THE TAPPAN-KENDALL HISTORIES OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS AN INTRODUCTION TO UNITED STATES HISTORY BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN Author of "an elementary history of our country" "american hero stories," " england's story" "old world hero stories " "THE STORY OF THE greek people" « 4 THE STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE," ETC. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO Cbc fiitoetfibe preu* Cambridge ■ V fc_(ff«f THE TAPPAN-KENDALL SERIES OF ELEMENTARY HISTORIES BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. AND CALVIN NOYES KENDALL, LL.D. American Hero Stories, Grades IV-V by Eva March Tap fan. Elementary History of Our Country Grades V-VI by Eva March Tappan. Our European Ancestors, Grades VI-VII by Eva March Tappan. History of the United States Grades VII-VIII by Reuben Gold Thivaites and Calvin Noyes Kendall. COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED JJs ftbt SMberfftt Drt« CAMBRIDGE ■ MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. PREFACE Recent years have brought the United States into a wilderness of problems. Our world is a very different place from the world of a century ago. Looking back not so very many decades, history was an outline of wars and a series of statements more or less partisan, for whose modification there was little demand. History to-day is a study of mo- tives and men, of causes and effects. Geography used to be in great degree a matter of unknown quantities. A large area of our own country was contentedly marked on the map "Great American Desert." People made their wills before they ventured to cross the ocean. Any mediocre book of wanderings in Europe was read almost as eagerly as one of travels on a distant planet might have been. To-day oceans have narrowed ; time and distance have been almost annihilated. In the earlier days science moved slowly. A scientific discovery was the property of a few scholars. Simplified lectures gradually brought it to the knowledge of the people. Inventions appeared one at a time. A single machine over- turned the customs of a country. To-day inventions come by handfuls; knowledge is thrust upon us. The boy in the street knows more of electricity than did his learned grand- father. Science has become spectacular; but we are well used to marvels. We are blinded by excess of light. A sci- entific discovery is described in the Sunday papers. Mon- day morning it is transmuted into some simple household convenience, perhaps even a toy for children. Its coming calls forth less surprise and enthusiasm than a football vie- iv PREFACE tory or a thrilling movie film. We are too much accustomed to wonders to feel wonder. Questions that were once of hardly more than academic interest have become of the utmost practical importance. Such a question is that of the emigrant. The key to the problem is to understand the people who come to us by thousands. To understand our next-door neighbor, a person of the same blood, bringing up, and traditions as ourselves, is not always easy. What is it then to understand a neigh- bor who is the result of thousands of years of customs, be- liefs, and teachings different from our own? The first step is a sympathetic knowledge. Real citizens are not won by conquest, but by comprehension. "How could I hate him?" asked Charles Lamb, the man of many friends. "Don't I know him?" As with people, so with peoples. Knowledge and compre- hension of one another; arbitration; peace; perhaps eventu- ally a United States of Europe — a magnificent programme — this is what the Treaty of Locarno of 1925 promises us. May it be a treaty that shall never be broken. This little book aims at giving to children in their degree an impetus toward learning more of our history than lies on the surface current of dates and events. In detail as well as in outline, it follows the well-known "Report of the Com- mittee of Eight," which has had so great an effect upon the study of history in our schools. Eva March Tappan CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. The Early Immigrants and what they started with . I THF GREEKS AND WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM THEM II. Why we remember the Greeks 10 III. The Greeks at Home and Abroad 25 WHAT THE ROMANS LEARNED FROM THE GREEKS AND WHAT THEY HAVE TAUGHT US IV. The Early Days of Rome 37 V. Rome becomes an Empire 51 THE HEIRS OF THE ROMANS VI. The Germans 67 VII. Alfred and the English 81 VIII. How the English began to win their Liberties . . 95 IX. How People lived in England and in Europe during the Middle Ages no X. The Church in the Middle Ages 125 INTERESTS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST XL Pilgrimages, Crusades, and Commerce 132 THE DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN WORLD XII. The Beginnings of Discovery ....... 147 XIII. Columbus . . . ... . . . . . 156 XIV. The Successors of Columbus 173 XV. The Beginnings of Conquest 186 vi CONTENTS EUROPEAN RIVALRIES WHICH INFLUENCED CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION XVI. England in the Days of Elizabeth 198 XVII. Rivalry between France and Spain 209 XVIII. Revolt of the Dutch against the King of Spain . .215 XIX. England joins in the Fight against Spain . . . 223 XX. English Voyages Westward 239 Index 251 The cover designs represent : on the front cover, the Landing of Columbus, from a painting by Gabrini in the Field Museum, Chicago ; on the back cover, an English ship of the time of the Spanish Armada and the earliest English explorations in America ; and on the shelf edge of the book, the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. LIST OF IMPORTANT DATES B.C. H93(?) Trojan War. 753 (?) Founding of Rome. 490 Battle of Marathon. 480 Battles of Salamis and Thermopylae. 465-429 Age of Pericles. 146 Carthage is destroyed. Greece becomes a Roman province. 58-51 Caesar conquers Gaul. 55 Caesar visits Britain. A.D. 330 Constantine founds Constantinople. 410 Alaric sacks Rome. 449 Saxons invade Britain. 597 St. Augustine preaches Christianity in Britain. 871 Alfred the Great becomes King of England. 1066 William of Normandy conquers England. 1095 First Crusade. 1 190 Third Crusade. 12 1 5 John signs Magna Carta. 1453 The Turks capture Constantinople. 1487 Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope. 1492 Columbus discovers America. 1498 Da Gama goes to India by sea. 1519 Cortes invades Mexico. 1522 Magellan's ship makes the first circumnavigation of the globe. 1542 De Soto discovers the Mississippi River. 1558 Elizabeth becomes queen of England. 1568 Revolt of the Netherlands. 1588 Destruction of the Spanish Armada. 1607 Jamestown is founded. OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS CHAPTER I THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS AND WHAT THEY STARTED WITH We are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Did you ever think how different the world would be if every one stayed just where he was born, never traveled anywhere, never saw any other country, and knew nothing of the cus- toms of other lands? A man living in the mountains would have little idea of the extent and flatness of a prairie, and a man whose home was beside a quiet river could not even guess how the ocean breakers look when they dash against the rocks. Worse than this, the peo- ple of one country would know only what they had found out for themselves. The folk of one land would be using a steam or gasoline plough while those of another were dig- ging up their fields with a crooked stick. One nation might discover what the stars are made of, while another was believing them to be burning candles. Moreover, the people in one country might be so badly crowded that they could Courtesy Cunard S. S. Co. Ltd. THE AQUITANIA LEAVING NEW YORK HARBOR, 1918 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS not raise enough to eat, while in another country they might be so scattered that they were hardly safe from wild beasts. It is fortunate for the world that men have not always stayed in their first homes, and that many of them have been willing to go into other lands and make new homes for themselves. A person who does this is called an immigrant. It is possible that the Indians may have lived in this country always, but aside from them, every person whose home is in the United States is either an immigrant himself or the de- scendant of one. Immigrants came here for all sorts of rea- sons. Some hoped to find gold or to make money in trade; some wished to be free to worship God as they thought right; some had broken the laws of their own lands and wished either to make a fresh start or to have more free- dom to do as they chose. How immigrants have come to this country. It was not easy to be an immi- grant in early days. When the Pilgrims came from England to Plymouth, they were more than nine weeks on the voyage. Their ves- sel, the Mayflower, was crowded and uncomforta- ble. The only ways known to preserve food were to salt it or dry it ; and it is no wonder that when the Pilgrims landed and killed some geese and ducks, they ate "with soldier stomachs," as one of them said. To-day, immigration is quite a different matter. In the first place, the voyage from Eng- land can be made in five or six days. Then, although most of our immigrants come as steerage or third-class passengers, THE MAYFLOWER, 1620 (From the National Museum model) THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS 3 they have more comforts than even a man of some wealth could procure three hundred years ago. How immigration is limited. In early times, immigrants came from Europe only, and almost entirely from England, France, and Spain ; now they come from all over the world and in large numbers. In 191 1, for instance, there was an average of twenty-four hundred for every day in the year. Formerly, any one who chose to come was admitted; but we have learned that it is not fair to the people already in the country or to the immigrants who wish to become good citizens if we admit those who are suffering from contagious diseases, or are convicts, or are opposed to a just govern- ment, or are plainly so unable to support themselves that they will have to be cared for by the other citizens. There- fore, before they are allowed to come into the country, they are examined by doctors and inspectors to make sure that they are likely to become desirable Americans. Those who cannot pass this examination are sent back to their former homes. Now, it is true that Americans are immigrants or descend- ants of immigrants; and we naturally think that our his- tory did not begin until the first immigrants came here. But to understand clearly what happened in this country after they came here we must know what kind of people they were. And to know what kind of people they were we must know something about the Europe from which they came. The countries that made up the ancient world. In the time of Christ, the Romans, who lived in Italy, were called the rulers of the world ; but the "world," as then understood, was rather a small world, for little of it was known except the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. The names of the peoples who lived in those countries were quite different from those that they now bear; for the French were called 4 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Gauls; the Italians, Romans; and the English, Britons. Around the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterra- nean Sea many Greeks lived. They called themselves Hel- lenes (hel'enz), but other nations called them Greeks. Eng- land had been visited by the Romans and earlier nations in search of tin, and they called the land Britannia, which is supposed to mean the land of tin. Somewhere far away in the Northern Ocean, probably north of the British Isles, there was thought to be a mysterious island, which people spoke of as " Ul'ti-ma Thu'le," or the most distant land, and which may have been the coast of Norway. Most folks sup- posed the earth to be flat. Some learned men believed it to be round ; but even they could not explain how there could be on the other side of the world antip'odes, or, as the word means, people "with feet opposite" their own. It was thought that south of Africa and Asia there was a great mass of land, but scholars were not agreed whether it joined Africa or not. In the fifteen hundred years between the times of Christ and the coming of the ships of Columbus to Amer- ica, much was learned about the world, and much progress was made, but even then no one dreamed of the great Ameri- can continent. Knowledge brought to this country by its settlers. It was in 1492 when Columbus discovered America, and before many years had passed, little groups of people began to make their homes in the New World. Now, if a man who had spent all his life on a little island, living in the fashion of Robinson Crusoe, should go to some strange new country, he would not have a great deal of knowledge to carry with him. He would know how to make a rude shelter for him- self, how to collect and preserve berries and other fruits, how to tame some animals, to snare others, and to protect himself from still others; and he would know little besides. The people who first came to live in America had not spent 6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS their lives on little desert islands, and they brought with them much valuable knowledge. Indeed, quite a number of them were university graduates. Instead of houses in trees, they had had comfortable homes, and they had seen noble palaces and stately cathedrals. Instead of dressing themselves in the skins of wild animals, they had worn well- made clothes, and some were accustomed to silks and satins and velvets. They had not been obliged to depend upon the chance growth of wild fruits for their food; they had learned how to cultivate the ground. They had tools and MATCHLOCK AND REST firearms and household utensils and a countless number of other things which the man from the island would not have had, and would have known nothing about. What the early immigrants knew of inventions. Neither these immigrants, nor any one else for that matter, knew anything about the telegraph, the telephone, the steamship, the little friction match, or other recent inventions, which are so common that we can hardly realize what living with- out them would be; but they did know how to build excel- lent sailing vessels, and how to steer them by means of the compass, and so they dared to venture out of sight of land. They knew how to use gunpowder, and so they could defend themselves against savages. Moreover, they could print books. The earlier books had been written by hand on parchment or on papy'rus, a species of paper made of the pith of the papyrus plant. Then a few "block books" were made ; that is, coarse lettering for a whole page was cut upon one block and printed from it; but this was very expensive, THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS =--**» A NEW ENGLAND STOCKADE because the block could not be used for any other book. When at length it was discovered that type could be made with one letter on each, so that after they had been used for one book, they could be separated and used again and again, books became much cheaper, and knowledge of what was going on in the world went rapidly from one country to another. Hints from early inventions. Long before these inven- tions came into use, there were others, many of which have given hints to more recent inventors. The hand loom, for instance, is several thousand years old, and it has developed into the swiftly weaving looms of our factories. The sickle which was once used to reap grain has become the great reaping and thresh- ing machine. The undecked boat has become the luxurious steamship that is almost a traveling city. Rough carts with wheels of solid wood have become comfortable carriages and automobiles. The development of inventions. These inventions were not developed without much time and much hard thinking. The invention of the alphabet, for instance, was a far less simple matter than it may seem. If an early Egyptian wished to write, "A woman is spinning," he had to cut with a sharp tool a picture of a woman at a wheel. Paper had not been invented; therefore he used stone. After a while, a character was used for each syllable, as it is to-day in Chi- nese and Japanese. The people of Babylon had a sort of alphabet which they wrote on clay tablets. Instead of a 8 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS FLAX WHEEL pen, they used a stylus; that is, a bronze tool, probably three-sided. A stroke made with this left a wedge-shaped impression. That is why the Babylonian writing is called cu-ne'i-form, which means wedge-shaped. The material on which people wrote had much to do with the shape of their characters. It is easier to cut straight lines than curves into wood; therefore the people who wrote on wood seldom used curves. To cut straight lines into palm leaves would split them; there- fore those who wrote on palm leaves used curves and avoided straight lines. Little by little, the idea came to people of representing not a syllable, but a single sound by one letter. The Greek alphabet consisted of twenty-four letters, and many of the capitals are shaped like ours. Neither the Greek nor the English is a perfect alphabet, for to be perfect, each charac- ter should represent one sound and only one. It is a vast improvement, however, on Egyptian hieroglyphics. The early immigrants brought to America, then, familiarity not only with scores of inventions of their own times, but also the knowledge which had been handed down to them from the much earlier times. They brought ideas too; and a good idea is the most valuable thing in the world. WOOL SPINNING WHEEL STUDY SUGGESTIONS Describe any journey that you have taken, even a trolley ride, and tell what you saw that was new to you. Why is it better to learn different ways of doing things? If you know any immigrants, ask them to tell you why they came to this country and to describe the voyage. THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS g 4. In how many ways do we preserve food? Why should we preserve it at all? 5. Ought the people of a country to admit all who wish to enter it? 6. If you had been a Roman, should you have gone to Britannia by sea or by land, and why? 7. How do you know that the earth is not flat? 8. Suppose you had lived on a desert island, what should you know how to do? 9. Imagine you are one of the early immigrants to this country and tell what you have learned at home to do. 10. What are some recent inventions? 11. What difference would it make if we had no printing? 12. Why do we need the alphabet? 13. Why is a good idea of value? Can you name any inventors who had good ideas? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Why would it have been better to live in America than on Robinson Crusoe's island ? The son of an early immigrant tells what knowledge his father brought to this country. Which of our capital letters could be easily cut into wood and which intc palm leaves? CHAPTER II WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS The geography of Greece. Many of the ideas which the early immigrants brought to this country were centuries upon centuries old and had been learned from distant lands. One of the most important of these lands was the little country of Greece. The sea surrounded it on three sides, and, indeed, an arm of the sea almost cut it in two, leaving only a narrow neck of land to hold the northern and south- ern parts together. The southern part stretched out in four long fingers into the blue waters of the Mediterranean. In- deed, the water ran up into the land and the land reached out into the water in such a friendly fashion that no part of the country was more than forty miles from the sea; nor was it more than ten miles from the mountains. The land and its products. These chains of mountains ran through the country in all directions, often coming close to the shore. They were bold and rugged, and there were few places where one could cross from one side of a range to the other. They divided the land into narrow val- leys and small plains, either walled in by hills or partially bounded by the sea. Some of these had only a scanty soil, but others were fertile and had pasture for sheep, rich fields for wheat, and excellent ground for olives, figs, and vines. The Greeks made the wool of their sheep into finely woven cloth, they formed pottery of graceful outline, and wrought ornaments of gold and silver. They had mines of iron and silver and copper, and they made famous swords of bronze. They wore garments of either wool or linen, and dyed them 12 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS with a kind of shellfish that was found just off their eastern shores. The Greek rivers. There were not many rivers in Greece, and what there were rose high up in the mountains, and tumbled down the rocky slopes and into the sea at headlong speed ; for the country was not large enough to give them a chance to broaden and flow quietly before they reached the coast. Indeed, there was not one really navigable River in the whole country. When summer came, many of them gave up trying to flow and settled into a series of pools, or even dried up entirely. Worse than this, occasionally one had a rather surprising habit of dropping into some cavern and flowing underground for a time, and then reappearing on the surface. Once in a while a stream vanished and never reap- peared, finding somewhere a subterranean outlet to the sea. The islands about Greece. The long narrow bays which indent the coast of Greece open pathways out to the open sea. Most people, when they look upon the ocean, long to sail away and away and see what is beyond the horizon's rim. The sea was not far from any country of Greece, as has been said, and the Greeks felt this longing very keenly. In the early uays they had no compass, and therefore sail- ing out of sight of land was not easy; for in cloudy weather, when sun and stars could not be seen, mariners could only guess where they might be. The Greeks, however, seldom had to meet this difficulty, for all about their country were islands — "stepping-stones" they have been called — so that they could sail long distances without danger. These islands really seemed to point the way to the rich country of Asia Minor. The little Greek communities. Now, what kind of people should we expect to find in a country like Greece — cut up by mountains and sea into little valleys and plains, with a group of people living in each division and shut off from WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 13 other groups? We should expect, of course, each little com- munity to have its own ideas on all subjects. As the moun- tain passes were few, the people could not come together easily and so discover that other folks had ideas possibly better than their own, and that it might be wise to adopt some of their customs and ways of thinking. If the rivers had been navigable, there would have been an exchange of products, and the people of different parts of the land would have met frequently ; but as it was, each community raised its own food as far as possible, and lived its own life. No member of a Greek state could own houses or land or marry a woman in another state than his own. The bonds of union among the Greeks. A few times some of the Greek states united for a while against some foreign enemy, but in general each state was independent and glo- ried in its independence. Still, there were some bonds of union among the Greeks. They all spoke the same language, they worshiped the same gods, and sometimes they formed what they called "groups of neighbors" to care for some special temple. Then, too, every five years they celebrated games in honor of the gods, and only men of pure Greek blood were allowed to contend. It is true that sometimes they behaved like a family of quarrelsome children; but in spite of their disagreements and contests, they did cling together after a fashion, and they were all indignant if any one of the states brought in foreigners to help in a war with any other state. The Greek gods. The Greeks believed that there were many gods, whose home was on Mount Olym'pus, a moun- tain in the north of their country, and they had hundreds of stories about their deeds, some so poetical and beautiful that people have enjoyed them for many centuries. Indeed, we can hardly read a poem that does not conVain some allusion to them. 14 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS The golden fleece. One of these stories was about the search for the golden fleece. The kingdom rightfully belong- ing to a young man named Jason had been kept from him by his uncle Pe'li-as. When Jason went to demand it, Pe'li-as did not dare to refuse, but suggested to Jason that it would Edwards JASON CLAIMING HIS KINGDOM be a fine thing for him to have an adventure or two before settling down as ruler of a little country and hinted that he should go in search of the golden fleece. This he did. The king in whose realm the fleece was agreed that Jason might have it if he would yoke to a plough two fire-breathing bulls and sow some dragon's teeth. By the aid of a charm given him by the king's daughter, Medea, Jason yoked the bulls and sowed the dragon's teeth, which sprang up as armed men and rushed upon him with drawn swords. He threw a stone among them, and every man supposing the next man had struck him began to fight his neighbor, and soon they WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 15 were all slain. Jason carried home the fleece of gold, and in spite of his uncle he finally got possession of his kingdom. The story of Hercules. Another Grecian hero was Her'cu- les. For some fault Zeus (zus), king of the gods, bade him obey his enemy Eurystheus (u-ris'thus) in whatever he might command. Eurystheus ordered him to undertake twelve adventures, known as the "Twelve Labors of Her- cules." He captured several enormous wild animals, he killed one monster with six legs, another with nine heads, and a flock of sav- age birds that had an unpleasant habit of devouring peo- ple. He held up the sky for a time so that the giant At- las might bring him some golden apples from the Garden of the Hes-per'i-des. These were a few of the exploits of Her- cules, but any one of them would have made him deserving to be called a hero. The wooden horse of Troy. The most famous of all the tales of Greece is that told by her great poet Homer about the heroes of her war with Troy. Virgil, a Roman poet, tells of the ten-years' struggle of the Greeks to capture the city, then of their success by the trick Cleyn THE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY 16 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS of making a great wooden horse filled with armed men. The Trojans were persuaded by a Greek, who pretended to be a deserter, that the horse if once within their city would pro- tect them, and they dragged it in so eagerly that they even tore down some of the wall to make way for it. That night, when all were sleeping, the armed men slid down a rope, killed the guards, and opened the gates to the Greeks. So Troy fell. Homer tells in his Odyssey (od'i-si) the adven- tures of a Greek leader U-lys'ses or O-dys'seus after the fall of the city, of his wanderings about the Mediterranean Sea for many years, and then, finally, of his return to his own home in the garb of a beggar, where his faithful dog, old and feeble, was the only one to recognize him. It is in the Odyssey that Hawthorne found some of the stories which he retells in his Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales. Legends of the founding of Greek cities. Even with the founding of cities by the Greeks some myth or legend is often connected. Of Marseilles (mar-salz') it was said that a Gallic chief invited a Greek merchant to his daughter's wedding feast. When the moment came for the daughter to point out her husband by giving him a cup of wine, be- hold she gave the cup to the merchant. Their marriage brought about the settlement of the city by Greeks and Gauls together. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great. For want of chalk, he marked the outlines of the city with flour on the black soil. A flock of birds ate the flour, and Alexander was greatly disturbed lest this should be a bad sign. "Not so," declared his soothsayer; "it is a sign that your city will be rich enough to supply all who come to it from other nations." Con-stan-ti-no'ple (or By-zan'tium, which was its earlier name) was founded by Greeks. Its harbor is called the Golden Horn because it is shaped like a horn, and because its currents bring in fish in such large numbers. Nearly opposite to it, across the Strait of Bos'- WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 17 pho-rus, was an earlier town named Chal-ce'don. According to legend, the god Apollo bade the Greeks make a settlement "opposite to the city of the blind," giving it this name be- cause the fine location of Constantinople had been over- looked by the earlier settlers. Of Athens the story is told that the gods promised the city to Poseidon (po-si'don) and A-the'ne, or rather to the one that should bestow upon it the more useful gift. Poseidon gave the horse, and Athene the olive. The gods decided that the olive was the more useful, and so the city was named for her. Marathon. The Greeks were a courageous people, and some of their battles have been famous for twenty-four GREEK FOOTMAN AT MARATHON hundred years. One of these was the battle of Mar'a-thon, between the Persians and the Athenians; another was the battle of Ther-mop'y-lae» between the Persians and the Spartans. Marathon was a plain lying between a line of hills and the sea. Just off the shore lay the Persian ships, and on them were chains with which the Persians expected to fetter the Athenians, for they had no idea that they would not be victorious. In the end, however, the Persians ran for their lives, splashing through the water to their ves- sels in the effort to escape from their Athenian pursuers. So it was that the forces of the mighty empire of Persia 18 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS PERSIAN OFFICER were driven away by those of the little state of Athens. One of the Greeks ran from Marathon to Athens, about twenty miles, to tell of the victory. That is why at the present day long running races are called "Marathons." Thermopylae. Ten years later, the Persians tried it again, and now the Spartans with a few other troops took their stand at the Pass of Thermopylae to oppose them. The mountains were on one side of the pass and the sea on the other. It was so narrow that Le-on'i-das and his brave three hundred thought they could hold it, even against so vast a number as there were of the Persians, and for two days of fear- ful fighting they did hold it. Then the Persians heard of a footpath over the mountains, and they came down upon the Spartans from the other side of the pass. The brave little band refused to save their lives by surrender, but fought even more fiercely than before until not a man was left alive. Salamis. The Greeks were as brave on sea as on land, and in this same war the great naval battle of Sal'a-mis took place. The Greek ships were in the Strait of Salamis. The Persians sailed in at both ends of the strait. King Xerxes (zerk'sez) sat on his gilded throne high up on a rocky hill to watch the destruction of the Greeks. His scribes clustered around him with tablets on which to note the successes of their countrymen — but there were no suc- cesses; there was only a sweeping victory for the Greeks. It is of this scene that the English poet Byron wrote, — "A king sat on the rocky brow That looks on sea-born Salamis", And ships, by thousands, lay below And men in nations; all were his; He counted them at break of day And when the sun set, where were they?" WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 19 How Athens was made beautiful. After many years of fighting, the Persians asked for peace. Little Greece had repulsed the great empire. This was not without much loss, however, and Athens had suffered especially. The city had been partially rebuilt, but the Athenians had been too busy to think of much except providing a shelter for them- ATHENS, RESTORED (In the distance may be seen the Acropolis, and beyond it mountains in Argolis. In the foregrounc are the city walls and a bridge over the Ilyssus) selves. Athens had become a crowded city with irregular, crooked streets, and little about it that was beautiful. The Athenians loved beautiful things. They took pains to make even their commonest dishes of graceful form and pleasing color; and the homeliness of their city gave them real discomfort. They were quite ready to listen to the proposals of Pericles (per'i-klez), one of their most success- ful generals, that the city should be made beautiful. An- other general, Cimon, had done what he could for it. He had planted avenues of trees and he had built near the 20 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS market-place long porticoes where the Athenians could walk and talk together. Cimon was dead, but Pericles was very much alive and eager to make his beloved city the most beautiful one in Greece. He had little authority, but he talked to the people so quietly and sensibly and gave such excellent reasons for what he wished to do that they were ready to agree to whatever he asked. Moreover, they could not help seeing that he was not working in the least for his own glory, but for the good of the state. THE PARTHENON RESTORED The Parthenon* In Athens there was a great rock about one sixth of a mile long and from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high. This was the A-crop'o-lis, and in the early days it had been the stronghold of the city. It should now become the home of the goddess Athene, de- clared Pericles, and he set to work to rear on the Acropolis a group of remarkable buildings. Every one was beautiful, but noblest of all was the Par'the-non. This was a superb temple of pure white marble surrounded by a colonnade and a row of pillars. In the pediments — that is, the tri- angular spaces at either end of the roof — there were groups of statues, representing scenes in the life of Athene. Around WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 21 the temple inside the colonnade ran a sculptured frieze. This represented the procession at Athene's festival, when a robe, richly embroidered, was presented to the goddess in gratitude for her care and protection. Even in ruins, as it is to-day, the Parthenon is a glorious building, and we can imagine what it was when every stone was perfect and the figures touched with gold and exquisitely tinted. It is twenty- four centuries old, but artists are constantly dis- covering new beauties in it. Within the temple was a statue of Athene, thirty-nine feet high, carved in ivory and draped with gold. The pupils of the eyes were probably of jewels. Outside, under the clear blue sky, stood another statue of Athene even larger than this, which was made of the bronze captured from the Persians at Marathon. The Erechtheum. The other buildings on the Acropolis were worthy to stand near the Parthenon. The one best loved by the Athenians was the Erechtheum (e-rek-the'um), sacred to Athene and Poseidon. Here the old statue of the goddess was kept, and it was to this and not to the new and costly one that the robe was presented each year. The theater. One of the most interesting structures in Athens was the theater. It was not a building with a roof, but consisted of rows upon rows of stone seats rising up the side of a hill, and circling about a level space where the plays were acted. These were written by men of great talent, who pictured in tragedies the lives of the gods or heroes, and in comedies full of jests and merriment the passing events of the day. The tragedies were such good teachers of religion and history and patriotism, and the comedies of such value in making people think about what was going on around them, that Pericles required the state to pay the admittance fee in order that every citizen might be able to see them. Phidias. Pericles was fortunate in finding an artist who 22 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS could carry out his plans. This was Phid'i-as. No other nation has ever produced such sculptors as the Greek, and Phidias was the most famous of them all. It was he who made the statue of Athene in ivory and gold which stood on the Acropolis; and to him Pericles gave the direction of all THEATER OF DIONYSUS, RESTORED the artists and architects who worked to make Athens beautiful. He had enemies, of course, and they accused him of cheating in the amount of gold used in Athene's statue. Phidias had perhaps expected this and he had made the gold removable; so he quietly unfastened it, and proved that its weight was just what he had said. Myron. Another great sculptor was Myron, who was famous for his ability to carve figures as they look when in motion. He made a statue of a cow in the act of lowing which was later set up in the Temple of Peace at Rome. WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 23 Another of his famous works was the Thrower of the Discus, The young man holds the discus all ready to throw the very next moment, and one almost expects to see it fly from his hand. Praxiteles. Phid- ias produced rather grave, dignified fig- ures, but the stat- ues of Prax-it'e-les, who was almost equally renowned, are especially charm- ing and graceful. The other sculptors of Greece are known to us only through copies of their works, but Praxiteles's own statue of Hermes — the "Quicksilver" of Hawthorne's Wonder-Book — has come down to us. This is a statue of two persons, for his baby brother rests upon the arm of the god and tries to grasp something that Hermes is playfully holding just out of his reach. The Venus of Milo. The statue best known to the world is the Venus of Milo, so called because it was dis- covered on the island of Melos. It is of a very beautiful woman, perfect in form and feature, and exquisitely graceful, but no one knows its sculptor. Nearly all Greek statues have been broken by war and time and fire and earthquakes, so that we have only frag- HERMES WITH THE INFANT DIONYSUS (Discovered in 1877 at Olympia) HEAD OF THE VENUS OF MILO 24 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS ments or copies; but even these show that they were the noblest the world has ever seen. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. If you know any Greeks in this country, ask them to tell you how life in Greece differs from life in America. 2. Why would ancient Greece have been a pleasant country to live in? Would it have been unpleasant in any way? 3. Why should one care to cross the mountain ranges? 4. What difference would it make to a country whether the rivers were like those of Greece or like those of the United States? 5. Why can you sail better if you know which way is north? 6. How would it affect your home town if it was shut off from all others? 7. Judging from the Greek stories, what sort of men did they regard as heroes? 8. What sort of men do we regard as heroes to-day? 9. In these stories of gods and heroes, are there any scenes that would make good pictures? 10. If you know any picture of Greeks running a race, notice whether their position is like that of the runners of to-day. 11. Tell the story of Marathon or Thermopylae or Salamis as if you were a Greek. Then tell it as if you were a Persian. 12. Imagine you are Pericles, and make a speech telling the Athenians why they ought to beautify their city. 53. What could be done to beautify the place in which you live? 14. Do you know any building that is in any respect like the Parthenon? 15. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of having plays acted out of doors? 16. Why should the image of a cow be chosen for the Temple of Peace? 17. Which one of the Greeks or their heroes do you regard as the greatest man? Why? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A Greek boy describes his country to an American boy. Jason tells the story of the golden fleece. One of the Greeks who were in the wooden horse tells his little son of the capture of Troy. A Persian describes the battle of Marathon. A visit to the Parthenon. CHAPTER III THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD How children were brought up in Sparta. The two states of Greece which were most unlike were Sparta and Athens. In Sparta, if a baby was weak and sickly when born, it was put out on a mountain to perish. A boy who was well and strong was left with his mother till he was seven years old. Then he was put into the charge of the state. Rather a hard life the little fellows led. No matter how cold it was, they were allowed to wear but little clothing, perhaps none at all, in order to make them tough. Their beds were only reeds from the river, but as a luxury they were permitted in winter to cover them lightly with thistledown. Their food was always scanty, and if they wanted more, they must steal it, and just as slyly as if they were in an enemy's country. If they succeeded, they were praised; if they were found out, they were whipped. Indeed, there was a great deal of whipping in their bringing-up, for the plan was to make them despise pain. Once a year they were publicly flogged before one of the altars, and it is said that a boy once died rather than cry out for mercy. The boys learned reading, writing, and perhaps a little arithmetic, but physical training was thought to be far more important. Therefore they were practiced continually in running, jumping, and wrestling, and every little while they held sham battles. They were not required to fight fairly, but only to win, and they bit and kicked as much as they liked. From seven to thirty years of age, the Spartan was in training for the army; from thirty to sixty, he spent 26 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS his time either fighting or drilling and keeping himself in trim for warfare. He ate coarse food, especially a certain black bean soup. An Athenian visitor on tasting it said, " I don't wonder the Spartans are brave in battle, for any one would rather die than live on such fare." How children were brought up in Athens. In Athens little children learned first the charming stories of gods and heroes. At seven the boys were sent to school, and there they were taught to read clearly and distinctly the works of the greatest Greek writers, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, and to appreciate and enjoy them. They learned also to play on the lute and the lyre, to join in battle-songs, in choruses in honor of the gods, and in the simple songs that helped to make everyday life cheery and happy. The bodies of the boys were as care- fully trained as in Sparta, though not so harshly. Boys learned to run, leap, wrestle, throw the javelin and the discus. They were taught, of course, to win in their games if they could, but in any case to do their best to make their bodies strong and to carry themselves with dignity and grace. The average Spartan was a soldier and nothing more ; the average Athenian was just as good a soldier, and he was also a well-educated man. Girls were taught little in either country save what they learned from their mothers at home; that is, how to spin, weave, and care for a household. In Sparta they learned to throw quoits, to run, and to wrestle, and in general to make their bodies strong by exercise. A GREEK BOY THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 27 GREEK GIRLS PLAYING BALL Leighton The plays of Greek children. The life of Greek children was not all training by any means, for they played many of the games of to- day, such as hide and seek and blind man's buff. They had playthings, such as balls and hoops and swings. " If you do not give children toys, they will break things in the house," said one learned man, and another was famous for inventing the rattle. The Olympic games. Besides warfare, there was another strong reason for physical training, and that was the O-lym'pic games, celebrated every five years in honor of the gods. People came in great crowds, bringing their food with them. Athletes, trainers, and umpires had to swear that they were of pure Greek blood and would obey all rules. The games consisted of racing, wrestling, leaping, throwing of quoits, and the hurling of javelins. Last of all came the famous races of four-horse chariots. After the contests came the day of rewarding the victors. The reward was only a wreath of olive leaves; but the glory that fol- lowed was no small matter. The countrymen of a victor offered sacrifices to the gods and formed processions in his honor; they gave banquets, often they set up a statue of the successful man. They took him home in a splendid chariot; and then came celebrations in his home town, and admira- tion that lasted as long as he lived. For more than a thou- sand years these games continued. They did a great deal to make the Greeks feel that they had interests in common. 