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diff --git a/26042-0.txt b/26042-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e614ef9 --- /dev/null +++ b/26042-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,29697 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Introduction to the History of Western +Europe, by James Harvey Robinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Introduction to the History of Western Europe + +Author: James Harvey Robinson + +Release Date: July 12, 2008 [EBook #26042] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Inconsistent punctuation and and spelling in the original have +been preserved. + +Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + +Family trees have wide margins and may not display well on +certain electronic devices. + +Certain characters will display best in a Unicode character set. + +[Illustration: PAGE FROM AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT] + + + + + AN INTRODUCTION TO THE + + HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE + + + BY + + JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON + + PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY + + + _History is no easy science; + its subject, human society, + is infinitely complex._ + + FUSTEL DE COULANGES + + + GINN & COMPANY + + BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON + + + + + ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL + + COPYRIGHT, 1902, 1903 + BY JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + 612.1 + + + The Athenæum Press + + GINN & COMPANY · PROPRIETORS · + BOSTON · U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In introducing the student to the history of the development of European +culture, the problem of proportion has seemed to me, throughout, the +fundamental one. Consequently I have endeavored not only to state +matters truly and clearly but also to bring the narrative into harmony +with the most recent conceptions of the relative importance of past +events and institutions. It has seemed best, in an elementary treatise +upon so vast a theme, to omit the names of many personages and conflicts +of secondary importance which have ordinarily found their way into our +historical text-books. I have ventured also to neglect a considerable +number of episodes and anecdotes which, while hallowed by assiduous +repetition, appear to owe their place in our manuals rather to accident +or mere tradition than to any profound meaning for the student of the +subject. + +The space saved by these omissions has been used for three main +purposes. Institutions under which Europe has lived for centuries, above +all the Church, have been discussed with a good deal more fullness than +is usual in similar manuals. The life and work of a few men of +indubitably first-rate importance in the various fields of human +endeavor--Gregory the Great, Charlemagne, Abelard, St. Francis, +Petrarch, Luther, Erasmus, Voltaire, Napoleon, Bismarck--have been +treated with care proportionate to their significance for the world. +Lastly, the scope of the work has been broadened so that not only the +political but also the economic, intellectual, and artistic achievements +of the past form an integral part of the narrative. + +I have relied upon a great variety of sources belonging to the various +orders in the hierarchy of historical literature; it is happily +unnecessary to catalogue these. In some instances I have found other +manuals, dealing with portions of my field, of value. In the earlier +chapters, Emerton's admirable _Introduction to the Middle Ages_ +furnished many suggestions. For later periods, the same may be said of +Henderson's careful _Germany in the Middle Ages_ and Schwill's clear and +well-proportioned _History of Modern Europe_. For the most recent +period, I have made constant use of Andrews' scholarly _Development of +Modern Europe_. For England, the manuals of Green and Gardiner have been +used. The greater part of the work is, however, the outcome of study of +a wide range of standard special treatises dealing with some short +period or with a particular phase of European progress. As examples of +these, I will mention only Lea's monumental contributions to our +knowledge of the jurisprudence of the Church, Rashdall's _History of the +Universities in the Middle Ages_, Richter's incomparable _Annalen der +Deutschen Geschichte im Mittelalter_, the _Histoire Générale_, and the +well-known works of Luchaire, Voigt, Hefele, Bezold, Janssen, Levasseur, +Creighton, Pastor. In some cases, as in the opening of the Renaissance, +the Lutheran Revolt, and the French Revolution, I have been able to form +my opinions to some extent from first-hand material. + +My friends and colleagues have exhibited a generous interest in my +enterprise, of which I have taken constant advantage. Professor E.H. +Castle of Teachers College, Miss Ellen S. Davison, Dr. William R. +Shepherd, and Dr. James T. Shotwell of the historical department of +Columbia University, have very kindly read part of my manuscript. The +proof has been revised by my colleague, Professor William A. Dunning, +Professor Edward P. Cheyney of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. +Ernest F. Henderson, and by Professor Dana C. Munro of the University of +Wisconsin. To all of these I am much indebted. Both in the arduous +preparation of the manuscript and in the reading of the proof my wife +has been my constant companion, and to her the volume owes innumerable +rectifications in arrangement and diction. I would also add a word of +gratitude to my publishers for their hearty coöperation in their +important part of the undertaking. + +The _Readings in European History_, a manual now in preparation, and +designed to accompany this volume, will contain comprehensive +bibliographies for each chapter and a selection of illustrative +material, which it is hoped will enable the teacher and pupil to broaden +and vivify their knowledge. In the present volume I have given only a +few titles at the end of some of the chapters, and in the footnotes I +mention, for collateral reading, under the heading "Reference," chapters +in the best available books, to which the student may be sent for +additional detail. Almost all the books referred to might properly find +a place in every high-school library. + + J.H.R. + + COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, + January 12, 1903. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW 1 + + II WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS 8 + + III THE GERMAN INVASIONS AND THE BREAK-UP OF THE + ROMAN EMPIRE 25 + + IV THE RISE OF THE PAPACY 44 + + V THE MONKS AND THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS 56 + + VI CHARLES MARTEL AND PIPPIN 67 + + VII CHARLEMAGNE 77 + + VIII THE DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 92 + + IX FEUDALISM 104 + + X THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCE 120 + + XI ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES 133 + + XII GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES 148 + + XIII THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GREGORY VII AND HENRY IV 164 + + XIV THE HOHENSTAUFEN EMPERORS AND THE POPES 173 + + XV THE CRUSADES 187 + + XVI THE MEDIÆVAL CHURCH AT ITS HEIGHT 201 + + XVII HERESY AND THE FRIARS 216 + + XVIII THE PEOPLE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN 233 + + XIX THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 250 + + XX THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 277 + + XXI THE POPES AND THE COUNCILS 303 + + XXII THE ITALIAN CITIES AND THE RENAISSANCE 321 + + XXIII EUROPE AT THE OPENING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 354 + + XXIV GERMANY BEFORE THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 369 + + XXV MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS REVOLT AGAINST THE CHURCH 387 + + XXVI COURSE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN GERMANY, 1521-1555 405 + + XXVII THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN SWITZERLAND AND ENGLAND 421 + + XXVIII THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION--PHILIP II 437 + + XXIX THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 465 + + XXX STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 475 + + XXXI THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV 495 + + XXXII RISE OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 509 + + XXXIII THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND 523 + + XXXIV THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 537 + + XXXV THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 558 + + XXXVI THE FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC 574 + + XXXVII NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 592 + + XXXVIII EUROPE AND NAPOLEON 606 + + XXXIX EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA 625 + + XL THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY AND GERMANY 642 + + XLI EUROPE OF TO-DAY 671 + + LIST OF BOOKS 689 + + INDEX 691 + + + + +LIST OF MAPS + + + PAGE + 1 The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent 8-9 + + 2 The Barbarian Inroads 26-27 + + 3 Europe in the Time of Theodoric 31 + + 4 The Dominions of the Franks under the Merovingians 37 + + 5 Christian Missions 63 + + 6 Arabic Conquests 71 + + 7 The Empire of Charlemagne 82-83 + + 8 Treaty of Verdun 93 + + 9 Treaty of Mersen 95 + + 10 Fiefs and Suzerains of the Counts of Champagne 113 + + 11 France at the Close of the Reign of Philip Augustus 129 + + 12 The Plantagenet Possessions in England and France 141 + + 13 Europe about A.D.1000 152-153 + + 14 Italian Towns in the Twelfth Century 175 + + 15 Routes of the Crusaders 190-191 + + 16 The Crusaders' States in Syria 193 + + 17 Ecclesiastical Map of France in the Middle Ages 205 + + 18 Lines of Trade and Mediæval Towns 242-243 + + 19 The British Isles 278-279 + + 20 Treaty of Bretigny, 1360 287 + + 21 French Possessions of the English King in 1424 294 + + 22 France under Louis XI 298-299 + + 23 Voyages of Discovery 349 + + 24 Europe in the Sixteenth Century 358-359 + + 25 Germany in the Sixteenth Century 372-373 + + 26 The Swiss Confederation 422 + + 27 Treaty of Utrecht 506-507 + + 28 Northeastern Europe in the Eighteenth Century 513 + + 29 Provinces of France in the Eighteenth Century 539 + + 30 Salt Tax in France 541 + + 31 France in Departments 568-569 + + 32 Partitions of Poland 584 + + 33 Europe at the Height of Napoleon's Power 614-615 + + 34 Europe in 1815 626-627 + + 35 Races of Austro-Hungary 649 + + 36 Europe of To-day 666-667 + + + + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + + I PAGE FROM AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT _Frontispiece_ + + II FAÇADE OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL _Facing page_ 264 + + III INTERIOR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL _Facing page_ 266 + + IV BRONZE STATUES OF PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES + THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK _Facing page_ 300 + + V BRONZE DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL AT PISA } + } 342-343 + VI GHIBERTI'S DOORS AT FLORENCE } + + VII GIOTTO'S MADONNA } + } 346-347 + VIII HOLY FAMILY BY ANDREA DEL SARTO } + + + + +INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW + + +[Sidenote: The scope of history.] + +1. History, in the broadest sense of the word, is all that we know about +everything that man has ever done, or thought, or hoped, or felt. It is +the limitless science of past human affairs, a subject immeasurably vast +and important but exceedingly vague. The historian may busy himself +deciphering hieroglyphics on an Egyptian obelisk, describing a mediæval +monastery, enumerating the Mongol emperors of Hindustan or the battles +of Napoleon. He may explain how the Roman Empire was conquered by the +German barbarians, or why the United States and Spain came to blows in +1898, or what Calvin thought of Luther, or what a French peasant had to +eat in the eighteenth century. We can know something of each of these +matters if we choose to examine the evidence which still exists; they +all help to make up history. + +[Sidenote: Object of this volume.] + +The present volume deals with a small but very important portion of the +history of the world. Its object is to give as adequate an account as is +possible in one volume of the chief changes in western Europe since the +German barbarians overcame the armies of the Roman Empire and set up +states of their own, out of which the present countries of France, +Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, and England have +slowly grown. There are, however, whole libraries upon the history of +each of these countries during the last fifteen hundred years, and it +requires a volume or two to give a tolerably complete account of any +single important person, like St. Francis, Cromwell, Frederick the +Great, or Napoleon. Besides biographies and general histories, there are +many special treatises upon the Church and other great institutions; +upon the literature, art, philosophy, and law of the various countries. +It is obvious, therefore, that only a very few of the historical facts +known to scholars can possibly find a place in a single volume such as +this. One who undertakes to condense what we know of Europe's past, +since the times of Theodosius and Alaric, into the space of six hundred +pages assumes a very grave responsibility. The reader has a right to ask +not only that what he finds in the book shall be at once true and +clearly stated, but that it shall consist, on the whole, of the most +important and useful of all the things which might have been selected +from the well-nigh infinite mass of true things that are known. + +We gain practically nothing from the mere enumeration of events and +dates. The student of history wishes to know how people lived; what were +their institutions (which are really only the habits of nations), their +occupations, interests, and achievements; how business was transacted in +the Middle Ages almost without the aid of money; how, later, commerce +increased and industry grew up; what a great part the Christian church +played in society; how the monks lived and what they did for mankind. In +short, the object of an introduction to mediæval and modern European +history is the description of the most significant achievements of +western civilization during the past fifteen hundred years,--the +explanation of how the Roman Empire of the West and the wild and unknown +districts inhabited by the German races have become the Europe of +Gladstone and Bismarck, of Darwin and Pasteur. + +In order to present even an outline of the great changes during this +long period, all that was exceptional and abnormal must be left out. We +must fix our attention upon man's habitual conduct, upon those things +that he kept on doing in essentially the same way for a century or so. +Particular events are important in so far as they illustrate these +permanent conditions and explain how the western world passed from one +state to another. + +[Sidenote: We should study the past sympathetically.] + +We must learn, above all, to study sympathetically institutions and +beliefs that we are tempted at first to declare absurd and unreasonable. +The aim of the historian is not to prove that a particular way of doing +a thing is right or wrong, as, for instance, intrusting the whole +government to a king or forbidding clergymen to marry. His object is to +show as well as he can how a certain system came to be introduced, what +was thought of it, how it worked, and how another plan gradually +supplanted it. It seems to us horrible that a man should be burned alive +because he holds views of Christianity different from those of his +neighbors. Instead, however, of merely condemning the practice, we must, +as historical students, endeavor to see why practically every one in the +thirteenth century, even the wisest and most tender-hearted, agreed that +such a fearful punishment was the appropriate one for a heretic. An +effort has, therefore, been made throughout this volume to treat the +convictions and habits of men and nations in the past with +consideration; that is, to make them seem natural and to show their +beneficent rather than their evil aspects. It is not the weakness of an +institution, but the good that is in it, that leads men to adopt and +retain it. + +[Sidenote: Impossibility of dividing the past into clearly defined +periods.] + +[Sidenote: All general changes take place gradually.] + +2. It is impossible to divide the past into distinct, clearly defined +periods and prove that one age ended and another began in a particular +year, such as 476, or 1453, or 1789. Men do not and cannot change their +habits and ways of doing things all at once, no matter what happens. It +is true that a single event, such as an important battle which results +in the loss of a nation's independence, may produce an abrupt change in +the government. This in turn may encourage or discourage commerce and +industry and modify the language and the spirit of a people. Yet these +deeper changes take place only very gradually. After a battle or a +revolution the farmer will sow and reap in his old way, the artisan will +take up his familiar tasks, and the merchant his buying and selling. The +scholar will study and write and the household go on under the new +government just as they did under the old. So a change in government +affects the habits of a people but slowly in any case, and it may leave +them quite unaltered. + +The French Revolution, at the end of the eighteenth century, was +probably the most abrupt and thoroughgoing change in the habits of a +nation of which we have any record. But we shall find, when we come to +study it, that it was by no means so sudden in reality as is ordinarily +supposed. Moreover, the innovators did not even succeed in permanently +altering the form of government; for when the French, after living under +a monarchy for many centuries, set up a republic in 1792, the new +government lasted only a few years. The nation was monarchical by habit +and soon gladly accepted the rule of Napoleon, which was more despotic +than that of any of its former kings. In reorganizing the state he +borrowed much from the discarded monarchy, and the present French +republic still retains many of these arrangements. + +[Sidenote: The unity or continuity of history.] + +This tendency of mankind to do, in general, this year what it did last, +in spite of changes in some one department of life,--such as +substituting a president for a king, traveling by rail instead of on +horseback, or getting the news from a newspaper instead of from a +neighbor,--results in what is called the _unity_ or _continuity of +history_. The truth that no abrupt change has ever taken place in all +the customs of a people, and that it cannot, in the nature of things, +take place, is perhaps the most fundamental lesson that history teaches. + +Historians sometimes seem to forget this principle, when they claim to +begin and end their books at precise dates. We find histories of Europe +from 476 to 918, from 1270 to 1492, as if the accession of a capable +German king in 918, or the death of a famous French king in 1270, or the +discovery of America, marked a general change in European affairs. In +reality, however, no general change took place at these dates or in any +other single year. It would doubtless have proved a great convenience to +the readers and writers of history if the world had agreed to carry out +a definite programme and alter its habits at precise dates, preferably +at the opening of each century. But no such agreement has ever been +adopted, and the historical student must take things as he finds them. +He must recognize that nations retain their old customs while they adopt +new ones, and that a portion of a nation may advance while a great part +of it stays behind. + +[Sidenote: Meaning of the term 'Middle Ages.'] + +3. We cannot, therefore, hope to fix any year or event which may +properly be taken as the beginning of that long period which followed +the downfall of the Roman state in western Europe and which is commonly +called the Middle Ages. Beyond the northern and western boundaries of +the Roman Empire, which embraced the whole civilized world from the +Euphrates to Britain, mysterious peoples moved about whose history +before they came into occasional contact with the Romans is practically +unknown. These Germans, or barbarians, as the Romans called them, were +destined to put an end to the Roman Empire in the West. They had first +begun to make trouble about a hundred years before Christ, when a great +army of them was defeated by the Roman general, Marius. Julius Cæsar +narrates, in polished Latin, familiar to all who have begun the study of +that language, how fifty years later he drove back other bands. Five +hundred years elapsed, however, between these first encounters and the +founding of German kingdoms within the boundaries of the Empire. With +their establishment the Roman government in western Europe may be said +to have come to an end and the Middle Ages to have begun. + +Yet it would be a great mistake to suppose that this means that the +Roman civilization suddenly disappeared at this time. As we shall see, +it had gradually changed during the centuries following the golden age +of Augustus, who died A.D. 14. Long before the German conquest, art and +literature had begun to decline toward the level that they reached in +the Middle Ages. Many of the ideas and conditions which prevailed after +the coming of the barbarians were common enough before,--even the +ignorance and want of taste which we associate particularly with the +Middle Ages. + +The term _Middle Ages_ is, then, a vague one. It will be used in this +volume to mean, roughly speaking, the period of nearly a thousand years +that elapsed between the opening of the fifth century, when the disorder +of the barbarian invasions was becoming general, and the fourteenth +century, when Europe was well on its way to retrieve all that had been +lost since the break-up of the Roman Empire. + +[Sidenote: The 'dark ages.'] + +It used to be assumed, when there was much less interest in the period +than there now is, that with the disruption of the Empire and the +disorder that followed, practically all culture perished for centuries, +that Europe entered upon the "dark ages." These were represented as +dreary centuries of ignorance and violence in marked contrast to the +civilization of the Greeks and Romans on the one hand, and to the +enlightenment of modern times on the other. The more careful studies of +the last half century have made it clear that the Middle Ages were not +"dark" in the sense of being stagnant and unproductive. On the contrary, +they were full of movement and growth, and we owe to them a great many +things in our civilization which we should never have derived from +Greece and Rome. It is the purpose of the first nineteen chapters of +this manual to describe the effects of the barbarian conquests, the +gradual recovery of Europe from the disorder of the successive +invasions, and the peculiar institutions which grew up to meet the needs +of the times. The remaining chapters will attempt to show how mediæval +institutions, habits, and ideas were supplanted, step by step, by those +which exist in Europe to-day. + +[Illustration: THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS + + +[Sidenote: Extent of the Roman Empire.] + +4. No one can hope to understand the Middle Ages who does not first +learn something of the Roman Empire, within whose bounds the Germans set +up their kingdoms and began the long task of creating modern Europe. + +At the opening of the fifth century there were no separate, independent +states in western Europe such as we find on the map to-day. The whole +territory now occupied by England, France, Spain, and Italy formed at +that time only a part of the vast realms ruled over by the Roman emperor +and his host of officials. As for Germany, it was still a region of +forests, familiar only to the barbarous and half-savage tribes who +inhabited them. The Romans tried in vain to conquer this part of Europe, +and finally had to content themselves with keeping the German hordes out +of the Empire by means of fortifications and guards along the Rhine and +Danube rivers. + +[Sidenote: Great diversity of races included within the Empire.] + +The Roman Empire, which embraced southern and western Europe, western +Asia, and even the northern portion of Africa, included the most diverse +peoples and races. Egyptians, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Germans, Gauls, +Britons, Iberians,--all alike were under the sovereign rule of Rome. One +great state embraced the nomad shepherds who spread their tents on the +borders of Sahara, the mountaineers in the fastnesses of Wales, and the +citizens of Athens, Alexandria, and Rome, heirs to all the luxury and +learning of the ages. Whether one lived in York or Jerusalem, Memphis +or Vienna, he paid his taxes into the same treasury, he was tried by the +same law, and looked to the same armies for protection. + +[Illustration: Remains of a Roman Aqueduct, now used as a Bridge, near +Nîmes, Southern France] + +[Sidenote: Bonds which held the Empire together.] + +At first it seems incredible that this huge Empire, which included +African and Asiatic peoples as well as the most various races of Europe +in all stages of civilization, could have held together for five +centuries instead of falling to pieces, as might have been expected, +long before the barbarians came in sufficient strength to establish +their own kingdoms in its midst. When, however, we consider the bonds of +union which held the state together it is easy to understand the +permanence of the Empire. These were: (1) the wonderfully organized +government which penetrated to every part of the realm and allowed +little to escape it; (2) the worship of the emperor as the incarnation +of the government; (3) the Roman law in force everywhere; (4) the +admirable roads and the uniform system of coinage which encouraged +intercommunication; and, lastly, (5) the Roman colonies and the teachers +maintained by the government, for through them the same ideas and +culture were carried to even the most distant parts of the Empire. + +[Sidenote: The Roman government attempted to regulate everything.] + +Let us first glance at the government and the emperor. His decrees were +dispatched throughout the length and breadth of the Roman dominions; +whatsoever pleased him became law, according to the well-known principle +of the Roman constitution. While the cities were permitted some freedom +in the regulation of their purely local affairs, the emperor and his +innumerable and marvelously organized officials kept an eye upon even +the humblest citizen. The Roman government, besides maintaining order, +administering justice, and defending the boundaries, assumed many other +responsibilities. It watched the grain dealers, butchers, and bakers; +saw that they properly supplied the public and never deserted their +occupation. In some cases it forced the son to follow the profession of +his father. If it could have had its way, it would have had every one +belong to a definite class of society, and his children after him. It +kept the unruly poorer classes quiet in the towns by furnishing them +with bread, and sometimes with wine, meat, and clothes. It provided +amusement for them by expensive entertainments, such as races and +gladiatorial combats. In a word, the Roman government was not only +wonderfully organized, so that it penetrated to the utmost confines of +its territory, but it attempted to guard and regulate almost every +interest in life. + +[Sidenote: The worship of the emperor.] + +Every one was required to join in the worship of the emperor because he +stood for the majesty of the Roman dominion. The inhabitants of each +province might revere their particular gods, undisturbed by the +government, but all were obliged as good citizens to join in the +official sacrifices to the deified head of the state. The early +Christians were persecuted, not only because their religion was +different from that of their fellows, but because they refused to offer +homage to the image of the emperor and openly prophesied the downfall of +the Roman state. Their religion was incompatible with what was then +deemed good citizenship, inasmuch as it forbade them to express the +required veneration for the government. + +[Sidenote: The Roman law.] + +As there was one government, so there was one law for all the civilized +world. Local differences were not considered; the same principles of +reason, justice, and humanity were believed to hold whether the Roman +citizen lived upon the Euphrates or the Thames. The law of the Roman +Empire is its chief legacy to posterity. Its provisions are still in +force in many of the states of Europe to-day, and it is one of the +subjects of study in our American universities. It exhibited a humanity +unknown to the earlier legal codes. The wife, mother, and infant were +protected from the arbitrary power of the head of the house, who, in +earlier centuries, had been privileged to treat the members of his +family as slaves. It held that it was better that a guilty person should +escape than that an innocent person should be condemned. It conceived +humanity, not as a group of nations and tribes, each with its peculiar +institutions and legal customs, but as one people included in one great +empire and subject to a single system of law based upon reason and +equity. + +[Illustration: A Fortified Roman Gateway at Treves] + +[Sidenote: Roads and public works.] + +Magnificent roads were constructed, which enabled the messengers of the +government and its armies to reach every part of the Empire with +incredible speed. These highways made commerce easy and encouraged +merchants and travelers to visit the most distant portions of the realm. +Everywhere they found the same coins and the same system of weights and +measures. Colonies were sent out to the confines of the Empire, and the +remains of great public buildings, of theaters and bridges, of sumptuous +villas and baths at places like Treves, Cologne, Bath, and Salzburg +indicate how thoroughly the influence and civilization of Rome +penetrated to the utmost parts of the territory subject to her rule. + +[Sidenote: The same culture throughout the Roman Empire.] + +The government encouraged education by supporting at least three +teachers in every town of any considerable importance. They taught +rhetoric and oratory and explained the works of the great writers. The +Romans, who had no marked literary or artistic ability, had adopted the +culture of the Greeks. This was spread abroad by the government teachers +so that an educated man was pretty sure to find, even in the outlying +parts of the great Empire, other educated men with much the same +interests and ideas as his own. Everywhere men felt themselves to be not +mere natives of this or that land but citizens of the world. + +[Sidenote: Loyalty to the Empire and conviction that it was eternal.] + +During the four centuries from the first emperor, Augustus, to the +barbarian invasions we hear of no attempt on the part of its subjects to +overthrow the Empire or to secede from it. The Roman state, it was +universally believed, was to endure forever. Had a rebellious nation +succeeded in throwing off the rule of the emperor and establishing its +independence, it would only have found itself outside the civilized +world. + +[Sidenote: Reasons why the Empire lost its power to defend itself +against the Germans.] + +5. Just why the Roman government, once so powerful and so universally +respected, finally became unable longer to defend its borders and gave +way before the scattered attacks of the German peoples, who never +combined in any general alliance against it, is a very difficult +question to answer satisfactorily. The inhabitants of the Empire appear +gradually to have lost their energy and self-reliance and to have become +less and less prosperous. This may be explained partially at least by +the following considerations: (1) the terrible system of taxation, which +discouraged and not infrequently ruined the members of the wealthier +classes; (2) the existence of slavery, which served to discredit honest +labor and demoralized the free workingmen; (3) the steady decrease of +population; (4) the infiltration of barbarians, who prepared the way for +the conquest of the western portion of the Empire by their +fellow-barbarians. + +[Sidenote: Oppressive taxation.] + +It required a great deal of money to support the luxurious court of the +emperors and their innumerable officials and servants, and to supply +"bread and circuses" for the populace of the towns. All sorts of taxes +and exactions were consequently devised by ingenious officials to make +up the necessary revenue. The crushing burden of the great land tax, the +emperor's chief source of income, was greatly increased by the +pernicious way in which it was collected. The government made a group of +the richer citizens in each of the towns permanently responsible for the +whole amount due from all the landowners within their district. It was +their business to collect the taxes and make up any deficiency, it +mattered not from what cause. This responsibility and the weight of the +taxes themselves ruined so many landowners that the government was +forced to decree that no one should desert his estates in order to +escape the exactions. Only the very rich could stand the drain on their +resources. The middle class sank into poverty and despair, and in this +way the Empire lost just that prosperous class of citizens who should +have been the leaders in business enterprises. + +[Sidenote: Slavery.] + +The sad plight of the poorer laboring classes was largely due to the +terrible institution of slavery which prevailed everywhere in ancient +times. So soon as the Romans had begun to conquer distant provinces the +number of slaves greatly increased. For six or seven centuries before +the barbarian invasions every kind of labor fell largely into their +hands in both country and town. There were millions of them. A single +rich landholder might own hundreds and even thousands, and it was a poor +man that did not have several at least. + +[Sidenote: The villa.] + +Land was the only highly esteemed form of wealth in the Roman Empire, in +spite of the heavy taxes imposed upon it. Without large holdings of land +no one could hope to enjoy a high social position or an honorable office +under the government. Consequently the land came gradually into the +hands of the rich and ambitious, and the small landed proprietor +disappeared. Great estates called _villas_ covered Italy, Gaul, and +Britain. These were cultivated and managed by armies of slaves, who not +only tilled the land, but supplied their master, his household, and +themselves with all that was needed on the plantation. The artisans +among them made the tools, garments, and other manufactured articles +necessary for the whole community, or "family," as it was called. Slaves +cooked the food, waited on the proprietor, wrote his letters, and read +to him. To a head slave the whole management of the villa was intrusted. +A villa might be as extensive as a large village, but all its members +were under the absolute control of the proprietor of the estate. A +well-organized villa could supply itself with everything that it needed, +and found little or no reason for buying from any outsider. + +[Sidenote: Slavery brings labor into disrepute.] + +Quite naturally, freemen came to scorn all manual labor and even trade, +for these occupations were associated in their minds with the despised +slave. Seneca, the philosopher, angrily rejects the suggestion that the +practical arts were invented by a philosopher; they were, he declares, +"thought out by the meanest bondman." + +[Sidenote: Competition of slaves fatal to the freeman.] + +Slavery did more than bring manual labor into disrepute; it largely +monopolized the market. Each great household where articles of luxury +were in demand relied upon its own host of dexterous and efficient +slaves to produce them. Moreover, the owners of slaves frequently hired +them out to those who needed workmen, or permitted them to work for +wages, and in this way brought them into a competition with the free +workman which was fatal to him. + +[Sidenote: Improved condition of the slaves and their emancipation.] + +It cannot be denied that a notable improvement in the condition of the +slaves took place during the centuries immediately preceding the +barbarian invasions. Their owners abandoned the horrible subterranean +prisons in which the farm hands were once miserably huddled at night. +The law, moreover, protected the slave from some of the worst forms of +abuse; first and foremost, it deprived his master of the right to kill +him. Slaves began to decrease in numbers before the German invasions. In +the first place, the supply had been cut off after the Roman armies +ceased to conquer new territory. In the second place, masters had for +various reasons begun to emancipate their slaves on a large scale. + +[Sidenote: The freedman.] + +The freed slave was called a _freedman_, and was by no means in the +position of one who was born free. It is true that he was no longer a +chattel, a mere thing, but he had still to serve his former master,--who +had now become his patron,--for a certain number of days in the year. He +was obliged to pay him a part of his earnings and could not marry +without his patron's consent. + +[Sidenote: The coloni.] + +[Sidenote: Resemblance between the coloni and the later serfs.] + +Yet, as the condition of the slaves improved, and many of them became +freedmen, the state of the poor freeman only became worse. In the towns, +if he tried to earn his living, he was forced to mingle with those +slaves who were permitted to work for wages and with the freedmen, and +he naturally tended to sink to their level. In the country the free +agricultural laborers became _coloni_, a curious intermediate class, +neither slave nor really free. They were bound to the particular bit of +land which some great proprietor permitted them to cultivate and were +sold with it if it changed hands. Like the mediæval _serf_, they could +not be deprived of their fields so long as they paid the owner a certain +part of their crop and worked for him during a period fixed by the +customs of the domain upon which they lived. This system made it +impossible for the farmer to become independent, or for his son to be +better off than he. The coloni and the more fortunate slaves tended to +fuse into a single class; for the law provided that, like the coloni, +certain classes of country slaves were not to be taken from the field +which they had been accustomed to cultivate but were to go with it if it +was sold.[1] + +Moreover, it often happened that the Roman proprietor had a number of +dependents among the less fortunate landowners in his neighborhood. +These, in order to escape the taxes and gain his protection as the times +became more disorderly, surrendered their land to their powerful +neighbor with the understanding that he should defend them and permit +them to continue during their lifetime to cultivate the fields, the +title to which had passed to him. On their death their children became +coloni. This arrangement, as we shall find, serves in a measure to +explain the feudalism of later times. + +[Sidenote: Depopulation.] + +When a country is prosperous the population tends to increase. In the +Roman Empire, even as early as Augustus, a falling off in numbers was +apparent, which was bound to sap the vitality of the state. War, plague, +the evil results of slavery, and the outrageous taxation all combined to +hasten the depopulation; for when it is hard to make a living, men are +deterred from marrying and find it difficult to bring up large families. + +[Sidenote: Infiltration of Germans into the Empire.] + +In order to replenish the population great numbers of the Germans were +encouraged to settle within the Empire, where they became coloni. +Constantine is said to have called in three hundred thousand of a +single people. Barbarians were enlisted in the Roman legions to keep out +their fellow-Germans. Julius Cæsar was the first to give them a place +among his soldiers. The expedient became more and more common, until, +finally, whole armies were German, entire tribes being enlisted under +their own chiefs. Some of the Germans rose to be distinguished generals; +others attained important positions among the officials of the +government. In this way it came about that a great many of the +inhabitants of the Roman Empire were Germans before the great invasions. +The line dividing the Roman and the barbarian was growing indistinct. It +is not unreasonable to suppose that the influx of barbarians smoothed +the way for the break-up of the western part of the Empire. Although +they had a great respect for the Roman state, they must have kept some +of their German love of individual liberty and could have had little +sympathy for the despotism under which they lived. + +[Sidenote: Decline of literature and art.] + +6. As the Empire declined in strength and prosperity and was gradually +permeated by the barbarians, its art and literature fell far below the +standard of the great writers and artists of the golden age of Augustus. +The sculpture of Constantine's time was far inferior to that of +Trajan's. Cicero's exquisitely finished style lost its charm for the +readers of the fourth and fifth centuries, and a florid, inferior +species of oratory took its place. Tacitus, who died about A.D. 120, is +perhaps the latest of the Latin authors whose works may be ranked among +the classics. No more great men of letters arose. Few of those who +understand and enjoy Latin literature to-day would think of reading any +of the poetry or prose written after the beginning of the second +century. + +[Sidenote: Reliance upon mere compendiums.] + +During the three hundred years before the invasions those who read at +all did not ordinarily take the trouble to study the classics, but +relied upon mere collections of quotations; and for what they called +science, upon compendiums and manuals. These the Middle Ages inherited, +and it was not until the time of Petrarch, in the fourteenth century, +that Europe once more reached a degree of cultivation which enabled the +more discriminating scholars to appreciate the best productions of the +great authors of antiquity, both Greek and Latin.[2] + +[Sidenote: Preparation for Christianity.] + +In spite of the general decline of which we have been speaking, the +Roman world appeared to be making progress in one important respect. +During the first and second centuries a sort of moral revival took place +and a growing religious enthusiasm showed itself, which prepared the way +for the astonishingly rapid introduction of the new Christian religion. +Some of the pagan philosophers had quite given up the old idea which we +find in Homer and Virgil, that there were many gods, and had reached an +elevated conception of the one God and of our duty toward Him. "Our +duty," writes the philosopher Epictetus at the end of the first century, +"is to follow God, ... to be of one mind with Him, to devote ourselves +to the performance of His commands." The emperor Marcus Aurelius (d. +180) expresses similar sentiments in his _Meditations_,[3] the notes +which he wrote for his own guidance. There was a growing abhorrence for +the notorious vices of the great cities, and an ever-increasing demand +for pure and upright conduct. The pagan religions taught that the souls +of the dead continued to exist in Hades; but the life to come was +believed to be a dreary existence at best. + +[Sidenote: Promises of Christianity.] + +Christianity brought with it a new hope for all those who would escape +from the bondage of sin, of which the serious-minded were becoming more +and more conscious. It promised, moreover, eternal happiness after death +to all who would consistently strive to do right. It appealed to the +desires and needs of all kinds of men and women. For every one who +accepted the Gospel might look forward in the next world to such joy as +he could never hope to experience in this. + +[Sidenote: Christianity and paganism tend to merge into one another.] + +[Sidenote: Boethius.] + +The new religion, as it spread from Palestine among the Gentiles, was +much modified by the religious ideas of those who accepted it. A group +of Christian philosophers, who are known as the early fathers, strove to +show that the Gospel was in accord with the aspirations of the best of +the pagans. In certain ceremonies the former modes of worship were +accepted by the new religion. From simple beginnings the church +developed a distinct priesthood and an elaborate service. In this way +Christianity and the higher forms of paganism tended to come nearer and +nearer to each other as time went on. In one sense, it is true, they met +like two armies in mortal conflict; but at the same time they tended to +merge into one another like two streams which had been following +converging courses. At the confluence of the streams stands Boethius (d. +about 524), the most gifted of the later Roman writers. His beautiful +book, _The Consolation of Philosophy_, was one of the most popular works +during the Middle Ages, when every one believed that its author was a +Christian.[4] Yet there is nothing in the book to indicate that he was +more than a religious pagan, and some scholars doubt if he ever fully +accepted the new religion. + +[Sidenote: The primitive, or apostolic, church.] + +7. We learn from the letters of St. Paul that the earliest Christian +communities found it necessary to have some organization. They chose +certain officers, the bishops--that is to say, overseers--and the +presbyters or elders, but St. Paul does not tell us exactly what were +the duties of these officers. There were also the deacons, who appear to +have had the care of the poor of the community. The first Christians +looked for the speedy coming of Christ before their own generation +should pass away. Since all were filled with enthusiasm for the Gospel +and eagerly awaited the last day, they did not feel the need of an +elaborate constitution. But as time went on the Christian communities +greatly increased in size, and many joined them who had little or none +of the original fervor and spirituality. It became necessary to develop +a regular system of church government in order to control the erring and +expel those who brought disgrace upon their religion by notoriously bad +conduct. + +[Sidenote: The 'catholic', or universal, church.] + +A famous little book, _The Unity of the Church_, by Bishop Cyprian (d. +258) gives us a pretty good idea of the Church a few decades before the +Christian religion was legalized by Constantine. This and other sources +indicate that the followers of Christ had already come to believe in a +"Catholic"--i.e., a universal--Church which embraced all the communities +of true believers wherever they might be. To this one universal Church +all must belong who hoped to be saved.[5] + +[Sidenote: Organization of the church before Constantine.] + +A sharp distinction was already made between the officers of the Church, +who were called the _clergy_, and the people, or _laity_. To the clergy +was committed the government of the Church as well as the instruction of +its members. In each of the Roman cities was a bishop, and at the head +of the country communities, a priest (Latin, _presbyter_), who had +succeeded to the original elders (presbyters) mentioned in the New +Testament. Below the bishop and the priest were the lower orders of the +clergy,--the deacon and sub-deacon,--and below these the so called minor +orders--the acolyte, exorcist, reader, and doorkeeper. The bishop +exercised a certain control over the priests within his territory. It +was not unnatural that the bishops in the chief towns of the Roman +provinces should be especially influential in church affairs. They came +to be called _archbishops_, and might summon the bishops of the +province to a council to decide important matters. + +[Sidenote: The first general council, 325. Position of the Bishop of +Rome during this period.] + +In 311 the emperor Galerius issued a decree placing the Christian +religion upon the same legal footing as paganism. Constantine, the first +Christian emperor, carefully enforced this edict. In 325 the first +general council of Christendom was called together under his auspices at +Nicæa. It is clear from the decrees of this famous assembly that the +Catholic Church had already assumed the form that it was to retain down +to the present moment, except that there is no explicit recognition of +the Bishop of Rome as the head of the whole church. Nevertheless, there +were a number of reasons--to be discussed later--why the Bishop of Rome +should sometime become the acknowledged ruler of western Christendom. +The first of the Roman bishops to play a really important part in +authentic history was Leo the Great, who did not take office until +440.[6] + +[Sidenote: The Church in the Theodosian Code.] + +Constantine's successors soon forbade pagan practices and began to issue +laws which gave the Christian clergy important privileges. In the last +book of the Theodosian Code, a great collection of the laws of the +Empire, which was completed in 438, all the imperial decrees are to be +found which relate to the Christian Church and the clergy. We find that +the clergy, in view of their holy duties, were exempted from certain +onerous offices and from some of the taxes which the laity had to pay. +They were also permitted to receive bequests. The emperors themselves +richly endowed the Church. Their example was followed by rulers and +private individuals all through the Middle Ages, so that the Church +became incredibly wealthy and enjoyed a far greater income than any +state of Europe. The clergy were permitted to try certain cases at law, +and they themselves had the privilege of being tried in their own church +courts for minor criminal offenses. This last book of the Code begins +with a definition of the Trinity; and much space is given to a +description of the different kinds of unbelievers and the penalties +attached to a refusal to accept the religion of the government.[7] + +[Sidenote: The Church survives the Empire.] + +In these provisions of the Theodosian Code the later mediæval Church is +clearly foreshadowed. The imperial government in the West was soon +overthrown by the barbarian conquerors, but the Catholic Church +conquered and absorbed the conquerors. When the officers of the Empire +deserted their posts the bishops stayed to meet the on-coming invader. +They continued to represent the old civilization and ideas of order. It +was the Church that kept the Latin language alive among those who knew +only a rude German dialect. It was the Church that maintained some +little education in even the darkest period of confusion, for without +the ability to read Latin its services could not have been performed and +its officers could not have carried on their correspondence with one +another. + +[Sidenote: The Eastern Empire.] + +8. Although the Roman Empire remained one in law, government, and +culture until the Germans came in sufficient force to conquer the +western portions of it, a tendency may nevertheless be noticed some time +before the conquest for the eastern and western portions to drift apart. +Constantine, who established his supremacy only after a long struggle +with his rivals, hoped to strengthen the vast state by establishing a +second capital, which should lie far to the east and dominate a region +very remote from Rome. Constantinople was accordingly founded in 330 on +the confines of Europe and Asia.[8] This was by no means supposed to +destroy the unity of the Empire. Even when Theodosius the Great arranged +(395) that both his sons should succeed him, and that one should rule +in the West and one in the East, he did not intend to divide the Empire. +It is true that there continued to be thereafter two emperors, each in +his own capital, but they were supposed to govern one empire conjointly +and in "unanimity." New laws were to be accepted by both. The writers of +the time do not speak of two states but continue to refer to "the +Empire," as if the administration were still in the hands of one ruler. +Indeed the idea of one government for all civilized mankind did not pass +away but continued to influence men during the whole of the Middle Ages. + +Although it was in the eastern part of the Empire that the barbarians +first got a permanent foothold, the emperors at Constantinople were able +to keep a portion of the old possessions of the Empire under their rule +for centuries after the Germans had completely conquered the West. When +at last the eastern capital of the Empire fell, it was not into the +hands of the Germans, but into those of the Turks, who have held it +since 1453. + +There will be no room in this volume to follow the history of the +Eastern Empire, although it cannot be entirely ignored in studying +western Europe. Its language and civilization had always been Greek, and +owing to this and the influence of the Orient, its culture offers a +marked contrast to that of the Latin West, which was adopted by the +Germans. Learning never died out in the East as it did in the West, nor +did art reach so low an ebb. + +[Sidenote: Constantinople the most wealthy and populous city of Europe +during the early Middle Ages.] + +For some centuries after the disruption of the Roman Empire in the West, +the capital of the Eastern Empire enjoyed the distinction of being the +largest and most wealthy city of Europe. Within its walls could be found +the indications of a refinement and civilization which had almost +disappeared in the Occident. Its beautiful buildings, its parks and +paved streets, filled the traveler from the West with astonishment. +When, during the Crusades, the western peoples were brought into +contact with the learning and culture of Constantinople they were +greatly and permanently impressed by them. + + + General Reading.--For an outline of the history of the Roman Empire + during the centuries immediately preceding the barbarian invasions, + see BOTSFORD, _History of Rome_, WEST, _Ancient History to the + Death of Charlemagne_, MYERS, _Rome: Its Rise and Fall_, or MOREY, + _Outlines of Roman History_,--all with plenty of references to + larger works on the subject. The best work in English on the + conditions in the Empire upon the eve of the invasions is DILL, + _Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_ + (Macmillan, $2.00). HATCH, _The Influence of Greek Thought upon the + Christian Church_ (Williams & Norgate, $1.00), and RENAN, _The + Influence of Rome on the Development of the Catholic Church_ + (Williams & Norgate, $1.00), are very important for the advanced + student. The best of the numerous editions of Gibbon's great work, + _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, which covers the whole + history of the Middle Ages, is that edited by Bury (The Macmillan + Company, 7 vols., $14.00). + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GERMAN INVASIONS AND THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE + + +[Sidenote: The Huns force the Goths into the Empire. Battle of +Adrianople, 378.] + +9. Previous to the year 375 the attempts of the Germans to penetrate +into the Empire appear to have been due to their love of adventure, +their hope of enjoying some of the advantages of their civilized +neighbors, or the need of new lands for their increasing numbers. And +the Romans, by means of their armies, their walls, and their guards, had +up to this time succeeded in preventing the barbarians from violently +occupying their territory. But suddenly a new force appeared which +thrust the Germans out upon the weakened Empire. The Huns, a Mongolian +folk from central Asia, swept down upon the Goths, who were a German +tribe settled upon the Danube, and forced a part of them to seek shelter +across the river, within the boundaries of the Empire. Here they soon +fell out with the imperial officials, and a great battle was fought at +Adrianople in 378 in which the Goths defeated and slew the emperor, +Valens. The Germans had now not only broken through the boundaries of +the Empire, but they had also learned that they could defeat the Roman +legions. The battle of Adrianople may, therefore, be said to mark the +beginning of the conquest of the western part of the Empire by the +Germans. For some years, however, after the battle of Adrianople the +various bands of West Goths--or Visigoths, as they are often +called--were induced to accept the terms offered by the emperor's +officials and some of the Goths agreed to serve as soldiers in the Roman +armies. + +[Illustration: THE BARBARIAN INROADS] + +[Sidenote: Alaric takes Rome, 410.] + +Before long one of the German chieftains, Alaric, became dissatisfied +with the treatment that he received. He collected an army, of which the +nucleus consisted of West Goths, and set out for Italy. Rome fell into +his hands in 410 and was plundered by his followers. Alaric appears to +have been deeply impressed by the sight of the civilization about him. +He did not destroy the city, hardly even did serious damage to it, and +he gave especial orders to his soldiers not to injure the churches or +take their property.[9] + +[Sidenote: West Goths settle in southern Gaul and Spain.] + +Alaric died before he could find a satisfactory spot for his people to +settle upon permanently. After his death the West Goths wandered into +Gaul, and then into Spain, which had already been occupied by other +barbarian tribes,--the Vandals and Suevi. These had crossed the Rhine +into Gaul four years before Alaric took Rome; for three years they +devastated the country and then proceeded across the Pyrenees. When the +West Goths reached Spain they quickly concluded peace with the Roman +government. They then set to work to fight the Vandals, with such +success that the emperor granted them a considerable district (419) in +southern Gaul, where they established a West Gothic kingdom. Ten years +after, the Vandals moved on into Africa, where they founded a kingdom +and extended their control over the western Mediterranean. Their place +in Spain was taken by the West Goths who, under their king, Euric +(466-484), conquered a great part of the peninsula, so that their +kingdom extended from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar.[10] + +[Sidenote: General dismemberment of the Empire in fifth century.] + +It is quite unnecessary to follow the confused history of the movements +of the innumerable bands of restless barbarians who wandered about +Europe during the fifth century. Scarcely any part of western Europe was +left unmolested; even Britain was conquered by German tribes, the Angles +and Saxons. + +[Sidenote: Attila and the Huns.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Châlons, 451.] + +[Sidenote: Founding of Venice.] + +To add to the universal confusion caused by the influx of the German +tribes, the Huns, the Mongolian people who had first pushed the West +Goths into the Empire, now began to fill western Europe with terror. +Under their chief, Attila,--"the scourge of God," as the trembling +Romans called him,--the savage Huns invaded Gaul. But the Roman +inhabitants and the Germans joined against the invaders and defeated +them in the battle of Châlons, in 451. After this rebuff Attila turned +to Italy. But the impending danger was averted. Attila was induced by an +embassy, headed by Pope Leo the Great, to give up his plan of marching +upon Rome. Within a year he died and with him perished the power of the +Huns, who never troubled Europe again. Their threatened invasion of +Italy produced one permanent result however; for it was then that +fugitives from the cities of northeastern Italy fled to the sandy islets +just off the Adriatic shore and founded the town which was to grow into +the beautiful and powerful city of Venice.[11] + +[Sidenote: The 'fall' of the Empire in the West, 476.] + +[Sidenote: Odoacer.] + +10. The year 476 has commonly been taken as the date of the "fall" of +the Western Empire and of the beginning of the Middle Ages. What +happened in that year was this. Since Theodosius the Great, in 395, had +provided that his two sons should divide the administration of the +Empire between them, most of the emperors of the West had proved weak +and indolent rulers. The barbarians wandered hither and thither pretty +much at their pleasure, and the German troops in the service of the +Empire amused themselves setting up and throwing down puppet emperors. +In 476 the German mercenaries in the Roman army demanded that a third +part of Italy be given to them. On the refusal of this demand, Odoacer, +their leader, banished the last of the western emperors (whose name was, +by the irony of fate, Romulus Augustus the Little) to a villa near +Naples. Then Odoacer sent the insignia of empire to the eastern emperor +with the request that he be permitted to rule Italy as the emperor's +delegate, thus putting an end to the line of the western emperors.[12] + +[Sidenote: Theodoric conquers Odoacer and establishes the kingdom of the +East Goths in Italy.] + +It was not, however, given to Odoacer to establish an enduring German +kingdom on Italian soil, for he was conquered by the great Theodoric, +the king of the East Goths (or Ostrogoths). Theodoric had spent ten +years of his early youth in Constantinople and had thus become familiar +with Roman life. Since his return to his people he had been alternately +a dangerous enemy and an embarrassing friend to the eastern emperor. The +East Goths, under his leadership, had harassed and devastated various +parts of the Eastern Empire, and had once threatened the capital itself. +The emperor had repeatedly conciliated him by conferring upon him +various honors and titles and by making large grants of money and land +to his people. It must have been a great relief to the government when +Theodoric determined to lead his people to Italy against Odoacer. "If I +fail," Theodoric said to the emperor, "you will be relieved of an +expensive and troublesome friend; if, with the divine permission, I +succeed, I shall govern in your name and to your glory, the Roman Senate +and that part of the Empire delivered from slavery by my victorious +arms." + +The struggle between Theodoric and Odoacer lasted for several years, but +Odoacer was finally shut up in Ravenna and surrendered, only to be +treacherously slain a few days later by Theodoric's own hand (493).[13] + +[Sidenote: The East Goths in Italy.] + +The attitude of the East Goths toward the people already in possession +of the land and toward the Roman culture is significant. Theodoric put +the name of the eastern emperor on the coins that he issued and did +everything in his power to insure the emperor's approval of the new +German kingdom. Nevertheless, although he desired that the emperor +should sanction his usurpation, Theodoric had no idea of being really +subordinate to Constantinople. + +[Illustration: Interior of a Church at Ravenna, built in Theodoric's +Time] + +The invaders appropriated one third of the land for themselves, but this +was done with discretion and no disorder appears to have resulted. +Theodoric maintained the Roman laws and institutions, which he greatly +admired. The old offices and titles were retained, and Goth and Roman +lived under the same Roman law. Order was restored and learning +encouraged. In Ravenna, which Theodoric chose for his capital, beautiful +buildings that date from his reign still exist. + +[Sidenote: The East Goths were Arian heretics.] + +On his death in 526, Theodoric left behind him an admirably organized +state, but it had one conspicuous weakness. The Goths, although +Christians, were unorthodox according to the standard of the Italian +Christians. They had been converted by eastern missionaries, who taught +them the Arian heresy earlier prevalent at Constantinople. This +doctrine, which derived its name from Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria +(d. 336), had been condemned by the Council of Nicæa. The followers of +Arius did not have the same conception of Christ's nature and of the +relations of the three members of the Trinity as that sanctioned at +Rome. The East Goths were, therefore, not only barbarians,--which might +have been forgiven them,--but were guilty, in the eyes of the orthodox +Italians, of the unpardonable offense of heresy. Theodoric himself was +exceptionally tolerant for his times. His conviction that "we cannot +command in matters of religion because no one can be compelled to +believe against his will," showed a spirit alien to the traditions of +the Roman Empire and the Roman Church, which represented the orthodox +belief. + +[Sidenote: The German kingdoms of Theodoric's time.] + +11. While Theodoric had been establishing his kingdom in Italy with such +enlightenment and moderation, what is now France was coming under the +control of the most powerful of the barbarian peoples, the Franks, who +were to play a more important rôle in the formation of modern Europe +than any of the other German races. Besides the kingdoms of the East +Goths and the Franks, the West Goths had their kingdom in Spain, the +Burgundians had established themselves on the Rhone, and the Vandals in +Africa. Royal alliances were concluded between the reigning houses of +these nations, and for the first time in the history of Europe we see +something like a family of nations, living each within its own +boundaries and dealing with one another as independent powers. It +seemed for a few years as if the process of assimilation between Germans +and Romans was going to make rapid progress without involving any +considerable period of disorder and retrogression. + +[Illustration: Map of Europe in the Time of Theodoric] + +[Sidenote: Extinction of Latin literature.] + +[Sidenote: Boethius.] + +But no such good fortune was in store for Europe, which was now only at +the beginning of the turmoil from which it was to emerge almost +completely barbarized. Science, art, and literature could find no +foothold in the shifting political sands of the following centuries. +Boethius,[14] whom Theodoric put to death (in 524 or 525) for alleged +treasonable correspondence with the emperor, was the last Latin writer +who can be compared in any way with the classical authors in his style +and mastery of the language. He was a scholar as well as a poet, and his +treatises on logic, music, etc., were highly esteemed by following +generations. + +[Sidenote: Cassiodorus and his manuals.] + +Theodoric's distinguished Roman counselor, Cassiodorus (d. 575), to +whose letters we owe a great part of our knowledge of the period, busied +himself in his old age in preparing text-books of the liberal arts and +sciences,--grammar, arithmetic, logic, geometry, rhetoric, music, and +astronomy. His manuals were intended to give the uninstructed priests a +sufficient preparation for the study of the Bible and of the doctrines +of the Church. His absurdly inadequate and, to us, silly treatment of +these seven important subjects, to which he devotes a few pages each, +enables us to estimate the low plane to which learning had fallen in +Italy in the sixth century. Yet his books were regarded as standard +treatises in these great fields of knowledge all through the Middle +Ages. So mediæval Europe owed these, and other text-books upon which she +was dependent for her knowledge, to the period when Latin culture was +coming to an end. + +[Sidenote: Scarcely any writers in western Europe during the sixth, +seventh, and eighth centuries.] + +A long period of gloom now begins. Between the time of Theodoric and +that of Charlemagne three hundred years elapsed, during which scarcely a +writer was to be found who could compose, even in the worst of Latin, a +chronicle of the events of his day.[15] Everything conspired to +discourage education. The great centers of learning--Carthage, Rome, +Alexandria, Milan--were partially destroyed by the barbarians or the +Arabs. The libraries which had been kept in the temples of the gods were +often annihilated, along with the pagan shrines, by Christian +enthusiasts, who were not sorry to see the heathen literature disappear +with the heathen religion. Shortly after Theodoric's death the eastern +emperor withdrew the support which the government had hitherto granted +to public teachers and closed the great school at Athens. The only +important historian of the sixth century was the half-illiterate +Gregory, Bishop of Tours (d. 594), whose whole work is unimpeachable +evidence of the sad state of intellectual affairs. He at least heartily +appreciated his own ignorance and exclaims, in incorrect Latin, "Woe to +our time, for the study of letters has perished from among us." + +[Sidenote: Justinian destroys the kingdoms of the Vandals and the East +Goths.] + +12. The year after Theodoric's death one of the greatest of the emperors +of the East, Justinian (527-565), came to the throne at +Constantinople.[16] He undertook to regain for the Empire the provinces +in Africa and Italy that had been occupied by the Vandals and East +Goths. His general, Belisarius, overthrew the Vandal kingdom in northern +Africa in 534, but it was a more difficult task to destroy the Gothic +rule in Italy. However, in spite of a brave defense, the Goths were so +completely defeated in 553 that they agreed to leave Italy with all +their movable possessions. What became of the remnants of the race we do +not know. They had been too few to maintain their control over the mass +of the Italians, who were ready, with a religious zeal which cost them +dear, to open their gates to the hostile armies of Justinian. + +[Sidenote: The Lombards occupy Italy.] + +The destruction of the Gothic kingdom was a disaster for Italy. +Immediately after the death of Justinian the country was overrun anew, +by the Lombards, the last of the great German peoples to establish +themselves within the bounds of the former Empire. They were a savage +race, a considerable part of which was still pagan, and the Arian +Christians among them appear to have been as hostile to the Roman Church +as their unconverted fellows. The newcomers first occupied the region +north of the Po, which has ever since been called Lombardy after them, +and then extended their conquests southward. Instead of settling +themselves with the moderation and wise statesmanship of the East Goths, +the Lombards chose to move about the peninsula pillaging and massacring. +Such of the inhabitants as could, fled to the islands off the coast. The +Lombards were unable, however, to conquer all of Italy. Rome, Ravenna, +and southern Italy continued to be held by the Greek empire. As time +went on, the Lombards lost their wildness, accepted the orthodox form of +Christianity, and gradually assimilated the civilization of the people +among whom they lived. Their kingdom lasted over two hundred years, +until it was overthrown by Charlemagne. + +[Sidenote: The Franks; their importance and their method of conquest.] + +13. None of the German peoples of whom we have so far spoken, except the +Franks, ever succeeded in establishing a permanent kingdom. Their states +were overthrown in turn by some other German nation, by the Eastern +Empire, or, in the case of the West-Gothic kingdom in Spain, by the +Mohammedans. The Franks, to whom we must now turn, were destined not +only to conquer most of the other German tribes but even to extend their +boundaries into districts inhabited by the Slavs. + +When the Franks are first heard of in history they were settled along +the lower Rhine, from Cologne to the North Sea. Their method of getting +a foothold in the Empire was essentially different from that which the +Goths, Lombards, and Vandals had adopted. Instead of severing their +connection with Germany and becoming an island in the sea of the Empire, +they conquered by degrees the territory about them. However far they +might extend their control, they remained in constant touch with the +barbarian reserves behind them. In this way they retained the warlike +vigor that was lost by the races who were completely surrounded by the +enervating influences of Roman civilization. + +In the early part of the fifth century they had occupied the district +which constitutes to-day the kingdom of Belgium, as well as the regions +east of it. In 486, seven years before Theodoric founded his Italian +kingdom, they went forth under their great king, Clovis (a name that +later grew into Louis), and defeated the Roman general who opposed them. +They extended their control over Gaul as far south as the Loire, which +at that time formed the northern boundary of the kingdom of the West +Goths. Clovis then enlarged his empire on the east by the conquest of +the Alemanni, a German people living in the region of the Black +Forest.[17] + +[Illustration: A Frankish Warrior] + +[Sidenote: Conversion of Clovis, 496, and its consequences.] + +The battle in which the Alemanni were defeated (496) is in one respect +important above all the other battles of Clovis. Although still a pagan +himself, his wife was an orthodox Christian convert. In the midst of the +conflict, as he saw his line giving way, he called upon Jesus Christ and +pledged himself to be baptized in His name if He would help the Franks +to victory over their enemies. He kept his word and was baptized +together with three thousand of his warriors. His conversion had the +most momentous consequences for Europe. All the other German peoples +within the Empire were Christians, but they were all Arian heretics; and +to the orthodox Christians about them they seemed worse than heathen. +This religious difference had prevented the Germans and Romans from +inter-marrying and had retarded their fusion in other ways. But with the +conversion of Clovis, there was at least one barbarian leader with whom +the Bishop of Rome could negotiate as with a faithful son of the +Church. It is from the orthodox Gregory of Tours that most of our +knowledge of Clovis and his successors is derived. In Gregory's famous +_History of the Franks_, the cruel and unscrupulous king appears as +God's chosen instrument for the extension of the Catholic faith.[18] +Certainly Clovis quickly learned to combine his own interests with those +of the Church, and the alliance between the pope and the Frankish kings +was destined to have a great influence upon the history of western +Europe. + +[Sidenote: Conquests of Clovis.] + +To the south of Clovis' new acquisitions in Gaul lay the kingdom of the +Arian West Goths, to the southeast that of another heretical German +people, the Burgundians. Gregory of Tours reports him as saying: "I +cannot bear that these Arians should be in possession of a part of Gaul. +Let us advance upon them with the aid of God; after we have conquered +them let us bring their realms into our power." So zealous was the newly +converted king that he speedily extended his power to the Pyrenees, and +forced the West Goths to confine themselves to the Spanish portion of +their realm. The Burgundians became a tributary nation and soon fell +completely under the rule of the Franks. Then Clovis, by a series of +murders, brought portions of the Frankish nation itself, which had +previously been independent of him, under his scepter. + +[Sidenote: Character of Frankish history.] + +14. When Clovis died in 511 at Paris, which he had made his residence, +his four sons divided his possessions among them. Wars between rival +brothers, interspersed with the most horrible murders, fill the annals +of the Frankish kingdom for over a hundred years after the death of +Clovis. Yet the nation continued to develop in spite of the unscrupulous +deeds of its rulers. It had no enemies strong enough to assail it, and a +certain unity was preserved in spite of the ever-shifting distribution +of territory among the members of the royal house.[19] + +[Sidenote: Extent of the Frankish kingdoms in the sixth century.] + +The Frankish kings succeeded in extending their power over pretty nearly +all the territory that is included to-day in France, Belgium, and the +Netherlands, as well as over a goodly portion of western Germany. By +555, when Bavaria had become tributary to the Frankish rulers, their +dominions extended from the Bay of Biscay to a point east of Salzburg. +Considerable districts that the Romans had never succeeded in conquering +had been brought into the developing civilization of western Europe. + +[Illustration: The Dominions of the Franks under the Merovingians] + +[Sidenote: Division of the Frankish territory into Neustria, Austrasia, +and Burgundy.] + +As a result of the divisions of the Frankish lands, fifty years after +the death of Clovis three Frankish kingdoms appear on the map. Neustria, +the western kingdom, with its center at Paris or Soissons, was inhabited +mainly by the older Romanized people among whom the Franks had settled. +To the east was Austrasia, with Metz and Aix-la-Chapelle as its chief +cities. This region was completely German in its population. In these +two there was the prophecy of the future France and Germany. Lastly, +there was the old Burgundian realm. Of the Merovingian kings, as the +line descended from Clovis was called, the last to rule as well as reign +was Dagobert (d. 638), who united the whole Frankish territory once more +under his scepter. + +[Sidenote: The Frankish nobility.] + +A new danger, however, threatened the unity of the Frankish kingdom, +namely, the aspirations of the powerful nobles. In the earliest accounts +which we have of the Germans there appear to have been certain families +who enjoyed a recognized preëminence over their companions. In the +course of the various conquests there was a chance for the skillful +leader to raise himself in the favor of the king. It was only natural +that those upon whom the king relied to control distant parts of the +realm should become dangerously ambitious and independent. + +[Sidenote: The Mayors of the Palace.] + +[Sidenote: Foundation of the power of Charlemagne's family, the +so-called Carolingians.] + +Among the positions held by the nobility none was reputed more honorable +than those near the king's person. Of these offices the most influential +was that of the Major Domus, or Mayor of the Palace, who was a species +of prime minister. After Dagobert's death these mayors practically ruled +in the place of the Merovingian monarchs, who became mere "do-nothing +kings,"--_rois fainéants_, as the French call them. The Austrasian Mayor +of the Palace, Pippin of Heristal, the great-grandfather of Charlemagne, +succeeded in getting, in addition to Austrasia, both Neustria and +Burgundy under his control. In this way he laid the foundation of his +family's renown. Upon his death, in 714, his task of consolidating and +defending the vast territories of the Franks devolved upon his more +distinguished son, Charles Martel, i.e., the Hammer.[20] + +[Sidenote: Fusion of the barbarians and the Roman population.] + +15. As one looks back over the German invasions it is natural to ask +upon what terms the newcomers lived among the old inhabitants of the +Empire, how far they adopted the customs of those among whom they +settled, and how far they clung to their old habits? These questions +cannot be answered very satisfactorily; so little is known of the +confused period of which we have been speaking that it is impossible to +follow closely the amalgamation of the two races. + +[Sidenote: The number of the barbarians.] + +Yet a few things are tolerably clear. In the first place, we must be on +our guard against exaggerating the numbers in the various bodies of +invaders. The writers of the time indicate that the West Goths, when +they were first admitted to the Empire before the battle of Adrianople, +amounted to four or five hundred thousand persons, including men, women, +and children. This is the largest band reported, and it must have been +greatly reduced before the West Goths, after long wanderings and many +battles, finally settled in Spain and southern Gaul. The Burgundians, +when they appear for the first time on the banks of the Rhine, are +reported to have had eighty thousand warriors among them. When Clovis +and his army were baptized the chronicler speaks of "over three +thousand" soldiers who became Christians upon that occasion. This would +seem to indicate that the Frankish king had no larger force at this +time. + +Undoubtedly these figures are very meager and unreliable. But the +readiness with which the Germans appear to have adopted the language and +customs of the Romans would tend to prove that the invaders formed but a +small minority of the population. Since hundreds of thousands of +barbarians had been assimilated during the previous five centuries, the +great invasions of the fifth century can hardly have made an abrupt +change in the character of the population. + +[Sidenote: Contrast between spoken and written Latin.] + +The barbarians within the old empire were soon speaking the same +conversational Latin which was everywhere used by the Romans about +them.[21] This was much simpler than the elaborate and complicated +language used in books, which we find so much difficulty in learning +nowadays. The speech of the common people was gradually diverging more +and more, in the various countries of southern Europe, from the written +Latin, and finally grew into French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. +But the barbarians did not produce this change, for it had begun before +they came and would have gone on without them. They did no more than +contribute a few convenient words to the new languages. + +The Germans appear to have had no dislike for the Romans nor the Romans +for them, except as long as the Germans remained Arian Christians. Where +there was no religious barrier the two races intermarried freely from +the first. The Frankish kings did not hesitate to appoint Romans to +important positions in the government and in the army, just as the +Romans had long been in the habit of employing the barbarians. In only +one respect were the two races distinguished for a time,--each had its +particular law. + +[Sidenote: The Roman and the German law.] + +The West Goths in the time of Euric were probably the first to write +down their ancient laws, using the Latin language. Their example was +followed by the Franks, the Burgundians, and later by the Lombards and +other peoples. These codes make up the "Laws of the Barbarians," which +form our most important source of knowledge of the habits and ideas of +the Germans at the time of the invasions.[22] For several centuries +following the conquest, the members of the various German tribes appear +to have been judged by the laws of the particular people to which they +belonged. The older inhabitants of the Empire, on the contrary, +continued to have their lawsuits decided according to the Roman law. +This survived all through the Middle Ages in southern Europe, where the +Germans were few. Elsewhere the Germans' more primitive ideas of law +prevailed until the thirteenth or fourteenth century. A good example of +these is the picturesque mediæval ordeal by which the guilt or innocence +of a suspected person was determined. + +[Sidenote: Mediæval trials.] + +The German laws did not provide for the trial, either in the Roman or +the modern sense of the word, of a suspected person. There was no +attempt to gather and weigh evidence and base the decision upon it. Such +a mode of procedure was far too elaborate for the simple-minded Germans. +Instead of a regular trial, one of the parties to the case was +designated to prove that his assertions were true by one of the +following methods: (1) He might solemnly swear that he was telling the +truth and get as many other persons of his own class as the court +required, to swear that they believed that he was telling the truth. +This was called _compurgation_. It was believed that the divine +vengeance would be visited upon those who swore falsely. (2) On the +other hand, the parties to the case, or persons representing them, might +meet in combat, on the supposition that Heaven would grant victory to +the right. This was the so-called _wager of battle_. (3) Lastly, one or +other of the parties might be required to submit to the _ordeal_ in one +of its various forms: He might plunge his arm into hot water, or carry a +bit of hot iron for some distance, and if at the end of three days he +showed no ill effects, the case was decided in his favor. He might be +ordered to walk over hot plowshares, and if he was not burned, it was +assumed that God had intervened by a miracle to establish the +right.[23] This method of trial is but one example of the rude +civilization which displaced the refined and elaborate organization of +the Romans. + +[Sidenote: The task of the Middle Ages.] + +16. The account which has been given of the conditions in the Roman +Empire, and of the manner in which the barbarians occupied its western +part, makes clear the great problem of the Middle Ages. The Germans, no +doubt, varied a good deal in their habits and spirit. The Goths differed +from the Lombards, and the Franks from the Vandals; but they all agreed +in knowing nothing of the art, literature, and science which had been +developed by the Greeks and adopted by the Romans. The invaders were +ignorant, simple, vigorous people, with no taste for anything except +fighting and bodily comfort. Such was the disorder that their coming +produced, that the declining civilization of the Empire was pretty +nearly submerged. The libraries, buildings, and works of art were +destroyed and there was no one to see that they were restored. So the +western world fell back into a condition similar to that in which it had +been before the Romans conquered and civilized it.[24] + +The loss was, however, temporary. The barbarians did not utterly destroy +what they found, but utilized the ruins of the Roman Empire in their +gradual construction of a new society. They received suggestions from +the Roman methods of agriculture. When they reached a point where they +needed them, they used the models offered by Roman roads and buildings. +In short, the great heritage of skill and invention which had been +slowly accumulated in Egypt, Phœnicia, and Greece, and which formed a +part of the culture which the Romans diffused, did not wholly perish. + +[Sidenote: Loss caused by the coming of the barbarians regained during +Middle Ages.] + +It required about a thousand years to educate the new race; but at last +Europe, including districts never embraced in the Roman Empire, caught +up once more with antiquity. When, in the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, first Italy, and then the rest of Europe, awoke again to the +beauty and truth of the classical literature and began to emulate the +ancient art, the process of educating the barbarians may be said to have +been completed. Yet the Middle Ages had been by no means a sterile +period. They had added their part to the heritage of the West. From the +union of two great elements, the ancient civilization, which was +completely revived at the opening of the sixteenth century, and the +vigor and the political and social ideals of the Germans, a new thing +was formed, namely, our modern civilization. + + + General Reading.--By far the most exhaustive work in English upon + the German invasions is HODGKIN, _Italy and her Invaders_,--very + bulky and costly (8 vols., $36.50). The author has, however, given + some of the results of his work in his excellent _Dynasty of + Theodosius_ (Clarendon Press, $1.50), and his _Theodoric the Goth_ + (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.50). SERGEANT, _The Franks_ (G.P. Putnam's + Sons, $1.50), gives more than is to be found on the subject in + either Emerton or Oman. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RISE OF THE PAPACY + + +[Sidenote: The greatness of the Church.] + +17. While the Franks were slowly developing the strength which +Charlemagne employed to found the most extensive realm that has existed +in Europe since the Roman Empire, another government, whose power was +far greater, whose organization was far more perfect, and whose vitality +was infinitely superior to that of the Frankish empire, namely, the +Christian Church, was steadily extending its sway and establishing the +foundations of its later supremacy. + +We have already seen how marvelously the Christian communities founded +by the apostles and their fellow-missionaries multiplied until, by the +middle of the third century, writers like Cyprian came to conceive of a +"Catholic," or all-embracing, Church. We have seen how Constantine first +made Christianity legal, and how his successors worked in the interest +of the new religion; how carefully the Theodosian Code safeguarded the +Church and the Christian clergy, and how harshly those were treated who +ventured to hold another view of Christianity from that sanctioned by +the government.[25] + +We must now follow this most powerful and permanent of all the +institutions of the later Roman Empire into the Middle Ages. We must +stop a moment to consider the sources of its power, and then see how the +Western, or Latin, portion of Christendom fell apart from the Eastern, +or Greek, region and came to form a separate institution under the +longest and mightiest line of rulers that the world has ever seen, the +Roman bishops. We shall see how a peculiar class of Christians, the +monks, developed; how they joined hands with the clergy; how the monks +and the clergy met the barbarians, subdued and civilized them, and then +ruled them for centuries. + +[Sidenote: Sources of the Church's power.] + +The tremendous power of the Church in the Middle Ages was due, we may be +sure, to the way in which it adapted itself to the ideas and needs of +the time; for no institution can flourish unless it meets the wants of +those who live under it. + +[Sidenote: Contrast between pagan and Christian ideas.] + +One great source of the Church's strength lay in the general fear of +death and judgment to come, which Christianity had brought with it. The +Greeks and Romans of the classical period thought of the next life, when +they thought of it at all, as a very uninteresting existence compared +with that on this earth. One who committed some signal crime might +suffer for it after death with pains similar to those of the hell in +which the Christians believed. But the great part of humanity were +supposed to lead in the next world a shadowy existence, neither sad nor +glad. Religion, even to the devout pagan, was mainly an affair of this +life; the gods were to be propitiated with a view to present happiness +and success. + +Since no satisfaction could be expected in the next life, it was +naturally deemed wise to make the most of this one. The possibility of +pleasure ends--so the poet Horace urges--when we join the shades below, +as we all must do soon. Let us, therefore, take advantage of every +harmless pleasure and improve our brief opportunity to enjoy the good +things of earth. We should, however, be reasonable and temperate, +avoiding all excess, for that endangers happiness. Above all, we should +not worry uselessly about the future, which is in the hands of the gods +and beyond our control. Such were the convictions of the majority of +thoughtful pagans. + +[Sidenote: Other-worldliness of mediæval Christianity.] + +Christianity opposed this view of life with an entirely different one. +It laid persistent emphasis upon man's existence after death, which it +declared infinitely more important than his brief sojourn in the body. +Under the influence of the Church this conception of life had gradually +supplanted the pagan one in the Roman world, and it was taught to the +barbarians. The other-worldliness became so intense that thousands gave +up their ordinary occupations and pleasures altogether, and devoted +their entire attention to preparation for the next life. They shut +themselves in lonely cells; and, not satisfied with giving up most of +their natural pleasures, they inflicted bodily suffering upon themselves +by hunger, cold, and stripes. They trusted that in this way they might +avoid some of the sins into which they were prone to fall, and that, by +self-inflicted punishment in this world, they might perchance escape +some of that reserved for them in the next. As most of the writers and +teachers of the Middle Ages belonged to this class of what may be called +professional Christians, i.e., the monks, it was natural that their kind +of life should have been regarded, even by those who continued to live +in the world, as the ideal one for the earnest Christian. + +[Sidenote: The Church the one agent of salvation.] + +The barbarians were taught that their fate in the next world depended +largely upon the Church. Its ministers never wearied of presenting the +momentous alternative which faced every man so soon as this fleeting +earthly existence should be over,--the alternative between eternal bliss +and perpetual, unspeakable physical torment. Only those who had been +duly baptized could hope to reach heaven; but baptism washed away only +past sins and did not prevent constant relapse into new ones. These, +unless their guilt was removed through the instrumentality of the +Church, would surely drag the soul down to perdition. + +[Sidenote: Miracles a source of the Church's power.] + +The divine power of the Church was, furthermore, established in the eyes +of the people by the miraculous works which her saints were constantly +performing. They healed the sick and succored those in distress. They +struck down with speedy and signal disaster those who opposed the Church +or treated her holy rites with contempt. To the reader of to-day the +frequency of the miracles recorded in mediæval writings seems +astonishing. The chronicles and biographies are filled with accounts of +them, and no one appears to have doubted their common occurrence.[26] + +[Sidenote: The Church and the Roman government.] + +18. The chief importance of the Church for the student of mediæval +history does not lie, however, in its religious functions, vital as they +were, but rather in its remarkable relations to the civil government. At +first the Church and the imperial government were on a friendly footing +of mutual respect and support. So long as the Roman Empire remained +strong and active there was no chance for the clergy to free themselves +from the control of the emperor, even if they had been disposed to do +so. He made such laws for the Church as he saw fit and the clergy did +not complain. The government was, indeed, indispensable to them. It +undertook to root out paganism by destroying the heathen shrines and +preventing heathen sacrifices, and it harshly punished those who refused +to accept the teachings sanctioned by the Church. + +[Sidenote: The Church begins to seek independence.] + +But as the barbarians came in and the great Empire began to fall apart, +there was a growing tendency among the churchmen in the West to resent +the interference of rulers whom they no longer respected. They managed +gradually to free themselves in large part from the control of the civil +government. They then proceeded themselves to assume many of the duties +of government, which the weak and disorderly states into which the Roman +Empire fell were unable to perform properly. In 502, a church council at +Rome declared a decree of Odoacer's null and void, on the ground that no +layman had a right to interfere in the affairs of the Church. One of the +bishops of Rome (Pope Gelasius I, d. 496) briefly stated the principle +upon which the Church rested its claims, as follows: "Two powers govern +the world, the priestly and the kingly. The first is indisputably the +superior, for the priest is responsible to God for the conduct of even +the emperors themselves." Since no one denied that the eternal interests +of mankind, which devolved upon the Church, were infinitely more +important than those matters of mere worldly expediency which the state +regulated, it was natural for the clergy to hold that, in case of +conflict, the Church and its officers, rather than the king, should have +the last word. + +[Sidenote: The Church begins to perform the functions of government.] + +It was one thing, however, for the Church to claim the right to regulate +its own affairs; it was quite another for it to assume the functions +which the Roman government had previously performed and which our +governments perform to-day, such as the maintenance of order, the +management of public education, the trial of lawsuits, etc. It did not, +however, exactly usurp the prerogatives of the civil power, but rather +offered itself as a substitute for it when no efficient civil government +any longer existed. For there were no states, in the modern sense of the +word, in western Europe for many centuries after the final destruction +of the Roman Empire. The authority of the various kings was seldom +sufficient to keep their realms in order. There were always many +powerful landholders scattered throughout the kingdom who did pretty +much what they pleased and settled their grudges against their fellows +by neighborhood wars. Fighting was the main business as well as the +chief amusement of the noble class. The king was unable to maintain +peace and protect the oppressed, however anxious he may have been to do +so. + +Under these circumstances, it naturally fell to the admirably organized +Church to keep order, when it could, by threats or persuasion; to see +that sworn contracts were kept, that the wills of the dead were +administered, and marriage obligations observed. It took the defenseless +widow and orphan under its protection and dispensed charity; it promoted +education at a time when few laymen, however rich and noble, pretended +even to read. These conditions serve to explain why the Church was +finally able greatly to extend the powers which it had enjoyed under the +Roman Empire, and why it undertook functions which seem to us to belong +to the state rather than to a religious organization. + +[Sidenote: Origin of papal power.] + +19. We must now turn to a consideration of the origin and growth of the +supremacy of the popes, who, by raising themselves to the head of the +Western Church, became in many respects more powerful than any of the +kings and princes with whom they frequently found themselves in bitter +conflict. + +[Sidenote: Prestige of the Roman Christian community.] + +While we cannot discover, either in the Acts of the Council of Nicæa or +in the Theodosian Code, compiled more than a century later, any +recognition of the supreme headship of the Bishop of Rome, there is +little doubt that he and his flock had almost from the very first +enjoyed a leading place among the Christian communities. The Roman +Church was the only one in the West which could claim the distinction of +having been founded by the immediate followers of Christ,--the "two most +glorious apostles." + +[Sidenote: Belief that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.] + +The New Testament speaks repeatedly of Paul's presence in Rome, and +Peter's is implied. There had always been, moreover, a persistent +tradition, accepted throughout the Christian Church, that Peter was the +first Bishop of Rome. While there is no complete documentary proof for +this belief, it appears to have been generally accepted at least as +early as the middle of the second century. There is, certainly, no +conflicting tradition, no rival claimant. The _belief itself_, whether +or not it corresponds with actual events, is indubitably a fact, and a +fact of the greatest historical importance. Peter enjoyed a certain +preëminence among the other apostles and was singled out by Christ upon +several occasions. In a passage of the New Testament which has affected +political history more profoundly than the edicts of the most powerful +monarch, Christ says: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, +and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall +not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the +kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be +bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be +loosed in heaven."[27] + +[Sidenote: The Roman Church the mother church.] + +It was thus natural that the Roman Church should early have been looked +upon as the mother church in the West. Its doctrines were considered the +purest, since they had been handed down from its exalted founders. When +there was a difference of opinion in regard to the truth of a particular +teaching, it was natural that all should turn to the Bishop of Rome for +his view. Moreover, the majesty of the capital of the world helped to +exalt its bishop above his fellows. It was long, however, before all the +other bishops, especially those in the large cities, were ready to +accept unconditionally the authority of the Bishop of Rome, although +they acknowledged his leading position and that of the Roman community. + +[Sidenote: Obscurity of early bishops of Rome.] + +We know comparatively little of the bishops of Rome during the first +three centuries of the Church's existence. Even as the undisputed heads +of their persecuted sect, they could not have begun to exercise the +political influence which they later enjoyed, until Christianity had +gained the ascendancy and the power of the Empire had become greatly +weakened. + +[Sidenote: Period of the Church fathers.] + +We are, however, much better instructed in regard to the Church of the +fourth and early fifth centuries, because the century following the +Council of Nicæa was, in the history of church literature, what the +Elizabethan era was in that of England. It was the era of the great +"fathers" of Christian theology, to whom all theologians since have +looked back as to the foremost interpreters of their religion. Among the +chief of these were Athanasius (d. 373), to whom is attributed the +formulation of the creed of the Orthodox Church as opposed to the +Arians, against whom he waged unremitting war; Basil (d. 379), the +promoter of the monastic life; Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (d. 397); Jerome +(d. 420), who prepared a new Latin version of the Scriptures, which +became the standard (Vulgate) edition; and, above all, Augustine +(354-430), whose voluminous writings have exercised an unrivaled +influence upon the minds of Christian thinkers since his day. + +Since the church fathers were chiefly interested in matters of doctrine, +they say little of the organization of the Church, and it is not clear +from their writings that the Bishop of Rome was accorded as yet the +supreme and dominating position which the popes later enjoyed. +Nevertheless, Augustine calls a contemporaneous Bishop of Rome the "head +of the Western Church," and almost immediately after his death one +ascended the episcopal chair at Rome whose ambition, energy, and +personal bravery were a promise of those qualities which were to render +his successors the kings of kings. + +[Sidenote: Leo the Great, 440-461.] + +[Sidenote: Decree of Valentinian III.] + +With the accession of Leo the Great (440-461) the history of the papacy +may, in one sense, be said to have begun. At his instance, Valentinian +III, the emperor of the West, issued a decree in 445 declaring the power +of the Bishop of Rome supreme, by reason of Peter's merits and apostolic +headship, and by reason of the majesty of the city of Rome. He commanded +that the bishops throughout the West should receive as law all that the +Bishop of Rome sanctioned, and that any bishop refusing to answer a +summons to Rome should be forced to obey by the imperial governor. But a +council at Chalcedon, six years later, raised new Rome on the Bosphorus +(Constantinople) to an ecclesiastical equality with old Rome on the +Tiber. The bishops of both cities were to have a co-superiority over all +the other prelates. This decree was, however, never accepted in the +Western or Latin Church, which was gradually separating from the Eastern +or Greek Church whose natural head was Constantinople.[28] Although the +powers to which Leo laid claim were not as yet even clearly stated and +there were times of adversity to come when for years they appeared an +empty boast, still his emphatic assertion of the supremacy of the Roman +bishop was a great step toward bringing the Western Church under a +single head. + +[Sidenote: Duties that devolved upon the early popes.] + +Not long after the death of Leo the Great, Odoacer put an end to the +western line of emperors. Then Theodoric and his East Goths settled in +Italy, only to be followed by still less desirable intruders, the +Lombards. During this tumultuous period the people of Rome, and even of +all Italy, came to regard the pope as their natural leader. The emperor +was far away, and his officers, who managed to hold a portion of central +Italy around Rome and Ravenna, were glad to accept the aid and counsel +of the pope. In Rome the pope watched over the elections of the city +officials and directed in what manner the public money should be spent. +He had to manage and defend the great tracts of land in different parts +of Italy which from time to time had been given to the bishopric of +Rome. He negotiated with the Germans and even directed the generals sent +against them. + +[Sidenote: Gregory the Great, 590-604.] + +20. The pontificate of Gregory the Great, one of the half dozen most +distinguished heads that the Church has ever had, shows how great a part +the papacy could play. Gregory, who was the son of a rich Roman senator, +was appointed by the emperor to the honorable office of prefect. He +began to fear, however, that his proud position and fine clothes were +making him vain and worldly. His pious mother and his study of the +writings of Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose led him, upon the death of +his father, to spend all his handsome fortune in founding seven +monasteries. One of these he established in his own house and subjected +himself to such severe discipline and deprivations that his health never +entirely recovered from them. He might, in his enthusiasm for +monasticism, have brought himself to an early grave if the pope had not +commanded him to undertake a difficult mission to Constantinople; there +he had his first opportunity to show his great ability in conducting +delicate negotiations. + +[Sidenote: Ancient Rome becomes mediæval Rome.] + +When Gregory was chosen pope (in 590) and most reluctantly left his +monastery, ancient Rome, the capital of the Empire, was already +transforming itself into mediæval Rome, the capital of Christendom. The +temples of the gods had furnished materials for the many Christian +churches. The tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul were soon to become +the center of religious attraction and the goal of pilgrimages from +every part of western Europe. Just as Gregory assumed office a great +plague was raging in the city. In true mediæval fashion, he arranged a +solemn procession in order to obtain from heaven a cessation of the +pest. Then the archangel Michael was seen over the tomb of Hadrian[29] +sheathing his fiery sword as a sign that the wrath of the Lord had been +turned away. With Gregory we leave behind us the history of the Rome of +Cæsar and Trajan and enter upon that of Innocent III and Leo X. + +[Sidenote: Gregory's writings.] + +Gregory enjoyed an unrivaled reputation during the Middle Ages as a +writer. He is reckoned with Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome as one of the +four great Latin "fathers" of the Church. His works show, however, how +much less cultivated his period was than that of his predecessors. His +most popular book was his _Dialogues_, a collection of accounts of +miracles and popular legends. It is hard to believe that it could have +been composed by the greatest man of the time and that it was designed +for adults. In his commentary on Job, Gregory warns the reader that he +need not be surprised to find mistakes in grammar, since in dealing with +so high a theme a writer should not stop to make sure whether his cases +and tenses are right.[30] + +[Illustration: The Castle San Angelo, formerly the Tomb of the Emperor +Hadrian] + +[Sidenote: Gregory as a statesman.] + +Gregory's letters show clearly what the papacy was coming to mean for +Europe when in the hands of a really great man. While he assumed the +humble title of "Servant of the servants of God," which the popes still +use, Gregory was a statesman whose influence extended far and wide. It +devolved upon him to govern the city of Rome,--as it did upon his +successors down to the year 1870,--for the eastern emperor's control had +become merely nominal. He had also to keep the Lombards out of central +Italy, which they failed to conquer largely on account of the valiant +defense of the popes. These duties were functions of the civil power, +and in assuming them Gregory may be said to have founded the temporal +power of the popes. + +[Sidenote: Gregory's missionary undertakings.] + +Beyond the borders of Italy, Gregory was in constant communication with +the emperor, with the rulers of Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy. +Everywhere he used his influence to have good clergymen chosen as +bishops, and everywhere he watched over the interests of the +monasteries. But his chief importance in the history of the papacy is +attributable to the missionary enterprises which he undertook, through +which the great countries which were one day to be called England, +France, and Germany were brought under the sway of the Roman Church and +its head, the pope. + +Gregory was, as we have seen, an enthusiastic monk, and he naturally +relied chiefly upon the monks in his great work of converting the +heathen. Consequently, before considering his missionary achievements, +we must glance at the origin and character of the monks, who are so +conspicuous throughout the Middle Ages. + + + General References.--There is no satisfactory history of the + mediæval Church in one volume. Perhaps the best short account in + English is FISHER, _History of the Christian Church_ (Charles + Scribner's Sons, $3.50). MOELLER, _History of the Christian + Church_, Vols. I-II (Swan Sonnenschein, $4.00 a vol.), is a dry but + very reliable manual with full references to the literature of the + subject. ALZOG, _Manual of Universal Church History_ (Clarke, + Cincinnati, 3 vols., $10.00), is a careful presentation by a + Catholic scholar. MILMAN, _History of Latin Christianity_, although + rather old, is both scholarly and readable, and is to be found in + most libraries. GIESELER, _Ecclesiastical History_ (5 vols., now + out of print, but not difficult to obtain), is really a great + collection of the most interesting extracts from the sources, with + very little indeed from the author's hand. This and Moeller are + invaluable to the advanced student. HATCH, _Growth of Church + Institutions_ (Whittaker, $1.50), gives an admirably simple account + of the most important phases of the organization of the Church. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MONKS AND THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS + + +[Sidenote: Importance of the monks as a class.] + +21. It would be difficult to overestimate the variety and extent of the +influence that the monks exercised for centuries in Europe. The proud +annals of the Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits contain +many a distinguished name. The most eminent philosophers, scientists, +historians, artists, poets, and statesmen may be found among their +ranks. Among those whose achievements we shall study later are The +Venerable Bede, Boniface, Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Fra +Angelico, Savonarola, Luther, Erasmus,--all these, and many others who +have been leaders in various branches of human activity, were monks. + +[Sidenote: Monasticism appealed to many different classes.] + +The strength of monasticism lay in its appeal to many different classes +of persons. The world became a less attractive place as the successive +invasions of the barbarians brought ever-increasing disorder. The +monastery was the natural refuge not only of the spiritually minded, but +of those of a studious or contemplative disposition who disliked the +life of a soldier and were disinclined to face the dangers and +uncertainties of the times. The monastic life was safe and peaceful, as +well as holy. Even the rude and unscrupulous warriors hesitated to +destroy the property or disturb the life of those who were believed to +enjoy Heaven's special favor. The monastery furnished, too, a refuge for +the disconsolate, an asylum for the disgraced, and food and shelter for +the indolent who would otherwise have had to earn their living. There +were, therefore, many motives which helped to fill the monasteries. +Kings and nobles, for the good of their souls, readily gave land upon +which to found colonies of monks, and there were plenty of remote spots +in the mountains and forests to tempt the recluse. + +[Sidenote: Necessity for the regulation of monastic life.] + +Monastic communities first developed on a large scale in Egypt in the +fourth century. Just as the Germans were winning their first great +victory at Adrianople, St. Jerome was engaged in showing the advantages +of the ascetic Christian life, which was a new thing in the West. In the +sixth century monasteries multiplied so rapidly in western Europe that +it became necessary to establish definite rules for the numerous +communities which proposed to desert the ordinary ways of the world and +lead a peculiar life apart. The monastic regulations which had been +drawn up in the East did not answer the purpose, for the climate of the +West and the temperament of the Latin peoples differed too much from +those of the Orient. Accordingly St. Benedict drew up, about the year +526, a sort of constitution for the monastery of Monte Cassino, in +southern Italy, of which he was the head. This was so sagacious, and so +well met the needs of the monastic life, that it was rapidly accepted by +the other monasteries and gradually became the "rule" according to which +all the western monks lived.[31] + +[Sidenote: The Rule of St. Benedict.] + +The Rule of St. Benedict is as important as any constitution that was +ever drawn up for a state. It is for the most part natural and +wholesome. It provides that, since every one is not fitted for the +ascetic life, the candidate for admission to the monastery shall pass +through a period of probation, called the _novitiate_, before he is +permitted to take the solemn and irrevocable vow. The brethren shall +elect their head, the _abbot_, whom they must obey unconditionally in +all that is not sinful. Along with prayer and meditation, the monks are +to work at manual occupations and cultivate the soil. They shall also +read and teach. Those who were incapacitated for outdoor work were +assigned lighter tasks, such as copying books. The monk was not +permitted to own anything in his own right; he pledged himself to +perpetual and absolute poverty, and everything he used was the property +of the convent. Along with the vows of obedience and poverty, he also +took that of chastity, which bound him never to marry. For not only was +the single life considered more holy than the married, but the monastic +organization would, of course, have been impossible unless the monks +remained single. Aside from these restrictions, the monks were commanded +to live rational and natural lives and not to abuse their bodies or +sacrifice their physical vigor by undue fasting in the supposed interest +of their souls. These sensible provisions were directed against the +excesses of asceticism, of which there had been many instances in the +East. + +[Sidenote: The monks copy, and so preserve, the Latin authors.] + +The influence of the Benedictine monks upon Europe is incalculable. From +their numbers no less than twenty-four popes and forty-six hundred +bishops and archbishops have been chosen. They boast almost sixteen +thousand writers, some of great distinction. Their monasteries furnished +retreats where the scholar might study and write in spite of the +prevailing disorder of the times. The copying of books, as has been +said, was a natural occupation of the monks. Doubtless their work was +often done carelessly, with little heart and less understanding. But, +with the great loss of manuscripts due to the destruction of libraries +and the indifference of individual book-owners, it was most essential +that new copies should be made. Even poor and incorrect ones were better +than none. It was the monks who prevented the loss of a great part of +Latin literature, which, without them, would probably have reached us +only in scanty remains. + +[Sidenote: The monks aid in the material development of Europe.] + +The monks also helped to rescue honest manual labor, which they believed +to be a great aid to salvation, from the disrepute into which slavery +had brought it in earlier times. They set the example of careful +cultivation on the lands about their monasteries and in this way +introduced better methods into the regions where they settled. They +entertained travelers at a time when there were few or no inns and so +increased the intercourse between the various parts of Europe.[32] + +[Sidenote: The regular and secular clergy.] + +The Benedictine monks, as well as later monastic orders, were ardent and +faithful supporters of the papacy. The Roman Church, which owes much to +them, appreciated the aid which they might furnish and extended to them +many of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy. Indeed the monks were +reckoned as clergymen and were called the "regular" clergy because they +lived according to a _regula_, or rule, to distinguish them from the +"secular" clergy, who continued to live in the world (_saeculum_) and +took no monastic vows. + +[Sidenote: Monks and secular clergy supplement each other.] + +The Church, ever anxious to maintain as far-reaching a control over its +subjects as that of the Roman Empire, whose power it inherited, could +hardly expect its busy officers, with their multiform duties and +constant relations with men, to represent the ideal of contemplative +Christianity which was then held in higher esteem than the active life. +The secular clergy performed the ceremonies of the Church, administered +its business, and guarded its property, while the regular clergy +illustrated the necessity of personal piety and self-denial. Monasticism +at its best was a monitor standing beside the Church and constantly +warning it against permitting the Christian life to sink into mere +mechanical and passive acceptance of its ceremonies as all-sufficient +for salvation. It supplied the element of personal responsibility and +spiritual ambition upon which Protestantism has laid so much stress. + +[Sidenote: The monks as missionaries.] + +22. The first great service of the monks was their missionary labors. To +these the later strength of the Roman Church is in no small degree due, +for the monks made of the unconverted Germans not merely Christians, but +also dutiful subjects of the pope. The first people to engage their +attention were the heathen Germans who had conquered the once Christian +Britain. + +[Sidenote: Early Britain.] + +The islands which are now known as the kingdom of Great Britain and +Ireland were, at the opening of the Christian era, occupied by several +Celtic peoples of whose customs and religion we know almost nothing. +Julius Cæsar commenced the conquest of the islands (55 B.C.); but the +Romans never succeeded in establishing their power beyond the wall which +they built, from the Clyde to the Firth of Forth, to keep out the wild +Celtic tribes of the North. Even south of the wall the country was not +completely Romanized, and the Celtic tongue has actually survived down +to the present day in Wales. + +[Sidenote: Saxons and Angles conquer Britain.] + +At the opening of the fifth century the barbarian invasions forced Rome +to withdraw its legions from Britain in order to protect its frontiers +on the continent. The island was thus left to be gradually conquered by +the Germans, mainly Saxons and Angles, who came across the North Sea +from the region south of Denmark. Almost all record of what went on +during the two centuries following the departure of the Romans has +disappeared. No one knows the fate of the original Celtic inhabitants of +England. It is unlikely that they were, as was formerly supposed, all +killed or driven to the mountain districts of Wales. More probably they +were gradually lost among the dominating Germans with whom they merged +into one people. The Saxon and Angle chieftains established petty +kingdoms, of which there were seven or eight at the time when Gregory +the Great became pope. + +[Sidenote: Conversion of Britain.] + +Gregory, while still a simple monk, had been struck with the beauty of +some Angles whom he saw one day in the slave market of Rome. When he +learned who they were he was grieved that such handsome beings should +still belong to the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness, and, had he been +permitted, he himself would have gone as a missionary to their people. +Upon becoming pope he sent forty monks to England from one of the +monasteries that he had founded, placing a prior, Augustine, at their +head and designating him in advance as Bishop of England. The heathen +king of Kent, in whose territory the monks landed with fear and +trembling (597), had a Christian wife, the daughter of a Frankish king. +Through her influence the monks were kindly received and were assigned +an ancient church at Canterbury, dating from the Roman occupation before +the German invasions. Here they established a monastery, and from this +center the conversion, first of Kent and then of the whole island, was +gradually effected. Canterbury has always maintained its early +preëminence and may still be considered the religious capital of +England.[33] + +[Illustration: Ancient Church of St. Martin's, Canterbury] + +[Sidenote: The Irish monks.] + +Augustine and his monks were not, however, the only Christians in the +British Isles. Britain had been converted to Christianity when it was a +Roman province, and some of the missionaries, led by St. Patrick (d. +about 469), had made their way into Ireland and established a center of +Christianity there. When the Germans overran Britain and reheathenized +it, the Irish monks and clergy were too far off to be troubled by the +barbarians. They knew little of the traditions of the Roman Church and +diverged from its customs in some respects. They celebrated Easter upon +a different date from that observed by the Roman Church and employed a +different style of tonsure. Missionaries from this Irish church were +busy converting the northern regions of Britain, when the Roman monks +under Augustine began their work in the southern part of the island. + +[Sidenote: Conflict between the Roman Church and the Irish monks.] + +There was sure to be trouble between the two parties. The Irish clergy, +while they professed great respect for the pope and did not wish to be +cut off from the rest of the Christian Church, were unwilling to abandon +their peculiar usages and accept those sanctioned by Rome. Nor would +they recognize as their superior the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom the +pope had made the head of the British church. The pope, on his part, +felt that it was all-important that these isolated Christians should +become a part of the great organization of which he claimed to be the +head. Neither party would make any concessions, and for two generations +each went its own way, cherishing a bitter hostility toward the other. + +[Sidenote: Victory of Roman Church.] + +At last the Roman Church won the victory, as it so often did in later +struggles. In 664, through the influence of the king of Northumbria who +did not wish to risk being on bad terms with the pope, the Roman +Catholic form of faith was solemnly recognized in an assembly at Whitby, +and the leader of the Irish missionaries sadly withdrew to Ireland. + +[Illustration: Map of Christian Missions] + +The king of Northumbria, upon opening the Council of Whitby, said "that +it was proper that those who served one God should observe one rule of +conduct and not depart from one another in the ways of celebrating the +holy mysteries, since they all hoped for the same kingdom of heaven." +That a remote island of Europe should set up its traditions against the +customs sanctioned by the rest of Christendom appeared to him highly +unreasonable. This faith in the necessary unity of the Church is one of +the secrets of its strength. England became a part of the ever-growing +territory embraced in the Catholic Church and remained as faithful to +the pope as any other Catholic country, down to the defection of Henry +VIII in the early part of the sixteenth century. + +[Sidenote: Early culture in England.] + +[Sidenote: The Venerable Bede.] + +The consolidation of the rival churches in Great Britain was followed by +a period of general enthusiasm for Rome and its literature and culture. +Lindisfarne, Wearmouth, and other English monasteries became centers of +learning unrivaled perhaps in the rest of Europe. A constant intercourse +was maintained with Rome. Masons and glassmakers were brought across the +Channel to replace the wooden churches of Britain by stone edifices in +the style of the Romans. The young clergy were taught Latin and +sometimes Greek. Copies of the ancient classics were brought from the +continent and reproduced. The most distinguished man of letters of the +seventh and early eighth centuries was the English monk Bæda (often +called The Venerable Bede, 673-735), from whose admirable history of the +Church in England most of our information about the period is +derived.[34] + +[Sidenote: Irish missionaries on the continent.] + +[Sidenote: St. Columban and St. Gall.] + +23. From England missionaries carried the enthusiasm for the Church back +across the Channel. In spite of the conversion of Clovis and the +wholesale baptism of his soldiers, the Franks, especially those farthest +north, had been very imperfectly Christianized. A few years before +Augustine landed in Kent, St. Columban, one of the Irish missionaries +of whom we have spoken, landed in Gaul. He went from place to place +founding monasteries and gaining the respect of the people by his rigid +self-denial and by the miracles that he performed. He even penetrated +among the still wholly pagan Alemanni about the Lake of Constance. When +driven away by their pagan king, he turned his attention to the Lombards +in northern Italy, where he died in 615.[35] St. Gall, one of his +followers, remained near the Lake of Constance and attracted about him +so many disciples and companions that a great monastery grew up which +was named after him and became one of the most celebrated in central +Europe. Other Irish missionaries penetrated into the forests of +Thuringia and Bavaria. The German church looks back, however, to an +English missionary as its real founder. + +[Sidenote: St. Boniface, the apostle to the Germans.] + +In 718, about a hundred years after the death of St. Columban, St. +Boniface, an English monk, was sent by the pope as an apostle to the +Germans. After four years spent in reconnoitering the field of his +future labors, he returned to Rome and was made a missionary bishop, +taking the same oath of obedience to the pope that the bishops in the +immediate vicinity of Rome were accustomed to take. Indeed absolute +subordination to the pope was a part of Boniface's religion, and he +became a powerful agent in promoting the supremacy of the Roman see. + +Under the protection of the powerful Frankish mayor of the palace, +Charles Martel, Boniface carried on his missionary work with such zeal +that he succeeded in bringing all the older Christian communities which +had been established by the Irish missionaries under the papal control, +as well as in converting many of the more remote German tribes who +still clung to their old pagan beliefs. His energetic methods are +illustrated by the story of how he cut down the sacred oak of Odin at +Fritzlar, in Hesse, and used the wood to build a chapel, around which a +monastery soon grew up. In 732 Boniface was raised to the dignity of +Archbishop of Mayence and proceeded to establish, in the newly converted +region, the German bishoprics of Salzburg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Erfurt, +and several others; this gives us some idea of the geographical extent +of his labors. + +[Sidenote: Boniface reforms the church in Gaul and brings it into +subjection to the pope.] + +After organizing the German church he turned his attention, with the +hearty approval of the pope and the support of the Frankish rulers, to a +general reformation of the church in Gaul. Here the clergy were sadly +demoralized, and the churches and monasteries had been despoiled of much +of their property in the constant turmoil of the time. Boniface +succeeded, with the help of Charles Martel, in bettering affairs, and +through his efforts the venerable church of Gaul, almost as old as that +of Rome itself, was brought under the supremacy of the pope. In 748 the +assembled bishops of Gaul bound themselves to maintain the Catholic +unity of faith and follow strictly the precepts of the vicar of St. +Peter, the pope, so that they might be reckoned among Peter's sheep. + + + General Reading.--The best history of the monks to be had in + English is MONTALEMBERT, _The Monks of the West from St. Benedict + to St. Bernard_ (Longmans, Green & Co., 6 vols., $15.00). The + writer's enthusiasm and his excellent style make his work very + attractive. The advanced student will gain much from TAYLOR, + _Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages_ (The Macmillan Company, + $1.75), Chapter VII, on the origin and spirit of monasticism. See + also HARNACK, _Monasticism_ (Scribners, 50 cents). The works on + church history referred to at the end of the preceding chapter all + contain some account of the monks. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHARLES MARTEL AND PIPPIN + + +[Sidenote: Charles Martel, Frankish mayor of the palace, 714-741.] + +24. Just as the pope was becoming the acknowledged head of the Western +Church, the Frankish realms came successively under the rule of two +great statesmen, Charles Martel and his son Pippin the Short, who laid +the foundation of Charlemagne's vast empire. + +[Sidenote: Difficulty of holding together a kingdom in the early Middle +Ages.] + +The difficulties which Charles Martel had to face were much the same as +those which for centuries to follow confronted the sovereigns of western +Europe. The great problem of the mediæval ruler was to make his power +felt throughout his whole territory in spite of the many rich and +ambitious officials, bishops, and abbots who eagerly took advantage of +all the king's weaknesses and embarrassments to make themselves +practically supreme in their respective districts. + +[Sidenote: Origin of counts and dukes.] + +The two classes of officers of which we hear most were the counts +(Latin, _comites_) and the dukes (Latin, _duces_). A count ordinarily +represented the king within the district comprised in an old +municipality of the Empire. Over a number of counts the king might place +a duke. Both of these titles were borrowed by the Germans from the names +of Roman officials. While the king appointed, and might dismiss, these +officers when he pleased, there was a growing tendency for them to hold +their positions for life. + +We find Charles fighting the dukes of Aquitaine, Bavaria, and Alemannia, +each of whom was endeavoring to make the territory which he was deputed +to rule in the king's interest a separate and independent country under +his own supremacy. By successive campaigns against these rebellious +magnates, Charles succeeded in reuniting all those outlying districts +that tended to forget or ignore their connection with the Frankish +empire. + +[Sidenote: Charles and his bishops.] + +The bishops proved almost, if not quite, as troublesome to the mayor of +the palace as the dukes, and later the counts. It is true that Charles +kept the choice of the bishops in his own hands and refused to give to +the clergy and people of the diocese the privilege of electing their +head, as the rules of the Church prescribed. But when a bishop had once +got possession of the lands attached to the bishopric and exercised the +wide powers and influence which fell to him, he was often tempted, +especially if he were a nobleman, to use his privileged position to +establish a practically independent principality. The same was true of +the heads of powerful monasteries. These dangerous bishops and abbots +Charles deposed in wholesale fashion. He substituted his own friends for +them with little regard to the rules of the Church--for instance, he +bestowed on his nephew the three bishoprics of Paris, Rouen, and Bayeux, +besides two monasteries. The new incumbents were, however, no better +than the old; they were, indeed, in spite of their clerical robes, only +laymen, who continued to fight and hunt in their customary manner. + +The most famous of Charles' deeds was his decisive defeat of the +advancing Mohammedans who were pressing into Gaul from Spain. Before +speaking of this a word must be said of the invaders and their religion, +for the Saracens, as the followers of Mohammed were commonly called, +will come into our story of western Europe now and then, especially +during the Crusades. + +[Sidenote: Mohammed, 571-632.] + +25. Just as Gregory the Great was dying in Rome, leaving to his +successors a great heritage of spiritual and temporal influence, a young +Arab in far-off Mecca was meditating upon the mysteries of life and +laying the foundation of a religious power rivaling even that of the +popes. Before the time of Mohammed the Arabs had played no important +part in the world's history. The scattered tribes were at war with one +another, and each worshiped its own gods, when it worshiped at all. But +when the peoples of the desert accepted Mohammed as their prophet and +his religion as theirs, they became an irresistible force for the +dissemination of the new teaching and for the subjugation of the world. + +[Sidenote: The Hejira, 622.] + +Mohammed came of a good family, but was reduced by poverty to enter the +employ of a rich widow, named Kadijah, who fell in love with him and +became his wife. She was his first convert and kept up his courage when +few among his fellow-townsmen in Mecca would believe in his visions or +accept the teachings which he claimed to receive direct from the angel +Gabriel. Finally he discovered that his many enemies were planning to +kill him, so he fled to the neighboring town of Medina, where he had +friends. His flight (the Hejira), which took place in the year 622, was +taken by his followers as the beginning of a new era,--the year one, as +Mohammedans reckon time. A war ensued between the people of Mecca and +those in and about Medina who supported Mohammed. It was eight years +before he reëntered Mecca, the religious center of Arabia, with a +victorious army. Before his death in 632 he had received the adhesion of +all the Arab chiefs, and his faith, Islam (which means _submission to +God_), was accepted throughout the Arabian peninsula. + +[Sidenote: The Koran and the religion of Mohammed.] + +Mohammed was accustomed to fall into a trance from time to time, after +which he would recite to his eager listeners the messages which he +received from Heaven. These were collected into a volume shortly after +his death, and make up the Koran, the Bible of the Mohammedan.[36] This +contains all the fundamental beliefs of the new religion, as well as the +laws under which the faithful were to live. It proclaims one God, "the +Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the compassionate," and Mohammed as +his prophet. It announces a day of judgment in which each shall receive +his reward for the deeds done in the flesh, and either be admitted to +paradise or banished to an eternally burning hell. Those who die +fighting for the sacred cause shall find themselves in a high garden, +where, "content with their past endeavors," they shall hear no foolish +word and shall recline in rich brocades upon soft cushions and rugs and +be served by surpassingly beautiful maidens. Islam has much in common +with Judaism and Christianity. Jesus even has a place in it, but only as +one of the prophets, like Abraham, Moses, and others, who have brought +religious truth to mankind. + +The religion of Mohammed was simpler than that of the mediæval Christian +Church. It provided for no priesthood, nor for any elaborate rites and +ceremonies. Five times a day the faithful Mohammedan must pray, always +with his face turned toward Mecca. One month in the year he must fast +during the daytime. If he is educated, he will know the Koran by heart. +The mosque is a house of prayer and the place for the reading of the +Koran; no altars or images are permitted in it. + +[Sidenote: Mohammedan conquests.] + +Mohammed's successor assumed the title of caliph. Under him the Arabs +went forth to conquer the great territories to the north of them, +belonging to the Persians and the Roman emperor at Constantinople. They +met with marvelous success. Within ten years after Mohammed's death the +Arabs had established a great empire with its capital at Damascus, from +whence the caliph ruled over Arabia, Persia, Syria, and Egypt. In the +following decades new conquests were made all along the coast of Africa, +and in 708 Tangier was taken and the Arabs could look across the Straits +of Gibraltar to Spain.[37] + +[Illustration: Map of Arabic Conquests] + +[Sidenote: The Arabs in Spain.] + +The kingdom of the West Goths was in no condition to defend itself when +a few Arabs and a much larger number of Berbers, inhabitants of northern +Africa, ventured to cross over. Some of the Spanish towns held out for a +time, but the invaders found allies in the numerous Jews who had been +shamefully treated by their Christian countrymen. As for the innumerable +serfs who worked on the great estates of the aristocracy, a change of +landlords made very little difference to them. In 711 the Arabs and +Berbers gained a great battle, and the peninsula was gradually overrun +by new immigrants from Africa. In seven years the Mohammedans were +masters of almost the whole region south of the Pyrenees. They then +began to cross into Gaul and took possession of the district about +Narbonne. For some years the duke of Aquitaine kept them in check, but +in 732 they collected a large army, defeated the duke near Bordeaux, +advanced to Poitiers, where they burned the church, and then set out for +Tours. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Tours, 732.] + +Charles Martel at once sent out a summons to all who could bear arms +and, in the same year, met and repulsed the Mohammedans near Tours. We +know very little indeed of the details of the conflict, but it is +certain that the followers of Mohammed retreated and that they never +made another attempt to conquer western Europe. + +[Sidenote: Pippin and Carloman.] + +[Sidenote: Abdication of Carloman.] + +26. Charles was able, before his death in 741, to secure the succession +to his office of mayor of the palace for his two sons, Pippin and +Carloman. The brothers left the nominal king on the throne; but he had +nothing to do, as the chronicler tells us, "but to be content with his +name of king, his flowing hair and long beard; to sit on his throne and +play the ruler, listening to the ambassadors who came from all +directions, and giving them the answers that had been taught him, as if +of his own sovereign will. In reality, however, he had nothing but the +royal name and a beggarly income at the will of the mayor of the +palace." The new mayors had succeeded in putting down all opposition +when, to the astonishment of every one, Carloman abdicated and assumed +the gown of a monk. Pippin took control of the whole Frankish dominion, +and we find the unusual statement in the Frankish annals that "the whole +land enjoyed peace for two years" (749-750). + +[Sidenote: Pippin assumes the crown with the approbation of the pope, +752.] + +Pippin now felt himself strong enough to get rid of the "do-nothing" +king altogether and assume for himself the nominal as well as the real +kingship of the Franks. It was, however, a delicate matter to depose +even a quite useless monarch, so he determined to consult the head of +the Church. To Pippin's query whether it was fitting that the +Merovingian king of the Franks, having no power, should continue to +reign, the pope replied: "It seems better that he who has the power in +the state should be king and be called king, rather than he who is +falsely called king." + +It will be noticed that the pope in no sense created Pippin king, as +later writers claimed. He sanctioned a usurpation which was practically +inevitable and which was carried out with the approbation of the +Frankish nation. Raised on the shields of the counts and dukes, anointed +by St. Boniface, and blessed by the pope, Pippin became in 752 the first +king of the Carolingian family, which had already for several +generations ruled the Franks in all but name. + +[Sidenote: A new theory of kingship.] + +This participation of the pope brought about a very fundamental change +in the theory of kingship. The kings of the Germans up to this time had +been military leaders selected, or holding their office, by the will of +the people, or at least of the aristocracy. Their rule had had no divine +sanction, but only that of general acquiescence backed up by sufficient +skill and popularity to frustrate the efforts of rivals. By the +anointing of Pippin in accordance with the ancient Jewish custom, first +by St. Boniface and then by the pope himself, "a German chieftain was," +as Gibbon expresses, it "transformed into the Lord's anointed." The pope +uttered a dire anathema of divine vengeance against any one who should +attempt to supplant the holy and meritorious race of Pippin. It became a +_religious_ duty to obey the king. He came to be regarded by the Church, +when he had duly received its sanction, as God's representative on +earth. Here we have the basis of the later idea of monarchs "by the +grace of God," against whom, however bad they might be, it was not +merely a political offense, but a sin, to revolt. + +27. The sanction of Pippin's usurpation by the pope was but an +indication of the good feeling between the two greatest powers in the +West,--the head of the ever-strengthening Frankish state and the head of +the Church. This good feeling quickly ripened into an alliance, +momentous for the history of Europe. In order to understand this we must +glance at the motives which led the popes to throw off their allegiance +to their ancient sovereigns, the emperors at Constantinople, and turn +for help to Pippin and his successors. + +[Sidenote: Controversy over the veneration of images and pictures,--the +so-called iconoclastic controversy.] + +For more than a century after the death of Gregory the Great his +successors continued to remain respectful subjects of the emperor. They +looked to him for occasional help against the Lombards in northern +Italy, who showed a disposition to add Rome to their possessions. In +725, however, the emperor Leo III aroused the bitter opposition of the +pope by issuing a decree forbidding the usual veneration of the images +of Christ and the saints. The emperor was a thoughtful Christian and +felt keenly the taunts of the Mohammedans, who held all images in +abhorrence and regarded the Christians as idolaters. He therefore +ordered all sacred images throughout his empire to be removed from the +churches, and all figures on the church walls to be whitewashed over. +This aroused serious opposition even in Constantinople, and the farther +west one went, the more obstinate became the resistance. The pope +refused to obey the edict, for he held that the emperor had no right to +interfere with practices hallowed by the Church. He called a council +which declared all persons excommunicated who should "throw down, +destroy, profane or blaspheme the holy images." The opposition of the +West was successful, and the images kept their places.[38] + +[Sidenote: The popes and the Lombards.] + +[Sidenote: The pope turns to the Franks for aid.] + + +In spite of their abhorrence of the iconoclastic Leo and his successors, +the popes did not give up all hope that the emperors might aid them in +keeping the Lombards out of Rome. At last a Lombard ruler arose, +Aistulf, a "son of iniquity," who refused to consider the prayers or +threats of the head of the Church. In 751 Aistulf took Ravenna and +threatened Rome. He proposed to substitute his supremacy for that of the +eastern emperor and make of Italy a single state, with Rome as its +capital. This was a critical moment for the peninsula. Was Italy, like +Gaul, to be united under a single German people and to develop, as +France has done, a characteristic civilization? The Lombards had +progressed so far that they were not unfitted to organize a state that +should grow into a nation. But the head of the Church could not consent +to endanger his independence by becoming the subject of an Italian king. +It was therefore the pope who prevented the establishment of an Italian +kingdom at this time and who continued for the same reason to stand in +the way of the unification of Italy for more than a thousand years, +until he was dispossessed of his realms not many decades ago by Victor +Emmanuel. After vainly turning in his distress to his natural protector, +the emperor, the pope had no resource but to appeal to Pippin, upon +whose fidelity he had every reason to rely. He crossed the Alps and was +received with the greatest cordiality and respect by the Frankish +monarch, who returned to Italy with him and relieved Rome (754). + +[Sidenote: Pippin subdues the Lombards.] + +No sooner had Pippin recrossed the Alps than the Lombard king, ever +anxious to add Rome to his possessions, again invested the Eternal City. +Pope Stephen's letters to the king of the Franks at this juncture are +characteristic of the time. The pope warmly argues that Pippin owes all +his victories to St. Peter and should now hasten to the relief of his +successor. If the king permits the city of the prince of the apostles to +be lacerated and tormented by the Lombards, his own soul will be +lacerated and tormented in hell by the devil and his pestilential +angels. These arguments proved effective; Pippin immediately undertook a +second expedition to Italy, from which he did not return until the +kingdom of the Lombards had become tributary to his own, as Bavaria and +Aquitaine already were. + +[Sidenote: Donation of Pippin.] + +Pippin, instead of restoring to the eastern emperor the lands which the +Lombards had recently occupied, handed them over to the pope,--on +exactly what terms we do not know, since the deed of cession has +disappeared. In consequence of these important additions to the former +territories of St. Peter, the popes were thereafter the nominal rulers +of a large district in central Italy, extending across the peninsula +from Ravenna to a point well south of Rome. If, as many writers have +maintained, Pippin recognized the pope as the sovereign of this +district, we find here the first state that was destined to endure into +the nineteenth century delimited on the map of Europe. A map of Italy as +late as the year 1860 shows the same region still marked "States of the +Church." + +[Sidenote: Significance of Pippin's reign.] + +The reign of Pippin is remarkable in several ways. It witnessed the +strengthening of the kingly power in the Frankish state, which was soon +to embrace most of western Europe and form the starting point for the +development of the modern countries of France, Germany, and Austria. It +furnishes the first instance of the interference of a northern prince in +the affairs of Italy, which was destined to become the stumbling-block +of many a later French and German king. Lastly, the pope had now a state +of his own, which, in spite of its small size, proved one of the most +important and permanent in Europe. + +Pippin and his son Charlemagne saw only the strength and not the +disadvantage that accrued to their title from the papal sanction. It is +none the less true, as Gibbon says, that "under the sacerdotal monarchy +of St. Peter, the nations began to resume the practice of seeking, on +the banks of the Tiber, their kings, their laws, and the oracles of +their fate." We shall have ample evidence of this as we proceed. + + + General Reading.--For Mohammed and the Saracens, GILMAN, _The + Saracens_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.50). Gibbon has a famous chapter + on Mohammed and another upon the conquests of the Arabs. These are + the fiftieth and fifty-first of his great work. See also MUIR, + _Life of Mohammed_ (Smith, Elder & Co., $4.50). + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CHARLEMAGNE + + +28. Charlemagne is the first historical personage among the German +peoples of whom we have any satisfactory knowledge.[39] Compared with +him, Theodoric, Charles Martel, Pippin, and the rest are but shadowy +figures. The chronicles tell us something of their deeds, but we can +make only the vaguest inferences in regard to their character and +temperament. + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne's personal appearance.] + +The appearance of Charlemagne, as described by his secretary, so exactly +corresponds with the character of the king as exhibited in his great +reign, that it is worthy of attention. He was tall and stoutly built; +his face was round, his eyes were large and keen, his nose somewhat +above the common size, his expression bright and cheerful. Whether he +stood or sat, his form was full of dignity; for the good proportion and +grace of his body prevented the observer from noticing that his neck was +rather short and his person somewhat too stout. His step was firm and +his aspect manly; his voice was clear, but rather weak for so large a +body. He was active in all bodily exercises, delighted in riding and +hunting, and was an expert swimmer. His excellent health and his +physical alertness and endurance can alone explain the astonishing +swiftness with which he moved about his vast realm and conducted +innumerable campaigns in widely distant regions in startlingly rapid +succession. + +[Sidenote: His education, his attitude toward learning, and his public +spirit.] + +Charles was an educated man and one who knew how to appreciate and +encourage scholarship. When at dinner he had some one read to him; he +delighted especially in history and in St. Augustine's _City of God_. He +could speak Latin well and understood Greek readily. He tried to learn +to write, but began too late in life and got no farther than signing his +name. He called scholarly men to his court, took advantage of their +learning, and did much toward reëstablishing a regular system of public +instruction. He was also constantly occupied with buildings and other +public works calculated to adorn and benefit his kingdom. He himself +planned the remarkable cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle and showed the +greatest interest in its furnishings. He commenced two palaces of +beautiful workmanship, one near Mayence and the other at Nimwegen, in +Holland, and had a long bridge constructed across the Rhine at Mayence. + +[Sidenote: The Charlemagne of romance.] + +The impression which his reign made upon men's minds grew even after his +death. He became the hero of a whole cycle of romantic but wholly +unhistoric adventures and achievements which were as devoutly believed +for centuries as his most authentic deeds. In the fancy of an old monk +in the monastery of St. Gall,[40] writing of Charlemagne not long after +his death, the king of the Franks swept over Europe surrounded by +countless legions of soldiers who formed a very sea of bristling steel. +Knights of superhuman valor formed his court and became the models for +the chivalrous spirit of the following centuries. Distorted but +imposing, the Charlemagne of poetry meets us all through the Middle +Ages. + +A study of Charlemagne's reign will substantiate our first impression +that he was a truly remarkable person, one of the greatest figures in +the world's records and deservedly the hero of the Middle Ages. To few +men has it been given to influence so profoundly the course of European +progress. We shall consider him first as a conqueror, then as an +organizer and creator of governmental institutions, and lastly as a +promoter of culture and enlightenment. + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne's idea of a great Christian empire.] + +29. It was Charlemagne's ideal to bring all the German peoples together +into one great Christian empire, and he was wonderfully successful in +attaining his end. Only a small portion of what is now called Germany +was included in the kingdom ruled over by Pippin. Frisia and Bavaria had +been Christianized, and their native rulers had been induced by the +efforts of Charlemagne's predecessors and of the missionaries, +especially Boniface, to recognize formally the overlordship of the +Franks. Between these two half-independent countries lay the unconquered +Saxons. They were as yet pagans and appear to have still clung to much +the same institutions as those under which they lived when the Roman +historian Tacitus described them seven centuries earlier. + +[Sidenote: The conquest of the Saxons.] + +The Saxons occupied the region beginning somewhat east of Cologne and +extending to the Elbe, and north to where the great cities of Bremen and +Hamburg are now situated. The present kingdom of Saxony would hardly +have come within their boundaries. The Saxons had no towns or roads and +were consequently very difficult to conquer, as they could retreat, with +their few possessions, into the forests or swamps as soon as they found +themselves unable to meet an invader in the open field. Yet so long as +they remained unconquered they constantly threatened the Frankish +kingdom, and the incorporation of their country was essential to the +rounding out of its boundaries. Charlemagne never undertook, during his +long military career, any other task half so serious as the subjugation +of the Saxons, and it occupied his attention for many years. Nine +successive rebellions had to be put down, and it was finally owing +rather to the Church than to Charlemagne's military prowess that the +great task was brought to a successful issue. + +[Sidenote: Conversion of the Saxons.] + +Nowhere do we find a more striking example of the influence of the +Church than in the reliance that Charlemagne placed upon it in his +dealings with the Saxons. He deemed it quite as essential that after a +rebellion they should promise to honor the Church and be baptized as +that they should pledge themselves to remain true and faithful vassals +of the king. He was in quite as much haste to found bishoprics and +abbeys as to build fortresses. The law for the newly conquered Saxon +lands, issued sometime between 775 and 790, provides the same death +penalty for him who "shall have shown himself unfaithful to the lord +king," and him who "shall have wished to hide himself unbaptized and +shall have scorned to come to baptism and shall have wished to remain a +pagan." Charlemagne believed the Christianizing of the Saxons so +important a part of his duty that he decreed that all should suffer +death who entered a church by violence and carried off anything by +force, or even failed to abstain from meat during Lent.[41] No one, +under penalty of heavy fines, was to make vows, in the pagan fashion, at +trees or springs, or partake of any heathen feasts in honor of the +demons (as the Christians termed the heathen deities), or fail to +present infants for baptism before they were a year old. + +For the support of the local churches, those who lived in the parish +were to give toward three hundred acres of land and a house for the +priest. "Likewise, in accordance with the mandate of God, we command +that all shall give a tithe of their property and labor to the churches +and the priests; let the nobles as well as the freemen, likewise the +serfs, according to that which God shall have given to each Christian, +return a part to God." + +[Sidenote: Coöperation of the civil government and the Church.] + +These provisions are characteristic of the theory of the Middle Ages +according to which the civil government and the Church went hand in hand +in ordering and governing the life of the people. Defection from the +Church was regarded by the state as quite as serious a crime as treason +against itself. While the claims of the two institutions sometimes +conflicted, there was no question in the minds either of the king's +officials or of the clergy that both the civil and ecclesiastical +government were absolutely necessary; neither class ever dreamed that +they could get along without the other. + +[Sidenote: Foundation of towns in northern Germany.] + +Before the Frankish conquest the Saxons had no towns. Now, around the +seat of the bishop, or about a monastery, men began to collect and towns +and cities to grow up. Of these the chief was Bremen, which is still one +of the most important ports of Germany. + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne becomes king of the Lombards.] + +30. Pippin, it will be remembered, had covenanted with the papacy to +protect it from its adversaries. The king of the Lombards had taken +advantage of Charlemagne's seeming preoccupation with his German affairs +to attack the city of Rome again. The pope immediately demanded the aid +of Charlemagne, who prepared to carry out his father's pledges. He +ordered the Lombard ruler to return the cities that he had taken from +the pope. Upon his refusal to do this, Charlemagne invaded Lombardy in +773 with a great army and took Pavia, the capital, after a long siege. +The Lombard king was forced to become a monk, and his treasure was +divided among the Frankish soldiers. Charlemagne then took the extremely +important step, in 774, of having himself recognized by all the Lombard +dukes and counts as king of the Lombards. + +[Illustration: THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE] + +[Sidenote: Aquitaine and Bavaria incorporated in Charlemagne's empire.] + +The considerable provinces of Aquitaine and Bavaria had never formed an +integral part of the Frankish realms, but had remained semi-independent +under their native dukes up to the time of Charlemagne. Aquitaine, whose +dukes had given Pippin much trouble, was incorporated into the Frankish +state in 769. As for the Bavarians, Charlemagne felt that so long as +they remained under their duke he could not rely upon them to defend the +Frankish empire against the Slavs, who were constantly threatening the +frontiers. So he compelled the duke of Bavaria to surrender his +possessions, shut him up in a monastery, and proceeded to portion out +the duchy among his counts. He thus added to his realms the district +that lay between his new Saxon conquest and the Lombard kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Foreign policy of Charlemagne.] + +31. So far we have spoken only of the relations of Charlemagne with the +Germans, for even the Lombard kingdom was established by the Germans. He +had, however, other peoples to deal with, especially the Slavs on the +east (who were one day to build up the kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia, and +the vast Russian empire) and, on the opposite boundary of his dominion, +the Arabs in Spain. Against these it was necessary to protect his +realms, and the second part of Charlemagne's reign was devoted to what +may be called his foreign policy. A single campaign in 789 seems to have +sufficed to subdue the Slavs, who lay to the north and east of the +Saxons, and to force the Bohemians to acknowledge the supremacy of the +Frankish king and pay tribute to him. + +[Sidenote: The marches and margraves.] + +The necessity of insuring the Frankish realms against any new uprising +of these non-German nations led to the establishment, on the confines of +the kingdom, of _marches_, i.e., districts under the military control of +counts of the march, or _margraves_.[42] Their business was to prevent +any hostile incursions into the interior of the kingdom. Much depended +upon the efficiency of these men; in many cases they founded powerful +families and later helped to disintegrate the Empire by establishing +themselves as practically independent rulers. + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne in Spain.] + +At an assembly that Charlemagne held in 777, ambassadors appeared before +him from certain disaffected Mohammedans. They had fallen out with the +emir of Cordova[43] and now offered to become the faithful subjects of +Charlemagne if he would come to their aid. In consequence, he undertook +his first expedition to Spain in the following year. The district north +of the Ebro was conquered by the Franks after some years of war, and +Charlemagne established the Spanish March.[44] In this way he began that +gradual expulsion of the Mohammedans from the peninsula which was to be +carried on by slowly extending conquests until 1492, when Granada, the +last Mohammedan stronghold, fell.[45] + + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne crowned emperor by the pope.] + +32. But the most famous of all the achievements of Charlemagne was his +reëstablishment of the Western Empire in the year 800. It came about in +this wise. Charlemagne went to Rome in that year to settle a controversy +between Pope Leo III and his enemies. To celebrate the satisfactory +adjustment of the dispute, the pope held a solemn service on Christmas +day in St. Peter's. As Charlemagne was kneeling before the altar during +this service, the pope approached him and set a crown upon his head, +saluting him, amid the acclamation of those present, as "Emperor of the +Romans." + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne merited the title of emperor.] + +The reasons for this extraordinary act, which Charlemagne afterward +persistently asserted took him completely by surprise, are given in one +of the Frankish histories, the _Chronicles of Lorsch_, as follows: "The +name of Emperor had ceased among the Greeks, for they were enduring the +reign of a woman [Irene], wherefore it seemed good both to Leo, the +apostolic pope, and to the holy fathers [the bishops] who were in +council with him, and to all Christian men, that they should name +Charles, king of the Franks, as Emperor. For he held Rome itself, where +the ancient Cæsars had always dwelt, in addition to all his other +possessions in Italy, Gaul and Germany. Wherefore, as God had granted +him all these dominions, it seemed just to all that he should take the +title of Emperor, too, when it was offered to him at the wish of all +Christendom." + +Charlemagne appears to have accepted gracefully the honor thus thrust +upon him. Even if he had no right to the imperial title, there was an +obvious propriety and expediency in granting it to him under the +circumstances. Before his coronation by the pope he was only king of the +Franks and the Lombards; but his conquests seemed to entitle him to a +more comprehensive designation which should include his outlying +dependencies. Then the imperial power at Constantinople had been in the +hands of heretics, from the standpoint of the Western Church, ever since +Emperor Leo issued his edict against the veneration of images. What was +still worse, the throne had been usurped, shortly before the coronation +of Charlemagne, by the wicked Irene, who had deposed and blinded her +son, Constantine VI. The coronation of Charlemagne was, therefore, only +a recognition of the real political conditions in the West.[46] + +[Sidenote: Continuity of the Roman Empire.] + +The empire now reëstablished in the West was considered to be a +continuation of the Roman Empire founded by Augustus. Charlemagne was +reckoned the immediate successor of Constantine VI, whom Irene had +deposed. Yet, in spite of this fancied continuity, it is hardly +necessary to say that the position of the new emperor had little in +common with that of Marcus Aurelius or Constantine. In the first place, +the eastern emperors continued to reign in Constantinople for centuries, +quite regardless of Charlemagne and his successors. In the second place, +the German kings who wore the imperial crown after Charlemagne were +generally too weak really to rule over Germany and northern Italy, to +say nothing of the rest of western Europe. Nevertheless, the Western +Empire, which in the twelfth century came to be called the Holy Roman +Empire, endured for over a thousand years. It came to an end only in +1806, when the last of the emperors, wearied of his empty if venerable +title, laid down the crown. + +[Sidenote: The title of emperor a source of trouble to the German +rulers.] + +The assumption of the title of emperor was destined to make the German +rulers a great deal of trouble. It constantly led them into futile +efforts to maintain a supremacy over Italy, which lay without their +natural boundaries. Then the circumstances under which Charlemagne was +crowned made it possible for the popes to claim, later, that it was they +who had transferred the imperial power from the old eastern line of +emperors to the Carolingian house, and that this was a proof of their +right to dispose of the crown as they pleased. The difficulties which +arose necessitated many a weary journey to Rome for the emperors, and +many unworthy conflicts between the temporal and spiritual heads of +Christendom. + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne's system of government.] + +33. The task of governing his vast and heterogeneous dominions taxed +even the highly gifted and untiring Charlemagne; it quite exceeded the +capacity of his successors. The same difficulties continued to exist +that had confronted Charles Martel and Pippin,--above all a scanty royal +revenue and over-powerful officials who were prone to neglect the +interests and commands of their sovereign. Charlemagne's distinguished +statesmanship is nowhere so clearly seen as in his measures for +extending his control to the very confines of his realms. + +[Sidenote: Charlemagne's farms.] + +His income, like that of all mediæval rulers, came chiefly from his +royal estates, as there was no system of general taxation such as had +existed under the Roman Empire. He consequently took the greatest care +that his numerous plantations should be well cultivated and that not +even a turnip or an egg which was due him should be withheld. An +elaborate set of regulations for his farms is preserved, which sheds +much light upon the times.[47] + +[Sidenote: Origin of titles of nobility.] + +The officials upon whom the Frankish kings were forced to rely chiefly +were the counts, the "hand and voice of the king" wherever he could not +be in person. They were to maintain order, see that justice was done in +their district, and raise troops when the king needed them. On the +frontier were the counts of the march, or margraves (marquises), already +mentioned. These titles, together with that of duke, still exist as +titles of nobility in Europe, although they are no longer associated +with governmental duties except where their holders have the right to +sit in the upper house of parliament. + +[Sidenote: The _missi dominici_.] + +To keep the counts in order, Charlemagne appointed royal commissioners +(the _missi dominici_), whom he dispatched to all parts of his realm to +investigate and report to him how things were going in the districts +assigned to them. They were sent in pairs, a bishop and a layman, so +that they might act as a check on one another. Their circuits were +changed each year so that they should have no chance to enter into +conspiracy with the counts whom it was their special business to +watch.[48] + +The revival of the Roman Empire in the West made no difference in +Charlemagne's system of government, except that he required all his +subjects above twelve years of age to take a new oath of fidelity to him +as emperor. He held important assemblies of the nobles and prelates +each spring or summer, where the interests of the Empire were +considered. With the sanction of his advisers, he issued an +extraordinary series of laws, called _capitularies_, a number of which +have been preserved. With the bishops and abbots he discussed the needs +of the Church, and above all the necessity of better schools for both +the clergy and laity. The reforms which he sought to introduce give us +an opportunity of learning the condition in which Europe found itself +after four hundred years of disorder. + +[Sidenote: The dark century before Charlemagne.] + +34. Charlemagne was the first important king since Theodoric to pay any +attention to book learning, which had fared badly enough since the death +of Boethius, three centuries before. About 650 the supply of papyrus had +been cut off, owing to the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, and as paper +had not yet been invented there was only the very expensive parchment to +write upon. While this had the advantage of being more durable than +papyrus, its cost discouraged the multiplication of copies of books. The +eighth century, that immediately preceding Charlemagne's coronation, is +declared by the learned Benedictine monks, in their great history of +French literature, to have been the most ignorant, the darkest, and the +most barbarous period ever seen, at least in France. The documents of +the Merovingian period often indicate great ignorance and carelessness +on the part of those who wrote them out. + +[Sidenote: The elements of learning preserved by the Church.] + +Yet, in spite of this dark picture, there was promise for the future. It +was evident, even before Charlemagne's time, that the world was not to +continue indefinitely in the path of ignorance. Latin could not be +forgotten, for that was the language of the Church and all its official +communications were in that tongue. The teachings of the Christian +religion had to be gathered from the Bible and other books, and the +church services formed a small literature by themselves. Consequently it +was absolutely necessary that the Church should maintain some sort of +education in order to perform its complicated services and conduct the +extensive duties which devolved upon it. All the really efficient church +officers, whatever their nationality, must have been able to read the +Latin classics, if they were so inclined. Then there were the +compilations of ancient knowledge already mentioned,[49] which, +incredibly crude and scanty as they were, kept up the memory of the +past. They at least perpetuated the names of the various branches of +knowledge and contained, for example, enough about arithmetic and +astronomy to help the isolated churchman to calculate each year the date +of Easter. + +[Sidenote: Two letters of Charlemagne's respecting the neglect of +education among the clergy.] + +Charlemagne was the first temporal ruler to realize the serious neglect +of education, even among the clergy, and we have two interesting letters +from him, written before he was made emperor, relating to this subject. +In one to an important bishop, he says: "Letters have been written to us +frequently in recent years from various monasteries, stating that the +brethren who dwelt therein were offering up holy and pious supplications +in our behalf. We observed that the sentiments in these letters were +exemplary but that the form of expression was uncouth, because what true +devotion faithfully dictated to the mind, the tongue, untrained by +reason of neglect of study, was not able to express in a letter without +mistakes. So it came about that we began to fear lest, perchance, as the +skill in writing was less than it should be, the wisdom necessary to the +understanding of the Holy Scriptures was also much less than was +needful. We all know well that, although errors of speech are dangerous, +errors of understanding are far more dangerous. Therefore, we exhort you +not merely not to _neglect_ the study of letters, but with a most humble +mind, pleasing to God, earnestly to devote yourself to study, in order +that you may be able the more easily and correctly to penetrate the +mysteries of the Holy Scriptures." + +In the other letter he says: "We have striven with watchful zeal to +advance the cause of learning which has been almost forgotten through +the negligence of our ancestors; and by our own example, we invite all +those who can, to master the studies of the liberal arts. In this +spirit, God aiding us, we have already carefully corrected all the books +of the Old and New Testaments, corrupted by the ignorance of the +copyists." + +[Illustration: An Example of the Style of Writing used in the Books of +Charlemagne's Time[50]] + +It seemed to Charlemagne that it was the duty of the Church not only to +look after the education of its own officers but to provide the +opportunity of at least an elementary education for the people at large. +In accordance with this conviction, he issued (789) an admonition to the +clergy to gather together the children both of freemen and serfs in +their neighborhood and establish schools "in which the boys may learn to +read."[51] + +[Sidenote: Establishment of monastery schools and the 'school of the +palace.'] + +It would be impossible to say how many of the innumerable abbots and +bishops established schools in accordance with Charlemagne's +recommendations. It is certain that famous centers of learning existed +at Tours, Fulda, Corbie, Orleans, and other places during his reign. +Charlemagne further promoted the cause of education by the establishment +of the famous "school of the palace" for the instruction of the sons of +his nobles and of his own children. He placed the Englishman, Alcuin, at +the head of the school, and called distinguished men from Italy and +elsewhere as teachers. The best known of these was the historian, Paulus +Diaconus, who wrote a history of the Lombards, to which we owe most of +what we know about them. + +Charlemagne appears to have been particularly impressed with the +constant danger of mistakes in copying books, a task frequently turned +over to ignorant and careless persons. After recommending the founding +of schools, he continues: "Correct carefully the Psalms, the signs used +in music, the [Latin] grammar, and the religious books used in every +monastery or bishopric; since those who desire to pray to God properly +often pray badly because of the incorrect books. And do not let your +boys misread or miswrite them. If there is any need to copy the Gospel, +Psalter or Missal, let men of maturity do the writing with great +diligence." These precautions were amply justified, for a careful +transmission of the literature of the past was as important as the +attention to education. It will be noted that Charlemagne made no +attempt to revive the learning of Greece and Rome. He deemed it quite +sufficient if the churchmen would learn their Latin well enough to read +the missal and the Bible intelligently. + +The hopeful beginning that was made under Charlemagne in the revival of +education and intellectual interest was destined to prove disappointing +in its immediate results. It is true that the ninth century produced a +few noteworthy men who have left works which indicate acuteness and +mental training. But the break-up of Charlemagne's empire, the struggles +between his descendants, the coming of new barbarians, and the disorder +caused by the unruly feudal lords, who were not inclined to recognize +any master, all conspired to keep the world back for at least two +centuries more. Indeed, the tenth and the first half of the eleventh +centuries seem, at first sight, little better than the seventh and +eighth. Yet ignorance and disorder never were quite so prevalent after, +as they were before, Charlemagne. + + + General Reading.--The best life of Charlemagne in English is + MOMBERT, _A History of Charles the Great_ (D.C. Appleton & Co., + $5.00). See also HODGKIN, _Charles the Great_ (The Macmillan + Company, 75 cents), and WEST, _Alcuin_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, + $1.00). + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE + + +[Sidenote: Louis the Pious succeeds Charlemagne.] + +35. It was a matter of great importance to the world whether +Charlemagne's extensive empire was, after his death, to remain one or to +fall apart. He himself appears to have had no expectation that it would +hold together, for in 806 he divided it up in a very arbitrary manner +among his three sons. We do not know whether he was led thus to undo his +life's work simply because the older tradition of a division among the +king's sons was as yet too strong to permit him to hand down all his +possessions to his eldest son, or because he believed it would be +impossible to keep together so vast and heterogeneous a realm. However +this may have been, the death of his two eldest sons left only Louis, +who succeeded his father both as king and emperor. + +[Sidenote: Partition of Charlemagne's empire among the sons of Louis the +Pious.] + +Louis the Pious had been on the throne but a few years before he took up +the all-important problem of determining what share each of his sons +should have in the empire after his death. As they were far too +ambitious to submit to the will of their father, we find no less than +six different partitions between the years 817 and 840. We cannot stop +to trace these complicated and transient arrangements, or the rebellions +of the undutiful sons, who set the worst possible example to the +ambitious and disorderly nobles. On the death of Louis the Pious, in +840, his second son, Louis the German, was in possession of Bavaria and +had at various times been recognized as ruler of most of those parts of +the empire now included in Germany. The youngest son, Charles the Bald, +had all the western portion of the Frankish possessions, while +Lothaire, the eldest, had been designated as emperor and ruled over +Italy and the district lying between the possessions of the younger +brothers. Charles and Louis promptly combined to resist the attempts of +Lothaire to assert his superiority as emperor, and defeated him at +Fontenay (841). The treaty of Verdun, which followed, is one of the most +memorable in the history of western Europe.[52] + +[Illustration: Map of Treaty of Verdun] + +[Sidenote: Treaty of Verdun, 843.] + +In the negotiations which led up to the treaty of Verdun there appears +to have been entire agreement among the three parties that Italy should +go to Lothaire, Aquitaine to Charles the Bald, and Bavaria to Louis the +German. The real difficulty lay in the disposal of the rest of the +empire. It seemed appropriate that the older brother, as emperor, should +have, in addition to Italy, the center of the Frankish dominions, +including the capital, Aix-la-Chapelle. A state of the most artificial +kind, extending from Rome to northern Holland, was thus created, which +had no natural unity of language or custom. Louis the German was +assigned, in addition to Bavaria, the country north of Lombardy and +westward to the Rhine. As for Charles the Bald, his realm included a +great part of what is France to-day, as well as the Spanish March and +Flanders. + +36. The great interest of the treaty of Verdun lies in the tolerably +definite appearance of a western and an eastern Frankish kingdom, one of +which was to become France and the other Germany. In the kingdom of +Charles the Bald the dialects spoken by the majority of the people were +derived directly from the spoken Latin, and in time developed into +Provençal and French. In the kingdom of Louis the German, on the other +hand, both people and language were German. The narrow strip of country +between these regions, which fell to Lothaire, came to be called +_Lotharii regnum_, or kingdom of Lothaire.[53] This name was perverted +in time into Lotharingia and, later, into Lorraine. It is interesting to +note that this territory has formed a part of the debatable middle +ground over which the French and Germans have struggled so obstinately +down to our own day. + +[Sidenote: The Strasburg oaths.] + +We have a curious and important evidence of the difference of language +just referred to, in the so-called Strasburg oaths (842). Just before +the settlement at Verdun, the younger brothers had found it advisable to +pledge themselves, in an especially solemn and public manner, to support +one another against the pretensions of Lothaire. First, each of the two +brothers addressed his soldiers in their own language, absolving them +from their allegiance to him should he desert his brother. Louis then +took the oath in what the chronicle calls the _lingua romana_, so that +his brother's soldiers might understand him, and Charles repeated his +oath in the _lingua teudisca_ for the benefit of Louis' soldiers.[54] +Fortunately the texts of both of these oaths have been preserved. They +are exceedingly interesting and important as furnishing our earliest +examples, except some lists of words, of the language spoken by the +common people, which was only just beginning to be written. Probably +German was very rarely written before this time, as all who could write +at all wrote in Latin. The same is true of the old Romance tongue (from +which modern French developed), which had already drifted far from the +Latin. + +[Illustration: Map of Treaty of Mersen] + +[Sidenote: New divisions of the empire corresponding to France, Germany, +and Italy.] + +37. When Lothaire died (855) he left Italy and the middle kingdom to his +three sons. By 870 two of these had died, and their uncles, Charles the +Bald and Louis the German, did not hesitate to appropriate the middle +kingdom and divide it between them by the treaty of Mersen. Italy was +left to Lothaire's only surviving son, together with the imperial crown, +which was to mean nothing, however, for a hundred years to come. The +result was that, as early as 870, western Europe was divided into three +great districts which corresponded with startling exactness to three +important states of modern Europe, i.e., France, Germany, and Italy. + +[Sidenote: The empire temporarily reunited under Charles the Fat.] + +Louis the German was succeeded in the East-Frankish kingdom by his son, +Charles the Fat. In 884, owing to the death of the sons and the +grandsons of Charles the Bald, there was no one to represent his line +except a child of five years. So the aristocracy of the West-Frankish +kingdom invited Charles the Fat to become their king. In this way it +came about that the whole empire of Charlemagne was reunited for two or +three years under a single ruler.