QJatttell UnioeraitH Slihrarg Stifaca, New Inrfe CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library HN 31.B79 Gesta Christ!, or A history of humane 3 1924 023 300 878 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023300878 GESTA CHRIST]. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. MANUAL OF ETHNOLOGY; OR, A Popular History of the Races- of the Old World. Post ?ivo. Cloth, Price 6j. LONDON; ]OHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. GESTA CHRISTI: OR A HISTORY OF HUMANE PROGRESS UNDER CHRISTIANITY. BY C. LORING BRACE, AUTHOR OF * Races of the Old IVorld" "Home Life in Germany and Hungary *' Norse Folk" *' Dangerotis Classes o/ New York" etc. HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW, MDCCCLXXXII. {All rights reserved.] Butlea- & Taiuier, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. PREFACE. The writer of this work has been engaged for some thirty years in a practical application of the principles of Christianity, with the view of curing certain great social evils in the City of New York. He has been able to test its power on a large scale, in diminishing poverty, crime and misery. He has also had a humble share in, and been a witness of, the great effort of the United States to remove its tremendous evil — Slavery ; and he knows how far Christian ideas were at the foundation of this great reform, and how much they stimulated and sup- ported the long struggle. For many years studies in the laws and history of the Roman Period and the Middle Ages have shown him the traces (often almost obliterated) of the silent, profound working of the great reforming Power of the world. He has also been engaged in examining and presenting in public writings, the influence of the Christian Faith in the more modern period, on International Law, Arbitra- tion, and the relations of nations. It has seemed to him that to write a condensed history of the progress of the humane ideas, practices, and rules of action taught or encouraged by this Religion, would be '1 PREFACE. a useful thing — especially as making them a more dis- tinct possession and code of the civilized world, and as forming an indirect argument (not less powerful for being indirect) for the truth of this Faith. Yet in considering this subject, one must not confound Christianity and the Church. Whoever believes he can construct a kind of " Divine epic " from the history of the organized Church, either voluntarily deceives himself, or follows the will o' wisp light of a false sentiment. There are certain practices, principles and ideals — now the richest inheritance of the race — that have been either implanted or stimulated or supported by Christianity. They are such as these : regard for the personality of the weakest and poorest ; respect for woman ; the absolute duty of each member of the fortunate classes to raise up the unfortunate; humanity to the child, the prisoner, the stranger, the needy, and even the brute ; unceasing opposition to all forms of cruelty, oppression and slavery ; the duty of personal purity and the sacredness of mar- riage ; the necessity of temperance ; the obligation of a more equitable division of the profits of labour, and of greater co-operation between employers and employed ; the right of every human being to have the utmost op- portunity of developing his faculties, and of all persons to enjoy equal political and social privileges; the prin- ciple that the injury of one nation is the injury of all, and the expediency and duty of unrestricted trade and intercourse between all countries ; and, finally and princi- pally, a profound opposition to war, a determination to limit its evils when existing, and to prevent its arising by means of international Arbitration. PREFACE. vii Ideals, principles and practices such as these are among the best achievements of Christianity. It has seemed to the writer hot impossible, that great numbers of the vast English-speaking race in Great Britain,^ America, and Australia, and from the cultured peoples of the Continent, might more and more unite in a kind of moral Confederation throughout the world to support and advance and spread these great and humane ideas. To have given even the faintest impulse towards this consummation and this progress, would be alone not to have lived in vain. C. LORING BRACE. 64, Seymour Street, W. London, September 6th, 18S2. CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter I.— Introduction i Plan of the work. — An Investigation of the Influence of Christianity on the Practices, Customs, Laws and Mftrals, (i) Of the Roman Period ; (2) The Middle Ages. ; (3) The Modern Period. I. ROMAN PERIOD. Chapter II.— Paternal Power 9 Instances of Paternal Tyranny in Roman History. — Re- forms in Constantine's and Justinian's Legislation under Christian Influences. — Succession of Property. — Changes through Stoical Influences. — Reforms in Justinian's Code. — The Beginnings of Modern Reforms. Chapter III. — The Position of Woman under Roman Law 19 Tutelage of Woman. — Free Marriage. — Reforms under Jus- tinian's Code. — Divorce. — Instances in the Roman Period. — Reforms brought about by Christianity in Constantine's and Justinian's Legislation. — Concubinage. — Improve- ments under Christianity. Chapter IV.— Personal Purity and Marriage . ..29 Christ's Influence on Masculine Purity, on Marriage. — His Teachings as to Separation. — -Celibacy. — Effect of Christ- ianity on Position of Woman. — Unnatural Vices. — Plato's Principles as to their Abolition. — Opposition of Early Christians to them. — Victory of Christian Principles. X CONTENTS. I'AGE Chapter V.— Slavery 4' The Silence of Christ.— Explanation.— The Slave in the Church.— Stoics and Slavery.— Number of Roman Slaves. —Reforms under the Stoics.— Christian Influence on Legislation. — Emancipation as a Religious Duty.— Humanity Towards Slaves. — Justinian's Reform. — Hu- manity under Christian Influence.— Reforms under other Emperors. — Gradual Emancipation. Chapter VI.— Slaves in Cruel and Licentious Sports 6i Bloody Sports.— Reforms by Constantine.— Human Sacri- fices. — Licentious Shows.— Feelings of the Early Chris- tians.— Reforih in Rorhan Laws. — Licentiousness Re- strained. — RansomingCapti ves. — Rehabilitation of Labour. — Serfdom. — Reforms under Religious Teaching. ' Chapter VII. — Exposure of Children .... 72 Allusions to it in Latin Literature. — Mode of Exposure. — Stoical Protests. — The Early Fathers' Denunciations. — Constantino's and Valentinian's Legislation. — The Coun- cils. — Justinian's Code. — Treatment of Foundlings by the Church. — Orphan Asylums. — Charities for Children. Chapter VIII. —Humanity in Roman Law ... 84 Humane Legislation of Constantine. — Sunday Laws. — Prison Reform. — Disfiguring the Face Forbidden. — Kindly Feeling in Roman Law.— Opposition to War by Early Christians. — Instances. — Burial Inscriptions. — Pre- paration for Arbitration. Chapter IX.— Distribution of Property .... 93 Christ's Teachings Tending to more Equitable Distribution. — Charity. — Roman Pauperism. — Roman Charities. — Bequests. — Collegia. — Christian Charity. — Refuges for Orphans. — Strangers' Rests. — Hospitals. — The Code. — Christ's Teachings Opposed to Pauperism. — Excessive Almsgiving and Monasticism not an Effect of Christian- ity. — The Problem not Solved by the Christian Religion, but its Truths lead towards Equal Distribution. Chapter X.— Resum^ of Reforms in Roman Period . 106 Christianity Influenced Patria Potestas and Succession of Property ; Diminished Unnatural Vices ; Taught Purity ; Put an end to Exposure of Children ; Founded Charities CONTENTS. xi PAGE and Taught more Equitable Distribution of Wealth ; Checked Licentious and Cruel Sports, and caused Humane Legislation ; Mitigated and Undermined Slavery and Serfdom ; Elevated Woman and Marriage. — Need of Fresh Races for the True Work of Religion. — Afforded by the Keltic and German Tribes. n. MIDDLE AGES. Chapter XL— Position of Woman under the German Tribes 117 German Chastity. — Tutelage of Woman. — Purchase of Wife. — Instances. — Scandinavian Customs. — Subjection of Woman. — Wife under Power of Husband in German Law. — Position of Woman having Stamp of Barbarism ; de- scended into English Common Law. — Free Marriage. — Christianity strove to Elevate Woman and Strengthen Marriage ; Changed Purchase-money into Dower ; Lessened Tutelage. — The Dower. — Change of Tutelage. — Religion opposed German Prejudice that Bodily Strength was a Condition of Civil Capacity. — Inferiority of Woman continued in Common Law. — Sir Thomas Smith's Statements. — Gains of Christianity. Chapter XII.— Personal Feuds and Private Wars . 137 Feuds Universal in Barbaric Society. — Money-Fines in Place of Revenge stimulated by Religion.— Feuds checked in Holy Days and Places. — Instance from old Russian Code. — Law and Penalty substituted for Private Revenge, under Influence of Christian Faith. Chapter XIII. — Private War and Peace of God. — Arbitration 142 Forms of Declaring Private War. — Instances. — The Desola- tion of Germany and France. — The Peace of God. — Crusade of Peace in France. — Efforts of Religious Men. — Pledge of Peace. — Peace Associations. — Councils. — Efforts of Popes. — A Messenger of Peace. — Truce of God. — Peace in Germany. — Leagues of the Rhine. — Applica- tion of Arbitration. — Forms. — Stimulated by Religious Sentiment. — Instances. — End of Diffidation. — Abolition of Private War in Spain, Italy, and Iceland. xii CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter XIV. — Wager of Battle and Ordeal . .160 Judicial Duel Among the Northern Tribes.— English Prac- tice.— Forms Used. — Opposition of the Spirit of Christi- anity. — The Councils and Popes. — First Forbidden in Iceland after its Conversion.— Its Abolition, Slow. — Existed in England till the Nineteenth Century. — ^Ordeal first Opposed by Church, then Accepted and Used. — Spirit of Religion Opposed it. Chapter XV.— Torture . . 178 Implanted by Roman Law. — Early Church Opposed, then Used it. — Description of Tortures.— The Strappado.-- Torture in England. — Opposition of Church. — Subsequent Acceptance. — Spirit of Religion Struggled against it. — Not Abolished in Parts of Europe till Nineteenth Cen- tury. — Recent Abolition in Japan. Chapter XVI. — The Strangers' Rights . . . .190 Teutonic Hostility to Strangers. — Instances. — Droit cPau- baine in France. — Abolished in 1790. — Other Inequali- ties later. — The Teutonic Legislation shows the Influence of Christianity. Chapter XVII.— The Wreckers' Right, and Piracy . 197 All Teutonic Codes urge Humanity to the Shipwrecked on Religious Grounds. — Instances. — Judgments of the .Sea. — Councils. — Humane Legislation. — Treaties. — Piracy. — A Form of Private War. Chapter XVI 1 1.— Charlemagne's Capitularies . . 202 Teaching of Morals on Religious Grounds.— Commands against Feud, Oppression, and Perjury. — In favour of Marriage, and against Divorce and Unnatural Vice. — Injunctions against Oppression of the Stranger and the Poor.^ — Laws soon swept away, but showing Influence of this Faith. Chapter XIX.— Anglo-Saxon Law 206 Its Spirit Manifestly Affected by Christianity.^-Contrast to other Codes. — Laws of Old English Kings. — King Wihtraed. — Alfred's Dooms. — Moral Teachings. — Sun- day Laws. — Humanity to Shipwrecked. — False Swearing. — King Ethelred's Dooms, — Religious Laws. — King CONTENTS. xiii PAGE Canute, — Saxon Piety. — Feuds. — Ancient Laws. — Alfred's Injunctions. — All show the Beginning of History of Religious Forces in England. Chapter XX. — Education in the Middle Ages . .217 Christianity Favourable to Intellectual Advance. — Early Efforts of the Church Encouraging Learning. — Early Christian Schools. — Councils. — Letter of Charlemagne. — Instruction of Theodolfus. — Copying Manuscripts. — Thornas k Kempis. — The Pope's Efforts. — Christian Truth Opens Mind of Man to Truth. Chapter XXL— Serfdom and Slavery in the Middle Ages 224 The Process by which Serfdom Arose. — Christian Influence on Slavery. — Slavery in the Middle Ages. — Acts of Coun- cils Favourable to Slaves. — Sunday Laws. — Religious Element in Emancipation. — Forms of Manumission. — Muratori and Marculfus. — Peasants' Revolts Under the Liberal Teaching of Chi'istianity. — Their Objects. — Effects on Villainage. — Emancipation Gradual. — Free- dom of Serfs by Bologna. — Slave Trade. — Emancipation in Germany. — Abolition in Scandinavia a Direct Effect of Religion. — English Slavery Causes Selling Children. — Number of Slaves in England — Religious Influence in Emancipation. — Christian Brotherhood. — Gradual Eman- cipation. — Forms. — Slave Trade Forbidden. — Slaves after the Norman Conquest. — Religious Forces Causing Eman- cipation. — Sir Thomas Smith's Testimony. — Serfdom Dis- appeared in Reign of Charles I. Chapter XXII. — Chivalry 253 Ideal of Chivalry. — Original. — Forms and Oaths Religious. — Virtues Taught Corresponded to Christian. — Froissart. — Humanity. — Courtesy. — -Pity. — Purity. — Brotherhood. — Devotion to Woman. — The Ideal an Effect of Chris- tianity on the German Temperament. — Its Defects and Vices. — Uncertain how far Chivalry was a Reality. — The Chivalric Character Endures under Religious Influences. Chapter XXIII.— Resum^ of Reforms in the Middle Ages 271 (i) Value Attached by Christianity to Marriage, and New Position of Woman. — (2) Restraint of Feud and Blood CONTENTS. Revenge.— (3) Checking Private War by Peace of God. — (4) Urging Arbitration.^(5) Opposing Judicial Duel and Ordeal. — (6) Restraining Torture. — (7) Commanding Humanity to the Stranger and Shipwrecked. — (8) Power of Religion over Codes of Law. — (9) Its Influence on Education. — (10) Gradual Effect on Slavery arid Serf- dom. — (11) Founding Charities. — (12) Influence on the Chivalric Ideals. — Reasons of its Want of Full Success. III. MODERN PERIOD. Chapter XXIV.— The Position of Woman Under Modern Influences 283 Position of Woman since Christianity a Composite One.— Christian Idea Entire Equality of Man and Woman. — English Common Law Inherits Teutonic Prejudice of Measuring Civil Rights by Physical Power. — The Wife's Legal Existence Suspended. — Coverture. — Woman Under Common Law.— Equity Courts. — American Legislation. — Reforms in New York. — Position of the Mother. — Pro- tection to the Young Girl. — Partnership in Property. — Female Suffrage. — Woman in the United States. — In Europe. — Future of Woman under Agnosticism. Chapter XXV.— Divorce 300 Christian View. — Roman Law. — Churchly Doctrines. — Views of Reformers. —European Tendencies. — United States Law.— Views of Judges. — Laws in New York. — License of Divorce.— Change of Opinion in the United States.— Effects of Free Divorce in New York. — Future Effects in America. — General Happiness of Marriage in the United States. — Concubinage. — Humane Progress. Chapter XXVI. — Degradation of Woman . . .315 Apparent Failure of Christianity. — Reforms Begun. — Mas- culine Purity. — Efforts for Children, — Effects of Religion. — Hope for the Future. Chapter XXVII.— International Law.— Arbitration . 320 The Expense and Curse of War. — International Law among the Greeks ; the Romans ; in the Middle Ages.— Cruelties CONTENTS. XV PAGE and Barbarism in War. — Treatment of Prisoners ; of Ambassadors. — Grotius' Views. — Claims of Christian Na- tions on Heathen Territory. — Privateering. — Franklin. — Congress of Paris, 1856.— Inviolability of Private Property on the Sea. — The New Codes of Prof. Bluntschli, and the American Instructions. — The Wounded. — Arbitra- tion. — History of Modern Cases. — Mediation. — Disputes as to Territories. — The Geneva Settlement. — Universal Peace. — International Courts. — Objections. — Interna- tional Law Among Non-Christians. 1^ Chapter XXVIII.— Slave Trade and Slavery in i\io- DERN Times 363 Both Catholic and Protestant Churches Guilty. — Sketch of Slave Trade. — Treaty of Utrecht. — Slave Trade in British Colonies; in Great Britain. — The Struggle. — Its Final Abolition. — Slavery and its Abolition in the British Colonies ; in the United States. — Early Anti-Slavery Position of the Churches. — Later Weakness. — Origin of the Opposition Religious. — Other Elements Mingling. Chapter XXIX. — Modern Serfdom .... 387 Royal Ordinances against it in Prussia ; in France and Italy. — Christian Ideas Working against it. — Abolition in Germany, Hungary, Prussia, and other Countries. Chapter XXX.— The Duel 39 r Bentham's Arguments for it. — Reply. — The Struggle of the Church. — Its Prevalence in France and England. — Public Protests and Laws against it. — Experience of the United States. — Its Cessation due to Christianised Public Opinion. Chapter XXXI.— Prison Reform and Charities . 399 Constantine's Legislation. — Howard. — The " Irish " Prison System. — American Reforms.^ Charities. — Societies to Protect Animals. — Humanization of Punishments. — Cruel Penalties of the Past.— Modern Improvements. — Imprison- ment for^Debt. — The Sunday. — Its Value to the World. Chapter XXXII.— Co-operation and Pauperism . . 413 Co-operati,on. — Communism. — Insurance against Poverty. — Religion lessening Pauperism.— A Socialist's Views on Christianity. xvi CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter XXXIII.— Free Trade.— Humanity.— Liberal Government 420 Progress of Ideas in Favour of Freer Intercourse. — Hu- manity between Nations. — Treatment of Inferior Races. — Missions. — Popular Education.— Churches. — Hope Im- planted. — Liberal Government. — Diminution of Pesti- lences, due only in Part to Religion. Chapter XXXIV. — Intemperance 433 Its Evils in America and Europe. — Temperance Movement. — Total Abstinence. — Influence of Religion. Chapter XXXV.— Persecution 441 No Foundation for in Christianity. — Guilt of the Church. — Treatment of the Jews ; of Heretics and Schismatics. — Liberal Views of John Robinson ; of Grotius. — Experience of the United States. Chapter XXXVI. — Humane Progress Among Non- Christian Peoples 445 Continuity of Revelation, — Spiritual Ideas of Hindoos. — Caste, and Position of Woman. — Buddhism. — Inspiration of Buddha. — His Defects. — The Failure of this Faith. — Confucianism. — Its Merits and Wants. — The Arabs. — Mohammedanism. — Its Wants and Failure. — Position of Mohammedan Woman. — Buddhism, Brahmanism, Con- fucianism not adapted for Humane Progress. — Climate not alone the Cause. Chapter XXXVIL— Objections.— Resume of Reforms Begun.— The Future of Mankind Under Chris- tianity 463 Objections that the Christian Ideal is Unmanly ; Unfit for the Struggle for Existence ; Not Favourable to Accumu- lation of Wealth, Opposed to Progress of Science and to Liberal Institutions. — Objection to Slow Working of Christianity.— Obstructions. — The Drift of Evolution in Favour of Sympathy, Unselfishness, and Morality. — Christianity Works with it, and adds a New Force. — Its Final Tendency a Perfect Society. — Inference from the Facts, and Argument for the Truth of the Christian Re- ligion. Appendix.— Ancient Hungarian Legislation . . .477 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. — PLAN OF THE WORK. At a certain era in the world's history — not very remote as compared with the duration of the human race on the earth — there appeared a new moral force in human history. It originated in an obscure tribe of a remote province of the Roman Empire, and was embodied in the personality, life and teachings of a remarkable Being — called jESUS the Christ. The moral truths in these teachings were not absolutely new — as indeed the principles of morality rest on the prin- ciples of human nature, and must be known, more or less clearly, to all men — but they were presented with such unequalled simplicity and earnestness, and illustrated by a life and character of such unexampled elevation and purity, and accompanied with spiritual truths so profound and universal, as well as with supernatural claims, that the whole formed a new power in the world for the moral renovation of man — in other words, a RELIGION ; but one claiming to be absolute and universal, for all ages and races and circumstances. The object of this work is to examine the effects of this faith or moral power on the advancement of the race in humanity and morality; both what it has accomplished, and what it tends to accomplish. In other words, we shall seek to show what Christianity has already done for the world, and, considering its nature and objects, and its effects in a comparatively brief period, we shall infer 1 B 2 GESTA CHRISTI. what will be its influence in a far longer period. The investigation is difficult for various and often opposing reasons. Many influences, material, moral and intellectual, have combined to effect the advance of the race in mo- rality and humanity. The problem is to estimate the peculiar influence of this new moral power. Then the civilized world has become so imbued with the ideas and feelings implanted or strengthened by this faith, that those who have apparently opposed and attacked it, have not unfrequently been those most animated by its principles. While, on the other hand — so dangerous is the effect of power and ambition even in the religious field — the organi- zation which might be supposed to most expressly represent its truths has often been the most opposed to it in life and action. In the course of history, the sceptics, in matters of mercy and justice, have often been nearer Christ than professed believers ; and the Christian Church has favoured practices and encouraged institutions, which have been a travesty on the teachings of Christ, and an offence to every feeling of humanity. The student who searches for the pure and benevolent impress of the great Teacher on the wild annals of human history, must divest himself of much reverence for the so-called " Church of Christ " on earth. The Church that is seen and known of men, represents often anything but His image. At times it is filled with bigotry and hate ; it implants persecution in Roman law ; it encourages frightful religious wars ; it opposes liberty of thought, and the investigation of science ; its skirts are stained with the blood of the Inquisition, and wet with the tears of millions of victims of the slave-trade ; it en- courages war, and is often only an emblem of power and lust and ambition. Still in every age were simple men and women, not known perhaps to history, or even to those of their own time, whose souls and lives were filled INTRODUCTION.- PLAN OF THE WORK. 3 with the principles of this new faith. These gradually affected social habits and practices ; sometimes changing them before they influenced legislation, sometimes, by a favouring public accident, being able first to reform laws and public officials ; thus, day by day, by imperceptible steps purifying Church, State and people ; gradually caus- ing certain great abuses and wrongs to melt away before the fervency of their spirit, and the innocence and bene- ficence of their lives. These have been inspired by Christ. Though for the most part unknown perhaps to ecclesiastical records, or the historians of empires, they have illustrated and transmitted the divine truths which they received from Him. In lives of purity and human brotherhood, in honesty, faithfulness, compassion and true humanity, they have sought to follow their great Leader. They have formed the true and invisible "Church of Christ." While living for Him, they have lived for the human race. Their spirit and their sacrifices have made it possible that ages hence some of the great evils of man- kind should come to an end, that some tears should be forever wiped away, and a fair prospect be held forth of a distant future of humanity, justice and righteousness. The victories they have won in their silent struggles, and bequeathed to us, were really the " Gesta Christi " — the achievements of Christ. The first portion of these investigations relates to the Roman period of history, when the great empire, having its centre on the banks of the Tiber, controlled the civilized world. The object here is to trace the influence of the new faith on the Roman law, and on the morals, habits and practices of the Roman people and provinces. Some of these researches must of necessity be somewhat technical, as bearing on slight changes in laws relating to personal rights and the succession of property. They are 4 CESTA CHRISTI. important, however, as affectihg the greater changes and reforms which have since arisen, and are now in process of development. Others relate to the lessening and doing away of abuses, so deep-seated and long-continued, that it would seem that nothing but. the power of a Religion could remove them. But in this field must ever be kept in view, the power of a system of philosophy and morals, the most elevated and noble which the Greek and Roman antiquity has known — the Stoical. The task of the investigator is to trace out the peculiar working of the new Faith, as distinguished from this older school of morals. The second division relates to a more interesting and picturesque period of history — the Middle Ages. Here the difficulty lies in condensing and clearing the great mass of material offered, and here, too, we stand on fields fought over in incessant discussion. The exact position of woman in the German tribes, the precise character of her Mund, or " Tutelage," what marriage was with the ancient Teutons, and what feminine rights were in those wild tribes, are subjects still endlessly argued upon. Here, too, in all the reforms of the Middle Ages, whether as to woman, or humane legislation, or checking war, or abolishing cruel practices, or doing away with serfdom and slavery, the problem is to trace the precise influence of Christianity, as distinguished from many other moral and material forces. The only course in this investigation seems to be to ex- amine, so far as possible, original sources of evidence — codes of law, forms of will, the canons of the Church, decrees of councils, the words of ancient historians or of contem- porary scholars, and the most trustworthy and candid historians, and attempt to draw the most probable con- clusion, without fear or prejudice. It cannot be hoped that absolute certainty will be at- tained. The question of the precise work accomplished in INTRODUCTION.— PLAN OF THE WORK. j the past by the great Teacher of Nazareth, will long be a question of historical probabilities. We can only offer to the discussion, patient investigation, and the love of Truth for its own sake. In the Modern Period, we enter on firmer ground. We are nearer the actors, or we have taken part in the events. In such matters as the abolition of the slave-trade and of slavery, in the repression of the duel, in the improvements of International Law, and the various modern charities and reforms, as well as the change in woman's position, we know what part the Faith taught by Jesus has had, and what power it exerted, and what it continues to exert. Here the weak point which strikes the candid investigator, is not that Christianity has done what it has in modern times, but that it has not done a great deal more. This, too, must be considered in the argument. And, though not demanded by the investigation, a brief comparison of humane progress under this Religion, and under the highest beliefs among modern non-Christian peoples, will strengthen the conclusion. We offer the investigation to all lovers of truth. No friend of humanity will hesitate to rejoice, should it in- directly serve to strengthen the ancient Hope and Faith of the leading races of mankind. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE LAWS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE ROMAN PERIOD. CHAPTER II. PATERNAL POWER. What may be called the '" natural progress " of mankind under the influence of the Divine Spirit and the instincts implanted in the human mind, is towards respect for the individual and towards self-control, in the preference of the higher and distant good to the lower and present. Our plan in the beginning of this investigation is to make plain the stimulus given to this progress in the Roman Empire, by the new system of ideas and the new forces thrown into the world through the Christian Religion. The improvements thus caused or hastened have been at the basis of all modern civilization and progress, and, though often apparently slight, are such as will influence all future history. One remarkable archaic institution survived and was transmitted through successive ages of Roman history, before and after Christianity — the primitive paternal authority. It was thought by Roman legal writers, even as late as the time of the Pandects,^ to be peculiar to the Romans. But modern investigation shows that it belongs to nearly all races in a certain stage of development^ and that the Germanic tribes who overwhelmed the Romans, had, many of them, carried it to an extreme degree. In the father's house, the Roman father had absolute authority over the son ; he could chastise, put in chains, exile or ' Jus potestatis quod in liberos habemus, proprium est civium Romanorum. {Instit, lib. I., tit. ix. Pdnd., I., tit. vi. vii.) 10 GES.TA CHRIST!. sell hini as a slave ; he had power of life and death over him. The son's property became the father's ; he could assign a wife to him, divorce him when married, or trans- fer him to another family by " adoption." The son only escaped and was "emancipated"^ by a sale of his person, three times repeated, by his father. This custom, origin- ally designed to control parental greed, became used as a fictitious legal form for freeing the son. The son in a legal view seemed worse off than the slave : the latter, if formally emancipated, was finally free ; the former reverted to his previous condition under his father, and in early ages required this triple form for entire freedom. The power of life and death was not a legal fiction. Three different Romans of position, Cassius, Scaurus, and Fulvius are mentioned by Valerius Maximus^ as having been executed by their father ; and another son was banished by his father, Titus Avius. Seneca^ relates that the populace pursued with daggers, on the public square, a knight (Erixon) who had scourged his son to death ; an act legal, but held to be too severe. The right of a father to kill a daughter taken in adultery was universally conceded. Cicero appears to admit a right of life and death even in case of an adopted son.* He alludes to it as a recognised right in regard to a real son.^ Manlius is said to have put his own son, though ' A son thrice sold by his father, was free from his power ; after this form he became einancipatus, or sold out of his family. In a similar manner, another son could be bought in from another family, or adopted. See Ulpian, tit. x. " Qui in potestate, etc.'' 2 Val. Max., v. 8. " De Clem., I2, 14. Populus in foro graphiis confodit. * . . . Vitse necisque potestatem habere ut in filio, erat. {Pro Domo, 29.) ° Patrem tuum civem optimum, clarissimi viri filium : qui, si viverat, qui severitate fuit, profecto non viveris. {Pro Domo, c. 32.) INSTANCES OF PATERNAL TYRANNY. n victorious, to death for disobeying^ orders.; and Cassius Brutus killed a son who had negotiated with the enemy. ^ A Latin historian* says, " One has seen fathers author- ised by law, drag their children from the tribune while they were addressing the people, in order to punish them at their discretion. They were dragged across the public square and no one dared defend them. The consul, the tribune of the people, in fine the people itself, so proud of its power and force, who came to applaud them were obliged to keep silent, and respect in the fathers, an authority which the law gave them." At the close of the republic, the Lex Pompeia de Parric, or the law in regard to the murder of relatives by relatives, is silent with respect to the murder of a child by the father. It is related that the Emperor Augustus was present as witness and judge in a family-council which a father had" assembled to decide on the fate of a son, guilty of pur- poses of parricide. The Emperor Trajan is said to have " emancipated " a son, because the father violated the duties of paternal affection. And an ancient authority approves the sentence which had deprived the father of the succession of a deceased son, thus emancipated.^ Even the Stoical jurist, Paul, seems to recognise the right of a father to sell his son in case of great need and poverty.^ The paternal power existed also over the person of the daughter. This deeply-rooted institution was grafted throughout the world wherever Roman citizenship extended, though often modified and humanized. The spirit of humanity, ' Liv., vii. 7. 2 pijff^ (p Gr. et Rom.). 3 Den. H. {^Ant. Rom., 2, 26). < Dig. Pap. ^ Qui contemplatione extremae necessitatis aut alimentorum gratii, filios suos vendiderint, etc. (Sent., v. i, i.) 13 GESTA CHRIST I. especially under Stoical influences, worked upon it through all periods of the Republic and the Empire. No student of history can ever cease to be grateful for the profound moral power which went forth from the Stoical school in antiquity. But under the Christian emperors, whatever may have been their individual characters, a great and marked change shows itself in this custom and the legislation upon it. A new idea had entered all classes as to the rights and personality of each individual, whether child or parent. When the son was recognised as the child of God and " joint heir with Christ," equal with his father in the kingdom of the Lord, for whom Christ had died, paternal tyranny could not long continue. The change did not at once show itself in legislation ; society is usually reformed before laws : but that elevation of each person began which, after many ages, must result in absolute emanci- pation and equality of rights. The learned commentator on the Theodosian Code saw at once the source of the reforms which appear in that legislation. " It is Christian discipline," says Godefroy, in regard to the Roman law, " which gradually softens the severity of paternal authority." ^ The spirit of humanity as expressed in the thoughts and legislation of the Stoical jurists, laboured steadily to mitigate this authority through many centuries. The words of the jurist Marcian were quoted even by those who had absolute power over the lives of the children : " Paternal power ought to rest in affection, not in atrocity." ^ ' Christian^ discipline paulatim patriae potestatis duritiem emol- liente. (De Maternis bonis. Inst., 248.) 2 Nam patria potestas in pietate debet, non in atrocitate, consistere. {Marc. Inst, lib. xiv. ; Pand., xlviii. 9, 5.) Adrian used these words on a remarkable occasion when the punishment of a son was softened. JUSTINIAN'S REFORMS. 13 Constantine (333 A.D.) was as far removed from the spirit of Christianity as possible in his character, but his legislation, framed by men feeling the new power in the world, shows the humane forces derived from this faith. He ventured to punish as a parricide, a father killing his son.^ Under Justinian (528 A.D.) the Christian influences are more distinctly felt, and the father could only inflict moderate penalties, and summon his children before the courts, where he could suggest such sentence as might be appropriate to domestic discipline. He could also disinherit. The mitigations in regard to the son's pro- perty were of gradual growth. At first, all his earnings and possessions belonged to the father. The humane spirit step by step protected him, and obtained for him more individual rights. Certain portions of his property, acquired in specific modes, were secured to him. But it was only under Constantine and the early Christian emperors that the son's rights of property were extended to acquisitions made in a great variety of public and religious offices. He was not yet on a plane of legal equality with his father, but his position approached the modern position under the laws of Christian nations. Under the former ideas of the paternal tyranny, the father claimed as a right all the property of the deceased ancestors of the family, or of the mother, if they died intestate, and of his own children deceased. The laws of the Christian emperors gradually- converted these rights of the Roman father into what are almost the rights of the modern father. He becomes only one of the heirs of property thus left ; and his interests are made inferior to those of the minor children. The peculiar distinction of ' Cod. Theqd., De Parricid. ; et Just., De his qui parentes, etc. (c. ix. 17, I.) 14 GESTA CHRISTI. the new power in the world was the protection it afforded to, and the interest it showed in, the child. The property of children who came under the power of a father by marriage, was especially protected from his claims. The mother was shielded in her rights ; and her property, if she died intestate, descended at length to her children. The modern conditions of inheritance appear even under Constantine. The son, however, could not yet sell, mortgage, or bequeath by will his own property. Under the new ideas, Justinian i gave to the son full control over all his acquisitions. In the new light spread through the world, it seemed to him " inhuman " to do otherwise. The father had only a life-interest in his son's acquisitions or property, unless they were derived from his own. In case of " emancipation," he was allowed a life-interest of one-half. The father could still dis- inherit. These changes in Roman law relating to paternal power after Christianity became a power in the world, may seem to the modern reader of no great account. But the differ- ence between the father's power under the old Roman law and that under Justinian, measures the difference between the old and the modern world. The tyrant of the family has merely become the judge, or indeed little more than the modern father. He cannot " expose," buy or sell, or imprison his son (except through the agency of the courts), or abuse or kill him ; he cannot adopt him into another family without his consent, or give him by force in mar- riage, but is only permitted to declare a veto on a marriage which is not agreeable to him. The drift of modern opinion and practice is towards the independence of the child, both social and legal. The ' Just., lib. 1 1, tit. ix. Per quas personas. De bonis qus liberis, etc. Quod nobis inhumanum visum est. SUCCESSION OF PROPERTY. 15 authority of the father is becoming more and more one of affection and of moral influence. Paternal tyranny, even in the most private matters of the family, is passing away. The beginning of this great change was in the reforms of Roman law under the teachings which came forth from Judea. Succession. — To understand these reforms still further, we must consider a subject somewhat technical, but im- portant as affecting modern society — the bearing of the paternal power upon relationship and the transmission of property. The family was for ages in Rome (as in many other countries) an imperium in imperio, and it could only be maintained thus by limiting relationship to descendants by males, or to "agnates" If a married daughter were considered a member of the family, with equal rights to property and protection, it is manifest that great confusion would arise and conflicting interests be introduced in the family. From this principle arose much injustice to the woman. The relatives by males were the persons said to be especially " in power " (j.n manu), or in the family, of the father, though he was permitted to introduce others into the family by adoption. Without enlarging upon this import- ant topic, we would only say that under the old Roman law the succession of property followed the bond of " power," and was determined by family, not blood. One could be a near relative of a deceased person, even a child, without being an heir. The son " emancipated " by the father was no longer in the family, and was not an heir. The heirs were especially the children or grandchildren who were in the family ; they might even be adopted, but they are still first heirs. Daughters " in the family " succeed like males ; there is under this archaic system no primogeniture or inferiority of sex. The wife not married i6 GESTA CHRISTI. out of the family is like a daughter and heir ; the wife of a son (himself in " the family ") is also an heir and in power. These are called " heirs of themselves " ^ or " necessary heirs," continuing the person of the father. When there are no necessary heirs, then comes in the nearest agnate or relative by males, who would be " in power " if his ancestor were living. " Emancipation " or separation from the family breaks this relation, so that the direct descendants of an emancipated son do not succeed any more than do the descendants by married females. Reforms in this as in other directions of the paternal power began under Stoical influences ; but under the Christian emperors there was, as might be expected, a more decided drift towards the natural bonds of succession. The influence of the new Faith was everywhere to protect woman, and to give her equal rights, whether in the family or out of it. Valentinian the Younger had enacted that the children of the daughter (who had been legally out- side of the family) should succeed to the maternal ^ grand father with the "necessary heirs," and that they should receive two-thirds of what would have fallen to their mother. Constantine, whose legislation is touched by the new spirit, goes still further. He provides in certain cases that she should take from the agnates, their children and grandchildren, one-third of their succession, excluding all other agnates. With Justinian (528 A.D.) came more of the force of the new religion upon the law of the Roman Empire. The reforms of his code struck deeper. The great codifiers who prepared his body of laws, seemed to 1 Sui hseredes {lnst.,\^!a. II. t. xix). Nov., 164. Gaius, lib. II. t. x. De intest. haered. (De Agnatis). One of the reforms in succession Justinian alludes to as "actionem Deo placentem," as if feeling the religious motive. 2 InsU., lib. III. tit. i. REFORMS IN JUSTINIAN'S CODE. 17 feel, and even in their dry labour to be elevated, by the fresh " enthusiasm of humanity " working in the world. They often speak of such and such a measure as "in- human." ^ Justinian's code enacted that the children of the daughter should represent their mother entirely, as if she were in the family. It does away with all distinctions of being " in the family " or outside of it, or those derived from the number of children (Jus liberoriun) of a woman, and established that those who had one as well as those with four children, whether " in power " or emancipated, were called equally to the succession of their deceased children. It preferred the mother to all the agnates or relatives by the males ; all were excluded by her ; the only competitors being the brothers and sisters of the deceased. The natural relatives, or cognates, were made equal to the relatives by the males or agnates. The new code abolished all distinctions between agnates and cognates. The bond of "power" disappeared before the bond of blood. Paternal authority lost its pre-eminence. Property re- verted to the natural descendants of the deceased, whether " in power " or of their own right, whether " emancipated " or not, without distinction of sex or degree, to the ex- clusion of all other relatives. The masculine and feminine lines are equal. The drift of these reforms is towards equality of rights between women and men, or between different members of the same family, so far as succession is concerned. The children of the daughter separated from her family by marriage, or of the mother who from some form of marriage had never been considered as belonging to the family, and the mother and sister who had been excluded by " emancipation " were placed 1 Quod nobis inhumaimm visum est, et liberis pepercimus, et patri- bus debitum reservavimus. {Inst., lib. II. tit. ix.) i8 GESTA CHRIS TI. before the relatives by males of a distant degree. Even the male and female children by a mother from a former marriage (" uterine '' children) were placed on an equality with the other heirs.^ All these with the female descendants of male heirs, sisters, and shared equally in the inheritance. These reforms in the Roman law may seem to the modern student of little importance. But they are an in- dication of the tendency everywhere of the Christian Faith to introduce equality of rights among persons, to elevate the individual, to control arbitrary power, to substitute self-command, consideration and the influence of the affections for tyranny and unchecked power in the family. They were apparently but small advances ; they had, it is true, been begun by Stoicism ; but they received their greatest stimulus from Christianity, and properly heralded the greater and more profound changes which the new Faith was to introduce into modern society. NOTE ON CHAPTER 11. De Consang. et uterin. frat. (Col. VI. t. xii. Nov. xxxiv.) De Desc. succ. {Nov. cxviii.) cap. 20. De Asc. succ. De succ. ex. etc., cap. iii. De Agn., etc., cap. 18. Sed in omnibus successionibus agnatorum, cognatorumque differentiam vocare praecipimus, etc. {Nov. 118.) De legit, tut. cap. iv. Et quoniam mater excludebatur quidem a filio masculo . . . nos non qujerentes filiorum jus, sed exinde ei legitima jura dant, etc. (Col. IV. t. i. Nov. 22.) Nulla introducenda differentia, sive masculi, sive fceminse sint et seu ex masculorum seu feminarum prole descendant, sive suae potes- tatis sint constituti. (Col. IV. t. i. Nov. 108.) ytisl., lib. III. lit. ii. ' Troplong. L'influence du Christianisme siir le Droit Romaiji. Inst. Justin., Sandar's note, lib. III. tit. iv. CHAPTER III. THE POSITION OF WOMAN UNDER ROMAN LAW. It was a necessary part of the archaic institution of the family, that woman should be under the perpetual tutelage •of her relatives by males; the object being to keep her property in the family and to separate her from public affairs. Under the old Roman law, such of her property as was mancipii} — land, slaves and beasts of burden, — could not be disposed of without consent of her tutor. But she ■could not intervene in the government of the family, nor in industrial or commercial affairs, nor in public matters. A •court of her relatives could inflict upon her the severest penalties in case of certain offences. In the time of Nero, a distinguished Roman lady, Pomponia Grsecina, wife of Aulas Plautius, first conqueror of Britain, wag accused of a " foreign superstition." She was submitted to the judg- ment of her husband. Aulus assembled the relatives, and, after an examination, he declared her innocent. There is much probability that this lady, one of the last instances ■of the extreme exercise of the marital power, was one of the first secret converts to Christianity.^ As a mother, the ' Perhaps, in its origin, such property as was " taken by hand," but later, such objects as were transferred by the ceremony of " manci- pation." (JJlpian. tit. xix. i.) Majores nostri, nuUam, ne privatam quidem rem agere feminas sine .auctore voluerunt ; in manu esse parentum, fratrum, virorum. (Cato's .Speech. Livy, 34, 2.) 2 Tac. Ann., xiii. 32. Agric, 4. 19 20 GESTA CHRIS TI. Roman woman had originally no legal inheritance in the property of her minor children. A child desiring to marry need not obtain her consent ; the children were not in the family of the mother but of the father ; the mother had no power over them. As a wife, the husband had, under old Roman law, power of life and death over her, and absolute control of her property. When she passed in mannm — into the power — of her husband, she became not his equal, but his adopted daughter or ward. The law considered her as a sister of her own children ; all her property became that of her husband ; all her earnings were his. Like children and slaves, she was not, while in maim, a person in her own right. She lost all her family rights, and her agnates were deprived of their rights of tutelage or of succession to whatever of her property would revert to them. The great object of these legal arrangements was un- doubtedly to preserve the woman's property in certain families. Yet there was underlying them a deep contempt for woman, utterly foreign to the new Faith, but familiar to the Stoical school. Thus Gaius gives as the ground for the tutelage of woman, her " levity of mind " ; ^ and Cicero in like manner, explains it as due to her " infirmity of pur- pose." ^ The three ancient forms of Roman marriage, the con- farreation^ or religious ceremony ; the co-emption,* or civil contract ; and the usus, or intercourse, all gave the husband most of these rights over the wife. But side by side with ' Veteres enim voluerunt feminas etiam si perfectse astatis sint propter animi levitatem in tutela esse, (hams, Comm. i, 144.) 2 Mulieres omnes, propter infirmitatem consilii, majores in tutorum potestate esse voluerunt. {Cic. pro Mttren.) ^ The eating of a cake oifar, or rice, together. ■• The form of purchase. FREE MARRIAGE. 21 the ancient marriage, sprang up another form, of " Free marriage," — a re-action from the former and in the interest of the woman, as that had been entirely in favour of the man. It was recognised by law, and produced legitimate children, though not always held as a respectable con- nection. Under it the children were submitted to the " paternal power," and the woman lived with her husband, but she possessed her own property, worshipped her own gods, and was still connected with her own family. There was, under this form, entire separation of property between husband and wife, and they could even bring a civil action against one another in the courts. Such a wife was called iLxor and matrona, while under the old marriage she en- joyed the proud title of mater-familias. The old form of usus became changed into this form whenever a wife absented herself for at least three nights. Thus, in Rome, there were two extremes in the history of marriage ; the excessive power of the husband under the ancient form, and too great laxity under the new. This is to be borne in mind in considering the peculiar influence of Christian teachings upon the Roman law. By the second century after Christ, usus and usucapio had disappeared as a rite by which the husband acquired his wife as a thing. " Confarreation " (the religious marriage) was only practised by families who discharged certain pontifical offices, and where this marriage was required as a condition of the children entering on these duties. " Co-emption " became the principal form for acquiring the absolute marital power. But " Free marriage " grew to be more and more the custom. Its effects on the rights of property in the woman were very marked. Under the old marriage, the woman in manu had nothing, could earn nothing, and own nothing. If the husband died, she divided the inheritance as one heir among the children ; 23 CESTA CHRISTI. if there were no children, she was sole heir like a daughter. If she died first, the husband took everything, even the property which she had brought to the marriage. In Free marriage arose the dos for a daughter ; that is, the father and daughter were bound to aid in the expenses of the future family. The Julian Law made it obligatory on fathers and the paternal ancestors to dower their daughters. The dos was acquired by the husband, and united with his fortune ; he could alienate it, and even bring an action against his wife for objects in the dos, and, at her death, he was not obliged to restore it to her heirs. With Christianity, naturally came in a new conception of the position of woman. Her relation to her husband was gradually changed, and, step by step, these disabili- ties or disadvantages disappeared. The husband was first obliged to restore the dos to his father-in-law, solatii loco, as a solace at her death. In case of her husband's death, she was permitted to demand from his' heirs what she had brought in dos. And finally, dotes were guaranteed to the widow. But the spirit of the new times was especially expressed in the Code of Justinian. " It is worthy of the chastity of our times," ^ say the Institutes, " to give this new position to women ; tutelage of women must be done away with." ^ The dos must always be restored at the dissolution of mar- riage ; the husband was to have only a temporary limited interest in it ; it was inalienable even by consent of the wife. She even had a legal mortgage over all the immov- able property of her husband to guarantee its restitution.^ The absolute power of the husband ceased under Justi- nian's laws. ' Dignum castitate nostorum temporum, etc. (Jnst. lib. I. tit. xii.) ^ Pupilli, pupillasque cum puberes esse coeperint, tuteli liberarentur. 2 Inst., lib. I. tit. xxii. Lib. II. tit. viii. DIVORCE. 23 This great code, under the inspiration of the fervent humanity taught by the new Faith, made one great step in this important reform, which is at length to give woman entire equality of rights under the law. The tendency towards "the personal and proprietary independence" of women in modern law and custom received its first great stimulus in the religion of Jesus affecting Roman law. The mother acquires also under this code equal rights with the father over the succession of deceased children ; she becomes their legal tutor, and presides over the choice of a husband for the daughter. If the husband unjustly repudiates her, she receives full paternal power. ^ This is the beginning of that advance in the legal position of the mother, which has culminated in modern legisla- tion.3 Divorce. — The " Free marriage " naturally gave rise to the utmost freedom of divorce. Separation could be legally caused by either party, by a desire to divorce expressed in writing {libelium repudii). Women . made use of this even more than men. At the close of the Republic the licence was frightful. Augustus attempted in vain to struggle with it by legal enactments. The Julian Law deprived women of their dos who provoked divorce, but without effect. Seneca speaks of " quotidiana repudia," daily divorces, and in another well-known passage, of the illustrious and noble- born women who reckon their years not by the number of the consuls, but by that of their husbands.^ Juvenal's epigram is well-known, of the woman who had eight 1 C. Theod., v. 4, 5. Nov., 117, c. 7. 2 See chapter of this work on " Position of Woman under Modern Influence." ' . . . Non consulum numero sed maritorum, annos suos compu- tant. {DeBen., iii. 15.) 24 GESTA CHRIST!. husbands in five years.^ Martial says : " who marries so often, marries not all ; ^ she is but an adulteress " ; Tacitus speaks of " magna adulteria " of the time, and later, Ter- tullian^ represents divorce as the very purpose and end of Roman marriage. Vice among Roman families had reached its lowest depths during the first centuries of the Christian era. The Roman senate in the year 19 A.D. was obliged to pass an act, that no woman whose grandfather or husband had been a Roman knight was permitted to make her person venal.* A lady, whose father had been of Prsetorian rank, had appeared before the -lEdiles to make a public profession of lewdness. Even before this, the more strict Romans had felt keenly the degradation of woman. Porcius Cato, in the year 558 of the city, had reproached women from the tribune for their desires for liberty and even licence in everything,' and for so much neglecting the "right and dignity of the man " (jus majestatemque viri). Juvenal might well say that no crime or deed of lust was wanting to that age ® : — " the age of iron," '' where the good were indeed few.* Even the calm philosophers, like Seneca, felt the deep depravity of the time. Woman he stigmatizes as a foolish, wild creature, unable to control her lusts. ® ' Sic crescit numerus, sic fiunt octo mariti, Quinque per autumnos. {Sat. vi.) 2 Quag nubit toties, non nubit ; adultera lege est. {Ep. vi. 7). ^ Repudium jam et votum est, quasi matrimonii fructus. {Apol.c.vi^ ■■ . . . ne quasstum corpora facerit, aut maritus equus Ro- manus fuisset. ( Tac. Ann., 2, 83). ° Omnium rerum libertatem, imo licentiam desiderant. " Nullum crimen abest, facinus que libidinis, ex quo Paupertas Romana perit. {Sai. vi. 223.) ^ Nunc setas agitur, pejoraque saecula ferri. (xiii. 29.) " Rari quippe boni. (xiii. 23.) ' Animalimprudens,ferum,cupiditatumimpatiens. {DeC0nst.Sap.14). INSTANCES IN THE ROMAN PERIOD. 25 Paulus iEmilius, when he discarded the beautiful Papyria, only deigned to say, " My shoes are new and well-made, but no one knows where they pinch me." ^ Seneca speaks of Macenas as having "married a thousand times." ^ C. Sulp. Gallus is said to have repudiated his wife because he had seen her abroad with head un- covered. * "Modesty was held to be a presumption of ugliness.* A correspondent of Cicero in one of his letters casually men- tions, as an item of news, a divorce without cause {sine causa) of one Paula Valeria, who announced to her husband on his return from a journey that she was separated from him and was about to marry Dec. Brutus.^ Cicero himself repudiated his wife Terentia in order to escape his creditors, by giving up to them the dos of his new wife, Publilia, whom again he afterwards repudiated. It is possible that we may exaggerate the depravity of these times, and judge too much from the epigrams of satirists and the condensed phrases of historians, still such legislation as we have quoted from Tacitus is a kind of evidence not easily to be overthrown.^ It should not be forgotten, however, that intellectually the Roman woman must have received much training in the first two centuries, through the great number of secret associations existing. The burial inscriptions show that she bore an important part in these, and even held office in some of the munici- 1 Plut. Vit. P. ^m. ^ Qui uxorem millies ducit. ' Val. Max. (vi. 3, 10). De Prov., c. 3. ' Argumentum est deformitatis pudicitia . . . Numquid jam uUus adulterii pudor est, postquam conventum est, ut nulla virum habeat, nisi ut adulterum irritet ? {De Ben., 1. iii. c. 16.) * Lib. %,ad Fam., ep. 7. « Ann,, 2, 83. 26 GESTA CHRISTI. palities. It does not appear that these societies elevated her morals or character.^ Of the effect of the new Faith on this debasement of morals we shall speak elsewhere. Our present concern is with its iniluence on legislation. Laws are often far behind the morals of a community ; and the Christian principles would naturally enter very slowly into the legis- lation of an empire like the Roman. Constantine is the first nominally Christian emperor, but in life and character was much further from the Christian standards than some of the Pagan emperors. Yet his body of legislation first shows the new principles struggling with old habits and modes of life. By laws passed in 330-331 A.D., a wife may be divorced from her husband only under three con- ditions ; when he is a murderer, a magician, and a violator of tombs. A wife who divorces herself without cause loses her dos, and is banished to an island. The husband may be divorced from his wife when she is adulterous or given to evil practices. The divorced husband can marry again and keep the dos-oi his first wife. But if the woman succeeds in proving her innocence, she has right again to all the property of her 'husband, and even to the dos of the second wife. This legislation under Constantine sought in every way to strengthen the marriage tie. Civil equality was restored between the spouses. The duty of fidelity was presented to the husband by the law, as a sacred obligation to him as much as to the woman. A married man was prohibited (340 A.D.) from having a concubine, and finally adultery was punished as a capital crime {facimis atrocissimtim). ' Boissier, in his excellent work, La Religion Romaine, has argued with great force for a better character of Roman Society than historians have given to it. (See De Rossi, La Roma sott, torn. iii. 1877.) ROMAN CODE UPON DIVORCE. 27 Concubinage was opposed, and efforts were made to change it into a permanent marriage. This legislation went on under succeeding emperors. Honorius and Theodosius- (421 A.D.) provided by law that any woman divorcing her husband, without legitimate cause, should lose her dos and all gifts of her husband, and be banished without hope of re-marriage. A husband guilty of this offence was punished in like manner. A woman repudiated wrongfully could re-marry in a year ; and the husband abandoned by his wife, could re-marry at once. After a legal divorce, the wife could re-marry in five years. Theodosius and Valerian III. returned somewhat to liberty of divorce, but afterwards were compelled to limit it again. It cannot be said that this struggle of Christianity to- impress upon Roman law the sanctity of marriage, was pre-eminently successful. What was gained in one reign was lost in another. ■ Justinian's Code even extended the causes of divorce. The marriage by " civil contract " could be dissolved by mutual consent ; but if one party only consented, heavy penalties were inflicted on the other unless legal grounds for divorce existed. The woman who divorced herself from her husband without reason,, lost her dos and was shut up in a monastery ; her property was divided, one-third falling to the children, and two- thirds to the monastery. The husband for a similar offence was first fined, and finally imprisoned in a mon- astery, and deprived of his property .1 The children were usually delivered to that one of the parents believed by the court to be most capable of taking care of them. A preference was expressed in the laws, that that parent should have the charge of them who had not been a cause of the divorce. So changing and inconsistent were the different laws of 1 Nov., 117, c. 13. 28 GESTA CHRISTI. Justinian on this important matter, that the commentators have been obliged to confess, that " some were the laws of the Czesars and some of Christ." ^ The successors of Justinian fell into the non-Christian practice, and restored the liberty of divorce by mutual consent. Concubinage. — By the side of legal marriage, existed in Rome the connection of concubinage. Constantine's legislation shows the effect of the new ideas spreading in the world, in its struggle with tllfe evil. His laws gave legitimacy to children born in coneubihage, provided the parents were subsequently married ; another law forbade any gift or bequest to natural children, and still another forbade official personages making pulalic their condition of concubinage. Under Justinian, natural children were legitimized in three modes : by incorporation in the curia (the class from which magistrates were elected), by subsequent marriage of the parents, and by special edict of the emperor. As we have said, these effects of Christianity on Roman law in regard to marriage and divorce, and the violation of purity, are not striking, yet they show the beginning of the great reforms which this Faith is adapted to produce. ^ Alias sunt leges Csesarum, aliae Christi. {jFerom., i. 178. Selden, Uxor. Eb. 1. iii. c. 31.) CHAPTER IV. PERSONAL PURITY AND MARRIAGE. It need not be said that the Christian system of morals demanded the utmost purity of life, as well from the man as the woman. In regard to masculine purity, it is still in advance of the current opinion of the civilized world. So strongly is this elevation of morals characteristic of Christ's life, that we do not look for or expect direct teachings against vice. No direct denunciation is transmitted from Him against one of the most terrible organized evils of ancient or modern times — prostitution, or against the unnatural vices which were eating out the heart of Roman and Greek society. The impression, however, which an impartial reader would get from the narrative, is of a person so pure and elevated that such vices could not even be thought of when under His influence. His power goes back of organized vices, and touches the sources of character. His relations to abandoned women ; the story of the adulterous woman, which, whether true or imagined, shows the popular conception of His character ; and the few words reported from Him on these and related topics, together with the character of His early followers, all point to the unique elevation and nature of His in- fluence on the great weakness and sin of mankind. He required absolute pui-ity from man as from woman. He was not, however, alone in this. The Stoical moralists had done the like ; yet but few of their followers had ever practised this high self-restraint, and no great example .30 GESTA CHRISTI. stimulated them to it. Even the Stoical jurists ^ alluded to the principle ; but there is little question that before Christianity entered the world, comparatively few persons felt this obligation of morals, and it may be said that now, a great multitude in all Christian countries have never yet reached the level of Christian doctrines in this respect. Had the Founder of Christianity simply taught purity as some of the early Fathers taught it — as meaning absolute asceticism and celibacy — the world would have been com- paratively little benefited. The nature of man would have re-acted against it. We should have had even more celi- bate sects, greater reactions, a more unnatural condition of society, and a falling again into vices and habits as bad as those of the imperial era. Such a system of morality could not have met some of the first conditions of a divinely sanctioned system ; it would have been only temporary and incomplete. Marriage. — But it is evident that Christ set the highest value on marriage. The only human institution in regard to which He departed from His ordinary habit, was that of marriage. He lays down here a direct and positive rule. The words are so clear and definite, that a mistake of the historian or transcriber seems hardly possible. He evidently felt the bond as one which more than any other binds human society together. He foresaw the boundless evils which would arise to the world from a looseness of its ties ; the brfeaking up of homes ; the neglect and ruin of children ; the low position which freedom of divorce would give to woman ; the temptation to man to choose and to throw aside ; the destruction and degradation of family life which must ensue where marriage is taken up and broken ' Periniquum enim mihi videtur esse, ut pudicitiam vir ab uxore exigat, quam ipse non exhibet. {De conj. adult., 1. ii. c. 8. Cod. Greg., XIV.) CHRISTIAN IDEAL OF MARRIAGE. 31 at every whim. He either foresaw these evils, now so familiar to moralists, or He felt the sacredness of the union so deeply, as to command that only one cause should break it — unfaithfulness to the tie, or its moral equivalent. And in the case of separation for just cause — which He does not forbid — He does not permit a second marriage. In His view, the unhappy partners must bear the evils they have brought upon themselves, for the sake of the general good. At least this would seem, from the few words reported, to have been the position of the Founder of Christianity ; and the words are quite as distinct as many on which lasting Christian customs and doctrines and institutions have been founded. In a matter, however, of such vast importance to society, it would not be wise to form our permanent judgment as to the teachings of Christianity from a few literal words of Christ. There may be qualifications which have not been reported to us, or other commands which have not reached modern times. We can only reasonably infer from the language and drift of the gospel historians, that our Lord attached the highest sanctity to the idea of marriage, and taught the exceeding strictness of the tie, allowing no cause but unfaithfulness, or some equivalent moral evil, to be a cause of separation. Here, again, as we shall show later, the Leader is far in advance of His followers ; and the modern Christian world itself has not yet accepted the principles of their Teacher. The Apostles followed on in the same footsteps. Mar- riage was, to them, a mystical union of the most holy and ennobling character. Under the great Christian idea that the body was " the temple of the Holy Spirit," all forms of illicit intercourse were profanation, and marriage like the union of Christ with the souls of his followers. This elevating and wholesome idea, which was equally 32 GESTA CHRISTL removed from asceticism and sensuality, was thrown as a new purifying element into' the fetid mass of Roman vices and evil habits. The early Christians illustrated the principle with their lives and ennobled it with their death. Their wives. shared every persecution and pain of mortal life, and the repeated inscriptions on their tombs showed that the hope of sharing immortality together lighted up even the ghastly arena with heavenly joy. Though the Master had not promised the continuance of the relations of earth in the present form, it became a favourite Christian inscription over the grave that the departed had been the husband of but one wife, or the wife of but one husband in the life below. It is true that this sense of personal purity worked at length beyond the original teachings, and produced great calamities in the world, by the doctrine and practice of asceticism. The history of celibacy in the early centuries after Christ down to the Middle Ages, forms one of the darkest features in the annals of the Church. The practice was commenced, no doubt, under reasonable motives, to give greater freedom to the religious teacher in a wild age, and enable him to consecrate himself more absolutely to the work of religion. It was stimulated by the Oriental spirit of asceticism which early entered and finally cor- rupted the Church. The opposition of the most elevated spirits of the Church assailed it in every century; but it was sustained by the astute ecclesiastical leaders, who feared the growth of a kind of ecclesiastical feudalism with a married clergy, where power and possessions would be transmitted from the priest to his children. The interest of the Roman curia became in cutting off every servant of the Church from human ties, making itself the sole power in the ecclesiastical world. A priest with children and possessions, it was thought, would never CELIBACY. 33 be an utterly obedient and faithful servant to churchly authority. Devoted Christians in every age, among the clergy, opposed the practice, but the power of organiza- tion, the interest of authority and no doubt often an exaggerated asceticism, overcame them. The custom at length proved one of the curses of humanity. As has been frequently remarked, it withdrew the most able and earnest among religious men and women during many centuries, from family life, and cut off their legitimate line. Those who were the most sincere left no children, and by so much diminished the inheritance of (human good. The weak and dishonest left children to chance care and public protection, and thus increased the numbers of those exposed to moral dangers and physical suffering. Then, worst of all, the practice let loose through the early and middle ages after Christ, a fearful flood of licentiousness, hidden indulgence, crime against families, and even un- natural vices. The licentiousness of the convents and clergy became one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of the Christian religion.^ But for all this Christianity is not responsible. Asceticism was, in part, a natural re- action against the boundless licentiousness and immorality of the Roman world. The Christian influence, it is true, worked with only partial success in its struggle with Roman customs and laws in regard to marriage. The laxity had too deeply penetrated the habits of the people. We have seen that the legislation under the Christian emperors was of a shifting character, and it is evident that the old customs of the Romans long resisted the new ideas. Christianity 1 The best history of this important topic is contained in Mr. Lea's admirable Historical Sketch of Celibacy, one of the clearest and most valuable works on the Middle Ages, yet written. D 34 GESTA CHRISTI. laboured in two directions ; it strove to ennoble and make firm the marriage relation, and it by no means allowed the freedom of action which was permitted to the Roman lady under the marriage of "usus," or the " Free marriage." It elevated the position of woman and the character of the relation between husband and wife ; but required of the latter a certain propriety and deference in appro- priate things to the wishes of her husband and the rules of the Church, which the Roman uxor had not latterly known. The influence, however, of the Church on Roman law relating to marriage and the sexes, is to be dis- tinguished from that of Christianity. All that the latter taught was personal purity, and the absolute sacredness of the tie. But when we hear in Justinian's i- Novellcs that nothing in human affairs is so much to be venerated as marriage, we may be sure that here is a clear trace of the new influence. • We contrast the position given to women by one of the noblest of the Stoical jurists, Paul, who wrote in the third <;entury, but under no influence from the new Faith : " Women," he says, " in every kind of affairs and obli- gations, whether in behalf of men or women, are prohibited from having any concern." ^ When Justinian says : * " We enact then that all persons, so far as they can, should preserve chastity, which alone is able to present the souls of men with confidence before ' Nihil in rebus mortalium perinde venerandutn est, atque matri- monium. De Nuptiis. ^ In omni genere negotiorum et obligationum, tain pro viris quam pro feminis, intercedere mulieres prohibentur. {Paul. Sent., lib. II. t, xii.) ' Sancimus igitur omnes quidam, secundum quod possunt, casti- tatem agere ; quas etiam sola Deo cum fiducia potis est hominum animas prsesentare. {Nov., iii. i, 14.) EFFECT UPON WOMAN. 