aimed at a theocratic ministry,--to be +the ambassadors of God Almighty,--to allay strife and division. + +The clergy were the friends of order and law, and they were the +natural guardians of learning. They were kindness itself to the +slaves,--for slavery still prevailed. That was an evil with which +the clergy did not grapple; they would ameliorate it, but did not +seek to remove it. Yet they shielded the unfortunate and the +persecuted and the poor; they gave the only consolation which an +iron age afforded. The Church was gloomy, ascetic, austere, like +the cathedrals of that time. Monks buried themselves in crypts; +they sang mournful songs; they saw nothing but poverty and misery, +and they came to the relief in a funereal way. But they were not +cold and hard and cruel, like baronial lords. Secular lords were +rapacious, and ground down the people, and mocked and trampled upon +them; but the clergy were hospitable, gentle, and affectionate. +They sympathized with the people, from whom they chiefly sprang. +They had their vices, but those vices were not half so revolting as +those of barons and knights. Intellectually, the clergy were at +all times the superiors of these secular lords. They loved the +peaceful virtues which were generated in the consecrated convent. +The passions of nobles urged them on to perpetual pillage, +injustice, and cruelty. The clergy quarrelled only among +themselves. They were human, and not wholly free from human +frailties; but they were not public robbers. They were the best +farmers of their times; they cultivated lands, and made them +attractive by fruits and flowers. They were generally industrious; +every convent was a beehive, in which various kinds of manufactures +were produced. The monks aspired even to be artists. They +illuminated manuscripts, as well as copied them; they made +tapestries and beautiful vestments. They were a peaceful and +useful set of men, at this period, outside their spiritual +functions; they built grand churches; they had fruitful gardens; +they were exceedingly hospitable. Every monastery was an inn, as +well as a beehive, to which all travellers resorted, and where no +pay was exacted. It was a retreat for the unfortunate, which no +one dared assail. And it was vocal with songs and anthems. + +The clergy were not only thus general benefactors in an age of +turbulence and crime, in spite of all their narrowness and +spiritual pride and their natural ambition for power, but they lent +a helping hand to the peasantry. The Church was democratic, and +enabled the poor to rise according to their merits, while nobles +combined to crush them or keep them in an ignoble sphere. In the +Church, the son of a murdered peasant could rise according to his +deserts; but if he followed a warrior to the battle-field, no +virtues, no talents, no bravery could elevate him,--he was still a +peasant, a low-born menial. If he entered a monastery, he might +pass from office to office until as a mitred abbot he would become +the master of ten thousand acres, the counsellor of kings, the +equal of that proud baron in whose service his father spent his +abject life. The great Hildebrand was the son of a carpenter. The +Church ever recognized, what feudality did not,--the claims of man +as man; and enabled peasants' sons, if they had abilities and +virtues, to rise to proud positions,--to be the patrons of the +learned, the companions of princes, the ministers of kings. + +And that is the reason why Charlemagne befriended the Church and +elevated it, because its influence was civilizing. He sought to +establish among the clergy a counterbalancing power to that of +nobles. Who can doubt that the influence of the Church was better +than that of nobles in the Middle Ages? If it ground down society +by a spiritual yoke, that yoke was necessary, for the rude Middle +Ages could be ruled only by fear. What fear more potent than the +destruction of the soul in a future life! It was by this weapon-- +excommunication--that Europe was governed. We may abhor it, but it +was the great idea of Mediaeval Europe, which no one could resist, +and which kept society from dissolution. Charlemagne may have +erred in thus giving power and consideration to the clergy, in view +of the subsequent encroachments of the popes. But he never +anticipated the future quarrels between his successors and the +popes, for the popes were not then formidable as the antagonists of +kings. I believe his policy was the best for Europe, on the whole. +The infancy of the Gothic races was long, dark, dreary, and +unfortunate, but it prepared them for the civilization which they +scorned. + + +Such were the services which this great sovereign rendered to his +times and to Europe. He probably saved it from renewed barbarism. +He was the great legislator of the Middle Ages, and the greatest +friend--after Constantine and Theodosius--of which the Church can +boast. With him dawned the new civilization. He brought back +souvenirs of Rome and the Empire. Not for himself did he live, but +for the welfare of the nations he governed. It was his example +which Alfred sought to imitate. Though a warrior, he saw something +greater than the warrior's excellence. It is said he was eloquent, +like Julius Caesar. He loved music and all the arts. In his +palace at Aix-la-Chapelle were sung the songs of the earliest poets +of Germany. He took great pains to introduce the Gregorian chant. +He was simple in dress, and only on rare occasions did he indulge +in parade. He was temperate in eating and drinking, as all the +famous warriors have been. He absolutely abhorred drunkenness, the +great vice of the Northern nations. During meals he listened to +the lays of minstrels or the readings of his secretaries. He took +unwearied pains with the education of his daughters, and he was so +fond of them that they even accompanied him in his military +expeditions. He was not one of those men that Gibbon appreciated; +but his fame is steadily growing, after a lapse of a thousand +years. His whole appearance was manly, cheerful, and dignified. +His countenance reflected a child-like serenity. He was one of the +few men, like David, who was not spoiled by war and flatteries. +Though gentle, he was subject to fits of anger, like Theodosius; +but he did not affect anger, like Napoleon, for theatrical effect. +His greatness and his simplicity, his humanity and his religious +faith, are typical of the Germanic race. He died A. D. 814, after +a reign of half a century, lamented by his own subjects and to be +admired by succeeding generations. Hallam, though not eloquent +generally, has pronounced his most beautiful eulogy, "written in +the disgraces and miseries of succeeding times. He stands alone +like a rock in the ocean, like a beacon on a waste. His sceptre +was the bow of Ulysses, not to be bent by a weaker hand. In the +dark ages of European history, his reign affords a solitary +resting-place between two dark periods of turbulence and ignominy, +deriving the advantage of contrast both from that of the preceding +dynasty and of a posterity for whom he had founded an empire which +they were unworthy and unequal to maintain." + +To such a tribute I can add nothing. His greatness consists in +this, that, born amidst barbarism, he was yet the friend of +civilization, and understood its elemental principles, and +struggled forty-seven years to establish them,--failing only +because his successors and subjects were not prepared for them, and +could not learn them until the severe experience of ten centuries, +amidst disasters and storms, should prove the value of the "old +basal walls and pillars" which remained unburied amid the despised +ruins of antiquity, and show that no structure could adequately +shelter the European nations which was not established by the +beautiful union of German vigor with Christian art,--by the +combined richness of native genius with those immortal treasures +which had escaped the wreck of the classic world. + + +AUTHORITIES. + +Eginhard's Vita Caroli Magni; Le Clerc's De la Bruyere, Histoire du +Regne de Charlemagne; Haureau's Charlemagne et son Cour; Gaillard's +Histoire de Charlemagne; Lorenz's Karls des Grossen. There is a +tolerably popular history of Charlemagne by James Bulfinch, +entitled "Legends of Charlemagne;" also a Life by James the +novelist. Henri Martin, Sismondi, and Michelet may be consulted; +also Hallam's Middle Ages, Milman's Latin Christianity, Gibbon's +Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Biographie Universelle, and +the Encyclopaedias. + + + +HILDEBRAND. + +A. D. 1020-1085. + +THE PAPAL EMPIRE. + + +We associate with Hildebrand the great contest of the Middle Ages +between spiritual and temporal authority, the triumph of the +former, and its supremacy in Europe until the Reformation. What +great ideas and events are interwoven with that majestic +domination,--not in one age, but for fifteen centuries; not +religious merely, but political, embracing as it were the whole +progress of European society, from the fall of the Roman Empire to +the Protestant Reformation; yea, intimately connected with the +condition of Europe to the present day, and not of Europe only, but +America itself! What an august power is this Catholic empire, +equally great as an institution and as a religion! What lessons of +human experience, what great truths of government, what subtile +influences, reaching alike the palaces of kings and the hovels of +peasants, are indissolubly linked with its marvellous domination, +so that whether in its growth or decay it is more suggestive than +the rise and fall of any temporal empire. It has produced, +probably, more illustrious men than any political State in Europe. +It has aimed to accomplish far grander ends. It is invested with +more poetic interest. Its policy, its heroes, its saints, its +doctors, its dignitaries, its missions, its persecutions, all rise +up before us with varied but never-ending interest, when seriously +contemplated. It has proved to be the most wonderful fabric of +what we call worldly wisdom that our world has seen,--controlling +kings, dictating laws to ancient monarchies, and binding the souls +of millions with a more perfect despotism than Oriental emperors +ever sought or dreamed. And what a marvellous vitality it seems to +have! It has survived the attacks of its countless enemies; it has +recovered from the shock of the Reformation; it still remains +majestic and powerful, extending its arms of paternal love or +Briarean terror over half of Christendom. As a temporal +government, rivalling kings in the pomps of war and the pride of +armies, it may be passing away; but as an organization to diffuse +and conserve religious truths,--yea, even to bring a moral pressure +on the minds of princes and governors, and reinforce its ranks with +the mighty and the noble,--it seems to be as potent as ever. It is +still sending its missionaries, its prelates, and its cardinals +into the heart of Protestant countries, who anticipate and boast of +new victories. It derides the dissensions and the rationalistic +speculations of the Protestants, and predicts that they will either +become open Pagans or re-enter the fold of Saint Peter. No longer +do angry partisans call it the "Beast" or the "Scarlet Mother" or +the "predicted Antichrist," since its religious creeds in their +vital points are more in harmony with the theology of venerated +Fathers than those of some of the progressive and proudest parties +which call themselves Protestant. In Germany, in France,--shall I +add, in England and America?--it is more in earnest, and more +laborious and self-denying than many sects among the Protestants. +In Germany--in those very seats of learning and power and fashion +which once were kindled into lofty enthusiasm by the voice of +Luther--who is it that desert the churches and disregard the +sacraments, the Catholics or the Protestants? + +Surely such a power, whether we view it as an institution or as a +religion, cannot be despised, even by the narrowest and most +fanatical Protestant. It is too grand and venerable for sarcasm, +ridicule, or mockery. It is too potent and respectable to be +sneered at or lied about. No cause can be advanced permanently +except by adherence to the truth, whether it be agreeable or not. +If the Papacy were a mere despotism, having nothing else in view +than the inthralment of mankind,--of which it has been accused,-- +then mankind long ago, in lofty indignation, would have hurled it +from its venerable throne. But despotic as its yoke is in the eyes +of Protestants, and always has been and always may be, it is +something more than that, having at heart the welfare of the very +millions whom it rules by working on their fears. In spite of +dogmas which are deductions from questionable premises, or which +are at war with reason, and ritualism borrowed from other +religions, and "pious frauds," and Jesuitical means to compass +desirable ends,--which Protestants indignantly discard, and which +they maintain are antagonistic to the spirit of primitive +Christianity,--still it is also the defender and advocate of vital +Christian truths, to which we trace the hopes and consolations of +mankind. As the conservator of doctrines common to all Christian +sects it cannot be swept away by the hand of man; nor as a +government, confining its officers and rules to the spiritual +necessities of its members. Its empire is spiritual rather than +temporal. Temporal monarchs are hurled from their thrones. The +long line of the Bourbons vanishes before the tempests of +revolution, and they who were borne into power by these tempests +are in turn hurled into ignominious banishment; but the Pope--he +still sits secure on the throne of the Gregories and the Clements, +ready to pronounce benedictions or hurl anathemas, to which half of +Europe bows in fear or love. + +Whence this strange vitality? What are the elements of a power so +enduring and so irresistible? What has given to it its greatness +and its dignity? I confess I gaze upon it as a peasant surveys a +king, as a boy contemplates a queen of beauty,--as something which +may be talked about, yet removed beyond our influence, and no more +affected by our praise or censure than is a procession of cardinals +by the gaze of admiring spectators in Saint Peter's Church. Who +can measure it, or analyze it, or comprehend it? The weapons of +reason appear to fall impotent before its haughty dogmatism. +Genius cannot reconcile its inconsistencies. Serenely it sits, +unmoved amid all the aggressions of human thought and all the +triumphs of modern science. It is both lofty and degraded; simple, +yet worldly wise; humble, yet scornful and proud; washing beggars' +feet, yet imposing commands on the potentates of earth; benignant, +yet severe on all who rebel; here clothed in rags, and there +revelling in palaces; supported by charities, yet feasting the +princes of the earth; assuming the title of "servant of the +servants of God," yet arrogating the highest seat among worldly +dignitaries. Was there ever such a contradiction?--"glory in +debasement, and debasement in glory,"--type of the misery and +greatness of man? Was there ever such a mystery, so occult are its +arts, so subtile its policy, so plausible its pretensions, so +certain its shafts? How imposing the words of paternal +benediction! How grand the liturgy brought down from ages of +faith! How absorbed with beatific devotion appears to be the +worshipper at its consecrated altars! How ravishing the music and +the chants of grand ceremonials! How typical the churches and +consecrated monuments of the passion of Christ! Everywhere you see +the great emblem of our redemption,--on the loftiest pinnacle of +the Mediaeval cathedral, on the dresses of the priests, over the +gorgeous altars, in the ceremony of the Mass, in the baptismal +rite, in the paintings of the side chapels; everywhere are rites +and emblems betokening maceration, grief, sacrifice, penitence, the +humiliation of humanity before the awful power of divine +Omnipotence, whose personality and moral government no Catholic is +tempted to deny. + +And yet what crimes and abominations have not been committed in the +name of the Church? If we go back and accept the history of the +darker ages, what wars has not this Church encouraged, what +discords has she not incited, what superstitions has she not +indorsed, what pride has she not arrogated, what cruelties has she +not inflicted, what countries has she not robbed, what hardships +has she not imposed, what deceptions has she not used, what avenues +of thought has she not guarded with a flaming sword, what truth has +she not perverted, what goodness has she not mocked and persecuted? +Ah, interrogate the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the shades of Jerome +of Prague, of Huss, of Savonarola, of Cranmer, of Coligny, of +Galileo; interrogate the martyrs of the Thirty Years' War, and +those who were slain by the dragonnades of Louis XIV., those who +fell by the hand of Alva and Charles IX.; go to Smithfield, and +Paris on Saint Bartholomew; think of gunpowder plots and +inquisitions, and intrigues and tortures, all vigorously carried on +under the cloak of Religion--barbarities worse than those of +savages, inflicted at the command of the ministers of a gospel of +love! + +I am compelled to allude to these things; I do not dwell on them, +since they were the result of the intolerance of human nature as +much as the bigotry of the Church,--faults of an age, more than of +a religion; although, whether exaggerated or not, more disgraceful +than the persecutions of Christians by Roman emperors. + +As for the supreme rulers of this contradictory Church, so +benevolent and yet so cruel, so enlightened and yet so fanatical, +so humble and yet so proud,--this institution of blended piety and +fraud, equally renowned for saints, theologians, statesmen, +drivellers, and fanatics; the joy and the reproach, the glory and +the shame of earth,--there never were greater geniuses or greater +fools: saints of almost preternatural sanctity, like the first Leo +and Gregory, or hounds like Boniface VIII. or Alexander VI.; an +array of scholars and dunces, ascetics and gluttons, men who +adorned and men who scandalized their lofty position; and yet, on +the whole, we are forced to admit, the most remarkable body of +rulers any empire has known, since they were elevated by their +peers, and generally for talents or services, at a period of life +when character is formed and experience is matured. They were not +greater than their Church or their age, like the Charlemagnes and +Peters of secular history, but they were the picked men, the best +representatives of their Church; ambitious, doubtless, and worldly, +as great potentates generally are, but made so by the circumstances +which controlled them. Who can wield irresponsible power and not +become arrogant, and perhaps self-indulgent? It requires the +almost superhuman virtue of a Marcus Aurelius or a Saint Louis to +crucify the pride of rank and power. If the president of a college +or of a railroad or of a bank becomes a different man to the eye of +an early friend, what can be expected of those who are raised above +public opinion, and have no fetters on their wills,--men who are +regarded as infallible and feel themselves supreme! + + +But of all these three hundred or four hundred men who have swayed +the destinies of Europe,--an uninterrupted line of pontiffs for +fifteen hundred years or more, no one is so famous as Gregory VII. +for the grandeur of his character, the heroism of his struggles, +and the posthumous influence of his deeds. He was too great a man +to be called by his papal title. He is best known by his baptismal +name, Hildebrand, the greatest hero of the Roman Church. There are +some men whose titles add nothing to their august names,--David, +Julius, Constantine, Augustine. When a man has become very eminent +we drop titles altogether, except in military life. We say Daniel +Webster, Edward Everett, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Jefferson, +Benjamin Franklin, William Pitt. Hildebrand is a greater name than +Gregory VII., and with him is identified the greatest struggle of +the Papacy against the temporal powers. I do not aim to dissect +his character so much as to present his services to the Church. I +wish to show why and how he is identified with movements of supreme +historical importance. It would be easy to make him out a saint +and martyr, and equally so to paint him as a tyrant and usurper. +It is of little consequence to us whether he was ascetic or +ambitious or unscrupulous; but it IS of consequence to show the +majestic power of those ideas by which he ruled the Middle Ages, +and which will never pass away as sublime agencies so long as men +are ignorant and superstitious. As a man he no longer lives, but +his thunderbolts are perpetual powers, since they still alarm the +fears of men. + +Still, his personal history is not uninteresting. Born of humble +parents in Italy in the year 1020, the son of a carpenter, he rose +by genius and virtue to the highest offices and dignities. But his +greatness was in force of character rather than original ideas,-- +like that of Washington, or William III., or the Duke of +Wellington. He had not the comprehensive intellect of Charlemagne, +nor the creative genius of Peter of Russia, but he had the sagacity +of Richelieu and the iron will of Napoleon. He was statesman as +well as priest,--marvellous for his activity, insight into human +nature, vast executive abilities, and dauntless heroism. He +comprehended the only way whereby Christendom could be governed, +and unhesitatingly used the means of success. He was not a great +scholar, or theologian, or philosopher, but a man of action, +embracing opportunities and striking decisive blows. From first to +last he was devoted to his cause, which was greater than himself,-- +even the spiritual supremacy of the Papacy. I do not read of great +intellectual precocity, like that of Cicero and William Pitt, nor +of great attainments, like those of Abelard and Thomas Aquinas, nor +even an insight, like that of Bacon, into what constitutes the +dignity of man and the true glory of civilization; but, like +Ambrose and the first Leo, he was early selected for important +missions and responsible trusts, all of which he discharged with +great fidelity and ability. His education was directed by the +monks of Cluny,--that princely abbey in Burgundy where "monks were +sovereigns and sovereigns were monks." Like all earnest monks, he +was ascetic, devotional, and self-sacrificing. Like all men +ambitions to rule, "he learned how to obey." He pondered on the +Holy Scriptures as well as on the canons of the Church. So marked +a man was he that he was early chosen as prior of his convent; and +so great were his personal magnetism, eloquence, and influence that +"he induced Bruno, the Bishop of Toul, when elected pope by the +Emperor of Germany, to lay aside the badges and vestments of the +pontifical office, and refuse his title, until he should be elected +by the clergy and people of Rome,"--thus showing that at the age of +twenty-nine he comprehended the issues of the day, and meditated on +the gigantic changes it was necessary to make before the pope could +be the supreme ruler of Christendom. + +The autocratic idea of Leo I., and the great Gregory who sent his +missionaries to England, was that to which Hildebrand's ardent soul +clung with preternatural earnestness, as the only government fit +for turbulent and superstitious ages. He did not originate this +idea, but he defended and enforced it as had never been done +before, so that to many minds he was the great architect of the +papal structure. It was a rare spectacle to see a sovereign +pontiff lay aside the insignia of his grandeur at the bidding of +this monk of Cluny; it was grander to see this monk laying the +foundation of an irresistible despotism, which was to last beyond +the time of Luther. Not merely was Leo IX. his tool, but three +successive popes were chosen at his dictation. And when he became +cardinal and archdeacon he seems to have been the inspiring genius +of the papal government, undertaking the most important missions, +curbing the turbulent spirit of the Roman princes, and assisting in +all ecclesiastical councils. It was by his suggestion that abbots +were deposed, and bishops punished, and monarchs reprimanded. He +was the prime minister of four popes before he accepted that high +office to which he doubtless had aspired while meditating as a monk +amid the sunny slopes of Cluny, since he knew that the exigences of +the Church required a bold and able ruler,--and who in Christendom +was bolder and more far-reaching than he? He might have been +elevated to the chair of Saint Peter at an earlier period, but he +was contented with power rather than glory, knowing that his day +would come, and at a time when his extraordinary abilities would be +most needed. He could afford to wait; and no man is truly great +who cannot bide his time. + +At last Hildebrand received the reward of his great services,--"a +reward," says Stephen, "which he had long contemplated, but which, +with self-controlling policy, he had so long declined." In the +year 1073 Hildebrand became Gregory VII., and his memorable +pontificate began as a reformer of the abuses of his age, and the +intrepid defender of that unlimited and absolute despotism which +inthralled not merely the princes of Europe, but the mind of +Christendom itself. It was he who not only proclaimed the +liberties of the people against nobles, and made the Church an +asylum for misery and oppression, but who realized the idea that +the Church was the mother of spiritual principles, and that the +spiritual authority should be raised over all temporal power. + +In the great crises of States and Empires deliverers seem to be +raised up by Divine Providence to restore peace and order, and +maintain the first condition of society, or extricate nations from +overwhelming calamities. Thus Charlemagne appeared at the right +time to prevent the overthrow of Europe by new waves of barbaric +invasion. Thus William the Silent preserved the nationality of +Holland, and Gustavus Adolphus gave religious liberty to Germany +when persecution was apparently successful. Thus Richelieu +undermined feudalism in France, and established absolutism as one +of the needed forces of his turbulent age, even as Napoleon gave +law and order to France when distracted by the anarchism of a +revolution which did not comprehend the liberty which was invoked. +So Hildebrand was raised up to establish the only government which +could rescue Europe from the rapacities of feudal nobles, and +establish law and order in the hands of the most enlightened class; +so that, like Peter the Great, he looms up as a reformer as well as +a despot. He appears in a double light. + +Now you ask: "What were his reforms, and what were his schemes of +aggrandizement, for which we honor him while we denounce him?" We +cannot see the reforms he attempted without glancing at the +enormous evils which stared him in the face. + +Society in Europe, in the eleventh century, was nearly as dark and +degraded as it was on the fall of the Merovingian dynasty. In some +respects it had reached the lowest depth of wretchedness which the +Middle Ages ever saw. Never had the clergy been more worldly or +devoted to temporal things. They had not the piety of the fourth +century, nor the intelligence of the sixteenth century; they were +powerful and wealthy, but had grown corrupt. Monastic institutions +covered the face of Europe, but the monks had sadly departed from +the virtues which partially redeemed the miseries that succeeded +the fall of the Roman Empire. The lives of the clergy, regular and +secular, still compared favorably with the lives of the feudal +nobility, who had, in addition to other vices, the vices of robbers +and bandits. But still the clergy had fallen far from the high +standard of earlier ages. Monasteries sought to be independent of +all foreign control and of episcopal jurisdiction. They had been +enormously enriched by princes and barons, and they owned, with the +other clergy, half the lands of Europe, and more than half its +silver and gold. The monks fattened on all the luxuries which then +were known; they neglected the rules of their order and lived in +idleness,--spending their time in the chase, or in taverns and +brothels. Hardly a great scholar or theologian had arisen among +them since the Patristic age, with the exception of a few schoolmen +like Anselm and Peter Lombard. Saint Bernard had not yet appeared +to reform the Benedictines, nor Dominic and Saint Francis to found +new orders. Gluttony and idleness were perhaps the characteristic +vices of the great body of the monks, who numbered over one hundred +thousand. Hunting and hawking were the most innocent of their +amusements. They have been accused of drinking toasts in honor of +the Devil, and celebrating Mass in a state of intoxication. "Not +one in a thousand," says Hallam, "could address to one another a +common letter of salutation." They were a walking libel on +everything sacred. Read the account of their banquets in the +annals which have come down to us of the tenth and eleventh +centuries, when convents were so numerous and rich. If Dugdale is +to be credited, their gluttony exceeded that of any previous or +succeeding age. Their cupidity, their drunken revels, their +infamous haunts, their disgusting coarseness, their hypocrisy, +ignorance, selfishness, and superstition were notorious. Yet the +monks were not worse than the secular clergy, high and low. +Bishoprics and all benefices were bought and sold; "canons were +trodden under foot; ancient traditions were turned out of doors; +old customs were laid aside;" boys were made archbishops; ludicrous +stories were recited in the churches; the most disgraceful crimes +were pardoned for money. Desolation, according to Cardinal +Baronius, was seen in the temples of the Lord. As Petrarch said of +Avignon in a better age, "There is no pity, no charity, no faith, +no fear of God. The air, the streets, the houses, the markets, the +beds, the hotels, the churches, even the altars consecrated to God, +are all peopled with knaves and liars;" or, to use the still +stronger language of a great reviewer, "The gates of hell appeared +to roll back on their infernal hinges, that there might go forth +malignant spirits to empty the vials of wrath on the patrimony even +of the great chief of the apostles." + +These vices, it is true, were not confined to the clergy. All +classes were alike forlorn, miserable, and corrupt. It was a +gloomy period. The Church, whenever religious, was sad and +despairing. The contemplative hid themselves in noisome and +sepulchral crypts. The inspiring chants of Ambrose gave place to +gloomy and monotonous antiphonal singing,--that is, when the monks +confined themselves to their own vocation. What was especially +needed was a reform among the clergy themselves. They indeed owned +their allegiance to the Pope, as the supreme head of the Church, +but their fealty was becoming a mockery. They could not support +the throne of absolutism if they were not respected by the laity. +Baronial and feudal power was rapidly gaining over spiritual, and +this was a poor exchange for the power of the clergy, if it led to +violence and rapine. It is to maintain law and order, justice and +safety, that all governments are established. + +Hildebrand saw and lamented the countless evils of the day, +especially those which were loosening the bands of clerical +obedience, and undermining the absolutism which had become the +great necessity of his age. He made up his mind to reform these +evils. No pope before him had seriously undertaken this gigantic +task. The popes who for two hundred years had preceded him were a +scandal and a reproach to their exalted position. These heirs of +Saint Peter wasted their patrimony in pleasures and pomps. At no +period of the papal history was the papal chair filled with such +bad or incompetent men. Of these popes two were murdered, five +were driven into exile, and four were deposed. Some were raised to +prominence by arms, and others by money. John X. commanded an army +in person; John XI. died in a fit of debauchery; and John XII. was +murdered by one of the infamous women whom he patronized. Benedict +IX. was driven from the throne by robbery and murder, while Gregory +VI. purchased the papal dignity. For two hundred years no +commanding character had worn the tiara. + +Hildebrand, however, set a new example, and became a watchful +shepherd of his fold. His private life was without reproach; he +was absorbed in his duties; he sympathized with learning and +learned men. He was the friend of Lanfranc, and it was by his +influence that this great prelate was appointed to the See of +Canterbury, and a closer union was formed with England. He infused +by his example a quiet but noble courage into the soul of Anselm. +He had great faults, of course,--faults of his own and faults of +his age. I wonder why so STRONG a man has escaped the admiring +eulogium of Carlyle. Guizot compares him with the Russian Peter. +In some respects he reminds me of Oliver Cromwell; since both +equally deplored the evils of the day, and both invoked the aid of +God Almighty. Both were ambitious, and unhesitating in the use of +tools. Neither of them was stained by vulgar vices, nor seduced +from his course by love of ease or pleasure. Both are to be +contemplated in the double light of reformer and usurper. Both +were honest, and both were unscrupulous; honest in seeking to +promote public morality and the welfare of society, and +unscrupulous in the arts by which their power was gained. + +That which filled the soul of Hildebrand with especial grief was +the alienation of the clergy from their highest duties, their +worldly lives, and their frail support in his efforts to elevate +the spiritual power. Therefore he determined to make a reform of +the clergy themselves, having in view all the time their assistance +in establishing the papal supremacy. He attacked the clergy where +they were weakest. They--the secular ones, the parish priests-- +were getting married, especially in Germany and France. They were +setting at defiance the laws of celibacy; they not only sought +wives, but they lived in concubinage. + +Now celibacy had been regarded as the supernal virtue from the time +of Saint Jerome. It was supposed to be a state most favorable to +Christian perfection; it animated the existence of the most noted +saints. Says Jerome, "Take axe in hand and hew down the sterile +tree of marriage." This notion of the superior virtue of virginity +was one of the fruits of those Eastern theogonies which were +engrafted on the early Church, growing out of the Oriental idea of +the inalienable evil of matter. It was one of the fundamental +principles of monasticism; and monasticism, wherever born--whether +in India or the Syrian deserts--was one of the established +institutions of the Church. It was indorsed by Benedict as well as +by Basil; it had taken possession of the minds of the Gothic +nations more firmly even than of the Eastern. The East never saw +such monasteries as those which covered Italy, France, Germany, and +England; they were more needed among the feudal robbers of Europe +than in the effeminate monarchies of Asia. Moreover it was in +monasteries that the popes had ever found their strongest +adherents, their most zealous supporters. Without the aid of +convents the papal empire might have crumbled. Monasticism and the +papacy were strongly allied; one supported the other. So efficient +were monastic institutions in advocating the idea of a theocracy, +as upheld by the popes, that they were exempted from episcopal +authority. An abbot was as powerful and independent as a bishop. +But to make the Papacy supreme it was necessary to call in the aid +of the secular priests likewise. Unmarried priests, being more +like monks, were more efficient supporters of the papal throne. To +maintain celibacy, therefore, was always in accordance with papal +policy. + +But Nature had gradually asserted its claims over tradition and +authority. The clergy, especially in France and Germany, were +setting at defiance the edicts of popes and councils. The glory of +celibacy was in an eclipse. + +No one comprehended the necessity of celibacy, among the clergy, +more clearly than Hildebrand,--himself a monk by education and +sympathy. He looked upon married life, with all its hallowed +beauty, as a profanation for a priest. In his eyes the clergy were +married only to the Church. "Domestic affections suited ill with +the duties of a theocratic ministry." Anything which diverted the +labors of the clergy from the Church seemed to him an outrage and a +degeneracy. How could they reach the state of beatific existence +if they were to listen to the prattle of children, or be engrossed +with the joys of conjugal or parental love? So he assembled a +council, and caused it to pass canons to the effect that married +priests should not perform any clerical office; that the people +should not even be present at Mass celebrated by them; that all who +had wives--or concubines, as he called them--should put them away; +and that no one should be ordained who did not promise to remain +unmarried during his whole life. + +Of course there was a violent opposition. A great outcry was +raised, especially in Germany. The whole body of the secular +priests exclaimed against the proceeding. At Mentz they threatened +the life of the archbishop, who attempted to enforce the decree. +At Paris a numerous synod was assembled, in which it was voted that +Gregory ought not here to be obeyed. But Gregory was stronger than +his rebellious clergy,--stronger than the instincts of human +nature, stronger than the united voice of reason and Scripture. He +fell back on the majestic power of prevailing ideas, on the ascetic +element of the early Church, on the traditions of monastic life. +He was supported by more than a hundred thousand monks, by the +superstitions of primitive ages, by the example of saints and +martyrs, by his own elevated rank, by the allegiance due to him as +head of the Church. Excommunications were hurled, like +thunderbolts, into remotest hamlets, and the murmurs of indignant +Christendom were silenced by the awful denunciations of God's +supposed vicegerent. The clergy succumbed before such a terrible +spiritual force. The fear of hell--the great idea by which the +priests themselves controlled their flocks--was more potent than +any temporal good. What priest in that age would dare resist his +spiritual monarch on almost any point, and especially when +disobedience was supposed to entail the burnings of a physical hell +forever and ever? So celibacy was re-established as a law of the +Christian Church at the bidding of that far-seeing genius who had +devised the means of spiritual despotism. That law--so gloomy, so +unnatural, so fraught with evil--has never been repealed; it still +rules the Catholic priesthood of Europe and America. Nor will it +be repealed so long as the ideas of the Middle Ages have more force +than enlightened reason. It is an abominable law, but who can +doubt its efficacy in cementing the power of the popes? + +But simony, or the sale of eeclesiastical benefices, was a still +more alarming evil to the mind of Gregory. It was the great +scandal of the Church and age. Here we honor the Pope for striving +to remove it. And yet its abolition was no easy thing. He came in +contact with the selfishness of barons and kings. He found it an +easier matter to take away the wives of priests than the purses of +princes. Priests who had vowed obedience might consent to the +repudiation of their wives, but would great temporal robbers part +with their spoils? The sale of benefices was one great source of +royal and baronial revenues. Bishoprics, once conferred for wisdom +and piety, had become prizes for the rapacious and ambitious. +Bishops and abbots were most frequently chosen from the ranks of +the great. Powerful Sees were the gifts of kings to their +favorites or families, or were bought by the wealthy; so that +worldly or incapable men were made overseers of the Church of +Christ. The clergy were in danger of being hopelessly secularized. +And the evil spread to the extremities of the clerical body. The +princes and barons were getting control of the Church itself. +Bishops often possessed a plurality of Sees. Children were +elevated to episcopal thrones. Sycophants, courtiers, jesters, +imbecile sons of princes, became great ecclesiastical dignitaries. +Who can wonder at the degeneracy of the clergy when they held their +cures at the hands of lay patrons, to whom they swore allegiance +for the temporalities of their benefices? Even the ring and the +crozier, the emblems of spiritual authority,--once received at the +hand of metropolitan archbishops alone,--were now bestowed by +temporal sovereigns, who claimed thereby fealty and allegiance; so +that princes had gradually usurped the old rights of the Church, +and Gregory resolved to recover them. So long as emperors and +kings could fill the rich bishoprics and abbacies with their +creatures, the papal dominion was weakened in its most vital point, +and might become a dream. This evil was rapidly undermining the +whole ecclesiastical edifice, and it required a hero of prodigious +genius, energy, and influence to reform it. + +Hildebrand saw and comprehended the whole extent and bearing of the +evil, and resolved to remove it or die in the attempt. It was not +only undermining his throne, but was secularizing the Church and +destroying the real power of the clergy. He made up his mind to +face the difficulty in its most dreaded quarters. He knew that the +attempt to remove this scandal would entail a desperate conflict +with the princes of the earth. Before this, popes and princes were +generally leagued together; they played into each other's hands: +but now a battle was to be fought between the temporal and +spiritual powers. He knew that princes would never relinquish so +lucrative a source of profit as the sale of powerful Sees, unless +the right to sell them were taken away by some tremendous conflict. +He therefore prepared for the fight, and forged his weapons and +gathered together his forces. Nor would he waste time by idle +negotiations; it was necessary to act with promptness and vigor. +No matter how great the danger; no matter how powerful his enemies. +The Church was in peril; and he resolved to come to the rescue, +cost what it might. What was his life compared with the sale of +God's heritage? For what was he placed in the most exalted post of +the Church, if not to defend her in an alarming crisis? + +In resolving to separate forever the spiritual from the temporal +power, Hildebrand followed in the footsteps of Ambrose. But he had +also deeper designs. He resolved to raise, if possible, the +spiritual ABOVE the temporal power. Kings should be subject to the +Church, not the Church to the kings of the earth. He believed that +he was the appointed vicar of the Almighty to rule the world in +peace, on the principles of eternal love; that Christ had +established a new theocracy, and had delegated his power to the +Apostle Peter, which had descended to the Pope as the Apostle's +legitimate successor. + +I say nothing here of this colossal claim, of this ingenious +principle, on which the monarchical power of the Papacy rests. It +is the great fact of the Middle Ages. And yet, but for this +theocratic idea, it is difficult to see how the external unity of +the Church could have been preserved among the semi-barbarians of +Europe. And what a necessary thing it was--in ages of superstition, +ignorance, and anarchy--to preserve the unity of the Church, to +establish a spiritual power which should awe and control barbaric +princes! There are two sides to the supremacy of the popes as head +of the Church, when we consider the aspect and state of society in +those iron and lawless times. Would Providence have permitted such +a power to rule for a thousand years had it not been a necessity? +At any rate, this is too complicated a question for me to discuss. +It is enough for me to describe the conflict for principles, not to +attempt to settle them. In this matter I am not a partisan, but a +painter. I seek to describe a battle, not to defend either this +cause or that. I have my opinions, but this is no place to present +them. I seek to describe simply the great battle of the Middle +Ages, and you can draw your own conclusions as to the merits of the +respective causes. I present the battle of heroes,--a battle worthy +of the muse of Homer. + +Hildebrand in this battle disdained to fight with any but great and +noble antagonists. As the friend of the poor man, crushed and +mocked by a cold and unfeeling nobility; as the protector of the +Church, in danger of being subverted by the unhallowed tyranny and +greed of princes; as the consecrated monarch of a great spiritual +fraternity,--he resolved to face the mightiest monarchs, and suffer, +and if need be die, for a cause which he regarded as the hope and +salvation of Europe. Therefore he convened another council, and +prohibited, under the terrible penalty of excommunication,--for that +was his mighty weapon,--the investiture of bishoprics and abbacies +at the hands of laymen: only he himself should give to ecclesiastics +the ring and the crozier,--the badges of spiritual authority. And +he equally threatened with eternal fire any bishop or abbot who +should receive his dignity from the hand of a prince. + +This decree was especially aimed against the Emperor of Germany, to +whom, as liege lord, the Pope himself owed fealty and obedience. +Henry IV. was one of the mightiest monarchs of the Franconian +dynasty,--a great warrior and a great man, beloved by his subjects +and feared by the princes of Europe. But he, as well as Gregory, +was resolved to maintain the rights of his predecessors. He also +perceived the importance of the approaching contest. And what a +contest! The spiritual and temporal powers were now to be arrayed +against each other in a fierce antagonism. The apparent object of +contention changed. It was not merely simony; it was as to who +should be the supreme master of Germany and Italy, the emperor or +the pope. To whom, in the eyes of contemporaries, would victory +incline,--to the son of a carpenter, speaking in the name of the +Church, and holding in his hands the consecrated weapon of +excommunication; or the most powerful monarch of his age, armed +with the secular sword, and seeking to restore the dignity of Roman +emperors? The Pope is supported by the monks, the inferior clergy, +and the vast spiritual powers universally supposed to be delegated +to him by Christ, as the successor of Saint Peter; the Emperor is +supported by large feudal armies, and all the prestige of the +successors of Charlemagne. If the Pope appeals to an ancient +custom of the Church, the Emperor appeals to a general feudal +custom which required bishops and abbots to pay their homage to him +for the temporalities of their Sees. The Pope has the canons of +the Church on his side; the Emperor the laws of feudalism,--and +both the canons of the Church and feudal principles are binding +obligations. Hitherto they have not clashed. But now feudalism, +very generally established, and papal absolutism, rapidly +culminating, are to meet in angry collision. Shall the kings of +the earth prevail, assisted by feudal armies and outward grandeur, +and sustained by such powerful sentiments as loyalty and chivalry; +or shall a priest, speaking in the name of God Almighty, and +appealing to the future fears of men? + +What conflict grander and more sublime than this, in the whole +history of society? What conflict proved more momentous in its +results? + +I need not trace all the steps of that memorable contest, or +describe the details, from the time that the Pope sent out his +edicts and excommunicated all who dared to disobey him,--including +some of the most eminent German prelates and German princes. Henry +at this time was engaged in a desperate war with the Saxons, and +Gregory seized this opportunity to summon the Emperor--his emperor-- +to appear before him at Rome and answer for alleged crimes against +the Saxon Church. Was there ever such audacity? How could Henry +help giving way to passionate indignation; he--the successor of the +Roman Caesars, sovereign lord of Germany and Italy--summoned to the +bar of a priest, and that priest his own subject, in a temporal +sense? He was filled with wrath and defiance, and at once summoned +a council of German bishops at Worms, "who denounced the Pope as a +usurper, a simonist, a murderer, a worshipper of the Devil, and +pronounced upon him the empty sentence of a deposition." + +"The aged Hildebrand," in the words of Stephen, "was holding a +council in the second week of Lent, 1076, beneath the sculptured +roof of the Vatican, arrayed in the rich and mystic vestments of +pontifical dominion, and the papal choir were chanting those +immortal anthems which had come down from blessed saints and +martyrs, when the messenger of the Emperor presented himself +before the assembled hierarchy of Rome, and with insolent +demeanor and abrupt speech delivered the sentence of the German +council." He was left unharmed by the indignant pontiff, but +the next day ascending his throne, and in presence of the +dignitaries of his Church, thus invoked the assistance of the +pretended founder of his empire:-- + + +"Saint Peter! lend us your ears, and listen to your servant whom +you have cherished from his infancy; and all the saints also bear +witness how the Roman Church raised me by force and against my will +to this high dignity, although I should have preferred to spend my +days in a continual pilgrimage than to ascend thy pulpit for any +human motive. And inasmuch as I think it will be grateful to you +that those intrusted to my care should obey me; therefore, +supported by these hopes, and for the honor and defence of the +Church, in the name of the Omnipotent God,--Father, Son, and Holy +Ghost,--by my authority and power, I prohibit King Henry, who with +unheard-of pride has raised himself against your Church, from +governing the kingdoms of Germany and Italy; I absolve all +Christians from the oath they have taken to him, and I forbid all +men to yield to him that service which is due unto a king. +Finally, I bind him with the bonds of anathema, that all people may +know that thou art Peter, and that upon thee the Son of God hath +built His Church, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail." + + +This was an old-fashioned excommunication; and we in these days +have but a faint idea what a dreadful thing it was, especially when +accompanied with an interdict. The churches were everywhere shut; +the dead were unburied in consecrated ground; the rites of religion +were suspended; gloom and fear sat on every countenance; desolation +overspread the land. The king was regarded as guilty and damned; +his ministers looked upon him as a Samson shorn of his locks; his +very wife feared contamination from his society; his children, as a +man blasted with the malediction of Heaven. When a man was +universally supposed to be cursed in the house and in the field; in +the wood and in the church; in eating or drinking; in fasting or +sleeping; in working or resting; in his arms, in his legs, in his +heart, and in his head; living or dying; in this world and in the +next,--what could he do? + +And what could Henry do, with all his greatness? His victorious +armies deserted him; a rival prince laid claim to his throne; his +enemies multiplied; his difficulties thickened; new dangers +surrounded him on every side. If loyalty--that potent principle-- +had summoned one hundred thousand warriors to his camp, a principle +much more powerful than loyalty--the fear of hell--had dispersed +them. Even his friends joined the Pope. The sainted Agnes, his +own mother, acquiesced in the sentence. The Countess Matilda, the +richest lady in the world, threw all her treasures at the feet of +her spiritual monarch. The moral sentiments of his own subjects +were turned against him; he was regarded as justly condemned. The +great princes of Germany sought his deposition. The world rejected +him, the Church abandoned him, and God had forsaken him. He was +prostrate, helpless, disarmed, ruined. True, he made superhuman +efforts: he traversed his empire with the hope of rallying his +subjects; he flew from city to city,--but all in vain. Every +convent, every castle, every city of his vast dominions beheld in +him the visitation of the Almighty. The diadem was obscured by the +tiara, and loyalty itself yielded to the superior potency of +religious fear. Only Bertha, his neglected wife, was faithful and +trusting in that gloomy day; all else had defrauded and betrayed +him. How bitter his humiliation! And yet his haughty foe was not +contented with the punishment he had inflicted. He declared that +if the sun went down on the 23d of February, 1077, before Henry was +restored to the bosom of the Church, his crown should be +transferred to another. That inexorable old pontiff laid claim to +the right of giving and taking away imperial crowns. Was ever +before seen such arrogance and audacity in a Pope? And yet he knew +that he would be sustained, he knew that his supremacy was based on +a universally recognized idea. Who can resist the ideas of his +age? Henry might have resisted, if resistance had been possible. +Even he must yield to irresistible necessity. He was morally +certain that he would lose his crown, and be in danger of losing +his soul, unless he made his peace with his dangerous enemy. It +was necessary that the awful curse should be removed. He had no +remedy; only one course was before him. He must yield; not to man +alone, but to an idea, which had the force of fate. Wonder not +that he made up his mind to submit. He was great, but not greater +than his age. How few men are! Mohammed could renounce prevailing +idolatries; Luther could burn a papal bull; but the Emperor of +Germany could not resist the accepted vicegerent of the Almighty. + +Behold, then, the melancholy, pitiable spectacle of this mighty +monarch in the depth of winter--and a winter of unprecedented +severity--crossing, in the garb of a pilgrim, the frozen Alps, +enduring the greatest privations and fatigues and perils, and +approaching on foot the gloomy fortress of Canossa (beyond the Po), +in which Hildebrand had intrenched himself. Even then the angry +pontiff refused to see him. Henry had to stoop to a still deeper +degradation,--to stand bareheaded and barefooted for three days, +amid the blasts of winter, in the court-yard of the castle, before +the Pope would promise absolution, and then only at the +intercession of the Countess Matilda. + +What are we to think of such a fall, such a humiliation on the part +of a sovereign? What are we to think of such haughtiness on the +part of a priest,--his subject? We are filled with blended pity +and indignation. We are inclined to say that this was the greatest +blunder that any monarch ever made; that