[55] + +[Sidenote: Charles the Fat and the Northmen.] + +Charles the Fat was ill and proved an incompetent emperor, entirely +unequal to the serious task of governing and protecting his vast +territories. His weakness was especially shown in his pusillanimous +treaties with the Northmen. When Paris was making an heroic defense +against them under its count, Odo, Charles, instead of marching at the +head of an army to relieve it, agreed to pay the invaders seven hundred +pounds of silver if they would raise the siege. They were then permitted +to take up their winter quarters far inland, in Burgundy, where they +proceeded to burn and pillage at will. + +[Sidenote: Charles the Fat deposed and succeeded by Arnulf.] + +This degrading agreement so disgusted the West-Frankish nobility that +they were glad to join a conspiracy set on foot by Charles' nephew, the +brave Arnulf of Carinthia, who had resolved to supplant his inefficient +uncle. Charles was deposed and deserted by all his former supporters in +887. No one, except Napoleon, has ever again succeeded in bringing the +eastern, western, and southern parts of Charlemagne's empire under his +control, even for a brief period. Arnulf, although enjoying the title of +emperor, could scarcely hope to be recognized as king in all parts of +the Frankish empire. Even nominal unity was no longer possible. As one +of the chronicles of the time puts it, "While Arnulf was frittering away +his time, many little kingdoms grew up." + +[Sidenote: Origin of the kingdom of Burgundy, or Arles.] + +In the West-Frankish territory the nobility of the northern part chose +Odo, the hero of the siege of Paris, as their king; but in the south +another enterprising nobleman, Count Boso of Vienne, succeeded in +inducing the pope to crown him king of a certain district on the Rhone +which included Provence. Immediately after Boso's death a large +territory about the Lake of Geneva, which he had hoped to win for +himself, became a separate kingdom under its own ruler. This region and +that which Boso ruled to the south were later united into the kingdom of +Burgundy, or, as it is often called, Arles. + +Even before the deposition of Charles the Fat, many of the counts and +other important landowners began to take advantage of the weakness of +their king to establish themselves as the rulers of the districts about +them, although they did not assume the title of king. In the +East-Frankish kingdom the various German peoples whom Charlemagne had +managed to control, especially the Bavarians and Saxons, began to revive +their old national independence. In Italy the disruption was even more +marked than in the north.[57] + +[Sidenote: Causes of disruption.] + +[Sidenote: Poor roads.] + +38. It is clear, from what has been said, that none of the rulers into +whose hands the fragments of Charlemagne's empire fell, showed himself +powerful and skillful enough to govern properly a great territory like +that embraced in France or Germany to-day. The difficulties in the way +of establishing a well-regulated state, in the modern sense of the word, +were almost insurmountable. In the first place, it was well-nigh +impossible to keep in touch with all parts of a wide realm. The +wonderful roads which the Romans had built had generally fallen into +decay, for there was no longer a corps of engineers maintained by the +government to keep them up and repair the bridges. In those parts of +Charlemagne's possessions that lay beyond the confines of the old Roman +Empire, the impediments to travel must have been still worse than in +Gaul and on the Rhine; there not even the vestiges of Roman roads +existed. + +[Sidenote: Scarcity of money for paying government officers and +maintaining armies.] + +In addition to the difficulty of getting about, the king had to contend +with the scarcity of money in the Middle Ages. This prevented him from +securing the services of a great corps of paid officials, such as every +government finds necessary to-day. Moreover, it made it impossible for +him to support the standing army which would have been necessary to +suppress the constant insubordination of his officials and of the +powerful and restless nobility, whose chief interest in life was +fighting. + +[Sidenote: New invasions,--the Northmen, Slavs, Hungarians, and +Saracens.] + +The disintegration of the Frankish empire was hastened by the continued +invasions from all sides. From the north--Denmark, Norway, and +Sweden--came the Scandinavian pirates, the Northmen.[58] They were +skillful and daring seamen, who not only harassed the coast of the North +Sea, but made their way up the rivers, plundering and burning towns +inland as far as Paris. On the eastern boundary of the empire the +Germans were forced to engage in constant warfare with the Slavs. Before +long the Hungarians, a savage race, began their terrible incursions into +central Germany and northern Italy. From the south came the Saracens, +who had got possession of Sicily (in 827), and terrorized southern Italy +and France, even attacking Rome itself. + +[Sidenote: Growing power and independence of the great landed +proprietor.] + +39. In the absence of a powerful king with a well-organized army at his +back, each district was left to look out for itself. Doubtless many +counts, margraves, bishops, and other great landed proprietors who were +gradually becoming independent princes, earned the loyalty of the people +about them by taking the lead in defending the country against its +invaders and by establishing fortresses as places of refuge when the +community was hard pressed. These conditions serve to explain why such +government as continued to exist during the centuries following the +deposition of Charles the Fat was necessarily carried on mainly, not by +the king and his officers, but by the great landholders. The grim +fortresses of the mediæval lords, which appeared upon almost every point +of vantage throughout western Europe during the Middle Ages, would not +have been tolerated by the king, had he been powerful enough to destroy +them. They plainly indicate that their owners were practically +independent rulers. + +When the traveler in France or Germany comes upon the picturesque ruins +of a mediæval castle, perched upon some rocky cliff, accessible from one +side only, and commanding the surrounding country, he cannot but see +that those massive walls, with their towers and battlements, their moat +and drawbridge, were never intended as a dwelling place for the peaceful +household of a private citizen, but rather as the fortified palace of a +ruler. We can picture the great hall crowded with armed retainers, who +were ready to fight for the proprietor when he was disposed to attack a +neighboring lord, and who knew that below were the dungeons to which the +lord might send them if they ventured to rebel against his authority. + +[Illustration: Mediæval Fortress, showing Moat and Drawbridges] + +[Sidenote: The landed proprietor and the manor.] + +In order to understand the position of the mediæval noble and the origin +of feudalism we must consider the situation of the great landowners. A +large part of western Europe in the time of Charlemagne appears to have +been divided up into great estates, resembling the Roman villas. Just +how these originated we do not know. These estates, or _manors_, as they +were called, were cultivated mainly by serfs, who were bound to the land +and were under the control of its proprietor. They tilled such part of +the estate as the owner reserved for his own particular use, and +provided for his needs and their own without the necessity of buying +much from the outside. When we speak of a mediæval landowner we mean one +who held one or more of these manors, which served to support him and +left him free to busy himself fighting with other proprietors in the +same position as himself.[59] + +[Sidenote: Immunities.] + +It had been common even before Charlemagne's time to grant to +monasteries and churches, and even to individuals, an extraordinary +privilege which exempted their lands from the presence or visits of +government officials. No public officer with the power to hear cases, +exact fines, obtain lodging or entertainment for the king and his +followers when traveling about, or make requisitions of any kind, was to +enter the lands or villages belonging to the monastery or person +enjoying the _immunity_. These exemptions were evidently sought with a +view to getting rid of the exactions of the king's officials and +appropriating the various fines and fees, rather than with the purpose +of usurping governmental prerogatives. But the result was that the +monasteries or individuals who were thus freed from the requisitions of +the government were left to perform its functions,--not, however, as yet +in their own right, but as representatives of the king.[60] It is not +hard to see how those who enjoyed this privilege might, as the central +power weakened, become altogether independent. It is certain that a +great many landowners who had been granted no exemption from the +jurisdiction of the king's officers, and a great many of the officers +themselves, especially the counts and margraves, gradually broke away +altogether from the control of those above them and became the rulers of +the regions in which they lived. + +[Sidenote: Tendency to hereditary offices.] + +The counts were in a particularly favorable position to usurp for their +own benefit the powers which they were supposed to exercise for the +king. Charlemagne had chosen his counts and margraves in most cases from +the wealthy and distinguished families of his realms. As he had little +money, he generally rewarded their services by grants of estates, which +only served to increase their independence. They gradually came to look +upon their office and their land as private property, and they were +naturally disposed to hand it on to their sons after them. Charlemagne +had been able to keep control of his agents by means of the _missi_. +After his death his system fell into disuse and it became increasingly +difficult to get rid of inefficient or rebellious officers. + +[Sidenote: Forces opposed to disruption, viz., partial survival of royal +authority and feudalism.] + +Yet we must not infer that the state ceased to exist altogether during +the centuries of confusion that followed the break-up of Charlemagne's +empire, or that it fell entirely apart into little local governments +independent of each other. In the first place, a king always retained +some of his ancient majesty. He might be weak and without the means to +enforce his rights and to compel his more powerful subjects to meet +their obligations toward him. Yet he was, after all, the _king_, +solemnly anointed by the Church as God's representative on earth. He was +always something more than a feudal lord. The kings were destined to get +the upper hand before many centuries in England, France, and Spain, and +finally in Italy and Germany, and to destroy the castles behind whose +walls their haughty nobles had long defied the royal power. + +[Sidenote: Feudalism.] + +In the second place, the innumerable independent landowners were held +together by _feudalism_. One who had land to spare granted a portion of +it to another person on condition that the one receiving the land should +swear to be true to him and perform certain services,--such as fighting +for him, giving him counsel, and lending aid when he was in particular +difficulties. In this way the relation of lord and vassal originated. +All lords were vassals either of the king or of other lords, and +consequently all were bound together by solemn engagements to be loyal +to one another and care for one another's interests. Feudalism served +thus as a sort of substitute for the state. Private arrangements between +one landowner and another took the place of the weakened bond between +the subject and his king. + +The feudal form of government and the feudal system of holding land are +so different from anything with which we are now familiar that it is +difficult for us to understand them. Yet unless we do understand them, a +great part of the history of Europe during the past thousand years will +be well-nigh meaningless.[61] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FEUDALISM + + +[Sidenote: Feudalism the outgrowth of prevailing conditions and earlier +customs.] + +40. Feudalism was the natural outcome of the peculiar conditions which +prevailed in western Europe during the ninth and tenth centuries. Its +chief elements were not, however, newly invented or discovered at that +period but were only combined in order to meet the demands of the times. +It will be well, therefore, to consider briefly those customs in the +later Roman Empire and among the invading Germans which suggest (1) the +habit of the mediæval landowner of granting his land to others in such a +way that, while he retained the title, they became, to most intents and +purposes, the real owners; and (2) the relation of lord and vassal. + +[Sidenote: Conditions of landholding in the later Roman Empire.] + +[Sidenote: The _beneficium_.] + +We have seen how, before the barbarian inroads, the small landowners in +the Roman Empire had often found it to their advantage to give up the +title to their land to more powerful neighboring proprietors.[62] The +scarcity of labor was such that the new owner, while extending the +protection of his name over the land, was glad to permit the former +owner to continue to till it, rent free, much as if it still belonged to +him. With the invasions of the barbarians the lot of the defenseless +small landholder became worse. He had a new resource, however, in the +monasteries. The monks were delighted to accept any real estate which +the owner--for the good of his soul and to gain the protection of the +saint to whom the monastery church was dedicated--felt moved to turn +over to them on the understanding that the abbot should permit the +former owner to continue to cultivate his fields. Though he no longer +owned the land, he still enjoyed its products and had only to pay a +trifling sum each year in recognition of the monastery's ownership.[63] +The use, or _usufruct_, of the land which was thus granted by the +monastery to its former owner was called a _beneficium_. The same term +was applied to the numerous grants which churches made from their vast +possessions for limited periods and upon various conditions. We also +find the Frankish kings and other great landowners disposing of their +lands in a similar fashion. The _beneficium_ forms the first stage in +the development of mediæval landowning. + +[Sidenote: The origin of the relationship of lord and vassal.] + +Side by side with the _beneficium_ grew up another institution which +helps to explain the relation of lord and vassal in later times. Under +the later Roman Empire the freeman who owned no land and found himself +unable to gain a living might become the dependent of some rich and +powerful neighbor, who agreed to feed, clothe, and protect him on +condition that he should engage to be faithful to his patron, "love all +that he loved and shun all that he shunned."[64] + +[Sidenote: The _comitatus_.] + +The invading Germans had a custom that so closely resembled this Roman +one that scholars have found it impossible to decide whether we should +attribute more influence to the Roman or to the German institution in +the development of feudalism. We learn from Tacitus that the young +German warriors were in the habit of pledging their fidelity to a +popular chieftain, who agreed to support his faithful followers if they +would fight at his side. The _comitatus_, as Tacitus named this +arrangement, was not regarded by the Germans as a mere business +transaction, but was looked upon as honorable alike to lord and man. +Like the later relation of vassal and lord, it was entered upon with a +solemn ceremony and the bond of fidelity was sanctioned by an oath. The +obligations of mutual aid and support established between the leader and +his followers were considered most sacred. + +[Sidenote: Combination of the _comitatus_ and the _beneficium_ produces +feudal land tenure.] + +While there was a great difference between the homeless and destitute +fellow who became the humble client of a rich Roman landowner, and the +noble young German warrior who sat at the board of a distinguished +military leader, both of these help to account for the later feudal +arrangement by which one person became the "man," or faithful and +honorable dependent, of another. When, after the death of Charlemagne, +men began to combine the idea of the _comitatus_ with the idea of the +_beneficium_, and to grant the usufruct of parcels of their land on +condition that the grantee should be true, loyal, and helpful to them, +that is, become their _vassal_, we may consider that the feudal system +of landowning was coming into existence.[65] + +[Sidenote: Gradual development of feudalism.] + +[Sidenote: The fief.] + +[Sidenote: Infeudation and subinfeudation.] + +[Sidenote: Vassal and subvassal.] + +41. Feudalism was not established by any decree of a king or in virtue +of any general agreement between all the landowners. It grew up +gradually and irregularly without any conscious plan on any one's part, +simply because it seemed convenient and natural under the circumstances. +The owner of vast estates found it to his advantage to parcel them out +among vassals who agreed to accompany him to war, attend his court, +guard his castle upon occasion, and assist him when he was put to any +unusually great expense. Land granted upon the terms mentioned was said +to be "infeudated" and was called a _fief_. One who held a fief might +himself become a lord by granting a portion of his fief to a vassal upon +terms similar to those upon which he held of his lord or suzerain.[66] +This was called _subinfeudation_, and the vassal of a vassal was called +a _subvassal_ or _subtenant_. There was still another way in which the +number of vassals was increased. The owners of small estates were +usually in a defenseless condition, unable to protect themselves against +the insolence of the great nobles. They consequently found it to their +advantage to put their land into the hands of a neighboring lord and +receive it back from him as a fief. They thus became his vassals and +could call upon him for protection. + +It is apparent, from what has been said, that, all through the Middle +Ages, feudalism continued to grow, as it were, "from the top and bottom +and in the middle all at once." (1) Great landowners carved out new +fiefs from their domains and granted them to new vassals. (2) Those who +held small tracts brought them into the feudal relation by turning them +over to a lord or monastery, whose vassals they became. (3) Finally any +lord might subinfeudate portions of his estate by granting them as fiefs +to those whose fidelity or services he wished to secure. By the +thirteenth century it had become the rule in France that there should be +"no land without its lord." This corresponded pretty closely to the +conditions which existed at that period throughout the whole of western +Europe. + +[Sidenote: The hereditary character of fiefs and its consequences.] + +It is essential to observe that the fief, unlike the _beneficium_, was +not granted for a certain number of years, or for the life of the +grantee, to revert at his death to the owner. On the contrary, it became +hereditary in the family of the vassal and passed down to the eldest son +from one generation to another. So long as the vassal remained faithful +to his lord and performed the stipulated services, and his successors +did homage and continued to meet the conditions upon which the fief had +originally been granted, neither the lord nor his heirs could rightfully +regain possession of the land. No precise date can be fixed at which it +became customary to make fiefs hereditary; it is safe, however, to say +that it was the rule in the tenth century.[67] + +The kings and great nobles perceived clearly enough the disadvantage of +losing control of their lands by permitting them to become hereditary +property in the families of their vassals. But the feeling that what the +father had enjoyed should pass to his children, who, otherwise, would +ordinarily have been reduced to poverty, was so strong that all +opposition on the part of the lord proved vain. The result was that +little was left to the original and still nominal owner of the fief +except the services and dues to which the practical owner, the vassal, +had agreed in receiving it. In short, the fief came really to belong to +the vassal, and only a shadow of his former proprietorship remained in +the hands of the lord. Nowadays the owner of land either makes some use +of it himself or leases it for a definite period at a fixed money rent. +But in the Middle Ages most of the land was held by those who neither +really owned it nor paid a regular rent for it and yet who could not be +deprived of it by the original owner or his successors. + +[Sidenote: Subvassals of the king not under his control.] + +Obviously the great vassals who held directly of the king became almost +independent of him as soon as their fiefs were granted to them in +perpetuity. Their vassals, since they stood in no feudal relation to the +king, escaped the royal control altogether. From the ninth to the +thirteenth century the king of France or the king of Germany did not +rule over a great realm occupied by subjects who owed him obedience as +their lawful sovereign, paid him taxes, and were bound to fight under +his banner as the head of the state. As a feudal landlord himself, he +had a right to demand fidelity and certain services from those who were +his vassals. But the great mass of the people over whom he nominally +ruled, whether they belonged to the nobility or not, owed little to the +king directly, because they lived upon the lands of other feudal lords +more or less independent of him. + +Enough has been said of the gradual and irregular growth of feudalism to +make it clear that complete uniformity in feudal customs could hardly +exist within the bounds of even a small kingdom, much less throughout +the countries of western Europe. Yet there was a remarkable resemblance +between the institutions of France, England, and Germany, so that a +description of the chief features of feudalism in France, where it was +highly developed, will serve as a key to the general situation in all +the countries we are studying. + +[Sidenote: The fief the central institution of feudalism.] + +[Sidenote: Homage.] + +42. The fief (Latin, _feudum_) was the central institution of feudalism +and the one from which it derives its name. In the commonest acceptance +of the word, the fief was land, the perpetual use of which was granted +by its owner, or holder, to another person, on condition that the one +receiving it should become his vassal. The one proposing to become a +vassal knelt before the lord and rendered him _homage_[68] by placing +his hands between those of the lord and declaring himself the lord's +"man" for such and such a fief. Thereupon the lord gave his vassal the +kiss of peace and raised him from his kneeling posture. Then the vassal +took the oath of fidelity upon the Bible, or some holy relic, solemnly +binding himself to fulfill all his duties toward his lord. This act of +rendering homage by placing the hands in those of the lord and taking +the oath of fidelity was the first and most essential obligation of the +vassal and constituted the _feudal bond_. For a vassal to refuse to do +homage for his fief when it changed hands, was equivalent to a +declaration of revolt and independence. + +[Sidenote: Obligations of the vassal. Military service.] + +[Sidenote: Money fiefs.] + +The obligations of the vassal varied greatly.[69] Sometimes homage meant +no more than that the vassal bound himself not to attack or injure his +lord in honor or estate, or oppose his interests in any other manner. +The vassal was expected to join his lord when there was a military +expedition on foot, although it was generally the case that the vassal +need not serve at his own expense for more than forty days. The rules, +too, in regard to the length of time during which a vassal might be +called upon to guard the castle of his lord varied almost infinitely. +The shorter periods of military service proved very inconvenient to the +lord. Consequently it became common in the thirteenth century for the +king and the more important nobles to secure a body of soldiers upon +whom they could rely at any time, and for any length of time, by +creating money fiefs. A certain income was granted to a knight upon +condition that the grantee should not only become a vassal of the lord +but should also agree to fight for him whenever it was necessary. + +[Sidenote: Other feudal obligations.] + +[Sidenote: Money payments.] + + +Besides the military service due from the vassal to his lord, he was +expected to attend the lord's court when summoned. There he sat with +other vassals to hear and pronounce upon those cases in which his +peers--i.e., his fellow-vassals--were involved.[70] Moreover, he had to +give the lord the benefit of his counsel when required, and attend him +upon solemn occasions. Under certain circumstances vassals had to make +money payments to their lord, as well as serve him in person; as, for +instance, when the fief changed hands through the death of the lord or +of the vassal, when the fief was alienated, when the lord was put to +extra expense by the necessity of knighting his eldest son or providing +a dowry for his daughter, or when he was in captivity and was held for a +ransom. Lastly, the vassal might have to entertain his lord should the +lord come his way. There are amusingly detailed accounts, in some of the +feudal contracts, of exactly how often the lord might come, how many +followers he might bring, and what he should have to eat. + +[Illustration: A Mediæval Castle near Klagenfurt, Austria] + +[Sidenote: Different classes of fiefs.] + +There were fiefs of all kinds and of all grades of importance, from that +of a duke or count, who held directly of the king and exercised the +powers of a practically independent prince, down to the holding of the +simple knight, whose bit of land, cultivated by peasants or serfs, was +barely sufficient to enable him to support himself and provide the horse +upon which he rode to perform his military service for his lord. + +[Sidenote: The nobility.] + +[Sidenote: Their privileges.] + +In order to rank as a noble in mediæval society it was, in general, +necessary to be the holder of land for which only such services were due +as were considered honorable, and none of those which it was customary +for the peasant or serf to perform. The noble must, moreover, be a free +man and have at least sufficient income to maintain himself and his +horse without any sort of labor. The nobles enjoyed certain privileges +which set them off from the non-noble classes. Many of these privileges +were perpetuated in France, and elsewhere on the continent, down to the +time of the French Revolution, and in Italy and Germany, into the +nineteenth century. The most conspicuous privilege was a partial +exemption from taxation. + +[Sidenote: Difficulty of classifying the nobles.] + +It is natural to wish to classify the nobility and to ask just what was +the difference, for example, between a duke, a count, and a marquis. +Unfortunately there was no fixed classification, at least before the +thirteenth century. A count, for instance, might be a very inconspicuous +person, having a fief no larger than the county of Charlemagne's time, +or he might possess a great many of the older counties and rank in power +with a duke. In general, however, it may be said that the dukes, counts, +bishops, and abbots who held directly from the king were of the highest +rank. Next to them came an intermediate class of nobles of the second +order, generally subvassals of the king, and below these the simple +knights. + +[Sidenote: Feudal registers.] + +43. The great complexity of the feudal system of land tenure made it +necessary for the feudal lords to keep careful registers of their +possessions. Very few of these registers have been preserved, but we are +so fortunate as to have one of the count of Champagne, dating from the +early thirteenth century. This gives us an idea of what feudalism really +was in practice, and shows how impossible it is to make a satisfactory +map of any country during the feudal period. + +[Illustration: Fiefs and Suzerains of the Counts of Champagne] + +[Sidenote: Growth of the possessions of the counts of Champagne typical +of the period.] + +At the opening of the tenth century we find in the chronicles of the +time an account of a certain ambitious count of Troyes, Robert by name, +who died in 923 while trying to wrest the crown of France from Charles +the Simple. His county passed to his son-in-law, who already held, among +other possessions, the counties of Château-Thierry and Meaux. His son, +in turn, inherited all three counties and increased his dominions by +judicious usurpations. This process of gradual aggrandizement went on +for generation after generation, until there came to be a compact +district under the control of the counts of Champagne, as they began to +call themselves at the opening of the twelfth century. It was in this +way that the feudal states in France and Germany grew up. Certain lines +of feudal lords showed themselves able, partly by craft and violence, +and partly, doubtless, by good fortune, to piece together a considerable +district, in much the same way as we shall find that the king of France +later pieced together France itself. + +[Sidenote: The register of the counts of Champagne illustrates the +complexity of feudal relations.] + +The register referred to above shows that the feudal possessions of the +counts of Champagne were divided into twenty-six districts, each of +which centered about a strong castle. We may infer that these divisions +bore some close relation to the original counties which the counts of +Champagne had succeeded in bringing together. All these districts were +held as fiefs of other lords. For the greater number of his fiefs the +count rendered homage to the king of France, but he was the vassal of no +less than nine other lords beside the king. A portion of his lands, +including probably his chief town of Troyes, he held of the duke of +Burgundy. Châtillon, Épernay, and some other towns, he held as the "man" +of the Archbishop of Rheims. He was also the vassal of the Archbishop of +Sens, of four other neighboring bishops, and of the abbot of the great +monastery of St. Denis. To all of these persons he had pledged himself +to be faithful and true, and when his various lords fell out with one +another it must have been difficult to see where his duty lay. Yet his +situation was similar to that of all important feudal lords. + +The chief object, however, of the register was to show not what the +count owed to others but what his own numerous vassals owed to him. It +appears that he subinfeudated his lands and his various sources of +income to no less than two thousand vassal knights. The purpose of the +register is to record the terms upon which each of these knights held +his fief. Some simply rendered the count homage, some agreed to serve +him in war for a certain length of time each year, others to guard his +castle for specified periods. A considerable number of the vassals of +the count held lands of other lords, there being nothing to prevent a +subvassal from accepting a fief directly from the king, or from any +other neighboring noble landholder. So it happened that several of the +vassals of the counts of Champagne held of the same persons of whom the +count himself held. + +[Sidenote: The infeudation of other things than land.] + +It is evident that the counts of Champagne were not contented with the +number of vassals that they secured by subinfeudating their land. The +same homage might be rendered for a fixed income, or for a certain +number of bushels of oats to be delivered each year by the lord, as for +the use of land. So money, houses, wheat, oats, wine, chickens, were +infeudated, and even half the bees which might be found in a particular +forest. It would seem to us the simpler way to have hired soldiers +outright, but in the thirteenth century the traditions of feudalism were +so strong that it seemed natural to make vassals of those whose aid was +desired. The mere promise of a money payment would not have been +considered sufficiently binding. The feudal bond of homage served to +make the contract firmer than it would otherwise have been. + +[Illustration: The arrow indicates a lord of whom the vassal held one or +more fiefs.] + +It is clear, then, that no such regular hierarchy existed as some +historians have imagined, beginning with the king and ending with the +humblest knight included in the feudal aristocracy. The fact that +vassals often held of a number of different lords made the feudal +relations infinitely complex. The diagram on page 115, while it may not +exactly correspond to the situation at any given moment, will serve to +illustrate this complexity. + +[Sidenote: The feudal system maintained only by force.] + +44. Should one confine one's studies of feudalism to the rules laid down +by the feudal lawyers and the careful descriptions of the exact duties +of the vassal which are to be found in the contracts of the period, one +might conclude that everything had been so minutely and rigorously fixed +as to render the feudal bond sufficient to maintain order and liberty. +But one has only to read a chronicle of the time to discover that, in +reality, brute force governed almost everything outside of the Church. +The feudal obligations were not fulfilled except when the lord was +sufficiently powerful to enforce them. The bond of vassalage and +fidelity, which was the sole principle of order, was constantly broken +and faith was violated by both vassal and lord.[71] + +[Sidenote: The breaking of the feudal bond.] + +It often happened that a vassal was discontented with his lord and +transferred his allegiance to another. This he had a right to do under +certain circumstances, as, for instance, when his lord refused to see +that justice was done him in his court. But such changes were generally +made merely for the sake of the advantages which the faithless vassal +hoped to gain. The records of the time are full of accounts of refusal +to do homage, which was the commonest way in which the feudal bond was +broken. So soon as a vassal felt himself strong enough to face his +lord's displeasure, or realized that the lord was a helpless minor, he +was apt to declare his independence by refusing to recognize the feudal +superiority of the one from whom he had received his land. + +[Sidenote: War the law of the feudal world.] + +We may say that war, in all its forms, was the law of the feudal world. +War formed the chief occupation of the restless aristocracy who held the +land and exercised the governmental control. The inveterate habits of a +military race, the discord provoked by ill-defined rights or by +self-interest and covetousness, all led to constant bloody struggles in +which each lord had for his enemies all those about him. An enterprising +vassal was likely to make war at least once, first, upon each of his +several lords; secondly, upon the bishops and abbots with whom he was +brought into contact, and whose control he particularly disliked; +thirdly, upon his fellow-vassals; and lastly, upon his own vassals. The +feudal bonds, instead of offering a guarantee of peace and concord, +appear to have been a constant cause of violent conflict. Every one was +bent upon profiting by the permanent or temporary weakness of his +neighbor. This chronic dissension extended even to members of the same +family; the son, anxious to enjoy a part of his heritage immediately, +warred against his father, younger brothers against older, and nephews +against uncles who might seek to deprive them of their rights. + +In theory, the lord could force his vassals to settle their disputes in +an orderly and righteous manner before his court. But often he was +neither able nor inclined to bring about a peaceful adjustment, and he +would frequently have found it embarrassing to enforce the decisions of +his own court. So the vassals were left to fight out their quarrels +among themselves and found their chief interest in life in so doing. War +was practically sanctioned by law. The great French code of laws of the +thirteenth century and the Golden Bull, a most important body of law +drawn up for Germany in 1356, did not prohibit neighborhood war, but +merely provided that it should be conducted in a decent and gentlemanly +way. + +[Sidenote: Tourneys and jousts.] + +The jousts, or tourneys, were military exercises--play wars--to fill out +the tiresome periods which occasionally intervened between real +wars.[72] They were, in fact, diminutive battles in which whole troops +of hostile nobles sometimes took part. These rough plays called down the +condemnation of the popes and councils, and even of the kings. The +latter, however, were too fond of the sport themselves not to forget +promptly their own prohibitions.[73] + +[Sidenote: Disastrous effects of feudal warfare generally recognized.] + +[Sidenote: The 'Truce of God.'] + +45. The disastrous nature of the perpetual feudal warfare and the +necessity of some degree of peace and order, had already become apparent +even as early as the eleventh century. In spite of all the turmoil, +mankind was making progress. Commerce and enlightenment were increasing +in the older towns and preparing the way for the development of new +ones. Those engaged in peaceful pursuits could not but find the +prevailing disorder intolerable. The Church was untiring, as it was +fitting that it should be, in its efforts to secure peace; and nothing +redounds more to the honor of the bishops than the "Truce of God." This +prohibited all hostilities from Thursday night until Monday morning, as +well as upon all of the numerous fast days.[74] The church councils and +the bishops required the feudal lords to take an oath to observe the +weekly truce, and, by means of the dreaded penalty of excommunication, +met with some success. With the opening of the Crusades in 1096, the +popes undertook to effect a general pacification by diverting the +prevailing warlike spirit against the Turks. + +At the same time the king, in France and England at least, was becoming +a power that made for order in the modern sense of the word. He +endeavored to prevent the customary resort to arms to settle every sort +of difficulty between rival vassals. By increasing the military force +that he had at his command he compelled the submission of cases of +dispute to his tribunals. But even St. Louis (d. 1270), who made the +greatest efforts to secure peace, did not succeed in accomplishing his +end. The gradual bettering of conditions was due chiefly to general +progress and to the development of commerce and industry, which made the +bellicose aristocracy more and more intolerable. + + + General Reading.--The older accounts of feudalism, such as that + given by Guizot or Hallam, should be avoided as the reader is + likely to be misled by them. The earlier writers appear, from the + standpoint of recent investigations, to have been seriously + mistaken upon many important points. In French, LUCHAIRE, _Manuel + des Institutions Françaises_ (Hachette & Co., Paris, $3.00), and + ESMEIN, _Cours Élémentaire d'Histoire du Droit Français_ ($2.00), + are excellent. + + In English there is EMERTON'S Chapter XIV on "Feudal Institutions" + in his _Mediæval Europe_, and ADAMS, _Civilization_, Chapter IX, + devoted especially to the origin of feudalism. CHEYNEY gives a + selection of documents relating to the subject in _Translations and + Reprints_, Vol. IV, No. 3. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCE + + +[Sidenote: Importance of studying the beginnings of the modern European +states.] + +46. There is no more interesting or important phase of mediæval history +than the gradual emergence of the modern national state from the feudal +anarchy into which the great empire of Charlemagne fell during the +century after his death. No one should flatter himself that he has +grasped the elements of the history of western Europe unless he can +trace in a clear, if general, way the various stages by which the states +which appear now upon the map of Europe--the French republic, the German +Empire, Austria-Hungary, and the kingdoms of Italy, Great Britain, and +Spain--have grown out of the disorganized Europe of the ninth century. + +It might be inferred from what has been said in the preceding chapters +that the political history of western Europe during the two or three +centuries following the deposition of Charles the Fat was really only +the history of innumerable feudal lords. Yet even if the kings of +mediæval Europe were sometimes less powerful than some of their mighty +subjects, still their history is more important than that of their +vassals. It was the kings, and not their rivals, the dukes and counts, +who were to win in the long run and to establish national governments in +the modern sense of the term. It was about them that the great European +states, especially France, Spain, and England, grew up. + +[Sidenote: Struggle between the Carolingians and the house of Odo.] + +As we have seen, the aristocracy of the northern part of the +West-Frankish kingdom chose (in 888) as their king, in place of the +incompetent Charles the Fat, the valiant Odo, Count of Paris, Blois, +and Orleans. He was a powerful lord and held extensive domains besides +the regions he ruled as count. But, in spite of his advantageous +position, he found it impossible to exert any real power in the southern +part of his kingdom. Even in the north he met with constant opposition, +for the nobles who elected him had no idea of permitting him to +interfere much with their independence. Charles the Simple, the only +surviving grandson of Charles the Bald,[75] was eventually elected king +by a faction opposed to Odo. + +[Sidenote: Election of Hugh Capet, the first of the Capetians, 987-996.] + +For a hundred years the crown passed back and forth between the family +of Odo and that of Charlemagne. The counts of Paris were rich and +capable, while the later Carolingians were poor and unfortunate. The +latter finally succumbed to their powerful rivals, who definitely took +possession of the throne in 987, when Hugh Capet was elected king of the +Gauls, Bretons, Normans, Aquitanians, Goths, Spaniards, and Gascons,--in +short, of all those peoples who were to be welded, under Hugh's +successors, into the great French nation. + +[Sidenote: The West-Frankish kingdom comes to be called France.] + +Hugh inherited from his ancestors the title of Duke of France, which +they had enjoyed as the military representatives of the later +Carolingian kings in "France," which was originally a district north of +the Seine. Gradually the name France came to be applied to all the +dominions which the dukes of France ruled as kings. We shall hereafter +speak of the West-Frankish kingdom as France. + +[Sidenote: Difficulty of establishing the royal power.] + +It must not be forgotten, however, that it required more than two +centuries after Hugh's accession for the French kings to create a real +kingdom which should include even half the territory embraced in the +France of to-day. For almost two hundred years the Capetians made little +or no progress toward real kingly power. In fact, matters went from bad +to worse. Even the region which they were supposed to control as +counts--their so-called _domain_--melted away in their hands. +Everywhere hereditary lines of usurping rulers sprang up whom it was +impossible to exterminate after they had once taken root. The Capetian +territory bristled with hostile castles, permanent obstacles to commerce +between the larger towns and intolerable plagues to the country people. +In short, the king of France, in spite of the dignity of his title, no +longer dared to move about his own narrow domain. He to whom the most +powerful lords owed homage could not venture out of Paris without +encountering fortresses constructed by noble brigands, who were the +terror alike of priest, merchant, and laborer. Without money or +soldiers, royalty vegetated within its diminished patrimony. It retained +a certain prestige in distant fiefs situated on the confines of the +realm and in foreign lands, but at home it was neither obeyed nor +respected. The enemy's lands began just outside the capital.[76] + +[Sidenote: Formation of small independent states in France.] + +47. The tenth century was the period when the great fiefs of Normandy, +Brittany, Flanders, and Burgundy took form. These, and the fiefs into +which the older duchy of Aquitaine fell, developed into little nations, +each under its line of able rulers. Each had its own particular customs +and culture, some traces of which may still be noted by the traveler in +France. These little feudal states were created by certain families of +nobles who possessed exceptional energy or statesmanship. By conquest, +purchase, or marriage, they increased the number of their fiefs. By +promptly destroying the castles of those who refused to meet their +obligations, they secured their control over their vassals. By granting +fiefs of land or money to subvassals, they gained new dependents. + +[Sidenote: Normandy.] + +Of these subnations none was more important or interesting than +Normandy. The Northmen had been the scourge of those who lived near the +North Sea for many years before one of their leaders, Rollo (or Hrolf), +agreed to accept from Charles the Simple (in 911) a district on the +coast, north of Brittany, where he and his followers might peacefully +settle. Rollo assumed the title of Duke of the Normans and introduced +the Christian religion among his people. For a considerable time the +newcomers kept up their Scandinavian traditions and language. Gradually, +however, they appropriated such culture as their neighbors possessed, +and by the twelfth century their capital, Rouen, was one of the most +enlightened cities of Europe. Normandy became a source of infinite +perplexity to the French kings when, in 1066, Duke William the Conqueror +added England to his possessions; for he thereby became so powerful that +his suzerain could hardly hope to control the Norman dukes any longer. + +[Sidenote: Brittany.] + +The isolated peninsula of Brittany, inhabited by a Celtic people of the +same race as the early inhabitants of Britain, had been particularly +subject to the attacks of the Scandinavian pirates. It seemed at one +time as if the district would become an appendage of Normandy. But in +938 a certain valiant Alain of the Twisted Beard arose to deliver it +from the oppression of the strangers. The Normans were driven out, and +feudalism replaced the older tribal organization in what was hereafter +to be called the duchy of Brittany. It was not until the opening of the +sixteenth century that this became a part of the French monarchy. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the Flemish towns.] + +The pressure of the Northmen had an important result in the low +countries between the Somme and the Scheldt. The inhabitants were driven +to repair and seek shelter in the old Roman fortifications. They thus +became accustomed to living in close community, and it was in this way +that the Flemish towns--Ghent, Bruges, etc.--originated, which became in +time famous centers of industry and trade. The founders of the great +families of the district first gained their influence in defending the +country against the Scandinavian pirates. The counts of Flanders aspired +to rule the region, but the lesser counts within their territory were +pretty independent of them; so private wars were frequent and bloody. + +[Sidenote: Burgundy.] + +Burgundy is a puzzling name because it is applied to several different +parts of the territory once included in the kingdom founded by the +Burgundians, which Clovis made tributary to his expanding Frankish +kingdom. Toward the end of the ninth century we first hear of a _duke_ +of Burgundy as being appointed military representative of the king (as +all dukes originally were) in a large district west of the Saône. The +dukes of Burgundy never succeeded in establishing sufficient control +over their vassals to render themselves independent, and consequently +they always freely recognized the sovereignty of the French kings. We +shall meet the name Burgundy later. + +[Sidenote: Possessions of the duke of Aquitaine and of the counts of +Toulouse and Champagne.] + +The ancient duchy of Aquitaine (later Guienne), including a large part +of what is now central and southern France, was abolished in 877, but +the title of Duke of Aquitaine was conferred by the king upon a certain +family of feudal lords, who gradually extended their power over Gascony +and northward. To the southeast, the counts of Toulouse had begun to +consolidate a little state which was to be the seat of the extraordinary +literature of the troubadours. The county of Champagne has already been +considered in the discussion of feudalism. + +This completes the survey of the countries over which Hugh Capet and his +immediate successors strove to rule. All those districts to the east of +the Saône and the Rhone which now form a part of France were amalgamated +(in 933) into the kingdom of Arles, or Burgundy,[77] which in 1032 fell +into the hands of the German king. + +[Sidenote: Complicated position of the Capetian kings.] + +48. The position of the Capetian rulers was a complicated one. As counts +of Paris, Orleans, etc., they enjoyed the ordinary rights of a feudal +lord; as dukes of France, they might exercise a vague control over the +district north of the Seine; as suzerains of the great feudal +princes,--the duke of Normandy, the counts of Flanders, Champagne, and +the rest,--they might require homage and certain feudal services from +these great personages. But besides all these rights as feudal lords +they had other rights as kings. They were crowned and consecrated by the +Church, as Pippin and Charlemagne had been. They thus became, by God's +appointment, the protectors of the Church and the true fountain of +justice for all who were oppressed or in distress throughout their +realms. Therefore they were on a higher plane in the eyes of the people +than any of the great vassals. Besides the homage of their vassals, they +exacted an oath of fidelity from all whom they could reach. + +The great vassals, on the other hand, acted on the theory that the king +was simply their feudal lord. As for the king himself, he accepted both +views of his position and made use both of the older theory of kingship +and of his feudal suzerainty to secure more and more control over his +realms. For over three hundred years the direct male line of the +Capetians never once failed. It rarely happened, moreover, that the +crown was left in the weak hands of a child. By the opening of the +fourteenth century there was no doubt that the king, and not the feudal +lords, was destined to prevail. + +[Sidenote: Louis the Fat, 1108-1137.] + +[Sidenote: Philip Augustus, 1180-1223.] + +The first of the kings of France to undertake with success the serious +task of conquering his own duchy was Louis the Fat (1108-1137). He was +an active soldier and strove to keep free the means of communication +between the different centers of his somewhat scattered feudal domains +and to destroy the power of the usurping castellans in his fortresses. +But he made only a beginning; it was reserved for his famous grandson, +Philip Augustus (1180-1223), to make the duchy of France into a real +kingdom. + +[Sidenote: The Plantagenets in France.] + +[Sidenote: Henry II.] + +49. Philip had a far more difficult problem to face than any of the +preceding kings of his house. Before his accession a series of those +royal marriages which until recently exercised so great an influence +upon political history, had brought most of the great fiefs of central, +western, and southern France into the hands of the king of England, +Henry II, who now ruled over the most extensive realm in western Europe. +Henry II was the son of William the Conqueror's granddaughter +Matilda,[78] who had married one of the great vassals of the French +kings, the count of Anjou and Maine.[79] Henry, therefore, inherited +through his mother all the possessions of the Norman kings of +England,--namely, England, the duchy of Normandy, and the suzerainty +over Brittany,--and through his father the counties of Maine and Anjou. +Lastly, through his own marriage with Eleanor, the heiress of the dukes +of Guienne (as Aquitaine was now called), he possessed himself of pretty +much all of southern France, including Poitou and Gascony. Henry II, in +spite of his great importance in English history, was as much French as +English, both by birth and sympathies, and gave more than half his time +and attention to his French possessions. + +[Sidenote: Philip and the Plantagenets.] + +It thus came about that the king of France suddenly found a new and +hostile state, under an able and energetic ruler, erected upon his +western borders. It included more than half the territory in which he +was recognized as king. The chief business of Philip's life was an +incessant war upon the Plantagenets, in which he was constantly aided by +the strife among his enemies themselves. Henry II divided his French +possessions among his three sons, Geoffrey, Richard, and John, +delegating to them such government as existed. Philip took advantage of +the constant quarrels of the brothers among themselves and with their +father. He espoused, in turn, the cause of Richard the Lion-Hearted +against his father, of John Lackland, the youngest brother, against +Richard, and so on. Without these family discords the powerful monarchy +of the Plantagenets might have annihilated the royal house of France, +whose narrow dominions it closed in and threatened on all sides. + +[Sidenote: Richard the Lion-Hearted.] + +So long as Henry II lived there was little chance of expelling the +Plantagenets or of greatly curtailing their power, but with the +accession of his reckless son, Richard I, called the Lion-Hearted,[80] +the prospects of the French king brightened wonderfully. Richard left +his kingdom to take care of itself, while he went upon a crusade to the +Holy Land. He persuaded Philip to join him, but Richard was too +overbearing and masterful, and Philip too ambitious, to make it possible +for them to agree for long. The king of France, who was physically +delicate, was taken ill and was glad of the excuse to return home and +brew trouble for his powerful vassal. When Richard himself returned, +after several years of romantic but fruitless adventure, he found +himself involved in a war with Philip, in the midst of which he died. + +[Sidenote: John loses the French possessions of his house.] + +Richard's younger brother, John, who enjoys the reputation of being the +most despicable of English kings, speedily gave Philip a good excuse for +seizing a great part of the Plantagenet lands. John was suspected of +conniving at the brutal murder of his nephew Arthur (the son of +Geoffrey), to whom the nobles of Maine, Anjou, and Touraine had done +homage. He was also guilty of the less serious offense of carrying off +and marrying a lady betrothed to one of his own vassals. Philip, as +John's suzerain, summoned him to appear at the French court to answer +the latter charge. Upon John's refusal to appear or to do homage for his +continental possessions, Philip caused his court to issue a decree +confiscating almost all of the Plantagenet lands, leaving to the English +king only the southwest corner of France. + +Philip found little difficulty in possessing himself, not only of the +valley of the Loire, but of Normandy itself, which showed no +disinclination to accept him in place of the Plantagenets, whom the +Normans associated with continual exactions. Six years after Richard's +death the English kings had lost all their continental fiefs except +Guienne. The Capetian domain was, for the first time, the chief among +the great feudal states of France, both in wealth and extent. It should +be observed that Philip, unlike his ancestors, was no longer merely +_suzerain_ of the new conquests, but was himself duke of Normandy, and +count of Anjou, of Maine, etc. The boundaries of his domain, that is, +the lands which he himself controlled directly as feudal lord, now +extended to the sea. + +[Sidenote: Philip strengthens the royal power as well as increases the +royal domain.] + +50. Philip not only greatly increased the extent of the royal domain, +but strengthened his control over all classes of his subjects as well. +He appears, also, to have fully realized the importance of the towns +which had begun to develop a century earlier. There were several +important ones in the districts he annexed, and these he took especial +pains to treat with consideration. He extended his protection, and at +the same time his authority, over them and in this way lessened the +influence and resources of the feudal lords within whose territories the +towns lay. + +[Sidenote: Appanages.] + +The chief innovation of Philip's son, Louis VIII, was the creation of +_appanages_. These were fiefs assigned to his younger sons, one of whom +was made count of Artois; another, count of Anjou and Maine; a third, +count of Auvergne. This has generally been regarded by historians as a +most unfortunate reënforcement of the feudal idea. It not only retarded +the consolidation of the kingdom but opened the way to new strife +between the members of the royal family itself. + +[Sidenote: Louis IX, 1226-1270.] + +[Sidenote: Settlement of question of the English king's possessions in +France, 1258.] + +The long reign of Philip's grandson, Louis IX, or St. Louis (1226-1270), +is extremely interesting from many standpoints. St. Louis himself is +perhaps the most heroic and popular figure in the whole procession of +French monarchs, and his virtues and exploits have been far more amply +recorded than those of any of his predecessors. But it is only his part +in the consolidation of the French monarchy that immediately concerns +us. After a revolt of the barons of central France in alliance with the +king of England, which Louis easily put down, he proceeded, in a most +fair-minded and Christian spirit, to arrange a definite settlement with +the Plantagenets. The king of England was to do him homage for the duchy +of Guienne, Gascony, and Poitou and surrender every claim upon the rest +of the former possessions of the Plantagenets on the continent. + +[Illustration: Map of France at the Close of the Reign of Philip +Augustus] + +[Sidenote: The _baillis_ serve to increase the king's power.] + +Besides these important territorial adjustments, Louis IX did much to +better the system of government and strengthen the king's power. Philip +Augustus had established a new kind of officer, the _baillis_, who +resembled the _missi_ of Charlemagne. They were supported by a salary +and frequently shifted from place to place so that there should be no +danger of their taking root and establishing powerful feudal families, +as had happened in the case of the counts, who were originally royal +officers. Louis adopted and extended the institution of the _baillis_. +In this way he kept his domains under his control and saw that justice +was done and his revenue properly collected. + +[Sidenote: Government of Louis IX.] + +Before the thirteenth century there was little government in France in +the modern sense of the word. The king relied for advice and aid, in the +performance of his simple duties as ruler, upon a council of the great +vassals, prelates, and others about his person. This council was +scarcely organized into a regular assembly, and it transacted all the +various kinds of governmental business without clearly distinguishing +one kind from another. In the reign of Louis IX this assembly began to +be divided into three bodies with different functions. There was: first, +the king's council to aid him in conducting the general affairs of the +kingdom; secondly, a chamber of accounts, a financial body which +attended to the revenue; and lastly, the _parlement_, a supreme court +made up of those trained in the law, which was becoming ever more +complicated as time went on. Instead, as hitherto, of wandering about +with the king, the parlement took up its quarters upon the little island +in the Seine at Paris, where the great court-house (_Palais de Justice_) +still stands. A regular system of appeals from the feudal courts to the +royal courts was established. This served greatly to increase the king's +power in distant parts of his realms. It was decreed further that the +royal coins should alone be used in the domains of the king, and that +his money should be accepted everywhere else within the kingdom +concurrently with that of those of his vassals who had the privilege of +coinage. + +[Sidenote: Philip the Fair (1285-1314) the first absolute ruler of +France.] + +The grandson of St. Louis, Philip the Fair, is the first example of a +French king who had both the will and the means to play the rôle of an +absolute monarch. He had inherited a remarkably well organized +government compared with anything that had existed since the time of +Charlemagne. He was surrounded by a body of lawyers who had derived +their ideas of the powers and rights of a prince from the Roman law. +They naturally looked with suspicion upon everything that interfered +with the supreme power of the monarch, and encouraged the king to bring +the whole government into his own hands regardless of the privileges of +his vassals and of the clergy. + +[Sidenote: The commons, or third estate, summoned to the Estates +General, 1302.] + +Philip's attempt to force the clergy to contribute from their wealth to +the support of the government led to a remarkable struggle with the +pope, of which an account will be given in a later chapter. With the +hope of gaining the support of the whole nation in his conflict with the +head of the Church, the king summoned a great council of his realm in +1302. He included for the first time the representatives of the towns in +addition to the nobles and prelates, whom the king had long been +accustomed to consult. At the same period that the French Estates +General,[81] or national assembly, was taking form through the addition +of representatives of the commons, England was creating its Parliament. +The two bodies were, however, to have a very different history, as will +become clear later. + +By the sagacious measures that have been mentioned, the French monarchs +rescued their realms from feudal disruption and laid the foundation for +the most powerful monarchy of western Europe. However, the question of +how far the neighboring king across the Channel should extend his power +on the continent remained unanswered. The boundary between France and +England was not yet definitely determined and became, during the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the cause of long and disastrous +wars, from which France finally emerged victorious. We must now turn +back to trace the development of her English rival.[82] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES + + +[Sidenote: Importance of England in the history of western Europe.] + +51. The country of western Europe whose history is of greatest interest +to English-speaking peoples is, of course, England. From England the +United States and the vast English colonies have inherited their +language and habits of thought, much of their literature, and many +peculiarities of their laws and institutions. In this volume it will +not, however, be possible to study England except in so far as it has +played a part in the general development of Europe. This it has greatly +influenced by its commerce, industry, and colonies, as well as by the +example it has set of permitting the people to participate with the king +in the government. + +[Sidenote: Overlordship of Wessex.] + +[Sidenote: Invasions of the Danes. Their defeat by Alfred the Great, +871-901.] + +The conquest of the island of Britain by the German Angles and Saxons +has already been spoken of, as well as the conversion of these pagans to +Christianity by the representatives of the Roman Church. The several +kingdoms founded by the invaders were brought under the overlordship of +the southern kingdom of Wessex[83] by Egbert, a contemporary of +Charlemagne. But no sooner had the long-continued invasions of the +Germans come to an end and the country been partially unified, than the +Northmen (or Danes, as the English called them), who were ravaging +France, began to make incursions into England. Before long they had made +permanent settlements and conquered a large district north of the +Thames. They were defeated, however, in a great battle by Alfred the +Great, the first English king of whom we have any satisfactory +knowledge. He forced the Danes to accept Christianity and established, +as the boundary between them and his own kingdom of Wessex, a line +running from London across the island to Chester. + +[Sidenote: Alfred fosters the development of the English language.] + +Alfred was as much interested in education as Charlemagne had been. He +called in learned monks from the continent and from Wales as teachers of +the young men. He desired that all those born free, who had the means, +should be forced to learn English thoroughly, and that those who +proposed to enter the priesthood should learn Latin as well. He himself +translated Boethius' _Consolation of Philosophy_ and other works from +the Latin into English, and doubtless encouraged the composition of the +famous _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, the first history written in a modern +language.[84] + +[Sidenote: England from the death of Alfred the Great to the Norman +Conquest, 901-1066.] + +The formation of the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway at the end +of the ninth century caused many discontented Scandinavian chieftains to +go in search of adventure, so that the Danish invasions continued for +more than a century after Alfred's death (901), and we hear much of the +Danegeld, a tax levied to buy off the invaders when necessary. Finally a +Danish king (Cnut) succeeded in making himself king of England in 1017. +The Danish dynasty maintained itself only for a few years. Then a last +weak Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, held nominal sway for a score of +years. Upon his death in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, claimed the +crown and became king of England. The Norman Conquest closes what is +called the Saxon period of English history, during which the English +nation may be said to have taken form. Before considering the +achievements of William the Conqueror we must glance at the condition of +England as he found it. + +[Sidenote: Great Britain at the accession of William the Conqueror.] + +The map of Great Britain at the accession of William the Conqueror has +the same three great divisions which exist to-day. The little kingdoms +had disappeared and England extended north to the Tweed, which separated +it, as it now does, from the kingdom of Scotland. On the west was Wales, +inhabited then, as it is still, by descendants of the native Britons, of +whom only a small remnant had survived the German invasions. The Danes +had been absorbed into the mass of the population and all England +recognized a single king. The king's power had increased as time went +on, although he was bound to act in important matters only with the +consent of a council (Witenagemot) made up of high royal officials, +bishops, and nobles. The kingdom was divided into shires,[85] as it +still is, and each of these had a local assembly, a sort of parliament +for the dispatch of local matters. + +After the victory of the papal party at the Council of Whitby,[86] the +Church had been thoroughly organized and the intercourse of the clergy +with the continent served, as we have seen, to keep England from +becoming completely isolated. Although the island was much behind some +other portions of Europe in civilization, the English had succeeded in +laying the foundations for the development of a great nation and an +admirable form of government. + +[Sidenote: Feudalism in England.] + +England was not, however, to escape feudalism. The Normans naturally +brought with them their own feudal institutions, but even before their +coming many suggestions of feudalism might have been discovered. Groups +of shires had been placed under the government of earls who became +dangerous rivals of the kings; and the habit of giving churchmen the +right to govern, to a large extent, those who lived upon their vast +estates recalls the conditions in the Frankish empire during the same +period. The great landed proprietor in England exercised much the same +powers over those about him that the feudal lords enjoyed upon the other +side of the Channel. + +[Sidenote: The struggle for the English crown between Earl Harold and +Duke William of Normandy.] + +52. As has been said, William of Normandy claimed that he was entitled +to the English crown; he even assumed that all who refused to +acknowledge him in England were traitors. We are, however, somewhat in +the dark as to the basis of his claim. There is a story that he had +visited the court of Edward the Confessor and had become his vassal on +condition that, should Edward die childless, he was to designate William +as his successor. But Harold, Earl of Wessex, who had consolidated his +power before the death of Edward by securing the appointment of his +brothers to three of the other great earldoms, assumed the crown and +paid no attention to William's demand that he should surrender it. + +[Sidenote: The pope favors William's claim.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Senlac, 1066. William I crowned at London.] + +William thereupon appealed to the pope, promising that if he came into +possession of England, he would see that the English clergy submitted to +the authority of the Roman bishop. Consequently the pope, Alexander II, +condemned Harold and blessed in advance any expedition that William +might undertake to assert his rights. The conquest of England therefore +took on the character of a sort of holy war, and as the expedition had +been well advertised, many adventurers flocked to William's standard. +The Norman cavalry and archers proved superior to the English forces, +who were on foot and were so armed that they could not fight to +advantage except at close range. Harold was killed in the memorable +battle of Senlac[87] and his army defeated. In a few weeks a number of +influential nobles and several bishops agreed to accept William as their +king, and London opened its gates to him. He was crowned on Christmas +day, 1066, at Westminster. + +We cannot trace the history of the opposition and the revolts of the +great nobles which William had to meet within the next few years. His +position was rendered doubly difficult by troubles which he encountered +on the continent as duke of Normandy. Suffice it to say that he +succeeded in maintaining himself against all his enemies.[88] + +[Sidenote: William's wise policy in England.] + +William's policy in regard to England exhibited profound statesmanship. +He introduced the Norman feudalism to which he was accustomed, but took +good care that it should not weaken his power. The English who had +refused to join him before the battle of Senlac were declared traitors, +but were permitted to keep their lands upon condition of receiving them +from the king as his vassals. The lands of those who actually bore arms +against him at Senlac, or in later rebellions, including the great +estates of Harold's family, were confiscated and distributed among his +faithful followers, both Norman and English, though naturally the +Normans among them far outnumbered the English. + +[Sidenote: He insures the supremacy of the crown without interfering +with English customs.] + +[Sidenote: William requires oath of fidelity from his subvassals.] + +William declared that he did not propose to change the English customs +but to govern as Edward the Confessor, the last Saxon king whom he +acknowledged, had done. He tried to learn English, maintained the +Witenagemot, and observed English practices. But he was a man of too +much force to submit to the control of his people. While he appointed +counts or earls in some of the shires (now come to be called +_counties_), he controlled them by means of other royal officers called +_sheriffs_. He avoided giving to any one person a great many estates in +a single region, so that no one should become inconveniently powerful. +Finally, in order to secure the support of the smaller landholders and +to prevent combinations against him among the greater ones, he required +every landholder in England to take an oath of fidelity directly to him. +We read in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ (1086): "After that he went about +so that he came, on the first day of August, to Salisbury, and there +came to him his wise men [i.e., counselors], and all the landowning men +of property there were over all England, whosesoever men they were; and +all bowed down to him and became his men, and swore oaths of fealty to +him that they would be faithful to him against all other men." + +[Sidenote: Domesday Book.] + +William's anxiety to have a complete knowledge of his whole kingdom is +indicated by a remarkable historical document, the so-called _Domesday +Book_. This is a register of the lands throughout England, indicating +the value of each parcel, the serfs and stock upon it, the name of its +holder and of the person who held it before the Conquest. This +government report contained a vast amount of information which was +likely to prove useful to William's taxgatherers. It is still valuable +to the historian, although unfortunately he is not able in every case to +interpret its terms satisfactorily. + +[Sidenote: William the Conqueror and the Church.] + +William's policy in regard to the Church indicates a desire to advance +its interests in conjunction with his own. He called Lanfranc, an +Italian who had been at the head of the famous monastery of Bec in +Normandy, to the archbishopric of Canterbury. The king permitted the +clergy to manage their own affairs and established bishops' courts to +try a variety of cases. But homage was exacted from a bishop as from a +lay vassal, and William refused to permit the pope to interfere in +English affairs without his permission in each particular case. No papal +legate was to enter the land without the king's sanction. No papal +decree should be received in the English Church without his consent, nor +his servants be excommunicated against his will. When Gregory VII +demanded that he should become his vassal for the land that he had +conquered under the papal auspices, William promptly refused. + +[Sidenote: General results of the Norman Conquest.] + +It is clear that the Norman Conquest was not a simple change of dynasty. +A new element was added to the English people. We cannot tell how many +Normans actually emigrated across the Channel, but they evidently came +in considerable numbers, and their influence upon the English court and +government was very great. A century after William's arrival the whole +body of the nobility, the bishops, abbots, and government officials, had +become practically all Norman. "Besides these, the architects and +artisans who built the castles and fortresses, and the cathedrals, +abbeys, and parish churches, whose erection throughout the land was such +a marked characteristic of the period, were immigrants from Normandy. +Merchants from the Norman cities of Rouen and Caen came to settle in +London and other English cities, and weavers from Flanders were settled +in various towns and even rural districts. For a short time these +newcomers remained a separate people, but before the twelfth century was +over they had become for the most part indistinguishable from the great +mass of English people amongst whom they had come. They had nevertheless +made that people stronger, more vigorous, more active-minded, and more +varied in their occupations and interests" (Cheyney).[89] + +[Illustration: Norman Gateway at Bristol, England] + +[Sidenote: William Rufus, 1087-1100, and Henry I, 1100-1135.] + +[Sidenote: Civil war ending in the accession of Henry II, 1154-1189.] + +53. The Conqueror was followed by his sons, William Rufus and Henry I. +Upon the death of the latter the country went through a terrible period +of civil war, for some of the nobility supported the Conqueror's +grandson Stephen, and some his granddaughter Matilda. After the death of +Stephen, when Henry II, Matilda's son,[90] was finally recognized in +1154 by all as king, he found the kingdom in a melancholy state. The +nobles had taken advantage of the prevalent disorder to erect castles +without royal permission and establish themselves as independent rulers. +Mercenaries had been called in from the continent by the rivals for the +throne, and had become a national plague. + +[Sidenote: Henry's difficulties and his success in meeting them.] + +Henry at once adopted vigorous measures. He destroyed the illegally +erected fortresses, sent off the mercenaries, and deprived many earls +who had been created by Stephen and Matilda of their titles. Henry II's +task was a difficult one. He had need of all his indefatigable energy +and quickness of mind to restore order in England and at the same time +rule the wide realms on the continent which he had either inherited or +gained through his marriage with the heiress of the dukes of +Guienne.[91] Although he spent the greater part of his reign across the +Channel, he still found time to be one of the greatest of all England's +rulers. + +[Sidenote: His reforms in the judicial system.] + +[Sidenote: The grand jury.] + +In order that he might maintain his prerogatives as judge of disputes +among his subjects and avoid all excuse for the private warfare, which +was such a persistent evil on the continent, he undertook to improve and +reform the system of royal courts. He arranged that his judges should +make regular circuits throughout the country, so that they might try +cases on the spot at least once a year. He established the famous Court +of King's Bench to try all other cases which came under the king's +jurisdiction. This was composed of five judges from his council, two +clergymen, and three laymen. We find, too, the beginning of our grand +jury in a body of men in each neighborhood who were to be duly sworn in, +from time to time, and should then bring accusations against such +malefactors as had come to their knowledge. + +[Illustration: The Plantagenet Possessions in England and France] + +[Sidenote: Trial by jury.] + +[Sidenote: The common law.] + +As for the petty or smaller jury, which actually tried the accused, its +origin and history are obscure. It did not originate with Henry II, but +he systematized trial by jury and made it a settled law of the land +instead of an exceptional favor. The plan of delegating the duty of +determining the guilt or innocence of a suspected person to a dozen +members of the community who were sworn to form their opinion without +partiality was very different from the earlier systems. It resembled +neither the Roman trial, where the judges made the decision, nor the +mediæval compurgation and ordeals, where God was supposed to pronounce +the verdict. In all legal matters the decisions of Henry's judges were +so sagacious and consistent that they became the basis of the common law +which is still used in all English-speaking countries. + +[Sidenote: Henry II and Thomas à Becket.] + +[Sidenote: Becket as chancellor.] + +Henry's reign was embittered by the famous struggle with Thomas à +Becket, which illustrates admirably the peculiar dependence of the +monarchs of his day upon the churchmen. Becket was born in London. He +early entered one of the lower orders of the Church, but grew up in the +service of the crown, and was able to aid Henry in gaining the throne. +Thereupon the new king made him his chancellor. Becket proved an +excellent minister and defended the king's interest even against the +Church, of which he was also an officer. He was fond of hunting and of +warlike enterprises and maintained a brilliant court from the revenues +of the numerous church benefices which he held. It appeared to Henry +that there could be no better head for the English clergy than his +sagacious and worldly chancellor. He therefore determined to make him +Archbishop of Canterbury. The kings of that time often chose their most +efficient officers from among the prelates. Lanfranc, for example, had +been the Conqueror's chief minister. There were several good reasons for +this practice. The clergy were not only far better educated than laymen +but they were also not ordinarily dangerous as military leaders, nor +could their offices become hereditary. + +[Sidenote: Made Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket defends the cause of +the Church against the king.] + +In appointing Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry intended to insure +his own complete control of the Church. He proposed to bring clerical +criminals before the royal courts and punish them like other offenders, +to make the bishops meet all the feudal obligations, and to prevent +appeals to the pope. Becket, however, immediately resigned his +chancellorship, gave up his gay life, and opposed every effort of the +king to reduce the independence of the Church. After a haughty assertion +of the supremacy of the spiritual power over the secular government, +Thomas fled from the wrathful and disappointed monarch to France and the +protection of the pope. + +[Sidenote: Murder of Becket and Henry's remorse.] + +In spite of a patched-up reconciliation with the king, Becket proceeded +to excommunicate or suspend some of the great English prelates and, as +Henry believed, was conspiring to rob his son of the crown. In a fit of +anger, Henry exclaimed among his followers, "Is there no one to avenge +me of this miserable clerk?" Unfortunately certain knights took the rash +expression literally, and Becket was murdered in Canterbury cathedral, +whither he had returned. The king had really had no wish to resort to +violence, and his sorrow and remorse when he heard of the dreadful deed, +and his terror at the consequences, were most genuine. The pope proposed +to excommunicate the king. Henry, however, made peace with the papal +legates by the solemn assertion that he had never wished the death of +Thomas and by promising to return to Canterbury all the property which +he had confiscated, to send money to aid in the capture of the Holy +Sepulcher at Jerusalem, and to undertake a crusade himself.[92] + +[Sidenote: Richard the Lion-Hearted, 1189-1199.] + +[Sidenote: John, 1199-1216.] + +54. Henry's later years were troubled by the machinations of Philip +Augustus of France and by the quarrels and treason of his own sons, of +which some account has already been given.[93] He was followed by his +son, the picturesque Richard the Lion-Hearted, one of the most romantic +figures of the Middle Ages. He was, however, a poor ruler, who spent but +a few months of his ten years' reign in England. He died in 1199 and was +succeeded by his brother John, from all accounts one of the most +detestable persons who has ever worn a crown. His reign was, +nevertheless, a notable one in the annals of England. In the first +place, he lost a great part of the possessions of his house upon the +continent (Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, etc.); secondly, he was forced by +a revolt of his people, who refused to endure his despotism any longer, +to grant the Great Charter. The loss of his lands across the Channel has +already been described; it remains only to speak of the winning of the +Great Charter of English liberties.[94] + +[Sidenote: The granting of the Great Charter, 1215.] + +When, in 1213, John proposed to lead his English vassals across the +water in order to attempt to reconquer his lost possessions, they +refused to accompany him on the ground that their feudal obligations did +not bind them to fight outside of their country. Moreover, they showed a +lively discontent with John's despotism and his neglect of those limits +of the kingly power which several of the earlier Norman kings had +solemnly recognized. In 1214 a number of the barons met and took a +solemn oath to compel the king, by arms if necessary, to confirm a +charter containing the things which, according to English traditions, a +king might not do. It proved necessary to march against John, whom the +insurgent nobles met at Runnymede, not far from London. Here on the 15th +of June, 1215, they forced him to swear to observe the rights of the +nation, as they conceived them, which they had carefully written out. + +[Sidenote: The provisions of the Charter and its importance.] + +The Great Charter is perhaps the most famous document in the history of +government;[95] its provisions furnish a brief and comprehensive +statement of the burning governmental questions of the age. It was +really the whole nation, not merely the nobles, who concluded this great +treaty with a tyrannous ruler. The rights of the commoner are guarded as +well as those of the noble. As the king promises to observe the +liberties and customs of his vassals and not to abuse his feudal +prerogatives, so the vassals agree to observe the rights of their men. +The merchant is not to be deprived of his goods for small offenses, nor +the farmer of his wagon and implements. The king is to impose no tax, +beside the three stated feudal aids,[96] except by the consent of the +great council of the nation. This is to include the prelates and greater +barons and all who hold directly of the king. + +There is no more notable clause in the Charter than that which provides +that no one is to be arrested or imprisoned or deprived of his property +unless he be immediately sent before a court of his peers for trial. To +realize the importance of this, we must recollect that in France, down +to 1789, the king exercised such unlimited powers that he could order +the arrest of any one he pleased, and could imprison him for any length +of time without bringing him to trial, or even informing him of the +nature of his offense. The Great Charter provided further that the king +should permit merchants to move about freely and should observe the +privileges of the various towns; nor were his officers longer to +exercise despotic powers over those under them. + +"The Great Charter is the first great public act of the nation after it +has realized its own identity, the consummation of the work for which +unconsciously kings, prelates, and lawyers have been laboring for a +century. There is not a word in it that recalls the distinctions of race +and blood, or that maintains the differences of English and Norman law. +It is in one view the summing up of a period of national life, in +another the starting-point of a new period, not less eventful than that +which it closes" (Stubbs). + +In spite of his solemn confirmation of the Charter, John, with his +accustomed treachery, made a futile attempt to abrogate his engagements; +but neither he nor his successors ever succeeded in getting rid of the +document. Later there were times when the English kings evaded its +provisions and tried to rule as absolute monarchs. But the people always +sooner or later bethought them of the Charter, which thus continued to +form an effective barrier against permanent despotism in England. + +[Sidenote: Henry III, 1216-1272.] + +55. During the long reign of John's son, Henry III, England began to +construct her Parliament, an institution which has not only played a +most important rôle in English history, but has also served as the model +for similar bodies in almost every civilized state in the world. Henry's +fondness for appointing foreigners to office, his anxiety to enjoy +powers which he had not the intelligence or energy to justify by the use +he made of them, and his willingness to permit the pope to levy taxes in +England, led the nobles to continue their hostility to the crown. The +nobles and the people of the towns, who were anxious to check the +arbitrary powers of the king, joined forces in what is known as the War +of the Barons. They found a leader in the patriotic Simon de Montfort, +who proved himself a valiant and unselfish defender of the rights of the +nation. + +[Sidenote: The English Parliament.] + +The older Witenagemot of Saxon times, as well as the Great Council of +the Norman kings, was a meeting of nobles, bishops, and abbots, which +the king summoned from time to time to give him advice and aid, and to +sanction important governmental undertakings. During Henry's reign its +meetings became more frequent and its discussions more vigorous than +before, and the name _Parliament_ began to be applied to it. + +[Sidenote: Simon de Montfort summons the commons to Parliament.] + +In 1265 a famous Parliament was held, where, through the influence of +Simon de Montfort, a most important new class of members--the +_commons_--was present, which was destined to give it its future +greatness. In addition to the nobles and prelates, the sheriffs were +ordered to summon two simple knights from each county and two citizens +from each of the more flourishing towns to attend and take part in the +discussions. + +[Sidenote: The Model Parliament of Edward I, 1295.] + +Edward I, the next king, definitely adopted this innovation. He +doubtless called in the representatives of the towns because the +townspeople were becoming rich and he wished to have an opportunity to +ask them to make grants to meet the expenses of the government. He also +wished to obtain the approval of all classes when he determined upon +important measures affecting the whole realm. Since the Model Parliament +of 1295, the commons, or representatives of the people, have always been +included along with the clergy and nobility when the national assembly +of England has been summoned. We shall see later how the present houses +of Lords and Commons came into existence under Edward's son. + +[Sidenote: England in the fourteenth century.] + +From the reign of Edward I we are, as a distinguished English historian +has well said, "face to face with modern England. Kings, Lords, Commons, +the courts of justice, ... the relations of Church and State, in a great +measure the framework of society itself, have all taken the shape which +they still essentially retain" (Green). The English language was, +moreover, about to become the speech we use to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES + + +[Sidenote: Contrast between the development of Germany and France.] + +56. The history of the kingship in the eastern, or German, part of +Charlemagne's empire is very different from that in France, which was +reviewed in a previous chapter. After a struggle of four hundred years, +it had become clear by the thirteenth century that the successors of +Louis the German (Charlemagne's grandson) could not make of Germany a +kingdom such as St. Louis left to his descendants. From the thirteenth +century down to Napoleon's time there was no Germany in a political +sense, but only a great number of practically independent states, great +and small. It was but a generation ago that, under the leadership of +Prussia,--a kingdom unknown until many centuries after Charlemagne's +time,--the previously independent kingdoms, principalities, and free +towns were formed into the federation now known as the German empire. + +[Sidenote: Stem duchies.] + +The map of the eastern part of Charlemagne's empire a century after his +death indicates that the whole region had fallen into certain large +divisions ruled over by dukes, who, in Saxony and Bavaria at least, were +kings in all but name.[97] Just how these duchies originated is +something of a mystery, but two things at least are clear which help to +explain their appearance. In the first place, under the weak successors +of Louis the German, the old independent spirit of the various peoples, +or _stems_, that Charlemagne had been able to hold together, once more +asserted itself and they gladly returned to the leadership of their own +chiefs. In the second place, they were driven to do this by the constant +attacks from without, first of the Northmen and the Moravians, a Slavic +people, then of the terrible Hungarian horsemen who penetrated more than +once as far west as France. As there was no competent central power to +defend the people, it was natural that they should look to their local +leaders for help and guidance. + +[Sidenote: Henry I, 919-936.] + +These _stem duchies_, as the Germans call them, prevented the German +kings from getting a firm hold on their realms. The best that they could +do was to bring about a sort of confederation. Consequently, when the +German aristocracy chose the strong Henry I, of the ducal house of +Saxony,[98] as their king in 919, he wisely made no attempt to deprive +the several dukes of their power. He needed their assistance in the task +of dealing with the invaders who were pressing in on all sides. He +prepared the way for the later subjugation of the Slavs and the final +repulse of the Hungarians, but he left to his famous son, Otto I, the +task of finally disposing of the invaders and attempting to found a real +kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Otto the Great, 936-973.] + +The reign of Otto I (936-973), called the Great, is one of the most +extraordinary in the history of Germany. He made no attempt to abolish +the duchies, but he succeeded in getting all of them into the hands of +his sons, brothers, or near relatives, as well as in reducing the power +of the dukes. For example, he made his brother Henry duke of Bavaria, +after forgiving him for two revolts. His scholarly brother, Archbishop +Bruno of Cologne,[99] he made duke of Lorraine in the place of his +faithless son-in-law, Conrad, who had rebelled against him. Many of the +old ducal families either died out or lost their heritage by +unsuccessful revolt. None of them offered a long succession of able +rulers. The duchies consequently fell repeatedly into the hands of the +king, who then claimed the right to assign them to whom he wished. + +In the middle of the tenth century the northern and eastern boundaries +of Germany were as yet very ill defined. The Slavic peoples across the +Elbe, many of whom were still pagans, were engaged in continual attacks +upon the borders of Saxony. Otto I did more than fight these tribes; he +established dioceses, such as Brandenburg, Havelberg, etc., in a +district which is now the political center of the German empire, and +greatly forwarded the Christianizing and colonization of the tract +between the Elbe and the Oder. + +[Sidenote: Final defeat of the Hungarians.] + +[Sidenote: Beginnings of Hungary and Austria.] + +Moreover, he put an end forever to the invasions of the Hungarians. He +defeated them in a great battle near Augsburg (955) and pursued them to +the confines of Germany. The Hungarians, or Magyars as they are commonly +called, then settled down in their own territory and began to lay the +foundations of that national development which makes them one of the +most important factors in the eastern portion of Europe to-day. A region +which had belonged to the Bavarian duchy was organized as a separate +district, the Austrian _Mark_ (i.e., March), and became the nucleus of +the Austrian empire. + +[Sidenote: Otto interferes in Italian affairs.] + +57. The most noteworthy, however, of Otto's acts was his interference in +Italian affairs, which led to his assuming the imperial crown which +Charlemagne had worn. There is no more gloomy chapter in European +history than the experiences of Italy and the papacy after the +deposition of Charles the Fat in 887. We know little of what went on, +but we hear of the duke of Spoleto, the marquis of Friuli, and +Burgundian princes from across the Alps, assuming the Italian crown at +different times. The Mohammedan invasions added to the confusion, so +that Germany and France, in spite of their incessant wars, appear +almost tranquil compared with the anarchy in Italy.[100] Three Italian +kings were crowned emperor by the popes during the generation following +the deposition of Charles the Fat. Then for a generation the title of +emperor disappeared altogether in the West, until it was again assumed +by the German Otto. + +[Sidenote: Otto is crowned emperor, 962.] + +Italy was a tempting field of operations for an ambitious ruler. Otto +first crossed the Alps in 951, married the widow of one of the ephemeral +Italian kings, and, without being formally crowned, was generally +acknowledged as king of Italy. The revolt of his son compelled him to +return to Germany, but a decade later the pope called him to his +assistance. Otto answered the summons promptly, freed the pope from his +enemies, and was crowned emperor at Rome in 962. + +[Sidenote: Important results for Germany of the coronation of Otto the +Great.] + +The coronation of Otto the Great, like that of Charlemagne, was a +momentous event in mediæval history. By assuming the imperial crown he +imposed so great a burden on his successors, the German kings, that they +finally succumbed beneath it. For three centuries they strove to keep +Germany together and at the same time control Italy and the papacy. +After interminable wars and incalculable sacrifices, they lost all. +Italy escaped them, the papacy established its complete independence, +and Germany, their rightful patrimony, instead of growing into a strong +monarchy, fell apart into weak little states. + +[Sidenote: Example of emperor's trouble in controlling popes and Italian +affairs.] + +Otto's own experiences furnish an example of the melancholy results of +his relations with the pope, to whom he owed his crown. Hardly had he +turned his back before the pope began to violate his engagements. It +became necessary for the new emperor to hasten back to Rome and summon a +council for the deposition of the pontiff, whose conduct certainly +furnished ample justification. But the Romans refused to accept a pope +chosen under Otto's auspices, and he had to return again to Rome and +besiege the city before his pope was acknowledged. A few years later, +still a third expedition was necessary in order to restore another of +the emperor's popes who had been driven out of Rome by the local +factions. + +[Illustration: EUROPE ABOUT A.D. 1000] + +The succeeding emperors had usually to make a similar series of costly +and troublesome journeys to Rome,--a first one to be crowned, and then +others either to depose a hostile pope or to protect a loyal one from +the oppression of neighboring lords. These excursions were very +distracting, especially to a ruler who left behind him in Germany a +rebellious nobility that always took advantage of his absence to revolt. + +[Sidenote: The Holy Roman Empire.] + +Otto's successors dropped their old title of King of the East Franks as +soon as they had been duly crowned by the pope at Rome, and assumed the +magnificent and all-embracing designation, "Emperor Ever August of the +Romans."[101] Their "Holy Roman Empire," as it came to be called later, +which was to endure, in name at least, for more than eight centuries, +was obviously even less like that of the ancient Romans than was +Charlemagne's. As _kings_ of Germany and Italy they had practically all +the powers that they enjoyed as _emperors_, except the fatal right that +they claimed of taking part in the election of the pope. We shall find +that, instead of making themselves feared at home and building up a +great state, the German emperors wasted their strength in a long +struggle with the popes, who proved themselves in the end incomparably +the stronger, and eventually reduced the Empire to a mere shadow. + +58. We have no space to speak of the immediate successors of Otto the +Great.[102] Like him they had to meet opposition at home as well as the +attacks of their restless neighbors, especially the Slavs. The Empire is +usually considered to have reached its height under Conrad II +(1024-1039) and Henry III (1039-1056), the first two representatives of +the new Franconian line which succeeded the Saxon house upon its +extinction in 1024. + +[Sidenote: Conrad II, 1024-1039.] + +[Sidenote: Poland.] + +By an amicable arrangement the kingdom of Burgundy came into the hands +of Conrad II in 1032. This large and important territory long remained a +part of the Empire, serving to render intercourse between Germany and +Italy easier, and forming a barrier between Germany and France. On the +eastern borders of the Empire the Slavs had organized the kingdom of +Poland in the latter half of the tenth century, and its kings, although +often at war with the emperor, generally acknowledged his suzerainty. +Conrad, following the policy of Otto the Great, endeavored to bring as +many of the stem duchies as possible into the hands of his son and +successor, Henry III, who was made duke of Franconia, Swabia, and +Bavaria. This was the firmest of all foundations for the kingly power. + +[Sidenote: Henry III, 1039-1056.] + +Notwithstanding the energy and ability of Conrad II and Henry III, the +fact that the Empire stands forth as the great power of western Europe +during the first half of the eleventh century is largely due to the +absence of any strong rivals. The French kings had not yet overcome the +feudal disruption, and although Italy objected to the control of the +emperor, it never could agree to combine against him. + +[Sidenote: Henry III and the Church.] + +59. The most important question that Henry III had to face was that of a +great reform of the Church. This was already under way and it was bound, +if carried out, to destroy the control of the emperors not only over +the papacy but also over the German bishops and abbots, whom they had +strengthened by grants of land and authority with the special purpose of +making them the chief support of the monarchy. The reform was not +directed particularly against the emperor, but he was, as will become +apparent, more seriously affected by the changes proposed by the +reforming party than any other of the European rulers. + +[Sidenote: Wealth of the Church.] + +In order to understand the reform and the long struggle between the +emperors and the popes which grew out of it, we must stop a moment to +consider the condition of the Church in the time of Henry III. It seemed +to be losing all its strength and dignity and to be falling apart, just +as Charlemagne's empire had dissolved into feudal bits. This was chiefly +due to the vast landed possessions of the clergy. Kings, princes, and +rich landowners had long considered it meritorious to make donations to +bishoprics and monasteries, so that a very considerable portion of the +land in western Europe had come into the hands of churchmen. + +[Sidenote: The church lands drawn into the feudal system.] + +When landowners began to give and receive land as fiefs the property of +the Church was naturally drawn into the feudal relations. A king, or +other proprietor, might grant fiefs to churchmen as well as to laymen. +The bishops became the vassals of the king or of other feudal lords by +doing homage for a fief and swearing fidelity, just as any other vassal +would do. An abbot sometimes placed his monastery under the protection +of a neighboring lord by giving up his land and receiving it back again +as a fief. + +[Sidenote: Fiefs held by churchmen not hereditary.] + +One great difference, however, existed between the church lands and the +ordinary fiefs. According to the law of the Church, the bishops and +abbots could not marry and so could have no children to whom they might +transmit their property. Consequently, when a landholding churchman +died, some one had to be chosen in his place who should enjoy his +property and perform his duties. The rule of the Church had been, from +time immemorial, that the clergy of the diocese should choose the +bishop, their choice being ratified by the people. As the church law +expresses it, "A bishop is therefore rightly appointed in the church of +God when the people acclaim him who has been elected by the common vote +of the clergy." As for the abbots, they were, according to the rule of +St. Benedict, to be chosen by the members of the monastery. + +[Sidenote: Bishops and abbots practically chosen by the feudal lords.] + +In spite of these rules the bishops and abbots had come, in the tenth +and eleventh centuries, to be selected, to all intents and purposes, by +the various kings and feudal lords. It is true that the outward forms of +a regular ("canonical") election were usually permitted; but the feudal +lord made it clear whom he wished chosen, and if the wrong person was +elected, he simply refused to hand over to him the lands attached to the +bishopric or abbey. The lord could in this way control the choice of the +prelates, for in order to become a real bishop or abbot one had not only +to be elected, he had also to be solemnly "invested" with the +appropriate powers of a bishop or abbot and with his lands. + +[Sidenote: Investiture.] + +Since, to the worldly minded, the spiritual powers attached to church +offices possessed little attraction if no property went along with them, +the feudal lord was really master of the situation. When his appointee +was duly chosen he proceeded to the _investiture_. The new bishop or +abbot first became the "man" of the feudal lord by doing him homage, and +then the lord transferred to him the lands and rights attached to the +office. No careful distinction appears to have been made between the +property and the spiritual prerogatives. The lord often conferred both +by bestowing upon a bishop the ring and the crosier, the emblems of +religious authority. It seemed shocking enough that the lord, who was +often a rough soldier, should dictate the selection of the bishops, but +it was still more shocking that he should audaciously assume to confer +spiritual powers with spiritual emblems. Yet even worse things might +happen, since sometimes the lord, for his greater convenience, had +himself made bishop. + +[Sidenote: Attitude of the Church towards its property.] + +[Sidenote: Attitude of the king.] + +The Church itself naturally looked at the property attached to a +benefice as a mere incident and considered the spiritual prerogatives +the main thing. And since the clergy alone could rightly confer these, +it was natural that they should claim the right to bestow ecclesiastical +offices, including the lands ("temporalities") attached to them, upon +whomsoever they pleased without consulting any layman whatever. Against +this claim the king might urge that a simple minister of the Gospel, or +a holy monk, was by no means necessarily fitted to manage the interests +of a feudal state, such as the great archbishoprics and bishoprics, and +even the abbeys, had become in Germany and elsewhere in the eleventh +century. + +[Sidenote: Complicated position of the bishops in Germany and +elsewhere.] + +In short, the situation in which the bishops found themselves was a very +complicated one. (1) As an officer of the Church, the bishop had certain +ecclesiastical and religious duties within the limits of his diocese. He +saw that parish priests were properly selected and ordained, he tried +certain cases in his court, and performed the church ceremonies. (2) He +managed the lands which belonged to the bishopric, which might, or might +not, be fiefs. (3) As a vassal of those who had granted lands to the +bishopric upon feudal terms, he owed the usual feudal dues, not +excluding the duty of furnishing troops to his lord. (4) Lastly, in +Germany, the king had found it convenient, from about the beginning of +the eleventh century, to confer upon the bishops in many cases the +authority of a count in the districts about them. In this way they might +have the right to collect tolls, coin money, and perform other important +governmental duties.[103] When a prelate was inducted into office he +was invested with all these various functions at once, both spiritual +and governmental. + +To forbid the king to take part in the investiture was, consequently, to +rob him not only of his feudal rights but also of his authority over +many of his government officials, since bishops, and sometimes even +abbots, were often counts in all but name. Moreover, the monarch relied +upon the clergy, both in Germany and France, to counterbalance the +influence of his lay vassals, who were always trying to exalt their +power at his expense. He therefore found it necessary to take care who +got possession of the important church offices. + +[Sidenote: The marriage of the clergy threatens the wealth of the +Church.] + +60. Still another danger threatened the wealth and resources of the +Church. During the tenth and eleventh centuries the rule of the Church +prohibiting the clergy from marrying[104] appears to have been widely +and publicly neglected in Italy, Germany, France, and England. To the +stricter critics of the time this appeared a terrible degradation of the +clergy, who, they felt, should be unencumbered by family cares and +wholly devoted to the service of God. The question, too, had another +side. It was obvious that the property of the Church would soon be +dispersed if the clergy were allowed to marry, since they would wish to +provide for their children. Just as the feudal tenures had become +hereditary, so the church lands would become hereditary unless the +clergy were forced to remain unmarried. + +[Sidenote: Buying and selling of church offices.] + +Besides the feudalizing of its property and the marriage of the clergy, +there was a third great and constant source of weakness and corruption +in the Church, namely, the temptation to buy and sell church offices. +Had the duties and responsibilities of the bishops, abbots, and priests +always been arduous and exacting, and their recompense barely enough to +maintain them, there would have been little tendency to bribe those who +could bestow the appointments. But the incomes of bishoprics and abbeys +were usually considerable, sometimes very great, while the duties +attached to the office of bishop or abbot, however serious in the eyes +of the right-minded, might easily be neglected by the unscrupulous. The +revenue from a great landed estate, the distinction of high +ecclesiastical rank, and the governmental prerogatives that went with +the office, were enough to induce the members of the noblest families to +vie with each other in securing church positions. The king or prince who +possessed the right of investiture was sure of finding some one willing +to pay something for important benefices. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the term simony.] + +The sin of buying or selling church offices was recognized as a most +heinous one. It was called _simony_,[105] a name derived from Simon the +Magician, who, according to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, +offered Peter money if he would give him the power of conferring the +Holy Spirit upon those upon whom he should lay his hands. As the apostle +denounced this first simonist, so the Church has continued ever since to +denounce those who propose to purchase its sacred powers,--"Thy silver +perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God +with money" (Acts viii. 20). + +[Sidenote: Simony not really the sale of church offices.] + +Doubtless very few bought positions in the Church with the view of +obtaining the "gift of God," that is to say, the religious office. It +was the revenue and the honor that were chiefly coveted. Moreover, when +a king or lord accepted a gift from one for whom he procured a benefice, +he did not regard himself as selling the office; he merely shared its +advantages. No transaction took place in the Middle Ages without +accompanying gifts and fees of various kinds. The church lands were well +managed and remunerative. The clergyman who was appointed to a rich +bishopric or abbey seemed to have far more revenue than he needed and so +was expected to contribute to the king's treasury, which was generally +empty. + +[Sidenote: Simony corrupts the lower clergy.] + +The evil of simony was, therefore, explicable enough, and perhaps +ineradicable under the circumstances. It was, nevertheless, very +demoralizing, for it spread downward and infected the whole body of the +clergy. A bishop who had made a large outlay in obtaining his office +naturally expected something from the priests, whom it was his duty to +appoint. The priest in turn was tempted to reimburse himself by improper +exactions for the performance of his regular religious duties, for +baptizing and marrying his parishioners, and for burying the dead. + +So it seemed, at the opening of the eleventh century, as if the Church +was to be dragged down by its property into the anarchy of feudalism +described in a preceding chapter. There were many indications that its +great officers were to become merely the vassals of kings and princes +and no longer to represent a great international institution under the +headship of the popes. The Bishop of Rome had not only ceased, in the +tenth century, to exercise any considerable influence over the churches +beyond the Alps, but was himself controlled by the restless nobles of +central Italy. He appears much less important, in the chronicles of the +time, than the Archbishop of Rheims or Mayence. There is no more +extraordinary revolution recorded in history than that which raised the +weak and demoralized papacy of the tenth century to a supreme place in +European affairs. + +[Sidenote: Three rival popes.] + +61. One of the noble families of Rome had got the selection of the popes +into its own hands, and was using the papal authority to secure its +control over the city. In the same year (1024) in which Conrad II became +emperor, a layman was actually exalted to the headship of the Church, +and after him a mere boy of ten or twelve years, Benedict IX, who, in +addition to his youth, proved to be thoroughly evil-minded. His powerful +family maintained him, however, on the papal throne for a decade, until +he proposed to marry. This so scandalized even the not over-sensitive +Romans that they drove him out of the city. A rich neighboring bishop +then secured his own election. Presently a third claimant appeared in +the person of a pious and learned priest who bought out the claims of +Benedict IX for a large sum of money and assumed the title of Gregory +VI. + +[Sidenote: The interference of Henry III in papal affairs and its +momentous consequences.] + +This state of affairs seemed to the emperor, Henry III, to call for his +interference. He accordingly went to Italy and summoned a council at +Sutri, north of Rome, in 1046, where two of the claimants were deposed. +Gregory VI, more conscientious than his rivals, not only resigned his +office but tore his pontifical robes in pieces and admitted his +monstrous crime in buying the papal dignity, though his motives had been +of the purest. The emperor then secured the election of a worthy German +bishop as pope, whose first act was to crown Henry and Agnes his +wife.[106] + +The appearance of Henry III in Italy at this juncture, and the +settlement of the question of the three rival popes, are among the most +important events of all mediæval history in their results. In lifting +the papacy out of the realm of petty Italian politics, Henry unwittingly +helped to raise up a rival to the imperial authority which was destined, +before the end of the next century, to overshadow it and to become +without question the greatest power in western Europe. + +[Sidenote: Difficulties to be overcome in establishing the supremacy of +the popes in western Europe.] + +For nearly two hundred years the popes had assumed very little +responsibility for the welfare of Europe at large. It was a gigantic +task to make of the Church a great international monarchy, with its head +at the old world-center, Rome; the difficulties in the way seemed, +indeed, well-nigh insurmountable. The great archbishops, who were as +jealous of the power of the pope as the great vassals were of the kingly +power, must be brought into subjection. National tendencies which made +against the unity of the Church must be overcome. The control enjoyed by +kings, princes, and other feudal lords in the selection of church +officials must be done away with. Simony with its degrading influence +must be abolished. The marriage of the clergy must be checked, so that +the property of the Church should not be dissipated. The whole body of +churchmen, from the priest to the archbishop, must be redeemed from the +immorality and worldliness which degraded them in the eyes of the +people. + +[Sidenote: Pope Leo IX, 1049-1054.] + +It is true that during the remainder of his life Henry III himself +controlled the election of the popes; but he was sincerely and deeply +interested in the betterment of the Church and took care to select able +and independent German prelates to fill the papal office. Of these the +most important was Leo IX (1049-1054). He was the first to show clearly +how the pope might not only become in time the real head and monarch of +the Church but might also aspire to rule kings and emperors as well as +bishops and abbots. Leo refused to regard himself as pope simply because +the emperor had appointed him. He held that the emperor should aid and +protect, but might not create, popes. So he entered Rome as an humble +barefoot pilgrim and was duly elected by the Roman people according to +the rule of the Church. + +[Sidenote: Papal legates.] + +Leo IX undertook to visit France and Germany and even Hungary in person, +with the purpose of calling councils to check simony and the marriage of +the clergy. But this personal oversight on the part of the popes was +not feasible in the long run, if for no other reason, because they were +generally old men who would have found traveling arduous and often +dangerous. Leo's successors relied upon legates, to whom they delegated +extensive powers and whom they dispatched to all parts of western Europe +in something the same way that Charlemagne employed his _missi_. It is +supposed that Leo IX was greatly influenced in his energetic policy by a +certain sub-deacon, Hildebrand by name. Hildebrand was himself destined +to become one of the greatest popes, under the title of Gregory VII, and +to play a part in the formation of the mediæval Church which justifies +us in ranking him, as a statesman, with Cæsar, Charlemagne, Richelieu, +and Bismarck. + +[Sidenote: Pope Nicholas II places the election of the popes in the +hands of the cardinals, 1059.] + +62. The first great step toward the emancipation of the Church from the +control of the laity was taken by Nicholas II. In 1059 he issued a +remarkable decree which took the election of the head of the Church once +for all out of the hands of both the emperor and the people of Rome, and +placed it definitely and forever in the hands of the _cardinals_, who +represented the Roman clergy.[107] Obviously the object of this decree +was to preclude all lay interference, whether of the distant emperor, of +the local nobility, or of the Roman mob. The college of cardinals still +exists and still elects the pope.[108] + +[Sidenote: Opposition to further reforms.] + +The reform party which directed the policy of the popes had, it hoped, +freed the head of the Church from the control of worldly men by putting +his election in the hands of the Roman clergy. It now proposed to +emancipate the Church as a whole from the base entanglements of earth: +first, by strictly forbidding the married clergy to perform religious +functions and by exhorting their flocks to refuse to attend their +ministrations; and secondly, by depriving the kings and feudal lords of +their influence over the choice of the bishops and abbots, since this +influence was deemed the chief cause of worldliness among the prelates. +Naturally these last measures met with far more general opposition than +the new way of electing the pope. An attempt to expel the married clergy +from Milan led to a popular revolt, in which the pope's legate actually +found his life in danger. The decrees forbidding clergymen to receive +their lands and offices from laymen received little attention from +either the clergy or the feudal lords. The magnitude of the task which +the popes had undertaken first became fully apparent when Hildebrand +himself ascended the papal throne, in 1073, as Gregory VII. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GREGORY VII AND HENRY IV + + +[Sidenote: The _Dictatus_ of Gregory VII.] + +63. Among the writings of Gregory VII there is a very brief statement, +called the _Dictatus_, of the powers which he believed the popes to +possess. Its chief claims are the following: The pope enjoys a unique +title; he is the only universal bishop and may depose and reinstate +other bishops or transfer them from place to place. No council of the +Church may be regarded as speaking for Christendom without his consent. +The Roman Church has never erred, nor will it err to all eternity. No +one may be considered a Catholic Christian who does not agree with the +Roman Church. No book is authoritative unless it has received the papal +sanction. + +Gregory does not stop with asserting the pope's complete supremacy over +the Church; he goes still further and claims for him the right to +restrain the civil government when it seems necessary in the cause of +righteousness. He says that "the Pope is the only person whose feet are +kissed by all princes"; that he may depose emperors and "absolve +subjects from allegiance to an unjust ruler." No one shall dare to +condemn one who appeals to the pope. No one may annul a decree of the +pope, though the pope may declare null and void the decrees of all other +earthly powers; and no one may pass judgment upon his acts.[109] + +[Sidenote: Inadequacy of civil government in the Middle Ages.] + +[Sidenote: The Church claims the right to interfere only when +necessary.] + +These are not the insolent claims of a reckless tyrant, but the +expression of a theory of government which has had advocates among some +of the most conscientious and learned men of all succeeding ages. Before +venturing to criticise Gregory's view of his position we should +recollect two important facts. In the first place, what most writers +call the _state_, when dealing with the Middle Ages, was no orderly +government in our sense of the word; it was represented only by restless +feudal lords, to whom disorder was the very breath of life. When, on one +occasion, Gregory declared the civil power to be the invention of evil +men instigated by the devil, he was making a natural inference from what +he observed of the conduct of the princes of his time. In the second +place, it should be remembered that Gregory does not claim that the +Church should manage the civil government, but that the papacy, which is +answerable for the eternal welfare of every Christian, should have the +right to restrain a sinful and perverse prince and to refuse to +recognize unrighteous laws. Should all else fail, he claimed the right +to free a nation which was being led to disaster in this world and to +perdition in the next from its allegiance to a wicked monarch. + +[Sidenote: Gregory VII puts his theories of the papal power into +practice.] + +Immediately upon his election as pope, Gregory began to put into +practice his high conception of the rôle that the spiritual head of the +world should play. He dispatched legates throughout Europe, and from +this time on these legates became a powerful instrument of government. +He warned the kings of France and England and the youthful German ruler, +Henry IV, to forsake their evil ways, to be upright and just, and obey +his admonitions. He explains, kindly but firmly, to William the +Conqueror that the papal and kingly powers are both established by God +as the greatest among the authorities of the world, just as the sun and +moon are the greatest of the heavenly bodies.[110] But the papal power +is obviously superior to the kingly, for it is responsible for it; at +the Last Day Gregory must render an account of the king as one of the +flock intrusted to his care. The king of France was warned to give up +his practice of simony, lest he be excommunicated and his subjects freed +from their oath of allegiance. All these acts of Gregory appear to have +been dictated not by worldly ambition but by a fervent conviction of +their righteousness and of his duty toward all men. + +[Sidenote: Death of Henry III, 1056.] + +64. Obviously Gregory's plan of reform included all the states of +western Europe, but conditions were such that the most striking conflict +took place between him and the emperor. The trouble came about in this +way. Henry III had died in 1056, leaving only his good wife Agnes and +their little son of six years to maintain the hard-fought prerogatives +of the German king in the midst of ambitious vassals such as even Otto +the Great had found it difficulty to control. + +[Sidenote: Accession of Henry IV, 1065.] + +In 1065 the fifteen-year-old lad was declared of age, and his lifelong +difficulties began with a great rebellion of the Saxons. They accused +the young king of having built castles in their land and of filling them +with rough soldiers who preyed upon the people. Gregory felt it his duty +to interfere. To him the Saxons appeared a people oppressed by a +heedless youth under the inspiration of evil counselors. + +As one reads of Henry's difficulties and misfortunes it seems miraculous +that he was able to maintain himself as king at all. Sick at heart, +unable to trust any one, and forced to flee from his own subjects, he +writes contritely to the pope: "We have sinned against heaven and before +thee and are no longer worthy to be called thy son." But when cheered +for a moment by a victory over the rebellious Saxons, he easily forgot +his promise of obedience to the pope. He continued to associate with +counselors whom the pope had excommunicated and went on filling +important bishoprics in Germany and Italy regardless of the pope's +prohibitions. + +[Sidenote: New prohibition of lay investiture.] + +The popes who immediately preceded Gregory had more than once forbidden +the churchmen to receive investiture from laymen. Gregory reissued this +prohibition in 1075,[111] just as the trouble with Henry had begun. +Investiture was, as we have seen, the legal transfer by the king, or +other lord, to a newly chosen church official, of the lands and rights +attached to the office. In forbidding lay investiture Gregory attempted +nothing less than a revolution. The bishops and abbots were often +officers of government, exercising in Germany and Italy powers similar +in all respects to those of the counts. The king not only relied upon +them for advice and assistance in carrying on his government, but they +were among his chief allies in his constant struggles with his vassals. + +[Sidenote: Henry IV angered by the language of the papal legates.] + +Gregory dispatched three envoys to Henry (end of 1075) with a fatherly +letter[112] in which he reproached the king for his wicked conduct. But +he evidently had little expectation that mere expostulation would have +any effect upon Henry, for he gave his legates instructions to use +threats, if necessary, which were bound to produce either complete +subjection or out-and-out revolt. The legates were to tell the king that +his crimes were so numerous, so horrible, and so notorious, that he +merited not only excommunication but the permanent loss of all his royal +honors. + +[Sidenote: Gregory VII deposed by a council of German bishops at Worms, +1076] + +The violence of the legates' language not only kindled the wrath of the +king but also gained for him friends among the bishops. A council which +Henry summoned at Worms (in 1076) was attended by more than two thirds +of the German bishops. Here Gregory was declared deposed owing to the +alleged irregularity of his election and the many terrible charges of +immorality and ambition brought against him. The bishops renounced their +obedience to him and publicly declared that he had ceased to be their +pope. It appears very surprising, at first sight, that the king should +have received the prompt support of the German churchmen against the +head of the Church. But it must be remembered that the prelates owed +their offices to the king and not to the pope. + +In a remarkable letter[113] to Gregory, Henry asserts that he has shown +himself long-suffering and eager to guard the honor of the papacy, but +that the pope has mistaken his humility for fear. "Thou hast not +hesitated," the letter concludes, "to rise up against the royal power +conferred upon us by God, daring to threaten to deprive us of it, as if +we had received our kingdom from thee. As if the kingdom and the Empire +were in thine and not in God's hands.... I, Henry, King by the grace of +God, together with all our bishops, say unto thee, come down, come down +from thy throne and be accursed of all generations." + +[Sidenote: Henry IV deposed and excommunicated by the pope.] + +Gregory's reply to Henry and the German bishops who had deposed him was +speedy and decisive. "Incline thine ear to us, O Peter, chief of the +Apostles. As thy representative and by thy favor has the power been +granted especially to me by God of binding and loosing in heaven and +earth. On the strength of this, for the honor and glory of thy Church, +in the name of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I withdraw, +through thy power and authority, from Henry the King, son of Henry the +Emperor, who has risen against thy Church with unheard-of insolence, the +rule over the whole kingdom of the Germans and over Italy. I absolve all +Christians from the bonds of the oath which they have sworn, or may +swear, to him; and I forbid anyone to serve him as king." For his +intercourse with the excommunicated and his manifold iniquities, the +king is furthermore declared accursed and excommunicate.[114] + +[Sidenote: Attitude of the German princes.] + +For a time after the pope had deposed him everything went against Henry. +Even the churchmen now held off. Instead of resenting the pope's +interference, the discontented Saxons, and many other of Henry's +vassals, believed that there was now an excellent opportunity to get rid +of Henry and choose a more agreeable ruler. But after a long conference +the great German vassals decided to give Henry another chance. He was to +refrain from exercising the functions of government until he had made +peace with the pope. If at the end of a year he had failed to do this, +he was to be regarded as having forfeited the throne. The pope was, +moreover, invited to come to Augsburg to consult with the princes as to +whether Henry should be reinstated or another chosen in his stead. It +looked as if the pope was, in truth, to control the civil government. + +[Sidenote: Henry submits to the pope at Canossa, 1077.] + +Henry decided to anticipate the arrival of the pope. He hastened across +the Alps in midwinter and appeared as an humble suppliant before the +castle of Canossa, whither the pope had come on his way to Augsburg. For +three days the German king appeared before the closed door, barefoot and +in the coarse garments of a pilgrim and a penitent, and even then +Gregory was induced only by the expostulations of his influential +companions to admit the humiliated ruler. The spectacle of this mighty +prince of distinguished appearance, humiliated and in tears before the +nervous little man who humbly styled himself the "servant of the +servants of God," has always been regarded as most completely typifying +the power of the Church and the potency of her curses, against which +even the most exalted of the earth found no weapon of defense except +abject penitence.[115] + +[Sidenote: A new king chosen.] + +[Sidenote: Henry again excommunicated.] + +65. The pardon which Henry received at Canossa did not satisfy the +German princes; for their main object in demanding that he should +reconcile himself with the Church had been to cause him additional +embarrassment. They therefore proceeded to elect another ruler, and the +next three or four years was a period of bloody struggles between the +adherents of the rival kings. Gregory remained neutral until 1080, when +he again "bound with the chain of anathema" Henry, "the so-called king," +and all his followers. He declared him deprived of his royal power and +dignity and forbade all Christians to obey him. + +[Sidenote: Henry triumphs over Gregory.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Gregory.] + +The new excommunication had precisely the opposite effect from the first +one. Henry's friends increased rather than decreased. The German clergy +were again aroused, and they again deposed "this same most brazen +Hildebrand." Henry's rival fell in battle, and Henry, accompanied by an +anti-pope, betook himself to Italy with the double purpose of putting +his pope on the throne and winning the imperial crown. Gregory held out +for no less than two years, but at last Rome fell into Henry's hands and +Gregory withdrew and soon died. His last words were, "I have loved +justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die an exile," and the +fair-minded historical student will not question their truth.[116] + +[Sidenote: Henry IV's further troubles.] + +The death of Gregory did not put an end to Henry's difficulties. He +spent the remaining twenty years of his life in trying to maintain his +rights as king of Germany and Italy against his rebellious subjects on +both sides of the Alps. In Germany his chief enemies were the Saxons and +his discontented vassals. In Italy the pope was now actively engaged as +a temporal ruler, in building up a little state of his own. He was, +moreover, always ready to encourage the Lombard cities--which were +growing more and more powerful and less and less willing to submit to +the rule of a German--in their opposition to the emperor. + +[Sidenote: Rebellion at home and in Italy.] + +[Sidenote: Treason of Henry's sons.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Henry IV, 1106.] + +A combination of his Italian enemies called Henry again to Italy in +1090, although he was forced to leave Germany but half subdued. He was +seriously defeated by the Italians; and the Lombard cities embraced the +opportunity to form their first union against their foreign king. In +1093 Milan, Cremona, Lodi, and Piacenza joined in an offensive and +defensive alliance for their own protection. After seven years of +hopeless lingering in Italy, Henry returned sadly across the Alps, +leaving the peninsula in the hands of his enemies. But he found no peace +at home. His discontented German vassals induced his son, whom he had +had crowned as his successor, to revolt against his father. Thereupon +followed more civil war, more treason, and a miserable abdication. In +1106 death put an end to perhaps the saddest reign that history records. + +[Sidenote: Henry V, 1106-1125.] + +The achievement of the reign of Henry IV's son, Henry V, which chiefly +interests us was the adjustment of the question of investitures. Pope +Paschal II, while willing to recognize those bishops already chosen by +the king, provided they were good men, proposed that thereafter +Gregory's decrees against lay investiture should be carried out. The +clergy should no longer do homage and lay their hands, consecrated to +the service of the altar, in the blood-stained hands of the nobles. +Henry V, on the other hand, declared that unless the clergy took the +oath of fealty the bishops would not be given the lands, towns, castles, +tolls, and privileges attached to the bishoprics. + +[Sidenote: Settlement of the question of lay investiture in the +Concordat of Worms, 1122.] + +After a succession of troubles a compromise was at last reached in the +Concordat of Worms (1122), which put an end to the controversy over +investitures in Germany.[117] The emperor promised to permit the Church +freely to elect the bishops and abbots and renounced his old claim to +invest with the spiritual emblems of the ring and the crosier. But the +elections were to be held in the presence of the king, and he was +permitted, in a separate ceremony, to invest the new bishop or abbot +with his fiefs and secular prerogatives by a touch of the scepter. In +this way the spiritual rights of the bishops were obviously conferred by +the churchmen who elected him; and although the king might still +practically invalidate an election by refusing to invest with the +coveted temporal privileges, still the direct appointment of the bishops +and abbots was taken out of his hands. As for the emperor's control over +the papacy, too many popes, since the advent of Henry IV, had been +generally recognized as properly elected without the sanction of the +emperor, for any one to believe any longer that his sanction was +necessary. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HOHENSTAUFEN EMPERORS AND THE POPES + + +[Sidenote: Frederick I, Barbarossa, 1152-1190.] + +[Sidenote: The historian, Otto of Freising.] + +66. Frederick I, nicknamed Barbarossa, i.e., "Redbeard," who became king +of Germany in 1152,[118] is the most interesting of all the German +emperors; and the records we have of his reign enable us to gain a +pretty good view of Europe in the middle of the twelfth century. With +his advent, we feel that we are emerging from that long period which +used to be known as the dark ages. Most of our knowledge of European +history from the sixth to the twelfth century is derived from meager and +unreliable monkish chronicles, whose authors were often ignorant and +careless, and usually far away from the scenes of the events they +recorded. In the latter half of the twelfth century, however, +information grows much more abundant and varied. We begin to have +records of the town life and are no longer entirely dependent upon the +monks' records. The first historian with a certain philosophic grasp of +his theme was Otto of Freising. His _Life of Frederick Barbarossa_ and +his history of the world form invaluable sources of knowledge of the +period we now enter. + +[Sidenote: Frederick's ideal of the Empire.] + +Frederick's ambition was to raise the Roman Empire to its old glory and +influence. He regarded himself as the successor of the Cæsars, of +Justinian, of Charlemagne, and of Otto the Great. He believed his office +to be quite as divinely established as the papacy. In announcing his +election to the pope, he stated that the Empire had been "bestowed upon +him by God," and he did not ask for the pope's sanction, as his +predecessors had done. But in his lifelong attempt to maintain what he +assumed to be the rights of the emperor he encountered all the old +difficulties. He had to watch his rebellious vassals in Germany and meet +the opposition of a series of unflinching popes, ready to defend the +most exalted claims of the papacy. He found, moreover, in the Lombard +cities unconquerable foes, who finally brought upon him a signal defeat. + +[Sidenote: The towns begin to play a part in history.] + +67. One of the most striking differences between the ages before +Frederick and the whole period since, lies in the development of town +life, with all that that implies. Up to this time we have heard only of +emperors, popes, bishops, and feudal lords; from now on the cities must +be reckoned with, as Frederick was to discover to his sorrow.[119] + +[Sidenote: The government of the Lombard cities becomes partially +democratic.] + +The government of the towns of Lombardy fell, after Charlemagne's time, +into the hands of their respective bishops, who exercised the +prerogatives of counts. Under the bishops the towns flourished within +their walls and also extended their control over the neighboring +districts. As industry and commerce increased, the prosperous citizens, +and the poorer classes as well, aspired to some control over the +government. Cremona very early expelled its bishop, destroyed his +castle, and refused to pay him any dues. Later Henry IV stirred up Lucca +against its bishop and promised that its liberties should never be +interfered with henceforth by bishop, duke, or count. Other towns threw +off the episcopal rule, and in practically all of them the government +came at last into the hands of municipal officials elected by those +citizens who were permitted to have a hand in the government. + +[Sidenote: The turmoil in the Italian towns; their remarkable +civilization.] + +[Illustration: Italian Towns in the Twelfth Century] + +The more humble artisans were excluded altogether from a voice in city +affairs. Their occasional revolts, as well as the feuds between the +factions of the nobles,--who took up their residence in the towns +instead of remaining on their estates,--produced a turmoil which we +should think intolerable in our modern peaceable cities. This was +greatly increased by bitter wars with neighboring towns. Yet, in spite +of incredible disorder within and without, the Italian towns became +centers of industry, learning, and art, unequaled in history except by +the famous cities of Greece. They were able, moreover, to maintain their +independence for several centuries. Frederick's difficulties in playing +the emperor in Italy were naturally greatly increased by the sturdy +opposition of the Lombard towns which could always count on a faithful +ally in the pope. He and they had a common interest in seeing that the +power of the king of Germany remained purely nominal on their side of +the mountains.[120] + +[Sidenote: Frederick's first expedition to Italy, 1154.] + +68. Milan was the most powerful of the Lombard towns and was heartily +detested by her neighbors, over whom she was constantly endeavoring to +extend her control. Two refugees from Lodi brought word to the newly +elected emperor of Milan's tyranny. When Frederick's representatives +reached the offending city they were insulted and the imperial seal was +trampled in the dust. Like the other towns, Milan would acknowledge the +supremacy of the emperor only so long as he made it no trouble. The wish +to gain the imperial crown and to see what this bold conduct of Milan +meant, brought Frederick to Italy, in 1154, on the first of six +expeditions, which together were to occupy many years of his reign. + +Frederick pitched his camp in the plain of Roncaglia and there received +representatives from the Lombard towns, who had many and grievous +complaints to make of the conduct of their neighbors, especially of the +arrogant Milan. We get a hint of the distant commerce of the maritime +cities when we read that Genoa sent gifts of ostriches, lions, and +parrots. Frederick made a momentary impression by proceeding, upon the +complaint of Pavia, to besiege and destroy the town of Tortona. As soon +as he moved on to Rome, Milan plucked up courage to punish two or three +neighbors who had too enthusiastically supported the emperor; it also +lent a hand to Tortona's hapless citizens in rebuilding their city. + +[Sidenote: Frederick and Pope Hadrian.] + +When the pope, Hadrian IV, and the emperor first met there was some +bitter feeling because Frederick hesitated to hold the pope's stirrup. +He made no further objection, however, when he learned that it was the +custom. Hadrian was relying upon his assistance, for Rome was in the +midst of a remarkable revolution. Under the leadership of the famous +Arnold of Brescia,[121] the city was attempting to reëstablish a +government similar to that of the times when the Roman senate ruled the +civilized world. It is needless to say that the attempt failed, though +Frederick gave the pope but little help against Arnold and the +rebellious Romans. After receiving his crown, the emperor hastened back +to Germany and left the disappointed Hadrian to deal with his refractory +people as best he might. This desertion and later misunderstandings +produced much ill feeling between the pope and Frederick. + +[Sidenote: The assembly at Roncaglia, 1158.] + +[Sidenote: Its decision as to the rights (_regalia_) of the emperor over +the Lombard towns.] + +In 1158 Frederick was back in Italy and held another great assembly at +Roncaglia. He summoned hither certain teachers of the Roman law from +Bologna (where the revived study of the law was actively pursued), as +well as representatives of the towns, to decide exactly what his rights +as emperor were. There was little danger but that those versed in a law +which declared that "whatsoever the prince has willed has the force of +law," should give the emperor his due. His _regalia_, or governmental +prerogatives, were declared to consist in feudal suzerainty over the +various duchies and counties, and in the right to appoint magistrates, +collect tolls, impose an extraordinary war tax, coin money, and enjoy +the revenue from fisheries and from salt and silver mines. Such persons +or towns as could produce proof that any of these privileges had been +formally conceded to them might continue to enjoy them; otherwise the +emperor assumed them. As most of the towns had simply succeeded to the +rights of the bishops and had no legal proofs of any concessions from +the emperor, this decision meant the loss of their independence. The +emperor greatly increased his revenue for the moment; but these extreme +measures and the hated governors whom he appointed to represent him were +bound to produce ultimate revolt. It became a matter of life and death +to the towns to get rid of the imperial officials and taxgatherers. + +[Sidenote: The destruction of Crema and Milan.] + +The town of Crema refused to level its walls at the command of the +emperor. It had to undergo a most terrible siege and finally succumbed. +Its citizens were allowed to depart with nothing but their lives, and +the place was given over to plunder and destruction. Then Milan drove +the emperor's deputies from the gates. A long siege brought even this +proud city to terms; and the emperor did not hesitate to order its +destruction, in spite of its commercial and political importance (1162). +It is a melancholy commentary upon the relations between the various +towns that Milan's neighbors begged to be permitted to carry out her +annihilation. Her inhabitants were allowed to settle in the neighborhood +of the spot where their prosperous city had stood, and from the rapidity +with which they were able to rebuild it later, we may conclude that the +demolition was not so thoroughgoing as some of the accounts imply. + +[Sidenote: The Lombard towns secretly unite to form the Lombard League.] + +69. The only hope for the Lombard towns was in _union_, which the +emperor had explicitly forbidden. Soon after Milan's destruction +measures were secretly taken to form the nucleus of what became later +the great Lombard League. Cremona, Brescia, Mantua, and Bergamo joined +together against the emperor. Encouraged by the pope and aided by the +League, Milan was speedily rebuilt. Frederick, who had been engaged in +conquering Rome with a view of placing an anti-pope on the throne of St. +Peter, was glad, in 1167, to escape the combined dangers of Roman fever +and the wrath of the towns and get back to Germany. The League was +extended to include Verona, Piacenza, Parma, and eventually many other +towns. It was even deemed best to construct an entirely new town, with a +view of harboring forces to oppose the emperor on his return, and +Alessandria remains a lasting testimonial to the energy and coöperative +spirit of the League. The new town got its name from the League's ally, +Pope Alexander III, one of the most conspicuous among the papal +opponents of the German kings. + +[Sidenote: Frederick completely defeated by the League at Legnano, +1176.] + +After several years spent in regulating affairs in Germany, Frederick +again appeared in Lombardy. He found the new "straw" town, as the +imperialists contemptuously called it, too strong for him. The League +got its forces together, and a great battle took place at Legnano in +1176,--a really decisive conflict, which was rare enough in the Middle +Ages. Frederick had been unable to get the reënforcements he wished from +across the Alps, and, under the energetic leadership of Milan, the +League so completely and hopelessly defeated him that the question of +the mastery in Lombardy was settled for some time. + +[Sidenote: Peace of Constance (1183) establishes independence of Lombard +towns.] + +A great congress was thereupon assembled at Venice, and here, under the +auspices of Pope Alexander III, a truce was concluded, which was made a +perpetual peace at Constance in 1183. The towns received back +practically all their regalia and, upon formally acknowledging the +emperor's overlordship, were left by him to go their own way. Frederick +was forced, moreover, humbly to recognize a pope that he had solemnly +sworn should never be obeyed by him. The pope and the towns had made +common cause and enjoyed a common victory. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the power of the Guelfs.] + +From this time on we find the name _Guelf_ assumed by the party in Italy +which was opposed to the emperors.[122] This is but another form of the +name of the Welf family, who made most of the trouble for the +Hohenstaufens in Germany. A certain Welf had been made duke of Bavaria +by Henry IV (in 1070). His son added to the family estates by marrying a +rich north-German heiress. His grandson, Henry the Proud, looked still +higher and became the son-in-law of the duke of Saxony and the heir to +his great duchy. This, added to his other vast possessions, made him the +most powerful and dangerous of the vassals of the Hohenstaufen emperors. + +[Sidenote: Division of Saxony and the other great German duchies.] + +On returning from his disastrous campaign against the Lombard towns, +Frederick Barbarossa found himself at war with the Guelf leader, Henry +the Lion (son of Henry the Proud), who had refused to come to the +emperor's aid before the battle of Legnano. Henry was banished, and +Frederick divided up the Saxon duchy. His policy was to split up the old +duchies, for he clearly saw the danger of permitting his vassals to +control districts as large as he himself held. + +[Sidenote: The Hohenstaufens extend their power into southern Italy.] + +70. Before his departure upon the crusading expedition during which he +lost his life, Frederick saw his son, Henry VI, crowned king of Italy. +Moreover, in order to extend the power of the Hohenstaufens over +southern Italy, he arranged a marriage between the young Henry and +Constance, the heiress to the Norman kingdom of Naples and Sicily.[123] +Thus the hopeless attempt to keep both Germany and Italy under the same +head was continued. It brought about new conflicts with the popes, who +were the feudal suzerains of Naples and Sicily, and ended in the ruin of +the house of Hohenstaufen. + +[Sidenote: Henry VI, 1190-1197.] + +[Sidenote: His troubles in Italy and Germany.] + +Henry VI's short reign was beset with difficulties which he sturdily met +and overcame. Henry the Lion, the Guelf leader, having broken the oath +he had sworn to Frederick to keep away from Germany, returned and +organized a rebellion. So soon as this was quelled and the Guelf party +was under control for a time, Henry VI had to hasten south to rescue his +Sicilian kingdom. There a certain Norman count, Tancred, was leading a +national revolt against the German claimant. The pope, who regarded +Sicily as his fief, had freed the emperor's Norman subjects from their +oath of fidelity to him. Moreover, Richard the Lion-Hearted of England +had landed on his way to the Holy Land and allied himself with Tancred. + +Henry VI's expedition to Italy proved a complete disaster. His empress +was captured by Tancred's people, his army largely perished by sickness, +and Henry the Lion's son, whom he held as a hostage, escaped. To add to +his troubles, no sooner had he reached Germany once more than he was +confronted by a new and more formidable revolt (1192). Luckily for him, +Richard, stealing home through Germany from his crusade, fell into his +hands. He held the English king, as an ally of the Guelfs, until he +obtained an enormous ransom, which supplied him with the means of +fighting his enemies in both Germany and Italy. The death of Tancred +enabled him to regain his realms in southern Italy. But he endeavored in +vain to induce the German princes to recognize the permanent union of +the southern Italian kingdom with Germany, or to make the imperial crown +hereditary in his house. + +[Sidenote: Pope Innocent III.] + +At the age of thirty-two, and in the midst of plans for a world empire, +Henry succumbed to Italian fever, leaving the fate of the Hohenstaufen +family in the hands of his infant son, who was to become the famous +Frederick II. Just as Henry VI died, the greatest, perhaps, of all the +popes was about to ascend the throne of St. Peter, and for nearly a +score of years to dominate the political affairs of western Europe. For +a time the political power of the popes almost overshadows that of a +Charlemagne or a Napoleon. In a later chapter a description will be +given of the great institution over which Innocent III presided like a +monarch upon his throne. But first we must follow the history of the +struggle between the papacy and the house of Hohenstaufen during the +remarkable career of Frederick II. + +[Sidenote: Philip of Hohenstaufen and Otto of Brunswick rival claimants +for the German throne.] + +71. No sooner was Henry VI out of the way than Germany became, in the +words of Henry's brother Philip, "like a sea lashed by every wind." So +wild was the confusion, so torn and so shaken was poor Germany in all +its parts, that far-sighted men doubted if they would ever see it return +to peace and order. Philip first proposed to play the rôle of regent to +his little nephew, but before long he assumed the imperial prerogatives, +after being duly elected king of the Romans. The Archbishop of Cologne, +however, summoned an assembly and brought about the election of a rival +king, Otto of Brunswick, the youthful son of Henry the Lion. + +[Sidenote: Innocent III decides in favor of Otto.] + +So the old struggle between Guelf and Hohenstaufen was renewed. Both of +the kings bid for the support of Innocent III, who openly proclaimed +that the decision of the matter lay with him. Otto was willing to make +the most reckless concessions to him; and as the pope naturally feared a +revival of the power of the Hohenstaufen house should Philip be +recognized, he decided in favor of the Guelf claimant in 1201. The +grateful Otto wrote to him, "My kingship would have dissolved in dust +and ashes had not your hand, or rather the authority of the Apostolic +Chair, weighed the scale in my favor." Innocent appears here, as upon +other occasions, as the arbiter of Europe. + +In the dreary civil wars which followed in Germany, Otto gradually lost +all his friends. His rival's promising career was, however, speedily cut +short, for he was murdered by a private enemy in 1208. Thereupon the +pope threatened to excommunicate any German bishop or prince who failed +to support Otto. The following year Otto went to Rome to be crowned, but +he promptly made an enemy of the pope by playing the emperor in Italy; +he even invaded the Sicilian kingdom of the pope's ward, Frederick, the +son of Henry VI. + +[Sidenote: Innocent III the arbiter of western Europe.] + +Innocent then repudiated Otto, in whom he claimed to have "been deceived +as God himself was once deceived in Saul." He determined that the young +Frederick should be made emperor, but he took great precautions to +prevent him from becoming a dangerous enemy of the pope, as his father +and grandfather had been. When Frederick was elected king in 1212 he +made all the promises that Innocent asked. + +[Sidenote: John of England becomes a vassal of the pope.] + +While the pope had been guiding the affairs of the empire he had by no +means neglected to exhibit his power in other quarters, above all in +England. The monks of Canterbury had (1205) ventured to choose an +archbishop--who was at the same time their abbot--without consulting +their king, John. Their appointee hastened off to Rome to gain the +pope's confirmation, while the irritated John forced the monks to hold +another election and make his treasurer archbishop. Innocent thereupon +rejected both of those who had been elected, sent for a new deputation +of monks from Canterbury, and bade them choose Stephen Langton, a man of +great ability. John then angrily drove the monks of Canterbury out of +the kingdom. Innocent replied by placing England under the _interdict_, +that is to say, he ordered the clergy to close all the churches and +suspend all public services,--a very terrible thing to the people of the +time. John was excommunicated, and the pope threatened that unless the +king submitted to his wishes he would depose him and give his crown to +Philip Augustus of France. As Philip made haste to collect an army for +the conquest of England, John humbly submitted to the pope in 1213. He +went so far as to hand England over to Innocent III and receive it back +as a fief, thus becoming the vassal of the pope. He agreed also to send +a yearly tribute to Rome.[124] + +[Sidenote: The fourth Lateran Council, 1215.] + +Innocent, in spite of several setbacks, now appeared to have attained +all his ambitious ends. The emperor, Frederick II, was his protégé and, +as king of Sicily, his acknowledged vassal, as was also the king of +England. He not only asserted but also maintained his right to +interfere in all the important political affairs of the various European +countries. In 1215 a stately international congress--the fourth Lateran +Council--met in his palace. It was attended by hundreds of bishops, +abbots, and representatives of kings, princes, and towns. Its decrees +were directed against the abuses in the Church and the progress of +heresy, both of which were seriously threatening the power of the +clergy. It confirmed the election of Frederick II and excommunicated +once more the now completely discredited Otto.[125] + +[Sidenote: Death of Innocent III, 1216.] + +[Sidenote: Emperor Frederick II, 1212-1250.] + +72. Innocent III died during the following year and left a heritage of +trouble to his successors in the person of the former papal ward, +Frederick II, who was little inclined to obey the pope. He had been +brought up in Sicily and was much influenced by the Arabic culture which +prevailed there. He appears to have rejected many of the received +opinions of the time. His enemies asserted that he was not even a +Christian, and that he declared that Moses, Christ, and Mohammed were +all alike impostors. He was nearsighted, bald, and wholly insignificant +in person; but he exhibited the most extraordinary energy and ability in +the organization of his kingdom of Sicily, in which he was far more +interested than in Germany. He drew up an elaborate code of laws for his +southern realms and may be said to have founded the first modern +well-regulated state, in which the king was indisputably supreme. + +[Sidenote: His bitter struggle with the papacy.] + +We cannot stop to relate the romantic and absorbing story of his long +struggle with the popes. They speedily discovered that he was bent upon +establishing a powerful state to the south of them, and upon extending +his control over the Lombard cities in such a manner that the papal +possessions would be held as in a vise. This, they felt, should never be +permitted. Almost every measure that Frederick adopted aroused their +suspicion and opposition, and they made every effort to destroy him and +his house. + +[Sidenote: Frederick recognized as king of Jerusalem.] + +His chance of success in the conflict with the head of the Church was +gravely affected by the promise which he had made before Innocent III's +death to undertake a crusade. He was so busily engaged with his endless +enterprises that he kept deferring the expedition, in spite of the papal +admonitions, until at last the pope lost patience and excommunicated +him. While excommunicate, he at last started for the East. He met with +signal success and actually brought Jerusalem, the Holy City, once more +into Christian hands and was himself recognized as king of Jerusalem. + +[Sidenote: Extinction of the Hohenstaufens' power.] + +Frederick's conduct continued, however, to give offense to the popes. +The emperor was denounced in solemn councils, and at last the popes +began to raise up rival kings in Germany to replace Frederick, whom they +deposed. After Frederick died (1250) his sons maintained themselves for +a few years in the Sicilian kingdom; but they finally gave way before a +French army, led by the brother of St. Louis, Charles of Anjou, upon +whom the pope bestowed the southern realms of the Hohenstaufens.[126] + +[Sidenote: Frederick's death marks the close of the mediæval empire.] + +With Frederick's death the mediæval empire may be said to have come to +an end. It is true that after a period of "fist law," as the Germans +call it, a new king, Rudolf of Hapsburg, was elected in Germany in 1273. +The German kings continued to call themselves emperors. Few of them, +however, took the trouble to go to Rome to be crowned by the pope. No +serious effort was ever made to reconquer the Italian territory for +which Otto the Great, Frederick Barbarossa, and his son and grandson had +made such serious sacrifices. Germany was hopelessly divided and its +king was no real king. He had no capital, no well-organized government. + +[Sidenote: Division of Germany and Italy into small independent +states.] + +By the middle of the thirteenth century it became apparent that neither +Germany nor Italy was to be converted into a strong single kingdom like +England and France. The map of Germany shows a confused group of +duchies, counties, archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbacies, and free towns, +each one of which asserted its practical independence of the weak king +and emperor. + +In northern Italy each town, including a certain district about its +walls, had become an independent state, dealing with its neighbors as +with independent powers. The Italian towns were destined to become the +birthplace of our modern culture during the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries. Venice and Florence, in spite of their small size, came to be +reckoned among the most important states of Europe. In the central part +of the peninsula the pope maintained more or less control over his +possessions, but he often failed to subdue the towns within his realms. +To the south Naples remained for some time under the French dynasty, +which the pope had called in, but the island of Sicily drifted into +Spanish hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE CRUSADES + + +73. Of all the events of the Middle Ages, the most romantic and +fascinating are the Crusades, the adventurous expeditions to Syria, +undertaken by kings and doughty knights with the hope of permanently +reclaiming the Holy Land from the infidel Turks. All through the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries each generation beheld at least one great army +of crusaders gathering from all parts of the West and starting toward +the Orient. Each year witnessed the departure of small bands of pilgrims +or of solitary soldiers of the cross. For two hundred years there was a +continuous stream of Europeans of every rank and station making their +way into western Asia. If they escaped the countless hazards of the +journey, they either settled in this distant land and devoted themselves +to war or commerce, or returned home, bringing with them tales of great +cities and new peoples, of skill and luxury unknown in the West. + +[Sidenote: Natural temptation to overrate the importance of the +Crusades.] + +Our sources of information in regard to the Crusades are so abundant and +so rich in picturesque incidents that writers have often yielded to the +temptation to give more space to these expeditions than their +consequences really justify. They were, after all, only one of the great +foreign enterprises which have been undertaken from time to time by the +European peoples. While their influence upon the West was doubtless very +important,--like that of the later conquest of India by the English and +the colonization of America,--the details of the campaigns in the East +scarcely belong to the history of western Europe. + +[Sidenote: The Holy Land conquered first by the Arabs and then by the +Turks.] + +[Sidenote: Eastern emperor appeals to the pope for aid against the +infidel Turks.] + +Syria had been overrun by the Arabs in the seventh century, shortly +after the death of Mohammed, and the Holy City of Jerusalem had fallen +into the hands of the infidels. The Arab, however, shared the veneration +of the Christian for the places associated with the life of Christ and, +in general, permitted the Christian pilgrims who found their way thither +to worship unmolested. But with the coming of a new and ruder people, +the Seljuk Turks, in the eleventh century, the pilgrims began to bring +home news of great hardships. Moreover, the eastern emperor was defeated +by the Turks in 1071 and lost Asia Minor. The presence of the Turks in +possession of the fortress of Nicæa, just across from Constantinople, +was of course a standing menace to the Eastern Empire. When the +energetic Emperor Alexius (1081-1118) ascended the throne he endeavored +to expel the infidel. Finding himself unequal to the task, he appealed +for assistance to the head of Christendom, Urban II. The first great +impetus to the Crusades was the call issued by Urban at the celebrated +council which met in 1095 at Clermont in France. + +[Sidenote: Urban II issues the call to the First Crusade at the Council +of Clermont, 1095.] + +In an address, which produced more remarkable immediate results than any +other which history records, the pope exhorted knights and foot soldiers +of all ranks to give up their usual wicked business of destroying their +Christian brethren in private warfare and turn instead to the succor of +their fellow-Christians in the East. Otherwise the insolent Turks would, +if unchecked, extend their sway still more widely over the faithful +servants of the Lord. "Let the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord our Saviour, +which is possessed by unclean nations, especially urge you on, and the +holy places which they are now treating with ignominy and irreverently +polluting." Urban urged besides that France was too poor to support all +its people, while the Holy Land flowed with milk and honey. "Enter upon +the road to the Holy Sepulcher; wrest the land from the wicked race and +subject it to yourselves." When the pope had finished, all who were +present exclaimed, with one accord, "It is the will of God." This, the +pope declared, should be the rallying cry of the crusaders, who were to +wear a cross upon their bosoms as they went forth, and upon their backs +as they returned, as a holy sign of their sacred mission.[127] + +[Sidenote: The motives of the crusaders.] + +The Crusades are ordinarily represented as the most striking examples of +the simple faith and religious enthusiasm of the Middle Ages. They +appealed, however, to many different kinds of men. The devout, the +romantic, and the adventurous were by no means the only classes that +were attracted. Syria held out inducements to the discontented noble who +might hope to gain a principality in the East, to the merchant who was +looking for new enterprises, to the merely restless who wished to avoid +his responsibilities at home, and even to the criminal who enlisted with +a view of escaping the results of his past offenses. It is noteworthy +that Urban appeals especially to those who had been "contending against +their brethren and relatives," and urges those "who have hitherto been +robbers now to become soldiers of Christ." The conduct of many of the +crusaders indicates that the pope found a ready hearing among this +class. Yet higher motives than a love of adventure and the hope of +conquest impelled many who took their way eastward. Great numbers, +doubtless, went to Jerusalem "through devotion alone, and not for the +sake of honor or gain," with the sole object of freeing the Holy +Sepulcher from the hands of the infidel. + +[Sidenote: Privileges of the crusaders.] + +To such as these the pope promised that the journey itself should take +the place of all penance for sin. The faithful crusader, like the +faithful Mohammedan, was assured of immediate entrance into heaven if he +died repentant in the holy cause. Later the Church exhibited its +extraordinary authority by what would seem to us an unjust interference +with business contracts. It freed those who, with a pure heart, entered +upon the journey from the payment of interest upon their debts, and +permitted them to mortgage property against the wishes of their feudal +lords. The crusaders' wives and children and property were taken under +the immediate protection of the Church, and he who troubled them +incurred excommunication.[128] These various considerations help to +explain the great popularity of undertakings that, at first sight, would +seem to have promised only hardships and disappointment. + +[Illustration: ROUTES OF THE CRUSADERS] + +[Sidenote: Peter the Hermit and his army.] + +74. The Council of Clermont met in November. Before spring (1096) those +who set forth to preach the Crusade, above all the famous Peter the +Hermit, who was formerly given credit for having begun the whole +crusading movement, had collected, in France and along the Rhine, an +extraordinary army of the common folk. Peasants, artisans, vagabonds, +and even women and children, answered the summons, all fanatically +intent upon rescuing the Holy Sepulcher, two thousand miles away. They +were confident that the Lord would sustain them during the weary leagues +of the journey, and grant them a prompt victory over the infidel. The +host was got under way in several divisions under the leadership of +Peter the Hermit,[129] and of Walter the Penniless and other humble +knights. Many of the crusaders were slaughtered by the Hungarians, who +rose to protect themselves from the depredations of this motley horde. +Part of them got as far as Nicæa, only to be slaughtered by the Turks. +This is but an example, on a large scale, of what was going on +continually for a century or so after this first great catastrophe. +Individual pilgrims and adventurers, and sometimes considerable bodies +of crusaders, were constantly falling a prey to every form of +disaster--starvation, slavery, disease, and death--in their endeavors to +reach the Holy Land. + +[Sidenote: The First Crusade, 1096.] + +The conspicuous figures of the long period of the Crusades are not, +however, to be found among the lowly followers of Peter the Hermit, but +are the knights, in their long coats of mail. A year after the summons +issued at Clermont great armies of fighting men had been collected in +the West under noble leaders;--the pope speaks of three hundred thousand +soldiers. Of the various divisions which were to meet in Constantinople, +the following were the most important: the volunteers from Provence +under the papal legate and Count Raymond of Toulouse; inhabitants of +Germany, particularly of Lorraine, under Godfrey of Bouillon and his +brother Baldwin, both destined to be rulers of Jerusalem; and lastly, an +army of French and of the Normans of southern Italy under Bohemond and +Tancred.[130] + +[Illustration: Knight of the First Crusade.] + +The distinguished knights who have been mentioned were not actually in +command of real armies. Each crusader undertook the expedition on his +own account and was only obedient to any one's orders so long as he +pleased. The knights and men naturally grouped themselves around the +more noted leaders, but considered themselves free to change chiefs when +they pleased. The leaders themselves reserved the right to look out for +their own special interests rather than sacrifice themselves to the good +of the expedition. + +[Sidenote: Hostilities between the Greeks and the crusaders.] + +Upon the arrival of the crusaders at Constantinople it quickly became +clear that they had little more in common with the Greeks than with the +Turks. Emperor Alexius ordered his soldiers to attack Godfrey's army, +encamped in the suburbs of his capital, because their chief at first +refused to take the oath of feudal homage to him. The emperor's +daughter, in her remarkable history of the times, gives a sad picture of +the outrageous conduct of the crusaders. They, on the other hand, +denounced the "schismatic Greeks" as traitors, cowards, and liars. + +The eastern emperor had hoped to use his western allies to reconquer +Asia Minor and force back the Turks. The leading knights, on the +contrary, dreamed of carving out principalities for themselves in the +former dominions of the emperor and proposed to control them by right of +conquest. Later we find both Greeks and western Christians shamelessly +allying themselves with the Mohammedans against each other. The +relations of the eastern and western enemies of the Turks were well +illustrated when the crusaders besieged their first town, Nicæa. When it +was just ready to surrender, the Greeks arranged with the enemy to have +their troops admitted first. They then closed the gates against their +western confederates and invited them to move on. + +[Sidenote: Dissension among the leaders of the crusaders.] + +The first real allies that the crusaders met with were the Christian +Armenians, who brought them aid after their terrible march through Asia +Minor. With their help Baldwin got possession of Edessa, of which he +made himself prince. The chiefs induced the great body of the crusaders +to postpone the march on Jerusalem, and a year was spent in taking the +rich and important city of Antioch. A bitter strife then broke out, +especially between the Norman Bohemond and the count of Toulouse, as to +who should have the conquered town. After the most unworthy conduct on +both sides, Bohemond won, and Raymond set to work to conquer a +principality for himself on the coast about Tripoli. + +[Illustration: Map of the Crusaders' States in Syria] + +[Sidenote: Capture of Jerusalem.] + + + +In the spring of 1099 about twenty thousand warriors finally moved upon +Jerusalem. They found the city well walled and in the midst of a +desolate region where neither food nor water, nor the materials to +construct the apparatus necessary for the capture of the town, were to +be found, The opportune arrival at Jaffa of galleys from Genoa furnished +the besiegers with supplies, and, in spite of all the difficulties, the +place was taken in a couple of months. The crusaders, with their +customary barbarity, massacred the inhabitants. Godfrey of Bouillon was +chosen ruler of Jerusalem and took the modest title of "Defender of the +Holy Sepulcher." He soon died and was succeeded by his brother Baldwin, +who left Edessa in 1100 to take up the task of extending the bounds of +the Kingdom of Jerusalem. + +[Sidenote: Founding of Latin kingdoms in Syria.] + +It will be observed that the "Franks," as the Mohammedans called all the +western folk, had established the centers of four principalities. These +were Edessa, Antioch, the region about Tripoli conquered by Raymond, and +the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The last was speedily increased by Baldwin; +with the help of the mariners from Venice and Genoa, he succeeded in +getting possession of Acre, Sidon, and a number of coast towns. + +The news of these Christian victories quickly reached the West, and in +1101 tens of thousands of new crusaders started eastward. Most of them +were lost or dispersed in passing through Asia Minor, and few reached +their destination. The original conquerors were consequently left to +hold the land against the Saracens and to organize their conquests as +best they could. + +The permanent hold of the Franks upon the eastern borders of the +Mediterranean depended upon the strength of the colonies which their +various princes were able to establish. It is impossible to learn how +many pilgrims from the West made their permanent homes in the new Latin +principalities. Certainly the greater part of those who visited +Palestine returned home after fulfilling their vow to kneel at the Holy +Sepulcher. Still the princes could rely upon a certain number of +soldiers who would be willing to stay and fight the Mohammedans. The +Turks, moreover, were so busy fighting one another that they showed less +energy than might have been expected in attempting to drive the Franks +from the narrow strip of territory--some five hundred miles long and +fifty wide--which they had conquered. + +[Sidenote: The Hospitalers.] + +75. A noteworthy outcome of the crusading movement was the foundation of +several curious orders--the Hospitalers, the Templars, and the Teutonic +Knights--which combined the dominant interests of the time, those of the +monk and the soldier. They permitted a man to be both at once; the +knight might wear a monkish cowl over his coat of mail. The Hospitalers +grew out of a monastic association that was formed before the First +Crusade for the succor of the poor and sick among the pilgrims. Later +the society admitted noble knights to its membership and became a +military order, while continuing its care for the sick. This charitable +association, like the earlier monasteries, received generous gifts of +land in western Europe and built and controlled many fortified +monasteries in the Holy Land itself. After the evacuation of Syria in +the thirteenth century, the Hospitalers moved their headquarters to the +island of Rhodes, and later to Malta. The order still exists and it is +considered a distinction to this day to have the privilege of wearing +its emblem, the cross of Malta. + +[Illustration: Costume of the Hospitalers, showing the Form of the Cross +of Malta.] + +[Sidenote: The Templars.] + +Before the Hospitalers were transformed into a military order, a little +group of French knights banded together in 1119 to defend pilgrims on +their way to Jerusalem from the attacks of the infidel. They were +assigned quarters in the king's palace at Jerusalem on the site of the +former Temple of Solomon; hence the name, Templars, which they were +destined to render famous. The "poor soldiers of the Temple" were +enthusiastically approved by the Church. They wore a white cloak adorned +with a red cross, and were under a very strict monastic rule which bound +them by the vows of obedience, poverty, and celibacy. The fame of the +order spread throughout Europe, and the most exalted, even dukes and +princes, were ready to renounce the world and serve Christ under its +black and white banner, with the legend, _Non nobis, Domine_. + +The order was aristocratic from the first, and it soon became incredibly +rich and independent. It had its collectors in all parts of Europe, who +dispatched the "alms" they received to the Grand Master at Jerusalem. +Towns, churches, and estates were given to the order, as well as vast +sums of money. The king of Aragon proposed to bestow upon it a third of +his kingdom. The pope showered privileges upon the Templars. They were +exempted from tithes and taxes, and were brought under his immediate +jurisdiction; they were released from feudal obligations, and bishops +were forbidden to excommunicate them. + +[Sidenote: Abolition of the order of Templars.] + +No wonder they grew insolent and aroused the jealousy and hate of +princes and prelates alike. Even Innocent III violently upbraided them +for admitting to their order wicked men, who then enjoyed all the +privileges of churchmen. Early in the fourteenth century, through the +combined efforts of the pope and Philip the Fair of France, the order +was brought to a terrible end. Its members were accused of the most +abominable practices,--such as heresy, the worship of idols, and the +systematic insulting of Christ and his religion. Many distinguished +Templars were burned for heresy, others perished miserably in dungeons. +The order was abolished and its property confiscated. + +[Sidenote: The Teutonic Knights conquer the Prussians.] + +As for the third great order, that of the Teutonic Knights, their +greatest importance lies in their conquest, after the Crusades were +over, of the heathen Prussians. Through their efforts a new Christian +state was formed on the shores of the Baltic, in which the important +cities of Königsberg and Dantzig grew up. + +[Sidenote: The Second Crusade.] + +76. Fifty years after the preaching of the First Crusade, the fall of +Edessa (1144), an important outpost of the Christians in the East, led +to a second great expedition. This was forwarded by no less a person +than St. Bernard, who went about using his unrivaled eloquence to induce +volunteers to take the cross. In a fierce hymn of battle he cried to the +Knights Templars: "The Christian who slays the unbeliever in the Holy +War is sure of his reward, the more sure if he himself be slain. The +Christian glories in the death of the pagan, because Christ is +glorified." The king of France readily consented to take the cross, but +the emperor, Conrad III, appears to have yielded only after St. Bernard +had preached before him and given a vivid picture of the terrors of the +Judgment Day. + +In regard to the less distinguished recruits, the historian, Otto of +Freising, tells us that so many thieves and robbers hastened to take the +cross that every one recognized in their enthusiasm the hand of God. St. +Bernard himself, the chief promoter of the expedition, gives a most +unflattering description of the "soldiers of Christ." "In that countless +multitude you will find few except the utterly wicked and impious, the +sacrilegious, homicides, and perjurers, whose departure is a double +gain. Europe rejoices to lose them and Palestine to gain them; they are +useful in both ways, in their absence from here and their presence +there." It is quite unnecessary to describe the movements and fate of +the crusaders; suffice it to say that, from a military standpoint, the +so-called Second Crusade was a miserable failure. + +[Sidenote: The Third Crusade.] + +Forty years later, in 1187, Jerusalem was taken by Saladin, the most +heroic and distinguished of all the Saracen rulers. The loss of the Holy +City led to the most famous of all the military expeditions to the Holy +Land, in which Frederick Barbarossa, Richard the Lion-Hearted of +England, and his political rival, Philip Augustus of France, all took +part. The accounts of the enterprise show that while the several +Christian leaders hated one another heartily enough, the Christians and +Saracens were coming to respect one another. We find examples of the +most courtly relations between the representatives of the opposing +religions. In 1192 Richard concluded a truce with Saladin, by the terms +of which the Christian pilgrims were allowed to visit the holy places +with safety and comfort.