35 God," we know immediately that here is a faint reflection of the new Light shining in the world. And when the law-giver expresses his belief in the Lord God, that through his zeal for chastity, a great benefit will accrue to the Republic,^ we can see distinctly the workings of the new power. Under Christianity begins that position of woman, which has been since both an element and an evidence of the progress of the most civilized races. With all changes of society, she has never lost the halo which the new Faith threw about her then, and, as we shall show later, even the submergence of the Roman empire under the Northern barbarians, only aided the influence of Christianity in exalting the weaker sex. Sir Henry Maine, in his valuable work on the " Early History of Institutions," states that the existing written law of the Hindoos has preserved many of the strict and harsh features in regard to the paternal and marital power, which belonged to the ancient despotism of the family, and is distinguished for " its excessive harshness to the personal and proprietary liberty of women." ^ Whatever independence from the family despotism has been secured to the child or the woman in India, he justly attributes to the influence of religion — the ancient faiths of India. Wherever there prevailed any belief in responsi- bility after death,^ " the conception of the individual who was to suffer separately was necessarily realized with extreme distinctness," and it is this conception of the in- dividual and his rights which lies at the basis of the great modern legal reforms. ' Credimus in Domino Deo, etiam ex hoc nostro circa castitatem studio, magnum fieri nostrse republicEe incrementum. {Nov., xiv. 3,1-) 2 Page 303. » Page 331. 36 GESTA CHRIST!. It is not improbable that Buddhism, in teaching the absorption or annihilation of individuality (nirvana) in divinity, may have also aided in giving that inferior position to woman which is characteristic of Oriental countries. The author quoted above, who is certainly not too favourable to Christianity, admits that among all the in- ' fluences which have made the two great branches of the Aryan races so different — the Hindoos on the one side and the European on the other — the one most powerful in forming the civilization of each is, that the one branch steadily carried forward the series of reforms which elevated woman, and the other, though going a little way, recoiled from them.^ In other words, the European races lived under the peculiar influence and stimulus of the teachings of Christ, and the Hindoos under non-Christian faiths. The former everywhere tended to elevate woman, both through the individual responsibility taught and through the example of the Teacher. The latter only partially ensured this end. Unnatural Vices.— In one violation of personal purity, the Christian system has achieved a signal and lasting victory ; and, yet — so far has the Christian world advanced beyond the Greek and Roman standards — the subject itself has become revolting and abhorrent to modern tastes. But to omit all mention of it would be to leave out of view one of the great and beneficent triumphs of the system of morals which came forth from the teachings and life of Christ. Our Lord Himself never speaks of unnatural passions. The very spirit of His personality would banish even the thought of them, and the personal love He inspired put the soul far above all temptation under them. ' Early Hist, of Inst., p. 341. PLATO ON UNNATURAL PASSION. 37 One great philosopher, who in Greek and Roman history approached nearest Jesus in his conception of the reforming and renovating power of love to a Divine charac- ter — Plato, speaks with a despairing sadness of these lusts which were eating out the vigour and character of his people. He evidently looks to the future abolition of these fearful evils as remote as we would in this day to the removal of prostitution, or the entire doing away of war. Three principles or moral forces, he says in the " Laws," may break up these evils. First, that of piety, or love to a Divine person ; second, the desire for honour or the respect of the good ; and thirdly, the love of moral beauty — that not of the body but of the soul.^ "These be perhaps romantic aspirations, but they are the noblest of aspirations, if they could only be realized in any state ; and, God willing, in the matter of love, we may be able to enforce this." He urges then that those, not only guilty of these passions, but all who sinned publicly against the marriage tie, should be excluded from all civic honours and privileges, and be deemed strangers and barbarians. In another passage, he says, " Now if a law to this effect could only be made perpetual, such as already prevents incest, such a law, extending to other desires and conquer- ing them, would be the source of ten thousand blessings. ■^ fv yevoi ov, ireptXajSoi' to. rpia yevrj, jSta^otr av fvrj Trapavoji.uv. KA. Ilota 8^ ; A®. To T£ ^eoo-eyScs a/ia koX tfuXoTifiov Kal to fi^ rwv traijiiaTcoi', aXXa rmv rpoTrov T^s ^)(^i ovTUiv KoXSn/ ye yovos Iv iTLOVfuq,, ravra Sfj KaOdirep term's iv p.v6v irA.^i' -ya/icT^s eavTou ywaiKos, 3.6vra he TraWaxSv criripfiaTa koX voOa p-T] a.irtipei,v /xijSe ayova appevutv Trapa xpvaw. {Nomoi, 8.) 38 GESTA CHRIST/. . . . But matters have now come to such a pass that the enactment of such laws seems to be impossible, and never likely to take place ; just as the continuance of an entire state in the practice of common meals is also deemed impossible." The passion of which he speaks arose in Greece un- doubtedly from an exaggerated love of youthful beauty, and was, with some of the moralists, like Socrates, one of the purest of sentiments. The three forces of which Plato spoke, were especially thrown into the world by Jesus : — love to a Divine Person ; the respect of the good or of His followers ; and an elevated feeling for moral beauty. In the mind of the humble follower of Christ was ever that pure and Divine image, into whose likeness he hoped day by day to be changed ; around him were the good, whose respect was his comfort ; and before his thoughts were oftentimes things pure and noble and of good report. Nothing shows more distinctly the degradation of the moral sense of the ancient world in these matters than the speech which Plato puts in the mouth of Alcibiades in regard to Socrates, in the drunken dinner of the "Sym- posium." It is utterly untranslatable to modern ears ; and though the great moralist is everywhere pictured as free from vice, his purity seems rather an effect of his intel- lectual pre-occupations, and is never once spoken of by dramatist, or biographer, or by himself, as any virtue. The Greek, and more particularly the Latin literature, is filled with traces of vices which have utterly passed out of memory in the Christian world. Lucian, nearly all the Latin poets and dramatists, Apuleius, Petronius Arbiter,' Athenaeus, reveal a debasement of morality among classes not corrupted by luxury, which has not been, known in modern times. It is not that, like Juvenal, they pick out extreme immoralities for a biting sarcasm ; but they CHRISTIAN OPPOSITION. 39 allude casually and without shame to excesses and habitual vices, whose very name is lost to modern ears. Even Cicero says soberly that it was held as a disgrace among the Greeks not to indulge in unnatural vices.^ He did not say that his own countrymen fell even lower than the Greeks. The early Christians set themselves like a wall against this tide of sensuality. The plain words of the Apostle are well known. '^ Where Christianity had the faintest power, there such impurity coifld not even be thought of. As soon as its influence reached legislation, we find a vigour of denunciation and a severity against these excesses, which show the new Power in the world. The Theodosian Code, which codifies the legislation even of Constantine, orders the most intense punishments on those guilty of such crimes.^ And again, filled with the Christian idea of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, the law-maker speaks of the duty of preserving the abode of a manly soul sacred,* and threatens the severest penalty on any who should violate it. Justinian shows even more clearly the influence of the Apostles and of the Scripture in following the new ideas on these crimes. He says, " taught by the Holy Scripture, we know what a just punishment God inflicted on the inhabitants of Sodom," and he warns all who have the fear of God, to abstain from actions so wicked and impious that even the ' Apud Graecos, opprobrium fuit adolescentibus, si amatores non haberent. {De Kep.fragm., lib. iv.) 2 Romans i. 23-29. ^ Ubi Venus mutator in alteram formam, ubi Amor quseritur nee videtur, jubemus insurgere leges ut exquisitis pcenis subdantur in- fames, qui sunt, vel qui futuri sunt rei. {Cod. Theod., ix. tit. vii. 2, 3.) ^ Sacrosanctum cunctis esse debere hospitium virilis animae ; nee sine summo supplicio alienum expetisse sexum, qui suum turpiter perdidisset. (ix. t. 7.) 40 GESTA CHRISII. brutes do not commit them.-' And still again, the law bids the. offenders who violate nature, to bear in mind the fear of God and a future judgment.** So far as is known, no philosophy or religion among the Greek and Roman races freed mankind from these detestable vices. The emperors under Stoical influences made some effort to check them, but without success. Domitian punished certain knights and senators for these offences. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius had the virtue to avoid but not to punish. A. Severus, it is said by the historian, " kabuii^ in animo ut exoktos* vetaret" ; but he feared the increase of private vice, and therefore let alone the "scorta virilia." These vices stiU exist among peoples outside of Chris- tianity. They are well-known in Turkey and India. But so imbued has civilized society become with the principles taught by the Master, that such evils are left behind in its moral progress, and no longer threaten the future of the race. May it be an omen of other triumphs ! • Scimus etenim, sacris scripturis edocti, quam justum Deus suppli- cium, his qui olim in Sodomis habitabant, propter hunc ipsum in commistione furorem intulerit, . . . unde omnes qui timori Dei intenti sunt, convenit, ut a tarn impia et scelesta actione abstineant, quam ne in brutis quidam admissum reperire est. (Nov., clx. i.) * . . . Et ipsi naturse contraria agunt ; istis injungimus in sensi- bus accipere Dei timorem, et futurum judicium, et abstinere ab hujus- modi diabolicis et illicitis luxuriis. {Col., vi. 1. 1. Nov., 77.) ' Exoletos suos ut ad longiorem patientiam impudicitise idonei sint, amputant. {Seneca, Controv., 10, 4 ; Ep., p. 49). ■* This expressive word described a class ; they were indeed utterly " burned out " in body and soul. CHAPTER V. SLAVERY. There is probably no one organised evil in history which has been so replete with human misery, and has drawn after it such a train of vice, degradation and corruption, as slavery. It is doubtful if it ever existed in a worse con- dition than in the Roman Empire at the time of Christ. In the moral struggle with the abuses of slavery in different countries and ages, especially where the victims were of a totally different and inferior race, it has been the custom in the heat of the argument to speak of modern slavery as worse than that of the ancient world. But closer investi- gation shows that the system of Roman servitude had more than the cruelty of the modern, and was even more of an irresponsible despotism, while it debauched society and literature beyond what has ever been experienced in any community of recent times. A distinguished French author on this subject (Wallon) has somewhere said, that for public depravity to reach its utmost depths of licentiousness, there needed to be a being with the passions and attractions of a man, yet stripped by public opinion of all the moral obligations of a human being ; all whose wildest excesses were lawful, provided they were commanded by a master. Such a being was the Roman slave. We can see his influence in the disgusting and debasing comedy and poetry of the Imperial age, wherein the relation of the beautiful and 42 GESTA CHRISTI. irresponsible victims of power to masters without shame and youth without virtue, is the perpetual theme. We discern the canker of slavery in the unexampled and incredible degradation of Roman family life in the age accompanying and following the life of Christ. And the political economist find^ everywhere in Roman polity the seeds of boundless misery and of certain financial ruin, in the habits and customs born of this institution. It was not latifundia, or the " large farm system," which was destroying the Roman Empire, but the poor agricul- ture, the waste, extravagance, bad management, aversion to labour, and general discontent — the natural fruit, in the rural districts, of slavery. This unjust system was eating away the character and life of the ancient world, and preparing calamities which should be felt by Europe for hundreds of years to come. Christ appeared in a remote corner of the Roman empire, in an age when these evils were at their worst, though probably but few of them presented themselves prominently in Galilee. It might have been thought that the great Reformer would have uttered some words against this stupendous abuse. To the mind of the writer, it has often been a subject of difficult questioning, why He, who felt so keenly the evils of humanity, should not have put forth one simple command against this gigantic system of injustice. No direct word against slavery, however, came forth from the great Teacher, It was not until the ninth century after, that one of his humble followers, Saint Theodore of Stude (Constantinople), ventured to put forth the com- mand " Thou shalt possess no slave, neither for domestic service nor for the labour of the fields, for man is made in the image of God." ^ • Quoted by Wallon, Htst de I'Esdavage, vol. iii. p. 484. SILENCE OF CHRIST. 43 The explanation of the silence of our Lord is no doubt to be found in the general character and design of His mission, as we gather them from His life and the words recorded of Him. An organised evil almost as destructive and debasing to the world as slavery, was prostitution. Unnatural passions were consuming the life and virtue of the Greek and Roman races. War was desolating almost every portion of the world and bringing after it trains of evils and calamities. Yet Christ only alludes to these, or implies his deep and fervent opposition to, or condem- nation of, them. As is well understood, His aim was to renovate and rescue the individual soul, looking forward through that, in very remote ages, to the establishment of the " kingdom of God " on the earth, or in other words, to the social and complete reorganization of mankind on His principles. We find no evidence in His words, that He even designed to form a Church or general organization of believers, but rather that He expected that little gatherings and brother- hoods of those who loved and followed Him would form themselves for mutual good. His language in innumerable similes showed that He believed that these principles He taught would only be successful after long periods of time and gradual development. Most of His figures and analogies in regard to the " kingdom of God," rest upon the idea of slow and progressive growth or change. He undoubtedly saw that the only true renovation of the world would come, not through reforms of institutions or govern- ments, but through individual change of character, effected by the same power to which Plato appealed — the love- power, but a love exercised towards Himself as a perfect and divine model. It was the " kingdom of God " in the soul which should bring on the kingdom of God in human society. With such a mission and such an aim, or filled 44 GESTA CHRISTI. with such intense sympathy towards men and such a pro- found sense of what God could effect in each human soul, the institutions and practices of men would sink away as of comparatively little importance. The enduring things, below all governments and organized evils, were the human conscience and the human affections. If they were pure and right, all else would gradually become so. Such an aspect of human life naturally takes no account of some ot the grandest movements of reform in different ages. To a certain extent it is apart from all efforts for liberty, for improvement of laws or the advancement of science, for the spread of temperance or education, for opposition to social impurity, for the protection of children and the elevation of the poor. And yet ultimately this Christian system will be found at the basis of all these great move- ments of progress in human history. But it began by aiming at the individual and not at society, and aiming alone at an entire change of the affectional and moral tendencies. If our Lord may be conceived as looking at the imme- diate consequences of His inspiration and His teachings (which we doubt), it may well be that He would hesitate before preaching the duty of immediate emancipation in the Roman empire as it then was. The truth is, that a fathomless pauperism was then covering the empire — the result of conquests, oppression, bad finance, invasion of barbarians, and slavery — and to thousands of the poor slavery was a less evil than the poverty they endured. As we shall relate afterwards, there came a time when an imperial law, permitting those who " took up " exposed children to make slaves of them, was a law dictated by motives of humanity. It is doubtful if the world has ever seen an era when so many human beings were exposed to such bitter poverty, and even to starvation, as during thq THE SLAVE IN THE CHURCH. 45 few centuries after Christ. Now for a Divine teacher to have proclaimed, then and there, the duty of absolute and immediate emancipation, would have plunged the Roman world into a " misery " beyond all bounds of conception, and would have let loose a war of extermination between masters and slaves, which would have turned Europe and Asia into a field of blood and slaughter. The principles which Christ taught evidently must overturn slavery from its foundation. They scattered the seeds of absolute free- dom and equal justice. They destroyed all distinctions of caste and race. The individual soul became of infinite importance and of equal value, whether in the slave or the king. The Apostles only followed in the footsteps of the Master. In the great community of the lovers of Christ, " bond and free " were alike. There was no distinction in the sight of God, none in the Church. They recognised slavery as they recognised the tyranny of Caesar, but they put the slave, in their treatment and their language, on the like footing with his owner. And the owner could only be a member of their association by professing to be willing to treat his servant as he would himself in like case be treated. The slave partook of the memorials of the life and death of the Lord side by side with his master. The infant ecclesia, or assembly and brotherhood of believers, began to be a shelter and receptacle for numbers of that great despised multitude — the slaves of the Romans.^ It is true that in the succeeding centuries bishops and clergymen not unfrequently held slaves. But the spirit of Christianity began immediately that long contest with hurtian slavery, which, under changing fortunes and with many defeats, has been waged now for eighteen centuries, and may be said only to have won its final ■ It should be remembered that the Romans excluded their slaves from a share in patriotic worship. {Cat. De Re Rust., 143.) 46 GESTA CHRISTI. victories in the middle and latter half of the nineteenth century. In considering this and similar struggles, it should be understood that I distinguish always between " Chris- tianity " and " the Church." The history of the latter has been by no means consistent with, or a development of, the spirit of its Founder. Its course has been not seldom marked by the qualities which He most con- demned. It has committed gigantic blunders, which have retarded for ages the progress of His principles. An organization may bear the name and represent some of the features of a great principle, and yet in others be entirely inconsistent with it. No true Republican would admit that the first French Republic represented the genuine idea of a Republic, even if it had been trans- mitted under that name for many centuries. Under the term " Christianity " we include the principles and moral sentiments taught and illustrated by the life and words of Christ, as they are made known in the writings of the gospel historians and the Apostles. They form a suf- ficiently distinct body of moral teaching, and are often an entirely different matter from the teachings or the example of the professed followers of Christ. Christianity and Roman Law upon Slavery. — In studying the influence of Christianity upon slavery in the Roman empire, we are never to lose out of view the noblest school of moralists which the world has seen outside of Christian believers — the Stoics. These philosophers had a profound effect upon Roman jurisprudence just preceding the Christian emperors. The statements and principles of the Stoical jurists in regard to liberty and natural right have become apopthegms of liberty, and have influenced all succeeding ages. They have reappeared in the declarations and charters of American freedom, and STOICS AND SLAVERY. 47 in the enthusiastic statements of the French writers on Natural Right. It does not appear, however, that they had any very strong effect upon the position of the slave under Roman law, and still less on the practices of the people towards this unhappy victim. The Stoics were even more in- consistent with their principles of humanity than the Christians ; and some of the most heartless acts of in- humanity recorded in ancient history are those of Stoics to their slaves. Cato deliberately gives permission to sell an old, or a sick slave.^ The following instance is related by Tacitus 2 : A wealthy citizen of Rome had pledged freedom to a slave, and had broken his promise. The man, enraged and disappointed, assassinated his master. By law, in such cases, all the slaves under the same roof should be executed. The pub- lic duty in this case was discussed in the Senate ; and the celebrated Stoic, Cassius, defended the law, and urged its enforcement. The slaves, all innocent, to the number of six hundred persons, were finally executed. Plutarch says that Flaminius put a slave to death merely to afford a spectacle to a guest who had never seen a man die. Cato, the Stoic, when he put one to death, used to take the opinion of all the others before killing him. The story of Pollio — also a Stoic — is well known as related by Seneca ; how he amused himself by feeding his fish with fragments of his mutilated slaves. Many were furnished to the amphitheatres to be killed in the public festivals. Old and infirm slaves were abandoned to die of hunger. Many were brought to an island in the Tiber and left in ' Vendat boves vetulos, oves deliculas . . . servum senem servum morbosum vendat. {Cato, De remot, 1 1.) ' Ann., xii. lib. 42. 48 GESTA CHRISTI. the temple of ^sculapius to the care of the god. The poet says of such, that to help them only lengthens out a life of misery.-^ Juvenal, who wrote when Stoicism had full sweep among the Roman cultivated class, asks with bitter irony, " how a slave could be a man." ^ The Stoic Ulpian speaks of "a slave or any other animal " * ; even as the book of Revelation describes the wealth of the wicked Babylon, as in " the bodies and souls of men." Seneca, the great moralist, says that a slave has no hearth nor religion.* * Even Gaius, the Stoical jurist, under the rule of that mild philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, could observe inci- dentally that with almost all nations, the right of life and death is given to the master over the slave ; ^ and he classes slaves with animals. Yet even he speaks of " manu- mitting in church,"^ as if Christian ideas had reached the legislation of the Stoics, and he afterwards quotes; "This age' of humanity," as if he felt the new Power which was permeating the world. Still the inconsistencies of the Stoics should never cause mankind to forget that one of those condensed expressions ' De mendico male meretur qui ei dat quod edit aut quod bibat Nam et illud quod dat, parcit, et illi producit vitam ad miseriam. ' O demens ! ita servus homo est ! Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas ! {Juv. Sat., vi. 475.) ' Ulpian. Dig., vi. I, 15. * Controv., 10, 21. ' Apud omnes pereeque gentes anlmadvertere possumus, dominis in servos vitse, necisque potestatem esse. {G., c. I. A., 52.) Servis, et jumentis, ceterisque rebus, (vii. i, 3.) ° Nam qui voluerit aut in ecclesia . . . manumittere. G., I. ii. I.) ' Hoc tempore. (C, II. x. i.) NUMBER OF ROMAN SLA VES. 49 of human instincts, which has been a charter of liberty to so many races and countries since, embodied by Justinian in a Christian code, came originally from a Stoical jurist. " By natural right all men are born free ; by right of nations {j.e., by conquest) slavery has come in." ^ The number of Roman slaves can only be judged of by side indications. A law of Augustus forbade a poor exile from carrying away with him more than twenty slaves ; another reduced the number which could be maintained by testamentary provisions, making one hundred the maximum, which, from the proportions mentioned, would indicate that five hundred was not an uncommon number to be owned by one person. We hear from Seneca,^ of a master counting the roll of his slaves as a general counts his soldiers. Martial alludes to an eccentric person being attended by from ten to two hundred slaves ; Pliny says that Caecilius left 4,116 slaves after his death. The poets mention them as the sign of wealth ; ^ the want of them was the last evidence of poverty.* Tacitus speaks of the city becoming frightened at the increasing number of slaves.' A proposition was once made in the Senate to indicate the slaves by their dress, but was dropped because of the danger that the slaves would outnumber the free- men.^ When Alaric besieged Rome, he was aided by a force of 40,000 slaves from the city itself. The number ' Cum jure naturali, omnes liberi nascerentur ; . . . jure gen- tium servitas invasit. {Nov.) {Dig., 1. 4. L., xvii. 52.) '' De Tranq. an., IX. v. ' . . . quot pascit servos ! quot possidet agri Jugera ! {Mart., xxii. 88, 3,) * Isti quoi neque servus est, neque area. {Cat., xxiv. 5, 8.) » In urbem jam trepidam ob multitudinem familiorum. {Ann., ix. 27.) ' Si servi nostri numerare nos coepissint. (Sen., De Clem., i. 24.) E so GESTA CHRISTI. evidently was formidable throughout the period imme- diately succeeding Christ; In his legal position the slave was a property, whose nature nothing but the will of the master could change ; he could be given, let, sold, exchanged^ and seized for debt. He had no civil rights ; could enjoy no legal marriage, only cohabitation {contubernium), and therefore could not be accused of adultery^^ He had no legal parentage, no property, no right to legacy ; could sustain no action before a court, could not be a witness, and his testimony was only legal with torture.' Of his capacities and moral nature it was said, " immo- desty is a crime in a freeman; a necessity in a slave, a duty in a freedman (or liberated slave)." Still, with all this, the Roman slave was not considered in law as altogether a thing. The Cornelian law against murder applied to all conditions of men. The Stoical spirit had begun before Christianity to bring about some alleviations to the lot of the slave. A certain right of property was given him, and under Adrian a master was forbid to kill his slave. Under Antoninus Pius, a master who killed his bondman without cause was punished for homicide. Severus forbade personal injury to foreign slaves. The Petronian law prevented masters from delivering servants to be employed in the combats of wild beasts. Adrian prohibited the sale of slaves, without the intervention of judges, for the contests of gladiators ; and Marcus Aurelius, as one would have expected from his humanity, enacted a similar law with reference to the combats of wild beasts. Antoninus Pius permitted slaves to be sold, rather than punished, who took ' Servi ob violatum contubemium aduiterii nomine accusari non possunt. {L., 23. C. J., ix. 9. Ad. leg. Jul. de Adult.) ' Sine tormentis, testimonium ejus credendum non est. {L., 21, 2. DXXII. De Testi.) REFORMS UNDER THE STOICS. 51 refuge at altars or before sacred images. The recourse of law was gradually had to prevent other abuses of the servile class ; thus the application of torture to servants on trial or as witnesses was by degrees disused. Those blessed words so much used by the Stoical jurists, " favor libertatis,"^ the presumption of liberty, came to have more and more power on legislation. This was especially true of the interpretation of wills. It was not permitted to bestow liberty for a certain number of years ; " once free, always free," was the motto. If a slave had partly paid for his liberty, and his time of manumission had come, it was not held humane to cause delay through a question of pecu- niary profit.^ Nothing shows better how comparatively superficial the influence of Stoicism was, how confined to the Roman cultivated classes, than the unhappy position of the slave, both in custom and law, through all the reign of this noble philosophy. Even the influence of Christianity, when united with the government, had a long and often defeated struggle to ameliorate the lot of the unhappy victims of man's greed and cruelty. The union of the Christian Church with the State under Constantine we regard as one of the great blunders of the historical Church, which has drawn after it a long train of evils, whose effects are even yet experienced. Could Christianity have been permitted to grow, as it did under the Apostles, in little voluntary associations of believers, unconnected with the civil power and with a simple organi- zation, we should not have had, indeed, the grand spectacle of an apparently converted imperial court, and an official > Ulpian. (XI. Deftb. lib.). 2 Neque humanum fuerit ob rei pecuniarise quaestionem liberta moram fieri- (JJlpiati.) S3 GESTA CHRIST/. hierarchy, and a Church supported by armies and governed by warriors and courtiers, and of vast populations suddenly made into nominal Christians — but we should have been saved a paganized peasantry, a corrupt priesthood, a hier- archy full of greed and ambition, ages of blood and religious warfare, and a Church which persecuted both science and differing opinions. The Christian faith would have grown up where it belongs — in quiet, humble^ places — and have reformed manners and morals before it took hold of legislation. Christ's principles would have been a spiritual power in the world, not a form or an institution, and would thus have finally permeated society. So far from regarding the rapid spread of the Christian religion in the Roman world as a sign of its Divine origin, and an evidence of its triumph, we consider it as almost a fatal occurrence, and as having impeded the spread of Christ's real truth ever since. We are aware of the very strong arguments presented by liberal Catholic writers for the early union of State and Church. It could not but be productive of some good in a barbarous age. But the present spiritual condition of a large part of Europe, is a proof how great was the mistake then made. The best effect of this union was seen in legis- lation. A new spirit began at once to influence Roman law. We only claim that this influence would have been more thorough and more lasting had it more generally pervaded society first, and reached the law-givers through the people. Whatever motives Constantine himself may have had in his change of faith, the jurists who framed his legislation were evidently inspired and influenced by Christianity. In laws relating to slavery, we hear of being "imbued with Christian discipline "^ as a reason for humanity; of Christian^ disciplinS. imbutus. {Cod. Theod.,'vs.. ii.) EMANCIPATION AS A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 53 emancipating in church with "religious purpose,"^ and numerous other expressions which indicate the new forces working on the law-givers. The " Day of the Lord " has become a day appropriate to emancipation and to a rest from all litigation ; ^ and emancipation in church has the same legal force with the formal emancipation of a Roman citizen. The official setting free of a slave became com- mon as an act of piety or gratitude to God at recovery from illness, at the birth of a child, at death, or in wills. Many charters and epitaphs bore the expression of " liberty for the benefit of the soul." The Church early included a prayer in its liturgy " for them that suffer in bitter bondage." The burial inscrip- tions and pictures recently made known, often show the masters standing before the Good Shepherd, with a band of their slaves, liberated at death, pleading for them at the last judgment.^ But scarcely any Christian inscription speaks of the dead, as a " slave " or " freed- man," but only of the "slave of Christ"; or the "freed- man of Christ";* as if human slavery could not even be mentioned in the kingdom of God. A series of remarkable laws under Constantine showed the new spirit working upon legislation. In 312 A.D. a law was passed declaring the poisoning of a slave or the tearing his body with the nails of a wild beast, or branding him, to be homicide. In 314, liberty was declared a right which could not be taken away : sixty years of captivity could not take from the free-born the right of demanding liberty. In 316, Constantine ' Religiosa mente in EccIesiS,. (C. T., ix. 7.) 2 Ut in die Domini, imancipare et manumittere liceat, reliquae causse vel lites quiescant. (C T., 1. 2. C. 3, 11.) ^ Le Blant, Inscript. Chrdt. Acad, de Sc. etc, * De Rossi, Bull. Arch. Chrit., 1866 ; and La Roma sott. Christ., torn. iii. 1877. 54 GESTA CHRISri. writes to an archbishop : " It has pleased me for a long time to establish that in the Christian Church, masters can give liberty to^ their slaves provided they do it in presence of all the assembled people and with the assist- ance of Christian priests, and provided that, in order to preserve the memory of the fact, some written document informs where they sign as parties or as witnesses." ^ In 321, he directs that "he who under a religious feeling has given a just liberty to his slaves in the bosom of the Christian Church, will be thought to have made a gift of a right similar to Roman citizenship." But this privilege is only granted to those who emancipate under the eyes of the priest.^ In 322, various laws defined methods by which persons whose liberty is assailed, even after sentence, may present new proofs of liberty and secure it. ^ The progress of legal emancipation under the Chris- tian emperors was slow but certain. Each new ruler enacted some measure which made emancipation easier. The informer against those guilty of certain capital offences, became free. Theodosius the Great freed those who had been circumcised by the Jews, and those who informed against a deserter; and the emperor Zeno, those who joined the monastic life with the consent of their masters. A few words from the priest, even away from the church, would manumit the slave.* The law threw every obstacle in the way of separating families. "Who can bear," says the Theodosian Code, 1 Cod. Just, lib. vi. tit. 1. 3. 2 Ibid., lib. i. tit. 13, 1. i. ^ Ibid., lib. i. tit. 13, 1. 2, Ibid. Nov. et Cod. Theod., lib. iv. tit. 7, 1. I. ■• De Manumissionibus in ecclesii. {Ibid., lib. iv. tit. 7, 1. 2.) HUMANITY TOWARDS THE SLAVES. 55 " to see children separated from parents, brothers from sisters, wives from husbands?"^ The master was held legally as a murderer, if by- torture or branding he caused death, after the cruel cus- toms of the horrid barbarians.* Let the reader compare this with the command of one of the purest of the Stoical jurists. " If by chance there is doubt ... for the sake of discovering the truth, let hereditary slaves be tortured."^ In 441 A.D. a church council (Orange) enacted that a slave once emancipated in church, could not be made either slave or serf again, without incurring ecclesiastical censures. Justinians Reforms. — It is, however, finally under Justinian that the great moral power of Christianity begins most to be felt in the Roman law upon slavery. The Institutes (quoting indeed an older law) speak of that age as one of special humanity, when no one is per- mitted to be cruel to his slave without legal authority.* All presumptions are to be now in " favour of liberty." Thus if there chance to be several owners of a slave, the will of any one could emancipate, and the others are forced to accept compensation at a reduced valuation.^ The drift is everwhere towards " the inestimable value '' of liberty."'' Slavery was suppressed as a penalty. "We ' Quis ferat liberos a parentibus, a fratribus sorores, a viris con- juges, segregari. (Lib. ii. tit. 24.) ^ Sievitia immanium barbarorum. (Lib. ix. tit. 12.) 2 Si fortasse de filiis aliqua dubitatio habeatur, ut Veritas inveniri possit, torqueri servi hereditarii jubentur. {Paul. Sent., v. 16). * Sed hoc tempore, nullis hominibus licet sine causi legibus cognita in servos suos supra modum sevire. {Inst., p. 109). • T. C. I., vii. 7. De Comm. Serv. Manum. ^ Quum libertas inasstimabilis res sit. {Inst., L vi. 7). ' Pro libertate, quam, et favere et tueri Romanis legibus . . • peculiare est. {Comm de Manum), S6 GESTA CHRISTI. do not transfer" says the Imperial law-giver,^ "persons from a free condition into a servile — we who have so much at heart to raise slaves to liberty." He liberates the mutilated ; and those who had served in the army with the knowledge of their master, became as freeborn. Liberty was a; reward to certain informers against cer- tain offences. The marriage of slaves was strengthened, and the marriage of a free woman with a foreign slave was not forbidden ; a freeman could marry a slave woman by first freeing her. A slave who was ordained priest became free by the act usually with the consent of the master. The monas- teries became refuges of slaves. Justinian's Code re- quired every slave entering a monastery to pass a novi- tiate of three years, during which he might be claimed ; if he was proved guilty of theft, he was to be delivered up to his master, but to suffer no further injury. If no- thing was proved against him, and he was not claimed, at the end of three years he was considered "to belong to the common Master of all." A slave-priest, if he re- nounced his sacred office, became slave again. The old law had fixed a limit to the age under which a bondman could be freed, and the number who could be thus emancipated : it "demanded of freedmen a maturity of thirty years, and created different degrees between the citizen and slave. Justinian abolished all this scale. Legacies and testamentary provisions made before the final will, had been considered null. The new code changed this in favour of liberty. The dying man in his last moments, could set free the infant in the bosom of its mother. If the heir received directions to free one slave, all became free. The new code takes the smallest ' Nov., xxii. 8. HUMANITY UNDER CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE. 57 indicatioa as sign of the master's purpose to free his slave. The marriage of the master with a bondwoman freed and legitimated all the children ; and even without marriage, if a slave had the position of wife, she became free with her children, and equally so if bequeathed as a wife to a freedman. The law gave a new value to all familiar modes of enfranchisement, whether by letter or in presence of friends ; by abandonment, or by covering the slave with a symbolic bonnet at the funeral of his master, or by marriage. The code, with a certain en- thusiasm uncommon in such dry documents, declared its purpose "to have the Republic frequented by freemen rather than liberated slaves." ^ Among other laws, one act made the violation of a slave-woman an equal offence with crime committed upon a free — punishable by death. The moveable property of bondmen became their own property, and with it they often purchased their liberty. Other acts made the killing of a slave with malice aforethought, homicide ; and the death of a slave after certain barbarous punishments, equivalent to the same offence. Masters also were enjoined to send their sick and useless slaves to the hospital.^ We find, too, an expression in the code, as if an in- fluence from the new Religion of humanity, " the intuition of humanity."^ Slaves or freedmen could arrive at the most important offices, provided the masters did not oppose. The legal weakening of slavery proceeded by various steps, such as the forbidding the sale of new-born in- ' In nostrd Republic^. . . . quum nobis cordi est, ingenuis magis hominibus, quam a libertis, earn frequentari. {De Bonis.) 2 Cod., ix- 14. 3 Dig. XL., ix. S8 GESTA CHRISTI. fants ; the introducing new modes of emancipation by the Christian Church ; the delay afforded in proof of Uberty and the legal presumption in its favour ; the privileges granted in reclaiming it, and many precautions taken to prevent slavery from being used for purposes of unchastity and of crime. Reforms under other Emperors.-^\]r\Aer the Emperor Leo (717 A.D.) all slaves on imperial domains were allowed to do with their property as they chose ; the law thus at once recognising the ownership of property by a large body of bondmen. Again, the marriage of a free woman and a slave was recognised as legal. The woman could buy her husband, to associate him in her liberty, or share his servitude till the death of the master, which at once freed them and their children ; or the man could free himself by labour for a term of years, which term was fixed by law. The same rules applied to slave marriage, if one of the parties became free. Many Christian freed- men married noble-born women (feminse clarissimas ^). One great source of slavery was dried up in this age of " misery " by a law forbidding a freeman to alienate his liberty. Other acts encouraged emancipation. A slave- child held over the sacred font of baptism by the master, his wife or son, became free in the act. A servant taken prisoner by the enemy, was lost to his master; and if he was returned to Roman territory, he became a freeman, provided he had suffered in the public service. By a law under Basil (867) it was declared that if a property reverted to the state, the slaves in it became free, If a man died intestate, two-thirds of his property fell to his natural heirs, and one-third went to the state : in this one-third were reckoned the slaves, who thus became free. "It would ' De Rossi, La Roma sott. Renan, M, Aur., c. 1 1. TertulL, Ad uxor., II, 8. GRADUAL EMANCIPATION. 59 be an outrage," says the law, " to the holiness of God, to the wisdom of the prince, and to the conscience of man, not to permit the death of the niaster to break the yoke of servitude." In the tenth century the state preserved a, right over the sale of prisoners and of slaves. In 1098, Alexius Comnenus was obliged to invoke the great principle qf Christianity, " One God, one Faith, one Baptism," and order all slaves to be freed to whom their masters had refused the benediction of the Christian Church. Legisla- tion became more severe against bondage : the bondman could produce witnesses in favour of his freedom and opposing testimony was not received. If a person was claimed as a slave and could produce witnesses of good character in his favour, his oath could annul the suit (1094 A.D.). Manuel I. (1143) proclaimed freedom to all fallen into slavery through the sale of property, or who had been forced to sell themselves from reasons of poverty. Slavery is alluded to in the Eastern empire in 1344, 1358, and 1394. It existed in Greece till 1437. Among other terrible results of the pauperism of the Roman empire, the masters were in the habit of forcing freemen to contracts which alienated their independence. To check this, Manuel Comnenus declared free all who had been born in hberty. In the ninth century, as we stated before, is the first formal mention of a command of the Church against slavery itself They are the words of St. Theodore of Stude. " Thou shalt possess no slave, neither for domestic service nor for the work of the fields ; for man is made in the image of God." No one can carefully study this long series of laws, from Constantine to the tenth century, in regard to slavery, 6o GESTA CHRISTI. without clearly seeing the effect of Christianity. It is true that the unjust institution still survived, and some of its cruel features remained ; but all through this period the new spirit of humanity is seen struggling against it, even in legislation, which is always the last to feel a new moral power in society. The very language of the acts speaks of the inspiration of the Christian faith ; and the idea which lay at the bottom of the reforms, the value of each individual, and his equality to all others in the sight of God, was essentially Christian. But laws are often far behind the practices of a com- munity. The foundation idea of Christ's principles com- pelled his followers to recognise the slave as equal with the master. They sat side by side in church, and partook of the communion together. By the civil law, a master killing his slave accidentally by excessive punishment, was not punished ; but in the church, he was excluded from communion. The chastity of the slave was strictly guarded by the church ; slave-priests were free. The festivals of religion — the Sundays, fast-days and days of joy — were early connected in the Church with the eman- cipation of those in servitude. The consoling words of Christ, repeated from mouth to mouth, and the hope which now dawned on the world through Him, became the especial comfort of that great multitude of unhappy persons, — the Roman bondsmen. The Christian teachers and clergymen became known as "the brothers of the slave " : ^ and the slaves themselves were called " the freedmen of Christ"^ ' Lactantius, Dei Inst., lib. v. Also St. Chrys. (Horn.) (xxii. in Ep. ad Eph.) No Christian is a slave ; those born again are all brothers. " - Acta St. Justin. CHAPTER VI. SLAVES IN CRUEL AND LICENTIOUS SPORTS. The full power of Christianity over Roman slavery can only be fully recognised by also studying its influence on the cruel or licentious shows and games, for which the slaves especially furnished the victims and the debauched actors. The highest gratification which an eminent Roman could furnish to the populace, was in some bloody or licentious show. The Stoics spoke of the gladiatorial games with contempt or reproval, but their censure never reached the masses. Cicero asks how a cultivated man can possibly take pleasure in seeing a weak man torn by a strong animal, or a splendid brute transfixed by the spear of a well-armed gladiator :i and Tacitus dismisses the cruel Drusus, in one of his condensed epithets, as rejoicing too much in cheap blood : ^ Csesar is said to have had 320 pairs of gladiators at once in the arena, and to add to the scenic effect, the bloody struggles were at night. Trajan surpassed all in forcing 10,000 unhappy prisoners and gladiators to contend for life in the Roman amphi- theatre; the bloody and brutal sport lasted 123 days. ' Sed quae potest homini esse polito delectatio, quum aut homo imbecillus a valentissima bestia laniatur etc. {Ad Div.) * Vili sanguine nimio gaudens. {Ann., i, 76.) 61 62 GESTA CHRISTI. Constantine, in the very year before his acceptance of Christianity, exposed a vast multitude of prisoners to wild beasts in the amphitheatre, and glutted the people with the sight of blood.^ Under the thorough reform which Christian teaching has introduced in the world, in the matter of bloody sports, we cannot conceive the passion for them among the Roman populace, a passion which centuries of teaching and example scarcely broke up. It is related of one Prefect of Rome, Symmachus (392 A.D.), that he desired to make a special celebration of a birthday of his little son (parvuli nostri) and for that pur- pose held in reserve a large troop of Saxon prisoners, who were to be slaughtered by wild animals in the arena. To the intense disappointment of the populace and the grief of the Prefect, our savage ancestors, on the very day of the hoped-for festival, all strangled each other (fractas sine laqueo fauces). The worthy Prefect could only resign himself to the consolations of philosophy.^ It was re- served for a Christian to remind this philosopher of his brutality, in the well-put apopthegm : " No one should perish in the city whose punishment is an amusement." * It was the peculiar duty of Roman magistrates to provide cruel sports for the people ; many made a trade of it. The early Christians and the Fathers waged a continual struggle against these bloody shows. So strong was the passion for them, that it is related by Augustine of one convert, that he was forced to the spectacle by his family, but Carefully covered his eyes, when a shout from the • Tantam captivorum multitudinem bestiis objecit, etc. [Pan. Con. Aug., 23, A.D. 313.) " Sequor sapientiSexemplurtii {Symm. Ep., l\, sfi.) ' Nullus in urbe cadat, cujus sit poena vbluptas. {Prud. contra Symm., 11, 1126.) BLOODY SHOWS. 63 multitude caused him to open them in the midst of some bloody scene, and immediately the old savage thirst for blood was aroused, and he became as wildly eager for slaughter as the heathen Romans, and henceforth was an outcast from the Church.^ Even as late as the time of Salvian (450 A.D.) the converts were led away to these shows, and this great preacher thunders against those -renegade Christians who find their highest pleasure in seeing men die in the arena^ or, what was worse than death, torn and eaten by wild beasts.^ In the East the cruel games ceased with the reign of Theodosius, though combats of beasts still continued. Their final abolition in the West, by the heroism of the monk Telemachus (404), who leaped into the arena and gave his own life for the victims, is well known. The first effect of the new spirit on legislation is seen in a law of Constantine, as early as 325 A.D. " Bloody spectacles," he says, " in our present state of civil tran- quillity and domestic peace, do not please us, wherefore we order that all gladiators be prohibited from carrying on their profession." ^ He also forbade criminals to be sent to the amphi- theatre, — a practice he had formally sanctioned ten years before. ' Confessions, lib. vi. 8. For so soon as he saw that blood, he drank down savageness ; nor turned away, but fixed his eyes, drinking in phrensy and madness, and was delighted with that guilty fighting and intoxicated with the bloody pastime. Nor was he now the man he came, but one of the throng he came unto ; yea, a true associate of them that brought him hither. ^ Ubi summum deliciorum genus est mori hoihines, aut quod morte gravius, acerbiusque, lacerari, expleri ferarum alvos humanis carni- bus. {De Gub. Dei., vi.) ' Cruenta spectacula in otio civili et domestica quiete, non placuit ; qua propter omnino gladiatores esse prohibemus. (Cod. Theod., kv. tit. 12, 1. 1.) 64 GESTA CHRISTI. Human Sacrifices.-T^&s\&&s the influence of Christi- anity on bloody sports, it should not be forgotten that in the Roman empire, and wherever it has had sway, it has done away with human sacrifices. Whenever, in the earlier history, dangers approached Rome, foreign captives were burned in the forum, though at the same period a poet could say that God was ever gentle and kindred to man.^ Even in the time of Pliny there were sacrifices of human beings, though Seneca was proclaiming that " man ought to be sacred to man." ^ Still later, emperors like Commodus and Elagabalus believed that they gave the highest pleasure to the gods by sacrificing children of noble birth and beauty. It need scarcely be said that such cruelties passed away under the faintest light from the Religion of Love. Not only in the Roman empire, but in all countries where Christianity has any influence, have these barbarities ac- companying the religious sentiment ceased to exist. Licentious Shows. — The cruel sports of Rome were not the only source of the degradation of Roman society. The exhibition of licentiou^ shows and immoral plays had a profound influence. The extremes to which these were carried cannot even be explained in modern writings. In fact, few classical scholars who have not waded through the disgusting mire of a large part of Roman literature, can, have even an idea of the depth of obscenity and immor- ality which it reached. Athenaeus, Petronius, Apuleius (in his lighter works), Juvenal, and many others, only show how debased even genius and talent may become under such influences as so much of the Greek and Roman religions furnished. Even the universal suffering and ruin of the Roman empire had no influence on the public ^ Mite et cognatum est homini Deus. {Stilus, iv. 793.) ^ Boissier. FEELINGS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. % appetite for these enjoyments. In Salvian's bitter epi- gram, the empire "ridet et moritur," laughs while it is dying. It is not strange that the early Christians came to have towards these shows somewhat of the feelings which the English Puritans entertained towards all dramatic exhibi- tions. They were not only offensive to the new ideas of purity spreading through the world, "but they were products of and associated with the idolatrous faith of the day. The Fathers and early disciples set themselves especially to free great classes of human beings who were the peculiar victims of these degrading customs — the slaves of the stage. The effect of their spirit even upon a half-converted Roman, like Constantine, is striking. Much of his legis- lation has the sound of Puritan rigidity and purity. A public show of the most indecent description, a great favourite with the populace, called Maiuma, wherein, among other licentiousness, nude women bathed before the crowd, was utterly forbidden and denounced as "foedum atque indecorum spectaculum"; yet, says wisely the law, " we allow ludicrous arts to be practised, lest sadness be produced by excessive restriction." ^ In 385 several laws were passed against the profession of female musicians who were frequently seduced, and whose business was a means of vice. Theodosius forbade judges and magistrates to be present at theatrical shows after noon, for it was in that part of the day that indecent plays were exhibited. At length all spectacles were forbidden on Sunday, and the prohibition was extended still further to saints' days by Theodosius III. A general endeavour appears in all this legislation to withdraw from such professions all whom > Ludicros artes cohcedimus agitari, ne ex nimia harum restric- tione, tristia generetur. {Cod. Theod.^ Ixx. tit. 6. 1. 2,) F 66 GESTA CHRIS TI. poverty or slavery kept in them. In 343 a law forbade procurers from selling Christian female slaves to any except to Christian masters,^ and authorized priests and all Christians summarily to deliver any Christian women who were about to be handed over to prostitution,* and on their complaint they could be brought before the court and delivered from misery. No Christian woman, free or slave, dould be forced to serve as a prostitute on the stage ; and if a slave, could be freed at once on appeal. It may here be remarked, that in 439 a law of Theo- dosius suppressed the profession of the leno, or " procurer," in Constantinople; though no legislation could cure the deep-seated disease of Roman society. Under Constantine,,the crime of violence upon a woman which had formerly been punished only when the victim demanded redress, and was then considered merely as a loss of services or property inflicted on the father of the woman, received now the penalty of death, even if the one injured did not bring action. Justiniaris Reforms. — The Roman law, as codified" under Justinian, shows a still greater disposition to deliver all Christians who were bound to these foul trades.^ In case of approaching death, it was provided that if the last sacraments were administered, and still the slaves of the stage recovered, then these women were freed from their ' Cod. Theod., Ixv. tit. 18, I.4. ''■ Lenones, patres et dominos qui suis filiis vel ancillis peccande necessitatem imponunt nee jure frui domini, nee tanti criminis libertate gaudere. {Cod. Theod., Ixv. tit. 8, 1. 26.) ' Qusecunque ex his jus xaadlxfcece progenitas, scenica officio decli- nare . . . deputentur. {Cod. Theod., xv.) ^Qilicumque Christianus sit in quolibet crimine deprehensus, ludo non adjucitur. {Cod. Theod., ix. 40.) LICENTIOUSNESS RESTRAINED. 67 bonds to the theatre. But even then, public officials were bound to sit in judgment as to their need of the last sacraments. The stern Roman law held them bound to these degrading occupations by a " natural bond." They were not even considered worthy of suffering the penalties of adultery. The Christian law forbade them to be taken back to the stage if they had become Christians and were leading a worthy life.^ If, however, they fell again into their old vices, they were forced to retake their old pro- fession, and could be absolved from it no more until old age drove them from the stage. Justinian also declared all engagements retaining women by force on the stage as null and void. The archbishops were required, in union with the magistrates, to watch over the execution of this law. When at length these unfortunate women, slaves of sensuality, were excluded from the public stage, they were employed in private festivals, until Theodosius was com- pelled to forbid by law women from being sold or trained for these social entertainments. Even as late as the eleventh century, the Council of France condemned the presence of the clergy at fetes, where such professional actors were employed. The Church carefully excluded from communion all who had any connection with licentious sports ; and so powerful was the new feeling of purity, that even obscene statues in public places were forbidden by law.^ It is a part of this new reign of chastity and humanity, that the employment of mutilated persons, as attendants, was forbidden by the Church, and the maiming of them ' Quas melior vivendi usus vinculo naturalis conditionis evolvit, retrahi vetamus. {Cod. Th., xv.) ' Neque unquam posthac liceat in loco honesto inhonestas adstare personas. {Cod. Th., xv.) 68 GESTA CHRISTl. was attended with the severest penalties. A slave muti- lated became free.^ The early Christians not only attacked and weakened slavery by freeing this unfortunate class, who were bound to licentious professions, but their spirit of humanity led to a ransoming of captives, which assumed considerable importance. The laws encouraged this in the highest degree. The Theodosian Code especially exhorts Christians who are near these captives, to take pains in regard to their redemption ; ^ and the commentator speaks of the ransoming of prisoners as an act of special generosity.^ Whole populations were ransomed, and it became one of the first duties of the Church " to set the captive free." The wealth of private individuals, and the treasures of the churches, were continually used for this purpose. One saint (Paul) is said to have delivered himself up to slavery for the sake of saving the son of a widow from captivity. It was a favourite proverb that " to buy a slave is to gain a soul." * The Christians equally dried up another source of slavery by steadily and consistently opposing, as we shall show later, the abandonment and exposition of children. Their charity, also, constantly saved families from the depths of pauperism which were opening ; for, as the eloquent Salvian says, the Roman state in the fifth century, owing to its wasteful financial system and enormous taxation, was "dying as if of strangulation." ^ The tendency, too, of the ' Novell., cxlii. ^ Christianos proximorum locorum, volumus hujus rei solicitu- dinem gerere. {Cod. Theod. v. 5, i.) ^ Prsecipua liberalitas redimere captivos. * Const. Apost., II, 62. * Quum Romana republica, vel jam mortua, vel certe extremum spiritum agens . . . tributorum vinculis, quasi manibus strangulata, moriatur {De Cub. Dei, iv. i.) REHABILITATION OF LABOUR. 69 Christian belief must have continually raised the poor by elevating their sense of their own dignity — a sense which in all ages has worked against the degrading tendencies of poverty, and would therefore preserve a population from falling into slavery. Christ and the Apostles taught, by example and words, the value and dignity of labour ; and a cardinal doctrine of Christian morals was the importance of industry. The word operative {operarius) became ele- vated in public esteem, and Christian working men and women are praised in the epitaphs for being good workers.'- In fact, throughout the Roman empire a grand rehabi- litation of labour began under Christianity, which has never ceased. All the useless servants of Roman society — the parasite, the pimp, the circus rider, the gladiator, the debauched actor, the representative of indecent amuse- ments, the servant of idols, the object of disgusting and unnatural pleasures, the low and obscene comedian and prostitute — were changed by the new Faith into industrious producers and workers.^ Work became honoured under the new religion. Christ was reproached by the assailants of Christianity as being born of a '" working mother " (operarise matris) ; and the Christian ecclesics became little fraternities of free labourers and competitors of the great slave-estates.^ We have already remarked that the word servus * seldom occurs on a Christian epitaph ; as if the believer felt that in the kingdom of Christ all were free. A slave, when examined before a judge, not unfrequently replied, " I am not a slave : I am a Christian — Christ has freed me." ^ ' De Rossi, " Amatrix pauperorum et operaria." 2 See AUard, Les Esdaves Chrdt. ^ See De Rossi, La Roma setter. Christ., tomo iii. 1877. ' Le Slant, Inscr. Chrdt., etc., i., ii§. ^ Ibid. 70 GESTA CHRISTl. All these profound moral and legal influences worked against Roman slavery. But the fearful " misery " of the empire still sustained it. So profoundly was Roman society disorganized by its own vices, by bad govern- ment, absurd finance, civil war, the invasion of barbarians, and universal poverty among the working classes, that bondage became often the least of many evils threaten- ing. Serfdom. — In such universal disorder, it is not unnatural that an intermediate state should have formed itself be- tween freedom and servitude. The peasants and poor farmers would find themselves safer under the protection of a larger cultivator, to whom they bound themselves for certain obligations ; or the state settled such colonists (coloni) on the large farms, holding them bound to the soil, but with many personal rights ; or, under these moral forces of which we have been speaking, the personal slave was gradually transformed into the serf bound to the soil. The serfs or colojti began to appear after Constantine ; they were especially found on the frontiers of the em- pire, and in the Gauls, Thrace and Illyria. They were sold with the land ; their only obligation being a small rent. They could make contracts, marry, and even acquire property under certain conditions. Yet the new law, modified by Christianity, protected even the serfs. Justinian was careful not to accept the avowals of coloni who would become adscriptitii, — those more closely bound to the soil and liable to a tribute, — but demanded other testimony, lest "freemen might fall into an inferior state " from temporary misfortune. He abolished also the legal distinction which existed be- tween three different classes of freedmen, making them all equal before the Roman law. A slave became at once OTHER INFLUENCES ON SLAVERY. 71 free by any act of his owner signifying an intention of bestowing freedom.^ It is of course understood that many material and even economical causes combined with such a moral power as Christianity to mitigate and overthrow an ancient abuse, like Roman slavery. The province of the moral forces is to stimulate the conscience and sympathies ; the result may be hastened or long delayed by external influences. ' Nullo nee astatis manumisse, nee dominii manumittentis, nee in inodo manumissionis discrimine habito. (C T., xix. 17, i.) CHAPTER VII. EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN. Slavery in the Roman world, as we have said, was in part sustained by a practice so revolting and inhuman as hardly to be comprehensible to modern ideas — the sys- tematic exposure or abandonment of the children of the poor, and of female or defective children by the rich. So completely had luxury eaten away the natural instincts in one class, and so deep and degrading was the misery in another, that parents were found willing continually to abandon their offspring to the worst of destinies, in order to escape inconvenience, anxiety or burden ; — these little ones, be it remembered, being not usually the fruit of illicit connections, but the children of legal marriage. One of the most powerful of the natural instincts and affections was, throughout a wide multitude, utterly sub- verted by the low moral tone of the then civilized world. There are innumerable allusions to this inhuman treatment of young children throughout Latin literature. In two different comedies or dialogues, the husband on starting upon a journey is represented as ordering his wife who is soon to give birth to a babe, to destroy it, if it prove a girl ; and the plot of one turns on the wife's foolish weak- ness in exposing rather than killing the female infant.^ It has often been observed that the famous apopthegm of ' Apuleius, Met., lib. x. Terence, Andr., Act iv. scene 5. Heaiti., Act iii. scene 5. 72 EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN. 73 humanity, " I am a man, and nothing of man is foreign to me," which called out such applause in the Roman theatre, is uttered in this play by the very father who had rebuked the mother for thus sparing the child. Plautus,^ alludes to the custom of exposing the girl to death, without any especial condemnation. Lucian speaks of it in his " Courtesans." Stobseus ^ says : " The poor man raises his sons, but the daughters, even if one is poor, we expose." Quintilian's apopthegm is that, " to kill a man is often held to be a crime, but to kill one's own children is sometimes considered a beautiful action among the Romans ; " and he admits that the exposed little ones rarely survive.^ Ovid gives a pathetic picture of the new born whose first day was its last, exposed to wild beasts ; and describes those who flit about in the night, seeking for these un- fortunate little creatures for the worst of purposes.* Pliny " speaks coolly of those who hunt for the brains and marrow of infants, probably for superstitious or medicinal pur- poses. Seneca gives this horrible description of the mutilation to which unfortunate children were exposed : " Portentos foetus extinguimus ; liberos quoque si debiles, monstrosiT- que editi sunt, mergimus. Non ira, sed ratio est, a sanis, inutilia secernere." (Monstrous offspring we destroy ; children too, if weak and unnaturally formed from birth, we drown. It is not anger, but reason, thus to separate the useless from the sound.) {De Ird, I. 15.) ' Dat earn puellam ei servo exponendam ad necem. (Act i. scene 3.) 2 Serm., 75. 3 Quint. Dec, 306, vi. ■I Ovid., vi. 91, Ep. xii. 5 Alii medullas crurum quserunt, et cerebrorum infantum. {Plin. Hist. Nat.i lib.. 28, c. 2.) 74 GESTA CHRISTI. In another work (Controversi, lib. v., 33) he denounces the horrible practice, common in Rome, of maiming these unfortunate children, and then offering them to the gaze of the compassionate. He describes the miserable little creatures, with shortened limbs, broken joints and curved backs, exhibited by the villanous beggars who had gathered them at the Lactarian column, and then deformed them : " Volo nosse," " I should like to know," says the moralist, with a burst of human indignation, "illam calamitatum humanarum officinam — illud infantum spoliarium !" — " that workshop of human misfortunes — those shambles of in- fants ! " On the day that Germanicus died, says Suetonius {Calig., n. 5), " Subversse Detim arae, partus conjugum expositi," parents exposed their new born babes. The little ones thus abandoned were gathered, some- times by witches, to use their bodies in incantations, or more frequently by slave-dealers, to train as female slaves or prostitutes. In the dialogue by Terence,, to which we have alluded, the father (Chremes) while reproaching the mother for not killing the child, says, " What did you propose to do .' What did you desire .' Consider, you would have abandoned your daughter to that old witch ! That is clear enough. To make her, by your help, a slave or a prostitute ! " ^ The exposure in Rome was commonly made by night, near the Lactarian column, and in the Velabrum, a parish or district in the city, near Mount Aventine. Though the father often designed the death of the infant, yet some benevolent persons now and then rescued a child, who became afterwards distinguished. Several instances of ' Quam bene viro abste prospectum est ? quid voluiste ? cogita ! Nempe anni illi prodita abste filia est planissime ; Per te veluti quEestum faceret, velubi veniret palam. STOICAL PROTESTS. 75 this are given by classic historians. Quintilian calls on his readers to imagine the pitiable fate of the abandoned child, exposed to birds of prey and wild beasts ; ^ and Juvenal pictures the fine lady of the day going to the Velabrum, to find some infant whom she can substitute for her own, — in vain expected, — and thus secure some inheritance.^ With this practice was intimately connected the custom of destroying life in its germ, which was so common in Roman wealthy society. We need not adduce proofs of this well-known crime. It is not to be supposed that the instinct of humanity before Christianity was utterly silent as to these cruel or pernicious habits and practices. A Stoical jurist, Julius Paulus, in the time of the Emperor Severus (222-225 a.d.), though he could not directly say that these offences were contrary to law, yet ventured to pronounce the mother who destroyed life in the womb", or who refused nourish- ment, or exposed her offspring in public places, as equally guilty of murder.^ The Stoical philosophers, rhetoricians, historians, and even the poets, pleaded or declaimed incessantly against these crimes. They knew the right. Yet here, as in so many other instances in antiquity, there was a fatal want of power to carry out the good instincts into practical action. The overwhelming poverty of the empire led the poor incessantly to these offences, and the rich had found no sufficient impulse in the maxims of Stoicism to resist the ' Vos ponite ante oculos puerum statim neglectum ; cui mori domi expediret, inde nudum corpus, sub coelo, inter feras et volucres. {Dec, 306.) 2 Sat, vi. 605. 5 Necare videtur non tantum is qui partum perfocat, sed is qui abjecit et qui alimonia denegat, et is qui publicis locis, misericordiffi causS., exponit, quam ipse non habet. 76 GESTA CHRISTI. enticements of a selfish cruelty. Some of the more humane of the Roman emperors, as we have described elsewhere, attempted to cure these evils, by founding charities for abandoned and destitute children. It was all however in vain. Exposure and child murder and the sale of children increased. Nor did the Stoical philosophy seem to exert much more influence on legislation than on practical morals. There was indeed under Severus a law passed which secured the liberty of a child sold by its father from reasons of poverty ; another act punished with banishment the creditor who would receive children as security for debt, before ascertaining whether they were free or not. The Emperor Diocletian renewed the edicts of Severus, and took away from the father all right of giving, selling, or pledging his children. When the peculiar power of Christianity began to work in the Roman empire, it tended, of course, in every way to eradicate these horrible evils. Nothing could be further from its spirit than such enormities. Human life every- where was profoundly sacred to it, and the Church began immediately to protect and shelter unfortunate children. The Christian Fathers, whose influence in some directions is by no means admirable, in this were consistent with the teachings of their great Leader and the Founder of their Faith. They struggled incessantly against the exposure of children^ " We have renounced," says one,^ " your bloody spectacles, believing that there is no difference between regarding a murder and committing it. We hold for homicides the women who commit abortion, and we think that to expose a child is to kill him." " One meets," says another,^ "among all nations only children destined for the most horrible purposes, and who are nourished like troops of animals ; you raise a tribute on these children." ' A thenag. Apol. ^ yustin. Apol. THE FATHERS ON EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN. 77 " The wicked alone can expose his children ; for us, this impiety only inspires horror : first, because the most of these unfortunate little ones are destined for debauch ; then, because we would fear the accusation of murder if they should die." Clement says, " Man is more cruel to his offspring than animals." TertuUian's appeal is well known. Felix speaks of children exposed to wild beasts and birds, and of these crimes as exceeding the worst of ancient times, Lactantius, after an eloquent passage, says, " These parricides allege their extreme poverty and the impossi- bility of raising their families." ..." They have educated their own blood for slavery or the brothel." ^ Basil (381 A.D.) preaches against the spectacle of free children sold by creditors in the market, and those who expose them from reasons of poverty.