Henry--humbled and +deserted and threatened as he was--should not have stooped to this; +that he should have lost his crown and life rather than handed over +his empire to a plebeian priest,--for he was an acknowledged hero; +he was monarch of half of Europe. And yet we are bound to consider +Henry's circumstances and the ideas with which he had to contend. +His was the error of the Middle Ages; the feeblest of his modern +successors would have killed the Pope if he could, rather than have +disgraced himself by such an ignominy. + +True it is that Henry came to himself; that he repented of his +step. But it was too late. Gregory had gained the victory; and it +was all the greater because it was a moral one. It was known to +all Europe and all the world, and would be known to all posterity, +that the Emperor of Germany had bowed in submission to a foreign +priest. The temporal power had yielded to the spiritual; the State +had conceded the supremacy of the Church. The Pope had triumphed +over the mightiest monarch of the age, and his successors would +place their feet over future prostrate kings. What a victory! +What mighty consequences were the result of it! On what a throne +did this moral victory seat the future pontiffs of the Eternal +City! How august their dominion, for it was over the minds and +souls of men! Truly to the Pope were given the keys of Heaven and +Hell; and so long as the ideas of that age were accepted, who could +resist a man armed with the thunders of Omnipotence? + +It mattered nothing that the Emperor was ashamed of his weakness; +that he retracted; that he vowed vengeance; that he marched at the +head of new armies. No matter that his adherents were indignant; +that all Germany wept; that loyalty rallied to his aid; that he +gained victories proportionate with his former defeats; that he +chased Gregory from city to city, and castle to castle, and convent +to convent, while his generals burned the Pope's palaces and wasted +his territories. No matter that Gregory--broken, defeated, +miserable, outwardly ruined--died prematurely in exile; no matter +that he did not, in his great reverses, anticipate the fruits of +his firmness and heroism. His principles survived him; they have +never been lost sight of by his successors; they gained strength +through successive generations. Innocent III. reaped what he had +sown. Kings dared not resist Innocent III., who realized those +three things to which the more able Gregory had aspired,-- +"independent sovereignty, control over the princes of the earth, +and the supremacy of the Church." Innocent was the greater pope, +but Hildebrand was the greater man. + +Yet, like so many of the great heroes of the world, he was not +destined in his own person to reap the fruits of his heroism. "I +have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in +exile,"--these were his last bitter words. He fancied he had +failed. But did he fail? What did he leave behind? He left his +great example and his still greater ideas. He left a legacy to his +successors which makes them still potent on the earth, in spite of +reformations and revolutions, and all the triumphs of literature +and science. How mighty his deeds! How great his services to his +Church! "He found," says an eloquent and able Edinburgh reviewer, +"the papacy dependent on the emperor; he sustained it by alliances +almost commensurate with the Italian peninsula. He found the +papacy electoral by the Roman people and clergy; he left it +electoral by papal nomination. He found the emperor the virtual +patron of the Roman See; he wrenched that power from his hands. He +found the secular clergy the allies and dependents of the secular +power; he converted them into inalienable auxiliaries of his own. +He found the patronage of the Church the desecrated spoil and +merchandise of princes; he reduced it to his own dominion. He is +celebrated as the reformer of the impure and profane abuses of his +age; he is more justly entitled to the praise of having left the +impress of his gigantic character on all the ages which have +succeeded him." + +Such was the great Hildebrand; a conqueror, however, by the force +of recognized ideas more than by his own strength. How long, you +ask, shall his empire last? We cannot tell who can predict the +fortunes of such a power. It is not for me to speculate or preach. +In considering his life and career, I have simply attempted to +paint one of the most memorable moral contests of the world; to +show the power of genius and will in a superstitious age,--and, +more, the majestic force of ideas over the minds and souls of men, +even though these ideas cannot be sustained by reason or Scripture. + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +Epistles of Gregory VII.; Baronius's Annals; Dupin's Ecclesiastical +history; Voigt, in his Hildebrand als Gregory VII.; Guizot's +Lectures on Civilization; Sir James Stephens's article on +Hildebrand, in Edinburgh Review; Dugdale's Mosasticon; Hallam's +Middle Ages; Digby's Ages of Faith; Jaffe's Regesta Pontificum +Romanorum; Mignet's series of articles on La Lutte des Papes contre +les Empereurs d'Allemagne; M. Villemain's Histoire de Gregoire +VII.; Bowden on the life and Times of Hildebrand; Milman's Latin +Christianity; Watterich's Romanorum Pontificum ab Aequalibus +Conscriptae; Platina's Lives of the Popes; Stubbs's Constitutional +History; Lee's History of Clerical Celibacy; Cardinal Newman's +Essays; Lecky's History of European Morals; Dr. Dollinger's Church +History; Neander's Church History; articles in Contemporary Review +of July and August, 1882, on the Turning Point of the Middle Ages. + + + +SAINT BERNARD. + +A. D. 1091-1153. + +MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS. + + +One of the oldest institutions of the Church is that which grew out +of monastic life. It had its seat, at a remote period, in India. +It has existed, in different forms, in other Oriental countries. +It has been modified by Brahminical, Buddhistic, and Persian +theogonies, and extended to Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. Go where +you will in the East, and you see traces of its mighty influence. +We cannot tell its remotest origin, but we see everywhere the force +of its ideas. Its fundamental principle appears to be the desire +to propitiate the Deity by penances and ascetic labors as an +atonement for sin, or as a means of rising to a higher religious +life. It has sought to escape the polluting influences of +demoralized society by lofty contemplation and retirement from the +world. From the first, it was a protest against materialism, +luxury, and enervating pleasures. It recognized something higher +and nobler than devotion to material gains, or a life of degrading +pleasure. + +In one sense it was an intellectual movement, while in another it +was an insult to the human understanding. It attempted a purer +morality, but abnegated obvious and pressing duties. It was always +a contradiction,--lofty while degraded, seeking to comprehend the +profoundest mysteries, yet debased by puerile superstitions. + +The consciousness of mankind, in all ages and countries, has ever +accepted retribution for sin--more or less permanent--in this world +or in the next. And it has equally accepted the existence of a +Supreme Intelligence and Power, to whom all are responsible, and in +connection with whom human destinies are bound up. The deeper we +penetrate into the occult wisdom of the East,--on which light has +been shed by modern explorations, monumental inscriptions, +manuscripts, historical records, and other things which science and +genius have deciphered,--the surer we feel that the esoteric +classes of India, Egypt, and China were more united in their views +of Supreme Power and Intelligence than was generally supposed fifty +years ago. The higher intellects of Asia, in all countries and +ages, had more lofty ideas of God than we have a right to infer +from the superstitions of the people generally. They had +unenlightened ideas as to the grounds of forgiveness. But of the +necessity of forgiveness and the favor of the Deity they had no +doubt. + +The philosophical opinions of these sages gave direction to a great +religious movement. Matter was supposed to be inherently evil, and +mind was thought to be inherently good. The seat of evil was +placed in the body rather than in the heart and mind. Not the +thoughts of men were evil, but the passions and appetites of the +body. Hence the first thing for a good man to do was to bring the +body--this seat of evil--under subjection, and, if possible, to +eradicate the passions and appetites which enslave the body; and +this was to be done by self-flagellations, penances, austerities, +and solitude,--flight from the contaminating influences of the +world. All Oriental piety assumed this ascetic form. The +transition was easy to the sundering of domestic ties, to the +suppression of natural emotions and social enjoyments. The devotee +became austere, cold, inhuman, unsocial. He shunned the +habitations of men. And the more desirous he was to essay a high +religious life and thus rise in favor with God, the more severe and +revengeful and unforgiving he made the Deity he adored,--not a +compassionate Creator and Father, but an irresistible Power bent on +his destruction. This degrading view of the Deity, borrowed from +Paganism, tinged the subsequent theology of the Christian monks, +and entered largely into the theology of the Middle Ages. + +Such was the prevailing philosophy, or theosophy--both lofty and +degraded--with which the Christian convert had to contend; not +merely the shameless vices of the people, so open and flagrant as +to call out disgust and indignation, but also the views which the +more virtuous and religious of Pagan saints accepted and +promulgated: and not saints alone, but those who made the greatest +pretension to intellectual culture, like the Gnostics and +Manicheans; those men who were the first to ensnare Saint +Augustine,--specious, subtle, sophistical, as acute as the Brahmins +of India. It was Eastern philosophy, unquestionably false, that +influenced the most powerful institution that existed in Europe for +above a thousand years,--an institution which all the learning and +eloquence of the Reformers of the sixteenth century could not +subvert, except in Protestant countries. + +Now what, more specifically, were the ideas which the early monks +borrowed from India, Persia, and Egypt, which ultimately took such +a firm hold of the European mind? + +One was the superior virtue of a life devoted to purely religious +contemplation, and for the same end that animated the existence of +fakirs and sofis. It was to escape the contaminating influence of +matter, to rise above the wants of the body, to exterminate animal +passions and appetites, to hide from a world which luxury +corrupted. The Christian recluses were thus led to bury themselves +in cells among the mountains and deserts, in dreary and +uncomfortable caverns, in isolated retreats far from the habitation +of men,--yea, among wild beasts, clothing themselves in their skins +and eating their food, in order to commune with God more +effectually, and propitiate His favor. Their thoughts were +diverted from the miseries which they ought to have alleviated and +the ignorance which they ought to have removed, and were +concentrated upon themselves, not upon their relatives and +neighbors. The cries of suffering humanity were disregarded in a +vain attempt to practise doubtful virtues. How much good those +pious recluses might have done, had their piety taken a more +practical form! What missionaries they might have made, what self- +denying laborers in the field of active philanthropy, what noble +teachers to the poor and miserable! The conversion of the world to +Christianity did not enter into their minds so much as the desire +to swell the number of their communities. They only aimed at a +dreamy pietism,--at best their own individual salvation, rather +than the salvation of others. Instead of reaching to the beatific +vision, they became ignorant, narrow, and visionary; and, when +learned, they fought for words and not for things. They were +advocates of subtile and metaphysical distinctions in theology, +rather than of those practical duties and simple faith which +primitive Christianity enjoined. Monastic life, no less than the +schools of Alexandria, was influential in creating a divinity which +gave as great authority to dogmas that are the result of +intellectual deductions, as those based on direct and original +declarations. And these deductions were often gloomy, and colored +by the fears which were inseparable from a belief in divine wrath +rather than divine love. The genius of monasticism, ancient and +modern, is the propitiation of the Divinity who seeks to punish +rather than to forgive. It invented Purgatory, to escape the awful +burnings of an everlasting hell of physical sufferings. It +pervaded the whole theology of the Middle Ages, filling hamlet and +convent alike with an atmosphere of fear and wrath, and creating a +cruel spiritual despotism. The recluse, isolated and lonely, +consumed himself with phantoms, fancied devils, and "chimeras +dire." He could not escape from himself, although he might fly +from society. As a means of grace he sought voluntary solitary +confinement, without nutritious food or proper protection from the +heat and cold, clad in a sheepskin filled with dirt and vermin. +What life could be more antagonistic to enlightened reason? What +mistake more fatal to everything like self-improvement, culture, +knowledge, happiness? And all for what? To strive after an +impossible perfection, or the solution of insoluble questions, or +the favor of a Deity whose attributes he misunderstood. + +But this unnatural, unwise retirement was not the worst evil in the +life of a primitive monk, with all its dreamy contemplation and +silent despair. It was accompanied with the most painful +austerities,--self-inflicted scourgings, lacerations, dire +privations, to propitiate an angry deity, or to bring the body into +a state which would be insensible to pain, or to exorcise passions +which the imaginations inflamed. All this was based on penance,-- +self-expiation,--which entered so largely into the theogonies of +the East, and which gave a gloomy form to the piety of the Middle +Ages. This error was among the first to kindle the fiery protests +of Luther. The repudiation of this error, and of its logical +sequences, was one of the causes of the Reformation. This error +cast its dismal shadow on the common life of the Middle Ages. You +cannot penetrate the spirit of those centuries without a painful +recognition of almost universal darkness and despair. How gloomy +was a Gothic church before the eleventh century, with its dark and +heavy crypt, its narrow windows, its massive pillars, its low roof, +its cold, damp pavement, as if men went into that church to hide +themselves and sing mournful songs,--the Dies Irae of monastic +fear! + + +But the primitive monks, with all their lofty self-sacrifices and +efforts for holy meditation, towards the middle of the fourth +century, as their number increased from the anarchies and miseries +of a falling empire, became quarrelsome, sometimes turbulent, and +generally fierce and fanatical. They had to be governed. They +needed some master mind to control them, and confine them to their +religious duties. Then arose Basil, a great scholar, and +accustomed to civilized life in the schools of Athens and +Constantinople, who gave rules and laws to the monks, gathered them +into communities and discouraged social isolation, knowing that the +demons had more power over men when they were alone and idle. + +This Basil was an extraordinary man. His ancestors were honorable +and wealthy. He moved in the highest circle of social life, like +Chrysostom. He was educated in the most famous schools. He +travelled extensively like other young men of rank. His tutor was +the celebrated Libanius, the greatest rhetorician of the day. He +exhausted Antioch, Caesarea, and Constantinople, and completed his +studies at Athens, where he formed a famous friendship with Gregory +Nazianzen, which was as warm and devoted as that between Cicero and +Atticus: these young men were the talk and admiration of Athens. +Here, too, he was intimate with young Julian, afterwards the +"Apostate" Emperor of Rome. Basil then visited the schools of +Alexandria, and made the acquaintance of the great Athanasius, as +well as of those monks who sought a retreat amid Egyptian +solitudes. Here his conversion took place, and he parted with his +princely patrimony for the benefit of the poor. He then entered +the Church, and was successively ordained deacon and priest, while +leading a monastic life. He retired among the mountains of +Armenia, and made choice of a beautiful grove, watered with crystal +streams, where he gave himself to study and meditation. Here he +was joined by his friend Gregory Nazianzen and by enthusiastic +admirers, who formed a religious fraternity, to whom he was a +spiritual father. He afterwards was forced to accept the great See +of Caesarea, and was no less renowned as bishop and orator than he +had been as monk. Yet it is as a monk that he left the most +enduring influence, since he made the first great change in +monastic life,--making it more orderly, more industrious, and less +fanatical. + +He instituted or embodied, among others, the three great vows, +which are vital to monastic institutions,--Poverty, Obedience, and +Chastity. In these vows he gave the institution a more Christian +and a less Oriental aspect. Monachism became more practical and +less visionary and wild. It approximated nearer to the Christian +standard. Submission to poverty is certainly a Christian virtue, +if voluntary poverty is not. Chastity is a cardinal duty. +Obedience is a necessity to all civilized life. It is the first +condition of all government. + +Moreover, these three vows seem to have been called for by the +condition of society, and the prevalence of destructive views. +Here Basil,--one of the commanding intellects of his day, and as +learned and polished as he was pious,--like Jerome after him, +proved himself a great legislator and administrator, including in +his comprehensive view both Christian principles and the +necessities of the times, and adapting his institution to both. + +One of the most obvious, flagrant, and universal evils of the day +was devotion to money-making in order to purchase sensual +pleasures. It pervaded Roman life from the time of Augustus. The +vow of poverty, therefore, was a stern, lofty, disdainful protest +against the most dangerous and demoralizing evil of the Empire. It +hurled scorn, hatred, and defiance on this overwhelming evil, and +invoked the aid of Christianity. It was simply the earnest +affirmation and belief that money could not buy the higher joys of +earth, and might jeopardize the hopes of heaven. It called to mind +the greatest examples; it showed that the great teachers of +mankind, the sages and prophets of history, had disdained money as +the highest good; that riches exposed men to great temptation, and +lowered the standard of morality and virtue,--"how hardly shall +they who have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" It appealed +to the highest form of self-sacrifice; it arrayed itself against a +vice which was undermining society. And among truly Christian +people this new application of Christ's warnings against the +dangers of wealth excited enthusiasm. It was like enlisting in the +army of Christ against his greatest enemies. Make any duty clear +and imperious to Christian people, and they will generally conform +to it. So the world saw one of the most impressive spectacles of +all history,--the rich giving up their possessions to follow the +example and injunctions of Christ. It was the most signal test of +Christian obedience. It prompted Paula, the richest lady of +Christian antiquity, to devote the revenues of an entire city, +which she owned, to the cause of Christ; and the approbation of +Jerome, her friend, was a sufficient recompense. + +The vow of Chastity was equally a protest against one of the +characteristic vices of the day, as well as a Christian virtue. +Luxury and pleasure-seeking lives had relaxed the restraints of +home and the virtues of earlier days. The evils of concubinage +were shameless and open throughout the empire, which led to a low +estimate of female virtue and degraded the sex. The pagan poets +held up woman as a subject of scorn and scarcasm. On no subject +were the apostles more urgent in their exhortations than to a life +of purity. To no greater temptation were the converts to +Christianity subjected than the looseness of prevailing sentiments +in reference to this vice. It stared everybody in the face. Basil +took especial care to guard the monks from this prevailing +iniquity, and made chastity a transcendent and fundamental virtue. +He aimed to remove the temptation to sin. The monks were enjoined +to shun the very presence of women. If they carried the system of +non-intercourse too far, and became hard and unsympathetic, it was +to avoid the great scandal of the age,--a still greater evil. To +the monk was denied even the blessing of the marriage ties. +Celibacy became a fundamental law of monachism. It was not to +cement a spiritual despotism that Basil forbade marriage, but to +attain a greater sanctity,--for a monk was consecrated to what was +rightly held the higher life. This law of celibacy was abused, and +gradually was extended to all the clergy, secular as well as +regular, but not till the clergy were all subordinated to the rule +of an absolute Pope. It is the fate of all human institutions to +become corrupt; but no institution of the Church has been so +fatally perverted as that pertaining to the marriage of the clergy. +Founded to promote purity of personal life, it was used to uphold +the arms of spiritual despotism. It was the policy of Hildebrand. + +The vow of Obedience, again, was made in special reference to the +disintegration of society, when laws were feebly enforced and a +central power was passing away. The discipline even of armies was +relaxed. Mobs were the order of the day, even in imperial cities. +Moreover, monks had long been insubordinate; they obeyed no head, +except nominally; they were with difficulty ruled in their +communities. Therefore obedience was made a cardinal virtue, as +essential to the very existence of monastic institutions. I need +not here allude to the perversion of this rule,--how it degenerated +into a fearful despotism, and was made use of by ambitious popes, +and finally by the generals of the Mendicant Friars and the +Jesuits. All the rules of Basil were perverted from their original +intention; but in his day they were called for. + + +About a century later the monastic system went through another +change or development, when Benedict, a remarkable organizer, +instituted on Monte Cassino, near Naples, his celebrated monastery +(529 A. D.), which became the model of all the monasteries of the +West. He reaffirmed the rules of Basil, but with greater +strictness. He gave no new principles to monastic life; but he +adapted it to the climate and institutions of the newly founded +Gothic kingdoms of Europe. It became less Oriental; it was made +more practical; it was invested with new dignity. The most +visionary and fanatical of all the institutions of the East was +made useful. The monks became industrious. Industry was +recognized as a prime necessity even for men who had retired from +the world. No longer were the labors of monks confined to the +weaving of baskets, but they were extended to the comforts of +ordinary life,--to the erection of stately buildings, to useful +arts, the systematic cultivation of the land, to the accumulation +of wealth,--not for individuals, but for their monasteries. +Monastic life became less dreamy, less visionary, but more useful, +recognizing the bodily necessities of men. The religious duties of +monks were still dreary, monotonous, and gloomy,--long and +protracted singing in the choir, incessant vigils, an unnatural +silence at the table, solitary walks in the cloister, the absence +of social pleasures, confinement to the precincts of their +convents; but their convents became bee-hives of industry, and +their lands were highly cultivated. The monks were hospitable; +they entertained strangers, and gave a shelter to the persecuted +and miserable. Their monasteries became sacred retreats, which +were respected by those rude warriors who crushed beneath their +feet the glories of ancient civilization. Nor for several +centuries did the monks in their sacred enclosures give especial +scandal. Their lives were spent in labors of a useful kind, +alternated and relieved by devotional duties. + +Hence they secured the respect and favor of princes and good men, +who gave them lands and rich presents of gold and silver vessels. +Their convents were unmolested and richly endowed, and these became +enormously multiplied in every European country. Gradually they +became so rich as to absorb the wealth of nations. Their abbots +became great personages, being chosen from the ranks of princes and +barons. The original poverty and social insignificance of +monachism passed away, and the institution became the most powerful +organization in Europe. It then aspired to political influence, +and the lord abbots became the peers of princes and the ministers +of kings. Their abbey churches, especially, became the wonder and +the admiration of the age, both for size and magnificence. The +abbey church of Cluny, in Burgundy, was five hundred and thirty +feet long, and had stalls for two hundred monks. It had the +appointment of one hundred and fifty parish priests. The church of +Saint Albans, in England, is said to have been six hundred feet +long; and that of Glastonbury, the oldest in England, five hundred +and thirty. Peterborough's was over five hundred. The kings of +England, both Saxon and Norman, were especial patrons of these +religious houses. King Edgar founded forty-seven monasteries and +richly endowed them; Henry I. founded one hundred and fifty; and +Henry II. as many more. At one time there were seven hundred +Benedictine abbeys in England, some of which were enormously rich,-- +like those of Westminster, St. Albans, Glastonbury, and Bury St. +Edmunds,--and their abbots were men of the highest social and +political distinction. They sat in Parliament as peers of the +realm; they coined money, like feudal barons; they lived in great +state and dignity. The abbot of Monte Cassino was duke and prince, +and chancellor of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This celebrated +convent had the patronage of four bishoprics, sixteen hundred and +sixty-two churches, and possessed or controlled two hundred and +fifty castles, four hundred and forty towns, and three hundred and +thirty-six manors. Its revenues exceeded five hundred thousand +ducats, so that the lord-abbot was the peer of the greatest secular +princes. He was more powerful and wealthy, probably, than any +archbishop in Europe. One of the abbots of St. Gall entered +Strasburg with one thousand horsemen in his train. Whiting, of +Glastonbury, entertained five hundred people of fashion at one +time, and had three hundred domestic servants. "My vow of +poverty," said another of these lordly abbots,--who generally rode +on mules with gilded bridles and with hawks on their wrists,--"has +given me ten thousand crowns a year; and my vow of obedience has +raised me to the rank of a sovereign prince." + +Among the privileges of these abbots was exemption from taxes and +tolls; they were judges in the courts; they had the execution of +all rents, and the supreme control of the income of the abbey +lands. The revenues of Westminster and Glastonbury were equal to +half a million of dollars a year in our money, considering the +relative value of gold and silver. Glastonbury owned about one +thousand oxen, two hundred and fifty cows, and six thousand sheep. +Fontaine abbey possessed forty thousand acres of land. The abbot +of Augia, in Germany, had a revenue of sixty thousand crowns,-- +several millions, as money is now measured. At one time the monks, +with the other clergy, owned half of the lands of Europe. If a +king was to be ransomed, it was they who furnished the money; if +costly gifts were to be given to the Pope, it was they who made +them. The value of the vessels of gold and silver, the robes and +copes of silk and velvet, the chalices, the altar-pieces, and the +shrines enriched with jewels, was inestimable. The feasts which +the abbots gave were almost regal. At the installation of the +abbot of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, there were consumed fifty- +eight tuns of beer, eleven tuns of wine, thirty-one oxen, three +hundred pigs, two hundred sheep, one thousand geese, one thousand +capons, six hundred rabbits, nine thousand eggs, while the guests +numbered six thousand people. Of the various orders of the +Benedictines there have been thirty-seven thousand monasteries and +one hundred and fifty thousand abbots. From the monks, twenty-one +thousand have been chosen as bishops and archbishops, and twenty- +eight have been elevated to the papal throne. + +From these things, and others which may seem too trivial to +mention, we infer the great wealth and power of monastic +institutions, the most flourishing days of which were from the +sixth century to the Crusades, beginning in the eleventh, when more +than one hundred thousand monks acknowledged the rule of Saint +Benedict. During this period of prosperity, when the vast abbey +churches were built, and when abbots were great temporal as well as +spiritual magnates, quite on an equality with the proudest feudal +barons, we notice a marked decline in the virtues which had +extorted the admiration of Europe. The Benedictines retained their +original organization, they were bound by the same vows (as +individuals, the monks were always poor), they wore the same dress, +as they did centuries before, and they did not fail in their duties +in the choir,--singing their regular chants from two o'clock in the +morning. But discipline was relaxed; the brothers strayed into +unseemly places; they indulged in the pleasures of the table; they +were sensual in their appearance; they were certainly ignorant, as +a body; and they performed more singing than preaching or teaching. +They lived for themselves rather than for the people. They however +remained hospitable to the last. Their convents were hotels as +well as bee-hives; any stranger could remain two nights at a +convent without compensation and without being questioned. The +brothers dined together at the refectory, according to the rules, +on bread, vegetables, and a little meat; although it was noticed +that they had a great variety in cooking eggs, which were turned +and roasted and beaten up, and hardened and minced and fried and +stuffed. It is said that subsequently they drank enormous +quantities of beer and wine, and sometimes even to disgraceful +excess. Their rules required them to keep silence at their meals; +but their humanity got the better of them, and they have been +censured for their hilarious and frivolous conversation,--for jests +and stories and puns. Bernard accused the monks of degeneracy, of +being given to the pleasures of the table, of loving the good +things which they professed to scorn,--rare fish, game, and +elaborate cookery. + +That the monks sadly degenerated in morals and discipline, and even +became objects of scandal, is questioned by no respectable +historian. No one was more bitter and vehement in his denunciations +of this almost universal corruption of monastic life than Saint +Bernard himself,--the impersonation of an ideal monk. Hence reforms +were attempted; and the Cluniacs and Cistercians and other orders +arose, modelled after the original institution on Monte Cassino. +These were only branches of the Benedictines. Their vows and habits +and duties were the same. It would seem that the prevailing vices +of the Benedictines, in their decline, were those which were +fostered by great wealth, and consequent idleness and luxury. But +at their worst estate the monks, or regular clergy, were no worse +than the secular clergy, or parish priests, in their ordinary lives, +and were more intelligent,--at least more learned. The ignorance of +the secular clergy was notorious and scandalous. They could not +even write letters of common salutation; and what little knowledge +they had was extolled and exaggerated. It was confined to the +acquisition of the Psalter by heart, while a little grammar, +writing, and accounts were regarded as extraordinary. He who could +write a few homilies, drawn from the Fathers, was a wonder and a +prodigy. There was a total absence of classical literature. + +But the Benedictines, idle and worldly as they were, guarded what +little literature had escaped the ruin of the ancient civilization. +They gave the only education the age afforded. There was usually a +school attached to every convent, and manual labor was shortened in +favor of students. Nor did the monks systematically and +deliberately shut the door of knowledge against those inclined to +study, for at that time there was no jealousy of learning; there +was only indifference to it, or want of appreciation. The age was +ignorant, and life was hard, and the struggle for existence +occupied the thoughts of all. The time of the monks was consumed +in alternate drudgeries and religious devotions. There was such a +general intellectual torpor that scholars (and these were very few) +were left at liberty to think and write as they pleased on the +great questions of theology. There was such a general unanimity of +belief, that the popes were not on the look-out for heresy. Nobody +thought of attacking their throne. There was no jealousy about the +reading of the Scriptures. Every convent had a small library, +mostly composed of Lives of the saints, and of devout meditations +and homilies; and the Bible was the greatest treasure of all,--the +Vulgate of Saint Jerome, which was copied and illuminated by busy +hands. In spite of the general ignorance, the monks relieved their +dull lives by some attempts at art. This was the age of the most +beautiful illuminated manuscripts. There was but little of +doctrinal controversy, for the creed of the Church was settled; but +pious meditations and the writings of noted saints were studied and +accepted,--especially the works of Saint Augustine, who had fixed +the thinking of the West for a thousand years. Pagan literature +had but little charm until Aristotle was translated by Arabian +scholars. The literature of the Church was puerile and +extravagant, yet Christian,--consisting chiefly of legends of +martyrs and Lives of saints. That literature has no charm to us, +and can never be revived, indeed is already forgotten and +neglected, as well it may be; but it gave unity to Christian +belief, and enthroned the Christian heroes on the highest pedestal +of human greatness. In the monasteries some one of the fraternity +read aloud these Lives and Meditations, while the brothers worked +or dined. There was no discussion, for all thought alike; and all +sought to stimulate religious emotions rather than to quicken +intellectual activity. + +About half the time of the monks, in a well-regulated monastery, +was given to singing and devotional exercises and religious +improvement, and the other half to labors in the fields, or in +painting or musical composition. So far as we know, the monks +lived in great harmony, and were obedient to the commands of their +superiors. They had a common object to live for, and had few +differences in opinion on any subject. They did not enjoy a high +life, but it was free from distracting pleasures. They held to +great humility, with which spiritual pride was mingled,--not the +arrogant pride of the dialectician, but the self-satisfied pride of +the devotee. There was no religious hatred, except towards Turks +and Saracens. The monk, in his narrowness and ignorance, may be +repulsive to an enlightened age: he was not repulsive to his own, +for he was not behind it either in his ideas or in his habits of +life. In fact, the more repulsive the monk of the dark ages is to +this generation, the more venerated he was by bishops and barons +seven hundred years ago; which fact leads us to infer that the +degenerate monk might be to us most interesting when he was most +condemned by the reformers of his day, since he was more humane, +genial, and free than his brethren, chained to the rigid discipline +of his convent. Even a Friar Tuck is not so repulsive to us as an +unsocial, austere, narrow-minded, and ignorant fanatic of the +eleventh century. + +But the monks were not to remain forever imprisoned in the castles +of ignorance and despair. With the opening of the twelfth century +light began to dawn upon the human mind. The intellectual monk, +long accustomed to devout meditations, began to speculate on those +subjects which had occupied his thoughts,--on God and His +attributes, on the nature and penalty of sin, on redemption, on the +Saviour, on the power of the will to resist evil, and other +questions that had agitated the early Fathers of the Church. Then +arose such men as Erigena, Roscelin, Berenger, Lanfranc, Anselm, +Bernard, and others,--all more or less orthodox, but inquiring and +intellectual. It was within the walls of the cloister that the +awakening began and the first impulse was given to learning and +philosophy. The abbey of Bec, in Normandy, was the most +distinguished of new intellectual centres, while Clairvaux and +other princely abbeys had inmates as distinguished for meditative +habits as for luxury and pride. + + +It was at this period, when the convents of Europe rejoiced in +ample possessions, and their churches rivalled cathedrals in size +and magnificence, and their abbots were lords and princes,--the +palmy age of monastic institutions, chiefly of the Benedictine +order,--that Saint Bernard, the greatest and best representative of +Mediaeval monasticism, was born, 1091, at Fontaine, in Burgundy. +He belonged to a noble family. His mother was as remarkable as +Monica or Nonna. She had six sons and a daughter, whom she early +consecrated to the Lord. Bernard was the third son. Like Luther, +he was religiously inclined from early youth, and panted for +monastic seclusion. At the age of twenty-three he entered the new +monastery at Citeaux, which had been founded a few years before by +Stephen Harding, an English saint, who revived the rule of Saint +Benedict with still greater strictness, and was the founder of the +Cistercian order,--a branch of the Benedictines. He entered this +gloomy retreat, situated amid marshes and morasses, with no outward +attractions like Cluny, but unhealthy and miserably poor,--the +dreariest spot, perhaps, in Burgundy; and he entered at the head of +thirty young men, of the noble class, among whom were four of his +brothers who had been knights, and who presented themselves to the +abbot as novices, bent on the severest austerities that human +nature could support. + +Bernard himself was a beautiful, delicate, refined young man,-- +tall, with flaxen hair, fair complexion, blue eyes from which shone +a superhuman simplicity and purity. His noble birth would have +opened to him the highest dignities of the Church, but he sought +only to bear the yoke of Christ, and to be nailed to the cross; and +he really became a common laborer wrapped in a coarse cowl, digging +ditches and planting fields,--for such were the labors of the monks +of Citeaux when not performing their religious exercises. But his +disposition was as beautiful as his person, and he soon won the +admiration of his brother monks, as he had won the affection of the +knights of Burgundy. Such was his physical weakness that "nearly +everything he took his stomach rejected;" and such was the rigor of +his austerities that he destroyed the power of appetite. He could +scarcely distinguish oil from wine. He satisfied his hunger with +the Bible and quenched his thirst with prayer. In three years he +became famous as a saint, and was made Abbot of Clairvaux,--a new +Cistercian convent, in a retired valley which had been a nest of +robbers. + +But his intellect was as remarkable as his piety, and his monastery +became not only a model of monastic life to which flocked men from +all parts of Europe to study its rules, but the ascetic abbot +himself became an oracle on all the questions of the day. So great +was his influence that when he died, in 1153, he left behind one +hundred and sixty monasteries formed after his model. He became the +counsellor of kings and nobles, bishops and popes. He was summoned +to attend councils and settle quarrels. His correspondence exceeded +that of Jerome or Saint Augustine. He was sought for as bishop in +the largest cities of France and Italy. He ruled Europe by the +power of learning and sanctity. He entered into all the theological +controversies of the day. He was the opponent of Abelard, whose +condemnation he secured. He became a great theologian and +statesman, as well as churchman. He incited the princes of Europe +to a new crusade. His eloquence is said to have been marvellous; +even the tones of his voice would melt to pity or excite to rage. +With a long neck, like that of Cicero, and a trembling, emaciated +frame, he preached with passionate intensity. Nobody could resist +his eloquence. He could scarcely stand upright from weakness, yet +he could address ten thousand men. He was an outspoken man, and +reproved the greatest dignitaries with as much boldness as did +Savonarola. He denounced the gluttony of monks, the avarice of +popes, and the rapacity of princes. He held heresy in mortal +hatred, like the Fathers of the fifth century. His hostility to +Abelard was direful, since he looked upon him as undermining +Christianity and extinguishing faith in the world. In his defence +of orthodoxy he was the peer of Augustine or Athanasius. He +absolutely abhorred the Mohammedans as the bitterest foes of +Christendom,--the persecutors of pious pilgrims. He wandered over +Europe preaching a crusade. He renounced the world, yet was +compelled by the unanimous voice of his contemporaries to govern the +world. He gave a new impulse to the order of Knights Templars. He +was as warlike as he was humble. He would breathe the breath of +intense hostility into the souls of crusaders, and then hasten back +to the desolate and barren country in which Clairvaux was situated, +rebuild his hut of leaves and boughs, and soothe his restless spirit +with the study of the Song of Songs. Like his age, and like his +institution, he was a great contradiction. The fiercest and most +dogmatic of controversialists was the most gentle and loving of +saints. His humanity was as marked as his fanaticism, and nothing +could weaken it,--not even the rigors of his convent life. He wept +at the sorrows of all who sought his sympathy or advice. On the +occasion of his brother's death he endeavored to preach a sermon on +the Canticles, but broke down as Jerome did at the funeral of Paula. +He kept to the last the most vivid recollection of his mother; and +every night, before he went to bed, he recited the seven Penitential +Psalms for the benefit of her soul. + +In his sermons and exhortations Bernard dwelt equally on the wrath +of God and the love of Christ. Said he to a runaway Cistercian, +"Thou fearest watchings, fasts, and manual labor, but these are +light to one who thinks on eternal fire. The remembrance of the +outer darkness takes away all horror from solitude. Place before +thine eyes the everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth, the fury +of those flames which can never be extinguished" (the essence of +the theology of the Middle Ages,--the fear of Hell, of a physical +and eternal Hell of bodily torments, by which fear those ages were +controlled). Bernard, the loveliest impersonation of virtue which +those ages saw, was not beyond their ideas. He impersonated them, +and therefore led the age and became its greatest oracle. The +passive virtues of the Sermon on the Mount were united with the +fiercest passions of religious intolerance and the most repulsive +views of divine vengeance. That is the soul of monasticism, even +as reformed by Harding, Alberic, and Bernard in the twelfth +century,--less human than in the tenth century, yet more +intellectual. + +The monks of Citeaux, of Morimond, of Pontigny, of Clairvaux, amid +the wastes of a barren country, with their white habits and +perpetual vigils and haircloth shirts and root dinners and hard +labors in the field were yet the counsellors and ministers of kings +and the creators of popes, and incited the nations to the most +bloody and unfortunate wars in the whole history of society,--I +mean the Crusades. Some were great intellectual giants, yet all +repelled scepticism as life repels death; all dwelt on the +sufferings of the cross as a door through which the penitent and +believing could surely enter heaven, yet based the justice of the +infinite Father of Love on what, when it appeals to consciousness, +seems to be the direst injustice. We cannot despise the Middle +Ages, which produced such beatific and exalted saints, but we pity +those dismal times when the great mass of the people had so little +pleasure and comfort in this life, and such gloomy fears of the +world to come; when life was made a perpetual sacrifice and +abnegation of all the pleasures that are given us to enjoy,--to use +and not to pervert. Hence monasticism was repulsive, even in its +best ages, to enlightened reason, and fatal to all progress among +nations, although it served a useful purpose when men were governed +by fear alone, and when violence and strife and physical discomfort +and ignorance and degrading superstitions covered the fairest +portion of the earth with a funereal pall for more than a thousand +years. + + +The thirteenth century saw a new development of monastic +institutions in the creation of the Mendicant Friars,--especially +the Dominicans and Franciscans,--monks whose mission it was to +wander over Europe as preachers, confessors, and teachers. The +Benedictines were too numerous, wealthy, and corrupt to be +reformed. They had become a scandal; they had lost the confidence +of good men. There were needed more active partisans of the Pope +to sustain his authority; the new universities required abler +professors; the cities sought more popular preachers; the great +desired more intelligent confessors. The Crusades had created a +new field of enterprise, and had opened to the eye of Europe a +wider horizon of knowledge. The universities which had grown up +around the cathedral schools had kindled a spirit of inquiry. +Church architecture had become lighter, more cheerful, and more +symbolic. The Greek philosophy had revealed a new method. The +doctrines of the Church, if they did not require a new system, yet +needed, or were supposed to need, the aid of philosophy, for the +questions which the schoolmen discussed were so subtile and +intricate that only the logic of Aristotle could make them clear. + +Now the Mendicant orders entered with a zeal which has never been +equalled, except by the Jesuits, into all the inquiries of the +schools, and kindled a new religious life among the people, like +the Methodists of the last century. They were somewhat similar to +the Temperance reformers of the last fifty years. They were +popular, zealous, intelligent, and religious. So great were their +talents and virtues that they speedily spread over Europe, and +occupied the principal pulpits and the most important chairs in the +universities. Bonaventura, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and +Duns Scotus were the great ornaments of these new orders. Their +peculiarity--in contrast with the old orders--was, that they +wandered from city to city and village to village at the command of +their superiors. They had convents, like the other monks; but they +professed absolute poverty, went barefooted, and submitted to +increased rigors. Their vows were essentially those of the +Benedictines. In less than a century, however, they too had +degenerated, and were bitterly reproached for their vagabond habits +and the violation of their vows. Their convents had also become +rich, like those of the Benedictines. It was these friars whom +Chaucer ridiculed, and against whose vices Wyclif declaimed. Yet +they were retained by the popes for their services in behalf of +ecclesiastical usurpation. It was they who were especially chosen +to peddle indulgences. Their history is an impressive confirmation +of the tendency of all human institutions to degenerate. It would +seem that the mission of the Benedictines had been accomplished in +the thirteenth century, and that of the Dominicans and Franciscans +in the fourteenth. + +But monasticism, in any of its forms, ceased to have a salutary +influence on society when the darkness of the Middle Ages was +dispersed. It is peculiarly a Mediaeval institution. As a +Mediaeval institution, it conferred many benefits on the semi- +barbarians of Europe. As a whole, considering the shadows of +ignorance and superstition which veiled Christendom, and the evils +which violence produced, its influence was beneficent. + +Among the benefits which monastic institutions conferred, at least +indirectly, may be mentioned the counteracting influence they +exerted against the turbulence and tyranny of baronial lords, whose +arrogance and extortion they rebuked; they befriended the +peasantry; they enabled poor boys to rise; they defended the +doctrine that the instructors of mankind should be taken from all +classes alike; they were democratic in their sympathies, while +feudal life produced haughtiness and scorn; they welcomed scholars +from the humblest ranks; they beheld in peasants' children souls +which could be ennobled. Though abbots were chosen generally from +the upper classes, yet the ordinary monks sprang from the +peasantry. For instance, a peasant's family is deprived of its +head; he has been killed while fighting for a feudal lord. The +family are doomed to misery and hardship. No aristocratic tears +are shed for them; they are no better than dogs or cattle. The +mother is heartbroken. Not one of her children can ordinarily rise +from their abject position; they can live and breathe the common +air, and that is all. They are unmolested in their mud huts, if +they will toil for the owner of their village at the foot of the +baronial castle. But one of her sons is bright and religious. He +attracts the attention of a sympathetic monk, whose venerable +retreat is shaded with trees, adorned with flowers, and seated +perhaps on the side of a murmuring stream, whose banks have been +made fertile by industry and beautiful with herds of cattle and +flocks of sheep. He urges the afflicted mother to consecrate him +to the service of the Church; and the boy enters the sanctuary and +is educated according to the fashion of the age, growing up a well- +trained, austere, and obedient member of the fraternity, whose +spirit is dominated by its superiors in all activities. He passes +from office to office. In time he becomes the prior of his +convent,--possibly its abbot, the equal of that proud baron in +whose service his father lost his life, the controller of +innumerable acres, the minister of kings. How, outside the Church, +could he thus have arisen? But in the monastery he is enabled, in +the most aristocratic age of the world, to rise to the highest of +worldly dignities. And he is a man of peace and not of war. He +hates war; he seeks to quell dissensions and quarrels. He believes +that there is a higher than the warrior's excellence. Monachism +recognized what feudalism did not,--the claims of man as man. In +this respect it was human and sympathetic. It furnished a retreat +from misery and oppression. It favored contemplative habits and +the passive virtues, so much needed in turbulent times. Whatever +faults the monks had, it must be allowed that they alleviated +sufferings, and presented the only consolation that their gloomy +and iron age afforded. In an imperfect manner their convents +answered the purpose of our modern hotels, hospitals, and schools. +It was benevolence, charity, and piety which the monks aimed to +secure, and which they often succeeded in diffusing among people +more wretched and ignorant than themselves. + + +AUTHORITIES. + +Saint Bernard's Works, especially the Epistles; Mabillon; Helyot's +Histoire des Ordres Monastiques; Dugdale's Monasticon; Doring's +Geschichte der Monchsorden; Montalembert's Les Moines d'Occident; +Milman's Latin Christianity; Morison's Life and Times of Saint +Bernard; Lives of the English Saints; Stephen Harding; Histoire +d'Abbaye do Cluny, par M. P. Lorain; Neander's Church History; +Butler's Lives of the Saints; Vaughan's Life of Thomas Aquinas; +Digby's Ages of Faith. + + + +SAINT ANSELM + +A. D. 1033-1109. + +MEDIAEVAL THEOLOGY. + + +The Middle Ages produced no more interesting man than Anselm, Abbot +of Bec and Archbishop of Canterbury,--not merely a great prelate, +but a great theologian, resplendent in the virtues of monastic life +and in devotion to the interests of the Church. He was one of the +first to create an intellectual movement in Europe, and to +stimulate theological inquiries. + +Anselm was born at Aosta, in Italy, 1033, and he died in 1109, at +the age of 76. He was therefore the contemporary of Hildebrand, of +Lanfranc, of Berenger, of Roscelin, of Henry IV. of Germany, of +William the Conqueror, of the Countess Matilda, and of Urban II. +He saw the first Crusade, the great quarrel about investitures and +the establishment of the Normans in England. Aosta was on the +confines of Lombardy and Burgundy, in a mountainous district, amid +rich cornfields and fruitful vines and dark, waving chestnuts, in +sight of lofty peaks with their everlasting snow. Anselm belonged +to a noble but impoverished family; his father was violent and +unthrifty, but his mother was religious and prudent. He was by +nature a student, and early was destined to monastic life,--the +only life favorable to the development of the intellect in a rude +and turbulent age. I have already alluded to the general ignorance +of the clergy in those times. There were no schools of any note at +this period, and no convents where learning was cultivated beyond +the rudiments of grammar and arithmetic and the writings of the +Fathers. The monks could read and talk in Latin, of a barbarous +sort,--which was the common language of the learned, so far as any +in that age could be called learned. + +The most famous place in Europe, at that time, where learning was +cultivated, was the newly-founded abbey of Bec in Normandy, under +the superintendence of the Archbishop of Rouen, of which Lanfranc +of Pavia was the prior. It was the first abbey in Normandy to open +the door of learning to the young and inquiring minds of Western +Europe. It was a Benedictine abbey, as severe in its rules as that +of Clairvaux. It would seem that the fame of this convent, and of +Lanfranc its presiding genius (afterwards