28 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS just as the separation of the states did to make them feel that their interests were separate. The city and its citizens. A Greek " city " or "state " con- sisted of three parts. First, there were the homes of several thousand people, surrounded by a wall; beyond the wall were farms and gardens; and beyond these the rest of the valley or plain held by the people and bounded by either Knille THE OLYMPIA FOOT-RACE mountains or the sea. The Greeks enjoyed being independ- ent and ruling themselves. At eighteen, or even sixteen, each young Greek took a solemn oath to obey the laws and religion of his state and to defend her in case of need. He then became a member of the assembly of citizens. This met in the open air, on a hillside probably not far from the Acropolis. It was called the pnyx (nix), which means crowded, an excellent name, for at least six thousand per- sons had to be present before any vote could be taken. THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 29 The pnyx. The pnyx was in the form of a half-circle. One side was a rocky wall, and out of this had been carved a platform from which the orators spoke. Oratory is always important in a republic, for to win his own way a man must know how to convince his fellow citizens. The danger is, however, that a talented speaker may induce them to do THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS (As it appeared at the height of Athens's glory) wrong; for instance, when one of the Athenian colonies revolted, one Cleon persuaded the assembly by his skill in speaking to vote that all the men in the colony should be slain and all the women and children sold as slaves. Fortu- nately, the Athenians came to their senses on the next day and sent out a swift vessel to countermand the savage edict. From this platform in the pnyx, Pericles often spoke. At one time, when war seemed to be forced upon Athens, he said : — 30 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS "We will not begin war, but we will resist those who do begin it. We must make up our minds that we cannot escape this war, and the more cheerfully we accept it, the less violent will be the attacks of our enemies. When our fathers bore up against the Persians, — even though they had no such wealth and power as we possess, — they re- pelled the invaders. We must not fall short of them. We must drive away our enemies and leave the state to those who will follow us in as good condition as we received it." The philosophers Plato and Socrates. The Greeks were brave soldiers, but their philosophers, or "lov- ers of wisdom," as the word means, were equally great as thinkers. The most famous was Plato, who taught his pupils in a beau- tiful grove near the city of Athens. Another philosopher was Soc'ra-tes, a homely, awk- ward, kindly, lovable man with a brilliant mind. A story told of him says that when one Glaukon (gla/kon) was try- ing to get a political position, Socrates said, "If you wish to be so honored by your city, of course you mean to pro- mote its welfare?" "Certainly," said Glaukon. "But do you know the city's income, its expenses, and whether it is well guarded?" Glaukon had to answer no. "To manage even one household," said Socrates quietly, "requires knowl- edge of such matters. Would it not be well for you to take charge first of your uncle's large household?" "I would ■ •&* .^"-V m r ^^^ ' i f 1 W'W ^w """w / f W 1 I '-. t SOCRATES (From a bust in the Vatican Gallery at Rome) THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 31 gladly," replied Glaukon, "but he will not let me." "And although you cannot persuade your uncle to let you man- age one house," retorted the philosopher, "you think you can persuade the whole body of the Athenians, your uncle among them, to let you manage their city!" The death of Socrates. This was Socrates' fashion of ask- ing questions of a man till his own answers had shown his folly. He believed in God, but he did not always show rever- ence to the numerous gods of the city, and he was at length accused by his enemies of giving false teachings to its young men and was condemned to drink poison. He spent his last day talking cheerfully about the everlasting life into which he was to enter; then, when the jailer brought the cup of poison, he took it quietly, prayed that his journey to the other world might be prosperous, and drank the poison calmly and serenely. The greatness of the Greeks. A wonderful people were the Greeks. Their form of government is in great degree still believed to be excellent. The writings of their philoso- phers are still eagerly studied. Their literature has never been surpassed. Their sculptures are still looked upon as models of perfection. Their buildings are still the admira- tion of the world. Even more wonderful is it that the ideas of the folk of this tiny country should have gone all over the world, and that even here in America, on a continent which the pe'ople of Greece never heard of, we should in many respects think and act as we do, because it was the way the Greeks thought and acted before us. How Greek customs spread. How were Greek customs spread abroad so widely? There are three answers to this question; namely, by sailors and traders, by colonists, and by war. On three sides of Greece were islands, ever tempt- ing the Greeks to sail forth on the sea. They were fond of adventure and they thoroughly enjoyed sailing farther and 32 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS farther — or rather sailing and rowing, for, although the ships had sails, they were also driven forward by oars. The warships were called "triremes," because they had three banks of oars, one above another. Sometimes they had even more than this. Slaves sat on benches and did the rowing. At the bow was a sharp, strong "beak" which could be driven into the side of an enemy's vessel. Boats for carrying freight were heavier and could endure storms better. The Greeks on the Black Sea. In these ships the Greeks went out to trade with other peoples. One thing that they especially wanted was wheat, and therefore they went often to the shores of the Black Sea, because much wheat was raised there. This voyage was at first a perilous adventure, and it is probable that the account of it became little by little the legend of the golden fleece. The Black Sea was a some- what dangerous piece of water, even for sailors of experi- ence. The Greeks often gave a flattering name to any- thing that they thought might injure them, in the hope that it, or the gods who ruled it, would make it less dis- posed to harm them, and possibly that is why they called the inhospitable Black Sea by the name of Euxine, or the hospitable. Greek colonies. Trading naturally grew into colonizing, for the Greeks were good emigrants. If a group of men were poor or discontented at home or their city became too crowded for comfort, they were often ready to sail away and make their homes in a new country. Their first thought GREEK SAILING VESSEL THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 33 would be to go to the places where trading-posts had already been established, such as points around the Black Sea and in Asia Minor, directly east of Greece; but following around the shores of the Mediterranean, the colonies seem to have been almost everywhere. The island of Cy'prus had its Greek settlements. In Egypt there was the Greek Nau- cratis (na'kra-tis) at the mouth of the Nile. Farther west was Cy-re'ne ; then crossing over to the island of Sicily, Syra- cuse and other colonies made the island almost as Greek as Greece itself. Greek colonies were on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, and there were so many in southwestern Italy that the shore was known as Magna Gra^cia, or Great Greece. Mas-sil'i-a, or Marseilles, was at the mouth of the Rhone River. Indeed, a map of the Mediterranean in ancient times looks as if its shores were peppered with Greek colonies. Of course the colonists had no thought of spreading the knowledge and customs of Greece. Nevertheless, they never forgot their early home. When they left it, they carried with them fire from a Greek altar to kindle the temple fire in the new land. Even if they were far more prosperous and free than they had been "at home," they kept up a friendly feeling for the mother country, and they worshiped the same gods. Naturally, they followed tht same ways of living and thinking as in Greece, and these were rapidly learned and imitated by the peoples around GREEK WARRIORS 34 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS them. Sicily, for instance, became so completely Greek that not a word of any other language was to be heard in the island. Greek customs spread by the wars of Alexander the Great. Knowledge of Greek ways was also spread by war, ASIATIC CAMPAIGNS (Dotted line shows route of the Ten Thousand; unbroken line, Alexander's march) and the man who did most to bring this about was Alexander the Great, whose father had made all Greece yield to his power. Alexander had spent much of his boyhood in Greece. One of the stories told of him as a child is of his receiving some Persian ambassadors in his father's absence. He began like a grown man to question them about their country. "What sort of man is your king?" he asked. "How does he treat his enemies? Is Persia strong because she has much gold or a large army? " These Persians never dreamed that a few years later this small boy would invade their country, but this he did. He conquered the Persians, freed Egypt from their rule, and, wild with a madness for con- THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 35 quest, pushed on through Asia to India. He destroyed cities and founded cities, naming one for his horse Bucephalus and a number for himself. Many Greeks went to live in these places, and so the Greek language and habits spread very widely. The most famous of the cities was Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile. After the death of Alexander, this fell into the hands of Ptolemy (tol'e-mi) , one of his generals, and for nearly three hundred years he and his descendants ruled in Egypt. This was many centuries before people learned that they could reach India by sailing around Africa, and much of the trade of Asia and the Mediter- ranean cities was carried on here. The work of the Ptolemies. The Ptolemies, however, were eager to have Alexandria the center of learning. They founded the famous Alexandrian Library, which grew to contain more than five hundred thousand manuscripts, the writings of the Greeks and Romans. They also founded the Museum, as it was called, though it was more like a college or university. This contained rooms for art, for lectures, for study, and even living-rooms for the use of the poets and learned men who were induced by gifts and honors to dwell in the city. One of these learned men was a student named Ptolemy. He was convinced that the earth was round, and his teachings did much to persuade Columbus that it was worth while to sail boldly out into the Atlantic. Before this, Greek ideas and customs had spread chiefly to the westward ; Alexander introduced them to Egypt and western Asia. The value of the story of the Greeks. From the Greeks there have come down to us lessons of bravery and love of country, beautiful myths, plays, poems, and orations. They have left us fragments of wonderful statues and temples. Best of all, they have left us their own story, and from this we can see the causes of their failures and their successes. 36 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS STUDY SUGGESTIONS i . What was good and what was not good in the training of the Spartan boys? 2. In what respects was the training of the Athenian boys better? 3. What do you think of the speech of the learned man about toys? How should you reply to it? 4. Describe a visit to the pnyx. 5. Tell the story of Glaukon's visit to Socrates as Glaukon himself might have told it. 6. How do the ideas of one child become known to other children? How do the ideas of one country become known to other countries? 7. Had the Greeks good reasons for emigrating? 8. Imagine that you are an ancient Greek and tell why you became a colonist. 9. What is the advantage of having a free public library? 10. Should you rather live in a place where there were learned men or not? Why? 11. What part of the Greek story do you think best worth remembering? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A Spartan boy and an Athenian boy describe to each other their way of living. A visit to the Olympian games. Glaukon tells a friend of his interview with Socrates. A Greek voyage to the Black Sea. A Persian ambassador describes his reception by the child Alexander. CHAPTER IV THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME • The geography of Italy. Lying to the west of Greece was the long peninsula of Italy, the lower part shaped like a boot drawn back to kick the football Sicily. Geographically it was as different from Greece as a country could well be. It had mountains, plenty of them, but instead of running in all directions, with ranges tangled and confused, there was one orderly range, the Apennines, which ran the whole length of the country and even into the island of Sicily. The mountain chains of Greece seemed to be formed to keep tribes apart, but not so with the Ap'en-nines, for there were many passes by means of which the people on either side could make friendly visits to each other, if they felt so inclined. About halfway down the peninsula the range spread out into broad highlands, and here lived in early days a race of strong, bold folk, who delighted in dashing down upon the tribes between them and the sea, and plundering them. On either side of the Apennines was a long strip of land, lying between the mountains and the coast. The strip on the west side was rich and fertile; that on the east was not nearly so good, and was much narrower. The rivers of Italy. Italy has many rivers, and one, the Po, is navigable for several hundred miles. The others are small and short, especially those on the eastern side of the mountains. Like the rivers of Greece, the beds of most of the rivers of Italy are dry in the summer, and even if they were large enough to be of any use for navigation, it would be for only part of the year. The Ti'ber is the largest stream 38 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS on the western side of the Apennines, and was for many centuries the most famous river in the world. The coast-line of Italy. The coast-line of Italy is entirely different from that of Greece. The country of the Greeks is cut up by deep bays and has many excellent harbors, espe- cially on the eastern side. The shore of Italy is only slightly broken by harbors, and on the Adriatic side there is but one that is of real value. The harbors of Greece, then, are on her eastern coast, those of Italy on her western, and so the two countries are, as has been said, not face to face, but back to back. This would have made it in any case less easy for them to become acquainted, but the Greeks would prob- ably have had small interest in the rough community that was beginning to establish itself on the Tiber about the time when Alexander was at the height of his glory. The three races of early Italy. Most of the dwellers in early Italy belonged to some one of three races. These were the descendants of the Greek colonists; the E-trus'cans, who lived along the northwestern coast; and the Latins, who lived south of the Etruscans. These Etruscans were a wealthy race who liked good times, handsome clothes, and plenty of jewelry. They understood how to make stout walls that would not crumble, how to drain their land with well-built tunnels, and how to make strong dikes to keep back the waters of the Mediterranean. Their alphabet is so much like the Greek alphabet that it, as well as the rest of the knowledge of the Etruscans, probably came from the Greeks. The Italian races, living in the central part of the peninsula, came from the same ancient family of nations as the Greeks, and when they made their way into Italy, they brought with them the customs of the Greeks and the worship of the same gods. A small part of the Italian pos- sessions, known as Latium (la'shi-um), lay to the south of the Tiber. It seems to have been in early days the least THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 39 powerful part; and no one would have dreamed that its inhabitants, the Latins, could found a city that would one day rule the world. Legend of the founding of Rome. This city of Latium was Rome. The Roman legend of its founding was that after the fall of Troy a Trojan prince named ^Eneas (e-ne'as) fled from the ruins of the city with his little boy Ascanius and the others of his family together with the household gods, and after many adventures on water and on land, made his way to Latium. King La-ti'nusof Latium received him kindly and gave him his daughter Lavinia in marriage. Before long, La- tinus was slain in battle, and now ^neas became ruler of the people of Latium as well as of his Trojan fol- lowers. He called them all Latins. After the death of i^Eneas, Ascanius and a long line of his descendants reigned. Then it came to pass that the brother of Nu'mi-tor, the right- ful king, stole the kingdom. Numitor's daughter, Rhe'a SilVi-a, had twin sons, whose father was the war god Mars. The wicked brother ordered them to be thrown into the Tiber. Fortunately, the Tiber was in flood, and when the waters fell back, the babies were left on dry ground. Of course they cried, and a wolf came to them and nursed them as if they were young wolves. At length a Raphael FLIGHT OF /ENEAS (From a painting in the Vatican at Rome) 40 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS shepherd discovered them, carried them home, and brought them up. When they were old enough, they restored the kingdom to their grandfather and slew his wicked brother. Then they set to work to build themselves a city near the place where they had been thrown into the river. Unluck- ily, they had a quarrel, and in a moment of rage, Rom'u-lus killed his brother Remus. He named his city Rome and Camuccini HORATIUS KEEPING THE BRIDGE ruled there for many years, but he deeply mourned the loss of his brother, and the story says he had a double throne made, one seat of which was always vacant in memory of Remus. Horatius at the bridge. Many other legends have been handed down about the early days of Rome. One of the most famous is that of Horatius at the bridge. It seems that one Tarquin became king and was such a tyrant that the Romans finally drove him and all his relations into THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 41 exile. He induced some of the Etruscans to come to his aid. When their army drew near to Rome, the Romans rushed out to meet them, but were driven back over the narrow bridge across the Tiber. The Etruscans were in close pursuit, and unless the bridge could be destroyed, the city was lost. Then cried Horatius, "Let but two others stand beside me, and we will hold the army at bay till the bridge is cut down! " So, like the Greeks at Thermopylae, the three brave men took their stand at the farther end of the bridge; and they did hold the army back till the bridge began to fall. "Go back!" called Horatius to his friends, but not until the bridge was falling did he himself stir from his place. Then he leaped into the Tiber, and with a prayer to the god of the river he struck out boldly and reached the other shore. Rome was saved. His countrymen gave him as much of the public land as two strong oxen could plough in a day, and they set up in the public square a statue of him in his armor, " plain for all folk to see." Coriolanus and his mother. Another story was that of Co-ri-o-la'nus. He was a brave soldier who had done much for Rome, but he was accused of having broken an agree- ment with some of the Roman people, and they were so angry with him that he had to flee from Rome. He was thoroughly indignant, so indignant that he went straight to the Volscians (vol'sianz), enemies of the Romans, and offered to lead their troops against Rome. When his army was before the city, first an embassy from the senate and then the priests came to beg for peace, but Coriolanus refused. Then came his mother, his wife, and their two sons, followed by a company of Roman women. Coriolanus was about to throw his arms about his mother, but she drew back and demanded sternly: "Do you come here as my son or as the enemy of Rome? Would that I had never had a son; then Rome would not be in peril!" Coriolanus 42 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS could not endure his mother's entreaties. "Mother," he said, "you have saved Rome, but you have lost your son." He withdrew the army and returned to the Volsci. It was said that they put him to death, as he had expected. Vignon CORIOLANUS YIELDS TO HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS The truth of the Roman legends. These are some of the legends that grew up about Rome in its early days. In one way, they are not true; for instance, it is hardly probable that three men at the end of a little footbridge could stop the advance of an army. In another way, they are entirely true ; for the fact that these legends grew up and were loved by the Romans shows how highly they thought of bravery and patriotism, and, as in the story of Coriolanus, what respect was shown to the prayers of a mother. How Rome was founded. There are, however, a few facts in regard to the founding of Rome of which we may be sure. Not far from the mouth of the Tiber there was a group of low hills, and about one of them a tiny settlement was THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 43 formed. The top of this hill was, like the Acropolis in early times, the stronghold of the people, and some of them lived within its walls. There were the usual quarrels and fighting with their neighbors, but at length, the little settlement and two others like it united. Cincinnatus. The Greeks had been devoted, each group to its own state, but they wasted their strength in struggles with one another. The Romans did better, for they made themselves strong by union. In every difficulty there was usually some resourceful man who could find a way out. One legend tells the tale of their army being shut up by enemies into a narrow valley. The Romans believed that Cin-cin- na'tus, who cultivated a little farm across the river, could plan some way to save them, and the senate sent messen- gers to him. He left his plough in the field and went to Rome. He ordered the Romans to come together, each one with weapons, food for five days, and twelve long, sharp stakes. They all set off, and at midnight were arranged in a circle about the camp of the enemy. Cincinnatus com- manded that at a signal every man should dig a trench in front of him and also drive down his twelve stakes. In the morning the enemy found themselves shut in by a ditch, a palisade, and a line of soldiers. They surrendered. It was in honor of Cincinnatus that the American Society of the Cincinnati was named. Its members are descendants of the officers of the Revolutionary War, who left their homes, as Cincinnatus did, to fight for their country. The Caudine Forks. Brave as they were, the Romans were not always successful. At the Caudine (ka'din) Forks, they were shut into a narrow valley, and this time they were all taken prisoners. "What shall I do with them?" the commander of the enemy asked his wise old father. " Either kill every man of them and so weaken the Romans," was his reply, "or else let every one go free, and so make 44 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS friends of the Romans." Unluckily, the young commander thought that he knew best, and he made them give up their weapons and pass "under the yoke"; that is, under a hori- zontal spear bound to two upright spears. This was a great disgrace, and the Romans went home humiliated, but more Gleyre ROMAN ARMY PASSING UNDER THE YOKE ready for bitter righting than ever. Not long after this, they took seven thousand prisoners, and in retaliation made every one of them pass under the yoke. Why there was warfare between Rome and Carthage. The most amazing thing in the history of Rome is that a little group of tiny villages should in the course of perhaps a thousand years have become ruler of the world. Gradu- ally Rome overcame the country about her, until all of Italy was in her power, even the wealthy Greek colonies in the south. In some of their difficulties the Sicilian THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 45 Greek colonies had asked the help of Carthage, a rich and powerful trading city on the African coast, and Carthage had gained possession of nearly all Sicily. These two cities were afraid and jealous of each other, and for two hundred and fifty years there were long periods of warfare between them. Hannibal enters Italy. The most skillful Carthaginian general whom the Romans had to meet was Han'ni-bal. His father had fought against the Romans, and when Hannibal was a small boy, he had bidden the child lay his hand upon the altar and make the solemn promise, " I will always hate HANNIBAL CROSSING THE RHONE the Romans." When Hannibal was old enough, he was put in command of the Carthaginian troops. One of his most famous exploits was the march which he and his thousands of men and his thirty-seven war elephants made from Spain to Italy. Even when he came to the wide and rapid river 4 6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Rhone, he did not hesitate, but made rafts for the elephants, and boats of all sorts, no matter what, if they would only carry soldiers; and then, in spite of the savages who were on the opposite shore with their weapons, he marched up the bank and pushed on to the Alps. Here were precipices with enemies at the top rolling great stones down upon the path or hurling javelins upon the toiling men below; here HANNIBAL CROSSING THE ALPS were ice and snow and slush, storms and avalanches and bitter cold. The paths, when there were any, were slippery and steep and often had to be widened for the elephants ; but Hannibal would not yield, and at last he was in Italy. Hannibal at the Trebia and at Lake Trasimenus. Han- nibal knew well how to lead his enemies into a trap. At the river Tre'bi-a the Romans marched out to meet him, crossed the river and stood in line. Hannibal drove back the light THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 47 infantry and the cavalry, but the Romans still expected their heavy infantry to win the day. They marched on con- fidently, but suddenly there was an alarm. Back of the heavy infantry, hidden in the dry bed of a little stream, were two thousand picked Carthaginian soldiers. The Romans were between two bands of enemies. Some escaped, many were slain. Such a defeat Rome had not known for a cen- tury. At Lake Tras-i-me'nus again, Hannibal led the Ro- mans into a trap. It was a misty morning; the heights were clear, but the lowlands were thick with fog. Through this fog the Romans pushed on in pursuit of the Carthaginians; but no Carthaginians were to be seen. Suddenly there were war cries all around them. Great stones crashed down upon them on one side and a storm of javelins on the other. Out of the mist rushed the troops of Hannibal and the Gauls, his allies. The mass of the Roman army was penned into a valley and was slaughtered. Hannibal and the oxen, at Cannae. Hannibal could not only lead his foes into a trap, but he could find a way to get his own men out of one. He, too, was once caught in a val- ley ; but he is said to have tied burning torches to the horns of two thousand oxen and to have driven them up a moun- tain in the night. The Romans left the passes and rushed up hill after them, supposing the Carthaginians were escap- ing, while Hannibal and his men marched cheerfully away through a pass. Another Carthaginian victory was at Cannae (kan'e) ; and when Hannibal's brother told the Car- thaginians how completely their enemies had been routed, they would not believe his story until he poured out a peck of gold rings and said, " These are from the fingers of the Roman nobles who were slain at Cannae." The Roman conquests. Neither Cannae nor any other defeat would make the Romans give up, and finally the Carthaginians were conquered at Zama, and Carthage was 4 8 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS burned. This occurred in 146 B.C., and in that same year the Romans completed the conquest of Greece. After a few more years, Rome was ruler of Italy, part of Austria, part of Turkey, Greece, part of Asia Minor, Syria, Judaea, about half of northern Africa along the coast, and nearly all of the Mediterranean islands. How Rome treated her conquests. These lands became Roman in more than name. When they conquered a district, part of the land was always given to Romans who wished to live on it and use it for farms. The people around them were not only ruled by Roman law, but they learned Roman customs and soon talked Latin. It was made difficult for the different places to have much to do with each other, but easy for them to have Citizenship was given to many of the conquered folk, and they soon came to feel almost as if they had been born in Rome. What the Romans had learned from the Greeks. In mak- ing all these conquests the Romans had learned some things that were of great value. They could not help seeing how superior the Greeks were to themselves in many ways, and now it became the fashion to learn Greek. Every young man who wished to be called educated must be familiar with Homer and other Greek poets, and he was expected to pass some time in Greece studying. Even those who did not go to Greece were not shut off from Greek learning ; for Greeks were brought to Rome as slaves, and in those times although by fortune of war a man had become a captive, he was quite as likely to be a well educated man as his master. The ROMAN SOLDIERS WITH SHIELDS (From Column of Trajan) dealings with Rome. THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 49 Romans saw how the Greeks loved beauty, and they began to rear stately buildings and to adorn them with statues and carvings and paintings. Their admiration for these beauti- ful things may have been honest, but their way of obtaining them was not, for they simply took them from whatever place they conquered and brought them to Rome. What the Romans had learned from their warfare. The Romans had also learned some things from their long years of warfare that were exceedingly bad. They had learned the idle, luxurious ways of the East; and now that their con- quests had brought so many slaves to Rome, any man with even a very small fortune could have as many to wait on him as he pleased. Not many Romans would now have been as ready as Horatius to risk their lives for their country; most of them would have preferred to go to a feast and pay some one else for holding the bridge. Then, too, the Romans had always been inclined to be stern, and now they had be- come not only stern but cruel, even in their amusements. Plays from the Greek had been acted in Rome, and Latin plays composed, but the Romans wanted to see real fighting and bloodshed, and they delighted in gladiatorial shows in which wild beasts fought other beasts and also men. VICTORIOUS GENERAL THANKING HIS ARMY 5 o ' OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Why was the Tiber famous? Do you know any other rivers that are famous? What river is nearest to your home? 2. Can you tell from the map what Ascanius might have found interest- ing on his voyage to Rome? 3. Imagine that you are the shepherd who found Romulus and Remus, and tell the story of their discovery. 4. Read Macaulay's poem, Horatius at the Bridge, and then tell the story of the exploit. 5. Did Coriolanus do right? 6. Do you know any stories about heroes beside those just read in this book? 7. Why were the Romans wise in founding their city on hills? 8. Do you think your own city or village is well located? Why? 9. Do you see anything improbable in the story of Cincinnatus? 10. What would have been the wisest course for the commander at the Caudine Forks? 11. Could Rome and Carthage have pursued any better course than to become enemies? 12. Describe Hannibal's crossing the river and climbing the Alps as if you had seen the exploits. 13. Why should Rome have wished to conquer the countries around the Mediterranean Sea rather than to press directly north? 14. Were the Romans wise or unwise in their treatment of conquered dis- tricts? 15. What harm is there in being idle and luxurious? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK One who was present tells the story of Horatius at the bridge. One of Hannibal's soldiers described the march to Italy. Hannibal's brother tells the story of Cannae. CHAPTER V ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE The Romans overcome Gaul. When Alexander the Great conquered the lands at the east of the Mediterranean, he thus opened the way for settlements and for the spread of Greek ways of thinking and living. As has been seen, the Romans had learned from the Greeks, and by Roman con- quests many of these ideas and ways had been spread in the countries around the Mediterranean. The Romans did not stop at this, but went on with their victories. About one hundred years after the fall of Carthage, they overcame Gaul, the country which is now called France. Long before this the Gauls, ancestors of the French, tall, savage fighters, had once dashed down upon Rome and burned the city. There had been more or less trouble with them since then, and in the wars with Carthage they had helped the Car- thaginians. Fifty-eight years before the birth of Christ, a brilliant young Roman commander called Julius Caesar set forth against them. They were not easy folk to conquer, and he had to make eight campaigns before they were sub- dued. At the head of the tribe that resisted him longest was a prince named Vercingetorix (ver-sin-jet'o-riks) by whom Caesar was repulsed again and again. The last struggle was to win the hill town of Alesia (a-le'shi-a). Caesar besieged the town, and tribes from all around besieged him. At length the provisions of Alesia gave out, and the brave Vercingetorix was forced to surrender. He was taken to Rome, was made to walk in the triumphal procession of captives and wagons of treasure, and was then put to death. 52 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Gaul was now subdued and adopted the language, laws, and customs of the Romans. Caesar routs the Germans. On the right side of the river Rhine dwelt another folk, the Germans. A-ri-o-vis'tus, a German leader, had been asked by some of the Gauls to come and help them in a quarrel with another tribe. He came, liked their land, and refused to go away. The Gauls appealed to Caesar, and he requested Ariovistus to come to him. If I had anything to say to you, I should come to you," was the young man's independent message in return, " and if you have anything to say to me, you may come to me." The Roman soldiers, brave as they were, drew back at the thought of fighting the Germans, and would have gladly returned to Italy, for these Germans were even taller and fiercer in their appearance than the Gauls. Caesar re- minded them of their recent victories, and closed by saying that if they would not follow him, he would go alone with his Tenth Legion, for them he could trust. The army fol- lowed, and in seven days they came to the camp of Ariovis- tus. "What are you here for?" demanded Ariovistus. "This part of Gaul belongs to me, just as much as the far- ther part belongs to you." Of course fighting followed. The Germans were completely routed and fled across the Rhine. Caesar's bridge. The Rhine was wide and deep and the current was strong, but Caesar decided that it would be wise for him to prove to the Germans how easily he could come down upon them if he chose, so he set to work and in ten days he had built of piles a remarkable bridge, strong but light and easily removed. Across this he marched. He avenged the injuries done to one tribe and rescued another from siege ; then he marched back and tore down the bridge. He had made Ariovistus understand the power of Rome. Caesar's first visit to Britain. In some of these campaigns, ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 53 Caesar had found that his foes were receiving help from a country whose white cliffs he could see from the shores of what is now Dover Strait, and he felt sure that Gaul would never remain quiet unless the people across the strait were made subject to Roman rule. For a long while tin had been sent to the Mediterranean from this mysterious country, THE LANDING OF CESAR but little was known about it. Caesar sailed across, but found the cliffs lined with fighting men who threw javelins down upon his troops and even waded out into the water to attack them. It was rather a difficult matter for the Ro- mans to leap into the waves, weighed down with heavy armor as they were, and fight at the same time, and it is no wonder that they hesitated. Suddenly the standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion sprang into the sea, calling, "Jump, if you do not want to lose your eagle! " They all followed him, for it would have been a terrible disgrace to lose the golden eagle which was their standard. Caesar's second visit to Britain. Nothing special was ac- 54 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS complished by Caesar's visit, but the following year he came again and made some of the British chiefs yield to him. He wrote what he could learn of the country in his book on the conquest of Gaul. He said that the Britons were strange- looking folk with their long hair and their bodies painted STONEHENGE blue. Their priests or Druids had great power in* the land. They taught the people not to fear death, for they were going to live forever; but other parts of their teachings were not so good, for they offered up human sacrifices. They taught the worship of serpents and running streams, of oak trees, and especially of the mistletoe on the oak. Caesar liked to do things thoroughly, and he must have been eager to conquer Britain, but it was getting late in the season and his ships were in danger of being shattered by the storms of autumn. Moreover, the British were fighting valiantly; if he stayed longer, his army would surely suffer greatly. He decided to cross over to the Continent. How the Romans ruled their conquests. The Roman way of ruling a conquered country was not to make slaves of its people, but to treat them so fairly and kindly that they ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 55 would become proud of being a part of the mighty Roman Empire. This was the case with Gaul. The Roman rule kept it at peace, and just as soon as its people were prepared, they were given all the privileges of Roman citizens. So it was that the Gauls learned the ways that the Romans had been taught by the Greeks. Many Gauls became famous in Rome, not only as commanders, but as poets and orators and historians. Caesar becomes emperor of Rome. Caesar was a brilliant soldier, and he was also a politician. There was only one other man in the country who could rival him, and that was Pompey. When Caesar was returning from Gaul with troops Beak CESAR CROSSING THE RUBICON who were devoted to him, Pompey made no preparations to resist him. "How do you expect to oppose Caesar?" he was asked. "Oh, I need only stamp my foot on the ground," replied Pompey, " and an army will arise." Pompey waited, but Caesar advanced, and at length he camped beside a little 56 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS river called the Ru'bi-con, which ran between Gaul and Italy. It was Roman law that no commander should pass this stream with armed troops, and Caesar hesitated. At last he exclaimed, "The die is cast!" He and his troops dashed through the water. Pompey found that armies did not assemble at the stamping of his foot, and in two months Rome was in the hands of Caesar. Pompey fled. Civil war followed and he was overpowered and slain. So it was that Rome was no longer a republic, but an empire, with Caesar as its emperor. Caesar and the following eleven rulers are called the "Twelve Caesars." The Roman Empire at the death of Augustus. The first of the eleven was Caesar's grandnephew Augustus. At his death, the Roman Empire extended from the Mediterra- nean Sea to the Rhine and the Danube. It also included Asia Minor, Syr'i-a, Egypt, and northern Africa, and, a little later, Britain, part of southern Russia, and also Armenia, As-syr'i-a, and Mes-o-po-ta'mi-a. It was so powerful that a man's best protection against injustice and injury was to say, " I am a Roman citizen." In far-away Judea, a Roman captain once bound the Apostle Paul and ordered him to be scourged; but when one of his officers whispered, "This man is a Roman," the captain was badly frightened because he had ventured even to bind a Roman without a trial. This same reign of Augustus was a time of great poets and his- torians and orators, and that is why it is called the Golden Age of Latin literature. The Romans as builders. There were many famous build- ings in Rome. One was the great Col-i-se'um, where gladi- ators fought, and where Christian martyrs were driven to be devoured by wild beasts while thousands of Romans looked on to be amused by their sufferings. The Romans liked plenty of fresh water, and they built many miles of aqueducts to bring it into Rome. They built most luxuri- ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 57 ous bath houses, in which people not only bathed but rested and amused themselves and talked with their friends. They built sewers, and one of them, twenty-five centuries old, is still doing its work. They reared beautiful and dignified arches of triumph in honor of their victories; and entirely around the forum, or principal public place of the city, they THE RUINS OF THE COLISEUM built handsome arched porticoes. When the Romans first knew Greece, they copied Greek buildings, but later they were more original, and they were especially successful in the use of the arch and the dome. The roof of the Pan'the- on, one of their temples, is the largest dome in the world. Road-making. Another sort of work for which the Ro- mans were famous was their roads. Wherever there might be need of soldiers, they wanted to be able to march them without a moment's delay, and therefore they made their roads as straight as possible and took great pains in their building. If a valley was to be crossed, they built a viaduct; if a mountain was in the way, they made a tunnel through it. To prepare the road, they first dug a deep ditch and 58 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS filled it with rough stones and cement. Broken bricks or tiles were spread over this and pounded down. On top of it all great blocks of hard rock were laid. When it was done, it was almost as smooth as a floor. They did their work so well that some of their roads are in use to-day. THE PANTHEON A Pompeiian house. What a Roman house was like we can tell from the ruins of houses left in Pompeii (pom- pa'ye) from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly nine- teen centuries ago. In the vestibule there was often a mosaic picture of a dog marked " Cave canem," beware of the dog; but a little farther on was sometimes the motto " Salve," welcome, in mosaic letters in the pavement. Within this vestibule was a large hall where the master of the house received his political friends. An oblong opening in the roof slanted down and let rain water fall into a marble pool below it. Beyond this hall was a court with beautiful columns of marble and a pierced roof to admit light and air. This was used for private entertainments. Then, too, there were bedrooms, a dining-room, a kitchen, and a library. ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 59 There were busts and statues, coverlets for the couches and curtains at the doors dyed in brilliant hues, handsome lamps of bronze or gold, comfortable chairs of many designs, and graceful figures of dancing girls painted on the walls. The Roman houses had all that was needed for comfort and beauty, and they were never crowded with unnecessary furniture or foolish ornaments. Boulanger WOMEN'S COURT IN THE HOUSE OF A WEALTHY ROMAN Romans as law-makers. The Romans were famous as law-makers. More than five hundred years after the birth of Christ, the Roman emperor Jus-tin'i-an ordered his great- est lawyers to bring together the laws that had been made and also what had been written about them, and to put all this into clear and readable shape. The result is called the Code of Justinian, and there is hardly a civilized country in the world whose laws have not been influenced by this code. 6o OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS What Roman boys were taught. Roman boys were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and literature, like the Athenian boys. They learned to write with a stylus on tab- lets covered with wax. This could be smoothed out and used again and again. When they grew older, they were allowed to write with ink on a sort of paper made from the pa-py'rus plant, using pens of reeds. Much attention was paid to arithmetic, especially to learning how to calculate bills mentally. The schoolmasters were Greeks. People were A READING FROM HOMER Alma-Tadema expected to learn Greek as a matter of course, and boys were taught the Iliad and the Odyssey as much as the works of the Latin poets. Oratory, too, was as necessary as in Greece, and it was the custom for Roman boys, after leaving the lower school, to take a course in oratory. Gymnastics were looked upon as very important, but while the Greeks aimed at making their boys beautiful and graceful as well as strong, the Romans tried to make them strong and vig- orous, but did not aim especially at beauty. Roman books. Books were written by hand on papyrus paper or on parchment. This was made into long strips, ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 61 fastened at each end to wooden or ivory rods, so it could be easily unrolled and rolled. There were publishing houses, just as there are to-day, only instead of printing with presses, slaves made copies of manuscripts. A book, then, was a roll of manuscript, and one that would contain what could be printed on fifteen or twenty pages of a volume of medium size would in those days be counted as a book. The time of peace. The reign of Augustus was not only the Golden Age of Latin literature, but it was also the golden age of peace. In Rome there was a temple in honor of the god Ja'nus, and whenever Rome was at war with any coun- try, the doors of this temple were kept wide open; when Rome was at peace, they were closed. Just when Rome was founded is not known, but it is usually reckoned as 753 B.C. If that is correct, then for more than seven centuries Rome had been at war save for one break in very early times, and a second break in the course of the long struggle with Car- thage. The third break came now, during the reign of Augustus, for while he was on the throne, there was a space of nineteen years when the temple doors were closed. The poet Milton says, — "No war, or battle's sound, Was heard the world around." The birth of Jesus. Not only in Italy, but in every prov- ince under the control of Rome, there was peace. One of the Roman provinces was a little country called Judea, which was the home of the Jews. These people thought a great deal about religious matters, and even when all the nations around them were worshiping idols, they worshiped the one true God. Some of their poets had composed very beautiful religious poems, such as "The Lord is my shep- herd," and "The heavens declare the glory of God." In this country the Holy Child Jesus was born. Some years later, 62 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Pon'ti-us Pi'late became governor of the province. He got into trouble with the Jews, once because he hung up in his palace in Jerusalem some shields bearing the names of Ro- man gods, and once because he took some of the money belonging to the Jewish temple for the building of an aque- duct. There had already been riots against his government, and it was not well for the governor to have such disorderly occurrences reported in Rome. For this reason he was afraid to set Jesus free against the wishes of the Jews. On the other hand, Pilate could not help fearing that Jesus might after all be a god, perhaps the son of the great Ju'pi-ter himself. The Jews understood the situation perfectly, and they said: "This man claims to be a king, and that is trea- son to Caesar. If you let him go, you are no friend to Caesar." Then Pilate feared for himself, and he allowed a man to be crucified whom he believed to be innocent rather than risk being blamed at Rome for a riot. The fairness of Augustus. Augustus, who was emperor at the time of the birth of Jesus, saw to it as far as possible that the people of the provinces were treated justly, and if any one of them had a complaint to make, he was always ready to listen to it. St. Paul was the son of Jewish parents, but he was born at Tarsus, one of the cities to which the Ro- mans had given the right of citizenship. That was why, when St. Paul was brought before the governor of Syria by the Jews, he could appeal to Caesar; and the governor was then obliged to arrange for his being carried to Rome for trial. Nero and the Christians. The teachings of Jesus spread rapidly. People had lost faith in the gods, and large num- bers, both poor and rich, welcomed the Gospel. Neverthe- less, it was not long before the Christians were cruelly per- secuted. Whatever misfortune might happen to Rome was laid to them. Much of the city was burned in a great fire. ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 63 Nero, the emperor, was suspected of having caused it, and to turn suspicion from himself, he accused the Christians of the crime. Hundreds of them were tortured. Some were sewed up in the skins of wild beasts and then torn to pieces by savage dogs set upon them. Some were crucified. Some CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN THE COLISEUM were smeared with pitch and burned like great torches in Nero's garden. Some were thrown to the wild beasts of the coliseum. Why the Christians were persecuted. There were two reasons why other emperors also carried on these persecu- tions. One was that the religious services of the Chris- tians were held in secret; and the wildest stories arose of crimes which it was said were then committed. Many be- lieved that they had a secret organization, and this was strictly forbidden by Roman law. Another reason was that they refused to worship the gods of Rome. The Romans cared little how many other gods any one chose to worship, but the laws required public respect to their own. The Christians would not say a prayer to them, or pour out a 6 4 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS few drops of wine on their altars, or burn a pinch of incense in their honor. They wouici not swear in court by these gods, because this implied belief in their existence. For these rea- sons those emperors who were most earnest in upholding the laws were often most severe in their persecutions. The catacombs. Unlike the Romans, the Christians did not believe in burning the bodies of their dead, and there- ARCH OF CONSTANTINE fore they made catacombs, or underground passages cut out of the soft rock, with niches for the bodies. As these galleries became crowded, others were cut under the first and often running in different directions until there was a great maze of passages on different levels. Here the Chris- tians not only buried their dead, but held their meetings. They could not be arrested here, because the laws held all places of burial as sacred. In the second and third centuries, however, persecution became so severe that officers and mobs paid no attention to this law, and the catacombs were no longer a refuge. The reign of Constantine. Still, the religion of Jesus made ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 65 its way. In the fourth century Con'stan-tine the Great be- came emperor. He himself was baptized a Christian, and in his battles his army fought under the sign of the cross. Thus it was that Christianity became the state religion. Constantine issued a decree which said, "We grant to Christians and to all others full liberty to follow whatever religion they may prefer." He decided to build a new capi- tal, and chose the old town of Byzantium on the Bosphorus for its site. The city was now named Constantinople in his honor, and became a rival of Rome. Lessons taught by the Greeks and the Romans. The Romans at their best were a brave, keen people, though often stern and cruel. The Greeks taught us to give every citizen a voice in making the laws; but the Romans made it clear that the whole power of the land should be used, if necessary, to protect the humblest citizen. The Romans taught the value of good roads and of building for strength and durability. Much of art, literature, and especially law came from them. Both Greeks and Romans were patriotic, but while the Greeks were devoted to their own little state, the Romans had broader ideas and united many states in one empire. They handed down to us the great lesson that strength lies in union ; but that there can be no lasting union without order and organization and obedience to law. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Which was the wiser, Caesar or Pompey? 2. Why ought a government to protect its citizens? 3. How is water brought into your own town? 4. Do you know any building with either an arch or a dome? 5. Why do we need good roads in this country? 6. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of making roads per- fectly straight? 7. In what respects were the Roman houses better than ours? 8. Can you name any other studies that would have been good for the Roman boys? Why would they have been of value? 66 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 9. Do you think of any reasons why St. Paul wished to be tried in Rome? 10. Do you think of anything in the customs of the Romans that would tend to make them stern and cruel? 11. In what respects might the Romans have been improved? 12. What ideas of the Romans were good? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK The soldier who jumped into the sea with the Roman standard writes a letter home about the occurrence. How Caesar crossed the Rubicon. A Roman boy describes his school work. CHAPTER VI THE GERMANS The Gauls learn Roman ways. The Roman Empire ex- tended north to the Rhine and the Dan'ube. Gaul was con- quered by Julius Caesar, as has been said before, and by him Ariovistus was forced back across the Rhine to his native country. Roman settlers soon came into Gaul. Merchants brought their wares. Roman laws ruled the land, and in a much shorter time than one would have thought possible, the Gauls were talking Latin and following Roman customs. The coming of the Germans. The people across the Rhine became more and more troublesome. They were of many tribes, Angles, Saxons, and others, but the Romans called them all Germans. They made raids upon the Gauls, some- times in the summer, and sometimes by crossing on the ice in the winter, seized what booty they wanted, and escaped. Sometimes they came peacefully to the Roman cities and offered to work on the land or to defend the boundary and keep their countrymen back, and in such cases they were often welcomed. Sometimes a whole tribe came at once and demanded land to live on — which the Romans did not always dare to refuse — and sometimes they were strong enough to seize what land they wanted, whether the A GERMAN WAR CHIEF 68 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Romans refused or not. Tac'i-tus, a Latin writer, tells us the most that we know about the Germans. He says they were tall, strong people with keen blue eyes and light hair floating over their shoulders. The wardrobe of a German was not extensive, for it consisted of one article, a mantle made of wool or sometimes of the skins of animals. It was fastened with a clasp; but if a man had no clasp, he was not at all troubled, a thorn answered his purpose just as well. The women wore mantles of much the same sort, but often woven of linen and made gorgeous with purple dye. How the Germans lived. Most of the Germans lived in villages. The houses were only rude huts shaped like hay- stacks, and each man put his home wherever he chanced to find a spring or a grove or a meadow that pleased him; and so the villages were irregular and straggling. The Germans raised nothing but grain, and therefore they did not lay out gardens. At first the village owned the land and it was divided among the people every few years. After a while, however, each man had his own land, and only the forests and waste places belonged to the whole village. The Germans were a hospitable folk. Whenever a German heard any one at the door, he always brought him in, whether an old friend or an enemy, and gave him food and drink. If these gave out, host and guest went on to the next hut, and there both became ROMANS DESTROYING A VILLAGE OF THE GERMANS Observe the circular huts constructed of wickerwork, without windows and having but a single narrow door THE GERMANS 69 guests. Tacitus does not say what happened if the second host and perhaps the third and the fourth were out of provisions. Probably this rarely came to pass, for the Ger- mans were excellent hunters. The public entertainments always consisted of the same amusement, namely, a skillful dance by naked young men among swords and javelins. They enjoyed social gatherings, but often drank too much and were given to gambling. The men looked upon hunt- ing and warfare as their part of the work; the rest was left to the women. The government of the Germans. The government of the Germans was as follows. A number of villages made a " hundred." Each village had a chief, and each hundred and each tribe had a chief, but of greater power than the chief of the village. Each of these greater chiefs had the right to gather around him a band of young men ready for war- fare. He gave them horses, armor, and food, and in return they swore to be faithful to him and to follow wherever he led. Each village, hundred, and tribe met regularly and every freeman had the right to vote for a chief. To be dis- loyal to a leader after voting for him was a disgrace that was never forgotten or forgiven ; and cowardice also was an un- pardonable crime. There was no separate army, but if war broke out, every man was called upon to help defend his home and his people. Each boy was carefully taught the use of weapons, and when a boy was full grown, he was brought by his father into the meeting of freemen and pre- sented to them as one who was ready to take his part among them. They welcomed him and gave him a spear and a shield. The gods of the Germans. The Germans believed in many gods. The greatest was Wotan, or Odin. He was the ruler of the sky and the air and the earth, and also the giver of the fruits of the ground. He was represented as a majes- 7o OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS tic figure wearing a great white mantle and riding on a white horse. In his palace was the magnificent hall known as Val-hal'la, where he and his heroes lived forever. It is from this myth that Westminster Abbey in England, in which so many famous men are buried, is called the " Eng- lish Valhalla." Wotan and the Valkyries. Wotan's chief delight was in battle. No one was admitted to his Valhalla who had not died in valiant warfare. All day long he and his heroes enjoyed themselves in fighting and cut- ting one another into pieces. When night came, the wounds suddenly healed, and they sat down to feast. Whenever there was a battle on earth, Wotan sent his messengers to choose the bravest among the slain and bring them to his hall. These messengers were called the Val- kyr'ies, or choosers of the slain. They were thought to be beau- tiful maidens, who went forth with spear, shield, and helmet. Mounted on stalwart horses, they galloped to the fields of battle. Their armor was bright and shining. Its gleaming was reflected upon the clouds, and men on the earth called the glow the northern lights. Thor, the thunderer. Another of the German gods was Thor, the thunderer, who was the most powerful of all the gods. He was said to be armed with a hammer, and when it thundered, people used to say, "Thor has flung his hammer at some one of the giants." WOTAN THE GERMANS 71 Boniface and the Oak of Thor. The Germans never built even the simplest temples for their gods, but worshiped them out of doors. One great tree was called the Oak of Thor, because his worship was carried on under it for cen- turies. The missionary Boniface preached to the Germans against false gods, but still the worship of Thor went on under the oak. At last Boniface advanced, axe in hand, toward the sacred tree. The other clergy followed him and the people gazed in wonder and terror, for surely Thor would throw his hammer at this daring preacher. Boniface struck a blow with his axe, and the tree quivered ; another and another, and at length it crashed to the ground. "The Lord, He is God!" cried the people, and there was no more worship of idols under the Oak of Thor. The Nibelungen tale. Besides the myths of gods, there were also stories of heroes. The most famous of all is the Nibe- lungen (ne'be-long-en) tale. Probably this story began with short anecdotes of the bravery of some of the heroes of the early days, but as one after another told the stories, they came gradually to be told of one man; and so the legend grew. Even now it is told in several versions. In the best known of these, the knight Siegfried (seg'fred) became Von Carolsjeld SIEGFRIED AND KRIEMHILD (From a fresco in the Royal Palace, Munich, Germany) 12 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS owner of a hoard of gold once belonging to a race of dwarfs called Nibelungs. Siegfried did not know that the gold would bring trouble to whosoever might own it, and he went joyfully out into the world in search of adventures. Adven- tures he found in plenty. First of all, he broke through a ring of fire, awoke the Valkyrie Brun'hild (bron'hild), and became betrothed to her. But enchantment was thrown upon him, and he forgot that he had ever seen her. He helped a king to win her as his bride, and he himself married the king's sister Kriemhild (krem'hild). Brunhild had not forgotten Siegfried, and by the help of Hagen, Kriemhild's wicked uncle, he was killed when out hunting. Kriemhild learned that Hagen was her husband's murderer, and she was determined to avenge him. Mean- while, Hagen stole the treasure and sank it deep in the Rhine, meaning to raise it some day for himself. After a time, Kriemhild became the wife of a king, but she did not forget the murder of Siegfried, and at a feast she caught up Siegfried's magic sword and slew the wicked Hagen. There- upon one of Hagen's followers ran her through with his own sword. Thus ended the story of the treasure of the Nibe- lungs, which brought ill to every one possessing it. The coming of the Huns. The Romans were in need of all their heroes, for toward the end of the fourth century, a great multitude of Goths, one of the German tribes, ap- peared on the farther bank of the Danube. This time they did not come to fight but to entreat. "A fearful enemy is upon us," they wailed, "and we are helpless. Let us cross the river and settle in Thrace, and we will forever after be your grateful friends and allies." It is no wonder that even the warlike Goths were terrified, for the new enemy was the race of Huns, who had come from Asia. " They are a hor- rible folk," said the Goths. "They are squat and dark and fierce. Their noses are flat and their cheeks have been cut THE GERMANS 73 in deep gashes. They are the children of witches and de- mons. Let us come across, and we will be faithful to you." The Goths enter the Roman Empire. The Romans hesi- tated, but at length they yielded. " But you must give up your weapons," they said, " and on our part we will promise to furnish you with food till you are settled in Thrace." The Checa A BARBARIAN INVASION whole nation, perhaps a million in all, crossed the Danube. They were hardly over before another horde of Goths ap- peared with the same petition. The Huns were upon them; would not the Romans let them put the river between them and the barbarians? The Romans did not dare to admit any more Goths into the empire and they refused. But the Goths feared the Huns more than they did the Romans, and the whole throng crossed the river. Now it was learned that the first comers had bribed the Roman officers to let them keep their weapons, also that the Ro- mans in charge of the food had filled their own pockets by forcing the Goths to buy poor food at a very high price. 74 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Naturally, the two great companies united against the Ro- mans. They were finally subdued, and many thousand joined the Roman armies. Alaric the Goth forces Rome to pay ransom. Among the Western Goths there was a valiant leader named Al'a-ric. He and his followers had fought under Roman commanders and he had been in Italy twice. He planned first to attack Greece, then Rome. He came through the pass of Ther- mopylae ; for the Greeks had forgotten the bravery of their ancestors, and before long Alaric and his men were feasting in Athens. Roman troops were upon him, however, and he slipped away, to await a good opportunity for attacking Rome. Six years later, the opportunity came. He marched straight up to the walls of Rome, shut off food from the city, and commanded it to surrender. The luxurious Romans were indignant that a mere barbarian should think of conquering Rome. Even after they were weakened by famine and pestilence, they told Alaric that if he would give them generous terms of surrender, they might yield, " but if not," they said, " sound your trumpets and make ready to meet a countless multitude." Alaric laughed and retorted, " The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." He would leave Rome, he declared, if they would bring him all the gold and silver of the city. Finally, however, he agreed to accept five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, four thousand robes of silk, three thousand pieces of scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds of pepper. Alaric plunders Rome. Only two years later, Alaric came again, and this time the proud Romans were forced to obey whatever he commanded. He put the prefect of the city upon the throne ; but a little later he came a third time and encamped before the walls of Rome. The trumpets blew blast after blast, and the invaders poured into the city. THE GERMANS 75 Alaric bade his men spare both churches and people; but the Goths killed all who opposed them, or whom they sus- pected of concealing their wealth. Then they went away, loaded down with gold and silver and silk and jewels. They were in no haste to leave Italy with its wine and oil and cattle and corn; and, moreover, Alaric meant to get pos- ALARIC IN ROME session of Sicily and then make an expedition to Africa. Suddenly all these plans came to an end, for he was taken ill and died. His followers turned aside a little river from its channel, wrapped the body of their dead leader in the richest of the Roman robes, and made his grave in the river-bed. Then they turned back the waters of the stream to flow over it forever. Roman soldiers are called home. With such troubles as these on their hands, the Romans were obliged to call their 76 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS soldiers home from distant places in order to protect Rome. One of these places was Britain. A hundred years after Csesar died, many Romans went to Britain and partly con- quered the island. They built some of their excellent roads and founded cities with handsome buildings. Romans of wealth lived in elegant villas outside of the cities. The walls were beautifully painted, the floors were inlaid with marble, and the spacious rooms were adorned with statues and vases of great value. Many remains of these villas, of baths, of elabo- rate mosaic floors, and bits of statues have been found in England. Clovis and the vase of Soissons. Among the Germans there were some enterprising tribes that formed a sort of union and took the name of Franks. They had already made many settlements in Gaul, and as the Roman power became less, Clovis, then chief of these tribes, made up his mind that he and his Franks could overcome the Romans and win all Gaul for them- selves. When he was only twenty-one, he led his men against the Roman governor at Soissons, 1 and took the place. From here he sent out expeditions to conquer one bit of land after another and to bring back rich booty. The most valuable treasures were usually kept in the churches, and the heathen Franks took great delight in seizing these. Among the church treasures captured at Rheims (reemz) was a marvelously beautiful vase. Now the bishop of Rheims was on good terms with Clovis, and he sent a messenger to the young chief to beg that, even if the soldiers would not return all the holy vessels of the 1 Swas-son', almost swl-son'. FRANKISH COSTUME OF THE TIME OF CLOVIS THE GERMANS 77 church, this one at least might be given back. Clovis bade the messenger follow on to Soissons, where the booty would be divided. At Soissons, when all the warriors were assem- bled, the king pointed to the vase and said, " I ask you, O most valiant warriors, not to refuse to me the vase in addition to my rightful part." Most of the soldiers were wise enough not to object to the wishes of so powerful a chief; but one foolish, envious man swung his battle-axe and crushed the vase, crying, " Thou shalt receive nothing of this unless a just lot gives it to thee." It is no wonder that the whole army were amazed. at such audacity. Clovis said nothing, but quietly handed the crushed vase to the bishop's messenger. He did not forget the insult, however, and a year later, when he was reviewing his troops, he declared that this man's weapons were not in fit condition, and with one blow of his axe he struck the soldier dead, saying, " Thus thou didst to the vase at Soissons." The rule of Charlemagne. These Franks were the ances- tors of the French people. Of course they destroyed some of the Roman cities in Gaul, but much of the work of the Romans remained. When the great ruler Charlemagne (sharle-man') came to the throne, he was eager to learn and have his people taught. He was a great fighter, and after the ideas of those days, an ardent missionary, for he had a fashion of conquering a tribe and then giving them their choice between being slain and being baptized. Just as scholars had been invited to Alexandria, so this warlike king invited learned men to make their homes in his king- dom, and he "established a school in his own palace. He was much interested in astronomy; he had a German grammar made; he collected the old poems of his people; he founded schools in the land, and he bade the bishops and abbots see to it that the sons of serfs were treated just the same as the sons of free men and had just as good a chance to learn. He 78 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS also brought to his kingdom musicians in order that there might be good music in the churches, and he built among others a specially magnificent church at Aix-la-Chapelle (aks-la-sha-pel'), his capital city. After Charlemagne died, the immense territory which he ruled was divided, roughly speaking, into what later be- came France, Germany, and Italy. The Moors in Spain. The Goths also made their way into Spain; but not much more than two hundred years after the Franks got possession of Gaul, the Moors, who believed that the Arabian Mo-ham 'med was a prophet of God , invaded the country. There they re- mained because the little Spanish states were too jealous of one another to unite against them. In 1469, Ferdinand of Ar'a-gon married Isabella of Castile (kas-teT), and now these two kingdoms worked together and subdued the Moors. Invaders as they were, the Moors did much for Spain, for they were a literary people and were learned in medicine and mathematics and well skilled in agriculture and commerce. They built handsome mosques and such magnificent palaces as the Al-ham'bra, which is still standing. While they dwelt in the land, Spain was far beyond other countries of Europe in knowledge, and so many people went to Spain to study that Moorish learning spread widely. Changes in languages. So it was that the mighty empire CHARLEMAGNE Diirer THE GERMANS 79 of Rome broke up into separate countries. Spain, France, Germany, and Britain each had its own way of living, but all were influenced by what they had learned from the Romans, and through them from the Greeks. As the years passed, a great change took place in the languages of the different countries. Those conquered by Rome soon talked Latin ; but all languages change from year to year ; and even the people who lived in England a few hundred years ago would not find it easy to understand the English of to-day. So it was with the Roman countries. The languages changed, but the changes were not the same. Sometimes the words remained much alike; for instance, man, king, book, are in Latin homo, rex, liber ; in Italian, uomo, re, libro ; in Spanish, hombre, rey, libro; in French, homme, roi, livre. So many of the common words remain only a little changed that it is very easy for one who knows Latin to learn to read the Romance languages, 'as those are called which come from the Latin, or Roman. 8o OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Which Roman customs were good for the Gauls? Were there arrj of which you do not approve? 2. Why was it dangerous to give Roman land to the Gauls? 3. Could the Goths have done anything better than to unite against the Romans? 4. Why were not the Romans as brave to meet Alaric as they were in earlier times to meet their enemies? 5. In what respect was Alaric nobler than his followers? 6. What do you think of Clovis? 7. What is the difference between the missionary work of Charlemagne's time and that of to-day? 8. Why cannot a country get along just as well without schools? 9. Can you find any words that are nearly alike in any two languages? 10. Can you think of any two English words that have nearly the same meaning? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A visit to a German village. A father tells his son about the Oak of Thor. A Gothic boy tells of the coming of the Huns. When Alaric came to Rome. CHAPTER VII ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH The coming of the Germans. The Roman troops had hardly left Britain before the country was attacked by savage tribes from the north and also German tribes from the Continent. The Britons were in despair. They sent an appeal to Rome for help, but Rome could not even defend herself. The Britons de- cided to offer to some of the German tribes land in Britain if they would help drive away the invaders. The tribes agreed, and soon a band of Jutes from Jutland, led by the two chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, landed in Than'et. They were followed by Angles from Schleswig, together with Saxons and others from the country lying between the Rhine and the Elbe; but the Britons called them all Saxons. With the help of these new- comers, the troublesome invaders were driven away; but so many Saxons came that Thanet was not large enough for them, and they demanded more land. What was worse, they were ready to fight for it. The Britons were ready to defend it ; but the Saxons were the stronger. Probably the warfare went on for many years, but at length many of the Britons were driven to the mountains of western Britain. King Arthur. One of the British leaders is said to have ANCIENT JUTISH BOAT (It was found some years ago buried in a peat bog in South Jutland, so perfectly preserved that the parts could be put together) 82 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS been a certain King Arthur, who fought sternly and fear- lessly until he was forced far back into the mountains of Wales. He and his knights were said to have sat together at a table which was made round so that no one of them could claim to be occupying a more honorable seat than another. Just as in the case of the story of the Nibelungs, stories of the amazing goodness and prowess of King Arthur LANDING OF THE SAXONS and his followers were told and retold, until at last they were united in one story. Finally, Tennyson put them into beautiful poetry in his I'dylls of the King. Britain becomes England. Conquering Britain was slow work; it was sixty years before even the southern part of the country was subdued. At length, however, the Britons were driven back into Wales, Devonshire, and a strip of land on the western coast. The Angles held the eastern part of Britain and the southeastern part of Scotland; the Saxons held the southern part, save for Devonshire and Wales, and the Jutes held the Isle of Wight and the little county of Kent. Gradually, the country took the name of ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 83 Angle-land or England, from the name of one tribe; but the people were spoken of as Saxons, from that of another; and persons descended from them are called Anglo-Saxons. Representative government in England. The Britons who had been driven to the west by the Saxons were Christians. St. Patrick had preached in Ireland, and the Irish monasteries had become the most famous schools in Europe. The Saxons had lived a long way from Rome, and so were less civilized than most of the other Germanic tribes. They knew nothing about Christianity, and seemed to take special delight in destroying churches and convents. Nevertheless, they knew how to cultivate the soil and they wished to have settled homes. They had lost nothing of their love of freedom by coming to Britain, and they had also a new and valuable idea in government. In Rome every free citizen had a right to vote; but it was no easy matter to make a long journey to the city in order to cast a vote; and the result was that the Roman Empire was ruled not by the whole people, but by those who lived in Rome and near it. In England, the members of the village chose four men to speak and vote for them at the meeting of the hun- dreds, that is, the group of villages that could furnish one hundred fighting men. This was what is called represen- tative government, and the village assembly, the "moot," or meeting, was the origin of our "town meeting." St. Gregory and the English boys. The Germans seem to have come in companies, and there were frequent wars among them. Captives taken in these wars were often sold as slaves. One day a kind priest, known afterwards as St. Greg'o-ry, saw some English boys for sale in the Roman market-place. He was struck by the beauty of their blue eyes and fair hair, and asked where they came from. " They are Angli" {English), was the reply. " Non Angli sed angeli! " {not Angles, but a ngels) exclaimed Gregory, and 84 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS from that day he longed to preach the Gospel in England. This never came to pass, for he was made Pope and had to remain in Rome ; but he sent in his stead a priest afterwards called St. Au'gus-tine. St. Augustine preaches in England. Augustine and his band of monks landed on the Isle of Thanet, just where Hengist had landed before them. The king of Kent had SAINT GREGORY AND THE ENGLISH SLAVE CHILDREN married a Christian maiden, daughter of the Frankish king of Gaul, and he was willing that the missionaries should come. "Then," he said, " I will meet you there, and hear what you have to say about this new religion, and if it seems to me to be true, I will accept it." He was afraid that the strangers might practice magic, and for fear of evil spirits he had the assembly in the open air, where demons would have less power than in a house. St. Au'gus-tine and the others came first to the place of meeting. A beautiful silver cross was borne before them, gleaming in the sunlight, and a pic- ture, or image, of Christ. Then came the missionaries chant- ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 85 ing the litany. The king listened intently while St. Augus- tine preached about the religion of the one God. The Saxons were never hasty in accepting any new ideas, and the king went home to think about the matter. A year later, he and his followers were baptized. Churches and monasteries were now built, and Augustine was made archbishop of Canter- bury. Egbert becomes overlord. The Danes. England was broken into several little kingdoms, but in 829 a king named Egbert succeeded in extending his own kingdom over all southern England and making the kings of the other parts THE COMING OF THE DANES of the land, except in the west, acknowledge him as over- lord. The English needed to hold together, for now they were fiercely attacked by great fleets of pirates or vi'kings who lived about the Baltic Sea. These were the Danes or Northmen. They were wild and fearless and loved adven- ture, and they thought it a disgrace for a man to die in his bed at home. No storm was too furious and no sea too tur- 86 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS bulent for them to leap into their boats and dash forth from the creeks or inlets into the open ocean. These creeks were called "viks," and therefore the wild sea-rovers called them- selves vikings. One of their boats, buried in the sand for centuries, was dug up in Norway. It is nearly seventy-eight feet long, but less than six feet deep. It would draw less than four feet of water. Along the sides were ranged the over- lapping shields of the warriors. The rudder could easily be shipped. This vessel had room for sixteen oars on each side, but some of the larger ones had room for thirty oars. The largest boats were called dragons and had the gilded head of a dragon at the bow and its gilded tail at the stern, and as the vessel moved swiftly over the waters, it must have really looked like a great dragon. There was probably a square sail set on a mast which could be quickly taken down. The flag bore a raven black as midnight. The smaller boats sometimes represented serpents, and frightful enough they must have looked. The attacks of the Northmen. In such boats as these, often provisioned for several weeks, the Northmen swept across the waves, then slipped quietly up some river in the darkness, and with wild yells pounced upon some defenseless little village, killed, burned, and plundered. They destroyed bridges, they set fire to the growing crops, they tossed little babies to and fro on the points of their spears, they tortured the helpless dogs and horses. Then they set off for their homeland to display the booty they had won. Their law of battle was that a Dane who fled from fewer than five dis- graced himself. The destruction of churches and convents was their special delight, for in these buildings were rich treas- ures of gold and silver and precious stones. If the different parts of England could have united and stood together firmly, they might perhaps have been able to resist the in- vaders; but as it was, when one part of the country was ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 87 attacked, the people of the rest of it apparently had no other thought than merely to rejoice because they themselves had escaped harm. The battle of Ashdown. For some time the Danes seemed to have no idea of remaining in England; they made their terrible attacks and then sailed away in triumph. At length the time came, however, when they showed themselves de- termined to conquer the whole country. The Saxons met them valiantly, and at last the battle of Ashdown took place. Far up on Ashdown Hill there is the rudely outlined figure of a horse, made by cutting away the turf from the white limestone. It is so large that it spreads over nearly an acre of the hillside. The standard of the Saxons was a white horse, and tradition says this figure was cut in mem- ory of the victory of the Saxons at Ashdown. It is an old custom for the people of the neighborhood to set apart a day every few years for " scouring the white horse," that is, for cutting away the turf and bushes that have grown till they partly conceal the outlines of the horse. Then they have races and games and a general good time. Alfred becomes King. There was not a moment for any rejoicing over the victory, for the Danes had come in swarms, and there were scores to take the place of every Dane who had been slain. Other battles followed, and in one of these Ethelred, the king, was killed. This left the king- dom in the hands of his younger brother. His name was Al- fred, but he would have been greatly surprised if he had been told that in later times he would be called Alfred the Great. He was only twenty-two, his enemies were all about him, there was no one to help him, no one to whom he could go for advice. There was not a day to spare for the crowning of the young king. There was no rejoicing, there was not even a meeting of the chief men of the kingdom to accept him as their ruler. The only difference was that Alfred took 88 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS the command of the army in place of his brother. We speak of him as king of England, but in reality only a part of Wes- sex was at that time fully under his control. Alfred builds ships. After a while, the Danes withdrew and took up their winter quarters in London. Then Alfred had a little time to think. Both Saxons and Danes were of the same Germanic blood and by nature both loved the sea. The Saxons had for many years been settled on the land, but Alfred believed that the old skill on the sea could be aroused, and he planned to build ships to meet the Danes on the water, and so protect the land. His chief men were not at all certain that this course was wise, but after the ships had been built and a victory won, they became as eager as the king to build more. Alfred takes refuge in a forest. At last the Danes asked for a treaty of peace. Treacherous as the Danes were, the Saxons could not believe that they would break the solemn treaty; but this they did, and in only a few months. Alfred's lines had been sadly thinned by warfare; many men had been driven from England by want of food ; his people were hope- less. The king himself was almost in despair. Suddenly he disappeared. His wife and family and a few of his most faithful friends had also vanished. He had taken refuge in a swampy forest. Here and there was ground that was dry enough to be cultivated, and in such places swineherds and ALFRED THE GREAT ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 89 cattle herds had built their huts. These were of brushwood held together with mud or of earth mixed with straw. Some- times posts were planted in a circle, twigs interwoven, and the spaces filled with clay. The smoke went out through a hole in the roof — when it went out at all. In one of these huts, where Alfred stayed for a time, lived one of his own herdsmen, and the thrifty wife could not understand why her husband should feed an idle stranger. There is a tradition that she tried to make him useful by setting him to watch some cakes baking before the fire, and that she scolded him roundly because the anxious king forgot to turn them. An- other tradition of his stay in the forest is that in order to get information about the Danes he put on the dress of a wandering harper and went to their camp. He amused them by singing old ballads, and they never guessed that they were applauding the English king. Alfred makes peace with the Danes. When spring came, Alfred made an attack upon his enemies. He was not strong enough to drive them from the land, but he did make them agree to remain in their settlements in the eastern and northern parts of England. This treaty was different from those that the Danes had broken before, for they agreed to be baptized ; and this signified that they were ready to give up their wild life and settle down. Alfred agreed that they might keep East Anglia, the northern half of Mer'cia, and North-um'ber-land ; but he retained a sort of overlordship. Both Saxons and Danes were to have the same laws and the same penalties for law-breaking. Where the Danes lived was called Danelagh, or Dane-law. The ravaged Kingdom. The Danes had run over the land again and again; crops had been destroyed; houses and churches had been burned ; convents with their schools and libraries had been demolished, and the monks, who were the teachers, had been driven from the land or slain. There was ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 91 no money in the king's treasury, the fortifications were in ruins; indeed, they had never been of much value — and the people were restless and troubled. Some thought the land would have to be given up to wild beasts. Alfred's forts and navy. Alfred knew well that even if the Danes already in the country kept the treaty, yet others would be likely to come, therefore first of all he built a line of forts around the coast. This was slow work, for he wished his people to learn how to use stone in building, and he had to send to the Continent for workmen to teach them. Then he proceeded to make a navy, and it was not many years before he had at least one hundred vessels fully equal to those of the Danes. He built also many convents and churches. The laws are enforced. After so many years of warfare, the people had become careless of law and order. Alfred made them understand that laws were given to be kept. He made the judges, too, realize the same thing, and once when a man was condemned without the consent of the jury, he promptly hanged the unjust judge. If a man asked for a trial before the king, his request was granted ; but Al- fred was so sure to find out the truth that no guilty man liked to come before him. Learned men come to England. Alfred could build schools and churches, but to find teachers and priests was a different matter; for there was not a priest south of the Thames (temz) who could translate a page of Latin into Saxon. Then, just as Charlemagne had done, Alfred in- vited learned men from other countries to make their homes in his kingdom. He liked especially a Welsh priest named Asser, who was very helpful in all his plans, and to him the king gave lavish presents and generous honors. Alfred translates books for his people. Alfred meant that every boy in the land should learn to read his own language, 9 2 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS and that those who showed special ability should also learn to read Latin ; but the difficulty was that Latin was looked upon as the proper language for books, and English books were almost entirely lacking. So the busy king began to translate books from Latin into English for the use of his people. Pope Gregory, who had been so interested in the blue-eyed children from Britain, had written a letter to AN EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH teach bishops how to do their best for the people in their care; and Alfred first of all translated that. Then there was an old book by a monk called Bede (beed) which tells the history of the land, and this he put into English. An- other was a sort of geography and history combined. It was written five hundred years before Alfred's day, and was just a bit out of date. Therefore, whenever the king came to any subject which he knew more about than the writer, he added his own knowledge. When he translated the chapter about Sweden, for instance, he added what a hale and hearty sea- captain had just told him of his recent voyage to the north- ward. Longfellow's ' ' Discoverer of the North Cape " tells the ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 93 whole story in verse of the captain's coming to the king and describing his voyage to the North Cape. So it was that Alfred translated. He never forgot that he was writing for his people, and if he came to anything that he thought they would not understand, he wrote enough of" his own to make it clear to them. Alfred's lantern. The earnest king determined that half his money and half his time should be given to some special service for God. He could divide his money, but he had no clock to mark off the time. He succeeded, however, in mak- ing candles of such a size that six of them burnt in suc- cession would last twenty-four hours. Therefore one would burn four hours, and by marking it off into twelve divisions, he could divide his time into twenty-minute periods. There was one difficulty, however. When a candle was in a draught, it burned too rapidly; so Alfred put thin sheets of horn around it, making a sort of lantern, and Asser wrote admiringly that the light was just as bright without as within. The repulse of the Danes. The Danes tried once more to overpower King Alfred, and sailed their fleet into a little river. Behold, the king quietly turned the river out of its course and so left the ships on dry land. This was more than even the Danes could stand, and they fled for their lives. Alfred had received a barren land overrun by enemies. He left it a peaceful, prosperous kingdom, with schools, churches, just laws, vessels, and fortifications. It is no wonder that he is called Alfred the Great. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Why were the Britons unwise to invite the Saxons to their country? 2. Read the story of Arthur's pulling the sword from the stone, and then tell it, as you would tell it to a younger child. (See King Arthur Stories from Malory, Stevens and Allen. The Boy's King Arthur, Lanier. Any edition of Malory.) 94 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 3. In this country, does every man vote directly for president, or does he choose a representative to vote for him? Which way is better? Why? 4. If you have an opportunity to attend a town meeting, report how it was carried on. 5. Imagine that you are watching the landing of St. Augustine, and tell what you see. 6. Are there any other scenes in this chapter that would be good sub- jects for pictures? 7. What statues or pictures or monuments have you seen or heard of that serve as memorials of people or great events? 8. Suggest different ways of celebrating great events. 9. What was the worst quality in the Northmen? 10. If you were wrecked on an island, how many different kinds of dwell- ings could you build? 11. What qualities in Alfred are shown by his visit to the Danish camp? 12. What do you call Alfred's best and wisest act? 13. Why was it worth while for Alfred's subjects to study geography and history? 14. Do you remember any interesting events connected with rivers? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK The letter of the Britons to the German tribes. A story of King Arthur. See Tennyson's Idylls of the King. One of the English captives describes the meeting with St. Gregory. Describe a day of "scouring the white horse." Two Saxons discuss the invitation to come to Britain. The housewife tells her husband the story of the burned cakes. CHAPTER VIII HOW THE ENGLISH BEGAN TO WIN THEIR LIBERTIES Charlemagne and the Northmen. The Danes did finally rule in England, but this came about in a way that no one would ever have expected. The story is told that while Charlemagne was one HEBRIDES \%.A> f-^ day sitting at dinner, he saw a fleet of long, narrow boats coming swiftly toward the land. He noted the dragon's head and tail and the row of shields, and he knew that these people were Northmen. He and his followers marched down to the shore to drive them away; but there was no fighting, for the Danes had heard about the prowess of the king and had no wish to meet him; so they scurried away as fast as their boats could be made to carry them. As the Franks stood watching them, Charlemagne's eyes filled with tears. " I weep," he said, "to see that they have ventured so near ROUTES OF THE VIKING EXPEDITIONS 96 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS our shore, and to think of the evils that they will bring upon my children and their people." Rollo the Dane comes to France. Charlem'agne was right, for in a few years after his death the Danish chief Rollo got possession of a part of northern Gaul, or France. The king of France was not strong enough to drive the Danes away, so while they stood on one side of a little river, the French stood on the other, and they bargained that the Northmen, or Normans, should settle in that part of the land which took its name from them and is still called Normandy. This land they were to hold as long as they gave the king of France faithful military service. Rollo was a strict ruler in his new country, for he was as eager to succeed as a Christian ruler as he had been to make a success of his viking life. The Normans were ready to adopt any new ways that seemed better than their own, and before long they became as French as the French themselves. William the Norman conquers England. Meanwhile, the Danes had gained so much power in England that for a few years Danish kings ruled the land. Then came an Anglo- Saxon ruler, Edward the Confessor, who promised to be- queath the throne to his kinsman, William Duke of Nor- mandy. At the king's death, however, the English chose an Englishman as their ruler. William was indignant. With all his forces he sailed across to England, conquered the inhabit- ants in the battle of Hastings, and seized the throne. The English rose against him again and again; but at last they were forced to yield, and in time the two races united in one. The English, though brave # and strong to endure, were slower and less fiery than the Normans, while the invaders were quick and energetic. It was a good thing that the two races mingled, for their descendants have many of the good qualities of both. HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 97 How William ruled. Even the English admitted that William was just; indeed, he imprisoned his own half- brother Odo because in the king's absence Odo had treated the people unfairly; but he ruled with a strong hand. The A NORMAN CASTLE KEEP, ROCHESTER CASTLE English who would swear to be faithful to him, he per- mitted to retain their lands, but those who refused the oath were deprived of their holdings. These became the property of the king, and so did the lands of those who had fought against him in the battle of Hastings. This land he divided among his Norman followers; but he was shrewd enough not to let even a Norman hold too much land in any one 98 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS district, lest he should become too powerful. He was as careful as Alfred to strengthen his government by building strong castles in different parts of the kingdom and putting them into the hands of men whom he could trust. The English language is enriched. Of course the Normans spoke French and the English spoke English; but the Eng- lish gradually prevailed. This new English, however, often retained two words, one from the French and one from the English, meaning the same thing; for instance, act, from the French, or rather the Latin through the French; and deed, from the English. The language was enriched; that is, it became possible to express the same idea in two or more different ways. To this day, English borrows words from different languages, but it makes them wear an English dress. We take telegraph from the Greek; but we say telegraphs and telegraph-ing, and the 5 and the ing are not Greek, but English. Death of William. Normandy was a most independent duchy, and was not at all afraid to fight the French king. In one of their struggles the city of Mantes was burned. When riding over the ruins, William was thrown from his horse, and afterward died of his injuries. If we may trust one of the old chroniclers, Matilda, wife of William the Con- queror, was descended from Alfred the Great. In that case, the present ruler of England would be a descendant of both William and Alfred. John revolts against King Richard. Less than two hun- dred years after the reign of William the Conqueror, one of his descendants, King Richard, sat upon the throne of Eng- land. When he was on a crusade, or expedition to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks, his brother John led a revolt and did everything in his power to get the govern- ment into his own hands. On Richard's way home he was captured by one of his enemies and imprisoned. John was HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 99 delighted and tried to convince the English that their king was dead. Richard's mother and his ministers stood firmly by the absent crusader, and the country gladly paid a large ransom to secure his freedom. John's crimes. John was a thoroughly bad man. When he was nineteen, his father sent him to Ireland as " Lord of Ireland." The chiefs came to welcome him, but he behaved so insolently that they fought him and his army; and the king in wrath ordered him to return to England. The rest of his life was worthy of this beginning. He was always in trouble — and he always deserved it. He divorced his wife and married a young lady who was betrothed to one of his own nobles, and this aroused warfare against him. When at Richard's death he be- came king, he did not improve in the least. He was afraid that his nephew Arthur, who was the son of an older brother, might get possession of the kingdom. The boy disappeared, and it was suspected that John had murdered him. The king of France tried him for murder, and de- prived him of more than half his Nor- man lands. That is why he was called John Lackland. How John got money. John was by far the worst ruler England ever had. He was always in need of money, and he did not care in the least how he got it. In order to hold their land, the nobles were obliged to obey whenever the king called them out to war. John took advantage of this law by calling the barons to come out in arms, and then refusing to allow them to return home until they had paid him large sums of money. Sometimes he did not make any JOHN (From his monument in Worcester Cathedral) ioo OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS sort of excuse, but simply demanded money of any persons who he thought had it. If they refused to give it, he often tortured them until they yielded. Men who had committed crime and deserved to be punished he would set free if they could raise money enough to make him a present. If two men disagreed and brought their difficulty before him for trial, he would decide in favor of the one who had made him the larger gift. Sometimes, for some very small offense, he would demand money of a poor man who had only a horse and cart with which to earn his living; and if the man had no friends to bribe the king, his horse and cart were sold to help fill the royal treasury. John and the Pope. When the Archbishop of Canterbury died, there was a dispute about who should succeed him. The Pope was appealed to, and he bade the monks of Canter- bury name a good, upright, scholarly man named Stephen Langton to take his place. This choice did not please the king, because he knew that he could not control so honest and fearless a man, and therefore he seized the monastery and its revenues, banished the monks, and for six years he resisted the Pope and refused to let Langton enter his own see. Finally, he became afraid that he was going to die, and then he yielded most meekly. He even went to the arch- bishop to beg for absolution, or the pardon of the Church. "When you promise to obey the laws of the land and to treat your people justly, I will absolve you," replied the dauntless archbishop. John was always ready to make a promise, but he never kept it unless it was convenient. He promised what the archbishop asked; and said he would restore at once what he had taken from the Church; but, as might have been expected, he did not keep his word. The meeting of the barons. Next to the king, the barons were the most powerful men of the kingdom ; but even they HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 101 did not know what to do. Fortunately, the archbishop knew. He called the barons together and read them what had been the law of the land since a short time after the death ARCHBISHOP LANGTON READING THE LAW OF THE LAND TO THE BAR6NS of William the Conqueror. Then the barons knew better what their rights were, and they took a solemn oath to defend them. " But we will wait for one year," they said. " The king may do better." They waited a year; then they waited till Christmas. The king had not improved, and the barons went to him and asked him to repeat the promises that he had made to the archbishop. John was insolent at 102 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS first, but when he saw that the barons were in earnest, he became very meek, and said that what they asked was important, to be sure, but also difficult, and he should need a little time before making the agreement. By Easter he should be able to satisfy them. The barons did not believe him, and so, when Easter came, they brought to the ap- pointed place a large body of armed followers. After a while John sent to ask what it was that the barons insisted upon having. Then bold, dignified Stephen Langton read aloud to him from a parchment such articles as these : "A free man shall not be fined for a small offense except in propor- tion to the gravity of the offense." "No free man shall be imprisoned or banished except by the lawful judgment of his equals, or by the law of the land." The wrath of King John. John grew more and more angry as these were read ; and when the archbishop went on to read other articles declaring that the king must not take bribes, or impose taxes without the consent of his council, or body of advisers, and finally one giving the barons the right to elect twenty-five of their number to keep watch over him and seize his castles if he did not keep his promise, then he went into a furious passion. " I will never grant liberties that would make me a slave! " he declared. John signs Magna Carta. But what could he do? When John found that he must yield, he sent a polite message to the barons, saying that he was willing to meet them wher- ever they wished and to promise them whatever they de- sired. There was a famous green meadow with low hills on one side and the river Thames on the other. Its name of Run'ny-mede, or Meadow of Council, was given it long before William the Conqueror landed in England, because there the Saxons used to hold their councils. To this meadow the barons and their army marched from London. HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 103 Then out of a strong fortress that rose near at hand, and across the drawbridge that swung over the moat, rode an angry and sulky ruler of England. He signed the parch- ment, either in the meadow or on an island in the river, and then he went back to his palace. He gnashed his teeth, and THE BARONS PRESENTING MAGNA CARTA TO KING JOHN shrieked, and rolled on the floor like a madman; but the barons cared little for his wrath, they were hard at work seeing to it that many copies of this parchment were made and sent over the land to be read aloud in the churches. Magna Carta. This parchment was the famous Magna Carta, or Great Charter. One of the copies of it is now, brown, shriveled, and torn, in the British Museum. This is the most precious document owned by the English nation, for it secures for the whole people the right that their ruler shall treat them justly. From that day to this, no ruler has ever been able to remain on the throne of England who 104 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS has not kept the promises that King John was obliged to make that June day at Runnymede. The extravagant Henry III. The little son of King John, who was crowned as Henry III, was a gentle, amiable boy. Of course all laws were made in his name, but the barons were the real rulers, and until the king was of age and had full power in his own hands, matters went on very well. JUt cjmlpr. A«* t&ia\M n^cbo^temiAt- .nee W ami wunitf n«c wa cunv iiirtemvi\mf\V U- FACSIMILE EXTRACT FROM MAGNA CARTA Then the country was in trouble again, for this king was so extravagant and fond of display that even the taxes of a kingdom were not enough for him. When his sister married the emperor of Germany, Henry gave her such splendid jewels and dresses and horses and golden dishes that people stared in amazement to see even an empress display such magnificence. Of course the English had to pay for all this lavishness, and when, the very next year, the king himself married, the demands upon them were still larger. Worse than that, the new queen was from France, and brought with her to England troops of friends and relatives and clergymen. The king put the clergymen in the best paying positions in the Church, and gave so many pensions to the friends and relatives that one sixth of the royal income was HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 105 wasted upon them. Two or three years after the marriage, a prince was born, and then the king, not satisfied with the generous presents that people made on such occasions, actually sent men about the country to ask for gifts. Some years after this, when he wanted money, he visited the homes of his subjects, and at the end of each visit he invited his host to make him a present! He begged and borrowed BUILDING OPERATIONS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY III The king, to the left, is giving directions to the architect everywhere. He even stole from the Church, for if a position became vacant, he let it remain so and took the income for himself. The English bear with Henry. If this Henry III had been a king of whom the English people could have been proud, they would have been more willing to endure his extrava- gance, but his government was weak, he had never put an enemy to flight, and the clear-headed Englishmen began to realize how foolish it was to make themselves poor that such a king might have money to throw away. They were long- io6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS suffering, and whenever they seemed ready to make a stand against him, the king would break down and weep and say that he meant them no harm. He would promise whatever they asked, and perhaps he really meant to keep his prom- ises, but he was so weak that he broke them at the first temptation. A party formed against Henry. The people of England bore with their extravagant ruler for forty years, then their am m PLANTAGENET KING AT TABLE wrath rose and did not subside. Henry was sending to the Pope much larger sums than they thought their land could spare, and now on a promise that one of the English princes should rule Sicily, Henry had agreed to give the Pope a great amount of money to help make a conquest of the island. He called Parliament together, brought in his son wearing the Sicilian dress, and told the assembly what an honor it would be to England for the prince to be king of Sicily. Simon de Montf ort and Henry, This was not a good time HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 107 to ask for so much money to be sent out of the kingdom, for che English were carrying on a war with the Welsh, and there was a terrible famine besides. The barons refused to yield to Henry's demands, and finally a strong party was formed against him. The leader in this opposition was Henry's brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort. Henry was afraid of Earl Simon. There is a story that once when he was boating on the Thames River, a thunderstorm came up and he was obliged to take refuge in the nearest palace. The earl, who chanced to be a guest in the palace, assured the king that the storm was passing and there was nothing to fear. Henry burst forth with, "Lord Simon, I fear thun- der and lightning, but I fear you more than all the thunder and lightning in the world." The two Houses of Parliament are formed. Henry had good reason to fear Earl Simon, for when the quarrel be- tween king and people came to war, the earl was victorious. The barons had no wish to depose the king, but they obliged him to call a Parliament, which met in 1265. This Parlia- ment was different from all that had preceded it, for not only barons and bishops, but country gentlemen and citi- zens were asked to send representatives to it. Before this, only land owners had had a hand in making the laws; but now two citizens from every borough and city were sum- moned, and therefore merchants and traders were rep- resented. Every man in the kingdom had a voice in the government, for he had a right to vote for or against his proposed representative. This was only an extension of the idea of the village "moot," which elected men to represent the village in the hundred. Gradually the English lawmaker separated into two houses. The bishops, abbots, and greater lords formed the House of Lords; the lesser nobles and busi- ness men of the towns formed the House of Commons. Representative government in England. Edward I, io8 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Henry's son, was a wise, shrewd sovereign. He carried on Earl Simon's idea of a Parliament that should really repre- sent the people. Moreover, he made a formal promise to his people that he would obey the Great Charter, and par- ticularly that he would collect no taxes without the consent of his council. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT Such was the beginning of the representative government which the early immigrants brought to America. We have the town meeting, where every man has the right to speak and to vote. He helps elect men to represent him in the State legislature and also in Congress. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Was Charlemagne a faithful king? Why? 2. Have you learned within the past week any new way of doing any- thing? Why did you adopt it? 3. Think of the bravest person you know, and tejl how he showed hia bravery? What is bravery? HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 109 4. Was William the Conqueror just in refusing to give land to those who would not swear to be faithful to him? 5. Write what you think of William; then write it again, trying to use entirely different words. 6. Read Act IV, Scene I, of Shakespeare's King John. 7. What would happen to a judge in this country if he favored a man because of a bribe? 8. Why would a good king have preferred an honest archbishop? 9. Why should John have been angry at the articles read to him by Stephen Langton? 10. Describe the signing of Magna Carta as if you had been present. 11. Have we any document that we prize as the English prize Magna Carta? 12. An Englishman writes to a friend his opinion of the king. 13. Why is it a good plan for all classes of people to help make the laws? 14. What ideas have you noted thus far that the early immigrants brought to America? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK One of John's barons tells why he opposed the king. The discussion of the barons after Archbishop Langton read them the law of the land. What John thought of Magna Carta. CHAPTER IX HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN ENGLAND AND IN EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES The castles of the nobles. Many centuries had passed since the days of the Greeks, and ways of living and think- ing had changed in many respects. In most countries there was a general belief that the land belonged to the king, and A CASTLE IN SUSSEX, ENGLAN D (Built in the 14th century. The moat is shown in the foreground) that he had a right to allow whomsoever he chose to have the use of it. To pay for this privilege, the noble who re- ceived the land had to promise to fight for him. These nobles lived in massive castles with stone walls sometimes ten or fifteen feet in thickness. They were built for defense, for those were lawless times, and people had to be ready to protect themselves. The small castles consisted of little ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES in more than a tower surrounded by a moat or wide, deep ditch full of water; but the large ones contained a number of rooms, and also, within the outer wall, perhaps a garden and an orchard, and even a forge, a church, a bakery, and a stable. Furnishings of the castles. These cold stone castles can- not have been very comfortable, but in some of them the furnishings were ex- ceedingly expensive. The beds were often set up high because rats ran around the floors; but the bed- posts were perhaps ornamented with precious stones. The table was of rough boards laid upon trestles ; but when the lord of the cas- tle could afford it, there were frequent- ly goblets of gold and silver flashing with jewels. People usually ate from wooden trenchers or trencher, a particularly forks were unknown. The castle hall. The hall, or living-room, had a great fireplace in the center. There were chairs and benches for seats, and on the walls was tapestry, sometimes picturing scenes from the Bible or the hunting-field or the lives of saints. The floor was covered with rushes, and almost never A DINNER IN THE HALL rude plates, two using the same unpleasant arrangement, since 112 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS swept, so that a feast in a castle was an absurd mingling of luxury and filth. There was always something of interest going on in the hall. Here vassals, or those who held land of the lord of the castle on condition of service, came to "pay homage," that is, to kneel before him, their hands clasped in his, and promise to be faithful to him. Here wandering minstrels came to sing ballads and romances. After the dinner — at ten or eleven o'clock in the morning — there were sometimes games, such as backgammon, cards, chess, and checkers. The training of girls. Just as girls and boys are now sent to college or boarding school, so they were then sent from one noble family to an- other for training. The girls were taught to man- age a household, to sew and embroider, to card wool and spin and weave, to sing, to ride, and espe- cially to give "first aid" and understand nursing, for wounded knights were often in the care of the lady of the castle. The training of a page. Boys played ball and mar- bles and walked on stilts and see-sawed just like the boys of to-day, but their real business was learning to become knights. They were taught to ride, to leap over walls and ditches, to use sword and lance and bow, to swim and box and climb, and to understand hawking and hunt- ing. Possibly they learned also a little reading. These boys, A SQUIRE BECOMING A KNIGHT ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 113 or pages, sometimes went to battle with their lords, but they were in no danger, for a knight who injured an un- armed page would have been disgraced forever. No matter how skillful a page had become in out-of-door exercises, he would have been looked upon as a boor unless he had also learned to play on the lute or lyre, to be gentle in manner, and es- pecially to be helpful and courteous to all women. The squire. At about fifteen, the page became a squire. His exercises were now more severe, and his weapons larger and heavier. He fought with his lord and came to his aid in every danger of the battlefield. If he had been long in serv- ice, he could call together a little band of men and lead them in battle under his own banner. The making of a knight. When the time came for the squire to be made a knight, he went through many cere- monies, each with a significance. He was bathed and dressed in a white tunic, for he must be pure; a red one, for he must be prompt to shed his blood in the service of God ; a black one to remind him of death. He fasted twenty-four hours, spent a night before the altar of some church, kneeling by his arms and praying. In the morning he partook of the Holy Sacrament, then in the presence of a troop of his friends he took a solemn oath to defend the Church and protect all women. His armor was now put upon him by knights and A KNIGHT IN ARMOR 114 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS ladies. He knelt, and the lord who was to make him a knight struck him lightly with a sword on the shoulder or the nape of the neck and said, " In the name of God, of St. Michael, and of St. George, I dub thee knight. Be brave, ready, and loyal." So it was that the Church, the soldier, and the woman had each a share in the making of a knight. A tournament. The most exciting time at a castle was when a tournament, or combat of many knights, was held. A level, oblong area was fenced off, and this was called the lists. Knights had been invited long before, and they had come from through- out the land. They now sat on their horses at either end of the lists waiting eagerly for the signal. When the trumpets sounded, they dashed forward, each trying to unhorse his opponent by a thrust from his blunted spear. Minstrels played, trumpets blared, the din of arms and the cracking of stout ashen spears filled the air. Around the lists were galleries, and here sat the ladies brilliant in their handsomest clothes, watching eagerly, and each hoping that her own special champion might win glory and honor. After many such encounters, the heralds cried, "Fold your banners!" and soon the lists were deserted. Later came a banquet in the hall of the castle. Then the ladv who A TOURNAMENT ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 115 had been chosen "Queen of Love and Beauty" presented to those who had unhorsed most knights in the contest such prizes as a silver helmet, a golden clasp, or perhaps a ruby in a heavy golden ring. After this came a ball, and with much music and dancing the long bright day came to its close. The laws of the tournament were exceedingly strict, both in respect to the weapons used and also in respect to the character of the contestants. No knight who had been false to a woman, or had shown himself ungrateful or a liar or a coward, was ever allowed to contend. The feudal system. The noble in the castle had received land from the king on condition of service, and he now let tenants use this land on the same condition, only his service was fighting and theirs was generally cultivating his estate or manor. This is what was called the feudal system. On each estate was a house for the lord of the manor or his agent. Then there were barns, a church, a windmill, a forge, a carpenter's shop, and the cottages for the tenants, wretched little cne-room sheds of clay without windows or chimneys. The land of the estate was divided into long narrow strips, and each tenant had a certain number of strips, not together but scattered. Even the farming land which the noble retained for his own use was scattered in the same way. The duties of the tenants. Some of these tenants paid rent in money and did no work for their lord. The others were called "villeins," from vill, a village, and they paid part of their rent in money or fowls or produce, and the rest in work on their lord's land. The lord kept an "extent," or list of tenants, stating just what work each one must do and what rent he paid. For instance, one man, in part payment, had to bring to the manor house four fish from the river each year, and also a goose at Christmas. Another, who evi- dently paid little or nothing in money, had to work for his n6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS lord three days a week for eleven months of the year, save for a week at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and find his own food. At harvest time, each worker might have three handfuls for every load of grain that he brought in. Besides all the regular work, there was also "boon-work," or extra work, in time of ploughing, planting, and harvest — just when the villeins especially needed the time to work on their own little farms. PEASANTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY Troubles of the villeins. Farm work was exceeding! y hard in those days because the implements were rude and clumsy. The ploughs, for example, were made of wood and were so heavy that eight oxen were needed to draw them, and even then they cut into the ground so little way that a second ploughing was often necessary. The villeins were obliged to grind their grain in their lord's mill, bake their bread in his oven, press their grapes in his wine press, and of course pay well for the privilege. ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 117 They had to pay for cutting wood and letting their pigs run in the forest, for using their lord's weights and measures, and often for catching fish in any river or pond that chanced to be on the manor. They were forbidden to sell any of their produce until that of their lord had been disposed of. They could not leave the manor, and if it passed into the hands of a new lord, they went with it as much as the cattle and pigs. There was no use in running away, for the country was divided into manors, each with its villeins, and there was nowhere for a runaway to go and no way for him to earn his bread. A boy could escape in only one way. If he wished to become a priest and showed the necessary ability, the Church stood by him, and the lord of the manor had to let him go free. Advantages of manor life. With the exception of salt, very little had to be brought into the manor from the out- side world. Hemp and wool were spun, woven, and made into clothes on the spot. Skins were tanned and made into shoes. The huts of the tenants were easily built by the car- penter, and the tools and farming implements were made and mended by the blacksmith. The manor, then, was quite sufficient to itself; and it had one other advantage, it was safe. There was no strong central government, and each little corner of the land had to look out for its own safety. It was a great thing, then, for a poor man to have some one to protect him. Why did he not protect himself? Because it had never occurred to any one that a man could be a sol- dier unless he was rich enough to have a horse and armor and be trained at some castle to become a knight. Why the manor system disappeared. As time passed, however, several things happened that changed all this. Between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries, many knights went on crusades, or expeditions to try to drive the Turks from the Holy Land. They needed so much money Ii8 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS that they were very glad to have as many tenants as pos- sible pay their rent in money instead of in work. Indeed, sometimes they insisted upon this being done. The villeins, for their part, were so eager to get rid of work that most of them tried their best to pay. Another thing that came to pass was that in a great battle with the French the English won the day not by the prowess of the knights on horseback, OLD MANOR HOUSE but by the valor of men on foot who had only bows and arrows. A third thing was that a terrible disease called the Black Death swept over the land and killed so many that every manor was ready to take in new workmen and not to question them too closely about where they came from. Then, too, if a man did not care to work on a manor, he could make his way to a city, and as fine weaving had now been introduced, he could easily support himself as a weaver. So it was that the manor system gradually disap- peared, and with it the whole feudal system, that is, the belief that the land of a nation belongs to its ruler and that ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 119 people receive it from him on condition of giving him serv- ice. The system has disappeared, but it still affects our laws, for if a man dies without heirs, his property goes to the State. Life in town. Town life was quite different from life on a manor. "Safety first" was its motto, for those were dan- gerous times, and therefore many towns were protected by heavy stone walls with watchtowers where men were always on guard. Por- tions of the walls of Ches- ter and Oxford in England are standing. The old gates of York are especially picturesque with their tall watchtowers. Car-cas- sonne' in France has a double line of ramparts and towers, as if the whole town was a fortress. In Nu'rem-berg in Germany, the walls, about one hun- dred towers, and many old gates remain, and the town looks as if it had just stepped out of the Middle Ages. Outside the walls of a city was a moat or deep ditch which was usually kept full of water. The city gates were carefully guarded. Be- yond the walls were fields and forests and gardens; and indeed there were many gardens and even orchards within the walls. A town might have been a very pleasant place, but unfortunately the good folk of the Middle Ages had little notion of what it meant to keep clean, and they heaped OLD TOWN GATE IN LOCHES, FRANCE (Built in the Middle Ages) 120 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS up rubbish in front of their doors and let their pigs wander about the narrow, crooked streets at their own sweet will. There was as much variety in the houses as there is to-day, for some were comfortable residences of brick, and others were mere hovels of mud with thatched roofs. Some were ornamented with plaster decorations and painted panels. When the owner could afford it, he used glass in his win- dows; but if this was too costly for his purse, he filled in the opening with lattice work, or did not fill it in at all. There was always a town or gild hall, and in many cities, especially Paris, London, and Bru'ges, these halls were very handsome and a great source of pride to the citizens. How to become a master craftsman. Most of the towns- folk were craftsmen, namely, carpenters, masons, black- smiths, and other manufacturers of various articles. To become a craftsman required a long training. If a boy wished to become a blacksmith, for instance, he was ap- prenticed to some master blacksmith, that is, a formal agreement was drawn up and signed that the boy would be obedient and diligent, and that the master would teach him the trade, board and clothe him. After the boy had become a good workman, he was called a journeyman, from the French word journee, meaning day or day's work, because he worked by the day. To become a master and have the right to teach apprentices and employ journeymen, he must first present to the society or gild of blacksmiths a "masterpiece," or piece of work so well done that they would accept it. The craft gilds. Every trade had its own gild, and these gilds did a great deal for their members. If a gildsman was sick or poor, the gild helped him ; if he died in poverty, the gild paid his funeral expenses and cared for his family. The gild also saw to it that he had work. This was managed by limiting the number of apprentices admitted to any one ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 121 trade. The gilds were composed of wise people. They un- derstood well that it never pays in the end for a man to do poor work, and so they saw to it that the work of their members was good. If a baker made his loaves of bread too small, he was fined or expelled. The gild had the right to examine not only the finished work, but also the materials that a man was using; and a shoemaker, for instance, who was making shoes of poor leather ran a great risk of being shut out of his gild and having no shoes to make. It was strictly forbidden to work at night, because lights were poor and the work could not be well done. Merchant gilds. Besides craftsmen, there were also many merchants dwelling in the towns. Generally, they used the fronts of their houses for stores. Merchants, too, formed gilds — indeed, in those times people did not seem to be able to do any sort of work unless they formed a society for that special object. The merchant gilds examined the merchants' goods to make sure that their quality or weight or measure was honest. If two members disagreed, the gild settled the dispute. It prevented strangers from selling goods in town unless they paid toll, and looked out in every way for honest dealing and the advantage of the gildsman. How goods were sold. Besides the stores in the towns, there were three other ways in which goods could be sold; in markets, by peddlers, and in fairs. Markets were held in many towns from one to three times a week. Permission must be obtained from the king, and this permission was of considerable value, for every man who wished to sell goods had to pay a fee unless his home was in the town. When market day came, people flocked from all the country around. Stalls and booths were set up for some of those who sold. Others sat on low stools with eggs or butter or poultry in front of them and waited for customers. A cross of wood or stone was usually reared in the market-place, 122 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS and often a glove or hat or sword belonging to the king was put upon it to show to all comers that the place was under the special protection of the sovereign. This was more than an empty show, for every one who committed any offense during market time had to pay not only the usual penalty, but also a good-sized fine. Peddlers. Many goods were sold in the country by ped- dlers who went to castles, manor houses, convents, and cot- tages. It was a great day for the country folk when the peddler stopped his horse or mule at their door and took down his boxes and bundles and spread out a pa- rade of caps, gloves, purses, hoods for men, headdresses for wom- en, pewter pots, and even musical instru- ments. These peddlers did not bear a good reputation for honesty, but they were a great convenience. The great fairs. Best of all the opportunities for selling goods were the great fairs. When the hour of opening had arrived, a trumpet was blown, and trade began at once. It was a brisk trade, for there was a great variety of goods, and many people laid in their stock of luxuries for a whole year, such as salt, spices, wine, fur, and linen. Then there were velvets, silks, satins, ribbons, iron goods, horses, cattle, wool, grain, glass, copper, honey, LENDIT FAIR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 123 oil, armor — these are only a very few of the articles that were for sale. There were all sorts of amusements and side- shows, such as jugglers with their sleight-of-hand tricks, minstrels, wrestlers, dancing bears, and acrobats who danced on their hands rather than their feet. There was little cheating at fairs, for all weights and measures were care- fully tested ; the wine and ale had to be of a certain strength, and the loaves of bread must weigh a fixed amount. More- over, if a dealer was caught cheating, not only that one man, but all the dealers from his home town were held responsible to make the buyer whole. Fairs were a great help in keeping prices reasonable. If only a little glass or wax, for instance, was brought into a town and much was needed, the price would naturally be high; but people would say, " It will soon be fair time, and we will wait," and then, as the number of buyers became few, the price would go down. But a much greater benefit of the fairs was that people met folk from other countries and learned to know a little of what was in the world. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. In what respects should you prefer an American house as a heme and in what should you prefer a castle? 2. Describe a visit to a castle hall. 3. Do you think it desirable or not for children to be brought up in the family of strangers? Why? 4. Was the education of the boys of the castle better in any respect than ours? Did it lack anything? 5. How would it do to introduce the laws of the tourn ment into our games of to-day? 6. Why did each man on a manor have his strips scattered? 7. How did the life of the villeins compare with thr„t of farmers to-day? 8. Can you think of any reasons for the rules of the manor? 9. If some children were left on a desert island, how could they introduce the feudal system? Could they do anything better? 10. In what respects are our houses better than those of the town folk 0/ the Middle Ages? 124 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 11. Why did the gilds insist upon their members doing good work? 12. Describe the coming of a peddler to the hall of a castle. 13. Describe a visit to a fair. 14. Was it a good plan to make all dealers from a town responsible if one of their townsmen was a cheat? How would this help to keep men honest? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A day in a castle. A tenant tells why he left the manor and how he became free. An apprentice tells how he became a master. A visit to a fair. The coming of a peddler. CHAPTER X THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES Gothic cathedrals. During the Middle Ages, or from the eighth to the fifteenth century, many magnificent churches and cathedrals were built. This was the time when what is known as Gothic architecture came into fashion. In other styles of building the rounded arch is often used, but the Gothic is marked by the pointed arch. The famous cathe- dral at Rheims was one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture, though the towers of the original plan were never built. The cathedral at Cologne (ko-lon') has pointed arches at the doors and windows and the pillars are in clusters, instead of standing separately as in the Roman and Greek buildings. In these Gothic churches there are often outside supports to the walls known as flying but- tresses. There are many slender pinnacles and a vast amount of carving. These churches are rich and splendid and have a wonderful look of lightness and grace. Canter- bury Cathedral stands where used to be the church which the British king gave to St. Augustine when he came to teach Christianity to the Britons. Decorations used in churches. The churches of the Mid- dle Ages were decorated with beautiful mosaics, carving, painting, embroidery, and colored glass. Sometimes the inner walls of a church were covered with fresco, that is, when the plaster on them was damp, it was painted with water colors. The walls of Gothic churches were broken by many windows ; and here was a fine opportunity for colored glass. Statues were everywhere, ranging all the way from 126 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS tiny ornamental figures to life-size memorial statues for tombs. The space between the top of the door and the :# CATHEDRAL AT RHEIMS angle of the roof, the pediment, was often carved in bas- relief, like that of the Parthenon. Scenes from the Bible and legends of the saints were used as subjects, for this building THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 127 and decorating were done under the orders of the clergy, and they never forgot that the church was the school of the common people. The power of the Church. All this magnificence was quite different from the gloomy little chapels in the catacombs where the early Christians used to worship. There had been many changes since those days. The power of Rome became less and less, but the power of the Church became more and more. It has already been said that if a boy on a manor showed himself able and willing to become a priest, the Church had power enough to oblige the lord of the manor to set him free. This power increased until it was much greater than that held by any sovereign. The Church was well organized, that is, every officer knew his work and his exact position. There was first of all the Pope, who lived in Rome and was the head of the Church. Under him were many bishops, each of whom had charge of a diocese or see, a definite area of country. The chief church of the diocese was called a cathedral. Under the bishops were clergymen and monks. The rule of St. Benedict. Monks were men who lived to- gether in monasteries apart from the world. On entering, they promised to hold no property, not to marry, and to obey the convent rules. In the monastery of St. Alban, in POPE CLEMENT IV (1265-1268) 128 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS England, as in a very great number of convents, what is known as the rule of St. Benedict was followed. According to this, the time of the monks was devoted to prayer, work, and study. They took turns serving in the kitchen; they could receive neither letters nor presents without the abbot's permission; they had simple but sufficient food. If any one of them was sent on a journey, he was not allowed to gossip on his return of what he had seen or heard. Each convent was to have its own well, mill, garden, and bakery, and so avoid as far as pos- sible having communication with the outside world. The founding of Cluny. As time passed, the rules were no longer strictly obeyed. Individual monks could not hold property, but the convent as a whole could hold an unlimited amount. Kings and no- bles made generous gifts. Often a convent held a number of manors and became a power in the country. It became also a somewhat luxuri- ous place. Some of the more earn- est folk did not believe that this was right, and they founded a house at Cluny, in France, in order to have a more strict rule of life. Other Cluniac convents were soon opened, until there were fully two thousand of them scattered over many countries. The making of books. Cluny, and many other convents, carried on schools for boys, and sometimes hundreds were taught by the monks. The books used in these schools were all written on parchment, for printing had not yet been in- BENEDICTINE MONK THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 129 vented. Besides these, the monks copied books to use in church, to sell, and for their own library; though nowadays we should hardly call one of their scanty collections of vol- umes a library. There was always a writing- room, and there the monks sat day after day, writing laboriously in a beau- tiful clear print. The capital letters at the beginning of the chapters were often elaborately painted with gold and bright colors that are just as brilliant now as when they were first put on. The work of the monks. There was plenty of work in a monastery. Wool and flax must be grown, spun, woven, and made into clothes. Cattle must be raised and the skins tanned for shoes. Vegetables and fruit had to be cared for. Bees were kept for honey. Some one person had to be responsible for each kind of work. At the head of the whole establishment was the abbot, and next to him the prior. The chamberlain kept the accounts and records and took charge of the money and clothing. The librarian cared for the books and was at the head of the writing- room. The sacristan kept the gold and jeweled vessels of the Church service and the relics of the saints. It was no small matter to look after food and drink for hundreds of people, young and old, sick and well. This was the work of the cellarer. Then, too, he must be always ready for guests of every degree, from kings to peddlers, for the monastery took the place of a hotel; and he must treat every one according to his rank and make no mistakes. A MONK WRITING 130 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS The poor and needy flocked about the convent gate, and the almoner must see that they were fed. If they were ill, he turned them over to the infirmarius. Longfellow's Legend Beautiful is about a monk whose turn it was to care for the hungry at the gate. Jgk ijwntr Kw& y®wrc\j> > Jiftmoiv'qtte ott tcxttfs v a rftme ^ar tel cot? ttfttanfc que il ferment rihrite letmnc. THE BEGINNING OF A CHAPTER The value of the monasteries to the world. Besides all the work that has been so briefly mentioned, the monks built roads and bridges; they were the most skillful farmers of their time, and they drained swamps, cleared away for- ests, and made waste places into fruitful land. They main- tained interest in education, and they kept classical liter- THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 131 ature from being forgotten. Moreover, the mere fact that self-denying monks existed was a constant reminder that riches and pleasure were nothing in comparison with lives made pleasing to God. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Can you find any pointed arches or round arches or flying buttresses in your own town? 2. Have you seen any bas-reliefs on buildings, or dishes, or jewelry, or elsewhere? 3. Is there any museum or library near, where you can see some of the old parchments with colored capital letters? Look over your Christ- mas cards for colored capitals. 4. Can you tell what processes flax or wool must go through before it is ready to be woven into cloth? Is there a woolen mill near which you can visit? 5. Why should kings and nobles have made gifts to convents? 6. Were the monks good business men? Give proof. 7. In Longfellow's Legend Beautiful, why did the monk leave the Vision? Did he do right? 8. Why were the monks of great value to the world? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Describe a Gothic cathedral from some picture. A day in a monastery. The guests of a convent. CHAPTER XI PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE Why people went on pilgrimage. During the Middle Ages, making a pilgrimage or journey to some holy place was much in fashion. People often went in the hope that by praying before a certain shrine they would be cured of any disease that was troubling them. Sometimes they made a vow to go if they were rescued from danger. Some went purely from honestdevotion, and others went ' 'strange countries for to see." There was as much difference in people then as there is now. Pilgrims at Canterbury. In England, pilgrims often went to the Cathedral of Canterbury, the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, and it was said that sometimes one hundred thou- sand persons were in the place at once. These pilgrims liked to carry home souvenirs as well as travelers do to-day, and they frequently bought a silver or pewter head of St. Thomas, or a tiny lead or pewter flask containing water with which it was said some of his blood had been mixed, A GROUP OF CANTERBURY PILGRIMS PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 133 and which was believed to be a cure for illness. Pilgrims who went to Rome often brought home a veronica, that is, a representation of the face of Christ on a handkerchief. Those who went to a certain shrine in Spain carried away with them a scallop shell. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories supposed to be told by a company of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, for, as one of them says in the story, there is no pleasure in riding along the way as dumb as a stone. Even people who were most sin- cere in their devotion agreed with him, and so a pilgrimage was often a happy, merry journey. The pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Almost everybody made a pilgrimage somewhere in the course of his life, but the pil- grimage was to Jerusalem, to the shrine of the Holy Sep- ulchre; and the person who had made it was thought to be sure of entering heaven when he died. This pilgrimage was believed to benefit his gild as well as himself, and when he said good-bye, each member presented him with a piece of money. Sometimes the whole gild walked a little way with him. A pilgrim was safer than any other traveler, for who- ever did him an injury was forbidden the benefits of the Church. On the roads leading to holy places there were rest stations, where a pilgrim might have a night's lodging with- out price. Convents were frequent, and at any one of these he was welcome to fire, water, and lodging, and food, too, if he needed it. Indeed, for a long while he was welcome every- where, for it was believed that to help a pilgrim secured a blessing for one's self. Information carried by pilgrims. Pilgrimage was so popular that almost as soon as a person had set out, he met others bound on the same journey, and sometimes hundreds or even thousands of persons went together. When these pilgrims returned, they had many stories to tell of the countries through which they had passed, and of the build- 134 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS ings, manners and customs that were different from those at home ; and so many went that a good deal of information was carried from one country to another. The Turks in Jerusalem. Some of this information was not at all pleasant. For several centuries the Turks, who were followers of Mohammed, had ruled Jerusalem. These Turks were not unwilling to admit pilgrims to the city, for they left considerable money behind them when they went away. They even permitted Christians to make their homes in Jerusalem, provided they paid a large tax, dressed differently from the Turks, and did not put a cross on the outside of any of their buildings. They must also treat the Mohammedans with profound respect and rise if one ap- peared among them. Some of the rulers were cruel to them, and some were kind. The best of them was Haroun al Ras- chid, the "caliph" of the Arabian Nights. At length, the city together with the rest of Syria fell into the hands of the Sel-ju'ki-an Turks, a barbarous folk who hated the Chris- tians; and now when pilgrims came home, they had terrible tales to tell of Christians having been tortured and mur- dered. Peter the Hermit arouses the French. One of these pil- grims was a monk called Peter the Hermit. He told Pope Urban II of the awful sufferings of the pilgrims, and the Pope declared that the Holy City must be rescued. Peter set out to arouse the people of France. He wore a coarse woolen shirt and a gray mantle. He was bareheaded and barefooted. He rode upon a mule and carried a huge cross in his arms. So it was that he went throughout France preach- ing to the people. "Repent! Repent!" he cried. "He who strikes a blow to rescue the Holy Land from the unbelievers has thrown open the door of heaven for himself." Pope Urban at Clermont. Pope Urban called a great meeting of the Church at Clermont, France. Thousands PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 135 came together, so many that no building could hold them, and they met on a wide-spreading plain. "Cease making war with one another, and strive against the Turks," he said. " Do not refuse for love of your families, for you must love God more than these. Do not refuse because of your wealth ; for much richer treasures await you. Those who die PETER THE HERMIT HANDING LETTER FROM SIMEON, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, TO POPE URBAN II will enter the mansions of heaven. Fortunate are they who may enter such a conflict and share the glorious rewards that are set before them." "God wills it! God wills it!" cried the people, and they pressed forward to have fastened to their clothing the red cross that was to be the sign of their having entered upon the holy undertaking. The Latin word for cross is crux, and therefore these expeditions to drive the Turks from the Holy Land were called crusades. The first crusade. Thousands of people set out for Syria. The Pope had told none but strong men to go; but whole 136 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS families, even aged persons and little children, started. Tenants on the manors, debtors and criminals in prisons, all went; for when they cried, "God wills it!" no one dared to hold them back. Of course many died on the long, hard journey; but the stronger ones, who reached Jerusalem, succeeded in capturing the city. They were as cruel to the CRUSADERS SETTING SAIL FOR JERUSALEM Turks as the Turks had been to them, and it was said that the horses of the conquerors waded up to their knees in the blood of the defenders of the city. The third crusade. This was the first crusade. About one hundred years later, the Turks again captured Jerusalem. Then Europe was aroused indeed, and another crusade set out. The German ruler, Frederick Bar-bar-os'sa, started first, but died on the way. A little later, Philip of France and Richard the Lionhearted of England set out for the Holy Land. It was while Richard was absent that his PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 137 brother John Lackland tried to steal the English crown, and this was thought to be doubly wicked because Richard was on a crusade. Richard and Saladin. Richard was so fearless a soldier that traditions of his amazing deeds of prowess were handed down, growing larger and more wonderful as the centuries passed. One was that he fought one to twenty, and slew every man of the twenty. Even to this day, if a horse is restless, its Turkish rider will say, "Do you think you see King Richard?" Richard's foe, Sal'a-din, leader of the Turks, was a gallant opponent. When Richard was ill of a fever, Saladin sent him ice ; and when Richard's horse had been killed, the generous Turk presented him with two valuable Arab horses. Quarrels among the leaders. Unfortunately, Richard had a hot temper, and it never occurred to him to yield a point now and then for the sake of the cause for which they were fighting. The city of Acre (a'ker) was taken, and the Duke of Austria set up his banner on the wall beside Rich- ard's. Then Richard was indignant that a duke should dare to put his banner beside that of a king, and he had it torn down. Richard was once helping his men to build a fort, for he was never afraid to work with his own royal hands. He asked the duke to help. "I am neither carpenter nor mason," replied the duke scornfully. Thereupon Richard struck him, and he went home in a rage. Philip was jealous because Richard was getting all the glory of the expedition, so there was more quarreling, and Philip went home. Rich- ard realized how unwise he had been, for now he had not men enough to take Jerusalem. The utmost that could be done was to make a treaty with Saladin by which pilgrims might be allowed to go freely to the Holy City. BlondePs discovery of Richard. Then the English king set out for his own country. On his way he was wrecked on 138 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS the shore of the Adriatic Sea. He was in the midst of ene- mies, but he put on a rough gray cloak and round felt hat, slung a bag for bread over his shoulder, took in his hand a long staff with a water bottle hanging from it, and started to go through Germany as a pilgrim. There is a legend that near Vienna some one caught sight of a valuable ring on his finger, suspected who he might be, and told Duke Leopold. The duke was delighted to put him into prison, but gave KING RICHARD IN COMBAT him up to the German emperor, who had also had a quarrel with him. The restless crusader king was kept in prison, and for a while no one knew where he could be. There is a story that Richard had a favorite minstrel named Blondel, and that the two used to sing together in the happy times when the king was free. This Blondel grieved so at the loss of his king that at length he set out in search of him. A minstrel was w r elcome wherever he chose to go, and Blondel went from castle to castle, singing for the nobles, keeping PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 139 his eyes open, and asking as many questions as he dared. At last he heard that in the tower of a certain castle there was a prisoner of high rank who was guarded night and day by four men with drawn swords. Blondel went hopefully to the tower, and took his stand under the grated window far above him. There he sang softly an air which he had com- posed for his sovereign. Richard heard it, and sang the second verse — the king had been found at last. Why Richard was kept in prison. There were two men who were anxious to keep Richard in prison. One was Philip of France, for he thought that if Richard was out of the way he himself could get possession of Normandy. The other was John Lackland, Richard's brother, for he thought that if Richard was kept out of England, no one would dare to interfere with his own rule. These two went about their schemes. Philip accused Richard of various crimes, and John offered the emperor a large sum of money to hold Richard for trial. Richard is ransomed. Richard was brought before the council, and so easily proved himself innocent that the whole assembly declared he must be set free. This the emperor had to agree to do, but he demanded an enormous ransom, enormous for even a kingdom to raise. But the English people did not grumble. They were very proud of their crusader sovereign, the ideal knight, and they raised the money willingly, and gave him a joyous welcome when he appeared in England. Every one was glad but John. This disloyal brother was alarmed, as he well deserved to be, and threw himself at Richard's feet, begging for pardon. Rich- ard generously forgave him ; but he understood John's char- acter, and he said afterwards, " I hope I shall as easily forget his injuries as he will my pardon." The value of the crusades. There were several other cru- sades after those that have been mentioned. In one way 140 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS they amounted to very little, for the Turks finally succeeded in getting Jerusalem and in holding it ; but in another way they amounted to a great deal, for by means of them people began to find out what there was in the world. Just imagine a man who had spent his life working on a little manor farm, or a lord in a castle, for that matter, journeying across Europe and "seeing the world" for the first time! Actually, some of the first crusaders had so little idea of the distance from France or England or Germany to Jerusalem that they set out with hunting dogs and with falcons on their wrists, as if for a day's hunting, and every night they went to sleep expecting to reach Syria the next day. To these people even sugar cane and trees loaded with oranges and pomegranates and "sand which is changed into transparent vases" were marvels. Many of the crusaders had gone to Venice to take ship to cross the Mediterranean, and there they had seen superb structures of colored marble. The outside of the Venetian palaces was generally adorned with bas-relief, the sculpture covered with gold leaf, and the ground-work a deep, rich blue. Of Constantinople with its brilliantly colored domes and minarets a German historian said , ' ' Such magnificence could not be believed were it not seen." When the crusaders came home, what marvelous tales they must have told of these sights! It is no wonder that the people who listened to them longed to visit the strange countries and were restless to go somewhere and see something different from what was in their own little corner of the world. The learning of the Saracens. The Saracens or Arabs were folk of much scientific knowledge. They understood the culture of sugar, cotton, and rice. They could raise silkworms and weave exquisite silks, they could work iron into swords that would bend double and yet not break, and they understood how to irrigate the ground. Somewhere 242 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS on their journeys, either in the East or by way of Spain, the crusaders learned about windmills, and found that they provided a cheap and easy power for doing work that did not need to be done at any particular time. They brought home also a bit of knowledge that the Saracens are thought to have borrowed from India, the use of Arabic figures and of the decimal system, a most valuable improvement upon the old way of writing numbers. The Roman way of writing 191 8, for instance, was mcmxviii. This was so clumsy and unmanageable a method that the Romans had to use in their calculations an abacus, or board with beads strung on wires. How the crusades stimulated commerce. The crusaders had become somewhat familiar with the luxuries of the East, had learned to like them, and wanted them after they returned to their homes. On the other hand, some of them did not return, but decided to remain in the East. Of course they wanted much that they had been used to having at home. The natural result of this was that trade between East and West increased rapidly, and before long crusaders could illustrate their stories with the real articles that they had been describing. Routes of the merchants. At the time when King John had to sign Magna Carta, great quantities of goods were brought from India to Europe. It was a long, slow journey. They were carried up the Persian Gulf to the Ti'gris River, then taken to Antioch or Seleucia and loaded upon vessels for Venice. Another way was to carry them overland by camels from the Tigris to Treb'i-zond on the Black Sea, where they were met by Venetian vessels. Still another way was to sail from India to Aden, up the Red Sea, over- land to the Nile, down the Nile to Cairo (ki'ro), by canal to Alexandria, where the cargo was put on board the ships of the Venetians. From Venice, and a little later, Gen'o-a, 7 > j> 1 \ d f < I "2- ul l o If) / c i -j \ * ( * \<-> \ o ~J< \ tt &*<•* \ c Z* s/s >J vtV^cJ a? «o o^ ^>C (? 144 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS these goods were carried to northern and western countries, some merchants going around through the Straits of Gi-bral'tar, and some going by way of the Danube and the Rhine Rivers. By this trade, both Venice and Genoa be- came rich and powerful. This is the way in which goods were carried to the great fairs that have already been men- tioned. As little as possible of the journey was made by land, for the roads were exceedingly poor. Moreover, they were dangerous, for some r.oble would frequently pounce down upon a merchant who was passing his castle and make him give up part of his goods for " toll," as it was called. Certainly, the best way to travel was by water. Products of East and West are exchanged. As time went on, Venetian vessels made regular trips to Flanders and to London, each ship with thirty well-skilled archers for its defense. These ships brought to England cotton and sugar from Egypt, spices, camphor, perfumes, Cashmere shawls, precious stones, rich hangings for houses, handsome rugs, and glassware. The Venetians had carried the crusaders back and forth across the Mediterranean, and they had been learning how to make beautiful glass and how to weave silk and satin and velvet. They had brought to Italy most exquisite pieces of work in iron and gold and enamel, and from these they had learned to do such work themselves. In England, it was taken for granted that anything espe- cially nice and dainty had come from Italy. England had little to return that was as delicate and beautiful as was brought by the Italian fleets, but she had plenty of wool and leather and cloth and metal, just the necessary and substantial things that were called for in the East. Foreign settlers came to England, and there were even strong and wealthy gilds of foreigners. Before long, England had her own merchant vessels. The influence of the crusades. The crusades did a great PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 145 deal to break up the feudal system ; they taught the East and West to know each other and to exchange their prod- ucts; they encouraged navigation and aroused interest in geographical discovery; and they gave power to the com- mon people. Moreover, the Saracens had libraries and uni- versities; they were deeply interested in the learning of the Greeks and studied it eagerly while it was quite unknown to the nations of the West. The crusaders did not become students of the universities or learn to read Greek or Arabic, but they did go back to their manors and castles and towns with minds full of new ideas. Before this, they had thought that a man encased in armor, carrying a sword and a lance, and set upon a horse, was the greatest hero on earth. Now they began to have a glimmering idea that the man who had noble thoughts and could put them into noble words was greater than the man with the sword. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. If you have the Chaucer Story Book, read one of the stories and tell it to the class. 2. Which shrine should you rather have visited? Why? 3. Describe the visit of a pilgrim to a convent. 4. What did Peter the Hermit say to the Pope? 5. What do we mean by a temperance crusade? 6. Which do you like best, Philip, Richard, or Saladin? Have you read Scott's Talisman with its stories of Richard and Saladin? 7- Why did the English people think so much of Richard? 8. What is the most interesting scene in this chapter? 9. What scenes would make good pictures? 10. Would Richard be called an ideal man to-day? 11. Can you think of some story of his travels that a villein might have told on his return home? 12. How would these stories make the listeners feel? 13. Why are camels especially valuable in desert journeys? 14. Which of the three ways from the East should you choose? Why? 15. How does it make a city rich to have much trade? 16. How did the crusades begin to change the ideal hero? i 4 6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A pilgrimage to Canterbury. Richard and the Duke of Austria. What Blondel reported to the English people. A crusader's story. An Englishman tells what has been learned from the Saracens. A journey with a merchant. CHAPTER XII THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY Interest in the East. The people of western Europe en- joyed the luxuries of the East of course, and they were deeply interested in the knowledge of eastern lands which came to them through pilgrims, crusaders, and merchants. They were eager to learn more of these countries, and especially to discover some way by which the luxuries might be brought to them at less expense. Was there no shorter way to India, they questioned. In 1453 something happened which increased their interest, namely, Constanti- nople was captured by the Turks. In this city many Greek scholars had made their homes. They would not live under Turkish rule, and therefore large numbers of them took their precious copies of the writings of the ancient Greeks and hurried away elsewhere, chiefly to Italy. During the Middle Ages there had been so much fighting that these writings had been almost forgotten, and now they seemed like some wonderful new discovery. Then, too, printing was invented about that time, and these old manuscripts and other writings were printed. People were aroused and excited. They began to feel as if they had been slow and stupid. They were eager to learn about anything, especially the world. The voyage of Leif Ericsson. The "world" meant to them Europe, northern Africa, and the East. No one dreamed of the great double continent of America. Nearly five centuries earlier America had been visited by a white man from Europe, Leif Er'ics-son, a Northman. Another 148 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Northman told him of being driven from his course and seeing land south of Greenland. He had not been suffi- ciently interested to go ashore, but Leif bought his ship and sailed away to the southward. He came to a coast where lofty mountains rose covered with snow. This is no place to land, thought Leif, and so he sailed by Newfound- land. Next came flat, wooded shores which did not seem to him especially attractive ; and so he sailed by Nova Scotia. He was not very easy to please, but at last he came to a coast that did suit him. The shores were of shining white sand, there were forests and there were meadows of rich green grass. Here he landed, and began to ex- plore the country. He found grapes and was so delighted that he named the country Vinland, or land of vines. In the spring he sailed back to Greenland with a boatload of wood and dried grapes. The Northmen come to Massachusetts. Of course there was much talk in Greenland about the new country, and at length a wealthy merchant and his wife induced some people to go to Vinland with them and found a colony. It is thought that they went to what is now Buzzard's Bay, and there their little son Snor're was born, the first white child born in Massachusetts. When he was three years old, the colony was given up, and the colonists returned to Greenland. It was a hard rough voyage for a baby, but the little American boy lived to become the ancestor A NORWEGIAN SHIP THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 149 RUINS OF A CHURCH IN GREENLAND (It is supposed to have been one of the churches built by Leif and his followers) of a long line of wise and excellent men. The celebrated sculptor Thorwaldsen was one of his descendants. This is the account given by the Icelandic sagas, or hero stories. It is possible that the Northmen would have founded per- manent settlements in our country, but a terrible plague swept over the North and destroyed so many people that America seems to have been entirely forgotten. Marco Polo's boyhood. There was an explorer of the East, however, whose work was not forgotten. This was an Italian, Marco Polo, who spent his boy- hood in beautiful Venice with its magnificent palaces and churches. He could hardly remember his father and uncle, for they had gone long before to Constantinople, had bought quantities of jew- elry there, and had then disappeared. It was thought that they had gone into Asia to trade. This proved to be true, for at length they came home for a visit. They had crossed Asia and gone to China, to the court of its ruler, the great Kublai Khan. When the two merchants started on the return journey, Marco Polo was a happy boy, for he started with them. Marco Polo in China. After a long slow journey they reached China. The khan took a strong liking to Marco and gave him a position in the royal household. The young man learned the four languages most used in China, put on Chinese dress, and adopted Chinese manners. The khan discovered that he knew how to keep his eyes open and that he could describe what he had seen, and soon the ruler began to send him on journeys of exploration, giving him a 150 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS golden tablet whereon was engraved the khan's cipher and a command that wherever he should go, all Chinese subjects should treat him with honor and provide him with whatever he might need. Then on his return he described to the khan the interesting things that he had seen. THE FLEET OF KUBLAI KHAN The return of the Polos. The Polos returned to Venice after an absence of nearly a quarter of a century. There had been rumors that they were dead and the Venetians doubted whether the foreign-looking men who spoke Italian so stiffly were really the Polos, and it was difficult for them to get possession of their own house. Some time afterwards, they invited the doubters to a banquet, had the coarse, threadbare coats in which they had traveled brought in, ripped them open, and there rolled out such a store of rubies and emeralds and sapphires as the bewildered guests had never seen. They no longer doubted. Marco Polo's book. Some time after the Polos reached home, war broke out between Venice and Genoa, and THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 151 Marco Polo was put in command of a warship. The Genoese captured him and put him into prison. While there, he dic- tated to a gentleman of Genoa the story of his travels. It was well worth reading, for its author had seen kingdom after kingdom in Asia ; he knew all about the brilliant court of Kublai (kob'li) Khan; he could reveal the enormous wealth of China; he could describe India, Java, Sumatra (so-ma'tra), Ceylon (se-lon'), and many other places that had long been countries of mystery to the western world. He had visited Abyssinia (ab-i-sin'i-a) and he could tell tales of Madagascar and also of the white bears and reindeer of Siberia. All Genoa became interested, and their prisoner was soon set free. Some even among his friends thought he must have exaggerated his accounts, and when he was on his deathbed they begged him for the good of his soul to take back some of his statements. "There is no exaggera- tion in the book," he declared. "On the contrary, I have not told half the amazing things that I saw with my own eyes." Prince Henry the Navigator. Travel by water was easier than travel by land, and it was evident that if the mariners of any country should discover a water route to India, that country would soon become rich from the Indian trade; but how was it to be done? An enthusiastic young man, Prince Henry of Portugal, afterwards called the Navigator, took up the puzzling question. He was only twenty-four, but he was already so distinguished a soldier that four sovereigns had offered him the command of their respective armies. But Prince Henry had other ambitions. He was interested in astronomy, geography, and navigation, and especially in the way to India. He built an observatory on a point of rock at the southern extremity of Portugal, and here he and a group of his friends who were interested in the same pursuits lived and studied. 152 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Nothing was known about Africa beyond the northern part, and Prince Henry had no idea of its great size. He hoped that India could be reached by rounding the mass of land, and that the voyage would be of only moderate length. Then Portugal could found an empire in India, Indian trade would pour gold into Portuguese coffers, and the natives of India could be brought to the religion of Christ. THE WORLD AS KNOWN BEFORE THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS Prince Henry's ships pass the river Gambia. Hopefully Prince Henry sent out one ship after another. His captains visited the Madeiras (ma-dee'ras) and Canaries and even the A'zores, one thousand miles out at sea. His vessels felt their way cautiously down the African coast, each bold mariner venturing a little farther south than those who had preceded him, until before Prince Henry's death in 1460, they had passed the Gambia River. Africa evidently ex- tended much farther south than had been thought, and it had not been rounded; but Prince Henry had proved that the Atlantic Ocean was not the Sea of Darkness, as many people supposed, that the water was not boiling hot, that no demons lived in it, and that Satan did not stretch up a THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 153 black hand as big as a cliff and draw ships down under the waves. He had aroused interest and enthusiasm that did not fade away at his death. America would have been discovered even if Prince Henry had never sent out a vessel, but the discovery would at least have been many years later than it was. Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope. A quarter of a century after Prince Henry's death, Bar-thol'o-mew Dias (dee'as), a daring Portuguese captain, was sent by the king of Portugal in search of the mysterious end of Africa. Dias sailed down the African coast to the Tropic of Cap'- ri-corn, then he went on four hun- dred miles farther, and then came heavy north winds which blew for thir- teen days. When the storm quieted, he steered eastward for the shore; but there was no shore. He did not know just what had happened, but he pluckily sailed straight north, and at length he came in sight of land, but it lay to the west of him! He had solved the problem; he had rounded Africa without knowing it! Dias is forced to turn back. The way to India lay before Dias, but the sailors insisted upon going home. This can hardly be wondered at, for the Portuguese ships or caravels were slow and clumsy, not more than two or three times as long as they were wide, and if the same north winds should blow again, they would have found it almost impossible to make much headway against them. Food was hardly more DANGERS OF THE SEA OF DARKNESS (From a sixteenth century illustration) 154 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS than dry bread and salt meat. There was neither fruit nor vegetables, and on a lengthy voyage there was always danger of scurvy. Then too there was another danger which no one knew how to meet. Ships were not sheathed in metal as now, and on long voyages they were liable to be bored through and through below the water-line by marine worms, to become waterlogged, and sink to the bottom. It is no wonder that the sailors wanted to go home. Dias had to yield and turn back. In rounding the point of Africa this time, he had a good view of it, and he named it the Stormy Cape. When he told the Portuguese king about this Stormy Cape, his majesty said, "No, let it rather be called the Cape of Good Hope, for now we may well believe that we have found the ocean route to India." STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Of the "luxuries" brought from the East, which should we regard as necessities? Why has the way of looking at them changed? 2. Do you recall the names of any books that have "aroused and excited " people? Why should they? 3. What sort of man was Leif Ericsson? 4. What qualities help to make a good explorer? 3. What Marco Polo told another boy about the journey that he was going to make. 6. Find from what is said of Marco Polo what sort of boy he was. 7. Tell the story of the Polos' banquet as if you had been present. 8. Read a chapter of Marco Polo's book of travels, and tell the story to your class. 9. Why could not people go to India by land as well as by water? 10. Why would the discovery of a water route give wealth to the country discovering it? 11. Can you think of any reasons why Prince Henry's first captains did not round Africa? 12. Can you tell anything about Peary, who discovered the North Pole, and Amundsen, who discovered the South Pole? 13. Can you think of any reason why sailors and explorers do not have scurvy now? 14. What difference would it have made to Dias's life if he had grown up in idleness and luxury? THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 155 SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A Greek scholar describes his flight from Constantinople. Leif Ericsson describes his voyage. Marco Polo tells the story of his life. Prince Henry refuses to command an army. The sailors of Dias object to continuing their voyage. CHAPTER XIII COLUMBUS Columbus as a boy. While the captains of Prince Henry the Navigator were trying their best to round Africa, a boy named Christopher Columbus was growing up in Genoa. It was just the city for a wide-awake boy to grow up in, for vessels were coming and going continually and bringing all sorts of interesting articles from the far East. Genoa was especially for- tunate in her commerce, for she had had a treaty with Constantinople for two hundred years and was free to use the Strait of Bos'pho-rus. When the Turks took Constantinople, how- ever, in 1453, this trade was suddenly shut off and the ships ceased to come. Columbus becomes a sailor. By this time Columbus was a sturdy young man of about seventeen. If the people about him had only known how famous he was to become, they would surely have taken many notes of his boyhood days; but no one dreamed how glad the folk of our century would be to learn something of the great man as a boy, and so we know hardly anything about him till he was grown up. Columbus himself said that he began to COLUMBUS ON THE QUAY AT GENOA COLUMBUS 157 go to sea when he was fourteen, and that he went " wher- ever ship has sailed." He said nothing about going to school, but he certainly learned somewhere considerable Latin, also geography, astronomy, and mathematics, and he acquired the ability to draw maps and charts. Between voyages, he drew maps and sold them. He became quite a famous maker of maps and charts, and he very wisely determined to go to Lisbon, in Portugal, where there was a great call for such work, and where his younger brother 13a i»s THE MAP COLUMBUS USED had already gone. Prince Henry was dead, but numerous voyages were made down the African coast, and Colum- bus went on more than one of them. Columbus ponders over a voyage to Asia. After a while he married the daughter of one of Prince Henry's captains. This captain had been governor of one of the Madeira Is- lands for a while, and here Columbus spent some time. Ships from Guinea sometimes made a stop at the island, and he must have had many a talk with their captains. He studied the charts and logs that his father-in-law had left; he pondered and dreajned over that puzzling question of a voyage to Asia. Prince Henry had thought it possible to round Africa, but on the other hand Ptolemy had believed 158 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS that Africa extended perhaps all the way to the south pole. In that case, the only way to reach India by water would be to sail west — provided this could be done. At length Columbus wrote to a famous astronomer in Italy. The astronomer sent him a map drawn as he thought the world ought to be. According to this, if one set out from the Ma- deiras and went directly west, he would touch the northern point of Japan and go straight to China. The Atlantic Ocean supposed to reach to China. This astronomer and the other learned men of the time supposed that the waters which washed the shores of Portugal and of China were those of one ocean, and that with favorable winds it could probably be crossed in a few days — if it could be crossed at all. Not one man in all the world dreamed that if a ship sailed west from Portugal to China, it would have to make its way across the American conti- nent. Columbus knew no more than other folk about the size of the ocean, but he believed so firmly in a western route to China that he was willing to risk his life on the un- known voyage. Here, then, was a man with an idea; and there were cities and kingdoms with money enough to carry it into effect, provided he could persuade them to believe in his plans. The appeal to Portugal. It is said that he asked both Genoa and Venice for funds, and that to both his scheme seemed wild and hopeless. Portugal had long been inter- ested in the search for an easy route to India, and he went hopefully to the Portuguese king, who was Prince Henry's nephew. This king, John II, called upon some of his ad- visers for their opinion of this plan, and they told him it was only a visionary scheme, not in the least practicable. The king was not satisfied, and he now called a special council of the most learned men in his kingdom, and asked their opinion. Some thought that Columbus's reasoning was cor- COLUMBUS 159 rect, but others thought it was absurd. Perhaps they might have been easier to convince if Columbus had not had what seemed to them rather extravagant notions of what his own share in the glories and rewards of such an expedition should be. The council did not favor the plan, but King John had a little of his uncle's spirit of adventure and enterprise, and he was not fully con- vinced that the Ital- ian was in the wrong. The trick of John II. John II was called the"Perfect," but in this case he did not live up to his title, forheplayed an exceedingly shab- by trick upon Co- lumbus. He told the earnest mariner that although the coun- cilors did not ap- prove the plan, yet he did not feel en- tirely satisfied with their judgment, and wanted to borrow Columbus's maps and charts and study them for himself. Columbus willingly lent them to the king, and went home thinking that he had found a friend. One day a Portuguese caravel came sailing in from the west, and before long the story of the king's treachery was revealed. If Columbus was right, he wanted his own country and not this Italian sailor to have the glory of the discovery, and he wanted to save the money. Therefore "John the Perfect" had sent out secretly a caravel of his own to try COLUMBUS 160 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS the experiment of a western voyage. Fortunately for Co- lumbus, the sailors were afraid, and they hurried home to report that "One might as well expect to find land in the sky as in that waste of waters." Columbus goes to Spain. The king's dishonesty was re- ported to Columbus, and soon a very indignant mariner had taken his little son Diego and set out for Spain. He also sent his brother to England, but the brother was taken by pirates and his appeal to Henry VII of England was de- layed. Meanwhile, Columbus tried his best to get a hearing at the Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella, and at length they called a council of learned men. Some believed that Columbus was right; others asked, "How can there be people on the other side of the earth? Do they hang on by their feet? Do the trees grow down, and does the rain fall up? Even if you should succeed in going to the other side of the world, how could you ever sail up hill and return?" The Cid. It was a poor time to talk about finding new lands, for Spain had all she could do to care for her own. Centuries before this, the Moors of Africa had come into the country and won possession of the southern part, and there was almost constant warfare between the two races. One of the greatest leaders of the Spaniards in this warfare was Rodrigo Diaz (ro-dre'go dee'ath), called the Cid, or chief, because of his bravery. Just as in England legends gathered about the name of King Arthur, so in Spain tales gathered about the name of Rodrigo. One story was that he helped a leper out of the bog in which he was fast sinking, carried him to an inn on his own horse, ate from the same trencher, and slept in the same bed. In the morning the leper was gone, but a glorious vision of St. Laz'a-rus appeared to the Cid, and he was promised that his foes should never prevail against him. Columbus at La Rabida. The marriage of Ferdinand and COLUMBUS 161 Isabella had united two strong kingdoms, Castile and Ar'a- gon, and although for years Columbus did his best to inter- est them in his plans, they had little thought for anything but the war. All they would say was that they would con- sider the matter later. 