^ Justin pours forth indignation at those who expose their offspring, and thus suffer both girls and boys to be brought up for the basest purposes.^ It is unnecessary to give more instances of the unceasing protests of humanity, addressed by the early Fathers against this cruel practice. The great obstacle to reform, however, was the profound and terrible pauperism of the Roman empire. When, under Constantine, the spirit of Christianity began to affect Roman legislation on this subject, there came up always the practical difificulty — What shall be done with the ex- posed child .■• He will only be preserved from death by • Addixit certe sanguinem suum vel ad servitutem vel ad lupanar. (L. C. Lact., De vero cultu, lib. vi.) ^ Qui prastextu ad paupertate quaesito suos infantes exponunt. {Homel) ^ Quia videmus ... ad stupra non puellas solum, sed etiam masculos produci . . . , pueros ad turpes usus, etc. (Apol., i, c. 27,) 78 GESTA CHRISTI. those who would make a slave of him. To forbid such slavery may only increase the evils of exposure. These difficulties constantly modified legislation on this evil. Constantine, in the year 315, was obliged to put forth the following proclamation : " Let a law be at once promul- gated in all the towns of Italy, to turn parents from using a parricidal hand on their new-born children, and to dispose their hearts to the best sentiments. Watch with care over this, that, if a father bring his child, saying, that he cannot support it, one should supply him without delay with food and clothing; for the cares of the new born suffer no delay, and we order that our revenue, as well as our treasure, aid in this expense." And again in 321 ; "We have learned that the inhabitants of provinces, suffering from scarcity of food, sell and put in pledge their children. We command then that those found in this situation, without any per- sonal resource, and only being able with great trouble to support their children, be succoured by our treasury before they fall under the blows of poverty ; for it is repugnant to our morals that any one under our empire should be pushed by hunger to commit a crime." ^ Constantine was subsequently (331) obliged, in view of the increasing calamities of the empire, to enact a law that any one " taking up " an exposed infant had the power to adopt him as a child, or to keep him as a slave, and the natural father had no right to reclaim him. He was however permitted to obtain his child again, if he paid the full price, or replaced him by another slave. Valentinian (366) proclaimed to the empire the duty of parents supporting their children, and threatened punish- ment for the crime of exposure ; but the unnatural parent was not permitted " to claim as his, whom he had led to death." The sale of the children of the poor was not ' Cod. Theod., xi, tit. 27. THE COUNCILS. -jt) absolutely forbidden (from motives of humanity), but if reclaimed, parents were to pay the full price and one-fifth in addition. The Christian councils, which set themselves firmly against the crime, as well as the Christian emperors and law-givers, were obliged through the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries to leave children to become slaves to save them, as the phrase was, " from the teeth of dogs.'' The councils repeatedly exhorted the faithful to collect abandoned children, and to hold them either in adoption or servitude. As early as 325, the Council of Nice ordered the founda- tion of hospitals in the principal towns, some of which would no doubt shelter the foundlings. The Council of Vaison (442) established rules as to the receiving and taking care of abandoned little ones. Whoever shall find one, shall bring him to the church, where the fact shall be formally certified. The following Lord's Day, the clergyman shall announce to the faithful, that a new born has been found, and ten days' time will be granted to the parents to recognize and reclaim him. When these for- malities had been fulfilled, if any one reclaimed a child or calumniated him who received it, he was punished with severe ecclesiastical penalties.^ No council, however, ventured to proclaim the emancipation of the abandoned little ones. The full effect of the new Faith upon legislation on this matter was not seen however before the reign of Justinian. This emperor (529-534) took the humane ground that the abandoned infant, even if a slave, became free by the act ; and that if it were found, it became the property neither of the finder nor of the parent who had exposed it ; the law recognized in such children the power of ac- ' Acta Cone. Condi. Vas. (ix. i), De Expositis, etc. 8o GESTA CHRIST!.. quiring property for themselves and of disposing of it in favour of their own descendants.^ I" 533) the emperor, finding how little legislation was lessening this fearful evil, proclaimed as the height of cruelty the depriving such unfortunate children of their liberty, and threatened the authors of the crime with the severest penalties. He announced again that all infants exposed near churches or in other places, became free by this act,^ and declared anew that no right of reclaiming existed over these unfortunate beings. The famous Code made the act of exposure as much more cruel than murder, as it strikes beings more feeble and worthy of pity. The Novelise^ speak of the crime as one alien to human feeling and which even barbarians could not commit. ' In 5S3> Justinian invited the Archbishop and Prefect of Thessalonica to give to exposed infants all the assistance possible, while threatening a severe fine on all who diso- beyed.* The law, however, still allowed the father, in extreme distress, to sell his child at the moment of birth, and permitted the purchaser to retain it in service. Houses of mercy for children were founded also by Justinian. The churches and Church charities became refuges for this unfortunate class. Christian charity at- tempted to alleviate the great evil which law could not correct or the usual spirit of humanity prevent. A marble vessel was provided for exposed infants at the door of ' Sancimus nemini licere, sive ab ingenuis genitoribus puer parvu- lus procreatus, sive a libertini progenie, sive servili conditione macu- latus, expositus sit, enim puerum in suum dorainum indicare. ^ Sancimus ut quosque vel in ecclesiis vel in vicis vel aliis locis abjectos constiterit, modis omnibus liberi sint. {Cod. Just, lib. xii.) ^ Crimen a sensu humano alienum, et quod ne ab uUis quidem barbaris admitti credibile est. (Nov., iii.) * Nov., ix. 38. FOUNDLINGS. 8i each church. In a later age, this simple provision of humanity was imitated in a manner which produced great evils, in the well-known "turning-slide" {tour) of French asylums for foundlings. In that time of cruelty and hard- ness, however, the church receptacle was for these infants the alternative to "servitas aut lupanar," the slave's chain or the brothel. The servants of the Church (matricularii) or the clergy- man received the infant, and drew up a legal form, certi- fying to abandonment. The latter then enquired, in the religious meeting of the faithful, if any would take charge of the infant. All these formalities must receive the sanction of the archbishop. Often a family was found who would consent to adopt the orphan, or, if not, the Church took charge of him. In some of the towns, the new born thus abandoned was exposed at the doors of the church by order of the archbishop, during ten days.^ If any one recognized the babe, or could designate the parents, he was bound to inform the ecclesiastical authori- ties. The nurses (nutricarii) who had charge of the infant received a formal and legal paper, in which their own compensation was fixed, and the circumstances of the exposure were stated, and their right recognized of holding, if necessary, the child as a slave. The churches generally held among their serfs the new born thus found and supported. Many churches had orphan or foundling refuges connected with them. In the eighth century, the evil in Europe was at an extreme point ; the poor sold their offspring, and great numbers of children perished. In the Gauls, as well as Germany, Italy, 'and England, needy peasants openly offered their children for sale. Many of the saints are ' Hist, des En/ants trouvis, par J. F. Terme et J. B. Monfalgon. Paris, 1840. G 82 GESTA CHRISTI. related to have been thus sold. In the British Islands, the traffic became an object of a special mission by Pope Gregory, who sought to abolish it. "Our Divine Re- deemer," says this pontiff, " in making Himself man, has delivered us all from servitude, and has restored us to our primeval liberty. Let us imitate His example, in freeing from slavery the men who are free by the laws of nature." ^ As we have related elsewhere, Christian charity early began efforts to relieve these great evils, by the foundation of refuges and orphan-asylums. There is an indication of one as early as the fifth century in Treves ; ^ and another was founded in 787, by Archbishop Datheus, at Milan, whose words are thus reported : " I desire that as soon as an infant shall be exposed in church, he be received by the superintendent of the hospital, and entrusted to the care of nurses employed for this purpose. These, children are to learn a trade, and when they have arrived at the age of eight years, I desire that they be freed from all servitude, and be at liberty to go atid dwell where they please." * Several asylums are mentioned in the eighth century in different portions of Europe ; some created by individuals, and others founded by royal authority. Still others are spoken of in Italy in the fourteenth century. From these has sprung the long list of Christian charities for children in all civilized countries ; asylums, refuges, creches, infant and industrial schools, reformatory institutions and aid societies without number, caring for the orphan, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the crippled and defective, the foundling and ' Greg, op., Ep. xii. 1. vi. i6.- ^ Terme et Monfal^on. ^ Quoted in Hist, des Enfans Trouvds, Terme et Monfalgon. also Muratori. Volo atque statuo, ut cum tales feminffi, quffi instigante adver- sario ex adultero acceperint et parturierint, etc. Muratori, Ant. Ital., 3, SS8. CHARITIES FOR CHILDREN. 83 outcast. Christ especially showed his feeling for the child ; and Christianity, following His teachings, has always set the utmost value on the person and well-being of children, which, indeed, is but the natural fruit of the whole tendency of this religion. Probably, of all practical changes which Christianity has encouraged or commenced in the history of the world, this respect and value for children is the most important, as it affects the foundation of all society and government, and influences a far distant future. CHAPTER VIII. HUMANITY IN ROMAN LAW. We refer continually to Constantine's legislation, not because this emperor coulcf be considered a Christian convert, but because now, for the first time, Christianity was openly influencing Roman jurists. A brief review of some of the humane legislation of Constantine will show the working of the new system of morals. A law (312 A.D.) exempted Christian ministers from municipal charges, even as the pagan priests had been, thus putting the ofiScials of the new religion on an equality with those of the old. An edict at Milan (313) granted liberty of conscience to Christians and worshippers under all other religions. In the same year emancipation was permitted in a Christian church. In 321 legacies were allowed to religious houses ; succour was sent to the African clergy, and the general observance of Sunday was prescribed. The panegyrics on Constantine spoke of his laws, as especially established for the control of morals and breaking the power of vices.^ His biographer expressly says that he desired to conform his legislation to the spirit of Christi- anity, and in this view he endeavoured to break down the old legislation which had oppressed the weak. It was with this purpose that he conferred upon the archbishops ' Novje leges regendis moribus et frangendis vitiis constitutas. (Paneg. Con., c. 38.) 84 HUMANE LEGISLATION. 85 the legal right to protect the weak and become arbiters in civil cases, which, in an age of such cruelty and oppression, was often a great means of protection to the poorer classes. In fact this practice was the beginning of the system of arbitration (Austrdge), which in the Middle Ages became so important an influence in rescuing society in Germany from " private war " and anarchy. The custom itself dates from the habit of the early Christians, taught by the Apostles, of deciding their disputes by arbiters chosen among themselves. An act (325) asserts the right of all the inhabitants of the empire to have recourse to the courts of justice, and the duty of all judges and magistrates to exercise strict impartiality. All were held equal before the law. Another (331) protests against the venality so common throughout the administration. " Let the rapacious hands of officials cease from their plunder — cease, I say ! " ^ In 334, it was proclaimed that widows and orphans, the weak and the poor, cannot be forced before a tribunal of their own province (where influence and wealth might oppress them), but can appeal to the emperor. In 365, Valentinian I. freed widows from the tax laid on the common people, and exempted orphans up to the age of 20, and female orphans till they were married. The first laws upon the observance of Sunday are especially in the interest of the working-classes, and clearly manifest the influence of the new ideas in the Roman world. Thus one (321) forbade other labours than those of the fields on Sunday, and all civil public acts, except emancipation. Soldiers, too, were allowed the privilege of assisting at divine worship on that day. ' Cessent jam nunc rapaces officialium manus, cessent inquam ! Cod. Tkeod.,\. i. tit. 72, 4. Cod. Just., lib. iii. tit. 12, 2, 3. Cod. Theod., lib. ii. tit. 8. 2, i. Cod. Just., lib. ii. tit. 58, 2, i. 86 GESTA CHRISTI. If we reflect on the condition of Roman slaves and all labourers at that period, how incessant and wasting the toil, and what sacrifice of human life was the result, we shall appreciate the humanity of the first " Sunday Laws." A law of Emperor Leo says : " On the Lord's Day, eternally worthy of honour and of veneration, let no act of legal procedure be done ; let no debtor receive a summons, let no pleadings be heard, let there be no process, let the hard voice of the public crier be silent, let the pleaders see their discussions interrupted, and enjoy a moment of truce ; let adversaries agree and repentance enter into their soul. We make, then, this day a day of repose, but we do not wish that obscene pleasures should fill it. On Sunday, let all theatrical representations, and races in the amphi- theatre, and lamentable combats of wild beasts, be sus- pended ; and if the solemnity of our birth or coronation fall on that day, let the celebration be deferred." ^ The new spirit touched even the forms of law. In A.D. 342, the enactments said boldly, " Let the formulae of ancient law, those captious syllables which are nets for good faith, disappear completely from all acts." No classic legislator, so far as we can recall, had ever cared for that often unfortunate class — the prisoners. Many were merely confined as witnesses, many on false accusations, and all demanded, at least, common humanity in their public treatment. The prison reform of succeeding centuries began under Constantine's. reign. Those accused of crimes are to be examined with all diligence, and those arrested must be confined in a humane manner. The cells must have air and light. Persons under accusations are not to be put in jails, or scourged, but are to be placed under "military ' Code,\\\. 411, II. PRISON REFORM. 87 arrest," and in a prison open to the light.^ A law in 314 forbade the judges to inflict capital punishment without the confession of the accused, or sworn testimony of the accusers. The new moral power in the world seemed to give a fresh dignity to the human countenance, as having been borne by Him who was the Son of God, and who had died for men. " Let those who are condemned," says a writing of Constantine (318), "whether to gladiatorial games or to the mines, not be branded on the forehead, that the majesty of the face formed in the image of celes- tial beauty be not dishonoured." ^ In 340, a law forbade the mingling of sexes in prison ; and another was enacted protecting the modesty of Christian virgins against traf- fickers in prostitution.* Honorius ° charged the judges to visit the prisons every Sunday to see that the prisoners received sufficient nourishment, and to guard lest the proper humanity be not shown the convicts by corrupt jailors. The sentiment of humanity reached even the rights over material things, and in Justinian's Code the following beautiful passage occurs in regard to selling the home of a minor : — "It shall not be lawful to sell the home in which the father has died and the youth grown up ; in which either to see the statues of ancestors not placed or overthrown is melancholy indeed." ® Such a provision as the following, though made for a ' Cod. Theod., lib. ix. tit. 5. ' Ibid., lib. ix. tit. 40, 21, 2. ' Ibid., lib. XV. tit. 8, 21. < Ibid., lib. XV. tit. 8, i. , * Ne his humanitas clausis per corruptos carcerum custodes nege- tur. {Ibid., lib. x. tit. 3, 27.) » Nee vero domum vendere liceat, in qua defecit pater, minor crevit ; in qua, majorum imagines, aut non videre fixas aut revulsas, videre, satis est lugubre. {Cod., ix. tit. 37.) 88 CESTA CHRISTI. personal object by the emperor, breathed the new spirit in the Roman world. By the severe old Papinian law, if a free man should marry a woman who had been a slave, though now a freed woman, and should afterwards chance to be elevated to the senatorial dignity, the marriage was thereby dissolved. The law of the codifiers, full of the new humanity, says : " We then, following the judgment of God, do not suffer the good fortune of the husband to become the calamity of the wife. Far from our times be any severity of this kind ! " and it is enacted that such a marriage is good.^ The deep enthusiasm of humanity working throughout the Roman world under the new impulse, finds its fitting expression in these mild provisions of the Roman law. The personality of the Jewish teacher is felt by students labouring in their closets in codifying or improving legis- lation for the empire, and the dry details of law bear the stamp upon them of Him who held all men as children of a common Father, and believed in overcoming evil with good. These are interesting as the first traces of the Gesta Christi in European legislation ; they herald a long history of humane victories. Opposition to War by Christians in the Roman Period. — It need scarcely be said that the spirit of Christ's teachings is opposed to war, and, above all, to wars of vengeance or conquest. But this is one of those points in which He was so much in advance not only of His own times, but of all succeeding ages, that His followers have only been able to make a kind of compromise between His principles and the ideas of the time. They have often excused only defensive wars, or service given on compul- ' Nos igitur Dei sequentes judicium, etc. Absit a nostro tempore, hujusmodi asperitas ! (Cod., lib. v. tit. 4.) OPPOSITION TO WAR. 89 sion, or they have sought to mitigate the horrors of war, or to prevent it by arbitration. The habits of arbitration in private matters were very early implanted among be- lievers by the words of Jesus (Matt, xviii. 15-17) and the apostles (i Cor. vi. 4-7). But the early followers, being under the more immediate inspiration of the Master, went much farther, and great numbers seem to have refused entirely to serve as soldiers, or to join in any war what- ever. The phrase is often repeated by the earlier Fathers, that " Jesus in disarming Peter disarmed all soldiers." An anecdote is related of a certain Christian, Maxi- milian by name, who was brought before a Roman tribunal to be enrolled as a soldier in one of the legions of Rome. On the proconsul asking his name, he replied : " I am a Christian — I cannot fight ! " He was enrolled, but still refused to fight. He was told that he must either serve or die. He again replied, " I am a Christian ! I can- not fight, even if I die 1 " whereupon he was executed.^ Another instance is given of a centurion named Marcellus, in the legion of " Trajan." He became a Christian, and believing war not permitted by his faith, he threw down his belt before his legion, and declared that, consistently with his principles, he could not fight. He was sent to prison, but still persisting in his refusal, and his declaration that it was not lawful for a Christian to engage in war, he was put to death. Another officer ^ in the same legion resigned for a similar reason, and was also executed. A number of such instances are recorded, and probably many more have never come down to us. Many of the early Fathers took the ground that no Christian could lawfully be a soldier or engage in a war. ' Acts of Ruinart, quoted by Dymond, Essuys on Principles of Morality, p. 418. " Dymond, p. 418. 9° GESTA CHRISTI. Justin Martyr and Tatian speak of soldiers and Ciiristians as distinct characters, and Tatian says that Christians decUne mihtary commands. Clemens calls Christians "followers of peace," and says they use no implements of war. Lac- tantius states repeatedly that, it can never be lawful for a righteous man to go to war.^ Tertullian argues against it in "De Corona" (c. xi.), and states that in a large portion of the Roman armies, embracing more than one- third of the best legions, not a Christian is to be found. In another passage, speaking of the prophecy of Isaiah as to universal peace, he adds : ^ " You must confess that the prophecy of Isaiah is accomplished, as far as the practice of every individual is concerned to whom it is applicable." He calls Christians " priests of peace." Irenaeus says, " Christians have turned swords and spears into pruning- hooks, and know not how to fight." Justin Martyr declares that " the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, you have reason to know ; for we, who in times past killed one another, do not now fight with our enemies.^ One of the accusations against Christians was that they refused to serve in the Roman armies. Origen, in answer- ing this reproach from Celsus, says (Apol., i. 6) : " To those unbelievers who would force us to fight for the commonwealth, to destroy human beings, we would answer : That even their own idol-priests, and those who attend upon the service of their reputed gods, do keep themselves unstained with human blood, that so they may offer sacrifices for the whole nation with clean and unpolluted hands. Neither, in case war should arise, are ' Ita neque militarejusto licebit. [Di-u. InsL, lib. xi.) ' Dymond, p. 418. ^ Quoted by Dymond ; but see Justin, Dialog, cum. Tryp'h. Apol,, 2. Tertull., Apol., c. 21 and 37. Origen con. Celsum, 3, 5, 8. Cypr . Epist; 56. Athan. Cyrill. etc. EARLY CHRISTIANS NOT SOLDIERS. 91 these men to be enlisted in their armies. And if this be done without reason, how much more may they be said after their manner to fight, who, being priests to the most high God, endeavour to preserve themselves free from blood and rapine ; that so, while others are polluted with spoil and slaughter, they may wrestle with God Himself, by constant and incessant prayer, for the welfare of them that make war justly, and for the safety of them that govern righteously." Le Blant, ift his investigation of Christian inscriptions, mentions that among 10,050 Pagan inscriptions which he had examined, 545 were those over the bodies of soldiers, while in 4,734 Christian inscriptions only twenty-seven were memorials of military men.^ Dymond states, that for two hundred years not a Chris- tian soldier is on record in the Roman armies ; and that only in the third century, when Christianity was more corrupted, they bega;j to be enrolled. This may be an exaggeration ; for we know that some of the most influential of the Fathers, as Augustine ^ for instance, defended military service and did not object to a Christian's enlisting in a " righteous war." Then, much of the objection on the part of the believers was more to the idolatrous practices connected with the Roman military ser- vice than to the shedding of blood itself. Still it all shows that the first unconscious drift of the early Christian teach- ings was against war, or any participation in it. This did not indeed become a reality in Christian life in later ages, for ' Inscr. Chrit.de la Gaule, p. 81. ^ Yet Augustine was a lover of peace, as were all the Fathers. " What shall I say of peace or of praise of peace till we arrive at that country of peace ? There we shall be able to praise it, where we more fully possess it. Jerusalem is the vision of peace, and all who possess and love peace, are blessed therefor evermore.'" [Tract, in Ps. ox. 57.) 92 GESTA CHRISTI. Christians have supported war in every century, yet it prepared the way for the efforts for peace and arbitration in the Middle Ages which we shall detail later, — for the modern efforts to mitigate the evils of war and to prevent it by arbitration, — and for the higher efforts of the followers of the Prince of Peace, sure to come, to put an end to war on the earth, and bring on universal peace. CHAPTER IX. DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY. There will be diverse difficulties in examining the direc- tion and effect of Christ's teachings on the distribution of property. We are not to define Oriental and half-poetic expressions as we would similar phrases in a Western and more prosaic narrative ; and on the other hand, we should not interpret Christ's words solely by the practice of his later followers and by the ideas of a modern and industrial age. It is not to be assumed, as is done by most writers on this subject, that the modern form of the distribution of wealth is the final and perfect one, and that society as it is now is substantially what it must be in all coming ages, or what our Lord contemplated in his future " King- dom of Heaven," or regenerated society of all men. A Christian writer in the early Middle Age would have had equal right to assume that society must always be made up of landlords owning vast tracts of country, who pro- tected their vassals, of large bodies of military followers, and of serfs bound to the soil, or that justice in regard to quarrels over property and land must always be decided the judicial duel. Both conditions were not directly touched upon by the teachings of the great Reformer, yet the prin- ciples He taught must gradually undermine both. The feudal system belonged to a stage of human progress. The modern industrial and commercial system may be equally one phase in the gradual change or advance of 94 GESTA CHRISTl. mankind. At ^11 events, it is not the ideal or perfect system. A condition of society in which enormous masses of human beings are born to an almost inevitable lot of squalor, penury and ignorance, and still other multitudes to incessant labour with few alleviations or enjoyments, while another considerable class, with little or no effort of their own, have all the blessings of life and transmit them to others, — or an industrial system which leaves to the few who ar6 gifted with the brains or enjoy the fortune to lead industrial enterprizes the power to reap the benefits of labour, while the many who toil, only gain a bare pittance, — a society which presents on one side, enormous fortunes and endless accumulations of wealth, while on the other, it offers classes ground down by poverty and pinched with want, is certainly not the Christian ideal of society or any approach to the " Kingdom of God " on earth. The great moral progress of the future of the race will plainly be toward some form of a more equable distribution of the proceeds of labour. What form this will take is as impossible to predict, as would have been for a citizen of the Roman empire at the time of Tacitus to predict the present condition of Europe. If we read Christ's teachings with perfect candour, and as far removed from modern habits of thought as possible, we discover a continual tendency towards exalting poverty, humbling wealth, and equalizing the conditions of life. Leaving out of view the fact that Christ and His disciples lived in almost an atmosphere of agrarianism, or at least of inalienability of family property in land, under the Jewish land-system,^ and also the natural freedom from all burdens of property which the teacher of a new faith ' How far this was a practical feature of Jewish economy at the time of Christ, is, of course, difficult to say. ' The ideal was in the law, and must have influenced the minds of the reformers of Judaea. CHRISrS COMMUNISM. 95 might well inculcate in a climate such as that of Syria ; still, there is even then a certain tone throughout the gospels, if not of "communism," at least in favour of greater distribution of wealth than would suit modern ideas. Christ and the apostles warn incessantly against accumulation of wealth. They almost denounce the rich ; they praise and commend the poor ; their sympathies are strongly with the working classes ; they urge continually the diffusion of property, in whatever way would benefit the world ; they warn those who do not scatter their ac- quisitions among the needy ; they leave the impression everywhere, that a greater equalizing of human goods, a moderate acquisition, and a raising up from poverty is what is demanded. The parable of Lazarus has been too often interpreted under modern conditions, and it may well be that some explanatory features given by Christ are omitted by the historian ; but its literal interpretation plainly contains a plea against the great inequalities of fortune in this world. Nothing, however, in Christ's teachings tends towards any forcible interfering with rights of property, or encourages dependence on others. As we have so often said. He seldom concerns Himself with human institutions. He would not interfere with property any more than He would with government. And, as we shall show, in presenting His influence on the charity of the world, neither He nor His apostles ever taught idleness or dependence. On the contrary, they enforced the lesson of industry by word and example ; and the very foundation of the new character, stamped by Christ, contained those features of dignity and true manhood which have lain at the basis of all real independence and liberty ever since, Neither the idleness of socialism or monasticism nor the weakness of pauper- ism finds any support in the gospelg. 96 GESTA CHRISTI. The especial methods by which our Lord would resist accumulation, are by inculcating the absolute duty of giving and of sharing means with others who are less for- tunate, and by withdrawing the mind from the excessive greed for money. In many cases, the entire giving up of property for the good of others is made the test of discipleship. The early " communism " of the apostles is an evidence how deeply these instructions penetrated ; but nothing in the words of Christ or His disciples shows that they set forth this as a model for the future. Their great prin- ciples were, not to hunger for riches, to be content with moderate means, and if wealth came, to hold it rigidly as a trust for the good of humanity. These principles would certainly tend towards equalization of property. Charity. — One great means of equalizing human con- ditions was evidently to be through benefaction and charity. Those who had were to give to those who had not. This, however, did not arise under Christ's system so much from a desire of setting right the distribution of wealth, as from the great underlying principle of His whole teachings, that the individual and society were to be renewed by love to God, and to man through Him. The world never needed charity and compassion as it did in the centuries just following Christ. The irresponsible and despotic authority of Rome had stripped some of the richest provinces of the ancient world of every vestige of wealth for the sake of adding to the incredible extravagance and display of the imperial court and city. The system of taxation in distant communities was like that in the states of European Turkey in this century. It soon left nothing to the unfortunate peasants, and mortgaged their harvests years before. Nor did the taxes always reach the imperial exactor. Knavish tax-gatherers, peculating officials and ROMAN PAUPERISM. 97 local " rings," plundered the money which was wrung from the half-starved farmers. There was no science, order or justice in Roman systems of taxation. Incessant wars and conquests added to the misery of the labouring classes ; and slavery, as we have shown, depressed the in- dustry and wasted the means of the whole empire. Vast masses oi proletaires were gathered in the cities, especially in the imperial capital ; and poverty, orphanage, abandon- ment of children, with wide-spread pauperism prevailed, as they have scarcely ever been known in the history, of the world. But it must not be supposed that there were no efforts of compassion to alleviate these evils before the first proclamation of Christian charity. The sympathies of humanity have been felt in every age and by every race, even if in a feeble degree. In ancient Rome, men always acknowledged a certain duty in giving alms to beggars and in relieving extreme distress, though infant misery seems to have excited comparatively little compassion. Still, anything like the modern sentiment or conviction, born of Christianity, of the obligation resting upon each man of doing all in his power to wisely relieve human misery ; and the wide-spread, thorough, conscientious bene- factions by individuals, so common in modern days, were things almost unknown in the ancient world. Nor were the efforts of the imperial government for the poor, true charities. It depended to a certain degree on the favour of the crowd, and therefore food was supplied indiscriminately to all the hungry and idle who poured into the capital. In Cicero's time, it is estimated that about 12 per cent, of the whole population, and in the year 683 of the Republic, 33 per cent, were supported at public expense,^ ' Naudet, Mem. sur Us secours publics chez les Romains. H 98 GESTA CHRISTI. It is related that Caesar found 320,000 persons, or nearly three-quarters of the whole population of the city, on the roll of public succour ; five modii of bread (or about 56 lbs.) were distributed to each person per month. Under Augustus, there were 200,000 persons in Rome receiving " out-door relief " from the authorities ; this was continued to the reign of Septimius Severus, who added a ration of oil to the alms thus given. Valentinian the Elder ordered a gratuituous distribution of white bread to each citizen ; ^ 80,000 modii were distributed per day in Constantinople, and an increase of 125,000 modii per day was made by Constans. Constantine, who desired to have as many houses built in the new capital as possible, allotted bread according to the houses, not to the number of persons. Some of the emperors appropriated large amounts of money to keeping down the price of bread in the capital, while others taxed the provinces heavily in order to make provisions cheap in the metropolis. The effects of such a vicious system of charity can easily be inferred. The idle and improvident of all countries were attracted to Rome to enjoy this " out-door relief ; " the industrious were discouraged, those who produced the wealth bur- dened, and the working-classes were led to depend on the government for everything, while the government lived in fear of them. There was no spirit of true compassion in it, and no wise economy. The masses supported a tyranny and received bread and shows. The real workers were despoiled. But there were other indirect methods of distributing property under the Republic and Empire. Such articles as salt were furnished gratuitously to the people ; patrons supported their clients ; " stay-laws " were passed to prevent the collection of debts; agrarian laws furnished, like the American public-land laws, free home- ' C. Theod., xiv. 17, 5 and 16, 2 ; xi. 24, 2. ROMAN CHARITIES. 99 steads to the landless, on conquered or public territory. Caesar bought lands to be distributed among the poor. The vicious system of public distribution of bread or grain among the people was not abandoned till the seventh century after Christ. There even existed some forms of public assistance in harmony with modern ideas. Aristotle had the wisdom to say that the best way to relieve poverty was to prevent it, by giving means to buy a little piece of land or by a loan to found a trade. Mutual assistance or insurance societies seem to have existed in Greece, and are spoken of by Plinyi in Trajan's time, as formed for "making poverty more endurable."^ Before this time, the emperors had seen with anxiety the constant diminution of popula- tion, especially shown in the lessening number of children in the empire. Augustus attempted to encourage the increase of children by well-known laws, and it is related that on his travels through Italy, he was in the habit of bestowing an allowance (congiarium) of 400 sesterces^ on any one whom the authorities could prove to have sup- ported a family ; subsequently, children over eleven years of age were made participators in these bounties. The Emperor Nerva left benefactions to encourage the increase of children. Trajan, in 100 A.D., supported 5,000 destitute or orphan children at public expense, and in- creased the number every year. Money was invested by him for this purpose in land and farms at Veleia, Cisalpine Gaul, which appears to have paid about 5 per cent, interest. In this particular school or asylum, there were 263 boys and 33 girls; in some villages poor children were supported in their homes by the emperor, while municipalities main- tained others. 1 Pliny, Ep. x. 93, 94. - Ad sustinendum tenuorum inopiam. ^ About ;£8 or $41. loo GESTA CHRISTI. Pliny endowed a charity for the children of the poor ; while the emperors Adrian, Antoninus, and M. Aurelius founded or continued benefactions of a like character.^ Charitable bequests are occasionally alluded to in the burial inscriptions. Thus a citizen of Atona bequeathed to his native town a sum equal to ;£'3,200 or $16,000 ; a lady of rank, " in memory of her son," gives to Terra- cina £8000 or $40,000 to establish a charity ; and various smaller bequests for benevolent purposes are mentioned.^ One of the nearest approaches to the charitable associ- ations of the Christian world, were the curious collegia of the Roman empire in the first and second centuries. The history of these has been especially brought forward through the burial inscriptions* recently deciphered. They seem to have been a kind of social clubs or masonic associations, where all were equal, where fraternal meals were common, and monthly payments prepared a fund for sepulture, for common festivals, and sometimes for ornamental buildings. They formed -a natural pro- totype for the Christian Churches and their charitable societies ; but, so far as can be ascertained, they^ did not use their funds for the poor. They cultivated the habit of equality, and the fraternal spirit, but they did not feel or express " the enthusiasm of humanity," and therefore died out, or were converted into Christian societies. Yet the ideal was sometimes there, as in one beautiful in- scription on a woman's tomb, who is pictured as "the mother of all human beings, ready to help all, and who had made the life of no one sad." * ' Sen. de Rhet, 71, 72, 75, 77, 79, 115. ^ Orelli and Mommsen, quoted in Boissier, La Religion Romaine, 2, 191, and 2, 3, V. 4. ^ De Rossi, La Roma sott. Christ. ■• Omnium hominum parens, omnibus subveniens, tristem fecit neminem. CHRISTIAN CHARITY. loi But few, however, of such institutions existed in the pre-Christian period. The great masses suffering poverty and orphanage in the Roman empire remained almost untouched by any influence of compassion or any effort of relief With Christianity began the organized and individual charity of modern Europe, which for these eighteen cen- turies has wiped away so many tears, softened so much suffering, saved so many young lives from misery and sin, ministered at so many death-beds, made the solitary evening of life sweet to so many forsaken ones, and the morning glad to so many who would have been born to sorrow and shame ; which in so many countries has cared for the sick, the blind, the deaf, the crippled, the outcast and tempted ; the young, the orphan, the foundling, and the aged. Surely, if anything is a fore-gleam of that kingdom of heaven which is yet to shine over the earth, it is the brotherhood of spirit, shown in the charity of the modern world. This is most distinctly the fruit of Christ's teachings. And yet the Master did not lay any extraor- dinary weight on alms-giving. He simply taught the love of man through love to Himself, that the poorest and lowest of the human race represented Himself, and what was done to them was done to Him. The equal brother- hood of man came forth from His teachings, and all human beings of whatever rank, or under whatever dis- abilities of misfortune, became of equal value in the eyes of His followers, as being those for whom He lived and in behalf of whom He felt it not unworthy to die. The un- fortunate had henceforth around them the halo of the great Sufferer, and a very different place in the sympathies of the new world of Europe. The Christian Churches became very early centres of charity. Refuges for orphans (orphano-trophiae) were 102 • GESTA CHRISTI. formed in connection with them, and hospitals for ijiothers ; many of them maintained free " strangers' rests " (xeno- dochiffi). The emperor Julian's famous letter to Arsenius, speaks in reproach of the Galilaeans supporting not only their own poor, but also those of the Romans. Valentinian in 364 A.D., in a proclamation, says that the true worship ^ consists in helping the poor and relieving those in necessity, while he charges the bishops to watch over the poor and save them from exactions. Several of the Christian emperors took under their especial protection houses for the orphan and infirm.^ The Code pronounces it a pious duty to support orphan-asylums.^ Justinian's Code speaks of hospitals for mothers.* Churches were constantly enriched by the offerings of Christian charity, in order that they might extend their benefactions ; and the clergy were allowed especial pri- vileges, inasmuch as their property was employed for the good of others.^ This is the beginning of that ecclesiastical endowment and freedom from public burdens, which after- wards became so great a weight upon many European communities. It proves, at least in that age, the fervour of charity under the new influences. The month of December, which had been the especial month in which gladiatorial games and cruel shows were provided by the rich for the poor in memory of the dead, became the month of offerings for the poor and suffering in memory of Him who had died for all. The first hospital is said to have been built in Rome at 1 Corp. Jur., I, 3, 32. ^ Verus cultus est adjuvare pauperes (sic) et positos in necessitate. {Corp. Jur. I, 4, I.) ^ Pium atque religiosum officium pro tempore orphanotrophos ita peragere convenit. {Corp. Jur., i, 3.) ■• Cod. Theod., i. 2, 17, 22. * Ibid., xvi. 2, 10. PAUPERISM NOT ENCOURAGED. 103 the end of the fourth century. A little later, Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius the younger, built and endowed several at Constantinople ; they increased under later reigns.i The Church councils, by repeated acts of legisla- tion, imposed on. the clergy and citizens the obligation of supporting, feeding, and clothing the poor, and these declarations were re-affirmed in every city by the local clergy. Effects. of Charity. — It has been alleged with some apparent justice, that this spirit of Christian charity, which has made modern society so different from ancient, has cultivated dependence, and increased pauperism or that kind of poverty which is without hope or energy. But it should be remembered that there is nothing in the teachings of Christ or the apostles which favoured indiscriminate alms-giving, or the supporting the poor without labour. " If a man will not work neither shall he eat " is evidently a favourite proverb with the great apostle. He himself laboured with his own hands. The disciples were working people, and Christ, in human relations, belonged to the working-classes. The type of character He stamped on men was the very opposite of the idle and dependent kind ; it was earnest, self-controlled, under a deep sense of responsibility, looking continually to Him to whom man should give an account of every word and work, with a conviction of being the child of God, and therefore calling no man master. It was such a character as could not possibly in the long course of ages sustain tyranny, or support even priestly arbitrary rule, or encourage any form of pauperism and dependence. It seems to contain the stuff out of which republicans and lovers of freedom in all ages are made, and from which the most independent and self-relying (because God-relying) ' Cod. Just., i. 2, 17, 22. 104 GESTA CHRISTI. races are formed. Yet forms of government or laws re- lating to the management of the poor were the last things which Christ would interfere with. The excessive and unreasoning alms-giving of European countries, and the monastic associations of the Middle Ages, are not due to the legitimate and logical influence of Christianity. They are a natural re-action from the selfish- ness of the classic period, and sprang from the fearful economical condition in which Europe found itself at the destruction of the Roman empire. So profound and ap- parently remediless were the evils of the civilized world, so impossible did it seem then to reach the sources of the universal calamity, that a humane person, and above all, one filled with this new love of God and man might well think he had done enough and the best, in sacrificing all to relieve present human misery. He might be willing to take on him the garb of a servant, and, unlike his Master, merely minister to terrible bodily wants, without regard to what was beyond or to the causes of pauperism and suffering. He could become an alms^distributing monk ; or, wearied out with the intense struggle to support life amid a world of suffering and selfishness, it would not be strange that he should join one of the " mutual assistance societies " of those ages, and withdraw to a convent where he could pass his days in quiet labour, peaceful studies, and rapt devotion. The world of the Roman empire seemed perishing ; the imperial city was half-destroyed ; the monk felt only too happy to belong to the city of God, and to keep his thoughts on the world unseen and eternal. Christianity cannot be considered directly responsible for monasticisni any more than for numerous other vaga- ries of the human mind since its advent. A very large part of the wealth of the community which before Christ DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. 105 was deyoted to the luxuries of the rich, or was expended in debasing and cruel spectacles, was henceforth mainly- distributed among the labouring classes through hospitals, asylums, free-schools, institutions of learning and various charities. Charity is not the best form of the distribution of the profits of labour, but it is certainly one form. Education, as endowed by individuals or the State, is another and better form. And this began in Europe especially after Christianity, though the efforts of the Arabs in this direc- tion in subsequent ages should never be forgotten. We do not claim, of course, that the Christian religion in the Roman period solved the problem of ages — the proper distribution of wealth. We only urge that its principles and the words of its Founder tended towards a far more equitable division of property than the world has yet known ; that, as its truths more and more control men, there will continually be in some form or other a more equal distribution of the profits of labour, and that some- thing of the just sharing by those who have with those who have not was seen at that period. The method of distribution will vary with each succed- ing age. CHAPTER X. RESUMfi OF REFORMS IN THE ROMAN PERIOD. The reforms to be traced in the foregoing chapters show the natural and legitimate influence of the Christian system. Parents are bid by the apostle to respect their children, and under Christ's ideas, the son stands with the father as a common child of God whose rights and claims are to be equally considered before Him. Such a tyranny as that of the Roman Patria Potestas could not possibly exist for a long period where society was even feebly touched with the spirit of Christ. The Stoical spirit of humanity had undoubtedly softened the extreme features of harshness of this rule, but it did not come to an end till the new Faith had reached the legislation of the empire. Equally so with the succession of property. The humane views of the Stoical school had already modified the strict tendencies of the Roman law, but it was only after the new doctrines of brotherhood and justice, taught by the followers of the great Jewish teachers, had touched the imperial legislators, that suc- cession followed the bonds of blood and moved in the channels of true equity. The power of Christianity on the Roman world was especially the influence of a Person, of a pure and elevated character who claimed to be a supernatural Being in his relations to men and God, and who was the Founder of a new religion. His nature alone, from its purity and elevation, seemed to sweep away unnatural passions from THE CONQUESTS OF CHRIST. 107 among men, and both in the Roman empire, and since among all races following Him, unnatural vice — one of the greatest evils of antiquity, — has substantially passed away. His character and teachings naturally checked and finally rooted out such a barbarous cruelty and selfish practice, as the exposure of children by parents ; and through His influence began the long series of charities for children and the poor and unhappy, which have come down through the centuries. He was not only in advance of the Roman period, but of all ages since, in teaching the duty of a more equitable distribution of wealth in behalf of the poor, the unfortunate and the labouring classes. The influence of the great Friend of humanity was espe- cially seen in the Roman empire in checking licentious and cruel sports, so common and so demoralizing among the classic races ; and in bringing on a new legislation of bene- ficence in favour of the outcast woman, the mutilated, the prisoner, and the slave. For the first time the stern and noble features of Roman law took on an unwonted expres- sion of gentle humanity and sweet compassion, under the power of Him who was the brother of the unfortunate and the sinful. The great followers of the Teacher of Galilee became known as the " brothers of the slave," and the Christian religion began its struggle of many centuries with those greatest of human evils — slavery and serfdom. It did not indeed succeed in abolishing them ; but the remarkable mitigations of the system in Roman law, and the constant drift towards a condition of liberty, and the increasing emancipation throughout the Roman empire, are plainly fruits of its principles. All these and similar steps of humane progress are the " Gesta Christi " and the direct eflfectsof His personal influence on the world. As to the position of woman, it was the continual re- proach of the early enemies of the Christians that they io8 GESTA CHRISTI. put woman on so high a position. Women had from the first a strong influence in the Church ; the earliest converts from all ranks of society were women, and the example of Christ and the apostles has given the key-note to all modern civilization in the tender respect and dignity thrown around the weaker sex. In this, the Jews of the imperial era only followed out much of the early teachings of the Sacred Book. The picture of the Jewish woman in the last chapter of Proverbs (xxxi. 10-31) might describe the position of a Christian lady with many dependents in the nineteenth century in any civilized portion of America or Europe. At the period of which we are speaking, the peculiar in- fluence of the German tribes upon the position of woman had not been much felt in the Empire. The " tutelage " of woman existed among them also. There was nothing in the Stoical mode of thought, or in the teachings and example of Stoics, which especially tended to elevate woman. The current opinion in the cultivated classes of the Roman empire, if we may judge from poets, satirists, and fragments of speeches handed down, was of profound contempt for woman in the moral and intellectual aspect. There were of course happy marriages, and many instances of affection for sisters and female relatives or friends, and the annals of Rome presented not a few examples of very heroic and superior women ; but, in general, Roman women merited by their conduct and their lack of intelligence in the imperial era, the contempt and censure so freely showered on them by the men. The change in their legal position and the removal of tutelage, is plainly due to the eff"ects of the new Faith. Their own character rose with the increased respect accorded them in the rising Church. They became the confessors of the Faith under the most brutal and savage INFLUENCE ON WOMAN. 109 persecutions ; their martyrdoms on the cross, in the bloody- arena or under frightful tortures, formed the most touching incidents in Christian traditions. The sufferings and death of women in the early ages of the Faith for ever hallowed the sex in the history of the Church. Marriage, too, under the Christian idea, was a bond of equal union, and the highest spiritual partnership. It recognised the two partners as equal before God, and as of one flesh, even though different offices were 9,ssigned to each. The Roman tutelage could not exist long under it. It is true that this idea of marriage existed with the Stoics, but it was seldom realized ; and what the Roman practice became, we have seen. Yet the new Faith would not permit the entire freedom and laxity which arose under the Roman " free marriage," any more than it recognised the entire subjection and inferiority of the wife under the ancient Latin marriage. It demanded faithful- ness, virtue, and propriety ; it urged the indissolubility of marriage, except for unfaithfulness or its moral equi- valent ; it taught the continuance of the union through endless ages of a coming life. So it happened, that this Faith had a composite influence on the position of woman. It strengthened the marriage tie, and therefore, restrained woman of the great freedom she had been enjoying as a married woman under Roman practice. It gave her on the other hand, greater dignity, both as wife and unmarried, and removed her from under the excessive restraints of the old Roman law. The Church, with its Canon law, has un- doubtedly often gone beyond the teachings of its Founder, and subjected the wife to unreasonable legal restraints. But at the period of which we speak, the power of both Religion and Church entered Roman society as a thoroughly purifying and ennobling agency. It did not accomplish, indeed, all that in its nature it was intended to effect ; no GESTA CHRIST I. the Roman habits were too long formed and the influence of both laws and emperors was too weak to eradicate them. Moreover, there comes a period in the history of the decadence of a race when its moral condition is aparently beyond the reach of any system of morality, or of the purest religion.* We know that moral changes are wrought out by slow moral means, and that it is possible for a race as for an individual to reach such depths of corruption and weakness as to forbid any reasonable possibility of renovation and restoration. The Roman race, and many of the races under its sway, had evidently fallen to that stage of degeneracy. They were eaten away by vices and corruption beyond any hope of redemption. Their great historian — the prophet of evil — Tacitus, saw this with singular clearness, and this thought inspires his solemn and sombre eloquence. But he sees no redemption possible. Human affairs seem to him the sport of unseen powers,^ and final and general ruin the only and probable ending. The poets are full of this melancholy tone. The moralists take refuge in the sublime truths of Stoicism and create an ideal city of virtue which shall take the place of the imperial city^ soon to perish. It may be, it was this idea which lay at the bottom of the solemn conviction of the apostles, that the end of all things was at hand : the world of the day was coming to an end ; not even the religion of Jesus could save it. What could preserve European society .'' The usual ' This seems the condition of the Sandwich Islanders at this present time ; the race is dying out, and Christian influences do not reach it thoroughly enough to save it. On the other hand, the Fijis, a more savage, but vigorous race, show the genuine action of the Christian Faith. (See Miss Cummings on the Fijis.) ^ Res humanK superis ludibrio. A FRESH RACE NEEDED. in answer has been, the invasion and intermingling of the German and Keltic races. But, as we shall show later, it was not the fresh infusion of barbarian blood alone which could renovate the world. The northern tribes brought indeed a more healthy physical nature into the Roman empire, and purer habits, and characters less enervated by luxury or corrupted by vice. But they had their own vices ; they were cruel, revengeful and passionate ; certain lusts had made deep inroads in their natures ; the paternal tyranny and a tutelage of woman existed among them. Their ideas of justice were much less developed than were those of the Romans ; and humanity was scarcely under- stood by them. Yet from the first, they formed a fruitful soil in which Christianity could work. It is altogether probable that this Faith can more easily plant itself in a wild barbarous nature, with many generous qualities, than in a more cultivated mind, where the pride and vices of luxury have been long growing rankly. Without the Christian influences, the northern barbarians might have either overwhelmed Roman civilization and brought on a night of barbarism, or have been themselves corrupted and destroyed by the vices and sensuality which surrounded them ; in either case, they could not have renovated the world. Their influence would perhaps have been like that of the Sclavonians on the Greeks ; and no important result for human progress have appeared. The advance of man- kind for future ages seemed at that time to depend on two factors : the power of a system of morality supported by supernatural sanctions, or upon Religion ; and a fresh race in which this religion was to manifest itself. The Roman and Greek races were in their last stages of degeneracy. Physical evils and weakness of will had been transmitted for generations. Unnatural vices, the sign of final decrepi- tude, had attacked all classes. Marriage had become a 112 GESTA CHRIS TI. farce, or the feeblest bond. Exposure of children was practised to an incredible extent. The spirit of cruelty- was nourished by every device and encouraged by in^ cessant bloody sports ; even human sacrifices were offered at the altars of the gods. Slavery had eaten out the life of the nation and wasted its substance. Owing to forced labour, imperial tyranny, bad finance and wars, an almost immeasurable pauperism covered the empire. The only help possible seemed in utterly breaking up society and introducing fresh blood and ne^v institutions. A new religion or a system of exalted morality could not penetrate to the heart of Roman society as it then was. It reached certain individuals, who became conspicuous instances to all ages of its power. But it left untouched great masses of men, and therefore many of the evil habits and practices of a sensual past. This was the more true in that the new Faith soon became a State Religion, and therefore was upheld by force and self interest, instead of being left to its own spiritual power. It was professed by multitudes who never felt its con- verting influences, i What Christianity could do with an old and degenerate race under a State Church, where religion became an ex- ternality and faith a matter of government, we see in the dreary history of the Eastern empire. The power of the system never touched the heart of the people. If we except the grand legacy of Roman law, as reformed by Christian influences, left by Justinian and his predecessors, we can hardly point to one blessing transmitted to the world by the nominally Christian empire, whose seat was at Constantinople, The Greek population needed the German blood. What a fresh barbarian race could accomplish in reno- vating the world without Christianity, we may see in the A BARBAROUS RACE WITHOUT CHRISTIANITY. 113 effects of the Turkish conquest on the races of the Greek empire. The Turks had many of the noble savage quali- ties of the ancient Germans ; their faith in some points was purer than the half-idolatrous worship of the Greek masses, and for this reason and others, they did not accept the faith of the conquered races, as did the north- ern barbarians. Christianity never mitigated their savagery or purified their passions. Under Mohammedism, Turkey and some of the fairest provinces of the world have been kept out of the march of human progress. Sensuality and unnatural vice are said to prevail as they did in the Roman Empire, and even this century has witnessed cruelties and bar- barisms such as were common in Europe before the new Faith appeared. For the coming triumph of Christianity, or even its partial infusion into European life, there were needed fresh races or peoples, not exposed to Roman corruption, who would receive its teachings gladly. These appeared in the Germanic and Keltic tribes ; and their influence, as modified by Christianity, on the moral progress of Europe is now to be examined. II. POWER OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ON THE HABITS, MORALS, AND LAWS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. CHAPTER XL POSITION OF WOMAN UNDER THE GERMAN TRIBES. When the German and Keltic tribes first met the in- fluences of the Christian Faith, they had about them something of the wholesome purity, as well as the savage- ness of the vigorous life in the forests and on the waters. For some unexplained reason, woman held, in the Teu- tonic tribes, a peculiar and revered position. It is true that she was under the absolute authority of her husband or guardian, and could be sold by the former, or bought or beaten or killed. Yet she was the companion of his labours and dangers ;^ her counsel in moments of great peril was looked upon by the tribe as almost inspired ; she was often the prophetess of revealed destinies ; she encouraged the men in their fiercest battles, and it was said that, to the soldier despairing and dying, her whisper would bring back life and courage, and often arouse him to victory.^ Repeatedly in their long struggles with the Romans, have women of the Germans deliberately murdered themselves, rather than submit to dishonour. It may not be reasonable to trust entirely to an epi- grammatic satirist like Tacitus, or to a fiery denunciator like Salvian, yet under the comparisons of both there must be some truth. The purity of German women must have ' Tacitus. ^ Gidd, Condition privde de la Femme, Tacitus. ii8 GESTA CHRISTI. been a striking contrast with Roman impurity ; and ac- cording to the " eloquent priest of Marseilles," the virtue of the Gallic Christians made but a poor appearance placed beside this heathen chastity. The Teutons are represented as at first shocked with the abominations they beheld in Roman cities ; they destroyed the houses of lust and even slew the women who were instruments of such debasing pleasure. The old sagas show the estimate the early Teutons put on female purity; and the ancient legislation which affixes such severe penalties for even innocent familiarities, and which has scales of penalties for every approach against woman's virtue, prove how early this was embodied in law and custom. Unlike most barbarous or semi-civilized tribes, the Germans had succeeded in preserving the morals of their women measurably pure. It was this undoubtedly which retained the physical vigour of these tribes, and gave them the bodily force which overwhelmed the degenerate Romans, and which has kept their descendants at the head of the world's affairs even to this day. Yet it will not be wise to exaggerate these qualities. Such writers as Tacitus and Salvian have no doubt painted their virtues in brighter colours in order to throw Roman vice into darker shade. Polygamy was not unknown among them, or unnatural vice.^ The absolute tyranny of the husband often ended in cruelty and bitter oppression. The provision in certain laws that the husband could not put out the eyes or break the limbs of the unhappy wife,^ shows to what violence he did sometimes proceed. It is true that as time went on the archaic form of purchase of the wife became more and more a purchase ' See Tacitus. Corpore infames. The one guilty of these vices was called by the Anglo-Saxons bmdling ; by the Salians, cynitus. ^ See Davoud-Oghlou's Legislation des anciens Germains. GERMAN CHASTITY. 119 of the guardianship and not of the person of the woman, and finally was only the mode of providing a dower. Yet in the early centuries marriage with the Germans was the buying^ of a woman like any other property, and one of the first endowments of a wife was the barbarous and coarse Morgengabe. Woman was the maiden serving her lord, who knelt at his feet during his meal and yielded to his every whim.^ There was a coarse and brutal side to German marriage, as well as a more elevated. A, wife rated at so many pieces of silver could not be the ideal " socium laborum et periculorum," companion of labours and dangers, whom Tacitus pictures. Nothing shows the degrading side of this connection better than that provision of the Anglo-Saxon law, which we shall quote, in regard to the compensation made to a husband for the adultery of his wife, wherein a woman seems to be valued like any other property, and the oifender is obliged to furnish another wife in place of the false one.^ Whatever purity the Teutons may have preserved in their native wilds, they did not long retain under the temptations of the Roman cities. When Christianity first touched them they were begin- ning to feel these degenerating influences. It was fortu- nate for the future of Europe that the elevating power of this Religion came to aid the German habit of purity and estimate of woman, before Roman and Greek vices had sapped the Teutonic character. The best results of modern civilization have probably come from the position given to women in Europe by German customs, purified by the • According to Grimm {D. Alterthiimer) the phrase " buy a woman " for " take a wife " came down into the Middle Ages in many parts of Germany. (P. 421.) 2 Gidi. ' Leg. Aethet., 32. 120 GESTA CHRISTI. Christian Faith. That modern society has not decayed like ancient, and that pure family-life still supplies fresh forces to races a thousand years old, is due above all to the teachings of Christ, acting on German barbaric virtue and respect for woman. The peculiar chivalry in the sentiment towards woman which softened manners and civilized certain classes so much in the Middle Ages, and which still ornaments modern society, is a combined product of the German and the Christian, and is a feature unknown to cllassic races. German Tutelage — The Tutelage or Mund {mundium, probably from manus) of the German woman was very different from the Roman manus. It was a guardian- ship more in the interest of the woman and ward than of the husband or guardian. The " subjection of woman " rested on a different basis from that implied, and often acknowledged in the Roman law. There was none of that cynical contempt for her which even the Stoical jurists could not avoid expressing as for an inferior and very uncertain being. The German theory of tutelage simply rested on the fact that she could not bear arms, and there- fore could not appear personally in the only forms of legal trial known to that people. She must be represented by another who must guard her rights and her interests. It has been said by a thorough investigator of this field,^ that throughout ancient German legislation "woman appears with a mingled character of feebleness and of grandeur," which would not badly describe her position in modern civilization. No German woman ^ of the higher classes was permitted ' Sallantin. De la Puissance Maritale en Droit Remain et en Droit Fran^ais. ' NuUi mulieri liceat in suee potestatis arbitrio, id est sine mundio vivere, (Rotharis., p. 205.) GERMAN TUTELAGE. 121 to live without a guardian.^ The tutelage passed from the father to the husband.*^ If the husband died the relatives of the widow could liberate the tutelage {mundium liherare) and buy rights of guardianship. The tutelage gave the husband the right to sell, punish, or kill his wife. If he killed her when innocent he was obliged to pay a heavy fine to the parents who had given her to him.^ The original form of marriage with the Teutons indi- cated a purchase ; with the Scandinavians it is called in the sagas brSd-kaup,^ kaup mali, mundi-kaup. By the law of the Alemanns, if the father demand the wife back, the husband must return her and compensate her with forty solidi} By the Saxon law the future husband must pay three hundred solidi ^ to the parents. The law of the Visigoths speaks of the " price " given by the groom to the parents ; ''' the Burgundians give it a similar name ; the Lombards call it meta. The Francs in later time, when it had become a mere form, speak of it as "per solidum et denarium." The laws of king Ine (688 A.D) say : " Gif man wif ' Megede unde wif muten aver vormunden hebben an jewelker klage. (JSachsensp., i, 46.) Mulier semper potestate viri aut potestate Curtis regis debeat permanere. (^Ed. Rothar., p. 205.) ^ Maritus est tutor uxoris post deponsationem. {Sachsensp., in, 115). " Sic maritus uxorem suam occiderit immerentem, componat solidos mille ducentos parentibus qui earn ad maritum dederint. {Rothar., 203.) » Grimm, D. Alt., p. 422. ° - . . reddat earn et cum quadraginta solidis eam componat. (Z. Alem., tit. 54.) ^ Uxorem ducturus ccc. sol. det parentibus ejus. (Z. Sax., tit. vi.) Qui viduam ducere velit, offerat tutori pretium emptionis ejus. {L. Sax., 7, 3.) ^ Si inter sponsum et sponsae parentes ... . dato pretio, etc. (Z. Visig., 111,452.) Si pater de filise nuptiis definierit, et de pretio convenerit, etc. '(Ibid, in, i, 2.) 122 GESTA CHRISTI. gebycge, etc." " If a man buy a wife and the marriage take not place, let him give the money and compensate, and make bot (compensation) to his surety." ^ An ancient historian speaks of marriage as being firmer if purchase-money had been paid.^ The ancient Germans could sell wives as an insult or a punishment ; the Ice- landers had this power ; the Frisians are related to have sold their wives and children to pay their taxes to the Romans. The Saxons, as we have seen, could buy a wife, but were not permitted to sell her. The Langobards gave away a wife, sometimes to an unfree person, probably as a punishment. Aethelbert speaks also of buying a wife ; ^ the price was called a ceap, sceatt, gyft. This king also commands that if a free man breaks the marriage tie with a free married woman, he shall buy another woman and bring her to the injured husband.* And, again, " If a free man take away a free man's wife, let him pay for it with his wergeld, and provide another wife with his own money and bring her to the other."