the great Archbishop of +Canterbury), reached the ears of Anselm; so that on the death of +his parents he wandered over the Alps, through Burgundy, to this +famous school, where the best teaching of the day was to be had. +Lanfranc cordially welcomed his fellow-countryman, then at the age +of twenty-six, to his retreat; and on his removal three years +afterwards to the more princely abbey of St. Stephen in Caen, +Anselm succeeded him as prior. Fifteen years later he became +abbot, and ruled the abbey for fifteen years, during which time +Lanfranc--the mutual friend of William the Conqueror and the great +Hildebrand--became Archbishop of Canterbury. + +During this seclusion of thirty years in the abbey of Bec, Anselm +gave himself up to theological and philosophical studies, and +became known both as a profound and original thinker and a powerful +supporter of ecclesiastical authority. The scholastic age,--that +is, the age of dialectics, when theology invoked the aid of +philosophy to establish the truths of Christianity,--had not yet +begun; but Anselm may be regarded as a pioneer, the precursor of +Thomas Aquinas, since he was led into important theological +controversies to establish the creed of Saint Augustine. It was +not till several centuries after his death, however, that his +remarkable originality of genius was fully appreciated. He +anticipated Descartes in his argument to prove the existence of +God. He is generally regarded as the profoundest intellect among +the early schoolmen, and the most original that appeared in the +Church after Saint Augustine. He was not a popular preacher like +Saint Bernard, but he taught theology with marvellous lucidity to +the monks who sought the genial quiet of his convent. As an abbot +he was cheerful and humane, almost to light-heartedness, frank and +kind to everybody,--an exception to most of the abbots of his day, +who were either austere and rigid, or convivial and worldly. He +was a man whom everybody loved and trusted, yet one not unmindful +of his duties as the supreme ruler of his abbey, enforcing +discipline, while favoring relaxation. No monk ever led a life of +higher meditation than he; absorbed not in a dreamy and visionary +piety, but in intelligent inquiries as to the grounds of religious +belief. He was a true scholar of the Platonic and Angustinian +school; not a dialectician like Albertus Magnus and Abelard, but a +man who went beyond words to things, and seized on realities rather +than forms; not given to disputatious and the sports of logical +tournaments, but to solid inquiries after truth. The universities +had not then arisen, but a hundred years later he would have been +their ornament, like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura. + +Like other Norman abbeys, the abbey of Bec had after the Conquest +received lands in England, and it became one of the duties of the +abbot to look after its temporal interests. Hence Anselm was +obliged to make frequent visits to England, where his friendship +with Lanfranc was renewed, and where he made the acquaintance of +distinguished prelates and abbots and churchmen, among others of +Eadmer, his future biographer. It seems that he also won the +hearts of the English nobility by his gentleness and affability, so +that they rendered to him uncommon attentions, not only as a great +ecclesiastic who had no equal in learning, but as a man whom they +could not help loving. + +The life of Anselm very nearly corresponded with that of the +Conqueror, who died in 1087, being five years older; and he was +Abbot of Bec during the whole reign of William as King of England. +There was nothing particularly memorable in his life as abbot aside +from his theological studies. It was not until he was elevated to +the See of Canterbury, on the death of Lanfranc, that his memorable +career became historical. He anticipated Thomas Becket in his +contest to secure the liberties of the Church against the +encroachments of the Norman kings. The cause of the one was the +cause of the other; only, Anselm was trained in monastic seclusion, +and Becket amid the tumults and intrigues of a court. The one was +essentially an ecclesiastic and theologian; the other a courtier +and statesman. The former was religious, and the latter secular in +his habits and duties. Yet both fought the same great battle, the +essential principle of which was the object of contention between +the popes and the emperors of Germany,--that pertaining to the +right of investiture, which may be regarded, next to the Crusades, +as the great outward event of the twelfth century. That memorable +struggle for supremacy was not brought to a close until Innocent +III. made the kings of the earth his vassals, and reigned without a +rival in Christendom. Gregory VII. had fought heroically, but he +died in exile, leaving to future popes the fruit of his +transcendent labors. + +Lanfranc died in 1089,--the ablest churchman of the century next to +the great Hildebrand, his master. It was through his influence +that England was more closely allied with Rome, and that those +fetters were imposed by the popes which the ablest of the Norman +kings were unable to break. The Pope had sanctioned the atrocious +conquest of England by the Normans--beneficially as it afterwards +turned out--only on the condition that extraordinary powers should +be conferred on the Archbishop of Canterbury, his representative in +enforcing the papal claims, who thus became virtually independent +of the king,--a spiritual monarch of such dignity that he was +almost equal to his sovereign in authority. There was no such See +in Germany and France as that of Canterbury. Its mighty and lordly +metropolitan had the exclusive right of crowning the king. To him +the Archbishop of York, once his equal, had succumbed. He was not +merely primate, but had the supreme control of the Church in +England. He could depose prelates and excommunicate the greatest +personages; he enjoyed enormous revenues; he was vicegerent of the +Pope. + +Loth was William to concede such great powers to the Pope, but he +could not be King of England without making a king of Canterbury. +So he made choice of Lanfranc--then Abbot of St. Stephen, the most +princely of the Norman convents--for the highest ecclesiastical +dignity in his realm, and perhaps in Europe after the papacy +itself. Lanfranc was his friend, and also the friend of +Hildebrand; and no collision took place between them, for neither +could do without the other. William was willing to waive some of +his prerogatives as a sovereign for such a kingdom as England, +which made him the most powerful monarch in Western Europe, since +he ruled the fairest part of France and the whole British realm, +the united possession of both Saxons and Danes, with more absolute +authority than any feudal sovereign at that time possessed. His +victorious knights were virtually a standing army, bound to him +with more than feudal loyalty, since he divided among them the +lands of the conquered Saxons, and gave to their relatives the +richest benefices of the Church. With the aid of an Italian +prelate, bound in allegiance to the Pope, he hoped to cement his +conquest. Lanfranc did as he wished,--removed the Saxon bishops, +and gave their sees to Normans. Since Dunstan, no great Saxon +bishop had arisen. The Saxon bishops were feeble and indolent, and +were not capable of making an effective resistance. But Lanfranc +was even more able than Dunstan,--a great statesman as well as +prelate. He ruled England as grand justiciary in the absence of +the monarch, and was thus viceregent of the kingdom. But while he +despoiled the Saxon prelates, he would suffer no royal spoliation +of the Norman bishops. He even wrested away from Odo, half-brother +of the Conqueror, the manors he held as Count of Kent, which +originally belonged to the See of Canterbury. Thus was William, +with all his greed and ambition, kept in check by the spiritual +monarch he had himself made so powerful. + +On the death of this great prelate, all eyes were turned to Anselm +as his successor, who was then Abbot of Bec, absorbed in his +studies. But William Rufus, who had in the mean time succeeded to +the throne of the Conqueror, did not at once appoint any one to the +vacant See, since he had seized and used its revenues to the +scandal of the nation and the indignation of the Church. For five +years there was no primate in England and no Archbishop of +Canterbury. At last, what seemed to be a mortal sickness seized +the King, and in the near prospect of death he summoned Anselm to +his chamber and conferred upon him the exalted dignity,--which +Anselm refused to accept, dreading the burdens of the office, and +preferring the quiet life of a scholar in his Norman abbey. Like +Thomas Aquinas, in the next century, who refused the archbishopric +of Naples to pursue his philosophical studies in Paris, Anselm +declined the primacy of the Church in England, with its cares and +labors and responsibilities, that he might be unmolested in his +theological inquiries. He understood the position in which he +should be placed, and foresaw that he should be brought in +collision with his sovereign if he would faithfully guard the +liberties and interests of the Church. He was a man of peace and +meditation, and hated conflict, turmoil, and active life. He knew +that one of the requirements a great prelate is to have business +talents, more necessary perhaps than eloquence or learning. At +last, however, on the pressing solicitation of the Pope, the King, +and the clergy, he consented to mount the throne of Lanfranc, on +condition that the temporalities, privileges, and powers of the See +of Canterbury should not be attacked. The crafty and rapacious, +but now penitent monarch, thinking he was about to die, and wishing +to make his peace with Heaven, made all the concessions required; +and the quiet monk and doctor, whom everybody loved and revered, +was enthroned and consecrated as the spiritual monarch of England. + +Anselm's memorable career as bishop began in peace, but was soon +clouded by a desperate quarrel with his sovereign, as he had +anticipated. This learned and peace-loving theologian was forced +into a contest which stands out in history like the warfare between +Hildebrand and Henry IV. It was the beginning of that fierce +contest in England which was made memorable by the martyrdom of +Becket. Anselm, when consecrated, was sixty years of age,--a +period of life when men are naturally timid, cautious, and averse +to innovations, quarrels, and physical discomforts. + +The friendly relations between William Rufus and Anselm were +disturbed when the former sought to exact large sums of money from +his subjects to carry on war against his brother Robert. Among +those who were expected to make heavy contributions, in the shape +of presents, was the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose revenues were +enormous,--perhaps the largest in the realm next to those of the +King. Anselm offered as his contribution five hundred marks, what +would now be equal to l0,000 pounds,--a large sum in those days, +but not as much as the Norman sovereign expected. In indignation +he refused the present, which seemed to him meagre, especially +since it was accompanied with words of seeming reproof; for Anselm +had said that "a free gift, which he meant this to be, was better +than a forced and servile contribution." The King then angrily +bade him begone; "that he wanted neither his money nor his +scolding." The courtiers tried to prevail on the prelate to double +the amount of his present, and thus regain the royal favor; but he +firmly refused to do this, since it looked to him like a corrupt +bargain. Anselm, having distributed among the poor the money which +the King had refused, left the court as soon as the Christmas +festival was over and retired to his diocese, preserving his +independence and dignity. + +A breach had not been made, but the irritation was followed by +coolness; and this was increased when Anselm desired to have the +religious posts filled the revenues of which the King had too long +enjoyed, and when, in addition, he demanded a council of bishops to +remedy the disorders and growing evils of the kingdom. This +council the angry King refused with a sneer, saying, "he would call +the council when he himself pleased, not when Anselm pleased." As +to the filling the vacancies of the abbeys, he further replied: +"What are abbeys to YOU? Are they not MINE? Go and do what you +like with your farms, and I will do what I please with my abbeys." +So they parted, these two potentates, the King saying to his +companions, "I hated him yesterday; I hate him more to-day; and I +shall hate him still more to-morrow. I refuse alike his blessings +and his prayers." His chief desire now was to get rid of the man +he had elevated to the throne of Canterbury. It may be observed +that it was not the Pope who made this appointment, but the King of +England. Yet, by the rules long established by the popes and +accepted by Christendom, it was necessary that an archbishop, +before he could fully exercise his spiritual powers, should go to +Rome and receive at the hands of the Pope his pallium, or white +woollen stole, as the badge of his office and dignity. Lanfranc +had himself gone to Rome for this purpose,--and a journey from +Canterbury to Rome in the eleventh century was no small +undertaking, being expensive and fatiguing. But there were now at +Rome two rival popes. Which one should Anselm recognize? France +and Normandy acknowledged Urban. England was undecided whether it +should be Urban or Clement. William would probably recognize the +one that Anselm did not, for a rupture was certain, and the King +sought for a pretext. + +So when the Archbishop asked leave of the King to go to Rome, +according to custom, William demanded to know to which of these two +popes he would apply for his pallium. "To Pope Urban," was the +reply. "But," said the King, "him I have not acknowledged; and no +man in England may acknowledge a pope without my leave." At first +view the matter was a small one comparatively, whether Urban was or +was not the true pope. The real point was whether the King of +England should accept as pope the man whom the Archbishop +recognized, or whether the Archbishop should acknowledge him whom +the King had accepted. This could be settled only by a grand +council of the nation, to whom the matter should be submitted,-- +virtually a parliament. This council, demanded by Anselm, met in +the royal castle of Rockingham, 1095, composed of nobles, bishops, +and abbots. A large majority of the council were in the interests +of the King, and the subject at issue was virtually whether the +King or the prelate was supreme in spiritual matters,--a point +which the Conqueror had ceded to Lanfranc and Hildebrand. This +council insulted and worried the primate, and sought to frighten +him into submission. But submission was to yield up the liberties +of the Church. The intrepid prelate was not prepared for this, and +he appealed from the council to the Pope, thereby putting himself +in antagonism to the King and a majority of the peers of the realm. +The King was exasperated, but foiled, while the council was +perplexed. The Bishop of Durham saw no solution but in violence; +but violence to the metropolitan was too bold a measure to be +seriously entertained. The King hoped that Anselm would resign, as +his situation was very unpleasant. + +But resignation would be an act of cowardice, and would result in +the appointment of an archbishop favorable to the encroachments of +the King, who doubtless aimed at the subversion of the liberties of +the Church and greater independence. Five centuries later the +sympathies of England would have been on his side. But the English +nation felt differently in the eleventh century. All Christendom +sympathized with the Pope; for this resistance of Anselm to the +King was the cause of the popes themselves against the monarchs of +Europe. Anselm simply acted as the vicegerent of the Pope. To +submit to the dictation of the King in a spiritual matter was to +undermine the authority of Rome. I do not attempt to settle the +merits of the question, but only to describe the contest. To +settle the merits of such a question is to settle the question +whether the papal power in its plenitude was good or evil for +society in the Middle Ages. + +One thing seems certain, that the King was thus far foiled by the +firmness of a churchman,--the man who had passed the greater part +of his life in a convent, studying and teaching theology; one of +the mildest and meekest men ever elevated to high ecclesiastical +office. Anselm was sustained by the power of conscience, by an +imperative sense of duty, by allegiance to his spiritual head. He +indeed owed fealty to the King, but only for the temporalities of +his See. His paramount obligations as an archbishop were, +according to all the ideas of his age, to the supreme pontiff of +Christendom. Doubtless his life would have been easier and more +pleasant had he been more submissive to the King. He could have +brought all the bishops, as well as barons, to acknowledge the +King's supremacy; but on his shoulders was laid the burden of +sustaining ecclesiastical authority in England. He had anticipated +this burden, and would have joyfully been exempted from its weight. +But having assumed it, perhaps against his will, he had only one +course to pursue, according to the ideas of the age; and this was +to maintain the supreme authority of the Pope in England in all +spiritual matters. It was remarkable that at this stage of the +contest the barons took his side, and the bishops took the side of +the King. The barons feared for their own privileges should the +monarch be successful; for they knew his unscrupulous and +tyrannical character,--that he would encroach on these and make +himself as absolute as possible. The bishops were weak and worldly +men, and either did not realize the gravity of the case or wished +to gain the royal favor. They were nearly all Norman nobles, who +had been under obligations to the crown. + +The King, however, understood and, appreciated his position. He +could not afford to quarrel with the Pope; he dared not do violence +to the primate of the realm. So he dissembled his designs and +restrained his wrath, and sought to gain by cunning what he could +not openly effect by the exercise of royal power. He sent +messengers and costly gifts to Rome, such as the needy and greedy +servants of the servants of God rarely disdained. He sought to +conciliate the Pope, and begged, as a favor, that the pallium +should be sent to him as monarch, and given by him, with the papal +sanction, to the Archbishop,--the name of Anselm being suppressed. +This favor, being bought by potent arguments, was granted unwisely, +and the pallium was sent to William with the greatest secrecy. In +return, the King acknowledged the claims of Urban as pope. So +Anselm did not go to Rome for the emblem of his power. + +The King, having succeeded thus far, then demanded of the Pope the +deposition of Anselm. He could not himself depose the archbishop. +He could elevate him, but not remove him; he could make, but not +unmake. Only he who held the keys of Saint Peter, who was armed +with spiritual omnipotence, could reverse his own decrees and rule +arbitrarily. But for any king to expect that the Pope would part +with the ablest defender of the liberties of the Church, and +disgrace him for being faithful to papal interests, was absurd. +The Pope may have used smooth words, but was firm in the uniform +policy of all his predecessors. + +Meanwhile political troubles came so thick and heavy on the King, +some of his powerful nobles being in open rebellion, that he felt +it necessary to dissemble and defer the gratification of his +vengeance on the man he hated more than any personage in England. +He pretended to restore Anselm to favor. "Bygones should be +bygones." The King and the Archbishop sat at dinner at Windsor +with friends and nobles, while an ironical courtier pleasantly +quoted the Psalmist, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for +brethren to dwell together in unity!" + +The King now supposed that Anselm would receive the pallium at his +royal hands, which the prelate warily refused to accept. The +subject was carefully dropped, but as the pallium was Saint Peter's +gift, it was brought to Canterbury and placed upon the altar, and +the Archbishop condescended, amid much pomp and ceremony, to take +it thence and put it on,--a sort of puerile concession for the sake +of peace. The King, too, wishing conciliation for the present, +until he had gained the possession of Normandy from his brother +Robert, who had embarked in the Crusades, and feeling that he could +ill afford to quarrel with the highest dignitary of his kingdom +until his political ambition was gratified, treated Anslem with +affected kindness, until his ill success with the Celtic Welsh put +him in a bad humor and led to renewed hostility. He complained +that Anselm had not furnished his proper contingent of forces for +the conquest of Wales, and summoned him to his court. In a secular +matter like this, Anselm as a subject had no remedy. Refusal to +appear would be regarded as treason and rebellion. Yet he +neglected to obey the summons, perhaps fearing violence, and sought +counsel from the Pope. He asked permission to go to Rome. The +request was angrily refused. Again he renewed his request, and +again it was denied him, with threats if he departed without leave. +The barons, now against him, thought he had no right to leave his +post; the bishops even urged him not to go. To all of whom he +replied: "You wish me to swear that I will not appeal to Saint +Peter. To swear this is to forswear Saint Peter; to forswear Saint +Peter is to forswear Christ." At last it seems that the King gave +a reluctant consent, but with messages that were insulting; and +Anselm, with a pilgrim's staff, took leave of his monks, for the +chapter of Canterbury was composed of monks, set out for Dover, and +reached the continent in safety. + +"Thus began," says Church, "the system of appeals to Rome, and of +inviting foreign interference in the home affairs of England; and +Anselm was the beginning of it." But however unfortunate it +ultimately proved, it was in accordance with the ideas and customs +of the Middle Ages, without which the papal power could not have +been so successfully established. And I take the ground that the +Papacy was an institution of which very much may be said in its +favor in the dark ages of European society, especially in +restraining the tyranny of kings and the turbulence of nobles. +Governments are based on expediencies and changing circumstances, +not on immutable principles or divine rights. If this be not true, +we are driven to accept as the true form of government that which +was recognized by Christ and his disciples. The feudal kings of +Europe claimed a "divine right," and professed to reign by the +"grace of God." Whence was this right derived? If it can be +substantiated, on what claim rests the sovereignty of the people? +Are not popes and kings and bishops alike the creation of +circumstances, good or evil inventions, as they meet the wants of +society? + +Anselm felt himself to be the subject of the Pope as well as of the +King, but that, as a priest; his supreme allegiance should be given +to the Pope, as the spiritual head of the Church and vicegerent of +Christ upon the earth. We differ from him in his view of the +claims of the Pope, which he regarded as based on immutable truth +and the fiat of Almighty power,--even as Richelieu looked upon the +imbecile king whom he served as reigning by divine right. The +Protestant Reformation demolished the claims of the spiritual +potentate, as the French Revolution swept away the claims of the +temporal monarch. The "logic of events" is the only logic which +substantiates the claims of rulers; and this logic means, in our +day, constitutional government in politics and private judgment in +religion,--the free choice of such public servants, whatever their +titles of honor, in State and Church, as the exigencies and +circumstances of society require. The haughtiest of the popes, in +the proudest period of their absolute ascendancy, never rejected +their early title,--"servant of the servants of God." Wherever +there is real liberty among the people, whose sovereignty is +acknowledged as the source of power, the ruler IS a servant of the +people and not their tyrant, however great the authority which they +delegate to him, which they alone may continue or take away. +Absolute authority, delegated to kings or popes by God, was the +belief of the Middle Ages; limited authority, delegated to rulers +by the people, is the idea of our times. What the next invention +in government may be no one can tell; but whatever it be, it will +be in accordance with the ideas and altered circumstances of +progressive ages. No one can anticipate or foresee the revolutions +in human thought, and therefore in human governments, "till He +shall come whose right it is to reign." + +Taking it, then, to be the established idea of the Middle Ages that +all ecclesiastics owed supreme allegiance to the visible head of +the Church, no one can blame Anselm for siding with the Pope, +rather than with his sovereign, in spiritual matters. He would +have been disloyal to his conscience if he had not been true to his +clerical vows of obedience. Conscience may be unenlightened, yet +take away the power of conscience and what would become of our +world? What is a man without a conscience? He is a usurper, a +tyrant, a libertine, a spendthrift, a robber, a miser, an idler, a +trifler,--whatever he is tempted to be; a supreme egotist, who says +in his heart, "There is no God." The Almighty Creator placed this +instinct in the soul of man to prevent the total eclipse of faith, +and to preserve some allegiance to Him, some guidance in the trials +and temptations of life. We lament a perverted conscience; yet +better this than no conscience at all, a voice silenced by the +combined forces of evil. A man MUST obey this voice. It is the +wisdom of the ages to make it harmonious with eternal right; it is +the power of God to remove or weaken the assailing forces which +pervert or silence it. + +See, then, this gentle, lovable, and meditative scholar--not haughty +like Dunstan, not arrogant like Becket, not sacerdotal like Ambrose, +not passionate like Chrysostom, but meek as Moses is said to have +been before Pharaoh (although I never could see this distinguishing +trait in the Hebrew leader)--yet firmly and heroically braving the +wrath of the sovereign who had elevated him, and pursuing his +toilsome journey to Rome to appeal to justice against injustice, to +law against violence. He reached the old capital of the world in +midwinter, after having spent Christmas in that hospitable convent +where Hildebrand had reigned, and which was to shield the persecuted +Abelard from the wrath of his ecclesiastical tormentors. He was +most honorably received by the Pope, and lodged in the Lateran, as +the great champion of papal authority. Vainly did he beseech the +Pope to relieve him from his dignities and burdens; for such a man +could not be spared from the exalted post in which he had been +placed. Peace-loving as he was, his destiny was to fight battles. + +In the following year Pope Urban died; and in the following year +William Rufus himself was accidentally killed in the New Forest. +His death was not much lamented, he having proved hard, +unscrupulous, cunning, and tyrannical. At this period the kings of +England reigned with almost despotic power, independent of barons +and oppressive to the people. William had but little regard for +the interests of the kingdom. He built neither churches nor +convents, but Westminster Hall was the memorial of his iron reign. + +Much was expected of Henry I., who immediately recalled Anselm from +Lyons, where he was living in voluntary exile. He returned to +Canterbury, with the firm intention of reforming the morals of the +clergy and resisting royal encroachments. Henry was equally +resolved on making bishops as well as nobles subservient to him. +Of course harmony and concord could not long exist between such +men, with such opposite views. Even at the first interview of the +King with the Archbishop at Salisbury, he demanded a renewal of +homage by a new act of investiture, which was virtually a +continuance of the quarrel. It was, however, mutually agreed that +the matter should be referred to the new pope. Anselm, on his +part, knew that the appeal was hopeless; while the King wished to +gain time. It was not long before the answer of Pope Pascal came. +He was willing that Henry should have many favors, but not this. +Only the head of the Church could bestow the emblems of spiritual +authority. On receiving the papal reply the King summoned his +nobles and bishops to his court, and required that Anselm should +acknowledge the right of the King to invest prelates with the +badges of spiritual authority. The result was a second embassy to +the Pope, of more distinguished persons,--the Archbishop of York +and two other prelates. The Pope, of course, remained inflexible. +On the return of the envoys a great council was assembled in +London, and Anselm again was required to submit to the King's will. +It seems that the Pope, from motives of policy (for all the popes +were reluctant to quarrel with princes), had given the envoys +assurance that, so long as Henry was a good king, he should have +nothing to fear from the clergy. + +These oral declarations were contrary to the Pope's written +documents, and this contradiction required a new embassy to Rome; +but in the mean time the King gave the See of Salisbury to his +chancellor, and that of Hereford to the superintendent of his +larder. When the answer of the Pope was finally received, it was +found that he indignantly disavowed the verbal message, and +excommunicated the three prelates as liars. But the King was not +disconcerted. He suddenly appeared at Canterbury, and told Anselm +that further opposition would be followed by the royal enmity; yet, +mollifying his wrath, requested Anselm himself to go to Rome and do +what he could with the Pope. Anselm assured him that he could do +nothing to the prejudice of the Church. He departed, however, the +King obviously wishing him out of the way. + +The second journey of Anselm to Rome was a perpetual ovation, but +was of course barren of results. The Pope remained inflexible, and +Anselm prepared to return to England; but, from the friendly hints +of the prelates who accompanied him, he sojourned again at Lyons +with his friend the archbishop. Both the Pope and the King had +compromised; Anselm alone was straightforward and fearless. As a +consequence his revenues were seized, and he remained in exile. He +had been willing to do the Pope's bidding, had he made an exception +to the canons; but so long as the law remained in force he had +nothing to do but conform to it. He remained in Lyons a year and a +half, while Henry continued his negotiations with Pascal; but +finding that nothing was accomplished, Anselm resolved to +excommunicate his sovereign. The report of this intention alarmed +Henry, then preparing for a decisive conflict with his brother +Robert. The excommunication would at least be inconvenient; it +might cost him his crown. So he sought an interview with Anselm at +the castle of l'Aigle, and became outwardly reconciled, and +restored to him his revenues. + +"The end of the dreary contest came at last, in 1107, after +vexatious delays and intrigues." It was settled by compromise,--as +most quarrels are settled, as most institutions are established. +Outwardly the King yielded. He agreed, in an assembly of nobles, +bishops, and abbots at London, that henceforth no one should be +invested with bishopric or abbacy, either by king or layman, by the +customary badges of ring and crosier. Anselm, on his part, agreed +that no prelate should be refused consecration who was nominated by +the King. The appointment of bishops remained with the King; but +the consecration could be withheld by the primate, since he alone +had the right to give the badges of office, without which spiritual +functions could not be lawfully performed. It was a moral victory +to the Church, but the victory of an unpopular cause. It cemented +the power of the Pope, while freedom from papal interference has +ever been dear to the English nation. + +When Anselm had fought this great fight he died, 1109, in the +sixteenth year of his reign as primate of the Church in England, +and was buried, next to Lanfranc, in his abbey church. His career +outwardly is memorable only for this contest, which was afterwards +renewed by Thomas Becket with a greater king than either William +Rufus or Henry I. It is interesting, since it was a part of the +great struggle between the spiritual and temporal powers for two +hundred years,--from Hildebrand to Innocent III. This was only one +of the phases of the quarrel,--one of the battles of a long war,-- +not between popes and emperors, as in Germany and Italy, but +between a king and the vicegerent of a pope; a king and his +subject, the one armed with secular, the other with spiritual, +weapons. It was only brought to an end by an appeal to the fears +of men,--the dread of excommunication and consequent torments in +hell, which was the great governing idea of the Middle Ages, the +means by which the clergy controlled the laity. Abused and +perverted as this idea was, it indicates and presupposes a general +belief in the personality of God, in rewards and punishments in a +future state, and the necessity of conforming to the divine laws as +expounded and enforced by the Christian Church. Hence the dark +ages have been called "Ages of Faith." + + +It now remains to us to contemplate Anselm as a theologian and +philosopher,--a more interesting view, for in this aspect his +character is more genial, and his influence more extended and +permanent. He is one of the first who revived theological studies +in Europe. He did not teach in the universities as a scholastic +doctor, but he was one who prepared the way for universities by the +stimulus he gave to philosophy. It was in his abbey of Bec that he +laid the foundation of a new school of theological inquiry. In +original genius he was surpassed by no scholastic in the Middle +Ages, although both Abelard and Thomas Aquinas enjoyed a greater +fame. It was for his learning and sanctity that he was canonized,-- +and singularly enough by Alexander VI., the worst pope who ever +reigned. Still more singular is it that the last of his +successors, as abbot of Bec, was the diplomatist Talleyrand,--one +of the most worldly and secular of all the ecclesiastical +dignitaries of an infidel age. + +The theology of the Middle Ages, of which Anselm was one of the +greatest expounders, certainly the most profound, was that which +was systematized by Saint Augustine from the writings of Paul. +Augustine was the oracle of the Latin Church until the Council of +Trent, and nominally his authority has never been repudiated by the +Catholic Church. But he was no more the father of the Catholic +theology than he was of the Protestant, as taught by John Calvin: +these two great theologians were in harmony in all essential +doctrines as completely as were Augustine and Anselm, or Augustine +and Thomas Aquinas. The doctrines of theology, as formulated by +Augustine, were subjects of contemplation and study in all the +convents of the Middle Ages. In spite of the prevailing ignorance, +it was impossible that inquiring men, "secluded in gloomy +monasteries, should find food for their minds in the dreary and +monotonous duties to which monks were doomed,--a life devoted to +alternate manual labor and mechanical religious services." There +would be some of them who would speculate on the lofty subjects +which were the constant themes of their meditations. Bishops were +absorbed in their practical duties as executive rulers. Village +priests were too ignorant to do much beyond looking after the wants +of hinds and peasants. The only scholarly men were the monks. And +although the number of these was small, they have the honor of +creating the first intellectual movement since the fall of the +Roman Empire. They alone combined leisure with brain-work. These +intellectual and inquiring monks, as far back as the ninth century +speculated on the great subjects of Christian faith with singular +boldness, considering the general ignorance which veiled Europe in +melancholy darkness. Some of them were logically led "to a secret +mutiny and insurrection" against the doctrines which were +universally received. This insurrection of human intelligence gave +great alarm to the orthodox leaders of the Church; and to suppress +it the Church raised up conservative dialecticians as acute and +able as those who strove for emancipation. At first they used the +weapons of natural reason, but afterwards employed the logic and +method of Aristotle, as translated into Latin from the Arabic, to +assist them in their intellectual combats. Gradually the movement +centred in the scholastic philosophy, as a bulwark to Catholic +theology. But this was nearly a hundred years after the time of +Anselm, who himself was not enslaved by the technicalities of a +complicated system of dialectics. + +Naturally the first subject which was suggested to the minds of +inquiring monks was the being and attributes of God. He was the +beginning and end of their meditations. It was to meditate upon +God that the Oriental recluse sought the deserts of Asia Minor and +Egypt. Like the Eastern monk of the fourth century, he sought to +know the essence and nature of the Deity he worshipped. There +arose before his mind the great doctrines of the trinity, the +incarnation, and redemption. Closely connected with these were +predestination and grace, and then "fixed fate, free-will, +foreknowledge absolute." On these mysteries he could not help +meditating; and with meditation came speculation on unfathomable +subjects pertaining to God and his relations with man, to the +nature of sin and its penalty, to the freedom of the will, and +eternal decrees. + +The monk became first a theologian and then a philosopher, whether +of the school of Plato or of Aristotle he did not know. He began +to speculate on questions which had agitated the Grecian schools,-- +the origin of evil and of matter; whether the world was created or +uncreated; whether there is a distinction between things visible +and invisible; whether we derive our knowledge from sensation or +reflection; whether the soul is necessarily immortal; how free-will +is to be reconciled with God's eternal decrees, or what the Greeks +called Fate; whether ideas are eternal, or are the creation of our +own minds. These, and other more subtile questions--like the +nature of angels--began to agitate the convent in the ninth +century. + +It was then that the monk Gottschalk revived the question of +predestination, which had slumbered since the time of Saint +Augustine. Although the Bishop of Hippo was the oracle of the +Church, and no one disputed his authority, it would seem that his +characteristic doctrine,--that of grace; the essential doctrine of +Luther also,--was never a favorite one with the great churchmen of +the Middle Ages. They did not dispute Saint Augustine, but they +adhered to penances and expiations, which entered so largely into +the piety of the Middle Ages. The idea of penances and expiations, +pushed to their utmost logical sequence, was salvation by works and +not by faith. Grace, as understood by the Fathers, was closely +allied to predestination; it disdained the elaborate and cumbrous +machinery of ecclesiastical discipline, on which the power of the +clergy was based. Grace was opposed to penance, while penance was +the form which religion took; and as predestination was a +theological sequence of grace, it was distasteful to the Mediaeval +Church. Both grace and predestination tended to undermine the +system of penance then universally accepted. The great churchmen +of the Middle Ages were plainly at war with their great oracle in +this matter, without being fully aware of their real antagonism. +So they made an onslaught on Gottschalk, as opposed to those ideas +on which sacerdotal power rested,--especially did Hinemar, +Archbishop of Rheims, the greatest prelate of that age. +Persecuted, Gottschalk appealed to reason rather than authority, +thus anticipating Luther by five hundred years,--an immense heresy +in the Middle Ages. Hinemar, not being able to grapple with the +monk in argument, summoned to his aid the brightest intellect of +that century,--the first man who really gave an impulse to +philosophical inquiries in the Middle Ages, the true founder of +scholasticism. + +This man was John Scotus Erigena,--or John the Erin-born,--who was +also a monk, and whose early days had been spent in some secluded +monastery in Ireland, or the Scottish islands. Somehow he +attracted the attention of Charles the Bald, A. D. 843, and became +his guest and chosen companion. And yet, while he lived in the +court, he spent the most of his time in intellectual seclusion. As +a guest of the king he may have become acquainted with Hinemar, or +his acquaintance with Hinemar may have led to his friendship with +Charles. He was witty, bright, and learned, like Abelard, a +favorite with the great. In his treatise on Predestination, in +which he combated the views of Gottschalk, he probably went further +than Hinemar desired or expected: he boldly asserted the supremacy +of reason, and threw off the shackles of authority. He combated +Saint Augustine as well as Gottschalk. He even aspired to +reconcile free-will with the divine sovereignty,--the great mistake +of theologians in every age, the most hopeless and the most +ambitious effort of human genius,--a problem which cannot be +solved. He went even further than this: he attempted to harmonize +philosophy with religion, as Abelard did afterwards. He brought +all theological questions to the test of dialectical reasoning. +Thus the ninth century saw a rationalist and a pantheist at the +court of a Christian king. Like Democritus, he maintained the +eternity of matter. Like a Buddhist, he believed that God is all +things and all things are God. Such doctrines were not to be +tolerated, even in an age when theological speculations did not +usually provoke persecution. Religious persecution for opinions +was the fruit of subsequent inquiries, and did not reach its height +until the Dominicans arose in the thirteenth century. But Erigena +was generally denounced; he fell under the censure of the Pope, +and, probably on that account, took refuge about the year 882 in +England,--it is said at Oxford, where there was probably a +cathedral school, but not as yet a university, with its professors' +chairs and scholastic honors. Others suppose that he died in +Paris, 891. + +A spirit of inquiry having been thus awakened among a few +intellectual monks, they began to speculate about those questions +which had agitated the Grecian schools: whether genera and species-- +called "universals," or ideas--have a substantial and independent +existence, or whether they are the creation of our own minds; +whether, if they have a real existence, they are material or +immaterial essences; whether they exist apart from objects +perceptible by the senses. It is singular that such questions +should have been discussed in the ninth century, since neither +Plato nor Aristotle were studied. Unless in the Irish monastic +schools, it may be doubted whether there was a Greek scholar in +Western Europe,--or even in Rome. + +No very remarkable man arose with a rationalizing spirit, after +Erigena, until Berengar of Tours in the eleventh century, who +maintained that in the Sacrament the presence of the body of Christ +involves no change in the nature and essence of the bread and wine. +He was opposed by Lanfranc. But the doctrine of transubstantiation +was too deeply grounded in the faith of Christendom to be easily +shaken. Controversies seemed to centre around the doctrine of the +real existence of ideas,--what are called "universals,"--which +doctrine was generally accepted. The monks, in this matter, +followed Saint Augustine, who was a realist, as were also the +orthodox leaders of the Church generally from his time to that of +Saint Bernard. It was a sequence of the belief in the doctrine of +the Trinity. + +No one of mark opposed the Realism which had now become one of the +accepted philosophical opinions of the age, until Roscelin, in the +latter part of the eleventh century, denied that universals have a +real existence. It was Plato's doctrine that universals have an +independent existence apart from individual objects, and that they +exist before the latter (universalia ANTE rem,--the thought BEFORE +the thing); while Aristotle maintained that universals, though +possessing a real existence, exist only in individual objects +(universalia IN re,--the thought IN the thing). Nominalism is the +doctrine that individuals only have real existence (universalia +POST rem,--the thought AFTER the thing). + +It is not probable that this profound question about universals +would have excited much interest among the intellectual monks of +the eleventh century, had it not been applied to theological +subjects, in which chiefly they were absorbed. Now Roscelin +advanced the doctrine, that, if the three persons in the Trinity +were one thing, it would follow that the Father and the Holy Ghost +must have entered into the flesh together with the Son; and as he +believed that only individuals exist in reality, it would follow +that the three persons of the Godhead are three substances, in fact +three Gods. Thus Nominalism logically led to an assault on the +received doctrine of the Trinity--the central point in the theology +of the Church. This was heresy. The foundations of Christian +belief were attacked, and no one in that age was strong enough to +come to the rescue but Anselm, then Abbot of Bec. + +His great service to the cause of Christian theology, and therefore +to the Church universal, was his exposition of the logical results +of the Nominalism of Roscelin,--to whom universals, or ideas, were +merely creations of the mind, or conventional phrases, having no +real existence. Hence such things as love, friendship, beauty, +justice, were only conceptions. Plato and Augustine maintained +that they are eternal verities, not to be explained by definitions, +appealing to consciousness, in the firm belief in which the soul +sustains itself; that there can be no certain knowledge without a +recognition of these; that from these only sound deductions of +moral truth can be drawn; that without a firm belief in these +eternal certitudes there can be no repose and no lofty faith. +These ideas are independent of us. They do not vary with our +changing sensations; they have nothing to do with sensation. They +are not creations of the brain; they inherently exist, from all +eternity. The substance of these ideas is God; without these we +could not conceive of God. Augustine especially, in the true +spirit of Platonism, abhorred doctrines which made the existence of +God depend upon our own abstractions. To him there was a reality +in love, in friendship, in justice, in beauty; and he repelled +scepticism as to their eternal existence, as life repels death. + +Roscelin took away the platform from whose lofty heights Socrates +and Plato would survey the universe. He attacked the citadel in +which Augustine intrenched himself amid the desolations of a +dissolving world; he laid the axe at the root of the tree which +sheltered all those who would fly from uncertainty and despair. + +But if these ideas were not true, what was true; on what were the +hopes of the world to be based; where was consolation for the +miseries of life to be found? "There are many goods," says Anselm, +"which we desire,--some for utility, and others for beauty; but all +these goods are relative,--more or less good,--and imply something +absolutely good. This absolute good--the summum bonum--is God. In +like manner all that is great and high are only relatively great +and high; and hence there must be something absolutely great and +high, and this is God. There must exist at least one being than +which no other is higher; hence there must be but one such being,-- +and this is God." + +It was thus that Anselm brought philosophy to the support of +theology. He would combat the philosophical reasonings of Roscelin +with still keener dialectics. He would conquer him on his own +ground and with his own weapons. + +Let it not be supposed that this controversy about universals was a +mere dialectical tournament, with no grand results. It goes down +to the root of almost every great subject in philosophy and +religion. The denial of universal ideas is rationalism and +materialism in philosophy, as it is Pelagianism and Arminianism in +theology. The Nominalism of Roscelin reappeared in the rationalism +of Abelard; and, carried out to its severe logical sequences, is +the refusal to accept any doctrine which cannot be proved by +reason. Hence nothing is to be accepted which is beyond the +province of reason to explain; and hence nothing is to be received +by faith alone. Christianity, in the hands of fearless and logical +nominalists, would melt away,--that is, what is peculiar in its +mysterious dogmas. Its mysterious dogmas were the anchors of +belief in ages of faith. It was these which animated the existence +of such men as Augustine, Bernard, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas. +Hence their terrible antagonism even to philosophical doctrines +which conflicted with the orthodox belief, on which, as they +thought, the salvation of mankind rested. + +But Anselm did not rest with combating the Nominalism of Roscelin. +In the course of his inquiries and arguments he felt it necessary +to establish the belief in God--the one great thing from which all +other questions radiated--by a new argument, and on firmer ground +than that on which it had hitherto rested. He was profoundly +devotional as well as logical, and original as he was learned. +Beyond all the monks of his age he lived in the contemplation of +God. God was to him the essence of all good, the end of all +inquiries, the joy and repose of his soul. He could not understand +unless he FIRST believed; knowledge was the FRUIT of faith, not its +CAUSE. The idea of God in the mind of man is the highest proof of +the existence of God. That only is real which appeals to +consciousness. He did not care to reason about a thing when +reasoning would not strengthen his convictions, perhaps involve him +in doubts and perplexities. Reason is finite and clouded and +warped. But that which directly appeals to consciousness (as all +that is eternal must appeal), and to that alone, like beauty and +justice and love,--ultimate ideas to which reasoning and +definitions add nothing,--is to be received as a final certitude. +Hence, absolute certainty of the existence of God, as it appeals to +consciousness,--like the "Cogito, ergo sum." In this argument he +anticipated Descartes, and proved himself the profoundest thinker +of his century, perhaps of five centuries. + +The deductions which Anselm made from the attributes of God and his +moral government seem to have strengthened the belief of the Middle +Ages in some theological aspects which are repulsive to +consciousness,--his stronghold; thereby showing how one-sided any +deductions are apt to be when pushed out to their utmost logical +consequences; how they may even become a rebuke to human reason in +those grand efforts of which reason is most proud, for theology, it +must be borne in mind, is a science of deductions from acknowledged +truths of revelation. Hence, from the imperfections of reason, or +from disregard of other established truths, deductions may be +pushed to absurdity even when logical, and may be made to conflict +with the obvious meaning of primal truths from which these +deductions are made, or at least with those intuitions which are +hard to be distinguished from consciousness itself. There may be +no flaw in the argument, but the argument may land one in absurdity +and contradiction. For instance, from the acknowledged sinfulness +of human nature--one of the cardinal declarations of Scripture, and +confirmed by universal experience--and the equally fundamental +truth that God is infinite, Anselm assumed the dogma that the guilt +of men as sinners against an infinite God is infinitely great. +From this premise, which few in his age were disposed to deny, for +it was in accordance with Saint Augustine, it follows that infinite +sin, according to eternal justice, could only be atoned for by an +infinite punishment. Hence all men deserve eternal punishment, and +must receive it, unless there be made an infinite satisfaction or +atonement, since not otherwise can divine love be harmonized with +divine justice. Hence it was necessary that the eternal Son should +become man, and make, by his voluntary death on the cross, the +necessary atonement for human sins. Pushed out to the severest +logical consequences, it would follow, that, as an infinite +satisfaction has atoned for sin, ALL sinners are pardoned. But the +Church shrank from such a conclusion, although logical, and +included in the benefits of the atonement only the BELIEVING +portion of mankind. The discrepancy between the logical deductions +and consciousness, and I may add Scripture, lies in assuming that +human guilt IS INFINITELY great. It is thus that theology became +complicated, even gloomy, and in some points false, by metaphysical +reasonings, which had such a charm both to the Fathers and the +Schoolmen. The attempt to reconcile divine justice with divine +love by metaphysics and abstruse reasoning proved as futile as the +attempt to reconcile free-will with predestination; for divine +justice was made by deduction, without reference to other +attributes, to conflict with those ideas of justice which +consciousness attests,--even as a fettered will, of which all are +conscious (that is, a will fettered by sin), was pushed out by +logical deductions into absolute slavery and impotence. + +Anselm did not carry out metaphysical reasonings to such lengths as +did the Schoolmen who succeeded him,--those dialecticians who lived +in universities in the thirteenth century. He was a devout man, +who meditated on God and on revealed truth with awe and reverence, +without any desire of system-making or dialectical victories. This +desire more properly marked the Scholastic doctors of the +universities in a subsequent age, when, though philosophy had been +invoked by Anselm to support theology, they virtually made theology +subordinate to philosophy. It was his main effort to establish, on +rational grounds, the existence of God, and afterwards the +doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. And yet with Anselm +and Roscelin the Scholastic age began. They were the founders of +the Realists and the Nominalists,--those two schools which divided +the Church in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and