[131] + +[Sidenote: The Fourth and subsequent Crusades.] + +In the thirteenth century the crusaders began to direct their +expeditions toward Egypt as the center of the Saracen power. The first +of these was diverted in an extraordinary manner by the Venetians, who +induced the crusaders to conquer Constantinople for their benefit. The +further expeditions of Frederick II and St. Louis need not be described. +Jerusalem was irrevocably lost in 1244, and although the possibility of +recovering the city was long considered, the Crusades may be said to +have come to a close before the end of the thirteenth century. + +[Illustration: Ruins of a Fortress of the Hospitalers in the Holy Land] + +[Sidenote: Settlements of the Italian merchants.] + +77. For one class at least, the Holy Land had great and permanent +charms, namely, the Italian merchants, especially those from Genoa, +Venice, and Pisa. It was through their early interest and supplies from +their ships, that the conquest of the Holy Land had been rendered +possible. The merchants were always careful to see that they were well +paid for their services. When they aided in the successful siege of a +town they arranged that a definite quarter should be assigned to them +in the captured place, where they might have their market, docks, +church, and all that was necessary for a permanent center for their +commerce. This district belonged to the town to which the merchants +belonged. Venice even sent governors to live in the quarters assigned to +its citizens in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Marseilles also had +independent quarters in Jerusalem, and Genoa had its share in the county +of Tripoli. + +[Sidenote: Oriental luxury introduced into Europe.] + +This new commerce had a most important influence in bringing the West +into permanent relations with the Orient. Eastern products from India +and elsewhere--silks, spices, camphor, musk, pearls, and ivory--were +brought by the Mohammedans from the East to the commercial towns of +Palestine and Syria; then, through the Italian merchants, they found +their way into France and Germany, suggesting ideas of luxury hitherto +scarcely dreamed of by the still half-barbarous Franks. + +[Illustration: Tomb of a Crusader] + +[Sidenote: Results of the Crusades.] + +Some of the results of the Crusades upon western Europe must already be +obvious, even from this very brief account. Thousands and thousands of +Frenchmen, Germans, and Englishmen had traveled to the Orient by land +and by sea. Most of them came from hamlets or castles where they could +never have learned much of the great world beyond the confines of their +native village or province. They suddenly found themselves in great +cities and in the midst of unfamiliar peoples and customs. This could +not fail to make them think and give them new ideas to carry home. The +Crusade took the place of a liberal education. The crusaders came into +contact with those who knew more than they did, above all the Arabs, and +brought back with them new notions of comfort and luxury. + +Yet in attempting to estimate the debt of the West to the Crusades it +should be remembered that many of the new things may well have come from +Constantinople, or through the Saracens of Sicily and Spain, quite +independently of the armed incursions into Syria.[132] Moreover, during +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries towns were rapidly growing up in +Europe, trade and manufactures were extending, and the universities were +being founded. It would be absurd to suppose that without the Crusades +this progress would not have taken place. So we may conclude that the +distant expeditions and the contact with strange and more highly +civilized peoples did no more than hasten the improvement which was +already perceptible before Urban made his ever-memorable address at +Clermont.[133] + + + General Reading.--A somewhat fuller account of the Crusades will be + found in EMERTON, _Mediæval Europe_, Chapter XI. Their results are + discussed in ADAMS, _Civilization_, Chapter XI. Professor Munro has + published a number of very interesting documents in _Translations + and Reprints_, Vol. I, Nos. 2, 4 (Letters of the Crusaders), and + Vol. III, No. 1 (The Fourth Crusade). See also his _Mediæval + History_, Chapter XI, on the Crusades. ARCHER and KINGSFORD, _The + Crusades_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.50), is probably the best modern + work in English. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE MEDIÆVAL CHURCH AT ITS HEIGHT + + +78. In the preceding pages it has been necessary to refer constantly to +the Church and the clergy. Indeed, without them mediæval history would +become almost a blank, for the Church was incomparably the most +important institution of the time and its officers were the soul of +nearly every great enterprise. In the earlier chapters, the rise of the +Church and of its head, the pope, has been reviewed, as well as the work +of the monks as they spread over Europe. We must now consider the +mediæval Church as a completed institution at the height of its power in +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. + +[Sidenote: Ways in which the mediæval church differed from modern +churches.] + +We have already had abundant proofs that the mediæval Church was very +different from modern churches, whether Catholic or Protestant. + +[Sidenote: Membership in the mediæval church compulsory.] + +1. In the first place, every one was required to belong to it, just as +we all must belong to the state to-day. One was not born into the +Church, it is true, but he was ordinarily baptized into it before he had +any opinion in the matter. All western Europe formed a single religious +association, from which it was a crime to revolt. To refuse allegiance +to the Church, or to question its authority or teachings, was reputed +treason against God and was punishable with death. + +[Sidenote: The wealth of the Church.] + +[Sidenote: The tithe.] + +2. The mediæval Church did not rely for its support, as churches usually +must to-day, upon the voluntary contributions of its members. It +enjoyed, in addition to the revenue from its vast tracts of lands and a +great variety of fees, the income from a regular tax, the _tithe_. +Those upon whom this fell were forced to pay it, just as we all must now +pay taxes imposed by the government. + +[Sidenote: Resemblance of the Church to a state.] + +3. It is obvious, moreover, that the mediæval Church was not merely a +religious body, as churches are to-day. Of course it maintained places +of worship, conducted devotional exercises, and cultivated the spiritual +life; but it did far more. It was, in a way, a state, for it had an +elaborate system of law, and its own courts, in which it tried many +cases which are now settled in our ordinary tribunals.[134] It had also +its prisons, to which it might sentence offenders to lifelong detention. + +[Sidenote: Unity of organization in the Church.] + +4. The Church not only performed the functions of a state; it had the +organization of a state. Unlike the Protestant ministers of to-day, all +churchmen and religious associations of mediæval Europe were under one +supreme head, who made laws for all and controlled every church officer, +wherever he might be, whether in Italy or Germany, Spain or Ireland. The +whole Church had one official language, Latin, in which all +communications were dispatched and in which its services were everywhere +conducted. + +[Sidenote: The mediæval Church a monarchy in its form of government.] + +79. The mediæval Church may, therefore, properly be called a monarchy in +its government. The pope was its all-powerful and absolute head and +concentrated in his person its entire spiritual and disciplinary +authority. He was the supreme lawgiver. No council of the Church, no +matter how large and important, could make laws against his will, for +its decrees, to be valid, required his sanction. + +[Sidenote: Dispensations.] + +The pope might, moreover, set aside or abrogate any law of the Church, +no matter how ancient, so long as it was not ordained by the Scriptures +or by Nature. He might, for good reasons, make exceptions to all merely +human laws; as, for instance, permit cousins to marry, or free a monk +from his vows. Such exceptions were known as _dispensations_. + +[Sidenote: The pope the supreme judge of Christendom.] + +The pope was not merely the supreme lawgiver; he was the supreme judge. +As a distinguished legal writer has said, the whole of western Europe +was subject to the jurisdiction of one tribunal of last resort, the +pope's court at Rome. Any one, whether clergyman or layman, in any part +of Europe, could appeal to him at any stage in the trial of a large +class of cases. Obviously this system had serious drawbacks. Grave +injustice might be done by carrying to Rome a case which ought to have +been settled in Edinburgh or Cologne, where the facts were best known. +The rich, moreover, always had the advantage, as they alone could afford +to bring suits before so distant a court. + +[Sidenote: The control of the pope over the clergy at large.] + +The control of the pope over the clergy scattered throughout Christendom +was secured in several ways. A newly elected archbishop might not +venture to perform any of the duties of his office until he had taken an +oath of fidelity and obedience to the pope and received from him the +_pallium_, the archbishop's badge of office. This was a narrow woolen +scarf made by the nuns of the convent of St. Agnes at Rome. Bishops and +abbots were also required to have their election duly confirmed by the +pope. He claimed, too, the right to settle the very frequent disputed +elections of church officials. He might even set aside both of the rival +candidates and fill the office himself, as did Innocent III when he +forced the monks of Canterbury, after a double election, to choose +Stephen Langton. + +Since the time of Gregory VII the pope had claimed the right to depose +and transfer bishops at will. The control of Rome over all parts of the +Christian Church was further increased by the legates. These papal +emissaries were intrusted with great powers. Their haughty mien often +enough offended the prelates and rulers to whom they brought home the +authority of the pope,--as, for instance, when the legate Pandulf +grandly absolved all the subjects of King John of England, before his +very face, from their oath of fealty to him. + +[Sidenote: The Roman Curia.] + +The task assumed by the pope of governing the whole western world +naturally made it necessary to create a large body of officials at Rome +in order to transact all the multiform business and prepare and transmit +the innumerable legal documents.[135] The cardinals and the pope's +officials constituted what was called the papal Curia, or court. + +[Sidenote: Sources of the pope's income.] + +To carry on his government and meet the expenses of palace and retinue, +the pope had need of a vast income. This he secured from various +sources. Heavy fees were exacted from those who brought suits to his +court for decision. The archbishops were expected to make generous +contributions on receiving their palliums, and the bishops and abbots +upon their confirmation. In the thirteenth century the pope began to +fill many benefices throughout Europe himself, and customarily received +half the first year's revenues from those whom he appointed. For several +centuries before the Protestants finally threw off their allegiance to +the popes, there was widespread complaint on the part of both clergy and +laymen that the fees and taxes levied by the Curia were excessive. + +[Illustration: Ecclesiastical Map of France in the Middle Ages] + +[Sidenote: The archbishops.] + +80. Next in order below the head of the Church were the archbishops. An +archbishop was a bishop whose power extended beyond the boundaries of +his own diocese and who exercised a certain control over all the bishops +within his _province_.[136] One of the chief prerogatives of the +archbishop was the right to summon the bishops of his province to meet +in a provincial council. His court received appeals from the bishops' +courts. Except, however, for the distinction of his title and the fact +that he generally lived in an important city and often had vast +political influence, the archbishop was not very much more powerful, as +an officer of the Church, than the other bishops. + +[Illustration: The Costume of a Bishop, showing Miter and Crosier. From +a manuscript of the twelfth century.] + +[Sidenote: The importance of the bishops.] + +There is perhaps no class of persons in mediæval times whose position it +is so necessary to understand as that of the bishops. They were regarded +as the successors of the apostles, whose powers were held to be divinely +transmitted to them. They represented the Church Universal in their +respective dioceses, under the supreme headship of their "elder +brother," the Bishop of Rome, the successor of the chief of the +apostles. Their insignia of office, the miter and crosier, are familiar +to every one. Each bishop had his especial church, which was called a +cathedral, and usually surpassed the other churches of the diocese in +size and beauty. + +[Sidenote: Duties of a Bishop.] + +Only a bishop could ordain new members of the clergy or degrade the old. +He alone could consecrate churches or anoint kings. He alone could +perform the sacrament of confirmation, though as priest he might +administer any of the other sacraments.[137] Aside from his purely +religious duties, he was the overseer of all the churchmen in his +diocese, including the monks.[138] He held a court where a great variety +of suits were tried. If he were a conscientious prelate, he traveled +about his diocese visiting the parish churches and the monasteries to +see if the priests did their duty and the monks behaved themselves +properly. + +[Sidenote: The bishop's temporal duties.] + +In addition to the oversight of his diocese, it was the bishop's +business to see to the lands and other possessions which belonged to the +bishopric. He had, moreover, to perform those governmental duties which +the king, especially in Germany, had thrown upon him, and he was +conspicuous among the monarch's counselors. Lastly, the bishop was +usually a feudal lord, with the obligations that that implied. He might +have vassals and subvassals, and often was himself a vassal, not only of +the king but also of some neighboring lord. As one reads through the +archives of a bishopric, it is hard to tell whether the bishop should be +called, first and foremost, a churchman or a feudal lord. In short, the +duties of the bishop were as manifold as those of the mediæval Church +itself. + +[Sidenote: Election of the bishops.] + +The reforms of Gregory VII had resulted in placing the choice of the +bishop in the hands of the cathedral _chapter_,[139] that is, the body +of clergy connected with the cathedral church. But this did not prevent +the king from suggesting the candidate, since the chapter did not +venture to proceed to an election without procuring a license from the +king. Otherwise he might have refused to invest the person they chose +with the lands and political prerogatives attached to the office. + +[Illustration: Canterbury Cathedral] + +[Sidenote: The parish priest and his duties.] + +The lowest division of the Church was the parish. This had definite +limits, although the parishioners might vary in number from a few +families to a considerable village or an important district of a town. +At the head of the parish was the parish priest, who conducted services +in the parish church and absolved, baptized, married, and buried his +parishioners. The priests were supposed to be supported by the lands +belonging to the parish church and by the tithes. But both of these +sources of income were often in the hands of laymen or of a neighboring +monastery, while the priest received the merest pittance, scarcely +sufficient to keep soul and body together. + +The parish church was the center of village life and the priest was the +natural guardian of the community. It was his business, for example, to +see that no undesirable persons lurked in the village,--heretics, +sorcerers, or lepers. It will be observed that the priest, besides +attending to the morals of his flock, was expected to see to their +bodily welfare by preventing the presence of those afflicted with the +only infectious disease against which precautions were taken in the +Middle Ages.[140] + +[Sidenote: Other sources of the Church's power.] + +81. The unexampled authority of the mediæval Church is, however, only +partially explained by its wonderful organization. To understand the +hold which it had upon mankind, we must consider the exalted position of +the clergy and the teachings of the Church in regard to salvation, of +which it claimed to be the exclusive agent. + +[Sidenote: The exalted position of the clergy.] + +The clergy were set apart from the laity in several ways. The higher +orders--bishop, priest, deacon, and sub-deacon--were required to remain +unmarried, and in this way were freed from the cares and interests of +family life. The Church held, moreover, that the higher clergy, when +they had been properly ordained, received through their ordination a +mysterious imprint, the "indelible character," so that they could never +become simple laymen again, even if they ceased to perform their duties +altogether or were cast out of the Church for crime. Above all, the +clergy alone could administer the _sacraments_ upon which the salvation +of every individual soul depended. + +[Sidenote: Peter Lombard's _Sentences_.] + +Although the Church believed that all the sacraments were established by +Christ, it was not until the middle of the twelfth century that they +were clearly described. Peter Lombard (d. 1164), a teacher of theology +at Paris, prepared a manual of the doctrines of the Church as he found +them in the Scriptures and in the writings of the church fathers, +especially Augustine. These _Sentences_ (Latin, _sententiæ_, opinions) +of Peter Lombard were very influential, for they appeared at a time when +there was a new interest in theology, particularly at Paris, where a +great university was growing up.[141] + +[Sidenote: The seven sacraments.] + +It was Peter Lombard who first distinctly formulated the doctrine of the +seven sacraments. His teachings did not claim, of course, to be more +than an orderly statement and reconciliation of the various opinions +which he found in the Scriptures and the church fathers; but his +interpretations and definitions constituted a new basis for mediæval +theology. Before his time the word _sacramentum_ (that is, something +sacred, a mystery) was applied to a variety of sacred things, for +example, baptism, the cross, Lent, holy water, etc. But Peter Lombard +states that there are seven sacraments, to wit: baptism, confirmation, +extreme unction, marriage, penance, ordination, and the Lord's Supper. +Through these sacraments all righteousness either has its beginning, or +when begun is increased, or if lost is regained. They are essential to +salvation, and no one can be saved except through them.[142] + +[Sidenote: Baptism.] + +[Sidenote: Confirmation.] + +[Sidenote: Extreme unction.] + +[Sidenote: Marriage.] + +[Sidenote: Penance.] + +[Sidenote: Ordination.] + +[Sidenote: The Lord's Supper, or Holy Eucharist.] + +By means of the sacraments the Church accompanied the faithful through +life. By baptism all the sin due to Adam's fall was washed away; through +that door alone could a soul enter the spiritual life. With the holy oil +and the balsam, typifying the fragrance of righteousness, which were +rubbed upon the forehead of the boy or girl at confirmation by the +bishop, the young were strengthened so that they might boldly confess +the name of the Lord. If the believer fell perilously ill, the priest +anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord and by this sacrament of +extreme unction expelled all vestiges of former sin and refreshed the +spirit of the dying. Through the priest alone might marriage be +sanctified; and when the bonds were once legally contracted they might +never be sundered. If evil desire, which baptism lessened but did not +remove, led the Christian into deadly sin, as it constantly did, the +Church, through the sacrament of penance, reconciled him once more with +God and saved him from the jaws of hell. For the priest, through the +sacrament of ordination, received the most exalted prerogative of +forgiving sins. He enjoyed, too, the awful power and privilege of +performing the miracle of the Mass,--of offering up Christ anew for the +remission of the sinner's guilt. + +[Sidenote: The sacrament of penance.] + +82. The sacrament of penance is, with the Mass, of especial historical +importance. When a bishop ordained a priest, he said to him: "Receive ye +the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven them: +whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." In this way the priest +was intrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. There was no hope +of salvation for one who had fallen into mortal sin unless he +received--or at least desired and sought--the absolution of the priest. +To one who scorned the priest's ministrations the most sincere and +prayerful repentance could not by itself bring forgiveness in the eyes +of the Church. Before the priest could utter the solemn "I absolve thee +from thy sins," the sinner must have duly confessed his sins and have +expressed his vehement detestation of them and his firm resolve never +more to offend. It is clear that the priest could not pronounce judgment +unless he had been told the nature of the case. Nor would he be +justified in absolving an offender who was not truly sorry for what he +had done. Confession and penitence were, therefore, necessary +preliminaries to absolution.[143] + +[Sidenote: Penance and purgatory.] + +Absolution did not free the contrite sinner from all the results of his +sin. It cleared the soul of the deadly guilt which would otherwise have +been punished by everlasting suffering, but did not exempt the penitent +from temporal penalties. These might be imposed by the priest in this +world or suffered after death in the fires of purgatory, which cleansed +the soul and prepared it for heaven. + +[Sidenote: Nature of penance.] + +The punishment prescribed by the priest was called _penance_. This took +a great variety of forms. It might consist in fasting, repeating +prayers, visiting holy places, or abstaining from one's ordinary +amusements. A journey to the Holy Land was regarded as taking the place +of all penance. Instead, however, of requiring the penitent actually to +perform the fasts, pilgrimages, or other sacrifices imposed as penance +by the priest, the Church early permitted him to change his penance into +a contribution, to be applied to some pious enterprise, like building a +church or bridge, or caring for the poor and sick. + +[Sidenote: The Mass.] + +[Sidenote: Transubstantiation.] + +The priest not only forgave sin; he was also empowered to perform the +stupendous miracle of the Mass. The early Christians had celebrated the +Lord's Supper or Holy Eucharist in various ways and entertained various +conceptions of its nature and significance. Gradually the idea came to +be universally accepted that by the consecration of the bread and the +wine the whole substance of the bread was converted into the substance +of the body of Christ, and the whole substance of the wine into his +blood. This change was termed _transubstantiation_. The Church believed, +further, that in this sacrament Christ was offered up anew, as he had +been on the cross, as a sacrifice to God. This sacrifice might be +performed for the sins of the absent as well as of the present, and for +the dead as well as for the living. Moreover, Christ was to be worshiped +under the form of the bread, or _host_ (Latin, _hostia_, sacrifice), +with the highest form of adoration. The host was to be borne about in +solemn procession when God was to be especially propitiated, as in the +case of a famine or plague. + +[Sidenote: Consequences of conceiving the Mass as a sacrifice.] + +This conception of the Mass as a sacrifice had some important practical +consequences. It became the most exalted of the functions of the priest +and the very center of the Church's services. Besides the public masses +for the people, private ones were constantly celebrated for the benefit +of individuals, especially of the dead. Foundations were created, the +income of which went to support priests for the single purpose of saying +daily masses for the repose of the soul of the donor or those of the +members of his family. It was also a common practice to bestow gifts +upon churches and monasteries on condition that annual or more frequent +masses should be said for the giver. + +[Sidenote: The dominant position of the clergy and the sources of their +power.] + +[Sidenote: Excommunication and interdict.] + +83. The sublime prerogatives of the Church, together with its unrivaled +organization and vast wealth, combined to make its officers, the clergy, +the most powerful social class of the Middle Ages. They held the keys of +heaven and without their aid no one could hope to enter in. By +excommunication they could not only cast an offender out of the Church, +but also forbid his fellow-men to associate with him, since he was +accursed and consigned to Satan. By means of the _interdict_ they could +suspend the consolations of religion in a whole city or country by +closing the church doors and prohibiting all public services.[144] + +[Sidenote: Their monopoly of the advantages of education.] + +The influence of the clergy was greatly enhanced by the fact that they +alone were educated. For six or seven centuries after the overthrow of +the Roman government in the West, very few outside of the clergy ever +dreamed of studying or even of learning to read and write. Even in the +thirteenth century an offender who wished to prove that he belonged to +the clergy, in order that he might be tried by a church court, had only +to show that he could read a single line; for it was assumed by the +judges that no one unconnected with the Church could read at all.[145] + +It was therefore inevitable that almost all the books should be written +by priests and monks and that the clergy should become the ruling power +in all intellectual, artistic, and literary matters,--the chief +guardians and promoters of civilization. Moreover, the civil government +was forced to rely upon churchmen to write out the public documents and +proclamations. The priests and monks held the pen for the king. +Representatives of the clergy sat in the king's councils and acted as +his ministers; in fact, the conduct of the government largely devolved +upon them.[146] + +[Sidenote: Offices in the Church open to all classes.] + +The offices in the Church were open to all ranks of men, and many of the +popes themselves sprang from the humblest classes. The Church thus +constantly recruited its ranks with fresh blood. No one held an office +simply because his father had held it before him, as was the case in the +civil government. + +[Sidenote: Lea's description of the mediæval Church.] + +The man who entered the service of the Church "was released from the +distraction of family cares and the seduction of family ties. The Church +was his country and his home and its interests were his own. The moral, +intellectual, and physical forces, which throughout the laity were +divided between the claims of patriotism, the selfish struggle for +advancement, the provision for wife and children, were in the Church +consecrated to a common end, in the success of which all might hope to +share, while all were assured of the necessities of existence, and were +relieved of anxiety as to the future." The Church was thus "an army +encamped on the soil of Christendom, with its outposts everywhere, +subject to the most efficient discipline, animated with a common +purpose, every soldier panoplied with inviolability and armed with the +tremendous weapons which slew the soul" (Lea). + + + General Reading.--CUTTS, _Parish Priests and their People_ (E. & + J.B. Young, $3.00). PRÉVOST, _L'Église et les Campagnes au Moyen + Âge_ (Paris, $1.50). + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HERESY AND THE FRIARS + + +[Sidenote: The question of the character of the mediæval clergy.] + +84. It is natural to ask whether the commanders of the great army which +made up the Church proved valiant leaders in the eternal warfare against +evil. Did they, on the whole, resist the temptations which their almost +limitless power and wealth constantly placed in their way? Did they use +their vast resources to advance the cause of the Great Leader whose +humble followers and servants they claimed to be? Or were they, on the +contrary, selfish and corrupt, turning the teachings of the Church to +their own advantage, and discrediting its doctrines in the eyes of the +people by flagrant maladministration and personal wickedness? + +[Sidenote: The debt of western Europe to the church.] + +No simple answer to this question is possible. One who realizes how +completely the Church dominated every human interest and influenced +every department of life in the Middle Ages must hesitate to attempt to +balance the good and evil to be placed to its account. That the Church +conferred incalculable benefits upon western Europe, few will question. +To say nothing of its chief mission,--the moral uplifting of mankind +through the Christian religion,--we have seen how, under its auspices, +the barbarians were civilized and brought into the family of nations, +how violence was checked by the "Truce of God," and how an educated +class was maintained during the centuries when few laymen could either +read or write. These are only the more obvious of its achievements; the +solace and protection which it afforded to the weak, the wretched, and +the heart-sore, no one can assume to estimate. + +[Sidenote: The corruption of the clergy.] + +On the other hand, no one can read the sources of our knowledge of the +history of the Church without perceiving that there were always bad +clergymen who abused their high prerogatives. Many bishops and priests +were no more worthy to be intrusted with their extensive powers than the +unscrupulous office-seekers to whom high stations in our modern +governments sometimes fall. + +[Sidenote: Tendency to exaggerate the evil in the Church.] + +Yet as we read the fiery denunciations of the clergy's evil practices, +which may be found in the records of nearly every age, we must not +forget that the critic is always prone to take the good for granted and +to dwell upon the evil. This is particularly true in dealing with a +great religious institution, where corruption is especially shocking. +One wicked bishop, or one form of oppression or immorality among the +clergy, made a far deeper impression than the humble virtues of a +hundred dutiful and God-fearing priests. If, however, we make all due +allowance for the good which escaped the writers of the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, it must be admitted by all who read their +testimony that they give us a gloomy picture of the life of many +prelates, priests, and monks, and of the startling variety of abuses +which developed in the Church. + +[Sidenote: Temptations to corruption among the clergy.] + +Gregory VII imagined that the reason for the existence of bad clergymen +was that the kings and feudal lords forced their favorites into the +offices of the Church. The root of the difficulty lay, however, in the +wealth and power of the Church itself. It would have needed saints +always to exercise righteously the tremendous powers which the clergy +had acquired, and to resist the temptations to which they were +subjected. When we consider the position of a rich prelate, it is not +surprising that corruption abounded. The offices of the Church offered +the same possibilities of money-making that civil offices, especially +those in the great American cities, offer to the mere schemer to-day. +The descriptions of some of the churchmen of the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries remind us far more of the professional politician than of a +modern clergyman, whether Catholic or Protestant. + +[Sidenote: The chief forms of corruption in the Church.] + +85. At least a brief description of the more notorious forms of +corruption among the clergy will be necessary to an understanding of the +various heresies or revolts against the Church. These began seriously to +threaten its power in the twelfth century and culminated in the +successful Protestant revolt of the sixteenth. The vices of the clergy +serve to account also for the appearance of the begging monks, the +Franciscans and Dominicans, and to explain the need of the great reform +which they undertook in the thirteenth century. + +[Sidenote: Simony.] + +[Sidenote: The worldly and immoral lives of many bishops and abbots.] + +In the first place, there was simony, a disease so deep-seated and +persistent that Innocent III declared it incurable. This has already +been described in an earlier chapter. Even boys were made bishops and +abbots through the influence of their friends and relatives. Wealthy +bishoprics and monasteries were considered by feudal lords an admirable +means of support for their younger sons, since the eldest born usually +inherited the fief. The life led by bishops and abbots was often merely +that of a feudal prince. If a prelate had a taste for fighting, he +organized military expeditions for conquest or to satisfy a grudge +against a neighbor, exactly as if he belonged to the bellicose laity of +the period. + +[Sidenote: Corruption in the ecclesiastical courts.] + +Besides simony and the scandalous lives of many of the clergy, there +were other evils which brought the Church into disrepute. While the +popes themselves, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were usually +excellent men and sometimes distinguished statesmen, who honestly +endeavored to exalt the vast institution over which they presided, their +officials, who tried the innumerable cases which were brought to the +papal court, had a reputation for grave corruption.[147] It was +generally believed that the decision was always in favor of him who +could pay most and that the poor received scant attention. The bishops' +courts were notorious for their oppression, since a considerable portion +of the bishop's income, like that of the feudal lord, came from the +fines imposed upon those condemned by his officials. The same person was +sometimes summoned to different courts at the same time and then fined +for neglecting to appear at one or the other. + +[Sidenote: The parish priests often no better than their superiors.] + +As for the parish priests, they appear often to have followed the +demoralizing example set by their superiors. The acts of church councils +indicate that the priest sometimes turned his parsonage into a shop and +sold wine or other commodities. He further increased his income, as we +have seen, by demanding fees for merely doing his duty in baptizing, +confessing, absolving, marrying, and burying his parishioners. + +The monks of the twelfth century, with some remarkable exceptions, did +little to supply the deficiencies of the secular clergy.[148] Instead of +instructing the people and setting before them an example of a pure and +holy life, they enjoyed no better reputation than the bishops and +priests. Efforts were made, however, by newly founded orders in the +eleventh and twelfth centuries--like that of the Cistercians to which +St. Bernard belonged--to reform the monks. + +[Sidenote: Corruption and abuses recognized and condemned by the better +element in the clergy itself.] + +The universal impression of selfishness and depravity which the corrupt +churchmen made upon all observers is reflected in innumerable writings +of the time,--in the letters of the popes, in the exhortations of holy +men like St. Bernard, in the acts of the councils, in the satirical +poems of the popular troubadours and the sprightly versifiers of the +courts.[149] All agree in denouncing the iniquity of the clergy, their +greed, and their reckless disregard of their sacred duties. St. Bernard +sadly asks, "Whom can you show me among the prelates who does not seek +rather to empty the pockets of his flock than to subdue their vices?" + +[Sidenote: The lay critics of the Church.] + +86. The evils which the churchmen themselves so frankly admitted could +not escape the notice and comment of laymen. But while the better +element among the clergy vigorously urged a reform of the existing +abuses, no churchman dreamed of denying the truth of the Church's +doctrines or the efficacy of its ceremonies. Among the laity, however, +certain popular leaders arose who declared that the Church was the +synagogue of Satan; that no one ought any longer to rely upon it for his +salvation; that all its elaborate ceremonies were worse than useless; +that its masses, holy water, and relics were mere money-getting devices +of a depraved priesthood and helped no one to heaven. These bold rebels +against the Church naturally found a hearing among those who felt that +the ministrations of a wicked priest could not possibly help a sinner, +as well as among those who were exasperated by the tithes and other +ecclesiastical dues. + +[Sidenote: Heresy.] + +Those who questioned the teachings of the Church and proposed to cast +off its authority were, according to the accepted view of the time, +guilty of the supreme crime of heresy. To the orthodox believer nothing +could exceed the guilt of one who committed treason against God by +rejecting the religion which had been handed down in the Roman Church +from the immediate followers of his Son. Moreover, doubt and unbelief +were not merely sin, they were revolt against the most powerful social +institution of the time, which, in spite of the depravity of some of its +officials, continued to be venerated by people at large throughout +western Europe. The extent and character of the heresies of the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries and the efforts of the Church to suppress them +by persuasion, by fire and sword, and by the stern court of the +Inquisition, form a strange and terrible chapter in mediæval history. + +[Sidenote: Two classes of heretics.] + +The heretics were of two sorts. One class merely abjured the practices +and some of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church while they +remained Christians and endeavored to imitate as nearly as possible the +simple life of Christ and the apostles. On the other hand, there were +popular leaders who taught that the Christian religion was false. They +held that there were two principles in the universe, the good and the +evil, which were forever fighting for the victory. They asserted that +the Jehovah of the Old Testament was really the evil power, and that it +was, therefore, the evil power whom the Catholic Church worshiped. + +[Sidenote: The Albigenses.] + +This latter heresy was a very old one, by which even St. Augustine had +been fascinated in his early years. It was revived in Italy in the +eleventh century and became very popular, especially in southern France, +in the twelfth. Its adherents called themselves _Cathari_ (the pure), +but we shall call them _Albigenses_, a name derived from the town of +Albi in southern France, where they were very numerous.[150] + +[Sidenote: The Waldensians.] + +Among those who continued to accept the Christian faith but refused to +obey the clergy on account of their wickedness, the most important sect +was that of the Waldensians. These were followers of Peter Waldo of +Lyons, who gave up all their property and lived a life of apostolic +poverty. They went about preaching the Gospel and expounding the +Scriptures, which they translated into the language of the people. They +made many converts, and before the end of the twelfth century there were +great numbers of them scattered throughout western Europe. + +The Church did not wish to condemn the efforts of good and simple men to +imitate as exactly as possible the life of Christ and the apostles. +Nevertheless these laymen, who claimed the right to preach and hear +confession, and who asserted that prayer was quite as efficacious when +uttered in bed or in a stable as in a church, seemed clearly to call in +question the general belief in the Church as the exclusive agent of +salvation, and seriously to threaten its influence among the people. + +[Sidenote: Beginning of the fight against heresy.] + +Before the end of the twelfth century the secular rulers began to take +notice of heresy. Henry II of England, in 1166, ordered that no one +should harbor heretics in England, and that any house in which they were +received should be burned. The king of Aragon decreed (1194) that any +one who listened to the preaching of the Waldensians, or even gave them +food, should suffer the penalties for treason and should have his +property confiscated by the state. These are the beginnings of a series +of pitiless decrees which even the most enlightened kings of the +thirteenth century issued against all who should be convicted of +belonging either to the Albigenses or the Waldensians. The Church and +the civil government agreed that heretics were dangerous to the welfare +of both, and that they were criminals deserving the terrible death of +burning alive.[151] + +[Sidenote: Heresy regarded as treason.] + +It is very difficult for us who live in a tolerant age to understand the +universal and deep-rooted horror of heresy which prevailed not only in +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but also down at least to the +eighteenth. Too much stress cannot be laid upon the fact that heresy was +considered treason against an institution which practically all, both +the learned and the unlearned, agreed was not only essential to +salvation but was necessary also to order and civilization. Frank +criticism of the evil lives of the clergy, not excluding the pope +himself, was common enough. But this did not constitute heresy. One +might believe that the pope and half the bishops were bad men, and yet +in no way question the necessity for the Church's existence or the truth +of every one of its dogmas; just as nowadays we might call particular +rulers and government officials fools or knaves, without being +suspected of repudiating government altogether. The heretic was the +anarchist of the Middle Ages. He did not simply denounce the immorality +of the officers of the Church; he claimed that the Church was worse than +useless. He sought to lead people to throw off their allegiance to it +and to disregard its laws and commands. The Church and the civil +government consequently proceeded against him as against an enemy of +society and order. Heresy was, moreover, a contagious disease, and +spread rapidly and unobserved, so that to the rulers of the times even +the harshest measures appeared justifiable in order to prevent its +dissemination. + +[Sidenote: Different methods of opposing heresy.] + +[Sidenote: Internal reform.] + +87. There were several ways of opposing heresy. First, a reform of the +character of the clergy and a suppression of the abuses in the Church +would have removed a great cause of that discontent to which the writers +of the time attributed the rapid growth of heresy. The attempt of +Innocent III to improve the conditions in the Church by summoning a +great council at Rome in 1215 failed, however, and, according to his +successor, matters grew worse rather than better. + +[Sidenote: Extermination by the sword.] + +A second plan was to organize an expedition against the rebels and +annihilate them by the sword. This policy was only possible if a large +number of heretics could be found in a single district. In southern +France there were many adherents of both the Albigenses and the +Waldensians, especially in the county of Toulouse. At the beginning of +the thirteenth century there was in this region an open contempt for the +Church and a bold defense of heretical teachings even among the higher +classes. + +[Sidenote: Albigensian crusade.] + +Against the people of this flourishing land Innocent III preached a +crusade in 1208. An army under Simon de Montfort[152] marched from +northern France into the doomed region and, after one of the most +atrocious and bloody wars upon record, suppressed the heresy by +wholesale slaughter. At the same time the war checked the civilization +and destroyed the prosperity of the most enlightened portion of France. + +[Sidenote: The Inquisition.] + +The third and most permanent defense against heresy was the +establishment, under the headship of the pope, of a system of tribunals +designed to ferret out secret cases of unbelief and bring the offenders +to punishment. These courts of experts, who devoted their whole +attention to the discovery and conviction of heresy, constituted the +Holy Inquisition, which gradually took form after the Albigensian +crusade. We cannot stop to describe these courts, which became +especially notorious in Spain some two centuries after their +establishment. The unfairness of the trials and the cruel treatment to +which those suspected of heresy were subjected, through long +imprisonment or torture--inflicted with the hope of forcing them to +confess their crime or implicate others--have rendered the name of the +Inquisition infamous. + +Without by any means attempting to defend the methods employed, it may +be remarked that the inquisitors were often earnest and upright men +whose feelings were not unlike those of a New England judge presiding at +a witch trial in the seventeenth century. The methods of procedure of +the Inquisition were not more cruel than those used in the secular +courts of the period. + +The assertion of the suspected person that he was not a heretic did not +receive any attention, for it was assumed that he would naturally deny +his guilt, as would any other criminal. A person's belief had, +therefore, to be judged by outward acts. Consequently one might fall +into the hands of the Inquisition by mere inadvertent conversation with +a heretic, by some unintentional neglect to show due respect toward the +Church rites, or by the malicious testimony of one's neighbors. This is +really the most dreadful aspect of the Inquisition and its procedure. +It put a premium on talebearing and resorted to most cruel means to +convict those who earnestly denied that their beliefs were different +from those of the Church. + +[Sidenote: Fate of the convicted heretic.] + +If the suspected person confessed his guilt and abjured his heresy, he +was forgiven and received back into the Church; but a penance of life +imprisonment was imposed upon him as a fitting means of wiping away the +unspeakable sin of which he had been guilty. If he remained impenitent, +he was "relaxed to the secular arm"[153]; that is to say, the Church, +whose law forbade it to shed blood, handed over the convicted person to +the civil power, which burned him alive without further trial. + +[Sidenote: Founding of the mendicant orders.] + +88. We may now turn to that far more cheerful and effective method of +meeting the opponents of the Church, which may be said to have been +discovered by St. Francis of Assisi. His teachings and the example of +his beautiful life probably did far more to secure continued allegiance +to the Church than all the hideous devices of the Inquisition. + +We have seen how the Waldensians tried to better the world by living +simple lives and preaching the Gospel. Owing to the disfavor of the +church authorities, who declared their teachings erroneous and +dangerous, they were prevented from publicly carrying on their +missionary work. Yet all conscientious men agreed with the Waldensians +that the world was in a sad plight owing to the negligence and the +misdeeds of the clergy. St. Francis and St. Dominic strove to meet the +needs of their time by inventing a new kind of clergyman, the begging +brother, or mendicant friar (Latin, _frater_, brother). He was to do +just what the bishops and parish priests ordinarily failed to +do,--namely, lead a holy life of self-sacrifice, defend the orthodox +beliefs against the reproaches and attacks of the heretics, and awaken +the people at large to a new spiritual life. The founding of the +mendicant orders is one of the most important and interesting events of +the Middle Ages. + +[Sidenote: St. Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226.] + +There is no more lovely and fascinating figure in all history than St. +Francis. He was born (probably in 1182) at Assisi, a little town in +central Italy. He was the son of a well-to-do merchant, and during his +early youth he lived a very gay life, spending his father's money +freely. He read the French romances of the time and dreamed of imitating +the brave knights whose adventures they described. Although his +companions were wild and reckless, there was a delicacy and chivalry in +Francis' own make-up which made him hate all things coarse and +heartless. When later he voluntarily became a beggar, his ragged coat +still covered a true poet and knight. + +[Sidenote: Francis forsakes his life of luxury and his inheritance and +becomes a hermit.] + +The contrast between his own life of luxury and the sad state of the +poor early afflicted him. When he was about twenty, after a long and +serious illness which made a break in his gay life and gave him time to +think, he suddenly lost his love for the old pleasures and began to +consort with the destitute, above all with the lepers. Now Francis, +being delicately organized and nurtured, especially loathed these +miserable creatures, but he forced himself to kiss their hands, as if +they were his friends, and to wash their sores. So he gained a great +victory over himself, and that which seemed bitter to him became, as he +says, "sweet and easy." + +His father does not appear to have had any fondness whatever for +beggars, and the relations between him and his son grew more and more +strained. When finally he threatened to disinherit the young man, +Francis cheerfully agreed to surrender all right to his inheritance. +Stripping off his clothes and giving them back to his father, he +accepted the worn-out garment of a gardener and became a homeless +hermit, busying himself in repairing the dilapidated chapels near +Assisi. + +[Sidenote: He believes he receives a direct message from Heaven.] + +One day in February, 1209, as he was listening to Mass, the priest, +turning toward him by chance, read: "And as ye go, preach, saying, The +kingdom of heaven is at hand.... Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass +in your purses, no wallet for your journey, neither two coats, nor +shoes, nor staff; for the laborer is worthy of his food" (Matt. x. +7-10). This seemed to the expectant Francis the answer of Christ himself +to his longings for guidance. Here was a complete programme laid out for +him. He threw aside his stick, wallet, and shoes and resolved thereafter +to lead, literally and absolutely, the life the apostles had led. + +[Sidenote: Francis begins to preach and to attract followers.] + +He began to preach in a simple way, and before long a rich +fellow-townsman resolved to sell all and give to the poor, and follow +Francis' example. Others soon joined them, and these joyous penitents, +free of worldly burdens, calling themselves "God's troubadours," went +barefoot and moneyless about central Italy preaching the Gospel. Some of +those they met "listened willingly, others scoffed, the greater number +overwhelmed them with questions, 'Whence come you? Of what order are +you?' and they, though sometimes it was wearisome to answer, said +simply, 'We are penitents, natives of the city of Assisi.'" + +[Sidenote: Seeks and obtains the approval of the pope.] + +When, with a dozen followers, Francis appealed to the pope in 1210 to +approve his plan, Innocent III hesitated. He did not believe that any +one could lead a life of absolute poverty. Then might not these ragged, +ill-kempt vagabonds appear to condemn the Church by adopting a life so +different from that of the rich and comfortable clergy? Yet if he +disapproved the friars, he would seem to disapprove at the same time +Christ's directions to his apostles. He finally decided to give his oral +sanction and to authorize the brethren to continue their missions. They +were to receive the tonsure, and to come under the spiritual authority +of the Roman Church. + +[Sidenote: Missionary work undertaken.] + +89. Seven years later, when Francis' followers had greatly increased, +missionary work was begun on a large scale, and brethren were dispatched +to Germany, Hungary, France, Spain, and even to Syria. It was not long +before an English chronicler was telling with wonder of the arrival in +his country of these barefoot men, in their patched gowns and with ropes +about their waists, who, with Christian faith, took no thought for the +morrow, believing that their Heavenly Father knew what things they had +need of. + +[Sidenote: Francis did not desire to found a powerful order.] + +The ill treatment which the friars received in their distant journeys +led them to appeal to the pope for a letter which should request the +faithful everywhere to treat them kindly, since they were good +Catholics. This was the beginning of numberless privileges from the +pope. It grieved Francis, however, to see his little band of companions +converted into a great and powerful order. He foresaw that they would +soon cease to lead their simple, holy life, and would become ambitious +and perhaps rich. "I, little Brother Francis," he writes, "desire to +follow the life and the poverty of Jesus Christ, persevering therein +until the end; and I beg you all and exhort you to persevere always in +this most holy life of poverty, and take good care never to depart from +it upon the advice and teachings of anyone whomsoever." + +[Sidenote: Francis reluctantly draws up a new rule for the guidance of +the friars.] + +Francis sorrowfully undertook to draw up a new and more elaborate +constitution to take the place of the few Gospel passages which he had +originally brought together as a guide. After many modifications, to +suit the ideas of the pope and the cardinals, the Franciscan Rule was +solemnly ratified (1228) by Honorius III. It provides that "The brothers +shall appropriate nothing to themselves, neither a house, nor a place, +nor anything; but as pilgrims and strangers in this world, in poverty +and humility serving God, they shall confidently seek alms. Nor need +they be ashamed, for the Lord made Himself poor for us in this world." +Yet the friars are to work if they are able and if their charitable and +religious duties leave them time to do so. They may be paid for this +labor in necessities for themselves or their brethren, but never may +they receive coin or money. Those may wear shoes who cannot get along +without them. They may repair their garments with sackcloth and other +remnants. They must live in absolute obedience to their superior and may +not, of course, marry nor may they leave the order.[154] + +After the death of St. Francis (1226), many of the order, which now +numbered several thousand members, wished to maintain the simple rule of +absolute poverty. Others, including the new head of the order, believed +that much good might be done with the wealth which people were anxious +to give them. They argued that the individual friars might still remain +absolutely possessionless, even if the order had beautiful churches and +comfortable monasteries. A stately church was immediately constructed at +Assisi to receive the remains of their humble founder, who in his +lifetime had chosen a deserted hovel for his home; and a great chest was +set up in the church to receive offerings. + +[Sidenote: St. Dominic.] + +90. St. Dominic (b. 1170), the founder of the other great mendicant +order, was not a simple layman like Francis. He was a churchman and took +a regular course of instruction in theology for ten years in a Spanish +university. He then (1208) accompanied his bishop to southern France on +the eve of the Albigensian crusade and was deeply shocked to see the +prevalence of heresy. His host at Toulouse happened to be an +Albigensian, and Dominic spent the night in converting him. He then and +there determined to devote his life to the extirpation of heresy. The +little we know of him indicates that he was a man of resolute purpose +and deep convictions, full of burning zeal for the Christian faith, yet +kindly and cheerful, and winning in manner. + +[Sidenote: Founding of the Dominican order.] + +By 1214 a few sympathetic spirits from various parts of Europe had +joined Dominic, and they asked Innocent III to sanction their new order. +The pope again hesitated, but is said to have dreamed a dream in which +he saw the great Roman Church of the Lateran tottering and ready to fall +had not Dominic supported it on his shoulders. So he inferred that the +new organization might sometime become a great aid to the papacy and +gave it his approval. As soon as possible Dominic sent forth his +followers, of whom there were but sixteen, to evangelize the world, just +as the Franciscans were undertaking their first missionary journeys. By +1221 the Dominican order was thoroughly organized and had sixty +monasteries scattered over western Europe. "Wandering on foot over the +face of Europe, under burning suns or chilling blasts, rejecting alms in +money but receiving thankfully whatever coarse food might be set before +the wayfarer, enduring hunger in silent resignation, taking no thought +for the morrow, but busied eternally in the work of snatching souls from +Satan and lifting men up from the sordid cares of daily life, of +ministering to their infirmities and of bringing to their darkened souls +a glimpse of heavenly light" (Lea),--in this way did the early +Franciscans and Dominicans win the love and veneration of the people. + +[Sidenote: Contrast between the mendicants and the older orders.] + +91. Unlike the Benedictine monks, each of the friars was under the +command not only of the head of his particular monastery, but also of +the "general" of the whole order. Like a soldier, he was liable to be +sent by his commander upon any mission that the work of the order +demanded. The friars indeed regarded themselves as soldiers of Christ. +Instead of devoting themselves to a life of contemplation apart from the +world, like the earlier monks, they were accustomed and required to mix +with all classes of men. They must be ready to dare and suffer all in +the interest of their work of saving not only themselves but their +fellow-men. + +[Sidenote: Contrast between the Dominicans and the Franciscans.] + +The Dominicans were called the "Preaching Friars" and were carefully +trained in theology in order the better to refute the arguments of the +heretics. The pope delegated to them especially the task of conducting +the Inquisition. They early began to extend their influence over the +universities, and the two most distinguished theologians and teachers of +the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, were +Dominicans. Among the Franciscans, on the other hand, there was always a +considerable party who were suspicious of learning and who showed far +more anxiety to remain absolutely poor than did the Dominicans. Yet as a +whole the Franciscans, like the Dominicans, accepted the wealth that +came to them, and they, too, contributed distinguished scholars to the +universities. + +[Sidenote: Importance and influence of the new orders.] + +The pope quickly recognized the importance of these new orders. He +granted them successive privileges which freed them from all control of +the bishops, and finally declared that they were to be bound only by +their own rules. What was still more important, he gave them the right, +if they were priests, to celebrate Mass everywhere, to preach and to +perform the ordinary functions of the parish priests, such as hearing +confession, granting absolution, and conducting burials. The friars +invaded every parish, and appear to have largely replaced the parish +priests. The laity believed them to be holier than the secular clergy +and therefore regarded their prayers and ministrations as more +efficient. Few towns were without a gray friars' (Franciscan) or a black +friars' (Dominican) cloister; few princes but had a Dominican or a +Franciscan confessor. + +[Sidenote: Opposition of the secular clergy.] + +It is hardly necessary to say that the secular clergy took these +encroachments very ill. They repeatedly appealed to the pope to abolish +the orders, or at least to prevent them from enriching themselves at the +expense of the parish priests. But they got little satisfaction. Once +the pope quite frankly told a great deputation of cardinals, bishops, +and minor clergy that it was their own vain and worldly lives which +made them hate the mendicant brothers, who spent the bequests they +received from the dying for the honor of God, instead of wasting it in +pleasure. + +The mendicant orders have counted among their numbers men of the +greatest ability and distinction,--scholars like Thomas Aquinas, +reformers like Savonarola, artists like Fra Angelico and Fra +Bartolommeo, and scientists like Roger Bacon. In the busy world of the +thirteenth century there was no agency more active for good than the +friars. Yet their vagrant lives, free from the ordinary control of the +Church, and the great wealth which was showered upon them, afforded many +obvious temptations which they did not long withstand. Bonaventura, who +was made head of the Franciscan order in 1257, admits the general +dislike aroused by the greed, idleness, and vice of its degenerate +members, as well as by their importunate begging, which rendered the +friar more troublesome to the wayfarer than the robber. Nevertheless the +friars were preferred to the ordinary priests by high and low alike; it +was they, rather than the secular clergy, who maintained and cultivated +the religious life in both city and country. + + + General Reading.--The opening chapter of Lea's monumental work, _A + History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages_ (Harper Bros. & Co., + 3 vols., $10.00), gives a remarkable account of the mediæval Church + and the abuses which prevailed. The first volume also contains + unexcelled chapters upon the origin of both the Franciscan and + Dominican orders. For St. Francis, by far the best work is + Sabatier's beautiful biography, _St. Francis of Assisi_ (Charles + Scribner's Sons, $2.50). The earliest and best source for Francis + is _The Mirror of Perfection_ (Page, Boston, 75 cents), by Brother + Leo, which shows the love and admiration in which "Little Brother + Francis" was held by one of his companions. See also JESSOPP, _The + Coming of the Friars, and Other Historic Essays_ (G.P. Putnam's + Sons, $1.25), Chapter I. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PEOPLE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN + + +[Sidenote: Little known of the life of the people in the Middle Ages.] + +92. Since the development of the rather new science of political +economy, historical writers have become much interested in the condition +and habits of the farmer, tradesman, and artisan in the Middle Ages. +Unfortunately no amount of research is likely to make our knowledge very +clear or certain regarding the condition of the people at large during +the five or six centuries following the barbarian invasions. It rarely +occurred to a mediæval chronicler to describe the familiar things about +him, such as the way in which the peasant lived and tilled his land. +Only the conspicuous personages and the startling events caught his +attention. Nevertheless enough is known of the mediæval manor and town +to make them very important subjects for the student of general history. + +[Sidenote: Unimportance of town life in the early Middle Ages.] + +There was little town life in western Europe before the twelfth century. +The Roman towns were decreasing in population before the German inroads. +The confusion which followed the invasions hastened their decline, and a +great number of them disappeared altogether. Those which survived and +such new towns as sprang up were, to judge from the chronicles, of very +little importance during the early Middle Ages. We may assume, +therefore, that during the long period from Theodoric to Frederick +Barbarossa by far the greater part of the population of England, +Germany, and northern and central France were living in the country, on +the great estates belonging to the feudal lords, abbots, and +bishops.[155] + +[Sidenote: The manor, or vill.] + +These mediæval estates were called _vills_, or _manors_, and closely +resembled the Roman villas described in an earlier chapter. A portion of +the estate was reserved by the lord for his own use; the rest of it was +divided up among the peasants,[156] usually in long strips, of which +each peasant had several scattered about the manor. The peasants were +generally serfs who did not own their fields, but could not, on the +other hand, be deprived of them so long as they worked for the lord and +paid him certain dues. They were attached to the land and went with it +when it changed hands. The serfs were required to till those fields +which the lord reserved for himself and to gather in his crops. They +might not marry without their lord's permission. Their wives and +children rendered such assistance as was necessary in the manor house. +In the women's buildings the daughters of the serfs engaged in spinning, +weaving, sewing, baking, and brewing, thus producing clothes, food, and +drink to be used by the whole community. + +[Illustration: An English Manor House, Thirteenth Century] + +[Sidenote: The obligations of the serfs.] + +We get our clearest ideas of the position of the serfs from the ancient +descriptions of manors, which give an exact account of what each member +of a particular community owed to the lord. For example, we find that +the abbot of Peterborough held a manor upon which Hugh Miller and +seventeen other serfs, mentioned by name, were required to work for him +three days in each week during the whole year, except one week at +Christmas, one at Easter, and one at Whitsuntide. Each serf was to give +the lord abbot one bushel of wheat and eighteen sheaves of oats, three +hens and one cock yearly, and five eggs at Easter. If he sold his horse +for more than ten shillings, he was to give the said abbot four pence. +Five other serfs, mentioned by name, held but half as much land as Hugh +and his companions, by paying and doing in all things half as much +service. + +There were sometimes a few people on the manor who did not belong to the +great body of cultivators. The limits of the manor and those of the +parish often coincided; in that case there would be a priest who had +some scattered acres and whose standing was naturally somewhat superior +to that of the people about him. Then the miller, who ground the flour +and paid a substantial rent to the lord, was generally somewhat better +off than his neighbors, and the same may be said of the blacksmith. + +[Sidenote: The manor independent of the outside world.] + +One of the most remarkable characteristics of the manor was its +independence of the rest of the world. It produced nearly everything +that its members needed and might almost have continued to exist +indefinitely without communication with those who lived beyond its +bounds. Little or no money was necessary, for the peasants paid what was +due to the lord in the form of labor and farm products. They also +rendered the needful help to one another and found little occasion for +buying and selling. + +[Sidenote: The monotony and misery of the peasants' lives.] + +There was almost no opportunity to better one's condition, and life, in +the greater part of the hamlets, must have gone on for generation after +generation in a weary routine. The life was not merely monotonous, it +was miserable. The food was coarse and there was little variety, as the +peasants did not even take pains to raise fresh vegetables. The houses +usually had but one room. This was ill-lighted by a single little window +and had no chimney. + +[Sidenote: The manor court.] + +Yet the very dependence upon one another can hardly have failed to +produce a certain spirit of brotherhood and mutual assistance in the +community. It was not only separated from the outside world, but its +members were brought together constantly by their intermingled fields, +their attendance at one church, and their responsibility to one +proprietor. The men were all expected to be present at the "court" which +was held in each manor, where the business of the manor was transacted +under the supervision of a representative of the lord. Here, for +instance, disputes were settled, fines imposed for the violation of the +customs of the manor, and redistributions of the strips of land took +place. + +[Sidenote: The serf an inferior farmer who could only exist when there +was plenty of land.] + +The serf was ordinarily a bad farmer and workman. He cultivated the soil +in a very crude manner, and his crops were accordingly scanty and +inferior. Obviously serfdom could exist only as long as land was +plentiful. But in the twelfth and thirteenth century western Europe +appears to have been gaining steadily in population. Serfdom would, +therefore, naturally tend to disappear when the population so increased +that the carelessly cultivated fields no longer supplied the food +necessary for the growing numbers. + +[Sidenote: Barter replaced by money transactions.] + +The increased use of money in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, +which came with the awakening trade and industry, also tended to break +up the manor. The old habit of bartering one thing for another without +the intervention of money began to disappear. As time went on, neither +the lord nor the serf was satisfied with the ancient primitive +arrangements, which had answered well enough in the time of Charlemagne. +The serfs, on the one hand, began to obtain money by the sale of their +products in the markets of neighboring towns. They soon found it more +profitable to pay the lord a certain sum instead of working for him, for +they could then turn their whole attention to their own farms. The +proprietors, on the other hand, found it to their advantage to accept +money in place of the services of their tenants. With this money the +landlord could hire laborers to cultivate his fields and could buy the +luxuries which were brought to his notice as commerce increased. So it +came about that the lords gradually renounced their control over the +peasants, and the serf was no longer easily distinguishable from the +freeman who paid a regular rent for his land.[157] A serf might also +gain his liberty by fleeing to a town. If he remained undiscovered, or +was unclaimed by his lord, for a year and a day, he became a freeman. + +[Sidenote: Disappearance of serfdom.] + +The slow extinction of serfdom in western Europe appears to have begun +as early as the twelfth century. A very general emancipation had taken +place in France by the end of the thirteenth century (and in England +somewhat later), though there were still some serfs in France when the +revolution came in 1789. Germany was far more backward in this respect. +We find the peasants revolting against their hard lot in Luther's time, +and it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the +serfs were freed in Prussia. + +[Sidenote: Importance of town life.] + +93. It is hardly necessary to point out that the gradual reappearance of +town life in western Europe is of the greatest interest to the student +of history. The cities had been the centers of Greek and Roman +civilization, and in our own time they dominate the life, culture, and +business enterprise of the world. Were they to disappear, our whole +life, even in the country, would necessarily undergo a profound change +and tend to become primitive again like that of the age of Charlemagne. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the mediæval towns.] + +[Sidenote: Compactness of a mediæval town.] + +A great part of the mediæval towns, of which we begin to have some +scanty records about the year 1000, appear to have originated on the +manors of feudal lords or about a monastery or castle. The French name +for town, _ville_, is derived from vill, the name of the manor. The need +of protection was probably the usual reason for establishing a town with +a wall about it, so that the neighboring country people might find +safety in it when attacked. The way in which a mediæval town was built +seems to justify this conclusion. It was generally crowded and compact +compared with its more luxurious Roman predecessors. Aside from the +market place there were few or no open spaces. There were no +amphitheaters or public baths as in the Roman cities. The streets were +often mere alleys over which the jutting stories of the high houses +almost met. The high, thick wall that surrounded it prevented its +extending easily and rapidly as our cities do nowadays. + +[Sidenote: Townsmen originally serfs.] + +All towns outside of Italy were evidently small in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries, and, like the manors on which they had grown up, they +had little commerce as yet with the outside world. They produced almost +all that their inhabitants needed except the farm products which came +from the neighboring country. There was likely to be little expansion so +long as the town remained under the absolute control of the lord or +monastery upon whose land it was situated. The townspeople were scarcely +more than serfs, in spite of the fact that they lived within a wall and +engaged in industry instead of farming. They had to pay irritating dues +to their lord, just as if they had still formed a farming community. The +emancipation of the townsmen from their lords and the establishment of a +suitable form of government for their town were necessary preliminaries +to the free development of town life. + +[Sidenote: Increase of trade promotes the growth of the towns.] + +With the increase of trade came the longing for this freedom. For when +new and attractive commodities began to be brought from the East and the +South, the people of the towns were encouraged to produce goods with the +idea of exchanging them at some neighboring fair for the products of +distant lands. But no sooner did the townsmen begin to engage in +manufacturing and to enter into relations with the outside world, than +they became conscious that they were greatly hampered by their +half-servile condition and were subject to exactions and restrictions +which would render progress impossible. Consequently during the twelfth +century there were many insurrections of the towns against their lords +and a general demand that the lords should grant the townsmen _charters_ +in which the rights of both parties should be definitely stated. + +[Illustration: A Castle on the Rhine with a Village below it] + +[Sidenote: The communes.] + +In France the citizens organized themselves into what were called +_communes_, or unions for the purpose of gaining their independence. +This word _commune_ appeared a new and detestable one to the lords, for, +to their minds, it was merely another name for a company of serfs +leagued against their masters. The nobles sometimes put down the +insurrections of their townsmen with great cruelty. On the other hand, +the lords often realized that they would increase the prosperity of +their towns by granting them freedom from arbitrary taxation and the +right to govern themselves. In England the towns gained their privileges +more gradually by purchasing them from the lords. + +[Sidenote: Town charters.] + +The town charters were written contracts between the lord and the +commune or the guild of merchants of a town. The charter served at once +as the certificate of birth of the town and as its constitution. It +contained a promise on the part of the lord or king to recognize the +existence of the guild of merchants. It limited the rights of the lord +in calling the townsmen before his court and fining them, and enumerated +the taxes which he might exact from the townspeople. The old dues and +services were either abolished or changed into money payments. + +King Henry II of England promised the inhabitants of Wallingford that +"wheresoever they shall go on their journeys as merchants through my +whole land of England and Normandy, Aquitaine and Anjou, 'by water and +by strand, by wood and by land,' they shall be free from toll and +passage fees and from all customs and exactions; nor are they to be +troubled in this respect by anyone under penalty of ten pounds." In the +case of the town of Southampton he concedes "that my men of Hampton +shall have and hold their guild and all their liberties and customs, by +land and by sea, in as good, peaceable, just, free, quiet, and honorable +a manner as they had the same most freely and quietly in the time of +King Henry, my grandfather; and let no one upon this do them any injury +or insult." + +[Sidenote: Customs revealed in the charters.] + +The customs of the times, as revealed in the charters, seem to us very +primitive. We find in the charter of the French town of St. Omer, in +1168, provisions like the following: He who shall commit a murder in the +town shall not find an asylum anywhere within the walls. If he shall +seek to escape punishment by flight, his buildings shall be torn down +and his goods confiscated; nor may he come back into the town unless he +be first reconciled with the relations of his victim and pay ten pounds, +of which a half shall go to the lord's representatives and the other +half to the commune, to be spent on its fortifications. He who strikes +another one in the town shall pay one hundred sous; he who pulls out the +hair of another shall pay forty sous, etc. + +[Illustration: A Mediæval Town, Siegen] + +Many of the towns had, as a visible sign of their freedom, a belfry, a +high building with a watchtower, where a guard was kept day and night in +order that the bell might be rung in case of approaching danger. It +contained an assembly hall, where the commune held its meetings, and a +prison. In the fourteenth century the wonderful townhalls began to be +erected, which, with the exception of the cathedrals and other churches, +are usually the most remarkable buildings which the traveler sees to-day +in the old commercial cities of Europe. + +[Sidenote: Craft guilds.] + +The tradesmen in the mediæval towns were at once artisans and merchants; +they not only made, but offered for sale, the articles which they +produced in their shops. In addition to the original guild of merchants +which helped the towns to gain and preserve their privileges, many new +corporations of tradesmen grew up, the so-called _craft guilds_. The +oldest statutes of a guild in Paris are those of the candle makers, +which go back to 1061. The number of trades differed greatly in +different towns, but the guilds all had the same object,--to prevent +every one from practicing a trade who had not been duly admitted to the +corporation. + +[Illustation: LINES OF TRADE AND MEDIÆVAL TOWNS] + +[Sidenote: The guild system.] + +A young man had to spend several years in learning his trade. He lived +in the house of a master workman, but received no remuneration. He then +became a "journeyman" and could earn wages, although he could still work +only for master workmen and not directly for the public. A simple trade +might be learned in three years, but to become a goldsmith one must be +an apprentice for ten years. The number of apprentices that a master +workman might employ was strictly limited, in order that the journeymen +might not become too numerous. The way in which each trade was to be +practiced was carefully regulated, as well as the time that should be +spent in work each day. The system of guilds discouraged enterprise but +maintained a uniform efficiency everywhere. Had it not been for these +unions, the defenseless, isolated workmen, serfs as they had formerly +been, would have found it impossible to secure freedom and municipal +independence from the feudal lords who had formerly been their masters. + +[Sidenote: Practical disappearance of commerce in the early Middle +Ages.] + +94. The chief reason for the growth of the towns and their increasing +prosperity was a great development of trade throughout western Europe. +Commerce had pretty much disappeared with the decline of the Roman roads +and the general disorganization produced by the barbarian invasions. +There was no one in the Middle Ages to mend the ancient Roman roads. The +great network of highways from Persia to Britain fell apart when +independent nobles or poor local communities took the place of a world +empire. All trade languished, for there was little demand for those +articles of luxury which the Roman communities in the North had been +accustomed to obtain from the South. There was little money and scarcely +any notion of luxury, for the nobility lived a simple life in their +dreary and rudely furnished castles. + +[Sidenote: Italian cities trade with the Orient.] + +In Italy, however, trade does not seem to have altogether ceased. +Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, and other towns appear to have developed a +considerable Mediterranean commerce even before the Crusades. Their +merchants, as we have seen, supplied the destitute crusaders with the +material necessary for the conquest of Jerusalem. The passion for +pilgrimages offered inducements to the Italian merchants for expeditions +to the Orient, whither they transported the pilgrims and returned with +the products of the East. The Italian cities established trading +stations in the East and carried on a direct traffic with the caravans +which brought to the shores of the Mediterranean the products of Arabia, +Persia, India, and the Spice Islands. The southern French towns and +Barcelona entered also into commercial relations with the Mohammedans in +northern Africa. + +[Illustration: Street in Frankfort-on-the-Main] + +[Sidenote: Commerce stimulates industry.] + +This progress in the South could not but stir the lethargy of the rest +of Europe. The new commerce encouraged a revolution in industry. So long +as the manor system prevailed and each man was occupied in producing +only what he and the other members of his group needed, there was +nothing to send abroad and nothing to exchange for luxuries. But when +merchants began to come with tempting articles, the members of a +community were encouraged to produce a surplus of goods above what they +themselves needed, and to sell or exchange this surplus for commodities +coming from a distance. Merchants and artisans gradually directed their +energies toward the production of what others wished as well as what was +needed by the little group to which they belonged. + +[Sidenote: The luxuries of the East introduced into Europe.] + +The romances of the twelfth century indicate that the West was +astonished and delighted by the luxuries of the East,--the rich fabrics, +Oriental carpets, precious stones, perfumes, drugs (like camphor and +laudanum), silks and porcelains from China, spices from India, and +cotton from Egypt. Venice introduced the silk industry from the East and +the manufacture of those glass articles which the traveler may still buy +in the Venetian shops. The West learned how to make silk and velvet as +well as light and gauzy cotton and linen fabrics. The eastern dyes were +introduced, and Paris was soon imitating the tapestries of the Saracens. +In exchange for those luxuries which they were unable to produce, the +Flemish towns sent their woolen cloths to the East, and Italy its wines. +But there was apparently always a considerable cash balance to be paid +to the Oriental merchants, since the West could not produce enough to +pay by exchange for all that it demanded from the Orient. + +[Sidenote: Some of the important commercial centers.] + +The northern merchants dealt mainly with Venice and brought their wares +across the Brenner Pass and down the Rhine, or sent them by sea to be +exchanged in Flanders. By the thirteenth century important centers of +trade had come into being, some of which are still among the great +commercial towns of the world. Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen carried on +active trade with the countries on the Baltic and with England. Augsburg +and Nuremberg, in the south of Germany, became important on account of +their situation on the line of trade between Italy and the North. +Bruges and Ghent sent their manufactures everywhere. English commerce +was relatively unimportant as yet compared with that of the great ports +of the Mediterranean. + +[Sidenote: Restrictions on trade.] + +[Sidenote: Idea of a 'just' price.] + +95. A word must be said of the numerous and almost incredible obstacles +in the way of commerce in the Middle Ages. There was very little of that +freedom which we now regard as essential to successful business. Our +wholesale dealers would have been considered an abomination in the +Middle Ages. Those who bought up a quantity of a commodity in order to +sell it at a high rate were called by the ugly name of _forestallers_. +It was universally believed that everything had a "just" price, which +was merely enough to cover the cost of the materials used in its +manufacture and remunerate the maker for the work he had put upon it. It +was considered outrageous to sell a thing for more than the just price, +no matter how anxious the purchaser might be to obtain it. Every +manufacturer was required to keep a shop in which he offered at retail +all that he made. Those who lived near a town were permitted to sell +their products in the market place within the walls on condition that +they sold directly to the consumers. They might not dispose of their +whole stock to one dealer, for fear that if he had all there was of a +commodity he might raise the price above a just one. + +[Sidenote: Payment of interest on money forbidden.] + +Akin to these prejudices against wholesale trade was that against +interest. Money was believed to be a dead and sterile thing, and no one +had a right to demand any return for lending it. Interest was wicked, +since it was exacted by those who took advantage of the embarrassments +of others. Usury, as the taking of even the most moderate and reasonable +rate of interest was then called, was strenuously forbidden by the laws +of the Church. We find church councils ordering that impenitent usurers +should be refused Christian burial and have their wills annulled. So +money-lending, necessary to all great commercial and industrial +undertakings, was left to the Jews, from whom Christian conduct was not +expected. + +[Sidenote: The Jews as money-lenders.] + +This ill-starred people played a most important part in the economic +development of Europe, but they were terribly maltreated by the +Christians, who held them guilty of the supreme crime of putting Christ +to death. The active persecution of the Jews did not, however, become +common before the thirteenth century, when they first began to be +required to wear a peculiar cap, or badge, which made them easily +recognized and exposed them to constant insult. Later they were +sometimes shut up in a particular quarter of the city, called the Jewry. +Since they were excluded from the guilds, they not unnaturally turned to +the business of money-lending, which no Christian might practice. +Undoubtedly their occupation had much to do in causing their +unpopularity. The kings permitted them to make loans, often at a most +exorbitant rate; Philip Augustus allowed them to exact forty-six per +cent, but reserved the right to extort their gains from them when the +royal treasury was empty. In England the usual rate was a penny a pound +for each week. + +[Sidenote: The 'Lombards' as bankers.] + +In the thirteenth century the Italians--"Lombards"--began to go into a +sort of banking business and greatly extended the employment of bills of +exchange. They lent for nothing, but exacted damages for all delay in +repayment. This appeared reasonable and right even to those who +condemned ordinary interest. Capitalists, moreover, could contribute +money towards an enterprise and share the profits as long as no interest +was exacted. In these and other ways the obstacles offered by the +prejudice against interest were much reduced, and large commercial +companies came into existence, especially in Italy. + +[Sidenote: Tolls, duties, and other annoyances to which merchants were +subjected on land.] + +96. Another serious disadvantage which the mediæval merchant had to face +was the payment of an infinite number of tolls and duties which were +exacted by the lords through whose domains his way passed. Not only were +duties exacted on the highways, bridges, and at the fords, but those +barons who were so fortunate as to have castles on a navigable river +blocked the stream in such a way that the merchant could not bring his +vessel through without a payment for the privilege. The charges were +usually small, but the way in which they were exacted and the repeated +delays must have been a serious source of irritation and loss to the +merchants. For example, a certain monastery lying between Paris and the +sea required that those hastening to town with fresh fish should stop +and let the monks pick out what they thought worth three pence, with +little regard to the condition in which they left the goods. When a boat +laden with wine passed up the Seine to Paris, the agent of the lord of +Poissy could have three casks broached, and, after trying them all, he +could take a measure from the one he liked best. At the markets all +sorts of dues had to be paid, such, for example, as payments for using +the lord's scales or his measuring rod. Besides this, the great variety +of coinage which existed in feudal Europe caused infinite perplexity and +delay. + +[Sidenote: Dangers by sea.] + +[Sidenote: Pirates.] + +[Sidenote: Strand laws.] + +Commerce by sea had its own particular trials, by no means confined to +the hazards of wind and wave, rock and shoal. Pirates were numerous in +the North Sea. They were often organized and sometimes led by men of +high rank, who appear to have regarded the business as no disgrace. Then +there were the so-called _strand laws_, according to which a ship with +its cargo became the property of the owner of the coast upon which it +might be wrecked or driven ashore. Lighthouses and beacons were few and +the coasts dangerous. Moreover, natural dangers were increased by false +signals which wreckers used to lure ships to shore in order to plunder +them. + +[Sidenote: The Hanseatic League.] + +With a view to mitigating these manifold perils, the towns early began +to form unions for mutual defense. The most famous of these was that of +the German cities, called the _Hanseatic League_. Lübeck was always the +leader, but among the seventy towns which at one time and another were +included in the confederation, we find Cologne, Brunswick, Dantzig, and +other centers of great importance. The union purchased and controlled +settlements in London,--the so-called _Steelyard_ near London +Bridge,--at Wisby, Bergen, and the far-off Novgorod in Russia. They +managed to monopolize nearly the whole trade on the Baltic and North +Sea, either through treaties or the influence that they were able to +bring to bear. + +The League made war on the pirates and did much to reduce the dangers of +traffic. Instead of dispatching separate and defenseless merchantmen, +their ships sailed out in fleets under the protection of a man-of-war. +On one occasion the League undertook a successful war against the king +of Denmark, who had interfered with their interests. At another time it +declared war on England and brought her to terms. For two hundred years +before the discovery of America, the League played a great part in the +commercial affairs of western Europe; but it had begun to decline even +before the discovery of new routes to the East and West Indies +revolutionized trade. + +[Sidenote: Trade regulated by the towns (thirteenth to fifteenth +century), not by nations or individuals.] + +It should be observed that, during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and +fifteenth centuries, trade was not carried on between nations, but by +the various towns, like Venice, Lübeck, Ghent, Bruges, Cologne. A +merchant did not act or trade as an independent individual but as a +member of a particular merchant guild, and he enjoyed the protection of +his town and of the treaties it arranged. If a merchant from a certain +town failed to pay a debt, a fellow-townsman might be seized where the +debt was due. At the period of which we have been speaking, an +inhabitant of London was considered a foreigner or an alien in Bristol, +just as was the merchant from Cologne or Antwerp. Only gradually did the +towns merge into the nations to which their people belonged.[158] + +[Sidenote: The burghers, or commons, become an influential class.] + +The increasing wealth of the merchants could not fail to raise them to a +position of importance in society which they had not hitherto enjoyed. +Their prosperity enabled them to vie with the clergy in education and +with the nobility in the luxury of their dwellings and surroundings. +They began to give some attention to reading, and as early as the +fourteenth century many of the books appear to have been written with a +view of meeting their tastes and needs. Representatives of the towns +were called into the councils of the king, who was obliged to take their +advice along with their contributions to the support of the government. +The rise of the burgher class alongside the older orders of the clergy +and nobility, which had so long dominated the life of western Europe, is +one of the most momentous changes of the thirteenth century. + + + General Reading.--GIBBINS, _History of Commerce in Europe_ (The + Macmillan Company, 90 cents), the best short account of the + subject, with good maps of trade routes. INGRAM, _History of + Slavery and Serfdom_ (Black, London, $2.00), especially Chapters IV + and V. CUNNINGHAM, _Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects_, + Vol. II, Mediæval and Modern Times (The Macmillan Company, $1.25), + is very suggestive. There are several excellent accounts of the + economic situation in England in the Middle Ages, which, in many + respects, was similar to the conditions on the continent. CHEYNEY, + _Industrial and Social History of England_ (The Macmillan Company, + $1.40); GIBBINS, _The Industrial History of England_ (Methuen, + $1.00), and a more elaborate treatise by the same writer, _Industry + in England_ (Methuen, $3.00); CUNNINGHAM, _Outlines of English + Industrial History_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.50), and much fuller + by the same writer, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce during + the Middle Ages_ (The Macmillan Company, $4.00). All these give + excellent accounts of the manor, the guilds, the fairs, etc. See + also JESSOPP, _Coming of the Friars_, second essay, "Village Life + Six Hundred Years Ago." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES + + +97. The interest of the Middle Ages lies by no means exclusively in the +statesmanship of kings and emperors, their victories and defeats; in the +policy of popes and bishops; or even in feudalism and Europe's escape +from it. Important as all these are, we should have but a very imperfect +idea of the period which we have been studying if we left it without +considering the intellectual life and the art of the time, the books +that were written, the universities that were founded, and the +cathedrals that were built. + +[Sidenote: General use of Latin in the Middle Ages.] + +To begin with, the Middle Ages differed from our own time in the very +general use then made of Latin, both in writing and speaking. In the +thirteenth century, and long after, all books that made any claim to +learning were written in Latin;[159] the professors in the universities +lectured in Latin, friends wrote to one another in Latin, and state +papers, treaties, and legal documents were drawn up in the same +language. The ability of every educated person to make use of Latin, as +well as of his native tongue, was a great advantage at a time when there +were many obstacles to intercourse among the various nations. It helps +to explain, for example, the remarkable way in which the pope kept in +touch with all the clergymen of western Christendom, and the ease with +which students, friars, and merchants could wander from one country to +another. There is no more interesting or important revolution than that +by which the language of the people in the various European countries +gradually pushed aside the ancient tongue and took its place, so that +even scholars scarcely ever think now of writing books in Latin. + +In order to understand how it came about that two languages, the Latin +and the native speech, were both commonly used in all the countries of +western Europe all through the Middle Ages, we must glance at the origin +of the modern languages. These all fall into two quite distinct groups, +the Germanic and the Romance. + +[Sidenote: The Germanic languages derived from the dialects of the +German barbarians.] + +Those German peoples who had continued to live outside of the Roman +Empire, or who, during the invasions, had not settled far enough within +its bounds to be led, like the Franks in Gaul, to adopt the tongue of +those they had conquered, naturally adhered to the language they had +always used, namely, the particular Germanic dialect which their +forefathers had spoken for untold generations. From the various +languages spoken by the German barbarians, modern German, English, +Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic are derived. + +[Sidenote: The Romance languages derived from the spoken Latin.] + +The second group of languages developed within the territory which had +formed a part of the Roman Empire, and includes modern French, Italian, +Spanish, and Portuguese. It has now been clearly proved, by a very +minute study of the old forms of words, that these Romance languages +were one and all derived from the _spoken_ Latin, employed by the +soldiers, merchants, and people at large. This differed considerably +from the elaborate and elegant written Latin which was used, for +example, by Cicero and Cæsar. It was undoubtedly much simpler in its +grammar and doubtless varied a good deal in different regions;--a Gaul, +for instance, could not pronounce the words like an Italian. Moreover, +in conversation people did not always use the same words as those in the +books. For example, a horse was commonly spoken of as _caballus_, +whereas a writer would use the word _equus_; it is from _caballus_ that +the word for horse is derived in Spanish, Italian, and French +(_caballo_, _cavallo_, _cheval_). + +As time went on the spoken language diverged farther and farther from +the written. Latin is a troublesome speech on account of its complicated +inflections and grammatical rules, which can be mastered only after a +great deal of study. The people of the Roman provinces and the incoming +barbarians naturally paid very little attention to the niceties of +syntax and found easy ways of saying what they wished.[160] Yet several +centuries elapsed after the German invasions before there was anything +written in the language of conversation. So long as the uneducated could +understand the correct Latin of the books when they heard it read or +spoken, there was no necessity of writing anything in their familiar +daily speech. But the gulf between the spoken and the written language +had become so great by the time Charlemagne came to the throne, that he +advised that sermons should be given thereafter in the language of the +people, who, apparently, could no longer follow the Latin. The Strasburg +oaths[161] are, however, about the first example which has come down to +us of the speech which was growing into French. + +[Sidenote: Earliest examples of the Germanic languages.] + +[Sidenote: Gothic.] + +98. As for the Germanic languages, one at least was reduced to writing +even before the break-up of the Empire. An eastern bishop, Ulfilas (d. +381), had undertaken to convert the Goths while they were still living +north of the Danube before the battle of Adrianople. In order to carry +on his work, Ulfilas translated a great part of the Bible into Gothic, +using the Greek letters to represent the sounds. With the single +exception of the Gothic, there is no example of writing in any German +language before Charlemagne's time. There is no doubt, however, that the +Germans possessed an unwritten literature, which was passed down by word +of mouth for several centuries before any of it was written out. +Charlemagne caused certain ancient poems to be collected, which +presumably celebrated the great deeds of the German heroes during the +invasions. These invaluable specimens of ancient German are said to have +been destroyed by the order of Louis the Pious, who was shocked by their +paganism. The great German epic, the _Song of the Niebelungs_, was not +reduced to writing until the end of the twelfth century, after it had +been transmitted orally for many generations. + +[Sidenote: Ancient English, or Anglo-Saxon.] + +The oldest form of English is commonly called Anglo-Saxon and is so +different from the language that we use that, in order to read it, it +must be learned like a foreign language. We hear of an English poet, +Cædmon, as early as Bede's time, a century before Charlemagne. A +manuscript of an Anglo-Saxon epic, called _Beowulf_, has been preserved +which belongs perhaps to the close of the eighth century. The interest +which King Alfred displayed in the mother tongue has already been +mentioned. This old form of our language prevailed until after the +Norman Conquest; the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, which does not close until +1154, is written in pure Anglo-Saxon. Then changes may be noticed in the +language as it appears in the books of the time, and decade by decade it +approaches more nearly to that which we speak. Although the first public +document in English (1256), which belongs to the reign of Henry III, is +scarcely to be understood without study, a poem written in his son's +time is tolerably intelligible.[162] + +English literature was destined one day to arouse the admiration of the +peoples across the Channel and exercise an important influence upon +other literatures. In the Middle Ages, however, French, not English, was +the most important of the vernacular languages of western Europe. In +France a vast literature was produced in the language of the people +during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries which profoundly affected +the books written in Italy, Spain, Germany, and England. + +[Sidenote: French and Provençal.] + +99. Two quite different languages had gradually developed in France from +the spoken Latin of the Roman Empire. If a line were drawn on the map +from La Rochelle, on the Atlantic, eastward to the Alps, crossing the +Rhone a little below Lyons, it would give a general idea of the limits +of the two tongues. To the north, French was spoken; to the south, in a +region bounded by the Pyrenees and the Alps, Provençal.[163] + +[Sidenote: Mediæval French romances.] + +Very little in the ancient French language written before the year 1100 +has been preserved. The West Franks undoubtedly began much earlier to +sing of their heroes, of the great deeds of Clovis, Dagobert, and +Charles Martel. These famous rulers were, however, completely +overshadowed later by Charlemagne, who became the unrivaled hero of +mediæval poetry and romance. It was believed that he had reigned for a +hundred and twenty-five years, and the most marvelous exploits were +attributed to him and his knights. He was supposed, for instance, to +have led a crusade to Jerusalem. Such themes as these--more legend than +history--were woven into long epics, which were the first written +literature of the Frankish people. These poems, combined with the +stories of adventure, developed a spirit of patriotic enthusiasm among +the French which made them regard "fair France" as the especial care of +Providence. + +[Sidenote: The _Song of Roland_.] + +It is little wonder that the best of these long poems came to be looked +upon as the national epic of the French. This is the _Song of Roland_, +probably written just before the First Crusade. It tells the story of +Charlemagne's retreat from Spain, during which Roland, one of his +commanders, lost his life in a romantic encounter in the defiles of the +Pyrenees. + + That death was on him he knew full well; + Down from his head to his heart it fell. + On the grass beneath a pine tree's shade, + With face to earth, his form he laid, + Beneath him placed he his horn and sword, + And turned his face to the heathen horde. + Thus hath he done the sooth to show, + That Karl and his warriors all may know, + That the gentle count a conqueror died.[164] + +[Sidenote: Romances of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.] + +In the latter part of the twelfth century the romances of King Arthur +and his Knights of the Round Table begin to appear. These enjoyed great +popularity in all western Europe for centuries, and they are by no means +forgotten yet. Arthur, of whose historical existence no one can be quite +sure, was supposed to have been king of Britain shortly after the Saxons +gained a foothold in the island. In other long poems of the time, +Alexander the Great, Cæsar, and other ancient worthies appear as heroes. +The absolute disregard of historical facts and the tendency to represent +the warriors of Troy and Rome as mediæval knights, show the inability of +the mediæval mind to understand that the past could have been different +from the present. All these romances are full of picturesque adventures +and present a vivid picture of the valor and loyalty of the true knight, +as well as of his ruthlessness and contempt for human life.[165] + +[Sidenote: The _fabliaux_ and the fables.] + +Besides the long and elaborate epics, like _Roland_, and the romances in +verse and prose, there were numberless short stories in verse (the +_fabliaux_), which usually dealt with the incidents of everyday life, +especially with the comical ones. Then there were the fables, the most +famous of which are the stories of Reynard the Fox, which were satires +upon the customs of the time, particularly the weaknesses of the priests +and monks. + +[Sidenote: The troubadours.] + +100. Turning now to southern France, the beautiful songs of the +troubadours, which were the glory of the Provençal tongue, reveal a gay +and polished society at the courts of the numerous feudal princes. The +rulers not merely protected and encouraged the poets; they aspired to be +poets themselves and to enter the ranks of the troubadours, as the +composers of these elegant verses were called. These songs were always +sung to an accompaniment on some instrument, usually the lute. Those who +merely sang them, without being themselves poets, were called +_jongleurs_. The troubadours and jongleurs traveled from court to court, +not only in France, but north into Germany and south into Italy, +carrying with them the southern French poetry and customs. We have few +examples of Provençal before the year 1100, but from that time on, for +two centuries, countless songs were written, and many of the troubadours +enjoyed an international reputation. The terrible Albigensian crusade +brought misery and death into the sprightly circles which had gathered +about the count of Toulouse and others who had treated the heretics too +leniently. But the literary critic traces signs of decline in the +Provençal verse even before this disaster.[166] + +[Sidenote: Chivalry.] + +For the student of history, the chief interest of the epics of northern +France and the songs of the South lies in the insight that they give +into the life and aspirations of this feudal period. These are usually +summed up in the term _chivalry_, or _knighthood_, of which a word may +properly be said here, since we should know little of it were it not for +the literature of which we have been speaking. The knights play the +chief rôle in all the mediæval romances; and, as many of the troubadours +belonged to the knightly class, they naturally have much to say of it in +their songs. + +Chivalry was not a formal institution established at any particular +moment. Like feudalism, with which it was closely connected, it had no +founder, but appeared spontaneously throughout western Europe to meet +the needs and desires of the period. We learn from Tacitus that even in +his time the Germans considered the moment a solemn one when the young +warrior was first invested with the arms of a soldier. "This was the +sign that the youth had reached manhood; this was his first honor." It +is probably a survival of this feeling which we find in the idea of +knighthood. When the youth of good family had been carefully trained to +ride his horse, use his sword, and manage his hawk in the hunt, he was +made a _knight_ by a ceremony in which the Church took part, although +the knighthood was actually conferred by an older knight. + +[Sidenote: Nature of the knightly order.] + +The knight was a Christian soldier, and he and his fellows were supposed +to form, in a way, a separate order with high ideals of the conduct +befitting their class. Knighthood was not, however, membership in an +association with officers and a written constitution. It was an ideal, +half-imaginary society,--a society to which even those who enjoyed the +title of king or duke were proud to belong. One was not born a knight as +he might be born a duke or count, and could become one only through the +ceremony mentioned above. One might be a noble and still not belong to +the knightly order, and, on the other hand, one baseborn might be raised +to knighthood on account of some valorous deed. + +[Sidenote: The ideals of the knight.] + +The knight must, in the first place, be a Christian and must obey and +defend the Church on all occasions. He must respect all forms of +weakness and defend the helpless wherever he might find them. He must +fight the infidel ceaselessly, pitilessly, and never give way before the +enemy. He must perform all his feudal duties, be faithful in all things +to his lord, never lie or violate his plighted word. He must be generous +and give freely and ungrudgingly to the needy. He must be faithful to +his lady and be ready to defend her person and her honor at all costs. +Everywhere he must be the champion of the right against injustice and +oppression. In short, chivalry was the Christianized profession of arms. + +In the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table there +is a beautiful picture of the ideal knight. The dead Lancelot is +addressed by one of his sorrowing companions as follows: "Thou wert the +courtliest knight that ever bare shield, and thou wert the truest friend +to thy lover that ever bestrode horse, and thou wert the truest lover of +a sinful man [i.e., among sinful men] that ever loved woman, and thou +wert the kindest man that ever struck with sword, and thou wert the +goodliest person that ever came among the press of knights, and thou +wert the meekest man and the gentlest that ever ate in hall among +ladies, and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever +put spear in breast." + +[Sidenote: The German minnesingers.] + +[Sidenote: Walther von der Vogelweide.] + +[Sidenote: _Parsifal._] + +The Germans also made their contribution to the literature of chivalry. +The German poets of the thirteenth century are called _minnesingers_. +Like the troubadours, whom they greatly admired, they usually sang of +love (German, _Minne_). The most famous of the minnesingers was Walther +von der Vogelweide (d. about 1228), whose songs are full of charm and of +enthusiasm for his German fatherland. Wolfram von Eschenbach (d. about +1225) in his story of _Parsifal_ gives the long and sad adventures of a +knight in search of the Holy Grail,--the sacred vessel which had held +the blood of Christ. Only those perfectly pure in thought, word, and +deed could hope to behold it. Parsifal failed to speak a word of +sympathy to a suffering man and was forced to undergo a long atonement. +At last he learned that only through pity and humility and faith in God +could he hope to find the Grail. + +[Sidenote: Difference between the earlier and later ideals of chivalry.] + +The chivalry depicted in the _Song of Roland_ and the more serious poems +of northern France is of a severe type, in which the service of the +Church, especially against the infidel, and the obligations to the +feudal suzerain have the predominant place. On the other hand, in the +Arthurian legends, and, above all, in the songs of the troubadours, the +ideal conduct of a polished and valorous gentleman, especially toward +the lady of his choice, finds expression. The later romances of chivalry +(in the thirteenth and following centuries) deal very largely with +knighthood in the latter sense of the word. No one, indeed, any longer +thought of fighting the infidel; for the Crusades were over and the +knight was forced to seek adventures nearer home.[167] + +[Sidenote: General ignorance of the past.] + +101. So long as all books had to be copied by hand, there were, of +course, but few of them compared with modern times. The literature of +which we have been speaking was not in general read, but was listened +to, as it was sung or recited by those who made it their profession. +Wherever the wandering jongleur appeared he was sure of a delighted +audience for his songs and stories, both serious and light. Those +unfamiliar with Latin could, however, learn little of the past; there +were no translations of the great classics of Greece and Rome, of Homer, +Plato, Cicero, or Livy. All that they could know of ancient history was +derived from the fantastic romances referred to above, which had for +their theme the quite preposterous deeds ascribed to Alexander the +Great, Æneas, and Cæsar. As for their own history, the epics relating to +the earlier course of events in France and the rest of Europe were +hopelessly confused. The writers attributed a great part of the acts of +the Frankish kings, from Clovis to Pippin, to Charlemagne. The first +real history written in French is Villehardouin's account of the capture +of Constantinople by the crusaders (in 1204), which he witnessed. + +[Sidenote: Mediæval popular science.] + +What we should call scientific literature was practically wanting. It is +true that there was a kind of encyclopedia in verse which gave a great +deal of misinformation about things in general. Every one believed in +strange animals like the unicorn, the dragon, and the phoenix, and in +still stranger habits of real animals. A single example will suffice to +show what passed for zoölogy in the thirteenth century. + +"There is a little beast made like a lizard and such is its nature that +it will extinguish fire should it fall into it. The beast is so cold and +of such a quality that fire is not able to burn it, nor will trouble +happen in the place where it shall be." This beast signifies the holy +man who lives by faith, who "will never have hurt from fire nor will +hell burn him.... This beast we name also by another name,--it is called +salamander, as you find written,--it is accustomed to mount into +apple-trees, poisons the apples, and in a well where it shall fall it +will poison the water." + +It will be noticed that the habits of the animals were supposed to have +some spiritual meaning and carry with them a lesson for mankind. It may +be added that this and similar stories were centuries old. The most +improbable things were repeated from generation to generation without +its occurring to any one to inquire if there was any truth in them. Even +the most learned men of the time believed in astrology and in the +miraculous virtues of herbs and gems. For instance, Albertus Magnus, one +of the most distinguished scientists of the thirteenth century, agrees +that a sapphire will drive away boils and that the diamond can be +softened in the blood of a stag, which will work best if the stag has +been fed on wine and parsley.[168] + +102. It is not only in the literature of the Middle Ages that we find +the thought and life of the people reflected, but in the art as well, +for painters, sculptors, and builders were at work in every country of +western Europe. + +[Sidenote: Illuminations done by the monks.] + +[Sidenote: In religious works.] + +The paintings were altogether different from those of to-day, and +consisted chiefly of illustrations in the books, called _illuminations_. +Just as the books had all to be laboriously written out by hand, so each +picture was painted on the parchment page with tiny brushes and usually +in brilliant colors with a generous use of gold. And as the monks wrote +out the books, so it was, in general, the monks who painted the +pictures. The books that they adorned were chiefly those used in the +church services, especially the breviary, the psalter, and the book of +hours. Naturally these pictures usually dealt with religious subjects +and illustrated the lives of the saints or the events of biblical +history. Virtue was encouraged by representations of the joys of heaven +and also stimulated by spirited portrayals of the devil and his fiends, +and of the sufferings of the lost. + +[Sidenote: In secular books.] + +Secular works, too, were sometimes provided with pictures drawn from a +wide variety of subjects. We find in their pages such homely and +familiar figures as the farmer with his plow, the butcher at his block, +the glass blower at his furnace; then, again, we are transported to an +imaginary world, peopled with strange and uncouth beasts and adorned +with fantastic architecture. + +[Sidenote: The artist governed by fixed rules.] + +The mediæval love of symbols and of fixed rules for doing things is +strikingly illustrated in these illuminations. Each color had its +especial significance. There were certain established attitudes and ways +of depicting various characters and emotions which were adhered to by +generation after generation of artists and left comparatively little +opportunity for individual talent or lifelike presentation. On the other +hand, these little pictures--for of course they were always +small[169]--were often executed with exquisite care and skill and +sometimes in the smaller details with great truth to nature. + +Beside the pictures of which we have been speaking, it was a common +practice to adorn the books with gay illuminated initials or page +borders, which were sometimes very beautiful in both design and color. +In these rather more freedom was allowed to the caprice of the +individual artist, and they were frequently enlivened with very charming +and lifelike flowers, birds, squirrels, and other small animals. + +[Illustration: A Romanesque Church] + +[Sidenote: Sculpture subservient to architecture.] + +The art of sculpture was more widely and successfully cultivated during +the Middle Ages than painting. Mediæval sculpture did not, however, +concern itself chiefly with the representation of the human figure, but +with what we may call _decorative carving_; it was almost wholly +subservient to the dominant art of the Middle Ages, namely, +architecture. + +[Sidenote: Architecture the dominant art of the Middle Ages.] + +It is in the great cathedrals and other churches scattered throughout +England, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, and Germany, that we find the +noblest and most lasting achievements of mediæval art, which all the +resources of modern skill have been unable to equal. Everybody belonged +to the Church, but the Church, too, belonged to each individual. The +building and beautifying of a new church was a matter of interest to the +whole community,--to men of every rank. It gratified at once their +religious sentiments, their local pride, and their artistic cravings. +All the arts and crafts ministered to the construction and adornment of +the new edifice, and, in addition to its religious significance, it took +the place of our modern art museum. + +[Illustration: Durham Cathedral (Romanesque)] + +[Sidenote: The Romanesque style.] + +Up to the beginning of the thirteenth century the churches were built in +the Romanesque style.[170] They were, generally speaking, in the form of +a cross, with a main aisle, and two side aisles which were both narrower +and lower than the main aisle. The aisles were divided from each other +by massive round pillars which supported the round vaulting of the roof +and were connected by round arches. The round-arched windows were +usually small for the size of the building, so that the interior was not +very light. The whole effect was one of massive simplicity. There was, +however, especially in the later churches of this style, a profusion of +carved ornament, usually in geometric designs. + +[Sidenote: Introduction of the Gothic style.] + +[Sidenote: The pointed arch.] + +[Sidenote: Flying buttresses.] + +The _pointed_ form of arch was used occasionally in windows during the +eleventh and twelfth centuries. But about the beginning of the +thirteenth century[171] it began to be employed much more extensively, +and in an incredibly short time practically superseded the round arch +and became the characteristic feature of a new style, called _Gothic_. +The adoption of the pointed arch had very important results. It enabled +the builder to make arches of the same height but various widths, and of +varying height and the same width. A round arch of a given span can be +only half as high as it is wide, but the pointed arch may have a great +diversity of proportions. The development of the Gothic style was +greatly forwarded by the invention of the "flying buttress." By means of +this graceful outside prop it became possible to lighten the masonry of +the hitherto massive walls and pierce them with great windows which let +a flood of light into the hitherto dark churches.[172] + +[Illustration: Round and Pointed Arches] + +[Illustration: FAÇADE OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL] + +[Sidenote: Stained glass.] + +The light from all these great windows might even have been too glaring +had it not been for the wonderful stained glass set in exquisite stone +tracery with which they were filled. The stained glass of the mediæval +cathedral, especially in France, where the glass workers brought their +art to the greatest perfection, was one of its chief glories. By far the +greater part of this old glass has of course been destroyed, but it is +still so highly prized that every bit of it is now carefully preserved, +for it has never since been equaled. A window set with odd bits of it +pieced together like crazy patch-work is more beautiful, in its rich and +jewel-like coloring, than the finest modern work. + +[Illustration: Flying Buttresses of Notre Dame, Paris] + +[Sidenote: Sculptured ornament.] + +As the Gothic style developed and the builders grew all the time more +skillful and daring, the churches became marvels of lightness and +delicacy of detail and finish, while still retaining their dignity and +beauty of proportion. Sculptors enriched them with the most beautiful +creations of their art. Moldings and capitals, pulpits, altars, and +choir screens, the wooden seats for the clergy and choristers, are +sometimes literally covered with carving representing graceful leaf and +flower forms, familiar animals or grotesque monsters, biblical incidents +or homely scenes from everyday life. In the cathedral of Wells, in +England, one capital shows us among its vines and leaves a boy whose +face is screwed up with pain from the thorn he is extracting from his +foot; another depicts a whole story of sin found out, thieves stealing +grapes pursued by an angry farmer with a pitchfork. One characteristic +of the mediæval imagination is its fondness for the grotesque. It loved +queer beasts, half eagle, half lion, hideous batlike creatures, monsters +like nothing on land or sea. They lurk among the foliage on choir +screens, leer at you from wall or column, or squat upon the gutters high +on roof and steeple. + +[Illustration: Window in the Cathedral of Sens, France] + +[Sidenote: Gothic sculpture.] + +A striking peculiarity of the Gothic structure is the great number of +statues of apostles, saints, and rulers which adorn the façades and +especially the main portal of the churches. These figures are cut from +the same kind of stone of which the building is made and appear to be +almost a part of it. While, compared with later sculpture, they seem +somewhat stiff and unlifelike, they harmonize wonderfully with the whole +building, and the best of them are full of charm and dignity. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL] + +[Sidenote: Secular buildings.] + +So far we have spoken only of the church architecture, and that was by +far the most important during the period with which we have been +dealing. Later, in the fourteenth century, many beautiful secular +buildings were constructed in the Gothic style. The most striking and +important of these were the guildhalls built by the rich merchant +guilds, and the townhalls of some of the important cities. But the +Gothic style has always been especially dedicated to, and seems +peculiarly fitted for, ecclesiastical architecture. Its lofty aisles and +open floor spaces, its soaring arches leading the eye toward heaven, and +its glowing windows suggesting the glories of paradise, may well have +fostered the ardent faith of the mediæval Christian. + +[Illustration: Figures (gargoyles) on Notre Dame, Paris] + +[Sidenote: The mediæval castle.] + +We have already touched upon some of the characteristics of domestic +architecture in referring to the mediæval castle. This was rather a +stronghold than a home,--strength and inaccessibility were its main +requirements. The walls were many feet thick and the tiny windows, often +hardly more than slits in the massive walls, the stone floors, the great +bare halls warmed only by large fireplaces, suggest nothing of the +comfort of a modern household. At the same time they imply a simplicity +of taste and manners and a hardihood of body which we may well envy. + +[Sidenote: The schools before the eleventh century.] + +103. On turning from the language and books of the people and the art of +the period to the occupations of the learned class, who carried on their +studies and discussions in Latin, we naturally inquire where such +persons obtained their education. During the long centuries which +elapsed between the time when Justinian closed the government schools +and the advent of Frederick Barbarossa, there appears to have been +nothing in western Europe, outside of Italy and Spain, corresponding to +our universities and colleges. Some of the schools which the bishops and +abbots had established in accordance with Charlemagne's commands were, +it is true, maintained all through the dark and disorderly times which +followed his death. But the little that we know of the instruction +offered in them would indicate that it was very elementary, although +there were sometimes noted men at their head. + +[Sidenote: Abelard, d. 1142.] + +About the year 1100 an ardent young man named Abelard started out from +his home in Brittany to visit all the places where he might hope to +receive instruction in logic and philosophy, in which, like all his +learned contemporaries, he was especially interested. He reports that he +found teachers in several of the French towns, particularly in Paris, +who were attracting large numbers of students to listen to their +lectures upon logic, rhetoric, and theology. Abelard soon showed his +superiority to his teachers by defeating them several times in debate. +Before long he began lecturing on his own account, and such was his +success that thousands of students flocked to hear him. + +[Sidenote: Abelard's _Yea and Nay_.] + +He prepared a remarkable little text-book, called _Yea and Nay_, +containing seemingly contradictory opinions of the church fathers upon +particular questions. The student was left to reconcile the +contradictions, if he could, by careful reasoning; for Abelard held that +a constant questioning was the only path to real knowledge. His free way +of dealing with the authorities upon which men based their religious +beliefs seemed wicked to many of his contemporaries, especially to St. +Bernard, who made him a great deal of trouble. Nevertheless it soon +became the fashion to discuss the various doctrines of Christianity with +great freedom and to try to make a well-reasoned system of theology by +following the rules of Aristotle's logic. It was just after Abelard's +death (1142) that Peter Lombard published his _Sentences_, already +described. + +Abelard did not found the University of Paris, as has sometimes been +supposed, but he did a great deal to make the discussions of theological +problems popular, and by his attractive method of teaching he greatly +increased the number of those who wished to learn. The sad story of his +life, which he wrote when he was worn out with the calamities that had +overtaken him, is the best and almost the only account which exists of +the remarkable interest in learning which explains the origin of the +University of Paris.[173] + +[Sidenote: Origin of the University of Paris.] + +Before the end of the twelfth century the teachers had become so +numerous in Paris that they formed a union, or guild, for the +advancement of their interests. This union of professors was called by +the usual name for corporations in the Middle Ages, _universitas_; hence +our word "university." The king and pope both favored the university and +granted the teachers and students many of the privileges of the clergy, +a class to which they were regarded as belonging, because learning had +for so many centuries been confined to the clergy. + +[Sidenote: Study of the Roman and canon law in Bologna.] + +[Sidenote: The _Decretum_ of Gratian.] + +About the time that we find the beginnings of a university or guild of +professors at Paris, a great institution of learning was growing up at +Bologna. Here the chief attention was given, not to theology, as at +Paris, but to the study of the law, both Roman and canon. Very early in +the twelfth century a new interest in the Roman law became apparent in +Italy, where the old jurisprudence of Rome had never been completely +forgotten. Then, in 1142 or thereabouts, a monk, Gratian, published a +great work in which he aimed to reconcile all the conflicting +legislation of the councils and popes and to provide a convenient +text-book for the study of the church or canon law. Students then began +to stream to Bologna in greater numbers than ever before. In order to +protect themselves in a town where they were regarded as strangers, they +organized themselves into associations, which became so powerful that +they were able to force the professors to obey the rules which they laid +down. + +[Sidenote: Other universities founded.] + +The University of Oxford was founded in the time of Henry II, probably +by English students and masters who had become discontented at Paris for +some reason. The University of Cambridge, as well as numerous +universities in France, Italy, and Spain, appeared in the thirteenth +century. The German universities, which are still so famous, were +established somewhat later, most of them in the latter half of the +fourteenth and in the fifteenth centuries. The northern institutions +generally took the great mother university on the Seine as their model, +while those in southern Europe usually adopted the habits of Bologna. + +[Sidenote: The academic degree.] + +When, after some years of study, a student was examined by the +professors, he was, if successful, admitted to the corporation of +teachers and became a master himself. What we call a degree to-day was +originally, in the mediæval universities, nothing more than the +qualification to teach. But in the thirteenth century many began to +desire the honorable title of master or doctor (which is only the Latin +word for _teacher_) who did not care to become professors in our sense +of the word.[174] + +[Sidenote: Simple methods of instruction.] + +The students in the mediæval universities were of all ages, from +thirteen to forty, and even older. There were no university buildings, +and in Paris the lectures were given in the Latin quarter, in Straw +Street, so called from the straw strewn on the floors of the hired rooms +where the lecturer explained the text-book, with the students squatting +on the floor before him. There were no laboratories, for there was no +experimentation. All that was required was a copy of the +text-book,--Gratian's _Decretum_, the _Sentences_, a treatise of +Aristotle, or a medical book. This the lecturer explained sentence by +sentence, and the students listened and sometimes took notes. + +[Sidenote: The universities could move freely from one town to another.] + +The fact that the masters and students were not bound to any particular +spot by buildings and apparatus left them free to wander about. If they +believed themselves ill-treated in one town they moved to another, +greatly to the disgust of the tradespeople of the place which they +deserted, who of course profited by the presence of the university. The +universities of Oxford and of Leipsic, among others, were founded by +professors and students who had deserted their former home. + +[Sidenote: Course of study.] + +The course in arts, which corresponded to our college course and led to +the degree of Master of Arts, occupied six years at Paris. The studies +were logic, various sciences,--physics, astronomy, etc.,--studied in +Aristotle's treatises, and some philosophy and ethics. There was no +history, no Greek. Latin had to be learned in order to carry on the work +at all, but little attention was given to the Roman classics. The new +modern languages were considered entirely unworthy of the learned. It +must of course be remembered that none of the books which we consider +the great classics in English, French, Italian, or Spanish had as yet +been written. + +[Sidenote: Aristotle's works become known in the West.] + +104. The most striking peculiarity of the instruction in the mediæval +university was the supreme deference paid to Aristotle. Most of the +courses of lectures were devoted to the explanation of some one of his +numerous treatises,--his _Physics_, his _Metaphysics_, his various +treatises on logic, his _Ethics_, his minor works upon the soul, heaven +and earth, etc. Only his _Logic_ had been known to Abelard, as all his +other works had been forgotten. But early in the thirteenth century all +his comprehensive contributions to science reached the West, either from +Constantinople or through the Arabs who had brought them to Spain. The +Latin translations were bad and obscure, and the lecturer had enough to +do to give some meaning to them, to explain what the Arab philosophers +had said of them, and, finally, to reconcile them to the teachings of +Christianity. + +[Sidenote: Veneration for Aristotle.] + +Aristotle was, of course, a pagan. He was uncertain whether the soul +continued to exist after death; he had never heard of the Bible and knew +nothing of the salvation of man through Christ. One would have supposed +that he would have been promptly rejected with horror by those who never +questioned the doctrines of Christianity. But the teachers of the +thirteenth century were fascinated by his logic and astonished at his +learning. The great theologians of the time, Albertus Magnus (d. 1280) +and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), did not hesitate to prepare elaborate +commentaries upon all his works. He was called "The Philosopher"; and so +fully were scholars convinced that it had pleased God to permit +Aristotle to say the last word upon each and every branch of knowledge +that they humbly accepted him, along with the Bible, the church fathers, +and the canon and Roman law, as one of the unquestioned authorities +which together formed a complete guide for humanity in conduct and in +every branch of science. + +[Sidenote: Scholasticism.] + +The term _scholasticism_ is commonly given to the philosophy, theology, +and method of discussion of the mediæval professors. To those who later +outgrew the fondness for logic and the supreme respect for Aristotle, +scholasticism, with its neglect of Greek and Roman literature, came to +seem an arid and profitless plan of education. Yet if we turn over the +pages of the wonderful works of Thomas Aquinas, we see that the +scholastic philosopher might be a person of extraordinary insight and +erudition, ready to recognize all the objections to his position, and +able to express himself with great clearness and cogency.[175] The +training in logic, if it did not increase the sum of human knowledge, +accustomed the student to make careful distinctions and present his +material in an orderly way. + +[Sidenote: Roger Bacon's attack on scholasticism.] + +Even in the thirteenth century there were a few scholars who criticised +the habit of relying upon Aristotle for all knowledge. The most +distinguished fault-finder was Roger Bacon, an English Franciscan monk +(d. about 1290), who declared that even if Aristotle were very wise he +had only planted the tree of knowledge and that this had "not as yet put +forth all its branches nor produced all its fruits." "If we could +continue to live for endless centuries we mortals could never hope to +reach full and complete knowledge of all the things which are to be +known. No one knows enough of nature completely to describe the +peculiarities of a single fly and give the reason for its color and why +it has just so many feet, no more and no less." Bacon held that truth +could be reached a hundred thousand times better by experiments with +real things than by poring over the bad Latin translations of Aristotle. +"If I had my way," he declared, "I should burn all the books of +Aristotle, for the study of them can only lead to a loss of time, +produce error and increase ignorance." + +So we find that even when scholasticism was most popular in the +universities, there were keen-sighted scientists who recommended the +modern scientific method of discovering truth. This does not consist in +discussing, according to the rules of logic, what a Greek philosopher +said hundreds of years ago, but in the patient observation of things +about us. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Review of the great changes between the break-up of the Roman +Empire in the west and the end of the thirteenth century.] + +We have now traversed somewhat over one half of the long period of +fifteen hundred years which separates Europe of to-day from the +disintegrating Roman Empire of the fifth century. The eight hundred +years which lie between the century of Alaric, Attila, Leo the Great, +and Clovis, and that of Innocent III, St. Louis, and Edward I, witnessed +momentous changes, quite as important as any that have occurred since. + +[Sidenote: The 'dark ages.'] + +It is true that it seemed at first as if the barbarous Goths, Franks, +Vandals, and Burgundians were bringing nothing but turmoil and +distraction. Even the strong hand of Charlemagne curbed the unruly +elements for only a moment; then the discord of his grandsons and the +incursions of Northmen, Hungarians, Slavs, and Saracens plunged western +Europe once more into the same anarchy and ignorance through which it +had passed in the seventh and eighth centuries. + +Two hundred years and more elapsed after Charlemagne's death before we +can begin once more to note signs of progress. While we know little of +the eleventh century, and while even its most distinguished writers are +forgotten by all save the student of the period, it was undoubtedly a +time of preparation for the brilliant twelfth century--for Abelard and +St. Bernard, for the lawyers, poets, architects, and philosophers who +seem to come suddenly upon the scene. + +[Sidenote: The twelfth and thirteenth centuries a period of rapid +advance.] + +The Middle Ages may therefore be divided into two fairly distinct and +quite different periods. The centuries prior to the age of Gregory VII +and of William the Conqueror may, on account of their disorder and +ignorance, be properly called the "dark ages," although they beheld some +important stages in the transformation of Europe. The later Middle Ages, +on the contrary, were a time of rapid and unmistakable progress in +almost every line of human endeavor. Indeed by the end of the thirteenth +century a great part of those changes were well under way which serve to +make modern Europe so different from the condition of western Europe +under the Roman Empire. The most striking of these are the following. + +[Sidenote: Appearance of national states.] + +(1) A group of national states in which a distinct feeling of +nationality was developing had taken the place of the Roman Empire, +which made no allowance in its government for the differences between +Italians, Gauls, Germans, and Britons. The makeshift feudal government +which had grown up during the dark ages was yielding to the kingly +power (except in Germany and Italy) and there was no hope of ever +reuniting western Europe into a single empire. + +[Sidenote: The national states begin to deprive the Church of its +governmental powers.] + +(2) The Church had, in a way, taken the place of the Roman Empire by +holding the various peoples of western Europe together under the +headship of the pope and by assuming the powers of government during the +period when the feudal lords were too weak to secure order and justice. +Organized like an absolute monarchy, the Church was in a certain sense +far the most powerful state of the Middle Ages. But it attained the +zenith of its political influence under Innocent III, at the opening of +the thirteenth century; before its close the national states had so +grown in strength that it was clear that they would gradually reassume +the powers of government temporarily exercised by the Church and confine +the pope and clergy more and more to their strictly religious functions. + +[Sidenote: Appearance of the commons or third estate.] + +(3) A new social class had come into prominence alongside the clergy and +the knightly aristocracy. The emancipation of the serfs, the founding of +towns, and the growth of commerce made it possible for merchants and +successful artisans to rise to importance and become influential through +their wealth. From these beginnings the great intelligent and educated +public of modern times has sprung. + +[Sidenote: Books begin to be written in the language of the people.] + +(4) The various modern languages began to be used in writing books. For +five or six hundred years after the invasions of the Germans, Latin was +used by all writers, but in the eleventh and following centuries the +language of the people began to replace the ancient tongue. This enabled +the laymen who had not mastered the intricacies of the old Roman speech +to enjoy the stories and poems which were being composed in French, +Provençal, German, English, and Spanish, and, somewhat later, in +Italian. + +[Sidenote: The clergy lose the monopoly of learning.] + +Although the clergy still directed education, laymen were beginning to +write books as well as to read them, and gradually the churchmen ceased +to enjoy the monopoly of learning which they had possessed during the +early Middle Ages. + +[Sidenote: Study of law, theology, and philosophy.] + +[Sidenote: The universities.] + +(5) Scholars began as early as the year 1100 to gather eagerly about +masters who lectured upon the Roman and canon law or upon logic, +philosophy, or theology. The works of Aristotle, the most learned of the +ancients, were sought out, and students followed him enthusiastically +into all fields of knowledge. The universities grew up which are now so +conspicuous a feature of our modern civilization. + +[Sidenote: Beginnings of experimental science.] + +(6) Scholars could not satisfy themselves permanently with the works of +Aristotle but began themselves to add to the fund of human knowledge. In +Roger Bacon and his sympathizers we find a group of scientific +investigators who were preparing the way for the unprecedented +achievements in natural science which are the glory of recent times. + +[Sidenote: Artistic progress.] + +(7) The developing appreciation of the beautiful is attested by the +skill and taste expressed in the magnificent churches of the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, which were not a revival of any ancient style but +the original production of the architects and sculptors of the period. + + + General Reading.--The most convenient and readable account of + mediæval literature is perhaps that of SAINTSBURY, _The Flourishing + of Romance_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.50). For chivalry, see + CORNISH, _Chivalry_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.75). For Gothic + architecture, see C.H. MOORE, _Development and Character of Gothic + Architecture_ (The Macmillan Company, $4.50). For the art in + general, LÜBKE, _Outlines of the History of Art_ (Dodd, Mead & Co., + 2 vols., $7.50). For the universities, RASHDALL, _History of the + Universities of the Middle Ages_ (Clarendon Press, 3 vols., + $14.00). + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR + + +[Sidenote: Plan of the following four chapters.] + +105. In dealing with the history of Europe during the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries the following order has been adopted. (1) England +and France are treated together, since the claims of the English kings +to the French crown, and the long Hundred Years' War between the two +countries, bring them into the same tale of disorder and final +reorganization. (2) Next the history of the papal power and the +remarkable efforts to better the Church at the great Council of +Constance (1414) are considered. (3) Then the progress of enlightenment +is taken up, particularly in the Italian towns, which were the leaders +in culture during this period. This leads to an account of the invention +of printing and the extraordinary geographical discoveries of the latter +part of the fifteenth century. (4) In a fourth chapter the situation of +western Europe at the opening of the sixteenth century is described, in +order that the reader may be prepared to understand the great revolt +against the Church under the leadership of Martin Luther. + +[Sidenote: Extent of the king of England's realms before Edward I +(1272-1307).] + +We turn first to England. The English kings who preceded Edward I had +ruled over only a portion of the island of Great Britain. To the west of +their kingdom lay the mountainous district of Wales, inhabited by that +remnant of the original Britons which the German invaders had been +unable to conquer. To the north of England was the kingdom of Scotland, +which was quite independent except for an occasional vague recognition +on the part of its rulers of the English kings as their feudal +superiors. Edward I, however, succeeded in conquering Wales permanently +and Scotland temporarily. + +[Illustration: THE BRITISH ISLES] + +[Sidenote: The Welsh and their bards.] + +For centuries a border warfare had been carried on between the English +and the Welsh. William the Conqueror had found it necessary to establish +a chain of earldoms on the Welsh frontier, and Chester, Shrewsbury, and +Monmouth became the outposts of the Normans. While the raids of the +Welsh constantly provoked the English kings to invade Wales, no +permanent conquest was possible, for the enemy retreated into the +mountains about Snowdon and the English soldiers were left to starve in +the wild regions into which they had ventured. The long and successful +resistance which the Welsh made against the English must be attributed +not only to their inaccessible retreats but also to the patriotic +inspiration of their bards. These fondly believed that their people +would sometime reconquer the whole of England, which they had possessed +before the coming of the Angles and Saxons.[176] + +[Sidenote: Edward I conquers Wales.] + +[Sidenote: The title of 'Prince of Wales.'] + +When Edward I came to the throne he demanded that Llewelyn, Prince of +Wales, as the head of the Welsh clans was called, should do him homage. +Llewelyn, who was a man of ability and energy, refused the king's +summons, and Edward marched into Wales. Two campaigns were necessary +before the Welsh finally succumbed. Llewelyn was killed (1282), and with +him expired the independence of the Welsh people. Edward divided the +country into shires and introduced English laws and customs, and his +policy of conciliation was so successful that there was but a single +rising in the country for a whole century. He later presented his son to +the Welsh as their prince, and from that time down to the present the +title of "Prince of Wales" has usually been conferred upon the heir to +the English throne. + +[Sidenote: Scotland before Edward I.] + +[Sidenote: The Highlands and Lowlands.] + +The conquest of Scotland proved a far more difficult matter than that of +Wales. The early history of the kingdom of Scotland is a complicated +one. When the Angles and Saxons landed in Britain, a great part of the +mountainous region north of the Firth of Forth was inhabited by a Celtic +tribe, the Picts. There was, however, on the west coast a little kingdom +of the Irish Celts, who were then called Scots. By the opening of the +tenth century the Picts had accepted the king of the Scots as their +ruler, and the annalists begin to refer to the highland region as the +land of the Scots. As time went on the English kings found it to their +advantage to grant to the Scottish rulers certain border districts, +including the Lowlands, between the river Tweed and the Firth of Forth. +This region was English in race and speech, while the Celts in the +Highlands spoke, and still speak, Gaelic. + +[Sidenote: Character of the inhabitants of the Lowlands.] + +It was very important in the history of Scotland that its kings chose to +dwell in the Lowlands rather than in the Highlands, and made Edinburgh, +with its fortress, their chief town. With the coming of William the +Conqueror many Englishmen, and also a number of discontented Norman +nobles, fled across the border to the Lowlands of Scotland, and founded +some of the great families, like those of Balliol and Bruce, who later +fought for Scottish liberty. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries +the country, especially in the south, developed rapidly under the +influence of the neighboring Anglo-Norman civilization, and the towns +increased in size and importance. + +[Sidenote: Edward intervenes in Scotch affairs.] + +[Sidenote: Alliance between Scotland and France.] + +It was not until the time of Edward I that the long series of troubles +between England and Scotland began. The death of the last representative +of the old line of Scotch kings in 1290 was followed by the appearance +of a number of claimants to the crown. In order to avoid civil war, +Edward was asked to decide who should be king. He agreed to make the +decision on condition that the one whom he selected should hold Scotland +as a fief from the English king. This arrangement was adopted, and the +crown was given to Robert Balliol. But Edward unwisely made demands upon +the Scots which aroused their anger, and their king renounced his +homage to the king of England. The Scotch, moreover, formed an alliance +with Edward's enemy, Philip the Fair of France; thenceforth, in all the +difficulties between England and France, the English kings had always to +reckon with the disaffected Scotch, who were glad to aid England's +enemies. + +[Sidenote: Edward attempts to incorporate Scotland with England.] + +Edward marched in person against the Scotch (1296) and speedily put down +what he regarded as a rebellion. He declared that Balliol had forfeited +his fief through treason, and that consequently the English king had +become the immediate lord of the Scotch nobles, whom he forced to do him +homage. He emphasized his claim by carrying off the famous Stone of +Scone, upon which the kings of Scotland had been crowned for ages. +Continued resistance led Edward to attempt to incorporate Scotland with +England in the same way that he had treated Wales. This was the +beginning of three hundred years of intermittent war between England and +Scotland, which ended only when a Scotch king, James VI, succeeded to +the English throne in 1603 as James I. + +[Sidenote: Scotland gains its independence under Robert Bruce.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Bannockburn, 1314.] + +That Scotland was able to maintain her independence was mainly due to +Robert Bruce, a national hero who succeeded in bringing both the +nobility and the people under his leadership. Edward I died, old and +worn out, in 1307, when on his way north to put down a rising under +Bruce, and left the task of dealing with the Scotch to his incompetent +son, Edward II. The Scotch acknowledged Bruce as their king and +decisively defeated Edward II in the great battle of Bannockburn, the +most famous conflict in Scottish history. Nevertheless, the English +refused to acknowledge the independence of Scotland until forced to do +so in 1328. + +[Sidenote: The Scottish nation differs from the English.] + +In the course of their struggles with England the Scotch people of the +Lowlands had become more closely welded together, and the independence +of Scotland, although it caused much bloodshed, first and last, served +to develop certain permanent differences between the little Scotch +nation and the rest of the English race. The peculiarities of the people +north of the Tweed have been made familiar by the writings of gifted +Scotchmen like Burns, Scott, and Stevenson. + +[Sidenote: Growth of the power of Parliament.] + +Edward II's numerous enemies took advantage of his weakness to bring +about his downfall, but it is noteworthy that they worked through +Parliament and in that way strengthened that fundamental national +institution. We have seen how Edward I called representatives of the +townspeople, as well as the nobles and prelates, to the Model Parliament +of 1295.[177] This important innovation was formally ratified by his +son, who solemnly promised that all questions relating to his realm and +its people should be settled in parliaments in which the commons should +be included. Thereafter no statute could be legally passed without their +consent. In 1327 Parliament showed its power by forcing Edward II to +abdicate in favor of his son, and thereby established the principle that +the representatives of the nation might even go so far as to depose +their ruler, should he show himself clearly unfit for his high duties. +About this time Parliament began to meet in two distinct divisions, +which later became the House of Lords and the House of Commons. In +modern times this form of legislative assembly has been imitated by most +of the countries of Europe. + +[Sidenote: Cause of the Hundred Years' War.] + +106. The so-called Hundred Years' War, which we must now review, was a +long but frequently interrupted series of conflicts between the English +and the French kings. It began in the following manner. The king of +England, through John's misconduct, had lost Normandy and other portions +of the great Plantagenet realm on the continent.[178] He still retained, +however, the extensive duchy of Guienne, for which he did homage to the +king of France, whose most powerful vassal he was. This arrangement was +bound to produce constant difficulty, especially as the French kings +were, as we have discovered, bent upon destroying as fast as possible +the influence of their vassals, so that the royal power should +everywhere take the place of that of the feudal lords. It was obviously +out of the question for the king of England meekly to permit the French +monarch to extend his control directly over the people of Guienne, and +yet this was the constant aim of Philip the Fair[179] and his +successors. + + +THE FRENCH KINGS DURING THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES + + + Louis IX (Saint Louis) (1226-1270) + | + Philip III (1270-1285) + | + +-------------+--------------------------------+ + | | + | | +Philip IV, the Fair Charles of Valois, +(1285-1314) ancestor of the house of Valois + | | + +-----+--------+-------------+------------+ | + | | | | | +Louis X Isabella, m. Philip V Charles IV | +(1314-1316) Edward II (1316-1322) (1322-1328) | + | | | | | + +--+----+ | | | | + | | Edward daughters daughter | +daughter | III of Philip VI + | England (1328-1350) + John | + (1316), | + an | + infant John II + who died (1350-1364) + when but | + a few | + days old +------------+ + | | + Charles V Philip, + (1364-1380) founder of + | the powerful + Charles VI house + (1380-1422) of Burgundy + | + Charles VII (1422-1461) + | + Louis XI (1461-1483) + | + Charles VIII (1483-1498) + +[Sidenote: The French succession in 1328.] + +The inevitable struggle between England and France was rendered the more +serious by the claim made by Edward III that he was himself the rightful +king of France. He based his pretensions upon the fact that his mother +Isabella was the daughter of Philip the Fair. Philip, who died in 1314, +had been followed by his three sons in succession, none of whom had left +a male heir, so that the direct male line of the Capetians was +extinguished in 1328. The lawyers thereupon declared that it was a +venerable law in France that no woman should succeed to the throne. The +principle was also asserted that a woman could not even transmit the +crown to her son. Consequently Edward III appeared to be definitely +excluded, and Philip VI of Valois, a nephew of Philip the Fair, became +king. + +[Sidenote: Edward III claims the French crown.] + +At first Edward III, who was a mere boy in 1328, appeared to recognize +the propriety of this settlement and did qualified homage to Philip VI +for Guienne. But when it became apparent later that Philip was not only +encroaching upon Edward's prerogatives in Guienne but had sent French +troops to aid the Scotch, the English king bethought him of his +neglected claim to the French crown. + +[Sidenote: The Flemish towns.] + +The advantage of publicly declaring himself the rightful king of France +was increased by the attitude of the flourishing towns of Flanders. +Philip VI had assisted the count of Flanders in a bitter struggle to +prevent the towns from establishing their independence. Consequently the +Flemish burghers now announced their willingness to desert Philip and +acknowledge and aid Edward as their king. + +[Sidenote: Commercial relations between the Flemish towns and England.] + +[Sidenote: English wool.] + +Flanders at this period was the most important trading and manufacturing +country in western Europe. Ghent was a great manufacturing town, like +Manchester to-day, and Bruges a busy port, like modern Antwerp or +Liverpool. All this prosperity was largely dependent upon England, for +it was from there that the Flemish manufacturers procured the fine, long +wool which they wove on their looms into cloth and spun into yarn. In +1336 the count of Flanders, perhaps at Philip's suggestion, ordered the +imprisonment of all the Englishmen in Flanders. Edward promptly +retaliated by prohibiting the export of wool from England and the +importation of cloth. At the same time he protected and encouraged the +Flemish artisans who had emigrated across the Channel and were carrying +on their industry in the county of Norfolk. + +[Illustration: Royal Arms of Edward III] + +It is clear, then, that the Flemish burghers had good reason for wishing +Edward to become their king, so that their relations with England might +not be broken off. They did their part in inducing him to undertake the +conquest of France, and (in 1340) we find him adding the _fleur de lis_ +of France to the lions of the English royal arms. + +[Sidenote: Edward III invades France, 1346.] + +[Sidenote: The English victory at the battle of Crécy, 1346.] + +Edward did not invade France for some years, but his sailors destroyed +the French fleet and began to show themselves able to maintain their +king's claim to be lord of the English seas upon every side. In 1346 +Edward himself landed in Normandy, devastated the country, and marched +up the Seine almost to Paris, but was then obliged to retreat northward +before a large army which Philip had collected. Edward made a halt at +Crécy, and here one of the most celebrated battles of history took +place. It taught the world a great lesson in warfare by proving once +more, as the battle of Bannockburn had already done, that foot soldiers, +properly armed and trained to act in concert, could defeat the feudal +cavaliers in spite of their lances and heavy armor. The proud mounted +knights of France performed prodigies of valor, each for himself, but +they did not act together and could not hold their ground against the +deadly shower of arrows poured into their midst from the long bows of +the English archers. The flower of French chivalry was routed with +terrible slaughter by the serried ranks of the humble English foot +soldiers.[180] It was at Crécy that Edward's son, the Black Prince,--so +named from his black armor,--won his spurs.[181] + +[Sidenote: The English take Calais.] + +[Sidenote: The Black Prince wins a second great victory at Poitiers, +1356.] + +After this great victory the English king proceeded to lay siege to +Calais, the French coast town nearest England. This he took, drove out a +great part of the inhabitants, and substituted Englishmen for them. The +town remained subject to England for two centuries. When the war was +renewed the Black Prince, now at the height of his fame, was able to +deal the enemy a still more crushing blow than at Crécy. He again put +the French knights to flight in the battle of Poitiers; he even captured +the French king, John, and carried him off to London. + +[Sidenote: The Estates General attempt to control the king and reform +the government.] + +107. The French quite properly attributed the signal disasters of Crécy +and Poitiers to the inefficiency of their king and his advisers. +Accordingly, after the second defeat, the Estates General, which had +been summoned to approve the raising of more money, attempted to take +matters into their own hands. The representatives of the towns, whom +Philip the Fair had first called in,[182] were on this occasion more +numerous than the members of the clergy and nobility. A great list of +reforms was drawn up, which provided, among other things, that the +Estates should meet regularly whether summoned by the king or not, and +that the collection and expenditure of the public revenue should be no +longer entirely under the control of the king but should be supervised +by the representatives of the people. The city of Paris rose in support +of the revolutionary Estates, but the violence of its allies discredited +rather than helped the movement, and France was soon glad to accept the +unrestricted rule of its king once more.[183] + +[Sidenote: Contrast between the position of the Estates General and the +English Parliament.] + +This unsuccessful attempt to reform the French government is interesting +in two ways. In the first place, there was much in the aims of the +reformers and in the conduct of the Paris mob that suggests the great +successful French revolution of 1789, which at last fundamentally +modified the organization of the state. In the second place, the history +of the Estates forms a curious contrast to that of the English +Parliament, which was laying the foundation of its later power during +this very period. While the French king occasionally summoned the +Estates when he needed money, he did so only in order that their +approbation of new taxes might make it easier to collect them. He never +admitted that he had not the right to levy taxes if he wished without +consulting his subjects. In England, on the other hand, the kings ever +since the time of Edward I had repeatedly agreed that no new taxes +should be imposed without the consent of Parliament. Edward II had gone +farther and accepted the representatives of the people as his advisers +in all important matters touching the welfare of the realm. While the +French Estates gradually sank into insignificance, the English +Parliament soon learned to grant no money until the king had redressed +the grievances which it pointed out, and thus it insured its influence +over the king's policy. + +[Sidenote: Treaty of Bretigny, 1360.] + +Edward III found it impossible to conquer France in spite of the +victories of the Black Prince and the capture of John. He was glad in +1360 to sign the treaty of Bretigny, in which he not only renounced his +pretensions to the French crown but agreed to say no more of the old +claims of his family to Normandy and the Plantagenet provinces north of +the Loire. In return for these concessions he received, in full +sovereignty and without any feudal obligations to the king of France, +Poitou, Guienne, Gascony, and the town of Calais, amounting to about one +third of the territory of France. + +[Illustration: French Territory ceded to England by the Treaty of +Bretigny, 1360] + +[Sidenote: England loses most of its French territory before the death +of Edward III, 1377.] + +The promising peace of Bretigny was however soon broken. The Black +Prince, to whom the government of Guienne was delegated by his father, +levied such heavy taxes that he quickly alienated the hearts of a people +naturally drawn to France rather than to England. When the sagacious +Charles V of France (1364-1380) undertook to reconquer the territory +which his father had ceded to England, he met with no determined +opposition; Edward III was getting old and his warlike son, the Black +Prince, had fallen mortally ill. So when Edward died in 1377 nothing +remained to the English king except Calais and a strip of land from +Bordeaux southward. + +[Sidenote: Miserable condition of France.] + +For a generation after the death of Edward III the war with France was +almost discontinued. France had suffered a great deal more than England. +In the first place, all the fighting had been done on her side of the +Channel, and in the second place, the soldiers who found themselves +without occupation after the treaty of Bretigny had wandered about in +bands maltreating and plundering the people. Petrarch, who visited +France at this period, tells us that he could not believe that this was +the same kingdom which he had once seen so rich and flourishing. +"Nothing presented itself to my eyes but fearful solitude and extreme +poverty, uncultivated land and houses in ruins. Even about Paris there +were everywhere signs of fire and destruction. The streets were +deserted; the roads overgrown with weeds." + +[Sidenote: The bubonic plague of 1348-1349, commonly called the 'black +death.'] + +The horrors of war had been increased by the deadly bubonic plague which +appeared in Europe early in 1348. In April it had reached Florence; by +August it was devastating France and Germany; it then spread over +England from the southwest northward, attacking every part of the +country during the year 1349. This disease, like other terrible +epidemics, such as smallpox and cholera, came from Asia. Those who were +stricken with it usually died in two or three days. It is impossible to +tell what proportion of the population perished. Reports of the time say +that in one part of France but one tenth of the people survived, in +another but one sixteenth; and that for a long time five hundred bodies +were carried from the great hospital of Paris every day. A careful +estimate shows that in England toward one half of the population died. +At the Abbey of Newenham only the abbot and two monks were left alive +out of twenty-six. There were constant complaints that certain lands +were no longer of any value to their lords because the tenants were all +dead. + +[Sidenote: Conditions of English labor.] + +108. In England the growing discontent among the agricultural classes +may be ascribed partly to the results of the great pestilence and partly +to the new taxes which were levied in order to prolong the disastrous +war with France. Up to this time the majority of those who cultivated +the land belonged to some particular manor, paid stated dues to their +lord, and performed definite services for him. Hitherto there had been +relatively few farm hands who might be hired and who sought employment +anywhere that they could get it. The black death, by greatly decreasing +the number of laborers, raised wages and served to increase the +importance of the unattached laborer. Consequently he not only demanded +higher wages than ever before, but readily deserted one employer when +another offered him more money. + +[Sidenote: The Statutes of Laborers issued in 1351 and following years.] + +This appeared very shocking to those who were accustomed to the +traditional rates of payment; and the government undertook to keep down +wages by prohibiting laborers from asking more than had been customary +during the years that preceded the pestilence. Every laborer, when +offered work at the established wages, was ordered to accept it on pain +of imprisonment. The first "Statute of Laborers"[184] was issued in +1351; but apparently it was not obeyed and similar laws were enacted +from time to time for a century. Nevertheless complaints continued that +serfs and laborers persisted in demanding "outrageous and excessive +hire." This seems to indicate that the efforts of Parliament to +interfere with the law of supply and demand were unsuccessful. + +[Sidenote: Breaking up of the mediæval manors in England.] + +The old manor system was breaking up. Many of the laboring class in the +country no longer held land as serfs but moved from place to place and +made a living by working for wages. The _villain_, as the serf was +called in England, began to regard the dues which he had been accustomed +to pay to his lord as unjust. A petition to Parliament in 1377 asserts +that the villains are refusing to pay their customary services to their +lords or to acknowledge the obligations which they owe as serfs. + +[Sidenote: Causes of discontent among the English peasants.] + +[Sidenote: 'The Vision of Piers Ploughman.'] + +The discontent was becoming general. We see it reflected in a remarkable +poem of the time, "The Vision of Piers Ploughman," in which the +unfortunate position of the peasant is vividly portrayed.[185] This is +only the most notable example of a great number of pamphlets, some in +prose and some in bad verse, which were calculated to make the people +more discontented than ever. The efforts to enforce the provisions of +the Statutes of Laborers had undoubtedly produced much friction between +the landlords and their employees. A new form of taxation also caused +much irritation. A general poll tax, which was to be paid by every one +above sixteen years of age, was established in 1379 and another one in +the following year to meet the expenses of the hopeless French war which +was now being conducted by incapable and highly unpopular ministers. + +[Sidenote: The peasant revolt of 1381.] + +In 1381 rioting began among the peasants in Kent and Essex, and several +bodies of the insurgents determined to march upon London. As they passed +along the road their ranks were swelled by discontented villagers and by +many of the poorer workingmen from the towns. Soon the revolt spread all +through southern and eastern England. The peasants burned some of the +houses of the gentry and of the rich ecclesiastics, and took particular +pains to see that the lists for the collection of the hated poll tax +were destroyed, as well as the registers kept by the various lords +enumerating the obligations of their serfs. The gates of London were +opened to the insurgents by sympathizers within the walls, and several +of the king's officers were seized and put to death. Some of the simple +people imagined that they might induce the boy king, Richard II, to +become their leader. He had no idea of aiding them; he went out, +however, to meet them and induced them to disperse by promising that he +would abolish serfdom. + +[Sidenote: Final disappearance of serfdom in England.] + +Although the king did not keep his promise, serfdom decayed rapidly. It +became more and more common for the serf to pay his dues to the lord in +money instead of working for him, and in this way he lost one of the +chief characteristics of a serf. The landlord then either hired men to +cultivate the fields which he reserved for his own use[186] or rented +the land to tenants. These tenants were not in a position to force their +fellow-tenants on the manor to pay the full dues which had formerly been +exacted by the lord. Sixty or seventy years after the Peasants' War the +English rural population had in one way or another become free men, and +serfs had practically disappeared. + +[Sidenote: Deposition of Richard II and accession of Henry IV of +Lancaster, 1399-1413.] + +[Sidenote: Henry V claims the French crown, 1414.] + +109. The war with France had, as we have seen, almost ceased for a +generation after the death of Edward III. The young son of the Black +Prince, Richard II, who succeeded his grandfather on the throne, was +controlled by the great noblemen whose rivalries fill much space in the +annals of England. He was finally forced to abdicate in 1399. Henry IV, +of the powerful house of Lancaster,[187] was recognized as king in spite +of the fact that he had less claim than another descendant of Edward +III, who was, however, a mere boy. Henry IV's uncertain title may have +made him less enterprising than Edward III; at any rate, it was left for +his son, Henry V (1413-1422), to continue the French war. The conditions +in France were such as to encourage the new claim which Henry V made to +the French crown in 1414. + +[Sidenote: Civil war in France between the houses of Burgundy and +Orleans.] + +The able French king, Charles V, who had delivered his country for a +time from the English invaders,[188] had been followed in 1380 by +Charles VI, who soon lost his mind. The right to govern France +consequently became a matter of dispute among the insane king's uncles +and other relations. The country was divided between two great factions, +one of which was headed by the powerful duke of Burgundy, who was +building up a new state between France and Germany, and the other by the +duke of Orleans. In 1407 the duke of Orleans was brutally murdered by +order of the duke of Burgundy,--a by no means uncommon way at that time +of disposing of one's enemies in both France and England. This led to a +prolonged civil war between the two parties, and saved England from an +attack which the duke of Orleans had been planning. + +[Sidenote: Position of Henry V.] + +[Sidenote: Agincourt, 1415.] + +Henry V had no real basis for his claim to the French crown. Edward III +had gone to war because France was encroaching upon Guienne and aiding +Scotland, and because he was encouraged by the Flemish towns. Henry V, +on the other hand, was merely anxious to make himself and his house +popular by deeds of valor. Nevertheless his very first victory, the +battle of Agincourt, was as brilliant as that of Crécy or Poitiers. Once +more the English bowmen slaughtered great numbers of French knights. The +English then proceeded to conquer Normandy and march upon Paris. + +[Sidenote: Treaty of Troyes, 1420.] + +Burgundians and Orleanists were upon the point of forgetting their +animosities in their common fear of the English, when the duke of +Burgundy, as he was kneeling to kiss the hand of his future sovereign, +the Dauphin,[189] was treacherously attacked and killed by a band of his +enemies. His son, the new duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, immediately +joined the English against the Dauphin, whom he believed to be +responsible for his father's murder. Henry then forced the French to +sign the treaty of Troyes (1420), which provided that he was to become +king of France upon the death of the mad Charles VI. + +[Sidenote: Henry VI recognized as king in northern France.] + +Both Henry V and Charles VI died two years later. Henry V's son, Henry +VI, was but nine months old; nevertheless according to the terms of the +treaty of Troyes he succeeded to the throne in France as well as in +England. The child was recognized only in a portion of northern France. +Through the ability of his uncle, the duke of Bedford, his interests +were defended with such good effect that the English succeeded in a few +years in conquering all of France north of the Loire, although the south +continued to be held by Charles VII, the son of Charles VI. + +[Sidenote: Joan of Arc.] + +Charles VII had not yet been crowned and so was still called the Dauphin +even by his supporters. Weak and indolent, he did nothing to stem the +tide of English victories or restore the courage and arouse the +patriotism of his distressed subjects. This great task was reserved for +a young peasant girl from a remote village on the eastern border of +France. To her family and her companions Joan of Arc seemed only "a good +girl, simple and pleasant in her ways," but she brooded much over the +disasters that had overtaken her country, and a "great pity on the fair +realm of France" filled her heart. She saw visions and heard voices that +bade her go forth to the help of the king and lead him to Rheims to be +crowned. + +[Sidenote: Relief of Orleans by Joan, 1429.] + +It was with the greatest difficulty that she got anybody to believe in +her mission or to help her to get an audience with the Dauphin. But her +own firm faith in her divine guidance triumphed over all doubts and +obstacles. She was at last accepted as a God-sent champion and placed at +the head of some troops despatched to the relief of Orleans. This city, +which was the key to southern France, had been besieged by the English +for some months and was on the point of surrender. Joan, who rode on +horseback at the head of her troops, clothed in armor like a man, had +now become the idol of the soldiers and of the people. Under the +guidance and inspiration of her indomitable courage, sound sense, and +burning enthusiasm, Orleans was relieved and the English completely +routed. The Maid of Orleans, as she was henceforth called, was now free +to conduct the Dauphin to Rheims, where he was crowned in the cathedral +(July 17, 1429). + +[Illustration: Possessions of the English King in France upon the +Accession of Henry VI, 1424] + +[Sidenote: Execution of Joan, 1431.] + +The Maid now felt that her mission was accomplished and begged +permission to return to her home and her brothers and sisters. To this +the king would not consent, and she continued to fight his battles with +undiminished loyalty. But the other leaders were jealous of her, and +even her friends, the soldiers, were sensitive to the taunt of being led +by a woman. During the defense of Compiègne in May, 1430, she was +allowed to fall into the hands of the duke of Burgundy, who sold her to +the English. They were not satisfied with simply holding as prisoner +that strange maiden who had so discomfited them; they wished to +discredit everything that she had done, and so declared, and undoubtedly +believed, that she was a witch who had been helped by the Evil One. She +was tried by a court of ecclesiastics, found guilty of heresy, and +burned at Rouen in 1431. Her bravery and noble constancy affected even +her executioners, and an English soldier who had come to triumph over +her death was heard to exclaim: "We are lost--we have burned a saint." +The English cause in France was indeed lost, for her spirit and example +had given new courage and vigor to the French armies.