1491 came. Columbus gave up Spain as he had given up Portugal, and with Diego, now eleven or From a painting by Sir David Wilkie COLUMBUS AT LA RABIDA twelve years old, he set off for France. Near Palos his way led by the convent of La Rabida (la ra'be-da). The boy was hungry, and according to the custom his father stopped at the convent for food. The prior of this convent was a learned man who was especially interested in geography. He noticed the stranger with blue-gray eyes, a mass of white hair and an air of courtesy and distinction and began to talk with him. When he found what a wonderful plan this stranger had in mind, he invited him to remain at the con- vent while he himself wrote to Queen Isabella. He had once 1 62 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS been her confessor, and he knew that his words would have weight. He told her what glory such a discovery would bring to Spain, how much wealth would pour in from the trade with the Indies, and, above all, how many heathen souls might be saved by hearing the Gospel. Columbus's terms are refused. The queen became inter- ested, but a difficulty arose. Columbus demanded the title of admiral, the right to rule over any lands that he might discover, and one eighth of all the profit that might be made. He was not greedy, but he felt that he had a right to share in whatever gain might come from his years of study and thought. Moreover, he had in mind another achievement which he hoped to accomplish, namely, to rescue from the Turks the tomb in which Christ was said to have lain. For this he needed a large amount of money, and he declared that he would rather seek for the aid of France than yield a single point. These terms were not so very unlike those which Portugal gave to her explorers; but in this case, no one knew what islands rich in gold and pearls and precious stones might be discovered. Heathen countries in Asia with untold wealth might be found, and this unknown Italian adventurer might become far richer and more powerful than Ferdinand and Isabella themselves. It is no wonder that they hesitated, and at length refused. Queen Isabella promises help. Columbus mounted his mule and started for France. Two priests, treasurers of Castile and Aragon respectively, rushed to the queen and besought her not to lose such an opportunity. Isabella yielded. " I will undertake the enterprise for my own crown of Castile," she declared, "and I will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary funds." Columbus was jogging on his mule about six miles from the town when he heard the rapid gallop of a fleet horse behind him. It was Queen Isabella's courier, come to ask COLUMBUS 163 The man with him to return. An agreement was made the idea had won at last. The sailing of Columbus. Then there was a bustle of preparation. For some misdemeanor the town of Palos had been required to provide two ships, well manned and armed, to serve the king for one year. The order was given that PARTING OF COLUMBUS WITH FERDINAND AND ISABELLA (From a work by De Bry, an historian of the sixteenth century) these two ships should be at the disposal of Columbus. The sailors of the town were terrified at the thought of such a voyage. Educated men had become wiser, but many of the sailors were ignorant, and they still believed in the terrors of the Atlantic Ocean. Some hid themselves, and others ran away. At last two brothers, wealthy shipowners, of- fered to go on the fearful voyage, and also to furnish one vessel, and that gave the sailors a little more courage. After this some volunteered, others were forced to go, and one 164 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS morning in August the three small vessels, the Pinta, the Nina (nen'ya), and the Santa Maria (ma-re 'a), set out from Palos to cross the unknown ocean. The rudder of the Pinta broke, and a visit had to be made to the Canary Islands to repair it. Then word came that three Portuguese vessels had been seen off the coast waiting to capture Columbus. That matter was easily arranged, for he slipped past them directly out into the open ocean, knowing well that no Portuguese ships would dare to follow into the Sea of Darkness. Terrors of the voyage. The farther they went, the more frightened became the Spanish sailors. They wept and la- mented, saying that never again should they see their homes and their friends. Everything alarmed them. The mast of a vessel floated by, and this they took as a sure sign that they would be wrecked. They saw a meteor, and they were certain that it was a bad omen. The wind blew steadily from the east, and the discouraged mariners wondered how they could ever make their way home. They found them- selves in the midst of the great masses of seaweed that we call the Sar-gas'so Sea, and then the sailors worried about quicksands and the dangers of running aground. The needle of the compass no longer pointed directly to the north star. That was worst of all, for they thought they had lost their way. They were so angry with the admiral that they even planned to throw him overboard. The patience of the leader. Columbus was very patient with them. He sounded many times to convince them that there was plenty of water below the weeds of the Sargasso Sea. He made up the best explanation that he could of the needle's failure to point to the north star, and he told them of the wonderful countries that they would soon see, the home of spices and perfumes, of gold and jewels. He told them how much land they would own and what great COLUMBUS 165 lords they would become, and so day after day he led them on. Signs of land. Flocks of birds began to fly past, nearly all going to the southwest, and the course of the ship was changed to follow their flight, in the hope that they were going to the land. Fresh-water weeds were seen and a branch of thorn with berries on it. At last a piece of wood Nina Santa Maria Pinta THE THREE CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS was picked up that had been carved by some one. Then the sailors were almost as eager as their leader to find the unknown country, and one after another began to declare that he could see land, and to claim the reward promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to him who should first discover the farther shore. Columbus increased the reward by the offer of a velvet doublet, but there were so many of these false alarms that he declared no man who shouted " Land ahead! " should receive the reward unless land was discovered within three days after the time when it had been announced. Columbus sees land. It seems only fitting that the great 1 66 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS discovery should have been made by the admiral himself; and so it was, for one evening as he stood gazing into the west, he was sure that he saw a light that moved up and down as if some one was carrying a torch in his hand. Early the following morning, October 12, 1492, the land was in full view. The sailors were half beside themselves with joy. Columbus had proved to be in the right, they would all be rich men, perhaps rulers of strange countries. The repent- Painting by Gabrini in the Field Museum, Chicago THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS ant mariners threw themselves at his feet. They could not be grateful enough to the man who had led them to wealth and honors. The landing of Columbus. Columbus put on his rich scarlet robes, took the royal banner in his hand, and was rowed ashore. What a shore it was! The water was clear as crystal, the sand was dazzlingly white, there were strange trees and fruits, unknown flowers, birds of brilliant plumage, COLUMBUS 167 and, strangest of all, great numbers of copper-colored na- tives, who at first hid behind trees, but soon gathered around the Spaniards, gazing with reverent curiosity upon their white skins, their steel armor, their glittering weapons, and especially upon the admiral himself in his scarlet dress. The Spaniards talk with the Indians. The Spaniards knelt down and kissed the ground. They rose and chanted the Te Deum. Then Columbus unfurled his banner and formally claimed the country for Spain, for no one dreamed of paying attention to any claims that the natives might have in the land. He named the island San Sal'va-dor, or Holy Saviour. It was one of the Bahamas, no one knows which one, but many think that it was the one now known as Watling's Island. The natives he called Indians, because he supposed that he was on the coast of India. These na- tives had a tradition that some day white men would come down from the skies to visit them. They thought the Span- iards were these expected heavenly visitors, and were de- lighted that the great event had come to pass in their day. The Spaniards managed to talk with them by signs, and soon they -were exchanging beads and bells and scarlet cloth for tame parrots and little ornaments of gold. "Where did the gold come from?" Columbus asked by signs, and the natives pointed to the south. "Where is Ci-pan'go?" (Japan) he asked in the same way, and again they pointed to the south, for they thought that he meant some moun- tains with nearly the same name. "And what is over there?" he questioned, pointing to the west. In some way, they contrived to answer that there was "great water." Columbus believes that he is near Japan. All this was in perfect agreement with the ideas of Columbus. He thought he was on some little island north of Japan, and that the "great water" was the Inaian Ocean. Marco Polo had said that the water east of Cathay (ka-tha') or China 168 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS was full of little islands inhabited by naked savages. The Spaniards had not come upon any spices, but since he was so near Asia, they would of course be easily found. He had brought a letter from Ferdinand and Isabella to the khan of China, successor to Marco Polo's friend Kublai Khan; he would steer south to Japan, then west to China, and then it would be an easy matter to sail northwest along the Chi- nese coast and carry the letter to the city of the khan. The return to Spain. Columbus soon came to Cuba. There he picked up some pearl oysters, but still there was no sign of the great cities of the East. He saw some little villages, he saw fields of potatoes, tobacco, and Indian corn and cotton, but nothing that looked like the wealth of the East. Could it be that he was mistaken, and that Cuba was not Japan after all? And if it was not Japan, where was he? Suddenly he missed the Pinta, the swiftest of the three ves- sels. Its commander had none of the doubts of Columbus, and he had slipped away to Spain, to get for himself the credit of the discoveries. A month later, the Santa Maria ran on a bank and was beaten to pieces by the waves. Only the little Nina remained. It would not hold them all; but many of the men were pleased with the lazy life in the warm climate of Hayti, and they begged to be left there to found a colony. Ten of the natives accepted with joy the admiral's invitation to go to Spain with him, and the Nina set out. The arrival at Palos. The little boat had to meet severe storms, but she weathered the gales and sailed into the harbor of Palos, March 15, 1493. Such a reception as she had! The whole town turned out to welcome their friends and do honor to the man who had discovered the way to India. The captain of the Pinta had been driven into a French port by the storm. He sent to the Spanish sover- eigns a glowing account of his discovery of the Indies, and hastened to Palos as soon as possible. He arrived when the COLUMBUS 169 streets were ablaze with torches in honor of Columbus. He caught sight of the Nina in the harbor, and he did not need the stern refusal of the sovereigns to receive him in order to learn that his treachery had been discovered. THE FOUR VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS Columbus in gorgeous robes was escorted by soldiers with music and banners to the royal palace. He knelt before his sovereigns, but Isabella begged him to rise and seat him- self — a rare honor in the Spanish court — and tell them all about his voyage and his discoveries. What a wonderful tale it must have been! The story of the egg. There is a story that at a dinner in honor of Columbus not long after this reception a jealous courtier asked him : — "If you had not sailed to the Indies, don't you suppose there are other men in Spain who would have made the voyage?" Instead of answering, Columbus held up an egg and asked if any one present could make it stand on end. No one suc- ceeded, until he took the egg, broke the end slightly, and in that way was able to make it stand. "Any one could do that," muttered the envious courtier. "Yes," said the admiral quietly, "after I have shown the way." The second voyage. That was the work of Columbus, to 170 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS " show the way " ; but no one guessed to what he had shown it. Everybody thought as he did, that he had reached the shores of Asia, and when he went on a second voyage that same year, people begged for places on his ships. All Spain wanted to go to the East and make a fortune. The little fleet carried horses, mules, cattle, goats, and sheep, pigs and fowls and seeds of fruit and grain, for the colony was to be strengthened and made permanent. They sailed joy- fully onward, but when they came to Hayti, which they had named His-pan-i-o'la, they found only ruins and dead bodies. The sailors left on the island had outraged the natives and had been slain by them. The Spaniards built new fortifications and began again to found a colony, which they named Isabella. Columbus in chains. Columbus made more explorations, but nowhere could he find the stately cities of the East. Everything went wrong. The colonists were ill, Columbus himself was ill for five months. Bad treatment had made the Indians hostile, and the admiral returned sadly to Spain. Two other voyages he made, four in all. He visited more of the West Indies and sailed along the coast of Central America, Panama, and the northern coast of South America. He tried to govern a colony of the turbulent Spaniards, but he failed, and his enemies reported such malicious stories of him that a new governor was appointed for the colony. He put the great admiral in chains and sent him back to Spain. The captain of the vessel would gladly have removed the fetters, but Columbus said: "No, the rulers of Spain have put chains upon me, and they alone shall take them off. So long as I live I will keep these chains, and they shall be buried with me." The disappointment of the Spaniards. Ferdinand and Isabella were indignant at such treatment of so great a man, and there was no delay in striking off the fetters. Yet COLUMBUS 171 sovereigns and kingdom were alike disappointed. Columbus had crossed the ocean, but he had found no gold; and al- though he was so sure that the islands were off the coast of India that he called them the Indies, no great oriental cities had been found, and there seemed no reason to expect any great wealth to come from the new lands. He never knew that he had discovered a mighty continent, and no one would have cared if it had been known. Spain wanted an easy route westward in order to trade with India. To know that a great continent blocked the way would have been only an annoyance to her. Columbus fell into loneliness and suffering. The queen died, and he was friendless. The children pointed their fingers at him in the street, the "admiral of the lands of deceit and disappointment," as they called him. He died neglected and forgotten. Columbus was a great man, not because he was the first to sail across an unknown sea, but because he knew the truth and believed it so firmly that he was ready to risk his life for its sake. 172 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. What could Columbus learn as a boy at the wharfs of Genoa? 2. Is there any reason for believing that Columbus was a good scholar? 3. Should you have believed in Columbus's plan? 4. Can you find answers to the questions of the Spanish councilor? 5. What have you read about the Moors before this? 6. What the two priests said to Queen Isabella. 7. Has Columbus's plan of rescuing Jerusalem from the Turks ever been carried out? 8. What should you have said if you had been a sailor in Palos when the royal order arrived? 9. What sort of man does Columbus show himself to have been in the management of his sailors? 10. How and why was Columbus disappointed? 11. Tell the story of the voyage as Columbus might have told it to his sovereigns. 12. What do you suppose was the hardest moment in the life of Columbus? What was the happiest? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Describe Columbus and Diego at the gate of La Rabida. Give the conversation between Columbus and the prior. Give the conversation between a timid sailor and Columbus. CHAPTER XIV THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS England becomes interested in the New World. Spain meant to hold on firmly to her rights, and when her ambas- sador to England wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1496 ENGLISH SHIP, ABOUT 1500 that "a person had come, like Columbus, to propose to the king of England an enterprise like that of the Indies," they promptly sent a warning to Henry VI I that both Spain and Portugal would object to any such thing. Luckily for John Cab'ot, the person who "had come, like Columbus," the royal permission was given before the warning arrived; but King Henry was trying to arrange a 174 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS marriage between his little son and the small daughter of the Spanish sovereigns, and he had already shown that he did not wish to interfere with them, for he had permitted Cabot to sail only north, east, or west. The Cabots' first voyage. This new explorer was an Italian merchant then living in England. In 1497, just before Columbus went on his third voyage, John Cabot set sail, and probably his son Sebastian went with him. Ac- cording to the agreement with the king, Henry was to receive one fifth of all profits of the voyage. It is thought that the Cabots steered almost directly west and came to land at either Labrador, Newfoundland, or Cape Breton (brit'on). When he came home, he was received in England with as much rejoicing as Spain had made over Columbus. An Italian who was living in England wrote to his friends in Italy, "Honors are heaped upon Cabot, he is called Grand Admiral, he is dressed in silk, and the English run after him like madmen." The Cabots sail along our coast. John Cabot believed that if he could return to the point where he had found land and then sail south, he would surely find Japan. The king seems to have thought this probable and to have lost his regard for the feelings of Spain, for in the following year another voyage was made to the westward. This time the Cabots did sail south along the coast, perhaps as far as South Carolina; but they found no cities and opened no new opportunities for trade. No one knew that in years to come England's claim to possessions in America would rest upon the voyages of the Cabots, and really Henry's small gift of ten pounds "to hym that founde the new isle" was not after all out of proportion to the little good that the king got from the voyage. England was disappointed and sent out no more expeditions for nearly eighty years. The merchant Vespucius. The quest for India was not THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 175 forgotten, however, and several voyages were made by the man from whose name came that of our country, the Italian Amer'i-cus Ves-pu'ci-us. Until he was forty years old, he lived in Florence as a merchant, and no one would have dreamed what this quiet business man would do in his later days. He was a collector as well as a merchant, not of vases or clocks or pictures, but of maps and charts and globes, and he sometimes paid large prices for any one of these that struck his fancy. He was fond of ge- ography, he was an excel- lent astronomer, and in his younger days he had be- come an expert in calculat- ing latitude and longitude. The business house with which he was connected sent him to Spain, and there are reasons for thinking that he helped fit out the vessels for Columbus's second voyage. In any case, he and Columbus met in friendly fashion. The voyages of Vespucius. Vespucius went on a westward voyage in 1497, and two years later he made a second trip, this time as a pilot. The vessel sailed along the northern coast of South America — only Vespucius and all the others on board still supposed it to be some mysterious part of India. Some of the Indians along the Gulf of Maracaibo (ma-ra-ki'bo) built their houses on piles over the water, and made little bridges from one to another. This was quite like a rough imitation of Venice, and the sailors called it Venezuela (ven-e-zwe'la), or little Venice, and it still retains AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 176 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS the name. The following year Vespucius went on another voyage, and this time he sailed along the Brazilian coast and discovered the Amazon River. Columbus Cabot _i_i_,_ Vespucius »4.«.«4-4. Magellan Drake THE EARLIEST VOYAGES TO AMERICA AND AROUND THE WORLD The Portuguese discover Brazil. Meanwhile, Portugal had been having a piece of good fortune which made the Portuguese king eager to secure a pilot of experience in the western waters. A Portuguese fleet had started to go to India by rounding Africa, but for some reason had gone far- ther from the African shores than was intended and had come upon what is now Brazil. It is no wonder that the Portuguese king thought it worth while to make some further explorations in that part of the world. Vespucius entered his service and steered for the Brazilian shores, then sailed southeast along the coast of what is now South America, till he came to the island of South Georgia, twelve hundred miles east of Cape Horn. The intense cold and the floating ice kept him from going any farther, and he re- turned to Portugal and to the service of the Spanish king. This was nine years after Columbus's first voyage, and now for the first time, people began to realize that south of the equator there was a vast continent. The " Fourth Part " is called America. This was quite THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 177 according to ancient ideas. One Mela, a famous Spaniard who had lived nearly fifteen centuries before Vespucius, believed that Africa did not extend even to the equator, and that south of Africa and Asia and the equator there was a great mass of land, a vast southern continent. Europe, Asia, and Africa were three parts of the earth, and Mela called this imaginary continent the "Fourth Part." The people who had be- lieved that there was such a conti- nent, now triumphed over those who had doubted it, for had not Vespucius seen it with his own eyes? Columbus had reached Asia — everybody knew that — and Vespu- cius had seen the "Fourth Part "south of Asia. It was all plain and simple. In a little book on geography which was written at that time it was suggested that this "Fourth Part" should be named America in honor of its discoverer; and first Brazil, then South America, and then North America came to be called by that name. So it was that our country takes its name from that of the man who did not discover it. Columbus is not forgotten, however, for in our songs the land is almost always called Columbia. The Pope's line. In this search for a water route to India, the Spanish and the Portuguese were running a race. If there was a specially good pilot or captain who had served one country well, the other country was eager to secure him. MELA'S IDEA OF THE WORLD, A.D. 50 178 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS If one country scored a success, the other country was deter- mined to score a greater. The two kingdoms would perhaps have come to war if it had not been for what was called the Pope's line of demarcation. This was an imaginary line running north and south, passing through the southern point of Greenland and cutting off a large corner of Brazil. All heathen coasts that might be discovered east of that line were to belong to Portugal, and all wes 1 " of it to Spain. Years afterwards, one of the French kings laughed at this idea. "Show me Father Adam's will," he said, "that gives the earth to Spain and Portugal and shuts out France." But in those days it was regarded as a wise and reasonable divi- sion of the world. Portugal sends out Da Gama. Portugal did not give up the hope of making practical the route to the Indies by rounding Africa. Bartholomew Dias had gone around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean, and five years after the first voyage of Columbus the Portuguese king sent out a little fleet of four vessels under a Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama (da ga'ma), to complete the journey and push on to India if possible. When the day of departure had come, Da Gama, and the men of the fleet and the king and his courtiers all went down to the water's edge, for wonderful results were hoped for from this expedition. The ships were ablaze with flags and pennants; a farewell salute was fired, and the vessels floated down the river of Lisbon and out into the open sea. Da Gama doubles the Cape of Good Hope. It was a stormy voyage, and the voyagers were "harassed with tor- ments of wind and rain," as one of the early accounts says. There were hardly six hours of daylight in the twenty-four, and the sea was rough day and night. When at last they thought that they must have sailed as far south as the southern point of Africa, they steered directly east. Alas, THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 179 the shore soon came in sight. "There is no end to the land," declared the sailors, "it goes straight across the ocean." " Stand out to sea," commanded Da Gama. "Trust in the Lord, and we will double the Cape." On they went. The days grew shorter, the nights grew longer, and the cold rains fell constantly. Now the ships began to leak, and the men could never cease their pumping. There was so little hope of safety that they no longer called upon God to save their lives, but begged Him to have mercy upon their souls. In the midst of all the distress, Da Gama strode about the ship, angry and fearless. " If we do not double the Cape this time," he declared, "we will stand out to sea again; and we will stand out as many times until the Cape is doubled, or until whatever may please God has come to pass." By and by the sea grew calm, the wind moderated, and, however far they went to the east, no land was in sight. Then they knew that they had doubled the Cape. They were full of joy, and they praised the Lord, who had deliv- ered them from death. Da Gama reaches India. The Christmas season was at hand, which the Portuguese call Na-tal'. They gave this name to the part of the coast off which they lay, and it has been called so ever since that time. After the shattered vessels had been repaired, Da Gama sailed onward up the coast of Africa. He called at Mo-zam-bi'que and was pleased to find regularly built ports and handsome mosques, or Mohammedan temples. The people here carried on trade with Arabia and India in pearls, rubies, silver, linen, and spices. Surely this was coming nearer to the Indies! Da Gama sailed on till he came to Melinda, 3 south of the equator. Here, by the kindness of the king of the place, he took on a pilot who steered his ships across the Indian ocean to Cari-cut in Hin-dus-tan'. After many adventures, he returned to Portugal two years later, his ships loaded 180 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS with silks and satins and precious stones, and the air about them sweet with the fragrance of spices. The king gave him a splendid reception, presented him with generous rewards, made him a noble, and bade that holidays should be cele- brated in his honor throughout the kingdom. He also be- stowed upon him the rather overpowering title of " Lord of the Conquest of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." Da Gama made two other voyages to India. On one of them he led a fleet of twelve ships and brought them back richly laden with spices and silks and ivory and precious stones. Finally he was made viceroy of India; and there he lived in luxury and magnificence until his death. He had found the way to India. Portugal had won the prize and was growing rich through the Indian trade. What had Columbus and Spain to show in comparison with this? Balboa becomes a stowaway. In 1513 a young Spaniard named Bal-bo'a set out on a voyage of discovery — in a barrel. He wanted to escape from his creditors, and he wanted to find out whether this "New World" that people were talking about was only a group of islands, or whether it was connected with Asia. Therefore, in order to accom- plish both objects he had himself headed up in a barrel and rolled aboard a vessel about to sail for the northern coast of South America. When he was discovered, the captain was so angry that the stowaway came near being left on an island. It was finally decided to take him along, and in the end he proved to be the greatest discoverer of the whole company. Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. When they landed at Darien (da-re-en'), Balboa was especially kind to the Indians, and they told him of a great sea lying to the south- ward, and also of a country (Peru) where there was much gold. One September day he set out to get a view of this "great sea." Through tangled forests and up steep hills he THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 181 pushed on until at last from a mountain top he saw the Pacific Ocean. It stretched to the south, therefore he called it the South Sea. He knelt down under the trees and thanked God that he had been permitted to make this great discov- ery. Countries and oceans were to be had for the taking in those days, and Balboa made his way down to the shore, waded in waist-deep, and calmly took possession of the South Sea and all its coasts in the name of the king and queen of Spain. Magellan's services are refused by the King of Portugal. Whatever people thought about the new land, most of them believed that somewhere there was a passage through it which would give a short route to India. One man who was especially interested in the idea was a Por- tuguese named Magel- Magellan Ian (ma-jel'an). His king had treated him rather unjustly, but he offered his serv- ices just the same. They were not accepted. "Have I your majesty's permission to offer my services to some other monarch?" asked Magellan. "Do as you please," replied the king coldly, and would not allow Magellan to kiss his hand at parting. Magellan sails in the service of Spain. Magellan then went to Spain, and when Manuel of Portugal learned that the Spanish king had welcomed him and taken a deep inter- est in his plans, then the royal Manuel was a very repentant 1 82 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS sovereign. He tried his best to get Magellan back, but it was too late; Magellan sailed in the service of Spain. He went to the eastern coast of South America, and when he came to the La Pla'ta River, he felt almost sure that this was the passage that every one was hoping to find. He ex- plored the stream for three hundred miles, but it grew nar- rower and the water grew fresher. There was nothing to do but to go back to the coast and try to find some other pas- sage. He sailed to the south, keeping near the shore. There were fearful storms that strained and weakened the ships, no one knew what dangers were before them, and they were short of food. " Let us go home," pleaded the sailors. "Our ships are weak, and we shall either be wrecked or else die of starvation." "Never," answered the commander, "I will go on if I have to eat the leather from the ship's yards." Discovery of the Strait of Magellan. "He is only a for- eigner," whispered the sailors, "and what better service could he render to the king of Portugal than to lead a com- pany of Spaniards to certain death?" They even seized some of the ships, but Magellan found a way to suppress the mutiny, and sailed on until he came to the strait that bears his name. Through the strait he went, and behold, a wide ocean stretched out before him! It seemed so calm and peaceful after all the storms that he named it the Pacific. It is said that when he saw the quiet water, he was " so glad thereof that for joy the tears fell from his eyes." The first voyage around the world. The sailors were in despair, for they were so far from Spain that there was not nearly enough food to last for a return voyage. The only course was to press on in the hope that aid would be found somewhere in the wide ocean. They suffered so severely from hunger that they actually did eat ' ' the pieces of leather which were folded about certain great ropes of the ship." At last they came to the La-dro'ne or Ma-ri-a'nne Islands THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 183 and there they bought food. Then they sailed on to the Phirip-pines. Magellan was killed in a fight with the na- tives, but not before he had met ships coming from the west, and knew that his vessels could make the rest of the journey home through well-known waters. One of them did this, and thus in 1522 the first voyage around the world was completed. ROUTE OF MAGELLAN'S SHIPS Cartier searches for the Northwest Passage. Spanish voyagers had gone to South America and Mexico, and from those countries gold was pouring into Spain; but if a pas- sage through the "New World" — the Northwest Passage people called it — could be found, the nation that controlled it need not envy Spain her wealth, for trade with the Indies would be as valuable as a gold mine. France began to feel that it was time for her to have a share in these explorations and discoveries, and in 1534 a Frenchman named Jacques Cartier (kar'tya), went in search of the Passage. He seems to have thought that there was a better chance of finding it at the north or else he did not wish to have any difficulty with Spain, for he sailed directly to Newfoundland. He went into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and visited a beautiful bay; but it was so warm that he could think of no better 1 84 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS name to give it than Baie des Chaleurs (ba da sha-lor), or the bay of heat. In the usual fashion of the early explorers, he claimed the land for his king, and set up a great wooden cross. Some Indians were watching him closely and their chief said as well as he could by signs, "This is not your country, but mine." It did not occur to Cartier that the Indians had any rights or that there was any need of tell- ing them the truth, so he said, "That is only a beacon to show sailors the way to your country." Cartier at Quebec and Montreal. The following year Cartier came again to the St. Lawrence, and now he hoped that he had found the Northwest Passage; but just as in the case of the La Plata, the stream grew narrower and the water fresher the farther he went. At last he had to admit that this was not the Passage, but he still hoped to use it as a route to go far inland ; therefore he went on to the mighty rock on which Quebec is built, and then to an island in the river where Montreal now stands. Here was a little Indian village. Back of it was a high hill, and the view from this hill was so beautiful that he named it Mont Re-al', or the royal mountain. To the river itself he gave the name St. Lawrence, because he had discovered it on St. Lawrence's Day. He had hoped to make a permanent settlement, and he spent the winter in Quebec, the coldest place on the river. The men suffered terribly from cold and sickness, and many died. Those who survived were glad to return to their own country when spring came. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Why was Cabot forbidden to sail south? 2. Why was the result of Cabot's voyage a disappointment to the English? Of what were the explorers in search? 3. Can you think of any reason why the Italians should have been suc- cessful navigators? THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 185 4. Can you find out what animals and trees the Portuguese sailors may have seen in Brazil? 5. If the ancients like Mela believed that there was a "Fourth Part," why did they not go out in search of it? 6. What songs can you think of in which our country is called America, and what ones in which it is called Columbia? 7. Which would be better in these times, a long journey by water, or a short one by land? Which was better in early times? Why? 8. What qualities in Da Gama enabled him to double the Cape of Good Hope? How does a boy or girl manifest such qualities in these days? 9. Why was Da Gama pleased to find handsome buildings and well built ports in Mozambique? 10. How had the people in Western Europe learned to like Eastern luxuries? 11. Have you read the poem Balboa, by Nora Perry? 12. The La Plata River is one hundred and forty-three miles wide at its mouth; how far can you see from any hill or tower that you know? 13. Which is the better of the two names given to the ocean west of America? Which is the better, Chaleur Bay, or Bay of Heat? 14. Can you think of any notions which Magellan's voyage around the world proved mistaken? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Vespucius and Columbus talk of crossing the Atlantic. One of Da Gama's sailors describes doubling the Cape of Good Hope. When Da Gama came home. A sailor describes the discovery of the stowaway Balboa. A.n Indian describes the coming of Cartier. CHAPTER XV THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST Cortez sets out to conquer Mexico. Of the countries interested in the "New World," Spain was the first to realize that it was worth while to make explorations and conquests and found colonies. A young soldier named Hernando Cortes (kor-tas'), chanced to be in Cuba just when a Spanish explorer returned from a visit to Mexico, and the governor of Cuba commissioned him to conquer that country and take possession of it. He set out with ten ships, carrying men and horses and cannon. Cortes landed on the gulf coast of Mexico and with his six or seven hundred men marched along the shore, the vessels keeping as near as possible, so as to help in case of need. The natives made little opposition. They had a tradi- tion that the Sun God would some day come to them, and they supposed Cortes to be that god and willingly became his allies. The few who showed signs of fight were easily cowed by the roar of the cannon. Horses, too, were new to them, and they supposed the horse and its rider to be all one person, a new and most amazing creature. The ships were also wonders, for the Aztecs had never dreamed of such "water-houses." The wealth of Montezuma. Cortes was equally amazed by what the governor of the province where he had landed told him of their king Mon-te-zu'ma, of his splendor and his enormous wealth. Wealth was what Cortes wanted, and he declared that he must see Montezuma at once. He hinted broadly that he should like a quantity of gold dust, THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 187 in order to compare it with the gold of his own country, he declared. "We Spaniards have a troublesome disease of the heart," he said, "and gold is a certain remedy for it." The exchange of gifts. When Montezuma heard of the coming of the strangers, he too thought it possible that the Sun God was among them, and he sent a great collec- tion of magnificent gifts. There were collars and bracelets of pure gold, shields, helmets, fans, and san- dals, all richly orna- mented with gold. There were thirty loads of the finest cotton cloth exquisitely dyed, and there was feather- work like the most delicate of paintings. There were plates of gold and silver "as large as carriage- wheels," and most beautifully chased. The gold dust was not forgotten ; there was a helmet full of it. The Spaniards had sent Montezuma a carved armchair, a crimson cap ornamented with a gold medal, and a quantity of cut glass ornaments which they expected to pass for gems. They added to this rather nig- gardly gift some shirts, a goblet of gilt and enamel, and a few trinkets of small value. Cortes goes to the City of Mexico. Montezuma had a grain of caution. He bade the strangers carry his gifts to their king as a proof of his friendliness, but the journey to his capital was difficult and dangerous, he said, and there- SPANISH TREASURE SEEKER (Showing the soldier's cuirass and halberd) 1 88 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS fore it would not be possible for him to enjoy a personal interview with them. " It shall go hard but we will one day pay him a visit in his capital," said Cortes to his officers, and set out for the City of Mexico. Montezuma concluded that it would be best to receive him with honors, and this was done. The Aztecs had their suspicions, however, and soon some of the men left at Ve'ra Cruz were attacked and slain. Then the Aztecs knew that the white people were not gods ; and the Spaniards were in great danger. Montezuma had given them quarters in a handsome palace, and they had strengthened and fortified it. Cortes demanded that the men who had attacked Vera Cruz should be SPANISH HELMET burned alive, and he also seized Montezuma himself and held him as a hostage, actually putting the proud sovereign in irons. Montezuma submitted and even commanded his people to acknowledge as their ruler the unknown king across the sea. Battle between Spaniards and Mexicans. Cortes was obliged to leave the city for a time, and when he returned he found that while the unarmed Aztecs were celebrating with sacrifices and religious songs and dances the festival of one of their gods, the Spaniards had rushed upon them with drawn swords and made the pavements of the city run with blood. " ""^^s* rjM A ^ . SPANISH PISTOL ^ 1 he Aztecs now rose in a body and attacked the Spaniards with all the fury of their hatred and rage. "Go out upon the walls," Cortes bade Montezuma, "and order this to cease." He assured the captive king that the Spaniards would willingly go home if no difficulties were put in their way. Montezuma put THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 189 on his golden sandals, his blue and white mantle, and his diadem, all gleaming with emeralds, and with a guard who bore before him the royal wand of gold, he ascended the highest tower of the palace. The tumult ceased in a mo- ment. His people gazed upon him with reverence, and many fell upon their knees. "Why are you here?" he de- manded. "These strangers are my guests. Return to your homes and lay down your arms." But the man who could give such a command they would no longer accept as their king. "You are a coward!" they cried; "go and spin and weave!" And in a moment a storm of stones and arrows had given fatal injury to the sovereign of the Aztecs. " The night of sorrow." After a week of terrible fight- ing, the Spanish tried to escape in the darkness. They were discovered, and that night of slaughter is still spoken of in Spain as "La Noche Triste," or the night of sorrow. So ended the first attempt to conquer Mexico. A few months later, however, Cortes returned with fresh forces, and after a long defense Mexico became a province of the Spanish king and received the name of New Spain. The Spanish king becomes jealous of Cortes. Cortes was now made governor of the country. He established a number of Spanish settlements, he explored the Pacific coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and he discovered Lower California. He became so powerful that the Spanish mon- arch began to be afraid of him. Much of his power was taken away, and he at length returned to Spain. There is a story that when the king neglected or refused to give him an audience, he daringly mounted the step of the royal car- riage. "Who are you?" demanded the monarch indig- nantly. " I am a man," replied the proud conqueror, "who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities." Pizarro conquers Peru. A few years later, the Spaniard 190 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Francisco Pi-zar'ro set out from Panama to conquer Peru and win the vast quantities of gold and silver that the Indians had told Balboa were in that country. Pizarro captured the Inca or chief and held him prisoner. The Inca promised that if he might be free, he would fill for Pizarro a room with gold as high as he could reach. This was done, but Pizarro feared the Inca's power and had him murdered. A SPANISH CAMP Note the medieval tents The conquerors became very rich men, but the Indians whom they had robbed of this wealth they forced to work as slaves in their mines or on their plantations. Las Casas and the Indians. These Indians were cruelly treated and with the abuse and the severe and unaccustomed work were dying off rapidly. At length a Spanish monk in Cuba, Las Ca'sas, became warmly interested in them and appealed to the Spanish king to forbid their enslavement. Las Casas had seen the negroes at work and apparently well and strong, and it occurred to him that their work might take the place of Indian labor. The result was that many negroes were brought from Africa to toil for the Spanish planters. Las Casas realized that in trying to save THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 191 one race he had injured another, and he tried to found a colony which he himself might control, but this failed. He then in grief withdrew to a monastery, but he did not forget the Indians, for he wrote a book containing accounts of the cruelty shown them by the planters. De Soto sets out to explore the wilderness. Thus far, gold had come from Mexico and the south, but people saw no reason why it should not be found in one place as well as in another, and the story gained ground that in the north there were magnificent cities and far greater wealth than had yet been discovered. Hernando de Soto, a Spaniard who had won a fortune in Peru with Pizarro, was now ready to risk it in the unknown wilderness. Here was a leader worth following. He was a brave and successful soldier, he had had much experience in exploration and warfare; and he was so sure of success that he counted as nothing the great wealth that he already possessed in comparison with that which he expected to find. People were half wild to go with him, and some of them sold their houses and vine- yards and olive trees to get money for their equipment. Of these De Soto' chose six hundred, and sailed away to Cuba with food, arms, bloodhounds, chains for captives, and a drove of hogs; and so the freebooters set out. The difficulties of the journey. The expedition sailed for Tampa Bay, on the west coast of Florida. There they left their ships and began to work their way through the wilder- ness. There were no roads other than the occasional trail of wild beasts ; but there were bogs and swamps and treach- erous river banks. There were snakes and mosquitoes to bite them, and the sharp-pointed leaves of what is now called the Spanish bayonet to pierce through their clothes and into their bodies. De Soto's treatment of the Indians. The journey would at best have been difficult enough ; but De Soto's treatment 192 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS of the Indians made it far worse. He took a number of them prisoners, put iron collars about their necks, and chained them together in gangs. These poor captives he forced to carry the baggage and grind the corn for the whole company. If they made the least resistance, they were put to death or thrown to the dogs. But the Indians had their revenge. They would be killed in any case, they believed, and so in spite of the bloodhounds and the certainty of discovery, they took pleasure in leading the Spaniards into the most danger- ous morasses and the most tangled forests that they knew. De Soto in Mississippi. The first season's roving brought the company near the head of Ap-a-la/chee Bay. There they heard some good news. To the northeast, declared an inventive Indian, there was a country wonderfully rich in gold; and he could lead them to it. They had no salt, and meat was scarce, but the thought of gold spurred them on. They passed what is now the southern boundary of North Carolina; but no gold was to be found. They did not dare to kill the Indian who had led them there, for they had no other guide. Slowly they made their way to the southwest, to the lower part of the Alabama River. Then they turned and went to the northern part of Mississippi, battling with the natives wherever they went. The revenge of the Indians. For two seasons De Soto and his followers had wandered about in the wilderness, and they had found nothing of value. They spent the winter in some wretched huts in an Indian village, cold and hungry. The Indians set fire to these one night. Eleven Spaniards, many horses and hogs were burned, arms and clothes were destroyed, and the explorers had to cover themselves as best they could with skins and mats of ivy leaves. Even then De Soto would not yield, though long before this many of his companions had urged him either to make a settle- ment or return home. THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 193 The discovery of the Mississippi River. One reward was awaiting the explorer, for he soon came to the rolling waters of the Mississippi River. He had found no gold, but he had discovered the largest river in the world. Boats were built to transport the horses, and De Soto crossed to the western shore. Still hoping for gold, he wandered through what is DE SOTO REACHING THE MISSISSIPPI (From Powell's picture in the Capitol at Washington) now Arkansas, and followed in Louisiana very nearly the direction of the Red River, but there he found nothing save little scattering Indian villages. He turned toward the great river, but he had lost men and horses, and the Indians had lost their fear of him. " I am the Child of the Sun," he said in an attempt to overawe an Indian chief near the present site of Natchez. " Dry up the river, then," retorted the chief, " and I will believe you. If you come to me in i 9 4 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS peace, I will show you honor; but if you come in war, I will not take one step back from you." The death and burial of De Soto. A fever came upon the commander and he died. Lest the Indians should learn of his death and be even more fully convinced that he was not the Child of the Sun, and that they had nothing to fear from the white men, the Spaniards wrapped his body in his man- tle, then rowing out into the great river at midnight, they sank it into the waters. His followers erected a forge, made nails of every scrap of iron in their possession, and built some thin, frail little vessels in which they sailed fearfully down the Mississippi and then along the coast to Mexico. Half the party had died, no treasure had been found, and wherever the explorers had been, they had left behind them bitter indignation and hatred. Coronado searches for the seven cities. At the same time as that of De Soto's journey, another Spanish explorer, named Francisco Coronado (ko-ro-na'tho), set out from the western shore of Mexico in search of some mysterious cities of wealth and splendor. There was a tradition that they were seven in number and that they were rilled with treas- ure. Explorers had already been in the region in which they were thought to be and had brought home glowing accounts of what they had seen — though at a great dis- tance. Coronado had some three hundred companions and a whole army of Indians and negroes to wait upon the three hundred and carry their baggage. After months of jour- neying, not so difficult as that of De Soto, but by no means easy, he came to the "cities," which we now know were the dwellings of the Zuni Indians, flat-roofed houses of adobe, entered from the top and often built up the side of a cliff. Sometimes they were four or five stories high and would provide homes for three thousand persons or more. It is no wonder that the earlier visitors, who only saw them from a distance, thought them great towns. THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 195 Coronado sets out for Quivira. Coronado was sadly dis- appointed, but one hope remained. Some of the Indians told him that if he would push on to the northeast, he would come to a really wonderful city which they called Quivira (ke-ve'ra). He was in what is now New Mexico, and he marched on across the Rio Grande (re'o gran'da) and came into Kansas. There was Quivira, to be sure, but it was only a cluster of wretched little villages. One thing inter- THE MISSION OF SANTA BARBARA ested him greatly, and in his report he said that the plains were full of "crooked-back oxen," that is, buffaloes. He went home a badly disappointed explorer. He had, however, visited a great extent of our southwestern country, he had sailed up the Gulf of California and the Colorado River. He said that the country through which he went was so cold and so far from the ocean that it was really not worth while to make any effort to keep it — and he had been over some of the richest land in the United States! The Spanish missions. Wherever the Spanish conquerors came, priests either went with them or followed closely in their footsteps. They did not seek for gold or for fame, they sought only to teach the Indians the Christian faith and the 196 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS ways of civilization. As far as they could, they brought them together into villages called missions. Each Indian had his own little farm and was taught how to cultivate it ; but part of every day he worked on the mission farm to help support the Church and the school. The priests and monks taught them to give up their idols and the practice of can- nibalism and to obey the rules of the Church. Children were taught to read and write ; and if they showed any ability for such work, they, as well as their elders, were taught to be- come carpenters or blacksmiths or to follow some other use- ful handicraft. When Spanish settlers came to this country, they naturally made their homes near some mission, where there was a church and a school and where the customs of Spain were followed and Spanish was spoken. Often these immigrants and the Indians intermarried. It is thought that within eighty years after the first voyage of Columbus, there were some five million Indians in these villages. THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 197 STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Why had we any better right to take possession of Porto Rico than Cortes had to seize upon Mexico? 2. What did Cortes mean by "a troublesome disease of the heart?" 3. Describe the exchange of gifts between Cortes and Montezuma as if you had seen it. 4. In what were Cortes and Montezuma alike, and in what were they different? Which was the nobler man? 5. What scene in this chapter would make a fine picture? 6. What were the worst qualities of the Spaniards? What were their good qualities? 7. What do you suppose Montezuma said to himself when he went up to the highest tower of the palace? 8. What should you carry if you were setting out on such a journey as De Soto's? 9. Did De Soto deserve his misfortunes? 10. Describe De Soto's journey as one of his followers might have done. Describe it as an Indian who had escaped from him might have told it to his son. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A Mexican describes the coming of Cortes. What Las Casas wrote to the Spanish king. A visit to a Mission. CHAPTER XVI ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH Why we do not belong to Spain. More than a century passed after Columbus's voyages before any country except Spain and Portugal paid much attention to America. Spain had founded missions in large numbers; she had plantations, and she had mines from which enormous quan- tities of gold and sil- ver were carried to the mother country every year. More than this, her discoverers and ex- plorers had touched at so many places and been over so much of the country that ac- cording to the customs of the day she could lay claim to the greater part of South America and also to a large share of North America. Tn what is now the United States, she had founded two settlements that remain to this day, St. Augustine (a'gus-ten) in Florida, 1565; and Santa Fe (fa) in New Mexico, 1582. Certainly, Spain had a firm foothold in this country. How is it, then, that the English, French, and Dutch colonized so much of North America, and how is OLD SPANISH GATEWAY AT ST. AUGUSTINE ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 199 it that we are not subjects of the king of Spain and that we are speaking English instead of Spanish? Queen Elizabeth's love of magnificence. In 1558, Queen Elizabeth came to the English throne. Elizabeth was a remarkable woman, but she was full of vanities. She be- lieved herself so beautiful that no one could praise her as much as she thought she deserved. She had dresses by the hundred, and she was not at all pleased if some court lady QUEEN ELIZABETH CARRIED IN STATE chanced to appear in a gown a bit finer than her own. She liked to wear the handsomest velvet, the richest cloth of gold and cloth of silver. Her dresses were embroidered with pictures of scenes in mythology. Her headdresses and clasps and buttons were all a-glitter with diamonds and emeralds and rubies. Still, much as she enjoyed magnificence, she was a thrifty soul, and never dreamed of such reckless ex- travagance as that of Henry III. Elizabeth's scholarship. Elizabeth was an excellent scho- 200 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Iar. When she rode into London for her coronation, the boys from St. Paul's school made Latin addresses in her praise, and she was quite able to return little speeches in the same language. She thoroughly enjoyed being urged to show off her accomplishments, and when she went to visit one of the universities and was asked to speak in Latin, she pretended that she was not able to do it; but after a little more urging, she delivered a speech in excellent Latin, which she had evidently prepared for the occasion. Elizabeth's suitors. Elizabeth loved England with all her heart. She was always the friend of the common people. She was sincere in her wish for their love, and she knew just how to win it. On this same coronation ride, a small boy recited some verses in her honor, and she had her chariot stopped so she could hear what he was saying and see his face. The country was anxious that its queen should marry, and King Philip of Spain, three or four other kings, and princes and earls without number were eager for her hand. To choose one would make the others her enemies ; and she made each ambassador believe that she especially favored his master, but that she must delay a little before giving her answer. She kept one suitor waiting for seven years, another for eleven. Meanwhile, England was growing stronger, and that was just what this shrewd, faulty queen was working for. Elizabeth's contradictions. Elizabeth was full of con- tradictions. She could be most dignified and queenly when she chose; and she could be so unmannerly as to lean over, when in an impressive ceremonial an earl was kneeling before her, and tickle his neck with her own royal finger. She scolded her council ; she boxed the ears of a saucy noble- man ; but she was grace and gentleness itself to the common people and to any one else who paid her a specially well- turned compliment. One day when she was in danger of ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 201 having to set her foot in the mud — for the roads were as bad as roads could be — one Walter Raleigh gracefully spread his handsome cloak before her. This was his real introduction to the queen. It also introduced him to wealth and rank and the royal favor. Elizabeth was willful, but she knew how to choose wise men for her service. Elizabethan homes in the country. In the Elizabethan days people began to live in greater comfort than in ear- lier times. Farmhouses were now made in brick and stone. Wooden trenchers were less generally used, and many a farmhouse could make quite a display of silver. Chimneys began to be com- mon. Carpets were intro- duced, and the dirty rushes — rarely renewed save when the floor was swept for danc- ing — fell out of use. As life became safer, the nobles no longer needed moats and battle- ments for defense ; and they began to build houses of grace and beauty. Glass was used with great lavishness, and in- stead of narrow slits in walls so thick that little air or light could come in, there were now windows of such generous size that one English nobleman said he did not know where to go to get out of the sun. Town houses. In town there was quite as much change. The houses of the wealthy were made larger and higher and often finished inside with expensive wainscoting. There was much carving about the staircases and chairs and beds QUEEN ELIZABETH 202 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS and the chimney corners. Handsome tapestries covered the walls. People did a good deal of traveling. No young man was regarded as properly educated unless he had made a tour of the Continent. BIRTHPLACE OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH (An English country house in the time of Queen Elizabeth) Stories of the New World. The air was full of stories of the New World and its marvels, and of the amazing for- tunes that had been made across the seas. Even the people who were no richer by a single shilling than they had been, felt richer because they heard so many wonder-tales of wealth; and they felt bold and adventurous because so many accounts of adventure had come to them. Spain had become rich and powerful, and also haughty and over- bearing. Of course the other nations were indignant, and especially in England there was hatred of everything Spanish. Troubles concerning the Church. During the sixteenth century many people in Germany, France, England, and Holland began to complain of the Catholic Church, to which they had all belonged before this. Some of them were ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 203 convinced that the Church was incorrect in its teachings of the meaning of the Bible, and many separated from it. These were called Protestants. For the people of a country to differ in religion was a thing not to be thought of in those days, and Catholic princes began to punish Protestants and Protestant princes to punish Catholics with a view to re- storing union. Ignatius Lo-yo'la, who founded the Order of Jesuits, was the most famous leader among the Catholics; Martin Luther of Germany and John Calvin of France were leaders among the Protestants. The feeling became more and more bitter. The Spaniards belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, while both the English and the Dutch had become Protestants. Lawlessness on the ocean. Law was beginning to prevail on land, but the world was not sufficiently enlightened to realize the need of law on the ocean. If the captain of one vessel had a good opportunity to capture one of another country, he usually did it if the two countries were at all inclined to be unfriendly. In this case, the result was that for a number of years, although Spain and England were not said to be at war, their ships were playing the pirate with one another. The captains were wild and adventurous and quite equal to defending themselves and striking a hard blow whenever they had a good chance. Francis Drake's early life. One of the boldest of these captains was Francis Drake. When he was a young man, he was employed on a little coasting vessel that carried goods between England and Holland and France. It was rather a dull, monotonous life, but evidently Drake did his best, for, quite in storybook fashion, when the skipper died, he left his faithful helper the boat. The young man went on running the coaster, even though he must have wished for a more adventurous life. It was not long, however, be- fore he had adventure enough to satisfy any one's ambition. 204 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS Spain began sending out vessels to seize every English craft that could be found. The little coaster would have had no chance of escape, so Drake sold her and started on a voyage in a vessel large enough to protect itself. SPANISH TREASURE SHIPS Spanish treachery. This vessel was one of a fleet of six, and a famous sailor, Sir John Hawkins, was its admiral. Seizing negroes in Africa and selling them as slaves was looked upon as a perfectly proper enterprise, and this was what Sir John had set out to do. He was successful, and he started for home with so much gold and pearls that Drake's share would have made him a rich man. The vessels were ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 205 disabled by a storm and put into Vera Cruz for repairs. Be- hold, the harbor was full of great ships of treasure, ready to sail for Spain. " Promise not to interfere with us," said Sir John, " and we will not touch your ships." The Spaniards promised, but suddenly, when no one was expecting any trouble, they made a fierce attack upon the English vessels. Both Hawkins and Drake escaped, but the gold and pearls went to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Drake's revenge. A very angry mariner was young Francis Drake. He appealed to Queen Elizabeth to make Spain refund his losses, but she did not venture to attack the powerful country. Then Drake took matters into his own hands. The pearls and gold were well repaid, for he robbed Spanish ships and colonies at pleasure. King Philip of Spain complained bitterly, but Queen Elizabeth did not punish her sailor. On the contrary, she had a long private talk with him, and one day Drake sailed out of Plymouth Harbor with five vessels. He went through the Strait of Magellan, and up the western coast of South America. In Valparaiso was a treasure ship freighted with good yellow gold fresh from the mines. "There 's one of our ships! " cried the Spanish sailors. They ran up their flags and beat the drums in welcome; but almost before they had discovered their mistake, Drake had seized their ship and fastened the men under the hatches. Drake captures the Spitfire. Drake in his Golden Hind was aiming at Lima in Peru, for there he felt sure of rinding vessels worth capturing. Unluckily, the Spanish ship the Spitfire had just sailed off loaded with treasure. So he set out to catch up with the Spitfire. He did it — he usually did what he undertook. The Spitfire yielded without a blow, and such a cargo went into the hold of the Golden Hind as no English vessel had ever carried before; thirteen chests of Spanish dollars, eighty pounds of gold, twenty-six 206 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS tons of silver, and more jewels than any one had time to count. "I think her Majesty will be satisfied with her share," said Drake to himself; and then this " master thief of the western world," as King Philip bitterly called him, started for home. QUEEN ELIZABETH KNIGHTING DRAKE ON BOARD THE GOLDEN HIND (From a drawing by Sir John Gilbert) Drake on the California coast. The Spaniards were watching the Strait, but Drake cared little for that, for he meant to go home by way of the Northwest Passage — if he could find it. He sailed up the western coast of North America as far as Vancouver Island; but it grew so cold that he gave up the search for the Passage, sailed south, and entered a harbor near where San Francisco now stands. The cliffs were white like those of England, and therefore he named the place New Albion. He put upa" fair great post," and to the post he fixed a plate of metal marked with ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 207 the date and the name of the queen and claiming the coun- try for England. So it was that the English paid their first visit to the western shores of what is now the United States. Drake sails around the world. Then the Golden Hind crossed the Pacific. Drake fell among thievish savages, he ran upon a reef, and he was caught in fearful gales; but at last he sailed into Plymouth Sound, the first English captain who had been around the world. King Philip was clamoring for his punishment; but Queen Elizabeth would not give up either the treasure or the man. In a few months she went in all state to dine with him on board his vessel. Before she left, she made him a knight. She forbade that the Golden Hind should ever be destroyed. It was carefully preserved for a century; then it began to fall to pieces from decay. Part of it was made into a chair, and this was presented to the University of Oxford. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. What was Queen Elizabeth's worst fault? 2. What was her most valuable quality as a queen? Would she have been an agreeable friend to live with? 3. What was the greatest improvement shown in the Elizabethan houses over the early castles? 4. When you read of some bold adventures, do you wish you were in them or are you glad to be out of them? Would the motive of the ad- ventures make any difference? 5. Why should Spain have become rich and overbearing? 6. Why did law prevail on land sooner than on the sea? 7. If Drake had not done his best as a young man, what do you think his afterlife would have been? 8. Why do you suppose it seemed right to the people of Elizabeth's day to sell negroes as slaves, and does it seem right to us? 9. What plans did Queen Elizabeth and Drake form in their long talk together? 10. Describe the transfer of cargo from the Spitfire to the Golden Hind as if you had been present. 11. Can you think of any reason why it was best for Drake to sail home by the route which he took? 2o8 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A Spaniard of Elizabeth's day tells an Englishman why America ought to belong to Spain. Write a speech welcoming the queen to London. A visit to an Elizabethan farmhouse. Drake describes the capture of the Spitfire. Queen Elizabeth on the Golden Hind. CHAPTER XVII RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN Charles V of Spain. In the early part of the sixteenth century, Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, sat on the throne of Spain. He was only nineteen, but he was richer and more power- ful than any other sovereign had been since the times of Charlemagne. He ruled Spain, Austria, Burgundy, Sicily, Naples, Sardinia, Germany, and the Nether- lands. Besides this, he was called the emperor of the " Holy Roman Empire," that is, he had been rec- ognized by the Pope as the successor of the emper- ors of Rome. Then, too, his possessions in America must not be forgotten and the enormous wealth that was coming from them. Why trouble arose between France and Spain. On the throne of France was also a young king, Francis I, Jacques Carrier's sovereign. His country was strong and wealthy, his people were united in regard for their ruler. Between these two monarchs trouble arose for several reasons. One was that Spain was so proud and overbearing. Another was CHARLES v 210 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS that she was so cruel in her punishment of Protestants that even the Catholics of France were horrified. A third reason was that both Charles and Francis laid claim to territory in Italy. Indeed, Charles meant to take the whole country. He finally succeeded, but his constant warfare weakened his country and was one of the reasons why Spain was not able to hold on quite as firmly as she would otherwise have done to her American conquests and claims. It was also a reason why France was not able to send expeditions to America and found colonies in that country. Chevalier Bayard. The French hero of this warfare was the Chevalier Bayard (ba'ard). At the age of sixteen he won knighthood by capturing a standard on the battlefield. He held the entrance to a bridge alone against two hundred Spaniards, quite after the fashion of Horatius in the early Roman days. At the siege of Brescia (bre'sha) he led his troops up the rampart and was severely wounded. He was taken to the house of a nobleman, and even in his weakness he protected the family from harm, and refused the princely gift that they wished to make him. He was the ideal knight, and it is no wonder that Francis would let no one else admit him to knighthood. More than once Bayard was captured by the Spanish and set free without ransom because they so admired his bravery. His greatest feat was the defense of a town which it had been declared impossible to defend. With only one thousand men, he held out for six weeks against an army of thirty-five thousand, and finally won the day. All France joined in doing him honor, as might well have been, for he had given King Francis time to get his troops together, and so saved his country from the horrors of invasion. The death of Bayard. At last, in the war between Charles and Francis, he received a mortal wound. One of his men helped him to dismount and set him under a tree with his RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN 211 face to the foe. He kissed the cross made by his sword-hilt, and said, "It is God's will to take me out of this world. I have received blessings and honors more than my due." He begged his attendants to leave him lest they should be cap- tured by the enemy, and he sent a last message to his king : "Tell him that I am distressed at being no longer able to do him service, for I had good will thereto." "And then," says the old chronicle, "he yielded up his soul to God, whereat all the enemy had mourning incredible." Coligny founds a colony in America. Peace had hardly been declared between Spain and France before trouble broke out in France because of differences of opinion on religious questions between the Catholics and the Prot- estants, or Huguenots, as they were called. The leader of the Protestants was a great French nobleman, Admiral Coligny (ko-len-ye'). He planned to found a colony in America where the Huguenots (hu'ge-nots), might live in peace. The company crossed the ocean, chose a place at the mouth of the St. Johns River in Florida, and there they built a fort. In honor of their king, Charles IX, they named it Fort Caroline, from Carolus, the Latin form of his name. Troubles of the colonists. But these colonists were not all devout folk by any means. Huguenot in name, many of them were restless, discontented people who dreamed wild dreams of gold mines and enormous fortunes rather than of worshiping God according to their consciences. There was not a farmer among them, and they made no attempt to till the ground. Naturally, when the food which they brought with them was exhausted, they had to live on roots, on the few fish that, at high prices, the Indians could be prevailed upon to bring them, and even on a wretched sort of bread made of powdered fish bones. The coming of Hawkins and Drake. The sick and hope- 212 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS less men actually danced for joy when a little fleet of stately ships was seen off shore. It was Sir John Hawkins and Francis Drake, and they had come to land for fresh water. Sir John supplied the colonists with food and sold them one of his vessels. Good fortune shone upon them, for the Eng- lish fleet was not out of sight before a French squadron of seven ships appeared with food and supplies. The appearance of the Spaniards. This was their last bit of happiness, for just one week later, "a huge hulk, grim with the throats of cannon," and flying the Spanish flag, bore down upon the vessels of the French. The Spanish admiral demanded whence they came and who they were and what they were doing there. "We are Lutherans from France," they replied, ' ' and we are bring- ing soldiers and supplies for a fort which the king of France has in this country — and for many more which he soon will have," they added defiantly. Then the French in their turn became the questioners, and the admiral replied: "I am Pedro Menendez (ma-nan'dath), General of the fleet of the king of Spain, Don Philip the Second. I have come to this country to hang or behead every Lutheran whom I shall find by land or sea. At daybreak I shall board your ships, and if I find there any Catholic, he shall be well treated; but every heretic shall die." "Come on now, and see what you will get!" shouted the French. "Board!" ordered Menendez in wrath. But the French soldiers were on shore, SPANISH GENTLEMAN RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN 213 and the sailors cut the cables and fled for their lives, the Spaniards in pursuit. In the morning Menendez went back to the fort; but there stood the soldiers armed and waiting for him. He con- cluded not to make an attack at once, but he sailed a few miles south to wait for more vessels, and there founded St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States. Menendez destroys Fort Caroline. Before long, the French fleet set sail from Fort Caroline, ready to destroy the Spanish settlement, but it was wrecked in a tempest. Then was the time for Menendez to strike, and he struck hard. He and his men made their way in the storm through swamps and morasses to Fort Caroline and destroyed it, killing nearly every person in the place. Some he hanged to trees, and put above them a board on which was written, "Not as to Frenchmen, but as to Lutherans." A little later he discovered a few men who had escaped to the shore from the wrecked vessels. All they asked was to be allowed to remain till French ships should come to take them back to France. Mercy was promised them, but Menendez put them to death. This bloody deed did not go unavenged, for some two years later a Frenchman crossed the sea for the express purpose of punishing the Spaniards. He killed every man at the fort. Several of them he hanged on the same trees on which the French had been hanged by Menendez, and above them he wrote, "Not as to Spaniards, but as to liars and murderers." STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Which would have been better for France, to try to get territory in Italy or to found colonies in America? 2. What was an ideal knight? 3. What qualities must one possess in these days to be an ideal man? 4. Describe an ideal king. 5. Why should his enemies have mourned for Chevalier Bayard? 214 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 6. What kind of people would make good colonists? 7. Could the Huguenot colonists have answered the Spaniards more wisely? How? 8. What were the characteristics of the Spaniards of those days? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Write a letter about Bayard. Coligny tells a Huguenot his plans for a colony in America. A Huguenot describes the troubles of the colony before the coming of the English and the French. Menendez's journey from St. Augustine to Fort Caroline. CHAPTER XVIII REVOLT OF THE DUTCH AGAINST THE KING OF SPAIN Holland. There are many old fairy stories about imagi- nary wonder-worlds down under the sea. They might almost have been written about Holland, for Holland is a wonder and much of it is below sea-level. It has no rocks, not even small stones, and its soil is a fine silt brought down by the Rhine and other rivers that flow through the country. In the first place it was a low, marshy district, hardly more than a great morass, and frequently the ocean swept over much of it. Only a people with the steady patience of the Dutch could ever have made such a place into a garden, but this is what the Netherlanders have done. First they had to plan to keep the ocean out. To do this, they built at great cost strong walls called dikes. These are so wide that there are often roads and houses and trees on top of them. They are so high that people in boats can look far down into the windows of the cottages below. These dikes must be closely watched, for if a very small hole is not cared for, it soon becomes a big hole, and then there is terrible danger. Instead of streets and lanes, there are big canals and little canals; and far down below them stretch bright green meadows, rather soggy, but exceedingly fertile and well taken care of, for whatever the Dutch do at all, they do thoroughly. The windmills. The land would be more damp than it is if there were no windmills; but there are hundreds of them, flapping their great white wings and looking like flocks of 2l6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS monstrous white butterflies. They are hard workers, how- ever, for they pump up water from the swampy land into the canals and make it dry enough to live upon. The silt brought by the rivers is rich and fertile, and there are no better gardens in western Europe than this land which was once a swamp. The enterprise of the Dutch. The people who had rescued this land from the ocean were sturdy and independent. They were fully ac- customed to water, as may be guessed, and they made good fishermen and mar- iners. They were not so fond of dar- ing adventure as the Spaniards, but they built a large num- ber of merchant ves- sels and carried goods everywhere. Sail on whatever sea one would, there were the fleets of the Dutch. They made almost as much use of the Black and the Med- iterranean Seas as the merchants of Venice and Genoa. They had a large trade with the East Indies, and were particularly anxious to get control of that mysterious Northwest Passage in which every one believed but which no one could find. In hope of discovering this, -^t&^3> THE HALF-MOON LEAVING AMSTERDAM REVOLT OF THE DUTCH 217 the Dutch hired Henry Hudson, an English mariner of much experience in the North, to go in search of it. He tried to go north of Europe, but the ice prevented. Then he searched for a waterway through the continent. Since there was none, he necessarily failed; but he did discover the Hudson River, which took its name from him. The independence of the Dutch. The Dutch became a wealthy folk, and they lived in comfort and even luxury. They were so fond of clean houses that an old story declares a Dutch woman once scrubbed her kitchen floor until she fell through into the cellar. They were well educated ; even the simplest peasants could read and write; and in those times many people of rank had small knowledge of such accomplishments. The Dutch were a most independent people. In at least one of the Dutch provinces, whenever a new ruler came to the throne, and the good folk of the province swore to be faithful to him, they also declared that if he did not respect their privileges, they should consider themselves released from their oath. The laws of Charles V. These were the people over whom Philip II had rule. He was the son of Charles V of Spain, and inherited his father's kingdoms, among them the Netherlands, or the present Holland and Belgium. The southern part, now called Belgium, was chiefly Catholic, and with Catholics Charles had no quarrel ; but the northern part, now called Holland, was chiefly Protestant, and in the determination to bring the Dutch back to the Catholic Church, he decreed that all who were convicted of heresy should be burned alive, buried alive, or beheaded. If a man merely owned a book declared heretical, he was liable to these penalties, and his friends were punished if they even asked that mercy be shown him. Such were the laws, but they soon became a dead letter. Philip's treatment of the Netherlands. When Philip II 218 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS came to the throne, although he had sworn to protect the liberties and customs of the Netherlanders, he quartered thousands of Spanish soldiers upon them, and he gave Spanish officials power over them. Worse than this he renewed the laws of his father against heresy, and from his behavior in Spain it was evident that he meant to execute them most rigorously and to estab- lish the Inquisition, as the court that presided over heretical trials was called . I n Spain , a Prot- estant who was to be burned for the one crime of his religious belief, called to the king, " Is it thus that you allow your innocent subjects to be persecuted? " Philip re- plied, "If it were my own son, I would fetch the wood to burn him, were he such a wretch as thou art." Such was the man who reigned over the sturdy, independ- ent people of the Netherlands. It is little wonder that they rebelled. The rise of the " Beggars." When Philip sailed for Spain, he left his half-sister Margaret to govern in his place. Before long," the nobles united, declaring that they would give their lives and their property to protect their liberties and put an end to religious persecution. Several hundred of them went to Margaret to ask her to inform Philip that his sub- jects were loyal to him, but that his persecutions were ruin- ing the country. Governors of Dutch provinces told her PHILIP II REVOLT OF THE DUTCH 219 that they would never stand by and see their countrymen burned to death for errors of religion. Margaret was troubled and fearful of what might come. A councilor who stood near her exclaimed, "Madam, are you afraid of a pack of beggars?" The nobles caught up the name, and after this the party was known as the "Beggars." People wore medals to show their sympathy, and some of them even put on the usual dress of pilgrims and begging monks, wearing gray cloth and carrying the wooden bowl of the beggar. Many Dutch flee to England. The Netherlanders were ablaze with stern patriotism and the determination to stand by their rights and not to submit to oppression. Now came word that Philip was on his way in wrath with a large army. To escape loss of property and perhaps death, people fled from the country, possibly one hundred thousand in all. Many of them crossed the English Channel, even in little fishing boats. The shrewd Queen Elizabeth gave them a hearty welcome, for numbers of them were weavers, and she was much pleased to have these excellent workmen come to her realm. William of Orange becomes leader of the Dutch. Philip sent an able general, the famous Duke of Alva, to subdue the country; but now the Netherlanders had determined to be free from Spanish rule, and they fought desperately and with no thought of surrender. Margaret left the country and Alva became its governor. As far as possible, he arrested every Beggar, even every one who had shown the least sympathy with the Beggars, had them tortured and then put to death. To what church they belonged made no difference to him, and he was just as merciless to the Cath- olics of what is now Belgium as to the Protestants of Holland. Meanwhile, the religious persecutions were more relentless than ever. The most powerful man in the Nether- 220 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS lands was William, Prince of Orange, or William the Silent, and he became the leader of the Dutch. So it was that the little country entered upon an eighty-years' struggle with the richest and strongest kingdom of Europe. The siege of Leyden. During this war occurred the siege of Leyden (M'den), one of the most famous sieges in all history. The Spaniards had built so many redoubts that there was no hope of aid by land. William told the Netherlanders that the only way to save the city was to break down the dikes and let the ocean roll over their homes. "Better a drowned land than a lost land ! ' ' cried the Dutch. The dikes were pierced, and Ley- den became an island in the midst of the sea. Eight hundred "Sea- Beggars" set out on the new ocean in their flat-bottomed boats to carry food to the starving city; but when they were almost within Sight of it, the ves- sels ran aground. They must have eighteen inches of water, and there was no hope of getting it unless the wind should shift to the west. The city was starving. Thousands had already died of famine or plague. The Spanish commander demanded a surrender. "When the last hour has come, we will set fire to the city and perish rather than suffer our homes to be polluted and our liberties crushed," de- clared the people. The Spanish soldiers laughed. "As well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky as WILLIAM THE SILENT (Founder of the Dutch Republic) REVOLT OF THE DUTCH 221 bring the ocean to the walls of Leyden for your relief," they cried. Leyden is saved by a tempest. Day after day the besieged people watched the sky, and at last there came a tempest. The waters of the North Sea swept over the crumbling dikes. The Spaniards ran for their lives along the pathway, which was already sliding into the sea in masses. Many were drowned in the wild retreat ; many more were attacked by the harpoons and boat- hooks of the Zealanders (ze'- land-ers), experienced in the Arctic fisheries. There was one strong fort for the food ships yet to pass. A carrier pigeon had told the starving Leydenites that the bread fleet lay just out of sight behind it, and they were planning one last desperate struggle in the morning. That night strange wandering lights were seen about the fort. In the morning a boy appeared on its summit waving his cap. The lights were the lanterns of the Spaniards. They had departed in the darkness, and this boy alone had seen them go. So it was that Leyden was saved. So it was that the Dutch strove for independ- ence and their own just rights. Murder of William of Orange. The struggle continued. Philip became convinced that William was the great obsta- cle in his way, and he offered a large reward to any one who would murder him. At last he fell by the hand of an assassin, and died with the cry, "O my God, have mercy upon this poor people!" DUTCH WINDMILLS 222 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Do you know any land made out of swamp land? 2. How are swampy places on roads made dry and firm? 3. What is the meaning of the old saying, "The Dutch have taken Hol- land"? 