,o^ W^^f -rf/ * m 1 ^VX^ £. ^^ii. Pt^ s^ ^ r*L ^^^\ ^ W\ ■'rs i-'*i«- Li; ^8f, ,'^ '^JV ' ^1 1:^ / ^ y^ President Wihte Library, Cornell University, Cornell University Library D 118.T36 Europe in the '"i*''"?,,?,9|?, 3 1924 027 796 782 The original of tliis 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/cu31924027796782 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ^— '■■ -jii-t r\ ^•^ EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE BY OLIVER J. THATCHER, PH.D. ANI3 FERDINAND SCHWILL, PH.D. With Maps and Charts NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1896 Copyright, 1896, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS mow DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY MEW YORK PREFACE The authors have attempted to prepare in the present work a serviceable text-book of the History of the Middle Age for the use of the freshman and sophomore classes in the American college. This end has subjected them to certain conditions and limitations : it has restricted the scope and compressed the contents of the book ; it has controlled the topical ar- rangement and determined the method of presentation. It is fair to request that in forming an opinion about the book this fact should be kept in mind. There is a large number of books on the Middle Age in existence, and, apparently, it is somewhat superfluous to add another to the list. But a closer inspection will show that these histories generally address themselves to one of two classes, to students of the High School or to specialists ; that they, are by virtue either of their summary treatment or their minute expansiveness unfit for use in college classes ; and, further, that the small remainder which might be regarded as eligible for the college public is almost uniformly cumber- some in arrangement and antiquated in matter. However, the last few years have brought to light a number of really excel- lent books, which, in their way, deserve all praise and are not without an appeal to the undergraduate world. We refer. espe- cially to the works of Professor Adams and Professor Emerton. But it cannot be denied that the valuable history of the former is rather of the nature of an essay for advanced and educated VI PREFACE readers, while the "Mediaeval Europe" of the latter, though an excellent presentation of the period which it covers, only partially deserves its title. The present book can, in its own class, therefore, even put forth some claim to novelty. It may avoid misunderstandings to add a word about the com- pass of the book. The term Middle Age is necessarily vague. There was no reason, therefore, why it should not be employed in its traditional sense as including roughly the period between 500 and 1500 A.D. Other considerations enforced this view. The authors have been engaged for some years in the instruc- tion of General European History at the University of Chicago. The study of European History has been laid down by the authorities as required work, and two courses are regularly devoted to it every quarter. It has been found after repeated trial that both the requirements of the system and the aims of teaching are best served by a division of the work, after the accepted manner, into Mediaeval and Modern History. The present book had its origin in the needs of the class-room work organized in accordance with the above requirements. To satisfy those needs more fully the authors hope to publish soon another volume, similar in character to this, upon the Modern Period. For various reasons it has been thought unnecessary to add an extensive bibliography. We have taken it for granted that the teachers who may use the book are acquainted with the best literature on the period and will be able to direct the reading of their classes. The students for whom we are writing would be confused rather than helped by long lists of books, unless each book were accompanied by a discriminat- ing estimate of its character and value. Bibliographies are easily attainable in such works as Adams's " Manual of His- torical Literature " (1888) and Heath's " Methods of Teach- ing History " (1889). The book of Professor Emerton as well as that of Lavisse and Rambaud also give excellent lists of au- thorities. PREFACE Vii The following works on the History of the Middle Age may be mentioned here for the benefit of those who have no access to the above-mentioned authors ; Emerton : An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages, iSgi. Emerton : Mediaeval Europe, i8g4. Adams : Civilization During the Middle Ages, Especially in Relation to Modern Civilization, 1894. Bryce : The Holy Roman Empire. Hallam : A View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. Some- what antiquated. Assmann : AUgemeine Geschichte des Mittelalters. Second edition, by Meyer, now appearing. An excellent handbook ; contains many ref- erences to the original sources and brief quotations from them. Leo : Lehrbuch der Geschichte des Mittelalters, 2 vols. Lavisse et Rambaud : Histoire generale du IV'. si^cle a nos jours. To be complete in 10 vols. The first four volumes deal with the Middle Age. In many respects the best history of the Middle Age that has yet appeared. Rehm : Handbuch der Geschichte des Mittelalters, 4 vols. 1821-39. Gibbon : The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Still unequalled in narrative impressiveness. Pflugh-Hartung : Geschichte des Mittelalters, 3 vols. 1886-91. Schroeck : Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche, 45 vols. The principal feature of this work is that it contains in paraphrase nearly all of the most important documents touching the history of the Church, the Papacy, and the Empire. Valuable to those who have not the sources at hand. Gieseler : The History of the Christian Church, 5 vols. Especially val- uable because of its many foot-notes, which consist very largely of quotations from the original sources. It is a library of sources in itself. Symonds : Renaissance in Italy, 6 vols. Unnecessarily drawn out, but well written, and full of sound information on the period. We gladly acknowledge our indebtedness to Mr. Thompson, Assistant at the University of Chicago, for the liberal manner in which he has given us help and advice, especially in the preparation of the maps and charts. Mr. Fertig, Fellow of the Department of History, has kindly prepared the Index. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Preface v Introduction i CHAPTER I. Europe, Its Peoples, and the Christian Church . 6 CHAPTER II. The Migrations of the Nations 25 CHAPTER III. The History of the New Christian German States . 50 CHAPTER IV. The Reaction of the Empire against the Germans . 72 CHAPTER V. The Franks (481-814) 84 X TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER VI. PAGE The Dismemberment of the Empire . . ■ -14° CHAPTER Vn. Political History of France (887-1108) . . .156 CHAPTER VIII. Germany and its Relation to Italy (887--io56) . . 164 CHAPTER IX. England and the Norsemen (802-1070) . . . 194 CHAPTER X. The Normans in Italy ....... 210 CHAPTER XI. Feudalism , . .215 CHAPTER XII. The Growth of the Papacy . . . . • . . 230 CHAPTER XIII. The Struggle Between the Papacy and the Em- pire (1056-1254) 257 CHAPTER XIV. Monasticism 3,8 TABLE OF CONTENTS xi CHAPTER XV. PAGE Mohammed, Mohammedanism, and the Crusades . 336 / CHAPTER XVI. The Development of the Cities, more especially IN France 435 CHAPTER XVII. Italy 446 CHAPTER XVIII. France {1108-1494). England (1070-1485) . . .484 — " CHAPTER XIX. The Lesser Countries of Europe to 1500 . , . 544 CHAPTER XX. Germany (1254-1493) 552 CHAPTER XXI. The Papacy (i 250-1450) 57^ CHAPTER XXII. The Civilization of the Middle Age . . .583 CHAPTER XXIII. The Italian Renaissance ...... 616 xu table of contents Chronological Tables. PAGE I. Emperors and Popes 659 II. The Merovingian Kings to Dagobert I. . • 663 III. The Dukes of Austrasia (Ancestors of Karl the Great) 664 IV. The Carolingian House (the Karlings) . . .665 V. Later Carolingians and First Capetians (Robert- ines), Showing their Connection and Rivalry . 666 VI. Kings of England to the Norman Conquest . . 667 VII. Saxon, Franconian, and Hohenstaufen Houses; theWelfs 668 VIII. Kings of France and Collateral Branches . . 669 IX. Kings of England from the Norman Conquest to Henry VII. 670 X. The Hapsburg-Burgundian and Hapsburg-Spanish Marriages 671 Index 673 LIST OF MAPS PAGE Europe, 350 a.d., Showing the Roman Empire and Barbarians 24 The Germanic Kingdoms Established on Roman Soil 72 Kingdom of the Merovingians, Showing Their Conquests 96 The Empire of Karl the Great, Showing the Division of 843 146 The Empire in the Time of Otto the Great . . 180 England, 878 196 The Crusades 344 France, 1185 487 France, 1360 532 Europe about 1500 574 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE INTRODUCTION The whole course of history is very conveniently divided into three periods — the Ancient, the Mediseval, and the Modern. Generally, fixed dates have been assigned for the xhe continuity beginning and end of each of these. They have of History. then been further divided and subdivided, and each division has received a particular name. While this has been more or less convenient and justifiable, the divisions have often been treated so mechanically as to make a totally wrong impression, especially on the minds of students who are just beginning the study of history. But if there is anything that is firmly held by all good historians to-day, it is the continuity of history. There are no real breaks in its course. Every age is a prepara- tion for, and an introduction to, the next. One period grows into another so gradually and naturally that the people who lived in the time of transition were often utterly unconscious of the fact that a new period was beginning. Certain events may well be said to be epoch-making, but in spite of that their full effect is not felt at once. They slowly modify the existing order of things, and the old is gradually displaced by the new. The world is never actually revolutionized in a day. It is not wholly wrong to separate history into such periods, for different interests prevail at different times, and, therefore, one period may have a very different character g^^ divisions from that of another. But in making all such are convenient divisions two things should be carefully guarded °"'' '""*' '^ against : fixed boundaries should not be assigned to them, and 2 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE they should not be treated as if their predominant interest were their only interest. No one interest can absorb the whole life of a period. For several centuries the life of Europe has been too complex to admit of its being adequately treated from only one point of view. The terms " Mediaeval " and "Middle Age" have been used simply because of their convenience. That which brought about the great change in Europe was the invasions of the Bar- barians, and these began on a grand scale in the fourth century. The end of the period is not perhaps so easily determined, but Limits of the the period from 1450 to 1550 is marked by such period. movements as the great religious revolution which involved all western Europe and was productive of many changes, the growth of absolutism in Europe, the changes in the practical government of many of the countries, the birth of political science, the multiplication of international relations, and the extension of industry and commerce, so that we may safely say that the Middle Age should end somewhere about that time. At any rate, a convenient place may there be found where one may stop and mark the failing of old, and the ap- pearance of new, tendencies and characteristics. A comparison of the map of Europe in the fourth century of our era with that of the same country in the sixteenth century . ^ will give the best idea of the changes that took Europe 350 A. D., ° ° compared witii place there during the Middle Age. Such a ^"™''^ '^°°'^"'^' compar-ison would suggest that all these changes could be grouped under four heads, namely, the changes in the political system, in language, in rehgion, and in civilization. The first map would show but two grand political divisions, the Roman Empire and the Barbarians. On the second, the Barbarians have almost disappeared, and the Em- Evident , ., • , . ; - clianges: ques- ?"■«> while It has a nominal existence, is not at tions suggested all what it was. In their stead there are many tliereby. i . , i , , . .. separate and independent states and different na- tions. One asks instinctively, What has become of the Empire ? INTRODUCTION 3 Where are the Barbarians ? How did these new states arise ? What is the origin of these new nationahties ? The linguistic changes suggested by the maps are quite as striking, Latin and Greek were the only languages in ex- istence in Europe in the earlier time. The- rude dialects of the Barbarians were not regarded as languages, and were unfit for literary purposes. In the sixteenth ceptury Greek was spoken in a limited territory, and Latin had become the lan- guage of the educated only ; although still spoken, it was prac- tically a dead language. The barbarian tongues have been developed into literary languages. Each nation has its own speech, and there are at least the beginnings of those rich lit- eratures which treasure up the world's best thought. Religiously, the changes are sweeping. At the beginning of the fourth century Europe was still prevailingly heathen. Christianity was widely spread, but its adherents were largely in the minority. But in the sixteenth century heathenism was nominally, at least, almost destroyed in Europe. In its stead we have Christianity in two great types, the Roman Catholic and the Greek, while a third new type, to be known as Protes- tantism, was about to be produced. Besides Christianity we find a part of Europe under the domination of Mohammedan- ism. How were the Barbarians of Europe Christianized ? How were the different types of Christianity produced? What sep- arated the Greek from the Latin Church ? What was the ori- gin of Mohammedanism ? What are its tenets and character ? How did it spread, and what has been its history ? What in- fluence has it had on Europe ? And what have been the rela- tions between Christianity and Mohammedanism ? The changes in civilization are also radical. Territorially there has been great progress. Civilization has passed far be- yond the Rhine and the Danube, and there are already indica- tions that its centre is soon to be changed from the south to the north. Italy, Spain, and southern France were still leading in the sixteenth century ; but England, France, and Germany 4 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE were showing the characteristics which would eventually enable them to assume the leadership in art, science, literature, manu- factures, and in nearly all that goes to make up the highest and best civilization. They are to furnish the ideas that shall rule the world. What did the rest of Europe receive from Greece and Rome ? How was this inheritance transmitted ? How has it been increased and modified ? How were the Barbarians influenced by the art, literature, architecture, law, customs, modes of thought, and life of the Greeks and Romans ? What new ideas and fresh impulses have been given by the various barbarian peoples that have successively been brought in as factors in the progress and development of Europe ? The Middle Age is the birth-period of the modern states of Europe. We shall study the successive periods of decay and General mention ^^^'■^^^ ^^ ^^^ Empire ; its ineffectual efforts to of important carry on the work of Rome in making all the "''"■ world homogeneous, to destroy the sense of dif- ference in race, to make all Europe one people, and its bitter Empire. Struggle with its new rival, the Papacy, which Papacy. ended practically in the destruction of both. We shall follow the Barbarians in their migrations and inva- Nations and sions, and watch them as they form new states states. au(j slowly learn of Rome the elements of civil- ization. We shall see these different barbarian peoples come to national self-consciousness, exhibiting all the signs of a proud sense of nationality, gradually but stubbornly resisting inter- ference of both Emperor and Pope in their national affairs, and, finally, throwing off all allegiance to both, becoming fully in- dependent and acknowledging their responsibility to no power outside of themselves. Along with this national differentiation goes the development of the barbarian dialects into vigorous languages, each characteristic of the people to which it be- longs. We shall study the spread of Christianity, its ideals and institutions, Monasticism and the Papacy. The monks of the INTRODUCTION S west played a most important part in Cliristianizing and civil- izing the peoples of Europe, and the Bishops of Rome came to look upon themselves as the successors, not only /• Ti , , ,- , ^. , , , The Church. 01 reter, but also ot the Ceesars ; they claimed all power, both spiritual and temporal. The Church is, there- fore, a prominent factor in the history of the Middle Age. Mohammedanism was for some time a formidable opponent of Christianity even in Europe. It set for itself the task of conquering the world. It made many deter- Mohamme- mined efforts to establish itself firmly in Europe. danism. The Eastern Question was an old one, even in the Middle Age, and the invasions of the Mohammedans into Europe and the counter-invasions of the Christians (the Crusades) are all so many episodes in its history. By invading and settling in the Empire the Barbarians came under the schooling of the Romans. They destroyed much, but they also learned much. The elements of Progress in Grseco-Roman civilization were preserved ; its civilization. art, laws, and ideas were slowly modified and adopted by the invading peoples. We shall see how this rich legacy was preserved and gradually made the property of all the peoples of Europe. We shall study the progress which these peoples have made in civilization. These are some of the problems with which the history of the Middle Age is concerned ; they will be treated in their appropriate places. We shall first take a kind of inventory of the factors in these problems. The factors are Europe (the land itself in its physical and climatic features), its peoples, and the Christian ChtJijj. CHAPTER I EUROPE, ITS PEOPLES, AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH I. EUROPE The general contour of Europe has greatly influenced its history. It is, therefore, necessary to study its mountain sys- tems, its plains, its coast and river systems, and its climate. On the east, and coinciding in general with the boundary be- tween Asia and Europe, are the Ural Mountains. They, with the Caucasus Range between the Black and Caspian Seas, form _,. . _ a barrier to easy communication between the of mountain east and the west, and so have forced travel and ranges. commerce, as well as invading peoples and armies, to follow certain well-defined routes. The Alps and the Pyre- nees have served much the same purpose in the south. They have prevented the fusion of the peoples to the north with those to the south, and have made futile all the many attempts to bring and keep them under one government. They have been important factors in the differentiation and spread and development of the various nations about them. Their passes being few and difficult, they have hindered intercourse and have prevented interference. Each people has been left more ex- clusively to itself to work out its own character and destiny. Even in the small physical divisio naflfc Europe, mountains have done much to isolate and divide lUre whom everything else has sought to fuse and unite. They have helped perpetuate tribal and racial differences in Scandinavia, in Germany, in Austria, and especially in the Balkan Peninsula, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The present difficulties among the peoples of EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 7 these countries are the result of unequal development, caused in part by the conditions in the local physical and geological forms. There can be no doubt that the mountains of these countries still make the problems of their respective govern- ments more difficult. Grave doubts are expressed by the best authorities on this subject about the possibility of the people of Italy ever becoming homogeneous because of the separating effect of its many mountains. They have been constant and efficient barriers to the formation of extensive states and govern- ments in western Europe. On the other hand, the great central plains offer every op- portunity for the development of peoples into homogeneity and for the formation of governments with extensive The plains of sway. They determined the earliest occupations Europe, of the people, being adapted to the occupation of grazing, agriculture, and similar pursuits. So long as the number of inhabitants was small, their great extent favored the continued separation of the nomadic tribes that wandered over them. With increasing population the peoples were more easily brought together and subjected to the influence of the same ideas, whether political, social, or religious. Turning to the study of its coast we note that Europe itself is almost a peninsula, and is besides deeply indented by arms of the sea, so that it has a large extent of coast line. coast line and Its two great inland seas offer, because of their '"'»"'' «««»• calmness, excellent opportunities for the growth of commerce. It is not accidental that European commerce developed first, and had its chief seats, around the Mediterranean and the Bal- tic ; in primitive times it was far more easy and inexpensive to travel by sea than hx land. As if to facilitatSf^mmunication, Europe is traversed from north to south by many rivers, which in the Middle Age were the highways of travel and commerce. By a ^^^^^^ short portage the Rhine and the rivers of France are connected with each other and with the Rhone and its 8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE tributaries ; the Rhine, the Main, the Elbe, and the Oder, with the Danube ; the Vistula, the Niemen, and the Duna, with the Dniester, the Dnieper, the Don,, and the Volga. In this way nature has done much to promote intercourse in Europe. A radically different arrangement of the rivers of Europe would have affected its history in a corresponding way. Especially the districts about the mouths of the rivers were likely to be hastened in their development because of their greater oppor- tunities for traffic and the advantages to be derived therefrom. The national existence of Portugal, Holland, and Belgium is due in some measure to the fact that they lie about the mouths of great rivers. The climate of a country influences its people in many ways. Europe is in this respect fortunate, for she has the greatest pos- sible variety in her climate. Long and cold Climate. ^ ° Winters make the conditions of life in the north much more difficult than in the south, where nature does almost everything unaided. In this way the habits of the people, their dress, social life, architecture, public as well as private, are greatly influenced by the climatic conditions that prevail in the various parts of Europe.' 2. THE PEOPLES A. THE ROMAN EMPIRE In the third century the Roman Empire extended from the Atlantic in the west to the Euphrates in the east ; from the Sahara in the south to the Danube, Main, and Its extent. Rhine in the north. Britain also (the modern England) had been added to this territory. Since the begin- ning of the Christian Era, the boundaries of the Empire had ' For a full treatment of the siibjects, which are only suggested here, see Rit- ter's Europa. An excellent set of relief maps, made by G. Roggero, is pub- lished by G. B. Paravia & Co. (Florence and Rome). They cost only about twenty-five cents each, and are invaluable in the class-room, EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 9 not been greatly enlarged. The task of defending the frontiers was rapidly becoming more difficult and left successive Emper- ors little time to think of foreign conquests. In the year 27 b.c. Octavius usurped the power by concen- trating in himself the most important offices which, up to this time, had been elective. He did not change ^i_ • 1 - , ^^ , ° The change from their character, for the officers of the Republic, a Republic to an although elected, exercised absolute power dur- Empire. ing their term of office. The state delegated to them this power. According to Roman conceptions the power of the state was absolute ; the highest ideal of the people was obedi- ence, not liberty. This power the Emperor seized and vested in himself, though, in theory, it was regarded as simply dele- gated to him. He had the power — military, judicial, legisla- tive, executive, financial, and religious; He indeed divided the provinces with the Senate, but this was merely formal since he controlled the Senate and the officers placed over the prov- inces by it. The Senate's actual powers were gone. Though many forms of the Republic were still observed the Emperor was supreme. He was the state.. Disobedience to his will was an offence against the majesty of the Roman people, and conse- quently punished with death. He was the head of the state religion with the title of Pontifex Maximus. He took on a sacred character, being' worshipped while living and receiving the honors of apotheosis at his death. Temples and altars were erected to him, sacrifices offered in his name, and a rich ritual developed. An offence against his person was sacrilege, and hence a capital crime. This change in the government was in many respects bene- ficial. The last years of the Republic had been filled with wars and seditions. The Emperor restored , , -^ ,.,,„. , The influence of peace and order. He policed the Empire and the earlier Em- made it safe. He put down brigandage and perorg on legis- piracy. He compelled those who were over the provinces to rule justly, and the cities received many favors lO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE at his hands. As legislators the earlier Emperors made ex- cellent use of their powers, introducing a humane spirit into their laws. Up to this time the law had taken only men into account. Women, children, and slaves were almost without its protection. The Emperors forbade abortions and the ex- posure of children, gave wives and mothers more protection against the cruelty and caprice of their husbands, and mitigated in many ways the hard conditions of slaves. Illegitimate chil- dren and those of criminals were no longer compelled to share the heavy penalties visited upon their parents. The Emperors made less use of torture in the examination of witnesses, recog- nized the right of the accused to trial, and declared that it was worse to punish an innocent person than to let a guilty one escape. The pohcy of Rome had been to Romanize her subjects. She endeavored to lift them all up to her level by giving them her civilization. This work the Emperors took up Civilization. , , . , , ' , and prosecuted with great zeal. The progress made in this direction under them was very great. In the year 215 a.d. Caracalla issued an edict making all the free in- habitants of the Empire citizens of Rome. The Repubhc had made shipwreck of its religious faith. Its last days had been godless and atheistic. The Emperors headed and promoted an earnest revival in religion and morals, which in the course of the next three centuries became general among all classes. Under its in- fluence, monotheistic ideas and conceptions became common, being supported also by the philosophy of the times. Such ideas as the unity of the human race and the brotherhood of man were not unknown, for philosophers, such as Seneca and Epictetus, taught them. It was a period, therefore, in which civilization made great progress and the conception of human- ity grew broader and higher. Naturally the Emperor was surrounded by a crowd of people who assisted him in the work of governing, but he was at first EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH II without a "court." His life was comparatively simple and free. During the first three centuries little change was made in the administration of the government. The ° Comparative cities were left undisturbed in the exercise of simplicity of the their liberties and local self-government. The ear'y Empire. provinces were ruled by officers of the Emperor who appointed and paid them. They represented him, and in his name com- manded the troops, collected taxes, and administered justice. He kept a sharp watch over them and guarded the interests of the people. Many provinces had an annual assembly, or par- liament, which, however, was in the hands of the Emperor and served him as a part of the machinery for administering the affairs of government. A fatal mistake was made in that no law of succession was established. Theoretically the people of Rome were supposed to have the right to elect the Emperor, but practically the army disposed of the imperial crown. No fixed qualifications were required of the candidate, consequently any one might aspire to be Emperor. For some time there was little trouble about the succession, but in the third century bloody contentions for the possession of the crown arose and the whole Empire was dis- turbed. From i8o to 284 a.d. there were over thirty actual Emperors, and more thaji that number of would-be usurpers. By acclamation the soldiers made their favorite general Emper- or, or sold the crown to the highest bidder. In any case they were influenced solely by the desire for plunder. Diocletian's Diocletian (284-305) endeavored to put an end "■«">■■"■• to this by increasing the number of Emperors and surrounding each one with a court. According to his scheme there were to be two Emperors, one in the east and the other in the west. Each of these was to have an assistant called Animperiai a Cffisar. The term of office was fixed atjijienty Court estab- , , . .11 T->^ lished. years. At the end of this period the Emperors were to resign, the Caesars were to take their places as Em- perors, and to appoint other Caesars as their assistants. To 12 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE render the persons of the Emperors still safer, each was to have a court modelled after the eastern courts. He was to be surrounded with many attendants and officers, and a great show of pomp and ceremonies. For the support of these courts large sums of money were necessary. Diocletian, therefore, reformed and extended the Ruinous tax. System of taxation and reduced the govern- at'on- ment to a bureaucratic form. In this process he destroyed local liberty and self-government, and so oppressed the people with taxes that the inevitable result was universal bankruptcy. All of Diocletian's reforms may be said to have taken root except his plan of having four joint rulers. Within a few years this was found to be impracticable because even twenty years of absolute rule could not satisfy the ambition of some men. The reforms of Diocletian did away with the last traces of republican rule. The old titles of the various offices which _. Augustus had vested in himself as Emperor were founder of the now omitted. The Senate had no power at all. later Empire. -pj^^ Emperor was " Lord and God " (Dominus ac Deus; praesens et corporahs Deus). Not only he, but his house, his bedchamber, and his treasury were regarded as sa- cred. His word was law. He was the living law on earth (Lex animata in terris). He was the highest judge, and might, if he wished, call before him all cases. He was the source of law, judicial authority, and justice. The finances of the Empire were wholly in his hands. He assessed all taxes and tolls. The old praetorian guard was replaced by a guard of the palace and a body-guard. The Emperor had a council (consistorium sacrum), composed of some of his principal The Court. /> i r r officers, which served him in all the work of governing. For the private and the public service of the Emperor there was a vast crowd of employees under the most various titles. They were arranged in groups, each under the control of an officer who was made directly responsible to the EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1 3 Emperor. A complete bureaucratic system was developed which has served as model for more than one of the modern governments of Europe. Under the Emperors the character of the army changed rapidly. The Romans gradually lost their love of war, and consequently it was difficult to keep the ranks _. of the legions full. Great inducements were became offered the volunteer, but with less and less barbarian. success. It soon became necessary to make drafts by force and to accept even slaves for military service. The large land- owners were compelled to furnish slaves for the army in pro- portion to the value of their lands. The difficulties encoun- tered by the state in such a method of procedure, and' the poor quality of the soldiers thus obtained, led to the enrolment of Barbarians in ever-increasing numbers. Native troops were replaced by mercenaries, who were without patriotism. They cared only for money, and made and unmade Emperors simply for the sake of the gift which custom compelled every Emperor to make to the army at the time of his coronation. Intrigues, plunderings, revolts, and rebellion on the part of the army be- came frequent. The army, which was supposed to be the pro- tection of the Empire, became its bane. The inhabitants of the Empire were divided into four classes — slaves, plebs, curiales, and senators. Within each of these four great classes there -were various grades and .p^^ people shades of difference. The lot of the slaves was divided into gradually growing better. In the country it casse*. now became customary to enroll the slaves, thus attaching them to the soil from which they could not be separated. They were bought and sold with the land. Masters were forbidden to kill their slaves or to separate a slave from his wife and children. The class of slaves called " coloni " was rapidly increasing. These closely resembled the "villein" of the Middle Age. They were attached to the soil, but had a right to the products of it. 14 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE They owed their master certain taxes, rent, and services of various kinds. To the class of plebs belonged all the free common people, whether small freeholders, tradesmen, laborers, or artisans. The freeholders were diminishing in numbers. Plebs Their lands were consumed by the taxes and they themselves either became coloni or ran away to the towns. The majority of the inhabitants of the cities and towns were free, but had no political rights. All who possessed twenty-five acres of land, or their equiva- lent, were regarded as " curiales." On these fell the burdens of office-holding and the taxes, for the collection of which they were made responsible. In order to escape from this crushing load they strove to pass into some other class j but the Emperor forbade this and the son of a curial was forced to retain the rank of his father. The ranks of the senatorial class were constantly increasing by the addition of all those who for any reason received the title of senator or who were appointed to one of the high offices by the Empfror. The honor was hereditary. The senators were the richest people of the Empire, having in their possession the most of the soil. As they enjoyed exceptional privileges and immunities, the lot of the curiales was made more grievous. For the support of his army, his court, and the great number of clerks made necessary by the bureaucratic form of govern- ment, the Emperor must have immense sums of money, for the purpose of raising which many kinds of taxes were introduced. Taxes were levied on both lands and persons ; on all sorts of manufacturing industries ; on heirs, when they came into possession of their estates ; on slaves when set free ; and on the amount of the sales made by merchants. Tolls were collected on the highways and at bridges, and duties at the city gates and in the harbors. Be- sides direct taxes, there were many kinds of special taxes, bur- EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 15 dens, and services, such as food, clothing, and quarters for the army ; horses and wagons for the imperial use whenever de- manded ; and repairing of the roads, bridges, and temples. Worst of all, perhaps, was the dishonesty of the officers, who often exacted far more than even the very high sums which the Emperor required. It was impossible that this should not bankrupt the Empire. The cities suffered most quickly. In 364 a.d., Valentinian permitted each city to appoint a "defender," whose duty it was to protect it from these exactions and wrongs. As the senatorial class, the army, professors of rhetoric, and the clergy were largely freed from taxation, the whole burden fell on the curiales, who became oppressors in order Effects on the to collect the vast sums demanded of them. curiaies. Finally, when they were exhausted, they attempted in every way to escape from their class. Some of them succeeded in rising into the senatorial ranks, but many of them deserted their lands and became slaves or coloni, or entered the army or the church. The Emperors tried to prevent this, and often seized the curial who had run away and compelled him to take up his old burden again. The curial was forbidden by law to try to change his position, but in spite of this many of them surrendered their lands to some rich neighbor and received them back on condition of the payment of certain taxes, and the rendering of certain services. This was a form of land tenure and social relation very similar to that common in feudalism of a later day. The free citizens, the great middle class, were disappearing. There was no political life in the Empire, for Decay of pub- there was no freedom. The people had no part i "'^ spirit. in the control of the affairs of state, and consequently lost all political interest. B. THE KELTS In the fourth century a.d. the Kelts occupied Gaul (mod- ern France) and the islands of Great Britain. Four or five l6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE hundred years before Christ, they had extended as far east as the Weser in the north, and occupied much territory in the Kelts at one time centre of Europe. The Boii gave thejr name to east of the the district now known as Bohemia; the terri- '"*■ tory of modern Kaernthen and Steiermark was called by the Romans Noricum, because it was occupied by. the Norici. The Vindelici held the Tyrol, while almost the whole of Switzerland was inhabited by other Keltic tribes. They were driven to the Rhine by the Germans, though we do not know exactly when or under what circumstances. They made three great invasions into the south ; one, in the sixth century B.C., into Spain, another under Brennus, about 390 B.C., into Italy, and the third, under the same leader, a few years later, into Greece. It is probable that these three invasions were caused by the attacks of the Germans pressing on them from the east. The Kelts were never all united in one great state, but con- tinued to exist in separate tribes. Each tribe formed a state Tribal govern- and was governed by an aristocracy. The peo- "*"*• pie had no part in the government, but were treated by the ruling class as slaves. The nobility was divided into two classes, the rehgious and the secular. The latter spent their time principally in fighting. The Druids formed the re- ligious nobihty. They were a caste of priests who controlled all sacrifices, both public and private. They were also judges and final authorities in all matters. Their word was law, and whoever refused them obedience was put under their interdict, which had almost exactly the same meaning as the Papal in- terdict a few centuries later. They had many gods, to whom they offered human sacrifices.^ They had large, strong, and beautiful bodies, as may be seen from the famous statue in Rome, "The Dying Gaul " (for- merly known as the "Dying Gladiator"). They were brave, dashing warriors, fond of music, especially of the shrill martial 1 Casar, B. G. , vi., 11-19, gives a good description of the Kelts. EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1 7 kind, with which they went into battle. They were easily moved by fine speech and had a love for poetry. Their language was well developed and capable of expressing a wide Keltic charac- range of thought and emotion. They loved teristics. bright and gay colors, and were noted for the liveliness rather than for the persistency of their feelings and emotions. ' They were restless, sprightly, full of activity, and capable of the great- est enthusiasm for, and devotion to, a popular leader. But they were fickle and unreliable if their ardor was once quenched by disaster. At the beginning of our period the Kelts who occupied Gaul and Britain (the present England) were thor- oughly Romanized. To a great extent they had forgotten their language and spoke Latin. Many cities had sprung up which were well supplied with temples, baths, and theatres, and were in all respects thoroughly Roman. But the Kelts of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland were still barbarian, and hostile to Rome.^ C. THE GERMANS At the beginning of our period the Germans occupied Scan- dinavia, and nearly all the land between the Rhine and the Vistula, and the Baltic and the Danube. Since Their location. the times of Caesar and Tacitus many changes had taken place among them. Some of them had changed their location, new groups had been formed, and they were known by new names. A process of consolidation was going on among them, the many tribal names mentioned by Caesar and Tacitus had disappeared and the groups were larger. The Goths had left the Vistula and were now spread over a great stretch of territory to the north of the Black Sea and the lower Danube. Other tribes were moving or spreading out in the same direction. Great masses of Germans and other peoples ' It would not be difficult to show that these characteristics have lived on and still mark the Kelts of France and Great Britain. 2 Many of their tribal names have been preserved in geographical names, c.f. Paris, Bregentz, Soissons, Tours, etc. l8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE were crowded together along the whole northern frontier of the Empire, and the danger of a barbarian invasion was rapidly growing greater. Tacitus (" Germania," ii.) says that the Germans were divided into three great branches : the Ingjevones, who lived nearest the ocean; the Hermiones, who lived in the " middle; " and the Istaevones, who included all the rest. These Divisions. , , i i three names had now been replaced by others, such as Franks, Suevi, and Saxons. Neither these names nor those used by Tacitus actually included all the Germans. They formed rather the great division which may be called the West Germans. Besides these there were those of the north, afterward known as the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, and those of the east, the Goths, Vandals, and others. In their government they were democratic. The North Ger- mans had kings, whom they elected from one family. There Their govern- was no fixed law of Succession, but the most suit- """*• able man was chosen. The West Germans prob- ably had only leaders in time of war. They had a well- defined system of local self-government. There were three political divisions : the whole tribe, or nation ; the Gau, or county (in England this was called the hundred) ; and the village. All matters that concerned only the village were dis- cussed and settled by all the freemen of the village in a public meeting. Likewise the affairs of the Gau were administered by the freemen of the Gau, and matters that concerned the whole nation were decided by an assembly of all the freemen of the tribe. In social rank, there were three classes — nobles, free men, and slaves. The nobles had certain advantages, but in the assemblies the vote of a freeman equalled that of a nobleman. The slaves were of two kinds ; some were attached to the soil and could not be removed from their lands, while others were personal slaves and were treated as chattels. It was customary among the Germans for the young men to attach themselves to some man of tried courage and military EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH I9 ability (the comitatus or Gefolge). They lived with him and accompanied him on all his expeditions. Such warrior chiefs were proud of having a large number of young men about them, for it added to their dignity Qefoige. and increased their power in many ways. The relation be- tween a leader and a follower was entirely voluntary, and con- sequently honorable to both. It might be terminated when- ever either party failed in his duties. The religion of the Germans was a kind of nature worship, connected with various natural phenomena and objects, such as groves, trees, caves, and the forces of nature. Reiigtonand They had no priest caste. The father of a fam- occupations, ily was its priest, and it seems that any one might be chosen to serve as priest on public occasions. They lived by cattle- raising, agriculture, and hunting. The labor was performed principally by slaves and women. It was characteristic of them that they were unwilling to live in compactly built towns. Their houses were generally some distance apart, forming a straggling village. The Romans were impressed with the great size and power of their bodies, the ruddiness of their faces, and the light color of their hair. They had some very prominent faults, such as the too great love of war, of the cup, and of the dice. Their time was wholly taken up with these. They became so infatuated with gambling that, after losing all their property, wife and children were staked, and if these were lost, they risked even their own liberty. The Germans boasted of their faithfulness to every obhgation. So true were they to their word that if they lost their freedom in gambling they willingly yielded to their new master, and permitted them- selves to be reduced to the position of slaves. D. THE SLAVS The Slavs occupied a large belt of territory east of the Ger- mans, and extended far into Russia. As the Germans with- 20 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE drew to the west and south, the Slavs followed them and took possession of the land thus vacated. In this way they finally came as far west as the Elbe, and may be said to have held nearly all of the territory from the Elbe to the Dnieper. A large part of what is now Prussia, Saxony, and Bohemia became wholly Slavic. The Slavs, as well as the Kelts and Germans, were broken up into many tribes having no political connection with each other. They seem to have had a patriarchal form of govern- ment. At any rate, great reverence was shown the old men of the tribe, who, by virtue of their age, had a controlling voice in the management of affairs. They probably had no nobility at first. They elected their leaders in war. So strong was the democratic spirit among them that they were never able to produce a royal line. They always imported their kings. Thi§ fact greatly weakened them and led to constant internal wars among those who were am- bitious for power and leadership. Their religion was a low form of idolatry. They had many priests, who were consulted on all matters, both political and religious, and had almost unlimited influence Character. over everything. They were tame and unwar- like, hence have never been conquerors. Yet they had power- ful frames and impressed the Romans with their size. Their location was favorable to the occupations of cattle-raising and agriculture. They did not possess a strong national feeling, but were easily assimilated by other peoples. Large numbers of them were Germanized from the ninth century on. E. THE LETTS In the ninth century still another Indo-European people came into history. We meet with the Letts on the shore of the Baltic, from the Vistula to some distance beyond the Nie- men. They were closely related to the Slavs, but formed an independent family of the Indo-European race. They were EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 21 divided into Lithuanians and Prussians. It is curious to note that the name of this non-German people (the Prussians) has, in the process of time, come to be applied to the leading German state of to-day. F. THE URAL-ALTAIC PEOPLES Besides these Indo-European peoples which we have just dis- cussed there were others, who are usually called Ural-Altaic or Finnic Turkish tribes. " Turanian " is also applied to them. They were to be found in northern Scandinavia and in the northern, northwestern, and eastern parts of Russia. They were the Finns, the Lapps, the Esthonians, the Livonians, the Ugrians, the Tchuds, the Permians, the Magyars, the Huns, and many others. They were related to the Turkish Mongols. During the Middle Age, at least, they in no way advanced the interests of civilization, but rather played the part of a scourge. They have been destroyers rather than builders. The division followed above is linguistic. Philologists first discovered the similarity between the languages of the Greeks, the Romans, the Kelts, the Germans, the Slavs, Basis of above the Letts, the Persians, and the ancient inhabi- ^,,J^-;:j,-*;:;", tants of India. On the basis of these resem- recognized by blances in language, these peoples were classed ethnologists. together as one great race. It was inferred that because their languages were akin the people themselves must have been of the same original stock. The modern science of Anthropology or Ethnology does not recognize the validity of such an argu- ment, but declares that these peoples do not belong to the same race, although their languages are related. Ethnologists now use other tests to discover the racial relations of peoples. Prominent among these are skull measurements. ' • A convenient book on this subject is Taylor's Origin of the Aryans, though some of its statements are too strongly made and its conclusions are not altogether justifiable. 22 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE 3. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH In the fourth century Christianity was well scattered over the Empire, and there were Christians even among the Barbarians. It had begun in Palestine as a brotherhood, but had slowly de- veloped an organization which at this time was fairly complete. It was modelling its government after that of the Roman Em- pire. Its clergy had much of what we might call " esprit de The Church corps." The Christian Church, as a whole, was friendly to the friendly to the Roman state, and desired that it might be preserved and perpetuated. This was due in part to certain commands in their sacred writings that they should honor the king and obey the powers that be, and in part, also, to the belief that so long as the Roman govern- ment should remain intact the "Antichrist " would not come. In the mysterious passage, 2 Thess. ii. 3-12, mention is made of " one that restraineth," and the appearance of the " lawless one" {i.e., the Antichrist). This "one that restraineth" was very early believed by the Christians to be the Roman Empire. Consequently we find that the early Christians de- sired the long continuance of the Empire. This friendly feeling of the Church was not reciprocated by the state. To the heathen the congregations of the Christians The state hostile Seemed to be secret societies, most of which were to Christianity, forbidden by the state because of their supposed political character. Eastern religions were also forbidden in the western part of the Empire ; Chrisdanity was eastern in its origin and by that very fact forbidden. To be a Chris- tian, therefore, was to be a criminal in the eyes of the law. It was impossible for the Christians to perform their duties as citizens, for all such duties were connected with idolatrous rites and practices. Neither could they sacrifice to the gods or take any part in the great religious festivals and celebrations. In an age when nearly everything was attributed to the direct EUROPE AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 23 agency of the gods, it was unavoidable that the Christians should be blamed for all calamities. It would be said that the gods were angry at those who despised them. The result was that the Christians were persecuted and annoyed, more or less, for three hundred years. These persecutions were local, how- ever, until 249 A.D., when Decius ordered the first general per- secution. Even then the persecution did not extend over the whole Empire. In 303 .^.d. the last great persecution was begun under Diocletian, though the responsibility for it is to be laid on his Caesar, Galerius. After about eight years of struggle the first edict of toleration was published, in April, 311. Through this and the later efforts of Constantine, Chris- tianity was made a legal rehgion. It was the policy of Constantine to further Christianity. In 313 he released the Catholic clergy from many political duties which were ordinarily regarded as burdensome, constantine and In 315 he freed the Church from the payment of *•" Church. taxes such as tribute and the "annona." Probably in 316 he made legal the manumission of slaves which took place in churches. In 321 churches were granted the privilege of receiving legacies. In 323 he forbade the compulsory attend- ance of Christians at heathen worship and celebrations. Up to 323 the coins which he struck bore the images and inscrip- tions of various gods ; after that time his coins had. only alle- gorical emblems. But, on the other hand, Constantine never in any way limited or prohibited heathenism. He retained the office and performed the duties of Pontifex Maximus. In 321 he issued an edict commanding that officials should con- sult the Haruspices (soothsayers). After the year 326 he per- mitted a temple to be erected to himself, and allowed himself to be worshipped. After his death he was enrolled among the gods and received the title of Diviis. It is evident from this that the famed conversion of Constantine was political rather than religious. His principal interest was centred in the unity of the Church, which he wished to use as a tool in the work of 24 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE governing the Empire. He did not make Christianity the state religion. He merely made it a legal religion. The Emperor Gratian (375-383) went one step further and made orthodox Christianity the only legal religion. He withdrew state support from heathenism and re- christianity the stricted the heathen worship. He also perse- oniy legal reiig- c^tgd all heresies. He attempted to make citi- zenship depend upon orthodoxy. It is evident, therefore, that the Christian Church will be one of the most important factors in the history of the Middle Age. It might be said that the future belonged to the Church and to the Ger- mans. CHAPTER II THE MIGRATIONS OF THE NATIONS Having seen where these various tribes were located in the fourth century, we are now ready to take up the remarkable movements known as the " invasions of the Bar- General state- barians," or the "migrations of the nations." ment. Beginning about the middle of the fourth century these migra- tions lasted for nearly one hundred and fifty years. Taking with them all their possessions, whole tribes left their homes and passed over into the Roman Empire, where they either took by force or received as gifts large areas of land. There they set up their own government, lived according to their own laws, and attempted to preserve their nationality. To their rule the Romans were compelled to submit. It seems strange that it should have been possible for these barbarian tribes to invade, conquer, and rule a people so much more civilized than themselves. But the Ro- jhe Romans no mans had lost their warlike spirit. Their legions longer warlike, had once been regarded as irresistible, but now their armies were no longer Roman. They were composed largely of Bar- barians. The inhabitants of the interior were unacquainted with war because nearly all disturbances were on the frontier. The change in the government and the existence of a standing army had destroyed the patriotism of the Romans. They no longer took an intelligent and enthusiastic interest in the af- fairs of government, and were cringing and spiritless. They looked to the Emperor for protection and defence. Success in battle depended largely on personal prowess, and in this respect the Barbarians were far superior to the Romans. 26 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The migrations began in the last half of the fourth century, although during the preceding centuries there had been what we may call a prelude to the movement. Many bands of Ger- mans crossed the frontier for the purpose of plunder, or to ask for lands, and to offer in return for them their service in war. Many tracts of land in the Empire had in this way been occu- pied by Germans. The army was almost Germanized, so large was the number of Germans in the legions. The causes of the migrations were often complex. By the writers of the period hunger was assigned as one of the princi- Causes of the P^l causes of this movement. The Germans migrations. probably had only very small areas under culti- vation. Their agricultural implements and methods were of the most primitive sort and the variety of their crops was lim- ited. They depended to some extent on their cattle, which might be carried off by a pest. A scarcity of game would be a grievous blow. We have evidence from contemporaneous writers that the Germans were a hardy, vigorous race, that was multiplying rap- idly. Ammianus Marcellinus (died c. 380) says that the Ger- mans were so numerous that one might suppose that death never visited their land. This increase in population would make the conditions of life among them more difficult, and a famine would be more quickly felt. As a proof of the rapid increase^ it is said that within sixty years the tribe of the Adu- atici increased in numbers from six thousand to fifty-nine thou- sand. Sometimes one tribe set another in motion. Thus under Probus (276-280 a.d.) the Bastarnse, being driven out by the Goths, were allowed to settle on Roman soil, and in 375 A.D. we know that the Huns drove the West Goths from their homes and started them on their new period of wander- ing. The movement was contagious, for if a tribe had once been set in motion it was joined, if not by whole tribes, at least by many bands from other tribes through whose territory it passed. THE MIGRATIONS OF THE NATIONS 27 The Germans also migrated often, driven by a desire for plunder and lands. For some centuries the Barbarians had been making predatory incursions into the Roman territory and had carried off much spoil. They knew that the lands in the south were richer than their own and consequently coveted them. The Germans, especially, asked, firet of all, for lands. They had a good deal of knowledge about the south through traders, captives, soldiers, and marauding tours. They had learned about the wealth of the south and the easier conditions of hfe in those more favored districts where nature does almost everything for the inhabitants. The material ad- vantages of the south had great attractions for them. The Goths were the first tribe to break over the boundary in great numbers and begin the migrations on a grand scale. When we first learn of them they were on the ^ The Goths move Baltic, east of the Vistula. They had a tradi- from the Baltic tion that they had come from Scandinavia. *» fe Black Sea. They early left their home on the Vistula and slowly moved to the south. Their line of travel is not known with certainty. They set out about 150 a.d., and within fifty years had reached the Black Sea and the lower course of the Danube, where they settled in two groups. The tribe was thereby divided, and, from their relative positions the two divisions came to be known as the East and the West Goths. The latter were also called Thervingi, and the former Greutungi. About the mid-- die of the third century, probably from 238 on, owing to the weakness of the Emperors, they caused the Empire great dam- age by making many rapid raids into its terri- , , „, , r, r „ ■ Their invasions. tory. Sailmg across the Black Sea, or following around its coast, they plundered many towns, and even ven- tured to go several miles into the interior. Within a few years they took and sacked Trapezus, Chalcedon, Nicaea, Apamea, and many other towns. About 262 they burnt the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus, and overran even Cap- padocia, Thrace, Macedonia, Achaia, and Illyria ; the whole 28 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Balkan peninsula, in fact, suffered more or less at their hands. Claudius (268-270) and his able successors chastised these invaders and kept them within bounds. Constantine put an end to their incursions. During their stay on the Danube and the Black Sea the Goths made the first steps in civihzation. They were directly on the frontier, and consequently came into contact in many Contact with ways with the inhabitants of the Empire. There the Empire. y^^ts more Or less commerce between them and the Empire, and the ways and means of communication con- stantly increased. They became acquainted with the Roman system of weights, measures, and coinage. They became familiar with Roman methods of hfe, dress, and customs. Among the booty carried off on their raids were many Chris- tians whom they reduced to the position of slaves. These Christian slaves often repaid them by making known to them their religious faith. Through the labors of these slaves, Christian merchants, soldiers, exiles, and missionaries, the Goths were converted some time before they were attacked by the Huns. At the middle of the fourth century there was a good prospect that there would be developed a great German Empire in southern Europe along the Danube and the Black Sea. It was the invasion of the Huns that made such a de- velopment impossible. During their removal from the Baltic to the south (or per- haps before), the Goths broke up into small groups ("Gaue") Slow deveio ^^^^ °^ which was led by its most prominent noble- opmentofthe man. This leader was called by the Romans kingship. "Dux," by the Germans "Herzog" (Heer, army ; zog, from the verb ' ' to lead "). These groups or bands settled and remained independent. For a long time there was no central government, no common king over them all. Grad- ually some of these " Gau " leaders succeeded in uniting under themselves several Gaue, and on this account were often called kings. In this way, about 350 a.d., Hermanrich, a leader of THE MIGRATIONS OF THE NATIONS 29 one of the Gaue of the East Goths, rose to such power that he was called the king of the East Goths, and became the founder of the dynasty which ruled over them until the death of the unfortunate Amalasuntha in Italy. Later a long line of ances- tors was invented for Hermanrich, reaching back to the demi- gods, and because of Amala, one of these supposed ancestors, the whole dynasty was called the Amalians. Neither were the West Goths united. About the same time, however, one of their leaders, Athanarich, attained great honor among them and practically ruled over them, although he did not yet bear the title of king. The beginnings of Christianity among the Goths are to be referred to the work of prisoners, merchants, soldiers, exiles, and missionaries. There were Goths in the „. ^. , ^. , The Cnristianl° Crimea who very early took the orthodox faith. zationofthe One of their bishops, Theophilus, was present at ° *' the Council of Nicaea (325). These Goths in the Crimea be- came completely separated from the others. When the Huns came, they were not driven out, nor did they afterward leave their home. As late as the sixteenth century the descendants of these Goths were still living in the Crimea and spoke the Gothic tongue. The principal rnissionary of the Goths was Ulfilas (31 1-381). He was born of Gothic parents. He spent several years at Constantinople, although the reason of his presence there is unknown. He may have been sent as an ambassador or as hostage. Having become a Chris- tian of the Arian type, he wished to return as a missionary to his people. About 340, having reached the canonical age, he was ordained bishop to the Goths. He had probably already begun the work of translating the Bible into Gothic, for which purpose he had invented an alphabet. His object in marking this translation was that proper passages or lessons might be read in the Church services. He had no thought of putting it into the hands of the Goths for popular use. For a 30 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE long while there was no one among the Goths, except the clergy, who could read. Soon after 340 Ulfilas, accompanied by some helpers, re- turned to his people north of the Danube, where he labored with considerable success for a few years. Athanarich, however, was opposed to giving up the national religion. He held firmly to the traditions of his fathers and was hostile to all changes. When he saw that Ulfilas was rapidly making con- verts he proceeded to persecute them. After some of the Gothic Christians had suffered martyrdom Ulfilas determined to flee. He appealed to the Emperor Constantius, who gave him lands in southern Moesia, not far from NicopoHs. He at once moved The n* Britain. century these peoples began to ravage the coast of Britain, and eventually, probably in 449, made the beginning of a settle- ment on the coast of Kent. After a bitter struggle, which lasted nearly twenty-five years, the whole of Kent fell into the hands of the Jutes. Almost all of the south shore, west of Kent, was seized by Saxons, who settled in groups known as the South Saxons, the West Saxons, and the Middle Saxons. There saxonsand was also a settlement of Jutes on the Isle of Angiesin Wight, and one in the neighborhood of South- ampton. The East Saxons occupied the territory north of the 48 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE mouth of the Thames. The district between the Stour and the Wash, now known as East Angha, was seized by Angles, who were divided into two groups, the North Folk, and the South Folk. Other Angles made settlements all along the east coast, as far north as the Frith of Forth. Reenforcements were regularly received for a long time, and the invaders were engaged in constant warfare with the Roman- ized Kelts of the country, who were gradually driven back. In about two hundred years the Kelts were practically confined to Wales and Cornwall. Many of the Kelts who were driven out by the Saxons crossed over to Gaul and settled in the ancient Armorica, to which they now gave the name of Brittany. The various Germanic kingdoms thus established in Britain were for some centuries to struggle for the leadership, until finally the West Saxons should succeed in making themselves master of all the territory. Besides the German tribes, thus far mentioned, there were others, still uninfluenced by the Romans, occupying territory Other German outside of the Empire. Such were the Thurin- tribes. gians, the Bavarians, the Lombards, Saxons, Danes, and others, all of whom were yet to play an important part in the history of Europe. The results of this period of invasions may be summed up as follows ; North Africa was now occupied by the kingdom of the Summary of Vandals, who, in the year 406, under the leader- results, ship of Geiseric had left their home in central Europe and passed through Gaul and Spain. In the north- western part of Spain was the kingdom of the Suevi, who had made the same journey as the Vandals. In northeastern Spain and southern Gaul was the kingdom of the West Goths, who, under the leadership of Alaric, Athaulf, and Walia, had made the long journey from the lower Danube through the Balkan peninsula and Italy to their final home on both sides of the Pyrenees. The Burgundians had established their kingdom in the Rhone valley, after leaving their ^settlement about Worms, THE MIGRATIONS OF THE NATIONS 49 on the Rhine. The kingdom of the Alamanni was in northern Switzerland and the Black Forest, and was composed of several confederate tribes. The East Goths, under their king Theo- derich, held a large part of Italy. Northern Gaul was now the kingdom of the Franks. Britain was occupied by several small kingdoms, and there were other German tribes, still untouched by Roman influence, dwelling east of the Rhine. Certain other once powerful tribes, among them the Gepidse, the Heru- lians, the Rugians, and the Scirians, had now wholly disap- peared, having been destroyed in the long struggle with each other and with Rome. The great stretch of territory between the Elbe and the Vistula which had once been full of Germans, was now occupied by Slavic peoples who had moved west and taken possession of the territory deserted by the Germans. This was also a period of unification. The many small tribes, or Gaue, lost their independent existence and were united under one head who was now called king. The king- ship was developed during the migrations. By electing a king the Germans gave expression to their national consciousness. They thereby differentiated themselves from the Romans and put themselves into direct opposition to them. But the German invaders had not taken po.ssession of all the west. The Emperor still had his officers in southern Italy, in Ravenna, in some places in Spain, and in the valley of the Seine and the middle Loire. CHAPTER III THE HISTORY OF THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES I. THE GENERAL CONDITION OF THE QERnANS IN THEIR NEW HOHE Before settling on Roman soil all the German tribes except the Franks had become Christian. Little is known of the pro- Theaermans cess of Christianiz'ation. Captives, exiles, trad- and Arianism. g^g^ soldiers, and missionaries, all probably had something to do with it, but we cannot follow the work step by step. Ulfilas worked north of the Danube, among the West Goths, from 340 to 348, and was then transferred with his fol- lowing to Moesia. We have no farther record of his activity among the Germans north of the Danube. But Christianity spread rather rapidly among all the Germans who had left their homes. Their worship was local, and intimately connected with groves, caves, trees, and other great or mysterious natural ob- jects. These, of course, could not be taken with them on the march, consequently, when they left their homes, they left their religion behind them. While in this condition they came into contact with Christianity, and being naturally strongly rehgious, accepted it apparently without much diffi- culty. It was quite different with the Saxons and other Ger- man peoples in the north, who never left their homes, and con- sequently did not lose their attachment to their local gods. Unfortunately for their future development, they all took the form of Christianity known as Arianism, which was destined, by the progress of doctrine in the Church, to be regarded as heresy. The question at issue was in regard to the person of Jesus and his relation to God. THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 5 1 There were many things to prevent the quick fusion of the Germans with the conquered Romans among whom they settled. The Romans still had much of the Relations be- ancient contempt for Barbarians, and the Ger- tween the Ger- mans repaid this feeling with interest because of mans and Ro- ^ ° mans. Hin- the degeneracy and cowardice of the Romans. drancesto To the German, personal courage was so great a fusion, virtue that he could have no respect for those who were without it. Added to this was the fact that they stood to each other in the relation of conquerors and vanquished. The Germans took on the airs of conquerors, which, of course, made the position of the Romans more galling, since they were in this way con- stantly reminded of the presence of foreigners whose only right was that of conquest. Wherever the Germans settled they took at least a part of the soil. It cannot always be clearly made out just how much of the land was taken, nor what the methods of appropriation and distribution were. It was customary among the Romans to quarter soldiers upon the inhabitants. The house (not the land), was divided into three parts, of which the owner took the first choice, the soldier then chose one of the other two parts for himself, and the remaining part fell to the owner. The soldier thus quartered was euphemistically said to be the guest of the"proprietor. This custom probably served in part as a model for the division of the soil between the Romans and the Germans- Odovaker took one-third of the land in Italy for his army, and Theoderich seems to have taken this same one-third and given it to his East Goths. Probably also some other lands were seized by him. In Africa, Geiseric appropri- ated to himself many of the large estates, making royal domains of them. Others he gave to his army and left in the possession of the Romans only the poorest lands. The West Goths took two-thirds of the land, or even more, and the Burgundians claimed one-third of the tillable soil and all the woods. The Franks and the Anglo-Saxons probably took all the soil ; at 52 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE any rate they took the best and as much more as they wished. This seizure of land was felt by the Romans to be robbery, and of course it embittered them. Heavy taxes were assessed on the Romans, while the Ger- mans refused to pay them because they appeared to them as a mark of servitude. The burdens thus put on the Romans were very grievous, and the injustice of them kept alive the hatred of their opjpressors. One of the greatest hindrances to the free intercourse and fusion of conquerors and conquered was the difference in re- ligion. All the Germans except the Franks were Arians, the Romans were Catholic. Undue weight was attached to the creed, and the orthodox provincials hated their heretical mas- ters. The two peoples did not have the same priests and did not attend the same services. And yet it was inevitable that they should in time mingle more or less. As the Germans became more civilized and Yet fusion imitated their neighbors, the differences between Inevitable. t^g two races would tend to disappear. As they lived together the good qualities of the one would become more apparent to the other. The compulsory military service of the Germans was sometimes extended to the Romans, and the good comradeship thus produced between them quickly dimipished the hostility. Besides, in a few years nearly all the Arians^ thanks to the efforts of the Popes and the orthodox bishops, were con- verted to the orthodox faith. The most serious obstacle to their association was thereby removed. They now frequented the same churches and were cared for by the same priests. Their common faith forbade their being enemies and reminded them constantly that they were brethren. Intermarriages became more frequent and inequalities of all kinds began to disappear. One of the most important differences between the two races was their fundamentally different legal conceptions. The Romans expected the government to do everything for them. The regularly appointed officers of the state must enforce all THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES S3 laws, punish offenders, and preserve the peace. Law belonged to the state. But among the Germans law was a private possession. The German inherited his law from L^gai his father, and it was impossible for him to differences, alienate this inheritance. No matter where he went he took this law with him, and demanded that he be tried not according to the laws of the country in which he was, but according to his own tribal law. Each people had its own body of laws which differed in some respects from those of the others. The East Goths in Italy, the West Goths in Spain and Gaul, the Vandals in Africa, insisted on having justice done them ac- cording to their own laws. This conception is known as " personality of law " as opposed to " territoriality of law." Any one who was accused of a crime might clear himself by swearing that he was innocent and bringing a certain number of persons who would swear that they believed he was telling the truth. These were called his compurgators. No account was taken of witnesses or testimony. If an accused person could find no compurgators, the trial took the form of an ordeal. There were many kinds of ordeals, such as the The German wager of battle, a kind of duel in which the '^''■ victor was decided to have won the case ; the boiling caldron, from which the accused must take an object with his bare hand without sustaining any injury ; the cold-water ordeal. In this the water having first been blessed and thereby made holy would, it was believed, refuse to receive any guilty person ; accord- ingly if the accused sank he was regarded as innocent. In the ordeal of red-hot irons the defendant must either walk over them or carry one of them in his hands a certain distance with- out receiving any injury. The ordeal by lot was also practised, and somewhat later the ordeal of the eucharist, which it was supposed the guilty would be unable to swallow. The Church endeavored constantly to control more and more the legal forms and introduced many such " judgments of God." For most offences, even for murder, there was a fixed fine. A man's 54 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE value was estimated according to his rank, and any violence done him was finable in the same ratio. The man's estimated value was called his Wergeld, or man-money. The laws went into the minutest details and named a fine for an injury done to any part of the body. The laws of the Germans were unwritten, and consequently would be easily influenced by the customs of the people among whom they settled. When they observed that changes and un- Leges Barbaro. certainty were stealing into their legal forms and ■■"'"• principles, and perhaps also influenced by the fact that the Roman laws were written, they were gradually induced to put their laws to writing. Some of these barbarian codes have been preserved and are important sources of our knowledge of the conditions that prevailed among the Ger- mans. There are two important collections of Prankish laws, the Lex Salica, and the Lex Ripuariorum; others were the Lex Wisigothorum, the Lex Burgundionum, the Lex Frisionum, the Lex Saxonum, and the Edictum Theoderici of the East Goths. These were all written in Latin. Of all the Germans who set- tled on Roman soil, only the Anglo-Saxons preserved their nationality and their language ; they reduced their laws to writing in their mother tongue. The Edictum Theoderici is almost wholly Roman, and not German. The edicts of the Lombard kings are very slightly influenced by Roman law. The Lex Burgundionum and the Purest German ^^^ Wisigothorum tried to distinguish between law now in their laws and those of the Romans, while the "^ ^" ■ laws of the Saxons, Friesians, and Anglo-Saxons bear little or no trace of Roman influence. As the invad- ing and invaded peoples united, there was also a fusion of their laws, so that in the end there was practically but one law for all. The Church also gradually influenced the legislation, in- troducing new customs and destroying or modifying the old. During the wanderings we have seen that the kingship was developed among the German tribes, and also that the small THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES SS leaders of the Gaue disappeared. The many fragments were united into one people ruled over by a king. This led to the formation of a court with a new kind of nobility. Kingship, court. Imitating the Emperor, the king surrounded nobility, himself with a good deal of ceremony. He had a "major domus," who became his prime-minister, a chamberlain, a marshal, and many other officials. These were probably at first regarded as servants, but the dignity of their master was transferred to them, because of their close connection with him. In the end they were enrolled among the nobility. There were two other ways of entering the ranks of the nobil- ity : through the Church and by the possession of much land. The Gefolge, or immediate followers of the king, were gener- ally recompensed by means of large tracts of land, and some- times also by being made officials. In either case they were almost sure to obtain a position among the nobility. As the Church grew, many bequests were made, especially to the monasteries and the large churches of the cities. These lands were controlled by the abbots and bishops, who thereby were reckoned among the great land-holders. They had even more power, because of the sacred character which they held in the eyes of the people, and because of the learning, of which they may be said to have had a monopoly. It was very natural, therefore, that the high officials of the Church should also rank with the nobles, serve the king with their counsels, and hold high places of trust at his court. It is not uncommon to find clergymen holding the highest offices in the state. So thor- oughly did they become a part of the nobility that they were soon known as ecclesiastical princes. 2. THE VANDALS (429-533) In 429 the Vandals went into Africa, and ten years later, when Carthage fell, the province was in their hands. They numbered less than a hundred thousand, of whom about thirty S6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE thousand were probably fighting men. Geiseric at once made himself master of a fleet and quickly had all the islands of the western Mediterranean in his possession. He King Qeiseric. ,- t i i • ^ attacked the coast of Italy, and in 455 he even took and sacked Rome, carrying off as prisoner Eudoxia, the daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III. She was later mar- ried to his son and successor, Hunneric. Geiseric was a wily diplomat as well as an able commander. He often entered into diplomatic relations with the Emperors and also with Odo- vaker, and succeeded more than once in securing treaties with them, which confirmed him in his possession of Africa and the islands. Being an Arian, he bitterly harassed and persecuted the orthodox Roman provincials. He won their further hatred by oppressing them financially. After having seized their best lands he compelled them to pay heavy taxes. Fearing revolt, he dismantled the walls of all the important places except Car- thage, where he himself resided. He died in 477, and was succeeded by his son Hunneric (477-84), who had all his father's vices without any of his virtues and ability. During his reign the Moors regained much territory on the south. He Troubles under niade himself more odious than even his father his successors. \,y j^jg persecutions of the Catholics, many of whom he put to death or mutilated. At his death his nephew, Gunthamund (484-96), was made king. He did not perse- cute, but his reign was disastrous. The Moors overran much of his territory, and during the reign of his brother, Thrasa- mund (496-523), they reconquered the coast from Tangiers to Caesarea. Thrasamund made an alliance with Theoderic the Great, receiving his sister, Amalafrida, in marriage. In his foreign relations he was controlled by Theoderic, while at home he renewed the persecutions of the orthodox Christians with much severity. His cousin Hilderic, the son of Hunneric, succeeded him (523-3°)- Hilderic had been brought up as a Catholic, and therefore favored the orthodox. His Arian subjects were THE MEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 57 thereby alienated. Amalafrida led a revolt against him, but was taken prisoner and put to death (526). His inglorious reign was ended in 530 by the successful revolt of , . . „ ,. , , Justinian inter- his cousin Gehmer, who made the king prison- feres. End of er and afterward put him to death. Justinian, the kingdom, who had recently come to the throne in the east, now deter- mined to reconquer the west. He began with an attack on the kingdom of the Vandals. In 533 he sent his general, Be- lisarius, with a small force, which in less than a year destroyed the flower of the Vandal power, took Gelimer prisoner, and re- duced Africa again to the position of a province of the Em- pire. Gelimer was taken to Constantinople and given a large estate in Galatia, where he spent the rest of his life. Many of the Vandals perished in the war. Those who were left either migrated or were lost in the population about them. 3. THE SUEVI (419-585) The kingdom of the Snevi embraced a large amount of terri- tory in northwestern Spain, with Braga as the residence of its kings. The Suevi mingled very little with the provincials and the religious hatred between them was strong. Aweakking. The kingship was elective, and there were fre- <•">"■ quent civil wars between the candidates for the crown. For nearly a hundred years we scarcely know more than the names of the kings. Under Recchiar (448-57) orthodox Christianity was confessed, but a later king brought the people back to Arianism. Theodemir (d. 573) again became Catholic and made war on the West Goths. He was for awhile successful, the provincials receiving him gladly, because of nade subject to their desire to escape from the rule of the heretical f^e ^««t Qoths. West Goths ; but he was finally compelled to do homage to Leovigild, king of the West Goths. His successor, Miro (573-85), revolted, and under the usurper Andeca (585), Leovi- gild invaded the kingdom, took Andeca prisoner, and made the Suevi a part of the kingdom of the West Goths. 58 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE 4. THE WEST OOTHS (415-7") It was the work of Athaulf (410-15) and Wall a (415-19) to establish the West Goths in southwestern Gaul and north- eastern Spain. By conquest and treaty they ** "^^ ' soon acquired the territory as far north as the Loire, as well as a large part of Spain. They were regarded as " fcederati," and were, therefore, supposed to be at peace with the Empire, but there were revolts whenever their interests nany able ' clashed with those of the Enaperor. Theoderic kings- I. (419-51), after a long reign lost his life in the battle against Attila. His son Thorismund succeeded him, but was murdered on his return to Toulouse. The power of Theoderic II. (453-66) was sufficient to set up a new Emperor, Avitus, who was recognized in Gaul, but was unable to get control of Italy. Theoderic II. was murdered by his brother Euric (466-83), who then became king. He atoned for his crime by giving the West Goths the best rule they had ever had, extending their territory and collecting their laws. Euric was, during the last years of his life, the most powerful king among the Barbarians. Euric gradually extended his territory in both Gaul and Spain. He had a body of Roman laws (the so-called Breviary of Alaric) drawn up for his Roman subjects ; the West Gothic laws were collected for his German subjects. Additions were constantly made to these latter, and successive editions of them appeared till, in 693, their character was very largely changed. They were no longer personal, but territorial. By that time the process of fusion of the two peoples was almost complete. Euric's wisdom in allowing each people to live according to its own laws is seen by the fact that there was little friction be- tween them. The Germans and the provincials lived quietly side by side, with little to vex their peace, except the religious differences. Very naturally the West Gothic clergy were all in favor of the orthodox Franks, and in the time of the strug- THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 59 gle did all they could for their success. It is hardly too much to say that the clergy were the real cause of the downfall of the barbarian kingdoms. No s:overnment could ° ° Opposition o< exist without their assistance, and, on the other theCatiioiic hand, it is clear that the Franks owed much clergy, of their success to the support which they received from the Church. The Frankish kingdom was growing, and it was inevitable that there would be a struggle between the Franks and the West Gotlis for the possession of Gaul. This began in 507, and in about four years the West Goths had lost nearly all their land north of the Pyrenees.^ Although they regained a small part of it temporarily, in the end the West Goths were driven out of Gaul, and it was clear that their future was to be in Spain. For nearly one hundred years they made very little progress because of intestine wars. In 531 the last member of their royal house died, and the me crown crown became wholly elective. The nobles elective. fought much over the honor of the election, and often the king was murdered by someone who wished to usurp the power. In about a hundred and eighty years there were twenty-five kings, seven of whom were murdered, and eight deposed. Revolts and violent struggles were common and prevented the growth of the kingdom. In 572 Leovigild became sole ruler, and began his re- markable reign. He had been associated with his brother Leova in the government and had already done good service against the troops of the Emperor, who now held some territory on the southeastern coast of Spain. After reducing the imperial officers to a line of fortresses from Lagos to Carthagena, he repelled the advance of the Suevi and made their king his vassal. In many parts of his kingdom there were local revolts among the provincials which he vigorously quelled. His rebellious nobles were next punished. He was then master throughout his realm. He chose Toledo as his residence and began to imitate the Emperor in the splendor of 6o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE his court and in all the insignia of royalty. As if to mark his independence, he began to coin money in his own name with that of the Emperor, but he soon omitted the latter. His last years were troubled by the revolt of his son Hermanegild, who became orthodox and headed a revolt of the Catholics against his father. Hermanegild made an alliance with the Suevi and with the Emperor's officials, and was supported by most of the orthodox provincials. Leovigild, however, met the revolt in a masterly way. He attacked the insurgent forces before they could unite, took his son prisoner, conquered the Suevi, deprived J them of their king, and made them a part of his Suevi conquered. ^' ^ The Franks kingdom. Hermanegild had married a Prankish e eate . princess, and in his struggle with his father had the help of the Franks. These now undertook to avenge his death, and invaded the kingdom of the West Goths. Their The West Goths ^^'^^^ ""'^ ^'^'^^'^ ^° ^^^ ^lory of Leovigild, become ortho- although he died from the effects of the hard ""■ winter campaign, in April, 586. His son, Reccared (586-601), saw that the fatal weakness of the king- dom was the religious difference which made it impossible for the king to count on the faithfulness of his subjects. He accordingly, after holding several councils of both Arian and Catholic bishops, declared himself a Catholic. His example was followed by his nobles and people in large numbers. A small minority, however, remained Arian and conspired against him, but was easily put down. Reccared based his state upon the support of the bishops. There were about sixty bishops in Spain who were now invited The king and to meet the king. They outnumbered the nobles the clergy. -^yj^Q were in the council. The latter were not so well educated, and not so closely attached to each other as were the bishops. Added to this were the spiritual powers and prerogatives of the bishops, which put them in the posi- tion to dictate to the king and to determine his policy in all things. That the legislation was greatly influenced by them is THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 6 1 shown by the fact that the laws of the West Goths were the most humane of all the barbarian codes. Church and State were closely united, and in the end the Church predominated over the State. The king fell into the complete control of the bishops. At the death of Reccared the kingdom fell back into its former condition of strife, in which the lawless ambitions of the nobles and the machinations of the clergy crossed and recrossed. The history of the period is both uninteresting and unimportant. In 711 the Saracens crossed the strait which now took „. „ . ' i The nohamme- the name of their leader, Jebel-Tarik (Gi braltar) , dans conquer and a few days later won a decisive victory over ''^"' ^"" the forces of Roderic, who himself lost his life. The West Goths did not attempt to elect another king. Within two years all of Spain except a few of the strongholds and a strip of coast along the Bay of Biscay was in the hands of the invaders, and the kingdom of the West Goths came to an end. The weakness of its kings, the strife over the crown, the disappearance of the free class, and the control of the bishops had brought about its downfall. 5. THE BURGUNDIANS (443-S34) About 443 the Burgundians were settled on the Rhone as foederati of the Empire. They gradually and peacefully ex- tended themselves over the whole of the Rhone Relations to the valley, and a part of the upper Rhine. Their Empire. kings were regarded as Roman officials. Gundobad (474-516) became sole king by putting two other kings to death and sub- ordinating another to himself. He collected the laws of the Burgundians, and also caused a collection of the Roman laws to be made, according to which the Roman provincials were to be judged. There was little or no friction between these and the Burgundians, except in religious matters. Gundobad received the title of Patricius, and was in favor with the Roman Em- perors. Roman scholars were gladly welcomed at his court and the culture of the Empire found a home with him. 62 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The catholic clergy of the kingdom was rich, powerful, and hostile to Arianism. As a matter of course, the king, although Religious oppo- an Arian, had a part in the church government, *'*'""■ calling the church councils, confirming their actions, and controlling to a certain extent the appointment of bishops. The orthodox bishops resented this, and as soon as the king of the Franks became Catholic, they looked to him as the coming deliverer from heretical rule. Chlodwig himself attacked the Burgundians and reduced them to a kind of vassal- age. The struggle was continued in 523 and 524 with little suc- Conqueredby cess. But in 532 the war was begun again, and the Franics, 534. ended in 534, with the extinction of the Bur- gundian kingdom. Their last king, Gundomar, disappeared, and Burgundy ' was made a part of the Prankish kingdom. 6. THE ALAiWANNI The kingdom of the Alamanni attained to no great impor- tance because of its lack of organization as well as because of Subjected by the its short existence. For some years there was Franics, 496. much hostility between them and the Franks, who were pressing eastward. In the year 496 Chlodwig gained a decisive victory over them and reduced them to sub- jection. Their territory became a part of the Prankish . king- dom. 7. THE EAST QOTHS (493=554) The history of the East Goths is practically that of their great king Theoderic (d. 526). The agreement made be- Reiations to the tween Zeno and Theoderic before the invasion Empire un- had been vague. After his success Theoderic took the title of king, and attempted to get an official recognition of his position from both Zeno and his suc- ' See Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, Appendix A, for the different mean- ings of the word Burgundy in the Middle Age. THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 63 cessor, Anastasius. It was not until 497 that his ambassador, Festus, succeeded in appeasing the Emperor and securing a sort of recognition for Theoderic. Anastasius sent him the " ornaments of the palace which Odovaker had formerly sent to Constantine." It is probable that the official title of Theo- deric was " King of the Goths and Romans in Italy." There was always some vagueness and uncertainty about his rights and title, because the eastern Emperor hoped to be able some time to regain full control of the west, and consequently was as non-committal as possible. Practically Theoderic was king, and exercised all the powers of a king. The East Goths were unlettered, and therefore Theoderic was compelled to use Romans to fill all the offices of state. It was to his credit that he was able to appre- ciate talent for such work and kept himself sur- ■*""•«"<•""='«'*• rounded with the best men. Cassiodorus, a Roman of noble birth, became his prime-minister, and served him well, both as counsellor and historian. We owe much of our knowledge of the period to his literarj remains. Theoderic developed an activity of the very widest range. The aqueducts and walls of many cities were restored, roads re- paired, marshes drained, mines reopened, fac- xhe rule of tories built, existing temples, and public build- Theoderic. ings repaired and new ones built, agriculture promoted, the strictest justice administered, peace preserved, and laws en- forced. He gave Italy a new period of prosperity. In all this Theoderic shows the deep influence which Rome had had upon him. He wished to perpetuate the Roman state, and consequently preserved the old Roman offices and machinery of government as nearly intact as possible. His legislation is represented by the " Edictum Theoderici," which is thor- oughly Roman. It seems that he tried to compel his Germans to live according to the Roman law. While he appreciated and admired the Roman civilization, he beheved that it brought with it effeminacy. He was, therefore, unwilling that his 64 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Goths should have any part in it. The education of the schools and the use of the pen were for the Romans ; the prac- tice of war, for his people. In religious matters he had a singularly clear mind. Al- though an Arian, he refused to persecute the orthodox, and Religious free- even gave the Jews protection against their "•o™- Christian persecutors. He declared that no compulsion should be used in matters of faith, and that " to assume control over the beliefs and consciences of others was to usurp the prerogative of God." But toward the end of his reign he was guilty of persecution, though this was more for political than for religious reasons. Boethius and Symmachus, two of his trusted officials, were put to death for what was sup- posed to be treasonable correspondence with the Emperor at Constantinople. Some of the orthodox suffered, but it was really because of their own turbulence and fanaticism. Toward his barbarian neighbors in the west Theoderic had what may be called a consciously German policy. He felt His" German" t^^^t the future belonged to the Germans, if they policy. would but unite and not destroy each other. Accordingly he attempted to bring them all into close alliance, hoping thereby to prevent all German wars. He gave his sister Amalafrida to the Vandal king Thrasamund ; one of his daughters to Alaric, king of the West Goths ; the other to Sigismund, the heir to the throne of the Burgundians ; he him- self married the sister of Chlodwig. He also received embas- sies from the Thuringians and other German peoples in the north. For several years during the minority of the king he was the regent of the West Goths, and ruled them well. He did all he could to preserve the peace between his German neighbors, and endeavored to keep the balance of power and German leadership in his own hands. The last years of Theoderic's life were unhappy. His sister in Africa was imprisoned because of political reasons; he was not able to prevent the extension of the territory of the Franks THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 65 at the expense of other German peoples; the Arian faith seemed to be losing ground ; and his kingdom was disturbed by pohtical intrigues and religious turmoils. He had no son, and the husband of his daughter, Amalasuntha, had died, leaving a mere boy to succeed him in his difficult position. He died in the year 526. His tomb is still shown in Ravenna, though it is possible that this building was not erected till 530 by his daughter. His grandson, Athalaric, was made king, and Athalaric's mother, Amalasuntha, regent. Cassiodorus still served them as prime-minister. Athalaric was only ten years old. His mother brought him up in the strictest way, giving him a Roman edu- cation. This was very displeasing to his Gothic subjects, who remonstrated with her, and finally secured the freedom of the young king. Abusing his newly found liberty he gave himself up to vices which ended his life in 534. Since the Goths would not submit to the rule of a woman, Amalasuntha invited her cousin, Theodahad, to share her throne with her. He accepted, but basely imprisoned her and allowed her to be put to death by some of her enemies. Justinian, the justinian inter- Emperor, took this as a pretext for reconquering '^'''^ '" '*a'y- Italy, and sent his general, Belisarius, who quickly overran the southern part of the peninsula, occupied Rome, and captured Ravenna. Theodahad had in the meanwhile been deposed, and Witiges made king, but the latter was captured in Ravenna and carried to Constantinople, where he afterward died. Italy was again in the hands of the Emperor, but his officers abused their power to such an extent that all wished again for the Gothic supremacy. This led to the election of another king, Ildibad. He was secure in the fortress of Pavia, though his army was small. At this juncture Belisarius was called away to war against the Persians. Ildibad was at once successful in a battle, and all the northern part of Italy fell into his hands. He was soon afterward as.sassinated, as was also his inefficient successor, Eraric. Totila (his German name seems to have been 5 ()6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Balduina or Baduila) now became king (541), and in less than three years again had all of Italy in his possession. Belisarius was sent to Italy a second time, but without adequate troops or supplies, and was finally recalled. He was replaced by Narses, who was almost his equal in all the arts of war. Totila was defeated and slain in battle, and Narses was soon master of c ^ «*.. ■• Italy. Teias was the last king of the East End of the king- -' ° dom of the East Goths, but his reign was brief. He also was de- Goths, SS3. feated and slain by Narses, and Italy was again made a part of the Empire (553)- The remaining East Goths, who were unwilling to submit, were allowed to withdraw from Italy. In the autumn of 553 they left the country, marching to the north, and nothing more is known of them. Narses was made Exarch of Italy, wij:h his residence at Ravenna. His victory over the East Goths had been greatly facilitated by the treachery and ambition of the Franks, who during this war had repeatedly invaded and devastated the northern part of Italy. 8. THE ANGLO-SAXONS (449=802) The effects of the invasion of Britain by the German peoples from the coast north of the Rhine were great and various. The Eff ct fth island had been pretty thoroughly Romanized. German inva- There were cities with fine temples, baths, and ri ain. public buildings ; good roads bound all parts of the country together ; the people had been Christianized ; in the cities, at least, Latin was spoken, and they were not without the graces of Roman culture, art, and literature. The invasion changed all this. The cities were deserted and fell into decay, for the Germans lived in the country ; the roads were left to take care of themselves ; the Christian Kelts were driven out, and Woden and Thor were worshipped ; the invaders were still heathen ; both the Latin and the Keltic languages disappeared, and only a German dialect was spoken. The civilization of THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 67 the Romans was utterly destroyed, and Britain fell back into the barbarism of the German forests. The various settlements made were entirely independent of each other and were ruled over by " kings." The number of kingdoms thus formed varied from time to time. There was constant warfare among them, and the leadership passed from one to another in rapid succession. Eventually the struggle was confined to the three strongest kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia (the March or Borderland), and Wessex. The victory fell to Ecgbehrt (802-39), the king of the West Ecgbehrt, 802. Saxons. He placed members of his own family 39 Overlord of over Kent, Sussex, and Essex, while Northum- all England. bria. East Anglia, and Mercia were allowed to retain their kings, who acknowledged Ecgbehrt as their overlord. Out of this overlordship was to be developed, within two hundred years, the kingship of all England. These Anglo-Saxons were Germans, and established in Britain a pure German state. The Roman civilization was gone, and, consequently, there was nothing to prevent their England re= free development along the lines peculiar to mains Oerman. themselves. This is seen especially in their language and their laws. Their Anglo-Saxon dialect developed into a literary lan- guage almost uninfluenced by Latin. It was spoken everywhere, and as early as 680 Csedmon had sung the " Song of Creation " in his mother tongue, and parts, at least, of the heathen poem Beowulf were already in existence. The laws of the people were also written down in Anglo-Saxon, not in Latin, as were the laws of all the Germanic kingdoms on the continent. These laws show that the government, legal ideas, and customs, which the people had had on the continent had not been in- fluenced by Rome and her civilization. The result of this was that England now has the purest Germanic law of any country in existence. In Germany itself, owing to the later connection between that country and the Empire, Roman law prevailed over the Germanic. 68 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The Anglo-Saxons parcelled out their lands to groups prob- ably of about a hundred warriors. The land which such a " Ham " and group received was then divided among them "tun-" and they settled in villages. Their residences were called after the name of the family, with the addition of " -ham " or " -tun " (English, " home " and " town ; " Ger- man, " Heim " and " Zaun "). " Ham " had the meaning of " dwelling," and " tun " signified the wall or fence which en- closed the village or place of defence. The affairs of each Democratic township were managed by all the freemen of the government. village, who met to discuss and decide all public matters. In the same way all the freemen of the Hundred met and determined all questions that concerned the welfare of the Hundred. There was a still higher court, composed of all the freemen of the whole tribe. This was assembled whenever questions that concerned the whole tribe were to be decided or disputes between the Hundreds were to be settled. While this was the theory, it is probable that it was early found to be im- practicable to get all the freemen together as often as was desirable. This led to the introduction of a kind of represen- tation. A small number of men were sent from each township to the Hundredmoot, and the same number sent from each Hundred to the Folkmoot. The same social distinctions were perpetuated as had existed among them on the continent. There were three classes : the noblemen or ealdormen, the freemen or ceorls, and the slaves. The comitatus was, of course, quickly modified, the followers of a leader being called thanes as soon as they got lands and left the immediate presence of their leaders. - Christianity was driven out of Britain with its Kelticjbljowz ing, and replaced by the worship of the German gods. The .relations between the Kelts and the Germans were so hostile that little or nothing was done by the former to Christianize the latter. The Christian Kelts of Wales seem to have had no missionary spirit, but those of Ireland were just now settingTor themselves the task of converting the world. In the fifth cen- THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 69 tury Ireland had been Christianized, probably by Saint Patrick, and the church received a sort of episcopal form of govern- ment. Being largely cut off from intercourse with the churches on the continent, the church of Ireland did not Ireland chris- have the same development as they. There were tianizes Scot- ditferences as to the time of observing Easter, the form of tonsure, certain parts of the ritual, a nd the head - shipL_o£jhe_^ishop_of_Rojll£. The Irish Church had great missionary zeal. About 570 Saint Columba with twelve com- panions was sent to the island of lona on the i^.;^^ mission- southwest coast of Scotland. Columba founded aries in Eng- a monastery on the island, which became the religious capital of the north. Through the efforts of these men Scotland (then called Caledonia) was Christianized, as well as the northern part of Englanc^ Other missionary bands of thirteen members went to the continent, especially to Friesia, Belgium, France, and Germany. In Burgundy, in the Apennines, and in the Alps, Keltic mis- onthe sionaries from Ireland established monasteries Continent. which became centres of light and learning. It seemed for awhile as if these Irish missionaries were about to realize their dream of Christianizing Europe. On his accession Oswald (634-42), king of Northumbria, having once been sheltered in the monastery of lona, sent to its abbot for missionaries. Among others Saint Aidan came, who, by his wise moderation and sweet character, met with great success in his missionary efforts. It seemed for some time that the Church of Ireland would extend itself over the whole of Great Britain. Saint Cuthbert carried on the work of Aidan with good success, and many monasteries and churches arose. Lindisfarne was the mother monastery which furnished many missionaries, and became the centre of the re- ligious activity for all Northumbria. But there was another stream of missionary activity begin- ning now to move to the west, which had its source in Rome. 70 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE In 596 Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, sent a monk, Augustine, with about thirty companions, to Kent. Aethel- Missionaries behrt, king of Kent, had recently married Ber- from Rome. tha, an orthodox Prankish princess, who now ex- erted all her power in favor of the new missionaries. Within a year the king and many of his nobles accepted Christianity and were baptized. From Kent the orthodox form of Chris- tianity spread slowly to the north. The boundaries of the two Christian faiths constantly drew nearer. A life-and-death struggle was inevitable between the orthodox and Irish forms of Christianity as soon as they should meet. They came face to face with each other in Northumbria. The struggle between the two divisions of the Church became so bitter that the king called a council at Whitby (664) to discuss the Whitby, 664. . , , ^1 1 • England be» questions at issue between them, i lie authority comes Roman gf Saint Peter outweighed that of Saint Columba, and the king decided that he would follow the faith and party of the orthodox Church. It was an important decision, for it affected all the future of English history. It brought England into close connection with the continent, and especially with the Bishop of Rome. Through the Church the influence of Rome in England was assured. Roman law, usages, and modes of thought, in short, the remains of Rome's civilization, were imported into England, greatly to her ad- vantage. Later these advantages were to become smaller and the disadvantages very much greater ; but for the present it was highly beneficial to England. Theodore of Tarsus, a learned Greek, came to England as Archbishop of Canterbury (669-90), and by virtue of his high One Church, position organized the English Church around one kingdom. Canterbury as the centre and head. He divided all the territory into bishoprics, and introduced the parish system. Of course, the whole was bound to the Bishop of Rome. The Church organization did not follow the boundaries of the kingdoms, but all were impressed with the fact that the THE NEW CHRISTIAN GERMAN STATES 71 Church could recognize no political or national lines. The idea of the unity of the Church had great influence on the polit- ical ideas, and helped prepare the minds of the people for the idea of the political unity of the whole country. The learning of the monks of England was considerable. While Greek was utterly unknown in the west of Europe, it was mastered by many of the pupils of Theo- Monasticism and dore. The monasteries contained many monks 'earning. Bede. who were excellent scholars. Most famous of all was Bede, known as the Venerable Bede {673-735), a monk of Jarrow. He had for his pupils the six hundred monks of that monastery, besides the many strangers who came to hear him. He gradually mastered all the learning of his day, and left at his death forty- five volumes of his writings. The most important of these are, " The Ecclesiastical History of the English," and his transla- tion of the Gospel of John into English. His writings were widely known and recognized throughout Europe. He reck- oned all dates from the birth of Christ, and through his works this method became common in Europe. Owing to the large number of monasteries and monks in Northumbria, that part of England was far in advance of the south in civilization. CHAPTER IV THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE AGAINST THE GERMANS Although there was more or less friendly intercourse be- tween the various Germanic kingdoms and the court of Con- TheQermans stantinople, the situation was far from pleasing were invaders, to the Emperor. The Barbarians had invaded his territory ; they were unwelcome guests whom he must entertain because he did not have the power to drive them out. Of this weakness they took advantage, and ruled with such independence that their lands were practically cut off from the Empire. Such a loss of territory was regarded as a great dis- grace, which could be removed only by the reconquest of the lost provinces. In an absolute government everything depends on the ability of the monarch. The anarchy and violence of the fourth and fifth centuries were possible because of the weak Emperors and the internal feuds and dissensions. The weak rulers of these centuries were followed by a succession of able ones, chief of whom was Justinian. In him the reaction against the Germans reached its highest point. Under Zeno (474-91), Anastasius I. (491-518), and Justin I. (518-27), the Empire slowly gathered strength, and the vvay was prepared for the brilliant activity of Justinian (527-65). The long period of helplessness and weakness was followed by a great re- vival of strength, in which the palmy days of the Empire seemed to return. The imperial arms were again victorious, and large parts of the lost territory were reconquered and again united to the Empire. Justinian has been called Great, though his right to the title has often been questioned. He was exceedingly versatile and so' 36= .-. V V" THE * \ GERMANIC KINGDOMS ^ CBtabliHlietl oil ROMAN SOIL. SCALE OF MILSB. .^ D feO mo 900 300 400 RDS ■4, AquUeja tgiiigiduauniS It o AT •*^<>-. <& ■S'j Carthage ^ E A \ Cooa'^"''^^^^ iA-~_ -,._j/(ll^i 0, o J^^'^^^ ^'\W Mh. *^' w^ V^n b >^^h^ "t ?° ]& EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE his undivided attention to the weighty affairs of the state. There were two great factions in the capital, each of which had Factions in J's partisans throughout the Empire. These fac- Constantinopie. tions were divided on all questions, both political and religious. Their most common place of meeting was the circus, where each party railed at the other and endeavored to win the favor and the patronage of the Emperor. From the colors of the charioteers in the races the factions were known as the "Greens " and the "Blues." The Blues were orthodox and devoted to the house of Justinian, while the Greens were heterodox and secretly attached to the family of Anastasius. Probably religious differences were the cause of the deepest hatred and at the bottom of all the trouble, although ambition played a prominent part in it all. The specula- Discussion of ^ -^ -^ ^ ^ theological tive character of the Greek mind is a well- questions, known fact. During the long period in which Christianity was fusing with the philosophy of the Greeks, and the dogmas of the Church were being developed in accordance therewith (that is, during the first eight centuries, although the highest activity was reached from the third to the sixth century), the Greek world was in a state of the greatest fermen- tation and discussion. Even the humblest would have his say about the highest questions, and the greengrocer, the barber, and the cobbler were more interested in discussing metaphysical questions with their customers than in serving them.' The questions at issue were purely speculative in regard to the per- son of Jesus and his relation to God. Arianism declared that Jesus was not God, and had not existed eternally but had been created. He occupied, however, a much higher place than man. Orthodoxy was content with no other form of statement than one which would declare that Jesus " was the Son of God, begotten of the Father, before all the world, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one sub- ' See Gibbon, chap, xxvii., where he quotes from Jortin. THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE >}•} Stance with the Father." Furthermore, if Jesus was God, how was he at the same time man ? What kind of body did he have ? Did he have two natures, tlie divine and the human ? How were these united ? Did he have two wills, one the divine will, the other human? What was the relation between them? These and other similar questions were discussed, not only in the Church councils, but at the court, in the streets, in the places of business, and, indeed, wherever people came together. Their discussion and study absorbed the attention of the best talent of the day. Still worse, they were fused with politics, and every political question was at the same time a religious one. It was inevitable that such a combination should add to the mutual Theology and hatred, intrigue, and treachery. Justinian's am- politics, bition made it impossible for him to submit tamely to the tyranny of these factions. For some years he found no means of overcoming them, but was compelled to suffer many indignities at their hands. In 532, in consequence of a riot, Justinian seized some of the leaders of both factions and ordered them to be put to death. Two of them, however, were rescued by the people. Both parties now united to resist Justinian and be- sieged him in his palace. They created a new Emperor, Hypatus, a nephew of Anastasius. Justinian lost courage and wished to flee, but the Empress Theodora refused to go with him, and persuaded him to stay and fight for his throne. . The imperial guard under Belisarius was sent to attack the rioters, who had taken possession of the circus. The The factions mob were taken off their guard, and the troops destroyed, of Belisarius quickly put them to flight. The exits of the circus were soon choked up. Belisarius put thousands to death, among them all the leaders, and the power of the factions was broken. The city was now helpless in the Em- peror's hands, and he was consequently free to turn his at- tention to the larger policy on which he had already set his heart. 78 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE This policy was to recover all the lost provinces and restore the Empire in all its extent. This necessitated the destruc- ^. p , tion of the German kingdoms, and Justinian antUQerman turned his attention to the west. P°^"^y- In 523 Hilderic had become king of the Van- dals, and, having been brought up as a Catholic, put an end to the persecutions of the orthodox. His Vandal subjects were still Arian, however, and after a stormy reign The Vandals. , , , , ^ , . , ■ , he was deposed and Gehmer put into his place. Gelimer was Arian, and he proceeded to persecute the Catho- lics. Justinian used this as a pretext for interference, and sent Belisarius with an army to reduce Africa. He landed in December, 533, and in a few months reduced the whole prov- ince to subjection. Gelimer was made prisoner, carried to Constantinople to grace the triumph of Behsarius, and was then exiled to Galatia. The kingdom of the Vandals, once so feared, came to an end. Their king having vanished, many of the Vandals joined the army of Justinian. Africa again became an imperial province governed by one of the Emperor's officers. The East Goths of Italy next claimed the Emperor's atten- tion. Amalasuntha, the daughter of Theoderic the Great, succeeded her father (1:26) as regent of her son The East Goths. , , , . ^ , , t^ Athalaric. In culture she was a Roman and labored to civihze her people. Her conciliatory attitude to- ward the Empire offended her people. On the death of her son (534) she was in danger of losing her commanding position, if not her life, through the vengeance and hostility of her subjects. She made a closer alliance with Justinian, and associated with herself in the government her cousin Theodahad. Relying on the opposition to her, Theodahad permitted her to be assassinated and seized the government. This violence gave Justinian the opportunity to interfere in Italy, as the avenger of his faithful subject Amalasuntha. Belisarius was sent thither with an army. Sicily at once fell into his hands ; Naples was taken by strata- gem, and Rome surrendered a little later. In the meantime THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE 79 the East Goths accused Theodahad of treason, deposed him, and elected as their king Witiges, a brave warrior but an un- successful general. Both he and Justinian called on the Franks for help, who accepted the gifts of both, and fought for one or both, or neither, as their own interests demanded. In this way the Franks got possession of Provence, and for some years held a large part of northern Italy. Witiges, it seems, en- couraged the Persians to attack the Emperor in the east, but through the treachery of Belisarius was unable to profit thereby. Ravenna was given up to Belisarius, and Witiges made prisoner and sent to Constantinople. The East Goths, however, were far from conquered. They made Totila king, and he set about the reconquest of Italy. The imperial army was beaten in several engagements. Naples and Rome were retaken, and Sicily and Corsica were again over- run. Totila then assumed the offensive and carried the war across the Adriatic. He took some of the islands on the coast of Epirus (540-52). Belisarius had been sent back to Italy, but because of court intrigues he was without sufficient troops or support. In 549 he was recalled in disgrace, and succeeded by Narses, who in 552 came to Italy with a large army. At the battle of Taginee (June, 552), Totila lost his life and his army was destroyed. Teias was made king by the East Gothic remnant, but he was also defeated and slain. The Franks had been called on for aid, but their help came too late. The Gothic power was totally destroyed, and Italy was again actual- ly a part of the Empire, though it had been ravaged and ruined by the long contest. The blame of this was attributed by the Catholic Italians to the Goths, rather than to the ambition of Justinian. In Spain also, among the West Goths, there was civil strife over the succession. One of the aspirants to the crown sought the aid of Justinian, who made use of the op- The West Goths portunity to further his anti-German policy. He attacked. sent an army to Spain under the patrician Liberius (about 551), 8o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE who succeeded in reconquering a strip of territory on tlie south- east coast, with several ports. The West Goths, however, soon united and checked the progress of his arras, but failed to regain the lost territory. Not content with destroying the Germans who had already settled on Roman soil, Justinian intrigued with the tribes who Lombards and were Still north of the Danube, and fomented QepidiB. their quarrels. For years he kept the Lombards and Gepidae fighting, hoping that in the end they would mutually destroy each other and thus free him from two danger- ous tribes that were likely, at any moment, to invade his terri- tory. At any rate, so long as they were warring with each other, he felt that he was safe from their attacks. There can be no doubt that Justinian thoroughly hated the Germans, and that it was a part of his well-defined plan to re- duce or destroy them all and to restore their other enemies , _, . ttt i i • engage the at- lands to the Empire. We have seen his success tention of Jus> in Africa, Italy, and Spain, but his policy was tinian. ,.,,., ^^ , , destined to fail. He was unable to carry it to an issue because of the wars which' he was compelled to wage with the Persians, the Slavs, the Avars, and the Bulgarians. Justinian's wars with Persia have but little interest for us in themselves. They have importance principally because Wars with tbey hindered Justinian from carrying out his P"^'^- anti-German policy. But for these wars with the Persians and Barbarians, he certainly would have been able to give much more attention to affairs in the west, and it is very probable that he would have greatly weakened, if not en- tirely destroyed, the Franks also. While occupied with his wars in Africa and Italy, Justinian was compelled to buy peace of Khosroes I. (531-39). At the instigation of Witiges, in 540, the Persians broke their agreement and overran Syria. Beli- sarius was recalled from Italy and sent to the east, but was again recalled and sent back to Italy before he had brought the war to a successful close. In 545 a peace of five years was The Sla^. THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE 8l made between them, and this was renewed in 551. But hos- tilities were more than once renewed, and Justinian was com- pelled to pay heavy tribute, besides losing some of his territory. Worst of all, his best generals and troops had to be sent to Persia at a time when he needed their help in the west, in his efforts to destroy the German kingdoms and restore the Empire to its former boundaries and greatness.' The Slavs now began to make their entrance into history. As the Germans left the territory south of the Baltic and west of the Niemen, the Slavs followed them and pressed on to the west till they had occupied all that part of Prussia which lies east of the Elbe. The Bava- rians, once known as the Marcomanni, either migrated or were driven out of Bohemia, and that territory was also occupied by Slavs. Moravia and many parts of modern Austria were settled by them. More than once they crossed the Danube and ravaged the provinces of the Empire. In 547 they reached Dyrrachium on the west coast of Illyria. In 549 they overran many provinces and even threatened Constantinople. Almost every year they made themselves felt by making an invasion of some part of the Empire. From this time on the Empire was never free from them. Their invasions continued, until finally they settled in the territory which now forms the many Slavic provinces in southern Austria and the northern part of the Balkan peninsula. In the following centuries they moved south in still greater numbers. Greece became very largely Slavic; the Peloponnesus was called Slavonia. The beginning of this invasion or migration took place in the time of Justinian, and cost him a great deal of trouble, preventing him from carrying on his conquests in other parts of the Empire. The Bulgarians were originally a Ural-Altaic people, but they came into Europe and settled among some Slavic peoples ■ For a full account of Justinian's reign vide J. B. Bury's History of the later Roman Empire, from Arcadius to Irene, 2 vols., 1889. It contains a good account of these Persian wars. 6 82 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE and were absorbed by them. Nothing but their name was left, which came to be apphed to the Slavs among whom they set- tled. They lost their language, customs, and na- The uigarans. jJQ,.,jijfy^ a,-nj became thoroughly Skvic. Year after year this mixed people invaded the Empire and devastated many of its fairest districts. Perhaps their worst invasion was in 539. In that year they ravaged the Balkan peninsula as far south as the Gulf of Corinth, taking and sacking many cities. They returned beyond the Danube with, it is said, a hundred and twenty thousand prisoners. In 558 the Avars (the Cotrigur Huns) invaded the Empire from the east. After doing much damage they finally settled on the middle Danube, and established the kingdom of the Avars, which later was destroyed by Karl the Great. Luckily at the very time of Justinian's opposition to it, the Germanic element in tlie Empire was strengthened by the for- mation of the great tribe of the Bavarians, the settlement of NewQerman the Lombards in Italy, and the growth of the tribes. Franks (which latter will be described in the suc- ceeding chapter). The Bavarians appeared as a strong, vigorous, and warlike people, occupying the territory which still bears their name, and from which they were never afterward removed. After various wanderings the Lombards, had settled in Pan- nonia. They had become allies of the Empire, and at the insti- gation of Justinian had made war on the Heruli, and then on the Gepidse. Justinian had feared them, but did not live to see their invasion. In 568, probably at the invitation of Narses, they entered Italy, and quickly overran the northern part. After his successful completion of the war with the East Goths, The Lombards Narses had been made Exarch of Italy, with in Italy. ^jg residence at Ravenna. To avenge his ill- treatment at the hands of Justin II., the successor of Justinian, he is said to have invited the Lombards to invade Italy, prom- ising not to interfere with them. They came under their king THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE 83 Alboin, bringing fragments of other tribes with tliem. The valley of the Po was soon in their hands. Pavia became their capital. They moved to the south, and, after overrunning a large part of Italy, they established the duchies of Benevento and Spoleto. Alboin was soon murdered, and a leader named Cleph was made king. Cleph ruled less than a year, meeting with the same fate as his predecessor. For about ten years the Lombards existed without a king. They broke up into bands and groups, each under a duke or Herzog. The kingship was not yet thoroughly developed, and they felt that a king was not necessary to their existence. They consequently reverted to the forms of government which they had had before enter- ing the Empire. It is said that there were thirty-five such dukes reigning among them at one time. They were sur- rounded by enemies, and their divided condition was a cause of great weakness. About 580 they became convinced that they needed a king and elected Authari. But the dukes had already become too powerful and Authari was never com- pletely master. The duchies of Benevento and Spoleto were only nominally obedient, and he often found it difficult to maintain his position. The territory wrested from the Empire was firmly held, but the Lombards could not conquer all Italy. Ravenna, the extreme southern part, and the duchy of Rome still remained in the hands of the Emperor. Unlike all the other Germans, many of the Lombards settled in the cities and towns. Some of the land was seized, but often the Lombards required one-third of the produce of the land to be paid to them. The old Roman municipal form of government was destroyed, or thoroughly changed, and the Romans were com- pelled to live according to the laws of the Lombards, that is, the Lombards did not recognize the existence of the Roman law. Their urban residence undoubtedly had much to do with the early development of the Italian cities, the mediaeval gran- deur of which was due, in part at least, to the German blood of their citizens. CHAPTER V THE FRANKS (481-814) It must be remembered that ' ' Frank " is a collective name, embracing a large number of independent tribes, each governed chiodwig, by its own king. In 481 Chlodvvig succeeded 48I-5II. ]^ig father, Childeric, as king of a small tribe of Salian Franks. Being ambitious he overcame by force or fraud one after another of the petty kings about him, and slowly gathered the Franks under his sceptre. In 486 he defeated Syagrius, the Roman official who was then governing a large district between the Loire and the Seine. Syagrius fled, but was taken prisoner and delivered to Chiodwig, who put him to death. The territory thus conquered was made subject to Chiodwig, but it was probably not settled by Franks. The power of Chiodwig was by this success extended to the Loire. His work of uniting the various tribes of Franks now went on much more rapidly. In 493 he married Chlotilda, an orthodox Christian princess, of Burgundy. Chiodwig seems to have been tolerant of all religions. He even permitted Chlotilda to have their first child baptized, but when it died a short time later he reproached her for it. In 496 a war broke out be- TheAiamanni tween him and the Alamanni, the cause of conquered. which is unknown. The decisive battle was fought probably in Alsace (the statement that it was fought at Tolbiac or Zuelpich, near Cologne, is without foundation). The Alamanni were conquered and their king was taken from them and replaced by Chiodwig himself. The Franks did not settle among the Alamanni, at least in the southern part of their territory. That part of it, however, that lay between the THE FRANKS 85 Main and the Neckar soon became thoroughly Prankish, and received the name of Franconia or Francia. Later it became one of the most important duchies of the Empire. It is now- known as Upper, Lower, and Middle Franken. With this war against the Alamanni is connected the con- version of the Franks to the orthodox faith. All the other Germans had taken the Arian form of belief, „^ ^ . ' The Franks which had come to be considered heretical. become orthc Gregory of Tours tells us that during the battle i"" Christians. Chlodwig called on Jesus for help, and vowed that if he were successful he would become a Christian. After his victory he went to Rheims, was instructed in the faith, and baptized with three thousand of his warriors. The bishop of Rheims, Remi- gius, performed the rite. Chlodwig was addressed as a second Constantine and David, and was at once told that it was his duty to protect, defend, and extend the Church. This con- version of Chlodwig and the Franks to the orthodox faith was the foundation and beginning of the famous alliance between the Bishop of Rome and the Frankish kings. Its importance cannot be overestimated. "It made possible that complete fusion of Romans and Franks which was impossible among the West Goths, East Goths, and Burgundians ; it made inter- marriages between the two peoples permissible and facilitated the conquests of Chlodwig over the heretical German tribes ; it closely allied the Merovingian kingdom with the papacy, and prepared for the alliance of the Karlings with Rome ; it paved the way for the united missionary activity of the Frankish rulers and the Roman clergy to convert the heathen, as well as reform the sadly degenerate Church ; to give it a compact form of government and to attach it to the Bishop of Rome ; it gave the Frankish rulers, especially the Karlings, an ecclesiastical character, and led to the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire/^ \ After a brief struggle with the Burgundians, which resulted in the subjection of Gundobad, their king, Chlodwig attacked 86 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the West Goths. The alleged cause of this war was the fact that the West Goths were Arian ; Chlodwig could not endure The West Goths that these heretics should possess such fair lands, driven back. a,;,(j^ encouraged by the orthodox clergy, he de- clared war against them. During the years 507-11 he overran nearly all the territory south of the Loire, and drove the West Goths over the Pyrenees. Only the extreme southern part of Gaul (Provence), the territory about Nar bonne (Septiaiania), and Vasconia (the later Gascony), remained in the hands of the West Goths. The Garonne river was the boundary be- tween BVanks and West Goths, but it was already evident that the Franks would soon extend their rule to the Pyrenees. The Christianity of Chlodwig and his Franks was superiicial, and had little effect on their character and life. It seemed, if anything, to give them greater license. The last the other Frank= years of Chlodwig's reign were filled with the ish kings. most ruthless crimes, which, however, greatly in- creased his power, and helped bring about the complete union of the Franks. There were still many petty independent kings, especially among the Ripuarian Franks. These he destroyed, often by the foulest means, and put himself at the head of all the Franks. Gregory of Tours recounts these things, appar- ently not imagining that such deeds might be worthy of blame, for he adds, ' ' Thus every day God put down the enemies of The Pranks the Chlodwig and increased his kingdom, because he chosen people. walked With a heart that was right before God and did that which was pleasing in His eyes." Owing to the teach- ing of the clergy the Franks early regarded themselves as the chosen people of God ; it was only natural and proper that He should care for them. They had a proud self-consciousness which assured them a great future, and their intimate relations with God made it impossible for them to do wrong. The chosen people of God were privileged to destroy their enemies in any way they might choose. Their chronicles, even from the first, are full of the accounts of miracles which God was / THE FRANKS 87 supposed to have wrought in their behalf. They even rival the miracles which God was believed to have performed for His ancient people, the Jews. In 588 the city of AngoulSme was besieged by the Franks, and, after some fruitless efforts to take it, God interposed in their behalf and the walls fell down before them, as they were believed to have fallen at the taking of Jericho. Chlodwig died in the year 511, after having divided his kingdom among his four sons, Theuderic, Chlodomer, Childe- bert, and Chlothar. Theuderic received that Division of the part which was still most thoroughly German, icingdom, su. that is, the Rhine valley from Cologne to the south, with large tracts on both sides of the river, and also the eastern part of Aquitaine. His possessions were, therefore, not compact, but broken into two parts separated by a great distance. His cap- ital was Metz. Chlothar received the territory between the Seine, the Oise, and the lower Rhine, with Soissons as his cap- ital. Childebert obtained the valley of the lower Seine and Armorica (Paris, Chartres, Le Mans, and other towns), while Chlodomer got the lower Loire. The principles on which this division was made have been much discussed, and there are many theories about it. The most probable one is that it was the division, not only of the territory, but also of the royal authority. There was little or no conception of this kingdom as a whole which ought not to be divided. It was rather an estate to be partitioned among the king's heirs. After the division the brethren lived independently of each other, and attended each to his own affairs only. There was no common central government. They made war on one another whenever there seemed to be a prospect of success, or assisted each other when sufficient inducements were offered. The mutual relations existing between the brothers were such as one might expect to find among utterly barbaric princes. Each attempted to extend his own territory, indifferent whether at the expense of one of his brothers or of foreign kings. In the 88 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE first years of his reign Theuderic was called on to repulse the invasion made by the Norsemen into the territory along the Rhine. He then attacked the Thuringians, a strong tribe that lay to the east of his lands. After calling in the aid of his brother Chlothar, he succeeded in conquering them and adding their territory to his kingdom. Childebert and Chlodomer, in the meanwhile, were making war on Burgundy. Chlodomer was slain in battle, and Childe- bert and Chlothar invaded his lands, put his children to death (one escaped, but was made a monk), and divided his territory between themselves. Childebert then attacked the West Goths Conquest of the along the Pyrenees with good success, and after- Burgundians. ward invaded Burgundy. In this latter under- taking he was assisted by Chlothar. They were entirely successful, and Burgundy was added to their territory. Theu- deric died in 533, leaving his kingdom to his son Theudebert, an able ruler, but quite as unscrupulous as the other Merovin- gian kings. Childebert and Chlothar tried to seize his lands, but were defeated, and even compelled to give him a share of Burgundy, which they had just conquered. Theudebert then invaded Italy, attacking or assisting the East Goths, or the ar- mies of the Empire, according as it best suited his own inter- ests. In s^O he devastated the northern part of Theudebert. Italy and carried off much booty. For the first time in the history of the Franks he made gold coins, bearing on one side not the image of the Emperor, but his own likeness, with the inscription, " Dominus Noster Theudebertus Victor. " It would even seem that he thought of claiming the title of Em- peror, since on some of his coins he is called, " Dominus Theu- debertus Augustus." This is further supported by the fact that he planned to invade the Eastern Empire and wrest Con- stantinople from the hands of the Emperor. Nothing could be more characteristic of the conquering spirit of the Merovingians than this. He also extended his power among the German tribes to the east and south, subjugating among others the Ba- THE FRANKS 89 varians. He died in 548, and his son Theudebald succeeded him. Tlieudebald continued his fatlier's policy and tried to obtain lands in Italy. He sent his army under two Alaman- nian dukes, Buccelin and Chlothar, to invade Italy, but it was utterly destroyed by Narses. He died in 555, and his great- uncle, Chlothar, inherited all his possessions. Chlothar now began to carry on war against the barbarian Germans to the east, but he was defeated and driven back. His eldest son, Chramn, revolted against him, with the help of his uncle, Chil- debert. Before hostilities were begun Child ebert died (558), and Chramn repented and was pardoned by his father. He rebelled again, however, in 560, was caught, and with his whole family was put to death by burning at the command of his father. On the death of Childebert (558) Chlothar became sole king of the Franks, and ruled over the territory which Chlod- wig had once had, as well as all that had since been conquered by his brothers and nephews. tory 'reunttedl The whole kingdom of the Franks was united ss8; but again under him. But when he died in 561, the ^' « > s kingdom was redivided among his four sons. Gontran (561- 93) received Burgundy; Orleans was his capital. Charibert (561-67) took Paris for his residence and Aquitaine. Chil- peric (561—84) received Soissons, and Sigebert (561-75), the eastern and more German parts of the kingdom. Then followed a chaotic period of civil wars, treasons, and new di- visions. Each king sought to bribe the principal followers of the others, and endeavored to gain an advantage in the most unscrupulous ways. Charibert soon died (567), and his lands were divided^be- tween his surviving brothers. He is remembered because he was the father of Bertha, the wife of Aethelbehrt of Kent, who helped forward the Christianization of England by her protec- tion of the mission of Augustine. The civil wars of this period are connected with the names 90 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of two women — Brunhilda, wife of Sigebert, and Fredegonda, wife of Chilperic. Chilperic had many concubines, whom ^. ., he put away in i;66, when he married Galswin- Civil wars ; ^ j ^ ' Brunhilda and tha, daughter of Athanagild, the king of the West Fredegonda. Qq[\,^^ and a sister of Brunhilda. But one of these concubines, Fredegonda, had won and retained the king's affections. He soon brought her back to the court, greatly to the anger of Galswintha, who declared that she would return to her father. At this Chilperic had Galswintha murdered, and in a short time married Fredegonda. He thereby incurred the hatred of Brunhilda, who made it the one work of her life to avenge her murdered sister. For nearly forty years there were constant wars, intrigues, plots, and murders, all caused by these two queens. Although this period is chaotic and full of profitless struggle, it, nevertheless, is important because of two great changes which took place during it : the permanent division between the East and West Franks, and the development of the office of the mayor of the palace (Major Domus). In the west the population consisted of two classes, the Franks and the Romanized Kelts, the latter being far more numerous Austrasiaand than the former. But in the east the Franks Neustria. greatly outnumbered the Keltic population, and consequently they had remained much more German and barbarous than the Franks in the west. The west had become pretty thoroughly Romanized and civilized, while the east was essentially German and untamed. This difference, coupled with the fact that the two districts were under different kings, who were for many years bitterly hostile to each other, caused them to receive different names, and helped perpetuate and in- crease the differences. The eastern part, under Sigebert, was called Austrasia, or the Eastern Kingdom, while the west, under Chilperic, was called Neustria. This division was to become permanent, Neustria forming the basis for the kingdom of France, and Austrasia for that of Germany. THE FRANKS 9I For some years after the death of Galswintha the brothers, Sigebert and Chilperic, were kept very busy defending the southern frontier against the invasions of the T I, 1 ic ■ , ,, r , The Civil Wars. I^ombards. After overrunning tlie valley of the Po, the Lombards turned to the north and devastated the south of Gaul. They were driven back only with the greatest diffi- culty. Soon after began the wars between Austrasia and Neus- tria, stirred up by Brunhilda. Sigebert was at first victorious, but in 575 he was basely murdered by two men who had been hired by Brunhilda to do the deed. They pretended to have a message for the king, and when admitted to his presence stabbed him. Brunhilda and her son Childebert, now four years old, were seized and imprisoned, but she let the boy down from her window, and he was carried away by a faithful fol- lower. The imprisoned Brunhilda by her charms so infatuated Merovech, the son of Chilperic, that he released and married her. The ceremony was performed in the cathedral at Rouen by the bishop, Praetextatus. Chilperic was greatly angered at this, and came to Rouen to seize them. Brunhilda escaped to Austrasia, but Merovech was taken and compelled to become a monk. He attempted to escape to join his wife in Austrasia, but was overtaken and murdered on the way. The people of Austrasia had recognized the four-year-old boy, Childebert, as king. Since he was unable to rule in person, a struggle at once began between Brunhilda and the Austrasian nobles for the possession of the boy and the office of major domus. The origin of this office was as follows : As the king grew in power and importance his household increased accordingly. Over this household he placed a chief servant who was re- sponsible for its management; he was called "major domus" or "mayor of the palace." This position, at -' ' ,. . , , Major Domus. first servile, soon took on a political character ; the major domus always had the ear of the king ; all access to the king was through him ; his influence over the king was 92 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE therefore very great. Gradually he became the king's principal adviser and the original character of his office was entirely changed. The nobles early tried to control the appointment to this office but the king successfully resisted them and the office remained in his own power. Under the boy king, Childebert, and his youthful successors, the nobihty got pos- session of the office and appointed one of their own number to it. Since the king was a child, the mayor had every oppor- tunity of increasing his own power. From this time on the power of the king declined and that of the mayor increased ac- cordingly. In the struggle between the king and his nobility for power the latter had practically won the victory, although the royal house never ceased making great efforts to recover its independence. For the present Brunhilda was still very powerful. She made an alliance with -her brother-in-law, Gontran, king of Burgundy, who had no children, and persuaded him to declare the young king, Childebert 11. , his successor. Consequently he took up the war against Chilperic, which continued until 584, when the latter was murdered. Chilperic left but one son, Chlothar II., an infant four months old. His other children had either died a natural death or had been put to death for ambitious reasons by Fredegonda. Gontran now assumed the guardianship of both his nephews, and for several years there was peace in the land. He turned the armies of the Franks to the south, against the West Goths in Spain, and the Lombards in Italy, but without any permanent success. Unfortunately he died in 593, and Brunhilda and her son, Childebert II., who in- herited all of his uncle's possessions, at once took Neustria, hoping to complete their vengeance on Fredegonda and her son, Chlothar II.; they were defeated, and the war dragged along without any definite result till, in 596, Childebert died, at the age of twenty -six, leaving two sons, both mere children. Theudebert became king of Austrasia and Theuderich king of Burgundy. Brunhilda again assumed the regency, but was THE FRANKS 93 compelled to struggle with the nobles for the leadership, who wrung concession after concession from her, and in the end, established their own power by destroying that of the king. It was the turn of Fredegonda to attack Brunhilda. The Neustrians were victorious in a battle near Laon, and a large strip of territory, as far as the Meuse, was added to Neustria. But this victory was followed by the death of Fredegonda, and for several years her son, Chlothar II., continued the struggle with his two cousins, Theudebert of Austrasia and Theuderich of Burgundy. The armies of the latter were for some time suc- cessful, but soon war broke out between Austrasia and Bur- gundy. The nobles had exiled Brunhilda (599) from Austra- sia and she had fled to Burgundy, where her grandson espoused her cause. This led to the war between Austrasia and Bur- gundy, in which the Burgundians were successful, and Theude- bert of Austrasia was taken prisoner and finally put to death (612). In the following year the king of Burgundy died, and Brunhilda again assumed the regency and proclaimed her great- grandson, Sigebert II., king, and compelled the nobles to recognize him as such. Chlothar II. , however, invaded Austra- sia, won the nobles to his side, captured Brunhilda and Sigebert II., and put them both to death (614). Brun- Death of hilda seems to have been, according to the ideas Brunhilda. of her time, a religious woman. She built churches, monas- teries, and hospitals, and was a friend of some of the leading churchmen of her day. She was also in many respects a good governor. She cared for the fortresses and defences of the kingdom and for the roads, some of which are still called " Chausees de Brunehaute. " If she was utterly unscrupulous, the same is true of her contemporaries, and her character should be judged from the point of view of those times and not from that of to-day. Chlothar II. now became king of Austrasia and Burgundy, as well as of Neustria (613-28), but the real power was by this time in the hands of the mayors of the palace of those coun- 94 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE tries. These officers were from now on to hold their office for Hfe, and consequently became of far greater importance than ^^. *.