[190] + +[Sidenote: England loses her French possessions.] + +[Sidenote: End of the Hundred Years' War, 1453.] + +The English Parliament became more and more reluctant to grant funds +when there were no more victories gained. Bedford, through whose ability +the English cause had hitherto been maintained, died in 1435, and Philip +the Good, Duke of Burgundy, renounced his alliance with the English and +joined Charles VII. Owing to his acquisition of the Netherlands, the +possessions of Philip were now so great that he might well be regarded +as a European potentate whose alliance with France rendered further +efforts on England's part hopeless. From this time on the English lost +ground steadily. They were expelled from Normandy in 1450. Three years +later, the last vestige of their long domination in southern France +passed into the hands of the French king. The Hundred Years' War was +over, and although England still retained Calais, the great question +whether she should extend her sway upon the continent was finally +settled. + +[Sidenote: The Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and +York, 1455-1485.] + +110. The close of the Hundred Years' War was followed in England by the +Wars of the Roses, between the rival houses which were struggling for +the crown. The badge of the house of Lancaster, to which Henry VI +belonged, was a red rose, and that of the duke of York, who proposed to +push him off his throne, was a white one. Each party was supported by a +group of the wealthy and powerful nobles whose rivalries, conspiracies, +treasons, murders, and executions fill the annals of England during the +period which we have been discussing. Vast estates had come into the +hands of the higher nobility by inheritance, and marriages with wealthy +heiresses. Many of the dukes and earls were related to the royal family +and consequently were inevitably drawn into the dynastic struggles. + +[Sidenote: Retainers.] + +The nobles no longer owed their power to vassals who were bound to +follow them to war. Like the king, they relied upon hired soldiers. It +was easy to find plenty of restless fellows who were willing to become +the retainers of a nobleman if he would agree to clothe them with his +livery and keep open house, where they might eat and drink their fill. +Their master was to help them when they got into trouble, and they on +their part were expected to intimidate, misuse, and even murder at need +those who opposed the interests of their chief. When the French war was +over, the unruly elements of society poured back across the Channel and, +as retainers of the rival lords, became the terror of the country. They +bullied judges and juries, and helped the nobles to control the +selection of those who were sent to Parliament. + +[Sidenote: Edward IV secures the crown.] + +It is needless to speak of the several battles and the many skirmishes +of the miserable Wars of the Roses. These lasted from 1455, when the +duke of York set seriously to work to displace the weak-minded +Lancastrian king, Henry VI, until the accession of Henry VII, of the +house of Tudor, thirty years later. After several battles the Yorkist +leader, Edward IV, assumed the crown in 1461 and was recognized by +Parliament, which declared Henry VI and the two preceding Lancastrian +kings usurpers.[191] Edward was a vigorous monarch and maintained his +own until his death in 1483. + +[Sidenote: Edward V, 1483; Richard III, 1483-1485.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Richard in the battle of Bosworth Field.] + +[Sidenote: Accession of Henry VII of the house of Tudor, 1485.] + +[Sidenote: End of the Wars of the Roses.] + +Edward's son, Edward V, was only a little boy, so that the government +fell into the hands of the young king's uncle, Richard, Duke of +Gloucester. The temptation to make himself king was too great to be +resisted, and Richard soon seized the crown. Both the sons of Edward IV +were killed in the Tower of London, and with the knowledge of their +uncle, as it was commonly believed. This murder made Richard unpopular +even at a time when one could kill one's political rivals without +incurring general opprobrium. A new aspirant to the throne organized a +conspiracy. Richard III was defeated and slain in the battle of Bosworth +Field in 1485, and the crown which had fallen from his head was placed +upon that of the first Tudor king, Henry VII. The latter had no +particular right to it, although he was descended from Edward III +through his mother. He hastened to procure the recognition of +Parliament, and married Edward IV's daughter, thus blending the red and +white roses in the Tudor badge.[192] + +[Illustration: FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XI] + +[Sidenote: The despotism of the Tudors.] + +The Wars of the Roses had important results. Nearly all the powerful +families of England had been drawn into the fierce struggles, and a +great part of the nobility, whom the kings had formerly feared, had +perished on the battlefield or lost their heads in the ruthless +executions carried out by each party after it gained a victory. This +left the king far more powerful than ever before. He could now dominate +Parliament, if he could not dispense with it. For a century and more the +Tudor kings enjoyed almost despotic power. England ceased for a time to +enjoy the free government for which the foundations had been laid under +the Edwards and the Lancastrian kings, whose embarrassments at home and +abroad had made them constantly dependent upon the aid of the +nation.[193] + +[Sidenote: France establishes a standing army, 1439.] + +111. In France the closing years of the Hundred Years' War had witnessed +a great increase of the king's power through the establishment of a +well-organized standing army. The feudal army had long since +disappeared. Even before the opening of the war the nobles had begun to +be paid for their military services and no longer furnished troops as a +condition of holding fiefs. But the companies of soldiers, although +nominally under the command of royal officers, were often really +independent of the king. They found their pay very uncertain, and +plundered their countrymen as well as the enemy. As the war drew to a +close, the lawless troopers became a terrible scourge to the country and +were known as _flayers_, on account of the horrible way in which they +tortured the peasants in the hope of extracting money from them. In 1439 +the Estates General approved a plan devised by the king, for putting an +end to this evil. Thereafter no one was to raise a company without the +permission of the king, who was to name the captains and fix the number +of the soldiers and the character of their arms.[194] + +[Sidenote: The permanent tax fatal to the powers of the Estates +General.] + +The Estates agreed that the king should use a certain tax, called the +_taille_, to support the troops necessary for the protection of the +frontier. This was a fatal concession, for the king now had an army and +the right to collect what he chose to consider a permanent tax, the +amount of which he later greatly increased; he was not dependent, as was +the English king, upon the grants made for brief periods by the +representatives of the nation. + +[Sidenote: The new feudalism.] + +Before the king of France could hope to establish a compact, +well-organized state it was necessary for him to reduce the power of his +vassals, some of whom were almost his equals in strength. The older +feudal dynasties, as we have seen, had many of them succumbed to the +attacks and the diplomacy of the kings of the thirteenth century, +especially of St. Louis. But he and his successors had raised up fresh +rivals by granting whole provinces, called _appanages_,[195] to their +younger sons. In this way new and powerful lines of feudal nobles were +established, such, for example, as the houses of Orleans, Anjou, +Bourbon, and, above all, of Burgundy. The accompanying map shows the +region immediately subject to the king--the royal domain--at the time of +the expulsion of the English. It clearly indicates what still remained +to be done in order to free France from feudalism and make it a great +nation. The process of reducing the prerogatives of the nobles had been +begun. They had been forbidden to coin money, to maintain armies, and to +tax their subjects, and the powers of the king's judges had been +extended over all the realm. But the task of consolidating France was +reserved for the son of Charles VII, the shrewd and treacherous Louis XI +(1461-1483). + +[Sidenote: Extent of the Burgundian possessions in the fifteenth +century.] + +By far the most dangerous of Louis' vassals were Philip the Good, Duke +of Burgundy (1419-1467), and his impetuous son, Charles the Bold +(1467-1477). Just a century before Louis XI came to the throne, the old +line of Burgundian dukes had died out, and in 1363 the same King John +whom the English captured and carried off to England, presented Burgundy +to his younger son Philip.[196] By fortunate marriages and lucky +windfalls the dukes of Burgundy had added a number of important fiefs to +their original possessions, and Philip the Good ruled over +Franche-Comté, Luxembourg, Flanders, Artois, Brabant, and other +provinces and towns which lie in what is now Holland and Belgium. + +[Illustration: Louis XI] + +[Sidenote: Ambition of Charles the Bold, 1467-1477.] + +Charles the Bold busied himself for some years before his father's death +in forming alliances with the other powerful French vassals and +conspiring against Louis. Upon becoming duke himself he set his heart +upon two things. He resolved, first, to conquer Lorraine, which divided +his territories into two parts and made it difficult to pass from +Franche-Comté to Luxembourg. In the second place, he proposed to have +himself crowned king of the territories which his forefathers had +accumulated and in this way establish a strong new state between France +and Germany. + +[Sidenote: Charles defeated by the Swiss at Granson and Murten, 1476.] + +Naturally neither the king of France nor the emperor sympathized with +Charles' ambitions. Louis taxed his exceptional ingenuity in frustrating +his aspiring vassal; and the emperor refused to crown Charles as king +when he appeared at Trier eager for the ceremony. The most humiliating, +however, of the defeats which Charles encountered came from an +unexpected quarter. He attempted to chastise his neighbors the Swiss for +siding with his enemies and was soundly beaten by that brave people in +two memorable battles. + +[Illustration: BRONZE STATUES OF PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD +AT INNSBRUCK] + +[Sidenote: Death of Charles, 1477.] + +[Sidenote: Marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of Austria.] + +The next year Charles fell ingloriously in an attempt to take the town +of Nancy. His lands went to his daughter Mary, who was immediately +married to the emperor's son, Maximilian, much to the disgust of Louis, +who had already seized the duchy of Burgundy and hoped to gain still +more. The great importance of this marriage, which resulted in bringing +the Netherlands into the hands of Austria, will be seen when we come to +consider Charles V (the grandson of Mary and Maximilian) and his vast +empire.[197] + +[Sidenote: Work of Louis XI.] + +Louis XI did far more for the French monarchy than check his chief +vassal and reclaim a part of the Burgundian territory. He had himself +made heir to a number of provinces in central and southern +France,--Anjou, Maine, Provence, etc.,--which by the death of their +possessors came under the king's immediate control (1481). He humiliated +in various ways the vassals who in his early days had combined with +Charles the Bold against him. The duke of Alençon he imprisoned; the +rebellious duke of Nemours he caused to be executed in the most cruel +manner. Louis' political aims were worthy, but his means were generally +despicable. It sometimes seemed as if he gloried in being the most +rascally among rascals, the most treacherous among the traitors whom he +so artfully circumvented in the interests of the French monarchy.[198] + +[Sidenote: England and France establish strong national governments.] + +Both England and France emerged from the troubles and desolations of the +Hundred Years' War stronger than ever before. In both countries the +kings had overcome the menace of feudalism by destroying the power of +the great families. The royal government was becoming constantly more +powerful. Commerce and industry increased the national wealth and +supplied the monarchs with the revenue necessary to maintain government +officials and a sufficient armed force to execute the laws and keep +order throughout their realms. They were no longer forced to rely upon +the uncertain pledges of their vassals. In short, the French and the +English were both becoming nations, each with a strong national feeling +and a king whom every one, both high and low, recognized and obeyed as +the head of the government. + +[Sidenote: Influence of the development of modern states upon the +position of the mediæval Church.] + +It is obvious that the strengthening of the royal power could hardly +fail to alter the position of the mediæval Church. This was, as we have +seen, not simply a religious institution but a sort of international +state which performed a number of important governmental duties. We +must, therefore, now turn back and review the history of the Church from +the time of Edward I and Philip the Fair to the opening of the sixteenth +century. + + + General Reading.--For the political history of this period, LODGE, + _Close of the Middle Ages_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.75), is the + best work, although rather dry and cumbered with names which might + have been omitted. For the general history of France, see in + addition to ADAMS, _Growth of the French Nation_ (The Macmillan + Company, $1.25), DURUY, _A History of France_ (T.Y. Crowell, + $2.00). The economic history of England is to be found in the works + mentioned at the end of Chapter XVIII. The following collections of + documents furnish illustrative material in abundance: LEE, + _Source-book of English History_ (Holt, $2.00); COLBY, _Selections + from the Sources of English History_, (Longmans, Green & Co., + $1.50); ADAMS & STEPHENS, _Select Documents of English + Constitutional History_ (The Macmillan Company, $2.25); KENDALL, + _Source Book of English History_ (The Macmillan Company, 80 cents). + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE POPES AND THE COUNCILS + + +[Sidenote: The problem of the relation of church and state.] + +112. The influence which the Church and its head exercised over the +civil government in the Middle Ages was due largely to the absence of +strong, efficient rulers who could count upon the support of a large +body of prosperous and loyal subjects. So long as the feudal anarchy +continued, the Church endeavored to supply the deficiencies of the +restless and ignorant princes by striving to maintain order, administer +justice, protect the weak, and encourage learning. So soon, however, as +the modern state began to develop, difficulties arose. The clergy +naturally clung to the powers and privileges which they had long +enjoyed, and which they believed to be rightly theirs. On the other +hand, the state, so soon as it felt itself able to manage its own +affairs, protect its subjects, and provide for their worldly interests, +was less and less inclined to tolerate the interference of the clergy +and their head, the pope. Educated laymen were becoming more and more +common, and the king was no longer obliged to rely upon the assistance +of the clergy in conducting his government. It was natural that he +should look with disfavor upon their privileges, which put them upon a +different footing from the great mass of his subjects, and upon their +wealth, which he would deem excessive and dangerous to his power. This +situation raised the fundamental problem of the proper relation of +church and state, upon which Europe has been working ever since the +fourteenth century and has not completely solved yet. + +[Sidenote: Edward I and Philip the Fair attempt to tax the clergy.] + +The difficulty which the Church experienced in maintaining its power +against the kings is excellently shown by the famous struggle between +Philip the Fair, the grandson of St. Louis, and Boniface VIII, an old +man of boundless ambition and inexhaustible energy who came to the papal +throne in 1294. The first serious trouble arose over the habit into +which the kings of England and France had fallen, of taxing the property +of the churchmen like that of other subjects. It was natural after a +monarch had squeezed all that he could out of the Jews and the towns, +and had exacted every possible feudal due, that he should turn to the +rich estates of the clergy, in spite of their claim that their property +was dedicated to God and owed the king nothing. The extensive +enterprises of Edward I led him in 1296 to demand one fifth of the +personal property of the clergy. Philip the Fair exacted one hundredth +and then one fiftieth of the possessions of clergy and laity alike. + +[Sidenote: The bull _Clericis laicos_ of Boniface VIII, 1296.] + +Against this impartial system Boniface protested in the famous bull +_Clericis laicos_ (1296). He claimed that the laity had always been +exceedingly hostile to the clergy, and that the rulers were now +exhibiting this hostility by imposing heavy burdens upon the Church, +forgetting that they had no control over the clergy and their +possessions. The pope, therefore, forbade all churchmen, including the +monks, to pay, without his consent, to a king or ruler any part of the +Church's revenue or possessions upon any pretext whatsoever. He likewise +forbade the kings and princes under pain of excommunication to presume +to exact any such payments. + +[Sidenote: Boniface concedes a limited right to tax churchmen.] + +It happened that just as the pope was prohibiting the clergy from +contributing to the taxes, Philip the Fair had forbidden the exportation +of all gold and silver from the country. In that way he cut off an +important source of the pope's revenue, for the church of France could +obviously no longer send anything to Rome. The pope was forced to give +up his extreme claims. He explained the following year that he had not +meant to interfere with the payment on the clergy's part of customary +feudal dues nor with their loans of money to the king.[199] + +[Sidenote: The jubilee of 1300.] + +In spite of this setback, the pope never seemed more completely the +recognized head of the western world than during the first great +jubilee, in the year 1300, when Boniface called together all Christendom +to celebrate the opening of the new century by a great religious +festival at Rome. It is reported that two millions of people, coming +from all parts of Europe, visited the churches of Rome, and that in +spite of widening the streets many were crushed in the crowd. So great +was the influx of money into the papal treasury that two assistants were +kept busy with rakes collecting the offerings which were deposited at +the tomb of St. Peter. + +Boniface was, however, very soon to realize that even if Christendom +regarded Rome as its religious center, the nations would not accept him +as their political head. When he dispatched an obnoxious prelate to +Philip the Fair, ordering him to free the count of Flanders whom he was +holding prisoner, the king declared the harsh language of the papal +envoy to be high treason and sent one of his lawyers to the pope to +demand that the messenger be degraded and punished. + +[Sidenote: The Estates General of 1302.] + +Philip was surrounded by a body of lawyers, and it would seem that they, +rather than the king, were the real rulers of France. They had, through +their study of Roman law, learned to admire the absolute power exercised +by the Roman emperor. To them the civil government was supreme, and they +urged the king to punish what they regarded as the insolent conduct of +the pope. Before taking any action against the head of the Church, +Philip called together the representatives of his people, including not +only the clergy and the nobility but the people of the towns as well. +The Estates General, after hearing a statement of the case from one of +Philip's lawyers, agreed to support their monarch. + +[Sidenote: Nogaret insults Boniface VIII.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Boniface, 1303.] + +Nogaret, one of the chief legal advisers of the king, undertook to face +the pope. He collected a little troop of soldiers in Italy and marched +against Boniface, who was sojourning at Anagni, where his predecessors +had excommunicated two emperors, Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II. +As Boniface, in his turn, was preparing solemnly to proclaim the king of +France an outcast from the Church, Nogaret penetrated into the papal +palace with his soldiers and heaped insults upon the helpless but +defiant old man. The townspeople forced Nogaret to leave the next day, +but Boniface's spirit was broken and he soon died at Rome. + +[Sidenote: Clement V, 1305-1314, and his subservience to Philip the +Fair.] + +[Sidenote: The popes take up their residence at Avignon.] + +King Philip now proposed to have no more trouble with popes. He arranged +in 1305 to have the Archbishop of Bordeaux chosen head of the Church, +with the understanding that he should transfer the papacy to France. The +new pope accordingly summoned the cardinals to meet him at Lyons, where +he was crowned under the title of Clement V. He remained in France +during his whole pontificate, moving from one rich abbey to another. At +Philip's command he reluctantly undertook a sort of trial of the +deceased Boniface VIII, who was accused by the king's lawyers of all +sorts of abominable crimes. A great part of Boniface's decrees were +revoked, and those who had attacked him were exculpated. Then, to please +the king, Clement brought the Templars to trial; the order was abolished +and its possessions in France, for which the king had longed, were +confiscated. Obviously it proved very advantageous to the king to have a +pope within his realm. Clement V died in 1314. His successors took up +their residence in the town of Avignon, just outside the French frontier +of those days. There they built a sumptuous palace in which successive +popes lived in great splendor for sixty years. + +[Sidenote: The Babylonian Captivity of the Church.] + +113. The prolonged exile of the popes from Rome, lasting from 1305 to +1377, is commonly called the Babylonian Captivity[200] of the Church, on +account of the woes attributed to it. The popes of this period were for +the most part good and earnest men; but they were all Frenchmen, and the +proximity of their court to France led to the natural suspicion that +they were controlled by the French kings. This, together with their +luxurious court, brought them into discredit with the other +nations.[201] + +[Sidenote: The papal taxation.] + +At Avignon the popes were naturally deprived of some of the revenue +which they had enjoyed from their Italian possessions when they lived at +Rome. This deficiency had to be made up by increased taxation, +especially as the expenses of the splendid papal court were very heavy. +The papacy was, consequently, rendered still more unpopular by the +methods employed to raise money, particularly by the granting of +benefices throughout Europe to the pope's courtiers, by the heavy +contributions which were demanded for dispensations, for the +confirmation of bishops, and for granting the pallium to archbishops, as +well as the high fees for the trial of law suits. + +[Sidenote: Pope's control of church benefices.] + +Many of the church offices, such as those of the bishops and abbots, +insured a more than ample revenue to their holders. It was natural, +therefore, that the pope, in his endeavor to increase his income, should +have tried to bring as many of these appointments as he could into his +own hands. He did this by reserving to himself the filling of certain +benefices so soon as they should become vacant. He then chose some one +to whom he wished to do a favor and promised him the benefice upon the +death of the one then holding it. Men appointed in this way were called +_provisors_ and were extremely unpopular. They were very often +foreigners, and it was suspected that they had obtained these positions +from the pope simply for the sake of the revenue, and had no intention +whatever of performing the duties connected with them. + +[Sidenote: Statute of provisors, 1352.] + +The papal exactions met with the greatest opposition in England because +the popes were thought to favor France, with which country the English +were at war. A law was passed by Parliament in 1352 ordering that all +who procured appointments from the pope should be outlawed, that any one +might injure such offenders at will, and that the injured should have no +redress, since they were enemies of the king and his realm.[202] This +and similar laws failed, however, to prevent the pope from filling +English benefices to the advantage of himself and his courtiers. The +English king was unable to keep the money of his realm from flowing to +Avignon on one pretext or another. It was declared by the Good +Parliament, held in 1376, that the taxes levied by the pope in England +were five times those raised by the king. + +[Sidenote: John Wycliffe.] + +The most famous and conspicuous critic of the pope and of the policy of +the Roman Church at this time was John Wycliffe, a teacher at Oxford. He +was born about 1320; but we know little of him before 1366, when Urban V +demanded that England should pay the tribute promised by King John when +he became the pope's vassal.[203] Parliament declared that John had no +right to bind the people without their consent, and Wycliffe began his +career of opposition to the papacy by trying to prove that John's +compact was void. About ten years later we find the pope issuing bulls +against the teachings of Wycliffe, who had begun to assert that the +state might appropriate the property of the Church if it was misused, +and that the pope had no authority except as he acted according to the +Gospels. Soon Wycliffe went further and boldly attacked the papacy +itself, as well as indulgences, pilgrimages, and the worship of the +saints; finally he even denied the truth of the doctrine of +transubstantiation. + +[Sidenote: Wycliffe's 'simple priests.'] + +He did not, however, confine his work to a denunciation of what he +considered wrong in the teaching and conduct of the churchmen. He +established an order of "simple priests" who were to go about doing good +and reprove by their example the worldly habits of the general run of +priests and monks. + +[Sidenote: Wycliffe the father of English prose.] + +Wycliffe's anxiety to reach the people and foster a higher spiritual +life among them led him to have the Bible translated into English. He +also prepared a great number of sermons and tracts in English. He is the +father of English prose, and it has been well said that "the exquisite +pathos, the keen, delicate irony, and the manly passion of his short, +nervous sentences, fairly overmaster the weakness of the unformed +language and give us English which cannot be read without a feeling of +its beauty to this hour." + +[Sidenote: Influence of Wycliffe's teaching.] + +Wycliffe and his "simple priests" were charged with fomenting the +discontent and disorder which culminated in the Peasants' War. Whether +this charge was true or not, it caused many of his more aristocratic +followers to fall away from him. But in spite of this and the +denunciations of the Church, Wycliffe was not seriously interfered with +and died peaceably in 1384. While his followers appear to have yielded +pretty readily to the persecution which soon overtook them, his +doctrines were spread abroad in Bohemia by another ardent reformer, John +Huss, who was destined to give the Church a great deal of trouble. +Wycliffe is remarkable as being the first distinguished scholar and +reformer to repudiate the headship of the pope and those practices of +the Church of Rome which a hundred and fifty years after his death were +attacked by Luther in his successful revolt against the mediæval +Church.[204] + +[Sidenote: The papal court moves back to Rome, 1377.] + +114. In 1377 Pope Gregory XI moved back again to Rome after the popes +had been exiles for seventy years, during which much had happened to +undermine the papal power and supremacy. Yet the discredit into which +the papacy had fallen during its stay at Avignon was as nothing compared +with the disasters which befell it after the return to Rome. + +[Sidenote: Election of Urban VI, 1378.] + +Gregory died the year after his return and the cardinals assembled to +choose his successor. A great part of them were French. They had found +Rome in a sad state of ruin and disorder and heartily regretted the gay +life and the comforts and luxuries of Avignon. They determined therefore +to select a pope who would take them back to the banks of the Rhone. +While they were deliberating, the Roman populace was yelling outside the +conclave and demanding that a Roman be chosen, or at least an Italian. A +simple Italian monk was accordingly selected, Urban VI, who it was +supposed would agree to the wishes of the cardinals. + +[Sidenote: Election of an anti-pope, Clement VII.] + +The new pope, however, soon showed that he had no idea of returning to +Avignon. He treated the cardinals with harshness and proposed a stern +reformation of their habits. The cardinals speedily wearied of this +treatment; they retired to the neighboring Anagni and declared that they +had been frightened by the Roman mob into selecting the obnoxious Urban. +They then elected a new pope, who took the title of Clement VII, +returned to Avignon, and established his court there. Urban, although +deserted by his cardinals, had no intention of yielding and proceeded to +create twenty-eight new cardinals. + +[Sidenote: The Great Schism.] + +This double election was the beginning of the _Great Schism_, which was +to last for forty years and expose the papacy to new attacks on every +side. There had been many anti-popes in earlier centuries, set up +usually by the emperors; but there had ordinarily been little question +as to who was really the legitimate pope. In the present case Europe was +seriously in doubt, for it was difficult to decide whether the election +of Urban had really been forced and was consequently invalid as the +cardinals claimed. No one, therefore, could be perfectly sure which of +the rival popes was the real successor of St. Peter. There were now two +colleges of cardinals whose very existence depended upon the exercise of +their right of choosing the pope. It was natural that Italy should +support Urban VI, while France as naturally obeyed Clement VII; England, +hostile to France, accepted Urban; Scotland, hostile to England, +supported Clement. + +[Sidenote: The Church divided within itself and the consequences.] + +Each of two men, with seemingly equal right, now claimed to be Christ's +vicar on earth; each proposed to enjoy to the full the vast prerogatives +of the head of Christendom, and each denounced, and attempted to depose, +the other. The schism in the headship of the Church naturally extended +to the bishoprics and abbeys, and everywhere there were rival prelates, +each of whom could claim that he had been duly confirmed by one pope or +the other. All this produced an unprecedented scandal in the Church. It +emphasized all the abuses among the clergy and gave free rein to those +who were inclined to denounce the many evils which had been pointed out +by Wycliffe and his followers. The condition was, in fact, intolerable +and gave rise to widespread discussion, not only of the means by which +the schism might be healed, but of the nature and justification of the +papacy itself. The discussion which arose during these forty years of +uncertainty did much to prepare the mind of western Europe for the +Protestant revolt in the sixteenth century. + +[Sidenote: Idea of the supremacy of a general council.] + +The selfish and futile negotiations between the colleges of cardinals +and the popes justified the notion that there might perhaps be a power +in Christendom superior even to that of the pope. Might not a council, +representing all Christendom, and inspired by the Holy Ghost, judge even +a pope? Such councils had been held in the East during the later Roman +Empire, beginning with the first general or ecumenical council of Nicæa +under Constantine. They had established the teachings of the Church and +had legislated for all Christian people and clergy.[205] + +[Sidenote: Question whether the pope or a general council is the supreme +authority in the Church.] + +As early as 1381 the University of Paris advocated the summoning of a +general council which should adjust the claims of the rival popes and +give Christendom once more a single head. This raised the question +whether a council was really superior to the pope or not. Those who +believed that it was, maintained that the Church at large had deputed +the election of the pope to the cardinals and that it might, therefore, +interfere when the cardinals had brought the papacy into disrepute; that +a general assembly of all Christendom, speaking under the inspiration of +the Holy Spirit, was a higher authority than even the successor of St. +Peter. Others strenuously denied this. They claimed that the pope +received his authority over the Church immediately from Christ, and that +he had always possessed supreme power from the very first, although he +had not always exercised it and had permitted the earlier councils a +certain freedom. No council, they urged, could be considered a general +one which was called against the will of the pope, because, without the +bishop of the Roman or mother church, the council obviously could not +lay claim to represent all Christendom. The defenders of the papal power +maintained, moreover, that the pope was the supreme legislator, that he +might change or annul the act of any council or of a previous pope, that +he might judge others but might not himself be judged by any one.[206] + +[Sidenote: The Council of Pisa, 1409 adds a third rival pope.] + +After years of discussion and fruitless negotiations between the rival +popes and their cardinals, members of both of the colleges decided in +1409 to summon a council at Pisa, which should put an end to the schism. +While large numbers of churchmen answered the summons and the various +monarchs took an active interest in the council, its action was hasty +and ill-advised. Gregory XII, the Roman pope, elected in 1406, and +Benedict XIII, the Avignon pope, elected in 1394, were solemnly summoned +from the doors of the cathedral at Pisa. As they failed to appear they +were condemned for contumacy and deposed. A new pope was then elected, +and on his death a year later, he was succeeded by the notorious John +XXIII, who had been a soldier of fortune in his earlier days. John was +selected on account of his supposed military prowess. This was +considered essential in order to guard the papal territory against the +king of Naples, who had announced his intention of getting possession of +Rome. Neither of the deposed popes yielded, and as they each continued +to enjoy a certain support, the Council of Pisa, instead of healing the +schism, added a third person who claimed to be the supreme ruler of +Christendom.[207] + +[Sidenote: The Council of Constance meets, 1414.] + +115. The failure of the Council of Pisa made it necessary to summon +another congress of Christendom. Through the influence of the emperor +Sigismund, John XXIII reluctantly agreed that the council should be held +in Germany, in the imperial town of Constance. The Council of Constance, +which began to assemble in the fall of 1414, is one of the most +noteworthy international assemblies ever held. It lasted for over three +years and excited the deepest interest throughout Europe. There were in +attendance, besides the pope and the emperor-elect, twenty-three +cardinals, thirty-three archbishops and bishops, one hundred and fifty +abbots, and one hundred dukes and earls, as well as hundreds of lesser +persons. + +[Sidenote: The three great objects of the Council of Constance.] + +Three great tasks confronted the council: (1) the healing of the schism, +which involved the disposal of the three existing popes and the +selection of a single universally acknowledged head of the Church; (2) +the extirpation of heresy, which, under the influence of Huss, was +threatening the authority of the Church in Bohemia; (3) a general +reformation of the Church "in head and members." + +[Sidenote: The healing of the schism.] + +[Sidenote: The decree _Sacrosancta_, 1415.] + +1. The healing of the long schism was the most important of the +council's achievements. John XXIII was very uncomfortable in Constance. +He feared not only that he would be forced to resign but that there +might be an investigation of his very dubious past. In March he fled in +disguise from Constance, leaving his cardinals behind him. The council +was dismayed at the pope's departure, as it feared that he would +dissolve it as soon as he was out of its control. It thereupon issued a +famous decree (April 6, 1415) declaring its superiority to the pope. It +claimed that a general council had its power immediately from Christ. +Every one, even the pope, who should refuse to obey its decrees or +instructions should be suitably punished. + +A long list of terrible crimes of which John was suspected, was drawn up +and he was formally deposed. He received but little encouragement in +his opposition to the council and soon surrendered unconditionally. +Gregory XII, the Roman pope, showed himself amenable to reason and +relieved the perplexity of the council by resigning in July. The third +pope, the obstinate Benedict XIII, flatly refused to resign. But the +council induced the Spaniards, who were his only remaining supporters, +to desert him and send envoys to Constance. Benedict was then deposed +(July, 1417) and in the following November the cardinals who were at the +council were permitted to elect a new pope, Martin V, and so the Great +Schism was brought to an end. + +[Sidenote: John Huss.] + +2. During the first year of its sessions the Council of Constance was +attempting to stamp out heresy as well as to heal the schism. The +marriage of an English king, Richard II, to a Bohemian princess shortly +before Wycliffe's death, had encouraged some intercourse between Bohemia +and England and had brought the works of the English reformer to the +attention of those in Bohemia who were intent upon the improvement of +the Church. Among these the most conspicuous was John Huss (b. about +1369), whose ardent devotion to the interests of the Bohemian nation and +enthusiasm for reform secured for him great influence in the University +of Prague, with which he was connected. + +Huss reached the conclusion that Christians should not be forced to obey +those who were living in mortal sin and were apparently destined never +to reach heaven themselves. This view was naturally denounced by the +Church as a most dangerous error, destructive of all order and +authority. As his opponents urged, the regularly appointed authorities +must be obeyed, not because they are good men but because they govern in +virtue of the law. In short, Huss appeared not only to defend the +heresies of Wycliffe, but at the same time to preach a doctrine +dangerous alike to the power of the civil government and of the Church. + +[Sidenote: The 'safe-conduct.'] + +Huss felt confident that he could convince the council of the truth of +his views and willingly appeared at Constance. He was provided with a +"safe-conduct," a document in which Emperor Sigismund ordered that no +one should do him any violence and which permitted the bearer to leave +Constance whenever he wished. In spite of this he was speedily arrested +and imprisoned, in December, 1414. His treatment well illustrates the +mediæval attitude towards heresy. When Sigismund indignantly protested +against the violation of his safe-conduct, he was informed that the law +did not recognize faith pledged to suspected heretics, for they were out +of the king's jurisdiction. The council declared that no pledge which +was prejudicial to the Catholic faith was to be observed. In judging +Sigismund's failure to enforce his promise of protection to Huss it must +be remembered that heresy was at that time considered a far more +terrible crime than murder, and that it was the opinion of the most +authoritative body in Christendom that Sigismund would do a great wrong +if he prevented the trial of Huss. + +[Sidenote: Trial of Huss.] + +Huss was treated in what would seem to us a very harsh way; but from the +standpoint of the council he was given every advantage. By special favor +he was granted a public hearing. The council was anxious that Huss +should retract; but no form of retraction could be arranged to which he +would agree. The council, in accordance with the usages of the time, +demanded that he should recognize the error of all the propositions +which they had selected from his writings, that he should retract them +and never again preach them, and that he should agree to preach the +contrary. The council did not consider it its business to decide whether +Huss was right or wrong, but simply whether his doctrines, which they +gathered from his books, were in accordance with the traditional views +of the Church. + +[Sidenote: Conviction and execution of Huss, July, 1415.] + +Finally, the council condemned Huss as a convicted and impenitent +heretic. On July 6, 1415, he was taken out before the gates of the city +and given one more chance to retract. As he refused, he was degraded +from the priesthood and handed over to the civil government to be +executed for heresy, which, as we have seen, the state regarded as a +crime and undertook to punish.[208] The civil authorities made no +further investigation but accepted the verdict of the council and burned +Huss upon the spot. His ashes were thrown into the Rhine lest they +should become an object of veneration among his followers. + +[Sidenote: The Hussite wars, 1419-1431.] + +The death of Huss rather promoted than checked the spread of heresy in +Bohemia. A few years later the Germans undertook a series of crusades +against the Bohemians. This embittered the national animosity between +the two races, which has even yet by no means died out. The heretics +proved valiant fighters and after several bloody wars succeeded in +repulsing the enemy and even invaded Germany. + +[Sidenote: Opportunity of the council to reform the church.] + +3. The third great task of the Council of Constance was the general +reformation of the Church. After John's flight it had claimed the right +(in the decree _Sacrosancta_) to reform even the papacy. This was a +splendid opportunity at least to mitigate the abuses in the Church. The +council was a great representative body, and every one was looking to it +to remedy the old evils which had become more pronounced than ever +during the Great Schism. Many pamphlets were published at the time by +earnest men denouncing the corrupt practices of the clergy. The evils +were of long standing and have all been described in earlier +chapters.[209] + +[Sidenote: The failure of the council to effect any definite reforms.] + +Although every one recognized the abuses, the council found itself +unable to remedy them or to accomplish the hoped-for reformation. After +three years of fruitless deliberations the members of the assembly +became weary and hopeless. They finally contented themselves with +passing a decree (Oct. 9, 1417) declaring that the neglect to summon +general councils in the past had fostered all the evils in the Church +and that thereafter councils should be regularly summoned at least every +ten years.[210] In this way it was hoped that the absolute power of the +popes might be checked in somewhat the same way that the Parliament in +England and the Estates General in France controlled the monarch. + +[Sidenote: Abuses enumerated by the council.] + +After the passing of this decree the council drew up a list of abuses +demanding reform, which the new pope was to consider with certain of its +members after the main body of the council had returned home. Chief +among the questions which the council enumerated for consideration were +the number, character, and nationality of the cardinals, the benefices +to which the pope had a right to appoint, what cases might be brought +before his court, for what reason and in what manner the pope might be +corrected or deposed, how heresy might be extirpated, and the matter of +dispensations, indulgences, etc. + +Aside from the healing of the schism, the results of the Council of +Constance were slight. It had burned Huss but had by no means checked +heresy. It had considered for three years the reformation of the Church +but had at last confessed its inability to carry it out. The pope later +issued a few reform decrees, but the state of the Church was not +materially bettered. + +[Sidenote: Council of Basel, 1431-1449.] + +116. The sturdy resistance of the Bohemians to those who proposed to +bring them back to the orthodox faith by arms finally attracted the +attention of Europe and called forth considerable sympathy. In 1431 the +last of the crusades against them came to an ignominious end, and Martin +V was forced to summon a new council in order to consider the policy +which should be adopted toward the heretics. The Council of Basel lasted +for no less than eighteen years. At first its prestige was sufficient to +enable it to dominate the pope, and it reached its greatest authority +in 1434 after it had arranged a peace with the moderate party of the +Bohemian heretics. The council, however, continued its hostility towards +Pope Eugene IV (elected in 1431), and in 1437 he declared the council +dissolved and summoned a new one to meet at Ferrara. The Council of +Basel thereupon deposed Eugene and chose an anti-pope. This conduct did +much to discredit the idea of a general council in the eyes of Europe. +The assembly gradually dwindled away and finally in 1449 acknowledged +the legitimate pope once more. + +[Sidenote: Council of Ferrara-Florence, 1438-1439.] + +[Sidenote: Union of Eastern and Western Churches.] + +Meanwhile the Council of Ferrara[211] had taken up the momentous +question of consolidating the Eastern and Western Churches. The empire +of the East was seriously threatened by the on-coming Ottoman Turks, who +had made conquests even west of Constantinople. The Eastern emperor's +advisers urged that if a reconciliation could be arranged with the +Western Church, the pope might use his influence to supply arms and +soldiers to be used against the Mohammedans. When the representatives of +the Eastern Church met with the Council of Ferrara the differences in +doctrine were found to be few, but the question of the headship of the +Church was a most difficult one. A form of union was, nevertheless, +agreed upon in which the Eastern Church accepted the headship of the +pope, "saving the privileges and rights of the patriarchs of the East." + +[Sidenote: Results of the Council of Ferrara.] + +While Eugene received the credit for healing the breach between the East +and the West, the Greek prelates, upon returning home, were hailed with +indignation and branded as robbers and matricides for the concessions +which they had made. The chief results of the council were (1) the +advantage gained by the pope in once more becoming the recognized head +of Christendom in spite of the opposition of the Council of Basel, and +(2) the fact that certain learned Greeks remained in Italy, and helped +to stimulate the growing enthusiasm for Greek literature. + +No more councils were held during the fifteenth century, and the popes +were left to the task of reorganizing their dominions in Italy. They +began to turn their attention very largely to their interests as Italian +princes, and some of them, beginning with Nicholas V (1447-1455), became +the patrons of artists and men of letters. There is probably no period +in the history of the papacy when the head of the Church was more +completely absorbed in forwarding his political interests and those of +his relatives, and in decorating his capital, than in the seventy years +which elapsed between 1450 and the beginning of the German revolt +against the Church. + + + General Reading.--CREIGHTON, _History of the Papacy_ (Longmans, + Green & Co., 6 vols., $2.00 each), Vol. I, is perhaps the best + treatment of the Great Schism and the Council of Constance. PASTOR, + _History of the Popes_ (Herder, 6 vols., $18.00), Vol. I, Book 1, + gives the most recent and scholarly account from the standpoint of + a Roman Catholic. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ITALIAN CITIES AND THE RENAISSANCE + + +[Sidenote: Italy the center of European culture in the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries.] + +117. While England and France were settling their differences in the +wretched period of the Hundred Years' War, and the little German +principalities, left without a leader,[212] were busied with their petty +concerns, Italy was the center of European culture. Its +cities,--Florence, Venice, Milan, and the rest,--reached a degree of +prosperity and refinement undreamed of beyond the Alps. Within their +walls learning and art made such extraordinary progress that this period +has received a special name,--the _Renaissance_,[213] or new birth. The +Italian towns, like those of ancient Greece, were really little states, +each with its own peculiar life and institutions. Of these city-states a +word must be said before considering the new enthusiasm for the works of +the Romans and Greeks and the increasing skill which the Italian artists +displayed in painting, sculpture, and architecture. + +[Sidenote: Map of Italy in the fourteenth century.] + +The map of Italy at the beginning of the fourteenth century was still +divided into three zones, as it had been in the time of the +Hohenstaufens. To the south lay the kingdom of Naples. Then came the +states of the Church, extending diagonally across the peninsula. To the +north and west lay the group of city-states to which we now turn our +attention. + +[Sidenote: Venice and its relations with the East.] + +Of these none was more celebrated than Venice, which in the history of +Europe ranks in importance with Paris and London. This singular town was +built upon a group of sandy islets lying in the Adriatic Sea about two +miles from the mainland. It was protected from the waves by a long, +narrow sand bar, similar to those which fringe the Atlantic coast from +New Jersey southward. Such a situation would not ordinarily have been +deliberately chosen as the site of a great city; but its very desolation +and inaccessibility had recommended it to its first settlers, who, in +the middle of the fifth century, had fled from their homes on the +mainland to escape the savage Huns.[214] As time went on the location +proved to have its advantages commercially, and even before the Crusades +Venice had begun to engage in foreign trade. Its enterprises carried it +eastward, and it early acquired possessions across the Adriatic and in +the Orient.[215] The influence of this intercourse with the East is +plainly shown in the celebrated church of St. Mark, whose domes and +decorations suggest Constantinople rather than Italy. + +[Illustration: A Scene in Venice] + +[Illustration: St Mark's, Venice] + +[Sidenote: Venice extends her sway on the Italian mainland.] + +[Sidenote: The aristocratic government of Venice.] + +It was not until early in the fifteenth century that Venice found it to +her interest to extend her sway upon the Italian mainland. She doubtless +believed it dangerous to permit her rival, Milan, to get possession of +the Alpine passes through which her goods found their way north. It may +be, too, that she preferred to draw her food supplies from the +neighborhood instead of transporting them across the Adriatic from her +eastern possessions. Moreover, all the Italian cities except Venice +already controlled a larger or smaller area of country about them. +Although Venice was called a republic, there was a strong tendency +toward a government of the few. About the year 1300 all the townsmen +except the members of certain noble families were excluded from the +Grand Council, which was supposed to represent the people at large. + +In 1311 the famous Council of Ten was created, whose members were +elected by the Grand Council for one year. The whole government, +domestic and foreign, was placed in the hands of this smaller council, +in conjunction with the doge (i.e., duke), the nominal head of the +republic; but they were both held strictly accountable to the Grand +Council for all that they did. The government was thus concentrated in +the hands of a very few. Its proceedings were carried on with great +secrecy, so that public discussion, such as prevailed in Florence and +led to innumerable revolutions there, was unheard of in Venice. The +Venetian merchant was a busy person who was quite willing that the state +should exercise its functions without his interference. In spite of the +aristocratic measures of the council, there was little tendency to +rebellion, so common in the other Italian towns. The republic of Venice +maintained pretty much the same form of government from 1300 until its +destruction by Napoleon in 1797. + +[Sidenote: Milan and the despotically governed towns of northern Italy.] + +118. Milan was the most conspicuous example of the large class of +Italian cities which were governed by an absolute and despotic ruler, +who secured control of a town either by force or guile, and then managed +its affairs for his own personal advantage. At the opening of the +fourteenth century a great part of the towns which had leagued +themselves against Frederick Barbarossa[216] had become little +despotisms. Their rulers were constantly fighting among themselves, +conquering, or being conquered by, their neighbors. The practices of the +Visconti, the family who seized the government of Milan, offer a fair +example of the policy of the Italian tyrants. + +The power of the Visconti was first established by the archbishop of +Milan. He imprisoned (1277) in three iron cages the leading members of +the family who were in control of the city government at the moment, and +had his nephew, Matteo Visconti, appointed by the emperor as the +imperial representative. Before long Matteo was generally recognized as +the ruler of Milan, and was followed by his son. For over a century and +a half some one of the family always showed himself skillful enough to +hold his precarious position. + +[Illustration: Tomb of Gian Galeazzo Visconti] + +[Sidenote: Gian Galeazzo Visconti, 1385-1402.] + +The most distinguished of the Visconti despots was Gian Galeazzo. He +began his reign by capturing and poisoning his uncle, who was ruling +over a portion of the already extensive territory of the Visconti.[217] +It seemed for a time that he might conquer all of northern Italy; but +his progress was checked by the republic of Florence and then cut short +by premature death. Gian Galeazzo exhibited all the characteristic +traits of the Italian despots. He showed himself a skillful and +successful ruler, able to organize his government admirably. He gathered +literary men about him; and the beautiful buildings which were begun by +him indicate his enthusiasm for art. Yet he was utterly unprincipled, +and resorted to the most hideous methods in order to gain possession of +coveted towns which he could not conquer or buy outright. + +[Sidenote: Position and character of the Italian despots.] + +There are many stories of the incredible ferocity exhibited by the +Italian despots.[218] It must be remembered that they were very rarely +legitimate rulers, but usurpers, who could only hope to retain their +power so long as they could keep their subjects in check and defend +themselves against equally illegitimate usurpers in the neighboring +cities. This situation developed a high degree of sagacity, and many of +the despots found it to their interest to govern well and even to give +dignity to their rule by patronizing artists and men of letters. But the +despot usually made many bitter enemies and was almost necessarily +suspicious of treason on the part of those about him. He was ever +conscious that at any moment he might fall a victim to the dagger or the +poison cup. + +[Sidenote: The _condottieri_.] + +The Italian towns carried on their wars among themselves largely by +means of hired troops. When a military expedition was proposed, a +bargain was made with one of the leaders (_condottieri_), who provided +the necessary force. As the soldiers had no more interest in the +conflict than did those whom they opposed, who were likewise hired for +the occasion, the fight was not usually very bloody; for the object of +each side was to capture the other without unnecessarily rough +treatment. + +It sometimes happened that the leader who had conquered a town for his +employer appropriated the fruits of the victory for himself. This +occurred in the case of Milan in 1450. The Visconti family having died +out, the citizens hired a certain captain, named Francesco Sforza, to +assist them in a war against Venice, whose possessions now extended +almost to those of Milan. When Sforza had repelled the Venetians, the +Milanese found it impossible to get rid of him, and he and his +successors became rulers over the town. + +[Sidenote: Machiavelli's _Prince_.] + +An excellent notion of the position and policy of the Italian despots +may be derived from a little treatise called _The Prince_, written by +the distinguished Florentine historian, Machiavelli. The writer appears +to have intended his book as a practical manual for the despots of his +time. It is a cold-blooded discussion of the ways in which a usurper may +best retain his control over a town after he has once got possession of +it. The author even takes up the questions as to how far princes should +consider their promises when it is inconvenient to keep them, and how +many of the inhabitants the despot may wisely kill. Machiavelli +concludes that the Italian princes who have not observed their +engagements over-scrupulously, and who have boldly put their political +adversaries out of the way, have fared better than their more +conscientious rivals. + +[Sidenote: Florence.] + +119. The history of Florence, perhaps the most important of the Italian +cities, differs in many ways from that of Venice and of the despotisms +of which Milan is an example. In Florence all classes claimed the right +to interest themselves in the government. This led to constant changes +in the constitution and to frequent struggles between the different +political parties. When one party got the upper hand it generally +expelled its chief opponents from the city. Exile was a terrible +punishment to a Florentine, for Florence was not merely his native +city,--it was his _country_, and loved and honored as such. + +[Sidenote: The Medici.] + +[Sidenote: Lorenzo the Magnificent.] + +By the middle of the fifteenth century Florence had come under the +control of the great family of the Medici, whose members played the +rôle of very enlightened political bosses. By quietly watching the +elections and secretly controlling the selection of city officials, they +governed without letting it be suspected that the people had lost their +power. The most distinguished member of the house of Medici was Lorenzo +the Magnificent (d. 1492); under his rule Florence reached the height of +its glory in art and literature. + +[Illustration: The Palace of the Medici in Florence] + +[Sidenote: Character of Florentine culture.] + +As one wanders about Florence to-day, he is impressed with the +contradictions of the Renaissance period. The streets are lined with the +palaces of the noble families to whose rivalries much of the continual +disturbance was due. The lower stories of these buildings are +constructed of great stones, like fortresses, and their windows are +barred like those of a prison; yet within they were often furnished with +the greatest taste and luxury. For in spite of the disorder, against +which the rich protected themselves by making their houses half +strongholds, the beautiful churches, noble public buildings, and works +of art which now fill the museums indicate that mankind has never, +perhaps, reached a higher degree of perfection in the arts of peace than +amidst the turmoil of this restless town. + +"Florence was essentially the city of intelligence in modern times. +Other nations have surpassed the Italians in their genius.... But +nowhere else except at Athens has the whole population of a city been so +permeated with ideas, so highly intellectual by nature, so keen in +perception, so witty and so subtle, as at Florence. The fine and +delicate spirit of the Italians existed in quintessence among the +Florentines. And of this superiority not only they, but the inhabitants +also of Rome and Lombardy and Naples were conscious.... The primacy of +the Florentines in literature, the fine arts, law, scholarship, +philosophy, and science was acknowledged throughout Italy" (Symonds). + +[Sidenote: The Renaissance, or _new birth_.] + +120. The thirteenth century had been, as we have seen, a period of great +enthusiasm for learning. The new universities attracted students from +all parts of Europe, and famous thinkers like Albertus Magnus, Thomas +Aquinas, and Roger Bacon wrote great treatises on religion, science, and +philosophy. The public delighted in the songs and romances composed and +recited in the language of the people. The builders contrived a new and +beautiful style of architecture, and, with the aid of the sculptors, +produced buildings which have never since been surpassed and rarely +equaled. Why, then, are the two succeeding centuries called the period +of the _new birth_,--the Renaissance,--as if there was a sudden +reawakening after a long sleep, as if Europe first began in the +fourteenth century to turn to books and art? + +The word _renaissance_ was originally used by writers who had very +little appreciation of the achievements of the thirteenth century. They +imagined that there could have been no high degree of culture during a +period when the Latin and Greek classics, which seemed so all-important +to them, were not carefully studied. But it is now coming to be +generally recognized that the thirteenth century had worthy intellectual +and artistic ambitions, although they were different both from those of +Greece and Rome and from our own. + +We cannot, therefore, conceive the "new birth" of the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries quite as it was viewed by writers of a century ago, +who failed to do justice to the preceding period. Nevertheless, about +the middle of the fourteenth century, a very great and fundamental +change did begin in thought and taste, in books, buildings, and +pictures, and this change we may very well continue to call the +_Renaissance_. We can best judge of its nature by considering the work +of the two greatest men of the fourteenth century, Dante and Petrarch. + +[Sidenote: Dante, 1264-1321.] + +Dante was first and foremost a poet, and is often ranked with Homer, +Virgil, and Shakespeare. He is, however, interesting to the historian +for other things than his flights of fancy and the music of his verse. +He had mastered all the learning of his day; he was a scientist and a +scholar as well as a poet. His writings show us how the world appeared +about the year 1300 to a very acute mind, and what was the range of +knowledge available to the most thoughtful men of that day. + +[Sidenote: Dante's use of Italian.] + +Dante was not a churchman, as were all the scholars whom we have +hitherto considered. He was the first literary layman of renown since +Boethius,[219] and he was interested in helping other laymen who knew +only their mother tongue to the knowledge heretofore open only to those +who could read Latin. In spite of his ability to write Latin, he chose +the mother tongue for his great poem, _The Divine Comedy_. Italian was +the last of the important modern languages to develop, perhaps because +in Italy Latin remained longest intelligible to the mass of the people. +But Dante believed that the exclusive use of Latin for literary +purposes had already in his time become an affectation. He was confident +that there were many people, both men and women, who knew only Italian, +who would gladly read not only his verses but his treatise on +science,--_The Banquet_,[220] as he poetically calls it. + +[Sidenote: Extent of Dante's knowledge.] + +Dante's writings indicate that mediæval scholars were by no means so +ignorant of the universe as they are popularly supposed to have been. +Although they believed, like the ancients, that the earth was the center +around which the sun and stars revolved, they were familiar with some +important astronomical phenomena. They knew that the earth was a sphere +and guessed very nearly its real size. They knew that everything that +had weight was attracted towards its center, and that there would be no +danger of falling off should one get on the opposite side of the globe; +they realized also that when it was day on one side of the earth it was +night on the other. + +[Sidenote: Dante's veneration for the ancient writers.] + +While Dante shows a keen interest in the theological studies so popular +in his time and still speaks of Aristotle as "the Philosopher," he +exhibits a profound admiration for the other great authors of Rome and +Greece. When in a vision he visits the lower world, Virgil is his guide. +He is permitted to behold the region inhabited by the spirits of +virtuous pagans, and there he finds Horace and Ovid, and Homer, the +sovereign poet. As he reclines upon the green turf he sees a goodly +company of ancient worthies,--Socrates, Plato, and other Greek +philosophers, Cæsar, Cicero, Livy, Seneca, and many others. He is so +overcome by the honor of sitting among such great men that he finds no +words to report what passed between them. He feels no horror for their +paganism, and while he believes that they are not admitted to the +beatific joys of heaven, he assigns them a comfortable abode, where they +hold dignified converse with "faces neither sad nor glad."[221] + +[Sidenote: Petrarch, 1304-1374.] + +121. The veneration for the ancient writers felt by Dante becomes a +burning enthusiasm with Petrarch, who has been well called "the first +modern man." He was the first scholar and man of letters to desert +entirely the mediæval learning and lead his contemporaries back to a +realization of the beauty and value of Greek and Roman literature. In +the mediæval universities, logic, theology, and the interpretation of +Aristotle were the chief subjects of study. While scholars in the +twelfth and thirteenth centuries possessed and read most of the Latin +writers who have come down to us, they failed to appreciate their beauty +and would never have dreamed of making them the basis of a liberal +education.[222] + +[Illustration: Petrarch] + +Petrarch declares that when a boy he delighted in the sonorous language +of Cicero even before he could understand its meaning. As the years went +on he became convinced that he could have no higher aim in life than +that of collecting copies of all the Latin classics upon which he could +lay hands. He was not only an indefatigable scholar himself, but he +possessed the power of stimulating, by his example, the intellectual +ambition of those with whom he came in contact. He rendered the study of +the Latin classics popular among cultivated persons; and by his own +untiring efforts to discover the lost or forgotten works of the great +writers of antiquity he roused a new enthusiasm for the formation of +libraries.[223] + +[Sidenote: Obstacles to the study of the classics.] + +It is hard for us to imagine the obstacles which confronted Petrarch and +the scholars of the early Renaissance. They possessed no good editions +of the Roman and Greek authors, in which the correct wording had been +determined by a careful comparison of all the known ancient copies. They +considered themselves fortunate to secure a single manuscript of even +the best known authors, and they could have no assurance that it was not +full of mistakes. Indeed, the texts were so corrupted by the +carelessness of the copyists that Petrarch declares that if Cicero or +Livy should return and stumblingly read his own writings, he would +promptly pronounce them the work of another, perhaps a barbarian. + +[Sidenote: Petrarch's European reputation and influence.] + +Petrarch enjoyed an unrivaled influence throughout western Europe, akin +to that of Erasmus and Voltaire in later times. He was in constant +communication with scholars, not only in Italy, but in the countries +beyond the Alps. From his numerous letters which have been preserved, a +great deal may be learned of the intellectual life of the time.[224] + +[Sidenote: Petrarch has no sympathy with the popular studies of his +time.] + +It is clear that he not only promoted the new study of the Roman +writers, but that he also did much to discredit the learning which was +popular in the universities. He refused to include the works of the +great scholastic writers of the thirteenth century in his library. Like +Roger Bacon he was disgusted by the reverence in which the bad +translations of Aristotle were held. As for the popular study of logic, +Petrarch declared that it was good enough for boys, but that nothing +irritated him more than to find a person of mature years devoting +himself to the subject. + +[Sidenote: Contrast between Petrarch's and Dante's attitude toward their +mother tongue.] + +While Petrarch is far better known for his beautiful Italian verses than +for his long Latin poems, histories, and essays, he did not share +Dante's confidence in the dignity of their mother tongue. He even +depreciates his Italian sonnets as mere popular trifles written in his +youth. It was not unnatural that he and those in whom he aroused an +enthusiasm for Latin literature should look scornfully upon Italian. It +seemed to them a crude form of speech, good enough perhaps for the +common people and for the transaction of the daily business of life, but +immeasurably inferior to the language in which their predecessors, the +Roman poets and prose writers, had written. The Italians, it must be +remembered, felt the same pride in Latin literature that we feel in the +works of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The Italian scholars of the fourteenth +and fifteenth centuries merely turned back to their own earlier national +literature for their models, and tried their best to imitate the +language and style of its masters. + +[Sidenote: The humanists.] + +122. Those who devoted themselves to the study and imitation first of +Roman, and later of Greek literature, are commonly called _humanists_, a +name derived from the Latin word _humanitas_; that is, culture, +especially in the sense of literary appreciation. They no longer paid +much attention to Peter Lombard's _Sentences_. They had, indeed, little +taste for theology, but looked to Cicero for all those accomplishments +which go to the making of a man of refinement. + +[Sidenote: Reason for the enthusiastic study of the classics.] + +The _humanities_, as Greek and Latin are still called, became almost a +new religion among the Italian scholars during the century following +Petrarch's death. In order to understand their exclusive attention to +ancient literature we must remember that they did not have a great many +of the books that we prize most highly nowadays. Now, every nation of +Europe has an extensive literature in its own particular tongue, which +all can read. Besides admirable translations of all the works of +antiquity, there are innumerable masterpieces, like those of +Shakespeare, Voltaire, and Goethe, which were unheard of four centuries +ago. Consequently we can now acquaint ourselves with a great part of the +best that has been written in all ages without knowing either Latin or +Greek. The Middle Ages enjoyed no such advantage. So when men began to +tire of theology, logic, and Aristotle's scientific treatises, they +naturally turned back with single-hearted enthusiasm to the age of +Augustus, and, later, to that of Pericles, for their models of literary +style and for their ideals of life and conduct. + +[Sidenote: Pagan tendencies of the Italian humanists.] + +A sympathetic study of the pagan authors led many of the humanists to +reject the mediæval view of the relation of this life to the next.[225] +They reverted to the teachings of Horace and ridiculed the +self-sacrifice of the monk. They declared that it was right to make the +most of life's pleasures and needless to worry about the world to come. +In some cases the humanists openly attacked the teachings of the Church, +but generally they remained outwardly loyal to it and many of them even +found positions among the officers of the papal curia. + +[Sidenote: The classics become the basis of a liberal education.] + +Humanism produced a revolution in the idea of a liberal education. In +the sixteenth century, through the influence of those who visited Italy, +the schools of Germany, England, and France began to make Latin and +Greek literature, rather than logic and other mediæval subjects, the +basis of their college course. It is only within the last generation +that Latin and Greek have begun to be replaced in our colleges by a +variety of scientific and historical studies; and many would still +maintain, with the humanists of the fifteenth century, that Latin and +Greek are better worth studying than any other subjects. + +[Sidenote: Ignorance of Greek in the Middle Ages.] + +The humanists of the fourteenth century ordinarily knew no Greek. Some +knowledge of that language lingered in the West all through the Middle +Ages, but we hear of no one attempting to read Plato, Demosthenes, +Æschylus, or even Homer, and these authors were scarcely ever found in +the libraries. Petrarch and his followers were naturally much interested +in the constant references to Greek literature which occur in Cicero and +Horace, both of whom freely recognized their debt to Athens. Shortly +after Petrarch's death the city of Florence called to its university a +professor of Greek, Chrysoloras from Constantinople. + +[Sidenote: Revival of Greek studies in Italy.] + +[Sidenote: Chrysoloras in Florence.] + +A young Florentine law student, Leonardo Bruni, tells us of a dialogue +which he had with himself when he heard of the coming of Chrysoloras. +"Art thou not neglecting thy best interests if thou failest now to get +an insight into Homer, Plato, Demosthenes, and the other great poets, +philosophers, and orators of whom they are telling such wonderful +things? Thou, too, mightest commune with them and imbue thyself with +their wisdom. Wouldst thou let the golden opportunity slip? For seven +hundred years no one in Italy has known Greek literature, and yet we +agree that all language comes from the Greeks. How greatly would +familiarity with that language advantage thee in promoting thy knowledge +and in the mere increase of thy pleasure? There are teachers of Roman +law to be found everywhere, and thou wilt never want an opportunity to +continue that study, but there is but one teacher of Greek, and if he +escapes thee there will be no one from whom thou canst learn." + +[Sidenote: The knowledge of Greek becomes common in Europe.] + +Many students took advantage of the opportunity to study Greek, and +Chrysoloras prepared the first modern Greek grammar for their use. +Before long the Greek classics became as well known as the Latin. +Italians even went to Constantinople to learn the language; and the +diplomatic negotiations which the Eastern Church carried on with the +Western, with the hope of gaining help against the Turks, brought some +Greek scholars to Italy. In 1423 an Italian scholar arrived at Venice +with no less than two hundred and thirty-eight Greek books, thus +transplanting a whole literature to a new and fruitful soil.[226] Greek +as well as Latin books were carefully copied and edited, and beautiful +libraries were established by the Medici, the duke of Urbino, and Pope +Nicholas V, who founded the great library of the Vatican,[227] still one +of the most important collections of books in the world. + +[Sidenote: Advantages of printing with movable types.] + +123. It was the glory of the Italian humanists to revive the knowledge +and appreciation of the ancient literatures, but it remained for patient +experimenters in Germany and Holland to perfect a system by which books +could be multiplied rapidly and cheaply. The laborious copying of books +by hand[228] had several serious disadvantages. The best copyists were, +it is true, incredibly dexterous with their quills, and made their +letters as clear and small as if they had been printed. But the work was +necessarily very slow. When Cosimo, the father of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, wished to form a library, he applied to a book contractor, +who procured forty-five copyists. By working hard for nearly two years +these men were able to produce only two hundred volumes. + +Moreover, it was impossible before the invention of printing to have two +books exactly alike. Even with the greatest care a scribe could not hope +to avoid all mistakes, and a careless copyist was sure to make a great +many. The universities required their students to report immediately any +mistakes discovered in their text-books, in order that the error might +be promptly rectified and not lead to a misunderstanding of the author. +With the invention of printing it became possible to produce in a short +time a great many copies of a given book which were exactly alike. +Consequently, if great care were taken to see that the types were +properly set, the whole edition, not simply a single copy, might be +relied upon as correct. + +[Illustration: Closing Lines of the Psalter of 1459 (much reduced)[229]] + +[Sidenote: The earliest printed books.] + +[Sidenote: Black letter.] + +[Sidenote: Roman letters.] + +[Sidenote: Italics.] + +The earliest book of any considerable size to be printed was the Bible, +which appears to have been completed at Mayence in the year 1456. A year +later the famous Mayence Psalter was finished, the first dated book. +There are, however, earlier examples of little books printed with +engraved blocks and even with movable types. In the German towns, where +the art spread rapidly, the printers adhered to the style of letters +which the scribe had found it convenient to make with his quill--the +so-called _Gothic_, or black letter.[230] In Italy, where the first +printing press was set up in 1466, a type was soon adopted which +resembled the letters used in ancient Roman inscriptions. This was quite +similar to the style of letter commonly used to-day. The Italians also +invented the compressed _italic_ type, which enabled them to get a great +many words on a page. The early printers generally did their work +conscientiously, and the very first book printed is in most respects as +well done as any later book. + +[Sidenote: Importance of Italian art in the Renaissance period.] + +124. The stimulus of the antique ideals of beauty and the renewed +interest in man and nature is nowhere more apparent than in the art of +the Renaissance period in Italy. The bonds of tradition, which had +hampered mediæval art,[231] were broken. The painters and sculptors +continued, it is true, to depict the same religious subjects which their +mediæval predecessors had chosen. But in the fourteenth century the +Italian artists began to draw their inspiration from the fragments of +antique art which they found about them and from the world full of life +and beauty in which they lived. Above all, they gave freer rein to their +own imagination. The tastes and ideals of the individual artist were no +longer repressed but became the dominant element in his work. The +history of art becomes, during the Renaissance, a history of artists. + +[Sidenote: Italian architecture.] + +[Sidenote: Italy inherits the art of Greece and Rome.] + +The Gothic style in architecture had never taken root in Italy. The +Italians had continued to build their churches in a more or less +modified Romanesque[232] form. While the soaring arches and delicate +tracery of the Gothic cathedral had become the ideal of the North, in +Italy the curving lines and harmonious proportions of the dome inspired +the best efforts of the Renaissance builders. They borrowed many fine +details, such as capitals and cornices, from the antique, and also--what +was far more important--the simplicity and beauty of proportion which +characterized classical architecture. Just as Italy had inherited, in a +special sense, the traditions of classical literature, so it was natural +that it should be more directly affected than the rest of Europe by the +remains of Greek and Roman art. It is in harmony of proportion and +beauty of detail that the great charm of the best Renaissance buildings +consists. + +[Sidenote: Niccola of Pisa, 1206-1280.] + +It is, perhaps, in sculpture that the influence of the antique models +was earliest and most obviously shown. The sculptor, Niccola of Pisa +(Niccola Pisano), stands out as the first distinguished leader in the +forward movement. It is evident that he studied certain fragments of +antique sculpture--a sarcophagus and a marble vase that had been found +in Pisa--with the greatest care and enthusiasm. He frankly copied from +them many details, and even several whole figures, in the reliefs on his +most famous work, the pulpit in the baptistery at Pisa.[233] But while +sculpture was the first of the arts to feel the new impetus, its +progress was slow; it was not until the fifteenth century that it began, +in Italy, to develop on wholly independent and original lines. + +[Sidenote: Frescoes and easel pictures.] + +The paintings of the period of the early Renaissance were usually +frescoes; that is, they were painted directly upon the plaster walls of +churches and sometimes of palaces. A few pictures, chiefly altar pieces, +were executed on wooden panels, but it was not until the sixteenth +century that easel paintings, that is, detached pictures on canvas, +wood, or other material, became common. + +[Illustration: Relief by Niccola of Pisa from Pulpit at Pisa, showing +Influence of Antique Models] + +[Sidenote: Giotto, 1266(?)-1337.] + +In the fourteenth century there was an extraordinary development in the +art of painting under the guidance and inspiration of the first great +Italian painter, Giotto. Before his time the frescoes, like the +illuminations in the manuscripts of which we have spoken in a previous +chapter, were exceedingly stiff and unlifelike. With Giotto there comes +a change. Antique art did not furnish him with any models to copy, for +whatever the ancients had accomplished in painting had been +destroyed.[234] He had therefore to deal with the problems of his art +unaided, and of course he could only begin their solution. His trees and +landscapes look like caricatures, his faces are all much alike, the +garments hang in stiff straight folds. But he aimed to do what the +earlier painters apparently did not dream of doing--that is, paint +living, thinking, feeling men and women. He was not even satisfied to +confine himself to the old biblical subjects. Among his most famous +frescoes are the scenes from the life of St. Francis,[235] a theme which +appealed very strongly to the imagination of people and artists alike +all through the fourteenth century. + +[Sidenote: Renaissance artists often practiced several arts.] + +Giotto's dominating influence upon the art of his century is due partly +to the fact that he was a builder as well as a painter, and also +designed reliefs for sculpture. This practicing of several different +arts by the same artist was one of the striking features of the +Renaissance period. + +[Sidenote: Italian art in the fifteenth century.] + +125. During the fifteenth century, which is known as the period of the +Early Renaissance, art in Italy developed and progressed steadily, +surely, and with comparative rapidity, toward the glorious heights of +achievement which it reached in the following century. The traditions of +the Middle Ages were wholly thrown aside, the lessons of ancient art +thoroughly learned. As the artists became more complete masters of their +tools and of all the technical processes of their art, they found +themselves ever freer to express in their work what they saw and felt. + +[Sidenote: Florence the art center of Italy.] + +Florence was the great center of artistic activity during the fifteenth +century. The greatest sculptors and almost all of the most famous +painters and architects of the time either were natives of Florence or +did their best work there. During the first half of the century +sculpture again took the lead. The bronze doors of the baptistery at +Florence by Ghiberti, which were completed about 1450, are among the +very best products of Renaissance sculpture. Michael Angelo declared +them worthy to be the doors of paradise. A comparison of them with the +doors of the cathedral of Pisa, which date from the end of the twelfth +century, furnishes a striking illustration of the change that had taken +place. A contemporary of Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia (1400-1482), is +celebrated for his beautiful reliefs in glazed baked clay and in marble, +of which many may be seen in Florence. + +[Illustration: BRONZE DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL AT PISA + +(TWELFTH CENTURY)] + +[Illustration: GHIBERTI'S DOORS AT FLORENCE] + +[Illustration: Relief by Luca della Robbia] + +One of the best known painters of the first half of the fifteenth +century, Fra[236] Angelico, was a monk. His frescoes on the walls of the +monastery of San Marco (and elsewhere) reflect a love of beauty and a +cheerful piety, in striking contrast to the fiery zeal of +Savonarola,[237] who, later in the century, went forth from this same +monastery to denounce the vanities of the art-loving Florentines.[238] + +[Sidenote: Rome becomes the center of artistic activity.] + +126. Florence reached the height of its preëminence as an art center +during the reign of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was an ardent patron of +all the arts. With his death (1492), and the subsequent brief but +overwhelming influence of Savonarola, this preëminence passed to Rome, +which was fast becoming one of the great capitals of Europe. The +art-loving popes, Julius II and Leo X,[239] took pains to secure the +services of the most distinguished artists and architects of the time in +the building and adornment of St. Peter's and the Vatican, i.e., the +papal church and palace. + +[Sidenote: The church of St. Peter.] + +The idea of the dome as the central feature of a church, which appealed +so strongly to the architects of the Renaissance, reached its highest +realization in rebuilding the ancient church of St. Peter. The task was +begun in the fifteenth century; in 1506 it was taken up by Pope Julius +II with his usual energy, and it was continued all through the sixteenth +century and well into the seventeenth, under the direction of a +succession of the most famous artist-architects of the time, including +Raphael and Michael Angelo. The plan was changed repeatedly, but in its +final form the building is a Latin cross surmounted by a great dome, one +hundred and thirty-eight feet in diameter. The dimensions and +proportions of this greatest of all churches never fail to impress the +beholder with something like awe. + +[Sidenote: Height of Renaissance art.] + +[Sidenote: Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael.] + +During the sixteenth century the art of the Renaissance reached its +highest development. Among all the great artists of this period three +stand out in heroic proportions--Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and +Raphael. The first two not only practiced, but achieved almost equal +distinction in, the three arts of architecture, sculpture, and +painting.[240] It is impossible to give in a few lines any idea of the +beauty and significance of the work of these great geniuses. Both +Raphael and Michael Angelo left behind them so many and such magnificent +frescoes and paintings, and in the case of Michael Angelo statues as +well, that it is easy to appreciate their importance. Leonardo, on the +other hand, left but little completed work. His influence on the art of +his time, which was probably greater than that of either of the others, +came from his many-sidedness, his originality, and his unflagging +interest in the discovery and application of new methods. He was almost +more experimenter than artist. + +[Illustration: St. Peter's and the Vatican, Rome] + +[Sidenote: The Venetian school.] + +[Sidenote: Titian, 1477-1576.] + +While Florence could no longer boast of being the art center of Italy, +it still produced great artists, among whom Andrea del Sarto may be +especially mentioned.[241] But the most important center of artistic +activity outside of Rome in the sixteenth century was Venice. The +distinguishing characteristic of the Venetian pictures is their glowing +color. This is strikingly exemplified in the paintings of Titian, the +most famous of all the Venetian painters. + +[Sidenote: Painting in northern Europe.] + +[Sidenote: Dürer, 1471-1528.] + +It was natural that artists from the northern countries should be +attracted by the renown of the Italian masters and, after learning all +that Italy could teach them, should return home to practice their art in +their own particular fashion. About a century after Giotto's time two +Flemish brothers, Van Eyck by name, showed that they were not only able +to paint quite as excellent pictures as the Italians of their day, but +they also discovered a new way of mixing their colors superior to that +employed in Italy. Later, when painting had reached its height in Italy, +Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein the Younger[242] in Germany vied with +even Raphael and Michael Angelo in the mastery of their art. Dürer is +especially celebrated for his wonderful woodcuts and copperplate +engravings, in which field he has perhaps never been excelled.[243] + +[Sidenote: Rubens, 1577-1640, and Rembrandt, 1607-1669.] + +[Sidenote: Van Dyck, 1599-1641, and his portraits.] + +[Sidenote: Velasquez.] + +When, in the seventeenth century, painting had declined south of the +Alps, Dutch and Flemish masters,--above all, Rubens and +Rembrandt,--developed a new and admirable school of painting. To Van +Dyck, another Flemish master, we owe many noble portraits of +historically important persons.[244] Spain gave to the world in the +seventeenth century a painter whom some would rank higher than even the +greatest artists of Italy, namely, Velasquez (1599-1660). His genius, +like that of Van Dyck, is especially conspicuous in his marvellous +portraits. + +[Illustration: GIOTTO'S MADONNA] + +[Illustration: HOLY FAMILY BY ANDREA DEL SARTO] + +[Sidenote: Geographical knowledge in the Middle Ages.] + +[Sidenote: Marco Polo.] + +127. Shortly after the invention of printing, which promised so much for +the diffusion of knowledge, the horizon of western Europe was further +enlarged by a series of remarkable sea voyages which led to the +exploration of the whole globe. The Greeks and Romans knew little about +the world beyond southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia; and +much that they knew was forgotten during the Middle Ages. The Crusades +took many Europeans as far east as Egypt and Syria. As early as Dante's +time two Venetian merchants, the Polo brothers, visited China and were +kindly received at Pekin by the emperor of the Mongols. On a second +journey they were accompanied by Marco Polo, the son of one of the +brothers. When they got safely back to Venice in 1295, after a journey +of twenty years, Marco gave an account of his experiences which filled +his readers with wonder. Nothing stimulated the interest of the West +more than his fabulous description of the golden island of Zipangu +(Japan) and of the spice markets of the Moluccas and Ceylon.[245] + +[Sidenote: The discoveries of the Portuguese in the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries.] + +About the year 1318 Venice and Genoa opened up direct communication by +sea with the towns of the Netherlands.[246] Their fleets, which touched +at the port of Lisbon, aroused the commercial enterprise of the +Portuguese, who soon began to undertake extended maritime expeditions. +By the middle of the fourteenth century they had discovered the Canary +Islands, Madeira, and the Azores. Before this time no one had ventured +along the coast of Africa beyond the arid region of Sahara. The country +was forbidding, there were no ports, and mariners were, moreover, +hindered in their progress by the general belief that the torrid region +was uninhabitable. In 1445, however, some adventurous sailors came +within sight of a headland beyond the desert and, struck by its +luxuriant growth of tropical trees, they called it Cape Verde (the green +cape). Its discovery put an end once for all to the idea that there were +only parched deserts to the south. + +For a generation longer the Portuguese continued to venture farther and +farther along the coast, in the hope of finding it coming to an end, so +that they might make their way by sea to India. At last, in 1486, Diaz +rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Twelve years later (1498) Vasco da Gama, +spurred on by Columbus' great discovery, after sailing around the Cape +of Good Hope and northward beyond Zanzibar, steered straight across the +Indian Ocean and reached Calicut, in Hindustan, by sea. + +[Sidenote: The spice trade.] + +These adventurers were looked upon with natural suspicion by the +Mohammedan spice merchants, who knew very well that their object was to +establish a direct trade between the spice islands and western Europe. +Hitherto the Mohammedans had had the monopoly of the spice trade between +the Moluccas and the eastern ports of the Mediterranean, where the +products were handed over to Italian merchants. The Mohammedans were +unable, however, to prevent the Portuguese from concluding treaties with +the Indian princes and establishing trading stations at Goa and +elsewhere. In 1512 a successor of Vasco da Gama reached Java and the +Moluccas, where the Portuguese speedily built a fortress. By 1515 +Portugal had become the greatest among maritime powers; and spices +reached Lisbon regularly without the intervention of the Italian towns, +which were mortally afflicted by the change. + +[Sidenote: Importance of spices in encouraging navigation.] + +There is no doubt that the desire to obtain spices was the main reason +for the exploration of the globe. This motive led European navigators to +try in succession every possible way to reach the East--by going around +Africa, by sailing west in the hope of reaching the Indies, before they +knew of the existence of America; then, after America was discovered, by +sailing around it to the north or south, and even sailing around Europe +to the north. It is hard for us to understand this enthusiasm for +spices, for which we care much less nowadays. One former use of spices +was to preserve food, which could not then as now be carried rapidly, +while still fresh, from place to place; nor did our conveniences then +exist for keeping it by the use of ice. Moreover, spice served to make +even spoiled food more palatable than it would otherwise have been. + +[Illustration: The Voyages of Discovery] + +[Sidenote: Idea of reaching the spice islands by sailing westward.] + +It inevitably occurred to thoughtful men that the East Indies could be +reached by sailing westward. The chief authority upon the form and size +of the earth was still the ancient astronomer, Ptolemy, who lived about +A.D. 150. He had reckoned the earth to be about one sixth smaller than +it is; and as Marco Polo had given an exaggerated idea of the distance +which he and his companions had traveled eastward, it was supposed that +it could not be a very long journey from Europe across the Atlantic to +Japan. + +[Sidenote: Columbus discovers America, 1492.] + +The first plan for sailing west was, perhaps, submitted to the +Portuguese king in 1474, by Toscanelli, a Florentine physician. In 1492, +as we all know, a Genoese navigator, Columbus (b. 1451), who had had +much experience on the sea, got together three little ships and +undertook the journey westward to Zipangu, which he hoped to reach in +five weeks. After thirty-two days from the time he left the Canary +Islands he came upon land, the island of San Salvador, and believed +himself to be in the East Indies. Going on from there he discovered the +island of Cuba, which he believed to be the mainland of Asia, and then +Haiti, which he mistook for the longed-for Zipangu. Although he made +three later expeditions and sailed down the coast of South America as +far as the Orinoco, he died without realizing that he had not been +exploring the coast of Asia.[247] + +[Sidenote: Magellan's expedition around the world.] + +After the bold enterprises of Vasco da Gama and Columbus, an expedition +headed by Magellan succeeded in circumnavigating the globe. There was +now no reason why the new lands should not become more and more familiar +to the European nations. The coast of North America was explored +principally by English navigators, who for over a century pressed north, +still in the vain hope of finding a northwest passage to the spice +islands. + +[Sidenote: The Spanish conquests in America.] + +Cortez began the Spanish conquests in the western world by undertaking +the subjugation of the Aztec empire in Mexico in 1519. A few years later +Pizarro established the Spanish power in Peru. It is hardly necessary to +say that Europeans exhibited an utter disregard for the rights of the +people with whom they came in contact, and treated them with +contemptuous cruelty. Spain now superseded Portugal as a maritime power +and her importance in the sixteenth century is to be attributed largely +to the wealth which came to her from her possessions in the New World. + +[Sidenote: The Spanish main.] + +By the end of the century the Spanish main--i.e., the northern coast of +South America--was much frequented by adventurous seamen, who combined +in about equal parts the occupations of merchant, slaver, and pirate. +Many of these hailed from English ports, and it is to them that England +owes the beginning of her commercial greatness.[248] + +[Sidenote: Copernicus (1473-1543) discovers that the earth is not the +center of the universe.] + +128. While Columbus and the Portuguese navigators were bringing hitherto +unknown regions of the earth to the knowledge of Europe, a Polish +astronomer, Kopernik (commonly known by his Latinized name, Copernicus), +was reaching the conclusion that the ancient writers had been misled in +supposing that the earth was the center of the universe. He discovered +that, with the other planets, the earth revolved about the sun. This +opened the way to an entirely new conception of the heavenly bodies and +their motions, which has formed the basis of modern astronomy. + +It was naturally a great shock to men to have it suggested that their +dwelling place, instead of being God's greatest work to which He had +subordinated everything, was but a tiny speck in comparison to the whole +universe, and its sun but one of an innumerable host of similar bodies, +each of which might have its particular family of planets revolving +about it. Theologians, both Protestant and Catholic, declared the +statements of Copernicus foolish and wicked and contrary to the +teachings of the Bible. He was prudent enough to defer the publication +of his great work until just before his death; he thus escaped any +persecution to which his discovery might have subjected him. + +[Sidenote: Miscellaneous inventions.] + +In addition to the various forms of progress of which we have spoken, +the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries witnessed the invention or wide +application of a considerable number of practical devices which were +unknown to the Greeks and Romans. Examples of these are, besides +printing, the compass, gunpowder, spectacles, and a method of not merely +softening but of thoroughly melting iron so that it could be cast. + +[Sidenote: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries not merely a period of +revival.] + +The period of which we have been speaking was, in short, by no means +merely distinguished for the revival of classical learning. It was not +simply a re-birth of the ancient knowledge and art, but a time during +which Europe laid the foundations for a development essentially +different from that of the ancient world and for achievements undreamed +of by Aristotle or Pliny. + + + General Reading.--The culture of Italy during the fourteenth and + fifteenth centuries is best treated by BURCKHARDT, _The + Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy_ (The Macmillan Company, + $4.00). This is especially adapted for the rather advanced student. + The towns are interestingly described in SYMONDS, _Age of Despots_ + (Scribner's Sons, $2.00). For Florence and the Medici, see + ARMSTRONG, _Lorenzo de' Medici and Florence in the Fifteenth + Century_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.50). MACHIAVELLI'S _Prince_ may be + had in translation (Clarendon Press, $1.10). The best prose + translation of DANTE'S _Divine Comedy_ is that of Charles Eliot + Norton (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 3 vols., $4.50). In ROBINSON and + ROLFE, _Petrarch the First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters_ (G.P. + Putnam's Sons, $2.00), the reader will find much material to + illustrate the beginnings of humanism. The volume consists mainly + of Petrarch's own letters to his friends. The introduction gives a + much fuller account of his work than it was possible to include in + the present volume. For similar material from other writers of the + time, see WHITCOMB, _A Literary Source Book of the Italian + Renaissance_ (Philadelphia, $1.00). The autobiography of Benvenuto + Cellini is a very amusing and instructive book by one of the + well-known artists of the sixteenth century. Roscoe's translation + in the Bohn series (The Macmillan Company, $1.00) is to be + recommended for school libraries. + + The greatest of the sources for the lives of the artists is VASARI, + _Lives of Seventy of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and + Architects_. This may be had in the Temple Classics (The Macmillan + Company, 8 vols., 50 cents each) or a selection of the more + important lives admirably edited in Blashfield and Hopkins' + carefully annotated edition (Scribner's Sons, 4 vols., $8.00). + Vasari was a contemporary of Michael Angelo and Cellini, and writes + in a simple and charming style. The outlines of the history of the + various branches of art, with ample bibliographies, are given in + the "College Histories of Art," edited by John C. Van Dyke; viz., + VAN DYKE, _The History of Painting_, HAMLIN, _The History of + Architecture_, and MARQUAND and FROTHINGHAM, _The History of + Sculpture_ (Longmans, Green & Co., each $2.00). Larger works with + more illustrations, which might be found in any good town library + are: FERGUSSON, _History of Modern Architecture_, LÜBKE, _History + of Sculpture_, WOLTMANN and WOERMANN, _History of Painting_, and + FLETCHER, _A History of Architecture_. Two companies publish very + inexpensive reproductions of works of art: the so-called Perry + pictures at a cent apiece, and the still better Cosmos pictures + (Cosmos Picture Company, New York), costing somewhat more. + + For the invention of printing see DE VINNE, _The Invention of + Printing_, unfortunately out of print, and BLADES, _Pentateuch of + Printing_ (London, $4.75). Also PUTNAM, _Books and their Makers + during the Middle Ages_, Vol. I (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $2.50). + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +EUROPE AT THE OPENING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + +129. Two events took place in the early sixteenth century which +fundamentally influenced the history of Europe. (1) By a series of royal +marriages a great part of western Europe was brought under the control +of a single ruler, Emperor Charles V. He inherited Burgundy, Spain, +portions of Italy, and the Austrian territories; and, in 1519, he was +chosen emperor. There had been no such dominion as his in Europe since +the time of Charlemagne. Within its bounds lay Vienna, Brussels, Madrid, +Palermo, Naples, Milan, even the city of Mexico. Its creation and the +struggles which accompanied its dissolution form one of the most +important chapters in the history of modern Europe. (2) Just at the time +that Charles was assuming the responsibilities that his vast domains +brought with them, the first successful revolt against the mediæval +Church was beginning. This was to result in the disruption of the Church +and the establishment of two great religious parties, the Catholic and +the Protestant, which have endured down to the present time. The purpose +of the present chapter is to describe the origin, extent, and character +of the empire of Charles V, and to prepare the reader to grasp the +_political_ import of the Protestant revolt. + +Before mentioning the family alliances which led to the consolidation of +such tremendous political power in the hands of one person, it will be +necessary, first, to note the rise of the house of Hapsburg to which +Charles belonged, and secondly, to account for the appearance in +European affairs of Spain, which has hitherto scarcely come into our +story. + +[Sidenote: Reasons why the German kings failed to establish a strong +state.] + +The German kings had failed to create a strong kingdom such as those +over which Louis XI of France and Henry VII of England ruled. Their fine +title of "emperor" had made them a great deal of trouble, as we have +seen.[249] Their attempts to keep Italy as well as Germany under their +rule, and the alliance of the mighty Bishop of Rome with their enemies +had well-nigh ruined them. Their position was further weakened by their +failure to render their office strictly hereditary. Although the +emperors were often succeeded by their sons, each new emperor had to be +_elected_, and those great vassals who controlled the election naturally +took care to bind the candidate by solemn promises not to interfere with +their privileges and independence. The result was that, after the +downfall of the Hohenstaufens, Germany fell apart into a great number of +practically independent states, of which none were very large and some +were extremely small. + +[Sidenote: Rudolf of Hapsburg gets possession of Austria.] + +After an interregnum, Rudolf of Hapsburg had been chosen emperor in +1273.[250] The original seat of the Hapsburgs, who were destined to play +a great part in European affairs, was in northern Switzerland, where the +vestiges of their original castle may still be seen. Rudolf was the +first prominent member of the family; he established its position and +influence by seizing the duchies of Austria and Styria, which were to +become, under his successors, the nucleus of the extensive Austrian +possessions. + +[Sidenote: The imperial title becomes practically hereditary in the +house of Austria.] + +About a century and a half after the death of Rudolf the electors began +regularly to choose as emperor the ruler of the Austrian possessions, so +that the imperial title became, to all intents and purposes, hereditary +in the Hapsburg line.[251] The Hapsburgs were, however, far more +interested in adding to their family domains than in advancing the +interests of the now almost defunct Holy Roman Empire. This, in the +memorable words of Voltaire, had ceased to be either holy, or Roman, or +an empire. + +[Sidenote: Maximilian I, 1493-1519, extends the power of the Hapsburgs +over the Netherlands and Spain.] + +Maximilian I, who was emperor at the opening of the sixteenth century, +was absorbed in his foreign enterprises rather than in the improvement +of the German government. Like so many of his predecessors, he was +especially anxious to get possession of northern Italy. By his marriage +with the daughter of Charles the Bold he brought the Netherlands into +what proved a fateful union with Austria.[252] Still more important was +the extension of the power of the Hapsburgs over Spain, a country which +had hitherto had almost no connection with Germany. + +[Sidenote: Arab civilization in Spain.] + +130. The Mohammedan conquest served to make the history of Spain very +different from that of the other states of Europe. One of its first and +most important results was the conversion of a great part of the +inhabitants to Mohammedanism.[253] During the tenth century, which was +so dark a period in the rest of Europe, the Arab civilization in Spain +reached its highest development. The various elements in the population, +Roman, Gothic, Arab, and Berber, appear to have been thoroughly +amalgamated. Agriculture, industry, commerce, art, and the sciences made +rapid progress. Cordova, with its half million of inhabitants, its +stately palaces, its university, its three thousand mosques and three +hundred public baths, was perhaps unrivaled at that period in the whole +world. There were thousands of students at the university of Cordova at +a time when, in the North, only clergymen had mastered even the simple +arts of reading and writing. This brilliant civilization lasted, +however, for hardly more than a hundred years. By the middle of the +eleventh century the caliphate of Cordova had fallen to pieces, and +shortly afterwards the country was overrun by new invaders from Africa. + +[Sidenote: The rise of new Christian kingdoms in Spain.] + +Meanwhile the vestiges of the earlier Christian rule continued to exist +in the mountain fastnesses of northern Spain. Even as early as the year +1000,[254] several small Christian kingdoms--Castile, Aragon, and +Navarre--had come into existence. Castile, in particular, began to push +back the demoralized Arabs and, in 1085, reconquered Toledo from them. +Aragon also widened its bounds by incorporating Barcelona and conquering +the territory watered by the Ebro. By 1250, the long war of the +Christians against the Mohammedans, which fills the mediæval annals of +Spain, had been so successfully prosecuted that Castile extended to the +south coast and included the great towns of Cordova and Seville. The +kingdom of Portugal was already as large as it is to-day. + +[Sidenote: Granada and Castile.] + +The Moors, as the Spanish Mohammedans were called, maintained themselves +for two centuries more in the mountainous kingdom of Granada, in the +southern part of the peninsula. During this period, Castile, which was +the largest of the Spanish kingdoms and embraced all the central part of +the peninsula, was too much occupied by internal feuds and struggles +over the crown to wage successful war against the Moorish kingdom to the +south. + +[Sidenote: Marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.] + +[Sidenote: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold, falls.] + +The first Spanish monarch whose name need be mentioned here was Queen +Isabella of Castile, who, in 1469, concluded an all-important marriage +with Ferdinand, the heir of the crown of Aragon. It is with the +resulting union of Castile and Aragon that the great importance of Spain +in European history begins. For the next hundred years Spain was to +enjoy more military power than any other European state. Ferdinand and +Isabella undertook to complete the conquest of the peninsula, and in +1492, after a long siege, the city of Granada fell into their hands, and +therewith the last vestige of Moorish domination disappeared.[255] + +[Illustration: EUROPE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Sidenote: Spain's income from the New World enables her to become a +European power.] + +In the same year that the conquest of the peninsula was completed, the +discoveries of Columbus, made under the auspices of Queen Isabella, +opened up the sources of undreamed-of wealth beyond the seas. The +transient greatness of Spain in the sixteenth century is largely to be +attributed to the riches which poured in from her American possessions. +The shameless and cruel looting of the Mexican and Peruvian cities by +Cortez and Pizarro, and the products of the silver mines of the New +World, enabled Spain to assume, for a time, a position in Europe which +her internal strength and normal resources would never have permitted. + +[Sidenote: Persecution of the Jews and Moors.] + +[Sidenote: The revival of the Inquisition.] + +Unfortunately, the most industrious, skillful, and thrifty among the +inhabitants of Spain, i.e., the Moors and the Jews, who well-nigh +supported the whole kingdom with the products of their toil, were +bitterly persecuted by the Christians. So anxious was Isabella to rid +her kingdom of the infidels that she revived the court of the +Inquisition.[256] For several decades its tribunals arrested and +condemned innumerable persons who were suspected of heresy, and +thousands were burned at the stake during this period. These wholesale +executions have served to associate Spain especially with the horrors of +the Inquisition. Finally, in 1609, the Moors were driven out of the +country altogether. The persecution diminished or disheartened the most +useful and enterprising portion of the Spanish people, and speedily and +permanently crippled a country which in the sixteenth century was +granted an unrivaled opportunity to become a flourishing and powerful +monarchy. + +[Sidenote: Heritage of Charles V.] + +Maximilian, the German emperor, was not satisfied with securing Burgundy +for his house by his marriage with the daughter of Charles the Bold. He +also arranged a marriage between their son, Philip, and Joanna, the +daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. Philip died in 1506, and his poor +wife, Joanna, became insane with grief and was thus incapacitated for +ruling. So their eldest son, Charles, could look forward to an +unprecedented accumulation of glorious titles as soon as his +grand-fathers, Maximilian and Ferdinand, should pass away.[257] He was +soon to be duke of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, count of Holland, +archduke of Austria, count of Tyrol, king of Castile, Aragon, and +Naples, and of the vast Spanish possessions in America,--to mention a +few of his more important titles. + +[Sidenote: Charles and his Spanish possessions.] + +Ferdinand died in 1516, and Charles, now a lad of sixteen, who had been +born and reared in the Netherlands, was much bewildered when he landed +in his Spanish dominions. His Flemish advisers were distasteful to the +haughty Spaniards; suspicion and opposition awaited him in each of his +several Spanish kingdoms, for he found by no means a united Spain. Each +kingdom demanded special recognition of its rights and suggested +important reforms before it would acknowledge Charles as its king. + +[Sidenote: Charles elected emperor, 1519.] + +It seemed as if the boy would have his hands full in asserting his +authority as "king of Spain"; nevertheless, a still more imposing title +and still more perplexing responsibilities were to fall upon his +shoulders before he was twenty years old. It had long been Maximilian's +ambition that his grandson should succeed him upon the imperial throne. +After his death in 1519 the electors finally chose Charles instead of +the rival candidate, Francis I of France. By this election the king of +Spain, who had not yet been in Germany and who never learned its +language, became its ruler at a critical juncture, when the teachings of +Luther were producing unprecedented dissension and political +distraction. We shall hereafter refer to him by his imperial title of +Charles V. + +[Illustration: Charles V] + +131. In order to understand the Europe of Charles V and the constant +wars which occupied him all his life, we must turn back and review the +questions which had been engaging the attention of his fellow-kings +before he came to the throne. It is particularly necessary to see +clearly how Italy had suddenly become the center of commotion,--the +battlefield for Spain, France, and Germany. + +[Sidenote: Charles VIII of France invades Italy.] + +Charles VIII of France (1483-1498) possessed little of the practical +sagacity of his father, Louis XI. He dreamed of a mighty expedition +against the Turks and of the conquest of Constantinople. As the first +step he determined to lead an army into Italy and assert his claim, +inherited from his father, to the kingdom of Naples, which was in the +hands of the house of Aragon.[258] While Italy had everything to lose by +permitting a powerful monarch to get a foothold in the South, there was +no probability that the various little states into which the peninsula +was divided would lay aside their perpetual animosities and combine +against the invader. On the contrary, Charles VIII was urged by some of +the Italians themselves to come. + +[Sidenote: Savonarola and Charles VIII.] + +Had Lorenzo the Magnificent still been alive, he might have organized a +league to oppose the French king, but he had died in 1492, two years +before Charles started. Lorenzo's sons failed to maintain the influence +over the people of Florence which their father had enjoyed; and the +leadership of the city fell into the hands of the Dominican friar, +Savonarola, whose fervid preaching attracted and held for a time the +attention of the fickle Florentine populace. He believed himself to be a +prophet, and proclaimed that God was about to scourge Italy for its +iniquities, and that men should flee before His wrath by renouncing +their lives of sin and pleasure. + +When Savonarola heard of the French invasion, it appeared to him that +this was indeed the looked-for scourge of God, which might afflict, but +would also purify, the Church. His prophecies seemed to be fulfilled, +and his listeners were stricken with terror. As Charles approached +Florence, the people rose in revolt against the Medici, sacked their +palaces, and drove out the three sons of Lorenzo. Savonarola became the +chief figure in the new republic which was established. Charles was +admitted into Florence, but his ugly, insignificant figure disappointed +the Florentines. They soon made it clear to him that they would not +regard him in any sense as a conqueror, and would oppose a prolonged +occupation by the French. Savonarola said to him: "The people are +afflicted by your stay in Florence, and you waste your time. God has +called you to renew His Church. Go forth to your high calling lest God +visit you in His wrath and choose another instrument in your stead to +carry out His designs." So, after a week's stay, the French army left +Florence and proceeded on its southward journey. + +[Sidenote: The popes since the Great Schism.] + +The next power with which Charles VIII had to deal was represented by a +person in every way the opposite of the Dominican monk--Pope Alexander +VI. After the troubles of the Great Schism and the councils, the popes +had set to work to organize their possessions in central Italy into a +compact principality. For a time they seemed to be little more than +Italian princes. But they did not make rapid progress in their political +enterprises because, in the first place, they were usually advanced in +years before they came to power and so had little time to carry out +their projects; and, in the second place, they showed too much anxiety +to promote the interests of their relatives. The selfish, unscrupulous +means employed by these worldly prelates naturally brought great +discredit upon the Church. + +[Sidenote: Pope Alexander VI and Cæsar Borgia.] + +There was probably never a more openly profligate Italian despot than +Alexander VI (1493-1503) of the notorious Spanish house of Borgia. He +frankly set to work to advance the interests of his children, as if he +were merely a secular ruler. For one of his sons, Cæsar Borgia, he +proposed to form a duchy east of Florence. Cæsar outdid his father in +crime. He not only entrapped and mercilessly slaughtered his enemies, +but had his brother assassinated and thrown into the Tiber. Both he and +his father were accused of constant recourse to poisoning, in which art +they were popularly supposed to have gained extraordinary proficiency. +It is noteworthy that when Machiavelli prepared his _Prince_,[259] he +chose for his hero Cæsar Borgia, as possessing in the highest degree +those qualities which went to make up a successful Italian ruler. + +The pope was greatly perturbed by the French invasion, and in spite of +the fact that he was the head of Christendom, he entered into +negotiations with the Turkish sultan in the hope of gaining aid against +the French king. He could not, however, prevent Charles from entering +Rome and later continuing on his way to Naples. + +[Sidenote: Charles VIII leaves Italy unconquered.] + +The success of the French king seemed marvelous, for even Naples +speedily fell into his hands. But he and his troops were demoralized by +the wines and other pleasures of the South, and meanwhile his enemies at +last began to form a combination against him. Ferdinand of Aragon was +fearful lest he might lose Sicily, and Maximilian objected to having the +French control Italy. Charles' situation became so precarious that he +may well have thought himself fortunate, at the close of 1495, to +escape, with the loss of only a single battle, from the country he had +hoped to conquer. + +[Sidenote: Results of Charles' expedition.] + +The results of Charles' expedition appear at first sight trivial; in +reality they were momentous. In the first place, it was now clear to +Europe that the Italians had no real national feeling, however much they +might despise the "barbarians" who lived north of the Alps. From this +time down to the latter half of the nineteenth century, Italy was +dominated by foreign nations, especially Spain and Austria. In the +second place, the French learned to admire the art and culture of Italy. +The nobles began to change their feudal castles, which since the +invention of gunpowder were no longer impregnable, into luxurious +country houses. The new scholarship of Italy took root and flourished +not only in France, but in England and Germany as well. Consequently, +just as Italy was becoming, politically, the victim of foreign +aggressions, it was also losing, never to regain, that intellectual +preëminence which it had enjoyed since the revival of interest in +classical literature. + +[Sidenote: Savonarola's reforms in Florence.] + +After Charles VIII's departure, Savonarola continued his reformation +with the hope of making Florence a model state which should lead to the +regeneration of the world. At first he carried all before him, and at +the Carnival of 1496 there were no more of the gorgeous exhibitions and +reckless gayety which had pleased the people under Lorenzo the +Magnificent. The next year the people were induced to make a great +bonfire, in the spacious square before the City Hall, of all the +"vanities" which stood in the way of a godly life--frivolous and immoral +books, pictures, jewels, and trinkets. + +[Sidenote: Savonarola condemned and executed, 1498.] + +Savonarola had enemies, however, even in his own Dominican order, while +the Franciscans were naturally jealous of his renown and maintained that +he was no real prophet. What was more serious, Alexander VI was bitterly +hostile to the reforming friar because he urged the Florentines to +remain in alliance with France. Before long even the people began to +lose confidence in him. He was arrested by the pope's order in 1497 and +condemned as a heretic and despiser of the Holy See. He was hanged, and +his body burned, in the same square where the "vanities" had been +sacrificed hardly more than a twelvemonth before. + +[Sidenote: Louis XII's Italian policy.] + +In the same year (1498), the romantic Charles VIII died without leaving +any male heirs and was succeeded by a distant relative, Louis XII, who +renewed the Italian adventures of his predecessor. As his grandmother +was a member of the Milanese house of the Visconti, Louis laid claim to +Milan as well as to Naples. He quickly conquered Milan, and then +arranged a secret treaty with Ferdinand of Aragon (1500) for the +division of the kingdom of Naples between them. It was not hard for the +combined French and Spanish troops to conquer the country, but the two +allies soon disagreed, and four years later Louis sold his title to +Naples for a large sum to Ferdinand. + +[Sidenote: Pope Julius II.] + +132. Pope Julius II, who succeeded the unspeakable Alexander VI (1503), +was hardly more spiritual than his predecessor. He was a warlike and +intrepid old man, who did not hesitate on at least one occasion to put +on a soldier's armor and lead his troops in person. Julius was a +Genoese, and harbored an inveterate hatred against Genoa's great +commercial rival, Venice. The Venetians especially enraged the pope by +taking possession of some of the towns on the northern border of his +dominions, and he threatened to reduce their city to a fishing village. +The Venetian ambassador replied, "As for you, Holy Father, if you are +not more reasonable, we shall reduce you to a village priest." + +[Sidenote: League of Cambray against Venice, 1508.] + +With the pope's encouragement, the League of Cambray was formed in 1508 +for the express purpose of destroying one of the most important Italian +states. The Empire, France, Spain, and the pope were to divide among +them Venice's possessions on the mainland. Maximilian was anxious to +gain the districts bordering upon Austria, Louis XII to extend the +boundaries of his new duchy of Milan, while the pope and Ferdinand were +also to have their appropriate shares. + +Venice was quickly reduced to a few remnants of its Italian domains, but +the Venetians hastened to make their peace with the pope, who, after +receiving their humble submission, gave them his forgiveness. In spite +of his previous pledges to his allies, the pope now swore to exterminate +the "barbarians" whom he had so recklessly called in. He formed an +alliance with Venice and induced the new king of England, Henry VIII, to +attack the French king. As for Maximilian, the pope declared him as +"harmless as a newborn babe." This "Holy League" against the French led +to their loss of Milan and their expulsion from the Italian peninsula in +1512, but it in no way put an end to the troubles in Italy. + +[Sidenote: Pope Leo X, 1513-1521.] + +The bellicose Julius was followed in 1513 by Leo X, a son of Lorenzo the +Magnificent. Like his father, he loved art and literature, but he was +apparently utterly without religious feelings. He was willing that the +war should continue, in the hope that he might be able to gain a couple +of duchies for his nephews. + +[Sidenote: Francis I of France, 1515-1547.] + +Louis XII died and left his brilliant cousin and successor, Francis I, +to attempt once more to regain Milan. The new king was but twenty years +old, gracious in manner, and chivalrous in his ideals of conduct. His +proudest title was "the gentleman king." Like his contemporaries, Leo X, +and Henry VIII of England, he patronized the arts, and literature +flourished during his reign. He was not, however, a wise statesman; he +was unable to pursue a consistent policy, but, as Voltaire says, "did +everything by fits and starts." + +[Sidenote: Francis I in Italy.] + +[Sidenote: The republic of Florence becomes the grand duchy of Tuscany.] + +He opened his reign by a very astonishing victory. He led his troops +into Italy over a pass which had hitherto been regarded as impracticable +for cavalry, and defeated the Swiss--who were in the pope's pay--at +Marignano. He then occupied Milan and opened negotiations with Leo X, +who was glad to make terms with the victorious young king. The pope +agreed that Francis should retain Milan, and Francis on his part acceded +to Leo's plan for turning over Florence once more to the Medici. This +was done, and some years later this wonderful republic became the grand +duchy of Tuscany, governed by a line of petty princes under whom its +former glories were never renewed.[260] + +[Sidenote: Sources of discord between France and the Hapsburgs.] + +Friendly relations existed at first between the two young sovereigns, +Francis I and Charles V, but there were several circumstances which led +to an almost incessant series of wars between them. France was clamped +in between the northern and southern possessions of Charles, and had at +that time no natural boundaries. Moreover, there was a standing dispute +over portions of the Burgundian realms, for both Charles and Francis +claimed the _duchy_ of Burgundy and the neighboring _county_ of +Burgundy--commonly called Franche-Comté. Charles also believed that, +through his grandfather, Maximilian, he was entitled to Milan, which the +French kings had set their hearts upon acquiring. For a generation the +rivals fought over these and other matters, and the wars between Charles +and Francis were but the prelude to a conflict lasting over two +centuries between France and the overgrown power of the house of +Hapsburg. + +[Sidenote: Henry VIII of England, 1509-1547.] + +In the impending struggle it was natural that both monarchs should try +to gain the aid of the king of England, whose friendship was of the +greatest importance to each of them, and who was by no means loath to +take a hand in European affairs. Henry VIII had succeeded his father +(Henry VII) in 1509 at the age of eighteen. Like Francis, he was +good-looking and graceful, and in his early years made a very happy +impression upon those who came in contact with him. He gained much +popularity by condemning to death the two men who had been most active +in extorting the "benevolences" which his father had been wont to +require of unwilling givers. With a small but important class, his +learning brought him credit. He married, for his first wife, an aunt of +Charles V, Catherine of Aragon, and chose as his chief adviser Thomas +Wolsey, whose career and sudden downfall were to be strangely associated +with the fate of the unfortunate Spanish princess.[261] + +[Sidenote: Charles V goes to Germany.] + +In 1520 Charles V started for Germany to receive the imperial crown at +Aix-la-Chapelle. On his way he landed in England with the purpose of +keeping Henry from forming an alliance with Francis. He judged the best +means to be that of freely bribing Wolsey, who had been made a cardinal +by Leo X, and who was all-powerful with Henry. Charles therefore +bestowed on the cardinal a large annuity in addition to one which he had +granted him somewhat earlier. He then set sail for the Netherlands, +where he was duly crowned king of the Romans. From there he proceeded, +for the first time, to Germany, where he summoned his first diet at +Worms. The most important business of the assembly proved to be the +consideration of the case of a university professor, Martin Luther, who +was accused of writing heretical books, and who had in reality begun +what proved to be the first successful revolt against the seemingly +all-powerful mediæval Church. + + + General Reading.--For the Italian wars of Charles VIII and Louis + XII, _Cambridge Modern History_ (The Macmillan Company, $3.75 per + vol.), Vol. I, Chapter IV; JOHNSON, _Europe in the Sixteenth + Century_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.75), Chapter I; DYER and + HASSALL, _Modern Europe_ (The Macmillan Company, 6 vols., $2.00 + each), Vol. I; CREIGHTON, _History of the Papacy_ (see above, p. + 320), Vols. IV, V. For Savonarola, _Cambridge Modern History_, Vol. + I, Chapter V; CREIGHTON, Vol. IV, Chapter VIII; LEA, _History of + the Inquisition_ (see above, p. 232), Vol. III, pp. 209-237; + SYMONDS, _Age of Despots_ (see above, p. 352), Chapter IX; PASTOR, + _History of the Popes_ (see above, p. 320), Vol. V. For Spain, + _Cambridge Modern History_, Vol. I, Chapter XI. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +GERMANY BEFORE THE PROTESTANT REVOLT + + +[Sidenote: Two unsuccessful revolts preceded the Protestant revolution.] + +133. By far the most important event in the sixteenth century and one of +the most momentous in the history of the western world, was the revolt +of a considerable portion of northern and western Europe from the +mediæval Church. There had been but two serious rebellions earlier. The +first of these was that of the Albigenses in southern France in the +thirteenth century; this had been fearfully punished, and the +Inquisition had been established to ferret out and bring to trial those +who were disloyal to the Church. Then, some two centuries later, the +Bohemians, under the inspiration of Wycliffe's writings, had attempted +to introduce customs different from those which prevailed elsewhere in +the Church. They, too, had been forced, after a terrific series of +conflicts, once more to accept the old system. + +[Sidenote: Luther secedes from the Church, 1520.] + +Finally, however, in spite of the great strength and the wonderful +organization of the Church, it became apparent that it was no longer +possible to keep all of western Europe under the sway of the pope. In +the autumn of 1520, Professor Martin Luther called together the students +of the University of Wittenberg, led them outside the town walls, and +there burned the constitution and statutes of the mediæval Church, i.e., +the canon law. In this way he publicly proclaimed and illustrated his +purpose to repudiate the existing Church with many of its doctrines and +practices. Its head he defied by destroying the papal bull directed +against his teachings. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the two great religious parties in western +Europe,--the Catholics and Protestants.] + +Other leaders, in Germany, Switzerland, England, and elsewhere, +organized separate revolts; rulers decided to accept the teachings of +the reformers, and used their power to promote the establishment of +churches independent of the pope. In this way western Europe came to be +divided into two great religious parties. The majority of its people +continued to regard the pope as their religious head and to accept the +institutions under which their forefathers had lived since the times of +Theodosius. In general, those regions (except England) which had formed +a part of the Roman empire remained Roman Catholic in their belief. On +the other hand, northern Germany, a part of Switzerland, England, +Scotland, and the Scandinavian countries sooner or later rejected the +headship of the pope and many of the institutions and doctrines of the +mediæval Church, and organized new religious institutions. The +Protestants, as those who seceded from the Church of Rome were called, +by no means agreed among themselves what particular system should +replace the old one. They were at one, however, in ceasing to obey the +pope and in proposing to revert to the early Church as their model and +accepting the Bible as their sole guide.[262] + +[Sidenote: Revolt against the mediæval Church implied a general +revolution.] + +To revolt against the Church was to inaugurate a fundamental revolution +in many of the habits and customs of the people. It was not merely a +change of religious belief, for the Church permeated every occupation +and dominated every social interest. For centuries it had directed and +largely controlled education, high and low. Each and every important act +in the home, in the guild, in the town, was accompanied by religious +ceremonies. The clergy of the Roman Catholic Church had hitherto written +most of the books; they sat in the government assemblies, acted as the +rulers' most trusted ministers, constituted, in short, outside of Italy, +the only really educated class. Their rôle and the rôle of the Church +were incomparably more important than that of any church which exists +to-day. + +[Sidenote: The wars of religion.] + +Just as the mediæval Church was by no means an exclusively religious +institution, so the Protestant revolt was by no means simply a religious +change, but a social and political one as well. The conflicts which the +attempt to overthrow this institution, or rather social order, brought +about were necessarily terrific. They lasted for more than two centuries +and left no interest, public or private, social or individual, earthly +or heavenly, unaffected. Nation rose against nation, kingdom against +kingdom; households were divided among themselves; wars and commotion, +wrath and desolation, treachery and cruelty filled the states of western +Europe. + +Our present object is to learn how this successful revolt came about, +what was its real nature, and why the results were what they were. In +order to do this, it is necessary to turn to the Germany in which Luther +lived and see how the nation had been prepared to sympathize with his +attack on the Church. + +[Sidenote: Germany of to-day.] + +134. To us to-day, Germany means the German Empire, one of the three or +four best organized and most powerful of the European states. It is a +compact federation, somewhat like that of the United States, made up of +twenty-two monarchies and three little city republics. Each member of +the union manages its local affairs, but leaves all questions of +national importance to be settled by the central government at Berlin. +This federation is, however, of very recent date, being scarcely more +than thirty years old. + +[Sidenote: The 'Germanies' of the sixteenth century.] + +In the time of Charles V there was no such Germany as this, but only +what the French called "the Germanies"; i.e., two or three hundred +states, which differed greatly from one another in size and character. +One had a duke, another a count at its head, while some were ruled over +by archbishops, bishops, or abbots. There were many cities, like +Nuremberg, Augsburg, Frankfort, and Cologne, which were just as +independent as the great duchies of Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Saxony. +Lastly there were the knights, whose possessions might consist of no +more than a single strong castle with a wretched village lying at its +foot. Their trifling territories must, however, be called states; for +some of the knights were at that time as sovereign and independent as +the elector of Brandenburg, who was one day to become the king of +Prussia, and long after, the emperor of Germany. + +[Illustration: GERMANY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Sidenote: The seven electors and the other greater German princes.] + +As for the emperor, he no longer had any power to control his vassals. +He could boast of unlimited pretensions and a great past, but he had +neither money nor soldiers. At the time of Luther's birth the +poverty-stricken Frederick III might have been seen picking up a free +meal at a monastery, or riding behind a slow but economical ox team. The +real power in Germany lay in the hands of the more important vassals. +First and foremost among these were the seven electors, so called +because, since the thirteenth century, they had enjoyed the right to +elect the emperor. Three of them were archbishops--kings in all but name +of considerable territories on the Rhine, namely, of the electorates of +Mayence, Treves, and Cologne.[263] Near them, to the south, was the +region ruled over by the elector of the Palatinate; to the northeast +were the territories of the electors of Brandenburg and of Saxony; the +king of Bohemia made the seventh of the group. Beside these states, the +dominions of other rulers scarcely less important than the electors +appear on the map. Some of these territories, like Würtemberg, Bavaria, +Hesse, and Baden, are familiar to us to-day as members of the present +German empire, but all of them have been much enlarged since the +sixteenth century by the absorption of the little states that formerly +lay within and about them.[264] + +[Sidenote: The towns.] + +The towns, which had grown up since the great economic revolution that +had brought in commerce and the use of money in the thirteenth century, +were centers of culture in the north of Europe, just as those of Italy +were in the south. Nuremberg, the most beautiful of the German cities, +still possesses a great part of the extraordinary buildings and works of +art which it produced in the sixteenth century. Some of the towns held +directly of the emperor, and were consequently independent of the +particular prince within whose territory they were situated. These were +called _free_, or _imperial_, cities and must be reckoned among the +states of Germany. + +[Illustration: Wall of the formerly Free Town of Rothenburg] + +[Sidenote: The knights.] + +The knights, who ruled over the smallest of the German territories, had +once formed an important military class, but the invention of gunpowder +and of new methods of fighting had made their individual prowess of +little avail. As their tiny realms were often too small to support them, +they frequently turned to out-and-out robbery for a living. They hated +the cities because the prosperous burghers were able to live in a +luxurious comfort which the poor knights envied but could not imitate. +They hated the princes because these were anxious to incorporate into +their own territories the inconvenient little districts controlled by +the knights, many of whom, like the free cities, held directly of the +emperor, and were consequently practically independent. + +[Sidenote: Complexity of the map of Germany.] + +It would be no easy task to make a map of Germany in the time of Charles +V sufficiently detailed to show all the states and scattered fragments +of states. If, for example, the accompanying map were much larger and +indicated all the divisions, it would be seen that the territory of the +city of Ulm completely surrounded the microscopic possessions of a +certain knight, the lord of Eybach, and two districts belonging to the +abbot of Elchingen. On its borders lay the territories of four +knights,--the lords of Rechberg, Stotzingen, Erbach, and +Wiesensteig,--and of the abbots of Söflingen and Wiblingen, besides +portions of Würtemberg and outlying Austrian possessions. The main cause +of this bewildering subdivision of Germany was the habit of dealing with +a principality as if it were merely private property which might be +divided up among several children, or disposed of piecemeal, quite +regardless of the wishes of the inhabitants. + +[Sidenote: No central power to maintain order.] + +[Sidenote: Neighborhood war.] + +It is clear that these states, little and big, all tangled up with one +another, would be sure to have disputes among themselves which would +have to be settled in some way. It would appear to have been absolutely +necessary under the circumstances that there should be some superior +court or judge to adjust differences between the many members of the +empire, as well as a military or police force to carry out the will of +the tribunal, should one of the parties concerned resist its decrees. +But although there was an imperial court, it followed the emperor about +and was therefore hard to get at. Moreover, even if a decision was +obtained from it, there was no way for the aggrieved party to secure +the execution of the judgment, for the emperor had no force sufficient +to coerce the larger states. The natural result was a resort to +self-help. Neighborhood war was permitted by law if only some courteous +preliminaries were observed. For instance, a prince or town was required +to give warning three days in advance before attacking another member of +the empire.[265] + +[Sidenote: The German diet.] + +[Sidenote: Effort to better the German government.] + +Toward the end of the fifteenth century the terrible disorder and +uncertainty which resulted from the absence of a strong central +government led to serious efforts upon the part of the _diet_, or +national assembly, to remedy the evils. It was proposed to establish a +court to settle all disputes which should arise among the rulers of the +various states. This was to be held permanently in some convenient +place. The empire was also to be divided into districts, or "circles," +in each of which a military force was to be organized and maintained to +carry out the law and the decisions of the court. Little was +accomplished, however, for some years, although the diet met more +frequently and regularly, and this gave an opportunity to discuss public +questions. The towns began to send delegates to the diet in 1487, but +the restless knights and some of the other minor nobles had no part in +the deliberations and did not always feel that the decisions of the +assembly were binding upon them. Of the diets which met almost every +year during the Lutheran period in some one of the great German cities, +we shall hear more later. + +[Sidenote: Contradiction between Catholic and Protestant writers.] + +135. It is natural that Protestant and Catholic writers should differ in +their views of Germany at this period. Among Protestants there has +always been a tendency to see the dark side of affairs, for this exalted +the work of Luther and made him appear the savior of his people. On the +other hand, the Catholic historians have devoted years of research to an +attempt to prove that conditions were, on the whole, happy and serene +and full of hope for the future before Luther and the other +revolutionary leaders brought division and ruin upon the fatherland by +attacking the Church. + +[Sidenote: Corresponding contradictions in the conditions in Germany.] + +As a matter of fact, the life and thought of Germany during the fifty +years preceding the opening of the Protestant revolt present all sorts +of contradictions and anomalies. The period was one of marked progress. +The people were eager to learn, and they rejoiced in the recent +invention of printing which brought them the new learning from Italy and +hints of another world beyond the seas. Foreigners who visited Germany +were astonished at the prosperity, wealth, and luxury of the rich +merchants, who often spent their money in the encouragement of art and +literature and in the founding of schools and libraries. + +On the other hand, there was great ill feeling between the various +classes--the petty princes, the townspeople, the knights, and the +peasants. It was generally believed by the other classes that the wealth +of the merchants could only be accounted for by deceit, usury, and sharp +dealing. Never was begging more prevalent, superstition more rife, +vulgarity and coarseness more apparent. Attempts to reform the +government and stop neighborhood war met with little success. Moreover, +the Turks were advancing steadily upon Christendom. The people were +commanded by the pope to send up a prayer each day as the noon bell +rang, that God might deliver them from the on-coming infidel. + +Yet we need not be astonished by these contradictions, for history +teaches that all periods of progress are full of them. Any newspaper +will show how true this is to-day: we are, as a nation, good and bad, +rich and poor, peaceful and warlike, learned and ignorant, satisfied and +discontented, civilized and barbarous, all at once. + +[Sidenote: Four important characteristics of the time which serve to +explain the Protestant revolt.] + +In considering the condition of the Church and of religion in Germany, +four things are particularly important as explaining the origin and +character of the Protestant revolt. First, there was an extraordinary +enthusiasm for all the pomp and ceremony of the old religion, and a +great confidence in pilgrimages, relics, miracles, and all those things +which the Protestants were soon to discard. Secondly, there was a +tendency to read the Bible and to dwell upon the attitude of the sinner +toward God, rather than upon the external acts of religion. Thirdly, +there was a conviction, especially among scholars, that the theologians +had made religion needlessly complicated with their fine-spun logical +distinctions. And lastly, there was the old and very general belief that +the Italian prelates, including the pope, were always inventing new +plans for getting money out of the Germans, whom they regarded as a +stupid people, easily hoodwinked. These four matters we shall consider +in turn. + +[Sidenote: Enthusiasm for religious ceremonies and observances.] + +136. Never had the many ceremonies and observances of the mediæval +Church attracted more attention or been carried out on a more prodigious +scale than during the latter part of the fifteenth, and the opening +years of the sixteenth century. It seemed as if all Germany agreed to +join in one last celebration of the old religion, unprecedented in +magnificence, before its people parted into two irreconcilable parties. +Great numbers of new churches were erected, and adorned with the richest +productions of German art. Tens of thousands of pilgrims flocked to the +various sacred places, and gorgeous ecclesiastical processions moved +through the streets of the prosperous imperial towns. + +[Sidenote: Relics.] + +The princes rivaled each other in collecting the relics of saints, which +were venerated as an aid to salvation. The elector of Saxony, Frederick +the Wise, who was later to become Luther's protector, had accumulated no +less than five thousand of these sacred objects. In a catalogue of them +we find the rod of Moses, a bit of the burning bush, thread spun by the +Virgin, etc. The elector of Mayence possessed even a larger collection, +which included forty-two whole bodies of saints and some of the earth +from a field near Damascus out of which God was supposed to have created +man. + +[Sidenote: The treasury of 'good works.'] + +It was the teaching of the Church that prayers, fasts, masses, +pilgrimages, and other "good works" might be accumulated and form a +treasury of spiritual goods. Those who were wanting in good deeds might, +therefore, have their deficiencies offset by the inexhaustible surplus +of righteous deeds which had been created by Christ and the saints. + +[Sidenote: Popular reliance upon outward religious acts.] + +The idea was certainly a beautiful one, that Christians should thus be +able to help one another by their good works, and that the strong and +faithful worshiper could aid the weak and indifferent. Yet the +thoughtful teachers in the Church realized that the doctrine of the +treasury of good works might be gravely misunderstood; and there was +certainly a strong inclination among the people to believe that God +might be propitiated by various outward acts--attendance at church +ceremonies, giving of alms, the veneration of relics, the making of +pilgrimages, etc. It was clear that the hope of profiting by the good +works of others might lead to the neglect of the true welfare of the +soul. + +[Sidenote: Demand for more spiritual religion.] + +137. In spite, however, of the popular confidence in outward acts and +ceremonies, from which the heart was often absent, there were many signs +of a general longing for deeper and more spiritual religion than that of +which we have been speaking. The new art of printing was used to +increase the number of religious manuals. These all emphasized the +uselessness of outward acts without true contrition and sorrow for sin, +and urged the sinner to rely upon the love and forgiveness of God. + +[Sidenote: The Bible in German before Luther.] + +All good Christians were urged, moreover, to read the Bible, of which +there were a number of editions in German, besides little books in which +portions of the New Testament were given. There are many indications +that the Bible was commonly read before Luther's time.[266] + +It was natural, therefore, that the German people should take a great +interest in the new and better translation of the Scriptures which +Luther prepared. Preaching had also become common--as common perhaps as +it is now--before the Protestants appeared. Some towns even engaged +special preachers of known eloquence to address their citizens +regularly. + +These facts would seem to justify the conclusion that there were many +before Luther appeared who were approaching the ideas of religion which +later appealed especially to the Protestants. The insistence of the +Protestants upon salvation through faith alone in God, their suspicion +of ceremonies and "good works," their reliance upon the Bible, and the +stress they laid upon preaching,--all these were to be found in Germany +and elsewhere before Luther began to preach. + +[Sidenote: The German humanists.] + +[Sidenote: Rudolph Agricola, 1442-1485.] + +138. Among the critics of the churchmen, monks, and theologians, none +were more conspicuous than the humanists. The Renaissance in Italy, +which may be said to have begun with Petrarch and his library, has +already been described. The Petrarch of Germany was Rudolph Agricola, +who, while not absolutely the first German to dedicate himself to +classical studies, was the first who by his charming personality and +varied accomplishments stimulated others, as Petrarch had done, to carry +on the pursuits which he himself so much enjoyed. Unlike most of the +Italian humanists, however, Agricola and his followers were interested +in the language of the people as well as in Latin and Greek; and +proposed that the works of antiquity should be translated into German. +Moreover, the German humanists were generally far more serious and +devout than the Italian scholars. + +[Sidenote: The humanists desire to reform the German universities.] + +As the humanists increased in numbers and confidence they began to +criticise the excessive attention given in the German universities[267] +to logic and the scholastic theology. These studies had lost their +earlier vitality[268] and had degenerated into fruitless disputations. +The bad Latin which the professors used themselves and taught their +students, and the preference still given to Aristotle over all other +ancient writers, disgusted the humanists. They therefore undertook to +prepare new and better text-books, and proposed that the study of the +Greek and Roman poets and orators should be introduced into the schools +and colleges. Some of the classical scholars were for doing away with +theology altogether, as a vain, monkish study which only obscured the +great truths of religion. The old-fashioned professors, on their part, +naturally denounced the new learning, which they declared made pagans of +those who became enamored of it. Sometimes the humanists were permitted +to teach their favorite subjects in the universities, but as time went +on it became clear that the old and the new teachers could not work +amicably side by side. + +[Sidenote: The humanist satire on the monks and theologians, the +so-called _Letters of Obscure Men_.] + +At last, a little before Luther's public appearance, a conflict occurred +between the "poets," as the humanists were fond of calling themselves, +and the "barbarians," as they called the theologians and monkish +writers. An eminent Hebrew scholar, Reuchlin, had become involved in a +bitter controversy with the Dominican professors of the University of +Cologne. His cause was championed by the humanists, who prepared an +extraordinary satire upon their opponents. They wrote a series of +letters, which were addressed to one of the Cologne professors and +purported to be from his former students and admirers. In these letters +the writers take pains to exhibit the most shocking ignorance and +stupidity. They narrate their scandalous doings with the ostensible +purpose of obtaining advice as to the best way to get out of their +scrapes. They vituperate the humanists in comically bad Latin, which is +perhaps the best part of the joke.[269] In this way those who later +opposed Luther and his reforms were held up to ridicule in these letters +and their opposition to progress seemed clearly made out. + +[Sidenote: Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1467?-1536.] + +139. The acknowledged prince of the humanists was Erasmus. No other man +of letters, unless it be Voltaire, has ever enjoyed such a European +reputation during his lifetime. He was venerated by scholars far and +wide, even in Spain and Italy. Although he was born in Rotterdam he was +not a Dutchman, but a citizen of the world; he is, in fact, claimed by +England, France, and Germany. He lived in each of these countries for a +considerable period and in each he left his mark on the thought of the +time. Erasmus, like most of the northern humanists, was deeply +interested in religious reform, and he aspired to give the world a +higher conception of religion and the Church than that which generally +prevailed. He clearly perceived, as did all the other intelligent people +of the time, the vices of the prelates, priests, and especially of the +monks. Against the latter he had a personal grudge, for he had been +forced into a monastery when he was a boy, and always looked back to the +life there with disgust. Erasmus reached the height of his fame just +before the public appearance of Luther; consequently his writings afford +an admirable means of determining how he and his innumerable admirers +felt about the Church and the clergy before the opening of the great +revolt. + +[Sidenote: Erasmus' edition of the New Testament.] + +Erasmus spent some time in England between the years 1498 and 1506, and +made friends of the scholars there. He was especially fond of Sir Thomas +More, who wrote the famous _Utopia_, and of a young man, John Colet, who +was lecturing at Oxford upon the Epistles of St. Paul.[270] Colet's +enthusiasm for Paul appears to have led Erasmus to direct his vast +knowledge of the ancient languages to the explanation of the New +Testament. This was only known in the common Latin version (the +Vulgate), into which many mistakes and misapprehensions had crept. +Erasmus felt that the first thing to do, in order to promote higher +ideas of Christianity, was to purify the sources of the faith by +preparing a correct edition of the New Testament. Accordingly, in 1516, +he published the original Greek text with a new Latin translation and +explanations which mercilessly exposed the mistakes of the great body of +theologians. + +[Illustration: Portrait of Erasmus by Holbein] + +Erasmus would have had the Bible in the hands of every one. In the +introduction to his edition of the New Testament he says that women +should read the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul as well as the men. +The peasant in the field, the artisan in his shop, and the traveler on +the highroad should while away the time with passages from the Bible. + +[Sidenote: Erasmus' idea of true religion.] + +Erasmus believed that the two arch enemies of true religion were (1) +paganism,--into which many of the more enthusiastic Italian humanists +fell in their admiration for the ancient literatures,--and (2) the +popular confidence in mere outward acts and ceremonies, like visiting +the graves of saints, the mechanical repetition of prayers, and so +forth. He claimed that the Church had become careless and had permitted +the simple teachings of Christ to be buried under myriads of dogmas +introduced by the theologians. "The essence of our religion," he says, +"is peace and harmony. These can only exist where there are few dogmas +and each individual is left to form his own opinion upon many matters." + +[Sidenote: In his _Praise of Folly_ Erasmus attacks the evils in the +Church.] + +In his celebrated _Praise of Folly_,[271] Erasmus has much to say of the +weaknesses of the monks and theologians, and of the foolish people who +thought that religion consisted simply in pilgrimages, the worship of +relics, and the procuring of indulgences. Scarcely one of the abuses +which Luther later attacked escaped Erasmus' satirical pen. The book is +a mixture of the lightest humor and the bitterest earnestness. As one +turns its pages one is sometimes tempted to think Luther half right when +he declared Erasmus "a regular jester who makes sport of everything, +even of religion and Christ himself." Yet there was in this humorist a +deep seriousness that cannot be ignored. Erasmus was really directing +his extraordinary industry, knowledge, and insight, not toward a revival +of classical literature, but to _a renaissance of Christianity_. He +believed, however, that revolt from the pope and the Church would +produce a great disturbance and result in more harm than good. He +preferred to trust in the slower but surer effects of enlightenment and +knowledge. Popular superstitions and any undue regard for the outward +forms of religion would, he argued, be outgrown and quietly disappear as +mankind became more cultivated. + +To Erasmus and his many sympathizers, culture, promoted especially by +classical studies, should be the chief agency in religious reform. +Nevertheless, just as Erasmus thought that his dreams of a peaceful +reform were to be realized, as he saw the friends and patrons of +literature,--Maximilian, Henry VIII, Francis I,--on the thrones of +Europe, and a humanist pope, Leo X, at the head of the Church, a very +different revolution from that which he had planned, had begun and was +to embitter his declining years. + +[Sidenote: Sources of discontent in Germany with the policy of the papal +court.] + +140. The grudge of Germany against the papal court never found a more +eloquent expression than in the verses of its greatest minnesinger, +Walther von der Vogelweide. Three hundred years before Luther's time he +declared that the pope was making merry over the stupid Germans. "All +their goods will be mine, their silver is flowing into my far-away +chest; their priests are living on poultry and wine and leaving the +silly layman to fast." Similar sentiments may be found in the German +writers of all the following generations. Every one of the sources of +discontent with the financial administration of the Church which the +councils had tried to correct[272] was particularly apparent in Germany. +The great German prelates, like the archbishops of Mayence, Treves, +Cologne, and Salzburg, were each required to contribute no less than ten +thousand gold guldens to the papal treasury upon having their election +duly confirmed by the pope; and many thousands more were expected from +them when they received the pallium.[273] The pope enjoyed the right to +fill many important benefices in Germany, and frequently appointed +Italians, who drew the revenue without dreaming of performing any of the +duties attached to the office. A single person frequently held several +church offices. For example, early in the sixteenth century, the +Archbishop of Mayence was at the same time Archbishop of Magdeburg and +Bishop of Halberstadt. In some instances a single person had accumulated +over a score of benefices. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the impression of deep and widespread +discontent with the condition of the Church which one meets in the +writings of the early sixteenth century. The whole German people, from +the rulers down to the humblest tiller of the fields, felt themselves +unjustly used. The clergy were denounced as both immoral and +inefficient. One devout writer exclaims that young men are considered +quite good enough to be priests to whom one would not intrust the care +of a cow. While the begging friars--the Franciscans, Dominicans, and +Augustinians[274]--were scorned by many, they, rather than the secular +clergy, appear to have carried on the real religious work. It was an +Augustinian monk, we shall find, who preached the new gospel of +justification by faith. + +Very few indeed thought of withdrawing from the Church or of attempting +to destroy the power of the pope. All that most of the Germans wished +was that the money which, on one pretense or another, flowed toward Rome +should be kept at home, and that the clergy should be upright, earnest +men who should conscientiously perform their religious duties. One +patriotic writer, however, Ulrich von Hutten, was preaching something +very like revolution at the same time that Luther began his attack on +the pope. + +[Sidenote: Ulrich von Hutten, 1488-1523.] + +Hutten was the son of a poor knight, but early tired of the monotonous +life of the castle and determined to seek the universities and acquaint +himself with the ancient literatures, of which so much was being said. +In order to carry on his studies he visited Italy and there formed a +most unfavorable impression of the papal court and of the Italian +churchmen, whom he believed to be oppressing his beloved fatherland. +When the _Letters of Obscure Men_ appeared, he was so delighted with +them that he prepared a supplementary series in which he freely +satirized the theologians. Soon he began to write in German as well as +in Latin, in order the more readily to reach the ears of the people. In +one of his pamphlets attacking the popes he explains that he has himself +seen how Leo X spends the money which the Germans send him. A part goes +to his relatives, a part to maintain the luxurious papal court, and a +part to worthless companions and attendants, whose lives would shock any +honest Christian. + +In Germany, of all the countries of Europe, conditions were such that +Luther's appearance wrought like an electric shock throughout the +nation, leaving no class unaffected. Throughout the land there was +discontent and a yearning for betterment. Very various, to be sure, were +the particular longings of the prince and the scholar, of knight, +burgher, and peasant; but almost all were ready to consider, at least, +the teachings of one who presented to them a new conception of salvation +which made the old Church superfluous. + + + General Reading.--The most complete account of the conditions in + Germany before Luther is to be found in JANSSEN, _History of the + German People_ (Herder, Vols. I and II, $6.25). _Cambridge Modern + History_ (The Macmillan Company, $3.75 per vol.), Vol. I, Chapters + IX and XIX; CREIGHTON, _History of the Papacy_ (see Vol. I, p. + 320), Vol. VI, Chapters I and II; and BEARD, _Martin Luther_ (P. + Green, London, $1.60), Chapters I and III, are excellent treatments + of the subject. For Erasmus, see EMERTON'S charming _Desiderius + Erasmus_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.50), which gives a considerable + number of his letters. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS REVOLT AGAINST THE CHURCH + + +[Sidenote: Luther's birth and education.] + +141. Martin Luther was of peasant origin. His father was very poor, and +was trying his fortune as a miner near the Harz Mountains when his +eldest son, Martin, was born in 1483. Martin sometimes spoke, in later +life, of the poverty and superstition which surrounded him in his +childhood; of how his mother carried on her back the wood for the +household and told him stories of a witch who had made away with the +village priest. The boy was sent early to school, for his father was +determined that his eldest son should be a lawyer. At eighteen, Martin +entered the greatest of the north-German universities, at Erfurt, where +he spent four years. There he became acquainted with some of the young +humanists, for example, the one who is supposed to have written a great +part of the _Letters of Obscure Men_. He was interested in the various +classical writers, but devoted the usual attention to logic and +Aristotle. + +[Sidenote: Luther decides to become a monk.] + +Suddenly, when he had completed his college course and was ready to +enter the law school, he called his friends together for one last hour +of pleasure, and the next morning he led them to the gate of an +Augustinian monastery, where he bade them farewell and turning his back +on the world became a mendicant friar. That day, July 17, 1505, when the +young master of arts, regardless of his father's anger and +disappointment, sought salvation within the walls of a monastery, was +the beginning of a religious experiment which had momentous consequences +for the world. + +[Sidenote: Luther's disappointment in the monastery.] + +Luther later declared that "if ever a monk got to heaven through +monkery," he was assuredly among those who merited salvation. So great +was his ardor, so nervously anxious was he to save his soul by the +commonly recognized means of fasts, vigils, prolonged prayers, and a +constant disregard of the usual rules of health, that he soon could no +longer sleep. He fell into despondency, and finally into despair. The +ordinary observance of the rules of the monastery, which satisfied most +of the monks, failed to give him peace. He felt that even if he +outwardly did right he could never purify all his thoughts and desires. +His experience led him to conclude that neither the Church nor the +monastery provided any device which enabled him to keep his affections +always centered on what he knew to be holy and right. Therefore they +seemed to him to fail and to leave him, at heart, a hopelessly corrupt +sinner, justly under God's condemnation. + +[Sidenote: Justification by faith, not through 'good works.'] + +Gradually a new view of Christianity came to him. The head of the +monastery bade him trust in God's goodness and mercy and not to rely +upon his own "good works." He began to study the writings of St. Paul +and of Augustine, and from them was led to conclude that man was +incapable, in the sight of God, of any good works whatsoever, and could +only be saved by faith in God's promises. This gave him much comfort, +but it took him years to clarify his ideas and to reach the conclusion +that the existing Church was opposed to the idea of justification by +faith, because it fostered what seemed to him a delusive confidence in +"good works." He was thirty-seven years old before he finally became +convinced that it was his duty to become the leader in the destruction +of the old order. + +[Sidenote: Luther becomes a teacher in the University of Wittenberg, +1508.] + +It was no new thing for a young monk, suddenly cut off from the sunshine +and hoping for speedy spiritual peace, to suffer disappointment and fall +into gloomy forebodings, as did Brother Martin. He, however, having +fought the battle through to victory, was soon placed in a position to +bring comfort to others similarly afflicted with doubts as to their +power to please God. In 1508 he was called to the new university which +Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, had established at Wittenberg. We +know little of his early years as a professor, but he soon began to +lecture on the epistles of Paul and to teach his students the doctrine +of justification by faith. + +[Illustration: Luther] + +[Sidenote: Luther's visit to Rome.] + +Luther had as yet no idea of attacking the Church. When, about 1511, he +journeyed to Rome on business of his order, he devoutly visited all the +holy places for the good of his soul, and was almost tempted to wish +that his father and mother were dead, so that he might free them from +purgatory by his pious observances. Yet he was shocked by the impiety of +the Italian churchmen and the scandalous stories about popes Alexander +VI and Julius II, the latter of whom was just then engaged in his +warlike expeditions into northern Italy. The evidences of immorality on +the part of the popes may well have made it easier for him later to +reach the conclusion that the head of the Church was the chief enemy of +religion. + +[Sidenote: Luther teaches a new kind of theology.] + +Before long he began to encourage his students to defend his favorite +beliefs in the debates in which they took part. For instance, one of the +candidates for a degree, under Luther's inspiration, attacked the old +theology against which the humanists had been fighting. "It is an +error," he says, "to declare that no one can become a theologian without +Aristotle; on the contrary, no one can become a theologian except it be +without him." Luther desired the students to rely upon the Bible, +Paul's writings above all, and upon the church fathers, especially +Augustine.[275] + +[Sidenote: Luther's theses on indulgences.] + +142. In October, 1517, Tetzel, a Dominican monk, began granting +indulgences in the neighborhood of Wittenberg, and making claims for +them which appeared to Luther wholly irreconcilable with the deepest +truths of Christianity as he understood and taught them. He therefore, +in accordance with the custom of the time, wrote out a series of +ninety-five statements in regard to indulgences. These he posted on the +church door and invited any one interested in the matter to enter into a +discussion with him on the subject, which he believed was very ill +understood. In posting these _theses_, as they were called, Luther did +not intend to attack the Church, and had no expectation of creating a +sensation. The theses were in Latin and addressed only to scholars. It +turned out, however, that every one, high and low, learned and +unlearned, was ready to discuss the perplexing theme of the nature of +indulgences. The theses were promptly translated into German, printed, +and scattered throughout the land. + +[Sidenote: The nature of indulgences.] + +In order to understand the indulgence, it must be remembered that the +priest had the right to forgive the sin of the truly contrite sinner who +had duly confessed his evil deeds.[276] Absolution freed the sinner from +the deadly guilt which would otherwise have dragged him down to hell, +but it did not free him from the penalties which God, or his +representative, the priest, might choose to impose upon him. Serious +penances had earlier been imposed by the Church for wrongdoing, but in +Luther's time the sinner who had been absolved was chiefly afraid of the +sufferings reserved for him in purgatory. It was there that his soul +would be purified by suffering and prepared for heaven. The indulgence +was a pardon, usually granted by the pope, through which the contrite +sinner escaped a part, or all, of the punishment which remained even +after he had been absolved. The pardon did not therefore forgive the +guilt of the sinner, for that had necessarily to be removed before the +indulgence was granted; it only removed or mitigated the penalties which +even the forgiven sinner would, without the indulgence, have expected to +undergo in purgatory.[277] + +The first indulgences for the _dead_ had been granted shortly before the +time of Luther's birth. By securing one of these, the relatives or +friends of those in purgatory might reduce the period of torment which +the sufferers had to undergo before they could be admitted to heaven. +Those who were in purgatory had, of course, been duly absolved of the +guilt of their sins before their death; otherwise their souls would have +been lost and the indulgence could not advantage them in any way. + +[Sidenote: Leo X issues indulgences in connection with the rebuilding of +St. Peter's.] + +With a view of obtaining funds from the Germans to continue the +reconstruction of the great church of St. Peter,[278] Leo X had arranged +for the extensive grant of indulgences, both for the living and for the +dead. The contribution for them varied greatly; the rich were required +to pay a considerable sum, while the _very_ poor were to receive these +pardons gratis. The representatives of the pope were naturally anxious +to collect all the money possible, and did their best to induce every +one to secure an indulgence, either for himself or for his deceased +friends in purgatory. In their zeal they made many reckless claims for +the indulgences, to which no thoughtful churchman or even layman could +listen without misgivings. + +[Sidenote: Contents of Luther's theses.] + +Luther was not the first to criticise the current notions of +indulgences, but his theses, owing to the vigor of their language and +the existing irritation of the Germans against the administration of the +Church, first brought the subject into prominence. He declared that the +indulgence was very unimportant and that the poor man would better spend +his money for the needs of his household. The truly repentant, he +argued, do not flee punishment, but bear it willingly in sign of their +sorrow. Faith in God, not the procuring of pardons, brings forgiveness, +and every Christian who feels true contrition for his sins will receive +full remission of the punishment as well as of the guilt. Could the pope +know how his agents misled the people, he would rather have St. Peter's +burn to ashes than build it up with money gained under false pretenses. +Then, Luther adds, there is danger that the common man will ask awkward +questions. For example, "If the pope releases souls from purgatory for +money, why not for charity's sake?" or, "Since the pope is rich as +Crœsus, why does he not build St. Peter's with his own money, instead +of taking that of the poor man?"[279] + +[Sidenote: Luther summoned to Rome.] + +143. The theses were soon forwarded to Rome, and a few months after they +were posted Luther received a summons to appear at the papal court to +answer for his heretical assertions. Luther still respected the pope as +the head of the Church, but he had no wish to risk his safety by going +to Rome. As Leo X was anxious not to offend so important a person as the +elector of Saxony, who intervened for Luther, he did not press the +matter, and agreed that Luther should confer with the papal emissaries +in Germany. + +[Sidenote: The discussion continues.] + +Brother Martin was induced to keep silence for a time, but was aroused +again by a great debate arranged at Leipsic in the summer of 1519. Here +Eck, a German theologian noted for his devotion to the pope and his +great skill in debate, challenged one of Luther's colleagues, Carlstadt, +to discuss publicly some of the matters in which Luther himself was +especially interested. Luther therefore asked to be permitted to take +part. + +[Sidenote: The debate at Leipsic, 1519.] + +The discussion turned upon the powers of the pope. Luther, who had been +reading church history, declared that the pope had not enjoyed his +supremacy for more than four hundred years. This statement was +inaccurate, but, nevertheless, he had hit upon an argument against the +customs of the Roman Catholic Church which has ever since been +constantly urged by Protestants. They assert that the mediæval Church +and the papacy developed slowly, and that the apostles knew nothing of +masses, indulgences, purgatory, and the headship of the Bishop of Rome. + +[Sidenote: Eck forces Luther to admit that the Council of Constance was +wrong and Huss right.] + +Eck promptly pointed out that Luther's views resembled those of Wycliffe +and Huss, which had been condemned by the Council of Constance. Luther +was forced reluctantly to admit that the council had condemned some +thoroughly Christian teachings. This was a decisive admission. Like +other Germans, Luther had been accustomed to abhor Huss and the +Bohemians, and to regard with pride the great general Council of +Constance, which had been held in Germany and under the auspices of its +emperor. He now admitted that even a general council could err, and was +soon convinced "that we are all Hussites, without knowing it; yes, Paul +and St. Augustine were good Hussites." Luther's public encounter with a +disputant of European reputation, and the startling admissions which he +was compelled to make, first made him realize that he might become the +leader in an attack on the Church. He began to see that a great change +and upheaval was unavoidable. + +[Sidenote: Luther and the humanists natural allies.] + +144. As Luther became a confessed revolutionist he began to find friends +among other revolutionists and reformers. He had some ardent admirers +even before the disputation at Leipsic, especially at Wittenberg and in +the great city of Nuremberg. To the humanists, Luther seemed a natural +ally. They might not understand his religious beliefs, but they clearly +saw that he was beginning to attack a class of people that they +disliked, particularly the old-fashioned theologians who venerated +Aristotle. He felt, moreover, as they did in regard to the many vices in +the Church, and was becoming suspicious of the begging monks, although +he was himself at the head of the Wittenberg monastery. So those who had +defended Reuchlin were now ready to support Luther, to whom they wrote +encouraging letters. Luther's works were published by Erasmus' printer +at Basel, and sent to Italy, France, England, and Spain. + +[Sidenote: Erasmus' attitude toward the Lutheran movement.] + +But Erasmus, the mighty sovereign of the men of letters, refused to take +sides in the controversy. He asserted that he had not read more than a +dozen pages of Luther's writings. Although he admitted that "the +monarchy of the Roman high priest was, in its existing condition, the +pest of Christendom," he believed that a direct attack upon it would do +no good. Luther, he urged, would better be discreet and trust that +mankind would become more intelligent and outgrow their false ideas. + +[Sidenote: Contrast between Luther and Erasmus.] + +To Erasmus, man was capable of progress; cultivate him and extend his +knowledge, and he would grow better and better. He was a free agent, +with, on the whole, upright tendencies. To Luther, on the other hand, +man was utterly corrupt, and incapable of a single righteous wish or +deed. His will was enslaved to evil, and his only hope lay in the +recognition of his absolute inability to better himself, and in a humble +reliance upon God's mercy. By faith only, not by conduct, could he be +saved. Erasmus was willing to wait until every one agreed that the +Church should be reformed. Luther had no patience with an institution +which seemed to him to be leading souls to destruction by inducing men +to rely upon their good works. Both men realized that they could not +agree. For a time they expressed respect for each other, but at last +they became involved in a bitter controversy in which they gave up all +pretense to friendship. Erasmus declared that Luther, by scorning good +works and declaring that no one could do right, had made his followers +indifferent to their conduct, and that those who accepted Luther's +teachings straightway became pert, rude fellows, who would not take off +their hats to him on the street. + +[Sidenote: Ulrich von Hutten espouses Luther's cause.] + +Ulrich von Hutten, on the other hand, warmly espoused Luther's cause as +that of a German patriot and an opponent of Roman tyranny, intrigue, and +oppression. "Let us defend our freedom," he wrote, "and liberate the +long enslaved fatherland. We have God on our side, and if God be with +us, who can be against us?" Hutten enlisted the interest of some of the +other knights, who offered to defend Luther should the churchmen attack +him, and invited him to take refuge in their castles. + +[Sidenote: Luther begins to use violent language.] + +145. Thus encouraged, Luther, who gave way at times to his naturally +violent disposition, became threatening, and suggested that the civil +power should punish the churchmen and force them to reform their +conduct. "We punish thieves with the gallows, bandits with the sword, +heretics with fire; why should we not, with far greater propriety, +attack with every kind of weapon these very masters of perdition, the +cardinals, popes, and the whole mob in the Roman Sodom?" "The die is +cast," he writes to a friend; "I despise Rome's wrath as I do her favor; +I will have no reconciliation or intercourse with her in all time to +come. Let her condemn and burn my writings. I will, if fire can be +found, publicly condemn and burn the whole papal law." + +[Sidenote: Luther's and Hutten's appeal to the German people.] + +[Sidenote: Luther's _Address to the German Nobility_.] + +Hutten and Luther vied with one another during the year 1520 in +attacking the pope and his representatives. They both possessed a fine +command of the German language, and they were fired by a common hatred +of Rome. Hutten had little or none of Luther's religious fervor, but he +could not find colors too dark in which to picture to his countrymen +the greed of the papal curia, which he described as a vast den, to which +everything was dragged which could be filched from the Germans. Of +Luther's popular pamphlets, the first really famous one was his _Address +to the German Nobility_, in which he calls upon the rulers of Germany, +especially the knights, to reform the abuses themselves, since he +believed that it was vain to wait for the Church to do so. + +He explains that there are three walls behind which the papacy had been +wont to take refuge when any one proposed to remedy its abuses. There +was, first, the claim that the clergy formed a separate class, superior +even to the civil rulers, who might not punish a churchman, no matter +how bad he was. Secondly, the pope claimed to be superior to a council, +so that even the representatives of the Church might not correct him. +And, lastly, the pope assumed the sole right to interpret the meaning of +the Scriptures; consequently he could not be refuted by arguments from +the Bible. Thus the pope had stolen the three rods with which he might +have been punished. Luther claimed to cast down these defenses by +denying, to begin with, that there was anything especially sacred about +a clergyman except the duties which he had been designated to perform. +If he did not attend to his work he might be deprived of his office at +any moment, just as one would turn off an incompetent tailor or farmer, +and in that case he became a simple layman again. Luther claimed that it +was the right and duty of the civil government to punish a churchman who +does wrong just as if he were the humblest layman. When this first wall +was destroyed the others would fall easily enough, for the dominant +position of the clergy was the very corner stone of the mediæval +Church.