which will +probably go on together, under different names, as long as men +shall believe and doubt. But this subject, on which I have only +entered, must be deferred to the next lecture. + + +AUTHORITIES. + +Church's Life of Saint Anselm; Neander's Church History; Milman's +History of the Latin Church; Stockl's History of the Philosophy of +the Middle Ages; Ueberweg's History of Philosophy; Wordsworth's +Ecclesiastical Biography; Trench's Mediaeval Church history; +Digby's Ages of Faith; Fleury's Ecclesiastical History; Dupin's +Ecclesiastical History; Biographie Universelle; M. Rousselot's +Histoire de la Philosophie du Moyen Age; Newman's Mission of the +Benedictine Order; Dugdale's Monasticon; Hallam's Literature of +Europe; Hampden's article on the Scholastic Philosophy, in +Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. + + + +THOMAS AQUINAS + +A. D. 1225(7)-1274. + +THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY. + + +We have seen how the cloister life of the Middle Ages developed +meditative habits of mind, which were followed by a spirit of +inquiry on deep theological questions. We have now to consider a +great intellectual movement, stimulated by the effort to bring +philosophy to the aid of theology, and thus more effectually to +battle with insidious and rising heresies. The most illustrious +representative of this movement was Thomas of Aquino, generally +called Thomas Aquinas. With him we associate the Scholastic +Philosophy, which, though barren in the results at which it aimed, +led to a remarkable intellectual activity, and hence, indirectly, +to the emancipation of the mind. It furnished teachers who +prepared the way for the great lights of the Reformation. + +Anselm had successfully battled with the rationalism of Roscelin, +and also had furnished a new argument for the existence of God. He +secured the triumph of Realism for a time and the apparent +extinction of heresy. But a new impulse to thought was given, soon +after his death, by a less profound but more popular and brilliant +man, and, like him, a monk. This was the celebrated Peter Abelard, +born in the year 1079, in Brittany, of noble parents, and a boy of +remarkable precocity. He was a sort of knight-errant of +philosophy, going from convent to convent and from school to +school, disputing, while a mere youth, with learned teachers, +wherever he could find them. Having vanquished the masters in the +provincial schools, he turned his steps to Paris, at that time the +intellectual centre of Europe. The university was not yet +established, but the cathedral school of Notre Dame was presided +over by William of Champeaux, who defended the Realism of Anselm. + +To this famous cathedral school Abelard came as a pupil of the +veteran dialectician at the age of twenty, and dared to dispute his +doctrines. He soon set up as a teacher himself; but as Notre Dame +was interdicted to him he retired to Melun, ten leagues from Paris, +where enthusiastic pupils crowded to his lecture room, for he was +witty, bold, sarcastic, acute, and eloquent. He afterwards removed +to Paris, and so completely discomfited his old master that he +retired from the field. Abelard then applied himself to the study +of divinity, and attended the lectures of Anselm of Laon, who, +though an old man, was treated by Abelard with great flippancy and +arrogance. He then began to lee-tare on divinity as well as +philosophy, with extraordinary eclat. Students flocked to his +lecture room from all parts of Germany, Italy, France, and England. +It is said that five thousand young men attended his lectures, +among whom one hundred were destined to be prelates, including that +brilliant and able Italian who afterwards reigned as Innocent III. +It was about this time, 1117, when he was thirty-eight, that he +encountered Heloise,--a passage of his life which will be +considered in a later volume of this work. His unfortunate love +and his cruel misfortune led to a temporary seclusion in a convent, +from which, however, he issued to lecture with renewed popularity +in a desert place in Champagne, where he constructed a vast edifice +and dedicated it to the Paraclete. It was here that his most +brilliant days were spent. It is said that three thousand pupils +followed him to this wilderness. He was doubtless the most +brilliant and successful lecturer that the Middle Ages ever saw. +He continued the controversy which was begun by Roscelin respecting +universals, the reality or which he denied. + +Abelard was not acquainted with the Greek, but in a Latin +translation from the Arabic he had studied Aristotle, whom he +regarded as the great master of dialectics, although not making use +of his method, as did the great Scholastics of the succeeding +century. Still, he was among the first to apply dialectics to +theology. He maintained a certain independence of the patristic +authority by his "Sic et Non," in which treatise he makes the +authorities neutralize each other by placing side by side +contradictory assertions. He maintained that the natural +propensity to evil, in consequence of the original transgression, +is not in itself sin; that sin consists in consenting to evil. "It +is not," said he, "the temptation to lust that is sinful, but the +acquiescence in the temptation;" hence, that virtue cannot be +tested without temptations; consequently, that moral worth can only +be truly estimated by God, to whom motives are known,--in short, +that sin consists in the intention, and not in act. He admitted +with Anselm that faith, in a certain sense, precedes knowledge, but +insisted that one must know why and what he believes before his +faith is established; hence, that faith works itself out of doubt +by means of rational investigation. + +The tendency of Abelard's teachings was rationalistic, and +therefore he arrayed against himself the great champion of +orthodoxy in his day,--Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, the most +influential churchman of his age, and the most devout and lofty. +His immense influence was based on his learning and sanctity; but +he was dogmatic and intolerant. It is probable that the +intellectual arrogance of Abelard, his flippancy and his sarcasms, +offended more than the matter of his lectures. "It is not by +industry," said he, "that I have reached the heights of philosophy, +but by force of genius." He was more admired by young and worldly +men than by old men. He was the admiration of women, for he was +poet as well as philosopher. His love-songs were scattered over +Europe. With a proud and aristocratic bearing, severe yet +negligent dress, beautiful and noble figure, musical and electrical +voice, added to the impression he made by his wit and dialectical +power, no man ever commanded greater admiration from those who +listened to him. But he excited envy as well as admiration, and +was probably misrepresented by his opponents. Like all strong and +original characters, he had bitter enemies as well as admiring +friends; and these enemies exaggerated his failings and his +heretical opinions. Therefore he was summoned before the Council +of Soissons, and condemned to perpetual silence. From this he +appealed to Rome, and Rome sided with his enemies. He found a +retreat, after his condemnation, in the abbey of Cluny, and died in +the arms of his friend Peter the Venerable, the most benignant +ecclesiastic of the century, who venerated his genius and defended +his orthodoxy, and whose influence procured him absolution from the +Pope. + +But whatever were the faults of Abelard; however selfish he was in +his treatment of Heloise, or proud and provoking to adversaries, or +even heretical in many of his doctrines, especially in reference to +faith, which he is accused of undermining, although he accepted in +the main the received doctrines of the Church, certainly in his +latter days, when he was broken and penitent (for no great man ever +suffered more humiliating misfortunes),--one thing is clear, that +he gave a stimulus to philosophical inquiries, and awakened a +desire of knowledge, and gave dignity to human reason, beyond any +man in the Middle Ages. + +The dialectical and controversial spirit awakened by Abelard led to +such a variety of opinions among the inquiring young men who +assembled in Paris at the various schools, some of which were +regarded as rationalistic in their tendency, or at least a +departure from the patristic standard, that Peter Lombard, Bishop +of Paris, collected in four books the various sayings of the +Fathers concerning theological dogmas. He was also influenced to +make this exposition by the "Sic et Non" of Abelard, which tended +to unsettle belief. This famous manual, called the "Book of +Sentences," appeared about the middle of the twelfth century, and +had an immense influence. It was the great text-book of the +theological schools. + +About the time this book appeared the works of Aristotle were +introduced to the attention of students, translated into Latin from +the Saracenic language. Aristotle had already been commented upon +by Arabian scholars in Spain,--among whom Averroes, a physician and +mathematician of Cordova, was the most distinguished,--who regarded +the Greek philosopher as the founder of scientific knowledge. His +works were translated from the Greek into the Arabic in the early +part of the ninth century. + +The introduction of Aristotle led to an extension of philosophical +studies. From the time of Charlemagne only grammar and elementary +logic and dogmatic theology had been taught, but Abelard introduced +dialectics into theology. A more complete method was required than +that which the existing schools furnished, and this was supplied by +the dialectics of Aristotle. He became, therefore, at the close of +the twelfth century, an acknowledged authority, and his method was +adopted to support the dogmas of the Church. + +Meanwhile the press of students at Paris, collected into various +schools,--the chief of which were the theological school of Notre +Dame, and the school of logic at Mount Genevieve, where Abelard had +lectured,--demanded a new organization. The teachers and pupils of +these schools then formed a corporation called a university +(Universitas magistrorum et Scholarium), under the control of the +chancellor and chapter of Notre Dame, whose corporate existence was +secured from Innocent III. a few years afterwards. + +Thus arose the University of Paris at the close of the twelfth +century, or about the beginning of the thirteenth, soon followed in +different parts of Europe by other universities, the most +distinguished of which were those of Oxford, Bologna, Padua, and +Salamanca. But that of Paris took the lead, this city being the +intellectual centre of Europe even at that early day. Thither +flocked young men from Germany, England, and Italy, as well as from +all parts of France, to the number of twenty-five or thirty +thousand. These students were a motley crowd: some of them were +half-starved youth, with tattered, clothes, living in garrets and +unhealthy cells; others again were rich and noble,--but all were +eager for knowledge. They came to Paris as pilgrims flocked to +Jerusalem, being drawn by the fame of the lecturers. The quiet old +schools of the convents were deserted, for who would go to Fulda or +York or Citeaux, when such men as Abelard, Albert, and Victor were +dazzling enthusiastic youth by their brilliant disputations? These +young men also seem to have been noisy, turbulent, and dissipated +for the most part, "filling the streets with their brawls and the +taverns with the fumes of liquor. There was no such thing as +discipline among them. They yelled and shouted and brandished +daggers, fought the townspeople, and were free with their knocks +and blows." They were not all youth; many of them were men in +middle life, with wives and children. At that time no one finished +his education at twenty-one; some remained scholars until the age +of thirty-five. + +Some of these students came to study medicine, others law, but more +theology and philosophy. The headquarters of theology was the +Sorbonne, opened in 1253,--a college founded by Robert Sorbon, +chaplain of the king, whose aim was to bring together the students +and professors, heretofore scattered throughout the city. The +students of this college, which formed a part of the university, +under the rule of the chancellor of Notre Dame, it would seem were +more orderly and studious than the other students. They arose at +five, assisted at Mass at six, studied till ten,--the dinner hour; +from dinner till five they studied or attended lectures; then went +to supper,--the principal meal; after which they discussed problems +till nine or ten, when they went to bed. The students were divided +into hospites and socii, the latter of whom carried on the +administration. The lectures were given in a large hall, in the +middle of which was the chair of the master or doctor, while +immediately below him sat his assistant, the bachelor, who was +going through his training for a professorship. The chair of +theology was the most coveted honor of the university, and was +reached only by a long course of study and searching examinations, +to which no one could aspire but the most learned and gifted of the +doctors. The students sat around on benches, or on the straw. +There were no writing-desks. The teaching was oral, principally by +questions and answers. Neither the master nor the bachelor used a +book. No reading was allowed. The students rarely took notes or +wrote in short-hand; they listened to the lectures and wrote them +down afterwards, so far as their memory served them. The usual +text-book was the "Book of Sentences," by Peter Lombard. The +bachelor, after having previously studied ten years, was obliged to +go through a three years' drill, and then submit to a public +examination in presence of the whole university before he was +thought fit to teach. He could not then receive his master's badge +until he had successfully maintained a public disputation on some +thesis proposed; and even then he stood no chance of being elevated +to a professor's chair unless he had lectured for some time with +great eclat. Even Albertus Magnus, fresh with the laurels of +Cologne, was compelled to go through a three years' course as a +sub-teacher at Paris before he received his doctor's cap, and to +lecture for some years more as master before his transcendent +abilities were rewarded with a professorship. The dean of the +faculty of theology was chosen by the suffrages of the doctors. + +The Organum (philosophy of first principles) of Aristotle was first +publicly taught in 1215. This was certainly in advance of the seven +liberal arts which were studied in the old Cathedral schools,-- +grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (Trivium); and arithmetic, +geometry, music, and astronomy (Quadrivium),--for only the elements +of these were taught. But philosophy and theology, under the +teaching of the Scholastic doctors (Doctores Scholastici), taxed +severely the intellectual powers. When they introduced dialectics +to support theology a more severe method was required. "The method +consisted in connecting the doctrine to be expounded with a +commentary on some work chosen for the purpose. The contents were +divided and subdivided, until the several propositions of which it +was composed were reached. Then these were interpreted, questions +were raised in reference to them, and the grounds of affirming or +denying were presented. Then the decision was announced, and in +case this was affirmative, the grounds of the negative were +confuted." + +Aristotle was made use of in order to reduce to scientific form a +body of dogmatic teachings, or to introduce a logical arrangement. +Platonism, embraced by the early Fathers, was a collection of +abstractions and theories, but was deficient in method. It did not +furnish the weapons to assail heresy with effect. But Aristotle +was logical and precise and passionless. He examined the nature of +language, and was clear and accurate in his definitions. His logic +was studied with the sole view of learning to use polemical +weapons. For this end the syllogism was introduced, which descends +from the universal to the particular, by deduction,--connecting the +general with the special by means of a middle term which is common +to both. This mode of reasoning is opposite to the method by +induction, which rises to the universal from a comparison of the +single and particular, or, as applied in science, from a collection +and collation of facts sufficient to form a certainty or high +probability. A sound special deduction can be arrived at only by +logical inference from true and certain general principles. + +This is what Anselm essayed to do; but the Schoolmen who succeeded +Abelard often drew dialectical inferences from what appeared to be +true, while some of them were so sophistical as to argue from false +premises. This syllogistic reasoning, in the hands of an acute +dialectician, was very efficient in overthrowing an antagonist, or +turning his position into absurdity, but not favorable for the +discovery of truth, since it aimed no higher than the establishment +of the particulars which were included in the doctrine assumed or +deduced from it. It was reasoning in perpetual circles; it was +full of quibbles and sophistries; it was ingenious, subtle, acute, +very attractive to the minds of that age, and inexhaustible from +divisions and subdivisions and endless ramifications. It made the +contests of the schools a dialectical display of remarkable powers +in which great interest was felt, yet but little knowledge was +acquired. In one respect the Scholastic doctors rendered a +service: they demolished all dreamy theories and poured contempt on +mystical phrases. They insisted, like Socrates, on a definite +meaning to words. If they were hair-splitting in their definitions +and distinctions, they were at least clear and precise. Their +method was scientific. Such terms and expressions as are +frequently used by our modern transcendental philosophers would +have been laughed to scorn by the Schoolmen. No system of +philosophy can be built up when words have no definite meaning. +This Socrates was the first to inculcate, and Aristotle followed in +his steps. + + +With the Crusades arose a new spirit, which gave an impulse to +philosophy as well as to art and enterprise. "The primum mobile of +the new system was Motion, in distinction from the rest which +marked the old monastic retreats." An immense enthusiasm for +knowledge had been kindled by Abelard, which was further +intensified by the Scholastic doctors of the thirteenth century, +especially such of them as belonged to the Dominican and Franciscan +friars. + +These celebrated Orders arose at a great crisis in the Papal +history, when rival popes aspired to the throne of Saint Peter, +when the Church was rent with divisions, when princes were +contending for the right of investiture, and when heretical +opinions were defended by men of genius. At this crisis a great +Pope was called to the government of the Church,--Innocent III., +under whose able rule the papal power culminated. He belonged to +an illustrious Roman family, and received an unusual education, +being versed in theology, philosophy, and canon law. His name was +Lothario, of the family of the Conti; he was nephew of a pope, and +counted three cardinals among his relatives. At the age of twenty- +one, about the year 1181, he was one of the canons of Saint Peter's +Church; at twenty-four he was sent by the Pope on important +missions. In 1188 he was created cardinal by his uncle, Clement +III.; and in 1198 he was elected Pope, at the age of thirty-eight, +when the Crusades were at their height, when the south of France +was agitated by the opinions of the Albigenses, and the provinces +on the Rhine by those of the Waldenses. It was a turbulent age, +full of tumults, insurrections, wars, and theological dissensions. +The old monastic orders had degenerated and lost influence through +idleness and self-indulgence, while the secular clergy were +scarcely any better. Innocent cast his eagle eye into all the +abuses which disgraced the age and Church, and made fearless war +upon those princes who usurped his prerogatives. He excommunicated +princes, humbled the Emperor of Germany and the King of England, +put kingdoms under interdict, exempted abbots from the jurisdiction +of bishops, punished heretics, formed crusades, laid down new +canons, regulated taxes, and directed all ecclesiastical movements. +His activity was ceaseless, and his ambition was boundless. He +instituted important changes, and added new orders of monks to the +Church. It was this Pope who made auricular confession obligatory, +thus laying the foundation of an imperious spiritual sway in the +form of inquisitions. + +A firm guardian of public morals, his private life was above +reproach. His habits were simple and his tastes were cultivated. +He was charitable and kind to the poor and unfortunate. He spent +his enormous revenues in building churches, endowing hospitals, and +rewarding learned men; and otherwise showed himself the friend of +scholars, and the patron of benevolent movements. He was a +reformer of abuses, publishing the most severe acts against +venality, and deciding quarrels on principles of justice. He had +no dramatic conflicts like Hildebrand, for his authority was +established. As the supreme guardian of the interests of the +Church he seldom made demands which he had not the power to +enforce. John of England attempted resistance, but was compelled +to submit. Innocent even gave the arch-bishopric of Canterbury to +one of his cardinals, Stephen Langton, against the wishes of a +Norman king. He made Philip II take back his lawful wife; he +nominated an emperor to the throne of Constantine; he compelled +France to make war on England, and incited the barons to rebellion +against John. Ten years' civil war in Germany was the fruit of his +astute policy, and the only great failure of his administration was +that he could not exempt Italy from the dominion of the Emperors of +Germany, thus giving rise to the two great political parties of the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,--the Guelphs and Ghibellines. + +To cement his vast spiritual power and to add to the usefulness and +glory of the Church, he not only countenanced but encouraged the +Mendicant Friars, established by Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint +Dominic of the great family of the Guzmans in Spain. These men +made substantially the same offers to the Pope that Ignatius Loyola +did in after times,--to go where they were sent as teachers, +preachers, and missionaries without condition or reward. They +renounced riches, professed absolute poverty, and wandered from +village to city barefooted, and subsisting entirely on alms as +beggars. The Dominican friar in his black habit, and the +Franciscan in his gray, became the ablest and most effective +preachers of the thirteenth century. The Dominicans confined their +teachings to the upper classes, and became their favorite +confessors. They were the most learned men of the thirteenth +century, and also the most reproachless in morals. The Franciscans +were itinerary preachers to the common people, and created among +them the same religious revival that the Methodists did later in +England under the guidance of Wesley. The founder of the +Franciscans was a man who seemed to be "inebriated with love," so +unquenchable was his charity, rapt his devotions, and supernal his +sympathy. He found his way to Rome in the year 1215, and in +twenty-two years after his death there were nine thousand religious +houses of his Order. In a century from his death the friars +numbered one hundred and fifty thousand. The increase of the +Dominicans was not so rapid, but more illustrious men belonged to +this institution. It is affirmed that it produced seventy +cardinals, four hundred and sixty bishops, and four popes. + + +It was in the palmy days of these celebrated monks, before +corruption had set in, that the Dominican Order was recruited with +one of the most extraordinary men of the Middle Ages. This man was +Saint Thomas, born 1225 or 1227, son of a Count of Aquino in the +kingdom of Naples, known in history as Thomas Aquinas, "the most +successful organizer of knowledge," says Archbishop Trench, "the +world has known since Aristotle." He was called "the angelical +doctor," exciting the enthusiasm of his age for his learning and +piety and genius alike. He was a prodigy and a marvel of +dialectical skill, and Catholic writers have exhausted language to +find expressions for their admiration. Their Lives of him are an +unbounded panegyric for the sweetness of his temper, his wonderful +self-control, his lofty devotion to study, his indifference to +praises and rewards, his spiritual devotion, his loyalty to the +Church, his marvellous acuteness of intellect, his industry, and +his unparalleled logical victories. When he was five years of age +his father, a noble of very high rank, sent him to Monte Cassino +with the hope that he would become a Benedictine monk, and +ultimately abbot of that famous monastery, with the control of its +vast revenues and patronage. Here he remained seven years, until +the convent was taken and sacked by the soldiers of the Emperor +Frederic in his war with the Pope. The young Aquino returned to +his father's castle, and was then sent to Naples to be educated at +the university, living in a Benedictine abbey, and not in lodgings +like other students. The Dominicans and Franciscans held chairs in +the university, one of which was filled with a man of great +ability, whose preaching and teaching had such great influence on +the youthful Thomas that he resolved to join the Order, and at the +age of seventeen became a Dominican friar, to the disappointment of +his family. His mother Theodora went to Naples to extricate him +from the hands of the Dominicans, who secretly hurried him off to +Rome and guarded him in their convent, from which he was rescued by +violence. But the youth persisted in his intentions against the +most passionate entreaties of his mother, made his escape, and was +carried back to Naples. The Pope, at the solicitation of his +family, offered to make him Abbot of Monte Cassino, but he remained +a poor Dominican. His superior, seeing his remarkable talents, +sent him to Cologne to attend the lectures of Albertus Magnus, then +the most able expounder of the Scholastic Philosophy, and the +oracle of the universities, who continued his lectures after he was +made a bishop, and even until he was eighty-five. When Albertus +was transferred from Cologne to Paris, where the Dominicans held +two chairs of theology, Thomas followed him, and soon after was +made bachelor. Again was Albert sent back to Cologne, and Thomas +was made his assistant professor. He at once attracted attention, +was ordained priest, and became as famous for his sermons as for +his lectures. After four years at Cologne Thomas was ordered back +to Paris, travelling on foot, and begging his way, yet stopping to +preach in the large cities. He was still magister and Albert +professor, but had greatly distinguished himself by his lectures. + +His appearance at this time was marked. His body was tall and +massive, but spare and lean from fasting and labor. His eyes were +bright, but their expression was most modest. His face was oblong, +his complexion sallow; his forehead depressed, his head large, his +person erect. + +His first great work was a commentary of about twelve hundred pages +on the "Book of Sentences," in the Parma edition, which was +received with great admiration for its logical precision, and its +opposition to the rationalistic tendencies of the times. In it are +discussed all the great theological questions treated by Saint +Angustine,--God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, grace, predestination, +faith, free-will, Providence, and the like,--blended with +metaphysical discussions on the soul, the existence of evil, the +nature of angels, and other subjects which interested the Middle +Ages. Such was his fame and dialectical skill that he was taken +away from his teachings and sent to Rome to defend his Order and +the cause of orthodoxy against the slanders of William of Saint +Amour, an aristocratic doctor, who hated the Mendicant Friars and +their wandering and begging habits. William had written a book +called "Perils" in which he exposed the dangers to be apprehended +from the new order of monks, in which he proved himself a true +prophet, for ultimately the Mendicant Friars became subjects of +ridicule and reproach. But the Pope came to the rescue of his best +supporters. + +On the return of Thomas to Paris he was made doctor of theology, at +the same time with Bonaventura the Franciscan, called "the seraphic +doctor," between whom and Thomas were intimate ties of friendship. +He had now reached the highest honor that the university could +bestow, which was conferred with such extraordinary ceremony that +it would seem to have been a great event in Paris at that time. + +His fame chiefly rests on the ablest treatise written in the Middle +Ages,--the "Summa Theologica,"--in which all the great questions in +theology and philosophy are minutely discussed, in the most +exhaustive manner. He took the side of the Realists, his object +being to uphold Saint Augustine. He was, more a Platonist in his +spirit than an Aristotelian, although he was indebted to Aristotle +for his method. He appealed to both reason and authority. He +presented the Christian religion in a scientific form. His book is +an assimilation of all that is precious in the thinking of the +Church. If he learned many things at Paris, Cologne, and Naples, +he was also educated by Chrysostom, by Augustine, and Ambrose. "It +is impossible," says Cardinal Newman, and no authority is higher +than his, "to read the Catena of Saint Thomas without being struck +by the masterly skill with which he put it together. A learning of +the highest kind,--not mere literary book knowledge which may have +supplied the place of indexes and tables in ages destitute of these +helps, and when they had to be read in unarranged and fragmentary +manuscripts, but a thorough acquaintance with the whole range of +ecclesiastical antiquity, so as to be able to bring the substance +of all that had been written on any point to bear upon the text +which involved it,--a familiarity with the style of each writer so +as to compress in a few words the pith of the whole page, and a +power of clear and orderly arrangement in this mass of knowledge, +are qualities which make this Catena nearly perfect as an +interpretation of Patristic literature." Dr. Vaughan, in +eulogistic language, says "The 'Summa Theologica' may be likened to +one of the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages, infinite in detail +but massive in the grouping of pillars and arches, forming a +complete unity that must have taxed the brain of the architect to +its greatest extent. But greater as work of intellect is this +digest of all theological richness for one thousand years, in which +the thread of discourse is never lost sight of, but winds through a +labyrinth of important discussions and digressions, all bearing on +the fundamental truths which Paul declared and Augustine +systematized." + +This treatise would seem to be a thesaurus of both Patristic and +Mediaeval learning; not a dictionary of knowledge, but a system of +truth severely elaborated in every part,--a work to be studied by +the Mediaeval students as Calvin's "Institutes" were by the +scholars of the Reformation, and not far different in its scope and +end; for the Patristic, the Mediaeval, and the Protestant divines +did not materially differ in reference to the fundamental truths +pertaining to God, the Incarnation, and Redemption. The Catholic +and Protestant divines differ chiefly on the ideas pertaining to +government and ecclesiastical institutions, and the various +inventions of the Middle Ages to uphold the authority of the +Church, not on dogmas strictly theological. A student in theology +could even in our times sit at the feet of Thomas Aquinas, as he +could at the feet of Augustine or Calvin; except that in the +theology which Thomas Aquinas commented upon there is a cumbrous +method, borrowed from Aristotle, which introduced infinite +distinctions and questions and definitions and deductions and +ramifications which have no charm to men who have other things to +occupy their minds than Scholastic subtilties, acute and logical as +they may be. Thomas Aquinas was raised to combat, with the weapons +most esteemed in his day, the various forms of Rationalism, +Pantheism, and Mysticism which then existed, and were included in +the Nominalism of his antagonists. And as long as universities are +centres of inquiry the same errors, under other names, will have to +be combated, but probably not with the same methods which marked +the teachings of the "angelical doctor." In demolishing errors and +systematizing truth he was the greatest benefactor to the cause of +"orthodoxy" that appeared in Europe for several centuries, admired +for his genius as much as Spencer and other great lights of science +are in our day, but standing preeminent and lofty over all, like a +beacon light to give both guidance and warning to inquiring minds +in every part of Christendom. Nor could popes and sovereigns +render too great honor to such a prodigy of genius. They offered +him the abbacy of Monte Cassino and the archbishopric of Naples, +but he preferred the life of a quiet student, finding in knowledge +and study, for their own sake, the highest reward, and pursuing his +labors without the impedimenta of those high positions which +involve ceremonies and cares and pomps, yet which most ambitious +men love better than freedom, placidity, and intellectual repose. +He lived not in a palace, as he might have lived, surrounded with +flatterers, luxuries, and dignities, but in a cell, wearing his +simple black gown, and walking barefooted wherever he went, begging +his daily bread according to the rules of his Order. His black +gown was not an academic badge, but the Dominican dress. His only +badge of distinction was the doctors' cap. + +Dr. Vaughan, in his heavy and unartistic life of Thomas Aquinas, +has drawn a striking resemblance between Plato and the Mediaeval +doctor: "Both," he says, "were nobly born, both were grave from +youth, both loved truth with an intensity of devotion. If Plato +was instructed by Socrates, Aquinas was taught by Albertus Magnus; +if Plato travelled into Italy, Greece, and Egypt, Aquinas went to +Cologne, Naples, Bologna, and Rome; if Plato was famous for his +erudition, Aquinas was no less noted for his universal knowledge. +Both were naturally meek and gentle; both led lives of retirement +and contemplation; both loved solitude; both were celebrated for +self-control; both were brave; both held their pupils spell-bound +by their brilliant mental gifts; both passed their time in +lecturing to the schools (what the Pythagoreans were to Plato, the +Benedictines were to the angelical); both shrank from the display +of self; both were great dialecticians; both reposed on eternal +ideas; both were oracles to their generation." But if Aquinas had +the soul of Plato, he also had the scholastic gifts of Aristotle, +to whom the Church is indebted for method and nomenclature as it +was to Plato for synthesis and that exalted Realism which went hand +in hand with Christianity. How far he was indebted to Plato it is +difficult to say. He certainly had not studied his dialectics +through translations or in the original, but had probably imbibed +the spirit of this great philosopher through Saint Augustine and +other orthodox Fathers who were his admirers. + +Although both Plato and Aristotle accepted "universals" as the +foundation of scientific inquiry, the former arrived at them by +consciousness, and the other by reasoning. The spirit of the two +great masters of thought was as essentially different as their +habits and lives. Plato believed that God governed the world; +Aristotle believed that it was governed by chance. The former +maintained that mind is divine and eternal; the latter that it is a +form of the body, and consequently mortal. Plato thought that the +source of happiness was in virtue and resemblance to God; while +Aristotle placed it in riches and outward prosperity. Plato +believed in prayer; but Aristotle thought that God would not hear +or answer it, and therefore that it was useless. Plato believed in +happiness after death; while Aristotle supposed that death ended +all pleasure. Plato lived in the world of abstract ideas; +Aristotle in the realm of sense and observation. The one was +religious; the other secular and worldly. With both the passion +for knowledge was boundless, but they differed in their conceptions +of knowledge; the one basing it on eternal ideas and the deductions +to be drawn from them, and the other on physical science,--the +phenomena of Nature,--those things which are cognizable by the +senses. The spiritual life of Plato was "a longing after love and +of eternal ideas, by the contemplation of which the soul sustains +itself and becomes participant in immortality." The life of +Aristotle was not spiritual, but intellectual. He was an +incarnation of mere intellect, the architect of a great temple of +knowledge, which received the name of Organum, or the philosophy of +first principles. + +Thomas Aquinas, we may see from what has been said, was both +Platonic and Aristotelian. He resembled Plato in his deep and +pious meditations on the eternal realities of the spiritual world, +while in the severity of his logic he resembled Aristotle, from +whom he learned precision of language, lucidity of statement, and a +syllogistic mode of argument well calculated to confirm what was +already known, but not to make attainments in new fields of thought +or knowledge. If he was gentle and loving and pious like Plato, he +was also as calm and passionless as Aristotle. + +This great man died at the age of forty-eight, in the year 1274, a +few years after Saint Louis, before his sum of theology was +completed. He died prematurely, exhausted by his intense studies; +leaving, however, treatises which filled seventeen printed folio +volumes,--one of the most voluminous writers of the world. His +fame was prodigious, both as a dialectician and a saint, and he was +in due time canonized as one of the great pillars of the Church, +ranking after Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the +Great,--the standard authority for centuries of the Catholic +theology. + +The Scholastic Philosophy, which culminated in Thomas Aquinas, +maintained its position in the universities of Europe until the +Reformation, but declined in earnestness. It descended to the +discussion of unimportant and often frivolous questions. Even the +"angelical doctor" is quoted as discussing the absurd question as +to how many angels could dance together on the point of a needle. +The play of words became interminable. Things were lost sight of +in a barbarous jargon about questions which have no interest to +humanity, and which are utterly unintelligible. At the best, +logical processes can add nothing to the ideas from which they +start. When these ideas are lofty, discussion upon them elevates +the mind and doubtless strengthens its powers. But when the +subjects themselves are frivolous, the logical tournaments in their +defence degrade the intellect and narrow it. Nothing destroys +intellectual dignity more effectually than the waste of energies in +the defence of what is of no practical utility, and which cannot be +applied to the acquisition of solid knowledge. Hence the +Scholastic Philosophy did not advance knowledge, since it did not +seek the acquisition of new truths, but only the establishment of +the old. Its utility consisted in training the human mind to +logical reasonings. It exercised the intellect and strengthened +it, as gymnastics do the body, without enlarging it. It was +nothing but barren dialectics,--"dry bones," a perpetual fencing. +The soul cries out for bread; the Scholastics gave it a stone. + +We are amazed that intellectual giants, equal to the old Greeks in +acuteness and logical powers, could waste their time on the +frivolous questions and dialectical subtilties to which they +devoted their mighty powers. However interesting to them, nothing +is drier and duller to us, nothing more barren and unsatisfying, +than their logical sports. Their treatises are like trees with +endless branches, each leading to new ramifications, with no +central point in view, and hence never finished, and which might be +carried on ad infinitum. To attempt to read their disquisitions is +like walking in labyrinths of ever-opening intricacies. By such a +method no ultimate truth could be arrived at, beyond what was +assumed. There is now and then a man who professes to have derived +light and wisdom from those dialectical displays, since they were +doubtless marvels of logical precision and clearness of statement. +But in a practical point of view those "masterpieces of logic" are +utterly useless to most modern inquirers. These are interesting +only as they exhibit the waste of gigantic energies; they do not +even have the merit of illustrative rhetoric or eloquence. The +earlier monks were devout and spiritual, and we can still read +their lofty meditations with profit, since they elevate the soul +and make it pant for the beatitudes of spiritual communion with +God. But the writings of the Scholastic doctors are cold, calm, +passionless, and purely intellectual,--logical without being +edifying. We turn from them, however acute and able, with blended +disappointment and despair. They are fig-trees, bearing nothing +but leaves, such as our Lord did curse. The distinctions are +simply metaphysical, and not moral. + +Why the whole force of an awakening age should have been devoted to +such subtilties and barren discussion it is difficult to see, +unless they were found useful in supporting a theology made up of +metaphysical deductions rather than an interpretation of the +meaning of Scripture texts. But there was then no knowledge of +Greek or Hebrew; there was no exegetical research; there was no +science and no real learning. There was nothing but theology, with +the exception of Lives of the Saints. The horizon of human +inquiries was extremely narrow. But when the minds of very +intellectual men were directed to one particular field, it would be +natural to expect something remarkable and marvellously elaborate +of its kind. Such was the Scholastic Philosophy. As a mere +exhibition of dialectical acumen, minute distinctions, and logical +precision in the use of words, it was wonderful. The intricacy and +detail and ramifications of this system were an intellectual feat +which astonishes us, yet which does not instruct us, certainly +outside of a metaphysical divinity which had more charm to the men +of the Middle Ages than it can have to us, even in a theological +school where dogmatic divinity is made the most important study. +The day will soon come when the principal chair in the theological +school will be for the explanation of the Scripture texts on which +dogmas are based; and for this, great learning and scholarship will +be indispensable. To me it is surprising that metaphysics have so +long retained their hold on the minds of Protestant divines. +Nothing is more unsatisfactory, and to many more repellent, than +metaphysical divinity. It is a perversion of the spirit of +Christian teachings. "What says our Lord?" should be the great +inquiry in our schools of theology; not, What deductions can be +drawn from them by a process of ingenious reasoning which often, +without reference to other important truths, lands one in +absurdities, or at least in one-sided systems? + +But the metaphysical divinity of the Schoolmen had great +attractions to the students of the Middle Ages. And there must +have been something in it which we do not appreciate, or it would +not have maintained itself in the schools for three hundred years. +Perhaps it was what those ages needed, the discipline through which +the mind must go before it could be prepared for the scientific +investigations of our own times. In an important sense the +Scholastic doctors were the teachers of Luther and Bacon. +Certainly their unsatisfactory science was one of the marked +developments of the civilization of Europe, through which the +Gothic nations must need pass. It has been the fashion to ridicule +it and depreciate it in our modern times, especially among +Protestants, who have ridiculed and slandered the papal power and +all the institutions of the Middle Ages. Yet scholars might as +well ridicule the text-books they were required to study fifty +years ago, because they are not up to our times. We should not +disdain the early steps by which future progress is made easy. We +cannot despise men who gave up their lives to the contemplation of +subjects which demand the highest tension of the intellectual +faculties, even if these exercises were barren of utilitarian +results. Some future age may be surprised at the comparative +unimportance of questions which interest this generation. The +Scholastic Philosophy cannot indeed be utilized by us in the +pursuit of scientific knowledge; nor (to recur to Vaughan's simile +for the great work of Aquinas) can a mediaeval cathedral be +utilized for purposes of oratory or business. But the cathedral is +nevertheless a grand monument, suggesting lofty sentiments, which +it would be senseless and ruthless barbarism to destroy or allow to +fall into decay, but which should rather be preserved as a precious +memento of what is most poetic and attractive in the Middle Ages. +When any modern philosopher shall rear so gigantic and symmetrical +a monument of logical disquisitions as the "Summa Theologica" is +said to be by the most competent authorities, then the sneers of a +Macaulay or a Lewes will be entitled to more consideration. It is +said that a new edition of this great Mediaeval work is about to be +published under the direct auspices of the Pope, as the best and +most comprehensive system of Christian theology ever written by +man. + + +AUTHORITIES. + +Dr. Vaughan's Life of Thomas Aquinas; Histoire de la Vie et des +Ecrits de St. Thomas d'Aquin, par l'Abbe Bareille; Lacordaire's +Life of Saint Dominic; Dr. Hampden's Life of Thomas Aquinas; +article on Thomas Aquinas, in London Quarterly, July, 1881; Summa +Theologica; Neander, Milman, Fleury, Dupin, and Ecclesiastical +Histories generally; Biographie Universelle; Werner's Leben des +Heiligen Thomas von Aquino; Trench's Lectures on Mediaeval History; +Ueberweg & Rousselot's History of Philosophy. Dr. Hampden's +article, in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, on Thomas Aquinas and +the Scholastic Philosophy, is regarded by Hallam as the ablest view +of this subject which has appeared in English. + + + +THOMAS BECKET + +A. D. 1118-1170. + +PRELATICAL POWER. + + +A great deal has been written of late years on Thomas Becket, +Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Henry II.,--some +historians writing him up, and others writing him down; some making +him a martyr to the Church, and others representing him as an +ambitious prelate who encroached on royal authority,--more of a +rebel than a patriot. His history has become interesting, in view +of this very discrepancy of opinion,--like that of Oliver Cromwell, +one of those historical puzzles which always have attraction to +critics. And there is abundant material for either side we choose +to take. An advocate can make a case in reference to Becket's +career with more plausibility than about any other great character +in English history,--with the exception of Queen Elizabeth, +Cromwell, and Archbishop Laud. + +The cause of Becket was the cause of the Middle Ages. He was not +the advocate of fundamental principles, as were Burke and Bacon. +He fought either for himself, or for principles whose importance +has in a measure passed away. He was a high-churchman, who sought +to make the spiritual power independent of the temporal. He +appears in an interesting light only so far as the principles he +sought to establish were necessary for the elevation of society in +his ignorant and iron age. Moreover, it was his struggles which +give to his life its chief charm, and invest it with dramatic +interest. It was his energy, his audacity, his ability in +overcoming obstacles, which made him memorable,--one of the heroes +of history, like Ambrose and Hildebrand; an ecclesiastical warrior +who fought bravely, and died without seeing the fruits of his +bravery. + +There seems to be some discrepancy among historians as to Becket's +birth and origin, some making him out a pure Norman, and others a +Saxon, and others again half Saracen. But that is, after all, a +small matter, although the critics make a great thing of it. They +always are inclined to wrangle over unimportant points. Michelet +thinks he was a Saxon, and that his mother was a Saracen lady of +rank, who had become enamored of the Saxon when taken prisoner +while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and who returned with him +to England, embraced his religion, and was publicly baptized in +Saint Paul's Cathedral, her beauty and rank having won attention; +but Mr. Froude and Milman regard this as a late legend. + +It would seem, however, that he was born in London about the year +1118 or 1119, and that his father, Gilbert Becket, was probably a +respectable merchant and sheriff, or portreeve, of London, and was +a Norman. His parents died young, leaving him not well provided +for; but being beautiful and bright he was sent to school in an +abbey, and afterwards to Oxford. From Oxford he went into a house +of business in London for three years, and contrived to attract the +notice of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who saw his talents, +sent him to Paris, and thence to Bologna to study the canon law, +which was necessary to a young man who would rise in the world. He +was afterwards employed by Theobald in confidential negotiations. +The question of the day in England was whether Stephen's son +(Eustace) or Matilda's son (Henry of Anjou) was the true heir to +the crown, it being settled that Stephen should continue to rule +during his lifetime, and that Henry should peaceably follow him; +which happened in a little more than a year. Becket had espoused +the side of Henry. + +The reign of Henry II., during which Becket's memorable career took +place, was an important one. He united, through his mother +Matilda, the blood of the old Saxon kings with that of the Norman +dukes. He was the first truly English sovereign who had sat on the +throne since the Conquest. In his reign (1154-1189) the blending +of the Norman and Saxon races was effected. Villages and towns +rose around the castles of great Norman nobles and the cathedrals +and abbeys of Norman ecclesiastics. Ultimately these towns +obtained freedom. London became a great city with more than a +hundred churches. The castles, built during the disastrous civil +wars of Stephen's usurped reign, were demolished. Peace and order +were restored by a legitimate central power. + +Between the young monarch of twenty-two and Thomas, as a favorite +of Theobald and as Archdeacon of Canterbury, an intimacy sprang up. +Henry II. was the most powerful sovereign of Western Europe, since +he was not only King of England, but had inherited in France Anjou +and Touraine from his father, and Normandy and Maine from his +mother. By his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, he gained seven +other provinces as her dower. The dominions of Louis were not half +so great as his, even in France. And Henry was not only a powerful +sovereign by his great territorial possessions, but also for his +tact and ability. He saw the genius of Becket and made him his +chancellor, loading him with honors and perquisites and Church +benefices. + +The power of Becket as chancellor was very great, since he was +prime minister, and the civil administration of the kingdom was +chiefly intrusted to him, embracing nearly all the functions now +performed by the various members of the Cabinet. As chancellor he +rendered great services. He effected a decided improvement in the +state of the country; it was freed from robbers and bandits, and +brought under dominion of the law. He depressed the power of the +feudal nobles; he appointed the most deserving people to office; he +repaired the royal palaces, increased the royal revenues, and +promoted agricultural industry. He seems to have pursued a peace +policy. But he was headstrong and grasping. His style of life +when chancellor was for that age magnificent: Wolsey, in after +times, scarcely excelled him. His dress was as rich as barbaric +taste could make it,--for the more barbarous the age, the more +gorgeous is the attire of great dignitaries. "The hospitalities of +the chancellor were unbounded. He kept seven hundred horsemen +completely armed. The harnesses of his horses were embossed with +gold and silver. The most powerful nobles sent their sons to serve +in his household as pages; and nobles and knights waited in his +antechamber. There never passed a day when he did not make rich +presents." His expenditure was enormous. He rivalled the King in +magnificence. His sideboard was loaded with vessels of gold and +silver. He was doubtless ostentatious, but his hospitality was +free, and his person was as accessible as a primitive bishop. He +is accused of being light and frivolous; but this I doubt. He had +too many cares and duties for frivolity. He doubtless unbent. All +men loaded down with labors must unbend somewhere. It was nothing +against him that he told good stories at the royal table, or at his +own, surrounded by earls and barons. These relaxations preserved +in him elasticity of mind, without which the greatest genius soon +becomes a hack, a plodding piece of mechanism, a stupid lump of +learned dulness. But he was stained by no vices or excesses. He +was a man of indefatigable activity, and all his labors were in the +service of the Crown, to which, as chancellor, he was devoted, body +and soul. + +Is it strange that such a man should have been offered the See of +Canterbury on the death of Theobald? He had been devoted to his +royal master and friend; he enjoyed rich livings, and was +Archdeacon of Canterbury; he had shown no opposition to the royal +will. Moreover Henry wanted an able man for that exalted post, in +order to carry out his schemes of making himself independent of +priestly influence and papal interference. + +So Becket was made archbishop and primate of the English Church at +the age of forty-four, the clergy of the province acquiescing,-- +perhaps with secret complaints, for he was not even priest; merely +deacon, and the minister of an unscrupulous king. He was ordained +priest only just before receiving the primacy, and for that +purpose. + +Nothing in England could exceed the dignity of the See of +Canterbury. Even the archbishopric of York was subordinate. +Becket as