- ... - ever before. It is to be noted that each of these Chlotharll., king of all the three countries, Austrasia, Burgundy, and Neus- Franks, 613-28. ^^^^^ ^^^ j^^ ^^^^^ mayor of the palace. Another check to the power of the king was now invented. A body of men, consisting of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries and the most important nobles, was associated with the king in all legis- lative matters. From this time on the king's acts are signed or, at least, sanctioned by these men. Without their consent the king could do nothing. Chlothar II. did not engage in war except when attacked by the Slavs who lived east of the Elbe. A certain Frank named Samoandthe Samo had gone among them to seek his fortune, ^*^v^- and having succeeded in acquiring power over sev- eral Slavic tribes, united them under his own rule. He then led them against the Germans to the west, and was for a time victori- ous. The last years of Chlothar II. , as well as the reign of his son Dagobert, were troubled by the invasions of Samo and his Slavs. In 622 Chlothar II. made his son, Dagobert, king over Austrasia. His mayor of the palace was Pippin, the lord of Dagobert, king ''^^ estates known as Landen and Heristhal, of Austrasia, from the latter of which he received the name *"■ of Pippin of Heristhal. The bishop of Metz, Arnulf, was also the adviser of the king and a friend of Pippin. Arnulf was married, as were many of the clergy at that time, and his son Ansegisil married Begga the daughter of Pippin. From this union sprang the line known as the Karlings, from their greatest representative, Karl the Great. In 628 Chlothar II. died and Dagobert succeeded him as king of all Frankland. For two years, however, he shared the power with his brother Charibert, whom he made king of Aqui- taine. His brother died in 630, leaving a small son, who also shortly died, and then Dagobert ruled alone. He spent most of his time in the west, because in Neustria there was no THE FRANKS 95 Strong mayor of the palace, and consequently he himself was more nearly absolute there. In 629 bishop Arnulf withdrew from active life and spent the rest of his days as „ ^^^^^^ ^j^^ ^i a hermit in the Vosges mountains, where he won all Prankiand, the reputation of a saint. His son Ansegisil and 028-38. Pippin now controlled affairs in Austrasia. It made little dif- ference who was king. Dagobert is much praised for the char- acter of his reign, but if judged by absolute standards he would be worthy of much blame. Like nearly all the Prankish kings, he practised polygamy, and was unjust and rapacious. He was, however, better than the kings who immediately preceded him. In 632 he established his young son, Sigebert III., as king of Austrasia. Pippin was his mayor of the palace, and Ansegisil one of his best advisers. The Slavs under Samo were causing much trouble, ravaging Thuringia and Bavaria. In 638 Dago- bert died, leaving Sigebert III. king of Austrasia, and Chlodwig II. king of Burgundy. The next year Pippin The office of died and his son Grimoald tried to make the mayor becomes ' ^. hereditary in officfe of mayor of the palace hereditary by as- the family of suming the position left vacant by his father's Pippin. death. The Austrasian nobles refused to acknowledge him, but after a civil war which lasted three years Grimoald was victorious, and the office was henceforth regarded as an hered- itary possession ' of this powerful family. The king Sigebert never acquired independence and was entirely in the hands of the mayor. He is generally regarded as the first of the do- 4 nothing kings (rois faineants). Sigebert II. died in 656, and Grimoald seized his son Dago- bert II. and sent him to Ireland. He then put up his own son Childebert as king of Austrasia. But the nobles Attempted usur- were not vet ready to desert their line of kings. pationofthe -' ^ 1 A 11 royal power.— Grimoald and his son were put to death. All Do-nothing the kingdoms were then united under Chlodwig '''"«'• II. of Neustria, but he died in the same year, leaving three in- fant sons. These and their successors are of no importance, 96 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE however, for from this time on the real rulers were the mayors. In Neustria, Ebroin was elected by the nobles to Ebroin in th's office, but he used his powers and opportiuii- Neustria. ^igs only for his^own advancement. Ambitious and unscrupulous, he finally became master in Neustria, though at the cost of much blood and violence. He spared no one who opposed him, not even Saint Leger, the bishop of Autun, who suffered the most cruel persecutions and mutilations at his hands. After he had thoroughly reduced Neustria to his power he attacked Austrasia, which was practically governed by Pippin of Heristhal (the younger, grandson of Pippin the elder, and of Arnulf, bishop of Metz). In 680 Ebroin was vic- torious over Pippin, but was assassinated the next year, and the leadership which he had acquired for Neustria was at once p. . . j^ . lost. Pippin continued the war with Neustria, thai, mayor of and in 687, at the battle of Testry, Utterly de- all Frankiand. stjoyed the Neustrian army. Pippin became mayor and practically ruler in both countries, although he named a separate mayor in Neustria. Henceforth there was to be but one king over all the territory, with his residence in Neustria. The year 687 begins a new period in the history of the Franks. The leadership passed definitely to Austrasia, the more German part of the kingdom, and the ruling power to the family of Pippin. The struggle between the Romanized The beginning Franks of the west and those of the east, who of the Kariings. h^d remained less influenced by the Roman civ- ilization, had ended with the victory of the latter. At the same time a vigorous and able family assumed the government^ in everything except the royal name ; it is the beginning of the reign of the house of Karl the Great. The Franks had conquered an immense territory, and sub- jugated many peoples ; they had tried to conquer the barbarians to the east of them, Spain, Italy, and even Constantinople. The Church, more particularly the Bishop of Rome, had built <$► KINGDOM OK THE MEROVINGIANS , ehowlnff tbelr ConQueste. aTALB OP MILBB. to 100 THE FRANKS 97 his hopes on them, and had encouraged them to go on with their conquests. These Franks had made a first attempt to re- organize the society of western Europe, but had Review of the failed. Their royal line had lost its power. history of the Another family had taken the position of honor Franks. and responsibility, and was preparing to make a second and a more successful attempt to reorganize and gather together into one the scattered fragments of the society of western Europe. We have seen that the Franks in their original home, like all other German peoples, had not possessed a central government, but were broken up into small groups or tribes, each with its own local self-government. These tribes united in time of war under some leader, who was elected for his known ability. In time of peace he had no more authority than would naturally attach to a man who had successfully served his people. But during the migrations of the German peoples and their wars of conquest the kingship was developed. The Roman Kelts were accustomed to an absolute ruler, and the [„ theory the king's power was greatly increased by the large king is absolute. possessions which he obtained by the conquest. The situation was favorable to the establishment of an absolute king. Conse- quently we find that from Chlodwig on the king of the Franks is, or claims to be, absolute. The ancient diet, at which all the freemen were expected to be present, was replaced by a meeting, at which only the highest nobihty and the leading clergy were present. The people had very little voice in the conduct of affairs, but there are a few traces of such influence. Eventually, and after a long struggle, the nobles secured some check on the king's actions in the mayor of the palace, and the body of councillors with whose consent he issued all his edicts and laws. This change in the kingship brought p^^g^^^^ .,„^^_ about a change in the Hfe of the king. He sur- ganization of the rounded himself with a court, that is, with cer- government, tain ofi&cers and servants, and fixed forms of ceremony. Chief of these officers was the mayor of the palace, who, as we have 7 98 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE seen, eventually overtopped the king .and was destined to usurp the place made vacant by the inefficiency of the Merovingian line. Other officers of the royal household were the marshal, the count of the palace, the treasurer, and the secretary. Be- sides these there were, of course, others of lower rank, and a large body of servants. All these offices were at first of me- nial character, but because of their connection with the king they came to be looked upon as positions of honor, and their occupants made use of their influence to increase their power and wealth. They were regarded, not as servants of the public, but of the king, to whom alone they were responsible. There was besides this royal household a system of government for the provinces. The larger divisions, such as Austrasia, Burgundy, and Bavaria, developed from among themselves aij officer or leader who was called ' ' duke. ' ' This duke always represented the local aspirations for indepen- Dukes. dence. Coming from the midst of the people of the duchy, he was of them and felt himself to be bound to them. Their interests were his ; consequently he was always opposed to the interests of the king, who labored to bring about a central government and to break down all local independence of the duchies. To counteract this local desire for independence and the in- fluence of the duke the king appointed many officers with the title of count (Graf, comes), and set them over smaller districts. He made them responsible to himself. Generally the count was put over the original tribal territorial unit (Gau, pagus). The count was always supposed to represent the interests of the king, being appointed by, and responsible to, him. The duties of the count were, among other things, to administer justice and collect the tribute or taxes for the king. In the county, that is, the district governed by the count, there were still smaller divisions named "the hundred," which were under the eye of a centenarius or hun- dred-man. THE FRANKS 99 The Franks brought in their conception of law, the peculiar- ity of which was that it was personal rather than territorial. This was common to all Germans. Law was a , •,,.,, The Pranks personal possession, with which the State within believe in a whose borders one was, had no right to interfere. personal law. The Franks shared this conception of law and ruled accordingly. They permitted the Romans among whom they settled and the various tribes that they conquered to live according to their own laws. There was no attempt to force all people to accept the Frankish laws. These German laws held their ground for a long time, al- though modiiied more and more by Roman legal ideas and the changing situation and condition of the people themselves. But in the eleventh and twelfth centuries there was a great re- vival of the study of the Roman law. In the end this law pre- vailed and the German laws fell into disuse in most of the countries of Europe. But in England the development of the Anglo - Saxon laws continued, influenced somewhat by the Roman, but remaining essentially German. The social classes remained the same — slaves, freemen, and nobles — but there were new shades of difference in all these three ranks. The slaves were attached either to the social dis- house of the master for domestic work or to his tinctions. land for manual labor. Both the Church and the king were rich in slaves. According to the ideas of the Barbarians, the slave of a king was on the same social plane as a common free- man, so ennobling in their eyes was even the lowest connection with the person of a king. Among the slaves there were many gradations of servitude and liberty. Many were bound only by a personal bond to some powerful man who stood to them as a protector. In return for the protection thus given them they rendered service of so varied a character that it is impossible to classify them with any accuracy. Many " commended " them- selves to their most powerful neighbor and entered into a per- sonal contract, securing the best terms they could. lOO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The old nobility was gradually reenforced by the entrance into its ranks of many who either through association with the king as officers or followers, or the accumulation of wealth were regarded as worthy of this honor. The highest clergy, principally bishops and later the abbots, by virtue of their sacerdotal character, their landed possessions, and their civil and political authority were also reckoned among the nobility, and became a part of the council of the king. In regard to the disposition of the lands it is impossible to make a single statement which would apply to all the kingdoms. It is a vexed question. It is certain that the The soil. ^ , , . , ^ , . i Franks obtamed most of their territory by con- quest and not by settlement. The northern part of Gaul was probably colonized by them, but other parts contained rela- tively, at least, a very small number of Franks. In the north it is probable that one-third of the lands or more was taken from the Romans and distributed among the Franks. In the other parts there was no systematic partition of the soil, but the king, it seems, became possessed of large tracts of land. The im- perial domains or possessions of the other kings whom he de- stroyed and perhaps other lands which he forcibly seized, prob- ably composed his pos,sessions. These he then gave out as rewards to his followers, warriors, and favorites. It seems not to have been forgotten by the recipients that these lands had been gifts, for the heirs generally asked the king to confirm them in their possession. One of the greatest changes among the Franks was their con- version to Christianity. The Church, in fact, became a part The clergy as the of the State. The bishops were appointed or king's officials, confirmed by the king, and were, indeed, his officers. With the royal sanction they served as judges and exercised other civil and poUtical functions. By virtue of their ecclesiastical character their moral influence was almost un- bounded. The whole of this influence they were required to exert in the cause of law and order, that is, for the benefit of THE FRANKS lOI the king. The clergy were used very often as ambassadors and sent on the business of the king. The assembUes were attended by them, and they had great weight in the royal councils. It should be remembered, however,' that the conversion of the Franks had been a thoroughly superficial one. The Church was regarded most nearly as a convenient piece of machinery to be used in the work of governing. The moral and political condition of the people had been very little affected by Christi- anity. Furthermore, during the fierce internal struggles the close connection between the Franks and the Bishops of Rome had been interrupted. The time was now approaching when ( ihis was to be renewed, and the real Christianization of the people to be begun in earnest by Roman missionaries supported by Pippin and his descendants. They regarded this as one of their principal duties as rulers of the people. Pippin (mayor, 687-714) began a policy which was to be followed by his successors and to bear its legitimate fruit in the kingdom of Karl the Great. During the long „, , , „ _, ° 00 Pippin 5 efforts period of civil strife all the frontier had taken to unite aii tiie the opportunity to revolt. The Friesians, the conquests. Thuringians, the Bavarians, the Alamanni, and the people of Aquitaine had, one after another, thrown off the Frankish yoke and refused to pay their tribute. In a long series of campaigns Pippin succeeded in reducing them all more nearly to a state of dependence, although the disposition to revolt was ever there and waited only for an opportunity to show itself His whole reign was given to the effort to consolidate his vast territories, to bring them under one central government, and to make this government as nearly absolute as possible. His reign is marked also by the beginning of a remarkable missionary activity, which will be discussed in a later paragraph. At the death of Pippin only two of his descendants survived him, a bastard son, Karl Martel, and a grandson, Theudoald, only about five years old. He had been guilty of the folly of naming as his successor this boy. The Franks were to have a I02 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE boy king and a boy mayor as well. Pippin's wife, Plectrudis, assumed the regency in the name of her grandson and cast Karl Karl iWartei, into prison. But the nobles of Neustria revolted T*-*'- against her and invaded Australia. They were aided by the Friesians, and at the same time the Saxons crossed the Rhine and ravaged the eastern territory. Plectrudis was defeated and compelled to grant the demands of the Neustri- ans, but in the meanwhile Karl escaped from his prison and was recognized as mayor by the majority of the Austrasians. He at once took up arms, and although not immediately successful, he in the end succeeded in putting down all those who had made war on Austrasia. Karl's whole reign was full of wars. The Neustrians were conquered and compelled to recognize Karl as mayor, the Friesians were more than once chastised (719, His wars, 722, 733-34) ; the Saxons likewise in 718, 720, and 738; the Bavarians in 725 and 728; the Alamanni were subjected and more closely united to the central government than ever before. The work of centralizing all the power and uniting the peoples with the kingdom went slowly on. In 711 the Arabs crossed into Spain from Africa and in less than nine years overran nearly all Spain and entered into southern Gaul (720). Duke Eudes, of Aquitaine, drove them out of his territory at first, but in a later invasion made peace with them and gave his daughter to Othman, the general com- manding the Arab forces. He wished to make himself inde- pendent of Karl iVIartel ; but Karl came in 731 and defeated the duke, whose alliance with the Arabs thus came to nothing. The Arab general, Othman, revolted against Abderrahman, the governor of Spain, but was defeated and killed. Abderrahman refused to be bound by Othman's alliance with Eudes, who now found himself deserted and between two enemies. Thinking that he would fare better at the hands of Karl, he chose to throw himself on his mercy. Karl forgave him, and after col- lecting all the forces possible, went to meet Abderrahman. THE FRANKS 103 The battle was fought near Poitiers, in 732. The losses of the Arabs were very great ; among others Abderrahman was slain. They consequently refused to continue the battle ^ hamme- on the following day and withdrew. They were dans checked, not, however, at once driven out of Gaul, but '^^' held some of the southern portions for several years and con- tinued to cause the Franks trouble. Yet their power was bro- ken. Karl Martel had made it impossible for them to extend beyond the Pyrenees. ' The next years were spent in the south, where he had to con- tend with revolts in Burgundy and Aquitaine. He was every- where victorious, and the last years of his reign were peaceful. The whole kingdom was quiet in his hands. His authority is shown by the fact that in 741 he divided his power between his two sons without any oppo- sition from the nobles. Karl received the east and Pippin the west. He died soon after this division was made (741). Dur- ing the last four years of his reign there was no king. Theu- derich IV. died (737), and Karl did not try to place another Meroving on the throne. The king was in no way missed. Karl Martel had steadily followed one policy throughout his whole reign. His sons and successors continued it, and his grandson, Karl the Great, was to perfect it and r , , • Karl's policy. bring his house to the acme of its glory. This policy of Karl was that of centralizing the power and binding all the parts of the kingdom close together. It was but natural that all these men, true to the traditions of their great ancestor, St. Arnulf of Metz, should be interested in the Church and do much for its spread ; in fact, they all regarded this as one of their most important duties. Karl's reign is coincident with a serious crisis in the Church throughout the kingdom of the Franks. There were two sets of missionaries at work there, and the fate of the kingdom de- pended to a great extent on which of them should be vic- torious. I04 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The Christianization of Ireland is veiled in much obscurity, but it seems probable that St. Patrick (his date is very un- Christianity in certain ; it cannot be determined whether he Ireland. (jigd in 465 or 493) was the first missionary who met with very much success there. The whole island became Christian, and in the next centuries won so great a reputation for its piety that it was called " The Isle of Saints." There was, however, a low state of civilization there. The Church of Ireland was entirely independent of Rome, and differed in several respects from the Church on the continent, especially in matters of ritual and government (the time of celebrating Easter, the dress and tonsure of the monks, etc.). The type of Christian- ity established there was thoroughly ascetic and monastic. The island was covered with monasteries. The ascetic zeal of the Irish for the Church led them to try to convert the world to their form of Christianity. It was not so much what is now called the " missionary spirit," as the desire to undergo hardships of all kinds. To travel in foreign lands as a mission- Irish ary (^peregrinare pro Christo) was, because of its Missionaries. difificulties, a meritorious work. Accordingly the Irish Church engaged in such mission work with great zeal. In accordance with their ascetic ideas, they settled not in the cities but in the wilds.' Their first settlements were in Scotland. In 563 St. Columba (or St. Columbcille) sailed with twelve fellow- monks to Scotland, where the island of lona was given them. They were occasionally reenforced by other monks from Ireland. From this island of lona they carried on their work on the main- land. They labored not only in Scotland, but also among the Anglo-Saxons of Britain. Lindisfarne, on the east coast of England, was occupied by them, and for a long time was a centre of missionary activity among the Angles. The Irish sent missionaries also to the Continent. St. Columbanus was the 1 The Legend of St, Brendan shows this clearly. He went north to find a place where there were no people. (See Matthew Arnold's poem on this subject.) THE FRANKS lOS first to go, with twelve companions, about 590 (the exact date is unknown). He went first to Burgundy, where king Gun- tran received him with great favor. He was very „ ^ ^ St. Columbanus ascetic, laid down the severest rules for all who on the Con- joined him, rebuked the kings and the nobles for tment. their evil lives, but, in spite of all this, his success was very great. When it seemed that he could not be sufficiently rigor- ous there because of the crowds that came to him, he withdrew into the Vosges Mountains, where he established four monas- teries, the most important of which was that of Luxeuil. But because he rebuked Brunhilda and the king, he was exiled. He went first to Neustria, where king Chlothar II. received him kindly. After a short time he went into Austrasia, but the king, Theodebert II., persuaded him to go to the Alamanni on Lake Constance. He spent some time at Bregenz, and then passed over into Italy and founded the monastery of Bobbio, where he died in 615. St. Gallus, one of his followers, Bobbio and went into northern Switzerland and founded the ^*- Oa". famous monastery which bears his name. This monastery be- came the centre of the missionary work in that part of Europe. An excellent school was established there, in which the mission- aries were trained. Many Irish missionaries came to it and labored among the Germans there and elsewhere. The im- portance of this monastery for the Christianization and civiliza- tion of northern Switzerland can hardly be over-estimated. Among other groups of Irish missionaries the following may be mentioned : St. Kilian, with twelve followers, at Wuerzburg in Franconia (680) ; St. Eloquius, with twelve, in nissionary Belgium, about the same time ; St. Rupert, with • •'^n^s. twelve, in Bavaria (about 700) ; St. Willibrord, in Friesland (about 690) ; Sigebert established the monastery of Disentis in the high Alps; others went to Bavaria, Thuringia, and other parts of the kingdom. The result of their presence and labors was the slow Christianization of the people about their settle- ments, and their advance in morals. Towns sprang up about I06 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE nearly all of their monasteries, and they became prominent cen- tres of business, learning, and culture. But these monks could not win a definite success. They were too ascetic. They wished to turn all the kingdom of the Franks into one great monastery, and the people were not the proper Roman opposi= material for monks. They were also very weak tion. in organization. They did not attempt to unite all the churches under one head and bring them under one gov- ernment. There was large local independence. They differed, also, as has been said, in several points, from the Church of Rome. There was danger that they might bring about a free national Church among the Germans. Such a thing would be very detrimental to the interests of the Bishop of Rome. He therefore carried on a counter-movement among the Germans in a systematic way, which, in the end, was successful. He wished to Christianize, organize, and subject the Prankish people to himself The Irish missionaries were compelled to retreat, and at last lost their popularity and gave up their work. The Bishop of Rome sent out an army of missionaries, the first of whom was Boniface, who labored not only to Christianize, but also to place their converts under the direct control of their master at Rome. Thus all the Germans were attached to the Bishop of Rome through the efforts of these Roman mission- aries. To Karl Martel belongs some of the honor of Boniface's suc- cess. He supported him and gave him all the help and pro- tection he could. The reorganization of the famous missionary was carried on in part with the aid of the sword wielded by Karl Martel. This warrior would undoubtedly have been in great honor in the Catholic Church, but for the fact that he was a bastard ; that he made and unmade bishops, filling the highest Karl and the offices in the Church with his favorites ; and Church lands. jj^at ].,g compelled the Church to invest some of his followers with vast tracts of her lands. These lands were not entirely secularized. They still continued to be regarded THE FRANKS lOJ as lands of the Church, but the Church had no practical control over them. She received only, or was entitled to receive, a cer- tain amount every year in return for their use. Many bishops and abbots were deposed by Karl Martel and his warriors were put into their places, not, of course, with the expectation that they would perform the duties of such offices, but simply that they might enjoy the incomes, which were very large, in return for their services to Karl and the kingdom. Since Karl was poor, but under the necessity of rewarding his warriors, he made use of the lands of the Church. The clergy forgetting his great services to the cause of Christianity, because of these things placed him under the severest condemnation. Without the work of Karl Martel, however, the greatness and glory of Karl the Great would have been impossible. He laid the founda- tions for the great empire of the latter. Before his death (741) he made his sons his successors ; Karl- man became mayor in the east, and Pippin, surnarned the Short, in the west. They were on the best of Kariman and terms as long as they ruled together, and carried Pippin. on their work in the greatest harmony. The first seven years of their reign were filled with wars, caused by the repeated re- volts of the Aquitanians, the Alamanni, the Bavarians, the Slavs, and the Saxons, all of which were successfully put down. Besides, their young half-brother, Grifo, revolted and tried to wrest a full share of the territory from them. He was, how- ever, taken captive and imprisoned. Escaping later, he caused his brothers a great deal of trouble for several years, because of his ambition and unwillingness to be contented with what was given him. In order to strengthen their position with the people the two brothers soon hunted up a member of the Merovingian family, Childerich HI., and made him king. This was xtie last Mero- done simply for the sake of giving themselves a vingian king. greater show of legality. The king, of course, never took any part in the affairs of the government. He was destined to be I08 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the last of the Merovingian kings. In the year 747 Karhnan abdicated in favor of his brother, and made him the guardian of his children. Karlman went to Mount Soracte, near Rome, and established himself as a hermit. But he was greatly dis- turbed by the large number of visitors who came to see him, and soon became a member of the famous Monte Casino monas- tery. The cause of his abdication we do not clearly know. Pippin was now sole mayor, and more than ever began to think about becoming king in name as well as in fact. He „, . , sent an embassy to Rome to ask Pope Zacharias Pippin, sole -' ^ mayor, becomes who should be king, the one who had the title *""*■ and no power, or the one who had the power but not the title. Since Zacharias was at this time in need of help against the Lombards, who were trying to unite all Italy under their sway, he replied that the one who had the power should be king. He favored the ambition of Pippin in order to secure his help against the Lombards. Accordingly, in an assembly held at Soissons, in the autumn of 751, the change was made. Childerich was not formally deposed, but his hair was shorn, and he was sent into a monastery. Pippin was declared king and anointed by Boniface. The rite of anointing a king was something new among the Germans, but through the in- fluence of the Church it was now introduced, principally with the idea that it legalized and strengthened the title of the one who was anointed. The Lombards had crossed into Italy in the year 568, and in a few years had taken possession of all the northern part, together with the large duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. Unfortunately their ruling house was not able to hold the throne The Lombards continually. Of the twenty-one kings who ruled in itaiy. oygj- them during their two hundred years of ex- istence, eight belonged to other families. All the kings had practically the same policy in regard to Italy ; they all wished to unite and rule over the whole of it. Unfortunately for Italy, they were not able to do so. The Greek Emperor held THE FRANKS I09 Ravenna, which was the residence of his governor, the Exarch ; also nearly all the extreme southern part and the district about Rome commonly called the duchy of Rome. The chief officer in the latter was the Bishop of Rome, who was subject to the eastern Emperor. Gradually the Lombards became Catholic. Theodelinda, a Catholic Bavarian princess, became the wife of Authari (583- 590), and at his death, of Agilulf (590-615). At the death of the latter she was for some years the regent for her son Adaloald. She labored hard for the conversion of her adopted people, and with some success. Under Rotharis (636-652), a Catholic king, Arianism practically disappeared. This greatly facilitated the fusion of the two peoples, which was almost com- plete at the end of the seventh century. But the unton of this conversion to Christianity and fusion with '**'y- the people of Italy did not in the least diminish the desires of the kings of the Lombards to rule over all Italy. Under Liut-. prand (712-743) it seemed that the time had come for the Lombards to wrest all Italy from the Emperor. The king of the Lombards would then have become the ruler of Italy, and Rome would naturally have been his residence. Gregory II. (715-731) had quarrelled with the Emperor and the Church of the east about the use of images in the churches. There was great disorder throughout all Italy, and Liutprand thought this a favorable opportunity to carry out his schemes. In 727 he attacked the Exarchate, and in a short time sue- uutprand's ceeded in taking almost the whole of it. The plans and con- district known as Pentapolis was also taken, and """^^ Liutprand then thought of taking Rome. But this the Pope was determined he should not do. The Pope knew that if Italy should fall into the hands of the Lombards, his own great power would come to an end. He feared nothing more than the domination of the Lombards. He therefore made great preparations to resist them. Fortune favored him. Liutprand was checked by the Emperor's forces, which retook Ravenna, no EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE and the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento now revolted against Liutprand and joined the forces of the Bishop of Rome. An alliance was then made between Liutprand and the Exarchate of Ravenna, the latter to take Rome and the former to reduce the dukes of Benevento and Spoleto. Liutprand was successful in his undertaking, and then went to Rome, but being unwilhng that the imperial power should be so strengthened in Italy, he acted the part of a peace-maker. The Bishop of Rome pro- fessed to submit to his former master, the Emperor, and the Exarch returned to Ravenna. Gregory IL was succeeded by Gregory IIL (731-741), whg at once began an open opposition to the Emperor and the Rome and Church of the east. The Emperor fitted out a Constantinople, flget to invade Italy, to reduce it to subjection again, and to bring Gregory III. a prisoner to Constantinople. But the fleet was destroyed by a storm, and Greek control in Italy was never again possible. The Bishop of Rome was thor- oughly alienated from the Emperor, and the future of Italy de- pended upon the outcome of the .struggle between the Bishop of Rome and the Lombards for supremacy. This struggle did not again break out until 738, when the duke of Spoleto rebelled against Liutprand, but was defeated Gregory III. and ^^d fled to the protection of Gregory III. When Karl nartei. Liutprand demanded his surrender the Bishop refused, whereupon liutprand invaded his territory and threatened Rome. Gregory III. feared that he was about to be made a subject of the Lombard king and hastened to ask Karl Martel to rescue him. He sent Martel the keys to the grave of St. Peter and gave him the title of Patricius, which, up to this time, had been conferred only by the Emperor. His letters are full of the most violent abuse of the Lombards, the only cause of which was the fact that the Lombards threatened to deprive him of the political independence which he was enjoying. But Martel was on friendly terms with Liutprand, and having many difficulties at home to contend with, refused to help the THE FRANKS 1 1 I Bishop. Martel and Gregory III. both died in the year 741, and the latter's successor, Zachariah (741-752), made a twenty years' peace with Liutprand, who restored all that he had taken from the duchy of Rome and gave the Pope many gifts. But the danger of the Lombard conquest of Italy was not removed ; it was only put off, and consequently the Bishop of Rome was in as precarious a position as ever. His hatred and fear of the Lombards, therefore, constantly increased. In 743 Liutprand died, and his nephew, Hildebrand, suc- ceeded him. He was, however, very soon removed for in- competency, and Rachis, duke of FriuH, was elected king (744-749). Rachis kept the treaty made with Liutprand till 749, when he attacked Perugia, a dependency of the Emperor. Zachariah went to visit him and to persuade him not to break the peace. He was so successful that Rachis not only desisted from the war but even resigned the crown and entered a monastery. Aistulf, his brother, was now made king, and at once took up the policy which the previous kings Aistuifs vigor- of the Lombards had followed. He invaded •>"* P»"«y' the Exarchate and attacked Ravenna. Benevento was then reduced and Aistulf moved toward the duchy of Rome with the intention of taking possession of it. He sent ambassadors to the Pope, Stephen (752-757), and demanded the acknowledg- ment of himself as his master. The Pope was helpless, for his threats of excommunication had no effect on Aistulf He now remembered that he had done Pippin a great service by sanctioning his seizure of the throne, and resolved to ask his help and protection against the Lombards. He left Italy (753) and went to visit Pippin, who received him gra- The Pope asks ciously and listened to his complaints and en- aid of Pippin. treaties. In an assembly at Cerisy-sur-Oise, in April, 754, Pippin agreed to restore to the Pope the patrimony of St. Peter, which had been seized by the Lombards. These were the estates which had been acquired by the successive Bishops of Rome and had become the property of the office rather than 112 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of the individual Bishops. These estates were very numerous in Italy, and many of them had been taken by the Lombards. Pippin's first promise was to restore to the Pope all these pos- sessions. He must, of course, first conquer them. But the Pope was also concerned for his independence. The second part of the agreement was that Pippin should defend the people of Rome and of the Province (the duchy of Rome) ; that is, the people of the diocese of the Bishop of Rome. The high position of the Pope in the duchy of Rome, his practical politi- cal independence, was thereby secured. The Pope remained several months in Gaul and gave his per- sonal attention to many questions which were just then under The Pope in discussion, such as the relations between slaves Frankiand. ^nd freemen, marriage laws, baptism, and the control of the clergy. Most important of all, he reanointed and crowned Pippin king of the Franks at St. Denis, and gave him the title of Patricius. The reason of this is unk-own. This rite had already been performed on him by the Frankish clergy. It is difficult to see why it should have been repeated. It is probable that it was for the purpose of confirming Pippin in the possession of the crown, and that it was supposed to in- crease the legality of his claim to the throne. His wife, Ber- trada, and his two sons, Karl and Karlman, were at the same time anointed and crowned, and the nobles were required to take an oath never to choose their ruler from any other family. This was, therefore, a consecration of the family to the kingship, the establishment of a new dynasty. While Pippin reaped many advantages from it, it was of far greater benefit to the Bishop of Rome, for it secured him the assistance and gratitude of the Frankish kings, and later he claimed the right to make and depose kings, basing his claim on the alleged fact that he had raised Pippin to the throne of the Franks. Meanwhile the Frankish army poured over the Alps into Italy. Aistulf was quickly shut up in Pavia, and, seeing his helplessness, proposed terms of peace, which were accepted at THE FRANKS II3 once by Pippin. He agreed to make the restitutions to the Pope which Pippin demanded, and to do homage to Pippin for his kingdom. Seeing that the whole matter had been pippin twice settled Pippin returned to Gaul. But Aistulf in Italy. had no thought of keeping his promise. He did not restore anything to the Pope, but in the winter of 755-6 suddenly at- tacked Rome. In a letter which professed to be written by St. Peter himself, Pippin was again called on to protect the Church of God, which, in the eyes of the Pope, was almost identical with his independent possession of Rome. Crossing the Alps a second time. Pippin compelled Aistulf to raise the siege and shut himself up in Pavia. Again peace was made, but on harder terms. Pippin demanded trijjute and hostages for him- self and the restitution of all his conquests to the Pope. Am- bassadors were present from the Emperor to demand that the Exarchate be restored to him, but Pippin said that he had not fought for the advantage of any man but for the salvation of his own soul; he would therefore give these lands The Pope's to St. Peter. He had no desire to hold lands in possessions. Italy himself, and the Emperor had, by his heresy and ineffi- ciency, lost all claim on the west. There remained only the Pope to whom the lands could be given. Accordingly the Pope found himself possessed of the Exarchate, the Pentapolis, and the duchy of Rome. This is the beginning of the temporal possessions and sovereignty of the Papacy. The rest of Pippin's reign was occupied with wars, mostly on the frontiers. The whole of Septimania and Narbonne was taken from the Arabs and the Frankish frontier extended to the Pyrenees. In 760 Waifer, duke of Aquitaine, revolted against Pippin, and a war was begun which lasted, with short interruptions, for seven years. Waifer was able, treacherous, and subjection of determined to achieve his independence. But Aquitaine. Pippin's forces were far greater than his, and all his territory was finally taken from him. His followers, despairing of sue- 114 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE cess, killed Waifer and submitted to Pippin (768). For the growth of France, this conquest of Aquitaine was of the highest importance. The history of France would have been very- different if Aquitaine, Narbonne, and Septimania (the whole southern part of France) had been allowed to form an inde- pendent state. Pippin at once reconstructed the government of Aquitaine by putting it under a large number of his own officers, called counts. There was no longer a duke of Aquitaine. Pippin paid great attention to the Church in Aquitaine, and took special measures to regulate it and its property. Duke Tassilo of Bavaria also revolted (763), and the Saxons made a few invasions of the eastern frontier, but Pippin was able to check them all. In his last years he held Death of Pippin. the first place in the west m the eyes of all the peoples. His court was thronged with embassies and crowded by quacks. The Emperor frequently sent ambassadors to his court, once to negotiate a marriage between his son and the daughter of Pippin. The Khalif of Bagdad tried to secure an alliance with him for the purpose of putting down the revolt in Spain, which was led by Abderrahman, a prince of the Ommeiad family. He was the central figure in the west. He died September 24, 768, after having divided his lands between his two sons ; Karlman received the southern, and Karl the north- ern half of the kingdom. The exact line of division is not known, but it is clear that Karl had the more powerful because the more warlike portion. For some unknown reason the two brothers thoroughly dis- liked each other, and war was more than once on the point of Hostiiit be- breaking out. The custom of dividing the king- tween Karl and dom between the sons of the king seemed about Karlman. ^^ ^^^.^^j^ ^j^^ p^^^^^. ^^ ^j^q Franks, but at first the dowager-queen, Bertha, proved a peace-maker and suc- ceeded in keeping Karl and Karlman from actual hostilities. Immediately after the death of Pippin, Aquitaine revolted. Hunold, the father of Waifer, had been for some years in a THE FRANKS I15 monastery, but now left it to head the revolt. Karl summoned Karlman to assist him, but the latter refused. Karl, however, was successful. The revolt was quelled, Hunold again sent to a monastery, and the country placed under counts from the north. Karl forgave Karlman for his refusal to help him, but determined to put as many checks on him as he could. It seems that it was on this account that he made an alliance with Desiderius, king of the Lombards, and married his daughter Desiderata, the sister of Gerberga, the wife of Karlman. He also made an alliance with Tassilo of Bavaria, principally for the purpose of using him against Karlman. The Pope had most bitterly opposed the marriage of Karl and Desiderata because it seemed to him to endanger his own position. If Karl and Desiderius were on good Karl and the terms, he feared that he could not count on the Lombards, help of the Franks against the Lombards. His fears, however, were quickly removed, for in less than a year Karl repudiated his wife and sent her back to her father because, as he said, she was barren. From this time there was implacable hatred be- tween Desiderius and Karl. Karlman was on the point of taking up the cause of his sister-in-law when he died (771). His widow, Gerberga, fled with her infant son to her father, who espoused her cause, but the nobles and bishops of Karl- man's territory went to Karl and acknowledged him as king. The whole kingdom of Pippin was again united in the hands of Karl. Aistulf, king of the Lombards, died in 756, shortly after he had submitted to Pippin. His successor was Desiderius (756- 774), duke of Tuscany. He made many alHances, as we have seen, with Karl, Karlman, and also with Tassilo of Bavaria, to whom he gave one of his daughters. When Karl repudiated Desiderata, Desiderius appealed to the Pope and Desiderius and asked him to recognize his little grandson as king t^e Pope. of the Franks. Pope Hadrian (772-795) refused to do so. He was a Roman and thoroughly hated the Lombards. Being I l6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ambitious of increasing his power, he demanded Faenza, Imola, Ferrara, Ancona, and Osimo, on the ground that they were a part of what had been promised him by Pippin. Desiderius, Karl interferes thinking that Karl was too busy at home to in- in Italy. terfere in Italian affairs, refused to give up the cities, and at once began a war against Hadrian. He invaded the Pentapolis with success, and then prepared to besiege Rome. Hadrian hastily summoned Karl to his help, but the latter could not come at once, being engaged in the Saxon war. Karl or- dered Desiderius to give up all the cities which belonged to St. Peter, and on his refusal invaded Lombardy (773) and shut Desiderius up in Pavia, where he held out for several months. Karl spent Easter of 774 in Rome, and is said then to have re- newed the gift of Pippin, but as the territory was not yet sub- - dued, it is possible that this was not done till 781, during Karl's second visit to Rome. In the summer of 774 Pavia surren- dered. Desiderius was sent to France and put into a monastery, while his son Adelchis fled to Constantinople, where he died several years later. The kingdom of the Lombards was now at an end. Karl was proclaimed king of the Lombards, but made little change in the government except that some of the Lombardy i , , t-. , subject to the Lombard officers were replaced by Franks. In king of the yg,-, j^g placed the government of Lombardy in the hands of twenty Frankish counts and put over them his son Pippin, whom he had crowned king of the Lombards. The Pope received the Exarchate, the Pentapolis, the duchy of Rome, and a few cities in Tuscany. At this time we find traces of the existence of a famous document, known as the Donation of Constantine. It may have existed The Donation before this, but it was now certainly used as an of Constantine. argument to convince Karl that he was only restoring those territories to their rightful owner. According to this donation the Emperor Constantine had been smitten with leprosy, but on appealing to Silvester, Bishop of Rome, for THE FRANKS II7 baptism, he had come out of the font healed of his disease. Out of gratitude he determined to withdraw from Rome and make Constantinople his residence, because it was not proper that the secular and spiritual rulers of the world should occupy the same city. He accordingly gave the Bishop of Rome Italy and the west. "The edict proceeds to grant to the Roman pontiff and his clergy a series of dignities and privileges, all of them enjoyed by the Emperor and his senate, all of them showing the same desire to make the pontifical a copy of the imperial office. The Pope is to inhabit the Lateran Palace, to wear the diadem, the collar, the purple cloak, to carry the sceptre, and to be attended by a body of chamberlains. Sim- ilarly, his clergy are to ride on white horses and receive the honors and immunities of the senate and patricians " (Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, chap. vii.). This document is one of the famous forgeries of the Middle Age. Its author is unknown, but it must have been made at Rome and by one acquainted with the papal court, perhaps by the Pope himself, or at least with his connivance.' The war with the Lombards was of the very greatest impor- tance because it brought Karl into the closest relations with the Papacy. Equally important for other reasons ,„p„rtanceof were his wars with the Saxons (772-804). The' theSaxon , , . ^ . . Conquest. Germans were now broken up into two great hostile camps. All those west of the Rhine had been Chris- tianized and were becoming civilized Those east of the Rhine were largely heathen and barbarian. It was of the utmost im- portance for the future of the Germans that these two divisions should be united. Karl accomplished this in his wars with the Saxons, and therefore made possible the greatness of Germany. Both Martel and Pippin had had trouble with the Saxons and had reduced some of them to subjection. The boundary be- tween the Franks and the Saxons was not yet fixed and there ' A translation may be found in Henderson's Documents of the Middle Ages, page 319 ff. Il8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE was a good deal of border warfare between them. Karl made his first campaign against them in 772. Invading their terri- TheSaxon tory he reduced the Engrians to submission. campaigns. He captured their stronghold, the Eresburg, and the Irminsul (probably a holy tree or pillar), which was near there. A Christian church was established in the Eresburg. The chiefs took the oath of fidelity and gave hostages. Gar- risons were left in the Eresburg and elsewhere, and Karl re- turned to the west. But while Karl was in Italy engaged in reducing the Lom- bards, the Saxons revolted, retook the Eresburg, drove out the garrisons, ravaged the country as far as the Rhine, sacked the famous monastery of Fritzlar, and destroyed all the churches they could find. Karl came back in 775, defeated the VVest- phalians, and received the submission of the Eastphalians and the Engrians. Nearly all of Saxony had now done homage to Karl, but it proved to be little more than a form. This is in general the course of all these wars. Karl would invade the lands of the Saxons, and after a few skirmishes rather than battles, receive their submission, leave garrisons behind, General charac build churches and monasteries, establish priests terofthewar. ^^d monks among them, and withdraw to his home. The Saxons would pay the heavy fines which he im- posed upon them, mostly in cattle, take the oath of obedience and fidelity, and then break it as soon as he was gone. They were not able to meet his armies in the field, but fled to the forests and swamps. Karl generally found it very difficult to follow them. They had, however, few strongholds, no cities, and their villages were not worth defending. When he had harassed them for a while, the least courageous ones would come to him and submit, while the more stubborn ones would retreat before him. These considered themselves in no way bound by the agreements made by their less defiant companions. Con- sequently they did not hesitate to revolt when the opportunity presented itself. THE FRANKS Up In 776 Karl started to Italy to chastise the dukes of Friuli and Benevento, and the Saxons thought the time had come for a revolt. They retook the Eresburg, put the garrison to the sword, and tried to get possession of all the places held by the Franks. When Karl heard of this he at once set out for the scene of the war, and travelled so rapidly that he took the enemy wholly unawares. Frightened by the rapidity of his movements and being unable to meet him they submitted and promised to be- come Christian. But one of the Westphalian <• Mayfieid " at chiefs, named Widukind, refusing to yield, fled Paderborn, 777. to the north. Karl now determined to impress the Saxons with his great power, and for this purpose held a diet, or " Mayfield," on Saxon soil, at Paderborn, in the spring of 777. It was largely attended by both Franks and Saxons. Many of the latter now became Christian and promised loyalty to both Karl and the Church. While at Paderborn, Karl received am- bassadors from some Arab chiefs in Spain, promising to do homage to him for their lands if he would come into Spain and protect them against the Ommeiad Abderrahman, who, having come west from Damascus after the de- invasion of struction of his house there, had now conquered Spain. nearly all of Spain. Huesca, Barcelona, and Gerona still held out against him, and it was the officers of these towns who now sought help of Karl. The offer was a tempting one, for it gave Karl an opportunity to extend his boundaries and to make a stronger frontier between the Saracens in Spain and himself He accordingly set out with his army for Spain in the spring of 778. Sending his troops forward in two bodies, he brought them all together before Saragossa. Although unable to take this city, he nevertheless established the power of the Saracen chiefs who had called on him. These did him homage and he returned. While crossing the Pyrenees his rear-guard was at- tacked by the Basques, who were supposed to be friendly, and sustained some loss. Among others Roland, one of his noble- men, a count of the mark of Brittany, was slain. Absolutely I20 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE nothing more is known of him, but he must have been a famous man among the people, for in a short time the popular imag- ination took hold of him and made him the hero of a great many songs and poems. These were finally brought together and are knosvn as the " Song of Roland." The invasion of Spain brought no permanent gain with it, for Abderrahman soon conquered almost all the territory south of the Pyrenees. During the absence of Karl in Spain, Widukind returned to the Saxons and persuaded them to break their oath and revolt. Almost all Saxony came at his call, the east bank of the Rhine was plundered, churches and monasteries especially were sacked and destroyed. Hesse and Thuringia suffered much. Karl contented himself with putting an end to the depre- dations and waited till the summer of 779 to punish the re- bellion. The campaign of 779 was like those that had preceded it. Widukind and his followers fled, and those that remained behind surrendered and renewed their oaths. Karl made an ecclesiastical division of the land into districts and put monks and priests to work among the people to Christianize them. Christianity was now forced upon them, and many of them were baptized at the point of the sword. They were often driven into the rivers and baptized in droves. A little later the whole land was divided into counties, over each of which was placed a Frank or a Saxon on whom Karl Capitulary of thought he could depend. About 780 he issued 7^°- a capitulary about the surrounding territory, which was intended to arrange all affairs of Church and govern- ment in the newly acquired land. The Church was to play the most important part there in the work of subduing and civiliz- ing the Saxons. Consequently Karl endowed it with great liberties and powers. The churches were to have the right of asylum, thai; is, criminals who fled to a church could not be taken by the officers. Any injury done to a church or slight put upon it or any of the services, was declared to be punish- able with death. To offer human sacrifices, to kill a clergy- THE FRANKS 121' man, to refuse to be baptized, to burn instead of burying the dead, to disregard the rules of the Church in regard to fasting, all were offences to be punished with death. Sunday must be observed, no courts were to be held on that day. The churches were endowed with large tracts of land and tlie payment of the tithe enforced. Again, in 782, Widukind returned, and in his presence the Saxons forgot all their oaths and attempted to drive out the hated Franks. An army was sent against them which was led into an ambush by Saxon leaders and totally destroyed near the Suentel Mountains, a range of hills not far from Osnabrueck. Karl again marched among them and pitched his camp at Verden. He now demanded that all the principal offenders be delivered up to him. About four thousand five hundred were thus brought to him, and to punish them for their perfidy he had them all massacred. Enraged at this the Saxons agai-n revolted, and for two years there was constant fighting. Karl overran almost the whole of their territory. He took many prisoners whom he settled in various parts of Gaul. Widukind himself, seeing that the war was hopeless, surrendered, and was settled at Attigny, in Gaul, where he was baptized. Nothing more is known of him, although he found a place in the legendary literature of a later period. The work of the Church and of the counts was again begun in Saxony. Tlie conquest was now practically over, but there were still to be a few revolts. There was one (792-794), which threatened to become serious for a while, but Karl put it down after three years of fighting. Another outbreak took place in 796. The last revolt occurred in 804, among the Nordalbingians, a tribe just north of Hamburg. This was ended by the deportation of about ten thousand of the people. Their lands were given to vassals, counts, priests, or monas- teries. The conquest of the Saxons was at last complete. They had been Christianized by means of the sword, perhaps not the most proper way of conducting missionary work, but *I22 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ill less than one hundred and fifty years the Saxons were the most thoroughly Christianized of all the Germans. In the Final conquest middle of the ninth century, there was produced of the Saxons. among them the " Heliand," a great religious folk-song or poem, which shows how thoroughly Christianity had taken hold of them. One of the most important measures taken by Karl was the division of the land into bishoprics. Bishops were estab^ Establishment of lished at Minden, Paderborn, Verden, Bremen, Bishoprics. Osnabrueck, and Halberstadt. Other bishoprics, such as Muenster and Hamburg, were added later as the coun- try became more Christian. These soon became prominent centres of life and civilization. Around these churches many came to settle, because they were, on the whole, the safest places to be found. In this way cities grew up about them, roads were built to connect them and to faciliate travel and trade. One of the causes for the obstinacy of the Saxons is to be found in the fact that they were asked to give up their religion and take a new one. This was not at first understood by them, but when they came to perceive what the conquest meant they resisted more bitterly than ever. Of all the German tribes the Saxons held most firmly to their native rehgion. The principal cause of this was, that their religion was local and connected with objects of nature. Unlike the Goths, the Lombards, and other German tribes, the Saxons never mi- grated, and consequently were never weakened in their attach- ment to their objects of worship. The duchy of Bavaria was practically an independent state occupying the territory between the Inn and the Lech. It Bavaria was independent in having its own dynasty, its subjected. Q-^n ecclesiastical organization, with the arch- bishop of Salzburg at the head, its own laws and officials, and its separate foreign relations. Its duke owed allegiance to the king of the Franks, but this was merely nominal, since he had THE FRANKS 1 23 his own assemblies and controlled all matters, both political and ecclesiastical. Tassilo had more than once been guilty of try- ing to throw off the bonds of the Prankish king, but every time had been defeated. His wife was a daughter of Deside- rius, king of the Lombards, and it was but natural that she should do all in her power to keep him in hostility to Karl. In 782 Karl called him to Worms to an assembly where he re- newed his oaths of fealty; but later, in 787, there were evi- dences that he was planning to revolt again. Karl forestalled him by sending his armies against him. Seeing that his case was hopeless, Tassilo gave up his duchy to Karl, resigned it into his hands, and received it back again on declaring himself his man. But in less than a year he was again charged with desertion, and this time the sentence of death was j^assed upon him. Karl spared his life, but compelled him, and every mem- ber of his family, to enter a monastery. Bavaria was then added to the Prankish kingdom. Karl soon divided it into counties which he put into the hands of his Prankish followers. The Avars, a Turkish tribe, had settled on the middle Danube, and had a great kingdom, occupying the territory which is now the eastern part of Hungary. They held in sub- War with the jection many of the Slavic and other tribes in Avars, their neighborhood. They made themselves feared far and wide because of their many raids and pillaging incursions into the more civilized lands about them. In 788 they invaded Bavaria, which drew the attention of Karl to them. Karl him- self led an army of Franks down the Danube, while his son Pippin brought up an army of Lombards. The first campa'ign was not decisive, because Karl was compelled to return to the north on account of a Saxon revolt. The war dragged on for several years, but finally, in 796, Pippin took the famous rings, or walls, which surrounded the residence of their ruler (Khagan), seized the great treasure which had been accumulated by pillag- ing, and compelled the Khagan to submit to Karl. The king- dom was now so weakened that it was unable to defend itself 124 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE against the Slavs and the Magyars, who soon occupied the ter- ritory. With the treasures thus obtained Karl rewarded his faithful followers and friends. It will be remembered that the territory between the Elbe and the Niemen (a large part of modern Prussia) was once oc- The Slavs east cupied by the Goths, Burgundians, Lombards, of the Elbe. a^^j other German tribes. Following close on the heels of the Germans, as they moved to the south, came a large number of Slavic tribes, who took possession of the lands thus left vacant. One of the most interesting ]3rocesses of the Middle Age is the reconquest of this territory by the Germans and the expansion of the Germans toward the east. Territorially Spain was limited, her boundaries are fixed by nature ; the same is largely true of France and Italy. The Germans alone had no fixed barriers, but their The expansion ' ofQermany Opportunities to e.Kpand were in the east only. to the east. They improved these opportunities by conquer- ing, colonizing, and Germanizing the Slavs. This was a long and slow process. It began in the time of Karl. It is scarcely ended even to-day. There is still a small body of Slavs occu- pying a district only a few miles from Berlin (the Spreewald). They have their own language and many of their customs have survived. There are still many persons of Slavic blood to be found in Germany. Especially is this true of the province now called Saxony, where the nobihty generally is tall and fair, while the common people are mostly small and dark in feature. In the days of Luther there were many people in the villages about Wittenberg who spoke Slavic. He would meet them in his pa.storal visitations to the country districts and villages. Beyond the lower Elbe were the Abotrites (in Mecklen- burg), the Wiltzes, probably southeast of them, and the Sorbs, probably on the head waters of the Elbe and extending to the east. At this time the Slavs seem not to have been warlike. In 789 Karl overran so much of their territory that all the Slavs west of the Oder submitted to him, did homage to THE FRANKS 125 him for their lands, and gave hostages for their fidelity. They remained very faithful to him, mention being made of only one revolt among them during the life of Karl, that of the Wiltzes in 812, which was, however, easily put down. Bohemia was held by other Slavs, called Czeclis. Against these Karl sent his army in 805 and compelled them to ac- knowledge his supremacy and pay him tribute. Other Slavs were south of the Avars in the mod- Bohemia. ern Kaernthen, and these also were compelled to pay tribute. Toward the end of his reign the Danes began to ravage the coast of Karl's dominion as far south as the mouth of the Seine. To prevent a counter-invasion by Karl, the king Danish of the Danes built a wall across the Isthmus of invasions. Schleswig. Although Karl is said to have built a fleet and to have established forts at the mouths of the rivers, he seems not to have been very successful in conquering the Danes. Their great invasions were to come later. Karl's wars with the Saracens were not limited to the inva- sion of Spain in 778. His fleets conquered Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands, and had to fight almost con- xhe Spanish stantly with the piratical fleets of the Saracens. Mark. In Spain itself there was constant war between the Christians and the Mohammedans, in which the Christians were greatly assisted by the rebellions and treacheries of the Saracen officers. In 795 the territory won from them by Karl was formed into a mark and put under a Markgraf, or border count. From this as base of operations conquests were made to the south until the Ebro was reached, which, in 812, was made the boundary be- tween the two peoples. Karl was forced into fighting the eastern Emperor, who made many ineffectual attempts, especially in the last years of Karl's reign, to retake Italy. Greek fleets ravaged the Karl and the Italian coasts and the imperial' party in some of Emperor. the cities, especially in Venice, tried to assist the eastern Em- peror ; but their efforts came to little, and in 812 the Emperor 126 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE in the east, Michael Rangabe, made peace with Karl and rec- ognized him as Emperor in the west. From the foregoing brief view of the conquests of Karl it will be seen that his reign was one long campaign. Fortunate in all his wars, he succeeded in extending his boundaries in all directions. It was this series of splendid conquests that laid the foundation for the renewal of the Empire and the imperial title in the west. In those parts of the Empire which were taken by the Bar- barians the memory of the Empire had almost died out. They Conditions had been broken off from the central government favorable to the aj-^jj became practically independent. But the restoration of ^^, , . , ^ . , ^ . , , the Empire in Church in the Empire s stead soon furnished a the west. j^i^ci of unity, with her common behefs, ritual, practice, and organization. Since the west was Christianized largely by the efforts of the Bishop of Rome, this dignitary became a kind of centre, and his authority a bond that united all the Christians of the west. While the Church thus formed a sort of spiritual Empire, she did not forget the existence of the Roman Empire, whose seat was now at Constantinople. The idea that the Empire must stand so long as the world should exist had not died out. The Bishops of Rome, there- fore, regarded the Emperor at Constantinople as their legiti- mate head and were subject to him. But in return for their obedience they received only insults and violence. The Em- peror was never able to protect them, and was often, according to their judgment, too officious in ecclesiastical matters. Since the authority of the Bishop of Rome did not extend to the east, his interests were almost wholly in the west. The Emperor in his turn was almost wholly confined by force of circumstances to the east. It was but natural, therefore, that the Bishops of Rome should at last think of revolting from the eastern Emperor and of seeking an Emperor in the west. The unity of the Church in the west helped keep alive the idea of political unity there. The growth of the Church (the Christianization of the THE FRANKS 12; Anglo-Saxons, of the Germans, and others) and the great power of the Prankish kingdom, and its close alliance with the Bishops of Rome, were the conditions without whicli the revival of the Empire in the west would have been impossible. The story of the restoration of the. Empire in the west is as follows : In Rome there was a party which longed for the inde- pendence of Rome and the revival of her ancient ^. „ The Roman power. They were beginning to dream the party hostile dreams which troubled the Middle Age so much, to the Pope. dreams about restoring the greatness of Rome and making her once more the head of the world. Forgetful of the progress that the world had made, they believed that by passing resolu- tions, making declarations, and reviving ancient titles, they could restore the Rome of the ancient Republic. The Pope had become the most important man in Rome and was prac- tically its governor. Those who were trying to bring back Rome's greatness were hostile to this growing power of one man who was preventing the free and independent action of the people of Rome. In 798 there was a revolt in Rome against the Pope. Leo III. was maltreated, driven from Rome, and charged with perjury and adultery. Fleeing to Karl, he found him at Paderborn and begged Karl to restore him. Karl sent him back to Rome under the protection of his Leo 111., restored officials and he himself followed later. Leo came by Karl, crowns before Karl's judges, and later took an oath that •''■" Emperor, ' ° ' 800. he was innocent of the crimes with which he was charged, whereupon Karl reinstated him in his office. On Christmas Day, 800, while Karl was kneeling in the church of St. Peter at Rome, the Pope placed the imperial crown on his head, did him reverence, and all the people present shouted and hailed him Emperor. According to Einhard (Karl's biographer), Karl afterward declared that he did not know that the Pope was intending to crown him, but was taken wholly by surprise ; and furthermore, if he had known it, he would not have gone into the church 128 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE that day. There is no good reason why Einhard should have reported such a thing unless it were true. And yet we know that Karl wished to become Emperor and was at that The coronation ^ a surprise to time devising plans by which he might receive the " ' imperial title and crown. His great power, his extensive conquests, his protection of the Church and service in her behalf, all marked him out as the proper one for Emperor. . ^ . A short time before this he had sent ambassadors but he was seeking the to the court at Constantinople to broach the crown. subject of his marriage with ' the Empress Irene. There are some indications that he thought of asking the eastern ruler to recognize him as Emperor in the west ; that is, to restore the ancient arrangement by which the power in the Empire was held and exercised by two persons instead of one. There were various reasons for the conduct of the Pope. The eastern Emperor had for a long time failed to give his subjects Reasons of the i'l Italy any protection when they were hard Pope's act. pressed, as they had been by the Lombards. Since he had not protected his people, but had left them to shift for themselves, they might justly transfer their allegiance to the one who had preserved them. It was the special duty of the Emperor to defend and e.xtend the Church ; but this work had been neglected by the Emperors at Constantinople, while Karl had been most energetic in her service. He was, indeed, doing the work which was supposed to be peculiarly that of the Emperor. The west was shocked that for the first time in its history the throne was held by a woman. It seemed that such a posi- tion could be iilled only by a man, and they were unwilling to recognize a woman as Empress. Not only was the sovereign a woman, but the woman was guilty of inhuman cruelty. Irene had deposed, imprisoned, and blinded her son, Constantine VI. Such a criminal as this must not occupy the high position of protector of the Church. There was also heresy in the east. During the eighth century THE FRANKS 1 29 there had been a great struggle there about the worship of images. Tlie court and tlie learned generally opposed their use, while the monks and common people had refused to be deprived of them. In 787 a council had declared that images might be used. The action of this council had been approved by the Pope but rejected by Karl. But in any event the Church of the east was heretical. It was a shame that the orthodox west should be subjected to the east, thus deliled with heresy. Just at this time there was a feeling in Rome that Constanti- nople was an upstart city. Rome had always had the right to elect the Emperor, and was also the capital of the world ; but these dignities had been usurped by Constantinople. The time had now come for Rome to claim her rights and reassert herself, and again become the head of the world. She could do this by rejecting the ruler at Constantinople and electing an Emperor in the west. There was a very strong feeling in favor of the independence of Rome. There were very good reasons, too, why the Pope should wish to have Karl elevated to the position of Emperor. His attitude toward the Church was well known, and there was no one else in all the west so well able to preserve order and peace. As Em- peror, it would be more than ever his duty to protect and extend the Church and preserve the peace. But the Pope had also a selfish motive. His position in Rome was no Personal longer sure. He had been driven out once, and motives. he knew that the "Republican " party in Rome would ever be hostile to him. Without the help of Karl, without his troops at his back, he could not hope to be able to hold his place in Rome. He beheved that by making Karl Emperor he would also make him more than ever responsible for the preservation of peace and order in Rome. He knew that Karl would not tolerate the independence of Rome, nor allow the principal bishop in the west to be driven from his place. It is probable that the Pope had consulted with some of Karl's followers who were in Rome, and with some of the lead- 9 IjO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ing citizens, perhaps the so-called "Senate." It is hardly probable that he would have taken so important a step without first assuring himself that he would be supported by the people. Having satisfied himself of this, and knowing that Karl wished to become Emperor, he believed that his action would be ac- ceptable to Karl, and so crowned him. There are three possi- ble reasons why Karl was dissatisfied with what the Pope did. In the first place, it cut across his plans and in- Karl displeased. . , , r^ terrupted his negotiations with the court at Con- stantinople ; he may have been displeased that the coronation should have taken place without sufficient preparation and cere- mony ; and he probably was angry that he had been crowned by the Pope instead of being permitted to crown himself. Karl was surprised, and at first scarcely knew what to do. He soon sent off ambassadors to Constantinople to inform the court that he was now Emperor. This was done ap- Karl seeks con- , „ . firmation of his parently to See what effect it would have on the title at Con- eastern court. Irene and her successors stormed stantinople. ,, , , ^ , , , , , . .,., at Karl and refused to acknowledge him as Em- peror. Karl knew, moreover, that he was not legally Emperor ; his coronation had been an act of rebellion. There was but one thing that could make him a legal Emperor and that was the consent of the Emperor in the east. He therefore deter- mined to secure this at any price. He did not resent the many insults offered him by the eastern Emperor, but preserved a con- ciliatory attitude, and was at last successful (in 812) in obtain- ing the recognition which he so earnestly desired. In that year he was greeted as " Imperator " and " Basileus " by the am- bassadors of the eastern court. The defect in his title was thereby removed, and Karl seems not to have troubled himself any further about the eastern Emperor. Karl evidently thought that he was Emperor in the west only. He never disputed the existence or the legality of the Emperor in the east. He did not regard his coronation as the deposition of Irene, but, on the contrary, continued to have THE FRANKS 13I diplomatic relations with Constantinople, and sought recogni- tion in order to make his election legally valid. But the peo- ple of Rome thought differently. To them it one or two was a revolt. They believed that they were de- Emperors ? posing the eastern line and restoring the supremacy of the west. In their lists of Emperors the name of Karl follows directly after that of Constantine VI. It was, and was meant to be, a revolt. Karl was, indeed, willing to keep the crown thus given him, but felt that he must also have the recognition of the Emperor in the east ; but the Romans did not wait for this. They believed that they had made Karl the successor of the great Augustus, of the Antonines, and Constantine. The Bishoi) of Rome crowned Karl because he was the most important personage in Rome. By virtue of his office he was the most suitable person to perform the act, and xhe coronation certainly no one else could have so thoroughly " revolt. persuaded the people that the act was a proper one. But it was, nevertheless, a revolt. The Pope gave a crown that was not his to give, and only his high position and the general feeling in the west that the change was a good one, kept the people from questioning his conduct. The people felt that they were crowning Karl through their representative, the Pope. The act was thoroughly irregular and illegal, and therefore, at the time there was no attempt made to give a legal explanation of it. But three hundred years later there were three theories about the coronation of Karl. The imperial party declared that Karl had won the crown by his conquests, and was indebted to no one for it but himself. This theory was Three theories. based on truth, for Karl had conquered great territories, and but for this would not have been even thought of for Emperor. The Papal party said that the Pope, by virtue of his power as successor of the apostle Peter, had deposed the Emperor at Constantinople and conferred the crown on Karl. This was based on the fact that the Pope actually crowned Karl ; but at that time no one supposed for a moment that the 132 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Pope was crowning him by virtue of any such power. Such an interpretation was not thought of till long after. The people of Rome also advanced a theory to the effect that they had elected Karl, and that they had revived their ancient right of electing the Emperor. This theory had in its favor little more than the fact that the people had sanctioned the action of their leader by their shouts and acclamations. Such was the famous restoration of the Empire in the west, a most important act, because of the great influence it had on Effects of the the later history. It bound Italy and Germany restoration. together in a union which, while it had its com- pensations, was, on the whole, ruinous to both, at least politi- cally. In consequence of this coronation of Karl, for seven hundred years the German Emperors were unable to free them- selves from the idea that they must rule Italy. They were, consequently, continually wasting their strength in useless cam- paigns in Italy, instead of extending Germany to the east, the only direction in which there was possibility of success. The Emperors wore themselves out in Italy, but were never able to unite Germany. The best days of her best Emperors were spent on Italian soil. The political unification of Germany was thereby made impossible until our own times. The coronation of Karl greatly increased his prestige, and, indirectly, his power. Emperor was far more than king, and Karl's concep. brought with it many duties and obligations tion of his office, which were unknown to the king. Karl re- garded himself as much exalted by the new office. At this time the Emperor was supposed to hold his office directly from God, to whom alone he was responsible for everything he did. This is apparent from some of Karl's measures for governing. Shortly after his coronation he 'compelled all his subjects to take a special oath to himself as Emperor. The peculiarity of this oath was that all were required to swear that they would live not only as good citizens, but also as good Chris- tians. The Emperor was responsible for the Christian lives of THE FRANKS 1 33 his subjects. This is characteristic of the way in which Church and State were mingled under the Karlings. For carrying on the government of his vast territory Karl had to invent new forms and adapt old ones. He held May- fields according to the old German custom, but Karl's govern- t it was impossible for all his subjects to attend ■"*"*• them. Large numbers of them came, however, especially be- cause the campaigns were planned in these meetings, and it was expected that the armies would proceed at once to the war. He divided his territory into counties and placed over each a count (Graf). In the west the cities with their surrounding country formed the.se coun- ties ; in the east they were formed by the old tribal boundaries, while on the frontiers new districts were organized (marches or Markgrafschaften) and placed under border counts. The counts were held responsible for the administration of the gov- ernment in their counties. They seem to have held the office for life, but could be deposed for cause. There was a tendency also to make the office hereditary. The counts were by no means independent, but were Karl's assistants. The dukes and duchies of Aquitaine, Alamannia, Saxony, and Bavaria disappeared, because they were too strong a menace to the unity of the Empire. Only the . Dukes disappear. dukes of Benevento, Brittany, and Gascony re- mained. Those who bore the title of duke were simply Karl's officers and not independent. In order to put a check on all the officers of his realm, and to control them, Karl sent out special commissioners, called " Missi Dominici," or royal messengers, whose Missi Dominici. duty it was to oversee all that was done by the local officers. They were to inquire into the conduct of all officials, and of the clergy as well. Appeals were made to them, and any misconduct on the part of any officer was re- ported to them. They were generally sent out two by two, one of them being a clergyman. They looked after the condi- 134 EUROPt; IN THE MIDDLE AGE tion of the army, the collection of the taxes, the state of the churches and schools, the morals of the clergy, and the admin- istration of justice as well as of things in general. In this way Karl was kept fully conversant with the affairs of both Church and State throughout his kingdom. The clergy were also regarded as officers of the state, and they had certain civil du- ties. They and the counts were supposed to work together in harmony, and mutually to assist each other. Karl was greatly troubled, however, by the constant friction between the clergy and the counts, as well as between the bishops and the heads of the monasteries. There were at bottom the same unsettled relations between the clergy and the counts as between the Em- peror and the Pope ; the authority, rights, and duties of each were not clearly defined. Karl himself by his own personal efforts gave unity to the whole government and did much of the actual work. He was Karl's personal busy moving from One part of the realm to government. another, fighting, administering justice, con- ducting trials, settling difficulties, and, in general, keeping the machinery of government in motion. Without his restless activity the heterogeneous provinces which composed his king- dom could never have been held together. His mihtary system did not differ from that of his predeces- sors. At his summons all his free subjects were supposed to His military come prepared to begin a campaign. But the system. frequency of his wars and their great distance from home made them very burdensome. Many now began to try to escape military service. A compromise was effected by which a certain number of men were allowed to equip one man and send him as their representative. Karl also built a fleet to guard the coast, and especially the mouths of rivers, which latter he often fortified. As a lawgiver, he was also active, although there is little that is remarkable in his legislation. He tried to preserve the old German laws and customs, which he now caused to be reduced THE FRANKS 1 35 to writing. His own laws are a curious mixture of German, Roman, and biblical elements. Since his Empire was Chris- tian, the Bible was the very highest authority, and all legislation was to be in harmony with ^"' it. It did indeed color much of his legislation. As a builder Karl achieved a great reputation. He built many churches, the principal one of which was the church at Aachen, in which he was finally buried. He built a great palace for himself at Aachen, an- other at Ingelheim, near Mainz, and another at Nijmegen. He also built a bridge over the Rhine at Mainz, but it was destroyed by fire before his death. His architects were mostly Italians. Many pillars and other building materials were brought from Italy at incredible expense and labor. The style of his archi- tecture- was undoubtedly a derived Byzantine, for the buildings of Ravenna were his models. Probably the most remarkable of all Karl's activities was his educational work. He drew to his court some of the most learned men of his day, among whom were His attitude tow Alcuin, Paulus Diaconus, Peter of Pisa, and ard learning, others. He formed his whole court into a palace school (Scola Palatina), all the members of which assumed either classical or biblical names. Karl called himself David. The sessions of this school were held mostly in the winter, because in the sum- mer Karl was engaged in his wars. His learned men gave lectures, and there were many discussions of the subjects broached. The clergy of the Empire was, on the whole, very ignorant. Karl complained that although their letters to him were good in sentiment they were bad in grammar. Many of the clergy were too ignorant to preach. To remedy this, Karl caused a volume of sermons to be prepared for their use. He established cathedral schools, the most prominent of which were at Rheims and Orleans, and monastery schools, such as those of St. Gall, Tours, Reichenau, Fulda, Hersfeld, Corvey, and Hir- schau. These were especially for the clergy, but they were 136 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE open to all who might wish to enter. In fact, Karl had thoughts about a state system of public instruction. A reaction set in under Ludwig the Pious. In the year 817, laymen were' excluded from schools in the monasteries, «'hich were declared to be for monks only. In these schools Latin was studied with great zeal. The Latin Bible (the Vulgate) and a great number of Latin authors, from the classical and post-classical periods, were read. Among others especial attention was given to Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Sallust, and Juvenal. Seneca also was a favorite, and, because of his supposed correspondence with St. Paul-, was regarded as a Christian. Karl was also greatly interested in the study of music. He asked the Pope to send him priests who could give instruction in the style of singing practised in Italy. Two schools of music were established by him, one at Metz, the other at Soissons. The organ was in- troduced into Gaul about this time and was cultivated by Karl. This manifold activity amounted to a real revival of learning which bore fruit in the great disputations in the ninth century c« .. .*•.• about foreordination and transubstantiation, as Effects of this ' "Revival of well as in the literature of that period. The arning. great emphasis placed on classical Latin had some very important effects. In the first place, it purified the Latin of the Church, but at the same time widened the chasm between the spoken and the written Latin. The spoken Latin had now become a dialect, very different from the written lan- guage and impossible to purify. This vulgar speech was the beginning of the French language, and its development and use as a literary language was hastened by the revival of classical Latin. Not only the French but also the other Ro- mance languages were gradually developing. The interest in the classics led to the multiplication of manuscripts and the preservation of the works of Latin authors which would other- wise have perished. It also determined that the Latin should be the learned language and that all the education of the Middle Age should be in Latin. THE FRANKS 1 37 Karl also loved his own tongue, the German. He caused a grammar of it to be made, thus attempting to make of it a literary language by reducing it to regular forms. He made a collection of the German songs and legends which were probably the earliest forms of some of the stories in the " Nibelungen Lied," but his son Ludwig, greatly to our regret, had this destroyed because of its heathenism. The attitude of Karl to the Church has already been shown. He regarded it as his special duty to defend the Church and to extend it by converting the heathen. The Karl and the motive of many of his wars was quite as religious Church. as political. He took care that the conquered lands should be supplied with churches and clergy. He regarded himself as the master of the Church by virtue of the ofifice which he held. He controlled the election of bishops and archbishops, and some- times even appointed them. The organization of the Church, begun in a systematic way by Boniface, was largely completed by him. He exercised the right of calling ecclesiastical councils, presided over them, and signed the decrees, which would other- wise have been invalid. Under him the Church had no inde- pendent power of legislation. The clergy, as well as the laymen, were subject to the laws of the Empire. Karl was the first to make the payment of tithes obligatory. During the first seven centuries of the Church, the tithe was practically un- known. It arose in the eighth century under the Karlings. The tithe was at that time only the traditional and customary rent paid for the use of lands. Karl tried to make this payment binding on the lands which he conquered, especially on the Saxons. This tenth was paid for the support of the Church, and this fact brought about a change in the conception of it. It was then identified with the tithe of the Old Testament, and in time made compulsory throughout all Christian countries- From being itself only the rent paid for the use of the lands leased from the Church it came to be a tax levied for the sup- port of the Church on all Christians. 138 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE But Karl's authority over the Church extended still further. He claimed to have the right to determine the polity, ritual, Karl and the and even the doctrines of the Church. In 787 ^°P^- the Empress Irene called a council to meet at NicKa which should settle the question of the use of images in the churches. This council, under the protection of Irene, de- clared in favor of their use and sent its decrees or decisions to Pope Hadrian (772-795). Hadrian was pleased with them and sanctioned them, for he had all the time favored the use of images. He sent them to Karl and asked him to publish them, but Karl was of a different opinion. Calling a council of his bishops in 794, he caused tlie action of the council at Nicsa to be refuted. The refutation (the Libri Carolini) was sent to Pope Hadrian with a reprimand, and a command that in the future he should wait in all such matters until Karl had given his consent. In another letter he reminded the Pope that it was his special duty to pray, and not to interfere in the affairs of state, which belonged to the Emperor alone. Karl's authority over the Pope is seen even more clearly in the case of Leo III., who was compelled to clear himself before Karl of the charges made against him. Karl undoubtedly was, and was regarded, as the highest authority in the west, and distinctly superior to the Pope in all political matters, and practically so in ecclesi- astical affairs. There was no legal determination of the mutual relations and powers of the Emperor and the Pope, because the theoretical question was not yet broached. The relation was settled practically, but never discussed. There was no struggle between the two dignitaries in this period, because of the high position and power of Karl, and because the ambition of the popes was not yet awakened. Both Emperor and Pope made claims which were mutually opposed and conflicting, but there was no' theoretical treatment of the question of their respective rights and authorities. The Pope claimed to be tlie successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of the whole Church, and therefore he must have authority over the whole Church. But Karl was the THE FRANKS I 39 Christian Emperor, the niler of the world with absohite author- ity. The adjustment of these claims was not to be settled till after centuries of struggle for supremacy. In Karl is found that peculiar fusion of German, Roman, and biblical elements which characterizes the Middle Age. In his dress, speech, manners, and sympathies he was a German, but judging him by his notions and practice of government he was a Roman, largely affected by biblical conceptions and ideas. He was a Roman Emperor who attempted to establish a theo- cracy. He was absolute master of the west, and his reputation was so great that his friendship was sought even by the great Khalif, Haroun-ar-Raschid, of Bagdad, who wished to see his rebellious Saracen subjects of Spain punished. His counsellor and private secretary, Einhard, has left us a lively picture of Karl. ' Without doubt he was one of the great- est men of all time. No one else has more Binhard's thoroughly taken hold of the imagination of the Biography. people. For centuries after his death the popular imagination was busy with his name and deeds. The impression which he made on the world found expression in a vast cycle of legends, all of which were confidendy believed during the Middle Age. He died January 28, 814, at Aachen, from pleurisy, and was buried the same day in the great church which he had built. " A guilded arch was erected above his tomb, with his image and an inscription. The words of the inscription were as follows : ' In this tomb lies the body of Karl the Great and Orthodox Emperor, who gloriously extended the kingdom of the Franks and reigned prosperously for forty-seven years. He died at the age of seventy, in the year of our Lord 814, the seventh indiction, on the 28th day of January.' " ^ • A good translation of this is published by Harper & Bros, in their School Classics. a Einhard, page 71. CHAPTER VI THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE Karl had indeed acquired a vast Empire and by his great personal abiUty governed it well. But he could not in so short a time make the various peoples vi'ho composed his realm homo- geneous. A common rehgious faith and a common govern- ment were not sufficient to overcome the differences which existed in race, tribe, temperament, customs, and language. As soon, therefore, as Karl's commanding personality was re- moved, these differences began to show themselves. Karl had made a brilliant attempt to reorganize society after the model of the Roman Empire. He failed, and his kingdom went to Causes of disin- pieces because of the weakness of his successoi-s, tegration. under whom lands, office, and authority were usurped by their officials ; another cause was the actual par- tition of the Empire among the sons in the royal family; the Empire was regarded as a private possession and divided among the heirs ; the disintegration was further caused by the racial differences that existed in the realm, by the dis- integrating forces set in operation by the invasion of the Barbarians, and by the growing conflict between the Church and the state. The Germans were intensely ambitious and proud. Individualism was one of their most prominent char- acteristics. In the then existing state of society the only legitimate exercise of ability and ambition was in the practice of arms. Since this was the only way to rise, it is not surpris- ing that we should now come upon a period of violence and lawlessness in which might determined everything. Although Karl's realm went to pieces, during his reign its various parts had THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE 141 all been subjected to influences without which their future could not have been what it was. The dissolution of the Empire made rapid strides under Karl's son Ludwig the Pious (814-40), a prince who lacked all the qualities which made his father great. His edu- Ludwig the cation had been entrusted to the clergy with Pious. most unfortunate results. He was better fitted for the monas- tery than the throne, and more than once actually wished to lay down his crown and enter the cloister. His conscience was abnormally developed and thoroughly morbid. Petty faults he magnified into great sins, and he was continually doing penance when he should have been attending to the affairs of state. He altogether lacked the sterner qualities necessary for governing in a time of violence and barbarism. Being with- out will and purpose he was the slave in turn of his wife, his clergy, and his sons. Karl the Great, about six months before his death, had crowned Ludwig as his His threefold successor. On his accession Ludwig repeated coronation. the coronation, placing the crown upon his own head. In 815 Pope Leo IlL died, and the people of Rome at once elected his successor, Stephen IV. , without asking the consent or sanction of Ludwig. This insult and infringement of his prerogatives the Emperor did not resent. The Pope followed up the advantage thus gained, and told the Emperor that his coronation was invalid because it had not been performed by the clergy, and proposed to come into France and recrown him. Again Ludwig yielded, and was crowned a third time by Stephen IV., at Rheims (816-17). Another precedent ' was thereby established for the claim made by the Popes that they alone had the right to crown the Emperor. There was some dispute about the relation of the monasteries and their lands to the Emperor. Ludwig' s regard for the Church and her institutions led him into the grave mistake of freeing nearly all the monasteries of the realm from all duties to the state except that of praying for the welfare of the Emperor, 142 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE his children, and of the state. Only fourteen of the largest monasteries were bound to render both military service and Ludwigandthe contributions in money to the crowH. Sixteen Church others were freed from the military service, but were compelled to pay certain sums of money, while all the other monasteries of the Empire were freed from every duty to the crown. Since there were many monasteries which were rapid- ly growing rich in lands, the income of the crown was thereby greatly reduced. Most of the legislation of the early years of his reign con- cerned ecclesiastical affairs. Until this time if a serf could get himself ordained to a clerical position, his master His legislation. , , , ,, , . i ■ i i i thereby lost all clann upon him and he became free. The owners of serfs protested, and the freeborn clergy despised and abused those of servile birth. Ludwig protected them, however, but was forced to allow the former lord some compensation for the loss of his serf. He permitted the monks to undo much of the good work of Karl the Great by closing their schools to laymen (817). Education became, thereby, more and more the prerogative of the clergy. He was lavish in his gifts to both monasteries and churches and was surrounded all the time by monks and priests. In consequence of an almost fatal accident in the year 817, Ludwig determined to divide his realm among his three sons. Division of the His eldest son, Lothar, was destined to succeed Empire, 817. his father as Emperor, and therefore received Italy because it contained one of the capitals, and on his father's death was to inherit Neustria and Austrasia, with the other cap- ital, Aachen. Aquitaine was given to Pippin, the second son, and Bavaria to Ludwig, known later as Ludwig the German. The younger sons were required to recognize the over-lord-- ship of Lothar and honor him as Emperor. In this way it was thought the unity of the Empire could be maintained. The division at once caused trouble. Since the death of Pippin, son of Karl the Great, in 810, Italy had been regarded as the THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE 143 possession of his son Bernard. In 817, hiowever, Ludwig made no provision for Bernard, and the latter at once revolted, raised a large army of Lombards, and seized the passes to prevent an invasion of Italy. He was persuaded, however, to come into France to discuss the matter, and was promised that no violence should be done him. But in spite of this he was seized and treated as a criminal. The case was finally settled at Aachen, and Bernard was sentenced to death. At the command of the Emperor, however, the sentence was commuted to blinding, but Bernard died while the punishment was being inflicted upon him. Ludwig was soon overcome with remorse for his base crime. His wife, Hermengarde, it was said, was the real cause of Bernard's death. She had hated him because he stood in the way of one of her sons. Her death, which occurred the next year, was regarded as an act of divine judgment upon her. Ludwig now shut himself up to pray and do penance, paying no attention to the affairs of state. He even wished to enter a monastery, but his ministers would not listen to such a proposal. They insisted that he should marry again. Rely- ing very largely on their choice, he married Judith, a Suabian princess, who bore him a son who received the name of Charles (822) and afterwards became king of France and known as Charles the Bald. Burdened with remorse, Ludwig tried to make amends to all whom he had injured. The friends of Bernard, who had been blinded with him, were now set free and sent back to Italy. The councillors of Karl the Great, whom he had dishonored and shut up in a monastery on his accession in 814, were restored to power. His kindness was ill-timed, for they never forgot the injury done them and were jhe Emperor the cause of much of the trouble of his later humiliated. years. Not content with this, he called a great council of the clergy and princes at Attigny (828), and in the garb of a peni- tent, came before them to confess all of his sins and to do penance for them in their presence. This well accorded with 144 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the increasing ambition of the clergy, wlio thus found tlie Em- peror at their feet, willing to perform whatever penance they might prescribe. It was an opportunity to show and to increase their power, which they did not lose, for they ordered him to build churches, to give alms, to scourge himself, and to fast and pray. Ludwig wished to provide for his youngest son Charles, and therefore gave him the duchy of Alamannia and some of the Provision for Swiss lands which lay south of it. Lothar and iiis favorite Pippin thereupon revolted and formed a wide ^"' conspiracy. Ludwig was deserted by nearly all of his people, who were displeased with him because of his pub- lic confession and penance at Attigny, which seemed to them unworthy of an Emperor. He and his small army were sur- rounded by the troops of his sons and taken prisoner. He was confined to wait the decision of the national council which was to be called, and Judith was compelled to enter a monastery. The council was called to meet at Nijmegen, in the heart of the German territory, where the people were most sincerely attached to the Emperor. A reaction in his favor had fol- lowed the success of his sons. The council therefore restored the Emperor, who now pardoned and restored all those who had rebelled against him. Lothar returned to Italy and Pippin to Aquitaiae, angered that their plans should have miscarried. In 832 they again revolted, and persuaded their brother Ludwig the German to join them. Pope Gregory IV. went with the army of Lothar to assist him in his revolt. The armies met near the town of Colmar (about forty miles south of Strassburg), but the Emperor was unwilling to fight until he had first tried to make peace with his sons. There followed a period of intrigue. Gregory IV. went to the camp of the Emperor, The " Field of apparently as a mediator, but, in fact, for the ^'^'■" purpose of bribing his followers. In a short time the Emperor was almost deserted, and seeing that he could not resist any longer, told his few remaining followers to go THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE I4S also to his sons, that no one might receive any injury on his ac- count. The place was from thi s ti me called the ' ' Field of Lies. ' ' Ludwig then fell into the hands of his sons and was im- prisoned by them. Since Lothar wished to get full possession of the Empire, he called the bishops of Gaul together and per- suaded them to depose the Emperor. Ludwig, however, re- fused to submit to this indignity, and was again put into prison. It was now apparent that Lothar meant to usurp Lothar's am- the place of his father. His brothers were dis- wtion. satisfied with this, for they preferred the rule of their father to that of their brother. They turned again to the support of their father, and he was reinstated as Emperor (834). Scarcely had this been done when Ludwig again attempted to provide his son Charles with a kingdom at the expense of Lothar. Another war would have broken out but for the invasions of the Northmen. Friesia was overrun by them and Utrecht sacked. They came up the Rhine as far as Nijmegen, sacking cities and towns and ravaging the country (836). Ludwig was compelled to put off the division of the Empire to defend, it against the Barbarians from the north. In 837 he added to the possessions of Charles a large strip of German land which he took from Ludwig the German. War again broke out, for Ludwig the German was unwilling to give up his possessions. About the same time Pip- pin of Aquitaine died, and left his lands to a young sop.. The Emperor refused to acknowledge his grandson and gave Aqui- taine to his favorite, Charles, on whose account he had already stirred up so many wars. The people of Aquitaine rose in behalf of their young ruler and began to invade the territory of the Emperor. Ludwig the German invaded Suabia, and the Northmen appeared again on the Rhine. In his great extremity the Emperor determined to make peace with Lothar, and secure his help against j^^^^ between his enemies and his protection for Charles. the Emperor Lothar was very desirous of succeeding his father as Emperor, and was therefore easily persuaded. In 839 146 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE he met his father at Worms, and the Empire was again divided. Ludwig the German was to retain only Bavaria, Charles Aqui- taine and Neustria, and Lothar all the rest. Ludwig the German and Pippin II. of Aquitaine were both opposed to this division and war once more began. Lud- wig the Pious showed uncommon energy and got his army to- gether at once. He quickly overran Aquitaine and Bavaria, and compelled Pippin and Ludwig to flee before him. But sickness seized him toward the end of his campaign in Bavaria ■^ ...-/:. J and he died on his way back to Aachen (840). Death of Lud= ■' v t / wig the Pious, His reign had been inglorious ; the last eleven **"' years of it had been filled with civil war because of the favoritism shown to his youngest son ; the clergy had more than once exalted themselves at the expense of the state by exercising authority in temporal matters ; even their spirit- ual authority threatened the independence of the Empire, since they had abased the Emperor by imposing the heaviest pen- ances upon him ; the people seemed to be growing more bar- barous and violent ; the Normans were ravaging the north, and the Saracens Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean. On the death of his father, Lothar set himself up as Emperor and showed that he was determined to rule over his brothers. Frightened at this, Ludwig and Charles made an Ludwig the Ger- . man and Charles alliance to resist him. By promising to leave Pip- against Lothar pjjj jn the possession of Aquitaine he succeeded in obtaining his help and marched with him against his brothers. A decisive battle was fought at Fontenay' (probably southwest of Auxerre), in which Lothar and Pippin II. were defeated. Lothar withdrew to Aachen, and Pippin fled to Aquitaine. The next spring Charles and Ludwig renewed their The strassburg alliance. They met near Strassburg, and, in the oaths. presence of their armies, took an oath to support each other. Ludwig took the oath in the language of Charles's people, and Charles repeated it in German. The oaths have been Longitude 5 West from Greenwich. ^W^ NORTH \s E A BR/l Paris (NEU£ Orleans I (Ajslla-Ch/ipeUe)— J ' J ^ K^ J. »^ yr^ " ( ,■<' \ - \ i ^ %> Ve^^ t "^ - "f, \Y '^ '^■^-^ '" h] --^ -^ -y \ Nante; A/Q U I T A N I A >»' 'Qrdoanx yTW^'' ^- TOLOSA -^ GASOONV '^' Touloiis( ■frA Maraeilles®' „PR0V\1*'- 4v "TV '''"'°" 1 h^EDITkREANEAN Tfe af..J». o,., B„^a!o, N. Y. THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPHiE 147 preserved, and are among the earliest specimens of French and German. Their united armies now drove Lothar out of Aachen. He retreated as far south as Lyons, where he begged his brothers to make peace, offering to divide the territory with them. After many delays the treaty of Verdun was finally made, in August, 843. According to the terras of this famous treaty, Lothar retained the imperial crown. As Em- Thj. treaty of peror he must have the two capitals, Rome and verdun. Aachen. He therefore received Italy and a strip of land ex- tending from Italy to the North Sea. This strip was bounded on the east by the Rhine, but at Bonn the line left the river and ran north to the mouth of the Weser. The western boundary line began some miles west of the mouth of the Rhone, but reached that river near Lyons ; it then followed the Rhone and the Saone to the source of the latter ; thence to the source of the Meuse, which seems to have formed the boundary as far as the Ardennes. The line then ran to the Scheldt, which it_ followed to its mouth. Charles received all the territory west, of this strip, to the exclusion of Pippin, who was now deserted by Lothar. Ludwig obtained all the land to the east, with the dioceses of Mainz, Worn^, and Speier, which lay west of the Rhine. Charles and Ludwig had the best of it in this division, because their territory was compact and each was master of a single nationality. The subjects of Ludwig ^.^^ beginning were all German, while those of Charles were ol France and mixed, indeed, but rapidly becoming homo- ermany. geneous. The German element was being assimilated by the Keltic. But Lothar's subjects were of many nationalities. Besides, his territory lay in such a way that it could not easily be defended. It is significant that his kingdom could be named only after himself and not after any people. It was known as the kingdom of Lothar, while Charles was called king of the Franks, and Ludwig king of the Germans. The history of Ger- many and of France as separate natiops begins with 843. The 148 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE kingdom of L'othar was destined to go to pieces. Geographi- cally and racially it was impossible that it should hold to- gether. The Alps broke it into two parts ; Italy might per- haps be made into a nation, but the narrow strip along the Rhine, from the Alps to the North Sea, was fated to be broken into many fragments and fought over for centuries by the French and the Germans. The rest of the ninth century was one of the most chaotic periods in the Middle Age. The rulers themselves were weak and inefficient, and allowed the power to slip from their hands. _. . There was need of a strong hand to keep the the ninth machinery of government in motion. They "" "'"''■ were unequal to the task. Feudalism was grow- ing rapidly. The Missi Dominici, or palace counts as they were now called, were no longer sent out. Some of those who had held this position remained in the provinces to which they had been sent and exercised their authority as far as they could in their own name. They became entirely independent and were in no way attached to the court of the Emperor. The counts, who had been especially the officers of the Emperor, now made their office hereditary, and consequently became inde- pendent. They served themselves rather than their former master. The more powerful nobles oppressed the weak and all united to enslave the freemen. The Church, however, v/as there to resist them. She did this in part by assuming the guardianship of all who appealed to her for protection. They were compelled to surrender the title of their lands to the Church, but received them back as fiefs. In this way the Church grew rapidly rich and powerful. She attempted also to free herself from the control of the state. Up to this time all clergymen of whatever rank had been subject to the laws of the land. About the middle of the ninth century two series of documents were forged, one of the purposes of which was to re- move the clergy from the jurisdiction of the state and make them amenable only to the laws of the Church, Only clergymen were THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPUiE 149 to be competent to try clergymen. One of these forgeries is known as the Capitularies of Benedictus Levita; the other is the Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals. Benedictus Le- vita, a deacon in Mainz (died 847), forged a v"itaand the large number of capitularies and attributed them Pseudo=isi 8P8-929. of the Northmen continued without abatement, and mariA' of their bands now spent all of the winter in France, having tiken possession of some of the districts about the mout« o* the Seine and elsewhere. In 911 Charles offered their/^incipal leader, Rolf (Rollo), the valley of the lower Seine ^d his daughter in marriage if he would settle there and settlement become a Christian. He also required of Rolf to the Northmen on leave the rest of the country in peace. They met **" '-"^"' ^'"''■ at Clair-sur-Epte and the agreement was made. It proved to be a wise measure, for it was to the interest of Rolf and his people that the invasions should cease. The various bands of Northmen were soon gathered together under Rolf, and the new bands of invaders were repulsed. The district thus as- signed to them received from them the name of Normandy. True to his promise, Rolf was baptized, and received Robert as his baptismal name. Charles was successful in adding Lotharingia to his posses- sions. In 911, on the death of Ludwig the Child, the people of Lotharingia refused to submit to Conrad I. of Lo„ai„g united Franconia, who was elected king by the other to France for a Germans, and transferred their allegiance to * ° ""*' Charles. Feudalism was now in its most chaotic state, and the great fiefs were well established in France as elsewhere. The vassals of the French king were almost as powerful as their lord. They paid little or no regard to his wishes and were prac- 158 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE tically independent. At length Robert of France repented that he had refused the crown in 899, and with two other great nobles conspired to overthrow Charles and make himself king. In 923 they met the king's forces near Soissons and defeated them, but Robert himself was slam. His son Hugo was un- willing to claim the crown, and the nobles, therefore, elected the son - in - law of Robert, Rudolf of Burgundy, king. By treachery they got possession of the person of Charles and im- prisoned him. His wife, however, ^escaped with jier son to England, where she was received by her father, king Edvvard the Elder. For twelve years Rudolf held the title of king, al- thougki^uring the first years of his reign his authority was very limited ; many of the great nobles refused to obey him. A quar- rel with some of his nobles finally led to a brief restoration of Charles but he was again imprisoned, and died soon afterward' of starvation (929). During these internal troubles the Mag- yars (Hungarians) invaded France from both Italy and Ger- many, and escaped with large booty after committing great depredations. Lotharingia refused to accept Rudolf, and again became a part of Germany. Rudolf died (936) without children, and Louis IV. (d'Ou- tremer, Transmarinus) was recalled from England and made king. Duke Hugo of Paris was still unwilling to risk all for the sake of a title which brought with it great difficulties but little authority. He preferred to be the favorite adviser of Louis d'Outreo ^^^ king, for he could thereby greatly increase mer, 936-54. his possessions. He was -lord of Neustria, duke of Francia, and suzerain of Blois, Champagne, Chartres, Anjou, and many other counties. Louis d'Outremer mar- ried the sister of Otto I., king of the Germans, with whom he was generally on good terms, but their relations were dis- turbed by another attempt of Lotharingia to change its lord. More than once he was compelled to wage war with his great vassal Hugo. He showed a good deal of mihtary ability, His sudden death in 954 placed the crown on the head of his eldest iy POLITICAL HISTORY OF FRANCE, 887-IIO8 1 59 son, Lothaire (954-86), a boy only eight years old. The sup- port of Hugo was bought with the duchies of Aquitaine and Burgimdy, but he died before he had made him- Lothaire, self master of Aquitaine. His two sons, Hugo 954-86- Capet and Otto, inherited his vast possessions. Hugo Capet also followed the policy of his great father and tried to gain possessions in the south of Gaul. He succeeded finally in ob- taining Poitou and a partial control of Brittany. Lothaire was a man of good ability, but he made two fatal mistakes. He quarrelled with the clergy, especially Adalberon, archbishop of Rheims, and he set his heart on gaining Lotharingia, which was now a part of Germany. Consequently he was continually at war with the kings of Germany. Otto II. carried the war into France and even threatened Paris. The position of Lothaire was thereby greatly weakened. Seeing this, he attempted to make peace with Otto III., and through his influence Otto III. was persuaded to support Hugo Capet. Lothaire died before the revolution came, and his son, Louis V., succeeded him in 986. His death, however, took place the next year, and there was but one Karling left, Charles, duke of Lower Lotharingia. He was, however, without power and could not hope to obtain the votes of the great vassals. Hugo Capet had the support of Otto III. of Germany. He was aUied by. marriage to some of the most powerful counts. The clergy and the monasteries were on his side, because he had taken special pains to win them by rich donations. The archbishop Adalberon of Rheims and the bishops of the whole country called the nobles together for the purpose of electing a king, and after a clever address, in which Adalberon proved that Charles was not the most suitable person for king, and that the crown ^^^^^ j^^^^ was not hereditary but elective, he proposed the Capet elected duke Hugo Capet and recounted his virtues and '"*^" qualifications. The duke was unanimously elected and crowned as " King of the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Normans, Aquitanians, Goths, Spaniards, and Gascons." l6o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE In this way the crown came into the possession of the Cape- tians, a dynasty which was to rule France in the direct line for more than three hundred years (987-1328). The crown was thereby declared to be elective, but soon became hereditary in this family. It was of the greatest influence on the history of the line that there was never lacking a male heir, generally of mature years, able to take up and carry out the policy of his predecessors. There were, therefore, no disputed successions, no disastrous regencies, no troubled elections. The history of the kings of Germany offers a strong contrast in this respect to that of the kings of France. The position of the new line of the Capetians had its points of strength and weakness. Both the Merovingians and the The position of Karlings had been consecrated by the Church tiie Icing. and were therefore regarded as legitimate rulers. The Capets, upon being hailed by the Church, were ac- cepted by a large part of the nation as the true successors to those great houses. The king thus became for the majority of the people an absolute sovereign, a power ordained of God to rule, to preserve order, and to administer justice. But there was another class, composed mostly of the nobility, which at this time was living in accordance with feudal customs and Of the feudal ideas, and to them the king was by no means '<"■'•• absolute. His authority over them and his demands on them were limited. They were themselves kings in their domains and exercised royal prerogatives. These feudal ideas and customs the Capets were forced to recognize. The royal power was greatly limited by them, and it was only by following a consistent policy and by the greatest good fortune that the Capets were able in the end to triumph over feudalism and to establish a strong central government. But this was a long and slow process. For more than a hundred years the disintegration of power and of territory went on. The Capets were not able to keep their officials from making their offices hereditary, and their family possessions, as well as POLITICAL HISTORY OF FRANCE, 887-II08 161 the royal domain which they had inherited from the Karlings, were greatly diminished by constant usurpations. Their weak- ness was greatest in the eleventh century. The twelfth century brought a change in their fortunes, and their power from that time on steadily increased. The reign of Hugo Capet (987-96) was quite as successful as could be expected under the circumstances. He was gen- erally recognized by the great vassals, and maintained an independent attitude toward the German Emperors and tow- ard the Papacy. Under him there was a distinct growth in the feeling of nationality which helped to increase the separation between France and her neighbors, already caused by the dif- ferences in language and customs. His son and successor, Robert II. (996-1031), was sur- named the Pious, because of his humble and upright character and his regard for the truth. He was also a Robert 11., warrior of ability, fighting vigorously for Lotha- 996-1031. ringia and adding by conquest several cities and districts to his estates. The reign of Henry I. (1031-60) was very disastrous for the royal power, although the king himself was both brave and active. He was continually engaged in a Henry I., Struggle with the great vassals whose territo- 1031-60, and ries surrounded his own. These were especially ^i** 8''*** vassals. the counts of Blois and the dukes of Normandy. The only outlet from his estates to the sea was the Seine, the lower part of which was in the possession of the Normans, whose numbers and warlike qualities made their duke a danger- ous neighbor of the king. Henry I. appreciated the situation and made every effort to make himself master of Normandy. He met, however, with two severe defeats (at Mortemer, 1054. and Varaville, 1058) at the hands of duke William the Bastard, (1035-87), afterward known as William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England (1066-87). Henry had to admit that he was beaten, but he had fought with valor for the l62 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE increase of his power. His influence was great, but he was unable to carry out his schemes of aggrandizement. In fact he lost several of the royal possessions. Philip I. (1060-1108) followed the policy of his father in regard to Normandy and the other great fiefs. He was too Philip I., young to prevent duke William from making his io6o~iio8. conquest of England, but he did all he could to weaken him by fomenting quarrels in the family of William . and by endeavoring to keep Normandy and England as inde- pendent of each other as possible. This policy he handed down to his successors, who eventually were successful in it. He car- ried on in a creditable manner several wars with other great vassals, and was successful in adding certain lands to his posses- sions. He refused to go on the first crusade, resisted the claims of Gregory VII. , and treated that part of the clergy of France which supported the Pope with a good deal of severity. Such conduct, now regarded as specially creditable to him, brought upon him the disfavor of the chroniclers who have generally painted him in the darkest colors. According to them he was guilty of gluttony, laziness, debauchery, highway robbery, and many other vices and crimes. Some of the things with which he is charged may be true, but many of them may safely be set down as inventions or exaggerations of a hostile clergy. In his later years his activity was greatly limited by his abnormal obesity, which amounted in his case to a disease. His reign, however, was not without its achievements, although the growing feudalism of the country daily diminished the actual power of the king. Feudal castles and strongholds were everywhere, and the king met with resistance on all hands. The famous castle of Montlhery was at the very gates of Paris, and the king was actually in danger of being taken prisoner by his own brigand subjects and held for a ransom if he ventured outside of his city without a strong guard. His authority had to be enforced by arms. Safe in his feudal castle, the vassal could with im- punity refuse obedience to the king. The chaos and anarchy ^ POLITICAL HISTORY OF FRANCE, 887-I I08 1 63 of feudalism were now at their height, but the reign of Louis Vll. (1108-37) .brought a change. Under him the power of the king increased, the lawlessness of the times was checked, order was reestablished, at least in part, and feudal customs be- came more fixed, thereby greatly diminishing the violence that had been so prevalent and increasing the general security. The condition of the country was by no means perfect, but it was of the greatest importance that a large amount of stability was introduced into the customs and practices of the government and of society. The kings of France possessed a great ad- vantage over the kings of Germany in that they were allowed to retain all fiefs which became vacant, while in Germany the great dukes compelled the king to relet all fiefs within a year after they had become vacant. The kings of France, there- fore, had an excellent opportunity to increase their possessions, while the kings of Germany were cut off from that advantage. CHAPTER VIII GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY (887-1056) The deposition of Karl the Fat (887) left Arnulf in posses- sion of the German crown. He at once assumed that as succes- ;', sor of Karl the Great he had the riarht to a cer- ArnuU, 887-699. . ,, , , , , < tain sovereignty over all the rulers of the west. He therefore demanded and received an acknowledgment of his supremacy from the kings of Burgundy, Italy, and the West Franks. The Northmen continued their invasions, un- til in 891, near Louvain, Arnulf almost annihilated their forces, whereupon for a few years the land was not disturbed by them. Under its duke Swatopluk, the Moravian kingdom had gained great strength, and included nearly all of Hungary, Bo- The Slavs and hemia, and other lands both south and east of Hungarians. the latter. In 892 Arnulf attempted to reduce Swatopluk to subjection, but after two unsuccessful campaigns was obliged to desist ; not, however, until he had persuaded the Magyars (the modern Hungarians), a Finnic people of the lower Dnieper, to invade the Moravian kingdom. This was most unfortunate, for the Magyars were not satisfied with what they obtained among the Moravians, but continued their depredations, and for many years overran Italy, Germany, and even France. Berengar of Friuli had been elected and crowned king of , Italy in 888, but Guido of Spoleto, after being expelled from Guido of Spoieto, I^'^^'^ce, attacked him, drove him out, and caused king and Bm- himself to be crowned king in Pavia ; shortly ^^"" afterward Pope Stephen V. , his devoted friend, gave him the imperial crown. Guido soon quarrelled with GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 165 the next Pope, Formosus, who sent to Arnulf and begged him to come and deliver him from the power of the tyrannical Guido. In 894 Arnulf went into Italy, drove Guido out of the territory north of the Po, and established Berengar in his former possessions. As soon as he had withdrawn from Italy, Guido again began his operations against the Pope, and Arnulf was again sum- moned to come to Italy and was promised the Arnulf in imperial crown as a reward. When he reached Rome. Rome he found it in the possession of the widow of Guido, who closed all the gates against him. Arnulf took the city by storm and was crowned Emperor (896). He was unable, how- ever, to settle matters in Italy or to satisfy any party. Hated by all, it soon became necessary for him to leave Italy, which continued to be the prey of contending factions. Arnulf was the first German king who made a journey to Rome expressly to obtain the imperial crown. The Pope had claimed and maintained the exclusive right to crown the Emperor. ^^Vhen Arnulf died (899), the nobles of the Empire chose his son liUdwig, a child only six years old, for their king. The_governihent "was in the hands of archbishop tudwig the ^Hatto of iMainz, assisted by Adalbert of Augs- child, 899-911. burgT-and Solomon, bishop of Constance. The reign of Lud- wig the Child (899-911) was brief but fateful. Power was everywhere usurped, and the great duchies were established during these troubled years. Archbishop Hatto labored hard to preserve the royal power and to keep the various provinces from becoming independent. His opposition to local inde- pendence caused him to be heartily hated. The popular dis- favor showed itself in many ways, especially in the formation of legends. He is the bishop of the famous legend of the mouse tower in the Rhine. The dukes, counts, margraves, and possessors of great fiefs thus formed a powerful aristocracy, whose interests were, in common, opposed to those of the king. Much of the history l66 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of Germany is the account of the struggle between the king and these nobles. Feudalism was thoroughl)' established during this period. Offices and lands were made hereditary and Establishment POwer usurped. It was in this period that the of the great great duchies became established. In Fran- duchies. conia count Conrad succeeded in gaining the power and assumed the title of duke. In Suabia a comes palatinus, or missus dominicus, Erchanger by name, usurped the ducal title ; Otto, the Ludolfinger, obtained the power in Saxony, while in Bavaria Arnulf, the son of Liutpold, who had the title of Markgraf,' obtained the ducal power. Under Lud- wig the Child, the four great original duchies of Germany were fully established — Saxony, Franconia, Suabia, and Bavaria. In Lotharingia, or Lorraine as it may now be called, Reginar (Rainier) usurped the ducal title and gave in his adhesion to the king of the West Franks. Besides these duchies there were also some marches (marks), or border counties, which had been established for the purpose of resisting the invasions of the Barbarians. The marks. Ihe east march (Pannonia), the begmning of Austria, and the marches of Carinthia, Bohemia, and Thuringia were for defence against the Magyars, Moravians, and Slavs. The Danish march was on the frontier toward Denmark. The differences between the people of these duchies and counties are not geographical, nor administrative alone. They are, if not racial, at least tribal. The languages of the various duchies were not wholly the same, and were rapidly growing apart. Each district had chosen the lord to whom it clung with the greatest tenacity. These and other differences were great hindrances to the unification of the Germans. (German writers speak of this attachment of the people to the narrow interests of their little province as "Particularism.") The dukes were practically kings in their duchies; in fact the duchies were generally spoken of as kingdoms. At the death of Ludwig the Child (911), the nobles of* Sax- GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 1 67 ony, Suabia, and Franconia elected Conrad, duke of Franconia, king, but his authority was small. The family possessions of the Karlings were now changed into crown lands „ ... . ° Conrad I., of and given to the king to use during his lifetime. Franconia, king. At his death it was expected that they would be 911-18. passed on to his successor. Although Conrad was a man of excellent ability, brave, active, and ambitious to rule well, his success was small. The feudal times were against him, and he wore himself out in trying to make good the traditional rights and authority of his office. The Danish invasions continued, and he was embroiled with the other great dukes. In. 912 Otto the Illustrious, duke of Saxony, died, and Conrad tried ineffectually to wrest some of his power from his son Henry. In Suabia he succeeded in getting possession of duke Erchanger, and put him to death, but the ducal power was soon after usurped by a noble named Burkhard. Conrad met with only indifferent success in his struggles with Arnulf of Bavaria. He made a close alliance with the clergy, and used them in his struggle with the dukes. At a council at Altheim (916) the clergy threatened with the ban all who should resist the king. Political disaffection was to be regarded as heresy and punished in the same way. Just before his death (918) Conrad is said to have advised his brother Eberhard, who was also his heir, not to claim the crown, but to carry the royal insignia to his most powerful rival, Henry of Saxony, who alone was able to per- form the duties of the high office. The nobles of Saxony and Franconia came together in Fritz- lar and elected Henry king (called the Fowler, also the Builder of Cities, 919-36). He was a practical man. The Saxon who saw all the difficulties of the position and was Line, Henry I., persuaded that a feudal kingship was the only ^'^'^ ' kind now possible. The days of the Karlings were gone for- ever. The power of the dukes was not to be broken. He must therefore rule over and through them. Their independence in their own territory was not to be questioned. They were to be lOS EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE held responsible to the king only for the feudal duties which they recognized as due him. The king could rule only indi- rectly. Between him and the people were the dukes, on whom he must rely. This feudal conception of the kingship was new, and radically changed the attitude of the king toward the clergy and the dukes. He meant to be friendly with the dukes, and therefore did not need the special help of the clergy. He did not wish to rule the kingdom by setting one party against another. After his election, the archbishop of Mainz, as Primate of the kingdom, wished to anoint him, but Henry refused, saying Henry I. and. t^^t the election alone was sufficient. He did the Church. not care to have that prestige which would come from the performance of such a rehgious rite. He did not base his kingship on the Church and its sanction. He was content to be a feudal king. It is quite in accordance with this concep- tion of his office that he should devote himself almost wholly to the lands which he held as duke. For the internal defence and government of the other duchies he was in no way responsible. In accordance with these ideas he dealt with the dukes. He first marched into Suabia, whose nobles had not been present at his election. Duke Burkhard was compelled to recognize Henry as king, and was left wholly independent in the work of governing his duchy. Henry, however, reserved the right to fill all vacant bishoprics, and, of course, retained control of the crown lands in Suabia. In Bavaria duke Arnulf was able to preserve a little more inde- pendence. He recognized Henry as king, but retained the right to name the bishops and to coin money in his own name. He dated all documents after the year of his own reign, not after that of the king. Henry tried to obtain possession of Lorraine, but was for a long time unsuccessful. However, when Charles the Simple was taken prisoner and Rudolf of Burgundy made king of the West Franks, Henry succeeded in conquering Lorraine and attaching it to his crown. To its duke, Giselbert, he gave his daughter Gerberga as wife, and so GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 169 Strengthened the ties which bound it to Germany. For the administration of the affairs of the kingdom he held diets and councils, at which the highest nobles and the clergy (arch- bishops and abbots) were expected to be present. The clergy of Bavaria, however, had their own councils. In 924 the Magyars invaded Saxony and laid almost the whole land waste. Henry was unable to meet them in the field, and therefore made a nine years' treaty with them, paying them a heavy tribute. These years Henry used to put his country into a good state of defence and to improve his army. His preparations are described by Widukind (i-, 35) as follows: "He first chose one out of every nine soldiers who were hving in Progress in the country and compelled him to live in a Germany. city (urbs) in order that he might Ijuild dwellings for the other eight and lay by one-third of all the grain produced, while the other eight should sow and harvest for the ninth. In these cities, on the construction of which they labored day and night, the king ordered that all trials, meetings, and festivals of what- ever sort, should be held, in order that the people in times of peace might become accustomed to what would be necessary in time of war (/.