[280] + +[Sidenote: Luther advocates social as well as religious reforms.] + +The pamphlet closes with a long list of evils which must be done away +with before Germany can become prosperous. Luther saw that his view of +religion really implied a social revolution. He advocated reducing the +monasteries to a tenth of their number and permitting those who were +disappointed in the good they got from living in them freely to leave. +He would not have them prisons, but hospitals and refuges for the +soul-sick. He points out the evils of pilgrimages and of the numerous +church holidays, which interfere with daily work. The clergy, he urged, +should be permitted to marry and have families like other citizens. The +universities should be reformed, and "the accursed heathen, Aristotle," +should be cast out from them. + +It should be noted that Luther appeals to the authorities not in the +name of religion chiefly, but in that of public order and prosperity. He +says that the money of the Germans flies feather-light over the Alps to +Italy, but it suddenly becomes like lead when there is a question of its +coming back. He showed himself a master of vigorous language, and his +denunciations of the clergy and the Church resounded like a trumpet call +in the ears of his countrymen. + +[Sidenote: Luther attacks the sacramental system in his _Babylonian +Captivity of the Church_, 1520.] + +Luther had said little of the doctrines of the Church in his _Address to +the German Nobility_, but within three or four months he issued a second +work, in which he sought to overthrow the whole system of the +sacraments, as it had been taught by Peter Lombard and the theologians +of the thirteenth century.[281] Four of the seven +sacraments--ordination, marriage, confirmation, and extreme unction--he +rejected altogether. He completely revised the conception of the Mass, +or the Lord's Supper. He stripped the priest of his singular powers by +denying that he performed the miracle of transubstantiation or offered +a sacrifice for the living and the dead when he officiated at the Lord's +Supper. The priest was, in his eyes, only a minister, in the Protestant +sense of the word, one of whose chief functions was preaching. + +[Sidenote: Luther excommunicated.] + +146. Luther had long expected to be excommunicated. But it was not until +late in 1520 that his adversary, Eck, arrived in Germany with a papal +bull condemning many of Luther's assertions as heretical and giving him +sixty days in which to recant. Should he fail to come to himself within +that time, he and all who adhered to or favored him were to be +excommunicated, and any place which harbored him should fall under the +interdict. Now, since the highest power in Christendom had pronounced +Luther a heretic, he should unhesitatingly have been delivered up by the +German authorities. But no one thought of arresting him. + +[Sidenote: The German authorities reluctant to publish the bull against +Luther.] + +The bull irritated the German princes; whether they liked Luther or not, +they decidedly disliked to have the pope issuing commands to them. Then +it appeared to them very unfair that Luther's personal enemy should have +been intrusted with the publication of the bull. Even the princes and +universities that were most friendly to the pope published the bull with +great reluctance. The students of Erfurt and Leipsic pursued Eck with +pointed allusions to Pharisees and devil's emissaries. In many cases the +bull was ignored altogether. Luther's own sovereign, the elector of +Saxony, while no convert to the new views, was anxious that Luther's +case should be fairly considered, and continued to protect him. One +mighty prince, however, the young emperor Charles V, promptly and +willingly published the bull; not, however, as emperor, but as ruler of +the Austrian dominions and of the Netherlands. Luther's works were +burned at Louvain, Mayence, and Cologne, the strongholds of the old +theology. + +[Sidenote: Luther defies pope and emperor.] + +"Hard it is," Luther exclaimed, "to be forced to contradict all the +prelates and princes, but there is no other way to escape hell and +God's anger." Never had one man so unreservedly declared war upon pretty +much the whole consecrated order of things. As one power arrayed against +an equal, the Wittenberg professor opposed himself to pope and emperor, +giving back curse for curse and fagot for fagot. His students were +summoned to witness "the pious, religious spectacle," when he cast Leo's +bull on the fire, along with the canon law and one of the books of +scholastic theology which he most disliked. + +[Sidenote: Hutten's plan for an immediate destruction of the old +Church.] + +Never was the temptation so great for Luther to encourage a violent +demolition of the old structure of the Church as at this time. Hutten +was bent upon the speedy carrying out of the revolution which both he +and Luther were forwarding by their powerful writings. Hutten had taken +refuge in the castle of the leader of the German knights, Franz von +Sickingen, who he believed would be an admirable military commander in +the coming contest for truth and liberty. Hutten frankly proposed to the +young emperor that the papacy should be abolished, that the property of +the Church should be confiscated, and that ninety-nine out of a hundred +of the clergy should be dispensed with as superfluous. In this way +Germany would be freed, he argued, from the control of the "parsons" and +from their corruption. From the vast proceeds of the confiscation the +state might be strengthened and an army of knights might be maintained +for the defense of the empire. + +[Sidenote: Views of the papal representative on public opinion in +Germany.] + +Public opinion appeared ready for a revolution. "I am pretty familiar +with the history of this German nation," Leo's representative, Aleander, +remarked; "I know their past heresies, councils, and schisms, but never +were affairs so serious before. Compared with present conditions, the +struggle between Henry IV and Gregory VII was as violets and roses.... +These mad dogs are now well equipped with knowledge and arms; they boast +that they are no longer ignorant brutes like their predecessors; they +claim that Italy has lost the monopoly of the sciences and that the +Tiber now flows into the Rhine." "Nine-tenths of the Germans," he +calculated, "are shouting 'Luther,' and the other tenth goes so far at +least as 'Death to the Roman curia.'" + +[Sidenote: Luther's attitude toward a violent realization of his +reforms.] + +Luther was too frequently reckless and violent in his writings. He often +said that bloodshed could not be avoided when it should please God to +visit his judgments upon the stiff-necked and perverse generation of +"Romanists," as the Germans contemptuously called the supporters of the +pope. Yet he always discouraged precipitate reform. He was reluctant to +make changes, except in belief. He held that so long as an institution +did not mislead, it did no harm. He was, in short, no fanatic at heart. +The pope had established himself without force, so would he be crushed +by God's word without force. This, we may assume, was Luther's most +profound conviction, even in the first period of enthusiasm and +confidence. He perhaps never fully realized how different Hutten's ideas +were from his own, for the poet knight died while still a young man. And +as for Franz von Sickingen, Luther soon learned to execrate the +ruthless, worldly soldier who brought discredit by his violence upon the +cause of reform. + +[Sidenote: Charles V's want of sympathy with the German reformers.] + +147. Among the enemies of the German reformers none was more important +than the young emperor. It was toward the end of the year 1520 that +Charles came to Germany for the first time. After being crowned king of +the Romans at Aix-la-Chapelle, he assumed, with the pope's consent, the +title of emperor elect, as his grandfather Maximilian had done. He then +moved on to the town of Worms, where he was to hold his first diet and +face the German situation. + +Although scarcely more than a boy in years, Charles had already begun to +take life very seriously. He had decided that Spain, not Germany, was to +be the bulwark and citadel of all his realms. Like the more enlightened +of his Spanish subjects, he realized the need of reforming the Church, +but he had no sympathy whatever with any change of doctrine. He +proposed to live and die a devout Catholic of the old type, such as his +orthodox ancestors had been. He felt, moreover, that he must maintain +the same religion in all parts of his heterogeneous dominions. If he +should permit the Germans to declare their independence of the Church, +the next step would be for them to claim that they had a right to +regulate their government regardless of their emperor. + +[Sidenote: Luther summoned to the diet at Worms.] + +Upon arriving at Worms the case of Luther was at once forced upon +Charles' attention by the assiduous papal representative, Aleander, who +was indefatigable in urging him to outlaw the heretic without further +delay. While Charles seemed convinced of Luther's guilt, he could not +proceed against him without serious danger. The monk had become a +national hero and had the support of the powerful elector of Saxony. +Other princes, who had ordinarily no wish to protect a heretic, felt +that Luther's denunciation of the evils in the Church and of the actions +of the pope was very gratifying. After much discussion it was finally +arranged, to the great disgust of the zealous Aleander, that Luther +should be summoned to Worms and be given an opportunity to face the +German nation and the emperor, and to declare plainly whether he was the +author of the heretical books ascribed to him, and whether he still +adhered to the doctrines which the pope had declared wrong. + +The emperor accordingly wrote the "honorable and respected" Luther a +very polite letter, ordering him to appear at Worms and granting him a +safe-conduct thither. Luther said, on receiving the summons, that if he +was going to Worms merely to retract, he might better stay in +Wittenberg, where he could, if he would, abjure his errors quite as well +as on the Rhine. If, on the other hand, the emperor wished him to come +to Worms in order that he might be put to death, he was quite ready to +go, "for, with Christ's help, I will not flee and leave the Word in the +lurch. My revocation will be in this wise: 'Earlier I said that the +pope was God's vicar; now I revoke and say, the pope is Christ's enemy +and an envoy of the devil.'" + +148. Luther accordingly set out for Worms accompanied by the imperial +herald. He enjoyed a triumphal progress through the various places on +his way and preached repeatedly, in spite of the fact that he was an +excommunicated heretic. He found the diet in a great state of commotion. +The papal representative was the object of daily insults, and Hutten and +Sickingen talked of scattering Luther's enemies by a sally from the +neighboring castle of Ebernburg. + +[Sidenote: Luther before the diet.] + +It was not proposed to give Luther an opportunity to defend his beliefs +before the diet. When he appeared before "emperor and empire," he was +simply asked if a pile of his Latin and German works were really his, +and, if so, whether he revoked what he had said in them. To the first +question the monk replied in a low voice that he had written these and +more. As to the second question, which involved the welfare of the soul +and the Word of God, he asked that he might have a little while to +consider. + +The following day, in a Latin address which he repeated in German, he +admitted that he had been overviolent in his attacks upon his opponents; +but he said that no one could deny that, through the popes' decrees, the +consciences of faithful Christians had been miserably ensnared and +tormented, and their goods and possessions, especially in Germany, +devoured. Should he recant those things which he had said against the +pope's conduct he would only strengthen the papal tyranny and give an +opportunity for new usurpations. If, however, adequate arguments against +his position could be found in the Scriptures, he would gladly and +willingly recant. He could not, however, accept the decision either of +pope or of council, since both, he believed, had made mistakes and +contradicted themselves. "I must," he concluded, "allow my conscience +to be controlled by God's Word. Recant I can not and will not, for it is +hazardous and dishonorable to act against one's conscience." + +[Sidenote: The emperor forced by the law to outlaw Luther.] + +There was now nothing for the emperor to do but to outlaw Luther, who +had denied the binding character of the commands of the head of the +Church and of the highest Christian tribunal, a general council. His +argument that the Scriptures sustained him in his revolt could not be +considered by the diet.[282] + +[Sidenote: The Edict of Worms, 1521.] + +Aleander was accordingly assigned the agreeable duty of drafting the +famous Edict of Worms. This document declared Luther an outlaw on the +following grounds: that he disturbed the recognized number and +celebration of the sacraments, impeached the regulations in regard to +marriage, scorned and vilified the pope, despised the priesthood and +stirred up the laity to dip their hands in the blood of the clergy, +denied free will, taught licentiousness, despised authority, advocated a +brutish existence, and was a menace to Church and State alike. Every one +was forbidden to give the heretic food, drink, or shelter, and required +to seize him and deliver him to the emperor. + +Moreover, the decree provides that "no one shall dare to buy, sell, +read, preserve, copy, print, or cause to be copied or printed any books +of the aforesaid Martin Luther, condemned by our holy father the pope, +as aforesaid, or any other writings in German or Latin hitherto composed +by him, since they are foul, noxious, suspected, and published by a +notorious and stiff-necked heretic. Neither shall any one dare to affirm +his opinions, or proclaim, defend, or advance them in any other way +that human ingenuity can invent,--notwithstanding that he may have put +some good into his writings in order to deceive the simple man."[283] + +For the last time the empire had recognized its obligation to carry out +the decrees of the Bishop of Rome. "I am becoming ashamed of my +fatherland," Hutten cried. So general was the disapproval of the edict +that few were willing to pay any attention to it. Charles immediately +left Germany, and for nearly ten years was occupied outside it with the +government of Spain and a succession of wars. + + + General Reading.--BEARD, _Martin Luther_ (see above, p. 386), is + probably the best account in English of Luther before his + retirement to the Wartburg; KÖSTLIN, _Life of Luther_ (Scribner's + Sons, $2.50), is excellent. An account of Luther and Hutten by a + learned Roman Catholic writer may be found in JANSSEN, _History of + the German People_ (see above, p. 386), Vol. III; CREIGHTON, + _History of the Papacy_ (see above, p. 320), Vol. VI; Chapters III + and V are devoted to Luther and the diet of Worms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +COURSE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN GERMANY + +1521-1555 + + +[Sidenote: Luther begins a new translation of the Bible in the +Wartburg.] + +149. As Luther neared Eisenach upon his way home from Worms he was +seized by a band of men and conducted to the Wartburg, a castle +belonging to the elector of Saxony. Here he was concealed until any +danger from the action of the emperor or diet should pass by. His chief +occupation during several months of hiding was to begin a new +translation of the Bible into German. He had finished the New Testament +before he left the Wartburg in March, 1522. + +Up to this time, German editions of the Scriptures, while not uncommon, +were poor and obscure. Luther's task was a difficult one. He said with +truth that "translation is not an art to be practiced by every one; it +demands a right pious, true, industrious, reverent, Christian, +scholarly, experienced, and well-trained mind." He had studied Greek for +only two or three years, and he knew far less Hebrew than Greek. +Moreover, there was no generally accepted form of the German language of +which he could make use. Each region had its peculiar dialect which +seemed outlandish to the neighboring district. + +[Sidenote: Luther's Bible the first important book in modern German.] + +He was anxious above all that the Bible should be put into language that +would seem perfectly clear and natural to the common folk. So he went +about asking the mothers and children and the laborers questions which +might draw out the expression that he was looking for. It sometimes took +him two or three weeks to find the right word. But so well did he do +his work that his Bible may be regarded as a great landmark in the +history of the German language. It was the first book of any importance +written in modern German, and it has furnished an imperishable standard +for the language. + +[Sidenote: General discussion of public questions in pamphlets and +satires.] + +Previous to 1518 there had been very few books or pamphlets printed in +German. The translation of the Bible into language so simple that even +the unlearned might profit by it was only one of the signs of a general +effort to awaken the minds of the common people. Luther's friends and +enemies also commenced to write for the great German public in its own +language. The common man began to raise his voice, to the scandal of the +learned. + +Hundreds of pamphlets, satires, and pictorial caricatures have come down +to us which indicate that the religious and other questions of the day +were often treated in somewhat the same spirit in which our comic papers +deal with political problems and discussions now. We find, for instance, +a correspondence between Leo X and the devil, and a witty dialogue +between Franz von Sickingen and St. Peter at the gate of heaven. In the +latter Peter confesses that he has never heard of the right "to loose +and to bind," of which his successors say so much. He refuses to discuss +military matters with Sickingen, but calls in St. George, who is +supposed to be conversant with the art of war. In another satire, a +vacation visit of St. Peter to the earth is described. He is roughly +treated, especially by the soldiers at an inn, and hastens back to +heaven with a sad tale of the evil plight of Germany, of how badly +children are brought up, and how unreliable the servants are.[284] + +[Sidenote: Divergent notions of how the Church should actually be +reformed.] + +150. Hitherto there had been a great deal of talk of reform, but as yet +nothing had actually been done. There was no sharp line drawn between +the different classes of reformers. All agreed that something should be +done to better the Church, few realized how divergent were the real ends +in view. The princes listened to Luther because they hoped to control +the churchmen and their property and check the outflow of money to Rome. +The knights, under Sickingen, hated the princes, of whose increasing +power they were jealous. Their idea of "righteousness" involved the +destruction of the existing rulers and the exaltation of their own +class. The peasants heard Luther gladly because he seemed to furnish new +proofs of the injustice of the dues which they paid to their lords. The +higher clergy were bent upon escaping the papal control, and the lower +clergy wished to have their marriages sanctioned. It is clear that +religious motives must have been often subordinated to other interests. + +Disappointment and chagrin awaited Luther when each of the various +parties began to carry out its particular notions of reform. His +doctrines were misunderstood, distorted, and dishonored. He sometimes +was driven to doubt if his belief in justification by faith were not +after all a terrible mistake. His first shock came from Wittenberg. + +[Sidenote: Carlstadt advocates breaking up the monasteries.] + +While Luther was still at the Wartburg, Carlstadt, one of his colleagues +in the university, became convinced that the monks and nuns ought to +leave their cloisters and marry like other people. This was a serious +proposition for two reasons. In the first place, those who deserted the +cloister were violating an oath which they had voluntarily taken; in the +second place, if the monasteries were broken up the problem would +present itself of the disposal of the property, which had been given to +them by pious persons for the good of their souls, and with the +expectation that the monks would give the donors the benefit of their +prayers. Nevertheless, the monks began to leave Luther's own monastery, +and the students and citizens to tear down the images of the saints in +the churches. The Lord's Supper was no longer celebrated in the form of +the Mass, since that was declared to be an idolatrous worshiping of the +bread and wine. Then Carlstadt reached the conclusion that all learning +was superfluous, for the Scriptures said plainly that God had concealed +himself from the wise and revealed the truth unto babes. He astonished +the tradespeople by consulting them in regard to obscure passages in the +Bible. The school at Wittenberg was turned into a bake-shop. The +students, who had been attracted to the university from all parts of +Germany, began to return home, and the professors prepared to emigrate. + +[Sidenote: Luther returns to Wittenberg and explains his plan of reform, +1522.] + +When the news of these events reached Luther, he left his concealment, +regardless of the danger, and returned to Wittenberg. Here he preached a +series of vigorous sermons in which he pleaded for moderation and +reason. With some of the changes advocated by Carlstadt he sympathized. +He would, for instance, have done away with the adoration of the host +and the celebration of private masses. On the other hand, he disapproved +of the disorderly breaking up of the monasteries, although he held that +those who had accepted the doctrine of justification by faith might lay +aside their cowls, since they had taken their vows when they were under +the misapprehension that they could save themselves by good works. Those +who remained in the monasteries were not, moreover, to beg any longer, +but should earn an honest livelihood. + +[Sidenote: Luther advocates patience and moderation.] + +Luther felt that all changes in religious practices should be made by +the government; it should not be left to "Mr. Everybody" (_Herr Omnes_) +to determine what should be rejected and what retained. If the +authorities refused to act, then there was nothing to do but to be +patient and use one's influence for good. "Teach, speak, write, and +preach that the ordinances of man are naught. Advise that no one shall +any more become a priest, monk, or nun, and that those who occupy such +positions shall leave them. Give no more money for papal privileges, +candles, bells, votive tablets, and churches, but say that a Christian +life consists in faith and love. Let us keep this up for two years and +you will see where pope, bishop, monks, nuns, and all the hocus-pocus +of the papal government will be; it will vanish away like smoke." God, +Luther urged, has left us free to choose whether we shall marry, become +monks, fast, confess, or place images in the churches. These things are +not vital to salvation, and each may do what seems to him to be helpful +in his particular case. + +[Sidenote: Impossibility of peaceful reform.] + +Luther's plan of moderation was, however, wholly impracticable. The +enthusiasm of those who rejected the old views led to a whole-hearted +repudiation of everything which suggested their former beliefs. Few +could look with forbearance upon the symbols and practices of a form of +religion which they had learned to despise. Moreover, many who had no +deep religious feelings delighted in joining in the destruction of the +paintings, stained glass, and statues in the churches, simply from a +love of disorder. + +[Sidenote: Franz von Sickingen attacks the Archbishop of Treves.] + +151. Luther was soon to realize that a peaceful revolution was out of +the question. His knightly adherents, Hutten and Franz von Sickingen, +were the first to bring discredit upon the religious movement by their +violence. In the autumn of 1522 Sickingen declared war upon his +neighbor, the Archbishop of Treves, in order to make a beginning in the +knights' proposed attack upon the princes in general. He promised the +people of Treves "to free them from the heavy, unchristian yoke of the +parsons and to lead them into evangelical liberty." He had already +abolished the Mass in his castle and given shelter to some of Luther's +followers. But Franz, in undertaking to put the gospel, as he understood +it, in practice by arms, had other than religious motives. His +admiration of Luther probably had but little to do with his anxiety to +put down a hated ecclesiastical prince and seize his property. + +[Sidenote: Confederation of knights broken up by the princes.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Franz von Sickingen and Hutten.] + +The Archbishop of Treves proved himself a sagacious military commander +and gained the support of his subjects. Franz was forced to retire to +his castle, where he was besieged by the neighboring elector of the +Palatinate and the landgrave of Hesse, a friend of Luther's. The walls +of the stronghold were battered down by the "unchristian cannonading," +and the "executor of righteousness," as Franz was called, was fatally +injured by a falling beam. A few months later, Hutten died, a miserable +fugitive in Switzerland. A confederation of the knights, of which +Sickingen had been the head, aroused the apprehension of the princes, +who gathered sufficient forces to destroy more than twenty of the +knights' castles. So Hutten's great plan for restoring the knights to +their former influence came to a sad and sudden end. It is clear that +these men had little in common with Luther; yet they talked much of +evangelical reform, and he was naturally blamed for their misdeeds. +Those who adhered to the old Church now felt that they had conclusive +proof that heresy led to anarchy; and since it threatened the civil +government as well as the Church, they urged that it should be put down +with fire and sword. + +[Sidenote: Hadrian VI confesses the evil deeds of the papacy.] + +152. While Luther was in the Wartburg, the cultured and worldly Leo X +had died and had been succeeded by a devout professor of theology, who +had once been Charles V's tutor. The new pope, Hadrian VI, was honest +and simple, and a well-known advocate of reform without change of +belief. He believed that the German revolt was a divine judgment called +down by the wickedness of men, especially of the priests and prelates. +He freely confessed, through his legate, in a meeting of the German diet +at Nuremberg, that the popes had been perhaps the most conspicuous +sinners. "We well know that for many years the most scandalous things +have happened in this holy see [of Rome],--abuses in spiritual matters, +violations of the canons,--that, in short, everything has been just the +opposite of what it should have been. What wonder, then, if the disease +has spread from the head to the members, from the popes to the lower +clergy. We clergymen have all strayed from the right path, and for a +long time there has been no one of us righteous, no, not one." + +[Sidenote: Hadrian's denunciation of Luther.] + +In spite of this honest confession, Hadrian was unwilling to listen to +the grievances of the Germans until they had put down Luther and his +heresies. He was, the pope declared, a worse foe to Christendom than the +Turk. There could be nothing fouler or more disgraceful than Luther's +teachings. He sought to overthrow the very basis of religion and +morality. He was like Mohammed, but worse, for he would have the +consecrated monks and nuns marry. Nothing would be securely established +among men if every presumptuous upstart should insist that he had the +right to overturn everything which had been firmly established for +centuries and by saints and sages. + +[Sidenote: The action of the diet of Nuremberg, 1522.] + +The diet was much gratified by the pope's frank avowal of the sins of +his predecessors, in which it heartily concurred. It was glad that the +pope was going to begin his reform at home, but it strenuously refused +to order the enforcement of the Edict of Worms for fear of stirring up +new troubles. The Germans were too generally convinced that they were +suffering from the oppression of the Roman curia to permit Luther to be +injured. His arrest would seem an attack upon the freedom of gospel +teaching and a defence of the old system; it might even lead to civil +war. So the diet advised that a Christian council be summoned in Germany +to be made up of laymen as well as clergymen, who should be charged to +speak their opinions freely and say, not what was pleasant, but what was +true. In the meantime, only the pure gospel should be preached according +to the teaching of the Christian Church. As to the complaint of the pope +that the monks had deserted their monasteries and the priests taken +wives, these were not matters with which the civil authority had +anything to do. As the elector of Saxony observed, he paid no attention +to the monks when they ran into the monastery, and he saw no reason for +noticing when they ran out. Luther's books were, however, to be no +longer published, and learned men were to admonish the erring preachers. +Luther, himself, was to hold his peace. This doubtless gives a fair +idea of public opinion in Germany. It is noteworthy that Luther did not +seem to the diet to be a very discreet person and it showed no +particular respect for him. + +[Sidenote: Accession of Pope Clement VII.] + +153. Poor Hadrian speedily died, worn out with the vain effort to +correct the abuses close at home. He was followed by Clement VII, a +member of the house of Medici, less gifted but not less worldly than Leo +X. A new diet, called in 1524, adhered to the policy of its predecessor. +It was far from approving of Luther, but it placed no effective barrier +in the way of his work. + +[Sidenote: The formation of a Catholic party at Regensburg.] + +The papal legate, realizing the hopelessness of inducing all the members +of the diet to coöperate with him in bringing the country once more +under the pope's control, called together at Regensburg a certain number +of rulers whom he believed to be rather more favorably disposed toward +the pope than their fellows. Among these were Charles V's brother, +Ferdinand, Duke of Austria, the two dukes of Bavaria, the archbishops of +Salzburg and of Trent, and the bishops of Bamberg, Speyer, Strasburg, +etc. By means of certain concessions on the part of the pope, he induced +all these to unite in opposing the Lutheran heresy. The chief concession +was a reform decree which provided that only authorized preachers should +be tolerated, and that these should base their teaching on the works of +the four great church fathers, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory +the Great. The clergy were to be subjected to careful discipline; there +was to be no more financial oppression and no unseemly payments demanded +for performing the church services. Abuses arising from the granting of +indulgences were to be remedied and the excessive number of holidays +reduced. + +[Sidenote: Religious division of Germany.] + +[Sidenote: Beginning of a reform within the Catholic Church.] + +This agreement of Regensburg is of great importance, for it served to +separate Germany into two camps. Austria, Bavaria, and the great +ecclesiastical states in the south definitely took sides with the pope +against Luther, and to this day they still remain Catholic countries. +In the north, on the other hand, it became more and more apparent that +the princes proposed to secede from the Catholic Church. Moreover, the +skillful diplomacy of the papal legate was really the beginning of a +reformation of the old Church in Germany. Many of the abuses were done +away with, and the demand for reform, without revolution in doctrine and +institutions, was thereby gratified.[285] A German Bible for Catholic +readers was soon issued, and a new religious literature grew up designed +to prove the truth of the beliefs sanctioned by the Roman Catholic +Church and to spiritualize its institutions and rites. + +[Sidenote: Luther's rash talk about the princes and nobles serves to +encourage the revolt of the peasants.] + +154. In 1525 the conservative party, who were frankly afraid of Luther, +received a new and terrible proof, as it seemed to them, of the noxious +influence of his teachings. The peasants rose, in the name of "God's +justice," to avenge their wrongs and establish their rights. Luther was +not responsible for the civil war which ensued, but he had certainly +helped to stir up discontent. He had asserted that, owing to the habit +of foreclosing small mortgages, "any one with a hundred guldens could +gobble up a peasant a year." The German feudal lords he had declared to +be hangmen, who knew only how to swindle the poor man. "Such fellows +were formerly called rascals, but now must we call them 'Christian and +revered princes.'" Wise rulers are rare indeed: "they are usually either +great fools or the worst rogues on earth." Yet in spite of his harsh +talk about the princes, Luther really relied upon them to forward his +movement, and he justly claimed that he had greatly increased their +power by destroying the authority of the pope and subjecting the clergy +in all things to the government. + +[Sidenote: The demands of the peasants in the 'Twelve Articles.'] + +Some of the demands of the peasants were perfectly reasonable. The most +popular expression of their needs was the dignified "Twelve +Articles."[286] In these they claimed that the Bible did not sanction +many of the dues which the lords demanded of them, and that as +Christians they should no longer be held as serfs. They were willing to +pay all the old and well-established dues, but they asked to be properly +remunerated for extra services demanded by the lord. They thought too +that each community should have the right freely to choose its own +pastor and to dismiss him if he proved negligent or inefficient. + +[Sidenote: Demands of the working classes of the towns.] + +Much more radical demands came from the working classes in the towns, +who in some cases joined the country people in their revolt. The +articles drawn up in the town of Heilbronn, for example, give a good +idea of the sources of discontent. The church property was to be +confiscated and used for the good of the community, except in so far as +it was necessary to support the pastors chosen by the people. The clergy +and nobility were to be deprived of all their privileges and powers, so +that they could no longer oppress the poor man. + +[Sidenote: Luther urges the government to suppress the revolt.] + +There were, moreover, leaders who were still more violent, who proposed +to kill the "godless" priests and nobles. Hundreds of castles and +monasteries were destroyed by the frantic peasantry, and some of the +nobility were murdered with shocking cruelty. Luther tried to induce the +peasants, with whom, as the son of a peasant, he was at first inclined +to sympathize, to remain quiet; but when his warnings proved vain, he +attacked the rebels violently. He declared that they were guilty of the +most fearful crimes, for which they deserved death of both body and soul +many times over. They had broken their allegiance, they had wantonly +plundered and robbed castles and monasteries, and lastly, they had tried +to cloak their dreadful sins with excuses from the Gospel. He therefore +urged the government to put down the insurrection. "Have no pity on the +poor folk; stab, smite, throttle, who can!" + +[Sidenote: The peasant revolt put down with great cruelty.] + +Luther's advice was followed with terrible literalness by the German +rulers, and the nobility took fearful revenge for the depredations of +the peasants. In the summer of 1525 the chief leader of the peasants +was defeated and killed, and it is estimated that ten thousand peasants +were put to death, many with the utmost cruelty. Few rulers or lords +introduced any reforms, and the misfortunes due to the destruction of +property and to the despair of the peasants cannot be imagined. The +people concluded that the new gospel was not for them, and talked of +Luther as "Dr. Lügner," i.e., liar. The old exactions of the lords of +the manors were in no way lightened, and the situation of the peasants +for centuries following the great revolt was worse rather than better. + +[Sidenote: Catholic and Protestant unions of the German princes.] + +155. The terror inspired by the peasant war led to new measures against +further attempts to change the religious beliefs of the land. The League +of Dessau was formed among some of the leading rulers of central and +northern Germany, to stamp out "the accursed Lutheran sect." The union +included Luther's arch enemy, Duke George of Saxony, the electors of +Brandenburg and Mayence, and two princes of Brunswick. The rumor that +the emperor, who had been kept busy for some years by his wars with +Francis I, was planning to come to Germany in order to root out the +growing heresy, led the few princes who openly favored Luther to unite +also. Among these the chief were the new elector of Saxony, John +Frederick, and Philip, landgrave of Hesse. These two proved themselves +the most ardent and conspicuous defenders of the Protestant faith in +Germany. + +[Sidenote: The diet of Speyer gives to the individual rulers the right +to determine the religion of their subjects, 1526.] + +A new war, in which Francis and the pope sided against the emperor, +prevented Charles from turning his attention to Germany, and he +accordingly gave up the idea of enforcing the Edict of Worms against the +Lutherans. Since there was no one who could decide the religious +question for all the rulers, the diet of Speyer (1526) determined that, +pending the meeting of a general council, each ruler, and each knight +and town owing immediate allegiance to the emperor, should decide +individually what particular form of religion should prevail in his +realm. Each prince was "so to live, reign, and conduct himself as he +would be willing to answer before God and His Imperial Majesty." For the +moment, then, the various German governments were left to determine the +religion of their subjects. + +Yet all still hoped that one religion might ultimately be agreed upon. +Luther trusted that all Christians would sometime accept the new gospel. +He was willing that the bishops should be retained, and even that the +pope should still be regarded as a sort of presiding officer in the +Church. As for his enemies, they were equally confident that the +heretics would in time be suppressed as they had always been in the +past, and that harmony would thus be restored. Neither party was right; +for the decision of the diet of Speyer was destined to become a +permanent arrangement, and Germany remained divided between different +religious faiths. + +[Sidenote: Charles V again intervenes in the religious controversy in +Germany.] + +New sects opposed to the old Church had begun to appear. Zwingli, a +Swiss reformer, was gaining many followers, and the Anabaptists were +rousing Luther's apprehensions by their radical plans for doing away +with the Catholic religion. As the emperor found himself able for a +moment to attend to German affairs he bade the diet, again meeting at +Speyer in 1529, to order the enforcement of the edict against the +heretics. No one was to preach against the Mass and no one was to be +prevented from attending it freely. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the term 'Protestant.'] + +This meant that the "Evangelical" princes would be forced to restore the +most characteristic Catholic ceremony. As they formed only a minority in +the diet, all that they could do was to draw up a _protest_, signed by +John Frederick, Philip of Hesse, and fourteen of the imperial towns +(Strasburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, etc.). In this they claimed that the +majority had no right to abrogate the edict of the former diet of Speyer +for that had passed unanimously and all had solemnly pledged themselves +to observe the agreement. They therefore appealed to the emperor and a +future council against the tyranny of the majority.[287] Those who +signed this appeal were called from their action _Protestants_. Thus +originated the name which came to be generally applied to those who do +not accept the rule and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. + +[Sidenote: Preparations for the diet of Augsburg.] + +156. Since the diet at Worms the emperor had resided in Spain, busied +with a succession of wars carried on with the king of France. It will be +remembered that both Charles and Francis claimed Milan and the duchy of +Burgundy, and they sometimes drew the pope into their conflicts.[288] +But in 1530 the emperor found himself at peace for the moment and held a +brilliant diet of his German subjects at Augsburg in the hope of +settling the religious problem, which, however, he understood very +imperfectly. He ordered the Protestants to draw up a statement of +exactly what they believed, which should serve as a basis for +discussion. Melanchthon, Luther's most famous friend and colleague, who +was noted for his great learning and moderation, was intrusted with the +delicate task. + +[Sidenote: The Augsburg Confession.] + +The Augsburg Confession, as his declaration was called, is an historical +document of great importance for the student of the Protestant +revolt.[289] Melanchthon's gentle and conciliatory disposition led him +to make the differences between his belief and that of the old Church +seem as few and slight as possible. He showed that both parties held the +same fundamental views of Christianity. The Protestants, however, +defended their rejection of a number of the practices of the Roman +Catholics, such as the celibacy of the clergy and the observance of +fast days. There was little or nothing in the Augsburg Confession +concerning the organization of the Church. + +[Sidenote: Charles V's attempt at pacification.] + +Certain theologians, some of whom, like Eck, had been loud in their +denunciations of Luther, were ordered by the emperor to prepare a +refutation of the Protestant views. The statement of the Catholics +admitted that a number of Melanchthon's positions were perfectly +orthodox; but the portion of the Augsburg Confession which dealt with +the practical reforms introduced by the Protestants was rejected +altogether. Charles declared the Catholic statement to be "Christian and +judicious" and commanded the Protestants to accept it. They were to +cease troubling the Catholics and were to give back all the monasteries +and church property which they had seized. The emperor agreed to urge +the pope to call a council to meet within a year. This, he hoped, would +be able to settle all differences and reform the Church according to the +views of the Catholics. + +[Sidenote: Progress of Protestantism up to the Peace of Augsburg, 1555.] + +157. It is unnecessary to follow in detail the progress of Protestantism +in Germany during the quarter of a century succeeding the diet of +Augsburg. Enough has been said to show the character of the revolt and +the divergent views taken by the German princes and people. For ten +years after the emperor left Augsburg he was kept busy in southern +Europe by new wars; and in order to secure the assistance of the +Protestants, he was forced to let them go their own way. Meanwhile the +number of rulers who accepted Luther's teachings gradually increased. +Finally there was a brief war between Charles and the Protestant +princes, but the origin of the conflict was mainly political rather than +religious. It occurred to the youthful Maurice, Duke of Saxony, that by +aiding the emperor against the Protestants he might find a good excuse +for dispossessing his Protestant relative, John Frederick, of his +electorate. There was but little fighting done. Charles V brought his +Spanish soldiers into Germany and captured both John Frederick and his +ally, Philip of Hesse, the chief leaders of the Lutheran cause, whom he +kept prisoners for several years.[290] + +[Sidenote: The Peace of Augsburg.] + +This episode did not check the progress of Protestantism. Maurice, who +had been granted John Frederick's electorate, soon turned about and +allied himself with the Protestants. The king of France promised them +help against his enemy, the emperor, and Charles was forced to agree to +a preliminary peace with the Protestants. Three years later, in 1555, +the religious Peace of Augsburg was ratified. Its provisions are +memorable. Each German prince and each town and knight immediately under +the emperor was to be at liberty to make a choice between the beliefs of +the venerable Catholic Church and those embodied in the Augsburg +Confession. If, however, an ecclesiastical prince--an archbishop, +bishop, or abbot--declared himself a Protestant, he must surrender his +possessions to the Church. Every one was either to conform to the +religious practices of his particular state, or emigrate. + +[Sidenote: The principle that the government should determine the +religion of its subjects.] + +This religious peace in no way established freedom of conscience, except +for the rulers. Their power, it must be noted, was greatly increased, +inasmuch as they were given the control of religious as well as of +secular matters. This arrangement which permitted the ruler to determine +the religion of his realm was natural, and perhaps inevitable, in those +days. The Church and the civil government had been closely associated +with one another for centuries. No one as yet dreamed that every +individual, so long as he did not violate the law of the land, might +safely be left quite free to believe what he would and to practice any +religious rites which afforded him help and comfort. + +[Sidenote: Weaknesses of the Peace of Augsburg.] + +There were two noteworthy weaknesses in the Peace of Augsburg which were +destined to make trouble. In the first place, only one group of +Protestants was included in it. The now numerous followers of the +French reformer, Calvin, and of the Swiss reformer, Zwingli, who were +hated alike by Catholic and Lutheran, were not recognized. Every German +had to be either a Catholic or a Lutheran in order to be tolerated. In +the second place, the clause which decreed that ecclesiastical princes +converted to Protestantism should surrender their property could not be +enforced, for there was no one to see to its execution. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN SWITZERLAND AND ENGLAND + + +158. For at least a century after Luther's death the great issue between +Catholics and Protestants dominates the history of all the countries +with which we have to do, except Italy and Spain, where Protestantism +never took permanent root. In Switzerland, England, France, and Holland +the revolt against the mediæval Church produced profound changes, which +must be understood in order to follow the later development of these +countries. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the Swiss Confederation.] + +We turn first to Switzerland, lying in the midst of the great chain of +the Alps which extends from the Mediterranean to Vienna. During the +Middle Ages, the region destined to be included in the Swiss +Confederation formed a part of the empire, and was scarcely +distinguishable from the rest of southern Germany. As early as the +thirteenth century the three "forest" cantons on the shores of the +winding lake of Lucerne had formed a union to protect their liberties +against the encroachments of their neighbors, the Hapsburgs. It was +about this tiny nucleus that Switzerland gradually consolidated. In 1315 +the cantons gained their first great victory over the Hapsburgs at +Morgarten and thereupon solemnly renewed their league. This was soon +joined by Lucerne and the free imperial towns of Zurich and Berne. By +brave fighting the Swiss were able to frustrate the renewed efforts of +the Hapsburgs to subjugate them. Later, when a still more formidable +enemy, Charles the Bold, undertook to conquer them they put his armies +to rout at Granson and Murten (1476).[291] + +[Illustration: The Swiss Confederation] + +[Sidenote: Switzerland becomes a separate country; mixed nationality of +its people.] + +Various districts in the neighborhood successively joined the Swiss +union, and even the region lying on the Italian slopes of the Alps was +brought under its control. Gradually the bonds between the members of +the union and the empire were broken. They were recognized as being no +more than "relatives" of the empire; in 1499 they were finally freed +from the jurisdiction of the emperor, and Switzerland became a +practically independent country. Although the original union had been +made up of German-speaking people, considerable districts had been +annexed in which Italian or French was spoken.[292] The Swiss did not, +therefore, form a compact, well-defined nation, and for some centuries +their confederation was weak and ill-organized. + +[Sidenote: Zwingli (1484-1531) leads the revolt in Switzerland against +the Church.] + +159. In Switzerland the leader of the revolt against the Church was +Zwingli, who was a year younger than Luther and like him was the son of +peasant parents. Zwingli's father was prosperous, however, and the boy +had the best education which could be obtained, at Basel and Vienna. His +later discontent with the old Church came not through spiritual +wrestlings in the monastery, but from the study of the classics and of +the Greek New Testament. Zwingli had become a priest and settled at the +famous monastery of Einsiedeln near the lake of Zurich. This was the +center of pilgrimages on account of a wonder-working image in the cell +of St. Meinrad. "Here," he says, "I began to preach the Gospel of Christ +in the year 1516, before any one in my locality had so much as heard the +name of Luther." + +[Sidenote: Zwingli denounces the abuses in the Church and the traffic in +soldiers.] + +Three years later he was called to an influential position as preacher +in the cathedral of Zurich, and there his great work began. Through his +efforts a Dominican who was preaching indulgences was expelled from the +country. He then began to denounce the abuses in the Church as well as +the shameless traffic in soldiers, which he had long regarded as a blot +upon his country's honor.[293] The pope had found the help of the Swiss +troops indispensable, and had granted annuities and lucrative positions +in the Church to influential Swiss, who were expected to work in his +interest. So, from the first, Zwingli was led to combine with his +religious reform a political reform which should put the cantons on +better terms with one another and prevent the destruction of their young +men in wars in which they had no possible interest. A new demand of the +pope for troops in 1521 led Zwingli to attack him and his commissioners. +"How appropriate," he exclaims, "that they should have red hats and +cloaks! If we shake them, crowns and ducats fall out. If we wring them, +out runs the blood of your sons and brothers and fathers and good +friends."[294] + +[Sidenote: Zurich, under the influence of Zwingli, begins a reform.] + +Such talk soon began to arouse comment, and the old forest cantons were +for a violent suppression of the new teacher, but the town council of +Zurich stanchly supported their priest. Zwingli then began to attack +fasts and the celibacy of the clergy. In 1523 he prepared a complete +statement of his belief, in the form of sixty-seven theses. In these he +maintained that Christ was the only high priest and that the Gospel did +not gain its sanction from the authority of the Church. He denied the +existence of purgatory and rejected those practices of the Church which +Luther had already set aside. Since no one presented himself to refute +Zwingli, the town council ratified his conclusions and so withdrew from +the Roman Catholic Church. The next year the Mass, processions, and the +images of the saints were abolished; the shrines were opened and the +relics buried. + +[Sidenote: Other towns follow Zurich's example.] + +Some other towns followed Zurich's example; but the original cantons +about the lake of Lucerne, which feared that they might lose the great +influence that, in spite of their small size, they had hitherto enjoyed, +were ready to fight for the old faith. The first armed collision, half +political and half religious, between the Swiss Protestants and +Catholics took place at Kappel in 1531, and Zwingli fell in the battle. +The various cantons and towns never came to an agreement in religious +matters, and Switzerland is still part Catholic and part Protestant. + +The chief importance for the rest of Europe of Zwingli's revolt was the +influence of his conception of the Lord's Supper. He not only denied +transubstantiation,[295] but also the "real presence" of Christ in the +elements (in which Luther believed), and conceived the bread and wine to +be mere symbols. Those in Germany and England who accepted Zwingli's +idea added one more to the Protestant parties, and consequently +increased the difficulty of reaching a general agreement among those who +had revolted from the Church.[296] + +[Sidenote: Calvin (1509-1564) and the Presbyterian Church.] + +160. Far more important than Zwingli's teachings, especially for England +and America, was the work of Calvin, which was carried on in the ancient +city of Geneva on the very outskirts of the Swiss confederation. It was +Calvin who organized the Presbyterian Church and formulated its beliefs. +He was born in northern France in 1509; he belonged, therefore, to the +second generation of Protestants. He was early influenced by the +Lutheran teachings, which had already found their way into France. A +persecution of the Protestants under Francis I drove him out of the +country and he settled for a time in Basel.[297] + +[Sidenote: Calvin's _Institutes of Christianity_.] + +Here he issued the first edition of his great work, _The Institutes of +Christianity_, which has been more widely discussed than any other +Protestant theological treatise. It was the first orderly exposition of +the principles of Christianity from a Protestant standpoint. Like Peter +Lombard's _Sentences_, it formed a convenient manual for study and +discussion. The _Institutes_ are based upon the infallibility of the +Bible and reject the infallibility of the Church and the pope. Calvin +possessed a remarkably logical mind and a clear and admirable style. The +French version of his great work is the first example of the successful +use of that language in an argumentative treatise. + +[Sidenote: Calvin's reformation in Geneva.] + +Calvin was called to Geneva about 1540 and intrusted with the task of +reforming the town, which had secured its independence of the duke of +Savoy. He drew up a constitution and established an extraordinary +government, in which the church and the civil government were as closely +associated as they had ever been in any Catholic country.[298] The +Protestantism which found its way into France was that of Calvin, not +that of Luther, and the same may be said of Scotland. + +[Sidenote: The gradual revolt of England from the Church.] + +161. The revolt of England from the mediæval Church was very gradual and +halting. Although there were some signs that Protestantism was gaining a +foothold in the island not long after Luther's burning of the canon law, +a generation at least passed away before the country definitely +committed itself, upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1558, to the +change in religion. It seems at first sight as if the revolution were +due mainly to the irritation of Henry VIII against the pope, who refused +to grant the king a divorce from his first wife in order that he might +marry a younger and prettier woman. But a permanent change in the +religious convictions of a whole people cannot fairly be attributed to +the whim of even so despotic a ruler as Henry. There were changes taking +place in England before the revolt similar to those which prepared the +way in Germany for Luther's success. + +[Sidenote: John Colet.] + +English scholars began, in the latter part of the fifteenth century, to +be affected by the new learning which came to them from Italy. +Colet,[299] among others, strove to introduce the study of Greek in +Oxford. Like Luther he found himself especially attracted by St. Paul, +and had begun to teach the doctrine of justification by faith long +before the German reformer was heard of. + +[Sidenote: Sir Thomas More and his 'Utopia.'] + +The most distinguished writer of the period was, perhaps, Sir Thomas +More. The title of his famous little book, _Utopia_, i.e. "Nowhere," +published about 1515, has become synonymous with ideal and impracticable +schemes for bettering the world. He pictures the happy conditions in an +undiscovered land where a perfect form of government has done away with +all the evils which he observes about him in the England of his day. The +Utopians, unlike the English, fought only to keep out invaders or to +free others from tyranny, and never undertook wars of aggression such as +Henry VIII was constantly contemplating. In Utopia no one was persecuted +for his religion so long as he treated others fairly.[300] + +[Sidenote: The English admirers of Erasmus.] + +When Erasmus came to England about 1500 he was delighted with the +society which he found, and we may assume that his views, which we have +before described,[301] represented those of a considerable number of +intelligent Englishmen. It was at the house of More that he finished the +_Praise of Folly_, and he carried on his studies with such success in +England and found such congenial companions there that it seemed to him +that it was hardly worth while to go to Italy for intellectual +inspiration. There is every reason to suppose that there were, in +England, many who were quite conscious of the vices of the churchmen and +who were ready to accept a system which would abolish those practices +that had come to seem useless and pernicious. + +[Sidenote: Wolsey's policy of peace and his idea of the balance of +power.] + +162. Henry VIII's minister, Cardinal Wolsey, deserves great credit for +having constantly striven to discourage his sovereign's ambition to take +part in the wars on the continent. The cardinal's argument that England +could become great by peace better than by war was a momentous +discovery. Peace he felt would be best secured by maintaining the +_balance of power_ on the continent so that no ruler should become +dangerous by unduly extending his sway. For example, he thought it good +policy to side with Charles when Francis was successful, and then with +Francis after his terrible defeat at Pavia (1525) when he fell into the +hands of Charles. This idea of the balance of power came to be +recognized later by the European countries as a very important +consideration in determining their policy. But Wolsey was not long to be +permitted to put his enlightened ideas in practice. His fall and the +progress of Protestantism in England are both closely associated with +the notorious divorce case of Henry VIII. + +[Illustration: Henry VIII of England] + +[Sidenote: Henry VIII's divorce case.] + +It will be remembered that Henry had married Catherine of Aragon, the +aunt of Charles V. Only one of their children, Mary, had survived to +grow up. Henry was very anxious to have a son and heir, for he was +fearful lest a woman might not be permitted to succeed to the throne. +Moreover, Catherine, who was older than he, had become distasteful to +him. + +Catherine had first married Henry's older brother, who had died almost +immediately after the marriage. Since it was a violation of the rule of +the Church to marry a deceased brother's wife, Henry professed to fear +that he was committing a sin by retaining Catherine as his wife and +demanded to be divorced from her on the ground that his marriage had +never been legal. His anxiety to rid himself of Catherine was greatly +increased by the appearance at court of a black-eyed girl of sixteen, +named Anne Boleyn, with whom the king fell in love. + +[Sidenote: Clement VII refuses to divorce Henry.] + +[Sidenote: Fall of Wolsey.] + +Unfortunately for his case, his marriage with Catherine had been +authorized by a dispensation from the pope, so that Clement VII, to whom +the king appealed to annul the marriage, could not, even if he had been +willing to alienate the queen's nephew, Charles V, have granted Henry's +request. Wolsey's failure to induce the pope to permit the divorce +excited the king's anger, and with rank ingratitude for his minister's +great services, Henry drove him from office (1529) and seized his +property. From a life of wealth which was fairly regal, Wolsey was +precipitated into extreme poverty. An imprudent but innocent act of his +soon gave his enemies a pretext for charging him with treason; but the +unhappy man died on his way to London before his head could be brought +to the block. + +[Sidenote: Henry forces the English clergy to recognize him as the +supreme head of the Church of England.] + +163. The king's next move was to bring a preposterous charge against the +whole English clergy by declaring that, in submitting to Wolsey's +authority as papal legate, they had violated an ancient law forbidding +papal representatives to appear in England without the king's +permission. Yet Henry had approved Wolsey's appointment as papal legate. +The clergy met at Canterbury and offered to buy pardon for their alleged +offense by an enormous grant of money. But Henry refused to forgive them +unless they would solemnly acknowledge him to be the supreme head of the +English Church. This they accordingly did;[302] they agreed, moreover, +to hold no general meetings or pass any rules without the king's +sanction. The submission of the clergy ensured Henry against any future +criticism on their part of the measures he proposed to take in the +matter of his divorce. + +[Sidenote: Parliament forbids all appeals to the pope, 1533.] + +[Sidenote: An English court declares Henry's marriage with Catherine +void.] + +He now induced Parliament to threaten to cut off the income which the +pope had been accustomed to receive from newly appointed bishops. The +king hoped in this way to bring Clement VII to terms. He failed, +however, in this design and, losing patience, married Anne Boleyn +secretly without waiting for the divorce. Parliament was then persuaded +to pass the Act of Appeals, declaring that lawsuits of all kinds should +be finally and definitely decided within the realm, and that no appeal +might be made to any one outside the kingdom. Catherine's appeal to the +pope was thus rendered illegal. When, shortly after, her marriage was +declared void by a Church court summoned by Henry, she had no remedy. +Parliament also declared Henry's marriage with Catherine unlawful and +that with Anne legal. Consequently it was decreed that Elizabeth, Anne's +daughter, who was born in 1533, was to succeed her father on the throne, +instead of Mary, the daughter of Catherine. + +[Sidenote: The Act of Supremacy and the denial of the pope's authority +over England.] + +In 1534 the English Parliament completed the revolt of the English +Church from the pope by assigning to the king the right to appoint all +the English prelates and to enjoy all the income which had formerly +found its way to Rome. In the Act of Supremacy, Parliament declared the +king to be "the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England," +and that he should enjoy all the powers which the title naturally +carried with it. Two years later every officer in the kingdom, whether +lay or ecclesiastical, was required to swear to renounce the authority +of the Bishop of Rome. Refusal to take this oath was to be adjudged high +treason. Many were unwilling to deny the pope's headship merely because +king and Parliament renounced it, and this legislation led to a +persecution in the name of treason which was even more horrible than +that which had been carried on in the supposed interest of religion. + +[Sidenote: Henry VIII no Protestant.] + +[Sidenote: The English Bible.] + +It must be carefully noted that Henry VIII was not a Protestant in the +Lutheran sense of the word. He was led, it is true, by Clement VII's +refusal to declare his first marriage illegal, to break the bond between +the English and the Roman Church, and to induce the English clergy and +Parliament to acknowledge him as supreme head in the religious as well +as in the temporal interests of the country. No earlier English +sovereign had ever ventured to go so far as this in the previous +conflicts with Rome. He was ready, too, as we shall see, to appropriate +the property of the monasteries on the ground that these institutions +were so demoralized as to be worse than useless. Important as these acts +were, they did not lead Henry to accept the teachings of Protestant +leaders, like Luther, Zwingli, or Calvin. He shared the popular distrust +of the new doctrines, and showed himself anxious to explain the old ones +and free them from the objections which were beginning to be urged +against them. A proclamation was made, under the authority of the king, +in which the sacraments of baptism, penance, and the Mass were +explained. Henry also authorized a new translation of the Bible into +English. A fine edition of this was printed (1539), and every parish was +ordered to obtain a copy and place it in the parish church, where all +the people could readily make use of it. + +[Sidenote: Henry's anxiety to prove himself a good Catholic.] + +Henry was anxious to prove that he was orthodox, especially after he had +seized the property of the monasteries and the gold and jewels which +adorned the receptacles in which the relics of the saints were kept. He +presided in person over the trial of one who accepted the opinion of +Zwingli, that the body and blood of Christ were not present in the +sacrament. He quoted Scripture to prove the contrary, and the prisoner +was condemned and burned as a heretic. + +[Sidenote: The 'Six Articles.'] + +In 1539 Parliament passed a statute called the "Six Articles." These +declared first that the body and blood of Christ were actually present +in the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper; whoever ventured +publicly to question this was to be burned. For speaking against five +other tenets[303] of the old Church, offenders were to suffer +imprisonment and loss of goods for the first offense, and to be hanged +for the second. Two bishops, who had ventured to go farther in the +direction of Protestantism than Henry himself had done, were driven from +office and some offenders were put to death under this act. + +[Sidenote: Henry's tyranny.] + +[Sidenote: Execution of Sir Thomas More.] + +164. Henry was heartless and despotic. With a barbarity not uncommon in +those days, he allowed his old friend and adviser, Sir Thomas More, to +be beheaded for refusing to pronounce the marriage with Catherine void. +He caused numbers of monks to be executed for refusing to swear that his +first marriage was illegal and for denying his title to supremacy in the +Church. Others he permitted to die of starvation and disease in the +filthy prisons of the time. Many Englishmen would doubtless have agreed +with one of the friars who said humbly: "I profess that it is not out of +obstinate malice or a mind of rebellion that I do disobey the king, but +only for the fear of God, that I offend not the Supreme Majesty; because +our Holy Mother, the Church, hath decreed and appointed otherwise than +the king and Parliament hath ordained." + +[Sidenote: Dissolution of the English monasteries.] + +Henry wanted money; some of the English abbeys were rich, and the monks +were quite unable to defend themselves against the charges which were +brought against them. The king sent commissioners about to inquire into +the moral state of the monasteries. A large number of scandalous tales +were easily collected, some of which were undoubtedly true. The monks +were doubtless often indolent and sometimes wicked. Nevertheless, they +were kind landlords, hospitable to the stranger, and good to the poor. +The plundering of the smaller monasteries, with which the king began, +led to a revolt, due to a rumor that the king would next proceed to +despoil the parish churches as well. This gave Henry an excuse for +attacking the larger monasteries. The abbots and priors who had taken +part in the revolt were hanged and their monasteries confiscated. Other +abbots, panic-stricken, confessed that they and their monks had been +committing the most loathsome sins and asked to be permitted to give up +their monasteries to the king. The royal commissioners then took +possession, sold every article upon which they could lay hands, +including the bells and the lead on the roofs. The picturesque remains +of the great abbey churches are still among the chief objects of +interest to the sight-seer in England. The monastery lands were, of +course, appropriated by the king. They were sold for the benefit of the +government or given to nobles whose favor the king wished to secure. + +[Sidenote: Destruction of shrines and images for the benefit of the +king's treasury.] + +Along with the destruction of the monasteries went an attack upon the +shrines and images in the churches, which were adorned with gold and +jewels. The shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury was destroyed and the +bones of the saint were burned. An old wooden figure revered in Wales +was used to make a fire to burn an unfortunate friar who maintained that +in things spiritual the pope rather than the king should be obeyed. +These acts suggest the Protestant attacks on images which occurred in +Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The object of the king and +his party was probably in the main a mercenary one, although the reason +urged for the destruction was the superstitious veneration in which the +relics and images were popularly held. + +[Sidenote: Henry's third marriage and the birth of Edward VI.] + +Henry's domestic troubles by no means came to an end with his marriage +with Anne Boleyn. Of her, too, he soon tired, and three years after +their marriage he had her executed on a series of monstrous charges. +The next day he married his third wife, Jane Seymour, who was the mother +of his son and successor, Edward VI. Jane died a few days after her +son's birth, and later Henry married in succession three other women who +are historically unimportant since they left no children as claimants +for the crown. Henry took care that his three children, all of whom were +destined to reign, should be given their due place by act of Parliament +in the line of inheritance.[304] His death in 1547 left the great +problem of Protestantism and Catholicism to be settled by his son and +daughters. + +[Sidenote: Edward VI's ministers introduce Protestant practices.] + +165. While the revolt of England against the ancient Church was carried +through by the government at a time when the greater part of the nation +was still Catholic, there was undoubtedly, under Henry VIII, an +ever-increasing number of aggressive and ardent Protestants who +applauded the change. During the six years of the boy Edward's reign--he +died in 1553 at the age of sixteen--those in charge of the government +favored the Protestant party and did what they could to change the faith +of all the people by bringing Protestant teachers from the Continent. + +A general demolition of all the sacred images was ordered; even the +beautiful stained glass, the glory of the cathedrals, was destroyed, +because it often represented saints and angels. The king was to appoint +bishops without troubling to observe the old forms of election, and +Protestants began to be put into the high offices of the Church. +Parliament turned over to the king the funds which had been established +for the purpose of having masses chanted for the dead, and decreed that +thereafter the clergy should be free to marry. + +[Sidenote: The prayer-book and the 'Thirty-Nine Articles.'] + +A prayer-book in English was prepared under the auspices of Parliament +not very unlike that used in the Church of England to-day. Moreover, +forty-two articles of faith were drawn up by the government, which were +to be the standard of belief for the country. These, in the time of +Queen Elizabeth, were revised and reduced to the famous "Thirty-Nine +Articles," which still constitute the creed of the Church of +England.[305] + +[Sidenote: Protestantism partially discredited by Edward's ministers.] + +The changes in the church services must have sadly shocked a great part +of the English people, who had been accustomed to watch with awe and +expectancy the various acts associated with the many church ceremonies +and festivals.[306] Earnest men who watched the misrule of those who +conducted Edward's government in the name of Protestantism, must have +concluded that the reformers were chiefly intent upon advancing their +own interests by plundering the Church. We get some idea of the +desecrations of the time from the fact that Edward was forced to forbid +"quarreling and shooting in churches" and "the bringing of horses and +mules through the same, making God's house like a stable or common inn." +Although many were heartily in favor of the recent changes it is no +wonder that after Edward's death there was a revulsion in favor of the +old religion. + +[Sidenote: Queen Mary, 1553-1558, and the Catholic reaction.] + +166. Edward VI was succeeded in 1553 by his half-sister Mary, who had +been brought up in the Catholic faith and held firmly to it. Her ardent +hope of bringing her kingdom back once more to her religion did not seem +altogether ill-founded, for the majority of the people were still +Catholics at heart, and many who were not disapproved of the policy of +Edward's ministers, who had removed abuses "in the devil's own way, by +breaking in pieces." + +[Sidenote: Mary's marriage with Philip II of Spain.] + +The Catholic cause appeared, moreover, to be strengthened by Mary's +marriage with the Spanish prince, Philip II, the son of the orthodox +Charles V. But although Philip later distinguished himself, as we shall +see, by the merciless way in which he strove to put down heresy within +his realms, he never gained any great influence in England. By his +marriage with Mary he acquired the title of king, but the English took +care that he should have no hand in the government, nor be permitted to +succeed his wife on the English throne. + +[Sidenote: The 'Kneeling Parliament,' 1554.] + +Mary succeeded in bringing about a nominal reconciliation between +England and the Roman Church. In 1554 the papal legate restored to the +communion of the Catholic Church the "Kneeling Parliament," which +theoretically, of course, represented the nation. + +[Sidenote: Persecution of the Protestants under Mary.] + +During the last four years of Mary's reign the most serious religious +persecution in English history occurred. No less than 277 persons were +put to death for denying the teachings of the Roman Church. The majority +of the victims were humble artisans and husbandmen. The two most notable +sufferers were Bishops Latimer and Ridley, who were burned in Oxford. +Latimer cried to his fellow-martyr in the flames: "Be of good cheer and +play the man; we shall this day light such a candle in England as shall +never be put out!" + +[Sidenote: Mary's failure to restore the Catholic religion in England.] + +It was Mary's hope and belief that the heretics sent to the stake would +furnish a terrible warning to the Protestants and check the spread of +the new teachings, but it fell out as Latimer had prophesied. +Catholicism was not promoted; on the contrary, doubters were only +convinced of the earnestness of the Protestants who could die with such +constancy.[307] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION--PHILIP II + + +[Sidenote: The conservative or Catholic reformation.] + +167. There had been many attempts, as we have seen, before Luther's +appearance, to better the clergy and remedy the evils in the Church +without altering its organization or teachings. Hopeful progress toward +such a conservative reform had been made even before the Protestants +threw off their allegiance to the pope.[308] Their revolt inevitably +hastened and stimulated the reform of the ancient Church, to which the +greater part of western Europe still remained faithful. The Roman +Catholic churchmen were aroused to great activity by the realization +that they could no longer rely upon the general acceptance of their +teachings. They were forced to defend the beliefs and ceremonies of +their Church from the attacks of the Protestants, to whose ranks whole +countries were deserting. If the clergy were to make head against the +dreaded heresy which threatened their position and power, they must +secure the loyalty of the people to them and to the great institution +which they represented, by leading upright lives, giving up the old +abuses, and thus regaining the confidence of those intrusted to their +spiritual care. + +A general council was accordingly summoned at Trent to consider once +more the remedying of the long recognized evils, and to settle +authoritatively numerous questions of belief upon which theologians had +differed for centuries. New religious orders sprang up, whose object was +better to prepare the priests for their work and to bring home religion +to the hearts of the people. Energetic measures were taken to repress +the growth of heresy in countries which were still Roman Catholic and to +prevent the dissemination of Protestant doctrines in books and +pamphlets. Above all, better men were placed in office, from the pope +down. The cardinals, for example, were no longer merely humanists and +courtiers, but among them might be found the leaders of religious +thought in Italy. Many practices which had formerly irritated the people +were permanently abolished. These measures resulted in a remarkable +reformation of the ancient Church, such as the Council of Constance had +striven in vain to bring about.[309] Before turning to the terrible +struggles between the two religious parties in the Netherlands and +France during the latter half of the sixteenth century, a word must be +said of the Council of Trent and of an extraordinarily powerful new +religious order, the Jesuits. + +[Sidenote: Charles V's confidence in the settlement of the religious +differences by a council.] + +Charles V, who did not fully grasp the irreconcilable differences +between Protestant and Catholic beliefs, made repeated efforts to bring +the two parties together by ordering the Protestants to accept what +seemed to him a simple statement of the Christian faith. He had great +confidence that if representatives of the old and the new beliefs could +meet one another in a church council all points of disagreement might be +amicably settled. The pope was, however, reluctant to see a council +summoned in Germany, for he had by no means forgotten the conduct of the +Council of Basel. To call the German Protestants into Italy, on the +other hand, would have been useless, for none of them would have +responded or have paid any attention to the decisions of a body which +would appear to them to be under the pope's immediate control. It was +only after years of delay that in 1545, just before Luther's death, a +general council finally met in the city of Trent, on the border between +Germany and Italy. + +[Sidenote: The Council of Trent, 1545-1563, sanctions the teaching of +the Roman Catholic Church.] + +As the German Protestants were preoccupied at the moment by an +approaching conflict with the emperor and, moreover, hoped for nothing +from the council's action, they did not attend its sessions. +Consequently the papal representatives and the Roman Catholic prelates +were masters of the situation. The council immediately took up just +those matters in which the Protestants had departed farthest from the +old beliefs. In its early sessions it proclaimed all those accursed who +taught that the sinner was saved by faith alone, or who questioned man's +power, with God's aid, to forward his salvation by good works. Moreover, +it declared that if any one should say--as did the Protestants--that the +sacraments were not all instituted by Christ; "or that they are more or +less than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, +Extreme Unction, Ordination, and Matrimony; or even that any one of +these is not truly and properly a sacrament, let him be accursed." The +ancient Latin translation of the Bible--the Vulgate--was fixed as the +standard. No one should presume to question its accuracy so far as +doctrine was concerned, or be permitted to publish any interpretation of +the Bible differing from that of the Church. + +[Sidenote: Reform measures of the council.] + +While the council thus finally rejected any possibility of compromise +with the Protestants, it took measures to do away with the abuses of +which the Protestants complained. The bishops were ordered to reside in +their respective dioceses, to preach regularly, and to see that those +who were appointed to church benefices should fulfill the duties of +their offices and not merely enjoy the revenue. Measures were also taken +to improve education and secure the regular reading of the Bible in +churches, monasteries, and schools. + +[Sidenote: Final sessions of the Council of Trent, 1562-1563.] + +[Sidenote: Importance of the council's work.] + +When the council had been in session for something more than a year, its +meetings were interrupted by various unfavorable conditions. Little was +accomplished for a number of years, but in 1562 the members once more +reassembled to prosecute their work with renewed vigor. Many more of the +doctrines of the Roman Church in regard to which there had been some +uncertainty, were carefully defined, and the teachings of the heretics +explicitly rejected. A large number of decrees directed against existing +abuses were also ratified. _The Canons and Decrees of the Council of +Trent_, which fill a stout volume, provided a new and solid foundation +for the law and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and they +constitute an historical source of the utmost importance.[310] They +furnish, in fact, our most complete and authentic statement of the Roman +Catholic form of Christianity. They, however, only restate long-accepted +beliefs and sanction the organization of the Church briefly described in +an earlier chapter (XVI). + +[Sidenote: Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556, the founder of the Jesuits.] + +168. Among those who, during the final sessions of the council, sturdily +opposed every attempt to reduce in any way the exalted powers of the +pope, was the head of a new religious society, which was becoming the +most powerful organization in Europe. The Jesuit order, or Society of +Jesus, was founded by a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola. He had been a soldier +in his younger days, and while bravely fighting for his king, Charles V, +had been wounded by a cannon ball (1521). Obliged to lie inactive for +weeks, he occupied his time in reading the lives of the saints, and +became filled with a burning ambition to emulate their deeds. Upon +recovering he dedicated himself to the service of the Lord, donned a +beggar's gown, and started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When there he +began to realize that he could do little without an education. So he +returned to Spain and, although already thirty-three years old, took his +place beside the boys who were learning the elements of Latin grammar. +After two years he entered a Spanish university, and later went to Paris +to carry on his theological studies. + +In Paris he sought to influence his fellow-students at the university, +and finally, in 1534, seven of his companions agreed to follow him to +Palestine, or, if they were prevented from that, to devote themselves to +the service of the pope. On arriving in Venice they found that war had +broken out between that republic and the Turks. They accordingly gave up +their plan for converting the infidels in the Orient and, with the +pope's permission, began to preach in the neighboring towns, explaining +the Scriptures and bringing comfort to those in the hospitals. When +asked to what order they belonged, they replied, "to the Society of +Jesus." + +[Sidenote: Rigid organization and discipline of the Jesuits.] + +In 1538 Loyola summoned his disciples to Rome, and there they worked out +the principles of their order. The pope then incorporated these in a +bull in which he gave his sanction to the new society.[311] The +organization was to be under the absolute control of a _general_, who +was to be chosen for life by the general assembly of the order. Loyola +had been a soldier, and he laid great and constant stress upon the +source of all efficient military discipline, namely, absolute and +unquestioning obedience. This he declared to be the mother of all virtue +and happiness. Not only were all the members to obey the pope as +Christ's representative on earth, and undertake without hesitation any +journey, no matter how distant or perilous, which he might command, but +each was to obey his superiors in the order as if he were receiving +directions from Christ in person. He must have no will or preference of +his own, but must be as the staff which supports and aids its bearer in +any way in which he sees fit to use it. This admirable organization and +incomparable discipline were the great secret of the later influence of +the Jesuits. + +[Sidenote: Objects and methods of the new order.] + +The object of the society was to cultivate piety and the love of God, +especially through example. The members were to pledge themselves to +lead a pure life of poverty and devotion. Their humility was to show +itself in face and attitude, so that their very appearance should +attract those with whom they came in contact to the service of God. The +methods adopted by the society for reaching its ends are of the utmost +importance. A great number of its members were priests, who went about +preaching, hearing confession, and encouraging devotional exercises. But +the Jesuits were teachers as well as preachers and confessors. They +clearly perceived the advantage of bringing young people under their +influence, and they became the schoolmasters of Catholic Europe. So +successful were their methods of instruction that even Protestants +sometimes sent their children to them. + +[Sidenote: Rapid increase of the Jesuits in numbers.] + +[Sidenote: Their missions and explorations.] + +It was originally proposed that the number of persons admitted to the +order should not exceed sixty, but this limit was speedily removed, and +before the death of Loyola over a thousand persons had joined the +society. Under his successor the number was trebled, and it went on +increasing for two centuries. The founder of the order had been, as we +have seen, attracted to missionary work from the first, and the Jesuits +rapidly spread not only over Europe, but throughout the whole world. +Francis Xavier, one of Loyola's original little band, went to Hindustan, +the Moluccas, and Japan. Brazil, Florida, Mexico, and Peru were soon +fields of active missionary work at a time when Protestants scarcely +dreamed as yet of carrying Christianity to the heathen. We owe to the +Jesuits' reports much of our knowledge of the condition of America when +white men first began to explore Canada and the Mississippi valley, for +the followers of Loyola boldly penetrated into regions unknown to +Europeans, and settled among the natives with the purpose of bringing +the Gospel to them.[312] + +[Sidenote: Their fight against the Protestants.] + +Dedicated as they were to the service of the pope, the Jesuits early +directed their energies against Protestantism. They sent their members +into Germany and the Netherlands, and even made strenuous efforts to +reclaim England. Their success was most apparent in southern Germany and +Austria, where they became the confessors and confidential advisers of +the rulers. They not only succeeded in checking the progress of +Protestantism, but were able to reconquer for the pope districts in +which the old faith had been abandoned. + +[Sidenote: Accusations brought against the Jesuits.] + +Protestants soon realized that the new order was their most powerful and +dangerous enemy. Their apprehensions produced a bitter hatred which +blinded them to the high purposes of the founders of the order and led +them to attribute an evil purpose to every act of the Jesuits. The +Jesuits' air of humility the Protestants declared to be mere hypocrisy +under which they carried on their intrigues. The Jesuits' readiness to +adjust themselves to circumstances and the variety of the tasks that +they undertook seemed to their enemies a willingness to resort to any +means in order to reach their ends. They were popularly supposed to +justify the most deceitful and immoral measures on the ground that the +result would be "for the greater glory of God." The very obedience of +which the Jesuits said so much was viewed by the hostile Protestant as +one of their worst offenses, for he believed that the members of the +order were the blind tools of their superiors and that they would not +hesitate even to commit a crime if so ordered. + +[Sidenote: Decline and abolition of the Jesuits, 1773.] + +[Sidenote: Reëstablishment of the order, 1814.] + +Doubtless there have been many unscrupulous Jesuits and some wicked +ones, and as time went on the order degenerated just as the earlier +ones had done. In the eighteenth century it was accused of undertaking +great commercial enterprises, and for this and other reasons lost the +confidence of even the Catholics. The king of Portugal was the first to +banish the Jesuits, and then France, where they had long been very +unpopular with an influential party of the Catholics, expelled them in +1764. Convinced that the order could no longer serve any useful purpose, +the pope abolished it in 1773. It was, however, restored in 1814, and +now again has thousands of members. + +[Illustration: Philip II of Spain] + +[Sidenote: Philip II, the chief enemy of Protestantism among the rulers +of Europe.] + +169. The chief ally of the pope and the Jesuits in their efforts to +check Protestantism in the latter half of the sixteenth century was the +son of Charles V, Philip II. Like the Jesuits he enjoys a most +unenviable reputation among Protestants. Certain it is that they had no +more terrible enemy among the rulers of the day than he. He closely +watched the course of affairs in France and Germany with the hope of +promoting the cause of the Catholics. He eagerly forwarded every +conspiracy against England's Protestant queen, Elizabeth, and finally +manned a mighty fleet with the purpose of overthrowing her. He resorted, +moreover, to incredible cruelty in his attempts to bring back his +possessions in the Netherlands to what he considered the true faith. + +[Sidenote: Division of the Hapsburg possessions between the German and +Spanish branches.] + +Charles V, crippled with the gout and old before his time, laid down the +cares of government in 1555-1556. To his brother Ferdinand, who had +acquired by marriage the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, Charles had +earlier transferred the German possessions of the Hapsburgs. To his +son, Philip II (1556-1598), he gave Spain with its great American +colonies, Milan, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the +Netherlands.[313] + +[Sidenote: Philip II's fervent desire to stamp out Protestantism.] + +Charles had constantly striven to maintain the old religion within his +dominions. He had never hesitated to use the Inquisition in Spain and +the Netherlands, and it was the great disappointment of his life that a +part of his empire had become Protestant. He was, nevertheless, no +fanatic. Like many of the princes of the time, he was forced to take +sides on the religious question without, perhaps, himself having any +deep religious sentiments. The maintenance of the Catholic faith he +believed to be necessary in order that he should keep his hold upon his +scattered and diverse dominions. On the other hand, the whole life and +policy of his son Philip were guided by a fervent attachment to the old +religion. He was willing to sacrifice both himself and his country in +his long fight against the detested Protestants within and without his +realms. And he had vast resources at his disposal, for Spain was a +strong power, not only on account of her income from America, but also +because her soldiers and their commanders were the best in Europe at +this period. + +[Sidenote: The Netherlands.] + +170. The Netherlands,[314] which were to cause Philip his first and +greatest trouble, included seventeen provinces which Charles V had +inherited from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy. They occupied the +position on the map where we now find the kingdoms of Holland and +Belgium. Each of the provinces had its own government, but Charles had +grouped them together and arranged that the German empire should protect +them. In the north the hardy Germanic population had been able, by means +of dikes which kept out the sea, to reclaim large tracts of lowlands. +Here considerable cities had grown up,--Harlem, Leyden, Amsterdam, and +Rotterdam. To the south were the flourishing towns of Ghent, Bruges, +Brussels, and Antwerp, which had for hundreds of years been centers of +manufacture and trade. + +[Sidenote: Philip II's harsh attitude toward the Netherlands.] + +Charles, in spite of some very harsh measures, had retained the loyalty +of the people of the Netherlands, for he was himself one of them and +they felt a patriotic pride in his achievements. Toward Philip their +attitude was very different. His sour face and haughty manner made a +disagreeable impression upon the people at Brussels when Charles V first +introduced him to them as their future ruler. He was to them a Spaniard +and a foreigner, and he ruled them as such after he returned to Spain. +Instead of attempting to win them by meeting their legitimate demands, +he did everything to alienate all classes in his Burgundian realm and +increase their natural hatred and suspicion of the Spaniards. The people +were forced to house Spanish soldiers whose insolence drove them nearly +to desperation. A half-sister of the king, the duchess of Parma, who did +not even know their language, was given to them as their regent. Philip +put his trust in a group of upstarts rather than in the nobility of the +provinces, who naturally felt that they should be given some part in the +direction of affairs. + +[Sidenote: The Inquisition in the Netherlands.] + +What was still worse, Philip proposed that the Inquisition should carry +on its work far more actively than hitherto and put an end to the heresy +which appeared to him to defile his fair realms. The Inquisition was no +new thing to the provinces. Charles V had issued the most cruel edicts +against the followers of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. According to a law +of 1550, heretics who persistently refused to recant were to be burned +alive. Even those who confessed their errors and abjured their heresy +were, if men, to lose their heads, if women, to be buried alive. In both +cases their property was to be confiscated. The lowest estimate of those +who were executed in the Netherlands during Charles' reign is fifty +thousand. Although these terrible laws had not checked the growth of +Protestantism, all of Charles' decrees were solemnly reënacted by Philip +in the first month of his reign. + +[Sidenote: Protest against Philip's policy.] + +[Sidenote: The 'Beggars.'] + +For ten years the people suffered Philip's rule; but their king, instead +of listening to the protests of their leaders who were quite as earnest +Catholics as himself, appeared to be bent on the destruction of the +land. So in 1566 some five hundred of the nobles, who were later joined +by many of the citizens, pledged themselves to make a common stand +against Spanish tyranny and the Inquisition. Although they had no idea +as yet of a revolt, they planned a great demonstration during which they +presented a petition to the duchess of Parma requesting the suspension +of the king's edicts. The story is that one of the duchess' councilors +assured her that she had no reason to fear these "beggars." This name +was voluntarily assumed by the petitioners and an important group of the +insurgents in the later troubles were known as "Beggars." + +[Sidenote: The image-breaking Protestants.] + +[Sidenote: Philip sends the duke of Alva to the Netherlands.] + +The Protestant preachers now took courage, and large congregations +gathered in the fields to hear them. Excited by their exhortations, +those who were converted to the new religion rushed into the Catholic +churches, tore down the images, broke the stained glass windows, and +wrecked the altars. The duchess of Parma was just succeeding in quieting +the tumult when Philip took a step which led finally to the revolt of +the Netherlands. He decided to dispatch to the low countries the +remorseless duke of Alva, whose conduct has made his name synonymous +with blind and unmeasured cruelty. + +171. The report that Alva was coming caused the flight of many of those +who especially feared his approach. William of Orange, who was to be the +leader in the approaching war against Spain, went to Germany. Thousands +of Flemish weavers fled across the North Sea, and the products of their +looms became before long an important article of export from England. + +[Sidenote: Alva's cruel administration, 1567-1573.] + +[Sidenote: The Council of Blood.] + +Alva brought with him a fine army of Spanish soldiers, ten thousand in +number and superbly equipped. He judged that the wisest and quickest way +of pacifying the discontented provinces was to kill all those who +ventured to criticise "the best of kings," of whom he had the honor to +be the faithful servant. He accordingly established a special court for +the speedy trial and condemnation of all those whose fidelity to Philip +was suspected. This was popularly known as the Council of Blood, for its +aim was not justice but butchery. Alva's administration from 1567 to +1573 was a veritable reign of terror. He afterwards boasted that he had +slain eighteen thousand, but probably not more than a third of that +number were really executed. + +[Sidenote: William of Orange, called the Silent, 1533-1584.] + +The Netherlands found a leader in William, Prince of Orange and Count of +Nassau. He is a national hero whose career bears a striking resemblance +to that of Washington. Like the American patriot, he undertook the +seemingly hopeless task of freeing his people from the oppressive rule +of a distant king. To the Spaniards he appeared to be only an +impoverished nobleman at the head of a handful of armed peasants and +fishermen, contending against the sovereign of the richest realm in the +world. + +[Sidenote: William the Silent collects an army.] + +William had been a faithful servant of Charles V and would gladly have +continued to serve his son after him had the oppression and injustice of +the Spanish dominion not become intolerable. But Alva's policy convinced +him that it was useless to send any more complaints to Philip. He +accordingly collected a little army in 1568 and opened the long struggle +with Spain. + +[Sidenote: Differences between the northern i.e., Dutch, provinces and +the southern.] + +William found his main support in the northern provinces, of which +Holland was the chief. The Dutch, who had very generally accepted +Protestant teachings, were purely German in blood, while the people of +the southern provinces, who adhered (as they still do) to the Roman +Catholic faith, were more akin to the population of northern France. + +[Sidenote: William chosen governor of Holland and Zealand, 1572.] + +The Spanish soldiers found little trouble in defeating the troops which +William collected. Like Washington again, he seemed to lose almost every +battle and yet was never conquered. The first successes of the Dutch +were gained by the "sea beggars,"--freebooters who captured Spanish +ships and sold them in Protestant England. Finally they seized the town +of Brille and made it their headquarters. Encouraged by this, many of +the towns in the northern provinces of Holland and Zealand ventured to +choose William as their governor, although they did not throw off their +allegiance to Philip. In this way these two provinces became the nucleus +of the United Netherlands. + +[Sidenote: Both the northern and southern provinces combine against +Spain, 1576.] + +Alva recaptured a number of the revolted towns and treated their +inhabitants with his customary cruelty; even women and children were +slaughtered in cold blood. But instead of quenching the rebellion, he +aroused even the Catholic southern provinces to revolt. He introduced an +unwise system of taxation which required that ten per cent of the +proceeds of every sale should be paid to the government. This caused +the thrifty Catholic merchants of the southern towns to close their +shops in despair. + +[Sidenote: The 'Spanish fury.'] + +After six years of this tyrannical and mistaken policy, Alva was +recalled. His successor soon died and left matters worse than ever. The +leaderless soldiers, trained in Alva's school, indulged in wild orgies +of robbery and murder; they plundered and partially reduced to ashes the +rich city of Antwerp. The "Spanish fury," as this outbreak was called, +together with the hated taxes, created such general indignation that +representatives from all of Philip's Burgundian provinces met at Ghent +in 1576 with the purpose of combining to put an end to the Spanish +tyranny. + +[Sidenote: The Union of Utrecht.] + +[Sidenote: The northern provinces declare themselves independent of +Spain, 1581.] + +This union was, however, only temporary. Wiser and more moderate +governors were sent by Philip to the Netherlands, and they soon +succeeded in again winning the confidence of the southern provinces. So +the northern provinces went their own way. Guided by William the Silent, +they refused to consider the idea of again recognizing Philip as their +king. In 1579 seven provinces (Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland, +Overyssel, Groningen, and Friesland, all lying north of the mouths of +the Rhine and the Scheldt) formed the new and firmer Union of Utrecht. +The articles of this union served as a constitution for the United +Provinces which, two years later, at last formally declared themselves +independent of Spain. + +[Sidenote: Assassination of William the Silent.] + +Philip realized that William was the soul of the revolt and that without +him it might not improbably have been put down. The king therefore +offered a patent of nobility and a large sum of money to any one who +should make away with the Dutch patriot. After several unsuccessful +attempts, William, who had been chosen hereditary governor of the United +Provinces, was shot in his house at Delft, 1584. He died praying the +Lord to have pity upon his soul and "on this poor people." + +[Sidenote: Reasons why the Dutch finally won their independence.] + +[Sidenote: Independence of the United Provinces acknowledged by Spain, +1648.] + +The Dutch had long hoped for aid from Queen Elizabeth or from the +French, but had heretofore been disappointed. At last the English queen +decided to send troops to their assistance. While the English rendered +but little actual help, Elizabeth's policy so enraged Philip that he at +last decided to attempt the conquest of England. The destruction of the +great fleet which he equipped for that purpose interfered with further +attempts to subjugate the United Provinces, which might otherwise have +failed to preserve their liberty in spite of their heroic resistance. +Moreover, Spain's resources were being rapidly exhausted and the state +was on the verge of bankruptcy in spite of the wealth which it had been +drawing from across the sea. But even when Spain had to surrender the +hope of winning back the lost provinces, which now became a small but +important European power, she refused formally to acknowledge their +independence until 1648[315] (Peace of Westphalia). + +172. The history of France during the latter part of the sixteenth +century is little more than a chronicle of a long and bloody series of +civil wars between the Catholics and Protestants. Each party, however, +had political as well as religious objects, and the religious issues +were often almost altogether obscured by the worldly ambition of the +leaders. + +[Sidenote: Beginnings of Protestantism in France.] + +[Sidenote: Lefèvre, 1450-1537.] + +[Sidenote: Persecution of the Protestants under Francis I.] + +[Sidenote: Massacre of the Waldensians, 1545.] + +Protestantism began in France[316] in much the same way as in England. +Those who had learned from the Italians to love the Greek language, +turned to the New Testament in the original and commenced to study it +with new insight. Lefèvre, the most conspicuous of these Erasmus-like +reformers, translated the Bible into French and began to preach +justification by faith before he had ever heard of Luther. He and his +followers won the favor of Margaret, the sister of Francis I and queen +of the little kingdom of Navarre, and under her protection they were +left unmolested for some years. The Sorbonne, the famous theological +school at Paris, finally stirred up the suspicions of the king against +the new ideas. While, like his fellow-monarchs, Francis had no special +interest in religious matters, he was shocked by an act of desecration +ascribed to the Protestants, and in consequence forbade the circulation +of Protestant books. About 1535 several adherents of the new faith were +burned, and Calvin was forced to flee to Basel, where he prepared a +defense of his beliefs in his _Institutes of Christianity_. This is +prefaced by a letter to Francis in which he pleads with him to protect +the Protestants.[317] Francis, before his death, became so intolerant +that he ordered the massacre of three thousand defenseless peasants who +dwelt on the slopes of the Alps, and whose only offense was adherence to +the simple teachings of the Waldensians.[318] + +[Sidenote: Persecution under Henry II, 1547-1559.] + +Francis' son, Henry II (1547-1559), swore to extirpate the Protestants, +and hundreds of them were burned. Nevertheless, Henry's religious +convictions did not prevent him from willingly aiding the German +Protestants against his enemy Charles V, especially when they agreed to +hand over to him three bishoprics which lay on the French +boundary,--Metz, Verdun, and Toul. + +[Sidenote: Francis II, 1559-1560, Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Guises.] + +Henry II was accidentally killed in a tourney and left his kingdom to +three weak sons, the last scions of the house of Valois, who succeeded +in turn to the throne during a period of unprecedented civil war and +public calamity. The eldest son, Francis II, a boy of sixteen, succeeded +his father. His chief importance for France arose from his marriage with +the + +RELATIONS OF THE GUISES, MARY STUART, THE VALOIS, AND THE BOURBONS + +Claude, duke of Francis I (d. 1547) +Guise (d. 1527) | + | | + +--+------------+-----------+ | + | | | | +Francis, duke Charles, Mary, m. James V of Scotland, | +of Guise cardinal of | son of Henry VIII's Henry II (d. 1559), m. Catherine +(murdered 1563) Lorraine | sister | de' Medici + | | | + | +-----------------+ +-------------------------------+ + | | | + | | +---------------+------+-----+----------+ + | | | | | | + | Mary Stuart, m. Francis II Charles IX Henry III Margaret, m. Henry IV (d. 1610), + | Queen of Scots (d. 1560 (d. 1574 (d. 1589 king of Navarre, + | | without without without a descendant + | | heirs) heirs) heirs) through the +Henry, duke of | younger, _Bourbon_, +Guise (killed | line from St. Louis + 1588) | | + | | + James VI of Scotland Louis XIII (d. 1643), + I of England, by Henry's second + by Mary's second marriage with + marriage with Mary de' Medici + Lord Darnley | + Louis XIV (d. 1715) + | + Louis XV (d. 1774) + great grandson of + Louis XIV + +daughter of King James V of Scotland, Mary Stuart, who became famous as +Mary, Queen of Scots. Her mother was the sister of two very ambitious +French nobles, the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine. Francis +II was so young that Mary's uncles, the Guises, eagerly seized the +opportunity to manage his affairs for him. The duke put himself at the +head of the army, and the cardinal of the government. When the king +died, after reigning but a year, the Guises were naturally reluctant to +surrender their power, and many of the woes of France for the next forty +years were due to the machinations which they carried on in the name of +the Holy Catholic religion. + +[Sidenote: The queen mother, Catherine de' Medici.] + +[Sidenote: The Bourbons.] + +173. The new king, Charles IX (1560-1574), was but ten years old, and +his mother, Catherine de' Medici, of the famous Florentine family, +claimed the right to conduct the government for her son. The rivalries +of the time were complicated by the existence of a younger branch of the +French royal family, namely, the Bourbons, one of whom was king of +Navarre. The Bourbons formed an alliance with the Huguenots,[319] as the +French Calvinists were called. + +[Sidenote: The Huguenots and their political ambition.] + +Many of the leading Huguenots, including their chief Coligny, belonged +to noble families and were anxious to play a part in the politics of the +time. This fact tended to confuse religious with political motives. In +the long run this mixture of motives proved fatal to the Protestant +cause in France, but for the time being the Huguenots formed so strong a +party that they threatened to get control of the government. + +[Sidenote: Catherine grants conditional toleration to the Protestants, +1562.] + +Catherine tried at first to conciliate both parties, and granted a +Decree of Toleration (1562) suspending the former edicts against the +Protestants and permitting them to assemble for worship during the +daytime and outside of the towns. Even this restricted toleration of the +Protestants appeared an abomination to the more fanatical Catholics, and +a savage act of the duke of Guise precipitated civil war. + +[Sidenote: The massacres of Vassy and the opening of the wars of +religion.] + +As he was passing through the town of Vassy on a Sunday he found a +thousand Huguenots assembled in a barn for worship. The duke's followers +rudely interrupted the service, and a tumult arose in which the troops +killed a considerable number of the defenseless multitude. The news of +this massacre aroused the Huguenots and was the beginning of a war which +continued, broken only by short truces, until the last weak descendant +of the house of Valois ceased to reign. As in the other religious wars +of the time, both sides exhibited the most inhuman cruelty. France was +filled for a generation with burnings, pillage, and every form of +barbarity. The leaders of both the Catholic and the Protestant party, as +well as two of the French kings themselves, fell by the hands of +assassins, and France renewed in civil war all the horrors of the +English invasion in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. + +[Sidenote: Coligny's influence and plan for a national war against +Philip II.] + +In 1570 a brief peace was concluded. The Huguenots were to be tolerated, +and certain towns were assigned to them, including La Rochelle, where +they might defend themselves in case of renewed attacks from the +Catholics. For a time both the king and the queen mother were on the +friendliest terms with the Huguenot leader Coligny, who became a sort of +prime minister. He was anxious that Catholics and Protestants should +join in a great national war against Spain. In this way the people of +France would combine, regardless of their differences in religion, in a +patriotic effort to win the county of Burgundy and a line of fortresses +to the north and east, which seemed naturally to belong to France rather +than to Spain. Coligny did not, of course, overlook the consideration +that in this way he could aid the Protestant cause in the Netherlands. + +[Sidenote: The massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572.] + +The strict Catholic party of the Guises frustrated this plan by a most +fearful expedient. They easily induced Catherine de' Medici to believe +that she was being deceived by Coligny, and an assassin was engaged to +put him out of the way; but the scoundrel missed his aim and only +wounded his victim. Fearful lest the young king, who was faithful to +Coligny, should discover her part in the attempted murder, the queen +mother invented a story of a great Huguenot conspiracy. The credulous +king was deceived, and the Catholic leaders at Paris arranged that at a +given signal not only Coligny, but all the Huguenots, who had gathered +in great numbers in the city to witness the marriage of the Protestant +Henry of Navarre with the king's sister, should be massacred on the eve +of St. Bartholomew's Day (August 23, 1572). + +[Sidenote: The Holy League.] + +The signal was duly given, and no less than two thousand persons were +ruthlessly murdered in Paris before the end of the next day. The news of +this attack spread into the provinces and it is probable that, at the +very least, ten thousand more Protestants were put to death outside of +the capital. Both the pope and Philip II expressed their gratification +at this signal example of French loyalty to the Church. Civil war again +broke out, and the Catholics formed the famous Holy League, under the +leadership of Henry of Guise, for the advancement of their interests and +the extirpation of heresy. + +[Sidenote: Question of the succession to the French throne.] + +Henry III (1574-1589), the last of the sons of Henry II, who succeeded +Charles IX, had no heirs, and the great question of succession arose. +The Huguenot, Henry of Navarre, was the nearest male relative, but the +League could never consent to permit the throne of France to be sullied +by heresy, especially as their leader, Henry of Guise, was himself +anxious to become king. + +[Sidenote: War of the Three Henrys, 1585-1589.] + +Henry III was driven weakly from one party to the other, and it finally +came to a war between the three Henrys,--Henry III, Henry of Navarre, +and Henry of Guise (1585-1589). It ended in a characteristic way. Henry +the king had Henry of Guise assassinated. The sympathizers of the League +then assassinated Henry the king, which left the field to Henry of +Navarre. He ascended the throne as Henry IV[320] in 1589, and is an +heroic figure in the line of French kings. + +[Sidenote: Henry IV, 1589-1610, becomes a Catholic.] + +174. The new king had many enemies, and his kingdom was devastated and +demoralized by years of war. He soon saw that he must accept the +religion of the majority of his people if he wished to reign over them. +He accordingly asked to be readmitted to the Catholic Church (1593), +excusing himself on the ground that "Paris was worth a mass." He did not +forget his old friends, however, and in 1598 he issued the Edict of +Nantes. + +[Sidenote: The Edict of Nantes, 1598.] + +By this edict of toleration the Calvinists were permitted to hold +services in all the towns and villages where they had previously held +them, but in Paris and a number of other towns all Protestant services +were prohibited. The Protestants were to enjoy the same political rights +as Catholics, and to be eligible to public office. A number of fortified +towns were to remain in the hands of the Huguenots, particularly La +Rochelle, Montauban, and Nîmes. Henry's only mistake lay in granting the +Huguenots the exceptional privilege of holding and governing fortified +towns. In the next generation, this privilege aroused the suspicion of +the king's minister, Richelieu, who attacked the Huguenots, not so much +on religious grounds, as on account of their independent position in the +state, which suggested that of the older feudal nobles. + +[Sidenote: Ministry of Sully.] + +Henry IV chose Sully, an upright and able Calvinist, for his chief +minister. Sully set to work to reëstablish the kingly power, which had +suffered greatly under the last three brothers of the house of Valois. +He undertook to lighten the tremendous burden of debt which weighed upon +the country. He laid out new roads and canals, and encouraged +agriculture and commerce; he dismissed the useless noblemen and officers +whom the government was supporting without any advantage to itself. Had +his administration not been prematurely interrupted, France might have +reached unprecedented power and prosperity; but religious fanaticism put +an end to his reforms. + +[Sidenote: Assassination of Henry IV, 1610.] + +In 1610 Henry IV, like William the Silent, was assassinated just in the +midst of his greatest usefulness to his country. Sully could not agree +with the regent, Henry's widow, and retired to his castle, where he +dictated his memoirs, which give a remarkable account of the stirring +times in which he had played so important a part. Before many years, +Richelieu, perhaps the greatest minister France has ever had, rose to +power, and from 1624 to his death in 1642 he governed France for Henry's +son, Louis XIII (1610-1643). Something will be said of his policy in +connection with the Thirty Years' War.[321] + +[Sidenote: England under Elizabeth, 1558-1603.] + +175. The long and disastrous civil war between Catholics and +Protestants, which desolated France in the sixteenth century, had +happily no counterpart in England. During her long and wise reign Queen +Elizabeth[322] succeeded not only in maintaining peace at home, but in +frustrating the conspiracies and attacks of Philip II, which threatened +her realm from without. Moreover, by her interference in the +Netherlands, she did much to secure their independence of Spain. + +[Sidenote: Elizabeth restores the Protestant service.] + +Upon the death of Catholic Mary and the accession of her sister +Elizabeth in 1558, the English government became once more Protestant. +Undoubtedly a great majority of Elizabeth's subjects would have been +satisfied to have had her return to the policy of her father, Henry +VIII. They still venerated the Mass and the other ancient ceremonies, +although they had no desire to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope +over their country. Elizabeth believed, however, that Protestantism +would finally prevail. She therefore reintroduced the Book of Prayer of +Edward VI, with some modifications, and proposed that all her subjects +should conform in public to the form of worship sanctioned by the state. +Elizabeth did not adopt the Presbyterian organization, which had a good +many advocates, but retained the old system of church government with +its archbishops, bishops, deans, etc. Naturally, however, Protestant +clergymen were substituted for the Catholics who had held office under +Mary. Elizabeth's first Parliament gave to the queen the power though +not the title of supreme head of the English church. + +[Sidenote: Presbyterian Church established in Scotland.] + +Elizabeth's position in regard to the religious question was first +threatened by events in Scotland. There, shortly after her accession, +the ancient Church was abolished, largely in the interest of the nobles, +who were anxious to get the lands of the bishops into their own hands +and enjoy the revenue from them. John Knox, a veritable second Calvin in +his stern energy, secured the introduction of the Presbyterian form of +faith and church government which still prevail in Scotland. + +[Sidenote: Mary Stuart the Scotch queen, becomes the hope of the +Catholics.] + +In 1561 the Scotch queen, Mary Stuart, whose French husband, Francis II, +had just died, landed at Leith. She was but nineteen years old, of great +beauty, and, by reason of her Catholic faith and French training, almost +a foreigner to her subjects. Her grandmother was a sister of Henry VIII, +and Mary claimed to be the rightful heiress to the English throne should +Elizabeth die childless. Consequently the beautiful Queen of Scots +became the hope of all those, including Philip II and Mary's relatives, +the Guises, who wished to bring back England and Scotland to the Roman +Catholic faith. + +[Sidenote: Mary's suspicious conduct.] + +[Sidenote: Mary flees to England, 1568.] + +Mary made no effort to undo the work of John Knox, but she quickly +discredited herself with both Protestants and Catholics by her conduct. +After marrying her second cousin, Lord Darnley, she discovered that he +was a dissolute scapegrace, and came to despise him. She then formed an +attachment for a reckless nobleman named Bothwell. The house near +Edinburgh in which the wretched Darnley was lying ill was blown up one +night with gunpowder, and he was killed. The public suspected that both +Bothwell and the queen were implicated. How far Mary was responsible for +her husband's death no one can be sure. It is certain that she later +married Bothwell and that her indignant subjects thereupon deposed her +as a murderess. After fruitless attempts to regain her power, she +abdicated in favor of her infant son, James VI, and then fled to England +to appeal to Elizabeth. While the prudent Elizabeth denied the right of +the Scotch to depose their queen, she took good care to keep her rival +practically a prisoner. + +[Sidenote: The rising in the north, 1569, and Catholic plans for +deposing Elizabeth.] + +176. As time went on it became increasingly difficult for Elizabeth to +adhere to her policy of moderation in the treatment of the Catholics. A +rising in the north of England (1569) showed that there were many who +would gladly reëstablish the Catholic faith by freeing Mary and placing +her on the English throne. This was followed by the excommunication of +Elizabeth by the pope, who at the same time absolved her subjects from +their allegiance to their heretical ruler. Happily for Elizabeth the +rebels could look for no help either from Alva or the French king. The +Spaniards had their hands full, for the war in the Netherlands had just +begun; and Charles IX, who had accepted Coligny as his adviser, was at +that moment in hearty accord with the Huguenots. The rising in the north +was suppressed, but the English Catholics continued to harbor +treasonable designs and to look to Philip for help. They opened +correspondence with Alva and invited him to come with six thousand +Spanish troops to dethrone Elizabeth and make Mary Stuart queen of +England in her stead. Alva hesitated, for he characteristically thought +that it would be better to kill Elizabeth, or at least capture her. +Meanwhile the plot was discovered and came to naught. + +[Sidenote: English mariners capture Spanish ships.] + +Although Philip found himself unable to harm England, the English +mariners, like the Dutch "sea beggars," caused great loss to Spain. In +spite of the fact that Spain and England were not openly at war, the +English seamen extended their operations as far as the West Indies, and +seized Spanish treasure ships, with the firm conviction that in robbing +Philip they were serving God. The daring Sir Francis Drake even +ventured into the Pacific, where only the Spaniards had gone heretofore, +and carried off much booty on his little vessel, the _Pelican_. At last +he took "a great vessel with jewels in plenty, thirteen chests of silver +coin, eighty pounds weight of gold, and twenty-six tons of silver." He +then sailed around the world, and on his return presented his jewels to +Elizabeth, who paid little attention to the expostulations of the king +of Spain.[323] + +[Sidenote: Relations between England and Catholic Ireland.] + +One hope of the Catholics has not yet been mentioned, namely, Ireland, +whose relations with England from very early times down to the present +day form one of the most cheerless pages in the history of Europe. +Ireland was no longer, as it had been in the time of Gregory the Great, +a center of culture.[324] The population was divided into numerous clans +and their chieftains fought constantly with one another as well as with +the English, who were vainly endeavoring to subjugate the island. Under +Henry II and later kings England had conquered a district in the eastern +part of Ireland, and here the English managed to maintain a foothold in +spite of the anarchy outside. Henry VIII had suppressed a revolt of the +Irish and assumed the title of King of Ireland. Mary had hoped to +promote better relations by colonizing Kings County and Queens County +with Englishmen. This led, however, to a long struggle which only ended +when the colonists had killed all the natives in the district they +occupied. + +Elizabeth's interest in the perennial Irish question was stimulated by +the probability that Ireland might become a basis for Catholic +operations, since Protestantism had made little progress among its +simple and half-barbarous people. Her fears were realized. Several +attempts were made by Catholic leaders to land troops in Ireland with +the purpose of making the island the base for an attack on England. +Elizabeth's officers were able to frustrate these enterprises, but the +resulting disturbances greatly increased the misery of the Irish. In +1582 no less than thirty thousand people are said to have perished, +chiefly from starvation. + +[Sidenote: Persecution of the English Catholics.] + +As Philip's troops began to get the better of the opposition in the +southern Netherlands, the prospect of sending a Spanish army to England +grew brighter. Two Jesuits were sent to England in 1580 to strengthen +the adherents of their faith and were supposed to be urging them to +assist the foreign force against their queen when it should come. +Parliament now grew more intolerant and ordered fines and imprisonment +to be inflicted on those who said or heard mass, or who refused to +attend the English services. One of the Jesuits was cruelly tortured and +executed for treason but the other escaped to the continent. + +[Sidenote: Plans to assassinate Elizabeth.] + +In the spring of 1582 the first attempt to assassinate the heretical +queen was made at Philip's instigation. It was proposed that, when +Elizabeth was out of the way, the duke of Guise should see that an army +was sent to England in the interest of the Catholics. But Guise was kept +busy at home by the War of the Three Henrys, and Philip was left to +undertake the invasion of England by himself. + +[Sidenote: Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1587.] + +Mary did not live to witness the attempt. She became implicated in +another plot for the assassination of Elizabeth. Parliament now realized +that as long as Mary lived Elizabeth's life was in constant danger; +whereas, if Mary were out of the way, Philip would have no interest in +the death of Elizabeth, since Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, was a +Protestant. Elizabeth was therefore reluctantly persuaded by her +advisers to sign a warrant for Mary's execution in 1587.[325] + +[Sidenote: Destruction of Philip's Armada, 1588.] + +Philip by no means gave up his project of reclaiming Protestant England. +In 1588 he brought together a great fleet, including his best and +largest warships, which was proudly called by the Spaniards the +"Invincible Armada" (i.e., fleet). This was to sail up the Channel to +Flanders and bring over the duke of Parma and his veterans, who, it was +expected, would soon make an end of Elizabeth's raw militia. The English +ships were inferior to those of Spain in size although not in number, +but they had trained commanders, such as Drake and Hawkins. These famous +captains had long sailed the Spanish Main and knew how to use their +cannon without getting near enough to the Spaniards to suffer from their +short-range weapons. When the Armada approached, it was permitted by the +English fleet to pass up the Channel before a strong wind which later +became a storm. The English ships then followed and both fleets were +driven past the coast of Flanders. Of the hundred and twenty Spanish +ships, only fifty-four returned home; the rest had been destroyed by +English valor, or by the gale to which Elizabeth herself ascribed the +victory.[326] The defeat of the Armada put an end to the danger from +Spain. + +[Sidenote: Prospects of the Catholic cause at the opening of the reign +of Philip II.] + +177. As we look back over the period covered by the reign of Philip II, +it is clear that it was a most notable one in the history of the +Catholic Church. When he ascended the throne Germany, as well as +Switzerland and the Netherlands, had become largely Protestant. England, +however, under his Catholic wife, Mary, seemed to be turning back to the +old religion, while the French monarchs showed no inclination to +tolerate the heretical Calvinists. Moreover, the new and enthusiastic +order of the Jesuits promised to be a potent agency in inducing the +disaffected people to accept once more the supremacy of the pope and the +doctrines of the ancient church as formulated by the Council of Trent. +The tremendous power and apparently boundless resources of Spain +itself,--which were viewed by the rest of Europe with the gravest +apprehension, not to say terror,--Philip was willing to dedicate to the +extirpation of heresy in his own dominions and the destruction of +Protestantism throughout western Europe. + +[Sidenote: Outcome of Philip's policy.] + +When Philip died all was changed. England was hopelessly Protestant: the +"Invincible Armada" had been miserably wrecked, and Philip's plan for +bringing England once more within the fold of the Roman Catholic Church +was forever frustrated. In France the terrible wars of religion were +over, and a powerful king, lately a Protestant himself, was on the +throne, who not only tolerated the Protestants but chose one of them for +his chief minister, and would brook no more meddling of Spain in French +affairs. A new Protestant state, the United Netherlands, had actually +appeared within the bounds of the realm bequeathed to Philip by his +father. In spite of its small size this state was destined to play, from +that time on, quite as important a part in European affairs as the harsh +Spanish stepmother from whose control it had escaped. + +[Sidenote: Decline of Spain after the sixteenth century.] + +Spain itself had suffered most of all from Philip's reign.[327] His +domestic policy and his expensive wars had weakened a country which had +never been intrinsically strong. The income from across the sea was +bound to decrease as the mines were exhausted. The final expulsion of +the industrious Moors, shortly after Philip's death, left the indolent +Spaniards to till their own fields, which rapidly declined in fertility +under their careless cultivation. Poverty was deemed no disgrace but +manual labor was. Some one once ventured to tell a Spanish king that +"not gold and silver but sweat is the most precious metal, a coin which +is always current and never depreciates"; but it was a rare form of +currency in the Spanish peninsula. After Philip II's death Spain sinks +to the rank of a secondary European power. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR + + +[Sidenote: The Thirty Years' War really a series of wars.] + +178. The last great conflict caused by the differences between the +Catholics and Protestants was fought out in Germany during the first +half of the seventeenth century. It is generally known as the Thirty +Years' War (1618-1648), but there was in reality a series of wars; and +although the fighting was done upon German territory, Sweden, France, +and Spain played quite as important a part as Germany. + +[Sidenote: Weaknesses of the Peace of Augsburg.] + +Just before the abdication of Charles V, the Lutheran princes had forced +the emperor to acknowledge their right to their own religion and to the +church property which they had appropriated. The religious Peace of +Augsburg had, however, as we have seen,[328] two great weaknesses. In +the first place, only those Protestants who held the Lutheran faith were +to be tolerated. The Calvinists, who were increasing in numbers, were +not included in the peace. In the second place, the peace did not put a +stop to the seizure of church property by the Protestant princes. + +[Sidenote: Spread of Protestantism.] + +During the last years of Ferdinand I's reign and that of his successor +there was little trouble. Protestantism, however, made rapid progress +and invaded Bavaria, the Austrian possessions, and above all, Bohemia, +where the doctrines of Huss had never died out. So it looked for a time +as if even the German Hapsburgs were to see large portions of their +territory falling away from the old Church. But the Catholics had in the +Jesuits a band of active and efficient missionaries. They not only +preached and founded schools, but also succeeded in gaining the +confidence of some of the German princes, whose chief advisers they +became. Conditions were very favorable, at the opening of the +seventeenth century, for a renewal of the religious struggle. + +[Sidenote: Formation of the Protestant Union and the Catholic League.] + +The Lutheran town of Donauwörth permitted the existence of a monastery +within its limits. In 1607 a Protestant mob attacked the monks as they +were passing in procession through the streets. Duke Maximilian of +Bavaria, an ardent Catholic, on the border of whose possessions the town +lay, gladly undertook to punish this outrage. His army entered +Donauwörth, reëstablished the Catholic worship, and drove out the +Lutheran pastor. This event led to the formation of the Protestant Union +under the leadership of Frederick, elector of the Palatinate. The Union +included by no means all the Protestant princes; for example, the +Lutheran elector of Saxony refused to have anything to do with the +Calvinistic Frederick. The next year the Catholics, on their part, +formed the Catholic League under a far more efficient head, namely, +Maximilian of Bavaria.[329] + +[Sidenote: Bohemia revolts from the Hapsburg rule, 1618.] + +[Sidenote: Frederick, elector of the Palatinate, chosen king of +Bohemia.] + +These were the preliminaries of the Thirty Years' War. Hostilities began +in Bohemia, which had been added to the Hapsburg possessions through the +marriage of Ferdinand I. The Protestants were so strong in that country +that they had forced the emperor in 1609 to grant them privileges +greater even than those enjoyed by the Huguenots in France. The +government, however, failed to observe this agreement, and the +destruction of two Protestant churches resulted in a revolution at +Prague in 1618. Three representatives of the emperor were seized by the +irritated Bohemian leaders and thrown out of the window of the palace. +After this emphatic protest against the oppressive measures of the +government, Bohemia endeavored to establish itself once more as an +independent kingdom. It renounced the rule of the Hapsburgs and chose +Frederick, the elector of the Palatinate, as its new king. He appeared +to the Bohemians to possess a double advantage; in the first place, he +was the head of the Protestant Union, and in the second, he was the +son-in-law of the king of England, James I, to whom they looked for +help. + +[Sidenote: Failure of the Bohemian revolt.] + +[Sidenote: Battle on the White Hill, 1620.] + +The Bohemian venture proved a most disastrous one for Germany and for +Protestantism. The new emperor, Ferdinand II (1619-1637), who was at +once an uncompromising Catholic and a person of considerable ability, +appealed to the League for assistance. Frederick, the new king of +Bohemia, showed himself entirely unequal to the occasion. He and his +English wife, the Princess Elizabeth, made a bad impression on the +Bohemians, and they failed to gain the support of the neighboring +Lutheran elector of Saxony. A single battle, which the army of the +League under Maximilian won in 1620, put to flight the poor "winter +king," as he was derisively called on account of his reign of a single +season. The emperor and the duke of Bavaria set vigorously to work to +suppress Protestantism within their borders. The emperor arbitrarily +granted the eastern portion of the Palatinate to Maximilian and gave him +the title of Elector, without consulting the diet. + +[Sidenote: England and France unable to assist the Protestants.] + +179. Matters were becoming serious for the Protestant party, and England +might have intervened had it not been that James I believed that he +could by his personal influence restore peace to Europe and induce the +emperor and Maximilian of Bavaria to give back the Palatinate to the +"winter king." Even France might have taken a hand, for although +Richelieu, then at the head of affairs, had no love for the Protestants, +he was still more bitterly opposed to the Hapsburgs. However, his hands +were tied for the moment, for he was just undertaking to deprive the +Huguenots of their strong towns. + +[Sidenote: Christian IV of Denmark invades Germany, but is defeated.] + +[Sidenote: Wallenstein.] + +A diversion came, nevertheless, from without. Christian IV, king of +Denmark, invaded northern Germany in 1625 with a view of relieving his +fellow Protestants. In addition to the army of the League which was +dispatched against him, a new army was organized by the notorious +commander, Wallenstein. The emperor was poor and gladly accepted the +offer of this ambitious Bohemian nobleman[330] to collect an army which +should support itself upon the proceeds of the war, to wit, confiscation +and robbery. Christian met with two serious defeats in northern Germany; +even his peninsula was invaded by the imperial forces, and in 1629 he +agreed to retire from the conflict. + +[Sidenote: The Edict of Restitution, 1629.] + +[Sidenote: Dismissal of Wallenstein.] + +[Sidenote: Appearance of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, 1594-1632.] + +The emperor was encouraged by the successes of the Catholic armies to +issue that same year an Edict of Restitution. In this he ordered the +Protestants throughout Germany to give back all the church possessions +which they had seized since the religious Peace of Augsburg (1555). +These included two archbishoprics (Magdeburg and Bremen), nine +bishoprics, about one hundred and twenty monasteries, and other church +foundations. Moreover, he decreed that only the Lutherans might enjoy +the practice of their religion; the other "sects" were to be broken up. +As Wallenstein was preparing to execute this decree in his usual +merciless fashion, the war took a new turn. The League had become +jealous of a general who threatened to become too powerful, and it +accordingly joined in the complaints, which came from every side, of the +terrible extortions and incredible cruelty practiced by Wallenstein's +troops. The emperor consented, therefore, to dismiss this most competent +commander and lose a large part of his army. Just as the Catholics were +thus weakened, a new enemy arrived upon the scene who was far more +dangerous than any they had yet had to face, Gustavus Adolphus, king of +Sweden.[331] + +[Sidenote: The kingdom of Sweden.] + +[Sidenote: Gustavus Vasa, 1523-1560.] + +180. We have had no occasion hitherto to speak of the Scandinavian +kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, which the northern German +peoples had established about Charlemagne's time; but from now on they +begin to take part in the affairs of central Europe. The Union of Calmar +(1397) had brought these three kingdoms, previously separate, under a +single ruler. About the time that the Protestant revolt began in Germany +the union was broken by the withdrawal of Sweden. Gustavus Vasa, a +Swedish noble, led the movement and was subsequently chosen king of +Sweden (1523). In the same year Protestantism was introduced. Vasa +confiscated the church lands, got the better of the aristocracy, and +started Sweden on its way toward national greatness. Under his successor +the eastern shores of the Baltic were conquered and the Russians cut off +from the sea. + +[Sidenote: Motives of Gustavus Adolphus in invading Germany, 1630.] + +Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632) was induced to invade Germany for two +reasons. In the first place, he was a sincere and enthusiastic +Protestant and by far the most generous and attractive figure of his +time. He was genuinely afflicted by the misfortunes of his Protestant +brethren and anxious to devote himself to their welfare. Secondly, he +dreamed of extending his domains so that one day the Baltic might +perhaps become a Swedish lake. He undoubtedly hoped by his invasion not +only to free his co-religionists from the oppression of the emperor and +of the League, but to gain a strip of territory for Sweden. + +[Sidenote: Destruction of Magdeburg, 1631.] + +[Sidenote: Gustavus Adolphus victorious at Breitenfeld, 1631.] + +Gustavus was not received with much cordiality at first by the +Protestant princes of the north; but they were brought to their senses +by the awful destruction of Magdeburg by the troops of the League under +General Tilly. Magdeburg was the most important town of northern +Germany. When it finally succumbed after an obstinate and difficult +siege, twenty thousand of its inhabitants were killed and the town +burned to the ground. Although Tilly's reputation for cruelty is quite +equal to that of Wallenstein, he was probably not responsible for the +fire. After Gustavus Adolphus had met Tilly near Leipsic and +victoriously routed the army of the League, the Protestant princes began +to look with more favor on the foreigner. Gustavus then moved westward +and took up his winter quarters on the Rhine. + +[Sidenote: Wallenstein recalled.] + +[Sidenote: Gustavus Adolphus killed at Lützen, 1632.] + +The next spring he entered Bavaria and once more defeated Tilly (who was +mortally wounded in the battle), and forced Munich to surrender. There +seemed now to be no reason why he should not continue his way to Vienna. +At this juncture the emperor recalled Wallenstein, who collected a new +army over which the emperor gave him absolute command. After some delay +Gustavus met Wallenstein on the field of Lützen, in November, 1632, +where, after a fierce struggle, the Swedes gained the victory. But they +lost their leader and Protestantism its hero, for the Swedish king +ventured too far into the lines of the enemy and was surrounded and +killed. + +[Sidenote: Murder of Wallenstein.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Nördlingen, 1634.] + +The Swedes did not, however, retire from Germany, but continued to +participate in the war, which now degenerated into a series of raids by +leaders whose soldiers depopulated the land by their unspeakable +atrocities. Wallenstein roused the suspicions of the Catholics by +entering into mysterious negotiations with Richelieu and with the German +Protestants. This treasonable correspondence quickly reached the ears of +the emperor. Wallenstein, who had long been detested by even the +Catholics, was deserted by his soldiers and murdered (in 1634), to the +great relief of all parties. In the same year the imperial army won the +important battle of Nördlingen, one of the most bloody and at the same +time decisive engagements of the war. Shortly after, the elector of +Saxony withdrew from his alliance with the Swedes and made peace with +the emperor. It looked as if the war were about to come to an end, for +many others among the German princes were quite ready to lay down their +arms.[332] + +[Sidenote: Richelieu renews the struggle of France against the +Hapsburgs.] + +181. Just at this critical moment Richelieu decided that it would be to +the interest of France to renew the old struggle with the Hapsburgs by +sending troops against the emperor. France was still shut in, as she had +been since the time of Charles V, by the Hapsburg lands. Except on the +side toward the ocean her boundaries were in the main artificial ones, +and not those established by great rivers and mountains. She therefore +longed to weaken her enemy and strengthen herself by winning Roussillon +on the south, and so make the crest of the Pyrenees the line of +demarcation between France and Spain. She dreamed, too, of extending her +sway toward the Rhine by adding the county of Burgundy (i.e., +Franche-Comté) and a number of fortified towns which would afford +protection against the Spanish Netherlands. + +[Sidenote: Richelieu checks Spanish aggression in Italy.] + +Richelieu had been by no means indifferent to the Thirty Years' War. He +had encouraged the Swedish king to intervene, and had supplied him with +funds if not with troops. Moreover, he himself had checked Spanish +progress in northern Italy. In 1624 Spanish troops had invaded the +valley of the Adda, a Protestant region, with the evident purpose of +conquest. This appeared a most serious aggression to Richelieu, for if +the Spanish won the valley of the Adda, the last barrier between the +Hapsburg possessions in Italy and in Germany would be removed. French +troops were dispatched to drive out the Spaniards, but it was in the +interest of France rather than in that of the oppressed Calvinists, for +whom Richelieu could hardly have harbored a deep affection. A few years +later it became a question whether a Spanish or a French candidate +should obtain the vacant duchy of Mantua, and Richelieu led another +French army in person to see that Spain was again discomfited. It was, +then, not strange that he should decide to deal a blow at the emperor +when the war appeared to be coming to a close that was tolerably +satisfactory from the standpoint of the Hapsburgs. + +[Sidenote: Richelieu's intervention prolongs the war.] + +Richelieu declared war against Spain in May, 1635. He had already +concluded an alliance with the chief enemies of the house of Austria. +Sweden agreed not to negotiate for peace until France was ready for it. +The United Provinces joined France, as did some of the German princes. +So the war was renewed, and French, Swedish, Spanish, and German +soldiers ravaged an already exhausted country for a decade longer. The +dearth of provisions was so great that the armies had to move quickly +from place to place in order to avoid starvation. After a serious defeat +by the Swedes, the emperor (Ferdinand III, 1637-1657) sent a Dominican +monk to expostulate with Cardinal Richelieu for his crime in aiding the +German and Swedish heretics against the unimpeachably orthodox Austria. + +[Sidenote: France succeeds Spain in the military supremacy of western +Europe.] + +The cardinal had, however, just died (December, 1642), well content with +the results of his diplomacy. The French were in possession of +Roussillon and of Artois, Lorraine, and Alsace. The military exploits of +the French generals, especially Turenne and Condé, during the opening +years of the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715) showed that a new period had +begun in which the military and political supremacy of Spain was to give +way to that of France. + +[Sidenote: Close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648.] + +182. The participants in the war were now so numerous and their objects +so various and conflicting, that it is not strange that it required some +years to arrange the conditions of peace even when every one was ready +for it. It was agreed (1644) that France and the empire should negotiate +at Münster, and the emperor and the Swedes at Osnabrück,--both of which +towns lie in Westphalia. For four years the representatives of the +several powers worked upon the difficult problem of satisfying every +one, but at last the treaties of Westphalia were signed late in 1648. +Their provisions continued to be the basis of the international law of +Europe down to the French Revolution. + +[Sidenote: Provisions of the treaties of Westphalia.] + +The religious troubles in Germany were settled by extending the +toleration of the Peace of Augsburg so as to include the Calvinists as +well as the Lutherans. The Protestant princes were, regardless of the +Edict of Restitution, to retain the lands which they had in their +possession in the year 1624, and each ruler was still to have the right +to determine the religion of his state. The dissolution of the German +empire was practically acknowledged by permitting the individual states +to make treaties among themselves and with foreign powers; this was +equivalent to recognizing the practical independence which they had, as +a matter of fact, already long enjoyed. A part of Pomerania and the +districts at the mouth of the Oder, the Elbe, and the Weser were ceded +to Sweden. This territory did not, however, cease to form a part of the +empire, for Sweden was thereafter to have three votes in the German +diet. + +As for France, it was definitely given the three bishoprics of Metz, +Verdun, and Toul, which Henry II had bargained for when he allied +himself with the Protestants a century earlier.[333] The emperor also +ceded to France all his rights in Alsace, although the city of Strasburg +was to remain with the empire. Lastly, the independence both of the +United Netherlands and of Switzerland was acknowledged.[334] + +[Sidenote: Disastrous results of the war in Germany.] + +The accounts of the misery and depopulation of Germany caused by the +Thirty Years' War are well-nigh incredible. Thousands of villages were +wiped out altogether; in some regions the population was reduced by one +half, in others to a third, or even less, of what it had been at the +opening of the conflict. The flourishing city of Augsburg was left with +but sixteen thousand souls instead of eighty thousand. The people were +fearfully barbarized by privation and suffering and by the atrocities +of the soldiers of all the various nations. Until the end of the +eighteenth century Germany was too exhausted and impoverished to make +any considerable contribution to the culture of Europe. Only one hopeful +circumstance may be noted as we leave this dreary subject. After the +Peace of Westphalia the elector of Brandenburg was the most powerful of +the German princes next to the emperor. As king of Prussia he was +destined to create another European power, and at last to humble the +house of Hapsburg and create a new German empire in which Austria should +have no part. + + + General Reading.--The most complete and scholarly account of the + Thirty Years' War to be had in English is GINDELY, _History of the + Thirty Years' War_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2 vols., $3.50). + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT + + +[Sidenote: The question of absolute or limited monarchy in England.] + +183. The great question which confronted England in the seventeenth +century was whether the king should be permitted to rule the people, as +God's representative, or should submit to the constant control of the +nation's representatives, i.e., Parliament. In France the Estates +General met for the last time in 1614, and thereafter the French king +made laws and executed them without asking the advice of any one except +his immediate counselors. In general, the rulers on the continent +exercised despotic powers, and James I of England and his son Charles I +would gladly have made themselves absolute rulers, for they entertained +the same exalted notions of the divine right of kings which prevailed +across the English Channel. England finally succeeded, however, in +adjusting the relations between king and Parliament in a very happy way, +so as to produce a limited, or constitutional, monarchy. The long and +bitter struggle between the house of Stuart and the English Parliament +plays an important rôle in the history of Europe at large, as well as in +that of England. After the French Revolution, at the end of the +eighteenth century, the English system began to become popular on the +continent, and it has now replaced the older absolute monarchy in all +the kingdoms of western Europe. + +[Sidenote: Accession of James I, 1603-1625.] + +On the death of Elizabeth in 1603, James I, the first of the Stuarts, +ascended the English throne. He was, it will be remembered, the son of +Mary Queen of Scots, and was known in Scotland as James VI; +consequently England and Scotland now came under the same ruler. This +did not, however, make the relations between the two countries much +happier, for a century to come at least. + +[Sidenote: James' belief in the 'divine right' of kings.] + +The chief interest of James' reign lay in his tendency to exalt the +royal prerogative, and in the systematic manner in which he extolled +absolute monarchy in his writings and speeches and discredited it by his +conduct. James was an unusually learned man, for a king, but his +learning did not enlighten him in matters of common sense. As a man and +a ruler, he was far inferior to his unschooled and light-hearted +contemporary, Henry IV of France. Henry VIII had been a heartless +despot, and Elizabeth had ruled the nation in a high-handed manner; but +both of them had known how to make themselves popular and had had the +good sense to say as little as possible about their rights. James, on +the contrary, had a fancy for discussing his high position. + +[Sidenote: His own expression of his claims.] + +"As for the absolute prerogative of the crown," he declares, "that is no +subject for the tongue of a lawyer, nor is it lawful to be disputed. It +is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do: ... so it is +presumption and high contempt in a subject to dispute what a king can +do, or say that a king cannot do this or that." The king, James claimed, +could make any kind of law or statute that he thought meet, without any +advice from Parliament, although he might, if he chose, accept its +suggestions. "He is overlord of the whole land, so is he master over +every person who inhabiteth the same, having power over the life and +death of every one of them: for although a just prince will not take the +life of one of his subjects without a clear law, yet the same laws +whereby he taketh them are made by himself and his predecessors; so the +power flows always from himself." A good king will act according to law, +but he is above the law and is not bound thereby except voluntarily and +for good-example giving to his subjects. + +[Sidenote: The theory of 'divine right.'] + +These theories, taken from James' work on _The Law of Free Monarchies_, +seem strange and unreasonable to us. But he was really only claiming the +rights which his predecessors had enjoyed, and such as were conceded to +the kings of France until the French Revolution. According to the theory +of "divine right," the king did not owe his power to the nation but to +God, who had appointed him to be the father of his people. From God he +derived all the prerogatives necessary to maintain order and promote +justice; consequently he was responsible to God alone, and not to the +people, for the exercise of his powers. It is unnecessary to follow in +detail the troubles between James and his Parliament and the various +methods which he invented for raising money without the sanction of +Parliament, for all this forms only the preliminary to the fatal +experience of James' son, Charles I. + +[Sidenote: James I's foreign policy.] + +In his foreign policy James showed as little sense as in his relations +with his own people. He refused to help his son-in-law when he became +king of Bohemia.[335] But when the Palatinate was given by the emperor +to Maximilian of Bavaria, James struck upon the extraordinary plan of +forming an alliance with the hated Spain and inducing its king to +persuade the emperor to reinstate the "winter king" in his former +possessions. In order to conciliate Spain, Charles, Prince of Wales, was +to marry a Spanish princess. Naturally this proposal was very unpopular +among the English Protestants, and it finally came to nothing. + +[Sidenote: Literature in the time of Elizabeth and James I.] + +[Sidenote: Shakespeare, 1564-1616.] + +[Sidenote: Francis Bacon, 1561-1626.] + +[Sidenote: The King James translation of the Bible.] + +Although England under James I failed to influence deeply the course of +affairs in Europe at large, his reign is distinguished by the work of +unrivaled writers who gave England a literature which outshone that of +any other of the European countries. Shakespeare is generally admitted +to have been the greatest dramatist the world has ever produced. While +he wrote many of his plays before the death of Elizabeth, _Othello_, +_King Lear_, and _The Tempest_ belong to the reign of James. Francis +Bacon, philosopher and statesman, did much for the advancement of +scientific research by advocating new methods of reasoning based upon a +careful observation of natural phenomena instead of upon Aristotle's +logic. He urged investigators to take the path already indicated over +three centuries earlier by his namesake, Roger Bacon.[336] The most +worthy monument of the strong and beautiful English of the period is to +be found in the translation of the Bible, prepared in James' reign and +still generally used in all the countries where English is spoken.[337] + +[Sidenote: Charles I, 1625-1649.] + +184. Charles I was somewhat more dignified than his father, but he was +quite as obstinately set upon having his own way and showed no more +skill in winning the confidence of his subjects. He did nothing to +remove the disagreeable impressions of his father's reign and began +immediately to quarrel with Parliament. When that body refused to grant +him any money, mainly because they thought that it was likely to be +wasted by his favorite, the duke of Buckingham, Charles formed the plan +of winning their favor by a great military victory. + +After James I had reluctantly given up his cherished Spanish alliance, +Charles had married a French princess, Henrietta Maria, the daughter of +Henry IV. In spite of this marriage Charles now proposed to aid the +Huguenots whom Richelieu was besieging in their town of La Rochelle. He +also hoped to gain popularity by prosecuting a war against Spain, whose +king was energetically supporting the Catholic League in Germany. +Accordingly, in spite of Parliament's refusal to grant him the +necessary funds, he embarked in war. With only the money which he could +raise by irregular means, Charles arranged an expedition to take Cadiz +and the Spanish treasure ships which arrived there once a year from +America, laden with gold and silver. The expedition failed, as well as +Charles' attempt to help the Huguenots. + +[Sidenote: Charles' exactions and arbitrary acts.] + +In his attempts to raise money without a regular grant from Parliament, +Charles had resorted to vexatious exactions. The law prohibited him from +asking for _gifts_ from his people, but it did not forbid his asking +them to _lend_ him money, however little prospect there might be of his +ever repaying it. Five gentlemen who refused to pay such a forced loan +were imprisoned by the mere order of the king. This raised the question +of whether the king had the right to send to prison those whom he wished +without showing legal cause for their arrest. + +[Sidenote: The Petition of Right.] + +This and other attacks upon the rights of his subjects roused +Parliament. In 1628 that body drew up the celebrated Petition of +Right,[338] which is one of the most important documents in the history +of the English Constitution. In it Parliament called the king's +attention to his illegal exactions, and to the acts of his agents who +had in sundry ways molested and disquieted the people of the realm. +Parliament therefore "humbly prayed" the king that no man need +thereafter "make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like +charge" without consent of Parliament; that no free man should be +imprisoned or suffer any punishment except according to the laws and +statutes of the realm as presented in the Great Charter; and that +soldiers should not be quartered upon the people on any pretext +whatever. Very reluctantly Charles consented to this restatement of the +limitations which the English had always, in theory at least, placed +upon the arbitrary power of their king. + +[Sidenote: Religious differences between Charles and the Commons.] + +The disagreement between Charles and Parliament was rendered much more +serious by religious differences. The king had married a Catholic +princess, and the Catholic cause seemed to be gaining on the continent. +The king of Denmark had just been defeated by Wallenstein and Tilly, and +Richelieu had succeeded in depriving the Huguenots of their cities of +refuge. Both James and Charles had shown their readiness to enter into +engagements with France and Spain to protect English Catholics, and +there was evidently a growing inclination in England to revert to the +older ceremonies of the Church, which shocked the more strongly +Protestant members of the House of Commons. The communion table was +again placed by many clergymen at the eastern end of the church and +became fixed there as an altar, and portions of the service were once +more chanted. + +[Illustration: Charles I (After a painting by Vandyke)] + +[Sidenote: Charles dissolves Parliament (1629) and determines to rule by +himself.] + +These "popish practices," with which the king was supposed to +sympathize, served to widen the breach between him and the Commons which +had been opened by the king's attempt to raise taxes on his own account. +The Parliament of 1629, after a stormy session, was dissolved by the +king, who determined to rule thereafter by himself. For eleven years no +new Parliament was summoned. + +185. Charles was not well fitted by nature to try the experiment of +personal government. Moreover, the methods resorted to by his ministers +to raise money without recourse to Parliament rendered the king more and +more unpopular and prepared the way for the triumphant return of +Parliament. + +[Sidenote: Charles' financial exactions.] + +According to an ancient law of England, those who had a certain amount +of land must become knights; but since the decay of the feudal system, +landowners had given up the meaningless form of qualifying themselves as +knights. It now occurred to the king's government that a large amount of +money might be raised by fining these delinquents. Other unfortunates +who had settled within the boundaries of the royal forests were either +heavily fined or required to pay enormous arrears of rent. + +In addition to these sources of income, Charles applied to his subjects +for _ship money_.[339] He was anxious to equip a fleet, but instead of +requiring the various ports to furnish ships, as was the ancient custom, +he permitted them to buy themselves off by contributing to the fitting +out of large ships owned by himself. Even those living inland were asked +for ship money. The king maintained that this was not a tax but simply a +payment by which his subjects freed themselves from the duty of +defending their country. John Hampden, a squire of Buckinghamshire, made +a bold stand against this illegal demand by refusing to pay twenty +shillings of ship money which was levied upon him. The case was tried +before the king's judges, a bare majority of whom decided against +Hampden. But the trial made it tolerably clear that the country would +not put up long with the king's despotic policy. + +[Sidenote: William Laud made Archbishop of Canterbury.] + +In 1633 Charles made William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud +believed that the English Church would strengthen both itself and the +government by following a middle course which should lie between that +of the Church of Rome and that of Calvinistic Geneva. He declared that +it was the part of good citizenship to conform outwardly to the services +of the state church, but that the state should not undertake to oppress +the individual conscience, and that every one should be at liberty to +make up his own mind in regard to the interpretation to be given to the +Bible and to the church fathers. As soon as he became archbishop he +began a series of visitations through his province. Every clergyman who +refused to conform to the Prayer Book, or opposed the placing of the +communion table at the east end of the church, or declined to bow at the +name of Jesus, was, if obstinate, to be brought before the king's +special Court of High Commission to be tried and if convicted to be +deprived of his benefice. + +[Sidenote: The different sects of Protestants.] + +Laud's conduct was no doubt gratifying to the High Church party among +the Protestants, that is, those who still clung to some of the ancient +practices of the Roman Church, although they rejected the doctrine of +the Mass and refused to regard the pope as their head. The Low Church +party, or _Puritans_, on the contrary, regarded Laud and his policy with +aversion. While, unlike the Presbyterians, they did not urge the +abolition of the bishops, they disliked all "superstitious usages," as +they called the wearing of the surplice by the clergy, the use of the +sign of the cross at baptism, the kneeling posture in partaking of the +communion. The Presbyterians, who are often confused with the Puritans, +agreed with them in many respects, but went farther and demanded the +introduction of Calvin's system of church government.[340] + +[Sidenote: The Independents.] + +[Sidenote: The Pilgrim Fathers.] + +Lastly, there was an ever-increasing number of Separatists, or +Independents. These rejected both the organization of the Church of +England and that of the Presbyterians, and desired that each religious +community should organize itself independently. The government had +forbidden these Separatists to hold their little meetings, which they +called _conventicles_, and about 1600 some of them fled to Holland. The +community of them which established itself at Leyden dispatched the +_Mayflower_, in 1620, with colonists--since known as the Pilgrim +Fathers--to the New World across the sea.[341] It was these colonists +who laid the foundations of a _New England_ which has proved a worthy +offspring of the mother country. The form of worship which they +established in their new home is still known as Congregational.[342] + +[Sidenote: Charles summons Parliament once more, to aid him in fighting +the Scotch Presbyterians, 1640.] + +186. In 1640 Charles found himself forced to resort to Parliament, for +he was involved in a war with Scotland which he could not carry on +without money. There the Presbyterian system had been pretty generally +introduced by John Knox in Queen Mary's time, but the bishops had been +permitted to maintain a precarious existence in the interest of the +nobles who enjoyed their revenues. James I had always had a strong +dislike for Presbyterianism. He once said, "A Scottish presbytery +agreeth as well with the monarchy as God with the devil. Then Jack and +Tom and Will and Dick shall meet and at their pleasure censure me and my +council." He much preferred a few bishops appointed by himself to +hundreds of presbyteries over whose sharp eyes and sharper tongues he +could have little control. So bishops were reappointed in Scotland in +the early years of his reign and got back some of their powers. The +Presbyterians, however, were still in the majority, and they continued +to regard the bishops as the tools of the king. + +[Sidenote: The National Covenant, 1638.] + +An attempt on the part of Charles to force the Scots to accept a +modified form of the English Prayer Book led to the signing of the +National Covenant in 1638. This pledged those who attached their names +to it to reëstablish the purity and liberty of the Gospel, which, to +most of the Covenanters, meant Presbyterianism. Charles thereupon +undertook to coerce the Scots. Having no money, he bought on credit a +large cargo of pepper, which had just arrived in the ships of the East +India Company, and sold it cheap for ready cash. The soldiers, however, +whom he got together showed little inclination to fight the Scots, with +whom they were in tolerable agreement on religious matters. Charles was +therefore at last obliged to summon a Parliament, which, owing to the +length of time it remained in session, is known as the Long Parliament. + +[Sidenote: The measures of the Long Parliament against the king's +tyranny.] + +The Long Parliament began by imprisoning Strafford, the king's most +conspicuous minister, and Archbishop Laud in the Tower of London. The +help that Strafford had given to the king in ruling without Parliament +had mortally offended the House of Commons. They declared him guilty of +treason, and he was executed in 1641, in spite of Charles' efforts to +save him. Laud met the same fate four years later. Parliament also tried +to strengthen its position by passing the Triennial Bill, which provided +that it should meet at least once in three years, even if not summoned +by the king. The courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, which had +arbitrarily condemned a number of the king's opponents, were abolished, +and ship money declared illegal.[343] In short, Charles' whole system of +government was abrogated. The efforts of the queen to obtain money and +soldiers from the pope, and a visit of Charles to Scotland, which +Parliament suspected was for the purpose of forcing the Scots to lend +him an army to use against themselves, led to the Grand Remonstrance. In +this all of Charles' errors were enumerated and a demand was made that +the king's ministers should thereafter be responsible to Parliament. +This document Parliament ordered to be printed and circulated throughout +the country. + +[Sidenote: Charles' attempts to arrest five members of the House of +Commons.] + +Exasperated at the conduct of the Commons, Charles attempted to +intimidate the opposition by undertaking the arrest of five of its most +active leaders, whom he declared to be traitors. But when he entered the +House of Commons and looked around for his enemies, he found that they +had taken shelter in London, whose citizens later brought them back in +triumph to Westminster. + +[Sidenote: The beginning of civil war, 1642.] + +[Sidenote: Cavaliers and Roundheads.] + +187. Both Charles and Parliament now began to gather troops for the +inevitable conflict, and England was plunged into civil war. Those who +supported Charles were called _Cavaliers_. They included not only most +of the aristocracy and the papal party, but also a number of members of +the House of Commons who were fearful lest Presbyterianism should +succeed in doing away with the English Church. The parliamentary party +was popularly known as the _Roundheads_, since some of them cropped +their hair close because of their dislike for the long locks of their +more aristocratic and worldly opponents. + +[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell] + +[Sidenote: Oliver Cromwell.] + +The Roundheads soon found a distinguished leader in Oliver Cromwell[344] +(b. 1599), a country gentleman and member of Parliament, who was later +to become the most powerful ruler of his time. Cromwell organized a +compact army of God-fearing men, who indulged in no profane words or +light talk, as is the wont of soldiers, but advanced upon their enemies +singing psalms. The king enjoyed the support of northern England, and +also looked for help from Ireland, where the royal and Catholic causes +were popular. + +[Sidenote: Battles of Marston Moor and Naseby.] + +[Sidenote: The losing cause of the king.] + +The war continued for several years, and a number of battles were fought +which, after the first year, went in general against the Cavaliers. The +most important of these were the battle of Marston Moor in 1644, and +that of Naseby the next year, in which the king was disastrously +defeated. The enemy came into possession of his correspondence, which +showed them how their king had been endeavoring to bring armies from +France and Ireland into England. This encouraged Parliament to prosecute +the war with more energy than ever. The king, defeated on every hand, +put himself in the hands of the Scotch army which had come to the aid of +Parliament (1646), and the Scotch soon turned him over to Parliament. +During the next two years Charles, while held in captivity, entered into +negotiations with the various parties in turn, but played fast and loose +with them all. + +[Sidenote: Pride's Purge.] + +There were many in the House of Commons who still sided with the king, +and in December, 1648, that body declared for a reconciliation with the +monarch, whom they had safely imprisoned in the Isle of Wight. The next +day Colonel Pride, representing the army,--which constituted a party in +itself and was opposed to all negotiations between the king and the +Commons,--stood at the door of the House with a body of soldiers and +excluded all the members who took the side of the king. This outrageous +act is known in history as Pride's Purge. + +[Sidenote: Execution of Charles, 1649.] + +In this way the House was brought completely under the control of those +most bitterly hostile to Charles, whom they now proposed to bring to +trial. They declared that the House of Commons, since it was chosen by +the people, was supreme in England and the source of all just power, and +that consequently neither king nor House of Lords was necessary. The +mutilated House appointed a special High Court of Justice made up of +Charles' sternest opponents, who alone would consent to sit in judgment +on him. They passed sentence upon him, and on January 30, 1649, Charles +was beheaded in front of his palace of Whitehall, London. It must be +clear from the above account that it was not the nation at large which +demanded Charles' death, but a very small group of extremists who +claimed to be the representatives of the nation.[345] + +[Sidenote: England becomes a commonwealth or republic.] + +[Sidenote: Cromwell at the head of the government.] + +188. The Rump Parliament, as the remnant of the House of Commons was +contemptuously called, proclaimed England to be thereafter a +commonwealth, that is, a republic, without a king or House of Lords. +Cromwell, the head of the army, was the real ruler of England. He +derived his main support from the Independents; and it is very +surprising that he was able to maintain himself so long, considering +what a small portion of the English people was in sympathy with the +religious ideas of that sect and with the abolition of kingship. Even +the Presbyterians were on the side of Charles II, the legal heir to the +throne. Yet Cromwell represented the principles for which the opponents +of tyranny had been contending. He was, moreover, a vigorous and +skillful administrator, and had a well-organized army of fifty thousand +men at his command; otherwise the republic could scarcely have lasted +more than a few months. + +[Sidenote: Ireland and Scotland subdued.] + +Cromwell found himself confronted by every variety of difficulty. The +three kingdoms had fallen apart. The nobles and Catholics in Ireland +proclaimed Charles II as king, and Ormond, a Protestant leader, formed +an army of Irish Catholics and English royalist Protestants with a view +of overthrowing the Commonwealth. Cromwell accordingly set out for +Ireland, where, after taking Drogheda, he mercilessly slaughtered two +thousand of the "barbarous wretches," as he called them. Town after town +surrendered to Cromwell's army, and in 1652, after much cruelty, the +island was once more conquered. A large part of it was confiscated for +the benefit of the English, and the Catholic landowners were driven into +the mountains. In the meantime (1650) Charles II had landed in Scotland, +and upon his agreeing to be a Presbyterian king, the whole Scotch nation +was ready to support him. But Scotland was subdued even more promptly +than Ireland had been. So completely was the Scottish army destroyed +that Cromwell found no need to draw the sword again in the British +Isles. + +[Sidenote: The Navigation Act, 1651.] + +[Sidenote: Commercial war between Holland and England.] + +Although it would seem that Cromwell had enough to keep him busy at +home, he had already engaged in a victorious foreign war against the +Dutch, who had become dangerous commercial rivals of England. The ships +which went out from Amsterdam and Rotterdam were the best merchant +vessels in the world, and had got control of the carrying trade between +Europe and the colonies. In order to put an end to this, the English +Parliament passed the Navigation Act (1651), which permitted only +English vessels to bring goods to England, unless the goods came in +vessels belonging to the country which had produced them. This led to a +commercial war between Holland and England, and a series of battles was +fought between the English and Dutch fleets, in which sometimes one and +sometimes the other gained the upper hand. This war is notable as the +first example of the commercial struggles which were thereafter to take +the place of the religious conflicts of the preceding period. + +[Sidenote: Cromwell dissolves the Long Parliament (1653), and is made +Lord Protector by his own Parliament.] + +Cromwell failed to get along with Parliament any better than Charles had +done. The Rump Parliament had become very unpopular, for its members, in +spite of their boasted piety, accepted bribes and were zealous in the +promotion of their relatives in the public service. At last Cromwell +upbraided them angrily for their injustice and self-interest, which were +injuring the public cause. On being interrupted by a member, he cried +out, "Come, come, we have had enough of this. I'll put an end to this. +It's not fit that you should sit here any longer," and calling in his +soldiers he turned the members out of the House and sent them home. +Having thus made an end of the Long Parliament (April, 1653), he +summoned a Parliament of his own, made up of God-fearing men whom he and +the officers of his army chose. This extraordinary body is known as +Barebone's Parliament, from a distinguished member, a London merchant, +with the characteristically Puritan name of Praisegod Barebone. Many of +these godly men were unpractical and hard to deal with. A minority of +the more sensible ones got up early one winter morning (December, 1653) +and, before their opponents had a chance to protest, declared Parliament +dissolved and placed the supreme authority in the hands of Cromwell. + +[Sidenote: The Protector's foreign policy.] + +For nearly five years Cromwell was, as Lord Protector,--a title +equivalent to that of regent,--practically king of England, although he +refused actually to accept the royal insignia. He did not succeed in +permanently organizing the government at home but showed remarkable +ability in his foreign negotiations. He formed an alliance with France, +and English troops aided the French in winning a great victory over +Spain. England gained thereby Dunkirk, and the West Indian island of +Jamaica. The French king, Louis XIV, at first hesitated to address +Cromwell, in the usual courteous way of monarchs, as "my cousin," but +soon admitted that he would have to call Cromwell "father" should he +wish it, as the Protector was undoubtedly the most powerful person in +Europe. + +[Sidenote: Death of Cromwell, September, 1658.] + +In May, 1658, Cromwell fell ill, and as a great storm passed over +England at that time, the Cavaliers asserted that the devil had come to +fetch home the soul of the usurper. Cromwell was dying, it is true, but +he was no instrument of the devil. He closed a life of honest effort for +his fellow-beings with a last touching prayer to God, whom he had +consistently sought to serve: "Thou hast made me, though very unworthy, +a mean instrument to do Thy people some good and Thee service: and many +of them have set too high a value upon me, though others wish and would +be glad of my death. Pardon such as desire to trample upon the dust of a +poor worm, for they are Thy people too; and pardon the folly of this +short prayer, even for Jesus Christ's sake, and give us a good night, if +it be Thy pleasure. Amen."