« By the laws of the Alemanns, he who marries the wife of another shall pay forty solidi to the injured husband, and restore the woman. If he keep .the wife with the consent of the husband, he will pay 400 solidi — her full value ; if she die before the husband has reclaimed her, he will also pay 400 solidi. The children born before the pay- ment of her value, will belong to the first husband ; if one ' Leg. IncB, 31. ^ Tutiorem matrimonii fidem censebat quod pretio firmaretiir. (Sax. Gramm., lib. v. p. 88.) ' Leg. Aeth., 76, 82. ■* Idem, 32. Si liber homo cum hominis liberi uxore concubuerit ejus capitale redimat, et aliam uxorem propria pecunia mercetur, et illi alteri adducat. * Idem, 31. BUYING A WIFE. 123 of them should die, the second husband must "pay wergeld or compensation ;i that is, the wife and all that belong to her, are regarded as the property of him who bought her. In the old Welsh laws, compiled 1180 A.D. and be- longing to a much older period, we find the three stages of endowment of the wife existing together — the amobyr or purchase-money paid to the father by the husband, the cowyll or morgengabe, given by the husband to the wife on the morning after marriage, and the agwaddi or dower given by the father to the husband.^ All the ancient Welsh laws give the wife half the property if she be seven years married and separated without fault of her own. Scandinavian Customs. — The most ancient German cus- toms are those of the Scandinavian races. They are stamped with a singular respect for woman ; and yet in some directions she was especially under subjection. Their oldest laws punished the murder of a humble maiden more than that of a chief. The weaker sex was protected in innumerable ways ; and even as late as the 1 2th century, a simple kiss forced upon a maiden was punished with fine or exile ; and in the 15th century, a law of Copenhagen orders the adulterous woman to be buried alive, and the guilty partner to be decapitated. The Scandinavian woman carried arms by a champion, and pleaded or sat in justice through a representative. She was excluded from judicial debates but could act alone in small matters. At times, she had the right to choose her own guardian ; if her tutor abused his rights she could bring an action. She had personality — property which she could call her own. If a relative was killed, she took a portion of the inheritance, or received the blood-money, ^ Lex. Alem., 51, i, 2. 2 Ancient Laws of Wales, Dimetian Code, p. 223. 124 GESTA CHRISTI. though a less share than the males. The price paid to her natural guardian was gradually changed here, as every- where among the German tribes, under the influence of Christianity, into a dower, which was increased by gifts from her own family. She received not alone arms and horses, but land and houses ; so that her independence might be guaranteed. Reciprocal fidelity was demanded from her and her husband ; if he abandoned or ill-treated her, he could be punished by the relatives, and wergeld demanded of him. Her dower could be secured by a kind of separation of goods. Partnership in property was permitted in Iceland between husband and wife, but the husband usually had the power of management. At the husband's death, the widow succeeded to a portion of his power ; she could dispose of the hand of her daughter, and be guardian of the minor children ; she was in fact tutor, except that she must call in her near relatives for assistance. She could perform no acts in law, for in these arms are necessary, but she could direct her champion ; she was not the legal guardian of her children, but must be consulted by the " tutor" ; she did not fight, but encouraged the war- riors ; she did not sacrifice, but interpreted and revealed the oracles.^ In Norway, the woman was always in minority, but, under certain conditions, was allowed a free administra- tion of her property. In Sweden and Denmark, she was more like a minor and the tutor represented her more generally ; he could dispose of her hand, but she could refuse, and, if he neglected his duty, choose a husband for herself. Marriage in Scandinavia could take place without clergy, but divorce required a religious rite. The wife could demand this, if the husband wasted ' Gidd. THE SCANDINAVIAN LAW. 125 their common property. The husband was absolute master of the property of the wife, ^ even of her dower, but if they were separated, he must restore all that be- longed to her, and from one-third to one-half of their common acquisitions. Her natural tutors could always act against him in law. She had few separate rights, and could contract but few debts without his authority. It may be said in general that the oldest and most characteristic German customs — the Scandinavian — placed woman more under subjection than do those of the tribes brought under Roman and Keltic influences. This pecu- liarity has affected all modern legislation in the Scandi- navian countries. Marriage under German Customs. — A wife under the old German law was in the power of the husband in all acts of domestic life, and in civil life she could only act through him. She entered with all her property under his Mund or guardianship, but he could not dispose alone of her estate. In acts of sale, he appears as her guardian, not master. At his death, she received a certain portion of their common acquisitions, one-third in some tribes and one-half in others. There was as yet no partnership, and she transmitted no right in the common property to her heirs. The husband could dispose of their common goods ; he alone had the right to sell. The wife's property con- sisted, first of the price of purchase, which gradually became changed under the higher views of marriage taught by the new Faith, into the dower, and was finally paid by the father ; secondly, of the " morning-gift ;"• thirdly, of 1 In case of there being no children, it was not considered just for' the husband to alienate the property of the wife, but when it was done, the action must stand in law. Nulli prole suscitati vel superstite, alienare non debet prasdium uxoris maritus ; si tamen alienaverit, stabit alienatio. {Lex Scanice Simon, p. 97.) 126 GESTA CHRISTI. her private possessions, and finally of a certain portion of the common gains. During marriage, the husband managed the dower ; if he died first, it returned to the widow and her children, the principal belonging to the latter. If the wife died first without children, the dower fell to the husband. The Sachsenspiegel, a German code of the thirteenth century, says of the wife, that "she must live after the will of the husband, and be subject and obedient, for she is not competent of herself without her husband, whether to do or to leave undone." ^ Girls were often excluded from the inheritance of land, under the necessities of a warlike time.^ The position of woman was made secondary, and the rights of succession were restrained, so that she could not bring too great estates to her husband and thus break up a family pro- perty. Approaches to partnership in property in marriage, and equality of rights of the sexes, have been the slow gains won by the Christian spirit in Europe. Even in the seventh century, the customary wills, bequeathing property, begin to show the Christian influence, equalizing the sexes. One of Marculfus' forms speaks of "the long- continued but impious custom " of providing differently for the sister from the brother, and divides the estate equally between the sons and daughters.* ' Und sie sol nach seinem willen leben, und uuterthenig und gehor- sam sein, denn sie ist ihres selbes nicht gewaltig, one ihren man, weder zu thun noch zulassen. {Sachs., l, 97.) 2 Glanville seems to assert in regard to the old English law, that no female could share in any inheritance with males. Mulier nun- quam cum masculo partem capit in hereditate aliqui. {Glan., v. i.) 3 Diturna sed impia inter nos consuetudo tenetur, ut tervi paterni sorores cum patribus portionem non habeant. Sed ego . . . sicut mihi equaliter a Deo donati estis filio. {Marc. Form., 1. 11, p. 177.) FREE MARRIAGE. 117 Under the German customs, all sins and errors of the wife are severely punished. The husband can be faithless without redress. He can send her away, provided he give her a dower as large as the original one, and pay a fine to the king ; he may abandon his home, provided he take nothing with him. If she leave him without good reasons, she may be suffocated in a ditch (necetur in luteo). It is obvious that the position of woman under all the Teutonic tribes bore a stamp of barbarism. Something of that barbarism has descended in the English common law ; though here the ascetic principles of the Canon law have aided in making her legal position as wife, inferior. The influence of the Christian idea as distinguished from asceticism of the Church, on the one side, or from the coarseness of German custom and law on the other, has been continually to make her, in all personal rights, the equal of man, and his superior in the moral field. Free Marriage. — As the Roman institutions were transplanted to Gaul, " free marriage " (terminated at will) was especially adopted. Even Christianity did not for a time change it. The consent of relatives and friends , was desirable, but not necessary. Marriage was held good without religious ceremonial or dower. The various laws of the Christian emperors only demanded the consent of the spouses and the testimony of friends. Divorce was comparatively easy, and among some of the tribes, was possible under mutual consent. Legal concubinage — a very different relation from " free marriage " — was almost universal, and even at times winked at by the Church.^ Justinian regarded it as lawful, and it endured till the thirteenth century. The new Faith of course acted directly against these evils, and everywhere — when allowed its natural power — ' Dec. Cone. Toledo (589 A.D.). (/c. xvii.) 128 GESTA CHRISTI. tended to abolish free marriage, unlimited divorce and concubinage. Even the Church, in the matter of divorce, was true to the teachings of the Master. The Council of Aries (3 14 A.D.) endeavoured to recall the Gallo- Romans to the respect of marriage, and warns those husbands who had surprised their wives in criminal practices, to take no others to wife, — a direction more strict than the apparent teachings of Christ. Another Council (365) excommuni- cated those husbands who abandoned their wives without proof of crime, and contracted new marriages ; others were excommunicated who repudiated their spouses before the matter had been brought to the bishop for judgment. The law of Aethelred^ is striking. "And we direct very earnestly that every Christian man carefully avoid unlawful concubinage and rightly observe Christian law ; and let it never be that a Christian man marry within the fourth degree nor have more. wives than one as long as she may live. Whoever will rightly observe God's law and secure his soul from the burnings of hell." The Pepin Capitulary, addressed (744) to the Council of Soissons, declares that "during the life of the husband, no other ought to marry his wife," etc., and that the husband is not permitted to repudiate his wife except for the cause of fornication.^ The Capitularies of Charlemagne (789 A.D.) are stroijgly for the indissolubility of marriage. In one he declares that nothing can break a Christian marriage,^ and calls another union adultery. The growing love and worship for the mother of Jesus, no doubt strengthened and intensified this respect for woman, now increasing in Europe. * Lex. Ethel., v. 11, vi. 11. ^ Maritus non debet mulierem suam dimittere, excepto causS. forni- cationis deprehensa. (Bal., i, 159.) ^ Nequaquam posse uila occasione separari. THE STRUGGLE OF CHRISTIANITY. 129 The Church, too, set itself vigorously to root out the old venal character of marriage. The Council of Treves (1227) forbade the relatives of the bridal pair from taking money under any pretence for the giving the woman in marriage.^ The maternal power introduced into, or strengthened in ancient legislation by Christianity, was gradually developed until it finally reached almost the level of the paternal power. The low idea of marriage, shown especially in the Anglo-Saxon laws, was elevated step by step. Under the Burgundians, two-thirds of the purchase money of the bride went to the father and one-third to the woman, showing that the archaic idea of- sale still survived. This soon became only the purchase of the woman's tutelage, and later, under the higher iniiuences, a mode of securing the independence and safety of the wife. The Morgengabe was gradually merged in the dower, and at length under the new refinement, dropped out of use. All the various forms of protecting or adding to the wife's property ; — the purchase money, the morning gift, the Norman douaire, the " thirds " or " half" of the different tribes, the dos ad ostium ecclesicz, all have formed the modern " dower." The ring is the only relic of the ancient wed, or pledge, that the man would fulfil his part of the money contract. Even as early as King Edmund (940-946 A.D.), the influence of the new Faith was felt in elevating the idea of the wed or pledge. It was then recognised as a promise that " the husband will keep the wife according to God's law, as a husband should his wife." Still a wed is paid at the same time to the father for the tutelage (foster-lean) of his daughter ; and the husband's authority is described as that of a baron over his vassal ; she is said to " choose his will." Even then, ' . . . quocunqiie colore qusesito.aliquam pecuniam pro matri- monia contrahenda, etc. K 130 GESTA CHRISTI. on agreement, she was entitled to half the common pro- perty if they had children, and she did not choose another husband on separation.^ In the time of Henry I. (1070 A.D.) the widow was entitled to her dowry (when delivered to her before witnesses), and her " marriage gift," and one-third of their common earnings,, as well as her clothing and furniture. If she died without children, her relatives divided her share with her husband. ^ The Church laboured unceasingly to confirm the dower. Many canons made marriage illegal unless the woman were thus protected.^ And even as early as King Canute, the Christian spirit seems to have influenced legislation against selling a woman in marriage.* Sir Thomas Smith states that even as late as his time (1570), gold and silver were laid upon the " church book " at the door of the church by the husband when the father or next of kin gave the bride up, " as though he did buy her." 5 The laws of the Germanic and Scandinavian nations show everywhere the effect of Christian influence in modi- fying the old license of divorce. The West-Gothic later laws permitted divorce only for adultery, though earlier customs allowed it by mutual consent. " Tutelage," at first a domestic right in the interest of the tutor, became by degrees, under Christianity a public charge in the interest of the ward. In the time of Clovis, ' Leg. Edmund. Thorpe, p. 255. 2 L. H. Prim., Ixx. 22. ' Dubium non est earn mulierem non pertinere ad matrimonium . . . nisi ilia mulier . . . et dotata legitime ■ . . . videatur. Cone. ap. Tus. * And let no one compel either woman or man to him whom she herself mislikes, nor for money sell her, etc. {L. of King Canute, 75.) * The Commonwealth of England, p. 124. TUTELAGE OF WOMAN. 131 the Mund of the woman belonged to her family ; of Charlemagne, to the State. The king became gradually the protector of the weak, according to the words of the Holy Book, which entitle him the " Father of orphans and refuge of widows." At his crowning, he took the oath to be the " guardian of widows and orphans " {tutor viduarum et orphanorum) and promised officially to be the " especial defender of widows and wards " (viduis et pupillis maximus defensor). " Let our envoys," says Charlemagne, " enquire into the condition of all widows and persons incapable of legal action ; let them watch that they be provided with skilful tutors and friends of justice ; if there be any bad tutors, let them replace them, because, next to the Lord and the saints, the emperor is constituted to be the protector and defender of such." ^ Whoever injured the widow, was held to have violated the " Peace of the king." A special jurisdiction was constituted in her behalf; justice was made easy for her, and her complaints were always listened to. Woman was not yet made equal to man under the law, but was at least protected. From the king, whenever his authority became weakened, the tutelage passed to the feudal baron. At first, the woman could not inherit land, but later she held it under the tutelage of the seigneur who represented her in law. Subsequently she was permitted the right of choosing her guardian, and the seigneur sold his right of tutelage. The tutor acted for her in all things. He could choose her " champion " {advocatus), and in this way gained the right of choosing her husband. Her hand thus became venal. Both widow and daughter were sold in marriage, for they ' Quia ipse Dominus Imperator, post Domini et sanctorum ejus, quorum et protector et defensor constitutus est. (Cap. i, 8.) 132 GESTA CHRISTI. became of importance to any baron, as controlling one or more men-at-arms with their estates. The baron had also an equal right in France over the marriage and landed property of the serf (or mainmortable). During the early part of the Middle Ages, the daughter of the serf did not succeed to the land of her parents. Through these rights of the master, arose the extraordinary and brutal " droit de seigneur." ^ Under the softening influences of the new Faith, all these "rights" were gradually modified. The right of the seigneur over the hand of his ward was first attacked, and he was not permitted to affix a high price to his consent ; at length the right of tutor came to apply only to the fief and not to the patrimony ; so there became two tutors, the seigneur and the natural guardian, and the right of tutelage was bought and sold. As mercenaries took the place of vassals in the service of the king, the fiefs became simple patrimonies, and the two 'sexes equal." The woman owning a fief soon exercised all the rights of sovereignty ; she became guardian, dispensed justice,' signed treaties, and performed all the public legal acts of the man.^ France was the first to abolish tutelage ; charters in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries omit any mention of it. Outside of marriage was complete emancipation ; inside, the old incapacities. After the fall of feudalism, no guardian — at least in the cities — was appointed for a girl no longer a minor, or for a widow ; she had access to all ' See on this curious subject, Delpit, Sur U droit du Seigneur, Delisle, Etudes sur la condition de la classe agric. en Normandie, and other works on Jus prima noctis. Also Du Cange, on Macheta and CuUage. ' Gidi. I desire to express especial obligations to this most clear and thgrovgh writer on this topic. GAINS OF CHRISTIANITY. I33 courts ; could plead and was represented in judicial duels by champions selected by herself. The incapacities of the Roman law disappear ; she can give bail, appear in courts, be arbitrator and render testimony in civil or criminal cases. Her incapacity begins with marriage, and is de- rived from the German mundium or tutelage. The husband can beat his wife, though not to death, and chastise her reasonably.^ The husband is responsible for his wife's offences and has the right to administer her property ; all their goods and effects are common. In general, it may be said that throughout Europe the influence of Christianity tended to purify law of the gross German prejudice, that bodily strength was a condition of civil capacity, and that woman was an inferior being — an impression from which even the Stoical jurists were not free. The sex unable to bear arms was gradually freed from disability and received an equal part in the suc- cession of property, while in marriage the wife retained the administration of her property, and gradually acquired almost full legal equality with the husband. It is not to be understood, however, that in this matter the Church corresponded to the Spirit of the Master's teachings. The Canon law was a reaction from pagan licentiousness, and too much narrowed the field of woman's activity, holding her in too close subjection, and has thus been adverse to modern progress. In the north of Europe the old German tutelage of woman continued the latest ; in the south, other incapa- cities from Roman law survived. In every part of Europe, there was a preference for male heirs for many centuries. In France, it was 1791 before all children were assured 1 . . . battre sa femme, sans mort et sans mehaing, et la castier resonablement. (Ord. XII.) 134 GESTA CHRISTI. equal rights in the family. The Code Napoleon abolished all legal distinctions of sex. In Scandinavia, it is only in this century that the legal disabilities of woman have been diminished, and in some directions entirely removed ; and in this century also, woman may be said to have been legally emancipated in Germany.^ In England the old inferiority of woman in marriage — an effect of German tutelage — was retained longer than in France, which came more under the Roman law. The canonists, who held the ascetic idea of marriage as an impurity, and of woman as an inferior creature, and a source of endless temptations to man, were only too re- joiced to place the wife under strict subjection and to almost absorb her personality in her husband's. The religious influence, promoting entire partnership in property and interests, seems to have had more weight in France than in England Of the rigorous English common law Sir Thomas Smith says (1571) : "And although our Lawe may seeme some- what rigorous towards the wives, yet for the most part they can handle their husbands so well and so dulcly, and specially when their husbands be sicke, that where the law giveth them nothing, their husbands at their death of their own good will give them all."^ Glanville* still earlier (1181) says : "It should be understood that a woman can- not during the life of her husband make any disposition of her dower. For since the wife herself is in a legal sense under the absolute power of her husband, it is not ^ Tutelage of woman was only abolished in Wurtemberg in 1828, in Baden in 1835, and in Saxony in 1838 ; it is said to still exist in the Hanseatic towns and a portion of Hanover. Gi(U. ' Commonwealth of England, •^. 125. ' Glanville, c. iii. p. 16 (Beames). THE COMMON LAW. 135 singular if the dower as well as the woman herself should be considered to be fully at the disposal of her husband elect." He adds, that the husband can give, sell, or alien- ate her dower, and that the wife has no redress, even if she have not consented to this disposition of her property.^ She cannot even make a will without the authority of her husband.^ The same author testifies to the influence of the Church in confirming her dowry, " for every man is bound as well by the ecclesiastical law, as by the secular, to endow his bride at the time of his being affianced to her." 3 The spiritual courts were not always in favour of the legal subjection of woman. Thus in the reign of Edward III. (1336-1431, A.D,) they held that wives had the right to make wills, and that efforts to prevent them were in violation of the usage of canon law. The church-door dower {ad ostium ecclesid) seems to have mainly passed away in the seventeenth century.* The modern idea of absolute partnership between hus- band and wife, is not to be found in the old English law. There exists still a form of contract, made in the time of Edward I., in which a man engaged to sell and deliver his wife to another man,^ and a historical document speaks of a "bought wife delivered in a halter," as late as 1782.* ' Glanville (Beames), p. 63. -^ Ibid. ' Ibid., p. 163. It is clearly not the canonists who put the wife's dower and property so absolutely in the power of the husband. This feature belongs to an archaic idea among the Teutonic tribes, of the subjection of the weaker sex. ■* See that quaint book, The Woman's Lawyer, p. iii. ° Noveritis me tradidisse et dimisse spontanea, voluntate mea, Gul. Paynell milite, Margaretam uxorem meam, etc. (Quoted from Rot. Pari., vol. i. p. 146, by Pearson, in his History of England, vol. i. p. 601.) ' Anne, daughter of Moses Stebbing, by a bought wife, delivered to him in a halter, Sept., 1782. (Ibid.,yo\. i. p. 601, from Purleigh's Register.) 136 GESTA CHRISTI. Fleta ^ defines the legal status of woman as " under the rod." The conclusion from this very brief resum^ of an impor- tant topic, may fairly be that the modern social and legal position of woman, while it owes much to ancient German customs, has been far more influenced by the estimate set upon woman and marriage by the Christian doctrines. Christianity, it will be seen, has done away with " tute- lage," at least in central Europe ; has elevated marriage from the idea of a purchase to that of a spiritual and bodily union ; it has protected woman by everywhere encouraging the dower ; it has sought to make her in its own fields the equal of man ; and through its influence, more than any other, has " the proprietary and personal independence of woman " been advanced throughout Europe and the Chris- tian world. This has been one of the most important contributions of the religion of Jesus to the progress of the race ; its effects are to be felt through all succeeding ages. ' Qusedam sub virgi velutuxores. FL, i, c. 9. CHAPTER XII. PERSONAL FEUDS AND PRIVATE WAR. 'In all barbaric society, individual injury is at once re- venged on the person of the enemy, and the injured, being a member of a family, is protected by this association, and his wrongs are held as wrongs done to the family. So " feuds " [faidd) arise, which are so large a part of the objects of legislation of the early Teutonic and Keltic races. Wherever lands are inherited, there goes with it the inheritance of the coat of mail and the family feud.^ Among the American Indians, it is well known that the murder of a single member by one of another tribe, entails a feud against all of that tribe, until revenge is satiated by another murder. The same thing is still true of the Arabs, who carry out blood-feuds to an ex- treme, and whose faith has not softened this feature of barbarism. Philosophers have called the practice the habit of "self-help," as opposed to leaving punishment with government. It seems rather the unbridling of re- vengeful passions, and belongs to a low state of human progress. The Teutonic races, however, early attempted to restore order to society by arranging fixed methods of satisfying enmities. A careful and elaborate system of ' Ad quemcunque hereditas terrse pervenerit, ad ilium vestis bellica et ultio proximi . . . debet pertinere. {Leg. Angl. et Wer- Lex. Salic, tit 13, and many Anglo-Saxon Laws.) 137 138 GESTA CHRISTI. fines, or amends, was arranged, first no doubt paid to the sufferer or his family alone, and afterwards to the prince or king also, as representing the injured community. Each member and portion of the body was strictly valued, and every possible injury estimated, so that all penal and re- pressive legislation was represented by scales of fines and pecuniary penalties. A favourite Anglo-Saxon proverb was : " Buy "a spear from the side, or bear it ! " (Biege spere of side oder bere !) Capital punishment was seldom employed, as the tribe could not spare a member, and preferred fines to death-penalties. The extreme punish- ment with the early Teutons was , " out-lawirig," which not only banished the offender from the society of his fellow-men and made his murder an act of justice, but even cast out his body from honourable burial. The first effort of the new Faith on the barbaric tribes of Europe, was to repress feuds by encouraging fines. King Alfred, in the introduction of his laws, speaks of the ordaining of bot, or money-fines to repress feuds, by the legislative assem- blies of England, as a special effect of the Christian faith.^ The codeS of every tribe, after its conversion to Christi- anity, are filled with rules as to pecuniary amends. The two sexes and different ranks of life are carefully estimated as to their relative values. It is curious that by the laws of the Wisigoths, the compensation, or wergeld ("man- money," or "blood-money") of a maiden under fifteen years was only half that of a youth, while between fifteen and twenty years, it was more than that of a man ; between twenty and forty it was less, and still later, yet less. This people felt among the first the influence of the new power in the world, and faida, or feud, was early abolished, and it was declared that the author of the crime is alone re- ' See Thorpe's Coil, end the chapter of this work, on "Anglo-Saxon Laws." FINES FOR CRIMES. 139 sponsible, and no persons, whether relatives, or neighbours, will have to fear any calumnia (offence). (Lang. C. 6, 8.) Among the Alemanns and Burgundians faida still existed, though restrained, but with the Langobards it was declared that : " In all wounds between freemen, we have put stronger compositions than the ancients, that no recourse be had to feud {faida), and it be replaced by an amiable friendship." ^ And, " He who for a wound or a blow hath received fine for a murdered man, and taken care not to exercise faida, yet killeth a man of the other party, he will pay to the relatives double the fine/' ^ Feud is raised, or ended, usually by paying a certain fine. The steps for abolishing feud were gradual ; first the home was protected, and whoever killed a murderer in his own home, even in anger, paid a fine equal to the legal value of the person, provided he were slain at once. But if he were killed after consideration, the fine was increased seven-fold. And in certain cases, all the offender's goods were confis- cated, and even he himself was put to death. In the law of the Bavarians, different parts of the house were valued even as different members of the body, and suitable fines fixed on their violation. Next, certain places were made sacred from feud, such as public places like the inallum (or legislative hall), the market, the town, and various asylums, and most of all, the church. Then the transit, or journey from the house to the mallum, the town, the market, the court, or the church was protected. From protection in space, the legislation was transferred to time. All religious days were sacred from feud, such as Sundays, Festival days, the Christmas-tide, Good Friday, Ascension- day, and the like. The power of the king, too, imposed peace on certain places, such as royal roads, water-courses, and forests. Protection was extended also to widows ' Leg. Roth., 74. ^ Ibid., 6. HO GESTA CHRISTI. orphans, the poor, and pilgrims. And finally, even draw- ing the sword in presence of a bishop, or dignitary of the Church or state, was punished by a fine. Among the Salian Francs, we find a decree very early (S96 A.D.) against feuds. Childebert II. limits it to murder, and declares it a pagan institution which had destroyed many families. He orders that unprovoked murder should be punished with death, and should not be redeemed with fine, "because it is but just that he who has known how to kill, should learn how to die." ^ The Church everywhere sought in the Middle Ages to encourage the settlement of contests by fines rather than fighting, and to obtain concord by arbitration or through, judges rather than by litigation. It was earnest in its endeavours to determine facts, not by duel, but by wit- nesses.^ In England, in the seventh and eighth centuries, so great was the influence of Christian principles, war itself was for a period regarded as antichristian, and a confessor at shrove-tide would refuse absolution to a man at feud, who would not make peace with his enemy .^ A precious document describes to us the early influence of Christianity in substituting punishment instead of fines for murder. Pravda * is the name of the ancient Russian code, first collected thirty-two years before the introduction of Christianity (988 A.D.). From this we learn that " King Wladimir lived in the fear of God, and murders waxed greatly. Then spake the bishops to Wladimir, ' Murders wax greatly. Why dost thoi^ not punish ? ' He answered, ' De homicidiis, vero ita jussimus observare, ut quicumque teme- " rario, ausu alius sine causa occiderit, vitae periculum feriatur. Nam non de precio redemptionis se redimat aut componat . . . quia justum est, ut qui novit oocidere, discat moriri. ' Reeves' Hist, of English Law (i, 116). ^ Pearson's Hist, of England. * Das alteste Reeht der Russen. Ewers. Hamburgh, 1826. ANCIENT RUSSIAN LA W. 141 ' T feared injustice^ But they replied, ' Thou hast been set by God, for the punishment of the wicked and for grace to the good. It becometh thee to punish the murderers ; but only after much searching out.' Then Wladimir re- jected the wergeld (fine) and punished the murderers." This ancient chronicle shows remarkably the change which must have passed through every barbaric tribe after the new power began to work. First the bitter and deadly feud under the reign of private revenge ; then blood-money paid to the person injured or to his relatives ; then a fine paid to the prince by one who had no family, and afterwards by any offender, as a surety of peace and to atone for injury done to the community. The first effect of the new Faith is a fresh sanctity given to human life. Wladimir feared to execute murderers, lest he should do wrong by taking life. But the new view of justice and of punishment which also came from this Faith, taught him that he must repress evil-doers even at the sacrifice of life. The fines which were once a safeguard of order, now became a composition with guilt. Capital punishment here was an offspring of the spirit of true humanity. Thus one of the great movements in human progress, the substitution of law and legal penalty for private revenge, was especially aided on the continent of Europe by Christianity. It is true that society everywhere tends, under Divine influences and the instincts and sympathies of human nature, towards this improvement. Yet imperfect faiths and other causes retard the drift. Christianity has no purer page in its record, than the history of its efforts to abolish feuds and blood-revenge, and to draw men under law and government ; thus beginning that great work of bringing Peace to the earth, which after many ages it shall certainly consummate. CHAPTER XIII. PRIVATE WAR AND PEACE OF GOD. — ARBITRATION. One of the especial curses of the Middle Ages^— a natural accompaniment of feudalism — was the practice of waging "private war." This was a privilege allowed in many- countries only to gentlemen, but in Germany, the custom prevailed through all classes. Every one who thought him- self wronged, had the right to send a formal declaration of war to his enemy. The forms were fixed, a special code existed for it ; the messenger or ambassador must convey the challenge on the same day with the offence ; the challenger and his messenger must give proof by oath of having gone through the necessary forms. If the ambas- sador happened to die, the author of the war must prove by two compurgators that the challenge was given. If the messenger was injured by the one challenged, he was dishonoured, and the other was not obliged to observe the forms and delays of war. The challenge must proclaim openly that the one desired to be the enemy of the other, and declared war ; as thus (in 145 1) " Know, Imperial cities of Ulm and Esslingen, that I, Claude, Duke Von Salz, etc., etc., do declare and desire to be your enemies on account of Henry etc., etc. ! And he who would deliver himself to acts of enmity before the time, let him be considered brigand, incendiary, and murderer ; and we PRIVATE WAR. 143 desire by this note, sealed by our arms, addressed to you publicly, to preserve our honour." ^ In France, the author of the war could call upon those owing him assistance, and upon his relations up to the seventh degree. If they refused help, they lost all the advantage of relationship. Two brothers of the same father and mother were not permitted to wage war with one another ; two " uterine brothers " were allowed tlje privilege. Holy clerks, monks, women and children were not bound to join in these personal wars. The towns often had the privilege of war granted them in their charters. Among the instances of private war in the Middle Ages, it is related that in the fifteenth century, a cook of Eppen- stein, — a sheep of his having been killed by Count Von Solms, and the value not being paid — sent, with the scul- lions, a formal challenge of war to the nobleman. In 1501, a ruined merchant of Nuremberg is said to have been imprisoned for debt. He escaped and demanded from the city a heavy sum as indemnity for his unjust imprison- ment. The town refused his demand ; whereupon he sent a challenge of war, seized one of the wealthy citizens who had gone to visit his estates in the country, refusing to ransom him for less than 3,500 florins, and forming an alliance with some barons, plundered and annoyed the city till the inhabitants were obliged to yield. In another case, a nobleman declared war against the city of Frankfort, because a lady residing there had promised a dance with his cousin and had danced with another. The city was obliged to satisfy the wounded honour of the gentleman. Even as late as 1450, there was a challenge from the baker and domestics of the Margrave of Baden to seven Imperial cities ; and in 1462, a baker of the Count Palatine defied three cities; and in 1471, the shoe-blacks > Wachter, Beitrdge, etc. Beaumanoir. 144 GESTA CHRIST!. of the Leipsic University formally challenged the Provost of the city. In the fifteenth century Germany was described by a Roman Cardinal " as one grand robbery " and that noble- man as most famous who plundered most.^ The Margrave of Brandenburg boasted that he had burned 170 villages ; everywhere were the desolation of farms and the obstruction of commerce. The peasants and humble cultivators of the ground suffered most from this anarchy. An estate was valued by its convenience of situation for despoiling peasants and travellers. Of France, in the eleventh century, a monkish authority says, that the whole kingdom was disturbed by incessant fightings : — " Everywhere were robberies, and besieging of public roads, endless burnings of houses," the only causes being an unconquerable greed for money.^ So terrible were the evils that a Church Council held near Soissons (a.d. 909) declared that " the cities of France were depopu- lated, the monasteries burned or destroyed, the fields re- duced- to solitude, so that we can truly say that the sword has pierced to the very soul." * Wherever feudalism extended, there was private war. Each gentleman and nobleman felt it to be a peculiar right of his- class. It existed in all parts of Europe ; less perhaps in England than elsewhere, owing either to the greater power of the Norman kings, or to the deeper wprking of Christianity. In Germany, as we have said, its effects were the most • Germania tota magnum latrocinium, et ille inter nobiles gloriosior qui rapacior. * Erat eo tempore, maximis ad invicem hostilitatibus, totius Franco- rum regni facta turbatio ; crebra ubique latrocinia, viarum obsessio. , . . incendia infinita, etc. {Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, ^Z2) ' Depopulate urbes, destructa vel incensa monasteria, agri in solitudinem sunt redacti, ut aut vere possimus dicefe, quia pervenit gladius usque ad animam. (fiesta. Tros., 2, 536). PEACE OF GOD. 145 disastrous, threatening even the dissolution of society. There was in that country a greater number of nobles and of self-governing jurisdictions than in any other. Each city or province had independent powers with especial privileges. The interregnum between 1256-73 accustomed these powers to uncontrollable license. The Diets seldom met, and were not, from their numbers, adapted to settle questions of right. In consequence, Germany had no court capable of deciding disputes between its more power- ful members, or of repressing such evils as private war. The "Peace of God" — A remarkable mode in which the religious spirit aided to raise society of the Middle Ages out of this barbarism was through the establishment, by the clergy and the mercantile community, of the so- called " Peace of God." In France especially, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, there seems to have been a kind of religious " revival " of peace. The clergy preached it ; religious enthusiasts went from village to village proclaim- ing it in the name of Christ the " Prince of Peace ; " holy relics were brought to public places, on which the wild barons swore a vow of peace ; great councils were held to spread abroad the ideas of brotherly amity, and the Popes themselves wrote letters and published Encyclicals to recommend the vows and habits of concord to all Christian nations. An enthusiasm thus nourished by religion took possession of a military and uncontrolled population for a period, in favour of quiet and good will towards especially the poor, the unbefriended, the weak, and those engaged in useful occupations, or in the services of religion. There was almost a " crusade of peace " in certain parts of France in the eleventh century. One of the old liturgies of this period made a special ground of penitence that the peti- tioner had not reconciled two enemies.^ The clergy not 1 Peccavi, duos non conciliavL {Digby. Mor. CatL, 9, 12.) L 146 GESTA CHRISTI. being able in such an age to secure all the year for peaceful pursuits, induced the wild barons to admit certain days, certain places and pursuits, as always resting under the protection of a consecrated peace. Whoever violated this compact was exposed to every worldly and spiritual penalty. He lost his fief if a baron, his other property went to his heirs, he was driven out from among Christian men, and his body refused Christian burial ; if a serf he might be punished by the loss of his hand or even of his life. All the thunders of the law and religion followed the accursed man who broke the peace of God. The holy days were protected, the feasts and other Christian festivals, and even in each week, the time from Thursday evening to Monday morning — this period covering the days of the Passion and the Resurrection. The peasants were especially guarded by this humane impulse, and the cart and grain and cattle of the farmer were made as sacred as the altar or the church. Christianity, with its usual spirit, led men to pro- tect particularly the weak, and every vow of peace included the women, children, travellers, strangers, and holy clerks. When society was in the chaos we have just described, and law existed alone in the strong hand, and all the weaker classes were exposed to incessant oppression and cruelty from the stronger, we can imagine what it was to have created a religious and sacred protection, if only for a time, for all who were trodden down and injured. It gave European society its first taste of a rule of law and order. The brotherhoods for the Paix de Dieu in France in the eleventh century formed the great point of resist- ance against the feudal barons and their anarchical con- flicts. They laid the foundation for the rural Communes, which have been so important an element since in the French political life, and they formed the first great support for the kings when they subsequently endeavoured THE PLEDGE OF PEACE. 147 to introduce law and courts and royal power in place of " Private War " ^ among feudal or half independent barons. Many religious fraternities to reconcile enemies were formed in the Middle Ages. Muratori traces the guilds of Italy to missionaries, who in the time of Frederick II. went about endeavouring to appease discords and make peace.^ One of the conditions for entering a fraternity of builders formed at Chartres in the Middle Ages was that the candidate must confess and be reconciled to his enemies.^ Among the early efforts to bring about peace in France was a meeting of the clergy and Christians at Charons, 989 A.D., which solemnly anathematized all who should plunder the poor and attack the holy clergy. The estab- lishment of peace was held to be a means of removing Divine displeasure, and in 944, after a terrible pestilence in Limoges, the clergy ordered a fast and the "Pact of Peace " was concluded by the seigneurs and the duke. It is related by the chroniclers that the archbishop "on account of the violence of the men of war and the ruin of the poor," forbade divine worship in monasteries or churches to those engaged in breaking the peace. The form of the pledge of peace, administered by the archbishop to the fierce barons, is given by Du Cange : " I, W , Archbishop of Puy, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to all who expect supreme pity . . . As we know that without peace no one shall see the Lord ; we order the faithful . . . that no one shall make an attack on a church, that no one shall plunder horses, cattle, chickens, etc., from the peasants . . . that no one shall attack merchants or plunder them ... If ' See Semichon, La Paix et la Tr^ve de Dieu. ^ Ant. ItaL, Ixxv. 3 Digby, 9, 12. 148 GESTA CHRISTI. any one do not keep this peace let him be excommunicated, anathematized and driven from the Church." The Council of Poictiers (1004 A.D.) attempted to estab- lish forms of law to check private war. If there was a quarrel between two dioceses both must appear before the seigneur or judge of the county, and endeavour to obtain justice. If one should refuse to appear, the judge must do justice and seize upon " the hostage '' of the recusant. If he had not the power, he must convoke the princes and bishops, and all should unite to attack and punish the resisting member, and not cease till he yields to the claims of justice. These first efforts under the religious impulse to bring order out of chaos and to create law in a barbarous society, are highly important in the history of progress. In 102 1 famine and war desolated the country around Amiens. To avert these evils the relics of saints were col- lected in the churches, and a vow was made over them of an inviolable " Peace of God " during one week, and the people took oath, if a quarrel arose, not to resort to rapine; and burning till they had on a fixed day exposed their griefs before the Church. The most terrible forms of ex- communication were uttered against those "Chevaliers who would not promise peace," and " in the name of God the All-powerful, of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost," they were accursed of men. These efforts of the clergy succeeded in forming Peace Associations, which frequently employed the barons to execute the orders of the councils, and to collect the tribute (paciegium) which formed a fund to compensate the . sufferers under violence. Thus early began a kind of assu- rance fund or public tax to protect the weak of society. In 1030, a famine occurred in parts of France, followed by years of abundance. The popular gratitude to Providence THE PEACE OF GOD. ug was made manifest in councils for the Peace of God. Laws were passed to forbid travelling with arms, and the church was made an inviolable asylum for the weak and perse- cuted. The assemblies were electrified with pious ardour, and the bishops raised their crosses to heaven, and men of the people, holding their hands in the air, cried " Peace ! Peace ! " and took God to witness of their " perfect pact of peace." ^ Among the ordinances establishing peace, are those of the Council of Limoges (103 1), making the church an asylum, protecting the clergy, forbidding violence or rapine upon peasants, serfs or clerks, proclaiming fines for break- ing peace, establishing days of peace, and enforcing it on all religious days. Peasants, serfs and their animals are protected, and war is confined to the seigneurs. All disputes are to be brought before the bishop and his chap- ter. This, be it remembered, was two centuries before the royal power in France attempted to restrain the warlike propensities of the feudal barons. The proclamation of peace was somewhat in this wise : " From Thursday evening, among all Christians, friends or enemies, neigh- bours or distant, peace must reign till Monday at sun-rise ; and during these four days and four nights there ought to exist a complete security, and every one can go about his own affairs in safety from all fear of his enemies and under protection of this truce and this peace. Let those who observe this peace be absolved by the Father All-powerful, by Jesus Christ His Son, and by the Holy Ghost," etc. etc. " Let those who have promised truce and have volun- tarily broken it, be excommunicated by God, etc. ; let these be accursed for ever, damned as Dathan and Abiram etc. ... If any one in the days of the truce of ' Quoted from old chronicles, by Semichon. ISO GESTA CHRIS TI. God commit a homicide, let him be banished from his country, let him depart from Jesus 1" etc. ! ^ The decrees of the Council of Roussillon (1047) " estab- lished this peace and this truce, because the Divine Law and the Christian Religion were almost destroyed, and iniquity passed all bounds, and charity was cooled," etc. The Popes were not behind the councils in encouraging peace among the barbarous barons. Pope Nicholas II. (1059) ^"'i Alexander II. (io68) make public proclama- tion of the Peace of God, so that this first effort for civilization and order spread into North and Middle France, Italy, Spain, England, Normandy and Belgium. It is worthy of notice that in a charter of this period, from the Archbishop of Bourges (1065), commerce is pro- tected by this new pact of amity, and whoever takes refuge in a fair is to be especially safe. Under Pope Urban II., the Council of Clermont (1095) re-affirmed this peace, and ordered that whoever on the days of peace should strike man or woman, unless in self-defence, should be held a violator of the peace. If after a summons by the archbishop he appear in seven days, he will merely pay a fine. If he refuse to appear he will be excommunicated, and after excommunication will pay whatever fine the bishop's court may set. Who- ever kills a man during these days will be exiled for seven years, unless he reconcile himself with the relatives of the murdered one, and pay a fine, which is to be divided between the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. Merchants, travellers, women, ^ and the cattle, implements and flocks of the peasants are protected. If any baron violated this compact, the count and other nobility must prosecute ' Historiens de France, quoted by Semichon. ' Statutum est ut in omni die, et manachi et clerici, et feminae et quae cum eis fuerint, in pace permaneant, etc. A REVIVAL OF PEACE. 151 him, after due warning by the Peace Association. This pact was to last three years. In other associations, all the nobility over twelve years of age took oath to observe this constitution of public order, and, if summoned by the archbishop, to take arms and aid, " so may God and the saints aid me !" The king gradually put himself at the head of these peace associations, and they were no doubt one means by which the royal power in France controlled the feudal savagery. At the end of the twelfth century, the enthusiasm was increased by the appearance of one who claimed to be a divine messenger. A carpenter of Guienne, working in a forest, had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who showed him a banner with the words, " Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world ! give us peace ! " and directed him to carry this banner to the bishop and invite him to preach the " Peace of God." He obeyed, and was received everywhere as a messenger from heaven, and various noble persons and others formed brotherhoods of " Agnus Dei " under this banner, and laboured for peace. In the thirteenth century, Philip Augustus prohibited any one from commencing hostilities against the friends or vassals of adversaries until forty days after the offence ; this was called the " Royal Truce " or " King's Quaran- tine." In the same century. Friar John of Vicenza traversed a great portion of Italy, preaching the " Peace of God," reconciling individuals, and even the feuds of towns. In the succeeding centuries, other monks made similar journeys, and aided to deliver Europe from its ancient barbarism. In the fourteenth century, a great religious movement for peace stirred the minds of different nations of Europe. Pilgrims with white bands around their necks, 152 CESTA CHRISTI. I Bianchi} marched through various lands, preaching the duty of a Christian peace. It is related that in the month of October, 1338, there appeared in a church of Rome, in the silence of the night, certain unknown persons who cried incessantly, "Peace! Peace!" and uttered no other words. The people hearing these appeals, went to the palaces of the Orsinis and the Colonnas, who were enemies, and made peace between them in a truly miraculous manner.* A beautiful letter of the good king of France, St. Louis (1276 A.D.), to his son, is handed down, showing how religion acted in promoting peace. " Dear son, I charge thee that to the utmost of thy power, thou keepest thyself from making war with any Christian, and if any have injured thee, try various ways of recovering thy right before thou makest war ; and have care to eschew the sins that are committed in war," etc. He is exhorted to spare the clergy, and poor people, and the property of those who have not injured him ; and, best of all, to avoid all wars, for that was pleasing to our Lord.* The nobles themselves, in France, feeling the calamities of private war, gave bonds of assurance, by which any violation of order might be punished ; and even agreed to refer their disputes to a majority of their own number. But it required all the efforts of the Church, the mercantile community and the crown, for centuries, before this great abuse could be remedied. It is said that no less than thirty councils in different parts of Europe proclaimed the Treuga Dei (Truce of God), or dies treugarios. And it was not till the fifteenth century that Charles VI. ventured ' Muratori. 2 Lagacio (quoted by Digby, Mor. Cath., 9, 12). ' Chier fiuz, je I'enseigne que tu te gardes a ton pooir que tu n'aies guerre a nul Cretien, et s'il te faisoit aucunes injures, essai plusieurs voies a savoir se tu pensser recouvrer ton droit, etc. — Duchesne. PEACE OF GOD IN GERMANY. 153 to put forth a law absolutely forbidding, under heavy penalties, private war in France. The power of Jesus on human society is seen in the slow humanizing of feelings and practices. It is aided often by other forces, which are more selfish. All self-guarding interests in European communities must have discouraged private war ; the influence of associated life in towns, the prospects of gains in trade, and the struggle of kings against feudalism worked to put an end to it. But more than any or all of these were the teachings of benevolence and unselfishness read each day, or expressed at the altar, or from the chancel, and the sentiments of affection and reverence cherished everywhere by individuals towards Him who is the " Prince of Peace." Germany. — The Peace of God is said to have been first established in Germany in 108 1, by the bishop of Liege. It was agreed by common consent in his bishopric, that from the first day of Advent till Christmas, and from the be- ginning of Lent to the eighth of Pentecost, no one should carry arms, or be guilty of incendiarism, brigandage, or acts of violence ; that no one should wound or kill any one. Every free man convicted of such an attempt, would lose his heritage, be deprived of his fief, and driven from the diocese. Every serf would be punished by loss of his property and his right hand. The " peaceful " time each week was to be from Saturday at sunset till Monday morning. The Archbishop of Cologne soon after intro- duced a similar truce in his diocese, with the solemn order that "one ought never to forget that the vow of holy peace must be kept with a fidelity as much greater as it is made to God and not to man." During 1093, an associa- tion was formed in Germany, of the nobles and princes, without the concurrence of the emperor, for a peace to last from November for two years till the Feast of the 154 GESTA CHRISTI. Passover. In 1097, the emperor united with it ; in 1 103, a pact of peace was formed by nobles, bishops, and emperor for four years ; it was similar to the French compact, but included also the Jews^ Very severe penal- ties were affixed to its violation. The council of 1105 proclaimed the Peace of God ; but in general it may be said that in Germany the imperial power, more than the Church, sustained and protected order. Under Frederick II. (1224) the "truce of God" had become the "truce of the empire," with similar days devoted to cessation from violence and war. The evil of private war, as we have before described, had reached in that country its utmost extreme. All efforts against it seemed in vain. The emperor (1255) forbade it absolutely, but without avail. Finally cities and nobles entered into alliances and associations to form a public peace, and to punish those who should violate it ; and in this mode, the leagues of the Rhine and of Suabia, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, endeavoured to secure general order and security. Owing to the greater indepen- dence of the rural nobility and of the separate provinces in Germany, the devices which were so successful in France failed here. The religious sentiment alone could not put an end to this savagery. The last remedy tried was the application of an ancient religious custom, under the combined influence of the Church and the free cities — the formation in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries by the barons, nobles, bishops, and cities, of courts of arbitration, or Austrdge? ' The Sachsenspiegel also includes the Jews. Clerici, mulieres, monickes, agricole, mercatores, itineratores, piscatores, Judei, omni die et omni tempore firmam pacem habebunt in personis et in rebus. {Ssp., ii. 66.) * Das Austrdgal-verfahren d. D. Bundes. Von Leonhardi. Frank- furt, 1838. ARBITRATION. ijS Arbitration. — This practice exerted so strong an influence in bringing order out of anarchy, and introducing peace instead of war, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries through a large portion of Germany, that it is worth while to dwell on it briefly. It was an ancient custom among the German race, when a case in dispute could not be readily decided by the wager of battle, to refer it to wise men of the tribe for arbitration. Yet even as late as the tenth century, an Emperor of Germany (Otto I., 938 A.D.) refused to decide certain difficult cases by arbiters, and preferred to refer them to the sword ; ^ and another important legal question — whether the sons of brothers should inherit property equally with the fathers or ances- tors — was decided in Otto's reign (942) by the sword, in favour of the former.^ When Christianity became a living force among these tribes, the practice of arbitration was strengthened and reinforced by the words of Christ to His disciples : " If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone ; if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses, or three, every word may be established. And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the congregation," etc. (Matt, xviii. 15-17); and by the words of Paul, "If then ye have to judge of things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church ! . . . Is it so, that there cannot be found among you one wise man who shall be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with brother and that before unbelievers "i Nay, already it is altogether a defect ' Von Leonhardi. 2 Rex autem meliori consilio usus noluit viris nobiles ac senes populi inhonesti tractari ; sed magis rem inter gladiatores discern! jussit, etc. {Annal. de rebus Saxon, etc., quoted by Leonhardi, p. 20.) IS6 GESTA CHRISTI. in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another" (i Cor. vi. II, 7). It became a habit of the Christians to refer their disputes and difficulties to their own brethren, or their leaders and overseers, for decision. The bishops' trials (audienticz episcopates) became a regular part of the legal machinery of Christian society. Their decisions^ were often without appeal ; and on the request of one of the litigants even purely civil cases could be decided by them. The habit of referring contests and disputes to the clergy as arbitrators, came down in Germany into the Middle Ages. And at length in those centuries we have mentioned, there seemed no other way out of the anarchy of society, than by some new application of this principle. The feuds of the barons with one another, their disputes with the peasantry, the contests of city with city, or of each with the nobility, the differences of the clergy with the parishes or with the barons, were continually referred during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, to Austrdge or courts of arbitration. These arbiters were sometimes named in treaties, sometimes chosen by mutual consent, of appointed by neutral persons, or taken by lot. Leonhardi,^ who has written a learned work on this subject, gives a list of numerous arbitrations during these centuries, and in almost all cases the arbiters are the clergy. One of the first Austrdge reported is in 873, in a dispute between the Emperor Lewis and the Bishop of Strasburg, which is referred to suitable persons among the neighbouring citizens and among the faithful.* A few cases are also related in the succeeding centuries. ' Cod. Theod., tit. i., tit. iv. dejiid. episcop. ' Leonkardi, p. 20. ' Ut per idoneos circa vicinos et fideles nostros, fideliumque nostrorum homines plenissime sub sacramento inquiratur et ad finem vite usque. {Leonhardi, vol. i. p. 20.) FORMS OF ARBITRATION. 157 In the thirteenth century they are the most common ; and various leagues are formed during this period among the free cities and others, for mutual support and defence, all of which contained provisions for settling disputes, feuds and contests by arbiters. The Forms of A rbitration. — These present a remarkable evidence of the religious sentiment working. Thus in the following, from Martene, quoted by Digby, " I, Henry, by grace of God bishop of Liege, mindful, nay solicitous of our Lord's example, who, coming into the world, brought peace to men of good will, and who, departing from it, left peace to his disciples, make known to all, present and future, how the contention between the Church of St. Peter of Liege and the Monastery of St. Hubert shall be decided," etc.^ Or this in iioo A.D. : "As the state of the whole Church is consolidated by the pacific bonds of Charity, and as the unity of holy charity is dissipated by the pestiferous scandal of dissensions, whoever wishes to come to the vision of eternal peace, must of necessity study with all diligence to keep peace, if possible, with all men, and especially with brethren ; therefore we, the Canons of the Church of M^ — , loving peace and concord, and desiring to take away from the midst of us the evil of discord, have put an end in this manner to the dispute between us and the Monks of St. Vincent," etc.^ This form breathes a like spirit. It is found in the pact of reconciliation between Henry, Archbishop of Treves, and Theoderic, Abbot of St. Matthew, and a certain monk at Rome. "The pacific hearts of those persons enlightened by truth and by the doctrine of Christ teaching peace to men, though sometimes liable to be ' Mor. Cath., 3, 82. ^ Ap. Martene. (Digby, 2, 83.) iS8 GESTA CHRIS TI. torn by the enemy of the human race, sowing the seeds of hatred, yet in the process of time, we are sure to expel the darkness of that chief maligner, and to recover peace, which puts an end to all strife." ^ A striking instance of arbitration is given in the Rhenish League (1254 A.D.), which stipulates with its confederates, that in order to remove every occasion for contest and every source of discord, they should each choose four men who should together amicably decide all questions which arose between them.^ Many cities, knights and parishes united with this confederation on these conditions. A characteristic instance of the use of Austrdge appears in the sixteenth century, when a contest arose between the Schwabian League and the rebellious peasants of Baiers- furth (1525 A.D.), where each party were to choose two arbiters of honour and position, who were to be laymen.^ Another also is mentioned in 1324, when a very ancient feud between the Archbishop of Mainz, Count of Busdeck, and Count John of Nassau, with the Landgraf of Hesse, was settled in this way ; and again where (1350 A.D.) a dis- pute between the Emperor and the Count of Brandenburg was thus reasonably and peacefully closed.* These courts of arbitration came first to assume a fixed and legal position under Maximilian L (about 1500 A.D.) ; and thus were the foundation of the Austragal Court of the German Confederation in modern times. In 149s, Maximilian put under the ban of the empire, and fined to the amount of 2,000 marks gold, every city or individual who accepted or gave a challenge to private 1 Quoted by Digby. (3, 83.) ° Ad removendum autem omnem litis occasionem aut discordia fomitem . . . quatuor viros inter nos elegimus, etc. (Quoted by Leonhardi, vol. i. p. 26.) ' Leonhardi, vol. i. p. 45. ^ Ibid., vol. i. p. 24. END OF PRIVATE WAR. 159 war. This was the formal, though not the final, close of the right of " diffidation," ^ as it was called. Such then was the arbitration of the Middle Ages. In other words, the Christian principle, aided by self-interest, put an end during those centuries to private war in Germany j it lingered, however, till the end of the sixteenth century. In Spain and Italy, it was also abolished by the com- bined influences of the Church and of mercantile society; in the former, Charles V. (1519) enforcing by a special law all previous prohibitions of it. In Iceland the Gragas hand down to us a form of anathema against whoever shall break the Peace of God. " Let him be proscribed with celestial anathemas, wherever men pursue the wolf, or Christians visit the Church, or pagans make sacrifice, or mothers give birth to infants, or infants call upon their mothers, etc., let him be accursed ! " Here, too, as in other countries, Christianity aided to bring order out of chaos. ' Du Cange {Diffidatid). Fiebant etiam diffidationes plerumque scripto ad hostem modo. The word implied a breaking of faith or peace ; and thus war between individuals. Grotius defines diffidare as " to declare war." (3, 9.) CHAPTER XIV. WAGER OF BATTLE AND ORDEAL. One of the grandest fruits of the human intellect and conscience combined has been the system of the Roman law. It carried the principles of justice and reasonable administration to the remotest and wildest tribes of the empire, and everywhere, to a certain extent, substituted law for force, reason for passion, and equity for abuse and injustice. Whatever were the inconsistencies of its practical execution, and the abuses of its administration, it rested on some of the sublimest principles attainable by the human reason, and exerted a most profound influence on the progress of mankind. We have seen, however, how ineffective Roman law was to eradicate some of the worst abuses of antiquity, and how much Christianity modified it under the later emperors. With the rise of the northern barbarians and the dis- memberment of the empire, this grand work of antiquity was submerged by the current of barbarism and super- stition, and the progress of the world, in regard to right- reason and equity, was put back for centuries. In this retrogression the Christian religion had no share. Its principles are in harmony with the best of the Stoical jurists, and the rules of equity and fairness which form so large a part of the system are such as the Christian faith especially commends. The Church, however, cannot claim any such credit. It did indeed do great service in x6o WAGER OF BATTLE. l6i repressing among the German and Keltic tribes, violence, cruelty, and lust, as we shall abundantly prove ; it steadily resisted some of the worst tendencies of the Roman law ; but it permitted and encouraged the childish super- stition which for ages substituted the compurgators' oath, and the ordeals of cold water, red-hot iron, the cross, and the sacrament, for the grand principles of evidence of this great body of law ; covering Europe with relics of a childish age and retarding human progress for hundreds of years. The great principle of the Stoical jurists, that the defendant is acquitted if the accuser do not prove his case,"^ was reversed for almost a thousand years in Europe, and the burden of proof was thrown on the accused by innumerable superstitious conditions and observances. In- stead of the old Roman rule, that a negative need not be proved,. was adopted the opposite maxim, and the greater portion of the tests required the negative side to be made evident.^ It is true that the Church often opposed ordeals, but it finally surrounded them with every ceremony to make them impressive, and in many cases required them as religious obligations. In another of the great abuses of the Middle Ages, the " wager of battle " to decide disputes and legal differences — a relic of barbarism which lasted till this century in England — the Church has a better " record," and the spirit of Christianity had much to do with its final disuse and abolition. But that for a thousand years, in Europe, a title to the ownership of real estate, or a legal difference, could be settled by duel, under the very shadow of the Church, shows how slow was the progress, and how feeble the influence, of the Christian Faith. ' Accusatore non probante, reus absolvitur. ' Lea. Superstition and Force. M i62 ■ " GESTA CHRISTI. One legacy Roman law left to the world, which has been a storehouse of curses and evils, the use of torture for the accused and for witnesses. This horrible enormity, which so shocks all sentiments of justice and humanity, endured in Europe from the time of the Twelve Tables to the present century. Every principle of Christianity is against it, and the power of this Religion has finally eradicated it ; the Church, for several centuries being more inspired with its faith, opposed it, but at length, as we shall see, in the interests of bigotry, accepted this bequest of German barbarism and Roman law, and inaugurated an era of cruelty and injustice rarely surpassed in the world's annals. The Inquisition is the great blot on the historical Church. For centuries all principles of justice, reason, and humanity were forgotten, and the name of the Teacher of love became the cover for deeds of cruelty and injustice, equalling the worst under Greek and Roman faiths. As the study of the Roman law revived in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- turies, this evil feature was . eagerly adopted in the com- bined interests of centralized power and of ecclesiastical superstition. The commercial spirit and the spirit of the free communes, struggled against it, but it was only uprooted by the gradual spread of Christian principles. Wager of Battle. — Tacitus says of the warlike tribes who are the progenitors of the most vigorous races of the present day, that they believe " God is especially present with those in battle."^ Two hostile tribes, before engaging in hand-to-hand struggle, frequently deputed a courageous warrior from each to contend for the cause at issue, and the result was thought to show on which side the god of battles inclined. The combat, whether between two ' Deum adesse bellantibus credunt. {Germ., 9.) WAGER OF BATTLE. 163 or many, seemed in its uncertain issue to be especially connected with unseen powers,^ and the consciousness of rectitude, no doubt did often strengthen the arms, as the conviction of guilt would weaken the muscles, of one of the other combatant. The single combat, to the minds of the northern races, became the great test of truth. This was especially the fact after the experience of general perjury and falseness, introduced by the ancient custom of the compurgators' oath. Under this peculiarly Teutonic custom, which long remained in English jurisprudence under the name of "wager of law," a person accusediof a crime appeared to deny it surrounded by a number of compurgators, who swore not to their knowledge of the facts, but as partakers in the oath of denial.^ This legal practice, which existed in Europe as late as the sixteenth century, offered irresistible temptations to false swearing, and to the bold and honourable Northman, a usage which tested the truth by his own right arm and at sacrifice of his blood seemed infinitely preferable to this taking refuge behind the oaths of associates. Wager of battle took the place of the compurgators' oath in both civil and criminal cases. It suited the fierce habit of the German and Keltic tribes to decide doubtful cases by the stronger hand ; and the settlement was in harmony with that singular defect of barbarian jurisprudence for a thousand years in Europe (of which we have already spoken), which, above all, showed the loss of the influence of Roman law upon civilization — namely, the throwing the proof of a negative on the accused. Under the compurgators' oath, the wager of battle, ordeal ' An old German proverb said : " Davon sollen wir Gott getruwen, das er den Kampf nur nach Recht sheyde." 