«■., to living together in close quarters)." Towns are mentioned which he fortified, such as Merseburg, Meissen, and Quedlinburg. It is .said that he also founded other cities (caeteras quoque urbes fabricavit), although it is not known what ones are to be attributed to him. There were, of course, walled towns before his time, but most of the Ger- mans lived in open, straggling villages. Henry gave a great impulse to town life, and it was due to his activity that the German towns now became more numerous, and that in the next century there was a large and important citizen class. Commerce was also thereby greatly promoted, for without it people cannot exist together in large numbers. During these years of peace Henry also developed a good army. All who did military service were trained in the use of arms by military I70 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE sports, and a cavalry troop was formed. The Saxons, it would seem, up to this time, had fought only on foot. The new mode of fighting was soon to become common, since it was generally those who had some means who were called on to fol- low the king on his campaigns. The poorer people nearly all now sunk to the position of serfs or slaves and so escaped mili- tary service. Some time between 924 and 929 Henry made a successful cam- paign against the Slavs. He first attacked those on the Havel and Brandenburg took their Stronghold, Brandenburg. He then taken. followed up the Elbe into Bohemia, conquering the people as he went. He took the town Jahne after a siege of twenty days, and then marched against Prague, which quickly fell into his hands. The king submitted to Henry and paid him tribute. On his return he reduced several tribes of the Slavs to the north of Brandenburg. In 933 Henry felt that he was able to meet the Magyars. He therefore refused to pay the tribute and the Magyars at The Hungarians o^ce invaded Saxony. They were repulsed, how- repuised. ever, with great loss in several battles. The superiority of the improved method of defence, the walled towns, cavalry, and the trained army was now apparent. In 934 Henry made a successful campaign against the Danes, who were compelled to cede to him the land between the Eider and Slie, which later was formed into the march of Schleswig. In 935 Henry is said to have planned to go to Rome, but the purpose of his journey is unknown. It is supposed, however, that he thought of asking for the imperial crown. He was pre- vented from carrying out his purpose by a stroke of paralysis. Fearing that his end was near, he called a council of all the nobles of the kingdom at Erfurt and had his son Otto recog- nized as his successor. He died not long afterward (936), mourned by the whole people. He had done a great work and had laid the foundation for the greatness of his son. Without the work of Henry the success of Otto would have been impossible. GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY I/I Otto I. (936-73) came to the throne with entirely differ- ent ideas about his office from those of his father. His char- acter was also very different. Henry was noted for his modesty and humility. He was practical and never strove for the impossible. He clearly recognized that he could not destroy the power of the dukes, and was there- fore willing to recognize their independence. Otto, on the con- trary, was proud and ambitious. He had high ideas about his royal rights and prerogatives and was determined to enforce them. He was not content with the position of feudal king, but regarded himself as the successor of Karl the Great. The sacred character of the king, acquired by anointment and by the peculiar relations existing between him and the clergy had been neglected by Henry, but Otto revived it at once. The dukes had been his father's equals. Otto determined to make them his officials. Henry had not relied on the clergy, because he was determined to be on friendly terms with the dukes. Otto, on the other hand, needed the help of the clergy to strip the dukes of their power. The events connected with his election and coronation show the difference between his ideals and those of his father. There had been some dissatisfaction with Henry because of his simplicity, and there was now a desire that the traditions of Karl the Great should be revived. His coronation. In accordance with this wish, Aachen, the ancient capital, was appointed as the place for the formal election of Otto. All the dukes and the highest nobility were present, and Otto was anointed and crowned with great pomp. Afterward he partook of the coronation banquet, at which he was served by the dukes. Duke Giselbert of Lorraine was his chamberlain, i.e., he had charge of the palace, Eberhard of Franconia was his steward or dish-bearer, Hermann of Suabia his cup-bearer, and Arnulf of Bavaria his marshal. The work of Otto may be best treated under three different heads : His struggles in Germany, his foreign policy, especially his wars with the Barbarians to the east, and his relations with 172 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Italy. Henry I. at his death left four sons. Thankmar, the eldest, was a bastard, and therefore it was not probable that otto I. and he would be considered as a possible candidate Germany. for the throne. Otto had been born before Henry had been made king. His two younger brothers, Henry and Bruno, were both born in the purple, but Bruno had been destined for the Church. Since Henry had been born after his father had been made king, it was claimed by some (among them his mother Matilda, whose favorite he was) that he should be king instead of Otto. Otto's haughty treatment of the dukes of Bavaria, Franconia, and Lorraine, angered them and they intrigued with Henry to place him on the throne. Thank- mar, discontented because his estates were withheld from him, also joined them. The struggle lasted till 941, and during its course Thankmar was slain. Arnulf of Bavaria having died (937)1 his sons were defeated and their duchy taken from them. Eberhard of Franconia and Giselbert of Lorraine lost their lives and the duchies came into the hands of Otto. Henry at last submitted to Otto, and having received his pardon was for- ever after faithful to him. His policy toward the duchies was to break their indqjendence by giving them either to members of his own family or to those who were devoted to him. His faithful friend, Berthold, a brother of Arnulf, was invested with Bavaria, but at his death, in 947, Otto gave it to his brother Henry. Franconia he gave to his son-in-law, known as Conrad the Red. His son Rudolf he had married to the only daughter of the duke of Suabia, and when that duchy be- came vacant, in 950, he invested him with it. Otto further limited the power of the dukes and kept a constant check on their movements by appointing palatine counts, i.e., palace counts to reside in the duchies, manage his royal estates and represent his own interests. Otto now ruled as the head of a great family through its members. It was a personal adminis- tration without any great number of laws or capitularies. He had the whole of Germany well in hand, and had no further GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 1/3 trouble at home until he went to Italy. As protector of the Church it was Otto's duty to enrich it and make it powerful. As a counterpoise also to the power of the nobles, Otto strength- ened the clergy. The Church was enriched and the feudal power of the clergy greatly increased. He chose many of his officers from the clergy. They formed, indeed, a large and powerful nobility. This policy proved to be a most disastrous one, for in the struggle which came later between the Emper- or and the Papacy the clergy of Germany turned against their benefactors and helped destroy them. They were the Pope's most efficient helpers. ' From the very first, Otto claimed a certain headship over all the west although he had only the title of king. He assumed a sort of lordship over the king of the Franks. otto I. and He allied himself to both Louis IV. and Hugo France, the Great, by giving them his sisters in marriage. He inter- fered in the affairs of France and declared in favor of Louis in his struggles with Hugo. Conrad, the thirteen-year-old king of Burgundy, was about to be deprived of his crown (937) when Otto assumed the protection over him, and as his guardian and regent ruled in Burgundy until Conrad was old enough to govern in his own name. The Hungarians renewed their invasions in 937. Germany, France, and Italy were overrun by them. They even reached Naples in their marauding tours, and Rome was 1^ ° The Hungarians. threatened by them. It was not till August 10, 955, that Otto won a decisive victory over them on the Lech River, near Augsburg. Their power was completely broken and they consented to settle in the lands offered them (practi- cally the same territory that they still occupy). This was the end of their invasions. Against the Slavs the contest was long and bitter. The de- fence in the northeast was entrusted to two margraves, Gero and Hermann Billung. The territory was wrested from the Slavs ' See Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, Chapter VIII. 174 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE little by little by the most desperate fighting. Otto's brother Henry, duke of Bavaria, carried on the struggle with vigor against the Bohemians. In 950 Otto himself The Slavs. , , . , , ,, , led a campaign against them and compelled their king, Boleslav, to recognize him as his suzerain. For defence against those peoples a system of marches was thor- oughly developed. Almost the whole east border of Saxony was under the margraves Gero and Hermann Billung. About 965 Gero died, and his march was broken up into several others, known as the north march, and the marches of Merseburg, Zeitz,' Lausitz, and Meissen. South of Bohemia Otto restored the eastern march, which was the basis of the later Austria. Between the Germans and their enemies to the east there was then an unbroken line of marches which were to serve as a defence. While conquering these peoples Otto attempted at the same time to Christianize them. Hamburg was again made the seat of an archbishop and the central mission station for the north. From that city missionary bishops were ordained and sent into Den- mark, and later into the Scandinavian peninsula. Magdeburg was made the religious capital of the Slavs by establishing there an archbishop. Mission work was vigorously carried Th SI ch • = °" among them, and for this purpose Otto es- tianized and aer> tablished the bishopries of Havelburg, Bran- manized. denburg, Merseburg, Zeitz, Meissen, and Posen. German missionaries were also sent to the Magyars. Monas- teries arose everywhere, and the monks became not only the missionaries but also the teachers and civilizers of these barba- rian peoples. German colonists went with the monks and clergy, and the process of Germanizing the Slavs was begun. To Otto the Great belongs the honor of having pointed out the direction in which Germany should expand. The way to the west was closed, but to the east there were extensive territories which could- be conquered and Germanized. If these peoples could be kept dependent on Germany for their civilization and GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 1 75 Christianity, it followed that they would inevitably lose their nationality and become German. From this time on the ex- pansion of Germany to the east among these peoples, her con- quest and absorption of them, is one of the most important parts of her history. In this way all of Prussia that lies east of the Elbe was won from the Slavs. Bohemia and Hungary were not Germanized because through the weakness of the suc- cessors of Otto they succeeded in getting an independent ec- clesiastical establishment, and thereby their own nationality was preserved. The mountains which separate Bohemia from Germany also helped preserve the Bohemian nationality. In order to understand the intervention of Otto in the affairs of Italy it will be necessary to sketch the history of that coun- try since the coronation of Arnulf (896). Italy Italy hopelessly was hopelessly divided and the theatre of con- divided. tending peoples and factions. The Greek Emperor still held many places in the southern part of the peninsula, while the Mohammedans had possession of Sicily and the The Greek Em. other islands and a few places on the main- peror, the Mo- hammedans, the land. In Rome the Pope clamied to be master, pope^ the Dukes but the citv was the prey of factions among of Benevento ' ^ , andSpoleto, the nobility. The duchies of Benevento and Venice, Lombard Spoleto were practically independent. Venice independence, acknowledged the eastern Emperor, but practically ruled her- self. The Lombards were much divided but had not lost the desire of becoming an independent kingdom. After the deposition of Karl the Fat, Berengar of Friuli was made king of Lombardy, but actually possessed only the lands north of the Po. Guido of Spoleto priuii, Ouido held the rest of it, and in 891 was crowned ofSpoieto, Lambert. Emperor. At his death, 894, his son Lambert received the imperial crown, but this act was annulled in 896 by the coronation of Arnulf. After the latter had ^ ,^ Arnulf. withdrawn from Italy, Lambert again laid claim to the title, and in 898 succeeded in compelling his recognition 176 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE by the Pope. He died a few days later, and his people, rather than submit to Berengar, offered the crown to Louis, king of Louis of Bur- Burgundy (son and successor of Boso). Louis gundy. came, and in 901 was crowned by Pope Benedict IV. The struggle between him and Berengar continued until 905, when he fell into the hands of Berengar, was blinded and sent back to his kingdom. This, however, he found had been seized by the duke Hugo. After ten years more of struggle Berengar made Berengar was finally crowned Emperor (915) by Emperor. Pope John X. The struggle for the kingship of Italy continued, however. The enemies of Berengar offered the crown to Rudolf of Burgundy, but he was unable to de- Rudoifof fend it. Duke Hugo of Provence was crowned Burgundy. kjng of Italy in 926 and held the office till 946, when he was driven out and his son Lothar set up in his HugoofProv= stead. Lothar married Adelheid (Adelaide), ence, Lothar. thg daughter of Rudolf of Burgundy. At his death, in 950, Berengar, margrave of Ivrea (a town and province about thirty miles northeast of Turin), seized both the Berengar of crown and Adelheid, with the purpose of com- ivrea. pelling her to marry his son Adalbert. Dis- liking the union, the young widow appealed to Otto I. of Germany to protect her. During this period the Papacy fell on evil times. The magnifi- cent claims of Leo the Great to be the Bishop of the whole Church were now entirely forgotten in the chaos of parties in Italy, and especially in Rome. The noble families of that city were divided into factions, each of which strove Roman factions. to make one of its number Bishop, in order to enjoy the authority which that office possessed. The duke of Spoleto had a party, as did also Berengar and the other phan- tom kings who displayed their weakness rather than their strength in the unfortunate peninsula. There was also a Ger- man and an anti-German faction, one of which was in favor of, the other against, the king of Germany, and objected to any GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 177 interference on his part. The rage and violence shown by these factions is ahnost incredible. In 891 Formosus, a friend of Arnulf of Germany, was made Pope. Throughout his pontifi- cate he was known to be an ally of the German Emperor, and' the bitterness against him was intense. Before his election he had been bishop of Porto. His election to the bishopric of Rome was therefore contrary to the rule which forbade that a bishop of another diocese should be made the Bishop of Rome. ' After his death Boniface VI. succeeded him, but died fourteen days after his election. The faction of Spoleto elected Stephen VI. one of their partisans. His hatred of the Germans was so great that he had the remains of Formosus exhumed in order to go through the forms of a trial. The body of Formosus was clothed in pontifical robes, placed on a papal throne, and charges made against him, in a synod called together for this purpose. The verdict was, of course, unfavorable, and his body was mutilated and thrown into the Tiber. From 896 to 903 there were no less than eight Popes. The power of the feudal aristocracy is shown by the fact that the Papacy then fell under the power of Theodora, xhe Pornoc- the wife of Constantine, a Roman senator, and "'y- her daughters. One of them, Marozia, it is said, was the mis- tress of Pope Sergius III. (904-11), to whom she bore a child, who was later Pope John XI. (931-36). In 914 Theodora raised one of her former lovers to the Papacy, who ruled as John X. (914-28). Italy was troubled by invasions of both Sara- cens and Magyars, and John X. showed his ability by valiantly resisting both enemies. Marozia had now become the wife of Alberic, margrave of Camerino. He quarrelled with Pope John X., but was unable to conquer him. At Alberic's death she mar- Marozia and ried Guido, margrave of Tuscany, and continued her three hus- . , , T^ f-i bands. the struggle with the Pope. She was now more ' According to a law made by Stephen III., 769, only the Cardinal Presby- ters and Cardinal Deacons of Rome were eligible to the office of Bishop of Rome. 1 78 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE successful. John X. was overcome and died in prison, 928. After setting up two weak Popes, Marozia then elevated her son, John XL, to the papal throne (931-36). On the death of her husband Guido, she married Hugo, who had recently been crowned king of Italy. Her son Alberic, however, re- sented this marriage and succeeded in driving Hugo out of Rome and making himself the real master of the city with the title of " Princeps atque omnium Romanorum senator." Until his death in 954 Alberic held the power in Rome, not only over the city but also over the Popes. The writings of the times contain many invectives but few charges against Alberic. As a governor he had much ability. He restored order and enforced the laws. He tried to ally himself with the eastern Emperor, and he was interested in the Cluniac reform to such an extent that he asked bishop Odo of Clugny to restore the discipline in, and reform the monasteries of, Rome. His only offence, a great one to be sure in the eyes of the churchmen of his age, was that he kept the Papacy thoroughly under his control and used the Pope as one of his officials. - During this period all Bishops of Rome seemed to forget the high claims that had been made by many of their predecessors. They were no longer bishops of the whole world, but simply of the city of Rome, and their energies were expended in the local political struggles. The Popes were The Papacy to be- chosen not for their fitness and by the clergy and come hereditary, people, but by the noble families who held the power. Alberic wished to make the office hereditary in his family. His son Octavian, a boy of sixteen years, succeeded him in authority, and a year later was made Pope. He took the title of John XII. (955). When Adelheid appealed to Otto I. to rescue her from the threatened marriage with Adalbert, the German king hastened at once to reheveher. In October, 951, he reached Pavia, took possession of the city, and a few days later married the princess, to protect whom he had made the long journey. He was in- GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 1 79 tending to go to Rome, but revolts in Germany compelled him to return quickly to the north. His subjects at home resented his interference in Italy. Otto was able, how- ^.. , „ ^ ■' ' otto s first ever, to quell the disturbances. He did not de- journey to prive Berengar of his crown, but compelled him '*"'''■ to come to Germany the next year, take an oath to him as his lord, and cede several marches in the northeast of Italy (Verona, Aquileia, Istria, Friuli, and others) to Henry, the brother of Otto. Berengar, however, on his return, continued his resistance to Al- beric, and after his death to his son, John XII. This boy Pope had shocked the city with his mad pranks and open debauchery. Being in danger from Berengar, he is said to have appealed to Otto. It is, at any rate, certain that the bishops and nobles of Lombardy asked for help from the Emperor against the en- croachments of Berengar. In August, 961, Otto crossed the Alps, and after having been crowned king of Italy at Pavia, proceeded to Rome. Before entering the city he took an oath that he would respect the rights of the Pope, who, on his part, bound himself by an oath never to aid Berengar or his son. Feb- ruary 2, 062^ Otto was crowned Emperor by the f^^,^ second Pope, and a few days later an agreement was en- journey and tered into by them ; the Emperor confirmed the donation already made to the Pope (Rome and its duchy, the Exarchate, some parts of Campania, and certain other territo- ries, such as Naples and Gaeta) " if the Pope should, by the help of God, make himself master of them." On the other hand, it was agreed that no Pope should thereafter be conse- crated until he had first taken an oath of allegiance to the Em- peror. The Pope was regarded as the Emperor's man. Otto soon set out for the north of Italy, but as soon as he had left, John XII. repented that he had acknowledged him as his lord, and began to intrigue with Berengar. He tried to make an alliance with the eastern Emperor, and sent Revolt ot ta-ask the Magyars to invade Germany. Otto •'''''" '"'• returned to Rome, which he took by force, called a senate. l8o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE which deposed John XII., and elected in his stead a Roman nobleman, who was a layman, I^eo VIII. He then compelled the Romans to swear that they would never elect a Pope with- out his consent. But as soon as he left the city the people revolted, drove out Leo, and received John XII. back. Again Otto returned, took the city without a siege, restored Leo, and carried away many persons, among them Pope Benedict and the ex-king Berengar. The next year Leo VIII. died, and fearing the vengeance of the Emperor, the people of Rome applied to him before elect- otto's third ^^S John XIII. But soon the nobility of the Italian jour. city conspired against him, and Otto again "*''■ crossed the Alps (966), and put to death the leaders of the opposition. For nearly six years Otto remained in Italy, ruling both city and Church as an absolute master. Being desirous of allying himself with the eastern Emperor, Otto sent an embassy to Constantinople and asked for the hand of the Greek princess Theophano for his son Otto. Tlieopliano. „t. , tm it-. Nicephorus Phocas, the Emperor, not only re- fused the alliance, but would not even recognize Otto as Em- peror. This led Otto to attack the Greek possessions in the southern part of Italy. In the meanwhile Nicephorus Phocas was assassinated and John Zimisces crowned in his stead. The latter was less obstinate, another princess bearing the same name was offered, and the marriage was celebrated at Rome (972). In the same year Otto returned to Germany after an ab- sence from that country of six years. In 973 he celebrated Easter at Quedlinburg, and held there a great assembly. His Death of Otto I. commanding position in Europe is seen from 973- the fact that he there received embassies from Rome, Constantinople, from the Hungarians, Bulgarians, Rus- sians, Slavs, and Danes. The dukes of Bohemia and Poland came in person to do him homage. A few days later he died at Memleben, and was buried in Magdeburg, his favorite city. The reign of Otto the Great is an important one in the <'• however, and totally destroyed Otto's army (982). At the same time the Slavs invaded the marches on the eastern frontier and destroyed the bishoprics of Havelberg and Brandenburg. About one-half of the diocese of the archbishop of Magdeburg was reconquered by them and remained heathen for nearly two hundred years. Hamburg was pillaged and burned. The whole march system broke down under their attacks. Overcome by the sad news. Otto died in Rome, in December, 983. Otto .III. (983-1002) was but three years old when his father died, and a struggle at once arose for the possession of the king and the regency. Henry the Quarrelsome at first otto ill. and seized the child and tried to make himself ""e eastern frontier. king. He was compelled to yield, however, but retained the duchy of Bavaria. Under the regency of Theophano the nobles were able to usurp many privileges and increase their power. The clergy also greatly enriched themselves at the ex- pense of the crown. The political disintegration of the Empire made great progress. Toward the Magyars and Slavs the policy of the regency was especially bad. Geiza, duke of Hungary, was permitted to receive the title of king from the Pope, to whom he did homage for his kingdom. The Pope thus became the feudal lord of Hungary. At the same time the Hungarian Church was freed from the control of the German archbishop and made independent. In the same manner the Church of Bohemia was separated from the archbishop of Magdeburg and put under its own bishop of Prague, and the Church of Poland, under the archbishop of Gnesen. Otto III., in this way, himself did l86 EUROPE ]N THE MIDDLE AGE much to establish independent states on the eastern frontier of his territory, M'hereas he should have striven to make them in- tegral parts of the Empire. Through the influence of his mother and his two teachers Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim and Gerbert, Otto's thoughts r>^ HI . r. were all centred on Rome. He dreamed of otto 111. s Ro- man Imperial restoring that city and making it again -the *^' capital of the world and the residence of the Emperor. In 996 he went to Italy at the invitation of the people of Rome, who were again in wretched plight from the factions of the nobles. He made his cousin, Bruno, Pope (Gregory V.), and drove out Crescentius, who was the most powerful man in the city. Being unable to remain in the south because of the effect of the climate on his health, he re- turned to Germany. The city at once revolted, and Gregory V. was driven out while Crescentius again became leader. The factions prevailed and the city was full of violence. . In 998 Otto III. again came, took the city without a siege, and put to otto III. and death Crescentius and his an ti -German Pope, the Papacy. John XVI. On the death of Gregory V. (Febru- ary, 999) he elevated his teacher, Gerbert, the most learned man of his age, to the Papacy, under the name of Silvester II. With the accession of Gregory V. and Silvester II. the Papacy ceased to be a city office, and again took up the ideas of Gregory the Great, Nicholas I., and the Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals. The high claims of the Papacy over rulers were now made against Robert II. of France. The Pope claimed also the right to create kings. The influence of Silvester over Otto III. was very great. The ancient titles and formulas were revived, and Otto believed that he was restoring the ancient Empire. He modelled his court after that of Constantinople, introducing a great many pretentious forms and ceremonies. While Otto was occupied Avith chasing this and other such shadows, the imperial power was rapidly growing less. He neg- lected Germany, and his reign was, for the imperial power as GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 1 8/ for Germany itself, a most disastrous one. In the last years of his life he was much given to a kind of ascetic mysticism. He fasted and wore next his body the hair shirt of a penitent. A third time he crossed the Alps into Italy (looi) and took up his residence on the Aventine Hill. The people of Rome, for whom he was so enthusiastic, did not understand his wild dreams and troubled him with their revolts. He died January 23, 1002, at the foot of Mount Soracte, and was buried in Aachen. Otto left no cliiljren, and the struggles that now arose over the possession of the crown only increased the political confu- sion. Ekhard, margrave of Meissen, Hermann, Henry 11., duke of Suabia, and Henry, duke of Bavaria, 1002-24. were all candidates for the throne. Fortune favored the latter and he was crowned as Henry II. (1002—24). On the east frontier Henry II. strove in vain to undo the mischief of Otto III. and to destroy the independence of the Slavs, who were the enemies of the Germans. poiand inde- From 1003 to ioi8 he struggled bravely against pendent. the Polish duke Boleslav, but the latter was victorious and took a large amount of territory from the Empire and added it to his own duchy. The beginnings of German culture and domina- tion there were destroyed. In Burgundy king Rudolf, an uncle of Henry, had lost all his power to the nobles. Since he had no children he made Henry his heir. It was not till 1032, however, , ' Burgundy. that Burgundy was actually made a part of the Empire. In Germany revolt was everywhere and the king was con- stantly busy struggling against it. Baldwin, count of Flan- ders, tried to make himself independent, and two condition of campaigns were necessary to reduce him. The Qermany. turbulent counts of Luxemburg were a source of great trouble to the king. When the duchies, counties, and marches, and even other offices fell vacant, Henry found it impossible to fill them according to his own choice. He had to yield much to the hereditary principle. Every such office was looked upon as a 1 88 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE fief, and fiefs were now hereditary. He enriched the high clergy to offset the power of the nobles. He favored the Church very much, but it was for the purpose of having her on his side and to use her in the work of government. Otto III. had wished to make Italy the seat of his govern- ment. Henry II., on the contrary, based his rule on Germany. j^ ., . He, indeed, went to Italy three times, but he his power on spent Httle time there. To him Germany was ermany. ^j^^ more important of his possessions. At the death of Otto III., Ardouin, margrave of Ivrea, had made him- self king in Pavia, while at Rome the son of Crescentius was made Patricius of the city, and controlled the Pope, John XVIII. In 1004 Henry went to Pavia and had himself crowned king, but almost lost his life in an attack which a mob of the city made on him. The troubles on the frontier compelled him to hasten back to Germany, and Ardouin was left in un- disturbed possession of northern Italy. In 10 13 he was again called to Rome to settle the quarrel between John Crescentius and the count of Tusculum. The lat- ter had set up an anti-Pope, Benedict VIII. Henry decided in favor of Benedict and was crowned Emperor by His coronation. , . , ^ tt 1 /- • ■ , rr- him (1014). He left imperial officers in Rome to keep order and defend his interests. Again, in 1020, Henry went to Italy to make a campaign against the Greeks and Saracens in the south. He returned without accomplishing anything. In Germany Henry did much to put an end to the local private wars. He went from province to province, and with the help of the Church proclaimed peace for each district, compelling all the people to take an oath not to engage in pri- vate war nor to do any violence to anyone. Henry enriched the Church and the monasteries, and was always surrounded by clergymen who served him as councillors. He was indeed de- vout, but he had also a political purpose in this. He hoped to make the clergy a counterpoise to the nobles. In following out this policy he often went so far as to invest abbots and bishops GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 1 89 with rich fiefs, such as cities, counties, and otlier territories, thus making them equal in rank as well as in power to the secu- lar nobles. He was in sympathy with the Cluniac movement and brought about a thorough reform in the monasteries. Although Henry was noted for his piety he was by no means the monk he was later represented to have been. His rich gifts to the monasteries and the churches caused all the clergy to praise him inordinately and magnify his devotion into asceti- cism. He was afterward canonized. At his death, since he left no heir for the throne, it is prob- able that Henry II. designated Conrad of Franconia as his suc- cessor. Germany was again threatened with a period of vio- lence. Since there was no one to punish, murder and robbery raged through the land. There was pressing need of united action, and the nobles of all the Empire soon came together and camped in the valley of the Rhine, between Worms and Mainz, to elect a king. Conrad of Franconia was elected and taken to Mainz to be anointed and crowned. He at conrad 11. 's once proceeded to Aachen to take his seat on ideas and the royal throne of Karl the Great. He held a ''°'"'^" diet and regulated the affairs of Church and State. This showed that he regarded himself as the successor of Karl the Great, and meant to follow in his footsteps as far as it was possible for him to do so. He at once made a journey through the Empire to settle matters and set the machinery of government in motion. Everywhere it was his policy to attach the people to himself that he might have their assistance in his struggles with the high nobility. While he denied the hereditary character of the duchies he affirmed it of the possessions of the smaller vassals. He brought it about that the fiefs of the knights, soldiers, and freemen should be hereditary and pass from father to son ac- cording to the principles of feudalism. Against the nobles and the bishops, who had become too pow- erful for the crown, he now had the enthusiastic help of the smaller nobles and the people. He further diminished the power igo EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of the great lords by decreeing that the vassals owed him mili- tary service directly, and must come at his call if he gave them the command to do so a sufficient length of time in ad- vance. To the five original duchies of Germany several others had now been added. It was Conrad's policy to get possession of these. Franconia vvas already his. On the death of the re- spective dukes of Bavaria, Suabia, and Kaernthen he gave these duchies as fiefs to his son, who was to succeed him. After some difficulty he inherited the kingdom of Burgundy (1032), but his authority there was very much limited by the bishops and counts. In Germany itself, however, he greatly increased the royal power by attaching the smaller nobility to himself and by getting possession of the duchies. On the east he succeeded in reducing Poland and Bohemia to partial subjection, but his campaigns against the Magyars were without success. He also ceded the territory north of the Eider (the march of Schleswig) to king Knut of Denmark. Although by this act the Empire lost some territory, it seems to have been a wise step on the part of the king since he had no further trouble on that frontier. Under Conrad 11. the character of the clergy was much changed through simony. He sold church offices openly to the highest bidder, regardless of his qualifications or character. Conrad II. in Conrad II. made two journeys into Italy. In *^*y 1026 he was called into Lombardy to settle quar- rels and restore order. He was crowned that year king of Italy at Milan, and the next year, Emperor, at Rome. He continued his expedition to the south to extend his power over the whole peninsula. Benevento and Capua with other places fell into his hands, and he is said to have given possessions in the south of Italy to some Norman knights, as Henry II. had done, on condition that they fight against both Saracens and Greeks. In 1036-37 he made a second campaign into Italy but without much military success. At a Mayfield held in the Valley of the Po, however, he issued an edict making the smaller fiefs in Italy also hereditary. GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY I9I Conrad II. by increasing the territory of the Empire and strengthening the frontier, by attaching the smaller nobility to himself and getting full possession of the duchies, gradually strengthened the imperial power in Germany and laid the foundation for the greatness of his son, Henry III., who suc- ceeded him (1039-56). Henry III. had been admirably trained by his mother along both intellectual and religious lines. He was deeply interested in the Church as a divine institution and did all Henry 111., in his power to keep her up to her high calling. 1039-56. He was called to make three campaigns against the Hungarians, in the first two of which he was successful. He added a small strip of Hungarian territory to the Empire and compelled king Aba, and later king Peter, to acknowledge his suzerainty. But in 105 1 king Andrew I. regained his independence and Hungary was lost to the Empire. He was equally unsuccessful in his contests with the Slavs. The duke of Bohemia tried to add Poland to his territory, hoping to unite all the Slavs in one great state. opposition In 1040 Henry undertook to punish him, but abroad and was unable to do so. The eastern frontier and "* *""*■ Saxony were more than once invaded by Slavic tribes and suffered much from their depredations. The king was unable to punish or hold them in check. In Germany Henry III. met with much opposition from the nobles, and found it necessary finally to yield to the wishes of the people and give up the duchies which he held. Taking advantage of the invasions and revolts of the Slavs and Mag- yars, many of the nobles conspired against him and caused him much trouble. According to feudal principles everyone had the right of pri- vate war. If violence were done to anyone, the Etsorta injured person had the right to gather as many to secure troops as he could muster and avenge himself on "*"'*■ the offender. The results of such a custom were chaotic in 192 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the extreme. Following the example of their brethren in Aqui- taine, the clergy of Germany tried to enforce peace by the authority of the Church alone. All violence was forbidden under heavy ecclesiastical penalties. But here, as in France, the time had not come when such a complete peace could be brought about; a compromise had, therefore, to be effected. Henry added the authority of the state to that of the Church, and ordered that from Wednesday evening till the following Monday morning all private feuds should cease and no acts of violence be done. Henry HI. attempted to enforce also a general peace throughout the whole land, but with only partial success. He was very severe with those who broke the peace. The simony which had been practised by his father so openly he opposed with all his might. He still continued to appoint both bishops and abbots, but he chose Church reform. f , , , . , always the best men, and never received any bribe or showed favoritism. Only the most learned and pious men were advanced to positions in the Church. He endeavored to reform the clergy also. It was customary for them either to marry or to keep a mistress. Henry took up the idea of the Cluniac reform and endeavored to enforce celibacy among all the clergy of whatever rank. To effect this he held many councils and had the assistance of some of the Popes as well as that of the Cluniac reformers. He labored hard to improve the morals of the clergy and bring about a genuine religious awakening among them. The monastery schools were fostered, and besides the schools for the clergy there were others for the laymen, especially for the children of the nobles. The plan was even entertained of making it compulsory on all the rich, at least, to place their children in these schools. Henry made two j^^^j. ,„ journeys into Italy (1046 and 1055), only the and the first of which is of any importance. The Pa- apacy. p^^^ -^^^ again become a local city office in the hands of the factions of the nobles. Each party elected a Pope whenever its needs seemed to demand such action. When GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY 193 • Henry reached Italy (1046) he found three Popes claiming the office. In councils at Sutri and Rome he deposed all three, assumed the title of Patricius, and declared it was his right to name the Bishop of Rome. Thereupon he elevated to that position Sudgar of Bamburg, who took the name of Clement II. During the rest of his reign he three times filled the office, al- ways with excellent men. In Italy he opposed simony in all its forms and refused to take bribes from the candidates for the papal throne. The Cluniac ideas were rapidly gaining ground, and, since Henry was in hearty sympathy with them, he did all he could to establish them. He worked harmoniously with the Popes and other reformers to make the Church what she should be. In 1047 he was crowned Emperor at Rome and soon after went into south- ern Italy to settle the quarrels of the Normans who had estab- lished themselves there and were rapidly increasing their power. Hemy III. wished to be an absolute master and rule in an autocratic way. He was, therefore, constantly involved in wars with his great vassals who longed for independence. His treatment of them was especially distasteful to them, and at his death in 1056 the opportunity was offered them to regain their much coveted power. He left a son, Henry IV., only six years old, who was no match for the discontented nobles. The Emperors, Henry III. not least of all, had done every- thing they could to make the Church great and powerful, believing that the clergy would always be grateful and true to their benefactors and support them against the nobles. Just at the critical time, however, when Henry IV. was a mere boy and more than ever needed their help, they basely deserted him and supported the high pretensions of a foreigner, the Bishop of Rome. The Emperor had claimed and exercised the right to appoint the Pope. The tables were now to be turned and the Pope was soon to claim the authority to make and unmake both kings and Emperors. The fatal struggle between the Papacy and the Emperor for the supremacy of the world was about to begin. CHAPTER IX ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN (802-1070) The struggle for supremacy, which lasted for three hundred years, among the small kingdoms of England, was practical- Ecgbehrt 'y ended during the reign of Ecgbehrt, who 802-839. ascended the throne of Wessex in 802. Nor- thumbria and Mercia, the two great rivals of Wessex, were worn out with the long wars, so that Ecgbehrt found it comparatively easy to make himself the over-lord of all the country. He had spent thirteen years in exile at the court of Karl the Great, and had no doubt learned much and had his ambitions quick- e]ied by what he saw of the successes of the great Prankish king. Karl the Great had for some time given much attention to the affairs in Britain ; he was in frequent communication with the various English kings, received the numerous political exiles from all parts of England, and showed his friendship for the English monasteries by making them rich presents ; he cherished the hope that he might reunite Britain to the Empire after its four hundred years of isolation. In his government Ecgbehrt showed wise consideration. In order to conciliate the people of Northumbria and Mercia, who were Angles, he determined in a council (826) that the land should be called, not Saxony, although he himself was a Saxon, but Anglia. The supremacy which Wessex now enjoyed might have been as ephemeral as that of some of the other kingdoms but for the fact that for nearly one hundred and fifty years after Ecgbehrt the throne of Wessex was occupied by able kings who wisely secured the assistance of the clergy in all that they did. The ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN 195 fusion of the kingdoms into one people was also hastened by the great common danger which now threatened them from the Northmen. As early as 787 the eastern coast of England had been attacked by pirates from the continent. Their ravages became more and more frequent, and the king invasions of the found it difficult to defeat them or to derive any Northmen. solid advantage from a victory over them, no matter how great it was. During the reign of Ecgbehrt they harried all the country incessantly. His son and successor, Aethelwulf (839- 858), was unable to stem the tide of invasion. In 851 they were bold enough to spend the winter on the island of Thanet. Till this time they had withdrawn to their home in the late autumn. Shortly after this a large band of them came up the Thames and sacked Canterbury and London. Aethelwulf was succeeded by his four sons in the order of their age : Aethelbald (858-860), Aethelbehrt (860-866), Aethelred (866-871), and Aelfred the Great (871-901). The task of defending the country against these barbarian invaders became more difficult as great numbers of them began to settle on the east coast. In 866 the Danes began the work of con- quest and settlement in earnest. Northumbria was quickly overrun and subdued by them. East Angha and the Fen were next attacked and conquered, their famous monasteries were burned and the king of East Anglia, Eadmund, was slain. He was later canonized, and over his remains there was built the great abbey of St. Edmundsbury. Mercia was not yet attacked, but in 870 its king paid the Danes tribute and acknowledged their leader as over-lord. Back of this submission was not only fear of the Danes, but also dislike of the West Saxon suprem- acy. King Aethelred was left with only the territory south of the Thames, since all north of that river was in the hands of the Danes. Even We.ssex was now invaded by them, and for some time it seemed that all England was to be conquered by the Northmen. They pushed up the Thames and out into Wessex, ig6 LUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE and Aethelred was unable to drive them back. In the midst of the war he died, leaving his crown to his brother Aelfred, Aeifred the Great, who tried in vain to repel the invaders. After 871-901. several defeats, in which his army was destroyed, he was compelled to buy the withdrawal of the Danes, hoping that in the meantime he might be able to put the country into a proper state of defence. Reenforcements continued to come from Denmark and Scandinavia, and in 876 Guthrum, the Dan- ish king of East Anglia, attacked Wessex. For two years the struggle was severe, but it ended in favor of Aelfred by the treaty of Wedmore (Chippenham) in 878; Wedmore, 878. ^ , , ^, . . . / ' , Guthrum accepted Christianity and was ceded the eastern half of England north of the Thames. This terri- tory was called the Danelaw. The conquerors settled as lords of the soil, and for a long time kept themselves separate from the conquered English. The fusion of the two peoples, how- ever, came eventually. During the remaining years of Aelfred's rule he had peace with the Danes, except in 886, when he was successful in wrest- ing from them London and the surrounding districts, and again in 893, when he was also successful in his defence. The condition of his territory at the peace of Wedmore was wretched in the extreme. Churches and monasteries had been Aelfred's Gov- burned, the clergy slain or driven out, law and ernment. order destroyed, and there was great want and desolation everywhere. His first care was to train up an army to have it ready at his call. The country was divided into five districts, each of which was bound to furnish a certain number of men with provisions and equipment. Every town also was required to do the same. Half of the troops raised in this way were required to be ready to go whenever called, while the others were to remain at home as a guard. A threefold duty was laid on every landed proprietor. He must serve in the army, and. contribute to the support of bridges and fortifica- tions (trinoda necessitas). Aelfred created a fleet which pa- ENGI^AND S78. Fobs, qf' .Ai/'rtd the Greats . ILT^- nn ffl Banes ami JVwsemen I J ails. ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN I97 trolled the coast and kept off the invaders. Aelfred restored order, punishing severely and impartially all offenders. As on the continent, so in England, everyone had the right of private war, but Aelfred enforced peace. This was called the king's peace. The king's justice also took the place of the local just tice. He carefully controlled the decisions of the lower courts, and changed them if they were not according to his ideas. The independent legislation of Aelfred was probably not very great, but he hal t'.ij laws of the Anglo-Saxon kings and peoples collected and reduced to writing in the Anglo-Saxon language. Aelfred labored hard to restore learning in his kingdpm. Late in life he began the- study of Latin, and mastered it so well that he was able to translate from it into his Learning mother tongue. He surrounded himself with scholars, most of whom he brought from the continent, and es- tablished a court school very much like that of Karl the Great. His own translations, however, were of most value to his people. From the Latin he translated the " Consolations of Philoso- phy," by Boethius; the "History of the World," by Orosius ; the " Ecclesiastical History of the English," by the Venerable Bede; and the " Pastoral Rule," by Gregory the Great. It was under his direction, also, that the " Anglo-Saxon Chron- icle" was compiled and continued. While all these works, ex- cept the latter, are translations, they contain also many additions from the pen of the king himself. Because of his moral great- ness, and because of the fact that he regarded himself as the servant of his people, he has been given the well-earned title "Great." The task that devolved on the successors of Aelfred was to prevent, if possible, any further migration from the continent, to reconquer the Danelaw, to hasten the fusion of the Danes with the Enghsh, and to keep down the tribal revolts and make England really one. Fortunately his successors were all able men (Eadward the Elder, 901-925; Aethelstan, 925-940; Eadmund, 940-946 ; Eadred, 946-955), who carried on the I go EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE work well. Eadwig (955-959) was a mere boy and his reign was troubled by quarrels among the nobles. But with the ac- cession of Eadred (946) a new power in the per- son of Dunstan had come in. He was the first of that line of remarkable ecclesiastical statesmen which Eng- land has produced. Under Eadred, Eadwig, Eadward (959- 975), Eadward the Martyr (975-979), and Aethelred the Redeless (979-1016), until his death in 988, Dunstan was much of the time the power behind the throne. Commerce with the continent was fostered, order was preserved, and the Chvrch and monasteries thoroughly reformed . The old slavery '" was disappearing, but in its stead the feudal rule was becoming established. The power of the king greatly increased and he was looked upon as king of all England and not simply of the West Saxons. The influence of the Church in uniting Eng- land was very great. The king now developed a court com- posed of his friends and officials, who formed a new nobility over against the old nobility of blood. The king took posses- sion of the folk land, that is, the land which had been left for the common use, and enriched his servants by dividing up much of it among them. At the same time the Folkmoot, the meeting of all the freemen, ceases, being replaced by the Wit- enagemot, the meeting of the wise men (i.e., the officials, with the highest clergy). The reign of Aethelred the Redeless {i.e., without council ; not the unready) was very disastrous. Utterly incapable of ruling he involved England more and more deeply in ruin and misery. In 901 the Danes began to invade Renewed Inva- „ , , , • sionsofthe England again, and he bought a truce of them Danes. and allowed them to settle in East Anglia. Other invasions followed, led by Olaf of Norway and Swein of Den- mark. Frightened at the danger which now threatened him, he tried to secure the assistance of Normandy by allying him- self to its duke, whose sister, Emma, he married. Goaded to frenzy by the presence of the Danes who had recently come, ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN I99 the English planned to massacre them. In 1002 they rose and put to death all the Danes among them. Among the slain was Gunhild, the sister of king Swein, who now swore to avenge her death by taking England from her king. From 1003 to 1007 he overran England, plundering and burning. Aethelred bought a truce of him, but he went on preparing for a larger in- vasion. In loi 3 Swein came back, and soon had swein, the Dane, all England in his power, while Aethelred was King of England. compelled to flee to Normandy. But Swein's rule was of short duration. He died the next year, and the Danish warriors chose his son Knut as his successor, while Aethelred returned from Normandy and was recognized as king by the English. The struggle between him and Knut for the possession of Eng- land began at once, but he died (10 16) and his son Eadmund Ironside succeeded him. He, too, died in a few months, and Knut was left master of all England. He reigned r r ■ . 1 1 1 ■ T Knut, 1016-35. irom loio to 1035 with a strong hand and wisely over his newly acquired realm. Under him the old kingdoms lost more-ajid more of their character as kingdoms and became known as earldoms. He became a Christian in character as well as in name, and allied himself to the clergy for the purpose of having their assistance in the government. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he attended the coronation of Con- rad II., and made an alliance with him. He tried to make the people forget that he was a foreigner by renewing the laws of his predecessors and preserving English customs. He further strengthened his position by marrying Emma, the widow of Aethelred. He brought England peace, for, during his reign, the land ' was free from disturbances. Denmark, however, profited most by this conquest of England, for she was thereby brought into close contact with a nation far more civilized than herself. The work of Christianizing Denmark and the other countries of the north was greatly hastened by her union with England. The Danes differed from the people in Eng- land very little in blood, language, customs, and laws, and their 200 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE settlement in England may be regarded as a reenforcement of German blood and a strengthening of the English character. At the death of Knut (1035) he was succeeded by his two sons in turn, Harold (1035-40) and Harthaknut (1040- 42). They were, however, thoroughly barbarous and un- fitted in every way to rule. England was again given up to The English line violence, and as the people disliked them there restored, 1042. was general joy when Harthaknut died and Eadward the Confessor (1042-66), son of Aethelred and Emma, came back from Normandy and was acknowledged as king. Tired of foreign rulers the people expected great things of Eadward, who was in blood an Englishman. But most of his life having been spent in Normandy he was far more Nor- man than English. He returned with a large following of Normans, whom he placed in high offices, both secular and ecclesiastical, greatly to the disgust and anger of the people. jA The real power in England, however, was in the hands of the great earl, Godwine of Wessex, whose earldom consisted of all the land south of the Thames. Eadward Earl Godwine. himself had little ability and less energy, and was content to pass his time in quiet. The two great earls of the north, Siward of Northumbria, and Leofric of Mercia, were kept busy with the affairs of their earldoms, so that Godwine had ample opportunity to carry out his plans. These were concerned with increasing the power of his own family. For his sons and other relatives he obtained small earldoms, and in 1045 strengthened himself by giving his. daughter Eadgyth to the king in marriage. Soon after this, however, the earl in- curred great popular disfavor by defending his son Swein, who had been guilty of gross crimes. Count Eustace of Boulogne visited his brother-in-law, King Eadward in 1050, and on his way home demanded of the people of Dover quarters for his attendants. The people re- fused and a riot ensued in which some of the count's men were slain. When the king demanded that the inhabitants of Dover. ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN 201 be punished, Godwine declared that they should first be tried. Leofric and Siward, who were jealous of Godwine, supported the king, and in the end Godwine and his family were ban- ished. Seeing that his case was hopeless, Godwine withdrew to Flanders (105 1). The next year, however, the Enghsh were glad to see him return, because the king had, in the meanwhile, shown even greater favor to the Normans. In 105 1 William the Bastard, duke of Normandy, visited the wiiiiam visits childless Eadward and is said to have received England. from him the promise of the crown of England. The court was filled with Normans, but on the reappearance of Godwine they hastily fled to the continent. Among them was Robert of Jumieges, who had been made Archbishop of Canterbury. At his flight the high office was given to an Englishman. This action offended the Pope, for, according to the papal claims, no Church official could be deposed except by ecclesiastical authority. Godwine died soon after, and was succeeded in the leadership by his son Harold. All the earldoms of England except Mercia gradually fell into the hands of Harold and his brothers. Since Eadward was childless, it was necessary to determine who should succeed him. Although not of the royal line, Harold was the only possible candidate. His Harold promised earldom was the largest in England. He was the crown. the right-hand man of the king, and he had shown the greatest ability both as a ruler and warrior. There was nothing to do but revive the old German custom of electing the ablest man king. It was accordingly agreed that Harold should succeed his royal master. During his last years Eadward became even more inactive than before. The management of affairs was wholly in the hands of Harold who put down a dangerous revolt in Wales, main- tained peace and order throughout the kingdom, and adminis- tered justice equitably. In England there was but one family which could contest the crown with him, that of Leofric of 202 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Mercia. This family he concihated by making Morkere, the brother of Leofric, earl of Northumbria, in the place of his own brother Tostig, against whom the Northumbrians had rebelled. On the death of Eadward, January 5, 1066, Harold was at once elected and crowned without opposition. The German tribes of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were almost entirely free from Roman influence till the ninth cen- tury. Christianity had certainly gained no hold upon them. They had scarcely even heard of it. They lived in small independent tribes, without any cen- tral government. But during the ninth century several leaders arose in various parts who united many of the tribes, much as Chlodwig had united the Franks in the fifth century. During this time three kingdoms were established, known respectively as the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Since the leaders and nobles of the conquered tribes were too proud to submit to a conqueror they turned to the sea, hoping to preserve their independence. At first they played the part of pirates, attacking the coasts of Gaul, Germany, northern Spain, and even Italy. Ascending the rivers for many miles they robbed, plundered, and burned all the towns they could. They singled out monasteries and churches for special attack because of the treasures which they were known to contain. At first these raids were made in the summer, and the pirates returned to their homes in the north for the winter. Gradually, however, they began to spend the winter also in the countries which they were plundering. They seized the land and settled upon it, and these winter settlements became permanent. As their suc- cess became known at home they were joined by large numbers of their fellow-countrymen who were eager to have a share in their prosperity. Terms were made with the lord of the land and these unwelcome guests made themselves at home and quickly identified themselves with the country in which they settled. It was plainly to their interest that not too many Norsemen should join them, since their own portions would be ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN 2O3 thereby diminished. They therefore resisted all further immi- gration as well as piratical invasions by their countrymen. These Norsemen possessed the German characteristic, adapt- ability, to a marked degree. Wherever they settled they quickly adapted themselves to the customs and life of the people about them. In France they became French- men, in England, Englishmen, in Russia, Rus- sians. They did not, however, lose their individuality. They preserved their courage, their genius for governing and their bodily vigor, their love of war and their thirst for fame. Like the Goths, when they migrated they left their religion at home, but not their religiousness. In common with all the other Ger- manic peoples they were strongly religious. They accepted Roman Christianity with a heartiness which soon made them the champions of the Papacy. They at once rebuilt the burned monasteries and churches and soon became the most zealous pilgrims of all Europe. They had the greatest regard for holy places and persons. From pirates they became Christian knights. They began their piratical raids in the eighth century, and for about two hundred years they were the scourge of the more civilized portions of Europe. Germany suffered greatly from their depredations. They passed up the Rhine and other rivers, desolating even the interior, until in 891 Arnulf met them in Lorraine and punished them so severely at the battle of the Dyle that they never again seriously threatened Germany. The lands to the east of the Baltic were attacked by them in the same way. About the middle of the ninth century they began to make settlements on the coast, and their xhe Norsemen leader, Rurik, succeeded in uniting the tribes of '" *••« «"**• Finns, Lapps, Letts, and others who were scattered over what is now western Russia. He and his successors extended their power into the interior. Novgorod, on Lake Illman, and Kiev, on the Dnieper, became their most important centres. For more than seven hundred years the family of Rurik held the kingship and ruled over a large part of what is now Russia. In 204 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE their raids to the east and south they came into contact with Constantinople, from which they received Christianity and the rudiments of civilization. In the tenth century a large body of Norsemen sailed down the Volga and raided a part of Persia. All the way from the Baltic to the Black Sea the Norsemen made settlements along the rivers, and thus was opened up a great route of travel and commerce between the Scandinavian countries and Constantinople and the East. In Sweden there have been found many coins of Bohemia, Hungary, and Con- stantinople, and even of the Khalifs of Bagdad. From the large number of these we must infer that this commerce was very considerable. Christian pilgrims from the north regarded this as the most convenient way of reaching Palestine, because they found some of their countrymen all along the route. In the eleventh century many Norsemen went to Constantinople to seek their fortunes and offer their services to the Emperor. He enrolled large numbers of them in his body-guard. About 800 they began to settle in the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetland Islands, which up to this time were occupied only by Irish monks and hermits. From these islands they spread to the mainland of Scotland. In the course of about a hundred years all these settlements were united into one kingdom. They took possession of Iceland in the ninth century, which soon became thoroughly Norse. There the Norse customs and traditions were preserved in greater purity and for a longer time than in their original home. ' In the tenth century they settled in Greenland. These colonists kept in constant intercourse with their mother country till the fourteenth century when they disappeared. From what cause is unknown. About the year 1000, Norse sailors discovered the coast of America, and several efforts were made to plant colonies there, but without success. On the east and south coasts of Ire- ' Cf. the Eddas and Sagas of the Norsemen, which were written in Iceland. ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN 205 land they also made many settlements, some of which con- tinued to exist till far into the twelfth century. Their inva- sions of England have already been recounted, as well as those of France. The settlement of Rolf in the valley of the lower Seine (Normandy) resulted in the establishment of a powerful duchy which soon put an end to the invasions from the north. Duke Rolf (911-927) and his successors (William Longsword, 927-943; Richard the Fear- less, 943-996 ; Richard the Good, 996-1027 ; and RftSiafd the Magnificent, 1027-35), ruled with a strong hand, and Nor- mandy was soon one of the strongest as well as best-governed duchies of France. The laws were enforced, order preserved, and the vassals kept in subjection. In 911 Rolf had agreed to accept Christianity, and in spite of occasional backslidings these pirates became devoted adherents of the Church. Normandy was noted for its churches, monasteries, and schools. The abbey of Bee was known throughout Europe because of its founder, Lanfranc, and its great prior, Anselm. Robert the Magnificent, at his death, in 1035, left only a bastard son, William, seven years old, to succeed him. When . , , . . . , , William the William attained his majority and attempted to Bastard, Duiie rule independently many of his subjects revolted. •** Normandy, There was a bitter struggle, but William proved himself master of all his enemies and administered the affairs of his duchy with as much ability and firmness as any of his pre- decessors. Eadward the Confessor is said to have promised his crown to William, who was his cousin. Another story of still more doubtful authenticity relates how Harold was shipwrecked on the coast of France and fell into the hands of WiUiam, who compelled him to take an oath that he would wiiiiam claims support William's claim to the throne. When tiie Engiisii the news of the accession of Harold reached crown, 10 William he fell into a great rage and began at once to pre- pare to invade England and make good his pretensions to 206 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the crown. He is said to have called on Harold to keep his promise, but Harold paid no attention to his summons. He sent to the Pope certain charges against Harold, and promised, in return for the papal support and sanction, to put the Church of England under the control of Rome. Alexander II., prob- ably at the advice of his counsellor, Hildebrand, gave William this blessing on these terms and sent him a consecrated banner with a ring containing a hair from St. Peter's head. The Pope further assisted him in his negotiations with the Emperor and the king of Denmark. William, in the meantime, built a fleet and collected his troops from every possible source. King Harold was threatened with a double danger on his accession to the throne. His brother Tostig had revolted and fled to Harold Hardrada, king of Denmark, whom he urged to invade England. Harold also learned of the preparations of William, but was uncertain when these attacks would be made. He collected an army and patrolled the coasts, but since no enemy appeared his men gradually left and went to their homes. Suddenly Harold Hardrada and Tostig landed on the coast of Yorkshire, defeated the troops of the earls Edwin and Morkere, and took the city of York. Harold Hardrada was at once pro- King Harold at claimed king. King Harold hastened to the Stamford Bridge, north, met the invaders near Stamford Bridge and utterly defeated them, September 28th. On the same day William landed, unhindered, near Pevensey, with an army of about fifty thousand men, and began to ravage the country. By forced marches Harold now hastened to the south to meet this new foe. Although deserted by the Earls of Mercia and Northumbria, Edwin and Morkere, he nevertheless determined to risk a battle without first collecting new troops and allow- The battle of ing his army to recuperate. On a hill, known Hastings. later as Senlac, he intrenched his men behind a palisade and awaited the attack of the Normans. His centre was composed of the best Anglo-Saxon troops, his house Carls (or huscarls), while both wings consisted largely of peasants ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN 207 badly equipped and badly trained. William made all his at- tacks against the centre. Charge after charge was made up the hill, but Harold and his men held their own and repulsed the Normans with heavy loss. More than once the day seemed lost for William, but he succeeded in rallying his troops and leading them again to the attack. At last by a ruse, a pre- tended flight, the troops of Harold were drawn out of their in- trenchments to pursue the retreating enemy, when William's cavalry fell upon them and cut them to pieces before they could regain their palisade. Taken at this disadvantage they could no longer withstand the heavy charges of the Normans. The palisade was broken down and the battle raged around Harold, who was surrounded by his body-guard. Harold fell by an arrow which pierced his eye. His guard was cut down to a man, and the rest of his army fled. William had won the day, and with it the crown of England. William's first care was to get possession of Kent and Sussex, the inhabitants of which were frightened into submission by his violence toward those who resisted him. He marched toward London and hoped to overawe the city by burning Southwark. The gates, however, were closed against him and the people elected as their king Eadgar the Aetheling, a grandson of Eadmund Ironside. The Earls of Mercia and Northumbria, Edwin and Morkere, were present at the election, but when William crossed the Thames and threatened their territories they withdrew from the city to look after their own interests. Seeing that resistance was hopeless the people determined to offer the crown to William William. He entered the city, and on Christ- crowned, 1066. mas-day, 1066, was crowned in Westminster by the Archbishop Ealdred. The crown was his by right of conquest, but he was also formally elected by the people of London, and now by the action of the Archbishop in his coronation the Church set its seal upon his title and supplied what was lacking in the legiti- macy of his claims. 208 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Thus far only the southeastern portion of England (bounded by a line from the Wash to Dorsethead) was actually in Will- iam's hands. To secure London he built a strong fortress, which afterward became the famous tower. The earls of Mercia and Northumbria submitted to him nominally, but in fact were still independent. In order to justify the seizure of whatever The land forfeit lands he might desire, William declared that the to William. election and acknowledgment of Harold as king was an act of treason, punishable with forfeiture and death. All England was, therefore, guilty, and all the land was forfeited to William. He at once seized the possessions of all those who had borne arms against him, the others being permitted to re- tain their lands on the payment of a fine. Otherwise there was for the present little change. William apparently wished to rule in accordance with the laws and customs of the land, which undoubtedly did much to quiet the people and persuade them to submit to the new king. In 1067 England had become so quiet that William re- turned to Normandy, leaving the government in the hands of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, now earl of Kent, and William Fitz- Osbern, earl of Hereford. These, however, were untrue to The English their trusts and allowed the English to be op- revoit. pressed by the Norman nobles. The English endured this oppression for only a short time. The people of Kent called on Eustace, the Count of Boulogne, while those in the west sought aid of the Welsh. William returned in the same year and easily put down the rebellion. But in the year 1068 a real national uprising took place. King Swein of Denmark came with a fleet to contest the possession of Eng- land with William. On his arrival in the Humber all the northern, western, and southwestern parts of England openly revolted and the king of Scodand came to their aid. William hastened to the Humber and bought the withdrawal of the Danish fleet. He then turned to the revolted provinces and easily overcame them since they were not united. Yorkshire ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN 209 especially suffered from his anger. So thoroLighly did he de- vastate it that a famine followed which is said to have carried off more than a hundred thousand people, and nearly a century passed before the land was restored to its former state of culti- vation. The most determined of the English had fled to the Fens (the swampy district south of the Wash), and there offered brave resistance under the leadership of Hereward. Their de- struction, however, completely broke down all opposition, and England was thoroughly conquered. Scotland was next in- vaded and its king subjected. Being now in full possession, William set himself to keep in subjection and govern his hardly acquired kingdom. The history of his reign will be considered in a later chapter. This Norman conquest of England had great influence on the future history of England not simply because of the political changes which William introduced. He was not Effect of the only king of England, but duke of Normandy, Conquest. and a subject of the king of France. He was, moreover, a devoted friend of the Papacy. It was, therefore, inevitable that England should be closely associated with the continent ; the English kings, proud of their continental possessions, would be involved in the territorial struggles of the French kings ; and the claims of the Popes for universal dominion would the more easily include England. The conquest brought England again into intimate relations with the rest of Europe and made of her a continental power. CHAPTER X THE NORMANS IN ITALY Robert Guiscard, a vassal of William, had almost as great a career in southern Italy and the adjacent countries as his ducal master in England. But he was not the only able Norm'an who sought his fortune in the south. From the middle of the ninth century the Saracens had complete possession of Sicily, and also held many places on the mainland. The principal part of southern Italy, called the Theme of Lombardy, still belonged to the Emperor at Constantinople and was ruled over by his officers. On the east coast these possessions extended to the north as far as Mount Gargano,^and on the west almost to Salerno. To the north of this' district was a large group of independent or semi- independent principalities, such as Salerno, Amalfi, Naples, Capua, Benevento, and Spoleto. Neither the Greek nor the German Emperor had been able to attach these permanently to his interests. They spent their time in warring with one an- other, or with the garrisons of the Greeks or Saracens about them. They were mere political fragments, and their con- dition seemed hopelessly chaotic. By accident the attention of the Normans was directed to this field which offered them very great opportunities for ad- c-„*o„„.o™™ vancement. In 1016 a band of Normans re- First appearance of the Normans turning from a pilgrimage to Palestine was " *"■ shipwrecked near Salern6, the prince of which needed help against the Saracens. The Normans aiding, he was successful. He repaid them well and dismissed them, since they were unwilling to take permanent service with him. On their THE NORMANS IN ITALY 211 return to Normandy, their accounts of their treatment in Italy, as well as of the political situation of the country and the great opportunities for making one's fortune, fired the cupidity and ambition of their fellow-countrymen. From this ti'me on we find many Norman soldiers of fortune in southern Italy, offer- ing their services to the highest bidder. About 1027 the duke of Naples granted Aversa to a band of them, and by con- quest other small territories were soon added to this. Toward 1040 they were reenforced by three of the sons of Tancred of Hauteville — William of the Iron Arm, Drogo, The sons of and Humphrey. At first they- assist ed the Greek s Tancred. against the Saracens, but having quarrelled over the distribution of the spoil they took their revenge by attacking. Apulia. In a short time they had driven out the Greeks and Apulia taken, established themselves as masters of the provmce. A kind of republic was now organized under twelve counts, with William of the Iron Arm at their head. The prince of Salerno conferred on him the title of count of Apulia and gave him his niece in marriage. On the death of V/illiam of the Iron Arm, in 1046, his brother Drogo succeeded him, was rec- ognized by the prince of Salerno and received his daughter in marriage. The third brother, Humphrey, followed in the succession. In the meanwhile two more brothers had come from France, Robert Guiscard and Roger. As Benevento the power of the brothers increased they turned threatened, toward the north, and it soon became evident that they were going /to add Benevento to their possessions. Pope Leo IX. (1048-54) was greatly alarmed at their en- croachments, and sought help in vain from the Greeks, the Lombards, and the Germans. He could enlist vassaisofthe only a small army of Suabians, with which he ^"P"' "»S3- marched south to attack the Normans. He met them near Civitate, but his troops were utterly routed and himself taken prisoner (1053). He feared violent treatment at their hands, and hence was surprised when their leaders approached him, 212 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE fell at his feet, begged for forgiveness, and offered to become his vassals. Leo was too wise to let such an opportunity slip. He therefore confirmed them in their possessions. In 1057 Humphrey died and Robert Guiscard succeeded to the title of count of Apulia. Two years later he appeared be- Robert Guiscard ^"""^ P°P« Nicholas II. (1059-61), gave him the made duke, oath of allegiance, and received in return the '°^^' title of duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily. Sicily and a part of Calabria were still in the hands of the Saracens, and the newly made duke at once set about their Sicily con- conquest. His brother Roger quickly con- quered, quered nearly all of Sicily, although the Sara- cens were not wholly driven out till about 1090. Robert ruled his duchy well, and Amalfi was for awhile one of the principal commercial cities of Italy. The schools of Salerno added lustre to his name. A revolution in Constantinople gave Robert an opportunity to attempt to extend his territories to the east. In 1081 _ ttaics' ■'^Isxius Comnenus usurped the power and ex- tiieQreeic pelled the Emperor Nicephorus III. Constan- Emperor. ^.j^^^^ ^^^q ggn of the preceding Emperor, Michael VII., had married the daughter of Robert Guiscard. Appar- ently to restore his son-in-law, but probably to secure the crown for himself, Robert Guiscard gathered an array to in- vade the Greek Empire. He sought the support of Gregory VII., who gave him his blessing and promised to invest him with all the lands he might conquer. Durazzo, on the coast of Epirus, was first besieged, and, in spite of a stubborn re- sistance, was finally taken. Alexius sent Henry IV. of Ger- many large sums of money, and begged him to make an in- vasion into southern Italy. He secured the aid of the Vene- tians by granting them great commercial privileges, such as the freedom from tolls and the possession of a Venetian quarter in Constantinople. After capturing Durazzo, Robert forced his way into the interior. Towns and fortresses fell into his hands THE NORMANS IN ITALY 213 until he controlled all of Epinis and a large part of Thessaly. Thessalonica and Larissa were threatened, but at this moment Gregory VII. , who was hard pressed by Henry IV., called on Robert to come to his aid. He at once left his army in charge of his son Boemund, and hastened to Rome, where he succeeded in driving off the Germans and freeing the Pope. But in The- saly the diplomacy of Alexius won the victory. By offering large bribes he succeeded in winning over many of the Nor- man knights. He levied fresh troops in other parts of the Em- pire. Boemund's forces were gradually weakened by losses in battle, by sickness and desertions, so that Alexius was able to defeat him and gradually force him back to the Adriatic. At last, evenDurazzo was retaken, and Boemund with his handfuL of men returned to Italy. Robert Guiscard soon renewed the attempt, but Alexius had in the meanwhile so strongly fortified and garrisoned the coast that Robert met with Death of Robert small success. His untimely death in the fol- '°*5 lowing year (1085) put an end to the invasion, and Boemund , made peace with Alexius. Robert Guiscard's attack on the eastern Empire had failed, and, besides, had stirred up among the Greeks great animosity against the west. Alexius had seen how great the danger really was and had been thoroughly frightened. Ten years later the first crusade, of which Boemund was one of the lead- ers. Was organized and marched east by way of Constantinople. Is it any wonder that Alexius should have been distrustful of them and have endeavored to outwit them ? The failure of the first crusade was due, in some measure at least, to this invasion of Robert Guiscard. The work of Robert Guiscard was to live after him. By his conquests he had united Sicily and the southern part of Italy into one great duchy, which was to be the basis Basis for a new for the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was kingdom. succeeded as duke by his brother Roger in 1085, who in turn was followed by his son Roger II. (11 01). This second Roger 2 14 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE inherited the well-known family characteristics — ambition and great ability. The struggles by which he obtained the title of king will be described in another place. This new Norman power, established in the south, was to play a very important role in the history of Italy and of the Papacy. We have followed the Normans in their settlements through- out Europe and shown how great their activity and importance _. . ,, , were. They settled the islands far to the west The influence of -' the Normans and north, established a kingdom among the in Europe. mixed peoples of what is now western Russia, added to the stock of German blood in England, established a great duchy in France, whose dukes and nobles conquered England and impressed upon it the Norman character ; Nor- man nobles created the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, threatened the eastern Empire, led the crusades, and established kingdoms in Asia ; they were the most efficient allies of the Papacy in its long and bitter struggle with the Empire, and materially assisted in securing the Papal victory. One great movement, in which they were the mpst prominent leaders, is yet to be described, the crusades, the first of which resulted in the establishment of several Norman principalities in the east. Although they eventually either lost their possessions or were thoroughly amalgamated with the people of the conquered country, they nevertheless left their impress on Europe in many ways, and their history is one of which any people might be proud. CHAPTER XI FEUDALISM Feudalism is the name applied to the economic, social, and political relations and conditions existing in Europe from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. These econo- Feudalism mic relations are expressed by the phrase " feu- defined. dal tenure of land," the theory underlying which was that the tenant or holder of any piece of land had only the use of it, for which he must pay certain dues as rent, to the man (lord or suzerain) from whom he had received it. Property in land was not absolute, but of a beneficiary nat- ■' Economic rela- ure ; that is, the holder had only the benefits of tions, feudai he tise of it, not the land itself In theory the tenure, land belonged to God, who let it to the king, who, in turn, sublet ft to his great vassals, and these then parcelled it out to their subjects. The general word expressing the social relations is "vassal- age," which indicates the personal relation and bond existing between the man who thus held land and the social relation, man from whom he had received it. It conveys lord and vassal. on the side of the vassal the idea of social inferiority and the obligation to perform certain services for his lord. The political relations are expressed by the word " immu- nity, "which means that the holder of an estate is, in the matter of its government, free from all interference on political reia- the part of his lord ; that is, with the use of """s- immunity. the land he has also received from his lord the right, within his own territory, to perform the judicial, executive, and even, to some extent, the legislative functions of government, and in the 2l6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ordinary exercise of these functions he is free from all inter- ference on the part of his lord. He is, therefore, on his own domain, to all intents and purposes, and, within certain limita- tions, an independent king. These three things — feudal tenure, vassalage, and immunity — are the essential features of feudalism. This condition of affairs was the outcome of the chaos of the two centuries which followed the death of Karl the Great. Origin of feudal- Not even he had been able wholly to centralize '""■ the power, and to sustain a personal relation to all his subjects. He struggled during all his reign against the tendency to separation, and the ambitious efforts of various parts of his Empire to achieve local independence. The ma- chinery of his government was not inherently weak ; it need- ed only a strong and vigorous man to conduct it. Under his successors, in the ninth and tenth centuries, because of their weakness, and the struggles of rebellious sons and nobles,. his Empire broke up into many pieces. The process of decentral- ization made rapid progress. There was no one to enforce the laws and preserve order, since the Emperor was too weak to do so. Men found that they could break the laws, therefore, with impunity. The strong oppressed the weak, seized their goods, their lands, and even their persons, forcing them into the position of vassals or serfs. This is the period of violence and usurpations, or what the Germans most appropriately call " Faustrecht," or fist right ; the man with the strong arm might do whatever he chose. The wheels of government stopped, and the people had, therefore, to take care of themselves. Duruy ("History of the Middle Ages," Book v., chap. 15) has well stated this point : ' ' Royalty no longer performed the duties for which it was instituted, and protection, which could not be obtained from the nominal head of the state, was now sought from the bishops, counts, barons, and all powerful men. ' ' Their attempts to take care of themselves resulted in a com- plicated set of customs and practices, the sum of which was FEUDALISM 217 feudalism. The weak man, in order that he might not be ut- terly destroyed by the violence of those who were stronger than he, often willingly surrendered all that he had to some bishop or count, put himself under his protection, and assumed the vassal relation. The violence and chaos of the ninth and tenth centuries produced these changes and brought about this condi- tion of affairs. There were many customs prevalent among the peoples of Europe before the ninth century, which furnished certain elements of feudalism, but tliey were not what produced it. Such things as the German ' ' comitatus, " or " Gefolge, ' ' and the Gallic " commendation," undoubtedly were prototypes of some of the feudal customs, but these would not have developed into feudalism if it had not been for the chaotic economic, so- cial, and political condition of Europe in those two centuries. Under Karl the Great the tenure of office had depended upon his will ; under his successors, many of the imperial and royal officials declared that they not only held „j(j^g ^^^ ^^^^^ their offices by a life tenure, but that these were become hered- also hereditary in their family. These claims itary. they were able to make good in spite of the imperial opposition. In this way, the judicial, executive, and legislative functions of the central government were usurped. Karl the Great had rewarded his officials with gifts of lands. Under his succes- sors, all the holders of such lands succeeded in making their possessions hereditary in their family, while still recognizing the Emperor as the actual possessor of them.' ' The Edict of Kiersy, which was proclaimed June 14, 877, by Charles the Bald, King of France, is ordinarily referred to as the act which established the hereditary character of all such lands. The text of this edict is as fol- lows : Si comes de isto regno obierit, cujus filius nobiscum sit, fiUus noster cum ceteris fidelibus nostris ordinet de his qui eidem comiti plus familiares ac propinquiores fuerunt qui cum ministei'ialibus ipsius comitatus et cum epis- copo in cujus parochi fuerit ipse comitatus ipsum comitatum prsevideant, usque dum nobis renuntietur, ut filium illius qui nobiscum erit de honoribus ■ illius honoremus. Si autem filium parvulum habuerit, isdem filius ejus cum ministerialibus 2l8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Many who held land by the allodial (freehold or fee sim- ple) tenure were deprived of their lands by force and reduced Freehold lands to the position of vassals. Others, when they become feudal, gaw themselves exposed to so great danger, bought protection by offering to surrender their lands to some lord on the condition that he would protect them and permit them, as his tenants or vassals, to hold the same lands. In a former chapter attention has been called to the fact that under the Emperors of the sixth and seventh centuries, such a process was going on because of the heavy taxation and the oppression by the government. Previously all land had been held by the allodial tenure, but gradually this was so thoroughly changed that by the end of the twelfth century the principle was gen- erally acknowledged that all land must have a feudal lord and be held by the feudal tenure. In the thirteenth century there was very little land in western and northern Europe held in any other way. Fiefs and vassalage, therefore, arose from grants, usurpations, seizures, and voluntary surrender. Since feudalism grew out of the chaos of the times, it could hardly be expected that it would have a uniform character. In Feudalism not fact, the feudalism of one province differed from a system. that of another. In the general stress and dan- ger each one made such terms as he could with his lord. Feudalism is not a system, therefore ; it is as chaotic and ir- ipsius comitatus, et cum episcopo in cujus parochia consistit eumdum comi- tatum prsevideant, donee obitus praefati comitis ad notitiam perveniat nos- tram et ipse filius ejus per nostram concessionem de illius honoribus honore- tUT. Si vero filium non habuerit, filius noster cum ceteris fidelibus nostris ordinet qui cum ministerialibus ipsius comitatus et cum episcopo proprio ipsum comi- tatum prsevideat, donee jussio nostra inde fiat. Et pro hoc ille non irascatur qui ilium comitatum prseviderit si eumdem comitatum alteri cui nobis placuerit dederimus quam ille qui eum eatcnus prsevidit. Similitu et de vassallis nostris faciendum est. Et volumus atque praecipi- mus ut tam episcopi quam abbates et comites seu etiam ceteri fideles nostri hoc erga homines suos studeant conservare. This edict, however, presupposes that all such fiefs were hereditary. Charles only insists on his rights as lord. FEUDALISM 219 regular as the period in which it arose. To ahnost every gen- eral statement about it exceptions could be found. Classifica- tions are impossible, because of the great and numerous varia- tions which are everywhere met with. It is a misnomer to speak of the feudal "system," since by that word the idea is conveyed that it is an orderly and uniform set of customs and regulations. At the beginning of the eleventh century, however, order began to be restored. People were worn out by interminable strife and private wars. The Church was the first to try to put a stop to that state of things. The clergy in southern France (at the end of the tenth century) first attempted to enforce the peace of God ; that is, people were forbidden to fight, on the ground that they were Christians, and were threatened with the punishments of the Church, ban and ex- communication, if they persisted in fighting. This peace of God it was impossible to enforce. The times were too wild. The next step was a compromise. Since the Peace ofOod, clergy could not secure the total cessation of hos- Truce of Ood, , , , Peace of the tilities, in the eleventh century "they proposed the Land. " Truce of God ; " that is, from Wednesday evening to Mon- day morning no one should engage in war (about 1030 to 1050). A great step toward better things was taken in the same century when Henry III. declared himself to be the guar- dian of the public peace, or "peace of the land," and threat- ened to punish all who disturbed it. By this means private warfare was greatly limited. The chaos and anarchy of the ninth and tenth centuries yielded to regularity and .order. The customs were more fixed and better observed. Feudalism be- came less chaotic, and society, therefore, more stable; vio- lence became less and security greater ;' travel was possible because of the greater safety along the highways. The effect was seen at once in the steady revival of commerce, which be- came more pronounced as the eleventh century advanced. The Church was completely drawn into feudal relations. 220 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE In those days of violence and rapine, tlie robber and plunderer had little or no regard for the property of the Church, or The Church and the livcs of the churchmen. Churches and Feudalism. monasteries were, therefore, compelled to seek protection, just as individuals were. The bishop or priest, for his church or diocese, and the abbot or prior, for his mon- astery, surrendered the church's or monastery's property to some lord and received them back in return for the payment of certain rents and dues. Such churches and monasteries were legally feudal individuals, and were, of course, required to perform all feudal duties. The lands, indeed, belonged to the Church,' and, theoretically, could not be alienated from the Church and ecclesiastical uses. As late as the eleventh century it was not at all uncommon for the clergy to marry. Since fiefs were hereditary, it seemed perfectly proper that their children should be provided for out of the Church lands which they held. But, unless all their children became clergymen, these Church lands would pass into the hands of laymen and therefore be lost to the Church. One of the purposes of the prohibition of the marriage of the clergy was to prevent this alienation and diminution of the Church lands. The land, office, or any right or privilege granted and held as indicated above was called a fief, feud, or benefice. The lord, liege, or suzerain, was the one who granted a fief. The receiver of it was his vassal or liege- man. Subinfeudation was the regranting of a fief by a vassal to a third person, who, therefore, became a vassal to a vassal. In connection with the infeudation of a fief there were certain rights and ceremonies called homage ; kneeling with uncovered head, folded hands, and sword ungirt before his prospective lord, the vassal made a set speech in which he vowed that he would become the lord's "man" and perform all the duties which this relation demanded. The lord then raised him, re- ceived his oath of fidelity, and by a symbolic act (usually the presentation of a sword, standard, sceptre, ring, staff, a bit of FEUDALISM 221 earth or a twig) invested him with the possession of the fief in question. The one great duty of the lord to his vassal was to protect him. The lord must avenge his vassal's wrongs, defend him in all his privileges, and secure him justice in all matters. The vassal, on the other hand, owed his lord service, which might be of various kinds. MiHtary service was, in some respects, the most important, and in accordance with the ideas ^oble or military of the times was regarded as noble. Service in service, labor, gifts, money, and produce, was regarded as menial or ignoble^ Military service in the days of Karl the Great had been required of all freemeli. The army was composed of the whole people under arms. As the use of cavalry was introduced and became general, and the practice of wearing armor uni- versal, it became impossible for everyone to equip himself with the required paraphernalia. Continuous and far -distant cam- paigns made it necessary for many people to remain at home to till the soil. Karl the Great had the right to call his army together at any time, and demand their service in any part of the empire, and for any length of time. By offering united resistance the vassals succeeded in acquiring two important limitations to this : they could be compelled to serve only forty days in the year, and only within a reasonable cjistance from their homes. Feudal armies could not be levied directly by the king ; he must first send the summons to his great vassals, with the order to appear with a certain number of men at a cer- Feudal armies. tain time and place. These, m turn, delivered the order to their vassals, and so the command was passed along until it had reached the end of the line of vassals. Un- der such conditions it is easily apparent that a feudal army was of little use, even when it was got together. Since wars must be fought, the rulers ceased to rely on their feudal levies, and en- gaged mercenary troops, which they kept as a standing army. Among the special duties laid upon a vassal were the following : 222 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE If in battle the lord were unhorsed the vassal must give him his own ; if the lord were in personal danger, the vassal must defend him with his life ; if the lord were taken prisoner of war, the vassal was bound to go as a hostage for him. There were various circumstances under which the lord might demand money from his vassals. When he knighted his eldest son, or gave his eldest daughter in marriage, or Feudal dues. , . , . ... , hmiself was taken prisoner, he might demand any sum which his vassal was able to pay. Such payments were called " aids," and tended to become fixed. A relief was a sum of money paid by an heir when he entered upon his in- heritance at the death of his father. Ordinarily this was the entire income of the estate for a year. The same rule existed in regard to ecclesiastical offices. The newly appointed bishop or priest was compelled to pay the first-fruits (the annates), which meant the income of his office for a year. If a vassal died without heirs, his property reverted to the lord ( escheat ) , and might then be relet to another vassal. If a vassal wished to surrender his fief to another, he had first to get the consent of his lord and pay a certain sum of money (fine upon aliena- tion). If a vassal were guilty of treason, the lord might claim his possession by forfeiture. In England the king claimed, also, certain other rights, such as \vardship and marriag e ; that is, if a vassal died leaving only children who were minors, the king became their guardian, and managed, and had the income from, their estates until they became of age. His consent to their marriage must be obtained, for which they were expected to pay well. One of the most oppressive rights of the lord was that of fodrum ; that is, the maintenance of himself and reti- nue, or even his army ; when passing through any district he might demand that its residents supply himself and his follow- ers with food. In the same way, he might require the people along the way to furnish him a sufficient number of horses and wagons to transport him and his train from one place to an- other. FEUDALISM 223 The rents due from the vassal were of various kinds. Gen- erally a certain sum was due for the land, another for the house, sometimes another for the fire (chimney), and ordinarily a small tax for each head of stock (cattle, sheep, hogs, etc.). Of course the lord received a certain share of all that was pro- duced on the soil, of the wheat, hay, wine, chickens, stock, honey, beeswax, and everything, in fact. A charge was also made for the privilege of pasturing the stock in the forests or fields of the lord, for obtaining firewood from his forests, and for fishing in the streams which were regarded as his property. The peasants were forbidden to sell their grain for a certain length of time after the harvest, or their wine after the vintage, in order that the lord might have a temporary monopoly in these articles. They were compelled to bake their bread in his oven, grind their corn at his mill, and pre.ss their grapes in his wine-press, for all of which a suitable toll in kind was charged. The lord could also seize the grain, wine, and other produce of his tenant, paying him what he chose, either in cash or at the end of a certain time. The tenant was required to labor also for his lord a certain number of days in the year. He must till his fields, care for his crops, make his wine, furnish horses and wagons on demand, haul his wood for the fires in the house, stones for building purposes, keep his castle and other buildings in repair, build defences, repair the roads and bridges, and render a multitude of other services. The lord exercised over his tenants the power of a judge. All cases were tried before him or his officers. He had the right to impose and collect fines for all sorts of of- Peudal justice. fences. For every crime and misdemeanor there was a fixed fine. The administration of justice on a great domain was, therefore, the source of a considerable income. The lord held court three times a year, at which all his vassals were expected to be present ; but such attendance was soon felt to be burdensome and they secured permission to absent themselves on the payment of a fee. 224 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE These are only some of the rights of a feudal lord. It was to the lord's interest, of course, to multiply them and enforce them whenever possible. The vassals did all they could to limit them and to preserve their liberty and independence. It is ap- parent, however, that they were subject to innumerable bur- dens, and if their lord or his overseer was so disposed, their lives could be made unendurable. Feudal society may be divided into three classes, the peas- ants or tillers of the soil, the citizens or inhabitants of the towns, forming the industrial class, and the aris- Peudal society. , 7- , r 11, r , , tocracy, who lived from the labors of the other two classes. The land was ordinarily divided into large estates, or do- mains, in the hands of what we may call great landlords, who. Disposition of of course, did no work themselves. Very often tiie soil. fjjgy ^jj(j j^Qj gyg^ oversee their estates but left that work to the care of a foreman or agent. This office of agent often became a fief, but sometimes it was farmed out for a certain sum. The holder of it received no salary, but was expected to get his pay out of the administration of the office itself. This he did at the expense of the peasants. The cen- tral house, or manor of the estate, was regarded as the residence of the lord, although it often happened that he spent little time at it, especially if he possessed several domains. The manor was often the residence of the agent. About the manor was often a considerable amount of land which was held by the lord and cultivated for his benefit. Since all his tenants owed him a certain number of days' labor, he never had any difficulty in having this land well cultivated. All the rest of the tillable land and meadow was divided into small lots and parcelled out among the tenants and became hereditary in the family of the one who tilled them. These tenants lived, generally, in little houses grouped together, form- ing a village. All the inhabitants of the country were known as peasants (rustici, villains), and may be divided into two FEUDALISM 225 classes, serfs and free. But within these two divisions there were many variations. The slavery of the early Empire had been changed into serf- dom. The slaves had become attached to the soil which they tilled. They were no longer sold. They were allowed to marry, and in accordance with the prevaiUng feudal customs received a bit of land. At first the lord could tax his serfs at will, but gradually limits were set to the demands which he might make. The serf paid an annual poll-tax, and if he married some one belonging to another do- main he also paid a certain sum for the privilege of doing so. He could neither alienate nor dispose of his possessions by will. At his death all that he had went to the lord. The serf could neither be taken from his land, nor might he leave it; yet many of them ran away from their lords, and, passing them- selves off for freemen, took service with other lords. If caught, . however, they could be restored to their former lord ; but if , they could secure admission to the ranks of the clergy they thereby became free men. They might also become free in other ways. They might, if their master were willing, formally renounce him, surrender all their goods, and quit the domain. On the other hand, the lord might set a serf free on the pay- ment of a certain sum. This became, indeed, a favorite way of raising money. The lord would set free all the serfs of his domain and demand the payment of the fee. Since they be- came his free tenants and must remain and till his land, he really lost nothing by setting them free, but rather gained. On the other hand, people might be reduced to serfdom by force. The conceptions of free and servile had become attached to the soil. Certain parts of a domain were called free, probably be- cause they had always been occupied by free peasants, while other parts were called servile, probably because they had al- ways been tilled by slaves who gradually became serfe. If a free peasant occupied this servile land he thereby lost his free character and became a serf. The free peasants were more IS 226 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE nearly like renters who pay so much each year for the use of their lands either in money or in produce. Their lands were also hereditary. Being independent of their lord they could dispose of their possessions. There was nothing to prevent them from amassing a considerable amount of property. In a later chapter will be found a description of the class of citizens. The cities themselves arose after the establishment of feudalism, but were forced into the feudal rela- Citizens. ^.^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ .^ ^^^j.^ regarded as feudal personalities and were treated much as a feudal individual. The city, as a whole, owed feudal duties. As the cities grew large and rich they resisted the feudal claims of their lords and were one of the powers that destroyed feudalism. Sharply separated from the laboring classes were the nobil- ity. This nobility was divided into two classes, the secular and the ecclesiastical. The only occupation of ° " *'■ the secular nobility was the use of arms. Only he could enter this class who had sufficient money to equip himself as a warrior and to support himself without work ; for work was regarded as ignoble. It is probable that for cen- turies the acquisition of sufficient wealth enabled anyone to pass into the ranks of the nobility.' But in the thirteenth century nobility became hereditary. The line was sharply drawn between the noble and the ignoble families. Noble birth was added to the requisites of nobility, and eventually be- came the only requisite. Wealth alone was no longer the pass- port to noble rank. Intermarriage between nobles and com- moners was forbidden, or at least regarded as a mesalliance. In Germany and France all the children born into a noble family inherited the title, while in England the title and wealth passed only to the eldest son. He only was required to marry within his class. The younger children might marry into igno- ble families without thereby forming a mesalliance, a fact which accounts for the community of interest which has ever existed in England but not elsewhere between commoner and aristocracy. FEUDALISM 22/ From the tenth century it became customary to fight on horseback. Whoever was able to equip himself with a horse and the necessary armor was regarded as a member of the aris- tocracy of arms. Only the common people still fought on foot. From this use of the horse came the terms "chivalry" and "chevalier." Both man and horse were protected by armor in such a way that they were almost invulnerable. The knight wore a helmet, coat of mail, and a shield for defence, and for attack carried a sword and lance. Improvements were constantly made in the armor, which gradually became so heavy that the knight was almost helpless except on his horse. For ordinary purposes he kept a light horse, but for battle, a strong animal was required because of the weight of the armor. Every knight was also attended by an esquire, whose duty it was to care for his horse and weap- ons and to serve as a body-servant. Among this great body of men of arms there grew up a set of customs and ideas to which the name of chivalry was given. It came to be regarded as a closed society into , , ^ °. ,. . , I ■, r , Chivalry. which, after certaui conditions had been ful- filled, one could be admitted by initiatory ceremonies. Every young nobleman was required to learn the use of arms by serv- ing an apprenticeship of from five to seven years. Generally he was attached to some knight, whom he attended everywhere, serving him in all sorts of ways. Such service, however, was not regarded as ignoble. At the close of his apprenticeship the young man bathed and put on his armor. His master then girded him with a sword and struck him with his hand on the shoulder, at the same time addressing him as knight. This is the earlier form of the ceremony. From the twelfth century on, the clergy added thereto many rites, all of a religious character. The candidate must also fast, spend a night in prayer, attend mass on the following morning, and lay his sword on the altar that it might be blessed by the priest, who then addressed him on his special duties as a knight. 228 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The warlike character of the times showed itself in the dwell- ings as well as in the sports of the nobility. They dwelt in forts rather than in houses. Their castles were built in the places most easily fortified and de- fended. Ditches, moats, and walls formed the outer defences, while the castle itself, with its high lookout tower, made a stronghold which alone could endure a heavy siege. The sports of the nobility consisted principally of hunting, hawking, and tiie holding of tournaments. The tournament was sup- posed to be a mimic battle, but it often resulted fatally. At one tournament alone it is said that sixty knights were killed. The Church was profoundly influenced by feudal ideas and customs. The whole clergy, the archbishops, bishops, and abbots, through their great temporal possessions, were drawn into the feudal relation. The Church taught not only that almsgiving was one of the cardinal virtues, but also that she herself was the fittest object on which it might be practised. Everywhere people gave liberally to the Church, hoping thereby to secure the greatest possible intercession with God from the clergy. Monasteries, churches, and colleges of canons became rich from such gifts ; in the course of centuries the clergy became possessors of vast tracts of land and great privileges. Every bishop and archbishop was there- fore a landlord on whom the care of these great estates de- volved. Because of their immense wealth, as well as the high honor attached to their calling, they also belonged to the aris- tocratic class and ranked with the secular nobility. Since they were the most learned they were also used by the kings and Em- perors as counsellors and high officials. The great incomes of the monasteries and bishoprics made them especially attractive, and it early became the custom to put the younger sons of no- ble famihes into the best of such positions. These ecclesiasti- cal lands, however, could not escape the feudal relation. The ruler of each country declared that all such lands owed him the customary feudal dues. Every bishop or abbot, on his acces- FEUDALISM 229 sion to the office, became the king's vassal and must take the vow of homage and the oath of fealty to him and receive from him the investiture of the temporal possessions of his office. He must therefore perform, in addition to his ecclesiastical duties, also the civil duties which were required of other vas- sals. This dual character of the clergy was destined to be- come one of the principal causes of the bitter struggle between the Empire and the Papacy. It was impossible for the clergy to be faithful to two masters, both of whom demanded the fullest obedience. Feudalism reached its height from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries and then gradually declined. The invention of gun- powder revolutionized the methods of warfare, q^^^^^ ^f ^he de- Against fire-arms, the knight's armor and castle cay of feudal- were equally useless. The close of the Middle ""■ Age is marked by the rapid growth of the power of the kings, who succeeded in gathering the power into their own hands. The nobles were deprived of their authority. Out of the fragments of feudalism the king built up an absolute monarchy. The growth of the cities, also, did much to break down feudal- ism, for as they increased in power and wealth they wrested independence from their lords and threw off the feudal yoke. Various forces were at work to diminish the number of serfs and villains, such as the crusades, the great pests, and the con- stant wars. The feudal lords were left without a sufficient number of tenants to do their work. The demand for laborers created the supply, and we find at once a growing number of free laborers who work for wages without any feudal ties. Gradually feudal tenures were changed into allodial tenures. The fifteenth century saw the breaking up of feudalism, al- though in France and elsewhere certain fragments remained till the French Revolution, and the social organization of Europe is still largely feudal in its fundamental ideas. CHAPTER XII THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY At the beginning of our period, when Christianity was made a legal rehgion, the Church was already organized, though The ore ni = somewhat loosely. The clergy was not only tion of the separated from the laity, but within itself there was a regular gradation of rank, honor, and authority. The principal grades were deacon, presbyter or priest, and bishop. At first each congregation had had its bishop, but it had become the custom for one bishop to be at the head of all the churches of a city and its environs and to direct and oversee the work of all the clergy of his district or diocese. The bishop had obtained this monarchical character only after a long struggle, which was practically ended by Cyprian (died 258). The question was whether the Church should be governed by a single ruler (the bishop) or by an aristocracy composed of bishop, presbyters, confessors, and others. Cyp- rian, bishop of Carthage, successfully resisted the last great at- tempt to make the government of the Church such an arisr tocracy. During the first two hundred years of the Church's exist- ence its organization was very loose. Each bishop was practi- cally independent of all other bishops. But there was a steady development throughout the Church toward a closer union of all its parts. The magnificent political and civil organization of the Empire furnished an excellent model, which was copied by the Church almost unconsciously. Corresponding to the political head of a province, there grew up an ecclesiastical THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 231 official whose authority extended over the province and whose residence was the capital of the province ; that is, there was gradually developed above the bishops of a province an arch- bishop or metropolitan. The civil province ,1 , , . . , . „, Archbishops. thus became also an ecclesiastical province. 1 he new office naturally fell to the bishop of the capital of the prov- ince. The Church followed the organization of the Empire so closely that the ecclesiastical rank of the bishop was always de- termined by the political rank of the city in which he lived. A further step in the organization was then taken. As sev- eral political provinces were grouped together to form a larger division (eparchy), so also several ecclesiastical .,,,., , • Patriarch. provinces, with archbishops at their respective heads, were grouped together and formed a larger province, with an over-archbishop at its head. For this officer and his diocese the word patriarch and patriarchate were used in the fourth century. The capitals of these patriarchates were Jeru- salem, Antioch, Ephesus, Csesarea in Cappadocia, Heraclea (which was early replaced by Constantinople), Corinth, Alex- andria, and Rome. In the sixth century only five of these were recognized — Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. It is perfectly clear that during the first three cen- turies the Bishop of Rome had no authority out- side of his diocese of Rome. He was not offi- *the Bishop of cially recognized by the other bishops of the Rome limited to , . . . , .,, 4.1, • 1 his own diocese. west as their primate, whose will was their law. Cyprian of Carthage affirmed that all bishops were equal, but was willing to concede to Rome a certain precedence in church matters because of her size, and the fact that she was the capi- tal of the Empire.^ The Bishop of Rome was gladly consulted in all doubtful matters, but so were many others also ; he did not thereby have authority over those who consulted him. An important document is furnished by the Council at Nicaea, 325, in its sixth canon. The rights of each Patriarch ' See his Letters, No. 52. 232 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE in his own diocese (the eparchy) were there defined and pro- claimed. There is not the slightest suggestion that the Bishop of Rome had any authority outside of his own diocese. He had no primacy over the whole church. It is not at all certain that his diocese was thought to include all the west. There is much to indicate that it was supposed to include only the terri- tory within one hundred miles of Rome, if not limited simply to the city itself. It is possible that the limits of his diocese were not fixed, and thought of only in a vague and indefinite way. At any rate, it is certain that at that time his authority did not extend over all the west. As the old capital of the Empire, Rome so far overtopped all other cities in the west that there was never another patriarch developed there. Besides, there was no other church in the west of any importance that boasted that it had been established by an apostle. In tracing the growth of the Papacy there are two things to be kept clearly separate ; the one is the development of the Two lines of de- Bishop of Rome as the head of the whole Church, veiopment. an(j (-j^g other is the growth of his power as tem- poral sovereign. These will be traced separately till the year 755, after which they will be treated together. In the fourth century the Bishop of Rome already had two offices ; he was, first, the Bishop of Rome, and, second, he was also Archbishop or Patriarch over the territory about Rome. We must endeavor to discover how he added to these two a third, the office of Bishop of the whole Church. Among the influences which brought this about may be mentioned the following : Rome was the capital of the Empire, and as such stood far above all other cities, at least in the west. It was but natural The Bishop of ^^^^ '^^ congregation of the capital and its Rome as Head of bishop should be regarded with more honor than the Church. .i ri ■ ^- , ^, ' , those ol less important cities. Since the Church was certainly, though perhaps only half-consciously, organizing itself after the model of the Empire, the thought of having an THE GROWTH OF THE PAl'ACY 233 absolute head of the Church corresponding to the absolute head of the state was not at all strange. It was, in fact, logi- cally to be expected. What more natural than Rome's rnfiu- that such an idea should occur to the Bishop of e"ce. Rome, since he was at the capital and living in the atmosphere of absolutism ? As early as the fourth century this idea seem's to have floated, rather hazily perhaps, before the minds of some of the Bishops of Rome ; as if, because he was the bishop of the Church in the capital of the Empire, he in'some way owed a duty to, and possessed some right over, all the world. Rome was actually in the centre of the west and of its life. All roads led to Rome, and its bishop could easily keep more closely in touch with all parts of the Church than ' the bishop of any other city. The advantages of his geographi- cal location were very great, and materially aided him in se- curing a wide influence. Furthermore, he had no competition with any other patriarch. All the others were situated in the east, and the archbishops of the west never seriously threat- ened to replace him in universal favor. It would hardly be too much to say that Rome made the Papacy, and that afterward a religious basis was invented for it. The growth of the powers of the Bishop of Rome was greatly hastened by the invasions of the Barbarians. They really broke the Empire into fragments, and tore the prov- _ , /- , • , , The Invasions. inces, one after another, from the main body. All the cities of the west were much weakened in actual power. But the name of Rome was sufficient to preserve her. The Germans were Arian, and generally persecuted the orthodox Christians among whom they settled. Up to this time the Bishop of Rome had found it impossible to extend his authority over the bishops of Gaul, Spain, and Africa. But in their dis- tress they needed help. Under the stress of persecution they appealed to the Bishop of Rome, who made use of this oppor- tunity to make himself champion of all the churches in the west. The Christians of all the provinces were thus brought L 234 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE under his headship. Persecutions resulted in the closer union of all the orthodox Christians in the west under the Bishop of Rome. The Church in Rome was large, and while not, perhaps, very rich, it was liberal. It gave freely to all the needy congrega- tions, and applied large sums to the ransoming The Bishop of ^ , _,, . . ... _ . . Rome disbursed of those Christians who, in tunes ot persecution, the funds of the ^yere condemned to exile, to penal labor in the mines, or to any other form of punishment. In this the Bishop was the agent of the congregation of Rome. All the money passed through his hands. Much of the credit was therefore given to him personally, though he shared the honors with the congregation. The Church in the east has had a very different history from the Church in the west ; this was caused largely by the differ- ence in their mental make-up. The east was The supposed philosophical, inquiring, restless, and never sat- orthodoxy of ' ' ; a o^ Rome and her isfied with a truth until it had been adequately Bishops. ^^^ j-^jjy stated, all the possible inferences drawn from it, and its exact place in their system of thought fixed. Besides, the east possessed in Greek the most perfect language ever spoken. It was capable of expressing the finest distinc- tions and shades of thought. In the great theological discus- sions of the third and fourth centuries the east played a far more prominent part than the west. The principal question discussed was concerning the person of Jesus and his relation to God. Was Jesus a created being, or God himself? Had he two wills, the divine and human, and how were they re- lated ? Had he two natures, a divine and a human, and how were they connected? In all these and similar questions there was much diversity of opinion, and in the east, at least, it was for a long time doubtful what would be the final belief of the Church on these questions. Politics and the intrigues of the court caused constant changes in the creed, and what was de- clared by one council to be true was often denounced as heresy THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 235 by another. While the leading bishops of the east changed from one side of a question to the other, the Bishops of Rome stood firmly by the Nicene Creed, and never wavered in their adherence to the doctrines which, in the end, vifere recog- nized as the "orthodox" faith of the church. The "ortho- doxy ' ' of the Bishops of Rome brought them great honor and influence, because in consequence of it the feeling arose that they alone of all the bishops could be depended upon to main- tain and preserve the orthodox creed of the Church in all its integrity. The bishops (patriarchs) of the east quarrelled not only about the creed, but also over political questions, and there was intense rivalry among them. In their disputes Appeals to the they often appealed to the Bishop of Rome, and Bishop of Rome. each one did all he could to secure his favor. He was so often made a judge between them that he could soon affirm that the position belonged to him by right. At the Council of Sar- dica (343) it was proposed to make the Bishop of Rome judge in all cases where bishops, who had been condemned by a coun- cil, wished to appeal to a higher power. This was an import- ant step in the development of his universal jurisdiction. The first steps in the development of saint worship were taken in connection with the apostles. Very little was actually known of their life and work, and therefore all ThePetrine the greater was the field for the imagination. theory. There arose gradually an exaggerated opinion of their powers, authority, and work. They were regarded as the princes among saints. Great honor and authority attached to the churches which had been founded by them, and many churches whose origin was obscure now boldly traced themselves to the work of some apostle. Among others the church of Rome was declared to have been founded by Peter, who was the prince of the apostles. To his successors he had passed on all his rights and dignity, so that as Peter was first among the apostles, so also were his successors first among all the bishops 236 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of the world. The Bishops of Rome were not slow to per- ceive that this was a powerful argument with the people, and did not hesitate to use it on all occasions. Leo the Great (440-61) always acted in the proud consciousness that he was the successor of St. Peter, and therefore had inherited all his prerogatives along with his superiority over all others. All that had been said to, and about, Peter, he applied to himself. The great synods also played a certain part in this matter. The sixth canon of the Nicene Council (32 5)ADrdained that the The Council of bishops of the capital cities \f the eparchies Nicfea, 325. (Alexandria, Rome, and Antioch are named ; Ephesus, Ceesarea, and Heraclea are implied) should have patri- archal rights ; - that is, each of these bishops should have the oversight of all the churches in his eparchyj| In all respects it is apparent that the Bishop of Rome is put on the same plane as the bishops of these other cities ; he has authority in his own eparchy, but not beyond its limits. It is probable that the territory over which his authority extended was composed of the ten small provinces which politically were under the " vi- carius urbis," and included the central and southern portions of Italy. The rest of the west was independent of him. In the fourth century the bishop of Milan, and in the fifth cen- tury the bishops of Aquileia, Ravenna, Vienne, and Aries, were independent metropolitans, owning no subjection to tlie Bishop of Rome. The Council of Constantinople (381) decreed that the bishop of Constantinople should have the second place after the Bishop The Council of '^^ Rome, in honor and dignity, because Con- Constantinopie, stantinople was the New Rome. It is evident ^ '■ from this that the new capital of the Empire had not yet fully replaced the old. This canon simply fixed a matter of etiquette ; it only said that the Bishop of Rome pos- sessed a little more official dignity and honor than the others. It did not touch the question of the relative amounts of their authority. The Council of Chalcedon (451), in its twenty- THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 237 eighth canon, admitted that the Bishop of Rome was entitled to very high honor because he was bishop in the ancient capital ; but the bishop of New Rome (Constantinople) And of chaice- was entitled to equal honor, because he was «•<>". 451- the bishop of the city in which the Emperor resided, and the Senate had its seat. In accordance with this view, the jurisdic- tion and rights of the bishop of Constantinople were extended. Against this action Leo the Great protested. He admitted that Constantinople was the capital of the Em- '^ Leo the Qreat pire, but declared that political rank did not (440-61) pro- determine the ecclesiastical rank of a city. It ****'" is the apostolical origin of a church that entitles it to a higher ecclesiastical rank. Constantinople, therefore, had no right to equal authority and honor with Rome, because her church had not been founded by an apostle, as had been the church of Rome. The Bishop of Rome has the first place in the Church, because he is the successor of St. Peter, the first of the apostles. He bases all his claims and arguments on the famous Petrine theory. God had ordained that the Bishop of Rome should have the care of the whole Church ; other bishops were only in part responsible for the condition of the Church, while he was called on to exercise absolute power over the whole Church (plenitudopotestatis). Hespokeof the " sollicitudoquam uni- versse ecclesiae ex divina institutione dependimus," and his " cura totius ecclesiae. " Leo was the lirst to give a full and clear-cut expression to this Petrine theory, which from that day to this has been regarded as the basis of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome. Leo's statement of it has been expanded, but not radically changed. About the year 510 a.d. Dionysius Exiguus, ' an abbot who lived in Rome, published two books, which, taken together, had a large influence on the power of the Bishop of Rome. He collected the canons of the various councils, and published them under the title of " Canones Ecclesiastici." His second work ' Dionysius was the first to reckon time from the Birth of Christ. 238 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE was called the ' ' Decrees of Former Popes ' ' (Prseteritorum Sedis Apostolicge Praesiilum Constituta), and contained such Dionysius letters, opinions, and decisions of Popes on vari- Exiguus. ous matters as were accessible to him. These were treated by him as if they had the same authority as the action of a Council. These works were afterward united into one, and widely used in the west, and had much to do with the formation of the general belief that the Bishop of Rome's authority was supreme in the Church. The Popes were greatly benefited by the Christianization of western and northern Europe, because the work was inspired The Roman Cath- ^y *^™ ^"^ carried on very largely by their oiic Conquest of agents or by those who were ardently devoted the west. jQ ^^^^ ^^^ jp jl^g Papal ideas'. All of the German tribes who settled on Roman soil, with the single ex- ception of the Franks, were Arian. The Popes set to work at once to convert them and were eventually successful. The Franks were heathen until, in 496, Chlodwig, who had been for some time married to a Catholic princess, was con- verted to the orthodox faith. The Bishop of Rome saw the great advantages that might accrue to him from this, and did all he could to attach the Franks to himself His efforts were very successful, and the alliance formed between the Pope and the Frankish king had a most potent influence on the course of events throughout the Middle Age. After the conversion of Chlodwig the priests who preached to him addressed him as a second David, whose duty it was to protect the kingdom of God and destroy its enemies, namely, the heretics and the heathen. In all his wars among the Arian West Goths, Bur- gundians, Bavarians, and others he received the heartiest support of the Bishop of Rome. The Angles and Saxons in the fifth century were still heathen. The Christian Kelts who occupied the country had been driven out and Christianity had entirely disappeared. The bitter hostility engendered between the Kelts aad their THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 239 German invaders prevented any successful mission work among them by Keltic missionaries. The Irish monks who settled in lona gradually began to work among the Angles in the north, but their progress was slow. In the year 596 Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) sent Augustine with about thirty monks to England. They reached the England Roman court of Aethelbehrt, king of Kent, and within Catholic. a year were successful in converting him and many of the nobles about him. They were ably assisted in their work by his Christian wife, who was a Prankish princess. From Kent Christianity spread to other tribes, and eventually came into conflict with the Christianity of the Irish missionaries, who had begun their labors in the north of England. The points of difference between the Irish and the Roman monks were triv- ial enough, but back of these differences was the great and im- portant principle of obedience to the Bishop of Rome. In 664 the king of Northumbria called a synod at Whitby, and summoned the two parties to meet before him and present their cases. He was persuaded by the champions of Rome to accept their forms, and the Irish missionaries withdrew from England. Scotland continued to preserve its peculiar forms, which dif- fered from those of Rome, and maintained a separate existence until the end of the eleventh century. King Malcolm the third married a Saxon wife, Queen Marguerite, who was a devoted Roman Catholic. Through her exertions the Church of Scotland was subjected to the Pope and made to conform in all respects to the Roman Catholic Church. The Irish Church also remained independent, and yielded no obedience to Rome until Henry II. (1154-89) conquered a part of Ireland and brought its Church into subjection to Rome. But while the missionary activity of the EngHsh monks was Umited on the north and west, it was far more spirited in another direction which was to result in even greater advan- tages to the Papacy. English monks began to go to the con- 240 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE tinent, where they labored for a better organization of the Church, and at the same time subjected it to the Bishop of ^ ,. ^ ^ Rome. The Franks, the Thuringians, the Ba- Englishmen be- ' ° come mission- varians, and the Germans of the Rhine valley liad aries of Rome. j^deed been converted to the Christian faith, but in name only. Many of them continued to worship other gods. The clergy were independent and led such lives as they pleased. Many of them were not attached to any church or monastery, but wandered about using their clerical character to gain a livelihood and as a cloak for evil lives. There was no central church organization, and no one who had the author- ity or the power to keep the clergy under control and compel them to lead lives worthy of their calling. The Christianity of Germany seemed to be rapidly deteriorating. It was the work of English missionaries to restore it and reorganize the Church, and give a great impulse to the work of Christianizing the Germanic tribes. About 680 there was born in Wessex Winfried, or, as he was later called, Boniface. He was brought up in a monastery, and was ordained a priest when thirty years old. Boniface. Soon after this he determined to go as a mis- sionary to those parts of Germany whence his forefathers had come. He went to Friesia about 715 and labored for awhile, but without success. About 718 he went to Rome to visit the Pope, and received from him a commission, to Christianize and Romanize all the Germans of central Europe. For nearly five years he travelled throughout Germany, from Bavaria to Fri- esia, in the prosecution of his work. In 721 he again went to Rome, where Gregory II. made him a missionary bishop without a diocese. Gregory com- pelled him to take the same oath of obedience that he required of the titular Bishops of Rome (Sabino, Porto, Ostia, etc.). It was expected that Boniface would act as bishop throughout all Germany. It would appear, therefore, that the Pope wished to regard Germany as part of liis diocese, and as closely at- THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 241 tached to him as were the districts about Rome. Boniface was now able to carry on his work with much more success. On his behalf the Pope appealed to Karl Martel, who gave him aid in many ways. He kept himself in constant touch with Rome, and everywhere established the authority of the Pope. In 732 he was made archbishop, but still without a see, and so received authority over all the bishops of Germany. They were now compelled to obey him. He received supplies of both men and means from England, and was able to estabhsh many monasteries, such as Erfurt, Fritzlar, Ohrdruf, Bischofs- heim, Homburg, Fulda, and bishoprics, such as Salzburg, Passau, Freising, Regensburg, Wuerzburg, Buraburg, Erfurt, and Eichstaedt. In 743 he was made archbi^op of Mainz. He called councils, at which the work of organization was perfected, heresies refuted, superstitious rites and customs for- bidden, the lives of the clergy regulated, his opponents condemned, and the authority of the Bishop of Rome ac- knowledged. In 753 he resigned his position as archbishop of Mainz, and went again, with a large number of helpers, as a mission- ary to Friesia, where he met a martyr's death (754 or 755) not far from Groningen. The principal part of his work was done. He had organized the Church throughout Germany and sub- jected it to Rome. It was from this Church of Germany, now truly dependent on Rome, that Christianity was to be carried to the remaining German tribes, such as the Saxons, Danes, and the people of Scandinavia, and to the Slavic peoples to the east of the Elbe. In this way the doctrine of the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, which had become a part of the Roman creed, was spread throughout all Europe, and was regarded as an essential part of Christianity. This movement may be called the Roman Catholic Conquest of the West. For it was a conquest, the outcome of a policy, the full results of which could not be foreseen by the Popes of that time. But this pol- icy was dictated not so much by worldly considerations as by 16 242 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the desire to Christianize the world in accordance with what was conceived to be the commands of Christ. The effect of it, however, on the growth of the Papacy, was very great. The work of Boniface has been variously judged. He has been exalted as the apostle of the Germans and condemned as An estimate of the enslaver of the German Church. It was, his work. indeed, unfortunate in its later results, that the Church of Germany was so completely in the hands of the Bishop of Rome, but at that time the choice was, in reality, between subjection to Rome and heathenism. Boniface chose the former, because it was by all odds the best thing to do. The Church among the Franks and Germans was in a wretched condition. Many of the Church lands were in the hands of laymen. There was little or no discipline, and no control ex- ercised over the clergy. Each priest did what was right in his own eyes. There were, at this time, many vagabond priests and monks wandering about over the country, obtaining a pre- carious living by imposing upon the people. There was also much heathenism among the people. Such a state of affairs was little better than heathenism pure and simple, and such Christianity, such a Church, would certainly be unable to maintain the Franks in the leading position they were now holding. Boniface put an end to this disorder. He forbade all monks to leave their monastery without sufficient reason. The wandering clergymen were put under the control of the bishop of the diocese in which they might be found. Strict discipline was everywhere introduced in the monasteries. All the monks were compelled to live according to the rule of St. Benedict. Laymen were forbidden to hold church property. In a word, the Church was reformed, and a much better type of Christianity was established among the Franks. This was the work of Boniface and deserves praise and admiration. The growth of the temporal power of the Papacy is, in some respects, even more difficult to trace. We have to dis- cover how the Pope acquired political power ; first, the civil THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 243 authority in Rome and its duchy, and, then, the temporal headship over the whole world. In the first place, it should be noted that the bishops everywhere, from the The growth of time of Constantine on, were entrusted with an the temporal ^ r -I r>- u power of the ever-increasing amount of Civil power. Bishops Bishop of might be called in as umpires in civil suits, and Rome. their decisions were recognized by the state as valid. Since the clergy were the guardians of morals, they came to exercise the right to rebuke all officers, and even the Emperor himself. They acquired, therefore, a kind of indefinite authority in all temporal matters. Justinian gave the bishops civil jurisdic- tion over monks and nuns, and authority to see that justice was impartially administered. They were given a legal influence over the choice of magistrates and of city officials, and might interfere with them if they did not perform their duties prop- erly. In some cases the bishops were even made judges over such officers. They were allowed a part in the government of the city, especially in the management of its finances. The powers of the bishop, even in civil matters, were therefore large, and he was fast becoming the most prominent man in the towns and cities. The Bishop of Rome exercised all these powers and others in addition. The Pragmatic Sanction of Justinian (554) made him, in connection with the Senate, master of weights and measures in Italy, with the right to punish all offenders. It is evident that the Bishop of Rome, since he exercised all these rights, was easily the most important and powerful man in Rome. Especially during the reign of the East Goth Theo- deric, and that of Justinian, the Bishops of Rome had many opportunities of acting with authority in civil matters. It early became the custom to make grants of land to the Church for the benefit of the soul of the donor (in remedium animae). These grants were generally made in Qiftg„,,g„j, the name of the patron saint of the church thus enriched. Those given to the church of Rome were of course given in the name of St. Peter, and were entirely man- 244 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE aged by the Bishop of Rome. They were called the patri- mony of St. Peter. Several of the men elected Bishop of Rome were possessed of a good deal of wealth, which they in- variably made over to St. Peter, thus increasing the patrimony. It had been a patriotic custom among the Romans to make grants of land and money to the state. This custom con- tinued, but since the Bishop of Rome was practically at the head of political affairs, all such grants were placed in his hands and were added to the patrimony of St. Peter. The Bishop of Rome, in the eighth century, was probably the largest landholder in Italy. His possessions, however, were not con- fined to that country, but were to be found even in Africa, Spain, and Gaul. To his power as bishop he added that of a landlord. From his lands he derived a large income, and was naturally very much interested in the taxes, public improve- ments, and the general administration of the government. There is no doubt that his great landed possessions throughout Italy formed a good basis for his claims of temporal sov- ereignty. It was already customary to entrust the govern- ment of a province to its largest landed proprietor. It was as a landlord that the Bishop of Rome was first brought into conflict with the Lombards. As they extended their sway to the south they seized the Pope's land, and so diminished his income. He was compelled to fight to pre- serve his interests. Since the Emperor at Constantinople was unable to keep a standing army in Italy, and to resist the en- croachments of the Lombards, the whole work of defence fell to the Bishop of Rome. From his great income he was able to enlist and support troops, to rebuild the walls of Rome, and to restore the defences of the city. The Emperor at Constantinople claimed and exercised the ancient imperial right to rule over the Bishop of Rome. The Pope was his subject, and therefore owed him obedience. Justinian more than once during his reign compelled the Bishops of Rome to yield to his will. Pope Vigilius was little more THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 245 than his tool. In the seventh century a contention arose in the Cliurch as to whether Christ had two wills or only one. The Church and court of Constantinople declared 11111 -11 1 TT ■ T ,- The Bishop of that he had but one will, and Hononus 1. of Rome and the Rome (625-38) agreed with them. But his Greek Em. peror. successors, Severinus (638—40), John IV. (640- 41), Theodore I. (642-49), and Martin I. (649-55), dared oppose this in spite of the commands of the Emperor. Con- stans II. (642-68) seized Martin, carried him prisoner to Con- stantinople, and exiled him to the Crimea because he refused to yield. Martin's successor, Vitalianus, was compelled to ac- cept the doctrine of one will. At the Quinise.xtum Council, held in 692, at Constantinople, it was again declared that the Bishops of Rome and Constanti- nople were equal in rank. Sergius I. of Rome (687-701) re- fused to accept this action. The Emperor Justinian II. tried to seize him, but the people of Italy threatened to revolt be- cause of their attachment to the Pope. The Emperor was compelled to yield, and the Pope scored a victory. He had shown that he could successfully resist the Emperor when the people of the vi'est would stand by him. This incipient revolt was quickened into open and active rebellion by the struggle about the worship of images. During the seventh and eighth centuries there was a xhe image con- strong movement, headed by the most intelli- troversy. gent people of the Empire, against the use of images in worship. The Emperor Leo III. (the Isaurian, 716-41) decided against the images, had them removed from the churches, and forbade their further use. This action met with a violent opposition, not only from the common people and the monks in the east, but also from the people in the west, the Bishop of Rome at their head. Gregory II. (715-31) was a vigorous defender of images. He called on the cities to arm and defend them, and the Exarch of Ravenna could not offer him effectual resistance. The 246 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Lombards were also enthusiastic for the use of images, and at once became allies of the Pope. All Italy refused to obey the Gregory II., Emperor's orders. The proposition was even 7's-3i- made to elect a new Emperor in the west, but Gregory II., feeling that such an Emperor would be far more dangerous to him than the one at Constantinople, prevented such action. Liutprand, king of the Lombards, had long coveted the ex- archate, and since the feeling throughout Italy against the Emperor was so strong, he thought it a favorable opportunity to seize it. In 726 he entered the exarchate, and within a year had obtained possession even of Ravenna. The Exarch, however, soon recovered the city, and with it most of the exarchate. The Emperor wrote Gregory II. saying that he himself was both Emperor and priest, and the head of the Church. But Gregory replied that not the Emperors, but the Bishop of Rome, had authority over the beliefs and practices of the Church. Gregory II., for the first time, drew a sharp line between the Church and the state, and so laid the foundation for the great struggle of the next centuries. Gregory III. aregorylll. ^^ , (731-41) made the breach still greater. In a Council held at Rome, 731, he put the Emperor under the ban. The Emperor replied by seizing the patrimony of St. Peter in Sicily and southern Italy, and in 732 fitted out a fleet to send to Italy to reconquer the lost territory and to arrest Gregory III. and carry him to Constantinople. The fleet, however, was wrecked and accomplished nothing. The rebellion of the Pope had succeeded, and the eastern Emperor never again received his allegiance. The Pope had escaped from one master but was at once threatened by another, more dangerous because nearer at hand. Liutprand, the king of the Lombards, was making strenuous efforts to conquer all Italy. The dukes of Spoleto and Bene- vento were first reduced, and Rome was next threatened, be- THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 247 cause it was the natural capital of the kingdom which Liut- prand was trying to establish. It was the policy of the Pope to keep Italy divided. In the course of the struggle Danger from the he allied himself with the Exarch, and with the Lombards. dukes of Spoleto and Benevento in turn, as occasion demanded. But he found it impossible to stem the tide against the Lom- bards when they laid siege to Rome (739). Gregory III. was compelled to look abroad for help. Karl Martel, the mayor of the Franks, had greatly assisted the Pope's missionary Boni- face, and so the Pope might hope for further help. In 739 he sent a deputation to Karl with rich presents and ,. , , • , Karl Martel. important relics. Among other things they carried him the keys of the grave of St. Peter, which indicated that he was by that act made the protector of this shrine. Karl was besought to free the Pope from the oppression of the Lom- bards. It was a difficult situation for him, for he was a friend and ally of Liutprand. He did not absolutely refuse, but he sent no help. Gregory then wrote him a letter, addressing him as " Subregulus," telling him of the great damage done the Church by the Lombards, and again begging his help. This letter was also without avail, and in 740 Gregory sent him a second deputation, with a letter in which he calls the people of Rome the people of St. Peter ; in Rome, at least, the Church and state were regarded by him as one; and he, of course, was the ruler. Here for the first time we meet with a complete confusion of the ecclesiastical and the political gov- ernments in Rome. The " res publica " of Rome is the pecul- iar possession of St. Peter, and is entirely controlled by the Pope. But even this appeal was in vain. Karl was old ; he was still troubled by the Saracens and local revolts, especially on the frontier, and he could not bring himself to break com- pletely with the Lombards. He acted, therefore, as a media- tor between Gregory and Liutprand, and succeeded in restoring peace. For some years the Pope was not again disturbed by the 248 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Lombards, although it became more and more apparent that the latter must eventually become master of all Italy, if they were to have a national existence of any great Alliance be- tween the Pope duration. In 749 Aistulf conquered the Ex- and Pippin. archate and again took up the thought of con- quering and uniting Italy under the Lombard rule. At this time Pippin, mayor of the Franks, was ambitious to become king, and, since the Pope needed his help, it was altogether probable that each would do all in his power to advance the interests of the other. It will be remembered that the Pope gave his sanction to the deposition of Childeric III. and the election of Pippin. In 754 he even went to St. Denis and anointed both Pippin and his sons. In return for this. Pippin came into Italy, defeated the Lombards, and compelled them to give up their acquisitions, which he now turned over to the Pope. The exact limits of the territory thus given to the Pope are not known, but it consisted of a large strip of land to the south of the Lombards. This marks the beginning of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope. All allegiance to the eastern Emperor was renounced, the Pope was recognized as the political as well as the ecclesiastical ruler of Rome and its surrounding territory, under the over-lordship of Pippin who had the title of Patricius. Karl the Great confirmed the Pope in the possession of these lands, and exercised throughout his reign the rights of over-lord. We have seen in another place how he rebuked the Pope, and acted as if he were abso- lute master over him. "Karl regarded himself as the highest and final authority in the Prankish Church, and after his cor- onation in 800 he took the same attitude toward the whole Church. And although the Pope submitted to him, there were certain indications that he might not do so always. It was in connection with Karl the Great, probably, that the Pope, or some of his adherents, forged the famous Donation of Constantine, which declared that Constantine had, out of regard for the Bishop of Rome, removed his capital to Con- THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 249 stantinople, and had given to the Pope his Lateran palace as a residence, and Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy, with the right to wear the imperial crown and robes, and to bear the sceptre. Furthermore, the Pope should have supremacy over all the Church, both in the east and in the west. The efifect of this forgery on the power of the Pope cannot be exactly determined, but it is certain that it was not without influence. By the act of crowning Karl the Great, the Pope, all un- consciously, established a precedent which was to be of the greatest importance for the Papal claims. We , 1 J , , . '•"he Pope have already seen that this was a revolt and an crowns Em- assumption of power on the part of the Pope, perors. and that it was very displeasing to Karl. But it had been done, and later Popes found it easy to interpret the act in ac- cordance with their claims. But Karl never for a moment ad- mitted that he had received the crown as a gift at the hands of the Pope. He himself probably crowned his son, Ludwig the Pious ; at any rate the Pope had nothing to do with it. But later Ludwig foolishly allowed himself to be recrowned by Stephen V. (816-17), thus establishing one more precedent by which the Popes might claim the right to confer the crown on the Emperor. In 823 Lothar, who had been established by his father in the imperial government, was sent to Italy to take charge of affairs there. The Pope invited him to come to him to be anointed and crowned as Emperor. Lothar did so, and the Papal claim was never again questioned. Lothar was displeased at the way in which things were go- ing, and in 824 published his famous " Constitutio." By the terms of this the Pope was to exercise exec- Constitutio utive authority, while the Emperor was to be Lotharii, 824. the final authority in all appeals and in matters which the Pope could not settle. Officers were to be appointed jointly by Pope and Emperor, who should make full reports 2SO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE to the Emperor on the state of affairs. It is probable that it was also stipulated that no one should be made Pope until he had first received the sanction of the Emperor. At any rate the rights of the Emperor as over-lord were carefully guarded. It remained for another Emperor to acknowledge, in the fullest way possible, that the Pope was the source of imperial Admissions of authority. In 871 Louis II. wrote to the Em- Louis 11., 871. peror at Constantinople, vindicating his right to the title of Emperor, on the ground that he had been anointed and crowned by the Pope. The papal claims were thus fully admitted, even by an Emperor. Tiie Papacy needed, however, a legal basis for its claims, which were growing every day more ambitious. Since such a Pseudo-isidorean thing did not exist, it must be invented. Prob- Decretais. ^bly between the years 847 and 853, in the dio- cese of the bishop of Rheims, there was made a famous forgery, known as the Pseudo-isidorean Decretals. The author of them is not known. In the first part there are sixty forged decrees, attributed to the Popes, from Clement, in the first century, to Melchiades (314). The second part consists of the canons of the Councils down to 683, based on the work falsely attributed to Isidore of Seville. The third part contains the decrees of the Popes, from Silvester I. to Gregory II. Then follow eighty " capitula Angilramni,^' thirty-five of which are forged. A pre- vious forgery, made by Benedictus Levita, is one of the sources used by the author. These capitula are decrees supposed to have been issued principally by Pippin, Karl the Great, and Ludwig the Pious, concerning the trials of bishops. The thesis maintained is that bishops, by virtue of their cleri- cal character, cannot be tried by civil courts, but only by their fellow-bishops. Not every one is competent even to make charges against a bishop, but if the proper sort of person should make the charges, they should be investigated and judgment passed, not by laymen, but by twelve bishops. The Bishop of THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 251 Rome is accorded the right to confirm or reject the decisions thus reached. The purpose of this forgery was to free the clergy from the civil law, and make them a law unto themselves. It seems, also, that the forger wished to break down the too great power of the archbishops. The clergy was to possess the fullest immunity from the civil laws. Over against the law of the state there was now established the law of the Church. Incidentally these decretals give a legal basis for the unlimited power of the Pope over the Church, since all judg- ments might be revised by him. They freed the clergy from the state, but they also put them into the hands of the Pope, and tended to concentrate all power in him. The forger really overshot the mark ; in freeing the clergy from one master, he dehvered them bound to another. Thus far, in discussing the growth of the Papacy, we have not taken into account the personal element. Such men as Leo I., Gregory I., Gregory II., Gregory III., -Themakersof and Nicholas I. (858-67) have, with great jus- the Papacy." tice, been called the makers of the Papacy. The work of the first four named has already been briefly described. That of Nicholas I. will be found not less important. Throughout his pontificate he acted on the theory that he was responsible for the conduct of affairs in the whole Empire. He Nicholas 1., did not wait for questions to be brought to him, 858-67. but considered it his duty to take the initiative whenever he discovered anything wrong. Ignatius, the aged Patriarch of Constantinople, had been deposed by the Emperor, and Photius, a most learned and capable man, but a layman, put in his place. His relation with Nicholas, who was appealed to by Ignatius for Constantinople. help, assumed a tone of authority with the Emperor and the whole eastern Church, and demanded that Ignatius be restored. He received a respectful hearing, but since there were many other things at issue between the two Churches, such as the use of images, the addition of " filioque " to the creed, and the 252 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE claims of the Pope to the direct control of Bulgaria, he was, in the end, entirely unsuccessful. The quarrel ended in the iinal separation of the eastern from the western Church. Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, was the natural primate of the Frankish Church, and fostered the idea of a national Church, which should be free from the Pope, but subject to himself. He was the opponent of the forged " The National /- i - Frankish decretals, and did all he could to fix his rule Church." upon the Frankish Church. In following out his idea he seems to have been somewhat tyrannical, and to have abused his power. Rothad, the bishop of Soissons, had de- tected a priest in the commission of some crime, and on his own authority had removed him from his office. Hincmar reprimanded him for displacing one of his clergy without first consulting his superior. Rothad appealed to Nicholas, and was about to set out for Rome, when he was seized and im- prisoned by Hincmar. Nicholas wrote to both Hincmar and the king of the Franks, Charles the Bald, demanding that Rothad either be restored or allowed to come to Rome to be heard. Hincmar protested vigorously, but ineffectually. The king needed the assistance of the Pope, and hence was pliant. Rothad was restored to his office and Hincmar was thoroughly humbled. His authority as archbishop was shaken, and the Pope had successfully interfered in the affairs of the national Church. The Frankish Church was shown to be in the power of the Pope. The archbishop of Rheims was no longer its master. The independence of the national Church was de- stroyed and replaced by the control of the Pope. Even a wider Jurisdiction was claimed by Nicholas over the morals and conduct of all people, even of the kings and Em- Papai jurisdic- perors. In Lorraine king Lothar attempted to tion over divorce his wife Teutberga, a Burgundian prin- cess, in order to marry Waldrada, with whom he had had unlawful relations before his marriage with Teut- berga. After being treated with the rankest injustice and sub- THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 253 jected to strong pressure of various kinds, Teutberga publicly confessed herself guilty of the crimes charged against her, was divorced, and sent into a nunnery. This action was taken by the king's council and the leading clergy of his land. But Hincmar of Rheinis became informed of the true state of affairs, and wrote an elaborate defence of the queen. She also appealed to Nicholas, who, in spite of the repeated action of the clergy in Lorraine in favor of Lothar, annulled all their decisions and sent his legates to compel the king to take her back. Although Lothar yielded only in form, and the affair was not definitely settled at his death (870), the precedent established by Nicholas was important, and his high claims were not forgotten. Under Nicholas the Papacy possessed more influence and power than it had ever had before, and un- der none of his successors did it reach so high a plane until the appearance of Gregory VII. For a while, in the tenth century, however, it seemed that the Papacy was to be destroyed by the local political factions of Rome. The Pope had obtained a fourfold _ ,.., , ^ Roman political character ; he was, first of all. Bishop of Rome, factions and the and as such exercised the highest ecclesiastical Papacy. authority there ; he was the Patriarch of the duchy of Rome ; he was also political head of the same territory, performing the same duties there that were performed by the governor of any other province ; lastly, he had vindicated his title to the head- ship of the whole Church. To these four offices he was yet to add a fifth ; he was to claim to be the political ruler of the world. There was great danger of a conflict between -the duties of these various offices. In the tenth century this danger was actually realized. The political character of the office made it a thing to be coveted by all the great families of Rome. Factions were formed, and intrigues were common. The dig- nity of the office was dragged through the mire of the ward politics of Rome. It was controlled by infamous women, and directed by licentious men. Its pohtical character completely 254 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE overshadowed its religious character, and the Popes forgot that they owed any duty to the outside world. The first half of the tenth century is one of the most disgraceful periods in the his- tory of the Papacy. It has been called the Pornocracy (Reign of the harlots), because of the character of the women connected with it. The principal facts about it have already been, given. John XII., the last Pope of the period, even thought of marry- ing and making the office hereditary. It was the work of Otto the Great to rescue the Papacy from this slough, and remind the Popes of their universal character. As soon, however, as the imperial control was withdrawn, they were again immersed in the local political struggles. Otto III. again rescued the office and freed it from the control of the Crescentian family. During the eleventh century the Papacy grew steadily in self-assertion. Its former world-wide authority was well kept in mind. Its theories were being slowly worked out to their logical consequence. The Cluniac reform was spreading, and its ideas were gradually taken up by the Popes, and their policy shaped in accordance with them. Two im- portant questions had begun to be agitated, celibacy and sim- ony. In the Council at Pavia (1018) Benedict VIII. (1012- 24) forbade the marriage of the clergy. The reason of this pro- hibition was not so much religious as financial and political. It had been customary to provide for the children of the clergy out of the church lands. There was danger that such lands would be alienated from the Church and her income thereby greatly reduced ; hence the marriage of the clergy was forbidden. The Pope found another obstacle to his absolutism in the fact that the Emperor had control over the election of bishops. The election of ^^^ clcrgy generally were not so much elected bishops and ab. as appointed, either by the Emperor, the king, or the leading noble of the diocese, who claimed the rights of a patron. Not only were these offices often sold to unworthy men, but all who received an office in such a way owed allegiance and yielded obedience, not to the Pope, but THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 255 to the patron or lord. The Popes began to see clearly that they could never control the clergy until they could control their election. S imony , the obtaining of office in any other way than by a canonical election, was therefore forbidden. Henry III. made and unmade Popes, and treated them as subjects who owed him obedience. Toward the end of his reign, however, Leo IX. (1048-54) exhibited a ■ , r • J J • 1 • > • I Lso '"., 1048-54. spirit 01 independence in his government which indicated the coming storm. He was appointed by Henry III., but documents of a later date (perhaps forged) declared that he refused to accept the ofifice until he had been elected by the people and clergy of Rome. He travelled incessantly through- out Italy, France, and Germany, holding councils, settling dis- putes, and regulating affairs with a vigor and independence born of his authority as Pope. He went one step further in the question of simony. Every bishop in the Empire was not only a clergyman, but also, by virtue of his office, a kind of political official of the Emperor. That is, he was compelled to perform certain civil duties. He was, besides, a feudal sub- ject of the Emperor, and as such owed him homage for the church mnds which he held. The Emperor, of course, received certain taxes or income from all the lands in the Empire, whether owned by the Church or by laymen. No bishop could be in- ducted into his office until he had taken an oath of allegiance to the Emperor and been invested by him with the episcopal lands. The Pope had no part either in his election or his in- vestiture or induction into office. Leo IX. was the first to see the disadvantages of this to the Papacy, and in xhequestionof the Synod of Rheims (1049) asserted the right investiture of the Pope to invest the bishops with the in- signia of office. He made no attempt,' however, to enforce it. Henry III. permitted Leo IX. to act with great authority. It never occurred to him that the Papacy could or would make claims which would conflict with his own power. He did not foresee the coming struggle. 256 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Gradually the Papal theory was working out into all its log- ical conclusions. The Popes were slowly perceiving how vast were the opportunities offered them. The vision of universal dominion floated dimly before them. The questions at issue The conflict at between the Papacy and the Empire were being hand- stated with more precision. The conflict was ready to break out. There were wanting only the opportunity and the man to make use of it. The opportunity came when Henry III. died, leaving a boy only six years old to succeed him, and the man was Hildebrand, a Papal officer, but already at Henry's death the power behind the throne. As fate would have it, the Pope was made the guardian and protector of the boy-king. \ CHAPTER XIII THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE PAPACY AND THE EM- PIRE (1056-1254) The early death of Henry III. gave the Papacy a great op- portunity, which it was not slow to improve. Victor II. (1055-57) was following the policy of Leo IX., holding synods and acting as the master of the Church. Henry III. had in- deed acted with a good deal of short-sightedness in allowing Leo IX. to exercise so much power, but he did so because he needed his help, and was, therefore, glad that the papal author- ity was unquestioned. He never dreamed that there could be a conflicgfcetween the Empire and the Papacy. His confidence in the friendship of the Pope is shown by the fact that he en- trusted his child to Victor's care. The king was only six years old. The German nobles, tired of Henry III.'s heavy rule, were ready to revolt, and the German Church was split into two factions. Under these circumstances it looked as if the Pope might do as he pleased. At the death of Victor II. nothing was said to the regent of the young king about the election of a successor, but a coali- tion to elect an anti -German Pope was formed between the vari- ous parties in Rome and the Tuscans. They agreed on the brother of Godfrey, duke of Lorraine, and he Stephen x. hos- was made Pope. This act betrays a distinctly tire to Qermany. hostile attitude on tlie part of the papal party to Germany. The new Pope, Stephen X., was a member of a Lorraine family 17 2S8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE which was the hereditary enemy of the Prankish kings. Stephen was wholly controlled by Hildebrand during his short reign. At his death (1058) the noble families of Rome put forward one of their number, and, in spite of opposition, elected him. Hil- debrand was not in the city at the time, but he hastened at once to' undo their action. Calling on Godfrey for help, he succeeded in placing the bishop of Florence on the throne as Nichoiasii 10 . Nicholas II. (1059-61). Nicholas' reign is noted 61, and theNor- for tvvo events which are of the greatest import- "'^"^- ance : the Normans in southern Italy became his feudal subjects, as has been told above, and the famous edict fix- ing the mode of the election of the Pope was published. By accepting the oath of fealty of Robert Guiscard, and making him duke of Calabria and other parts of Italy, the Pope secured an ally who was to render him the greatest assistance in his struggle for supremacy. The recent action of the nobility of Rome in setting one of their number on the papal throne, showed Hildebrand how in- sufficient were the laws concerning the election of the Pope. The first work of the new pontiff, Nicholas, was to make laws to safe- The Election de- guard the papal elections. In a cou«til (1059) cree, 1059- he promulgated a decree to the effect that the seven cardinal (or titular) bishops of Rome should in the future have the sole right to nominate Popes, and their nominee must be accepted and elected by the clergy of Rome. The Emperor probably had the right to confirm, but not to reject, the Pope thus elected. " Cardinal " was a title given to the clergy attached to the oldest and most important churches of Rome and its vicinity. The churches in Rome itself were all under the " Cardinal." Bishop of Rome, and were ministered to by presbyters and deacons. There were cardinal presbyters and cardinal deacons. These were, of course, attached to the prin- cipal churches. There were seven cardinal bishops, who formed a kind of council to the Bishop of Rome, had charge of the TFIE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 259 affairs of the diocese when he was absent from the city, and assisted him in all great functions, such as the coronation of the Emperor. To these seven the sole right of nominating the Pope was now confided. They were the bishoiJS of Palaestrina, Porto, Ostia, Tusculum, Candida Silva, Albano, and Sabino. This was the beginning of the formation of the College of Car- dinals. The decree was an important step in the process of freeing the Papacy from all temporal control. It made the Pa- pacy self-perpetuating, and made it alralost impossible for the laity to interfere in the elections. This decree was received with the greatest hostility in Germany. A council of German bishops refused to accept it, and even deposed Nicholas. The step was real- ^ A Germany op- ly unfortunate, for it arrayed Germany on the poses the wrong side of the question of reform. The decree. Empress, as regent, had the opportunity to regain the lost in- fluence at the death of Nicholas, but foolishly failed to improve it. Hildebrand secured the election of Anselm of Lucca as Alexander II. (1061-73). This Alexander II. was filled with the ideas of the Cluniac reform, and was besides thoroughly in touch with the party in Milan known as the "pataria. " This was a party composed largely of the masses of the com- mon people, who were somewhat hostile to the higher and more wealthy classes in the city. They had also im- The Pataria. bibed certain peculiar philosophical ideas as to the nature of matter which led them to regard marriage as an unholy state. Consequently they were opposed to the clergy, and in so far agreed with the C luniac ref orm. This party was coming to feel its power as a political factor, and was, in the hands of unprincipled and able leaders, capable of exerting much influence on the course of events. It was this party which was now attached to the Papacy by the election of Alexander II. The German bishops, however, refused to acknowledge Alexander II., and elected an Antipope, who took the title of 26o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Honorius II. As he was guilty of simony and lived in open concubinage, he was not a fit person to lead a reform of the Church, and consequently not acceptable to the best elements in it. With the help of the Lombard cities, however, he was able to force his way into Rome, but was soon compelled to flee. Having been deserted by the Germans who had elected him, he soon submitted to Alexander. Meanwhile affairs in Germany had become very chaotic. There was general dissatisfaction with the regency of the Em- press Agnes because of her inactivity and her procrastinating policy. Taking advantage of this, and wishing to gratify his political ambition, Hanno, archbishop of Cologne, kidnapped the young king and carried him off to Cologne. He then forced Agnes from the regency and assumed it himself. The honor was soon shared, however, with two other archbishops, Adalbert of Bremen and Siegfried of Mainz. They assumed a Germany more conciliatory attitude toward the papal party, conciliatory. and eventually acknowledged Alexander II. It was this change which caused the failure of Honorius 11. In 1065 Henry IV. was declared of age, and took up the reins of government. He had exceptional talents, and if he had received better training and possessed suffi- HenrylV. of cient moral earnestne.ss, might have had a far different history. But he hardly appreciated his position. He had no thought of a reform, and spent his time in the chase or with his mistresses, to enrich whom he robbed churches and sold offices. He was imperious and insolent, and the great dukes were soon alienated from him. Saxony was deeply offended by his conduct and ready to revolt. At last, in 1069, a crisis was reached when he proposed to di- vorce his wife. The diet refused to consent to this, and for- mal complaints were made against him to Alexander II. The Pope excommunicated his council and summoned him to Rome. The death of the Pope, which occurred shortly after- ward, put an end to the strife for a brief time. THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 261 ,\* Hildebrand, who during several pontificates had been the power behind the throne, was now made Pope, it would seem by a popular demonstration. Apparently the Gregory vii., decree of Nicholas was disregarded. He as- - >073-8s.' sumed the title of Gregory VII. Hildebrand was not person- ally ambitious ; his conduct as Pope was determined by his theory of that office. He was not a theologian ; by defending one of his friends he almost incurred the charge of heresy. He was a practical man of affairs, as is indicated by the fact that he was first a deacon and then an archdeacon. He had served the Curia principally by looking after its financial in- terests and affairs. He was a diplomat and politician, obtain- ing by artifice or well-timed concessions what was otherwise unattainable. The principal thing with him was the end in view. Consequently, help from whatever quarter was accepta- ble to him. He made use even of heretics, if they could be of service to him. He could make compromises in everything except in the question of the supremacy of the Papacy. His principles are expressed in the famous document known as the " dictatus papae," the text of which is as follows : I. Quod Romana Ecclesia a solo Domino sit fundata. 2. Quod solus Roman us Pontifex jure dicatur universalis. 3. Quod ille solus possit deponere Episcopos vel recon- ciliare (reinstate). 4. Quod legatus ejus omni- "'<=*"*"» p«p«- bus Episcopis prosit in concilio, etiam inferioris gradus, et adversus eossententiam depositionis possit dare. 5. Quod ab- sentes Papa possit deponere. 6. Quod cum excommunicatis ab illo, inter caetera, nee in eadem domo debemus manere. 7. Quod illi soli licet pro temporis necessitate novas leges condere, novas plebes congregare, de canonica abbatium facere et econ- tra, divitem episcopatum dividere, et inopes unire. 8. Quod solus possit uti imperialibis insigniis. 9. Quod solius Papae pedes omnes principes deosculentur. 10. Quod illius solius nomen in ecclesiis recitetur. 11. Quod unicum est nomen in mundo. 12. Quod illi liceat Imperatores deponere. 13. Quod illi liceat de sede adsedem, necessitate cogente, Episcopos transmutare. 14. Quod de omni ecclesia, quacumque voluerit. 262 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE clericum valeat ordinare. 15. Quod ab illo ordinatus alii Ecclesise praeesse potest, sed non militare, et quod ab aliquo Episcopo non debet superiorem gradum accipere. 16. Quod nulla synodus absque prsecepto ejus debet generalis vocari. 17. Quod nullum capitulum, nullusque liber canonicus habea- tur absque illius auctoritate. 18. Quod sententia illius a nullo debeat retractari, et ipse omnium solus retractare possit. 19. Quod a nemine ipse judicari debeat. 20. Quod nullus audeat condemnare apostolicam sedem appellantem. 21. Quod ma- jores causae cujuscumque ecclesise ad earn referri debeant. 22. Quod Romana Ecclesia nunquam erravit, nee in per- petuum, Scriptura testante, errabit. 23. Quod Romanus Pon- tifex, si canonice fuerit ordinatus, meritis b. Petri indubitanter efficitnr sanctus, testante s. Ennodio Papiensi Episc, ei multis ss. Patribus faventibus, sicut in decretis b. Symmachi P. con- tinentur. 24. Quod illius prjecepto et licentia subjectis liceat accusare. 25. Quod absque synodali conventu possit Episco- pos deponere et reconciliare. 26. Quod catholicus non ha- beatur, qui non concordat Romans Ecclesise. 27. Quod a fidelitate iniquorum subjectos potest absolvere. Gregory was controlled by the idea of the Kingdom of God on earth (civitas Dei). It was taken for granted that this ex- The Church as isted. For a long time the Emperor had been the Civitas Dei. regarded as the representative of God and the Empire as the Kingdom of God. Gregory declared against this. The Church must be the Kingdom of God and the Pope its head on the earth. All authority belongs, therefore, to the Pope, not to the Emperor. It is impossible that the Empire should be really the Kingdom of God, because the Emperors are ambitious and tyrannical and practise injustice. Their rule is based on force. On the other hand, the Church is based on righteousness. She can do no wrong. Gregory's funda- mental position is, therefore, that the Church is the Kingdom of God, and the Pope who is at its head has absolute authority over all the world. His whole programme may be deduced from this. But Gregory further declared that the Church must be re- THE PAPACY AND THE EMPHiE 263 formed in accordance with the Word of God. She must be really the Kingdom of God. His practical genius told him that the Church must be a compact unit, thoroughly ° -^ Necessity of a organized and completely under the control of central power the Pope. The unity of the Church could '" the church. be secured only by concentrating all the power in one man. The Church must obey one will. Gregory could say with all truth that he was the Church, because no part of it was inde- pendent of him. This would be possible only when one creed and one liturgy were everywhere accepted, and when all the clergy were bound directly to the oathof aiie! head of the Church, the Bishop of Rome. He giance to the therefore required all bishops to take an oath of allegiance to him similar to that which vassals rendered to their lords. He gave all the clergy the free right of appeal to himself, and encouraged them to make use of it. This, of course, diminished the power of the bishops and raised his own accordingly. He re- placed the authority of synods by assuming the right to de- cide all questions, either in person or through , . , TT- 1 ,1 II Papal legates. his legates. His legates played much the same part in his government that the missi dominici did under Karl the Great. He developed the idea of papal legates, and sent them to all parts of Europe. They were to oversee for him all the affairs of the state to which they were sent, control the ac- tion of synods, and bind all the countries to the Pope. They were to be his hands and eyes. He definitely assumed control over the Councils by declaring that he could act without the advice of Councils, and that their acts were invalid until sanc- tioned by him. He was at once supported in this by several writers on church law, whose controlling principle was the ab- solute authority of the Pope. They developed church law in accordance with Gregory's ideas. Among these were Anselm of Lucca, and the Cardinal Deusdedit. They attributed more au- thority to the decrees of the Pope than to the action of Councils. 264 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Being himself a monk, Hildebrand was filled with the monkish ideas of his time. He saw that the only way to rule Celibacy of the th^ world was by means of a clergy that had Clergy. renounced the world. Two things were there- fore necessary ; the clergy should never marry nor receive any authority from anyone except the Pope. Gregory declared at once against the marriage of the clergy. All sorts of argu- ments were used against this institution, but the principal rea- sons which Gregory urged were that the unmarried clergy could be made to lose their nationality and be attached to Rome, and that if the clergy were unmarried, there would be no dan- ger that the church lands would be given to their children and so lost to the Church. In the synod at Rome (1075) the mar- riage and concubinage of the clergy were strictly forbidden. The prohibition met with much opposition, since those who were married refused to give up their wives. Gregory was un- Lay investiture yielding, however, and in the end the rule was forbidden. enforced. The clergy must owe all their author-' ity to the Bishop of Rome, therefore Gregory declared that no bishop should receive the investiture from the hands of a lay- . man, whether king, noble, or common man. Gregory surrounded himself with men of the highest morals and strictest ascetic principles. Many of them would have much preferred the quiet of the cloister, and begged Gregory to let them return to their monasteries ; but their conscien- tiousness and stern sense of duty made them just the tools which he needed. The first two years of his reign were spent in getting the Church well in hand. He was then ready to turn his attention to the temporal powers of Europe. His principles were all included in the statement that the Pope has the right to de|jose Emperors, and in 1080 he said that he would show the world that he had the right to confer all tem- poral power and also to take it away. He was the source of all temporal power. This claim he based on the fact that he was the successor of " Blessed Peter, whom the I,ord Jesus Christ THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 265 had established as Prince over all the kingdoms of the world." To prove this he made use of many forgeries. Although it cannot be proved that he made the forgeries himself, yet he made use of anything that served his purpose. His credulity in such matters is amazing. There can be no doubt that niany of the forgeries were made at his own court. From the very first Gregory put his theory into practice. In 1073 he wrote to the Spanish princes that the kingdom of Spain had from ancient times been under the jurisdiction of St. Peter, and, although it had been occupied by Barbarians, it had never ceased to belong to the Bishop of Rome. In 1074, in a letter to Solomon, king of andthetem- Hungary, he claimed that country on the ground ^'^* rulers. that it had been given and actually transferred to St. Peter by king Stephen. He made the same claims to Russia and to Provence, to Bohemia, Sardinia, Corsica, and Saxony. He made the duke of Dalmatia his subject, and gave him the title of king. France, he said, owed him a fixed amount of tribute. He laid claim to Denmark, but its king resisted him success- fully. He wished William the Conqueror to hold England as his fief, but Wilham refused to acknowledge the Pope as his feudal lord. He consented, however, to make the payment of the Peter's. pence binding on England. The action of the Council at Rome (1075) in regard to simony was the beginning of the struggle. Gregory threatened to excommunicate all bishops and abbots who The struggle should receive their offices from the hand of any with Germany. layman, and every Emperor, king, or temporal ruler, who should perform the act of investiture. This was a hard blow at all rulers, but especially at the Emperor, because the German clergy were his principal support and were the holders of large tracts of land. If the Pope should be successful in carrying this point, the Empire would be almost destroyed. Philip I. of France made a bold show of resistance, but the condition of Germany was such as to make a decisive papal victory there 266 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE very prabable. Gregory, therefore, ended his struggle with Pliilip and gave all his attention to Germany. In the Council at Rome Gregory had received charges of simony against five of Henry IV. 's privy counsellors and had excommunicated them. Henry IV. and Henry refused to put them away from his court Gregory VII. and continued to invest bishops and abbots as before. The Pope then cited him to appear at Rome and ex- cuse himself in person, and coupled the citation with the threat of excommunication if Henry persisted in his present course. Henry regarded this as a declaration of war, and answered it with defiance. At the council at Worms (June, 1076) he charged the Pope with having obtained the papal dignity by improper means and declared him deposed. The war was begun. Gregory could count on the support of the Normans in southern Italy, the Pataria in Lombardy, Matilda, the great countess of Tuscany, and her Gregory's allies. i r. allies, the Saxons, the discontented nobles of Germany, and that rapidly increasing class of people all over the Empire who were becoming imbued with the ideas of the Cluniac reform. Henry had for his support a large number of his faithful subjects who remained uninfluenced by the action of the Pope, a large part of the clergy who Henry's allies. i ' 5 1 by were patriotic but probably guilty of simony, the imperial party in Italy, and all those who for any reason were opposed to the papal control in Italy. The historical literature of this period presents insuperable difficulties. There is scarcely an important event in all this The literature Struggle of which we do not find two versions, of the period. Q^g papal, the Other imperial. Writers who were in sympathy with the Pope made their accounts favorable to him, while the friends of the Emperor wrote in his interests and colored everything accordingly. How much of this was due to blind partisanship, and how much to wilful falsification, it is impossible to say. The result is the same. It is often impos- sible to get at the exact facts. THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 267 Henry's letter of deposition to Gregory was bold and vigor- ous. He declared that he had endured the misdeeds of Greg- ory because he had wished to preserve the honor charges and of the apostolic throne. This conduct the Pope «>"nter charges. had attributed to fear, and had, therefore, dared threaten to deprive Henry of the royal power, as if this had been received from him, and not from God. Henry had received his office through the Lord Jesus Christ, while Gregory had obtained the papal power without God's help. The steps by which he had mounted to the throne were cunning, bribery, popular favor, and violence. While seated on the throne of peace he had destroyed peace. He had attacked the king, God's Anointed, who, by the teaching of all the holy fathers, could be judged and deposed by God alone. The Church had never deposed even Julian the Apostate, preferring to leave him to God's judgment. The true Pope, Peter, had commanded all to fear God and honor the king, but Gregory has no fear of God. Let him, therefore, vacate the throne of St. Peter and depart. Henry, with his bishops, pronounces the anathema upon him. Let another occupy the papal throne who will not cloak his violence under the name of religion. Henry, with all his bishops, orders Gregory to vacate the throne at once. The reply of Gregory was equally imperious and vigorous. He calls on Peter, Paul, and all the saints to witness that he had unwillingly accepted the papal office thrust upon him by the Roman Church. This was sufficient proof that the Chris- tian world had been committed to him. Relying upon the help of St. Peter and God, he therefore deposes Henry, be- cause, in his unspeakable pride, he has revolted against the Church, and he absolves all his subjects from obedience to him. Because Henry persists in his claims and disobedience to the Pope, Gregory excommunicates him. He expects that St. Peter will make his anathema prevail, in order to make the world know that he, Peter, is the rock on which the Church 268 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE is built, and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. This was, indeed, a new language in the mouth of Gregory. No Pope had ever made sucli claims or spoken in such a tone to the Emperor before. For the first time the claim is openly made that the Empire is a dependency of the Church.^ This action of Gregory was answered by the imperial party in Lonibardy in a Council which again deposed Gregory. A Rebellion in German Council at Mainz (July, 1076) repeated Germany. the decree of deposition, but did nothing to enforce it. Meanwhile the rebellions Saxons, and all who were dissatisfied with Henry, made bold by the king's excommunica- tion, organized their rebellion. They held a meeting at Tri- bur (October, 1076), to which the king was not admitted. The influence of the decree of excommunication had been growing in Germany, and Henry was practically deserted. It had legalized the rebellion of the German princes. The ' These two letters, parts of which have been freely paraphrased above, are specimensof the most vigorous Latin to be found in the Middle Age. We give here the Latin text of those parts. The quotation from Henry's letter to Gregory is as follows: " Et nos quidem hsec omnia sustinuimus, dum apos- tolic^ sedis honorem servare studuimus. Sed tu humilitatem nostram timo- rem fore intellexisti, ideoque et in ipsam regiam potestatem nobis a Deo concessam exsurgere non timuisti, quam te nobis auferre ausus es minari, quasi nos a te regnum acceperimus, quasi in tua et non in Dei manu sit regnum vel imperium : qui Dominus noster Jesus Christus nos ad regnum, te autem non vocavit ad sacerdotium. Tu enim his gradibus ascendisti; scilicet astutia — pecuniam, pecunia, favorem, favore, ferrum, ferro sedem pacis adisti, et de sede pacis pacem turbasti. — Me quoque, qui, licet indignus, inter christos ad regnum sum unctus, tetigisti, quern sanctorum patrum traditio- soli Deo judicandum docuit, nee pro alique crimine, nisi a fide, quod absit, exorbitaverimus, deponendum asseruit; cum etiam julianum apostatem pru dentia sanctorum Episcoporum non sibi, sed soli Deo judicandum depo- nendumque commiserit. Ipse verus Papa, b. Petrus, clamat : Deum timete, Regem honorficate. Tu autem, quia Deum non times, me constitutum ejus inhonoras. — Tu ergo hoc anathemate et omnium Episcoporum nostrorum ju- dicio et nostro damnatus descende, vindicatam sedem apostolicam relinque ! Alius in solium b. Petri ascendat, qui nulla violentiam religione palliet, sed b. Petri sanam doctrinam doceat. Ego enim Henricus Rex Dei gratia cum omnibus Episcopis nostris tibi dicimus ; descende, descende." It would be difficult to find a more characteristic papal writing than Greg- ory's reply, which runs as follows; " Beate Petre Apostolorura princeps, in- THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 269 meeting in Tribur finally came to an agreement with Henry, who was awaiting their decision at Oppenheim, just across the Rhine. Henry was to be present at a great „ ., 1,1, . , The Oppenheim Council, to be held at Augsburg m February of Agreement. the following year, and submit to trial. In the "'"'• meantime he must remain at Speier, and make his peace with the Pope within a year and a day from the time of the excom- munication (February 24-28, 1076). If he failed to do this, his subjects were to be free from their allegiance to him. Henry must put away his excommunicated counsellors, lay aside all royal insignia, not enter a church, and withdraw his troops from Worms and restore the city to its bishop. If he failed to observe any of these things, the princes would not be responsible for the consequences. At the same time Gregory was invited to come to Augsburg, and preside at the great Ger- man Council and settle all matters of dispute. This fell in ex- actly with Gregory's policy, and gave him an opportunity to make good his claim of temporal supremacy. On the other hand, nothing could have been more undesir- able to Henry than the presence of Gregory in Germany, es- pecially if he was to preside over the national Council. He at once wrote to Gregory, and offered to come to Rome to clina quassumus pias aures tuas nobis, et audi me servum tuum. Tu mihi testis es, et Domina mea, Mater Dei, et b. Paulus frater tuus, et omnes Sancti, quod tua s. Romana Ecclesia me invitum ad sua gubernacula traxit — et ideo — credo, quod placuit et placet, ut populus christianus tibi special- iter commissus mihi obediat. Hac itaque fiducia fretus pro Ecclesias tuae honore et defensione, ex parte omnipotentis Dei Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, per tuam potestatem et' auctoritatem Henrico Regi, filio Henrici Im- peratoris, qui contra tuam Ecclesiam inaudita superbia insurrexit, totius regni Teutonicorum et Italias gubernacula contradico, et omnes Christianos a vinculo juramenti, quod sibi facere vel facient, absolvo, et ut nullus ei sicut Regi serviat, interdico. Et quia sicut Christianus contemsit obedire — par- ticipando excommunicatis, et multas iniquitates faciendo, meaque monita, qu£e pro sua salute sibi misi, te teste, spernendo, seque ab Ecclesia tua, ten- tans eam scindere, separando ; vinculo eum anathematis vice tua alligo: et sic eum ex fiducia tua alligo, ut sciant gentes, et comprobent, quia tu es Petrus, et super tuam petram Filius Dei vivi aedificavit Ecclesiam, et portae inferi non prsevalebunt adversus eam." 270 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE make confession and receive absolution. The Pope rejected his offer, and told him to remain in Germany and await his comina;. He set out as soon as possible for Gregory sets ° outforQer- the north. He feared to pass through Lombardy "*"''• without an escort, and the German escort which had been promised him did not appear. After waiting some time he received news which greatly disconcerted him, and he withdrew to the castle of Canossa, in Tuscany, about -twelve miles from Reggio. Gregory heard that Henry had eluded the watch set over him in Speier, and after a thrilling journey through Burgundy, and Henry IV. at Over the Mont Cenis Pass, had reached Lom- Canossa. bardy, where he was received with open arms by the Lombard nobility and clergy. Gregory was in doubt whether Henry had come to make war on him or to secure ab- solution. In a few days there appeared a large number of the clergy and nobility before Gregory to intercede for Henry, but for a long time without any success. Gregory said that Henry must surrender his crown into the Pope's hands, and agree to abide by his decision, and return to Germany and present him- self at the meeting at Augsburg, where all questions would be decided. After several days of beseeching, however, the Pope yielded, and Henry was admitted to the court-yard of the pal- ace, where for three days he stood in the garb of a penitent, waiting to be admitted. On the fourth day he was received by the Pope, who absolved him, after imposing upon him many hard conditions. Henry had'been deeply humiliated, but he had accomplished his. purpose ; he had been freed from the ban of excommunica- tion and had thereby deprived his rebellious subjects of all show of legality ; and he "had robbed Gregory of the best part of his victory by preventing his coming to Germany to preside over the national assembly. Gregory had, oh the other hand shown his power by keeping an Emperor standing as a penitent at his door for three days. The Emperor never wholly recovered THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 27 1 from this humiliation, but the Pope had in reality overshot the mark. The people thought him too severe and unforgiving. Although the world regarded the immediate victory as Greg- ory's, it was really Henry's. For from this time on Henry's power increased and Gregory's diminished. It soon became apparent that Henry had been insincere in his confession and promises. He had plotted against Gregory even on the way to Canossa, and as soon as he reached Ger- many he began to plan for his self-defence. He had learned a lesson from which he derived much profit. There was a de- cided improvement in him. But his enemies, principally Saxons and Suabians, refused to yield him obedience. In March they held a diet at Forchheim, deposed Henry, and Anti-kings in elected Rudolph of Suabia in his stead. The Germany. struggle dragged along until, in 1080, the two parties met in battle and Henry was totally defeated. The Pope now took up the matter again and excommunicated Henry anew. A change had come over Germany in the meanwhile, and the ban had Httle or no effect on the Emperor's followers. Another battle was fought in October of the same year, and, although Henry was again beaten, Rudolph was slain. The next year Hermann of Luxemburg was made king in Rudolph's stead, but he was incapable of making any effectual opposition. The second ban and the recognition of Rudolph was an- swered by Henry's setting up an anti-pope, Clement III. Henry prepared to establish him in Rome by force of ^ ^ AntUpope. arms. He crossed the Alps with an army and was received with joy by the Lombards. He marched to Rome without meeting any obstacle, but the gates of the city were closed to him. The Gregorian party had possession of the city and refused to admit him. For nearly three years Henry re- mained in Italy carrying on the struggle. At last, in the win- ter of 1083-84, Rome was opened to him. He immediately ■ put Clement III. on the throne of St. Peter, and had him- self and his wife crowned by him. Gregory VII. was besieged 272 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE in the castle of St. Angelo, and was in great danger of being taken prisoner when the Normans appeared with a large force Henry IV. in under Robert Guiscard, and Henry was com- '*"'y- palled to flee. Rome fell into the hands of the Normans and suffered a fearful sack. The people of the city were so enraged that Gregory was afraid to remain there and so withdrew with his Normans to the south, where he died in 1085 at Salerno. He had made great claims without being able to realize them. He had made concessions to William the Conqueror, and to Philip I., of France. They both still possessed the right of investiture. Henry IV. had, in many respects, held his own against him. His legates in Spain were abused, and he him- self died in exile. But he had established the custom of send- ing papal legates to all parts of Europe ; he had put his own authority above that of a Council ; he had destroyed the inde- pendence of the bishops by giving to all the clergy the free right of appeal to the Pope ; he had made the celibacy of the clergy the rule of the Church, and he had freed the Papacy from all lay interference, whether imperial or Roman, by estab- hshing the College of Cardinals. He had formulated the claims of the Papacy to absolute power and marked out its future policy. There can be no doubt that he had modelled the Papacy after the ancient Empire. The Pope, according to his ideas, was to succeed to the place of Augustus Caesar. Even his times understood this, and poems were addressed to him as C^sar. He was far more Roman than Christian. His stoicism was worthy to be placed by the side of that of the Scipios. His last words, " I have loved justice and hated in- iquity," were the product, not of the Christian, but of the Roman spirit. His successor, "Victor HI. (1086-87), who hved for only a short time, was hard pressed by Clement HI., the imperial anti-pope. He was followed by the cardinal bishop of Ostia under the name of Urban H. He chose Gregory VH. for THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 2/3 his model and carried on his pohcy. He made war on Clem- ent III., and after putting him down, took up his residence in Rome. He brought about the unnatural marriage between the seventeen-year old Guelf, prince of ^''''"" "' Bavaria, and the countess Matilda, of Tuscany, now forty years old. Bavaria had long been hostile to Henry, and was now defi- nitely enrolled among the allies of the Pope. The Pope master Henry made another incursion into Italy and was '" 't"iy- on the point of securing possession of Tuscany when he was de- serted by his ally, Lombardy. A new impulse had been given to the reform party there, and the Pope had skilfully brought the people over to his side. Even Henry's son, Conrad, was persuaded to revolt against his father and join the papal party. He was made king of Lombardy and crowned by the arch- bishop of Milan. All Italy was now on the Pope's side and devoted to him. Henry had been driven beyond the Alps. In 1094 Urban II. undertook his famous journey to France. On his way through Italy he was received with great acclamations and met with no opposition. At Piacenza he The Council at held a council, at which all the clergy of Italy Piacenza, 1095. were present. Philip II. of France was threatened with the ban for his sinful life, and the ecclesiastical affairs of Italy were reg- ulated. It is probable that messengers from the Emperor Alex- ius came to this Council and asked the Pope for help against the Turks, and that this request awakened in Urban the idea of a crusade. In Lombardy Urban's victory was complete. The archbishop of Milan did penance for having received the in- vestiture from the Emperor, and the young king, Conrad, held the stirrup of the Pope. In France his success was even greater. All opposition was broken down before him. The height of his triumph was reached at the great Council of ci^rmont, 1095 Clermont, where he assumed the definite leader- ThefirstCru- ship of the Christian world by proclaiming a "''*■ crusade and calling on all Christians to assist in reconquering the Holy Grave. This movement, the product of the religious 18 274 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE idealism of the Middle Age, is peculiarly the creation of the Pope. The Emperor was under the ban, the king of France was in no condition to act as leader. The Pope, therefore, as- sumed the leadership without opposition. The first crusade resulted in acquiring possession of the Holy Grave ; a success, although purely factitious, which fired the religious enthusiasm of the west to the highest possible pitch. The credit for this was given to the Pope, and lifted him to an even higher plane in the estimation of the west. The first crusade contributed much to the final success of the Pope. For several years after the death of Gregory, Henry IV. was left to himself. He overcame the opposition in Germany and The last years of reigned undisturbed. The revolt of his son Henry IV. Conrad grieved him, but in 1098 he had him excluded from the succession. His second son, Henry, was afterward crowned as his successor, but in 1104 this son also revolted against him and allied himself with the hostile nobles and the Pope. In a battle the son was victorious, and Henry IV. resigned his crown, withdrew from the government, and died a few days later, utterly broken by the heartrending mis- fortunes of his reign (1106). Henry V. succeeded to the crown. At the time of his re- bellion he had sworn allegiance to the Pope and had received Henry v., his blessing. He had thus far been supported ■■06-25. by the papal party. No sooner was he estab- lished in the kingdom, however, than he changed his policy. It was impossible for a king to remain in the papal party. He took up his father's policy and his father's friends. He also claimed the right of investiture. In 1106 Paschalis II. (1099- III 8) issued an edict against lay investiture. In Italy. The blow was aimed at Henry V., who now col- lected an army and invaded Italy. In Lombardy he met only with submission. Paschalis, finding resistance hopeless, made an agreement with Henry by which all the clergy were to sur- render their lands to him, but the right of investiture was to THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 275 be conceded to the Pope. This was wholly to the advantage of the Emperor. He did not care to invest the clergy if they held no lands from him. The settlement was ^^ ^ . Church lands strictly in accordance with the monkish ideal, ceded to the Em- The clergy were to live according to "the law peror, mi. of Christ," that is, in poverty, dependent on the charity of Christians. The Emperor, on the other hand, was to be en- riched by the immense landed possessions of the Church. This agreement would have ended the quarrel if the clergy had been willing to submit. They refused, however, to give up their possessions. Paschalis, finding himself opposed by all, cancelled this condition, but endeavored to keep the right of investiture. Henry V., however, forced him to imperial investi- yield and (April 12, iiii) grant him the un- ture, im. conditional right of investiture. Again Paschalis being over- whelmed by a storm of opposition and censure, repudiated the agreement and even put Henry under the ban (11 12). The struggle was thus renewed. Henry made war on the posses- sions of Matilda, who died in 1115, and got them into his power. Paschalis fled before him and died in exile among the Normans. His successor, Gelasius II. (11 18-19), ^'^ *^°i^' stantly in flight, and an imperial Pope, Gregory VIII., occu- pied Rome. The cardinals, however, assembled in Clugny and elected Calixtus 11. (11 19-24), a cunning diplomat. He was ready to make concessions, being tired of the war. At last (i 1 22) an agreement was made between the par- concordat of ties which is known as the Concordat of Worms. Worms. Its terms are as follows r The Emperor concedes to the Pope the right to invest the clergy with spiritual authority, which was symbolized by the ring and the staff; he gives up the right of appointing bishops and abbots, who are to be canoni- cally elected in the presence of the Emperor or of his repre- sentative; contested elections shall be decided by the Emperor; the Emperor has the right to invest the clergy with their lands, and all their civil and judicial functions. This form of inves- 276 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE titure was the same as that of the counts and other laymen. Its symbol was the sceptre. In Germany the oath of alle- giance must be taken before investiture ; in other lands, within six months after investiture. This was a compromise in which the Pope got the best of it. The Emperor had preserved his right to invest with the lands, but he could really no longer control the election. The effect of this was that the church lands, which up to this time had been one of the greatest sup- ports of the throne, were now alienated and regarded as the property of the Church. They were from this time on really in the hands of the Pope. The clergy were no longer in the control of the Emperor. They were also delivered over to the Pope, and an independent patriotic German clergy was from this time on almost impossible.^ Against Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, Henry V. made several campaigns (i 107-10), but met with little success. Tow- ard the end of his reign, however, much was done to estab- lish the German supremacy over these states by the missionary efforts of Otto, bishop of Bamberg. He labored especially ' The following is apart of the text of the Concordat of Worms: "Ego Heinricus, Dei gratia Romanorum imperator Augustus . . . dimitto deo et Sanctis eius apostolis, Petro et Paulo, sanctaeque catholicas ecclesise omnem investituram per annulum et baculum, et concede in omnibus ecclesiis fieri electionem et liberam consecrationem. Ego Calixtus Episcopus servus servorum dei, tibi dilecto filio Heinrico, Dei gratia Romanorum imperatori Augusto, concede electiones Episcoporum et Abbatum Teutonici regni, qui ad regnum pertinent, in prsesentia tua fieri absque simonia et aliqua violentia, ut si qua inter partes discordia emerserit, metropolitani et comprovincialium consilio vel judicio saniori parti assensum et auxilium prasbeas. Electus autem regalia per sceptrum a te recipiat, et quae ex his tibi debet, faciat, ex- ceptis omnibus, quas ad Romanum ecclesiam pertinere noscuntur. Ex aliis vero partibus imperii consecratus infra sex menses regalia per sceptrum a te recipiat et qu£e ex his jure tibi debet," etc. " Regalia" was defined as follows; " Regalia, id est civitates, ducatus, marchias, comitatus, monetas, teloneum, mercatum, advocatias regni, iura centurionum et curtes, quae manifeste regni erant, cum pertinentiis suis, mil- itiam et castra regni." That is, the Emperor has the right to appoint the governors of cities, dukes, border counts (marquis)., counts, control the coining of money, the collection of taxes or tolls, the establishment of markets, appoint royal advocates, the holders or overseers of imperial farms, etc. THE PAPACY AND THE EMPH^E 277 among the Slavic peoples in Pomerania, and met with great suc- cess. This was another step in the way pointed out by Otto the Great to extend the German frontier to the east. xhe eastern Like his father, Henry V. had to meet with much frontier. opposition from the nobles of his land. He sought to win the favor of the cities of his Empire, which were rapidly growing rich, in order to set them over against the nobility. He seems to have recognized, in a dim way, the power and importance of the citizen class, and endeavored to make it his ally. Henry V. was childless, and, when nearing death, tried to persuade the princes to choose as his successor his nephew, Frederick of Hohenstaufen. They feared, how- Election of ever, that he would continue the policy of Henry Lotharof Sax- IV. and Henry V., with regard both to the <>"y. "^s-as. Church and to the princes. They hoped to find some one who would interfere less with them and their independence. A meeting was called by the archbishop of Mainz, for the pur- pose of electing a king. Ten representatives from each of the great duchies were chosen to nominate a candidate. When it was found that they could not agree on one person, they pre- sented the names of four, Lothar of Saxony, Frederick of Ho- henstaufen, Leopold of Austria, and probably Karl of Flanders. Frederick claimed the crown by the right of inheritance, but his manner was so overbearing that after a short time Lothar was elected. The papal party voted for the latter because they believed him devoted to the interests of the Church. Lothar agreed not to interfere with the election of the clergy, and to allow the Pope, in accordance with the Concordat of Worms, to invest all bishops and abbots with the ring and the staff, but stipulated that he himself should invest them with the sceptre. Lothar also wrote to the Pope asking him to confirm his election as Emperor. Frederick of Hohenstaufen and his brother Conrad, angered that the crown should have gone to Lothar, were ready to revolt. They at once laid claim to all the private lands of Henry V., 278 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE and also to all those which had been added to the Empire by conquest or otherwise during his reign. The princes, however, refused to recognize the Justice of these claims and a war broke out between the Hohenstaufen and Lothar, which lasted for nearly ten years. In 11 28 Conrad was set up as king, and suc- ceeded in getting a firm hold in Lombardy and in being crowned at Monza. Not till 1 135 did the Hohenstaufen yield and make peace with Lothar. In this struggle Lothar was greatly helped by the Guelf family of Bavaria, with which he made an alliance, giving his daughter in marriage to Henry the"i*roud. On the eastern frontier he carried on the policy of Otto I. He made a few campaigns against the Bohemians, and acted as The eastern arbitrator between the opposing claimants for frontier. the throne of Hungary. In his reign mission- ary work among the peoples of the east was carried vigorously forward. Magdeburg was the place from which the work pro- ceeded at this time. In 1130 a double papal election took place, which seriously threatened to disrupt the Papacy. Innocent II. (1130-43) was Disputed papal elected by a part of the Cardinals, under the in- eiection. fluence of one of the factions among' the people of Rome. The rest of the Cardinals, a majority of them, under the influence of another noble family, chose Anacletus II. (d. 1 138). In the struggle which followed between them Innocent II. appealed to the king of France, and, after having won the favor of Bernhard of Clairvaux, found it not difficult to draw both France and Germany to his side. In 1132 Lothar went to Italy, estabhshed Innocent in Rome, and re- ceived in return the imperial crown. The Pope also invested him with the lands of Matilda, and he became thereby the Pope's feudal subject. The Pope evidently wished to make Lothar as tiie his victory over the Emperor seem as great as Pope's " man." possible, and, taking advantage of Lothar's yield- ing disposition, caused a picture to be paifited representing the Emperor kneeling at his feet and receiving the imperial THE PAPACY AND THE EMPH^E 279 crown at his hands. It was intended that this picture should express the idea that the Emperor was receiving the imperial crown as a fief from the Pope. It was provided with tlie fol- lowing inscription : " Rex venit ante fores jurans prius urbis honores, Post homo fit papae recepit quo dante coronam." Lothar was compelled to leave Italy (1133) before he could conquer the anti-pope, but in 11 36 he again set out for Italy with a large army. He met with little or no Lothar in active resistance in the north of Italy, but sev- southern Italy. eral cities kept aloof from him. He determined to punish Roger of Sicily, who, in return for his support, had received the title of king from the anti-pope Anacletus, and had been invested by him with the Norman possessions in southern Italy. Lothar's invasion of Roger's territory was entirely successful for the moment, but, after his troops were withdrawn, Roger succeeded in retaking all that he had lost. Soon afterward Roger transferred his allegiance to Innocent II. , on the con- dition that his title of king be confirmed, and that he be left in possession of southern Italy. In this way the Pope again ob- tained an excellent ally in the south. In the tenth century the church in southern France had undertaken to put an end to the private wars which were waged so constantly that little or no progress could be L„ti,ar rene made in any way. It was a movement origi- the peace of nated and controlled by the clergy. Under pain *''* '""''■ of excommunication they forbade all private warfare. This was known as the Peace of God. But the Church was not strong enough to enforce this sweeping prohibition, and a com- promise was made. Under the same penalty all fighting was ])rohibited from Wednesday evening until Monday morning. This was called the Truce of God. As the desire for peace spread, the kings took up the idea, but modified it. They proclaimed that the peace of the land was the possession of the 280 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE king, who was responsible for its preservation, and, therefore, possessed the right to punish all who disturbed it. In accord- ance with this new idea Lothar proclaimed a "peace of the land," and forbade any one to break it for a period of ten years. While on his way to Germany from Italy Lothar II. died, after investing his son-in-law, Henry the Proud, with Saxony, _ . . and giving him the imperial insignia. He Henry the Proud hoped in this way to insure his election as king. disregarded. rpj^^ princes, however, refused to be guided by this act. They already feared the power of Henry, since he held both Bavaria and Saxony. They, therefore, hesitated to increase his power by making him king. In a very irregular Conrad in., way Conrad of Hohenstaufen was elected. The 1138-52. Guelf family was angry that their head, Henry the Proud, had not been elected, and from this time on for a hundred years there was almost constant war between them and the Hohenstaufen. It was not long until Conrad III. was compelled to attack Henry the Proud. He first deprived him of the duchy of Saxony, which he gave to Albert the Bear. Shortly afterward he took Bavaria from him and gave it to his half-brother Leo- pold. Henry the Proud, however, was very popular in Saxony, and at his call the Saxons rallied around his standard, and he quickly reconquered the whole of the land. He was about to reconquer Bavaria when he died fii^qy His Henry the Lion. ■ ,, tt r, j , nme-year-old son, Henry, afterward known as the Lion, was at once recognized by the Saxons as their duke, and the war was continued. Guelf, the brother of Heqry the Proud, took up arms in Bavaria, but he was besieged by Conrad in the fortress of Weinsberg and compelled to surrender.^ ' Fifty years after this event the legend of the faithful women of Weinsberg was in circulation. It was said that when the fortress was surrendered Con- rad gave permission to the women to carry away all that they could on their backs. All that was left by them was to be his : the men were to be prison- ers of war. At the appointed time the gates were thrown open, and the Em- 1 THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 281 Duke Leopold of Bavaria died in 1141, and his brother, Henry 11-.', called from one of his favorite oaths Jasomirgott, succeeded him in the March of Austria. A conrad 111. inef- peace was established by the marriage of Ja- ficient. somirgott with the widow of Henry the Proud. The boy, Henry the Lion, received Saxony, and Jasomirgott Bavaria. These civil wars gave the Barbarians on the frontier the oppor- tunity to revolt, and the German influence in tliese districts was greatly weakened. Italy was allowed to go its own way, and Rome indulged in another revolution under Arnold of Brescia. Conrad seemed unable to restore order, but in spite of this yielded to the appeal of Bernhard of Clairvaux, took the cross, and led a German army to Palestine (1146). Un- der the enthusiasm of the religious movement a general peace was declared, and Henry the Lion agreed to wait until after the crusade was ended to settle his claims on Bavaria. The account of this unfortunate crusade will be given in another place. Germany suffered much because of the absence of the king. Violence, private war, and political disintegration in- creased. Conrad returned in 1149 and found Germany in a sad state of disorder. Although he was unable to put an end to the violence, he began a war with Henry the I,ion, but died before accomplishing anything (1152). The princes of the Empire came together in a few days and unanimously chose Conrad's nephew, Frederick, called Barba- rossa because of his red beard, as king. Conrad p^^^^^i^j. , ^ g. had recommended this, knowing that his eight- ignatedand year-old son would not be equal to the task of «'^'=*«''' "s^-po. governing the Empire. Frederick was a descendant from both the Guelf.and the Hohenstaufen famihes. His mother was a sister of Henry the Proud. He was also a friend of Henry the Lion-. It was hoped, therefore, that he might command the peror was more than surprised to see the long line of women filing out, each one bearing her husband on her back. Conrad was so impressed with the faithfulness of the women that lie declared he could not break his word, and, besides, allowed the women to return and secure all their possessions. 282 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE adherence of both famihes, and so end the struggle between them-. It was not the fault of Frederick Barbarossa that this was not accomplished. Frederick may be said Hi8 two policies. , , , , . . , . ^ _ to have had two poacies, one as king of Ger- many and the other as Emperor of the world. He tried to make Germany a state by unifying the government, and repress- ing all violence and oppression. As Emperor, his one ideal was to restore the ancient Roman Empire. The great Roman Emperors were his models. In the eleventh century there had begun a revival in the study of Roman law, and Frederick at once pressed it into his service. He surrounded himself with men who were versed in the Codex of Justinian, and from these he received the imperial ideas which he tried to realize in his Empire. These lawyers were impressed with the spirit of ab- solutism in the Roman laws, and chose such maxims to lay be- fore Frederick as would increase his feeling of sovereignty. They told him that the will of the prince was law, and that the Emperor was absolute sovereign of the world. The absolu- tism of Frederick was not the outcome of a lust for personal power, but the logical product of his conception of his office. In the first days of his reign Frederick was called on to de- cide the question of the succession in Denmark. Swein and Denmaritan Knut could not agree about the succession, and imperial fief. go appealed to Frederick. He decided in favor of Swein, who then took the oath to him, and received his kingdom as a fief from him. A little later he restored Bavaria to Henry the Lion, who had renewed his claims to it. In other ways also he favored Henry the Lion, and really left him no ground for dissatisfaction, except that he was not king. In 1 1 54 Frederick crossed the Alps into Lombardy, and pitched his camp on the famous Roncaglian plain. • A diet was announced, and the cities of Lombardy ordered to send their consuls to meet him. Most of the cities did so, but Milan and some of her allies refused to obey. There was a struggle going on between the smaller cities and Milan, for the latter THE PAPACY AND THE EMPHa,nd independence of Rome existed still in the minds of the Rorhans, although it was not clearly defined and stated. It had shown itself often in opposition to the growing absolutism of the Popes, many of whom had been driven from the city because they offended the people by as- suming too much authority. The absolutism of the Pope was incompatible with the political ideas of the Romans. In 1143 these ideas took a more tangible form. The Pope was driven out of the city, and the government passed into the hands of the people. A commune was established which was supposed to be modelled after that of ancient Rome. It was, a truly democratic movement conducted by the common people and the inferior nobility. The senate was restored, and was to consist of fifty-six members, who were chosen from the ranks of the common people. The papal government and officials of the city were removed, and the executive power placed in the hands of a Patricius. His title seemed to indicate that his authority was Roman and not papal. 284 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Two years later Arnold of Brescia came to Rome, and was soon the most influential person in the city. He had been Arnold of Bres- born at Brescia and had therefore come into '^''>- contact with the ideas of the Pataria, especially in regard to the marriage of the clergy. He had been in France and had heard the theories of the great heretic Abelard, and, having adopted them, wished to put them into practice. He was made a priest and drawn to Rome soon after the revo- lution of 1143. His programme was somewhat extensive. His sympathies were with the common people as against the nobility. He was filled with the idea which had cropped out at various times in the Church, and was soon to become a central reforming principle of St. Francis, the sinfulness of property. He declared that the land should not be held by the rich, but should be common property. Everyone had the right to the use of a certain amount of land. Since individual possession is sinful, the Church, of course, should be without property. But he went a step further, and declared that the individual also should live in poverty. He attacked the clergy for their crimes and worldliness. It was to him a mark of the deepest corruption of the clergy that they had so great a share in the administration of civil affairs. " Clergymen with prop- erty, bishops with regalia, and monks with possessions could not be saved." The Church needed a thorough reform, and he was wise enough to see that the beginning should be made with the Pope. Arnold demanded that the Church give up all her possessions and live in poverty, which, he said, was the law of Christ. Fired by his preaching the mob began to sack the monasteries. If it was wrong for the-^ergy to have property, they ought to be deprived of it at onc^ Eugene III. (1145-53) was able to make peace with the commune for a while, but the struggle soon broke out afresh. He was driven out of the city, and went to France to take refuge with Bernhard of Clairvaux. Eugene III. was a weak and timid man and was wholly in the hands of Bernhard, who THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 28$ at this time was the most prominent person in the Church. In 1148, after an absence of more than two years, Eugene III. returned to Italy. Rome, in the meantime, had been con- trolled by Arnold. The political ideas of the Romans had undergone a change in what may be called an archaistic direction. It was de- termined to renew the Roman republic ; but this was not the republic pure and simple. The Emperor was, of course, in- cluded in the scheme ; but it was not an Emperor after the model of Justinian, an absolute master; that would be incom- patible with the full supremacy of Rome. The Emperor was to be but the e.xecutive official of the republic. All his power was to emanate from the senate and people of Rome. It was this republic that Frederick Barbarossa, who regarded himself as a second Constantine or Justinian, had to deal with. Eu- gene III. died in 1153, and his successor was an Englishman, the only Englishman, indeed, that has ever occupied the chair of St. Peter. His name was Nicholas Breakspeare, and he assumed the title of Hadrian IV. He got pos- Hadrian iv. gets session of the Vatican quarter of the city and control of Rome. entrenched himself there. He placed the Romans under an interdict and could be persuaded to remove it only on the condition that Arnold should be exiled. By losing him the republic lost its best leader. When Frederick appeared in Lombardy both the Pope and the republic were desirous of winning his favor. The Pope came to meet him near Viterbo and asked his help. He made charges against Arnold of Bres- cia and demanded his death. An embassy of the city also came to meet him, and reminded him of the fact that the people of Rome were the source of the imperial power, which they had conferred on the Germans. They were willing to make him Emperor if he would swear to respect the rights of Rome and her officials, and pay them a large sum of money. Frederick was enraged at their insolence, and plainly told them that Karl the Great and Otto I. had acquired the imperial title 286 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE by conquest. Rome's power was a thing of the past ; her glory and authority liad passed to the Germans. It was not for a conquered people to dictate terms to their master. Hadrian IV. was willing to make better terms with Fred- erick. He agreed to crown him on the condition that he be Coronation of restored to his place in Rome. The coronation Frederick. took place Secretly, but as soon as it was known the people formed a mob and attacked the Germans in the streets. After some hard fighting the mob was dispersed, and Frederick and Hadrian took possession of the city. Arnold of Brescia had taken refuge with some of the nobility, but was now, at the demand of the Emperor, surrendered to the Pope, at whose command he was burned at the stake as a heretic by the Prefect of the city. The Emperor, however, could not re- main long in the south. He was threatened with fever ; the heat was very oppressive, and he was needed in Germany. He returned, therefore, leaving Rome in the hands of Hadrian IV. The relations between Frederick and Hadrian had not been wholly peaceable. At their meeting, Frederick had re- fused to hold the stirrup of the Pope, and Hadrian, enraged at Trouble brew- this, would not give the Emperor the kiss of '"^- peace. The quarrel was eventually patched up, but there could be no lasting agreement between men who were under the control of such absolutely contradictory ideas. In Germany the question of the duchies was yet to be set- tled, and there was trouble also on the eastern frontier. Fred- erick now (1156) gave Bavaria to Henry the Lion, who thus became possessed of both Saxony and Bavaria. He gave the March of Austria to his uncle Jasomirgott. In the next year he marched against Poland, settled a contest over the crown, and made the country acknowledge his sovereignty. The duke of Bohemia was rewarded for his faithfulness by receiving the title of king. The Besan^on episode showed the temper of the two parties and indicated the speedy outburst of the storm. The arch- THE PAPACY AND THE EMPHiE 287 bishop Eskil of Lund liad been in Rome, and while on his return homeward through Burgundy was seized, robbed, beaten, and imprisoned. Altliough Frederick was in- The Besancon formed of this, he made no attempt to set him episode, 1157. free or to punish those who had committed the outrage. One reason for this indifference was to be found in the fact that Frederick was very angry at Eskil, because he was endeavoring to free the Church of the north from the control of the arch- bishop of Hamburg. Eskil was supporting the ambition of the Scandinavian Church to become independent. The na- tional feeling was, of course, at the bottom of it. Frederick also wished to show his displeasure with the treaty which had just been made between the Pope and William of Sicily, in which the Emperor's rights had been entirely disregarded. While Frederick was at Besancon (October 24-28, 1157) two legates appeared from the Pope bearing a letter in which the Emperor was roundly rebuked for his neglect. When they first presented themselves before Frederick they delivered the greetings of the Pope and the cardinals, adding that the Pope greeted him as a father, the cardinals as brothers. This form of salutation was regarded as strange, but was not resented by Frederick. On the following day they were for- mally received by the Emperor, and laid before him Hadrian's letter. After rebuking Frederick for his indifference, the Pope confesses that he does not know the cause of it. Hadrian feels that he has not offended in any respect against Frederick ; on the contrary, he has always treated him as a dear son. Frederick should recall how, two years before, his mother, the Holy Roman Church, had received him and had treated him with the greatest affection, and, by gladly conferring upon him the imperial crown, had given him the highest dignity and honor. "Nor are we sorry," he continued, "that we ful- filled your desires in all things ; but even if your Excellence had received greater fiefs (beneficia) from our hands, if that were possible, in consideration of the great services which you 288 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE may render to the Church and to us, we should still have good grounds for rejoicing." The reading of the letter pro- duced the wildest sort of scene. Never before had the Em- pire been thus openly called a fief of the Papacy. The princes about Frederick angrily remonstrated with the legates for making such claims. To this one of them replied by asking, ' ' From whom then did the Emperor receive the Empire, if not from the Pope?" The question almost cost him his life, for the hot - blooded Otto von Wittelsbach rushed upon him and would have slain him but for the interference of the Emperor. The legates were ordered to return at once to Italy, and were not permitted to proceed further on the business of the Pope. Whether or not Hadrian meant that beneficium should be understood as fief or not, is really of small consequence. The important thing was that he plainly treated the imperial crown as if it were something entirely within his power to give or withhold. This was little less offensive to Frederick than the word fief, because it was his belief that the imperial crown was attached to the German crown. The king of Germany had a right to the imperial crown. The Pope merely had the right to crown him. Toward Lothar II. the Pope had acted as if the imperial crown were his to give or withhold, and no one had then remonstrated. Frederick I., however, revived the former conception, and regarded the crown as the gift of God. Frederick then published a manifesto to his people, recount- ing the claims of the Pope as contained in the letter, and in The Emperor's Opposition to these declared that he had re- manifesto, ceived the imperial crown from God alone through the election by the princes. Jesus had taught that the world was to be ruled by two swords, ' the spiritual and the ' From the harmless passage, Luke xxii. 38, by the peculiar method of in- terpretation used during the IVIiddle Age, there was developed the famous theory of the two kinds of authority, the spiritual and the temporal. One of the swords of which St, Peter spoke was declared to symbolize the Empire, the other, the Papacy. The great question which had to be settled was wliich of these two swords should rule the other. THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 2S9 temporal. Peter had commanded that all men should fear God and honor the king, therefore, whoever said that the Empire was a fief of the Papacy was opposed to St. Peter and guilty of lying. Hadrian IV. then wrote an open letter to the clergy of Ger- many, expressing surprise and indignation at the turn affairs had taken. It was a most diplomatic letter, Hadrian's ex- written for the purpose of winning the German pianation. clergy to his side. Some of them, however, were true to their Emperor, and wrote Hadrian a letter in which they embodied the answer of Frederick. It was of the same tenor as his man- ifesto, and claimed that the Empire was not a beneficium (fief) of the Pope, but that Frederick owed it to the favor (bene- ficium) of God. Frederick was also still angry about the pict- ure which the Pope had had made representing Lothar on his knees receiving the crown from the Pope. The Pope, he said, was trying to make an authoritative principle, basing it simply upon a picture. Hadrian now saw that he had gone too far, and wrote a letter to Frederick in which he explained that " beneficium " was composed of " bono " and " facio," mean- ing not " fief," but a " kind deed " or " favor." By " contuli- mus" he had meant only " im^osuimus.^^ Hadrian suc- ceeded in quieting Frederick, but the battle had been merely put off ; it was not ended.' ^ The following selections are from the various letters mentioned in the text. Hadrian's first letter to Frederick contained the following: "Cuius quidem dissimulationis et negligentias causam penitus ignoramus, quoniam nos in aliquo serenitatis tua^ gloriam offendisse, conscientias scrupulus nostrum animum non accusat, sed personam tuam sicut karissimi et specialis filii nostri et principis christianissimi, quem in apostolica; confes- sionis petra non ambigimus per Dei gratiam solidatum, sincera semper di- leximus karitate et debitse tractavimus benignitatis affectu, Debes enim, gloriosissime fili, ante oculos mentis reducere, quam gratanter et quam iocunde alio anno mater tua sacrosancta Romana ecclesia te susceperit, quanta cordis affectione tractaverit, quantam tibi dignitatis plenitudinem contulerit et honoris, et qualiter imperialis insigne coronae libentissimo con- ferens, benignissimo gremio suo tuas sublimitatis apicem studuerit confovere, nihil prorsus efficiens quod regiae voluntati vel in minimo cognosceret ob- viare. Neque tamen penitet nos tuae desideria voluntatis in omnibus iiii- 19 290 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE --^ Frederick now proceeded to Italy to settle matters with Milan, which had refused to recognize his feudal rights. For about a hundred years the cities of Italy had been left to themselves by the Emperors. They had made good use of this period and had developed an independent government. They had forffotten that they owed any allegiance and The Italian ° j j ^ cities lose their duties to the Emperor. Even in the eleventh freedom. century there had been a league against the Emperor, in which Milan, Lodi, Piacenza, and Cremona were nnited to defend their interests. But a strong rivalry had grown rip among them. Milan had assumed the leadership and made use of her power to tyrannize over her smaller neighbors. Pavia headed the opposition against her and ap- pealed to the Emperor for help. In the summer of 1158 Frederick came and laid siege to Milan. The inhabitants, finding that they could not resist successfully, made terms with him. It was agreed that the officials of the city should be elected by the city, but confirmed by the Emperor. plevisse, sad, si maiora Ue«eficia exeellentia tua de manu nostra suscepis- set, bi fieri posset, considerantes, quanta ecclesise Dei at nobis par te incrementa possint at commoda provenire, non inmerito gauderemus." The manifesto of Fredericlc to his people contained the following passage: " Cumque per electionem principum a solo Deo regnum et imperium nos- trum sit, qui in passione Christi filii sui duobus gladiis necessariis regendum orbem subiecit, cumque Petrus apostolus hac doctrina mundum informa- verit : 'Deum timete, regem honorificate,' quicumque nos imperialem co- ronam pro beneficio a domino papa suscepisse dixerit, divinas institutioni et doctrinas Petri contrarius est et mendacii reus erit. " The German prelates wrote in part as follows to Hadrian: " Debitam patri nostro reverentiam libenter exhibemus, liberam imperii nostri coronam divino tantum beneficio ascribimus, electionis primam vocem Maguntino archiepiscopo, dainde quod superest cseteris secundum ordinem principibus recognoscimus, ragalem unctionem coloniensi, supramam vero, quae impe- rialis est, summo pontifici ; quidquid preter hsec est, ex abundant] est, a malo est." Hadrian's second letter to Frederick contains the following sentences : " Hoc enim nomen ex bono et facto est editum, et dicitur beneficium apud nos non feudum, sed bonum factum." " Per hoc enim vocabulum ' contulimus ' nil aliud intelligimus, nisi quod superius dictum est ' imposuimus.' " THE PAPACY -AND THE EMPIRE 29 1 Another diet was announced to be held in the Roncaghan Plain, and the cities were ordered to send their officials to it. It was Frederick's wish to break down the in- The second Ron- dependent spirit of the cities. It was during his cagiian Diet. stay in Italy that Frederick had come into contact with the lawyers of Bologna, and learned from them the leading ideas of Roman Law. Ancient customs were revived, and Frederick renewed his claims to the regalia (that is, to the duchies, coun- ties, marches, the office of consul, the right to coin money, collect taxes, customs, duties, etc.). He declared that in the future all the important officers of the city would be appointed by him and the people should approve them. Representatives of all the cities helped frame the rights of the Emperor and agreed to observe them. He proceeded at once to put his claims into force. He sent his representatives throughout the country to estabhsh in every city his officials. In Milan this caused an uprising, and the gates were closed against the Em- peror's messengers. Frederick at once laid siege to the city (April, 1159), which held out nearly three years. In Febru- ary, 1 162, it could resist no longer. The peo- Milan destroyed. pie tried in every way to appease Frederick, but "^^• he remained deaf to their entreaties. The walls of the city were razed,, the inhabitants of the city driven out, and many of the nobility kept as hostages. In the meanwhile the quarrel had broken out afresh between the Pope and the Emperor. In 11 59 Hadrian made sweeping demands of Frederick, in regard to the possession of the lands of Matilda, the collection of feudal dues by Frederick from the papal estates, and the full sovereignty in Rome. The Em- peror, of course, refused these demands, and the Pope prepared for the struggle. He sought help from Roger of Sicily, and the Greek Emperor, and intrigued with the Me,^„i^rm cities of Lombardy. In 11 59 Hadrian died, and the cardinals thereupon elected the man who had acted as the spokesman of Hadrian at Besangon, Roland Bandinelli, 292 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE who assumed the name of Alexander III. He now took up the quarrel and spent his time endeavoring to find allies. Frederick, however, set up an anti-pope, and was so successful in his opposition to Alexander III. that the Pope was com- pelled to leave Rome and seek a refuge in France (1161).- Frederick seemed to have won the day. His officials were in all the cities ; Milan was destroyed and the Pope an exile. But his very success was the cause of his defeat ; he had borne himself as an Emperor of the old school. His absolutism was tyranny to the cities, and hence they were eager to find some way of avenging themselves. The head of the opposition was Alexander III. In 1165 he returned to Rome, excommuni- cated the Emperor, and released his subjects from their oath of allegiance to him. Alexander was a diplomat and a dema- gogue ; he was hostile to the independence of the Lombard cities, but because they could help him he sought their alliance. For nearly fifteen years this able man led the opposition to Frederick, and the victory over the Emperor was due in a large measure to his ability and efforts. The next year (1166) Frederick went again into Italy with a large force to punish the rebels and to put the new anti-pope, Paschalis, in the chair of St. Peter. After a siege he took Rome. Paschalis was established as Pope and a few days later recrowned Frederick and his wife in St. Peter's. A pest broke out shortly after- ward and Frederick, alarmed at the great mortality among his troops, hastened back to Germany. As fast as he retreated the cities behind him revolted, and he barely escaped with his life. The Lombard The cities now entered into the famous Lom- League, 1167. bard League (1167). Milan was rebuilt by the aid of them all, and assumed the leading position in the league. Pavia still remained true to the Emperor, but to keep it in check the league founded a new city on the border of its terri- tory and named it Alexandria in honor of the Pope. It was not till 1174 that Frederick was in a position to r^-enter Italy. Then the Emperor himself laid siege to Alexandria, while some THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 293 of his troops overran Tuscany and Umbria. Alexandria was very strong and the siege lasted for months. Overtures of peace were made, and, as winter was approaching, Frederick withdrew to Pavia. Again and again he called on the Ger- man princes to come to his assistance. Henry the Lion now thought it an excellent opportunity to humble the Emperor and refused to assist him. In May, iiyfi^he troops „ , , ,,„,., ^ Legnano, 1176. of the league attacked Frederick at Legnano, and won a decisive victory. It was even thought for a while that the Emperor had lost his life in the battle. Frederick realized the situation ; he had been beaten, and was therefore ready to make peace on the cities' terms. He met Alexander III. in Venice (11 7 7) and made a truce for six years. He confessed his wrong deeds and begged the Pope to remove the ban from him. Six years later, at Constance, the treaty of peace was signed which granted the .cities substantially all that they had demanded. The over-lordship of the The Treaty of Emperor was recognized, but it was merely Constance, 1183. nominal. The independence of the cities was practically ad- mitted. It was a bitter humiliation for Frederick, but he could not escape it. He had been defeated and had to acknowledge it. Besides, he was pressed in Germany by the Guelf family and needed the support of the Pope. There was nothing for him to do except to confess his fault and abide by the decision reached by the war. When Frederick came to the throne (1152) Germany was in a sad state of anarchy. Conrad III. had been unable to prevent rapid disintegration. The Guelfs had Frederick 1. in opposed Conrad successfully, and it was evident Germany. that no one could rule in Germany without reckoning with that powerful family. Frederick showed his greatness in the way in which he took hold of this question concerning the in- ternal pohtics of Germany. After some difficulty he seemed to have settled the peace of the country. By giving Henry the Lion the Duchy of Bavaria (1153) he hoped to make him 294 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE his faithful friend and supporter. To indemnify Jasomirgott for the loss of Bavaria he made the March of Austria a duchy and gave it to him. Guelf VI. he appeased by investing him with the possessions of Matilda. Henry the Lion was ambi- tious to be duke in fact as well as in name, and throughout his life tried to increase the power of his family. He endeavored to extend his boundaries on all sides ; he despoiled the arch- bishop of Bremen and took Liibeck from Adolph of Holstein. The Slavs to the east he conquered and Christianized. Schwe- rin was established as a defence against them, and to assist in dominating them he invited colonists from the west to come and settle in these conquered lands, and the process of German- izing the Slavs of Pomerania was begun. He established bishops among them at Eutin, Ratzeburg, Oldenburg, Schwerin, and. Liibeck. He had many enemies who more than once leagued themselves against him. Among these were the arch- bishops of Cologne and Bremen, and the margraves of Branden- burg and Thuringia. In spite of their opposition, however, Henry the Lion was successful, and received the support of Frederick Barbarossa. After the death of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg (1170), Henry the Lion enjoyed peace and took advantage of it to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his return from Palestine Henry the Lion showed great anger with the Emperor ; probably because the latter had been in Saxony during his absence, and had, as Henry thought, in- terfered in the affairs of the duchy. The quarrel soon became more and more bitter, although it is impossible to trace the rea- sons of it. It reached a crisis in 1176, when Henry the Lion, y^^^^^ ^^^ j^ion refused to help Frederick in his struggle with the Pope and the Lombard League. Although greatly enraged at this, Frederick proceeded calmly to prepare to punish him. In 11 78 he returned to Germany, and cited Henry to appear against his enemies at a diet to be held at Worms (11 79). On his refusal, he was cited three times to appear before the Emperor, but, as he paid no attention to the THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 295 summons, he was banished and all his fiefs and family posses- sions were confiscated. Saxony was th,en overrun by the Em- peror, and Henry was compelled to sue for mercy. Frederick forgave him and allowed him to retain his private estates, but not his duchies. Saxony was given to a son of Albert the Bear ; the archbishop of Cologne was made duke in West- phalia ; and Bavaria was given to Otto of Wittelsbach. Henry was compelled to leave Germany for three years. When he returned he had to live in retirement on his Saxon estates. The power of Frederick was shown in 1 1 84, when he held a great diet at Mainz, at which seventy thousand knights were pres- ent. Ambassadors from almost every country in western Europe were there. Henry II. of England recognized Frederick's over-lordship. Soon after this he went to Italy and celebrated the marriage of his son, Henry VI., to Constance, the heiress to the crown of the kingdom of Sicily. She was the aunt of the reigning king, William II., who was withcTUt children. Fred- erick hoped by this marriage to add the territory of southern Italy to his possessions. Frederick's relations with the cities of northern Italy seem to have been the very best at this time, for Milan begged that the marriage might take place there, and the Emperor was received in the city with every mark of joy. His son, Henry VI., was crowned king of Italy, and united with his father in the work of government. The effect of the marriage of Henry VI. and Constance of Sicily was at once foreseen by the Pope, who did all he could to oppose it. Urban III. determined to strike before the Em- peror's power should become too great. He demanded the immediate surrender of the lands of Matilda and of the regalian rights. Other demands were made, none of which Frederick would grant. At the same time the archbishop of Cologne raised a rebellion against the Emperor and sought the aid of the Pope. Urban III. threatened Frederick with the ban, but died before it was pubHshed. Gregory VIII., who succeeded him, was an avowed enemy of Frederick, but his pontificate was brief. 296 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE In the meantime the news reached the west that Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, and, according to the ideas The Crusade oi of '^6 times, its recovery was regarded as the most Frederick I. pressing business of the age. Clement III. was willing to make almost any concessions if he could enlist Fred- erick for a crusade. An agreement was made in which Fred- erick seemed to have won the victory. He was now ready to go on the crusade. He placed the management of affairs in Germany in the hands of Henry VI., who took the title of king of the Germans, and set out in the spring of 11 89. Henry the Lion refused to accompany him and was banished for three years. An account of this crusade will be given in another place. Frederick died by drowning in one of the mountain streams of Cilicia, June 10, 1190. Alexander III. was victorious also over Henry II. of Eng- land. Hadrian IV. had given Ireland to Henry II., but it was The Papacy and 1^0' until after the murder of Beket that he was England. able to subdue it. In 1162 Henry II. forced the election of Thomas Beket as archbishop of Canterbury. His purpose in this was that he might, through him, gain com- plete control over the trials of the clergy. Henry II. was fol- lowing the policy of uniting all judicial authority in his own hands, and to complete this system he wished to have the clergy tried by his judges. In 1164 the Constitutions of Clarendon were published, which, on the whole, were but a restatement of the king's ancient rights. Bishops and abbots were to be elected in the presence of the king's officers and with the king's as.sent. Before being consecrated to his office, the bishop or abbot-elect must do homage to the king for his lands, and hold them as a fief from the king and pay all the customary feudal dues. Appeal to Rome was forbidden to the clergy, and they were not permitted to leave England without the consent of the king. The king must be consulted before any of his great vas- sals might be put under the ban of excommunication. The bishop might, indeed, try all accused clergymen, but if a clergy- THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 297 man was convicted, he was to be given over to the civil author- ities for punishment. In the quarrel that ensued Thomas Beket found that his life was not safe, and fled to France. Six years later Henry was forced by the threats of Alexander III. to recall him. Thomas returned (1170), but was slain shortly afterward by four knights who were followers of the king. Alexander HI. now demanded the fullest reparation, and Henry II. did penance, made his peace with the Pope, and annulled the obnoxious measures. In Italy Alexander III. found that, although he had over- come Frederick, he had not won the whole victory for himself. The cities of Lombardy and the kingdom of in Italy the Sicily secured their own advantages and went on spoils divided, their way of independence. Although Alexander tried to unite all Italy under his authority, he was unsuccessful. During his struggle with Frederick there had been several anti-popes estabhshed by the Emperor. The schism was ended in 11 78 by the surrender of Cahxtus III., who found it impossible to sustain himself after the Emperor had made peace with Alex- ander. To guard against disputed elections in the future, it was decreed in the Lateran Synod of 11 79, that whoever should receive the votes of two-thirds of the Cardinals should be re- garded as the duly elected Pope. There was nothing said about the Emperor's right to confirm the election, nor was any part accorded the people and clergy of Rome. The whole matter is in the hands of the Cardinals from this time on. Castile and Leon claimed the territory of Portugal, but Alexander III. made Alphonso its king and gave him authority over all the lands which he might be able to conquer from the Saracens. This was done on the condition that Alphonso and his successor pay the Pope a certain sum of gold every year. It is evident, therefore, that Alexander HI. deserves great credit from the papal point of view for the The high position work of his pontificate. His power was recog- of Alexander iii. nized all over the west as that of no Pope before him had been. 298 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE His immediate successors were unable to maintain all the ad- vantages he had won. Before the end of the century, however, the most imperial of all the Popes was to appear, and realize all that previous Popes had dreamed of ; but before Innocent III. there was to be another struggle in Rome. The independent spirit of the people of the city reasserted itself, and Lucius III. (1181-85) and Urban III. (1185-87) spent most of their pontificates in e.xile. Clement III. (i 187-91) succeeded in regaining the mastery in Rome, and all power was made over to him. The Pope had seldom been so secure in the city before. But a new danger was threatening. The marriage of Henry VI. with Constance of Sicily might, at any moment, lead to the establishment of the imperial power in the south, and the addition of Sicily and all the southern part of Italy to the Em- pire. The Pope would then be between two fires. Scarcely had Frederick Barbarossa left the country in the hands of his son Henry when Henry the Lion returned and began to attack his neighbors. Henry VI. prepared to resist him, when he heard of the death of William of Sicily. In order to secure the crown of that country, he made peace with Henry the Lion and set out for the south. On the way he heard of his father's death' in Asia Mfnor. He held his first diet at Mainz, and then hastened into Italy. Henry his general, Hedjadj, who was governor of Persia, crossed the Oxus and conquered Bokhara, Samarkand, and other provinces and cities, and even reached Kashgar and the Chinese frontier. The Indus valley was occupied by another army, and the Punjab invaded. Armenia and Asia Minor were attacked, b>it without success. Moawijah had conquered some of the Greek islands, and in 672 he laid siege to Con- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 353 staiitiiiople. The Emperor Constantine Pogonatus resisted him successfullj^-by the aid of Greek iire, and after seven years the siege was raised. In 717 the city was again besieged, but witliout success. During the last years of the seventh century the Ommeiades kept up a war in Africa, all the western part of which was in the hands of the Greeks and Berbers. Gradually the territory was conquered, and by the year 708 all of northern Africa was in the hands of the Mohammedans, except the port Ceuta, on the strait, opposite Spain. It is said that Count Julien, who held Ceuta, induced them to attack the king of the West Goths and assisted them in crossing the strait. In 711 they began the invasion, and within a few years almost all of Spain was in their hands. Fortunately for Christian Europe, the able gen- eral, Mousa, who had accomplished the passage, was disgraced and removed from the command. Consequently, „ . ^ ^ -" Progress in Eu- for several years the war was not carried on with rope checked ; so much vigor. In the meantime Karl Martel battle of Tours. was preparing to receive the invaders, and in 732 met them before Tours and decisively defeated them. They were, how- ever, not driven entirely out of France until 759. The brave resistance of Constantinople and the victory of Karl Martel set limits to their progress in Europe. The Ommeiad dynasty continued to meet with great oppo- sition. The descendants of Ali were scattered here and there, and were still regarded by some as the legal heirs of the Kha- lifate. Some of its members revolted, but were overcome and put to death. Other members were bitterly persecuted. Another family now appeared and claimed the Khalifate. They were the descendants of Abba, an uncle of Mohammed. They laid their plans well, and began a revolt which ended inc 750 in the destruction of the Ommeiad dynasty. Only one of that family escaped, Abderrahman, who fled to Spain, where he was received with honor. The Abbassides, the descendants of Abba, now usurped the Khalifate. About 760 they founded 23 354 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the city of Bagdad on the Tigris river and made it their resi- dence. This removal of the capital to Bagdad was a mistake and hastened the pohtical dissolution of the Mus- The Abbassides ... , , at Bagdad, 750- sulman Empire. The religious supremacy of the 1258 ; revolt of Khalifate of Bagdad was hardly questioned, but the west it was impossible to rule Africa and Spain from a city so far east. These western provinces now practically broke away from the Khalifate and followed a development of their own. It was not, however, until the tenth century that this political separation was consummated by the establishment of two other Khalifates, one at Cairo, in Egypt, and the other at Cordova, in Spain. The Khalifate of Bagdad reached its height about 800 under Haroun-al-Raschid. The political dismemberment of it began Disintegration of soon afterward. The emirs, or governors of the Khalifate. provinces, began to make themselves independent of the Khalif and ruled practically as kings. The Mohamme- dan Empire passed through something very like feudal Europe. Khorassan, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria gradually detached themselves from the Khalif At the same time the Turks began to come down from their home in central Asia, and gradually established themselves in many provinces. The power of the Khalif grew less and less. Some time before the down- fall, when it became apparent that he could not rely on the faithfulness of his emirs, he had begun to establish a standing mercenary army, which was composed largely of Turks. These increased their power and soon saw that the Khalifate was in their hands. They were not slow to take advantage of their TheSeidjuk Opportunities. The Seldjuk Turks/ (so named Turks. from one of their leaders) made themselves mas- ter of all the eastern provinces, and in 1058 their chief, Togrul Beg, was called to Bagdad by the Khalif, who resigned into his hands all the temporal authority, and made him Sultan of the Mohammedan world. The Khalif became merely a religious officer. The political authority rested in the hands of Togrul MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 355 Beg and his successors. This changed Khalifate continued until 1258, when the son of tlie great conqueror Ghengis Khan put to death the last Khalif of Bagdad. About 755 Abderrahman, the last of the Ommeiades, reached Spain and soon made himself lord of the country. He and his successors were called emirs, or sultans, or sons _. „. ,,, , , ' ' The Khalifate of of the Kiialifs. It was not until 929, under Cordova (755), Abderrahman III., that the title of Khalif was p^p'-iosi. adopted by them. This Khalifate was small, containing parts of Spain and a portion of northern Africa. It was constantly at war with the Christian states on the north (the kingdom of Leon, the county of Castile, the kingdom of Navarre, and the county of Catalonia, and later also the county of Portugal). Under the vigorous reign of Abderrahman III. the progress of the Christians was checked. He united all the Mohammedans of Spain under himself The greatness of his Abderrahman III. power may be seen by the fact that at his court were to be found ambassadors from all the Christian courts of Europe. He was governed wholly by political, and not by re- ligious, considerations. Under his son, who succeeded him, the Arabic civilization reached its height. Hicham II. was weak and the power was exercised by Ibn-abi-Amir, his prime-min- ister. He died in 1002, after a long and successful administra- tion of affairs. His sons succeeded him, but within seven years the last one of them was slain in a revolution. A period of violence followed, which resulted in the deposition of the last Khalif of Cordova (about 1035) and the formation of many independent provinces or kingdoms. Weakened by constant intestine struggles, the Mohammedans of Spain were now unable to resist the advance of the Christians, and were compelled to ask help of the Berber Almoravides of Africa. This led to another Berber invasion, which was to put an end to the little kingdoms and destroy in part the civilization of the country. After the destruction of the Ommeiades, Africa suffered for a long time all the evils of anarchy. Several little independent 3S6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE principalities were established, which the Aghlabites, to whom the Abbassides had entrusted the government of Africa, were not able to conquer. Early in the tenth century a powerful family, claiming to be descended from Fatima, one of the daughters of Mohammed, began to wage war on the Aghlajiites The Patimites in ^nd Succeeded in wresting from them the con- Egypt, 90001171. (-^qJ Qf Africa, They secured possession of Egypt, and in 969 founded Cairo, which they made the seat of their government. All the islands of the western Mediter- ranean belonged to them. In 7 1 2 Sardinia had been taken by the Mohammedans. In 832 Sicily was entirely in their hands. They plundered the coast of Italy and France throughout the whole of the ninth century, and established themselves there very often in strongholds along the coast. They acquired some forts in the Apennines and penetrated even to the higher parts of the Alps. In the Swiss Canton of Graubuenden there are still traces of some of these Arabic settlements. All these posses- sions came under the control of the Fatimites. In the eleventh century their power began to fail. One after another of their provinces was wrested from them. Nearly all their lands, ex- cept Egypt, revolted from them. The Normans drove them out of Sicily and Italy. The crusades began a little later and contributed their share to reduce the Khalifate of Cairo. Its power grew less and less until, in 11 71, Saladin, who ruled Western Asia, conquered the Khalifate and added it to his territory. — During the five centuries following Mohammed's death there was produced among his followers a civilization far in advance of anything in Europe. The basis for it all they received from Persia and Greece. But although they derived much from these two countries, they also added much to the stock thus obtained. In the administration of the government the Mohammedans had an excellent system, which was pretty thoroughly unified. Their system of taxation was good. They restored the old MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 357 Roman roads and built many new ones, thus binding all parts of the empire together. Canals and aqueducts were constructed. A postal system was in operation among them. The Arabic It is probable that Frederick II. modelled the civilization. government of his state in southern Italy after that of the Mohammedans. Large cities sprang up in all parts of the em- pire, many of them numbering a half million or more in- habitants. They developed a beautiliil style of architecture, which was characterized by the round and horse-shoe arch, the dome, the tall and graceful minaret, and the richness of its ornamentation. In everything connected with their buildings they showed the most exquisite taste and appreciation of beauty. Their architectural remains, consisting of splendid mosques and palaces, are still the wonder and envy of the world. They established great universities, which excelled all those of Europe for several centuries. The mosques were generally the seat of a university or a learned society, -' -' ' Learning. and were the places where all sorts of questions were freely discussed. The universities of Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova were especially famous, but there were also many others. The university of Cairo, which still exists in the mosque El-Azhar, had as many as twelve thousand students. Great libraries were formed, some of which were said to have contained several hundred thousand volumes, all properly ar- ranged and catalogued. The universities, especially in Spain, were visited by many Christians, who thus carried much of the Mohammedan learning and culture into Christian Europe. One of the most famous of these students was Gerbert, after- ward Pope Silvester II., who did much to introduce the science of mathematics into Europe. Philosophy, theology, law, rhetoric, and philology were studied with great zest. Dictionaries were compiled, and many commentaries of the Koran were written. The Mo- hammedans were acquainted with the works of Aristotle and their philosophical systems were based on him. Many histories 3S8 KUKOPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE were written, the most of which are products of the iiiiagina- tioii. A few of their historical writers, however, went to the proper sources for their materials and laid down for themselves some good rules of historical criticism. Several works on travel and some biographies are handed down to us. In mathematics they built on the work of the Greek mathe- maticians. The origin of the so-called Arabic numerals is ob- scure. Under Theoderic the Great, Bcethius Mathematics. , ^ , . i made use of certain signs which were in part very like the nine digits which we now use. One of the pupils of Gerbert also used signs which were still more like ours, but the zero was unknown. This was invented in the twelfth cen- tury by an Arab mathematician named Mohammed-Ibn-Mousa. He invented the decimal notation and gave the digits the value of position, a thing which was not practised until the zero was invented. In geometry the Arabs did not add much to Euclid, but Algebra is practically their creation. About 820 a treatise on Algebra w,as written by an Arab which contained equations of the second degree. He also attempted to apply Algebra to Geometry. Spherical Trigonometry was developed during the ninth to the twelfth centuries. They invented the sine, tangent, and co-tangent. In physics they made a good be- ginning. They invented the pendulum. Works were pro- duced on optics and kindred subjects. They made progress in the science of astronomy. They built several observa- tories and constructed many astronomical instruments which are still in use. They calculated the angle of the ecliptic and the precession of the equinoxes. Their knowledge of the sub- ject was undoubtedly profound. In medicine they made great advances over the work of the Greeks in the same hne. They studied physiology and hy- giene. Their " materia medica " was practically Medicine. r y the same as ours to-day. Many of their methods of treatment are still in use among us. Their surgeons per- formed some of the most difficult operations known. They MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 3S9 knew the use of anaesthetics. At the time when in Europe the practice of medicine was forbidden by the Church, and cures were expected to be effected by religious rites performed by the clergy, the Arabs had a real science of medicine. In chemistry they made a good beginning. They discovered many new sub- stances and compounds, such as alcohol, potassium, nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate, and nitric and sulphuric acid. There was great literary activity among them, and they pro- duced many works of the imagination. They had a special fondness for poetry. In manufactures they surpassed the world in variety and beauty of design and perfection of workmanship. They worked in all the metals — gold, silver, copper, bronze, iron, and steel. In textile fabrics they have never been sur- passed. They made glass and pottery of the finest quality. They knew the secrets of dyeing and they manufactured paper. They had many processes of dressing leather, and their work was famous throughout Europe. They made tinctures, essences, and syrups. They made sugar from the cane and grew many fine kinds of wine. They practised farming in a scientific way. They had good systems of irrigation. They knew the value of fertilizers. They fitted their crops to the quality of the ground. They excelled in horticulture. They knew how to graft and were able to produce some new varieties of fruits and flowers. They introduced into the west many trees and plants from the east. Scientific treatises on farming were written by them. Their commerce attained great proportions. Their caravans traversed the empire from one end to the other, and their sails covered the seas. Great fairs and markets were . . Commerce. held at many places, some of which were visited by merchants from all parts of Europe and Asia. Their merchants had connections with China, India, and the East Indies, with the interior of Africa and with Russia, and with all the countries lying around the Baltic. Their commerce covered all parts of the known world. 36o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Much of the Mohammedan civilization was destined to be in- troduced into Europe, especially by means of the crusades. In . ^ its own home, however, it suffered almost com- Arabic civiliza- tion destroyed plete annihilation by the coming of the ignorant by the Turks. ^^^ fanatical Turks, who showed, indeed, that they could prey upon it, but could not assimilate and improve it. Their fanaticism led them to oppose all science, because it might be injurious to their religious belief Their hatred of people of other religions led them into wars with them, during which their industries and commerce languished. Since the Turks were far less civilized and without the proper apprecia- tion of the necessities as well as the luxuries of civilized hfe, they tended to destroy the culture which they found. Turk- ish control ruined the Arabic civilization and destroyed the free, liberal character of Mohammedanism. Since the coming of the Turks it has no longer been what it was originally, and the lands which were once like gardens are now almost like a desert. The descendants of Togrul Beg continued their conquests to the west. All Syria was taken from the Khalifate of Cairo and T-.. T . J Asia Minor was next attacked. The eastern Em- I he I urks ana the Greek peror was unable to resist them, and in 107 1 Alp mpire. Arslan won a decisive victory at Manzikert. His son and successor, Malik Schah (1071-92), continued his conquests and got possession of all Asia Minor, and many of the islands in the ^gean. He was unable, however, to unite his possessions into one strong government. Many of his agents, or emirs, revolted and established themselves as independent princes. Kilidsch Arslan held western Asia Minor with his residence at Nicasa. A.t the death of Mahk Schah (1092) civil war ensued among his brothers and his sons, each of whom wished to secure the office of sultan. This, of course, increased the political disintegration. This state of affairs greatly weak- ened the power of the Mohammedans and made possible the success of the first crusade. MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 36 1 The successes of the Turks in Asia Minor were due in large measure to the revolutions in Constantinople, and to the weak- ness and wretched policy of the eastern Emperors. The inde- pendent kingdom of the Armenians, which occupied the eastern part of Asia Minor, was in every possible way weakened and at length forced into subjection to Constantinople. The religious hatred between the Greeks and the Armenians was very strong. If Armenia had been left free and undisturbed, it would cer- tainly have been an excellent defence against the Turks. It might have been made one of the best allies of the Empire. In the eleventh century many revolutions took place in the pal- ace, and several Emperors were either poisoned or dethroned. Michael VII. (1071-78) appealed to Pope Gregory VII. for help against the Turks, and held out to the Pope as an inducement that in return he would subject ., ^. .. ^ Negotiations the eastern Church to the Bishop of Rome, between the east Gregory VII. actually got together a large army and the west. (1074) and was preparing to send it east when his trouble with Henry IV. began, and the expedition was given up. Michael VII. was not able to offer any successful resistance to the Turks, and his successor, Nicephoros III. (1078-81), was dethroned by the usurper Alexius I. Comnenus (1081-1118), who was a vigorous and able ruler. Alexius Comnenus began to attack the Turks, and was successful in winning a few ports on the Black Sea and in driving them back from the coast in several places. Just at this time, however, Robert Guiscard was entertaining high ideas about the conquest of the eastern Empire and was begin- ning his invasion of Epirus. It was only by the greatest ex- ertions, coupled with the fact that the Pope recalled Robert Guiscard to support him in Italy, that Alexius was able to re- conquer the lost territory. The death of Robert Guiscard (1085) made it possible for Alexius to make peace with Robert's brother, Roger, and his son, Boemund. Another danger at once threatened from beyond the Danube. The Petchenegs, a Turk- 362 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ish people, had for some time been on the Danube and now be- gan to invade the Empire from that quarter. It was not till 1091 that Alexius was able to reduce them to subjection. He was then free to attack the Turks in Asia Minor and to try to regain his lost territory. If the Turks should remain in possession of all Asia Minor, his Empire would be constantly threatened. With the greatest efforts, however, Alexius could make little progress against them, and it seemed as if he must give up all hope of reuniting Asia Minor to the Empire. It is probable that in the year 1095 he sent messengers to the Pope, Urban II., with the request that assistance should be sent him from the west. It is further probable that these messengers came to Urban while he was holding a council at Piacenza (March, 1095). Just what was done in the council it is impossible to say, because its acts have been lost. From Piacenza Urban proceeded into France and in the autumn of the same year held the great Council of cier- Council at Clermont, which was attended by mont, 1095. immense numbers of people. After various matters were attended to, Urban broached the subject of a crusade. On the twenty-sixth of November he preached a sermon in the open air before the assembled multitudes, in which he pictured the wretched condition of the Holy Land, how its churches had been polluted, its holy ghrines seized by unbehevers, the distress of the Christian brethren in the east, and the danger which threatened Europe if the Mohammedans were allowed to retain Asia Minor in their possession. >..j He called on all those who could bear arms to give up their private warfare and join in an expedition again;6t the Mohammedans, to bear aid to the Christians whom they were oppressing, and to recover the holy places. The appeal fell on willing ears. E.urope was at this time in the midst of a great revival of asceticism. The Cluniac move- ment was about at its height. A holy war, according to the ideas of the time, was itself ascetic in character. Besides, it offered an excellent opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 363 holy places. For a long time the custom of making pilgrim- ages had been growing. It had come to be regarded as a most meritorious work, and prayers offered in such con- secrated places were regarded as especially efficacious. All holy relics were highly prized, and supernatural qualities were attributed to them. It was but natural, therefore, that a call to a crusade should appeal with power to the imagination of the people. It is impossible to say just what Urban had in mind when he preached this sermon. If he wished simply to secure help for Alexius, he far overshot the mark. Instead of ,.,,., ^ , , , , r- The first Cru- this, all minds were fixed on the thought of res- sade probably an cuing the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the improvisation oJ unbelievers. We do not know how much em- phasis he laid on the idea of sending help to Alexius, but it is certain that the assembly thought principally of the holy places. Even while he spoke, many shouted their approval. "God wills it ! " was heard from every Hp. Thousands pressed upon him when he ceased speaking, and took the vow to go on the crusade and received the sign, a red cross fastened from the right shoulder diagonally across the breast. Urban then re- newed the prohibition of private war, put the property of the crusaders under the especial care of the Church, oifered large spiritual rewards and benefits to all who would join the move- ment, and commanded the clergy to preach the crusade in all parts of France. The Pope refused to take the active leader- ship of the crusade, but named as his representative Ademar, bishop of Puy, a man after his own heart. Among the many who went out to preach the crusade was Peter the Hermit. The ordinary accounts of Peter, which make him the real originator of the crusades, are entirely false. He was born probably in the diocese of Amiens Peter the and became a monk or hermit. Before this Hermit. time he had started on a pilgrimage to Palestine, but never reached that country. For some reason he turned back, 56(i EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE probably because of the violence that was then being done to Christians in the territory of the Seldjuk Turks. He may have been present at the Council of Clermont, but he certainly had not preached the crusade before that time. There is no evidence that he had ever seen Urban. It is certain that he had no influence over him. During the last quarter of the eleventh century many Christians from Palestine and Asia Minor came to the west, having been driven out by the Turks. Pilgrims were often abused, and these on their return did not fail to tell of their woes. Peter probably spoke often enough of his experiences on his journey, but he had not preached a crusade nor had he persuaded Urban to do so. The Pope originated the crusade. Peter the Hermit had noth- ing to do with it. After the Council of Clermont Peter went about through the central and northern parts of France and .^ quickly had fifteen thousand people at his back. They were \ mostly without arms and without discipline. The party con- sisted of men, women, and children. He set out with them for Palestine in March, 1096. He spent some time in Cologne preaching the crusade and trying to increase his army. A number of those who had come with him became tired of wait- ing and set out alone under Walter the Penniless. They went through Hungary and Bulgaria, and reached Constantinople in July, 1096. Peter followed a short time afterward, passing up the Rhine through the Neckar valley, then over to Ulm, and down the Danube. It is difficult to obtain the facts in regard to his passage through Hungary and Bulgaria. It is probable that in Hungary the band met with some opposition, caused by its own depredations. At Semlin it is said that they discovered hanging on the walls of the town the weapons and the armor of some of those who had set out under Walter. In order to avenge these, Peter ordered them to attack the town. It was carried by storm and plundered. After resting there they entered Bulgaria. Because of violence done by some of the crusaders they were attacked. Many were slain and the MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 365 Others scattered for a while. The accounts given of this band, however, are such that we cannot implicitly rely upon them. Peter and his band continued their journey, and while in Bul- garia they received messengers from Alexius, asking them to come to Constantinople. They reached that city July 30th, and were joined by Walter the Penniless and his followers. A week later they crossed the strait into Asia Minor. After travelling a short distance into the interior they found it inadvisable to pro- ceed, and so sat down to wait for re-enforcements. Great dis- order arose among them, and it is probable that Peter, finding himself without power over them, left them to their fate and returned to Constantinople. They were at last (October) cut to pieces, and their bones were found whitening the plain by the main army of crusaders which came the next year. The great reputation of Peter suffered a good deal because of the destruc- tion of his army. Several similar bands were got together by various leaders. The most of them were utterly lawless. They believed that because they were crusaders they were privileged to plunder and rob as they pleased. Nearly all of them were destroyed on their way to Constantinople by the people through whose land they passed. They brought about their own destruction by their violence and lawlessness. The French and the Normans were the only people who took part in the first crusade in large numbers. The Emperor of Germany was at war with the Pope, and, therefore, he and his people were practically excluded from any great share in it. The Germans generally looked with great pity on the crusad- ers as they passed through their land, not being able to un- derstand why they should undertake so difficult and dangerous a journey. Many ambitious noblemen joined the crusade, hoping in one way or another to make their fortune. Among those from the northern part of France was Hugo of Vermandois, the brother of King Philip I. He was, however, utterly without 366 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the talent necessary to manage so great an undertaking, and he played an unimportant role. Stephen of Blois was utterly Leaders from insignificant, but was vain and ambitious to be northern France, regarded as a great man. He showed his true cliaracter later by deserting. Robert of Normandy was brave, but without the qualities which make a leader. Godfrey of Boulogne was a most pious, brave, and upright knight, but no leader. His two brothers accompanied him ; Count Eustace was of little importance, but Baldwin had some ability. Their nephew, Baldwin the Younger, was also a man of parts. From southern France the only man of importance was Ray- mond of Toulouse, crafty, ambitious, selfish, and full of daring Raymond of 3'^d enterprise. From Italy came Boemund of Toulouse. Otranto (Tarentum), the oldest son of Robert Guiscard. He was a leader and well able to conduct the crusade in the proper way, if he had had the opportunity Normans from to do SO. His nephew Tancred was an ideal '*"'y- knight, brave and strong, and a terror to the Saracens in personal combat, but utterly incapable as a leader. It was clear from the very first that there could be no unity among the crusaders, because there was no common chief. Each of these mentioned led his own men, and did as he wished without regard to the best interests of the whole. Boe- mund might, indeed, have got control of the whole army had it not been for the selfish ambition of Raymond of Toulouse and the distrust of Alexius toward him because of the invasion which he and his father had made into the Empire only a few years before (1081-85). In the autumn of 1096 Urban wrote to Alexius, informing him that three hundred thousand crusaders were soon to be on The army on their way to the east. The army on setting out the march. jg even Said to have been much larger. Accoi;d- ing to the accounts which we have there were one hundred thousand knights, six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and three hundred thousand pilgrims. It is now generally believed that MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 367 these numbers are greatly exaggerated. Godfrey of Boulogne followed the route through Hungary and Bulgaria. Raymond of Toulouse passed through Lombardy just north of the Adri- atic Sea, and so crossed the upper Balkan peninsula. Robert of Normandy and Robert of Flanders went to Italy and fol- lowed the course taken by Boemund, who had sailed across the Adriatic, landing on the coast of Epirus, and from there had gone straight to Constantinople. The army thus set in motion was very motley in its make- up. Many had, of course, joined the movement for religious motives. They wished to have a part in the Motives of the meritorious work of reconquering the holy Crusaders. places. The Pope had promised remission of sins to all who should lose their lives while on the crusade, and many super- natural advantages seemed likely to be derived from such an undertaking. Others were there who had run away from their debts or from their families. Even criminals might be found among the crusaders, who hoped thus to escape punishment. Many serfs ran away from their lords, and others from the hard conditions under which they lived. Many came because of the opportunity to gratify their love of adventure and travel. The leaders, almost without exception, had joined in the movement principally because they wished to acquire power and estabhsh an independent principality somewhere in the east, on lands to be taken from the Saracens or from the Greeks. The Pope had the desire to deliver the holy places, but at the same time he wished to extend his ecclesiastical authority over the east. The cities of Italy, some of which joined to a certain extent in the first crusade, were led princi- pally by the desire to extend their commerce and to secure harbor privileges in the east. It is difficult to determine just what the feelings of Alexius were when he heard that so great an army was coming from the west to wrest the holy land from the Mohammedans. He had neither asked for, nor anticipated, so great a force. It 368 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE seemed very probable that such an army would be able to re- conquer the territory which the Turks had taken from the Em- pire. But Alexius was exercised in mind about F£drs of vVlcxius what they would do with their conquests. He, of course, wished to regain possession of Asia Minor and Syria, since they had once been a part of the Empire. It would be quite as dangerous to him if the western princes should gain possession of these countries as if they remained in the hands of the Turks. With a keen sense of the character of the west, Alexius suspected the motives of the leaders. He felt that they wished to secure territory for the purpose of establishing inde- pendent principalities. The history of the crusade was to show that he thoroughly understood them. Only a few years before he had had great difficulty in resisting the attacks of Robert Guiscard, who had the assistance of only a small part of Italy. It was only by the greatest good fortune that he had dislodged the Normans from Epirus. How much greater must the danger now seem when so large a part of the west was send- ing its most warlike elements to the east ? After his experience with Robert Guiscard, it was inevitable that Alexius should mistrust the crusaders. The result showed that his fears had been well founded. Alexius saw the danger, but did not know how to avert it. Various divisions of the crusading army were on their way to Alexius guards Constantinople. It was but natural that Alexius his own interests, should endeavor to preserve his interests in the east, and that he should determine to try to secure all the lands which the crusaders might conquer ; they were his by right, and his interests demanded that they be reunited to the Empire. No matter what turn affairs might take, Alexius was resolved to look after his own interests. He determined to try to preserve peace with the crusaders, to try to keep them from establishing themselves in the east, and to use them in extending his power. He demanded that all the leaders should take an oath to him that they would deliver to him all the territory which they MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 369 should conquer. If they wished, they might receive the land as a fief from him. Count Hugo of Vermandois was the first prince to start for the east. He set out in 1096 and arrived the same year in Constantinople, where he was received with ... ^ ' Alexius requires great honor, and was easily persuaded to take the the oath of the oath as Alexius wished. Soon after this God- crusaders. fray of Boulogne passed through Hungary and entered the Empire. There he heard that Hugo had taken the oath of vas- salage to Alexius, and was filled with rage at the news. He then plundered the country all the way to Constantinople, which he reached in December. He and his army camped in Pera (one of the suburbs of the city) and spent the rest of the winter there. Alexius tried in every way to persuade him to take the oath, but Godfrey remained firm. The intercession of Boemund, who in the meanwhile had reached Constantino- ple, was of no avail. At last, on the second of April, the Em- peror attacked him and his troops, but was defeated. The Emperor again used persuasion, but without success. Another attack on the camp was more successful. Godfrey was defeated and compelled to take the oath. He then moved his army across the Bosporus. Alexius gave him many presents and showed him so many honors that Godfrey was completely won over by him, and gave up all opposition to the vassal relation. Boemund was the next one to arrive at Constantinople. The people of the country through which he and his army passed were often unwilling to sell them food, and the soldiers found it necessary to take provisions by force. Boemund, however, did all he could to prevent violence on the part of his men. He was finally met by messengers from Alexius, and, leaving his troops to follow after, proceeded at once to Con- stantinople. He was easily persuaded to take '^ ^ Boemund. the oath, and Alexius gave him also many pres- ents. He was open enough to tell the Emperor that he wished to make his fortune in the east, and to ask that he be entrusted 24 370 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE with a high office. This increased the suspicions of Alexius, who set himself to outwit him and prevent his gaining any ad- vantage. Regarding him as dangerous, Alexius sought to make an aUiance with others of the crusaders in order to keep a check on him. This was unfortunate, because it made it im- possible for Boemund to acquire the leadership of the whole crusade. Alexius resisted his aspirations with all his might. Raymond of Toulouse offered the most stubborn resistance of all to the Emperor. Under no conditions would he take the Raymond of oath. He said that as a crusader, a fighter for Toulouse. God, he would not humiliate himself by becom- ing a vassal to an earthly potentate. He feared, of course, that his oath would prevent him from acquiring the independent power which he was seeking. Alexius attacked his army also and inflicted a severe loss upon it. Raymond was so enraged by this that it seemed that nothing could be done to establish peace. Boemund now appealed to him to yield, and bitterly reproached him for his conduct. At length he offered to take an oath that he would do nothing against the life and honor of the Emperor, but still refused to take the oath of vassalage. Alexius was compelled to be content with this. It was his fear of Boemund that led him to make this compromise. He knew that Ray- mond was hostile to Boemund, and he hoped in time to win over Raymond and use him to limit the too great power of Boemund. All the other leaders eventually came to Constantinople and took the oath except Tancred, whom Boemund had left in charge of his array. As soon as Boemund had set out for Constantinople Tancred allowed his hatred of the Greeks to master him, and he began to do a good deal of violence to the country. Instead of going to Constantinople he crossed the Hellespont into Asia Minor. Boemund promised Alexius that he would secure Tancred's oath, but the Emperor was per- sistently distrustful of him. At length Alexius succeeded in winning over Raymond, and because of their common hatred MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 3/1 of the Normans they became friends. The opposition between Boemund and Raymond became every day greater. Toward the end of April, 1097, the Lotharingian and the Norman troops set out from Chalcedon toward tlie interior. Raymond of Toulouse was still at Constantinople waiting for the main part of his army to arrive. Boemund was also there making arrangements for the transportation of supplies while the army was passing through Asia Minor. On May 6th the crusaders reached Nicasa and began its siege, siege of Nicaa, The Sultan Kiljdsch Arslan was engaged on the '097. Armenian frontier in the siege of Melitene, which was held by the Greeks. Supposing that the new army of crusaders was only another band such as that of Peter the Hermit, he made no haste to relieve Nicsea. When he finally came (May i8th) he found that almost the whole army of the crusaders had gathered around the city, and had entirely shut off all com- munication with it. Raymond had come just in time to pre- vent Kilidsch Arslan from throwing all his forces into the city, and Robert of Normandy and Stephen of Blois arrived a few days later. Kilidsch Arslan withdrew to await developments. Each division of the army now attacked the walls as it saw fit. There was no general plan of siege. Raymond under- mined one of the towers, but as it fell in the night, the be- sieged were able to repair the breach before morning. As the walls on one side of the city were washed by a little lake, the crusaders asked Alexius to send them boats in order that they might attack the walls from that side also and cut off all communication with the city. Alexius was glad of this oppor- tunity to get a share in the work and sent boats and troops. The boats were drawn across the country on sledges and safely launched. The city's supply of provisions was i^j^^^^ ^^^_ cut off on that side, and since Kilidsch Arslan renders to the was unable to relieve it, the commander began mperor. to try to make terms with the besiegers. Negotiations were carried on secretly between Nicsea and the Emperor's officials. 