[346] + +[Sidenote: The Restoration.] + +[Sidenote: Charles II welcomed back as king, 1660.] + +189. After Cromwell's death his son Richard, who succeeded him, found +himself unable to carry on the government. He soon abdicated, and the +remnants of the Long Parliament met once more. But the power was really +in the hands of the soldiers. In 1660 George Monk, who was in command of +the forces in Scotland, came to London with a view of putting an end to +the anarchy. He soon concluded that no one cared to support the Rump, +and that body peacefully disbanded of its own accord. Resistance would +have been vain in any case with the army against it. The nation was glad +to acknowledge Charles II, whom every one preferred to a government by +soldiers. A new Parliament, composed of both houses, was assembled, +which welcomed a messenger from the king and solemnly resolved that, +"according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this kingdom, the +government is, and ought to be, by king, lords, and commons." Thus the +Puritan revolution and the ephemeral republic was followed by the +_Restoration_ of the Stuarts. + +[Sidenote: Character of Charles II.] + +Charles II was quite as fond as his father of having his own way, but he +was a man of more ability. He disliked to be ruled by Parliament; but, +unlike his father, he was unwilling to arouse the nation against him. He +did not propose to let anything happen which would send him on his +travels again. He and his courtiers were fond of pleasure of a +light-minded and immoral kind. The licentious dramas of the Restoration +seem to indicate that those who had been forced by the Puritans to give +up their legitimate pleasures now welcomed the opportunity to indulge in +reckless gayety without regard to the bounds imposed by custom and +decency. + +[Sidenote: Religious measures adopted by Parliament.] + +[Sidenote: The Act of Uniformity.] + +[Sidenote: The Dissenters.] + +Charles' first Parliament was a moderate body, but his second was made +up almost wholly of Cavaliers, and it got along, on the whole, so well +with the king that he did not dissolve it for eighteen years. It did not +take up the old question, which was still unsettled, as to whether +Parliament or the king was really supreme. It showed its hostility, +however, to the Puritans by a series of intolerant acts, which are very +important in English history. It ordered that no one should hold a +municipal office who had not received the Eucharist according to the +rites of the Church of England. This was aimed at both the Presbyterians +and the Independents. By the Act of Uniformity (1662), every clergyman +who refused to accept everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer +was to be excluded from holding his benefice. Two thousand clergymen +thereupon resigned their positions for conscience' sake. These laws +tended to throw all those Protestants who refused to conform to the +Church of England into a single class, still known as Dissenters. It +included the Independents, the Presbyterians, and the newer bodies of +the Baptists, and the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. +These sects abandoned any idea of controlling the religion or politics +of the country, and asked only that they might be permitted to worship +in their own way outside of the English Church. + +[Sidenote: Toleration favored by the king.] + +[Sidenote: The Conventicle Act.] + +[Sidenote: The Test Act.] + +Toleration found an unexpected ally in the king, who, in spite of his +dissolute habits, had interest enough in religion to have secret +leanings toward Catholicism. He asked Parliament to permit him to +moderate the rigor of the Act of Uniformity by making some exceptions. +He even issued a declaration in the interest of toleration, with a view +of bettering the position of the Catholics and nonconformists. Suspicion +was, however, aroused lest this toleration might lead to the restoration +of "popery," and Parliament passed the harsh Conventicle Act (1664). +Any adult attending a conventicle--that is to say, any religious meeting +not held in accordance with the practice of the English Church--was +liable to penalties which culminated in transportation to some distant +colony. Samuel Pepys, who saw some of the victims of this law upon their +way to a terrible exile, notes in his famous diary: "They go like lambs +without any resistance. I would to God that they would conform or be +more wise and not be catched." A few years later Charles issued a +declaration giving complete religious liberty to Roman Catholics as well +as to Dissenters. Parliament not only forced him to withdraw this +enlightened measure but passed the Test Act, which excluded every one +from public office who did not accept the Anglican views. + +[Sidenote: War with Holland.] + +The old war with Holland, begun by Cromwell, was renewed under Charles +II, who was earnestly desirous to increase English commerce and to found +new colonies. The two nations were very evenly matched on the sea, but +in 1664 the English seized some of the West Indian Islands from the +Dutch and also their colony on Manhattan Island, which was renamed New +York in honor of the king's brother. In 1667 a treaty was signed by +England and Holland which confirmed these conquests. Three years later +Charles was induced by Louis XIV to conclude a secret treaty, by which +he engaged to aid Louis in a fresh war upon Holland. Louis cherished a +grudge against Holland for preventing him from seizing the Spanish +Netherlands, to which he asserted a claim on behalf of his Spanish +wife.[347] In return for Charles' promised aid, Louis was to support him +with money and troops whenever Charles thought fit publicly to declare +himself a Catholic--he had already acknowledged his conversion to a +select circle. But Charles' nephew, William of Orange,--the +great-grandson of William the Silent,--who was later to become king of +England, encouraged the Dutch to withstand, and Louis was forced to +relinquish his purpose of conquering this stubborn people. Peace was +concluded in 1674, and England and Holland soon became allies against +Louis, who was now recognized as the greatest danger which Europe had to +face. + +[Sidenote: James II, 1685-1688.] + +190. Upon Charles' death he was succeeded by his brother James, who was +an avowed Catholic and had married, as his second wife, a Catholic, Mary +of Modena. He was ready to reëstablish Catholicism in England regardless +of what it might cost him. Mary, James' daughter by his first wife, had +married William, Prince of Orange, the head of the United Netherlands. +The nation might have tolerated James so long as they could look forward +to the accession of his Protestant daughter. But when a son was born to +his Catholic second wife, and James showed unmistakably his purpose of +favoring the Catholics, messengers were dispatched by a group of +Protestants to William of Orange, asking him to come and rule over them. + + Charles I, m. Henrietta Maria + (1625-1649) | + | + +-------+------------------+-----------------+ + | | | +Charles II Mary, m. William II Anne Hyde, m. James II, m. Mary of Modena +(1660-1685) | Prince of | (1685-1688)| + | Orange | | + | +------+-------+ | + | | | | + William III, m. Mary Anne James Francis Edward, + (1688-1702) (1702-1714) the Old Pretender + +[Sidenote: The revolution of 1688 and the accession of William III, +1688-1702.] + +William landed in November, 1688, and marched upon London, where he +received general support from all the English Protestants, regardless of +party. James started to oppose William, but his army refused to fight, +and his courtiers deserted him. William was glad to forward James' +flight to France, as he would hardly have known what to do with him had +James insisted on remaining in the country. A new Parliament declared +the throne vacant, on the ground that King James II, "by the advice of +the Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental +laws and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, had abdicated the +government." + +[Sidenote: The Declaration of Rights.] + +A Declaration of Rights was then drawn up, condemning James' violation +of the constitution and appointing William and Mary joint sovereigns. +The Declaration of Rights, which is an important monument in English +constitutional history, once more stated the fundamental rights of the +English nation and the limitations which the Petition of Right and Magna +Charta had placed upon the king. By this peaceful revolution of 1688 the +English rid themselves of the Stuarts and their claims to rule by divine +right, and once more declared themselves against the domination of the +Church of Rome. + + + General Reading.--GARDINER, _The First Two Stuarts and the Puritan + Revolution_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.00). GARDINER, + _Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution_ (Clarendon + Press, $2.25). For Cromwell, CARLYLE, "The Hero as King" in _Heroes + and Hero Worship_. MORLEY, _Oliver Cromwell_ (The Century Company, + $3.50). For the Puritans, CAMPBELL, _The Puritans in Europe, + Holland, England, and America_ (2 vols., Harper, $5.00). FISKE, + _The Beginnings of New England_ (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $2.00). + MACAULAY, _Essay on Milton_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV + + +[Sidenote: France at the accession of Louis XIV, 1643-1715.] + +191. Under the despotic rule of Louis XIV (1643-1715) France enjoyed a +commanding influence in European affairs. After the wars of religion +were over, the royal authority had been reëstablished by the wise +conduct of Henry IV. Richelieu had solidified the monarchy by depriving +the Huguenots of the exceptional privileges granted to them for their +protection by Henry IV; he had also destroyed the fortified castles of +the nobles, whose power had greatly increased during the turmoil of the +Huguenot wars. His successor, Cardinal Mazarin, who conducted the +government during Louis XIV's boyhood, was able to put down a last +rising of the discontented nobility.[348] + +[Sidenote: What Richelieu and Mazarin had done for the French Monarchy.] + +When Mazarin died in 1661, he left to the young monarch a kingdom such +as no previous French king had enjoyed. The nobles, who for centuries +had disputed the power with Hugh Capet and his successors, were no +longer feudal lords but only courtiers. The Huguenots, whose claim to a +place in the state beside the Catholics had led to the terrible civil +wars of the sixteenth century, were reduced in numbers and no longer +held fortified towns from which they could defy the king's agents. +Richelieu and Mazarin had successfully taken a hand in the Thirty Years' +War, and France had come out of it with enlarged territory and increased +importance in European affairs. + +[Sidenote: The government of Louis XIV.] + +Louis XIV carried the work of these great ministers still farther. He +gave that form to the French monarchy which it retained until the +French Revolution. He made himself the very mirror of kingship. His +marvelous court at Versailles became the model and the despair of other +less opulent and powerful princes, who accepted his theory of the +absolute power of kings but could not afford to imitate his luxury. By +his incessant wars of aggression he kept Europe in turmoil for over half +a century. The distinguished generals who led his newly organized +troops, and the wily diplomats who arranged his alliances and negotiated +his treaties, made France feared and respected by even the most powerful +of the other European states. + +[Sidenote: The theory of the 'divine right' of kings in France.] + +192. Louis XIV had the same idea of kingship that James I had tried in +vain to induce the English people to accept. God had given kings to men, +and it was His will that monarchs should be regarded as His lieutenants +and that all those subject to them should obey them absolutely, without +asking any questions or making any criticisms; for in yielding to their +prince they were really yielding to God Himself. If the king were good +and wise, his subjects should thank the Lord; if he proved foolish, +cruel, or perverse, they must accept their evil ruler as a punishment +which God had sent them for their sins. But in no case might they limit +his power or rise against him.[349] + +[Sidenote: Different attitude of the English and French nations toward +absolute monarchy.] + +Louis had two great advantages over James. In the first place the +English nation has always shown itself far more reluctant than France to +place absolute power in the hands of its rulers. By its Parliament, its +courts, and its various declarations of the nation's rights, it had +built up traditions which made it impossible for the Stuarts to +establish their claim to be absolute rulers. In France, on the other +hand, there was no Great Charter or Bill of Rights; the Estates General +did not hold the purse strings, and the king was permitted to raise +money without asking their permission or previously redressing the +grievances which they chose to point out. They were therefore only +summoned at irregular intervals. When Louis XIV took charge of the +government, forty-seven years had passed without a meeting of the +Estates General, and a century and a quarter was still to elapse before +another call to the representatives of the nation was issued in 1789. +Moreover, the French people placed far more reliance upon a powerful +king than the English, perhaps because they were not protected by the +sea from their neighbors, as England was. On every side France had +enemies ready to take advantage of any weakness or hesitation which +might arise from dissension between a parliament and the king. So the +French felt it best, on the whole, to leave all in the king's hands, +even if they suffered at times from his tyranny. + +[Illustration: Louis XIV] + +[Sidenote: Personal characteristics of Louis XIV.] + +Louis had another great advantage over James. He was a handsome man, of +elegant and courtly mien and the most exquisite perfection of manner; +even when playing billiards he retained an air of world mastery. The +first of the Stuarts, on the contrary, was a very awkward man, whose +slouching gait, intolerable manners, and pedantic conversation were +utterly at variance with his lofty pretensions. Louis added to his +graceful exterior a sound judgment and quick apprehension. He said +neither too much nor too little. He was, for a king, a hard worker and +spent several hours a day attending to the business of government. It +requires, in fact, a great deal of energy and application to be a real +despot. In order really to understand and to solve the problems which +constantly face the ruler of a great state, a monarch must, like +Frederick the Great or Napoleon, rise early and toil late. Louis was +greatly aided by the able ministers who sat in his council, but he +always retained for himself the place of first minister. He would never +have consented to be dominated by an adviser, as his father had been by +Richelieu. "The profession of the king," he declared, "is great, noble, +and delightful if one but feels equal to performing the duties which it +involves,"--and he never harbored a doubt that he himself was born for +the business. + +[Sidenote: The king's palace at Versailles.] + +193. Louis XIV was careful that his surroundings should suit the +grandeur of his office. His court was magnificent beyond anything that +had been dreamed of in the West. He had an enormous palace constructed +at Versailles, just outside of Paris, with interminable halls and +apartments and a vast garden stretching away behind it. About this a +town was laid out, where those who were privileged to be near his +majesty or supply the wants of the royal court lived. This palace and +its outlying buildings, including two or three less gorgeous residences +for the king when he occasionally tired of the ceremony of Versailles, +probably cost the nation about a hundred million dollars, in spite of +the fact that thousands of peasants and soldiers were forced to turn to +and work without remuneration. The furnishings and decorations were as +rich and costly as the palace was splendid. For over a century +Versailles continued to be the home of the French kings and the seat of +their government. + +[Illustration: The King's Bedroom in the Palace of Versailles] + +[Sidenote: Life at Louis XIV's court.] + +This splendor and luxury helped to attract the nobility, who no longer +lived on their estates in well-fortified castles, planning how they +might escape the royal control. They now dwelt in the effulgence of the +king's countenance. They saw him to bed at night and in stately +procession they greeted him in the morning. It was deemed a high honor +to hand him his shirt as he was being dressed, or, at dinner, to provide +him with a fresh napkin. Only by living close to the king could the +courtiers hope to gain favors, pensions, and lucrative offices for +themselves and their friends, and perhaps occasionally to exercise some +little influence upon the policy of the government. For they were now +entirely dependent upon the good will of their monarch.[350] + +[Sidenote: The reforms of Colbert.] + +The reforms which Louis carried out in the earlier part of his reign +were largely the work of the great financier, Colbert, to whom France +still looks back with gratitude. He early discovered that Louis' +officials were stealing and wasting vast sums. The offenders were +arrested and forced to disgorge, and a new system of bookkeeping was +introduced similar to that employed by business men. He then turned his +attention to increasing the manufactures of France by establishing new +industries and seeing that the older ones kept to a high standard, which +would make French goods sell readily in foreign markets. He argued +justly that if foreigners could be induced to buy French goods, these +sales would bring gold and silver into the country and so enrich it. He +made rigid rules as to the width and quality of cloths which the +manufacturers might produce and the dyes which they might use. He even +reorganized the old mediæval guilds; for through them the government +could keep its eye on all the manufacturing that was done, and this +would have been far more difficult if every one had been free to carry +on any trade which he might choose. There were serious drawbacks to this +kind of government regulation, but France accepted it, nevertheless, for +many years.[351] + +[Sidenote: Art and literature in the reign of Louis XIV.] + +It was, however, as a patron of art and literature that Louis XIV gained +much of his celebrity. Molière, who was at once a playwright and an +actor, delighted the court with comedies in which he delicately +satirized the foibles of his time. Corneille, who had gained renown by +the great tragedy of _The Cid_ in Richelieu's time, found a worthy +successor in Racine, the most distinguished perhaps of French tragic +poets. The charming letters of Madame de Sévigné are models of prose +style and serve at the same time to give us a glimpse into the more +refined life of the court. In the famous memoirs of Saint-Simon, the +weaknesses of the king, as well as the numberless intrigues of the +courtiers, are freely exposed with inimitable skill and wit. + +[Sidenote: The government fosters the development of the French +language and literature.] + +Men of letters were generously aided by the king with pensions. Colbert +encouraged the French Academy, which had been created by Richelieu. This +body gave special attention to making the French tongue more eloquent +and expressive by determining what words should be used. It is now the +greatest honor that a Frenchman can obtain to be made one of the forty +members of this association. A magazine which still exists, the _Journal +des Savants_, was founded for the promotion of science. Colbert had an +astronomical observatory built at Paris; and the Royal Library, which +only possessed about sixteen thousand volumes, began to grow into that +great collection of two and a half million volumes--by far the largest +in existence--which to-day attracts scholars to Paris from all parts of +the world. In short, Louis and his ministers believed one of the chief +objects of any government to be the promotion of art, literature, and +science, and the example they set has been followed by almost every +modern state.[352] + +[Sidenote: Louis XIV's warlike enterprises.] + +194. Unfortunately for France, the king's ambitions were by no means +altogether peaceful. Indeed, he regarded his wars as his chief glory. He +employed a carefully reorganized army and the skill of his generals in a +series of inexcusable attacks on his neighbors, in which he finally +squandered all that Colbert's economies had accumulated and led France +to the edge of financial ruin. + +[Sidenote: He aims to restore the 'natural boundaries' of France.] + +Louis XIV's predecessors had had, on the whole, little time to think of +conquest. They had first to consolidate their realms and gain the +mastery of their feudal dependents, who shared the power with them; then +the claims of the English Edwards and Henrys had to be met, and the +French provinces freed from their clutches; lastly, the great religious +dispute was only settled after many years of disintegrating civil war. +But Louis was now at liberty to look about him and consider how he +might best realize the dream of his ancestors and perhaps reëstablish +the ancient boundaries which Cæsar reported that the Gauls had occupied. +The "natural limits" of France appeared to be the Rhine on the north and +east, the Jura Mountains and the Alps on the southeast, and to the south +the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. Richelieu had believed that it was +the chief end of his ministry to restore to France the boundaries +determined for it by nature. Mazarin had labored hard to win Savoy and +Nice, and to reach the Rhine on the north. Before his death France at +least gained Alsace and reached the Pyrenees, "which," as the treaty +with Spain says (1659), "formerly divided the Gauls from Spain." + +[Sidenote: Louis lays claim to the Spanish Netherlands.] + +Louis first turned his attention to the conquest of the Spanish +Netherlands, to which he laid claim through his wife, the elder sister +of the Spanish king, Charles II (1665-1700). In 1667 he surprised Europe +by publishing a little treatise in which he set forth his claims not +only to the Spanish Netherlands, but even to the whole Spanish monarchy. +By confounding the kingdom of France with the old empire of the Franks +he could maintain that the people of the Netherlands were his subjects. + +[Sidenote: The invasion of the Netherlands, 1667.] + +Louis placed himself at the head of the army which he had reformed and +reorganized, and announced that he was to undertake a "journey," as if +his invasion was only an expedition into another part of his undisputed +realms. He easily took a number of towns on the border, and completely +conquered Franche-Comté. This was an outlying province of Spain, +isolated from her other lands, and a most tempting morsel for the hungry +king of France. These conquests alarmed Europe, and especially Holland, +which could not afford to have the barrier between it and France +removed, for Louis would be an uncomfortable neighbor. A Triple +Alliance, composed of Holland, England, and Sweden, was accordingly +organized to induce France to make peace with Spain. Louis contented +himself for the moment with the dozen border towns that he had taken +and which Spain ceded to him on condition that he would return +Franche-Comté (Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668). + +[Sidenote: Louis breaks up the Triple Alliance and allies himself with +Charles II of England.] + +The success with which Holland had held her own against the navy of +England[353] and brought the proud king of France to a halt, produced an +elation on the part of that tiny country which was very aggravating to +Louis. He was thoroughly vexed that he should have been blocked by so +trifling an obstacle as Dutch intervention. He consequently conceived a +strong dislike for the United Provinces, which was increased by the +protection that they afforded to political writers who annoyed him with +their attacks. He broke up the Triple Alliance by inducing Charles II of +England to conclude a treaty which arranged that England should help +France in a new war against the Dutch. + +[Sidenote: Louis' invasion of Holland, 1672.] + +Louis then startled Europe again by seizing the duchy of Lorraine, which +brought him to the border of Holland. At the head of a hundred thousand +men he crossed the Rhine (1672) and easily conquered southern Holland. +For the moment the Dutch cause appeared to be lost. But William of +Orange showed the spirit of his great ancestor, William the Silent; the +sluices in the dikes were opened and the country flooded, so the French +army was checked before it could take Amsterdam and advance into the +north. Holland found an ally in the elector of Brandenburg, and the war +became general. The emperor sent an army against Louis, and England +deserted him and made peace with Holland. + +[Sidenote: Peace of Nimwegen, 1678.] + +[Sidenote: Louis' encroachments on German territory.] + +When a general peace was concluded at Nimwegen, at the end of six years, +the chief provisions were that Holland should be left intact, and that +France should retain Franche-Comté, which had been conquered by Louis in +person. This bit of the Burgundian heritage thus became at last a part +of France, after France and Spain had quarreled over it for a century +and a half. For the ten years following there was no open war, but Louis +busied himself in the interval by instituting courts in the debatable +region between France and Germany, to decide what neighboring districts +belonged to the various territories and towns which had been ceded to +France by the treaties of Westphalia and later ones. The vestiges of the +old feudal entanglements gave ample scope for claims, which were +reënforced by Louis' troops. Louis, moreover, seized the important free +city of Strasburg, and made many other less conspicuous but equally +unwarranted additions to his territory. The emperor was unable to do +more than protest against these outrageous encroachments, for he was +fully occupied with the Turks, who had just laid siege to Vienna.[354] + +[Sidenote: Situation of the Huguenots at the beginning of Louis XIV's +reign.] + +195. Louis XIV exhibited as woeful a want of statesmanship in the +treatment of his Protestant subjects as in the prosecution of disastrous +wars. The Huguenots, deprived of their former military and political +power, had turned to manufacture, trade, and banking; "as rich as a +Huguenot" had become a proverb in France. There were perhaps a million +of them among fifteen million Frenchmen, and they undoubtedly formed by +far the most thrifty and enterprising part of the nation. The Catholic +clergy, however, did not cease to urge the complete suppression of +heresy. + +[Sidenote: Louis' policy of suppression.] + +Louis XIV had scarcely taken the reins of government into his own hands +before the perpetual nagging and injustice to which the Protestants had +been subjected at all times took a more serious form. Upon one pretense +or another their churches were demolished. Children were authorized to +renounce Protestantism when they reached the age of seven. If they were +induced by the offer of a toy or a sweetmeat to say, for example, the +words "Ave Maria" (Hail, Mary), they might be taken from their parents +to be brought up in a Catholic school. In this way Protestant families +were pitilessly broken up. Rough and licentious dragoons were quartered +upon the Huguenots with the hope that the insulting behavior of the +soldiers might drive the heretics to accept the religion of the king. + +[Sidenote: Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and its results.] + +At last Louis was led by his officials to believe that practically all +the Huguenots had been converted by these drastic measures. In 1685, +therefore, he revoked the Edict of Nantes, and the Protestants thereby +became outlaws and their ministers subject to the death penalty. Even +liberal-minded Catholics, like the kindly writer of fables, La Fontaine, +and the charming letter writer, Madame de Sévigné, hailed the +reëstablishment of "religious unity" with delight. They believed that +only an insignificant and seditious remnant still clung to the beliefs +of Calvin. But there could have been no more serious mistake. Thousands +of the Huguenots succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the royal +officials and fled, some to England, some to Prussia, some to America, +carrying with them their skill and industry to strengthen France's +rivals. This was the last great and terrible example of that fierce +religious intolerance which had produced the Albigensian Crusade, the +Spanish Inquisition, and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.[355] + +[Sidenote: Louis' operations in the Rhenish Palatinate.] + +Louis now set his heart upon conquering the Rhenish Palatinate, to which +he easily discovered that he had a claim. The rumor of his intention and +the indignation occasioned in Protestant countries by the revocation of +the Edict of Nantes, resulted in an alliance against the French king +headed by William of Orange. Louis speedily justified the suspicions of +Europe by a frightful devastation of the Palatinate, burning whole towns +and destroying many castles, including the exceptionally beautiful one +of the elector at Heidelberg. Ten years later, however, Louis agreed to +a peace which put things back as they were before the struggle began. He +was preparing for the final and most ambitious undertaking of his life, +which precipitated the longest and bloodiest war of all his warlike +reign. + +[Illustration: TREATY OF UTRECHT] + +[Sidenote: The question of the Spanish succession.] + +196. The king of Spain, Charles II, was childless and brotherless, and +Europe had long been discussing what would become of his vast realms +when his sickly existence should come to an end. Louis had married one +of his sisters, and the emperor, Leopold I, another, and these two +ambitious rulers had been considering for some time how they might +divide the Spanish possessions between the Bourbons and the Hapsburgs. +But when Charles II died, in 1700, it was discovered that he had left a +will in which he made Louis' younger grandson, Philip, the heir to his +twenty-two crowns, but on the condition that France and Spain should +never be united. + +[Sidenote: Louis' grandson, Philip, becomes king of Spain.] + +It was a weighty question whether Louis should permit his grandson to +accept this hazardous honor. Should Philip become king of Spain, Louis +and his family would control all of southwestern Europe from Holland to +Sicily, as well as a great part of North and South America. This would +mean the establishment of an empire more powerful than that of Charles +V. It was clear that the disinherited emperor and the ever watchful +William of Orange, now king of England, would never permit this +unprecedented extension of French influence. They had already shown +themselves ready to make great sacrifices in order to check far less +serious aggressions on the part of the French king. Nevertheless, family +pride and personal ambition led Louis criminally to risk the welfare of +his country. He accepted the will and informed the Spanish ambassador at +the French court that he might salute Philip V as his new king. The +leading French newspaper of the time boldly proclaimed that the Pyrenees +were no more. + +[Sidenote: The War of the Spanish Succession.] + +King William soon succeeded in forming a new Grand Alliance (1701) in +which Louis' old enemies, England, Holland, and the emperor, were the +most important members. William himself died just as hostilities were +beginning, but the long War of the Spanish Succession was carried on +vigorously by the great English general, the duke of Marlborough, and +the Austrian commander, Eugene of Savoy. The conflict was even more +general than the Thirty Years' War; even in America there was fighting +between French and English colonists, which passes in American histories +under the name of Queen Anne's War. All the more important battles went +against the French, and after ten years of war, which was rapidly +ruining the country by the destruction of its people and its wealth, +Louis was willing to consider some compromise, and after long discussion +a peace was arranged in 1713. + +[Sidenote: The Treaty of Utrecht, 1713.] + +The Treaty of Utrecht changed the map of Europe as no previous treaty +had done, not even that of Westphalia. Each of the chief combatants got +its share of the Spanish booty over which they had been fighting. The +Bourbon Philip V was permitted to retain Spain and its colonies on +condition that the Spanish and French crowns should never rest on the +same head. To Austria fell the Spanish Netherlands, hereafter called the +Austrian Netherlands, which continued to form a barrier between Holland +and France. Holland received certain fortresses to make its position +still more secure. The Spanish possessions in Italy, i.e., Naples and +Milan, were also given to Austria, and in this way Austria got the hold +on Italy which it retained until 1866. England acquired from France, +Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay region, and so began the +expulsion of the French from North America. Besides these American +provinces she received the island of Minorca with its fortress, and the +rock and fortress of Gibraltar, which still gives her command of the +narrow entrance to the Mediterranean. + +[Sidenote: The development of international law.] + +The period of Louis XIV is remarkable for the development of +international law. The incessant wars, the great alliances embracing +several powers, and the prolonged peace negotiations, such as those +which preceded the treaties of Westphalia and Utrecht, made increasingly +clear the need of well-defined rules governing independent states in +their relations with one another both in peace and in war. It was of +the utmost importance to determine, for instance, the rights of +ambassadors and of the vessels of neutral powers not engaged in the war, +and what should be considered fair conduct in warfare and in the +treatment of prisoners. + +[Sidenote: Grotius' _War and Peace_.] + +The first great systematic treatise on international law was published +by Grotius in 1625, when the horrors of the Thirty Years' War were +impressing men's minds with the necessity of finding some other means +than war of settling disputes between nations. Grotius' _War and Peace_ +was followed, in Louis XIV's time, by Pufendorf's _On the Law of Nature +and Nations_ (1672). While the rules laid down by these and later +writers on international law have by no means put an end to war, they +have prevented many conflicts by settling certain questions and by +increasing the ways in which nations may come to an understanding with +one another through their ambassadors without recourse to arms. + +Louis XIV outlived his son and grandson, and left a sadly demoralized +kingdom to his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV (1715-1774). The +national treasury was depleted, the people were reduced in numbers and +were in a miserable state, and the army, once the finest in Europe, was +in no condition to gain further victories. Later we must study the +conditions in France which led to the great Revolution. Now, however, we +turn to the rise of two new European powers, Prussia and Russia, which +began in the eighteenth century to play a prominent rôle in European +affairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +RISE OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA + + +197. We have had little occasion hitherto, in dealing with the history +of western Europe, to speak of the Slavic peoples, to whom the Russians, +Poles, Bohemians, and many other nations of eastern Europe belong. +Together they form the most numerous race in Europe, but, as has been +well said, "they occupy a greater place on the map than in history." In +the eighteenth century, however, Russia began to take an increasingly +important part in European affairs, and it is now a great force in the +politics of the world. The realms of the Tsar which lie in Europe exceed +in extent those of all the other rulers of the continent put together, +and yet they are scarcely more than a quarter of his whole dominion, +which embraces northern and central Asia, and forms together an empire +occupying toward three times the area of the United States. + +[Sidenote: Movements of the Slavs during the period of the German +invasions.] + +The Slavs were settled along the Dnieper, Don, and Vistula long before +the Christian era. After the East Goths had penetrated into the Roman +empire, the Slavs followed their example and invaded, ravaged, and +conquered the Balkan Peninsula, which they held for some time. When the +German Lombards went south into Italy, about 569, the Slavs pressed +behind them into Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, where they still live +within the bounds of the Austrian empire. Other Slavic hordes had driven +the Germans across the Oder and upper Elbe. Later the German emperors, +beginning with Charlemagne, began to push them back, but the Bohemians +and Moravians still hold an advanced position on the borders of Bavaria +and Saxony. + +[Sidenote: Beginnings of Russia.] + +In the ninth century some of the Northmen invaded the districts to the +east of the Baltic, while their relatives were causing grievous trouble +in France and England. It is generally supposed that one of their +leaders, Rurik, was the first to consolidate the Slavic tribes about +Novgorod into a sort of state in 862. Rurik's successor extended the +bounds of the new empire so as to include the important town of Kiev on +the Dnieper. The word _Russia_ is probably derived from _Rous_, the name +given by the neighboring Finns to the Norman adventurers. Before the end +of the tenth century the Greek form of Christianity was introduced and +the Russian ruler was baptized. The frequent intercourse with +Constantinople might have led to rapid advance in civilization had it +not been for a great disaster which put Russia back for centuries. + +[Sidenote: The Tartar invasion of the thirteenth century.] + +Russia is geographically nothing more than an extension of the vast +plain of northern Asia, which the Russians were destined finally to +conquer. It was therefore exposed to the great invasion of the Tartars +or Mongols, who swept in from the east in the thirteenth century. The +powerful Tartar ruler, Genghiz Khan (1162-1227), conquered northern +China and central Asia, and the mounted hordes of his successors crossed +into Europe and overran Russia, which had fallen apart into numerous +principalities. The Russian princes became the dependents of the Great +Khan, and had frequently to seek his far distant court, some three +thousand miles away, where he freely disposed of both their crowns and +their heads. The Tartars exacted tribute of the Russians, but left them +undisturbed in their laws and religion. + +[Sidenote: Influence of the Tartar occupation on manners and customs.] + +[Sidenote: Ivan the Terrible assumes the title of Tsar.] + +Of the Russian princes who went to prostrate themselves at the foot of +the Great Khan's throne, none made a more favorable impression upon him +than the prince of Moscow, in whose favor the Khan was wont to decide +all cases of dispute between the prince and his rivals. When the Mongol +power had begun to decline in strength and the princes of Moscow had +grown stronger, they ventured to kill the Mongol ambassadors sent to +demand tribute in 1480, and thus freed themselves from the Mongol yoke. +But the Tartar occupation had left its mark, for the princes of Moscow +imitated the Khans rather than the western rulers, of whom, in fact, +they knew nothing. In 1547 Ivan the Terrible assumed the Asiatic title +of Tsar,[356] which appeared to him more worthy than that of king or +emperor. The costumes and etiquette of the court were also Asiatic. The +Russian armor suggested that of the Chinese, and their headdress was a +turban. It was the task of Peter the Great to Europeanize Russia. + +[Sidenote: Peter the Great, 1672-1725.] + +198. At the time of Peter's accession, Russia, which had grown greatly +under Ivan the Terrible and other enterprising rulers, still had no +outlet to the sea. In manners and customs the kingdom was Asiatic, and +its government was that of a Tartar prince. Peter had no quarrel with +the despotic power which fell to him and which the Russian monarchs +still exercise, since there is no parliament or constitution in that +country down to the present day. But he knew that Russia was very much +behind the rest of Europe, and that his crudely equipped soldiers could +never make head against the well armed and disciplined troops of the +West. He had no seaport and no ships, without which Russia could never +hope to take part in the world's affairs. His two great tasks were, +therefore, to introduce western habits and to "make a window," as he +expressed it, through which Russia might look abroad. + +[Sidenote: Peter's travels in Europe.] + +In 1697-1698 Peter himself visited Germany, Holland, and England with a +view to investigating every art and science of the West, as well as the +most approved methods of manufacture, from the making of a man-of-war to +the etching of an engraving. Nothing escaped the keen eyes of this rude, +half-savage northern giant. For a week he put on the wide breeches of a +Dutch laborer and worked in the shipyard at Saardam near Amsterdam. In +England, Holland, and Germany he engaged artisans, scientific men, +architects, ship captains, and those versed in artillery and the +training of troops, all of whom he took back with him to aid in the +reform and development of Russia. + +[Sidenote: Suppression of revolt against foreign ideas.] + +He was called home by the revolt of the royal guard, who had allied +themselves with the very large party of nobles and churchmen who were +horrified at Peter's desertion of the habits and customs of his +forefathers. They hated what they called "German ideas," such as short +coats, tobacco smoking, and beardless faces. The clergy even suggested +that Peter was perhaps Antichrist. Peter took a fearful revenge upon the +rebels, and is said to have himself cut off the heads of many of them. +Like the barbarian that he was at heart, he left their heads and bodies +lying about all winter, unburied, in order to make the terrible results +of revolt against his power quite plain to all. + +[Sidenote: Peter's reform measures.] + +Peter's reforms extended through his whole reign. He made his people +give up their cherished oriental beards and long flowing garments. He +forced the women of the better class, who had been kept in a sort of +oriental harem, to come out and meet the men in social assemblies, such +as were common in the West. He invited foreigners to settle in Russia, +and insured them protection, privileges, and the free exercise of their +religion. He sent young Russians abroad to study. He reorganized the +government officials on the model of a western kingdom, and made over +his army in the same way. + +[Sidenote: Founding of a new capital, St. Petersburg.] + +Finding that the old capital of Moscow clung persistently to its ancient +habits, he prepared to found a new capital for his new Russia. He +selected for this purpose a bit of territory on the Baltic which he had +conquered from Sweden,--very marshy, it is true, but where he might hope +to construct Russia's first real port. Here he built St. Petersburg at +enormous expense and colonized it with Russians and foreigners. Russia +was at last becoming a European power. + +[Illustration: Northeastern Europe at the Opening of the Eighteenth +Century] + +[Sidenote: The military prowess of Charles XII of Sweden.] + +In his ambition to get to the sea, Peter naturally collided with Sweden, +to which the provinces between Russia and the Baltic belonged. Never had +Sweden, or any other country, had a more warlike king than the one with +whom Peter had to contend, the youthful prodigy, Charles XII. When +Charles came to the throne in 1697 he was only fifteen years old, and it +seemed to the natural enemies of Sweden an auspicious time to profit by +the supposed weakness of the boy ruler. So a union was formed between +Denmark, Poland, and Russia, with the object of increasing their +territories at Sweden's expense. But Charles turned out to be a second +Alexander the Great in military prowess. He astonished Europe by +promptly besieging Copenhagen and forcing the king of Denmark to sign a +treaty of peace. He then turned like lightning against Peter, who was +industriously besieging Narva, and with eight thousand Swedes wiped out +an army of fifty thousand Russians (1700). Lastly he defeated the king +of Poland. + +[Sidenote: Defeat and death of Charles XII.] + +Though Charles was a remarkable military leader, he was a foolish ruler. +He undertook to wrest Poland from its king, to whom he attributed the +formation of the league against him. He had a new king crowned at +Warsaw, whom he at last succeeded in getting recognized. He then turned +his attention to Peter, who had meanwhile been conquering the Baltic +provinces. This time fortune turned against the Swedes. The long march +to Moscow proved as fatal to them as to Napoleon a century later. +Charles XII was totally defeated in the battle of Pultowa (1709). He +fled to Turkey and spent some years there in vainly urging the Sultan to +attack Peter. At last he returned to his own kingdom, which he had +utterly neglected for years. He was killed in 1718 while besieging a +town. + +[Sidenote: Russia acquires the Baltic provinces and attempts to get a +footing on the Black Sea.] + +Soon after Charles' death a treaty was concluded between Sweden and +Russia by which Russia gained Livonia, Esthonia, and the other Swedish +provinces at the eastern end of the Baltic. Peter had made less +successful attempts to get a footing on the Black Sea. He had first +taken Azof, which he soon lost during the war with Sweden, and then +several towns on the Caspian. It had become evident that if the Turks +should be driven out of Europe, Russia would be a mighty rival of the +western powers in the division of the spoils.[357] + +For a generation after the death of Peter the Great, Russia fell into +the hands of incompetent rulers. It only appears again as a European +state when the great Catherine II came to the throne in 1762. From that +time on, the western powers had always to consider the vast Slavic +empire in all their great struggles. They had also to consider a new +kingdom in northern Germany, which was just growing into a great power +as Peter began his work. This was Prussia, whose beginnings we must now +consider. + +[Sidenote: Brandenburg and the Hohenzollerns.] + +199. The electorate of Brandenburg had figured on the map of Germany for +centuries, and there was no particular reason to suppose that it was to +become one day the dominant state in Germany. At the time of the Council +of Constance the old line of electors had died out, and the impecunious +Emperor Sigismund had sold it to a hitherto inconspicuous house, the +Hohenzollerns, which is known to us now through such names as those of +Frederick the Great, William I, the first German emperor, and his +grandson, the present emperor. Beginning with a strip of territory +extending some ninety or a hundred miles to the east and to the west of +the little town of Berlin, the successive representatives of the line +have gradually extended their boundaries until the present kingdom of +Prussia embraces nearly two thirds of Germany. Of the earlier little +annexations nothing need be said. While it has always been the pride of +the Hohenzollern family that practically every one of its reigning +members has added something to what his ancestors handed down to him, no +great extension took place until just before the Thirty Years' War. +About that time the elector of Brandenburg inherited Cleves, and thus +got his first hold on the Rhine district. + +[Sidenote: Prussia acquired by the elector of Brandenburg.] + +[Sidenote: The elector of Brandenburg assumes the title of King of +Prussia, 1701.] + +What was quite as important, he won, far to the east, the duchy of +Prussia, which was separated from Brandenburg by Polish territory. +Prussia was originally the name of a region on the Baltic inhabited by +heathen Slavs. These had been conquered in the thirteenth century by one +of the orders of crusading knights, who, when the conquest of the Holy +Land was abandoned, looked about for other occupation. The region +filled up with German colonists, but it came under the sovereignty of +the neighboring kingdom of Poland, whose king annexed the western half +of the territory of the Teutonic Order, as the German knights were +called.[358] In Luther's day the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, +who happened to be a relative of the electors of Brandenburg, concluded +to abolish the order and become duke of Prussia. In good time his family +died out, and the duchy fell to the electors of Brandenburg. When one of +them was permitted by the emperor, in the year 1701, to assume the title +of king, he chose to be called King of Prussia.[359] + +[Sidenote: The Great Elector, 1640-1688.] + +Brandenburg accepted the Protestant religion before Luther's death, but +played a pitiful part in the Thirty Years' War. Its real greatness dates +from the Great Elector (1640-1688). In the treaties of Westphalia he +acquired a goodly strip on the Baltic, and he succeeded in creating an +absolute monarchy on the model furnished by his contemporary, Louis XIV. +He joined England and Holland in their alliances against Louis, and the +army of Brandenburg began to be known and feared. + +[Sidenote: Frederick William I, 1713-1740.] + +While it was reserved for Frederick the Great to stir Europe to its +depths and establish the right of the new kingdom of Prussia to be +considered one of the great European powers, he owed to his father, +Frederick William I, the resources which made his victories possible. +Frederick William strengthened the government and collected an army +nearly as large as that maintained by France or Austria. He had, +moreover, by miserly thrift and entire indifference to the amenities and +luxuries of life, treasured up a large sum of money. Consequently +Frederick, upon his accession, had an admirable army ready for use and +an ample supply of gold.[360] + +[Sidenote: The Hapsburgs in Austria.] + +200. Prussia's aspiration to become a great European power made it +necessary for her to extend her territory. This inevitably brought her +into rivalry with Austria. It will be remembered that Charles V, shortly +after his accession, ceded to his brother, Ferdinand I, the German or +Austrian possessions of the house of Hapsburg, while he himself retained +the Spanish, Burgundian, and Italian dominions. Ferdinand, by a +fortunate marriage with the heiress of the kingdoms of Bohemia and +Hungary, greatly augmented his territory. Hungary was, however, almost +completely occupied by the Turks at that time, and till the end of the +seventeenth century the energies of the Austrian rulers were largely +absorbed in a long struggle against the Mohammedans. + +[Sidenote: Conquests of the Turks in Europe.] + +A Turkish tribe from western Asia had, at the opening of the fourteenth +century, established themselves in western Asia Minor under their leader +Othman (d. 1326). It was from him that they derived their name of +Ottoman Turks, to distinguish them from the Seljuk Turks, with whom the +crusaders had come into contact. The leaders of the Ottoman Turks showed +great energy. They not only extended their Asiatic territory far toward +the east, and later into Africa, but they gained a footing in Europe as +early as 1353. They gradually conquered the Slavic peoples in Macedonia +and occupied the territory about Constantinople, although it was a +hundred years before they succeeded in capturing the ancient capital of +the Eastern Empire. + +[Sidenote: The defense of Europe against the Turks.] + +This advance of the Turks naturally aroused grave apprehensions in the +states of western Europe lest they too might be deprived of their +independence. The brunt of the defense against the common foe devolved +upon Venice and the German Hapsburgs, who carried on an almost +continuous war with the Turks for nearly two centuries. As late as 1683 +the Mohammedans collected a large force and besieged Vienna, which might +very well have fallen into their hands had it not been for the timely +assistance which the city received from the king of Poland. From this +time on, the power of the Turks in Europe rapidly decreased, and the +Hapsburgs were able to regain the whole territory of Hungary and +Transylvania, their possession of which was formally recognized by the +Sultan in 1699. + +[Sidenote: The question of the Austrian succession.] + +In 1740, a few months before the accession of Frederick II of Prussia, +the emperor Charles VI, who was the last representative of the direct +line of the Hapsburgs, died. Foreseeing the difficulties which would +arise at his death in regard to the inheritance of his possessions, he +had spent a great part of his life in trying to induce the European +powers to promise that his daughter, Maria Theresa, should be recognized +as his successor. England, Holland, and even Prussia were ready to bid +Godspeed to the new archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and +Bohemia, but France, Spain, and the neighboring Bavaria held back in the +hope of gaining some portion of the scattered Austrian dominions for +themselves. The duke of Bavaria insisted that he was the rightful heir +and managed to have himself elected emperor under the title of Charles +VII. + +[Sidenote: Accession of Frederick II of Prussia, called 'the Great,' +1740-1786.] + +[Sidenote: Frederick's attack upon Silesia.] + +201. In his early years Frederick II grieved and disgusted his boorish +but energetic old father by his dislike for military life and his +interest in books and music. He was a particular admirer of the French +and preferred their language to his own. No sooner had he become king, +however, than he suddenly developed marvelous energy and skill in +warlike enterprises. He realized that Prussia must widen its boundaries, +and he saw no better way of accomplishing this than by robbing the +seemingly defenseless Maria Theresa of Silesia, a strip of territory +lying to the southeast of Brandenburg. He accordingly marched his army +into the coveted district, and occupied the important city of Breslau +without declaring war or offering any excuse except a vague claim to a +portion of the land. + +[Sidenote: The War of the Austrian Succession.] + +France, stimulated by Frederick's example, joined with Bavaria in the +attack upon Maria Theresa. It seemed for a time as if her struggle to +maintain the integrity of her realm would be vain; but the loyalty of +all the various peoples under her scepter was roused by her +extraordinary courage and energy. The French were driven back, but Maria +Theresa was forced to grant Silesia to Frederick in order to induce him +to retire from the war. Finally, England and Holland joined in an +alliance for maintaining the balance of power, for they had no desire to +see France annex the Austrian Netherlands. On the death of the emperor +Charles VII (1745), Maria Theresa's husband, Francis, duke of Lorraine, +was chosen emperor. A few years later (1748) all the powers, tired of +the war, laid down their arms and agreed to what is called in diplomacy +the _status quo ante bellum_, which simply means that things were to be +restored to the condition in which they had been before the opening of +hostilities. + +[Sidenote: Frederick promotes the material development of Prussia.] + +[Sidenote: Frederick and Voltaire.] + +Frederick was, however, permitted to keep Silesia, which increased his +dominions by about one third of their former extent. He now turned his +attention to making his subjects happier and more prosperous, by +draining the swamps, promoting industry, and drawing up a new code of +laws. He found time, also, to gratify his interest in men of letters, +and invited Voltaire, the most distinguished writer of the eighteenth +century, to make his home at Berlin. It will not seem strange to any one +who knows anything of the character of these two men, that they +quarreled after two or three years, and that Voltaire left the Prussian +king with very bitter feelings.[361] + +[Sidenote: The Seven Years' War.] + +202. Maria Theresa was by no means reconciled to the loss of Silesia, +and she began to lay her plans for expelling the perfidious Frederick +and regaining her lost territory. This led to one of the most important +wars in modern history, in which not only almost every European power +joined, but which involved the whole world, from the Indian rajahs of +Hindustan to the colonists of Virginia and New England. This Seven +Years' War (1756-1763) will be considered in its broader aspects in the +next chapter. We note here only the part played in it by the king of +Prussia. + +[Sidenote: The alliance against Prussia.] + +Maria Theresa's ambassador at Paris was so skillful in his negotiations +with the French court that in 1756 he induced it, in spite of its two +hundred years of hostility to the house of Hapsburg, to enter into an +alliance with Austria against Prussia. Russia, Sweden, and Saxony also +agreed to join in a concerted attack on Prussia. Their armies, coming as +they did from every point of the compass, threatened the complete +annihilation of Austria's rival. It seemed as if the new kingdom of +Prussia might disappear altogether from the map of Europe. + +[Sidenote: Frederick's victorious defense.] + +However, it was in this war that Frederick earned his title of "the +Great" and showed himself the equal of the ablest generals the world has +seen, from Alexander to Napoleon. Learning the object of the allies, he +did not wait for them to declare war against him, but occupied Saxony at +once and then moved on into Bohemia, where he nearly succeeded in taking +the capital, Prague. Here he was forced to retire, but in 1757 he +defeated the French and his German enemies in the most famous, perhaps, +of his battles, at Rossbach. A month later he routed the Austrians at +Leuthen, not far from Breslau. Thereupon the Swedes and Russians retired +from the field and left Frederick for the moment master of the +situation. + +[Sidenote: Frederick finally triumphs over Austria.] + +England now engaged the French and left Frederick at liberty to deal +with his other enemies. While he exhibited marvelous military skill, he +was by no means able to gain all the battles in which he engaged. For a +time, indeed, it looked as if he might after all be vanquished. But the +accession of a new Tsar, who was an ardent admirer of Frederick, led +Russia to conclude peace with Prussia, whereupon Maria Theresa +reluctantly agreed to give up once more her struggle with her inveterate +enemy. + +[Sidenote: The kingdom of Poland and its defective constitution.] + +Frederick was able during his reign greatly to strengthen his kingdom by +adding to it the Polish regions which had hitherto divided his +possessions in Brandenburg from those which lay across the Vistula. The +kingdom of Poland, which in its declining years was to cause western +Europe much trouble, was shut in between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. +The Slavic population of this region had come under an able ruler about +the year 1000, and the Polish kings had succeeded for a time in +extending their power over a large portion of Russia, Moravia, and the +Baltic regions. They had never been able, however, to establish a +successful form of government. This was largely due to the fact that the +kings were elected by the nobles, the crown not passing from father to +son, as in the neighboring kingdoms. The elections were tumultuous +affairs, and foreigners were frequently chosen. Moreover, each noble had +the right to veto any law proposed in the diet, and consequently a +single person might prevent the passage of even the most important +measure. The anarchy which prevailed in Poland had become proverbial. + +[Sidenote: The first partition of Poland, 1772.] + +On the pretense that this disorderly country was a menace to their +welfare, the neighboring powers, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, agreed to +reduce the danger by each helping itself to a slice of the unfortunate +kingdom. This amicable arrangement resulted in what is known as the +first partition of Poland. It was succeeded by two others (1793 and +1795), by the last of which this ancient state was wiped from the map +altogether.[362] + +[Sidenote: Achievements of Frederick the Great.] + +When Frederick died (1786) he left the state which had been intrusted to +him by his father nearly doubled in size. He had rendered it illustrious +by his military glory, and had vastly increased its resources by +improving the condition of the people in the older portions of his +territory and by establishing German colonies in the desolate regions of +West Prussia, which he strove in this way to bind closely to the rest of +the kingdom. + + + General Reading.--TUTTLE, _History of Prussia_ (4 vols., Houghton, + Mifflin & Co., $8.25). CARLYLE, _Frederick the Great_ (3 vols., + Chapman, $2.25). LONGMAN, F.W., _Frederick the Great_ (Charles + Scribner's Sons, $1.00). RAMBAUD, _History of Russia_ (2 vols., + Coryell & Co., $2.00). For Peter the Great and his Age, + WALISZEWSKI, _Life of Peter the Great_ (D. Appleton & Co., $2.00). + For the Seven Years' War and France, PERKINS, _France under Louis + XV_ (2 vols., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $4.00). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND + + +203. In the last chapter we reviewed the progress of affairs in eastern +Europe and noted the appearance of two new and important powers, Prussia +and Russia, which, together with Austria, were engaged during the +eighteenth century in extending their bounds at the expense of their +weak neighbors, Poland and Turkey. + +[Sidenote: In the eighteenth century England lays the foundation of her +commercial greatness.] + +In the west, England was rapidly becoming a dominant power. While she +did not play a very important part in the wars on the continent, she was +making herself mistress of the seas. At the close of the War of the +Spanish Succession her navy was superior to that of any other European +power, for both France and Holland had been greatly weakened by the long +conflict. Fifty years after the Treaty of Utrecht, England had succeeded +in driving the French from both North America and India and in laying +the foundation of her vast colonial empire, which still gives her the +commercial supremacy among the European countries. + +[Sidenote: Questions settled by the accession of William and Mary.] + +With the accession of William and Mary, England may be regarded as +having practically settled the two great questions which had produced +such serious dissensions during the previous fifty years. In the first +place, the nation had clearly shown that it proposed to remain +Protestant; and the relations between the Church of England and the +dissenters were gradually being satisfactorily adjusted. In the second +place, the powers of the king had been carefully defined, and from the +opening of the eighteenth century to the present time no English monarch +has ventured to veto an act of Parliament.[363] + +[Sidenote: Queen Anne, 1702-1714.] + +[Sidenote: The union of England and Scotland, 1707.] + +William III was succeeded in 1702 by his sister-in-law, Anne, a younger +daughter of James II. Far more important than the war which her generals +carried on against Spain was the final union of England and Scotland. As +we have seen, the difficulties between the two countries had led to much +bloodshed and suffering ever since Edward I's futile attempt to conquer +Scotland.[364] The two countries had, it is true, been under the same +ruler since the accession of James I, but each had maintained its own +independent parliament and system of government. Finally, in 1707, both +nations agreed to unite their governments into one. Forty-five members +of the British House of Commons were to be chosen thereafter in +Scotland, and sixteen Scotch lords were to be added to the British House +of Lords. In this way the whole island of Great Britain was placed under +a single government, and the occasions for strife were thereby greatly +reduced. + +[Sidenote: Accession of George I (1714-1727), the first of the house of +Hanover.] + +Since none of Anne's children survived her, she was succeeded, according +to an arrangement made before her accession, by the nearest Protestant +heir. This was the son of James I's granddaughter Sophia. She had +married the elector of Hanover[365]; consequently the new king of +England, George I, was also elector of Hanover and a member of the Holy +Roman Empire. + +[Sidenote: The king ceases to attend the meetings of the cabinet, which +comes to be regarded as the real governing body.] + +The new king was a German who could not speak English and was forced to +communicate with his ministers in bad Latin. The king's leading +ministers had come to form a little body by themselves, called the +_cabinet_. As George could not understand the discussions he did not +attend the meetings of his ministers, and thereby set an example which +has been followed by his successors. In this way the cabinet came to +hold its meetings and transact its business independently of the king. +Before long it became a recognized principle in England that it was the +cabinet that really governed rather than the king; and that its members, +whether the king liked them or not, might retain their offices so long +as they continued to enjoy the confidence and support of Parliament. + + James I (1603-1625) + | + +------------------+------------+ + | | + Charles I Elizabeth, m. Frederick V, + (1625-1649) | Elector of the + | | Palatinate + | | (Winter King + +--------+-------------------+ | of Bohemia) + | | | +Charles II (1) Anne Hyde, m. James II, m. (2) Mary of Sophia, m. Ernest +(1660-1685) | (1685-1689) | Modena | Augustus, + | | | Elector of + +-------+-----+ | | Hanover + | | | | +William III, m. Mary Anne | | +(1689-1702) (1689-1694) (1702-1714) | George I + | (1714-1727) + | | + | George II + James (the (1727-1760) + Old Pretender) | + | Frederick, + | Prince of Wales + Charles Edward (d. 1751) + (the Young Pretender) | + | + George III + (1760-1820) + +[Sidenote: England and the 'balance of power.'] + +204. William of Orange had been a continental statesman before he became +king of England, and his chief aim had always been to prevent France +from becoming over-powerful. He had joined in the War of the Spanish +Succession in order to maintain the "balance of power" between the +various European countries.[366] During the eighteenth century England +continued, for the same reason, to engage in the struggles between the +continental powers, although she had no expectation of attempting to +extend her sway across the Channel. The wars which she waged in order to +increase her own power and territory were carried on in distant parts of +the world, and more often on sea than on land. + +[Sidenote: Peace under Walpole as prime minister, 1721-1742.] + +For a quarter of a century after the Treaty of Utrecht, England enjoyed +peace.[367] Under the influence of Walpole, who for twenty-one years was +the head of the cabinet and the first to be called "prime minister," +peace was maintained within and without. Not only did Walpole avoid +going to war with other countries, but he was careful to prevent the +ill-feeling at home from developing into civil strife. His principle was +to "let sleeping dogs lie"; so he strove to conciliate the dissenters +and to pacify the Jacobites,[368] as those were called who still desired +to have the Stuarts return. + +[Sidenote: England in the War of the Austrian Succession.] + +[Sidenote: 'Prince Charlie,' the Young Pretender, in Scotland.] + +When, in 1740, Frederick the Great and the French attacked Maria +Theresa, England's sympathies were with the injured queen. As elector of +Hanover, George II (who had succeeded his father in 1727), led an army +of German troops against the French and defeated them on the river Main. +Frederick then declared war on England; and France sent the grandson of +James II,[369] the Young Pretender, as he was called, with a fleet to +invade England. The attempt failed, for the fleet was dispersed by a +storm. In 1745 the French defeated the English and Dutch forces in the +Netherlands; this encouraged the Young Pretender to make another attempt +to gain the English crown. He landed in Scotland, where he found support +among the Highland chiefs, and even Edinburgh welcomed "Prince +Charlie." He was able to collect an army of six thousand men, with which +he marched into England. He was quickly forced back into Scotland, +however, and after a disastrous defeat on Culloden Moor (1746) and many +romantic adventures, he was glad to reach France once more in safety. + +205. Soon after the close of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, +England entered upon a series of wars which were destined profoundly to +affect not only her position, but also the fate of distant portions of +the globe. In order to follow these changes intelligently we must +briefly review the steps by which the various European states had +extended their sway over regions separated from them by the ocean. + +[Sidenote: Colonial policy of Portugal, Spain, and Holland in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.] + +The voyages which had brought America and India within the ken of Europe +during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries were, as we know, +mainly undertaken by the Portuguese and Spaniards. Portugal was the +first to realize the advantage of extending her commerce by establishing +stations in India and on the Brazilian coast of South America; then +Spain laid claim to Mexico, the West Indies, and a great part of South +America. These two powers found their first rival in the Dutch; for when +Philip II was able to add Portugal to the realms of the Spanish monarchs +for a few decades (1580-1640), he immediately closed the port of Lisbon +to the Dutch ships. Thereupon the United Provinces, whose merchants +could no longer procure the spices which the Portuguese brought from the +East, resolved to take possession of the source of supplies. They +accordingly expelled the Portuguese from a number of their settlements +in India and the Spice Islands and brought Java, Sumatra, and other +tropical regions under Dutch control.[370] + +[Sidenote: Settlements of the French and English in North America.] + +In North America the chief rivals were England and France, both of which +succeeded in establishing colonies in the early part of the seventeenth +century. Englishmen successively settled at Jamestown in Virginia +(1607), then in New England, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. The +colonies owed their growth to the influx of refugees,--Puritans, +Catholics, and Quakers,--who exiled themselves in the hope of gaining +the right freely to enjoy their particular forms of religion.[371] + +Just as Jamestown was being founded by the English the French were +making their first successful settlement in Nova Scotia and at Quebec. +Although England made no attempt to oppose the French occupation of +Canada, it progressed but slowly. In 1673 Marquette, a Jesuit +missionary, and Joliet, a merchant, discovered the Mississippi River. La +Salle sailed down the great stream and named the new country which he +entered Louisiana, after his king. The city of New Orleans was founded +near the mouth of the river in 1718, and the French established a chain +of forts between it and Montreal. + +England was able, however, by the Treaty of Utrecht, to establish +herself in the northern regions, for France thereby ceded to her +Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the borders of Hudson Bay. While the +number of English in North America at the beginning of the Seven Years' +War is supposed to have been over a million, the French scarcely +exceeded a twentieth of that number. Yet careful observers at the time +were by no means sure that France was not destined to dominate the new +country, rather than England. + +[Sidenote: Extent of India.] + +The rivalry of England and France was not confined to the wildernesses +of North America, occupied by half a million of savage red men. At the +opening of the eighteenth century both countries had gained a foothold +on the borders of the vast Indian empire, inhabited by two hundred +millions of people and the seat of an ancient and highly developed +civilization. One may gain some idea of the extent of India by laying +the map of Hindustan upon that of the United States. If the southernmost +point, Cape Comorin, be placed over New Orleans, Calcutta will lie +nearly over New York City and Bombay in the neighborhood of Des Moines, +Iowa. + +[Sidenote: The Mongolian emperors of Hindustan.] + +A generation after Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut,[372] a Mongolian +conqueror, Baber,[373] had established his empire in India. The dynasty +of Mongolian rulers which he founded had been able to keep the whole +country under its control for toward two centuries; then their empire +had fallen apart in much the same way as that of Charlemagne had done. +Like the counts and dukes of the Carolingian period, the emperor's +officials, the subahdars and nawabs (nabobs), and the rajahs--i.e., +Hindu princes temporarily subjugated by the Mongols--had gradually got +the power in their respective districts into their own hands. Although +the emperor, or Great Mogul, as the English called him, continued to +maintain himself in his capital of Delhi, he could no longer be said to +rule the country at the opening of the eighteenth century when the +French and English were seriously beginning to turn their attention to +his coasts. + +[Sidenote: English and French settlements in India.] + +In the time of Charles I (1639), a village had been purchased by the +English East India Company on the southeastern coast of Hindustan, which +grew into the important English station of Madras. About a generation +later the district of Bengal was occupied and Calcutta founded. Bombay +was already an English station. The Mongolian emperor of India at first +scarcely deigned to notice the presence of a few foreigners on the +fringe of his vast realms. But before the end of the seventeenth century +hostilities began between the English East India Company and the native +rulers which made it plain that the foreigners would be forced to defend +themselves. + +The English had not only to face the opposition of the natives, but that +of a European power as well. France also had an East India Company, and +Pondicherry, at the opening of the eighteenth century, was its chief +center with a population of sixty thousand, of which two hundred only +were Europeans. It soon became apparent that there was little danger +from the Great Mogul; moreover, the Portuguese and Dutch were out of the +race. So the native princes and the French and English were left to +fight among themselves for the supremacy. + +[Sidenote: England victorious in the struggle for supremacy in America.] + +206. Just before the general clash of European rulers known as the Seven +Years' War came in 1756, the French and English had begun their struggle +for control in both America and India. In America the so-called French +and Indian War began in 1754 between the English and French colonists. +General Braddock was sent from England to capture Fort Duquesne, which +the French had established to keep their rivals out of the Ohio valley. +Braddock knew nothing of border warfare, and he was killed and his +troops routed. Fortunately for England, France, as the ally of Austria, +was soon engaged in a war with Prussia that prevented her from giving +proper attention to her American possessions. A famous statesman, the +elder Pitt, was now at the head of the English ministry. He was able not +only to succor the hard-pressed king of Prussia with money and men, but +also to support the militia of the thirteen American colonies. The +French forts at Ticonderoga and Niagara were taken in 1759. Quebec was +won in Wolfe's heroic attack, and the following year all Canada +submitted to the English. England's supremacy on the sea was +demonstrated by three admirals, each of whom destroyed a French fleet in +the same year that Quebec was lost to France. + +[Sidenote: Dupleix and Clive in India.] + +In India conflicts between the French and the English had occurred +during the War of the Austrian Succession. The governor of the French +station of Pondicherry was Dupleix, a soldier of great energy, who +proposed to drive out the English and firmly establish the power of +France over Hindustan. His chances of success were greatly increased by +the quarrels among the native rulers, some of whom belonged to the +earlier Hindu inhabitants and some to the Mohammedan Mongolians who had +conquered India in 1526. Dupleix had very few French soldiers, but he +began the enlistment of the natives, a custom eagerly adopted by the +English. These native soldiers, whom the English called Sepoys, were +taught to fight in the manner of Europeans.[374] + +[Sidenote: Clive defeats Dupleix.] + +But the English colonists, in spite of the fact that they were mainly +traders, discovered among the clerks in Madras a leader equal in +military skill and energy to Dupleix himself. Robert Clive, who was but +twenty-five years old at this time, organized a large force of Sepoys +and gained a remarkable ascendency over them by his astonishing bravery. +Dupleix paid no attention to the fact that peace had been declared in +Europe at Aix-la-Chapelle, but continued to carry on his operations +against the English. But Clive proved more than his equal and in two +years had established English supremacy in the southeastern part of +India. + +[Sidenote: Clive renders English influence supreme in India.] + +[Sidenote: The 'Black Hole' of Calcutta.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Plassey, 1757.] + +At the moment that the Seven Years' War was beginning, bad news reached +Clive from the English settlement of Calcutta, about a thousand miles to +the northeast of Madras. The subahdar of Bengal had seized the property +of some English merchants and imprisoned one hundred and forty-five +Englishmen in a little room, where most of them died of suffocation +before morning. Clive hastened to Bengal, and with a little army of nine +hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys he gained a great victory +at Plassey over the subahdar's army of fifty thousand men. Clive then +replaced the subahdar of Bengal by a man whom he believed to be friendly +to the English. Before the Seven Years' War was over the English had won +Pondicherry and deprived the French of all their former influence in the +region of Madras. + +[Sidenote: England's gains in the Seven Years' War.] + +When the Seven Years' War was brought to an end in 1763 by the Treaty of +Paris, it was clear that England had gained far more than any other +power. She was to retain her two forts commanding the Mediterranean, +Gibraltar, and Port Mahon on the island of Minorca; in America, France +ceded to her the vast region of Canada and Nova Scotia, as well as +several of the islands in the West Indies. The region beyond the +Mississippi was ceded to Spain by France, who thus gave up all her +claims to North America. In India, France, it is true, received back the +towns which the English had taken from her, but she had permanently lost +her influence over the native rulers, for Clive had made the English +name greatly feared among them. + +[Sidenote: Beginning of trouble with the American colonies.] + +207. England, with the help of her colonists, had thus succeeded in +driving the French from North America and in securing the continent, +with the exception of Mexico, for the English race. She was not, +however, long to enjoy her victory, for no sooner had the Peace of Paris +been signed than she and her American colonies became involved in a +dispute over taxation, which led to a new war and the creation of an +independent English-speaking nation, the United States of America. + +[Sidenote: The Stamp Act and its repeal.] + +It seemed right to England that the colonies should help pay the +expenses of the late war, which were very heavy, and also support a +small standing army of English soldiers. Parliament therefore passed the +Stamp Act in 1765, which required the colonists to pay for stamps to be +used on legal documents. The Americans declared that Parliament had no +right to tax them, since they were not represented in that body. The +opposition to the stamp tax was so great that Parliament repealed the +act, but with the explicit assertion that it nevertheless had the right +to tax the colonies as well as to make laws for them. + +[Sidenote: Opposition to 'taxation without representation.'] + +The effort to make the Americans pay a very moderate import duty on tea +produced further trouble in 1773. The young men of Boston seditiously +boarded a tea ship in the harbor and threw the cargo into the water. +Burke, perhaps the most able member of the House of Commons, urged the +ministry to leave the Americans to tax themselves, but George III +(1760-1820) and Parliament as a whole could not forgive the colonists +their opposition. They believed that the trouble was largely confined to +New England and could be easily overcome. In 1774 acts were passed +prohibiting the landing and shipping of goods at Boston, and the colony +of Massachusetts was deprived of its former right to choose its judges +and the members of the upper house of its legislature. These +appointments were now placed in the hands of the king. + +[Sidenote: The Continental Congress.] + +[Sidenote: Outbreak of war.] + +[Sidenote: Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.] + +Such measures, instead of bringing Massachusetts to terms, so roused the +apprehension of the rest of the colonists that a congress was summoned, +and met at Philadelphia. This decided that all trade with Great Britain +should cease until the grievances of the colonies had been redressed. +The following year the Americans made a brave stand against British +troops at Lexington and in the battle of Bunker Hill. The new Congress +decided to prepare for war and raised an army which was put under the +command of George Washington, a Virginia planter who had gained some +distinction in the late French and Indian War. Up to this time the +colonies had not intended to secede from the mother country, but the +proposed compromises came to nothing, and in July, 1776, Congress +declared that "these United States are, and of right ought to be, free +and independent." + +[Sidenote: The United States seeks and receives aid from France.] + +This occurrence naturally excited great interest in France. The outcome +of the Seven Years' War had been most lamentable for that country, and +any trouble which came to her old enemy England could not but be a +source of congratulation to the French. The United States regarded +France as her natural ally and immediately sent Benjamin Franklin to +Versailles with the hope of obtaining the aid of the new French king, +Louis XVI. The king's ministers were doubtful whether the colonies could +long maintain their resistance against the overwhelming strength of the +mother country. It was only after the Americans had defeated Burgoyne at +Saratoga in 1777, that France concluded a treaty with the United States +in which the independence of the new republic was recognized. This was +tantamount to declaring war upon England. The enthusiasm for the +Americans was so great in France that a number of the younger nobles, +the most conspicuous of whom was Lafayette, crossed the Atlantic to +fight in the American army.[375] + +[Sidenote: Close of the war, 1783.] + +[Sidenote: England acknowledges the independence of the United States.] + +In spite of the skill and heroic self-sacrifice of Washington, the +Americans lost more battles than they gained. It is extremely doubtful +if they would have succeeded in bringing the war to a favorable close, +by forcing the English general, Cornwallis, to capitulate at Yorktown +(1781), had it not been for the aid of the French fleet. Before the war +was terminated by the Peace of Paris (1783), Spain had joined in the +hostilities, and the Spanish and French fleets laid siege to Gibraltar. +Their floating batteries were finally destroyed by the red-hot shot of +the British, and the enemies of England gave up further attempts to +dislodge her from this important station. The chief result of the war +was the recognition by England of the United States, whose territory was +to extend to the Mississippi River. To the west of the Mississippi, the +vast territory of Louisiana still remained in the hands of Spain. + +[Sidenote: Results in Europe of wars between Treaty of Utrecht and Peace +of Paris.] + +208. The results of the European wars during the sixty years which +elapsed between the Treaty of Utrecht and the Peace of Paris may be +summarized as follows. In the northeast two new powers, Russia and +Prussia, had come into the European family of nations. Prussia had +greatly extended her territory by gaining Silesia and West Poland. She +and Austria were, in the nineteenth century, to engage in a struggle for +supremacy in Germany, which was to result in substituting the present +German empire under the headship of the Hohenzollerns for the Holy Roman +Empire, of which the house of Hapsburg had so long been the nominal +chief. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the 'eastern question.'] + +The power of the Sultan was declining so rapidly that Austria and Russia +were already considering the seizure of his European possessions. This +presented a new problem to the European powers, which came to be known +in the nineteenth century as the "eastern question." Were Austria and +Russia permitted to aggrandize themselves by adding the Turkish +territory to their possessions, it would gravely disturb the balance of +power which England had so much at heart. So it came about that, from +this time on, Turkey was admitted in a way to the family of western +European nations, for it soon appeared that some of the states of +western Europe were willing to form alliances with the Sultan, and even +aid him directly in defending himself against his neighbors. + +[Sidenote: England's colonial possessions.] + +England had lost her American colonies, and by her perverse policy had +led to the creation of a sister state speaking her own language and +destined to occupy the central part of the North American continent from +the Atlantic to the Pacific. She still retained Canada, however, and in +the nineteenth century added a new continent in the southern hemisphere, +Australia, to her vast colonial empire. In India she had no further +rivals among European nations, and gradually extended her influence over +the whole region south of the Himalayas. In 1877 Queen Victoria was +proclaimed Empress of India as the successor of the Grand Mogul. + +[Sidenote: France under Louis XV, 1715-1774.] + +As for France, she had played a rather pitiful rôle during the long +reign of Louis XIV's great grandson, Louis XV (1715-1774). She had, +however, been able to increase her territory by the addition of +Lorraine (1766) and, in 1768, of the island of Corsica. A year later a +child was born in the Corsican town of Ajaccio, who one day, by his +genius, was to make France the center for a time of an empire rivaling +that of Charlemagne in extent. When the nineteenth century opened France +was no longer a monarchy, but a republic; and her armies were to occupy +in turn every European capital, from Madrid to Moscow. In order to +understand the marvelous transformations produced by the French +Revolution and the wars of Napoleon, we must consider somewhat carefully +the conditions in France which led to a great reform of her institutions +in 1789, and to the founding of a republic four years later. + + + General Reading.--For the French in America, PARKMAN, _The Pioneers + of France in the New World_ (Little, Brown & Co., $2.00), also _A + Half Century of Conflict_ (same publisher, 2 vols., $6.00). For + India, MALLESON, _Clive_ (Oxford, University Press, 60 cents), and + Macaulay's Essay on Clive. For the growth of the British Empire, H. + DE B. GIBBINS, _History of Commerce in Europe_ (The Macmillan + Company, 90 cents), and SEELEY, _The Expansion of England_ (Little, + Brown & Co., $1.75). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION + + +209. When we meet the words "French Revolution," they are pretty sure to +call up before our mind's eye the guillotine and its hundreds of +victims, the storming of the Bastile, the Paris mob shouting the +Marseillaise hymn as they parade the streets with heads of unfortunate +"aristocrats" on their pikes. Every one knows something of this terrible +episode in French history. Indeed, it has made so deep an impression on +posterity that we sometimes forget that the Reign of Terror was _not_ +the French Revolution. Mere disorder and bloodshed never helped mankind +along; and the Revolution must assuredly have produced some great and +lasting alteration in France and in Europe to deserve to be ranked--as +it properly is--with the Renaissance and the Protestant Revolt, as one +of the three most momentous changes of the last six hundred years. The +Reign of Terror was, in fact, only a sequel to the _real_ Revolution. + +[Sidenote: The _Ancien Régime_.] + +The French Revolution, in the truest sense of the term, was a great and +permanent reform, which did away with many absurd and vexatious laws and +customs, and with abuses of which the whole nation was heartily tired, +from the king down to the humblest peasant. Whenever a Frenchman, in the +eighteenth century, seriously considered the condition of his country, +most of the institutions in the midst of which he lived appeared to him +to be _abuses_, contrary to reason and humanity. These vicious +institutions,--relics of bygone times and outlived conditions,--which +the Revolution destroyed forever, are known by the general name _Ancien +Régime_, that is, "the old system." Whole volumes have been written +about the causes of the French Revolution. The real cause is, however, +easily stated; the old system was bad, and almost every one, both high +and low, had come to realize that it was bad, and consequently the +French did away with it and substituted a modern and more rational order +for the long-standing disorder. + +[Sidenote: France not a well-organized state in the eighteenth century.] + +Of the evils which the Revolution abolished, none was more important +than the confusion due to the fact that France was not in the eighteenth +century a well-organized, homogeneous state whose citizens all enjoyed +the same rights and privileges. A long line of kings had patched it +together, adding bit by bit as they could. By conquest and bargain, by +marrying heiresses, and through the extinction of the feudal dynasties, +the original restricted domains of Hugh Capet about Paris and Orleans +had been gradually increased by his descendants until, when Louis XVI +came to the throne in 1774, he found himself ruler of practically the +whole territory which makes up France to-day. + +Some of the districts which the kings of France brought under their +sway, like Languedoc, Provence, Brittany, and Navarre, were considerable +states in themselves, each with its own laws, customs, and system of +government. When these provinces had come, at different times, into the +possession of the king of France, he had not changed their laws so as to +make them correspond with those of his other domains. He was satisfied +if his new provinces paid their due share of the taxes and treated his +officials with respect. In some cases the provinces retained their local +assemblies, and controlled, to a certain extent, their own affairs. The +provinces into which France was divided before the Revolution were not, +therefore, merely artificial divisions created for the purposes of +administrative convenience, like the modern French departments,[376] but +represented real historical differences. + +[Sidenote: Various systems of law.] + +While in a considerable portion of southern France the Roman law still +prevailed, in the central parts and in the west and north there were no +less than two hundred and eighty-five different local codes of law in +force; so that one who moved from his own to a neighboring town might +find a wholly unfamiliar legal system. + +[Illustration: The Provinces of France in the Eighteenth Century, +showing Interior Customs Lines] + +[Sidenote: Interior customs lines.] + +Neither was France commercially a single state. The chief customs duties +were not collected upon goods as they entered French territory from a +foreign country; for the customs lines lay within France itself, so that +the central provinces about Paris were cut off from the outlying ones as +from a foreign land.[377] A merchant of Bordeaux sending goods to Paris +would have to see that the duties were paid on them as they passed the +customs line, and, conversely, a merchant of Paris would have to pay a +like duty on commodities sent to places without the line. + +[Sidenote: Inequalities of taxation illustrated by the salt tax.] + +The monstrous inequalities in levying one of the oldest and heaviest of +the taxes, i.e., the salt tax, still better illustrates the strange +disorder that existed in France in the eighteenth century. The +government raised this tax by monopolizing the sale of salt and then +charging a high price for it. There would have been nothing remarkable +in this had the same price been charged everywhere, but as it was, the +people in one town might be forced to pay thirty times as much as their +neighbors in an adjacent district. The accompanying map shows how France +was arbitrarily divided. To take a single example: at Dijon, a certain +amount of salt cost seven francs; a few miles to the east, on entering +Franche-Comté, one had to pay, for the same amount, twenty-five francs; +to the north, in Burgundy, fifty-eight francs; to the south, in the +region of the little salt tax, twenty-eight francs; while still farther +off, in Gex, there was no tax whatever. The government had to go to +great expense to guard the boundary lines between the various districts, +for there was every inducement to smugglers to carry salt from those +parts of the country where it was cheap into the land of the great salt +tax. + +[Sidenote: The privileged classes.] + +210. Besides these unfortunate local differences, there were class +differences which caused great discontent. All Frenchmen did not enjoy +the same rights as citizens. Two small but very important classes, the +nobility and the clergy, were treated differently by the state from the +rest of the people. They did not have to pay one of the heaviest of the +taxes, the notorious _taille_, and on one ground or another they escaped +other burdens which the rest of the citizens bore. For instance, they +were not required to serve in the militia or help build the roads. + +[Illustration: Map showing the Amount paid in the Eighteenth Century for +Salt in Various Parts of France[378]] + +[Sidenote: The Church.] + +We have seen how great and powerful the mediæval Church was. In France, +as in other Catholic countries of Europe, it still retained in the +eighteenth century a considerable part of the power that it had +possessed in the thirteenth, and it still performed important public +functions. It took charge of education and of the relief of the sick and +the poor. It was very wealthy and is supposed to have owned one fifth of +all the land in France. The clergy still claimed, as Boniface VIII had +done, that their property, being dedicated to God, was not subject to +taxation. They consented, however, to help the king from time to time by +a "free gift," as they called it. The church still collected the tithes +from the people, and its vast possessions made it very independent. +Those who did not call themselves Roman Catholics were excluded from +some of the most important rights of citizenship. Since the revocation +of the Edict of Nantes no Protestant could be legally married or have +the births of his children registered, or make a legal will. + +[Sidenote: The clergy.] + +A great part of the enormous income of the church went into the pockets +of the higher clergy, the bishops, archbishops, and abbots. These were +appointed by the king,[379] often from among his courtiers, and they +paid but little attention to their duties as officers of the church and +were generally nothing but "great lords with a hundred thousand francs +income." While they amused themselves at Versailles, the real work was +performed--and well performed--by the lower clergy, who often received +scarcely enough to keep soul and body together. We shall see that, when +the Revolution began, the parish priests sided with the people instead +of with their ecclesiastical superiors.[380] + +[Sidenote: The privileges of the nobility.] + +The privileges of the nobles, like those of the clergy, had originated +in the mediæval conditions described in an earlier chapter.[381] A +detailed study of their rights would reveal many survivals of the +conditions which prevailed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when +the great majority of the people were serfs living upon the manors. +While serfdom had largely disappeared in France long before the +eighteenth century, and the peasants were generally free men who owned +or rented their land, the lords still enjoyed the right to collect a +variety of time-honored dues from the inhabitants living within the +limits of the former manors. + +The privileges and dues enjoyed by the nobles varied greatly in +different parts of France. It was quite common for the noble landowner +to have a right to a certain portion of the peasants' crops; +occasionally he could collect a toll on sheep and cattle driven past his +house. In some cases the lord maintained, as he had done in the Middle +Ages, the only mill, wine press, or oven within a certain district, and +could require every one to make use of these and pay him a share of the +product. Even when a peasant owned his land, the neighboring lord +usually had the right to exact one fifth of its value every time it was +sold. The nobles, too, enjoyed the aristocratic privilege of the hunt. +The game which they preserved for their amusement often did great damage +to the crops of the peasants, who were forbidden to interfere with +hares, deer, pigeons, etc. + +All these privileges were vestiges of the powers which the nobles had +enjoyed when they ruled their estates as feudal lords. Louis XIV had, as +we know, induced them to leave their domains and gather round him at +Versailles, where all who could afford it lived for at least part of the +year. The higher offices in the army were reserved for the nobles, as +well as the easiest and most lucrative places in the church and about +the king's person.[382] + +[Sidenote: The third estate.] + +211. Everybody who did not belong to either the clergy or nobility was +regarded as being of the _third estate_. The third estate was therefore +nothing more than the nation at large, which was made up in 1789 of +about twenty-five million souls. The privileged classes can scarcely +have counted altogether more than two hundred and seventy thousand +individuals. A great part of the third estate lived in the country and +tilled the soil. Most historians have been inclined to make out their +condition as very bad indeed. They were certainly oppressed by an +abominable system of taxation and were irritated by the dues which they +had to pay to the lords. They also suffered frequently from local +famines. Yet there is no doubt that the evils of their situation have +been greatly exaggerated. When Thomas Jefferson traveled through France +in 1787 he reports that the country people appeared to be comfortable +and that they had plenty to eat. Arthur Young, a famous English traveler +who has left us an admirable account of his journeys in France during +the years 1787-1789, found much prosperity and contentment, although he +gives, too, some forlorn pictures of destitution. + +[Sidenote: Favorable situation of the peasant in France compared with +other countries.] + +[Sidenote: Rapid increase of population in the eighteenth century.] + +The latter have often been unduly emphasized by historical writers; for +it has commonly been thought that the Revolution was to be explained by +the misery and despair of the people who could tolerate the old system +no longer. If, however, instead of comparing the situation of the French +peasant under the old régime with that of an English or American farmer +to-day, we contrast his position with that of his fellow-peasant in +Prussia, Austria, or Italy, it will be clear that in France the +agricultural classes were really much better off than elsewhere on the +continent. In Prussia, for example, the peasants were still serfs: they +had to work three whole days in each week for their lord; they could not +marry or dispose of their land without his permission. Moreover, the +fact that the population of France had steadily increased from seventeen +million after the close of the wars of Louis XIV to about twenty-five +million at the opening of the Revolution, indicates that the general +condition of the people was improving rather than growing worse. + +[Sidenote: Popular discontent, not the exceptionally miserable +condition of the French people, accounts for the Revolution.] + +The real reason why France was the first among the European countries to +carry out a great reform and do away with the irritating survivals of +feudalism was not that the nation was miserable and oppressed above all +others, but that it was sufficiently free and enlightened to realize the +evils and absurdities of the old régime. Mere oppression and misery does +not account for a revolution, there must also be active _discontent_; +and of that there was a great abundance in France, as we shall see. The +French peasant no longer looked up to his lord as his ruler and +protector, but viewed him as a sort of legalized robber who demanded a +share of his precious harvest, whose officers awaited the farmer at the +crossing of the river to claim a toll, who would not let him sell his +produce when he wished, or permit him to protect his fields from the +ravages of the pigeons which it pleased the lord to keep.[383] + +[Sidenote: France still a despotism in the eighteenth century.] + +212. In the eighteenth century France was still the despotism that Louis +XIV had made it.[384] Louis XVI once described it very well in the +following words: "The sovereign authority resides exclusively in my +person. To me solely belongs the power of making the laws, and without +dependence or coöperation. The entire public order emanates from me, and +I am its supreme protector. My people are one with me. The rights and +interests of the nation are necessarily identical with mine and rest +solely in my hands." In short, the king still ruled "by the grace of +God," as Louis XIV had done. He needed to render account to no man for +his governmental acts; he was responsible to God alone. The following +illustrations will make clear the dangerous extent of the king's power. + +[Sidenote: The king's control of the government funds.] + +In the first place, it was he who levied each year the heaviest of the +taxes, the hated _taille_, from which the privileged classes were +exempted. This tax brought in about one sixth of the whole revenue of +the state. The amount collected was kept secret, and no report was made +to the nation of what was done with it or with any other part of the +king's income. Indeed, no distinction was made between the king's +private funds and the state treasury, whereas in England the monarch was +given a stated allowance. The king of France could issue as many drafts +payable to bearer as he wished; the royal officials must pay all such +orders and ask no questions. Louis XV is said to have spent no less than +seventy million dollars in this fashion in a single year. + +[Sidenote: _Lettres de cachet._] + +But the king not only controlled his subjects' purses; he had a terrible +authority over their persons as well. He could issue orders for the +arrest and arbitrary imprisonment of any one he pleased. Without trial +or formality of any sort, a person might be cast into a dungeon for an +indefinite period, until the king happened to remember him again or was +reminded of him by the poor man's friends. These notorious orders of +arrest were called _lettres de cachet_, i.e., sealed letters. They were +not difficult to obtain for any one who had influence with the king or +his favorites, and they furnished a particularly easy and efficacious +way of disposing of an enemy. These arbitrary orders lead one to +appreciate the importance of the provision of Magna Carta which +establishes that "no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned except by the +lawful sentence of his peers and in accordance with the law of the +land." Some of the most distinguished men of the time were shut up by +the king's order, often on account of books or pamphlets written by them +which displeased the king or those about him. The distinguished +statesman, Mirabeau, was imprisoned several times through _lettres de +cachet_ obtained by his father as a means of checking his reckless +dissipation.[385] + +[Sidenote: Limitations placed upon the power of the French king.] + +213. Yet, notwithstanding the seemingly unlimited powers of the French +king, and in spite of the fact that France had no written constitution +and no legislative body to which the nation sent representatives, the +monarch was by no means absolutely free to do just as he pleased. He had +not the time nor inclination to carry on personally the government of +twenty-five million subjects, and he necessarily and willingly left much +of the work to his ministers and the numerous public officials, who were +bound to obey the laws and regulations established for their control and +guidance. + +[Sidenote: The _parlements_ and their protests.] + +Next to the king's council the most important governmental bodies were +the higher courts of law, the _parlements_. These resembled the English +Parliament in almost nothing but name. The French _parlements_--of which +the most important one was at Paris and a dozen more were scattered +about the provinces--did not, however, confine themselves strictly to +the business of trying lawsuits. They claimed, and quite properly, that +when the king decided to make a new law he must send it to them to be +registered, else they would have no means of knowing just what the law +was of which they were to be the guardians. Now, although they +acknowledged that the right to make the laws belonged to the monarch, +they nevertheless often sent a "protest" to the king instead of +registering a law of which they disapproved. They would urge that the +ministers had abused His Majesty's confidence. They would see, too, that +their protest was printed and sold on the streets at a penny or two a +copy, so that people should get the idea that the _parlement_ was +defending the nation against the oppressive measures of the king's +ministers. + +When the king received one of these protests two alternatives were open +to him. He might recall the distasteful decree altogether or modify it +so as to suit the court; or he could summon the _parlement_ before him +and in a solemn session (called a _lit de justice_) command it with his +own mouth to register the law in its books. The _parlement_ would then +reluctantly obey, but as the Revolution approached it began to claim +that a decree registered against its will was not valid. + +[Sidenote: The _parlements_ help to prepare the way for the +Revolution.] + +Struggles between the _parlements_ and the ministers were very frequent +in the eighteenth century. They prepared the way for the Revolution, +first, by bringing important questions to the attention of the people; +for there were no newspapers and no parliamentary or congressional +debates to enable the public to understand the policy of the government. +Secondly, the _parlements_ not only frankly criticised the proposed +measures of the king and his ministers, but they familiarized the nation +with the idea that the king was not really at liberty to alter what they +called "the fundamental laws" of the state. By this they meant that +there was an unwritten constitution, of which they were the guardians +and which limited the king's power. In this way they promoted the +growing discontent with a government which was carried on in secret, and +which left the nation at the mercy of the men in whom the king might for +the moment repose confidence. + +[Sidenote: Public opinion.] + +It is a great mistake to suppose that public opinion did not exercise a +powerful check upon the king, even under the autocratic old régime. It +was, as one of Louis XVI's ministers declared, "an invisible power +which, without treasury, guards, or an army, ruled Paris and the +court,--yes, the very palace of the king." The latter half of the +eighteenth century was a period of outspoken and acrid criticism of the +whole existing social and governmental system. Reformers, among whom +many of the king's ministers were counted, loudly and eloquently +discussed the numerous abuses and the vicious character of the +government, which gradually came to seem just as bad to the people of +that day as it would to us now. + +[Sidenote: Discussion of public questions.] + +Although there were no daily newspapers to discuss public questions, +large numbers of pamphlets were written and circulated by individuals +whenever there was an important crisis, and they answered much the same +purpose as the editorials in a modern newspaper. These pamphlets and the +books of the time sometimes treated the government, the clergy, or the +Catholic religion, with such open contempt, that the king, the clergy, +or the courts felt it necessary to prevent their circulation. The +_parlement_ of Paris now and then ordered some offensive writing to be +burned by the common hangman. Several distinguished writers were even +imprisoned for expressing themselves too freely, and some booksellers +and printers banished. But the attempted suppression of free discussion +seemed an outrage to the more thoughtful among the public, and rather +promoted than prevented the consideration of the weaknesses of the +church and of the king's government. + +[Illustration: Voltaire] + +[Sidenote: Voltaire, 1694-1778.] + +214. By far the most conspicuous and important reformer of the +eighteenth century was Voltaire (1694-1778), who was born twenty years +before Louis XIV died, and yet lived to see Louis XVI mount the throne. +"When the right sense of historical proportion is more fully developed +in men's minds, the name of Voltaire will stand out like the names of +the great decisive movements in the European advance, like the Revival +of Learning or the Reformation. The existence, character, and career of +this extraordinary person constituted in themselves a new and prodigious +era" (Morley). To understand Voltaire and the secret of his fame would +be to understand France before the Revolution. His mission was to exalt +and popularize reason; and since a great part of the institutions of his +day were not based upon reason, but upon mere tradition, and were +utterly opposed to common sense, "the touch of reason was fatal to the +whole structure, which instantly began to crumble." + +[Sidenote: Voltaire's wide influence and popularity.] + +Voltaire had little respect for the past which had bequeathed to France +her disorderly government and, above all, her church. His keen eye was +continually discovering some new absurdity in the existing order, which, +with incomparable wit and literary skill, he would expose to his eager +readers. He was interested in almost everything; he wrote histories, +dramas, philosophic treatises, romances, epics, and innumerable letters +to his innumerable admirers. He was a sort of intellectual arbiter of +Europe, such as Petrarch and Erasmus had been. The vast range of his +writings enabled him to bring his bold questionings to the attention of +all sorts and conditions of men,--not only to the general reader, but +even to the careless playgoer. + +[Sidenote: Voltaire's attack upon the church.] + +While Voltaire was successfully inculcating free criticism in general, +he led in a relentless attack upon the most venerable, probably the most +powerful, institution in France, the Roman Catholic church. The absolute +power of the king did not greatly trouble him, but the church, with, as +he deemed, its deep-seated opposition to a free exercise of reason and +its hostility to reform, seemed to him fatally to block all human +progress. He was wont to close his letters with the exhortation, "Crush +the infamous thing." The church, as it fully realized, had never +encountered a more deadly enemy. Not only was Voltaire supremely +skillful in his varied methods of attack, but there were thousands of +both the thoughtful and the thoughtless ready to applaud him; for many +had reached the same conclusions, although they might not be able to +express their thoughts so persuasively as he. Voltaire repudiated the +beliefs of the Protestant churches as well as of the Roman church. He +was, however, no atheist, as his enemies--and they have been many and +bitter--have so often asserted. He believed in God, and at his country +home near Geneva he dedicated a temple to Him. Like many of his +contemporaries he was a deist, and held that God had revealed Himself in +nature and in our hearts, not in Bible or church. + +Were there space at command a great many good things and plenty of bad +ones might be told of this extraordinary man. He was often superficial +in his judgments, and sometimes jumped to unwarranted conclusions. He +saw only the evil in the church, and seemed incapable of understanding +all that it had done for mankind during the bygone ages. He maliciously +attributed to evil motives teachings which were accepted by the best and +loftiest of men. He bitterly ridiculed even the holiest and purest +aspirations, along with the alleged deceptions of the Jesuits and the +quarrels of the theologians. He could, however, fight bravely against +wrong and oppression.[386] The abuses against which he fought were in +large part abolished by the Revolution. It is extremely unfair to notice +only his mistakes and exaggerations, as many writers, both Catholic and +Protestant, have done, for he certainly did more than any one else to +prepare the way for the great and permanent reform of the church, as a +political and social institution, in 1789-1790. + +[Sidenote: Rousseau, 1712-1778.] + +Next to Voltaire the writer who did most to cultivate discontent was +Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). His famous little treatise, _The +Social Contract_, takes up the great question, By what right does one +man rule over others? The book opens with the words: "Man is born free +and yet is now everywhere in chains. One man believes himself the master +of others and yet is after all more of a slave than they. How did this +change come about? I do not know. What can render it legitimate? I +believe that I can answer that question." It is, Rousseau declares, the +will of the people that renders government legitimate. The real +sovereign is the people. Although they may appoint a single person, a +king, to manage the government for them, they should make the laws, +since it is they who must obey them. We shall find that the first French +constitution accepts Rousseau's doctrine and defines law as "the +expression of the general will,"--not the will of a king reigning by the +grace of God. + +[Sidenote: Montesquieu.] + +Montesquieu, the most profound of the political writers of the +eighteenth century, did his part in opening the eyes of thoughtful +Frenchmen to the disadvantages of their government by his eulogy of the +limited monarchy of England. He pointed out that the freedom which +Englishmen enjoyed was due to the fact that the three powers of +government--legislative, executive, and judicial--were not as in France +in the same hands. Parliament made the laws, the king executed them, and +the courts, independent of both, saw that they were observed. He +believed that the English would lose their liberties so soon as these +powers fell under the control of one person or body of persons. This +principle of "the separation of powers" is now recognized in many modern +governments, notably in that of the United States. + +[Sidenote: The new science of political economy.] + +215. About the middle of the eighteenth century the science of political +economy was born. Scholars began to investigate far more thoroughly than +ever before the sources and distribution of the wealth of the nation. +The unjust system of taxation, which tended to exempt the richer classes +from their just share of the public burdens; the wasteful and irritating +methods of collecting the taxes; the interior customs lines, preventing +the easy passage of goods from one part of France to another; the +extravagance of the king's household; the pensions granted to +undeserving persons; every evil of the bungling, iniquitous old régime +was brought under the scrutiny of the new thinkers, who tested the +existing system by the light of reason and the welfare of the great mass +of the people. + +[Sidenote: Economists argue against government restrictions on trade and +manufacture.] + +The economists wrote treatises on taxation, scattered pamphlets about, +and conducted a magazine or two. They not only brought the existing +economic evils home to the intelligent reader, but suggested remedies +for them. + +The French government had been in the habit of regulating well-nigh +everything. In order that the goods that were produced in France might +find a ready sale abroad, the government fixed the quality and width of +the cloth which might be manufactured and the character of the dyes +which should be used.[387] The king's ministers kept a constant eye upon +the dealers in grain and breadstuffs, forbidding the storing up of these +products or their sale outside a market. In this way they had hoped to +prevent speculators from accumulating grain in times of scarcity in +order to sell it at a high rate. + +It was now pointed out that these government restrictions produced some +very bad results. They failed to prevent famine, and in the case of +industry they discouraged new inventions and the adoption of better +methods. The economists claimed that it would be far better to leave the +manufacturer to carry on his business in his own way. They urged the +king to adopt the motto, _laissez faire_, "Let things alone," if he +would see his realms prosper.[388] + +[Accession of Louis XVI.] + +216. In 1774 the old king, Louis XV, died after a long and disgraceful +reign. His unsuccessful wars had brought France to the verge of +bankruptcy, and his ministers had been unable to meet the obligations of +the government. The taxes were already so oppressive as to arouse great +discontent, and yet the government was running behind seventy million +dollars a year. His grandson and successor, Louis XVI (1774-1793), was a +young man of excellent intentions. He was only twenty, and his wife, +the beautiful Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, was still +younger. The new king almost immediately summoned Turgot, the ablest of +the economists, and placed him in the most important of the government +offices, that of controller general. + +[Sidenote: Turgot controller general, 1774-1776.] + +Turgot was an experienced government official as well as a scholar. For +thirteen years he had been the king's representative in Limoges, one of +the least prosperous portions of France. There he had had ample +opportunity to see the vices of the prevailing system of taxation. He +had made every effort to induce the government to better its methods, +and had tried to familiarize the people with the principles of political +economy. Consequently, when he was put in charge of the nation's +finances, it seemed as if he and the conscientious young king might find +some remedy for the long-standing abuses. + +[Sidenote: Turgot advocates economy.] + +The first and most natural measure was economy, for only in that way +could the government be saved from bankruptcy, and the burden of +taxation be lightened. Turgot felt that the vast amount spent in +maintaining the luxury of the royal court at Versailles should be +reduced. The establishments of the king, the queen, and the princes of +the blood royal cost the state annually toward twelve million dollars. +Then the French king had long been accustomed to grant "pensions" in a +reckless manner to his courtiers, and this required nearly twelve +million dollars more. Any attempt, however, to reduce this amount would +arouse the immediate opposition of the courtiers, and it was the +courtiers who really governed France. They had every opportunity to +influence the king's mind against a man whose economies they disliked. +They were constantly about the monarch from the moment when he awoke in +the morning until he went to bed at night; therefore they had an obvious +advantage over the controller general, who only saw him in business +hours.[389] + +Although the privileged class so stoutly opposed Turgot's reforms that +he did not succeed in abolishing the abuses himself,[390] he did a great +deal to forward their destruction not many years after his retirement. +Immediately after coming into power he removed a great part of the +restrictions on the grain trade. He prefaced the edict with a very frank +denunciation of the government's traditional policy of preventing +persons from buying and selling their grain when and where they wished. +He showed that this did not obviate famines, as the government hoped +that it might, and that it caused great loss and hardship. If the +government would only let matters alone the grain would always go to +those provinces where it was most needed, for there it would bring the +best price. Turgot seized this and every similar opportunity to impress +important economic truths upon the minds of the people.[391] + +[Sidenote: Turgot's position.] + +An Italian economist, when he heard of Turgot's appointment, wrote to a +friend in France as follows: "So Turgot is controller general! He will +not remain in office long enough to carry out his plans. He will punish +some scoundrels; he will bluster about and lose his temper; he will be +anxious to do good, but will run against obstacles and rogues at every +turn. Public credit will fall; he will be detested; it will be said that +he is not fitted for his task. Enthusiasm will cool; he will retire or +be sent off, and we shall have a new proof of the mistake of filling a +position like his in a monarchy like yours with an upright man and a +philosopher." + +[Sidenote: Turgot dismissed, May 1776.] + +The Italian could not have made a more accurate statement of the case +had he waited until after the dismissal of Turgot, which took place in +May, 1776, much to the satisfaction of the court. The king, although +upright and well-intentioned, was not fond of the governmental duties +to which Turgot was always calling his attention. It was much the +easiest way to let things go along in the old way; for reforms not only +required much extra work, but they also forced him to refuse the +customary favors to those around him. The discontent of his young queen +or of an intimate companion outweighed the woes of the distant peasant. + +[Sidenote: Necker succeeds Turgot.] + +[Sidenote: Necker's financial report.] + +217. Necker, who after a brief interval succeeded Turgot, contributed to +the progress of the coming revolution in two ways. He borrowed vast sums +of money in order to carry on the war which France, as the ally of the +United States, had undertaken against England. This greatly embarrassed +the treasury later and helped to produce the financial crisis which was +the immediate cause of the Revolution. Secondly, he gave the nation its +first opportunity of learning what was done with the public funds, by +presenting to the king (February, 1781) a _report_ on the financial +condition of the kingdom; this was publicly printed and eagerly read. +There the people could see for the first time how much the _taille_ and +the salt tax actually took from them, and how much the king spent on +himself and his favorites.[392] + +[Sidenote: Calonne, controller general, 1783-1787.] + +[Sidenote: Calonne informs the king that France is on the verge of +bankruptcy, August, 1786.] + +Necker was soon followed by Calonne, who may be said to have +precipitated the momentous reform which constitutes the French +Revolution. He was very popular at first with king and courtiers, for he +spent the public funds far more recklessly than his predecessors. But, +naturally, he soon found himself in a position where he could obtain no +more money. The _parlements_ would consent to no more loans in a period +of peace, and the taxes were as high as it was deemed possible to make +them. At last Calonne, finding himself desperately put to it, informed +the astonished king that the state was on the verge of bankruptcy and +that in order to save it a radical reformation of the whole public order +was necessary. This report of Calonne's may be taken as the beginning +of the French Revolution, for it was the first of the series of events +that led to the calling of a representative assembly which abolished the +old régime and gave France a written constitution. + + + General Reading.--For general conditions in France before the + Revolution, LOWELL, _Eve of the French Revolution_ (Houghton, + Mifflin & Co., $2.00). MACLEHOSE, _The Last Days of the French + Monarchy_ (The Macmillan Company, $2.25). DE TOCQUEVILLE, _State of + Society in France before the Revolution of 1789_ (John Murray, + $3.00), a very remarkable work. TAINE, _The Ancient Régime_ (Henry + Holt & Co., $2.50) contains excellent chapters on the life at the + king's court and upon the literature of the period. ARTHUR YOUNG, + _Travels in France in 1787-1789_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.00), + very interesting and valuable. For Turgot's reforms, STEPHENS, + _Life and Writings of Turgot_ (Longmans, Green & Co., $4.50), + containing translations from Turgot's writings. MONTESQUIEU, _The + Spirit of Laws_ (The Macmillan Company, 2 vols., $2.00). ROUSSEAU, + _The Social Contract_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.25, or Charles + Scribner's Sons, $1.00). _Translations and Reprints,_ Vol. VI, No. + 1, gives short extracts from some of the most noted writers of the + eighteenth century. In Vol. V, No. 2, of the same series, may be + found a "Protest of the Cour des Aides," one of the higher courts + of France, issued in 1775, which casts a great deal of light upon + the evils of the old régime. John Morley has written a number of + works upon France before the Revolution: _Voltaire, Rousseau_, 2 + vols., _Diderot and the Encyclopædists_, 2 vols. (The Macmillan + Company, $1.50 a volume). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION + + +[Sidenote: Reforms proposed by Calonne.] + +218. It was necessary, in order to avoid ruin, Calonne claimed, "to +reform everything vicious in the state." He proposed, therefore, to +reduce the _taille_, reform the salt tax, do away with the interior +customs lines, correct the abuses of the guilds, etc. But the chief +reform, and by far the most difficult one, was to force the privileged +classes to surrender their important exemptions from taxation. He hoped, +however, that if certain concessions were made to them they might be +brought to consent to a land tax to be paid by all alike. So he proposed +to the king that he should summon an assembly of persons prominent in +church and state, called _Notables_, to ratify certain changes which +would increase the prosperity of the country and give the treasury money +enough to meet the necessary expenses. + +[Sidenote: Summoning of the Notables, 1786.] + +The summoning of the Notables in 1786 was really a revolution in itself. +It was a confession on the part of the king that he found himself in a +predicament from which he could not escape without the aid of his +people. The Notables whom he selected--bishops, archbishops, dukes, +judges, high government officials--were practically all members of the +privileged classes; but they still represented the nation, after a +fashion, as distinguished from the king's immediate circle of courtiers. +At any rate it proved an easy step from calling the Notables to +summoning the ancient Estates General, and that, in its turn, speedily +became a modern representative body. + +[Sidenote: Calonne denounces the abuses.] + +In his opening address Calonne gave the Notables an idea of the sad +financial condition of the country. The government was running behind +some forty million dollars a year. He could not continue to borrow, and +economy, however strict, would not suffice to cover the deficit. "What, +then," he asked, "remains to fill this frightful void and enable us to +raise the revenue to the desired level? _The Abuses!_ Yes, gentlemen, +the abuses offer a source of wealth which the state should appropriate, +and which should serve to reëstablish order in the finances.... The +abuses which must now be destroyed for the welfare of the people are the +most important and the best guarded of all, the very ones which have the +deepest roots and the most spreading branches. For example, those which +weigh on the laboring classes, the pecuniary privileges, exceptions to +the law which should be common to all, and many an unjust exemption +which can only relieve certain taxpayers by embittering the condition of +others; the general want of uniformity in the assessment of the taxes +and the enormous difference which exists between the contributions of +different provinces and of the subjects of the same sovereign; the +severity and arbitrariness in the collection of the _taille_; the +apprehensions, embarrassment, almost dishonor, associated with the trade +in breadstuffs; the interior custom-houses and barriers which make the +various parts of the kingdom like foreign countries to one another +...,"--all these evils, which public-spirited citizens had long +deprecated, Calonne proposed to do away with forthwith. + +[Sidenote: Calonne and the Notables dismissed.] + +The Notables, however, had no confidence in Calonne, and refused to +ratify his programme of reform. The king then dismissed him and soon +sent them home, too (May, 1787). Louis XVI then attempted to carry +through some of the more pressing financial reforms in the usual way by +sending them to the _parlements_ to be registered. + +[Sidenote: The _parlement_ of Paris refuses to register new taxes and +calls for the Estates General.] + +219. The _parlement_ of Paris resolved, as usual, to make the king's +ministry trouble and gain popularity for itself. This time it resorted +to a truly extraordinary measure. It not only refused to register two +new taxes which the king desired, but asserted that "_Only the nation +assembled in the Estates General can give the consent necessary to the +establishment of a permanent tax_." "Only the nation," the _parlement_ +continued, "after it has learned the true state of the finances can +destroy the great abuses and open up important resources." This +declaration was followed in a few days by the humble request that the +king assemble the Estates General of his kingdom. + +The refusal of the _parlement_ to register the new taxes led to one of +the old struggles between it and the king's ministers. A compromise was +arranged in the autumn of 1787; the _parlement_ agreed to register a +great loan, and the king pledged himself to assemble the Estates General +within five years. In the early months of 1788 many pamphlets appeared, +criticising the system of taxation and the unjust privileges and +exemptions enjoyed by a few of the citizens to the detriment of the +great mass of the nation. + +[Sidenote: The _parlement_ of Paris protests against the 'reform' of the +judicial system.] + +Suddenly the _parlement_ of Paris learned that the king's ministers were +planning to put an end to its troublesome habit of opposing their +measures. The ministers proposed to remodel the whole judicial system +and take from the courts the right to register new decrees and +consequently the right to protest. This the _parlement_ loudly +proclaimed was in reality a blow at the nation itself. The ministers +were attacking the court simply because it had acknowledged its lack of +power to grant new taxes and had requested the king to assemble the +representatives of the nation. The ministers, it claimed, were bent upon +establishing an out-and-out despotism in which there should no longer be +any check whatever on the arbitrary power of the king. + +[Sidenote: Protests from the provinces.] + +Some of the provinces became very apprehensive when they learned that +the king proposed to take from the local _parlements_ the right to +examine edicts before registering them. Might not the tyrannically +inclined ministers proceed to make new laws for the whole realm and +ignore the special privileges which the king had pledged himself to +maintain when Brittany, Dauphiny, Bearn, and other important provinces +were originally added to France? The cause of the _parlements_ became in +this way the cause of the people. + +[Sidenote: The Estates General summoned.] + +Meanwhile the ministers were becoming very hard pressed for funds to +meet the regular expenses of the government. The _parlements_ had not +only refused to register taxes but had done everything that they could +to embarrass the ministers and destroy the confidence of those who might +otherwise have lent money to the government. There seemed no other +resort except to call the representatives of the people together. The +Estates General were accordingly summoned to meet on May 1, 1789. + +[Sidenote: General ignorance in regard to the Estates General.] + +[Sidenote: The old system of voting by classes in the Estates General.] + +220. It was now discovered that no one knew much about this body of +which every one was talking, for it had not met since 1614. The king +accordingly issued a general invitation to scholars to find out all they +could about the customs observed in the former meetings of the Estates. +The public naturally became very much interested in a matter which +touched them so closely, and there were plenty of readers for the +pamphlets which now began to appear in greater numbers than ever before. +The old Estates General had been organized in a way appropriate enough +to the feudal conditions under which they originated.[393] All three of +the estates of the realm--clergy, nobility, and third estate--each sent +an equal number of representatives, who were expected to consider not +the interests of the nation but the special interests of the particular +social class to which they respectively belonged. Accordingly, the +deputies of the three estates did not sit together, or vote as a single +body. The members of each group first came to an agreement among +themselves and then a single vote was cast for the whole order. + +[Sidenote: Objections to this system.] + +It was natural that this system should seem preposterous to the average +Frenchman in 1788. If the estates should be convoked according to the +ancient forms, the two privileged classes would be entitled to twice the +number of representatives allotted to the other twenty-five million +inhabitants of France. What was much worse, it seemed impossible that +any important reforms could be adopted in an assembly where those who +had every selfish reason for opposing the most necessary changes were +given two votes out of three. Necker, whom the king had recalled in the +hope that he might succeed in adjusting the finances, agreed that the +third estate might have as many deputies as both the other orders put +together, namely six hundred, but he would not consent to having the +three orders sit and vote together like a modern representative body. + +[Sidenote: The _cahiers_.] + +Besides the great question as to whether the deputies should vote by +head or by order, the pamphlets discussed what reforms the Estates +should undertake.[394] We have, however, a still more interesting and +important expression of public opinion in France at this time, in the +_cahiers_,[395] or lists of grievances and suggestions for reform which, +in pursuance of an old custom, the king asked the nation to prepare. +Each village and town throughout France had an opportunity to tell quite +frankly exactly what it suffered from the existing system, and what +reforms it wished that the Estates General might bring about. These +_cahiers_[396] were the "last will and testament" of the old régime, and +they constitute a unique historical document, of unparalleled +completeness and authenticity. No one can read the _cahiers_ without +seeing that the whole nation was ready for the great transformation +which within a year was to destroy a great part of the social and +political system under which the French had lived for centuries. + +[Sidenote: Desire of the nation for a constitutional, instead of an +absolute, monarchy.] + +Almost all the _cahiers_ agreed that the prevailing disorder and the +vast and ill-defined powers of the king and his ministers were perhaps +the fundamental evils. One of the _cahiers_ says: "Since arbitrary power +has been the source of all the evils which afflict the state, our first +desire is the establishment of a really national constitution, which +shall define the rights of all and provide the laws to maintain them." +No one dreamed at this time of displacing the king or of taking the +government out of his hands. The people only wished to change an +absolute monarchy into a limited, or constitutional, one. All that was +necessary was that the things which the government might _not_ do should +be solemnly and irrevocably determined and put upon record, and that the +Estates General should meet periodically to grant the taxes, give the +king advice in national crises, and expostulate, if necessary, against +any violations of the proposed charter of liberties.[397] + +[Sidenote: The Estates General meet May 5, 1789.] + +[Sidenote: The representatives of the third estate declare themselves a +'National Assembly.'] + +221. With these ideas in mind, the Estates assembled in Versailles and +held their first session on May 5, 1789. The king had ordered the +deputies to wear the same costumes that had been worn at the last +meeting of the Estates in 1614; but no royal edict could call back the +spirit of earlier centuries. In spite of the king's commands the +representatives of the third estate refused to organize themselves in +the old way as a separate order. They sent invitation after invitation +to the deputies of the clergy and nobility, requesting them to join the +people's representatives and deliberate in common on the great interests +of the nation. Some of the more liberal of the nobles--Lafayette, for +example--and a large minority of the clergy wished to meet with the +deputies of the third estate. But they were outvoted, and the deputies +of the third estate, losing patience, finally declared themselves, on +June 17, a "National Assembly." They argued that, since they +represented at least ninety-six per cent of the nation, the deputies of +the privileged orders might be neglected altogether. This usurpation of +power on the part of the third estate transformed the old feudal +Estates, voting by orders, into the first modern national representative +assembly on the continent of Europe. + +[Sidenote: The 'Tennis-Court' oath.] + +Under the influence of his courtiers the king tried to restore the old +system by arranging a solemn joint session of the three orders, at which +he presided in person. He presented a long programme of excellent +reforms, and then bade the Estates sit apart, according to the old +custom. But it was like bidding water to run up hill. Three days before, +when the commons had found themselves excluded from their regular place +of meeting on account of the preparations for the royal session, they +had betaken themselves to a neighboring building called the "Tennis +Court." Here, on June 20, they took the famous "Tennis-Court" oath, "to +come together wherever circumstances may dictate, until the constitution +of the kingdom shall be established." They were emboldened in their +purpose to resist all schemes to frustrate a general reform by the +support of over half of the deputies of the clergy, who joined them the +day before the royal session. + +[Sidenote: The nobility and clergy forced to join the third estate.] + +Consequently, when the king finished his address and commanded the three +orders to disperse immediately in order to resume their separate +sessions, most of the bishops, some of the parish priests, and a great +part of the nobility obeyed; the rest sat still, uncertain what they +should do. When the master of ceremonies ordered them to comply with the +king's commands, Mirabeau, the most distinguished statesman among the +deputies, told him bluntly that they would not leave their places except +at the point of the bayonet. The weak king almost immediately gave in +and a few days later ordered all the deputies of the privileged orders +who had not already done so to join the commons. + +[Sidenote: The fall of the Bastille, July 14, 1789.] + +222. The National Assembly now began in earnest the great task of +preparing a constitution and regenerating France. It was soon +interrupted, however, by events at Paris. The king had been advised by +those about him to gather together the Swiss and German troops who +formed the royal guard, so that if he decided to send the insolent +deputies home he would be able to put down any disorder which might +result. He was also induced to dismiss Necker, who enjoyed a popularity +that he had done little to merit. When the people of Paris saw the +troops gathering and when they heard of the dismissal of Necker, there +was general excitement and some disorder. + +[Illustration: Mirabeau] + +On July 14 crowds of people assembled, determined to procure arms to +protect themselves and mayhap to perform some daring "deed of +patriotism." One of the bands, led by the old Parisian guards, turned to +the ancient fortress of the Bastile, on the parapets of which guns had +been mounted which made the inhabitants of that part of the city very +nervous. The castle had long had a bad reputation as a place of +confinement for prisoners of state and for those imprisoned by _lettres +de cachet_. When the mob demanded admission, it was naturally denied +them, and they were fired upon and nearly a hundred were killed. After a +brief, courageous attack the place was surrendered, and the mob rushed +into the gloomy pile. They found only seven prisoners, but one poor +fellow had lost his wits and another had no idea why he had been kept +there for years. The captives were freed amidst great enthusiasm, and +the people soon set to work to demolish the walls. + +[Sidenote: Formation of the 'national guard.'] + +The actual occurrences of this celebrated day were soon "disfigured and +transfigured by legends," and the anniversary of the fall of the Bastile +is still celebrated as the great national holiday of France.[398] The +rising of the people to protect themselves against the machinations of +the king's associates who, it was believed, wished to block reform, and +the successful attack on a monument of ancient tyranny appeared to be +the opening of a new era of freedom. The disorders of these July days +led to the formation of the "national guard." This was made up of +volunteers from among the more prosperous citizens, who organized +themselves to maintain order and so took from the king every excuse for +calling in the regular troops for that purpose. Lafayette was put in +command of this body. + +[Sidenote: Establishment of communes in Paris and other cities.] + +The government of Paris was reorganized, and a mayor, chosen from among +the members of the National Assembly, was put at the head of the new +_commune_, as the municipal government was called. The other cities of +France also began with one accord, after the dismissal of Necker and the +fall of the Bastile, to promote the Revolution by displacing or +supplementing their old royal or aristocratic governments by committees +of their citizens. These improvised communes, or city governments, +established national guards, as Paris had done, and thus maintained +order. The news that the king had approved the Paris revolution +confirmed the opinion that the citizens of other cities had done right +in taking the control into their own hands. We shall hear a good deal of +the commune of Paris later, as it played a very important rôle in the +Reign of Terror. + +[Sidenote: Disorder in the country districts.] + +By the end of the month of July the commotion reached the country +districts. A curious panic swept over the land, which the peasants long +remembered as "the great fear." A mysterious rumor arose that the +"brigands" were coming! The terrified people did what they could to +prepare for the danger; neighboring communities combined with one +another for mutual protection. When the panic was over and people saw +that there were no brigands after all, they turned their attention to an +enemy by no means imaginary, i.e., the old régime. The peasants +assembled on the village common or in the parish church and voted to pay +the feudal dues no longer. The next step was to burn the castles of the +nobles in order to destroy the records of the peasants' obligations to +their feudal lords.[399] + +[Sidenote: The decree abolishing the survivals of serfdom and feudalism, +August, 1789.] + +223. About the first of August news began to reach the National Assembly +of the serious disorders in the provinces. This led to the first +important reforms of the Assembly. A momentous decree abolishing the +survivals of serfdom and feudalism was passed in a night session (August +4-5) amid great excitement, the representatives of the privileged orders +vying with each other in surrendering their ancient privileges. The +exclusive right of the nobility to hunt and to maintain pigeon houses +was abolished, and the peasant was permitted to kill game which he found +on his land. The president of the Assembly was "commissioned to ask the +king to recall those persons who had been sent to the galleys or exiled +simply for the violation of the hunting regulations." The tithes of the +church were done away with. Exemptions from the payment of taxes were +abolished forever. It was decreed that "taxes shall be collected from +all citizens and from all property in the same manner and in the same +form," and that "all citizens, without distinction of birth, are +eligible to any office or dignity." Moreover, inasmuch as a national +constitution would be of more advantage to the provinces than the +privileges which some of these enjoyed, and,--so the decree +continues,--"inasmuch as the surrender of such privileges is essential +to the intimate union of all parts of the realm, it is decreed that all +the peculiar privileges, pecuniary or otherwise, of the provinces, +principalities, districts, cantons, cities and communes, are once for +all abolished and are absorbed into the law common to all +Frenchmen."[400] + +[Illustration: FRANCE IN DEPARTMENTS] + +[Sidenote: Unification of France through the abolition of the ancient +provinces and the creation of the present departments.] + +This decree established the equality and uniformity for which the French +people had sighed so long. The injustice of the former system of +taxation could never be reintroduced. All France was to have the same +laws, and its citizens were henceforth to be treated in the same way by +the state, whether they lived in Brittany or Dauphiny. The Assembly soon +went a step farther in consolidating and unifying France. It wiped out +the old provinces altogether, by dividing the whole country into +districts of convenient size, called _departments_. These were much more +numerous than the ancient divisions, and were named after rivers and +mountains. This obliterated from the map all reminiscences of the feudal +disunion. + +[Sidenote: The Declaration of the Rights of Man.] + +224. Many of the _cahiers_ had suggested that the Estates should draw up +a clear statement of the rights of the individual citizen. It was urged +that the recurrence of abuses and the insidious encroachments of +despotism might in this way be forever prevented. The National Assembly +consequently determined to prepare such a declaration in order to +gratify and reassure the people and to form a basis for the new +constitution. + +This Declaration (completed August 26) is one of the most notable +documents in the history of Europe. It not only aroused general +enthusiasm when it was first published, but it appeared over and over +again, in a modified form, in the succeeding French constitutions down +to 1848, and has been the model for similar declarations in many of the +other continental states. It was a dignified repudiation of the abuses +described in the preceding chapter. Behind each article there was some +crying evil of long standing against which the people wished to be +forever protected. + +[Sidenote: Contents of the Declaration.] + +The Declaration sets forth that "Men are born and remain equal in +rights. Social distinctions can only be founded upon the general good." +"Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to +participate, personally or through his representative, in its formation. +It must be the same for all." "No person shall be accused, arrested, or +imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by +law." "No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including +his religious views, provided that their manifestation does not disturb +the public order established by law." "The free communication of ideas +and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every +citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, being +responsible, however, for such abuses of this freedom as shall be +defined by law." "All citizens have a right to decide, either personally +or by their representative, as to the necessity of the public +contribution, to grant this freely, to know to what uses it is put, and +to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection, and the +duration of the taxes." "Society has the right to require of every +public agent an account of his administration." Well might the Assembly +claim, in its address to the people, that "the rights of man had been +misconceived and insulted for centuries," and boast that they were +"reëstablished for all humanity in this declaration, which shall serve +as an everlasting war cry against oppressors." + +[Illustration: Louis XVI] + +[Sidenote: Suspicion aroused against the court.] + +225. The king hesitated to ratify the Declaration of the Rights of Man, +and about the first of October rumors became current that, under the +influence of the courtiers, he was calling together troops and preparing +for another attempt to put an end to the Revolution, similar to that +which the attack on the Bastile had frustrated. It was said that the +new national colors--red, white, and blue--had been insulted at a +banquet at Versailles. These things, along with the scarcity of food due +to the poor crops of the year, aroused the excitable Paris populace. + +[Sidenote: A Paris mob invades the king's palace and carries him off to +Paris.] + +On October 5 several thousand women and a number of armed men marched +out to Versailles to ask bread of the king, in whom they had great +confidence personally, however suspicious they might be of his friends +and advisers. Lafayette marched after the mob with the national guard, +but did not prevent some of the rabble from invading the king's palace +the next morning and nearly murdering the queen, who had become very +unpopular. She was believed to be still an Austrian at heart and to be +in league with the counter-revolutionary party. + +The mob declared that the king must accompany them to Paris, and he was +obliged to consent. Far from being disloyal, they assumed that the +presence of the royal family would insure plenty and prosperity. So they +gayly escorted the "baker and the baker's wife and the baker's boy," as +they jocularly termed the king and queen and the little dauphin, to the +Palace of the Tuilleries, where the king took up his residence, +practically a prisoner, as it proved. The National Assembly soon +followed him and resumed its sittings in a riding school near the +Tuilleries. + +This transfer of the king and the Assembly to the capital was the first +great misfortune of the Revolution. At a serious crisis the government +was placed at the mercy of the leaders of the disorderly elements of +Paris. We shall see how the municipal council of Paris finally usurped +the powers of the national government.[401] + +[Sidenote: Unjust apportionment of the revenue of the church.] + +226. As we have seen, the church in France was very rich and retained +many of its mediæval prerogatives and privileges. Its higher officials, +the bishops and abbots, received very large revenues and often a single +prelate held a number of rich benefices, the duties of which he utterly +neglected. The parish priests, on the other hand, who really performed +the manifold and important functions of the church, were scarcely able +to live on their incomes. This unjust apportionment of the vast revenue +of the church naturally suggested the idea that, if the state +confiscated the ecclesiastical possessions, it could see that those who +did the work were properly paid for it, and might, at the same time, +secure a handsome sum which would help the government out of its +financial troubles. Those who sympathized with Voltaire's views were +naturally delighted to see their old enemy deprived of its independence +and made subservient to the state, and even many good Catholics could +not but hope that the new system would be an improvement upon the old. + +[Sidenote: The property of the church confiscated by the government.] + +The tithes had been abolished in August along with the feudal dues. That +deprived the church of perhaps thirty million dollars a year. On +November 2 a decree was passed providing that "All the ecclesiastical +possessions are at the disposal of the nation on condition that it +provides properly for the expenses of maintaining religious services, +for the support of those who conduct them and for the succor of the +poor." This decree deprived the bishops and priests of their benefices +and made them dependent on salaries paid by the state. The monks, +monasteries, and convents, too, lost their property. + +[Sidenote: The _assignats_, or paper currency.] + +The National Assembly resolved to issue a paper currency for which the +newly acquired lands should serve as security. Of these _assignats_, as +this paper money was called, we hear a great deal during the +revolutionary period. They soon began to depreciate, and ultimately a +great part of the forty billions of francs issued during the next seven +years was repudiated. + +[Sidenote: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy.] + +The Assembly set to work completely to reorganize the church. The +anxiety for simplification and complete uniformity shows itself in the +reckless way that it dealt with this most venerable institution of +France, the customs of which were hallowed not only by age, but by +religious veneration. The one hundred and thirty-four ancient +bishoprics, some of which dated back to the Roman Empire, were replaced +by the eighty-three new departments into which France had already been +divided.[402] Each of these became the diocese of a bishop, who was +looked upon as an officer of the state and was to be elected by the +people. The priests, too, were to be chosen by the people, and their +salaries were much increased, so that even in the smallest villages they +received over twice the minimum amount paid under the old régime. + +This Civil Constitution of the Clergy[403] was the first serious mistake +on the part of the National Assembly. While the half-feudalized church +had sadly needed reform, the worst abuses might have been remedied +without shocking and alienating thousands of those who had hitherto +enthusiastically applauded the great reforms which the Assembly had +effected. The king gave his assent to the changes, but with the feeling +that he might be losing his soul by so doing. From that time on, he +became at heart an enemy of the Revolution. + +[Sidenote: Harsh treatment of the 'non-juring' clergy.] + +The discontent with the new system on the part of the clergy led to +another serious error on the part of the Assembly. It required the +clergy to take an oath to be faithful to the law and "to maintain with +all their might the constitution decreed by the assembly." Only six of +the bishops consented to this and but a third of the lower clergy, +although they were much better off under the new system. Forty-six +thousand parish priests refused to sacrifice their religious scruples, +and before long the pope forbade them to take the required oath to the +Constitution. As time went on, the "non-juring" clergy were dealt with +more and more harshly by the government, and the way was prepared for +the horrors of the Reign of Terror. The Revolution ceased to stand for +liberty, order, and the abolition of ancient abuses, and came to mean, +in the minds of many besides those who had lost their former privileges, +irreligion, violence, and a new kind of oppression worse than the old. + + + General Reading.--There are a great many histories of the French + Revolution. The best and most modern account is STEPHENS, _The + French Revolution_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, 3 vols., $2.50 each). + SHAILER MATHEWS, _The French Revolution_ (Longmans, Green & Co., + $1.25), is an excellent short account. See also the brief but + admirable chapters in ROSE, _The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era_ + (The Macmillan Company, $1.25). CARLYLE'S famous _French + Revolution_ is hardly a history but rather a series of vivid + pictures, valuable only to those who already have some knowledge of + the course of events. For Mirabeau see WILLERT, _Mirabeau_ (The + Macmillan Company, 75 cents). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC + + +[Sidenote: The permanent reforms of 1789.] + +227. We have now studied the progress and nature of the revolution which +destroyed the old régime and created modern France. Through it the +unjust privileges, the perplexing irregularities, and the local +differences were abolished, and the people admitted to a share in the +government. This vast reform had been accomplished without serious +disturbance and, with the exception of some of the changes in the +church, it had been welcomed with enthusiasm by the French nation. + +[Sidenote: The second revolution.] + +This permanent, peaceful revolution, or reformation, was followed by a +second revolution of unprecedented violence, which for a time destroyed +the French monarchy. It also introduced a series of further changes many +of which were absurd and unnecessary and could not endure since they +were approved by only a few fanatical leaders. France, moreover, became +involved in a war with most of the powers of western Europe. The +weakness of her government which permitted the forces of disorder and +fanaticism to prevail, combined with the imminent danger of an invasion +by the united powers of Europe, produced the Reign of Terror. After a +period of national excitement and disorder, France gladly accepted the +rule of a foreigner, who proved himself far more despotic than its +former kings had been. Napoleon did not, however, undo the great work of +1789; his colossal ambition was, indeed, the means of extending, +directly or indirectly, many of the benefits of the Revolution to other +parts of western Europe. When, after Napoleon's fall, the brother of +Louis XVI came to the throne, the first thing that he did was solemnly +to assure the people that all the great gains of the first revolution +should be maintained. + +[Sidenote: The emigration of the nobles.] + +228. While practically the whole of the nation heartily rejoiced in the +earlier reforms introduced by the National Assembly and celebrated the +general satisfaction and harmony by a great national festival held at +Paris on the first anniversary of the fall of the Bastile, some of the +higher nobility refused to remain in France. The king's youngest +brother, the count of Artois, set the example by leaving the country. He +was followed by others who were terrified or disgusted by the burning of +the châteaux, the loss of their privileges, and the unwise abolition of +hereditary nobility by the National Assembly in June, 1790. Before long +these emigrant nobles (_émigrés_), among whom were many military +officers, organized a little army across the Rhine, and the count of +Artois began to plan an invasion of France. He was ready to ally himself +with Austria, Prussia, or any other foreign government which he could +induce to help undo the Revolution and give back to the French king his +former absolute power and to the nobles their old privileges. + +[Sidenote: The conduct of the emigrant nobles discredits the king and +queen.] + +The threats and insolence of the emigrant nobles and their shameful +negotiations with foreign powers discredited the members of their class +who still remained in France. The people suspected that the plans of the +runaways met with the secret approval of the king, and more especially +of the queen, whose brother was now emperor and ruler of the Austrian +dominions. This, added to the opposition of the non-juring clergy, +produced a bitter hostility between the so-called "patriots" and those +who, on the other hand, were supposed to be secretly hoping for a +counter revolution which would reëstablish the old régime. + +[Sidenote: The flight to Varennes, June 21, 1791.] + +The worst fears of the people appeared to be justified by the secret +flight of the royal family from Paris, in June, 1791. Ever since the +king had reluctantly signed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, +flight had seemed to him his only resource. There was a body of regular +troops on the northeastern boundary; if he could escape from Paris and +join them he hoped that, aided by a demonstration on the part of the +queen's brother, he might march back and check the further progress of +the revolutionary movement with which he could no longer sympathize. He +had, it is true, no liking for the emigrants and heartily disapproved of +their policy, nor did he believe that the old régime could ever be +restored. But, unfortunately, his plans led him to attempt to reach the +boundary just at that point where the emigrants were collected. He and +the queen were, however, arrested on the way, at Varennes, and speedily +brought back to Paris. + +[Sidenote: Effect of the king's flight.] + +The desertion of the king appears to have terrified rather than angered +the nation. The grief of the people at the thought of losing, and their +joy at regaining, a poor weak ruler like Louis XVI clearly shows that +France was still profoundly royalist in its sympathies. The National +Assembly pretended that the king had not fled, but that he had been +carried off. This gratified France at large; still in Paris there were +some who advocated the deposition of the king, and for the first time a +_republican_ party appeared, though it was still small. + +[Sidenote: The constitution completed, 1791.] + +The National Assembly at last put the finishing touches to the new +constitution upon which it had been working for two years, and the king +readily swore to observe it faithfully. A general amnesty was then +proclaimed. All the discord and suspicion of the past months were to be +forgotten. The National Assembly had completed its appointed task, +perhaps the greatest that a single body of men ever undertook. It had +made France over and had given her an elaborate constitution. It was now +ready to give way to the regular Legislative Assembly provided for in +the constitution. This held its first session October 1, 1791.[404] + +[Sidenote: Sources of danger at the opening of the Legislative +Assembly, October, 1791.] + +229. In spite of the great achievements of the National Assembly it left +France in a critical situation. Besides the emigrant nobles abroad, +there were the non-juring clergy at home, and a king who was secretly +corresponding with foreign powers with the hope of securing their aid. +When the news of the arrest of the king and queen at Varennes reached +the ears of Marie Antoinette's brother, the Austrian ruler, Leopold II, +he declared that the violent arrest of the king sealed with unlawfulness +all that had been done in France and "compromised directly the honor of +all the sovereigns and the security of every government." He therefore +proposed to the rulers of Russia, England, Prussia, Spain, Naples, and +Sardinia that they should come to some understanding between themselves +as to how they might "reëstablish the liberty and honor of the most +Christian king and his family, and place a check upon the dangerous +excesses of the French Revolution, the fatal example of which it +behooves every government to repress." + +[Sidenote: The Declaration of Pillnitz, August 27, 1791.] + +On August 27 Leopold had issued, in conjunction with the king of +Prussia, the famous Declaration of Pillnitz. In this the two sovereigns +state that, in accordance with the wishes of the king's brothers (the +leaders of the emigrant nobles), they are ready to join the other +European rulers in an attempt to place the king of France in a position +to establish a form of government "that shall be once more in harmony +with the rights of sovereigns and shall promote the welfare of the +French nation." In the meantime they promised to prepare their troops +for active service. + +[Sidenote: Effect of the Declaration.] + +The Declaration was little more than an empty threat; but it seemed to +the French people a sufficient proof that the monarchs were ready to +help the seditious French nobles to reëstablish the old régime against +the wishes of the nation and at the cost of infinite bloodshed. The idea +of foreign rulers intermeddling with their internal affairs would in +itself have been intolerable to a proud people like the French, even if +the permanence of the new reforms had not been endangered. Had it been +the object of the allied monarchs to hasten instead of to prevent the +deposition of Louis XVI, they could hardly have chosen a more efficient +means than the Declaration of Pillnitz. + +[Sidenote: The newspapers.] + +230. The political excitement and the enthusiasm for the Revolution were +kept up by the newspapers which had been established, especially in +Paris, since the meeting of the Estates General. The people did not need +longer to rely upon an occasional pamphlet, as was the case before 1789. +Many journals of the most divergent kinds and representing the most +diverse opinions were published. Some were no more than a periodical +editorial written by one man; for example, the notorious "Friend of the +People," by the insane Marat. Others, like the famous "Moniteur," were +much like our papers of to-day and contained news, reports of the +debates in the assembly, announcements of theaters, etc. Some of the +papers were illustrated, and the representations of contemporaneous +events, especially the numerous caricatures, are highly diverting. + +[Illustration: Caricature representing Louis XVI as a Constitutional +Monarch[405]] + +[Sidenote: The Jacobins.] + +Of the numerous political clubs, by far the most famous was that of the +_Jacobins_. When the Assembly moved into Paris, some of the provincial +representatives of the third estate rented a large room in the +monastery of the Jacobin monks, not far from the building where the +National Assembly itself met. A hundred deputies perhaps were present at +the first meeting. The next day the number had doubled. The aim of this +society was to discuss questions which were about to come before the +National Assembly. The club decided beforehand what should be the policy +of its members and how they should vote; and in this way they +successfully combined to counteract the schemes of the aristocratic +party in the assembly. The club rapidly grew and soon admitted some who +were not deputies to its sessions. In October, 1791, it decided to +permit the public to attend its discussions. + +Gradually similar societies were formed in the provinces.[406] These +affiliated themselves with the "mother" society at Paris and kept in +constant communication with it. In this way the Jacobins of Paris +stimulated and controlled public opinion throughout France, and kept the +opponents of the old régime alert. When the Legislative Assembly met, +the Jacobins had not as yet become republicans, but they believed that +the king should have hardly more power than the president of a republic. +They were even ready to promote his deposition if he failed to stand by +the Revolution. + +[Sidenote: The emigrant nobles declared traitors.] + +231. The growing discord in the nation was increased by the severe +edicts that the Legislative Assembly directed against the emigrant +nobles and the non-juring clergy. "The Frenchmen assembled on the +frontier" were declared under suspicion of conspiring against their +country. If they did not return to France by January 1, 1792, they were +to be regarded as convicted traitors, to be punished, if caught, with +death; their property was to be confiscated. + +[Sidenote: Harsh measures of the Assembly toward non-juring clergy.] + +The harsh treatment of the emigrant nobles was perhaps justified by +their desertion and treasonable intrigues; but the conduct of the +Assembly toward the clergy was both unstatesmanlike and iniquitous. +Those who had refused to take the oath to support a system which was in +conflict with their religious convictions and which had been condemned +by the pope, were commanded to do so within a week on penalty of losing +their income from the state and being put under surveillance as +suspects. As this failed to bring the clergy to terms, the Assembly +later (May, 1792) ordered the deportation from the country of those who +steadily persisted in their refusal to accept the Civil Constitution of +the Clergy. In this way the Assembly aroused the active hostility of a +great part of the most conscientious among the lower clergy, who had +loyally supported the commons in their fight against the privileged +orders. It also lost the confidence of the great mass of faithful +Catholics,--merchants, artisans, and peasants,--who had gladly accepted +the abolition of the old abuses, but who would not consent to desert +their religious leaders. + +[Sidenote: The Legislative Assembly precipitate a war with Europe.] + +232. By far the most important act of the Legislative Assembly during +the one year of its existence was its precipitation of a war between +France and Austria. It little dreamed that this was the beginning of a +war between revolutionary France and the rest of western Europe, which +was to last, with slight interruptions, for over twenty years. + +To many of the leaders in the Assembly it seemed that the existing +conditions were intolerable. The emigrant nobles were forming little +armies on the boundaries of France and had, as we have seen, induced +Austria and Prussia to consider interfering in French affairs. The +Assembly suspected that Louis was negotiating with foreign rulers and +would be glad to have them intervene and reëstablish him in his old +despotic power. The deputies argued, therefore, that a war against the +hated Austria would unite the sympathies of the nation and force the +king to show his true character; for he would be obliged either to +become the nation's leader or show himself the traitor they suspected +him to be. + +[Sidenote: France declares war upon Austria, April, 1792.] + +[Sidenote: The king suspected and his life threatened.] + +It was with a heavy heart that the king, urged on by the clamors of the +Assembly, declared war upon Austria in April, 1792. The unpopularity of +the king only increased, however. He refused to ratify certain popular +measures of the Assembly and dismissed the ministers who had been forced +upon him. In June a mob of Parisians invaded the Palace of the +Tuilleries, and the king might have been killed had he not consented to +don the "cap of liberty," the badge of the "citizen patriots." + +[Sidenote: Growth of republican feeling.] + +When France declared war, Prussia immediately allied itself with +Austria. Both powers collected their forces and, to the great joy of the +emigrant nobles, who joined them, prepared to march upon France. The +early attempts of the French to get a footing in the Austrian +Netherlands were not successful, and the troops and people accused the +nobles, who were in command of the French troops, of treason. As the +allies approached the boundaries it became clearer and clearer that the +king was utterly incapable of defending France, and the Assembly began +to consider the question of deposing him. The duke of Brunswick, who was +at the head of the Prussian forces, took the very worst means of helping +the king, by issuing a manifesto in which he threatened utterly to +destroy Paris should the king suffer any harm. + +[Sidenote: Insurrection of August 10, 1792.] + +Angered by this declaration and aroused by the danger, the populace of +Paris again invaded the Tuilleries, August 10, 1792, and the king was +obliged to take refuge in the building in which the Assembly was in +session. Those who instigated the attack were men who had set their +heart upon doing away with the king altogether and establishing a +republic. A group of them had taken possession of the city hall, pushed +the old members of the municipal council off from their seats, and taken +the government in their own hands. In this way the members of the Paris +commune became the leaders in the revolution which established the first +French republic. + +[Sidenote: France proclaimed a republic, September 22, 1792.] + +233. The Assembly agreed with the commune in desiring a republic. If, as +was proposed, France was henceforth to do without a king, it was +obviously necessary that the monarchical constitution so recently +completed should be replaced by a republican one. Consequently, the +Assembly arranged that the people should elect delegates to a +constitutional _Convention_, which should draw up a new system of +government. The Convention met on the 21st of September, and its first +act was to abolish the ancient monarchy and proclaim France a republic. +It seemed to the enthusiasts of the time that a new era of liberty had +dawned, now that the long oppression by "despots" was ended forever. The +twenty-second day of September, 1792, was reckoned as the first day of +the Year One of French liberty.