2 Lea, Superstition and Force, p. 24. Reeves' History of English Law. i64 GESTA CHRISTI. by fire or water or the sacraments, and the system of tor- ture through so many centuries, Europe forgot the rules of equity and the maxims ^ of the Stoical jurists, and threw the great burden of proof on the defendant. Cen- turies of injustice to unfortunate persons in every portion of Europe prove what harvests of wrong a single unjust principle will sow in the world, while they measure the blessings which the noble ideas of the Stoical jurists have scattered through every people which has felt the influence of Roman law. Wager of battle is to be distinguished from the duel, though eminent writers confuse them. It is essentially a judicial trial ; like war, an appeal to the god of battles, conducted under given ceremonies and conditions, where the penalties were fixed and legal. To nearly all Europe outside of Roman law, it was as natural once to determine a title to real estate, or a question of law and evidence, or matters of mortgage or debt, or questions con- cerning service or slavery, or the guilt of a criminal charge, or innumerable similar questions, by single combat, as it is now by juries, courts, and arbitration. Nearly all the tribes which overthrew the Roman empire held to this practice ; it belonged to the Keltic, Slavonic, and German races. Singular enough, it is not found in the Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Danish Codes, and is believed to have been introduced into England by William as a Norman practice. The absence of mention of the judicial combat in the laws of the Anglo-Saxons is not, however, conclusive evidence against its practice. '^ The Goths, who were more under the combined influ- ' . . . cum per rerum naturam factum negantis probatio nulla sit. (Const., 22. De prob., iv. 9. Quoted by Lea.) ' An apparent allusion to judicial combat occurs in the laws of Henry I. (//., i, 92.) JUDICIAL DUEL. 165 ences of Roman law and Christianity, do not appear to have retained the trial as judicial. The practice gained its greatest power in the custom of challenging witnesses. Any litigant finding his case going against him, could accuse a witness of perjury, and challenge him to the combat, thus adjourning the case and deciding it. This privilege was finally extended to the power of challenging the court itself; and the extraordinary spectacle was presented of a defeated suitor fighting with the judge who had decided his case adversely. The mode of conducting these combats will, perhaps, be best shown by referring to the English practice. In the thirteenth century, the accused had the right to choose only in doubtful cases, between trial by jury and combat. The latter for a long period determined all questions of fact ; and in the reign of Henry II. it decided in pleas con- cerning freehold, and in writs of right in regard to land or goods sold, debts upon mortgage or promise, sureties denying suretyship, validity of charters, manumission of serfs, questions concerning service, etc., etc.^ According to the English law, the defendant in doubtful cases could choose his trial, either /^r corpus or per patriam, by battle or by jury. But in certain cases the justices had the right to control the mode of trial : thus, if a person was accused of poisoning another, he was compelled to accept the wager of battle or to confess ; and again, other cases were too clear to admit of risking any doubtful decision. When the trial by battle had been decided upon, the defend- ant gave security that he would defend his case, and the plaintiff that he would maintain his appeal. Each made oath ; the plaintiff in a form of this nature : " Hear this, O man ! whom I hold by the hand, called John by the name ' Reeves' Hist, of English Law. See also Mirror of Justices- (Trans, by W. H., 1768, p. 160.) ■166 GESTA CHRIS TI. of l3aptism, that thou art perjured because thou didst wickedly and feloniously kill my brother, etc., etc., and this I saw, so help me God and these Holy Gospels." ^ Both parties were then committed to two knights or "other lawful men" to lead them to the field assigned. Each then took another oath of innocence, and, after cer- tain ceremonies, engaged in combat. If the defendant supported the combat all day till the stars appeared, he was acquitted. If the plaintiff was defeated he suffered capital punishment under certain circumstances and for- feited all his goods, both his own and those which would come to his heirs. If he withdrew his charge when he appeared on the field, he was committed to gaol. In cases of suits in regard to titles of land, the form of oath was thus : " I 'am ready to prove it by my freeman, •John, whom his father at his death-bed enjoined by the duty he owed him, that if at any time he should hear of a -suit for this land, he should hazard himself in a duel for it, as for that which his father had seen and heard." ^ Glanville gives the following form in a suit against a tenant : " I demand against this H., half a knight's fee or plough-lands in such a village, etc., and this I am ready to prove by my freeman, I., and if any accident happen to him by such a one, or by a third, etc." ^ The tenant had the right to defend himself upon the the king's grand assize, and so prove his right to the land. The Mirror says : " In personal combat for felony none can combat for another, but in actions personal it is lawful to make battle by their bodies or by loyal witnesses." " The battle of two men sufRceth to declare the truth, so that victory is holden for truth." * " And in cases where ' Bracton. 2 Heeves. Bracton. ^ Beame's Glanville, p. 41. ■• Mirror of Justices. A. Home, trans. 1646, pp. 155, 158, 159. JUDICIAL DUEL IN ENGLAND. 167 battle could not be joined, nor was there any witness, the people in person acting were to help themselves by the miracle of God in this manner, as if the defendant were a woman." Green, in his History of England, gives a striking in- stance of the wager of battle and its effects. "At Leicester," says the historian, "one of the chief aims of the burgesses was to regain their old English jury trial (or practice of compurgation) which had been aboHshed by the Earls in favour of the foreign trial by duel. It chanced, says a charter of the time, that two kinsmen, Nicholas the son of Aeon, and Geoffrey the son of Nicholas, waged a duel about a certain piece of land, concerning which a dis- pute had arisen between them, and they fought from the first to the ninth hour, each conquering by turns. Then one of them fleeing from the other till he came to a certain little pit, as he stood on the brink of the pit and was about to fall therein, his kinsman said to him, ' Take care of the pit, turn back lest thou shouldest fall into it.' Thereat so much clamour and noise was made by the bystanders and those who were sitting around, that the Earl heard these clamours as far off as at the castle, and he inquired of some how it was there was such a clamour, and answer was made to him, that two kinsmen were fight- ing about a certain piece of ground, and that one had fled till he reached a certain little pit, and that as he stood over the pit and was about to fall into it, the other warned him. Then the townsmen being moved with pity, made a covenant with the Earl that they should give him the pence yearly for each house in the High Street that had a gable, on condition that he should grant to them that the twenty-four jurors who were in Leicester from ancient times, should from that time forward discuss and decide all pleas they might have among them- selves." , The customs of continental Europe varied somewhat from the English in regard to the judicial combat and its results, but it is not necessary to particularize them. Throughout the whole Christian world, for many centuries, the personal battle was the final decision of cases of law. Beginning with criminal cases, it was soon transferred to civil, and it survived in parts of Europe, at least nominally, to the present century. Its great power in the Middle i68 CESTA CHRISTI. Ages was as one of the privileges of the fighting class, the feudal aristocracy, while it appealed to the superstition of all classes. In the struggle everywhere between the crown and the nobles, and in the growing influence of Roman law after the thirteenth century, this was upheld as one of the institutions which resisted the Roman tendency to central- ization and royal encroachment. Its great enemy was the new spirit which Christianity had spread abroad in the world, and which thus far had especially imbued the com- mercial classes. These everywhere opposed trial by battle, and one of the privileges granted to commercial com- munities was often freedom from this necessity.^ These communities were also especially influenced by Roman law, and in the Admiralty law which they derived from it, there is no mention of trial by battle. The Church in its attitude toward this barbarous practice was for a long time faithful to the spirit of its professed Leader. Both the Councils and the Popes declared boldly against it. In 1080 the Synod of Lillebonne adopted a canon, punishing by fine any of the clergy who should engage in these combats without special licence. The practice however was still continued, though condemned by Popes Innocent II., Alexander III., and Clement III. Celestin III. even deposed the clergy who had engaged in it, while all these prohibitions were confirmed by Pope Innocent III. and the Lateran Council of 121 5, and as late as 1492 the Synod of Schwerin published a canon prohibiting Christian burial to those who fell in such combats.^ ' Ferrum . . . pugnam, aquam vobis non judicabit vel judicari faciet. (From a charter granted to Bari by Roger, King of Naples^ 1132A.D.) Afwra/o; ?, quoted by Z^a. See Murafori, /4«/. /^a/. ^ Lea, p. 148. CHRISTIAN OPPOSITION. 169 Louis VII., in granting the privilege to certain of the clergy of exemption from this combat, said boldly, " We hold that these wicked habits should be uprooted from the foundation." ^ The power of Christianity tended naturally to do away with this relic of barbarism, and where it was freshly introduced at once affected legislation. One of the best known arguments against the practice was written by St. Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, as early as 826 A.D., in a treatise entitled, "Liber contra judicium Dei." ^ In his letter to the Emperor he says, " The faithful mind must not suppose that Almighty God desires to reveal the secret things of man by hot water or hot iron, much less by cruel battle." ^ It is a foolish and proud presumption to suppose that the Divine judgments can be manifested by battle.* " Such contests are strongly opposed to Christian 'simplicity and piety and adverse to the doctrine of the Gospels."^ All these efforts of the Church did not however prevent its spread through Europe. The first code in which the judicial duel was for- bidden was among the most warlike tribes of the German stock, the Norsemen of Iceland, about the same time with the introduction of Christianity (loi I A.D.). The Danes soon imitated the Icelanders. Both reforms were clear fruits of the doctrine of Jesus. Prince Luitprand, in his laws of ' Lea, p. 148. Tenemus pravas consuetudines fundetus extirpari. Duellse et ali» purgationes vulgares prohibitse sunt. = See St. Agobardi, Ep. Ecc. L. opera. Parisiis, MDCV. Ad Im- peratorem de duello, p. 103. Contra damnabilem opinionem putantium divini judicii veritatem igne vel aquis vel conflictu armorum patefieri. (p. 287.) 2 Ad Ludov. Imp. Epist. " De Pace. ' Talia certamina vehementer contraria sunt simplicitati et pietati Christiana et doctrinse Evangelicae nimis adversa. {St. Agob., c. 7.) Proinde experimenta hasc appellata fuere Judicia Dei quasi ad omniscientis Judicium controversia deferretur et inde justa sententia expectanda foret. (Muratori, De Judiciis Dei.) I70 GESTA CHRISTI. the Langobards, ^ even earlier (7 1 2 A.D.), protests against this settlement of disputes, though he avows himself power- less to prevent it, and calls the law, " impiam legem." Another legal measure taken against it was by the Emperor Frederick II. in 123 1, in his Neapolitan code; he pronounces the trial by battle as more a kind of fortune- telling than legal proof, and equally inconsistent with common law, nature, and the principles of equity.** The Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg, in his charter to the Duchy of Styria, in 1277, forbade the wager of battle. Other princes also prohibited it. Alfonso the Wise of Castile, in his celebrated code, Siete Partidas, stigmatized the combat as an " effort to^tempt the Lord bur God." * The Duke of Burgundy, Philip le Bon, abolished the wager of battle, and in his code of 1459 there is no mention of it. In Hungary it was prohibited in 1492, and in Italy in 1505.* The Christian spirit, as affecting the imperial Roman code in regard to gladiators, worked upon the Middle Ages with respect to the " champions " employed in these judicial combats. All the contempt and disabilities thrown by the Christianized Roman law on the former, were transferred by those following Roman legislation to the hired fighters in these duels. ^ They were held incapable of being witnesses or of succeeding to property, and even their children were disgraced. ■ If by respect for the usages of our Langobard realm we cannot forbid the judgment of God, it none the less appears to us uncer- tain, having learnt that many persons have lost their causes unjustly by an impious combat. (Quoted by Lea, Lex Long., p. 63.) ^ Non tam vera probatio quam quaedam divinatio . . . quae na- turae non consonans, a jure communi deviat, nequitate rationibus non consensit. Lea, p. 149. " Que quiere tentava Dios nuestro Seiior. < Lea. 5 Ibid. APPEAL OF MURDER. 171 All these influences, however, were slow in uprooting this unreasonable practice among the nations of Europe. It endured in Russia till the middle of the seventeenth century. It was not abolished in England in civil cases till the reign of Elizabeth. In 1571, in order to determine a disputed title to real estate, Westminster Hall was forced to adjourn to a duelling ground at Tothill Fields, " not without great mental disturbance of the learned lawyers " (non sine magna jurisconsultorum perturbatione). All the forms of combat were passed through, but the contest was compromised.^ In criminal cases, a man indicted for a capital offence, was allowed to confess his crime and to charge any one as accomplice. This appeal was usually decided by wager of battle. In IS39 there was legislation on this, and even in the seventeenth century instances occurred of the judicial duel ; Sir Matthew Hale, at the close of the century, speaks of it as " an unusual trial at this day.'' Sir Thomas Smith, as late as near the close of the sixteenth century (1570-77), says of the judgment by battle: "This at this time is not much used, partly because of long time the Pope and the clergy, to whom in time past we were much subject, always cryed against it as a thing danmable and unlawful,'' and partly, as he explains, because of the natural change in manners and customs. " But," he adds, " I could not learn that it was ever abrogated." ^ And of the appeal to battle in murder cases, he says : " The Popes of Rome, and men of the Church who of long time have had dominion in our consciences, and would bring things to a more moderation, have much detested this kind of triall and judgment. . . . This kind of triall of long ^ Spell. Gloss., p. 103. 2 The Commonwealth of England, 1589, p. 100. 172 CESTA CHRISTI. time hath not been used. . . . Nevertheless, the law remaineth still and is not abolished." In 177s, one of the grievances of the American colonies was being deprived by English legislation of the right of wager of battle in criminal cases ; that is, a man acquitted of a charge of murder could be again prosecuted by the nearest relative, and the question was to be determined by the judicial duel.^ The English Liberals denounced, in the strongest terms, this oppression of the colonists. Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton, described the appeal for murder as "that great pillar of the constitu- tion." " It is called," he said, " a remnant of barbarism and Gothicism. The whole of our constitution, for aught I know, is Gothic. Are you then to destroy every part of that Gothic constitution, and set up a Macaroni one instead." Burke said, " If there is an appeal for rape and robbery, you ought to have one for murder. ... I allow that judicial combat was part of this appeal — which was super- stition and barbarism to the last degree. Yet I cannot consent that the subject should be dealt with piecemeal." Wedderburn, in reply, said on behalf of the ministry : " They allow that the appeal for murder is only an effort for a private revenge, that it may lawfully be stopped at any time by the appellant on the receipt of a sum of money, and that if it proceeds the appellor or the accused, by throwing down his glove, is entitled to have his guilt or innocence determined by a deadly combat," etc., etc. The clause objected to in the Bill was subsequently withdrawn by the ministry. The appeal for murder was attempted also previously (1699), in the case of Lord Cowper's brother> but was quashed on account of informality. Lord Holt ' Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England, vol. vi. p. 112. WAGER OF BATTLE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 173 declared it " a noble badge of the liberties of an English- man." 1 In 1 8 18, in England, a probable murderer, acquitted on a jury trial, was challenged by a brother of the girl murdered, when he pleaded '^not guilty, and I am ready to defend the same by my body." The Chief Justice sustained his right to this mode of trial, and but for the challenger's withdrawing, the world would have seen a wager of battle in the nineteenth century before the Lord Chief Justice of England. In the next year, by Act 59 Geo. Ill , cap. 46,^ this relic of ante-Christian barbarism was abolished, and law finally substituted for force between individuals in Great Britain.^ The wager of battle or appeal of murder appears even to have been inherited in American legislation,^ and Lea states that it probably exists legally in several of the United States. The reflection of the reader will no doubt be of wonder that such a barbaric folly and abuse should have lasted so long under even the apparent reign of Christianity and right reason. But in all matters connected with the instincts of pugnacity and the fiercer passions, the teachings of Christ work very slowly. They are just beginning in the nineteenth century, their appropriate and lasting work. As we shall show later, their influence is only now felt on the relations of nations and the passions of war. The ' Campbell, vol. iv. p. 275. 2 All appeals of treason, murder, felony or other offences shall cease, determine and become void, and become entirely void, and be utterly abolished, and in any point of right, the tenant shall not be received to v/age battel nor shall issue be joined nor trial be had by battel in any writ of right. (59 Geo. III. c. 46.) ' Lea, Campbell, Reeves, and others ; the case of Ashford v. Thornton. ♦ Stat. ofS. Carol., vol. ii. p. 715, note. 174 GESTA CHRIS t I. wager of private battle is perhaps only a shade more un- reasonable and unchristian than public battle. Time has given a slow victory of this Faith in one ; it will yet bring about a like success in the other. The Ordeal. — The Carlovingian Capitularies, which expressed the most intelligent legal judgments of the early Middle Ages, make this formal and solemn statement: " In doubtful cases our opinion should be reserved for the judgment of God. What men certainly know they ' reserve for their own, what they are ignorant of, for the Divine judgment ; since he cannot be condemned by human examination, whom God hath reserved for His own judgment." "^ The "judgment of God" was the famous ordeal by fire, water, red-hot iron, the cross and the Eucharist. It was no doubt an early barbarian prac- tice, which survived after Europe had become civilized. Almost all nations have employed the ordeal in a primitive stage of their development. In various forms, it endured in some civilized countries till the last and the present century. The early history of the Church is consistent in its oppo- sition to the practice. Christianity, as cultivating brotherly love and the spirit of justice, tended to weaken the power of this custom. As early as the sixth century, Avitus, the Archbishop of Vienne, remonstrated with Gundobald on account of admitting the ordeal in the Burgundian code ; and in the ninth century, St. Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, in a famous treatise, attacked the whole system. ^ Leo IV. in the middle of the ninth century condemned it in a letter to the English bishops, and many succeeding 1 In ambiguis, Dei judicio reservitur sententia. Quod certe agnos- cunt suo, quod nesciunt, divino reservunt judicio, etc. Carlov. Cap. lib. vii. c. 239, quoted by Lea. 2 St. Agobardi opera, previously cited. OPPOSITION OF CHURCH. 17 S pontiffs opposed it. ^ Great numbers, however, of the clergy defended the practice, and it received the approval of many synods and councils. The ordeal, by the religious ceremonies accompanying it, was too powerful a help to the Church to be easily abandoned ; and bigotry and super- stition found in it a ready means of punishing heretics. The Popes, on the other hand, in the latter part of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, con- demned it in the strongest terms. Alexander III. with his whole apostolic authority forbade it. ^ The Fourth Council of Lateran (1215) prohibited the employment of any ecclesiastic ceremonies in such trials. In 1200 Philip Augustus, in bestowing certain privileges on the students of the University of Paris, made a condition that a citizen accused of assaulting a student shall not be allowed to defend himself by the duel or water ordeal. ^ In the third year of Henry III. of England,* when so many reforms were begun, an order was issued to the justices not to try persons charged with robbery, murder or similar crimes, by fire and water, but to keep them in prison under safe cus- tody, so as not to endanger them in life and limb, seeing that the judgment of fire and water is forbidden by the Church of Rome. ^ The canons which especially are thought by Glanville and others to have abolished ordeal in England, are those forbidding man to tempt the Lord his God.« Matthew of Westminster, in 1250, speaks of ordeal by fire and water as abolished ; and Bracton does not allude ' Lea, p. 267. 2 Imo apostolica auctoritate prohibemus firmissime. Alex. III. Ep., 74. (Quoted by Lea.) s Lea. * Reeves. * Spellman, Gloss. ^ Ch. xiv. Cum sit contra preceptum Domini, non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum. {Dec, part 2.) 176 GESTA CHRISTI. to it as still practised. Throughout the same century it was gradually done away with in Italy, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. In France it fell into disuse about the same time ; but in Germany the superstition of the people resisted the mandates of the Church, and even in the fourteenth century the practice was not uncommon. In Spain, the celebrated code of Alfonso the Wise (1260) had expressly prohibited it; but even in 1322 a Church Council was obliged to threaten with excommunication all engaged in administering this test. ^ Lea, in his admirable work from which we have quoted so often, says that the well- known Muratori affirms his belief in the ordeal, and that it was common in Transylvania in the seventeenth century, and in the eighteenth century in West Prussia. The treatment of witches in the early history of the United States must have contained a large element of the belief in the supernatural "judgment of God." Even in 181 5 there was a trial for witchcraft in Belgium, and in 1836 the population of Bela, near Dantzic, twice plunged an old woman accused of being a sorceress, into the sea, and, as she rose, she was pronounced guilty and beaten to death. 2 Other causes besides the influence of the Church or the spread of Christian ideas tended to remove this abuse — the revived influence of the Roman law, and the spirit of the mercantile communes and commercial leagues, who were more imbued with correct principles of evidence, less affected by superstition, and more inspired by religion. The early codes of commercial law make no reference to ordeal. ^ ' Du Cange, Ferrum candens. Lea. Muratori, Ital. Antiq. ■ Lea. 3 I desire to make especial acknowledgments for the assistance I have derived in these chapters from Lea's admirable work on Super- stition and Force. ABOLITION OF ORDEAL. 177 The abolition of ordeal is not one of the most undisputed victories of the Christian religion. We can only say with confidence, that as this Faith imbues men with benevolence and the desire to render to all their due, the injustice, cruelty, and absurdity of such means of arriving at truth become more apparent. N CHAPTER XV. TORTURE. The Roman law, in recognising one system of injustice, permitted of necessity the cruel and unjust proceedings legally connected with it. Slavery was assumed and ac- knowledged as legal, and with it, the torture to exact the truth from one who was in the view of the law scarcely a human being. Even the Stoical jurists allow torture to a slave who is a witness. But such an injustice once suffered to exist would be easily propagated to other classes. It was first applied to freemen suspected of crimes against the State or the emperor ; and, under the imperial legisla- tion of Rome, was employed against many offences of free- born Romans. Still, under the Roman practice, there were many safeguards for the accused. The plaintiff was obliged to inscribe himself formally, and was exposed to the lex talionis, or reprisals, if he failed to prove his charge. Under Constantine, a person accused of treason, whatever his rank, was liable to torture, but accusers and informers, if they could not prove their charge, were equally liable to this penalty. These provisions were preserved by Justinian.i Even freemen were tortured as witnesses, and so enlightened a ruler as Justinian could order a rod to persons suspected of false witness, in order to extract the truth. It is certainly one of the extraordinary per- ' 13 Theod. Cod., ix. 8. TORTURE. 179 versities of the human reason, that for so many centuries in Europe, alike under Roman law and the Christian Church, the innocent could be exposed to frightful pains in order to obtain evidence ; and the accused, who might be innocent, were given up to fearful agonies to com- pel a confession, which might be the result of fear or pain. This savage procedure was unknown to the great race related to the European races — the Hindoos — and was not a part of the code of the people who, through Christianity, have so much influenced modern progress the Jews. The northern barbarians, owing to their sense of individual independence, did not usually permit the torture of freemen, but only that of slaves ; and then under strict conditions. The wager of battle, the compurgators' oath, and the ordeal took the place of torture, as a means of obtaining truth. The Gothic tribes, who were more influenced by Roman legislation, early adopted the prac- tice, though with many of the Roman protections for the accused. Christianity in its essential spirit was utterly opposed to such a cruel and unjust practice. One of the wisest kings of Europe expressed in his code the foundation principle of this Faith, when he said, " The person of man is the noblest thing on earth." ^ Yet even Alfonso the Wise was obliged to admit torture in his legislation, though he modi- fied its effects by provisions which were afterwards imitated throughout Europe. No confession under torture was held technically valid ; the victim was sent back to prison ; he was again brought before the judges ; if he persisted, he was condemned ; if he recanted, he was again tortured, and these steps were repeated ; the accused never being con- victed except by free confession.** Even after that, if the ' La persona del home es la mas noble cosa del mundo. Siete Partidas. ^ Lea. i8o , GESTA CHRISTI. judges found reason to consider the confession an effect of fear or pain, he might be acquitted. The history of the early Church, when perhaps the teachings of Christ were fresher to the minds of men, is full of instances of opposition to this cruel practice. But gradually, as the study of the Roman law revived in the thirteenth century, and later, as the spirit of bigotry in- creased, torture, and all the dark accompanying practices were borrowed from the old code, and employed by the Roman Church in the processes of the Inquisition. Under this new spirit of persecution they became tenfold worse than they had ever been under Roman law. For centuries, the very light of justice passed away under the shadow of the Inquisition. Men were tortured on the feeblest sus- picions ; all the maxims of Roman equity were forgotten ; their confessions were allowed to implicate others,, and often they charged themselves when innocent, to escape- further pain. Agents were permitted to enter their prison- cells to worm out their confidence, and even judges falsely promised them mercy to win a confession. The following were some of the tortures habitually used in Europe for hundreds of years : " The strappado, so common in Italy, and which is yet forbidden under Roman law ; . . . the vigils of Spain, which oblige a man to support himself by sheer muscular effort for seven hours, to avoid sitting on a pointed iron which pierces him with an insufferable pain ; iron stools heated to redness on which we place poor half-witted women accused of witchcraft, ex- hausted by frightful imprisonment, rolling from their dark and filthy dungeons, loaded with chains, fleshless and half- dead, and wei pretend that the human frame can resist these devilish practices, and that the confessions which our wretched victims make, are true." ^ ' Nicholas, Diss. Morale etjurid. surla Torture. (Quoted by Lea). THE STRAPPADO. i8l The strappado, to which allusion is here made, was a species of torture used to extract the truth from witnesses or accused persons. The hands were tied behind the back, with a piece of iron between them; a cord was fastened to the wrists by which, with a pulley, the unfortunate person was hoisted from the ground with a weight of 125 lbs. fastened to his feet. In extraordinary cases the weight was increased to 250 lbs. When the victim was raised to a sufficient height, he was dropped with a jerk which dislocated the joints, and this was repeated three times. The most agonising and efficacious of all torture was considered to be enforced sleeplessness. The person was placed between two jailors, who slept in alternate periods, but kept the unhappy victim awake for several days and nights. In applying torture to those suspected of witchcraft, one judge (according to Nicholas) boasted of despatching nine hundred victims in his district in fifteen years ; and another in the diocese of Como burnt one thdusand persons in a year. The cruelty and arbitrary character of the system of torture reached such a degree in Europe, that intelligent persons decided, if chance should expose them to any suspicion, they would at once admit every charge, preferring a speedy death to these long-continued agonies. Under the German Code after the sixteenth century, the rule of the Roman law was followed, of beginning with the weakest in torture. If husband and wife were to be tortured, they commenced with the wife. Von Rosbach warns the tribunals that their greatest fault was in looking only at the testimony adverse to the accused, and that they " used torture as though nature had created the feel- ings of prisoners to be lacerated at will." ^ As soon as a charge was made, the judges began by ' Quoted by Lea. 1 82 CESTA CHRIS TI. torturing all who were suspected, without waiting to ascer- tain if any crime had really been committed. The accused generally did not see a copy of the accusation ; often was not allowed to be heard in defence, and was tortured at once after the adverse evidence was heard. Even the right of appeal was evaded, by the judges sending the accused to the rack without a preliminary formal order. The rule prevailed that torture should not be so prolonged as to endanger life and limb, but, in fact, the unfortunate victim was often crippled for life under a false accusation. Von Boden says, that the devil himself could not invent any worse torment for the human body than these judges often used on the innocent.^ The judge himself was obliged to be present during the torture, and naturally grew callous to the misery he inflicted. He was liable to indictment if the prisoner did not confess, so that every motive urged him to torment the miserable sufferers. It is said that in these refinements of cruelty over nine hundred different instruments for inflicting pain were invented and used. Torture was permitted even after conviction, to prevent appeals ; and if the unhappy person asserted his innocence at the place of execution, he was hurried back to the rack again. One candid magistrate of Milan is reported by Nicholas to have tested the system, by killing a favourite mule and allowing the .accusation to fall upon a servant. The man denied the offence, was put to the rack, and confessed ; and subsequently, after the torture, persisted in the confession. The judge, it is said, resigned his office and became a cardinal. In France, at the close of the fifteenth century, all the ' Sic adhiberi soleant ut diabolum ipsum asperius quid quo corpori humano in hac vita noceat, excogitate posse dubium sit. (Quoted by Lea. TORTURE. 183 worst accompaniments of this cruel practice were in con- tinual use ; the secret investigation of criminal cases ; the separate and secret examination of witnesses ; the prisoner not being informed of the accusation against him, nor allowed an opportunity of preparing a defence. The prin- ciple of French legislation in this matter in the sixteenth century being, as Lea well puts it, that it were better that one hundred innocent persons should suffer, than that one guilty one should escape. The old maxim of Roman law, that no one who had confessed his guilt should be examined as to the guilt of another accused, was forgotten, and the new method was the application of the rack to compel a confession as to the guilt of others. This continued even under the reign of Louis XIV. Silence under the agony inflicted was not considered evidence of innocence ; so that a man not found guilty after torture, could be punished for some other of- fence of which he had not been convicted. This horrible condition of legislation endured in France till the eighteenth century. In Spain, as might have been expected, this barbarous practice and all the abuses of secret inquest had their especial seat. The dreadful procedure of the Inquisition was transferred to secular legislation. Torture was adopted even on charges of theft or counterfeiting, and for all weighty offences. Evidence sufificient to justify it was con- sidered to lie in common report, or in unexplained absence before accusation, or in prevarication at examination, or even in silence and pallor.^ The magistrates went so far as to employ the lot or divination to obtain proofs suf- cient to justify to their minds the rack or the strappado. Witnesses were not spared either in civil or criminal cases. 1 Deinde a pallore et similibus oritur judicium ad torturam secun- dum. {Von Rosbach.) Z^a, p. 358. 1 84 GESTA CHRIST/. In general, torture was seldom practised in their early history by the nations where jury trial prevailed and evidence was open, and where Ronjan law had little or no influence. In the Danish and Swedish Codes, frojn the fifteenth to the end of the sixteenth centuries, when this cruel process was so common in Europe, it is not men- tioned. It -does however appear very early in the Icelandic Code, but seems afterwards to have fallen into disuse. Torture in England. — It is the boast of the common law of England, that this practice was never recognised in its provisions. Among the Anglo-Saxons,, the ordeal, the wager of battle, and the gradual growth of the jury took its place. By the laws of Henry I. it is laid down that no credit is to be given to a confession about another's guilt, and that a confession extorted by fear or fraud is invalid.^ It is thought that the expression in Magna Charta, " No freeman may be arrested or imprisoned except by legal judgment of his peers," ^ may refer to this power of magis- trates and kings, so freely exercised on the Continent at that time. In the fourteenth century,, this cruelty was almost unknown in legal proceedings in England. The Arch- bishop of York states this publicly, and asks in a letter, which has been preserved, what he shall do in regard to the examination of certain knights templar. Yet torture was occasionally employed during suc- ceeding reignSj and gradually, as the royal prerogative was strengthened, it gained ground. Under Henry VIII. it was held that a royal warrant justified the use of this means of investigation and of secret inquest. Arguments were ' Nemini de se con'fesso super alienum crimen, credatur ; conTessio per metum vel per fraudem extorta, non valet." (Z. Hen. I., 5, 16.) ^ C. XXX. TORTURE IN ENGLAND. 185 made against its practice during Elizabeth's ireign, but still it was held that the royal command rendered it legal. Sir Thomas Smith says of torture in his time (iS7o): "Like- wise torment of question which is used by the order of the civil law and custom of other countries, to put a malefactor to excessive paine, to make him confesse of himselfe, or of his fellows or complices, is not used in Eng- land ; it is taken for servile. . . The nature of English- men is to neglect death, but to abide no torment. . . Likewise confession by torment is esteemed for nothing." ^ Even Lord Bacon, at as late a period as 16 19, recom- mended its use to King James. As was the experience in other countries, this method of examination was trans- ferred from cases of treason and of offences against the State, to ordinary offences — ^even to the examination of persons accused of theft and horse-stealing. After 1640, pain as a means of investigation was never applied to those accused of political offences. The Rebel- lion put an end to such' practices. In Scotland the use of torture began somewhat late, after the fifteenth century, but it was applied fearfully, especially in the trials for witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was not abolished in that coun- try till after the Union, in 1709. ^ The Opposition of the Church. — As we stated before, the Church in its early history was consistent with its doctrines in opposing this cruelty and injustice. Under the Mero- vingian line, torture was only exceptionally employed, except against scorcerers. A Church Council in 587 A.D. forbade by special decree every elder or deacon from being ' Commonwealth of England 1589, p. 100. See also Jardine On Use of Torture, etc. - Lea. 1 86 GESTA CHRIS TI. present at the infliction of this pain. ^ Another canon (585 A.D.) prohibited any of the clergy from even behold- ing these agonies.^ A prominent Bishop, Hildebert, in 1 125, in a letter to his clergy, says, "To torment criminals, or to extort confession by torture, is not a part of the discipline of the Church." ^ The early Popes were not be- hindhand in their denunciation of the practice. Gregory I. in the sixth century speaks with contempt of a confes- sion where the innocent are compelled to avow them- selves guilty.* Nicholas I. in his Epistle to the Bulga- rians, says that this is a process which no divine or human law can approve of, " for a confession ought not to be unwilling but spontaneous." ^ " Abandon all such prac- tices," is his command. Ivo of Chartres, in the beginning of the twelfth century, proclaimed that the confession of the clergy, whatever they were accused of, should always be spontaneous, not. forced. ^ Fifty years later, Gratian proclaims that confessions must not be obtained by torments. '' This cruel practice was not adopted by most of the coun- tries of Europe till the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. ' Non licet presbytero nee diacono ad trepalium ubi rei torquentur stare. Cone. Auiiss., con. 23- 2 Ad locum examinationis reorum nullus clericorum accedat. Cone. Mat., ii. I. (Lea.) ' Reos tormentis afficere vel suppliciis extorquere confessionem . . . est non ecclesiae disciplina. {Hild., Ep. xxx. Lea.) * . . . noxios se fateri cogantur etiam innoxii. Greg., lib. viii. Ep. I, 3 c. ' Quam rem nee divina lex nee humana prorsus admittit, cum non iavita sed spontanea debet esse confessio. (Ep. 97, 86.) . . Relin- quite itaqiie talia. (Quoted by Lea.) " Ministrorum confessio non sit extorta sed spontanea. (Quoted by Lea.) ' Confessio cruciatibus extorquenda non est. Dec. crus, xv. 6, i. (^See Lea.) THE CHURCH AND TORTURE. 187 Italy, which was the centre of Roman ideas, was the earliest to employ it in obtaining evidence, and the last to abandon it. Frederick II. in his Neapolitan Code (1231) is said to have substituted torture for ordeal in judi- cial trials. In the thirteenth century the Church began to drift far from the principles of its Master, and to be imbued with a spirit of cruel bigotry. The Inquisition accepted torture and secret investigation as its appropriate imple- ments; and Pope Innocent IV. ordered this process in the examinations for heresy. The influence of the Inquisition on secular law was widespread and most disastrous. Two causes began now to spread abroad this cruel pro- ceeding : one, the revived study of Roman law, and the consequent desire by the Royalist party through Europe to restore to imperial and kingly power its privileges — among them the right to obtain evidence by inflicting pain — and the other this terrible anti-christian spirit of the Church and the Inquisition. The spirit of humanity 'taught by Christ, wherever it could struggle against ecclesiastical tyranny, opposed this barbarity through every century. As the Scfiptures be- came more circulated among the common people after the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, all men felt more of the compassion taught by Him, and this abuse seemed more and more a shame to the faith they professed. The in- fluence of the Roman law indeed upheld it, and the bigotry of priests and cruelty of rulers, but the Teacher of love everywhere through the Gospels preached against it in the hearts of men. Nothing but His influence seems finally to have uprooted it among European nations. The authors from whom we have quoted, A. Nicholas Von Boden, Bernhardi, are filled with the Christian spirit, and strike telling blows at the evil. The latter writer states that the abuse was abolished in Holland, because in Utrecht, ■i88 GESTA CHRISTI. a man brought a false charge of theft again^ a shoe- maker. ^ The workman was tortured, confessed, atid was finally executed. It subsequently appeared that the ac- TCusation arose from the shoemaker's refusal to buy a pair of shoes from the man. Such instances were no doubt constantly occurring and aiding to bring Europe to right reason. This author says, that the system of torture ought to be cast out of the doors of Christianity, and that it is destitute of any appearance even of a divine test of truth. It is but just to say that in these matters of humanity and public right, the sceptics were often in their practice nearer Christ than were the popes, bishops and clergy. The Christian spirit afifected the ideas of those who were nominally unbelievers. The French free-thinkers and their followers opposed the use of torture with all their eloquence. Montaigne uttered 'his condemnation of it, Voltaire addressed (in 1777) an earnest appeal to Louis XVI. against it, and the philosopher king, Frederick the Great, made it the first act of his reign to abolish it (1740), though his humanity was not suflScient to prevent his using it on those accused of treason and rebellion against himself. In Saxony, Switzerland, and Austria, it was abdlished towards the end of the eighteenth century ; in Russia it survived till 1801 ; in Wurtemburg and Bavaria it was in use in 1806 and 1807; in Hannover till 1822; and in Baden till 1831, ^ In France, the storm of the Revolution swept it away; and almost at the same time it camp to an end in North Italy, but was 'used in the prisons of Naples and Palermo down to the middle of this century. It is remarkable that, according to Lea, ^ instances of ' Quoted by Lea. '^ A Reading on the iise of Torture, etc. D. Jardine, London, 1837. ^ Page 522. ABOLITION OF TORTURE. 189 judicial torture to extort evidence have occurred in Europe within a few years : one in Roumania in 1868, and the other in the enhghtened Republic of Switzerland, in the Canton of Zug, in 1869. The civilized world has happily for ever passed beyond this great abuse and injustice, which has caused such untold pain and misery, and has broken the courage and endurance of such countless numbers of human beings. Unfortunately for the name of Christianity, the Church sustained and employed this diabolical system of cruelty and oppression. But the teachings of Christ, and the protests of many of His followers have opposed it in every age. As men have become more and more filled with His spirit, or indirectly influenced by Christian ideas, torture has disappeared, and is now as one of the horrible, spectres of a dismal and bloody past. In non-Christian countries, however, it exists, but is gradually abolished as their codes of law come under the influence of the doctrines of Jesus. In one of the most civilized, of these — Japan — it was form- ally abolished as a means of procuring evidence, 1 in 1873, — the new code being reformed after those of Christian countries. ^ 'Ri&d!s Japan, vol. i. p. 324. CHAPTER XVI. THE stranger's RIGHT. Under the old Greek and Roman habits of mind, the stranger was mainly looked upon as a barbarian and enemy.^ Something of the same savagery, which in Stanley's travels through Central Africa made almost every new tribe he met with at once attack him like a dangerous wild beast, animated the ancient races, both barbarous and civilized, in their relations to foreigners. Stoicism indeed cultivated a more humane feeling among the learned and refined ; but the masses of the people in the ancient world were full of prejudices and hostility against those not of their own race or country. It is true that the Roman empire, with its imperial unity, tended to melt different peoples together under one rule, and strangers and enemies gradually became only those outside of the limits of this grand domain. Toward those, how- ever, the old barbaric feeling and custom were strong as ever. That expression in Plautus, " A man is a wolf to a man he does not know,"^ is probably an echo of an old Roman proverb, and utters a common sentiment of the ' Hostis enim apud majores nostros is dicebatur quern nunc pere- grinum dicimus. {Cic.) Aristotle says, Of all wars those are most necessary and just which are made by men against wild beasts, and next those made by Greeks against strangers, " who are naturally our enemies." {Pol., li. 8.) ^ As., 2, 4, 88. Homo homini ignoto lupus, etc. 190 HUMANITY TO THE STRANGER. 191 Italian peoples. When the Empire broke up and the Teutonic codes to a large degree controlled Europe, we see the revival of the inhuman spirit towards strangers, and at the same time the larger humanity taught by the Jewish Scriptures and by Christ, struggling with and mitigating the spirit of old and savage legislation. That humane command of the Old Testament, "Thou shalt not vex the stranger" (Lev. xix. 33, 34), seems to have rung in the ears of almost every Christian legislator of the German, Keltic, and Anglo-Saxon tribes ; and the spirit of the new Revelation is seen everywhere in- spiring and teaching a broader humanity, though often in vain against the ingrained and inherited habits of bar- barism. J There were indeed certain Justifications of the old Teutonic dislike of strangers. The land of the tribe was held in common, and a stranger, as a lawless man, was out of connection with the community, with no possessions and no obligations ; he was no doubt often a runaway, vagrant, or thief, or a disturber of the peace ; if he came as a merchant he was outside of the " mutual pledge " system which bound, for instance, the Anglo-Saxons to good conduct. It followed almost naturally that the laws in regard to him were often very strict or cruel. According to the Burgundian law ^ he could be tortured under sus- picious circumstances, and even one of Charlemagne's capitularies permits the same treatment. By a law of the Salian Franks, when a stranger wished to settle in a village or canton he was not permitted the privilege if a single resident opposed. If also within ten days any member of the tribe presented himself with witnesses, and summoned 1 Quicumque hominem extraneum cujuslibet nationis ad se veni- entem susceperit, discutiendum praesentet ut cujus sit tormentis adhibitis fateatur. Lex. Burg., i. 39, and Cap. 2 (803 a.d ). 192 GESTA CHRIST!. him to quit the village, and this was repeated twice after the ten days, he was obliged to depart. If he refused, he was summoned to the mallum, and. not onljj expelled, but compelled to abandon his property and pay a fine. In England, as we shall shortly show, a stranger who was accused of any crime must be at once put in jail ; if he was found off from the four main roads and^ making no noise of bell, he could be killed as a thief ; no one could harbour him more than three nights, and whoever did so even for that time was responsible for his good conduct. He was taxed wherever possible. Even as late as the time of Henry VIII. all foreign artificers were prohibited from working in the kingdom.^ The Saxons are said to have sold into slavery a stranger who had no patron.^ By a law of many German tribes, if a stranger had resided twelve months in a district he was safe ; if he was guest of a member of the tribe, the host after three nights became responsible for him. The proverb was common, "Two nights a guest, the third night a servant." In Gaul, among the Keltic tribes, the stranger was equally held as one outside of the community and unable to own the property of a warrior. The early German codes soon begin to show the effect of the new spirit in. this matter. The laws of the Bavarians of the twelfth century quote the Bible text in regard to vexing the stranger, and lay a heavy fine on him who shall plunder, sell, or wound a stranger, while a burdensome fine must be paid to the treasury for his murder. That great legislator, Charlemagne, in 803, calls upon every one in his empire, as he would that Christ should be merciful unto him, not to refuse hospitality to strangers ' 32H. VIII., c. 16. 2 Peregrinum qui patronem non habebant, vendebant Saxonis. Weginhordt. DROIT D'AUBAINE. 193 and travellers.^ He directs all judges to give just judg- ment, and to make no distinction between the stranger and the citizen, because that is the true judgment of God.^ No official is permitted to oppress strangers with taxes or any other burden.^ Alfred, in the Anglo-Saxon code, orders his subjects not to vex the stranger and far-comer, in memory of the Lord's people being strangers in the land of Egypt ; and each of his successors repeats this injunction on religious grounds. The ancient Hungarian law enjoins humanity towards strangers in that we ever have the example of the Master, and the command " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." * Droit d'Aubaine. — One of the most remarkable instances of the continuance of a barbaric custom in a Christian country, down to modern times, has been the droit d'au- baine, ^ or stranger's right, in France. The stranger for centuries in France was looked upon in law as a serf, and treated accordingly. An aubain, or stranger, living a year and a day in a French community, and not professing citizenship or attaching himself to a baron, became serf to the seigneur on whose lands he resided. It was the fourteenth century before the strangers ceased to b& regarded as bound to the soil in France, and features of the droit daiibaine have survived to the present day. The ' Volumus ut infra regna, Christo propitio nostro, omnibus itei-an- tibus, nuUus hospitium denegat, mansionem et focum tantum. Chai-. 3 Cap., and others. 2 Quod justum est, judicate. Sive civis sit ille, sive peregrinus nulla sit distantia personarum, quia Dei judicium. (62.) ^ 72, 9 c. * Semper illud Domini exemplum, etc. ' Probably derived from Albanus, or Scotchman, as being the foreign people most often strangers in France. It may also be from alibi natus. Others give, Celt, all-, autre; i5a««, juridiction, district, contrde, pays. (See Hist, de la Cond. civ. d'Eti'angers en France. Par C. Demangeat, Paris, 1844.) O 194 GESTA CHRISTI. oppressive custom had indeed been lightened by the greed of the seigneurs for money obtained by selling their rights over foreigners, and by the power of the kings, who pro- tected strangers in the interest of royalty against feudal barons. The Christian religion, too, softened, though for centuries it could not remove, the oppression. The abso- lute servitude of strangers was formally abolished from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century. In the earlier times the seigneur at the death of the stranger took, by law, all his inheritance. But toward the end of the thirteenth century, if he had left children, half the pro- perty was permitted to descend to them. Louis X. (13 15) ordered servitude to be changed to freedom,^ but the efforts failed against the struggles of the feudal gentry. The aubains, or strangers, of the Middle Ages seem to have been in almost the same position with serfs. They were bound to the soil, and masters could pursue them if they ran away ; they sold their rights over them like any other property. The stranger was obliged to pay dues to the baron ; if married to a person of another class, he must pay a fine, and, if his marriage was without the consent of his master or seigneur his goods could be confis- cated and the marriage declared null and void. In divers ways the unfortunate foreigners in France were plundered and taxed throughout the Middle Ages. They could not inherit or bequeath property. Even as late as the six- teenth century the aubains could not transmit property, except a fixed small sum, or succeed to an estate. In 1 46 1, Louis XL exempted from the droit d'aubaine and the correlated right of barbarism, the droit de naufrage — wreckers' right — certain large districts in Flanders and the adjacent regions. It was not till 1606 that England and France released merchants by treaty from these oppressive ' Servitude fust ramende k franchise. ABOLITION OF DROIT D'AUBAINE. 195 dues and exactions. Henry II., in 1554, expressly exempted Scotch merchants from the droit d'aubaine. Still with these various exemptions, the general law for centuries in France was that a stranger, if he did not recognise the seigneur on whose land he lived, could, after a year and a day, be arrested and his goods confiscated, or he be forced to pay a heavy fine. He became the man of the baron and must bestow on him a certain surrl by will, or the baron inherited all his property. Even native French- men wandering to some other than their native district were liable to become native aubains. This odious right was finally abolished by the humane impulse of the Revolution in 1790 ; that is, strangers could transmit property to other than French children, but they were not permitted to collect property left to them in France, nor were they made equal with Frenchmen in regard to imprisonment for debt, the transference of pro- perty, or the ability to appear as plaintiffs in court. It was not till this century (1819) that strangers in France were placed by other than treaty law on an equality with native Frenchmen, and allowed to receive bequests and to own real estate. In 1832 a still further improve- ment was made in their condition by their being delivered from imprisonment for small debts. As regards foreign countries, these odious relics of a barbarous age were abolished by treaty in France, first in 1760; — the privilege of exemption being secured by the United States in 1778, and by Russia and England in 1787. Similar inequalities in regard to strangers, derived 'from the ancient customs of half-civilized tribes and from feudalism, still exist under the common law of England, and have been continued in many of the United States. The right of a stranger to own real estate in most of the 196 GESTA CHRISTI. American States is only given by special statute or on application to the court. The struggle of Christianity against this spirit of in- tolerance is only seen in the early legislation of the German and Keltic tribes, because then the motive power was fresher and more distinctly expressed. But when Paul on Mars' Hill uttered to the race most proud of its blood in antiquity and who held all foreigners as bar- barians, that watch-word of modern humanity, " God hath made'of one all races of men," and when He repeated it in so many forms to the great conquering race of the past — the Romans — we may be sure that an idea from the great Master was thrown into human society which must everywhere break down the hatred of race to race. As this humane principle became more an element in human progress, it was less spoken of as a religious in- fluence. It entered into legislation silently, and after long struggles began the reforms which are not yet finished ; for under the teachings of Christianity, there can be no unjust and oppressive discriminations made against the stranger and foreigner, but all nations are of " one blood." CHAPTER XVII. THE WRECKERS' RIGHT AND PIRACY. Of all persons claiming the offices of common humanity, it would seem that the unfortunate sailor or stranger, wrecked on a foreign shore, was the one most innocent and most deserving. And yet in all ages before Christianity, and often since, either the shipwrecked mariner and traveller were held to be the slaves or captives of those who rescued them, or their property became lawful plunder of any into whose hands it fell. They were considered the outlaws of mankind. The Visigoths, more than any of the German tribes, were at least externally influenced by the Christian principle, and their code showed one of the first efforts to do away with this barbaric practice towards the ship- wrecked. Severe penalties were threatened against plun- dering the goods of wrecked vessels. The Anglo-Saxons too were somewhat touched with the higher humanity of the new Faith, and one law proclaims (about 978 A.D.) " Let every merchant-ship have frith (peace) that comes within port, though it be a hostile port, if it be not (storm-) driven ! If it be (storm-) driven, and it flee to any peace- burgh, then let these men and what they bring with them have peace." Henry I. (11 30 A.D.) referring to the wreckers' right, says : " Hanc abhorrens consuetudinem," abhorring this 198 GESTA CHRIST I. custom, he ordains a law, that whoever escapes from a wreck should be allowed to possess his property. Richard II. (1190) proclaims that, having himself ex- perienced the calamities of shipwreck, he does "for the love of God and the salvation of his soul demand safety and protection for all shipwrecked persons- and their goods in whatever land or sea.''^ The ancient mercantile community was the first to feel the new spirit of humanity, and their interests would naturally move them to resist barbaric practices. Every old mercantile code contains provisions against the ill- treatment of these unfortunate persons. The Code d'Oleron (dating before the fourteenth century) is full of honest in- dignation against those who injure the shipwrecked, and commands the plunderers to be half-drowned and stoned like dogs. It is said to be " against the command of God the All-powerful, notwithstanding any custom or ordinance, to plunder the shipwrecked, and all such are accursed" (Art. 38) ; and whoever should put up false lights to mis- lead the unwary and thus cause disaster and wreck, ought to be bound in the midst of his house and fire to be set to its four corners and be burned with it, and the whole place be turned into a hog-yard.^ Nothing however seemed to uproot this barbarous practice. In the tenth and eleventh centuries the Dukes of Brabant still claimed the right to plunder all persons who were so unfortunate ^ Ricardus Rex jam expertus calamitates naufragorum, pro amore Dei et salute animse sus et parentum suorum quietem clamavit in perpetuuin Wrec per totam terram suam citra mare, et ultra statuens ; quod omnis naufragus qui ad terram pervenerit, omnes res suasliberas et quietas habeat. Leg. Sax., Wilkins, p. 342. ^ Et doibt estre lid k une esteppe en millieu de sa maison, et on doibt mettre le feu es quatres corniSres de sa maison et faire tout brusler, etc. Art. 41, c. 8. CRUELTY TO SHIPWRECKED. 199 as to be cast on their coasts. The Council of Nantes (i 127) thundered against it ; and in 1 231, the good king, St. Louis, made a treaty with the Duke of Brabant, endeavouring to convert these rights into money pay- ments. Among the religious efforts made to limit this odious custom of a cruel age, may be mentioned, the " Judgments of the Sea," a code of St? Louis, in 1266. By these new- regulations, the seigneur on whose domains unfortunate vessels were cast, was not permitted to seize the property or to enslave the persons of the crew ; but he is required to aid the sufferers and to save the property. " Whoever shall do the contrary, shall be excommunicated from the church, and punished as a robber" (Art. 29), and by Art. 30, if, after a year, no owner appear, the baron shall pub- licly sell the wrecked property, and distribute the money among the poor, and otherwise do works of compassion with the proceeds. The Lateran Council (1179) promulgated one article against the inhuman practice, and forbade any one de- spoiling the wrecked. ^ These efforts however did not avail, for in 1277 Philip the Bold was obliged to issue an ordinance, excepting from the usual royal claims the property of Italian merchants thus brought to misfortune. Louis XL (1465-69) claimed all shipwrecked goods as legal property of the crown ; the only exceptions being in favour of the Dutch and Flemings, and of the Hanseatic League. The ordinance of 1543 is said to be the first legal evidence of a reform in this practice in France ; by ' Ne patientes naufragium quisquam spoliare prsesumat. (C. 21.) Excommunicatione quoque poenae subdantur qui Romanes aut alios Christianos pro negotio vel aliis caiisis honestis navigio vectos, aut capere aut rebus suis prEesumunt. (3 Cone. Lat.) ■200 . GESTA CHRIST/. this act, the wrecked persons were permitted to reclaim their property within a year and a day. ^ In other portions of Europe there was much humane legislation against this evil. In Spain, Sicily, and Italy, the commercial cities and Republics strove everywhere to include humane treatment towards the wrecked in the privi- leges granted to them by treaties. The religious bodies universally denounced the practice of cruelty towards these unfortunate persons. It existed on the coasts of Scotland till the thirteenth century ; and in Germany it was only in the twelfth century that the right of the baron or the crown over wrecked property was changed to a fine for protec- tion. On the coasts of Prussia the ancient right of plun- dering and enslaving the shipwrecked was believed to be derived from the old Rhodian Law. Many treaties were made in the thirteenth century between Christian and Mohammedan countries, endeavour- ing to protect Europeans from this cruel practice. The final abolition of this inhuman custom was due to a com- bination of influences. The sense of humanity taught and encouraged by the new Faith was also stimulated by the broadening effects of commerce, and by the mutual interests of traders and their customers. The only nations among whom this barbarism still en- dures in modern times, are the non-Christian, especially the Mohammedan peoples of the north of Africa. But even here, the power of civilized races has checked it ; and humanity to the shipwrecked is now stamped by the Christian Faith on the public law and custom of all lead- ing nations. It would not only be considered in this age a violation of international law to plunder or treat cruelly the shipwrecked, but the religious and humane spirit of ' Pardessus. Collection de Lois Maritimes. PIRACY. 201 Christian countries has made it a duty and satisfaction to aid these unfortunate persons. Piracy. — The practice of indiscriminate plundering on the sea in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was only a part of the private war prevailing on the land. Every in- dividual, or town, or state who chose, could equip a vessel and plunder all others. No richly freighted ship was safe. Entire coasts became asylums for marine freebooters. Towns employed vessels against other towns ; and cities thus waged war with one another. The leagues of commercial towns did much to clear the seas of these free-booters, and piracy was finally checked by privateering. The evil (in a mitigated form) has lasted down to our own day in the practice of " Private War " under letters of marque, or privateering. The new spirit infused into international law by the great Teacher is gradually abolishing privateering, and this century will probably see the end of " Private War " on the sea, as a former century saw that of a similar savage custom on land. CHAPTER XVIII. CHARLEMAGNE'S CAPITULARIES. No student of the Middle Ages can be otherwise than deeply impressed with the wonderful personality which led the work of reforming and re-organizing that portion of Europe held by the German and Keltic tribes. Charle- magne's legislation bears the constant impress of the new moral power in the world ; and though his practical action was by no means always guided by Christianity, these laws often give a fair example of the influence of the religion of Jesus on the laws of barbaric tribes. One of his capitularies (789 A.D.) uses almost the lan- guage of the Bible, when he says, " Let no one claim wrongfully the lands of another, and pass not the bound- aries of his fathers." " No one should turn away the offerings which may be the whole pati'imony of the poor ! " " Let peace and good intelligence rule among bishops, abbots, counts, judges, and men of all conditions, for with- out peace, nothing pleases the Lord." " If ye love one another, all will know ye are Christ's disciples ! " Accord- ing to the command of our Lord, let no murder be com- mitted in the spirit of vengeance, avarice, and rapine ; wherever this crime be discovered, let bur judges punish it in virtue of our orders, but let no one in future lose his life if the law do not condemn him.^ Widows and orphans ' Cap. Eccles., 61, 66, etc. LAIVS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 203 and minors are to be protected, as under the peculiar care of God, and are everywhere to have peace and receive justice." 1 " And it pleases us that the faithful should be admonished concerning hatred and discord, which extin- guish charity among those nearest, and destroy affection." '^ The true charity which loveth God and our neighbour is to be cultivated ; * and friendship and affection are to be observed according to the words of the Apostle to the Corinthians.* The people were exhorted to peace and concord, because they have one Father in heaven,^ and because the blessed book had taught them that " Blessed are the peace-makers." They are warned against feud,^ and in the words of Scripture against any rash shedding of Christian blood.'' The powerful are cautioned against the oppression of the poor ; * and all are exhorted to be imitators of Him who would save the souls of men.° And all Christians are most solemnly warned to give their utmost diligence, lest they be for ever separated from the kingdom of God, by their strifes and contentions and falsehood and wicked vices.^" The great sin of the Middle Ages was the habit of false .swearing. These laws bid the citizen beware of perjury, not only on the holy Gospels, the relics of the saints and the altar, but in common conversation. " There are some ' Ut viduas, orphan! et minus potentes sub Dei defensione, etc. (c. ccxxvii.) 2 Placuit ut fideles admonentur de odio et discordia, etc. (c. cclxi.) ' Vera caritas qua Deus proximusque diligitur, etc. (cccxlvii.) ' c. cccxlii. ° Quia unum Deum pattern habemus in coelo, etc. (Lib. 7.) * Pro Faidi, etc. (Lib. 5, c. ccv.) ' c. cccxxvii. * c. ccclxxxii. " c. cccxxxiii. '" . . . a regno Dei se alienos faciant. {Add. 2, cxxii.) 204 GESTA CHRISTL who swear by charity and truth, and know not that the same God is charity and truth " ■'; they urge honest weights and measures in towns and monasteries, for " my soul hateth false measures." ^ On the question of marriage, no one is permitted to marry a divorced woman (43) ; and if a man abandon his wife, he is to be punished. No husband shall desert his wife, except for the cause allowed in Scripture — criminal conduct.^ And still more remarkable, the slave is pro- tected in his marriage, and even if the partners be sold to different masters, the union is still lawful and must be respected.* The Christian abhorrence which first animated the Roman law against unnatural vice, appears in the capitularies. The great emperor .speaks of the Roman Law as " the mother of all human laws ; " and draws a warning from the fate of the nations of Spain and the tribes of the Burgundians, who had been given up to unnatural vices and were therefore permitted by God to b.e enslaved by the Saracens.^ His law also shows mercy to the outlaw {wargenduin) by making his blood-money the same as for killing a Frank. He repeats the humane phrase, unfortunately too often only a phrase : " Ecclesia abhorret sanguine " (the ' . . . ut caveant perjurium, non solum in sancto Evangelio, vel in altare, seu in sanctorum reliquiis, sed in communi loquella, etc. (63.) 2 Lib. 7. c. cclii. ' NuUus conjugem propriam nisi ut sanctum conjugium docet, for- nicationis causi, relinquat. Cap. Reg. Fr., c. Ixxxvii. ■* Unde nobis visum est ut conjugia servorum non dirirauntur, etiamsi diversos dominos habeant sed in uno conjugio permanentes. {/Ldd. Tert., c. iv.) ^ Sicut aliis gentibus Hispanise et Provincas et Burgundiorum populis contigit, quse, sic a Deo recedentes, fornicatas sunt, donee Judex Omnipotens, etc. (Cap. 4, i5.) See also lib. 7, cxlii. Ut monachi se- cundum regulam vivant. CHRISTIAN IN LEGISLATION. 205 Church abhorreth blood) ; he calls cupidity the root of all evil ; and recommends hospitality for the reason that he who receiveth a little child in the name of Christ, receiveth Him ; the observance of Sunday was ordered, which is a special legislation for the working- classes ; respect for the dead was encouraged, and the obligation of prayer impressed on all. The laity were ordered to learn the Apostles' Creed ; and, to soften them, the emperor quotes incessantly from the precepts of Christianity, forbidding the oppression of the poor and humble, and ordering the judges to hear the cause of the poor before that of the rich. To break up tjie ancient feuds which desolated society, he orders that whoever slays his enemy after peace has been declared, must lose his hand and pay a fine (cap. 50). The stranger and far- comer are especially protected, under the injunctions in the Bible, and because such may be journeying in the service of their common Master.