372 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE On the 19th of June, just as a united attack was to be made both by sea and by land, the representatives of the Emperor and his troops were admitted to the city. The surrender was made to them, and the gates closed to the crusaders. Alexius had been successful in securing the city. The cru- saders were angry that they had been cheated out of the spoil. They had counted upon enriching them- The crusfldcrs angry because selves by plundering the city. Alexius tried cheated out of jg quiet the princes. The city, he said, be- their spoil. , ,,.,., ,, , , longed to him by right as well as by the terms of the agreement made with them. He wished to protect his own from destruction, but he was willing to indemnify them for the booty they would have secured. There was nothing else for them to do but consent, since they hesitated to attack the Emperor. They accepted his terms, but hated and despised him. Alexius then distributed many presents among the lead- ers and gave rich alms to the people. After the agreement had been reached Alexius asked all the princes to come to him in order that they might hold a council concerning the further journey, and that Tancred might take the oath of allegiance. Tancred, however, refused to take the oath, and in the heated discussion that followed drew his sword and came near killing one of the Emperor's men. Violence was prevented, however, and in the reaction that ensued he took the oath. It was discovered that the crusaders might Allies of the count on the help of two good allies, the Ar- crusaders. menians in eastern Asia Minor and the Khalif of Cairo, who was hostile to the Seldjuk Turks. Ambassadors were sent to both to make an alliance and to secure their help against the Turks in Asia Minor and Palestine. On June 27, 1097, the army broke camp before Nicsea and set out on its difficult march through Asia Minor. Var- ious parts of the army took different routes. On June 30th Boemund's division was fiercely attacked by Kilidsch Arslan, but after hard fighting the enemy was repulsed. Kilidsch MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 373 Arslan now withdrew before the Christians, devastating the country as he went. The crusaders continued their march without further resistance. Their route was by „ . ^ On the march way of Iconium and Heraclea. They suffered through Asia fearfully because of the lack of water. It is said Minor. that more than five hundred people died of thirst at one of their stations. At Heraclea the army was divided. Baldwin and Tancred were sent by way of Tarsus through Cilicia to stir up the Armenians and secure their help against the Moham- medans. The main army turned sharply to the northeast as far as Csesarea, then to the southeast to Ablistene, and from there almost south by way of Marasch to Antioch. The reason for this detour was that the Armenians were not united under one government. There were many little, independent prin- cipalities among them, and the crusaders wished to get help from as many of them as possible. Tancred and Baldwin, as soon as they left the army, sepa- rated and each tried to gain an advantage over the other. Both were desirous of winning territory. Tarsus was the ob- jective point. Tancred reached it first, but was unable to take it until Baldwin came. It is not quite clear just what took place here, but it is probable that Tancred wislied to establish himself in Tarsus and was prevented by Baldwin from doing so. Tancred was forced to leave the city and went on toward An- tioch. Baldwin followed him soon afterward and overtook him at Ministra, just after it had fallen into his hands. A quarrel ensued which led to an open fight between the two forces. Peace was finally restored, and Baldwin went on to Artasia, which fell into his hands. He was, however, soon besieged by a Turkish army, which came firom Damascus to relieve the place. But Tancred, having brought his troops up, put the Turks to flight. He and Baldwin now became thoroughly reconciled and separated in peace. Tancred proceeded further south toward Antioch, while Baldwin turned to the northeast and joined the main army at Marasch. From there he went into 374 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the upper Euphrates valley to help the Armenians in their strug- gles with the Turks. He took with him a few knights, and was so successful in defeating the Turks that he soon acquired the Baldwin in greatest popularity. Prince Thoros of Edessa Edessa. invited him to come to him, and Baldwin, think- ing this an excellent opportunity to make his fortune, accepted the invitation. On proper persuasion Thoros made him his successor, but Baldwin could not wait for him to die. After a short time he compelled Thoros to abdicate, and was himself recognized as prince of the city (1098). Thoros met his death at the hands of a mob. Baldwin was then undisputed master of Edessa and displayed a great deal of ability in its government and defence. It was an outpost of the crusaders and greatly strengthened their hold on Syria. The main army proceeded toward Antioch, which the van- guard reached October 20th. The next day the whole array came up and pitched their tents before it. The Antioch besieged. . . - , , , - , , , troops now indemnihea themselves for the hard- ships of the journey by giving themselves up for a few days to eating and drinking. The valley of the Orontes was very fer- tile and furnished them with everything they could wish. Abundance begot improvidence, and in a few weeks they began to suffer want. It was some time before the city was thor- oughly shut up. Mountains on the south and west made it very difficult to prevent intercourse between the city and the outside world, but Tancred finally succeeded in cutting off all communication on those sides. Genoese and Pisan fleets cast anchor in the mouth of the Orontes, and their crews rendered valuable assistance in the siege. The Christians now began to suffer from other causes than want of food. The winter storms and rains came on, and a pest broke out among them which is said to have carried off one man out of every seven. They were constantly subjected to attacks by the armies which came to relieve the city. Many emirs brought a,ssistance, but the Christians were able to drive MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 375 them all back. At length the news came that Kerbogha, Emir of Mosul, was coming to the relief of the city with an im- mense army. It was evident, therefore, that unless the Chris- tians could get possession of the city before his arrival, it would be almost impossible for them to take it. At this juncture Boemund came forward with the proposition that if all the princes would swear to give him Antioch, he would secure its surrender. He had been eradu- _.. ,. . ° The city be- ally preparing for this. He had bribed an Ar- trayed to Boe- menian renegade, who had charge of one of the "'"■"i, 1098. towers of the walls, to deliver the city to him. Many of the princes were willing to make such an agreement, but Ray- mond of Toulouse opposed it most bitterly. He made much of the oath which they had taken to the Emperor, but it was apparent that his real opposition was based on his hatred of Boemund and his unwillingness to see his rival in posses- sion of so fine a territory. Boemund then waited till the army of Kerbogha was near the city, and when the danger became pressing, even Raymond yielded, and Boemund was promised the city. That very night (June 2, 1098) he led a party of his troops through the mountains to the foot of the tower which the Armenian guarded, and by means of ladders he and his men were taken up into the city. At daybreak they opened the gates, the crusaders rushed in, and the work of de- struction began. Some of the Mohammedans escaped, but most of them were killed without pity. The work of murder- ing was soon given over for that of plundering. The houses of the Mohammedans were looted ; the barbarism of the Chris- tians was put into clear evidence. All of the city fell into their hands except the citadel, which resisted all attacks. In the wild scramble for spoil, however, few of them paid any attention to this failure. Three days after Kerbogha's army arrived, and the Christians were now the besieged. Kerbogha might, indeed, have sated Antioch, if he had not stopped by the way and tried to take 376 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Edessa. For three weeks Baldwin engaged him before its walls, and thus the Christians had been enabled to take Antioch. -stians Kerbogha pushed the siege with great vigor. besieged in An- From the citadcl he was able constantly to send *'"'''• fresh troops to the attack, and hoped thus to wear the Christians out. They were soon in the greatest want. Many deserted. Some went over to the Mohammedans; others let themselves down from the wall by means of ropes, and so escaped to the coast. Among these was no less a person than Count Stephen of Blois. It seemed to him that everything was lost and that the city must certainly fall into Kerbogha's hands. In order to escape so hard a fate, he fled and went back to Con- stantinople. At this juncture Raymond of Aguilers, chaplain to Raymond of Toulouse, planned a pious fraud, which was intended to arouse The fraud of the the Christians to a high pitch of enthusiasm and Holy Lance. enable them to scatter the forces of Kerbogha. One of his henchmen, Peter Bartholomew, pretended to have received the information from Saint Andrew that the lance with which the side of Jesus had been pierced was lying buried in the church of Saint Peter, in Antioch. If this were found the Christians would be able to conquer all their enemies. Count Raymond was impressed with the man's story and began the search. The count himself superintended the digging during the day, but was compelled to leave the church in the evening to take part in the defence of the city. Bartholomew was present, but in order to prevent suspicion was clothed only in a loose, shirt-like garment. Raymond of Aguilers was also there. In the dusk of evening, when it became apparent that the workmen were growing weary, Peter sprang down among them and called on them to pray to God that He would restore to them the holy lance. While they were thus engaged either Raymond or Peter half concealed in the fresh earth the piece of iron which was to pass for the lance. Raymond of Aguilers in his narrative of the miracle implies that he was the first to MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 377 see it, and in his enthusiasm kissed the point of it, which was all that thus far appeared above the ground. The fraud only succeeded in part. Many of the crusaders looked upon the whole thing derisively and declared that it was an imposture. Among the mass of the Christians, however, who put the ut- most confidence in it, it created the greatest enthusiasm. While the most of the leaders believed the discovery a cheat, they were willing to take advantage of it in order to secure the best services of the whole army in attacking Kerbogha. Boe- mund was thereupon made commander for two weeks. He restored order in the city, compelled all to submit to disci- pline, and prepared all things for the attack. Everything was done to increase the fanatical courage of the Christians. By prayer, processions, fasting, penance, and other ascetic exer- cises their imaginations were wildly excited. While the Christian army was thus preparing itself for battle, the forces of Kerbogha were going to pieces. The many emirs who were with him were quarrel- Kerbogha's army ling, and the army was almost on the point pf scattered. being broken up by dissensions. On June 28, 1098, the Christians marched out of the city and put themselves into battle array. Kerbogha did not try to prevent them from dis- posing their troops as they wished. He finally made the attack after the Christians were almost ready to move forward them- selves. Boemund successfully resisted the first onslaught, and in a short time the whole army of Kerbogha was driven back and put to utter rout. It scattered in all directions, leaving its camp a prey to the Christians. From starvation the crusaders again passed to the greatest plenty. The destruction of Kerbogha's army left all the northern part of Syria at the mercy of the crusaders and the Armenians. There were, however, many fortresses still in the hands of the Mohammedans, but they were unable to offer any serious re- sistance to the Christians. Although the way to Jerusalem was now open, the leaders were in nojiurry to proceed. It was de- 378 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE termined to give the army a good opportunity to recover from the fatigue of the siege. Many bands went out into the terri- tory of Antioch to attack the emirs, to reduce their strongholds, and to acquire as much booty as possible. Many of the pilgrims also remained in Antioch in order to accompany the army when it should continue its march to Jerusalem. The presence A pest in the of SO many people and the unsanitary condition "ty- of the city brought on a pest which carried off large numbers of people, among whom, unfortunately, was the Pope's representative, bishop Ademar of Puy. His loss was felt at once. He had been the peacemaker of the army and had kept the quarrels among the princes from assuming too large proportions. He died when he was most needed to pre- serve the peace between Boemund and Raymond of Toulouse. Boemund had demanded that the city be definitely given over to _ ... him in accordance with the terms of the agree- Quairel between ° Boemund and ment made with him. Raymond of Toulouse, Raymon . however, filled with envy at the success of Boe- mund in acquiring thus an independent territory, refused to keep his promise and declared that the city must be restored to Alexius in accordance with the oath which they had given him. Alexius had very practically spent the time since the cru- saders had left Nicsea in reconquering a large part of Asia Minor. He recovered the possession of almost all the cities of the western part (Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardes, Philadelphia, and others), overran the interior, and was pushing to the east, when some of those who had fled from Antioch came to him at Phi- lomelium, bringing him the news of the wretched condition of the crusaders. He was told that the Christians would certainly Action of t)e destroyed, and that, if he went further to the Alexius. east, he would be in great danger from the army of Kerbogha. After arranging for the defence and secur- ity of his frontier he returned to Constantinople without mak- ing any effort to relieve the crusaders. These were therefore more angry than ever at him, and became decidedly inclined MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 3/9 to keep their word with Boemund. They first sent count Hugo to the Emperor to consult with him about it, but the count took this opportunity of deserting and returned to France. The crusaders, in the meanwhile, began to quarrel about the holy lance. The Normans declared it was a trick which lacked all cleverness, while the Provencals, among whom it had orig- inated, defended it. The summer and autumn of 1098 passed, and still there were no preparations made to proceed to Jerusalem. Boemund and many of the Normans did not expect to go any „ mond's in further for the present. It was a matter of in- difference toward difference to them whether the journey was con- ecrusa e. tinned or not. Raymond of Toulouse would not leave the city because he did not wish to leave Boemund in undisputed possession of Antioch. The people, however, grew tired of waiting and longed to complete their pilgrimage. They urged Raymond to lead them on, but he was not to be moved. They finally told him that if the leaders should refuse to conduct them, they themselves would go on to Jerusalem, and if the quarrel over Antioch continued, they would destroy the city. This had the desired effect, and toward the end of November Raymond began the march to the south. He left, however, a band of his knights in possession of a part of Antioch to keep a check upon Boemund. His objective point was Maarra, a rather important city which he wished to take. Boemund, however, followed him and took part in the siege, in order, it was said, to keep Raymond from establishing himself there. They took possession of the city together, and the old quarrel broke out afresh. There was no thought of going any further, for Raymond was determined not to yield. After several weeks, however, the people actually executed against Maarra the threat which they had made against Antioch. The Raymond forced city was set on fire and almost totally destroyed. *" P'-o«e<'- Filled with anger Raymond again set out, and Boemund re- turned to Antioch, where he soon attacked the troops of Ray- 380 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE mond which were left there, overcame them, and so got pos- session of the whole city. Raymond's ambition again got the better of him, and he turned west to attack the emir of Tripolis, hoping to establish himself there. Nearly all the army of the crusaders was gathered together before one of his strongholds, Irkeh, but it withstood the siege. Alexius sent word to them to continue the siege, promising to come later to their assistance. Raymond was glad of this excuse to prolong the stay of the army, but the ac- companying people would no longer be held in check. They set fire to the tents and began their march toward Jerusalem (May, 1099). Raymond was wild with rage to see all his hopes blasted, but he could do nothing but yield and follow after with the army. It is probable that of all the host that set out from Europe not more than twenty-five thousand fighting men composed the army which left Irkeh. They followed the coast, passed Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, and Acco, and then turned toward the interior. On the 6th of June they came within sight of the walls of Jerusalem. The city was no longer in the hands of the Seldjuks. The Eatimites of Cairo had been carrying on war against these Turks, /Jerusalem taken, and in the Summer of 1098 had actually gained July 15, 1099. possession of Jerusalem. The crusaders suffered at first for food and water, and could find little or no wood with which to build machines to carry on the siege. The arrival at Joppa of several Genoese ships with provisions relieved their wants, and enough wood was finally got together to build movable towers with which to attack the walls. On the 8th of July the attack began, and lasted until the afternoon of the 15th, when an entrance was effected at about the same time in three different places. The Mohammedans were murdered without mercy and the houses plundered. Everyone searched for gold or other treasure and interlarded his prayers with acts of violence or theft. The mystic asceticism and religiosity MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 38 1 of the crusaders were mingled with the greatest cruelty and barbarism. Hardly was the city taken when a quarrel arose as to what should be done with the newly acquired territory. The clergy demanded that an ecclesiastical state be established under the control of a patriarch. The princes, however, wolild not listen to this. Raymond of Toulouse was offered the city, but he refused it, probably because he thought it was not ad- vantageously situated. It had little or no trade, and was not on the line of travel. He wished to obtain a better possession, and, besides, he was not willing to give up the struggle with Boemund. It is probable that the conquest was offered to one or two others. At any rate, all were in doubt Godfrey made as to whom it should be given, and no one Protector of the seemed desirous of possessing it. At length " ^ ™^*' (July 22, 1099) the honor was thrust upon Godfrey of Bou- logne, with the title of Protector of the Holy Sepulchre. Why he was not made king is not certainly known. Perhaps it was because he himself preferred the more modest title. More probably the title was the result of the compromise of the struggle between the clergy and the princes. It was neither wholly secular nor wholly ecclesiastical, since the Holy Sepul- chre was accepted as the substance of the honor and yet was intrusted to a layman. From this time the popular imagination took up the name of Godfrey, producing a rich crop of legends about him. To the romantic, ascetic spirit of the age it seemed that there could be no greater honor than to be made the Protector of the Holy Sepulchre. It seemed that such an office required an especially holy and able man. Therefore what was not known of Godfrey was soon invented, and it came to be the common view that he had been the leader in all thin^ during the first crusade. We know now that his role had been far from important. The Fatimites had already sent out an army of about twenty thousand men to rescue Jerusalem, but it came too late. Since 382 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the army of the crusaders had not yet left the city, Godfrey se- cured their help and met the Egyptian Mohammedans near As- The battle of calon, August the 12th. The enemy was utterly Ascaion. defeated, his camp taken and plundered, and Ascalon about to be delivered into the hands of the Christians. Raymond of Toulouse wished to make himself master of it, but Godfrey feared to have him so near Jerusalem. By opposing the conditions offered, Godfrey was able to prevent the sur- render of the city. He preferred to leave it in the hands of the Mohammedans rather than that Raymond should possess it. A curious after-piece to the story of the Holy Lance deserves a brief mention. So many of the crusaders beheved that the thing was fraudulent, and Peter and those who The Holy Lance. , , , . , , , , had directed the enterprise made such strenuous efforts to prove that it was genuine, that at last a trial was held in order to test the matter. Peter demanded the ordeal by fire. Lance in hand he passed through the flames. ' It is impossible to tell just what happened. It is certain that he died a few days later. Some say that he was killed by the fire, others that the crowd in its fanatical enthusiasm rushed upon him as he came out of the fire, and, in its efforts to touch or secure some of his clothing as relics, trampled him almost to death. In the account which Raymond of Aguilers wrote there are so many evidences of fraud in every paragraph that one is almost persuaded to believe that Raymond was guilty of the death of Peter. It is possible that, fearing the results of the ordeal, h^ himself caused the crowd to rush upon Peter that it might seem that he had lost his life in this way rather than by ordeal. Raymond admits that he was burned a little, but says that his back was broken by the crowd, and that his death was caused by that. A full description of this episode belongs to a history of the religious frauds of the Middle Age. It should be also said that Peter the Hermit had joined the army at Constantinople, and that he had completed the journey with it. He seems to have been the leader of the hangers- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 383 on of the camp. His title is significant. He was called King Tafur or " Beggar King." He is tlie hero of the "Song of Antioch," parts of which were probably composed and sung in the camp before the walls of Antioch. Every class and nation- ality tried to claim all the honor of having caused the success of the first crusade. The writers in northern France made it appear that the leaders from that part of the world were the real heroes, and did all that was worth doing. Likewise the Provencal chroniclers represented Raymond of Toulouse as the most prominent man in the army. The monks wished to magnify their part in it, and hence the legends about Peter the Hermit and his share in the enterprise. After the battle of Ascalon the crusaders felt that it was now time for them to return to their homes in Europe. They first made the round of all the holy places and bathed in the Jordan, as was the custom of pilgrims. Early in September they left Jerusalem, about twenty thousand in Return of the number, and soon reached Laodicaea. This was crusaders, a city of the eastern Empire, and was at this time besieged by Boemund. The old hatred broke out anew, and Rayinond of Toulouse determined to assist the city. A battle between the crusaders was narrowly averted. But the city retained its inde- pendence, and Raymond of Toulouse, with some of his men, was intrusted with its defence. Nearly all the pilgrims then took ship for Italy (September 10, 1099), and the first cru- sade was at an end. It had cost Europe several hundred thousands of men, and, if we look at the actual results, very little had been accomplished. Boemund had possession of Antioch, Baldwin of Edessa, and Godfrey of Jerusalem. Nearly all of Asia Minor had been reduced by Alexius. But the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre was in the eyes of the west by far the greatest result of the crusade. To the west, in- deed, this seemed to be the very highest success possible. The returning pilgrims were greeted with the greatest joy, and honors were heaped upon them. All those who had remained at home 384 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE were now filled with regret that they had not gone at the first call, that they also might have had a part in the great work. It was but natural, therefore, that when another call for help came from Godfrey and others, a large number responded with alacrity. During the years 1099 and iioo several fleets were sent out by Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, which brought very^ opportune help to the Christians in the east. In Lombardy, France, and Germany, large numbers of people now took the The Crusade of cross and prepared at once to set out. Fifty "00-2- thousand crusaders left Lombardy in the autumn of IIOO, and reached the frontier of the Greek Empire, where they spent the winter. Alexius made the necessary arrange- ments so that they could obtain at a reasonable price all the food that they needed, but since they firmly believed that he had betrayed the first army, they did not hesitate to plunder and murder his subjects. In March, iioi, the crusaders reached Constantinople and encamped in Pera. Here they did all sorts of violence to the inhabitants of the city, so that Alexius asked them to move across the Bosporus. Angered at this they took up arms, and it was not until they had done much damage that they could be quieted and persuaded to depart for Asia Minor. The armies from Germany and France likewise thought it their duty to do as much damage as they could to the hated Greeks. Alexius endured much in order to keep the peace with them, but at last was compelled to attack them with his troops and thus bring them to their senses. More than two hundred and fifty thousand crusaders finally came together in Constantinople, ready to carry on the war against the Moham- medans. Unfortunately they were possessed with the idea that the Turks were cowards and could easily be vanquished. It seemed to them that everything had been done in Asia Minor and Syria, and therefore, without any regard for the advice of Alexius, they determined to capture Bagdad. They thought they would win great renown by taking the capital of the east- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 385 ern Mohammedan world. They refused to follow the route taken by the former army and went straight to the east, intend- ing to pass through Asia Minor and Armenia and then go down the Euphrates and so over to Bagdad. Their journey, how- ever, was not to be so long. Near the Halys river they were attacked by a large force under Kilidsch Arslan, and utterly cut to- pieces. Only a few of the whole army escaped and succeeded in safely reaching Constantinople. Soon after this army left Constantinople another detachment of one hundred thousand men arrived and followed the same route through northern Asia Minor. At Ancyra they seem to have heard of the fate of the others and turned to the south. Not far from Heraclea they were put to rout and scattered. They suffered the same fate as their predecessors. , Only a few hundreds of them escaped to the coast of Cilicia and from there found their way to Antioch, where they were cared for by the Christians of that city. The enthusiasm of the west was greatly cooled by the wretched fate of this large army on which such great hopes had been built. It was to be more than forty years before another army could be collected and sent to the assistance of the fellow-Christians in Syria. Alexius could not give up the idea that all of Syria must be his because it had once been a part of the Empire. He would not consent to let the Christians keep possession The Emperor at- of what they had conquered. In the spring of **** Boemund. 1099 he sent a fleet and an army to attack Boemund of Antioch. It was a wretched policy, for he should have used all his forces to crush the Mohammedans. Laodicasa, which had been taken by Robert of Normandy, during the siege of Antioch, was first besieged. The people of the city rose against the Normans, drove them out, and opened the gates to the Greeks. Boe- mund proceeded to punish the city, but was unable to do so because of the help rendered it by Raymond of Toulouse and the returning crusaders (September 10, 1099). The army of Alexius was, on the whole, not very successful. It succeeded 25 . . 386 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE in getting possession of only a few places on the southern coast of Asia Minor. It was not a serious menace to Boemund. Early in the year iioo Raymond of Toulouse left Syria and went to Constantinople. He had failed utterly in all his at- tempts to establish himself as an independent prince. Boemund felt himself free at last to turn his attention to other things. Since Antioch was now in his hands, and there was no Boemund in danger of an attack from the Emperor or from Jerusalem. Raymond of Toulouse, he set out on a pilgrim- age to Jerusalem. He first invited Baldwin of Edessa to come and make the journey with him. Dagobert, archbishop of Pisa, who had been made papal legate after the death of Ade- mar of Puy, also went with him. In the autumn of 1099 they left Antioch with an army of more than twenty-five thousand men, and reached Jerusalem in December. The weakness of Godfrey of Boulogne was by this time fully appaient. He had at his command not more than two hundred knights, and about one thousand foot soldiers ; a small power indeed for a man with so high-sounding a title ! Among those knights, however, was Tancred, who probably had remained with him to look after the interests of his uncle, Boemund. Arsuf, on the coast above Joppa, having been besieged, but Tancred in without result, Godfrey sent Tancred into Gali- o^iiiee- lee with nearly half of the small force which he commanded. Tancred established himself at Tiberias, on the sea of Galilee, and was successful in securing much booty from the caravans that passed that way. One emir after another was dislodged by him, and his own power increased. Godfrey thereupon conferred on him the title of Prince of Galilee. In Jerusalem Godfrey was not left in undisturbed possession of his power. The compromise by which he had been elected Pro- tector of the Holy Sepulchre was not accepted by the Christians of Jerusalem. As soon as the crusaders left, the people of the city elected Arnulf, a former chaplain of Robert of Normandy, as patriarch. This Arnulf was a sly fellow who knew more MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 387 than one way of advancing himself. Among other things he had acquired a great popularity by discovering a piece of the true cross somewhere in Jerusalem ! As patriarch he was able to interfere in the affairs of Jerusalem and to give Godfrey much trouble. Boemund found it very easy, amidst this confusion, to estab- lish his influence in Jerusalem. Arnulf was compelled to resign, and Dagobert of Pisa was made patriarch. This was even worse for Godfrey, since Dagobert would certainly act in the interests of Boemund, and, as it soon appeared, of himself He hoped to build up for himself an ecclesiastical state about Jerusalem sim- ilar to that of the Bishop of Rome. Godfrey was unable to re- sist him and soon surrendered the city to him and became his feudal subject. He continued his struggles with the Saracens, without great success, but died soon afterward (July 18, 1100). The patriarch Dagobert now thought that the time had come to make himself the sole master of Jerusalem. But the followers of Godfrey seized the walls and towers of the city and sent word to Baldwin of Edessa to come and receive the in- heritance of his brother. Baldwin L, as he was Baldwin I. now called, left Edessa in the possession of his nephew, Baldwin II., and with two hundred knights and seven hundred foot soldiers came, took possession of Jerusalem, led a plundering expedition to the south, and returned laden with booty to the city. Dagobert in defence called on Tancred to come and assist him and also sent a letter to Boemund urging him to come to his rescue. In the meanwhile Boemund had made an attack upon Haleb with every prospect of success, when he received messen- gers from an Armenian prince offering him his lands if he would come to punish the emir of Sebaste on the upper Halys. Boemund set out, but was suddenly at- Boemund a tacked on the way by this emir. His troops prisoner, were put to flight and himself taken prisoner (summer, iioo). Tancred, instead of hastening to the north to make Damascus 388 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE secure and to try to ransom Boemund, foolishly listened to the call of Dagobert to come south to conquer the Lotharingians and prevent Baldwin from acquiring the crown of Jerusalem. He was entirely unsuccessful, however, and Dagobert was compelled to yield and crown Baldwin I. king of Jerusa- Tancred's foolish lem, Christmas, iioo, at Bethlehem. In his poricy. haughty way Tancred surrendered Galilee to Baldwin, because he was unwilling to become his man, and went to Antioch. His lack of political sense was clearly shown by his conduct. The Greeks were making some slow gains in southern Asia Minor, but were practically held in check by the Italian fleets. They were not really dangerous to the Normans. On the other hand the Seldjuks were becoming far more bold and successful since Boemund was in their hands. Tancred, instead of uniting with all the other Christians against the common enemy, wasted his strength and time in fruitless attacks against the Greeks. He tried to drive them out of Cihcia and besieged Laodicaea. The city offered such resistance, however, that eighteen months were necessary to re- duce it. Finally, in 1103, it was compelled to capitulate, but Tancred in the meanwhile had lost his best opportunities to break the power of the Saracens. Raymond of Toulouse had made use of the confusion to estab- hsh himself in Tortosa, and was planning to secure the posses- Raymond of sion of Tripoli. His activity and successes were Toulouse again, gych that it seemed probable that he would at last realize the dream which had haunted him so long and would cut out for himself an independent principality. He had joined the unfortunate army that had left Constantinople in iioi and was destroyed in Asia Minor. Having escaped with a few others to Cilicia he had come from there to Antioch. Tancred at first seized him and put him into prison, but was persuaded by the other Christian princes to set him free. This he did, but only after Raymond had taken a solemn oath not to try to establish himself in any of the cities between Antioch and Acco. Ray- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 389 mond broke his oath, however, at the first opportunity and got possession of Tortosa. Boemund was meanwhile held for a ransom, the emir of Se- baste demanding one hundred thousand pieces of gold for his release. Although Tancred made no efforts to Boemund raise the money, one of the Armenian princes ransomed. generously paid the sum and Boemund was set free (summer, 1 103). Arrangements were now finally made to attack the real enemy. Boemund made plans with Baldwin II. of Edessa and some of his vassals to make an expedition against Har- ran. This was a strategic point, and if the Christians could get control of it the power of the Mohammedans would be thoroughly broken. The Christians, however, were ut- terly defeated and suffered heavy losses. More than twelve thousand of them were killed, and Baldwin II. was made prisoner. With the greatest efforts Boemund and Tancred were able to defend Edessa, and to check the Mohamme- dans and Greeks, who were now pressing in on Antioch on all sides. With the forces at his command Boemund saw that he could not hope to overcome all the enemies Boemund in that threatened hini. He determined, therefore, Europe. to go to Europe and collect an army with which he might de- stroy the power of both the Greeks and the Saracens, and establish the Norman supremacy on a firm basis. He made Tancred ruler of Antioch in his absence, got together all the money he could, and sailed away to Italy (1104). Every- where in Europe he was received with the greatest possible honors and had no difficulty in enlisting troops. In France he married the daughter of king Philip I. and secured another French princess as a wife for Tancred. In 1 107 he had a large fleet and an army of thirty-four thousand men ready to sail. Boemund now committed the great mistake of his life. It is probable that his old hatred against the Greeks broke out afresh, and the memory of his former successes (1081-85) '^^ revived. At any rate, instead of going to Antioch with this 390 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE army, with which he might have done great things, he sailed across the Adriatic and attacked Durazzo. For nearly a year Attacks the ^e carried on a bitter war against Alexius, but in Emperor. the end had to aclinowledge himself defeated. Durazzo was too strong to be taken, and Alexius was able to destroy Boemund's army by causing dissension among the Nor- man knights. Boemund saw his army breaking up and his power disappearing. He finally went to Alexius and made peace with him. He gave up all claims on all the cities of Syria except Antioch, which he was to hold as a fief of the Emperor as long as he lived. At his death it was to revert to Alexius. On returning to Italy he tried to raise a new army, but this time without success. He died in i, a man of broken fortunes. Alexius at once laid claim to Antioch and sent ambassadors to demand its surrender. Tancred laughed at their pretensions Claims of ^^d sent them back. They returned again with Alexius. many rich presents, and tried to engage Ray- mond of Toulouse a:nd Baldwin of Jerusalem in a prospective campaign against Tancred. Nothing, however, came of it, although Alexius knocked at many doors for help. Since he had received good help from the Venetians, in return for the commercial privileges which he had granted them, he tried to make similar terms with the Pisans. He gave them almost the same privileges as those which the Venetians already enjoyed, but in spite of this concession could not secure their assistance against Antioch. Alexius even thought that he could now probably recover his control over Italy, since the struggle over investitures was raging in the west. Thus absorbed by chimseras, he foolishly left the Seldjuks undisturbed in their advances into Asia Minor. They moved steadily to the west and appeared before Nicsea. Frightened at last by their success he turned all his attention to them, and during the last years of his life was successful in pushing them back again into eastern Asia Minor. He died iiiS. MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 39I Ever since the time of the iirst crusade Alexius has been the object of the most bitter attack by nearly all the Christian writers of the west. He was charged by the a word of de- crusaders with almost every possible crime; he '*"'**"'■ '^'"'"s- was a traitor, and betrayed the crusaders ; some even charged him with poisoning them. It is evident now, however, that his principal offence was that he did not sacrifice all his own interests to the selfish aims of adventurers. During their passage through his Empire his subjects suffered much violence at their hands. In Constantinople their conduct was un- bearable. They hated and despised the Greeks. They them- selves were barbarians, and the Greeks were far superior to them in culture. Alexius endured their violence, haughtiness, and barbarous manners as well as he could, and endeavored to get along with them with as little trouble as possible. But he understood the motives of the leaders. He could not forget the invasions of Robert Guiscard and that his own crown had once been threatened by the west. It would have been highly impolitic for him to allow any foreign power to establish itself on his territory. The interests of his Empire demanded that he prevent the crusaders from forming independent states at his very door. It is impossible to see how he could have acted very differently. They would not obey him ; indeed they obeyed no one, so he could not join them on their way through Asia Minor. The army of iioi did the very thing which he urged it not to do. In spite of this he was blamed for its destruction. The most unreasonable demands were made of him. It was, to be sure, unfortunate, but not at all strange that Alexius should have insisted on his right to all the lands conquered by the crusaders. It must be admitted, of course, that Alexius as well as his successors followed sometimes a very short-sighted policy. It would have been much better if he had yielded in some things, and had made common cause with the crusaders against the Seldjuks. But we must remember that this was impossible, because the crusaders had no common 392 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE cause. Each one was working for himself. The best proof that Alexius could not work with them is the fact that they could not work together. The hostility between the Normans and the Proven^aux has been sufficiently exhibited. In spite of all that has been written about the great success of the first crusade, it was a failure, and its failure was due to the ambition, jealousy, and strife among the crusaders themselves. The cru- sades have been called " holy wars," but, although they did ap- peal mightily to the religious imagination of the day, and there- fore had a strong religious side, it would be difficult to find any series of undertakings more marred by selfishness, jealousy, and mean ambition. Tancred was still master in Antioch, but with his lack of judgment brought the Christians almost as much damage as The Christians advantage. He quarrelled with the Armenians divided. ^^d abused them so that war broke out be- tween him and them more than once. Two emirs were struggling for the possession of Mosul. Baldwin II. had been set free by one of them, Dschawah, on the condition that he would help him against his opponent Maudud. Tancred, however, joined Maudud, and the Christians were thus engaged in fighting each other. After all parties were much weakened peace was made, and Baldwin returned to Edessa. Raymond of Toulouse died in 1105, leaving his eastern pos- sessions in the hands of his nephev^', count William of Cer- dagne, who was soon able to extend his boundaries. But Bertrand, the son of Raymond, came and demanded that his father's possessions be surrendered to him (1109). William refused and appealed to Tancred for help, while Bertrand asked assistance of Baldwin of Jerusalem. Another war was immi- nent, but was fortunately averted by a compromise. The territory was divided between the two claimants. William was soon murdered, however, and Bertrand took possession of the whole territory and became a vassal of Baldwin of Jerusalem. MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 393 During the next years Tancred had many opportunities to unite with the other Christian princes and inflict much damage on the Mohammedans, but he allowed them all Roger del to slip away unimproved. He died 11 12, leav- Principato. ing Antioch to a cousin, Roger del Principato, but stipulating that if the young son of Boemund should come to the east to claim his inheritance, Roger should at once deliver it over to him. Roger, however, was no better fitted for the position than Tancred had been. He was not able to increase his power and failed to improve the opportunities which presented themselves for putting down the emirs who threatened his frontiers. Haleb especially should have been taken by him, but his dilatory policy kept him from accomplishing anything. In 1 1 19 an army of forty thousand Seldjuks was led into the field against him, and in the battle- which ensued he him- self was slain and his army destroyed. The territory of An- tioch was plundered, and it seemed at first that Antioch it- self would be taken by the Mohammedans. The future of the city depended upon the kingdom of Jerusalem, which in the last few years had greatly increased in power. This calamity would have come upon Antioch several years before it did had it not been for the internal feuds among the Mohammedans themselves. Every emir wished to remain independent and so resisted the formation of a great central power. It happened more than once that certain emirs made alliances with the Christians and were assisted by them against some more powerful emir. Another element of discord had been introduced among the Mohammedans by the formation of the sect known as the Haschischin. Their name was derived from I tic Afififlsfiins their use of haschisch. This was a sect formed among the Shiite sect of the Mohammedans in Persia, and was filled with the most fanatical fury against the Mohammedans who differed from them. They persecuted especially the Sun- nites, the other great Mohammedan sect. All the members of 394 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the Haschischin were trained to obedience. Their common method of getting rid of their enemies was by secretly dispatch- ing them by poison or by dagger, or in any other way which seemed to them feasible. This sect spread through Syria and secured possession of several strongholds between Tortosa and Apamaea. It controlled quite a district there, which was under the authority of a leader called the Sheik of the Moun- tains. This was translated by the Christians as "The Old Man of the Mountains," and many legends were invented about him. The name of the sect was corrupted by the Christians into assassins, and in this form their name came to be known in the west and to be applied to any one who killed another by taking him unawares. The Haschi.schin added to the discord among the Mohammedans and so helped the Christians in an indirect way. The reign of Baldwin I. of Jerusalem (1100-18) was on the whole successful. For several years he had to contend with the clergy of the city, but in the end Baldwin I. f , peace was established and he found a patriarch who worked harmoniously with liim. Large numbers of pil- grims came every year to Jerusalem, and Baldwin wisely made use of them. Nearly all of them joined him for a while in some siege or campaign, and many of them were per- suaded to settle in Palestine, thus increasing the population. He secured the help of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice by giving to those cities special privileges in the east. They were granted free use of the harbors, and in most of the cities a quarter of their own in which they might live and hold their markets. This quarter was presided over generally by a viscount sent out by the mother city. These colonies were of the greatest service to him. With the aid of their fleets he was able to conquer nearly all the ports on the coast, Acco (Acre), Sidon, Beirut, and others, so that the whole coast came into the hands of the Christians. In the interior he took many places and acquired a good deal of booty. He was successful in resisting several - MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 395 invasions of the Fatimites from Egypt, and in 11 18 he even made a counter invasion. Although he reached the Nile the ex- pedition was fruitless, not to say needless. The Fatimites were not his most dangerous enemy. He should have given all of his attention to the growing power of the Seldjuks in the north and east. He died on the way back from Egypt, and his body was carried to Jerusalem and buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (September, 11 18). His nephew, Baldwin of Edessa, was present at the funeral and was at once elected king, although some had proposed to send for count Eustace, the brother of the dead king. Baldwin II. Baldwin II. began his reign with the highest ideas of the duties of his position and used all his abilities in the interests of his kingdom. He invested Joscelin, who had been his most prominent vassal and helper, with Edessa, and thus secured his friendship and assistance. On the death of Roger of Antioch, Baldwin II. went north at once, took posses- sion of Antioch, and defeated the Mohammedans in a bloody battle. Following up his advantage, he pushed the Saracens hard in all quarters and succeeded in restoring the former boundaries. Both Baldwin II. and Joscelin were unfortunately captured soon after by the Mohammedans and kept in prison for some time. The war, however, went on without in- The Christian terruption. In 11 24 Tyre was taken by the power increased. Christians after a siege of five months. The army sent by the Fatimites was utterly routed. The most able among the emirs died or were murdered, and all Syria and Palestine were more nearly than ever united into one Christian state. Baldwin thereupon made terms with his captor and was set free, and Joscelin was so fortunate as to escape from his prison. The condition of the Christians had never before been so good. The number of Italian colonists increased, and the two great orders of Templars and Knights of Saint John rendered excel- lent service against the Saracens. 39*5 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE In 1 126 Boeimmd, the son of Boemund, came to Antioch and claimed the city. Baldwin II. surrendered it to him and gave him his daughter in marriage. The young Boemund II. . , , prmce, however, was haughty and ambitious. He quarrelled with the Armenians and with Joscelin of Edessa, and had no regard for the common interests of all the Chris- tians in Syria. It was no loss, therefore, to the city when he was slain in a battle with the Saracens (1131). A war broke out between his widow, Elise, and his daughter, Constance, and their respective followers. The party of Elise even called on the Saracens for help against the other party. Baldwin 11., however, heard of the trouble, hastened to Antioch, compelled his widow Elise to give up her claims, and placed Constance on the throne. Baldwin II. died 1131, leaving his crown to his eldest daughter, Melisende, and her husband, count Fulco V. of Anjou. This was an excellent choice, for Fulco was able, KingPulco. ,.,11 and wisely kept the common interests in view. At Jerusalem he had to contend with a conspiracy against him- self, and at Antioch he was compelled to interfere against Elise, who again tried to get control of the government. He secured a husband for Constance, the able count Raymond of Poitou. The greatest enemy of the Christians was now Imadeddin Zenki, the emir of Mosul. He was ambitious to unite all the Saracens in Syria and the Euphrates valley under his sceptre and to conquer the Christians. The emir of Damascus, Muin Eddin Anar, however, was determined to retain his indepen- dence. He sought an alliance with Raymond of Antioch and Fulco, and the three were able to keep Zenki at bay. Anar gave the Christians valuable assistance in some of their battles, especially in reducing the great fortress Banias. The Greek Emperor now again began to trouble the Chris- tians after having for several years left them in peace. The Emperor John (11 18-43) conquered Cilicia (1137) and com- pelled Antioch to open its gates to him. Raymond had to ad- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 397 mit that he held Antioch as his feudal subject and even promise to surrender the fief to the Emperor as soon as certain Moham- medan fortresses should be taken. John was finally driven from Antioch by a mob. In 1 142 he returned to renew his demands, but the city remained closed to him. The Emperor devastated the whole surrounding country and then withdrew to Cilicia, promising to come again the next year. Fortunately for Antioch he died the following spring, and so the city was free from danger from that quarter at least for a time. John left his son Manuel to succeed him, an able and warlike prince, who might at any time cause the Christians trouble. It was a great misfortune that Fulco met with a fatal accident (November, 1143), and left Jerusalem in the hands of his widow, Mehsende. His reign had been most beneficial not only for Jerusalem but for all the Christians in the east.' With his death a new period of misfortunes and disasters broke upon them. Count Raymond made the mistake of demanding of the Em- peror Manuel the restoration of all the places which had ever belonged to Antioch. Manuel answered with a fleet and an army which inflicted so much damage on Raymond that he had to submit to the Emperor and acknowledge his vassal relation. In the meanwhile Edessa was in danger and Raymond should have been using his strength in its support against Zenki. This emir had determined at last that he must have paii of Edessa, Edessa. In 1 144 he surprised the city by appear- "**■ ing suddenly before it and demanding its surrender. The people defended themselves bravely, but, since no' help came from the west, the city was doomed. Zenki undermined the walls, and the place was taken by storm. The Christians were put to the sword, and thus the outpost of the Christian states was destroyed. Zenki's power was so great that both Antioch and Jerusalem were in danger of meeting the same fate as Edessa. 1 During the reign of Fulco it is probable that the feudal laws of the king- dom were thoroughly developed and written down. They are known as the "Assises of Jerusalem." 398 EUROPE IN TUE MIDDLE AGE The only help possible was to be found in the west. Mes- sengers were hastily sent to Europe to tell the news of the fall of Edessa, and to beg that an army be sent to recover it. This sad news caused great consternation in the west with- out producing any immediate action. Europe had under- gone a great change since Urban II. had first Europe changed. . , , „ , ^ i , issued the call to a crusade. Contested papal elections and the rule of some inefficient Popes had somewhat reduced the power and prestige of the Papacy. Europe had in the meantime been growing rich from her rapidly increasing commerce, and her wealth was producing a great change in the people. Political interests were occupying a larger place in the minds of all. Louis VI. was strengthening the royal power in France. Roger had made a kingdom out of Sicily and south- ern Italy. The cities of Lombardy were increasing in wealth, power, and independence. A great change had taken place in the thought of Europe, the most prominent index of which was Abelard. Here and there people had begun to think independently of the Church and her creed. Reason was awa- kening. The study of Roman law had been revived. Poets were beginning to sing songs of love and wine. Eurgpe was slowly recovering from her attack of asceticism, and was think- ing less of the future world and giving herself up to the enjoyment of this. Arnold of Brescia was in Rome, preaching against the wealth of the clergy and their exercise of political authority. The high claims of Gregory VII. had been relaxed a little. Eugene III. was himself unimportant, and the leadership was in the hands of Bernhard of Clairvaux, who did not wish that the Popes should have secular power. He thought that their spiritual authority should be enforced only by spiritual means. A second crusade under these circumstances was difficult. Bernhard of Clairvaux, however, carried it through. The Bernhard of Clair- people of France were especially interested in ^''"''- the Christian states of Palestine and Syria be- cause they were ruled chiefly by French princes, and because { MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 399 of the large number of Frenchmen who were there. King Louis VII. was at this time having trouble with his conscience, and to obtain peace of mind was thinking about making a pilgrim- age. His brother Philip had died without being able to fulfil the vow he had taken to go on a crusade, and Louis VII. had a feeling that he had in some Lou's vii. way inherited this vow. Besides, he had been waging a war (1143) with count Theobald of Aquitaine, and in capturing the town of Vitry had caused a church to be set on fire which was full of people who had fled there for safety. More than a thousand of them perished in the flames, and Louis VII. was filled with remorse for his cruelty. At Bourges a great meeting of his nobles was held at Christ- mas, 1 145. Louis told them of his intention to go on a cru- sade, and was encouraged to proceed by some of those present. His most able counsellor, Suger, Abbot of Saint Denis, did not think that the king should leave his country for so long a time, and did all he could to prevent him from forming a definite plan. It was agreed, however, to refer the question to Bern- hard of Clairvaux, and to abide by his decision. But Bernhard would jiot decide so important a matter and referred it to the Pope, Eugene III. The Pope was in favor of the crusade, and commissioned Bernhard to preach it throughout France. At Vezelay (Easter, 1146) Bernhard and the king appeared to- gether before a great meeting. Bernhard made use of his wonderful gifts as a speaker to incite the people to a crusade. His success was tremendous. So many pressed forward to take the cross that for lack of other material Bernhard tore up his robe to supply them with crosses. He then travelled through France, enlisting vast numbers of people for the undertaking. He next turned his attention to Germany, where the crusade had already been announced. In the Rhine valley the fanat- ical enthusiasm induced by it caused a cruel persecution of the Jews, just as it had done during the first crusade. Bernhard went, therefore, and put an end to the persecutions. Conrad 400 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE III. came to meet him at Frankfurt, but resisted the appeal of Bernhard to take the cross. At Christmas of the same year a diet was to be held at Speier, and Bernhard determined to make another effort to enlist the German king. During the services in the cathedral Bernhard rose and declared that he could not permit the day to pass without preaching. In his sermon he described the dangers that threatened Jerusalem and the Church, and dwelt on the religious blessings to be attained by going on a crusade. He then turned directly to Conrad and reminded him of all that God had done for him, and appealed to him to do this little service for God in return. Conrad was overcome by the powerful and unexpected address, and in tears received the cross from the hands of Bernhard. Many of his nobles also joined him in the movement. Bernhard sent letters to Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony, Bohe- mia, and even to England, calling upon the people everywhere Crusade against to join the crusade. The Saxons expressed a the Slavs. desire to lead a crusade against the Slavs beyond the Elbe, and Bernhard gave them permission to proceed with it. It may be said here, however, that this crusade against the Slavs accomplished but little. About one hundred thousand men marched into Pomerania and Mecklenburg. In a peace- able way German influence and Christianity had been spreading there for some time. The invasion disturbed this process and probably did more damage than good. The crusaders had the good sense at last to see this and gave up the crusade. The success of Bernhard was immense. Seventy thousand knights joined Conrad alone. Later, when the crusaders crossed the Bosporus, the Greeks reported that they numbered nine hundred thousand men. The army was not only too large, but it was also divided into two hostile camps. The French were partisans of the Normans and hated the Greek Emperor, while Conrad was in close alliance with him. Conrad determined, therefore, to go by way of Constantinople. The Normans tried MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 4OI hard to persuade Louis to go by way of southern Italy, and he was inclined to do so. But at last he concluded that he ought not to separate himself from Conrad, and so decided to go by the same route. In 1 147 the Germans came together in the East Mark, and began their journey through Hungary. Conrad for some time wished to use the crusaders to reduce the Hun- conrad m. on the garian king, Geisa, to subjection. His better march. judgment prevailed, however, and the army passed on into the Empire. Manuel sent them messengers to say that they should have the opportunity to purchase provisions if they would preserve the peace while passing through the country. For a while everything went well, but as soon as the Germans came into the rich, fertile valleys of Thrace their lawless character asserted itself. They plundered and destroyed without provo- cation, until at last Manuel was compelled to set upon them with his troops. After suffering considerable loss they behaved somewhat better for a time, but upon reaching Constantinople sacked one of its suburbs. They took possession of Pera and continued their depredation?. Manuel again fell upon them and in self-defence compelled them to cross the Bosporus (Sep- tember, 1147). Manuel now tried to make peace with the Germans. He gave them an excellent guide through Asia Minor and did all in his power to help them. The Germans would not wait for the French but wished to be' led at once against the enemy. Con- rad had now had time to repent of his vow and was desirous of finishing the crusade as quickly as possible. .j,^^ German His army was accordingly set in motion, but army destroyed owing to its utter lack of order but little prog- '" ^^'^ '^'"""■ ress was made. Although their failure was all their own fault, the leaders bitterly reproached the Greek oiificer who was serv- ing them as guide, and, fearing for his life, he fled from the camp. A division of fifteen thousand men left the main body and first turned south along the coast and then went into the 26 402 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE interior. At Ijaodicaea they were attacked and so nearly de- stroyed that only a few of them escaped into Pamphylia and from there continued their journey by sea. Among them was Otto, bishop of Freising, half brother of the king, and one of the most important chroniclers of his day. Toward the end of October the main army reached DorylcEum, where the Seldjuks set upon them. The army was so miserably mismanaged that it was soon put to utter rout. No one tried to resist the Turks, but all turned and fled. The army was cut to pieces. Many of those who escaped the sword of the Turks died of the hard- ships endured while trying to reach shelter. Conrad with a few of his nobles was saved. Nearly all who were so fortunate as to escape with their lives now set out for home. They had no further desire to take part in the crusade. Conrad was left with but a handful of men to continue the crusade. Manuel was in constant fear while the French army was approaching because he knew that they were well disposed The French toward the Normans. At that very time (i 147) army. King Roger of Sicily was committing the greatest depredations in the western part of the Empire. He captured Corfu and plundered many cities such as Corinth and Thebes. If the crusaders should make common cause with them, Manuel foresaw that it would go hard with him. The French had left Metz and passed through Bavaria and Hungary. When they entered the Empire messengers came to meet them to make them the same offers as were made to the Germans, and also to demand that Louis and his nobles should take an Louis VII. and Oath to deliver to the Emperor all such future the Emperor. conquests of territory as had once been a part of the Greek Empire. Louis refused to take this oath, and the hostility between the Greeks and the French was in- creased. The French, however, did but little damage while passing through the Empire. They reached Constantinople October 4th. Louis was received with great honor and feasted by Manuel for several days. But the army was more hostile MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 4O3 than ever to the Greeks, and the proposition was made to depose Manuel and place some one from the west on his throne. Manuel had good reason to fear and saw that he must get the French out of Constantinople as soon as possible. Since they were not inclined to go of their own accord, he caused a story to be circulated that the German army had taken Iconium and captured much booty. This had the desired effect. The crusaders' cupidity was stirred, and they demanded to be led at once across the Bosporus and against the Turks. Manuel tried to make an alliance with them against Roger of Sicily, but they rejected it. He succeeded only in obtaining the feudal oath from them. The army had made but little prog- ress into the interior when it was met by the fleeing Ger- mans, who brought the sad news of their ruin. Louis received Conrad with tears and sympathy and they continued their journey together. Conrad, however, was soon taken ill and returned to Constantinople to recover. Frightened by the fate of the Germans, the French made the mistake of turning further to the south, where they found a much more difficult country to pass through. xhe French They eventually reached LaodicEea, but instead "'"v worn out. of following the regular route from that point, they again com- mitted the mistake of turning to the south. The difficulties of this way were very great, and order in the army could not be preserved. During the rest of their journey to Attalia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor, they suffered heavy losses by the attacks of the Turks. The army was in a wretched condition when it reached Attalia. The long march and the constant fighting had utterly worn it out. In Attalia the French could obtain no food for their horses, which consequently died in a short time. They appealed to the Greeks for a fleet to enable them to continue their journey, but when it came it was suf- ficient to carry only the nobility. The common people were therefore left to take care of themselves. The nobility sailed away alone. The people being thus basely deserted attempted 404 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE to reach Syria by following along the coast, but were destroyed almost to a man by the enemy. The destruction of the great army that had set out from Europe was thus complete. Of the nine hundred thousand men who had entered upon the cru- sade only a few thousands at the most reached Syria. For this failure the crusaders themselves were very largely to blame. In the meantime affairs in Syria had taken even a worse turn. Joscelin had got possession of Edessa again, but held it only for a short time. Zenki had been slain by Fall of Edessa. , . , , , . , , ^ . „ , , . his own people, but his elder son, Seifeddm Ghazi, had secured the possession of Mosul, while Nureddin, an- other son, got all the western part of his territory. Nureddin then besieged Edessa, took it, and utterly destroyed it. Its inhabitants were either slain or sold into slavery. In Jerusalem the unpardonable mistake was made of break- ing with Anar, the emir of Damascus, and making an alliance Jerusalem and "^^ith some of his revolted subjects. Anar was a Damascus. friend of the Christian states, and their common enemy was Nureddin. At the time when the Christians should have been making an alliance with him they made war on him. Conrad III. landed at Acco and proceeded to Jerusalem, where he, too, was persuaded to take up the war against Anar. He began to collect an army by enlisting as many pilgrims as he could and prepared to make an expedition against Damascus. In Antioch Raymond did nothing while waiting for the crusaders. At last Louis VII. and his wife, Eleanor of Poitou, reached Antioch. Raymond, however, began a criminal flirta- tion with the queen, and Louis, indignant over such treachery, went on to Jerusalem. The expedition against Damascus was Damascus nearly ready, and Louis joined it. With an army besieged. gf fifty thousand the siege of Damascus was begun. It was wretchedly mismanaged, however. Rather than give the city over to the Christians, Anar announced that he would surrender it to Nureddin. The Christians, therefore, prepared to make terms with Anar and gave up the siege. A plan was MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 405 then made to attack Ascalon, but 'the mutual hatred of the French and Germans rendered this impossible. Conrad, filled with disgust, left Palestine (September, 1148) and returned to Germany by way of Constantinople. Louis spent the winter in Jerusalem and returned to France in the spring of 1149. ■ The only success achieved by the second crusade was in Portugal. In May, 1147, about thirteeiKjthousand cruSaders, composed of Englishmen, Friesians and others success in from the mouth of the Rhine sailed from Dart- Portugal. mouth. They reached Oporto, where the bishop of the city asked them to help in the siege of Lisbon, which was still Mohammedan. After a considerable delay terms were made, and they joined the army of king Alphonso before the city. After a siege of nearly four months Lisbon was taken and plundered. The capture of the city was of the utmost im- portance to Alphonso, who soon made it the principal city and capital of his territory. Thence the crusaders sailed on to Palestine, where some of them undoubtedly took part in the unfortunate expedition against Damascus. The disappointment in Europe caused by the failure of this crusade was very great. The reputation of Bernhard suffered a good deal because of it. Another crusade Disappointment was called for at once, and a group of French '" Europe, barons very foolishly elected Bernhard as its leader. The feel- ing against him was so strong, however, that he could not pos- sibly succeed in raising another army. Besides, the west had affairs of its own to attend to, and the Christian states in Syria were left to take care of themselves. Their history till the fall of Jerusalem is most uninteresting, full of petty ^^^ ^^ ^_^ intrigue and violence. Their rulers were on the whole very bad, being ambitious, lustful, luxurious, and with- out any political insight or ability. The women of their fami- lies were of the same character and contributed to make mat- ters worse. The resources of the kingdoms were wasted on ill-advised expeditions, while the really dangerous enemy was 406 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE seldom disturbed. The Greek Emperor caused a good deal of trouble by his claims. Worst of all, the moral degeneracy of the Christians in Syria was increasing with appalling rapidity. The Templars and Knights of Saint John quarrelled with each other continually. The death of the great Nureddin gave the coveted opportu- nity to Saladin to rise into power. He was a member of a warlike family which had served Nureddin faith- Saladin. fully and well. He spent his youth in Damascus engaged in study, and he was filled with sorrow when his uncle compelled him to go with him to Egypt to take part in the government of that country. His tastes were those of a student, not of a statesman. He soon began, however, to take delight in his political work. When Nureddin died he seized the government of Egypt and made himself independent. He made war on the emirs of Syria, and his awakened ambition led him to try to unite all of western Asia under his sceptre. Toward the Christians of Jerusalem he was friendly and made peace with them. His plans kept him busy farther to the north and east reducing the emirs to subjection. The Christians, however, were not wise enough to make the most of this peace. Several times, purely out of the desire for booty, they made marauding excursions into Saladin's territory and plundered his caravans as they passed by. They did not hesitate to break their oaths and carry off booty whenever the opportunity offered itself At length Saladin could endure their perfidy no longer. He collected a large army, and on July 4 and 5, 1187, met the Christian force at the Horns of Hattin, not far from Horns of Hattin, the Sea of Galilee. His success was decisive. "*7. The Christians were either taken prisoners or slain in the conflict. The king and other leaders were captured, and almost all of them except the king put to death. Relying on the supernatural power of the true cross, they had carried it at the head of the army. It was now captured by the Moham- medans. MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 407 Saladin immediately began to reap the fruits of his vic- tory. One after another of the Christian cities surrendered to him, and on the igth of September, 1 187, he ^ r > I ; Jerusalem and brought his army together before Jerusalem, aii Syria in tiie The people were so discouraged that effectual hand of Saiauin. resistance was impossible. On the 2d of October the city was surrendered and given over to Saladin. The inhabitants were allowed to leave the city on the payment of a heavy ransom. Every man was compelled to pay ten gold pieces, every woman five, children over seven years of age, two, and under seven, one. The people moved out and began their sorrowful search for homes. Unfortunately most of them died of hunger and fatigue, and few of them reached a place of safety. Saladin continued his conquests, but without so much success as formerly. Tyre was able to resist him and to withstand a long and difficult siege. Antioch and Tripolis he could not take. Saladin kept up his efforts, but new forces were soon to come from the west, called into the conflict by the sad news of the fall of Jerusalem. As soon as Jerusalem had surrendered, messengers were sent to the west, and in a few days all of Europe was filled with sorrow at the sad fate of the holy city. From ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^ Italy to England and Scandinavia there was talk crusade. of a crusade. Everywhere there was a voluntary uprising, and when the three greatest rulers of Europe took the vow, it seemed that now at last the Mohammedans must be driven back and the Christian supremacy established in the east. In 1187 the Pope sent Henry, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, to Germany to preach the crusade. Frederick Barbarossa was, however, still having trouble with the arch- „ , . . . ° Fredencli I. bishop of Cologne, and Henry the Lion was ready to rebel if an opportunity were given. By the help of the papal legate Frederick was able to brmg the archbishop to subjection. At a great diet held at Mainz several German bishops made powerful addresses and appealed to the Emperor 408 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE as well as to the people to assist in the recovery of the holy places. At length Frederick was won. He took the cross amid the approving shouts of his people. ' He tried to per- suade Henry the Lion to go with him. On Henry's refusal he banished him from Germany for three years. Something had been learned by the failure of the previous crusades. The crusaders had set out without sufficient prepara- tions and consequently had suffered much from Well-laid plans. , ^ , . , ^^ , . hunger. Frederick put off the time of starting for a year in order that he might be able to make the necessary arrangements for feeding the army while on the march. It had also been discovered that the great numbers of people who had accompanied the former armies were a hindrance to success, and Frederick decreed that no one might join in his crusade un- less he had three silver marks (about thirty dollars). Messengers were sent to the king of Hungary, to the eastern Emperor, and to Kilidsch Arslan, the emir of Iconium, to announce his com- ing and to ask their assistance. Another embassy was sent to Saladin to demand the surrender of the kingdom of Jerusalem of the true cross which had been captured in the battle of tlife Horns of Hattin, and the release of all Christian slaves. If he should refuse he was threatened with the invasion of his ter- ritory by all Christendom. A diet was held at Nuernberg in December, 1188, at which embassies were present from all the above mentioned except Saladin, whose messengers came later. The Greek Emperor demanded security that Frederick would not attack him. Frederick took the required oath, and the messengers promised that the army should have good leaders, the opportunity to purchase provisions at low rates, and a fleet to set them across the Bosporus. Saladin' s reply was a message of defiance. On the 23d of April, 1188, more than one hundred thousand men left Regensburg under the command of Frederick. These were all well armed and equipped. The army differed radically from the lawless crowds of all previous crusades. Frederick MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 409 established order at once and punished severely all violence and disobedience. But again affairs were taking such a turn that this crusade could not be a success. In the first^place, the Normans in Sicily began another war on the eastern Empire. In xi,e Normans in 1 185 they attacked Durazzo, and established the way. themselves there. They attad«ed Thessalonica and after a few weeks took and sacked it. From there they moved against Con- stantinople. The government was in a wretched state. Manuel had died (1180) and been succeeded by his son Alexius II. who was only thirteen years old. His mother, Maria of An- tioch, was regent, but the authority was in the hands of the Emperor's cousin, Alexius Comnenus. Another cousin, An- dronicus Comnenus, usurped the power and title and put the young king and his mother to death. This barbarity was fol- lowed by many revolts in various parts of the Empire. There- upon another Comnenus, Isaac, got possession of Cyprus and assumed the title of Emperor. An uprising in the city fol- lowed, and the Emperor Andronicus was de- Affairs in Con- posed, and Isaac Angelus raised to the vacant stantinopie. throne. Although he was without much ability, he succeeded in defeating the Normans and forcing them to surrender Thes- salonica and Durazzo. Revolts followed in other parts of the Empire. The Bulgarians, the Serbs, and the Wallachians re- belled against the tax collectors of the Emperor and made themselves independent. All the northern part of the Empire was thus broken off from the central government. Still worse were the pohtical relations with the east. Kilidsch Arslan, the emir of Iconium, and the states of the Christians were hostile to the Greek Emperor. For one Isaac Angelus and hundred years the Emperors had been trying to saiadin against get possession of the territory which was held *''^i;;';,"/^^''";^f;'„'* by them. Saiadin was also trying to conquer both the Christians and the Mohammedans of Asia Minor. It was not strange, therefore, that the Greek Emperor and 4IO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Saladin should make common cause against these enemies and agree to divide the spoil. On the other hand, it was but natural that the Christians should make an alliance with Kilidsch Arslan to resist their common enemies. Since the party lines were thus drawn in the east, it was inevitable that the fresh crusading armies would attach themselves to Kilidsch Arslan and the Christians of Antioch. The Greeks would, therefore, be more than ever in danger from them. This was exactly the condition when Frederick Barbarossa entered the Empire. Isaac and Saladin had made an offensive and de- fensive alliance. Saladin gave the Greeks in his territory religious liberty, and promised help to the Emperor against Kilidsch Arslan. Isaac promised to hinder the approach of the crusaders, to give the Mohammedans rehgious liberty in Con- stantinople, and to assist Saladin against his enemies. This was most unfortunate, but, while it may seem short-sighted, Isaac can hardly be blamed for his conduct. He was driven to it by the attacks which the crusaders and the Normans had made on him. Saladin was the only one on whom he believed he could rely. It may now appear to us that this was a mistaken policy, but the danger from the west was great and imminent. While Frederick was passing through the territory of the Serbs and Bulgarians he was besought to help them, and make an at- tack upon the Emperor. Frederick refused, however, and de- clared that he did not wish to fight with the Emperor unless he undertook to prevent the crusaders from reaching Asia. As those countries were in revolt, lawlessness was rampant, and the army suffered from a kind of guerilla M'arfare, which was carried on against it. When it entered Thrace, Isaac sent messen- Doubie=deaiing gers to say that he knew that Frederick meant to of Isaac. ^Q j^;g government some injury, and forbade him to proceed any further unless he should give hostages and promise to deliver one-half of all his future conquests in the east to him. A little later Frederick learned that his ambas- sadors to Isaac had been seized, imprisoned, and maltreated. MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 41 1 It was evident, therefore, that the Emperor was not dealing openly with him, and Frederick began to treat tl\e land as an enemy's country. The garrison of Philippopolis fled, leav- ing the city to the mercy of Frederick. A Greek army ap- proached, but was defeated and driven back. The crusaders began to capture all the towns in the district, and to establish themselves as the conquerors of the land. All were interested in securing as much booty as possible, and so were scattered about over a large area. Frederick saw the danger that threat- ened his army and took .measures to avert it. He reorgan- ized the army and enforced discipline with the greatest energy. Refusing to forget that his real object was to reach Syria, he wished to end the troubles with Isaac as soon as pos- sible. After several weeks of negotiation he secured the re- lease of his" ambassadors. Three months more passed before Frederick could bring Isaac to make peace with him. In the meantime Frederick had moved his army forward to Adri- anople, and was plundering the country. He sent word to the Pope to announce a crusade against the Greeks, and told his son to see that several of the Italian cities should send fleets to help him the next spring in the east. He made alliances with the Serbs and Bulgarians. Isaac was now thoroughly frightened and made a treaty whose terms were most favorable to the Germans. During the last days of March the army was transported across the Hellespont, and began its march toward the interior. From Laodicaea on there was constant fighting with the Turks. Kilidsch Arslan, erair of Iconium, had just died, and his sons had made peace with Saladin, so that a change in instead of a friend, the Christians met with a Asia Minor. new enemy. Iconium had to be taken by storm, but the labor was well repaid, for the Christians found great quantities of supplies in the city. The sufferings and the privations of the long march were now over. The Turks made peace with them, and they were able to replace the horses and other beasts 412 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of burden which had perished on the way. The march was continued to the south, and in a few days the army reached Cilicia and found itself among the friendly Armenians. The Taurus mountains were traversed with great difficulty, and the army was delighted to reach the fertile lands on the coast. But on the 9th of June, 11 90, the array was overcome with Death of Bar- sorrow at the misfortune which befell its barossa. leader. In trying to cross a swollen mountain stream, the Saleph, near Seleucia, Frederick was drowned. The soldiers already utterly exhausted, were rendered helpless and hopeless by this new blow. Many of them returned at once to Europe. Others were slain in battle or sold in the slave markets of the Mohammedan cities. Only a few of them reached Antioch. This was the third great German army which had miserably perished without accomplishing anything for the cause. Besides this principal body of German crusaders who went with Frederick, there were three other smaller bands. The German crusaders landgrave William of Thuringia with a goodly in Portugal. following passed through Italy and, sailing from Brindisi, was successful in reaching Syria. Two fleets sailed from the lower Rhine a few months apart, and both landed in Portugal, where they were invited by the king to help him against the Mohammedans of that country. The first fleet ren- dered him valuable assistance in capturing from the Moham- medans the important fortress, Alvor, and the other assisted him in the siege of the city just to the north of it, Silves. By these conquests the power of the king of Portugal was much in- creased. Both these fleets continued their journey and reached Syria in time to take part in the siege of Acco. For several years there had been much talk in both Eng- land and France about a crusade, but nothing had come of it Prance and ^11, because of the complications between the England. f^o countries. The king of England had pos- session of about one half of France. All the territory from MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 413 Normandy to Gascony acknowledged Henry II. as king. The two rulers were therefore engaged in a constant struggle. The king of England wished to maintain himself in his continental possessions, and the king of France knew that it was the first business of his life to win back all this lost territory. Under these circumstances it was inevitable that the kings of these two countries could not act in harmony for a long time. Fi- nally, early in 1188, Henry II. and Philip II. met, made peace, and took the cross. Hostilities, however, broke out afresh be- tween them, and the crusade was postponed. Henry II. 's last years were made bitter by the revolts of his sons, which were promoted, if not directly caused, by the in- trigues of Philip II. By fostering their ambitions Philip II. won them to his side, and Henry II. died from the blow which he thus received from his own sons (i 189). He was suc- ceeded by his son Richard, who, at this time, was on the best terms with Phihp II. Under these circumstances it was pos- sisible for them both to fulfil their vows. Accordingly plans were laid for beginning the crusade in the spring of 1190. Money was collected from all quarters. The Phiup 11. and Jews were persecuted and robbed, offices and Richard i. other dignities and rights sold, and a tax, called Saladin's tithe, levied. At the appointed time more than one hundred thousand crusaders assembled, and the two kings marched through France. It was found, however, that so large a number could not easily be fed. The army was therefore di- vided according to nationalities. Richard sailed from Mar- seilles, skirted the coast of Italy, and, after frequently seek- ing adventures on the mainland, landed in Sicily. Philip II. sailed from Genoa and safely reached Messina. The king of Sicily had just died, and his widow, the sister of Richard, had been imprisoned by a usurper, Tancred of Lecce. Richard, therefore, stopped and saw Quarrels in that his sister was set free and her rights se- Sicily. cured. In the end Messina was stormed and taken by him 414 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE and plundered. Philip II. and Richard quarrelled over the spoils, and the old enmity between Englishmen and French- men was renewed. Richard was engaged to marry the sister of Philip II., but now refused to do so. His engagement to the princess Berengaria of Navarre was announced instead, and the lady herself soon came to Sicily in company with Richard's mother. Thus the whole winter was spent in alternate periods of strife and revelry. Philip II. finally determined to proceed, and on March 30th sailed away with his troops to Acco. Ten days later Richard Cyprus taken, ^^so set sail. A Storm separated his vessels and "!>'• some of them were wrecked on the coast of Cyprus. The island was still in the hands of Isaac Comnenus, who a few years before had made himself master of it and as- sumed the title of Emperor. He robbed and maltreated those who had been wrecked, and even tried to kidnap Berengaria, whose ship had safely reached the harbor. A few days later Richard came up with the rest of his fleet and demanded satis- faction for the injury done his people. Isaac refused, and Richard attacked him with such vigor that he was compelled to flee, leaving Limossol in Richard's hands. It was here that Richard celebrated his marriage with Berengaria. In spite of attempts at reconciliation with Isaac, hostilities were renewed, and in less than a month Isaac was taken prisoner, and all the island fell into the hands of Richard. He divided it up into fiefs and gave it to some knights of his army and proceeded to Acco. Cyprus was thus added to the states of the crusaders, and was to be of the greatest importance in their future history. Richard landed at Acco, June 8th. It was a grave misfortune for the whole movement that the siege of Acco had been begun and had been made the most im- portant object of attack. Guido of Lusignan, Siege of Acco. i i i i kmg of Jerusalem, had been set free by Saladin and had gone to Tyre, which had been a part of his kingdom, but was now held by Conrad of Montferrat, Conrad, how- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 415 ever, refused to surrender his position to him. Guido, without any thought of what was best for the kingdom, set out with a small force and laid siege to Acco, hoping to secure a good port. Since the Christians held other ports, Acco was not at all essential to the existence of the Christians in the east. Saladin was the real danger, and all the strength of the Chris- tians should have been directed against him. The siege was begun in the summer of 1189. All the bands of Christians which came from the west were gathered together before the city. Since Acco was situated on a peninsula, the Christians were able to invest it in such a way as to cut off all communi- cation with the mainland. Walls and a hne of forts were built clear across the neck of land, and since Saladin was in the rear of the Christians they constructed defences against him, and so were in a kind of fort which faced both ways. The Chris- tians besieged Acco and were in turn besieged by Saladin. The hatred between Guido and Conrad was biRer, and each sought to win the new crusaders to his support. Since Philip II. and Richard were also quarrelling, it was tut natural that they should espouse opposite sides. Richard went with Guido, while Philip II. made terms with Conrad. The enmity was thereby increased. The siege had already lasted nearly two years when Philip II. and Richard arrived. The coming of Philip and Richard put new life into the attack, and in spite of all the quarrelling and jealousy Acco was so hard pressed that it was compelled to capitulate. The city and all its possessions were surrendered, but the inhabitants were permitted to with- draw in safety. Saladin, moreover, promised to set free a large number of Christian slaves and prisoners, to restore the true cross to the Christians, and to pay two hundred thousand pieces of gold to the crusaders. A large number of hostages was given them to insure the payment of the money. The next work of the crusaders should have been to attack the Mohammedan cities in the interior. Jerusalem especially -ghoHld-bave-been-retaken. -Instead ofthis their time was spent 4l6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE in quarrelling. Guido and Conrad continued their struggle. Other bands of crusaders were coming all the time, and the Englishmen and Frenchmen treated them all with great haughti- ness and injustice. Philip 11. then declared that he was ill and must therefore go home. The real reason of this determina- tion was that he wished to secure the territory of Philip of Flanders, who had recently died. He hoped also in the ab- sence of Richard to be able to recover some of his lost French possessions. In July, 1291, he safely reached Europe. The further conduct of the crusade was left in the hands of Richard, but he was utterly without the qualifications of a suc- Richard's in- cessful leader, though he was a thorough knight, ability. strong and adventurous. No single combat was too hard for him, and the more dangerous an undertaking, the more sure he was to try it. But the army needed not a knight but a head, a commander, who would direct it in the proper way. Richard was entirely incapable of this. Probably at the instigation of some of the Italian cities, and perhaps of some of the princes, it was determined to attack Ascalon next. This was a mistake, but the army marched to the south. Saladin in the meanwhile destroyed all the cities along the coast to prevent their falling into the hands of the cru- saders. AVhen the army reached Joppa they found it in ruins. Here, however, the army stopped and spent several days. Saladin took advantage of this delay to destroy Ascalon also. Valuable time was wasted in Joppa, and Conrad of Tyre grew tired of waiting. He made a treaty with Saladin by which he was to receive certain cities, and in return was to help Saladin against the Christians. Treason thus found its way into their own ranks. Richard was desirous of returning to England, because he had heard that his brother John and Philip II. were both trying to deprive him of his power. He wished therefore to make peace with Saladin, but was so ' changeable that no definite treaty could be made. He began the march against Jerusalem and gave it up without cause. He MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 417 spent his time in hunting for adventures. He would declare that he must go back to Europe, and then apparently forget it and go on another expedition. He made Conrad of Tyre king of Jerusalem, but the Assassins murdered the newly made mon- arch. Count Henry of Champagne was made his successor, and the deposed king, Guido, was indemnified by the gift of Cyprus. After beginning many things and completing nothing, Richard at last made a wretched peace with Saladin. The only favor granted the Christians was to enter Jerusalem as unarmed pil- grims during the next three years. Saladin retained all his possessions, the Christian slaves were not set free, and the cross was not delivered up. The treaty was received by a storm of opposition, and Richard was cursed by the Christians in Pales- tine. Shortly after this he sailed away (September, 1192). His vessel was wrecked near Venice, and he began his journey through Europe in disguise. He was made a prisoner not far from Vienna by duke Leopold of Austria, and delivered over to Henry VI. of Germany. After being in prison for nearly eigh- teen months he was set free upon the payment of a heavy ran- som, and eventually reached his kingdom. The preparations which Henry VI. made for a crusade have already been spoken of. In 1 196 more than sixty thousand cru- saders, mostly Germans, sailed from Apulia and xhe crusade of safely reached Syria. They made Amalrich of "enry vi., 1196. Cyprus king instead of Henry of Champagne, who had just lost his life by an accident. They marched against Beirut, which easily fell into their hands since the Mohammedans were un- willing to endure a siege. The army was then making plans to carry the war into the interior when the news of the death of Henry VI. deprived it of all courage. In a short time the army went to pieces, and nearly all set out for their homes in Europe. Germany was, at this time, the seat of war between the Guelfs and the Hohenstaufen, and the kings of England and France were in strife with each other and their subjects. The prospect of a new crusade was not, therefore, very flattering. Neverthe- 27 41 8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE less the great Pope Innocent III. determined that another army should be sent to the east. He sent messengers to the Ar- Efforts of menians, who acknowledged him as their eccle- Jnnocent III. siastical head, urging them to resist the Turks and promising them help. He called upon Alexius III. of Constantinople to prepare for a crusade and to assist the army from the west when it should appear. He sent representatives to Constantinople to a council to be held for the purpose of uniting the Churches of the east and west again. To the rulers of western Europe he sent letters and messengers, calling on them to join in the new crusade. He promised to all who should do so the forgiveness of their sins and the special pro- tection of Saint Peter. The clergy were called upon to pay a tax of one-fortieth of all their property and income to defray the expenses of the army. Many preachers were sent out, some of whom acquired a very great reputation for holiness and per- suaded large numbers to take the cross. Fulco, a priest of Neuilly on the river Aisne, it is said, received the vow from more than two hundred thousand persons. These, however, were mostly common people, who, it had been found, were rather a hindrance than a help to a crusading army. The upper classes were slow to be moved, but in 1199 several members of the nobility were persuaded to take the vow. The next year they held several meetings, elected count Thibaud as their leader, and sent messengers to Venice to secure help from the city in their undertaking. The Venetians agreed to furnish a fleet sufficient to transport forty-five hundred knights, nine thou- sand squires, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, to furnish pro- visions for the same for one year, and to add fifty galleys to the army. For this they demanded eighty-five thousand marks of silver (nearly nine hundred thousand dollars). The date of departure was fixed for April, 1202. Egypt was to be the ob- jective point, since the crusaders believed that they ought to attack the Mohammedans in the seat of their power. Venice was at this time at peace with Egypt, and her com- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 4I9 merce with that country was considerable. She had no interest in the crusade as such, but was wilhng to take part in any expedition which promised to increase her har- ^ '^ Commercial bor and commercial privileges in the east. With interests of Constantinople she was having trouble because Venice. the Emperor had granted the people of other Italian cities the same privileges as she possessed. Her Doge, Henry Dandolo, had a personal grudge against Constantinople because of the violence and indignities he had suffered there some years be- fore. It is probable that from the first he thought of using the crusade against the eastern Empire. Count Thibaud, the first leader, having died, the margrave Boniface of Montferrat was made leader in his stead. Boniface was the sort of man who would look after his material interests far more carefully than the interests of Christianity. » Alexius III. Angelus had acquired the crown (1195) by deposing his brother Isaac II. Angelus, blinding him, and putting him in prison. The young son of Isaac, Revolts in Alexius, was also imprisoned, but in the summer Constantinople, of 1 20 1 made his escape and went to western Europe to secure help against his unnatural uncle. He applied to Innocent III., but without success. He then went to Germany and besought the aid of his brother-in-law, king Phihp. Philip espoused his cause and suggested that the crusade should be sent against Constantinople to restore the old Emperor Isaac and his son. He strongly recommended this view to Boniface. Henry Dandolo was fully in sympathy with the proposition. It was not difficult to persuade nearly all the crusaders that this was the thing to do, especially since most of them cherished the deepest hatred of the Greeks. Many of the knights wished to establish themselves as independent princes in the east, and it was a matter of indifference to them against whom they fought if they could only be successful. Dandolo was the controlling spirit in the army and was able to direct things as he wished. 420 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Many of the crusaders did not come to Venice, but sought to reach Palestine by some other way. Some of them went to Rome, where Innocent III. used them against the imperial officers who held towns and fortresses in central Italy. The number of those who came to Venice was, therefore, not so large as had been expected. After paying all they possibly could, they were still in debt to the city thirty-four thousand silver marks. Dandolo was glad of this because Attack on Zara. of the power which it gave him over them. He proposed that they should earn the passage by helping the city conquer some of its enemies. The city of Zara, on the coast of Dalmatia (exactly opposite Rimini), lived very largely by piracy. Her fleet preyed upon the Venetian commerce and rendered the Adriatic unsafe. In October, 1202, more than two hundred boats of various sizes sailed from Venice, carrying the crusaders, and by the end of October Zara was in their hands. The Pope had done all he could to prevent this diversion. He had put obstacles in the way of the alliance between the crusaders and the Venetians because he knew the character of the latter, and was afraid that they would seek only their own advantage. The crusaders excused themselves to him by saying that their obligations to the Venetians were such that they could not act otherwise. The Pope forgave them, and although he put the Venetians under the ban, allowed the crusaders to con- tinue in their association in order that they might use their fleet for the purposes of transportation. He forbade them to proceed against Constantinople, and reminded them that it was the duty of crusaders to fight against the Mohammedans, not to punish the wrongdoings of the Greek usurper. The crusaders, how- ever, paid no attention to his prohibition, because Philip of Germany sent ambassadors to offer them, on the part of Alexius, two hundred thousand marks of silver, a re-enforcement of ten thousand soldiers for one year to help subdue the Mo- hammedans, and the subjection of the Greek Church to the MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 421 papacy, if they would restore him to his throne. The cru- saders could not resist this tempting offer, and the fleet was set in motion against Constantinople. The expedition would probably have failed but for the ina- bility of the usurper, Alexius III. He imposed heavy taxes upon the people and committed all sorts of vio- incompetency of lence against his subjects. The army was not Alexius iii. kept in condition and the fleet was dismantled and sold. In all parts of the Empire there were revolts. The central part of Greece was seized by Leon Sguros, and the peoples along the Danube plundered at will. Alexius made no preparations to resist the crusaders until it was too late. Toward the end of June, 1203, their fleet entered the harbor and Constantinople the siege began. On the 17th of July a part of taken. the walls of the city was taken. Alexius III. made a sally against the troops on the land, but was defeated and driven back. Overcome with fear, he fled that night with all the money and valuables he could collect. Next day the peo- ple brought out the old Isaac, who had been blinded, and made him Emperor again. Since this was what the crusaders had set out to accomplish, they were satisfied. The young prince Alexius IV. was crowned and associated in the govern- ment with his father, and the siege was ended. The crusaders helped Alexius IV. in his campaign against those who opposed him in the country. In the city there was a good deal of ill- feeling shown, and the Greeks resented the haughty insolence and violence of the " Latins," as the crusaders were called. The city was set on fire, and nearly one-half of it was reduced to ashes. The new Emperors were unable to pay all they had promised. By the heaviest exactions they could collect only one hundred thousand silver marks. The crusaders demanded the full amount and threatened violence if it were not paid. War broke out, and the siege was renewed. The winter of 1203-4 wore away. In the city a revolution took place 422 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE which resulted in the death of Alexius IV. and in putting Alexius Ducas Marzuflus on the throne as Alexius V. After great preparations and many attacks the city was again taken and finally taken (April 12, 1204). One of the sacked, 1204. ^^^.^ ^f j.]^g ^j^y ^^^g shattered, and at the same time two ships which were joined together came close enough to the walls to fasten their ladders to one of the towers. The tower was quickly I511ed by the crusaders, and so from two directions they poured into the city. For some days the sol- diers gave themselves up to plunder and murder. Their cruelty passed all bounds. Another fire broke out and a large part of the city was burned. Alexius V. fled, and the crown was off'ered by some of the Greeks to Theodore Lascaris. He re- fused it and fled into Asia IMinor. The victors divided the spoils and the Empire went to pieces. Baldwin of Flanders was made Emperor of the new Latin _ . .. , kingdom, and Boniface of Montferrat received Constantinople ° ' the seat of a Latin Thessalonica and the surrounding territory, with kingdom. jj^g jjjjg Qf j.-j^g ggjl^ jj.;gj ^^ extend their power, but not always with the best success. Bulgaria caused a good deal of trouble in the north. In Asia Minor several Greeks set themselves up with the title of Emperor, but each one ruled over only a small territory. Probably the most im- portant of these pretenders was Theodore Lascaris who took up his residence at Nicsa. Venice also received her share of the booty. According to the terms of the agreement she should have received three- The spoils eighths of the Empire. But although the Doge divided. took as his official title " Ruler of One-Fourth and One-Eighth of the Whole Roman Empire," he never got possession of that amount. Among other possessions large quarters in the city of Constantinople fell to the Venetians. In the Peloponnesus they got some territory in the southwestern part of Messene. They took possession of nearly all the Greek islands, and controlled to a great extent the eastern Mediter- MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 423 ranean. The rest of the Peloponnesus fell into the hands of Godfrey of Villehardouin and William of Champlitte, the latter with the title of Prince of Achaia. Epirus was ruled by a Greek, who was able to maintain himself there under the title of despot. Athens formed a duchy. Other princes estabh shed themselves in various places with various titles, all of them more or less dependent upon Venice. It was impossible, however, for these Latins to maintain themselves in the east. They were not numerous enough to dominate and assimilate the Greeks. The „. „ , The Greeks re- religious hatred was too strong. They also conquer the lost quarrelled among themselves, and the Greeks territory. gradually took advantage of their opportunities to recover their lost territory. In 1261 Constantinople with all its sur- rounding territory was taken by the Greek Emperor Michael. In the following years many of the Latin principalities were reconquered, although Venice retained her hold on the islands. In the first years of the fourteenth century the Aragonese of Spain established themselves in Attica, after doing much dam- age to the whole coast of the Balkan peninsula. These Cata- lonians, as they were called, were later to be conquered by the Osman Turks. Although this fourth crusade worked injury, on the whole, to the cause of the crusades, it was of the greatest importance to the civilization of Europe. The many Latin Effects of the colonists in the east were living among the *o"rth crusade. Greeks and Arabs, and were in daily contact with them. Their intercourse with the Mohammedans was very free. Through these crusaders the civilization of the east, both Greek and Arab, was carried to the west. This was the great- est benefit derived by Europe from the crusades. The crusades which followed this expedition against Con- stantinople were all unimportant in their results. One of the most curious of them was the children's crusade.' In the ' See G. Z. Gray, The Children's Crusad^i?' 424 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE spring of 1212 Stephen of Cloyes, a mere boy, was led, probably by the tricks of the clergy, to believe that he was The Children's called of God to preach a new crusade in which Crusade, 1212. only children should take part. He was finally brought to Saint Denis, where he had the opportunity of preach- ing to thousands of people. Many other boys were influenced by his example to enter on the work of preaching the crusade, and the fever soon spread over France and Germany. A boy Nicholas and the named Nicholas became the leader of the Ger- aerman children. u,an children, and after collecting about forty thousand of them he began the march to the south. It is possible that the army, as it was called, was divided into two parts, one of which crossed over the Mont Cenis pass, while the other went by way of Saint Gotthard. Some of the children soon turned back, many died by the way, others, especially the girls, were seized and made prisoners. Only a few of them reached Genoa, where, in their pathetical innocence, they expected the sea to open up and give them a passage on dry land to Palestine. It is probable that two shiploads of them sailed from Pisa for Palestine. Others went on to Rome, where they presented themselves to Innocent III., who ordered them to return home and wait until they had grown up. It seems, however, that a small band of them, whether of the Mont Cenis party or those who crossed the Saint Gotthard is not quite clear, reached Brindisi. It is said that a few hundreds sailed away from Brindisi, but that they were never heard of again. Stephen of Cloyes collected an army of about thirty thou- sand children and set out for Marseilles. After many hard- Stephen and the ships they reached the city only to be disap- French children, pointed in the promises which had been held out that God would open up a way for them' through the sea. Day after day they waited, but in vain. At length when their hope was almost gone two merchants offered to furnish ships to convey them to Syria. Seven vessels were provided and about fi'f^thousand children sailed away in them. Two MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 425 of the ships were wrecked on the island of San Pietro, off the southwest coast of Sardinia. The others safely reached some Mohammedan port, but only to thrust the children upon a worse fate than death. The merchants who had furnished the ships were slave-dealers and had taken these means of securing a large number of persons for the Mohammedan slave- markets. In 12 1 7 Andrew, king of Hungary, brought together a con- siderable number of troops and went to Syria. He did not know what points to attack, and so, after making Andrew of several useless expeditions into the interior he Hungary, 1217. became disgusted and returned home. Soon after this a large fleet, composed of vessels from the territory about the mouth of the Rhine, reached Acco. It was soon decided that the proper point of attack was Egypt, and so the whole fleet, re-enforced by all the crusaders who were already at Acco, sailed away for Damietta. During the last days of May, 12 18, Damietta Be- the crusaders landed and began the siege. sieged. After gaining solid advantages they were offered excellent terms of peace by the Sultan. He offered to restore to the Christians the kingdom of Jerusalem and the true cross, and to pay them a large sum of money, if they would withdraw from Damietta. Very foolishly the offer was rejected. Many of the crusaders thought that it should have been accepted, but the fanaticism of the papal legate and the commercial interests of the Italian cities prevailed. The siege was continued until November 5, 1219, when the city fell into the hands of the Christians. The next step was to attack the Sultan, who had established himself at Mansurah. This was put off, however, from time to time, and the Christian army remained idle until the summer of 1 221. In July of that year the Christians finally began their march against the Sultan. Again the most advantageous offers of peace were made them, but were refused. The crusaders continued their march. The Nile, however, was overflowing, and the crusaders did not know their way through the maze of 426 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE canals. The army at length found it impossible to fight longer against the Sultan, and began a retreat which resulted in the Thearmyde^ destruction of the army. Even Damietta had stroyed. tg be given up, and the work of the crusade was entirely undone. The crusade of Frederick II. has already been partially de- scribed. For several years the Pope had tried in every way to compel him to begin the journey, but for Frederick II. „ , . , . „ ., , various reasons I'rederick put it off until the summer of 1228. He found the Christians in Syria quarrelhng as usual, but the Mohammedans were, if possible, in worse condition. War was raging between the sultan of Egypt and the emir of Damascus. Each was afraid that the other would make some concessions to Frederick, and thereby gain a decided advantage, and both were, therefore, only too willing to make terms with Frederick without risking a battle. Frederick was also desirous of settling matters without fighting, because, al- though, off and on, many crusaders had come to Syria during the last fifteen years, the most of them had become tired of waiting and had returned to Europe. Frederick's forces were, therefore, not large. In February, 1229, he made a treaty with the Mohammedans the terms of which were most favor- able to the Christians. Jerusalem, with the exception of the mosque of Omar, was surrendered to them, as were also several cities and strongholds which were so situated that pilgrims could safely make the rounds of all the holy places. All the Christians who were held as slaves by the Mohammedans were to be set free. Frederick promised in return to protect the sultan against all his enemies, even if these were Christians, and agreed not to aid the princes in northern Syria. This peace brought a storm of criticism upon Frederick. The Christians in northern Syria, especially Boemund V. of Antioch, the Templars, and the Knights of Saint John, were angry that they had not been included in it. The Pope refused to accept it because, he said, no treaty should be made with MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 427 the infidels. Frederick, however, entered Jerusalem, crowned himself before the Holy Sepulchre king of Jerusalem, and then hastened back to Europe. The principal result of his crusade was that Jerusalem and several other places (Nazareth, Bethle- hem, and others) were again in Christian hands. In the years 1239-40 several French nobles under the lead of Thibaud of Navarre made an expedition to Syria. The Pope tried to use them against the Emperor and crusade of did all he could to prevent their sailing. They 1239-40. reached Acco, but, although their numbers were large, they did nothing to improve the situation. They turned their at- tention to capturing as much booty as possible. In the spring of 1240 they were re-enforced by a crusade of Englishmen, who were led by Richard of Cornwall. After making a peace with the sultan of Egypt to the advantage of the Christians, and strengthening some of the places, Richard returned to England. The Christians in Syria continued their quarrelling, but the Mohammedan world was luckily also divided. The emirs of Damascus and other cities in northern Syria opposed the sul- tan of Egypt, and made an alhance with the Christians against him. To meet this the sultan called on a wild horde of Turks for help, and in 1244 they sent an army often thousand horse- men to assist him. Their route from Mesopotamia through Syria was marked by ruins. In September they. took Jerusalem and put the Christian inhabitants to the sword. One after an- other the Christian cities were reduced until the Jerusalem kingdom of Jerusalem was wholly in the hands of '"** anew, 1244. the Mohammedans. Jerusalem was definitely lost to the Chris- tians and was destined to remain under Mohammedan control. The fall of Jerusalem was not able to create so great a com- motion in EuEope as it had fifty years before. Frederick II. was engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the loujs ix. in Pope. Only in France dfd it have any effect, Egypt, and even there it was principally because of the character of king Louis IX. that anything came of it. The king and many 428 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of his barons prepared for a crusade. In the summer of 1248 they came to Cyprus, but, instead of proceeding at once to Syria, spent the winter there. While on the island it was de- termined to change the destination of the expedition and to proceed directly against Egypt. They landed before Damietta and caused so great fear among the inhabitants that they at once deserted the city, and the Christians took possession of it without a blow. From here the army proceeded into the in- terior. After several months of fighting the crusaders were compelled to begin a retreat. The whole army was either destroyed or taken prisoner. Louis himself and many of his nobles were made captives. He purchased the freedom of himself and the others by the payment of 800,000 pieces of gold, and the surrender of Damietta. From Egypt he went to Syria, where he spent nearly four years trying in various ways to restore the fortunes of the Christians there. He called for help from Europe, but httle or no attention was paid to him. At length he returned to France (1254) without having ac- complished anything. In 1266 Louis IX. wished to make another crusade, but it was four years before he was prepared to begin it. In 1270 he The crusade of sailed from southern France, and after a severe '270. storm landed on the coast of Sardinia. There it was determined to attack Tunis because, it was said, its emir wished to become a Christian, and would certainly do so if sufficient force of argument were exerted upon him. At any rate the sultan of Egypt would be greatly weakened by the loss of Tunis. The real reason of the diversion, however, was that Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX., feared an attack from Tunis, because it had taken the part of the Hohenstaufen. He played his royal brother a trick and succeeded in directing the army against his personal enemies. Tunis was reached and the siege begun, but it was not pushed with much vigor. A pest broke out in the camp, and many of the soldiers were carried off by it. The old king himself was finally seized, and died MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 429 August 25, 1270. The siege was carried on for a while longer, but ended with a treaty of peace which was, on the whole, favorable to the Christians. Most of the crusaders then re- turned to Europe. Only the two English princes, Edward and Edmund, sons of Henry III., continued their journey to Syria, where, however, they did nothing of importance. The end of the Christian power in Syria was fast approaching. The military-monkish Orders fought with each other, and the Venetians and other Italian states were engaged ^ , • o D Syria recon= in constant feuds. The Mongols were extend- quered by the ing their power over the Mohammedan world in '"""""medans. Asia, but were eventually driven back. The sultan of Bibars carried on the work of conquest with skill. In 1265 Caesarea and Arsuf were taken by him and destroyed. The great for- tress Safed was taken the next year. In 126,8 Joppa shared the same fate, and the whole of northern Syria \yas lost by the surrender of Antioch in May of the same year. Thereupon Gregory X. preached a crusade throughout all Europe, but without success. More than once divisions among the Mo- hammedans gave the remaining Christians in Syria a little respite, but their fate could not be avoided. Tripolis was taken by the sultan, 1289, and in 1291 Acco was besieged by him. After a few months of brave resistance this stronghold also was captured. The Christians were thus driven out of Syria, and the whole country was in the hands of the Moham- medans. The Knights of Saint John established themselves on some of the islands, especially Rhodes, which they held for nearly two hundred years. Cyprus remained a Latin kingdom until 1489, when it was seized by Venice and made a part of her territory. Although there were no more crusades, the idea of having one did not die. Several Popes during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries called on Europe to arm why did the itself against the Mohammedans. Several kings crusades cease ? of France even took the cross ^nd proclaimed a crusade. This 430 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE was done, however, apparently for no other purpose than to afford the king an opportunity to collect some extraordinary taxes. The reasons for the cessation of the crusades are many. In tlie first place the crusades had failed. Millions of lives and un- told wealth had been squandered in the east, and nothing had been accomplished. The task seemed too great. The people of Europe lost faith in the movement. The crusading spirit was turned into other channels. In Spain the war was kept up with the Mohammedans. On the eastern frontiers of Germany crusades were carried on against the heathen Letts and Slavs. The heretics in the Empire were put on the same plane as the infidels, and wars against them were declared to be as holy and deserving of the same rewards as those against the Mohammedans. Then the national life of the countries was growing much stronger. International struggles arose and all the forces of the country were needed at home. At the same time the religious needs of the people were satisfied in another way. Gethsemanes, Via Dolorosas, and Calvaries were constructed in the west, and these artificial holy places came to be regarded with almost as much superstitious reverence as were their originals. The rising sale of indulgences also made it unnecessary to go on a long and dangerous journey to the holy land to win religious peace. It was still quite common for people to take a vow to go on a crusade, but by a pecuhar bit of sophistry it was supposed that all the benefits of the vow could thus be artificially obtained. The life of Europe grew larger, its interests more complex, and the fields of its activity more numerous. There was no longer any surplus of energy to be spent in such far-away enterprises. That the crusades failed to accomplish what they were organized to do is evident from the above account. The causes r .* =■ °^ *^'^ failure are not far to seek. The cru- Causes of failure. saders themselves were much to blame- — both while on the way and after they reached the east. They lacked good leaders. They were too lawless and moblike. The MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 43 1 princes quarrelled constantly, and their personal ambitions kept them from working for the common good. Especially the ambition of the Normans and their many ill-timed attacks on the eastern Empire had a bad effect on the course of events. The Greek Emperors were also to blame and followed a dis- astrous policy, although the conduct of the crusaders generally drove them to it. The struggle between the German Emperors and the Popes also had a baneful influence. The Italian cities come in for their share of the blame because they were inter- ested so deeply in commerce that they often sacrificed the common interests to their selfish ends. Finally, the diffi- culty of colonizing so large a territory and of absorbing the Mohammedan population was so great that it could not be overcome. Both the direct and indirect effects of the crusades on Europe were great and varied. They did much to increase the power of the Papacy, especially during the first hun- Effect of the dred years. Urban II. virtually was at the head crusades. of Christian Europe, and his leadership of this most popular movement confirmed him in the high place in the mind of the Christian world. Chivalry was perhaps inevitable, but the cru- sades forced it to become organized and made of it the insti- tution which it became. The military-monkish Orders owed their existence wholly to the crusades. The conquests of the German Order among the heathen on the Baltic may be re- garded as one of the most important of their indirect effects. The crusades helped destroy feudalism. The barons often sold their rights, privileges, lands, and other feudal possessions in order to get money to go on a crusade. The Feudalism creation of a new nobility to offset the old was also hastened by the crusades. They diminished the number of feudal subjects of the lower class and so created the demand for laborers which resulted in the elevation of the serfs into a class of free day-laborers. They also had some effect on the process by which the kings were increasing their power at the 432 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE expense of the nobles. They did not destroy feudalism, but did much to weaken it. Since they brought together large numbers of people of all countries, they developed the con- sciousness of national differences. Each nation came to hate all the others, one of the necessary steps, apparently, in the de- velopment of nationality. On commerce the effects of the crusades were most marked. They gave a great impetus to ship-building, since the carrying of pilgrims between Europe and Asia came to be Commerce. a lucrative occupation, and the amount of com- merce greatly increased. Many new objects of merchandise were now introduced for the first time into Europe. The cru- sades created and supplied a large demand in the west for wines, sugar, cotton, silk, all kinds of textile fabrics, rugs, pottery, glass-ware, spices, medicines, perfumes, coloring substances, in- cense, various kinds of oil, mastix, dates, grains, and many other things. It would not be too much to say that the cru- sades made Europe rich. The cities especially profited by the commerce. The rise of the citizen or middle class was therefore greatly hastened by the crusades. The literature and learning of Europe were also deeply affected by them. They gave a strong impulse to literary activity. Many chronicles, histories, and poems were written about them, and the legends which grew out of them were innumerable. The literature of chivalry may be traced indirectly to the same impulse. The great cycles of legends about Solomon, Troy, and Alexander the Great, arose under their influence. In 1141 the Koran was translated into Latin. About the same time a school was established in Paris to teach the eastern languages, such as Ar- menian and Arabic. Also Europe's fund of knowledge was generally increased. As regards zoology, the crusaders became acquainted with many animals which aroused their curiosity. This interest resulted in the formation of zoological gardens, first of all in Sicily and Italy, in which strange animals were collected not MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE CRUSADES 433 simply for the sake of curiosity, but also to satisfy a rising scientific interest in them. Further some new domestic ani- mals were introduced into Europe, such as the mule, the don- key, and the Arab horse. In botany and practical farming Europe had much to learn from the Arabs. They taught the best methods of irrigation. The "Dutch" windmill is an Arabic invention, Practical and wa.s used for grinding corn and drawing farming.' water in the east. It was introduced into Europe by the cru- saders. Many new plants and grains were brought to the west, and experiments made in their cultivation. Among them were sugar, cotton, rice, indigo, sesame, and other grains, saffron, the mulberry-tree, the pistachio-tree, fig, citron, pomegranate, watermelon, musk-melon, apricot, plum, and artichoke. In medicine and chemistry, which among the Arabs were closely related, the Christians learned of sirups, juleps, elixir, camphor, senna, rhubarb, and many similar in- Medicine and gredients. Many of the chemical terms, such as chemistry. alembic, alcohol, alkali, borax, and amalgam are Arabic in origin. Their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy has already been spoken of The intercourse between the Chris- tians and the Mohammedans facilitated the spread to the west of the Arabic achievements in these subjects. Many astronom- ical terms, such as zenith, nadir, azimuth, and almanac were derived from the Arabic. Most important of all, perhaps, was the general enlargement of the intellectual horizon of Europe, caused by the travel of the Christians in foreign lands which had a dif- The horizon of ferent, higher, and finer civilization than their Europe enlarged. own. Life in the west was still very rude. The houses lacked all luxuries and comforts, and most of those things which are now even regarded as necessities. The European, whose ex- periences had been very limited indeed, entered into a new world when he set out on a crusade. He found new climates, new natural products, strange dress, houses, and customs. The 28 434 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE features of the landscape, and even the skies above him, were different. In the houses he found many new objects of comfort and luxury, such as divans, sofas, alcoves, mattresses, carafes, baldaquins, jars, and precious stones. Talisman, amulet, carat, and the names of many stones are Arabic. The geographical knowledge of the west was very limited, but the crusades brought experience in travel and a practical knowledge of large terri- tories. Great interest was aroused in the study of geography. A good knowledge of the Mediterranean and large parts of Asia and Africa was acquired. The curiosity awakened by the new regions, together with the mercenary and commercial in- terests in many quarters, led Europeans to undertake long jour- neys of discovery. One of the most famous of the travellers of the Middle Age was Marco Polo, who traversed central Asia, visiting all the peoples of that region, and finally reaching even the Pacific. Other travellers only a little less famous are Plan Carpin and Andrew of Longjumeau. The accounts of their travels, which they published, were very widely read, and while adding information they increased the interest of Europe in foreign lands. The influence of the crusades in this direction can hardly be overestimated. Without them the Renaissance could not have been what it was. CHAPTER XVI THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES, MORE ESPECIALLY IN FRANCE The history of the cities of the Roman Empire during the first ten centuries of the Christian era is obscure. In Gaul there were more than one hundred cities (civi- The cities in tales) and a larger number of strongholds (cas- 'he Empire. tra). The cities were governed by the Roman municipal form of government. In the fourth century they were all on the road to ruin because of the financial oppression which they en- dured from the Emperor. Sometime during or after the inva- sion of the Barbarians the municipal government of the cities was destroyed, and the cities passed into the hands of a bishop or of some nobleman in the neighborhood. Often the city was divided, the bishop having control of part of it and the nobleman ruling over the remainder. Some of the cities were actually destroyed by the invasion and their sites entirely lost. The Germans, it will be remembered, generally settled in the country. It would seem that at the time of Karl the Great by far the larger number of the inhabitants of Scandinavia and Germany still lived on the soil. The violence of the times, and especially the invasions of the Norsemen and Huns, compelled the people to live together in walled inclosures, and these be- came in time cities. Many cities grew up around monasteries and castles. They were, of course, small in their beginnings and grew slowly. The ruling class did not live in the cities but in the castles. From the fifth to the tenth century there was little or no commerce except for a short time during the 436 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE reign of Karl the Great. The insecurity of the roads destroyed commerce and hindered travel. Before the time of Karl the cities were ruled by a lord, whether duke, count, or baron. Karl the Great put almost all The cities in the 'be cities of his Empire under an officer who hands of a lord, ^^g generally called a count. The people of the cities had no political rights. Not even in the government of themselves did they have a voice. Their lord collected the taxes, appointed officials, kept order, and punished offenders. It is possible, however, that in some cases the people had pre- served a mere remnant of their former independence and had a certain right in determining who should hold a few of the offices. Practically, however, it is true that they had no pohtical rights. They were at the mercy of their lords. A sort of basis or starting-point for the free commune of later times was the guilds which prevailed throughout the whole Middle Age. People who had common interests Guilds. , , , were brought together and united into a secret organization known as a guild. For the people engaged in the same occupation there was a separate guild. Each guild worked only for its own interests at first, but later some of them united and supported the common cause. The principal cause of the communal revolt of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was the revival of industry and corn- Revival of in- merce, and the consequent increase of wealth. dustry and com- It was the merchants who led in the move- ment, a proof of which is that the revolt spread along the routes of commerce and travel. During the tenth century efforts were made to put an end to private wars and to secure peace. Feudalism became more fixed in its customs and a certain degree of order prevailed. The revival of commerce is due in large measure to this fact. There was no revolt against the burdens imposed upon the cities by their lords until there grew up a rich merchant class, a sort of aristocracy of wealth, commanding resources and means of THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES 437 carrying on the struggle with the lord. As soon as this class became at all numerous there was a revolt against the exactions of various kinds which the lords levied upon them. The lords of the cities thought that the richer the town the greater the feudal dues that might be demanded of it. For a while, there- fore, the cities submitted to all sorts of unjust taxation. In the end, however, they revolted against this and refused to pay. In the struggle that followed they were able to secure not only freedom from this unjust taxation but also in many cases the right of governing themselves. In France this movement of revolt had its first faint begin- nings in the tenth century and reached its height about the years 1050—1200. It is probable that the cities cities in southern in southern France were the first to enjoy large France, political liberties and rights, but the charters which confirmed these rights did not antedate those of the cities in the north. Early in the eleventh century there were many cities in Provence and Languedoc which were essentially free communes, but did not receive their charters for more than one hundred years after that time. In the north, up to the year iioo, there were per- haps not more than a half dozen cities that had secured the title of commune. Between the years iioo and 1135 a large num-. ber of them had obtained charters. Among them were Noyon, Valenciennes, Amiens, Corbie, Soissons, Bruges, Lille, St. Omer, Ghent, Liege, and others. Then the movement quickly became popular and spread rapidly. During the next hundred years it may be said to have been at its height. Many of the cities met with great resistance in their efforts to free themselves from their masters. It is only natural that the lords of the cities should have opposed anything opposition to the which threatened to diminish their power and communes. income. One of the principal aims of the cities in revolting was to secure freedom from unjust financial exactions imposed upon them by their lord. The clergy were generally exceed- ingly hostile to the movement. Commune was declared by 438 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE them to be "a new and detestable word." "Agreements made with them are null and binding on no one because they are contrary to the canon law and to the decisions of the holy fathers." "They were introducing diabolical usages which tended to overthrow the jurisdiction of the Church." Several Church councils legislated against them. The nobility also were at first, for the most part, hostile to the formation of the communes and endeavored to put them down by force. Some of them, however, were glad enough to part with their preroga- tives for money and made the cities pay well for their privi- leges. Still others, at least toward the end of the movement, were wise enough to see that a prosperous commune was of far more value than a poor dependent city, and therefore hastened the process by offering charters to those cities which had not already secured them. In some cases they even forced the Policy of the cities to buy charters. The kings of France fol- French kings. lowed no fixed policy in the matter but were guided in each particular case by their own royal interests. For instance, in 1112 Louis VI. protected the commune of Amiens and destroyed that of Laon. His successors, however, saw that the commune might be used against the nobles, and were there- fore glad to confirm charters whenever they were appealed to. Although many of the cities got their charters in a peaceable way, some of them acquired them only after an armed revolt. Charters ac- Others, indeed, were unable to get a charter quired by force, even by force. They were successfully resisted by their lord and kept in subjection. Montpellier (1142), Toulouse (1188), Beziers (1167), Laon (i 106-12), Lille, Ghent, Amiens, and many others were compelled to fight hard for their charters. Vezelay revolted five times and attempted to get a charter, but was unsuccessful every time. Chateau Neuf, near Tours, appealed to arms a dozen times, but never succeeded in acquiring a charter. Orleans was so thoroughly chastised by Louis VII. for her attempt in 1137, that she never again tried it. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES 439 The charters were far more easily purchased with money than acquired by force of arms. The nobles were always in need of money, and since the cities were rich, the com- charters acquired mon way of obtaining a charter was by purchase. *'y purchase. Even after a charter had been secured it was not uncommon for a commune to extend its power and prerogatives and ask for a new charter in confirmation of its new privileges. It may be said that the cities in England always got their charters by purchase. The movement there never took on the character of a revolt. In Germany the cities were not allowed any po- litical liberties during the reign of the Hohenstaufen, although they secured a great many restrictions upon the arbitrary taxa- tions of their lords. During, or after, the interregnum, how- ever, when the imperial power was either destroyed or greatly weakened, they were able to emancipate themselves entirely and secure their complete political independence. It was only in the south and in the west of France that the cities were successful in establishing themselves as communes. In the central part, which was more directly un- no communes in der. the control of the king, there were almost central France, no communes. The king was so near to them that he was able to check their growth, or, at least, to keep them in partial de- pendence. Orleans and Paris never became communes. All such cities have been called " villes de bourgeoisie." This distinction into two classes is arbitrary, because it is often impossible to distinguish villes from communes. They both received charters. The charters of the villes, however, simply guaranteed that the people of the city should not be arbitrarily taxed or should have certain commercial or other privileges. Generally these cities were not allowed to rule themselves or to elect their officers. They were subject to their king or lord and were ruled by the officers whom he sent to them. In some of these "villes de bourgeoisie," however, there was a certain amount of political autonomy and the people had a voice in the election of some of their officers. Since the king's 440 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE officers were always present, these villes were always peaceable. The mob was kept in check, and the finances of the city were The so-called ^^^^' managed and kept in good condition. villes de hour- Louis VII. gave a charter of the above kind to geoisie. jj^g little ville Lorris. It was so well adapted to the object for which it was intended that it was afterward intro- duced into more than eighty villes in the central part of France. The charter of Beaumont-en-Argonne was used in more than three hundred villes in the northeast, especially in the arch- bishopric of Rheims, the duchies of Luxemburg and Lorraine, and the county of Chiny. This charter was very like that of the commune. It provided for the election of a mayor and a kind of Board of Commissioners by the people of the ville. These administered the government, but rendered an account of their work to their lord, the archbishop of Rheims. They even had the right of administering justice to a certain extent, the archbishop reserving for his court only the more important cases. The distinction between such villes and the communes would perhaps be made clear by saying that the communes be- came feudal individuals while the villes remained subject to feudal dues wthout ever becoming feudal individuals and having vassals under them. The number of these villes was greatly increased from the eleventh century on, by the founding of many new towns. In New towns es- order to improve their estates or to increase their tabiished. incomes the lords often established new settle- ments which grew into towns or cities. The common name for all such was "ville neuve," or new town. In order to secure inhabitants for these, large inducements had to be offered. The lord generally published a charter and made it known for many miles around that he intended to establish such a new town. He offered special rights and privileges to all who would come and settle there. The ground was generally par- celled out among those who came, a market established, and the fullest protection guaranteed. Such places were generally THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES 44 1 granted the riglu of asylum, so that the criminal who fled there was free from punishment or vengeance. Only murderers and thieves were not protected by this right of asylum. Serfs who ran away and lived here for a year and a day without being claimed by their masters were then regarded as free men. From this peculiar privilege the common name for such towns came to be " places of safety " (salvitates). These and other privileges made such towns very popular and succeeded in bringing many people within their walls. These villes were ruled always by the lord who founded them. Their inhabi- tants never gained their political independence and did not elect their officials. The charters secured for them only com- mercial or financial advantages such as freedom from many of the most burdensome feudal dues. It was generally a guild of merchants that began the agitation to secure a charter for a commune. When it was determined to resist the lord, all the members took an oath Process of acquir- of fidelity, and the people of the town were also ing a charter. asked to swear that they would support the common cause. Their desires were then formulated, and if they were successful their requests were granted and confirmed by a written docu- ment called a charter. The charters which have been pre.served to us vary in size and character. Generally they contain only the new points at issue between the city and its lord. The old established customs -and relations were not mentioned be- cause, since they were not in question, it was not considered necessary to do so. While some cities secured charters which dealt only with their particular needs, and hence were local and special, many others demanded that their lord give them the same charter which was in force in some other town. The charter of Soissons, for example, was introduced into nearly all the communes of the duchy of Burgundy. The town which thus received a charter was thereby fitted into the feudal system just as if it were an individual. The commune then owed the regular feudal duties to its lord, and 442 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE might in its turn become a feudal lord and have vassals of its own. The lord promised, above all, to protect the commune in The commune a ^11 its rights and against all violence of whatever feudal individual, kind. The commune, through its elective ofifi- cers, did homage to its lord and took the oath of fealty to him. The charter generally limited and fixed the amount of feudal dues which the lord might demand. He no longer had the right to demand money when he chose, but generally had to content himself with the payment of a fixed sum each year. The feudal rights of the lord were not destroyed, but merely curtailed and made definite. Of course the commune owed military service to its lord. In accordance with the ideas and customs of the times every commune had the right of private war. If it were offended or injured by some commune or by some lord, whether clerical or lay, it had the right to arm its troops, secure allies, and attack the offender. The intercom- munal feuds and wars added much to the violence of the times. On the other hand, it often happened that many communes leagued together to protect their common interests, especially their commerce, and so did much to preserve the peace. Such were the leagues of the Hansa, of the Rhine, and of Suabia. The power in the commune was not generally vested in the whole body of its inhabitants. There were a few cities, how- Umitation of ^^^^' ^^ ^^hich all inhabitants were members of communal the commune and had political rights. Such was membership. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ Lyon, Rouen, and some others. This, however, was the exception, not the rule. It was more often the case that only the members of one or more guilds exercised political rights. Sometimes these rights were extended a little more widely and only those were excluded who were serfs, bas- tards, or criminals. In some places the whole laboring class was excluded. In some communes only those were active mem- bers who possessed property within its limits. Ordinarily, how- ever, the commune was not a republic, but a kind of oligarchy or aristocracy. As the commune developed in wealth and THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES 443 power, and membership m it increased in value, it became more and more difficult to enter it. The aristocratic or oligarchic character of the ruling body became more pronounced. The internal organization of the communes was not the same in all places. Almost every one that did not accept a ready- made charter created offices to suit itself. The principal officials bore different names in the different communes. They were in some cities called consuls ; in others there were a mayor and jurati, or men under oath to serve the commune in the best way possible. In the north of France they were called echevins or aldermen. Their numbers also differed. Sometimes there were two, sometimes there were even twenty-four of them. Bordeaux had a mayor and fifty jurati. Associated with these was a council differing in size from one city to another. Generally the method of election was very complex. It was not uncommon for the members of the commune to be divided into classes, generally according to their occupations, and each class had the right to elect a certain number of consuls. The bitter class feeling in the commune, however, often made it impossible for the people to agree on their officials. Especially in the south of France it became common to call in a foreigner who was made absolute master or podesta of the city. These officials, by whatever name they were called, exercised the power in the city, both legislative and executive, and, with- in certain limitations, judicial. The management of the finances of the city was also in their hands. In order to attend to all these duties they had to have the service of a large number of helpers, such as tax-collectors, policemen, sheriffs, and the like. The communes had gained their liberty but did not know how to preserve it. Their members were invariably divided into factions, and feuds and street brawls were y.^,^_^^ ^_,j ^.^_ common. The history of the French communes management in r , 1 . r 1.1 Ti 1 • _ the communes. is an exact counterpart of that ot the Itahan cities. There were also social troubles coupled with the polit- 444 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ical difficulties. The lower orders were often ranged against the higher, the poor against the rich. The magistrates of the cities were generally hard masters, and those outside the ruling guilds were unmercifully imposed upon. This led to the for- mation of guilds among those who in the earlier time had been without such organizations. They organized themselves for opposition, and sometimes succeeded in acquiring mem- bership in the commune. Even if they failed to do this they filled the city with violence. Peace had to be restored by someone from without, and this was generally the king. Another cause of internal trouble was the bad administration of the finances of the city. The officials of the commune were often guilty of fraud and peculation. It seemed to be impos- sible to bring such offenders to justice, because they refused to render any account of their doings to the people. They claimed that they had done their duty when they had made their reports to each other. It is not surprising, therefore, that the cities often became bankrupt. The expenses of the communes, together with large sums that were taken from the treasury in a fraudulent way, far exceeded the regular income. These two things, the insolvency of the communes and their lawlessness, were the real cause of their destruction. The kings of France were now following steadily the policy of collecting all power in their own hands. The process of centrahzing was becoming more and more rapid. The nobles were gradu- ally yielding to the kings, and the communes were made the object of a policy which, in the end, was sure to break them The king and the down, too. The officials of the king's treasury communes. interfered in the administration of the finances of the communes and punished all maladministration by seizing the charter of the commune and declaring it forfeited. The judicial jurisdiction of the communes was limited in every way. The parliament, which exercised the judicial power in France, tried to destroy the local tribunals by increasing the number of cases which could be settled only by the king or by his tribunal. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES 445 The policy of parliament and sovereign was to make the king's justice prevalent throughout the land. The central authority also increased the taxes of the communes. As the king's power grew he interfered more and more in the affairs of the com- munes. He controlled their elections and inspected their magistrates. He imposed heavy fines on all those communes which refused him obedience or offended him in the slightest way. He placed all kinds of burdens on them in order to break them down. When the day of reckoning came the king had them in his power. He forced them to give up their char- ters and all that these stood for, their political independence and their privileges. They fell into the king's hands and so increased his power. This policy toward the communes may be said to date from Louis IX. (r 2 2 7-70). Under Philip IV. (1285-13 14) the seizures became frequent, and by the year 1400- the communes had disappeared. They had lost all their acquired liberties and had sunk back into dependence on the CHAPTER XVII ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII., 1494 Italy and Germany were the last of the great European countries to acquire their political unity. The occurrence lies within the memory of living men. Approxi- National develop= , 1 • , 1 1 1 ment of Italy mately spcakmg, they lagged some three cen- and Germany turies behind France, Spain, and England. The decentralizing forces were engaged in battle with the centralizing ones everywhere in mediseval times, in Ger- many and Italy alone they won a victory. The reason is that there were a number of grave disadvantages which struck ex- clusively these two middle European countries, and fatally handicapped them over against their western neighbors in the movement toward national consolidation. Destiny had ap- pointed them to be the principal bearers of the dominant mediaeval fiction of the Church and the Empire. Now Church and Empire alike looked toward universality. It was their business to keep nationalism in abeyance. The struggle be- tween the two mutually exclusive principles of imperialism and nationahsm was unconsciously engaged on Christmas Day, 800, when Karl, the head of a national monarchy, received at Rome the crown of the renewed Empire of the west. The desertion, in the course of the next few centuries, of territory on territory from Karl's political structure to constitute itself on the national basis, proved that his work was a delusion. Germany and Italy, however, the unlucky partners in an im- possible undertaking, were pledged to it for better, or for worse, and when they finally did begin to surmise its futility, the chance of national unification had been lost. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 447 But there is another local reason for Italy's failure to fall in with the unitarian movement of Spain, France, and England. The prerequisite of every positive political unity Diverse racial is a foregoing ideal unity of speech, institutions, elements of Italy. and manners. The western countries, generally, were fortunate enough to attain this by a process of amalgamation between the Teutonic invaders and the Roman civilization. In the case of Italy this amalgamation was much retarded, or, to state the problem in another way, more numerous and more repugnant elements had to blend in the making of the Italian nationality than in the making of the others. The Roman civilization naturally had a stronger hold upon the Italian peninsula than upon the other Roman provinces. That is why it did not decay utterly there together with the power of Rome, and could maintain some faint bloom even under the sway of the Barbarians. The East Goth rule (489- i;i;4), the first regular attempt of the Germans , , , ■ r. , EastOoths. to subjugate the peninsula, failed chiefly because of its inability to crush or reconcile the Roman element. The East Goths were almost annihilated by the Greeks, and for some time the Greek Emperor had power over the whole, or a part of the peninsula (sS4-68 over all Italy). His , -,1 NT,, The Greeks. firmest hold was on the south (till 1050). Ihe effect of this connection on Italy was the introduction into the population of a second race element, the Greek, which, owing to the support it got from home, would not assimilate with the native Latins without a struggle. After the Greeks came the Lombards (568-774), who represent the third racial element of the peninsula, and the most important Germanic •^ The Lombards. contribution to the Italian nationality. But they inaugurate no era of reconciliation. The Romans and the Greeks stand fearfully, or sullenly, aloof The Lombard rule is a foreign domination to the last. Later on the Saracens (850) settle in the south, bring- ing with them their Mohammedan atmosphere, and these are 44? EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE only gradually ousted by another invader, the Norman (1050), whose victory brings with it the establishment of that feudal system of which he is the prominent apostle. The Normans. r-i i -ii ^tii i. Such were the racial elements 01 Italy wlien the mediaeval period of conquest ends. They served to form very gradually two types of Italians, which, although they have been converging all these centuries, are still perfectly recog- nizable. There is the Greek-Norman-Saracen type of the south, and the Roman-German type of the north. In our period they were still in the early stages of their evolution, and between them, separating them and hindering their knowl- edge of each other, lay the States of the Papacy with interests averse to both and a sovereign practically cosmopolitan. There is then much diversity of racial material in the Italian peninsula, and diversity, in consequence, and not unity, is the significant feature of Italian history in the Middle Age. If the divisions of Italy are pretty clearly foreordained by these political and racial conditions we must not understand Attempts at that they were accepted from the first. A look unification. ^t the peninsula with its long protective coast line and its northern barrier of the Alps will convince us that it was intended by nature to form a single state.' Bold governments would therefore be quite involuntarily pushed to attempt its unification. The East Goth (489-554) and Greek (554-68) tries at empire proved failures. The Lombard attempt (568- 774) was more serious. This people conquered the whole Extent of the "orth, and with the duchies of Spoleto and Lombard king- Benevento drove a wedge of Teutonism far into "'"■ the south. But the coast districts of the east and west, Venice and Genoa, proved invincible since the Lombards had no fleets. Nor did the Lombards drive the Greeks out of the eastern province, known as the Exarchate of Ravenna, or out of the west-central (Rome) and .southern parts of the penin- sula (Naples). The Greek-Roman coaHtion against them proved an effective check ; the Lombard rule embraced for the ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 449 first hundred years hardly more than one-half of the peninsula. A change came when the Greeks and Romans fell apart. The most important man of the province of Rome had for some time back been the Pope. Gregory I., called the Great (590-604), gave during the Lombard period a a„^thand tremendous impetus to the expanding power of independence of the Papacy. On the one hand, he put himself apacy. at the head of the native opposition to the aggressions of the Lombards, and, on the other, he took successful steps looking toward the independence of his office from the Greek Emperor. When, therefore, the western world was outraged in its religious feelings by the Emperor Leo the Isaurian's edict against image- worship (726), Pope Gregory IL could venture to head the general Roman insurrection, and overthrow both the spiritual and the civil supremacy of the Greeks in the Exarchate and at Rome. It was the first time in history that the Pope emerged clearly as a sovereign power. But he had forgotten for the moment that there were more dangerous enemies on the penin- sula than the degenerate Greeks. The division of the Greek and native forces was the opportunity the Lombards had long been looking for. Under their king, Liutprand (713-35), they now fell upon the Exarchate and even threatened Rome. A sharp conflict ensued. The young independence of the Roman Bishop seemed on the point of being sacrificed to the avowed policy of the Lombards to subjugate the whole country. It was the offer of a blessing to Italy, but it came too late. The Pope was already something of a universal power and had for- eign resources to which he could appeal. To preserve his in- dependence, he turned to the Franks for help, and therewith inaugurated that baleful pohcy of foreign inter- ^^^^^ e checks ference to which the Papacy has consistently the Lombards by clung down to our own day (1870), and by """p^^^^",^ means of which it has over and over again crushed the resurgent unitarian forces of Italy. Pippin got the crown of the Franks (752) in payment for his proffered 29 4SO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE aid, then checked the Lombards and made the Pope the famous gift of the disputed Greek lands (Exarchate), which ever afterward constituted the bulk of his temporal power (755). Pippin's son, Karl the Great, completed the work of his father by deposing (774) the last king of the Lombards and taking his title and realm. The year 800 witnessed the splendid resurrection of the Roman Empire of the west, with Karl at its head. Italian itai under the po'it'cs entered therewith upon a new phase. Caroiingians, Italy became a province of the Empire, but even '''*" ■ under the mighty Karl, not a united province. Venice maintained its independence, the Greeks were left in possession of the south, and in the centre, the States of the Church, although they maintained one of those uncertain con- nections with the Empire, so characteristic of mediseval times, could put forward on need a well-founded claim to independ- ence. The rule of the family of Karl the Great in Italy came Italy left to her- to an end amid confusion in 888. For about self, 888-951. a century Italy was left to herself. The iron crown of the Lombards went a begging and was eagerly sought in turn by the great feudatories of the realm. It was another good chance for a national kingship, but provincial jealousy re- sented a strong central power. Berengar, the last of the pup- pet-kings of this period, seemed nearer the great goal than his itai dG - predecessors when the opposing faction made many united the appeal to Germany which drew Otto I. under otto I., 96.. ^^^^^^ the Alps (951).! In 961 this great king received the imperial crown, and Italy was henceforth welded together with Germany in the Roman Empire. Theoretically the members of the Empire stood on a basis of equality. Practically, however, the Empire was a German Relation of Italy power, and Italy, or, more accurately, that north- to Germany. gj-,-) p^rt of Italy which constituted the kingdom of the I^ombards and had been included in the Empire of > See Chapter VIII. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 45 1 Karl, became in consequence a mere dependency of Ger- many. Otto and his immediate successors maintained a firm hold on the peninsula. Even the Papacy, owing to a temporary eclipse, appears in a subjection to them nothing less than ^ The Ottos. vassalage. The brilliance of Karl's Empire seemed eclipsed when the Ottos undertook to make use of the conflict between the Saracens and the Greeks in the south to crowd out both and complete their Itahan dominion. In this they failed. The south was destined to another power. The eleventh century is the century of the expansion The Normans in of the Normans. By bravery and adroitness the *^^ South. Normans succeeded in gradually expelling all three combatants, — Greeks, Saracens, and Germans — from the south, and in fixing their dominion upon Naples and Sicily (1040-90).' While the south was thus definitely lost, another enemy of the Empire had been gathering strength in Italy, who demanded an imme- diate attention. We are face to face with one of the most far-reaching revolu- tions of history. The Papacy, having been reconstituted by the Emperors and reformed by the archdeacon The Papacy and Hildebrand, was irresistibly borne upward on Empire. the wave of the religious enthusiasm which was just then break- ing over Europe. It dared to put forth a categorical claim to world-empire.^ When Hildebrand himself became Pope, under the title of Gregory VII. (1073-85), the storm began. The direct quarrel with the Emperor touched the episcopal investi- tures. This was nothing less than the question whether or not the Emperor should be sovereign in his own dominion. There was only one answer possible to such a claim. So the two powers joined arms in a long and bitter struggle, which was only settled by the mutual concessions of the Concordat of Worms (1122). Although Italy was not the principal subject of the quarrel, the period had a very unique significance for 1 See Chapter X. ' See Chapter XIII. 4S2 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE her. For out of the confusion of authorities which necessarily accompanied the long dispute, there arose, first tentatively, here Birth of the and there, then triumphantly everywhere in Lom- commune. bardy, by steps even yet not quite made clear by the most studious investigation, that young and splendid force which marks the birth of modernism in history, the commune. The commune is the organized will of the free inhabitants of a city. What does its rise mean ? It signifies that here and The meaning of there, in the cities of Italy, certain groups of the commune. jjigj-, had developed, which had been slowly emancipating themselves from the hampering authority of the feudal regime, and now declared that by virtue of their wealth and strength they were sufficient unto themselves. These new groups constituted the communes. By the industrial and com- mercial interests which they represented, by the democratic spirit which they harbored, the communes became the forerun- ners of the modern society and state. Since the old feudal state was built upon agricultural interests and an aristocratic spirit, a conflict between the two systems, sooner or later, was inevita- ble. From a certain point of view it was a war between city and country, where the former was reinforced by every new industry, and by every intellectual acquisition, and the latter as constantly weakened by desertions to the more magnetic centres of the new life. Where the victory would finally in- cline was apparent from the first, but it took a struggle of some centuries to decide it. Thus the commune figured everywhere as the banner-bearer of modernism, Italy leading the way in the challenge of the feudal system, and the other countries following about one hundred years later.' The origins of the commune lead us back to the days of the old Roman Empire. Italy was then the country of cities par The history of excellence. Milan, Bologna, Capua, rivalled the the commune. splendors of Rome. Then came the decay of the Empire and the conquest of Italy by the Lombards. How ' See Chapter XVI. ITALY TO THE INVASION OP CHARLES VHI 45^ far these invaders destroyed the cities has long been a vexed question. Although they probably swept away the curise (local senates) and the Roman administration, something of the old character and importance must have been retained by the cities even in the new era. That they were not utterly eclipsed is proved by the fact that the feudal system never got a firm hold upon Italy, and was sloughed off by that country first among western nations and with comparative ease. In the ninth century the cities surrounded themselves by walls. The military spirit, first symptom of the action of the Germanic leaven, experienced a revival. The cities defended themselves successfully against the invasions of the Magyars. Their gov- ernment was then (ninth and tenth centuries) in the hands of the bishops, who had lately usurped the civil functions of the count, the vassal and regular delegate, here as The bishops elsewhere, of the royal authority. The emperors govern the cities. themselves {e.g., Otto I., 961-71) had favored this usurpation because there was an evident advantage for the central authority in an unmilitary bishop for representative over an adventurous and ambitious count. So about the year 1000 the bishops are found to levy taxes, dispense justice, and command the military throughout the cities of Lombardy, that is, arc sovereign saving the authority of the Emperor. Meanwhile the cities are taking a splendid economic development. There are brisk industries and a lively commerce. The inhabitants group themselves by their occupations into arts or guilds. But as yet their only political activity consists in a nominal share in the election of the bishops. Small wonder that they should be tempted to expand that privilege, now that the oriental deadness of the Roman times has been supplanted by a new volition. Milan, for example, the largest and most prosperous of these towns, is supposed to have had some 300,000 inhabitants in the Middle Age. What could an unwarlike bishop do, though his power were never so absolute, if these arrived at the conscious- ness of their strength ? 4S4 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Such a moment came, and the friction between bishop and townspeople began and increased (1000-70). At Cremona, _,. ... .. for example, the bishop Landulf (1003-31) was The cities throw ' ' ' \ j j / off the rule of driven from the city and his castle destroyed. the bishops. 'Yhen the local issue becomes involved in the greater one between the Popes and the Emperors over the in- vestitures (1073-1122). The general confusion was the cities' chance. Pope and Emperor alike were looking for allies and were willing to pay for them by grants of privileges. They were proffered to the cities in profusion. The bishops helplessly withstood the new development. There follows a vague period of conflict, and by the end of the eleventh century the new municipal government is everywhere emergent. Its constitution bears at first an uncertain character, differing in the various cities of Lombardy, and constantly changing even in the same city. Then the term consuls begins to be applied to the highest _.. functionaries. In 1095 consuls appear at Asti, appear about 1107 at Milan, and soon they are everywhere. "°°' The consular constitution is the first famous form of the young municipal freedom of Italy. This constitution presents a great variety of forms in the different cities. Its essential elements are three : consuls, a The consular council, and a parliament. The consuls varied constitution. i;-, number anywhere from two to twenty. They were the executive, and generally divided its functions among themselves, so that some led the army, others presided at the courts, and still others performed the administrative duties. A number of elected citizens made up the council (credenza). It was an advisory body and had to be consulted in all im- portant business. The parliament (parlamentum, concio) was the gathering of all the citizens. It was irregularly called and from its unwieldiness necessarily more of a mob than a delibera- tive body. Like all mobs it could be controlled by factions, and was rather mischievous than useful. However, it evi- denced the victory of the principle of popular government, and, ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 455 in a loose way, long kept its authority since it was looked on by many as the source of all political power. On paper this new organization looks very pretty and far more modern than it really was. Its weakness lay in the persistence within the city of class distinctions _,. . and the local feuds bred thereby. Every town the new consti- had its noble class, its bourgeois proprietor class, *"*">"• Social and its lower industrial class, or proletariat. The nobility itself was not united. Here, too, as everywhere, there is the distinction of upper and lower nobility, there are the two noble classes of the milites and the valvassores. The segregative spirit of the Middle Age, with its castes, families, and guilds, could not be overcome in a generation. It was not human. Thus the new constitution did not recognize all citizenship re- the inhabitants of the city but only the two or- stricted to the ders of nobles and the free citizens of the upper nobles and the guilds, and these last hardly as the equals of the upper guilds. nobles. The lower guilds and the plebs are carefully excluded from the government. How long will they put up with such neglect ? It is plain that there is an abundance of stormy weather ahead for the new commune. Threatening external troubles created a temporary harmony among the inhabitants. The new independence of the cities had not yet been sanctioned by the Emperor, ^he development The long struggle with the Papacy had drawn not sanctioned the sovereign's attention away from the com- by the Emperor. munal development in Italy. When Frederick Barbarossa descended into Italy in 1154 and was confronted by it in its representatives, the consuls, at his first diet held prederick 1 at Ronca'glia, he was much surprised. He was still feudal lord in his own eyes. By what right had the cities usurped the sovereignty ? Sovereignty meant the regalia which consisted in the appointment to office, right of coinage, tolls, taxes etc. These rights the cities exercised, and the Emperor claimed, and each side was convinced that it was right. War 4S6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE was the only solution. But it was complicated by the bitter enmities among the cities. The same mediaeval spirit that ranged class against class within the walls, set city against city in the province. Milan had been oppressing its neighbors, and Pavia, its ancient rival, headed the complaint against it be- fore the Emperor at Roncaglia. Frederick was strictly per- forming the high functions to which he was called if he imposed peace upon the disturber. No monarch in history presents a nobler figure than this Hohenstaufen. But, after all, the cities had a title as good as his mere legal right. Facts and time were on their side. The upshot of a long struggle, waged by word and by sword, was the various leagues of the threatened municipalities, of which the Lombard League is most famous ; The Peace of then followed the Emperor's utter rout at Leg- Constance, 1183. nano (1176) and the Peace of Constance (1183).' The question of the regalia was settled once for all on that occasion ; the Emperors abdicated all but the name of lordship, and the young sovereignty of the cities was formally recognized. Frederick's successors, his son and grandson, Henry VL (1190-97) and Frederick IL (1215-50), were inclined to question this arrangement, and sometimes threat- The independence . , , . , . , of Italy accepted ened the Cities with their authority, but other by Frederick's matters generally filled their minds and obliged successors. ... them to accept the situation. Then comes the interregnum (1254-73). The Empire, and with it the Middle Age, are dead for Italy. Henry VIL, chivalrous and just, suc- ceeds for a while in deceiving himself and poetical partisans like Dante on this point, but his attempt to restore the imperial authority in Italy was doomed to be a failure (1313). Suc- cessors, such as Louis of Bavaria (1326) and Charles IV. (1355), who try their hand at a revival draw only the scorn of the Italians upon themselves and their claims. So the signifi- cance for Lombard Italy of the Peace of Constance was far- ' For details, see Chapter XIII. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 457 reaching. The cities thereby became their own masters and could now develop, domestically and territorially, without let or hindrance, except from each other. The Empire was, after all, a foreign enslavement, and now that the yoke was broken, there was nothing to check the triumphant unfolding of those vital forces of mind and will which had long been ripening. The great intellectual rebirth or Renaissance has its roots in the freedom won at Legnano. Political liberty was gained for the present. The question was : could it be secured ? There has been so much fine writ- ing and loose thinking on this glorious Italian x^e difficulties of independence that the casual student finds it diffi- the newconsti- cult to understand its quick decay. Let us not " '°"" be deceived. There was here in Lombardy a tremendous out- burst of popular vitality, which immediately effected a great commercial and industrial expansion, and, more remotely, fur- thered the cultivation of the things of the mind. It could not otherwise than display a political activity, too, sooner or later, and remodel the feudal apparatus of government. But it could not cover at one bound the vast space between the firm-rooted feudal inequality and its modern opposite. Equality as a po- litical principle is as remote from this society as „ . , . _ the principle of free scientific investigation is equality in the from mediaeval theology. So the decaying feu- new society. dahsm leaves its dire clique-spirit behind. Cliques govern all relations of existence. A man only counts as he is a member of a powerful guild or influential class, and it never occurs to these various corporations that it is not perfectly legitimate to crowd their sister societies out of the government and secure the lion's share to themselves. The modern idea of the state, drawn from the conception of rights and duties shared in by all, is not yet born ; the real social and political unit of the Middle Age is not the state but the art or guild. So it could happen that the consular constitution, in spite of the generous ring of the word, was a mere agreement about the division of 458 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE power between the two noble classes and the rich merchant class. Nobody could feel that the reverence of law attached to such a constitution. It would last just so long as there was harmony and strength among the rulers, and docility among the ruled. A second source of danger threatening the stability of the new political settlement lay in the general Italian situation. As The feuds be- '^6 city was composed of cliques which warred tween the cities, against each other, so the whole state was a commercial clique over against its neighbors. A sharp rivalry arose over the question of markets and trade monopolies. These passionate and lawless republicans had no sense of a legitimate competition. To them a competitor was an enemy, and the safest treatment of an enemy was to annihilate him. War to the knife followed between Milan and Pavia. Half a hundred other cities engaged in similar mortal feuds. It was evident from the first that there would never be peace until some one of them had become master of the rest. Barely the struggle with Barbarossa sufficed to temporarily stop up this source of con- flicts. When the danger was removed the provincial wars broke out more violently than before. These are the political factors necessary to understand the constitutional changes the cities underwent during the one hun- Changesinthe dred years after the Peace of Constance (1183- constitution. 1 300). Although each city presents specific variations, the similarity is so great that a general description will suffice. Frederick I., during a period of temporary suc- cess, had placed his representative, as chief executive, in all The podestd, the *^^ '^i''^^" ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^'^ podesta (from po- chief executive, testas = power), and for a moment succeeded """' in centralizing the municipal administration in his own hands. Though he was immeasurably odious to the Lombards there must have been something satisfactory about the office, for after he was driven out we gradually find them setting such podesta over themselves of their own free will. About 1200 this is generally accomplished. It meant the ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 459 displacement of the many-headed consular executive (consist- ing usually of six to twelve members) by a single man ; in other words, a consolidation of authority. It was a practical and necessary reform in \iew of the numberless intestinal disturbances. The often self-divided consular executive was impotent to deal with them. The nobles were the chief mischief-makers. They had been given a share in the con- stitution. So, for the most part, they had ' ' -' The nobles n moved from their country-seats into the cities, disturbing had erected there huge castle-piles with lofty element. and impregnable towers for purposes of defence, and then, im- pelled by habit and an idle pride, began to quarrel with each other over office. Day and night the streets were the scenes of their brawls. The podesta with his dictatorial powers was to put an end to this intolerable confusion.' To give him more authority over these nobles, he was expected to be him- self a noble ; to assure his impartiality he had xhe constitution to be a foreigner. His office lasted generally a »' *'•* P<"ie»t«- year. As for the rest of the constitution, it remained substan- tially intact. There were two councils instead of one, a lesser and a greater. The par/amen^em gradually falls into disuse. The podesta means no radical change of the constitution. He is created with the consent of the three ruling orders. But at this very time the lower orders were begin- xhe rise of the ning to demand more vigorously their political *°'^" orders. enfranchisement (1200). They already had their guilds. These having published their aspirations, and having been re- fused, boldly constituted a commune for themselves (called generally cornmune del popolo = people's commune), and put at its head, as rival of the podesta, the capitano jhe capitano and //^/ /^/^/^ (captain of the people). Therewith thepodesti. the organized civil war within the gates'had begun. Does the state belong to the privileged classes or to the people, is the 1 Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is based on the tale of such a mortal feud at Verona. The Prince who appears as judge and peace-maker is the podesta. 460 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE substantial question. The former party, the party of privilege, seeks support in the Emperor and calls itself Ghibelline, while Queifs and the latter, the popular party, holds to the Pope Ohibeiiines. and Calls itself Guelf. The names Guelf and Ghibelline are borrowed from German politics (Welf, Waib- hngen), where they indicate contesting claimants for the Em- pire, but in Italy they serve to designate the opposing parties in the intestinal municipal strife. The imperial and papal titles are therefore mere labels, each party caring generally just so much for the imperial or papal cause as it favors its interest. The civil war between the classes and the masses continues on this issue about a century (i 200-1 300). The victory of T. ^ t^t. the Guelfs meant the exclusion of the Ghibel- I ne end of the civil war is lines from office and the banishment of the espotsm. chiefs, and in case of a Ghibelline victory, the Guelfs fared likewise. There is no concihation, no compro- mise. The end was inevitable. Only a military despot could secure peace to the city and obedience of both parties to a supreme will. By 1300 the cities are found for the most part to have lost their liberties, and a new period, that of the tyrants Tiiecaseof begins. The history of Milan is typical of the ™'^"- whole movement. In 1 1 98 the lower orders arose and formed their special commune (called Credenza of Saint Ambrose, equivalent to people's commune). Therewith the city had two governments. Ambitious men, usually nobles, adopted the popular cause. The civil war served their ends. After the Guelf Delia Torre family had first led the people to victory, the more poHtic Visconti, at the head Tlie Visconti. ^ , ^, ., „. , of the Ghibellmes, overthrew them (1277). The Visconti held the power through an army, and step by step estab- lished their absolutism. There is every reason to believe that it was held a godsend by the majority, for it meant rest. By 1300, or a little after ^' the Scaligers (Delia Scala family) rule in Verona, the Carraresi in Padua, the Gonzaghi in Mantua, the Estensi ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 461 in Ferrara, etc. ; but the despots governed everywhere with uncertainty at first, as was only natural from the illegality of the whole business, and under regularly recurring insurrec- tions. The cities of Tuscany, the province beyond the Apennines, had meanwhile run through the same internal conflicts as the cities of Lombardy. Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Pis- jhe cities of toja, and Siena, to mention the most important, Tuscany. had adopted the consular constitution (iioo), had then (1200) taken a podesta (the ofificer appears for the first time in 1193 in Florentine records), and next, when the people demanded their share in the municipal life, fell into the usual civil tur- moils. Tyranny is the solution here, too, but it comes a little later than it did in Lombardy, and does not ever establish it- self so firmly. Florence, the fair city of the Arno valley, destined to become soon the fountain of the Renaissance, is es- pecially fortunate in staving this development off a long while. The delay in the subjugation of Florence to a tyrant is chiefly owing to a unique measure by which there is cut one of the strongest roots of the city troubles. In 1215 the Guelf and Ghibelhne parties had suddenly crystallized in Florence over the murder of one of the powerful clan of the Buondelmonti who had offered a , . . , . 1 . , . , Florence. mortal msult to the Amidei by rejectmg a bride of their family. The noble factions filled the city with arms from that time on. In 1250 the Guelfs were banished, their property confiscated. Before a year passed, however, they returned, and the Ghibellines had to leave the city in their turn. Filled with desire for revenge, they united with the Sienese, and at Montaperti utterly defeated their countrymen (1260). (" The slaughter which turned the Arbia blood-red." — Inf., X., 86.) All this civic calamity was, in the main, brought on by the nobles. Meanwhile the people had been growing in influence. In 1250, during the height of the feuds between the nobles, they had arisen in anger over the 462 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE mismanagement of the government and their continued exclu- sion, and constituted a commune of their own with a capitano The people con- del popolo (captain of the people) at the head stitute their own (constitution called oi tht prhno popolo). That commune un» , , . . r tr 1 der the capi- was the beginning of self-assertion against the tano, 1250. upper class, and by 1293 the people were strong enough to adopt their celebrated measure, meant to give The Ordinances the city a lasting peace, the ordina7nenti della of Justice, 1293. giiistizia (Ordinances of Justice), by which the nobles were excluded from office altogether. At the same time a thorough revision of the constitution was undertaken. Hence- forth a gon/aloniere della giiistizia (banner-bearer of justice), appointed on purpose to watch over the decree against the The constitution nobility, together with eight priors of the greater of the priors. ^rts, elected for two months, form the chief executive. In accordance with the custom, prevalent also, as we have seen, in Lombardy, two councils assist in the delibera- tions. In spite of uninterrupted modification and elaboration, these elements of the system continue for two hundred years. However, the new constitution did not immediately succeed in crushing the nobility in plorence, as was planned. The Continued Ghibellines, indeed, had been made harmless disturbances. before this, and the city long since was stanchly Guelf, and now and afterward one of the pillars of that party in Italy. But the Guelf nobles now quarrelled among them- selves, and the Bianchi and Neri (Whites and Blacks), support- ing the rival interests of the great families of the Cerchi and the Donati, succeeded to feuds as violent as those of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. So the city was disturbed as much as ever, and the Ordinances are frequently defied ; but they ButtheOrdi- , ,^ , , nances assure remain on the statute-book, and cause the power the city a demo- {g incline Steadily from now on toward the more peacefully minded merchant class ranked in the greater arts. So Florence owes much, on the whole, to these provisions, if it enjoyed a longer republican interlude ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 463 than, for example, Milan. They largely contributed to give the city the peculiar democratic character by which it is known. But the defect here, as elsewhere, at this time is that the gov- ernment is still exclusively conducted by and for the richer citizens. As we cast our eye over Italy about 1300 it presents a picture of the utmost political confusion. The Middle Age was passing away, but had not yet vanished. condition of Where the new society was established it was 't^'y- '3»o- seeking a new political expression for itself, but the past could not be forgotten and was everywhere, but in different degree, asserting its claims. In the northwest, in the mountainous and agricultural country of Piedmont, the old feudal , , , . , . . Piedmont. system had shown a particular tenacity. A num- ber of great barons were disputing the province. Prominent among them were the counts of Savoy, destined to grow after many centuries into the royal house of Italy. To the east of Piedmont, in the commercial and industrial provinces of Lombardy and the Veronese March, we have seen the establishment of the petty tyrannies follow the republican constitutions. Tuscany Tuscany. to the south was drawn into the same current. Across the middle of the peninsula ran the States of the Church. The Pope's weak and unmilitary mestatesof sway made it easy for the young and exuberant *••* church. communities of the Romagna to defy his authority, and when, in 1309, the papal seat was moved to Avignon, the last impedi- ment to independence was cleared away. Bologna became a republic. Tyrannies fixed themselves everywhere, the Monte- feltri at Urbino, the Baglioni at Perugia, the Malatesti at Rimini, etc , and Rome itself was not less turbulent. , ,. Rome. Ever since Its attempt at a republican reorganiza- tion under Arnold of Brescia (d. 1155),' the memories of ancient glory and independence had proved too stubborn for 1 See Chapter XIII. 464 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the Pope to break. The chief ofificer is the senator ; Innocent III. gets the right to nominate him (1205), but Innocent's suc- cessors cannot ahvays make the right good, and are forced by the turmoils, chiefly of the nobles, to reside as much out of Rome as within it. In Naples and Sicily Charles of Anjou, the conqueror of the Hohen- staufen, had established (1266) an absolute monarchy. But- Charles was a cruel and stern fanatic, and, as a foreigner, soon „. ... ., inspired his subjects with hatred. In 1282 the Sicilian Vespers, '^ ' 1282. Sicily Sicilians arose and mercilessly butchered all the independent. French on the island (Sicilian Vespers). The next year they invited Peter of Aragon (Spain) to take the crown of the island, and after a long war it was left finally in the hands of the Aragonese house (1302). The Anjou retained Naples. The free municipalities had perished almost everywhere by 1300. Only a few had withstood the general movement toward tyranny. Florence still held her own in The republics. „, , . , , , , 1 uscany, and m the northeast and northwest, respectively, were the great rival trading republics of Venice and Genoa. — These two communities owed their greatness to the impulse given to commerce by the crusades. They practically mo- Venice and nopolized the immense trade of the Levant, and Genoa. from thence reached out threads in their un- bounded enterprise to India and even China. For a time Pisa had been a dangerous competitor of Genoa in the western Rivalry of Pisa half of the Mediterranean. These two young and Qenoa. republics had built their power on the ruin of the Saracens (eleventh century). They took and shared Cor- sica and Sardinia and established themselves along the Spanish and French coasts. Then came jealousy and quarrels. After long wars the signal victory of the Genoese near Meloria, 1284. , ^ f . ^r -r.- ^ , , . Melona, off Pisa, fixed their unquestioned hege- mony over the western seas (1284). Having acquired the commerce of the west, Genoa began gradually to reach out for ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 465 the commerce of the east. The fourth crusade, conducted by Venice and crowned by the conquest of Constantinople (1204), had given that city an immense predominance Growth of in the Orient.' But it was counterbalanced Venice. by a success which the Genoese achieved in 1261, when they led the Emperor back to his capital and got for re- ward the monopoly of the trade in the Black Rivalry of Venice Sea. There follows a century of almost uninter- ' ■"<■ Oeaoa. rupted fighting. The victory at Curzola (1298) inclines the balance in favor of the Genoese. But in 1380 j)^,g^j„,^,,gQg„. they suffer a terrible reverse. After having oese at ctiioggia, taken Chioggia and besieged Venice itself, they '**"■ are in turn besieged within the lagoons and forced to surrender at discretion. Genoa never recovered from this blow, and Venice was henceforth supreme in the Mediterranean. Internal disturbances largely contributed to Genoa's decline. It was the old story. The first reference to the consular con- stitution is of the year 1099. Slowly the peo- Domestic history pie began to assert themselves, and soon, as of Genoa, elsewhere, aristocracy and democracy, under the name of Ghi- bellines and Guelfs, joined arms. The Doria and Spinola led the former, the Fieschi and Grimaldi the latter. In 1339 the dogato (government of doge or dux) for life was tried, in imita- tion of Venice. The institution remained, but gave no perma- nent relief, and Genoa was again and again reduced to call in a foreign peacemaker, who was, at first, usually a Visconti of Milan and later the king of France. The history of Venice up to the end of the fourteenth cen- tury is only loosely connected with that of Italy. The half- flooded islands of the Lagoons, composing the History of city, were poorly settled in Roman times by Vemce. fishermen and traders. The invasions of the Huns (45 2) and the Lombards (568) drove thither many families of the continent for refuge, and the real life of the city begins about this time. ' See Chapter XV. 30 466 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE As neither the Lombards nor the Franks could subdue it, it remained subject to the eastern Empire. But in 697 the communities of the several islands met and elected their own chief officer, called doge (duke). The first doges seem to have been nearly absolute. However, a jealous aristocracy soon de- vised checks upon their power in the form of councils. The act of 697 was a virtual declaration of independence from the eastern Empire, and the freedom thus won was bravely main- tained in spite of frequent attempts of the western Empire to challenge it (chiefly by Karl the Great's son. Pippin, king The territorial °^ Italy). The city's power and wealth now expansion of grew rapidly. By . the end of the eleventh cen- *" '*■ tury the Slavs of the Dalmatian coast had rec- ognized the Venetian sovereignty. Then came the crusades. Venice, more sober and selfishly practical than the rest of Europe, engaged in them rather from commercial than from religious motives, and in the fourth crusade (1204) acquired the Peloponnesus, Crete, and the Greek Archipelago, thus lay- ing the foundation of her eastern possessions. Genoa's threat- ening competition was, as we have seen, effectively beaten down (Chioggia, 1380). Meanwhile (toward the end of the twelfth century), a gen- eral revision of the political institutions had taken place. The The constitution doge, although he is still elected for Hfe, is now oi Venice. definitely stripped of all real power. The au- thority is centred in the great council which takes the election of the doge away from the people and reserves it to itself This council consists of 480 members and is renewable every year. Associated with the doge as executive body is the small council of six (the signoria). For all important business another coun- The closing of the '^^' °^ ^° P^^S^^i (invited citizens) must be con- great council, suited. This constitution is a plain step toward oli- "^^' garchy. The movement was consummated by the famous act of 1297, the closing of the great council {serrata del gran cotisiglio), by which this body declared itself hereditary. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 467 But the aristocracy did not feel itself secure against the peo- ple whose power it had suppressed. It surrounded its consti- tution with safeguards. In 131 1 the terrible council of Ten was established, with unlimited police powers of arrest and .punishment. The vigilance of this body made popular conspiracies impossible. The world's his- tory offers no parallel of any purely aristocratic constitution which displayed so much power and endured so long. The patriciate of Rome had only a weak hold on the government in comparison. The causes of the success of the Venetian aristocracy have been much discussed. The terrible and suc- cessful machinery of tyranny summed up by the council of Ten is only partially accountable for it. More important is it that the patriciate of Venice was a patriciate of business men,- and that it furthered the interests of the state when it furthered its own. Then the best part of the popular element was always away from home doing service upon the seas. Lastly, the Venetians were inclined to mind their own business, and long kept well out of the Guelf-Ghibelline and other turmoils of the Continent. So Venice alone of Italian cities enjoyed political stability, and owed it chiefly to a united oligarchy of practical men. Toward the end of the fourteenth century the city which had hitherto followed the sea so exclusively as to make it practi- cally an extra-Italian state, took the momentous conquests of step of turning its conquests to the mainland. Venice on the It was first pushed thereto by the necessity of "*"" "" ' securing its lines of trade. By 1420 it had already acquired Treviso, Padua, and Vicenza. Then it naturally came into conflict with the expanding state of Milan. The Ghibelline tyranny of the Visconti which we saw estab- lished in Milan toward 1300 had taken a great development. It took some time before the Delia Torre ... , • 1 , Milan after 1300. family, and the Guelf mterest which they repre- sented, were entirely crushed. When Henry VII. made 468 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE (131 1) Matteo Visconti his Vicar, the definite success of that family was secured. Being now masters in their own city, the Power of the Visconti turned the civil forces, over which Visconti. (.j^gy }jad unlimited control, toward territorial ex- pansion. It is a new mile-stone in Itahan history. The little tyrannies, moderately secure at home, were everywhere trying to become large tyrannies. The practical talents of the Vis- conti and the greater resources of Milan co-operated to pro- cure them the victory. Neighbor after neighbor was either conquered or purchased, and by 1350 all Lombardy had bowed to one master. But the height of power was reached under the bold Gian Galeazzo (1385-1402). He increased his territory until no independent state was left in the north but Venice. He even crossed the Apennines. By an unparalleled combination of fraud and force Pisa, Lucca, and Siena were acquired by him. For a moment it looked as if this duke's audacious scheme of an Italy united under his sceptre was go- ing to be realized. But Florence still barred his way south- ward, and before he could crush the bold republic, the plague suddenly cut him off. A unique excrescence of Italian society must be noted at this juncture, the condottiere , the leader of mercenary bands. He The leader of owed his rise to the peculiar social and political mercenary bands, condition of Italy. On the one hand, the Italian people itself, engaged in business and arts, had dropped the employment of arms, and, on the other, the rulers, more especially the tyrants, naturally preferred a standing army de- pendent upon themselves to a militia of free burghers. But instead of being the support, the mercenaries just as often became the terror of their employers, whether these were tyrants or free cities. The condottieri and their troops are at first for- eigners. The Englishman, John Hawkwood, John Hawkwood. , , , .„ t. ,r employed by Pope Gregory XI. against Florence (1375), and later by that repubhc against the Visconti, made the institution popular. Ambitious natives saw their oppor- ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 469 tunity, and throughout the fifteenth century the leadership of a devoted mercenary band was the approved means of acquiring power. Where everything is in flux, as in the republics and tyrannies of Italy, and the iw, which stands for pennanence, nowhere enjoys reverence, the final decision lies always with brute force. It did not take the condottieri long to carry this truth to its last consequences. The death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1402) was their chance. He had held his immense territories together by force, and his sons were as yet mere boys. In a trice, therefore, half the conquered cities had shaken off their yoke, and the various commanders of Gian Galeazzo's armies scrambled for the rest. Gian Maria and Filippo Maria, the .sons, barely retained Milan proper. But they were sprigs of the old stock ; gradually, and by the same iniquitous means, the revolted parts were recov- ^ '^ The last Visconti. ered.i and when Filippo Maria died (1447) his duchy was not much smaller than his father's had been before him. But Filippo Maria was the last of the Visconti race, and with his death the question of the Milanese succession was re-opened. It is now that the most famous of the condottieri comes forward — Francesco Sforza. His father, sforza, Duice Jacopo, had founded the soldier company and of Milan. the family fame ; Francesco planned to use the prestige thus acquired to carve out some principality for himself. A dozen other ro«(/ These means deserve to be illustrated by an example. In perusing the story the reader must remember that it is no exception, rather the rule, and not confined to Milan, but characteristic of every Italian tyranny. Fihppo Maria married the widow of Facino Cane, one of his father's condottieri. He did this to acquire by her Facino's soldiers and cities. Then having attained his end he had her accused of adultery and executed. 470 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE with Venice — war with Venice had grown chronic during the last fifty years owing to the attempted extension of Venetian territory toward the west — and Milan foolishly engaged Sforza as her general. He drove back the enemy and then turned his victorious troops against the Milanese themselves. After at- tempting in vain to elude the necessity, the citizens received him as their duke (1450). Sforza's father had begun life as a peasant in the Romagna. We left Florence in the throes of the troubles which fol- lowed the establishment of the new constitution based upon Florence after the exclusion of the nobihty (1293). The '300. politics of this city are inextricably involved. Like the mind of the people itself they were in perpetual change, in fact, they afford a faithful expression Perpetual flux. .,,.,,. , - , of the brilliant, intoxicated genius of that com- munity, which displayed a mental and industrial activity that hardly has an equal in history. If its political chaos contrib- uted — as some contend — to its achievements in the arts and literature, we, who enjoy the one and do not suffer from the other, may take solace. But that the contemporaries suffered keenly from the continuous disorders is wit- Dante, r T-^ nessed by the case of Dante. He became a victim of the Bianchi-Neri troubles which succeeded the Or- dinances of Justice.' In 1301 he was sent into exile with the defeated party of the Whites, and never saw his native city again. In his " Divine Comedy " his love and his hatred of Florence have both found immortal expression. "So subtle are your provisions," he says to his countrymen with bitter irony, " that the thread you spin in October does not hold to the middle of November. How many times only in these last years have you changed the law, coinage, offices, customs, and parties " {Purg., vi., 142). This spirit of change is one cause of the subsequent political calamities of Florence, the other is the desire it shares with every other community of ^ See page 462. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 47 1 the time, notably Milan and Venice, to reduce its weaker neighbors to obedience. Modern historians may well suggest that a federation of free Lombard or Tuscan cities might have saved Italy from foreign servitude ; certain it is that the idea hardly occurred to a few advanced minds, and then too late. Such are the general principles which govern the political and constitutional development of Florence. From 1293 to 1343 the city worked out the conditions created by the jhe duke o« passage of the Ordinances of 1293. The troubles Athens, 1343. frequently grew so thick that the people surrendered temporarily to a foreign lord. In 1342 Walter of Brienne, a Frenchman and titular duke of Athens, was invited to the sovereignty. Before a year was over he had made himself so intolerable that the Florentines rose against him and drove him out in disgrace. As they renewed at the same time the laws against the nobil- ity, this class may be said to have vanished finally, as a politi- cal factor, from Florentine history about this time. The increasing trade shortly created a new nobility of wealth {nobili popolani), and the fight for influence among the great began again. At the same time the lesser Rise of the lower arts, which had hitherto been generally disfran- orders, chised, aspired to political power. Out of the new disorders rose the power of the Medici family. The first popular riots (1378), occasioned by the wool-carders {ciompi), brought Sal- vestro dei Medici to the front as favorer of the xhe Medici favor people though he himself belonged to the greater *''« pe"P"e- arts which held the power. He was wise enough to see that as the nobility had warred in vain against the greater arts, so these could not in the long run prevail against the lesser arts. For a number of generations his successors consistently fol- lowed his policy. They had acquired tremendous wealth, chiefly through their bank, a vast international institution, and grad- ually secured a wide following by corruption and interest. Cosmo dei Medici (d. 1464) was the first of the family who be- came really sovereign in the city. But his was a veiled and 472 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE insidious rule. The Medici attached no title to their names, even affected republican simplicity, and, above all, left the constitu- Qovernment of tion intact. All the old officers were appointed the Medici. 35 before, only they owed their nomination to the influence of the Medici. Thus their position in the com- monwealth may be likened to that of our American city rings, which, likewise, have no part in the constitution, but are, nevertheless, the real dispensers of patronage. Cosmo's grand- son, Lorenzo, called the Magnificent (1469- orenzo, 14 9.92.^^^^ ^^ length dared to throw aside the mask and abolish the useless republican machinery. But even he assumed no title significant of his power, though he ruled henceforth merely with a Privy Council of Seventy of his own nomination. The course of the Medici had not always run smooth. There had been, and still were, elements in the city which regretted Opposition to the passing of the republic. Savonarola will soon the Medici. make himself their mouth-piece (1494). Hith- erto, however, the chief opposition had come from the dis- gruntled popolatii (merchant nobility), who could not forget the political importance they had lost with the rise of the Medici. They had even succeeded for a short time once in having Cosmo banished (1433). But the most vigorous, and at the same time most horrible, attempt to break the Medi- cean power came in 1478. Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano then governed the state. The Pazzi family instigated a con- spiracy against them, the threads of which reached even to Saint Peter's at Rome. It is a characteristic and memorable fact that, in addition to Pope Sixtus IV., the archbishop of Pisa and several other priests were parties to the plot. The murder of the two brothers was to be perpetrated in the cathedral of Flor- ence at the moment of the raising of the host. Giuliano was stabbed in the back, but Lorenzo managed to escape. The people showed their Medicean tendencies by wreaking a stern vengeance upon the assassins. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIH 473 Meanwhile the republic had been engaged in long wars. They were all waged for the dominion in Tuscany and the security and expansion of trade. By 1400 _. 1* • 1 Florence had become one of the foremost cities expansion of for woollen and silk goods, and undeniably Florence. the greatest banking centre in the world. The whole mod- ern bank and exchange system was first organized on a large scale by Florentines. The wars of the fourteenth century were chiefly directed upon Pisa, which had entered upon a steady de- cline after its defeat by the Genoese at Meloria (i 284). In 1406 it was definitely conquered, and therewith all Tuscany had bowed to Florence.^ Meanwhile the wars had already begun with the larger neighbors, the Pope to the south, and Milan to the north. In spite of great dangers, especially from Gian Galeazzo Vis- conti, the city succeeded in holding her own, and ranked, un- der Cosmo and Lorenzo, among the larger powers of Italy. We saw that in 1309 the Pope definitely abandoned Rome for Avignon, and that with his removal the last shadow of authority over the city and the States of the Church threat- ^^^^ states o< the ened to depart from him. This period of the Church after Pope's absence in France is called the Babylon- '^°°' ian Captivity. In Rome anarchy held sway. The magistracy found itself powerless against the great barons, who, following the example of the nobility of the north, were trying to get con- trol of the city. 7 The Colonna and the Orsini led the two rival factions, and, ensconced in the old deserted TheCoionna ruins, filled the streets with violence. In conse- andOrsini. quence Rome was almost depopulated. Among the wretched citizens, however, still dwelt the phantom of the city's ancient elorv, and Nicholas or Cola di Rienzi now proved, , . . , - Rienzi, 1347. as Crescentius (796) and Arnold of Brescia( 1 1 55) had proved before him, that it could be made to work won- > Siena and Lucca are to be excepted. The former maintained its independ- ence till well into the sixteenth century, the latter even till the Napoleonic era. 474 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ders, at least for a time. The signs of ancient greatness, scat- tered around at all hands, filled him with enthusiasm, and he soon began in public discourses to communicate this feeling to others. In May, 1347, an assembly convoked upon the Capitol gave him full powers to restore order. He took the Roman title of tribune, and actually swept the barons out of the city. But his success turned his head. He seemed to fancy that the restoration of the mere name of the Republic sufficed to give it its ancient power, and he was so vain and foolish as to summon the two contending Emperors, Louis of Bavaria and Charles IV., before him to have their case adjudged. Finally, he alienated the people by his luxury and pride. Before many months were over he had so thoroughly undermined his position that it took only a bold stroke of the exiled barons, supported by the Pope's anathema, to bring him down. In January, 1348, he fled from Rome. Life, at least, and with it his plans, had been saved. He applied to the Emperor Charles IV. for assistance, but Charles laughed at the impracticable dreamer and sent Rienzi in exile. , t. him as a prisoner to the Pope at Avignon. Here he remained confined some time, until Innocent VI. (1352- 62), desirous of winning back his Italian lands, resolved to use him for this end. During Rienzi's absence from Rome the old troubles between the democracy and the nobles had broken out anew. There- Rienzi again at fore, when he appeared again, this time seconded Rome, I3S4. gyen by the Pope's blessing and support (Au- gust, 1354), the people remembered only his former champion- ship of their interests and received him with enthusiasm. He was restored to supreme power, receiving the title of senator. But he immediately fell into his old extravagances, and the fickle populace offered no permanent support. By October his short-lived glory had faded, and, like his noble predecessors in the ancient and real tribunate, the Gracchi, he was massa- cred in an insurrection. ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 475 Meanwhile the cardinal Albornoz, commissioned by the same Pope, Innocent VI., was taking more effective measures to win back the Papal States. At the head of _„ „ „ 1 J , ,. , Cardinal Albor- an aimy he made war upon the little tyrants of noz wins back Viterbo, Orvieto, Bologna, etc., and after along the Papal states, struggle reduced them to obedience. Now that '3ss=6s. the country was again governed by Papal legates, the Pope had no further excuse for not returning to Rome. Urban V., accordingly, made a beginning (1367), and finally Gregory XL , influenced strongly by the messages of Saint Catharine of Siena, took the important step of definitely ^^^ ^^ ^, transferring the government back to the Eternal turns to Rome, City (1377)- However, the action caused a '"^' split among the cardinals. The majority were Frenchmen and preferred Avignon as Papal seat ; consequently, when the Italian party in the college elected an Italian prelate. Urban VI., to succeed Gregory XI. (d. 1378), on the condition of his making Rome his residence, the French cardinals were jhe Great gradually induced to set up an anti-pope, who took Schism, his residence at Avignon. This is the beginning of the Great Schism, which is only healed by the Council of Constance (141 7). The Conciliar epoch (1409-39) and the question of suprem- acy which it raised between Pope and Council, next engaged the Popes' attention. But already the whole xhePa a character of the Papacy was changing. The changes charac- late troubles had done much toward undermin- *""' ing the respect of Europe for Christ's Vicar; then the decay of the Empire robbed it of that pillar, to which even, when it hacked at it most viciously, it owed its political world-impor- tance ; and lastly, the times themselves had changed. It was the early spring of the Renaissance, and men's energies were eagerly turning away from the old religious interests into the worldly channels of a new material, intellectual, and artistic life. The Popes were borne along by the current, and now appear no longer the gloomy and obstinate ascetics of the 476 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Middle Age, but splendid Mtecenases or gifted dilettanti with all the tastes of any prince of the time. The word prince just- its secuiarUa- ly characterizes their new position in the world, *'""• and, as in intellectual aspirations and in carnal vices, so also in their territorial greed, they closely resemble the sovereigns of the neighboring states. They go so far in for- getting the holy character of their office that they use their power principally to establish their families in places of honor. They do not even hesitate to carve out principalities for them at the expense of tlie See itself Never in the history of the Church had the vice called nepotism flourished so luxuriantly. Under these circumstances the highest aim of the average Renaissance Pope is to consolidate his dominion over Rome The Renaissance and the Papal States. In the city the Colonna Popes. au(j Orsini and their large followings were as tur- bulent as ever, and the measures of cardinal Albornoz in the Romagna and Umbria had only temporarily put down the tyrannies, which soon raised their heads as defiantly as ever. Of course these all recognized the Pope's authority in some Nicholas v., vague way, but practically they were sovereign '447=ss- in their dominion. Nicholas V. (1447-55), who introduces the Renaissance Popes, and is an enthusiastic builder and collector of manuscripts, is the first to make himself real master of the city. The occasion for doing this was offered him when Stefan o Porcari led what proved to be the last and the most ignoble of the popular uprisings in behalf of the delusive old Roman freedom (1453). The insurrection was sternly put down, Caiixtus III., and although the nobles were still turbulent occa- I4SS-S8- sionally after this, the democracy, at least, was well held in check. The next Pope, Caiixtus III. (1455-58), was a Borgia, and is interesting only as the founder of the fortunes of that famous family. Then comes Pius II. (i4i;8- Pius II., 1458-64. V to 64), a great scholar and writer, better known, though, under the name of ^neas Silvius Piccolomini. How- ever, the Popes, who by their policy are most characteristic of ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 47/ this era, are Sixtus IV. (1471-84) and Alexander VI. (1492- 1503). They were resolved by hook and by crook to oust the tyrannies and local governments, and to estab- „. , „, . ° Sixtus IV., 1471- hsh their undisputed sovereignty. Their crimes ' 84, and Alexander are innumerable, their vices unnamable. Sixtus V- >492->so3- IV. had six nephews to set up in the world. Happily most of them destroyed themselves through their excesses, or the Papacy would have been ruined. Poison and the dagger were with Sixtus the common way of removing opposition. He was an undoubted party to the base Pazzi conspiracy at Florence. In Alexander VI. (Roderigo Borgia) the incredible immorality of the age had created a man after its heart. Offices were sold at auction^ under him, cardinals and bishops^ were poisoned at his table, and the Vatican (the Pope's palace) saw festivals of lust worthy of a Nero. Worst of all was the Pope's relation to his children, whom he openly recognized. His „ _ . ^ , ,, C^sar Borgia. son, Cjesar Borgia, was a man 01 remarkable powers of mind, but a monster of iniquity. To him, as his gen- eral, Alexander entrusted the task of subduing the States of the Church. This task Csesar accomplished, regardless of means, with such thoroughness,'' that whatever else — and it is every- thing — can be said against him, the sovereignty of the Pope was never again questioned. The rest of his history and that of the reign of his father lies beyond our scope. ' Sale of offices was the common means of getting money. There were regular price-catalogues for the ecclesiastical honors, a deanship costing so much, a cardinal's hat so much, etc. Sixtus IV. remarked, " a Pope needs only pen and ink to get what he wants." 2 A verse went the rounds in Rome to the effect : "Alexander sells the keys, the altars, Christ Well, he bought them ; so he has a right to sell them." 3 The Venetian ambassador wrote : ' ' Every night they find in Rome four or five murdered men, bishops and prelates, etc." There was even a Borgia poison, a white, odorless powder, the secret of which has been lost, which was dropped into the food or blown upon the body of the victim. * The snare he laid for the Orsini at Sinigaglia is famous. They had helped him conquer the Romagna and he wanted to get rid of them. They were suspicious, but such were his arts that he beguiled them to the castle where he stayed and had them all strangled. 478 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Although we last saw the House of Anjou stripped of Sicily, it long maintained all its old influence in Italy by championing Naples after the Guelf interest. Robert (d. 1343) even gave 1300. a new lustre to his house by his literary inter- ests. Petrarch was his friend, Boccaccio frequented his court. But with his granddaughter, Johanna I. (1343-82), begins a Johanna I., period of confusion which continues into the ■343-82. sixteenth century. Johanna was only eighteen years old at her accession, beautiful and cultured, but of south- ern passions. She had lately married her cousin Andrew, of the younger branch of the Anjou, established in Hungary, but the match was unfortunate. When Andrew was murdered (1345) the suspicion fell upon his wife, and his brother Louis, king of Hungary, accordingly invaded Naples to punish the malefactress. After a time he retired without accomplishing anything, and Johanna now sinking deeper and deeper in her debaucheries, the barons ruled as they pleased and filled the poor land with predatory companies. Finally, as if bent on increasing the confusion, she unnecessarily raised a question of succession. The crown should have fallen by right to Charles Charles of of Durazzo, of the Hungarian Anjou, but Jo- Durazzo. hanna, merely to please a whim, resolved to give it to the French house of that name. Charles thereupon captured Naples and had her executed (1382). He was soon LadisiauB, 1386- followed by his son Ladislaus, an able and am- ■414- bitious man (d. 1414), but not without a long struggle with the French Angevin claimant. His sister suc- ceeded him. As she bore the name of the former queen, Jo- Johannaii., hanna, so she reproduced all the other's >4"4-35- abominable vices (1414-35). Finally there was a party formed against her in her own land and Louis, Rivalry of the '^^ ^^^ '^'^^^ French line, put himself at its head. Houses of Aragon In defence she called in Alphonse V., king of njou. Aragon, who already held of Italian territory Sardinia and Sicily, and, in default of heirs, appointed him ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 479 her successor. Alphonse entered Naples in triumph. Then, char- acteristically enough, Johanna repented of what she had done, called back Louis (known as Louis IIL), and, dying, conferred her territories upon him. Alphonse soon returned, and after a long struggle with Louis conquered the king- Condition of dom. But it was a decayed, impoverished prov- Naples. ince which he thus won. The long wars had torn up the bases of ordered society, and the proud barons had been syste- matically taught a lawlessness which they were slow to unlearn. If Naples took such a small part in the glorious period of the Renaissance just breaking over Italy, the explanation is given in these hopeless, persistently feudal and mediaeval conditions of society in the lower part of the peninsula. Personally Alphonse was one of the most attractive of the princes of his time ; perhaps it is not exaggeration to call him the model prince of the early Renaissance. He Aipiionse, loved splendor, encouraged building, and was an ■435-58. eager patron of artists and men of letters. They gave him, and he deserved, the title Magnanimous. But even he was not able to restore what the misrule of the later Angevins had undone. When he died (1458) his dominions were divided. Aragon, Sardinia,' and Sicily passed to his next legal heir, his brother John ; Naples, his conquest, he could dispose of as he pleased, and he accordingly left it to his illegitimate son, Ferdi- nand. This Ferdinand (1458-94) was one of the most ferocious villains who ever sat upon a throne. His barons found life so intolerable under him that they revived the Ferdinand, claims of the banished Angevins of France, >4s8-94- and it was the resurgence of this old question of the Neapolitan succession that was destined to bring the long-hovering doom of Italy upon her. For with the death of Rene (brother of ■ The other large Italian island, Corsica, was at this time still in possession of Genoa. It was only in the eighteenth century that it was ceded to France, which holds it to this day. 48o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Louis III.) and Charles of Maine (1481), the last of the An- jou, their possessions, with their claims, reverted to the House of France, and the conquest of Naples, and The king of ■ i , r t ^ ^ • France inherits therewith the enslavement of Italy, hinged from the claims to j^g^y qi^ merely on the willingness of the French Naples. ■' ... king to embark on the policy of foreign advent- ure which the pursuit of those claims entailed. Louis XI. (d. 1483) was much too practical a mind to allow himself to be enticed by the enigmatical prospects of distant Italy, but his Charles Viii. re. ^°"' Charles VIII., a young, incompetent, but solves to invade ambitious changeling, was, after long hesitation, * ^' prevailed upon by a number of circumstances to undertake the expedition, which turned out to be the begin- ning of Italy's ruin (1494). The country's only hope against this danger would have been the alliance of all against the common enemy. In the The situation in distracted Italy of 1494 that was impossible. A Italy in 1494. national feeling was the first requisite of such a patriotic league, and since Italy had never been united, where was that to come from ? The past spoke not for harmony, but for faction. The society of Italy had arrived at its modern consciousness in the midst of and through civil wars, and had not yet gained its political equilibrium. But as we take a survey of the status of the peninsula immediately before the French invasion and compare it with the situation of about 1300, we note broadly this fact: Italy has progressed toward consolidation. The confusion of little states, especially in Lombardy, Tuscany, and the northeast marches, has given way to larger formations. The peninsula now holds five great The five Italian powers: the republic of Venice embraces the powers. territory of the northeast as far as the river Ad- da; the duchy of Milan spreads along the middle course of the Po ; of the other three powers, all south of the Apennines, the republic of Florence holds Tuscany ; the Papacy, Rome and en- vironment, together with Umbria and Romagna ; and the king- ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 48 1 dom of Naples includes the whole south. Scattered in be- tween are a number of independent republics and lordships, such as Ferrara, Siena, Urbino, and the territories of the House of Savoy in Piedmont, but they count just as little in the gen- eral politics of the peninsula as Belgium, Portugal, etc., do in the politics of Europe at this day. Genoa is still rich through her trade, but oscillates in dependence between Milan and France. These five powers were, if united, more than strong enough to repel any foreign invasion. It is, therefore, literally true that they have themselves and their distractions The relation oi to blame for Italy's ruin. Their pohtical sys- the five powers, tem was very complex. It had found its typical form toward the middle of the fifteenth century under the direction of Cos- mo dei Medici, and was largely determined by the common fear of the richest and strongest of the states, Venice. It was out of dread of Venice that Cosmo had favored the establish- ment of the Sforza in Milan (1450), and Florence and Milan had become close allies. Then Naples was persuaded to cast in her lot with these two states, and the triple alliance thus created secured a comparative stability to the peninsula during the whole second half of the fifteenth century. Of course, there was sporadic fighting, caused generally by the territorial ambition of the Popes or of Venice, but the outlook, on the whole, was promising. There even seemed to be a prospect of a permanent and general confederation. But it proved a delu- sion. There were germs of discord among the Italian states which could not be suppressed. Even the members of the triple alliance were not over-friendly to each other. As long as Lorenzo lived his great personal authority kept them together, but his foolish son, Pietro, who succeeded him (1492), had no talent for playing the part of " the needle of the Quarrel between political balance in Italy," as his father had Naples and Milan, done before him. Milan and Naples drifted apart. Lodo- vico Sforza had seized the government of Milan as regent for 31 482 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE his nephew, the lawful duke (1480), but having once enjoyed the power, had no mind to give it up. The nephew, however, was married to a princess of Naples, and king Ferdinand, in consequence, felt the injury done the young imprisoned duke personally. When Pietro dei Medici inclined to side with Naples, Lodovico felt that the hold which the triple aUiance had hitherto afforded him was slipping away. He began to plot against the House of Aragon by supporting the Angevin . , claim to Naples. His ambassadors were ordered Causes conspiring ^ to draw Charles to Spur On king Charles of France to undertake VIII. to Italy. jj^g expedition which promised so much honor. At the same time other influences were brought to bear on the young king, all tending toward the same goal. A party of cardinals vehemently hostile to Alexander VI. (elected 1492) urged Charles to proceed to Italy in order to call a council and depose the Pope. Then, too, the domestic affairs of Florence had lately been going as badly as its foreign alliances. Fool- ish Pietro's misgovernment aroused the old republican memo- ries of the citizens and their temper was further inflamed by the sermons of Girolamo Savonarola. Savonarola was a Dominican monk of stern moral stuff, who was horrified by the religious decay which he met on all hands. Reform of manners, reform of the Church, were the subjects of his prophetic visions and his stirring addresses. He has rightly been called a precursor of Protestantism. And with this re- ligious progi'amme he associated a political one. He openly attacked the Medici as the authors of the sins of Florence, and prophetically insisted that punishment for them and their indifferent subjects was at hand. His popularity and, with it, his authority became immense. Rarely has history exhibited a more curious case of the domination of one man. Under these circumstances there was wanted only the occasion and the Medici rule would come to an end. All these appeals and temptations and uncertainties were too much for Charles. He boldly threw them into the balance ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII 483 with his own ambition, his military strength, and the prosper- ity of France, and in the fall of 1494 crossed the Alps. A new period began therewith for Italy. She was .j.^^ invasion of overrun by foreigners, first the French, and then 1494 and its con- in rivalry by the Spaniards and the Germans, sequences, and soon subjugated to foreign influence. A new period began also for the world. France, Spain, and Germany touched the new culture of the wonderful peninsula, the mother of Europe, and the currents of her finer intellectual and artistic impulses poured through and transformed their coarser civilization. CHAPTER XVIII FRANCE, 1 108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 I. FRANCE, 1108 TO THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR During the eleventh century the royal House of France ex- ercised but little authority. The barons were strong and law- Condition of the less, and resisted the king. The royal estates Crown. were very small and confined to the central and northern parts of France. In going from one estate to another the king was compelled to pass through hostile territory. The crown was without honor. The accession of Louis VI. (1108- 37), called the Fat, marks a change in the fortunes of the Cape- tian House. All but the last years of his life were spent in passing through his kingdom, punishing the rebellious barons, asserting his royal rights, acquiring territory, and, in general, in increasing the prestige of the royal name. Louis VI. assumed the role of protector of the Church. Many of his conquests were undertaken to restore some bishop Louis VI iio8= "'^ archbishop to his property or rights. Dur- 37, and the ing the eleventh century the hostility between "'^'^ ' the Pope and the king of France was somewhat less pronounced, and early in the twelfth century we see evidences of a newly formed alliance between them. The Pope needed help against the Emperor and also a place of safety to which he might flee when he was driven from Rome. He found them both in France. The attitude of Louis toward the bishops and archbishops of his kingdom was wholly in keeping with this policy. He was their champion against all their op- pressors. No one could with impunity seize their lands, abridge their rights, or refuse them their dues. It must be said, how- FRANCE, II08-I494- ENGLAND, 1070-1485 485 ever, that his motive was not simply reHgious. These church lands paid him a good income every year, and it was greatly to his interest to see that they were kept unimpaired. His in- clination coincided with his best interests. For this vigorous protection the clergy were devoutly thankful to him. Their whole influence was used to exalt his dignity and increase his authority. The crown profited immensely by this alliance. In his own lands, the duchy of France, the king was at con- stanfwar with the barons, who were little better than brigands. They seized travellers and held them for ran- , . , , , , ,. • , The nobility. som ; robbed the trains 01 merchandise ; seized the cattle and produce of the serfs, and even robbed the churches and monasteries. Safe in their castles, they could swoop down on the passer-by and return in safety to their strongholds. It was the violence and exactions of the barons that led the cities to organize into communes for resistance. The communes were therefore good allies and helpers of the king in his struggle with them. The king spent his reign in punishing these robber barons. ' He developed a remarkable activity, passing continually from one part of his lands to an- other, righting wrongs and preserving order. By this means he was successful in instilling into the minds of his subjects a most wholesome respect for the royal power. Louis VI. was so busy with the affairs of his immediate lands that he had little time to devote to the great lords, who practi- cally ruled the rest of ^ance independently. The duke of Normandy, who was also king of England, Henry I., was one of his most powerful vassals and found innumerable opportu- nities to check and thwart him in his plans. Henry I. had got possession of his brother Robert, who had been made duke of Normandy, and kept him in prison till he died. Robert's son, William Chto, appealed to I^ouis VI. for help, and the struggle lasted till the death of William, which occurred in 11 28. Louis VI. was not able to get possession of Normandy. It remained in the hands of the king of England. Henry I. also aided 486 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE and abetted Louis's rebellious and brigand nobles. Louis, however, found an excellent ally in the count of Flanders, who remained true to him throughout his whole reign. For the most part, however, he was compelled to resist his enemies alone. He provided for the acquisition of more territory by marrying his son, Louis VIL, to Eleanor, the daughter of WiUiam X. of Aquitaine. This seemed like a great acquisi- tion, but it was so far away that the royal power never reached to it, and besides it was soon lost to the French crow'n by the unfortunate divorce of Eleanor. Louis VL was one of the most able of the Capetian family. Until his growing corpulence made it impossible for him to Character of travel he was constantly in motion. He was Louis VI. candid and open, and hated all fraud, duplicity, and perfidy. He was true to all his obligations. He was humane and affable to all. He found an excellent counsellor in Suger, Abbot of Saint Denis, who gave him great assistance in all his work. He tried to secure a good administration of jus- tice in his lands by sending his own judg^^s throughout all of his possessions to report to him anything that needed redress or correction. " He found, the crown at his accession de- pressed to the lowest point of weakness and insignificance ; he restored its dignity, asserted its prerogatives, and enforced its authority." The character of his son and successor, Louis VIL, was very different. He was religious, simple, credulous, and capri- Louis VII., cious. The good understanding between him 1137=80. a];,(j (-}^g Pope was disturbed for some years by a quarrel over the appointment of the archbishop of Bourges. In the end, however, he yielded to the Pope, and peace was restored. Through the influence of the clergy his authority was increased in certain directions. So long as Suger lived he was able to keep the king from making many serious mistakes. The one great one which he did make was to go on the cru- sade. Suger had opposed this step, but without success. PERIGORD QUEKCY •^^TV G A S C ^ Y,^ BEARN FRAIS^CE 1185. J>aminiona directly gavei-ned iy Henry II. _ EOKEZ < AGENAISv- ,,*■ T O O N Y JP ToaTolu: ..^ BZBS U !*.-« U / U^arbpnne o( SIZ\ 0- Dominions dependent on Henry II, - ^f^y':,"j[ Dominions directly governed by King of Franoe.CJ**^^ Dominions dependent on King of France The M.-If.Co..Buffah.X. V. 2' 0" ^ #^ x^^W SCALB OPHILEB. too I 1 1 I FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 487 During his absence in the east Suger practically ruled the country, and it was owing to his ability that Louis VII. found his kingdom in so good a condition when he returned. There is no doubt, however, that his long absence from the land worked some injury to the royal prerogative. After the death of Suger, Louis made the politically serious mistake of divorcing his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. He lost, thereby, her possessions, the important duchy of Divorce of Aquitaine. This loss, however, was only a small Eleanor. part of the misfortune. By her marriage with Henry II. of England Aquitaine was added to the already large English possessions in France. All the western part of France, from Normandy to the Pyrenees, was thus lost to the French King. Within a few years a hostile state was established, embracing nearly one-half of the soil of France. Louis VII. would have found it even more difficult to resist the encroachments of Henry but for the quarrel of the latter with Beket and the ambition of his sons. Louis intrigued with Henry's rebellious sons and aided them, so that Henry II. was obliged to divide his French territory among them. This division materially weakened the English power, and prevented further encroach- ments on French territory. Louis's policy his more able son, Philip II., Augustus (1180- 1223), carried consistently to a successful issue. Philip II. was a diplomat and a politician in the worst PhMip 11., sense which these words have acquired. He was 1180-1223. treacherous, cruel, and unscrupulous. He had excellent political judgment, knew what was to be done, and was able to do it. His life yvas devoted to the one object, which was to be attained in many ways — the increase of the royal power at the expense of the great feudal lords. Conspicuous among these were the kings and princes of England, whom besought in every way to deprive of their French posses- sions. Henry II. and his four sons were constantly quarrel- ling over their possessions in France. Philip followed the pol- 488 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE icy of his father toward them, and always assisted the weaker of the parties. He attacked the English possessions in Berry (1187), and before Henry H. could bring assistance made him- self master of much of the province. A truce was made, and in the meantime the news of the fall of Jerusalem arrived. The two kings met and made a treaty preparatory to undertaking a crusade. It was soon broken, however. Philip aided Richard, Henry's son, in his revolt against his father and gained a de- cided advantage over Henry in battle. Henry H. was forced to make peace and surrender all his claims to Berry. Richard did homage to Phihp II. for his French possessions. An account of the crusade of the two kings has already been given. Philip returned from the east in order, if possible, to secure some advantage over Richard. He made war on his possessions, but, in spite of favorable opportunities, met with little success until after the death of Richard (1199). King John, who fol- lowed Richard, offered a better opportunity. He had put to death his nephew, Arthur, who had secured the possession of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. Philip summoned him to ap- pear before his court and submit to trial. When John dis- Phiiip I!, and regarded the summons, Phihp deposed him and John of England, confiscated his feudal possessions on the ground that he had violated his feudal obligations. With astonishing rapidity Philip reduced Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Saintonge, and Angouleme. Shortly afterward nearly all of Aquitaine submitted to him. John was left with only a small strip of territory in the southwestern part of France. During the first years of his reign Philip had been compelled to face a dangerous alliance among some of his most powerful subjects, the counts of Flanders, Namur and Hainault, Sancerre, Blois, and the duke of Burgundy. For six years Philip carried on war against them, and defeated them one after another, and reduced them to obedience. He compelled them to surrender to him several rich districts, thus enlarging his domains. ^ By wresting so many dependencies from the king of England FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 489 and attaching them to himself the French king, for the first time in the history of France, became more powerful than any of his feudal subjects. He was the largest land-holder in France. He was now king in fact as well as in name. He had acquired a long strip of sea-coast, which was a great advan- tage to him. The remaining nobles, however, saw the danger that threatened them, and from this time on there were constant alliances among them for the purpose of resisting the too great growth of the king. They became clearly conscious of their danger when, in 12 13, Philip II. showed his easy superiority over the count of Flanders. This frightened all the feudal lords in the north, and led them to join a great alliance that was being formed against Philip and his ally, Frederick 11. of Germany. The parties of the confederation were John of England, the Guelf family of Germany, with Otto IV. at its head, and the principal barons of the Netherlands. John landed at Rochelle, in Poitou, and met with much success, but was stoutly resisted by prince Louis, the son of Philip. Otto IV. united his forces with those of the Low Bouvines, 1214. Countries and met Phihp II. at Bouvines (July 27, 1214). Philip won a signal victory, and during the rest of his reign was undisturbed by the English. He was master in Normandy, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, and Poitou, although some of the cities of the last-named- county were still in the hands of the English. With the crusade proclaimed by Innocent III. against the famous heretics, the Albigenses, Philip II. had nothing to do in a direct way, but he was destined to derive great ■' ' The Albtgenses. gain from it. . Southern France and northern Italy were at this time strongly affected by heretical opinions. Innocent III. during the first years of his pontificate tried to root out the heresy by peaceable measures. He sent his teachers among them, but all their efforts were without success. Count Raymond VI. of Toulouse was himself in sympathy with his heretical subjects, and apparently shared their opin- 490 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ions. He was very lukewarm in his support of the papal representatives, and when, in 1208, one of them was mur- dered, the count was thought to have been guilty of the crime in an indirect way. A crusade was therefore preached against him. In order to save himself and his possessions Raymond made every concession demanded of him and submitted to the Pope's representatives. The crusading army, however, con- tinued its preparations and attacked Beziers, Carcassone, and other places. The army was everywhere successful, and Ray- mond of Toulouse, in spite of his concessions, was next attacked. Simon de Montfort led the crusaders, and was able in a short time to drive out the count and get control of his territory. He was rewarded by the possessions of Raymond, which were given him as a fief He went to Paris to take the oath of alle- giance to the king for his newly acquired land. The crown prince Louis then assisted Simon in the further reduction of some of the strongholds. In 1218 Raymond made an effort to regain possession of his county. He appeared among his fdrmei subjects, who rose at his call and flocked to his banner. Simon de Montfort was slain in trying to put down the rebellion. Raymond VI. died in 1232, and his son, Raymond VII., finally was victorious over his enemies and got possession of all his ancestral estates. But Honorius III. preached another cru- sade against him, and Louis VIII. having made war on him, conquered a large part of Languedoc. This actually took place after the death of Philip II., but it lay in the line of his policy. The reign of Philip IL' was of fundamental importance for the growth of the royal power. The king's domain was' more The royal than doubled by him, and his income corre- domain. spondingly increased. For the first time the king was rich. Philip II. found the old system of administra- tion insufficient. His estates had thus far been managed by a prevot, who administered justice in the name of the king, collected the taxes, and preserved order. Although these prevots were the king's officers, there was the tendency, in FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 491 accordance with the character of the age, for them_ to look upon their office as a fief, and hence hereditary. To keep them from growing quite away from him, and also to get the best returns from his estates, Philip II. created a new officer, the baillie. He was put above the prevots, several of whom were generally in his bailiwick. He was required to hold court every month for the rendering of justice and to make a full report of his doings to the king. He was especially entrusted with collecting all the money possible for the king and delivering it at Paris. The reign of Philip II. had resulted in two most important things — the great e.Ktension of the royal power and the better administration of the royal affairs. The hereditary character of the crown seemed so well established in his reign that he did not think it necessary to secure the election of his son. It was taken for granted that the crown would pass on to him. The reign of his son, Louis VIII. (1223-26), was but the continuation of that of Philip II. Although he was thirty-six years old when his father died, he had never Louis viii., occupied an independent position in the king-. 1223-26. dom. He had served his father faithfully in many ways, but had never been officially recognized or united with his father in the government. His connection with the fortunate close of the Albigensian war has already been given. He was suc- cessful in extending the imperial authority over certain other feudal dependencies. It must be said, however, that the work had for the most part been done by his father. He simply reaped the benefit of it. His work was to complete the con- quest of Poitou and Saintonge and other provinces in the southwestern part of France. Henry III. of England was fol- lowing a weak policy in that part of his kingdom. He left the communes there to themselves, and so permitted them to escape from his jurisdiction. Louis VIII. had no difficulty in getting possession of all the country as far as the frontier of Gascony. Henry III. did little or nothing to check him. His reign, 492 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE therefore, witnessed another important enlargement of the royal territory and power. As has been said before Louis had been kept in all respects dependent on his father. - Up to this time the royal princes had Creation of "o independent income. This was humiliating appanages. (-g them, especially since, although they were of the royal family, they must necessarily be far inferior in actual power and influence to many of the vassals of the king who were beneath them in birth. It is f)robable that his own unpleasant experiences while crown prince caused him to hit upon the plan of giving to each of his sons a certain territory to rule over. It followed, of course, that the son was entitled to the income of this territory, and was therefore in a manner independent of his father. While this measure had many things in its favor, it proved in the end to have been ill-ad- vised, because it tended to alienate certain provinces from the crown at a time when everything possible should have been done to consolidate the royal possessions. It also opened up opportunities for endless strifes and ambitions in the royal family. Louis IX. (1226-70) was only eleven years old when his father died, and therefore could not rule in person. His mother, Blanche of Castile, seized the power as Louis IX., ' . . 1226.70, and regent and administered affairs in the young Bianciieof king's name. The vigorous policy of the two previous kings had naturally produced great dis- satisfaction among the high feudal nobihty. Blanche of Cas- tile, being a Spaniard, and therefore a foreigner, was thoroughly hated by them. She was supposed to be devoted to the inter- ests of Spain and was charged with sending French money to her people. Her name was also linked in a very compromis- ing way with Thibaut, count of Champagne, as well as with a cardinal who was living in Paris. Since she was not known to possess any particular ability, the nobles now thought an excel- lent opportunity had come to regain their lost independence FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 493 and power. The nobility accordingly conspired against the regent, and prepared to undo all that Philip II. and Louis VIII. had accomplished for the royal house. The conspiracy was wide-spread, especially in the north and the south, and included the king of England, the counts of Boulogne, Brit- tany, Toulouse, La Marche, the duke of Burgundy and others. Every one who had any grievance against the government joined the rebels. The treason invaded even the royal family. The count of Boulogne was the uncle of the young king, Louis IX. The barons, however, were thoroughly mistaken in the char- acter of Blanche. She had, indeed, had no opportunity to show her ability until this time. She now victory for proved herself to be possessed of great courage the crown. and cleverness, deep political insight, and remarkable execu- tive ability. Although virile in her will and energy, she nevertheless possessed strong womanly qualities, which she knew how to use to her advantage. She was engaging and persuasive in manner and managed people with consummate skill. She was able to win count Thibaut of Champagne to her cause, and although he more than once seemed about to desert her, she always succeeded in retaining his services. She had her son crowned at Rheims and then attacked the rebels one after another with such rapidity and force that she was every- where victorious. For nearly six years the contest lasted, but when it was ended, the royal power was more secure than ever. By the treaty of Meaux (1229) the trouble begun by the Albigensian crusade was finally settled. The count of Toulouse agreed to destroy the walls of all his principal cities, to persecute all heretics, to go on a crusade for five years, and to give his daughter in marriage to a brother of Louis IX. who should also be the heir to the county of Toulouse. Raymond VIII. of Toulouse, the successor of Raymond VII., was left only a small part of western Languedoc, while all the rest of his territory passed into the hands of the royal family. 494 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The count of Brittany also made a most desperate resistance to Blanche, relying on the help of Henry III. of England. But Blanche was able to reduce him to subjection. By the year 1232 the kingdom was at peace and entirely under her control. Blanche displayed the same vigorous spirit in her relations with all the powers of France. With the clergy she was more than once embroiled because of her interference in ecclesiasti- cal affairs. She disregarded feudal rights and customs, when- ever it seemed good to her. Her harshness led to some unpleasant results. In 1229 some of the students of the Uni- versity of Paris engaged in a free fight with some of the citi- zens and beat them severely. The police of the city, disre- garding the immunity of the students, punished them with great cruelty. The professors and the authorities of the University demanded reparation because their rights as a corporation had been infringed upon. They appealed to the regent, but she refused to listen to them. The whole faculty ceased lect- uring and with the students withdrew from the city. The Pope, however, interfered as peacemaker, and succeeded in patching up the quarrel and bringing the professors back again. Louis IX. became of age and began his independent reign 1236. His mother, however, retained a controlling influ- ence over him so long as she lived. She had given the most Character of careful attention to his training and the devel- Louisix. opment of his character. It is her greatest honor to have borne such a son and to have made of him what she did. He was first of all a Christian and all his judgments were formed under the influence of a dominating Christian ideal. Few rulers have ever taken Christianity so seriously and followed its dictates, even when it was against their apparent interests, so closely. Christian conduct under all circum- staneiss was to him the most important thing. His religious conscience was absolute master of him. This won for him FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 495 the reputation of the most perfect justice and made him the arbiter of all Europe. The Christian world was willing to sub- mit all cases to him because it knew that he would decide according to the facts, and with the strictest loyalty. Although deeply religious, he was neither ascetic nor indifferent to the affairs of state. He loved the chase and the hunt; horses, dogs, and falcons were his pets ; he was lavish in expenditure, rich in dress, and luxurious in the appointments of his court. But all these things were a part of his conception of the dignity of a king. He was the model Christian of his time, and, though the paths of conquest opened to him, he walked the ways of peace. Although he increased the royal power during his reign, it was not his fixed policy to do so, at least in the same way as it had been the policy of his predecessors. In 1241 a conspiracy against him was formed among the nobles in the western and southwestern parts of the country, backed up by Henry III. of England. Louis had just established his brother Alphonso as count of Poitiers, and the conspiracy was primarily directed against him. Louis took the field at once on behalf of his brother, and Poitou surrendered to him almost without a blow. Henry III. was defeated before the city of Saintes (1242) and fled to Bordeaux. The conspiracy was broken up and Louis prepared to follow up Henry III. and attack him, when he was taken ill, and the campaign was cut short. The treaty of Lorris (1243) imposed upon the rebellious nobles as hard terms as those to which Raymond of Toulouse had been com- pelled to submit. Louis might now have conquered the whole of the English possessions. Henry III. became involved with his barons at home, and Louis had a free field in southwestern France. His sense of justice, however, prevented him from improving his opportunities. He even came to the conclusion that some of the conquests of Philip II. had been made unjustly and contrary to the rights of those who had been deposed. To satisfy his conscience he therefore voluntarily ceded to 496 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Henry III. several provinces, Limousin, Quercy, Perigord, and others. Henry III. in return gave up all his claims to Poitou, Blois, Brittany, La Marche, Auvergne, and other districts. Raymond VIII. of Toulouse died 1247, and all of his terri- tory passed to Alphonso as his appanage. During his life Al- phonso acted in complete harmony with his brother the king. He ruled the province well, restoring order and preserving the peace. The country was brought under the control of the French king, but so wisely that there was no difficulty about it. By assuming a conciliatory attitude, and adopting a mild policy, Toulouse was attached to the crown. The struggle between the Emperor and the Pope caused Louis much distress. He believed that both the papacy and The Pope and the Empire were necessary to the existing order Emperor. of things, and was pained at the bitter war be- tween them. To him both were representatives of God. He could not, therefore, espouse unreservedly the cause of either. He had the highest sense of his duties and relations to both of them. ■ He preserved, whenever possible, a neutral position and tried to reconcile them. He disregarded the Pope's deposition of the Emperor, but when Frederick was about to attack Lyon in order to make the Pope a prisoner, Louis was willing to interfere on the Pope's behalf. In 1239 Gregory IX. offered the imperial crown to Louis's brother, Robert, but the king would not allow him to accept it. When the struggle ended in the victory of the Pope, Louis might have taken advantage of the weak condition of Germany to extend his boundaries on the east. He refrained frpm anything of the sort and con- tented himself with preventing his enemy, Richard of Cornwall, from acquiring possession of the Empire. He did all he could to raise up an opponent to Richard in the person of Alphonso of Castile. His only acquisition of territory on the east was the county of Macon, in Burgundy. By marriage the Pro- vence became the possession of his brother, Charles of Anjou, FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 497 and fell therefore under the influence of the French House. When the Pope offered him the crown of Sicily he refused it, but permitted his brother, Charles of Anjoa, to accept it. He made terms with the various Spanish rulers by which the Pyre- nees were made the boundary between the two countries. Bar- celona became Spanish, and the king of Aragon surrendered all his claims to the southern parts of Languedoc and the Pro- vence. Louis's relations with England have already been made clear. He made war on Henry III., but only for just cause. He did not follow up his advantages after he had gained Loujg and a victory, but as has been seen above, surren- England. dered certain lands which he thought had been obtained unjustly. His reputation for uprightness led the king of Eng- land and his barons to appeal to him to settle their quarrel. But they did not abide by his decision. The ruin of the Em- pire left France the strongest power in Europe. In about forty years the French king was to show his superiority by removing the seat of the papacy to Avignon, and by using the Popes as tools to further the interests of France. From the reign of Louis IX. date some of the most important changes and improvements in the administration of the govern- ment. More than eighty of his subjects had the changes in the right to coin money, and up to this time the administration. money coined in any particular province was the only legal tender within that province. In travelling from one province to another it was necessary, therefore, to change one's money, always, of course, at some loss. In 1263 Louis decreed that the money struck by the lords must bear a different inscription from that coined by himself The king's money was to be the only legal tender in the provinces owned directly by himself, ' and in all other parts of the country was to be on a par with' the local coinage. Several laws were published prohibiting counterfeiting and debasement of the royal money. This was, in fact, a good step toward the unity of the kingdom. 32 498 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The office of baillie which had been created by his grand- father had not been kept entirely free from feudal influences and therefore rendered the king less valuable service Baillie. °. than it was capable of doing. To correct this and bring the baillies back to their proper relation with the king, Louis renewed the custom of sending missi dominici who should inquire into the manner in which they were administering their office and make a report to him. These were able to restore the close connection between the baillies and the crown, and so improved the government. In accordance with the informa- tion received from these missi, Louis published an ordinance (1254) regulating the office of baillie. It was prescribed that every baillie should take an oath to administer his office fai'th- fully and justly, and to preserve local liberties as well as the rights of the king ; he was forbidden to receive any money or gift from the people in his bailiwick ; he was not to engage in any other business, or have any other interest in his bailiwick than to serve the king ; he was forbidden to marry anyone from his district, or to surround himself with his relatives or to give them any office under him. He was ordered to hold court in person, regularly and in the appointed places, and to make reports to the king of all his doings. After being removed from his office, he was to remain in the province for forty days, in order that the opportunity might be given to prefer charges against him. Louis did all he, could to secure uprightness, honesty, and efficiency in all his officials. Around the person of the king there was constantly to be found a large number of people of different rank, who formed, _ .. in a loose kind of way, his court. The highest divided into three in rank of these were his council. Up to this groups. jji^jjg ^Ij jj^jg court had helped him in the ad- ministration of the affairs of government. Louis IX. introduced the principle of division of labor by dividing this council into three groups and assigning to each a particular kind of work. These divisions were the council proper, the officers of the FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 499 treasury, and the parlement. The council retained the execu- tive functions of the government. The treasury officials had charge of the collection and disbursement of all the moneys of the king, while the parlement became the highest judicial body in the realm. Previous to this time the administration of justice had been made very difficult because the king was constantly travelHng from one part of the kingdom to another, and since his council accompanied him and all cases must be tried in, or near, his presence, all the parties to a case were compelled to follow him about, and often several weeks, or even months, would elapse before a case might come to trial. This, of course, rendered it impossible for many people to receive jus- tice. To remedy this, Louis established the parlement in Paris and gave it a fixed place of meeting. ^ The jurisdiction of the parlement was also gradually ex- tended. The revival of the study of Roman law brought out the imperial principle that the king is the source _. of all justice. The theory arose that the juris- diction of the nobles was a fief held of the king. He had sim- ply delegated his authority to them. It followed almost as a matter of course that every one should have the right of ap- pealing to the king in case he were not satisfied with the re- sult of his trial, and also that the king might call before his court any case that he might wish. For various reasons the king wished to make the number of these " royal cases " as large as possible and so interfered more and more in the baro- nial courts, and brought all the important cases before his own judges. A "royal case" had never been defined, and, therefore, because of this indefiniteness, the extension of the authority of the parlement was easy. Louis forbade the trial by duel and put in its stead the appeal to a higher court. The parlement, therefore, became the court of appeal over all the baronial courts. The king's justice became superior to all baronial justice. While Louis was truly religious in accordance with the 500 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ideas of his age, and defended the Church against all violence and injustice, he nevertheless guarded his royal prerogatives Louis IX. and the against clerical encroachments. He compelled clergy. the Church to contribute its part toward the support of the government by the payment of tithes and other taxes. He hmited, to a certain extent, the judicial power of the bishops, and subjected a part of the clergy to the civil law. He greatly favored the mendicant orders at the expense of the clergy. They were the most popular preachers and confessors. He used them as ambassadors, as missi dominici, and in many of his highest offices. Since the mendicants were the especial helpers of the Pope, he assisted half-unconsciously in extending the papal authority. The famous Pragmatic Sanction attrib- uted to Louis IX., which is often regarded as a sort of Magna Charta of the Galilean Church, is a forgery of the fifteenth century. Philip III. (1270-85) was a faint reflection of his father, and a shadowy personality. In his reign for the first time we Philip III., find powerful favorites at the court, known as 1270=85. legistes, who by their great activity and influence, practically throw the king into the shade. Pierre de la Broce was one of these favorites, a man of the common people, but capable and ambitious. Because both of his low birth and his P high office he was hated by the nobility, who the court, the coveted his power. His influence with the king ligistes. ^^^ g^ great that his advice prevailed over that of all the rest of the king's counsellors. The queen, Mary of Brabant, was also his enemy, and after a bitter struggle against her and the nobility, Pierre's power was destroyed and he was hung. His place in the king's affections was taken by Mat- thew, abbot of Saint Denis. Matthew's influence was so great that a chronicle of the times declares that he ruled France. The principal foreign complications during Philip's reign arose with Spain. The first trouble with Spain was in con- nection with Navarre, At the death of the king of Na- FRANCE, 1 108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 50I varre (1274) the kings of Castile and Aragon laid claim to his crown, and his widow, Blanche of Artois, took refuge with her child at the court of Philip III. She was Trouble with well received, and her child, the heiress of Spain. Navarre, was engaged to the king's second son, who afterward succeeded him. An army was sent into Navarre, which reduced it to subjection, and made of it practically a dependency of the French crown. In 1276 Philip III. attempted to interfere in the affairs of Castile in favor of another French princess, but without much success. In connection with the Sicilian Vespers (1282) and the consequent expulsion of the French, the crown of Sicily was offered to Peter III. of Aragon. To support his uncle, Charles of Anjou, Philip III. collected an army and in- vaded Aragon. At first the army was successful, but the climate and disease compelled it to retreat. The expedition was a failure and Philip died on the way home (1285). During his reign the royal domain was enlarged by the actual acquisition of Toulouse. It embraced the territories of Poitou, Saintonge, Toulon, Albigeois, Quercy, Rouergue, and Auvergne. Agenais and Venaissin (Avignon) were also in- cluded, but the former was given to the king of England and the latter to the Pope. By the marriage of the heiress-appar- ent of Navarre to the son of Philip III., a claim to that king- dom was established. ^5^ In regard to the extension of the royal authority, Ph Hip III , followed the same policy as his father. The number of appeals to his parlement increased and the baronial J- 1 TT • I- J -.1, Tlie royal power. courts lost accordingly. He punished with great severity the nobles who displeased him, or disturbed the peace. He defended the Church, but at the same time ruled it with a heavy hand. Large numbers of people had taken the tonsure and hence were called clergymen, but were engaged in business or led a wandering vagabond sort of life. Their cleri- cal character gave them immunity from the laws of the land, and they abused the privileges thus obtained. Many of them 502 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE were married and lived in all respects as laymen. He deprived all such of the protection of the church law and subjected them to taxation and other state control. The clergy complained of this and their burdens, but without avail. He established the right of amortisement; that is, he required the Church to pay him the income for two or three years of all her newly acquired lands. The Church had to pay in this way for her right to acquire property. The character of Philip IV., called The Handsome (1285- 1314), is even more uncertain than that of his father. His con- Philip iv., temporaries, who wrote about him, have given ■285-1314. us contradictory estimates of his character and ability. The difficulty is that he hid behind his counsellors and favorites, even more successfully than Philip IIL had done. Tiie government During his reign the revived study of Roman Romanized. j^w began to bear much fruit. The lawyers (legistes, that is, those versed in Roman law) furnished him with his conception of his office and rights, and therefore practically dictated his policy. France, once the peculiarly Christian kingdom of Louis IX., became thoroughly Roman. The ideals of Justinian dominated everywhere. The king was taught to believe that he was and should be absolute. The influence of the Roman law on his reign may be seen in part from the fact that so large a number of great questions were settled by the form of trial. Among these lawyers who were at the same time the king's favorites and counsellors, were four worthy of especial notice. Favorite They were Pierre Flotte, William of Nogaret, counsellors. William of Plaisian, who served him during the first years of his reign, and Enguerrand de Marigny, who held the position during the last years of his life. They in turn were in reality, if not in name, prime-ministers, and their in- fluence with the king was unbounded. Marigny was called by the men of the time the " coadjutor of the king and the gov- . ernor of the kingdom." He was regarded as the master of the FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 503 king. It is impossible to determine how much of the policy of the king was his own and how much was derived from the in- fluence and teachings of these men. At this time France became more than ever the leading power of Europe. Her foreign relations multiplied with as- tonishing rapidity. The king sent out embassies, composed mostly of clergymen, in all directions, and diplomatic relations were established betwen France and all the other countries of Europe. Philip IV. inherited from his father the unsettled Sicilian question. He had no thought, however, of carrying on the war. After several years of negotiation Sicily ,, , ... . _ , The Empire. was allowed to remain in the possession of tlie Aragonese. On the German frontier he carried on a sharp aggressive policy. He chose the most opportune times of inter- fering in the affairs of the small provinces on the frontier, and since the Emperor was without power, he was able to extend his boundaries considerably. He got possession of several large principalities, such as Hainault, Montfaucon, Beaulieu, Bar-le- duc, several places in Lorraine, Lyon, and Viviers. The duke of Burgundy also did homage to him. He met only with the most ineffectual opposition from the German Emperors. Since his power was, in its extent and character, practically im- perial, he was ambitious to become Emperor. In 1308 he was a candidate for the honor, but the electors seem not to have thought of him seriously for a moment. The relations of Philip IV. with England were intimately connected with those existing between himself and Flanders, but for some time there was no hostility be- phUip iv. and tween himself and the king of England. Ed- England. ward I. was engaged in other struggles and therefore did not wish to have any trouble with France. At the request of Philip IV. he came to France and did homage to him for the posses- .sion of Guienne. Many things happened, however, to cause trouble between the kings, and at last Philip cited Edward S04 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE to appear before him to be tried for his offences against his sov- ereign. Edward refused to appear, and war was declared. Each sought for allies and naturally looked about to see who were the natural enemies of the other. Since they were hostile to France, Edward I. made alliances with the German Emperor, Savoy, and all the lords of the Low Countries ; especially the count of Flanders was well disposed to England, because he was now in greater danger than ever before from the increasing ^ power of France. Philip IV. found many allies in the south- western part of the Empire, and most important of all he dis- covered the enmity between Scotland and England and made use of it. Scotland was only too glad to become the friend of so powerful an opponent of England. The alliance of France and Scotland, so injurious to England, was to last for three hundred years. Philip IV. was successful in all his engage- ments and Edward thereupon began negotiations for peace. But as neither king was willing to desert his allies, especially Scotland and Flanders, the matter dragged for several years. Many treaties were proposed only to be rejected. At last the whole business stopped where it had begun. Guienne was re- stored to Edward, and he again did homage to Phihp for it. Peace was thus established between the principals, but only at the price of the desertion of their allies. Edward I. attacked Scotland and Philip IV. continued the war with Flanders. Flanders. His army invaded the country and the count was compelled to surrender. In 1300 all Flanders was conquered and united to the crown of France, and Philip IV^^d his queen made a tour through the province. They were received with the forms of the greatest honor, but the peo- ple showed no personal enthusiasm over their appearance. The wealth of the cities was, however, revealed to the French. Flanders -^as at this time perhaps the richest part of Europe. It had numerous cities, all of them seats of industry and com- merce. The products of their looms were everywhere eagerly sought after. The display of wealth excited the cupidity of the FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 505 king as well as of his nobles. He placed Jacques de Chatillon as governor over the province, who began to extort money from the people in every way possible. His exactions led to a revolt in Bruges. Nearly 3,500 Frenchmen were murdered in that city (the matins of Bruges) and the king sent an army against the town to punish it. Almost the whole of Flanders joined in the rebellion and the French forces were utterly destroyed at the battle of Courtrai (1302). Two years later the king sent another array, which was in part victorious in the battle of Mons-en-Pevele near Lille (1304). But Flanders prepared to make a more determined resistance and Philip IV. feared to con- tinue the war. He made peace with the count, who ceded to him a district on his southern boundary. The people of Flan- ders, however, regarded this as a national calamity and were opposed to its recognition. The quarrel of Philip IV. with the papacy has already been briefly described. The humiliation of Boniface VIII. was com- plete. The election of the bishop of Bordeaux as xhe papacy Clement V. put the papacy entirely in the hands "* Avignon. of the king of France. Clement V. spent several years moving about from one place to another in France, and finally in 1309 took up his permanent residence in Avignon. But Phihp IV. was not yet satisfied with his victory over Boniface VIII. and demanded that he be tried by the new Pope. A charge con- taining forty-three counts was preferred against him. There is scarcely a crime of which he was not accused. Clement V. tried to escape from this necessity, but the king and other enemies of the dead Pope were relentless. The trial began and it was evi- dent that nothing but condemnation would satisfy the accusers. But the king novi' signified his willingness to spare Clement the humiliation of pronouncing against one of his predecessor* if the Templars were put at his mercy. Clement TheTempiam yielded and for the sake of the good name of suppressed, the papacy, already sadly smirched, agreed to destroy the order. A council was held at Guienne (13 11), in which Boniface 506 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE VIII. was cleared of all charges against him, but those who had done him violence were pardoned. Moreover, the order of the Templars was formally suppressed. Their trial had already been in progress for some years. They had been subjected to the greatest cruelty and injustice and base charges of all sorts had been trumped up against them. The evidence against them, however, was of the most flimsy sort. The most that could be said against them was that they were rich, luxurious, and idle. Individual members may have been guilty of sensuality. The order had no doubt degenerated morally, but the same may be said of all the monastic orders. The real motive of the king was to get possession of the great wealth of the order. There ,is good reason to believe that Philip IV. pushed the prosecution of Boniface only in order that Clement V., fearing the scandal that would come upon the papacy, might be forced to yield to him and condemn the Templars. At any rate, that was the outcome of the whole matter. The king seized all the property of the order. He made a pretence of turning it over to the Knights of Saint John, but in reality it went into his own treasury. f In the time of Philip IV. order was introduced into the gov- ernment by the creation of certain new offices, the functions Improvements in of which were prescribed. The various sorts of the government, ^vork in the government were differentiated and each sort assigned to a particular set of officials. For the per- sonal service of the king there was a court called at that time , the king's " Hotel ; " the chamberlain, the chaplain, and those who had control of the guard and the troops were the most important persons of the Hotel. The " chancellerie " had charge of all public affairs and the government may be said to have been administered through it. All intercourse between the king and his people was conducted by means of it. Within the chancellerie there was a college of notaries who drew up all public or state documents. The heads of this college were called " clercs du secret," or private secretaries of the king, FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 507 because they were acquainted with the secrets of tlie king and his council. The third chief division in the government was called the king's Council, the members of which had to take a special oath to the king. They were liis secret counsellors and deliberated with him all important questions. The States- general 1 were not yet an organic part of the government ; they may be regarded as a relic of the ancient Ger- xhe states- manic diets or Mayfields. The attendance upon general. these, however, had in the process of time come to be limited to the more powerful nobles and to the abbots and bishops. It had been customary for the king to summon them to obtain their advice whenever the special situation demanded^ In 1302 when the trouble with the Pope was assuming large proportions, the king felt that he must know whether he would have the support of all his people if he proceeded to extreme measures against the papacy. He therefore summoned the States-gene- ral and at the same time called on the cities each to send two or three representatives to attend the meeting. The king laid before the whole body his plans and asked for their Judgment. After some deliberation, the whole body through its spokes- man signified its approval and promised him the support of the whole people. In 1308 a similar meeting of the same body was held to discuss the charges against the Templars. More than two hundred cities sent their representatives and again the States-general did nothing but say yes to the king's proposals. It is characteristic of the part which the cities played in this proceeding that they were "asked by the king to send deputies to hear, receive, approve, and do all that might be commanded them by the king." Again in 13 14 the war with Flanders was about to be renewed and the king's treasury was empty. The king, therefore, summoned the States-general and told them what he wanted. The States-general did noth- 1 It should be noted that " States-general " correspond to the Parliament in England, while in France the name Parlement was given to the body of the king's judges. The Parlement in France is a judicial body, in England the Parliament is a legislative body. 508 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ing but express their submission to the will of the king. This was the much written about entrance of the Third Estate into the political history of France. French historians never tire of exalting its importance. But as a matter of fact, the influ- ence of the Third Estate was, and remained, practically noth- ing, till the time of the French Revolution. It had no such history and development as the House of Commons in England. In France the authority of the king prevailed, and the Third Estate was simply permitted to say yes when it was commanded to do so. The growth of the parlement during this reign was remark- able. Ordinary cases arising on the royal domain were tried T. , . before it, and the number of appeals from all The parlement ' r^' and the king's parts of the kingdom greatly increased. The justice. absolute supremacy of the king's court and the king's justice over all baronial courts and baronial justice was more than ever recognized. The right of appeal was made use of to such an extent that the king was compelled to empower his baillies to decide many cases in order to prevent the parlement from being overwhelmed with work. Feudalism received a heavy blow by the establishment and development of the parlement. As the government grew more thoroughly organized, it be- came much more expensive. Louis IX. had always had enough income to support the government. Philip IV. was always in debt. He made the most strenu- ous efforts to raise money. Even by taxes, seizures, aids, forced loans, confiscations, persecutions of the Jews, ta.xation of all the foreign merchants in France, taxation of the Church, the seizure of the possessions of the Templars, and many other questionable means, Philip IV. was not able to keep his treasury full. Philip IV. was succeeded by his three sons in turn ; Louis X. (1314-16), Philip v., called the Long (1316-22), and Charles IV, (1322-28). They were not able to preserve the FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 509 monarchy in that state to which their predecessors had brought it. There was a general reaction on the part of the nobles against the absolutism of Philip IV., and they End of the direct were able to force from these kings many pro- Capetian line. vincial charters which restored and safeguarded local feudal rights. Louis X. especially made a large number of such con- cessions. When he died he left no male heir, but as his wife was pregnant at the time, it was hoped that an heir might yet be born. The queen was indeed delivered of a boy, but he died within a week, and Phihp V., who had been acting as regent, was now crowned king. Louis X. had left a daughter, but her rights were passed over, and to justify the usurpation Philip V. called a council which declared that a woman could not inherit the crown of France, nor could the crown pass by way of the female line. This was based on an obscure law in the code of the Salian Franks in regard to the inheritance of property.! jj j-^g^^j never had anything to do with the inheritance of the crown. The reign of Philip V. was productive of many laws con- cerning the development and establishment of the Hotel, the council, the parlement, the administration of finance, the treas- ury, and many other parts of the machinery of government. The tendency of all his work was to unify the government and to centralize it in the hands of the king. He tried to make the royal money the only legal tender in the whole kingdom and took away from the barons the right of coinage. His ex- actions were many and grievous. His work was not under- stood by his people, and he died hated by them all. His suc- cessor, Charles IV., turned to the east and tried to secure his election as Emperor. In order to give his whole attention to imperial affairs, he made peace with Edward III., and ceded him Guienne. Ludwig, the Bavarian, however, patched up his quarrel with the Pope and secured the imperial crown. ' Lex Salica LIX. (5) De terra vero nulla in muUere hereditas non pertine- bit sed ad virilem se.xum qui fratres fuerint tota terra perteneat. That is, the wife could not inherit the land of her husband. 5IO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Since Charles IV. also died without a male heir the ques- tion was at once raised as to who should succeed him. Louis X. had left a daughter, and Philip V. two daughters, but it had been decided that the crown could not pass by the female line. The nearest male heir was PhiHp of Valois. His father was Charles of Valois, a brother of Philip Philip of Valois. ^,^ ^^ , . ^ • r ^i j j IV. He was therefore a first cousm of the dead king. Edward III., of England, however, was induced to present a claim to the crown on the ground that he was the nearest male heir by the female line. His father, Edward II., had married Isabella, the daughter of Phihp IV. He was therefore a nephew of the last king. The daughters of Louis X. and Philip V. , however, were nearer the crown than he, if it was to pass by the female line. The wife of Charles IV. was also pregnant at his death. There was considerable discussion as to who should be regent, for unless the expected child should be a boy, it was probable that the regent would receive the crown. The claims of Edward III. were presented by some lawyers, but they were rejected and Philip of Valois was made regent. The queen died in giving birth to a daughter, and Philip of Valois was crowned king (1328-50). Edward III. gave up his preten- sions and came to Amiens to do homage to the new king, Philip VI., for his feudal holdings. There was still some ques- tion in his mind about the right of succession, but in 1330 and again in 1331 he sent letters to Phihp VI. in which he ac- knowledged himself without any reserve as the feudal subject of the king of France. He thereby gave up all his claims to the French crown. 2. ENGLAND, 1170 TO THE BEGINNING OF THE HUNDRED YEARS- WAR The Norman genius showed itself in the government of William the Conqueror. He gave his conquered land an excellent rule. But as he collected much money for the ex- penses of his government, and devastated a large tract of land FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 51I to make a game preserve, he won a bad reputation among the common people. His great worlc was not understood by them. He had the difficult task of ruling two peoples in one coun- try. He was in danger alike from the English, and from the Norman barons. He used the one to keep the _,. J i The government Other in check. He weakened the English by of Wiiiiam the confiscating their lands. He always had a Nor- Conqueror. man army at his command and he erected fortresses in all the large towns, which he garrisoned with Norman soldiers. He tried to make the English see that he was just, and so hoped to win their confidence. The lands which he took from them he gave to his Norman nobles, but lest these might become too strong for him, he gave them their lands in small pieces, scattered throughout all England. He made it impossible for one baron to consolidate his possessions in one great tract. He did not perpetuate the great English earldoms because he feared their power might be dangerous to him. He also kept the fyrd or English militia ready to use against his Normans if necessary. His precautions were shown to be wise by the re- volt made by the Norman barons in 1075. Two of the Nor- man earls plotted against him, but William easily put them down. William was exacting in the matter of his feudal diies. In order to learn just how much taxable property there was in England he caused to be made an exact list of Domesday Book, the possessions and holdings of every man in his '"^s- kingdom. He sent out his men to take this census, and their work was brought together into one great book, known as the Domesday Book (1085-86). By means of this information, and on the basis of it, William levied and collected his taxes with great regularity and exactness. The feu- English dalism of England was essentially changed by the feudalism. oath which William required of all men whether his direct vas- sals or not. In 1086 William called on all his people to come' 512 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE to Salisbury and take an oath of obedience directly to him. All sub-vassals swore that they would support the king, even against their lord, if the latter failed in his duty to the king. This gave William a certain amount of control over his sub-vassals and established between him and them a personal relation which might be used to great advantage. He continued to call to- gether the Witenagemot, but this name was gradually changed to the Great Council. It was composed of those who held land directly from the king. Under William the Church of England was brought into closer relations with the Church on the Continent, and espe- Wiiiiamand cially with the Bishop of Rome. The king ap- the Church. pointed Normans to all the high places in the Church. Lanfranc, Prior of the famous monastery of Bee, was made archbishop of Canterbury. William was heartily in favor of the Cluniac ideas of reform, but had no thought of yielding to the Pope his right to rule the Church. He resisted the pre- tensions of Gregory VH. and continued to exercise the right of appointing bishops and archbishops. However, he chose only good and able men to fill ecclesiastical offices. At his death (1087) the duchy of Normandy passed to his eldest son, Robert, and England was given to his second son, William II., William Rufus, whose reign in England was one 1087.1100. of violence. He was resisted by the Norman barons, but by the aid of the English established himself on the throne. He was covetous in the extreme, and his officers were permitted to make all kinds of unjust exactions from the peo- ple. He was blasphemous but superstitious, and abused the Church as he did his people. Early in his reign William H. seized Cumberland and for- tified it against the Scotch. A few years later Malcolm, king of Scotland, retaliated by devastating large parts of Northum- bria. William II. was prevented from any serious attempt against Scotland by a revolt of some of his barons which en- gaged him for some time. The son of Malcolm was eventually FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLANt), 1070-1485 513 made king in Scotland and agreed to hold the crown as a vassal of William. William II. met his death in the New Forest, while hunting, probably at the hands of some one whom he had wronged. He was bitterly hated by the people and there was Henry 1., no sorrow felt at his fate. He was succeeded by 1100-35. his younger brother, Henry I. (1100-35). O^^ his accession Henry published a charter of liberties which contained conces- sions to the Church, the vassals, and the nation at large. It was intended to propitiate all classes by assuring them that they should not be subjected to the wrongs that had charter of been inflicted upon them during the reign of his liberties. brother. He abolished the " mate consuetudines," that is, all the illegal exactions that had been made by his brother. His title to the crown was not very good, and the contest which he feared with his brother Robert made him desirous of conciliat- ing his people. He made himself more popular still by his marriage with Eadgyth, known as Matilda, daughter of Mal- colm of Scotland. Her mother was an English princess, a de- scendant of the old ruling family of the Anglo-Saxons. When Henry ascended the throne his brother Robert, duke of Nor- mandy, was in the east. He returned and got possession of Nor- mandy and was ambitious to acquire also the crown of England. His invasion of England came to nothing, because the Enghsh people stood faithfully by Henry. Robert gave up all claims upon the crown, and returned to Normandy. TT. , , , . ■ • ,.T 1 , T TT Normandy. His bad administration m Normandy led Henry to interfere there. War ensued, and in the battle of Tinchebrai Robert was defeated and made prisoner. He was shut up in Cardiff Castle, where he spent the rest of his life, and Henry took possession of Normandy. In England many towns and boroughs were becoming large and rich and were inclined to resist the heavy exactions of their feudal lords. They now began to appeal to the king for pro- tection. Henry was the first English king to grant to such 33 514 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE boroughs charters by which they were allowed to administer their own justice and were protected from unjust tolls and taxa- tions. He also established an institution known Town Charters. , _,._.,, , t r .1 as the " Curia Regis, to have control of the finances of the kingdom, and to try all cases in which the king's tenants in chief were concerned. From the fact that they The king's jus- ™et in a room which was called the Exchequer, tice and finances. fj-Qm the chequered cloth on the table, its mem- bers were called barons of the Exchequer. In order to make their work more effective they sent out itinerant justices who heard all cases in which the king was concerned, and collected the taxes. They were a sort of " missi dominici " who brought the people into more direct connection with the king. During his reign there began a strong religious revival marked by the establishment of many Benedictine and Cister- cian monasteries. Many churches were begun during this time and a little later. The Benedictines had become rich and, as was generally the case under such circumstances, relaxed their asceticism. The Cistercians, however, were far more strict in their rules. They shunned all society and established their monasteries in far out-of-the-way places, while the Benedic- tines established their monasteries often either in or near a town. The only son of Henry and Matilda was drowned (11 20), and when Henry came to die the question of the succession was a pressing one. Henry compelled all his nobles to take an oath that they would accept his daughter Matilda as their ruler. While yet a mere child she had been married to Henry V. of Germany. Henry I. now gave her in marriage to Geoffrey, the count of Anjou. At the death of Henry, however, one of struggle for the his nephews, Stephen of Blois, came to London crown. ajj(j secured his own election as king. The re- sult of this step was a war between him and the supporters of Matilda, which grew more lawless and irregular during almost FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 51 5 the whole of his reign. David, king of Scotland, being the uncle of Matilda, espoused her cause. In two invasions he did much damage to the country, but was both times defeated and driven back. Stephen became embroiled with the clergy by imprisoning a member of the powerful family of the bishop of Ely. He also alienated many of his friends among the lay nobility by attacking some of them who were, or seemed to be, his friends. All the barons ranged themselves nominally on one side or the other, but many of them took advantage of the war to engage in plundering on their own account. The great- est anarchy followed. Matilda came to England (1139) and fought a battle at Lincoln, in which she was victorious and Stephen was taken prisoner. She now began to rule and was recognized by many as queen. But her violence was worse even than that of Stephen, and a general revolt against her took place. The queen's brother was taken prisoner by the insurgents, and she was compelled to set Stephen free in exchange for him. Fortune now favored Stephen, and Matilda was driven to the Continent. The war was continued there and she and Geoffrey conquered Normandy. Their son Henry they made duke of Normandy (1149) and he continued the struggle with Stephen. His first invasion of England (1150) was unsuccessful. In 11 52 he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced wife of Louis VII. of France, and thereby ac- quired that great duchy. He now went back to England, and his success at arms was so great that it seemed he must suc- ceed in dethroning Stephen. Since Stephen's son and heir died (11 53) he was willing to make terms with Henry. It was agreed that Stephen should rule as long as he lived, but Henry should succeed him. On this basis they made peace and combined to restore order in England. The barons were unable to resist them and the island began to enjoy the ad- vantages of peace. Stephen survived the treaty only a short time. He died in 11 54 and Henry II. succeeded him without opposition. 5l6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Henry II. (1154-89) was strong and active, and able, there- fore, to endure the hard work necessary to secure a good govern- Henryii., ment. He had but one ideal, that of unifying 1154-89. the government, and establishing the whole power in his own hands. The nobility and the Church stood in the way of this policy, and his reign is famous for the struggle which he had with them. Henry had no regard for feudalism or for custom. He faced the problems of government almost in a modern way, and tried to invent the machinery to do the work which he saw must be done if he was to be strong. All his reforms were calculated to break down the authority of the barons. His first work was to complete the restoration of order which had been left unfinished by his predecessor. He then attacked the county and manor courts, by putting his own courts into the foreground. For the purposes of consultation, he called the Great Council together often, and compelled many of the small feudal holders to attend it. The Curia Regis was also strength- ened and its work of rendering justice emphasized. In 1166 Assize of ciaren- ^^ called a meeting of the Great Council at don, 1166. Clarendon and published a set of decrees called the Assize of Clarendon. By its terms the old custom of compurgation was prohibited. In its stead a new system was introduced. Twelve men in every county and four men from each township in it were to form a kind of jury for the pur- pose of deciding who should be brought to trial. They did the work of our grand jury. He revived the custom of send- ing out itinerant justices, who by rendering strict justice in the king's name brought the manorial and county courts into disfavor. In 11 70 Henry inquired into the way in which the various barons who held the office of sheriff were performing their duties. As the result of the inquiry nearly all were turned out and replaced by men of lower birth, who would, therefore, be more dependent on the king. They served from this time on to keep a check over the higher nobility. FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 517 The clergy were opposed to Henry's ideas of judicial reform because he meant to bring them also under his own jurisdiction. In 1 1 64 he pubhshed the Constitutions of Claren- ^^ ^ ,,, ^ The Constitu- don, the purpose of which was to destroy the tions of ciaren- judicial independence of the clergy. "Every don, 1164. election of bishop or abbot was to take place before royal officers, in the king's chapel, and with the king's assent. The prelate-elect was bound to do homage to the king for his lands before consecration and to hold his lands as a barony from the king subject to all feudal burthens of taxation and attendance in the king's court. No bishop might leave the realm without the royal permission. No tenant in chief or royal servant might be excommunicated, or their land placed under interdict, but by the king's assent. What was new was the legislation respect- ing ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The king's court was to decide whether a suit between clerk and laymen whose nature was dis- puted belonged to the church courts or the king's. A royal officer was to be present at all ecclesiastical proceedings in order to confine the bishop's court within its own due limits, and the clerk once convicted there passed at once under the civil jurisdiction. An appeal was left from the Archbishop's court to the king's court for defect of justice, but none might appeal to the papal court save with the king's consent." — Green. The king met with the most determined opposition in the person of the archbishop of Canterbu^, Thomas Beket. Thomas had formerly been his chancellor and ^ Beket. most faithful servant, and the king had appointed him to the highest ecclesiastical position in the land because he thought that he would assist him in his legal reforms. Thomas, however, as soon as he was made archbishop, changed completely his point of view. He became 'a churchman thor- oughly in sympathy with the movement toward absolute in- dependence which was then controlling the Church. He re- fused to accept the Constitutions of Clarendon. The king 5l8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE tried to break down his opposition by persecutions. Henry at length called on him to make a report to him of all the money he had received from him while he was chancellor. He could not, of course, do so. Upon being declared a traitor he fled to France, where he added fresh fuel to the quarrel between the two countries. Henry's policy toward the barons had alienated them from him and he needed help against them. He was afraid that they would not accept his eldest son as king, and therefore determined to secure his election before his own death. It had always been the right of the archbishop of Canterbury to crown the king, but Beket was on the Continent and at feiid with the sovereign. Henry therefore called on the archbishop of York to perform the ceremony for his son Henry (1170). The day before the coronation was to take place Beket sent a letter to the archbishop of York excommunicating him and all bishops who should take part in the act. The king now de- termined to yield. He made peace with Beket, who returned to England in the same year. His conduct and attitude, how- ever, were not in the least changed. Henry was angered at him again, and in response to a ha.sty remark some of his The murder of knights went to Canterbury and murdered Beket ^^''^*- in his own church. The popular indignation at this outrage was great. Beket was at once regarded as a martyr, his grave became the object of pilgrimages, and it was believed that many miracles ^ere performed there. In order to propi- tiate the Pope Henry acted in accordance with the terms of a bull which had been issued to him by Hadrian IV., crossed into Ireland, received the submission of a part of the Ireland. island, and made its Church subject to Rome. When the papal legates arrived in 1171 Henry swore that he was innocent of the death of Beket, offered Ireland as a peace- offering to the Pope, and withdrew the Constitutions of Claren- don. He now had his son Henry recrowned, but the effect was that the young Henry demanded that the country now be FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 519 given over to him. Supported by his father-in-law, Louis VII. of France, and the great barons and the king of Scotland, he began a war on his father. Henry II. did penance at the tomb of Beket, and at the same time his armies were victorious over all his rebellious subjects. The military service which the barons owed Henry was limited to forty days and to their immediate neighborhood. It was impossible therefore for him to use them in any war carried on in his territory in France. Their service even in England was not worth much. Henry persuaded them to commute this service into a money payment . Scutage. (scutage). They were by that means practically put out of the army and, at the same time, Henry was able to hire mercenaries to fight for him on tlie Continent. He further strengthened himself against the barons by reorganizing the fyrd (1181). Every free man was bound to come at his call equipped at his own expense and ready to fight. This was not a feudal army but a return to the old Anglo-Saxon idea of the duty of all free men to bear arms whenever necessary. The last years of his life were embittered by the revolts of his sons, to which their ambition and the intrigues of the king of France led them. Two of them, Henry and Geoffrey, died, and Richard made an alhance with Philip II. His favorite son, John, also joined in the rebellion. Henry died 1189, after having been defeated and humiliated by his sons and their allies. His son, Richard I. (i 189-99), had little to do with England, since he spent only a few months of his reign in that country. His character has been made sufficiently plain in Richard r., the account of his crusade. Although a knight, 1189-99- he was no ruler, and yet, when he kept his romantic love of adventure under control, he was able to rule well. When he left England he established two justiciars to rule the country in his absence. One of them, however, drove out the other, only to be put down himself by the king's brother John, who seized S20 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the government. John was so violent and oppressive, however, that the people were glad to welcome back Richard when he was finally set free in 1194, although they had been fearfully taxed in order to pay his ransom. Richard soon left England never to return to it. He established the archbishop of Can- terbury, Hubert Walter, as his justiciar, under whose wise con- trol good progress was made and the various practical problems of the government were brought nearer to a solution. The shires were allowed to name the members of the jury mentioned above, and representatives of the county were often allowed to give their advice in the matter of the assessment of the taxes. The authority of the juries was also extended to many cases which, before this, had been reserved for the king. English local independence was slowly developing. Much of John's reign (1199-1216) has already been touched upon. His nephew, Arthur, was acknowledged in Normandy and received the support of PhiHp of France. John, 1199-1216. 