metropolitan of the English Church was second in rank +only to the King himself. He could depose any ecclesiastic in the +realm. He had the exclusive privilege of crowning the king. His +decisions were final, except an appeal to Rome. No one dared +disobey his mandates, for the law of clerical obedience was one of +the fundamental ideas of the age. Through his clergy, over whom +his power was absolute, he controlled the people. His law courts +had cognizance of questions which the royal courts could not +interfere with. No ecclesiastical dignitary in Europe was his +superior, except the Pope. + +The Archbishop of Canterbury had been a great personage under the +Saxon kings. Dunstan ruled England as the prime minister of Edward +the Martyr, but his influence would have been nearly as great had +he been merely primate of the Church. Nor was the power of the +archbishop reduced by the Norman kings. William the Conqueror +might have made the spiritual authority subordinate to the +temporal, if he had followed his inclinations. But he dared not +quarrel with the Pope,--the great Hildebrand, by whose favor he was +unmolested in the conquest of the Saxons. He was on very intimate +terms of friendship with Lanfranc, whom he made Archbishop of +Canterbury,--an able, ambitious Italian, who was devoted to the See +of Rome and his spiritual monarch. The influence of Hildebrand and +Lanfranc combined was too great to be resisted. Nor did he attempt +resistance; he acquiesced in the necessity of making a king of +Canterbury. His mind was so deeply absorbed with his conquest and +other state matters that he did not seem to comprehend the +difficulties which might arise under his successors, in yielding so +much power to the primate. Moreover Lanfranc, in the quiet +enjoyment of his ecclesiastical privileges, gave his powerful +assistance in imposing the Norman yoke. He filled the great sees +with Norman prelates. He does not seem to have had much sympathy +with the Saxons, or their bishops, who were not so refined or +intellectual as the bishops of France. The Normans were a superior +race to the Saxons in executive ability and military enthusiasm. +The chivalric element of English society, among the higher classes, +came from the Normans, not from the Saxons. In piety, in passive +virtues, in sustained industry, in patient toil, in love of +personal freedom, the Saxons doubtless furnished a finer material +for the basis of an agricultural, industrial, and commercial +nation. The sturdy yeomen of England were Saxons: the noble and +great administrators were Normans. In pride, in ambition, and in +executive ability the Normans bore a closer resemblance to the old +heroic Romans than did the Saxons. + +The next archbishop after Lanfranc was Anselm, appointed by William +Rufus. Anselm was a great scholar, the profoundest of the early +Schoolmen; a man of meditative habits, who it was presumed would +not interfere with royal encroachments. William Rufus never +dreamed that the austere and learned monk, who had spent most of +his days in the abbey of Bec in devout meditations and scholastic +inquiries, would interfere with his rapacity. But, as we have +already seen, Anselm was conscientious, and became the champion of +the Papal authority in the West. He occupied two distinct +spheres,--he was absorbed in philosophical speculations, yet took +an interest in all mundane questions. His resolve to oppose the +king's usurpations in the spiritual realm caused the bitter quarrel +already described, which ended in a compromise. + +When Henry I. came to the throne, he appointed Theobald, a feeble +but good man, to the See of Canterbury,--less ambitious than +Lanfranc, more inoffensive than Anselm; a Norman disinclined to +quarrel with his sovereign. He died during the reign of Henry II., +and this great monarch, as we have seen, appointed Becket to the +vacant See, thinking that in the double capacity of chancellor and +archbishop he would be a very powerful ally. But he was amazingly +deceived in the character of his Chancellor. Becket had not sought +the office,--the office had sought him. It would seem that he +accepted it unwillingly. He knew that new responsibilities and +duties would be imposed upon him, which, if he discharged +conscientiously like Anselm, would in all probability alienate his +friend the King, and provoke a desperate contest. And when the +courtly and luxurious Chancellor held out, in Normandy, the skirts +of his gilded and embroidered garments to show how unfit he was for +an archbishop, Henry ought to have perceived that a future +estrangement was a probability. + +Better for Henry had Becket remained in the civil service. But +Henry, with all his penetration, had not fathomed the mind of his +favorite. Becket was not one to dissemble, but a great change +may have been wrought in his character. Probably the new +responsibilities imposed upon him as Primate of the English Church +pressed upon his conscience. He knew that supreme allegiance was +due to the Pope as head of the Church, and that if compelled to +choose between the Pope and the King, he must obey the Pope. He was +ambitious, doubtless; but his subsequent career shows that he +preferred the liberties of his Church to the temporal interests of +the sovereign. He was not a theologian, like Lanfranc and Anselm. +Of all the great characters who preceded him, he most resembles +Ambrose. Ambrose the governor, and a layman, became Archbishop of +Milan. Becket the minister of a king, and only deacon, became +Archbishop of Canterbury. The character of both these great men +changed on their elevation to high ecclesiastical position. They +both became high-churchmen, and defended the prerogatives of the +clergy. But Ambrose was superior to Becket in his zeal to defend +the doctrines of the Church. It does not appear that Becket took +much interest in doctrines. In his age there was no dissent. +Everybody, outwardly at least, was orthodox. In England, certainly, +there were no heretics. Had Becket remained chancellor, in all +probability he would not have quarrelled with Henry. As archbishop +he knew what was expected of him; and he knew also the infamy in +store for him should he betray his cause. I do not believe he was a +hypocrite. Every subsequent act of his life shows his sincerity and +his devotion to his Church against his own interests. + +Becket was no sooner ordained priest and consecrated as archbishop +than he changed his habits. He became as austere as Lanfranc. He +laid aside his former ostentation. He clothed himself in +sackcloth; he mortified his body with fasts and laceration; he +associated only with the pious and the learned; he frequented the +cloisters and places of meditation; he received into his palace the +needy and the miserable; he washed the feet of thirteen beggars +every day; he conformed to the standard of piety in his age; he +called forth the admiration of his attendants by his devotion to +clerical duties. "He was," says James Stephen, "a second Moses +entering the tabernacle at the accepted time for the contemplation +of his God, and going out from it in order to perform some work of +piety to his neighbor. He was like one of God's angels on the +ladder, whose top reached the heavens, now descending to lighten +the wants of men, now ascending to behold the divine majesty and +the splendor of the Heavenly One. His prime councillor was reason, +which ruled his passions as a mistress guides her servants. Under +her guidance he was conducted to virtue, which, wrapped up in +itself, and embracing everything within itself, never looks forward +for anything additional." + +This is the testimony of his biographer, and has not been explained +away or denied, although it is probably true that Becket did not +purge the corruptions of the Church, or punish the disorders and +vices of the clergy, as Hildebrand did. But I only speak of his +private character. I admit that he was no reformer. He was simply +the high-churchman aiming to secure the ascendency of the spiritual +power. Becket is not immortal for his reforms, or his theological +attainments, but for his intrepidity, his courage, his devotion to +his cause,--a hero, and not a man of progress; a man who fought a +fight. It should be the aim of an historian to show for what he +was distinguished; to describe his warfare, not to abuse him +because he was not a philosopher and reformer. He lived in the +twelfth century. + +One of the first things which opened the eyes of the King was the +resignation of the Chancellor. The King doubtless made him primate +of the English hierarchy in order that he might combine both +offices. But they were incompatible, unless Becket was willing to +be the unscrupulous tool of the King in everything. Of course +Henry could not long remain the friend of the man who he thought +had duped him. Before a year had passed, his friendship was turned +to secret but bitter enmity. Nor was it long before an event +occurred,--a small matter,--which brought the King and the Prelate +into open collision. + +The matter was this: A young nobleman, who held a clerical office, +committed a murder. As an ecclesiastic, he was brought before the +court of the Bishop of Lincoln, and was sentenced to pay a small +fine. But public justice was not satisfied, and the sheriff +summoned the canon, who refused to plead before him. The matter +was referred to the King, who insisted that the murderer should be +tried in the civil court,--that a sacred profession should not +screen a man who had committed a crime against society. While the +King had, as we think, justice on his side, yet in this matter he +interfered with the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts, which had +been in force since Constantine. Theodosius and Justinian had +confirmed the privilege of the Church, on the ground that the +irregularities of a body of men devoted to the offices of religion +should be veiled from the common eye; so that ecclesiastics were +sometimes protected when they should be punished. But if the +ecclesiastical courts had abuses, they were generally presided over +by good and wise men,--more learned than the officers of the civil +courts, and very popular in the Middle Ages; and justice in them +was generally administered. So much were they valued in a dark +age, when the clergy were the most learned men of their times, that +much business came gradually to be transacted in them which +previously had been settled in the civil courts,--as tithes, +testaments, breaches of contract, perjuries, and questions +pertaining to marriage. But Henry did not like these courts, and +was determined to weaken their jurisdiction, and transfer their +power to his own courts, in order to strengthen the royal +authority. Enlightened jurists and historians in our times here +sympathize with Henry. High-Church ecclesiastics defend the +jurisdiction of the spiritual courts, since they upheld the power +of the Church, so useful in the Middle Ages. The King began the +attack where the spiritual courts were weakest,--protection +afforded to clergymen accused of crime. So he assembled a council +of bishops and barons to meet him at Westminster. The bishops at +first were inclined to yield to the King, but Becket gained them +over, and would make no concession. He stood up for the privileges +of his order. In this he was contending for justice and he +defended his Church, at all hazards,--not her doctrines, but her +prerogatives. He would present a barrier against royal +encroachments, even if they were for the welfare of the realm. He +would defend the independence of the clergy, and their power,-- +perhaps as an offset to royal power. In his rigid defence of the +privileges of the clergy we see the churchman, not the statesman; +we see the antagonist, not the ally, of the King. Henry was of +course enraged. Who can wonder? He was bearded by his former +favorite,--by one of his subjects. + +If Becket was narrow, he no doubt was conscientious. He may have +been ambitious of wielding unlimited spiritual authority. But it +should be noted that, had he not quarrelled with the King, he could +have been both archbishop and chancellor, and in that double +capacity wielded more power; and had he been disposed to serve his +royal master, had he been more gentle, the King might not have +pushed out his policy of crippling the spiritual courts,--might +have waived, delayed, or made concessions. But now these two great +potentates were in open opposition, and a deadly warfare was at +hand. It is this fight which gives to Becket all his historical +importance. It is not for me to settle the merits of the case, if +I could, only to describe the battle. The lawyers would probably +take one side, and Catholic priests would take the other, and +perhaps all high-churchmen. Even men like Mr. Froude and Mr. +Freeman, both very learned and able, are totally at issue, not +merely as to the merits of the case, but even as to the facts. Mr. +Froude seems to hate Becket and all other churchmen as much as Mr. +Freeman loves them. I think one reason why Mr. Froude exalts so +highly Henry VIII. is because he put his foot on the clergy and +took away their revenues. But with the war of partisans I have +nothing to do, except the war between Henry II. and Thomas Becket. + +This war waxed hot when a second council of bishops and barons was +assembled at Clarendon, near Winchester, to give their assent to +certain resolutions which the King's judges had prepared in +reference to the questions at issue, and other things tending to +increase the royal authority. They are called in history "The +Constitutions of Clarendon." The gist and substance of them were, +that during the vacancy of any bishopric or abbey of royal +foundation, the estates were to be in the custody of the Crown; +that all disputes between laymen and clergymen should be tried in +the civil courts; that clergymen accused of crime should, if the +judges decided, be tried in the King's court, and, if found guilty, +be handed over to the secular arm for punishment; that no officer +or tenant of the King should be excommunicated without the King's +consent; that no peasant's son should be ordained without +permission of his feudal lord; that great ecclesiastical personages +should not leave the kingdom without the King's consent. + +"Anybody must see that these articles were nothing more nor less +than the surrender of the most important and vital privileges of +the Church into the hands of the King: not merely her properties, +but her liberties; even a surrender of the only weapon with which +she defended herself in extreme cases,--that of excommunication." +It was the virtual confiscation of the Church in favor of an +aggressive and unscrupulous monarch. Could we expect Becket to +sign such an agreement, to part with his powers, to betray the +Church of which he was the first dignitary in England? When have +men parted with their privileges, except upon compulsion? He never +would have given up his prerogatives; he never meant for a moment +to do so. He was not the man for such a base submission. Yet he +was so worried and threatened by the King, who had taken away from +him the government of the Prince, his son, and the custody of +certain castles; he was so importuned by the bishops themselves, +for fear that the peace of the country would be endangered,--that +in a weak moment he promised to sign the articles, reserving this +phrase: "Saving the honor of his order." With this reservation, he +thought he could sign the agreement, for he could include under +such a phrase whatever he pleased. + +But when really called to fulfil his promise and sign with his own +hand those constitutions, he wavered. He burst out in passionate +self-reproaches for having made a promise so fatal to his position. +"Never, never!" he said; "I will never do it so long as breath is +in my body." In his repentance he mortified himself with new self- +expiations. He suspended himself from the service of the altar. +He was overwhelmed with grief, shame, rage, and penitence. He +resolved he would not yield up the privileges of his order, come +what might,--not even if the Pope gave him authority to sign. + +The dejected and humbled metropolitan advanced to the royal throne +with downcast eye but unfaltering voice; accused himself of +weakness and folly, and firmly refused to sign the articles. +"Miserable wretch that I am," cried he, with bitter tears coursing +down his cheeks, "I see the English Church enslaved, in punishment +for my sins. But it is all right. I was taken from the court, not +the cloister, to fill this station; from the palace of Caesar, not +the school of the Saviour. I was a feeder of birds, but suddenly +made a feeder of men; a patron of stage-players, a follower of +hounds, and I became a shepherd over so many souls. Surely I am +rightly abandoned by God." + +He then took his departure for Canterbury, but was soon summoned to +a grand council at Northampton, to answer serious charges. He was +called to account for the sums he had spent as chancellor, and for +various alleged injustices. He was found guilty by a court +controlled by the King, and sentenced to pay a heavy fine, which he +paid. The next day new charges were preferred, and he was +condemned to a still heavier fine, which he was unable to pay; but +he found sureties. On the next day still heavier charges were +made, and new fines inflicted, which would have embarrassed the +temporalities of his See. He now perceived that the King was bent +on his ruin; that the more he yielded the more he would be expected +to yield. He therefore resolved to yield no further, but to stand +on his rights. + +But before he made his final resistance he armed himself with his +crozier, and sought counsel from the bishops assembled in another +chamber of the royal castle. The bishops were divided: some for +him, some against him. Gilbert Foliot of London put him in mind of +the benefits he had received from Henry, and the humble condition +from which he was raised, and advised him to resign for sake of +peace. Henry of Winchester, a relative of the King, bade him +resign. Roger of Worcester was non-committal. "If I advise to +resist the King, I shall be put out of the synagogue" said he. "I +counsel nothing." The Bishop of Chichester declared that Becket +was primate no longer, as he had gone against the laws of the +realm. In the midst of this conference the Earl of Leicester +entered, and announced the sentence of the peers. Then gathering +himself up to his full height, the Primate, with austere dignity, +addressed the Earl and the Bishops: "My brethren, our enemies are +pressing hard upon us, and the whole world is against us; but I now +enjoin you, in virtue of your obedience, and in peril of your +orders, not to be present in any cause which may be made against my +person; and I appeal to that refuge of the distressed, the Holy +See. And I command you as your Primate, and in the name of the +Pope, to put forth the censures of the Church in behalf of your +Archbishop, should the secular arm lay violent hands upon me; for, +be assured, though this frail body may yield to persecution,--since +all flesh is weak,--yet shall my spirit never yield." + +Then pushing his way, he swept through the chamber, reached the +quadrangle of the palace, mounted his horse, reached his lodgings, +gave a banquet to some beggars, stole away in disguise and fled, +reaching the coast in safety, and succeeding in crossing over to +Flanders. He was now out of the King's power, who doubtless would +have imprisoned him and perhaps killed him, for he hated him with +the intensest hatred. Becket had deceived him, having trifled with +him by taking an oath to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon, and +then broken his oath and defied his authority, appealing to the +Pope, and perhaps involving the King in a quarrel with the supreme +spiritual power of Christendom. Finally he had deserted his post +and fled the kingdom. He had defeated the King in his most darling +schemes. + +But although Becket was an exile, a fugitive, and a wanderer, he +was still Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the head of the English +Church, and all the clergy of the kingdom owed him spiritual +obedience. He still had the power of excommunicating the King, and +the sole right of crowning his successor. If the Pope should take +his side, and the King of France, and other temporal powers, Becket +would be no unequal match for the King. It was a grand crisis +which Henry comprehended, and he therefore sent some of his most +powerful barons and prelates to the Continent to advance his cause +and secure the papal interposition. + +Becket did not remain long in Flanders, since the Count was cold +and did not take his side. He escaped, and sought shelter and aid +from the King of France. + +Louis VII. was a feeble monarch, but he hated Henry II. and admired +Becket. He took him under his protection, and wrote a letter to +the Pope in his behalf. + +That Pope was Alexander III.,--himself an exile, living in Sens, +and placed in a situation of great difficulty, struggling as he was +with an anti-pope, and the great Frederic Barbarossa; Emperor of +Germany. Moreover he was a personal friend of Henry, to whom he +had been indebted for his elevation to the papal throne. His +course, therefore, was non-committal and dilatory and vacillating, +although he doubtless was on the side of the prelate who exalted +ecclesiastical authority. But he was obliged from policy to be +prudent and conciliatory. He patiently heard both sides, but +decided nothing. All he consented to do was to send cardinal +legates to England, but intrusted to none but himself the +prerogatives of final judgment. + +After Henry's ambassadors had left, Becket appeared with a splendid +train of three hundred horsemen, the Archbishop of Rheims, the +brothers of the King of France, and a long array of bishops. The +Pope dared not receive him with the warmth he felt, but was +courteous, more so than his cardinals; and Becket unfolded and +discussed the Constitutions of Clarendon, which of course found no +favor with the Pope. He rebuked Becket for his weakness in +promising to sign a paper which curtailed so fundamentally the +privileges of the Church. Some historians affirm he did not extend +to him the protection he deserved, although he confirmed him in his +office. He sent him to the hospitable care of the Abbot of +Pontigny. "Go now," he said, "and learn what privation is; and in +the company of Christ's humblest servants subdue the flesh to the +spirit." + +In this Cistercian abbey it would seem that Becket lived in great +austerity, tearing his flesh with his nails, and inflicting on +himself severe flagellations; so that his health suffered, and his +dreams haunted him. He was protected, but he could not escape +annoyances and persecutions. Henry, in his wrath, sequestrated the +estates of the archbishopric; the incumbents of his benefices were +expelled; all his relatives and dependents were banished,--some +four hundred people; men, women, and children. The bishops sent +him ironical letters, and hoped his fasts would benefit his soul. + +The quarrel now was of great interest to all Europe. It was +nothing less than a battle between the spiritual and temporal +powers, like that, a century before, between Hildebrand and the +Emperor of Germany. Although the Pope was obliged from motives of +policy,--for fear of being deposed,--to seem neutral and attempt to +conciliate, still the war really was carried on in his behalf. +"The great, the terrible, the magnificent in the fate of Becket," +says Michelet, "arises from his being charged, weak and unassisted, +with the interests of the Church Universal,--a post which belonged +to the Pope himself." He was still Archbishop; but his revenues +were cut off, and had it not been for the bounty of Louis the King +of France, who admired him and respected his cause, he might have +fared as a simple monk. The Pope allowed him to excommunicate the +persons who occupied his estates, but not the King himself. He +feared a revolt of the English Church from papal authority, since +Henry was supreme in England, and had won over to his cause the +English bishops. The whole question became complicated and +interesting. It was the common topic of discourse in all the +castles and convents of Europe. The Pope, timid and calculating, +began to fear he had supported Becket too far, and pressed upon him +a reconciliation with Henry, much to the disgust of Becket, who +seemed to comprehend the issue better than did the Pope; for the +Pope had, in his desire to patch up the quarrel, permitted the son +of Henry to be crowned by the Archbishop of York, which was not +only an infringement of the privileges of the Primate, but was a +blow against the spiritual power. So long as the Archbishop of +Canterbury had the exclusive privilege of crowning a king, the King +was dependent in a measure on the Primate, and, through him, on the +Pope. At this suicidal act on the part of Alexander, Becket lost +all patience, and wrote to him a letter of blended indignation and +reproach. "Why," said he, "lay in my path a stumbling-block? How +can you blind yourself to the wrong which Christ suffers in me and +yourself? And yet you call on me, like a hireling, to be silent. +I might flourish in power and riches and pleasures, and be feared +and honored of all; but since the Lord hath called me, weak and +unworthy as I am, to the oversight of the English Church, I prefer +proscription, exile, poverty, misery, and death, rather than +traffic with the liberties of the Church." + +What language to a Pope! What a reproof from a subordinate! How +grandly the character of Becket looms up here! I say nothing of +his cause. It may have been a right or a wrong one. Who shall +settle whether spiritual or temporal power should have the +ascendency in the Middle Ages? I speak only of his heroism, his +fidelity to his cause, his undoubted sincerity. Men do not become +exiles and martyrs voluntarily, unless they are backed by a great +cause. Becket may have been haughty, irascible, ambitious. Very +likely. But what then? The more personal faults he had, the +greater does his devotion to the interests of the Church appear, +fighting as it were alone and unassisted. Undaunted, against the +advice of his friends, unsupported by the Pope, he now hurls his +anathemas from his retreat in France. He excommunicates the Bishop +of Salisbury, and John of Oxford, and the Arch deacon of Ilchester, +and the Lord Chief-Justice de Luci, and everybody who adhered to +the Constitutions of Clarendon. The bishops of England remonstrate +with him, and remind him of his plebeian origin and his obligations +to the King. To whom he replies: "I am not indeed sprung from +noble ancestors, but I would rather be the man to whom nobility of +mind gives the advantages of birth than to be the degenerate issue +of an illustrious family. David was taken from the sheep-fold to +be a ruler of God's people, and Peter was taken from fishing to be +the head of the Church. I was born under a humble roof, yet, +nevertheless, God has intrusted me with the liberties of the +Church, which I will guard with my latest breath." + +Henry now threatens to confiscate the property of all the +Cistercian convents in England; and the Abbot of Pontigny, at the +command of his general, is forced to drive Becket away from his +sanctuary. Becket retires to Sens, sad at heart and grieved that +the excommunications which he had inflicted should have been +removed by the Pope. Then Louis, the King of France, made war on +Henry, and took Becket under his protection. The Pope rebuked +Louis for the war; but Louis retorted by telling Alexander that it +was a shame for him not to give up his time-serving policy. In so +doing, Louis spoke out the heart of Christendom. The Pope, at last +aroused, excommunicated the Archbishop of York for crowning the son +of Henry, and threatened Henry himself with an interdict, and +recalled his legates. Becket also fulminated his excommunications. +There was hardly a prelate or royal chaplain in England who was not +under ecclesiastical censure. The bishops began to waver. Henry +had reason to fear he might lose the support of his English +subjects, and Norman likewise. He could do nothing with the whole +Church against him. + +The King was therefore obliged to compromise. Several times +before, he had sought reconciliation with his dreadful enemy; but +Becket always, in his promises, fell back on the phrase, "Saving +the honor of his order," or "Saving the honor of God." But now, +amid the fire of excommunications, Henry was compelled to make his +peace with the man he detested. He himself did not much care for +the priestly thunderbolts, but his clergy and his subjects did. +The penalty of eternal fire was a dreadful fear to those who +believed, as everybody then did, in the hell of which the clergy +were supposed to hold the keys. This fear sustained the empire of +the popes; it was the basis of sacerdotal rule in the Middle Ages. +Hence Becket was so powerful, even in exile. His greatness was in +his character; his power was in his spiritual weapons. + +In the hollow reconciliation at last effected between the King and +the Prelate, Henry promised to confirm Becket in his powers and +dignities, and molest him no more. But he haughtily refused the +customary kiss of peace. Becket saw the omen; so did the King of +France. The peace was inconclusive. It was a truce, not a treaty. +Both parties distrusted each other. + +But Henry was weary with the struggle, and Becket was tired of +exile,--never pleasant, even if voluntary. Moreover, the Prelate +had gained the moral victory, even as Hildebrand did when the +Emperor of Germany stooped as a suppliant in the fortress of +Canossa. The King of England had virtually yielded to the +Archbishop of Canterbury. Perhaps Becket felt that his mission was +accomplished; that he had done the work for which he was raised up. +Wearied, sickened with the world, disgusted with the Pope, +despising his bishops, perhaps he was willing to die. He had a +presentiment that he should die as a martyr. So had the French +king and his prelates. But Becket longed to return to his church +and celebrate the festivities of Christmas. So he made up his mind +to return to England, "although I know, of a truth," he said, "I +shall meet my passion there." Before embarking he made a friendly +and parting visit to the King of France, and then rode to the coast +with an escort of one hundred horsemen. As Dover was guarded by +the King's retainers, who might harm him, he landed at Sandwich, +his own town. The next day he set out for Canterbury, after an +absence of seven years. The whole population lined the road, +strewed it with flowers, and rent the air with songs. Their +beloved Archbishop had returned. On reaching Canterbury he went +directly to his cathedral and seated himself on his throne, and the +monks came and kissed him, with tears in their eyes. One Herbert +said, "Christ has conquered; Christ is now King!" + +From Canterbury Becket made a sort of triumphal progress through +the kingdom, with the pretence of paying a visit to the young king +at Woodstock,--exciting rather than allaying the causes of discord, +scattering his excommunications, still haughty, restless, +implacable; so that the Court became alarmed, and ordered him to +return to his diocese. He obeyed, as he wished to celebrate +Christmas at home; and ascending his long-neglected pulpit +preached, according to Michelet, from this singular text: "I am +come to die in the midst of you." + +Henry at this time was on the Continent, and was greatly annoyed at +the reports of Becket's conduct which reached him. Then there +arrived three bishops whom the Primate had excommunicated, with +renewed complaints and grievances, assuring him there would be no +peace so long as Becket lived. Henry was almost wild with rage +and perplexity. What could he do? He dared not execute the +Archbishop, as Henry VIII. would have done. In his age the Prelate +was almost as powerful as the King. Violence to his person was the +last thing to do, for this would have involved the King in war +with the adherents of the Pope, and would have entailed an +excommunication. Still, the supremest desire of Henry's soul was +to get Becket out of the way. So, yielding to an impulse of +passion, he said to his attendants, "Is there no one to relieve +me from the insults of this low-born and turbulent priest?" + +Among these attendants were four courtiers or knights, of high +birth and large estates, who, hearing these reproachful words, left +the court at once, crossed the channel, and repaired to the castle +of Sir Ranulf de Broc, the great enemy of Becket, who had molested +him in innumerable ways. Some friendly person contrived to +acquaint Becket with his danger, to whom he paid no heed, knowing +it very well himself. He knew he was to die; and resolved to die +bravely. + +The four armed knights, meanwhile, on the 29th of December, rode +with an escort to Canterbury, dined at the Augustinian abbey, and +entered the court-yard of the Archbishop's palace as Becket had +finished his mid-day meal and had retired to an inner room with his +chaplain and a few intimate friends. They then entered the hall +and sought the Archbishop, who received them in silence. Sir +Reginald Fitzurst then broke the silence with these words: "We +bring you the commands of the King beyond the sea, that you repair +without delay to the young King's presence and swear allegiance. +And further, he commands you to absolve the bishops you have +excommunicated." On Becket's refusal, the knight continued: "Since +you will not obey, the royal command is that you and your clergy +forthwith depart from the realm, never more to return." Becket +angrily declared he would never again leave England. The knights +then sprang to their feet and departed, enjoining the attendants to +prevent the escape of Becket, who exclaimed: "Do you think I shall +fly, then? Neither for the King nor any living man will I fly. +You cannot be more ready to kill me than I am to die." + +He sought, however, the shelter of his cathedral, as the vesper +bell summoned him to prayers,--followed by the armed knights, with +a company of men-at-arms, driving before them a crowd of monks. +The Archbishop was standing on the steps of the choir, beyond the +central pillar, which reached to the roof of the cathedral, in the +dim light shed by the candles of the altars, so that only the +outline of his noble figure could be seen, when the knights closed +around him, and Fitzurst seized him,--perhaps meaning to drag him +away as a prisoner to the King, or outside the church before +despatching him. Becket cried, "Touch me not, thou abominable +wretch!" at the same time hurling Tracy, another of the knights, to +the ground, who, rising, wounded him in the head with his sword. +The Archbishop then bent his neck to the assassins, exclaiming, "I +am prepared to die for Christ and His Church." + + +Such was the murder of Becket,--a martyr, as he has been generally +regarded, for the liberties of the Church; but, according to some, +justly punished for presumptuous opposition to his sovereign. + +The assassination was a shock to Christendom. The most intrepid +churchman of his age was slain at his post for doing, as he +believed, his duty. No one felt the shock more than the King +himself, who knew he would be held responsible for the murder. He +dreaded the consequences, and shut himself up for three days in his +chamber, refusing food, issuing orders for the arrest of the +murderers, and sending ambassadors to the Pope to exculpate +himself. Fearing an excommunication and an interdict, he swore on +the Gospel, in one of the Norman cathedrals, that he had not +commanded nor desired the death of the Archbishop; and stipulated +to maintain at his own cost two hundred knights in the Holy Land, +to abrogate the Constitutions of Clarendon, to reinvest the See of +Canterbury with all he had wrested away, and even to undertake a +crusade against the Saracens of Spain if the Pope desired. Amid +the calamities which saddened his latter days, he felt that all +were the judgments of God for his persecution of the martyr, and +did penance at his tomb. + +So Becket slew more by his death than he did by his life. His +cause was gained by his blood: it arrested the encroachments of the +Norman kings for more than three hundred years. He gained the +gratitude of the Church and a martyr's crown. He was canonized as +a saint. His shrine was enriched with princely offerings beyond +any other object of popular veneration in the Middle Ages. Till +the time of the Reformation a pilgrimage to that shrine was a +common form of penance for people of all conditions, the nobility +as well as the common people. Even miracles were reputed to be +wrought at that shrine, while a drop of Becket's blood would +purchase a domain! + +Whatever may be said about the cause of Becket, to which there are +two sides, there is no doubt about his popularity. Even the +Reformation, and the changes made in the English Constitution, have +not obliterated the veneration in which he was held for five +hundred years. You cannot destroy respect for a man who is willing +to be a martyr, whether his cause is right or wrong. If +enlightened judgments declare that he was "a martyr of sacerdotal +power, not of Christianity; of a caste, and not of mankind;" that +he struggled for the authority and privileges of the clergy rather +than for the good of his country,--still it will be conceded that +he fought bravely and died with dignity. All people love heroism. +They are inclined to worship heroes; and especially when an unarmed +priest dares to resist an unscrupulous and rapacious king, as Henry +is well known to have been, and succeeds in tearing from his hands +the spoils he has seized, there must be admiration. You cannot +extinguish the tribute of the soul for heroism, any more than that +of the mind for genius. The historian who seeks to pull down a +hero from the pedestal on which he has been seated for ages plays a +losing game. No brilliancy in sophistical pleadings can make men +long prefer what is NEW to that which is TRUE. Becket is enshrined +in the hearts of his countrymen, even as Cromwell is among the +descendants of the Puritans; and substantially for the same +reason,--because they both fought bravely for their respective +causes,--the cause of the people in their respective ages. Both +recognized God Almighty, and both contended against the despotism +of kings seeking to be absolute, and in behalf of the people who, +were ground down by military power. In the twelfth century the +people looked up to the clergy as their deliverers and friends; in +the seventeenth century to parliaments and lawyers. Becket was the +champion of the clergy, even as Cromwell was the champion--at least +at first--of the Parliament. Carlyle eulogizes Cromwell as much as +Froude abuses Becket; but Becket, if more haughty and defiant than +Cromwell in his private character, yet was truer to his principles. +He was a great hero, faithful to a great cause, as he regarded it, +however averse this age may justly be to priestly domination. He +must be judged by the standard which good and enlightened people +adopted seven hundred years ago,--not in semi-barbarous England +alone, but throughout the continent of Europe. This is not the +standard which reason accepts to-day, I grant; but it is the +standard by which Becket must be judged,--even as the standard +which justified the encroachments of Leo the Great, or the rigorous +rule of Tiberius and Marcus Aurelius, is not that which en-thrones +Gustavus Adolphus and William of Orange in the heart of the +civilized world. + + +AUTHORITIES + +Eadmer's Life of Anselm; Historia Novarum; Sir J. Stephen's Life of +Becket, of William of Malmsbury, and of Henry of Huntington; +Correspondence of Thomas Becket, with that of Foliot, Bishop of +London, and John of Salisbury; Chronicle of Peter of Peterborough; +Chronicle of Ralph Niper, and that of Jocelyn of Brakeland; +Dugdale's Monasticon; Freeman's Norman Conquest; Michelet's History +of France; Green, Hume, Knight, Stubbs, among the English +historians; Encyclopaedia Britannica; Hook's Lives of the +Archbishops of Canterbury; Lord Littleton on Henry II.; Stanley's +Memorials of Canterbury; Milman's Latin christianity; article by +Froude; Morris's Life of Thomas a Becket; J. Craigie Robertson's +Life of Thomas Becket. + + + +THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. + +About A. D. 800-1300. + + +There is no great character with whom Feudalism is especially +identified. It was an institution of the Middle Ages, which grew +out of the miseries and robberies that succeeded the fall of the +Roman Empire. + +Before I present the mutual relation between a lord and his vassal, +I would call your attention to political anarchies ending in +political degradation; to an unformed state of society; to semi- +barbarism, with its characteristic vices of plunder, rapine, +oppression, and injustice; to wild and violent passions, unchecked +by law; to the absence of central power; to the reign of hard and +martial nobles; to the miseries of the people, ground down, +ignorant, and brutal; to rude agricultural life; to petty wars; to +general ignorance, which kept society in darkness and gloom for a +thousand years,--all growing out of the eclipse of the old +civilization, so that the European nations began a new existence, +and toiled in sorrow and fear, with few ameliorations: an iron age, +yet an age which was not unfavorable for the development of new +virtues and heroic qualities, under the influence of which society +emerged from barbarism, with a new foundation for national +greatness, and a new material for Christianity and art and +literature and science to work upon. + +Such was the state of society during the existence of feudal +institutions,--a period of about five hundred years,--dating from +the dismemberment of Charlemagne's empire to the fifteenth century. +The era of its greatest power was from the Norman conquest of +England to the reign of Edward III. But there was a long and +gloomy period before Feudalism ripened into an institution,--from +the dissolution of the Roman Empire to the eighth and ninth +centuries. I would assign this period as the darkest and the +dreariest in the history of Europe since the Roman conquests, for +this reason, that civilization perished without any one to +chronicle the changes, or to take notice of the extinction. + +From Charlemagne there had been, with the exception of brief +intervals, the birth of new ideas and interests, the growth of a +new civilization. Before his day there was a progressive decline. +Art, literature, science, alike faded away. There were no grand +monuments erected, the voice of the poet was unheard in the +universal wretchedness, the monks completed the destruction which +the barbarians began. Why were libraries burned or destroyed? Why +was classic literature utterly neglected? Why did no great +scholars arise even in the Church? The new races looked in vain +for benefactors. Even the souvenirs of the old Empire were lost. +Nearly all the records of ancient greatness perished. The old +cities were levelled to the ground. Nothing was built but +monasteries, and these were as gloomy as feudal castles at a later +date. The churches were heavy and mournful. Good men hid +themselves, trying to escape from the miserable world, and sang +monotonous chants of death and the grave. Agriculture was at the +lowest state, and hunting, piracy, and robbery were resorted to as +a means of precarious existence. There was no commerce. The roads +were invested with vagabonds and robbers. It was the era of +universal pillage and destruction; nothing held sacred. Universal +desolation filled the souls of men with despair. What state of +society could be worse than that of England under the early Saxon +kings? There were no dominant races and no central power. The +countries of Europe relapsed into a sullen barbarism. I see no +bright spot anywhere, not even in Italy, which was at this time the +most overrun and the most mercilessly plundered of all the +provinces of the fallen Empire. The old capital of the world was +nearly depopulated. Nothing was spared of ancient art on which the +barbarians could lay their hands, and nothing was valued. + +This was the period of what writers call ALLODIAL tenure, in +distinction from feudal. The allodialist owned indeed his lands, +but they were subject to incessant depredations from wandering +tribes of barbarians and from robbers. There was no encouragement +to till the soil. There was no incentive to industry of any kind. +During a reign of universal lawlessness, what man would work except +for a scanty and precarious support? His cattle might be driven +away, his crops seized, his house plundered. It is hard to realize +that our remote ancestors were mere barbarians, who by the force of +numbers overran the world. They seem to have had but one class of +virtues,--contempt of death, and the willing sacrifice of their +lives in battle. The allodialist, however, was not a barbaric +warrior or chieftain, but the despoiled owner of lands that his +ancestors had once cultivated in peace and prosperity. He was the +degenerate descendant of Celtic and Roman citizens, the victim of +barbaric spoliations. His lands may have passed into the hands of +the Gothic conquerors; but the Gothic or Burgundian or Frankish +possessor of innumerable acres, once tilled by peaceful citizens, +remained an allodial proprietor. Even he had no protection and no +safety; for any new excursion of less fortunate barbarians would +desolate his possessions and decimate his laborers. The small +proprietor was especially subject to pillage and murder. + +In the universal despair from this reign of anarchy and +lawlessness, when there was no security to property and no redress +of evils, the allodialist parted with his lands to some powerful +chieftain, and obtained promise of protection. He even resigned +the privilege of freedom to save his wretched life. He became a +serf,--a semi-bondman, chained to the soil, but protected from +outrage. Nothing but inconceivable miseries, which have not been +painted by historians, can account for the almost simultaneous +change in the ownership of land in all European countries. We can +conceive of nothing but blank despair among the people who +attempted to cultivate land. And there must have been the grossest +ignorance and the lowest degradation when men were willing to +submit to the curtailment of personal freedom and the loss of their +lands, in order to find protectors. + +Thus Feudalism arose in the ninth and tenth centuries from the +absolute wreck of property and hopes. It was virtually the +surrender of land for the promise of protection. It was the great +necessity of that anarchical age. Like all institutions, it grew +out of the needs of the times. Yet its universal acceptance seems +to prove that the change was beneficial. Feudalism, especially in +its early ages, is not to be judged by the institutions of our +times, any more than is the enormous growth of spiritual power +which took place when this social and political revolution was +going on. Wars and devastations and untold calamities and brutal +forces were the natural sequence of barbaric invasions, and of the +progressive fall of the old civilization, continued from generation +to generation for a period of two or three hundred years, with +scarcely any interruption. You get no relief from such a +dispensation of Divine Providence, unless you can solve the +question why the Roman Empire was permitted to be swept away. If +it must be destroyed, from the prevalence of the same vices which +have uniformly undermined all empires,--utter and unspeakable +rottenness and depravity,--in spite of Christianity, whether +nominal or real; if eternal justice must bear sway on this earth, +bringing its fearful retributions for the abuse of privileges and +general wickedness,--then we accept the natural effects of that +violence which consummated the ruin. The natural consequences of +two hundred years of pillage and warfare and destruction of ancient +institutions were, and could have been nothing other than, +miseries, misrule, sufferings, poverty, insecurity, and despair. A +universal conflagration must destroy everything that past ages had +valued. As a relief from what was felt to be intolerable, and by +men who were brutal, ignorant, superstitious, and degraded, all +from the effect of the necessary evils which war creates, a sort of +semi-slavery was felt to be preferable, as the price of dependence +and protection. + +Dependence and protection are the elemental principles of +Feudalism. These were the hard necessities which the age demanded. +And for three hundred years, it cannot be doubted, the relation +between master and serf was beneficial. It resulted in a more +peaceful state of society,--not free from great evils, but still a +healthful change from the disorders of the preceding epoch. The +peasant could cultivate his land comparatively free from +molestation. He was still poor. Sometimes he was exposed to heavy +exactions. He was bound to give a portion of the profits of his +land to his lordly proprietor; and he was bound to render services +in war. But, as he was not bound to serve over forty days, he was +not led on distant expeditions; he was not carried far from home. +He was not exposed to the ambition of military leaders. His +warlike services seem to be confined to the protection of his +master's castle and family, or to the assault of some neighboring +castle. He was simply made to participate in baronial quarrels; +and as these quarrels were frequent, his life was not altogether +peaceful. + +But war on a large scale was impossible in the feudal age. The +military glory of the Roman conquerors was unknown, and also that +of modern European monarchs. The peasant was bound to serve under +the banner of a military chieftain only for a short time: then he +returned to his farm. His great military weapon was the bow,--the +weapon of semi-barbarians. The spear, the sword, the battle-axe +were the weapons of the baronial family,--the weapons of knights, +who fought on horseback, cased in defensive armor. The peasant +fought on foot; and as the tactics of ancient warfare were +inapplicable, and those of modern warfare unknown, the strength of +armies was in cavalry and not in the infantry, as in modern times. +But armies were not large from the ninth to the twelfth century,-- +not until the Crusades arose. Nor were they subject to a rigid +discipline. They were simply an armed rabble. They were more like +militia than regular forces; they fostered military virtues, +without the demoralization of standing armies. In the feudal age +there were no standing armies. Even at so late a period as the +time of Queen Elizabeth that sovereign had to depend on the militia +for the defence of the realm against the Spaniards. Standing +armies are the invention of great military monarchs or a great +military State. The bow and arrow were used equally to shoot men +and shoot deer; but they rarely penetrated the armor of knights, or +their force was broken by the heavy shield: they took effect only +on the undefended bodies of the peasantry. Hence there was a great +disproportion of the slain in battle between peasants and their +mounted masters. War, even when confined to a small sphere, has +its terrors. The sufferers were the common people, whose lives +were not held of much account. History largely confines itself to +battles. Hence we are apt to lose sight of the uneventful life of +the people in quiet times. + +But the barons were not always fighting. In the intervals of war +the peasant enjoyed the rude pleasures of his home. He grew up +with strong attachments, having no desire to migrate or travel. +Gradually the sentiment of loyalty was born,--loyalty to his master +and to his country. His life was rough, but earnest. He had great +simplicity of character. He became honest, industrious, and +frugal. He was contented with but few pleasures,--rural fetes and +village holidays. He had no luxuries and no craving for them. +Measured by our modern scale of pleasures he led a very inglorious, +unambitious, and rude life. + +Contentment is one of the mysteries of existence. We should +naturally think that excitement and pleasure and knowledge would +make people happy, since they stimulate the intellectual powers; +but on the contrary they seem to produce unrest and cravings which +are never satisfied. And we should naturally think that a life of +isolation, especially with no mental resources,--a hard rural +existence, with but few comforts and no luxuries,--would make +people discontented. Yet it does not seem to be so in fact, as +illustrated by the apparent contentment of people doomed to hard +labor in the most retired and dreary retreats. We wonder at their +placitude, as we travel in remote and obscure sections of the +country. A poor farmer, whose house is scarcely better than a +hovel, surrounded with chickens and pigs, and with only a small +garden,--unadorned and lonely and repulsive,--has no cravings which +make the life of the favored rich sometimes unendurable. The +poorer he is, and therefore the more miserable as we should think, +the more contented he seems to be; while a fashionable woman or +ennuied man, both accustomed to the luxuries and follies of city +life, with all its refinements and gratification of intellectual +and social pleasures, will sometimes pine in a suburban home, with +all the gilded glories of rich furniture, books, beautiful gardens, +greenhouses, luxurious living, horses, carriages, and everything +that wealth can furnish. + +So that civilization would seem often a bitter mockery, showing +that intellectual life only stimulates the cravings of the +soul, but does not satisfy them. And when people are poor +but cultivated, the unhappiness seems to be still greater; +demonstrating that cultivated intellect alone opens to the mind the +existence of evils which are intensified by the difficulty of their +removal, and on which the mind dwells with feelings kindred to +despair. I have sometimes doubted whether an obscure farmer's +daughter is any happier with her piano, and her piles of cheaply +illustrated literature and translations of French novels, and her +smatterings of science learned in normal schools, since she has +learned too often to despise her father and mother and brother, and +her uneducated rural beau, and all her surroundings, with poverty +and unrest and aspiration for society eating out her soul. The +happiness produced merely by intellectual pleasures and social +frivolities is very small at the best, compared with that produced +by the virtues of the heart and the affections kindled by deeds of +devotion, or the duties which take the mind from itself. +Intellectual pleasures give only a brief satisfaction, unless +directed to a practical end, like the earnest imparting of +knowledge in educational pursuits, or the pursuit of art for itself +alone,--to create, and not to devour, as the epicure eats his +dinner. Where is the happiness of devouring books with no attempt +to profit