4. Why do the Dutch use windmills instead of steam or electricity to pump up the water? Could we use them in this country for more purposes than we do? 5. Read how a mud-hole became a garden in Brave Little Holland, by William Elliot Griffis, pages 110-121. 6. How would a wise ruler have behaved toward his Dutch subjects? 7. Have you read anything about Philip II that shows him to have been a poor ruler for such people as the Dutch? 8. Why was Queen Elizabeth glad to have good workmen come to Eng- land? What kinds of people are we glad to welcome to the United States? 9. In how many ways did Philip injure Holland? 10. Were the Dutch right in saying, "Better a drowned land than a lost land "? What did they value even more than their homes? 11. Read about the siege of Leyden in Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, vol. II. 12. Tell the story of the Dutch boy on the dikes as if you had been he. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK A walk on the dikes. A Dutchman speaks of his country's commerce. When the "Beggars" came to Margaret. Queen Elizabeth welcomes some Dutch weavers. CHAPTER XIX ENGLAND JOINS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN The Duke of Parma in the Netherlands. A few years before the death of William the Silent, Philip sent the Duke of Parma to the Netherlands as governor. He was a shrewd, wary man who had no scruples about how his schemes were carried out if they only suc- ceeded. He planned to make a separation between the north and south Netherlands. The two districts were unlike in their wishes and their religion, and all that held them to- gether was their de- termination to stand by their liberties. The Duke gave bribes, he did whatever he could to cause dissension be- tween them, and he used force where craft was not sufficient. The result was that he suc- ceeded in winning back the southern provinces for Spain. By the efforts of William, the seven northern provinces THE NETHERLANDS: SHOWING DUTCH AND SPANISH POSSESSIONS 224 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS formed a union, and in 1581 they declared their independ- ence. Their declaration made some statements that were new in those days and sound much like our own Declara- tion of Independence of two centuries later; for instance, they declared that it is the duty of a prince to care for his subjects as a shepherd guards his sheep. When the prince does not do his duty, says the Declaration, it is only reason- able for his subjects to depose him and choose some one else in his place. ELIZABETHS AUTOGRAPH The Dutch appeal to England. Declaring independence and becoming independent are two different things, and there was much fighting still to be done before Holland could become free. The seven little States pluckily con- tinued their struggle with wealthy and powerful Spain. They tried to get an ally, and naturally they looked to England. That was a Protestant country, and Queen Elizabeth had some Dutch blood in her veins. They asked her to help them. Spain also sent an envoy and asked her not to help them. This wary queen thought that if she did not help the Dutch, France would, and thus France would become too powerful for the comfort of England. On the other hand, if she did help them generously, and they be- came really independent, Philip would pounce down upon ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 225 England. If the States yielded to Philip and became Cath- olic, neither France nor Spain would gain in power; and if they continued to fight, England would be safe from Philip while the fight lasted. The queen's delay. The two envoys did not have a par- ticularly pleasant time waiting for the queen to make up her mind, for she promised and flattered, and flattered and promised, and would not bind herself to anything. She finally decided to do nothing for either side, that is, nothing openly, but to send secretly a very little aid to the Dutch, enough to encourage them in fighting, but not enough to enable them to win.- The English people help the Dutch. The English people, however, rose to the occasion. They sent lavish gifts of money, and one by one five thousand Englishmen slipped across the English Channel to help in the struggle. If a Dutch privateer was too closely pursued, it could run into some English harbor and be safe. Occasionally an English cruiser would run up the Dutch flag and make a dash at a Spanish vessel — and these English "dashes" were quite likely to sink the ship. As for the seamen along the southern coast of England, they were having a fine time with their plunder. Little cared they for the Pope's "line of demar- cation" ; even the queen herself could not stop them. Stories of Alva's outrages began to come home from the five thou- sand, and Englishmen were enraged. They were convinced that Philip was planning to do his utmost to overpower their country, and they were eager to strike the first blow. Eliza- beth never liked to get herself into any corner which had no hole for escape, and for some time she held off, and claimed Philip as her "good friend," even while her captains were doing their best to sink his ships. Elizabeth becomes protector of the Dutch States. The time came at last when even Elizabeth could not hold off 226 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS any longer, and in 1585 she became formally the protector of the Dutch States. This was war without any question, and soon Drake sailed out of Plymouth with full permission — together with a large subscription from the queen herself — to attack Spanish shipping wherever he might find it. The chances are that he would have done some- thing like that in any case, for Sir Francis Drake did not always wait for per- mission. Drake revenges Spain's treachery. It seems that some months earlier, be- fore England and Spain were openly at war, Philip had asked England to carry grain to a starving district in northwestern Spain, and had promised protection for the ships. While the grain was being unloaded, Spanish officials and others disguised themselves as merchants, boarded the vessels, and demanded their surrender. The crew promptly dropped them overboard. Drake meant to get revenge for this piece of treachery on the part of Spain. He sailed away from England, capturing Spanish vessels by way of amusement, and soon entered the harbor of Vigo. The Spaniards gave them banquets and promised whatever they asked, but did nothing, for they hoped help would soon arrive. Drake understood this. He captured ships and helped himself lavishly to whatever valuables there were in the town, and then sailed merrily away to the West Indies, leaving Philip to rage about the "insolence" of the English captain. SPANISH GALLEON ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 227 An English army is sent to aid the Dutch. Now that Elizabeth was the protector of the Dutch, the least that she could do was to send an army to help them, and this she did. The Earl of Leicester was in command, but the hero of the expedition was his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, who, like Bayard, was a knight "without fear and with- out reproach." He was dauntless on the field of battle; he had great abil- ity as a statesman ; he had written a fascinating romance called "Ar-ca'- di-a," which every one admired; and he was so gentle and courteous and thoughtful of others that he was perhaps the best- loved man in England. Twenty- two years after his death, an old school friend wrote his life, and asked that on his own tomb might be written, "Servant to Queen Elizabeth, Councillor to King James, and Friend to Sir Philip Sidney." The death of Sir Philip Sidney. At the battle of Zutphen, the lord marshal chanced to enter the field without greaves, or armor for the thighs. Sidney, with an impulse of gener- osity, refused to be better protected than his commander, and threw off his own. It was upon the thigh that he was struck by the ball which shattered his leg. As he rode from the field, water was brought by his attendant to quench his fierce thirst. But he caught sight of the wistful eyes of a wounded soldier, and gave him the flask. " Drink," he said, SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 228 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS "thy need is greater than mine." All England watched for the messages which came from him every day, and hoped earnestly that he might recover; but from the first he be- lieved that he could not. Like Socrates, on his last day he talked with his friends about the immortality of the soul, and then bade them farewell. So died the brave and noble Sir Philip Sidney. Drake at San Domingo. When Drake left Vigo, he sailed away for the West Indies. At San Domingo, Carlisle, who commanded the soldiers of the fleet, put a small force in front of each of the two gates, divided his men into two parties, and then made a rush from the two directions straight to the market-place. San Domingo had been thought to be a wonderfully rich place, but Drake was some- what disappointed in what he found. He was accustomed to such treasures as those of the Spitfire, and he spoke quite scornfully of the "great store of strong wine, sweet oil, vinegar, olives, and such-like provisions, excellent white meal, woolen and linen cloth, and some silks, all which served us for great relief. Good store of brave apparel our soldiers also found." Drake at Cartagena. At Cartagena (kar-ta-je'na), which was called the best fortified place on the Spanish Main, Carlisle and his men were quietly landed at midnight three miles from the town. They pushed up to the center, and there found that Drake and his sailors had half won the place already. The men fought at every street corner, and the Spaniards even got help from Indians, who used poi- soned arrows, but at daybreak the town was in the hands of the English. After a stay of six weeks, Drake sailed up to Cuba, burned the little settlement of St. Augustine made by Menendez, and at length returned to Portsmouth. Drake's achievements. Drake was not quite satisfied with this voyage. One third of his followers had died, and ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 229 he had not made some of the attacks that he had planned. On the other hand, he had brought home what other cap- tains would have called a generous booty, and he had done a great deal of injury to Spain. Philip was accustomed to send out each year a fleet for India, but this year he forbade not only this fleet but all other trading vessels from leaving the country. He did send out sixteen ships in pursuit of Drake, but a storm drove them back to harbor. The Invincible Armada. Philip had at last made up his mind to make one tremendous attack upon England, and he was preparing a great fleet of warships for that purpose. Elizabeth's older sister Mary had been Philip's wife, and he believed that he could persuade or force the English peo- ple to accept this as a good claim to the crown. He intended to drive Elizabeth from the throne and take her place. He would then be so powerful that he could easily overpower Holland and bring both countries back to the Catholic Church. The Spanish word for fleet is ar-ma'da, and Philip was so sure of victory over England that he called his fleet the Invincible Armada. Philip's plans. Philip set to work with enthusiasm to make preparations. Night and day hammers beat in the Tagus River and elsewhere. In the ports merchant vessels had been seized. The admiral worked hard for two months planning just how to pounce upon England. The Armada should sail into the English Channel until it was in the nar- rowest place, just off Calais (ka-la')- Not far from Calais, the Duke of Parma should be with the army, ready to be taken on transports to the fleet, and then to the English coast, where they would at once attack London. On paper this looked plain and easy; but the sagacious admiral seemed to forget that the ships and soldiers of the English and the Dutch might take a hand in all these fine plans. He went into the most minute details. He made lists of 230 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS what arms and what clothing were needed for sailors and soldiers; he stated just where these articles could be found and what their price would be. He even noted how much each article weighed, how it could best be stored, and how much room it would require. The rations needed were put down and their exact cost. The salary of every man of rank was given. Philip's love of details. Philip enjoyed details, and this lengthy paper must have been a delight to him. He was not exactly a delight to those who were working for him, how- ever, for he kept himself far away from where the work was going on, but insisted upon having every detail reported to him. This could have been managed in spite of poor roads, but he was continually changing his orders. A messenger would travel post haste to the fleet with an order; and by the time a beginning of carrying it out had been made, an- other messenger would arrive with a quite different order. Philip's preparations. The admiral asked for nearly six hundred sail, soldiers, sailors, and horses in large numbers These must be brought together, and men trained to use tha guns ; and all this force must be fed for eight months before any start could be made. Spain could not provide all this; so the plans had to be somewhat modified; but even then it was an enormous force that was preparing to conquer England. Drake " singes the King of Spain's beard." Unluckily for Philip, Sir Francis Drake had also a plan. With the queen's permission, he collected some twenty-five vessels of all sorts and sizes and set out. He sailed straight to Ca'diz, and there were the great ships, some all ready to sail, others being loaded with provisions and arms. Drake sent word home that Philip had brought together food and wine enough to serve forty thousand men for a whole year. The "master thief" spent two days in Cadiz, and a busy two ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 231 days they were. He sank one after another of the mighty warships, high at prow and stern, loaded with heavy arma- ment, unwieldy and clumsy. The English boats were small, and the English sailors had always had a little dread of these great floating castles; but now they burned and de- spoiled at pleasure. They seem to have destroyed forty or fifty vessels and per- FRANCISCV5 DRAEXfO NOBILISSIMVS KQVES AN6LFAE • IS EST QV1 TOTO T "errarvm ^&s»^ orbe crgnovco jd fiicunnhico Jxrnosco inlmyiubtK, m UdluJi IK est imposs.k.fr.fft haps three fourths of a million dollars' worth of food. After this, they did the same thing at other places where Spain was most busy with her preparations. Then Drake took a lit- tle trip to the Azores (a-zorz') and there cap- tured a great merchant ship loaded with spices and drugs and silks and carpets from the East In- dies. The cargo of this one ship much more than paid all the expenses of the expedition. He sent word to the queen that he had "singed the king of Spain's beard." His vice-admiral complained that he was "wedded to his own opinion and will," but no one else in England found any fault when his story had been told and the booty shown. The obstinacy of Philip. King Philip was impatient to send off the Armada; but his friend Drake had destroyed SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (From an original portrait in St. James's Palace) 232 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS stores which it would take a long time to collect again, and he had sunk ships which it would be neither easy nor rapid work to replace. Late in the autumn there were almost cer- tain to be tempests, and even if there was nothing worse than contrary winds, these would be dangerous for ships near an enemy's country and with no place of refuge. So said King Philip's advisers. His wise old admiral told him bluntly that it would be impossible. Parma said the same thing and warned him that the Spanish plans had leaked out, and not only England but Holland and France knew all about them. For years his admirals had been telling him how much better the light English vessels were than the top-heavy Spanish ships, and how much more effective it was to deliver gun-fire low and from the broadside; but neither this nor any other advice moved him in the least. He was determined that the ships should go, and in the spring the Armada sailed for England; rather, it tried to sail, for a westerly gale kept it for a month in the mouth of the Tagus. Even after it got out to sea, there was a storm which crippled the ships and scattered them in all direc- tions. The two commanders urged Philip to give up the attempt at invasion. They told him that the food was spoiled, the crews weak and sick, the fleet far inferior to that of the English; but Philip's reply was a command to set sail. Loyalty of the English Catholics. But what was England about in that time of danger? Philip had felt certain that just as soon as his men appeared, the English Catholics would hasten to their aid; but the English Catholics had no such ideas. They loved their Church, but they did not love either Philip or the Spanish Inquisition, and they stood firmly for their country. A Catholic was made admiral of the English fleet and Drake became vice-admiral. Rank and family went for nothing; men of wealth and high birth ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 233 joined the army or navy as volunteers. Every man was ready to haul a rope or fire a gun. The honor lay not in commanding a vessel, but in doing one's best for England. English patriotism. In one way England was strong be- cause she was weak; that is, her fortifications were out of order, some of them ready to tumble, but the Englishmen knew it, and realized that if they did not wish to be under Spanish rule, every man in the land must do his best to make up for her lack. The royal navy consisted of only thirty warships, not one of them so large as the smallest of the Spanish fleet. The government asked London for five thousand men and fifteen ships. There were only about seventeen thousand men in all London, but the reply went back promptly, "We will gladly provide ten thousand men and thirty ships, and the ships shall be amply furnished. Every little seashore village sent out its boats. Men of all ranks and from all over the land hurried to join the forces that were gathering together near London. Every man who owned a sailing vessel offered its services and his own to help defend his country; and piratical attacks were so com- mon in those days that few captains of merchant vessels had not had some experience in resisting an enemy. The result was that there were all sorts of craft, some of them only little fishing boats. Even the ships of the Royal navy were not well provisioned and not nearly enough powder was provided for them, for Elizabeth was a thrifty woman, and she did dislike to spend money even to fight the Span- iards. Whenever there was a rumor that they had given up their plans, she would insist upon reducing the English fleet. The game of bowls. According to an old story, Drake Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh, Admiral Howard^ and Frobisher, the famous navigator, were playing bowls together in Plymouth, when a sailor rushed up to the group and cried, "Admiral, Admiral, the Spaniards are coming. 234 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS There are hundreds of them." The story declares that Drake said, "How is it, Admiral? Won't there be time to finish the game and then go out and thrash the dons? " The " wasps and the bear." Whether the game was fin- ished or not, is a question; but it is certainly true that the Armada was coming slowly up the English Channel. That night signal fires were lighted on the hills, and in the morning the queer little English fleet went out from Plymouth Harbor to meet the foe. The Armada formed in a wide crescent, seven miles from tip to tip. The English vessels were not strong enough to come to a regular general engage- ment, but they were so light and quick, and the Spanish galleons were so slow and heavy, that the encounter seemed, as was said, like one between a swarm of wasps and a bear. The Armada sailed majestically along toward Calais, and the impudent little English boats pursued. One of them would slip up under the very guns of a clumsy Spanish gal- leon, fire a shot or two at her and flee; and long before the Spanish guns could be trained upon her, she would be far away, firing at another galleon. It is said that some of the English vessels went the whole length of the crescent, firing at ship after ship. This was highly improper, thought the Spaniards, for their notion of a fight at sea was to fire a few guns, not into the hull, but into the rigging of an enemy's vessel to prevent her escaping, then to close and carry on a hand-to-hand combat. SIR WALTER RALEIGH ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 235 The Armada comes to anchor. The Spanish warships were most alarming to look at, but they were exceedingly clumsy and unwieldy. If the English had been willing to stand still and let the Spaniards sail up to them in dignified fashion and then carry out the rest of their programme, the "dons" might possibly have won the day; but while this sort of fighting aroused their wrath, they had no way to meet it. Besides their light, quick boats, the English had THE SPANISH ARMADA ATTACKED BY THE ENGLISH FLEET another advantage in that many of them had met the Span- iards before and had lost fear of them, while the Spaniards had not lost fear of the English, especially of Drake. There was no general encounter, but over and over again there were savage duels between two ships. One Spanish ship caught fire, one sprang her mast; and Drake took them both. One actually surrendered to him without firing a gun, so great was the fear of his name. The Armada came to anchor off Calais. Plans did not work out quite as the Spaniards had expected, for when Parma was ready to transport his troops to the warships, he found the fleet of the Dutch lying in his way. The queen goes to camp. Elizabeth did not like to spend 236 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS money, but she had courage enough for a whole realm ; and her fearlessness was an inspiration. She went on horseback to the camp of her troops, and with the sword of state and a white-plumed helmet, she rode back and forth before the lines. "I have the body of a weak and feeble woman," she said, "but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of Eng- land, too." "Queen Elizabeth! Queen Elizabeth!" shouted the soldiers in wild enthusiasm. DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH ARMADA The fireships. It is said that the queen herself suggested the next move. One night a few small vessels left the Eng- lish fleet and were slowly towed in the direction of the Span- ish ships. No men were on board. The towboats withdrew, and the vessels drifted with the tide. Suddenly they burst into flames. There were explosions, and long tongues of fire shot out and clutched one Spanish vessel after another. " Fireships! Fireships! " the Spaniards cried in terror. They cut their cables and fled to the north, for between them and Spain lay the English fleet. If the Spaniards would ever see ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 237 their homes again, they must sail around the British Isles. But they had no pilots and no charts. Their ships were all more or less shattered, and to make matters worse, they were caught in terrible tempests. The Irish coast was strewn with Spanish wrecks. Not more than half of the Invincible Armada ever returned to Spain. The result of Philip's attack. Philip had done his best to conquer England. He had actually made England stronger, because so many good workers and good citizens had crossed the Channel from Holland; because the attack of the Ar- mada had united her people ; because her victory had made her realize her own power and dare to use it; and because the carrying trade, which had been almost entirely in the hands of Holland, was now chiefly in the hands of the Eng- lish. Philip had made Spain so weak that in time Holland won her independence. He had destroyed the shipping of Spain. She was no longer first on the ocean. Before this, one reason for hesitating to plant colonies in America had been the fear of such an attack as ruined Coligny's colony; but now the English might make settlements as freely as they chose. Indeed, Spain could no longer protect her own colonies. Little by little she lost them, until she now pos- sesses not one foot of land on this side of the world. STUDY SUGGESTIONS 1. Why should the Duke of Parma wish to divide the Netherlands? 2. If you had been in Queen Elizabeth's place when the Dutch asked for help, what should you have done? 3. Which was more honorable in manner of fighting, Drake or the Spaniards? 4. Which seems to you Sir Philip Sidney's finest quality? 5. What indications of Philip's character do you get from his plans to conquer England? 6. What do you think of the Spanish admiral's plans? What weaknesses were there in them? 238 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 7. What do you suppose Queen Elizabeth said when she received Drake's message? 8. What quality of Philip's comes out strongly after the destruction of the collected stores? 9. In what different ways did the English show their loyalty? 10. Why were the Englishmen so determined not to be under Spanish rule? 1 1 . Tell the story of the coming of the Armada as the sailor would have told it. 12. What does Drake's speech show of his character? 13. Why is fear a bad thing in a fight? 14. Would the English have fought as willingly if Philip had been their ruler? 15. In how many ways did Queen Elizabeth help her troops? SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Write a letter asking Queen Elizabeth to help the Dutch. Drake tells the story of the treachery of the Spanish in regard to the grain. The wounded soldier at Zutphen writes his mother of Sir Philip Sidney's kindness. The Spanish admiral explains to Philip his plans for the conquest of England. Drake tells of "singeing the king of Spain's beard." The Duke of Parma advises Philip to delay sending out the Armada. The captain of a little sailing vessel offers it to the queen. This same captain describes his firing at the Spanish galleons. A soldier writes home of the queen's visit to camp. A Spaniard describes the coming of the fireships. Elizabeth writes to Philip what an advantage his attack has been to Eng- land. CHAPTER XX ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD Sir Humphrey Gilbert plans a colony in Newfoundland. Ten years before the defeat of the Armada there was con- siderable talk in England about the New World. Spain claimed the whole American continent by virtue of her dis- coverers and the Pope's Line; but England began to recall the fact that she, too, had had some discoverers, John and Sebastian Cabot. It began to dawn upon the minds of some of the English that it might be well worth while to have a colony of their own, and that the famous Line did not settle the ownership of the western world. Moreover, the exploits of Hawkins and Drake and other bold mariners had suggested that it might be possible to defend a colony if necessary. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was especially inter- ested, and he obtained the royal permission to found a colony in Newfoundland. The failure of the colony. It looked at first as if this col- ony would have to be founded in England, for everything went wrong. Sir Humphrey had five hundred soldiers and sailors, and a pilot who had been in the employ of the king of Spain. He had also a man of English birth who was paid by the Spanish ambassador to go with the expedition and make it fail if he possibly could. They started, but an in- solent young nobleman deserted and persuaded a number of men to go with him. The next difficulty was a fight with some Spaniards, and after this came the worst trouble of all, a strong head wind that blew them back to Plymouth. Sir Humphrey's second attempt. Thus ended Sir Hum- 240 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS phrey Gilbert's first attempt, but he had good courage, and five years later he tried again. He was wiser than some of the people who tried to make settlements, for although he had many worthless men on board, he had seen to it that there were carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, and ship- wrights in the company. Of course he took men who knew how to refine gold, for there was no knowing what stores of it might be found in the wonderland across the sea. He must have learned about the spy who went on the first voyage, for this time he looked out for treachery and had two sets of watchwords. One was to be used at once, but the other was sealed up with wax and was not to be opened till they had gone beyond the coast of Ireland. This was done so that no traitor could steal away from his vessel and by betraying the watchword to an enemy make it pos- sible for him to slip up in the night and board one of the ships. Sir Humphrey had even provided for his colonists music of some sort, and for the Indians he had taken toys and beads and knives and cloth to barter for whatever valuables they might possess. Misdeeds of the sailors. But the fate of this expedition was to be no better than the first. Raleigh had furnished one ship, the stoutest and largest of all, and after a sail of two days it slipped away and went back. It was reported that there was sickness on board. In the fog two vessels became separated from the others, but they all met at Newfoundland. On one of these, the Swallow, the crew were in high glee, tossing up their hats and caps, and not minding in the least if these fell overboard. It seemed that ENGLISH SOLDIER OF 1603 ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 241 they had met with a vessel returning home from the fishing grounds, and their captain had allowed them to go on board to buy food ; but these rascals had done no purchasing, they had seized food, clothes, tackle, and whatever else they chose, and hats and caps were plentiful. The welcome of the fish merchants. The "General," as he was called, anchored in the harbor of St. John's. Many vessels were there, but all their owners wanted was codfish, and they had not the least objection to his taking the land for the crown of England. Indeed, they gave a fine salute in token of welcome, and presented the colonists with wine, biscuit, marmalade, and other delicacies. Sir Humphrey took possession by reading aloud his commission, and then, in the old English fashion, cutting a twig and a piece of turf in token of ownership. He divided his men so that one company should gather in food ; another should care for the ships; and a third should explore the country. It was all well planned, but most of the men were of poor quality and utterly lawless. Some deserted, many stole, many ran away and induced the captain of some vessel to carry them back to England. Death of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Sir Humphrey was eager to explore the coast, but one ship went down with many men and most of the food, another had been left to carry the sick folk home; and there was nothing for him to do but to start for England. Two ships remained. Sir Hum- phrey insisted upon going in the Squirrel, a tiny vessel of only ten tons, and overloaded. His mind was bent upon returning in the spring, but this proved to be his last voy- age. The two vessels kept as near together as possible, and often the sailors could speak from one to the other. A storm came upon them, but one afternoon it quieted down, though the waves were still high. The sailors on the Squirrel were rejoicing, the General sitting in the stern with a book 242 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS in his hand. As the other vessel came nearer, he called out the old saying, familiar to all sailors of the time, "We are as near to heaven by sea as by land." At midnight of that day, the light of the Squirrel suddenly went out. "The General is lost!" cried the watch, and in that moment the little vessel was swallowed up by the sea. All the way home, a close watch was kept, and on meeting even the tiniest sailboat the watchwords were given in the hope that he might be aboard ; but nothing more was ever known of the little boat or of the gallant Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Raleigh visits America. Sir Walter Raleigh (ra/li), had been most desirous of joining in this second attempt of his brother to found a colony, but the queen refused to lose him from her court. Raleigh still dreamed of America, and after the death of Gilbert, he ob- tained the queen's permission to "dis- cover barbarous countries, not actually possessed of any Christian prince and inhabited by Christian people, to oc- cupy and enjoy the same for ever." One month later he sent out two cap- tains to visit the place which he pro- posed for a settlement. They landed on Roanoke Island, in North Carolina, near the mouth of Al'be-marle Sound. The accounts that they brought home were golden. Grapes grew down to the very edge of the water; cedar trees were the reddest and tallest in the world; the soil was fertility itself; and they were sure they had found cinnamon trees. The Indians they described as "very handsome and goodly people in their behavior, as mannerly and civil as any of Europe." The brother of the Indian king was covetous of a tin dish and armor and a sword, A VIRGINIA INDIAN (From John Smith's Map) ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 243 and had offered a great box of pearls for them; but the tricky captains had refused the exchange, because they did not want the red men to know that they cared especially for pearls until they had learned where they could be gathered. Raleigh's colony on Roanoke Island. The queen was so pleased with this addition to her realm that the name of Virginia was given to it, because it had been discov- ered under a virgin queen. This virgin queen would not hear to Sir Walter's sailing with the colonists, so he made his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, com- mander. They sailed by the Canaries and the West Indies to the main land of Florida. They were nearly wrecked on a cape, which because of this they named Cape Fear, but at length they went safely through O'cra-coke Inlet into Pamlico Sound, and then north to Roanoke Island. Here Grenville landed the colonists, and set out on his return. Grenville captures a Spanish vessel. Of course Grenville was on the lookout for a chance to capture a Spanish vessel, and in six days he fell in with one. It was more than twice as long as his own, but that did not matter. He had no proper ship's boat, but that did not matter, for he soon had one built. It was made of the sides of provision boxes, and it was all the men could do to keep it afloat till they came alongside the Spanish vessel. Then it promptly sank to the bottom; but that did not matter either, for the Spaniards surrendered just as promptly, and their valuable cargo made a splendid prize to carry back to England. THE JAMES RIVER COLONY 244 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS The colonists return to England. As for the colonists, they were never weary of praising the new country — till their food began to give out and no gold was found. There was trouble with the Indians, and Grenville did not appear with the promised provisions. Suddenly a fleet, too numer- ous to be his, came into sight. There were some badly frightened colonists on Roanoke Island that day; but this proved to be only a friendly call from Sir Francis Drake, on his way home with the rich plunder of San Domingo. He offered to give them food and a ship ; but they begged him to carry them home, and he sailed away with the whole company on board. They took with them potatoes and Indian corn, which were then first introduced into England. They also took tobacco, and, as one of the old writers says, "Never since that day has the air of England been free from its smoke." A few days later a well-laden ship appeared, sent by Raleigh, and in a fort- night Grenville came with three ships; but it was too late. Raleigh's second colony is made up of families. Raleigh was not discouraged, but before sending out a second colony, he did some thinking. He had been convinced before this that not discovering gold mines, but founding colonies for agriculture and commerce was the way to increase the wealth of England and to provide a place where people could have a chance to better themselves. He now made up his mind that the only way to make a colony permanent and establish a "second England" on the western side of the ocean was to send families rather than men alone. This he did. He provided everything that would be needed for cultivating the ground, and the families set off with one A GENTLEMAN OF 1610 ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 245 John White as governor. They reached Roanoke Island in safety, but it was not a pleasant reception to find the fort and houses in ruins and the bones of the fifteen men whom Grenville had left in charge, scattered over the field White is sent back to England. The colonists were fearful of what might happen to their little group alone on the edge of a continent, and they insisted that White should return for supplies and more immigrants. He went most unwillingly, especially as he had a new little granddaughter to leave to the dan- gers of the wilderness. This was Virginia Dare, the first child of English parents born in America. The last colonists. When White got to England, he found the whole coun- try with but one thought, how to resist the Armada. Raleigh sent out two ves- sels to aid the colonists, but the temp- tation to try to capture Spanish ships was too strong, and they never reached Virginia. After the Armada had been overcome, Raleigh was no longer able to do more himself, but he formed a company, and at length White returned to America. He searched in vain for the colonists. Then he stood a little off shore and fired guns and sounded trumpets and sang familiar old English songs; but all was silence. Iron bars and balls for small artillery were found, overgrown with weeds ; and in a trench were some chests broken open, and the books and pictures and maps which he had left, all torn and spoiled with rain. Into the bark of a tree on the edge of the cliff were cut the letters CRO, and high up on a ppst of the remains of the fort was the whole word CRO- ATOAN. This was the name of an island where a friendly A VIRGINIA PLANTER 246 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS chief lived. White had agreed with the colonists that if they should decide to go elsewhere, the name of the place should be cut on the trees, and if they were in trouble, a cross should be cut above it. There was no cross. White and his men set out for Croatoan, but storms arose and they had to return to England. The fate of the colonists was never known. Raleigh's belief in the future of America. Thus ended Raleigh's two attempts to found colonies. In one way they were a failure; in another, they were a noble success; for Sir Walter Raleigh's firm and far-seeing belief that the way to hold a country and enrich the motherland was not to search for gold, but to establish homes, was a new idea, JAMESTOWN IN 1622 (From an early Dutch account of Virginia) and it became an inspiration to many colonies that were settled in later years. He was convinced that America would some day become the abode of a second English nation. Americans should never forget Sir Walter Raleigh, for he was one of the first men in the world to realize the wonderful future that lay before our country. The founding of Jamestown. In less than twenty years after Raleigh's colonists sailed back to England, the Eng- lish founded at Jamestown in Virginia a settlement which ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 247 became permanent. Many settlements have been estab- lished since then, but those that have been most successful have been founded upon Raleigh's belief that a colony must be made up of homes, and that it is not gold but honest work that makes a colony and a nation rich and powerful. Fifteenth century ideas of the world. Tracing the history of our country from the beginnings of discovery, we find that in the fifteenth century people in general believed the earth to be flat, but that most learned men thought it to be round, although much smaller than it is. They thought also that south of the equator there was a great mass of land called by the earlier geographers the "Fourth Part." Some thought this was not connected with Asia and Africa, but Ptolemy believed it was, and that the Indian Ocean was surrounded by land. How far this land extended, he could not guess. The race for India. Between Spain and Portugal there was a race to find a water route to India, because each country was eager for the Indian trade. Prince Henry the Naviga- tor (Portugal) sailed down the west coast of Africa to the Gambia River; thus proving that Africa extended farther south than had been thought. Dias (Portugal) doubled the Cape of Good Hope; thus showing that India could prob- ably be reached by sailing around Africa. Da Gama (Por- tugal) rounded Africa, and so reached India; thus prov- ing that the Indian Ocean was not surrounded by land, as Ptolemy had thought probable. By these voyages, Portugal had won the race in being the first to find a water route to India; but meanwhile, Columbus, in 1492, sailed west and reached the West Indies, and in later voyages saw the northern coast of South America and explored the coast of Honduras. John and Sebastian Cabot (England) reached Labrador in 1497, and thus were the first to reach the main 248 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS land. Just before the last voyage of Columbus, Vespucius (Portugal) reached the coast of Brazil. Increased activity of Spain. At the end of the fifteenth century, discoveries had been made in America by Spain, Portugal, and England; but Spain now became far more active than the other countries. Balboa (Spain) crossed Darien and discovered the Pacific Ocean, and a few years later Magellan (Spain) sailed through the Strait of Magellan and rounded Cape Horn, thus making it certain that South America did not belong to Asia, but was a separate con- tinent. Spain explores the interior of the New World. Much inland exploring was also done by Spain. Cortez conquered Mexico ; and Pizarro conquered Peru. De Soto explored from Tampa Bay west- ward and discovered the Mississippi River. Coronado explored the south- western part of what is now the United States, and also Lower California and the Gulf of California. The French be- gan to awake to the value of the New World, and Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River as far as the present site of Montreal. How the present boundaries of the United States were drawn. The four countries, Spain, Portugal, England, and France, had all made discoveries and explorations. Each had claims in America. Portugal claimed Brazil ; except for Brazil, Spain claimed the whole double continent. England claimed from Labrador and Newfoundland west and south indefinitely ; and France claimed the St. Lawrence River and valley. No one knew how far the country extended, and of SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN, 1497 (From the earliest picture) ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 249 course the various claims overlapped. It is no wonder that there was trouble about ownership as land in America and commerce with America became more and more valuable, and that the rivalry to found colonies and establish claims became as eager as that to make discoveries had been. It is no wonder that, as countries in Europe became stronger or weaker, so their colonies in America changed hands; until v/ S IB E\R. I A H I N A • .-'/*'