1, , • , . Arthur was eventually taken prisoner, and, it was believed, put to death by John. The action on the part of the provinces was favorable to the invasion by Philip, and his success was so great that the territory south of the Garonne was about all that was left to the English king. John had much of the ability and all of the vices of the Angevin family. He was strong, active, and ambitious. He His quarrel with had great political and diplomatic abihty, but the Church. j^g was unscrupulous and dishonest to the last degree. He was utterly without all sense of honor ; he broke his royal oath without the least compunction. It was his perfidy that led to the successes of the people against him. He was planning to recover his lost French possessions, when his quarrel with Innocent III. began. The monks of Canterbury had chosen one of their number archbishop but John ordered them to elect one of his favorites. Both parties appealed to Innocent, who rejected both applicants and appointed in their stead Stephen Langton. John refused to accept him. Innocent FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 521 threatened him with excommunication, but John declared that he would banish the clergy from England and mutilate all the Italians he could find in his kingdom if the ban were pronounced against him. Innocent actually put England under the inter- dict (1208), and excommunicated John (1209). To raise the large sums which he needed, John oppressed and robbed all the people he could. Even those who were faithful to him he wronged in the most cruel way. He took their property and outraged their wives and daughters. At last Innocent resorted to the most extreme measures. He deposed John, proclaimed a crusade against him, and intrusted the task of enforcing the edict to the king of France (12 12). Phihp II. prepared to in- vade England, and John collected his army to resist him. He discovered, however, that his army was plotting against him, and to save himself he disbanded it and fled to Nottingham Castle. There was only one way out of the difiiculty, and rather than lose his crown, he made peace with the Pope (12 13). There- with the danger of an invasion was at once gone. John now prepared to invade France after making an alliance with the count of Flanders and with the Emperor of Germany. Many of his barons refused to go with him on the ground that they were not required to follow the king outside of England. John could not then wait to punish them. The defeat of his allies at Bouvines disconcerted him and emboldened the barons to resist him. The charter of Henry I. was discovered and presented to the barons first at Saint Albans, and later at Saint Paul's. Stephen Langton saw that this charter could be used as a basis for the reforms which they desired. Several of the barons met at Saint Edmundsbury and made a secret agreement to demand the redress of their wrongs and the security of their liberties under the seal of a charter. In 1 2 1 5 Magna charta. they met the king at Runnymede and almost without opposition the king signed the charter which they had drawn up. In this the king promised to observe the ancient laws and customs, to abate all wrongs, and to require only the 522 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE legal feudal dues. The Church was to have her liberties re- stored, the barons and the people were to be subjected to no violence. The king agreed neither to pass, nor to execute, any judgment upon anyone until he had been tried by his peers. Justice was to be rendered strictly and uprightly. Twenty-five men were empowered to act against the king in any way they might think fit if he should act contrary to the terms of the charter. John, however, had no thought of keeping his word. He appealed to the Pope at once, who absolved him from his oath. . • „... « The barons after securing the charter had dis- Loois VIII. of ° France offered banded and John, who had been waiting for this, the crown. ^^^ ^^^ ^-^^q (q overcome them one by one. London, however, remained firm. The Pope put the city under the interdict, but no attention was paid to it. At last the barons offered the crown to Louis, the son of Phihp IL He landed with an army on the island of Thanet, May, 1216, and John was compelled to withdraw before him. A few remained true to him, but his death put a different aspect on the whole affair (1216). Although his son, Henry HI., was but nine years old, nearly all classes turned to him and deserted Louis. The next year Louis was defeated and withdrew from the coun- try, and Henry HL was left in sole possession. The government was put, for the present, into the hands of three regents. In 1 2 1 9 the power passed to the justiciar, Hubert Henry III., de Burgh, a capable man who acted for the best i2i6<.72. interests of the kingdom. The charter of John with some changes was sworn to by Henry and his regents. The barons were humbled and order re-established. In 1227 Henry III. became of age, and his character was soon revealed by his conduct. Like his father he had little or no regard for his royal word. He made the unprincipled Peter des Roches his justiciar, and proceeded to press money out of his subjects by all sorts of unjust means. In 1236 he married Eleanor of Provence, and his court at once swarmed with her relatives FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1670-1485 523 and favorites, to whom the king gave high positions. The barons resented this, but were powerless. The king was con- stantly asking for money and the barons always compelled him to take a new oath to the charter before granting him any subsidy. Henry never hesitated to take the oath to the char- ter, but never paid any attention to it. The king and the Pope vied with each other in demanding money of the English people and clergy. These exactions be- came so burdensome that the feeling against both _ , , . , . ™, Heavy taxation. Pope and king was very bitter. Ihe great Council, which was now coming to be known as a Parliament, met often, and in 1254 four knights from each shire were asked to meet with it in order to say how much money could be collected from their respective shires. Henry's son, ^Edmund, was given the crown of Sicily by the Pope, but in return large sums of money were promised him. Richard of Cornwall, brother of the king, was made Emperor of Germany, and he needed money to establish himself there. The country was afflicted with a bad harvest, but, in spite of this disaster, one- third of the income of the year was demanded by the king for the Pope. These successive charges brought on a revolt. The barons came armed to Oxford to meet the Provisions of Parliament and to make known their demands. Oxford, 1258. All foreigners were to be driven out and the government put into the hands of a committee of twenty-four, and a council of fifteen. Some reforms were brought about in this way, but the sub-ten- ants complained that only the great vassals were benefited by them. Prince Edward, the eldest son of the king, took up their cause and secured them some relief The barons soon quarrelled among themselves and the king was thereby enabled to throw off all the restrictions they had put upon him. The leader, who had the inter- simonde ests of the people at heart, was Simon de Mont- Montfort. fort, the son of that de Montfort who had carried on the cru- sade against the Albigenses. He became the acknowledged 524 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE head of the people, and when the king refused to keep the pro- visions of Oxford, as the treaty of the year 1258 was called, Si- mon made war on him. The king was driven into great straits, for Simon was a skilled general. Both parties appealed to Louis IX. of France, and since his decision was agreeable to neither, hostilities were renewed. The battle of Lewes (1264) resulted in the defeat of the king's forces, and the king, prince Edward, and Richard of Cornwall were taken prisoners. Simon could now dictate terms. He and two others were to elect nine counsellors who should name the ministers of state. A Parlia- ment was then called in which, besides the knights of the shires, two burghers from certain towns also sat. Again the barons who had been supi^orting Simon deserted his Commoners in i i o the Parliament, cause. Prince Edward escaped from prison, and '^*^' many of the barons joined him. He suddenly attacked Simon and defeated his army. Simon himself was slain. The popular imagination busied itself with his name and he was soon called a saint. Miracles were said to take place at his tomb, many poems and songs were written about him, and litanies produced in his honor. Prince Edward was now so popular that the government was practically given over to him, and Henry IIL paid little attention to the affairs of government during the last years of his life. He died 1272. Edward L (1272-1307) followed out the principles of Simon in his government. He accepted the charter and tried to keep its Edward I., terms. He himself had the spirit of a legislator. 1272-1307. He had the advice of the best men in his king- dom and, besides, never published a law without first consult- ing those who would be affected by it. He was successful in a war against Wales, and had his son recognized as the Prince of Wales (1284). He built strong forts to keep the Welsh in check, but also conciliated them by wise measures. Alexander IIL, king of Scotland, died 1285, leaving only a daughter. She was engaged to be married to the Prince of Wales, but died 1290. Three cousins of the dead queen claimed the FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 525 throne, John Balliol, Robert Bruce, and John Hastings. Ed- ward I. was appealed to to settle the case. He decided in favor of John Balliol, but required that he himself should be recognized as the overlord of Scotland. Edward interpreted his lordship to mean that in trials all appeals must be made to him. This angered the Scotch, and they made an alliance with Phihp IV. of France (1295). To meet these foes Edward called what has come to be known as the " Model Parliament." It received this name because of the fact that it The Model Par- was attended by all his barons, high clergy, two 'iament, 1295. knights from every shire, two burgesses from every town, and representatives of the cathedral chapters and the common paro- chial clergy. Each class voted on the amount of subsidy which it was willing to pay the king. It is not known whether they all sat in the same chamber or not. Since the various classes voted different sums, it is probable that at any rate they trans- acted business separately. Zp^ Edward then invaded Scotland, took Balliol prisoner, and declared himself king of the country. The stone of Scone, on which all Scottish kings had been crowned, was , New wars and carried off to Westminster. The expenses of his new taxes. Ed- campaign and government were great, and the ward master of T> J 1- ■ i_ Scotland. king needed more money. By deahng with each class separately he succeeded in getting many grants from them. Heavy export duties were charged on many things, especially on the wool that was exported to Flanders. The clergy refused to pay him any taxes, and Edward withdrew his protection from them. They were suffered to be robbed or maltreated by any one without any redress. This quickly brought a change, and they evaded the order of the Pope and paid what was demanded of them under t]jie name of gifts to the king. Eventually, however, the barons resisted his taxation, and Edward was compelled to yield. In 1 2 9 7 he had to agree not to collect customs duties without the consent of the Parliament. In the meanwhile the famous William Wallace brought about 526 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE a revolt in Scotland. After six years of hard fighting Wallace was exiled, and Edward obtained complete control of the country for the second time. This led to the in- Bannockburn. ,-^ii-,-n,i^ n corporation of Scotland with England (1305). Bruce, a grandson of the Bruce mentioned above, led another revolt (1306), which after some years was ended by the battle of Bannockburn (1314), in which the English under Edward II. were totally defeated. Scotland had successfully main- tained her independence. The reign of Edward I. was fruitful, as we have seen, in the advance in influence of the common people. The shires and The reign of towns were recognized as having certain rights Edward 1. quite as inviolable as those of the lords. The common people had made their entry into the field of pohtical influence during the reign of Edward's father. Their position in Edward's council or parliament was confirmed by the meet- ing of the Model Parliament (1295). From this modest be- ginning the House of Commons was to develop until it became the real ruler of England. Edward's legislation was not always so wise or so just. He yielded to the popular clamor against the Jews, and in 1290 banished them from England. For the most part, however, his laws were effective, and he had a keen eye to the interests of the royal power. He forbade all further gifts of land to the clergy, because all such lands were thereby freed from taxation. Every gift of land to the Church diminished the income of the king by so much. In order to increase and strengthen the direct connection between himself and his sub- jects, he forbade all further sub-infeudation. His whole pol- icy was to establish himself as the king of the people, not simply as the overlord of the vassals. He was ambitious, not so much for himself as for his kingship. Looked at from, the point of view of his own times, he was a model king, and much of the criticism that has been passed upon him is unjust, be- cause it judges him from the point of view of a much later age. FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 527 The reign of his son, Edward II. (1307-27), was, in almost every respect, a failure. He was indifferent to the duties of a king, and allowed himself to be controlled by Edward 11., favorites. First, Piers Gaveston held his affec- >307-27- tions. The barons tried in various ways to control the govern- ment, and exclude the influence of Gaveston, but were unsuccess- ful. At length they took arms against the king, made Gaveston prisoner, and put him to death. The Despensers then got the ear of the king, and practically ruled the country. Edward was married to Isabella, the daughter of Philip IV. of France, but she proved unfaithful to him. In 1325 she went to France, and the next year returned with her paramour, Roger Mortimer, to make war on the king. Almost the whole country was angry with Edward, because of the misrule of the Despensers, and there- fore joined the queen. The king was helpless, and in 1327 a parliament was held by which he was compelled to resign his crown. He was imprisoned for a few months, and then mur- dered. His son, Edward III. (1327-77), al- Edward iii., though only fourteen years old, succeeded to the >327=77- crown, but Mortimer acted as regent for three years. At the end of that time Edward III., by leaguing himself with the regent's enemies, was able to take him and put him to death. One of the first things to occupy the attention of the young king was the question of the French succession. His mother was the sister of the last three kings in the direct male line of the Capetian dynasty, and Edward was led for a while to think that he might have a claim on the French crown. His better judgment soon prevailed, however, and he did homage to Philip VI. for his French possessions. 3. THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR The deeper questions at issue in the Hundred Years' War were whether Scotland should remain independent, and whether the king of France should control all of France, or whether all 528 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of Scotland and France should be subjected to the king of Eng- land. It had come to be the established purpose of England to The questions reduce Scotland to subjection, and she already at issue. ]^gy go large a part of France as to be able to prevent the unification of that country. Scotland, on the other hand, was determined to be and remain free, and the possession of all the French soil had come to be the most important ques- tion that confronted the king of France. The struggle between England and France was sure to come, and it could end in but one of two ways : either the king of England must conquer the whole country and displace the French king, or the king of France must drive out the English, and reconquer all that terri- tory which the topography of the country and the similarity in language and customs had marked out as a legitimate object of his ambition. The Hundred Years' War began in Scotland. At the death of Bruce (1331) the crown of Scotland passed to his son, then The beginning only five years old. Edward Balliol laid claim of the war. (g the crown, and by the help of some English- men succeeded in getting himself crowned. He was soon driven out, however, and appealed to Edward HI. for help. Edward restored him, but compelled him to cede him all of Scotland that lay south of the Forth. The young Bruce, David by name, thereupon fled to France and besought the aid of Philip VI. Since it was Philip's keenest wish to drive the English out of France, he regarded Bruce as a most opportune ally. If he could strengthen Scotland and enable it to engage all of England's attention, he might hope to succeed in his plans. The English also found allies on the Continent. Philip VI. had supported the count of Flanders against the people of the county, and restored him to power over them. Edward's allies. Their submission lasted only for a short time, and they were easily persuaded to make an alliance with the English. Robert, the count of Artois, had been deprived of FRANCE, II08-I494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 529 his ancestral estates, and Pliilip VI. refused to restore them to him. He resorted to forgeries to prove his rights, but the fraud was detected, and he had to flee for his hfe. Embit- tered by his failure, he repaired to England and appealed to Edward III. to assist him. Philip VI. finally (1336) published a proclamation in which Robert of Artois was declared to be an enemy of the state, and all were forbidden to protect or assist him in any way. Confiscation was threatened on all who should disobey in this matter. This act was aimed against Edward III. , who so understood it, and on both sides „ . ' Bdward III. preparations for war were begun. At the same claims the time Robert of Artois prevailed on Edward III. F«"<^h crown. to announce that he would renew his claim to the French crown. War was declared against France (1337), but Edward was not able to begin it till the next year. He crossed to Flan- ders (1338), but did nothing. The people of the Low Coun- tries were unwilling to serve him unless he would definitely as- sume the title of king of France. It was not till 1340 that Edward broke with his scruples and actually called himself king of France. This step was really what might be called a war measure, for Edward had already admitted that he had no right to the French crown, and had recognized Philip VI. as the rightful ruler of the country. For some years acts of mutual depredation had been committed by the French and English sailors. The French navy controlled the Channel, and Edward found it necessary to collect a fleet to attack it. In 1340 a naval battle was fought (called the battle of Sluys) in which the French fleet was de- stroyed, and the English became master of the sea. For some years little was done on either side. Two claimants for the duchy of Brittany arose, and since one of them was championed by Philip VI., the other appealed to Edward III. There was some fighting, but no decided advantage was gained by either king. In 1346 Edward invaded Normandy, intending to cross over into Flanders. Finding it difficult to cross the 34 530 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Somme, the army followed up the course of the river almost to Paris before a ford could be found. Philip VI. in the mean- time prepared to take the offensive. Edward at last found a place where he could lead his army over the river, and then drew up his forces to await the attack. The battle was fought near Crecy (1346), and the English bowmen won a most decisive victory. Edward proceeded to lay siege to Calais, which surrendered to him (1347). A truce was now made between the two kings, and Edward withdrew to England, taking with him much treasure of all kinds. Philip VI. died (1350), and was succeeded by his son John, surnamed the Good (1350-64). The truce was continued to 1355, when hostilities were again begun in southern France. In that year Prince Edward, known as the Black Prince, landed at Bordeaux and made an invasion into southern France, plundering and destroying as he went. The next year he made a similar tour through central France, and was every- where successful. With an array of about 8,000 men he was withdrawing to Bordeaux when he was attacked near Poitiers by King John with an army of about 50,000 men. Poitiers, 1356. __. .^ , , , , , . , King John s army was almost destroyed m the battle which ensued, and he himself was taken prisoner. A truce was made for two years, and the Prince returned to England, carrying with him his royal captive. Hostilities had been kept up between Scotland and England in a very intermittent way, and without any marked success on the part of either. In 1357 Edward III. changed his policy. He put David Bruce on the throne, and sought to win the country by conciliation. In 1359 Edward again invaded France, but so great was the devastation his former invasions had caused, that he could hardly find food sufficient for his men. He met with no opposition. It is said that he was overtaken by a severe thunder-storm near Chartres, which he interpreted as an expression of God's anger with him for the great ruin he had wrought, and, in consequence, he offered FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 531 to make peace with France. This step resulted in the peace of Bretigny, by the terms of which John was to be set free for a large ransom. Edward gave up all claim to the pea^e o« French crown, but received Calais, Ponthieu, Bretigny, 1360. and the whole of the duchy of Aquitape. The king of France surrendered all feudal claims to these territories, and Edward was recognized as their sovereign king. Edward III. sent his son, Edward, the Black^Prince, to rule over Aquitaine. He was soon foolishly engaged in the affairs of Spain. Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile, ji,e Black Prince had by his violence and injustice made him- in Spain. self thoroughly hated by his subjects. Having, furthermore, incurred the wrath of the Pope, he was excommunicated by him, and his illegitimate brother, Henry of Trastamara, laid claim to the crown. Charles V. of France, who had succeeded John in 1364, gave Henry his support, and permitted Bertrand du Guesclin to collect all the soldiers he could and go to assist him in acquiring the kingdom of Castile. Pedro, thereupon, appealed to the Black Prince, who, because of the mere fact that a king was about to be replaced by a bastard, went to aid him. He was able to restore Pedro, but got nothing for his pains, for Pedro refused to pay him what he had promised. The Black Prince himself was taken ill and four-fifths of his army died of a pest. He was compelled, therefore, to return to Bordeaux. His work was quickly undone, for Henry invaded Castile again, drove out his half-brother Pedro, and took the crown. His troops demanded the pay of which they had been de- frauded by Pedro, and the Black Prince, to satisfy them, levied a hearth-tax on Aquitaine. The people resisted this tax, and appealed to Charles V. to defend them against such injustice. Charles summoned the Black Prince to appear before him, claiming that he was still the feudal lord of Aquitaine, on the ground that the treaty of Bretigny was invalid, because of some irregularity. This was equivalent to a declaration of the re- 532 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE newal of the war. Edward III. again assumed the title of king of France. In 1369-70 the Black Prince made another marauding incursion, but since the French refused to engage in a pitched battle, very little was accomplished. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, brother of the Black Prince, made a similar invasion from Calais through the central part of France, but his troops suffered so much for food and from the cold that only a handful of them reached Bordeaux. Aquitaine revolted against Edward, and submitted to Charles V. The English were compelled to make a treaty and surrender all of their possessions except Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bayonne, and Bordeaux. The struggle now practically ceased till the accession of Henry V. in England (1413-22). Henry V., in 1414, re- newed the claim to the French crown and be- Henry V., 1413- 22, renews the gan the war expressly for the purpose of en- ciaimtothe forcing this claim. His father, Henry IV. French crown. ^ (1399-1413), had seized the Enghsh crown after deposing Richard II. (1377-99). Henry V. felt, there- fore, that his hold upon the English crown was somewhat uncertain. He hoped to make himself popular in England by a successful war with France. He sailed across the channel (1415), and landing at the mouth of the Seine, took Harfleur after a siege. His army in the meantime had been attacked by disease, and two-thirds of his troops had died. With about 15,000 men he did not dare begin the march upon Paris. He determined, therefore, to go to Calais. Since the bridges over the Somme were destroyed, he had to go far up the river before finding a ford. He turned toward Calais, after crossing . , ^ the river, but found near Agincourt a French Aglncourt, 1415. ° army of 50,000 men waiting to attack him. He secured the advantage of position, and his English archers again won a great victory over a far larger body of French. The losses of the French were enormous. Hostilities were not renewed till 141 7, when Henry overran Normandy and got FRANCE, iioS-mLa: ENGLAND, 1070-1485 533 possession of it. For several years the king of France, Charles VI, (1380-1422), had been a helpless imbecile, and the country was almost ruined by the struggles of the parties which were try- ing to control the government. The two opposing parties were headed by the duke of Burgundy and the count of Armagnac respectively. When it became apparent that Henry V. would conquer the whole country these two parties united. The duke of Burgundy met the heir-apparent, the Dauphin, to make his submission to him, but while kneeling before him was murdered by one of the Dauphin's followers to avenge a former crime of the duke. This made peace between the two parties impossible. The new duke of Burgundy, bhnded by a desire for revenge, went over to the English, and even the queen of France deserted her son. France was tempo- Treaty of rarily lost. By the treaty of Troyes (1420) Troyes, 1420. Henry V. was recognized as regent till the death of Charles VI., when he was to succeed him as king of France. Two years later Henry V. died and was succeeded by his son, Henry VI., a child only nine months old. Charles VI. died in the same year. Henry VI. was recognized Henry vi., in many parts of France as king, and the gov- 1422-61. ernment of the country was put into the hands of John, duke of Bedford, brother of the late king. The Dauphin, however, claimed the crown as his hereditary right, and was known as Charles VII. (1422-61). He controlled nearly Charles vii., all the land south of the Loire. Bedford carried 1422-61. on the war against him, and hoped in a short time to reduce the whole of France. His brother, the duke of Gloucester, did the English cause great harm by putting forth an ungrounded claim to Hainault and Holland. He offended thereby the duke of Burgundy, whose friendship was half the explanation of the English success. The city of Orleans was about all that remained to Charles VII. north of the Loire. In 1428 Bedford laid siege to it. If he should succeed in taking that city, Charles VII. would have 534 EUROPE IN THE M^DLE AGE : jj| E little chance of resisting him further. The city seemed to be doomed when help came from an unexpected quarter. Jeanne d'Arc, a peasant girl, seventeen years of age, Jeanne d'Arc. ,,.,,,. , . , believed herself to have received a commis- sion from God to lead her king, Charles VII., to Rheims and secure his coronation. The troubled times had wrought upon her mind till she was fully possessed with this idea. She was not the only woman in France who thought herself appointed for this high work. In these times of excitement and national de- pression other women came forward with about the same claims. Jeanne was the only one fortunate and capable enough to get a hearing. She lived at Domremy, in the duchy of Bar. No one at first had any confidence in her, but at last, when there was no other help possible, she was taken before the young king, who determined to give her a chance to test her divine calHng. She was given command of the army, but only a part of her orders were obeyed, because some of the things which she commanded were manifestly impossible. The real commanders of the army made good use of her presence to fire the enthusiasm of the troops to the highest pitch. She led the attack on the English before Orleans, and was successful in breaking up the siege of the city. Therewith the tide had turned, and everyone was wild with joy and enthusiasm. The belief in her miraculous mission made the army irresistible. The English were driven back, town after town was taken by the French, and Charles VII. was soon crowned at Rheims (1429). Jeanne longed to go home then, being tired of the life which she was leading, but so long as the English remained in possession of any French soil there was still work to do, and so she was persuaded to remain. She wished especially to take Paris. Unfortunately, however, she was taken prisoner by the Burgundians and sold to the English. She was carried to Rouen, where, after a long trial, she was condemned to death on a mixed charge of sorcery, heresy, apostacy, and other crimes, which only the Middle Age could invent. Her youth. FRANCE, 1108-1494 ; ENGLAND, 1070-14S5 535 her simplicity, her nobleness availed nothing ; she was burned at the stake May, 143 1. But even dead she was still a power in France. Her name gave an impetus and courage to her countrymen which was des- tined to result in driving out the English entirely. Bedford found the current in France setting stronger and stronger against the English. At his death (1435) the duke of Burgundy de- serted the English cause and became the subject of Charles VII. For some years the war was continued, but at xhe English length (1454) the Enghsh had been driven out driven out, 1454. of every place in France except Calais. The Hundred Years' War was over. The final result of it was the unification of France. Both England and France had been profoundly in- fluenced by this war, and at its close they were ready to enter upon a new period of their development. The constitutional changes in England during the period of the Hundred Years' War must be briefly noted. In 1322 Edward II. and Parliament declared that in the constitutional future all matters pertaining to the interests of ciianges in the country should be settled by Parliament, in England. which not only the clergy and the barons, but also the com- mon people should be represented. Edward III. was well in- clined to a constitutional government. He gave up his right to exact certain feudal taxes, and relied upon securing suffi- cient funds for the government by parliamentary xhe House oi grants. In 1341 the House of Commons was Commons. separated from that of the Lords. The composition of the House of Commons was of the utmost importance. In it were to be found the knights of the shire, as well as the representa- tives of the towns or burgesses. Only in England were the knights associated with the commoners. In all the countries of Europe they were a part of the nobility, and refused to have any connection with the common people. This union of the two classes in England was to be the source of the greatest strength for both. Edward III., in 1360, made permanent the 536 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE officials known as justices of the peace. It was their duty to preserve the peace in their county, take all criminals and even try them. They were appointed by the king from among the local landholders. In 1376 another important event occurred. The Parliament refused to grant any money till it should receive an account of all the moneys collected and expended by the king and his counsellors. After a struggle it was victorious, and succeeded in forcing some of the council from their office. A new coun- cil was then formed and some of the former members were charged with embezzlement, tried, convicted, and punished. This is the first case of impeachment of the king's council, and was of great importance as a precedent. Richard II. (1377-99) ruled for a while in a constitutional way. He appointed his own ministers, but when Parliament met he compelled them to resign, in order that charges might be made against them by any one who wished to do so. After it became clear that no one was dissatisfied with them he re- stored them to office. The vassal relation was gradually changed. In place of vas- sals the great lords now surrounded themselves with men who Change in the were called retainers and wore the badge of feudal relation, their respective houses. With these retainers a lord could influence both the administration of justice and the elections. The abuse became so great that in 1390 the maintenance of such retainers was forbidden. It was to be more than a hundred years, however, before the prohibition could be fully enforced. Richard II., toward the end of his reign, was thought to be mad. His violence and injustice were unendurable, and led to his deposition. His cousin, the duke of Lancaster, succeeded in compelling him to resign, and then put forth his own claim to the crown on the ground that he was in the proper line of succession. Parliament gave its assent, and Lancaster be- came king Henry IV. The succession fell to Henry IV. , how- FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 537 ever, not owing so much to the fact that the crown was heredi- tary as to the behef still common that it was elective. The depo- sition of Richard II. and the election of Henry IV. were looked upon rather as the work of the people by its Parliament. It was the victory, at Agincourt, of Henry V. that rendered the Lancas- trians popular in England and made their seat tolerably secure. The fourteenth century was marked by a movement among the people which showed itself in many ways. In 1348 a plague spread over all Europe, which resulted gocjai in the death of perhaps half of the population. movements. Whole districts in England were almost depopulated. This, of course, made the demand for the service of free laborers much greater. The natural effect was that all workmen demanded far larger wages than they had ever before received. The English sense of the binding force of custom and tradition was thereby deeply offended, especially since at the same time the expense of farming was increased. In 1349 both Houses of Parhament met and passed a statute that the same wages should be paid as were customary before the plague, and made it a crime for any- one to demand more. The immediate effect of this measure was to increase the bitterness already existing between the classes. An important sign of this opposition between the classes was the appearance of the work ofLangland, called Piers the Plow- man (1362). After the victories of Cr6cy and piers the Plow Poitiers and the successful invasions of France, •"""• the English returned to their homes laden with spoil. There was great increase in luxury, idleness, and vice. Langland gives a stirring picture of this condition of things, and sets over against the idle nobleman the simple, honest plowman or peas- ant, whose life was one long round of duties well performed. All the legislation prohibiting the demand of higher wages was without avail. The work must be done, and the peasants refused to do it without an increase in pay. This led the land- lords to try to reduce the free laborers to villainage again. In many cases the villain had secured his freedom by paying a S38 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE small sum of money to his landlord. Since the service had become so much more valuable, the landlords now declared that Wat Tyler's re- Ae contract into which they had entered was beiiion C138O. unfair, and they refused to accept the sum of money agreed upon in place of service. They tried, therefore, to compel the peasants to become serfs again and render the old service which had formerly been required of them. This would have solved the difficulty and the landlords would have thereby acquired a sufficient amount of labor to till their estates. The injustice of it, however, caused a revolt. Many of Wyclif's preachers espoused the cause of the peasants, and there arose besides a large number of peasants who went about inciting the people to resistance. There was an uprising all over England. The property of the nobihty was attacked, their game and fish preserves destroyed, the records of the villains' dues were burnt, and even many people put to death. An army of more than 100,000, led by Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, and John Ball, marched upon London, expecting to appeal to the king to support them against the nobility. They got into London and put many to death, among them the lawyers of the new inn of the Temple and the archbishop of Canterbury, who had proposed many of the obnoxious measures in Parliament. Richard IL, still a mere boy, met them and promised to abolish villainage, whereupon the majority of the peasants returned home. About 30,000 of them, however, were bent on mischief, and could not be dispersed until an army attacked and scattered them. The revolt was followed by severe punish- ments. The leaders were put to death, as well as many who had taken part in it. All England was united against the insurgents, and the lot of the peasants became harder than ever before. This peasants' revolt had a bad effect on a great movement which had for its author John Wyclif. By an independent study of the Bible he had come to differ radi- Wyclif. cally from the Church in many points. He attacked the authority of the Pope and the doctrine of tran- FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 539 substantiation; later even the mass. At first he had attacked only the abuses in the Church, the worldly clergy, the heavy ecclesiastical taxes, the sale of indulgences and pardons, pilgrim- ages, the use of reUcs, and the worship of saints. The war with France, which was then the home of the Popes, and the papal Schism probably had a good deal to do with the develop- ment of Wyclif s doctrines. Opposition developed his ideas until he broke out into open hostility to the Church in almost everything. He based all his doctrines directly on his inter- pretation of the Bible. He sent out many preachers to carry his teaching to the people, and they succeeded in gaining many adherents. His sympathies were, for the most part, with the common people, and his cry for reform was taken up by them. It was due in part to his agitation that the peasants' revolt took place. The violence committed on that occasion frightened the nobility and even the common people, and Wyclifs move- ment thus fell into disrepute. His preachers, called the Lol- lards, or idle babblers, were repressed and persecuted. He him- self was bitterly opposed by the clergy, but escaped personal violence. He was compelled, however, to leave Oxford and retire to his home at Lutterworth, where he spent the last years of his life in revising an earlier translation of the Bible. He was ordered to appear at Rome to defend himself, when death overtook him. Political considerations, the alliance between Henry V. and the papacy, led to the repeated persecutions of his followers, and so all of Wyclifs efforts at reform came to nothing. But the cry for the reform of the Church was never again hushed in Europe. Through one of his pupils, John Huss of Prague, his teachings were carried to Bohemia, where they also caused a great uprising.' During the last years of Henry VL the civil war began which was to be known as the Wars of the Roses. This was a struggle between the great houses of England, at first for the control of the king, and later for the possession of the crown. Henry VI. 1 See Chapter XX. S40 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE suffered from attacks of insanity, during which the govern- ment was put into the hands of a regent. The duke of York Wars of the "^^as appointed regent under the title of Protec- Ros's. tQr (1454), and the duke of Somerset, who had been the favorite of Henry VI., Was thereby displaced. The next year, however, the king recovered for a short time and again assumed authority. He at once restored Somerset. The duke of York, fearing violence, took up arms and attacked his rival. In the battle of Saint Albans (1455) he was victorious, and the duke of Somerset was slain. He went to London, tak- ing the king with him, who was soon seized with another fit of insanity, whereupon York again became Protector. After a short time the king again recovered and tried to make peace between the contending families. There could be no lasting peace, however, and in 1460, after a victory over the royal army, the duke of York laid claim to the crown on the ground that he was the heir of Edward III. through his son Lionel, who was older than John of Gaunt, from whom Henry VI. was descended. The Parhament refused to depose Henry VI., but agreed that the duke of York should succeed him at his death. The son of Henry VI., Prince Edward, was thereby excluded from the succession. The queen refused to submit to this in- justice, and appealed to the Scotch for help. At the battle of Wakefield (1460) she was victorious, and York was slain. His son Edward, however, at once became the leader of the Yorkist forces. He defeated the queen's army at Mortimer's Cross, and in a second battle of Saint Albans (1461), and followed these victories up with another at Towton, in which her army was almost destroyed. The queen fled to Scotland, taking Henry VI. with her, and Edward IV. was crowned king at Westminster in June, 1461. Edward's first Parliament was most pliant, and declared the three previous kings of the House of Lancaster to have been usurpers and their supporters traitors. When the queen re- turned with an army, she met only with defeat. Edward IV. FRANCE, 1108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 541 thereupon put to death many of the famihes and supporters of the Lancastrians. But his poHcy, and especially his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, who was not of high Warwick, the birth, estranged his best helpers, and led to a kingmaker. revolt. In 1470 the earl of Warwick drove Edward IV. out and restored Henry VI. to the throne. Edward IV. returned the next spring, and was successful in two decisive battles, one at Barnet, the other at Tewkesbury. The leading members of the Lancastrian party were slain, and Henry VI. himself was put to death in the tower. Edward IV. now felt himself secure on the throne, and found leisure to begin a war in connection with Charles the Bold of Burgundy against Louis XI. of France. He hoped to prevent the extension of French power in the Netherlands, but was un- able to do so. The death of Edward IV. put his son, Edward V. , a boy of twelve years, on the throne. His second son was known as the duke of York. His brother Richard, duke of Gloucester, took possession of the two boys, and was made Protector. They were both put into the tower, and the relatives of their mother, Elizabeth Woodville, who had been exercising great influence up to this time, were either imprisoned or put to death. Fearing that if the young king were once crowned and acknowledged, his own life would be in danger, Richard ill., Richard, by the most shameless charges against 1483-85. the honor of his own mother, secured the recognition of him- self as king. He was crowned as Richard III. (1483). He met with some opposition, but was able to resist it successfully. He felt, however, that he was not safe so long as the young Edward V. and his brother lived. They were accordingly put to death in the tower by Richard's orders. This crime cost him his popularity, and all the nobility of England feared him. The duke of Richmond, another descendant of Edward III., through John of Gaunt, was encouraged to invade England, and in the battle ofBosworth (1485) Richard III. was defeated and slain, and the duke of Richmond was made king under 542 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the title of Henry VII. For nearly thirty years England had suffered terribly by these civil wars, and the people were worn out with them. They were wilhng to do anything or to sub- „ yi mit to anything if only they might have peace. (1485-1509) It was not so much that the great houses were brings peace. destroyed; it was rather the horror that was everywhere felt for civil war that now opened the way for the Tudor House, of which Henry VII. was the head, to become practically absolute, and rule without regard to constitution or Parliament. The people felt that nothing could be worse than civil war. They were glad to have a strong king, because they believed that such a ruler alone was able to preserve peace and order. The Renaissance was just beginning to be felt in England at this time. Richard III. was himself one of the most promi- The Renaissance nent Supporters of the new learning, and did all in England. ]•,£ could to foster it. Before he saw the way open to the throne he had been especially active in this direc- tion. It was unfortunate both for him and for the cause of learning that the temptation was put in his way to seize the crown. But even as king he was active along the same line. He passed a law forbidding any hindrance or injury to any one who was engaged in importing or selling books in the kingdom. The patriotic Caxton had brought back from the continent a printing-press. He was not only a printer, but also an author, or, at least, a most industrious translator. Learning suddenly became with many a passion. The move- ment was still in its swaddling-clothes, to be sure, but the foundation was being laid for the glorious achievements of the sixteenth century. The last years of Charles VII. were not so fortunate as the first. The victories which Jeanne d'Arc won for him secured A standing army him the title of the Victorious. He established in France. ^ Standing army and became independent of his vassals for military service. But he quarrelled with his son FRANCE, 1 108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 543 Louis. Louis thereupon intrigued against his father and made alliances with his father's enemies. The king also fell under the control of bad ministers, and his court was vitiated by the presence of infamous women. Louis XL (1461-83) was, from the point of view of the king- ship, one of the most successful of all French kings, but he has won the reputation of being the most cruel, crafty, loujs xi., and unprincipled of men. He was a master 1461-83. in the arts of duplicity and deception. His settled pohcy looked toward the acquisition of territory and the strengthen- ing of the royal power. Several of the great appanages were added to the royal domain during his reign, and two most important acquisitions were made on the eastern frontier. In 1477, at the death of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, his duchy was seized by Louis XL, and in 1481 he got possession of Provence by the death of the last Anjou, who declared Louis XL his heir. In this way the eastern boun- dary of France was much extended. Louis XI. established provincial parliaments, thereby dividing and weakening the body that was most able to hinder the growth of the royal power. His successor, Charles VIII. (1483-98), increased his possessions by the addition of Brittany (1491). The unification This practically completed the unification of oJ France. France, although there were still several provinces which were yet to be incorporated with the royal domain. This was re- served for the sixteenth century to accomplish. The power of the king was now rapidly increasing, while that of the feudal nobility was practically broken. The king was ruler in fact as well as in name. With the whole of France in his hands the way was open for Charles VIII. to look abroad. His invasion of Italy (1494) marks the beginning of a new era in French history. The country was practically united, and her superflu- ous strength was now to be used in the endeavor to extend her botmdaries by the conquest of peoples of a different nation- ality. CHAPTER XIX THE LESSER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE TO 1500 In this chapter it is proposed to give, in the briefest manner possible, a bird's-eye view of those parts of Europe which played no great role in the Middle Age, but were nevertheless engaged in the slow process of political development. In the northern part of Spain there were gradually formed cer- tain principalities, such as the kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Ara- gon, and Navarre, and the counties of Catalonia Spain. and Portugal. About 1040 Leon and Castile were united, and a hundred years later Aragon and Catalonia were made 'one. The county of Portugal was established about 1095. It was practically independent and in 1139 became a kingdom. About 1250 Navarre established relations with France, and for a long time had little in common with the rest of the peninsula. When the Ommiad Khalifate came to an end (1031), five large Mohammedan kingdoms were established (Toledo, Se- ville, Cordova, Saragossa, and Badajoz), besides a great many Httle independent principalities. The struggle between these and the small Christian states on the north was constantly car- ried on during the Middle Age, and the Christians slowly won territory after territory from them. In 1086 the Mohammedans called on the Almoravides of northwest Africa for help. This resulted in the destruction of the Christian army, indeed, but also in the conquest of the Spanish emirs, and the establishment of the Almoravides as rulers of Mohammedan Spain. About fifty years later (1145) another sect having risen to power in Africa, the Almohades crossed the strait and in a few years de- THE LESSER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE TO 1500 545 feated the Almoravides and united all Mohammedan Spain under themselves. Their rule also was of short duration. In the year 1 2 1 2 the Christians were able to destroy their power. Before the end of the thirteenth century all of Spain was again in the hands of the Christians except the southeastern part, which formed a principality known as Granada. paH „f the This remained Mohammedan until 1492, when Moors, jfpa. Ferdinand and Isabella conquered it and completed the unifi- cation of Spain. Castile and Aragon had meanwhile become the most power- ful states and gradually absorbed all the others. Sicily and Sardinia were added to Aragon during the last years of the thir- teenth century. The consolidation of the two leading Spanish states was accomplished (1474) by the marriage of Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon. The union of Spain was soon after completed and she was prepared to take her place among the leading states of Europe. In 1095, when king Alphonso gave the cojinty of Portugal to his son-in-law, Henry of Burgundy, it consisted of only the small territory between the Douro and Minho Portugal. rivers. In 11 39, after a great victory over the Moors, the count was made a king, and from that time on the struggle with the Mohammedans for territory went steadily for- ward. In about one hundred years the kingdom was extended to nearly its present boundaries. The Portuguese turned their attention to the sea and became the most daring sailors and explorers in the world. The Madeira and the Azore Islaiids were taken and^3idedt9,-tbeir possessions. In the fifteenth century their voyages of discovery were directed by Prince Henry, known as "the Navigator." Vasco daGama, a Portu- guese, discovered a route around the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies (1498), thereby increasing Portuguese com- merce and enabling her to get possession of m^ny islands. Another result of this discovery was to diminish the amount of trade between the east and west, which had been carried on by 3S 546 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE way of the eastern Mediterranean, whose great ports now began to lose their importance. Portugal's activity on the sea was so great that she competed with the larger countries of Europe for the control of the new world which was just then being dis- covered and opened up. The territory now known as the Netherlands (Holland and Belgium) was slow in attaining a complete independence and a separate national existence. It was a part of the Netherlands. r t^ . i ,-. i • i . • ■ • r Empire of Karl the Great, and in the division of 843 (Verdun) was given to Lothar. Nearly all the territory west of the Rhine from Basel to the North Sea was called Lothar- ingia, and came to be divided into two parts, upper and lower. The latter comprised all the territory north of the Moselle river. It included, therefore, nearly all of modern Belgium and Holland. Following the feudal tendency Lotharingia broke up into several fiefs, most of which succeeded in render- ing themselves practically fi:ee from foreign control. Among these feudal principalities were the counties of Namur, Hainault, Luxemburg, Holland, Gelderland, and others ; the episcopal sees of Liege, Cambrai, and Utrecht ; and the duchies of Brabant and Limburg. To the west of these lay the county of Flanders, which had been able to break away from the kingdom of France and become practically independent. The growth and power of the cities in all this territory were remarkable. Their inhabitants became rich from industry and commerce, and early took part in the communal revolt. They naturally wished to be free from Germany and France, one or the other of which had sovereign claims over all this land, and hence were the allies of England in the Hundred Years' War. Their progress in civilization was rapid, and during this period they laid the foundation of the strength which they were to develop in the sixteenth century in their tremendous struggle with Spain. During the last years of the fourteenth century and the first of the fifteenth the French dukes of Burgundy got possession by THE LESSER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE TO 1500 547 marriage and conquest of almost all of these little independent territories after they had seriously weakened themselves by making war on each other. By the marriage of Mary of Bur- gundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, with Maximilian of Austria (1477), afterward Emperor, the Netherlands came into the possession of the House of Hapshurg. The Emperor, Charles V. (1519-55), inherited them from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, and gave them to his son, Philip II. of Spain. Against him and his misrule they revolted and carried on an heroic war for eighty years. The history of this revolt belongs, however, to another period. The conquests and settlements of the Norsemen have already been described. In the ninth and tenth centuries Denmark was united into one kingdom. One of the j, ^ greatest of its sovereigns was Knut, whose. con- Norway, and quest and government of England have already ^^ '"' been recounted. The kingdom of Denmark had a period oj" considerable power, but this was followed by another of de- cadence. Sweden also became a kingdom in the ninth and tenth centuries. Christianity was thoroughly established there by about 1050. Norway was not united until about the year 1000. For some centuries the history of these countries is but a confused succession of wars and civil strife. In 1363 Waldemar Atterdag, king of Denmark, married his daughter Margaret to King Haco VI. This Haco was the son of Magnus Smek, who had become king of both Norway and Sweden. After reigning for several years Magnus had been compelled by the nobility to surrender the crown of Sweden to his eldest son, Eric, and that of Norway to another son, the Haco VI. mentioned above. After a long civil war Haco was the only representative of his family left alive, but the Swedes refused to accept him and elected Albert of Mecklenburg as their king. In 1365 Waldemar Atterdag died, and Margaret secured the crown of Denmark for her son Olaf. Her husband, Haco VI. of Norway, died 1380, and Mar- 548 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE garet took possession of that country also for Olaf Denmark and Norway were, therefore, united under one ruler. Although Olaf was king in the two countries, his mother Margaret was the real ruler. At his death (1387) she was elected queen in Norway and regent in Denmark. Since 1380 Margaret had also assumed the title of queen of Sweden, although Albert of Mecklenburg had been chosen its king in 1365. Margaret now began a war on him to make good her claims to the crown of Sweden. For some years the struggle continued, but Mar- garet was in the end victorious. In 1396 she had one of her nephews, Eric, crowned king of the three countries, and in 1397, by the union of Calmar, they were firmly united. Theo- retically, the union of Calmar put the three countries on the same plane. In reality, Denmark was the leading power and dominated the other two. Sweden made several attempts to revolt and gain her independence, but without success, till the appearance of Gustavus Vasa (1523). Norway, however, re- mained united to Denmark till 1814. The victory of Emperor Otto I. over the Hungarians on the Lech (955) put an end to their invasions to the west. During the tenth century Christianity was introduced among Hungary. them from Germany and Constantinople. In the year 1000 their duke, Stephen, sent to Rome to ask for the establishment of an independent Hungarian archbishopric at Gran, and also that he himself be made king. Both petitions were granted, and he became the subject of the Pope. In the time of Henry III. , in consequence of a heathen reaction, the Christian king, Peter, was driven out. Henry III. restored him by force of arms and made him his vassal. The relation was little more than nominal, because the German Emperors were so taken up with their problems in the west that they had no time to attend to Hungary. Croatia was added to Hungary (109 1), although afterward lost for a short time. German influence was felt all along the western frontier, and especially through the Saxon immigrants, who were invited at various times to settle THE LESSER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE TO 1500 S49 in different parts of Hungary, more particularly in the south- east districts now known as Siebenbuergen (Transylvania). The country suffered terribly under the invasion of the Mongols (from 1241 on), but the devastated countries were repeopled with Germans. The family of Stephen (the Arpad dynasty) held the throne till 1301, when it became extinct, and the crown went to an Angevin of the French family of Charles of Anjou, who had established himself as king of Sicily and Naples. After the failure of this dynasty (1437) the crown was fought over for nearly one hundred years. The country was grad- ually weakened by this strife, and at the same time the Turks invaded it. Solyman II. was able to destroy the Hun- garian army at the battle of Mohacs (1526), and to get posses- sion of a large part of Hungary, which he held for nearly one hundred and fifty years. The rest of the country passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs and was added to Austria, but always enjoyed a measure of independence. In consequence of the efforts of Otto I. to extend Christianity, and, at the same time, German influence to the east, several bishoprics (Merseburg, Zeitz, Meissen, Havel- 11.1,11 Poland. berg, Brandenburg) were established under the archbishop of Magdeburg. These were the missionaries to the Slavs. Duke Mieczislav of Poland did homage to Otto I. and received the rite of baptism. Christianity spread among the Poles. The process of Germanizing them, however, was checked by the establishment of Gnesen as an archbishopric (1000) directly under the Pope. This secured Poland an inde- pendent ecclesiastical development, and also the preservation of its nationality. Duke Boleslav I. first took the title of king. In the eleventh century Poland consisted of the territory on both sides of the river Warthe. Pomerania was conquered in the next century, and thus Poland acquired a seaboard. The Mongols in the thirteenth century ravaged almost the whole of the country. By the marriage of a Polish princess with the prince Jagello of Lithuania Poland acquired a new 5SO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE dynasty and all the territory of the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. By some victories over the German Order, established since the thirteenth century on the Baltic, her boundaries were also ex- tended on the north. Her territory at this time reached from the Baltic to the Black Sea. German influence was strong in many parts of Poland, because of the large number of German colonists who settled there. At the end of the Mid- dle Age Poland seemed a powerful state and possessed of great possibilities. The nobility, however, was omnipotent, and the common people oppressed with too great burdens. The dynasty of Jagello died out in 1572, and the crown became elective. The quarrels that arose over the recurring royal election were to be the cause of Poland's destruction. She lost her sea-coast, and having no good natural boundaries, could not resist dismemberment. The settlements of the Norsemen at Novgorod and Kiev, and the dynasty established by them, have already been spoken of. These settlements were united about 900 a.d., and shortly afterward were Christianized from Constantinople. The political chaos of the next centuries was very great. The Mongols established themselves north of the Black Sea, and compelled all the principalities of Russia to pay tribute. A large part of Russia continued subject to them till the end of the fifteenth century, when Ivan III. threw off the yoke. He also reduced all the independent principalities and took 'the title of Czar. He built the royal palace at Mos- cow (the Kremlin), and laid the foundation for the growth of Russia in the next centuries. The Greek Empire was engaged in constant struggle with the Mohammedans. The Seldjuk Turks, as we have seen, con- The Greek quered nearly all the Imperial possessions in Empire. Asia. In spite of all the efforts that were made about the time of the crusades to drive them out of Asia Minor, they kept a firm hold upon a part of it. The Osman Turks came from central Asia about the middle of the fourteenth cen- THE LESSER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE TO 1500 5SI tury and began a brilliant career of conquest. They soon won territory in Europe. From this time they encroached steadily on the territory of the Empire. All the Balkan Peninsula was conquered by them, and they extended their sway far north beyond the Danube. The fall of^onstantinople (1453) marks the end of the Byzantine Empire. While Mohammedanism was being utterly driven out of Spain, it was firmly establish- ing itself on the Balkan Peninsula, from which vantage ground it was yet to threaten some of the Christian states of Europe. CHAPTER XX GERMANY, 1254-1493 I. The death of Conrad IV. (1254) marks the end of the Hohenstaufen kingship in Germany. No king succeeded in Theinterreg. gaining general recognition for twenty years. ""■"• This period (1254-73) is therefore called the in- ■ terregnum. William of Holland (till 1256) and, later, Rich- ard, duke of Cornwall (brother of Henry III., king of England), and Alphonse X. of Castile are proclaimed king, each by a small party, but their rule is nothing but a farce. Universal anarchy prevails. Since the only law is that which is humorously called Faustrecht (fist-law), every one must help himself as best he can. The cities rise to the occasion. In spite of the un- toward conditions of the land, this period is marked by a great development in industry and commerce. The formation of the league of Rhenish cities (1254) for mutual protection against illegal exactions indicates the parallel rise of a healthy political spirit of self-help. Finally, the election of Rudolph I. (12735-91) ends the politi- cal confusion. Rudolph, count of Hapburg, whose possessions Rudolph (A lay in Suabia, was a prince of only secondary Hapsburg;. rank, and recommended himself to the great territorial princes precisely on this account. These princes wanted an Emperor who was not likely to slip from their con- trol. At his election was seen the consummation of a develop- ment which had been preparing for some time. He was chosen by the great princes only, seven in nuniber, and holders of the .seven high offices (Erzaeniter') , without the intervention of the lesser nobility. These seven from now on vindicate this right GERMANY, 1254-1493 553 to themselves, and we shall soon see this, at first merely cus- tomary practice, receiving the sanction of law. Of the seven electors {Kurfuersten), three are spiritual' and four lay princes. They are the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier, and the king of Bohemia, the duke of Saxony, the margrave of Brandenburg, and the count palatine of the Rhine.' With the accession of Rudolph the German monarchy sig- nally changes character. Occasionally, dreamers or ambitious politicians, like Henry VII. and Charles IV., change in the show an inclination to revert to the old idea of the character of the world -monarchy, for the sake of which so many ottlTkar of imperial families ruined themselves, and all but Bohemia. ruined their state, but from Rudolph on, the elected German kings stay well at home, on the whole, and content themselves with their-German monarchy. What is more strictly called the Middle Age was at last passing away for Germany, as well as for the rest of Europe, and its high-flying idealism was re- placed in the new epoch by a sober realism which looked well to material interests. Rudolph affords an immediate illustra- tion. In spite of tempting invitations from the Pope, who was in terror from those same Angevins whom he had summoned to Naples to replace the Hohenstaufen, he shrewdly declined to enter what he called "the lion's cave." This was not cow- ardice, for Rudolph was a brave, simple, and effective man. He preferred to attend to nearer business first. And there was such in profusion. He had not entered upon office without opposition. Ottokar, King of Bohemia, who had created a large empire in the east of Sermany, composed of German and Slav elements, tried to render himself independent of the Em- pire. On the Marchfeld (near Vienna) he was defeated and killed (1278) and Ruciolph confiscated his possessions. Bo- hemia proper he 'returned to Ottokar's son, but Austria and ^ The seven high offices were distributed as follows ; The three spiritual princes were chancellors respectively of the three integral parts of the Em- pire : Germany, Italy, and Burgundy ; Bohemia was cup-bearer, the count palatine was seneschal, Saxony marshal, Brandenburg chamberlain. 554 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Styria he kept for his own house. Rudolph's hereditary pos- sessions were very small, and this chance for making so con- siderable an addition to them, came very opportunely at a period when the imperial office itself put no reliable resources at the disposal of the Emperor, either in the form of an army or of money, and his authority was dependent in the last in- stance upon his house-wealth. The centre of gravity of the Hapsburg dominions was thus removed to Austria and Vienna, and it has remained fixed there ever since. After his personal interests had thus been provided for, Rudolph found time for Germany. He travelled extensively from point to point, hear- ing complaints, judging violence, and putting down anarchy. The necessity of such a peace-bringer after the chaotic inter- regnum may be inferred from the fact, that along the Main and Rhine alone he destroyed one hundred and forty robber strong- holds. The election of Adolph of Nassau (1292-98) as Rudolph's successor illustrated another fact of importance in connection Adolph and '^vith the changed character of the monarchy. Aibrecht. Theoretically, the monarchy had always been elective, but the great Emperors of the Middle Age had had no difficulty in creating a certain predilection for hereditary suc- cession, and the Saxon, Franconian, and Suabian Emperors had followed each other in hereditary order as long as there were any direct heirs left. At the death of Rudolph the weakened condition of the monarchy was emphasized by the refusal of the electors to take his successor from the Hapsburg line. Their choice fell upon Adolph of Nassau. Adolph of Nassau was another prince of the second order from whom the great dukes had nothing to fear. When he attempted to form, a strong house-power, something after the fashion of Rudolph, the princes deserted him, and set up as his rival Aibrecht of Austria, Rudolph's son. Having defeated Adolph at Goell- heim, he becomes his successor. Aibrecht I. (i 298-1308) was a politician of intelligence and GERMANY, 1254-1493 555 energy. He saw that the thing needed was to strengthen the central power, and for this reason he leaned upon the. cities, whose enemies, like his own, were the princes. . Aibrechtof Furthermore, he tried to get new territories Austria. directly into his hands, but here he was_generally unsuccessful. His threatening attitude toward the Swiss prepared their wars of liberation. Xhe story of Albrecht's cruel agent, Uessler, and his murder by the heroic Tell, is laid in this reign, but has no support in fact. Jiowever, it was Albrecht's greed for ter- ritory that cost him his life. His nephew, John, called Parri- cida, murdered him as he was crossing the ReusSj^ for with- holding from him his hereditary dominion. Henry VII., of the House of Luxemburg, succeeded him (1308—13). He was a man of talents, determined to make his office count for order and well-being.. Since he, . . , , Henry VII. too, was a poor prmce, the extinction of the male line of Ottokar of Bohemia at this moment proved a lucky windfall. "Henry promptly married his son John to Elizabeth of the Bohemian line, and so secured for his family a strOng house-power adjoining Austria.. Then his attention was drawn - to Italy by a succession of loud appeals to him. It was the period of the rise of the tyrants, and an unutterable confusion, mixed with oppression, filled the peninsula. ' It was long since an Emperor had been seen there, but the imperial rights were still alive. A chivalrous character like Henry's could not re- main deaf to appeals which were addressed to him in the name of charity and duty.' It was the time of the great Ghibelhne poet Dante (1265-1321), and in his epic, " The Divine Com- edy," and in his essay, " De Monarchia," he has left us an imperishable expression of his party's political faith and hopes. ■ " All the cities are full of tyrants, and every clown who plays at faction rises to authority."— Dante, Purg., VI., 124. See for further facts on Italy, Chapter XVII. 2 " Come to see your Rome, which weeps, widowed and alone, and calls out day and night: ' My Caesar, wherefore does he not attend me? ' " etc. —Purg., VI., 112. SS6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE But the revival of imperialism in Italy was a dream. Henry received both the Lombard and imperial crowns, but after a few successes in the north, of no permanent character, and a signal failure before the walls of Guelph Florence, he died sud- denly near Pisa (13 13). There followed a disputed election. The Luxemburg party, finding John, king of Bohemia and son of Henry VIL, too Louis of young, put up Louis of Bavaria (House of AVit- Bavaria. telsbach), while the Hapsburg party elected Frederick the Fair of Austria. A long civil war between the two contestants was concluded by the battle of Muehldorf (1322), in which the Austrian party was defeated and Fred- erick captured. Ip the pact signed by the combatants, P'red- erick had to acknowledge Louis as Emperor, but secured for himself the title of King of the Romans, together with the regency during the absence of the Emperor. This settlemeiit enabled Louis to go to Italy (1326), where, in the absence of the Pope at Avignon, he received the imperial crown, against the established custom, from a layman, the syndic of the Roman commune, Sciarra Colonna, but accomplished toward the settlement of the peninsula even less than Henry VII. It was with difficulty that he pers\iaded any German princes to follow him, and the Itahans hardly minded his presence. So his visit marks another plunge downward of imperialism, but, at the same time, shows how obstinately the. dead chimera persisted in some heads. "To destroy the Empire," Louis could still write in good faith to Pope John XXII., "is to put the Church itself in confusion and to sow heresy and discord." Meanwhile he was engaged in a .hot struggle with the Papacy, resident since the beginning of the century (1309) at Louis's struggle Avignon, and dominated by French influence. with the Pa. John XXII., still filled with the inherited ag- ^^'^' gressive ideas, had abruptly ended a dispute with Louis concerning the appointment of a royal Vicar in Italy by GERMANY, 1254-1453 557 declaring Louis deposed. Then he proceeded to reassert the old claims of the Papacy to the effect that the Emperor had to be confirmed by the Pope, and that during an interregnum the rights of the office devolved upon the curia. A fierce war of pamphlets ensued, in which Louis was supported by a wing«of the Franciscans, which had quarrelled with the Pope on ac- count of his anti-christian living, and by some of the best lay minds of Europe. Marsilius of Padua, especially, made a deep impression with his sweeping arraignment of the Papacy in the Defensor Pads (Defender of Peace) in which he denies the Pope a right to territorial power and subjects him to the General Council of the Church. Finally, the Empire itself was moved to take official action with regard to the Pope's claims, which, if allowed, threatened its own independence, as well as that of the Emperor. The electors met at Rense (1338), and there solemnly declared that the German king was created by them, and that his confirmation by the Pope was superfluous. This was an act of national assertion which de- serves to be set side by side with the similar measure of the French estates of 1302 with reference to the exorbitant claims of Boniface VIIL The nations, and even discordant Germany among them, were cutting loose from the second hampering in- ternational institution, the Church, just as they had freed themselves of the Empire a century or two before. National manners and national institutions were everywhere receiving an increasing attention. The harmony established between Louis and the princes of ■ the Empire by the act of Rense did not continue to the end^ Driven by the necessities of his impoverished ,.-.,,, , The contest condition, he used his office, like every other between Louis Emperor of this epoch, to increase his hereditary ""^ Charles of ^ , , , . . Luxemburg. dominion. Brandenburg and some of the pro- vinces of the Netherlands were acquired by him. His plot to get the Tyrol involved him in a violent conflict with Charles of Bohemia, grandson of Henry VIL, which ended in Charles 558 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE being put up as rival German king (1346). In the midst of the new struggle Louis died (1347), whereupon Charles reigned alone. It was at this time that there were laid the foundations of what is now Switzerland. The history of the origin of this state takes Origin of US back to the last Hohenstaufen. During the Switzerland. reign of Frederick II. , the two forest cantons of Uri and Schwyz had acquired letters-patent from the Emperor, by which they were freed from the sovereignty of the counts of Hapsburg, whose territory lay in that part of Germany (south- ern Suabia). In 1291 representatives from these two cantons met with some of Unterwalden, where the Hapsburgs still had seignorial rights, and swore to protect each other as confed- erates (Eidgenossen) against every attack iipon their liberties. This is the beginning of the Swiss confederation. These sim- ple, hardy peasants, neatherds, and foresters, who had preserved much of the old Teutonic vigor, and even many of the old Teu- tonic institutions in their isolated mountain homes, had never been assimilated to the feudal system, and now that it began to irritate them with restrictions on their freedom, they resolved to shake it off. The fact that their feudal lords, the Hapsburgs, had risen to the Empire in Rudolph and Albrecht did not frighten them from their resolution. They even ventured upon encroachments of the neighboring territory. This was more than Hapsburg pride and patience would submit to, and Leopold, brother of Frederick the Fair, who was engaged in contesting the Empire with Louis of Bavaria, invaded their territory with the flower of Austrian chivalry to visit them with condign pun- ishment. At Morgarten (13 15) the Confederates suddenly fell upon Leopold, and his proud feudal armament was annihi- lated by low-born bands of peasants, equipped at random with axes and pitchforks. It was a spectacle new and surprising to the world, prophetic of the passing of knighthood and many antiquated things besides. Owing to this success of the con- federation new adhesions gradually poured in, until by the mid- GERMANY, 1254-1493 559 die of the century, Zurich and Bern having joined their lot to their neighbors, the confederation embraced the so-called eight old cantons (Orte). It was repeatedly called upon to defend itself against the Hapsburgs and their feudal allies of Suabia, but with the battle of Sempach (1386), won over another Leopold, it raised itself beyond danger from princely authority. This battle was, in its character of peasant versus baron, a rep- etition of Morgarten, and the touching story of Arnold of Win- kelried, who is said to have made the first breach in the serried ranks of the enemy by gathering to his breast as many spears as he could grasp, truthfully illustrates the style of manhood destined in the new social order to supersede the knights With Charles IV. (1347-78) the Luxemburgers again re- ceived the crown, and held it with a slight intermission for ninety years. Charles is still famous among the Charles iv. of Bohemians. He favored his hereditary king- Luxemburg. dom as much as lay in his power, and acquired a .wreath of new provinces all around it. With Brandenburg, Silesia, and Moravia added to Bohemia, that state acquired an unusual im- portance. Its capital, Prague, was variously enriched. Charles loved study, and founded there the first university of Germany (r348) ; he loved the arts, and drew there the best German artists of the day (Prague School of Painting). But if he proved efficient as a local ruler, he cut only a sorry figure as Emperor. 1 However, it is only fair to remember that perhaps even a Barbarossa could not have done any better as things stood. Charles completely resigned himself to the impotent po- sition to which the course of history had reduced his office, and even gave that impotence the sanction of the law. The Golden Bull,2 which he issued in 1356, reduced the functions of the king, the king's relations to the princes, and the princes' sovereign > The Emperor Maximilian used to say of him, " He was indeed Bohemia's father, but the Empire's stepfather." 2 Called so from the golden capsule containing the imperial seal (bulla) which was attached to important documents. S6o EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE rights, all of which matters had hitherto had, more or less, a loose customary character, to inflexible forms, and became the fundamental law or constitution of the Empire. It was an act gratefully received by the electors, whose newly acquired powers it duly confirmed. By its terms the electorates were definitely fixed at seven, and assigned to the princes whom we saw of- ficiating at Rudolph's election. The electors, furthermore, got full jurisdiction in their own lands and the regalian rights (mint, taxes, etc.). The Golden Bull is a very important measure in the development of the federal character of the German constitution. Charles's Italian policy was as little creditable to him as his German policy. In 1354 he crossed the Alps to receive the The Italian poi- imperial crown. There were still Ghibellines icy of Charles. willing to gather to his banner, but he thought only of turning the Empire's few remaining rights in Italy to cash, and hurried back as soon as possible. , His second Jour- ney (1368) had no better issue. The Itahans scoffed at his poor retinue and military weakness, and well disclosed their general attitude toward him by their treatment of him at Siena, where he — the Emperor of the world ! — had the key turned on him in the palace one day, and was almost starved. He also made an attempt to save, at least, the name of au- thority in the old kingdom of Aries or Burgundy, and had Charles in the himself crovvned there in 1365. But it was vain kingdom of Bur- for the Empire in its weakened state to hope to gundy. Disso" . lutionofBur- hold th)s remote provnice much longer. Bur- gundy, gundy was bound to go the way of Italy, and to split like it into independent states or be absorbed by more powerful neighbors. All through the thirteenth century it had gradually been breaking up into disconnected and more or less independent lordships, Dauphine, Provence, Savoy, Franche Comte, etc., and,, one after another, these had succumbed or were destined to succumb to the natural attraction exercised upon them by the expanding kingdom of France. GERMANY, 1254-1493 561 It was well for Germany that people of German stock, although unsupported by their government, had meanwhile been engaged in making good for her by con- , .... German expan> quest in the east what she was losing in the west, sion toward the It will be remembered that the Teutonic Order east. The Teu- r T^ • 1 111 r 111. 1 tonic Order. 01 Knights had been founded during the cru- sades, about contemporaneously with the Templars and the Hospitalers, to fight the heathen and do offices of Christian charity. Chance diverted them from their original field of activity in Palestine to a more useful one in the northeast of Europe. The heathen Prussians, living along the south shore of the Baltic, had long resisted every attempt at Christianization. In 1226 the case was brought to the attention of Hermann von Salza, the grand master of the Order, and he was not slow to take it up. He acquired from Frederick II. a grant of the land to be conquered, and immediately bands of these soldier-monks, whose picturesque figures clad in white mantles adorned in front with emblematic black crosses, appeal to our imagination, streamed from all parts of Germany to the Baltic. For the rest of the century they were engaged in steady, hard fighting against the heathen Prussians, who, with a commendable stub- bornness, generally preferred extermination to submission. As soon as a district was conquered by the soldier, the farmer and artisan, called in from the west, took it in occupation, and German civilization began to flourish where heathenism had dwelt before. By union with a similar local Order, the Order of the Sword, not only Prussia proper, but also Livonia and Esthonia were conquered within the next hundred years. The territory having been won, it had also to be defended. It was only natural that the neighbors, notably Poland, should regard the Order's greatness with envy. Thus the knights found before them employment and high service in plenty, and by such incentives long maintained their manly vigor. This colonization of Prussia was in progress while Louis of Bavaria and Charles IV. were daily exhibiting, as we have seen, the 36 562 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE increasing weakness of the monarchy. The further fortunes of the German Order, as far as the Middle Age reveals them, can be conveniently anticipated here. After two hundred years of prosperity the Order declined. The knights forgot their mili- tary cunning and were utterly defeated in 1410, at Tannenberg, by the king of Poland. That would not have meant catas- trophe by itself. The Order might first have reorganized its ranks and then relit its spirit by placing itself at the head of a national movement against the threatening Slav. It did neither the one thing nor the other. It fell only into greater dissipa- tion, and, instead of satisfying the cry of the colonists for a national parliament, stuck obstinately to the traditional arbi- trary government exercised by itself. The estates (nobles and burgesses) resolved to help themselves. They made common cause with the Poles against their oppressors, and after a long war, ended finally by the Treaty of Thorn (1466), the Order was reduced to cede one-half of its dominion (West Prussia) to Poland outright, and, after having given up the second half (East Prussia), received it back again in fief from the Polish crown. The ludicrous weakness of the Empire during this period is illustrated by its absolute deafness to the continuous appeals for help addressed to it by the unfortunate defenders of this German outpost. Charles IV. managed by bribery to secure the succession for his son Wenzel (137 8-1 400). Wenzel's naturally small talents were soon utterly dissipated in debaucheries. He became a confirmed drunkard, and that at a time when supreme gifts would hardly have sufficed for the situation. For his reign was marked by the outbreak of a long-expected civil war. We have already noted that the cities flourished everywhere in the thirteenth century under the stimulus of industry and commerce. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries this move- ment reached its height. The cities were of two kinds : im- perial cities (Reichsstaedte), subject to the Emperor only, GERMANY, 1254-1493 563 and seignorial cities (Landesstaedte), subject to the princes.* Both classes of cities, thanks to their continual possession of ready coin and the continual dearth of that very ^^ . . ■' •' The cities : necessary article with Emperor and princes alike, their govern- had gradually purchased a great number of priv- ment. ileges, so that by this time — and it is especially true of the im- perial cities — they governed themselves like so many free republics. The power was usually in the hands of a compara- tively few wealthy and ancient families (Patriciate). From among these were elected the burgomaster and the assisting council (Rath), who together formed the magistracy. The in- creasing industrial population was divided into guilds (Zuenfte), and these, induced by the consciousness of their strength, were beginning, during the fourteenth century, to aspire to a share in the government. The first concern of the cities was the security of their com- merce, and since the central government could not procure them a general peace (Landesfrieden), it was The cities- only natural that they should band together for their protective protection. We have heard of such a league leagues, of Rhenish cities formed as early as the interregnum, but this and all similar organizations of the Rhine region were easily ecHpsed by the Suabian League (founded 1344), which came to embrace all the cities of southwestern and southern Ger- many. So formidable an organization was felt by the princes and the knights who had just been taught a lesson by the free Swiss (Sempach, r386), to be a threat, and was soon an- swered by a similar confederation on their part. So the new and old society armed for a great conflict. The war broke out under Wenzel and ended in the complete discomfiture of the cities at Doeffingen (1388) at the hands of Eberhard of Wuer- temberg, who led the united leagues of princes and knights. However, the consequences of the defeat were not as grievous as > Compare with these two classes of cities the communes and the villes de bourgeoisie in France, Chapter XVI. 564 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE might have been expected. In spite of the prohibition put upon the cities to form leagues in the future, they were still concluded from time to time as necessity required. There was an irrepress- ible energy in the citizens which allowed them to Hve down all checks. Even the internal tumults, brought about by the rivalry between patriciate and guilds, caused no permanent dis- turbance of prosperity, although the domestic struggle had reached its acme during the late war and continued some time to come. Finally, the guilds almost everywhere forged their way to the front. They acquired a due representation in the council (Rath), and even in some few cases (Regensburg) ex- cluded the patriciate from the government altogether. On the other hand, an occasional city, like Nuernberg, successfully maintained its aristocratic character in spite of democratic dis- turbances. The north of Germany had at the same time organized a similar league of cities, which in fame, riches, and success far outstripped its southern competitor. It called TheHanse. ,^ f' , ^^ . , ^ Itself the Hanse. Hanse is a word of Low Ger- man origin by which was designated an alliance of German merchants resident abroad. When the expansion of industry and commerce, which marks the thirteenth century in Ger- many, had largely increased the number of German traders and the amount of German trade in foreign parts, and thus made home unions necessary for purposes of a protection which the weak central government could not give, the name Hanse was transferred to the league of cities which undertook that task.' The Hanse grew very rapidly during the fourteenth century. Its highway was the Baltic, and its end the development and monopoly of the trade of all the Baltic states. In the period of its greatest vigor (1350-1500) it included all the important coast and even inland cities of North Germany from Holland to the newly conquered territories of the German knights in " The word soon invaded foreign tongues. There was a Hanse of Paris, a Hanse of London, etc. GERMANY, 1254-1493 565 Prussia and Livonia, and had outposts or factories in Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and England. Novgorod and London were the limits, east and west, of its activity. The Scandinavian countries were reduced to economic vassalage and their imports and exports alike were carried in vessels that floated the Han- seatic flag. When the Danish kings, who naturally chafed under this tutelage, tried in the person of Waldemar IV. to shake it off, a signal defeat (1370) was the consequence, and Denmark became also politically dependent upon the great confederation by pledging itself to accept no king without its confirmation. For the next hundred years it may be said that the Hanse held the north in fee. During its best period the Hanse numbered about eighty-five cities. These were divided into four quarters, of which the cities of Luebeck, Cologne, Brunswick, and Danzig, re- The organization spectively, were the centres. Luebeck, largely of tiie Hanse. because of its favorable position, which made it central with reference to the cities of the league and still gave it an exit upon the Baltic, was easily the most prominent. It was recog- nized, too, as capital, the league directory and treasury being located there. This directory served as executive of the Hanse and was dependent upon a general parliament of Hanseatic dele- gates, which controlled the mint, provided for the security of the highways, voted moneys, and declared war. It also served as a strong support of the local patriciates, who here, as in the south, held the reins of government in their hands, and, it may be added, kept them in spite of the democratic aspirations. For, on the whole, democracy was not so strong in the com- mercial north as in the industrial south, where the numerous artisan guilds, more significant in a society of craftsmen than among traders, formed its backbone. It was not till the be- ginning of the sixteenth century (Reformation) that the decay of the league began. A number of causes then operated to- gether to transfer its commerce to other parts. In the first place, England, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries grew 566 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE economically more independent. Then the discovery of America and the new passage to India around the Cape of Good Hope threw commerce into other channels. Finally, there were internal disruptions. But all that lies beyond our period. As we cast our eye in a comprehensive survey over the Germany of this epoch we are not struck by a pleasant pict- Th -f th ^'^^' ^^ observe the impotent national govern- centres of order ment ; we are disgusted by the selfish and usurp- an civi iza ion. ^^^^ electors, princes, and bishops, who, though averse to imperial authority, cannot preserve order within their dominions and put an end to the desolating private warfare ; we note the knights, especially strong in South Germany, who, without respect for peace and law, try to replenish their ex- hausted pockets by highway robbery from the burghers ; we observe these conditions and by them note at what a hopeless- ness of social disorder the feudal system had arrived. But the picture is not yet complete. There are still the cities to take into account, and these are the points of light illuminating at frequent intervals the dark chaos. With their commercial initiative, their artisan skill, their democratic spirit, their civic love of law, they represent the vigorous germs of the modern social and political system, which will be ready to supplant the old mediaeval order at its expected passing. And these cities are laying the foundation of a new culture, too. It is the period of the Gothic style in architecture. The town-halls, churches, and residences of Nuernberg, Augsburg, and Strass- burg date in their best elements from this period. An honor- able public pride begins the celebrated cathedral piles of the Rhine and Danube valleys. The cathedral of Cologne was be- gun in 1248 (choir consecrated 1322), of Strassburg in 1277, and of Ulm in 1377. Sculpture adorns the market-places with fountains, and painting, after the invention of the oil-technique in Flanders, by the Van Eyck brothers, decorates the church in- teriors. In 1440, John Gutenberg of Mainz, first made use of movable types, which marks the beginning of the art of printing. GERMANY, 1254-1493 ';^6^ and the great reproductive arts of engraving and wood-cutting were, if not invented in these thriving cities, at least widely prac- tised there and largely improved. So these German cities pre- sent, during the later Middle Age, a picture of busy activity of a high order, ^neas Sylvius, afterward Pope Pius II. (1458- 64), was filled with wonder by them. He wrote : "No peo- ple in Europe has cleaner cities. Their appearance is as new as if they had been built yesterday. They pile up riches. At meals the citizens drink out of silver beakers, and there is no burgher's wife without her jewelry." .^Eneas Sylvius was an Italian and had Siena, Florence, and Venice, with their great wealth and culture, to serve as standards of comparison. Wenzel proved so flagrantly incapable that he had to be de- posed (1400). Rupert of the Palatinate became his successor (1400-10). Rupert was a well-intentioned man, Rupertofthe but the national kingship was altogether too hope- Palatinate. less an institution to bring success or profit to any one. His gilded misery is eloquently exhibited by his testament. He ordered that his crown and jewels be sold at his death to pay the bills of the Heidelberg tradesmen ! About this time the Vehmic Court took a marked devel- opment. The Vehmic court, or Vehme,i was a peculiar out- growth of German conditions. It was a court xhe Vehmic of law, which, though it was no part of the reg- <=°"rt. ular judicial machinery, assumed jurisdiction over capital crimes and heresy, and acquired such power that its sentences never failed to be executed. Its origin hes in Westphalia, and it is customary to regard it as a relic of the ancient count's court (Grafengericht) of Karl the Great. Possibly it maintained itself among the free peasants of that region because it seemed to them an honorable Teutonic practice. Its essence was the acknowledged right of every freeman to be tried for capital 1 Origin and jurisdiction of this court are still much mooted. The word means " punishment." See the curious theory of Thudichum in hi^s " Fem- gericht und Inquisition." S68 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE crime by a jury of peers who served as justices (Schoeppen). Now, owing to the general breakdown of the Empire, this court, which stood for tlie simple Teutonic notion tlaat every freeman had an interest in maintaining tlie social order, gained a wide popularity and multiplied rapidly. As it entered into competition, however, with the local and official princes' courts, it was often reduced to hold its sessions in secret, and, as its sentences, in most cases, fell like thunder-bolts out of a clear sky, it got the reputation of an awful mysteriousness which was hardly justified. The fact that men, whom the Vehmic court had condemned, were found dead upon the streets of a city where it had no recognized existence, struck the contemporary imagination with terror. But those men were generally the thieves, robbers, and disturbers of the peace, so frequent in that anarchic day. The Vehmic court was, in a word, an effective system of self-help in a period of violence, and it was for that reason that several Emperors, notably Rupert, formally recognized it. However, it was irregular, and therefore abus- ive, from the first. When the regular courts would do the work of keeping down violence, as society had a right to de- mand of them, it would become superfluous and could be abol- ished. That duly occurs about the beginning of the modern period (1500). The death of Rupert occasioned a disputed election. A part of the electors gave their suffrages to the Luxemburger, Si ismund Sigismund, brother of Wenzel and king of Council oJ Hungary ; a part put up Sigismund's cousin, Constance. j^^^^ ^j- ]y[ora.via ; and, as the deposed Wenzel still held obstinately to his title, there was novif the unusual number — unusual even for distracted Germany — of three Em- perors. By a strange coincidence the Empire's spiritual coun- terpart, the Church, fell into a similar anarchy at the same time. A third Pope, elected by the Council of Pisa (1409) to supplant the other two and heal the Schism, which was then raging, could not obtain a general recognition, and so only in- GERMANY, 1254-1493 569 volved the situation further. Three Emperors matched by three Popes could not fail to draw the ridicule of the world upon the institutions for which they stood. However, the confusion of the Empire was solved first. In 141 1 Jobst died and Wenzel resigned his title to his brother. Sigismund (1410-37) could now give his undivided attention to the ec- clesiastical Schism. To reform the Church was an old imperial right and duty (Otto I., Henry III.). Sigismund thought the reform would be best accomplished by a General Council. A Council was proclaimed, and met accordingly at Constance (1414), and, after much debate, got its immediate business settled by deposing all the papal claimants and electing Martin V. Pope (1417). Of more direct importance for Germany are two German events with which this Council connects its name. The first is the investiture, by the Emperor, of Frederick ^ r XT , , , The Hohenzol- of Hohenzollern, burgrave of Nuernberg, with lern are invest- the electorate or mark of Brandenburg (April, e^ ^'th Bran- *""*"" denburg. 1415). Brandenburg had lost its first line of German princes (Ascanians) in 1319, and, having reverted to the Empire, was absorbed by the then Emperor, Louis of Ba- varia. At his death (1347) it gradually succumbed to the en- croachments of his successor, Charles IV., of the house of Lux- emburg. But both lines, that of Bavaria as well as that of Luxemburg, had made a bad business of the government of Brandenburg, and the mark, representing the advance-guard of Germanism, had fallen into anarchy internally and was threat- ened by the Slavs without. Now (1415) it was Sigismund's property by right of inheritance, but Sigismund had variously fallen into debt to Frederick of Hohenzollern, and, finally, since insolvency was chronic with him, and hope of payment very small, he resolved on the above settlement in land. Fred- erick was a practical, virile man. He took firm hold in Bran- denburg and soon reestabhshed order. Under the Hohenzol- lern, with whom it continued from now on uninterruptedly, 570 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the mark grew steadily, though at easy stages, until after some centuries it developed into the kingdom of Prussia (1701). Prussia has lately achieved the unification of Germany (187 1). Sigismund did not dream that he had, in a sense, created in that Hohenzollern margrave a distant successor to himself The second event of German consequence which befell at Constance made far more rumor in the world at the time than The execution the investiture of the Hohenzollern with Bran- of John Hubs. denburg. On July 6th John Huss was declared a heretic and burned at the stake, in spite of the Emperor's safe- conduct, under which he had ventured on the journey to at- tend the Council. John Huss (1369-1415) was a Bohemian Czech, and a Professor at the University of Prague, He had come under the influence of the great English heretic, Wiclif (d. 1384), and then had begun to attack the clergy in lectures and pamphlets. He condemned its worldliness, denied its right of secular possessions, and objected to the supremacy of the Pope. The Bible, according to him, ought to be the sole rule of faith. John Huss anticipated the Protestant Revolution by a hundred years. The struggle with Catholicism begun at Prague in this vigorous fashion did not, however, remain a purely religious one. Unfortunately a national and political element invaded it and deflected it from its purpose. Bohemia was originally inhabited by Czechs, the western- most branch of the Slav family. German artisans and mer- The Hussite chants, however, had long ago begun invading "^"^^ the country and were gradually making a peace- ful conquest of it. This the native element resented. Now, when Huss, a native Czech, was burned by a flagrant breach of the imperial promise, the religious and national hatred, which had been long gathering, flamed up wildly against Sigismund, the German Emperor, and when, in 1419, Sigismund became, by the death of his brother Wenzel, lawful king of Bohemia, it burst forth into open insurrection. Urged by indignation and by patriotism the Bohemians enthusiastically adopted the GERMANY, 1254-1493 57I religious principles of Huss, called themselves Hussites, and under their resolute leader, Ziska, again and again defeated the armies which Sigismund led against them. The Empire's mismanaged feudal levy was no match for an infuriated people which stood shoulder to shoulder in the service of the same inspiring idea. Even Ziska's death (1424) did not give the Hussites pause ; they carried the war into Germany and terri- bly harried Silesia and Saxony. Such heroism would have rendered the Bohemians invincible if they had only remained united. But radical counsels soon dominated many. Schemes were broached looking toward the total abolition of the priest- hood and community of goods. Those who engaged in the war for definite, attainable reforms became frightened and re- tired. Sigismund saw where the lever had to be applied, and, at the Council of Basel, succeeded in persuading the Church to grant to the moderates a few minor points of the matters in dis- pute, among which concessions the most notable was the per- mission to laymen to partake of the cup at Holy Communion (1434). The cup had hitherto been reserved to the clergy, and the revolted Bohemian laity had declared that the distinc- tion was odious and unwarranted. The agreement of Basel gradually quieted the country. A large sect henceforth took the communion in both forms (sub utraque specie). The mem- bers of the sect received the name of Utraquists. This is all the "reform" that came of the Hussite movement, for the Utraquists (called also Calixtines, from calix, cup) now joined Sigismund against the radicals (called Taborites, from their assembly-hill near Tabor) and soon crushed them utterly. Therewith order was restored and Sigismund could enter his kingdom to be crowned (1436). The Luxemburg family became extinct in its male branch at Sisismundls death. Albrecht II. of Austria, ° Albrecht II. who, as Sigismund's son-in-law, united the Lux- emburg territory to the Austrian possessions, succeeded him also in the Empire (1438-39). 572 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE This Albrecht has justly been called the second founder of the Hapsbnrg dynasty, for he not only reacquired for the Hapsbures the imperial crown, lost at the death The ascendency i o i ofthehouseof of the first Albrecht (1308), but he also first Hapsburg. united under the dominion of his house all the possessions which substantially have composed the Austrian monarchy down to our day. The archduchy of Austria projjer, Styria, Carniola, and Tyrol, together with Bohemia and Hungary, were swayed by his sceptre. With a single insig- nificant exception in the eighteenth century, the German crown now falls regularly to the Hapsburgs until the end of the Empire in 1806. Frederick III. (1440-93), Albrecht's nephew, succeeded him. He was heavy and phlegmatic, and richly merited the misfor- „ . . , „, tune which befell him both in the Empire and Frederick III. t- The decay of in his hereditary dominions. The chronicle of e mpire. Speier passes this judgment on him : " He was a useless Emperor, and the nation almost forgot, during his long reign, that it had a king." As he had a strong clerical bias, he signalized his accession by undoing the reform work of the Coun- cil of Basel by means of a special Concordat concerning papal rights in Germany, which he concluded over the heads of the Council with the Pope himself (1448). In 1452 he was crowned Emperor at Rome, and figures as the last German king who found the honor worth the trouble of the journey. Hereafter the German king takes the title of imferator electus immediately on the act of his election at Frankfort.' The longing for im- perial Rome had finally bled itself to death. Nor did the stolid Frederick have any more success than his predecessors in maintaining the general peace of the realm Troubles of the (Landfrieden). Cities and princes carried on Empire. their warfare at pleasure during his reign. Fred- erick himself contributed to the public disturbance by inviting the lawless bands of the Armagnacs from France to assist him in putting down the Swiss, whom the Hapsburgs, in spite of GERMANY, 1254-1493 573 Sempach, had not yet given up the hope of conquering. These French robbers, who had lost their employment in France with the conclusion of the English wars, were diverted from their march upon the Swiss, and horribly harried southwestern Germany with fire and sword until expelled by a popular levy (1444). That is the miserable sum of Frederick's activity in the Empire. His rule in his own dominions was substantially as great a fail- ure, but it was not characterized, at least, by the same listless- ness. He even had a sort of contemplative ambi- ^. ,,.,,,,, . , . , ^ Troubles of Aus= tion '■ which helped him stand out against defeat, t^ia. Revolt of and, after a while, the habitual Hapsburg luck Hungary and ... , , ... Bohemia. returned to him and lent an unmerited lustre to his last days. At the beginning of his reign he again lost for his house Bohemia and Hungary, only just acquired. Both of these countries made one final attempt to establish a native line of monarchs in order to preserve their independence. In Bohemia George Podiebrad (d. 147 1) was elected to the throne by Utraquist influence, and brilliantly maintained himself against Frederick's machinations, while Alatthias Corvinus- (d. 1490), upon being elected rival king of Hungary, even invaded Frederick's German territory and occupied Vienna. At the death of Matthias without issue, Wladislaus II., of Bohemia, successor of Podiebrad, was elected also to succeed Matthias in Hungary, but at Wladislaus's death (15 16) without male off- spring, the united crowns of Bohemia and Hungary passed to his son-in-law, Ferdinand, great-grandson of Frederick III., and so were rewon, and this time permanently, by the house of Hapsburg (1526). With the loss of their independence the Czech and Hungarian nations fell into a decay from which they have only recovered in this century. The signal and unmerited good fortune which befell Freder- * 1 His seal bore inscribed upon it the vowels A, E, I, O, U, which he read as follows : Austria est imperare orbi universo (It is Austria's destiny to govern the world). 574 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ick's House and gave new lustre to it was the acquisition of the greater part of the states of the duke of Burgundy. During the fifteenth century a collateral branch of the House The House of , ,, , i , • t^ i Hapsburgaco 01 trance had gradually added to its J^rench (juires Burgun= figf of Burgundy the whole of the Netherlands. dy and Spain. Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1467-77), had thereby become one of the foremost rulers of Europe. His ambition looked toward the establishment of a great middle kingdom between France and Germany, independent of either. In this scheme the Swiss proved a stumbling-block. Their ter- ritory lay so opportune for his plans that he resolved to subjugate it. But the brave mountaineers beat back his invasion at Gran- son and Murten (1476), and finally his whole splendid chivalry went down before them at Nancy (1477). Charles himself was among the dead. Since there was only a daughter, Mary, to succeed him, Louis XL of France immediately seized the crown fief, the duchy of Burgundy proper,' on the claim that it was vacant, and would have taken more had not Frederick promptly acquired Mary's hand in marriage for his son Maxi- milian (1477), and thus estabhshed a legal claim to the rest. So the territorial expansion of the House of Austria was not checked even under this weak king, and a similar chance of a happy matrimonial alliance gave it, a few years later, the vast possessions of Spain (1516).^ Maximilian's son, Philip, mar- ried Joan, heir of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and their son, Charles, is the famous Emperor Charles V. (1519-56), who could dream of renewing the Empire of the west. Though the Hapsburgs figure, from the fifteenth century on, among the most powerful dynasties of Europe, the Empire in nowise profited from their strength. The decay of this insti- tution had continued from the twelfth century on, and was des- ' Louis also took Artois (fief of France) and tlie county of Burgundy (fief of the Empire). But these were given back to Austria in 1493. '^ The world regarded such manner of growth half-enviously, half-derisively, as is witnessed by Matthias Corvinus's popular lines : " Bella gerant ahi ; tu, felix Austria, nube ! Nam quae Mars aliis dat tibi regna Venus." tO°L<'\^ T( "= "^ '■ '"^ ° Lj* ^^ \ \— -'^s"'^ \ \ i\ > iC^ ^>-^ l> \ ^.-^^-^^^ \ \ lA \ «' % ^y^\ /___ ---— -A — \ >■ \ \ B ockholm ,4dH^^^^J^ \ [' 23^^7 1 •8^ fc^^^\\^ \ :5¥^. V""^^ 'irn^%„^_^ ^^i^N-fet Sfenak^ SCff^^^^S^*^ \ ^^ < ^~J \o* / a;- r,-' r 1 •'1 "wilna Ij -^VeW ? \ x'"' J ^x ^ ^ \ /^ / ^r\c^ 50° 1 i,ithua-n:^ SiTSi ''^''^ \ , L a\ D /v u / /'V^T^A\ 1 J \ Kie* Ul &7^T ''>v V- ^3^ 3 — \^S "X^--^^ iy f* n VHiri^ 9l\ ^ 1 1 A.=/ ^^^'^^%^ \ ■"''■' "* { ^^ } ARY ^ o^ J *9"ime of Constantine. The Pope, therefore, has no authority over kings. The state is inde- pendent of him. These Franciscans were protected by Lud- wig, and assisted him in his struggle. Other writers, how- ever, continued to develop a definite theory of the supremacy S80 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE of the Pope. "Sola potestas papse est immediate a deo." The Pope is greater than any angel because he has the juris- diction and care over the whole world : " Medius autem inter deum et populum Christianum est ipse papa ; unde nulla lex populo Christiano est danda nisi ipsius papas auctoritate. " It would be difficult to claim higher powers. During the residence of the Popes at Avignon the finances of the papacy were systematized and everything done to insure the collection of vast sums of money. The principal aim of the Church seemed to be to tax the world. This period of the residence of the Popes in Avignon is generally called by church historians the Babylonian Exile of the Papacy. In 1378 the papal Schism began. Gregory XI. had finally, in 1377, moved the Curia back to Rome, but died the next year. Urban VI. (1378-89) was elected in Rome, but by his harsh manner he alienated those cardinals who were under the influence of the French king, and they soon after revolted from him, declared his elec- tion void, and elected Clement VII. (1378-94). Clement soon withdrew to Avignon and continued the papal line there, while Urban VI. remained in Rome. There were now two men claiming ,to be Pope. Germany, England, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland declared for Urban ; while France, Naples, Savoy, Scotland, Lorraine, Castile, and Aragon were true to Clement VII. For about thirty years there were two lines of Popes, and the religious world did not know which one to obey. The Schism also gave rise to the severest criticism of the papacy, and gave such men as Wiclif and Huss a good opportunity to set forth doctrines at variance with those of the Church. Since neither Pope would yield, and it seemed iApossible to end the Schism in any other way, the idea of calling a univer- TheConcUiar Sal council was broached. It was declared that ^'^^- in the early days of the Church a council had been the highest authority. This position- had been usurped THE PAPACY, 1250-1450 581 by the Popes. Now let the council be called, and since it is competent to do so, let it say who is the right Pope. After long discussion of all this the cardinals called a council to meet at Pisa (1409). This council deposed the two Popes, and elected Alexander V., but as the deposed Popes refused to ac- knowledge the authority of the council, there were now three Popes and the Schism was made worse. Although Alexander V. had promised not to dismiss the council until the papacy had been reformed, and especially its finances regulated, he soon prorogued it on the ground that not sufficient prepara- tions had been made to proceed with the reform. From this theory of the power of the council over the Pope this period has been called the conciliar epoch. It produced two more councils, that of Constance and that of Basel. In 1414 another meeting was called at Constance, and the ques- tion of the Schism was again taken up, Among Constance, other things which came before the council was ' '*'*• the heresy of Huss. He was summoned to Constance, and although he had received a safe conduct from the Emperor Sigismund, he was tried for heresy, condemned, and burned at the stake (1415). Every cardinal again took an oath that, if elected, he would reform the Church before dismissing the council. In 141 7 Martin V. was elected, after the three other Popes had been deposed, but he destroyed all hopes of reform by adjourning the council and declaring that whoever appealed to a general council would be guilty of heresy. The idea of a reform was still strong in the minds of many, and the belief that a general council could reform the Church led to the calling of a third council at Basel , Basel, 1431. (1431). The Pope, however, was too shrewd and strong for the reform party, and he succeeded in blocking all their attempts to reform the Church. Some action was taken, indeed, but the Pope was able to prevent its being enforced. The failure of this council showed that no reform could come by way of legislation, and it seemed that the papacy S82 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE with all its burdens must be endured. From the time of Eugene IV. (1431-47) a new period may be said to have begun for the papacy. The conciliar idea lost all its power, although the people still called for a general council. Even Luther, nearly a hundred years later, thought at first that the Church might be reformed by means of a general council. The Popes gave up all thought of a reform, and the papacy became a political principality. The Popes of the succeeding period are often called heathen. An account of this secularized papacy is given in the chapter on the Renaissance. CHAPTER XXII THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE The civilization of the period, which has been treated in this volume under the traditional title of the Middle Age, pre- sents on the whole a well-defined unity. For ,.,. ^ _i •' The factors of the leading political movement of the epoch, media;vai civ- the amalgamation of Roman and Teutonic cus- ' '^**'°"- toms and institutions, and the evolution of the great modern European states, directed the movement of civilization. The Roman civilization had, in the fifth century, reached a decay- almost equivalent to obhteration. The conquering Germans had no ready-made civilization of their own to offer in its stead. They were unlettered barbarians and brought with them just their dowry of barbarian song and music,' with which they celebrated war and warrior virtues. Their great contribution to Europe lay in the new vigor and fresh blood which they put into the dead body of Roman society, saving and regenerating it. Besides, they brought a quality without which all this rough energy would have been only destructive and worse than useless, a quality of receptivity, by which they were drawn into the play of civilizing forces and gradually became enlightened with the Roman culture which was wait- ing for them.^ 'Tacitus, in his Germania (Chaps. II., III.), bears witness to it. 2 In likening the Germans to other Barbarians, e.g., the Indians, as has fre- quently been done, it would appear that this quality of receptivity, which makes all the difference, has not been sufficiently taken account of With due allowance to the more unfavorable conditions of our aborigines in that they were conquered and not conquerors, they have all along conspicuously S84 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE It is this process of the enlightenment of the Teutonic ele- ment on the one hand, and the moral bracing of the Latin Unity of medi- element on the other, Teuton and Latin action a:vai civilization and interaction, which goes on under essentially secured bv the predominance of permanent conditions throughout the Middle the Church. Age and gives that period its intellectual pro- file. These essentially permanent conditions are furnished by the continued direction and predominance of the Church. The Church was the only institution which in the general wreck of things during the German invasion showed any power of resistance. It had been Romanized indeed, and was not untouched by the general Roman rottenness, but the inner fire which had been breathed into it by the apostles and the martyrs was far from having spent itself. The Church bravely faced the Barbarians at every point, and having by its enthusiasm and attractiveness successively brought all the German tribes within its pale, it secured their devotion by the teaching that salvation was impossible except through its mediation. And it enjoyed another source of power. It could honorably claim not only the spiritual, but also the intellectual guidance of the world. For although the Roman civilization had gone to wreck, the Roman Church, which survived it, held in solution, as it were, all its essential elements. Through it the Roman traditions of the Empire were kept alive. It pre- served the Latin language and the Latin literature. It main- tained the memory of the Roman law. So the Church be- came the agent which transmitted to the barbarian Germans such remnants of the Roman culture as in the fifth century it still disposed of. In this double leadership of priest and of lacked this power of getting enlightened, and that it is a notable quality the difference in the resulis fully witnesses. It cannot be admitted, on the whole, that there is a clear case for those who hold that there is in original barbarism just one mould or type of man, and that the later differentiations are alone due to the varied conditions of environment. The potency of these conditions cannot be denied for a moment, but we are forced to admit that in the barbaric state itself there was a difference between the Red Man and the German. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 585 teacher lies the explanation of the unbounded respect which the clergy enjoyed in the Middle Age. And in what direction did the Church, by virtue of its character and ideals, push the society which was under its in- tellectual dominion ? The thin veneering of „. ^ , ° Character of Christianity which the Germans received during Church their migrations did not immediately affect their leadership. barbarian nature. They became barbarian Christians, whereas they had been barbarian pagans before. But they soon began to turn resolutely away from their past. By being Christian- ized and settled in the sites of an ancient but vanishing culture, they were set the task of saving what was left and continu- ing it. The task was clearly beyond their strength. But the Church undertook it in their name, and straightway and vigor- ously began to subject them to an educational forcing process. Necessarily much of the old was too hurriedly and carelessly sloughed off, while the new had not yet secured a firm hold. There followed an unfortunate period of confusion and relaxa- tion. As always, the vices and follies of the higher civilization exercised a paramount and invincible attraction. The first fruit of the care of the Church was a brutalization which was horrible and complete. One need only present to one's mind the differ- ence between the Germans of Tacitus and the Franks of Gregory of Tours to realize it. The Merovingian court was rife with a foulness of rape, murder, and incest, which seeks its parallel. In this condition of things the first concern of the Church was to devise a check upon the fierce exuberance of license. Sav- agery had to be domesticated to order by self-restraint. The most effective means seemed to be to keep ablaze the new Christian zeal, large in' converts, anyway, and to draw off an increasing portion of the barbarian energy upon religious prac- tices and ceremonies. In the low condition of society, which was necessarily reflected, too, in the lowered standards of the Church, recruited from that society, these practices often de- generated into repulsive superstitions. No matter, they an- 586 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE swered their purpose for the time being ; a stigma was attached to crime by an appeal to rehgious fear. Churches and monas- teries carried the influence of this kind of Christianity to the farthest corners of Europe. Multiplied donations gave it a material basis. At the same time the clergy eagerly put them- selves forward at every point. They represented the sum of the activity and intelligence of the period. They not only filled the offices of instruction and of state by their monopoly of learning, but they also served as a kind of police by incul- cating the rules of social order, and even took the van in indus- try and commerce by winning new soil for cultivation, by planting cities and erecting buildings. Plainly this multifold leadership would come to an end some time. The taught would succeed in learning their lesson, and, after the manner of grown-up children, long Revolt bound to ' o r i a come In the for independence. In a more quiet and regular course of time. ^^^^^ ^^ things it was found that the layman with his undivided attention upon his occupation was a more effective member of workaday society than the monk. The clergy's omnipresence gradually became superfluous and annoy- ing. Since it ought to have recognized that it owed its author- ity only to the intellectual minority of the lay society in which it was placed, it should have resigned that authority, at least gradually, when society began to announce itself of age. But it would not. It resolved to resist and sought support in its sacred office. Its temporary direction of all the interests of life, and its authority over men was declared the outflow of the divine will. Revolt was punished by anathema. So the Church hoped to maintain control over the expansion, which it had itself nursed to life, by an unwarranted restriction just when the expansion was going to bear flower. Of course that would sooner or later prove vain. When humanity had de- veloped its new interests — industry, commerce, arts — it could no longer be confined in a cowl. Repeatedly in the Middle Age there are periods when society makes an effort to burst THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 587 through, or at least, enlarge its ecclesiastical strait-jacket. Such periods are conveniently called a Renaissance, or rebirth, because they offer the symptoms of a revival of the larger clas- sical conceptions of human activity. The ninth and twelfth centuries are distinctly characterized by such movements ; in fact, in some form or other they turn up at odd corners of Europe throughout the Middle Age. Especially after the first confusion of the resettlement is overcome, there is always some bolder spirit who, gently or fiercely, consciously or uncon- sciously, expresses the longing for a freer and more compre- hensive intellectual life. The human mind is never at absolute zero. But the narrow ecclesiastical conceptions were too deeply embedded in the mediaeval minds to give way at the first onset. On the one hand, the mere dead-weight of tradition was dif- ficult to budge ; and, on the other, it was long before patience gave out and it became apparent that the Church could not put itself in harmony with the wants of the new society. So since there was no freedom with the Church, its bondage had to be broken to secure the future. Herein lies the immense signifi- cance of the fifteenth-century Renaissance and the Reformation. Every sketch of the history of mediseval civilization must begin with Karl the Great. He first succeeded in establishing an ordered society out of German and Roman xhe policy of elements. He first adopted a settled educational '^'"■' ^^e Great. policy. Its gist was that the Roman and German worlds were to be harmonized with as little loss as possible of what was original in either. He himself zealously cultivated the Ger- man speech, worked at a German grammar, and ordered a collection of German songs. But he also gave due weight to the superiority of Roman culture. He spoke Latin very much like his mother-tongue, and late in life even attempted Greek, but without success. Though he took some pains to learn to write, he never succeeded. More important than the acquisi- tion of his own modest store of learning was his desire to make 588 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE knowledge accessible to others. The clergy were by training and office the agents best fitted for this purpose. It was his plan that they should associate the teaching function with their religious duties throughout the land. To help him in the establishment of his system he collected around him the best men of the day, regardless of race. Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon, was drawn from England ; Paulus Diaconus, the Lombard, from Italy ; his own Franks furnished Angilbert and Einhard. They formed with others a literary coterie at his court in Aachen, or Ingelheim, which he formally organized into an academy and delighted to frequent as an equal. After he had, like a practical man, thus utilized them for his own improvement, he put them to work at wider tasks. Alcuin became what we would call now minister of public instruction. A sort of general educa- tional system was devised, by which schools were established in connection with monasteries and cathedral churches. Of course that secured their clerical-Roman character. Except in the case of the sons of the high aristocracy, the boys had to bow to the severity of the monastic rule from the first. They were practically interred behind the walls, and were required to as- sume the monastic garb and perform the set devotions of the monastery. Latin was the language of the school-room and the play-ground.' And what was the curriculum the mediteval boy was put through ? It was the ancient school programme, such as it had _. . . filtered through the last corrupted centuries of school pro- Rome, and had finally, in the sixth century, be- gramme. come fixed by Cassiodorus, the prime minister of Theodoric. Cassiodorus commanded a deep respect long after his death, because there played about him the last ray of the dying classicism. Alcuin had only to advocate his system to give ' Such use of a foreign language essentially changed its character, and Latin steadily decayed through the Middle Ageuntilit reached the ludicrous, perverted, and clumsy form of the "monk Latin'' which the Humanists held up to scorn. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 589 it a new vogue. It consisted of the trivium and quadrivium, two groups of studies, including, the first, grammar, rhetoric, dia- lectics, and arithmetic ; the second, music, geometry, and astronomy. Theology was liberally thrown in at all stages. These studies were dubbed the seven free arts and contain the programme which was in force in the schools of Europe to the very end of the Middle Age. If we ask after the literature of the time, it is all Latin till the twelfth century. That fact alone discloses the whole false- ness of the artificially imposed culture. And, _. ,., furthermore, literature, strictly speaking, litera- of the early ture of an imaginative order, there is none what- ^*" ever during this same period. That appears and can appear only when the peoples take to composing in the only tongues they can handle successfully, the national idioms. For the present the European nations are dependent upon Latin, and their productions are more correctly classed not as literature but as writings. These are pre-eminently of two kinds : annals, biographies, and the like, which may be comprehended under the title of histories ; and controversial writings about the doc- trines of the Church. The authors of the annals were almost without exception monks. From their quiet retreat they looked out upon the world with more or less intelligence and noted The historical its happenings. As they were rarely partici- writings. pants of the events they described, their chief source was hearsay. They wrote for their amusement or to relieve the tedium of their solitude, and their ingenuousness is humor- ously brought out by the fact that most of them consider themselves obliged to begin with the year one. A dry-bones narrative set in strict chronological order is the usual historical "method." Through the absence of intelligent personal in- vestigation the chronicles are rarely trustworthy. Still, though they are poor literature and unsafe history, they have, like every actual historical witness, an indefinable charm, for it is by them 590 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE that we touch most directly the mind of that distant, forma- tive period of European history and are enabled to measure its contents.' The names of some of the more important writers may find a place here. Gregory, Bishop of Tours (538-94), wrote a history which is our chief source for the Merovingian Franks. Paulus Diaconus (d. 787) holds the same position in regard to the Lombards. Einhard (d. 844) has left us a serious and ambitious little sketch of the life of his friend, Karl the Great, and a writer known as the monk of St. Gall has dili- gently recorded all the legends which were current about the great Frank king a generation after his death. Roswitha (tenth century), a nun of Gandersheim, made the laudable effort to cultivate creative literature, and has left some Christian dramas modelled after Terence. Frodoard (ninth century) wrote a his- tory of the Church of Rheims and the annals of his time. Both works are very valuable for the study of the origins of France. In England Beda (673-735) (the Venerable Bede, as later ages called him) figures among the best-known writers by virtue of his admirable " Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation," in which he narrates the conversion of his people to Chris- tianity. At the end of this purely Latin period stands the vig- orous Hfe of Barbarossa, by Otto of Freising (d. 1158), un- doubtedly the best biography which the Middle Age affords. As for the doctrinal and controversial writings they are less distinctly literature than the histories. Their value lies in the The controver- evidence they furnish of the intellectual move- sm writings. nient of the times. The doctrines of the Catho- lic Church had not all taken fixed form as yet. Transubstan- tiation and predestination especially were, in the ninth century, variously defined. Even if we have no interest in the subtle- ties which the contestants advanced about the points at issue, it ' The chief writers have now been made more accessible by translation into German and French. Consult the series : Geschichtschreiber der Deutschen Vorzeit, Leipzig, Dyksche Verlag; or, Collection des Me'moires relatifs i. I'histoire de France, par M. Guizot. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 59 1 can readily be seen that it was of importance for the cause of freedom that the discussion should be allowed to remain open as long as possible. Doctrinal disunity, however, was what the Church would not stand, and it always managed, in these and in subsequent cases, to have its own definition speedily adopted by threatening the obstinate with anathema. That explains why the tenth and eleventh centuries, although following a century of violent doctrinal disturbance, are peculiarly bare of any intellectual stir. Looking at these literary witnesses as a whole, and noting more especially the evident decline of the second branch in the tenth century, we shall agree that the faint Renaissance of the time of Karl the Great was wholly personal and died away soon after him, leaving the world to find the dead level of the intellectual forms under which its meagre mental life hides it- self for some three or four hundred years. This intellectual system of the Middle Age, which receives its character in the eleventh century and then continues to hold sway at the schools until well toward the ■' . Scholasticism. Reformation, is called scholasticism. Scholasti- cism engaged to explain to the reason the dicta of faith. Its method was such rules of Aristotle's logic as had been preserved and interpreted by the Arabs, and by them communicated to the west. The syllogism enjoyed particular respect as a tool of reason. There is no use to which the schoolmen did not attempt to turn it, although it is, by its character, serviceable not as a means for acquiring knowledge, but only for arranging it. It was preferably applied to the articles of faith, for scho- lasticism was nothing if not a theological science. Certain fundamentals of faith granted, a first story was raised upon them by an unimpeachable "therefore" sequent upon two "whereases," and then another story followed, and still an- other, until the towering edifice of doctrine was roofed and crowned. Of course that is not science in the real sense at all, and scholasticism, in consequence, never had anything but a 592 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE disciplinary value for the mind. It stood guard over the arti- cles of faith and hypnotized the reason by a show of syllogistic plausibilities. As the movement emanated from the Church, it found its best support there. It lived and died the Church's ally. That is the reason why it accomplished little or nothing for lay society and the cause of freedom, and why its merit is restricted to having kept up certain traditions of learning which a new time could make more of However, scholasticism is not void of interesting chapters. There were moments when it seemed to aspire to a wider use and to reach out toward some very fruitful philo- The medlsval , . , rr., i r ^i i ^i philosophy: sophical conceptions. the end ot the eleventh nominalism and century is marked by the origin of the dispute between realism -and nominahsm. The rising schools of northern France, and particularly Paris, were just forming a new centre of study and light. Here one Roscel- linus, a canon of Compiegne, for the first time systematically expounded the difference between classes and the individuals making up the classes. The individuals, he said, are the only realities, whereas the classes are but names or labels by which we sort our knowledge. So, e.g., the words man, horse, etc., are like so many blank forms or pigeon-holes where we pre- serve all the facts which individual men and horses convey to us. Nobody ever saw the horse, but only particular horses, and if one should by chance never meet a horse, one could not possibly have a general conception about it. Therefore, the term horse is not a reality, but only a name. Roscellinus and his followers received the designation of nominalists (from nomen, name). Opposed to them were the orthodox, who called themselves realists. Anselm of Canterbury, an Italian by birth, who had been trained in the schools of northern France, championed their views against Roscellinus. Man, horse, etc., said he and his school, have a real existence in the realm of the universal Mind, and individual men and horses are shaped to correspond with them. Universalia ante rem THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 593 was their position, just as Universalia post rem characterizes that of their adversaries. It is difficult to appreciate the agitation which centred about this dispute without understanding that there was very much more contained in it than is apparent upon the importance oi surface. Nominahsm laid an increasing stress the controversy. upon the witness of the senses and the point of view of the ordinary intelligence, and it was felt instinctively that this was a threat to a faith which did not claim to tally with sense- experience. And what was to become of Mother Church as a universal Idea, if it were only a name, and the reality were to be found in the individual church members, often vicious and unworthy, who composed it? Plainly here was matter that threatened society's very foundation. This became as clear as daylight in the case of Abelard. Peter Abelard was born, 1079, near Nantes, and early passed under the influence of Roscellinus. When he Abelard. came to Paris he won an almost immediate suc- cess. Nothing illustrates the beginning eagerness of intel- lectual curiosity better. There was, as yet, nothing Hke a University in our sense anywhere in the world, only Paris had developed a keener interest in matters of learning, and thither fared the young men of all lands who wished for something beyond the mere trivium and quadrivium they could get at home. Roscellinus, Abelard, and their colleagues, collected these students about them, very much as private tutors do among us, without any special warrant from any university organization. Wherever they went the students went with them. The teacher was the university. Abelard, owing to his acute powers of reasoning, promptly overcame all his opponents. Upon his arrival at Paris he acquired an un- bounded popularity. One Fulcus, writing to him retrospec- tively, says : " Rome sent her sons to be taught by you. No distance, no road hard to travel or perilous with robbers, hin- dered the scholars from hastening to you. The English students 38 594 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE were not frightened by the tempestuous waves of the sea be- tween. The remote Britons, the Gascons, the Spaniards, the Teutons, and the Suevi . . . thirsted to be taught by you." Contemporary witnesses speak of thousands who sat at his feet. Now the secret of this success was the revolutionary appeal in the new master's teaching. Reason was assigned by Abelard His revolution- definite rights, and faith was expected to square ary teaciiing. its claims with them.' He was not a heretic by any means, he accepted the doctrines of the Church in full, but the searching investigation he put them under was a challenge to their sacredness and inviolability. His method was a devel- opment of the old dialectics. He made, for example, a compi- lation of contradictory statements from the Church fathers, called Sic at Non, and taught his pupils to draw upon it for support, when maintaining one or the other side in any doctrinal dis- cussion. It did not escape his contemporaries that this love of argumentative practice, which went so far as to bolster up a good case for religious dissent, threatened the unquestioning submis- sion, which had hitherto been the rule with scholasticism. And the event justified the assumption. Abelard's pride in his reasoning powers became inordinate, and he took it upon him- self to defend, and by rule of logic to establish, the most mani- fest absurdities, merely to set his brilliancy in relief. One feels that a man who made so much of reason needed only a slight impulsion to become entirely detached from the Church. Abelard was saved from this step by the power of tradition and the custom of obedience. He was repeatedly brought to trial, and though he defended himself, he was condemned, and ended by recanting every proposition which had been impugned. His chief opponent and the leader in his persecution was the celebrated Bernhard of Clairvaux (d. 1153)- It is most inter- ^ This position of his he stated in the words, Nihil credendunfi nisi prius intellectuni. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 595 esting to note this opposition and its larger meaning. If Abelard appears as a type of the intellectual Christian who allows man's faculties their scope, and maintains „^ „ ^ , , '^ ' St. Bernhard and that faith must not interfere with their claims, the mystical but must accord with them, Bernhard represents school. the mystical or ascetic type which seeks no conformation what- ever from the reason, but gets its sanctions from the convic- tions of the believing soul. The two types have been opposed to each other from the origin of Christianity to our own day, and both have their indisputable value for life. In the Middle Age especially, the ascetic influence was very strong, and blos- somed into some of the most beautiful lives and works which history reveals. Bernhard himself may serve as an example ; better known, perhaps, are the later mystics of the Rhine country, such as Eckhart (d. 1329), Tauler (d. 1361), and Thomas a Kempis (d. 147 1). The £>e Imitatione Christi of a Kempis has remained to our day one of the noblest supports of the contemplative life. And the mystical currents were never localized in one country or another, but reached as far as the bounds of the Christian faith. Quite on a level with the north- ern a Kempis is the southern St. Francis of Assisi, who not only preached, but, like Christ, practised, a broad and kindly hu- manity, full of comfort for the poor and oppressed. The very birds and flowers were to him brothers and sisters. " Brother fire," he mildly implored the flame which was racking him. The world for him dissolved into spirit, and God spoke to him out of the storm and caressed him in the sunshine. The pres- ence and continuance of this movement, like a steady under- current beneath the more palpable ebb and flow of scholasti- cism, was of incredible importance to the Middle Age. It was a continued protest against the hollow formalism and intel- lectual quibbling of the schools, and kept open that broadest way to faith and Christianity which leads by the heart. And another service must be set down to the credit of mysticism. It protested not only against an intellectualized faith, but. 596 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE directed by its sense for what is essential in the problems of life, fell away from the ludicrous studies of the schoolmen, and so prepared the demand for the more solid learning which is one of the conquests of the Renaissance. In Bernhard's time asceticism, like scholasticism, was enjoying a revival. The two movements soon clashed in an age when Co fr tb t '' ^^^ ^'^^ customary for one conviction to be Abeiardand tolerant of another. When Bernhard, who en- ^'" '" ' joyed an immense reputation and controlled even the papacy itself, opposed Abelard, he had no trouble in crushing him. The great schoolman -was condemned as a heretic at the Council of Sens (1140) and, after some show of resistance, he conformed to its command to recant. To Bernhard's honor, be it said that he struck chiefly at the pre- sumptuous pride of intellect which his opponent paraded in his writings. Probably Bernhard did not know or care about „. ,. their deeper intellectual import. The blow fell rne cause of in= ■ ^ ^ teiiectuai free- none the less heavily upon Abelard's party, for domdeayed. Abelard's name was inextricably bound up with nominalism and intellectual freedom, and with his defeat these larger causes, too, were undone, or, at least, delayed. Real- ism, i.e., the system which concerned itself only with affirma- tion and maintained the closest possible connection with the Church, won the day and reigned supreme for over a hundred years. But. was it likely that intellectual progress had been permanently obstructed? Would not somebody rise to put Abelard's case again? At the beginning of the fourteenth century nominalism revived with William of Occam. If it never regained its old importance, it was because many things had meanwhile changed. The world as against the Church had made steady advances, and men were engaged in opposing its authority along more effective lines than pure dialectics. Abelard's philosophy bore certain consequences for his life which merit a passing word. By them is exhibited how free- dom in matters of thought and freedom in matters of conduct THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 597 have always been bound together. The man who had found a new and rational basis for existence was bold enough to defy the ascetic prejudices of his day and to de- , , . , . , , , , . r Abelard's life. mand his share in the general human heritage of love and joy. He fell in love with Helo'ise, the niece of a friendly canon of Notre Dame of Paris, and, though he wore the clerk's habit, he secretly married her. But the union was dis- covered and the lovers were separated under particularly revolt- ing circumstances. If the conditions of the time are mainly responsible for the tragical outcome of this love-match, to which the succeeding generations have always reverted with tender- ness, Abelard himself, who succumbed when the moment of trial came, does not escape blame. It is the same Abelard who engaged in the theological conflict with Bernhard, the man who boldly favored an innovation and then failed to sustain it. In thought and in life we see in him a figure typical of transi- tion periods. He looked forward and backward and was un- able to turn his face resolutely in one direction. The schools of Paris, which had long enjoyed a great prestige, and then had acquired, as seen, an unparalleled popularity un- der Abelard, began, about the time of his death, Birth of tiie Uni- to assume a compacter organization. It is versity of Paris. the period of the foundation of the university. That word has with us a peculiar connotation which it is necessary to forget if we would understand the institution in its origin. We have already seen the establishment of monastic and cathedral schools in the age of Karl the Great. The gen- eral education which these afforded with their trivium and quadrivium was not likely to satisfy every one and forever, and soon we hear of teachers who have set up in connection with the larger schools and are prepared to meet the demand for a higher education. Paris becomes their centre, and in Paris the cathedral school of Notre Dame takes the lead. Perhaps because the clerical connection was oppressive, the teachers soon emancipated themselves from this cathedral school, and 598 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE simply upon such warrant as was offered by the licenzia docen.li (teacher's certificate) of the chancellor of Notre Dame, adver- tised private instruction much like a modern tutor, for smaller or larger classes and at a certain rate of payment. These pro- fessors located at first around the Seine Island (He de la Cite) where lies Notre Dame, and later on moved a little southward to the left bank of the river, where they formed with their stu- dents a quarter for themselves, the Quartier Latin. The name still attaches to that region, and it has remained to this day the brain of the busy capital of France. Undoubtedly the union of a number of men for the pur- suit of intellectual interests constitutes the essence of a uni- versity, and in this essential sense the university of Paris existed all through the twelfth century ; but for a long while there was no formal organization, nor is the vear Its organization. .... , ■...•... 