by them, except in the temporary pleasure of satisfying +an appetite? So even the highest means of happiness may become a +savor of death unto death when perverted or unimproved. Never +should we stimulate the intellect merely to feed upon itself. +Unless intellectual culture is directed to what is useful, +especially to the necessities or improvement of others, it is a +delusion and a snare. Better far to be ignorant, but industrious +and useful in any calling however humble, than to cram the mind +with knowledge that leads to no good practical result. The buxom +maiden of rural life, in former days absorbed in the duties of +home, with no knowledge except that gained in a district school in +the winter, with all her genial humanities in the society of equals +no more aspiring than herself, is to me a far more interesting +person than the pale-faced, languid, discontented, envious girl who +has just returned from a school beyond her father's means, even if +she can play upon an instrument, and has worn herself thin in +exhausting studies under the stimulus of ambitious competition, or +the harangues of a pedant who thinks what he calls "education" to +be the end of life,--an education which reveals her own +insignificance, or leads her to strive for an unattainable +position. + +I am forced to make these remarks to show that the Mediaeval +peasant was not necessarily miserable because he was ignorant, or +isolated, or poor. In so doing I may excite the wrath of some who +think a little knowledge is not a dangerous thing, and may appear +to be throwing cold water on one of the noblest endeavors of modern +times. But I do not sneer at education. I only seek to show that +it will not make people happy, unless it is directed into useful +channels; and that even ignorance may be bliss when it is folly to +be wise. A benevolent Providence tempers all conditions to the +necessities of the times. The peasantry of Europe became earnest +and stalwart warriors and farmers, even under the grinding +despotism of feudal masters. With their beer and brown bread, and +a fowl in the pot on a Sunday, they grew up to be hardy, bold, +strong, healthy, and industrious. They furnished a material on +which Christianity and a future civilization could work. They +became patriotic, religious, and kind-hearted. They learned to +bear their evils in patience. They were more cheerful than the +laboring classes of our day, with their partial education,-- +although we may console ourselves with the reflection that these +are passing through the fermenting processes of a transition from a +lower to a higher grade of living. Look at the picture of them +which art has handed down: their faces are ruddy, genial, +sympathetic, although coarse and vulgar and boorish. And they +learned to accept the inequalities of life without repining +insolence. They were humble, and felt that there were actually +some people in the world superior to themselves. I do not paint +their condition as desirable or interesting by our standard, but as +endurable. They were doubtless very ignorant; but would knowledge +have made them any happier? Knowledge is for those who can climb +by it to positions of honor and usefulness, not for those who +cannot rise above the condition in which they were born,--not for +those who will be snubbed and humiliated and put down by arrogant +wealth and birth. Better be unconscious of suffering, than +conscious of wrongs which cannot be redressed. + +Let no one here misunderstand and pervert me. I am not exalting +the ignorance and brutality of the feudal ages. I am not decrying +the superior advantages of our modern times. I only state that +ignorance and brutality were the necessary sequences of the wars +and disorders of a preceding epoch, but that this very ignorance +and brutality were accompanied by virtues which partially +ameliorated the evils of the day; that in the despair of slavery +were the hopes of future happiness; that religion took a deep hold +of the human mind, even though blended with puerile and degrading +superstitions; that Christianity, taking hold of the hearts of a +suffering people, taught lessons which enabled them to bear their +hardships with resignation; that cheerfulness was not extinguished; +and that so many virtues were generated by the combined influence +of suffering and Christianity, that even with ignorance human +nature shone with greater lustre than among those by whom knowledge +is perverted. It was not until the evil and injustice of Feudalism +were exposed by political writers, and were meditated upon by the +people who had arisen by education and knowledge, that they became +unendurable; and then the people shook off the yoke. But how +impossible would have been a French Revolution in the thirteenth +century! What readers would a Rousseau have found among the people +in the time of Louis VII.? If knowledge breaks fetters when the +people are strong enough to shake them off, ignorance enables them +to bear those fetters when emancipation is impossible. + +The great empire of Charlemagne was divided at his death (in A. D. +814) among his three sons,--one of whom had France, another Italy, +and the third Germany. In forty-five years afterwards we find +seven kingdoms, instead of three,--France, Navarre, Provence, +Burgundy, Lorraine, Germany, and Italy. In a few years more there +were twenty-nine hereditary fiefs. And as early as the tenth +century France itself was split up into fifty-five independent +sovereignties; and these small sovereignties were again divided +into dukedoms and baronies. All these dukes and barons, however, +acknowledged the King of France as their liege lord; yet he was not +richer or more powerful than some of the dukes who swore fealty to +him. The Duke of Burgundy at one time had larger territories and +more power than the King of France himself. So that the central +authority of kings was merely nominal; their power extended +scarcely beyond the lands they individually controlled. And all +the countries of Europe were equally ruled by petty kings. The +kings of England seem to have centralized around their thrones more +power than other European monarchs until the time of the Crusades, +when they were checked, not so much by nobles as by Act of +Parliament. + +Now all Europe was virtually divided among these petty sovereigns, +called dukes, earls, counts, and barons. Each one was virtually +independent. He coined money, administered justice, and preserved +order. He ruled by hereditary right, and his estate descended to +his oldest son. His revenues were derived by the extorted +contributions of those who cultivated his lands, and by certain +perquisites, among which were the privilege of wardship, and the +profits of an estate during the minority of its possessor, and +reliefs, or fines paid on the alienation of a vassal's feud; and +the lord could bestow a female ward in marriage on whomever he +pleased, and on her refusal take possession of her estate. + +These lordly proprietors of great estates,--or nobles,--so powerful +and independent, lived in castles. These strongholds were +necessary in such turbulent times. They were large or small, +according to the wealth or rank of the nobles who occupied them, +but of no architectural beauty. They were fortresses, generally +built on hills, or cragged rocks, or in inaccessible marshes, or on +islands in rivers,--anywhere where defence was easiest. The nobles +did not think of beautiful situations, or fruitful meadows, so much +as of the safety and independence of the feudal family. They +therefore lived in great isolation, travelling but little, and only +at short distances (it was the higher clergy only who travelled). +Though born to rank and power, they were yet rude, rough, +unpolished. They were warriors. They fought on horseback, covered +with defensive armor. They were greedy and quarrelsome, and hence +were engaged in perpetual strife,--in the assault on castles and +devastation of lands. These castles were generally gloomy, heavy, +and uncomfortable, yet were very numerous in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries. They were occupied by the feudal family, +perhaps the chaplain, strangers of rank, bards, minstrels, and +servants, who lived on the best the country afforded, but without +the luxuries of our times. They lived better than the monks, as +they had no vows to restrain them. But in their dreary castles the +rooms were necessarily small, dark, and damp, except the banqueting +hall. They were poorly lighted, there being no glass in the narrow +windows, nor chimneys, nor carpets, nor mirrors, nor luxurious +furniture, nor crockery, nor glassware, nor stoves, nor the +refinements of cookery. The few roads of the country were +travelled only by horsemen, or people on foot. There were no +carriages, only a few heavy lumbering wagons. Tea and coffee were +unknown, as also tropical fruits and some of our best vegetables. +But game of all kinds was plenty and cheap; so also were wine and +beer, and beef and mutton, and pork and poultry. The feudal family +was illiterate, and read but few books. The chief pleasures were +those of the chase,--hunting and hawking,--and intemperate feasts. +What we call "society" was impossible, although the barons may have +exchanged visits with each other. They rarely visited cities, +which at that time were small and uninteresting. The lordly +proprietor of ten thousand acres may have been jolly, frank, and +convivial, but he was still rough, and had little to say on matters +of great interests. Circumscribed he was of necessity, ignorant +and prejudiced. Conscious of power, however, he was proud and +insolent to inferiors. He was merely a physical man,--ruddy, +healthy, strong indeed, but without refinement, or knowledge, or +social graces. His castle was a fort and not a palace; and here he +lived with boisterous or sullen companions, as rough and ignorant +as himself. His wife and daughters were more interesting, but +without those attainments which grace and adorn society. They +made tapestries and embroideries, and rode horseback, and danced +well, and were virtuous; but were primitive, uneducated, and +supercilious. Their beauty was of the ruddy sort,--physical, but +genial. They were very fond of ornaments and gay dresses; and so +were their lords on festive occasions, for semi-barbarism delights +in what is showy and glittering,--purple, and feathers, and +trinkets. + +Feudalism was intensely aristocratic. A line was drawn between the +noble and ignoble classes almost as broad as that which separates +liberty from slavery. It was next to impossible for a peasant, or +artisan, or even a merchant to pass that line. The exclusiveness +of the noble class was intolerable. It held in scorn any +profession but arms; neither riches nor learning was of any +account. It gloried in the pride of birth, and nourished a haughty +scorn of plebeian prosperity. It was not until cities and arts and +commerce arose that the arrogance of the baron was rebuked, or his +iron power broken. Haughty though ignorant, he had no pity or +compassion for the poor and miserable. His peasantry were doomed +to perpetual insults. Their corn-fields were trodden down by the +baronial hunters; they were compelled even to grind their corn in +the landlord's mill, and bake their bread in his oven. They had no +redress of injuries, and were scorned as well as insulted. What +knight would arm himself for them; what gentle lady wept at their +sorrows? The feeling of personal consequence was entirely confined +to the feudal family. The poorest knight took precedence over the +richest merchant. Pride of birth was carried to romantic +extravagance, so that marriages seldom took place between different +classes. A beautiful peasant girl could never rise above her +drudgeries; and she never dreamed of rising, for the members of the +baronial family were looked up to as superior beings. A caste grew +up as rigid and exclusive as that of India. The noble and ignoble +classes were not connected by any ties; there was nothing in common +between them. Even the glory of successful warfare shed no +radiance on a peasant's hut. He fought for his master, and not for +himself, and scarcely for his country. He belonged to his master +as completely as if he could be bought and sold. Christianity +teaches the idea of a universal brotherhood; Feudalism suppressed +or extinguished it. Peasants had no rights, only duties,--and +duties to hard and unsympathetic masters. Can we wonder that a +relation so unequal should have been detested by the people when +they began to think? Can we wonder it should have created French +Revolutions? When we remember how the people toiled for a mail- +clad warrior, how they fought for his interests, how they died for +his renown, how they were curtailed in their few pleasures, how +they were not permitted even to shoot a pheasant or hare in their +own grounds, we are amazed that such signal injustice should ever +have been endured. It is impossible that this injustice should not +have been felt; and no man ever became reconciled to injustice, +unless reduced to the condition of a brute. Religious tyranny may +be borne, for the priest invokes a supreme authority which all feel +to be universally binding. But all tyranny over the body--the +utter extinction of liberty--is hateful even to the most degraded +Hottentot. + +Why, then, was such an unjust and unequal relation permitted to +exist so long? What good did it accomplish? What were its +extenuating features? Why was it commended by historians as a good +institution for the times? + +It created a hardy agricultural class, inured them to the dangers +and the toils of war, bound them by local attachments, and fostered +a patriotic spirit. It developed the virtues of obedience, and +submission to evils. It created a love of home and household +duties. It was favorable to female virtue. It created the stout +yeomanry who could be relied upon in danger. It made law and order +possible. It defended the people from robbers. It laid a +foundation for warlike prowess. It was favorable to growth of +population, for war did not sweep off the people so much as those +dire plagues and pestilences which were common in the Middle Ages. +It was preferable to the disorders and conflagrations and +depredations of preceding times. The poor man was oppressed, but +he was safe so long as his lord could protect him. It was a hard +discipline, but a discipline which was healthy; it preserved the +seed if it did not bear the fruits of civilization. The peasantry +became honest, earnest, sincere. They were made susceptible of +religious impressions. They became attached to all the +institutions of the Church; the parish church was their retreat, +their consolation, and their joy. The priest held sway over the +soul and the knight over the body, but the flame of piety burned +steadily and warmly. + +When the need of such an institution as Feudalism no longer +existed, then it was broken up. Its blessings were not +commensurate with its evils; but the evils were less than those +which previously existed. This is, I grant, but faint praise. But +the progress of society could not be rapid amid such universal +ignorance: it is slow in the best of times. I do not call that +state of society progressive where moral and spiritual truths are +forgotten or disregarded in the triumphs of a brilliant material +life. There was no progress of society from the Antonines to +Theodosius, but a steady decline. But there was a progress, +however slow, from Charlemagne to Philip Augustus. But for +Feudalism and ecclesiastical institutions the European races might +not have emerged from anarchy, or might have been subjected to a +new and withering imperialism. Say what we will of the grinding +despotism of Feudalism,--and we cannot be too severe on any form of +despotism,--yet the rude barbarian became a citizen in process of +time, with education and political rights. + +Society made the same sort of advance, in the gloomy epoch we are +reviewing, that the slaves in our Southern States made from the time +they were imported from Africa, with their degrading fetichism and +unexampled ignorance, to the time of their emancipation. How marked +the progress of the Southern slaves during the two hundred years of +their bondage! No degraded race ever made so marked a progress as +they did in the same period, even under all the withering influences +of slavery. Probably their moral and spiritual progress was greater +than it will be in the next two hundred years, exposed to all the +dangers of modern materialism, which saps the life of nations in the +midst of the most brilliant triumphs of art. We are now on the road +to a marvellous intellectual enlightenment, unprecedented and full +of encouragement. But with this we face dangers also, such as +undermined the old Roman world and all the ancient civilizations. If +I could fix my eye on a single State or Nation in the whole history +of our humanity that has escaped these dangers, that has not +retrograded in those virtues on which the strength of man is based, +after a certain point has been reached in civilization, I would not +hazard this remark. Society escaped these evils in that +agricultural period which saw the rise and fall of Feudalism, and +made a slow but notable advance. That is a fact which cannot be +gainsaid, and this is impressive. It shows that society, in a moral +point of view, thrives better under hard restraints than when +exposed to the dangers of an irreligious, material civilization. + +Nor is Feudalism to be condemned as being altogether dark and +uninteresting. It had redeeming features in the life of the +baronial family. Under its influence arose the institution of +chivalry; and though the virtues of chivalry may be poetic, and +exaggerated, there can be no doubt that it was a civilizing +institution, and partially redeemed the Middle Ages. It gave rise +to beautiful sentiments; it blazed in new virtues, rarely seen in +the old civilizations. They were peculiar to the age and to +Europe, were fostered by the Church, and took a coloring from +Christianity itself. Chivalry bound together the martial barons of +Europe by the ties of a fraternity of knights. Those armed and +mailed warriors fought on horseback, and chivalry takes its name +from the French cheval, meaning a horse. The knights learned +gradually to treat each other with peculiar courtesy. They became +generous in battle or in misfortune, for they all alike belonged to +the noble class, and felt a common bond in the pride of birth. It +was not the memory of illustrious ancestors which created this +aristocratic distinction, as among Roman patricians, but the fact +that the knights were a superior order. Yet among themselves +distinctions vanished. There was no higher distinction than that +of a gentleman. The poorest knight was welcome at any castle or at +any festivity, at the tournament or in the chase. Generally, +gallantry and unblemished reputation were the conditions of social +rank among the knights themselves. They were expected to excel in +courage, in courtesy, in generosity, in truthfulness, in loyalty. +The great patrimony of the knight was his horse, his armor, and his +valor. He was bound to succor the defenceless. He was required to +abstain from all mean pursuits. If his trade were war, he would +divest war of its cruelties. His word was seldom broken, and his +promises were held sacred. If pride of rank was generated in this +fraternity of gentlemen, so also was scorn of lies and baseness. +If there was no brotherhood of man, there was the brotherhood of +equals. The most beautiful friendships arose from common dangers +and common duties. A stranger knight was treated with the greatest +kindness and hospitality. If chivalry condemned anything, it was +selfishness and treachery and hypocrisy. All the old romances and +chronicles record the frankness and magnanimity of knights. More +was thought of moral than of intellectual excellence. Nobody was +ashamed to be thought religious. The mailed warrior said his +orisons every day and never neglected Mass. Even in war, prisoners +were released on their parole of honor, and their ransom was rarely +exorbitant. The institution tended to soften manners as well as to +develop the virtues of the heart. Under its influence the rude +baron was transformed into a courteous gentleman. + +But the distinguishing glory of chivalry was devotion to the female +sex. Respect for woman was born in the German forests before the +Roman empire fell. It was the best trait of the Germanic +barbarians; but under the institution of chivalry this natural +respect was ripened into admiration and gallantry. "Love of God +and the ladies" was enjoined as a single duty. The knight ever +came to the rescue of a woman in danger or distress, provided she +was a lady. Nothing is better attested than the chivalric devotion +to woman in a feudal castle. The name of a mistress of the heart +was never mentioned but in profound respect. Even pages were +required to choose objects of devotion, to whom they were to be +loyal unto death. Woman presided in the feudal castle, where she +exercised a proper, restraint. She bestowed the prize of valor at +tournaments and tilts. To insult a lady was a lasting disgrace,-- +or to reveal her secrets. For the first time in history, woman +became the equal partner of her husband. She was his companion +often in the chase, gaily mounted on her steed. She always dined +with him, and was the presiding genius of the castle. She was made +regent of kingdoms, heir of crowns, and joint manager of great +estates. She had the supreme management of her household, and was +consulted in every matter of importance. What an insignificant +position woman filled at Athens compared with that in the feudal +castle! How different the estimate of woman among the Pagan poets +from that held by the Provencal poets! What a contrast to Juvenal +is Sordello! The lady of a baronial hall deemed it an insult to be +addressed in the language of gallantry, except in that vague and +poetic sense in which every knight selected some lady as the object +of his dutiful devotion. She disdained the attentions of the most +potent prince if his addresses were not honorable. Nor would she +bestow her love on one of whom she was not proud. She would not +marry a coward or a braggart, even if he were the owner of ten +thousand acres. The knight was encouraged to pay his address to +any lady if he was personally worthy of her love, for chivalry +created a high estimate of individual merit. The feudal lady +ignored all degrees of wealth within her own rank. She was as +tender and compassionate as she was heroic. She was treated as a +superior, rather than as an equal. There was a poetical admiration +among the whole circle of knights. A knight without an object of +devotion was as "a ship without a rudder, a horse without a bridle, +a sword without a hilt, a sky without a star." Even a Don Quixote +must have his Dulcinea, as well as horse and armor and squire. +Dante impersonates the spirit of the Middle Ages in his adoration +of Beatrice. The ancient poets coupled the praises of women with +the praises of wine. Woman, under the influence of chivalry, +became the star of worship, an object of idolatry. We read of few +divorces in the Middle Ages, or of separations, or desertions, or +even alienations; these things are a modern improvement, borrowed +from the customs of the Romans. The awe and devotion with which +the lover regarded his bride became regard and affection in the +husband. The matron maintained the rank which had been assigned to +her as a maiden. The gallant Warriors blended even the adoration +of our Lord with adoration of our Lady,--the deification of Christ +with the glorification of woman. Chivalry, encouraged by the +Church and always strongly allied with religious sentiments, +accepted for eternal veneration the transcendent loveliness of the +mother of our Lord; so that chivalric veneration for the sex +culminated in the reverence which belongs to the Queen of Heaven,-- +virgo fidelis; regina angelorum. Woman assumed among kings and +barons the importance which she was supposed to have in the +celestial hierarchy. And besides the religious influence, the +poetic imagination of the time seized upon this pure and lovely +element, which passed into the songs, the tales, the talk, the +thought, and the aspirations of all the knightly order. + +Whence, now, this veneration for woman which arose in the Middle +Ages,--a veneration, which all historians attest, such as never +existed in the ancient civilization? + +It was undoubtedly based on the noble qualities and domestic +virtues which feudal life engendered. Women were heroines. Queen +Philippa in the absence of her husband stationed herself in the +Castle of Bamborough and defied the whole power of Douglas. The +first military dispatch ever written in the Middle Ages was +addressed to her; she even took David of Scotland a prisoner, when +he invaded England. These women of chivalry were ready to undergo +any fatigues to promote their husbands' interests. They were equal +to any personal sacrifices. Nothing could daunt their courage. +They could defend themselves in danger, showing an extraordinary +fertility of resources. They earned the devotion they called out. +What more calculated to win the admiration of feudal warriors than +this devotion and bravery on the part of wives and daughters! They +were helpmates in every sense. They superintended the details of +castles. They were always employed, and generally in what were +imperative duties. If they embroidered dresses or worked +tapestries, they also wove the cloth for their husband's coats, and +made his shirts and knit his stockings. If they trained hawks and +falcons, they fed the poultry and cultivated the flowers. They +understood the cares of the kitchen, and managed the servants. + +But it was their moral virtues which excited the greatest esteem. +They gloried in their unsullied names their characters were above +suspicion. Any violation of the marriage vow was almost unknown; +an unfaithful wife was infamous. The ordinary life of a castle was +that of isolation, which made women discreet, self-relying; and +free from entangling excitements. They had no great pleasures, and +but little society. They were absorbed with their duties, and +contented with their husbands' love. The feudal castle, however, +was not dull, although it was isolated, and afforded few novelties. +It was full of strangers, and minstrels, and bards, and pedlars, +and priests. Women could gratify their social wants without +seductive excitements. They led a life favorable to friendships, +which cannot thrive amid the distractions of cities. In cities few +have time to cultivate friendships, although they may not be +extinguished. In the baronial castle, however, they were necessary +to existence. + +And here, where she was so well known, woman's worth was +recognized. Her caprices and frivolities were balanced by sterling +qualities,--as a nurse in sickness, as a devotee to duties, as a +friend in distress, ever sympathetic and kind. She was not +exacting, and required very little to amuse her. Of course, she +was not intellectual, since she read but few books and received +only the rudiments of education; but she was as learned as her +brothers, and quicker in her wits. She had the vivacity which a +healthy life secures. Nor was she beautiful, according to our +standard. She was a ruddy, cheerful, active, healthy woman, +accustomed to exercise in the open air,--to field-sports and +horseback journeys. Still less was she what we call fashionable, +for the word was not known; nor was she a woman of society, for, as +we have said, there was no society in a feudal castle. What we +call society was born in cities, where women reign by force of mind +and elegant courtesies and grace of manners,--where woman is an +ornament as well as a power, without drudgeries and almost without +cares, as at the courts of the Bourbon princes. + +Yet I am not certain but that the foundation of courtly elegance +and dignity was laid in the baronial home, when woman began her +reign as the equal of her wedded lord, when she commanded reverence +for her courtesies and friendships, and when her society was valued +so highly by aristocratic knights. In the castle she became genial +and kind and sympathetic,--although haughty to inferiors and hard +on the peasantry. She was ever religious. Religious duties took +up no small part of her time. Christianity raised her more than +all other influences combined. You never read of an infidel woman +when chivalry flourished, any more than of a "strong-minded" woman. +The feudal woman never left her sphere, even amid the pleasures of +the chase or the tilt. Her gentle and domestic virtues remained +with her to the end, and were the most prized. Woman was +worshipped because she was a woman, not because she resembled a +man. Benevolence and compassion and simplicity were her cardinal +virtues. Though her sports were masculine, her character was +feminine. She yielded to man in matters of reason and intellect, +but he yielded to her in the virtues of the heart and the radiance +of the soul. She associated with man without seductive spectacles +or demoralizing excitements, and retained her influence by securing +his respect. In antiquity, there was no respect for the sex, even +when Aspasia enthralled Pericles by the fascinations of blended +intellect and beauty; but there was respect in the feudal ages, +when women were unlettered and unpolished. And this respect was +alike the basis of friendship and the key to power. It was not +elegance of manners, nor intellectual culture, nor physical beauty +which elevated the women of chivalry, but their courage, their +fidelity, their sympathy, their devotion to duty,--qualities which +no civilization ought to obscure, and for the loss of which no +refinements of life can make up. + +Thus Chivalry,--the most interesting institution of the Middle +Ages, rejoicing in deeds of daring, guided by honor and renown, +executing enterprises almost extravagant, battling injustice and +wrong, binding together the souls of a great fraternity, scorning +lies, revering truth, devoted to the Church,--could not help +elevating the sex to which its proudest efforts were pledged, by +cherishing elevated conceptions of love, by offering all the +courtesies of friendship, by coming to the rescue of innocence, by +stimulating admiration of all that is heroic, and by asserting the +honor of the loved ones, even at the risk of life and limb. In the +dark ages of European society woman takes her place, for the first +time in the world, as the equal and friend of man, not by physical +beauty, not by graces of manner, not even by intellectual culture, +but by the solid virtues of the heart, brought to light by danger, +isolation, and practical duties, and by that influence which +radiated from the Cross. Divest chivalry of the religious element, +and you take away its glory and its fascination. The knight would +be only a hard-hearted warrior, oppressing the poor and miserable, +and only interesting from his deeds of valor. But Christianity +softened him and made him human, while it dignified the partner of +his toils, and gave birth to virtues which commanded reverence. +The soul of chivalry, closely examined, in its influence over men +or over women, after all, was that power which is and will be +through all the ages the hope and glory of our world. + +Thus with all the miseries, cruelties, injustices, and hardships of +feudal life, there were some bright spots showing that Providence +never deserts the world, and that though progress may be slow in +the infancy of races, yet with the light of Christianity, even if +it be darkened, this progress is certain, and will be more and more +rapid as Christianity achieves its victories. + + +AUTHORITIES. + +Hallam's Middle Ages; Sismondi's Histoire des Francais; Guizot's +History of Civilization (translated); Michelet's History of France +(translated); Bell's Historical Studies of Feudalism; Lacroix's +Manners and Customs of the Middle Ages; Mills's History of +Chivalry; Sir Walter Scott's article in Encyclopaedia Britannica; +Perrot's Collection Historique des Ordres de Chivalrie; St. +Palaye's Memoires de l'Ancienne Chivalrie; Buckle's History of +Civilization; Palgrave's English Commonwealth; Martin's History of +France; Freeman's Norman Conquest; M. Fauriel's History of +Provencal Poetry; Froissart's Chronicles; also the general English +histories of the reign of Edward III. Don Quixote should be read +in this connection. And Tennyson in his "Idylls of the King" has +incorporated the spirit of ancient chivalry. + + + +THE CRUSADES. + +A. D. 1095-1272. + + +The great external event of the Middle Ages was the Crusades,-- +indeed, they were the only common enterprise in which Europe ever +engaged. Such an event ought to be very interesting, since it has +reference to conflicting passions and interests. Unfortunately, in +a literary point of view, there is no central figure in the great +drama which the princes of Europe played for two hundred years, and +hence the Crusades have but little dramatic interest. No one man +represents that mighty movement. It was a great wave of +inundation, flooding Asia with the unemployed forces of Europe, +animated by passions which excite our admiration, our pity, and our +reprobation. They are chiefly interesting for their results, and +results which were unforeseen. A philosopher sees in them the hand +of Providence,--the overruling of mortal wrath to the praise of Him +who governs the universe. I know of no great movement of blind +forces so pregnant with mighty consequences. + +The Crusades were a semi-religious and a semi-military movement. +They represent the passions and ideas of Europe in the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries,--its chivalry, its hatred of Mohammedanism, +and its desire to possess the spots consecrated by the sufferings +of our Lord. Their long continuance shows the intensity of the +sentiments which animated them. They were aggressive wars, alike +fierce and unfortunate, absorbing to the nations that embarked in +them, but of no interest to us apart from the moral lessons to be +drawn from them. Perhaps one reason why history is so dull to most +people is that the greater part of it is a record of battles and +sieges, of military heroes and conquerors. This is pre-eminently +true of Greece, of Rome, of the Middle Ages, and of our modern +times down to the nineteenth century. But such chronicles of +everlasting battles and sieges do not satisfy this generation. +Hence our more recent historians, wishing to avoid the monotony of +ordinary history, have attempted to explore the common life of the +people, and to bring out their manners and habits: they would +succeed in making history more interesting if the materials, at +present, were not so scanty and unsatisfactory. + +The only way to make the history of wars interesting is to go back +to the ideas, passions, and interests which they represent. Then +we penetrate to the heart of history, and feel its life. For all +the great wars of the world, we shall see, are exponents of its +great moving spiritual forces. The wars of Cyrus and Alexander +represent the passion of military glory; those of Marius, Sylla, +Pompey, and Caesar, the desire of political aggrandizement; those +of Constantine and Theodosius, the desire for political unity and +the necessity of self-defence. The sweeping and desolating +inundations of the barbarians, from the third to the sixth century, +represent the poverty of those rude nations, and their desire to +obtain settlements more favorable to getting a living. The +conquests of Mohammed and his successors were made to swell the +number of converts of a new religion. The perpetual strife of the +baronial lords was to increase their domains. The wars of +Charlemagne and Charles V. were to revive the imperialism of the +Caesars,--to create new universal monarchies. The wars which grew +out of the Reformation were to preserve or secure religious +liberty; those which followed were to maintain the balance of +power. Those of Napoleon were at first, at least nominally, to +spread or defend the ideas of the French Revolution, until he +became infatuated with the love of military glory. Our first great +war was to secure national independence, and our second to preserve +national unity. The contest between Prussia and France was to +prevent the ascendency of either of those great States. The wars +of the English in India were to find markets for English goods, +employment for the sons of the higher classes, and a new field for +colonization and political power. So all the great passions and +interests which have moved mankind have found their vent in war,-- +rough barbaric spoliations, love of glory and political +aggrandizement, desire to spread religious ideas, love of liberty, +greediness for wealth, unity of nations, jealousy of other powers, +even the desire to secure general peace and tranquillity. Most +wars have had in view the attainment of great ends, and it is in +the ultimate results of them that we see the progress of nations. + +Thus wars, contemplated in a philosophical aspect, in spite of +their repulsiveness are invested with dignity, and really indicate +great moral and intellectual movements, as well as the personal +ambition or vanity of conquerors. They are the ultimate solutions +of great questions, not to be solved in any other way,-- +unfortunately, I grant,--on account of human wickedness. And I +know of no great wars, much as I loathe and detest them, and +severely and justly as they may he reprobated, which have not been +overruled for the ultimate welfare of society. The wars of +Alexander led to the introduction of Grecian civilization into Asia +and Egypt; those of the Romans, to the pacification of the world +and the reign of law and order; those of barbarians, to the +colonization of the worn-out provinces of the Roman Empire by +hardier and more energetic nations; those of Charlemagne, to the +ultimate suppression of barbaric invasions; those of the Saracens, +to the acknowledgment of One God; those of Charles V., to the +recognized necessity of a balance of power; those which grew out of +the Reformation, to religious liberty. The Huguenots' contest +undermined the ascendency of Roman priests in France; the Seven +Years' War developed the naval power of England, and gave to her a +prominent place among the nations, and exposed the weakness of +Austria, so long the terror of Europe; the wars of Louis XIV. sowed +the seeds of the French Revolution; those of Napoleon vindicated +its great ideas; those of England in India introduced the +civilization of a Christian nation; those of the Americans secured +liberty and the unity of their vast nation. The majesty of the +Governor of the universe is seen in nothing more impressively than +in the direction which the wrath of man is made to take. + +Now these remarks apply to the Crusades. They represent prevailing +ideas. Their origin was a universal hatred of Mohammedans. Like +all the institutions of the Middle Ages, they were a great +contradiction,--debasement in glory, and glory in debasement. With +all the fierceness and superstition and intolerance of feudal +barons, we see in the Crusades the exercise of gallantry, personal +heroism, tenderness, Christian courtesy,--the virtues of chivalry, +unselfishness, and magnanimity; but they ended in giving a new +impulse to civilization, which will be more minutely pointed out +before I close my lecture. + +Thus the Crusades are really worthy to be chronicled by historians +above anything else which took place in the Middle Ages, since they +gave birth to mighty agencies, which still are vital forces in +society,--even as everything in American history pales before that +awful war which arrayed, in our times, the North against the South +in desperate and deadly contest; the history of which remains to be +written, but cannot be written till the animosities which provoked +it have passed away. What a small matter to future historians is +rapid colonization and development of material resources, in +comparison with the sentiments which provoked that war! What will +future philosophers care how many bushels of wheat are raised in +Minnesota, or car-loads of corn brought from Illinois, or hogs +slaughtered in Chicago, or yards of cloth woven in Lowell, or cases +of goods packed in New York, or bales of carpets manufactured in +Philadelphia, or pounds of cotton exported from New Orleans, or +meetings of railway presidents at Cincinnati to pool the profits of +their monopolies, or women's-rights conventions held in Boston, or +schemes of speculators ventilated in the lobbies of Washington; or +stock-jobbing and gambling operations take place in every large +city of the country,--compared with the mighty marshalling of +forces on the banks of the Potomac, at the call of patriotism, to +preserve the life of the republic? You cannot divest war of +dignity and interest when the grandest results, which affect the +permanent welfare of nations, are made to appear. + +The Crusades, as they were historically developed, are mixed up +with the religious ideas of the Middle Ages, with the domination of +popes, with the feudal system, with chivalry, with monastic life, +with the central power of kings, with the birth of mercantile +States, with the fears and interests of England, France, Germany, +and Italy, for two hundred years,--yea, with the architecture, +commerce, geographical science, and all the arts then known. All +these principalities and powers and institutions and enterprises +were affected by them, so that at their termination a new era in +civilization began. Grasp the Crusades, and you comprehend one of +the forces which undermined the institutions of the Middle Ages. + +It is not a little remarkable that the earliest cause of the +Crusades, so far as I am able to trace, was the adoption by the +European nations of some of the principles of Eastern theogonies +which pertained to self-expiation. An Asiatic theological idea +prepared the way for the war between Europe and Asia. The European +pietist embraced the religious tenets of the Asiatic monk, which +centred in the propitiation of the Deity by works of penance. One +of the approved and popular forms of penance was a pilgrimage to +sacred places,--seen equally among degenerate Christian sects in +Asia Minor, and among the Mohammedans of Arabia. What place so +sacred as Jerusalem, the scene of the passion and resurrection of +our Lord? Ever since the Empress Helena had built a church at +Jerusalem, it had been thronged with pious pilgrims. A pilgrimage +to old Jerusalem would open the doors of the New Jerusalem, whose +streets were of gold, and whose palaces were of pearls. + +At the close of the tenth century there was great suffering in +Europe, bordering on despair. The calamities of ordinary life were +so great that the end of the world seemed to be at hand. Universal +fear of impending divine wrath seized the minds of men. A great +religious awakening took place, especially in England, France, and +Germany. In accordance with the sentiments of the age, there was +every form of penance to avert the anger of God and escape the +flames of hell. The most popular form of penance was the +pilgrimage to Jerusalem, long and painful as it was. Could the +pilgrim but reach that consecrated spot, he was willing to die. +The village pastor delivered the staff into his hands, girded him +with a scarf, and attached to it a leathern scrip. Friends and +neighbors accompanied him a little way on his toilsome journey, +which lay across the Alps, through the plains of Lombardy, over +Illyria and Pannonia, along the banks of the Danube, by Moesia and +Dacia, to Belgrade and Constantinople, and then across the +Bosphorus, through Bithynia, Cilicia, and Syria, until the towers +and walls of Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea proclaimed that he was +at length in the Holy Land. Barons and common people swell the +number of these pilgrims. The haughty knight, who has committed +unpunished murders, and the pensive saint, wrapt in religious +ecstasies, rival each other in humility and zeal. Those who have +no money sell their lands. Those who have no lands to sell throw +themselves on Providence, and beg their way for fifteen hundred +miles among strangers. The roads are filled with these +travellers,--on foot, in rags, fainting from hunger and fatigue. +What sufferings, to purchase the favor of God, or to realize the +attainment of pious curiosity! The heart almost bleeds to think +that our ancestors could ever have been so visionary and misguided; +that such a gloomy view of divine forgiveness should have permeated +the Middle Ages. + +But the sorrows of the pious pilgrims did not end when they reached +the Holy Land. Jerusalem was then in the hands of the Turks and +Saracens (or Orientals, a general name given to the Arabian +Mohammedans), who exacted two pieces of gold from every pilgrim as +the price of entering Jerusalem, and moreover reviled and +maltreated him. The Holy Sepulchre could be approached only on the +condition of defiling it. + +The reports of these atrocities and cruelties at last reached the +Europeans, filling them with sympathy for the sufferers and +indignation for the persecutors. An intense hatred of Mohammedans +was generated and became universal,--a desire for vengeance, +unparalleled in history. Popes and bishops weep; barons and +princes swear. Every convent and every castle in Europe is +animated with deadly resentment. Rage, indignation, and vengeance +are the passions of the hour,--all concentrated on "the infidels," +which term was the bitterest reproach that each party could inflict +on the other. An infidel was accursed of God, and was consigned to +human wrath. And the Mohammedans had the same hatred of Christians +that Christians had of Mohammedans. In the eyes of each their +enemies were infidels; and they were enemies because they were +regarded as infidels. + +Such a state of feeling in both Europe and Asia could not but +produce an outbreak,--a spark only was needed to kindle a +conflagration. That spark was kindled when Peter of Amiens, a +returned hermit, aroused the martial nations to a bloody war on +these enemies of God and man. He was a mean-looking man, with +neglected beard and disordered dress. He had no genius, nor +learning, nor political position. He was a mere fanatic, fierce, +furious with ungovernable rage. But he impersonated the leading +idea of the age,--hatred of "the infidels," as the Mohammedans were +called. And therefore his voice was heard. The Pope used his +influence. Two centuries later he could not have made himself a +passing wonder. But he is the means of stirring up the indignation +of Europe into a blazing flame. He itinerates France and Italy, +exposing the wrongs of the Christians and the cruelties of the +Saracens,--the obstruction placed in the way of salvation. At +length a council is assembled at Clermont, and the Pope--Urban II.