^ It is true that much of this legislation was violated in practical experience, and that it was largely swept away after the death of the great reformer. But it shows with remarkable clearness, what the direct influence of this Faith from Judaea was upon legislation through the wild period of the Middle Ages, and what it tended to bring about. • Advenam non contristabis, etc. (Lib. xxviii.) Nemo enim ausus sit inquietare vel nocere peregrinum, etc. (Lib. 7.) CHAPTER XIX, ANGLO-SAXON LAW. There are two opposite difficulties ia weighing correctly the influence of religious faith on the laws, and thus on the moral^ of a country : one, that the laws may be far in advance of the practice of a people and thus merely repre- sent the ideals of conduct ; and the other, that the practice and customs may have far preceded the legislation, which is thus only a " survival " of an ancient period. In regard to the Anglo-Saxons or Old English, it would appear that the legislation of their kings and assemblies was much in advance morally of the habits of the people ; and that it represented the new and living moral forces which were gradually to change England from barbarism to civili- zation. That these forces were essentially Christian, is evident from the chronicles and biographies of the period, and especially from the language of the legislation, and the motives habitually employed in it to promote good action. The great peculiarity of the Christian system of morals is the impulse given to virtuous and disinterested action by regard to a Person, to a perfect life and character, which has supernatural relations, and by a consideration of con- sequences in another existence. These features are espe- cially stamped in the Anglo-Saxon legislation. Whether the well-known religious character of some of the kings, or the deep religious tendencies of the law-makers, have given these peculiarities to old English laws, is uncertain. It is ANGLO-SAXON LAW. 207 well-known that the ministers of religion at that era in England were, to a large degree, lawyers ; and they exer- cised a powerful influence on the making of laws. It was an influence, however, moral rather than ecclesiastical or technical. The Anglo-Saxon laws certainly form a great contrast, in this respect, to most other codes of that age. Society in England was more barbarous, and more stained by crime and violence than on the continent of Europe. But no ancient code of the German or Keltic tribes in France and Germany (with the exception of Charlemagne's Capitularies), or of the Welsh in Britain of the same period breathes any such religious spirit or such pure morality founded on Christian faith. The Anglo-Saxon laws, too, have avoided the errors of the Christian Church in separat- ing morality and faith : they are nearer the great Master, in teaching the direct connection of good action or pure thoughts, and respect or love for Him. It is true that in England, as in all other countries, the teachings of Christ were forgotten or obscured by superstition, or submerged by tides of human passion and selfishness, and Christianity was eclipsed there as it has been everywhere in the world. But for a time we see its clear light shining in English history, and we know how many fogs of ancient prejudice it dispelled ; how many abuses it silently melted, and what a soil it prepared for all that is best in English growth since. It did not indeed accomplish all that might be expected from its power. But history is long ; and the life of one nation can show but an inconsiderable part of the effects of this renovating influence. It is sufficient to describe forces which are capable in their nature of bringing about a complete and perfect moral transformation of society. In the British Islands, as through all Europe, among the tribes outside of Roman law, personal revenge, as we 2o8 GESTA CHRISTI. have already stated, and family feuds took the place for a long period of legal and judicial punishments. Society was resolved almost to its primeval savage elements. The first influence of Christianity in England (as else- where) was to curb personal revenge, by encouraging the existing system of bot or iines, so that every kind of offence should be compensated for by some amend, paid in pro- perty, in part to the sufferer, in part to the king. From this, the next step is to a strict legal and perhaps bloody punishment by the proper authorities, instead of which no payment can be accepted. Then, beyond this, come the milder punishments, inculcated by the spirit of humanity. Religion aids in each of these steps, but in England, as throughout Europe, it checked private revenge, especially by the " Peace of God " enforced on certain holy days, and in certain places ; and by the refuge offered in the churches to the victim fleeing from the anger of a powerful enemy. All these privileges offered by the Church tended to re- strain passion in that wild age. It is an instance, too, of the peculiar effect of Christianity, that the freeing of bondmen or the prohibition of their sale in foreign countries, from the earliest Saxon laws down into the Norman period, is always accompanied by such words as that " it is not right to sell him for whom Christ hath died." The commands against unchastity, or cruelty, or oppression, are all ac- companied with religious motives. In fact, the laws often sound more like pastoral letters than legislation from war- like kings. A remarkable heading of a law in regard to honesty in King Canute's code, "Ad Eucharistiam et probitatem " (about the sacraments and integrity) might give a rebuke to the Christianity of our own day. The Laws of Old English Kings. — From King Wiht- raed, ^ about 690 A.D., we hear that " men living in illicit ' Thorpe's Collection of Anglo-Saxon Laws (No. 3). MORAL TEACHINGS OF SAXON KINGS. 209 intercourse should take to a righteous life with repent- ance of their sins, or that they be separated from the Church." Howell the Good, in the beginning of the tenth century, ordered his Welsh subjects to hold their assem- blies in Lent, "because in holy tyme every one should be pure, and should do no wrong at a time of purity." One provision of his laws shows the effort of the reli- gious officials to promote the integrity of the judges. "A judge is to serve a year's apprenticeship, and then the king's chaplain is to take him to the church, having with him twelve principal ecclesiastical officers, to celebrate Mass. And after Mass and an offering by every one, let the chap- Iain require him to swear by the relics, and by the altar, and by the consecrated elements placed on the altar, that he will never deliver a wrong judgment knowingly." ^ King Alfred (about 870 A.D.) introduces his code with the ten commandments and other laws taken from the Bible: he quotes almost directly from Exodus a command especially applicable to his age : " Vex not the far comers and stran- gers : for ye were once strangers in the land of Egypt." (No. 33.) The " doom " on slaves has the humanity of the Mosaic law : " If any one buy a Christian bondsman, let him be bondsman to him six years ; the seventh be he free unbought. With such clothes as he went in, with such go he out." Justice is to be impartial. " Doom thou very evenly ; doom thou not one doom to the wealthy, another to the poor ; nor one doom to the more loved, other to the more loathed, doom thou not." (No. 41.) Of his laws, the king says : " These are the dooms that the Almighty God Himself spake to Moses, and bade him to hold ; and when the Lord's only begotten Son, that is Christ the Healer, on middle earth came, He said that He came not these dooms to break nor to gainsay, but with all good to do, and with ' Quoted by Bridgett {Haddam and Stubbs, i, 229.). P 210 GESTA CHRIS TI. all mild heartedness and lowly mindedness to- teach them"^ " That ye will that other men do not to you, do ye not that to other men. From this one doom, a man may think that he should doom every one rightly ; he need keep no other doom-book. Let him take heed that he doom to no man that he would not that he doom to him, if he sought doom over him." Through all the Saxon and early Norman laws, the interests of the working classes are protected in the matter of Sunday. If a bondman work on Sunday by his lord's order, the lord must pay a fine of thirty shillings; if without this order, he must be flogged. If a freeman work with- out his lord's order, he must forfeit his freedom or pay sixty shillings ; a priest pays double. Under Edgar and Guthrum (about 900 A.D.) we find : " If any one engage in Sunday marketings, let him forfeit the chattel. ... If a lord oblige his slave to work on a festival day, let him pay the fine." (No. 7.) In another law, a wrong to a foreigner is held as wrong done to Christ and the king. (No. 12.) We have already stated that by the customs of the country, if a wreck happened on the coast, the cargo and crew fell into the hands of the king, and in many countries the crew might be enslaved, and that every foreign merchant trafficking among the English must give hostages for his good conduct, — so that it will be understood how important were the Jewish and Christian directions of kindness to the stranger in the Anglo-Saxon law. The following law of King Wihtraed (700 A.D.) gives a curious picture of the state of England : " If a far-coming man or a stranger get out of the high way, and he then neither shout nor blow a horn, he is to be accounted a thief, either to be slain or redeemed." ^ (No. 28.) ' Hughes' Translation. ^ The same law appears in King Ine's code. No. 20. RELIGIOUS LAWS. 211 False Swearing. — King Edward (940-946) commands that "those who swear falsely and work enchantments, let them be for ever cast out of all communion with God, unless they turn to repentance." (No. 6.) The religious impulse appears especially in King Ethel- red's dooms. (978 A.D.) " This then first : that we all love and worship one God, and zealously hold one Christianity . . . that every man be regarded as entitled to right ; and that peace and friendship be lawfully observed within the land before God and before the world." (No. i.) " And let every Christian man carefully eschew unlawful concubinage and rightly observe the Divine laws." (No. 16). "And at those holy tides (certain religious days) let there be, as is right, to all Christian men, general peace 'and concord and let every strife be appeased." (No. 19.) The following seems the injunction of a Christian pastor rather than of a king : " And let God's law be henceforth zealously loved by word and deed, then will God soon be merciful to this nation." (No. 26.) "We will also yet earnestly admonish every friend, as it is our duty fre- quently to do, that every one earnestly consider himself, and that he earnestly turn from his sins and that he correct other men for injustice, and that above all things he love his Lord." (No. 42.) "And that they comfort and feed God's poor . . . And that they do not too often oppress widows and step-children, but willingly gladden them." (Nos. 46-49.) " And let every injustice be care- fully cast out from this country as far as can be done. And let fraudulent deeds and hateful illegalities be ear- nestly shunned ; that is, false weights and wrong measures, and lying witnesses, and shameful fightings," etc. " And it is the ordinance of the General Assembly, that Christian men be not for altogether too little cause condemned to death ; but in general let mild punishments be decreed for 212 GESTA CHRISTI. the people's need ; and let not for a little, God's own handiwork and His purchase be destroyed, which He dearly bought . . . And let him who judges others bear in mind very seriously what he himself desires, when he says : Et dimitte nobis debita nostra." (vi. lo.) The ancient laws of King Canute (1017 A.D.) have the tone of a sermon: "Let every Christian man do as is needful for him, let him keep his Christianity,'' etc. " Let every man guide his words and works aright, and carefully keep oath and pledge, and let every injustice be strictly cast out of this country, as far as it can be done, and let God's law be henceforth earnestly loved by word and by work, then will God's mercy be more ready for us 'all." (No. 19.) " And we instruct that every one ever guard hiniself against foul lasciviousness, and against every kind of fornication, and against every kind of adultery. And we also instruct every man that he earnestly have the dread of God in his mind, and by day and by night that he fear for sins, dread doomsday, and shudder for hell, and ever suppose the end of his day near to him." (Nos. 24, 25.) This again has the special stamp of the new teaching : " Let us ever help those who especially stand most in need of help, then shall we obtain the reward of it where it will be most pleasing to us. For we ought always for love and fear of God, to doom and command more lightly to the feeble than to the strong, because we know full well that the powerless cannot raise a like burthen with the powerful, nor the unhale alike with the hale . . . And both in religious shrifts and secular dooms, these things ought to be scattered abroad." (No. 69.) In regard to the sale of a woman as ward or wife, Canute's law says : " And let no one compel either woman or maiden to him, when she mislikes, nor for money sell her." (Z. Can., Ixxv.) And as to mercy to wrong-doers, this humane legislation directs : SAXON PIETY. 2!3 " If any one will earnestly turn him from wrong again to right, let him have mercy shown him, or fear of God, as best may be, very earnestly." In a very ancient Anglo- Saxon writing, " The Institutes of Polity," it is said, that "seven things are befitting a righteous king : first, that he have very great awe of God ; second, that he ever love righteousness ; third, that he be humble before God ; fourth, rigid towards evil ; fifth, that he comfort and feed God's poor ; sixth, further and protect God's Church ; and seventh, that towards friends and strangers alike, he be guided by just judgment." ^ (No. 1 1 1.) Of judges, it is said: "they need to love justice before God, and before the world, and nowhere through unjust judgment for money or for friendship neglect their duty, so that they turn justice to injustice, or adjudicate unjust judgment to the injury of the poor; but it is their duty above all things to honour and defend the Church, and gladden widows and step-children, and help the poor and protect the slaves, if they will rightly execute God's will. Thieves and public wrong-doers they shall hate, and spoilers and robbers they shall condemn, unless they desist, and they shall ever rigidly shun injustice. Woe to him who practises wrong too long, unless he desist right surely shall he pass through the dim and dark abyss of hell, of all help deprived. . . . Let every one guard himself, so that he anger not God too greatly, but pro- pitiate his Lord with righteous deeds." (v.) Feuds. — Nearly all the Teutonic tribes, as we have said, had a custom or a law, that the inheritance of the land carried with it the inheritance of the armour, and the family-feud or ultio pi'oximi. ' Thorpe's Laws and Institutes. 214 GESTA CHRISTI. One of the first objects of the English rulers under the new impulse of humanity is to curb this bloodthirsty spirit. In the ancient Welsh laws, feud was lessened by estab- lishing certain protections for every attendant of the court, and for given hours of the day and fixed places.^ King Edmund also makes " known to all people, both old and young, that are in my dominion, what I have deliberated in the Council of my Assembly, first. How I might most promote Christianity. To me and to us all are exceedingly offensive the unrighteous and manifold fightings that are among ourselves. If any one henceforth slay 'any man, that he himself bear the feud unless with the aid of his friends, and within twelve months he com- pensate with the full amend, be he born as he may. But if the kindred forsake him and will not pay for him, then I will that all the kindred be free of the feud, except the doer, if afterwards they do not give him either food or protection." Almost the first provision of the ancient Saxon code of ^thelbirht (who was baptized in 597 A.D.) was to make the fine for revenging a feud in the refuge of the Church, double of that in any other violation of sanctuary. By King Ine's law, " If any one take revenge before he demand justice, let him give up what he has taken to himself, and pay the damage done and make amend with thirty-five shillings." (No. 9.) Feuds were restrained by the " Peace of God " declared on certain days,^ to violate which would expose the of- fender to severe punishments. Certain places also were made inviolable sanctuaries. Vengeance at private festivals, ' See Thorpe's Laws of Wales. This curious code is full of pro- visions to restrain feu(} ; and the most archaic penal provisions. ^ Ab adventu Domini usque ad octavum Epiphanie pax Dei, et sancte Ecclesie per omne regnum. Leg. Ed. Can., No. 2. (1047 a.d.) RESTRAINING FEUD. 2r5 was restrained by such remarkable laws as the following : " At a banquet or any gathering, those assembling must first agree to maintain the peace of God and of the house- master. If any one has a feud he must engage to satisfy his adversary by pledge in a certain place ; but if they cannot arrange, the guilty one must leave the banquet ; but if after this, one troubles it, he shall pay a fine." (Laws — Henry I. iioi a.d. No. i, 2.) In the ancient laws in regard to the Dun Setas^ (mountain-dwellers) or the natives of Wales, a new spirit will be seen after the introduction of Christianity. The Welshman is no longer hunted as a wild beast ; he is permitted to pay fines like an English- man, and personal raids on his territory are not per- mitted. " If a Welshman slay an Englishman, he need not pay for him on this side, except with half his fine, no more than an Englishman, on that side," etc. (No. 5.) These provisions only express the early substitution of humanity for barbarism in the bitter feuds and enmities between two neighbouring peoples, and this under the in- fluence of the new Faith — a single instance of the trans- formation going on throughout Europe. Alfred, in the introduction to his laws, expressly states it as a special result of the " Faith of Christ," that many nations through their religious assemblies had ordained, " out of that mercy which Christ had taught," that secular lords might without sin take for almost every misdeed, on the first offence, a money bot or fine which was fixed by law. This at once took away the necessity for revenge, and substituted law and legal punishment for personal ven- geance. Individual passion he seeks in every way to restrain. " We also command that the man who knoweth his foe to be home-sitting, fight not before he demandeth ' Thorpe's Collection. 2i6 GESTA CHRIST!. of him " (No. 42) ; and in various laws, the good king seeks to hold back the bloodthirsty passions of the day. There are more than thirty laws in his code, establishing bots or fines for various offences. In all these words of human brotherhood, of piety, and the spirit of justice, of pity and humanity, uttered by the barbaric lawgivers of a wild race, there speaks a great Personality — the embodiment of the highest sympathy and most disinterested virtue of mankind. It cannot be said indeed that these religious influences, so apparently genuine, produced any powerful effect on society in Anglo-Saxon England, though they modified the laws. Still they began the history of the religious forces in England, which, though obscured by much for- malism and hypocrisy and weakened by selfishness, have yet worked out slowly the great moral and humane reforms in the history of that country, and have tended with other influences to make it one of the great leaders of modern progress. CHAPTER XX. EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES. There can be no doubt that the pecuhar interpretation given by the early Fathers, especially by Augustine, to the Old Testament, and their views of inspiration, often caused the Church to be opposed to science and mental progress. Christianity, however, in its essential power, tends to open the intellect to truth ; to cultivate the humility and the fair-mindedness which especially enable the mind to see what is, as it is ; and, awakening the whole moral nature, to indirectly arouse the purely intellectual faculties. The mental stimulus given to Europe in different ages by non-Christian forces, is ever to be gratefully acknow- ledged. Roman law, Greek and Roman literature have not yet spent their influences on human progress. Arabic science had for one period a prodigious power. Yet it becomes increasingly evident that the races which have been partially (though imperfectly) moulded by Chris- tianity, are to be the leading powers in the intellectual and scientific progress of mankind. The especial truths of Christ were not apparently intended to affect science or intellectual advancement. Yet, being in harmony with the most complete and healthy moral condition of man, they did so arouse and dignify the whole nature as to fit it for high mental progress. They tended to form a candid, generous, self-forgetting character, intensely in- 2i8 GESTA CHRIS TI. terested in moral truths, and things unseen and eternal ; a character which would naturally also concern itself with other researches, beside those religious. Hence it is proba- bly, that for eighteen centuries, the Christian believer has been the especial leader in science ; for we include under the " Christian " character, even those scientific sceptics who have grown up under all the peculiar influences of Christianity. The Church, it must be admitted, has often been entirely false to the candid, charitable and humble type of cha- racter, taught by the Master. Its bigotry, intellectual narrowness and one-sidedness, its opposition to science and freedom of thought, its cruelty towards those of dif- fering opinion and indifference to intellectual activity, and its want of charity, have no foundation or excuse in the Gospels. But, while lamenting its errors, we must never forget its great services to intellectual progress. In ages of brutal violence and of barbarous ignorance, the religious associations of convents and monasteries became the shelter of learning and study. The classics were revived under the shades of the cloister. The lamp of science and literature was kept burning during the " dark ages " in the monk's- cell. Manuscripts were painfully copied and the relics of a higher intellectual age were preserved to animate a future century. Without the influence of these monasteries and churches, Europe would have sunk into a yet darker ignorance, and we might have had in Ger- many, France and Italy, the history repeated of the Byzantine Empire ; — a degradation and ignorance which would require the shock of foreign conquest to dispel and remove. The Christian Church, from the very first centuries, naturally connected itself with the school. The child under the view of Christianity took (as we have often EARLY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 219 said) a very different position from that under Roman law or classic custom. When Christ called the little ones to His arms and blessed them, they became for ever con- secrated in Christian tradition. Their mental condition must also not be neglected. The Councils early began to consider this. The Council of Vaison (529 A.D.) thus treats of edu- cation : " It hath seemed good to us that priests with parishes should receive into their houses, according to a sound custom in Italy, young readers to whom they give spiritual nourishment, teaching them to study, to attach themselves to holy books and to know the law of God." The Synod of Orleans (799) thus exhorts : " Let the priests in villages and towns hold schools, in order that all the children entrusted to them, can receive the first notion of letters. Let them take no money for their lessons." (Tlwod., cap. 20.) The Council of Chalons (813) decreed^ that bishops should establish schools where both literature and Scrip- tures should be taught. Still another Council proclaimed (859) : " Let one raise everywhere public schools, that the Church of God may everywhere gather the double fruit of religion.'' {Cone. Ling., cap. 10.) The Council of Mayence (813) orders the priests to exhort the fathers of families to send children to schools opened in monasteries, in order that they may learn to pray and be fortified in the Christian faith. Another Council (826) at Rome orders three kinds of schools to be founded in all Christendom ; firstly, episcopal schools in towns ; secondly, village schools ; and thirdly, wherever necessary. ,1 ". . . ut episcopi scholas constituant in quibus et litteraria solertia disciplinse et sacrae ScripturEe documenta discantur." {Cone. Cub., cap. 3.) 220 GESTA CHRIST!. The Council of Trent commands that the children of the poor have at least one master to teach poor scholars grammar gratuitously.^ Charlemagne had already (789) given these wise instructions : " Let one open schools to teach children to read ; let, in every monastery, in every bishopric, some one teach psalms, writing, arithmetic, gram- mar, and employ correct copies of holy books ; for often men seeking to pray to God, pray badly on account of the unfaithfulness of copyists." {Cap. Ecc, 61-66.) A beautiful letter on this topic, nominally from this remarkable man, has come down to us, addressed to the Abbot of Fulda (787 A.D.) : " During past years we have often received letters from different monasteries, informing us that at their sacred services, the brethren offered up prayers on our behalf; and we have observed that the thoughts contained in those letters, though in themselves most just, were expressed in uncouth language. And while pious devotion dictated the sentiments, the unlettered tongue was unable to express them aright. Hence there has arisen in our mind the fear, lest if the skill to write correctly were thus lacking, so too would the power of rightly comprehending the sacred Scripture be far less than was fitting. And we all know, that though verbal errors be dangerous, errors of the understanding are yet more so. We exhort you, therefore, not only not to neglect the study of letters, but to apply yourselves thereto with that humility which is well pleasing to God ; so that you may be able to penetrate with greater ease and cer- tainty the mysteries of the Holy Scripture. For as these contain images, tropes and similar figures, it is impossible to doubt that a reader will arrive far more readily at the spiritual sense, according as he is better instructed in ' " . . . qui clericos aliosque scholares pauperes grammaticam gratis doceat." {Conc^ Trid. occ.) LETTER OF CHARLEMAGNE. 221 learning. Let there therefore be chosen for this work, men who are both able and willing to learn and also desirous of instructing others ; and let them apply themselves to the work with a zeal equal to the earnestness with which we recommend it to them. "It is our wish that you may be what it behoves the soldiers of the Church to be, religious in heart, pure in act, eloquent in speech, so that all that approach your house, in order to invoke the Divine Master, or to behold the excellence of your religious life, may be edified in be- holding you, and instructed in hearing you discourse or chant, and return home, rendering thanks to God most high." (Const, de Scholis. Baluze) We have again an instruction of Theodolfus (796 a.d.), under Charlemagne : " Let the elders found schools through the towns and villages ; and if any of the faithful desire their little chil- dren to be commended to them for learning liberal studies, let them not refuse to receive them, but teach them with the utmost charity." ^ All these exhortations were not without their effect, and great numbers of schools sprang up throughout Christen- dom ; an immense quantity of manuscripts were also copied by the monks. From the sixth to the fifteenth centuries there was a deep interest in the monasteries in copying and binding manuscripts, especially of classic authors. The following striking words are from a monk who has exerted a deep influence on the world : " Do not trouble yourself at the fatigue of your work, for God, who is the source of every good and just labour, will give the reward, according to your eff"orts, in eternity. When you shall be no more, ' Presbyter! per villas et vicos scholas habeant et si quilibet fidelium suos parvulos ad discendas literas, etc. 222 GESTA CHRIS TI. those who will read the books, once copied by you with elegance, will pray for you; and as he who gives a glass of cold water does not lose his reward, so he who gives forth the living water of wisdom, will receive more surely his recompense in heaven." ^ A Council (1179) proclaims : "As the Church of God is provider of those who have need of the nourishment of such, as well as of those who fail of success of body ; in order that the poor whose relatives fail of resources may have the possibility of learning to read and to be in- structed, we appoint in every Cathedral church a master to instruct clerks and poor scholars. . . . Let one re- establish this in monasteries where it has existed anciently ; but let no one demand pay for teaching." {Cone. Concl.) All classes studied in these monastic schools, so that rich and poor were brought together on the field of learning. Nor were the popes altogether wanting to the intellectual movement. Pope Innocent IV. (1254) publicly recom- mended philosophic study instead of legal. A decree of Clement V. directed Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldee to be taught in the monasteries. Sylvester II. is said to have introduced Arabic numbers into Christian Europe. We do not continue the enumeration of these evidences of the services of the Church to learning in the Middle Ages, because they are only indirectly the effect of Chris- tianity. All that we urge is, that the Christian teachings, in their natural and legitimate influence, open the mind of man to truth, and by their moral power awaken the whole nature and thus stimulate the intellect. The position of the Church on Biblical inspiration, and therefore towards science, and her fierce bigotry towards differing opinions, receive no countenance from the Master. ' Thomas h. Kempis, Doct. Juv., c. iv. CHRISTIANITY STIMULATES THE INTELLECT. 223 It is true that He teaches that child-like humility and purity will lead to higher spiritual and moral truth than mere learning or scholarship. And Paul proclaims that in a future existence, the moral powers will exist when intellectual acquirements have been found to be of little worth. But neither of these aspects belittle science in this world. Indeed, the Christian " simplicity " is one of the guarantees to the scholar that he will attain truth and not be led away, as have been so many, by the false lights of conceit and prejudice. The whole world might be entirely inspired with the Faith of Christ, and yet no obstacle offered anywhere to the freest scientific research, but the path of knov/ledge be made easier, in that all men sought justice and mercy, and truth was the holiest thing. CHAPTER XXI, SERFDOM AND SLAVERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Under the Romans, in the Later Empire, as we have already said, serfdom arose almost naturally from the universal disorder and chaos of society. The slave, if freed, could not protect himself, and preferred the state of half freedom and of safety which serfdom offered. The small farmer found himself better guarded from robbers and invaders, by attaching himself as serf (inquilinus) to the estate of some powerful nobleman or leader. The wealthy patron at Rome rewarded his faithful clients by bestowing on them parcels of land in the provinces, where they were attached, as coloni, to the soil ; and again, the government settled bodies of prisoners or immigrants on large districts of public land, and made them serfs to the soil. These ^ coloni (or adscriptitii) were considered as free-born, but attached to the soil ; they could fall into slavery, and if they ran away from their estates, they might be punished with servitude. Their marriage was held legitimate, and the children, by a mild provision due to religious influences, followed the condition of the father ; they were excluded from the army and from public honours, but could become priests with the consent of the master; — this provision showing one mode in which the Church could indirectly emancipate them. They were freed ' Du Cange, Coloni, 224 CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE UPON SLAVERY. 225 from any tax to the government, and could only be sold with the land ; the land could not be sold without them. As far back as Marcus Aurelius, the legacy left by a mas- ter of a serf not attached to an estate, was not good in law.^ A colonus could be, under certain circumstances, a freeholder. Salvian speaks of the poor farmers who had made themselves serfs for the sake of protection. As we have noticed before, the Roman laws modified by the new teachings began at once to protect the serfs. The penalty of death was denounced in Gaul on him who should seize the persons of serfs or serf-stewards [villici) in payment of debts or taxes. The laws of Constantine forbade the separation of near relatives among slaves of the soil ; husband could not be separated from wife, nor parents from children.^ A runaway slave or serf who had been free for twenty years, or had held a public office, or had been in military service, or had voted in the assembly, was presumed to be free, and could defend his own rights. A free-born person or one who became a slave by violence, could always reclaim his liberty.^ The child became free, even if the mother had been enslaved within the nine months before its birth ; or if the mother was a slave and was emancipated without her own knowledge, the child was free. The effect of the Faith from Galilee was to make all the presumptions in favour of liberty. Freed slaves became Roman citizens in the presence of the assembly (ecclesia) and the bishops who signed the acts of manumission. The clergy did not need such formalities, but could free by word of mouth.* ' Si quis inquilinos sine prsediis quibus adhserent legaverit, inutile est legatum. (D. de legal., 11, 12,) 2 Cod. Theod., 11, 25, i. ^ Ibid., iv. 7, 2. * Ibid., iv. 7, II. Q 226 GESTA CHRISTI. The various Church Councils thundered their anathemas at those who re-enslaved those freed under religious forms. The reformed law under the influences from the Gospel teaching differed from the Roman law in admitting a kind of marriage between slaves {contubernium), for the reason that " We have a common Father in Heaven." ^ Both slavery and serfdom descended into the Middle Ages. The Christian Church struggled to a certain degree against these abuses. But, whether this organization was faithful or not to its Master, the spirit of Christianity worked continually on individuals, and thus on society, to mitigate and remove these evils. Still slavery in the Middle Ages presented some of its most peculiar features. Up to the twelfth century, there was an absolute power of the master over the life of the slave. After this, only a slight fine was inflicted for his death, while cruel punish- ments by the owner were permitted. The latter had also full control over the slave's property and earnings. Even the marriage was not held fully equal to the Christian tie. For several centuries after Christ, the barbarian nations did not receive benediction, or hold religious ceremonials at the nuptials of slaves. When this began to possess more the character of a legal union, a slave marrying without the consent of his master was liable to severe punishment, even of death ; this was later reduced to a fine alone. All the children of the slave became the property of the mas- ter, and could be sold like any other property. The slave had no title to anything but his clothes and subsistence ; if he had a property {peculitim) given him by his master, he could not save out of it. All his effects at his death fell to his master. He was distin- guished by his dress and appearance from other classes ; "... quia unum patrem habemus in pcelo. ACTS FAVOURABLE TO SLAVES. 227 even his testimony could not be received against freemen. From this condition of severe bondage there was, through- out Europe, a- "gradual and often unnoticed passage to serfdom. As early as 119 A.D. we hear that Hermes, a Prefect of Rome, being converted, presented 1,250 slaves for baptism, all having been freed. Another Prefect, Chromatins (284 A.D.), after his conversion to Christianity, is related to have freed 40 slaves, first having baptized them, with the. words : " Those who begin to be children of God ought not to be slaves of man." Thirty-seven Church Councils are reported to have passed acts favourable to slaves. In the year 305, any master ill-treating his slaves is condemned; in 517, the murderer of a slave is excommunicated ; in 549, the right of asylum in a Christian church is offered to the runaway, and slaves freed by the Church are protected ; in 666, bishops or priests ill-treating slaves are severely punished. In 441, emancipation is protected and encouraged ; in 585, the ornaments and property of the Church are permitted to be sold for ransoming slaves; in 566, Christians are forbid reducing freemen to slavery, and in 922, no Chris- tian is permitted to enslave a fellow Christian. In 656, any slave compelled to work upon Sundays becomes free by the fact, or if he be held over the font for baptism. This idea that baptism made free, existed even as late as the American colonial history, when American masters hesitated to baptize, lest by the act they freed their slaves.^ The forbidding the labour of slaves on Sunday and ' There are two acts reported of the Virginia ,Colonial Assembly, assuring to the masters the undisturbed condition of slavery, after the baptism of their slaves. (Anderson's Hist, of Col. Ck., vol. ii. p. 552 ; vol. iii. p. 227.) See also Hefelen, Conciliengeschichte, and Landon's Manual of Councils. 228 GESTA CHRISTl. Festival days was a humane protection ; the scourging of slaves or driving away their cattle was denounced under the strictest penalties. The West-Gothic laws were es- pecially under the influences of the Church ; and they are remarkable as carefully protecting the honour and the marriage of bondmen. Under them, the serf could trans- mit and inherit property, and appear in a court of law. The monasteries gradually ceased to sell serfs, and forbade their exchange. Step by step this class could give testi- mony, and certain individuals act as judges ; they were allowed to carry on trades and even to win knighthood. In the twelfth century, Adrian IV. confirmed the mar- riage of slaves against the will of the masters, in the most solemn manner.^ The property of serfs was more and more secured to them.^ The Church encouraged manumissions at festivals, at births and deaths ; and made all forms of manumission full forms of freedom. It enacted laws that if a serf saved a certain sum, the master was obliged to free him on payment of this ; and it made all bondmen free who entered the service of Church or State. The Christian belief and impulse tended everywhere to undermine both serfdom and slavery ; and encouraged the ransoming of slaves and prevented the slave trade, espe- cially the selling of Christians. Among much similar legislation, the decree of the Council of Chalons (650 A.D.), with forty-four bishops in session, ordered that no Christian slaves should be sold outside the kingdom of Clovis, with the words, "The ' Si contradicentibus dominis et invitis, matrimonia servorum contracta fuerint, nulla ratione sunt propter hoc dissolvenda. (Cap. I. X. 4, 9). ^ Non licet pecuniam suam servo auferre quam ipse labore suo adquisiverit. Egberti. Conf., c. 35. RELIGIOUS EMANCIPATION. 229 highest pity and religion demand that Christians should be removed entirely from the bonds of servitude."^ The melancholy trains of slaves in the various slave markets of Europe, which used to offend the eyes of the humane, were gradually removed. The slave trade was punished, as an act of " diabolic inspiration " in the ninth century, though this indignation did not reach the trade in heathen slaves. An edict^ of Charles le Chauve (864) threatened a heavy fine on those who sold beyond sea such unfortunate persons as were reduced to slavery by famine. It was a not uncommon practice for the poor in the Middle Ages to sell themselves into slavery, or to become slaves by debt. The new humane legislation permitted such persons to buy their freedom by paying the purchase money with one-fifth in addition, or by a sufficient duration of the service. The religious element in emancipation is seen strikingly in the forms of manumission of the Middle Ages, trans- mitted to us by Marculfus, and in the words of those urging the duty of freedom, as well as in the ceremonies used. Pope Gregory the Great, at the end of the sixth century, proclaims that inasmuch as the Redeemer of men had taken upon Himself humanity, to restore us to liberty, so it becomes us to restore those men whom nature had made free, but the law of nations had made slaves, to their natural condition — namely, liberty.^ The influence of the ' Pietatis maximee et religionis intuitus ut captivitatis vinculum omnino a Christianis redimatur, etc. ^ Et quia hominum ingenia, qui non Deum timent, diabolo suadente, multa mala excogitant, potest fieri ut qui tales homines liberos, necessitate cogente, in servos suscipiunt, etc. {Ed. Ris., c. 34.) 3 Cum Redemptor noster, totius conditor naturae . . . humanam carnem voluerit assumere ut . . . pristinse nos restituerit libertati, salubriter agitur, ut homines . . . libertati reddantur. {Greg. Mag. op. Bol; lib. iv.) 230 GESTA CHRISTI. Stoical jurists, as well as of Christianity, in these ideas, is worth noting. A common mode of manumission was for the master to lead the slave with a torch around the altar ; he then took hold of the horns of the altar, and the earnest words of liberation were spoken. One form, given by Muratori, of bestowing freedom, uttered these solemn words : " For fear of Almighty God, and for the cure of my soul, I liberate thee, and may the angel of our Lord Jesus Christ deem me worthy of a place among His saints."^ Another form utters the prayer of the master, that he may by this act attain to eternal blessedness and shake off the yoke of servitude to his sins.^ A common phrase of emancipation is " pro remedio animse meae," " for the cure of my soul," while the heirs are warned through their love to the Lord Jesus Christ not to return the slave to bondage. Another legal expression is, " I, in the name of God, think- ing of the love of God, or eternal retribution ... do free this slave from the bonds of servitude."^ Such words sjs, pro peccatis mmttendis, "for lessening my sins," or "bond and free are one in Christ," or " forgive, and it shall be for- given," show the spirit animating the framers of these ancient wills. Still another form says, " I, J. Nl, thinking how I can attain to the absolution of my sins, and looking to the time when the slave shall be freed from his master, do hereby emancipate my slaves, fifty in number," etc. Others look forward to the Divine tribunal, and would show mercy, even as they hope for mercy ; others speak of " Divine compassion inspiring."* Another form of manu- ' . . . absolve te, Clerisa, pro timore omnipotentis Dei et remedio animffi, etc. ^ . . per quam ad eternam beatitudinam valeat pervenire, etc. ^ Ego, in nomine Dei, cogitans de Dei amore vel asterna retribu- tione . . . ab omni vinculo servitutis . . . absolvo. * Ego, in nomine Dei . . . ut quando de hac luce migravero, FORMS OF EMANCIPATION. 23 r mission (Muratori), wherein a countess grants freedom to a female slave (1056 A.D.), makes this humane appeal : " Thus we who are formed of the earth, in like manner ought to pity our fellow-creatures . . . and whatever hath been bequeathed unto us, we ought to make free."^ This historian, who is an impartial observer of the Middle Ages, holds that the great moving force in bestow- ing freedom is the love implanted by the Christian reli- gion.^ Many charters and epitaphs bore the expression of " liberty for the benefit of the soul." Even as late as the thirteenth century, the early feelings in regard to Christian emancipation were kept up, and it was the custom in France to release caged pigeons on Christian festivals, and prisoners were freed " in the name of Christ." The un- wonted respect for humanity was shown in that term used in the new rites of manumission, where freedom was called ingenuitas, or " nobleness," as of one free-born.^ One form emancipates a slave for the salvation of the soul, so that he may henceforth lead a free life, as if he had been born from free or noble parents.* If a slave became priest, and his master did not oppose it, or had not reclaimed him for a year after his ordination, he was free. One can see how anima ni,ea ante Christi tribunal : veniam merear accipere . . . libero servos meos — inspirante divina misericordia. ' Ita nos qui de terra formati sumus, etc. Ant. Ital., p. 858. 2 Sed causa frequentior manumittendi miserum hoc hominum genus fuit Pietas et Caritas erga Deum, cujus amore plerumque manu- missiones celebratae reperiuntur. p. 875. Muratori, ibid. ^ . . . ne eorum ingenuitas vel nobilitas vilescat. {Dip. Cart. Calv., 844 A.D.) ■* Igitur ego in Dei nomine et conjux mea, pro remedio animaa vel retributione aeternci, te ex familia nostrd, a prsesente die, a\) omni vinculo servitutis absolvimus. Ita ut deinceps, tanquam si ab ingenuis parentibus fuisses procreatus vel natus, vitam ingenuam ducas. {Form. Sec, LXC. Rom. xii.) 232 GESTA CHRISTl. directly this must have acted in lessening the number of the slaves. Peasants' Wars. — The condition of the peasants during many centuries in Europe forms one of the most melan- choly pictures in human annals. They were frequently bound to the soil ; sometimes they could not bequeath any property to their descendants ; the master was allowed at their death to appropriate the choicest animal or most valuable product of the farm ; they were obliged to sell to him at his own prices, or to take certain necessaries from him at rates fixed by him ; their children were held as almost the property of the master, and the odious droit de seigneur, or its equivalent in money, stamped upon their feelings the sense of their degradation. Even where the person was free, the serf was subject to innumerable taxes and burdens ; he must keep his master's buildings in order,- do public work on the highways or for the baron sometimes for five days in the week ; allow his fields to be trampled down and his crops wasted by the gentry in their hunt for game. Even where he could not be sold away from the land, he could be disposed of with the estate, or could be driven ofT by persecution. His food was bad, his dwelling wretched, his children were without education, he was robbed of all things, and lived without hope, hating his master and the world which thus ground him to the dust. It may well be believed that the renewal of the Christian message in the Protestant Reformation, preaching afresh the dignity of the "child of God " and the "joint-heir with Christ," and giving a strange emphasis to the Christian idea of human brotherhood, fell upon these masses of wronged human beings like an inspiration from on high. The serfs saw clearly that their old religious teachers were imposing upon them, and that such an injustice as serfdom could PEASANTS' REVOLTS. 233 not be reconciled with the teachings of Christ. They accepted the reformed doctrines as a new gospel of liberty. In different countries they burst out against this oppres- sion of ages, and proclaimed freedom in Church and State. Unfortunately, most of the chroniclers of the Middle Ages have been on the side of the masters, and we know but little of the real aims and designs of the much-oppressed serfs. They committed great excesses, no doubt, but these were the natural reaction against centuries of wrong and injustice. The explosion, however, aided in finally re- moving the heavy burdens which had so long weighed on them. In the fifteenth century especially, these outbreaks burst forth in Germany. Many associations were formed among the peasants to obtain release from their burdens, and these all had religious mottoes or devices. One is spoken of on the Upper Rhine,^ which had a banner with a picture of Christ crucified, before whom kneeled a serf, with the legend : " Nothing but God's justice ! " The demands made by the Schwabian peasants in the insurrection of 1525 ran somewhat thus :^ (ist) " It hath been the custom till now to hold us for serfs, which is a pity, seeing that Christ hath bought us and redeemed us with His blood " ; and (Sth) "It is found in the Holy Writ that we are free, and we . . . desire to be free, ... we would have God as our Lord, and know our brother in our neighbour. . . . We would willingly obey our chosen rulers, but we have no doubt that they, as true and good Christians, will willingly free us from serfdom, or prove to us from the Gospel that we are serfs." The fourth article claims on religious ' Zimmerman, -p. 153. Der Bauemkrieg. 2 Ibid., vol. ii. pp. 99, 102. See also Bensen's Geschichte des Bauernkrieges, p. 172. 234 GESTA CHRISTI. grounds, the use of wild game, and wood from the forests. Article' sixth protests against the increase of burdens upon an oppressed people. It is striking that with the demand for freedom from feudal burdens, is included always that for a free and elected clergy. In conclusion, say the peasants, " If any of these articles are opposed to Holy Writ, and this can be proven to us, we will give them up. The Peace of Christ be with us all 1 " The oath of the peasants banded in insurrection near Bietigheim, is similar in tone : " Because God hath ever enlightened us with His word, and hath made known to us how utterly we have been despoiled, not of daily bread, but of eternal ; and because He lendeth us power and might according as we firmly believe," etc. Then follow similar demands for a free Gospel and freedom from the bonds and burdens of serfdom. The peasants of Elsass ^ proclaimed that " the Gospel should be preached after its true meaning, for it hath been preached for selfishness, and great burdens have been laid on the poor peasant ; " they demand freedom from tithes, from taxes on woods and waters and game, and that serfdom be done away. The peasants on the Neckar,*^ under the inspiration of the free ideas of Christianity, went beyond its teachings, and claimed an absolute equality, under the Emperor, of all men. " All worldly lords are to be reformed, so that the poor cannot be burthened by them beyond the rules of Christian freedom : the same law is to be for the highest and lowest." " Princes and nobles must guard the poor and hold themselves brotherly." . . . "All cities and parishes are to be reformed in divine and natural rights after the principles of Christian freedom." In England, a little before this (1356), a monk, John Balle, had preached liberty and equality as principles of the Christian Revela- ' Zimmerman. ^ Ibid, RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF FREEDOM. 235 tion.i These doctrines, and Wickliffe's religious influence (1360), resulted in a great resistance of the lower classes to serfdom and its burdens. The English peasants' uprisings of 1 38 1 proclaimed the entire abolition of villenage ; and Richard II. (1380) consented to the doing away of many of its vexatious burdens and payments, but these were subsequently restored by Parliament; During the century and a half after the Peasant Revolt, says Green (p. 230), " villenage died out so rapidly that it became a rare and antiquated thing." Stubbs ^ also notes that the result of the rising of 1381 was, that "the landlords gave up the practice of demanding base services," and emancipation was greatly advanced. We have touched upon these remarkable movements of the peasant class in various countries, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, because they are so manifestly con- nected with the liberalizing influences of the reformed preaching of Christianity. They did not, it is true, succeed, but they undoubtedly undermined serfdom, and caused all classes to be more ready for gradual freedom. They show the natural and inevitable action of Christ's teachings on men's minds, where they have long been oppressed by injustice. Even the highest classes felt this inspiration of freedom through the Gospel. The Emperor Sigismund (1436) thus proclaims : " It is an unheard-of thing that in the holy Christianity one should be so proud as to say to a man, Thou art mine ! " " For whoever is baptized and believeth, be he noble or ignoble, rich or poor, he is counted among the members of Christ. Whoever there- fore calleth a fellow-Christian his own, he is not a ■ Inter eos aequa libertas, eadem nobilitas, par dignitas, similisque potestas. (Quoted by Sugenheim, p. 295.) ^ Constitutional History of England, vol. ii. p. 463. 236 GESTA CHRISTI. Christian, is against Christ, and all the commandments of God are lost on him."i The process of emancipation under the Christian in- fluences was often gradual, first from slavery to serfdom, and then from a lower to a higher form of serfdom. The serfs of the public treasury (fiscalini) and of the Church (ecclesiastici) acquired peculiar privileges. The laws for- bade them to be reduced to the condition of ordinary serfs ; they had a right to their own property ; the fines to pro- tect their persons were double those for other serfs, and one-half of those for freemen. They could appear in court and testify ; while the ordinances of the Councils protected them from forced labour and oppression. In Burgundy and France, there was a gradual transition in the ninth and tenth centuries from serfdom to a condition which was intermediate between servitude and freedom. Persons in this condition acquired the right to their own property, both in land and personal effects ; they had the power to transmit to descendants, and even to dispose of their estate by will, or, leaving no descendants, the State inherited from them. They could use their own property to pur- chase their liberty. The coloni, as we have said, were a species of serfs under Roman law, and they are found through the Middle Ages. They were often bound to public labours and to forced work for others. Some of the abuses from this system extended down even to the eighteenth century in the Jura. A colonist could buy and possess land, and even slaves, but could only sell real estate with the con- sent of the " Patron " ; and in France he was forbidden to give or to sell to another seigneur. He could transmit property in direct lines, but in collateral only to brothers and sisters and their children. • Zimmerman, p. 107. MANUMISSION. 237 Gradually through the Middle Ages, there was a tran- sition from the state of colonists and mainmortables ^ to that of tenants and freeholders. Among the serfs, marriage was not permitted outside of the domain without the con- sent of the master. One of the fruits of religious influence on the Roman law was that in a mixed marriage of a serf woman and free man, the children did not follow the mother, but, by a humane principle, the best condition.^ Up to the eleventh century there were, under religious impulses, isolated acts of manumission at death-beds and by will. The crusades, both as a grand movement of reli- gious enthusiasm, and as breaking up classes of society, increased the tendency. It was not uncommon, before starting on a crusade, for a noble to free his serfs, as an act of conscience towards God ; he perhaps going to his death.' Many also manumitted in order to raise money for the expedition. In the eleventh century, Emperor Conrad speaks of the sale of human beings as a " thing nefarious, and detestable to God and men." * In 1096, in France, Philip I. and Louis Le Gros (1108) ' Mainmorte (the dead hand). An absolute incapacity to transmit property — a condition of serfdom. Thus ancient French ordinances say : Comma cr&ture humaine qui est formde a I'image de nostre Seigneur, doic gen^ralment estre franche par droit naturel, . . . que les hommes ... en leur vivant sont reputds ainsi comme morts. {Ch. de Val. Ordon., vii. 12.) See Da Cange {Manus mortucB). Homines manus mortuas sunt servi glebse. 2 Cod. Theod., iv. 3 c. ; Just., xi. 67, 4. It is singular that this humane provision, bequeathed by Christianity through the Middle Aiges, was dropped in the American Law of Slavery. ' Ego Jerosolimam profecturum intelligens a viris religiosis, sa- pientibus et discretis . . . ne si posteris et successionibus meis exemplum hoc rapine et exactionis inique relinquerem . . . om- nino remisi in perpetuum. {Lois de la ville de Lille.) *. . . etiamut rem Deohominibusquedetestabilem, etc. {Pertz, xi. 38.) 238 GESTA CBRISTI. gave examples of a more general freeing of slaves. The leading nobles and clergy granted municipal charters which were charters of emancipation. In the fourteenth century, the Count of Valois, brother of Philip the Beautiful, freed the serfs of his comt6 with the words : " As the human creature who has been formed in the image of our Lord, ought to be free by natural right ... let these men and women be free," etc. In 1256 Bologna, feeling the influences working through European cities, freed all its serfs, paying an indemnity to the masters, and decreeing that in the future none but freemen should inhabit the city, with the remarkable words : " Our Lord God hath established at the origin of things, paradise, and hath placed man there, in giving him a full and entire liberty. By sin all the human race hath been poisoned, that which was immortal becoming mortal, liberty perishing in servitude. It is then just and salutary that men freed and saved, should be delivered from the bonds of servitude in which the abuse of force has en- chained them. It is for these reasons that the city of Bologna, which has always combated for liberty, re- membering the past, and its eyes fixed on the future, in honour of our Saviour Jesus Christ, hath ransomed all the serfs on its territory, and decreeth that it would not suffer there a man not free." ^ Many efforts ^e recorded of St. Louis (131S) to abolish mainmorte. Slavery is spoken of in French annals up to the twelfth century, but no traces appear in the thirteenth, as many of the laws prove. The slave trade was common in Europe in the tenth century, as is abundantly shown in the papal bulls ; there ' Istoria di Bologna, Girarhacci, quoted by Laurent. {Sugenheim and von Raiimer, vol. iii. p. 168.) CHRISTIAN EMANCIPATION. 239 are but few traces of it, however, in the fifteenth and none in the seventeenth ; the trade was almost entirely in heathen captives. In Florence as late as 1526, there was a traffic in Mohammedan slaves. The right in France to sell Christian slaves was first abolished, and finally the whole traffic was done away with. In Germany, the code of the thirteenth century, the Sachsenspiegel, or " Mirror," is full of traces of Christian influence against slavery. The Lord is said to have " put poor and rich equally under His own love." (3, 42.) Slavery is declared to have its '' origin from unjust cap- tivity"; and quoting the Bible, the law affirms^ that man belongs to God' alone, and " whoever holds him as slave, sins against the power of the Almighty." The .stranger under the heathen code was presumed a serf or slave ; under this, the presumption was of liberty. " How can those," asks the law, " who are not permitted to give them- selves to slavery, reduce others to this state? At the great jubilee year of the Jews, in memory of the Seventh Day and of the Rest of the Lord, did not one give liberty to all the Israelites who had become slaves, even to those who had not desired to be freed .■• " The killing of a slave was forbidden in the strictest terms,^ and the "half- free" were not allowed to hold slaves, which was a marked softening of the old codes. The abolition of slavery in Scandinavia in the early centuries is unquestionably the effect of the Christian religion.^ One of the first Christian kings of Norway — Knut the Holy — at the end of the eleventh century, ' Ex his verbis colligitur, hominem ad Deum pertinere et qui eurti occupat, in Omnipotentis peccat potestatis. {Ssp., 3, 42.) 2 Wisse aber dass kein Herr seinen Knecht toedten mag. {Ibid., 11,32.) ^ Die Aufhebung der Leibeigenschaft. Sugenheim. 240 GESTA CHRISTI. publicly proclaimed that slavery should be abolished. In 12 14, it would appear from the laws^ that it had almost ceased, and in the fourteenth century are no traces of it in Norway or Denmark. In Sweden, the king Magnus Eriksen (1335) proclaimed that in honour of the Holy Virgin and for the salvation of the soul of his father and uncle, no Christian should be held in his kingdom as a slave.^ Owing to the strong religious feeling against this injustice, serfdom did not take deep root in Norway and Sweden. This conscientious conviction of the Norse people was strengthened by the natural independence of a brave race, and the consequent weak hold which the feudal system had in those countries. Nearly all the peasants owned land, and the nobles did not acquire large estates. Serfdom and all its attendant curses were com- paratively unknown in that portion of Scandinavia. In Denmark, however, owing to the many wars and the greater success of the feudal system, considerable numbers of the peasants were reduced to this condition. Terrible insurrections broke out there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which only increased the burdens of the un- fortunate serfs. The religious impulse touched one king — Christian II. (1513) — who made himself remembered as the "friend of the serf," and who forbade, among other things, "the wicked and unchristian custom of selling and giving away free peasants " : he permitted also the free migration of serfs, and ordered that their children be taught various trades, and that they should not be oppressed with heavy burdens.^ The Middle Ages, however, did not see the disappear- ance of serfdom in that portion of Europe. ' Die Aufhebung der Leibeigenschaft, p. 542. = Ibid., p. 542. ' Ibid., p. 508. ENGLISH SERFDOM. 241 English Slavery and Serfdom. — In England, as upon the Continent, slavery arose from various causes ; from birth, from captivity in war, as a punishment by the authorities, as a penalty in gambling where a man staked himself, and by marriage. By the Ripuarian Law, a free woman marrying a slave became a slave ; by the Anglo-Saxon law, under the Christian teaching, the offspring of the free and slave followed the condition of the father,^ instead of the mother, as according to the Roman law. Residence also often brought about slavery. Die Luff ■macht eigen (" The air makes the thrall "), says some old German proverb. If runaways were found living on strange properties, they could be enslaved. The blood- money, or wergeld, sometimes included bondage, and many debtors became slaves. Thousands of Britons, in times of famine, during the first century after the Norman Conquest, sold themselves into thraldom. Children were even sold by their parents to escape extreme poverty. " If a Chris- tian," says Theodosius in his Penitentials, "sell another into a foreign country, he will not be worthy to have repose in the midst of the faithful until he has restored to liberty and country him whom he sold.^ If a Christian has found another Christian wandering and vagabond, whom he has seized fraudulently and sold as slave, he ought to sit no more in the assembly of the faithful, until he hath repaired his fault and submitted to a penitence of seven years." "A father," says another passage of the Penitentials, "driven by necessity hath the power of delivering into servitude a son, if he be under eight years ; after that he hath no power, except by the will of the son." ^ When a 1 H. I., Ixxvii. 12. 2 Theod. Pcen. i., S, 13. ^ Pater filium servum VII. annorum, necessitate compulsus, potes- R 242 GESTA CHRISTI. youth had passed the age of thirteen, he had the power of selling himself as a slave.^ In Scotland there was the same privilege. " Ilk frey- man may leiT his fredome gif him like is." The later law in England required certain conditions : among them, that the sale should be made by other than the man himself.^ " Though any one sell his daughter to servitude," says an old English law, "let her not be altogether such a theow as other female slaves. He ought not to sell her aniong a strange folk." ^ That feature of slavery, lower than anything "brutal," — the raising children for the slave market, — was not unknown in England. It is alluded to frequently by the historians,* and was preached against with righteous indignation by the clergy. Bristol was the great slave market, and there might be seen long trains of British youths and maidens — the latter often ruined for the sake of selling their off-spring — all to be sold either to Ireland or to foreign countries. Bishop Wulfstan ^ of Worcester (about 1086 A.D.) was in the practice of coming to this city every year and spending several months In preaching the gospel against this iniquity. The hardened Northumbrians at length were deeply impressed by these truths, and iinally in solemn assembly vowed not only to give up this sinful tatem habet tradere in servitutem : deinde sine voluntate filii, licentiam tradendi non habet. ( Theod. Poin., xix. 28.) ' ' Ibid., 29. ^ . . . qu'il est vray que I'homme franc et sub jure se peut vendre . . . La premiere qu'il se fera vendre par autre, que par lui, etc. {Col. Celt. Lac.) ' Leg. Can., ii. 74. * lUud erat a naturi abhorens, quod multi ancillas suas ex se gravidas, ubi libidinem satis fecissent, aut ad eternutn obsequium vendicabant. {Mill. Matus. 57.) ^ Beda {Ecc. Hist,) makes this name Wulstan. SLAVES IN ENGLAND. 243 practice, but to induce all England to renounce it. The resolve made a deep impression throughout the country.^ One authority says that from Aethelwulf to William the Conqueror, for 230 years, a great part of the English peasantry became reduced to slavery. After Malcolm's invasion of England (1061 A.D.), so many young men and maidens were carried away as slaves to Scotland, that it was said not a village or a house could be found with- out them.^ When Canterbury was burned by the Danes in 1006 A.D., all the 8,000 inhabitants were killed ex- cepting " four mass priests " and eighty lower monks ; these were severely whipped and, if they could not re- deem themselves, were carried off into perpetual slavery. By the Domesday Book (1068-71 A.D.) the number of male slaves for Sussex is given as 9,200, which would make the whole number about 50,000, while the free in- habitants of the county were only 38,000. In the whole of England enumerated, there appear to have been reckoned 25,000 servi or slaves ; 82,000 bordarii, and 7,000 cotath (different kinds of serfs), and 110,000 villeins.^ Among the evidences of the deep root of English slavery is the statement of Strabo,* that slaves are a British export ; and the historical statement that the sister of Canute and first wife of Godwin, derived a large income from selling English slaves to Denmark. ' . . . ancillasque prius ludibrio lecti habitas, jamque prsegnantes venum proponebant. . . . Hunc tarn invetaratum morem . . . Wulfstanus paulatim delevit . . . divinae prasdicationis semina spargens. Quae adeo per inter alia temporum apud eos convoluere. ut non solum renuntiarent vitio, sed ad idem faciendum casteris per Angliam essent exemplo. (2 Ang. Sac, 258.) 2 . . . repleta est Scotia servis et ancillis Anglici generis, etc. {Frn. Dom., 1070 a.d.) 3 Villani dicuntur ... qui villa seu glebas adscripti sunt. * Lib. 4, 199- 244 GESTA CHRIST!. There is proof that slaves were branded, and even yoked 'as cattle. If a master killed his slave without knowledge of the judge, the Church punished him, where the civil law could not, with excommunication or with a penance of two years.^ The Church, too, sentenced a mistress who should beat her maid-servant with such violence that she died, to seven years' penance ; if the death was accidental, the penance was for five years. According to a law of King Edward, whoever killed a slave man must fast three years. The killing a slave was recognised in the law and by the Church as a sin.^ It can only be repeated that the gradual working of Christianity had its usual effect on slavery and serfdom in England. The prohibition, on religious grounds, against selling Christian slaves to heathen countries, runs all through Anglo-Saxon law, and is repeated by William the Conqueror and other Norman kings.^ The provision in Alfred's laws (taken from the Bible) that a Christian bonds- man could only be held seven years, must have tended gradually to free all slaves. Alfred's feelings in regard to slavery are shown in his final will, and they only indicate the religious sentiments of the day. " And I beseech in God's name and His saints, that none of my relatives do obstruct none of the freedom of those I have redeemed. And for me the West Saxon nobles haye pronounced as lawful, that I may leave them free or bond, whether I will. But I, for God's love and my soul's health, will that they be masters of their freedom and of their will ; and I, in the ' C. Theod. Pan., 21, 12. ' Qui servum suum occiderft, suum peccatujn est et damnum (475 Cone.). ' Cavendum enim valde est ne anime in dampnacionem vendantur, pro quibus Christus vitam impendit. (4 Gul. V., xH.) CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD. 245 living God's name, entreat that no man do not disturb them, neither by money exaction, nor by no manner of means," etc. ^ When Edward the Confessor (974 A.D.) utters such expressions in regard to human equality as the following, we may be sure that the idea of Christian brotherhood is beginning to penetrate barbaric society. " We know," says the pious king, " that through God's grace a thrall has become a thane, and a churl has become an earl (or squire), a singer a priest, and a scribe a bishop ; and formerly, as God decreed, a fisher became a bishop, etc. . . . We have all one heavenly Father and one spiritual mother, which is called Ecclesia, that is, God's Church, and there- fore are we brothers." A law of Wihtraed encouraged manumission, by making it when performed at the altar absolute (No. 9). William the Conqueror gives a form of liberation, and enacts that if slaves remain a year and a day without calumny in the royal cities or burghs, walled towns or camps, they should be free for ever. Still, under English law, the slave was a thing ; one of the catalla, a chattel. The Christian sentiment, as we have said, first felt the iniquity of selling one " bought by the blood of Jesus Christ " ; and later, of possessing him as a bond-servant. The slaves, as we have already shown, were protected in England on Sundays and feast-days. Masters who com- pelled them to work on those days lost their property in them. Under Aethelred they were confiscated to the treasury ; under Canute, emancipated. The slaves were permitted to work for themselves for twelve days at Christ- mas, in the week before and after Easter, and during the week before Assumption, and could thus earn money to free ' "Avi^^i' Life of Alfred. 246 GESTA CHRISTI. themselves. " The slaves shall be freed," say the Brehon laws,^ "the plebeians be exalted by the orders of the Church, and by performing penitential service to God." St. Aidan, a bishop of Northumbria, is said to have ran- somed slaves, instructed them, and then ordained them as priests.'' The synod of Celchyth (8i6 A.D.) proclaimed that, at the death of a certain bishop, all who had been his slaves during life should be freed ; and that every bishop throughout England should grant freedom to three men, giving each three shillings for masses for the deceased bishop's soul.^ Bishop Wilfred having received an estate with two hundred and fifty Christian slaves, emancipated them with the words, " All those whom baptism hath rescued from the service of the devil, become by that worthy of the liberty which changeth them from servants to men." * Among the steps towards gradual emancipation in England, may be mentioned, the punishment of excom- munication, threatened by Ecgberth of York, for any sale of a child or kinsfolk; slave-murder by the master became a sin before the Church, though not always a capital crime before the law.^ The slave was often attached to the land and could only be sold with it ; he sometimes acquired land and bought his emancipation. One of the protective features of the Anglo-Saxon law, the mutual responsibility of the citizens, was extended to slaves as to free men, under .^thelstan. (924 A.D,) A female slave who was led into sin by the master, ' Bridgett, i, 250. ^ Beda, 11, 5. ' Landon's Manual of Councils. Celchyth. Haddan & Stubbs, Councils. Bridgett's Hist, of Holy Eucharist, * Beda, H. Ecc, iv. 13. ' Green, EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. 247 became free ; ^ a provision which especially protected the helpless, and was due to the influence of the religious principle. Slaves were set free on the Church-porch or before the altar, and the Gospel-book bore on the margin a record of emancipation. Sometimes the master placed the slave at a point where four roads met, and bade him go whither he would. In a more solemn form the master took him by the hand ^ in the full assembly, showed him open road and door, and gave him the lance and sword of a freeman. Before Alfred, slaves could own nothing ; under his legislation, they were permitted to dispose by will of what was given them, or what they could earn in their free hours. He forbids also any masters who have incurred a fine or amend, from buying off by the sale of man as well as beast. The seven years' jubilee, taken from the Jewish system, must have gradually destroyed slavery in England. Slaves, too, were more and more permitted to ransom themselves. Under Canute, when a slave had fallen in the presence of his master on a military expedition, his equipment and possessions could be divided among his heirs.^ The slave as soldier became thus a vassal. A slave, even as far back as Wihtraed, if freed was obliged to leave his property with his master for blood- money (wergeld), so that he was thus transferred into a kind of serf. So a slave freed by the violence of his master, did not at once enjoy all the rights of a freeman, but was a client of the sheriff (gerefa). Slave-birth prevents any one from appearing in court as ' Pen, of St. Theod., 14. Green, and Leg. Gul. 2 L. Can., 75. 