[407] + +[Sidenote: The September massacres, 1792.] + +Meanwhile the usurping Paris commune had taken matters into its own +hands and had brought discredit upon the cause of liberty by one of the +most atrocious acts in history. On the pretext that Paris was full of +traitors, who sympathized with the Austrians and the emigrant nobles, +they had filled the prisons with three thousand innocent citizens. On +September 2 and 3 hundreds of these were executed with scarcely a +pretense of a trial. The members of the commune who perpetrated this +deed probably hoped to terrify those who might still dream of returning +to the old system of government. + +[Sidenote: Progress of the war with Austria and Prussia.] + +Late in August the Prussians crossed the French boundary and on +September 2 took the fortress of Verdun. It now seemed as if there was +nothing to prevent their marching upon Paris. The French general, +Dumouriez, blocked their advance, however, and without a pitched battle +caused the enemy to retreat. Notwithstanding the fears of the French, +the king of Prussia had but little interest in the war; the Austrian +troops were lagging far behind, and both powers were far more absorbed +in a second partition of Poland, which was approaching, than in the fate +of the French king. The French now invaded Germany and took several +important towns on the Rhine, including Mayence, which gladly opened its +gates to them. They also occupied the Spanish Netherlands and Savoy. + +[Sidenote: Trial and execution of the king, January, 1793.] + +Meanwhile the new Convention was puzzled to determine what would best be +done with the king. A considerable party felt that he was guilty of +treason in secretly encouraging the foreign powers to come to his aid. +He was therefore brought to trial, and when it came to a final vote, he +was, by a small majority, condemned to death. He mounted the scaffold on +January 21, 1793, with the fortitude of a martyr. Nevertheless, one +cannot but feel that through his earlier weakness and indecision he +brought untold misery upon his own kingdom and upon Europe at large. The +French people had not dreamed of a republic until his absolute +incompetence forced them, in self-defense, to abolish the monarchy in +the hope of securing a more efficient government. + +[Sidenote: The Convention proposes to aid other countries to rid +themselves of their monarchs.] + +[Sidenote: France declares war on England, February 1, 1793.] + +234. The exultation of the Convention over the conquests which their +armies were making, encouraged them to offer the assistance of the new +republic to any country that wished to establish its freedom by throwing +off the yoke of monarchy. They even proposed a republic to the English +people. One of the French ministers declared, "We will hurl thither +fifty thousand caps of liberty, we will plant there the sacred tree of +liberty." February 1, 1793, France greatly added to her embarrassments +by declaring war on England, a country which proved her most inveterate +enemy. + +[Sidenote: The allies settle their differences and renew the war against +France.] + +The war now began to go against the French. The allies had hitherto been +suspicious of one another and fearful lest Russia should take advantage +of their preoccupation with France to seize more than her share of +Poland. They now came to an agreement. It was arranged that Prussia and +Russia should each take another piece of Poland, while Austria agreed to +go without her share if the powers would aid her in inducing the elector +of Bavaria to exchange his possessions for the Spanish Netherlands. + +[Illustration: The Partitions of Poland] + +[Sidenote: French driven from the Netherlands; desertion of Dumouriez.] + +This adjustment of the differences between the allies gave a wholly new +aspect to the war with France. When in March, 1793, Spain and the Holy +Roman Empire joined the coalition, France was at war with all her +neighbors. The Austrians defeated Dumouriez at Neerwinden and drove the +French out of the Netherlands. Thereupon Dumouriez, disgusted by the +failure of the Convention to support him and by their execution of the +king, deserted to the enemy with a few hundred soldiers who consented to +follow him. + +[Sidenote: French government put in the hands of the Committee of +Public Safety, April, 1793.] + +The loss of the Netherlands and the treason of their best general made a +deep impression upon the members of the Convention. If the new French +republic was to defend itself against the "tyrants" without and its many +enemies within, it could not wait for the Convention to draw up an +elaborate, permanent constitution. An efficient government must be +devised immediately to maintain the loyalty of the nation to the +republic, and to raise and equip armies and direct their commanders. The +Convention accordingly put the government into the hands of a small +committee, consisting originally of nine, later of twelve, of its +members. This famous Committee of Public Safety was given practically +unlimited powers. "We must," one of the leaders exclaimed, "establish +the despotism of liberty in order to crush the despotism of kings." + +[Sidenote: The Girondists.] + +235. Within the Convention itself there were two groups of active men +who came into bitter conflict over the policy to be pursued. There was, +first, the party of the Girondists, so called because their leaders came +from the department of Gironde, in which the great city of Bordeaux lay. +They were moderate republicans and counted among their numbers some +speakers of remarkable eloquence. The Girondists had enjoyed the control +of the Legislative Assembly in 1792 and had been active in bringing on +the war with Austria and Prussia. They hoped in that way to complete the +Revolution by exposing the bad faith of the king and his sympathy with +the emigrant nobles. They were not, however, men of sufficient decision +to direct affairs in the terrible difficulties in which France found +herself after the execution of the king. They consequently lost their +influence, and a new party, called the "Mountain" from the high seats +that they occupied in the Convention, gained the ascendency. + +[Sidenote: The extreme republicans, called the 'Mountain.'] + +This was composed of the most vigorous and uncompromising republicans. +They believed that the French people had been depraved by the slavery to +which their kings had subjected them. Everything, they argued, which +suggested the former rule of kings must be wiped out. A new France +should be created, in which liberty, equality, and fraternity should +take the place of the tyranny of princes, the insolence of nobles, and +the impostures of the priests. The leaders of the Mountain held that the +mass of the people were by nature good and upright, but that there were +a number of adherents of the old system who would, if they could, undo +the great work of the Revolution and lead the people back to slavery +under king and church. All who were suspected by the Mountain of having +the least sympathy with the nobles or persecuted priests were branded as +counter-revolutionary. The Mountain was willing to resort to any +measures, however shocking, to rid the nation of those suspected of +counter-revolutionary tendencies, and its leaders relied upon the +populace of Paris to aid them in reaching their ends. + +[Sidenote: Girondist leaders expelled from the Convention, June 2, +1793.] + +The Girondists, on the other hand, abhorred the furious Paris mob and +the cruel fanatics who composed the commune of the capital. They argued +that Paris was not France, and that it had no right to assume a despotic +rule over the nation. They proposed that the commune should be dissolved +and that the Convention should remove to another town where they would +not be subject to the intimidation of the Paris mob. The Mountain +thereupon accused the Girondists of an attempt to break up the republic, +"one and indivisible," by questioning the supremacy of Paris and the +duty of the provinces to follow the lead of the capital. The mob, thus +encouraged, rose against the Girondists. On June 2 it surrounded the +meeting place of the Convention, and deputies of the commune demanded +the expulsion from the Convention of the Girondist leaders, who were +placed under arrest. + +[Sidenote: France threatened with civil war.] + +[Sidenote: The revolt of the peasants of Brittany against the +Convention.] + +The conduct of the Mountain and its ally, the Paris commune, now began +to arouse opposition in various parts of France, and the country was +threatened with civil war at a time when it was absolutely necessary +that all Frenchmen should combine in the loyal defense of their country +against the invaders who were again approaching its boundaries. The +first and most serious opposition came from the peasants of Brittany, +especially in the department of La Vendée. There the people still loved +the monarchy and their priests and even the nobles; they refused to send +their sons to fight for a republic which had killed their king and was +persecuting the clergymen who declined to take an oath which their +conscience forbade. The Vendean royalists defeated several corps of the +national guard which the Convention sent against them, and it was not +until autumn that the distinguished general, Kléber, was able to put +down the insurrection. + +[Sidenote: Revolt of the cities against the Convention.] + +The great cities of Marseilles and Bordeaux were indignant at the +treatment to which the Girondist deputies were subjected in Paris, and +organized a revolt against the Convention. In the manufacturing city of +Lyons the merchants hated the Jacobins and their republic, since the +demand for silk and other luxuries produced at Lyons had come from the +nobility and clergy, who were now no longer in a position to buy. The +prosperous classes were therefore exasperated when the commissioners of +the Convention demanded money and troops. The citizens gathered an army +of ten thousand men and placed it under a royalist leader. The +Convention, however, called in troops from the armies on the frontier, +bombarded and captured the city, and wreaked a terrible vengeance upon +those who had dared to revolt against the Mountain. Frightened by the +experience of Lyons, Bordeaux and Marseilles decided that resistance was +futile and admitted the troops of the Convention. Some of the Girondist +deputies had escaped from Paris and attempted to gather an army in +Normandy; but they failed, too. The Convention's Committee of Public +Safety showed itself far more efficient than the scattered and disunited +opponents who questioned its right to govern France. + +[Sidenote: The French repulse the English and Austrians.] + +While the Committee of Public Safety had been suppressing the revolts +within the country, it had taken active measures to meet its foreign +enemies. The distinguished military organizer, Carnot, had become a +member of the Committee in August and immediately called for a general +levy of troops. He soon had five hundred and fifty thousand men; these +he divided into thirteen armies and dispatched them against the allies. +The English and Hanoverians, who were besieging Dunkirk, were driven off +and the Austrians were defeated, so that by the close of the year 1793 +all danger from invasion was past, for the time being at least. + +[Sidenote: The Reign of Terror.] + +[Sidenote: The Revolutionary Tribunal.] + +236. In spite of the marvelous success with which the Committee of +Public Safety had crushed its opponents at home and repelled the forces +of the coalition, it continued its policy of stifling all opposition by +terror. Even before the fall of the Girondists a special court had been +established in Paris, known as the Revolutionary Tribunal. Its duty was +to try all those who were suspected of treasonable acts. At first the +cases were very carefully considered and few persons were condemned. In +September, after the revolt of the cities, two new men, who had been +implicated in the September massacres, were added to the Committee of +Public Safety. They were selected with the particular purpose of +intimidating the counter-revolutionary party by bringing all the +disaffected to the guillotine.[408] A terrible law was passed, declaring +all those to be suspects who by their conduct or remarks had shown +themselves enemies of liberty. The former nobles, including the wives, +fathers, mothers, and children of the "emigrants," unless they had +constantly manifested their attachment to the Revolution, were ordered +to be imprisoned. + +[Sidenote: Execution of Marie Antoinette, October, 1793.] + +In October, the queen, Marie Antoinette, after a trial in which the most +false and atrocious charges were brought against her, was executed in +Paris, and a number of high-minded and distinguished persons suffered a +like fate. But the most horrible acts of the Reign of Terror were +perpetrated in the provinces. A representative of the Convention had +thousands of the people of Nantes shot down or drowned. The convention +proposed to destroy the great city of Lyons altogether, and though this +decree was only partially carried out, thousands of its citizens were +executed.[409] + +[Sidenote: Schism in the party of the Mountain.] + +[Sidenote: Robespierre as dictator.] + +Soon the radical party which was conducting the government began to +disagree among themselves. Danton, a man of fiery zeal for the republic, +who had hitherto enjoyed great popularity with the Jacobins, became +tired of bloodshed, and believed that the system of terror was no longer +necessary. On the other hand, Hébert the leader of the commune felt that +the revolution was not yet complete. He proposed, for example, that the +worship of Reason should be substituted for the worship of God, and +arranged a service in the great church of Notre Dame, where Reason, in +the person of a handsome actress, took her place on the altar. The most +powerful member of the Committee of Public Safety was Robespierre, who, +although he was insignificant in person and a tiresome speaker, enjoyed +a great reputation for republican virtue. He disapproved alike of +Danton's moderation and of the worship of Reason advocated by the +commune. Through his influence the leaders of both the moderate and the +extreme party were arrested and executed (March and April, 1794). + +[Sidenote: Fall of Robespierre, July 27, 1794.] + +It was, of course, impossible for Robespierre to maintain his +dictatorship permanently. He had the revolutionary tribunal divided into +sections, and greatly increased the rapidity of the executions with a +view of destroying all his enemies; but his colleagues in the Convention +began to fear that he would demand their heads next. A coalition was +formed against him, and the Convention ordered his arrest.[410] He +called upon the commune to defend him, but the Convention roused Paris +against the commune, which was no longer powerful enough to intimidate +the whole city, and he and his supporters were sent to the guillotine. + +[Sidenote: Reaction after the overthrow of Robespierre.] + +237. In successfully overthrowing Robespierre the Convention and +Committee of Public Safety had rid the country of the only man, who, +owing to his popularity and his reputation for uprightness, could have +prolonged the Reign of Terror. There was an immediate reaction after his +death, for the country was weary of executions. The Revolutionary +Tribunal henceforth convicted very few indeed of those who were brought +before it. It made an exception, however, of those who had themselves +been the leaders in the worst atrocities, for example, as the public +prosecutor, who had brought hundreds of victims to the guillotine in +Paris, and the brutes who had ordered the massacres at Nantes and Lyons. +Within a few months the Jacobin Club at Paris was closed by the +Convention, and the commune abolished. + +[Sidenote: Constitution of the year III.] + +The Convention now at last turned its attention to the great work for +which it had originally been summoned, and drew up a constitution for +the republic. This provided that the lawmaking power should be vested in +a legislative assembly consisting of two houses. The lower house was +called the Council of the Five Hundred, and the upper chamber the +Council of the Elders. Members of the latter were required to be at +least forty years of age. The executive powers were put in the hands of +a _Directory_ of five persons to be chosen by the two chambers. + +[Sidenote: The dissolution of the Convention, October, 1795, its +achievements.] + +In October, 1795, the Convention finally dissolved itself, having +governed the country during three years of unprecedented excitement, +danger, and disorder. While it was responsible for the horrors of the +Reign of Terror, its committees had carried France through the terrible +crisis of 1793. The civil war had been brought to a speedy end, and the +coalition of foreign powers had been defeated. Meanwhile other +committees appointed by the Convention had been quietly working upon the +problem of bettering the system of education, which had been taken by +the state out of the hands of the clergy. Progress had also been made +toward establishing a single system of law for the whole country to +replace the old confusion. The new republican calendar was not destined +to survive many years, but the metric system of weights and measures +introduced by the Convention has now been adopted by most European +countries, and is used by men of science in England and America. + +On the other hand, the Reign of Terror, the depreciated paper +currency,[411] and many hasty and unwise laws passed by the Convention +had produced all sorts of disorder and uncertainty. The Directory did +little to better conditions, and it was not until Napoleon's strong hand +grasped the helm of government in the year 1800 that order was really +restored. + + + General Reading.--In addition to the references given at the end of + the preceding chapter, BELLOC, _Danton_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, + $2.50) and _Robespierre_ by the same author (same publisher, + $2.00). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + + +[Sidenote: The Napoleonic Period.] + +238. The aristocratic military leaders of old France had either run away +or been discredited along with the noble class to which they belonged. +Among the commanders who, through exceptional ability, arose in their +stead, one was soon to dominate the history of Europe as no man before +him had ever done. For fifteen years, his biography and the political +history of Europe are so nearly synonymous that the period that we are +now entering upon may properly be called after him, the Napoleonic +Period. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon Bonaparte (b. 1769), a Corsican by birth, an Italian +by descent.] + +Napoleon Bonaparte was hardly a Frenchman in origin. It is true that the +island of Corsica, where he was born August 15, 1769, had at that time +belonged to France for a year. But Napoleon's native language was +Italian, he was descended from Italian ancestors who had come to the +island in the sixteenth century, and his career revives, on a +magnificent scale, the ambitions and the policy of a _condottiere_ +despot of the fifteenth century.[412] + +[Sidenote: The young Bonaparte in a French military school.] + +When he was ten years old he was taken to France by his father. After +learning a little of the French language, which he is said never to have +mastered perfectly, he was put into a military school where he remained +for six years. He soon came to hate the young French aristocrats with +whom he was associated. He wrote to his father, "I am tired of exposing +my poverty and seeing these shameless boys laughing over it, who are +superior to me only in their wealth, but infinitely beneath me in noble +sentiments." Gradually the ambition to free his little island country +from French control developed in him. + +[Sidenote: His political intrigues in Corsica.] + +[Sidenote: The Bonapartes banished from Corsica, 1793.] + +On completing his course in the military school he was made second +lieutenant. Poor and without influence, he had little hope of any +considerable advance in the French army, and he was drawn to his own +country both by a desire to play a political rôle there and to help his +family, which had been left in straitened circumstances by his father's +death. He therefore absented himself from his command as often and as +long as he could, and engaged in a series of intrigues in Corsica with a +hope of getting control of the forces of the island. He fell out, +however, with the authorities, and he and his family were banished in +1793, and fled to France. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon made commander-in-chief of the army of Italy, 1796.] + +The following three years were for Bonaparte a period of great +uncertainty. He had lost his love for Corsica and as yet he had no +foothold in France. He managed, however, to demonstrate his military +skill and decision on two occasions and gained thereby the friendship of +the Directory. In the spring of 1796 he was made by the Directory +commander-in-chief of the army of Italy. This important appointment at +the age of twenty-seven forms the opening of a military career which in +extent and grandeur hardly finds a parallel in history, except that of +Alexander the Great. And of all Bonaparte's campaigns, none is more +interesting perhaps than his first, that in Italy in 1796-1797. + +[Sidenote: Prussia and Spain conclude peace with the French republic, +1795.] + +[Sidenote: The campaign in Italy, 1796-1797.] + +239. After the armies raised by the Committee of Public Safety had +driven back their enemies in the autumn of 1793, the French occupied the +Austrian Netherlands, Holland, and that portion of Germany which lies on +the left, or west, bank of the Rhine. Austria and Prussia were again +busy with a new, and this time final, partition of Poland. As Prussia +had little real interest in the war with France, she soon concluded +peace with the new republic, April, 1795. Spain followed her example and +left Austria, England, and Sardinia to carry on the war. General +Bonaparte had to face the combined armies of Austria and of the king of +Sardinia. By marching north from Savona he skillfully separated his two +enemies, forced the Sardinian troops back toward Turin, and compelled +the king of Sardinia to conclude a truce with France. + +[Illustration: Napoleon Bonaparte during the Italian Campaign] + +This left him free to advance against the Austrians. These he outflanked +and forced to retreat. On May 15, 1796, he entered Milan. The Austrian +commander then shut himself up in the impregnable fortress of Mantua, +where Bonaparte promptly besieged him. There is no more fascinating +chapter in the history of warfare than the story of the audacious +maneuvers by which Bonaparte successfully repulsed four attempts on the +part of the Austrians to relieve Mantua, which was finally forced to +capitulate at the beginning of February of the following year. As soon +as he had removed all danger of an attack in the rear, the young French +general led his army toward Vienna, and by April, 1797, the Austrian +court was glad to sign a preliminary peace. + +[Sidenote: The treaty of Campo-Formio, 1797.] + +[Sidenote: Creation of the Cisalpine republic.] + +The provisions of the definitive peace which was concluded at +Campo-Formio, October 17, 1797, illustrate the unscrupulous manner in +which Austria and the French republic disposed of the helpless lesser +states. It inaugurated the bewilderingly rapid territorial +redistribution of Europe, which was so characteristic of the Napoleonic +period. Austria ceded to France the Austrian Netherlands and secretly +agreed to use its good offices to secure for France a great part of the +left bank of the Rhine. Austria also recognized the Cisalpine republic +which Bonaparte had created out of the smaller states of northern Italy, +and which was under the "protection" of France. This new state included +Milan, Modena, some of the papal dominions, and, lastly, a part of the +possessions of the venerable and renowned but defenseless republic of +Venice which Napoleon had iniquitously destroyed. Austria received as a +partial indemnity the rest of the possessions of the Venetian republic, +including Venice itself. + +[Sidenote: General Bonaparte holds court; his analysis of the French +character and of his own aims.] + +240. While the negotiations were going on at Campo-Formio, the young +general had established a brilliant court. "His salons," an observer +informs us, "were filled with a throng of generals, officials, and +purveyors, as well as the highest nobility and the most distinguished +men of Italy, who came to solicit the favor of a glance or a moment's +conversation." He appears already to have conceived the rôle that he was +to play later. We have a report of a most extraordinary conversation +which occurred at this time. + +"What I have done so far," he declared, "is nothing. I am but at the +opening of the career that I am to run. Do you suppose that I have +gained my victories in Italy in order to advance the lawyers of the +Directory?... Do you think either that my object is to establish a +republic? What a notion!... What the French want is Glory and the +satisfaction of their vanity; as for Liberty, of that they have no +conception. Look at the army! The victories that we have just gained +have given the French soldier his true character. I am everything to +him. Let the Directory attempt to deprive me of my command and they will +see who is the master. The nation must have a head, a head who is +rendered illustrious by glory and not by theories of government, fine +phrases, or the talk of idealists, of which the French understand not a +whit." + +There is no doubt whom General Bonaparte had in mind when he spoke of +the needed head of the French nation who should be "rendered illustrious +by glory." This son of a poor Corsican lawyer, but yesterday a mere +unlucky adventurer, had arranged his programme; two years and a half +later he was the master of the French republic. + +[Sidenote: Personal characteristics.] + +We naturally ask what manner of person this was who could frame such +audacious schemes at twenty-eight and realize them at thirty years of +age. He was a little man, less than five feet two inches in height. At +this time he was extremely thin, but his striking features, quick, +searching eye, abrupt, animated gestures and rapid speech, incorrect as +it was, made a deep impression upon those who came in contact with him. +He possessed in a supreme degree two qualities that are ordinarily +incompatible. He was a dreamer, and at the same time a man whose +practical skill and mastery of detail amounted to genius. He once told a +friend that he was wont, when a poor lieutenant, to allow his +imagination full play and fancy things just as he would have them. Then +he would coolly consider the exact steps to be taken if he were to try +to make his dream come true. + +[Sidenote: Sources of power in Napoleon's character.] + +In order to explain Bonaparte's success it must be remembered that he +was not hampered or held back by the fear of doing wrong. He was utterly +unscrupulous, whether dealing with an individual or a nation, and +appears to have been absolutely without any sense of moral +responsibility. Affection for his friends and relatives never stood in +the way of his personal aggrandizement. To these traits must be added +unrivaled military genius and the power of intense and almost +uninterrupted work. + +[Sidenote: The political conditions which rendered Napoleon's wonderful +successes possible.] + +But even Bonaparte, unexampled as were his abilities, could never have +extended his power over all of western Europe, had it not been for the +peculiar political weakness of most of the states with which he had to +deal. There was no strong German empire in his day, no united Italy, no +Belgium whose neutrality was guaranteed--as it now is--by the other +powers of Europe. The French republic was surrounded by petty +independent, or practically independent, principalities which were +defenseless against an unscrupulous invader. Prussia, much smaller than +it now is, offered, as we shall see, no efficient opposition to the +extension of French control. Austria had been forced to capitulate, +after a short campaign, by an enemy far from its source of supplies and +led by a young and inexperienced general. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon conceives the idea of an expedition to Egypt.] + +241. After arranging the Peace of Campo-Formio, General Bonaparte +returned to Paris. He at once perceived that France, in spite of her +enthusiasm for him, was not yet ready to accept him as her ruler. He +saw, too, that he would soon sacrifice his prestige if he lived quietly +in Paris like an ordinary person. His active mind soon conceived a plan +which would forward his interests. France was still at war with England, +its most persevering enemy during this period. Bonaparte convinced the +Directory that England could best be ruined in the long run by seizing +Egypt and threatening her commerce through the Mediterranean, and +perhaps ultimately her dominion in the East. Bonaparte, fascinated by +the career of Alexander the Great, pictured himself riding to India on +the back of an elephant and dispossessing England of her most precious +colonial dependencies. He had, however, still another and a +characteristic reason for undertaking the expedition. France was on the +eve of a new war with the European powers. Bonaparte foresaw that, if he +could withdraw with him some of France's best officers, the Directory +might soon find itself so embarrassed that he could return as a national +savior. And even so it fell out. + +[Sidenote: The campaign in Egypt, 1798-1799.] + +[Sidenote: Nelson destroys the French fleet.] + +The French fleet left Toulon, May 19, 1798. It was so fortunate as to +escape the English squadron under Nelson, which sailed by it in the +night. Bonaparte arrived at Alexandria, July 1, and easily defeated the +Turkish troops in the famous battle of the Pyramids. Meanwhile Nelson, +who did not know the destination of the enemy's fleet, had returned from +the Syrian coast where he had looked for the French in vain. He +discovered Bonaparte's ships in the harbor of Alexandria and completely +annihilated them in the first battle of the Nile (August 1, 1798). The +French troops were now completely cut off from Europe.[413] + +[Sidenote: Syrian campaign.] + +[Sidenote: Bonaparte deserts the army in Egypt and returns to Paris.] + +The Porte (i.e., the Turkish government) declared war against France, +and Bonaparte resolved to attack Turkey by land. He accordingly marched +into Syria in the spring of 1799, but was repulsed at Acre, where the +Turkish forces were aided by the English fleet. Pursued by pestilence, +the army regained Cairo in June after terrible suffering and loss. It +was still strong enough to annihilate a Turkish army that landed at +Alexandria; but news now reached Bonaparte from Europe which convinced +him that the time had come for him to hasten back. Northern Italy, which +he had won, was lost; the allies were about to invade France, and the +Directory was completely demoralized. Bonaparte accordingly secretly +deserted his army and managed, by a series of happy accidents, to reach +France by October 9, 1799. + +[Sidenote: The _coup d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire, November 9, 1799.] + +[Sidenote: Bonaparte made First Consul.] + +242. The Directory, one of the most corrupt and inefficient governmental +bodies that the world has ever seen, had completely disgraced +itself.[414] Bonaparte readily found others to join with him in a +conspiracy to overthrow it. A plan was formed for abruptly destroying +the old government and replacing it by a new one without observing any +constitutional forms. This is a procedure so familiar in France during +the past century that it is known even in English as a _coup d'état_ +(literally translated, a "stroke of state"). The conspirators had a good +many friends in the two assemblies, especially among the "Elders." +Nevertheless Bonaparte had to order his soldiers to invade the hall in +which the Assembly of the Five Hundred was in session and scatter his +opponents before he could accomplish his purpose. A chosen few were then +reassembled under the presidency of Lucien Bonaparte, one of Napoleon's +brothers, who was a member of the assembly. They voted to put the +government in the hands of General Bonaparte and two others, to be +called _Consuls_. These were to proceed, with the aid of a commission +and of the "Elders," to draw up a new constitution.[415] + +[Sidenote: The constitution of the year VIII.] + +[Sidenote: The Council of State.] + +The new constitution[416] was a very cumbrous and elaborate one. It +provided for no less than four assemblies, one to propose the laws, one +to consider them, one to vote upon them, and one to decide on their +constitutionality. But Bonaparte saw to it that as First Consul he +himself had practically all the power in his own hands. The Council of +State, to which he called talented men from all parties and over which +he presided, was the most important of the governmental bodies. This +body and the administrative system which he soon established have +endured, with a few changes, down to the present day. There is no surer +proof of Napoleon's genius than that, with no previous experience, he +could conceive a plan of government that should serve a great state like +France, through all its vicissitudes, for a century. + +[Sidenote: The administrative system instituted by Napoleon.] + +In each department he put an officer called a _prefect_, in each +subdivision of the department a _subprefect_. These, together with the +mayors and police commissioners of the towns, were all appointed by the +First Consul. The prefects, "little First Consuls," as Bonaparte called +them, resembled the intendants--the king's officers under the old +régime. Indeed, the new government suggested in several important +respects that of Louis XIV. + +[Sidenote: The new government accepted by a plebiscite.] + +The new ruler objected as decidedly as Louis XIV had done to the idea of +being controlled by the people, who, he believed, knew nothing of public +affairs. It was enough, he thought, if they were allowed to say whether +they wished a certain form of government or not. He therefore introduced +what he called a _plebiscite_. The new constitution when completed was +submitted to the nation at large, and all were allowed to vote "yes" or +"no" on the expediency of its adoption. Over three million voted in +favor of it and only fifteen hundred and sixty-two against it. This did +not necessarily mean, however, that practically the whole nation wished +to have General Bonaparte as its ruler. A great many may have preferred +what seemed to them an objectionable form of government to the risk of +rejecting it. Herein lies the injustice of the plebiscite. There are +many questions that cannot be answered by a simple "yes" or "no." + +[Sidenote: Bonaparte generally acceptable to France as First Consul.] + +Yet the accession of the popular young general to power was undoubtedly +grateful to the majority of citizens, who longed above all for a stable +government. The Swedish envoy wrote just after the _coup d'état_: "A +legitimate monarch has perhaps never found a people more ready to do his +bidding than Bonaparte, and it would be inexcusable if this talented +general did not take advantage of this to introduce a better form of +government upon a firmer basis. It is literally true that France will +perform impossibilities in order to aid him in this. The people (with +the exception of a despicable horde of anarchists) are so sick and weary +of revolutionary horrors and folly that they believe that any change +cannot fail to be for the better.... Even the royalists, whatever their +views may be, are sincerely devoted to Bonaparte, for they attribute to +him the intention of gradually restoring the old order of things. The +indifferent element cling to him as the one most likely to give France +peace. The enlightened republicans, although they tremble for their form +of government, prefer to see a single man of talent possess himself of +the power than a club of intriguers." + +[Sidenote: Necessity of renewing the war.] + +243. Upon becoming First Consul, General Bonaparte found France at war +with England, Russia, Austria, Turkey, and Naples. These powers had +formed a coalition in December, 1798, had defeated the armies that the +Directory sent against them, and undone Bonaparte's work in Italy. It +now devolved upon him to reëstablish the prestige of France abroad, as +well as to restore order and prosperity at home. A successful campaign +would, moreover, fill the empty treasury of the state; for Bonaparte +always exacted large contributions from the defeated enemy and from +those of his allies, like the ephemeral Cisalpine republic, who were +under the "protection" of France. Besides, he must keep himself before +the people as a military hero if he wished to maintain his supremacy. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon crosses the Alps and surprises the Austrians.] + +Early in the year 1800 Bonaparte began secretly to collect an army near +Dijon. This he proposed to direct against an Austrian army which was +besieging the French general, Masséna, in Genoa. Instead of marching +straight into Italy, as would have been most natural, the First Consul +resolved to take the Austrian forces in the rear. Emulating Hannibal, he +led his troops over the famous Alpine pass of the Great St. Bernard, +dragging his cannon over in the trunks of trees which had been hollowed +out for the purpose. He arrived safely in Milan on the 2d of June to the +utter astonishment of the Austrians, who were taken completely by +surprise. + +[Sidenote: The battle of Marengo, June 14, 1800.] + +Bonaparte now moved westward, but in his uncertainty as to the exact +whereabouts of the Austrians, he divided his force when near the village +of Marengo (June 14) and sent a contingent under Desaix southward to +head off the enemy in that direction. In the meantime the whole Austrian +army approached from Alessandria and the engagement began. The Austrians +at first repulsed the French, and Bonaparte saw all his great plans in +jeopardy as he vainly besought his soldiers to make another stand. The +defeat was soon turned, however, into one of the most brilliant +victories; for Desaix had heard the firing and returned with his +division. Meanwhile the aged and infirm Austrian commander had returned +to Alessandria, supposing that the battle was won. The result was that +the French troops, reënforced, returned to the attack and carried all +before them. The brave Desaix, who had really saved the day, was killed; +Bonaparte simply said nothing of his own temporary defeat, and added one +more to the list of his great military successes. A truce was signed +next day, and the Austrians retreated behind the Mincio River, leaving +Bonaparte to restore French influence in Lombardy. The districts that he +had "freed" had to support his army, and the reëstablished Cisalpine +republic was forced to pay a monthly tax of two million francs. + +[Sidenote: A general pacification, 1801.] + +A victory gained by the French at Hohenlinden in December of the same +year brought Austria to terms, and she agreed to conclude a separate +peace with the French republic. This was the beginning of a general +pacification. During the year 1801 treaties were signed with all the +powers with which France had been at war, even with England, who had not +laid down her arms since war was first declared in 1793. + +[Sidenote: Two most important provisions of the treaties of 1801.] + +[Sidenote: Bonaparte sells Louisiana to the United States, 1803.] + +Among many merely transitory results of these treaties there were two +provisions of momentous import. The first of these, Spain's cession of +Louisiana to France in exchange for certain advantages in Italy, does +not concern us here directly. When war again broke out, Bonaparte sold +the district to the United States, and among the many transfers of +territory that he made during his reign, none was more important than +this. We must, however, treat with some detail the second of the great +changes, which led to the complete reorganization of Germany and +ultimately rendered possible the establishment of the present powerful +German empire. + +[Sidenote: Cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France and the +results for Germany.] + +244. In the treaty signed by Austria at Lunéville in February, 1801, the +emperor agreed, on his own part and on the part of the Holy Roman +Empire, that the French republic should thereafter possess in full +sovereignty the territories lying on the left bank of the Rhine which +belonged to the empire, and that thereafter the Rhine should form the +boundary of France from the point where it left Switzerland to where it +flowed into Dutch territory. As a natural consequence of this cession, +various princes and states of the empire found themselves dispossessed, +either wholly or in part, of their lands. The empire bound itself to +furnish the hereditary princes who had lost possessions on the left bank +of the Rhine with "an indemnity within the empire." + +[Sidenote: Secularization of church lands.] + +This provision implied a veritable territorial metamorphosis of the old +Holy Roman Empire, which, except for the development of Prussia, was +still in pretty much the same condition as in Luther's time.[417] There +was no unoccupied land to give the dispossessed princes; but there were +two classes of states in the empire that did not belong to _hereditary_ +princes, namely, the ecclesiastical states and the free towns. As the +churchmen,--archbishops, bishops, and abbots,--who ruled over the +ecclesiastical states, were forbidden by the rules of the church to +marry, they could of course have no lawful heirs. Should an +ecclesiastical ruler be deprived of his realms, he might, therefore, be +indemnified by a pension for life, with no fear of any injustice to +heirs, since there could be none. The transfer of the lands of an +ecclesiastical prince to a lay, i.e., hereditary, prince was called +_secularization_. The towns, once so powerful and important, had lost +their former influence, and seemed as much of an anomaly in the German +Confederation as the ecclesiastical states. + +[Sidenote: Decree of the German diet redistributing German territory, +1803.] + +[Sidenote: Disappearance of the imperial cities.] + +[Sidenote: Fate of the knights.] + +_Reichsdeputationshauptschluss_ was the high-sounding German name of the +great decree issued by the imperial diet in 1803, redistributing the +territory so as to indemnify the hereditary princes dispossessed by the +cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France. All the ecclesiastical +states, except the electorate of Mayence, were turned over to lay +rulers. Of the forty-eight imperial cities, only six were left. Three of +these still exist as republican members of the present German +federation; namely, the Hanseatic towns,--Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck. +Bavaria received the bishoprics of Würzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg, +Freising, and a number of the imperial cities. Baden received the +bishoprics of Constance, Basel, Speyer, etc. The knights who had lost +their possessions on the left bank were not indemnified, and those on +the right bank were deprived of their political rights within the next +two or three years, by the several states within whose boundaries they +lay.[418] + +[Sidenote: Importance of the extinction of the smaller German states.] + +The final distribution was preceded by a bitter and undignified scramble +among the princes for additional bits of territory. All turned to Paris +for favors, since the First Consul, and not the German diet, was really +the arbiter in the matter. Germany never sank to a lower degree of +national degradation than at this period. But this amalgamation was, +nevertheless, the beginning of her political regeneration; for without +the consolidation of the hundreds of practically independent little +states into a few well-organized monarchies, such a union as the present +German empire would have been impossible, and the country must have +remained indefinitely in its traditional impotency. + +[Sidenote: Extension of French territory.] + +[Sidenote: French dependencies.] + +The treaties of 1801 left France in possession of the Austrian +Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine, to which increase of +territory Piedmont was soon added. Bonaparte found a further resource in +the dependencies, which it was his consistent policy to create. Holland +became the Batavian republic, and, with the Italian (originally the +Cisalpine) republic, came under French control and contributed money +and troops for the forwarding of French interests. The constitution of +Switzerland was improved in the interests of the First Consul and, +incidentally, to the great advantage of the country itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +EUROPE AND NAPOLEON + + +[Sidenote: The demoralized condition of France, and Bonaparte's +reforms.] + +245. The activity of the extraordinary man who had placed himself at the +head of the French republic was by no means confined to the important +alterations of the map of Europe described in the previous chapter. He +was indefatigable in carrying out a series of internal reforms, second +only in importance to those of the great Revolution of 1789. The Reign +of Terror and the incompetence of the Directory's government had left +France in a very bad plight.[419] Bonaparte's reorganization of the +government has already been noticed. The finances, too, were in a +terrible condition. These the First Consul adjusted with great skill and +quickly restored the national credit. + +[Sidenote: The adjustment of relations with the pope and the church.] + +[Sidenote: The Concordat of 1801.] + +He then set about settling the great problem of the non-juring clergy, +who were still suffering for refusing to sanction the Civil Constitution +of the Clergy.[420] All imprisoned priests were now freed, on promising +not to oppose the constitution. Their churches were given back to them, +and the distinction between "non-juring" and "constitutional" clergymen +was obliterated. Sunday, which had been abolished by the republican +calendar, was once more observed, and all the revolutionary holidays +except July 14,--the anniversary of the fall of the Bastile,--and the +first day of the republican year, were done away with. A formal treaty +with the pope, the Concordat of 1801, was concluded, which revoked some +of the provisions of the Civil Constitution, especially the election of +the priests and bishops by the people, and recognized the pope as the +head of the church. It is noteworthy, however, that Bonaparte did not +restore to the church its ancient possessions, and that he reserved to +himself the right to appoint the bishops, as the former kings had done. + +[Sidenote: The emigrant nobles permitted to return.] + +As for the emigrant nobles, Bonaparte decreed that no more names should +be added to the lists. The striking of names from the list and the +return of confiscated lands that had not already been sold, he made +favors to be granted by himself. Parents and relatives of emigrants were +no longer to be regarded as incapable of holding public offices. In +April, 1802, a general amnesty was issued, and no less than forty +thousand families returned to France. + +[Sidenote: Old habits resumed.] + +[Sidenote: The grateful reliance of the nation on Bonaparte.] + +There was a gradual reaction from the fantastic innovations of the Reign +of Terror. The old titles of address, Monsieur and Madame, were again +used instead of the revolutionary "Citizen." Streets which had been +rebaptized with republican names resumed their former ones. Old titles +of nobility were revived, and something very like a royal court began to +develop at the Palace of the Tuilleries; for, except in name, Bonaparte +was already a king, and his wife, Josephine, a queen. It had been clear +for some years that the nation was weary of political agitation. How +great a blessing after the anarchy of the past to put all responsibility +upon one who showed himself capable of concluding a long war with +unprecedented glory for France and of reëstablishing order and the +security of person and property, the necessary conditions for renewed +prosperity! How natural that the French should welcome a despotism to +which they had been accustomed for centuries, after suffering as they +had under nominally republican institutions! + +[Sidenote: The _Code Napoléon_.] + +One of the greatest and most permanent of Bonaparte's achievements still +remains to be noted. The heterogeneous laws of the old régime had been +much modified by the legislation of the successive assemblies. All this +needed a final revision, and Bonaparte appointed a commission to +undertake this great task. Their draft of the new code was discussed in +the Council of State, and the First Consul had many suggestions to make. +The resulting codification of the civil law--the _Code Napoléon_--is +still used to-day, not only in France, but also, with some +modifications, in Rhenish Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, Holland, Belgium, +Italy, and even in the state of Louisiana. The criminal and commercial +law was also codified. These codes carried with them into foreign lands +the principles of equality upon which they were based, and thus diffused +the benefits of the Revolution beyond the borders of France.[421] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon made Consul for life, 1802; and Emperor, 1804.] + +Bonaparte was able gradually to modify the constitution so that his +power became more and more absolute. In 1802 he was appointed Consul for +life and given the right to name his successor. Even this did not +satisfy his insatiable ambition, which demanded that his actual power +should be clothed with all the attributes and surroundings appropriate +to an hereditary ruler. In May, 1804, he was accordingly given the title +of Emperor, and (in December) crowned, as the successor of Charlemagne, +with great pomp in the cathedral of Notre Dame. He at once proceeded to +establish a new nobility to take the place of that abolished by the +first National Assembly in 1790. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's censorship of the press.] + +From this time on he became increasingly tyrannical and hostile to +criticism. At the very beginning of his administration he had suppressed +a great part of the numerous political newspapers and forbidden the +establishment of new ones. As emperor he showed himself still more +exacting. His police furnished the news to the papers and carefully +omitted all that might offend their suspicious master. He ordered the +journals to "put in quarantine all news that might be disadvantageous or +disagreeable to France." His ideal was to suppress all newspapers but +one, which should be used for official purposes. + +[Illustration: Napoleon] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon on the necessity of war for France.] + +246. A great majority of the French undoubtedly longed for peace, but +Napoleon's position made war a personal necessity for him. No one saw +this more clearly than he. "If," he said to his Council of State in the +summer of 1802, "the European states intend ever to renew the war, the +sooner it comes the better. Every day the remembrance of their defeats +grows dimmer and at the same time the prestige of our victories +pales.... France needs glorious deeds, and hence war. She must be the +first among the states, or she is lost. I shall put up with peace as +long as our neighbors can maintain it, but I shall regard it as an +advantage if they force me to take up my arms again before they are +rusted.... In our position I shall look on each conclusion of peace as +simply a short armistice, and I regard myself as destined during my term +of office to fight almost without intermission." + +[Sidenote: Napoleon dreams of becoming emperor of Europe.] + +On another occasion, in 1804, Napoleon said, "There will be no rest in +Europe until it is under a single chief--an emperor who shall have kings +for officers, who shall distribute kingdoms to his lieutenants, and +shall make this one king of Italy, that one of Bavaria; this one ruler +of Switzerland, that one governor of Holland, each having an office of +honor in the imperial household." This was the ideal that he now found +himself in a situation to carry out with marvelous exactness. + +[Sidenote: Reasons for England's persistent opposition to Napoleon.] + +There were many reasons why the peace with England (concluded at Amiens +in March, 1802) should be speedily broken, especially as the First +Consul was not averse to a renewal of the war. The obvious intention of +Napoleon to bring as much of Europe under his control as he could, and +the imposition of high duties on English goods in those territories that +he already controlled, filled commercial and industrial England with +apprehension. The English people longed for peace, but peace appeared +only to offer an opportunity to the Corsican usurper to ruin England by +a continuous war upon her commerce. This was the secret of England's +pertinacity. All the other European powers concluded peace with Napoleon +at some time during his reign. England alone did not lay down her arms a +second time until the emperor of the French was a prisoner. + +[Sidenote: War between France and England renewed in 1803.] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon institutes a coast blockade.] + +247. War was renewed between England and France in 1803. Bonaparte +promptly occupied Hanover, of which it will be remembered that the +English king was elector, and declared the coast blockaded from Hanover +to Otranto. Holland, Spain, Portugal, and the Ligurian +republic--formerly the republic of Genoa--were, by hook or by crook, +induced to agree to furnish each their contingent of men or money to the +French army and to exclude English ships from their ports. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon threatens to invade England.] + +To cap the climax, England was alarmed by the appearance of a French +army at Boulogne, just across the Channel. A great number of flatboats +were collected, and troops trained to embark and disembark. Apparently +Napoleon harbored the firm purpose of invading the British Isles. Yet +the transportation of a large body of troops across the English Channel, +trifling as is the distance, would have been very hazardous, and by many +it was deemed downright impossible. No one knows whether Napoleon really +expected to make the trial. It is quite possible that his main purpose +in collecting an army at Boulogne was to have it in readiness for the +continental war which he saw immediately ahead of him. He succeeded, at +any rate, in terrifying England, who prepared to defend herself. + +[Sidenote: Coalition of Russia, Austria, England, and Sweden.] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon king of Italy.] + +The Tsar, Alexander I, had submitted a plan for the reconciliation of +France and England in August, 1803. The rejection of this and the +evident intention of Napoleon to include the eastern coast of the +Adriatic in his sphere of influence, led Russia to join a new coalition +which, by July, 1805, included Austria, Sweden, and, of course, England. +Austria was especially affected by the increase of Napoleon's power in +Italy. He had been crowned king of Italy in May, 1805, had created a +little duchy in northern Italy for his sister, and had annexed the +Ligurian republic to France. There were rumors, too, that he was +planning to seize the Venetian territories of Austria. + +[Sidenote: The war of 1805.] + +[Sidenote: Occupation of Vienna.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Austerlitz, December 2, 1805.] + +War was declared against Austria, August 23, and four days later the +army at Boulogne was ordered eastward. One of the Austrian commanders +exhibited the most startling incapacity in allowing himself to be shut +up in Ulm, where he was forced to capitulate with all his troops +(October 20). Napoleon then marched down the Danube with little +opposition, and before the middle of November Vienna was in the +possession of French troops. Napoleon thereupon led his forces north to +meet the allied armies of Austria and Russia; these he defeated on +December 2, in the terrible winter battle of Austerlitz. Russia then +withdrew for a time and signed an armistice; and Austria was obliged to +submit to a humiliating peace, the Treaty of Pressburg. + +[Sidenote: The Treaty of Pressburg.] + +By this treaty Austria recognized all Napoleon's changes in Italy, and +ceded to his kingdom of Italy that portion of the Venetian territory +that she had received at Campo-Formio. Moreover, she ceded Tyrol to +Bavaria, which was friendly to Napoleon, and other of her possessions to +Würtemberg and Baden, also friends of the French emperor. She further +agreed to ratify the assumption, on the part of the rulers of Bavaria +and Würtemberg, of the titles of King. Napoleon was now in a position +still further to reorganize western Europe, with a view to establishing +a great international federation of which he should be the head.[422] + +[Sidenote: The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806.] + +248. Napoleon had no desire to unify Germany; he merely wished to +maintain a certain number of independent states, or groups of states, +which he could conveniently control. He had provided, in the Treaty of +Pressburg, that the newly created sovereigns should enjoy the "plenitude +of sovereignty" and all the rights derived therefrom, precisely as did +the rulers of Austria and Prussia. + +This, by explicitly declaring several of the most important of the +German states altogether independent of the emperor, rendered the +further existence of the Holy Roman Empire impossible. The emperor, +Francis II, accordingly abdicated, August 6, 1806. Thus the most +imposing and enduring political office known to history was formally +abolished. + +[Sidenote: Francis II assumes the title of 'Emperor of Austria.'] + +Francis II did not, however, lose his title of Emperor. Shortly after +the First Consul had received that title, Francis adopted the formula +"Emperor of Austria," to designate him as the ruler of all the +possessions of his house. Hitherto he had been officially known as King +of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Galicia, and Laodomeria, Duke of +Lorraine, Venice, Salzburg, etc., Grand Duke of Transylvania, Margrave +of Moravia, etc. + +[Sidenote: The Confederation of the Rhine.] + +Meanwhile Napoleon had organized a union of the southern German states, +called the Confederation of the Rhine, and had assumed its headship as +"Protector." This he had done, he assured Europe, "in the dearest +interests of his people and of his neighbors," adding the pious hope +that the French armies had crossed the Rhine for the last time, and that +the people of Germany would witness no longer, "except in the annals of +the past, the horrible pictures of disorder, devastation, and slaughter +that war invariably brings with it."[423] + +Immediately after the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon proclaimed that the +king of Naples, who had allied himself with the English, had ceased to +reign, and French generals were ordered to occupy Naples. In March, +1806, he made his brother Joseph king of Naples and Sicily, his brother +Louis king of Holland, and his brother-in-law, Murat, duke of Cleves and +Berg. These states and those of his German allies constituted what he +called "the real French Empire." + +[Sidenote: Prussia forced into war with France.] + +249. One of the most important of the continental states, it will have +been noticed, had taken no part as yet in the opposition to the +extension of Napoleon's power. Prussia, the first power to conclude +peace with the new French republic in 1795, had since that time +maintained a strict neutrality. Had it yielded to Tsar Alexander's +persuasions and joined the coalition in 1805, it might have turned the +tide at Austerlitz, or at any rate have encouraged further resistance to +the conqueror. The hesitation of Frederick William III cost him dear, +for Napoleon now forced him into war at a time when he could look for no +efficient assistance from Russia or the other powers. The immediate +cause of the declaration of war was the disposal of Hanover. This +electorate Frederick William had consented to hold provisionally, +pending its possible transfer to him should the English king give his +assent. Prussia was anxious to get possession of Hanover because it lay +just between her older possessions and the territory which she had +gained in the redistribution of 1803.[424] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's insolent behavior toward Prussia.] + +Napoleon, as usual, did not fail either to see or to use his advantage. +His conduct toward Prussia was most insolent. After setting her at +enmity with England and promising that she should have Hanover, he +unblushingly offered to restore the electorate to George III. His +insults now began to arouse the national spirit in Prussia, and the +reluctant Frederick William was forced by the party in favor of war, +which included his beautiful queen Louise, and the great statesman +Stein, to break with Napoleon. + +[Illustration: EUROPE AT THE HEIGHT OF NAPOLEON'S POWER] + +[Sidenote: Decisive defeat of the Prussian army at Jena, 1806.] + +Her army was, however, as has been well said, "only that of Frederick +the Great grown twenty years older"; one of Frederick's generals, the +aged duke of Brunswick, who had issued the famous manifesto in +1792,[425] was its leader. A single defeat, near Jena (October 14, +1806), put Prussia completely in the hands of her enemy. This one +disaster produced complete demoralization throughout the country. +Fortresses were surrendered without resistance, and the king fled to the +uttermost parts of his realm on the Russian boundary. + +[Sidenote: The campaign in Poland.] + +[Sidenote: Territorial changes of the treaties of Tilsit, July, 1807.] + +[Sidenote: Creation of the grand duchy of Warsaw and the kingdom of +Westphalia.] + +Napoleon now led his army into Poland, where he spent the winter in +operations against Russia and her feeble Prussian ally. He closed an +arduous campaign by a signal victory at Friedland (June 14, 1807), which +was followed by the treaties of Tilsit with Russia and Prussia (July 7 +and 9). Napoleon had no mercy on Prussia. Frederick William III lost all +his possessions to the west of the Elbe and all that Prussia had gained +in the second and third partitions of Poland. The Polish territory +Napoleon made into a new subject kingdom called the grand duchy of +Warsaw, and chose his friend, the king of Saxony, as its ruler. Out of +the western lands of Prussia, which he later united with Hanover, he +created the kingdom of Westphalia for his brother Jerome. Russia, on the +other hand, was treated with marked consideration. The Tsar finally +consented to recognize all the sweeping territorial changes that +Napoleon had made, and secretly agreed to enforce the blockade against +England should that country refuse to make peace. + +[Sidenote: The continental blockade.] + +250. Napoleon's most persevering enemy still remained unconquered and +inaccessible. Just as Napoleon was undertaking his successful campaign +against Austria in 1805, Nelson had annihilated the French fleet for the +second time in the renowned naval engagement of Trafalgar, off the coast +of Spain. It seemed more than ever necessary, therefore, to ruin England +commercially and industrially, since there was obviously no likelihood +of subduing it by arms. + +[Sidenote: The Berlin Decree and Napoleon's 'paper' blockade.] + +In May, 1806, England had declared the coast from the Elbe to Brest to +be blockaded. Napoleon replied to this with the Berlin Decree (November +21, 1806), in which he proclaimed it a monstrous abuse of the right for +England to declare great stretches of coast in a state of blockade which +her whole fleet would be unable to enforce. He retaliated with a +"paper"[426] blockade of the British Isles, which forbade all commerce +with them. Letters or packages directed to England or to an Englishman +or written in the English language were not to be permitted to pass +through the mails in the countries he controlled. Every English subject +in countries occupied by French troops or in the territory of Napoleon's +allies was to be regarded as a prisoner of war and his property as a +lawful prize. All trade in English goods was forbidden. + +[Sidenote: Disastrous effects of the blockades on the commerce of the +United States.] + +A year later England established a similar paper blockade of the ports +of the French empire and its allies, but permitted the ships of neutral +powers to proceed, provided that they touched at an English port, +secured a license from the English government, and paid a heavy export +duty. Napoleon promptly declared all ships that submitted to these +humiliating regulations to be lawful prizes of French privateers. The +ships of the United States were at this time the most numerous and +important of the neutral carriers. The disastrous results of these +restrictions led to the various embargo acts (the first of which was +passed by Congress in December, 1807), and ultimately to the destruction +of the flourishing carrying trade of the United States. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's attempt to make the continent independent of +English colonial products.] + +Napoleon tried to render Europe permanently independent of the colonial +productions brought from English colonies and by English ships. He +encouraged the substitution of chicory for coffee, the cultivation of +the sugar beet, and the discovery of new dyes to replace those coming +from the tropics. But the distress caused by the disturbance in trade +produced great discontent, especially in Russia; it rendered the +domination of Napoleon more and more distasteful, and finally +contributed to his downfall.[427] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's policy in France.] + +251. France owed much to Napoleon, for he had restored order and +guaranteed many of the beneficent achievements of the Revolution of +1789. His boundless ambition was, it is true, sapping her strength by +forcing younger and younger men into his armies in order to build up the +vast international federation of which he dreamed. But his victories and +the commanding position to which he had raised France could not but fill +the nation with pride. + +[Sidenote: Public works.] + +He sought to gain popular approval by great public improvements. He +built marvelous roads across the Alps and along the Rhine, which still +fill the traveler with admiration. He beautified Paris by opening up +wide streets and quays, and building magnificent bridges and triumphal +arches that kept fresh in the people's mind the recollection of his +victories. By these means he gradually converted a mediæval town into +the most beautiful of modern capitals. + +[Sidenote: Reorganization of education.] + +The whole educational system was reorganized and made as highly +centralized and as subservient to the aims of the emperor as any +department of government. Napoleon argued that one of the chief aims of +education should be the formation of loyal subjects who would be +faithful to the emperor and his successors. An imperial catechism was +prepared, which not only inculcated loyalty to Napoleon, but actually +threatened with eternal perdition those who should fail in their +obligations to him, including military service.[428] + +[Sidenote: The new nobility and the Legion of Honor.] + +Napoleon created a new nobility, and he endeavored to assure the support +of distinguished individuals by making them members of the Legion of +Honor which he founded. The "Princes" whom he nominated received an +annual income of two hundred thousand francs. The ministers of state, +senators, members of his Council of State, and the archbishops received +the title of Count and a revenue of thirty thousand francs, and so on. +The army was not forgotten, for Napoleon felt that to be his chief +support. The incomes of his marshals were enormous, and brave actions +among the soldiers were rewarded with the decoration of the Legion of +Honor. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's despotism in France.] + +As time went on Napoleon's despotism grew more and more oppressive. No +less than thirty-five hundred prisoners of state were arrested at his +command, one because he hated Napoleon, another because in his letters +he expressed sentiments adverse to the government, and so on. No +grievance was too petty to attract the attention of the emperor's +jealous eye. He ordered the title of a _History of Bonaparte_ to be +changed to the _History of the Campaigns of Napoleon the Great_.[429] He +forbade the performance of certain of Schiller's and Goethe's plays in +German towns, as tending to arouse the patriotic discontent of the +people with his rule. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's European power threatened by the growth of +national opposition to him.] + +252. Up to this time Napoleon had had only the opposition of the several +European courts to overcome in the extension of his power. The people of +the various states which he had conquered showed an extraordinary +indifference toward the political changes. It was clear, however, that +as soon as the national spirit was once awakened, the highly artificial +system created by the French emperor would collapse. His first serious +reverse came from the people and from an unexpected quarter. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon makes his brother Joseph king of Spain.] + +Napoleon decided, after Tilsit, that the Spanish peninsula must be +brought more completely under his control. Portugal was too friendly to +the English, and Spain, owing to serious dissensions in the royal +family, seemed an easy prey. In the spring of 1808 Napoleon induced both +the king and the crown prince of Spain to meet him at Bayonne. Here he +was able to persuade or force both of them to surrender their rights to +the throne; on June 6 he appointed his brother Joseph king of Spain, +making Murat king of Naples in his stead. + +[Sidenote: Revolt in Spain against the foreign ruler.] + +Joseph entered Madrid in July, armed with excellent intentions and a new +constitution. The general rebellion in favor of the crown prince which +immediately broke out had an element of religious enthusiasm in it, for +the monks stirred up the people against Napoleon, on the ground that he +was oppressing the pope and depriving him of his dominions. One French +army was captured at Baylen, and another capitulated to the English +forces which had landed in Portugal. Before the end of July Joseph and +the French troops had been compelled to retreat behind the Ebro River. + +[Sidenote: Spain subdued by arms.] + +In November the French emperor himself led a magnificent army into +Spain, two hundred thousand strong, in the best of condition and +commanded by his ablest marshals. The Spanish troops, perhaps one +hundred thousand in number, were ill clad and inadequately equipped; +what was worse, they were over-confident in view of their late victory. +They were, of course, defeated, and Madrid surrendered December 4. +Napoleon immediately abolished the Inquisition, the feudal dues, the +internal customs lines, and two thirds of the cloisters. This is typical +of the way in which the French Revolution went forth in arms to spread +its principles throughout western Europe. + +The next month Napoleon was back in Paris, as he saw that he had another +war with Austria on his hands. He left Joseph on his insecure throne, +after assuring the Spanish that God had given the French emperor the +power and the will to overcome all obstacles.[430] He was soon to +discover, however, that these very Spaniards could maintain a guerilla +warfare against which his best troops and most distinguished generals +were powerless. His ultimate downfall was in no small measure due to the +persistent hostility of the Spanish people. + +[Sidenote: War with Austria, 1809.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Wagram.] + +[Sidenote: Extension of the boundaries of France.] + +In April, 1809, Austria ventured to declare war once more on the "enemy +of Europe," but this time she found no one to aid her. The great battle +of Wagram, near Vienna (July 5-6), was not perhaps so unconditional a +victory for the French as that of Austerlitz, but it forced Austria into +just as humiliating a peace as that of Pressburg. Austria's object had +been to destroy Napoleon's system of dependencies and "to restore to +their rightful possessors all those lands belonging to them respectively +before the Napoleonic usurpations." Instead of accomplishing this end, +Austria was obliged to cede more territory to Napoleon and his allies, +and he went on adding to his dependencies. After incorporating into +France the kingdom of Etruria and the papal dominions (1808-1809), +Napoleon was encouraged by his victory over Austria to annex +Holland[431] and the German districts to the north, including the +Hanseatic towns. Consequently, in 1810 France stretched from the +confines of Naples to the Baltic. One might travel from Lübeck to Rome +without leaving Napoleon's realms. + +Napoleon was anxious to have an heir to whom he could transmit his vast +dominions. As Josephine bore him no children, he decided to divorce her, +and after considering a Russian princess, he married the Archduchess +Maria Louisa, the daughter of the Austrian emperor and a grandniece of +Marie Antoinette. In this way the former Corsican adventurer gained +admission to one of the oldest and proudest of reigning families, the +Hapsburgs. His new wife soon bore him a son, who was styled King of +Rome. + +[Sidenote: Relations between Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia.] + +253. Among the continental states Russia alone was entirely out of +Napoleon's control. There were plenty of causes for misunderstanding +between the ardent young Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon. Up to this time +the agreement of Tilsit had been maintained. Napoleon was, however, +secretly opposing Alexander's plans for adding the Danubian provinces +and Finland to his possessions. Then the possibility of Napoleon's +reëstablishing Poland as a national kingdom which might threaten +Russia's interests, was a constant source of apprehension to Alexander. +By 1812 Napoleon believed himself to be in a condition to subdue this +doubtful friend, who might at any moment become a dangerous enemy. +Against the advice of his more far-sighted counselors, the emperor +collected on the Russian frontier a vast army of four hundred thousand +men, composed to a great extent of young conscripts and the contingents +furnished by his allies. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon's campaign in Russia, 1812.] + +The story of the fearful Russian campaign which followed cannot be told +here in detail. Napoleon had planned to take three years to conquer +Russia, but he was forced on by the necessity of gaining at least one +signal victory before he closed the season's campaign. The Russians +simply retreated and led him far within a hostile and devastated country +before they offered battle at Borodino (September 7). Napoleon won the +battle, but his army was reduced to something over one hundred thousand +men when he entered Moscow a week later. The town had been set on fire +by the Russians before his arrival; he found his position untenable, and +had to retreat as winter came on. The cold, the want of food, and the +harassing attacks of the people along the route made that retreat the +most signal military tragedy on record. Napoleon regained Poland early +in December with scarcely twenty thousand of the four hundred thousand +with which he had started less than six months before.[432] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon collects a new army.] + +Napoleon hastened back to Paris, where he freely misrepresented the true +state of affairs, even declaring that the army was in a good condition +up to the time that he turned it over to Murat in December. While the +loss of men in the Russian campaign was enormous, just those few had +naturally survived who would be most essential in the formation of a new +army, namely, the officers. With their help, Napoleon soon had a force +of no less than six hundred thousand men with which to return to the +attack. This contained one hundred and fifty thousand conscripts who +should not have been called into service until 1814, besides older men +who had been hitherto exempted. + +[Sidenote: Social conditions in Prussia before 1806.] + + +254. By the end of February, 1813, the timid Frederick William had been +induced by public sentiment in Prussia to break with his oppressor and +join Russia. On March 17, he issued a famous address "To my People," in +which he called upon them to assist him in the recovery of Prussian +independence. Up to the defeat of Jena, Prussia was far more backward in +its social organization than France had been before 1789. The +agricultural classes were serfs, who were bound to the land and +compelled to work a certain part of each week for the lord without +remuneration.[433] The population was divided into strict social castes. +Moreover, no noble could buy citizen or peasant land; no citizen, noble +or peasant land; no peasant, noble or citizen land. + +[Sidenote: Reform of the social system in Prussia.] + +The disaster of Jena and the losses at Tilsit convinced the +clearer-sighted statesmen of Prussia, especially Stein, that the +country's only hope of recovery was a complete social and political +revolution, not unlike that which had taken place in France. They saw +that the feudal system must be abolished, the peasants freed, and the +restrictions which hedged about the different classes done away with, +before it would be possible to arouse public spirit to a point where a +great popular uprising might expel the intruder forever. + +The first great step toward this general reform was the royal decree of +October 9, 1807,[434] intended to "remove every obstacle that has +hitherto prevented the individual from attaining such a degree of +prosperity as he was capable of reaching." Serfdom was abolished and the +restrictions on landholding removed, so that any one, regardless of +class, was at liberty to purchase and hold landed property of every +kind. In some cases the principles of the French Revolution had been +introduced by Napoleon or the rulers that he set up. In this case it was +the necessity of preparing the country to throw off his yoke and regain +its independence that led to the same result. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon defeated by the allied Russians, Prussians, and +Austrians, October, 1813.] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Leipsic, October 16-19, 1813.] + +255. Napoleon had therefore to face now, not only the cabinets of Europe +and the regular armies that they directed, but a people who were being +organized to defend their country. His soldiers were, however, still +triumphant for a time. He met with no successful opposition, and on May +14, 1813, he occupied Dresden in the territory of his faithful ally, the +king of Saxony. This he held during the summer, and inflicted several +defeats upon the allies, who had been joined by Austria in August. He +gained his last great victory, the battle of Dresden, August 26-27. +Finding that the allied armies of the Russians, Prussians, and +Austrians, which had at last learned the necessity of coöperating +against their powerful common enemy, were preparing to cut him off from +France, he retreated early in October and was totally defeated in the +tremendous "Battle of the Nations," as the Germans love to call it, in +the environs of Leipsic (October 16-19). + +[Sidenote: Germany, Holland, and Spain throw off the Napoleonic yoke.] + +As the defeated emperor crossed the Rhine with the remnants of his army, +the whole fabric of his political edifice in Germany and Holland +collapsed. The members of the Confederation of the Rhine joined the +allies. Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia, and the +Dutch drove the French officials from Holland. During the year 1813 the +Spanish, with the aid of the English under Wellington, had practically +cleared their country of the French intruders. + +[Sidenote: Occupation of Paris by the allies, March 31, 1814.] + +[Sidenote: Napoleon abdicates and is banished to the island of Elba.] + +In spite of these disasters, Napoleon refused the propositions of peace +made on condition that he would content himself henceforth with his +dominion over France. The allies consequently marched into France, and +the almost superhuman activity of the hard-pressed emperor could not +prevent their occupation of Paris (March 31, 1814). Napoleon was forced +to abdicate, and the allies, in seeming derision, granted him full +sovereignty over the tiny island of Elba and permitted him to retain his +imperial title. In reality he was a prisoner on his island kingdom, and +the Bourbons reigned again in France. + +[Sidenote: Return of Napoleon.] + +Within a year, encouraged by the dissensions of the allies and the +unpopularity of the Bourbons, he made his escape, landed in France +(March 1, 1815), and was received with enthusiasm by a portion of the +army. Yet France as a whole was indifferent, if not hostile, to his +attempt to reëstablish his power. Certainly no one could place +confidence in his talk of peace and liberty. Moreover, whatever +disagreement there might be among the allies on other matters, there was +perfect unanimity in their attitude toward "the enemy and destroyer of +the world's peace." They solemnly proclaimed him an outlaw, and devoted +him to public vengeance. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Waterloo, June, 1815.] + +[Sidenote: Exile to Saint Helena.] + +Upon learning that English troops under Wellington and a Prussian army +under Blücher had arrived in the Netherlands, Napoleon decided to attack +them with such troops as he could collect. In the first engagements he +defeated and drove back the Prussians. Wellington then took his station +south of Brussels, at Waterloo. Napoleon advanced against him (June 18, +1815) and might have defeated the English had they not been opportunely +reënforced by Blücher's Prussians, who had recovered themselves. As it +was, Napoleon lost the most memorable of modern battles. Yet, even if he +had not been defeated at Waterloo, he could not long have opposed the +vast armies which were being concentrated to overthrow him. This time he +was banished to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he could only +brood over the past and prepare his _Memoirs_, in which he carefully +strove to justify his career of ambition.[435] + + + General Reading.--Of the many lives of Napoleon the best and most + recent are the following: FOURNIER, _Life of Napoleon_ (a + translation of this work from the original German, edited by E.G. + Bourne, is announced by Holt & Co.); ROSE, _Life of Napoleon the + First_ (The Macmillan Company, 2 vols., $4.00). The fullest + biography of Napoleon is that of SLOANE, _Life of Napoleon + Bonaparte_ (The Century Co., 4 vols., $18). An excellent sketch of + the military history may be found in ROPES, _The First Napoleon_ + (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $2.00). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA + + +[Sidenote: Problem of the reconstruction of Europe after Napoleon's +fall.] + +256. There is no more important chapter in the political history of +Europe than the reconstruction of the map after Napoleon's abdication. +The allies immediately reinstated the Bourbon dynasty on the throne of +France in the person of Louis XVI's younger brother, the count of +Provence, who became Louis XVIII.[436] They first restricted France to +the boundaries that she had had at the beginning of 1792, but later +deprived her of Savoy as a punishment for yielding to the domination of +Napoleon after his return from Elbe. A great congress of the European +powers was summoned to meet at Vienna, where the allies proposed to +settle all those difficult problems that faced them. They had no idea of +reëstablishing things just as they were before the Napoleonic cataclysm, +for the simple reason that Austria, Russia, and Prussia all had schemes +for their own advantage that precluded so simple an arrangement. + +[Sidenote: Provisions of the Congress of Vienna in regard to the +Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.] + +The Congress of Vienna began its sessions November 1, 1814. The allies +quickly agreed that Holland should become an hereditary kingdom under +the house of Orange, which had long played so conspicuous a rôle in the +nominal republic. In order that Holland might be the better able to +check any new encroachments on the part of France, the former Austrian +Netherlands were given to her. Switzerland was declared independent, as +were all the small Italian states which had existed prior to the +innovations of Napoleon, except the ancient republics of Venice and +Genoa, neither of which was restored. Genoa was given to the king of +Sardinia; Venetia to Austria, as an indemnity for her losses in the +Netherlands. Austria also received back her former territory of Milan, +and became, by reason of her control of northern Italy, a powerful +factor in determining the policy of the whole Italian peninsula. As to +Germany, no one desired to undo the great work of 1803 and restore the +old anarchy. The former members of the Rhine Confederation were bent +upon maintaining the "sovereignty" which Napoleon had secured for them; +consequently the allies determined that the several states of Germany +should be independent, but "united in a federal union." + +[Illustration: EUROPE IN 1815] + +[Sidenote: Dispute over disposal of the Polish territory and the fate of +the kingdom of Saxony.] + +So far all was tolerably harmonious. Nevertheless, serious differences +of opinion developed at the congress, which nearly brought on war among +the allies themselves, and encouraged Napoleon's return from Elba. These +concerned the disposition of the Polish territory that Napoleon had +converted into the grand duchy of Warsaw. Prussia and Russia were agreed +that the best way would be to let the Tsar make a separate state of this +territory, and unite it in a personal union with his Russian realms. +Prussia was then to be indemnified for her losses in the East by +annexing the lands of the king of Saxony, who, it was argued, merited +this retribution for remaining faithful to Napoleon after the other +members of the Confederation of the Rhine had repudiated him. + +Austria and England, on the other hand, were bitterly opposed to this +arrangement. They approved neither of dispossessing the king of Saxony +nor of extending the Tsar's influence westward by giving him Poland. The +great diplomatist, Talleyrand, who represented Louis XVIII at the +congress, now saw his chance. The allies had resolved to treat France as +a black sheep, and permit the other four great powers to arrange +matters to suit themselves. But they were now hopelessly at odds, and +Austria and England found France a welcome ally in their opposition to +the northern powers. So in this way the disturber of the peace of Europe +for the last quarter of a century was received back into the family of +nations. + +[Sidenote: The compromise.] + +A compromise was at last reached. The Tsar was allowed to create a +kingdom of Poland out of the grand duchy of Warsaw, but only half of the +possessions of the king of Saxony were ceded to Prussia. As a further +indemnity, Frederick William III was given certain districts on the left +bank of the Rhine which had belonged to ecclesiastical and petty lay +princes before the Treaty of Lunéville. The great importance of this +arrangement we shall see later when we come to trace the development of +the present German empire. + +[Sidenote: Changes in the map of Europe since 1815.] + +If one compares the map of Europe in 1815 with that of the present +day,[437] he will be struck with the following differences. In 1815 +there was no German empire, and Prussia was a much smaller and less +compact state than now. It has evidently grown at the expense of its +neighbors, as several of the lesser German states of 1815,--Hanover, +Nassau, and Hesse-Cassel,--no longer appear on the map, and Schleswig +Holstein, which then belonged to Denmark, is now Prussian. It will be +noted that the present German empire does not include any part of the +Austrian countries, as did the Confederation of 1815, and that, on the +other hand, it does include all of Prussia. The kingdom of Poland has +become an integral part of the Russian dominions. Austria, excluded from +the German union, has entered into a dual union with Hungary, in which +the two countries are placed upon the same footing. + +There was no kingdom of Italy in 1815. Now Austria has lost all hold on +Lombardy and Venetia, and all the little states reëstablished by the +Congress of Vienna, including the Papal States, have disappeared. A new +kingdom, Belgium, has been created out of the old Austrian Netherlands +which the congress gave to the king of Holland. France, now a republic +again, has recovered Savoy, but has lost all her possessions on the +Rhine by the cession of Alsace and Lorraine to the German empire. +Lastly, Turkey in Europe has nearly disappeared, and several new states, +Greece, Servia, Roumania, and Bulgaria, have appeared in southeastern +Europe. It is the purpose of the following chapters to show how the +great changes indicated on the map took place and explain the +accompanying internal changes, in so far as they represent the general +trend of modern development or have an importance for Europe at large. + +[Sidenote: Influence of Napoleon in spreading the reforms achieved by +the Revolution.] + +[Sidenote: Reactionary policy in the smaller states of Europe.] + +257. Napoleon had been as thoroughly despotic in his government as any +of the monarchs who regained their thrones after his downfall, but he +was a son of the Revolution and had no sympathy with the ancient abuses +that it had done away with. In spite of his despotism the people of the +countries that had come under his influence had learned the great +lessons of the French Revolution. Nevertheless, the restored monarchs in +many of the smaller European states proceeded to reëstablish the ancient +feudal abuses and to treat their subjects as if there had been no French +Revolution and no such man as Napoleon. In Spain, for example, the +Inquisition and the monasteries were restored and the clergy exempted +anew from taxation. In Hesse-Cassel, which had formed a part of the +kingdom of Westphalia, all the reforms introduced by Napoleon and his +brother were abolished. The privileges of the nobility, and also the +feudal burdens of the peasantry, were restored. The soldiers were even +required to assume the discarded pigtails and powdered wigs of the +eighteenth century. In Sardinia and Naples the returning monarchs +pursued the same policy of reaction. The reaction was not so sudden and +obvious in the greater European states,--France, Prussia, Austria, and +Russia. + +[Sidenote: The restoration of the Bourbons in France.] + +[Sidenote: Policy of Louis XVIII, 1814-1824.] + +258. The French had aroused themselves in 1793-1794 to repel the foreign +powers, Austria and Prussia, who threatened to intervene in the domestic +concerns of the country, and to reëstablish the old régime. Twenty years +later, in 1814, when the allies entered Paris, there was no danger +either of a popular uprising, or of the reëstablishment of the old +abuses. It is true that the Bourbon line of kings was restored; but +France had always been monarchical at heart. It was only the ill-advised +conduct of Louis XVI in the peculiar circumstances of 1791-1792 that had +led to his deposition and the establishment of a republic, which +Napoleon had easily converted into a monarchy. The new king, Louis +XVIII, left the wonderful administrative system of Napoleon intact and +made no effort to destroy the great achievements of the Revolution. He +granted the nation a constitution called the "Charter," which is a most +interesting document from two standpoints. + +[Sidenote: The Charter of 1814.] + +In the first place, the provisions of the Charter of 1814 furnish us +with a statement of the permanent results of the Revolution. The +concessions that Louis XVIII found it expedient to make, "in view of the +expectations of enlightened Europe," help us to measure the distance +that separates his time from that of his elder brother. In the second +place, no other constitution has yet lasted the French so long as did +the Charter.[438] Although somewhat modified in 1830, it was maintained +down to 1848. + +All Frenchmen are declared by the Charter to be equal before the law, +and equally eligible to civil and military positions. Personal and +religious liberty is insured, and all citizens, without distinction of +rank, are required to contribute to the taxes in proportion to their +means. In short, almost all the great reforms proclaimed by the first +Declaration of the Rights of Man are guaranteed. The laws are to be made +by the king in coöperation with a House of Peers and a popular body, +the Chamber of Deputies; the latter may impeach the king's ministers. + +[Sidenote: Policy of the reactionary party in France.] + +In spite of these enlightened provisions attempts were made by the old +emigrant nobles--still led by their original leader, the king's brother, +the count of Artois--and by the clergy, to further a reaction in France. +This party induced the French _parlement_ to pass certain oppressive +measures, and, as we shall see, persuaded Louis XVIII to coöperate with +the other reactionary rulers in interfering to quell the revolutionary +movements in Italy and Spain. + +THE LAST BOURBON KINGS + + Louis XIII (d. 1643) + | + +------------------+---------------------------------+ + | | + Louis XIV (d. 1715) Philip, Duke of Orleans + | | + Louis XV (d. 1774), | +great-grandson of Louis XIV | + | | + Louis the Dauphin (d. 1765) | + | | + +------------------+-----------------+ | + | | | | + Louis XVI Louis XVIII Charles X | + (d. 1793) (d. 1824), (deposed 1830), | + | Count of Provence Count of Artois | + | | + Louis XVII (d. 1795) Louis Philippe I, + great-great-grandson of + Philip (deposed 1848) + +[Sidenote: Charles X deposed in 1830 and replaced by Louis Philippe.] + +In 1824 Louis XVIII died and was succeeded by the count of Artois, who +took the title of Charles X. Under his rule the reactionary policy of +the government naturally became more pronounced. A bill was passed +indemnifying the nobility for the property they had lost during the +Revolution. Other less just measures led to the dethronement of the +unpopular king in 1830, by a revolution. Louis Philippe, the descendant +of Henry IV through the younger, or Orleans, branch of the Bourbon +family, was put upon the throne.[439] + +[Sidenote: Three chief results of Napoleon's influence in Germany.] + +[Sidenote: Disappearance of most of the little states.] + +259. The chief effects of the Napoleonic occupation of Germany were +three in number. First, the consolidation of territory that followed the +cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France had, as has been +explained, done away with the anomalous ecclesiastical states, the +territories of knights, and most of the free towns. Only thirty-eight +German states, including four towns, were left when the Congress of +Vienna took up the question of forming a confederation to replace the +defunct Holy Roman Empire. + +[Sidenote: Advantageous position of Prussia.] + +Second, the external and internal conditions of Prussia had been so +changed as to open the way for it to replace Austria as the controlling +power in Germany. A great part of the Slavic possessions gained in the +last two partitions of Poland had been lost, but as an indemnity Prussia +had received half of the kingdom of Saxony, in the very center of +Germany, and also the Rhine provinces, where the people were thoroughly +imbued with the revolutionary doctrines that had prevailed in France. +Prussia now embraced all the various types of people included in the +German nation and was comparatively free from the presence of non-German +races. In this respect it offered a marked contrast to the heterogeneous +and mongrel population of its great rival Austria. + +The internal changes were no less remarkable. The reforms carried out +after Jena by the distinguished minister Stein and his successor, +Hardenberg, had done for Prussia somewhat the same that the first +National Assembly had done for France. The abolition of the feudal +social castes, and the liberation of the serfs made the economic +development of the country possible. The reorganization of the whole +military system prepared the way for Prussia's great victories in 1866 +and 1870, which led to the formation of a new German empire under her +headship. + +[Sidenote: Demand for constitutional government.] + +Third, the agitations of the Napoleonic period had aroused the national +spirit. The appeal to the people to aid in the freeing of their country +from foreign oppression, and the idea of their participation in a +government based upon a written constitution, had produced widespread +discontent with the old absolute monarchy. + +[Sidenote: The German Confederation of 1815.] + +When the form of union for the German states came up for discussion at +the Congress of Vienna, two different plans were advocated. Prussia's +representatives submitted a scheme for a firm union like that of the +United States, in which the central government should control the +individual states in all matters of general interest. This idea was +successfully opposed by Austria, supported by the other German rulers. +Austria realized that her possessions, as a whole, could never be +included in any real German union, for even in the western portion of +her territory there were many Slavs, while in Hungary and the southern +provinces there were practically no Germans at all. On the other hand, +she felt that she might be the leader in a very loose union in which all +the members should be left practically independent. Her ideal of an +international union of sovereign princes under her own headship was +almost completely realized in the constitution adopted. + +[Sidenote: Character of the German constitution.] + +The confederation was not a union of the various _countries_ involved, +but of "The Sovereign Princes and Free Towns of Germany," including the +emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia for such of their possessions +as were formerly included in the German empire; the king of Denmark for +Holstein; and the king of the Netherlands for the grand duchy of +Luxembourg. The union thus included two sovereigns who were out-and-out +foreigners, and did not include all the possessions of its two most +important members.[440] + +The diet which met at Frankfort was composed (as was perfectly logical), +not of representatives of the people, but of plenipotentiaries of the +rulers who were members of the confederation. The members reserved to +themselves the right of forming alliances of all kinds, but pledged +themselves to make no agreement prejudicial to the safety of the union +or of any of its members, or to make war upon any member of the +confederation on any pretense whatsoever. The constitution could not be +amended without the approval of _all_ the governments concerned. In +spite of its obvious weaknesses, the confederation of 1815 lasted for a +half a century, until Prussia finally expelled Austria from the union by +arms, and began the formation of the present German federation. + +[Sidenote: Political associations of German students.] + +260. The liberal and progressive party in Germany was sadly disappointed +by the failure of the Congress of Vienna to weld Germany into a really +national state. They were troubled, too, by the delay of the king of +Prussia in granting the constitution that he had promised to his +subjects. Other indications were not wanting that the German princes +might not yet be ready to give up their former despotic power and adopt +the principles of the French Revolution advocated by the liberals. A +"League of Virtue" had been formed after the disastrous battle of Jena +to arouse and keep alive the zeal of the nation for expelling the +invader. This began to be reënforced, about 1815, by student +associations organized by those who had returned to their studies from +the war of independence. The students anathematized the reactionary +party in their meetings, and drank to the freedom of Germany. October +18, 1817, they held a celebration in the Wartburg to commemorate both +Luther's revolt and the anniversary of the battle of Leipsic. Speeches +were made in honor of the brave who had fallen in the war of +independence, and of the grand duke of Weimar, who was the first of the +North German princes to give his people a constitution. The day closed +with the burning of certain reactionary pamphlets. + +This innocent burst of enthusiasm excited great apprehension in the +minds of the conservative statesmen of Europe, the leader among whom was +the Austrian minister, Metternich. The murder by a fanatical student of +a journalist, who was supposed to have influenced the Tsar to desert his +former liberal policy, cast discredit upon the liberal party. It also +gave Metternich an opportunity to emphasize the terrible results which +he anticipated would come from the students' associations, liberal +governments, and the freedom of the press. + +[Illustration: Metternich] + +[Sidenote: The 'Carlsbad Resolutions,' 1819.] + +The extreme phase in the progress of reaction in Germany was reached +when, with this murder as an excuse, Metternich called together the +representatives of the larger states of the confederation at Carlsbad in +August, 1819. Here a series of resolutions were drawn up with the aim of +checking the free expression of opinions hostile to existing +institutions, and of discovering and bringing to justice the +revolutionists who were supposed to exist in dangerous numbers. These +"Carlsbad Resolutions" were laid before the diet by Austria and adopted, +though not without protest. + +They provided that there should be a special official in each university +to watch the professors. Should any of them be found "abusing their +legitimate influence over the youthful mind and propagating harmful +doctrines hostile to the public order or subversive of the existing +governmental institutions," the offenders were to lose their positions. +The general students' union, which was suspected of being too +revolutionary, was to be suppressed. Moreover, no newspaper, magazine, +or pamphlet was to go to press without the previous approval of +government officials, who were to determine whether it contained +anything tending to foster discontent with the government. Lastly, a +special commission was appointed to investigate the revolutionary +conspiracies which Metternich and his sympathizers supposed to exist +throughout Germany.[441] + +The attack upon the freedom of the press, and especially the +interference with the liberty of teaching in the great institutions of +learning, which were already becoming the home of the highest +scholarship in the world, scandalized all the progressive spirits in +Germany. Yet no successful protest was raised, and Germany as a whole, +acquiesced for a generation in Metternich's system of discouraging +reform of all kinds. + +[Sidenote: The southern German states receive constitutions, 1818-1820.] + +[Sidenote: Formation of a customs union--_zollverein_--with Prussia at +its head.] + +Nevertheless, important progress was made in southern Germany. As early +as 1818 the king of Bavaria granted his people a constitution in which +he stated their rights and admitted them to a share in the government by +establishing a parliament. His example was followed within two years by +the rulers of Baden, Würtemberg, and Hesse. Another change for the +better was the gradual formation of a customs union, which permitted +goods to be sent freely from one German state to another without the +payment of duties at each boundary line. This yielded some of the +advantages of a political union. This economic union, of which Prussia +was the head, and from which Austria was excluded, was a harbinger of +the future German empire.[442] + +[Sidenote: Metternich opposes revolutionary movements in Spain and +Italy.] + +261. Metternich had met with signal success in his efforts to keep +Germany at a standstill. When, in 1820, the kings of Spain and Naples +were compelled by popular uprisings to accept constitutions, and so +surrender their ancient right to rule their subjects despotically, it +was but natural that Metternich should urge the European powers to +unite for the purpose of suppressing such manifestations. He urged that +revolts of this kind set a dangerous example and threatened the +tranquillity and security of all the other absolute monarchs. + +[Sidenote: Italy only 'a geographical expression' in 1820.] + +Italy was at this time what Metternich called only "a geographical +expression"; it had no political unity whatever. Lombardy and Venetia, +in the northern part, were in the hands of Austria, and Parma, Modena, +and Tuscany belonged to members of the Austrian family. In the south, +the considerable kingdom of the Two Sicilies was ruled over by a branch +of the Spanish Bourbons. In the center, cutting the peninsula in twain, +were the Papal States, which extended north to the Po. The presence of +Austria, and the apparent impossibility of inducing the pope to submit +to any government but his own, seemed to preclude all hope of making +Italy into a true nation. Yet fifty years later the kingdom of Italy, as +it now appears on the map of Europe, came into existence through the +final exclusion of Austria from the peninsula and the extinction of the +political power of the pope. + +[Sidenote: Reforms introduced in Italy during the Napoleonic +occupation.] + +Although Napoleon had governed Italy despotically he had introduced a +great many important reforms. He had established political equality and +an orderly administration, and had forwarded public improvements; the +vestiges of the feudal régime had vanished at his approach. Moreover, he +had held out the hope of a united Italy, from which the foreign powers +who had plagued and distracted her for centuries should be banished. But +his unscrupulous use of Italy to advance his personal ambitions +disappointed those who at first had placed their hopes in him, and they +came to look for his downfall as eagerly as did the nobility and the +dispossessed clergy, whose hopes were centered in Austria. It became +clear to the more thoughtful Italians that Italy must look to herself +and her own resources if she were ever to become an independent European +state. + +[Sidenote: Reaction in Italy after Napoleon's downfall.] + +[Sidenote: The _Carbonari_.] + +The downfall of Napoleon left Italy seemingly in a worse state than that +in which he had found it. The hold of Austria was strengthened by her +acquisition of Venice. The petty despots of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany, +reseated on their thrones by the Congress of Vienna, hastened to sweep +away the reforms of the Corsican and to reëstablish all the abuses of +the old régime, now doubly conspicuous and obnoxious by reason of their +temporary abolition. The lesser Italian princes, moreover, showed +themselves to be heartily in sympathy with the hated Austria. Popular +discontent spread throughout the peninsula and led to the formation of +numerous secret societies, which assumed strange names, practiced +mysterious rites, and plotted darkly in the name of Italian liberty and +independence. By far the most noted of these associations was that of +the _Carbonari_, i.e., charcoal burners. Its objects were individual +liberty, constitutional government, and national independence and unity; +these it undertook to promote by agitation, conspiracy, and, if +necessary, by revolution. + +[Sidenote: Temporary constitutions in Spain and Naples, 1820.] + +The Italian agitators had a superstitious respect for a constitution; +they appear to have regarded it not so much as a form of government to +be carefully adapted to the needs of a particular country and time, as a +species of talisman which would insure liberty and prosperity to its +happy possessor. So when the Neapolitans heard that the king of Spain +had been forced by an insurrection to grant a constitution, they made +the first attempt on the part of the Italian people to gain +constitutional liberty by compelling their king to agree to accept the +Spanish constitution (July, 1820). However, at the same time that he was +invoking the vengeance of God upon his own head should he violate his +oath of fidelity to the constitution, he was casting about for foreign +assistance to suppress the revolution and enable him to return to his +old ways. + +[Sidenote: Austria intervenes in Italy (1821), in support of +absolutism.] + +262. He had not long to wait. The alert Metternich invited Russia, +Prussia, France, and England to unite in order to check the development +of "revolt and crime." He declared that the liberal movements, if +unrestrained, would prove "not less tyrannical and fearful" in their +results than that against which the allies had combined in the person of +Napoleon. "Revolution" appeared to him and his conservative sympathizers +as heresy appeared to Philip II,--it was a fearful disease that not only +destroyed those whom it attacked directly, but spread contagion wherever +it appeared and justified prompt and sharp measures of quarantine and +even violent intervention with a view of stamping out the devastating +plague. + +To the great joy of the king of Naples, Austria marched its troops into +his territory (March, 1821) and, meeting but an ill-organized +opposition, freed him from the limitations which his subjects had for +the moment imposed upon him. An attempt on the part of the subjects of +the king of Sardinia to win a constitution was also repressed by +Austrian troops. + +[Sidenote: Hopeful signs in Italy.] + +The weakness of the liberal movement in both southern and northern Italy +appeared to be conclusively demonstrated. A new attempt ten years later, +in Piedmont,[443] Modena, and the Papal States, to get rid of the +existing despotism was quite as futile as the revolution of 1820-1821. +Yet there were two hopeful signs. England protested as early as 1820 +against Metternich's theory of interfering in the domestic affairs of +other independent states in order to prevent reforms of which he +disapproved, and France emphatically repudiated the doctrine of +intervention on the accession of Louis Philippe in 1830. A second and +far more important indication of progress was the increasing conviction +on the part of the Italians that their country ought to be a single +nation and not, as hitherto, a group of small independent states under +foreign influence. + +[Sidenote: Mazzini, 1805-1872.] + +A great leader arose in the person of the delicately organized and +highly endowed Mazzini. He quickly became disgusted with the +inefficiency and the silly mystery of the Carbonari, and founded a new +association, called "Young Italy." This aimed to bring about the +regeneration of Italy through the education of the young men in lofty +republican principles. Mazzini had no confidence in princes and treaties +and foreign aid. "We are of the people and will treat with the people. +They will understand us," he said. He was not the man to organize a +successful revolution, but he inspired the young Italians with an almost +religious enthusiasm for the cause of Italy's liberation. His writings, +which were widely read throughout the peninsula, created a feeling of +loyalty to a common country among the patriots who were scattered +through the different states of Italy.[444] + +[Sidenote: Plan of uniting Italy under the headship of the pope.] + +[Sidenote: Early reforms of Pius IX (pope, 1846-1878).] + +There was a great diversity of opinion among the reformers as to the +best way to make Italy into a nation. Mazzini's party saw no hope except +in republican institutions, but others were confident that an +enlightened pope could form an Italian federation, of which he should be +the head. And when Pius IX, upon his accession in 1846, immediately +began to consult the interests and wishes of his people by subjecting +priests to taxation, admitting laymen to his councils and tribunals, +granting greater liberty of the press, and even protesting against +Austrian encroachments, there seemed to be some ground for the belief +that the pope might take the lead in the regeneration of Italy. But he +soon grew suspicious of the liberals, and the outcome furnished one more +proof of the sagacity of Machiavelli, who had pointed out over three +centuries earlier that the temporal possessions of the pope constituted +the chief obstacle to Italian unity. + +The future belonged neither to the republicans nor to the papal party, +but to those who looked for salvation in the gradual reformation of the +existing monarchies, especially of the kingdom of Sardinia. Only in this +way was there any prospect of ousting Austria, and without that no +union, whether federal or otherwise, could possibly be formed. + +[Sidenote: Reason of Austria's influence after the Congress of Vienna.] + +From 1815 to 1848 those who believed in keeping things as they were at +any cost were able, under the leadership of Metternich, to oppose pretty +successfully those who from time to time attempted to secure for the +people a greater control of the government and to satisfy the craving +for national life. This did not mean, of course, that no progress was +made during this long period in realizing the ideals of the liberal +party in the various European states, or that one man can block the +advance of nations for a generation. The very fact that Austria had, +after the Congress of Vienna, assumed the leading rôle in Europe that +France had played during the period following the Revolution of 1789, is +a sufficient indication that Metternich's aversion to change +corresponded to a general conviction that it was best, for the time +being, to let well enough alone. + +[Sidenote: Creation of the kingdom of Greece, 1829.] + +Two events, at least, during the period of Metternich's influence served +to encourage the liberals of Europe. In 1821 the inhabitants of Greece +had revolted against the oppressive government of the Turks. The Turkish +government set to work to suppress the revolt by atrocious massacres. It +is said that twenty thousand of the inhabitants of the island of Chios +were slaughtered. The Greeks, however, succeeded in arousing the +sympathy of western Europe, and they held out until England, Russia, and +France intervened and forced the Sultan to recognize the independence of +Greece in 1829.[445] + +[Sidenote: Belgium becomes an independent kingdom in 1831.] + +Another little kingdom was added to the European states by the revolt of +the former Austrian Netherlands from the king of Holland, to whom they +had been assigned by the Congress of Vienna. The southern Netherlands +were still as different from the northern as they had been in the time +of William the Silent.[446] Holland was Protestant and German, while the +southern provinces, to whom the union had always been distasteful, were +Catholic and akin to the French in their sympathies. Encouraged by the +revolution at Paris in 1830, the people of Brussels rose in revolt +against their Dutch king, and forced his troops to leave the city. +Through the influence of England and France the European powers agreed +to recognize the independence of the Belgians, who established a kingdom +and introduced an excellent constitution providing for a limited +monarchy modeled upon that of England. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY AND GERMANY + + +[Sidenote: The general revolutionary movement in western Europe in +1848.] + +263. In 1848 the gathering discontent and the demand for reform suddenly +showed their full strength and extent; it seemed for a time as if all +western Europe was about to undergo as complete a revolution as France +had experienced in 1789. With one accord, and as if obeying a +preconcerted signal, the liberal parties in France, Italy, Germany, and +Austria, during the early months of 1848, overthrew or gained control of +the government, and proceeded to carry out their programme of reform in +the same thoroughgoing way in which the National Assembly in France had +done its work in 1789. The general movement affected almost every state +in Europe, but the course of events in France, and in that part of +central Europe which had so long been dominated by Austria, merits +especial attention. + +[Sidenote: The revolution of 1848 in France.] + +[Sidenote: Unpopularity of Louis Philippe among the republicans.] + +The revolutionary movements of 1848 did not begin in France, but in +Italy; yet it was the dethronement of Louis Philippe and the +establishment of a second French republic that gave the signal for the +general European revolt. The Charter of 1814 had been only slightly +modified after the revolution of 1830, in spite of the wishes of the +republicans who had been active in bringing about the deposition of +Charles X. They maintained that the king had too much power and could +influence the _parlement_ to make laws contrary to the wishes of the +people at large. They also protested against the laws which excluded the +poorer classes from voting (only two hundred thousand among a population +of thirty million enjoyed that right), and demanded that every +Frenchman should have the right to vote so soon as he reached maturity. +As Louis Philippe grew older he became more and more suspicious of the +liberal parties which had helped him to his throne. He not only opposed +reforms himself, but also did all he could to keep the _parlement_ and +the newspapers from advocating any changes which the progressive parties +demanded. Nevertheless the strength of the republicans gradually +increased. They found allies in a new group of socialistic writers who +desired a fundamental reorganization of the state. + +[Sidenote: The second French republic proclaimed February 27, 1848.] + +On February 24, 1848, a mob attacked the Tuilleries. The king abdicated +in favor of his grandson, but it was too late; he and his whole family +were forced to leave the country. The mob invaded the assembly, as in +the time of the Reign of Terror, crying, "Down with the Bourbons, old +and new! Long live the Republic!" A provisional government was +established which included the writer, Lamartine, Louis Blanc, a +prominent socialist, two or three editors, and several other +politicians. The first decree of this body, ratifying the establishment +of the republic, was solemnly proclaimed on the former site of the +Bastile, February 27. + +[Sidenote: The social democrats and the 'red republic.'] + +[Sidenote: National workshops established.] + +The provisional government was scarcely in session before it was +threatened by the "red republic." Its representatives, the social +democrats, desired to put the laboring classes in control of the +government and let them conduct it in their own interests. Some +advocated community of property, and wished to substitute the red flag +for the national colors. The government went so far as to concede the +so-called "right to labor," and established national workshops, in which +all the unemployed were given an opportunity to work. + +[Sidenote: The insurrection in Paris, June, 1848.] + +A National Assembly had been convoked whose members were elected by a +popular vote of all Frenchmen above the age of twenty-one. The result of +the election was an overwhelming defeat for the social democrats. Their +leaders then attempted to overthrow the new assembly on the pretext +that it did not represent the people; but the national guard frustrated +the attempt. The number of men now enrolled in the national workshops +had reached one hundred and seventeen thousand, each of whom received +two francs a day in return for either useless labor or mere idleness. +The abolition of this nuisance led to a serious revolt. Battle raged in +the streets of Paris for three days, and over ten thousand persons were +killed. + +[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon elected president.] + +[Sidenote: Establishment of the second empire, 1852.] + +This wild outbreak of the forces of revolution resulted in a general +conviction that a strong hand was essential to the maintenance of peace. +The new constitution decreed that the president of the republic should +be chosen by the people at large. Their choice fell upon the nephew of +Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, who had already made two futile +attempts to make himself the ruler of France. Before the expiration of +his four years' term he succeeded, by a _coup d'état_ on the anniversary +of the coronation of his uncle (December 2, 1851), in setting up a new +government. He next obtained, by means of a plebiscite,[447] the consent +of the people to his remaining president for ten years. A year later +(1852) the second empire was established, and Napoleon III became +"Emperor of the French by the grace of God and the will of the people." + +[Sidenote: Austria's commanding position in central Europe.] + +264. When Metternich heard of the February revolution of 1848 in France, +he declared that "Europe finds herself to-day in the presence of a +second 1793." This was not true, however. It was no longer necessary for +France to promote liberal ideas by force of arms, as in 1793. For sixty +years ideas of reform had been spreading in Europe, and by the year 1848 +they were accepted by a great majority of the people, from Berlin to +Palermo. The Europe of 1848 was no longer the Europe of 1793. + +The overthrow of Louis Philippe encouraged the opponents of Metternich +in Germany, Austria, and Italy to attempt to make an end of his system +at once and forever. In view of the important part that Austria had +played in central Europe since the fall of Napoleon I, it was inevitable +that she should appear the chief barrier to the attainment of national +unity and liberal government in Italy and Germany. As ruler of Lombardy +and Venetia she practically controlled Italy, and as presiding member of +the German Confederation she had been able to keep even Prussia in line. +It is not strange that Austria felt that she could make no concessions +to the spirit of nationality, for the territories belonging to the house +of Hapsburg, some twenty in number, were inhabited by four different +races,--Germans, Slavs, Hungarians, and Italians.[448] The Slavs +(especially the Bohemians) and the Hungarians longed for national +independence, as well as the Italians. + +[Sidenote: Overthrow of Metternich, March, 1848.] + +On March 13 the populace of Vienna rose in revolt against their +old-fashioned government. Metternich fled, and all his schemes for +opposing reform appeared to have come to naught. Before the end of the +month the helpless Austrian emperor had given his permission to the +kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia to draw up constitutions for themselves +incorporating the longed-for reforms (equality of all classes in the +matter of taxation, religious freedom, liberty of the press, and the +rest), and providing that each country should have a parliament of its +own, which should meet annually. The Austrian provinces were promised +similar advantages. None of these regions, however, showed any desire to +throw off their allegiance to the Austrian ruler. + +[Sidenote: Beginning of Italian war of independence.] + +The rising in northern Italy, on the contrary, was directed to that +particular end. Immediately on the news of Metternich's fall the +Milanese expelled the Austrian troops from their city, and soon Austria +had evacuated a great part of Lombardy. The Venetians followed the lead +of Milan and set up a republic once more. The Milanese, anticipating a +struggle, appealed to Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, for aid. By +this time a great part of Italy was in revolt. Constitutions were +granted to Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Piedmont by their rulers. The king +of Sardinia was forced by public opinion to assume the leadership in the +attempt to expel the interloping Austria and ultimately, perhaps, to +found some sort of an Italian union which should satisfy the longings +for national unity. The pope and even the Bourbon king of Naples were +induced to consent to the arming and dispatch of troops in the cause of +Italian freedom, and Italy began its first war for independence. + +[Sidenote: The liberal movement in Germany in 1848.] + +The crisis at home and the Italian war made it impossible for Austria to +prevent the progress of revolution in Germany. So spontaneous was the +movement, that before the fall of Metternich reform movements had begun +in Baden, Würtemberg, Bavaria, and Saxony. The opportunity seemed to +have come, now that Austria was hopelessly embarrassed, to reorganize +the German Confederation. + +[Sidenote: Frederick William IV (1840-1861) of Prussia takes the lead in +the reform movement in Germany.] + +The king of Prussia, seeing his opportunity, suddenly reversed his +policy of obedience to the dictates of Austria, and determined to take +the lead in Germany. He agreed to summon an assembly to draw up a +constitution for Prussia. Moreover, a great national assembly was +convoked at Frankfurt to draft a constitution for Germany at large. + +265. By the end of March, 1848, the prospects of reform were bright +indeed. Hungary and Bohemia had been guaranteed constitutional +independence; the Austrian provinces awaited their promised +constitution; Lombardy and Venetia had declared their independence of +Austria; four Italian states had obtained their longed-for +constitutions, and all were ready for a war with Austria; Prussia was +promised a constitution, and lastly, the National Assembly at Frankfurt +was about to prepare a constitution for a united Germany. + +[Sidenote: Conservatives and radicals both help to frustrate the +realization of the proposed reforms.] + +The moderate reformers who had gained these seeming victories had, +however, only just reached the most difficult part of their task. They +had two kinds of enemies, who abhorred each other but who effectually +combined to undo the work of the moderates. These were, first, the +conservative party, represented by Austria and the Italian rulers who +had been forced most reluctantly to grant constitutions to their +subjects; and, secondly, the radicals, who were not satisfied with the +prospect of a liberal monarchy and desired a republican or socialistic +form of government. While the princes were recovering from the +astonishing humiliations of March, the radicals began to discredit the +revolutionary movement and alienate public opinion by fantastic +programmes and the murder of hostile ministers. + +[Sidenote: Defeat of the Italians under Charles Albert of Sardinia, +July, 1848.] + +For the moment Austria's chief danger lay in Italy, which was the only +one of her dependencies that had actually taken up arms against her. The +Italians had been unable to drive out the Austrian army, which, under +the indomitable general, Radetzky, had taken refuge in the so-called +Quadrilateral, in the neighborhood of Mantua, where it was protected by +four great fortresses. Charles Albert of Sardinia found himself, with +the exception of a few volunteers, almost unsupported by the other +Italian states. The best ally of Austria was the absence of united +action upon the part of the Italians, and the jealousy and indifference +that they showed as soon as war had actually begun. The pope decided +that his mission was one of peace and that he could not afford to join +in a war against Austria, the stoutest ally of the Roman church. The +king of Naples easily found a pretext for recalling the troops that +public opinion had compelled him to send to the aid of the king of +Sardinia. Charles Albert was defeated at Custozza, July 25, and +compelled to sign a truce with Austria and withdraw his forces from +Lombardy. + +[Sidenote: Policy of the Italian republicans.] + +The Italian republicans, who had imputed to Charles Albert merely +personal motives in his efforts to free Italy, now attempted to carry +out their own programme. Florence, as well as Venice, proclaimed itself +a republic. At Rome the liberal and enlightened Rossi, whom the pope had +put at the head of affairs, was assassinated in November just as he was +ready to promulgate his reforms. The pope fled from the city and put +himself under the protection of the king of Naples. A constitutional +assembly was then convoked by the revolutionists, and under the +influence of Mazzini, in February, 1849, it declared the temporal power +of the pope abolished and proclaimed the Roman republic. + +[Sidenote: Hostility between the Germans and Czechs in Bohemia.] + +266. Meanwhile the conditions in Austria began to be favorable to a +reëstablishment of the emperor's former influence. Race rivalry proved +his friend in his Austrian domains just as republicanism tended to his +ultimate advantage in Italy. The Czechs[449] in Bohemia hated the +Germans in 1848, much as they had hated them in the time of Huss. The +German part of the population naturally opposed the plan of making +Bohemia practically independent of the government at Vienna, for it was +to German Vienna that they were wont to look for protection against the +enterprises of their Czechish fellow-countrymen. The Germans wanted to +send delegates to the Frankfurt convention, and to maintain the union +between Bohemia and the German states. + +[Sidenote: The Pan-Slavic Congress of 1848.] + +[Sidenote: Beginnings of revolt in Bohemia suppressed.] + +The Czechs determined to offset the movement toward German consolidation +by a Pan-Slavic Congress, which should bring together the various Slavic +peoples comprised in the Austrian empire. To this assembly, which met in +Prague in June, 1848, came delegates from the Czechs, Moravians, +Ruthenians, and Poles in the north, and the Servians and Croatians in +the south. Its deliberations were interrupted by an insurrection that +broke out among the people of Prague and gave the commander of the +Austrian forces a sufficient excuse for intervening. He established a +military government, and the prospect of independence for Bohemia +vanished. This was Austria's first real victory. + +[Sidenote: The Slavic peoples revolt against Hungary.] + +The eastern and southern portion of the Hapsburg domains were not more +homogeneous than the west and north. When a constitution was granted to +Hungary it was inevitable that the races which the Hungarians (Magyars) +had long dominated should begin to consider how they might gain the +right to govern themselves. The Slavs inhabiting Carniola, Carinthia, +Istria, Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, and Servia had long meditated upon +the possibility of a united Slavic kingdom in the south. Both the +Servians and Croatians now revolted against Hungary. Like the Germans in +Bohemia, the Servians and Croatians were on the whole friendly to the +Vienna government, from which they had less to fear than from the +establishment of Hungarian independence, which would put them at the +mercy of the Magyars. It was, therefore, with the support of the +Austrian ministry that an army of Servians and Croatians crossed into +Hungary in September. + +[Illustration: The Various Races of Austro-Hungary] + +[Sidenote: Insurrection of the radicals in Vienna suppressed.] + +[Sidenote: Accession of Francis Joseph I, 1848-.] + +In October, 1848, the radical party rose in Vienna as it had in Paris +after the deposition of Louis Philippe. The minister of war was brutally +murdered and the emperor fled. The city was, however, besieged by the +same commander who had put down the insurrection in Prague, and was +forced to surrender. The imperial government was now in a position still +further to strengthen itself. The emperor, a notoriously inefficient +person, was forced to abdicate (December 2, 1848) in favor of his +youthful nephew, Francis Joseph I, who still sits upon the Austrian +throne. Moreover, a new Metternich appeared in the person of +Schwarzenberg. + +[Sidenote: Suppression of Hungarian republic.] + +[Sidenote: Final peaceful union between Austria and Hungary, 1867.] + +A vigorous campaign was begun against Hungary, which, under the +influence of the patriotic Kossuth, had deposed its Hapsburg king and +declared itself an independent republic under the presidency of Kossuth. +The Tsar placed his forces at the disposal of Francis Joseph, and with +the aid of an army of one hundred and fifty thousand Russians, who +marched in from the east, the Hungarians were compelled, by the middle +of August, to surrender. Austria took terrible vengeance upon the +rebels. Thousands were hung, shot, and imprisoned, and many, including +Kossuth, fled to the United States or elsewhere. But within a few years +Hungary won its independence by peaceful measures, and it is now on +exactly the same footing as the western dominions of Francis Joseph in +the dual federation of Austria-Hungary. + +[Sidenote: Austria defeats the king of Sardinia at Novara, March, 1849.] + +[Sidenote: Accession of Victor Emmanuel as king of Sardinia.] + +It remained for Austria to reëstablish her prestige in Italy and in the +German Confederation. In March, 1849, Charles Albert renewed the war +which had been discontinued after the defeat at Custozza. The campaign +lasted but five days and closed with his crushing and definitive defeat +at Novara (March 23), which put an end to the hopes of Italian liberty +for the time being. Charles Albert abdicated in favor of his son, Victor +Emmanuel, who was destined before many years to become king of Italy. + +[Sidenote: Austria reëstablishes the former conditions in Italy, except +in Piedmont.] + +After bringing the king of Sardinia to terms, Austria pushed southward, +reëstablishing the old order as she went. The ephemeral Italian +republics were unable to offer any effectual resistance. The former +rulers were restored in Rome, Tuscany, and Venice, and the constitutions +were swept away from one end of the peninsula to the other, except in +Piedmont, the most important part of the king of Sardinia's realms. +There Victor Emmanuel not only maintained the representative government +introduced by his father, but, by summoning to his councils d'Azeglio +and others known throughout Italy for their liberal sentiments, he +prepared to lead Italy once more against her foreign oppressors. + +[Sidenote: Question of the extent of the proposed union.] + +[Sidenote: Impossibility of a German state which should include both +Austria and Prussia.] + +267. In Germany, as elsewhere, Austria profited by the dissensions among +her opponents. On May 18, 1848, the National Assembly, consisting of +nearly six hundred representatives of the German people, had met at +Frankfurt. It immediately began the consideration of a new constitution +that should satisfy the popular longings for a great free German state, +to be governed by and for the people. But what were to be the confines +of this new German state? The confederation of 1815 did not include all +the German inhabitants of Prussia, and did include the heterogeneous +western possessions of Austria,--Bohemia and Moravia, for example, where +a great part of the people were Slavs. There was no hesitation in +deciding that all the Prussian territories should be admitted to the new +union. As it appeared impossible to exclude Austria altogether, the +Assembly agreed to include those parts of her territory which had +belonged to the confederation formed in 1815. This decision rendered the +task of founding a real German state practically impossible; for the new +union was to include two great European powers who might at any moment +become rivals, since Prussia would hardly consent to be led forever by +Austria. So heterogeneous a union could only continue to be, as it had +been, a loose confederation of practically independent princes. + +[Sidenote: The Assembly at Frankfurt gives Austria time to recover.] + +The improbability that the Assembly at Frankfurt would succeed in its +undertaking was greatly increased by its unwise conduct. Instead of +proceeding immediately to frame a new form of government, it devoted +several months to the formulation of the general rights of the German +citizen. This gave a fine opportunity to the theorists, of which there +were many in the Assembly, to ventilate their views, and by the time +that the constitution itself came up for discussion, Austria had begun +to regain her influence and was ready to lead the conservative forces +once more. She could rely upon the support of the rulers of South +Germany, for they were well satisfied with the old confederation and the +independence that it gave them. + +[Sidenote: The Assembly asks the king of Prussia to become emperor of +Germany.] + +[Sidenote: Frederick William IV refuses the imperial crown.] + +In spite of her partiality for the old union, Austria could not prevent +the Assembly from completing its new constitution. This provided that +there should be an hereditary emperor at the head of the government, and +that exalted office was tendered to the king of Prussia. Frederick +William IV had been alienated from the liberal cause, which he had at +first espoused, by an insurrection in Berlin. He was, moreover, timid +and conservative at heart; he hated revolution and doubted if the +National Assembly had any right to confer the imperial title. He also +greatly respected Austria, and felt that a war with her, which was +likely to ensue if he accepted the crown, would not only be dangerous to +Prussia, since Francis Joseph could rely upon the assistance of the +Tsar, but dishonorable as well, in Austria's present embarrassment. So +he refused the honor of the imperial title and announced his rejection +of the new constitution (April, 1849). + +[Sidenote: The National Assembly disperses and the old diet is +restored.] + +This decision rendered the year's work of the National Assembly +fruitless, and its members gradually dispersed, with the exception of +the radicals, who made a last desperate effort to found a republic. +Austria now insisted upon the reëstablishment of the old diet, and +nearly came to war with Prussia over the policy to be pursued. +Hostilities were only averted by the ignominious submission of Prussia +to the demands of Schwarzenberg in 1851. + +[Sidenote: Results of the revolutions of 1848.] + +While the revolutions of 1848 seem futile enough when viewed from the +standpoint of the hopes of March, they left some important indications +of progress. The king of Prussia had granted his country a constitution, +which, with some modifications, has served Prussia down to the present +day. Piedmont also had obtained a constitution. The internal reforms, +moreover, which these countries speedily introduced, prepared them to +head once more, and this time with success, a movement for national +unity. + +It will be noted that the revolution of 1848 aimed to do more than the +French Revolution of 1789. Not only was the national question everywhere +an important one, but there were plans for the economic reorganization +of society. It was no longer simply a matter of abolishing the remnants +of feudalism and insuring equal rights to all and the participation of +the more prosperous classes in the government. Those who lived by the +labor of their hands and were employed in the vast industries that had +developed with the application of steam machinery to manufacture also +had their spokesmen. The relation of the state to the industrial +classes, and of capital to labor, had become, as they still are, the +great problems of modern times. + +[Sidenote: Decline of Austrian influence after 1851.] + +In 1851 Austria had once more, in spite of the greatest obstacles, +established the system of Metternich. But this victory was of short +duration, and it was her last. Five years later the encroachments of +Russia in Turkey brought on the Crimean War, of which something will be +said later. In this war Austria observed an inglorious neutrality; she +thereby sacrificed much of her prestige with both Russia and the western +powers, and encouraged renewed attempts to free both Italy and Germany +from her control. + +[Sidenote: Development of Piedmont under Cavour.] + +268. Under Victor Emmanuel and his great minister, Cavour, Piedmont had +rapidly developed into a modern state. It sent a contingent to the aid +of the western powers in the Crimean War waged by France and England +against Russia (1853-1856); it developed its resources, military and +economic, and at last found an ally to help it in a new attempt to expel +Austria from Italy. + +[Sidenote: Position and policy of Napoleon III.] + +Napoleon III, like his far more distinguished uncle, was a usurper. He +knew that he could not rely upon mere tradition, but must maintain his +popularity by deeds that should redound to the glory of France. A war +with Austria for the liberation of the Italians, who like the French +were a Latin race, would be popular; especially if France could thereby +add a bit of territory to her realms, and perhaps become the protector +of the proposed Italian confederation. A conference was arranged between +Napoleon and Cavour. Just what agreement was reached we do not know, but +Napoleon no doubt engaged to come to the aid of the king of Sardinia, +should the latter find a pretense for going to war with Austria. Should +they together succeed in expelling Austria from northern Italy, the king +of Sardinia was to reward France by ceding to her Savoy and Nice, which +both geographically and racially belonged to her. + +[Illustration: Cavour] + +[Sidenote: Victories of Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III over Austria.] + +By April, 1859, Victor Emmanuel had managed to involve himself in a war +with Austria. The French army promptly joined forces with the +Piedmontese, defeated the Austrians at Magenta, and on June 8, Napoleon +III and Victor Emmanuel entered Milan amid the rejoicings of the +people. The Austrians managed the campaign very badly, and were again +defeated at Solferino (June 24). + +[Sidenote: Napoleon III alarmed by the Italian successes.] + +Suddenly Europe was astonished to hear that a truce had been concluded, +and that the preliminaries of a peace had been arranged which left +Venetia in Austria's hands, in spite of Napoleon III's boast that he +would free Italy to the Adriatic. The French emperor had begun to fear +that, with the growing enthusiasm which was showing itself throughout +the peninsula for Piedmont, there was danger that it might succeed in +forming a national kingdom so strong as to need no French protector. By +leaving Venetia in possession of Austria, and agreeing that Piedmont +should only be increased by the incorporation of Lombardy and the little +duchies of Parma and Modena, Napoleon III hoped to prevent the +consolidation of Italy from proceeding too far. + +[Sidenote: The formation of a kingdom of Italy, 1860.] + +He had, however, precipitated changes which he was powerless to check. +Italy was now ready to fuse into a single state. Tuscany, as well as +Modena and Parma, voted (March, 1860) to unite with Piedmont. Garibaldi, +a famous republican leader, sailed for Sicily, where he assumed the +dictatorship of the island in the name of Victor Emmanuel, "King of +Italy." After expelling the troops of the king of Naples from Sicily, he +crossed to the mainland, and early in September he entered Naples +itself, just as the king fled from his capital. + +[Sidenote: Napoleon III intervenes to prevent the annexation of Rome to +the kingdom of Italy.] + +Garibaldi now proposed to march on Rome and proclaim the kingdom of +Italy from the Quirinal. This would have imperiled all the previous +gains, for Napoleon III could not, in view of the strong Catholic +sentiment in France, possibly permit the occupation of Rome and the +destruction of the political independence of the pope. He agreed that +Victor Emmanuel might annex the outlying papal possessions to the north +and reëstablish a stable government in Naples instead of Garibaldi's +dictatorship. But Rome, the imperial city, with the territory +immediately surrounding it, must be left to its old master. Victor +Emmanuel accordingly marched southward and occupied Naples (October). +Its king capitulated and all southern Italy became a part of the kingdom +of Italy. + +In February, 1861, the first Italian parliament was opened at Turin, and +the process of really amalgamating the heterogeneous portions of the new +kingdom began. Yet the joy of the Italians over the realization of their +hopes of unity and national independence was tempered by the fact that +Austria still held one of the most famous of the Italian provinces, and +that Rome, which typified Italy's former grandeur, was not included in +the new kingdom. Within a decade, however, both these districts became a +part of the kingdom of Italy through the action of Prussia. William I +and his extraordinary minister and adviser, Bismarck, were about to do +for Germany what Victor Emmanuel and Cavour had accomplished for +Italy.[450] + +[Sidenote: William I of Prussia, 1861-1888.] + +269. With the accession of William I in 1858,[451] a new era dawned for +Prussia. A practical and vigorous man had come into power, whose great +aim was to expel Austria from the German Confederation, and out of the +remaining states to construct a firm union, under the leadership of +Prussia, which should take its place among the most powerful of the +states of Europe. He saw that war would come sooner or later, and his +first business was to develop the military resources of his realms. + +[Sidenote: William I's plan for strengthening the army.] + +The German army, which was the outgrowth of the early reforms of William +I, is so extraordinary a feature of the Europe of to-day, that its +organization merits attention. The war of independence against Napoleon +in 1813 had led to the summoning of the nation to arms, and a law was +passed in Prussia making military service a universal obligation of +every healthy male citizen. The first thing that William I did was to +increase the annual levy from forty to sixty thousand men, and to see +that all the soldiers remained in active service three years. They then +passed into the reserve, according to the existing law, where for two +years more they remained ready at any time to take up arms should it be +necessary. William wished to increase the term of service in the reserve +to four years. In this way the state would claim seven of the years of +early manhood and have an effective army of four hundred thousand, which +would permit it to dispense with the service of those who were +approaching middle life. The lower house of the Prussian parliament +refused, however, to make the necessary appropriations for increasing +the strength of the army. + +[Sidenote: Bismarck and his struggle with the Prussian parliament.] + +The king proceeded, nevertheless, with his plan, and in 1862 called to +his side one of the most extraordinary statesmen of modern times, +Bismarck. The new minister conceived a scheme for laying Austria low and +exalting Prussia, which he succeeded in carrying out with startling +precision. He could not, however, reveal it to the lower chamber; he +would, indeed, scarcely hint its nature to the king himself. In defiance +of the lower house and of the newspapers, he carried on the +strengthening of the army without formal appropriations, on the theory +that the constitution had not provided for a dead-lock between the upper +and lower house, and that consequently the king might exercise, in such +a case, his former absolute power. For a time it seemed as if Prussia +was returning to a pure despotism, for there was assuredly no more +fundamental provision of the constitution than the right of the people +to control the granting of the taxes. Yet Bismarck was eventually fully +exonerated by public opinion, and it was generally agreed that the end +had amply justified the means. + +[Sidenote: The Schleswig-Holstein affair.] + +270. Prussia now had a military force that appeared to justify the hope +of victory should she undertake a war with her old rival. In order to +bring about the expulsion of Austria from the confederation, Bismarck +took advantage of a knotty problem that had been troubling Germany, and +which was known as the Schleswig-Holstein affair. The provinces of +Schleswig and Holstein, although inhabited largely by Germans, had for +centuries belonged to the king of Denmark. They were allowed, however, +to retain their provincial assemblies, and were not considered a part of +Denmark any more than Hanover was a part of Great Britain in the last +century. + +In 1847, just when the growing idea of nationality was about to express +itself in the Revolution of 1848, the king of Denmark proclaimed that he +was going to make these German provinces an integral part of the Danish +kingdom. This aroused great indignation throughout Germany, especially +as Holstein was a member of the confederation. Frederick William IV +consented to go to war with Denmark, but only succeeded in delaying for +a few years the proposed absorption of the provinces by Denmark. The +constant encroachments of the government at Copenhagen upon the +privileges claimed by Schleswig-Holstein aroused new apprehension and +much discontent. In 1863 Schleswig was finally incorporated into the +Danish kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Bismarck's audacious plan for the expulsion of Austria from +Germany.] + +"From this time the history of Germany is the history of the profound +and audacious statecraft and of the overmastering will of Bismarck; the +nation, except through its valour on the battlefield, ceases to +influence the shaping of its own fortunes. What the German people +desired in 1864 was that Schleswig-Holstein should be attached, under a +ruler of its own, to the German Federation as it then existed; what +Bismarck intended was that Schleswig-Holstein, itself incorporated more +or less directly with Prussia, should be made the means of the +destruction of the existing Federal system and of the expulsion of +Austria from Germany.... The German people desired one course of action; +Bismarck had determined on something totally different; with matchless +resolution and skill he bore down all the opposition of people and of +the [European] courts, and forced a reluctant nation to the goal which +he himself had chosen for it" (Fyffe). + +[Illustration: Bismarck] + +[Sidenote: The working out of the plan.] + +Bismarck's first step was to invite Austria to coöperate with Prussia in +settling the Schleswig-Holstein difficulty. As Denmark refused to make +any concessions, the two powers declared war, defeated the Danish army, +and forced the king of Denmark to cede Schleswig-Holstein to the rulers +of Prussia and Austria jointly (October, 1864). They were to make such +disposition of the provinces as they saw fit. There was now no trouble +in picking a quarrel with Austria. Bismarck suggested the nominal +independence of the duchies, but that they should become practically a +part of Prussia. This plan was of course indignantly rejected by +Austria, and it was arranged that, pending an adjustment, Austria should +govern Holstein, and Prussia, Schleswig. + +[Sidenote: Prussia declares the German Confederation dissolved.] + +Bismarck now obtained the secret assurance of Napoleon III that he would +not interfere if Prussia and Italy should go to war with Austria. In +April, 1866, Italy agreed that, should the king of Prussia take up arms +during the following three months with the aim of reforming the German +union, it too would immediately declare war on Austria, with the hope, +of course, of obtaining Venice. The relations between Austria and +Prussia grew more and more strained, until finally in June, 1866, +Austria induced the diet to call out the forces of the confederation +with a view of making war on Prussia. This act the representative of +Prussia declared put an end to the existing union. He accordingly +submitted to the diet Prussia's scheme for the reformation of Germany +and withdrew from the diet. + +[Sidenote: War declared between Prussia and Austria.] + +271. On June 12 war was declared between Austria and Prussia. With the +exception of Mecklenburg and the small states of the north, all Germany +sided with Austria against Prussia. Bismarck immediately demanded of the +rulers of the larger North German states--Hanover, Saxony, and +Hesse-Cassel--that they stop their warlike preparations and agree to +accept Prussia's plan of reform. On their refusal, Prussian troops +immediately occupied these territories, and war actually began. + +[Sidenote: Prussia victorious.] + +So admirable was the organization of the Prussian army that, in spite of +the suspicion and even hatred which the liberal party in Prussia +entertained for the despotic Bismarck, all resistance on the part of the +states of the north was promptly prevented, Austria was miserably +defeated on July 3 in the decisive battle of Königgrätz, or Sadowa,[452] +and within three weeks after the breaking off of diplomatic relations +the war was practically over. Austria's influence was at an end, and +Prussia had won her right to do with Germany as she pleased. + +[Sidenote: The North German Federation.] + +Prussia was aware that the larger states south of the Main River were +not ripe for the union that she desired. She therefore organized a +so-called North German Federation, which included all the states north +of the Main. Prussia had seized the opportunity considerably to increase +her own boundaries and round out her territory by annexing the North +German states, with the exception of Saxony, that had gone to war with +her. Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and the free city of Frankfurt, +along with the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, all became Prussian. + +[Sidenote: Requirements of the proposed constitution.] + +Prussia, thus enlarged, summoned the lesser states about her to confer +upon a constitution that should accomplish four ends. First, it must +give all the people of the territory included in the new union, +regardless of the particular state in which they lived, a voice in the +government. A popular assembly satisfied this demand. Secondly, the +predominating position of Prussia must be secured, but at the same time +(thirdly) the self-respect of the other monarchs whose lands were +included must not be sacrificed. In order to accomplish this double +purpose the king of Prussia was made president of the federation but not +its sovereign. The chief governing body was the Federal Council +(Bundesrath). In this each ruler, however small his state, and each of +the three free towns--Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck--had at least one +vote; in this way it was arranged that the other rulers did not become +_subjects_ of the king of Prussia. The real sovereign of the North +German Federation and of the present German empire is not the king of +Prussia, but "all of the united governments." The votes were distributed +as in the old diet, so that Prussia, with the votes of the states that +she annexed in 1860, enjoyed seventeen votes out of forty-three. Lastly, +the constitution must be so arranged that when the time came for the +southern states--Bavaria, Würtemberg, Baden, and south Hesse--to join +the union, it would be adapted to the needs of the widened empire. + +The union was a true federation like that of the United States, although +its organization violated many of the rules which were observed in the +organization of the American union. It was inevitable that a union +spontaneously developed from a group of sovereign _monarchies_, with +their traditions of absolutism, would be very different from one in +which the members, like the states of the American union, had previously +been governed by republican institutions. + +[Sidenote: Disappointment of the hopes of Napoleon III.] + +272. No one was more chagrined by the abrupt termination of the war of +1866 and the victory of Prussia than Napoleon III. He had hoped that +both the combatants might be weakened by a long struggle, and that at +last he might have an opportunity to arbitrate and incidentally to gain +something for France, as had happened after the Italian war. But Prussia +came out of the conflict with greatly increased power and territory, +while France had gained nothing. An effort of Napoleon's to get a +foothold in Mexico had failed, owing to the recovery of the United +States from the Civil War and their warning that they should regard his +continued intervention there as an hostile act.[453] His hopes of +annexing Luxembourg as an offset for the gains that Prussia had made, +were also frustrated. + +[Sidenote: France declares war upon Prussia, July 19, 1870.] + +One course remained for the French usurper, namely, to permit himself to +be forced into a war against the power which had especially roused the +jealousy of France. Never was an excuse offered for war more trivial +than that advanced by the French,[454] never did retribution come more +speedily. The hostility which the South German states had hitherto shown +toward Prussia encouraged Napoleon III to believe that so soon as the +French troops should gain their first victory, Bavaria, Würtemberg, and +Baden would join him. That first victory was never won. War had no +sooner been declared than the Germans laid all jealousy aside and ranged +themselves as a nation against a national assailant. The French army, +moreover, was neither well equipped nor well commanded. The Germans +hastened across the Rhine, and within a few days were driving the French +before them. In a series of bloody encounters about Metz, one of the +French armies was defeated and finally shut up within the fortifications +about the town. Seven weeks had not elapsed after the beginning of the +war, before the Germans had captured a second French army and made a +prisoner of the emperor himself in the great battle of Sedan, September +1, 1870.[455] + +[Sidenote: Siege of Paris and close of Franco-Prussian War.] + +[Sidenote: Cession of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.] + +The Germans then surrounded and laid siege to Paris. Napoleon III had +been completely discredited by the disasters about Metz and at Sedan, +and consequently the empire was abolished and France for the third time +was declared a republic. In spite of the energy which the new government +showed in arousing the French against the invaders, prolonged resistance +was impossible. The capital surrendered January 28, 1871, and an +armistice was arranged. Bismarck, who had been by no means reluctant to +go to war, deeply humiliated France, in arranging the treaty of peace, +by requiring the cession of two French provinces which had formerly +belonged to Germany,--Alsace and northeastern Lorraine.[456] In this way +France was cut off from the Rhine, and the crest of the Vosges Mountains +was established as its boundary. The Germans exacted, further, an +enormous indemnity for the unjustifiable attack which the French had +made upon them. This was fixed at five billion francs, and German troops +were to occupy France till it was paid. The French people made pathetic +sacrifices to hasten the payment of this indemnity, in order that the +country might be freed from the presence of the hated Germans. The +bitter feeling of the French for the Germans dates from this war, and +the longing for revenge still shows itself. For many years after the war +a statue in Paris, representing the lost city of Strasburg, was draped +in mourning. + +[Sidenote: The insurrection of the Paris commune of 1871.] + +Immediately after the surrender of Paris the new republican government +had been called upon to subdue a terrible insurrection of the Parisian +populace. The insurgents reëstablished the commune of the Reign of +Terror, and rather than let Paris come again into the hands of the +national government, they proposed to burn the city. When, after two +months of disorder, their forces were completely routed in a series of +bloody street fights, the city was actually set on fire; but only two +important public buildings were destroyed,--the Palace of the Tuilleries +and the city hall. + +[Sidenote: The French constitutional laws of 1875.] + +A National Assembly had been elected by the people in February, 1871, to +make peace with Germany and to draw up a new constitution. Under this +temporary government France gradually recovered from the terrible loss +and demoralization caused by the war. There was much uncertainty for +several years as to just what form the constitution would permanently +take, for the largest party in the National Assembly was composed of +those who favored the reëstablishment of a monarchy.[457] Those who +advocated maintaining the republic prevailed, however, and in 1875 the +assembly passed a series of three laws organizing the government. These +have since served France as a constitution. + +[Sidenote: Character of the present French republic.] + +While France is nominally a republic with a president at its head, its +government closely resembles that of a limited monarchy like Belgium. +This is not strange, since the monarchists were in the majority when its +constitutional laws were passed. The French government of to-day is +therefore a compromise, and since all attempts to overthrow it have +proved vain, we may assume that it is suited to the wants of the nation. + +[Sidenote: Permanent character of the French government in spite of +changes in the constitution.] + +As one reviews the history of France since the establishment of the +first republic in 1792, it appears as if revolutionary changes of +government had been very frequent. As a matter of fact, the various +revolutions produced far less change in the system of government than is +usually supposed. They neither called in question the main provisions of +the Declaration of the Rights of Man drawn up in 1789, nor did they +materially alter the system of administration which was established by +Napoleon immediately after his accession in 1800. So long as the latter +was retained, the civil rights and equality of all citizens secured, and +the representatives of the nation permitted to control the ruler, it +really made little difference whether France was called an empire, a +constitutional monarchy, or a republic. + +[Sidenote: Final unification of Germany.] + +[Sidenote: Proclamation of the German empire, January 18, 1871.] + +273. The attack of France upon Prussia in 1870, instead of hindering the +development of Germany as Napoleon III had hoped it would, only served +to consummate the work of 1866. The South German states,--Bavaria, +Würtemberg, Baden, and south Hesse--having sent their troops to fight +side by side with the Prussian forces, consented after their common +victory over France to join the North German Federation. Surrounded by +the German princes, William, King of Prussia and President of the North +German Federation, was proclaimed German Emperor in the palace of +Versailles, January, 1871. In this way the present German empire came +into existence. With its wonderfully organized army and its mighty +chancellor, Bismarck, it immediately took a leading place among the +western powers of Europe. + +[Illustration: EUROPE OF TO-DAY] + +[Sidenote: Predominance of Prussia in the present German empire.] + +The constitution of the North German Federation had been drawn up with +the hope that the southern states would later become a part of the +union; consequently, little change was necessary when the empire was +established. The king of Prussia enjoys the title of German Emperor, and +is the real head of the federation. He is not, however, _emperor of +Germany_, for the sovereignty is vested, theoretically, not in him, but +in the body of German rulers who are members of the union, all of whom +send their representatives to the Federal Council (Bundesrath). +Prussia's influence in the Federal Council is, however, secured by +assigning her king a sufficient number of votes to enable him to block +any measure he wishes. + +[Illustration: Proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles] + +[Sidenote: Rome added to the kingdom of Italy, 1870.] + +The unification of Italy was completed, like that of Germany, by the +Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the war of 1866 Austria had ceded +Venetia to Italy. Napoleon III had, however, sent French troops in 1867 +to prevent Garibaldi from seizing Rome and the neighboring districts, +which had been held by the head of the Catholic church for more than a +thousand years. In August, 1870, the reverses of the war compelled +Napoleon to recall the French garrison from Rome, and the pope made +little effort to defend his capital against the Italian army, which +occupied it in September. The people of Rome voted by an overwhelming +majority to join the kingdom of Italy; and the work of Victor Emmanuel +and Cavour was consummated by transferring the capital to the Eternal +City. + +[Sidenote: Position of the pope.] + +Although the papal possessions were declared a part of the kingdom of +Italy, a law was passed which guaranteed to the pope the rank and +privileges of a sovereign prince. He was to have his own ambassadors and +court like the other European powers. No officer of the Italian +government was to enter the Lateran or Vatican palaces upon any official +mission. As head of the church, the pope was to be entirely independent +of the king of Italy, and the bishops were not required to take the oath +of allegiance to the government. A sum of over six hundred thousand +dollars annually was also appropriated to aid the pope in defraying his +expenses. The pope, however, refused to recognize the arrangement. He +still regards himself as a prisoner, and the Italian government as a +usurper who has robbed him of his possessions. He has never accepted the +income assigned to him, and still maintains that the independence which +he formerly enjoyed as ruler of the Papal States is essential to the +best interests of the head of a great international church.[458] + +[Sidenote: Southeastern Europe.] + +274. To complete the survey of the great political changes of the +nineteenth century, we must turn for a moment to southeastern Europe. +The disposal of the European lands occupied by the Turks has proved a +very knotty international question. We have seen how the Turks were +expelled from Hungary by the end of the seventeenth century, and how +Peter the Great and his successors began to dream of acquiring +Constantinople as a Russian outpost which would enable the Tsar to +command the eastern Mediterranean.[459] Catherine II (1762-1796) had +extended the Russian boundary to the Black Sea. On the whole, however, +the Turks held their own pretty well during the eighteenth century, but +the nineteenth witnessed the disruption of European Turkey into a number +of new and independent Christian states. + +[Sidenote: Servia and Greece revolt from the Sultan.] + +The Servians first revolted successfully against their oppressors, and +forced the Sultan (1817) to permit them to manage their own affairs, +although he did not grant them absolute independence. Of the war of +independence which the Greeks waged against the Turks (1821-1829) +something has already been said.[460] The intervention of Russia, +England, and France saved the insurgents from defeat, and in 1829 the +Porte recognized the independence of Greece, which became a +constitutional monarchy. The Turkish government also pledged itself to +allow vessels of all nations to pass freely through the Dardanelles and +the Bosporus. + +[Sidenote: The Crimean War, 1853-1856.] + +[Sidenote: Origin of the principality of Roumania, 1859.] + +Inasmuch as a great part of the peoples still under Turkish rule in +Europe were--like the Russians--Slavs and adherents of the Greek church, +Russia believed that it had the best right to protect the Christians +within the Sultan's dominions from the atrocious misgovernment of the +Mohammedans. When in 1853 news reached the Tsar that the Turks were +troubling Christian pilgrims, he demanded that he be permitted to assume +a protectorate over all the Christians in Turkey. This the Porte refused +to grant. Russia declared war and destroyed the Turkish fleet in the +Black Sea. The English government looked with apprehension upon the +advance of the Russians. It felt that it would be disastrous to western +Europe if Russia were permitted to occupy the well-nigh impregnable +Constantinople and send its men-of-war freely about the Mediterranean. +England therefore induced Napoleon III to combine with her to protect +the Sultan's possessions. The English and French troops easily defeated +the Russians, landed in the Crimea, and then laid siege to Sevastopol, +an important Russian fortress on the Black Sea. Sevastopol fell after a +long and terrible siege, and the so-called Crimean War came to a close. +The intervention of the western powers had prevented the capture of +Constantinople by the Russians, but very soon the powers recognized the +practical independence of two important Turkish provinces on the lower +Danube, which were united in 1859 into the principality of Roumania. + +[Sidenote: Revolt of Bosnia, 1875.] + +The Turkish subjects in Bosnia and Herzegovina naturally envied the +happier lot of the neighboring Servians, who had escaped from the +bondage of the Turks. These provinces were stirred to revolt in 1875, +when the Turks, after collecting the usual heavy taxes, immediately +demanded the same amount over again. The oppressed Christians proposed +to escape Turkish tyranny by becoming a part of Servia. They naturally +relied upon the aid of Russia to carry out their plans. The insurrection +spread among the other Christian subjects of the Sultan, especially +those in Bulgaria. + +[Sidenote: The Bulgarian atrocities.] + +Here the Turks wreaked vengeance upon the insurgents by atrocities which +filled Europe with horror and disgust. In a single town six thousand of +the seven thousand inhabitants were massacred with incredible cruelty, +and scores of villages were burned. Russia, joined by Roumania, +thereupon declared war upon the Porte (1877). The Turks were defeated, +but western Europe would not permit the questions at issue to be settled +without its approval. Consequently, a congress was called at Berlin +under the presidency of Bismarck, which included representatives from +Germany, Austria, Russia, England, France, Italy, and Turkey. + +[Sidenote: The Congress of Berlin (1878) and the eastern question.] + +The Congress of Berlin determined that Montenegro, Servia, and Roumania +should thereafter be altogether independent. The latter two became +kingdoms within a few years, Roumania in 1881 and Servia in 1882. Bosnia +and Herzegovina,[461] instead of becoming a part of Servia, as they +wished, were to be occupied and administered by Austria, although the +Sultan remained their nominal sovereign. Bulgaria received a Christian +government, but was forced to continue to recognize the Sultan as its +sovereign and pay him tribute.[462] + +To-day the once wide dominions of the Sultan in Europe are reduced to +the city of Constantinople and a strip of mountainous country stretching +westward to the Adriatic. + + + General Reading.--In addition to the works of Andrews and Fyffe + referred to in the footnotes, the following are excellent short + accounts of the political history of Europe since 1815. W.A. + PHILLIPS, _Modern Europe_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.50); + SEIGNOBOS, _Political History of Europe since 1814_, carefully + edited by MacVane (Henry Holt & Co., $3.00), and the readable but + partisan German work of Müller, _Political History of Recent Times_ + (American Book Company, $2.00). For Germany: MUNROE SMITH, + _Bismarck and German Unity_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.00) and KUNO + FRANCKE, _History of German Literature as determined by Social + Forces_ (Henry Holt & Co., $2.50). For Italy: THAYER, _Dawn of + Italian Independence_ (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 2 vols., $4.00); + STILLMAN, _Union of Italy_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.60); COUNTESS + CESARESCO, _Liberation of Italy_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.75) + and her _Cavour_ (The Macmillan Company, 75 cents). For England: + MCCARTHY, _History of our Own Times_ (issued by various publishers, + e.g., Coates & Co., 2 vols., $1.50). + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +EUROPE OF TO-DAY + + +275. The scholars and learned men of the Middle Ages were but little +interested in the world about them. They devoted far more attention to +philosophy and theology than to what we should call the natural +sciences. They were satisfied in the main to get their knowledge of +nature from reading the works of the ancients, above all of Aristotle. +Roger Bacon, as we have seen, protested against the exaggerated +veneration for books. He foresaw that a careful examination of the +things about us,--like water, air, light, animals and plants,--would +lead to important and useful discoveries which would greatly benefit +mankind. + +[Sidenote: Modern scientific methods of discovering truth.] + +[Sidenote: Experimentation.] + +He advocated three methods of reaching truth which are now followed by +all scientific men. In the first place, he proposed that natural objects +and changes should be examined with great care, in order that the +observer might determine exactly what happened in any given case. This +has led in modern times to incredibly refined measurements and analysis. +The chemist, for example, can now determine the exact nature and amount +of every substance in a cup of impure water, which may appear perfectly +limpid to the casual observer. Then, secondly, Roger Bacon advocated +experimentation. He was not contented with mere observation of what +actually happened, but tried new and artificial combinations and +processes. Nowadays experimentation is constantly used by scientific +investigators, and by means of it they discover many things which the +most careful observation would never reveal. Thirdly, in order to carry +on investigation and make careful measurements and the desired +experiments, apparatus designed for the special purpose of discovering +truth was necessary. As early as the thirteenth century it was found, +for example, that a convex crystal or bit of glass would magnify +objects, although several centuries elapsed before the microscope and +telescope were devised. + +[Sidenote: Astrology grows into astronomy.] + +The progress of scientific discovery was hastened, strangely enough, by +two grave misapprehensions. In the Middle Ages even the most intelligent +believed that the heavenly bodies influenced the fate of mankind; +consequently, that a careful observation of the position of the planets +at the time of a child's birth would make it possible to forecast his +life. In the same way important enterprises were only to be undertaken +when the influence of the stars was auspicious. Physicians believed that +the efficacy of their medicines depended upon the position of the +planets. This whole subject of the influence of the stars upon human +affairs was called astrology, and was in some cases taught in the +mediæval universities. Those who examined the stars gradually came, +however, to the conclusion that the movements of the planets had no +effect upon humanity; but the facts which the astrologers had discovered +through careful observation became the basis of modern astronomy. + +[Sidenote: Alchemy grows into chemistry.] + +In the same way chemistry developed out of the mediæval study of +alchemy. The first experimentation with chemicals was carried on with +the hope of producing gold by some happy combination of less valuable +metals. But finally, after learning more about the nature of chemical +compounds, it was discovered that gold was an element, or simple +substance, and consequently could not be formed by combinations of other +substances. + +[Sidenote: Discovery that the universe follows natural laws.] + +In short, observation and experimentation were leading to the most +fundamental of all scientific discoveries, namely, the conviction that +all the things about us follow certain natural, immutable laws. The +modern scientific investigator devotes a great part of his attention to +the discovery of these laws and their application. He has given up any +hope of reading man's fate in the stars or of producing any results by +magical combinations. Unlike the mediæval writers, he hesitates to +accept as true the reports which reach him of miracles, that is, of +exceptions to the general laws, because he is convinced that the natural +laws have been found to work regularly in every instance where they have +been carefully observed. His study of the natural laws has, however, +enabled him to produce far more marvelous results than those reported of +the mediæval magician. + +[Sidenote: Galileo's telescope.] + +276. In a previous chapter the progress of science for three hundred +years after Roger Bacon has been briefly noted.[463] With the exception +of Copernicus the investigators of this period are scarcely known to us. +In the seventeenth century, however, progress became very rapid and has +been steadily accelerating since. In astronomy, for example, the truths +which had been only suspected by earlier astronomers were demonstrated +to the eye by Galileo (1564-1642). By means of a little telescope, which +was hardly so powerful as the best modern opera glasses, he discovered +(in 1610) the spots on the sun. These made it plain that the sun was +revolving on its axis as astronomers were already convinced that the +earth revolved. He saw, too, that the moons of Jupiter were revolving +about their planet in the same way that the planets revolve about the +sun. + +[Sidenote: Sir Isaac Newton and his discovery of the law of universal +gravitation.] + +The year that Galileo died, the famous English mathematician, Sir Isaac +Newton, was born (1642-1727). He carried on the work of earlier +astronomers by the application of higher mathematics, and proved that +the force of attraction which we call gravitation was a universal one, +and that the sun and the moon and the earth, and all the heavenly +bodies, are attracted to one another inversely as the square of the +distance. + +[Sidenote: Development of the microscope.] + +While the telescope aided the astronomer, the microscope contributed far +more to the extension of practical knowledge. Rude and simple +microscopes were used with advantage as early as the seventeenth +century. Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch linen merchant, so far improved his lenses +that he discovered the blood corpuscles and (1665) the "animalculæ" or +minute organisms of various kinds found in pond water and elsewhere. The +microscope has been rapidly perfected since the introduction of better +kinds of lenses early in the nineteenth century, so that it is now +possible to magnify minute objects to more than two thousand times their +diameters. + +[Sidenote: Advance in medical science.] + +This has produced the most extraordinary advance in medicine and +biology. It has made it possible to determine the difference between +healthy and diseased tissue; and not many years ago the microscope +revealed the fact that the bodies of animals and men are the home of +excessively small organisms called bacteria, some of which, through the +poisonous substances they give out, cause disease. The modern treatment +of many maladies, such as consumption, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and +typhoid, is based upon this momentous discovery. The success of surgical +operations has also been rendered far more secure than formerly by the +so-called antiseptic measures which are now taken to prevent the +development of bacteria.[464] + +[Sidenote: Scientific discovery and invention did not affect daily life +before the end of the eighteenth century.] + +277. The discoveries of the scientist and of the mathematician did not +begin to be applied to the affairs of daily life until about a hundred +and fifty years ago. No new ways had previously been discovered for +traveling from place to place. Spinning and weaving were still carried +on as they had been before the barbarians overran the Roman Empire. +Iron, of which we now make our machines, could only be prepared for use +expensively and in small quantities by means of charcoal and bellows. + +[Sidenote: The 'domestic system' of manufacture.] + +Manufacture still meant, as it did in the original Latin (_manu +facere_), to make by hand. Artisans carried on their trade with their +own tools in their own homes, or in small shops, like the cobbler of +to-day. Instead of working with hundreds of others in a great factory +and being entirely dependent upon his wages, the artisan, in England at +least, was often able to give some attention to a small garden plot from +which he derived a part of his support. This "domestic system" was +displaced by factories, as the result of a series of mechanical +inventions made in England during the latter half of the eighteenth +century. Through them machinery was substituted for hand and foot power +and for the simple implements which had served the world for centuries. + +[Sidenote: Cheap iron and adequate power essential to the development of +machinery.] + +[Sidenote: Watt invents the steam engine.] + +In order that machinery should develop and become widely useful, two +things were necessary. In the first place, there must be some strong +material available of which to make the machines; for that purpose iron +and steel have, with few exceptions, proved to be the best. In the +second place, some adequate power must be found to propel the machinery, +which is ordinarily too heavy to be run by hand or foot power. This +necessary motive power was discovered in steam. The steam engine was +devised by James Watt, an English inventor of great ingenuity. He +invented a cylinder containing a piston, which could be forced back and +forth by the introduction of steam. His progress was much retarded by +the inability of the mechanics of his time to make an accurate cylinder +of sufficient size, but in the year 1777 the new machine was +successfully used for pumping. A few years later (1785) he arranged his +engine so that it would turn a wheel. In this way, for the first time, +steam could be used to run machinery--the spindles, for example, in a +cotton mill. + +[Sidenote: Steam used for spinning and weaving.] + +A few years before Watt completed his improved steam engine, the old +spinning wheel had been supplanted by the modern system, in which the +thread is drawn out by means of spindles revolving at different rates +of speed. The spindles, which had at first been run by water power, +could now be propelled by steam. The old loom had also been improved, +and weaving by steam began to become general after the year 1800. + +[Sidenote: Use of steam cheapens iron.] + +[Sidenote: New method of producing steel.] + +Machinery, however, could not become common so long as iron and steel +were expensive. The first use, therefore, to which the crude steam +engines were put was to furnish a blast which enabled the iron smelter +to employ coal instead of charcoal to fuse the iron ore (1777). +Moreover, the steam pumps made it possible for the miners to pump out +the water which impeded their work in the mines, and in this way +cheapened both the iron and the coal. Soon the so-called "puddling +furnace" was invented, by means of which steel was produced much more +economically than it could be earlier. Rolling mills run by steam then +took the place of the hammers with which the steel had formerly been +beaten into shape. These discoveries of the use of steam and coal and +iron revolutionized the life of the people at large in western Europe +more quickly than any of the events which have been previously recorded +in this volume. It is the aim of the remainder of this chapter to +indicate very briefly the variety and importance of the effects produced +by modern inventions.