-- +presides, and urges on the sacred war. In the year 1095 the Pope, +in his sacred robes, and in the presence of four hundred bishops +and abbots, ascends the pulpit erected in the market-place, and +tells the immense multitude how their faith is trodden in the dust; +how the sacred relics are desecrated; and appeals alike to chivalry +and religion. More than this, he does just what Mohammed did when +he urged his followers to take the sword: he announces, in fiery +language, the fullest indulgence to all who take part in the +expedition,--that all their sins shall be forgiven, and that heaven +shall be opened to them. "It is the voice of God," they cry; "we +will hasten to the deliverance of the sacred city!" Every man +stimulates the passions of his neighbor. All vie in their +contributions. The knights especially are enthusiastic, for they +can continue their accustomed life without penance, and yet obtain +the forgiveness of their sins. Religious fears are turned at first +into the channel of penance; and penance is made easy by the +indulgence of the martial passions. Every recruit wore a red +cross, and was called croise--cross-bearer; whence the name of the +holy war. + +Thus the Crusades began, at the close of the eleventh century, when +William Rufus was King of England, when Henry IV. was still Emperor +of Germany, when Anselm was reigning at Canterbury as spiritual +head of the English Church, ten years after the great Hildebrand +had closed his turbulent pontificate. + +I need not detail the history of this first Crusade. Of the two +hundred thousand who set out with Peter the Hermit,--this fiery +fanatic, with no practical abilities,--only twenty thousand +succeeded in reaching even Constantinople. The rest miserably +perished by the way,--a most disorderly rabble. And nothing +illustrates the darkness of the age more impressively than that a +mere monk should have been allowed to lead two hundred thousand +armed men on an enterprise of such difficulty. How little the +science of war was comprehended! And even of the five hundred +thousand men under Godfrey, Tancred, Bohemond, and other great +feudal princes,--men of rare personal valor and courage; men who +led the flower of the European chivalry,--only twenty-five thousand +remained after the conquest of Jerusalem. The glorious array of a +hundred and fifty thousand horsemen, in full armor, was a miserable +failure. The lauded warriors of feudal Europe effected almost +nothing. Tasso attempted to immortalize their deeds; but how +insignificant they were, compared with even Homer's heroes! A +modern army of twenty-five thousand men could not only have put the +whole five hundred thousand to rout in an hour, but could have +delivered Palestine in a few mouths. Even one of the standing +armies of the sixteenth century, under such a general as Henry IV. +or the Duke of Guise, could have effected more than all the +crusaders of two hundred years. The crusaders numbered many +heroes, but scarcely a single general. There was no military +discipline among them: they knew nothing of tactics or strategy; +they fought pell-mell in groups, as in the contests of barons among +themselves. Individually they were gallant and brave, and +performed prodigies of valor with their swords and battle-axes; but +there was no direction given to their strength by leaders. + +The Second Crusade, preached half a century afterwards by Saint +Bernard, and commanded by an Emperor of Germany and a King of +France, proved equally unfortunate. Not a single trophy consoled +Europe for the additional loss of two hundred thousand men. The +army melted away in foolish sieges, for which the crusaders had no +genius or proper means. + +The Third Crusade, and the most famous, which began in the year +1189, of which Philip Augustus of France, Richard Coeur de Lion of +England, and Frederic Barbarossa of Germany were the leaders,--the +three greatest monarchs of their age,--was also signally +unsuccessful. Feudal armies seem to have learned nothing in one +hundred years of foreign warfare; or else they had greater +difficulties to contend with, abler generals to meet, than they +dreamed of, who reaped the real advantages,--like Saladin. Sir +Walter Scott, in his "Ivanhoe," has not probably exaggerated the +military prowess of the heroes of this war, or the valor of +Templars and Hospitallers; yet the finest array of feudal forces in +the Middle Ages, from which so much was expected, wasted its +strength and committed innumerable mistakes. It proved how useless +was a feudal army for a distant and foreign war. Philip may have +been wily, and Richard lion-hearted, but neither had the +generalship of Saladin. Though they triumphed at Tiberias, at +Jaffa, at Caesarea; though prodigies of valor were performed; +though Ptolemais (or Acre), the strongest city of the East, was +taken,--yet no great military results followed. More blood was +shed at this famous siege, which lasted three years, than ought to +have sufficed for the subjugation of Asia. There were no decisive +battles, and yet one hundred battles took place under its walls. +Slaughter effected nothing. Jerusalem, which had been retaken by +the Saracens, still remained in their hands, and never afterwards +was conquered by the Europeans. The leaders returned dejected to +their kingdoms, and the bones of their followers whitened the soil +of Palestine. + +The Fourth Crusade, incited by Pope Innocent III., three years +after, terminated with divisions among the States of Christendom, +without weakening the power of the Saracens (1202-4). + +Among other expeditions was one called the "Children's Crusade" +(1212), a wretched, fanatical misery, resulting in the enslavement +of many and the death of thousands by shipwreck and exposure. + +The Fifth Crusade, commanded by the Emperor Frederic II. of Germany +(1228-9), was diverted altogether from the main object, and spent +its force on Constantinople. That city was taken, but the Holy +Land was not delivered. The Byzantine Empire was then in the last +stages of decrepitude, or its capital would not have fallen, as it +did, from a naval attack made by the Venetians, and in revenge for +the treacheries and injuries of the Greek emperors to former +crusaders. This, instead of weakening the Mussulmans, broke down +the chief obstacle to their entrance into Europe shortly afterward. + +The Sixth Crusade (1248-50) only secured the capture of Damietta, +on the banks of the Nile. + +The Seventh and last of these miserable wars was the most +unfortunate of all, A. D. 1270. The saintly monarch of France +perished, with most of his forces, on the coast of Africa, and the +ruins of Carthage were the only conquest which was made. Europe +now fairly sickened over the losses and misfortunes and defeats of +nearly two centuries, during which five millions are supposed to +have lost their lives. Famine and pestilence destroyed more than +the sword. Before disheartened Europe could again rally, the last +strongholds of the Christians were wrested away by the Mohammedans; +and their gallant but unsuccessful defenders were treated with +every inhumanity, and barbarously murdered in spite of truces and +treaties. + + +Such were the famous Crusades, only the main facts of which I +allude to; for to describe them all, or even the more notable +incidents, would fill volumes,--all interesting to be read in +detail by those who have leisure; all marked by prodigious personal +valor; all disgraceful for the want of unity of action and the +absence of real generalship. They indicate the enormous waste of +forces which characterizes nations in their progress. This waste +of energies is one of the great facts of all history, surpassed +only by the apparent waste of the forces of nature or the fruits of +the earth, in the transition period between the time when men +roamed in forests and the time when they cultivated the land. See +what a vast destruction there has been of animals by each other; +what a waste of plants and vegetables, when they could not be +utilized. Why should man escape the universal waste, when reason +is ignored or misdirected? Of what use or value could Palestine +have been to Europeans in the Middle Ages? Of what use can any +country be to conquerors, when it cannot be civilized or made to +contribute to their wants? Europe then had no need of Asia, and +that perhaps is the reason why Europe then could not conquer Asia. +Providence interfered, and rebuked the mad passions which animated +the invaders, and swept them all away. Were Palestine really +needed by Europe, it could be wrested from the Turks with +less effort than was made by the feeblest of the crusaders. +Constantinople--the most magnificent site for a central power--was +indeed wrested from the Greek emperors, and kept one hundred years; +but the Europeans did not know what to do with the splendid prize, +and it was given to the Turks, who made it the capital of a vital +empire. All the good which resulted to Europe from the temporary +possession of Constantinople was the introduction into Europe of +Grecian literature and art. Its political and mercantile +importance was not appreciated, nor then even scarcely needed. It +will one day become again the spoil of that nation which can most +be benefited by it. Such is the course events are made to take. + +In this brief notice of the most unsuccessful wars in which Europe +ever engaged we cannot help noticing their great mistakes. We see +rashness, self-confidence, depreciation of enemies, want of +foresight, ignorance of the difficulties to be surmounted. The +crusaders were diverted from their main object, and wasted their +forces in attacking unimportant cities, or fortresses out of their +way. They invaded the islands of the Mediterranean, Egypt, Africa, +and Greek possessions. They quarrelled with their friends, and +they quarrelled with each other. The chieftains sought their +individual advantage rather than the general good. Nor did they +provide themselves with the necessities for such distant, +operations. They had no commissariat,--without which even a modern +army fails. They were captivated by trifles and frivolities, +rather than directing their strength to the end in view. They +allowed themselves to be seduced by both Greek and infidel arts and +vices. They were betrayed into the most foolish courses. They had +no proper knowledge of the forces with which they were to contend. +They wantonly massacred their foes when they fell into their hands, +increased the animosity of the Mohammedans, and united them in a +concert which they should themselves have sought. They marched by +land when they should have sailed by sea, and they sailed by sea +when they should have marched by land. They intrusted the command +to monks and inexperienced leaders. They obeyed the mandates of +apostolic vicars when they should have considered military +necessities. In fact there was no unity of action, and scarcely +unity of end. What would the great masters of Grecian and Roman +warfare have thought of these blunders and stupidities, to say +nothing of modern generals! The conduct of those wars excites our +contempt, in spite of the heroism of individual knights. We +despise the incapacity of leaders as much as we abhor the +fanaticism which animated their labors. The Crusades have no +bright side, apart from the piety and valor of some who embarked in +them. Hence they are less and less interesting to modern readers. +The romance about them has ceased to affect us. We only see +mistakes and follies; and who cares to dwell on the infirmities of +human nature? It is only what is great in man that moves and +exalts us. There is nothing we dwell upon with pleasure in these +aggressive, useless, unjustifiable wars, except the chivalry +associated with them. The reason of modern times as sternly +rebukes them as the heart of the Middle Ages sickened at them. + +In one aspect they are absolutely repulsive; and this in view of +their vices. The crusaders were cruel. They wantonly massacred +their enemies, even when defenceless. Sixty thousand people were +butchered on the fall of Jerusalem; ten thousand were slaughtered +in the Mosque of Omar. The Christians themselves felt safe when +they sought the retreat of churches, in dire calamities at home; +but they had no respect for the religious retreats of infidels. +When any city fell into their hands there was wholesale +assassination. And they became licentious, as well as rapacious +and cruel. They learned all the vices of the East. Even under the +walls of Acre they sang to the sounds of Arabian instruments, and +danced amid indecent songs. When they took Constantinople they had +no respect for either churches or tombs, and desecrated even the +pulpit of the Patriarch. Their original religious zeal was finally +lost sight of entirely in their military license. They became more +hateful to the orthodox Greeks than to the infidel Saracens. And +when the crusaders returned to their homes,--what few of them lived +to return,--they morally poisoned the communities and villages in +which they dwelt. They became vagabonds and vagrants; they +introduced demoralizing amusements, and jugglers and strolling +players appeared for the first time in Europe. All war is +necessarily demoralizing, even war in defence of glorious +principles, and especially in these times; but much more so is +unjust, fanatical, and unnecessary war. + +But I turn from the record of the mistakes, follies, vices, +miseries, and crimes which marked the wickedest and most uncalled- +for wars of European history, to consider their ultimate results: +not logical results, for these were melancholy,--the depopulation +of Europe; the decimation of the nobility; the poverty which +enormous drains of money from their natural channels produced; the +spread of vice; the decline of even feudal virtues. These evils +and others followed naturally and inevitably from those distant +wars. The immediate effects of all war are evil and melancholy. +Murder, pillage, profanity, drunkenness, extravagance, public +distress, bitter sorrows, wasted energies, destruction of property, +national debts, exaltation of military maxims, general looseness of +life, distaste for regular pursuits,--these are the first-fruits of +war, offensive and defensive, and as inevitable and uniform as the +laws of gravity. No wars were ever more disastrous than the +Crusades in their immediate effects, in any way they may be viewed. +It is all one dark view of disappointment, sorrow, wretchedness, +and sin. There were no bright spots; no gains, only calamities. +Nothing consoled Europe for the loss of five millions of her most +able-bodied men,--no increase of territory, no establishment of +rights, no glory, even; nothing but disgrace and ruin, as in that +maddest of all modern expeditions, the invasion of Russia by +Napoleon. + +But after the lapse of nearly seven hundred years we can see +important results on the civilization of Europe, indirectly +effected,--not intended, nor designed, nor dreamed of; which +results we consider beneficent, and so beneficent that the world is +probably better for those horrid wars. It was fortunate to +humanity at large that they occurred, although so unfortunate to +Europe at the time. In the end, Europe was a gainer by them. +Wickedness was not the seed of virtue, but wickedness was +overruled. Woe to them by whom offences come, but it must need be +that offences come. Men in their depravity will commit crimes, and +those crimes are punished; but even these are made to praise a +Power superior to that of devils, as benevolent as it is +omnipotent,--in which fact I see the utter hopelessness of earth +without a superintending and controlling Deity. + +One important result of the Crusades was the barrier they erected +to the conquests of the Mohammedans in Europe. It is true that the +wave of Saracenic invasion had been arrested by Charles Martel four +or five hundred years before; but in the mean time a new Mohammedan +power sprang up, of greater vigor, of equal ferocity, and of a more +stubborn fanaticism. This was that of the Turks, who had their eye +on Constantinople and all Eastern Europe. And Europe might have +submitted to their domination, had they instead of the Latins taken +Constantinople. The conquest of that city was averted several +hundred years; and when at last it fell into Turkish hands. +Christendom was strong enough to resist the Turkish armies. We +must remember that the Turks were a great power, even in the times +of Peter the Great, and would have taken Vienna but for John +Sobieski. But when Urban II., at the Council of Clermont, urged +the nations of Europe to repel the infidels on the confines of +Asia, rather than wait for them in the heart of Europe, the Asiatic +provinces of the Greek Empire were overrun both by Turks and +Saracens. They held Syria, Armenia, Asia Minor, Africa. Spain, +and the Balearic Islands. Had not Godfrey come to the assistance +of a division of the Christian army, when it was surrounded by two +hundred thousand Turks at the battle of Dorylaeum, the Christians +would have been utterly overwhelmed, and the Turks would have +pressed to the Hellespont. But they were beaten back into Syria, +and, for a time, as far as the line of the Euphrates. But for that +timely repulse, the battles of Belgrade and Lepanto might not have +been fought in subsequent ages. It would have been an overwhelming +calamity had the Turks invaded Europe in the twelfth century. The +loss of five millions on the plains of Asia would have been nothing +in comparison to an invasion of Europe by the Mohammedans,--whether +Saracens or Turks. It may be that the chivalry of Europe would +have successfully repelled an invasion, as the Saracens repelled +the Christians, on their soil. It may be that Asia could not have +conquered Europe any easier than Europe could conquer Asia. + +I do not know how far statesmanlike views entered into the minds of +the leaders of the Crusades. I believe the sentiment which +animated Peter and Urban and Bernard was pure hatred of the +Mohammedans (because they robbed, insulted, and oppressed the +pilgrims), and not any controlling fears of their invasion of +Europe. If such a fear had influenced them, they would not have +permitted a mere rabble to invade Asia; there would have been a +sense of danger stronger than that of hatred,--which does not seem +to have existed in the self-confidence of the crusaders. They +thought it an easy thing to capture Jerusalem: it was a sort of +holiday march of the chivalry of Europe, under Richard and Philip +Augustus. Perhaps, however, the princes of Europe were governed by +political rather than religious reasons. Some few long-headed +statesmen, if such there were among the best informed of bishops +and abbots, may have felt the necessity of the conflict in a +political sense; but I do not believe this was a general +conviction. There was, doubtless, a political necessity--although +men were too fanatical to see more than one side--to crush the +Saracens because they were infidels, and not because they were +warriors. But whether they saw it or not, or armed themselves to +resist a danger as well as to exterminate heresy, the ultimate +effects were all the same. The crusaders failed in their direct +end. They did not recover Palestine; but they so weakened or +diverted the Mohammedan armies that there was not strength enough +left in them to conquer Europe, or even to invade her, until she +was better prepared to resist it,--as she did at the battle of +Lepanto (A. D. 1571), one of the decisive battles of the world. + +I have said that the Crusades were a disastrous failure. I mean in +their immediate ends, not in ultimate results. If it is probable +that they arrested the conquests of the Turks in Europe, then this +blind and fanatical movement effected the greatest blessing to +Christendom. It almost seems that the Christians were hurled into +the Crusades by an irresistible fate, to secure a great ultimate +good; or, to use Christian language, were sent as blind instruments +by the Almighty to avert a danger they could not see. And if this +be true, the inference is logical and irresistible that God uses +even the wicked passions of men to effect his purposes,--as when +the envy of Haman led to the elevation of Mordecai, and to the +deliverance of the Jews from one of their greatest dangers. + +Another and still more noticeable result of the Crusades was the +weakening of the power of those very barons who embarked in the +wars. Their fanaticism recoiled upon themselves, and undermined +their own system. Nothing could have happened more effectually to +loosen the rigors of the feudal system. It was the baron and the +knight that marched to Palestine who suffered most in the +curtailment of the privileges which they had abused,--even as it +was the Southern planter of Carolina who lost the most heavily in +the war which he provoked to defend his slave property. In both +cases the fetters of the serfs and slaves were broken by their own +masters,--not intentionally, of course, but really and effectually. +How blind men are in their injustices! They are made to hang on +the gallows which they have erected for others. To gratify his +passion of punishing the infidels, whom he so intensely hated, the +baron or prince was obliged to grant great concessions to the towns +and villages which he ruled with an iron hand, in order to raise +money for his equipment and his journey. He was not paid by +Government as are modern soldiers and officers. He had to pay his +own expenses, and they were heavier than he had expected or +provided for. Sometimes he was taken captive, and had his ransom +to raise,--to pay for in hard cash, and not in land: as in the case +of Richard of England, when, on his return from Palestine, he was +imprisoned in Austria,--and it took to ransom him, as some have +estimated, one third of all the gold and silver of the realm, +chiefly furnished by the clergy. But where was the imprisoned +baron to get the money for his ransom? Not from the Jews, for +their compound interest of fifty per cent every six months would +have ruined him in less than two years. But the village guilds had +money laid by. Merchants and mechanics in the towns, whom he +despised, had money. Monasteries had money. He therefore gave new +privileges to all; he gave charters of freedom to towns; he made +concessions to the peasantry. + +As the result of this, when the baron came back from the wars, he +found himself much poorer than when he went away,--he found his +lands encumbered, his castle dilapidated, and his cattle sold. In +short, he was, as we say of a proud merchant now and then, +"embarrassed in his circumstances." He was obliged to economize. +But the feudal family would not hear of retrenchment, and the baron +himself had become more extravagant in his habits. As travel and +commerce had increased he had new wants, which he could not gratify +without parting with either lands or prerogatives. As the result +of all this he became not quite so overbearing, though perhaps more +sullen; for he saw men rising about him who were as rich as he,-- +men whom his ancestors had despised. The artisans, who belonged to +the leading guilds, which had become enriched by the necessities of +barons, or by that strange activity of trade and manufactures which +war seems to stimulate as well as to destroy,--these rude and +ignorant people were not so servile as formerly, but began to feel +a sort of importance, especially in towns and cities, which +multiplied wonderfully during the Crusades. In other words, they +were no longer brutes, to be trodden down without murmur or +resistance. They began to form what we call a "middle class." +Feudalism, in its proud ages, did not recognize a middle class. +The impoverishment of nobles by the Crusades laid the foundation of +this middle class, at least in large towns. + +The growth of cities and the decay of feudalism went on +simultaneously; and both were equally the result of the Crusades. +If the noble became impoverished, the merchant became enriched; and +the merchant lived, not in the country, but in some mercantile +mart. The crusaders had need of ships. These were furnished by +those cities which had obtained from feudal sovereigns charters of +freedom. Florence, Pisa, Venice, Genoa, Marseilles, became centres +of wealth and political importance. The growth of cities and the +extension of commerce went hand in hand. Whatever the Crusades did +for cities they did equally for commerce; and with the needs of +commerce came improvement in naval architecture. As commerce grew, +the ships increased in size and convenience; and the products which +the ships brought from Asia to Europe were not only introduced, but +they were cultivated. New fruits and vegetables were raised by +European husbandmen. Plum-trees were brought from Damascus and +sugar-cane from Tripoli. Silk fabrics, formerly confined to +Constantinople and the East, were woven in Italian and French +villages. The Venetians obtained from Tyrians the art of making +glass. The Greek fire suggested gunpowder. Architecture received +an immense impulse: the churches became less sombre and heavy, and +more graceful and beautiful. Even the idea of the arch, some +think, came from the East. The domes and minarets of Venice were +borrowed from Constantinople. The ornaments of Byzantine churches +and palaces were brought to Europe. The horses of Lysippus, +carried from Greece to Rome, and from Rome to Constantinople, at +last surmounted the palace of the Doges. Houses became more +comfortable, churches more beautiful, and palaces more splendid. +Even manners improved, and intercourse became more polished. +Chivalry borrowed many of its courtesies from the East. There were +new refinements in the arts of cookery as well as of society. +Literature itself received a new impulse, as well as science. It +was from Constantinople that Europe received the philosophy of +Plato and Aristotle, in the language in which it was written, +instead of translations through the Arabic. Greek scholars came to +Italy to introduce their unrivalled literature; and after Grecian +literature came Grecian art. The study of Greek philosophy gave a +new stimulus to human inquiry, and students flocked to the +universities. They went to Bologna to study Roman law, as well as +to Paris to study the Scholastic philosophy. + +Thus the germs of a new civilization were scattered over Europe. +It so happened that at the close of the Crusades civilization had +increased in every country of Europe, in spite of the losses they +had sustained. Delusions were dispelled, and greater liberality of +mind was manifest. The world opened up towards the East, and was +larger than was before supposed. "Europe and Asia had been brought +together and recognized each other." Inventions and discoveries +succeeded the new scope for energies which the Crusades opened. +The ships which had carried the crusaders to Asia were now used to +explore new coasts and harbors. Navigators learned to be bolder. +A navigator of Genoa--a city made by the commerce which the +Crusades necessitated--crosses the Atlantic Ocean. As the magnetic +needle, which a Venetian traveller brought from Asia, gave a new +direction to commerce, so the new stimulus to learning which the +Grecian philosophy effected led to the necessity of an easier form +of writing; and printing appeared. With the shock which feudalism +received from the Crusades, central power was once more wielded by +kings, and standing armies supplanted the feudal. The crusaders +must have learned something from their mistakes; and military +science was revived. There is scarcely an element of civilization +which we value, that was not, directly or indirectly, developed by +the Crusades, yet which was not sought for, or anticipated even,-- +the centralization of thrones, the weakening of the power of feudal +barons, the rise of free cities, the growth of commerce, the +impulse given to art, improvements in agriculture, the rise of a +middle class, the wonderful spread of literature, greater +refinements in manners and dress, increased toleration of opinions, +a more cheerful view of life, the simultaneous development of +energies in every field of human labor, new hopes and aspirations +among the people, new glories around courts, new attractions in the +churches, new comforts in the villages, new luxuries in the cities. +Even spiritual power became less grim and sepulchral, since there +was less fear to work upon. + +I do not say that the Crusades alone produced the marvellous change +in the condition of society which took place in the thirteenth +century, but they gave an impulse to this change. The strong +sapling which the barbarians brought from their German forests and +planted in the heart of Europe,--and which had silently grown in +the darkest ages of barbarism, guarded by the hand of Providence,-- +became a sturdy tree in the feudal ages, and bore fruit when the +barons had wasted their strength in Asia. The Crusades improved +this fruit, and found new uses for it, and scattered it far and +wide, and made it for the healing of the nations. Enterprise of +all sorts succeeded the apathy of convents and castles. The +village of mud huts became a town, in which manufactures began. As +new wants became apparent, new means of supplying them appeared. +The Crusades stimulated these wants, and commerce and manufactures +supplied them. The modern merchant was born in Lombard cities, +which supplied the necessities of the crusaders. Feudalism ignored +trade, but the baron found his rival in the merchant-prince. +Feudalism disdained art, but increased wealth turned peasants into +carpenters and masons; carpenters and masons combined and defied +their old masters, and these masters left their estates for the +higher civilization of cities, and built palaces instead of +castles. Palaces had to be adorned, as well as churches; and the +painters and handicraftsmen found employment. So one force +stimulated another force, neither of which would have appeared if +feudal life had remained in statu quo. + +The only question to settle is, how far the marked progress of the +twelfth and thirteenth centuries may be traced to the natural +development of the Germanic races under the influence of religion, +or how far this development was hastened by those vast martial +expeditions, indirectly indeed, but really. Historians generally +give most weight to the latter. If so, then it is clear that the +most disastrous wars recorded in history were made the means-- +blindly, to all appearance, without concert or calculation--of +ultimately elevating the European races, and of giving a check to +the conquering fanaticism of the enemies with whom they contended +with such bitter tears and sullen disappointments. + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +Michaud's Histoire des Croisades; Mailly's L'Esprit des Croisades; +Choiseul; Daillecourt's De l'influence des Croisades; Sur l'Etat +des Peuples en Europe; Heeren's Ueber den Einfluss der Kreuzzuge; +Sporschill's Geschichte der Kreuzzuge; Hallam's Middle Ages; +Mill's History of the Crusades; James's History of the Crusades; +Michelet's History of France (translated); Gibbon's Decline and +Fall; Milman's Latin Christianity; Proctor's History of the +Crusades; Mosheim. + + + +WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. + +A. D. 1324-1404. + + +GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. + +A. D. 1100-1400. + + +Church Architecture is the only addition which the Middle Ages made +to Art; but even this fact is remarkable when we consider the +barbarism and ignorance of the Teutonic nations in those dark and +gloomy times. It is difficult to conceive how it could have +arisen, except from the stimulus of religious ideas and +sentiments,--like the vast temples of the Egyptians. The artists +who built the hoary and attractive cathedrals and abbey churches +which we so much admire are unknown men to us, and yet they were +great benefactors. It is probable that they were practical and +working architects, like those who built the temples of Greece, who +quietly sought to accomplish their ends,--not to make pictures, but +to make buildings,--as economically as they could consistently with +the end proposed, which end they always had in view. + +In this Lecture I shall not go back to classic antiquity, nor shall +I undertake to enter upon any disquisition on Art itself, but +simply present the historical developments of the Church +architecture of the Middle Ages. It is a technical and complicated +subject, but I shall try to make myself understood. It suggests, +however, great ideas and national developments, and ought to be +interesting. + + +The Romans added nothing to the architecture of the Greeks except +the arch, and the use of brick and small stones for the materials +of their stupendous structures. Now Christianity and the Middle +Ages seized the arch and the materials of the Roman architects, and +gradually formed from these a new style of architecture. In Roman +architecture there was no symbolism, no poetry, nothing to +represent consecrated sentiments. It was mundane in its ideas and +ends; everything was for utility. The grandest efforts of the +Romans were feats of engineering skill, rather than creations +inspired by the love of the beautiful. What was beautiful in their +edifices was borrowed from the Greeks; what was original was +intended to accommodate great multitudes, whether they sought the +sports of the amphitheatre or the luxury of the bath. Their +temples were small, comparatively, and were Grecian. + +The first stage in the development of Church architecture was +reached amid the declining glories of Roman civilization, before +the fall of the Empire; but the first model of a Christian church +was not built until after the imperial persecutions. The early +Christians worshipped God in upper chambers, in catacombs, in +retired places, where they would not be molested, where they could +hide, in safety. Their assemblies were small, and their meetings +unimportant. They did nothing to attract attention. The +worshippers were mostly simple-minded, unlettered, plebeian people, +with now and then a converted philosopher, or centurion, or lady of +rank. They met for prayer, exhortation, the reading of the +Scriptures, the singing of sacred melodies, and mutual support in +trying times. They did not want grand edifices. The plainer the +place in which they assembled the better suited it was to their +circumstances and necessities. They scarcely needed a rostrum, for +the age of sermons had not begun; still less the age of litanies +and music and pomps. For such people, in that palmy age of faith +and courage, when the seeds of a new religion were planted in +danger and watered with tears; when their minds were directed +almost entirely to the soul's welfare and future glory; when they +loved one another with true Christian disinterestedness; when +they stimulated each other's enthusiasm by devotion to a common +cause (one Lord, one faith, one baptism); when they were too +insignificant to take any social rank, too poor to be of any +political account, too ignorant to attract the attention of +philosophers,--ANY place where they would be unmolested and retired +was enough. In process of time, when their numbers had increased, +and when and wherever they were tolerated; when money began to flow +into the treasuries; and especially when some gifted leader +(educated perhaps in famous schools, yet who was fervent and +eloquent) desired a wider field for usefulness,--then church +edifices became necessary. + +This original church was modelled after the ancient Basilica, or +hall of justice or of commerce: at one end was an elevated +tribunal, and back of this what was called the "apsis,"--a rounded +space with arched roof. The whole was railed off or separated from +the auditory, and was reserved for the clergy, who in the fourth +century had become a class. The apsis had no window, was vaulted, +and its walls were covered with figures of Christ and of the +saints, or of eminent Christians who in later times were canonized +by the popes. Between the apsis and the auditory, called the +"nave," was the altar; for by this time the Church was borrowing +names and emblems from the Jews and the old religions. From the +apsis to the extremity of the other end of the building were two +rows of pillars supporting an upper wall, broken by circular arches +and windows, called now the "clear story." In the low walls of the +side aisles were also windows. Both the nave and the aisles +supported a framework of roof, lined with a ceiling adorned with +painting. + +For some time we see no marked departure, at this stage, from the +ancient basilica. The church is simple, not much adorned, and +adapted to preaching. The age in which it was built was the age of +pulpit orators, when bishops preached,--like Basil, Chrysostom, +Ambrose, Augustine, and Leo,--when preaching was an important part +of the service, by the foolishness of which the world was to be +converted. Probably there were but few what we should call fine +churches, but there was one at Rome which was justly celebrated, +built by Theodosius, and called St. Paul's. It is now outside the +walls of the modern city. The nave is divided into five aisles, +and the main one, opening into the apsis, is spanned by a lofty +arch supported by two colossal columns. The apsis is eighty feet +in breadth. All parts of the church--one of the largest of Rome-- +are decorated with mosaics. It has two small transepts at the +extremity of the nave, on each side of the apsis. The four rows of +magnificent columns, supporting semicircular arches, are +Corinthian. In this church the Greek and Roman architecture +predominates. The essential form of the church is like a Pagan +basilica. We see convenience, but neither splendor nor poetry. +Moreover it is cheerful. It has an altar and an apsis, but it is +adapted to preaching rather than to singing. The public dangers +produce oratory, not chants. The voice of the preacher penetrates +the minds of the people, as did that of Savonarola at Florence +announcing the invasion of Italy by the French,--days of fear and +anxiety, reminding us also of Chrysostom at Antioch, when in his +spacious basilican church he roused the people to penitence, to +avert the ire of Theodosius. + +The first transition from the basilica to the Gothic church is +called the Romanesque, and was made after the fall of the Empire, +when the barbarians had erected new kingdoms on its ruins; when +literature and art were indeed crushed, yet when universal +desolation was succeeded by new forms of government and new habits +of life; when the clergy had become an enormous power, greatly +enriched by the contributions of Christian princes. This +transition retained the traditions of the fallen Empire, and yet +was adapted to a semi-civilized people, nominally converted to +Christianity. It arose after the fall of the Merovingians, when +Charlemagne was seeking to restore the glory of the Western Empire. +Paganism had been suppressed by law; even heresies were +extinguished in the West. Kings and people were alike orthodox, +and bowed to the domination of the Church. Abbeys and convents +were founded everywhere and richly endowed. The different States +and kingdoms were poor, but the wealth that existed was deposited +in sacred retreats. The powers of the State were the nobles, +warlike and ignorant, rapidly becoming feudal barons, acknowledging +only a nominal fealty to the Crown. Kings had no glory, defied by +their own subjects and unsupported by standing armies. But these +haughty barons were met face to face by equally haughty bishops, +armed with spiritual weapons. These bishops were surrounded and +supported by priests, secular and regular,--by those who ruled the +people in small parishes, and those who ruled the upper classes in +their monastic cells. Learning had fled to monasteries, and the +Church, with its growing revenues and structures, became a new +attraction. + +The architects of the Romanesque, who were probably churchmen, +retained the nave of the basilica, but made it narrower, and used +but two rows of columns. They introduced the transepts, or cross- +enclosures, making them to project north and south of the nave, in +the space separated from the apsis; and the apsis was expanded into +the choir, filled with priests and choristers. The building now +assumes the form of a cross. The choir is elevated several steps +above the nave, and beneath it is the crypt, where the bishops and +abbots and saints are buried. At the intersection of choir, nave, +and transept,--an open, square place,--rises a square tower, at +each corner of which is a massive pier supporting four arches. The +windows are narrow, with semicircular arches. At the western +entrance, at the end opposite the apse, is a small porch, where the +consecrated water is placed, in an urn or basin, and this is +inclosed between two towers. The old Roman atrium, or fore-court, +entirely disappears. In its place is a grander facade; and the +pillars--which are all internal, like those of an Egyptian temple, +not external, as in the Greek temple--have no longer Grecian +capitals, but new combinations of every variety, and the pillars +are even more heavy and massive than the Doric. The flat wooden +ceiling of the nave disappears, on account of frequent fires, and +the eye rests on arches supporting a stone roof. All the arches +are semicircular, like those of the Coliseum and of the Roman +aqueducts and baths. They are built of small stones united by +cement. The building is low and heavy, and its external beauty is +in the west front or facade, with its square towers and circular +window and ornamented portal. The internal beauty is from the +pillars supporting the roof, and the tower which intersects the +nave, choir, and transepts. Sometimes, instead of a tower there is +a dome, reminding us of Byzantine workmanship. + +But this Romanesque church is also connected with monastic +institutions, whose extensive buildings join the church at the +north or south. The church is wedded to monasticism; one supports +the other, and both make a unity exceedingly efficient in the +Middle Ages. The communication between the church and the convent +is effected by a cloister, a vaulted gallery surrounding a square, +open space, where the brothers walk and meditate, but do not talk, +except in undertone or whisper; for all the precincts are sacred, +made for contemplation and silence,--a retreat from the noisy, +barbaric world. Connected with the cloisters is a court opening +into the refectory, where all the brothers dine. "Meals were in +common, work was in common, prayer was in common"--a real community +life. + +The whole range of these sacred buildings is enclosed with walls, +like a fortress. You see in this architecture the gloom and +desolation which overspread the world. Churches are heavy and +sombre; they are places for dreary meditation on the end of the +world, on the failure of civilization, on the degradation of +humanity,--and yet the only places where man may be brought in +contact with the Deity who presides over a fallen world, exalting +human hopes to heaven, where miseries end, and worship begins. + +This style of architecture prevailed till the twelfth century, and +was seen in its greatest perfection in Germany under the Saxon +emperors, especially in the Rhenish provinces, as in the cathedrals +of Spires, Mentz, Worms, and Nuremberg. Its general effect was +solemn, serious,--a separation from the outward world,--a world +disgraced by feudal wars and peasants' wrongs and general +ignorance, which made men sad, morose, inhuman. It flourished in +ages when the poor had no redress, and were trodden under the feet +of hard feudal masters; when there was no law but of brute force; +when luxuries were few and comforts rare,--an age of hardship, +privation, poverty, suffering; an age of isolations and sorrows, +when men were forced to look beyond the grave for peace and hope, +when immortality through a Redeemer was the highest inspiration of +life. Everybody was agitated by fears. The clergy made use of +this universal feeling by presenting the terrors of the law,--the +penalty of sin,--everlasting physical burnings, from which the +tortured soul could be extricated only by penance and self- +expiation, offerings to the Church, and complete obedience to the +will of the priest, who held the keys of heaven and hell. The men +who lived when the Romanesque churches dotted every part in Europe +looked upon society and saw nothing but grief,--heavy burdens, +injustices, oppressions, cruel wrongs; and they hid their faces and +wept, and said: "Let us retreat from this miserable world which +discord ravages; let us hide ourselves in contemplation; let us +prepare to meet God in judgment; let us bring to Him our offering; +let us propitiate Him; let us build Him a house, where we may chant +our mournful songs." So the church arises, in Germany, in France, +in England,--solemn, mystical, massive, a type of sorrow, in the +form of a cross, with "a sepulchral crypt like the man in the tomb, +before the lofty spire pointed to the man who had risen to Heaven." +The church is still struggling, and is not jubilant, except in +Gregorian chants, and is not therefore lofty or ornamental. It is +a vault. It is more like a catacomb than a basilica, for the world +is buried deep in sorrows and fears. Look to any of the Saxon +churches of the period when the Romanesque prevailed, and they are +low, gloomy, and damp, though massive and solemn. The church as an +edifice ever represents the Church as an institution or a power, +ever typifies prevailing sentiments and ideas. Perhaps the finest +of the old Romanesque churches was that of Cluny, in Burgundy, +destroyed during the French Revolution. It had five aisles, and +was five hundred and twenty feet in length. It had a stately tower +at the intersection of the transepts, and six other towers. It was +early Norman, and loftier than the Saxon churches, although heavy +and massive like them. + +But the Romanesque church, with all its richness, is still heavy, +dark, impressive, reminding us of the sorrows of the Middle Ages, +and the dreary character of prevailing religious sentiments,-- +fervent, sincere, profound, but sad,--the sentiments of an age of +ignorance and faith. + +The Crusades came. A new era burst upon the world. The old ideas +became modified; society became more cheerful, because more +chivalric, adventurous, poetic. The world opened towards the East, +and was larger than was before supposed. Liberality of mind began +to dawn on the darkened ages; no longer were priests supreme. The +gay Provencals began to sing; the universities began to teach and +to question. The Scholastic philosophy sent forth such daring +thinkers as Erigena and Abelard. Orthodoxy was still supreme +before such mighty intellects as Anselm, Bernard, and Thomas +Aquinas, but it was assailed. Abelard put forth his puzzling +questions. The Schoolmen began to think for themselves, and the +iron weight of Feudalism was less oppressive. Free cities and +commerce began to enrich the people. Kings were becoming more +powerful; the spiritual despotism was less potent. The end of the +world, it was found, had not come. A glorious future began to shed +forth the beams of its coming day. It was the dawn of a new +civilization. + +So a lighter, more cheerful, and grander architecture, with +symbolic beauties, appeared with changing ideas and sentiments. +The Church, no longer a gloomy power, struggling with Saracens and +barbarism, but dominant, triumphant, issues forth from darksome +crypts and soars upward,--elevates her vaulted roofs. "The +Oriental ogive appears. . . . The architects heap arcade on arcade, +ogive on ogive, pyramid on pyramid, and give to all geometrical +symmetry and artistic grace. . . . The Greek column is there, but +dilated to colossal proportions, and exfoliated in a variegated +capital." The old Roman arch disappears, and the pointed arch is +substituted,--graceful and elevated. The old Egyptian obelisk +appears in the spire reaching to heaven, full of aspiration. The +window becomes larger and encroaches on the naked wall, and +radiates in mystic roses. The arches widen and the piers become +more lofty. Stained glass appears and diffuses religious light. +Every part of the church becomes decorated and symbolical and +harmonious, though infinitely variegated. The altars have pictures +over them. Shrines and monuments appear in the niches. The +dresses of the priests are more gorgeous. The music of the choir +peals forth hallelujahs. Christ is risen from the tomb. "The +purple of his blood colors the windows." The roof, like pinnacles +and spires, seems to reach the skies. The pressure of the walls is +downwards rather than lateral. The vertical lines of Cologne are +as marked as the old horizontal lines of the Parthenon. The walls +too are not so heavy, and are supported by buttresses, which give +increased beauty to the exterior,--greater light and shade. "Every +part of the church seems to press forward and strive for greater +freedom, for outward manifestation." Even the broad and expansive +window presses to the outer surface of the walls, now broken by +buttresses and pinnacles. The window--the eye of the edifice--is +more cheerful and intelligent. More calm is the imposing facade, +with its mighty towers and lofty spires, tapering like a pyramid, +with its round oriel window rich in beautiful tracery, and its wide +portal with sculptured saints and martyrs. And in all the churches +you see geometrical proportions. "Even the cross of the church is +deduced from the figure by which Euclid constructed the equilateral +triangle." The columns present the proportions of the Doric, as to +diameter and height. The love of the true and beautiful meet. The +natural and supernatural both appear. All parts symbolize the +passion of Christ. If the crypt speaks of death, the lofty and +vaulted roof and the beautiful pointed arches, and the cheerful +window, and the jubilant chants speak of life. "The old church +reminds one of the Christ that lay in the tomb; the new, of the +Christ who arose the third day." The old fosters meditation and +silence; the new kindles the imagination, by its variety of +perspective arrangement and mystic representation,--still +reverential, still expressive of consecrated sentiments, yet more +cheerful. The foliated shaft, the rich tracery of the window, the +graceful pinnacle, the Arabian gorgeousness of the interior,--as if +the crusaders had learned something from the East,--the innumerable +shrines and pictures, the variegated marbles of the altar, with its +vessels of silver and gold, the splendid dresses of the priests, +the imposing character of the ritualism, the treasures lavished +everywhere, all speak greater independence, wealth, and power. The +church takes the place of all amusements. Its various attractions +draw together the people from their farms and shops. They are +gaily dressed, as if they were attending a festival. Their +condition is so improved that they have time for holidays. And +these the Church multiplies; for perpetual toil is the grave of +intellect. The people must have rest, amusement, excitement. All +these things the Catholic Church gives, and consecrates. Crusader, +baron, knight, priest, peasant, all resort to the church for +benedictions. Women too are there, and in greater numbers; and +they linger for the confessional. When the time comes that women +stay away from church, like busy, preoccupied, sceptical men, then +let us be on the watch for some great catastrophe, since practical +paganism will then be restored, and the angels of light will have +left the earth. + +Paris and its neighborhood was the cradle of this new development +of architecture which we wrongly call the Gothic, even as Paris was +the centre of the new-born intelligence of the era. The word +"Gothic" suggests destructive barbarism: the English, French, and +Germans descended chiefly from Normans, Saxons, and Burgundians. +This form of church architecture rapidly spreads to Germany, +England, and Spain. The famous Suger, the minister of a powerful +king, built the abbey of St. Denis. The churches of Rheims, Paris, +and Bourges arose in all their grandeur. The facade of Rheims is +the most significant example of the wonderful architecture of the +thirteenth century. In the church of Amiens you see the perfection +of the so-called Gothic,--so graceful are its details, so dazzling +is its height. The central aisle is one hundred and thirty-two +feet in altitude,--only surpassed by that of Beauvais, which is +fourteen feet higher. It was then that the cathedral of Rouen was +built, with its elegant lightness,--a marvel to modern travellers. +Soon after, the cathedral of Cologne appears, more grand than +either,--but long unfinished,--with its central aisle forty-four +feet in width, rising one hundred and forty feet into the air, with +its colossal towers, grandly supporting the lofty openwork spires, +five hundred and twenty feet in height. The whole church is five +hundred and thirty-two feet in length. I confess this church made +a greater impression on my mind than did any Gothic church in +Europe,--more, even, than Milan, with its unnumbered pinnacles and +statues and its marble roof. I could not rest while surveying its +ten thousand wonders,--so much lightness combined with strength; so +grand, and yet so cheerful; so exquisitely proportioned, so +complicated in details, and yet a grand unity; a glorious and fit +temple for the reverential worship of the Deity. Oh, how grand are +those monuments which were designed to last through ages, and which +are consecrated, not to traffic, not to pleasure, not to material +wealth, but to the worship of that Almighty God to whom every human +being is personally responsible! + +I cannot enumerate the churches of Mediaeval Europe,--projected, +designed, and built certainly by men familiar with all that is +practical in their art, with all that is hallowed and poetical. I +glance at the English cathedrals, built during this epoch,--the +period of the Crusades and the revival of learning. + +And here I allude to the man who furnishes me with a text to my +discourse,--William of Wykeham, chancellor and prime minister of +Edward III., the contemporary of Chaucer and Wyclif,--who +flourished in the fourteenth century, and who built Winchester +Cathedral; a great and benevolent prelate, who also founded other +colleges and schools. But I merely allude to him, since my subject +is the art to which he gave an impulse, rather than any single +individual. No one man represents church architecture any more +appropriately than any one man represents the Feudal system, or +Monasticism, or the Crusades, or the French Revolution. + +I do not think the English cathedrals are equal to those of +Cologne, Rheims, Amiens, and Rouen; but they are full of interest, +and they have varied excellences. That of Salisbury is the only +one which is of uniform style. Its glory is in its spire, as that +of Lincoln is in its west front, and that of Westminster is in its +nave. Gloucester is celebrated for its choir, and York for its +tower. In all are beautiful vistas of pillars and arches. But +they lack the inspiration of the Catholic Church. They are indeed +hoary monuments, petrified mysteries, a "passion of stone," as +Michelet speaks of the marble histories which will survive his +rhapsodies. They alike show the pilgrimage of humanity through +gloomy centuries. If their great wooden screens were removed, +which separate the choir from the nave, the cathedrals doubtless +would appear to more advantage, and especially if they were filled +with altars and shrines and pictures, and lighted candles on the +altars,--filled also with crowds of worshippers, reverent before +the gorgeously attired ministers of Divine Omnipotence, and excited +by transporting chants, and the various appeals to sense and +imagination. The reason must be assisted by the imagination, +before the mind can revel in the glories of Gothic architecture. +Imagination intensifies all our pleasures, even those of sense; and +without imagination--yea, a memory stored with the pious deeds of +saints and martyrs in bygone ages--a Gothic cathedral is as much a +sealed book as Wordsworth is to Taine. The Protestant tourist from +Michigan or Pennsylvania can "do" any cathedral in two hours, and +wonder why they make such a fuss about a church not half so large +as the New York Central Railroad station. The wonders of +cathedrals must be studied, like the glories of a landscape, with +an eye to the beautiful and the grand, cultured and practised by +the contemplation of ideal excellence, when the mind summons the +imagination to its aid, with all the poetry and all the history +which have been learned in a life of leisure and study. How +different the emotions of a Ruskin or a Tennyson, in surveying +those costly piles, from those of a man fresh from a distillery or +from a warehouse of cotton fabrics, or even from those of many +fashionable women, whose only aesthetic accomplishment is to play +languidly and mechanically on an instrument, and whose only +intellectual achievement is to have devoured a dozen silly novels +in the course of a summer spent in alternate sleep and dalliance! +Nor does familiarity always give a zest to the pleasure which +arises from the creations of art or the glories of nature. The +Roman beggar passes the Coliseum or St. Peter's without notice or +enjoyment, as a peasant sees unmoved the snow-capped mountains of +Switzerland or the beautiful lakes of Killarney. Said sorrowfully +my guide up the Rhigi, "I wish I lived in Holland, for there are +men there." Yet there are those whom the ascent of Rhigi and the +ruined monuments of ancient Rome would haunt for a lifetime, in +whose memory they would be perpetually fresh, never to pass away, +any more than the looks and the vows of early love from the mind of +a sentimental woman. + +The glorious old architecture whose peculiarity was the pointed +arch, flourished only about three hundred years in its purity and +matchless beauty. Then another change took place. The ideal +became lost in meaningless ornaments. The human figure peoples the +naked walls. "Man places his own image everywhere. . . . The tomb +rises like a mausoleum in side chapels. Man is enthroned, not +God." The corruption of the art keeps pace with the corruption of +the Papacy and the discords of society. In the fourteenth century +the Mediaeval has lost its charm and faith. + +And then sets in the new era, which begins with Michael Angelo. It +is marked by the revival of Greek art and Greek literature. At +Florence reign the Medici. On the throne of Saint Peter sits an +Alexander VI. or a Julius II. Genoa is a city of merchant-palaces. +Museums are collected of the excavated remains of Roman antiquity. +Everybody kindles with the contemplation of the long-buried glories +of a classic age; everybody reads the classic authors: Cicero is a +greater oracle than Saint Augustine. Scholars flock to Italy. The +popes encourage the growing taste for Pagan philosophy. Ancient +art regains her long-abdicated throne, and wields her sceptre over +the worshippers of the Parthenon and the admirers of Aeschylus and +Thucydides. With the revived statues of Greece appear the most +beautiful pictures ever produced by the hand of man; and with +pictures and statues architecture receives a new development. It +is the blending of the old Greek and Roman with the Gothic, and is +called the Renaissance. Michael Angelo erects St. Peter's, the +heathen Pantheon, on the intersection of Gothic nave and choir and +transept; a glorious dome, more beautiful than any Gothic spire or +tower, rising four hundred and fifty feet into the air. And in the +interior are classic circular arches and pillars, so vast that one +is impressed as with great feats of engineering skill. All that is +variegated in marbles adorns the altars; all that is bewitching in +paintings is transferred to mosaics. And this new style of Italy +spreads into France and England. Sir Christopher Wren builds St. +Paul's, more Grecian than Gothic,--and fills London with new +churches, not one of which is Gothic, and all different. The brain +is bewildered in attempting to classify the new and ever-shifting +forms of the revived Italian. And so for three hundred years the +architects mingle the Gothic with the classical, until now a +mongrel architecture is the disgrace of Europe; varied but not +expressive, resting on no settled principles, neither on vertical +nor on horizontal lines,--blended together, sometimes Grecian +porticos on Elizabethan structures, spires resting not on towers +but roofs, Byzantine domes on Grecian temples, Greek columns with +Lombard arches, flamboyant panelling, pendant pillars from the +roof, all styles mixed up together, Corinthian pilasters acting as +Gothic buttresses, and pointed arches with Doric friezes,--a heap +of diverse forms, alien alike from the principles of Wykeham and +Vitruvius. + +And this varied mongrel style of architecture corresponds with the +confused civilization of the period,--neither Greek nor Gothic, but +a mixture of both; intolerant priests wrangling with pagan sceptics +and infidels,--Aquaviva with Pascal, the hierarchy of the French +Church with Voltaire and Rousseau, Protestant divines with the +Catholic clergy; Geneva and Rome compromising at Oxford, the +authority of the Fathers made antagonistic to the authority +of popes, new vernacular tongues supplanting Latin in the +universities: everywhere war on the Middle Ages, without full +emancipation from their dogmas, ancient paganism made to uphold the +Church, an unbounded activity of intellect casting off all +established rules, the revival of the old Greek republics, +democracy asserting its claim against absolute power; nothing +settled, nothing at rest, but motion in every direction,--science +combating faith, faith spurning reason, humanity arrogating +divinity, the confusion of races, Babel towers of vanity and pride +in the new projected enterprises, Christian nations embroiled in +constant wars, gold and silver set up as idols, the rise of new +powers in the shapes of new industries and new inventions, commerce +filling the world with wealth, armies contending for rights as well +as for the aggrandizement of monarchies: was there ever such a +simmering and boiling and fermenting period of activities since the +world began? In such a wild and tumultuous agitation of passions +and interests and ideas, how could Art reappear either in the +classic severity of Greek temples or the hoary grandeur of +Mediaeval cathedrals? In this jumble we look for new creations, +but no creations in art appear, only fantastic imitations. There +is no creation except in a new field, that of science and +mechanical inventions,--where there is the most extraordinary and +astonishing development of human genius ever seen on earth, but "of +the earth earthy," aiming at material good. Architecture itself is +turned into great feats of engineering. It does not span the apsis +of a church; it spans rivers and valleys. The church, indeed, +passes out of mind, if not out of sight, in the new material age, +in the multiplication of bridges and gigantic reservoirs,--old Rome +brought back again in its luxuries. + +And yet the