248 GESTA CHRISTI. witness. To be free, the bondman needed not merely the will of the master, but also certain public ceremonials. Emancipation became more and more the Christian work par excellence ; it was performed at death-beds and in wills, pro remedio animce, for the salvation of the soul ; the ceremony was consecrated by the Church and the priest ; and the written proof was preserved in the Church records. The forms of manumission show the spirit which worked towards liberty , " Geatflsed hath freed, for God's love, and for her soul's sake, E. the smith, and A. his wife, and all their offspring, born and unborn, and A. and C, and all the men who bent their heads in the evil days. Whoso shall set this aside and deprive her soul of this, may God Almighty deprive him both of this life and of the kingdom of heaven, and be he accursed, quick or dead, for ever and ever." i Another form has : " And we make all the serfs free for both our souls' sake." ^ As late as 1535, we find an act of manumission re- peating the familiar expression of the Stoical jurists, modified by Christianity, in regard to slavery. " Whereas at the beginning, nature brought forth all men free, and afterwards the law of nations placed certain of them under the yoke of servitude, we believe that it is pious and meri- torious towards God to manumit them and restore them to the benefit of pristine liberty," and then the author (Bishop Sherborne of Chichester) liberates a serf. The slave-trade was forbidden from English ports by law, but legislation did not check the inhuman traffic. One hundred years after Dunstan (946 A.D.) the nobles ewic aa on ecnysse. {Cod Dip., No. 925.) for unker bother soule. (Ibid. 979.) SLAVES AFTER THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 249 Still acquired wealth from the breeding of slaves.^ Under William the Conqueror, the influence of the religion of mercy at length secured the passage of a law forbidding the slave-trade, whose principal port and centre was Bristol.2 After the Norman conquest, the condition of the slaves did not for a time improve, as the new conquerors were understood to own the chattels of the native Saxons,* and did not at first permit the bondmen to buy themselves into freedom. Henry II. enlarged the laws of emancipa- tion. He recognised blood-money for a slave, with a dif- ferent amend for different classes of slaves. The master's power over the life of his bondman is limited ; if he kill him, he must pay blood-money to the relatives of the servant ; the reason in the law being one of those an- tithetical passages of which our ancestors are so fond " because a slave is a servant for serving, not for killing," * By an act of the same king, no born slave was admitted to holy orders, unless manumitted : ^ a provision which must have had a compound influence on both the Church and slavery, in diminishing bondage. The Church councils thundered against the slave trade in Christians. One called in London (1102), by Anselm, forbade absolutely that nefarious business of selling human beings like brute beasts ; ^ and another meeting at Armagh, Ireland (i 171), declared all English Christian slaves free- ' Green. ^ Leg. XX. 15. ^ Quia omnia catalla cujuslibet nativi intelliguntur esse in potestate domini sui. [Glanville, 5, 5.) * Quia servus ad serviendum, non ad occidendum servus erat. {H., 1,75-) 5 L. H., I. (Ixviii. 4.) ^ Nequis illud nefarium negotium quo hactenus in Anglia solebant homines, sicut bruta animalia, venundari, deinceps ulla tenus prsesumat. 250 GESTA CHRtSTI. Another decreed that no English thralls who had been freed should be re-enslaved.^ It is remarkable, that no one can say precisely when slavery was merged into serfdom in England, or when serfdom disappeared. In the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I., some masters transformed their serfs into freeholders ; but if the serf did not do his service as vassal, the master could confiscate his land ; if he performed this service, however, the master had no power. There is no evidence of a transference of the persons of villeins in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They were only obliged to pay for a marriage licence, and were not permitted to select their calling. A petition was presented to Parliament in the reign of Richard II. that villeins should not be permitted to send their children to school in order to advance them in the Church, which shows that many were then rising out of their condition into that of freemen by becoming priests. There were many influences throughout England gradu- ally raising up the serf ; but the most powerful was the slow action of religious motives on the conscience of the masters. The selling one " for whom Christ died," — that is, a Christian, — was felt from the earliest ages to be a great in- consistency and offence. Gradually the holding such a person in bondage was seen to be equally against the teachings of the Master ; and finally, the laying unjust burdens on fellow- Christians was perceived to be contrary to the Gospel. This sense of justice worked silently and gradually through English as well as European society in the Middle Ages, and continually lightened serfdom by reforms not necessary to be related here, until at length it "... in pristinam revocentur libertatem. {Concil. Land. Girald. Catnbr.) MOTIVES FOR EMANCIPATION. 251 disappeared as snow melts before the spring sun, no one being able to say precisely when winter ceased or the new season began. A trustworthy testimony as to the motives leading to emancipation in England, is given by Sir Thomas Smith, a statesman in the time of Elizabeth, who wrote his " Common- wealth of England " ^ at the close of the sixteenth century (about 1570). He argues without any partiality towards the Church, though with a full sense of the value of religion ; and states ^ that already in his time slaves were unknown in England, and of serfs only a few survived, but that both conditions were recognised in English law. Of the causes working towards freedom, he says : " I think both in France and England the change of religion to the more gentle and more equal sort (as the Christian religion is in respect to the Gentiles) caused this whole kind of servile servitude and slavery to be brought into that moderation . . . so that they almost extinguished the whole. . . . This persuasion I say of Christians, not to make nor keep his brother in Christ, servile, bond and underling for ever under him, as a beast rather than as a man, and the humanities which the Christian religion doeth teach, hath engendered through Realmes (not near to Turks and bar- barians) a doubt, a conscience and scruple to have servants and bondmen ; yet necessitie on both sides, on the one to have helpe, on the other to have service, hath kept a figure or fashion thereof" (pp. 130, 131). And again: " Howbeit since our Realme hath received the Christian religion which maketh us all in Christ, breathren, and in respect of God and Christ, conserves, then began men to have conscience to hold in captivitie and such extreme bondage, him whom they must acknowledge to be his brother, and, as we use to ' The Comtnonwealth of England, by Sir Thomas Smith, 1589. '' p. 129. 2,52 GESTA CHRIS TI. term him. Christian ; that is, to have equall portion with them in the gospel and salvation." And then with a sly- hit at the Church : " Upon this sample, in continuance of time, and by long succession, the holy Fathers, munkes and fryers in their confession, and specially in their extreme and deadly sicknesses, burdened the consciences of them whom they had under their hands ; so that temporall men, by little and little, by reason of that terror in their con- science, were glad to manumit all their villaines ; but the same holy Fathers, with the abbots and friars, did not in like sort by theirs, for they had also conscience to im- poverish and dispoyle the Church so much, as to manumit such as were bound to their Churches, or to their mannors, which the Church had gotten, and so kept theirs still " (c. 10, p. 129).^ In 1391 serfs still appear in England ; but before the middle of that century the majority had become hired labourers. There were acts of enfranchisement in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. The act of the latter emancipating serfs in 1574 on certain manors was one of the last.2 Even in 1610 James I. appears to have possessed rights over serfs ; and serfdom was not finally swept away till the reign of Charles II. In Scotland the arbitrary rights of serfdom over the labourers in the salt works endured till the middle of the eighteenth century, ' See also on villenage, Mirror of Justices, c. 11. p. 209. (Trans, by W. H., 1768.) ^ Queen Elizabeth is reported to have commissioned Lord Burleigh and Sir W. Mildmay to inquire into the condition of the villeins on her domains in Cornwall, Devonshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire, and make such as were born bond compound for their freedom. {Dt. Truster, quoted in Bell's Feudalism, p. 259.) CHAPTER XXII. CHIVALRY. THE phenomenon of chivalry is one of the most singular in history. As an ideal of character and life it is quite distinct from any classic ideals, and not entirely corresponding either to the German or Christian concep- tion. It may be said that the world of the Middle Ages was peculiarly false to its chivalric ideal. But the same may be said of the relations of the classic world to the Stoic standard, or of the Christian world to its model. Still, for some centuries — from certainly the eleventh to the fourteenth — the chivalric ideal was that of the great body of martial young men of the higher classes of Europe, and exerted a very manifest influence on manners and morals. It softened the cruelty of war in a barbarous age, led the popular mind away from material ends to certain ideas, sometimes whimsical, but more often generous and noble ; it strengthened the position and power of woman, cultivated some of the purest virtues, and formed a conception of character which has come down into modern society, and influenced countries where feudalism was never known. To determine the part which Christianity had in chivalry, we must examine the customs and received ideals of the latter. The initiation of the knight was essentially religious in 253 254 GESTA CHRTSTI. form ; but the outward ceremony seems to have descended from the ancient Germans. Tacitus tells us that the young German who aspired to be a warrior, was brought into the midst of the assembly of the chiefs, where his father, or a relative, solemnly equipped the youth for his future vocation, with shield and javelin. The act was looked upon as a rite of religious solemnity. So chivalry taught that the youthful "knight was to enter on his calling under religious ceremonies. He was first divested of his clothes and put into the bath as an emblem of purification ; then a white robe, symbol of purity, was wrapped around him ; next a red robe, symbol of the blood which he should shed for the Faith, and of the blood shed for him ; and finally a black garment was worn, to remind of the death which would be always near him. He was then to fast twenty-four hours, and in the evening to enter the Church and pass the night in solitary prayer, or sometimes in company with his godfathers. The next day his first act was to be confession ; after this, he was present at mass and listened to a solemn sermon on the duties of knight- hood ; finally, he kneeled before the altar, his sword was blessed by the priest, and he made solemnly his knightly oaths. Among these was one that "Avarice, recompensei gain, or profit should never oblige the knight to any action, but only glory and virtue." Another, that he would " never fight with more than one against one, and to avoid all fraud and deceit." Another bound him " to conduct a lady or maiden whom he might meet in danger,' to a safe retreat, to serve her, protect her, and save her from all danger and all insult, or die in the attempt ; to never do violence to ladies or maidens without their will and consent, although they had been won by arms.^ A more formal statement of the knight's oaths is the ' Guizot, Hist, of Civ., vol. iii. p. ii. OATHS OF CHIVALRY. 255 following : — i. I shall fortify and defend the Christian religion to the uttermost of my power. 2. I shall be loyal and true to my sovereign lord the king, to all orders of chivalry, and to the noble office of arms. 3. I shall fortify and defend justice with all my power, and that without favour or vanity. 6. I shall defend the just action and quarrel of all ladies of honour, of all true and friendless widows, of orphans of good fame. 7. I shall do diligence wheresoever I hear that there are any murderers, traitors, or masterful robbers who oppress the king's lieges and poor people, to bring them to the law with all my power.^ An old French ballad,^ quoted by Saint Palaye, says : " You who desire the order of knighthood, you must lead a new life ; devoutly watch and pray, shun sin, pride and villainy, the Church you must defend, the widow's cause and the orphan's undertake, be hardy and loyal, and plunder nothing from others — thus must the knight guide himself." The mother of the celebrated knight. Bayard, is said to have uttered these words when he received his sword : " Serve God and He will aid thee ; be sweet and courteous to every gentleman in divesting thyself of all pride. Be not a flatterer or talebearer, for this kind of people come not to great perfection ; be loyal in word and in deed ; keep thy word, be helpful to the poor and orphan, and God will reward it to thee." ^ The young aspirant for knighthood was not uncommonly trained to serve in some » Selden, quoted by Mill, Hist, of Chivalry, p, 153. ? Vous qui voulez I'ordre de chevalier II vous convient mener nouvelle vie ; Devotement en oraison veiller, Pechd fuir, orgueil et villenie, etc. ' Servez Dieu et il vous aidera ; soyez doux et courtois k tout gentilhomme en 6tant de vous tout orgueil ; ne soyez flatteur ni rap- porteur. 2Sl GESTA CHRISTI. noble family, and was thus early taught one of the virtues of chivalry — a dignified obedience, and a subordination to elders and superiors, which had no mixture of obse- quiousness. The Helden-Buch, an old authority on Chivalry, says of the duties of knighthood : — "The Princes young were taught to protect all ladies fair, Priests they bade them honour and to the mass repair ; All holy Christian love were they taught, I plight ; Hughdietrich and his noble queen, caused priests to guide them aright." ' The ideal of knighthood is thus given in an old chroni- cle, translated by Bullfinch : " Then King Arthur stablished all his knights and to them that were not rich he gave lands and charged them all never to do outrage or murder and always to flee treason ; also by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto them that ask mercy, upon pain of forfeiture of their worship and lordship ; and always to do ladies, damosels and gentlewomen service, upon pain of death ; also that no man take battle in a wrongful quarrel for no law or any world's goods. Under this were all the knights sworn of the Table Round, both old and young; and at every year were they sworn at the high feast of Pentecost." The Church itself strove in every way to confirm these ideas. Thus the Council of Clement made solemn declaration that every noble person should, at the age of twelve, take solemn oath before the bishop to defend to the uttermost widows and orphans ; that women of noble birth, both single and married, should enjoy his special care, and that nothing should be wanting in him to render travelling safe, and to overthrow tyranny.* ' Quoted by Mills, p. 224. ' Ibid., p. 216. LESSONS OF CHIVALRV. 257- The translator of St. Palaye's " Memoirs of Ancient Chivalry," says eloquently : " Women in particular, ought to hold these ancient writers on chivalry in high esteem,, for the deference they paid to modesty and the same they so liberally bestowed on virtue. They taught generous firmness, judicious observance of superiors and constant love to unite in the same hearts. They taught to honour the valiant, to attend the wounded, to relieve the dis- tressed and to dispense the sweet solace of cheerful and gentle manners to all around them ; they taught them to respect themselves and to prefer others ; to be silent, observant, and industrious in youth, graceful and dignified in maturity, venerable in age and lamented in death." Foulque, a young knight, is thus described by St. Palaye ^ : " He is eager to expand his heart and to diffuse his wealth to all who approach him and ever without partiality or limitation to all the world, the declared enemy of injustice and of all who dare to be its patrons. The being unable to redress wrong is his sole cause of grief; if this ever happens, he is inconsolable. He is taught ^ that simplicity and modesty alone gave a lustre to victory and he has been directed from a child to be the last who should speak high things and the first who should do them, to be mild among the aged and stout among the brave, and that he can never praise himself too little or others too much." Spenser gives us the same ideal in his " Red Cross Knight " : " And many hard adventures did achieve Of all the which they honer wonne, '- Seeking the weak oppressed to relieve, And to recover right for such as wrong did grieve." ' ' St. Palaye, p. 67. 2 z^^-^,^ p_ ^^ ' Fairy Queen, iii. 1-3. 258 GESTA CHRISTI. An old French ballad says : — " A true knight the people must defend And his heart's blood for the Faith expend." ' Chaucer also thus pictures the knight — " A knight there was and that a worthy man That from the time he first began To riden out, he loved chivalry Truth and honour, freedom and courtesy. # * * * And the' that he was worthy, he was wise, And of his port as meek as is a maid. He never yet no villainy ne said, In all his life unto no manner wight ; He was a very gentle perfect knight." ' One of the first virtues taught the knight, which has greatly influenced modern warfare, was pity for his enemy. It was a common phrase, that "a warrior without pity was without worship." " In all the wars of chivalry," says the historian^ of Brittany, " true soldiers never injure the tillers of the ground." The celebrated knight, Du Quesclin, is reported to have said on his death-bed to his companions in arms : " Neither the clergy nor women nor children are your enemies." Chevalier Bayard, being told that it was permitted to live in an enemy's country upon the inhabitants, replied : " It is true, but I think we ought not to do all that is permitted ; the right of war is one thing, the right of justice another. I rebuke not what others do, but I will not do it myself" ^ The courtesy and pity of the knight evidently entered ' lis doivent le peuple defendre Et la sange pour la foi espandre. ' Prologue, Canterbury Tales. ' Argentre. * St. Palaye, p. 196. COURTESY OF CHIVALRY. 259 into practical affairs and became characteristics of warfare in certain countries. " King Edward," says Froissart, after the battle near Calais (1346), "sat down to supper and made the captive French knights sit down also, greeted them honourably and ordered them to be served with the first course, while the gentle Prince of Wales and the knights of England were served with the second course at another table." To the knight who had nearly killed him. King Edward said : " I have never found in battle any man who man to man hath given me so much trouble as thou hast done, I therefore give thee the prize by a just decision above all the knights of my court." The courtesy of the Prince of Wales to the French King John as prisoner after the battle of Poictiers is too well known to need recounting. The English prince constantly re- fused to sit down at the table of his captive, and gave him the highest honours. " Can it be conceived possible," says Froissart, " that in a hot fire of the squadrons of the French and English met near Cherbourg (1379), the knights and squires having dismounted to fight closer, stopped in the midst of these furious transports to give one among them who remained on horseback the leisure to challenge that knight among his enemies whom he esteemed to excel the most in love." This historian relates again that after a battle between the French and English, in 1344, "the English dealt like good comrades with their prisoners, and suffered many to depart on their oaths and promises to return again on a fixed day to Bordeaux." ^ After the battle at Otterbourne, the Scots are said to have set their English prisoners to ransom, and every man said to his prisoner : " Sir, go and unarm yourself and take your ease," and so made their ' Froissart, \. 107. 26o GESTA CHRISTI. prisoners good cheer as if they had been brethren, without doing them any injury.^ The chivalric custom of ransom undoubtedly mitigated to a great degree the horrors of war in the Middle Ages. The knights were punctilious to the last degree in keeping the pledges made to their captors. Thus the Duke of Gueldres is said to have been captured by a squire of low degree and carried to his stronghold. The forces of the duke approaching, the squire made him promise that he would come to him wherever he might be on a fixed day and remain his prisoner till ransom was paid. The duke was imme- diately liberated by his comrades, but held himself bound by his pledge, and after months of delay and against many remonstrances, penetrated the enemy's lines and delivered himself to his captor, from whom he was subse- quently ransomed. As an instance of knightly manners, the romance of Farumbras relates that the famous knight Oliver, in a battle with the Saracen cavalier Farumbras, assisted his foe to lace his helmet, and before they fought, both bowed politely to one another. Such an action as the following, related of the wars of Robert Bruce, shows what a humanizing reality chivalry might be : — " The king has heard a woman cry : He askfed what that was in hy (haste) It is the layndar (laundress) sir, said one. That her child-ill (bed) right now has taen, And must leave now behind us here, Therefore she makes an evil cheer. The king said, Certes it were pity That sht in that point left should be, For, certes, I trow there is no man That he no will rue a woman than. ' Froissart, ii. io8. HUMANITY OF CHIVALRY. 261 His hosts all then arrested he And gert a tent soon 'stinted (pitched) be And gert her gang in hastilie And other women to be her by While she was delivered, he bade, And syne forth on his way's rade ; And how she forth should carried be, Or he forth fare (journeyed) ordained he ; This was a full great courtesie That swilk a king and so mightie Gert his men dwell on this manner But for a poor lavender." ' Writing of knightly courtesy, Froissart says, " there is no pause between them (the English and Scotch) as long as spears, swords, axes, or daggers will endure. When one party hath obtained the victory, they then could glorify in their deeds of arms, and are so joyful that such as are taken, are ransomed ere they go out of the field, so that shortly each of them is so content with the other, that at their departing, they will say courteously, God thank you ! " ^ That incident of Sir Philip Sidney, the chevalier of more modern days, refusing the cup of cold water when dying that he might give it to a wounded soldier, will probably never depart out of human memory. It shows what Christianity can do, acting on the traditional habits of the gentleman and soldier. The chivalric ideal forbade all violence to the prisoner. An Italian writer of eminence even blames the soldier who struck the tyrant of Padua, " since it is as vile an act to wound a prisoner whether noble or otherwise, as to strike a dead body." ^ ^ The Bruce, x. I, 270. This humane incident is said to have occurred in Robert Bruce's campaign in Ireland, in 13 19. 2 Froissart, ii. 142. 3 . . . quam gladio CEedere cadaver. {Rolanderius.) Quoted by Hallam. 262 GESTA CHRISTI. The model of the knight was that of exceeding gentle- ness. Arthur is described as replete with all grace and virtue, " for he is free, meek and gentle as a lamb." ^ A common motto of a noble family in France was " the braver the milder" {quo fortior eo mitior). When the chronicles picture a knight wandering in a wilderness and asking his way of some cowherd, they describe him as riding away " while commending the lad to God." When King Arthur met some unknown ladies in the forest, the biographers relate that " as soon as he saw them, he lyghted downe of his hors and ryght sweetly saluted them." Of Rodrigo it is said that, — " Journeying on he greeted whom he met With such short interchange of courtesie As each to other gentle traveller gives." Hospitality was equally a duty with courtesy. " Then it was," says Perceforest, " that in Great Britain charity of manners reigned in all ; noble dames and gentle knights placed on the tops of their castles a helmet, as a sign that all good, knights and worthy ladies travelling that way should enter as freely into their castle as if it were their own." Handsome presents were given to the guests, " but the courtesy they learned in those castles was above all riches ; no spirit of discord or peevishness was ever allowed in these knights to one another. Their manners displayed every kind of friendship and goodwill." ^ " Nothing was small or despicable in the eyes of a knight, if it compre- hended the welfare of an individual ; if he in his voyage or expedition received the hospitality of the meanest person, gratitude would never suffer him to consider that person but as a noble and generous benefactor ; he declared himself for ever his knight, and swore to renounce all the 1 Quoted by Digby. * Si. Palaye, p. 282. IDEALS OF CHIVALRY. 263 glory that could be proposed to him, to acquit himself of the debt to defend, protect, and succour him in time of need." 1 The following passage shows the Norman ideal of chivalry in the twelfth century. Geoffrey says of the reign of King Arthur : " Britain had arrived at such a pitch of grandeur that in abundance of riches, luxury of ornaments, and politeness of inhabitants, it far surpassed all other kingdoms. The knights in it that were famous for chivalry, wore their clothes and arms all of the same colour and fashion ; and the women also, no less celebrated for their wit, wore all the same kind of apparel, and counted none worthy of their love but such as had given proof of their valour in three successive battles. Thus was the valour of the men an encouragement for the women's chastity, and the love of the women a spur to soldiers' bravery." ^ The brotherhoods in arms were one of the remarkable features of chivalry, undoubtedly a survival of German customs. There is said to have been one association called the " Order of the White Lady with the Green Shield," whose especial object was to restore to ladies, property taken from them by unjust plunderers. A celebrated cavalier, named Hugh de Carvalai, being forced to separate from his brother in arms, Boucicaut, is related by the Chronicle to have thus spoken : " Gentle lord, we who have been together in happy companionship, have had the same wills, the same conquests, and the same joys ; nor has either received a joy that the other has not partaken of But in the account, I think, I have received more from you than I have given ; therefore I pray you that we may settle, and what I owe you I will pay or assign over to you." ' St. Palaye, p. 228. ' Quoted in Troubadours, etc., p. 250, by H. W. Preston. 264 GESTA CHRISTI. " This is a sermon indeed ! " answered Bertrand. " \ have never thought of this account, nor know I whether I am indebted to you or you to me, but I pray you, as we are ■about to separate, let us be quit therein. But if we meet again, we will make a new debt and will have it written ; it now only remains for each of us to act nobly, and for you to follow your master. May that affection which hath ever been, continue with us ; and since it must be so, in love let us depart." ^ Of these fraternities the old ballad says, — " From this day forward ever mo' Neither fail either for weal or woe, To help other at need : Brother be now true to me, And I shall be as true to thee ! " The ballad then pictures the knights as vowing never to injure or villify each other, and to share one another's dangers and trials. Froissart says, that there was a bond of brotherhood among all knights, and that "nobleness and gentleness ought to be aided by nobles and gentles." It was evidently a custom among them that no ransom should be set so high that the knight could not pay it with ease, and maintain a suitable rank afterwards. In the tribunals of justice, the title of knight was especially respected, it being presumed that those who had borne it were always disposed to defend the cause of right. For this very reason, when condemned for any offence, the knight paid a double fine. The devotion to ladies was the crowning grace of chivalry. This respect for the sex went so far that an act is on record of James II., of Aragon, that any man, ' St. Palaye, p. 224. DEVOTION TO WOMEN. 265 whether soldier or civilian, native or foreign, travelling through the kingdom in company with a high-born lady, should be safe from all attack or pursuit, unless he were a criminal under the charge of murder.^ " You should elect," says an ancient chivalric history, addressing the young knight, " a lady of noble blood who has the ability to advise and the power to assist you ; and you should serve her so truly and love her so loyally as to compel her to acknowledge the honourable affection which you entertain for her. . . . But he who loyally serves his lady will not only be blessed to the height of man's felicity in this life, but will never fall into those sins which will prevent his happiness hereafter. Pride will be entirely effaced from the heart of him who endeavours by humility and courtesy to win the grace of the lady. The true faith of a lover will defend him from the other deadly sins of anger, envy, sloth and gluttony; and his devotion to his mistress renders the thought impossible of his conduct ever being stained witlj the vice of impurity." ^ There can be no doubt of the capacity of the knight of chivalry for this pure, unsensual devotion to his mistress. The romances, chronicles, and histories are full of instances of it, and it certainly formed the ideal of great numbers of young men of the higher classes. Each sex too elevated the other, as the " Romance of the Rose " says. " The better the chevaliers the better the ladies, and the more chastely did they love." ^ ' Statuimus quod omnis homo, sive miles sive alius qui iverit cum domini generosi salvus sit, etc. (Quoted by Hallam, 3, 375.) * UHistoire, etc. du Petit Jehan, etc., i, 36. ' Les chevaliers mieux en valoient Les dames meilleures dtoient Et plus chastement en vivoient. — Romance of the Rose,. 266 GESTA CHRISTI. The peculiar home of chivalry was France and England. If we may trust Froissart, the Germans were too rude and covetous in the Middle Ages, to feel powerfully the especial influences of the system. " Their excessive covetousness quencheth the sense of honour." ^ " When a German hath taken a prisoner, he putteth him into irons and hard prison without any pity, to make him pay the greater penance and ransom."^ No chivalric spirit checked, in Teutonic countries, feudal licentiousness, and it was the democratic influence of the cities rather than the generosity and chivalry of the knights, which protected the people from oppression. In Italy, too, there was little influence of chivalry to soften the barbarisms of war or raise the position of woman. The frequency of cruel massacres in the Italian wars and of assassination in time of peace, shows how superficial was the power of this ideal. Even in Spain, the model knight, the Cid, is described as cheating without scruple the unfortunate Jews who had lent him money. All the knights, too, were bigoted to the last degree. That " sainted knight and most Christian king," Louis IX., is said thus to have instructed his knights : "Argue not with an unbeliever, be he infidel or heretic, but thrust the Christian lance or sword into his body as fast and as far as you can ! " ^ Still, from all the above and innumerable similar ex- tracts from ancient chronicles, ballads and histories, there comes forth a very distinct ideal of character, which un- questionably exceedingly influenced the higher classes of the Middle Ages, and has not vet lost its power. It is a conception of a character, self- centered, ruling its ' Froissart, ii. 125. 2 Ibid., i. 43S. ' . . . mais k bonne espde tranchant et en frapper les mddi- sans et mescreans, etc. {^oinville, i. 23.) CHIVALRIC IDEAL OF CHARACTER. 267 life by an elevated standard of self-respect, the elements of which are unshaken fidelity to a pledge, indifference to danger and hardship, generosity to the weak, forget- fulness of self in small things, and devotion to certain ideal and noble ends, as the main objects of life. There go with it too, in its highest forms, unselfish devotion to woman, courtesy and consideration to the lowest and poorest, an eager passion for adventure, danger and warfare in a good cause, and a supreme consecration to some supposed supernatural guide or inspirer. It need not be said that the highest moral traits of this ideal are an inheritance from the Faith whose influence we are studying. They bear the clear traces of their origin. Other and more earthly features belong to the vigorous and ardent temperament of the ancient Germans. By what means could pity for the unfortunate, gener- osity to the enemy, charity for the widow and orphan, unselfishness and consideration for others' feelings and unswerving truthfulness, be taught the wild soldiers of the Middle Ages, as by the Gospels ? The ideal before them, though mingled with many earthly qualities, was a Christian one. The defects of this character, as history has described them, are but too well known. The knight cared most of all for his class, and soon began to be indifferent to, or to oppress, the common people. Even the chivalric times are stained with terrible acts of cruelty and brutality against labouring men and citizens. The enthusiastic devotion to woman degenerated into a licentiousness which contaminated a great part of European society, and af- fected considerable portions of literature. The barbaric jousts and tournaments of the Middle Ages, with the class feeling cultivated by chivalry, transmitted the modern duel, one of the barbarisms which still endures in modern 268 GESTA CHRISTI. society. The spirit of chivalry long supported feudalism, which was so great an obstacle to popular liberty and to material progress. The crusades were an offshoot of chivalry, and though they indirectly removed so many abuses, and awakened in a few directions the human intellect, yet they brought untold calamities on Europe, and strengthened the power of bigotry and superstition for centuries. It is of course very difficult to say how far chivalry, as an institution, was a reality. It certainly was an ideal and a sentiment, and left a deep impress on society among the upper classes. But to what extent the great body of knights were governed by their vows and professed prin- ciples, and whether this devotion, purity and disinterested- ness existed more in the fancy of poets than in the real life of the Middle Ages, is a question not easy to deter- mine. Whatever in the chivalric ideal was a direct product of Christian influence, has endured, and still exerts its power. The high respect for woman, a combined result, as we have often said, of old German habit and Christian teaching, still remains and is strongest in non-feudal lands. The remarkable respect and courtesy shown to women throughout the United States, is at once a chivalric and Christian inheritance. If any one would find a modern " survival " of the journeys of the knight of chivalry with his fair ladye through a savage wilderness, let him follow Miss Bird's ride ^ through the Rocky Mountains for six hundred miles, accompanied by desperadoes and wild trappers. Her influence in those solitary camps is pre- cisely the chivalric ideal and the Christian reality. The error of chivalry was in centering all things on self- regard and the opinion of a class. ' Ride through the Rocky Mountains. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL IN CHIVALRY. 269 Chivalry as an institution has passed away : — " The knights are dust, And their good swords are rust ; Their souls are with the saints we trust." But the ideal of character endures. Christianity, acting on the German temperament, has contributed this ideal to the humane and moral progress of the leading races. It has its definite and peculiar features. A character and life, where the smallest stain on in- tegrity is felt as a sin ; where the " word is as the bond ; " where the weak and unbefriended, the orphan and op- pressed always claim the immediate and unhesitating defence and support ; where woman is held in purest honour ; where an habitual consideration and gentle cour- tesy, especially for inferiors, govern the feelings and man- ners ; where there is a capacity for true friendship and for self-forgetting services, and the habit of hospitality ; where high aims and generous purposes, give an inherent and unconscious elevation and dignity to the whole nature ; a character in which there is a silent heroism and courage that would face death and every ill cheerfully, in a cause pleasing to the Master — this still lives. Certainly true chivalry has not died out in modern days, and is more distinctly Christian than ever before. CHAPTER XXIII. RESUMfi OF REFORMS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The " Gesta Ckristi," the achievements of Christianity, are not like the victories of a great general, distinct con- quests in a given place, or on a fixed date ; they rather resemble the triumphs of science or of civilization. Here and there, indeed, a definite and convincing step will be made in humane progress, but in general, the minds of man will become first silently imbued with Christ's principles and be personally transformed by affection for Him. Then, as love and unselfishness more and more control their lives, and the responsibility with reference to a future life grows, and the habit increases of living for distant and impersonal good, certain great abuses which they have hitherto supported through ignorance and selfish- ness, will drop away, and gradually the great injustices of human society will be either be uprooted by such men, or will melt away under the fervour of their benevolent sympathies and the example of their upright lives. Of many great social evils, it is often difficult to say when they came to an end. They disappeared before the new Spirit in the world. The victories of Christ are silent victories, won in the individual heart and life. No history chronicles them. Their fruits are seen later in the lessening or overthrow of great social abuses, and in the gradual growth of justice. RESUME OF REFORMS. 271 benevolence, purity, truth, and all those feelings and practices which specially result from Christian teachings. The Spirit of God everywhere works in human society, and there is a "natural progress" apart from Christianity. Many forces, too, of selfishness or of the intellect have aided in the iinal results of human progress. The tendencies of commerce, the struggles of kings with barons, the asso- ciated life in cities, the opening influences of science, have all worked throughout the Middle Ages to advance mankind ; but no help to right living and towards a more perfect state of society has ever been found like the religion of Jesus. (i) Its first and most powerful effect on barbaric and half civilized society in Europe was the new position which it gave to woman, and the sacred value it attached to marriage. As centuries go on, the test of advancing civilisation in each country is the advancement in the social, legal and political position of the weaker sex. The influence of Christianity from the beginning tended to make woman in all appropriate things the equal of man, to throw her influence into every department of life, and even to surround her with a certain sacredness. In this, we need hardly repeat, the new Faith was aided by German habits of thought. Christianity purified the morals of woman, bound her to sacred duties as wife and mother, pledged her to labours of humanity when single, and everywhere sought to make her worthy of the homage she began to inspire. It changed the low idea of marriage, common even in the German tribes. It protected woman's rights and her property, and throughout Europe, en- couraged the system of dower, which was so important a safeguard in a wild age. Family life in these disturbed centuries was first purified by the religion of Christ, and from that has sprung whatever of good now exists in 272 GESTA CHRISTl. European social life. The best human condition which has been transmitted, which gives the truest fore-gleam of a higher earthly life yet to be attained, is marriage ; and no power known in history has done so much to elevate and strengthen that as the teachings of the great Master. The "free marriage" and easy divorce custom- ary throughout Europe in the early Middle Ages, were especially struggled against by the influence of Chris- tianity; and whatever is stable in the union of husband and wife has been won by it against masculine selfishness and caprice. The reactions of the human mind at this period are not chargeable on Christianity ; neither the asceticism and celibacy of one portion of society nor the strictness of the canon-law. The Gospels give no countenance to any of these extremes. (2) Human society rises out of its low estate, not merely by elevating woman, but also by curbing the barbaric passion for blood-revenge. The first influence of a love and faith towards Jesus Christ is to lead men to imitate and obey Him by controlling revenge and hatred. This religion accordingly acts on the half-savage tribes by making legal satisfactions take the place of blood-revenge and feuds, and elevating law in place of violence. In doing this, it may sometimes sanctify capital punishment, as placing a legal retribution higher than " blood-money." This, the first step of barbaric Europe from anarchy and violence to a condition of law and order, was plainly assisted by the new Faith. (3) A feudal and wild society falls naturally into "private war," where each chieftain fights " for his own hand," but under definite forms and laws. Europe, as we have seen, was nearly reduced to anarchy under these uncontrolled habits. The figure which appeared in the storm, and PEACE OF GOD. 273 quieted, if only for a time, the waves of strife, was Christ, It is a touching history — to read of the plundered peasants; the desolated towns, the wasted fields, ■ the weeping widows and orphans under this curse of unrestrained war, and then of some simple, enthusiastic believer, who holding aloft an Agnus Dei, goes from village to village preaching, as if a new truth, the doctrine of human. brotherhood, :the " Peace of God," until all men are inspired. by. a; new spirit, and for months or years the bloody, swords ■ are left to rust, the homes of the poor are unplundered, and an un- wonted peace of God falls on a land ' drenched with brothers' tears and blood. Or the messenger of religion declares certain places and certain days sacred to peacei and the wild soldiers and pirates are awed . into seeming quiet, and the poor and down-trodden have a brief respite from the savage tempest, and society, under religion, gets its first experience of peace. Surely the most materialistic of sceptics reading of that " Peace of God " of the Middle Ages, and of that sacred person, the Friend of man, calm- ing the bitter storms of human wrath and strife, must be grateful that even the so-called ."myth" of a Jesus survived, and that it could thus control, even for a mo- ment, the passions and hate and blood-thirst of men. (4) The arbitrations (Austrage) of the Middle Ages, are the fruits at once of the Christian , and of the com- mercial spirit : they show the first settlement of European society, and foretoken that higher system of Christian arbitration, which shall yet reform the, relations of nations. For in the light of the teachings of the great Master, and of the higher reason, it cannot be; claimed, that "private war" is less justifiable than "public war," as a means of redressing injuries. (5) Among the great impediments to progress in Europe through the Middle Ages, and the brutalizing influences, T 274 GESTA CHRISTI. were the unreasonable and cruel methods of obtaining truth and determining justice in both civil and criminal cases. The " wager of battle " and the " ordeal " were opposed from the beginning to the spirit of the " Religion of humanity." The teachings by Christ allowed no such mode of testing facts or obtaining justice, as single combat ; and superstitious tests have no support in His words or in the spirit of His life, The' purest among His followers in every age have objected to them and argued against them. As His spirit has slowly imbued more and more individuals of all classes, the barbarous "judicial duel" has dropped out of use, even as His influence in modern times has swept away the " duel of honour." To one inspired by Him the appeal to irregular methods of ascertaining the will of God, is an irreverence to the Father of all, and opposed to the very spirit of His life. The abolition of the ordeal is not indeed one of the most apparent Gesta Christi, but it can be distinctly traced to Him. (6) Had the " Son of Man " been in body upon the earth during the Middle Ages, hardly one wrong and injustice would have wounded His pure soul like the system of torture. To see human beings, with the con- sciousness of innocence, or professing and believing the purest truths, condemned without proof to the most har- rowing agonies, every groan or admission under pain used against them, their confessions distorted, their nerves so racked that they pleaded their guilt in order to end their tortures, their last hours tormented by false ministers of justice or religion who threaten eternal as well as temporal damnation, and all this going on for ages, until scarce any innocent felt themselves safe under this mockery of justice and religion, — all this would have seemed to the Founder of Christianity as the worst travesty of His faith and the most cruel wound to humanity. ABOLITION OF TORTURE. 275 It need not be repeated that His spirit in each century struggled with this tremendous evil and inspired the great friends of humanity who laboured against it. The main forces in mediaeval society, even those which tended towards its improvement, did not touch this abuse. Roman law supported it ; Stoicism was indifferent to it ; Greek litera- ture did not affect it ; feudalism and arbitrary power encouraged a practice which they could use for their own ends ; and even the hierarchy and a State Church so far forgot the truths they professed as to employ torture to support the " Religion of Love." But against all these powers were the words of Jesus, bidding men "Love your enemies ! " " Do good to them that spitefully use you ! " and the like commands, working everywhere on individual souls, heard from pulpits and in monasteries, read over by humble believers, and slowly making their way against barbaric passion and hierarchic cruelty. Gradually, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the books containing the message of Jesus circulated among all classes, and produced that state of mind and heart in which torture could not be used on a fellow-being, and in which such an abuse and enormity as the Inquisition was hurled to the earth. (7) The Jewish religion and the gospel of Jesus both taught protection to the stranger, and help to the unfor- tunate. The old abuses inflicted on the stranger and the shipwrecked accordingly melt away before the new teachings. Almost every code in Europe, Charlemagne's capitularies, the laws of the Northern tribes, the Sachsen- spiegel, the Anglo-Saxon laws and others, contain touching reference to the scriptural commands in regard to the stranger and " far-comer," and enforce the duties of hos- pitality and mercy. The shipwrecked and homeless are to be gently and mercifully dealt with, even as all men hope 276 GESTA CHRISTI. to be dealt mercifully with at the great tribunal. . The change from that century when a stranger, in England was shut up in jail like a thief, or a foreigner {aubain) in France became a serf of the seigneur, to the compara- tively hospitable laws of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the contrast between the age when vessels were brought to wreck by false lights, and all shipwrecked were slaves and their property fair plunder, to the age when the laws of all nations protect the shipwrecked, and almost all civilized peoples feel it a duty to help such un- fortunates, — these changes are among the most apparent and blessed of the GiSJ^iZ , C^m^/,— the achievements of Christianity. Jesus in human annals, were He less than He is, might well be the patron-saint of the stranger and the shipwrecked. , (8) The progress of the Middle Ages was largely assis- ted by their codes of law. These early efforts to establish order, restrain passion, cultivate self-control and promote humanity, are deeply stamped with, the teachings of the Master. Some of these codes, like the Anglo-Saxon laws, seem like religious and moral exhortations, rather than a body of legislation. ^ Nearly all of them call up the sanc- tions of religion to enforce earthly injunctions : some appeal directly to the teachings of our Lord, or the Bible : all inculcate the gospel lessons of purity, , good-will, integrity, honesty, truth and neighbourly kindness, not alone as moral and . legal duties, but as portions of religion ; . as pleasing Him who embodied such virtues, and as part of men's responsibility to God. The Roman law too, wherever modified by Christian influence, carried down the spirit of the humane Teacher through ages of lust, cruelty, and barbarism. That it did not accomplish more is scarcely to be wondered at. Laws can only effect their best work when they represent the • EDUCATION. 277 united opinion and feeling of society. Christianity had not yet sufficiently impregnated individuals to transform society and make laws one of the manifestations of religion. (9) Along with improvement of the laws in the Middle Ages, went advance in education. Christianity opened men's minds to all truth ; it produced that humility which is the best guarantee of the intellect against conceit and pride, — often the greatest obstacles to discovery and pro- gress ; it withdrew the faculties of superior men from pursuits tending to damage and destruction, towards those which would benefit humanity. The same result was ex- perienced in the " Dark Ages," which has often been since, that a high moral advance is favourable to the intellect. When the spiritual and moral faculties and sensibilities are elevated, the probability is that the other powers of the soul will feel their inspiration,' and reason, judgment and imagination be elevated by the same influences. The mere turning of the mind by thousands of the youth of Europe from war to matters of religion was an immense gain to the intellect. There is only a certain amount of vital force in a generation, and this during many centuries was in some degree drawn from plans of mutual injury, to truths and thoughts connected with the Christian faith. The human mind could not but gain a great advance from this influence alone. To this effect of religion was added the power of the Church, exerted, as we have seen, in founding schools and institutions of learn- ing, and the influences of monastic life encouraging the study and copying of the classics. Against this latter is to be weighed the depressing and retrograding power of bigotry and superstition, which found their appropriate home in the monastic life, and indeed air the opposition of the Church to pure science. 278 GESTA CHRIST!. While recognising the elevating force of the Christian faith on the intellect of Europe during the Middle Ages, we should never fail to acknowledge the remarkable influence on intellectual progress in the revival of classic literature and of Arabic science, (lo) One of the great steps in humane progress in these Centuries, and one on which the influence of the truths preached in Palestine is peculiarly apparent, is the gradual diminution or cessation of serfdom and slavery. The gospel of Christ in its pure form is not consistent with permanent slavery. His early ministers were called "the brothers of the slave." They felt " for them in bonds, as those in bonds with them." Wherever He is truly loved and revered, there the fetters of the slave are broken. This power is shown at this period in the humane legisla- tion of various countries towards serfs and slaves, based often on the avowed motive that "he for whom Christ died, ought not to be held in bondage." It is shown in the innumerable forms of will and bequests where bondsmen are liberated pro remedio animce, for the salvation of the soul, and to prepare for coming judgment. It is proved by the general influence of the clergy in emancipating captives ; and in the gradual change of slavery into serfdom, and of serfdom into freedom. Sometimes a great act of emanci- pation, like that of the city of Bologna, avows the religious impulse. Sometimes an eloquent preacher breaks up by his appeals the slave trade, as was done by Bishop Wulf- stan, in Bristol, in the eleventh century. More often the minds of men and women in all classes become touched by the truths of the Gospel, until they feel that to hold a fellow-being in slavery or serfdom is contrary to Christ's commands, and they privately manumit ; or they permit laws to be passed which gradually relieved the oppressed of their burdens ; or they accept some form of compen- MANUMISSION AND CHARITY. 279 sation for the services due to them, and the injustice slowly melts away. As the Scriptures circulate among the peasants, these become filled with the new feelings of human dignity imparted by the teachings of the Gospels, and they everywhere demand their liberty — in terrible outbreaks which measure the burdens under which they suffered ; yet these violent protests, though met with greater violence, bring after them new rights and liberties for the serf. Throughout the Middle Ages conscience was on the side of manumission, as shown in countless death- bed acts of emancipation. The Church itself became a citadel of liberty to the bondman. It is true that other forces worked with the religious motive : the influence of cities and independent communes; the Stoic philosophy as felt in legislation ; the struggles of rival powers in the State, and the inconveniences of slavery itself — all these tended towards emancipation. But the great Emancipator of history is Jesus Christ. Where He rules, there all chains are finally broken and the oppressed go free. (11) It scarcely need be said that all the countless institutions of human compassion and charity, which attempted throughout Europe to relieve the horrible misery following the overthrow of the Roman empire, came from Him. The blessed associations of mercy, the hospitals, asylums, refuges, schools and centres of charity, which everywhere radiated human mercy and goodwill ; the lives of beneficence to which so many noble souls devoted themselves ; the innumerable actions of benevolence, philanthropy, and heroic self-sacrifice which light up these dark ages — these are all from the " Son of Man " — the true Gesta Christi. And not entirely to be passed over among His grander achievements, are the grace and heroism and humanity infused into Middle Age society, and so into modern life, 2S(y : GESTA CHRIS tl. by the action of His faith on the German temperament. Chivalry has indeed a large proportion of transitory, whim- sical and earthly elements ; but the humanity infused by it into wars, '• the ' respect inspired ■ for women, the courtesy and consideration taught, the grace and gentleness cast over society, the compassion it illustrated, belong to Hini who embodied such pure qualities without the alloy of class-feeling, and who, as the "Son of Man," was in sympathy with all conditions of men, and an eternal ideal of compassion to the unfortunate. It is true that Christianity in the Middle Ages never accomplished what should be appropriately expected of it in the reform of human evils. But various circumstances were peculiarly unfavourable to it as a moral power. It was first made known among degenerate and corrupt races, inheriting the vices and conceit of ages of successful violence and unrestrained lust. It then reached the wild tribes of the north, who were stamped with their own savage qualities, or tainted by contact with Roman depra- vity. But most fatal of all were the entire overthrow and confusion of society, and the invasion of ignorance and lawlessness consequent on the destruction of the Roman empire ; and the formation of a State Church and hier- archy, with the natural paganization of large classes, who were only nominal followers of the great Teacher. This combination of unfavourable circumstances has delayed the triumph'of Christianity for many centuries. III. REFORMS IN HUMANE PROGRESS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THIS MORAL POWER DURING THE MODERN PERIOD. CHAPTER XXIV. THE POSITION OF WOMAN UNDER MODERN INFLUENCES. WE have seen in previous chapters that the steady- drift of law and custom in Christian countries has been towards " the personal and proprietary independence " of woman, towards equality of rights with man, and a posi- tion of high moral and spiritual influence in family and social life. In the Roman period the manus or absolute power of the husband over the wife, yielded to the new spirit abroad and became but a weak authority. Tutelage was done away with, dower was guaranteed, and the right of the wife secured over her personal property. While the moral position of woman in the Christian portion of the empire grew into one of remarkable sacredness and power, the example of Christ and the apostles elevated the feebler sex in the moral field, and threw into their hands the management of many of the charitable and spiritual interests of the new communities of believers. The Middle Ages brought into the world a fresh senti- ment of respect for woman — a characteristic of the Teutonic tribes — to strengthen the Christian feeling of reverence. But the German habit of mind — of measuring civil rights and social position by physical power or the capacity ot bearing arms — tended to depress the standing of woman in all countries under the influence of Teutonic customs ; 283 284 GESTA CHRISTI. while the ascetic and Oriental theories in regard to marriage and woman which had arisen in the Church also com- bined to make the legal and social status of the female sex below that resulting from the example and teach- ings of the Master, and below what was suited to the con- ditions of progress. The greatest inequalities and injustices rested upon woman in the oldest and most characteristic Teutonic tribes ; the Scandinavians, and among the Norman-English. Greater privileges were allowed her arhong the German tribes of Central Europe, and in countries where Roman law (Christianized) had a greater power. Biit here again, ascetic influences, under the canon law, depressed her position, especially in the married state One ideal, however, survived throughout Europe among the higher and more martial classes, which everywhere exalted the weaker sex and produced an effect unknown to antiquity, even greatly influencing modern society. ' To chivalry woman is indebted in the Middle Ages for a position she had never before enjoyed in history, which gave her a charm almost unknown till then, and which spread over a society steeped in barbarism • a grace and refinement that have come down to our day. It will be seen then that the position of woman from the advent of Christianity till the modern period, has been a composite one in civilized countries. In some countries she has lost personal independence and control of property in marriage; in others she has retained her proprietary power, and has been substantially independent of her husband ; again in others she has entered into a partner- ship in property and interests in marriage. ' In some regions, under feudal rights, her hand had been under the control of her guardian and became venal. In others she had been under the guardianship of the king MODERN POSITION OF WOMAN. 285 alone ; and finally she achieved such independence as to control her property herself and govern her own vassals. Tutelage continued much longer in some parts of Europe than in others ; and canon law in many portions of the Continent brought the wife under a peculiar subjection, though leaving the maiden singularly free. The Christian idea we believe to be the entire equality of man and woman in rights and responsibilities, though this must be limited by practical necessities and the present condition of society. The drift, in all ages, under the teachings of the Master, has been towards this ideal ; but like His teachings in regard to war and utter unselfishness, they must be compromised somewhat to suit the present state of the world. Each age will see an approach towards that happy condition, wherein bond and free, male and female, learned and ignorant, are " one in Him," with equal rights and equal possibilities (so far forth as nature permits). The modern position of woman, as related to Christi- anity, is perhaps best tested by her position in the society and under the law of the United States. The American Union naturally inherited, through Eng- land, the old Teutonic ideas in regard to woman's position in marriage. They were certainly not the ideas of the Founder of Christianity, whose few words in regard to marriage and His whole bearing towards women, gave an impression of His tender respect for them, and of His sense of the sacredness and equal value of the tie. Nor are they ideas of the German tribes of the centre and south of Europe, who allowed a much greater independence to the married woman, and more personal rights over her property. Nor are they altogether the principles of the canonists or the advocates of the extreme churchly view. The ecclesiastical authorities held indeed the theory of the inferiority and subjection of woman in marriage ; but 286 GESTA CHRISTI. they were equally earnest in favour of the communio bono- rum, the partnership of property, and of the protection to the woman in securing her dower. Then they held to the idea, which nowhere appears in the English common law, of marriage as an impurity and a degradation to man and woman. The English common law ideas of woman and marriage evidently came down from the old Scandinavian customs and principles. The sex incapable of bearing arms could not appear in the highest form of legal trial, the judicial duel, and hence must be represented by a tutor or guardian. The husband became 'the natural guardian of his wife, and both represented and absorbed the person and property of his ward. Legal rights were measured by physical power. Then the archaic idea came in of retaining the property of the woman in her new family, and preventing both her relatives or herself separating it from her husband's. Thus, perhaps, arose the peculiar English idea of the married woman which has come to us in the common law. Under it the wife's legal existence was suspended or extinguished during marriage ; her property was sacrificed, and she was placed almost absolutely in the hands of her husband as regards civil rights. Her fortune passed to her husband for his tem- porary or permanent enjoyment. She could not earn anything for herself, nor in general make any legal contract, sue or be sued, because she was not legally a person.^ The great dramatist only pictures the common law when he makes one of his characters declare : " I will be master of what is mine own. She is my goods, my chattels ; she is my house, my household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything.'' The husband, on the other hand, loses little or nothing ' Schouler, Domestic Relations, etc. THE WIFE UNDER COMMON LAW. 287 of his independence; but, as a compensation, the law compels him to pay his wife's debts, not only when she acted as his agent, but those incurred before marriage. The husband and wife have each an interest in one another's landed property, but the advantage is always with the husband. The wife has an interest alone after her husband's death, she has none as wife. He is permitted despotic sway. Under the old legal nomenclature he was the baron, she the feme. If the husband killed the wife, under the old laws, he was tried as if he had killed any other person ; but with the wife, the offence was like treason, a more atrocious crime, and she was denied " benefit of clergy." In case of children and real estate left without a will, a son, though younger, inherited before a daughter. The, wife's personal property belonged to her husband, which he can bequeath to another ; if he dies without will, she has one-third of the personal property if there are children; one-half if there are none. This, however, is a provision derived from the Roman rather than from the old English law. The husband is absolute master of the wife's rents and profit from landed property during their marriage, and if there are children he retains a life interest in the real estate. If the wife survive, she has only a right to dower, or one-third of the real estate for life. The husband, after his wife's death, has a right of " curtesy " in her estate ; but the wife at his death has no such right ; she is taxed on other property than her dower, without representation.^ " The very goods which a man giveth to his wife," says a curious work of the seventeenth century, the "Woman's Lawyer," ^ " are still his owne ; her chaine, her bracelets, • Blackstone, i. 445, Npte. 2 The Lawwes Resolutions of Women's Rights, p. 129. 1632, London. It should be remarked that Magna Charta protected dower. 288 GESTA CHRISTI. her apparell, are all her good-man's goods. If before marriage the woman were possessed of horses, sheepe, corne, Woole, Plate and Jewels, all manner of moveable substance is presently by conjunction the husband's, to sell, keep, or bequeath if he die." ^ The husband's and wife's legal existence was merged into one, and that was the husband's.^ This state of coverture was defined as that of one " covered," or sub potestate viri, under the absolute power of the husband. " The Law of Nature hath put her under the obedience of her husband, and hath submitted her will to his," which she is not permitted to contradict during her life.* She wants free will as minors want judgment.* Among other singular injustices inflicted on women by this old Teutonic system, is that the wife, at the decease of her husband, was not allowed to administer in pre- ference to his kindred, on the personal estate, though it had once been entirely hers. He, on the other hand, could administer on her estate for his own benefit, and exclude her kindred altogether even from a share in the assets.^ If she survived, she had only her own real estate and such of her personal property as he had not appropriated to his own use, and a few unimportant articles ("para- phernalia"). She cannot restrain his rights by will. Till the reign of William and Mary, Blackstone states,^ woman by the English common law could receive sentence of death and . be executed for the first offence in such crimes as larceny, bigamy, and manslaughter, while a. man (who could read) was, for the same offences, subject > P. 130. ^ Sa feme et lui ne sont fors que un person en ley. {Littleton, Liv. ii. sect. 168). ' Baron et Feme, p. 71. ■" Ibid., p. 71 (1719). ' Schouler, p. 61. ^ Vol. i. p. 445. WOMAN- UNDER COMMON LAW. 289 only to the burning of the hand or a few months' imprison- ment. This, however, is a discrimination against woman as not being admitted to. spiritual orders, rather than against her as woman. In case of a daughter's ruin by the deceits of a pretended lover, the only reparation to the unhappy father was through the plea, that she was his servant and that he was deprived of the benefit of her labour, and that the seducer had trespassed on his premises. " Female honour, which is dearer to the sex than their lives," says this authority, " is left by common law to the sport of an abandoned calumniator," referring of course to oral defamation. The elopement of a wife with a guilty partner took away from her, by an ancient statute, all right of dower. The husband might commit the same offence and still retain a right over his wife's property. "A poor woman," says the "Woman's Lawyer,"^ "shall have but the third foote of her husband's lands when he is dead, for all the service she did him during the acouple- ment (a long time and tedious), and if she be extravagant with a friend, this is an elopement and a forfeiture." The criminal conduct of men, the author claims, is not noticed ; " they may lope over ditch and dale, a thousand out-ridings and out-biddings is no forfeiture, but as soon as the good wife is gone the bad man will have her land, not the third, but every foote of it." ^ The husband, too, as in almost all the Teutonic codes, had the right to beat his wife. "Justice Brooke," says the Woman's Lawyer, "affirmeth plainly that if a man beat an outlaw, a traitor, a pagan, his villein, or his wife, it is dispunishable, because by the Law Common these persons ' The Lawwes Resolutions of Women^s Rights. 2 P. 146. U 290 GESTA CHRISTI. can have no action. God send gentlewomen better sport or better companie ! " ^ The tendency of the early English common law, was met in the English legislation, by the influences of right reason, and Christianity. The principles of the Roman law and of equity were early applied to correct the evils and the injustices of the old Teutonic code. The Lord Chancellor's Court or Court of Chancery, which was essentially a Court of Equity, became a court of great importance and of ordinary jurisdiction, even as far back as Edward III. In the reign of James I. adjudication was obtained through this court to secure to the married woman a separate use of her property; and by 1695, it was clearly established that a wife might have her separate estate in trust. ^ Especially during the last hundred years, a doctrine of woman's rights more consonant to humane and Christian ideas has been maintained in the Equity Courts of England. The great truth everywhere urged by the Master, of the distinct personality and responsibility of each human being, has been applied to the woman as wife by these courts, and her equality with man more and more ad- vanced. The Married Women's Property Acts of 1870, 1874, and especially that of 1882, seem to give absolute liberty to the wife of acquiring, holding, and disposing of any property as her separate property ; so that even the wages of a married woman in Great Britain, the profits of her literary, artistic or scientific skill, her deposits in savings banks, and indeed all property which may belong to her at marriage, or be acquired by her during marriage, is hers, as if she were a feme sole. We do not dwell on these important stages of humane progress, because the American legislation better shows the high-water mark of this drift of ideas and of practices under the power of Religion. ■ P. 128. ^ Spencer's Equity Jurisprudence, p. 596. AMERICAN LEGISLATION ON WOMAN. 291 American Legislation. — The highest fruit of this influence on legislation as to women, is to be seen undoubtedly in the United States, and particularly in the legislation of the State of New York, which has always led in the field of humane administration. The reforms in this matter seem to have begun in the New England States — especially in Massachusetts and Maine — early in this century. The first object was to secure the independence of wives who were abandoned, or of those whose husbands were convicts, runaways or profligates. A public recognition was made of marriage settlements and of trusts for the wife's separate benefit. Then her right was secured to her of disposing of her property by will, and, in some States, her estate was exempted from liability for her husband's debts. The great and sweeping reforms in this direction, however^ date from American legislation in 1848.^ These laws extend the doctrine of a separate estate for the wife ; they provide that her real and personal property shall not be put at the disposal of the husband or made liable for his debts. It continues her sole estate, and she is permitted to receive property in like manner by gift, grant, devise or bequest. This humane and advanced legislation has been imitated and followed. Most liberal provisions have been enacted, securing the property held by a woman before her marriage, and all acquisitions made through her husband or third persons, after marriage. All her earnings are in her own power, and there is almost complete emancipation from marital dominion. She can bequeath by will as if she were single.^ In 1860-62, these rights were still farther enlarged.