[465] + +[Sidenote: Domestic industry supplanted by the factory system.] + +278. Machinery although very efficient was expensive, and had +necessarily to be near the boilers which produced the steam. +Consequently machines for particular purposes were grouped in factories, +and the workmen left their homes and gathered in large establishments. +The hand worker with his old tools was more and more at a disadvantage +compared with the workman who produced commodities by machinery. The +result was inevitable, namely, that domestic industry was supplanted by +the factory. + +[Sidenote: Advantages of machinery.] + +[Sidenote: Division of labor.] + +One of the principal advantages of the factory system is that it makes +possible a minute division of labor. Instead of giving his time and +thought to the whole process, each worker concentrates his attention +upon one single step of the process, and by repeating a simple set of +motions over and over again acquires wonderful dexterity. At the same +time the period of necessary apprenticeship is shortened under the +factory system, because each separate task is comparatively simple. +Moreover, the invention of new machinery is increased, because the very +subdivision of the process into simple steps often suggests some way of +substituting mechanical motion for the motion of the human hand. + +[Sidenote: Examples of the increased production of goods by machinery.] + +An example of the greatly increased output rendered possible by the use +of machinery and division of labor is given by the distinguished Scotch +economist, Adam Smith, whose great work, _The Wealth of Nations_, +appeared in 1776. Speaking of the manufacture of a pin in his own time, +Adam Smith says: "To make the head requires two or three distinct +operations; to put it on is a peculiar business, to whiten the pin is +another. It is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper, and +the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into +about eighteen distinct operations." By this division, he adds, ten +persons can make among them upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a +day. A recent writer reports that now an English machine makes one +hundred and eighty pins a minute, cutting the wire, flattening the +heads, sharpening the points, and dropping the pin into its proper +place. In a single factory which he visited seven million pins were made +in a day, and three men were all that were required to manage the +mechanism. + +Another example of modern mechanical work is found in printing. For +several centuries after the development of that art the type was set up +by hand, inked by hand, each sheet of paper was laid by hand upon the +type and then printed by means of a press operated by a lever. Nowadays +our newspapers are, in the great cities at least, printed almost +altogether by machinery, from the setting up of the type until they are +dropped complete and counted out by hundreds at the bottom of a rotary +press. The paper is fed into the press from a great roll and is printed +on both sides and folded at the rate of two hundred or more newspapers a +minute. + +[Sidenote: New means of communication.] + +[Sidenote: Steamboats.] + +279. The factory system would never have developed upon a vast scale had +the manufacturers been able to sell their goods only in the +neighborhood. The discovery that steam could be used to carry the goods +cheaply and speedily to all parts of the world made it possible for a +manufacturer to widen his market indefinitely. Fulton, an American +inventor, devised the first steamboat that was really successful, in +1807, yet over half a century elapsed before steamships began to +supplant the old and uncertain sailing ship. It is now possible to make +the journey from New York to Southampton, three thousand miles, in less +than six days, and with almost the regularity of an express train. Japan +may be reached from Vancouver in thirteen days, and from San Francisco +via Honolulu, a distance of five thousand five hundred miles, in +eighteen days. A commercial map of the world shows that the globe is now +crossed in every direction by definite routes, which are followed by +innumerable freight and passenger steamers passing regularly from one +port to another. These are able to carry goods for incredibly small +sums. For example, wheat has frequently been shipped from New York to +Liverpool for two cents a bushel. + +[Sidenote: Development of the railroad.] + +Just as the gigantic modern steamship has taken the place of the +schooner and clipper, so, on land, the merchandise which used to be +slowly dragged in carts by means of horses and oxen is now transported +in long trains of capacious cars, each of which holds as much as many +ordinary carts. A ton of freight can now be carried for less than a cent +a mile. In 1825 Stephenson's locomotive was put into operation in +England. Other countries soon began to follow England's lead in +building railroads. France opened its first railroad in 1828, Germany in +1835. By 1840 Europe had over eighteen hundred miles of railroad; fifty +years later this had increased to one hundred and forty thousand. + +[Sidenote: Startling improvements in the means of communication.] + +Besides the marvelous cheapening of transportation, other new means of +communication have resulted from modern inventions. The telegraph, the +submarine cable, and the telephone, all have served to render +communication prompt and certain. Steamships and railroads carry letters +half round the globe for a price too trivial to be paid for delivering a +message round the corner. The old, awkward methods of making payments +have given way to a tolerably uniform system of coinage. Instead of each +petty principality and each town having its own coins, as was common, +especially in Germany and Italy, before the nineteenth century, all +coins are now issued by the national central governments. Yet the most +convenient coins are difficult to transfer in large quantities, and +nowadays all considerable sums are paid by means of checks and drafts. +The banks settle their accounts by means of a clearing house, and in +this way almost no large amount of money need pass from hand to hand. + +England took the lead in utilizing all these remarkable new inventions, +and with their aid became, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the +manufacturing center of the world. Gradually the new machinery was +introduced on the continent, and since 1850 countries having the +necessary coal, such as Germany and Belgium, have developed +manufacturing industries which now rival those of Great Britain. + +[Sidenote: Some results of the industrial revolution of the nineteenth +century.] + +[Sidenote: Rapid growth of the towns.] + +280. The _industrial revolution_, as the changes above referred to are +usually called, could not but have a profound influence upon the life +and government of Europe. For example, the population of Europe appears +to have nearly doubled during the nineteenth century. One of the most +startling tendencies of recent times has been the growth of the towns. +In 1800 London had a population of less than one million; it now +contains over four million five hundred thousand inhabitants. Paris, at +the opening of the French Revolution, contained less than seven hundred +thousand inhabitants; it now has over two and a half millions. Berlin +has grown in a hundred years from one hundred and seventy-two thousand +to nearly two millions. In England a quarter of the whole population +live in towns having over two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, +and less than a quarter still remain in the country. Our modern life is +dominated by the great cities, which not only are the center of commerce +and manufacturing, but are the homes of the artist and man of letters. + +[Sidenote: Reasons for the growth of the towns.] + +There are two obvious reasons for the growth of the towns since the +industrial revolution. In the first place, factories are established in +places where there is an abundant supply of coal, or where conditions +are otherwise favorable; and this brings a large number of people +together. In the second place, there is no limit set to the growth of +cities, as was formerly the case, by the difficulty of procuring food +from a distance. Paris, in the time of Louis XVI, was not a large city +in the modern sense of the word; still the government found it very +difficult to secure a regular supply of food in the markets. Now grain +and even meat and fruit are easily carried any distance. England imports +a large amount of her meat from Australia, on the other side of the +globe, and even her butter and eggs she gets largely from the continent. + +[Sidenote: Abolition of most of the restrictions on trade and industry.] + +281. Before the nineteenth century the European governments had been +accustomed to regulate trade, industry, and commerce by a great variety +of laws, which were supposed to be necessary for the protection of the +public. Of this we find examples in the English Navigation Acts;[466] in +the guilds, which under the protection of the government enjoyed a +monopoly of their industries in their particular districts; in the +regulations issued by Colbert[467] and in the grain laws in both France +and England, which limited the free importation and even the exportation +of grain. + +The French and English economists in the eighteenth century, like Turgot +and Adam Smith, advocated the abolition of all restrictions, which they +believed did far more harm than good. The expediency of this _laissez +faire_,[468] or free-trade policy, has now been recognized by most +European powers. England abolished her grain laws (the so-called Corn +Laws) in 1846, and since then has adopted the policy of free trade, +except so far as she raises a revenue from customs duties imposed upon a +very few commodities, like liquor and tobacco. Low import duties are +collected by most of the European powers on goods entering their +territories, but all export duties have been abolished as well as all +customs barriers within the countries. + +[Sidenote: Government regulations protecting the laborer.] + +A short experience with the factory system showed the need of +regulations designed to protect the laborer.[469] There was a temptation +for the new factories to force the employees to work an excessive number +of hours under unhealthful conditions. Women and children were set to +run the machines, and their strength was often cruelly overtaxed. Women +and children were also employed in the coal mines, under terribly +degrading conditions. One of the great functions of our modern +governments has been to pass laws to protect the working men and women +and to improve their condition. Germany has been particularly active in +this sort of regulation, and has gone so far as to compel workingmen to +insure themselves for the benefit of their families.[470] + +[Sidenote: Labor unions.] + +Another development of the factory system has been the rise of labor +unions. These are voluntary associations intended to promote the +interests of their members. They have grown as the factory system has +been extended, and they now enjoy an influence in certain industries +comparable to that exercised by the craft guilds of the Middle Ages. The +governments do not undertake, however, to enforce the regulations of the +labor unions as they formerly did of the guilds.[471] + +[Sidenote: The people admitted to a share in the government.] + +[Sidenote: Character of modern constitutions.] + +282. The extension of manufacturing industries has had much to do with +the gradual admission of the people to a share in the government. The +life in towns and cities has quickened the intelligence of the working +classes, so that they are no longer willing to intrust the affairs of +government entirely to a king or to the representatives of the upper +classes. The result of this was, as we have seen, that constitutions +were, during the nineteenth century, introduced into all the western +European states. While these differ from one another in detail, they all +agree in establishing a house of representatives, whose members are +chosen by the people at large. Gradually the franchise has been extended +so that the poorest laborer, so soon as he comes of age, is permitted to +have a voice in the selection of the deputies.[472] Without the sanction +of the representatives of the people, the king and the upper, more +aristocratic house are not allowed to pass any law or establish any new +tax. Each year a carefully prepared list of expenses must be presented +to the lower house and receive its ratification before money collected +by taxation can be spent. + +[Sidenote: Equality before the law.] + +The French prefaced their first constitution by the memorable words: +"All citizens being equal before the law, are alike eligible to all +public offices and positions of honor and trust, according to their +capacity, and without any distinction, except that of their character +and ability." This principle, so different from that which had hitherto +prevailed, has been recognized in most of the modern European +constitutions. The privileges and exceptions which everywhere existed +before the French Revolution have been abolished. Modern European +governments are supposed to treat all alike, regardless of social rank +or religious belief. + +[Sidenote: Religious equality in England.] + +[Sidenote: Repeal of the Test Act, 1828.] + +At the opening of the nineteenth century England still kept on the +statute book the laws debarring Roman Catholics and dissenters from +sitting in Parliament or holding any public office. Exceptions, however, +were made in the case of the dissenters. Finally, after violent +opposition on the part of the conservative party, the Test Act, passed +in the reign of Charles II,[473] was repealed in 1828. Next year the +Roman Catholics were also given the right to sit in Parliament and to +hold office, like the other subjects of the king. + +[Sidenote: Free and compulsory education under the control of the +state.] + +Education, which was formerly left to the church, has during the +nineteenth century become one of the most important functions of +government. Boys and girls of all classes, between the ages of four and +fourteen or fifteen, are now generally forced to take advantage of the +schools which the government supports for their benefit. Tuition is free +in France, Italy, Norway, and Sweden, and only trifling fees are +required in Germany and elsewhere in western Europe. In 1902 the English +Parliament and the French Legislative Assembly each appropriated about +forty million dollars for educational purposes. As an example of the +rapid advance in education in recent times, it may be noted that in +1843, among those who married in England and Wales, one third of the men +and half of the women were unable to sign their names in the marriage +registers. In 1899 all but three men in a hundred could write, and +almost as many of the women. + +[Sidenote: Warfare in recent times.] + +283. The general advance in education has not yet taught nations to +settle all their disputes without recourse to war. It is true that since +Napoleon's downfall there have been but three or four serious wars in +western Europe, and these very brief ones compared with the earlier +conflicts. But the European powers spend vast amounts annually in +maintaining standing armies and building battle ships. France and +Germany have each a force of over half a million carefully trained +soldiers ready to fight at any moment, and two million more who can be +called out with the utmost speed should war be declared.[474] The +invention of repeating rifles and of new and deadly explosives have, +however, rendered war so terrible a thing to contemplate that statesmen +are more and more reluctant to suggest a resort to arms. + +[Sidenote: European colonies in the nineteenth century.] + +Recent wars and the frequent rumors of war have had their origin mainly +in disagreements over colonial matters. The anxiety of the European +powers to extend their control over distant parts of the world is now no +less marked than it was in the eighteenth century. Modern means of +communication have naturally served to make the world smaller and more +compact. An event in London is known as promptly in Sydney as in Oxford. +A government can send orders to its commanders on the opposite side of +the globe as easily as if they were but five miles away. Supplies, +ammunition, and arms are, moreover, readily and speedily transferred to +remote points. + +[Sidenote: The Spanish colonies in North and South America establish +their independence, 1810-1826.] + +At the opening of the nineteenth century Spain still held Mexico, +Florida, Central America, and most of South America except Brazil, +which belonged to Portugal. During the Napoleonic period the Spanish +colonies revolted and declared their independence of the mother +country,--Mexico, New Granada, Chile, and the region about Buenos Ayres +in 1810, Venezuela in 1811, etc. By 1826 Spain had been forced to give +up the struggle and withdraw her troops from the American continent. In +1822 Brazil declared itself independent of Portugal. After the recent +war with the United States Spain lost Cuba, Porto Rico, and the +Philippines, the last remnants of her once imposing colonial domains. + +[Sidenote: Expansion of England during the nineteenth century.] + +England, on the other hand, has steadily increased her colonial realms +and her dependencies during the nineteenth century, and has met with no +serious losses since the successful revolt of the thirteen American +colonies. In 1814 she acquired the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch, and +since then the territory has been enlarged by adding the adjacent +districts. During the last years of the nineteenth century England +busied herself extending her power over large tracts of western, +central, and eastern Africa. + +England has secured her interests in the eastern Mediterranean by +gaining control of the Suez Canal, which was completed in 1869, mainly +with French capital. In 1875 she purchased the shares owned by the +khedive of Egypt. Then, since the khedive's finances were in a very bad +way, she arranged to furnish him, in the interest of his creditors and +in agreement with France, with financial advisers without whose approval +he can make no financial decision. Moreover, English troops are +stationed in Egypt with a view of maintaining order. + +In the southern hemisphere England has colonized the continent of +Australia, the large islands of New Zealand, Tasmania, etc. The mother +country wisely grants these colonies and Canada almost complete freedom +in managing their own affairs. The Canadian provinces formed a +federation among themselves in 1867, and in 1901 the Commonwealth of +Australia was proclaimed, a federation of the five Australian colonies +and the island of Tasmania. + +[Sidenote: Expansion of Russia since the Crimean War.] + +France exercises a wide influence in Africa and even Germany has made +some effort to gain a foothold there; but the most momentous extension +of a European power is that of Russia. Since the Crimean War Russia has +pressed steadily into central Asia, so that now her boundaries and those +of the English possessions in India practically touch one another. She +has also been actively engaged in the Far East. In 1898 she leased Port +Arthur from China, and now the Trans-Siberian Railroad connects this as +well as Vladivostok on the Pacific coast with Moscow. + +[Sidenote: The Far Eastern Question.] + +Recent events have shown that the European powers are likely to come +into hostile relations with one another in dealing with China. The +problem of satisfying the commercial and military demands of the various +nations constitutes what is known as the Far Eastern Question. + +[Sidenote: General disturbance caused by war in modern conditions.] + +While all these conquests of the European powers increase the +probability of friction and misunderstandings, there is a growing +abhorrence of war. It appears more inhuman to men of to-day than it did +to their ancestors. Moreover, all parts of the world are now so +dependent each on the other that even the rumor of war may produce +disastrous results far and wide. The prospect of war frightens the +merchants, checks commerce and industry, and causes loss both to the +laborer and the capitalist. + +[Sidenote: The peace conference at The Hague, 1899.] + +Many difficulties between nations can now be adjusted by the rules of +international law. Arbitration is more and more frequently preferred to +war. In 1899 an international peace conference was held at The Hague at +the suggestion of the Tsar. Its object was to consider how the European +powers might free themselves from the burden of supporting tremendous +armies and purchasing the terrible engines of destruction which modern +ingenuity has conceived. The resolutions of the conference embody rules +for adjusting international disputes and prohibiting the use of +particularly cruel and murderous projectiles, and for the treatment of +prisoners of war, etc. + +It has been possible to mention only a few of the startling achievements +and changes which the nineteenth century has witnessed. Enough has, +however, been said to show that Europe to-day differs perhaps more +fundamentally from the Europe Napoleon knew than did Napoleon's world +from Charlemagne's. Although civil and religious liberty and equality +have been established, and incredible progress has been made in +scientific thought, in general enlightenment, and in domestic comfort, +yet the growth of democracy, the magnitude of the modern city, and the +unprecedented development of industry and commerce have brought with +them new and urgent problems which the future must face. + + + General Reading.--_The Progress of the Century_ (Harper & Bros., + $2.50), a collection of essays by distinguished writers and + investigators, summing up the changes of the nineteenth century. + _The Statesman's Year Book_ (The Macmillan Company, $3.00) is + issued each year and gives much valuable information in regard to + the population, constitution, finances, educational system, etc., + of the European states. WELLS, _Recent Economic Changes_ (D. + Appleton & Co., $2.00). + + + + +LIST OF BOOKS[475] + + +ADAMS, GEORGE B., _Civilization during the Middle Ages_ (Charles +Scribner's Sons, $2.50). + +ADAMS, GEORGE B., _Growth of the French Nation_ (The Macmillan Company, +$1.25). + +ANDREWS, _Historical Development of Modern Europe_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, +$2.75). + +BRYCE, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.00). + +_Cambridge Modern History_, Volume I (The Macmillan Company, $3.75). + +CESARESCO, _Liberation of Italy_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.75). + +CHEYNEY, _Industrial and Social History of England_ (The Macmillan +Company, $1.40). + +COLBY, _Selections from the Sources of English History_ (Longmans, Green +& Co., $1.50). + +CUNNINGHAM, _Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects: Volume II_, +_Mediæval and Modern Times_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.25). + +EMERTON, _Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages_ (Ginn & Company, +$1.12). + +EMERTON, _Mediæval Europe_ (Ginn & Company, $1.50). + +FYFFE, _History of Modern Europe_ (Henry Holt & Co., $2.75). + +GARDINER, _Student's History of England_ (Longmans, Green & Co., $3.00). + +GREEN, _Short History of the English People_, Revised Edition (Harper & +Bros., $1.20). + +HASSALL, _The Balance of Power_ [Europe in the Eighteenth Century] (The +Macmillan Company, $1.60). + +HATCH, _Growth of Church Institutions_ (Whittaker, $1.50). + +HENDERSON, _A History of Germany in the Middle Ages_ (The Macmillan +Company, $2.60). + +HENDERSON, _Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages_ (The +Macmillan Company, $1.50). + +HENDERSON, _Short History of Germany_, 2 volumes (The Macmillan Company, +$4.00). + +HODGKIN, _Dynasty of Theodosius_ (Clarendon Press, Oxford, $1.50). + +JESSOP, _The Coming of the Friars_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $1.25). + +JOHNSON, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_ (The Macmillan Company, +$1.75) + +LEE, _Source-book of English History_ (Henry Holt & Co., $2.00). + +LOWELL, E.J., _Eve of the French Revolution_ (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., +$2.00). + +MATHEWS, _The French Revolution_ (Longmans, Green & Co., $1.25). + +MUNRO, _Mediæval History_ (D.C. Appleton & Co., 90 cents). + +OMAN, _Dark Ages_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.75). + +PERKINS, _France under the Regency_ (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $2.00). + +PHILLIPS, _Modern Europe_ (1815-1899) (The Macmillan Company, $1.50). + +ROSE, _Life of Napoleon the First_, 2 volumes (The Macmillan Company, +$4.00). + +ROSE, _Revolutionary and Napoleonic Period_ (The Macmillan Company, +$1.25). + +SCHWILL, _History of Modern Europe_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.50). + +SMITH, MUNROE, _Bismarck and German Unity_ (The Macmillan Company, +$1.00). + +STEPHENS, _The French Revolution_, 3 volumes (Charles Scribner's Sons, +$7.50). + +_Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European +History_ (Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, +Philadelphia. Single numbers, 10 cents; double numbers, 20 cents). + +WAKEMAN, _Europe from 1598 to 1715_ (The Macmillan Company, $1.40). + +WALKER, _The Protestant Reformation_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $2.00). + + + + +INDEX + + + Abbeys, _see_ Monasteries. + + Abbot, meaning of, 58. + + Abbots chosen by feudal lords, 155. + + Abelard, 268 f. + + Absolute monarchy, 475 ff., 496 ff. + + Acolyte, 20. + + Acre taken in First Crusade, 194. + + Act of Appeals, 430. + + Act of Supremacy, 430. + + Act of Uniformity, 491. + + Adda, valley of, 471. + + _Address to the German Nobility_, by Luther, 396 f. + + Adrian VI, Pope, attempts reformation of Church, 310. + + Adrianople, battle of, 25. + + _Æneid_, copies of, in Middle Ages, 333, note. + + Agincourt, battle of (1415), 292. + + Agricola, Rudolph, 379. + + Aids, feudal, 111, 145 and note. + + Aistulf, Lombard king, 74 f. + + Aix-la-Chapelle, Charlemagne's palace at, 78. + + Alaric takes Rome, 26. + + Albertus Magnus, 231, 260; + writes commentary on Aristotle, 272. + + Albigenses, 221 f.; + crusade against, 223 f., 256. + + Alchemy, 672. + + Aleander's views of Protestant revolt, 399, 403. + + Alemanni, 35; + attempted conversion of, by St. Columban, 65. + + Alessandria built, 178. + + Alexander III, Pope, 178 f. + + Alexander VI, Pope (Borgia), 362, 364. + + Alexander I, Tsar, 611, 620. + + Alexius, Emperor, and First Crusade, 188, 191. + + Alfred the Great, 133 f. + + Alsace ceded to Germany, 472 f., 663 and note. + + Alva, 448 ff. + + Amalfi, commerce of, 243. + + Ambrose, 51. + + America, North, explored by English, 351. + + American colonies of England, revolt of, 532 ff. + + American Revolution, 533 ff. + + Amiens, rupture of Treaty of, 610. + + Anabaptists, 416. + + Anagni, attack on Boniface VIII at, 306. + + _Ancien Régime_, 537 ff. + + Andrea del Sarto, 346. + + Angelico, Fra, 343. + + Angevins, _see_ Plantagenets. + + Angles, 27; + settle in Britain, 60. + + Anglo-Saxon, 253. + + _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 134, 253. + + Anjou, 126, 301. + + Anne, Queen, 524. + + Antioch, Latin principality of, 193. + + Antwerp, 450. + + _Appanages_, creation of, in France, 128. + + Aquinas, 231, 272. + + Aquitaine, 67, 82, 93, 124, 126. _See also_ Guienne. + + Arabia, 243. + + Arabs, condition of, before Mohammed, 69; + conquests of, 70 f.; + conquer Syria, 188; + civilization of, in Spain, 356. + + Aragon united with Castile, 357. + + Archbishops, origin of, 21; + powers of, 203 ff. + + Arches defined and illustrated, 264. + + Architecture, mediæval, 262 f.; + Romanesque, 263; + Gothic, 264 f.; + domestic, 266 f.; + Renaissance, 339 f. + + Aristotle, mediæval veneration for, 271 f.; + Dante's estimate of, 331. + + Arius, 30. + + Arles, _see_ Burgundy. + + Armada, 463. + + Arnold of Brescia, 177. + + Arnulf of Carinthia, 97. + + Art, mediæval, 261 f.; + fostered by Italian despots, 326; + Renaissance, 339; + Arabic, 356. + + Arthur, nephew of John of England, 127. + + Artois, count of, 575, 630. _See_ Charles X of France. + + _Assignats_, 571, 591 and note. + + Astrology, 260, 672. + + Astronomy, mediæval knowledge of, 331; + discoveries of Copernicus, 351; + modern, 672 f. + + Athanasius, 50. + + Athens, school at, closed, 33. + + Attila, 27. + + Augsburg, Hungarians defeated near, 150; + confession of, 417 f.; + diet of, 417 f.; + religious Peace of, 419 f., 465. + + Augustine, Bishop of England, 61. + + Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 26, note, 51, 390, 393. + + Augustinian order, 385, note, 387. + + Austerlitz, battle of, 611. + + Australia, 685 f. + + Austrasia, 37, 38. + + Austria, 150, 354 f.; + hold of, on Italy, 507; + conflicts with Turks, 517 f.; + war of 1809 with Napoleon, 619; + mixed population of, 632; + influence of, after 1815, 640; + revolution of 1848 in, 644 f.; + opposition of, to German unity, 651 f.; + decline of influence of, after 1851, 653 f.; + war with Prussia (1866), 660. + + Austrian Mark, 150. + + Austrian Netherlands, given to France, 604; + to Holland, 625. + + Austrian Succession, War of, 518 ff. + + Avignon, seat of papacy (1305-1377), 307 f.; + Clement VII, anti-pope, reëstablishes papal court at, 310. + + Azores Islands discovered by Portuguese, 347. + + + Baber, 529 and note. + + Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1305-1377), 307 f. + + _Babylonian Captivity of the Church_, by Luther, 397. + + Bacon, Francis, 478. + + Bacon, Roger, 273, 478, 671. + + Bacteria, 674. + + Baden granted a constitution, 635. + + Bæda, _see_ Venerable Bede. + + Bagdad, 83, note. + + _Baillis_, established by Philip Augustus, 130. + + Balance of power, 427 f., 625 f. + + Baldwin, in First Crusade, 191 f.; + ruler of Jerusalem, 194. + + Balliol, 279. + + Banking, origin of, 246. + + Bannockburn, battle of (1314), 280. + + _Banquet_, Dante's, 331. + + Baptism essential to salvation, 46; + sacrament of, 210. + + Baptists, 491. + + Barbarians, _see_ Germans. + + _Barbarians, Laws of the_, 40. + + Barbarossa, Frederick, _see_ Frederick I, Emperor. + + Barebone's Parliament, 489. + + Barons, War of the, 146 f. + + Basel, Council of (1431-1449), 318 f. + + Basil, 51. + + Bastile, fall of the, 565. + + Bavaria, conquered by the Franks, 37; 65, 67, 82, 93, 98, 112; + made an electorate, 467; + in War of Austrian Succession, 518 f.; + elector of, assumes title of king, 612; + granted a constitution, 635. + + Baylen, battle of, 618. + + Bede, _see_ Venerable Bede. + + Bedford, duke of, 293. + + "Beggars" of the Netherlands, 447. + + Belgium, 627 f.; + becomes an independent kingdom, 640 f. + + Belisarius overthrows the Vandal kingdom, 33. + + Benedict, St., 57 f.; + Rule of, 57 f. + + Benedict IX, Pope, 160. + + Benedict XIII, Pope, deposed by Council of Pisa, 313; + by Council of Constance, 315. + + Benedictine order, 57, note. + + _Beneficium_, 105 f. + + Berbers, 71. + + Berlin, Congress of, 670. + + Bible, translated into Gothic, 252; + Wycliffe's translation of, 309; + first printed, 338; + German, before Luther, 378, 405; + Luther's translation of, 405 f.; + German, for Catholics, 413; + English translation of, 431; + King James version of, 478 and note. + + Bishop of Rome, not yet pope in Constantine's time, 21; + obscurity of the early, 50; + Valentinian's decree concerning, 51. + _See_ Pope. + + Bishops, origin of, 20, 67; + method of choosing, 155; + complicated position of, 156, 174; + duties, position, and importance of, 204, 206 f. + + Bismarck, 657 ff., 663. + + Black Death (1348-1349), 288. + + Black Friars, _see_ Dominicans. + + "Black Hole" of Calcutta, 531. + + Black Prince of England, at Crécy, 285; + and Poitiers, 287. + + Blockade, 615 f. + + Boethius, last distinguished Roman writer, 19, 31 f., 134. + + Bohemia, Huss spreads Wycliffe's doctrines in, 309; + relation with Council of Basel, 318 f.; + revolts from the Hapsburgs, 466 f.; + in 1848, 646, 648. + + Bohemians, Charlemagne forces, to pay tribute, 82. + + Bohemond, in First Crusade, 191 f. + + Boleyn, Anne, 429 f. + + Bologna, study of Roman law at, 177. + + Bonaparte, analysis of character of, 595 ff. + _See_ Napoleon. + + Bonaventura, head of Franciscan order, quoted, 232. + + Boniface, St., apostle to the Germans, 65 f.; + anoints Pippin, 73. + + Boniface VIII, Pope, struggle with Philip the Fair, 304 f. + + Book of Prayer, English, 435, 458, 482, 491. + + Books copied by monks, 58. + + Borgia, Cæsar, hero of Machiavelli's _Prince_, 362. + + Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, 362. + + Borodino, battle of, 621. + + Bosnia, 669, 670 and note. + + Boso, count of Vienne, 97. + + Bosworth Field, battle of, 297. + + Bothwell, 459 f. + + Boulogne, Napoleon's army at, 610 f. + + Bourbon kings, 453, 630. + + Brandenburg, electorate of, 372, 474, 515 f. + _See_ Prussia. + + Brazil, 685. + + Breitenfeld, battle of, 470. + + Bremen, foundation of, 81; + commerce of, 244; + member of the German empire, 604. + + Bretigny, Treaty of (1360), 286 f. + + Britain conquered by the Angles and Saxons, 60; + church of, yields to Roman Church, 62. + + Brittany, 123. + + Bruce, Robert, 279 f. + + Bruges, 123, 245. + + Brumaire, eighteenth, 598. + + Bruni, Leonardo, estimate of importance of Greek studies, 336. + + Bruno, Archbishop, 149. + + Buckingham, 478. + + Bulgaria, 669 f. + + Bulgaria, South, 670, note. + + Bulls, papal, origin of name, 204, note. + + _Bundesrath_, 661, 666. + + Burgher class, rise of, 249. + + Burgundians, 30, 36; + number of, entering the empire, 39. + + Burgundy, county of, 366, 471. + _See also_ Franche-Comté. + + Burgundy, duchy of, 124, 292; + alliance with England, 292 f.; + importance of, under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold, 300, 354, + 417. + + Burgundy, kingdom of, 38, 97, 124 and note, 153. + + _Burnt Njal, The Story of_, 99, note. + + Buttress, flying, defined and illustrated, 264 f. + + Byzantium, 22, note. + + + Cabinet, English, 524 f. + + Cadiz, 479. + + Cædmon, 253. + + Cæsar, drives back the Germans, 5; + conquers Britain, 60. + + _Cahiers_, 562 f. + + Calais taken by English, 285, 295. + + Calcutta, 529; + "Black Hole" of, 531. + + Calendar, French republican, 582 and note. + + Caliph, title of, 70. + + Calmar, Union of, 469. + + Calonne, 556 f.; + reforms proposed by, 558 ff. + + Calvin, 425 f., 452. + + Calvinists, 420, 473. + + Cambray, League of (1508), 365. + + Campo-Formio, Treaty of, 594 f. + + Canada won by the English, 530, 532, 685 f. + + Canary Islands discovered by Portuguese, 347. + + Canon law, 202, note; + burned by Luther, 399. + + Canonical election, 155. + + Canons, 207, note. + + _Canons and decrees of the Council of Trent, The_, 440. + + Canossa, 169. + + Canterbury, the religious capital of England, 61; + St. Martin's at, 61; + dispute concerning Archbishop of, under John, 183. + + Capet, Hugh, 121. + + Capetian kings, position of early, 121 f., 124 f. + + Capitularies, 87. + + _Carbonari_, 637. + + Cardinals, 162 and note, 204. + + Carloman, brother of Pippin, 72. + + Carlsbad Resolutions, 634 f. + + Carlstadt, 407 f. + + Carnot, 588. + + Carolingian line in France, 120 f. + + Cassiodorus, his treatises on the liberal arts and sciences, 32. + + Castile, united with Aragon, 357. + + Castle, mediæval, 100, 267. + + Catechism, Napoleon's, 617. + + Cathari, 221. + + Cathedral, the mediæval, 262 f.; + of Wells, 265 f. + + Catherine de' Medici, 454 f. + + Catherine of Aragon, 367, 428 ff. + + Catherine II of Russia, 514. + + Catholic Church, early conception of, 20. + _See_ Church, Clergy. + + Catholic League of Dessau, 415. + + Catholic League in Germany, 466 f. + + Catholic party, formation of a, at Regensburg, 412. + + Catholic reaction, 438, note. + + Catholic reformation, 412 f., 437 ff. + + Cavaliers, 485. + + Cavour, 654. + + Celibacy of the clergy, _see_ Marriage. + + Celts in Britain, 60. + + Chalcedon, Act of the Council of, 51. + + Châlons, battle of, 27. + + Champagne, counts of, growth of possessions of, 113 f; + position of, 114 f. + + Chapter, cathedral, 207. + + Charlemagne, 77 ff.; + ideal of, of a great German empire, 79; + coronation of, as emperor, 83 f.; + reëstablishes the Western Empire, 84 f.; + system of government of, 86; + his farms, 86 and note; + interest of, in schools, 87 ff., 268; + disruption of empire of, 92 ff.; + collects German poems, 253; + hero of romances, 254. + + Charles Martel, 38; + aids Boniface, 66, 67 ff.; + defeats the Mohammedans at Tours, 72. + + Charles the Bald, 92 f., 95. + + Charles the Fat, 96 f. + + Charles the Simple, 96, note, 113, 121 f. + + Charles V of France (1364-1380) reconquers most of English possessions + in France, 287 f. + + Charles VI of France, 292 f. + + Charles VII of France, 293 f. + + Charles VIII of France invades Italy, 360 f. + + Charles IX of France, 454 ff. + + Charles X of France, 630. _See also_ Artois, count of. + + Charles the Bold of Burgundy, 300, 422. + + Charles V, Emperor, 301; + possessions of, 354, 359 f.; + coronation of, 367; + wars with Francis I, 366, 415, 417; + at diet of Worms, 400; + at Augsburg, 417 f.; + attitude toward the Protestants, 438; + abdicates, 444. + + Charles VI, Emperor, 518. + + Charles VII, Emperor, 518 f. + + Charles I of England, 478 ff.; + financial exactions of, 479, 481; + execution of, 486 f. + + Charles II of England, 488, 490 ff. + + Charles II of Spain, 502; + will of, 506. + + Charles XII of Sweden, 513 f. + + Charles Albert of Sardinia, 646, 647, 650. + + Charter, French, of 1814, 629 f. + + Charter, the Great, of England, 144, 146. + + Charters granted to mediæval towns, 239 f. + + Chemistry, 672. + + Chivalry, 256 f. + + Christian IV of Denmark, 467 f. + + Christian missions, map of, 63. + + Christianity, preparation for, in Roman Empire, 18; + promises of, 18; + pagan rites and conceptions adopted by, 19. + + Christians, persecution of, 10. + + Chrysoloras called to teach Greek in Florence, 336. + + Church, apostolic, 19; + organization of, before Constantine, 20; + in the Theodosian Code, 21; + survives the Roman Empire, 22; + greatness of, 44; + sources of power of, 45 ff.; + attitude of, toward the civil government, 47; + begins to perform the functions of the civil government, 48; + coöperation of, with the civil government, 80, note, 81; + maintains knowledge of Latin, 87; + policy of William the Conqueror in regard to English, 138; + wealth of, 154; + lands of, feudalized, 154; + offices bought and sold, 158; + and state, 165, 303; + character and organization of mediæval, 201 ff.; + services of, to civilization, 216; + evil effects of wealth upon, 217 f.; + loses power as modern states develop, 303 f.; + reasons for influence of, in Middle Ages, 303, 370; + corruption of, 217 ff.; + during Babylonian Captivity of, 307; + in Germany, 383; + attempted reformation of, 223; + at Constance, 317; + taxation of, 307; + attempted union of, with Eastern Church, 319; + attitude of humanists toward, 335; + enthusiasm for, in Germany before Luther, 377; + discontent with, in Germany, 385; + in France before the Revolution, 541 ff.; + attacked by Voltaire, 550; + property of, confiscated by the National Assembly, 570 f.; + lands, secularization of, 603. + + Church fathers, 50 f. + + Cicero, humanists' estimate of, 332, 334. + + Cisalpine republic, 595, 601, 602. + + Cistercian order, 219. + + _City of God, The_, Augustine's, 26, note, 78. + + Civil Constitution of the Clergy, 571 f., 580, 606 f. + + Civil war in England, 485 f. + + Classics, Greek and Roman, neglect of, in the Middle Ages, 259, 330, + 333, note; + Dante's respect for, 331; + revival of, 332 ff.; + Petrarch's enthusiasm and search for, 332 ff. + + Clement V, Pope, removes seat of papacy to France, 306. + + Clement VII, anti-pope, returns to Avignon, 310. + + Clement VII, Pope, 412, 430. + + Clergy, minor orders of, 20; + privileges of, in Theodosian Code, 21; + attitude toward civil government, 81; + lower, demoralized by simony, 159; + importance of, to civilization, 214 f.; + benefit of, 214, note; + corruption of, 217 f.; + secular, opposition of, to mendicant orders, 231; + reform of, at Regensburg, 412; + policy of Henry VIII toward, 429 ff.; + in France before the Revolution, 542; + representatives of, join third estate, 564; + Civil Constitution of, 571 f., 580, 606 f.; + non-juring, in France, 572, 579, 606. + _See also_ Marriage. + + _Clericis laicos_, papal bull, 304. + + Clive, 531 f. + + Clovis, conquests of, 35 f.; + conversion of, 35; + number of soldiers of, baptized, 39. + + Cnut, king of England, 134. + + Coal, use of, 676. + + _Code Napoléon_, 607 f. + + Coinage, French king's control of, 131. + + Colbert, reforms of, 499 f. + + Colet, 426 f. + + Coligny, 455 f. + + Cologne, 12, 248; + elector of, 372. + + _Coloni_, condition of, 15 f. + + Colonies, European, 527 ff., 684; + Roman, 12; + French, in North America, 527 f.; + Spanish, 684 f. + + Columban, St., 65. + + _Columban St., Life of_, 65, note. + + Columbus, 350. + + _Comitatus_, 105 f. + + _Comites_, 67. + + Commendation, 105 and note. + + Commerce, development of, 199 f., 243 f.; + restrictions on, 245 f.; + in Italy, 243, 322 f.; + in France and England, 302. + + Commercial war between Holland and England, 488. + + Committee of Public Safety, 585, 587 f. + + Common law, English, 142. + + Commons, House of, 147. _See_ Parliament. + + Commons, summoned to the French Estates General, 131; + the English, 147. + + Commonwealth, England a, 487. + + Commune, Paris, 586; + insurrection of, 1871, 664. + + Communes, establishment of, in France in 1789, 566. + + Communes, origin of, 239 f. + + Communication, modern means of, 678 f., 684. + + Communion under both kinds, 432 and note. + + Compass, invention of, 352. + + Compendiums, reliance upon, in later Roman Empire, 17; + inherited by Middle Ages, 18. + + Compurgation, 41. + + Concordat, between Francis I and Pope Leo X, 366, note; + of 1801, 607. + + Condé, 472. + + _Condottieri_, Italian mercenary troops, 326 f. + + Confederation of the Rhine, 612 f. + + Confession, 212, note. + + Confession of Augsburg, 417 f. + + Confirmation, sacrament of, 211. + + Congregational church, 483. + + Congress of Berlin, 670. + + Congress of Vienna, 625 ff. + + Conrad II, Emperor, 153. + + Conrad III, Emperor, 173, note, 197. + + _Consolation of Philosophy, The_, of Boethius, 19, 134. + + Constance, heiress of Naples and Sicily, marries Emperor Henry VI, 180. + + Constance, Peace of (1183), 179; + Council of (1414), 314. + + Constantine, 21 f. + + Constantine VI, 84. + + Constantinople, 22 f.; + threatened by Turks, 188; + taken by the Turks, 23, 517; + Bishop of, put on an equal footing with the Bishop of Rome, 51; + during First Crusade, 191; + culture of, affects the West, 336 f.; + desire of Russia for, 668. + + Constitution, first French, 576; + of the year VIII, 599; + veneration for a, in Italy, 637. + + Constitutional government, desire for, in France, 563; + demand for, in Prussia, 632; + granted in southern Germany, 635; + in Piedmont, 651. + + Consul, title of Bonaparte, 600, 608. + + Continental blockade, 615 f. + + Continental system, the, 616. + + Continuity of history, 4. + + Conventicle Act, 492. + + Convention, French, 582 ff.; + close of, 590 f. + + Conversion of the Germans, 56 ff.; + of the Saxons, 80. + + Copernicus (Kopernik), astronomical discoveries of, 351 f. + + Copyists, carelessness of, 89 and note, 90. + + Corbie, school at, 90. + + Cordova, emir of, 83; + brilliant civilization of caliphate of, 356. + + Corn Laws, 681. + + Corneille, 500. + + Corsica added to France, 536, 592 f. + + Cortez conquers Mexico, 351. + + Council, general, 311 f.; + of Clermont, 188; + fourth Lateran, 184; + of Pisa, 313; + of Constance, 314 ff.; + of Basel, 318 f.; + of Ferrara-Florence, 319 f.; + Luther recognizes fallibility of, 393. + + Council of Blood, 448. + + Council of State, French, 599. + + Counter-reformation, 438, note. + + Counties, sheriffs in the English, 137. + + Counts, origin of, 67; + position of, 102. + + Counts of the march, 82, 86. + + _Coup d'état_, 598. + + Court, lord's, 110 and note. + + Court of High Commission, 482. + + Covenant, National, 483 f. + + Crécy, battle of, 284. + + Crema destroyed by Frederick I, 178. + + Crimean War, 668 f. + + Cromwell, Oliver, 485 ff.; + death of, 489 f. + + Cromwell, Richard, 490. + + Crusade, Albigensian, 223 f., 256. + + Crusades, 23, 187 ff.; + effects of, 199 f., 243, 347. + + Culloden Moor, 527. + + Culture, mediæval, 250 f.; + general use of Latin, 250; + Germanic languages, 251 f.; + Romance languages, 251 f.; + literature, romance, 254 f.; + chivalry, 256 f.; + ignorance of the past, 259; + popular science, 260; + art, 261 f.; + education, the universities, 267 f.; + Roman and canon law, 269; + Aristotle, 271; + scholasticism, 272. + + Curia, papal, 204. + + Customs duties, 246, 681. + + Customs lines, interior, 539 f. + + Customs union, German, 635. + + Cyprian, 20. + + Czar, _see_ Tsar. + + + Dagobert, 38. + + Damascus, seat of the caliphate, 70, 83, note. + + Danegeld, 134. + + Danes, 99, note; + invade England, 133 f.; + defeated by Alfred, 133. + + Danish language, derivation of, 251. + + Dante, 330 f. + + Danton, 589. + + Dantzig, 196, 248. + + Dark age before Charlemagne, 87. + + "Dark ages," meaning of, 6, 91. + + Darnley, 459. + + Dauphin, origin of title, 292, note. + + Deacons, 19 f. + + Declaration of Independence, American, 533. + + Declaration of Rights, English, 494. + + Declaration of the Rights of Man, 568 ff., 629. + + _Decretum_ of Gratian, 269. + + Degrees, university, explained, 270, note. + + Deist, 550. + + Departments in France, 538, 567 f. + + Desaix, 601 f. + + Dessau, League of, 415. + + _Dialogues_ of Gregory the Great, 54. + + Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope, 348. + + _Dictatus_ of Gregory VII., 164. + + Diet, German, attempts to reform government, 375. + + Directory, French, 591, 593, 597 f., 601. + + Discoveries in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 347 f.; + modern scientific, 671 ff. + + Dispensations, papal, 203. + + Dissenters, 491. + + _Divine Comedy_ of Dante, 330. + + Divine right of kings, 476 f., 496 ff. + + Doge of Venice, 324. + + Domain, 121. + + _Domesday Book_, 138. + + Dominican order organized, 230. + + Donauwörth, 466. + + Drake, Sir Francis, 461. + + Dresden, battle of, 623. + + Dukes, origin of, 67. + + Dumouriez, 582, 584. + + Dunkirk, 489, 588. + + Dupleix, 531. + + Dürer, Albrecht, 346. + + Dutch, commerce of, 448. + _See also_ Holland. + + Dutch language, derivation of, 251. + + + East Frankish kingdom, 94, 98. + + East Goths, 28 f., 30, 33. + + East India Company, English, 530; + French, 530. + + Eastern Church, _see_ Greek Church. + + Eastern Empire, 22; + civilization of, in Middle Ages, 23. + + Eastern question, origin of, 535, 667 ff. + + Ecclesiastical states, origin of, 156, note; + in Germany, disappearance of, 603 f. + + Eck, 392 f., 398, 418. + + Economists, French, 552 f. + + Edessa, Latin principality of, established, 193; + fall of, 196. + + Edict of Nantes, 542. + + Edict of Restitution, 468, 473. + + Edict of Worms, 403 f., 415. + + Education, clerical monopoly of, 213 f.; + mediæval, 267; + humanistic, 335; + compulsory, 683. + + Edward the Confessor, 134, 136 f. + + Edward I of England, 147, 278 f. + + Edward II, 280; + forced to abdicate, 281. + + Edward III, claims French crown, 283 f., 286 f. + + Edward IV, 296. + + Edward V, 297. + + Edward VI, 434 f. + + Egbert, king of Wessex, 133. + + Egypt, Bonaparte's expedition to, 597 f.; + English occupation of, 685. + + Eisenach, Luther at, 405. + + Elba, 624. + + Elders, 19, 426, note. + + Elders, Council of, 590, 599. + + Electors in empire, 372, 524, note. + + Elizabeth, queen of England, 430, 451, 458 ff., 476. + + Embargo acts of the United States, 615 f. + + Emigrant nobles, 575, 577, 579; + permitted to return, 607. + + _Émigrés_, _see_ Emigrant nobles. + + Emirate of Cordova, 83, note. + + "Emperor Elect," 152, note. + + Emperor, Roman, his will law, 10; + worship of, 10. + + Emperor, title of, held by Italian kings, 151; + assumed by Otto the Great, 151; + assumed by Napoleon, 608; + assumed by Austrian ruler, 612. + + Empire, reëstablishment of, in the West, 84; + divisions of, 92 f., 96; + relations with papacy, 151 f.; + under Hohenstaufens, 173, 185; + under Hapsburgs, 355. + _See_ Holy Roman Empire. + + Empire, Roman, character and organization of, 8 ff. + + Engine, steam, 675 f. + + England, early culture in, 64; + becomes a part of the Catholic Church, 64; + claims of kings of, to France, 130; + importance of, in history of Europe, 133; + on the accession of William the Conqueror, 135; + feudalism in, 135; + Norman conquest of, 136 ff.; + made tributary to pope by John, 183; + commerce of, 244 f., 351, 460 f.; + conquers Wales, 278; + relations of, with Scotland, 279 f.; + union of, with Scotland, 280; + during the Hundred Years' War, 281 ff., 291 ff., 301 f.; + labor problem of, and Peasants' War, 288 ff.; + Wars of the Roses, 296 f.; + humanism in, 335, 363; + Protestant revolt in, 426 ff.; + struggle for constitutional government, 475 ff.; + establishment of commonwealth, 487 ff.; + restoration of the Stuarts, 490; + revolution of 1688, 493; + in the War of the Austrian Succession, 526; + in the Seven Years' War, 520 f.; + expansion of, 523 ff.; + colonies of, in North America, 527 ff.; + settlements of, in India, 529; + colonial possessions of, at end of eighteenth century, 535; + involved in war with France (1793), 583; + renews war with Napoleon, 610; + expansion of, in the nineteenth century, 685. + _See also_ Britain. + + English language, 134, 147, 251, 253 f. + + Epictetus, 18. + + Equality before the law, 683. + + Erasmus, 381 f.; + attitude of, toward Luther, 394, 427. + + Estates General, 131 f. and note, 285, 298 f., 305, 475, 496 f.; + demanded by the _parlement_ of Paris, 560; + summoning of, 561; + meeting of (1789), 562 f. + + Esthonia, 514. + + Etruria, kingdom of, 620. + + Eucharist, _see_ Mass. + + Eugene IV, Pope, 319. + + Eugene of Savoy, 507. + + Euric, king of West Goths, 26. + + Europe after 1814, 625, 627 f.; + contemporaneous, 671. + + Excommunication, 213. + + Exorcist, 20. + + + Fabliaux, mediæval, 256. + + Far Eastern Question, 686. + + Ferdinand I, Emperor, brother of Charles V, 412, 444, 465, 517. + + Ferdinand II, Emperor, 467. + + Ferdinand of Aragon, 357, 363, 364. + + Ferrara-Florence, Council of, 319 f. + + Feudal dues, 110 f.; + in France, 543; + abolition of, 567. + + Feudal hierarchy, no regular, 116. + + Feudal registers, 112. + + Feudalism, 104 ff.; + origins of, 99 ff., 102 f., 104 f.; + anarchy of, 116 f.; + in England, 135; + connection of, with chivalry, 257. + + Fief, hereditary character of, 106 ff.; + conditions upon which granted, 110 and note; + classes of, 110, 111 f., 115. + + Five Hundred, Council of, 590, 599. + + Flanders, 94, 123 f., 244; + weavers from, in England, 139; + relations of, with England, 283 f.; + under dukes of Burgundy, 300; + art of, 346. + + "Flayers," 298. + + Florence, 321, 325, 327 ff., 342; + under Savonarola, 361 f. + + Fontenay, battle of, 93. + + Foot soldiers, English, defeat French knights at Crécy, 284; + at Poitiers, 285; + at Agincourt, 292. + + Forest cantons, 421. + + France, origin of, 94, 95 f., 121; + position of early kings of, 121 f., 125; + under Philip Augustus, 130; + genealogical table of the kings of, 282, note; + during the Hundred Years' War, 281 ff., 288, 291 ff.; + standing army of, established, 298; + condition under Louis XI, 299 ff.; + influence of Italian culture, 335, 363; + Protestantism in, 451 ff.; + wars of religion, 451 ff.; + limits of, in 1659, 501 f.; + ascendency of, under Louis XIV, 495 ff.; + absolute monarchy in, 545; + reforms of Colbert, 499 f.; + condition of, at end of the reign of Louis XIV, 508; + joins in War of Austrian Succession, 518; + alliance with the Hapsburgs, 520; + possessions in North America, 527 f.; + in India, 529 ff.; + losses of, at close of Seven Years' War, 532; + aids the United States, 534; + in the eighteenth century, 535 f., 537 ff.; + first Revolution, cause of, 545, 563; + course of, 558 ff.; + First Republic, 581 ff.; + Reign of Terror, 585 ff.; + constitution of the year III, 590 f.; + reforms of Bonaparte, 599, 606, 616; + restoration of the Bourbons, 629 f.; + revolution of 1848, 642 ff.; + Third Republic, 664 f. + + Franche-Comté, 300, 366, 471; + ceded to France, 502 f. _See_ Burgundy, county of. + + Francis I, Emperor, 519. + + Francis II, Emperor, assumes the title of Emperor of Austria, 612. + + Francis I of France, 365, 415, 417, 425; + wars with Emperor Charles V, 366; + persecutes the Protestants, 452. + + Francis II of France, 452 f. + + Francis Joseph I, accession of, 650. + + Francis of Assisi, 226 ff. + + Franciscan order founded, 228. + + Franconian line of emperors, 153. + + Franco-Prussian War, 662 f. + + Frankfurt, National Assembly at, 646, 651 f. + + Franks, conquests of, 30, 34; + conversion of, 35; + history of, 36 f.; + alliance of, with popes, 73, 75 f. _See also_ Charlemagne. + + Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate, 466 f., 477. + + Frederick I (Barbarossa), Emperor, 173, 197. + + Frederick II, Emperor, 181 f., 198. + + Frederick I of Prussia, 516. + + Frederick II of Prussia, _see_ Frederick the Great. + + Frederick the Great, 516, 518 ff. + + Frederick the Wise, of Saxony, collects relics, 377; + patron of Luther, 389. + + Frederick William III of Prussia, 613 f., 621 f. + + Frederick William IV of Prussia, 652 f., 656, note. + + Freedmen, condition of, 15. + + _Freedom of the Christian_, by Luther, 397, note. + + Freemen in competition with slaves in Roman Empire, 15. + + Free towns, German. _See_ Towns. + + French Academy, 501. + + French and Indian War, 530. + + French language, 94, 251, 254, 260. + + French Revolution, 4, 537 f.; + opening of, 557, 558 ff.; + second, 574, ff. + + _Frequens_, decree, of Council of Constance, 318, note. + + Friends, Society of, 491. + + Frisia, 79. + + Fritzlar, sacred oak of Odin at, 66. + + Fust, John, printer of Psalter of 1459, 338, note. + + Future life, pagan view of, 18; + Christian view of, 19. + + + Galileo, 673. + + Gall, St., Irish missionary, 65; + monk of, 78 and note. + + Garibaldi, 655, 667. + + Gascony, 124. + + Gaul, West Goths establish a kingdom in, 26; + occupied by the Franks, 30, 35; + church in, reformed and brought under the papal supremacy, 66. + + Gelasius, Pope, his opinion of the relation of the Church and the civil + government, 47. + + Geneva, Calvin at, 425 f. + + Genghiz Khan, 510. + + Genoa, 174, 194, 198; + commerce of, 243, 347; + given to Sardinia, 626. + + Geoffrey, son of Henry II, 126 f. and note. + + George I of England, 524. + + George II of England, 526. + + George III, 533. + + German Confederation of 1815, 632 f.; + dissolution of, 660. + + German empire, Proclamation of the, 665. + + German kings, difficulties of, caused by the imperial title, 85; + vain attempt of, to control Italy, 85. + + German kingship, 148, 152 f. + + German language, 94 f. and note, 251; + reduced to writing, 252 f., 258 f.; + books published in the, 250, note; + in Luther's time, 405 f. + + Germans, infiltration of, into Roman Empire, 8, 12, 16 f.; + objects of, in invading the Empire, 25; + number of invading, 39; + fusion of, with the Romans, 39; + character of early, 42; + conversion of, 56 ff. + + Germany, 79, 95 f.; + foundation of towns in northern, 81; + assigned to Louis the German, 92 f., 94; + history of, contrasted with that of France, 148; + under the same ruler as Italy, 151 f.; + confusion in, under Henry VI, 182; + want of unity in, 185, 355; + culture in, 335, 363; + before Protestant revolt: complexity, organization, the electors, the + knights, the cities, neighborhood war, the diet, reorganization in + fifteenth century, social and intellectual conditions, 371 f.; + during the Protestant revolt, 405 ff.; + progress of Protestantism in, 418 ff.; + religious division of, 412, 415 ff.; + after the Thirty Years' War, 473 f.; + territorial reorganization of, in 1803, 604; + condition of, in 1814, 626; + effects of Napoleonic era in, 631 f.; + in 1848, 646; + unification of, 656 ff., 665. + + Ghent, 123; + commerce of, 245, 248. + + Ghibelline party, 179, note. + + Ghiberti, 342. + + Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, 325. + + Gibbon, 73, 76. + + Gibraltar, 507, 532; + siege of, 534. + + Giotto, 341 f. + + Girondists, 585 f., 587. + + Glass, stained, 264. + + Godfrey of Bouillon, 191 f., 193. + + Golden Bull sanctions neighborhood war, 117. + + Good Hope, Cape of, rounded by Diaz (1486), 348; + ceded to England, 685. + + Gothic language, Bible translated into, 252. + + Gothic type, 339. + + Government, difficulty of, in the Middle Ages, 67, 85, 98; + effect of feudalism on, 108 f.; + natural, 120; + modern character of, 682 f. + + Grail, legend of Holy, 258. + + Granada, fall of, 83, 357. + + Grand Alliance, 506. + + Grand Remonstrance, 484. + + Granson, 422. + + Gratian, _Decretum_ of, 269. + + Gravitation, discovery of universal, 673. + + Gray Friars, _see_ Franciscans. + + Great Charter of England, 144-146. + + Great Elector of Prussia, 516. + + Great Khan, 510. + + Great Mogul, 529. + + Great St. Bernard crossed by Bonaparte, 601. + + Greece, creation of the kingdom of, 640, 668. + + Greek books brought to Venice in 1423, 337. + + Greek Church, tends to separate from the Latin, 51; + union of, with Western Church, 319. + + Greek culture in the Roman Empire, 12. + + Greek language, knowledge of, in Middle Ages, 64, 336; + revived study of, in Italy, 320, 336 f. + + Greek New Testament, 423. + + Gregory of Tours, 33, 36. + + Gregory the Great, 52 ff.; + writings of, 54; + missionary work of, 55, 61. + + Gregory VI, Pope, 160. + + Gregory VII, 52, note, 138, 162, 164 ff.; + reform of, 161, 162 f.; + conflict of, with Henry IV, 167 ff.; + death of, 170. + + Gregory XI, Pope, 310. + + Gregory XII, Pope, 313, 315. + + Grotius, 508. + + Guelf party, origin of, 179, 182. + + Guienne, 130, 140, 283. + _See also_ Aquitaine. + + Guilds, craft, 241 f., 500; + abolition of, in France, 555. + + Guillotine, 588 f. and notes. + + Guise, Henry of, 456. + + Guises, 454. + + Gunpowder, invention of, 352. + + Gustavus Adolphus, 468 ff. + + Gustavus Vasa, 469. + + + Hades, 18. + + Hadrian, tomb of, 54. + + Hadrian IV, Pope, and Frederick I, 176 f. + + Hadrian VI, Pope, 410-412. + + Hague, peace conference at The, 686. + + Hampden, John, 481. + + Hanover, electorate of, 524, note. + + Hanover, house of, 524; + occupied by Napoleon, 610; + relations of, with Prussia, 613 f. + + Hanseatic League, 247 f. + + Hanseatic towns annexed to France, 602. + + Hapsburg, Rudolf of, king of Germany, 185. + + Hapsburgs, rise of, 354 f., 421, 444 f., 471, 517 ff. + + Harold, Earl of Wessex, 136 f. + + Hastings, battle of, 136, note. + + Hébert, 589. + + Heilbronn, articles of, 414. + + Hejira, the, 69. + + Henrietta Maria, 478. + + Henry II of England, possession of, 126, 140 ff. + + Henry III of England, 146 f. + + Henry IV of England, 291. + + Henry V of England continues Hundred Years' War, 291 ff. + + Henry VII of England, 296 f. + + Henry VIII of England, 365, 367, 426 ff., 476. + + Henry II of France, 452. + + Henry III of France, 456. + + Henry IV of France, 457 f. + + Henry I of Germany, 149 and note. + + Henry III, Emperor, 153 f.; + intervenes in papal matters, 160, 166. + + Henry IV of Germany, 165 ff.; + conflict of, with Gregory VII, 167 ff., 174. + + Henry V, Emperor, 171. + + Henry VI, Emperor, 180 f. + + Henry of Navarre, _see_ Henry IV of France. + + Henry the Lion, 180. + + Henry the Proud, 179. + + Heresy, in twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 220 f.; + punishment of, 225; + of Huss, 314 f., 403 and note. + + Herzegovina, 669, 670 and note. + + Hesse, Philip of, 409 f., 415, 419. + + Hesse-Cassel, 628. + + Hildebrand, _see_ Gregory VII. + + Hindustan, 348, 529 ff. + + History, scope of, 1; + continuity or unity of, 4; + notions of, in the Middle Ages, 259 f. + + Hohenstaufens, 173 f. + _See also_ Frederick I, Henry VI, Frederick II. + + Hohenzollern family, 515. + _See also_ Brandenburg and Prussia. + + Holbein, Hans, 346. + + Holidays, number of, reduced in Germany, 412. + + Holland, 449; + war with England, 492; + war with France, 492 f., 502 f.; + colonies of, 527; + becomes the Batavian republic, 604; + Louis Bonaparte, king of, 613; + annexed to France, 620; + made a kingdom, 625, 632. + _See also_ United Netherlands. + + Holy Land, commercial interests of Italian cities in, 198 f. + + Holy League formed by Pope Julius II against France, 365. + + Holy League, French, 456. + + Holy Roman Empire, 85, 152 f., 473; + consolidation of, in 1803, 603 f.; + dissolution of, 612. + _See also_ Germany. + + Homage, 109 and note; + refusal of, 116 f. + + Horace, idea of life entertained by, 45; + _Satires_ of, 333, note. + + Hospitalers, 194 f. + + House of Lords, abolition of, 487. + _See also_ Parliament. + + Hrolf, 122 f. + + Huguenots, 454 ff., 467; + Charles I attempts to aid, 478 f.; + position of, under Louis XIV, 504 f. + + Humanists, Italian, 334 f.; + German, 379 f. + + Humanities, 334. + + Hundred Years' War, 281 ff., 291 ff. + + Hungarians, 149; + defeated by Otto the Great, 150. + + Hungary, freed from the Turks, 518; + during revolution of 1848, 646, 648 f.; + dual union of, with Austria, 650. + + Huns, 25, 27. + + Huss, 309, 315 ff., 393. + + Hussite wars, 317. + + Hussites, 432, 465. + + Hutten, Ulrich von, 385 f., 395 f., 399, 404, 410. + + + Iconoclastic controversy, 74. + _See_ Images. + + Illuminations, 261 f. + + Images, demolition of, in England, 433 f.; + in the Netherlands, 447 f. + + Immunities, 101. + + Imperial title, 151 f. + _See also_ Emperor. + + Indemnity, the French, 664. + + Independents, 482 f. and note. + + India, Portuguese seek a sea route to, 348; + Europeans in, 528 ff.; + during Seven Years' War, 530. + + Indulgences attacked by Wycliffe, 308; + explained, 390 f.; + attitude of Luther toward, 390 ff., 412, 423. + + Industrial revolution, 679 f. + + Industry stimulated by commerce in Middle Ages, 244 f. + + Infeudation, 106 f.; + of other things than land, 115. + + Innocent III, Pope, struggle of, with the Hohenstaufens, 181 f.; + attempts to reform the Church, 223. + + Inquisition established, 224, 231; + in Spain, 358, 619; + in the Netherlands, 445, 447. + + _Institutes of Christianity_, Calvin's, 425 f. + + Interdict, 183, 213. + + International law, 507 f. + + Invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries, 98 f. + + Invention, progress of, in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 352 f.; + modern, 674 ff. + + Investiture, lay, 155 ff., 161; + prohibition of, 163, 167; + question of, settled at Worms, 171 f. + + Invincible Armada, 463. + + Ireland, 461 f., 487 f. + + Irene, Empress, 84. + + Irish monks in Britain, 62. + + Iron industry, 352, 675 f. + + Isabella, queen of Castile, 357. + + Islam, 69. + + Italian language, derivation of, 251; + used by Dante in the _Divine Comedy_, 330; + by Petrarch, 334. + + Italy, during the barbarian invasions, 33; + united to Charlemagne's empire, 85, 93, 96; + German kings make vain attempt to control, 151 f.; + towns of, under Frederick I, 174 f.; + Hohenstaufens in, 180, 186; + commerce of, 198 f., 243 f.; + divisions of, in fourteenth century, 321 f.; + culture of, during the Renaissance, 321, 339 ff.; + invasion of, by Charles VIII, 360 f.; + hold of Austria on, 507; + Bonaparte's campaign in, 594; + Napoleon, king of, 611; + after 1815, 636 f., 638 f.; + war of independence of, 645 f.; + constitutions granted to various states of, 646; + unification of, 654 ff.; + formation of the present kingdom of, 655 f. + + Ivan the Terrible, 511. + + + Jacobins, 578 f., 590. + + Jacobites, 526 and note. + + James I of England, 467; + theory of kingship of, 475 ff. + + James II, 493. + + James VI of Scotland, 462. + _See also_ James I of England. + + Jamestown, 528. + + Jefferson, Thomas, opinion of the condition of France, 544. + + Jena, battle of, 614. + + Jerome, St., 51; + advocate of the monastic life, 57. + + Jerome Bonaparte, 614. + + Jerusalem, 185, 188; + Kingdom of, 192 ff., 197 f. + + Jesuits, order of, 462, 465 f., 494. + + Jewry, 246. + + Jews, economic importance of, 246; + persecution of, 246, 358. + + Joan of Arc, 293 f. + + John of England, 126 f., 144 ff.; + vassal of pope, 183. + + John, king of France, 285. + + John Frederick of Saxony, 415, 418 f. + + John XXIII, Pope, 313. + + Jongleurs, 256. + + Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain, 618. + + Josephine, 607, 620. + + _Journal des Savants_, 501. + + Jousts, 118. + + Jubilee at Rome (1300), 305. + + Julius II, Pope, 344, 365. + + Jury, origin of, 142. + + Just price, doctrine of, 245. + + Justification by faith, 388, 439. + + Justinian 33; + closes government schools, 267. + + + Kadijah, wife of Mohammed, 69. + + Kappel, battle of, 425. + + Kent, king of, converted, 61. + + King, position of, in Middle Ages, 73, 102, 108, 120. + + King of Rome, 620. + + King of the Romans, 152, note. + + Kneeling Parliament, 436. + + Knighthood, 257 f. + + Knights, summoned to the English Parliament, 147; + in Germany, 407; + revolt of, 409 f.; + disappearance of, 604. + + Knox, John, 459. + + Koran, the, 69 f. + + Kossuth, 650. + + + Labor, division of, 677. + + Labor unions, 681 f. + + Laborers, protection of, 681. + + Lafayette, 534, 563, 570. + + _Laissez faire_, 553, 681. + + Lancaster, house of, in England, 291, 296; + genealogical table of, 297, note. + + Lancelot, description of, quoted, 258. + + Landholding, in the Roman Empire, 104. + _See also_ Feudalism. + + Lanfranc, 138. + + Langton, Stephen, 183. + + _Langue d'oc_, 254, note. + + _Langue d'oïl_, 254, note. + + La Rochelle, 455, 457, 478. + + La Salle, 528. + + Latin Church tends to separate from the Greek, 51. + _See also_ Church. + + Latin language, contrast of the written, with the spoken, 39, 252, note; + knowledge of, preserved by the Church, 87 f.; + general use of, in the Middle Ages, 95, 202, 250. + + Latin literature, extinction of, 31. + _See also_ Humanists. + + Laud, William, 481 f., 484. + + La Vendée, revolt of, 587. + + Law, _see_ Canon and Civil law. + + _Law of Free Monarchies, The_, of James I, 477. + + _Law of Nature and Nations_, by Pufendorf, 508. + + _Laws of the Barbarians_, 40. + + Lay investiture, _see_ Investiture. + + Lea, Henry C., description of Church, 214; + account of mendicants, 230. + + Lefèvre, 452 f. + + Legates, 162. + + Legion of Honor, 617. + + Legislative Assembly, 576, 579 f. + + Legitimists, 664, note. + + Legnano, battle of, 179. + + Leipsic, disputation at, 392 f.; + battle of, 623. + + Leo the Great, 21, 51, 52. + + Leo III, Emperor, forbids the veneration of images, 74. + + Leo IX, Pope, reform begun by, 161 f. + + Leo X (Medici), Pope, patron of art, 344, 365, 391, 410. + + Leonardo da Vinci, 344 f. + + Leopold II, 577. + + Leopold of Hohenzollern, 662, note. + + _Letters of Obscure Men_, 380 f., and note. + + _Lettres de cachet_, 546. + + Leyden, siege of, 451, note. + + Libraries, destruction of, 32; + established in Italy, 337. + + Ligurian republic, 610. + + Lisbon, trade in spices, 348. + + _Lit de justice_, 547. + + Livonia, 514. + + Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, 278. + + Logic, esteem for, in the Middle Ages, 268, 271; + decline of, 334 f. + + Lombard cities, 170 f., 174 ff. + + Lombard League, 178. + + Lombard, Peter, _Sentences_ of, 210, 396 f. + + Lombards as bankers, 246. + + _Lombards, History of the_, by Paulus Diaconus, 90. + + Lombards in Italy, 33, 34, 65, 74 f.; + conquered by Charlemagne, 81. + + London, 248, 290. + + Long Parliament, 484 ff.; + dissolved by Cromwell, 488 f.; + recalled, 490. + + Lord, mediæval, position of, 99 f.; + meaning of term, 106. + + Lord Protector, Cromwell, 489. + + Lord's Supper, Zwingli's conception of, 425. + _See also_ Mass. + + Lorraine, 94, 300, 472; + added to France, 536; + portion of, ceded to Germany, 663 and note. + + _Lorsch, Chronicles of_, passage from, 84. + + Lothaire, son of Louis the Pious, 93. + + _Lotharii regnum_, 94. + + Louis the Fat of France, 125. + + Louis the German, 92, 93, 95. + + Louis the Pious, 92. + + Louis IX (Saint), 130 f., 198. + + Louis XI of France, 299 f. + + Louis XII of France, 364 f. + + Louis XIII of France, 458. + + Louis XIV, 472, 489, 492, 495 ff.; + idea of position of, 496 f.; + court of, 498; + wars of, 501 ff.; + condition of France at end of reign of, 508. + + Louis XV, 508, 553. + + Louis XVI, position of, 545, 553 f.; + removes to Paris, 570; + flight of, to Varennes, 575 f.; + imprisonment of, 581; + trial and execution of, 583. + + Louis XVII, 625, note. + + Louis XVIII, 625; + policy of, 629 f. + + Louis Philippe, 630, 642 f. + + Louisiana, 534, 602. + + Low Church party, 482. + + Loyola, Ignatius, 440 ff. + + Lübeck, 244, 248. + + Lucien Bonaparte, 599. + + Luther, Martin, 387 ff.; + burns the canon law, 368, 399; + early life and education of, 387; + enters monastery, 387; + justification by faith, 388; + called to Wittenberg, visits Rome, 389; + teaches biblical theology, 389; + the theses of, 390; + warfare against indulgences, 390; + debate with Eck at Leipsic, 392; + relations with humanists, 393; + with Ulrich von Hutten, 395; + _Address to the German Nobility_ of, 396; + _Babylonian Captivity of the Church_ of, 397; + excommunicated, 398; + at diet of Worms, 401; + outlawed by the emperor, 403 and note; + translates the Bible, 405; + view of reform of, 407 ff.; + rash talk of, about princes, 413; + attacks the peasants, 414, 416. + + Lützen, battle of, 470. + + Luxembourg, 300, 662. + + Lyons revolts against the Convention, 587, 589. + + + Machiavelli, _The Prince_ of, 327, 362. + + Machinery, introduction of, 675 ff. + + Madras, 529. + + Magdeburg, 469. + + Magellan circumnavigates the globe, 351. + + Magyars, _see_ Hungarians. + + Major Domus, _see_ Mayors of the Palace. + + Malory, the _Mort d'Arthur_ of, 255, note. + + Malta, 195. + + Mandeville, Sir John, referred to, 261, note. + + Manor, 100, 234 f.; + court of the, 236. + + Mantua, 471. + + Manufacture, increase of, in thirteenth century, 200; + modern, 675. + + Manuscripts, 337 f. + + Marches, establishment of, 82. + + Marco Polo, 347. + + Marcus Aurelius, _Meditations of_, 18. + + Marengo, battle of, 601. + + Margaret, queen of Navarre, 452. + + Margraves, origin of, 82, 86, 102. + + Maria Louisa, 620. + + Maria Theresa, 518 ff. + + Marie Antoinette, 554, 570, 589. + + Marlborough, 506. + + Marquette, 528. + + Marquises, 86. + + Marriage, of the clergy, 154, 157 and note, 161, 163, 418; + sacrament of, 211. + + Marseilles, revolt of, 587. + + Marston Moor, battle of, 486. + + Mary of Burgundy, 301. + + Mary of Modena, 493. + + Mary, queen of England, 435 f. + + Mary Queen of Scots, _see_ Mary Stuart. + + Mary Stuart, 454, 459 ff. + + Mass, the, 211 f., 407, 409, 432. + + Matilda, 126, 140. + + Maurice of Saxony, 418 f. + + Maximilian I, Emperor, 356, 358 f., 363, 365. + + Maximilian of Bavaria, 466, 467. + + Mayence, 66, 78; + elector of, 372, 378; + printing at, 338. + + Mayflower, 483. + + Mayors of the Palace, 38. + + Mazarin, 495. + + Mazzini, 639, 648. + + Mecca, 68, 69, 70. + + Medici, 328 f., 361, 366; + Lorenzo de', 328, 344; + library of the, 337. + + Medicine, modern advance in, 674. + + Medina, 69. + + Melanchthon, 417. + + Mendicant orders, 225 f. + + Merovingian documents, carelessness of, 87. + + Merovingian kings, 38, 72. + + Mersen, Treaty of, 95 f. + + Metric system, 591. + + Metternich, 634; + overthrow of, 644 f. + + Metz, 452, 473, 663. + + Mexican expedition, 662. + + Mexico, 351, 358. + + Michael Angelo, 342, 344 f. + + Microscope, development of, 674. + + Middle Ages, meaning of term, 5 f.; + character of, 42 f. + + Middle kingdom of Lothaire, 94 f. + + Milan, Edict of, 21; + married clergy in, 163; + destruction of, by Frederick I, 176 f.; + despots of, 324 f.; + claimed by France, 364 f.; + claimed by Charles V, 366, 417. + + Miles Coverdale, 431. + + Military service, feudal, 110. + + Miniature, derivation of word, 262. + + Minnesingers, 258. + + Minor orders of the clergy, 20. + + Minorca, 507. + + Mirabeau, 564. + + Miracles, frequency of, in Middle Ages, 46 f. + + _Missi dominici_, 86, 102. + + Missions, greatly increase the power of the pope, 66; + of the Jesuits, 442. + + Model Parliament, 147. + + Modern languages, origin of, 40, 250 ff. + + Mohammed, 68 f. + + Mohammedan conquests, _see_ Arabic conquests. + + Mohammedan invasion of Italy, 150. + + Mohammedanism, 69 f. + + Mohammedans, 68 ff., 88; + gradual expulsion of, from Spain, 83, 356 f.; + commerce of, 199, 243. + + Molière, 500. + + Moluccas, 347, 348. + + Monasteries, breaking up of, in Germany, 407 f.; + in England, 432 f. + + Monasticism, attraction of, for many different classes, 56 f. + + Money, scarcity of, in the Middle Ages, 98; + use of, 236, 247. + + Mongol emperors of India, 529 and note. + + Mongols, 510. + + _Moniteur_, 578. + + Monk, George, 490. + + Monk of St. Gall, 78 and note. + + Monks, 46; + origin and distinguished services of, 56 f., 219. + + Monte Cassino, founding of, 57. + + Montesquieu, 552. + + Moors, in Spain, 357 f.; + expulsion of, 464. + + Moravians, 149. + + More, Sir Thomas, 427, 432. + + Morgarten, battle of, 421. + + _Mort d' Arthur_, Malory's, 255, note. + + Moscow, 512, 514; + princes of, 510 f.; + Napoleon at, 621. + + Mosque, 70. + + Mountain party, 585 f. + + Münster, 472. + + Murat, king of Naples, 618. + + Murten, battle of, 422. + + + Nantes, Edict of, granting of, 457; + revocation of, 504 f. + + Nantes, massacre at, 589. + + Naples, kingdom of, 180, 360, note, 363 f., 613; + revolution in, 635, 637 f. + + Napoleon Bonaparte, 536, 574, 592 ff.; + idea of, of a European empire, 609; + _Memoirs_ of, 624. + + Napoleon II, 620. + + Napoleon III, 644; + intervenes in Italy, 654 f.; + position of, after 1866, 662. + + Naseby, battle of, 486. + + National Assembly, first French, 564, 570; + close of, 576 f. + + National guard, 566. + + National workshops, 643 f. + + "Natural boundaries" of France, 501 f. + + Natural laws, discovery of, 672 f. + + Navigation Act, 488. + + Necker, 556. + + Nelson, 597 f., 615. + + Netherlands, 295; + come into Austrian hands, 301; + revolt of, 445 ff.; + Louis XIV claims, 502; + Spanish, ceded to Austria, 507. + + Neustria, 37 f. + + New Testament, edition of, by Erasmus, 382. + + New York, 492. + + Newspapers, origin of French, 578; + Napoleon's attitude toward, 608 f. + + Newton, Sir Isaac, 673. + + Nicæa, Council of, 21; + during First Crusades, 188, 192. + + Niccola of Pisa, 340. + + Nicholas II, Pope, decree of, 162. + + Nicholas V, 320, 337. + + _Niebelungs, Song of the_, 253. + + Nimwegen, Peace of, 503. + + Nobility, origin of Frankish, 38; + titles of, 86; + character of feudal, 112, 234 f.; + in France under Louis XI, 299 f.; + established by Napoleon, 608, 617. + + Nobles, privileges of, in France, 542 f.; + emigration of French, 575. + + Nogaret, 306. + + Non-juring clergy, 572 f., 579. + + Nördlingen, battle of, 470. + + Norman conquest of England, 136 ff.; + results of, 138 f. + + Normandy, 122 f., 127, 284, 292. + + Normans, amalgamate with the English, 139, 146; + in Sicily, 180, note. _See also_ Northmen. + + Norse literature, 99, note. + + North German Federation, 660 f. + + Northmen, treaty of Charles the Fat with, 96 f., 99 and note; + in Russia, 510. + + Northumbria, king of, 62. + + Notables, meeting of, 558 f. + + Novara, battle of, 650. + + Novgorod, 248, 510. + + Nuremberg, 373; + diet of (1522), 410 f. + + + Odo, 96, 120 f. + + Odoacer, 28. + + Ordeal, 41, 142. + + Ordination, sacrament of, 211. + + Orient, European relations with, 199 f., 244. + + Orleanists, 664, note. + + Orleans, duke of, 292; + Maid of, 294. + + Ormond, 487. + + Osnabrück, 472. + + Ostrogoths, _see_ East Goths. + + Other-worldliness of mediæval Christianity, 45. + + Othman, 517. + + Otto I, the Great, of Germany, 149 ff. + + Otto of Brunswick, 182. + + Otto of Freising, 173, 197. + + Overlord, 106, note. + + + Pagan idea of the life after death, 18, 45. + + Paganism, merges into Christianity, 19; + of Italian humanists, 335. + + Painting, Italian, 340 f., 346; + in northern Europe, 346. + + Palace, school of the, 90. + + Palatinate, electorate of, 372, 467; + Louis XIV's operations in, 505. + + Pallium, 203, 307. + + Pan-Slavic Congress of 1848, 648. + + Papacy, origin of, 49 ff.; + seat of, transferred to Avignon, 306 f., 308, 317. _See also_ Pope. + + Papal legates, 162. + + Papal states, 75 f., 170, 320, 620, 639, 655, 667. _See also_ Pope. + + Papyrus, supply of, cut off, 87. + + Paris, 37, 96; + Treaty of (1763), 532; + Peace of (1783), 534; + importance in the Revolution, 570; + commune of, 581, 589; + insurrection of (June, 1848), 643; + of 1871, 664. + + Parish, administration of, 208 f. + + _Parlements_, French, origin of, 130 f., 547 f., 559 f. + + Parliament, English, 147, 281, 286, 289; + after Wars of the Roses, 298, 308, 475; + struggle of, with Charles I, 478 ff., 496. + + Parma, duchess of, 447 f. + + _Parsifal_, by Wolfram von Eschenbach, 258. + + Patrick, St., 62. + + Paulus Diaconus, 90. + + Peasants' War, in England, 309; + in Germany, 407, 413 ff. + + Peasants in France, condition of, before the French Revolution, 544 f. + + Penance, sacrament of, 211 f. + + Pepys, _Diary_ of, 492. + + Persecution, religious, 432, 436; + of English Catholics, 462. + + Peter Lombard, _Sentences_ of, 268, 334, 425. + + Peter, St., 49 f. + + Peter the Great, 511 ff.; + reforms of, 512. + + Peter the Hermit, 190. + + Petition of Right, 479. + + Petrarch, 288, 332 ff. + + Philip Augustus of France, 125 ff., 130, 183, 197, 246. + + Philip the Fair, of France, 131, 196, 280; + struggle of, with Boniface VIII, 304 f. + + Philip VI of France, 283. + + Philip the Good, of Burgundy, 293, 295, 300. + + Philip II of Spain, 436, 444 ff.; + reign of, 463 f. + + Philip V, first Bourbon king of Spain, 506. + + Picts, 279. + + Piedmont, reforms in, 654. + + _Piers Ploughman_, 290. + + Pilgrim Fathers, 483. + + Pillnitz, Declaration of, 577 f. + + Pins, illustration of the manufacture of, 677. + + Pippin of Heristal, 38. + + Pippin the Short, 72 f., 75 f. + + Pisa, Council of, 313. + + Pitt, the elder, 530. + + Pius IX, 639, 648. + + Plantagenets, 125 ff., 140 ff. + + Plassey, battle of, 531 f. + + Plebiscite, 600, 644. + + Poitiers, battle of, 285. + + Poland, 153, 514; + first partition of, 521, 583 f.; + Napoleon's campaign in, 614; + dispute over, at the Congress of Vienna, 626 f. + + Pomerania, 473. + + Pondicherry, 530. + + Pope, 52; + origin of name of, 52, note; 54 f., 66; + alliance of, with Franks, 72 f., 75 f.; + opposition to iconoclasm, 74, 85; + relations of, with Otto the Great, 151 f.; + position of, in tenth and early eleventh centuries, 161; + election of, 162; + powers of, claimed for by Gregory VII, 164 f.; + position of, in the Church, 202 ff.; + during the Great Schism, 310 ff.; + attitude of, toward councils, 438; + attitude of, toward Italian unity, 639, 647; + position of, since 1870, 667. + + Popular sovereignty defended by Rousseau, 552. + + Port Mahon, 532. + + Portuguese, explorations by, 347 f.; + colonies of, 348, 527, 685. + + _Praise of Folly_, by Erasmus, 383, 427. + + Prayer-book, English, 435, 458, 482, 491. + + Preaching Friars, 231. + + Prefects, French, 599. + + Presbyterian Church, 425 f., 459, 482 f. + + Presbyters, 19 f., 426, note. + + Press, censorship of, in the eighteenth century, 549. + + Pressburg, Treaty of, 611. + + Pride's Purge, 486. + + Priest, 20; + duties of, 208 f. + + Prime minister, 526. + + Prince Charlie, 527. + + Prince of Wales, origin of title of, 278. + + Printing, invention of, 337 f.; + modern methods of, 678. + + Privileges in France, 540; + abolition of, 567. + + Protestant, origin of term, 416 f. + + Protestant revolt, conditions explaining, 377; + course of, in Germany, 405 ff. + + Protestant union of German princes, 415, 466. + + Protestantism, in Germany, 418 ff.; + in Switzerland, 423 ff.; + in England, 430-435; + in the Netherlands, 447 ff.; + in France, 451 ff. + + "Protests" of the French _parlements_, 547. + + Provençal language, 254; + troubadours' songs in, 256. + + Provisors, statute of, in England, 308. + + Prussia, 474, 515 ff., 544; + war of, with France, 581, 583 f., 593, 613 f.; + reforms of Stein and Hardenberg, 622 f.; + after 1815, 626 f., 631; + in 1848, 646; + strengthening of army of, 656 f.; + war with Austria (1866), 660; + war with France (1870), 662 f.; + predominating influence of, in the German empire, 666. + + Prussians conquered by the Teutonic knights, 196. + + Ptolemy's estimate of size of the world, 350. + + Pufendorf, 508. + + Purgatory, 212. + + Puritans, 482, 483 and note, 491. + + + Quakers, 491. + + Quebec, 528, 530. + + + Racine, 500. + + Railroads, development of, 678 f. + + Rajah, 529. + + Raphael, 344 f. + + Ravenna, interior of a church at, 29. + + Reaction, after Napoleon's downfall, 628; + in Germany, 634 f. + + Reason, worship of, 589. + + Reform Act, English, 682, note. + + _Regalia_, 177. + + Regensburg, formation of Catholic party at, 412. + + Regular clergy defined, 59. + + _Reichsdeputationshauptschluss_, 603. + + Reign of Terror, 537, 573, 588 ff.; + customs of, abolished, 607. + + Relics, German collections of, 377 f. + + Relief, 108, note. + + Religious equality, 683. + + Rembrandt, 346. + + Renaissance, 321, 329 f. + + Republic, the "red," in France, 643. + + Republican calendar, 591. + + Republican party in France, origin of, 576. + + Restoration in England, 490. + + Reuchlin, 380. + + Revolution of 1848, 642 ff.; + results of, 653. + + Revolutionary Tribunal, 588. + + _Reynard the Fox_, 256. + + Rhine, left bank of, ceded to France, 603. + + Rhine, the Confederation of the, 612 f. + + Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, 126 f., 144, 197 f. + + Richard II of England, 291, 315. + + Richard III of England, 297. + + Richelieu, 458, 467, 495; + intervenes in the Thirty Years' War, 471 f. + + Rights of Man, Declaration of, 568 ff. + + Rising in the north of England, 460. + + Roads, 12; + poor, in the Middle Ages, 98, 242. + + Robbia, Luca della, 343. + + Robert Guiscard in Naples and Sicily, 180, note. + + Robespierre, 589, f. + + _Rois fainéants_, 38. + + _Roland, Song of_, 83, note, 255. + + Rollo, 122 f. + + Roman Church, the mother church, 49 f. + + Roman Empire, 8 ff.; + reasons for decline of, 12 ff.; + religious revival in, 18; + "fall" of, in the West, 27; + relations of, with Church, 47; + continuity of, 84 f. + + Roman law, 11; + retained by Theodoric, 29; + supplanted by German customs, 40; + study of, revived, 177, 269. + + _Romana lingua_, _see_ French language. + + Romance languages, derivation of, 251 f. + + Romances, mediæval, 254 f. + + Rome, city of, 26, 53, 305, 310; + ascendency of, in art, 344; + sack of, 417, note; + made a republic, 648; + added to the kingdom of Italy, 667. + + Romulus Augustulus, 28. + + Roncaglia, Frederick I holds two assemblies at, 176 f. + + Roncesvalles, Pass of, 83, note. + + Rossbach, battle of, 520. + + "Rotten boroughs," 682, note. + + Roumania, 669 f. + + Roumelia, Eastern, 670, note. + + Roundheads, 485. + + Round Table, Knights of the, 255. + + _Rous_, 510. + + Rousillon, 471 f. + + Rousseau, 551. + + Royal library of France, 501. + + Rubens, 346. + + Rudolf of Hapsburg, 355. + + Rule of St. Benedict, 57 f. + + Rump Parliament, 487 f. + + Rurik, 510. + + Russia, 509 ff.; + relations of, with Napoleon, 614, 620 f.; + Crimean War of, 668 f.; + recent expansion of, 686. + + Sacraments, 210 f.; + attacked by Luther, 397 f.; + confirmed by the Council of Trent, 439. + + _Sacrosancta_, decree, 317. + + _Sagas_, 99, note. + + St. Bartholomew's Day, massacre of, 455 f. + + St. Bernard, 197, 219, 268. + + St. Dominic, 229 f. + + St. Francis of Assisi, 225 ff., 342. + + St. Mark's church at Venice, 323. + + St. Meinrad, 423. + + St. Omer, terms of charter of, 240. + + St. Peter's Church at Rome, 344. + + St. Petersburg, founding of, 512 f. + + Saint-Simon, 500. + + Saladin takes Jerusalem, 197. + + Salamander, mediæval account of, quoted, 260. + + Salisbury, oath of, 137 f. + + Salt tax, French, 540. + + Saracens, _see_ Mohammedans. + + Saratoga, battle of, 534. + + Sardinia, kingdom of, 628. + + Satires of the sixteenth century, 406. + + Savonarola, 361 f. + + Savoy, France deprived of, 625. + + Saxons, 27, 79 ff., 98; + settle in England, 60; + rebel against Henry IV, 166. + + Saxony, 179 f.; + electorate of, 372; + question of, at the Congress of Vienna, 626 f. + + Scandinavian kingdoms, 468 f. + + Schism, the Great, 310 f., 314 f. + + Schleswig-Holstein affair, 657 f. + + Schoifher, Peter, 338, note. + + Scholasticism, 272 f. + + School of the palace, 90. + + Schools established by Charlemagne, 88 f. + + Science, mediæval, 260, 356; + modern methods of, 678 ff. + + Scotch people, 280 f. + + Scotland, 135, 278 ff., 459; + under the same ruler as England, 476; + Charles I at war with, 483; + union with England, 524; + welcomes the Young Pretender, 526 f. + + Sculpture, mediæval, 262, 265 f.; + Renaissance, 340. + + Secular clergy defined, 59. + + Sedan, battle of, 663. + + _Seigneur_, derivation of, 106, note. + + Seneca, opinion on origin of practical arts, 14. + + _Senior_, late Latin, 106, note. + + Senlac, battle of, 136. + + _Sentences_ of Peter Lombard, 210, 425. + + Sepoys, 531. + + September massacres, 582. + + Serfdom, 16, 234; + disappearance of, in England, 290 f.; + abolished in France, 567; + in Prussia, 622. + + Serfs, _coloni_ resemble the, 16, 100; + condition of, 234 ff., 414. _See also_ Serfdom. + + Servia, 668 ff. + + Sevastopol, 669. + + Seven Years' War, 519 f.; + in India, 530 ff. + + Sévigné, Madame de, 500, 505. + + Sforza family, 327. + + Shakespeare, 477 f. + + Sheriffs appointed by William the Conqueror, 137. + + Ship money, 481, 484. + + Shires, 135 and note. + + Sicily, 180, 182, 185, 360, note. + + Sickingen, Franz von, 406 f., 409 f. + + Sigismund, Emperor, 314 f. + + Silesia, 518 f. + + Simon de Montfort leads Albigensian crusade, 223. + + Simon de Montfort, Parliament of, 146 f. + + Simony, 158 f., 161, 218. + + "Simple priests" of Wycliffe, 309. + + "Six Articles," the, 431 f. + + Slavery in Roman Empire, 13 ff. + + Slavs, 82; + on the borders of Germany, 150, 153; + settlement of, in Europe, 509, 648 f. + + Smith, Adam, 677. + + _Social Contract_ of Rousseau, 551. + + Social Democrats, 643. + + Sophia of Hanover, 524. + + Sorbonne, 452. + + South Bulgaria, 670, note. + + Southampton granted a charter, 240. + + Spain, 26, 70 f., 83, 346; + maritime power of, 351; + under Charles V, 354, 356 f., 445, 451, 455; + decline of, 464; + colonies of, 527; + Napoleon attempts to control, 618 f., 623, 637; + loses American colonies, 684 f. + + "Spanish fury," 450. + + Spanish language, derivation of, 251. + + Spanish March, 83, 94. + + Spanish Netherlands, _see_ Netherlands. + + Spanish Succession, War of the, 506 ff. + + Spectacles, invention of, 352. + + Speyer, Edict of (1526), 415 f.; + protest of, 316 f. and note. + + Spice trade, importance of, 348 f. + + Stamp Act, 532. + + Star Chamber, Court of, 484. + + State, character of, in Middle Ages, 48, 165. + + States of the Church, _see_ Papal states. + + Statutes of Laborers, 289. + + Steam, application of, 675 f. + + Steamboats, 678. + + Steel, 676. + + Steelyard, 248. + + Stein, reforms of, 622, 631. + + Stem duchies in Germany, 148 f. + + Stephen, king of England, 140. + + Stone of Scone, 280. + + Strafford, 484. + + Strand laws, 247. + + Strasburg, 473; + seized by Louis XIV, 504, 663 f. + + Strasburg oaths, 94. + + Stuart, house of, 475. + + Students' associations in Germany, 633. + + Subdeacon, 20. + + Subinfeudation, 106 f. + + Subtenant, 107. + + Subvassals, 107 ff. + + Suffrage, extension of, 682. + + Sully, 457 f. + + Sutri, the council of, 160. + + Suzerain, 106 and note. + + Sweden, 468 f., 473; + under Charles XII, 513 f. + + Swiss mercenaries, 423 and note. + + Switzerland, origin of, 421 ff.; + Protestant revolt in, 423 ff., 473, 605, 626. + + Symbolism, mediæval, 261. + + Syria, Bonaparte's campaign in, 598. + + + Taille, 299, 540, 545 f., 556, 559. + + Talleyrand, 626. + + Tamerlane, 529, note. + + Tancred, 180 f. + + Tartars, 510. + + Taxation, in Roman Empire, 13; + papal, 204, 384; + of church property, 304; + without representation, 533; + reform of, in France, 567. + + Teachers, government, in Roman Empire, 12, 32. + + Telescope, 67. + + Templars, 195 f., 306. + + Temporalities, 156. + + "Tennis-Court" oath, 564. + + Test Act 492; + repeal of, 683. + + Tetzel, 390. + + Teutonic order, 195 f.; + in Prussia, 515 f. + + Theodoric, 28 ff. + + Theodosian Code, provisions of, relating to the Church, 21. + + Theodosius the Great, 22 f., 27. + + Theology in University of Paris, 269. + + Thermidor, 9th, 590, note. + + Theses, Luther's ninety-five, 390 f. + + Third estate, 543 ff. + + Thirty-Nine Articles, the, 435. + + Thirty Years' War, 465 ff. + + Thomas à Becket, 142 f. + + Thomas Aquinas, 231, 272. + + Three Henrys, War of the, 456. + + Tilly, 469 f. + + Tilsit, treaties of, 614. + + Timur, 529, note. + + Tithe, 81, 202. + + Titian, 346. + + Toleration, religious, in Germany, 415 ff., 419 f.; + in France, 454 ff.; + modern, 683. + + Tolls in Middle Ages, 246 f. + + Toul, 452, 473. + + Toulouse, counts of, 124, 256. + + Tourneys, 118. + + Tours, battle of, 71 f. + + Towns, representatives of, summoned to Parliament, 147; + in Middle Ages, 174, 200, 232, 237 f., 248; + German, 373, 375, 604; + growth of the modern, 680. + + Trade, mediæval, 238, 242 f.; + restrictions on, abolished, 680. + + Trafalgar, battle of, 615. + + Transubstantiation, 213, 309, 425, 431. + + Treasury of "good works," 378. + + Trent, Council of, 437 ff. + + Treves, 12; + electorate of, 372. + + Trial by jury, 142. + + Trials, mediæval, 41, 140 ff. + + Triple Alliance, 502 f. + + Troubadours, 256. + + Troyes, Treaty of (1420), 293. + + Truce of God, 118. + + Tsar, title of, 511, note. + + Tudor, house of, 296 f. + + Tuilleries, 581, 664. + + Turenne, 472. + + Turgot, 553, note, 554 f. + + Turkey in Europe, 535; + disruption of, 628, 667 ff. + + Turks, 188, 190 f., 376, 514, 517. + + Twelve Articles of the peasants, 413 f. + + + Ulfilas translates Bible into Gothic, 252. + + Ulm, 374, 611. + + Unction, sacrament of extreme, 211. + + United Provinces, 450, 473. + + _Unity of the Church_, by Cyprian, 20. + + Unity of history, 4. + + Universities, mediæval, 269 f., 333, 356; + German, 380, 398. + + Urban II, 188. + + Usufruct, 105. + + Usury, doctrine of, 245. + + _Utopia_, by Sir Thomas More, 427. + + Utrecht, Union of, 450; + Treaty of, 507. + + + Valentinian III, decree of, 51. + + Valois, house of, 455. + + Van Dyck, 346. + + Van Eyck brothers, 346. + + Vandals, 26, 33. + + Varennes, flight to, 575 f. + + Vassals, origin of, 102 f., 106; + obligations of, 110 f. + + Vasco da Gama, 348. + + Vassy, massacre of, 455. + + Vatican library, 337. + + Velasquez, 346. + + Vendée, La, revolt of, 587. + + Venerable Bede, the, 56, 64. + + Venetia given to Austria, 626; 655; + ceded to Italy, 667. + + Venice, founding of, 27; + commerce of, 194, 198 f., 243 f., 347; + government of, 321 f.; + painting at, 346; + war of, with League of Cambray, 364 f.; + destruction of republic of, 595; + in 1848, 648. _See_ Venetia. + + Verdun, 452, 473; + Treaty of, 93; + fall of, 582. + + Versailles, 498. + + Vespasiano, Italian bookseller, 337, note. + + Veto, royal, in England, 524 and note. + + Victor Emmanuel, 650, 654 f. + + Vienna, siege of, by Turks, 517 f.; + Congress of, 625 ff.; + revolution of 1848 in, 645, 650. + + Vikings, 99, note. + + Villa, Roman, 14, 100. + + Villehardouin, 260. + + Visconti, 324 f., 364. + + Visigoths, _see_ West Goths. + + Voltaire, 519, 549 ff. + + Vulgate, 51, 439. + + + Wager of battle, 41. + + Wagram, battle of, 619. + + Waibling, castle of, 179, note. + + Waldensians, 221 f., 452. + + Waldo, Peter, 221. + + Wales, 135, 277 f. + + Wallenstein, 468 and note, 469 f. + + Wallingford, charter of, 240. + + Walpole, 526. + + Walther von der Vogelweide, 258, 384. + + _War and Peace_ of Grotius, 508. + + War, neighborhood, 117 ff. + + War of the Barons, 146 f. + + Warfare, modern, 684, 686. + + Wars of the Roses, 296 ff. + + Warsaw, grand duchy of, 614, 626. + + Wartburg, 405; + festival at the, 633. + + Washington, George, 533 f. + + Waterloo, battle of, 624. + + Watt, James, 675. + + Welf, 179. + + Wellington, 623 f. + + Wessex, 133. + + West Frankish kingdom, 94. _See also_ Franks. + + West Goths, 25 f., 36, 39, 71. + + Westphalia, kingdom of, 614, 623. + + Westphalia, Peace of, 472 f. + + Whitby, Council of, 62. + + White Hill, battle on the, 467. + + William the Conqueror, claim of, to English crown, 136; + policy of, in England, 136 ff., 165. + + William III of England, 492 ff., 505, 506, 523 f., 525. + + William of Orange, king of England, _see_ William III. + + William of Orange (the Silent), 448 ff. + + William I of Prussia, 656 f.; + chosen emperor, 665. + + "Winter king," 467. + + Witenagemot, 135, 137, 147. + + Wittenberg, University of, 389; + reform at, 407 f. + + Wolfram von Eschenbach, 258. + + Wolsey, Cardinal, 367, 427 ff. + + Worms, council of, 167; + Concordat of, 171; + diet of, 400 f.; + Edict of, 403 f., 415. + + Writing, style of, used in Charlemagne's time, 89. + + Würtemberg, 372; + duke of, assumes the title of King, 612; + granted a constitution, 635. + + Wycliffe, John, 308 f.; + influence of, on Huss, 315, 393. + + + Xavier, 442. + + + "Yea and Nay," by Abelard, 268. + + York, house of, 296, 297, note. + + Young, Arthur, 544. + + Young Italy, 639. + + Young Pretender, 526 f. + + + Zealand, 449. + + Zipangu (Japan), 347. + + _Zollverein_, 635. + + Zurich, 421 f., 424. + + Zwingli, 416, 420, 423 ff. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] There is a short description of Roman society in Hodgkin, _Dynasty +of Theodosius_, Chapter II. + +[2] Reference, Adams, _Civilization during the Middle Ages_, Chapter II, +"What the Middle Ages started with." + +[3] There are a number of editions of this work in English, and +selections from Epictetus are issued by several publishers. See +_Readings_, Chapter II. + +[4] There is an English translation of this published by Stock ($1.20). + +[5] Whoever separates himself from the Church, writes Cyprian, is +separated from the promises of the Church. "He is an alien, he is +profane, he is an enemy, he can no longer have God for his father who +has not the Church for his mother. If anyone could escape who was +outside the Ark of Noah, so also may he escape who shall be outside the +bounds of the Church." See _Readings in European History_, Chapter II. + +[6] Reference, Adams, _Civilization_, Chapter III, "The Addition of +Christianity." + +[7] See _Readings in European History_, Chapter II, for extracts from +the Theodosian Code. + +[8] An older town called Byzantium was utilized by Constantine as the +basis of his new imperial city. + +[9] St. Augustine, who was then living, gives us an idea of the +impression that the capture of Rome made upon the minds of +contemporaries, in an extraordinary work of his called _The City of +God_. He undertakes to refute the argument of the pagans that the fall +of the city was due to the anger of their old gods, who were believed to +have withdrawn their protection on account of the insults heaped upon +them by the Christians, who regarded them as demons. He points out that +the gods whom Æneas had brought, according to tradition, from Troy had +been unable to protect the city from its enemies and asks why any +reliance should be placed upon them when transferred to Italian soil. +His elaborate refutation of pagan objections shows us that heathen +beliefs still had a strong hold upon an important part of the population +and that the question of the truth or falsity of the pagan religion was +still a living one in Italy. + +[10] Reference, Emerton, _Introduction to the Middle Ages_, Chapter III. + +[11] Reference, Emerton, _Introduction_, Chapter V. + +[12] Reference, Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapter I. + +[13] Reference, Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapter II. + +[14] See above, p. 19. + +[15] See _Readings_, Chapter III (end), for historical writings of this +period. + +[16] For Justinian, who scarcely comes into our story, see Oman, _Dark +Ages_, Chapters V-VI. + +[17] Reference, Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapter IV. + +[18] See _Readings_, Chapter III, for passages from Gregory of Tours. + +[19] Reference, Emerton, _Introduction_, 68-72. + +[20] Reference, Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapter XV. + +[21] The northern Franks, who did not penetrate far into the Empire, and +the Germans who remained in Germany proper and in Scandinavia, had of +course no reason for giving up their native tongues; the Angles and +Saxons in Britain also adhered to theirs. These Germanic languages in +time became Dutch, English, German, Danish, Swedish, etc. Of this matter +something will be said later. See below, § 97. + +[22] Extracts from the laws of the Salian Franks may be found in +Henderson's _Historical Documents_, pp. 176-189. + +[23] Professor Emerton gives an excellent account of the Germanic ideas +of law in his _Introduction_, pp. 73-91; see also Henderson, _Short +History of Germany_, pp. 19-21. For examples of the trials, see +_Translations and Reprints_, Vol. IV, No. 4. A philosophical account of +the character of the Germans and of the effects of the invasions is +given by Adams, _Mediæval Civilization_, Chapters IV-V. + +[24] Tacitus' _Germania_, which is our chief source for the German +customs, is to be found in _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. VI, No. 3. +For the habits of the invading Germans, see Henderson, _Short History of +Germany_, pp. 1-11; Hodgkin, _Dynasty of Theodosius_, last half of +Chapter II. + +[25] See above, § 7. + +[26] For reports of miracles, see _Readings_, especially Chapters V and +XVI. + +[27] Matt. xvi. 18-19. Two other passages in the New Testament were held +to substantiate the divinely ordained headship of Peter and his +successors: Luke xxii. 32, where Christ says to Peter, "Stablish thy +brethren," and John xxi. 15-17, where Jesus said to him, "Feed my +sheep." See _Readings_, Chapter IV. + +[28] The name _pope_ (Latin, _papa_ = father) was originally and quite +naturally applied to all bishops, and even to priests. It began to be +especially applied to the bishops of Rome perhaps as early as the sixth +century, but was not apparently confined to them until two or three +hundred years later. Gregory VII (d. 1085) was the first to declare +explicitly that the title should be used only for the Bishop of Rome. We +shall, however, hereafter refer to the Roman bishop as pope, although it +must not be forgotten that his headship of the Western Church did not +for some centuries imply the absolute power that he came later to +exercise over all the other bishops of western Europe. + +[29] The great circular tomb was later converted into the chief fortress +of the popes and called, from the event just mentioned, the Castle of +the Angel (San Angelo). + +[30] For extracts from Gregory's writings, see _Readings_, Chapter IV. + +[31] Benedict did not introduce monasticism in the West, as is sometimes +supposed, nor did he even found an _order_ in the proper sense of the +word, under a single head, like the later Franciscans and Dominicans. +Nevertheless, the monks who lived under his rule are ordinarily spoken +of as belonging to the Benedictine order. A translation of the +Benedictine rule may be found in Henderson, _Historical Documents_, pp. +274-314. + +[32] Cunningham, _Western Civilization_, Vol. II, pp. 37-40, gives a +brief account of the work of the monks. + +[33] See _Readings_, Chapter V, for Gregory's instructions to his +missionaries. + +[34] See _Readings_, Chapter V. + +[35] There is a _Life of St. Columban_, written by one of his +companions, which, although short and simple in the extreme, furnishes a +better idea of the Christian spirit of the sixth century than the +longest treatise by a modern writer. This life may be found in +_Translations and Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 7, translated by Professor +Munro. + +[36] For extracts from the Koran, see _Readings_, Chapter VI. + +[37] An admirable brief description of the culture of the Arabs and +their contributions to European civilization will be found in Munro, +_Mediæval History_, Chapter IX. + +[38] One of the most conspicuous features of early Protestantism, eight +hundred years later, was the revival of Leo's attack upon the statues +and frescoes which continued to adorn the churches in Germany, England, +and the Netherlands. + +[39] Charlemagne is the French form for the Latin, Carolus Magnus, i.e., +Charles the Great. It has been regarded as good English for so long that +it seems best to retain it, although some writers, fearful lest one may +think of Charles as a Frenchman instead of a German, use the German +form, Karl. + +[40] Professor Emerton (_Introduction_, pp. 183-185) gives an example of +the style and spirit of the monk of St. Gall, who was formerly much +relied upon for knowledge of Charlemagne. + +[41] These decrees lose something of their harshness by the provision: +"If after secretly committing any one of these mortal crimes any one +shall flee of his own accord to the priest and, after confessing, shall +wish to do penance, let him be freed, on the testimony of the priest, +from death." This is but another illustration of the theory that the +Church was in the Middle Ages a governmental institution. It would be +quite out of harmony with modern ideas should the courts of law, in +dealing with one who had committed a crime, consider in any way the +relations of the suspected criminal to his priest or minister, or modify +his sentence on account of any religious duties that the criminal might +consent to perform. + +[42] The king of Prussia still has, among other titles, that of Margrave +of Brandenburg. The German word _Mark_ is often used for "march" on maps +of Germany. + +[43] The Mohammedan state had broken up in the eighth century, and the +ruler of Spain first assumed the title of emir (about 756) and later +(929) that of caliph. The latter title had originally been enjoyed only +by the head of the whole Arab empire, who had his capital at Damascus, +and later at Bagdad. + +[44] As Charlemagne was crossing the Pyrenees, on his way back from +Spain, his rear guard was attacked in the Pass of Roncesvalles. The +chronicle simply states that Roland, Count of Brittany, was slain. This +episode, however, became the subject of one of the most famous of the +epics of the Middle Ages, the _Song of Roland_. See below, § 99. + +[45] Reference, for Charlemagne's conquests, Emerton, _Introduction_, +Chapter XIII; Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapters XX-XXI. + +[46] See _Readings_, Chapter VII, and Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, +Chapter V. + +[47] See extracts from these regulations, and an account of one of +Charlemagne's farms, in _Readings_, Chapter VII. + +[48] For the capitulary relating to the duties of the _missi_, see +_Readings_, Chapter VII. + +[49] See above, p. 32. + +[50] These lines are taken from a manuscript written in 825. They form a +part of a copy of Charlemagne's admonition to the clergy (789) mentioned +below. The part here given is addressed to the bishops and warns them of +the terrible results of disobeying the rules of the Church. Perhaps the +scribe did not fully understand what he was doing, for he has made some +of those mistakes which Charlemagne was so anxious to avoid. Then there +are some abbreviations which make the lines difficult to read. They +ought probably to have run as follows: ... _mereamini. Scit namque +prudentia vestra, quam terribili anathematis censura feriuntur qui +praesumptiose contra statuta universalium conciliorum venire audeant. +Quapropter et vos diligentius ammonemus, ut omni intentione illud +horribile execrationis judicium_ ... + +[51] See _Readings_, Chapter VII. + +[52] References for the reign of Louis the Pious, Henderson, _Germany in +the Middle Ages_, Chapter VI; Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapter XXIII. + +[53] Named for Lothaire II. + +[54] For the text and translation of the Strasburg oaths, see Emerton, +_Mediæval Europe_, pp. 26-27, or Munro, _Mediæval History_, p. 20. A +person familiar with Latin and French could puzzle out a part of the +oath in the _lingua romana_; that in the _lingua teudisca_ would be +almost equally intelligible to one familiar with German. + +[55] The following table will show the relationship of the descendants +of Charlemagne: + + Charlemagne, d. 814 + | + Louis the Pious, d. 840 + | + +---------------------------+--------------------------+ + | | | +Lothaire, d. 855 Louis the German, d. 876 Charles the Bald, d. 877 + | | + | | + +-----------------------------+ | + | | | +Carloman, d. 880 Charles the Fat (deposed 887) | + | | + | Louis the Stammerer, d. 879 + | | + | | + | +----------------+------------------+ + | | | | +Arnulf, d. 899 Louis, d. 882 Carloman, d. 884 Charles the Simple, d. 929[56] + | +Louis the Child, d. 911. + + + +[56] Who was too young to be considered in 884, but afterwards became +king of France and progenitor of the later Carolingian rulers. + +[57] Reference, Henderson, _Germany in the Middle Ages_, Chapter VII; +Oman, _Dark Ages_, Chapter XXV. + +[58] Reference, Munro, _Mediæval History_, pp. 34-39. The Northmen +extended their expeditions to Spain, Italy, and even into Russia. In +England, under the name of Danes, we find them forcing Alfred the Great +to recognize them as the masters of northern England (878). The Norse +pirates were often called _vikings_, from their habit of leaving their +long boats in the _vik_, i.e., bay or inlet. A goodly number of the +Northmen settled in Iceland, and our knowledge of their civilization and +customs comes chiefly from the Icelandic _sagas_, or tales. Some of +these are of great interest and beauty; perhaps none is finer than _The +Story of Burnt Njal_. This and others may be read in English. See +_Readings_, Chapter VIII. + +[59] An account of the manor will be given later, Chapter XVIII. + +[60] See an example of an immunity granted by Charlemagne to a +monastery, in Emerton, _Introduction_, pp. 246-249, also Munro, +_Mediæval History_, p. 44. Other examples are given in the _Readings_, +Chapter IX. + +[61] Extracts from the chronicles of the ninth century illustrating the +disorder of the period will be found in the _Readings_, Chapter VIII. + +[62] See above, p. 16. + +[63] See an example of this form of grant in the seventh century in +_Readings_, Chapter IX. The reader will also find there a considerable +number of illustrations of feudal contracts, etc. + +[64] See formula of "commendation," as this arrangement was called, in +_Readings_, Chapter IX. The fact that the Roman imperial government +forbade this practice under heavy penalties suggests that the local +magnates used their retainers to establish their independence of the +imperial taxgatherers and other government officials. + +[65] See Adams, _Civilization_, pp. 207 _sqq._ + +[66] Lord is _dominus_, or _senior_, in mediæval Latin. From the latter +word the French _seigneur_ is derived. _Suzerain_ is used to mean the +direct lord and also an _overlord_ separated by one or more degrees from +a subvassal. + +[67] A relic of the time when fiefs were just becoming hereditary was +preserved in the exaction by the lord of a certain due, called the +_relief_. This payment was demanded from the vassal when one lord died +and a new one succeeded him, and from a new vassal upon the death of his +predecessor. It was originally the payment for a new grant of the land +at a time when fiefs were not generally held hereditarily. The right did +not exist in the case of all fiefs and it varied greatly in amount. It +was customarily much heavier when the one succeeding to the fief was not +the son of the former holder but a nephew or more distant relative. + +[68] Homage is derived from the Latin word for man, _homo_. + +[69] The conditions upon which fiefs were granted might be dictated +either by interest or by mere fancy. Sometimes the most fantastic and +seemingly absurd obligations were imposed. We hear of vassals holding on +condition of attending the lord at supper with a tall candle, or +furnishing him with a great yule log at Christmas. Perhaps the most +extraordinary instance upon record is that of a lord in Guienne who +solemnly declared upon oath, when questioned by the commissioners of +Edward I, that he held his fief of the king upon the following terms: +When the lord king came through his estate he was to accompany him to a +certain oak. There he must have waiting a cart loaded with wood and +drawn by two cows without any tails. When the oak was reached, fire was +to be applied to the cart and the whole burned up "unless mayhap the +cows make their escape." + +[70] The feudal courts, especially those of the great lords and of the +king himself, were destined to develop later into the centers of real +government, with regular judicial, financial, and administrative bodies +for the performance of political functions. + +[71] In the following description of the anarchy of feudalism, I merely +condense Luchaire's admirable chapter on the subject in his _Manuel des +Institutions Françaises_. The _Readings_, Chapters X, XII, XIII, XIV, +furnish many examples of disorder. + +[72] The gorgeous affairs of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were +but weak and effeminate counterparts of the rude and hazardous +encounters of the thirteenth. + +[73] References, for the mediæval castle, the jousts, and the life of +the nobles, Munro, _Mediæval History_, Chapter XIII, and Henderson, +_Short History of Germany_, pp. 111-121. + +[74] See the famous "Truce of God" issued by the Archbishop of Cologne +in 1083, in _Readings_, Chapter IX. + +[75] See genealogical table, above, p. 96. + +[76] Reference, Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 405-420. _Readings_, +Chapter X. + +[77] Not to be confounded with the _duchy_ of Burgundy just referred to. +See p. 97, above. + +[78] See genealogical table and map of the Plantagenet possessions, pp. +140-141, below. + +[79] Henry's family owes its name, Plantagenet, to the habit that his +father, Geoffrey of Anjou, had of wearing a bit of broom (_planta +genista_) in his helmet on his crusading expeditions. + +[80] Geoffrey, the eldest of the three sons of Henry II mentioned above, +died before his father. + +[81] The Estates General were so called to distinguish a general meeting +of the representatives of the three estates of the realm from a merely +local assembly of the provincial estates of Champagne, Provence, +Brittany, Languedoc, etc. There are some vague indications that Philip +had called in a few townspeople even earlier than 1302. + +[82] For the French monarchy as organized in the thirteenth century, see +Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 432-433; Adams, _Civilization_, pp. +311-328. + +[83] In spite of the final supremacy of the West Saxons of Wessex, the +whole land took its name from the more numerous Angles. + +[84] References, Green, _Short History of the English People_ (revised +edition, Harper & Brothers), pp. 48-52; extracts from the _Anglo-Saxon +Chronicle_ may be found in _Readings_, Chapter XI. + +[85] The shires go back at least as far as Alfred the Great, and many of +their names indicate that they had some relation to the earlier little +kingdoms, e.g., Sussex, Essex, Kent, Northumberland. + +[86] See above, p. 62. + +[87] Often called the battle of Hastings from the neighboring town of +that name. + +[88] For contemporaneous accounts of William's character and the +relations of Normans and English, see Colby, _Sources_, pp. 33-36, +39-41; _Readings_, Ch. XI. + +[89] Reference, for the Conqueror and his reign, Green, _Short History_, +pp. 74-87, and Gardiner, _Students' History_, pp. 86-114. + +[90] + +William I (1066-1087), m. Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders + | + +----+----------------------+-------------------------+ + | | | +William II (Rufus) Henry I (1100-1135), Adela, m. Stephen, +(1087-1100) m. Matilda, daughter of Count of Blois + Malcolm, King of Scotland | + | | + Matilda (d. 1167), Stephen (1135-1154) + m. Geoffrey Plantagenet, + Count of Anjou + | + Henry II (1154-1189), + the first Plantagenet king + + + +[91] See above, p. 126. + +[92] References, Green, pp. 104-112; Gardiner, pp. 138-158. A +contemporaneous account of the murder is given by Colby, _Sources_, pp. +56-59. + +[93] See above, p. 126. + +[94] For John's reign, see Green, pp. 122-127. + +[95] The text of the Great Charter is given in _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. I, No. 6; extracts, in the _Readings_, Chapter XI. + +[96] These were payments made when the lord knighted his eldest son, +gave his eldest daughter in marriage, or had been captured and was +waiting to be ransomed. + +[97] See map following p. 152 for the names and position of the several +duchies. + +[98] Arnulf, the grandson of Louis the German, who supplanted Charles +the Fat, died in 899 and left a six-year-old son, Louis the Child (d. +911), who was the last of the house of Charlemagne to enjoy the German +kingship. The aristocracy then chose Conrad I (d. 918), and, in 919, +Henry I of Saxony, as king of the East Franks. + +[99] See _Readings_, Chapter XII. + +[100] See Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, Chapter IV, for a clear account of +the condition of the papacy, the struggles between the rival Italian +dynasties, and the interference and coronation of Otto the Great. + +[101] Henry II (1002-1024) and his successors, not venturing to assume +the title of emperor till crowned at Rome, but anxious to claim the +sovereignty of Rome as indissolubly attached to the German crown, began +to call themselves before their coronation _rex Romanorum_, i.e., King +of the Romans. This habit lasted until Luther's time, when Maximilian I +got permission from the pope to call himself "Emperor Elect" before his +coronation, and this title was thereafter taken by his successors +immediately upon their election. + +[102] For Otto II, Otto III, and Henry II, see Emerton, _Mediæval +Europe_, Chapter V; and Henderson, _Germany in the Middle Ages_, pp. +145-166. + +[103] These grants of the powers of a count to prelates serve to explain +the _ecclesiastical_ states,--for example, the archbishoprics of Mayence +and Salzburg, the bishopric of Bamberg, and so forth,--which continue to +appear upon the map of Germany until the opening of the nineteenth +century. + +[104] From the beginning, single life had appealed to some Christians as +more worthy than the married state. Gradually, under the influence of +monasticism, the more devout and enthusiastic clergy voluntarily shunned +marriage, or, if already married, gave up association with their wives +after ordination. Finally the Western Church condemned marriage +altogether for the deacon and the ranks above him, and later the +sub-deacons were included in the prohibition. The records are too +incomplete for the historian to form an accurate idea of how far the +prohibition of the Church was really observed throughout the countries +of the West. There were certainly great numbers of married clergymen in +northern Italy, Germany, and elsewhere, in the tenth and eleventh +centuries. Of course the Church refused to sanction the marriage of its +officials and called the wife of a clergyman, however virtuous and +faithful she might be, by the opprobrious name of "concubine." + +[105] Pronounced _sĭm'o-ny_. + +[106] Reference, Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 201-209. + +[107] The word _cardinal_ (Latin, _cardinalis_, principal) was applied +to the priests of the various parishes in Rome, to the several deacons +connected with the Lateran,--which was the cathedral church of the Roman +bishopric,--and, lastly, to six or seven suburban bishops who officiated +in turn in the Lateran. The title became a very distinguished one and +was sought by ambitious prelates and ecclesiastical statesmen, like +Wolsey, Richelieu, and Mazarin. If their official titles were examined, +it would be found that each was nominally a cardinal bishop, priest, or +deacon of some Roman church. The number of cardinals varied until fixed, +in 1586, at six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons. + +[108] The decree of 1059 is to be found in Henderson, _Historical +Documents_, p. 361. + +[109] For text of the _Dictatus_, see _Readings_, Chapter XIII. The most +complete statement of Gregory's view of the responsibility of the papacy +for the civil government is to be found in his famous letter to the +Bishop of Metz (1081), _Readings_, Chapter XIII. + +[110] For this letter, see Colby, _Sources_, p. 37. + +[111] Reissues of this decree in 1078 and 1080 are given in the +_Readings_, Chapter XIII. + +[112] To be found in the _Readings_, Chapter XIII. + +[113] Henry's letter and one from the German bishops to the pope are +both in Henderson, _Historical Documents_, pp. 372-376. + +[114] Gregory's deposition and excommunication of Henry may be found in +the _Readings_, Chapter XIII. + +[115] For Gregory's own account of the affair at Canossa, see +_Readings_, Chapter XIII. + +[116] For a fuller account of the troubles between Gregory and Henry, +see Henderson, _Germany in the Middle Ages_, pp. 183-210; Emerton, +_Mediæval Europe_, pp. 240-259. + +[117] See _Readings_, Chapter XIII. + +[118] For the emperors Lothaire (1125-1137) and Conrad III (1138-1152), +the first of the Hohenstaufens, see Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. +271-282. + +[119] Something will be said of the mediæval towns in Chapter XVIII. + +[120] Reference, Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 271-291. + +[121] Reference, Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 293-297. + +[122] The origin of the name _Ghibelline_, applied to the adherents of +the emperor in Italy, is not known; it may be derived from Waibling, a +castle of the Hohenstaufens. + +[123] The attention of the adventurous Normans had been called to +southern Italy early in the eleventh century by some of their people +who, in their wanderings, had been stranded there and had found plenty +of opportunities to fight under agreeable conditions for one or another +of the local rival princes. From marauding mercenaries, they soon became +the ruling race. They extended their conquests from the mainland to +Sicily, and by 1140 they had united all southern Italy into a single +kingdom. The popes had naturally taken a lively interest in the new and +strong power upon the confines of their realms. They skillfully arranged +to secure a certain hold upon the growing kingdom by inducing Robert +Guiscard, the most famous of the Norman leaders, to recognize the pope +as his feudal lord; in 1059 he became the vassal of Nicholas II. + +[124] For John's cession of England and oath of vassalage, see +Henderson, _Historical Documents_, pp. 430-432. For the interdict, see +Colby, _Sources_, pp. 72-73. + +[125] For the career and policy of Innocent III, see Emerton, _Mediæval +Europe_, pp. 314-343. + +[126] An excellent account of Frederick's life is given by Henderson, +_Germany in the Middle Ages_, pp. 349-397. + +[127] For the speech of Urban, see _Readings_, Chapter XV. + +[128] The privileges of the crusaders may be found in _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. I, No. 2. + +[129] For Peter the Hermit, see _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I, No. +2. + +[130] For the routes taken by the different crusading armies, see the +accompanying map. + +[131] For an account of the prowess of Richard the Lion-Hearted, see +Colby, _Sources_, pp. 68-70. + +[132] Heraldry may be definitely ascribed to the Crusades, for it grew +up from the necessity of distinguishing the various groups of knights. +Some of its terms, for example, _gules_ (red) and _azur_, are of Arabic +origin. + +[133] References. For the highly developed civilization which the +crusaders found in Constantinople, Munro, _Mediæval History_, Chapter X. +For the culture of the Saracens, see the same work, Chapter IX. + +[134] The law of the Church was known as the _canon law_. It was taught +in most of the universities and practiced by a great number of lawyers. +It was based upon the acts of the various church councils, from that of +Nicæa down, and, above all, upon the decrees and decisions of the popes. +See Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 582-592. + +One may get some idea of the business of the ecclesiastical courts from +the fact that the Church claimed the right to try all cases in which a +clergyman was involved, or any one connected with the Church or under +its special protection, such as monks, students, crusaders, widows, +orphans, and the helpless. Then all cases where the rites of the Church, +or its prohibitions, were involved came ordinarily before the church +courts, as, for example, those concerning marriage, wills, sworn +contracts, usury, blasphemy, sorcery, heresy, and so forth. + +[135] Many of the edicts, decisions, and orders of the popes were called +_bulls_ from the seal (Latin, _bulla_) attached to them. + +[136] For an illustration of provinces and bishoprics, see accompanying +map of France showing the ecclesiastical divisions. The seats of the +archbishops are indicated by [Symbol]; those of the bishops by [Symbol]. + +[137] See below, § 81. + +[138] Except those monasteries and orders whose members were especially +exempted by the pope from the jurisdiction of the bishops. + +[139] Those clergymen who enjoyed the revenue from the endowed offices +connected with a cathedral church were called _canons_. The office of +canon was an honorable one and much sought after, partly because the +duties were light and could often be avoided altogether. A scholar like +Petrarch might look to such an office as a means of support without +dreaming of performing any of the religious services which the position +implied. For an account of the relations between the chapter and the +bishop, see Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, pp. 549-550. + +[140] It should be remembered that only a part of the priests were +intrusted with the care of souls in a parish. There were many priests +among the wandering monks, of whom something will be said presently. See +below, § 91. There were also many chantry priests whose main function +was saying masses for the dead in chapels and churches endowed with +revenue or lands by those who in this way provided for the repose of +their souls or those of their descendants. See below, p. 213. + +[141] For several centuries the _Sentences_ were used as the text-book +in all the divinity schools. Theologians established their reputations +by writing commentaries upon them. One of Luther's first acts of revolt +was to protest against giving the study of the _Sentences_ preference +over that of the Bible in the universities. + +[142] All the sacraments,--e.g. orders and matrimony,--are not necessary +to every one. Moreover, the sincere _wish_ suffices if one is so +situated that he cannot possibly actually receive the sacraments. + +[143] Confession was a very early practice in the Church. Innocent III +and the fourth Lateran Council made it obligatory by requiring the +faithful to confess at least once a year, at Easter time. For +sacraments, see _Readings_, Chapter XVI. + +[144] See above, p. 183, and _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. IV, No. +4, for examples of the interdict and excommunication. + +[145] The privilege of being tried by churchmen, which all connected +with the Church claimed, was called _benefit of clergy_. See _Readings_, +Chapter XVI. + +[146] The bishops still constitute an important element in the upper +houses of parliament in several European countries. + +[147] For a satire of the thirteenth century on the papal court, see +Emerton, _Mediæval Europe_, p. 475. + +[148] It must not be forgotten that the monks were regarded as belonging +to the clergy. For the various new orders of monks and the conditions in +the monasteries, see Munro, _Mediæval History_, Chapter XII, and +Jessopp, _Coming of the Friars_, Chapter III, "Daily Life in a Mediæval +Monastery." + +[149] See _Readings_, Chapter XVII. + +[150] See _Readings_, Chapter XVII, for the beliefs of the Albigenses. + +[151] Examples of these decrees are given in _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. III, No. 6. + +[152] His son married an English lady, became a leader of the English +barons, and was the first to summon the commons to Parliament. See +above, pp. 146-147. + +[153] For the form of relaxation and other documents relating to the +Inquisition, see _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. III, No. 6. + +[154] The whole rule is translated by Henderson, _Historical Documents_, +p. 344. + +[155] In Italy and southern France town life was doubtless more general. + +[156] The peasants were the tillers of the soil. They were often called +_villains_, a word derived from vill. + +[157] The manner in which serfs disappeared in England will be described +later. + +[158] Reference, Munro, _Mediæval History_, Chapter XIV, where the +subject of this chapter is treated in a somewhat different way. + +[159] In Germany the books published annually in the German language did +not exceed those in Latin until after 1680. + +[160] Even the monks and others who wrote Latin in the Middle Ages were +unable to follow strictly the rules of the language. Moreover, they +introduced many new words to meet the new conditions and the needs of +the time, such as _imprisonare_, imprison; _utlagare_, to outlaw; +_baptizare_, to baptize; _foresta_, forest; _feudum_, fief, etc. + +[161] See above, pp. 94-95. + +[162] + + "Bytuene Mershe and Avoril + When spray beginneth to springe, + The little foul (bird) hath hire wyl + On hyre lud (voice) to synge." + + + +[163] Of course there was no sharp line of demarcation between the +people who used the one language and the other, nor was Provençal +confined to southern France. The language of Catalonia, beyond the +Pyrenees, was essentially the same as that of Provence. French was +called _langue d'oïl_, and the southern language _langue d'oc_, each +after the word used for "yes." + +[164] The _Song of Roland_ is translated into spirited English verse by +O'Hagan, London, 1880. + +[165] The reader will find a beautiful example of a French romance of +the twelfth century in an English translation of _Aucassin and +Nicolette_ (Mosher, Portland, Me.). Mr. Steele gives charming stories of +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in _Huon of Bordeaux_, _Renaud of +Montauban_, and _The Story of Alexander_ (Allen, London). Malory's _Mort +d'Arthur_, a collection of the stories of the Round Table made in the +fifteenth century for English readers, is the best place to turn for +these famous stories. + +[166] An excellent idea of the spirit and character of the troubadours +and of their songs may be got from Justin H. Smith, _Troubadours at +Home_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York). See _Readings_, Chapter XIX. + +[167] Reference, Henderson, _Short History of Germany_, Vol. I, pp. +111-121. + +[168] See Steele's _Mediæval Lore_ for examples of the science of the +Middle Ages. For the curious notions of the world and its inhabitants, +see the _Travels_, attributed to Sir John Mandeville. The best edition +is published by The Macmillan Company, 1900. See _Readings_, Chapter +XIX. + +[169] The word _miniature_, which is often applied to them, is derived +from _minium_, i.e., vermilion, which was one of the favorite colors. +Later the word came to be applied to anything small. See the +frontispiece for an example of an illuminated page from a book of hours. + +[170] So called because it was derived from the old Roman basilicas, or +buildings in which the courts were held. + +[171] In France as early as the twelfth century. + +[172] Notice flying buttresses shown in the picture of Canterbury +cathedral, p. 208. + +[173] See _Readings_, Chapter XIX. + +[174] The origin of the bachelor's degree, which comes at the end of our +college course nowadays, may be explained as follows: The bachelor in +the thirteenth century was a student who had passed part of his +examinations in the course in "arts," as the college course was then +called, and was permitted to teach certain elementary subjects before he +became a full-fledged master. So the A.B. was inferior to the A.M. then +as now. After finishing his college course and obtaining his A.M., the +young teacher often became a student in one of the professional schools +of law, theology, or medicine, and in time became a master in one of +these sciences. The words _master_, _doctor_, and _professor_ meant +pretty much the same thing in the thirteenth century. + +[175] An example of the scholastic method of reasoning of Thomas Aquinas +may be found in _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. III, No. 6. + +[176] Reference, Green, _Short History of the English People_, pp. +161-169. + +[177] See above, p. 147. + +[178] See above, pp. 127-128 and 130. + +[179] See above, pp. 131-132. + +[180] Formerly it was supposed that gunpowder helped to decide the +battle in favor of the English, but if siege guns, which were already +beginning to be used, were employed at all they were too crude and the +charges too light to do much damage. For some generations to come the +bow and arrow held its own; it was not until the sixteenth century that +gunpowder came to be commonly and effectively used in battles. + +[181] For the account of Crécy by Froissart, the celebrated historian of +the fourteenth century, see _Readings_, Chapter XX. + +[182] See above, pp. 131-132. + +[183] Reference, Adams, _Growth of the French Nation_, pp. 116-123. + +[184] For an example of the Statutes of Laborers, see _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 5, and Lee, _Source-book of English History_, +pp. 206-208. + +[185] For extracts, see _Readings_, Chapter XX. + +[186] For description of manor, see above, pp. 234-235. + +[187] For this younger line of the descendants of Edward I, see +genealogical table below, p. 297. + +[188] See above, p. 287. + +[189] The title of Dauphin, originally belonging to the ruler of +Dauphiny, was enjoyed by the eldest son of the French king after +Dauphiny became a part of France in 1349, in the same way that the +eldest son of the English king was called Prince of Wales. + +[190] Reference, Green, _Short History_, pp. 274-281. For official +account of the trial of Joan, see Colby, _Sources_, pp. 113-117. + +[191] DESCENT OF THE RIVAL HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK + + Edward III (1327-1377) + | + +------------------------+---------------------------+ + | | | + Edward, John of Gaunt, Edmund, +the Black Prince Duke of Lancaster Duke of York + (d. 1376) | | + | +--------+---------+ | + | | | | +RICHARD II | | | +(1377-1399) | | | + HENRY IV John Beaufort Richard + (1399-1413) | | + | | | + HENRY V John Beaufort Richard + (1413-1422) | | + | | | + HENRY VI | +-----------+--------------+ + (1422-1461) | | | + | EDWARD IV RICHARD III + | (1461-1483) (1483-1485) + | | + | +--+----------+ + Edmund Tudor m. Margaret | | + | | | + HENRY VII m. Elizabeth of York EDWARD V + (1485-1509), Murdered in + First of the the Tower, + Tudor kings 1483 + + + + + +[192] References, Green, _Short History_, pp. 281-293, 299-303. + +[193] See _Readings_, Chapter XX. + +[194] Reference, Adams, _Growth of the French Nation_, pp. 121-123, +134-135. + +[195] See above, p. 128. + +[196] See geneological table above, p. 282. + +[197] See below, Chapter XXIII. + +[198] Reference, Adams, _French Nation_, pp. 136-142. + +[199] See _Readings_, Chapter XXI. + +[200] The name recalled of course the long exile of the Jews from their +land. + +[201] See _Readings_, Chapter XXI. + +[202] For statutes, see _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 5, and +Lee, _Source-book_, pp. 198-202. + +[203] See above, p. 183. + +[204] Reference, Green, _Short History_, pp. 235-244. For extracts, see +_Readings_, Chapter XXI; _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 5; +Lee, _Source-book_, for the treatment of the Lollards, as the followers +of Wycliffe were called, pp. 209-223. + +[205] The eighth and last of these eastern councils, which were regarded +by the Roman Church as having represented all Christendom, occurred in +Constantinople in 869. In 1123 the first Council of the Lateran +assembled, and since that five or six Christian congresses had been +convoked in the West. But these, unlike the earlier ones, were regarded +as merely ratifying the wishes of the pope, who completely dominated the +assembly and published its decrees in his own name. + +[206] See above, pp. 202-203. + +[207] THE POPES DURING THE GREAT SCHISM + + Gregory XI (1373-1378) + Returns to Rome in 1377 + + _Roman Line_ _Avignon Line_ + +Urban VI (1378-1389) Clement VII (1378-1394) + | | +Boniface IX (1389-1404) Benedict XIII (1394-1417) + | | +Innocent VII (1404-1406) _Council of Pisa's Line_ | + | | +Gregory XII (1406-1415) Alexander V (1409-1410) | + | | | + | John XXIII (1410-1415) | + | | | + | | | + | | | + +------------------ Martin V (1417-1431) -----------------+ + + + +[208] See above, pp. 222-223. + +[209] For examples of the general criticism of the abuses in the Church, +see _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. III, No. 6. + +[210] This decree, _Frequens_, may be found in _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. III, No. 6. + +[211] On account of an outbreak of sickness the council was transferred +to Florence. + +[212] See above, p. 186. + +[213] This word, although originally French, has come into such common +use that it is quite permissible to pronounce it as if it were +English,--_rẹ-nā'sens_. + +[214] See above, p. 27. + +[215] See above, pp. 198-199 and 243. + +[216] See above, pp. 174 _sqq._ + +[217] In the year 1300 Milan occupied a territory scarcely larger than +that of the neighboring states, but under the Visconti it conquered a +number of towns, Pavia, Cremona, etc., and became, next to Venice, the +most considerable state of northern Italy. + +[218] A single example will suffice. Through intrigue and +misrepresentation on the part of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Marquis of +Ferrara became so wildly jealous of his nephew that he beheaded the +young man and his mother, then burned his own wife and hung a fourth +member of the family. + +[219] See above, pp. 31-32. + +[220] The translation of _The Banquet_ in Morley's "Universal Library" +is very poor, but that of Miss Hillard (London, 1889) is good and is +supplied with helpful notes. + +[221] See the close of the fourth canto of the _Inferno_. + +[222] See above, pp. 271-272. + +[223] Copies of the _Æneid_, of Horace's _Satires_, of certain of +Cicero's _Orations_, of Ovid, Seneca, and a few other authors, were +apparently by no means uncommon during the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries. It seemed, however, to Petrarch, who had learned through the +references of Cicero, St. Augustine, and others, something of the +original extent of Latin literature, that treasures of inestimable value +had been lost by the shameful indifference of the Middle Ages. "Each +famous author of antiquity whom I recall," he indignantly exclaims, +"places a new offense and another cause of dishonor to the charge of +later generations, who, not satisfied with their own disgraceful +barrenness, permitted the fruit of other minds and the writings that +their ancestors had produced by toil and application, to perish through +shameful neglect. Although they had nothing of their own to hand down to +those who were to come after, they robbed posterity of its ancestral +heritage." + +[224] Petrarch's own remarkable account of his life and studies, which +he gives in his famous "Letter to Posterity," may be found in Robinson +and Rolfe, _Petrarch_, pp. 59-76. + +[225] See above, pp. 45-46. + +[226] Historians formerly supposed that it was only after Constantinople +was captured by the Turks in 1453 that Greek scholars fled west and took +with them the knowledge of their language and literature. The facts +given above serve as a sufficient refutation of this oft-repeated error. + +[227] In Whitcomb, _Source Book of the Italian Renaissance_, pp. 70 +_sqq._, interesting accounts of these libraries may be found, written by +Vespasiano, the most important book dealer of the time. + +[228] Manuscript, _manu scriptum_, means simply written by hand. + +[229] The closing lines (i.e., the so-called _colophon_) of the second +edition of the Psalter which are here reproduced, are substantially the +same as those of the first edition. They may be translated as follows: +"The present volume of the Psalms, which is adorned with handsome +capitals and is clearly divided by means of rubrics, was produced not by +writing with a pen but by an ingenious invention of printed characters; +and was completed to the glory of God and the honor of St. James by John +Fust, a citizen of Mayence, and Peter Schoifher of Gernsheim, in the +year of our Lord 1459, on the 29th of August." + +[230] Note the similarity in form of the letters in the accompanying +illustration and those in the illuminated page which serves as the +frontispiece of this volume. It is not easy at first sight to tell some +early printed books from the best manuscripts. It may be observed that +the Germans still adhere to a type something like that used by the first +printers. + +[231] See above, pp. 261-262. + +[232] See above, p. 263. + +[233] With the appearance of the mendicant orders, preaching again +became an important part of the church service, and pulpits were erected +in the body of the church, where the people could gather around them. +These pulpits offered a fine opportunity to the sculptor and were often +very elaborate and beautiful. + +[234] The frescoes in Pompeii and other slight remnants of ancient +painting were not discovered till much later. + +[235] In the church of Santa Croce in Florence and in that of St. +Francis at Assisi. + +[236] Fra is an abbreviation of _frate_, brother. + +[237] See below, pp. 361, 363, 364. + +[238] One of the most celebrated among the other Florentine painters of +the period was Botticelli. He differs from most of his contemporaries in +being at his best in easel pictures. His poetic conceptions, the +graceful lines of his draperies, and the pensive charm of his faces have +especially inspired a famous school of English painters in our own +day--the Preraphaelites. + +[239] See below, pp. 364, 365. + +[240] Leonardo was an engineer and inventor as well. + +[241] Compare his Holy Family with the reproduction of one of Giotto's +paintings, in order to realize the great change in art between the +fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. + +[242] See his portrait of Erasmus below, p. 382. + +[243] For an example of the magnificent bronze work produced in Germany +in the early sixteenth century, see the statues of Philip the Good and +Charles the Bold, pp. 300, 301, above. + +[244] See his portrait of Charles I below, p. 480. + +[245] Marco Polo's travels can easily be had in English; for example, in +_The Story of Marco Polo_, by Noah Brooks, Century Company, 1898. A +certain Franciscan monk, William of Rubruk, visited the far East +somewhat earlier than the Polo brothers. The account of his journey, as +well as the experiences of other mediæval travelers, may be found in +_The Travels of Sir John Mandeville_, published by The Macmillan +Company, 1900. + +[246] See map above, pp. 242-243. + +[247] Reference, _Cambridge Modern History_, Chapter I. + +[248] Reference, _Cambridge Modern History_, Chapter II. Kingsley has +described these mariners in his _Westward Ho_. He derives his notions of +them from the collection of voyages made by an English geographer, +Hakluyt (died 1616). Some of these are published by Payne, _Voyages of +Elizabethan Seamen_ (Clarendon Press, 2 vols., $1.25 each). + +[249] See above, pp. 85, 151 _sq._, and Chapters XIII-XIV. + +[250] Rudolf, like many of his successors, was strictly speaking only +king of the Romans, since he was never crowned emperor at Rome. See +above, pp. 152 n., 185. + +[251] From 1438 to 1806 only two emperors belonged to another family +than the Hapsburgs. + +[252] See above, p. 301. + +[253] See above, p. 71. + +[254] See map above, following p. 152. + +[255] No one can gaze upon the great castle and palace of the Alhambra, +which was built for the Moorish kings, without realizing what a high +degree of culture the Moors had attained. Its beautiful and impressive +arcades, its magnificent courts, and the delicate tracery of its arches +represent the highest achievement of Arabic architecture. + +[256] See above, pp. 224-225. + +[257] + +Austria Burgundy Castile Aragon Naples, etc. + (America) + +Maximilian I = Mary (d. 1482), Isabella = Ferdinand (d. 1516) + (d. 1519) | dau. of Charles (d. 1504) | + | the Bold (d. 1477) | + | | + Philip (d. 1506) === Joanna the Insane (d. 1555) + | + +---------------+-----+ + | | +Charles V (d. 1558) Ferdinand (d. 1564) = Anna, heiress to kingdoms +Emperor, 1519-1556 Emperor, 1556-1564 of Bohemia and Hungary + + + +[258] It will be remembered that the popes, in their long struggle with +Frederick II and the Hohenstaufens, finally called in Charles of Anjou, +the brother of St. Louis, and gave to him both Naples and Sicily. See +above, p. 185. Sicily revolted in 1282 and was united with the kingdom +of Aragon, which still held it when Charles V came to the Spanish +throne. The older branch of the house of Anjou died out in 1435 and +Naples was conquered by the king of Aragon, and was still in his family +when Charles VIII undertook his Italian expedition. The younger branch +of the house of Anjou had never reigned in Naples, but its members were +careful to retain their asserted title to it, and, upon the death of +their last representative, this title was transferred to Louis XI. He, +however, prudently refused to attempt to oust the Aragonese usurpers, as +he had quite enough to do at home. + +[259] See above, p. 327. + +[260] More important for France than the arrangements mentioned above +was the so-called _Concordat_, or agreement, between Francis and the +pope in regard to the selection of the French prelates. Francis was +given the privilege of appointing the archbishops, bishops, and abbots, +and in this way it came about that he and his successors had many rich +offices to grant to their courtiers and favorites. He agreed in return +that the pope should receive a part of the first year's revenue from the +more important offices in the Church of France. The pope was, moreover, +thereafter to be regarded as superior to a council, a doctrine which had +been denied by the French monarchs since the Council of Basel. The +arrangements of the Concordat of 1516 were maintained down to the French +Revolution. + +[261] See below, p. 428-429. + +[262] The Catholic Church, on the other hand, held that certain +important teachings, institutions, and ceremonies, although not +expressly mentioned in the Bible, were nevertheless sanctioned by +"tradition." That is, they had been handed down orally from Christ and +his apostles as a sacred heritage to the Church, and like the Bible were +to be received as from God. See _Readings_, Chapter XXIV. + +[263] For the origin of these and of the other ecclesiastical states of +Germany, see above, p. 156. + +[264] The manner in which the numerous and often important +ecclesiastical states all disappeared in Napoleon's time will become +clear later. See below, § 244. + +[265] See above, pp. 117 _sqq._ For the German law permitting feuds, see +Henderson, _Historical Documents_, p. 246. In 1467, the German diet +ventured to forbid neighborhood war for five years. It was not, however, +permanently prohibited until a generation later. + +[266] For example, in one of the books of instruction for the priest we +find that he is warned, when he quotes the Bible, to say to the people +that he is not translating it word for word from the Latin, for +otherwise they are likely to go home and find a different wording from +his in their particular version and then declare that the priest had +made a mistake. + +[267] Some seventeen universities had been established by German rulers +and towns in a little over one hundred years. The oldest of them was +founded in 1348 at Prague. Several of these institutions, for example, +Leipsic, Vienna, and Heidelberg, are still ranked among the leading +universities of the world. + +[268] See above, § 104. + +[269] For examples of these _Letters of Obscure Men_, see Whitcomb, +_Source Book of the German Renaissance_, pp. 67 _sq._, and _Translations +and Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 6. The peculiar name of the satire is due to +the fact that Reuchlin's sympathizers wrote him many letters of +encouragement, which he published under the title, _Letters of +Celebrated Men to John Reuchlin_. The humanists then pitched upon the +modest title, _Letters of Obscure Men_, for the supposed correspondence +of the admirers of the monks. The following is an example of the +"obscure men's" poetry. One of them goes to Hagenau and meets a certain +humanist, Wolfgang Angst, who, the writer complains, struck him in the +eye with his staff. + + Et ivi hinc ad Hagenau + Da wurden mir die Augen blau + Per te, Wolfgang Angst, + Gott gib das du hangst, + Quia me cum baculo + Percusseras in oculo. + + + +[270] See below, pp. 426-7. + +[271] This may be had in English, published by Scribner's Sons ($1.25) +or Brentano ($1.25). + +[272] See above, pp. 317-318. + +[273] See above, p. 203. + +[274] The Augustinian order, to which Luther belonged, was organized in +the thirteenth century, a little later than the Dominican and the +Franciscan. + +[275] He writes exultingly to a friend: "Our kind of theology reigns +supreme in the university; only one who lectures on the Bible, +Augustine, or some real Church father, can reckon on any listeners; and +Aristotle sinks lower and lower every day." In this way he sought to +discredit Peter Lombard, Aquinas, and all the writers who were then most +popular in the theological schools. Walker, _The Reformation_, pp. +77-91. + +[276] See above, p. 211-212. + +[277] It is a common mistake of Protestants to suppose that the +indulgence was forgiveness granted beforehand for sins to be committed +in the future. There is absolutely no foundation for this idea. A person +proposing to sin could not possibly be contrite in the eyes of the +Church, and even if he secured an indulgence it would, according to the +theologians, have been quite worthless. + +[278] See above, p. 344. + +[279] The complete text of the theses may be found in _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 6. + +[280] See above, p. 209, for the Church's doctrine of the "indelible +character" which the priest received at ordination. + +[281] See above, §§ 81-82. The two great works of Luther, here +mentioned, as well as his _Freedom of the Christian_, in which he +explains his own doctrine very simply, may be found translated in Wace +and Buchheim, _Luther's Primary Works_. + +[282] It must be remembered that it was the emperor's business to +execute the law, not to discuss its propriety with the accused. In the +same way nowadays, should a man convicted, for example, of bigamy urge +that he believed it Scriptural to have two wives, the court would refuse +to listen to his arguments and would sentence him to the penalty imposed +by law, in spite of the fact that the prisoner believed that he had +committed no wrong. + +[283] The text of the Edict of Worms is published in English in the +_Historical Leaflets_ issued by the Crozer Theological Seminary, +Chester, Pa. + +[284] See _Readings_, Chapter XXVI. + +[285] See below, § 167. + +[286] The "Twelve Articles" may be found in _Translations and Reprints_, +Vol. II, No. 6. + +[287] The Protest of Speyer is to be had in English in the _Historical +Leaflets_ published by the Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa. + +[288] For the successive wars between Charles and Francis and the +terrible sack of Rome in 1527, see Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth +Century_, pp. 172-175 and 181-195. + +[289] It is still accepted as the creed of the Lutheran Church. Copies +of it in English may be procured from the Lutheran Publication Society, +Philadelphia, for ten cents each. + +[290] Reference, Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_, Chapter V; +Walker, _The Reformation_, pp. 188-216. + +[291] See above, p. 300. + +[292] This condition has not changed; all Swiss laws are still +proclaimed in three languages. + +[293] Switzerland had made a business, ever since the time when Charles +VIII of France invaded Italy, of supplying troops of mercenaries to +fight for others, especially for France and the pope. It was the Swiss +who gained the battle of Marignano for Francis I, and Swiss guards may +still be seen in the pope's palace. + +[294] So eloquent was the new preacher that one of his auditors reports +that after a sermon he felt as if "he had been taken by the hair and +turned inside out." + +[295] See above, pp. 212-213. + +[296] For Zwingli's life and work see the scholarly biography by Samuel +Macauley Jackson, _Huldreich Zwingli_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1901). + +[297] See below, p. 452. + +[298] Calvin intrusted the management of church affairs to the ministers +and the elders, or _presbyters_, hence the name Presbyterian. For +Calvin's work, see Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_, pp. +272-276. + +[299] See above, p. 382. + +[300] An English translation of the _Utopia_ is published by the +Macmillan Company at 50 cents. + +[301] See above, § 139. + +[302] The clergy only recognized the king as "Head of the Church and +Clergy so far as the law of Christ will allow." They did not abjure the +headship of the pope over the whole Church. + +[303] These were the sufficiency of the bread without the wine for the +laity in partaking of the communion;[A] the celibacy of the clergy; the +perpetual obligation of vows to remain unmarried; the propriety of +private masses; and, lastly, of confession. The act was popularly known +as "the whip with six strings." + +[A] The custom of the Church had long been that the priest alone should +partake of the wine at communion. The Hussites, and later the +Protestants, demanded that the laity should receive both the bread and +the wine. + +[304] + +Henry VIII, m. (1) Catherine, m. (2) Anne Boleyn, m. (3) Jane Seymour + | | | +Mary (1553-1558) Elizabeth (1558-1603) Edward VI (1547-1553) + +It was arranged that the son was to succeed to the throne. In case he +died without heirs, Mary and then Elizabeth were to follow. + +[305] These may be found in any Book of Common Prayer of the English +Church or of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. + +[306] For an extract from the Bishop of Worcester's diary, recording +these changes, see _Readings_, Chapter XXVII. + +[307] The Catholics in their turn, it should be noted, suffered serious +persecution under Elizabeth and James I, the Protestant successors of +Mary. Death was the penalty fixed in many cases for those who +obstinately refused to recognize the monarch as the rightful head of the +English Church, and heavy fines were imposed for the failure to attend +Protestant worship. Two hundred Catholic priests are said to have been +executed under Elizabeth; others were tortured or perished miserably in +prison. See below, p. 462, and Green, _Short History_, pp. 407-410. + +[308] There is an admirable account of the spirit of the conservative +reformers in the _Cambridge Modern History_, Vol. I, Chapter XVIII. + +[309] Protestant writers commonly call the reformation of the mediæval +Catholic Church the "counter-reformation" or "Catholic reaction," as if +Protestantism were entirely responsible for it. It is clear, however, +that the conservative reform began some time before the Protestants +revolted. Their secession from the Church only stimulated a movement +already well under way. See Maurenbrecher, _Geschichte der Katholischen +Reformation_. + +[310] They may be had in English, _Decrees and Canons of the Council of +Trent_, translated by Rev. J. Waterworth, London and New York. See +extracts from the acts of the council in _Translations and Reprints_, +Vol. II, No. 6. + +[311] See _Readings_, Chapter XXVIII. + +[312] Reference, Parkman's, _Jesuits in North America_, Vol. I, Chapters +II and X. + +[313] DIVISION OF THE HAPSBURG POSSESSIONS BETWEEN THE SPANISH AND THE +GERMAN BRANCHES + +Maximilian I (d. 1519), m. Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482) + | + Philip (d. 1506), m. Joanna the Insane (d. 1555) + | + +----------------------------+ + | | +Charles V (d. 1558) Ferdinand (d. 1564), m. Anna, heiress to kingdoms +Emperor, 1519-1556 Emperor, 1556-1564 | of Bohemia and Hungary + | | +Philip II (d. 1598) Maximilian II (d. 1576) +inherits Spain, the Netherlands, Emperor, and inherits Bohemia, +and the Italian possessions of Hungary, and the Austrian possessions +the Hapsburgs of the Hapsburgs + +The map of Europe in the sixteenth century (see above, p. 372) indicates +the vast extent of the combined possessions of the Spanish and German +Hapsburgs. + +[314] Reference, Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_, Chapter +VIII. + +[315] It is impossible in so brief an account to relate the heroic deeds +of the Dutch, such, for example, as the famous defence of Leyden. The +American historian Motley gives a vivid description of this in his +well-known _Rise of the Dutch Republic_, Part IV, Chapter II. The most +recent and authoritative account of the manner in which the Dutch won +their independence is to be found in the third volume of _A History of +the People of the Netherlands_, by the Dutch scholar Blok, translated by +Ruth Putnam (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 3 vols., $7.50). Miss Putnam's own +charming _William the Silent_ (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2 vols., with many +fine illustrations, $3.75) gives an impressive picture of the tremendous +odds which he faced and of his marvellous patience and perseverance. + +[316] Reference, Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_, pp. +386-389. + +[317] See _Readings_, Chapter XXVIII. + +[318] See above, p. 221. + +[319] The origin of this name is uncertain. + +[320] Reference for Henry IV, Wakeman, _Europe from 1598-1715_, Chapter +I. + +[321] Reference, Schwill, _History of Modern Europe_, Chapter VI, or a +somewhat fuller account in Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_, +Chapter IX. + +[322] Reference, Green, _Short History_, pp. 370-376, 392-405. + +[323] For English mariners and their voyages and conflicts with Spain, +see Froude's _English Seamen in the Fifteenth Century_. The account of +Drake's voyage is on pp. 75-103. See also "The Famous Voyage of Sir +Francis Drake," by one of Drake's gentlemen at arms, in E.J. Payne's +_Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen to America_, Vol. I, pp. 196-229, Oxford, +1893. + +[324] See above, p. 62. + +[325] Reference for life and death of Mary Stuart, Green, _Short +History_, pp. 379-392, 416-417. + +[326] References, Green, _Short History of the English People_, pp. +418-420; Froude, _English Seamen_, pp. 176-228. + +[327] Reference, Johnson, _Europe in the Sixteenth Century_, Chapter +VII, §§ 1 and 3. + +[328] See above, pp. 419-420. + +[329] Reference, Wakeman, _Europe from 1598-1715_, Chapter III. + +[330] Wallenstein (b. 1583) had been educated in the Catholic faith, +although he came of a family with Hussite sympathies. + +[331] Reference, Wakeman, _Europe from 1598-1715_, Chapter IV. + +[332] Reference, Wakeman, _Europe from 1598-1715_, Chapter V. + +[333] See above, p. 452. + +[334] Reference, Wakeman, _Europe from 1598-1715_, Chapter VI. For a +brief and excellent review of the whole war, see Schwill, _Modern +Europe_, pp. 141-160. + +[335] See above, p. 467. + +[336] See above, p. 273. + +[337] See the translators' dedication to James I in the authorized +version of the Bible. Only recently has it been deemed necessary to +revise the remarkable work of the translators of the early seventeenth +century. Modern scholars discovered very few serious mistakes in this +authorized version, but found it expedient for the sake of clearness to +modernize a number of words and expressions. + +[338] See Lee, _Source-book of English History_, pp. 348-352. + +[339] See Lee, _Source-book of English History_, pp. 352-355, for the +first writ of ship money. + +[340] See above, p. 426, n. 1. + +[341] The name Puritan, it should be noted, was applied loosely to the +English Protestants, whether Low Churchmen, Presbyterians, or +Independents, who aroused the antagonism of their neighbors by +advocating a godly life and opposing popular pastimes, especially on +Sunday. + +[342] Reference, Green, _Short History_, pp. 595-614. For a contemporary +account of Puritans, see _Readings_, Chapter XXX. + +[343] Reference, Lee, _Source-book of English History_, pp. 355-357. + +[344] Reference for Cromwell's early career and his generalship, Green, +_Short History_, pp. 554-559. + +[345] For charge against the king, etc., see Lee, _Source-book of +English History_, pp. 364-372. + +[346] Reference, Green, _Short History_, pp. 580-588, 594-600. + +[347] See below, p. 502. + +[348] Reference, Wakeman, _Europe from 1598-1715_, Chapter VII. + +[349] Louis does not appear to have himself used the famous expression, +"_I_ am the _state_," usually attributed to him, but it exactly +corresponds to his idea of the relation of the king and the state. + +[350] Reference, Perkins, _France under the Regency_, pp. 129-141. + +[351] Reference, Perkins, _France under the Regency_, Chapter IV. + +[352] Reference, Perkins, _France under the Regency_, pp. 141-147. + +[353] See above, pp. 488 and 492, 493. + +[354] See below, pp. 517-518. + +[355] Reference, Perkins, _France under the Regency_, Chapter VI. + +[356] The title Tsar, or Czar, was formerly supposed to be connected +with Cæsar (German, _Kaiser_), i.e., emperor, but this appears to have +been a mistake. + +[357] References, Schwill, _Modern Europe_, pp. 215-230; Wakeman, +_European History from 1598-1715_, pp. 300-308. + +[358] See above, p. 196. + +[359] The title King of Prussia appeared preferable to the more natural +King of Brandenburg, because Prussia lay wholly without the empire, and +consequently its king was not in any sense subject to the emperor but +was wholly independent. Since western Prussia still belonged to Poland +in 1701 the new king satisfied himself at first with the title, King +_in_ Prussia. + +[360] Reference, Schwill, _Modern Europe_, pp. 230-238. + +[361] Reference, Schwill, _Modern Europe_, pp. 238-247. + +[362] Reference, Hassall, _The Balance of Power_, pp. 18, 19, 303-317. +See map below, p. 584. + +[363] The last instance in which an English ruler vetoed a measure +passed by Parliament was in 1707. + +[364] See above, pp. 278-280. + +[365] Originally there had been but seven electors (see above, p. 372), +but the duke of Bavaria had been made an elector during the Thirty +Years' War, and in 1692 the father of George I had been permitted to +assume the title of Elector of Hanover. + +[366] Wolsey, it will be remembered, had advanced the same reason in +Henry VIII's time for England's intervention in continental wars. See +above, p. 428. + +[367] Except in 1718-1720, when she joined an alliance against Spain, +and her admiral, Byng, destroyed the Spanish fleet. + +[368] Derived from _Jacobus_, the Latin for James. The name was applied +to the adherents of James II and of his son and grandson, the elder and +younger pretenders to the throne. + +[369] It will be remembered that the children of James II by his second +and Catholic wife, Mary of Modena, were excluded from the throne at the +accession of William and Mary. See genealogical table on preceding page. + +[370] The Dutch occupation of a portion of the coast of North America +was brought to an end, as has been mentioned, by the English. See above, +p. 492. + +[371] For the settlement of the English and French in North America, see +Morris, _The History of Colonization_, Vol. I, Chapter X, and Vol. II, +Chapter XVII; also Parkman, _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Vol. I, pp. 20-35. + +[372] See above, p. 348. + +[373] Baber claimed to be descended from an earlier invader, the famous +Timur (or Tamerlane), who died in 1405. The so-called Mongol (or Mogul) +emperors were really Turkish rather than Mongolian in origin. A very +interesting account of them and their enlightenment may be found in +Holden, _The Mogul Emperors of Hindustan_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, +$2.00). + +[374] Reference, Perkins, _France under Louis XV_, Vol. I, Chapter XI. + +[375] Reference, Green, _Short History of the English People_, pp. +776-786. + +[376] See below, p. 568. + +[377] The interior customs lines roughly coincided with the boundaries +of the region of the great salt tax. See accompanying map. + +[378] The figures indicate the various prices of a given amount of salt. + +[379] See above, p. 366. + +[380] Reference, Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_, Chapter III. + +[381] See above, Chapter XVIII. + +[382] Only a very small portion of the nobility were descendants of the +ancient and illustrious families of France. The king could grant +nobility to whom he would; moreover, many of the government offices, +especially those of the higher judges, carried the privileges of +nobility with them. + +[383] Reference, Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_, Chapter XIII. + +[384] See above, § 192. + +[385] See Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_, pp. 116-118. + +[386] See the account of Voltaire's defense of Calas in Perkins, _Louis +XV_, Vol. II, pp. 198 _sqq._ + +[387] See above, p. 500. + +[388] Turgot, the leading economist of the time, argues that it would be +quite sufficient if "the government should always protect the natural +liberty of the buyer to buy, and of the seller to sell. For the buyer +being always the master to buy or not to buy, it is certain that he will +select among the sellers the man who will give him at the best bargain +the goods that suit him best. It is not less certain that every seller, +it being his chief interest to merit preference over his competitors, +will sell in general the best goods and at the lowest price at which he +can make a profit in order to attract customers. The merchant or +manufacturer who cheats will be quickly discredited and lose his custom +without the interference of government." + +[389] Reference, Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_, Chapter II. + +[390] Turgot succeeded in inducing the king to abolish the guilds and +the forced labor on the roads, but the decrees were revoked after +Turgot's dismissal. For an admirable short account of Turgot's life, +ideas, and reforms, see Say, _Turgot_ (McClurg, 75 cents). + +[391] See _Readings_, Chapter XXIV. + +[392] Reference, Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_, pp. 238-242. + +[393] See above, pp. 131-132. + +[394] Reference, H. Morse Stephens, _The French Revolution_, Vol. I, pp. +13-15, 20-24. + +[395] Pronounced kă-yā'. + +[396] Examples of the _cahiers_ may be found in _Translations and +Reprints_, Vol. IV, No. 5. + +[397] Reference, Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_, Chapter XXI. + +[398] Reference, Stephens, _The French Revolution_, Vol. I, pp. 128-145. + +[399] Reference, Stephens, _The French Revolution_, Vol. I, Chapter VI. + +[400] This decree may be found in _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I, +No. 5. + +[401] Reference, Stephens, _French Revolution_, Vol. I, Chapter VII. + +[402] See above, p. 568. + +[403] The text of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy may be found in +_Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I, No. 5. + +[404] Reference, Mathews, _The French Revolution_, Chapter XII. + +[405] The formerly despotic king is represented as safely caged by the +National Assembly. When asked by Marie Antoinette's brother what he is +about, Louis XVI replies, "I am signing my name,"--that is, he had +nothing to do except meekly to ratify the measures which the Assembly +chose to pass. + +[406] By June, 1791, there were four hundred and six of these affiliated +clubs. + +[407] A committee of the Convention was appointed to draw up a new +republican calendar. The year was divided into twelve months of thirty +days each. The five days preceding September 22, at the end of the year, +were holidays. Each month was divided into three _decades_, and each +"tenth day" (_décadi_) was a holiday. The days were no longer dedicated +to saints, but to agricultural implements, vegetables, domestic animals, +etc. + +[408] In former times it had been customary to inflict capital +punishment by decapitating the victim with the sword. At the opening of +the Revolution a certain Dr. Guillotin recommended a new device, which +consisted of a heavy knife sliding downward between two uprights. This +instrument, called after him, the guillotine, which is still used in +France, was more speedy and certain in its action than the sword in the +hands of the executioner. + +[409] Reference, for the conduct of the terrorists and the executions at +Paris, Nantes, and Lyons: Mathews, _The French Revolution_, Chapter +XVII. + +It should not be forgotten that very few of the people at Paris stood in +any fear of the guillotine. The city during the Reign of Terror was not +the gloomy place that we might imagine. Never did the inhabitants appear +happier, never were the theaters and restaurants more crowded. The +guillotine was making away with the enemies of liberty, so the women +wore tiny guillotines as ornaments, and the children were given toy +guillotines and amused themselves decapitating the figures of +"aristocrats." See Stephens, _French Revolution_, Vol. II, pp. 343-361. + +[410] The date of Robespierre's fall is generally known as the 9th +Thermidor, the day and month of the republican calendar. + +[411] There were about forty billions of francs in assignats in +circulation at the opening of 1796. At that time it required nearly +three hundred francs in paper money to procure one in specie. + +[412] See above, pp. 326-327. + +[413] Reference, Rose, _Life of Napoleon_, Vol. I, Chapter VIII. + +[414] Reference, Rose, _Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era_, pp. 95, 96, +104-108, 114, 115. + +[415] Reference, Rose, _Life of Napoleon_, Vol. I, pp. 144-148. + +[416] Reference, _Ibid._, Chapter X. + +[417] See above, § 134. + +[418] Reference, Rose, _Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era_, pp. 132-133. + +[419] The roads were dilapidated and the harbors filled with sand; taxes +were unpaid, robbery prevailed, and there was a general decay in +industry. A manufacturer in Paris who had employed sixty to eighty +workmen now had but ten. The lace, paper, and linen industries were as +good as destroyed. + +[420] See above, pp. 572-573, 579-580. + +[421] Reference, Rose, _Life of Napoleon_, Vol. I, Chapter XII. + +[422] Reference, Rose, _Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era_, pp. 148-163. + +[423] See _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 2. + +[424] See above, p. 604. + +[425] See above, p. 581. + +[426] That is, a blockade too extensive to be really carried out by the +ships at the disposal of the power proclaiming it. + +[427] Reference, Rose, _Life of Napoleon_, Vol. II, pp. 197-207. For +documents relating to the blockade and "the Continental system," see +_Translations and Reprints_, Vol. II, No. 2. + +[428] See _Readings_, Chapter XXXVIII. + +[429] Napoleon was never content with his achievements or his glory. On +the day of his coronation, December, 1806, he complained to his minister +Decrès that he had been born too late, that there was nothing great to +be done any more. On his minister's remonstrating he added: "I admit +that my career has been brilliant and that I have made a good record. +But what a difference is there if we compare ours with ancient times. +Take Alexander the Great, for example. After announcing himself the son +of Jupiter, the whole East, except his mother, Aristotle, and a few +Athenian pedants, believed this to be true. But now, should I nowadays +declare myself the son of the Eternal Father, there isn't a fishwife who +would not hiss me. No, the nations are too sophisticated, there is +nothing great any longer possible." + +[430] "It depends upon you alone," he said to the Spanish in his +proclamation of December 7, "whether this moderate constitution that I +offer you shall henceforth be your law. Should all my efforts prove +vain, and should you refuse to justify my confidence, then nothing +remains for me but to treat you as a conquered province and find a new +throne for my brother. In that case I shall myself assume the crown of +Spain and teach the ill-disposed to respect that crown, for God has +given me power and will to overcome all obstacles." + +[431] Reference, Rose, _Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era_, pp. 193-201. +Louis Bonaparte, the father of Napoleon III, and the most conscientious +of the Bonaparte family, had been so harassed by his imperial brother +that he had abdicated as king of Holland. + +[432] Reference, Rose, _Life of Napoleon_, Vol. II, Chapter XXXII. + +[433] See above, p. 544. + +[434] This decree may be found in _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. II, +No. 2. + +[435] Reference, Rose, _Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era_, pp. 335-361. + +[436] The son of Louis XVI had been imprisoned and maltreated by the +terrorists. He died while still a boy in 1795, but nevertheless takes +his place in the line of French kings as Louis XVII. + +[437] Compare the accompanying map with that below, pp. 666-667. + +[438] This document may be found in _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I, +No. 3. + +[439] Reference, Andrews, _Modern Europe_, Vol. I, Chapter IV. + +[440] Observe the boundary of the German Confederation as indicated on +the map, pp. 626-627, above. Important portions of the German +constitution of 1815 are given in _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I, +No. 3. + +[441] For the Carlsbad Resolutions, see _Translations and Reprints_, +Vol. I, No. 3. + +[442] Reference, Andrews, _Modern Europe_, Vol. I, pp. 229-257. + +[443] The island of Sardinia had, in 1720, been given to the duke of +Savoy, who was also ruler of Piedmont. The duke thereupon assumed the +title of king of Sardinia, but Piedmont, with Turin as its capital, +remained, nevertheless, the most important part of the kingdom of +Sardinia. + +[444] Reference, Andrews, _Modern Europe_, Vol. I, pp. 205-212. + +[445] Reference, Fyffe, _History of Modern Europe_ (Popular Edition, +1896), Chapter XV. + +[446] See above, p. 449. + +[447] See above, p. 600. + +[448] See map, p. 649, below. + +[449] The Slavic inhabitants of Bohemia. + +[450] Reference, Andrews, _Modern Europe_, Vol. II, Chapter III. + +[451] He ruled until 1861 as regent for his brother, Frederick William +IV, who was incapacitated by disease. + +[452] Reference, Fyffe, _Modern Europe_, pp. 954-957. + +[453] Andrews, _Modern Europe_, Vol. 2, pp. 173-180. + +[454] In 1869 Spain was without a king, and the crown was tendered to +Leopold of Hohenzollern, a very distant relative of William I of +Prussia. This greatly excited the people of Paris, for it seemed to them +only an indirect way of bringing Spain under the influence of Prussia. +The French minister of foreign affairs declared that the candidacy was +an attempt to "reëstablish the empire of Charles V." In view of this +opposition, Leopold withdrew his acceptance of the Spanish crown early +in July, 1870, and Europe believed the incident to be at an end. The +French ministry, however, was not satisfied with this, and demanded that +the king of Prussia should pledge himself that the candidacy should +never be renewed. This William refused to do. The account of the demand +and refusal was given in such a way in the German newspapers that it +appeared as if the French ambassador had insulted King William. The +Parisians, on the other hand, thought that their ambassador had received +an affront, and demanded an immediate declaration of war. + +[455] Reference, Fyffe, _Modern Europe_, pp. 988-1002. + +[456] Alsace had, with certain reservations,--especially as regarded +Strasburg and the other free towns,--been ceded to the French king by +the treaty of Westphalia (see above, p. 473). Louis XIV disregarded the +reservations and seized Strasburg and the other towns (1681) and so +annexed the whole region to France. The duchy of Lorraine had upon the +death of its last duke fallen to France in 1766. It had previously been +regarded as a part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1871 less than a third +of the original duchy of Lorraine, together with the fortified city of +Metz, was ceded back to Germany. + +[457] The monarchical party naturally fell into two groups. One, the +so-called _legitimists_, believed that the elder Bourbon line, to which +Louis XVI and Charles X had belonged, should be restored in the person +of the count of Chambord, a grandson of Charles X. The _Orleanists_, on +the other hand, wished the grandson of Louis Philippe, the count of +Paris, to be king. In 1873 the Orleanists agreed to help the count of +Chambord to the throne as Henry V, but that prince frustrated the plan +by refusing to accept the national colors,--red, white, and blue,--which +had become so endeared to the nation that it appeared dangerous to +exchange them for the white of the Bourbons. + +[458] See above, p. 75. + +[459] See above, pp. 514, 517-518, 535. + +[460] See above, p. 640. + +[461] Herzegovina is a small province lying between Bosnia and the +Adriatic. Both Bosnia and Herzegovina appear on the map as a part of +Austria, to which they now belong, to all intents and purposes. See map, +p. 649, above. + +[462] In 1885 South Bulgaria (formerly known as Eastern Roumelia) +proclaimed itself annexed to Bulgaria. The Sultan, under the influence +of the western powers, permitted the prince of Bulgaria to extend his +power over South Bulgaria. + +[463] See above, pp. 351-352. + +[464] See _The Progress of the Century_, Harper Bros., pp. 181-188, +232-242. + +[465] Reference, for the development of the inventions, Cheyney, +_Industrial History of England_, pp. 199-216. + +[466] See above, p. 488. + +[467] See above, p. 500. + +[468] See above, p. 553. + +[469] Reference, Cheyney, _Industrial History of England_, pp. 224-239. + +[470] For factory legislation in England, see Cheyney, _Industrial +History_, pp. 244-262. + +[471] Reference, Cheyney, _Industrial History_, pp. 277-293. + +[472] England, like the continental countries, has gradually, during the +nineteenth century, conceded the right to vote to almost all adult +males. Before 1832 a great part of the members of the House of Commons +were chosen, not by the voters at large but by a few individuals, who +controlled the so-called "rotten boroughs." These boroughs had once been +important enough to be asked by the king to send representatives to +Parliament, but had sunk into insignificance, or even disappeared +altogether. Meanwhile great manufacturing cities like Birmingham, +Manchester, and Sheffield had grown up, and as there had been no +redistribution of representatives after the time of Charles II, these +large cities were unrepresented in Parliament. This evil was partially +remedied by the famous _Reform Act_ of 1832. At the same time the amount +of property which one must hold in order to be permitted to vote was +reduced. In 1867 almost all of the workingmen of the cities were granted +the franchise by permitting those to vote who rented a lodging costing +at least fifty dollars a year. This doubled the number of voters. In +1885 the same privilege was granted to the country people. + +[473] See above, p. 492. + +[474] See Sir Charles Dilke on "War," in _The Progress of the Century_, +333 _sqq._ + +[475] The works here enumerated are those referred to in the notes +throughout the volume. They would form a valuable and inexpensive +collection for use in a high school. The prices given are in most +instances subject to a discount, often as high as twenty-five per cent. + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENTS + + + + +AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE + +By JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON + +Professor of History in Columbia University + + IN ONE VOLUME + + 12mo, cloth, 714 pages, with maps and illustrations, $1.60 + + IN TWO VOLUMES + + VOLUME I. 12mo, cloth, 368 pages, with maps and illustrations, $1.00 + + VOLUME II. 12mo, cloth, 364 pages, with maps and illustrations, $1.00 + + +The excellence of Robinson's "History of Western Europe" has been +attested by the immediate and widespread adoption of the book in many of +the best schools and colleges of the country. It is an epoch-making +text-book on the subject, in that it solves in an entirely satisfactory +manner the problem of proportion. + +The book differs from its predecessors in omitting all isolated, +uncorrelated facts, which only obscure the great issues upon which the +pupil's attention should be fixed. In this way the writer has gained the +space necessary to give a clear and interesting account of the +all-important movements, customs, institutions, and achievements of +western Europe since the German barbarians conquered the Roman Empire. +Such matters of first-rate importance as feudalism, the mediæval Church, +the French Revolution, and the development of the modern European states +have received much fuller treatment than has been customary in histories +of this compass. + +The work is thoroughly scholarly and trustworthy, since the writer has +relied either upon the most recent treatises of the best European +authorities of the day or upon a personal study of the primary sources +themselves. Carefully selected illustrations and an abundance of maps +accompany the text. + +GINN & COMPANY PUBLISHERS + + + + +READINGS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY + +By JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON, Professor of History in Columbia University. +Designed to supplement his "Introduction to the History of Western +Europe" + + VOLUME I. 12mo, cloth, 551 pages, $1.50 + + VOLUME II. 12mo, cloth, xxxii + 629 pages, $1.50 + + ABRIDGED EDITION. 12mo, cloth, xxxiv + + 573 pages, $1.50 + + +It is now generally recognized among teachers of history that the +text-book should be supplemented by collateral reading. Professor +Robinson's "Readings" will supply a need that has long been felt by +those dealing with the general history of Europe. For each chapter of +his text he furnishes from twenty to thirty pages of extracts, mainly +from vivid, first-hand accounts of the persons, events, and institutions +discussed in his manual. In this way the statements in the text-book may +be amplified and given added interest and vividness. He has drawn upon +the greatest variety of material, much of which has never before found +its way into English. + +The extensive and carefully classified bibliographies which accompany +each chapter embody the results of careful criticism and selection. They +are carefully arranged to meet the needs of students of all grades, from +the high-school pupil to one engaged in advanced graduate work. + +Volume I corresponds to Chapters I-XXII of the author's "History of +Western Europe," and closes with an account of the Italian cities during +the Renaissance. Volume II begins with Europe at the opening of the +sixteenth century. The Abridged Edition is intended especially for high +schools. + +GINN & COMPANY PUBLISHERS + + + + +READINGS IN MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY + +_A collection of extracts from sources chosen with the purpose of +illustrating some of the chief phases of the development of Europe +during the last two hundred years_ + +By JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON, Professor of History, and CHARLES A. BEARD, +Adjunct Professor of Politics, in Columbia University + + Volume I. The Eighteenth Century: The French Revolution + and the Napoleonic Period. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, + 410 pages, $1.40 + + Volume II. Europe since the Congress of Vienna. 12mo, + cloth, illustrated, 448 pages, $1.50 + + +"READINGS IN MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY" aims to stimulate the student to +real thought and interest in his work by bringing him right to the +sources of historical knowledge and enabling him to see the very words +of those who, writing when the past was present, can carry him back to +themselves and make their times his own. In this way the book offers the +proper background and atmosphere for "The Development of Modern Europe," +by the same authors, which it accompanies chapter by chapter and section +by section. + +Bibliographies provided in the Appendix start the student on the path to +a really thorough study of the field. + + A goodly number of the readings in this volume are of the + constitutional kind which merit and richly reward careful study. A + still larger number are of the interesting and lively kind which + charm and entertain, and which are valuable because they give the + flavor of the olden times. The bibliography is no mere list of + unappreciated titles, but an excellent critical classification + which guides the student quickly on to the fundamental + works.--SIDNEY B. FAY, _Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth + College_, in _The American Historical Review_. + +GINN AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS + + + + +TRENHOLME'S SYLLABI + +By NORMAN MACLAREN TRENHOLME Professor of History and the Teaching of +History in the University of Missouri + + +A SYLLABUS FOR THE HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE + + Part I. The Middle Ages 12mo, cloth, vii + 80 pages, 40 cents + + Part II. The Modern Age 12mo, cloth, vii + 94 pages, 40 cents + + In One Volume 60 cents + + +This topical outline is arranged to accompany Robinson's "History of +Western Europe" or to correlate with "Readings in European History" by +the same author. It is not a lecture syllabus, but is meant as an aid in +studying the text-books and Readings. + +Review questions occur from time to time throughout the text, and a +brief list of the most serviceable reference books, with the publisher +and price, has been prefixed. + + +AN OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY + +12mo, cloth, xii + 122 pages, 50 cents + +Especially arranged for use with Cheyney's "Short History of England" as +a text-book and the "Readings in English History" as collateral +reference. It is built upon the same lines as the author's "Syllabus for +the History of Western Europe," described above, and is arranged in +sections and subdivisions, there being ninety topics in all. + +The book is admirably adapted for either short or long courses in +English history, and, with its clear analysis of leading movements and +suggestive review questions, should be a welcome aid in the teaching of +the subject. + +GINN AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Introduction to the History of +Western Europe, by James Harvey Robinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 26042-0.txt or 26042-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/4/26042/ + +Produced by Greg Bergquist and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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