exactness of science and the severity of criticism-- +begun fifty years ago, in the verification of principles--produce a +better taste. Architects have sought to revive the purest forms of +both Gothic and Grecian. If they could not create a new style, +they would imitate the old: as in philosophy, they would go round +in the old circles. As science revives the atoms of Democritus, so +art would reproduce the ideas of Phidias and Vitruvius, and even +the poetry and sanctity of the Middle Ages. Within fifty years +Christendom has been covered with Gothic churches, some of which +are as beautiful as those built by Freemasons. The cathedrals have +been copied rigidly, even for village churches. The Parthenon +reappears in the Madeleine. We no longer see, as in the eighteenth +century, Gothic spires on Roman basilicas, or Grecian porticos +ornamenting Norman towers. The various styles of two thousand +years are not mixed up in the same building. We copy either the +horizontal lines of Paganism or the vertical lines of the ages of +Faith. No more harmonious Gothic edifice was ever erected than the +new Catholic cathedral of New York. + +The only absurdity is seen when radical Protestantism adopts the +church of pomps and liturgies. When the Reformation was completed, +men sought to build churches where they could hear the voice of the +preacher; for the mission of Protestantism is to teach, not to +sing. Protestantism glories in its sermons as much as Catholicism +in its chants. If the people wish to return again to ritualism, +let them have the Gothic church. If they wish to be electrified by +eloquence, let them have a basilica, for the voice of the preacher +is lost in high and vaulted roofs. If they wish to join in the +prayers and the ceremonies of the altar, let them have the +clustering pillars and the purple windows. + +Everything turns upon what is meant by a church. What is it for? +Is it for liturgical services, or is it for pulpit eloquence? +Solve that question, and you solve the Reformation. "My house," +saith the Divine Voice, "shall be called the house of prayer." It +is "by the foolishness of preaching," said Paul, that men are +saved. + +If you will have the prayers of the Middle Ages and the sermons of +the Reformation both together, then let the architects invent a new +style, which shall allow the blending of prayer and pulpit +eloquence. You cannot have them both in a Grecian temple, or in a +Gothic church. You must combine the Parthenon with Salisbury, +which is virtually a new miracle of architecture. Will that +miracle be wrought? I do not know. But a modern Protestant +church, with all the wonders of our modern civilization, must be +something new,--some new combination which shall be worthy of the +necessity of our times. This is what the architect must now aspire +to accomplish; he must produce a house in which one can both hear +the sermon, and be stimulated by inspiring melodies,--for the +Church must have both. The psalms of David and the chants of +Gregory must be blended with the fervid words of a Chrysostom and a +Chalmers. + +This, at least, should be borne in mind: the church edifice MUST be +adapted to the end designed. The Gothic architects adapted their +vaults and pillars to the ceremonies of the Catholic ritual. If it +is this you want, then copy Gothic cathedrals. But if it is +preaching you want, then restore the Grecian temple,--or, better +still, the Roman theatre,--where the voice of the preacher is not +lost either in Byzantine domes or Gothic vaults, whose height is +greater than their width. The preacher must draw by the +distinctness of his tones; for every preacher has not the musical +voice of Chrysostom, or the electricity of St. Bernard. He can +neither draw nor inspire if he cannot be heard; he speaks to +stones, not to living men or women. He loses his power, and is +driven to chants and music to keep his audience from deserting him. +He must make his choir an orchestra; he must hide himself in +priestly vestments; he must import opera singers to amuse and not +instruct. He cannot instruct when he cannot be heard, and heard +easily. Unless the people catch every tone of his voice his +electricity will be wasted, and he will preach in vain, and be +tired out by attempting to prevent echoes. The voice of Saint Paul +would be lost in some of our modern fashionable churches. Think of +the absurdity of Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians +affecting to restore Gothic monuments, when the great end of sacred +eloquence is lost in those devices which appeal to sense. Think of +the folly of erecting a church for eight hundred people as high as +Westminster Abbey. It is not the size of a church which prevents +the speaker from being heard,--it is the disproportion of height +with breadth and length, and the echoes produced by arcades, +Spurgeon is heard easily by seven thousand people, and Talmage by +six thousand, and Dr. Hall by four thousand, because the buildings +in which they preach are adapted to public speaking. Those who +erect theatres take care that a great crowd shall be able to catch +even the whispers of actors. What would you think of the good +sense and judgment of an architect who should construct a reservoir +that would leak, in order to make it ornamental; or a schoolhouse +without ventilation; or a theatre where actors could only be seen; +or a hotel without light and convenient rooms; or a railroad bridge +which would not support a heavy weight? + +A Protestant church is designed, no matter what the sect may be to +which it belongs, not for poetical or aesthetic purposes, not for +the admiration of architectural expenditures, not even for music, +but for earnest people to hear from the preacher the words of life +and death, that they may be aroused by his enthusiasm, or +instructed by his wisdom; where the poor are not driven to a few +back seats in the gallery; where the meeting is cheerful and +refreshing, where all are stimulated to duties. It must not be +dark, damp, and gloomy, where it is necessary to light the gas on a +foggy day, and where one must be within ten feet of the preacher to +see the play of his features. Take away facilities for hearing and +even for seeing the preacher, and the vitality of a Protestant +service is destroyed, and the end for which the people assemble is +utterly defeated. Moreover, you destroy the sacred purposes of a +church if you make it so expensive that the poor cannot get +sittings. Nothing is so dull, depressing, funereal, as a church +occupied only by prosperous pew-holders, who come together to show +their faces and prove their respectability, rather than to join in +the paeans of redemption, or to learn humiliating lessons of +worldly power before the altar of Omnipotence. To the poor the +gospel is preached; and it is ever the common people who hear most +gladly gospel truth. Ah, who are the common people? I fancy we +are all common people when we are sick, or in bereavement, or in +adversity, or when we come to die. But if advancing society, based +on material wealth and epicurean pleasure, demands churches for the +rich and churches for the poor,--if the lines of society must be +drawn somewhere,--let those architects be employed who understand, +at least, the first principles of their art. I do not mean those +who learn to draw pictures in the back room of a studio, but +conscientious men, if you cannot find sensible men. And let the +pulpit itself be situated where the people can hear the speaker +easily, without straining their eyes and ears. Then only will the +speaker's voice ring and kindle and inspire those who come together +to hear God Almighty's message; then only will he be truly eloquent +and successful, since then only does his own electricity permeate +the whole mass; then only can he be effective, and escape the +humiliation of being only a part of a vain show, where his words +are disregarded and his strength is wasted in the echoes of vaults +and recesses copied from the gloomy though beautiful monuments of +ages which can never, never again return, any more than can "the +granite image worship of the Egyptians, the oracles of Dodona, or +the bulls of the Mediaeval popes." + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +Fergusson's History of Architecture; Durand's Parallels; Eastlake's +Gothic and Revival; Ruskin, Daly, and Penrose; Britton's Cathedrals +and Architectural Antiquities; Pugin's Specimens and Examples of +Gothic Architecture; Rickman's Styles of Gothic Architecture; +Street's Gothic Architecture in Spain; Encyclopaedia Britannica +(article Architecture). + + + +JOHN WYCLIF. + +A. D. 1324-1384. + +DAWN OF THE REFORMATION. + + +The name of Wyclif suggests the dawn of the Protestant Reformation; +and the Reformation suggests the existence of evils which made it a +necessity. I do not look upon the Reformation, in its earlier +stages, as a theological movement. In fact, the Catholic and +Protestant theology, as expounded and systematized by great +authorities, does not materially differ from that of the Fathers of +the Church. The doctrines of Augustine were accepted equally by +Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. What is called systematic +divinity, as taught in our theological seminaries, is a series of +deductions from the writings of Paul and other apostles, +elaborately and logically drawn by Athanasius, Jerome, Augustine, +and other lights of the early Church, which were defended in the +Middle Ages with amazing skill and dialectical acuteness by the +Scholastic doctors, with the aid of the method which Aristotle, the +greatest logician of antiquity, bequeathed to philosophy. Neither +Luther nor Calvin departed essentially from these great deductions +on such vital subjects as the existence and attributes of +God, the Trinity, sin and its penalty, redemption, grace, and +predestination. The creeds of modern Protestant churches are in +harmony with the writings of both the Fathers and the Scholastic +doctors on the fundamental principles of Christianity. There are, +indeed, some ideas in reference to worship, and the sacraments, +and the government of the Church, and aids to a religious life, +defended by the Scholastic doctors, which Protestants do not +accept, and for which there is not much authority in the writings +of the Fathers. But the main difference between Protestants and +Catholics is in reference to the institutions of the Church,-- +institutions which gradually arose with the triumph of Christianity +in its contest with Paganism, and which received their full +development in the Middle Ages. It was the enormous and scandalous +corruptions which crept into these INSTITUTIONS which led to the +cry for reform. It was the voice of Wycif, denouncing these +abuses, which made him famous and placed him in the van of +reformers. These abuses were generally admitted and occasionally +attacked by churchmen and laymen alike,--even by the poets. They +were too flagrant to be denied. + +Now what were the prominent evils in the institutions of the Church +which called for reform, and in reference to which Wyclif raised up +his voice?--for in his day there was only ONE Church. An +enumeration of these is necessary before we can appreciate the +labors and teachings of the Reformer. I can only state them; I +cannot enlarge upon them. I state only what is indisputable, not +in reference to theological dogmas so much as to morals and +ecclesiastical abuses. + +The centre and life and support of all was the Papacy,--an +institution, a great government, not a religion. + +I have spoken of this great power as built up by Leo I., Gregory +VII., and Innocent III., and by others whom I have not mentioned. +So much may be said of the necessity of a central spiritual power +in the dark ages of European society that I shall not combat this +power, or stigmatize it with offensive epithets. The necessities +of the times probably called it into existence, like other +governments, and coming down to us with the weight of centuries +behind it the Papacy wields perhaps a greater influence than any +other single institution of our times. But I would not defend the +papal usurpations by which the Roman pontiffs got possession of the +government of both Church and State. I speak not of their quarrels +with princes about investitures, in which their genius and their +heroism were displayed rather than by efforts in behalf of +civilization. + +But the popes exercised certain powers and prerogatives in England, +about the time of Wyclif, which were exceedingly offensive to the +secular rulers of the land. They claimed the island as a sort of +property which reason and the laws did not justify,--a claim which +led to heavy exactions and forced contributions on the English +people that crippled the government and impoverished the nation. +Boys and favorites were appointed by the popes to important posts +and livings. Church preferments were almost exclusively in the +hands of the Pope; and these were often bought. A yearly tribute +had been forced on the nation in the time of John. Peter's pence +were collected from the people. Enormous sums, under various +pretences, flowed to Rome. And the clergy were taxed as well as +the laity. The contributions which were derived from the sale of +benefices, from investitures, from the transfer of sees, from the +bestowal of rings and crosiers (badges of episcopal authority), +from the confirmation of elections, and other taxes, irritated +sovereigns, and called out the severest denunciation of statesmen. + +Closely connected with papal exactions was the enormous increase of +the Mendicant friars, especially the Dominicans and Franciscans, +who had been instituted by Innocent III. for Church missionary +labor. These itinerating preachers in black-and-gray gowns were in +every town and village in England. For a century after their +institution, they were the ablest and perhaps the best soldiers of +the Pope, and did what the Jesuits afterwards performed, and +perhaps the Methodists a hundred years ago,--gained the hearts of +the people and stimulated religions life; but in the fourteenth +century they were a nuisance. They sold indulgences, they invented +pious frauds, they were covetous under pretence of poverty, they +had become luxurious in their lives, they slandered the regular +clergy, they usurped the prerogatives of parish priests, they +enriched their convents. + +Naturally, Catholic authorities do not admit the extent of +degeneration to which these Orders came in their increasing numbers +and influence. But other historians strongly represent their evil +conduct, which incited the efforts of the early reformers-- +themselves Catholic. One gets the truest impression of the popular +estimate of these friars from the sarcasms of Chaucer. The Friar +Tuck whom Sir Walter Scott has painted was a very different man +from the Dominicans or the Franciscans of the thirteenth century, +when they reigned in the universities, and were the confessors of +monarchs and the most popular preachers of their time. In the +fourteenth century they were consumed with jealousies and rivalries +and animosities against each other; and all the various orders,-- +Dominican, Franciscan, Carmelite,--in spite of their professions of +poverty, were the possessors of magnificent monasteries, and +fattened on the credulity of the world. Besides these Mendicant +friars, England was dotted with convents and religious houses +belonging to the different orders of Benedictines, which, though +enormously rich, devoured the substance of the poor. There were +more than twenty thousand monks in a population of three or four +millions; and most of them led idle and dissolute lives, and were +subjects of perpetual reproach. Reforms of the various religious +houses had been attempted, but all reforms had failed. Nor were +the lives of the secular clergy much more respectable than those of +the great body of monks. They are accused by many historians of +venality, dissoluteness, and ignorance; and it was their +incapacity, their disregard of duties, and indifference to the +spiritual interests of their flocks that led to the immense +popularity of the Mendicant friars, until they, in their turn, +became perhaps a greater scandal than the parish priests whose +functions they had usurped. Both priests and monks in the time of +Bishop Grostete of Lincoln frequented taverns and gambling-houses. +So enormous and scandalous was the wealth of the clergy, that as +early as 1279, under Edward I., Parliament passed a statute of +mortmain, forbidding religious bodies to receive bequests without +the King's license. + +With the increase of scandalous vices among the clergy was a +corruption in the doctrines of the Church; not those which are +strictly theological, but those which pertained to the ceremonies, +and the conditions on which absolution was given and communion +administered. In the thirteenth century, as the Scholastic +philosophy was reaching its fullest development, we notice the +establishment of the doctrine of transubstantiation, the +withholding the cup from the laity, and the necessity of confession +as the condition of receiving the communion,--which measures +increased amazingly the power of the clergy over the minds of +superstitious people, and led to still more flagrant evils, like +the perversion of the doctrine of penance, originally enforced to +aid the soul to overcome the tyranny of the body, by temporal +punishment after repentance, but later often accepted as the +expiation for sin; so that the door of heaven itself was opened by +venal priests only to those whom they could control or rob. + + +Such was the state of the Church when Wyclif was born,--in 1324, +near Richmond in Yorkshire, about a century after the establishment +of universities, the creation of the Mendicant orders, and the +memorable usurpation of Innocent III. + +In the year 1340, during the reign of Edward III., we find him at +the age of sixteen a student in Merton College at Oxford,--the +college then most distinguished for Scholastic doctors; the college +of Islip, of Bradwardine, of Occam, and perhaps of Duns Scotus. It +would seem that Wyclif devoted himself with great assiduity to the +study which gave the greatest intellectual position and influence +in the Middle Ages, and which required a training of nineteen years +in dialectics before the high degree of Doctor of Divinity was +conferred by the University. We know nothing of his studious life +at Oxford until he received his degree, with the title of +Evangelical or Gospel Doctor,--from which we infer that he was a +student of the Bible, and was more remarkable for his knowledge of +the Scriptures than for his dialectical skill. But even for his +knowledge of the Scholastic philosophy he was the most eminent man +in the University, and he was as familiar with the writings of +Saint Augustine and Jerome as with those of Aristotle. It was not +then the fashion to study the text of the Scriptures so much as the +commentaries upon it; and he who was skilled in the "Book of +Sentences" and the "Summa Theologica" stood a better chance of +preferment than he who had mastered Saint Paul. + +But Wyclif, it would seem, was distinguished for his attainments in +everything which commanded the admiration of his age. In 1356, +when he was thirty-two, he wrote a tract on the last ages of the +Church, in view of the wretchedness produced by the great plague +eight years before. In 1360, at the age of thirty-six, he attacked +the Mendicant orders, and his career as a reformer began,--an +unsuccessful reformer, indeed, like John Huss, since the evils +which he combated were not removed. He firmly protested against +the corruptions which good men lamented; and strove against +doctrines that he regarded as untruthful and pernicious. Such are +simply witnesses of truth, and fortunate are they if they do not +die as martyrs; for in the early Church "witnesses" and "martyrs" +were synonymous [Greek text]. The year following, 1361, Wyclif was +presented to the rich rectory of Fillingham by Baliol College, and +was promoted the same year to the wardenship of that ancient +college. The learned doctor is now one of the "dons" of the +university,--at that time, even more than now, a great dignitary. +It would be difficult for an unlearned politician of the nineteenth +century to conceive of the exalted position which a dignitary of +the Church, crowned with scholastic honors, held five hundred years +ago. It gave him access to the table of his sovereign, and to the +halls of Parliament. It made him an oracle in all matters of the +law. It created for him a hearing on all the great political as +well as ecclesiastical issues of the day. What great authorities +in the thirteenth century were Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and +Bonaventura! Scarcely less than they, in the next century, were +Duns Scotus and John Wyclif,--far greater in influence than any of +the proud feudal lords who rendered service to Edward III., broad +as were their acres, and grand as were their castles. Strange as +it may seem, the glory that radiated from the brow of a scholar or +a saint was greatest in ages of superstition and darkness; perhaps +because both scholars and saints were rare. The modern lights of +learning may be better paid than in former days, but they do not +stand out to the eye of admiring communities in such prominence +as they did among our ancestors. Who stops and turns back to +gaze reverentially on a poet or a scholar whom he passes by +unconsciously, as both men and women strained their eyes to see an +Abelard or a Dante? Even a Webster now would not command the +homage he received fifty years ago. + +It is not uninteresting to contemplate the powers that have ruled +in successive ages, outside the realms of conquerors and kings. In +the ninth and tenth centuries they were baronial lords in mail-clad +armor; in the eleventh and twelfth centuries these powers, like +those of ancient Egypt, were priests; in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries they were the learned doctors, as in the +schools of Athens when political supremacy was lost; in the +sixteenth century--the era of reforms--they were controversial +theologians, like those of the age of Theodosius; in the +seventeenth century they were fighting nobles; in the eighteenth +they were titled and hereditary courtiers and great landed +proprietors; in the nineteenth they are bankers, merchants, and +railway presidents,--men who control the material interests of the +country. It is only at elections, though managed by politicians, +that the people are a power. Socially, the magnates are the rich. +It is money which in these times all classes combine to worship. +If this be questioned, see the adulation which even colleges and +schools of learning pay to their wealthy patrons or those from whom +they seek benefits. The patrons of the schools in the Middle Ages +were princes and nobles; but these princes and nobles bowed down in +reverence to learned bishops and great theological doctors. + +Wyclif was the representative of the schools when he attacked the +abuses of the Church. It is not a little singular that the great +religious movements in England have generally come from Oxford, +while Cambridge has been distinguished for great movements in +science. In 1365 he was appointed to the headship of Canterbury +Hall, founded by Archbishop Islip, afterwards merged into Christ +Church, the most magnificent and wealthy of all the Oxford +Colleges. When Islip died, in 1366, and Langham, originally a monk +of Canterbury, was made archbishop, the appointment of Wyclif was +pronounced void by Langham, and the revenues of the Hall of which +he was warden, or president, were sequestered. Wyclif on this +appealed to the Pope, who, however, ratified Langham's decree,--as +it would be expected, for the Pope sustained the friars whom Wyclif +had denounced. The spirit of such a progressive man was, of +course, offensive to the head of the Church. In this case the +Crown confirmed the decision of the Pope, 1372, since the royal +license was obtained by a costly bribe. The whole transaction was +so iniquitous that Wyclif could not restrain his indignation. + +But before this decision of the Crown was made, the services of +Wyclif had been accepted by the Parliament in its resistance to the +claim which Pope Urban V. had made in 1366, to the arrears of +tribute due under John's vassalage. Edward III. had referred this +claim to Parliament, and the Parliament had rejected it without +hesitation on the ground that John had no power to bind the realm +without its consent. The Parliament was the mere mouthpiece of +Wyclif, who was now actively engaged in political life, and +probably, as Dr. Lechler thinks, had a seat in Parliament. He was, +at any rate, a very prominent political character; for he was sent +in 1374 to Bruges, as one of the commissioners to treat with the +representatives of the French pope in reference to the appointment +of foreigners to the rich benefices of the Church in England, which +gave great offence to the liberal and popular party in England,-- +for there was such a progressive party as early as the fourteenth +century, although it did not go by that name, and was not organized +as parties are now. In fact, in all ages and countries there are +some men who are before their contemporaries. The great grievance +of which the more advanced and enlightened complained was the +interference of the Pope with ecclesiastical livings in England. +Wyclif led the opposition to this usurpation; and this opposition +to the Pope on the part of a churchman made it necessary for him to +have a protector powerful enough to shield him from papal +vengeance. + +This protector he found in John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who, +next to the King, had the greatest authority in England. It is +probable that Wyclif enjoyed at Bruges the friendship of this great +man (great for his station, influence, and birth, at least), who +was at the head of the opposition to the papal claims,--resisted +not only by him, but by Parliament, which seems to have been +composed of men in advance of their age. As early as 1371 this +Parliament had petitioned the King to exclude all ecclesiastics +from the great offices of State, held almost exclusively by them as +the most able and learned people of the realm. From the time of +Alfred this custom had not been seriously opposed by the baronial +lords, who were ignorant and unenlightened; but in the fourteenth +century light had broken in upon the darkness: the day had at least +dawned, and the absurdity of confining the cares of State and +temporal matters to men who ought to be absorbed with spiritual +duties alone was seen by the more enlightened of the laity. But +the King was not then prepared to part with the most efficient of +his ministers because they happened to be ecclesiastics, and the +custom continued for nearly two centuries longer. Bishop Williams +was the last of the clergy who filled the great office of +chancellor, and Archbishop Laud was the last of the clergy who +became a prime minister. The reign of Elizabeth was marked, for +the first time in the history of England, by the almost total +exclusion of prelates from great secular offices. In the reign of +Edward III. it was William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, who +held the great seal, and the Bishop of Exeter who was lord +treasurer,--probably the two men in the whole realm who were the +most experienced in public affairs as men of business. Wyclif, it +would appear, although he was an ecclesiastic, here took the side +of Parliament against his own order. In his treatise on the +"Regimen of the Church" he contends that neither doctors nor +deacons should hold secular offices, or even be land stewards and +clerks of account, and appeals to the authority of the Fathers and +Saint Paul in confirmation of his views. At this time he was a +doctor of divinity and professor of theology in the University, +having been promoted to this high position in 1372, two years +before he was sent as commissioner to Bruges. In 1375, he was +presented to the rectory of Lutterworth in Leicestershire by the +Crown, in reward for his services as an ambassador. + +In 1376 Parliament renewed its assault on pontifical pretensions +and exactions; and there was cause, since twenty thousand marks, or +pounds, were sent annually to Rome from the Pope's collector in +England, a tribute which they thought should be canceled. Against +these corruptions and usurpations Wyclif was unsparing in his +denunciations; and the hierarchy at last were compelled, by their +allegiance to Rome, to take measures to silence and punish him as a +pertinacious heretic. The term "heretic" meant in those days +opposition to papal authority, as much as opposition to the +theological dogmas of the Church; and the brand of heresy was the +greatest stigma which authority could impose. The bold denunciator +of papal abuses was now in danger. He was summoned by the +convocation to appear in Saint Paul's Cathedral and answer for his +heresies, on which occasion were present the Archbishop of +Canterbury and the powerful Bishop of London,--the latter the son +of the Earl of Devonshire, of the great family of the Courtenays. +Wyclif was attended by the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl Marshal,-- +Henry Percy, the ancestor of the Dukes of Northumberland,--who +forced themselves into the Lady's chapel, behind the high altar, +where the prelates were assembled. An uproar followed from this +unusual intrusion of the two most powerful men of the kingdom into +the very sanctuary of prelatic authority. What could be done when +the great Oxford professor--the most learned Scholastic of the +kingdom--was protected by a royal duke clothed with viceregal +power, and the Earl Marshal armed with the sword of State? + +The position of Wyclif was as strong as it was before he was +attacked. Nor could he be silenced except by the authority of the +Pope himself,--still acknowledged as the supreme lord of +Christendom; and the Pope now felt that he must assert his +supremacy and interpose his supreme authority, or lose his hold on +England. So he hurled his weapons, not yet impotent, and +fulminated his bulls, ordering the University, under penalty of +excommunication, to deliver the daring heretic into the hands of +the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London; and further +commanding these two prelates to warn the King against the errors +of Wyclif, and to examine him as to his doctrines, and keep him in +chains until the Pope's pleasure should be further known. In +addition to these bulls, the Pope sent one to the King himself. It +was resolved that the work should be thoroughly done this time. +Yet it would appear that these various bulls threatening an +interdict did not receive a welcome from any quarter. The prelates +did not wish to quarrel with such an antagonist as the Duke of +Lancaster, who was now the chief power in the State, the King being +in his last illness. They allowed several months to pass before +executing their commission, during which Wyclif was consulted by +the great Council of State whether they should allow money to be +carried out of the realm at the Pope's demands, and he boldly +declared that they should not; thus coming in direct antagonism +with hierarchal power. He also wrote at this time pamphlets +vindicating himself from the charges made against him, asserting +the invalidity of unjust excommunication, which, if allowed, would +set the Pope above God. + +At last, after seven months, the prelates took courage, and ordered +the University to execute the papal bulls. To imprison Wyclif at +the command of the Pope would be to allow the Pope's temporal rule +in England; yet to disobey the bulls would be disregard of the +papal power altogether. In this dilemma the Vice-Chancellor-- +himself a monk--ordered a nominal imprisonment. The result of +these preliminary movements was that Wyclif appeared at Lambeth +before the Archbishop, to answer his accusers. The great prelates +had a different spirit from the University, which was justly proud +of its most learned doctor,--a man, too, beyond his age in his +progressive spirit, for the universities in those days were not so +conservative as they subsequently became. At Lambeth Wyclif found +unexpected support from the people of London, who broke into the +archiepiscopal chapel and interrupted the proceedings, and a still +more efficient aid from the Queen Dowager,--the Princess Joan,--who +sent a message forbidding any sentence against Wyclif. Thus was he +backed by royal authority and the popular voice, as Luther was +afterwards in Saxony. The prelates were overcome with terror, and +dropped the proceedings; while the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, who +had tardily and imperfectly obeyed the Pope, was cast into prison +for a time and compelled to resign his office. + +Wyclif had gained a great triumph, which he used by publishing a +summary of his opinions in thirty-three articles, both in Latin and +English. In these it would seem that he attacked the impeccability +of the Pope,--liable to sin like any other person, and hence to be +corrected by the voices of those who are faithful to a higher Power +than his,--a blow to the exercise of excommunication from any +personal grounds of malice or hatred, or when used to extort unjust +or mercenary demands. He also maintained that the endowments of +the clergy could be lawfully withdrawn if they were perverted or +abused,--a bold assertion in his day, but which he professed he was +willing to defend, even unto death. If the prelates had dared, or +had possessed sufficient power, he would doubtless have suffered +death from their animosity; but he was left unmolested in his +retirement at his rectory, although he kept himself discreetly out +of the way of danger. When the memorable schism took place in the +Roman government by the election of an anti-pope, and both popes +proclaimed a crusade and issued their indulgences, Wyclif, who +heretofore had admitted the primacy of the Roman See, now openly +proclaimed the doctrine that the Church would be better off with no +pope at all. He owed his safety to the bitterness of the rival +popes, who in their mutual quarrels had no time to think of him. +And his opportunity was improved by writing books and homilies, in +which the anti-christian claims of the popes were fearlessly +exposed and commented upon. In fact, he now openly denounces the +Pope as Antichrist, from his pulpit at Luttenworth, to his simple- +minded parishioners, for whose good he seems to have earnestly +labored,--the model of a parish priest. It is supposed that +Chaucer had him in view when he wrote his celebrated description of +a good parson,--"benign" and diligent, learned and pious, giving a +noble example to his flock of disinterestedness and devotion to +truth and duty, in contrast with the ordinary lives of the clergy +of those times, who had sunk far below the levels of their calling +in purer ages and such as neither popular nor churchly standards of +intelligent times would tolerate. + +Hitherto Wyclif had simply protested against the external evils of +the Church without much effect, although protected by powerful +laymen and encouraged by popular favor. The time had not come for +a real and permanent reformation; but he prepared the way for it, +and in no slight degree, by his translation of the Scriptures into +the vernacular tongue,--the greatest service he rendered to the +English people and the cause of civilization. All the great +reformers, successful and unsuccessful, appealed to the Scriptures +as the highest authority, even when they did not rebel against the +papal power, like Savonarola in Florence. I do not get the +impression that Wyclif was a great popular preacher like the +Florentine reformer, or like Luther, Latimer, and Knox. He was a +student, first of the Scholastic theology, and afterwards of the +Bible. He lived in a quiet way, as scholars love to live, in his +retired rectory near Oxford, preaching plain and simple sermons to +his parishioners, but spending his time chiefly in his library, or +study. + +Wyclif's translation of the Bible was a great event, for it was the +first which was made in English, although parts of the Bible had +been translated into the Saxon tongue between the seventh and +eleventh centuries. He had no predecessor in that vast work, and +he labored amid innumerable obstacles. It was not a translation +from the original Greek and Hebrew, for but little was known of +either language in the fourteenth century: not until the fall of +Constantinople into the hands of the Turks was Greek or Hebrew +studied; so the translation was made from the Latin Vulgate of St. +Jerome. The version of Wyclif, besides its transcendent value to +the people, now able to read the Bible in their own language +(before a sealed book, except to the clergy and the learned), gave +form and richness to the English language. To what extent Wyclif +was indebted to the labors of other men it is not easy to +determine; but there is little doubt that, whatever aid he +received, the whole work was under his supervision. Of course it +was not printed, for printing was not then discovered; but the +manuscripts of the version were very numerous, and they are to-day +to be found in the great public libraries of England, and even in +many private collections. + +Considering that the Latin Vulgate has ever been held in supreme +veneration by the Catholic Church in all ages and countries, by +popes, bishops, abbots, and schoolmen; that no jealousy existed as +to the reading of it by the clergy generally; that in fact it was +not a sealed book to the learned classes, and was regarded +universally as the highest authority in matters of faith and +morals,--it seems strange that so violent an opposition should have +been made to its translation into vernacular tongues, and to its +circulation among the people. Wyclif's translation was regarded as +an act of sacrilege, worthy of condemnation and punishment. So +furious was the outcry against him, as an audacious violator who +dared to touch the sacred ark with unconsecrated hands, that even a +bill was brought into the House of Lords forbidding the perusal of +the Bible by the laity, and it would have been passed but for John +of Gaunt. At a convocation of bishops and clerical dignitaries +held in St. Paul's, in 1408, it was decreed as heresy to read the +Bible in English,--to be punished by excommunication. The version +of Wyclif and all other translations into English were utterly +prohibited under the severest penalties. Fines, imprisonment, and +martyrdom were inflicted on those who were guilty of so foul a +crime as the reading or possession of the Scriptures in the +vernacular tongue. This is one of the gravest charges ever made +against the Catholic Church. This absurd and cruel persecution +alone made the Reformation a necessity, even as the translation of +the Bible prepared the way for the Reformation. The translation of +the Scriptures and the Reformation are indissolubly linked +together. + +The authorities of those days would have destroyed, if they could, +every copy of the version Wyclif made. But the precious +manuscripts were secreted and secretly studied, and both from the +novelty and the keen interest they excited they were unquestionably +a powerful factor in the religious unrest of those times. +Doubtless the well known opposition to the circulation of the Bible +in the vernacular has been exaggerated, but in the fourteenth +century it was certainly bitter and furious. Wyclif might expose +vices which everybody saw and lamented as a scandal, and make +himself obnoxious to those who committed them; but to open the door +to free inquiry and a reformed faith and hostility to the Pope,-- +this was a graver offence, to be visited with the severest +penalties. To the storm of indignation thus raised against him +Wyclif's only answer was: "The clergy cry aloud that it is heresy +to speak of the Holy Scriptures in English, and so they would +condemn the Holy Ghost, who gave tongues to the Apostles of Christ +to speak the Word of God in all languages under heaven." + +Notwithstanding the enormous cost of the Bible as translated by +Wyclif,--L2, 16s. 8d., a sum probably equal to thirty pounds, or +one hundred and fifty dollars of our present money, more than half +the annual income of a substantial yeoman,--still it was copied and +circulated with remarkable rapidity. Neither the cost of the +valuable manuscript nor the opposition and vigilance of an almost +omnipresent inquisition were able to suppress it. + +Wyclif was now about fifty-eight years of age. He had rendered a +transcendent service to the English nation, and a service that not +one of his contemporaries could have performed,--to which only the +foremost scholar and theologian of his day was equal. After such a +work he might have reposed in his quiet parish in genial rest, +conscious that he had opened a new era in the history of his +country. But rest was not for him. He now appears as a doctrinal +controversialist. Hitherto his attacks had been against the +flagrant external evils of the Church, the enormous corruptions +that had entered into the institutions which sustained the papal +power. "He had been the advocate of the University in defence of +her privileges, the champion of the Crown in vindication of its +rights and prerogatives, the friend of the people in the +preservation of their property. . . . He now assailed the Romish +doctrine of the eucharist," but without the support of those +powerful princes and nobles who had hitherto sustained him. He +combats one of the prevailing ideas of the age,--a more difficult +and infinitely bolder thing,--which theologians had not dared to +assail, and which in after-times was a stumbling-block to Luther +himself. In ascending the mysterious mount where clouds gathered +around him his old friends began to desert him, for now he assailed +the awful and invisible. The Church of the Middle Ages had +asserted that the body of Christ was actually present in the +consecrated wafer, and few there were who doubted it. Berengar had +maintained in the eleventh century that the sacred elements should +be regarded as mere symbols; but he was vehemently opposed, with +all the terrors of spiritual power, and compelled to abjure the +heresy. In the year 1215, at a Lateran Council, Innocent III. +established the doctrine of transubstantiation as one of the +fundamental pillars of Catholic belief. Then metaphysics--all the +weapons of Scholasticism--were called into the service of +superstition to establish what is most mythical in the creed of the +Church, and which implied a perpetual miracle, since at the moment +of consecration the substance of the bread was taken away and the +substance of Christ's body took its place. From his chair of +theology at Oxford, in 1381, Wyclif attacked what Lanfranc and +Anselm and the doctors of the Church had uniformly and strenuously +defended. His views of the eucharist were substantially those +which Archbishop Berengar had advanced three hundred years before, +and of course drew down upon him the censure of the Church. In his +peril he appealed, not to the Pope or the clergy, but to the King +himself,--a measure of renewed audacity, for in those days no +layman, however exalted, had authority in matters purely +ecclesiastical. His boldness was too much even for the powerful +Duke of Lancaster, his friend and patron, who forbade him to speak +further on such a matter. He might attack the mendicant and +itinerant friars who had forgotten their duties and their vows, but +not the great mysteries of the Catholic faith. "When he questioned +the priestly power of absolution and the Pope's authority in +purgatory, when he struck at indulgences and special masses, he had +on his side the spiritual instincts of the people;" but when he +impugned the dignity of the central act of Christian worship and +the highest expression of mystical devotion, it appeared to +ordinary minds that he was denying all that is sacred, impressive, +and authoritative in the sacrament itself,--and he gave offence to +many devout minds, who had approved his attacks on the monks and +the various corruptions of the Church. Even the Parliament pressed +the Archbishop to make an end of such a heresy; and Courtenay, who +hated Wyclif, needed not to be urged. So a council was assembled +at the Dominican Convent at Blackfriars, where the "Times" office +now stands, and unanimously condemned not only the opinions of +Wyclif as to the eucharist, but also those in reference to the +power of excommunication, and the uselessness of the religious +orders. Yet he himself was allowed to escape; and the condemnation +had no other effect than to drive him from Oxford to his rectory at +Lutterworth, where until his death he occupied himself in literary +and controversial writings. His illness soon afterwards prevented +him from obeying the summons of the Pope to Rome, where he would +doubtless have suffered as a martyr. In 1384 he was struck with +paralysis, and died in three days after the attack, at the age of +sixty,--though some say in his sixty fourth year,--probably, in +spite of ecclesiastical censure, the most revered man of his day, +as well as one of the ablest and most learned. Not from the ranks +of fanatics or illiterate popular orators did the Reformation come +in any country, but from the greatest scholars and theologians. + +This grand old man, the illustrious pioneer of reform in England, +and indeed on the Continent, did not live to threescore years and +ten, but, being worn out with his exhaustive labors, he died +peaceably and unmolested in his retired parish. Not much is known +of the details of his personal history, any more than of +Shakspeare's. We know nothing of his loves and hatreds, of his +habits and tastes, of his temper and person, of his friends and +enemies. He stands out to the eye of posterity in solitary and +mysterious loneliness. Tradition speaks of him as a successful, +benignant, and charitable parish priest, giving consolation to the +afflicted and to the sick. He lived in honor,--professor of +theology at Oxford, holding a prebendal stall amid a parochial +rectory, perhaps a seat in Parliament, and was employed by the +Crown as an ambassador to Bruges. He was statesman as well as +theologian, and lived among the great,--more as a learned doctor +than as a saint, which he was not from the Catholic standpoint. +"He was the scourge of imposture, the ponderous hammer which smote +the brazen idolatry of his age." He labored to expose the vices +that had taken shelter in the sanctuary of the Church,--a reformer +of ecclesiastical abuses rather than of the lax morals of the +laity, and hence did different work from that of Savonarola, whose +life was spent in a crusade against sin, wherever it was to be +found. His labors were great, and his attainments remarkable for +his age. He is accused of being coarse in his invectives; but that +charge can also be laid to Luther and other reformers in rough and +outspoken times. Considering the power of the Pope in the +fourteenth century, Wyclif was as bold and courageous as Luther. +The weakness of the papacy had not been exposed by the Councils of +Pisa, of Constance, and of Basil; nor was popular indignation in +view of the sale of indulgences as great in England as when the +Dominican Tetzel peddled the papal pardons in Germany. In +combating the received ideas of the age, Wyclif was even more +remarkable than the Saxon reformer, who was never fully emancipated +from the Mediaeval doctrine of transubstantiation; although Luther +went beyond Wyclif in the completeness of his reform. Wyclif was +beyond his age; Luther was the impersonation of its passions. +Wyclif represented universities and learned men; Luther was the +oracle of the people. The former was the Mediaeval doctor; the +latter was the popular orator and preacher. The one was mild and +moderate in his spirit and manners; the other was vehement, +dogmatic, and often offensive, not only from his more violent and +passionate nature, but for his bitter and ironical sallies. It is +the manner more than the matter which offends. Had Wyclif been as +satirical and boisterous as Luther was, he would not probably have +ended his days in peace, and would not have accomplished so much as +a preparation for reforms. + +It was the peculiarity of Wyclif to recognize the real merits in +the system he denounced, even when his language was most vehement. +He admitted that confession did much good to some persons, although +as a universal practice, as enjoined by Innocent III., it was an +evil and harmed the Church. In regard to the worship of images, +while he denounced the waste of treasure or "dead stocks," he +admitted that images might be used as aids to excite devotion; but +if miraculous powers were attributed to them, it was an evil rather +than a good. And as to the adoration of the saints, he simply +maintained that since gifts can be obtained only through the +mediation of Christ, it would be better to pray to him directly +rather than through the mediation of saints. + +In regard to the Mendicant friars, it does not appear that his +vehement opposition to them was based on their vows of poverty or +on the spirit which entered into monasticism in its best ages, but +because they were untrue to their rule, because they were vendors +of pardons, and absolved men of sins which they were ashamed to +confess to their own pastors, and especially because they +encouraged the belief that a benefaction to a convent would take +the place of piety in the heart. It was the abuses of the system, +rather than the system itself, which made him so wrathful on the +"vagrant friars preaching their catchpenny sermons." And so of +other abuses of the Church: he did not defy the Pope or deny his +authority until it was plain that he sought to usurp the +prerogatives of kings and secular rulers, and bring both the clergy +and laity under his spiritual yoke. It was not as the first and +chief of bishops--the head of the visible Church--that Wyclif +attacked the Pope, but as a usurper and a tyrant, grasping powers +which were not conferred by the early Church, and which did not +culminate until Innocent III. had instituted the Mendicant orders, +and enforced persecution for religious opinions by the terrors of +the Inquisition. The wealth of the Church was a sore evil in his +eyes, since it diverted the clergy from their spiritual duties, and +was the cause of innumerable scandals, and was closely connected +with simony and the accumulation of benefices in the hands of a +single priest. + +So it was indignation in view of the corruptions of the Church and +vehement attacks upon them which characterized Wyclif, rather than +efforts to remove their causes, as was the case with Luther. He +was not a radical reformer; he only prepared the way for radical +reform, by his translation of the Scriptures into a language the +people could read, more than by any attacks on the monks or papal +usurpations or indulgences for sin. He was the type of a +meditative scholar and theologian, thin and worn, without much +charm of conversation except to men of rank, or great animal +vivacity such as delights the people. Nor was he a religious +genius, like Thomas a Kempis, Anselm, and Pascal. He had no +remarkable insight into spiritual things; his intellectual and +moral nature preponderated over the emotional, so that he was +charged with intellectual pride and desire for distinction. Yet no +one disputed the blamelessness of his life and the elevation of his +character. + +If Wyclif escaped the wrath and vengeance of Rome because of his +high rank as a theological doctor, his connection with the +University of Oxford, opposed to itinerating beggars with great +pretensions and greedy ends, and his friendship and intercourse +with the rulers of the land, his followers did not. They became +very numerous, and were variously called Lollards, Wyclifites, and +Biblemen. They kept alive evangelical religion until the time of +Cranmer and Latimer, their distinguishing doctrine being that the +Scriptures are the only rule of faith. There was no persecution of +them of any account during the reign of Richard II.,--although he +was a hateful tyrant,--probably owing to the influence of his wife, +a Bohemian princess, who read Wyclif's Bible; but under Henry IV. +evil days fell upon them, and persecution was intensified under +Henry V. (1413-1422) because of their supposed rebellion. The +Lollards under Archbishop Chicheley, as early as 1416, were hunted +down and burned as heretics. The severest inquisition was +instituted to hunt up those who were even suspected of heresy, and +every parish was the scene of cruelties. I need not here enumerate +the victims of persecution, continued with remorseless severity +during the whole reign of Henry VII. But it was impossible to +suppress the opinions of the reformers, or to prevent the +circulation of the Scriptures. The blood of martyrs was the seed +of the Church. Persecution in this instance was not successful, +since there was a noble material in England, as in Germany, for +Christianity to work upon. It was in humble homes, among the +yeomanry and the artisans, that evangelical truth took the deepest +hold, as in primitive times, and produced the fervent Christians of +succeeding centuries, such as no other country has produced. In no +country was the Reformation, as established by Edward VI. and +Elizabeth, so complete and so permanent, unless Scotland and +Switzerland be excepted. The glory of this radical reform must be +ascribed to the humble and persecuted followers of Wyclif,--who +proved themselves martyrs and witnesses, faithful unto death,--more +than to any of the great lights which adorned the most brilliant +period of English history. + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +The Works of Wyclif, as edited by F. D. Matthew; The Life and +Sufferings of Wicklif, by I. Lewis (Oxford, 1820); Life of Wiclif, +by Charles Wehle Le Bas (1846); John de Wycliffe, a Monograph, by +Robert Vaughan, D. D. (London, 1853); Turner's History of England +should be compared with Lingard. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History; +Neander's Church History; Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography; +Gieseler, Milner, and general historians of the Church; Geikie's +English Reformation. A German Life of Wyclif, by Dr. Lechler, is +often quoted by Matthew, and has been fortunately translated into +English. These is also a slight notice of Wyclif by Fisher, in his +History of the Reformation. + +The name of the English reformer is spelled differently by +different historians,--as Wiclif, Wyclif, Wycliffe, Wyckliffe; but +I have selected the latest authority upon the subject, F. D. +Matthew. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME III, PART 1 *** + +This file should be named 31blh10.txt or 31blh10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 31blh11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 31blh10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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