1 i \..i m which such an organization took place exactly known. The word university, designating an association of teachers and students, occurs for the first time in 1207. That may, therefore, be taken for the official birth - year. The choice of the expression " universitas " for the new foundation greatly helps our understanding of its early character. Universi- tas in the Middle Age was a very general term applied to any kind of association. The workmen of a guild formed a universi- tas, the citizens of a commune did the same. In an age where everything ran toward cliques and guilds, where such groups were the real .social and political units, the workers in education naturally followed the common trend, for consolidation brought them influence and protection. Thus the university of Paris, on assuming a concrete form, was accorded a charter of priv- ileges and even granted limited jurisdiction over its members. For a long time the university rested on this plane. It had no buildings, no officers, no receipts, in a word, none of the attributes of the material existence which with us are so self- evident. But with increasing numbers sub-organizations sprang up along the hnes of the various interests. The students THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE $99 divided themselves by nationality and by pursuit into nations and faculties. These became the real centres of the University life. A student's national and faculty affiliations determined his official status. The faculties after some wavering were fixed at four : Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy (Arts).i The student's life in those days was rough and wild. The age was untamed, and the ample exemptions secured by the charter of the University from the application of , , , The student life. . the common penal laws, w,ere a constant tempta- tion to violence. Town-and-gown quarrels, and fights between the different nations and faculties were the order of the day. One chancellor complains : ' ' The student of philosophy spends the night armed in the streets, breaks the doors of houses, fills the tribunals with the rumor of his escapades. All day the city bavvds come to depose against him, that -they have been struck, or have had their garments torn in pieces; or their hair cut." Besides this class of student-bullies, there was another class of poor students which lived in the most abject misery. It was to help this kind and check the other that pious people were first moved to found dormitories or colleges where students could live cheaply and under guidance. The Sorbonne ^ endowed (about 1250) by Robert Sorbon, chaplain of the saintly king Louis IX., was the most famous of these foundations at Paris. Although the University of Paris was by far the most re- nowned of mediaeval universities, its claim to priority can be reasonably disputed. Bologna is pleased to date The spread of its origin from 1088, and a few years ago sol- the universities. emnly celebrated its eighth centenary. Famous as it was, it never entered into competition with Paris. Nor was there need, for it cultivated a specialty — Roman law — which was ' The Universities of Germany and England still preserve many of the^ mediaeval peculiarities in organization and life. The "hazing" and " rushes " of our older American colleges are at least indirectly derived from practices of these early days. 2 The name of the college was afterward applied to the whole Theological Faculty, and now attaches in a very loose way to the Academy of Paris. 600 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE expressly excluded from Paris by an edict of Pope Honorius III., of 1 2 19. Paris cultivated theology, and it was the weight of this pre-eminent science which secured Paris the first place among universities in the Middle Age. Honorius prob- ably felt that the devotion to theology might suffer if it were associated with an unholy and pagan profession like the Roman law. Other universities which followed these became distin- guished in like manner for the cultivation of specialties. Thus Salerno,^ in the kingdom of Naples, and Montpellier (1300), in. France, were celebrated for medicine. Orleans (1300), nearer Paris, cultivated the Roman law, which Paris banished. In England, Oxford and Cambridge are about contemporary with Paris, though corporate life with both comes a little later. Of the two, Oxford was by far the more famous, and occasionally even rivalled Paris as a seat of theological learning. Spain could boast of many universities. Valencia (12 21) and Sala- manca (1243) are the oldest. The universities of Germany are all much later and differ materially from the above institu- tions in that they are called into being by a deliberate act. In the year 1348 Charles IV. founded the university of Prague. Vienna (1365) and Heidelberg (1386) follow. In each case the university of Paris was made to serve as model. The next century becomes a sort of golden age of German univer- sities, and many new foundations are added to the list (Co- logne, 1388; Leipzig, 1409; Rostock, 1419, etc.). The curriculum of the universities was very narrow. Little was attempted beyond the specialty of theology or law or University medicine in the way of general culture courses. studies. One has only to recall what a large part of the modern course of studies (e.g., most of the sciences, history, languages, literatures), is of recent creation to reahze this limitation. The chief resource of general culture remained the ' It is not known when Salerno was founded. The practice of medicine there was probably due to Arab influence and very old. The Arabs certainly were excellent physicians, and Salerno was favorably located to benefit from them. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 6oi triviutn and quadrivium of the monastery schools, which were rehearsed in a way more suitable to the advanced student. Side by side with them, however, figured the most elementary courses, and this fact accounts for the presence at the mediaeval University of hordes of mere children. The educational method in vogue at the Universities was a sort of memorizing of authorities, and nothing was further from the minds of mediaeval students than original in- worship of vestigation.' So the law student was taught to authorities. swear by the Pandects, the student of medicine learned anato- my and physiology, not by demonstration, but from the chance scraps of the old Greek scientists, who were elevated into in- fallible authorities, and the students of philosophy worked in the same spirit over the metaphysics of Aristotle. Aristotle was the name of names. It was pronounced by the men of the age like an incantation, and his physics and metaphysics, transmitted to Europe in a corrupted form by the Arabs, were held to be the sources of pure wisdom. But it was his logic to which his popularity was pre-eminently due, for this supplied the rules for the favorite study of dialectics. The study of dialectics was the readiest means at the disposition of the Middle Age for testing the knowledge with which scholasticism dealt. Hence the engrossing fervor with which it was pursued. We have already witnessed it in the case of Abelard. In the century after Abelard the rigid scholasticism which had its roots in realism ^ reached its height through the scholasticism impulse given by the two new orders of begging ^* '*' height. friars (Franciscans and Dominicans), and Albert the Great (d. 1280) and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), German and Italian J It is characteristic that in the only cases where vigorous research and ex- periment were employed, they were directed upon two subjects which are not legitimate sciences at all— astrology and alchemy. The one study was to re- veal the secret of the individual human life by consultation of the stars, and the other occupied itself chiefly with finding the philosopher's stone and mak- ing gold of baser metals. " It must not be forgotten that there were occasional protests against the 602 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Dominicans respectively, succeeded in giving Catholic Chris- tianity its final dialectic form. Even at this day Thomas Aquinas's Sunima totius theologice is regarded as the best bul- vv^ark of Catholic doctrine. It was worth our while to follow the history of the mediae- val university, because up to a certain point it was the most promising hearth of intellectual culture. But Effects of cru- , ,, . , , ■ i • • sades on intei- gradually it began to lose in relative mnportance lectuai history for the cause of civilization owing to the rise of rival influences. The future of civilization de- pended, as has been repeatedly stated, upon the emancipation of the laity. Now for a time it looked as if the university would greatly aid this cause, but unfortunately the clergy retained, by its persecutions of such men as Abelard and Bacon, the sovereign position which it held traditionally in education, and intellect and reason were systematically pressed into the service of theology and drawn off from other fields. The movement of the Middle Age, which, although it marks the very height of the power of religion and the clergy, contributed more than any other one thing to the development of lay so- ciety, was the crusades. The crusades occasioned a tremen- dous increase of commerce and industry, and therefore of muni- cipal life. The burgher class laid the foundations of its wealth in this period, and entered upon the schooling by which it was enabled to secure the future leadership of civilization. By developiftg the cities, the crusades planted the seeds of modern society. But as the direct product of the old feudal society, in fact, its greatest triumph, the crusades stand primarily for the blos- soming season of the mediseval ideals. Since they were an ex- hoUowness of the scholastic system. The most famous came from Roger Ba- con, an Enghsh Franciscan, who died about 1292, after a long imprisonment. Perhaps there is no more astounding case in history of a man in advance of his age. He poured a withering scorn over the methods of his day in his various works (Opus Major, Opus Minor), and first struck the key-note of modern science — experiment and observation. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 603 tensive movement of men, goods, and ideas, from the west to the east and back again, they brought with them a stir which an- nihilated the old moral and mental lethargy. Knighthood was roused by them out of its brutalizing routine of war and drink and pillage. The crusades supplied it with new ideals ; they turned the fierce, lawless fighters and plunderers into a noble chival- ry. The old castles, meant by their towers and Growth of moats to serve only as places of arms, were con- chivalry. verted into so many pleasant courts, where gentle ladies re- sided, and the arts of peace and the delights of innocent society were zealously pursued. It was no longer the custom to go clad in steel on all occasions, but the silks and brocades of the Orient and the furs of the north came into fashion, and with them a livelier pleasure in the good things of the earth for their own sake. Chivalry developed its own amusements, such as hawking, hunting, and, above all, jousting. Looking only at this last point, what a refinement were the jousts upon the old desolating brawls ! And the presence at the tournaments of the ladies, who sat enthroned as dispensers of honor, shed a gracious influence which was as new as it was civiHzing. Further, chivalry championed a novel set of ideals and devel- oped an elaborate etiquette of services. It is on this side that it has most profoundly struck the imagination of all succeeding generations. Chivalry was, in the conception of the time, an order of merit. Its members were called knights. Knighthood was not conferred as a recognition of birth, but as The character a reward of service. A noble was not necessarily and ideals of a knight. He must first prove the quality of " ^* '"''■ his manhood, then, and not till then, he could be struck knight, in solemn ceremony, by his feudal lord. The elaborateness and sacredness of this function, entaihng a twenty-four hours' fast, confession, and communion, and culminating, finally, in the arming of the candidate by knights or ladies, emphasized the deep meaning which was attached to the institution. G04 EUROPE E\ THE MIDDLE AGE And what were the ideals to which this new-made knight pledged himself? Necessarily they had a feudal-religious char- acter. The service of Christ by purity of life and readiness of sword, especially against the heathen who held His tomb, fig- ured in the first place. To this ideal of religious sacrifice was added unswerving devotion to king or liege and to the one chosen lady.' Even if this fine ideahsm was not always or generally realized, as we have ample material to suspect, what did it matter ? Its mere struggle to exist meant the earnest combat with the old unmitigated barbarism which had become traditional in the warrior class, and the progress and, at least, half-victory of civilizing powers. This is proved by another feature of this society, a feature by which it pleads its case with us at this hour. It developed a speech and a literature. Since there were so Chivalry de=> veiopsthena- many new ideas seething within the minds of tive languages men, the more gifted souls were naturally stimu- and literatures. ■' lated to utterance. They burst into song, and as their song came from the heart, it was expressed in the idiom in which the singer's most intimate thoughts spon- taneously clothed themselves. This is the period of the tri- ' Tennyson states the mission of Arthur's knights in the following im- pressive words : " To reverence the King as if he were Their conscience, and their conscience as their King, To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it. To lead sweet lives in purest chastity, To love one maiden only, cleave to her. And worship her by years of noble deeds, Until they won her." — Idylls of the King. Or to take Chaucer's estimate of what constitutes true knighthood : " A knight there was, and that a worthy man That fro the time that he firste began To riden out, he loved chevalrie, Truthe and honour, freedom and curtesie. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre (war) And therto had he ridden, no man ferre (further) As wel in Cristendom as in Hethenesse." — The Knight's Tale. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 6oS umphant ushering in of the French, Italian, English, and German languages and literatures. The frozen and corrupt Latin was good enough for the stereotyped service of the Church and the loud-sounding dialectic exercises of the Universities, but the living spirit of chivalry found that it needed a material that was more responsive and more plas- tic to its touch. That the knight found in his mother tongue. The literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries belongs to the second or middle stage in the progressive development of the modern languages. All the oldest monu- ments of the period of the Carolingians, and be- development of fore, rest upon the first stage, and are classed, **" European respectively, as Old French, Old German, and Old English (Anglo-Saxon). In the succeeding centuries the tongues suffered, in a natural evolution, certain material changes of vocalization, declension, syntax, etc. The stage at which they re-emerge, therefore, in literature, marks a progres- sion, and as this stage corresponds with the flowering time of chivalry, the literature of that and the succeeding periods as late as 1450, is classed as Middle French, Middle German, and Middle English (i 100-1450, about). After 1450 the Mod- em French, Modern German, and Modern English may be regarded as created, to all intents and purposes, as they are used to-day. The literature of chivalry, when examined as to content, does not turn out to be a grand literature. It mirrors an ex- pansive society, it is true, but a society which character of was moved by comparatively few ideas. We medisevai miss in it the full range of modern poetry. Mediaeval poetry struck only the few rich notes which ex- pressed the dominant emotions of chivalry about war, romantic love, and divine worship. The mediaeval man was not po- etically moved by any human relation which lay outside of these three interests. 6o6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE The travelling minstrels (jongleurs, joculatores) greatly con- tributed to the development of the literature of chivalry. They were the hereditary keepers of the material Its material. , . , , , , , t- which the new poets undertook to shape. I^or generations they had passed it on from mouth to mouth. This poetic material consisted of the deeds (gestes) of the ancestral heroes, which, resting in the first instance upon a basis of fact, were elaborated imaginatively in successive transmis- sions, and finally bore very little resemblance to the original event. The mediaeval epics group themselves in cycles around some great historic or mythical name. The most important are: the Celtic tales of King Arthur and the Round Table, the French tales of Charlemagne and his Paladins, the Span- ish legend of the Holy Grail, and the German national stories of the old tribal kings, Siegfried, Dietrich, etc. The home of this chivalrous poetry was France. Here knightly society enjoyed its most brilliant development, and The literature ^^e French productions of the trouveres of the of France. north and the troubadours of the south became the models which were imitated everywhere else. This leader- ship of France should be carefully noted. We have already observed it in the purely intellectual life as represented by the University of Paris, and we shall witness it again when we treat of the development of architecture.^ The epic productions of France were very numerous, but by far the Tlie epic. •' ^ greater part of them is lost. Christian of Troyes (d. 119s) is the most famous name. Although a north French- man by birth, he sought and acquired the Provencal sweetness of the troubadours. His chief works are Lancelot, Erec, and Percival (the Tale of the Grail), and such was their popular- ' This supremacy of France was generally accepted in the Middle Age, and, characteristically enough for the period, given a peculiar theoretic expression. See Bryce, page 98, note. " The three powers which ruled human life," says one writer, "the Popedom, the Empire, and Learning, have been severally in- trusted to the three foremost nations of Europe : Italian, German, French." THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 607 ity that their imitations in all countries and tongues became legion. Besides epic poetry, lyric poetry was also cultivated. Here southern France distinguished herself; in fact lyric poetry was as distinctly her field as epic poetry was that of Ly^c poetry the north. The reason is to be found in the dif- »* France. ferences of the two societies. While the north Frenchman loved adventures and arms, because these suited his temper and environment, the south Frenchman, or Provencal, possessed of greater wealth and nursed in the traditions of an older civiliza- tion, preferred the delights of society. The troubadours of the south, therefore, became the singers, preferably of love, the trouveres of war, and each poured his feeling into a characteristic form. The division between north and south was further em- phasized by the cultivation on the part of each of these two sections of France of a separate tongue, the langue d' oc oi the south and the la?igue d' oil of the north, and this difference, added to the other diversities already indicated, might have led, in the course of time, to the development of two nationalities on French soil, if the Albigensian wars (from 1209 on) had not made a sudden end of southern civilization and imposed the law of north France and the literary use of the langue d'oil throughout the length and breadth of the land. The literature of Germany is, after that of France, the most abundant. Here, too, we meet with epic and lyric produc- tions. The poets are largely dependent upon aerman France for their material, which they remodel literature. freely to suit the German character. The most celebrated epic poets are Wolfram von Eschenbach (d. about 1220) and Gott- fried von Strassburg (d. about 1220). The chief work of the former is Parzifal, which belongs by subject-matter to the cycle of the Holy Grail, and of the latter, Tristan and Isolde, which belongs to the cycle of Arthur and the Round Table. It is note- worthy that Gottfried was no knight but a burgher, which fact may serve to mark the beginning of literary interest among the 6o8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE citizen class. In addition to this class of romances, the subject- matter of which was borrowed, there was a style of epic wholly indigenous to Germany, original alike in matter The national ... tit • i i 11 . epic: Nibeiun- and in fomi. It dealt with the old national geniied and history as it had been handed down through a Qudrun. , , . ^ , . , . . long chain of generations, and its chiet monu- ments are the Nibelungenlied and the Gudrun. In consequence of their age these epic poems present a strange mixture. They contain reminiscences of every period of German history from pagan times down to the moment of their iinal elaboration. Early mythological elements (the nixies of the Danube, Brun- hilda, etc.) blend with the legends of the conquests (Gunther, Siegfried, Hagen), and the composite story is presented in the courtly costume of the thirteenth century. The Nibelungen is the epic of the Rhine and the inland. It tells of the ruin and destruction visited upon the successive possessors of a great treasure on account of a curse attached to it by its creators, the mysterious Nibelungs. Siegfried, his wife Kriemhild, the whole royal race of the Burgundians perish in mutual feuds caused by the envy and greed which the treasure sows abroad. The Gudrun, on the other hand, is the epic of the north and of the sea. It is the story of the sufferings of the maiden Gu- drun, patiently and nobly borne through temptations and hard- ships to preserve the troth plighted to her absent lover. Ger- mans regard these two epics as their Iliad and Odyssey, Lyric poetry was cultivated in Germany by the minnesingers, who correspond to the troubadours of southern France. Their Lyric poetry themes are the three services of the lady, the ofQermany. liege, and God, and their soulfulness of expres- sion secures them an audience to this day. Walther von der Vogelweide (d. about 1230) is the pre-eminent name. He excels in melody and independence of thought and feeling. Owing to the effects of the Norman conquest, England did not take a prominent part in the literary movement of this time, and moreover, most of the contributions she made are THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 609 cqst in the dominant foreign language, the French. How- ever, Geoflfrey Chaucer (1340-1400), the great father of English poetry, was not born too late to give his Literature of noble works, ' ' The Canterbury Tales, " " Troilus England, and Cressida," " The Romance of the Rose," the best flavor of the mediaeval epic. It is curious that in Chaucer's time the continental poetry of chivalry, as also the society from which it sprung, had already run its course and vanished. One of the most impressive witnesses of the civilization of the Middle Age is its architecture. At the very time that Em- perors and kings were marching a conquering Medisevai society against the Mohammedans, and chivalry Architecture. east and west burst into spirited song, the art of building took a new and brilliant start. It was not the first bloom of archi- tecture in the north, but it was the first which was thoroughly original and expressive. It is usually given the name Gothic, and the style which the Gothic supplanted is usually called Romanesque. The Romanesque style had its origin in the half-forgotten principles of Roman architecture. From the Carolingian period on society became more ordered, and Romanesque could again venture to undertake larger public Architecture. structures. The Romanesque style may be said to have pre- vailed from about 800 to 1150. This period was not calcu- lated, from its low state of culture, to produce architectural geniuses or even skilful craftsmen. However, the prevailing Christian enthusiasm demanded that the task of glorifying God in v^rorthy temples be undertaken. Luckily there was a church- form which the builders could use as a model — the Christian Basilica. This was the very simple and impressive style of tem- ple of the Roman Christians, derived, as its name suggests, from the old Roman Basilica, a secular building, which served in the imperial days as a court of justice and a business exchange. The Christian Basilica consisted of a long central nave, which ended in a semicircular apse, and was flanked by an aisle to 39 6lO EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the right and to the left. These general features furnished the ground-plan of the Romanesque cathedrals, but modifications and additions were freely introduced in accordance with the understanding and the taste of the time. The Romanesque style never emerged from a certain barbarian rudeness, both of outline and of detail, but, at the same time, its structures were generally marked by a certain ponderous grandeur without, and by a variety of impressive perspective within. Its chief German monuments are along the Rhine, at Speier, Worms, and Mainz. In France the churches of the south, owing to the greater proximity and more enduring influence of Rome, are superior to those of the north, while such a splendid church as that at Peterborough exhibits what England made of this style. The most striking and easily recognizable feature of the Romanesque architecture is the round arch. But it also devel- oped its own style of pillar, capital, window, Characteriza= . , . . ^ , , , , tionoftheRo- portal, etc., and was individual down to the last manesque and detail of Construction. Unfortunately it had Qothic styles. , , . , . not yet worked itself out to its purest form when it was succeeded by the Gothic style. The Gothic style rests upon principles which have their roots altogether in the Middle Age. The highest religious aspirations of that epoch found expression in it. The best structures in this style are ex- quisitely lofty and airy, every line seeming to strive upward and no effect of massiveness being suffered to contradict the prevailing sense of vertical movement. The individual features of the Gothic style are innumerable. The most common are the flying buttress and the pointed arch. Other characteristics are the rows of tall windows, the elaborate portals, the ribbed vaults, and a graceful sj'stem of ornamentation. The name Gothic is misleading as to the origin of the style. It is a name of late invention, having been attached to mediaeval architecture as a slur, when the prevalence of the Renaissance style had insured the victory of classicism, and men looked with disgust upon everything the Middle Age had done. The THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 6ll Gothic is a French art, and was developed in the very heart of France, the country round Paris (lie de France). It was the prevailing style from the beginning of the Gothic a twelfth century until well into the fifteenth cen- French art. tury, when it began to fade before the advance of the Renaissance (approximately 1 125-1500). From the lie de France the new art of building rapidly spread over the whole country. The French, who originated the art, also gave it its most harmoni- ous and graceful forms. Among a large number of remarkable productions we note the Cathedral of Paris, called Notre Dame (foundation-stone laid 1163, front finished 1214) ; the Cathedral of Chartres (completed 1 260) ; the Cathedral of Rheims (begun 12 1 1, finished 1241); and the Cathedral of Amiens (1257). From France the style made the circuit of the mediaeval world. England and Germany especially took it up with en- thusiasm, and in each case gave it a charac- German and teristic national development. The English English Gothic. churches are longer, narrower, and lower than their conti- nental rivals, but unerring in the justness of their proportions. The German architects sought height and vastness of space, and by their eagerness in the pursuit of these effects, very often sacrificed beauty to size. The principal examples of Gothic in England are the Cathedral of Salisbury (1220-58), Westmin- ster Abbey (1245-69), Ely Cathedral, Lichfield Cathedral, etc. (all of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). Ger- many has one pre-eminent example of the Gothic style in the Cathedral of Cologne (1270-1322). It is one of the largest and most imposing structures ever planned by man,> but deli- cate lovers of Gothic are likely to prefer the more refined pro- portions of the best French or English churches. Other cele- brated examples of German Gothic are the Cathedrals of Strassburg, Ulm, and Vienna. ' The following are the areas in square feet of some of the largest buildings in the world: St. Peter's, 227,000; Milan Cathedral, 108,277; Cologne, 91,000; Notre Dame of Paris, 64,108 ; Salisbury, 55,853. 6l2 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE Of course, the Gothic architecture was not confined to cathedrals and churches. The style was adapted to secular • L.^ _ uses, to council-halls, markets, and palaces as Architecture ' . fosters painting well, and some of the most successful Gothic and sculpture. ^g-g^^g ^^^ obtained in such buildings. The bloom of architecture, moreover, was beneficial in developing the cognate arts such as panel-painting, glass-painting, sculpt- ure, wood-carving, etc., all of which the Gothic builder drew upon to decorate and heighten his creation. The sculptor was called upon to form saints for the porches, the wood-carver to carve choir-stalls for the clergy, and the painter to color and design windows for aisle and choir. Each artist was expected to fit his work into the plan and spirit of the whole. The re- sult was the development, under the guidance of architecture, of a distinctly Gothic style in all the subordinated art-branches. A Gothic cathedral became a sort of museum, but retained, at the same time, a fine artistic unity which can hardly be appre- ciated in these days of eclectic art-culture. Although the beginnings of Gothic art fall in the period cf the crusades and belong to feudal society, the art reached its Thecatiied I Culmination in a period subsequent to the cru- the wori( of the sades and in a class of society which was inher- mi e c ass. ently opposed to feudalism, namely, the burgher class. It lay in the nature of the case that only strong and rich corporations could undertake the huge enterprises which the mediaeval cathedrals represent. Throughout the range of mediaeval civilization such substantial bodies of men were to be found only in the cities. The great Gothic buildings are there- fore the work of the middle class, and they form the first con- tribution of that factor of society to higher culture. We touch in these achievements a social revolution which deserves a further word. We have seen that the state of civilization in the Europe newly ordered under Karl the Great exhibited the clear pre- dominance of the clergy. The clergy was the sole source of THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 613 culture in the ninth century. The outburst, in the age of the crusades, of a new literature cultivated by the nobility, meant the participation in the cause of civilization of, at least, the upper stratum of lay society. The comllhe'^Tntrel cathedral -building of the cities in the thirteenth of civilization century attested the reaching-out of civihzing and '^°°' artistic forces to still wider circles. Henceforth society was to be neither clerical nor aristocratic, but the citizen order would become the bearer of civilization. This momentous change was inaugurated about 1300, and is the root of modern as dis-' tinguished from mediaeval culture. But for about t*o hundred years after 1300 there was a period of hesitation and delay. The prominence of the cities was secured, but their growth was a gradual one, and especially in matters of thought they found it hard to break with the traditional authority of the Church or boldly to invade untried fields of culture. They exhibited no lack of courage, but, for the present, they applied it prefer- ably to the necessary enterprises by which they laid the foun- dations of their material well-being. It is therefore in the province of industry and commerce that we must seek the chief significance of the cities during the later Gothic period. The cities were unwelcome anomalies in feudal society and maintained themselves only by constant fighting. Each city was therefore under the law of arms, and had to character of attend first of all to the business of defence. It "*y '"*• was surrounded by walls and moats, and its bristling towers de- fied aggression. The burghers themselves composed the army. In consequence of this sharp demarcation between city and country, the life within the walls became more concentrated and acquired a peculiar character and unity. The mediaeval man acknowledged no higher allegiance than that to his city. A hardly subordinate place in his affection was held by his guild. All society was grouped by its occupations into guilds. They formed the centres around which tfe§;Social and industrial life of the city gathered. - They even got the political power into 6l4 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE their hands. Their activity became all-determining for the welfare of the city. Were they establishing flourishing indus- tries ? Were they conquering new markets ? Were they fight- ing for the security or monopoly of the trade routes? If the answer was in the affirmative, the material prosperity of the city was secured. And were they making contributions to the cathedral fund? Were they patronizing painters and gold- smiths and commissioning them to adorn the church of their saint? Were they taking pleasure in music and song? Then the new culture had found a home in the city. Such were the pursuits of the mediaeval town, material and mental interests blended in the lives of the citizens, and slowly the old barbarity was sloughed off as the generations came and went. If we examine the witnesses of this progress of the burgher- class in art and literature we are struck with their mediocre char- _. ... . acter. First-rate t^roductions there are none, if The literature '■ ' of the middle we except the great cathedrals, which, although class after 1300. ggjjerally embellished and completed in this period, properly belong to an earlier time. Everything tells us that this is the era of a matter-of-fact bourgeoisie, and that its efforts are directed upon the development of its peculiar virtues of thrift, and industry, and steadiness. The literature, like the life, is honest and healthy, but not brilliant. In • France its best utterance is the fabliaux, merry and usually very spicy little tales, which are intended pri- The fabliaux. ., , , , . ! manly to amuse, but are charged, too, with a good deal of sly satire against various social abuses, especially such as stand under the patronage of bad wives and corrupt The meistefo priests. In Germany the meistersinger carry on singer. the traditions of the minnesang. The meister- singer are the masters of the guilds, heavy and rather dull individuals, who are distinguished by solid bourgeois virtues, but lack range and subtlety of feeling, and work too doggedly under set rules to produce anything that can claim a place in real literature. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGE 615 A mental recreation, very interesting and generally indulged in, was the miracle plays and the mysteries. They form the germ of the modern drama. Laymen appeared j|,g miracle as actors, and the clergy had no scruples to offer plays. the church itself for a theatre. The story of the Passion, miracles of Christ and the apostles, and other biblical subjects were presented, sometimes in tableaux, sometimes in elaborate dialogues, and preferably with strong scenic effects in which horned and hideous devils were sure of a prominent place. In addition there were presented so-called moralities in which the actors were the personified virtues and vices. These latter plays were more of the comical order, but strove, as their name informs us, to interlard the witticisms by appropriate lessons of conduct. The popularity of this form of amusement all over Europe was immense, and regular companies had to be formed to satisfy the demand. Thus the Confferie de la Passion received letters- patent from Charles VI., in 1402, by which it was - privileged to perform in the hospital of the Trinity. In England these dramatizations are especially numerous and issue, at the end of a long line, in Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. So during the whole late mediaeval period mankind seemed to be storing its energies for some new outburst. Germs were pro- fusely scattered, the world was being cast, politi- Modern life cally and materially, in anew frame. The strong develops with monarchy which was forming in France, Spain, *" ''' and England, the new system of production and exchange, which we associate with the more general use of money, the increasing material prosperity, all rested upon the city as foundation, and their future depended upon its ever-widening conquest and in- fluence. It remained to be seen if the new class could fill the new form which life was taking with a high and humane spirit. When the long period of hesitation and preparation was over, the cities gave their unequivocal answer in the Renaissance and the Reformation. CHAPTER XXIII THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE The Renaissance, in its broadest signification, is the name given tlie new civilization, which gradually displaced, in the „ . minds of men, the mediseval conceptions of the a new civiiiza- state, of society, of art, and of philosophy. It *'""■ was a revolution in the realm of thought, com- parable to that which occurred when the antique world fell before Christianity. And curiously enough one of its chief features, the feature which has subsequently lent its name to the whole movement, is the rebirth or Renaissance of that Roman-Greek world which Christianity destroyed. The Re- naissance began to marshal its forces in the fourteenth century, and is, essentially, a conquest by the mind of man of provinces which the Middle Age either avoided from fear or ignored from indifference. It is occasionally represented as the first gleam of light which shot across Europe in the thousand years succeeding the passing Succeeds the me> of Rome. Nothing is more erroneous. The Mid- diievai civiiiza> die Age had, as has been shown in the previous chapter, a high civilization of its own. Only it was clerical and feudal, and, from principle, severely self-Mmited. The Renaissance is secular, and freely and ambitiously expan- sive, like antiquity. It succeeds, but does not attempt to uproot, the world of mediaeval thought, and ends, like all legiti- mate historical agents, in actually adopting the better posses- sions of its predecessor. The Renaissance gave us back the lost classicism, but it did not cast off mediaeval Christianity, and therefore rests, as well as modern civilization down to our day, THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 617 upon the fusion and mutual modification of these two worlds of ideas. It will prove profitable to recall to our minds the elements of the civilization which the Renaissance succeeded. Adequate gratitude is rarely rendered the mediseval cult- ^^^^ benefits ure, though its effects have been permanent and of the old far-reaching. Its religion accustomed us to self- civilization. restraint and bequeathed us enduring laws of conduct. Through its best social product, chivalry, it founded the modern lan- guages and gathered the first flowers of modern literature. Its highest expression, the Gothic cathedrals, have never been rivalled in their way. The best creations of the period, whether of art or literature, all bear the mark of a strenuous idealism, which, although it no longer absorbs, as formerly, the aspiration of mankind, still exercises a vigorous intermittent influence which we could not afford to miss. On the other hand, the mediaeval civilization bound the forces of human society to the service of the Church, and the Church, consciously and persistently, limited symptoms of their scope. Then came the period when lay so- the coming ciety began to strike out for itself (1250). It de- veloped industry and commerce, and laid the foundation of a new wealth. The growth of the cities followed. In measure as they developed, the old distribution of power in society became disturbed. Slowly the balance declared against the dominant medieval orders of the clergy and nobility. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw the revolt of the communes throughout Europe. Naturally, too, the progress of the middle class lent an increasing weight to the freer kind of culture which that class represented. Thus an intellectual revolution was soon as- sociated with the economic and pohtical one. Doubt began to assail the scholastic structure of belief. There were signs that men would soon accredit personal experience, and not merely obey the dictates of a bhnd authority (case of Abelard, Albi- genses, Wyclif, Huss) ; and hand in hand with this spirit of 6l8 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE individualism went the study of nature, which is the foundation of the sciences and the mother of inventions (inventions of gunpowder, printing, etc.). Presently a clear ray of antiquity fell upon the world. It bore witness of an unexplored realm of beauty and increasingly larger numbers longed and labored for its resurrection (Humanists). All these tendencies, indicative of a new life in society, mark the origin of the Renaissance. We propose to follow them here in their leading developments in the fourteenth and iifteenth centuries. The home of the Renaissance is Italy. In Italy it was pro- duced and reached its highest development. From Italy it made the round of Europe. Nor is the fact at The Renaissance ... begins in Italy. 3-1' Surprising, for no other country presented so The reason for large a number of favorable conditions in which such a movement could take place. The feu- dal system had never struck deep roots into Italian soil, and was early and easily abolished. The cities destroyed it here as everywhere. Then finding themselves free from feudal in- terference they took up the problems of self-government. A previous chapter has shown how their political history is marked by endless experimentation. But these very changes, grievous though they proved for the power of the state and the domestic peace of existence, produced an unwonted mental activity in very broad circles. A parallel is found in the con- tentious Greek cities, which likewise won in civilization what they lost in stability. However, the greatest advantage which Italy enjoyed over the other European countries, was its nearness to the Roman Influence of civilization. In Italy that civilization had, on '**""*• the one hand, been strongest, and the barbarian onset, on the other hand, had been weakest. The memories of the ancient culture were, therefore, more potent on the pen- insula than elsewhere. Even the practice of the arts, in some form or other, was never entirely intermitted. "The Middle Age," says Macaulay, "was for Italy only the night of an THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 619 arctic summer." Wherever the Italians looked they were reminded of a great past, and that past was their own. There was hardly a city which did not have its ruins of a temple or a theatre. And above all, there, still, was Rome. That Rome was an object of reverence to Europe and the goal of so many pilgrims was doubtless an honor addressed to its ecclesiastical character ; but in many confused and subtle ways, secular Rome, the seat of the Empire, the great mother city, came in for its share of the general awe. In the minds of the Romans themselves the old traditions enjoyed an uninterrupted exist- ence. That is the real interest attaching to the entirely fan- tastic attempts made in the Middle Age by Crescentius, Ar- nold of Brescia, and Rienzi at a revival of the greatness of the city. And the glamour which held the Romans charmed the other Italian cities. All were eager to derive their origin from Rome. The Florentines, for example, had no certain knowledge about the beginnings of their city, but at the time of Dante it was held as firmly as any article of faith, that Florence was a direct offspring of the Roman mother. Thus the great name of Rome perpetually hovered over Italy and defied oblivion. The Church also contributed to maintain the memory of the mother city by cultivating the Latin language. Nor had the development of the Italian language carried it so , , , , , , , The Latin lan- lar beyond the mother tongue that the nature guage easily of the connection was not perfectly evident accessible to n » 1 -r 1. 1 1 .- 1 1 1 the Italians. to all. As the Italian could feel that he was racially the descendant of the Roman, so he could almost look upon the Roman literature as the first bloom of his tongue. Among all the European nations, Italy was conspicuously the heir of Rome and most fitted to relight the extinguished em- bers of Roman civilization. When the awakened intelligence of man began to direct it- self upon the materials of antiquity, the Renaissance may be said to have been fairly initiated. The exact date, of course. 620 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE cannot be determined. We must remember that the materials of antiquity -were as little forgotten in the Middle Age as ^^ „ . , , Rome itself. However low the interest in them The Revival 01 Learning dates ran, it did not run dry. The Benedictine from Petrarch. ^^Qj-^j^g „gygj. abandoned the traditions of learn- ing which dignified their order. Their zeal as copyists was impartially divided between the sacred and the pagan authors, and such literary monuments as have come down to our day, we owe to them. Virgil was read widely and eagerly through- out the Middle Age, and the general respect felt for him was embodied in the superstition that he was a great magician. But the interest in learning which exhibits itself in these facts was restricted to a very small circle, and was neither intelligent nor vigorous. The Renaissance dates from the time when the in- terest became healthy and general. That occurred about the time of Petrarch. Petrarch is the first prominent apostle of classicism, or — as he has been called in virtue of this fact-^ — the first modern man. It is this fact which distinguishes his services from those of his great countryman and predecessor, Dante Alighieri. Dante (1265-1321) and Petrarch (1304-74), together Dante and Pe- • , r, • ^ x , ■ o trarch. The With Boccaccio (13 13— 75), are now chiefly famed modernism of ^s the great pioneers and permanent luminaries D A^ 1*0 rc ti of Italian literature. Of the three Dante easily ranks first. His "Divine Comedy" has placed him among the half-dozen world -poets, whose works belong to every nation. And yet, though he gloriously inaugurated Italian literature, he is not a modern man. He stands completely within the circle of mediaeval conceptions. The great defender ' of the theory of the Universal Empire, beheved also in its counterpart, the Universal Church, and his thought naturally sought the current syllogistic form and bowed to the worship of authorities char- acteristic of the Middle Age. Petrarch, on the other hand, credited personality and experience. His attitude toward the ' Dante defended the Empire in his work De Monarchia. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 621 medieval inheritance of thought and institutions foreshadows that of the rationalist, who does not blindly believe but exam- ines and criticises. Thus unhampered he was enabled to make two great discoveries : the world of the emotions within and the world of the senses without. No man before Petrarch was so passionately introspective as he, and no man before him took so direct a pleasure in the good things of the earth, its fields and flowers. With him the old impulse to regard nature and all her glorious phenomena as manifestations of the Evil One lost its zest. Perhaps he was the first man in centuries who climbed a mountain for the mere delight of the journey. In 133s he made the arduous ascent of Mount Ventoux (France). The event deserves to be set down as a milestone in intel- lecttial history. The qualities of the man and his creed of life distinctly mark him as a new type. It is perfectly true that similar qualities had already appeared in Dante and others, but with Petrarch they first exhibit a vigorous hfe. For all these reasons he is modern, while Dante is mediaeval. If any further witness of the essential difference in the mental attitude of the two men is required, none can prove more satis- factory than that furnished by a comparison of Petrarch, the their education. Dante is the product of the first humanist. trivium and quadrivium of the schools ; Petrarch is largely self- taught, he first having drunk freely of the spring of antiquity which his incantations again drew from the rock where it had been sealed up long ago.' Petrarch's immense fame in his own day, completely eclipsing that of Dante, is due to this activity of his in behalf of the classical ideal of man. He thereby headed and directed one of the main currents of contemporary thought. The modern age knows him chiefly as the lover of Laura and the ' He narrates in his epistolce seniles that he could not. when a boy, tear him- self away from the classical authors. Once his father, in a rage over such loss of time, pounced upon his books and threw them into the fire. Only when he saw his son standing there as if transfixed, did he take pity, and snatch a half- charred Virgil and Cicero from the flames. These Petrarch treasured ever afterward. 622 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE graceful singer of immortal sonnets. If we would know the his- torical Petrarch we must modify the conception of him, arising from these associations, most materially. It is significant that he himself placed his Italian poems so low that he was, at one time, tempted to consign them to the flames. He preferred to rest his reputation upon his works in Latin, which pretended to be a vehicle of classical style and thought, and his age so distinctly saw in these contributions a unique service, that it raised a unanimous chorus of praise about them and with him neglected his verse in the vernacular. The crisis of a great change had come upon the world, and for the moment it desired a guide and helper rather than an entertainer. That is the way in which we must explain why the contemporaries so emphati- cally placed Petrarch the humanist before Petrarch the poet. Petrarch (1304-74) was born at Arezzo, in the upper valley of the Arno. His father was a Florentine notary who had His life and been banished together with Dante (1302). works. Need soon took the family to Avignon, where the father found employment at the papal court. Petrarch was destined for the law. He studied at Montpellier and Bologna, but his natural bent threw him upon literature. As hterature did not then afford a means of livelihood, he made a compromise. He became a priest, received from the Pope a small benefice without duties, and devoted himself to his chosen labors. The classics, especially Cicero and Virgil, became his passion. He was perhaps the first person of the whole mediaeval period who fully responded to the formal beauties of these authors. The Latin in vogue shocked his ears. In in- numerable works he furnished an example of a purer style. His writings were of varied character. The more important are : " Letters in Prose and Verse ' ' (he stood in correspondence with almost every noted man of his day), a book on Sohtude ("de Vita Soli taria"), a biography of celebrated men ("deVitis Virorum Illustrium "), a sort of autobiography (" de Contemptu Mundi "), etc. His great Italian work, alone read to-day, while THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 623 the Latin writings are forgotten, is the Canzoniere (song-book). It consists of sonnets and Canzoni (songs) addressed to his lady- love, Laura. He met Laura at Avignon in 1327, and during her lifetime (she died 1348 in the great plague), and till his own end, he made her the object of an idealizing devotion, which has won her a foremost place in the calendar of lovers. And yet the earthly relations of this pair were very slight. Laura was already married when Petrarch met her, and the respected mother of several children. There is no reason to suppose that she ever felt anything for him but a distant cor- diality. On such slight groundwork of fact he constructed his poetical ideal of her. It stood in no intimate connection with reality, but, being a dreamer, he knew how to make it suffice for his own higher life. Petrarch was a famous traveller in his day. His reputation won him admirers on all hands. Doors sprang open of them- selves at his approach. Popes and crowned , , . , ^ , , ^ , . Petrarch's fame. heads vied for the honor of his entertainment. The Emperor Charles IV. repeatedly invited him to Bohemia. King Robert of Naples was proud to lend him his royal man- tle on the occasion of his poetic coronation on the capitol at Rome. The Visconti and the Carraresi coddled him in turn. His journeys were triumphal processions. Nothing shows bet- ter the indelible impression he and his message made upon his age than this universality of favor. ' Boccaccio (1313-75), who was nine years younger than Pe- trarch, was of illegitimate birth. His mother was French, his father a Florentine merchant. Born at Paris,^ Boccaccio-his he received his education in Italy, and then nfe and works. turned, by irresistible bent, to literature. Like Dante he did not enter the Church ; the time had at length come when tal- ' Only one other literary man ever enjoyed the same popularity— Voltaire. Voltaire's opportunity was furnished him by a similar crisis of the world's thought = Florence and Certaldo (near Florence) also claim the honor of being his birthplace. 624 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE ented men no longer thought it absolutely necessary to don the clerk's habit. Learning was beginning to find a home out- side the Church. Boccaccio became the friend of Petrarch and shared with him most of his tastes and interests. Like him, he was an enthusiast of antiquity, and tirelessly collected and copied manuscripts. Like him he was a Latin author, and scarcely less celebrated, but his works' in this tongue, like those of his friend, are now only read by scholars. Boccaccio, too, is a modern man. The movement toward reality, tow- ard the claims of nature and the senses, found in him a power- ful ally. His famous Italian work, the "Decameron," is as free from restraint and as naively sensuous as if Christianity had not intervened between it and Greek mythology. The work consists of one hundred amusing stories, recounted by a merry company of friends to while away the tedium of a forced retreat in the hills of Florence during the pest of 1348. The imagination displayed in this work, its humor and grace, have always held the world captive,^ but its excesses are very often more than modern manners and modern print will support. The utter license, which it exhibits as pervading all classes of society, is astonishing. The humorous and satirical writer throws his dart at every class, in turn, but the rebuke directed at the clergy has a particular edge and relish. The ignorant monk, the sensual priest, are the standing butts of the tales. How long would the respect for the Church stand in a coun- try where the " Decameron" was read with gusto? The In- quisition of the sixteenth century recognized the danger of the book, and put it upon the Index, ^ not for its immorality, be it understood, but for its anti-clericalism. Finally, whatever is said about it, in praise or in blame, this one'in?pg'^able honor ' The worthiest are a handbook on mythology (de Genealogia Deorum), and a series of women's biographies (de Claris IVIiilieribus). ' These tales furnished Shakespeare with several plots : for example, All's Well that Ends Well and Cymbeline. Chaucer, Lessing, Moliere, Keats, have drawn upon them. 3 A list of books which Catholics are forbidden to read. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 625 remains: as the " Divine Comedy " founds Italian poetry, so the " Decameron " founds Italian prose. The gospel spread by Petrarch and Boccaccio acquired a large vogue after their death. It became the fountain-head from which flowed two mighty currents, the one making for antiquity, the other for the new ciass'ici™''"ck.n* ideal of man, who expands without and within sequent delay of J . , , 11-,^ , Italian literature. and aspires to a better knowledge of nature and of himself. Naturally the movements often intersect and blend. To follow antiquity was to follow the means of intel- lectual increase and of a more intimate self-knowledge. That is the important corollary of the often pedantical classical activity of the next generation.' These generations threw themselves with an immense fervor upon the resuscitation and purification of Latin, upon the discovery of manuscripts, upon their annotation and multiplication. So general and so great was the favor extended to the Latin language and literature, that it occasioned the neglect of the derivative Italian tongue, which had just made so auspicious an entrance upon the world. In the feeling of the age it was only a vulgar idiom after all, and an unworthy vehicle for thought which again aspired to the name of classic. Rarely did any writer of the fourteenth or fifteenth century venture to follow the footsteps of Dante or Boc- caccio. The dearth of Italian literature, till toward the end of the Renaissance, is one of the surprising and conspicuous feat- ures of the period. Ariosto (d. 1533) and Tasso (d. 1595) ap- peared just in time to save the honor of the movement on this side. However, the names of Francesco Sacchetti, of Florence • 1 Browning has splendidly caught the spirit and the full meaning of the labors of these scholars in occasional poems. See A Grammarian's Funeral and The Bishop Orders his Tomb. " Yea, this in him was the peculiar grace . . . That before hving he'd learn how to live." " No end to learning. This man decided not to live but know." 1 40 626 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE (d. 1400), who wrote novelettes in the spirit of Boccaccio, and of the Florentine Villani, a family of historians of the fourteenth century, who wrote a notable chronicle of their native city, hold a place in Italian letters. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio were all of Florentine ex- traction. Florence therefore became the centre of the human- P . istic movement. The leading representatives of heart of human- that movement were either natives of the vigor- '""■ ous Arno city, or connected with it by interest and adoption. The name of Florence is the gateway by which one passes into the realm of humanism, as it is also the leading gateway to Renaissance art. To enumerate and specify the particular service of each one of the numberless scholars of the next century is impossible. Representative Mention must be limited to the leaders. Coluc- names. ^io Salutato (d. 1406) became chancellor of the Republic of Florence. He made an end of the barbarous Latin which flourished as official language in that office and set up his documents in a style which soon became the model for public instruments in all Italy. Luigi Marsiglio (d. 1394), a pupil of Petrarch, established a sort of free academy in the con- vent of Santo Spirito. I,ionardo Bruui (d. 1444) was one of the first who turned his energies upon Greek. But it is Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459) in whom we touch the best-known scholar of the day. We may linger over Poggio Bracciolini a moment, to con- sider the type of the later humanist. The seed sown by Pe- „. , . . trarch had borne fruit. Of course it was not I he later hu° manEsts. Poggio what Petrarch had expected. If he could have Bracciolini. i^^^^^ Confronted with the humanism of the fif- teenth century he would have given it a very qualified ap- proval. We are struck in Poggio, first of all, with the old passion for antiquity. He hunted for manuscripts untiringly and with success, in Germany, France, and even England ; he improved his Latin style till Petrarch appeared rustic compared THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 627 with him. On this side, then, there is only improvement. But on the side of Ufa and morahty there is a disproportion- ately great decay. The movement toward freedom had re- sulted in breaking all bonds of restraint. Ties of family, church, and service, began to count for nothing. The later humanist is absolutely unscrupulous, and combines therewith an unbounded vanity and a vulgar depravity which wallows in all excesses. Let us look at Peggie's life for evidence. Al- though in the service of the Pope, he was indifferent to the Church and hated the clergy. He ridiculed the priesthood fiercely in his ' ' Dialogue against Hypocrisy ' ' and in his " Facetiae." Although these attacks are not without wit, they are obscene beyond description. Yet the " Facetise " became a favorite book in that day. It goes without saying that Poggio had nothing left of that dread of the empire of the senses, which even Petrarch had not entirely dismissed, and that he lived a life of easy self-indulgence. Another eminent representative of these later humanists, who united in himself all their worst vices, was Francesco Filelfo (d. 1481). His vanity led him into bitter pen- feuds with Poggio and almost every other scholar of the day, and he did not stop short of the lowest vitupera- tion. His conceit encouraged him to think himself the equal of Cicero and Virgil.^ An important side of these humanists' work was their activ- ity as teachers. Almost all occupied a chair at the University of Florence at some time or other. Occasion- jhe new curri= ally we find them at Siena, Venice, Bologna, «"'""• etc., called by the magistracy itself, for a period, for the pur- pose of giving public instruction. As the classical propaganda spread, the other cities began to be no less zealous than Florence about antiquity, and chairs devoted to some humanistic branch were founded very generally. However, comparatively few ' " Quod si Virgilius superat me carminis ullis Laudibus, orator illo ego sum melior," etc. 628 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE humanists made teaching a regular profession. So much greater is the honor which those acquired, who overthrew the anti- quated formalism of the schools, with its theology and syllogisms, and invented the fresher classical curriculum, with its appeal to the spirit. Guarino of Verona (d. 1460), and Vittorino da Feltre (d. 1446), deserve especial mention among these masters. They trained some of the best men of the day, and their names were always uttered by their former pupils with respect. It is pleasant to learn that they, at least, did not share the vulgar vices of the majority of the humanists. Humanism to them was a civilizing force, which enriched and matured. The most important of all the scholars of the fifteenth cen- tury remains yet to be named. It is Laurentius Valla (1406- 57), and the honor of being called the first , , r , • • , . 1-1 r Laurentius Valla scholar of his time belongs to him by virtue of and the birth an exceptional service which he rendered the of historical ^ , . ^^ , _ . . criticism. cause of learning. He was as good a Latinist as any man of his day, and his " Elegancies of the Latin Lan- guage " (Elegantise Linguse Latinse) were long regarded as a superlative guide in rhetoric ; but these, and even greater achievements along the same line, would not suffice to keep his memory green with us. We remember him because he is the founder of historical criticism. He dared first to investigate with real acumen a number of the current traditions which were passing for history, and he flinched neither before Church nor dogma. He ventured to correct the Latin Bible ; he cast doubt upon the origin of the Apostles' Creed ; best of all, he exposed the famous fraud, known as the Donation of Constan- tine, upon which the Popes had based their claim to the posses- sion of the west. It illuminates the tolerance of the age to recall that he was, for a time, secretary to Pope Nicholas V. Niccolo Machiavelli (d. 1527), the famous political theorist and historian, is a child of Valla's spirit. By the middle of the fifteenth century the old Latin authors had been found and the texts restored, very much as we have THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 629 them to-day. However, even before this magnificent service was completed, much of the energy of investigation had been already diverted upon the neighboring field of The Greek Greek antiquity. Intellectual relations between Revival. Greece and the west had been for centuries as good as non- existent. But as the love and knowledge of Rome grew, the eyes of students were naturally turned toward Rome's great teacher. It had even been so with Petrarch. The touch- ing trait is narrated of him that he possessed and cherished deeply a copy of Homer, which he could not read. Petrarch's successors were carded farther. They gave their serious at- tention to the Greek language, and some ventured to journey to Greece to search for manuscripts. Then occasional Greeks, with a turn for travel, were induced to settle in Italy as teach- ers. The Council of Florence (1439), which met to consider the questions of the union of the eastern and western Churches, increased the intercourse between the Latin and Greek scholars. That was, perhaps, in view of the fact that the Council dissolved without doing anything, its one bene- fit. Some Greeks proved their good-will by remaining in Italy. Pletho and Bessarion were the most famous. The former became the expositor of Plato, while the latter, also a Platonist, having turned Catholic, was nominated cardinal, and became a great patron of letters. The widening conquests of the Turks in the Orient brought the Greeks west in increasing numbers, and the Fall of Constantinople (1453) decided all who had means and courage for the journey. Italy was the haven of most of the exiles, and there they arrived, in weary, starved swarms, often without a farthing, and with nothing to recommend them but some saved manuscript. It was Pletho ' (his real name was Giorgios Geniistos) who introduced Plato to the west, and immediately won for him a great number of disciples. Therewith, the empire of Aristotle, I This name was adopted by Giorgios because of its similarity to that of his revered master, Plato. 630 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE which had stood so securely throughout the Middle Age, was shaken. Neither the one nor the other philosopher was well understood at first, but the controversy about Neo=Platoiiisni. , , ,,..., them marks a new interest and beginning m the theoretic study of life. The enthusiasm for Platonism led to a very picturesque experiment at Florence in the institution of a The Platonic Platonic Academy. It was founded by Cosimo Academy. ^q' Medici, and flourished till the death of Lo- renzo. Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) and Picus of Mirandola (1463-94), together with the poet Pohtian (d. 1494), were its brightest Hghts. It comes at the end of the humanistic movement, and marks a fitting close of the era. The new phi- losophy, the noblest which antiquity had to offer, won a strong hold on these men. It does their seriousness honor that they did not see in the new knowledge a warrant to break with the past. To love Plato did not mean with them to reject Christ. Picus is of them all the most interesting figure. He was of no- ble birth and lived in easy circumstances, but in spite of his social advantages, turned to philosophy. He was considered a prodigy of learning, and succeeded in harmonizing the wisdom of all ages under the aspect of Christianity. The Renaissance was a movement largely confined to the upper classes. But there it was general, affecting kings, ty- Thedi ersit of ^^^^^> condottieri, and republican magistrates pursuits in tiie alike. All who had power or who wished to Renaissance. arrive at power through popularity, competed for the service of the humanists and artists. Books and build- ings have been called the great passions of the Renaissance. So they were, but not the only passions. We find also collec- tors of tapestries, jewels, silks, silver, everything beautiful, in- deed, which the earth affords and man elaborates. The fact that we meet with an endless diversity of pohtical conditions, with tyrants at some places and republics at others, diminished the love of art and letters in no respect. Politics and state-systems apparently sustained no connection with cult- THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 63 1 ure. In consequence, we meet with an astonishing number of ardent patrons of genius among men of all political and moral shades. Of course they were not all equally important. Florence never lost the prestige and * *"* '""*' position which she took from the first. Her art patrons, and those of Rome, stand in the front rank. The prominent men of Milan, Venice, Naples, Ferrara, Rimini, and the other cities followed the lead of Florence as their means permitted. The leading family of Florence could not but serve the leading interests of the city. The Medici are splendid patrons, the pa- trons /ar excellence. Not unjustly has the whole age of Florentine production been named from them. Cosimo (d. 1464), and his grandson Lorenzo (d. 1492), favored every form of art and literature. Poggio, Ficino, Ple- tho, to mention only a few of the humanists, experienced their benefactions. Cosimo was, moreover, a great builder. The architects Michelozzo and Brunellesco were in his employ. Donatello, the sculptor, was his friend. These are only the most important among the artists whom he favored. A dozen others — painters, carvers, and goldsmiths — enjoyed his encour- agement. Lorenzo was even more lavish, for his appreciation of art and letters was keener than his grandfather's. Other Florentine families lagged not far behind the Medici. The Strozzi, the Pitti, the Rucellai have forever associated their name with the art-bloom of the city. The sig- other Florentine noria (magistracy) and the great trade guilds patrons. would not be outdone. The former decorated its meeting- place (Palazzo Vecchio), the latter built and embellished places of worship (Or San Michele, the Baptistery, etc.). At Rome the Popes are the liberal promoters of humanism and art. Almost all elected between the end of the Great Schism (1417) and the Sack of Rome (1527) ThePopesas share the passions of the day, and may therefore patrons. be grouped as the Renaissance Popes. Nicholas V. (1447-55) was the first to give unreserved expression to his enthusiasm. He 632 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE virtually regarded the patronage of art as the most important function of the sacred office.' The Popes had only lately re- turned to Rome, and the city was half in ruins from Nicholas V. desertion and neglect. Nicholas had magnificent ideas about rebuilding it. The Vatican, St. Peter's, and the Basilicas were to be all splendidly renewed. However, he did not live long enough to complete much of his programme. Along other lines his patronage brought larger returns. He is the founder of the Vatican Library, which has the most valua- ble collection of manuscripts in the world. His largesses to the humanists were immense. He kept a whole army of copy- ists. Pius n. (^neas Piccolomini, 1458-64) was long known as a leading humanist before he was elected to the papacy. He wrote histories and travels. The Popes who succeeded him cared less and less for their religious functions, and, though they were usually immoral and uneducated, followed with eagerness the path laid out by Nicholas. Julius H. (1503-13) and Leo X. (1513-21), who was a son of Lorenzo de' Medici, are best known. With their names we associate the building of St. Peter's, the embellishment of the Vatican, and the frescoes of Michel Angelo and Raffaele. A half hundred other patrons could be mentioned at divers places. At Naples, Alphonso the Magnanimous (d. 1458) afford- The patrons ed a home, especially for the humanists. He generally. ^y^g gg infatuated a searcher after manuscripts that he granted Cosimo de' Medici a favorable peace once, on Cosimo's presentation to him of a copy of Livy. At Milan, both the Visconti and the Sforza erected buildings (the Duomo, the Certosa of Pavia) and protected scholars. The rich mer- chants of Venice were behind-hand in awakening to their pos- sibilities, but once aroused they were more lavish than the rest of their countrymen, as the splendid palaces and paintings of ' A contemporary writes ; " He used to say (before he was Pope) that if he ever had means he would spend his all on books and buildings." (See Burckhardt, The Culture of the Renaissance, p. Z13.) THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 633 the City of the Lagoons prove to this day. Aldus Manutius made it a centre of literary culture by establishing there his celebrated printing-house (1488). It was not the first in Italy, but rapidly became the most celebrated. Aldine editions are still highly prized. Finally, no list of patrons can omit the Gonzaghi of Mantua, the Montefeltri of Urbino, and the Es- tensi of Ferrara (patrons of Ariosto and Tasso). It is diiBcult to value justly the immense intellectual move- ment which has been sketched in the foregoing pages. Several causes have conspired to make us forget it. In „ ■^ ° Summary of the the first place, the original literary creations of work of the the humanists were, generally speaking, unim- humanists, portant. Their neo-Latin literature, has, therefore, long fallen . into merited oblivion. But, fortunately for their memory, their real work lay elsewhere. It lay in the discovery and restitution of antiquity, and in the re-establishment of man in the fields of knowledge. These scholars, by word and by ex- ample, brought man face to face with nature, and so forced him to study at the sources of life in order to know. This is their great service, and it is not lessened by the consideration that their critical contributions were impure and subject to correc- tion. Such insufficiency lay in the nature of the case and does not alter the fact that our prouder structure of knowledge and science rests upon foundations built by these forgotten hands. Still another circumstance impairs the world's full apprecia- tion of the intellectual side of the Renaissance. It is com- pletely overshadowed by the artistic movement. '■ ^ ■' The best expres- The great artists have this advantage over the gions of the great scholars that their work stands forever. Renaissance while that of the scholars is perpetually destroyed and rebuilt. The art of the Renaissance shines with a splendor undimmed by time. It represents the contribution of the Re- naissance to the cause of Beauty, and very generally appeals to the world now as the best expression of the period. While it is right to acknowledge the justice of this verdict, it ought not 634 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE to be forgotten, however, that the other cause, that of Science, was served as devotedly and with as great an energy.' Not all the art of Italy is Renaissance art. The Renaissance, we have seen, begins with Petrarch and his disciples, but there ■♦ ■■ A_n. was an art in Italy before Petrarch. It does Italian Art be- ^ fore the Renais- not lie within our task to treat of it at length. sance. ^^^^^ broad divisions are usually noted : the Romanesque period (800-1250) and the Gothic period (1250- 1400). Art practice had almost died out in Italy after the invasions. The old structures, baths, theatres, arches of triumph, etc. , were „ ^ allowed to decay, and gradually were converted Romanesque and -' ' ^ ^ Qothic archi- into the fortresses of robber- barons, provided tecture. ^^^^ were not still more unfortunate and did not suffer utter destruction because of the vast amount of conve- nient building material they afforded. Mosaics, the cutting and carving of jewels, gold and silver smithwork, the miniature arts, in a word, were alone kept up with any success. But as more settled conditions succeeded, the old affection for things beautiful began to return. Desire fixed first, and naturally, upon finer churches. The eleventh century saw the construc- tion of the cathedral of Pisa, which became the point of de- parture for a new style. It is characterized by round arches, colonnades of pillars, and other Roman reminiscences. Many cities of Tuscany and the North, moved by the same religious enthusiasm, followed the example of Pisa. The Tuscan-Ro- manesque thus created had something of a vogue, but before it had been allowed to evolve itself completely it was supplanted by the Gothic. The Gothic with its pointed arch was a foreign importation and never struck firm roots in the peninsula.' It was plain that the future of art in Italy lay in a return to the national tradition. The return was accomplished by the Re- naissance. 'Some fine monuments, however, remain of this Itahan Gothic, e,^., the cathedrals of Florence, Milan, Siena, and Orvieto. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 63 S Sculpture aiid painting began to be practised more vigor- ously about the same time that architecture took a new start. Two names sum up the pre-Renaissance activity Early sculpture in these art-branches, Niccolo Pisano and Giotto. »"<' painting. I Niccolo Pisano ' (d. 1278) is the first great sculptor of Italy, as : Giotto ^ (d. 1337) is the first great painter. They placed their respective arts upon a new footing, but their successors, in- stead of developing, squandered tlieir inheritance. In sculpture and painting, too, as in architecture, the Renaissance created a wholly new basis and became a new starting-point for the artistic development of Italy. It will prove convenient to consider the Renaissance art in its several phases. The early Renaissance extends from about 1420 to 1 500 ; the Renaissance proper from 1 500 Three periods of to 1530; after that, reaching to the end of the Renaissance art. century, comes the late Renaissance, which is distinguished by a rapid decay. Our concern is with the first and second periods. The artistic revival is properly the offspring of human- ism. The first great apostle of antiquity, the Petrarch among the artists, was the Florentine Fillippo Brunei- Architecture. lesco (1379-1446). He was an architect, and Bruneiiesco. that it was one of his art,''and not a sculptor or painter, who re- introduced the classical forms need cause no surprise. Archi- tecture has always gone in advance of the other arts, preparing the way for them. It erects the monuments, sculpture and painting ornament them. And then architecture found her way back to antiquity more readily than the sister arts. The painting of antiquity was destroyed, the sculpture buried, but the architecture was visible and tangible in a large number of beautiful ruins. In the year 1403 Bruneiiesco set out for Rome ' Niccolo was a Pisan. He breaks sharply with the old grotesque forms and returns to astudy of nature and antiquity. His best work is the pulpit of Siena 2 Bom in Florence. He arrives at the highest pictorial expression of medi- aeval Christianity. But his idealism does not disdain the study of form and nature. His most noted frescoes are at Assisi, Padua, and Florence. 6l6 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE with the avowed purpose of studying Roman antiquity. His protracted residence in the Eternal City, during which he occupied himself with a profound study of the ancient build- ings, marks an epoch. The historian Vasari ' unfolds a delight- ful picture of his activity at Rome ; how he spent his time measuring vaults and drawing bits of cornice, and how his one ambition was to bring to honor again the forgotten architect- ure.2 Upon his return to Florence he apphed his new knowl- edge with wonderful success. He got the commission to raise the cupola over the cathedral of Florence, a magnificent under- taking which had defied the efforts of all others. The cupola of the cathedral of Florence is the first in point of time of all great cupolas, and has been eclipsed only by Saint Peter's. Secondly, in the churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito he made an end of the Gothic style in Italy, returning again to the form of the old Basilica. The simple grace of rows of Ionian or Corinthian columns spanned by artistically decorated round arches won its old ascendency over the Italian mind, and once for all displaced the sombre intensity of the pointed-arch archi- tecture in central Italy. Thirdly, in his Pitti Palace, he raised a residence which for originality and massive grandeur remains unequalled. Brunellesco's activity proved highly fruitful. The new style met with a triumphal reception everywhere. Leo Battista Al- berti (d. 1472), of Florence, erected the Palazzo Albert!. Rucellai in his native city, and the Church of San Francesco at Rimini. He was the first of those universal geniuses of whom the Renaissance was to produce such con- ' Vasari's Lives of the Painters is the most agreeable, if not always the most correct, authority on Italian artists. 2 The degree of decay and neglect to which the Roman antiquities had sunk when Brunellesco undertook his researches is well illustrated by a story of Vasari's. The Romans, stolidly careless of the classical remains, could not imagine what B. and his friend Donatello were pottering around the fields of ' rubbish for if not in search of hidden gold. So they called them the treasure- seekers. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ^IJ spicuous examples, notably Lionardo da Vinci and Michel Angelo. Bramante, a Lombard architect (d. 15 14), made the next great step in advance. His work lay in the direction of a greater purity of expression. The classical forms were more completely mastered by him, and with avoidance of mere hollow imitation were cleverly adapted to modern uses. His going to Rome upon the call of the Pope perhaps contributed most toward making that city the centre of the second and most complete period of Renais- sance art. Only fragments, however, of Bramante's works re- main. He was the first architect of Saint Peter's, but unfortu- nately his plan was greatly modified after his death. Michel Angelo Buonarroti (d. i^^i) in his capacity of , . , . , i. Michel Angelo. architect marks no step m advance over Bra- mante. His most famous achievement, in the art of building, is the cupola of Saint Peter's. Michel Angelo lived to see the decay of the Renaissance forms to the atrocities of the barocco,^ and even may himself be said to have contributed to it with his designs for the facade of S. Lorenzo and with the new Sacristy of the same church. The last . Palladio. great name of Lombardy is that of Palladio (d. 1580). He erected palaces and churches, chiefly in Venice and Vicenza. With him the spirit of mere imitation of an- tiquity threatens to gain a complete ascendency, the foot-rule drives the imagination from the field, and therewith is rung the death-knell of the period of originahty. In Venice the Renaissance architecture belongs for the most part to the later style. It brilliantly embodies the wealth and transcribes the luxurious character of the people, Architecture and though it is often splendid, even to the of Venice, point of floridness, it seems in some way only justly keyed to the temper of the unique city which once " held the imperial east in fee." Sansovino (d. 1570) is the most important 1 This name was given the later architecture of the Renaissance because of its ludicrous extravagance. 638 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE name in the building annals of Venice; the Library, which has been called the most splendid secular building of Italy, is his chief work. An unexampled building activity, extending from Brunellesco to Michel Angelo, fairly covered Italy with structures of the Characteristic "^^^ Style. We noted its beginnings and its de- of Renaissance cline ; it has, like all such movements, a grad- architecture. ^^^j ^.j^^ ^^^^.j^ Renaissance), a culmination (full Renaissance), and a setting (late Renaissance), which three periods we may respectively represent by the names of Brun- ellesco, Bramante, and Palladio (although perhaps Michel An- gelo, the contemporary of Palladio, exercised a wider influence). These three names tell the story, too, of the influence of the classical ideals. Brunellesco used the new knowledge judi- ciously, giving full weight to tradition, while maintaining his own personality, and taking wise account of the changed uses of modern structures. He never forgot that the Christian ar- chitect was not expected to rear baths, triumphal arches, and open theatres, but churches and residences, and he attempted to find a style which would represent the marriage of classical principles to modern requirements. He was a genius, and as happens with such far outleaped his immediate followers. While he was definite in expression and resolute in aim, they bungled and experimented, allowed their imagination too free a range, and ended by producing monuments, which if they are elabo- rate and attractive, are frequently marred by grotesqueness. Then came Bramante with his self-restraint and order ; he found the most acceptable solution of the problem of adapta- tion which Brunellesco had first expounded, for although the Roman-Greek ideal of beauty was by him thoroughly absorbed, the modern personality was not sacrificed. But the world is so constituted that it cannot pause long at perfection. Even before Palladio it fell into a bhnd classical imitation, and from the time of Michel Angelo into a love of violent effects which destroyed repose and simplicity. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 639 One feature of early Renaissance architecture merits a further word, especially on account of its consequences for the other arts. It is the strong love of decoration dis- . . .^ , ° Architecture played throughout the fifteenth century. The stimulates the age had all the boisterous qualities of youth; other arts. above all, it was graced with a lively imagination, and revelled in gay colors, in sculptured friezes, in fancy woodwork, and in every kind of heightening in the power of the sister arts. Architecture thus proved a mighty force in the development of the kindred branches. But the architect did not only give employment to the sculptor by leaving him niches to fill, or to the painter by creating walls for him, not only to the artists did he lend encouragement, but also to the artisans, and one of the rarest pleasures of the connoisseur of Renaissance art is derived from the uniform delicacy of the smallest art de- tails, e.g., the stone-carved altars, or the tarsia (inlaid work) of the choir seats, or the designs of cup and jewel-case and crozier. Four sculptors almost contemporaneously carry the new spirit into their art : Jacopo della Querela, Lorenzo Ghiber-ti, Dona- tello, and Luca della Robbia, of whom the first Sculpture. was a Sienese, the others Florentines. Though they all exhibit the new influence, their styles are very different. Jacopo della Querela (1374-1438) created his master-work in the sculptures of the portal of S. Petronio, at '■ ' Querela. Bologna. They show a delight m the problem of form and a mastery over the nude which comes with a start in a man who was born into a world governed by Gothic tra- ditions and who himself never altogether shook them off. The Fonte Gaja (Gay Fountain) at Siena, now almost in ruins, and the celebrated statue of the girl Ilaria, sleeping in repose upon her tomb in the Cathedral of Lucca, could never have been done but for an under-current of the old Gothic feeling, and even in type of face and drapery there is shown the persistence in the full-grown man of the boyhood influence. He was a 640 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE restless genius, always in motion, who worked unevenly and rarely finished what he undertook. So he left no school. Querela was perhaps only once in his life brought into close contact with his Florentine contemporaries. It was on the occa- sion (1401) of the competition for the bronze gates of the Baptistery of St. John. The Flor- entines proved themselves superior to him, and upon the vol- untary withdrawal from the competition of Brunellesco (who, disgusted with his own work, resolved to forsake sculpture for architecture) the prize was awarded to Lorenzo Ghiberti. Ghiberti (1378-1455) was. brought up, like so many of his brother artists, to the profession of goldsmith, and showed the good and the bad effects of this apprenticeship to the end of his days. While his narrative is fluent and his execution deli- cate, he never could reach the grandeur that is proper to the larger scale of work which the sculptor employs. That is con- spicuously proved by his only mediocre statues for the church of Or San Michele (St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew, St. Stephen). So his fame rests rightly on the two bronze doors of the Baptistery (he received the order for the second in 1425, on having completed the first to general satisfaction), for the small dimensions of the compartments required just the kind of talent of exposition and finish which he possessed. Michel Angelo pronounced the later door ^ to be worthy to serve as the gate to Paradise. Donato di Betto Bardi, known for his loving qualities by the diminutive Donatello (1386-1466), was an infinitely more ro- bust artist, and came just in the nick of time to Donatello. , , „ . , ., . , . preserve the influence of Ghiberti from drawing all effort off in the direction of prettiness and grace. He planted himself firmly on reality. Nature was the alpha and omega of his creed, and held such ascendency over him that I Ghiberti has been liberally blamed for at least one feature of this same gate of Paradise. He introduced the picturesque treatment of the bas-relief (landscape background, deep perspectives), and so weaned it from that prin- ciple of simplicity whicli is its sinew and marrow. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 64 1 although he was deeply stirred by antiquity, to which he was introduced through the influence of his friend Brunellesco, the classical ideal was well held in abeyance. However, he, among Renaissance artists, made the first complete study of the nude (David, in the Museum of Florence). That statue marks an epoch. Donatello's work ought properly, on account of its im- portance, to be considered by stages of development, but we cannot do more than name a few representative productions. His most ambitious work is the bronze equestrian statue of Gatta- melata, at Padua. ^ Horse and man are admirably studied. The St. George, at Florence, is one of the most popular statues in the world. It belongs to Donatello's earlier period aftd in its attitude and expression of concentrated energy, alert for service, medi- aeval chivalry may be said to have made its last self-revelation. A class of work which admirably suited Donatello's affectionate temperament was his childhood studies. The boy Jesus and the boy John he presented at every stage of growth, giving us in a series of busts and statues a number of d^slightful transcripts of the little urchins who met his gaze in /'the Florentine streets. In his rendering of children he starts, perhaps, unsurpassed among the sculptors of all times. Luca della Robbia in his own day alone equalled him. Luca della Robbia's (i4oo-82)xgreatest work is the organ- loft, which he created in competition with Donatello, for the cathedral of Florence. Around the balustrade Lucadeiia run, in bas-relief, the famous choirs and bands Robbia. of children. Every charming attitude of childhood Luca's art has immortalized in his singing and dancing girls and boys. Perhaps Luca's nanle, however, is more frequently pronounced in connection with the so-called Robbia-ware (blue and white glazed terra-cotta) which he first brought into vogue.^ The cheapness of the material made it possible for every church, no matter what its size, to have its altar-piece or door -lunette from 1 The glory Donatello achieved by this work is further heightened by the fact that it was the first grand equestrian statue since antiquity. .2 Whether Luca invented it is a question which has not yet been decided. 41 642 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the Robbia workshop. The making of the white madonna looking down out of a blue sky, while the child hung about her neck, and angel heads peeked through opening Robbia-ware. ,j, i-^ i-j^ rifts around, developed into a regular, industry. Luca's nephew, Andrea, and, later, Andrea's five sons, contrib- uted their help ; so the amount of Robbia-ware still at this day in Tuscany is legion. It goes without saying that such indus- trial multiplication was not purchased without loss. With Andrea and his sons the quality of the work took an immense and ever-increasing drop, and it is perhaps a piece of good fortune that, when these latter died, they allowed the secret of the glaze to perish with them. From the middle of the fifteenth century on, sculpture loses its popularity. The best talent is draughted off to painting. Between Donatello and his immediate successors yawns a great chasm. Desiderio da Settignano (d. 1454), and Mino da Fiesole (d. 1484), are valiant workers in their way, but sculpture takes no step in advance with them and even threatens to forget its higher purposes altogether by becoming merely orna- mental. The remaining great sculptors of the Renaissance appear in consequence rather as occasional phenomena than products of a natural and irresistible evolution. They are Ve- rocchio and Michel Angelo, both Florentines. Andrea del Verocchio (1435-88), like so many of his Florentine fellow-artists, Ghiberti, for example, began life as a goldsmith, and achieved great renown in this Verocchio. branch. Unfortunately all of his pieces except one are lost. Though he took up painting, he cannot be ranked with the masters of this art. His epoch-making activity lay all in the province of sculpture. Most meritorious are his David (Florence Museum), an exquisite boy just shooting into manhood, his Doubting Thomas (Florence, Or San Michele), and his equestrian statue of the condottiere, Colleoni,' at ' The question has been raised in our day how far Verocchio is responsible for this work. There can be no doubt that a part of the honor belongs to a Venetian, Alessandro Leopardi. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 643 Venice. It is generally judged that this is the finest large bronze of the whole Renaissance period, and that the war spirit animating rider and horse, welding them into one, has never been caught in so convincing a manner. With Michel Angelo (1475-1564), sculpture entered its last stage. It is known that this Titanic man practised all the arts, was, as has been well said, from sheer inability to do his wonderful many-sidedness justice, four ' "Ke»- souls in one, that is, was eminent and creative as architect, as sculptor, as painter, and as poet, but his own unhesitating pref- erence always ran to the calling which seems nearest to the primordial activity of nature, when she calls form out of the void — sculpture. It is highly appropriate that we are allowed to think first of all of marble when we think of him. He was apprenticed, when a lad, to the painter Ghirlandajo, but did not remain with him long. Lorenzo de' Medici soon interested himself in the promising boy, took him into his palace, giving him a seat at his own table, and then set him to studying the antiques he had collected in the garden of S. Marco. In 1496 the young sculptor journeyed to Rome, and his life after that may be said to have been passed between the capital of the Popes and his native city, which two places ac- cordingly possess almost all his works. He lived only for his art, and like men of such consuming inner energy soon became lonely and unsocial. Therefore the outward events of his life are not peculiarly striking.' ' The man was cast in so strange a form that he is different from the race even in the most usual things. It is supposed that he never fell in love. He met the celebrated Vittoria Colonna at Rome, when he was sixty years old, and between them sprang up an ideal friendship ; perhaps it was love, his first love. The sonnets do not throw a full light on the relationship. In the one called Tornami al tempo, supposed to refer to V. C, he implores Love to leave him alone now that his hair is white. I quote from Symonds's admirable translation : " Yet Love ! Suppose it true that thou dost thrive Only on bitter honey-dews of tears, Small profit hast thou of a weak old man. My soul that toward the other shore doth strive. Wards off thy darts with shafts of holier fears ; And fire feeds ill on brands no breath can fan." 644 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE In the literal sense of the word it is true that he was his own master, borrowing from none. No trace of what he learned from Ghirlandajo or any other can be found in His training. , , . r t- comparable in his services to Donatello and Brunellesco. Painting, which had begun in the service of the Church, does not dissolve that connection with the Renaissance. Only . from the time of the discovery of its new powers theRenais- it began to offer more than the Church de- sance. manded. Mere figures of holy men and women to serve as reminders of the perfect life, was all that the Church had originally expected of its hand-maid. In the fifteenth cen- tury the painters voluntarily offer additions and embellishments in accordance with their new perceptions. They put the figures into an appropriate environment of street or field. They take delight in realistic adjuncts, such as playing children, animals, etc., which have nothing whatever to do with the religious theme, but undoubtedly render the scene, say of the worship of the Magi or the building of the tower of Babel, more evident. Presently the biblical figures lost their stole and their aureole and took on the sturdy humanity of the contemporary burghers. Hand in hand with these innovations went an astonishing development of proficiency in drawing. In these ways paint- ing gradually lost much of its original intensity but immensely increased its subject-matter. In a word, it sacrificed its re- ligious function and frankly launched out upon life.- ' It is well to recall in this connection that there had been a bloom of paint- ing in Tuscany in the previous century which is associated with the name and school of Giotto. But it spent itself before 1400, and was, moreover, essentially mediasval. Masaccio marks a fresh start, and along a different path. ' Luclcily, too, great technical advances were made at this period, without THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 647 Masaccio, it has been said, was the inaugurator of this epoch. Almost all there remains of this great genius are his frescoes in the Brancacci chapel at Florence. They treat of scenes from the life of the Apostles "*"" "' Peter and John. The Tribute Money, representing Christ surrounded by the Apostles, is in the reality of its figures and in its unity one of the most powerful compositions in exist- ence. The succeeding generations down to Raffaele and Michel Angelo studied and profited from the Brancacci Chapel. Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-69) took his clue from Massac- cio. But he sacrifices the dignity of his master and strives es- pecially for the pretty rendering of accessories, FraFiiippo the smiles of children or a household still-life. Lippi. The old religious severity vanishes completely with him, and an innocent pleasure in all phases of existence glows in all his works. (Chief works : frescoes * in Prato, altar-pieces and coronation of the Virgin in Florence.) Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-98) works in the same vein and even more naively. His fresco cycles at S. Gimignano, Flor- ence, and Pisa, treating of the life of Saint Benorro Augustine, the coming of the Magi, and events Oozizoii. from the Old Testament, respectively, are worthy to form a children's story-book of these sacred scenes. But one must not, in consequence, look to him for any grown-up seriousness. Benozzo was the pupil of a man who had little enough in which the above departure could not have been realized. The discovery of the laws of perspective (Brunellesco) is of prime importance. Contributions to the treatment of light and color were made continually throughout the fifteenth century. Anatomy, completely neglected before, became a regular study. ' It should be observed that most of the Florentine monuments are painted in fresco, a process greatly favored then, especially by Tuscan artists, but now almost out of use, by which the composition was thrown directly upon the freshly spread plaster of the wall. Painting on canvas did not become popular till toward tlie end of the fifteenth century, when, owing to the invaluable discovery of the oil-technique in Flanders, it began to exhibit its possibilities. 648 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE common with him or any of his contemporaries — Fra Angelico. Fra Angelico (1387-1455) a Dominican monk, displays a thorough mediaeval current of feeling, which by Fra Angelico. . , - , . , ^^ • some accident found its way into the Renais- sance. He cared little or nothing for that proficiency in form and execution for which his contemporaries strove almost exclu- sively, but worked in the old Christian spirit for which art was not an end in itself, but a symbol. What is possible to that interpretation he gives, a Christian aspiration as warm and ennobling as that of Giotto. The monastery of S. Marco at Florence, where he lovingly filled the cells of his brother monks with Christian hopes and records, remains his unique monument. The last great Florentine painters of the fifteenth century are Sandro Botticelli (1447-1510), Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), son of Fra Filippo, and Domenico Ghirlandajo Qh"irn"ajo'!"""' (1449-1494)- The two latter carry on the purely realistic movement, but Ghirlandajo is by far the nobler in his art. His cycle of frescoes in the choir of S. Maria Novella (Florence), representing scenes from the lives of John and Mary, is one of the most notable monu- mental labors of the century. In Botticelli there still sounds a note of the old idealism, and his great charm lies in the pecul- iar blending of it with the realistic tendency of the day. He is a sad painter (see his numerous Madonnas), and he ended sadly, hesitating between art and religion in the fear that they were mutually exclusive. He tried a curious experiment of translating the stories of ancient mythology into form and color which remains a witness of the strong influence of the humanists upon the painters. (Spring and Birth of Venus in Florence.) A great number of schools of painting arose in the fifteenth century, both south and north of the Apennines, which can other schools. hardly be named here. In Tuscany, the school ^'*""- of Siena is important. Somehow it chose to avoid the current of the promising new impulses starting from Florence and worked away with less and less success in its THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 649 graceful but bare mediaeval style. In mountainous Umbria there sprouted, sometimes in remote villages, a large number of healthy germs fostered by influences from Siena and Florence. The most important names are those of Piero della Francesca (d. 1492), who was a great experimentalist and procured many new effects piero deiia in perspective and light, and Pietro Perugino Francesca. (d. 1524), who, if inferior in execution, reached an expression of devotion which captured the masses and won pietro him a wide popularity in his own day. One Perugino. reason why he is remembered with us is that he was the master of Rafifaele. • The numerous schools to the north of the Apennines devel- oped in greater independence of Florence. At Padua, Squarcione, a classical enthusiast, gave an im- The schools of petus to a circle of friends for the study of an- *^^ ""^h : tiquity, by his rich collections made in years of travel in Italy and Greece. To the sense of form thus gained by classical studies was wedded the realism which seemed to lie in the Italian air in this period. Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna (1430-1506) is the great name of the north. The frescoes in the Church of the Eremitani at Padua brilliantly exhibit the technical powers and the deep seriousness of this virile genius. The labors of Squarcione bore fruit at many other places, notably at Ferrara and Bologna. It is curious to reflect that that city, which in its later de- velopment reached a point of excellence in the province of painting, which makes it the rival and possibly School of the superior of Florence, should have entered so Venice, late upon the paths of the Renaissance. But the insularity of "Venice, geographically and intellectually, was such in its early days, that it took a long while before a continental movement leaped across the lagoons. When, however, the art of painting had once taken root there, it progressed rapidly and soon ac- quired a perfectly national mode of expression. There must 650 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE have been something about the rich atmosphere of the sea-city and its vivacious inhabitants which was congenial to its develop- ment. The first great name is that of the Bel- The Bellini. ,..,., ^ .^ ^ , , . hni, the father, Jacopo (d. 1404), and his two sons, Gentile and Giovanni. Little of Jacopo's work has come down to us, but it is clear that it was he who introduced the continental influences, since there is record of his relations with Umbrian and Florentine masters, and, more especially, with Mantegna, who married his daughter. The two sons Gentile (d. 1507) and Giovanni (d. 1516) began in the man- ner of Mantegna, but soon developed a style which is thoroughly _. , . . their own. Giovanni is the more famous. The The feature of the Venetian path he travels is pursued by the whole Venetian school is color. g^j^Q^j ^fjgj. j^jj^^ jjg feature is the develop- ment of color. Broadly stated the Venetians are the only Italians who fully apprehended the possibilities of color. They are the colorists, the Florentines the draughtsmen. Giovanni is admired besides for his beautiful airy backgrounds (they are the germ of landscape painting) and his rich tone and deep poetical feeling. His enthroned Madonnas, surrounded usually by groups of venerable and strongly individualized saints, are possibly the noblest devotional pictures of the whole period. A talented crop of successors sprang up around the Bellini. Vittore Carpaccio (d. 1519) is the most individual of them. He combines deep conviction with a delightful Carpaccio. „ , , , , , , , , naivete and has told the world the story of St. Ursula (at the Academy) and of St. George and St. Jerome (at the church of the Schiavoni) with the reverence of the Bel- lini and the vivacity of Gozzoli. The masters thus far enumerated are essentially of the fif- teenth century, of the early Renaissance. The full Renais- Thefuii Renais- sance which follows, covers a very short period sance, 1500-30. (1500-30, about), but is graced by the great- est names of the period, and in them presents the legitimate culmination of the different schools we have indicated. How THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 65 I the preceding generations had toiled to develop the art of painting out of the next to nothing they had started with ! Now at length the technical conquests had been completed, the instruments rendered finely adequate for every task, and, at the same time, the task had, by successive acts of liberation from old trammels, expanded to the imaginative rendering of every province of existence. The time was ripe, says Burckhardt, the fulfilment which comes as the reward of labor was at hand. Three cities figure pre-eminently in this highest stage. They are Florence and Venice, which having plunged deepest into all the problems of the early Renaissance, xhe three great now achieved a merited perfection, and Rome, centres, which produced nothing out of its own strength whatever, but had the good fortune, through the liberal patronage of art- loving Popes, to draw some of the best talent of Italy within its walls. Thus Raffaele and Michel Angelo, in his capacity of painter, are considered the centres of the Roman school, al- though the one was an Umbrian and the other a Florentine. Lionardo da Vinci, a Florentine, and Titian, a Venetian, may conclude our list of supreme and representative names. Lionardo da Vinci (1452-15 19) was one of those universal geniuses in the production of whom the Renaissance was so prodigal. But perhaps he excelled them all in uonardo the many-sidedness of his talents. Celebrated "= v'"<='- first of all as a painter, he was besides proficient, sometimes even to the degree to rank him with the innovators and discov- erers, as an architect, sculptor, musician, engineer, and physi- cist. And as if nature had been pleased to make in him an ideal man, these powers were joined to a human form of her- culean strength and divine mould. And yet few creations of this man's genius have come down to us. Time and fortune have been particularly severe with him, and many works of his that once shone in splendor are now destroyed or marred. But at the same time it must be acknowledged that he was never eagerly productive. He had so much intellectual curiosity 652 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE about the principle behind appearance, he was so conscien- tiously set upon dismissing nothing which was not perfect Causes of his un- from his workshop, that he spent (one dare not productiveness, gay wasted) whole months in following some curious speculation or studying some elaborate effect.' Lionardo was an illegitimate child. He was put to study with Verrocchio. Still a young man he was drawn to the brilliant court of Milan. Later we find him in the employ of Caesar Borgia, whom he served as engineer, then at Rome and at various places, and, finally in France, where he died, nobly provided for by that truly royal monarch, Francis I. The Louvre at Paris has the best of his easel pictures — the Mona Lisa (or La Gioconda) and a Holy Family ; more than one critic has ventured to assign to the former the first place in its class as " the portrait of portraits." His Last Supper at Milan has been more often reproduced than any other composition of the Renaissance. Of Li- onardo's school at Milan, Luini (d. 1533) is the most famous name. At Florence many artists took their clue His followers. ^ , . , , _ _ , , , ^ from him, notably Fra Bartolommeo (d. 1517) whose paintings are especially celebrated for their architec- tonic beauties, and, indirectly, Andrea del Sarto^ (d. 1531), %vho might have rivalled Raffaelle but that he wanted Rafifaelle's soul. That Michel Angelo became a painter is owing to an acci- dent. He was in the employ of the Pope and the Pope com- Michei Angelo manded him to paint. He was assigned the as painter. ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the walls of which were already covered with the works of Umbrian and Floren- tine masters, and though he prayed that he be allowed to con- ^ It is said that he kept the portrait of Mona Lisa four years in his studio and then declared that it was unfinished. 2 His countrymen called him, in compliment to his powers, senz-errori (without error). That is a complete characterization ; because he was techni- cally perfect, he was humanly defective. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 653 tinue the sculptures for the tomb of the Pope, JuHus II. v;as obdurate. The labor lasted from 1508 to 15 12, and for its magnitude alone is an almost incredible produc- xhe sistine tion. Around the border runs a wreath of Chapei. twelve sibyls and prophets. The long space in the middle is divided into rectangular compartments and filled with repre- sentations (nine in number) from the Old Testament (Acts of Creation, the Fall, etc.). The lunettes over the windows are adorned with Old Testament family groups, and the numerous spaces between the architectural framework are filled with a whole world of decorative figures. The contemporaries imme- diately accorded this monumental achievement that enthusiastic tribute of praise which no succeeding generation has refused. The beings which Michel Angelo transcribed upon the Sistine ceiling are without a model. They are, in the boldest sense of the word, the titanic children of his titanic mind. All that was ungovernable and superhuman in this mysterious soul is re- corded there. Later (1534-41) he painted upon the back wall of the chapel the Last Judgment. Christ is en- xhe Last throned above. The graves have opened and Judgment. the saved are floating up to heaven on one side, while on the other, the servants of Lucifer are reaching for their prey. It is a vast composition, perhaps too vast, and'-fs therefore more successful in its details than in its general effect. Raffaelle (1485-1520) probably represents to the majority of our generation the essence of the Renaissance. Undoubtedly he was its most mellow product. If Lionardo „ „ .. Raffaelle. was more magical in his effects, and Michel Angelo more titanic, Raffaelle was more eminently human by his fuller comprehension of the range of human feelings. Liv- ing closely in contact with mankind he was enabled to create a world of men and women among whom we move with ease and delight. Raffaelle was born at Urbino, in Umbria. His father, himself a painter of some renown, died before the son was ready to receive instruction. At about the age of fifteen 654 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE the boy was bound as apprentice to Perugino at Perugia. In 1504 he removed to Florence, and thence he passed in 1508, upon the call of the Pope, to Rome, where he His life. resided till he died. These stages in his life are interesting. Each contributed an important element to his completion. From Perugino he took what was serious and His develop. honest in the religion of the Umbrian school, in ■"*"*■ Florence he came under the influence of the realistic movement with its accumulated experiences of a hundred years, and at Rome the grandeur of the city lent his work its monumental character. Every healthy art-impulse which he encountered was welcomed and assimilated to his nature.' Nothing undid him, nothing destroyed the splendid harmony of his faculties, which gives him his inimitable joy- ousness and freedom. Raffaelle was an astonishingly fertile artist. The works by His best-icnown which he is best known are the various Madon- worics. jias and the Vatican frescoes. His Madonna-ideal differs greatly from that of his predeces- sors. He does not give us the handmaiden of the Lord, spirit-crushed with present or expected burdens. His Madonnas. . but typical women rather, who have no neces- sary connection with the thread of Christian story. Two kinds of madonnas prevail ; the one is the human mother, the other the heavenly queen. Very excellent rep- Two ideals. . . , , , -^r •, resentatives of the two classes are the Madon- nas of the Chair (Florence) and the Sistine Madonna (Dresden). The former shows us a Roman woman such as Raffaelle must have encountered often in his daily walks. There is no at- tempt made to spiritualize her ; she is the happy and goodly human mother pf the round child which she holds in her lap. The conception is enforced even to the local Roman costume ' Fra Bartolommeo, Lionardo, Michel Angelo, and even Donatello, all had some lesson for him, as can still be traced, but he sacrificed his independence to none. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 655 in which the Madonna is presented. The Sistine Madonna, on the other hand, is the expression of another ideal. She has nothing of the earth, she is the Lady of Heaven, and as she floats along upon clouds, with the Son of God upon her arm, she bids the troubles of earth cease and mankind fall upon its knees and worship. The frescoes of the Vatican, the residence of the Popes, rank with those of Michel Angelo in the Sistine Chapel as the most splendid monuments of the Renaissance. Frescoes of the They represent a colossal labor, the walls and Vatican. ceilings of four large rooms being covered with allegorical and historical scenes. The most celebrated allegories are the Dis- pute and the School of Athens. In the former Raffaelle gave his conception of the nature and ends of theology, and in the latter of the nature and ends of philosophy. The world has never ceased expressing its admiration at the way in which these pure abstractions have been rendered into living and pictorial images. The best of the historical scenes is the ex- pulsion of the Syrian general Heliodorus from the temple at Jerusalem. The composition is masterly. Three stages of the story are brought before our eyes within the same frame, the danger of the Church, the punishment of the robber, and the triumph, but a single glance suffices to harmonize these ele- ments into a whole of incomparable impressiveness. Titian (1477-1576) is the most representative name of the Venetian school. Perhaps no painter has carried the art of portraiture to so great a perfection. Besides, he Titian and the produced a great number of biblical scenes and later Venetians. Holy Families, all alike distinguished by the rare Venetian color-harmony, but lacking perhaps in spiritual seriousness. Titian was a mundane artist, but a very noble one. The School of Venice preserved itself longest from the late Renais- sance infection, and such capable artists as Tintoretto (1519- 94) and Veronese (1528-86) continued their far-shining labors well into the modern era. 656 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE It was worth our while to study the movement of the Italian Renaissance so much in detail, because, as has already been , . , made clear, the thought-content of the Middle Importance 01 ' ° the Italian Re- Age was destroyed during its gradual develop- naissance. ment and a new thought-content grew up in its place. The new aims and ideals form the foundation of our . modern period. To Italy belongs the honor of dationofthe having Supported the better part of the labor of modern era. ^.j^j^ intellectual revolution. Primarily, of course, she struggled for herself, but by the nature of her connection with Europe, her efforts turned to the benefit of the civilized world as well. That during the progress of the evolution she gave expression to her new ambitions in the creation of a noble and enduring art, is, from the point of view of the philosophy of history, only incidental to the central fact, the widening of civilization. From Italy the movement of liberation spread across the Alps, and we have in the sixteenth century, in all the northern countries, in France, Germany, and England, a French, German, and English Renaissance, all of which, al- though exhibiting national modifications in each case, unmis- takably proclaimed their derivation from the south. Even the German Reformation, with which Modern History begins, is only the liberating movement of the Renaissance as it man- ifested itself under the altered conditions of the north. So the Italian Renaissance tolled the death-knell of the old order. We have largely confined our attention to its intellect- The Renaissance ual and aesthetic aspects. But it is interesting to not only an in= follow out the consequences of the mental revolu- tellectual and artistic move- tion for the dependent and ramified departments """*• of human labor. We have already mentioned how the beginnings of the Renaissance were accompanied by Expansion of ^" expansion of commerce and industry. This industry and movement Continued uninterruptedly, new re- sources being gradually developed and new ter- ritories being constantly drawn into the circle of international THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 657 intercourse. There followed as a natural consequence the Age of Discoveries, culminating in the discovery of America (1492), by which the contemporary widening Ageofdis- of the mental horizon was supplemented by a coveries. fortunate widening of the physical world. A large number of practical inventions, made about the same .,,,., , , . Inventions. time, contributed their share to the overthrow of mediaeval conditions. Gunpowder (invented during the four- teenth, but not used generally until the fifteenth . , , .,. . . _ Gunpowder. century) put an end to the military superiority of the mounted nobility, while printing, which began to multiply books during the fifteenth century, destroyed r r , ■ ,-, • J Printing. the monopoly of learning hitherto maintained by the universities. By these changes mankind had put itself, practically and theoretically, upon a different basis and was prepared to enter upon a new stage of its existence. 42 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES I. EMPERORS AND POPES Note i. — The table of Emperors is complete from Karl the Great on ; the table of Popes contains only the more important names. Note 2. — The names in italics are those of German kings who never made any claim to the imperial title. Those marked with an * were never actually crowned at Rome. Charles V. was crowned by the Pope, but at Bologna, not at Rome. Year of Accession. Popes. Emperors. Year of Accession. A.D. A.D. 314 Sylvester I. (4 336). Constantine (the Great), alone. 323 Julian the Apostate. 361 Theodosius I. 379 Arcadius (in the East), Honorius (in the West). 395 Theodosius II. (E.). 408 Valentinian III. (W.). 424 440 Leo I. (the Great). (d. 461). Romulus Augustulus (W.). 47S (Western line ends with Romulus Augustulus, 476.) [ TtU 800, ihere are Em- perors only at Constan- tinople. '\ Anastasius I. 491 Justin I- S18 Justinian. S27 Justin II. 565 59° Gregory I. (the Great), d. 604. Gregory II. 715 66o CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES Year of Accession. Popes. Emperors. Year of Accession. A.D. A.D. Leo III. (the Isaurian). 718 731 Gregory III. 741 Zacharias. 752 Stephen II. 7S2 Stephen III. 772 Hadrian I. Constantine VI. 780 (Deposition of Constan- tine VI. by Irene, 797.) [The table gives hence- forth only the Empe- rors of the new West- ern line.] 79S Leo III. Karl the Great. 800 Ludwig I. 814 816 Stephen IV. (d. 817). Lothar I. 840 Ludwig II. (in Italy). 855 872 John VIII. (d. 882). Charles II. (the Bald). 87s Charles III. (the Fat). 881 88s Stephen V. 891 Formosus. Guide (in Italy). 891 Lamjjert (in Italy). 894 896 Boniface VI. Arnulf. 896 Stephen VI. (d. 897). 896 Ludwig the Child. 899 Louis III. of Provence (in Italy). 901 Conrad I. 911 ' Berengar (in Italy). 915 Henry I. (the Fowler). 918 955 John XII. Otto 1. , King, 936 ; Em- peror, .962. 962 963 Leo VIII. (d. 96s). Otto II. 973 Otto III. 983 Henry II. (the Holy). 1002 ' Conrad II. (the Salic). 1024 Henry III. (the Black). 1039 Henry IV. 1056 1057 Stephen IX. 1058 Benedict X. 1059 Nicholas II. 1061 Alexander II. 1073 Gregory VII. (Hilde- brand). (Rudolph of Suabia, ri- val.) 1077 1080 (Clement, Anti-pope. ) (Hermann of Luxem- burg, rival.) 108 1 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES 66 1 Year of Accession, Popes. Emperors. Year of Accession. A.D. A.D. 1086 Victor III. 1087 Urban 11. (Conrad of Franconia, ri- val.) 1093 1099 Paschal II. Henry V. 1 106 III8 Gelasius II. III9 Calixtus II. (d. I124). Lothar II. 1125 'Conrad III. I138 Frederick I. (Barbaros- sa). 1152 IIS4 Hadrian IV. "39 Alexander III. (d. 1181). "59 (Victor Anti-pope). Henry VI. 1 190 •Philip of Suabia, Otto IV. (rivals). 1197 1 198 Innocent III. Otto IV., alone. 1208 Frederick II. 1212 1216 Honorius III. 1227 Gregory IX. 1241 Celestine IV. 1243 Innocent IV. (d. 1254). (Henry Raspe, rival.) 1246 (William of Holland, ri- val.) 1246 •Conrad IV. 1250 Interre^um, I2S4 •Richard of Cornwall and •Alfonso of Castile, ri- vals. I2S7 1271 Gregory X. (d. 1276). •Rudolf I. of Hapsburg. 1273 1277 Nicholas III. (d. 1281). •Adolph of Nassau. 129Z 1294 Boniface VIII. •Albrechtl. of Hapsburg. 1298 1303 Benedict XI. 130S Clement V. (who re- moves Papacy to Avignon). Henry VII. of Luxem- '"^'^s- 1308 Louis IV. of Bavaria. 1314 (Frederick of Austria, ri- val.) 1316 John XXII. (d. 1334)- Charles IV. of Luxem- burg. 1347 (Gunther of Schwarz- burg, rival.) 1352 Innocent VI. 662 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES Year of Accession. Popes. Emperors. Year of Accession. A.D. A.D. 1362 Urban V. 1370 Gregory XI. (who brings Papacy back to Rome). 1378 Urban VI. (Clement VI., Anti- pope.) [Here begins the Great Schism.'] *WenzeI of Luxemburg. •Rupert of the Palati- 1378 nate. 1400 Sigismund of Luxem- burg. 1410 1417 Martin V. [Great Schism heated.'] 1431 Eugene IV. "Albrecht II. of Haps- burg. 1438 Frederick III. of Haps- burg. 1440 1447 Nicholas V. I4SS Calixtus IV. 1458 Pius 11. (^neas Picco- lomini). 1464 Paul II. 1471 Sixtus IV. 1484 Innocent VIII. 1492 Alexander VI. (Bor- gia), d. 1503, 'Maximilian I. of Haps- burg. 1493 Charles V. of Hapsburg. 1519 This table has been compiled from Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, with the kind permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES 663 J % m tn o o < o H CO O !z; O > O w « X H I o'o-5 0-0 ■a ScS <}; 5 rt 00 mW + ~»i ^ H 2 £ ^ o\ aj'o OO — a« 2" 2 ES ■5°f~ij" -0 !- V £ « ^ bo u ° ■g ss 5S a s >!3 "S+ .&" s ^ ►J? S W s 666 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES Pi o a CO {? h- 1 H W CO o Pi ,1-1 < in > •3 1A" Sw fc-i II- .s -a 5 s XI Vl U O 1 'JJH >-l >^ WxO I- ca M Crri o- Ch bo c M c li .» i- -. » bo •3°f >o ■S-d So ■< 'IS 7" o ~ o Si o " e >i.l O'-H -">- -a ^o a c4 ^1 1 U «M ^s" o c bo s^* < VAb O d B "w CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES 669 ft c K o o* z a— < a -J c o ■3 f > . -lit 3J, -1 E O " IS T3 ^ ■3 j "if 1 E; g- 4,>0 j: V^ ^ "s^ ro t: I M in i in ' , H rt !5 »> z c an c Q — 5i .*3k-< •7- I. c tn ■>'^ CO V »« d B§ =i S + j-l _£W a rig -■gwg 3.g a 6/0 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES > Pi Z w o H H w M C 25 O O z; T S 2 o s ^ g-_ w J~ H I O Z ' > S K Www b) o. — h o R a) H - •S + - S ° 1 ■2" + .1 + O o go .BO «) « u 2-e s oo-g Si "i §g^ •aW W CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES 671 sot c« i}>^ m • XI " « W < Qu nsa: n-C c2 <-H « 11—^2 < -<; 2 O < X Q <: < Q •z O n 6 Pi pq < W w W H E W >'» ■B-S CQrC i. u an V bo INDEX Abbassides at Bagdad, 354 Abelard and his teaching, 593-96 Abu Bekr, 351 Adelheid appeals to Otto I., 176 Adolph of Nassau, Emperor, 554 Adrianople, battle of, 32 Aelfred the Great, 196 Aethelred and the Danes, 196 Agincourt, battle of, 532 Aistulf, III/., 115 Alamanni, 40, 49 ; kingdom of, 62 Alani, 31, 36/. Alaric, 33-38 Alberic, power in Rome, 177-78 Alberti, 636 Albigenses, 304 Albomoz wins Papal States, 475 Albrecht of Austria, 555 Alcuin, 133, 588 Alexander III. and Frederick I., 2Q2 ; and Henry II, of England, 296 ; exalts Papacy, 297 Alexius and the crusades, 368, 378, 391 Ali chosen KhaHf, 352 Alphonse of Aragon in Naples, 479 Alphonso of Portugal, 297 Araalafrida, 56, 64 Amalasuntha, 65 Andrew of Hungary, 425 Angelico, Fra, 648 Angelo, Michel, 637, 643, 652 Angles, 47 Anglo-Saxons, kingdom of, 66 ff. ; Christianized, 69/. Antioch besieged, 374 Antipope elected, 259 Appanages created by Louis VIII. , 492 Apulia taken by Normans, 241 43 Aquitaine revolts against Black Prince, 532 Arabic civilization, 357-59 Arabs, country and religion of, 339 Arcadius, 43 Architecture, in Middle Ages, 609 ; Romanesque, 6og, 625 ; Gothic, 610-11 ; in England and Germany, 611 ; fosters painting and sculpt- ure, 612 Arianism, 50, 76 Armenia, conquest of, 361 Arnold of Brescia, 3_84-86 Arnulf crowned, 154"; acknowledged Emperor, 164-65 Art, Italian, 630-50 Ascalon, battle of, 382 " Assassins," 393 Athalaric, 65 Athanarich, 29-31 Athens, duke of, 471 Attila, 41 /. , 44 Austrasia, 90 Avars, 82 Balamir, 31 Baldwin I. in Edessa, 374 ; in Jeru- salem, 387 Bannockburn, battle of, 526 Battle of Andernach, 152 ; Saucourt, 153 ; Louvain, 164 ; Stamford Bridge, 206 ; Hastings, 206 Bavarians, 48 Bede, 70 Beket, Thomas, and Henry II., 296, 517 Belisarius, 57, 65 Benedict of Nursia, 326 Benedictus Levita, 149 Berengar of Friuli, 164, 176 674 INDEX Berengar of Ivrea, 1 76 Bernard, rebellion and punishment of, 143 Bernhard of Clairvaux, 398 Bianca Visconti, 469 Black Death in England, 537 Blanche of Castile regent, 492-94 Boccaccio, life and works, 623-24 Boemund on crusade, 369, 378, 385- 86 Boethius, 64 Bohemia revolts against Austria, 573 Boniface, 106, 240-42 Boniface VIII., 577-78 Boso, king of Aries, 153 Bouvins, battle of, 306, 489 Bramante, 637 Brandenburg, captured by Henry I., 170 ; given to Hohenzollern, 569 Breaking up of Empire, 154 Bretigny, Treaty of, 531 Breviary of Alaric, 58 Brunellesco, 635 Brunhilda, 90^. Bulgarians, 80-82 Burgundians, kingdom of, 61 y con- quered by Franks, 62 / Burgundy part of Empire, 187 CiEDMON, 67 Caesar Borgia, 477 Calixtus III., 476 Capetian dynasty, 160 . Capitans and podesta, 459, 462 Capitularies of Benedictus Levita, 49 Capitulary of 780 A.D., 120/. Cassiodorus, 61 ff. , 327 Castile, Aragon, 545 Cathedrals, work of middle class, 612 Cathohc conquest of West, 238 Charles of Anjou, 313 Charles the Bald, 143, 15.1-53 Charles of Durazzo in Naples, 478 Charles the Simple, 157 Charles IV. of Luxemburg, 558-60 Charles VII. at Orleans, 533 Charles VIII. invades Italy, 480 Chioggia, battle of, 465 Chivalry, origin, 237 ; growth, 601-3 Chlodwig, 47, 62 ; conquests of, 84/. Christianity in the world, 320 Church, friendly to Empire, 22 ; fa- vored Constantine and Gratian, 23-24 ; under Karl the Great, 137 ; in conflict with State, 138 ; pro- tects the poor, 148 ; relation to feudalism, 148, 22.8 ; organization, 230 ; factor in mc/dern civilization, 584 ; leadershi|), 585 ; revolt against the, inevitable, 586 Ciompi riots, 471 Cities, free, 435 ; in France, 437 ; how they got charters, 438 ; ruled by their lords, 438 ; policy of kings toward, 438 ; chartered in Eng- land, 439 ; as feudal lords, 441- 42 ; officials of, 443 ; in Italy, 452 ; governed by bishops, 453 ; throw off rule of bishops, 454 ; citizen classes, 455 ; podesta in, 458 ; constitutional changes, 458 ; feuds between, 458 ; nobles, 459 ; rise of lower orders, 459 ; of Tus- cany, 461 ; government of, 563 ; protective leagues, 563 ; part in government, 564 ; centre of civili- zation, 613 ; produce modern life, 615 Clair-sur-Epte, 157 Clarendon, Assize of, 516 ; Consti- tutions of, 517 Clement III. antipope, 272 Clement V. at Avignon, 578 Clergy, of feudal age, 22? ; celibacy of, 264 ; secular and canonical, 328 ; oppose the communes, 438 Clermont and first crusade, 273 Cluniac reforms, 329 Colonna and Orsini, 473 Columba, 69 Commerce and industry, 436 Commons, establish, 524 ; separated from Lords, 535 Communes, origin of, 436 ; member- ship limited, 442 ; mismanagement, 443 ; relation to king, 444 ; mean- ing of, 452 ; under Louis VI., 485 ; under Louis VIII. , 491 Concordat of Worms, 275 Condottieri, 468 Conrad of Franconia, i66 Conrad II., 189 ; goes to Italy, 190 Conrad III., 280-81 ; second cru- sade, 400 Conrad IV., and Papacy, 31I'; de- feated, 312 ; death of, 312 INDEX 675 Conradino, 312-14 Constance, Treaty of, 293 ; Peace of, 456 Constantine and the Church, 23 Constantinople, made the capital, 43 ; taken by crusaders, 431 ConstitutioLotharii, 249 Constitution, of Clarendon, 296 ; of priors in Florence, 462 ; changes in, in England, 535 Conversion of English, 239 Cordova, Khalifate of, 355 Cortenuova, battle of, 308 Council, of Nicsea, 138, 236 ; of Nij- megen, 144 ; of Chalcedon, 236 ; of Constantinople, 236 ; of Cler- mont, 362 ; of Constance, 569, 581 ; of Basel, 587 Crecy, battle of, 530 Crusade, against Frederick II., 310; against Conrad II., 311 ; against Slavs, 400; of Henry VI., 417; children's, 424 ; against Raymond, 490 Crusaders, motives of, 367 ; take oath to Alexius, 369 ; allies of, 372 ; return of, 383 Crusades, preached by Urban, 362 ; first crusade, 366 ; second, 405 ; third, 407-15; fourth, 420; ef- fect of ,"398, 431-33, 602 Curia reg^, 514 Curzola, battle of, 465 Cathbert, 69 Dagobert, 94 /. ; patriarch of Je- rusalem, 384 Damascus, siege of, 404 Danes, 48 ; invade west kingdom, 153 Dante exiled, 470 ; life of, 620 Decretals of Isidore, 149 Denmark, an imperial fief, 282 ; in Middle Ages, 547 Desiderius, 115/. Dictatus Papae. 261 Diocletian's reform, 11/- ; 43 Dionysius Exignus, 238 Domesday Book, 511 Dominicans, 332 Donatello, 640 Donation of Constantine, 116, 248 Duchy of France, 157 East Goths, in Italy, 447 ; called Greutungi, 27 Eastern Question becomes religious, 336 Ebroin, 96/. Ecgbehrt, 69, 194 Edessa conquered by Turks, 397 Edict of Kiersy, 217 Edward, the Black Prince, in France, 530 ; in Spain, 531 Edward I., does homage for Guienne, 502 ; master of Scotland, 525 ; and Commons, 525 Edward II., reign of, 527 Edward II. and Charles the Bald, 541 Edward III., claims French crown, 510, 529 ; begins Hundred Years' War, 527 Einhard, biographer of Karl, 139 Election decree, 258 Ella, 42 Emperor becomes Pope's man, 278 Empire, changes in, 316 Enzio prisoner in Bologna, 314 Establishment of duchies in Ger- many, 166 Eudoxia, 56 Euric, 58 Europe, physical character of, 6, 7, 8 Fatimites in Egypt, 356 Ferdinand of Aragon in Naples, 479 Feudal relations, 215 ; change in, 536 Feudal terms, 220 ; armies, 221 ; service, 221 ; dues, 222-23 I j'^s- tice, 223 ; society, 224 ; castles, 228 ; clergy, 229 Feudalism, in France, 157 ; effect of, 162 ; in Germany, 165, 315 ; de- fined, 215; origin of, 216; char- acter of, 218 ; and the Church, 220 ; decay of, 229 ; in England, 511 Fiefs become hereditary, 189 Field of Lies, ■ 144, 461 jf. Florence, after 1500 a.d., 469 ; terri- torial expansion of, 473 ; human- ism in, 626 Fontenay, battle of, 146 Forchheim, Diet of, 271 France, beginning of, 147 ; condi- tion of, in 1108 A.D., 484; from 1 108 a.d. to Hundred Years' War, 484 ; under Louis XL, 543 676 INDEX Francesca, 649 Franciscans, 331 prankish Church, 252 Franks, divisions of, 47 ; settle- ments, 47, 49 ; kingdom of, 'i\ff.\ conversion, 85 ; division of king- dom, 87 ; reunited under Chlothar I., 89; under Chlothar II., 94; conditions of kingdom, 97^. ; in- vaded by Saracens, 102 Fredegonda, 90 Frederick I., made king, 281 ; policy of, 282 ; in Italy, 282 ; and Ar- nold of Brescia, 285 ; crowned Em- peror, 286; conquers Italian cities, 290 ; excommunicated, 292^; on' crusade, 296, 407" death of, 412 Frederick II., crowned, 307; and Papacy, 307-10 ; on crusade, 307, 426 ; meets Pope at San Germano, 308 ; destroys feudalism, 308 ; and bombards cities, 308 ; accused of heresy, 309; under the ban, 310; death and character, 311 ; king of Jerusalem, 427 Frederick III., 572 Free cities in Germany, 316 Freeholds become feudal, 218 Friars, rise of, 331 Fritigern, 'io ff. Fulco, king of Jerusalem, 396 Gefolge, religion and characteristic, 19 Geiseric, 40, 48 Gelimer, 57 Genoa, domestic history of, 465 ; and Pisa, 464 GepidK,'8o German party in Italy, 177 Germans, location of, 17 ; divisions, 18 ; government, 18 ; Christiani- zation of, 50 ; Arianism of, 50 ; relation of, to the Roman Empire, 51, 52, 72 ; seizure of the soil, 51 /. ; and first crusade, 365 ; fac- tor in civilization, 583 Germanizing the Eastern peoples, 315 Germany, under Henry II., 187 ; opposes election decree, 259 ; loses Italy, 315 -"■:,-' Ghiberti, 640 ^ Gian Galeazzo, 468 Godfrey of Boulogne, 369 ; Protector of the Holy Grave, 381 God wine. Earl of Wessex, 200 Golden Bull, 559 Goths, divisions of, 27 ; their settle- ment on the Black Sea, 27 ; their invasions of the Empire, 27 ; contact with the Empire, 28 ; development of kingship among them, 28 f. ; Hermanrich and Athanarich, 28 /. ; Christianity among, 29 f. ; of the Crimea, 29 ; Moeso, 30 - Goths, East, 27 ; conquered by Huns, 31 ; settlgTTTPannonia, 32 ; make - Theoderich king, 45 ; invade Ita- ' ly, 45-49 ; kingdom destroyed by Justinian, 66 Goths, West, 27 ; persecutions among, 30 ; rival kings, 30 ; attacked by Huns, 31 ; cross the Danube, 31 ; revolt, 32 ; defeat Valens, 32 ; pacified by Theodosius, 33 ; make Alaric king, 33/. ; invade Greece, 34 K ; settle in lUyria, 35 ; invade Italy, 35 ff. ; sack Rome, 38 ; settle in Spain and Gaul, 39 f., 48^; Tcihgdom of, 58 jf. ; become Catholic, 60 ; destroyed by Mo- hammedans, 61 Gratian and the Church, 24 Greek Empire in Middle Ages, 550'* Greek, revival of, 629 Greeks in Italy, 447 Gregory II. at Field of Lies, 144 Gregory III., relations with Liut- prand, 227 ; rebels against Em- peror, 246 ; writes Karl Martel, 247 Gregory VII. , claims temporal power, 265 ; deposed, 267 ; results of his work, 272 ; death, 272 Gregory IX. and Frederick II., 307 Guelfs and Ghibellines, 460 Guido of Spoleto, 164 Guilds, origin, 436 ; procure charters for cities, 441 ; in Italy, 455 Guiscard, Robert, 210-12 Gundobad, t\ f. Hadrian I., 115 Hadrian IV., made Pope, 285 ; and Frederick II., 287-90 INDEX ^n Hanno of Cologne, regent, 260 Hanseatic League, 564 ; character of, 566 Hapsburgs, ascendency of, 572 ; ac- quire Austria, 554 ; Burgundy and Spain, 574 Harold elected king of England, 201-5 Hatto, bishop of Mainz, 165 Hawkwood, John, 468 Hegira of Mohammed, 344 Henry the Lion, 293-94 Henry the Navigator, 545 Henry the Proud, 280 Henry L of England, character of liberties, 513 ; relation to Nor- mandy, 513 Henry I. of Germany, 167 ; builds cities, 169 ; makes an army, 170 Henry IL of England, marries Elea- nor, 487 ; revolt of his sons, 487, 519 ; and Beket, 517 ; conquers Ireland, 578 Henry II. of Germany, 187-88; re- lation to Church, 188 Henry III. of England, 522 Henry III. of Germany, 191-93, 257 Henry IV. of Germany, 260 ; deposes Gregory III., 267; excommuni- cated by Gregory VII., 268 ; at Canossa, 270 ; deposed, 271 ; in Italy, 272 ; death of, 274 Henry V. of England invades France, 532 Henry V. of Germany, 274 ; in Italy, 274 ; claims investiture, 275 ; vi'ars against Bohemia and Hungary, 276 Henry VI. of England and France, '533 Henry VI. of Germany, relation to Sicily, 298-99 Henry VII. of England brings peace, 542 Henry VII. of Germany secures Bo- hemia, 555 Hermanrich, 28, 31 Hermits, 323 Hildebrgnd, and the Papacy, 258 ; becomes Gregory VII., 261 ; char- acter of, 261 ; policy, 262 ; re- quires bishops to take oath, of al- legiance, 263 ; claims temporal power, 265 ; struggle with Emper- or, 265 Hilderic, 56 Hincmar of Rheims, 252 History, divisions in, i /. Hohenstaufen against Lothar, 278 Holy Lance, fraud of, 376, 382 Honorius, 43 Honorius II., Antipope, 260 Hubert Walter, justiciar, 520 Hugo Capet, 159, 161 Hundred Years' War, 528 ; causes of, 529 ; end of, 535 Hungary, in Middle Ages, 548 ; against Austria, 573 Hunneric, 56 Huns, 26, 41 ff. Huss, John, execution of, 570 Hussite wars, 570 ICONOCLASM, 246 Ildibad, 65 Impeachment, first case of, 536 Imperial power increased, 171 Innocent III., e.xalted claims, 303; and Igngland, 304 ; and France, 305 ; and crusades, 418 Innocent IV. and Frederick II. , 309- 10 Inquisition established, 304 Interregnum in Germany, 315, 552 Investitures, 255, 295 Ireland, 104 Irish missionaries, 69, \o\ff. Italian arts, 630-35 Italian fiefs hereditary, 189 ■ Italy, national development delayed, 446 ; various races in, 447 ; unifi- cation of, 4^8 ; in 1300 A.D. , 463 ; in 1494 A.D., 480 ; under the Car- olingians, 450 ; left to herself, 450 ; united to Germany, 450 ; in- vasion of, in 1494 A.D., 483 Jeanne d'Arc, 534 Jerusalem, taken by crusaders, 380 ; kingdom of, 394 ; lost, 427 John of England, 520 ; grants Mag- na Charta, 521 John of Gaunt invades France,, 532 John XII. and Otto I., 179 . Justinian, 57, 65, 72 ff. ; codifies 678 INDEX the laws, 73 ; assesses heavy taxes, 74 ; wished to rule the Church, 74 f. ; suppresses heathenism, 75 ; closed the university at Athens, 75 ; destroyed the factions in Con- stantinople, 75 /. ; his anti-Ger- man policy, 78 ; destroyed the Vandals, 78 ; and the East Goths, 78 /. ; his wars with Persia, 80 ; with the Slavs, 80 Jutes, 47 Karl the Fat, 153-54 Karl the Great, 96 ; receives the northern half of the kingdom, 114 ; hostile to his brother Karlman, 114 ; reduced Aquitaine, 115 ; al- lied with Desiderius, 115 ; and with Tassito, 115 ; interferes in Italy, 116; -reduced Lombardy, 116; his wars with the Saxons, 117 ff. ; invades Spain, iig /. ; establishes bishoprics among the Saxons, 122; subjects Bavaria, 122/. ; destroys the Avars, I23/. ; subjects the Slavs to German influ- ences, 124 _/". ; resists the Danes, 125 ; his fleet in the Mediterranean, 125 ; is crowned Emperor, \2b ff.; his conception of his office, 132 ; his government, 133 /. ; his mih- tary system, 134; his activity as law-giver, 134/- ; as builder, 135 ; his attitude toward learning, 135 ff. ; makes tithes obligatory, 137 ; relation to the Church, 137-38 : relation to Pope, 138 ; influence on Middle Ages, 139 ; policy toward Roman civilization, 587 Karl Martel, \o\ff., 241 Kelts, location of, 15/. ; their gov- ernment, 16 ; characteristics, 17 ; driven out of Britain, 3,1 f. Kerbogha, Turkish leader, 375 Kingship among Germans, 28 /. Knights of Saint John, 334 Knights Templars, 334 Knut, king of England, igg Koran and teachings of Mohammed, 348 Languages, stages in development, 615 Lateran Council, 305 Leges Barbarorum, 54 Legnano, battle of, 293 Leo I., 42, 237 Leo III. compelled to appear before Karl, 138 Leo IX., captured by Normans, 211 claims of, 255 Leovigild, 59 Letts, location of, 20 Lindisfarne, 69 Lippi, Era Felippo, 647 Literature, of Middle Ages, 589-91, 605 ; of France, 606-7 ; of Ger- many, 607-g ; of England, 609 ; of middle class, 614 Liutprand, no/. ; seizes Ravenna, 246 Lombard League, 292, 456 Lombards, 48, 80 ; settle in Italy, 82/., 108 _^. ; kingdom of, 448; checked by Franks, 449 Lorenzo the Magnificent, 472 Lords, Treaty of, 495 Lothaire, king of France, 159 Lothar, Emperor, 146 ; divides his lands, 150 Lothar, king of Saxony, 277 Lotharingia, added to France, 157 ; became part of Germany, 158 Louis of Bavaria Emperor, 556 Louis III. offered English crown, 522 Louis IV. (d'Outremer), 158 Louis VI., policy with Church, 484 ; policy with nobility, 485 ; charac^~" ter of, 486 Louis VII., reduces country to order, 163 ; on crusade, 399, 484; mar- riage to Eleanor and divorce, 486- 87 Louis VIII. , reign of, 491 Louis IX., on crusade, 428 ; charac- ter of, 4g4 ; relations with Pope and Emperor, 496 ; government of, 494-97 ; and clergy, 500 ijOuis XI. unifies France, 543 Lucca della Robbia, 641-42 Ludwig the Child, 165 Ludwig the German, 146, 152 Ludwig the Pious, character and reign, 141-43 ; at Attigny, 143 ; marries Judith, 143 ; makes pro- INDEX 679 vision for Charles the Bald, 144 ; at " Field of Lies," 144-45 Ludwig II., 150 Maarra captured by crusaders, 379 Magyars, in Germany and France, 158, 169, 173 ; in Italy, 164 ; de- feated by Henry I., 170, 173 Mainz, Diet of, 295 Major Domus, gi f. Manfred in Sicily, 312-13 Marcellinus, 26 Marozia and Pope Sergius III., 177 Masaccio, 647 Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, 574 Meaux, Treaty of, 493 Medici, favor the people, 471 ; gov- ernment of, 472, 631 ; opposition to, 474 Meistersingers, 614 Meloria, battle of, 464 Mercenary bands, 468 Middle Age, defined, 2-3 ; learning, 592 Migrations, 25^. ; causes of, 26^. Milan, destroyed by Frederick I., 291 ; after 1300 A.D., 467 ; power of Visconti in, 468 Miracle plays, 615 Missi Dominici, 133 Mohacs, battle of, 549 Mohammed, 341-49 Mohammedanism, 336-81 ; influence on Europe, 360 Monasteries in England, 504 Monastic vows, 324 ; orders, 329 Monasticism, heathen in origin, 318 ; in Greek • Church, 324 ; in the West, 325-26 ; reformed at Clugny, 329 ; faults and benefits, 332^3 Monies, origin of, 166, 320-23 ; in Ireland and Scotland, 325 ; used by Church, 328 ^.a»~. Montanists, 321 Monte Casino, monastery of, 326 Moors, 56 ; fall of, 545 Naples, after 1300 A. d., 478 ; quar- rels with Milan, 487 Narses, 66 Neo-Platonism, 630 Netherlands in Middle Ages, 546 Neustria, 90 Nibelungenlied. 608 NicEea, Council of, 236 ; siege of, 371 Nicholas I. and Lothar, 252 Nicholas V., 476 Nobility becomes hereditary, 226 Norman conquest, 209 Northmen, in Empire, 145-46, 150- 51 ; in France, 156; in England, 195 ; early history of, 202 ; in France, 205 ; in Italy, 210, 448-57. Norway and Sweden in Middle Ages, 547 Odo, king of France, 154-56 Odovaker, 44 _^. Omar khalif, 357 Ommeiades, at Damascus, 352 ; in Spain, 353 Oppenheim agreement, 269 Ordinances of justice, 462 Orestes, 44 Oswald, 69 Othman khalif, 352 Otto I., 172-83 Otto II., 184-86 Otto III., 185-87 -^ Otto IV., 302 Ottokar, 553 Oxford, provisions of, 523 Paderborn, " Mayfield" at, 119 Painting in Renaissance, 645 ff. Papacy, in ninth century, 176 ; in tenth century, 178 ; origin and growth, 231-35 ; Petrine theory, 235 ; temporal power of, 24j ; under Justinian, 244 ; and Greek Emperors, 245 ; makes Emperor, 249 ; character of, 253 ; under Henry III., 255 ; makers of, 257 ; struggle with Empire, 257-306 ; claims Germany as a fief, 287 ; change in character, 305 ; growth in influence, 449 ; secularization of, 476 ; at Avignon, 505 ; during interregnum, 576 Papal legates, 263 ; elections, 297 ; supremacy questioned, 579 Parlement, under Louis IX., 499; under Philip II., 508 Pataria, 259 Patriarch, office of, 231 68o INDEX Paulus Diaconus, 135 Peace of God, 219 Pedro the Cruel, 531 Persia, 80 Petchenegs invade Empire, 361 Peter the Hermit, 363 Peter of Pisa, 133 Petrarch, life and work, 619-27 Philip of Valois, 510 Philip I. refuses to go on crusade, 162 Philip II. of France, candidate for Imperial Crown, 302 ; reign of, 488-go Philip II. of Spain, 547 Philip III., 500-1 Philip IV. , reign of, 502-6 Philip v., 509 Piers the Plowman, 537 Pippin of Heristhal, 96 Pippin the''Short, mayor, loi ; king, iii^. ; conquers Lombards, 112 ; Aquitaine and Bavaria, 114 ; and the Pope, 248 Pisa and Genoa, 464 Podesta, constitution of, 459 Poggio Bracciolini, 626-27 Poitiers, battle-of, 530 Poland, independent, 187 ; in Middle Age, 549 Pope regarded as Emperor's man, 179 Portugal in eleventh and twelfth centuries, 545 Probus, 26 Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals, 149, 250 RACHIS, III Raffaelle, 653-55 Ratger, 35 /. Raymond of Toulouse, 366, 370 ; and the Albigenses, 489 Reccared, 60 Religion of Arabs, 339 Renaissance, Popes, 476, 632 ; in England, 542 ; a new civilization, 616, 655 ; begins in Italy, 618 ; begun by Petrarch, 619, 630, 633 ; architecture, 630-38 Revival of learning, 136 Richard I., and the crusades, 299, 413-16 ; prisoner in Germany, 417 Richard III. defeated, 541 i--' Richard of Cornwall, 427 Rienzi, 473-74 • ' Rise of lower orders, 471 ' Robert II., the Pious, 161 " t Rolf, the Norman, 157 '' Roman Empire, 8-14 ; condition of, 42 /. Romance languages, 136 Rome, influence of, on Renaissance, 619 Romulus Augustulus, 44 Roncaglia, Diet of , 282, 291, 455 Rudolf of Burgundy, 158 Rudolph of Hapsburg, 552 Rugilas, 41 Rupert, 567 Saint Bernhard and his teaching, 595 Saint Columbanus, 104 /. Saint Patrick, 104 Saladin, 406 ; conquers Jerusalem, 407 Salic Code, 509 Samo, 94 Saracens in Italy, 447 Sardinia claimed by Frederick II., 309 Savonarola, 492 Saxons, 48 ; in Britain, 47 Schism, 475, 580 Schleswig established, 170 Scholasticism, 591, 601 Schools, cathedral, 133 ; monastery, 133/- ; by Karl the Great, 136; in Middle Ages, 585 ; reverence for authorities, 601 Scola Palatina, 135 • Scutage, 519 Seldjuk Turks at Bagdad, 354 Separation of East and West, 252 Serfs, 225 Sforza, duke of Milan, 469 Sicilian Vespers, 464 Sicily independeiit, 464 Siege of Paris, 154 Simon de Montfort, 523 Simony under Conrad II., 190 Sixtus IV. , 477 Slavs, 20 ; invade Empire, 81 Sluys, battle of, 529 Social movement in England, 537 INDEX 68l Spain, 544. Standing army in France, 542 Stephen, reign of, 514-15 Stilichb, 34/., 37 Strassburg oaths, 146 Sty'-tes, 324 Suevi, invade Gaul, 36 ; in Spain, 40, 48 ; kingdom of, 57 Suger and Louis VII., 486 Swatopluk, duke of Moravia, 164 Swein, the Dane, igg Switzerland, origin of, 558 Symmachus, 64 Syria reconquered, 429 Tancred in Galilee, 386 Templars' suppressed, 505 Teutonic knights, 335, 561-62 Thankmar, 172 ^ Theoderic I., 58 Theoderic II., 58 Theoderich the Great, 45/., 49, 63 _^. Theodora controls Papacy, 177 Theodore of Tarsus, 70 Theodosius, 33, 43 Theudebert, 88 Thibaud of Navarre, 427 Thrasamund, 56 Thuringians, 48, 64 Tithes made obligatory, 137 Titian, 655 Totila, 65 Toulouse attached to crown, 496, 501 Transubstantiation adopted, 305 Treaty of Meersen, 151 Treaty of Verdun, 147 Tribonian, 73 Troyes, Treaty of, 533 Truce of God, 219, 279 Turks and Greek Empire, 361-62 Ulfilas, 29/., 50 Universities founded in Europe, 601 University of Paris, 597-99 University studies, 600 Ural-Altai peoples, 21 Urban II. master in Italy, 273 Valens, 32 Valentinian III., 56 Valla, Laurentius, life and work, 628 Vandals, in Gaul, 36 ; in Spain, 39 ; in Africa, 40, 48 ; kingdom of, 55- 57 Vasco da Gama, 545 Venetian art, 649-50 Venice, crusades, 419 ; trade of. 464 ; growth of, 465-66 ; Consti- tution of, 466 ; Council of, 466 ; Council of Ten, 467 ; conquests on mainland, 467 ; architecture of, 637 Verdun, Treaty of, 147 Verrocchio, 642 Villes de Bourgeoisie, 539 Vinci, Lionardo da, 651 Visconti, 460 Walter of Brienne, 470 Walter the Penniless, 364 Wars of the Roses, 539-41 Warwick, the king-maker, 541 Wat Tyler's rebellion, 538 Wedmore, Treaty of, ig6 Wenzel, Emperor, 562 ; deposed, 567 Wessex, 67 West Goths, called Thervingi, 27 Whitby, Council of, 70 " Whites and Blacks," 462 Widukind, 120/. William I., crowned, 207 ; and the Church, 512 William II.,, relations with Scotland, 512 Worms, Concordat of, 275 Wyclif, preaching of, 538-39 Zeno, 72 Ziska, leader of Hussites, 571