^ ' Schouler, p. 209. These are reforms especially in the legislation of the State of New York. 2 New York legislation. See Schouler, ' Ibid. 292 GESTA CHRISTI. Married women were permitted entire control of their personal property, and could carry on any trade or per- form any labour on their sole account ; and their earnings could be invested for themselves. A wife is permitted to sell or convey her own real estate, to sue and be sued, to bring an action Les peuples d'Orient sont tellement imbues de I'idde de la force, ils sont tellement fagonnds depuis des sifecles k la somnission, qu'ils ne comprennent pas au juste la puissance du droit. — Des causes de la decadence, etc. Acad. d. Sc. etc., 1877, p. 193. ^ He appeared in the eleventh century. See the beautiful trans- lation of his Alchemy of Haziness, by H. A. Homes, 1873. ' Rev. Dr. Washburne, President of Robert's College, Constanti- nople, assures me that he has known Turks to divorce their wives day after day. It is a very general practice. EFFECTS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 459 tion towards prisoners or those conquered is well known. In Arabia, a favourite proverb is "The threshold weeps four days when a girl is born.i Another Arabic proverb- teaches that " to send women beforehand to the other world is a benefit," and that " the best son-in-law is the grave." Wife-beating seems taught in the Koran,^ as it is the custom in Mohammedan countries, and wife murder is not uncommon in Syria.^ The modern testimony as to the effect of Mohammedanism on the Arabs of Syria is overwhelming ; we have space for but few quotations. Says a convert, " How few of the hundreds of thousands of women in Syria know how to read ! How few are the schools ever established for teaching women. Any one who denies the degradation and ignorance of Syrian women, would deny the existence of the noonday sun. Do not men shun even allusion to women, and if obliged to speak of them, do they not accompany the remark with 'ajellak Allah, as if they were speaking of a brute beast or filthy object? Are they not treated among us very much as among barbarians ? " ■* An article from Le Liban, an official journal of Daud Pasha, Governor of Mount Lebanon, printed in 1867,^ says, " So in former times, the man was the absolute tyrant of the family. The wife was the slave, never to be seen by others. And if in conversation it became necessary to mention her name, it would be by saying this was done by my wife, 'ajellak Allah ! * But now there is a change, and woman is no longer regarded as worthy of contempt and abuse ; and the progress being made in the emancipation and ' Jessup's Women of the Arabs. 2 Sura iv. " But chide thou those for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear . . . and scourge them." ^ Jessup. * Essay of Mr. Bistany, read before the Beirut Literary Society, 1849, quote,d by Mr. Jessup, p. 159. ' Jessup, p. 178. ' The Irish phrase is parallel, " Saving your Reverence ! " 46o GESTA CHRISTI. elevation of woman is one of the noblest and best proofs of the real progress of Lebanon in the paths of morality and civilization." " In Algiers," Seguin says, " the Mohammedan invariably buys his wife ; he pays a price for her to her family." ^ " When an Arab woman marries, she is sure only that she will be a slave ; but who can tell how many domestic tortures she will have to endure ? " The conception of God in the Koran is not of a father, but of an inscrutable despot. "Verily," says this book, "there is none in the heavens and on earth but shall approach the God of mercy as a slave," and the duty is laid upon the faithful of being the agents of God's wrath on those who believe not.^ The two great Christian ideas at the base of modern progress — the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man — are wanting in Islam. The Christian ideas at the basis of modern international law are unknown to Mohammedanism. War is the ordinance of God, and public faith need not be kept with infidels or aliens,* ' IValks in Algiers, -p. iiy. - See Osborne's Isla7n in Arabia, p. 27. ^ Hedaya ix. Mill's Koran, p. 330. " Oh, Prophet ! stir up the faithful to war ; if twenty of you persevere with constancy, they shall conquer two hundred ; and if there be one hundred of you, they shall overcome two thousand by the permission of God, for God is with those who persevere. It hath not been granted to any prophet that he should possess captives, until he had made a great slaughter of the infidels on the earth" (Sale's Koran, chap. 5). "When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads until ye have made a great slaughter among them. . . . Verily if God is pleased, he could take vengeance on them without your assistance ; but he com- manded you to fight his battles that he might prove the one of you by the other. As to those who fight in defence of God's true religion, God will not suffer their works to perish ; he will lead them into Paradise of which he hath told them. Oh ! true believers ! for his religion he will assist you against your enemies " (Ibid., chap. 47). CLIMATE NOT THE CAUSE OF DIFFERENCE. 4.61 It should be noted, however, that Mohammedanism en- couraged kindness to the poor. Alms are "a loan to God " ; they " deliver from hell and secure Paradise." The first lunatic asylums are said to owe their origin to this Faith. It taught also great kindness to animals, and admitted them to a future state of existence. We should not forget also that Mohammed attempted to reform his times by suppressing infanticide, inculcating temperance, and prohibiting gambling and divination.^ It can hardly be urged that climate alone has caused all these differences between the non-Christian and the Chris- tian peoples. The Christian religion, looked at materially, is a product of a warm climate. Some of its purest and noblest disciples, who still profoundly influence the world, were natives or residents under almost a tropical sun. Its great conquests indeed have been won among northern races ; but with them it had especial obstacles, owing to the northern predisposition to intemperance and the greater struggle for existence necessary in colder climates. On the other hand, two of these faiths, the system of Confucius and the religion of Mohammed, cover many regions where the climates are severe and cold. The great standard- bearers of Mohammedanism — the Turks — were a northern and vigorous race, and the Arabs have none of the habits of a tropical people ; indeed the latter are closely allied to the founders of Christianity — the Jews. A tropical climate undoubtedly tends to degrade the position of woman, in relaxing her energy and exposing her purity. But this evil is no greater than the tendency of a northern climate to stimulate intemperance. Chris- tianity is adapted to restrain and remove both evils. It may be true that for this Faith some races are more fitted ' Monier Williams. 462 GESTA CHRISTI. than others ; but all races can be improved and perhaps regenerated by it Buddhism and Brahmanism have substantially failed of a great moral progress in India, China, and Japan ; they are proved not to be the absolute religions. Confucianism has produced no great progress in China ; and Mohamme- danism has utterly failed everywhere except with certain barbarous tribes in Africa. It would not perhaps be reasonable to argue from the imperfect fruits of these religions, that they were failures. It might fairly be alleged that they had not yet existed during sufficient time. But we can urge that, from their very nature and structure, they are not fitted for all phases of human development. They are not universal and abso- lute religions, and adapted to bring about the highest humane and moral progress. Were the world thoroughly and consistently Buddhistic or Confucian, it would be anything but a world fitted for the highest conditions of human advancement, or for the ideals of the mind. It could not long live up even to its own principles, as it would lack the life-giving power aftbrded by Christianity. CHAPTER XXXVII. OBJECTIONS. RESUMfi OF REFORMS BEGUN. THE FUTURE OF MANKIND UNDER CHRISTIANITY. The points necessary at the close of our investigation to consider, are : whether, supposing the Christian system to prevail and to thoroughly imbue individuals and society in all directions, this would form the highest type of char- acter and the final and perfect development of mankind ; whether if all the world were Christian, it would be the world of our ideals. It is often and naturally objected ^ that the Christian character of the future will be deficient in the courageous and manly principles, and will not have been tried in the iiery furnace of discipline of the past — namely War. But it should be remembered that the natural conditions of the world, the struggle with the great forces of nature, will always cultivate physical courage ; and the eternal necessity in human society of defending the weak, rebuking wrong, standing by the unpopular cause, and even incurring shame and loss for the truth, will always train moral courage. Even if CBons hence, society should approach its complete development, the inevitable accidents and chances of life would continually call for the highest kind of courage. Even now in modern wars, there is little demand for savage pugnacity or a bloody revengeful temper, but ' See Renan, Marc Aurile, p. 595. . . . mais une socidtd de parfaits serait si faible ! 463 464 CESTA CHRISTI. rather for a cool brain, unshaken nerve, the will which defeat cannot break, and that state of mind which simply disregards death and wounds where duty lies before. The courage most needed in modern battles is simply a readi- ness to be torn in pieces by machinery at the post of duty. Great numbers of persons fight through a campaign with- out ever seeing a personal opponent. As civilization advances the moral courage will be more and more demanded ; and physical nerve and resolution will be gained, without exciting the violent passions, by struggles with nature. The unconquerable determination to overcome difficulties, the contempt of death, the scorn of cowardice as worse than death, the heroism which could throw away life like a straw for victory — which have been the crowning gains and glories of war in the past — might easily be shown by men in a world which had grown beyond war in their struggles with nature, with the tre- mendous forces around them, and amid the inevitable accidents and chances of life. The Christian ideal has always been far in advance of past ages ; it is still beyond our present <;ondition. Men can only make a compromise between it and the necessary demands of the times. But the compromise continually approaches, century by century, the original ideal. It would be difficult now (though not impossible) for an individual to conform his life to these higher principles and survive in the struggle for existence. As each century passes it becomes easier. It would be in this age apparently impossible for a nation to conform to these principles, and survive. But in each century the nations approach them more nearly. As society advances, the Christian type of character will become more suited to the surrounding con- ditions, and there is no reason to fear, that man under this moulding, will be shaped in any weak or unmanly form. OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIAN IDEAL. 465 All that a barbarous and bloody past gave of vigour and courage, will be given by a future of peace and humanity under the unavoidable dangers and chances of life. A similar objection is that the Christian type of char- acter would in its unselfishness unfit men for the struggle for existence, and that the followers of this morality and Religion would be over-reached by the '' children of this world," and finally worsted in the contest. But the Chris- tian teachings do not require to love others more than self, but as ourselves. And the highest Christian benevolence teaches that the selfishness of others must sometimes be resisted for their sake, even more than our own. It is true that as society and trade are constituted now, a complete living after the Christian ideal is difficult, but with each generation, a greater harmony arises between the conditions and this type of character. Even now it is not certain that a society completely governed by the Christian morality might not exist successfully amid the selfish and jarring interests of the world. It is easily conceivable that the world might advance with all its present progress, and yet all societies be inspired by these elevated principles. There is nothing in the Christian ideal which unfits a man for the utmost activity and vigour ; and if this activity regard the rights of others and consult their interests, it will not be the less likely to attain its objects. At all events, with each advancing century, this type of character will be more fit for its conditions and surroundings. It has often been urged in these pages that the teachings of the great Master were in no way inconsistent either with modern advance in rational accumulation of wealth or in institutions of political liberty, though objections urging this have often been made against this moral system.^ ' See even so candid a writer as Laurent {Hist, du Droit des Gens) and Renan, and others. H H 466 GESTA CHRIST!. The type of character moulded by this system is essen- tially the self-controlled, the earnest, the one careful of the claims of others and responsible to a higher Power. Such a character under modern conditions must be industrious and saving and laborious. Idleness, dependence, self- indulgence or extravagance would equally be inconsistent with its ideals. It is true that the teachings of Jesus set themselves against an excessive pursuit of wealth, and to His immediate disciples, enforced communism of goods. But, considering Oriental metaphors and the peculiar con- ditions which surrounded our Lord, it may be doubted if He urged for all men anything more than a greater dis- tribution of property than had ever been known. The Apostles apparently thus interpreted His words. There is in His teachings, an ideal in regard to property which is far in advance of the social progress of mankind. A future, in which, after all reasonable tastes and wants of every kind had been satisfied, accumulation was entirely devoted to the public good, would not be one with which political economy has reason to quarrel or which would discourage industry. It would offer to labour the highest reward which the most benevolent nature could seek. Nothing like de- pendence or idleness is a legitimate fruit of Christianity. The monasticism of history has not come from Christ, nor is that charity which degrades the sufferer in helping him and which sows other evils in curing the nearest, His teaching. The drift of all His words is to seek one's happiness in the ultimate highest happiness of all ; to love others as one's self, and God above all. The true Christian cannot knowingly do a man good in a way which will injure him ultimately, or will injure society. The peculiarity of Christ's teachings, as has often been said, in regard to political matters, was that He left them entirely on one side, but threw in a principle into human CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERTY. 467 society which was destined in after ages to overthrow or modify all existing institutions and governments. The value attached by Him to the individual, has affected all modern political systems and is destined to do so more and more. The bond of humanity He taught is already connecting persons under various forms of government, and is certain hereafter to reform governments and the relations of nations. It is true that the early Apostles, under the peculiar conditions of the Roman empire at the time, taught a submission to authority which cannot be a universal duty. But the essential character exemplified by Christ contained no elements which form the instrument or the victim of tyranny. A man trained to live in the great Task-master's eye, looking at all men as equal before God, holding beliefs which no human authority could give or take away, determined to render to all their dues, and habitually looking beyond human ranks and dis- tinctions, could not in the nature of things be long a supporter of despotism whether in church or state. The Christian is essentially a believer in individual liberty whatever be the form of government ; the tendency of the Christian system is to permit all men to enjoy the utmost development of their faculties, and to oppose un- limited authority. The highest development of a con- trolled liberty to every man and every woman, is the natural fruit of the teachings of Jesus. As a collateral evidence of the truth of this position, it may fairly be urged that those races and peoples whose members attempt (though only partially) to guide their lives by His direct teachings, and who, however imper- fectly, seek, or profess to seek, to model themselves on Him, are those who have most developed free institutions. The opposition in the past of the nominal expression of 468 GESTA CHRISTI. Christianity — the Church — to Science is indeed one of the apparent objections to this system which has had most weight. It is undoubtedly true that a false theory of inspiration and a false interpretation of the scriptures, together with the spirit of bigotry, have thrown the religious bodies often in contest with science. But the teachings of the Master are not responsible for this. There is nothing in them which is opposed to the freest investigation and most thorough research. On the other hand, the humility and love of truth taught by Him, are favourable to the pur- suit of truth and would tend to make the scholar more thorough and earnest. The faith in Supernaturalism cannot be urged as op- posed to Science, for the believer holds also to a system of laws in a sphere higher than that which science searches out, and to him also there is a " continuity " in the uni- verse. The victories of science are won in a domain which faith scarcely touches ; and from all that appears, a most devout believer in the supernatural might lead the re- searches of modern investigation in nature. To him in- deed there would be an intelligent Power behind nature, and a light shining through the mystery of the universe, but all known laws of existence could be as closely and impartially followed out, as by the most sceptical ma- terialist. Many of the great investigators of nature in all ages have been religious. An objection of greater weight to the Christian system is that, if of supernatural origin, or if the ultimate system of morals, it has been extraordinarily slow in imbuing the world with its principles and that some of the most terri- ble evils of society still survive. The reply has often been made to this objection, and to the philosophic mind would seem a not unsatisfactory one, that with regard to all THE SLOW INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 469 agencies, whether physical or moral, shaping this world, long periods of time seem necessary. Whatever be the theory of the universe, immense time appears indispen- sible for the working out of any of the great forces. It is no more inconsistent with supernatural Power to be during a thousand centuries slowly remoulding through natural influences the moral world, than during a like period to be gradually remoulding matter under the laws of Evolution, or to be laying the foundation for future kingdoms of life during uncounted centuries under the natural forces. All that we need to show is, that here is a moral Force producing certain definite ttiough small results during a certain period of time ; and of a nature adapted to produce indefinite similar results in unlimited time. If these two premises be allowed of the Christian system, we can pro- nounce it safely the ultimate system of morals. The first of these, it has been the object of this volume to demonstrate. We have endeavoured to show what in a few centuries the Christian System has brought about ; what changes it, in harmony with other influences working secondarily, has effected, what sufferings mitigated, what evils removed, what abuses reformed, and what new bonds of sympathy and humanity it has joined. Before showing what it is adapted to accomplish, we must point incidentally to certain obstacles, outside of itself, which have obstructed its progress in the past. It will be remembered that this Religion and morality have never acquired a full control over mankind. The great historical blunder of the Church — the early union with the State — lessened and crippled the moral influence of Christianity in Europe. The too speedy and superficial conversion of the masses in Europe, left a wide-spread paganization, especially of the peasantry. The influence 470 GESTA CHRISTl. of state churches, of wealthy hierarchies, of political priests, and all the corruption and bigotry of the Church in the Middle Ages, tended to counteract the true working of the Faith. No doubt in modern days, the worldliness of the Church has equally interfered with the legitimate influence of this system. Even among its followers, the effects and inherited tendencies of ages of barbarism and unrestrained selfishness, still survive in mental habits and social custonis. War is a rehc of unchristian times, and is in many forms utterly opposed to the Religion of Love. Yet the power of this kind of co-operation and the evil passions engendered affect the minds of all believers, and but few have escaped as yet its influences. So as regards the more selfish competition of trade, the teachings of Christ, even with His nominal followers, have reached but a few. Then, when we consider the relations of bodies of men, we find that in all governmental connec- tions, these instructions have had but the feeblest influence, and that this century only has seen the first important application of Christian principles to international rela- tions. We may therefore fairly say that Christianity has merely begun its workings in the world, and many hundred centuries must pass before it will show any important part of its true influence. Evolution. — But what Christianity is adapted to effect may be best seen from examining the laws which seem to govern all human development. In the struggle for exist- ence, that individual or that race of men is the most sure to survive, which is the most fitted for its conditions, physical, mental, and moral. And as every faculty and power de- velops, and the relations of human beings with one another become more complicated, that race will lead the world which is most in harmony with the most advanced and re- EVOLUTION AND CHRISTIANITY. 47 1 fined conditions. The elements which especially govern the relations of men to one another in their highest associa- tions, are sympathy, justice, the love of others' happiness, the control of selfish tendencies, and the aiming at uni- versal good. In lower relations, we see in the history of the past, that such races as violated habitually ordinary morals, and were greedy of wealth, indifferent to injustice, tyrannical to the weak, corrupted by pleasure, weakened by unnatural passions, oppressive to the masses, or eager for mere conquest and unjust glory, finally were overthrown and perished. Their victors or survivors who took their places at first were perhaps little better than their predecessors, but they had gained the victory by some moral advantage, and this, acted upon by favouring circumstances, trans- mitted and increased by heredity, continually advanced these races. The races with lower moral development went to the wall, and those with higher, grew in moral power. Still this was not a steady moral advance, as many of the cir- cumstances were not favourable to it ; and temporarily a victory in the struggle for existence was often given to a race lower in the moral scale. But on the whole and in a long period, vice weakens the physical power of a nation ; injustice raises ' up enemies internal or external ; excessive luxury saps vigour ; selfishness repels allies ; and in one form or other, a low moral standard as compared with the prevailing, weakens its resisting power, and causes it finally to succumb. As we rise to higher relations, we can see that as man develops and society advances, the races in which there is the highest development of sym- pathy, of benevolence, of sexual purity, of truth and justice, will tend to be the strongest in body, the most closely united, the most prosperous, the most free, the 472 GESTA CHRISTI. most influential on inferior races, and the most powerful as attracting other members to themselves. All the des- tructive influences of the world will be less operative on them. The death-rate of such a race will tend to be the lowest possible ; the physical vigour the highest ; the inequalities of fortune will be the most compensated for ; the trade and intercourse with all other nations the freest ; the laws and social customs will the most approach perfect justice and humanity ; all the resources and abilities of the most favoured members will be habitually used for the most unfortunate, but only so far as to strengthen them. The power of such a race will far transcend anything hitherto known, for each member is permitted the utmost possible development of all his faculties, and vigour of intellect is almost sure to accompany great moral advance. In the struggle for existence, a perfected race like this will be as much beyond the races which history has known, as the Aryan races now are beyond the African. It will tend to supplant them. It will win the fruits of nature first. It will absorb from them. It will resist destructive influences better. If driven to physical contest, it would conquer them ; it would inevitably lead all other races. Though opposed to war, and living habitually in bene- volence, such a people in the defence of rights would be almost irresistible. But its final triumphs would be like those of civilization — gentle, profound, and full of blessing to all others. Men would follow such a nation, as they have followed prophets and saviours. It would be the centre of the higher life of the world. The currents of Evolution plainly set towards such an end. The struggle for existence, heredity, and the survival of the fittest, must give the final triumph in the life of men to the races of high morality ; to such qualities as sympathy, unselfish benevolence, purity, justice and truth. EVOLUTION AND BENEVOLENCE. 473 These are alone suited to the highest development of society, and the most complete and perfect working of each individual with every other. Selfishness, vice, injustice, violence, hate, and lust, tend to weaken, to destroy, to disorganize, and finally to cause defeat in the struggle. A profound and acute writer, a Positivist, Mr. Fiske, has somewhere said that the drift of society under Natural Selection and the other forces of Evolution is "towards weakening the power of selfishness, and strengthening the power of sympathy." If it be objected that this theory leaves out of view one of the great and solemn facts of life — the drift toward evil or inherited and accumulated tendency to depravity — the reply is that with the race we have imagined, Inherit- ance may eventually be turned toward good. After hundreds of generations of human beings, guided by such principles as we have indicated, and inspired by the Divine Spirit, the immense power of heredity reduplicating any tendencies physical or moral would be accumulated in favour of benevolence, purity and truth, and would open the mind to spiritual and moral truth, even from infancy. No human knowledge can measure the results when at length under Divine influences that mysterious tendency towards evil which has so tormented earnest thinkers — that principle of heredity, reduplicating in its power at every new generation — shall be turned towards good, and the first unconscious impulses be in the direction of unselfishness and of religion. Then the " gemmules " which may have descended for a thousand generations, whether containing physical forces or influencing moral tendencies, will be preponderatingly those which make the body pure and self- controlled, and draw the soul towards goodness and God. 474 GESTA CHRISTI. It need not be said that' Christianity is adapted to form such a race as we have described above. Its tendency is to remove all the destructive agencies. It teaches the brotherhood of man and the priceless value of each human being, and therefore undermines serfdom and slavery, which have overthrown so many commonwealths, and steadily elevates the masses who make the strength of a state. It urges universal love and justice, and therefore leads men to aid one another in every possible way, to assist by wise charity, to remove unjust burdens, to take off the trammels on trade and intercourse, to pass just laws and abolish ancient abuses. Under its teachings of " doing to others as we would have others do to us," and " loving our neighbours as ourselves," sympathy and un- selfish benevolence are the controlling elements in this higher condition. It opposes and must finally do away with War — perhaps the greatest curse on mankind. In defending marriage and presenting the highest ideal of purity as a religious obligation, it strengthens physical power and diminishes the great offence of women, and will at length remove it. It binds families together, and tends thus to preserve Jhe greatest physical vigour. It teaches temperance and moderation, and by religious motives resists the fatal appetite of modern days — that for extreme alcoholic stimulus. In presenting the dignity of man it tends to root out the degraded character of Pauperism ; and by teaching that benevolence must ever regard the highest welfare of the recipient, it prevents indiscriminate alms-giving. Trade under it will be governed by honest and unselfish principles. Under the guiding words of the Master, a new principle of the distribution of wealth will prevail in the completed society of the future. Men will hold riches for all. The surplus beyond reasonable wants and desires will be con- FUTURE UNDER CHRISTIANITY. 475 tinually distributed in means of education, of wise charity, and of public improvement. Possibly the laws themselves will forbid accumulation beyond a fixed amount ; or all such matters will be left to a Christianized public opinion. Vice, lust, violence, cruelty, neglect of offspring, robbery, thievery and all the practices which disorganize a community will be resisted by the most powerful motives which can work on the human mind. That which especially ensures the future of a race — its physical and moral care for its young — is especially encouraged by this Faith. Under it sympathy and unselfish benevolence are stimulated to their utmost. It offers all the conditions which Evolution requires to form the perfect race or society. But it does more than present a system of ultimate morals. It throws in a Force which Evolution does not reckon upon, and which hastens on all the currents for good, working in human life. It offers the love for an unequalled character, for a divine Person who embodies all abstract morality : it throws about Him and His teachings, the halo and mystery of a Religion : it presents to the individual struggling for a higher morality, hopes and fears which take hold of all that is grand and awful in the universe. It even makes morality only the blossom and fruit of the love it would implant for this transcendent Being and of the faith in unseen and eternal realities. In loving the highest ex- cellence as personified in Christ, the man unconsciously loves the happiness of all created beings, and is planted in the highest morality. We have thus attempted to show in this volume, what improvements in human condition, and what assistance to humane and moral progress have originated in a compara- tively brief period, from Christianity. We have inferred from these changes which it has caused during a few 476 GESTA CHRISTI. centuries, what it will probably bring about in a very long period. From its own nature too, we have reasoned that Christianity is adapted to produce a perfect system of human society. Nothing better has been or can be con- ceived by the mind of man, to make man better or happier. Is it not then reasonable to infer that the Christian Religion is " the absolute and universal Religion : " that its Founder, Jesus the Christ, was substantially what he claimed to be, and that His revelation of the future life may be received with the same confidence, as His instruction about the present. A Being wljo can lead for all future ages, the moral and humane progress of humanity, may well claim a respect for His words which no other being can demand. The " Son of man " may well be the " Son of God : " the Gesta Ckristi may become the Gesta Dei, and He reveal not only Life but Immortality to man. APPENDIX. ANCIENT HUNGARIAN LEGISLATION. The ancient laws of St. Stephen, King of Hungary, who reigned about looo A.D., bear out all that has been said of the humane progress urged by Christianity in other ancient codes of Europe. Manumission of slaves is encouraged, and if made by will, no one is allowed to break it ; and if only promised by a master, his widow must carry out the purpose of her husband pro redempHone animm, for the salvation of her soul (ii, 17). No free man is permitted under any pretext to be enslaved (11, 20). Piety and compassion and the Christian virtues are urged by the king, as if he were a pastor rather than a ruler, especially on the ground that " the Lord of virtues is the King of kings " (Na.n Dominus virtutum ipse est Rex Regum, ii-io). The religious principle of equality is seen in the law that the property of a peasant should be divided equally among sons and daughters (in, 29), and respect for woman in the entire power given to the widow over her property (11, 24). The barbaric element, not yet modified by religion, is found in these laws, in the compensation affixed to the murder of a wife. The nobleman escapes with the payment of fifty bullocks and a penance of fasting ; the soldier with ten bullocks and a fast, and the ignoble with five bullocks and a like penance (11, 14). This legislation is so soon after the introduction of Chris- tianity, that the idea of the dower has a barbaric tinge, as a compensation to the wife for what she has endured in marriage. Dotem dicimus, qux uxori propter ejus deflorationem, at con- cubitum, de bonis mariti datur (i, 90). 477 478 APPENDIX. The dower had not yet received its new character under reli- gion. It was only the coarse Morgengabe. (See Corpus Juris Hungarice Budae, 1779. Sancti Steph. Reg. Dec. about 1000 a.d.) The remarkably free position of woman in Hungarian history, and her legal independence now, is no doubt due to these early influences of the Christian Religion. It certainly did not come from Roman Law or the Teutonic codes and customs. (See also Die Ungar. Staatsbiirgerinn, etc. J. v. Fejes. Pest, 1812). INDEX, j^^milius, Paulus, referred to, 25. jEth^birht, King, law against feuds, 214. Aethelbert, law of, concerning mar- riage and wives, 122. Affection, the modern link between parent and child, 14, 15. Agnosticism, woman under, 298, 299. Agobard, St., quoted, 119. Aim, the author's, in this work, 2-5. Alabama, case of the, 351 ; arbi- tration on, 353, 354. Alemanns, laws of, concerning mar- riage, 122. Alfred, King, law concerning strangers, 193 ; moral laws of, 209, 210 ; concerning feuds, 215 ; extract from the will of, concern- ing slaves, 244 ; slaves under, 247. Algiers, woman in, 460. Alms-giving, the root of excessive, 104. America, appeal for murder in, 172, 173 ; the stranger in, 195, 196 ; legislation respecting woman in, 291 ; law of divorce in, 307, 308 ; and privateering, 337-339 5 in- structions for regulating war, 343 ; opponents to slavery, 371- 373 ; final struggle to abohsh 4?9 slavery, 384-386 ; duelling in, 396-398 ; reformatories in, 402 ; educational charities in, 402, 403 ; societies for the protection of animals, 404 ; cruel punishments in, 407, 408 ; imprisonment for debt, 409 ; intemperance in, 434, 435, 436, 444- Amiens, " Peace of God " at, 148. Anecdote, refusing to fight, 89. Anglo-Saxon, marriage laws of, 129, 130; law, nature of, 206, 207, 208. Anglo-Saxons and the shipwrecked, 197, 198. Animals, societies for the protection of, 404. Anti- Slavery Society, American, founded, 382. Appendix, 477, 478. Apostles, their idea of marriage, 31, 32. Arabia, a proverb of,. 459. Arabs, early civilization of, 456 ; influence of Mohammedanism upon, 456, 457. Aragon, the decree of a king of, 464, 465. Arbitration, origin of, 85 ; history of, in Germany, 155, 156 ; forms of, 157; instances of, 158; the result of Christianity, 273 ; 48o INDEX. Grotius on, 333 ; Christian and possible, 346 ; instances of, 346- 354; will it become universal, 3 55. Aristotle, suggestion of, to relieve poverty, 99. Arms, brotherhood of, 263, 264 ; an old ballad on, 264. Arms, use of, restricted in war, 345. Armstrong, the case df the, 349. Arthur, King, the Round Table of, 256 ; gentleness of, 262 ; Britain under, 263. Asceticism and celibacy, evil effects of, 32, 33- Associations, peace, 148. Asylums for orphans in Europe, 82. Augustine, St., quoted (note), 91. Austria, instruments of torture used in, 406. Austrian Code, divorce under the, 305- Authority,Roman parental, 9; modi- fied by Stoics and Christian emperors, 12. Authors, immortality of classical, 38. Authors, Latin, on the exposure of children, 72-75. Authors, Roman, on parental power, 10, 1 1 ; on divorce and woman's degradation, 23-25. Austrage, the, 154-159. Ballad, an old, quoted, 255, 258 ; on brotherhood in arms, 264. Balle, John, preaching of, referred to, 234. Barbadoes, protest against slavery 374- Barbarossa, Emperor, cruelty of, 326. Barnes, Dr. A., on slavery, 381. Battle, wager by, 161-163 ; pre- valence of, 164 ; mode of pro- cedul-e, 165-167 ; form of oaths, 165, 166 ; instances of, 167 ; opposed by the Church, 168 ; opposed by monarchs, 169, 170; opposed to the Christian spirit, 170; slow abolition of, 171 ; in capital offences, 171, 172 ; abolished by Christianity, 273, 274. Bayard, precepts of the mother of, 255 ; noble words of, 258. Benevolence and evolution, 473. Bentham on duelling, 391, 392. Bequests, ancient charitable, 100. Bernhardi on torture, 187, 188. Bietigheim,demands of the peasants of, 234. Blackstone, on woman under Com- mon Law, 288, 289. Blood-money, 138. Blood-revenge, taught by Confucius, 454- Bluntschli, Prof., on private marine ^ property, 339 ; new war code of, 342, 343- Book, the democratic, 430. Boston Herald quoted, 292, 293. Bourges, Archbishop of, charter of peace, 150. Brahmanic faith, corruption of, 447. Bristol, the slave market of, 242. Britain, condition under King Arthur, 263. Britain, Great, and Brazil, arbitra- tion between, 350. British colonies, slavery in, 376 ; abolition of, 377. British slave trade, commencement of, 368, 369 ; reasons for encou- INDEX. 481 raging it in the colonies, 370 ; opponents to, 373, 374 ; Parlia- ment petitioned to abolish, 374 ; Clarkson on, 374 ; the long struggle against and abolition of, 375- Brotherhood, Christian, 245. Bruce, King, and the poor woman, 260, 261. Brussels, International Conference at, 359- Buddhism, influence of, on woman's position, 36 ; teachings of, 45 1 ; defects o^ 452 ; in China, 453 ; in Japan, 456. Cabet on Christianity, 419. Csesar referred to, 61. Canute, King, laws of, 212, 2i> Capitularies, Charlemagne's, 302- 305- Cargoes, first African slave, 366, 367. Caste, Hindoo, 448. Cato, Porcius, stricture on woman, 24 ; on slavery, 47, 48. Cavalai, Hugh de, and his fellow- knight, 263, 264. Celibacy, evil effects of, 32, 33. Centurion, the Christian, 89. Challenge, form of, in the middle ages, 142 ; instances of, 143. Chalons, council of, and schools, 219; decree concerning slaves, 228, 229. Character, Paul's ideal, for man, 103 ; ideal of chivalric, 265-268 ; type of, moulded by Christ, 466. Charities, educational, in the United States, 402, 403. Charity, 96 ; and the ancient world, 97 ; modern, the result of Christ's teaching, loi ; Roman emperors advocate, 102 ; effects of, 103 ; an institution of Chris- tianity, 279, 280. Charlemagne, injunction concern- ing widows, 131 ; laws concern- ing strangers, 192, 193 ; capitu- laries, 202-205 ; and schools, 220; letter to the abbot of Fulda, 220, 221. Charles V. and the African slave trade, 367. Chastity, Justinian on, 35 ; German, and Roman impurity, 118, 119. Chaucer, description of a knight by, 258. Child, position of, under Chris- tianity, 218, 219. Childhood, safeguards for, 317, 318. Children, Roman, exposure of, 72 ; Latin authors on, 72-75 ; Stoics protest against, 75 ; early Fathers protest against, 76, 77 j laws against, 77-80. Children, sale of, in Europe, 81, 82 ; rewards for the increase of, 99. Children, charities for, 402, 403. Childrens' Aid Society, New York, 318. Chili and the United States, arbi- tration between, 350. China, Buddhism in, 453 ; Con- fucianism in, 453 ; positi'on of woman in, 454, 455. Chivalry, character of, 253 ; oaths of, 254, 255 ; woman and, 257 ; pity for an enemy taught by, 258 ; courtesy, 259 ; humanity of, 260 ; the prisoner of, 261 ; gentleness an attribute of, 262 ; and hospitaUty, 262 ; ideals of, 263 ; brotherhood in arms, 263 ; devotion to ladies, 264 ; the ideal I I 4S2 INDEX. of character, 267 ; survival of the Christian element in, 268, 269. Christ, a new moral force, i ; and personal purity, 29 ; and mar- riage, 30, 300 ; silence on slavery, 42, 43 ; principles of His teach- ing, 43, 44 ; opposed to war, 88 ; and property, 93 ; communism °fj 94) 95 ; modern charity and, loi ; and the conquest of the Roman world, 106 ; teaching opposed to torture, 109 ; silent victories of, 270, 271. Christian II. of Denmark, and serfdom, 240. Christianity, influence on Roman parental power, 12-14 ; on the law of succession, 16-18 ; in- fluence on Roman marriage, 21- 23, 28, 33, 34 ; position of woman under, 35 ; and slavery, 45 ; versus the Church, 46 ; and rehabilitation of labour, 69 ; and children, 83 ; a barbarous race without, 112, 113; a blessing to the Germans, 119, 120; and divorce, 128 ; and feuds, 141 ; and mental progress, 217, 218 ; position of the child under, 218, 219 ; charity an institution of, 279, 280 ; and duelling, 292 ; basis of political economy, 42 1 ; a grand restraint, 461 ; liberty and, 466, 467 ; slow influence of, 468, 469 ; what has retarded, 469, 470 ; evolution and, 470 ; the race to be made by, 474. Christians, opposition to gladia- torial shows by, 62, 63 ; humane laws concerning, 84. Church, character of the, seen, 2 ; the true and invisible, 3 ; slaves in the, 45 ; versus Christianity, 46 ; slavery and the, 53, 60 ; forbids the mutilation of slaves, (>^ ; slaves ransomed by the, 68 ; care of foundlings by, 81, 82 ; inefl5ciency of a State, 112 ; and feuds, 140 ; superstition encou- raged by, 160, 161 ; wager by battle opposed by, 168, 169; opposes the ordeal, 174 ; op- poses torture, 185, 186; services •to intellectual progress, 218 ; and chivalry, 256 ; and concubinage, 313 ; and the African slave trade, 36s, 366 ; opposes duelling, 393. Church and State, effects of the union of, 51, 52. Churches, enriched by charity, loi, 102 ; the blessings of Christian, 427, 428. Cicero, and Roman parental power, 1 1 ; and woman, 20 ; on divorce, 23 ; wives of, 25. Citizen, Grotius on the, 332 ; dur- ing war, 341, 342. Civilization, woman a factor in, 36 ; moral courage and, 464. Clarkson on the slave trade, 37?!,. Classic nations and international law, 323, 324. Clay, Henry, on duelling, 397. Clergy, ordeal approved by some of the, 175 ; Enghsh, opposition to slavery, 373. Climate versus religion, 461. Clubs, Roman, 100. Code, Justinian, Roman parental power under, 13, 14 ; and laws of succession, 16-18 ; and marriage, 22. Code, the Napoleon, referred to, 134- INDEX. 483 Code, the Theodosian, referred to, 12, 39- Codes, New, for regulating war, 342 ; probable international, 357. Co-emption, the marriage called, 20, 21. Coleman, Elihu, on slavery, 372. Collegia, the Roman, 100. Coloni, the, 70, 224, 225 ; in the Middle Ages, 236. Colonies, and slavery, the, 370 ; the British, 376 ; abolition of slavery in, -in. Communism, Christ's, 94, 95 ; and Christianity, 414, 416. Communities, mercantile shipping, 198. Comnenus referred to, 59. Concubinage, law relating • to Roman, 28 ; and the Church, 313 ; influence of Christian teaching on, 313, 314. Conference, International, at Brus- sels, 359. Confarreation, form of marriage, 20, 21. Confession under torture, 179. Confucianism, teaching of, 453, 454. Congress of Paris, 1856, referred to, 338, 346, 348- Connecticut, laws of divorce in, 308. Conrad, Emperor, referred to, 237. Constantine, Emperor, and Roman parental power, 13 ; and the laws of succession, 16; union of Church and State under, 51, 52 ; slavery laws under, 52-54 ; quoted, 63 ; and the protection of children by, 78 ; review of the humane legislation of, 84, 85. Convert, the, and the gladiatorial show, 62, 63. Co-operation, the advantages of, 413, 414- Council of Limoges, ordinance of peace of, 149. Councils, and the exposure of chil- dren, 79 ; efforts to establish peace, 148-150 ; and schools, 219, 220 ; and slavery, 249. Courage, and future Christian character, 463. Courtesy, chivalry and, 259-261. Courts, formation of arbitration, 357 ; objections to, 360. Crime, fines inflicted for, 139 ; the result of drink, 434, 435. Crusades, the effects of, on manu- mission, 237. Dana referred to, 340. Daughters, the Roman's power over his, 10, II. Days, sacred, and feuds, 139. . Death, the penalty of, 404, 405. Debt, imprisonment for, 408-410. December, the month of offerings, 102. * Democracy, what leads to, 430. Denmark, serfdom in, 240. Depravity, Roman, in the first Christian century, 24, 25 ; and legislation, 26. Devices, religious, of revolted peasants, 233. Divisions, objects of, in this work, 3-5- Divorce, Roman freedom of, 23 ; authors on, 23, 24 ; instances of Roman, 25 ; three conditions of, 26 ; under the Justinian code, 27 ; Scandinavian, 124, 125 ; Christianity opposed to, 128 ; Christian view of, 301 ; and 484 INDEX. Roman law, 302, 303 ; Church view of in the Middle Ages, 303 ; Protestant reformers in favour of, 304 ; modern tendency in favour of freer, 304, 305 ; in the United States, 307, 308 ; result and dan- ger of license in, 308, 309 ; evils of freedom of, 310, 311. Dooms, King Ethelred's, 211, 212. Dos, Roman laws relating to, 129. Dower, the modern, in marriage, 129. Drink, statistics of, 434, 435. Droit d'Aubaine, the, 193-195 ; abolition of, 195. Du Quesclin, dying words of, 258. Duel, the judicial, 165 ; of honour, 393, 394- Duelling, Bentham's views of, 391, 392 ; Christian views of, 392 ; the Church opposed to, 393 ; in France, 394 ; in England, 396 ; in the United States, 396-398. Duels, Grotius on, 332. Economical ideas, progress in, 423. Edmund, King, law of, against feuds, 214. Education, a better form of charity, 105 ; the councils arid, 220 ; pro- moted by Christianity, 277 ; the popular fruits of Christianity, 426. Edward III. and his French pri- soners, 259. Edward IV., letter on trade by, 422. Edward the Confessor, law against false swearing, 211; and Chris- tian brotherhood, 245. Eldon, Lord, on slavery, 366. Eliot, John, petition of, against slavery, 371, 372. Elsass, demands of the peasants of, 234- Emancipation, the religious duty • of, S3 ; progress of legal, 54, 55 ; ' the religious element in, 229, 231 ; forms of, 230, 231 ; gradual pro- cess of, 236-238. Emancipation of slaves in England, 245, 246 ; forms of, 248 ; motives for, 25 1, 252. Empire, Roman, condition of, in the first century of Christianity, 44. Emperors, Christian, and Roman parental authority, 12. Emperors, Roman, and unnatural vices, 40 ; charity advocated by, 102. Endowment, commencement of ecclesiastical, 102. Enemy, the knight taught pity for his, 258. England, wager by battle in, 165- 167 ; the ordeal forbidden in, 175; torture in, 184; laws against strangers in, 191 ; slavery in, 241, 252 ; forms of manu- mission in, 248 ; serfdom in, 250, 252 ; laws of divorce in, 305 ; efforts against the slave trade in, 375 ; cruel punishments in, 407 ; intemperance in, 434, 435. England, dueUing in, 394 ; petition to the Lords against, 395 ; Anti- duelling Association formed, 396 ; the Queen's order against, 396. English law concerning woman, 134-136; statesmen on the ap- peal for murder, 172 ; laws of, kings, 208-216; peasants' up- risings, 235; and Scotch courtesy, 261. INDEX. 48s Epigram, Juvenal's, 23, 24. Equality, Christianity teaches the principles of, 296. Erixon, the Roman knight, referred to, 10. "Essay on Divorce,'' Woolsey's, quoted, 303. Ethelred, the dooms of, 211, 212. Europe, sale of children in, 81, 82 ; important work of woman in, 297, 298 ; modern, and divorce, 304, 305 ; cost of the peace establishments of, 321 ; abolition of serfdom in, 388, 389 ; persecu- tion in, 442, 444. European prisons, great reforms in, 400, 401. Evolution and Christianity, 470; and benevolence, 473. Faiths lacking Christianity, 462. Family, the ancient Roman, 15. Fathers, early, and personal purity, 30 ; and the exposure of children, 76, 77 ; oppositions to war by, 89-91. Fathers, Roman, power over their children, 9-1 1 ; power modified by the Stoics, 12 ; influence of Christianity on, 12 ; Constantine and, 13. Feuds, nature of personal, 137 ; and fines, 138 ; places and days sacred from, 139 ; decree against, 140 ; efforts of the Church against, 140 ; Saxon laws against, 213 ; and the "Peace of God," 214; King Alfred's laws concerning, 215. Fines, institution of, for injuries, 138 ; scale of, 139. Fiske, Mr., quoted, 473. Force, Jesus a new moral, i. Forces, non- Christian, and mental stimulus, 217. Foundlings, care of, by the Church, 81, 82. Foulque, the knight, 257. France, tutelage abolished in, 132 ; rules of private war in, 143 ; in the I ith century, 144 ; torture in, 182, 183 ; the stranger in, 193- 195 ; slavery in, 238 ; divorce in, 305 ; freedom of royal serfs in, 389 ; duelling in, 394. Franco-Prussian war, proclamation during, 342. Franklin, B., efforts to abolish privateering, 337. Free marriage, the Roman, 21 ; in the Middle Ages, 127. Free trade, 422-424. Freedom, religious ideas of, 335, 336- Froissart quoted, 259, 261, 264. Fulda, abbot of, Charlemagne's letter to, 220, 221. Future under Christianity, the, 474, 47S. Gains on the reason for the tute- lage of woman, 20, Games, gladiatorial, Roman, 61, 62. Garrison on the duty of emancipa- tion, 382. Geneva arbitration, the, 353, 354. Gentleness a knightly attribute, '262. German code, torture under the, 181, 182. Germans, character of the, iii ; absence of chivalry among, 266, Germans, marriage of the ancient, 125-127. 486 INDEX. Germany, " Peace of God" in, 153, 154; arbitration in, 155-159; peasant revolts in, 233, 234 ; Christian influence against slavery in, 239. Gesta Christi, the real, 3. Gesta Dei, the, 476. Giving, the duty of, taught by Christ, 96. Gladiatorial games, Roman, 61 ; instances of, 61, 62 ; Christian opposition to, 62, 63 ; laws against, 63. Glanville on laws concerning woman, 134, 135 ; quoted, 166. God, societies of lovers of, 427, 428. Good faith, Grotius on, 331. Gordon, Dr., on slavery, 373. Gortschakoff, Prince, quoted, 359, 360. Government, Christianity and Liberal, 429. Greeks and international law, the, 321. Green, " History of England " by, quoted, 167. Grotius on international law, 329- 332 ; on arbitration, 333 ; on persecution, 443, 444. Guelders, Duke of, and his pledge, 260. Guilds, origin of Italian, 147. Habits, reform of, a check to in- temperance, 439. Hautefeuille on privateering, 338. Hawkins, Sir J., first slave voyage ! of, 366. Henry, Prince of Portugal, and slavery, 367. Hindoo law, woman under, 35 position of woman, 448-450. Hindoos, religious ideas among, 446, 447 ; indifference to suffer- ing by the (note), 447. Hindoo caste, 448. History, influence of unknown lives on, 2, 3 ; God ever working in human, 445, 446. Honour, the duel of, 393, 394. Hope, implantation of, in man, 428. Hospitality, knighthood and, 262. Hospitals, the first, 102, 103. Howard, John, 400. Howell the Good, laws of, 209. Humanity, the watchword of, 196 ; increase of, between nations, 424. Hungarian law, and the stranger, 193 ; ancient legislation, 477, 478. Husband, the Roman, 20 ; power of the German, 117, 118, 125, 126. Iceland, " Peace of God" in, 159. Ideas, lives inspired by moral, 428, 429. Ideas, progress in economical, 423. Ideal, the Christian, 464; objections to, 464, 465. Illinois, struggle to prevent slavery in (note), 383. India, reasons for want of progress in, 448 ; position of woman in, 448, 450. Indiana, laws of divorce in, 308. Individual, legal reform and the rights of the, 35. Industry, Christ teaches, 95. Ine, King, law against feuds, 214. Infidels, wars against, 329. INDEX. 487 Inquisition, torture by the, 180. Institutions, ancient charitable, loi, 102. Insurance societies, ancient, 99; modern, 416, 417. Intellect, Christianity stimulates the, 222, 223. Intemperance, causes of, 433, 438 ; fearful effects, 434 ; statistics of, 434, 435 ; American laws against, 436 ; best safeguard against, 437, 438. International codes, probable form- ation of, 357 ; objections to, 360. International law, 320; early writers on, 328, 329 ; progress in modern, 335- Islam, what is wanting in, 460. Italy, absence of chivalry in, 266. Jamaica, importation of slaves to, 369, 370- Japan, failure of Buddhism in, 456. Jesus, a new moral force, i. Jews, persecution of the, 442. Jubilee, the seven years, in England, 248. Judges, King Canute's advice to, 213. "Judgments of the Sea" quoted, 199. Judicial duel, the, 165. JuHan law referred to, 22, 23. Jurisprudence, Roman, influence of the Stoics on, 46. Jus Gentium, the Roman, 322, 324- Justinian code, parental power under, 13, 14 ; and succession, 16-18 ; and marriage, 21 ; on un- natural vices, 39; concerning slavery, 55-^8; and the protec- tion of woman, 66, 67 ; and the protection of children, 79, 80. Justinian, houses of mercy founded by, 80, 81. Juvenal, an epigram by, 22, 23. Keltic races, character of the, iii. Kempis, Thomas k, on copying manuscripts, 221, 222. King, the, the protector of widows, 131- " King's Quarantine," the, 151. Kings, laws of old English, 208-216. Knight, description of ayoung, 257; described by Chaucer, 258 ; gen- tleness an attribute of the, 262 ; in courts of justice, 264. Knighthood, the initiation into, 253- 256 ; duties of, 256 ; the ideal of, 256 ; the Church and, 256 ; and hospitality, 262. Knights, honourable conduct of, 260 ; parting of two, 263, 264 ; advice of Louis IX. to his, 266. Koran, the conception of God in the, 460 ; quoted (note), 260. Labour, the rehabilitation of, 69. Labourer, blessing of the Sabbath to the, 410, 412 ; effects on in- temperance on, 434. Ladies, devotion to the crown of chivalry, 264. Law, Anglo-Saxon, 206 ; nature of, 207, 208. Law, English, concerning woman, 134-136. Law, Grandeur of the Roman, 160, 161. Law, International, 320 ; early wri- ters on, 328, 329 ; progress in modern, 335-361. INDEX. Law, Julian, referred to, 22, 23. Law', maritime, England opposed to progress in, 338. Law, wager of, 163. Law, Welsh, on buying a wife, 123. Law, woman under English com- mon, 286-290. Laws influenced by Christianity, 276,277. Laws of nations, Grotius on the, 329-334- Laws of old English kings, 208-216. Laws, religious, 211, 212. Laws, Roman, for the amelioration of slaves, 50, 51 ; Constantine's, 52-54 ; Justinian's, 55-58 ; Leo's, 58; for the protection of actresses, 66, 67 ; against exposing children, 77-80. Legge's " Confucius" quoted, 455. Legislation, American, respecting, woman, 291-296. Legislation, Charlemagne's, imbued with Christianity, 202-205. Legislation, Constantine's humane, 84, 85. Legislation, European, for the ship- wrecked, 200. Legislation, Hungarian, ancient, 477, 478. Legislation in advance of morality, 206. Leicester, wager of battle at, 167. Leo, Emperor, slave laws of, 58 ; on the observance of Sunday, 86. Lex Pompeia de Parric, 11. Liberal Government and Chris- tianity, 466, 467. Liberty, a Stoic's apothegm on, 48, 49 ; Justinian's laws concern- ing, 55, 56 ; Christianity and, 466, 467. Life, influence of woman in social, 298. Limoges, council of, and peace, 149. Lives inspired by moral ideas, 428, 429. London, free trade for the men of, 420. Louis, Saint, letter of, 152 ; instruc- tion to his knights, 266. Love, power of the religion of, 355. Maine, Sir H., " Early History of Institutions " quoted, 35. Maiuma, the Roman show, 65. Mankind, character of the progress of, 9. Manners, an instance of knightly, 260. Manu, laws of, quoted, 448 ; on woman, 449. Manumission, forms of, 330, 331. Manumission, forms of in England, 248. Manuscripts, copying of ancient, 221, 222. Marcian quoted, 12. Mario quoted, 415. Marriage, three forms of ancient Roman, 20; influence of Chris- tianity on, 21, 109, no ; Constan- tine's legislation affecting, 26, 27 ; Christ's ideas of, 30, 31 ; the apostles' ideas of, 31, 32 ; Chris- tianity and Roman, 33, 34 ; Jus- tinian on, 34, 35 ; humane laws concerning, 87, 88. Marriage, ancient German, 1 19 ; original form of the Teutonic, 121, 122; Scandinavian, 124; under German customs, 125-127 ; gradual elevation of, 129; Charle- INDEX. ■489 magne's laws affecting, 204 ; puri- fied by Christianity, 271, 272. Marriage and morals, 300-303 ; Christ's estimate of, 300 ; Chris- tian doctrine of, 301, 302 ; Church's idea of, 303 ; Ameri- can ideas of, 305-307 ; how re- garded in New York, 311, 312 ; the model of, taught by Christ, 312 ; future legislation concern- i.i^&j 312 ; a Hindoo's feelings about, 450. Maximilian, the Christian soldier, 89. Mayence, council of, and schools, 219. Mediation, war to be prevented by, 348 ; instances of, 348-350. Mercantile communities and the shipwrecked, 198. Mercy, houses of, for foundlings, 80, 81. Messenger, a Divine peace, 151. Middle Ages, arbitration in, 154- 159 ; wager by battle in, 161-172; the ordeal in, 174-177 ; and in- ternational war, 324 ; barbarities of the, 325. Middle passage, horrors of, 364, 365. Mill's "History of India " quoted, 447. Minors, selling the home of, 87. Missions, 426. Mohammedanism, influence of, 456-458 ; effects of, 459 ; en- courages kindness to the poor, 461. Monarchs, English, and the slave trade, 366-368. Monarchs, opposition of, to wager by battle, 169, 170. Montesquieu, a saying of, 365. Moore's "History of Slavery" quoted, 371, 373. Morality, Christ and personal, 30 ; debasement of ancient, 38. Morals, ultimate system of, 469. Morgengabe, the, 119, 129. Monastery, slaves entering a, 56. Mother, position of the American, 293. 294- Mother, the Roman, 19, 20 ; under Justinian law, 22, 23. Munster, Treaty of, referred to 327- Murder, appeal to battle in, 171, 172 ; English statesmen on, 172 ; an instance of, 173 ; abolition of, 173- Mussulmans of India (note), 457. Napoleon III., Mexican vessels restored by, 339, 340. Nations, modern relations between, 320 ; and mercantile private pro- perty, 339, 340 ; international law and non- Christian, 361, 362 ; unity of, increased by freedom in trade, 422, 423 ; humanity be- tween, 424. Neckar, the revolted peasants of, 234- New York, divorce in, 307 ; mar- riage in, 311, 312. New World, slaves introduced into the, 364, 365. NichoU, Sir J., quoted, 341. Norman Conquest, slavery after the, 249. Norman ideal of chivalry, the 263. Northern nations and intemperance, 433, 434. 490 INDEX. Novellce, Justinian's, on marriage, 34- Oath, the compurgator's, 163. Oaths, form of, in wager by battle, 165, 166. Oaths, knighthood, 254, 255. Offerings, the month of, 102. Oppressed, Roman laws favouring the, 85. Ordeal, the, 174 ; Church opposed to, 174; gradual abolition of, 175-177; aboUshed by Chris- tianity, 273, 274. Origen quoted, 90, 91. Orleans, synod of, -and schools, 219, Orphans, laws concerning, 85. Otterbume, the Scots after, 259. Ovid referred to, 73. Palaye, St., on knighthood, 255, 257. Paris, congress of, 1856, referred to, 338, 346, 348. Parliament, English, petitioned against slavery, 374. Paternal authority, Roman, 9, 12. Paul, St., on God working in man, 446. Paul the Stoic, on woman, 25. Pauperism and the Christian, 417, 418. Pauperism, causes of Roman, 96 ; imperial relief of, 98. Paulus, Julius, referred to, 75. Peace establishments, cost of Euro- pean, 321. " Peace of God," nature of the, 145, 146; preaching the, 151, 152 ; restraining feuds, 214. Peace, the pledge of, 147 ; efforts to establish, 148, 149 ; versus war, 333. Peace, victories of, 346-354 ; final step to universal, 357 ; the idea of Christ, 361. Peasants, condition of, in the Middle Ages, 232 ; revolts and demands, 233, 234 J revolt of the English, 235- Penitentials, Theodosius, quoted, 241. Perceforest on knightly hospitality, 262. Period, Roman, resumd of reforms in, 106. Perjury, Charlemagne's law con- cerning, 30J, 304. Persecution, origin and cause, 441 ; of the Jews, 442 ; opposed to Christianity, 442 ; protests against, 443, 444. Person, love for a Divine, 38 ; Christianity embodied in a, 106. Peru and Japan, arbitration be- tween, 350. Pestilence, diminution of, 431,432. Philosophers, the 1 8th century, 387, 388. Pinkney, General, on duelling, 397. Piracy, 201. Places sacred from feuds, 139. Plato on unnatural vices, 37, 38. " Pledge of Peace," the, 147. Pliny referred to, T^. Poictiers, council of, and private war, 148. Political economy, Christianity the basis of, 421. Popes, efforts in the cause of peace, 150 ; and wager by battle, 168 ; and the ordeal, 175 ; learning en- couraged by, 222. Poor, number of Roman, 98 ; evils of free divorce among, 310 ; INDEX. 491 Christ the true friend of the, 418, 419. Portalis on the citizen during war, 341- Poverty, rehef of, by Christians, 68 ; insurance against, 416, 417. Powers, neutral, during war, 345, 346. Pravada, character of the, 140. Principles, Plato's three, 37 ; ulti- mate issue of Christ's, 45. Prison, early reforms of, 86, 87. Prison reforms the result of Chris- tianity, 400, 401. Prisons, old American, 401 ; debtors', 409. Prisoners, courtesy to, 259 ; chiv- alry and, 261 ; treatment of, in the Middle Ages, 325, 326 ; enslave- ment of, 327 ; treatment by non- Christian nations, 328 ; Grotius on the enslaving of, 331, 332. Privateering, Grotius on, 331, 335, 336 ; history of European, 336- 340 ; gradual abolition of, 341. Problem to work, a, 2. Property, Roman parents' power over, 13, 14 ; Roman woman and, 19; in marriage, 20, 21 ; Christ and the distribution of, 93 ; industrial system of, 93, 94 ; partnership in, 295, 296 ; pri- vate marine, 334, 340 ; Christian teaching respecting, 413, 414. Prostitution, problem of, 315, 316 ; safeguards against, 317-319. Protestant Church and slavery, the, 366. Proudhon quoted, 414, 415. Proverb, an old Roman, 25. Prussia and United States, treaty referred to, 337. Prussian, code, divorce under, 305 ; ordinance about serfdom, 388. Purity, Christ and personal, 29 ; and the early Fathers, 30 ; duty of masculine, 317. Quakers, opponents to the slave trade, 371-374- Race, degeneracy of the Roman, 1 10, 1 1 1 ; a new one needed, 1 1 1, 113 ; a barbarous, with Christi- anity, 112, 113. Races, treatment of inferior, 424- 426 ; power of highly developed, 471-473- Rautzan, Count, and his serfs, 388. Rebels, treatment of by United States, 426. Reform, early prison, 86, 87 ; com- mencement of modern prison, 399 ; result of Christianity, 400, 401. Reforms, basis of modem legal, 35. Reforms, Justinian, 66. Religion, safeguard against vice, 319 ; safeguard against intem- perance, 437, 438, 440 j and science, 468. Religious laws, 211, 213. Renan quoted, 430. Revelation, a continuity of Divine, 445, 446. Revenge, law substituted for, 207, 208 ; curbed by Christianity, 272. Rights, royal claims to wreckers', 199. Rig- Veda referred to, 448. Reprisals during war, 343. Robertson, Chief Justice, on mar- riage, 306. 492 INDEX. Robinson, J., on persecution, 443. "Romance of the Rose" quoted, 265. Roman, parental authority, 9- 14 ; laws of succession, 15-18 ; woman, 19 ; the forms of mar- riage, 20 ; free marriage, 21 ; divorce, 23 ; unnatural vices, 36- 40 ; slavery, 41, 47-50 ; gladia- torial games, 61-63 > human sacrifices, 64 ; licentious shows, 64 ; serfdom, 70 ; exposure of children, 72 ; law, 84, 160 ; pau- perism, 96, 97 ; collegia, 100 ; resum^ of reforms, 106; torture, 178. Romans, and international law, 332- 324 ; persecution under, 441. Rome, Church of, and the African slave trade, 365, 366. " Royal Truce," the, 151. Rufus, King, cruelty of, 326. Rush, Dr., on the slave trade, 372. Russia, serfdom abolished in, 389. Russian code, character of an old, 140. Sachsenspiegel, the German code, 239- Sakya-muni, legend of, 451 ; defects in his teaching, 452. Salvian quoted, 68. Saxon kings, moral teaching of, 208 ; laws against feuds, 213. Saxons, voluntary death of, 62. Scandinavia, abolition of slavery in, 239- Scandinavian woman, position of, 123, 124. Sceptics and torture, 188. Schools, early Christian, 219, 220, 222. Schouler on marriage, 306. Schwabia, demands of the pea- sants of, 233, 234. Science, Christians the leaders in, 218 ; and religion, 468. Scotland, torture in, 185 ; serfdom in, 252. Sects, persecution among, 442. Seigneur and his ward, the, 131, 132. Seneca and Roman parental power, 10, II ; on divorce, 23 ; on woman, 24 ; and the exposure and mutilation of children, 73, 74- Serfdom, Roman law concerning, 70, 71 ; influence of Christianity upon, 107, 225, 228, 229 ; Roman, 224. Serfdom, modern, 387 ; influences at work to abolish, 387, 388 ; royal ordinances against, 388 ; general abolition in Europe, 389, 39°- Serfdom in the Middle Ages, 228, 232, 238. Serfs, English, 250, 252. Shipwrecked, cruelty to, 197 ; and mercantile communities, 198 ; efforts on behalf of the, 199 ; European legislation for, 200 ; humanity to, 200. Shoemaker, the torture of a poor, 188. Shows, Roman, licentious, 62 ; laws against, 65. Sidney, Sir Philip, and the wounded soldier, referred to, 261. Sigismund, Emperor, proclamation of, 235. Slave, the Roman, 41 ; legal status, INDEX. 493 50 ; moral and social condition, JO, 51 ; and judge, 69. Slave-market, raising children for, 242. Slave, punishment for killing a, 244. Slavery, ancient and modern, 41 ; Christ silent on, 42, 43 ; influence on the Roman empire, 42 ; and Christianity, 45 ; Stoics and, 47 : laws of Constantine on, 52-54 ; laws of Justinian on, 55-58. Slavery in the Middle Ages, 226, 238-240 ; gradual disappearance of, 363- Slavery in England, 241 ; emanci- pation from, 245-248 ; after the Norman Conquest, 249 ; and the Church councils, 249. Slavery, influence of Christianity upon, 278, 279. Slavery, in British colonies, 376 ; in the United States, 377 ; soph- isms regarding, 377-379 ; protest of religious bodies to, 379, 380 ; noble men opposed to, 381, 382 ; final struggle against, in America, 384. Slave trade, forbidden in England, 248, 249. Slave trade, modern African, 364, 368 ; licenses granted for, 367 ; religious opposition to, 371 ; opponents in Great Britain, 373 ; struggles for and abolition of, 374-376. Slaves, Roman, cruelty to, 47 ; number of Roman, 49, 50 ; duty of emancipating, 53 ; humanity towards, 54 ; gradual emanci- pation of, 58-60 ; mutilation of, forbidden, 67 ; ransomed by the Church, 68. Slaves, condition of, in the Middle Ages, 226 ; freeing, 227 ; Acts in favour of, 227 ; decree of the council of Chalons, 228 ; forms of emancipation, 230. Slaves, number of, in England, 243 ; protection and emancipation of, 245-248 ; motives for emanci- pation, 251. Slaves, introduction of negro, into Europe, 364 ; first cargoes, 367 ; number imported, 369, 370. Sleeplessness enforced, 181. Smith, Sir T., on English wives, 134 ; on appeal to battle, 171, 172 ; on torture, 185 ; "Common- wealth of England " quoted, 25 1 ; quoted, 327. Socialism and Christianity, 414, 415. Societies, ancient insurance, 99 ; American temperance, 436. Society, natural selection and, 473; Christianity and a perfect, 475, 476. Soldiers, anecdotes of Christian, 89 ; early Christians not, 91. Soul, Christ's object the renovation of, 43 ; God's kingdom the human, 43,44- South Carolina, divorce in, 307, 309- Southern States of America, slavery in, 383- Spain, and the ordeal, 176 ; torture in, 183, 184 ; chivalry in, 266. Spencer's "Red Cross Knight" quoted, 257. St. Petersburgh, convention of, re- ferred to, 245. Stage, laws protecting women of the, 66, 67. 494 INDEX, Statesmen, English, on appeal for murder, 172. Stoics, influence of, on Roman juris- prudence, 46 ; cruelty to slaves, 47, 48, 55 ; and the exposure of children, 75. Stoicism, superficial character of, 51 ; humane influence of, 106. Story, Judge, on marriage, 306. Stranger, how regarded by the ancients, 190; humanity to, 191 ; Teutonic laws concerning, 191 ; Charlemagne and the, 192 ; King Alfred and the, 193 ; Hungarian law, 193; in France, 193-19S ; in America, 195 ; Saxon law con- cerning, 210; and Christianity, 275, 276. Strappado, the, 181. Succession, character of Roman, 15 ; reforms under Christianity, 16-18. Suffering, indifference of the Hindoo to (note), 447. Suffrage, woman and the, 296. Sunday, first laws concerning, 85, 86 ; Saxon law concerning, 2 lo ; blessings of, 410-412. Superstition, encouragement of, by the Church, 160, 161. Swearing, Saxon law against false, 211. Symmachus, the Saxon slaves of, 62. Syrian woman, 459. System, property under the indus- trial, 93, 94. Tacitus, an incident of slavery from, 47 ; referred to, 61. Tariff, continental exactions of, 420, 421. Teaching, ultimate issue of Christ's, 45- Temperance, spread of, 435 ; Ameri- can societies, 436 ; in England, 439- Territory, rights over heathen, 334 ; disputes as to, 351. Teutonic tribes, woman in, 117; marriage among, 121, 122. Theodolfus on founding schools, 221. Theodore, St., of Stude, and slavery, 42, 59- Theodosian code referred to, 12. Theodosius, "Penitentials " of, quo- ted, 241. Theodosius, Emperor, persecuting laws of, 441. Tomb, inscription on a, 100. Total abstinence movement, 437. Torture, use of, opposed by the Church, 162, 185 ; under the Ro- mans, 178 ; confession under, 179 ; and the inquisition, 180, 187 ; various forms of, 180 ; under the German code, i8i ; in France, 182 ; in Spain, 183 ; in England, 184 ; in Scotland, 185 ; causes of its spreading, 186 ; humanity op- posed to, 187 ; sceptics and, 188; abolition of, 188 ; latest incidents of, 188, 189 ; abolished by Chris- tianity, 274, 275 ; instruments of, 406. Trajan, Emperor, gladiatorial show of, 61 ; supporter of orphan chil- dren, 99. Trent, council of, referred to, 220. « Truce of God," the, 152. Turks, results of the conquests of, 112, 113. Tutelage, character of German, 120, INDEX. 49S 121 ; of woman, 130, 131 ; abol- ished in France, 132. Twiss' " Laws of Nations " quoted, 341. United States, and privateering, 337-339 ; slavery in, 377-386 ; duelling in, 396 - 398 ; refor- matories in, 402 - 404 ; cruel punishments in, 407, 408 ; prisons, 409 ; intemperance in, 434, 436 ; persecution, 444. Usus, the marriage called, 20, 21. Utrecht, treaty of, referred to, 368, 369- Vaison, council of, on education, 219. Valentinian and Roman laws of succession, 16 ; laws for protect- ing children, 79. Valois, count of, serfs freed by, 238. Velabrum, children exposed in the, 74. Vessels, disputes concerning, 348- 351- Vice, depth of Roman, 24 ; safe- guards against, 317-319. Vices, unnatural, 36 ; Plato on, 37, 38 ; influence of Christianity on, 39 ; the emperors and, 40. Victims, gladiatorial, 61, 62. Villeins, English, 250. Visigoths and the shipwrecked, 197. Wager by battle, 161-163 ; preva- lence of, 164 ; mode of, 165-167 ; forms of oaths, 165, 166; instances of, 167 ; Church opposes, 168 ; opposed by monarchs, 169, 170; slow abolition of, 171 ; in capital offences, 171, 172. Wallon on slavery, 41, 42. War, Christ's opposition to, 88 ; the early Fathers and, 89, 90. War, the citizen during, 341, 342 ; new codes of, 342 ; an abuse of, 343 ; reasons for restricting, 344 ; use of arms restricted in, 345 ; the great evil of history, 355. War, private, 142 ; in France, 143 ; effects of, 144, 145 ; efforts to check, 147 J curbed by Christianity, 272, 273. Wars, peasant, 282 ; cost of modern, 320, 321 Wealth, distribution of, 104, 105 ; teaching of Jesus concerning, 46s, 466. Welsh, law respecting the, 215. West Gothic laws respecting serfs, 228. West Indies, slavery in, 376, 377. Whipping, the punishment of, 408. Whittier, J. G., on slavery, 371. Widow, the protection of the, 131. Widows, laws concerning, 85. Wife, the Roman, 20-23 ; the Ger- man, 118-127; under English common law, 286, 290 ; the Ameri- can, 291, 293. Wives, reasons for repudiating, 25 ; German's power to sell, 122. Wihtraed, King, laws of, 208, 210. Wilson's "History of the Slave Power" quoted, 371, 372. Witchcraft, torture employed in, 181. Witches, cruel treatment of, 176. Wladimir and the bishops, 140, 141. Woman under the Roman law, 19 ; as a mother, 19, 20 ; and divorce, 23 ; degraded condition of, 24 ; depravity of, 24, 25 ; Stoic Paul's view of, 34. 496 INDEX. Woman, under Christianity, 35, 36 ; under the Hindoo law, 35 ; influ- ence of Buddhism on the position of, 36 ; laws to protect Christian, 65, 66 ; position influenced by Christianity, 107-109 ; 271, 272. Woman, in Teutonic tribes, 117, 127; purity of, 118; tutelage of 120, 121, 130, 131 ; Scandinavian, 123. Woman, condition of, improved by Christianity, 133, 136 ; English law and, 134-136 ; legal emanci- pation of, 134 ; and chivalry, 257. Woman, gradual elevation of, 283 ; modern position of, 285 ; under English common law, 286-290 ; American legislation and, 291 ; leading to legal equality, 296 ; moral influence of, 297 ; social influence, 298 ; under agnosticism, 299. Woman, position of, in India, 448- . 450 ; in China, 454 ; Syrian, 459 ; effects of tropical climate on, 461. Work, object of the present, i, 2. Work, woman's, in America, 297. Wounded, care of, during war, 344 ; result of religion, 345. Writers, Roman, on parental power, 10, 1 1 ; on divorce and the degra- dation of woman, 23-25. Butler & Tanner, The Setwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. 'l'/ 'M